Hell whose paines are intolerable of the last judgement whose sentence is irrevocable So as I exclude onely this grosse ignorance or blind Paganisme for to these is the way to heaven closed because they are divided from that light without which the celestiall way cannot be discerned Whereas then I have so much insisted heretofore upon the contemplative part of Perfection my ayme was to shew how those who continued in a Contemplative and solitary life sequestring themselves from the cares and company of this world doubtlesse conceived ineffable comfort in that sweet retirement yet in regard they lived not in the world the world was not bettered by their example But in this Active Perfection where the Active part no lesse then Contemplative is required wee intend those who doe not onely know but doe and in the Actions of this life use to make their Light so shine before men that they may see their good workes Yea but it may bee againe objected All sinnes bee properly called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and beare the name of ignorance how then may wee exclude any knowledge Every Sinne indeed implyes an ignorance of the creature towards the Creator which ignorance imports rather a forgetfulnesse For admit a man should steale commit perjury or any such act contrary to the expresse will and commandement of GOD it were to bee imagined that this breach or transgression of the divine Law proceeded not of ignorance for hee could not choose but know that consent to any of these incurred the breach of his Law but rather it may be said hee had not God before his eyes but out of a wilfull forgetfulnesse violated the ordinances of God But to conclude this Branch in a word the Active is to bee preferred before the Contemplative for two respects The first whereof hath relation to our selves The second to others To our selves having account to make for the Actions of our life how wee have imployed or bestowed those Talents which hee hath lent us what use profit or benefit wee have made of them in what spirituall affaires have wee beene exercised in what holy duties trained Have wee not preferred private profit before the testimony of a good conscience Have wee not laboured to inhaunce our meanes by sinister and indirect courses Have wee not with-drawne our hand from releeving our needfull brother or defrauded the labourer of his wages Have wee not consorted with the evill doer and encouraged him in his sinne Have wee not hindred some pious worke tending to the honour of God and imitable for example of others Have wee propagated the Gospel comforted Sion when shee mourned repaired those breaches which were in her and received those in peace which blessed her Have wee onely sought the kingdome of God and the righteousnesse thereof esteemed godlinesse to be great riches left our selves and all to be followers of him who gave us dominion over all If wee have done this as wee are here in the Alpha of grace wee shall be there in the Omega of glory here initiate there consummate but having knowne the will of our Father and done it not read principles or instructions of a good life and observ'd them not conversant in deepe mysteries and applyed them not studied in all Arts and Sciences and practised them not how miserable is our knowledge pronouncing on us a heavier judgement Wherefore in respect of our selves whether our knowledge bee great or little if our conversation bee not in heaven though our habitation during our Pilgrimage be on earth our knowledge is but as a tinckling Cymball and shall smally availe us before the high Tribunall For knew wee the power and vertue of all creatures of all plants and vegetive bodies from the Cedar of Lebanon to the Hyssâ—p upon the wall yet were this knowledge fruitlesse being not seconded by a life conformable to that knowledge § Secondly in respect of others Action is the life of man and example the direction of this life How much then doe such men prejudice those who live in the world that betake themselves to a private or retired life estranged from humane society and ending their daies in some solitary cave as men divided from the world For howsoever their manner of life bee religious their discipline strict and rigorous and in their devotion fervent and zealous yet they deprive others of the benefit which they might reape by their example Wherefore most safe and sure it is to use the words of a judicious Author for those who have a desire to take upon them a solitary life to retire and withdraw their affections before they withdraw their bodies from the world and to force the world to flie from their minde before they flie the world lest going out of the world they carry about with them the world For as hee may live ill who liveth apart from the society of men even so though they flie not into the wildernesse yet may they flie the world and amidst the crowd of people live solitarily by an inward Contemplation of the supernall glory and in midst of a clamorous Court conferre with themselves and converse with God in the meane time whatsoever they know or can doe that may any way tend to the common-good benefit or utility of humane society to effect it accordingly and not bury that talent in the ground which they have received from above which rule they are to observe after the example of the most holy and excellent men of both Orders Ecclesiasticall I say and Secular Thus farre have wee proceeded in the examination or discussion of these two especiall parts of Perfection Contemplative and Active wherein by manifest and infallible arguments wee have proved how the Active part is to bee preferred both in respect of our selves and others because a life well acted shall minister most comfort to our selves besides that light of example which it yeelds unto others Now as the Active is preferred it resteth that wee shew you wherein this Active part of Perfection consisteth which discovered that whereof wee treat and would gladly finde may bee the sooner attained THere is no building which as it relies on a foundation consists not of some materiall composition no body but it consists of nerves arteries or sinewes which cement the lineaments together nor confection which consists not of some simples for otherwise it were not mixed but simple and uncompounded The like may bee said of this choice and exquisite Confection this Active part I meane of Perfection For as all Rivers tend to the Sea to make one Ocean all Creatures to make one Vniverse so all Vertues aime at Perfection which once attained they surcease from action Now in this discourse of Active perfection the period of Man wee doe not meane of that absolute perfection or accomplishment which admitteth no blemish or imperfection for wee are to seeke that above us not below us for our righteousnesse justice and Perfection is
true glory to a woman or better preserves her esteeme then to reteine a constancy in the quality or disposition of her estate Bee shee young or old let her fame live ever fresh and like greene Bayes most flourishing when the winter of adversity is most nipping Vertue cannot exercise her owne strength nor expresse her owne worth without an Opposite Spices send forth the sweetest smell when they are most bruised and Palmes spread the broadest when they are soarest pressed Resolution without an assailant would in time become effeminate Yet I must tell you it is dangerous to tempt either youth or age with motives of fancy or to give least way to a promising opportunity You shall find secret assacinates enough to undermine you you need little to become your owne betrayers I have heard of a noble Lady in my time whose descent and desert equally proclaime her worth so tender of the esteeme of her honour as shee held it scarce safe to receive any Letter from a great Personage whose reputation was touched by rumour This was the way to preserve her honour impregnably and to reare it above the reach of Calumny Neither are you to bee cantelous onely of your Estimation in subjects of love and affection but even in your domesticke affaires which trench upon your providence or expence Your discretions in these are brought to the Stage Let not profusenesse draw you to spend where honest providence bids you spare nor niggardlinesse cause you to spare where reputation bids you spend Shee deserves not to bee governesse of an house who wants discretion to moderate her expence Let her reflect upon her progeny intend her charge and provide for her family A good wife is compared to a wise Merchant who brings his trafficke from a farre Now a wise Merchant will not have his Oare in every mans Boate but will seriously addresse his care to his owne Busie women would make ill Snayles and worse house-wives straglers will never become good house-keepers To cloze this branch so compose your affections at home and abroad as providence may expresse you care and charge in the one a grave and reserved reverence preserve your esteeme in the other As your lives are lines of direction to your selves so should they bee arguments of instruction unto others Bee you planted in what state soever let your good report be your greatest stake for ever so may you reape what your vertues have deserved and keepe your Estimation impregnably preserved NOne can preserve what hee loves by mixing it with the society of that hee loathes The Ivye while it winds and wreathes it selfe about the Plant with an envious consumption decayes the sap If you be companions to Ostridges you shall favour of the wildernesse Socrates called Envie an impostume of the soule so may every corrupt affection bee properly termed Vices love neighbourhood which like infectious maladies doe ever most hurt when they draw nearest the heart There is nothing Gentlewomen that brings your Honour to a more desperate hazard then giving reines to your owne desires These must you subdue to the soveraignty of reason if you expect rest in your inward mansion What better fruits then ignominy may carnall liberty produce When you make the Theatre your chiefest place of repose phantasticke gallants who never yet converst with vertue your choisest consorts delicious viands servants to your liquorish appetites what conclusion may wee expect from such dangerous premisses When modesty puts off her vaile and vanity begins to ruffle it in sinne