industrie of art For here the natural Apelles painteth as well within as without and Phydias is no lesse curious in polishing the entralles and partes withholden from the viewe then in garnishing the outward apparance and shew of his frame and which is yet more here the crafts man entreth him selfe into all the parts of the worke and neuer would relinquish the same Although we place the spirit and body in the third kind of instruments yet is there great oddes betwixt these two For the spirit answereth at full all the organicall actions of the soule hath in it no distinction of members the body is of more particular vses compounded of sundry parts ech of them framed of peculiar duties as the mind and spirit employeth them The spirit is quicke nimble and of maruelous celeritie of motion the body slow dull and giuen to rest of it selfe the spirit the verie hand of the soule the body bodily members like flailes sawes or axes in the hand of him that vseth them For as we see God hath geuen vs reason for all particular faculties and hand for all instruments of pleasure of necessitie of offence of defence that thereby although man be borne without couering without teeth without hoofe or horne only with tender nailes and those neither in fashion nor temper fit for fight yet he clotheth him selfe both against the tempest warme against force of weapon with coate of steele and maketh vnto him selfe weapons of warre no tush no horne no hoofe no snout of elephant in force comparable thereunto so the spirits of our bodies and this hand of our souls though it be but one yet handleth it all the instruments of our body and it being light subtile and yeelding yet forceth it the heauiest grossest hardest parts of our bodies chewing with the teeth and striking with the fist bearing downe with the thrust of shoulder the resistance of that which standeth firme and containing alone the force of all the members seeth with the eye heareth with the eares vnderstandeth organically with the braine distributeth life with the hart and nourishment with the liuer and whatsoeuer other bodely action is practised This hand is applied to the grosse instrument and the effect brought to passe yet not absolutely of it selfe but by impulsiō of the mind which is placed the only agent absolute and soueraigne not onely in respect of commaunding but also offacultie execution This place then beareth the spirits among the instruments and as the soule is one and indued with one only facultie so the spirit is also one and embraceth that one faculty and distributeth it among the corporall members as euerie one according to his diuerse temper or frame or both ioyntly together is meete this way or that way to be employed yet so that by degrees and diuerse dispensations it is communicated from the principall and chiefe partes with the rest As first life and vitall spirit from the hart to the rest by arteries nourishment and growth from the liuer by vaines sense and motion from the brayne by nerues not confusedly and by equall portions administred to all alike but by such geometrical proportion as iustice requireth and is necessary for the office of euerie part Thus you see what nature the spirit is of and to what vse it serueth in our nature and of what sort of instrument it is to be accompted The corporall part and mébers because their seruices be many are distinct into diuersitie of shapes and tempers to answer all turnes wherof some be more generall and beare as it were office ouer the rest as the heart is most generall and extendeth it selfe to all the parts with this prerogatiue aboue the liuer that a part may liue for a time and not be nourished nether yet cā any part be nourished without life This rule it exerciseth by the ministery of his arteries extended in branches throughout the bodie and scattering the spirit of life throughout Next the hart in vse and office towardes other members the liuer obtaineth the second place by whose vertue through the operation of the soule and that spirituall hand nourishment and preparation of aliment is perfourmed in all the parts vpon whom attendeth the stomach the rest of the entralls vnder the midriffe The third place is allotted to the braine which by his sense and motion guideth and directeth the partes maintained with life and nourishment his sense is of two sorts and so his motion both inward outward The inward sense thinketh imagineth and remembreth and is practised with that peculiar temper and frame which the braine hath proper as also his internall motion not much vnlike the panting of the hart The outward sense and motion of sinewes is deriued from it into all parts that require sense or mouing The other parts subiect to these three principall and their ministers serue their owne turnes only and are of priuate condition except the soule command a voluntarie or mixed action as to walke to go c. or to take breath giue passage of stoole or vrine CHAP. XIII How the soule by one simple facultie performeth so many and diuerse actions THvs haue you these partes and organicall vses distinct and if it seeme yet difficult vnto you to conceaue how one simple faculty can discharge such multiplicitie of actions way with me a litle by a comparison of similitude the truth of this point accordingly accept it We see it euident in automaticall instrumentes as clockes watches and larums howe one right and straight motion through the aptnesse of the first wheele not only causeth circular motion in the same but in diuerse others also and not only so but distinct in pace and time of motion some wheeles passing swifter then other some by diuerse rases nowe to these deuises some other instrument added as hammer and bell not only another right motion springeth therof as the stroke of the hammer but sound also oft repeated and deliuered it at certaine times by equall pauses and that either larume or houres according as the partes of the clocke are framed To these if yet moreouer a directorie hand be added this first and simple and right motion by weight or straine shall seeme not only to be author of deliberate sound to counterfet voyce but also to point with the finger as much as it hath declared by sound Besides these we see yet a third motion with reciprocation in the ballāce of the clocke So many actions diuerse in kinde rise from one simple first motion by reason of variety of ioynts in one engine If to these you adde what wit can deuise you may finde all the motion of heauen with his planets counterfetted in a small modill with distinction of time season as in the course of the heauenly bodies And this appeareth in such sorte as carie their motion within them selues In water workes I haue seene a mill driuen with the winde which hath both serued for grist
cōdition nothing that proceedeth from God in such special manner as the soule did can be subiect vnto Againe we see this spirit maintained and nourished by the vse of earthly creatures and is either plentifull or scanteth as it hath want or abundance of such corporall nourishment Now to drawe the originall ofspring of the spirite of man from God were in a maner to drawe from him the spirit of all other things wherewith that of man is releeued which can not be accompted to flowe from that breathing of God both seeing the Scripture pronounceth it as peculiar to the soule of man and otherwise should they be not inferiour in that respect to the soules of men which by nature are set vnder his feete and in all respects are farre inferiour vnto him that I mentiō not too nigh approching the maiestie of God which without impaire thereof admitteth not so nigh the accesse of the nature of inferiour creatures honoring mankind therwith only of all his visible workes Thus then as I take it both the spirite had his first beginning and is of such nature as I haue declared and serueth for these vses I know commonly there are accompted three spirits animall vitall and naturall but these are in deede rather distinctiōs of diuerse offices of one spirit then diuersity of nature For as well might they make as many as there be seuerall parts and offices in the bodie which were both false superfluous Next ensueth the nature of the bodie and his seuerall instruments with their vses which my purpose is here so farre to touch as it concerneth the vnderstanding of that ensueth of my discourse leauing the large handling thereof to that most excellent hymne of Galen Touching the vse of the parts the bodie being of substance grosse earthy resembleth the matter whereof it was made and is distinct into diuerse members and diuerse parts for seuerall vses required partly of nature and partly of the humane societie of life whereupon the braine is the chiefe instrument of sense and motion which it deriueth by the spirit before mentioned into all the partes of the bodie as also of thoughtes and cogitations perfourmed by common sense and fantasie and storing vp as it were that which it hath conceaued in the chest of memorie all which the braine it selfe with farther communication exerciseth alone The hart is the seate of life and of affections and perturbations of loue or hate like or dislike of such thinges as fall within compasse of sense either outward or inward in effect or imagination onely The liuer the instrument of nourishment groweth is serued of the stomach by appetite of meats and drinkes and of other parts with lust of propagation as the hart by arteries conueigheth life to all partes of the bodie so the liuer by vaines distributeth her faculties to euery member thereby the body enioying nourishment increase serued with naturall appetite whereby ech part satisfieth it selfe with that which therto is most agreable And these actions are bodily performed of the soule by employing that excellent and catholicke instrument of spirit to the mechanicall workes of the grosse and earthy partes of our bodies Thus then the whole nature of man being compounded of two extremities the soule and the bodie and of the meane of spirits the soule receaueth no other annoyance by the bodie then the craftes man by his instrument with no impeach or impaire of cunning but an hinderance of exercising the excellent partes of his skill either when the instrument is altogether vnapt and serueth for no vse or in part only fit wherby actions and effects are wrought