c 2 Sam. 15.6 stole the hearts of the people of Israel from his father Divers other qualities might be produced which abstract Love from others but these shall serve for this time Sixthly The effects of Love are either Good or Bad according to the end of it for if the end of mens Love be Good the effects of it are always comfortable but if the end of their Love is to satisfie their lust it is always destructive and fatall and so proved the love of d Gen. 34.2 Sechem to Dinah and the love e 2 Sam. 13.14 28. Homers Illiades Livius Decade 1. lib. 2. of Amnon to his sister Tamar and the rape of Helen by Paris was the cause of the ruine of Troy the Rape of Lucretia by Tarquinus was the cause that Rome from a Monarchy fell into a Democracy the violence committed by the f Judg. 19.25 Gibeathites to the Levit's Concubine was the cause of the death of fourty thousand Israelites and almost of the utter ruine of the whole Tribe of Benjamin and the love of Antonius to Cleopatra was the cause of their lamentable end but sith a volume would not contain all the examples that might be produced of the evil effects of lust varnished over with the name of Love I will now speak of the effects of true Love first See Plutarch in the two young Graccus lives The love of Tiberius Graccus towards his vertuous wife Cornelia was such as he slew the male Serpeut and spared the femall on purpose that he might save her life by the loss of his own secondly The love of Antonio Perez's wife to him was such as she ventured her own life to save his See the Spainsh History in the raign of Philip the second thirdly The love of Portia daughter to famous Cato and wife to Martius Brutus was so vehement and passionate that being informed of his death at the battell of Philippi See Bâ—utus life in Appian she smothered her self by casting a handful of burning coles into her mouth fourthly The love of Artemisa Queen of Caria towards her beloved husband Mausolus was so violent that being dead See Plutarchs Morals it could not suffer his body to have any other grave then her own bowels for she caused the same to be burned and drank a portion of his ashes at every meal in commemoration of their constant love See the Italian History fifthly The love of an Italian Gentleman to his betrothed Mistress is to be commended for hearing she had been taken at sea by some Pirats of Tunis and sold for a Slave he went over into Africa and redeemed her with an incredible sum of money sixthly The incredible love and fidelity of Damon and Pythias two Sicilian Noble men is to be admired for Dionysius the Elder King or Tyrant of Syracuse having upon some jealousie of state caused Damon to be cast into prison and to be condemned to death Damon presented a petition unto him desiring to have leave for eight days to go into the Countrey to set his houshold in order See old Dionisius life promising to return Dionysius granted the same upon this condition that some other Noble man of his means and degree should bail him body for body and life for life and should remain in durance untill the day appointed for his return Pythias his intimate friend bailed him of his free accord and yeelds himself prisoner in Damons stead but the day being come and almost the hour appointed at hand and Damon not appearing Dionysius began to deride Pythias for his credulity of the constancy of his friend yet before the hour went out Damon came in and presented himself to the King desiring his friend might be discharged at whose love fidelity and constancy Dionysius was so astonished that he set them both at liberty and required to be accepted for the third of their society yet all these admirable effects of Love are as much inferior to the Love of God towards man as the finite is inferior to the infinite as it will appear by the insuing Discourse Seventhly The Love of God towards men is altogether incomprehensible as it will appear by these expressions of the blessed Spirit For God saith St. Iohn g Ioh. 3.6 so loved the world that he gave his onely begotten Son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have eternal life and Christ saith himself h Ioh. 10.10 That he is the good Shepherd who hath given his life for his sheep And St. Iohn saith i 1 Ioh 4 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 Beloved let us love one another for love cometh of God and every man that loveth is born of God he that loveth not knoweth not God for God is Love In this was manifested the love of God towards us because that God sent his onely begotten Son into the world that we might live through him Herein is love not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins Beloved if God so loved us we ought also to love one another no man hath seen God at any time if we love one another God dwelleth in us and his love is perfected in us hereby