when chaste desires are chased out a breath and lightnesse pleads prescription when vermillion has laid so deepe a colour on an impudent skinne as it cannot blush with sense of her owne shame when Estimation becomes a word of Complement or carelesly worne like some over-cast raiment valued as painted Pageants doe guilded Puppets onely for shew What prodigy fuller of wonder then to see a woman thus transform'd from nature Her face is not her owne note her complexion her eye is not her own note her straid motion her habit is not her owne eye her strange fashion Whilest loose weares imply light workes and thin cobweb covers promise free admittance to all sensuall lovers Yea which is more shee holds it no shame to glory in sinne nor to court vice in her owne livery all which she maintaines to be complements of gentility Thus vice is ever in fashion and keepes her gradation till shee aspire to the height of her building Shee begins with conceit seconds it with consent strengthens it with delight and incorporates it with custome One of this ranke have I oft-times observed tracing the streets of this flourishing City who as one weary of her sexe forbore not to unwoman her selfe by assuming not onely a virile habit but a virago's heart Quarrels shee would not sticke to bind upon any fresh-water Souldier whose late induction to the siege of Gallants had not sufficiently informed him in that posture Nothing desir'd shee more then to give affronts in publike places which shee did with that contempt as the disgrace shee aspers'd on others was her sole content Places of frequent were her Rendevou where her imperious tongue run descant on every subject ministred her selfe she usually ingaged for a Second upon least occasion offered Now could these courses any way choose but cause that to be irreparably lost which by any modest woman should be incomparably lov'd Tell mee were not his spirit armour of proofe who durst encounter with so couragious an Amazon or enter nuptiall lists with such a feminine Myrmidon Surely these as they labour to purchase them opinion of esteeme by their unwomanly expressions of valour so they eclypse their owne fame and by these irregular affronts detract highly from their essentialst honour Such may gaine them observance but never esteeme Take heed then lest publike rumour brand you Scandall is more apt to disperse what is ill then Opinion is to reteine what is good When the world is once possest of your shame many deserving actions of piety can hardly wipe off that staine Esaus birth-right was temporall yet once lost many teares could not regaine it your soules honour is a birth-right spirituall which once lost many tedious taskes shall not redeeme it Let your estimation bee by you so tenderly lov'd as you will rather choose to loath life then irreparably lose that which is the sweetest Consort of humane life THere is nothing which workes not for some end wherein it may rest and repose Long before that glorious Light wee now enjoy did the very Heathens who had no knowledge of a future being rejoyce highly in the practice of Morall vertues and performing such commendable offices as might purchase them deserved honour living and eternally memorize them dying This might bee illustrated by severall instances in Maids Wives and Widowes For the first those Locrian Virgins deserve our memory whose custome it was yearely to be sent to Troy which use
more excellent patterne or example of modesty which is an ornament that suteth best with the children of God So there is none having the light of grace in him or fearing the judgement that is to come who will applaud these scurrilous jests which are wont to deprave but seldome to edifie the understanding whereof the Poet speaketh Iests that unseasond are I cannot beare For they distaste a modest bashfull eare But it may be here againe objected that every thing being as Augustine testifieth either a hinderance or a furtherance these Stage-playes which are properly called the Bellowes of vice may rather seeme a hinderance in the course and progresse of vertue then any furtherance to him in his practice therein Besides Playes saith Ambrose ought not to be known of Christians because there is no mention at all made of them in holy Scripture Whereto we briefly answer thus with Peter Martyr that sound and profound Divine that in holy Scripture we have as it were a generall rule set downe unto us touching all things mediate or indifferent in the number whereof are Playes necessarily included Yea but Augustine the Prince of the Latine Fathers seemes to affirme that even those Stages or Theaters where their interludes were acted were more abominable then those idolatrous sacrifices which in honour of the Pagan gods were offered But hence is to be understood that this holy father meant of such solemn Playes or Interludes as were acted and usually celebrated by the Heathen in honour of their Father Liber and other Ethnicke gods for the yearely increase of their fruits wherein many uncomely and immodest parts were played Yea but where shal we find these Stage-actors in former times so much as countenanced being such as Quintilian termeth expresly Hypocrites from counterfeiting the manner measure motion gesture gate grace and feature of such persons as they represent whose fashion they often reteine when they have resumed their owne Habit Yes and by the eminent'st and noblest personages Edward the sixt so much approved them as he appointed one who was a witty Courtier to be as it were the chiefe master or disposer of the Playes who by his office should take care to have them set forth in a princely and sumptuous sort which Office to this day reteines the name of the Master of the Revels Likewise our late Queene Elizabeth of blessed memorie rightly stiled the worlds Phoebe among women a Sybilla among Queenes a Saba how well shee approved of these Recreations being as shee termed them harmelesse spenders of time the large exhibitions which shee conferred on such as were esteemed notable in that kind may sufficiently witnesse Neither did shee hold it any derogation to that royall and princely Majestie which shee then in her regall person presented to give some countenance to their endeavours whereby they might be the better encouraged in their action Yea if we would but peruse some books treating of this subject wee should find Poets in generall to have received such countenance and approbation from the most eminent'st Princes as their poems never wanted Patrons nor the Authors themselves Benefactors which by instances I entend here to confirme though the prosecution hereof may seeme digressive to our present discourse Wee read how much Amyntas King of Macedonia made of the tragicall Poet Euripides the Athenians of Sophocles in what price the noble and heroick poems of Homer were holden by Alexander placing them in that curious Cabinet which he got in the spoile of Darius and not onely Homer the Father of the Poets was so honoured by him but for his sake all other meaner Poets in so much as Cherilus no very good Poet had for every verse well made a Philips Noble of Gold amounting in value to an Angell English and so for every hundred verses which a cleanly hand could presently dispatch hee had an hundred Angels And since Alexander the great how Theocritus the Greeke Poet was favoured by Ptolomie King of Egypt and Berenice his wife Ennius likewise by Scipio Virgil and Horace by Augustus betwixt which two Poets the Emperour sitting one day and one that might be bold asking what he did Marrie said he I sit here betweene groanings and teares for the one was ever sighing the other seemed as if he were ever weeping But to descend to our later times how much were Iehan de Mehune and Guillamnâ— de Loris made of by the French King and Ieffery Chaucer Father of our English Poets by Richard the second who as it was supposed gave him the Mannor of Newholme in Oxfordshire and Gower by Henry the fourth Harding by Edward the fourth Also how Francis the French King made Sangelais Salmonius Macrinus and Clemens Marot of his Privie Chamber for their excellent skill in Latine and vulgar Poesie And Henry the eighth for a few Psalmes of David translated and turned into English Meeter by Sternhold made him groome of his Privie Chamber Also one Gray in what favour grew he with Henry the eight and after with the Duke of Somerset Protectour for his Hunt is up Hunt is up And Queene Marie for one Epithalamie made by Vargus a Spanish Poet at her marriage with King Philip solemnized in Winchester gave him during his life two hundred Crownes pension Nor were Poets only eminent in this kind but esteemed for their universality of knowledge apt for any office publike as in the administration of Common-weales affaires conduct of Armies c. For we find that Iulius Caesar was not onely the most eloquent Orator of his time but also a very good Poet though none of his doings therein be now extant Quintus Catulus a good Poet and Cornel. Gallus Treasurer of Aegypt and Horace the most delicate of all the Roman Lyricks was importuned by many Letters of great instance to bee Secretary of State to Augustus the Emperour which hee neverthelesse refused for his unhealthfulnesse sake and being a quiet man and nothing ambitious of glory retired himselfe from publike deportments And Ennius the Latine Poet was with all respect entertained as a fellow and Counsellor by African for his amiable conversation So Antimenides of whom Aristotle reports in his Politicks and Tyrtaeus the Poet though a lame man was chosen by the Oracle of the gods from the Athenians to be generall of the Lacedemonians Army Nor may that noble and honourable memoriall of that worthy woman twice French Queene Lady Anne of Britaine wife first to Charles the eighth and after to Lewis the twelfth adde lesse glory to this exquisite Art who passing one day from her lodging toward the Kings side saw in a Gallerie M. Allanâ— Chartier the Kings Secretary an excellent Poet leaning on a Tables end asleepe and stooped downe to kisse him saying thus in all their hearings Wee may not of princely courtesie passe by and not honour with our kisse the mouth from whence so many sweet ditties and golden poems have issued Yea Plato