much inferiour to the faculty of the worker as the instrument is of more particular vse so is the soule the lesse impeached and as more generall so yet more hindered both from varietie and perfection of actiō as the hart more then the liuer and the liuer more then the braine the stomach more then the rest of the entrailles and all publicke parts more then priuate of which sort the spirit being disordered either in temper or lessened in quātitie or entermixed with straunge vapours and spirits most of all worketh annoyance and disgraceth the worke and crosseth the soules absolute intention as shall more particularly appeare in the processe of my discourse which that it may yeeld vnto you full aunswer of such doubts as may arise vnto you and make question of the truth of this point I will my self set downe such obiections as may encounter the credit thereof and aunswer them I hope to your satisfying CHAP. XI Obiections against the former sentence touching the maner how the soule is affected of the bodie with answer thereto THE obiections which seeme to enforce vpō the body farther power ouer the soule then to withstand the organicall actions are such as are taken from the dispositiō of our bodies both in health and in sicknesse In health we see how the minde altereth in apparance not onely in action but also in facultie both in that some faculties spring vp which before were not and those through occasions of chaunge of the body either more perfect then otherwise they haue bene or would be This appeareth in age and in diuerse order of diet and custome of sensuall sensible things First touching age and yeares we see in childhoode howe childish the minde beareth it selfe in facultie incomparable to that which afterward it sheweth as the vnderstanding dull the wit of blunter conceipt memorie slipperie and iudgement scarse appeareth The body growing vp and attaining at length the height of his increase all these giftes more and more growe vp therewith and euen as the bodie get maturitie and strength which is the perfection in their kind Againe the bodie passing the point of his vigor and virilitie of age turneth all the wits and sage counsels into more then childish doring by which alterations and chaunges in apparance the mind both suffereth detriment and againe receaueth greater ability of facultie Neither is this only brought to passe through processe of years but also it may seeme that certaine faculties which before were not at a season of age put forth and aduaunce them selues which before gaue no countenaunce of shewe and except we shall make nature keepe idle holy day in them were not at all as the facultie of propagation of all naturall sorts one of the chiefest which if we say it slept as it were in the mind or waited a day it should seeme verie ridiculous that nature should be furnished so many yeares with a facultie which it should put in practise so long after especially considering how particular faculties attend onely vpon single and particular vses and haue no-other employing If it were not before then either should the mind be imperfect at the first wanting some part of the furniture or else should it seeme to rise of the temper of the bodie either of which attribute more vnto the bodie then of right
to be accōpted These two pointes being sufficiently proued establish euidently the simple and vniforme faculties of the soule For hereby it is most manifest that by reason of the simple nature thereof it cannot beare any mixture or be support of diuerse thinges neither that diuerse will so neighbour it together as to dwell in one indiuiduall subiect Then seing that they which of al the disagreers least disagree will not so nighly be linked neither can any diuersity of faculty in the minde in a nature so simple and impartible be coupled together where ther is no disagreemēt of substance nor dissent of mixture but euery parte like the whole and ech like other Againe these pluralities being essentiall can be but one seing essence is not many and nature alwayes farre vnlike the sword of Delphos which serued for diuerse vses euer employeth one to one and not to many otherwise wāt should enforce her which she abounding with sufficiency refuseth in all her actions Moreouer being in euery part like it selfe and ech parte like other no dissimilitude can arise by distinction of faculty Accidentall if they be then is the minde in daunger of loosing all faculty which it cannot do seing it is subiect to no force but of God himselfe that made it Now whatsoeuer naturall faculty in any thing fadeth it is by reason the thing first fadeth which enioyeth that faculty else would they alwayes continue wherefore the minde being euerlasting and exempt from chaunge and corruption her faculty is also essentiall and of like perpetuity I neede not yeeld reason why contrary faculties or such as we call disparates in logicke can haue no roome in a nature so simple as the soule is both in respect of the repugnance within themselues and vnitie of the subiect seing such as are diuerse only refuse that cohabitation and neighbourhood Thus much shal suffice to proue the simple faculty of the soule it followeth to proue the spirite and body to be wholly organicall by organicall I meane a disposition aptnes only without any free worke or action otherwise then at the mindes commādement else should there be mo beginninges causes of action then one in one nature which popularity of administratiō nature will none of nor yet with any holygarcicall or mixt but commandeth only by one souerainty the rest being vassals at the beck of the soueraigne commander The kindes of instruments are of two sorts the one dead in it selfe and destitute of all motion as a saw before it be moued of the workman and a ship before it be stirred with winde and hoised of saile the other sorte is liuely and carrieth in it selfe aptnes and disposition of motiō as the hound to hunt with and the hauke to fowle with both caried with hope of pray the hand to moue at our pleasure and to vse any other kinde of instrument or toole The second sort of these twaine is also to be distinguished in twaine whereof the one obtaineth power in it selfe and requireth derection only as the beast and fowle aboue mentioned and the other not only direction but impulsion also from an inward vertue and forcible power as the motion of the hand and the variety of the hand actions do most euidently declare Of these three kinds of instruments I place the spirit and bodie both to the mind as the saw or axe in the workmans hand or to the lute touched of the Musician according to the sundry qualities conditions of the instruments of the body in the thirde sort but so as the spirit in comparison of the bodie fareth as the hand to the dead instrumentes Of the first sort they are not because they partake of life of the second they may not be because of them selues they haue no impulsion as it appeareth euidently in animall and voluntarie actions and although more obscurely to be seene in such as be called naturall For the spirit being either withdrawne from the outwarde parts by vehement passiō of griefe or ouer prodigally scattered by ioy or wasted by paine the outward partes not only faile in their sense and motion but euen nourishment growth therby are hindered and contrarily though the spirit be present except the part be also well disposed not only feeling is impaired such actions as require sense and motion but also concoction and nourishment Againe the spirit it self without impulsion of minde lieth idle in the bodie This appeareth in animall actions more plainly as the mind imploying vehemently the spirit an other way we neither see that is set before our eyes nor heare nor feele that which otherwise with delight or displeasure would vehemently affect vs. In naturall actions and parts it is more obscure either because the spirit can not be altogether so separated by the order of nature being rooted so in the part or because the verie presence of the soule in an organicall bodie without further facultie or action carieth the life withal and is not subiect to arbitrement and will as the royall estate of a Prince moueth silence reuerence and expectation although there be no charge or commaundement therof giuen nor such purpose of presence so life lieth rather in the essence or substance of the soule giuing it to a fit organed body rather then by any such facultie resident therein except we may thinke that lesse portion of spirit serueth for life onely then for life sense and motion so the parts contented with smaller prouision thereof are entertained with life though sense and mouing require more plenty But howsoeuer this be obscure in naturall actions the mind transporting the spirits another way by sudden conceit study or passion yet most certaine it is if it holde on long and release not the nourishment will also faile the increase of the body diminish and the flower of beautie fade and finally death take his fatall hold which commeth to passe not onely by expence of spirit but by leauing destitute the parts whereby declining to decay they become at length vnmeete for the entertainement of so noble an inhabitant as is the soule of stocke diuine of immortall perpetuity and exempt from all corruption Then seeing neither body nor spirit are admitted in the first or second sort of instruments they fall to the third kinde which being liuely or at the least apt for life require direction and also foreine impulsion foraine in respect of them selues destitute of facultie otherwise then disposition but inward and domesticall in that it proceedeth from a naturall power resident in these corporall members which we call the soule not working as ingens by a force voide of skill and cunning in it selfe by a motion giuen by deuise of the Mechenist but farre otherwise indued with science possessed of the mouer as if Architas had bin him selfe within his flying doues Vulcanne within his walking stooles and the mouing engine as it were animated with the minde of the worker therein excelling farre all