know we that we dwell in him and he in us because he hath given us of his spirit And we have seen and do testify that the Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world These words of St. Iohn and divers others to the later end of this Chapter do confirm the Point that Gods Love is the Adamant stone that draweth our love to him and that we cannot of our selves love him before he be pleased to love us Eighthly As for the love of man towards God it comes infinitely short of Gods love towards them for if any love God it is a gift of his free grace and God hath loved his elect before the creation of the world and St. Paul a Rom. 9.13 doth give us a clear instance for it Rom. 9.13 For God saith he loved Jacob and hated Esau from their mothers womb and the heart of b 1 Sam. 13.14 David was framed after Gods own heart and that is the reason why this holy man hath such rare expressions in his Psalms of his unfained love towards God And to confirm the choise and election of Gods faithful ones we have divers instances of it in his Word for Moses c Numb 16.5 was a chosen servant of the Lord as it appears by these words Even him whom he hath chosen will he cause to come near unto him And Aaron d Deut. 18.5 was a chosen servant of the Lord as appears Deut. 18.5 And Cyrus King of Persia e Isai 44.28 was a chosen servant of the Lord to execute his will as it appears Isai 44.28 And St. Paul f Act. 9.15 was a chosen vessel of the Lord as it appears Act 9.15 But
the Lord said unto him Go thy way for he is a chosen vessel unto me to bear my name fore the Gentiles and Kings and the children of Israel Now this incomparable love of God towards St. Paul in converting of him to become from a persecutor one of the greatest instruments of Gods glory that ever was did kindle in his brest such a flame of fervent love towards God g Phil. 1.23 that he often desired to be dissolved and to be with Christ and wished h Rom. 9 3. himself accursed from Christ for the increase of Gods glory confirming our blessed Saviours saying i Luke 7.47 For he loveth much to whom much is forgiven as appeared by Mary Magdalen And the Prophet David k 2 Sam. 12.13 who after the pardon of his two abhorred sins of Adultery and Murder did so fervently love God that all his delight was to meditate l Psal 1.1 2. day and night in his Law and to magnifie his love towards him m Psal 18.1 Psal 116.12 as it appears in the 18. Psaim ver 1. I will love thee O Lord my strength and in Psal 116. ver 1. I love the Lord because he hath heard my voyce and my supplications because he hath enclined his ear unto me therefore will I call upon him as long as I live To conclude Carnal love is but vanity and vexation of spirit but the love of God towards man and the love of man towards God doth fill their hearts with joy and comfort for t in this life and will crown their soul with eternal glory in the life to come CHAP. VII Of the vanity of the passion of Hatred THis Passion is the opposite of Love and yet without Love and it nature could not be perfect nor the world subsist for if the divine Providence were not pleased to make use of the Natural aversion that is between the Elements this universal Fabrick of the World would soon return to its first Chaos And without this passion of Hatred men might justly complain of Nature to have onely given them an inclination to pursue the good and not an aversion to eschew the evil Divers men conceive this passion to be the greatest Antagonist of mankinde and repute it as a Monster in Nature but it is out of ignorance and for want of divine knowledg for all the handy works of God were created perfectly good as the blessed Spirit doth confirm it by these words And God saw every thing that he had made a Gen. 1.31 and behold it was very good but since the fall and disobedience of Adam men have abused the good that was in the creatures and by a pernitious transmutation have made those which were created for their good to be the Agents of their corrupt inclinations And would they make use of Hatred for the end it was created they would finde it a most useful passion for the propagation of a godly life as it will appear at the end of this Chapter but for the better description of this passion I intreate the Reader to observe these insuing particulars as they are set in order 1. The definition of Hatred 2. How many sorts there are 3. The Causes of it 4. Who are most addicted to it 5. The nature and bad effects of it 6. The use that may be made of it First for the better description of the nature of this passion I will set down divers definitions of it according to the different opinions of the best Authors Hatred is an aversion and a detestation or horror that men have against all such things as they conceive in their imagination to be contrary to their good and opposite to their