never utterly failed or beene taken from us This the holy Fathers of the Church which have lived in the ages next ensuing doe declare Tertullian who lived Anno 200. writeth thus All the coasts of Spaine and divers parts of France and many places of Britaine which the Romans could never subdue with their sword Christ hath subdued with his word Origen who lived Anno 260. writeth thus Did the I le of Britaine before the comming of Christ ever acknowledge the faith of one God No but yet now all that Countrey singeth joyfully unto the Lord. Constantine the Great the glory of all the Emperours borne here in England and of English bloud who lived Anno 306. writeth in an Epistle thus Whatsoever custome is of force in all the Churches of Egypt Spaine France and Britaine looke that the same bee likewise ratified among you Saint Chrysostome who lived An. 405. writeth thus In all places wheresoever you goe into any Church whether it bee of the Moores or of the Persians or even of the very Iles of Britaine you may heare Iohn Baptist preaching Saint Ierome who lived Anno 420. writeth thus The French-men the English-men they of Africa they of Persia and all barbarous Nations worship one Christ and observe one rule of religion Theodoret who lived Anno 450. writeth thus The blessed Apostles have induced English-men the Danes the Saxons in one word all people and countries to embrace the doctrine of Christ. Gregory the Great who lived Anno 605. writeth thus Who can sufficiently expresse how glad all the faithfull are for that the English-men have forsaken the darkenesse of their errours and have againe received the light of the Gospel Beda who lived Anno 730. writeth thus England at this present is inhabited by English-men Britaines Scots Picts and Romans all which though they speake severall tongues yet they professe but one faith Thus you see how the Gospel of Christ having beene first planted in this Land by Iosâ—ph of Arimathea and Simon Zelotes in whose time Aristobulus and Claudia and not long after King Lucius also lived hath ever since continued amongst us as testifieth Tertullian Origen Constantine the Great Athanasius Chrysostome Ieâ—ome Theodoret Gregory Beda and many more which might here have beene alleaged Now how singular and exquisite a benefit have our Progenitours received by meanes of these faithfull Professours of the Gospel and first Planters of the Christian faith here in this Iland What a miserable famine of the Word had the people of this Land sustained if these faithfull friends and sincere Witnesses of the truth had not loosed from the shore and embarked themselves in danger to deliver them from the danger of soules shipwracke In which danger wee likewise had beene sharers had not this so rich a fraught so inestimable a prize rescued us from danger and directed our feet in the way of peace The story of Theseus includes an excellent Morall whose love to his deare friend Perithous the Poet labouring to expresse shewes how hee went downe to Hell of purpose to deliver his friend from the thraldome of Pluto under whom hee remained captive which without offence or derogation may properly seeme to allude next to that inimitable mirrour of divine amity to these noble and heavenly Warriours who descended as it were even to the jawes of hell encountring with the insolent affronts of many barbarous Assassinates ready to practice all hostility upon them Yet see their undaunted spirits their godly care enflamed with the zeale of devotion and their love to the members of Christ kindled with the coale of brotherly compassion made them as ready to endure as those hellish fiends and furies the enemies of truth were ready to inflict choosing rather to perish in the body then to suffer the poorest soule bought with so high a price to bee deprived of the hope of glory These were good and kind friends being such as would not sticke to lay downe their lives for their friends suffering all things with patience and puissance of mind to free their distressed brethren from the servile yoke of hellish slavery and bring them by meanes of Gods spirit by which they were directed to the knowledge of the all-seeing verity Such as these professe not friendship under pretences or glozing semblances making their heart a stranger to their tongue or walking invisible as if they had found the stone in the Lapwings nest but as they are so they appeare affecting nothing but what is sincerely good â— and by the best approved Their absolute ayme or end of friendship is to improve reprove correct reforme and conforme the whole Image of that man with whom they converse to his similitude whom all men present If at any time they enter into discourse it ever tends to fruitfull instruction if at any time they enter into serious meditation of the world their meditation is not how to purchase estate or fish after honour or build a foundation on oppression to enrich their posterity with the fruits of their injurious dealing No they have the testimony of a good conscience within them which testifies for them should the world and all her Complices bandie against them Wherefore admit they should bee put to all extremities and suffer all the indignities which envie or malice could dart upon them the weight of every injury is to bee measured by the sense or feeling of the sufferer for the apprehension of the Sufferer makes the injury offered great or little if hee conceit it small or no injury howsoever others esteeme it the burden of the wrong is light and therefore more easily sleights it Now Gentlemen wee have traced over the whole progresse of Acquaintance wherein if happely it be thought that we have sojourned too long my answer is That in passages of greatest danger there is required more circumspection then rashly to goe on without due deliberation And what occurrent in all the passage or pilgrimage of man is beset with more danger then the choice of Acquaintance especially to you Gentlemen whose meanes is the Adamant of Acquaintance Wee have therefore insisted the longer upon this Subject that you may be the lesse subject to such who will winde them in with you of purpose to feed and prey on you To cure which maladie no receit more soveraigne then to imprint in your memory that golden rule or princely precept recommended by that pious and puissant Saint Lewis to his sonne Philip in these words Have especiall care that those men whose Acquaintance and familiarity you shall use be honest and sincere whether they be Religious or Secular with whom you may converse friendly and communicate your counsels freely but by all meanes avoide the company of naughty and wicked men whose society ever tends to inordinate respects Take these Cautions therefore as the last but not least worthy your observation Be not too rash in the choice of
the fruits or effects of faith as they are sweet odours and shall not lose their reward being duly practised so wee must take these three cautions by the way lest such sweet fruits bee corrupted The first is to give her owne and not anothers for that were robbery The second is to give to the poore and not to the rich in hope of commodity The third is to give in mercy or fellow-feeling of others wants and not for vaine-glory For howsoever the poore need not care for any of these respects because hee is rewarded yet the giver is to care because his reward should hereby become frustrated Certainely there is nothing which relisheth better to the palate of our Maker then ministring reliefe to the needy Begger who is Gods begger as a holy Father cals him and therefore should be relieved for his cause that sent him Those Goats set on the left hand doe affright me not because they were robbers but because they were no feeders saith Nazianzen therefore are we willed to feed the hunger-starved soule lest want should famish him for if wee suffer him to die for food wee and none but wee did famish him Thus if wee observe a-right the zealous and religious practice of those blessed Patternes who have gone before us and have left their memorable lives as examples to be imitated by us we shall in some measure attaine to that Perfection whereof wee now discourse labouring so to moderate our affections herein as neither vaine-glory nor any other fleshly respect may interpose it selfe in actions of such maine and serious consequence For albeit as I formerly noted no man may come to that absolute Perfection either in matters of knowledge or practice of life as if nothing could bee further attained but that the very highest pitch of Perfection were acquired yet are there degrees which in some measure may be attained if those vertues which conduce to this Perfection bee duly practised For it is not professing of vertue but practising neither practising of one but all which gives life to this Perfection For hee whom wee sincerely perfect call Excels not in one vertue but in all Which Perfection farre exceeds all others derived from some exquiâ—ite knowledge in Arts or Sciences for these how absolutely soever they be come farre short of that perfection which longer time and experience might bring them to Alcibiades is reported to have beene so skilfull in all Arts and Exercises that he won the prize in what enterprize soever he tooke in hand which was no small glory when in the Olympian or Istmian games he no sooner appeared than those who were to contend with him were forthwith dismaied yet came this perfection short of that whereof we now discourse For it may bee probably gathered that albeit hee was the activest in his time on Istmus yet all the activest youths of Greece were not on Istmus or if they were yet the whole world had youths more active and in all parts more absolute than they were in Greece For to seeke perfection on earth either in respect of minde or body either in ability of the one or excellency of the other were in aethere quarere nidum hee only being most perfect who acknowledgeth himselfe to bee most imperfect Cicero brings in M. Antony saying that there bee many follow and yet come not to the perfection Which hee might have instanced the best in himselfe for who for discipline more exquisite for attempts in his own person more valiant for ripenesse of wit more pregnant or for tongue more powerfully perswasive than M. Antony Yet to observe how much those more excellent parts were disabled that light of understanding darkned that pregnancy of wit rebated