whole course of reason is made perfect First that which the greekes cal Sinteresis the ground whereupon the practise of reason consisteth aunswering the proposition in a sillogisme the conscience applying the assumption and of them both the third a certaine trueth concluded these partes the soule doth without instrument of body and neuer faileth therein so farre as the naturall principles lead or outward obiectes be sincerely taken truely reported to the minds consideration From the practises of these ingenerate infallible groūds rise all the knowledge of outward thinges and humane sciences and as a rule being but one ruleth equally gold timber and stone and the ballance peaseth all kinde of waighty things alike so these applied to practises of life wordly busines haue ingendred prudence and circumspection in the conuersation of men and maner of behauiour the morall vertues In the perfection of voluntary actions diuerse artes and sciences and aboue all disposeth it selfe to the worship and adoration of God in some one sort or other the right manner whereof depending vpon his expresse oracles and operation of his spirite aboue nature the want wherof hath caused so many rites and sundry superstitiōs as are and haue bene accompted religion in the world the humaine sense being neither able to deliuer misteries of such diuine quality vnto the minde and those groundes and rules being feebled and crooked in that kinde by the degenerate state of our first parentes So then that wherein children seeme to fayle through age in reason is not that the faculty is vnripe or to seeke but because the exercise thereof through necessity of life is employed in such thinges as sense not being before acquainted with maketh offer therof to the mindes iudgement confused and deliuereth one thing for another or the same not sincerely so the fault is in organicall action and not in ingenerate faculty which organe hath not yet the full disposition of all his partes or mistaketh for want of experience that which it reporteth according to which the minde pronounceth directed by her ingenerate science which both are manifest in tender yeares whose braines are so soked and drowned with naturall moisture that in them the animall instrumentes are most feeble especially such as require vse of the braine it selfe the moistest part of all the body the other actions which stand of a passiue disposition as outward sense being litle or nothing thereby hindered This appeareth plainly in those things which children do distinctly cōprehend which their ingenerate science essentiall to the minde doth clearely and perfectly conceiue and iudge as the auncient as a child knowing the heate of fire will as readely iudge of the perrill as the wisest Senatour of the inroad of a borderer or the politick captaine of the vnequall encoūter with his enimy by place occasion of time or what opportunity so euer hauing felt the heat thereof will as presently iudge the sentence false affirmeth it could as the sharpest witted philosopher the most captious argumēt subtilest Sorites of Stilpo Moreouer we dayly see in children a Preludium as it were draught of the grauest actions that in earnest do afterward fall out in our life only the thing altered wherin the minde is occupied For they will both counterfet the wise counseller the valiant captaine the Maiesty of a prince duety of homage and subiection and giue signification for the most part of that hope in their youth as a modill wherof age afterward maketh full proofe which as it appeareth in all so most notably in the worthy Cyrus of whose education Zenophon writeth Now it also appeareth in children as their organicall partes are tempered more quickely to apprehend euē those childish matters wherewith they busie thēselues or they therewith more or lesse acquainted which both concurred in Cyrus his body being as it should seeme of excellent temper and himselfe sonne of a King at those dayes the great maister of the world as for his education it was nothing else but an acquainting of his minde with those excellent partes of a prince which afterward being at full hability of instrument he put in practise as his gouernment required This called Plato a remembrance only and calling to minde againe of those thinges which the soule by being plunged in this gulfe of the body had forgotten which I so farre otherwise count of as neither do I hold that the soule had euer before any knowledge of these outward thinges and such whereof the senses be motions neither being separated from this corporall society shall haue any knowledge or remembrance of hereafter at least in this maner but only is conuersant in those exercises which require no bodely organ till the resurrection when ioyned to the body againe as after a sleepe it recondeth with fresh memory what it hath done good or euill with conscience excusing or accusing because they rise of sense and sensible obiectes and haue no farther vse then in humane society which such actions do vphold neither carieth it away more then it brought as whereto nothing can be added That then which generally I aunswered touching organical practises peculiar to body and spirite the same doe I apply particularly to the obiection from age and such discretion as it bringeth with it euen that all such are actions depending vpon instrument wherunto the faule whatsoeuer is to be ascribed and not vnto any faculty of the minde which neuer suffereth increase nor decrease or any other kinde of alteration or else vnto want of experience exercise of those things which greater yeares medle with wherein the senses both externall and internall by vse being perfect like as a true looking glasse representeth the countenance to the eye in all pointes as nature hath framed it so offer they the relation true distinct from sensible thinges whereof the minde deliuereth resolution and sentence willeth good thinges and refuseth the contrarie whatsoeuer it seemeth to do otherwise through the inordinate instrumēts the seates of vnruly appetite and disorderly affection far different from that which the minde it selfe willeth entirely free from all perturbation That which I haue answered concerning the animall actions fitteth also the obiection of propagation for such partes haue not as yet their naturall disposition thereunto neither doth the animall partes make such discretion in male and female whereof that appetite ariseth although the sight and countenance and person of eche party be all one neither is any faculty idle at any time the instruments only of sense and motion take refreshing by rest especially so many yeares which must needes ensue if it were a faculty distinct and not rather according to the aptnes of instrument a peculiar exercise only For nature employeth all to the vttermost and giueth neuer ouer except it be more chearefully and strongly to lay hand to the worke againe which to propagation needeth not no vse hauing bene thereof at all before If you say it riseth of an
internall conceite take this withall that the conceite is taken from an external obiect together with a disposed parte thereunto which so soone as it is perfected to the vse the minde being alwayes occupied and in continuall motion employeth that also whereunto naturally it is bent The obiection rising from custome of life in saylers butchers and ploughmē receiueth the same answere For their instruments of action through continuall practise of such artes maketh them in common sense imagination and affection to deliuer thinges vnto the minde after an impure sort alwayes sauouring of their ordinary trade of life This is that putteth of butchers from iuries and iudgemēts of life and death amongest men who although they know there is difference betwixt man and beast the cause of the one and the vse of the other the giltles prisoner and the innocent lamb yet they being accustomed with slaughter the difference is not so sincerely taken and the affection not indifferent in such a case and therefore from such capitall causes they are remoued The mariner as the Europians are more rough bold hardie inconstant thē the Asians through inconstancy of the aire and tempestiousnes of the regions so the incertainty of the weather and stormie seas with custome of daunger maketh them more rough bold and hastie then they which be of other trade of life and their businesse on firme land euery action in respect and comparison of due consideration is either winde tide or tēpest the ancher saile or steirne euery displeasure a storme and euery contentment a calme euen as a man that hath trauelled all the day on horsebacke or sailed on the sea though he be laid on his bed yet keepeth animagination of trauell still his body fairing after a sort as though it were on horsebacke or yet embarked iudgeth not so lightly of rest by reason of the former inured trauell so these men through their kind of life either by false representatiōs of such obiects or imperfect mixed report offer things to the mind otherwise then they are indeed and receiue iudgement of them thereafter whereto their affections answering they take things in farre other part then they shold or the nature of the cause requireth Now the region or habitation being as it were aparant vnto vs ministring breath and foode no maruell if our bodies be affected thereafter so the actions varie as the child of the parentes in one sort or other carieth the resemblaunce the facultie being all one and keeping the same state while the instrumēts stand to such hazard as outward thinges either by region diet custome of life or else whatsoeuer doth threaten and bring vpon vs. Most of all hath region this force not onely in that we feede as the soyle affordeth but because the aire whereof the spirits of our bodies are repaired besides that which riseth of the internall spirit of aliment is continually drunke in vs and passeth into all the secrets of our intrailes stirreth our humours and diuersly affecteth all our organical partes as the aire and soile drie open barren maketh the bodies firme hard and compact and the spirits pure subtile wherby what action soeuer is to be performed of them is more quicke nimble and prompt especially if nourishmēt be proportionall then of people of contrary habitation Of all the former obiections the humors of our bodies seeme most to vrge chalenge interest in disposing of the mind both in respect of those accidents we see persons fall into ouercharged with them as also because commonly the affections of the hart as ioy sadnesse delight displeasure hope feare or whatsoeuer