take notice once for all That the objects that the senses represent to mens phansies or imaginations are not always really good nor really evil because the judgments of men are oftentimes deluded by the senses who varnish over the good with evil and the evil with good and that is the reason why this phrase of seeming good or seeming evil is used so often in these Discourses Thirdly The definition of passion according to Aristotle and the Bishop of Maâ—seilles Passions argues imperfection in the subject and a distemper in the sensitive power of the soul and here is the definition of the general words of Passions Passion is nothing but a motion of the sensitive appetite proceeding from the apprehension of a reall or seeming good or evil which begets an alteration in the body against the law of Nature Mens passions are born with them and therefore cannot be utterly extinguished neither by an habit of moral Vertue nor by Grace but their sury may be allaid and their distemper regulated they never arise but there is an apparent alteration of the body as it is noted in the desinition above related and this alteration proceeds after this maner the objects having been represented to the imagination by the senses if it conceives them to be good the concupiscible appetite doth intice men to prosecute these objects and having obtained their desire there proceeds from the injoyment of it a passion of joy and delight which dilates the blood with the vital spirits that reside in it to the extreamest part of the body and the heart being deprived of some of his natural heat makes an alteration in the body that is apparently seen in the face which hath by it a more pleasant aspect and a more ruddy complexion then ordinary but if this delight or joy be violent and come unexpectedly it makes a contrary alteration in the face for then it becomes pale and the body falls into a swound That mens passions cause varieties of changes and alterations in the body and sometimes deprives the party of life because the suddain violence of the passion hath driven all the blood and vital spirits from the heart and so for want of heat the life is extinguished Contrarily if the objects procure a passion of fear then the blood and the vital spirits resident in it with-draw from the extream parts of the body and ascend up to the heart to comsort the same and stir up the passion of undantedness to oppose this fear but in the mean time this irregular motion of the heart and the running of the blood causeth an apparent alteration in the body for the face and all the members of the body lose their natural complexion and become pale the knees feet and hands trembling as if the party had the dead-palsey Nay if this passion be violent and happen unexpectedly it will deprive the party of life for it will bring up such a superfluous current of blood and vital spirits about the heart that it will be smothered by it as it shall be proved by divers instances in convenient time and place But some will object How can the powers of the soul sympathize thus with the accidents that happen to the body I answer that it is by the communication that is between the Sensitive power of the soul and the organs of the body as it appears in the passions of Delight and Dolour for if a man injoy any pleasure the sensitive power of the soul hath her part of this delight likewise if his body be racked the sensitive power of his soul suffers her part of the torments for the body and the soul is but one individual the body without a soul being but a lump of clay the one being the matter and the other the form or the the body is the Bulk of the ship and the soul the Helm that guideth the same Fourthly That the heart is the seat of mens passions according to Aristotle in his Physiogn lib. 16. the passions of men are seated in the heart because it is the seat of the Sensitive power from which they are derived and this is the opinion of Aristotle and other ancient and modern Authors yet divers are of another judgment some would have the seat of them to be in the liver others in the gall others in the spleen but because the reasons arguments they use to prove their opinion have been confuted for erronious I will not trouble you with them specially sith our blessed Saviour doth confirm by these words d Matth. 7.21 that they are seated in the heart For from within out of the heart proceeds evil thoughts adulteries fornications murders c. And these are the effects of mens passions nay And of Beau-Lieu in his Body of Philosophy pa. 722 723. daily experience confirms the point by the carriage of young children who are addicted to envy vindication wrath and divers other passions before they be able by their rational power to distinguish the good from the evil because the rational power that is seated in the Understanding doth increase by age but the Sensitive power is bred with us and therefore the heart is the true seat of the passions affections and inclinations of men As for the number of the passions of men it is uncertain for they may be multiplied by the limitation of their objects as the windes have been of late for at the first they were but four the East North West and South and then they were multiplied to eight and afterwards to sixteen and then to two and thirty and of late they have been multiplied to threescore and four as for the passions Aristotle was of opinion that there was but one general passion and that was Love Others said there were but two and they were Delight and Dolour others said there were but four and they were Ioy Sorrow Hope and Fear and this opinion was grounded upon reason for whatsoever men act or undertake they delight grieve fear or hope That there is eleven general passions But Beau-lieu and the Bishop of Marseilles maintain there are eleven general passions but Senault a modern Author hath made them up twelve to make the passions of the Irascible appetite equall with those of the Concupiscible appetite and so hath brought in remisness which in the two former Authors opinions nor in mine can be no general passion because it is mixt or composed of Love and Compassion and these are the eleven general passions and the six of the Concupiscible appetite shall have the precedency First Love Secondly Hatred Thirdly Desire Fourthly Flight or Eschewing Fifthly Ioy. Sixthly Dolour or Sorrow and these are the five of the Irascible appetite First Fear Secondly Vndauntedness or Boldness Thirdly Hope Fourthly Despair Fifthly Wrath or Choler And here followeth their definition according to Beau-Lieu The definition of these eleven passions according to Beau-Lieu pag. 723. which I conceive to be the best First