that perswasive Orator by a wanton Oratresse seduced yea even that Mirror of men blemished might move us freely and ingenuously to acknowledge as there is nothing more variable than man in respect of his condition so nothing more prone to evill in respect of his naturall corruption So as howsoever he may seeme in some sort perfect either in moderating his affections with patience or subduing his desires with reason yet there is ever some one defect or other that darkens those Perfections Wherefore as Marius bombasted his stockins to give a better proportion to his small legs if any one would have his good parts set out hee had need to weare some counterfeit disguise to cover his wants and so gull the world as Iuno deceived Ixion with a cloud Truth is that the worthiest men have beene stained with some notable crime Caesar though hee were moderate yet was hee incontinent Alexander though continent yet was he immoderate Sylla though valiant yet was hee violent Galba though eminent yet was hee insolent Lucullus generous yet delicious Marcellus glorious yet ambitious Architas patient yet avaritious Archias pregnant yet lascivious So as Homers understanding Platoes wit Diogenes phrase Aeschines Art of Oratorie and Cicero's tongue could not assume to themselves such Perfection as to free them from other blemishes which detracted as much from their worth as these Perfections added to their glory For howsoever that saying of Solon may seeme authenticke All things among men are sound and perfect it is to be understood that he meant of dealings or commerce among good men whose word is their bond and whose profession is to deale uprightly with al men All things among such men are sound and perfect for no commoditie can move them to infringe their faith or falsifie their word for any advantage But it may be objected if none can be perfect whence is it that we reade we ought to be perfect as our heavenly Father is perfect or how is it that Paul exhorteth us to Perfection or how may we be presented every man perfect in Christ Iesus Surely not of us nor of our selves but through him who became righteousnesse and all Perfection for us that he might perfect that in us which was farre from us without his especiall grace working or operating in us Yet are we to labour and strive hard towards the marke that is set before us not ceasing till wee become conformable unto him and be made perfect in him But become conformable unto him wee cannot unlesse wee take delight in contemplating him to whom our desire is to be conformed We will therefore descend to the second branch proposed to wit the Contemplative part of Perfection wherein we shall easily finde what divine comfort is ministred to the minde in contemplating Him who distinguished Man from the rest of his creatures by a reasonable minde IT was the saying of a Heathen If God tooke delight in any felicitie it was in contemplation To the free use whereof even those which are as Hortensius called L. Torquatus unlearned rude an ignorant may bee admitted For howsoever some have beene pleased to terme the Images of Saints Laymens-Bookes sure I am whosoever he be be he never so
faith by workes of charity and obedience which may any way tend to the glorifying of God edifying our neighbour or conforming our selves to him whose Image wee beare Now as there is no comfort comparable to the testimony of a good conscience being that inseparable companion which shall attend us to glory or confusion so there is no punishment torment or affliction so grievous as shame which deriveth the cause ground and beginning either from doing that which wee ought not or from not doing that which wee ought as the comfort we reape from the testimony of a good conscience deriveth properly the primary cause and effect from doing that which wee ought and abstaining from doing that which wee ought not And what be those workes which are principally commended unto us but workes of charity and devotion For to our owne soules saith a devout Father shall wee be right acceptable and gratefull if wee compassionate the estate of our poore brother by being mercifull yea there is nothing that commendeth more a Christian man or argueth a Christian-like affected mind then to shew compassion to those that are afflicted For in this there is a resemblance betwixt the Creature and Creator loving as he himselfe loved shewing compassion as hee shewed O let me commend this so commendable and generous a quality to your admittance Gentlemen for beleeve mee there is no one property that shall better accomplish you no armoury that may more truly deblazon you for it is a badge of Gentry to shew compassion towards misery What profit shall you reape if having onely superficially read some Treatise tending to the comfort of such as either in body afflicted or in mind perplexed or in both distressed if you apply not these directions of comfort to them thus miserably dejected What reward I say shall you receive upon the account by you given of the Sicke which you have visited when having knowne how to comfort men in their affliction you have not ministred the least comfort to them in their visitation Or when you shall be demanded where are the hungry which you have refreshed the thirsty whose thirst you have quenched the naked whom you have cloathed the miserable oppressed soule whose case you have not onely pitied but redressed And you shall answer how you did indeed visit them but minister small comfort unto them you knew them to bee oppressed and the way to redresse them but other occasions detained you as you could not releeve them Nay rather have you not added worm-wood to their affliction Have you not surfetted in their suffering fatned your selves in their famishing and raised your states by their ruine Were not your tables stored when they were starved did not you feast when they fasted did it not affect you to see them afflicted If at any time you felt this in your selves let the dolefull remembrance thereof produce torrents of teares from your distreaming eyes supply your manifold misdeeds with many almes-deeds your transgressions with compassions your oppression with foure-fold restitution that your sinne may no more be had in remembrance yea let mee use that exhortation to you which a learned Father used upon like occasion Let charity smite your bowels see not the Image of your Redeemer disgraced but forthwith labour to right him see him not oppressed but to your power redresse him see him not starve if you have bread to releeve him or thirsty if you have drinke to refresh him or naked if you have a garment to cloath him or in any sort distressed if you have meanes to succour him Oh consume not that on prodigality which might procure the prayers of many poore soules for you their prayers are your praises their morning and evening sacrifice way markes to direct you unto Paradise take heed then you offend none of these Little ones but cheere them bee not as thornes in their eyes or pricks in their sides but minister all necessary comfort unto them Now if this appeare a matter of difficulty pretending that the supportance of your state exacts so much of you as you can reserve nothing to exhibite upon these workes of charity heare mee whosoever thou bee that makest this objection Bee provoked O Christian bee provoked by the widow of Sarepta to this encounter Encounter I call it because the flesh suggests sundry occasions to avert thee from it That charitable Widow though shee had but a little meale shee imparted of that little to a Prophet though shee had but a little oile yet shee freely bestowed it to refresh a Prophet The woman of Samaria when IESVS said unto her Give mee to drinke answered How is it that thou being a Iew askest drinke of mee which am a woman of Samaria Sundry such like answers will flesh and blood make to dispense with workes of charity or like the answer of churlish Nabal Who is David and who is the sonne of Ishai There bee many servants now adaies that breake away every man from his master Shall I then take my bread and my water and my flesh which I have killed for my hearers and give it unto men whom I know not whence they bee O let not these objections divert the current of thy compassion Eye not so much his Countrey whether neighbour borne or a stranger as his Countenance the expresse Image of thy Saviour But to descend to some reasons why the Active part of Perfection is to be preferred before the Contemplative this amongst others is the most effectuall and impregnable In that great day of Account when the sealed booke of our secreteâ—â— sinnes shall bee unsealed our privatest actions discovered our closest and subtillest practises displayed and the whole inside of man uncased it shall not be demanded of us what knew wee but what did wee Fitting therefore it were to preferre Action before knowledge in this life being so infallibly to be preferred after this life Howbeit greater is their shame and sharper doubtlesse shall bee their censure whose education in all Arts divine and humane hath enabled them for discourse fitted or accommodated them for managements publike or private yet they giving reines to liberty invert their knowledge to depraved ends either making no use of such noble and exquisite indowments or which is worse imploying them to the satisfaction of their owne illimited desires O happy had these beene if they had never knowne the excellency of learning for ignorance is to be preferred before knowledge loosely perverted â— Yea but will some object I cannot see how any one should observe a Law before they know it wherefore as I thinke Knowledge is to be preferred because by Knowledge is Action directed It is true indeed Knowledge directs and instructs for otherwise wee should grope in darkenesse neither doe I exclude all Knowledge but admit so much as may instruct man sufficiently in matters of faith put him in remembrance of Heaven whose joyes are ineffable of