else of them is mixed among the perturbations commonly are all to them ascribed which because it most concerneth the chiefe drift of this discourse of melancholy I will more stand vpon and afford it a more copious answer CHAP. XV. VVhether the perturbations rise of the humour or not THE perturbations are taken commonlie to rise of melancholy choler bloud or fleume so that men of hastie disposition we call cholericke of sad melancholicke of heauie and dull flegmaticke of merie and chearfull sanguine and not onely the common opinion so taketh it but these affections are accompted of the Phisitians for tokens of such cōplexions such humours raigning in the bodie Let vs consider therfore whether the truth be as they hold it perturbations haue no other fountaine thē these humours What these humours are we haue sufficiently declared and how they are ingendred the vse of them is to nourish the parts of the bodie and to repaire the continuall expence therof through trauelles of this life besides that which the naturall heat continually consumeth The perturbations thus moue vs disturbe our counsels disquiet our bodies on this sort First occasion riseth from outward things wherin we either take pleasure or wherewith we are offended this obiect is caried to the internall senses from the outward which if it be a matter sensuall onely the minde vseth to impart it to the hart by the organicall internall senses which with ioy embraceth it or with indignation and mislike refuseth it if of such points as it selfe liketh without their helpe it giueth knowledge thereof to the hart by the spirits which either embraceth the same impelled by the minds willing or reiecteth it with mislike and hatred according to her nilling But before I proceed further in this Chapter it shall be necessarie to declare vnto you all the sortes of perturbations which being distinguished vnto classes or proper families shall deliuer great light vnto vs both in laying open their natures and also compared with the nature of the humours make more cleare demonstration what likelihoode they carie to be effects of such causes as the humours are All perturbations are either simple or cōpounded of the simple Simple are such as haue no mixture of any other perturbation and those are either primitiue and first or deriuatiue and drawne from them The primitiues haue like or dislike properties vnto thē Loue hate are the first kinds and primitiues of the rest loue being a vehement liking and hate a vehement affection of disliking from these springe all the deriuatiues which arise either from loue or hate like or dislike From loue and liking of a present good springeth ioy and reioycing if it be to come hope entertaineth the hart with expectation From dislike and hate if the thing be euill as the other good in deede or in apparance it skilleth not and present riseth heauinesse of hart and disposition of sadnesse if it be a future euill feare riseth frō the mislike of hate these I take to be all the simple perturbations The compound are such as haue part of the simple by mixture and that either of the primitiues with simple ones only or mixed with deriuatiues Such are mixed with primitiues onely are either mixed vnequally of loue and liking or of mislike hate or equally of thē both Of the first
greater facillitie wasted by natures strife and resistance Nowe it followeth to declare howe the other vnnaturall melancholy annoyeth with passions abuseth vs with coūterfet cause of perturbation whereof there is no ground in truth but onely a vaine and fantasticall conceit CHAP. XVIII Of the vnnaturall melancholie rising dy adustion how it affecteth vs with diuerspassions BEsides the former kindes there are sortes of vnnaturall melancholie which I call so rather then the other bicause the other offendeth onely in qualitie or quantitie these are of another nature farre disagreeing from the other by an vnproper speech called melancholy They rise of the naturall humors or their excrements by excessiue distēper of heate burned as it were into ashes in comparison of humour by which the humour of like nature being mixed turneth it into a sharp lye sanguine cholericke or melancholicke according to the humour thus burned which we call by name of melancholie This sort raiseth the greatest tempest of perturbatiōs and most of all destroyeth the braine with all his faculties and disposition of action and maketh both it the hart cheere more vncomfortably and if it rise of the naturall melancholy beyond all likelihood of truth frame monst ous terrors of feare and heauinesse without cause If it rise of choler then rage playeth her part and furie ioyned with madnesse putteth all out of frame If bloud minister matter to this fire euery serious thing for a time is turned into a iest tragedies into comedies and lamentation into gigges and daunces thus the passion whereof the humour min streth occasion by this vnkindly heate aduaunceth it selfe into greater extremities For becomming more subtile by heate both in substance spirit it passeth more deeply into all the parts of the instrument it selfe and is a conueyance also to the humour of the same kind making away for naturall melancholie wherewith it is mixed into the verie inward secrets of those instruments wherof passions are affected euen hart and braine Thus affected you haue men when desperate furie is ioyned with feare which so terrifieth that to auoid the terrour they attempt sometimes to depriue thē selues of life so irksome it is vnto them through these tragicall conceits although waighing and considering death by it self without comparison and force of the passion none more feare it thē they These most seeke to auoyde the society of men and betake them to wildernesses and deserts finding matter of feare in euery thing they behold and best at ease when alone they may digest these fancies without new prouocations which they apprehende in humane societie If choller haue yeelded matter to this sharpe kind of melnncholie then rage reuenge and furie possesse both hart and head and the whole bodie is caried with that storme contrarie to persuasion of reason which hath no farther power ouer these affections then by way of counsell to giue other direction whereof the hart it selfe is destitute and taking these discomfortes of the credit of the senses according thereto it applieth it selfe working and disposing the ingenerate wisedome it is indued with vnto these particulars which the corporall instruments corruptly offer vnto it which ministreth doubt and question to some not well aduised in this point whether reason it selfe be not impaired by these corporall alterations and the immortall impatible mind hereby suffreth not violēce which is farre otherwise if we duly way the matter For the mad man of what kinde soeuer he be of as truly concludeth of that which fantasie ministreth of conceit as the wisest onely therein lieth the abuse and defect that the organicall parts which are ordained embassadours notaries vnto the mind in these cases falsifie the report and deliuer corrupt recordes This is to be helped as it shall be declared more at large hereafter by counsell only sincerely ministred which is free from the corruptions of those officers and deliuereth truth vnto the mind wherby it putteth in practise contrary to these importunate and furious sollicitors This furie is bred because choler thus adust getteth a greater egernesse of qualitie and molesting the inward parts and toyling the spirits ingendreth a greater inwarde disquiet and discontentment then cruder choler doth procure The third sort is of merie melācholie which riseth of the bloud ouer heated in such sort as I haue declared Of all the rest of humours bloud is most temperat and mild of disposition and comforteth the bodie as hath bene mentioned whose substaunce receauing that burning heat whereof riseth the third kind of this vnnaturall melancholie procureth it to be of a nature quicke and fresh and indueth it with a spirite of a nature somewhat more itching and as it were of a tickling qualitie then bloud it selfe For of it selfe being if it be pure and perfect nutsweete or milkesweete by this heate becommeth first suger or hony sweet which hath more force of affecting and obtayneth a more subtile and quicke spirit afterward by operation of heate this sweetnesse is conuerted into a mild saltnesse voyd of fretting which tickling and itching in these melancholicke bodies cause them rather to be giuen to a ridiculous and absurd meriment then a sound ioye of hart and comfortable gladnesse which forceth them into laughter somtimes that without ceasing to the tyring and wearying of their bodies no perswasion of reason is able to call them to more sobrietie We may see in boyling of milke what sweetnesse is procured vnto it thereby howe hony much boyled becometh salt bitter such is the force of heat in bloud that it turneth that milke sweet tast into hony sweet and that into a gentle itching brackishnes whereby the melancholicke bodies being as it were tickled render from their foolish fantasie and false liking of the hart many absurd and ridiculous gestures and speeches and as farre altered this way as the melancholick on the other side snatch at smal occasions or none at all ofttimes of answering this fond humor in outward lightnesse of gesture countenance Thus you heare in what sort the humoures seeme to affect the mind euerie one singled and keeping apart from his other fellowe humours which as they be tempered with the other naturall or compounded together with one or twaine of the like vnnaturall sortes of melancholie make many distinctions and differences of melancholie passions as some more sadde the other some more merie some quieter other some more prone to rage and furie and as the humors haue their courses as for the yeare bloud in the spring choller in sommer melancholie in autumne fleume in winter for the houre according to Soranus Ephesius opinion bloud from three of the clocke in the morning till nine of the same day choler from nine of the morning till three at after noone melancholie frō 3. at after noone till nine at night and fleume from nine at night til the third of the morning I say if a man obserue all these varieties by mixture and season