content The Bishop of Marseilles pag. 175. Or Hatred is a detestation or horror of the sensitive appetite against such things as it conceives to be hurtful and distastful to the Senses and to its content or destructive to its Beeing even as the Hatred or antipathy there is naturally between the Sheep and the Woolf. As Love saith another is a certain sympathy of the Sensitive appetite with such things as are sutable and convenient to Nature even so Hatred is an antipathy of the Sensitive appetite against such things as are distastful to the Senses or contrary to mens good or destructive to their Beeing And as Love is of two sorts viz. The first True Love and Amity Theophrast Boju in his Commentaries upon Aristotles Phys called the love of Friendship Secondly Vicious Love called Lust so there is two sorts of Hatred viz. The hatred of Detestation or Horror secondly the hatred of Enmity the last being far inferior to the former for to detest and abhor is the highest degree of Hatred Senault saith That Hatred is nothing else but a meer aversion in us from whatsoever is contrary unto us or an antipathy of our appetite to a subject which displeaseth it Senault pag. 244. all which definitions come neer unto one and the same sense Secondly The Moralists are of opinion there is four sorts of Hatred first The Vegetative secondly The Brute thirdly The Melancholick fourthly the Humane but the Divines add to these four the Spiritual Hatred of which I shall speak towards the later end of this Chapter first The Vegetative is apparent in the Plants as between the Cabbage and the Vine and between the Oak and the Ivy secondly The Brute is to be seen between the Sheep and the Woolf between the Cock and the Lyon and between the Basilisk the Panther and Mankinde See Plinius in his Natural History for the Naturalists say That if a man see a Basilisk that the Basilisk dies by the glance of his eyes but if the Basilisk see the man first he falls down dead And it is Recorded that the Panther doth so detest and abhor man out of a natural hatred that the Hunters that seek after him do commonly set the Picture of a man against an Oak and behinde it their snares to catch him for he hath no sooner discovered this Picture but with a fierce violence he runs towards it and so is insnared and taken thirdly The Melancholick Hatred is not naturall but accidental for it doth proceede from an Adust or burned Choler residing in the blood but specially in the Mesentery veines who cast ill and virulent vapors up to the brain that begets Chimaeraes and strange phansies that makes men sometimes abhor their Parents nay their Wives and children and this Melancholy begets such a hatred in Timon the Athenian against mankinde See Plutarch in his Morals that he caused Gibbets to be erected and set up in his Garden and proclaimed through the streets of the City That whosoever would come and hang themselves they might fourthly The Humane and Natural Hatred proceeds from an antipathy of Affections that is between some men and between men and women as the extraordinary antipathy which was between the affections of Mark Antonius See
unto him why speakest thou any more of this matter I have said Thou and Ziba divide the Land 2. Wrath begets contention and strife betwixt the cheifest vessels of grace for it wrought such a contention between S. Paul and Barnabas that it made Paul to associate himself with Silas and Barnabas with Mark and so divided one from the other these two famous Instruments of the propagation of the glory of God 3. Wrath enticeth men to cruelty and is often the cause of the ruine and desolation of great and Populous Cities The Emperor Frederick was so transported with wrath by an Affront done by the People of Milan to the Empresse his wife that he caused his Army to sack the City of Milan and to put all the Inhabitants of it to the Sword See the Fcclesiastical history and afterwards to burn the same to the ground And the Duke Charls of Burgundy moved to wrath by an injury done to himself by the Citizens of Dinan See Philip de Commines caused all the Inhabitants to be slain by the Sword and the City to be burned to ashes salt to be sown in the fields of it to make them for ever barren 4. When men are transported with Wrath they have no regard to Father Mother nor Brethren Gen. 4.8 Cain slew his Brother Abel Nero his Mother and Selymus poysoned his Father out of wrath proceeding from ambition So that Wrath is the cause of much Blooshed and unparalleld Evils Miseries and Desolations The good effects of Wrath are these 1. It makes Cowards to become valiant The good Effects of Wrath. for the greatest Coward in the World being transported with Wrath becomes as bold as a Lyon 2. Wrath inciteth Christians to a Godly Indignation when they see the Worship and Glory of God abused and this is