such in this life as it rather consisteth in the remission of sinnes than Perfection of vertues Yea wee sinne daily so as properly we can attribute nothing to our owne strength but weaknesse to our owne ability but infirmnesse to our resolves but uncertainnesse to our wils but untowardnesse to our affections but depravednesse nor to the whole progresie of our lives but actuall disobedience But rather I say wee meane of that Christian Perfection which every one in this Tabernacle of clay is to labour for that wee may become perfect through him who became weake that wee might bee strengthned hungry that we might be nourished thirsty that wee might bee refreshed disgraced that wee might be honoured yea who became all unto all that by all meanes hee might gaine some But wherein may this actuall perfection bee properly said to consist In Mortification which like the swift gliding torrent of Hydaspes divides or dilates it selfe to two channels Action and Affection Action in expressing it Affection in desiring to expresse it Action in suffering Affection in desire of suffering The one actuating no lesse in will than the other in worke Where the Action being more exemplar and in that more fruitfull gives precedency to Affection which concurres with the act to make the worke more graciously powerfull For where a worke of Mortification is performed and a hearty desire or affection to that worke is not adjoyned that Action may bee properly said to bee enforced rather than out of a free or willing disposition accepted Now this twofold Mortification extends it selfe properly to these three Subjects Life Name Goods Life which even Humanity tendreth Name which a good man before the sweetest odours preferreth Goods on which the worldling as on the supreme good lieth For the first many excellent and memorable examples of sundry devout and constant servants of Christ Iesus are in every place frequent and obvious who for the confirmation of their faith and the testimony of a good conscience joyfully and cheerefully laid down their lives esteeming it an especiall glory to bee thought worthy to suffer for him who with all constancy suffered to become an example of patience to them which were easie to illustrate by the sufferings of many eminent and glorious Martyrs Prudentius writeth that when Asclâ—piades commanded the tormentors to strike Râ—manus on the mouth the meeke Martyr answered I thanke thee O Captaine that thou hast opened unto mee many mouthes whereby I may preach my Lord and Saviour Tot ecce laudant ora quot sunt vulnera Looke how many wounds I have so many mouthes I have to praise and laud the Lord. Ignatius words were these to witnesse his constancie at the time of his suffering Frumentum sum Christi per dentes bestiarum molor ut mundus panis Dei inveniar I am Christs corne and must bee ground by the teeth of wilde beasts that I may become pure manchet for the Lord. It is reported that blessed Laurence being laid upon the Gridiron used these words to his Tormentors Turne and eate it is enough Saint Andrew when he went to bee crucified was so rapt with joy as hee rejoyced unmeasurably in that blessed resemblance of his Masters death Blessed Bartholomew willingly lost his skin for his sake who had his skinne scourged that hee might bee solaced Iohn dranke a cup of poison to pledge his Master in a cup of affliction Thus Laurence's Gridiron Andrewes Crosse Bartholomew's Skinne Iohns Cup expressed their Mortification by a willing surrender of their life for his sake who was the Lord of life Yea should wee survey those strange invented torments during the bloudy issue of the tenne Persecutions which were contrived by those inhumane Assasinates whose hands were deepâ— died in the bloud of the Saints wee should no lesse admire the constancy of the persecuted suffering than the cruelty of the Persecutors infesting What rackes hookes harrowes tongs forkes stakes were purposely provided to torment the constant and resolute Professours of the truth wearying the tormentors rather with tormenting than abating any part of their constancie in the height and heat of their tormenting Yea they were solaced in the time when they suffered esteeming death to bee such a passage as might give them convoy to a more glorious heritage Neither did these blessed Professors of the faith receive comfort by the eye of their meditation firmely fixed on heaven but by the compassion and princely commiseration of divers eminent ad victorious Emperours bearing soveraignty then on earth Constantine the Great used to kisse the eye of Paphnutius which was bored out in Maximinas time The like noble and princely compassion wee reade to have beene shewed by Titus Trajan Theodosius and many other Princes graciously affected towards the poore afflicted and persecuted Christians Yea God moved the hearts of those who naturally are most remorselesse or obdurate in commiserating the estate of his afflicted Which may appeare by the Gaolor in the Acts who washed Saint Pauls stripes and wounds O how comfortable were these passions or passages of affliction these tortures or torments the trophies of their persecution the blessed memoriall whereof shall extend the date of time receiving a crowne of him who is the length of dayes So as King Alexanders Stagges were knowne and hundred yeares together by those golden collars which by the Kings commandement were put about their neckes or as King Arthurs bodie being taken up some what more than six hundred yeares after his death was knowne to bee his by nothing so much as by the prints of ten severall wounds which appeared in his skull so these glorious stampes of their passion shall appeare as trophies to them in the day of exaltation because as they lost their lives for the testimony of the Gospel they shall finde them recorded in the booke of life receiving the crowne of consolation for the deep draught which they tooke of the cup of affliction And reason there is we should dis-value our lives for the profession of our faith since forlorne and miserable is his life that is without faith For if the Heathen whose future hopes were fixed on posterity and not so much as the least knowledge of eternity dis-esteemed their lives to gaine them renown or propagate their countries glory much more cause have wee to subject our lives to the censure of death having hope after death to live in glory It is reported that the body of Cadwallo an antient King of the Britains being embalmed and dressed with sweet confections was put into a brazen image and set upon a brazen horse over Ludgate for a terror to the Saxons and Zisca the valiant Captaine of the Bohemians commanded that after his decease his skin would bee flayed from his bodie to make a drum which they should use in their battels affirming that as soone as the Hungarians or any other Enemies should heare the sound of
incendiaries tending to the increase of those passions 16 The proper postures of a compleate Roarer 23 Physicke prescribed and Receits applyed to cure these maladies in Youth 26 What choice imployments deserve entertainment from a Gentleman ib. DISPOSITION Observat. 2. THe diversity of Dispositions pag. 29 A probable judgement of our Dispositions drawne from the delights we affect or company we frequent 30 Passion the best discoverer of our Disposition ibid. Discovery of Dispositions in distempers ib Promotion held ever mans best Anatomy Lecture 31 The Disposition is not to be forced 32 What Disposition being distinguished by three infallible markes is most generous Mildnesse 34 Munificence 34 Stoutnesse 34 The proper ayme or end whereto the Actions of true resolution are directed with the prudent observation of Cortugall one of the Turkish Princes in his perswasive Oration for the besiege of Rhodes 40 EDVCATION Observat. 3. WHat Education is pag. 43 Education dilates it selfe to three subjects ibid. Our knowledge reflects upon two particulars 44 A profitable Exhortation to all such as are drawne away by strange doctrine 46 Two especiall errours incident to subiects of discourse Affectation Imitation whereof Gentlemen are seriously cautioned 47 Perswasion being the life and efficacy of Speech consisteth on three parts ibid The excellent Morall of a Bird and a Fowler 48.49 Immoderate passion in arguments of Discourse and reasoning to be avoided 50 Education either improveth or depraveth 52 Education the best seasoner of Action as well as of Speech or Knowledge no lesse prevalent in Arts Manuall than actions Martiall ibid. 53 The admirable effects of Education ibid. How a Gentleman may bee best enabled by Education 5â— Education the best seasoner of Youth 57 VOCATION Observat. 4. THe Definition necessity and conveniencie of a Vocation without personall Exception or Exemption pag. 59.60.65 Vertue consists in Action Time in revolution the maze of mans life in perpetuall motion pag. 61. l. 24 Three necessary considerations touching the conveniencie of a Vocation divided and applyed 62 The efficacy of Prayer in every Vocation and the exercise thereof seriously recommended ibid. We are to resist vices by practising and doing acts of the contrary vertues 65 Men of place in respect of three distinct Objects are three wayes servants 66. l. 2. Men of place of all others are least exempted from a Vocation 67. l. 22 The ground of all Novellisme 69 Vocation in generall 70 The first invention of Trades Arts or Sciences 72 The Ancient Borough of Kendall upon serious discourse of Manufacture worthily commended for their industry in Wooll-worke the judicious Dutch-men of Kes-wick for their Copper-worke 71 A serious survey and judicious display of all the Liberall Sciences 72.73 The Vocation of a Gentleman in particular 75 The Vocation of a Gentleman hath imployment publike or private 77 How a Gentleman is to demeane himselfe in publike affaires of State ibid. How in chusing Knights and Burgesses of Parliament those are ever to be preferred who seeke least after it And how a too eager pursuit after offices argues either arrogance avarice or weaknesse ib. The life of man either Active or Contemplative 76. l. 30. Directions of reservancy usefull to all Gentlemen in their keeping of company ibid. l. 49 Credulity in two respects dangerous to persons imployed in affaires of State 77 Credulity In beleeving the relations of others Credulity In imparting his thoughts to the secrecy of others shewed in a conceited story 77.78 Resolution in suffering neither price to draw him nor power to over-awe him the one to taint him nor the other to daunt him 79 Disobedience punished in acts most successive 80 The holy war as a consequent action of honour recommended to the undertaking of all young Gentlemen 81. lin 7 How a Gentleman is to imploy himselfe in publike affaires 82 How a Gentleman is to demeane himselfe in private affaires ibid. Two perillous shelfes which endanger Iustice. 