with inclination of the partes custome of life and imbecillitie of some part and proportionallie match the multitude of passions with these occasions he might haue the grounde of all these troublesome perturbations made playne vnto him why some are contrarie affected to other some in their melancholicke fits and are not all times alike but sometimes sad and sometimes excessiue in mirth now more outragious then at another time as season of the yeare and time of the day approach wherein these humors haue more speciall and perticuler operation But it were too long to descend into such particularities it shall suffice only to haue declared howe these humors become occasions of passions vnto vs and to haue noted such a generalitie of rule as any one may with ease thereby discipher the particulars By that which hitherto hath bin shewed it appeareth these humours only affect the organ and corporall part nothing come nigh the mind and soule which in the meane time of these stormes and tempests of passion these delusions feares false terrours and poeticall fictions of the braine sitteth quiet and still nothing altered in facultie or any part of that diuine and impatible disposition which it obtaineth by the excellencie of creation no more then the Sunne is moued in the heauens or receaueth in it selfe an obscuritie when stormes arise thunder lightning and cloudes of darkenesse and boysterous whirlewindes seeme here belowe to mixe heauen and earth together and to make confusion in the course and frame of nature And thus haue you the obiections aleaged against that freedome of the soule from the inconueniences aunswered I trust to your contentment Diuerse accidents followe these humours which are to be shewed both of fansie sense and affection and also gestures actions of weeping sighing sobbing laughing such like with the reasons of each one and howe they be wrought by these passions which I deferre in this place to discusse being called on to prosecute the aunswer to the rest of the doubts propounded before which done that nothing so farre as my vnderstanding memorie will help to the matter may be leaft obscure vnto you in this case of melancholie I will hereafter prosecute those also as I shall haue done the causes from whence they proceede CHAP. XIX Howe sickenesse and yeares seeme to alter the minde and the cause and how the soule hath practise of senses being separated from the bodie ALthough persons so disposed with melancholie as hath bene declared enioy not perfect estate of health yet because they complaine not neither are accompted sicke neither lye for the matter but seeme their fancies and vaine feares excepted to be otherwise healthfull I so take them in this place though their bodie be in that sort as I haue mentioned to be charged with defect as vnfound and imperfect The last of the obiections is taken frō the condition of sicke persons who as in apparance it seemeth both receaue in their mindes alteration of defect and increase of faculties through the corporall imbecillitie as though at certaine times the bodies health were transported to the establishment of the mind or the bodie at other times after another sort weake did communicate that also vnto the soule as disburthening itselfe thereon To which obiection the general aunswer of organicall disposition of parts is here more particularly to be applied as in the former doubtes so in this I iudge all such actions as the mind seemeth to performe in that state of bodie better or worse to be organicall pertinent to sensible things which as it practiseth not but in this life neither hath such vse of being disioyned from this masse of earth whereto it is with spirite coupled so in her faculties she is not to be esteemed subiect to these alteratiōs But you demaund a farther declaration of this point whether the minde hath vse of sense or not after it dislodgeth from this earthly tabernacle To satisfie you herein if probabilitie of reason will serue I do not take it otherwise then that it is all an eye all an care all nose tast and sinewe without distinction as these seuerall instruments which nowe it employeth make shew of For then were it not simple in substance but must needs haue compounded substance to answer these particular senses If you require experience and example of this because it cannot be had in soules departed but reason onely vpholdeth the rule in respect of them let vs take that which dreames in sleep do minister for declaration of this point which sleepe is a kind of separation of the soule from the body for a time at the least a rest from outward sensible actions whereby it more freely applyeth it selfe to those diuine contemplations which is onely learned from the instinct of creatiō neuer apprehended by any other instruction In sleep I say our dreames in some sort make euident vnto vs how the soule without instrument lacketh not the practise of senses in which dreames we see with our soules heare talke conferre and practise what action soeuer as euidently with affection of ioye or sorowe as if the very obiect of these senses were represented vnto vs brode awake at noone day If you will say it is nothing else but the images of outward thinges which hang in the common sense presented to the fantasie or offered of the memorie which inward senses are alwayes watchfull when the outward take rest how then commeth it to passe that we can not in like sort fancie being awake If we shold striue to do it euery one should find it impossible as I take it because the soule is in a sorte by that great law of necessitie being chained with that golden chaine in all parts linked to this bodie which being awake letteth those sincere actions whereabout it is busied in sleepe wherein euery dreame seemeth to be a kind of extasie or traunce separation of the soule from this bodily societie in which it hath bene in olde time instructed of God by reuelation and misteries of secrets reuealed vnto it as then more fit to apprehend such diuine oracles then altogether enioying awake the corporall societie of these earthly members But you will say such dreames are oft times but fancies True and many times they be no fancies whereof infinite examples may be brought both sacred prophane Now when they be not sufficient profe ariseth to that I nowe dispute that soules haue sense of thinges without organicall senses and when they be but fancies yet that which ministreth the obiect from some distemper of diet or condition of the bodie good or bad is sented with the mind only the outward senses being all in deepe sleepe and the inwarde hauing no power at all to see heare smell tast or feele but only of discerning that which the outward sense deliuereth for third there is none to whome these actions are to be ascribed Neither are these sensible actions of the minde to be accompted
consideration Touching the first of the two latter how the affection is moued for weeping I take it necessarie the passion be not very extreame nor of the highest degree of sorow neither so light and gētle that the obiect be contemned For the first if the perturbation be too extreame and as it were rauisheth the conceite and astonieth the heart then teares being ordinary and naturall to a kinde of mediocritie of that passion are not affoorded to an extraordinary affection euen as a ioy suddaine and rare taketh away for the present the signification of reioycing and turneth the comforte which should be receiued into an admiration in steade of mirth and cheare so in greate extremity offeare and heauines sorow being conuerted into an astonishment the senses rauished and the benūmed therewith the teares are dryed vp or stayed being effectes of ordinary and of naturall passion and others more straunger come in place as voydaunce of vrine ordure For as cold in a kinde of degree moueth sense and the same extreame becommeth and taketh it quite away and as exceeding brightnes blindeth or at the least dazeleth the sight aswell as darknes obscureth the obiect so an occasion of feare being beyond ordinary cōpasse of naturall passion seemeth to the heart vnderstanding of another sort then whereat to sorow or teares belong and the tokens of ordinarie affection are due which flow not by reason through that greate perturbation nature is wholly violated and keepeth no course of accustomed order or because such is the flight of nature from that which she so abhorreth that hiding her self in her owne cēter she draweth with her those humidities which easily follow with the spirites and blood and are not seperable for vsuall excretion besides that contraction of her poores whereby the effluxe of teares is hindered this in my opinion is the cause why extremity of terror or heauines refraineth teares especially if a fright haue gone before which is of greatest force to make this perturbation and to shut vp the poores of our bodies This appeareth in such as are scarred whose haire seemeth to stand vpright stiffe through that contraction So then the same cause of passion in kind differing by degrees both dolorous full of calamity nowe causeth abundance of weeping gusheth out into brookes of teares and anon dricth them al vp through destruction of the minde and stupiditye as it were of the hearte as though the cause of morning were altogether remoued If you do require example in the selfe same person of weeping and refraining from teares in the same kind of obiect yet differing in degree that is most singuler which is reported by Aristotle in the second booke of his thetoricke out of Herodotus of Amasis king of Aegypt We are moued with compassion only sayeth he at the affliction of such familiars as are not very nighly knitte vnto vs either by acquaintance or affinitie and of the calamitie of diuerse most deere friends or allies we haue not compassion but we are affected with their hurte as with our owne wherfore it is reported of Amasis that although he did not weepe for his sonne whome he sawe led to be put to death yet at the calamitie of his friende Philippus he shed teares for that which in his friend was pityfull shewed in his sonne horrible and terrible to behold now terror chaseth away swalloweth vp alcōpassion Which history of Amasis maketh cleere al doubt in this point and confirmeth that which we propound by the reason of one of the most grauest philosophers As this ouer vehement feare dryeth vp