the onely commendable effect of Wrath for the which Phineas the Son of Eleazar the Son of Aaron the high Priest obtained this following Blessing of the Lord for having slain Zimri and Cozbi in his wrath proceeding from a fervent Zeal to Gods glory Wherefore the Lord said Behold I give unto him my Covenant of Peace And he shall have it Numb 25.12 13. and his Seed after him even the Covenant of an everlasting Preisthood because he was zealous for his God and made an attonement for the children of Israel 3. The moderate Anger and Wrath of Parents towards their Children and of Masters towards their Servants is oftentimes of great use to keep them in due obedience and to make them more diligent in the performance of their duty 4. The Wrath of God is of great use to bring Impenitent Sinners to repentance For when they hear that his Wrath burns like fire Psal 89.46 and that it is like a whirlwind which turneth upside down the highest mountains it makes them put their hands upon their brests and acknowledge with the penitent Publican Luke 18.10 that they are not worthy to look up to heaven And I am perswaded considering the perverse inclinations of men that more are converted by the apprehension of his Wrath then by the gracious invitations of his Love are Promises yet happy and blessed are they who are drawn near him by his incomprehensible Love in Christ Jesus towards them and that fear more to displease him out of a sincere and filial Love unto him then out of a servile apprehension of his Wrath. To conclude it appears by the Nature Proprieties and Effects of Wrath that it is a passion above all others that men should most endevor to subdue and keep subordinate to Reason And to that end observe these ensuing Remedies that are to be used to hinder this stubborn Passion to obtain the Mastery over Men. Fifthly The Remedies to curb and keep under subjection this ragefull and furious Passion of Wrath may be reduced to these Four heads 1. Four Remedies against the venom of Wrath. Humility 2. Patience 3. Prudence 4. Charity For the First Humility is an excellent Remedy to asswage the fiery rage of Wrath Prov. 15.1 For as Solomon saith A soft Answer turneth away Wrath but grievous words stir up Anger And as fire goeth out of it self if it be not nourished by some Combustible matter so Wrath will vanish into smoak if it be not fomented and encreased by ill Language or by insolent Postures and Misdemeanors Abigail by her humble gesture and gentle speech did suddenly pacify the fiery Wrath of David that had been kindled by the churlishness of Nabal 1 Sam. 25.22 24. and prevented the execution of the rash Decree that David had pronounced against Nabal and all his Family Nay Humility is so powerfull and acceptable to God that it is able to appease his Wrath as it appears by Gods gracious and mercifull Carriage towards King David himself after the commission of the two abhorred sins of Adultery and Murder for he had no sooner acknowledged his sin with an unfained Humility 2. Sam. 12.13 but God was pleased to pardon him the guilt although he inflicted a heavy Punishment upon his Family for it For the Second Patience is an approved Remedy to appease the rage of Wrath as it appears by the Counsel that Athenodorus gave to his Pupill Augustus Caesar whom he knew naturally addicted to Wrath. At the first motion of this Passion said he to him See Sueton. in August life You must endevor to crush this Cockatrice in the shell but if it cannot be break the fury of it by Patience And before you decree any thing in your Anger count upon your fingers ends the four and twenty Letters of the Greek Alphabet For by this small intermission of time your Reason and Judgement will come to it self again that hath been perverted by the fury of this Passion of Wrath. It is Recorded that Plato upon the Relation of an unpleasant Message was something moved with Wrath whereupon he rose from his seat to fetch his staff But another Philosopher seeing it said unto him It is unseemly for you Plato to be thus moved with Wrath as to fetch your staff to beat a Messenger See Plutarch in his Mor. You are deceived said he It was to burb and beat mine own Wrath that began to be Master over my Reason Thirdly Prudence is a soveraign Remedy against Wrath For Solomon saith He that is slow to Wrath Prov. 14.28 is of great understanding but he that is hasty of spirit exalteth folly Whereby it appears that such as are apt to be transported with immoderate Wrath are like fools or mad men and that there is none truly wise but such as can pacify their Wrath. And that was the reason why Socrates was judged by the Oracle of Apollo to be the wisest man of all the Greeks See Plutar in his Mor. in his Treatise against Wrath. because he could not be moved to Wrath for had not he been patient and prudent he and his wife had