84 How Iustice is to be poized equally ibid. Impunity the foster-mother of all impiety 85 How a Gentleman is to demeane himselfe in his owne family 86 Every family a private Common-wealth 87. marg A Gentleman is so to demeane himselfe in his family as he neither hoord up niggardly nor lash out lavishly 88. l. 13 He is to keepe a hanke of his bounty lest too much profusenesse bring him to misery ib. l. 18 He is neither to be too remisse nor too severe in his family ibid. How a Gentleman is to imploy himselfe in spirituall affaires within his family 90 The exercise of devotion commended a Blessing thereon pronounced if duly performed which Blessing is on a precept and a promise grounded 90.91 RECREATION Observat. 5. THe difference of Recreations pag. 53 Of the moderate and immoderate use of Recreation 96 The benefit redounding from moderate Recreation 97 The inconveniences arising from immoderate Recreation 99 The yeare of Iubile defined and described ib. Objections against Stage-playes proposed and resolved 103.104 What honours ancient and moderne times have conferred on Poets and what bounties for their poems 106.107 What especiall subjects are privileg'd from Iâ—sts 108 Who the first Comedian who the first Tragedian ibid. A wofull example of a Gentlewoman who was a continuall frequenter of Stage-playes 109 His vindication from a traducing opinion conceived of him touching Stage-playes ib. mar Excesse of Gaming reproved 110 Cheaters displayed their humours experimentally decoloured their Habit garbe and formall insinuation discovered ibid. Young Gamesters most subject to passion 125 A dolefull example of one that at game used imprecation ibid. Another Moderne example covertly shadowed of one who desperately surprized with distemper of losse poysoned himselfe ibid An excellent morall discourse of Hunting 111 The story of the foole of Millan and his discourse with a Falconer 113 Of Recreations best sorting with the quality of a Gentleman 114 In exercises of Recreation those onely are most approved by whom they are with least affectation performed and with most freedome of mind embraced 114. l. 22 The misery of Duello's 115 An accurate discourse of valour and how in arguments of contest or challenge a Gentleman may come off with honour 117 A collection and election of Histories 118 The knowledge of our owne Moderne Chronicles most beneficiall to Gentlemen 121.122 History the sweetest Recreation of the mind 220 The judgement of God inflicted upon the actors and authors of Treason Sacriledge c. 119.120 What good morall men have flourished in evill times 120.121 How a Gentleman is to bestow himselfe in Recreation 123 Prodigality condemned moderation in expence as well as in the exercise it selfe commended 124 Distinction of times for Recreations necessarily injoyned 126 No expence more pretious then the expence of time ibid. Election of Games for Recreation which conduce most to memory or retention which to pregnancy of conceit or apprehension ibid. Acquaintance Observat. 6. OF the use of Acquaintance pag. 129 Mans security the Devils opportunity 130. l. 22 A display of
encounter with some of these Complete Amorists who will make a set speech to your Glove and sweeten every period with the perfume of it Others will hold it an extraordinary grace to become Porters of your Misset or holders of your Fanne while you pinne on your Maske Service Observance Devotion be the Generall heads of their Complement Other Doctrine they have none either to instruct morally or informe politically Beleeve it Gentlewomen they are ill-spent houres that are bestowed in conference with these Braine-wormes Their frivolous discourse will exact from you some answer which if you shape justly to their dialect there will bee more vaine wind spent than you can redeeme with many teares Let no conceit transport you above your selves hold it for no Complement worthy your breeding to trifle time in love-toyes They detract both from discretion and modesty and oft-times endanger the ruine of the latter fearefully This kinde of Complement with great ones were but meere Canting among Beggars Hee or shee are the Completest who in arguments of discourse and action are discreetest Full vessels give the least sound Such as hold Complement the sole subject of a glib tongue active cringe or artfull smile are those onely Mimicks or Buffouns of our age whose Behaviours deserve farre more derision than applause Thus you have heard how Complement may bee corrupted wee now purpose with as much propriety and brevity as wee may to shew you how it may bee refined To the end that what is in its owne nature so commendable may bee entertained with freedome of choyce and reteined without purpose to change THe Vnicornes horne being dipt in water cleares and purifies it It is the honour of the Physician to restore nature after it bee decayed It is the sole worke of that supreme Architect to bring light out of darkenesse that what was darke might bee enlightened life out of death that what was dead might bee enlivened way out of error that the erring might bee directed knowledge out of ignorance that the ignorant might bee instructed a salve out of sinne that sinnes sore might bee cured comfort out of affliction that the afflicted might bee comforted hope out of despaire that the desperate might bee succoured a raising from falling that their fall might bee recovered strength out of weaknesse that his great worke might bee glorified Gold thrice tryed becomes the purer and more refined And Complement the most when it is best accommodated True it is that Society is either a Plague or a Perfume It infects where Consorts are ill-affected but workes excellent effects where vertuous Consorts are assembled It is the sweetest note that one can sing When Grace in Vertues key tunes Natures string Where two meeke men meet together their conference saith mellifluous Bernard is sweet and delectable where one man is meeke it is profitable where neither it proves pernicious and uncomfortable It is Society that gives us or takes from us our Security Let me apply this unto you Gentlewomen whose vertuous dispositions so sweetly hath nature grac'd you promise nothing lesse than fervorous desires of being good Would you have that refined in you which others corrupt by inverting the meanes Or expresse that in her native Colours which will beautifie you more than any artificiall or adulterate colours whose painted Varnish is no sooner made than melted Make choyce of such for your Consorts whose choyce may admit no change Let no Company bee affected by you which may hazard infecting of you The World is growne a very Pest-house timely prevention must bee used before the infection have entred You have no such soveraigne receits to repell as you have to prevent The infection of vice leaves a deeper spot or speckle on the mind than any desease doth on the body The Blackmoore may sooner change his skin the Leopard his spots than a soule deepe dyed in the graine of infection can put off her habituate corruption Bee it then your principall care to make choyce of such bashfull Maids modest Matrons or reverend Widdowes as hold it their best Complement to retaine the opinion of being Continent Infamy hath wings as swift as fame Shunne the occasion lest you undergoe the brand Posthuma because given to laughter and something forward to talke with men was suspected of her honesty where being openly accused shee was acquitted by Spurius Minutius with this caveat to use words sutable to her life Civility trust me is the best and most refined Complement that may bee Courting in publike places and upon first sight it affects not for it partakes more of impudent than Complete Bee it of the City that argument of discourse bee ministred it can talke freely of it without mincing or of the Court it can addresse it selfe to that garbe in apt words without minting or of the Countrey in an home-spun phrase it can expresse whatsoever in the Countrey deserves most prayse And all this in such a proper and familiar manner as such who are tied to Complement may aspire to it but never attaine it Hee that hath once tasted of the fountaine Clitorius will never afterward drinke any wine Surely howsoever this civill and familiar forme of dialect may seeme but as pure running water in comparison of Complement which like Nectar streames out in Conduits of delight to the humorous hearer yet our discreet Complementer preferres the pure fountaine before the troubled river It is true that many fashions which even these later times have introduc'd deserve free admittance yea there is some thing yet in our Oare that may be refined Yet in the acceptance of these you are not to entertaine whatsoever these finer times have brought forth Where variety is affected and the age to inconstancy subjected so as nothing but what is rare and new becomes esteemed Either must our inventions bee present and pregnant our surveyes of forraine places serious and sollicitant or wee shall fall into decay of fashion or make old ones new and so by antiquity gull our Nation Truth is though our tongues hands bodies and legges bee the same our Elocution action gesture and posture are not the same Should the soule of Troilus according to that erroneous transmigration of Pythagoras passe into the body of one of our English Courtiers or Hortensius who was an Orator active enough into one of our English Lawyers or Antigone who was Complementall enough into one of our English Curtezans they would finde strange Cottages to dwell in What is now held Complete a few yeares will bury in disgrace Nothing then so refined if on earth seated which time will not raze or more curious conceits dis-esteeme or that universall reduction to nothing dissolve That Complement may seeme pleasing such a fashion generally affecting such a dressing most Complete yet are all these within short space covered with contempt What you observe then to be most civill in others affect it such an habit needs not to bee refined which cannot be bettered Fashion is