these springes of teares or shutteth vp the passages that no way is giuen for them to distill so the cause being light and not greately vrging the heart nature vseth not to make such shew of sorow so that at small matters or so taken no man vseth to weepe Children for want of vnderstanding in a manner weepe at all occasions of offence alike which tyme and age afterward correcteth Thus then in my opinion the affection is to be disposed for weeping euen in a meane betwixt that light regard of perill or calamitie wherewith no man is moued to teares and that vehement extremitie which ingendreth amazednes and astonishment wherewith nature either is benummed as it were and dazeled with the extremitie of passion and neglecteth her ordinarie signification of sorow in a case so farre extraordinarie or else so farre withdraweth her selfe into the center of the bodie with her spirite blood and humiditie and closeth vp her poores so straightly that neither matter of teares is readie nor passage free for them to distill by For the naturall passages and such as depend not vpon voluntarie opening or shutting as of the bladder stoole so farre only are open as they be distended and filled with blood humour spirite which being withdrawen as in a dead bodie they close together like an empty bagge But why thē say you do some make vrine for feare and why doth not nature withold it aswell as teares being a kinde of excremēt not much vnlike The reafon is readie such retention as is performed by muscle animall faculty descending from the brayne by sinues is of another sorte then that which is accomplished by astriction of poore againe such excrementes as are already congregated into a place of recept from whence they are to be voided out of the body hereafter are not of like cōdition with that which hath as yet no seperatiō For the first pointe the bladder as also the fundament haue ech of them a certaine round muscle which hath power of opening and closing within it self which opening way is giuen to the excrement that of it selfe finding passage issueth out of the bodie or without opening and it be a liquid excrement as vrine is if the muscle shutt not close or retentiue feebled it voydeth also though not so plentifully as being full open Now in feares that exceede the spirites influent into that muscle as al are such that pertaine to sence and motion are caled backe as I haue before declared to their proper fountaines and so it being left destitute receiueth a kinde of paraliticall disposition for the time and fayleth in his office which is the cause of such vnuoluntary excretion Now if you consider remember how the vrine passeth from the kideneys by those lōg vessels you shall well perceiue there can be no refluxe backward though it be forced for they discēd not directly opening thēselues as a touch hole into a gune but sloplings betwixt the substance of the bladder with certaine slender and thinne skinnes which immediatly after the entraunce of the humour close vp in such sort as the fuller the bladder is the firmer is their hold as you may see in the leather clacke of a paire of bellowes experience hereof is made manifest in a bladder which being blowen retaineth the aire and suffereth not to vent though it haue enterances such as I haue
and supply that thicke grosse and dry humour with new fresh nourishment and to temper the foggy spirites of that humour with more cleare fresh and new these wants of nature happely are another cause of that greedy appetite of melancholicke persons Their concoction and digestion is not aunswerable to the appetite through the coldnes of the stomach both by the melancholicke blood wherewith it is fedder and more neighbourhood of the splene which is a part inclyning from mediocrity to coldnes in temper this hindereth the concoction The digestion or distribution faileth through difficulty of passage both by thicknes and slownes of the melancholy iuice and narrownes of the way especially if the partie be by nature and not through other occasion melancholicke To this may be added the dulnes of attractiue power of the parts caused by coldnes and drinesse and the vnsauorie iuice in comparison of the pure blood whereof nature is not pricked so vehemently with the desire These I take to be reasons of the quicke appetite of melancholicke persons and slow digestion and concoction which partes of the former diuision belonging to nourishment by order should afterward be handled but because the comparison with the appetite ministred occasion you shall take them in this place and not looke for them hereafter Whatsoeuer other imbecillity of naturall action about nourishment is depraued by melancholy the reason may be drawne from that hath bin shewed of the other They are not so desirous of drinke although melancholy be a dry humour both because their coldnes stakeneth the thirst and their stomacks be moist by want of digestion which sendeth vp waterie vapours into the mouth besides the ascent of the humour it selfe which satisfieth the drought if any be and preuenteth the desire of drincke Their stomach is cold through melancholy which by the aboundance which floweth therein from the splene is cooled as also by the vicinetie of the same which lyeth close therunto The other appetite is of procreation wherewith or the most parte melancholy persons are more vehemently stirred the cause where of I take to be double the one from the affection of loue wherewith they are soone ouertaken the other a windy disposition of their bodies which procureth that desire They are allured to loue more easily because they more admire other then themselues and being cast downe with cōceite of their owne imperfection extoll in their fancy that which hath any small grace of louelines in another The other reason I referre you to reade at large of in treatises of philosophie writtē of the matter in other languages the grauity and modesty of our tounge not fitting with phrase to deliuer such problemes Thus much shall suffice for the appetite depraued by melancholie other sorts of naturall actions besides concoction and distribution which haue bene before sufficiently to the purpose in hande intreated of are the retention ouer fast and assimulation or turning of the nourishment into our substances imperfect The first fault riseth chiefly of the drinessse of the parts which thereby retaine anie humiditie the slownesse of the humour which maketh no way though nature expell and if it be an excrement that should passe the grossenesse wherewith she hath bene acquainted causeth the offence thereof lesse to be felt and so nature becommeth more sluttish in cleansing the bodie of his impurities Againe the sense of such persons is not verie quicke neither carrieth the excrement anie prickinge of prouocation which should put nature in remembraunce of auoydance except immoderate quantitie serue that turne whereof the drinesse of melancholicke natures is an impediment The assimilation is faultie by reason of colde this causeth that morphewe which ofte staineth melancholicke bodies and bespeckleth their skinne here and there with blacke staines of this humour then the nourishment in steed of supplying the perpetuall fluxe of our bodies and aunswering in like substance is by fault of the parte of melancholicke disposition depraued and turned into like iuyce wherewith the parte is dyed into that blacke coloure The colour is blacke of the nature of of the humor and disposition of the part which by imbecillitie is not able to alter it into whitenesse to the similitude of it self Hitherto I haue declared vnto you what actions melancholy depraueth whether voluntary or naturall of voluntary whether of sense and motion or of affection and perturbation of naturall whether action of appetite or belonging to the working of nourishment of appetite whether of victualles or of lust touching dressing and preparation of nourishment whether it be coction digestion attraction retention assimulation or expulsion it remaineth to deliuer vnto you what workes are depraued by this humour and howe it corrupteth the perfection of them CHAP. XXXI How melancholie altereth naturall works of the bodie iuyce and excrement AL the works which rise of naturall actions in our bodies may be reduced to two sorts the one is naturall iuyce apt for nourishmēt building vp the decay of our bodies through the businesse of this life and the internall fire which continually craueth fuell of victuall the other is a superfluity which riseth of the masse of meats and drinkes separated from the pure and nutritiue by the triall of our naturall heate as we see the drosse and impuritie of metalles discouered by the fire This superfluitie nature expelleth out of the bodie not being of that sinceritie and familiar qualitie which nourishment is indued with Both these are altered by this melancholicke disposition whereof my discourse runneth The nourishing iuyce by melancholie of such nourishmentes as are pure and good receaueth imperfection and becommeth grosser thicker and more crude then by the qualitie of the substance it might be the rather also because melancholicke appetite is not proportionall to their digestion but exceedeth These causes procure the nourishing iuyce thicke grosse and crude because the heate of melancholicke persons is abated by this humour which heat is the worker of separation and maketh subtile liquide that which of nature hath no contrarie disposition This nourishing iuyce is either primitiue and the first where of the other take beginning and matter or else deriuatiue and rising frō the primitiue The primitiue is that which is wrought in the stomach and is in colour white liquide equall of a cremy substance in this as yet no separatiō is made of place but wholsome and vnwholsome excrement and nourishment are mixt together onely there they are as it were dissolued and broken and by our heate made more familiar vnto vs and prepared for other parts more easie handling This is the grosser for causes before alleaged and yeeldeth the excrement voyded by stoole the thickest and grossest of all the rest which being increased in those qualities by the melancholicke disposition molesteth them with costiuenesse and hardnesse of bellie For through the qualities before mentioned it passeth not so easilie the guts which besides the foulds they haue lest we should be oftener then were
which you haue hitherto professed and presently do hartely embrace Where is that malice which prosecuteth this mischiefe What persecution haue you in word or deede raised against the truth What sword haue you euer drawne against it or what volumes haue you written against sound doctrine with purposed opposition against your own conscience neither that of frailtie but of meere will and obstinacie If your humour be not able to alleadge such testimonies as it cannot in deed these thinges being matters of iudgement and will and not of fancie and consisting of euidencie to be knowen of others and not of imaginacie conceit of a fearful and distrustfull hart giue ouer I pray you these melancholicke priudices against your selfe and prepare your heart to receaue comfort which the word of promise ministreth vnto you For that sinne except onely all other are within compasse of grace and haue no power to shut vs from Gods fauour Be it that you haue sinned against your conscience yet certaine condemnation and casting of doth not necessarily ensue thereupon else should there be not a person on whome God should shewe mercie For we all sinne in that manner and the good we would our conscience bearing witnesse of our duetie and breach of that we are bounde to do we do not but the sinne which we would not do in respect of regeneration that we commit through our frailtie which groweth vp in strenghth by increases of God to perfefection and hath euermore in it not to discourage vs but to breede circumspection and to remember vs where our perfection and excellencie lieth euen without vs in that vnspotted lambe Christ Iesus For our willes are corrupted not onely in that they are seduced by corrupt iudgement which is the least part of their want but when contrarie to iudgement grounded either vppon nature or the plaine worde of trueth we make choyce of that we knowe is naught or preferre the greater euill before the lesse Otherwise should our nature obtaine in this life a greater perfection then our first parentes had in paradice whose freedome of will was peruerted to that which was against the knowen commaundement of God and giue any one faculty or practise of the minde be perfect all must needs be of like purenesse seeing equallie they were corrupted and equallie receaue restauration This perfection we are to hope for and attende the consummation of the rudimentes of righteousnesse which both in knowledge and vse are in part blind and impotent and in heauen are to receaue the absolute perfection and beautie fully agreeable to Gods good will and vprightnesse of his iustice If then you haue neither sinned against the holie Ghost which is plaine through manifold testimonies of vnfaigned faith euen at this time being full of sighes and groanes for your offences carefull to eschue what soeuer is repugnaunt to Gods will releeuinge with tender affection of Christian loue the necessities of others neither in the whole course of your life hauing bene of notorious marke of iniquitie much lesse a blasphemer of that holie name and a renouncer with contumelie of the holie profession assure your selfe that your present estate is no other but a storme of temptation and no marke of perdition from which the Lorde after triall of faith and patience will deliuer you and sende that calme peace and tranquillitie which in times past you haue enioyed and shall by his grace againe recouer to your euerlasting comfort Of temptations some touch our fayth and other some the fruites thereof Our faith as whether we beleeue or not The fruites either of profession of the truth when persecution or feare or fauour of men slaken our zeale and smother the outwarde shewe of those glorious graces of faith of the spirite or in the fruites of obedience sutable and kindly vnto our profession as those which concerne persons possessions or name wherein charitie towarde men is broken all these temptations though both affection do incline vnto them excepting incredulitie which bringeth foorth impenitencie and renunciation of the faith and will bring them to effect yet are they not of power to separate vs from the loue of God in Christ whose sacrifice is all sufficient and propitiatorie for all kindes of sinne that onely before mentioned excepted You say you beleeue not and therefore drawe vppon you the payne due to the vnfaithfull here beware deare brother and waigh with circumspectipn and due consideration of your state in so waightie a point as this is and although you haue not at this time the sense thereof in your imagination which is now disguised and blemished with melancholie conceits and corporall alteration of the instrument of the bodie yet do you beleeue and shall hereafter feele the sweete comfort thereof as you nowe aboundantly declare the fruites of so holy a roote patience meeknesse charity prayer newnesse of life and what soeuer good vertue springeth in the children of God therefrom For euen as in outwarde senses we do see sometimes and feele and heare when wee do not perceaue it so we may also haue faith and not alwayes haue the sensible perceauing thereof especiallie our bodies as yours presently is being oppressed with melancholie which alwayes vrgeth terror and distrust and deludeth vs with opinion of want of that whereof wee haue no lacke euen as in another extremitie other men are oft carried with an opinion and confidence of those thinges whereof they haue no part And if it be so with melancholickes as it is crediblie recorded in historie that some haue complained they haue bene headlesse so that as Aëtius reporteth Phylotymus the Phisitian was faine to put a cap of lead vpon a melancholickes heade that he might by feeling the waight conceaue otherwise and Artemidorus the Grammarian did imagine he wanted both a hand and a legge though he wanted neither you are to lay aside this fancie and to weigh the presence of the cause by the effectes which are most euident tokens of faith in you and not to rest vppon your deluded conceites which if you yeeld vnto will perswade you in the ende that you want both head and heart also after it hath dispossessed you in part of the right vse of both but you will say vnto me do not men otherwise doubt of this point but vpon melancholie Yes verely and especially such as most hunger and thirst after righteousnesse and are poore in spirit and broken in hart the rest of the world except some vengeance of God laye holde vppon them or some horrible fact gnawe their wounded conscience passing their time in a blinde securitie carelesse of God and emptie of all sense and hope of a better life or feare of that eternall destruction passe their dayes and finish their course as the calfe passeth to the shambles not knowing their ende to be slaughter by the butchers knife Such I saye as are most carefull to walke before their God in righteousnesse as they doubt and feare in euerie action
what was the tryall God blessed the last dayes of Iob more thē the first euen so though the present afflictiō be grieuous vnto you and all hope faile in respect of your feeling yet the Lord when he hath proued you and found you his pure and sincere beloued sonne the like issue are you assured of with comforte in this life and eternall saluation in the life to come Thus leauing a more plentifull consolation vnto your godly friendes who dayly frequent you especially such as are preachers of the word and ministers of Gods grace I proceed to instruct you in that I iudge your body stādeth in neede of that howsoeuer hability faile in performāce of the offices of friendships on my part towards you my sincere affection and vnfayned loue vnto you may be at the least testified by my endeuour wherein if I be tedious partly it is of forgetfulnes of that consideration being ouercaried with desire to benefite you and partly bicause in your case I also comprehend the estate of many one at this day in like sort affected and afflicted who if they receiue any meanes of cōforte by this my trauaile they may be more beholding vnto my friēd M. pray for his release Thus my good M. you haue the testimonie of my good will in this part of counsell I confesse I am not so meet for it as your case requireth but so haue I discharged that office wherto the dutie of friendship bindeth me If my presence may supply the defect I will not faile you wherin anie part of mine abilitie may serue your wāts I will nowe proceede to the cure of your bodie whose disorder increaseth your heauinesse and ioyneth hand with this kind of temptation CHAP. XXXVII The cure of melancholy and howe melancholicke persons are to order them selues in actions of the mind sense and motion AS the ordinarie cure of all diseases helps of infirmities are to be begun with remouing of such causes as first procured the infirmitie except they be remoued of them selues through their nature neither stable nor permanent by succession of a contrarie cause of the same kinde euen so the first entry of restoring the melancholicke braine and heart to a better state of conceit and cheere is the remouing of such causes as first disturbed iudgement and affection or are therto apt with inducing of causes of contrarie operation The causes of all diseases are either breach of dutie and some errour cōmitted in the gouernment of our health or such accidentes as befall vs in this life against our wills and vnlooked for From the same also do arise the workes of melancholie whereof I intreate and you desire to be released Our diet consisteth not onely as it is commonly taken in meate and drinke but in whatsoeuer exercises of mind or bodie whether they be studies of the braine or affections of the hart or whether they be labours of the bodies or exercises only Besides vnto diet house habitation and apparel do belong which are causes of maintenance or ouerthrowe of health as they be affected To these also the order of rest and sleepe is to be added as a great meanes taken in due time and in conuenient moderation to preserue health or to cause sicknesse if otherwise it be taken immoderately too scant or disorderly Of the labours of the mind studies haue great force to procure melancholie if they be vehement and of difficult matters and high misteries therfore chiefly they are to be auoyded the mind to be set free