shee should bee engaged to it Her thoughts are not admitted to entertaine vanity They must not conceit it lest they should bee deceived by it Occasions wisely shee foresees timely prevents and consequently enjoyes true freedome of minde You shall not see her consume the precious oyle of her Lampe the light of her life in unseasonable reere-bankets unprofitable visits or wanton treaties Those will shee not admit of for companions who are prodigall of their Honour These shee reproves with a milde spirit labouring to reclaime them with an ingenuous tender of her vertuous compassion towards them None shee more distastes than these Brokers or Breakers of licentious bargaines Shee excludes them the List of all civill society How cautelous shee is lest suspition should tax her Outwardly therefore shee expresseth what shee inwardly professeth That honourable bloud which shee from her Predecessors received till death surprize her will shee leave untainted Neither is there ought shee hates more than pride nor scornes more than disdaine Shee rightly considers how her daies are mensurable being but a span long which implies her brevity and miserable being altogether vanity Shee disclaymes that state which consists in scornefull lookes A sweet and affable Countenance shee ever beares The honour shee enjoyes makes her humbler and the prayses which are given her work in her thoughts no distemper So farre is shee from affecting the pompe of this world as it growes contemptible to her higher-mounting thoughts A faire and well-seeming retinue shee ever keepes about her but none of these must bee Sycophants with their oylie tongues to delude her neither must any who cloaths his Countenance with scorne attend her Shee observes on what steepe and dangerous grounds ambition walketh Her sleepes are sweter her content higher her thoughts heavenlier It is one of her greatest wonders that any one should bee so rest of understanding as to forget what infirme ground hee stands on The purest Creature bee shee never so absolute in her feature is of no richer temper than Earth our Common-mother Shee is wiser than to preferre a poore handfull of red Earth before her choycest treasure Though her deserts merit honour shee dis-esteemes her owne deservings being highly valued by all but her selfe Thus shee prepares her selfe daily for what shee must goe to Her last day is her every dayes memoriall Lower may her body bee when interred but lower cannot her mind bee than at this instant So well hath shee attained the Knowledge of her selfe as shee acknowledgeth all to bee fraile but none frailer than her selfe Here Gentlewomen have yee heard in what especiall Objects you are to bee Honourable Presidents You shine brighter in your Orbe than lesser Starres The beames of your reflecting vertues must admit of no Eclipse A thousand eyes will gaze on you should they observe this in you Choyce and select are the societies you frequent where you see variety of fashions imitate not the newest but neatest Let not an action proceed from you which is not exemplary good These that are followers of your persons will bee followers likewise of your lives You may weane them from vice winne them to vertue and make them your constant followers in the serious practise of piety Let your vertues cloath them within as their veiles doe without They deserve not their wage who desist from imitating you in actions of worth Your private family is a familiar Nursery Plants of all sorts are there bestowed Cheere cherish those that be tender but curbe and correct those that bee of wilder temper Free and fruitfull Scions cannot bee improved till the luxurious branches bee pruned But above all things take especiall care that those vices spread not in you which are censured by you You are Soveraignesses in your families neither extend your hand too much to rigour neither contract it by shewing too much remisnesse or favour Let neither vertue passe unrewarded nor vice if it grow domineering passe unreproved Foule enormities must admit of no Privileges No should you by a due examination of your selves finde any bosome-sinne secretly lurking any subtill familiar privately incroaching any distempred affection dangerously mutining bee your owne Censors Bee not too indulgent in the favouring of your selves Proficients you cannot bee in the Schoole of vertue unlesse you timely prevent the overspreading growth of vice Let not your Sunne the light of your soule bee darkned let not your Spring the fount of your vertues bee troubled Let not your Fame the perfume of your Honour bee impaired As you are generous by descent bee gracious by desert Presidents are more powerfull than Precepts These onely lead those draw Bee examples of goodnesse that you may be heires of happinesse The style you enjoy the state you reteine the statues which after you may remaine are but glorious trophies of fading frailty Vertues are more permanent Monuments than all these these are those sweet flowers that shall adorne you living impall you dying and crowne you with comfort at your departing Lastly as you were honourable Personages on Earth where you were Presidents of goodnesse so shall you bee glorious Citizens in heaven where you are to bee Participants of all happinesse WHere Vertueâ—s â—s sowne in a noble Seed-plot manured and fructisied by good Discipline strengthened by Example and adorned with those more gracefull parts which accomplish the subject wherin vertue is seated what bickrings of fortune will it sustaine What conflicts in the necessities of nature will it cheerefully encounter Her spirit is raised above any inferiour pitch Yea the habit of goodnesse hath wrought such divine impressions in her soule who is thus disposed as society may improve her but cannot corrupt her because a zealous affection to vertue doth possesse her You shall ever observe these whom Nobility of blood hath advanced to reteine some seeds or semblances of their progenitors which are so impressive in them as no occurrent bee it never so violent can estrange these from them Here you shall see a native affability or singular art of winning affection to one naturally derived There in another such a rough and unseasonable austerity as her very count'nance is the resemblance of a Malevola Some from their infancy have reteined such a sweet and pleasing candor as they could cover anger with a cheerefull smile and attemper passion with a gracefull blush Besides they had the gift to expostulate with their discontents and by applying seasonable receits to their wounds free themselves from falling into any desperate extreames Others would rather dye then suffer the expressions of their Passions to dye For affronts as their spirits could not beare them so did their actions discover them and make them objects of derision to such as observ'd them And whence proceeds all this Surely from the very first relish of our humours when that unwrought Table of youth becomes furnished with choice characters and the Subject begins to affect what is engraven in them by continuance of time
of their love Her taske shee sets her selfe daily which shee performes duely Her owne remisnesse if any such be shee reproves by so much more than others as she knowes her owne life to bee more exemplary than others Some Bookes shee reads and those powerfull to stirre up devotion and fervour to prayer others shee reads and those usefull for direction of her houshold affaires Herbals shee peruseth which shee seconds with conference and by degrees so improves her knowledge as her cautesous care perfits many a dangerous cure In all which shee turnes her eare from her owne praise humbling her selfe lowest in heart though descent ranke her highest in place She affects nothing more than mildnesse distastes nothing more than harshnesse Prosperity could never worke so upon her thoughts as to transport her nor adversity so weaken her well-resolved temper as to amate her Though shee tender her family extend her care to her posterity her highest ayme is the practise of piety Her discretion hath enabled her to distinguish of times whereby shee informes her selfe when shee should bee provident and frugall when bounteous and liberall Her gate is not more open than is her heart where shee holds the poorest her richest guests Shee thinkes that day wholly lost wherein shee doth not one good worke at least She is no busie-body nor was ever unlesse it were about her family needle or Sampler She holds that day the swetest which in actions of goodnesse is the fruitfull'st Like a good Merchant shee brings her merchandize afarre and yet shee travels not farre for it Shee â—its at the Sterne steeres the Rudder of her state and frees it from hazard when driven to a strait Her Husband shee acknowledgeth her head whom to oppose were to mutine against her Leader and consequently shew her selfe an unruly member If hee bee intemperate shee wooes and winnes him with love and in time weanes and reclaimes him from his irregular life So conformable is shee to his opinion both in points of Religion and arguments of providence as the Exchequer must bee no Sponge to her husbands purse through her conscience Yet makes shee Conscience her gaine and in that blessed commerce Humility her guide Heaven her goale Her houshold shee makes her Common-weale wherein not any from the highest to the lowest of her feminine governement but knowes their peculiar office and employment to which they addresse themselves so highly they honour her they serve with more love than feare Shee becomes Promoter I meane of no office to wrong her Countrey but the tender care of a mother in behalfe of her well-educated progeny to which the world no sooner gives entertainment than shee begins to enable them for their advancement Markets shee seldome visits nor any place of freer Concourse for shee findes when her eyes are abroad her thoughts are estrang'd from home Would you take a fuller view of her Draw nearer Observe her even in these which some of her sexe esteeme least with how generous a beauty shee adornes her selfe most APPARELL shee weares and sighes when shee remembers her Sexe She wonders how that fig-leafe Habit should bee so strangely altered How this Ensigne of originall sinne should bee so quaintly slasht and indented What paines sinne takes to display her shame Her garment is of another cut Though shee cannot rectifie this broad-spreading malady the corruption of this age must