from all such trauel that the spirits which before were partly wasted might be restored and partly employed vpon hard discourses may be released to the comfort of the hart and thinning of the bloud Besides such actions approching nigh vnto or being the verie inorganicall of the soule cause the mind to neglect the bodie whereby easily it becmometh afterward vnapt for the action and the humours skanted of the sweet influence thereof and spirit setle into a melancholie thicknesse and congele into that cold and drie humour which rayseth these terrours and discouragements Wherfore aboue all abandon working of your braine by any studie or conceit and giue your mind to libertie of recreation from such actions that drawe too much of the spirit and therby wrong the corporall mēbers of the bodie For in maintainance of health it is specially to be obserued that the employing of the parts either of mind or bodie with their spirite is to be carried with such indifferencie and discretion that the force which should be common to manie be not lauishly spent vpon any one Nowe studie of all actions both because it vseth litle help of the bodie in comparison of other and because the minde chieflie laboureth which draweth the whole bodie into sympathie wherby it is neglected as it were for a time and the most subtile purest spirits thereby are consumed is to be giuen ouer in the cure of this passion or if the affection can not be tempered wholly therefrom then such matter of studie is to be made choyse of as requireth no great contention but with a certaine mediocritie may vnbend that stresse of the minde through that ouer vehement action and withall carie a contentednesse thereto and ioy to the affection Nowe as all contention of the mind is to be intermitted so especially that whereto the melancholicke person most hath giuen him selfe before the passion is chieflie to be eschued for the recouerie of former estate and restoring the depraued conceit and fearefull affection For there if the affection of liking go withall both hart and braine do ouer prodigally spend their spirits and with them the subtilest partes of the naturall iuyce and humours of the bodie If of mislike and the thing be by forcible constraint layd on the distracting of the mind from the promptnes of the affection breedeth such an agonie in our nature that thereon riseth also great expeence of spirit and of the most rare and subtile humours of our bodies which are as it were the seate of our naturall heate the refiner of all our humours and the purifier of our spirites As that kind of studie wherein the melancholicke hath spent him selfe is to be auoyded or intermitted and one of a milder and softer kinde to be inferred in place thereof so much lesse anie straunge studie of difficultie and much trauell of the braine is to be taken in hand as it were to turne the minde into a contrarie bent For herein the straungenesse besides difficultie giueth cause of trauaile and toile vnto our nature so that both these extremities are to be eschued of you as most daungerous and hurtfull and the mind to be retired to such a tranquillitie as the naturall heate and spirits may haue free scope to attend vppon the corporall actions of preparing the bloud and thinning of the grosse iuice into a moderate substance as is according to good disposition of the bodie In studie I comprehend although
they be diuerse all action of internall senses which are ministers and seruants of studie whether it be of learning or of meditation and inuention which later kind farre more toyleth the bodie then the former and therefore farther of is it to be remoued Of internall senses I take phantasie to be the greatest wast of these spirits most apt to thicken the bloud if it be excessiue For that imitateth the inuentiue action of the mind and in a lower degree if it be vehement continuall maketh great wast of those two instruments spirit and heate in the me lancholicke bodie For as the action is such is the spirit and part thereof purer subtiler thinner as the actiō is of more excellency farther remoued from corporall practise and draweth nigher to the cleere and pure actions of the minde If the melancholicke be ouer much contemplatiue it shall then be meete for him to withdrawe his mind to corporall actions of grosser sort that as the mind by speculation after a sort disioyneth it selfe from the bodie so the bodily exercise may reuoke it againe into the former fellowship and exercise of bodily action The outwarde senses because they consist rather in a kinde of passion their vse doth not greatly hinder the thinnesse which we require against melancholie except they be ouer trauelled with watching which hath great force to drinke vp the spirites moisture and so to alter the bodily state into a melancholie disposition tedious to mind and body In their actes it is to be obserued that they be not in anie respect irkesome or odious For if they be such the heart continually where the obiect is presented nowe growne tender thorough the internall passion flieth at the shadow of euerie thing that carrieth the smallest shewe of discontentment and reclaiming his spirites about him selfe leaueth the outwarde partes destitute of conuenient measure and by aboundance about it selfe corrupteth them in time for want of sufficient respiration and breathing which no lesse ingendreth melancholie then the former disorders afore mentioned and as for the fearefull passion it increaseth it directly and keepeth that immoderate feare in vre Of all sensible obiectes the visible except they be pleasaunt and proportionall giue greatest discontentment to the melancholike If besides their horriblenesse of shape or without it they represent anie significant type of tragicall calamitie or mention that wherewith the melancholicke apprehension faigne anie fearefull obiect much more such spectacles are to be shunned of the melancholickes And because darkenesse is as it were a patterne of death it also is as much as may be to be auoyded and all cheerefull sights agreeable to vertue and pietie and to be embraced and sought after which as the other sorte close vp the spirites and geueth the heart assaults of hostilitie may allure them out againe and set free the distressed affection and yeelde comfort to the amazed heart Next to visible thinges the audible obiect most frighteth the melancholicke person especialy besids the vnpleasantnesse if it carieth also signification of terror here as pleasant pictures and liuely colours delight the melancholicke eye and in their measure satisfie the heart so not onely cheerefull musicke in a generalitie but such of that kinde as most reioyceth is to be sounded in the melancholicke eare of which kinde for the most part is such as carieth an odde measure and easie to be discerned except the melancholicke haue skill in musicke and require a deeper harmonie That contrarilie which is solemne and still as dumpes and fancies and sette musicke are hurtfull in this case and serue rather for a disordered rage and intemperate mirth to reclaime within mediocritie then to allowe the spirites to stirre the bloud and to attenuate the humours which is if the harmony be wisely applyed effectuallie wrought by musicke For that which reason worketh by a more euident way that musicke as it were a magicall charme bringeth to passe in the mindes of men which being forseene of wise law giuers in times past they haue made choice of certaine kindes thereof and haue reiected the other as hurtfull to their common wealthes which agreement betwixt concent of musicke and affection of the minde when Aristophenes perceaued he therby was moued to thinke that the mind was nothing else but a kind of harmonie In the other senses the obiectes onely are to be choysed sweete in tast pleasant in smell and soft to be felt that all outward things may allure and giue courage in steed of that cowardly timiditie wrought by the humour Motion doth much more if it be vehement and drawe to the nature of labour and withall continuall For that drieth the bodie excessiuely And although for the present it be hotter through such trauell yet consuming the spirite and moysture which are matter of this heate in the ende it decayeth also as fire without fuell and the lampe without oyle As these actions of bodie and minde being ouer vehement and excessiue bereaue the humour of spirite and waste the naturall heat which being spent whatsoeuer else is of the body is more grosse and earthie becommeth a lake of melancholie euen so if altogether these actions cease that neither the minde nor bodie bestow themselues in good studies and exercises then on the contrary part this worketh the same that the other excesse doth and euen as water that standeth and is not stirred corrupteth waxeth grosse and thicke and like as the lampe that wanteth aire goeth out though plenty of oyle be ministred euen so without this stirring of spirites humours blood all settle into a grosse residence of melancholie and the whole masse of bloud easily degenerateth vnto that humour and for want of exercise the naturall fire being slakened and the spirite thereby ingrossed that which indued with both with iust measure and equalitie conuenient was before a cheerefull iuyce comfortable to all the parts and a sweete deawe to the earthy substance congealeth into a grossenesse farre vnmeet for that vse and of a quite contrarie disposition CHAP. XXXVIII How melancholicke persons are to order themselues in their affectiont AS in studies exercises of the braine sense voluntary motion great moderation is to be kept of melancholy persons euen so no lesse regarde if not more is to be had of them in restrayning their affectiōs and guiding them with such wise conduct as at no time they breake forth into outrage and shake of the gentle and light yoake which reason imposeth I will not now dispute whether vehement study or disorderly perturbations is more to be taken heed of onely take you no lesse care in the one then in the other except you finde your selfe to haue fallen into excesse and to haue surfeted more of this then of that excesse If you haue so vnequally exceeded and the effect hath preuayled with you that kind wherof you haue most cause to complaine there refraine and employ those giftes of wisedome and vertue wherein in times