not draw her to that vanity Shee knowes the use of APPARELL which shee would bee loath to invert Ordain'd it was to keepe in naturall heat and to keepe out cold this shee observes with a gracefull presence making this her Impreze Comely nâ—t Gaudy BEHAVIOUR shee sets out with a civill expression without much art or affectation There is nothing which doth not infinitely become her In places of resort shee is so highly admir'd as those which observe her could bee well content to serve her She is generous in all Not a Look but gives Life to Love and that so vertuously dispos'd as not a light thought can distract it Her very motion is a moving direction Shee never learned to tinkle with her feet to wander with her eyes to staine her spotlesse honour with a painted blush All shee doth is her owne All her owne doth incomparably please which shee clozeth with this impreze Loving Modesty is a Living Beauty COMPLEMENT shee admits but not that which this Age affects shee preferres Substance before meere Formality Pith before the Rinde Performance before Ceremony Shee distastes nothing so much as that Court fustian which in her eâ—teeme is quite out of fashion your Servants Servant Shee cannot protest in jest nor professe what shee meanes not in earnest Shee cares not for this Rhetoricall varnish it makes a good cause suspitious her desire is to expresse her selfe in action more than discourse That COMPLEMENT which consists in congies cringies and salutes dis-rellisheth her palate most it tastes too much of the Caske for the rest shee is secure so her actions bee really pure her selfe completely honest Thus shee summes up her dayes makes vertue her praise this her Impreze Civill Complement my best Accomplishment DECENCY is her native Livery though shee make no shadow of it her owne shadow is not more individuate In her attire shee is not so sumptuous as seemely not so costly as comely in her discourse shee delivers her mind not so amply as fully nor so quickly as freely in her whole course shee expresseth her inward beauty Her Glasse is not halfe so usefull to her selfe as the glasse of her life is to others Whatsoever is worne by her receives a singular grace from her Her fashion is never out of request though more constant in it than the Age would admit Shee lives to bring time into some better tâ—â—e this is her taske in every place this is that which crownes her with peace while shee deviseth this for her impreze Virgin-Decency is Vertues Livery ESTIMATION is that precious odour which gives sweetnesse to her honour Dye had shee rather with it than enjoy an Empire and live without it It is the Goale of all her Actions The Crowne of all her Labours Poverty shee holds an incomparable blessing so her name bee inriched by ESTIMATION No lead Fly can corrupt that Ointment Happy needs must be her State that preserves this without Staine This shee feeds not with the juyce of vain-glory nor seeks to augment it with a fabulous story Many have purchas'd praise in Oylie lines that never merited applause all their lives Her desire is to be rather than seeme lest seeming to bee what shee is not shee gull the world but her selfe most by playing the counterfeit Resolute is shee in this her Impreze My prize is her owne prayse FANCY she entertaines with a cheerefull but chaste bosome Though Love be blind her love has eyes No lesse faithfull is shee in reteining than doubtfull in entertaining Protests are dangerous Lures to credulous Lovers but her FANCY is too staid
of filiall duty and to performe them with all alacrity Besides doe Children desire a blessing The Honour which they render unto their Parents is confirâ—ed with a promise Nor is any Commandement ratified with a stronger Assumpsit Length of dayes is promised which implyes an abridgement of time to such as neglect it Nay that I may presse this Argument a little further by recounting those benefits which arise from parentall honour wee shall generally observe how that dis-regard to obedience which Children shew towards their Parents â—s fully requited by the Disobedience of their Children when they come to be Parents For what more may you expect from yours then what you tendered unto yours You may collect hence what singular blessings are from Obedience derived Againe what discomforts even to Posterity are from disobedience occasioned The one proposeth a long life the other implyeth a short life The one conferrs a comfort on us in our posterity the other a myriad of afflictions in our progeny Nor can that Child be of â—a ingenuous nature who with a free and uncoacted embrace addresseth not his best endeavours to advance this Honour Let him but respect upon his parents tendernesse and hee cannot chuse but highly taxe himselfe of unthankefulnesse should hee suffer the neglect of one houre in returning the obedientiall sacrifice of a Child to his Father Neither is any time to be exempted from so pious a taske For as their tender and vigilant eye has beene from infancy to yeeres of more maturity ever intentively fixed that their hopes might be improved and their comforts â—n that improvement numerously augmented so ought it to be the delightful'st study to their posterity to crown their Parents white hairs with comfort and in imitation of that veâ—tuous Corinthian to recollect themselves by considering what might give their Parents most content and with all cheerfulnesse to performe that for them even after their death which they conceived could not chuse but content them in their life Alas so indulgent are most Parents and so easily contented as the very least offices of duty performed by their Children transport them above comparison When Children in Obedience play their part They drop young blood into an aged heart Nay I may truly affirme of this precious plant of filiall Obedience what our ancient Poets sometimes wrote of that Aesonian herbe or what the ever living Homer reported of his Moli that it has power to restore nature and beget an amiable complexion in the Professor For a good life attracts to the countenance sayes the Ethick expressive Characters of love Now should you more curiously then necessarily enquire after the extent of this Obedience as wherein it is to be exercised and to what bounds confined take this for a positive Rule that in whatsoever shall not be repugnant to the expresse will of God there is required this Observance yea even in matters of indifference it is farre safer to oppose your owne wils then distaste your Parents It was an excellent saying of Saint Gregory Hee that would not offend in things unlawfull must oft abridge himselfe in things lawfull The way to infuse more native heat in this Obedience is to shew an alacrity of obeying even in Subjects of indifference for a remissenesse in these cannot but argue a probable coolenesse in those of higher consequence And as the command of a discreet Father will injoyne his Child nothing but what may comply equally with piety and reason so will a dutifull Child submit himselfe to his Fathers command without the least unbeseeming debate or expostulation Thus from these Premisses may wee draw this infallible Conclusion Would you enjoy length of dayes glad houres or a succeeding comfort in yours Answer their aged hopes who have treasured their provisionall cares for you bring not their silver haires with sorrow to their Grave but returne them such arguments of proficience in every promising Grace that your sincere and unfeigned Obedience may not be only a surviving comfort to your Parents but a continuall Feast to your owne Conscience Neither are you to performe these offices of Obedience with a regardlesse affection or without due Reverence For as God would have those who are Labourers in his Vineyard to doe their worke with cheerefulnesse so is it his will that naturall Children returne all offices of duty and filiall Obedience with humility and reverence Age is a crowne of glory when it is found in the way of righteousnesse And this closeth well with that saying of the Preacher The crowne of old men is to have much experience and the feare of God is their glory But admit they were such whom native Obedience injoynes you to reverence as the nearer to their Grave the further from knowledge the nearer to earth the more glued to earth yet for all this in lawfull things are you not to alien your thoughts of obedience from them but as you derived your being from them so with a sensible compassion of their infirmities with the veile of piety to cover their nakednesse It is true indeed what that sententious Morall sometimes observed There is no sight more unseemely then an old man who having lived long reteines no other argument of his age then his yeares This moved Curius Dentatus to conclude so positively that he had rather be dead then live as one dead Neither indeed is age to bee measured by yeares but houres Many are old in yeares who are young in houres Many old in houres who are young in yeares For time is of such unvaluable estimate that if it be not imployed to improvement it becomes a detriment to the Accomptant No object more distastefull said that divine Morall then an Elementary Old-man No subject of discourse more hatefull said witty Petrarch then a d dialecticall Old-man A logicall age howsoever it appeare copious in words it seldome becomes plenteous in workes Free discoursers in Philosophy are oft the slowest proficients in the practick part of Philosophy Whereas it is better to be a Truant at Schoole then in the practise of life For as it is better to know little and practise much then to know much and practise little So it is a more usefull knowledge to learne the art of living then of learning For many with their learning have gone into Hell whereas none were they never so simple but by living well have gained Heaven It is an excellent Caution indeed and well deserving our deepe Impression If thou hast gathered nothing in thy youth what canst thou find in thine age Put sufficient it is not to gather but to make use of that experimentall treasure Medicines deposited afford small benefit to the Patient nor are Talents to bee buried nor our Lights under a bushell shrouded Knowledge cannot be usefully active unlesse it be communicative Howsoever then Age in respect of her ancient livery with those aged Emblemes of her antiquity exact