or if this motion be over-fierce and violent it doth extinguish their life as the snuff of a Candle goeth out when it hath no more tallow to sustain its light Now the heart who is the efficient cause of life being thus deprived of heat loseth its motion upon which depends the life of men for the beating of the heart gives life and motion to all the members of the body and is congealed and frozen to death by this sudden motion and privation as water is congealed into Ice by a great frost and this may be confirmed by another violent action of men of which many are yet living that were eye-witnesses to it Two English Foot-men running a race for a great wager from London to Kingston did by their swift and violent running so drive their blood and vital spirits from the heart to the extreamest parts of their bodies that their faces looked as black as their hats one of them obtained the victory and out-ran the other about twenty yards and being joyful of his gain and honor presumed over-much of his strength and did not use the means to preserve himself as the other did who was much more distempered then he whereby his blood and vital spirits in stead of returning to the heart were congealed in the extream parts of his body by taking cold which did deprive him of life within few hours after but the other putting on his apparel and covering himself with a warm cloak prayed two of his fellows to walk him up and down till his blood and vital spirits were setled again about his heart A remarkable Relation and by this means he was as well the next morning as ever he was before now the motion of the blood being more violent by the inward distemper of the fiery passion of Joy then it can be by the motion of a long-continued race it must by consequence be more dangerous and mortal then the other thirdly As the immoderate Joy hath dangerous proprieties the moderate joy hath many good for moderate joy preserves and increaseth the health of the body fourthly It giveth a seemly and loving aspect and a fresh colour to the face fifthly It makes mens company and conversation more pleasant and acceptable to all other men sixthly It makes men more chearful in their particular and general calling and pass their days through this vale of Tears with more alacrity and content Fourthly The effects of immoderate Joy would be incredible The effects of immoderate joy See Livius in his third Decade li. 3. if they had not been recorded by approved and faithful Authors first A Roman Lady saith Livius died with joy at the sight of her son whom she conceived to have been slain at the battell of Cannae secondly The Author of the Turkish History Records See the Turkish History in the life of Achmath that Sinna Basha had but one son of great valour who was taken prisoner in a sea fight by a Venetian Galley whereupon tidings were brought to Sinna his father that he had been slain in that fight because he had been wounded but by the care of the Captain of the Galley who hoped to receive a great ransom for him he did recover and his wounds were cured and it hapned some days after before the Venetian Galley could carry him to shore that it was taken at sea by Cicala Basha a great friend of the above-said Sinnae who finding this prisoner of note in the Venetian Galley was exceedingly joyful as knowing how grateful a present it would be to his friend and therefore after he had apparelled him with rich vestures he sent him in a well-appointed Galley and with an honorable train to his father Sinna that had lately been made grand Visier by Achmath Emperor of the Turks who was then at Caffa upon the black sea but this yong man was no sooner come into his sight but Sinna transported with joy fell dead at his sons feet whereby it appears that he who had the power to bear with admirable constancy the tidings of the death of his onely son had not the power to moderate the joy that he did receive by his unexpected return thirdly Theophrastus Boujou records the names and means of a dozen more at least who have died suddenly by the violent distemper of immoderate joy some by honors received others for seeing their mortal enemy ly wallowing in his own blood See Boujou in his Commentary upon Aristotle lib. 19. ca. 39. fol. 835. ready to give up the Ghost and others by looking upon Pictures which by their ugly features inforced them to such an immoderate laughter as it did deprive them of life others for being victorious in the Olympian Sports and others in the field as it is recorded of Epamonides and of the Duke of Roan who died rather for joy of two great victories obtained against their enemies in two pitcht battels then by their wounds Fifthly The bad and good use of this passion of Joy doth onely consist in the not regulating or in the regulating of it for if Joy be let in to the soul by degrees the sting and venom of it is changed into an Antidote and doth rather comfort Nature then destroy it for as it is dangerous to open the Floud-gates of a river suddenly The bad and good use of worldly joy and all at once for fear the violence of the water break down the banks and pull up the foundation of the sluce even so it is dangerous to let in into the soul all at once the swift currant of good or evil tidings therefore if Cicala Basha had only at the first sent word to the Visier Sinna that he had happily rescued his son and that as soon as his wounds should be cured he would send him back unto him in an honorable condition this had undoubtedly prevented the death of this old man but the sudden and unexpected sight of his son whom he thought to have been dead caused so violent a perturbation in his minde and so great an alteration in the vital faculties of his body that his natural strength being then in his declining age was overcome with it and his life utterly extinguished as the light of a candle is by a violent blast of winde But the Duke of Medina Coeli who was General for Philip the second King of Spain See the Spanish History in Philip the seconds life of the invincible Armado as they termed it that came against England in the Year 1588. did deal more prudently with his Prince for his ship being the first that arrived into Spain after the utter rout of this great Navy he sent a discreet Messenger unto him to inform him that some part of his Navy had miscarried by foul weather and that himself had been driven back by a storm and eight days after he sent another messenger to the King informing him of the particulars and some days after came in person to give him
inlarge my self upon these particulars 1. On the Definition of this Passion 2. On the Causes of it 3. On the Nature and Proprieties of it 4. On the evil and good Effects of it 5. On the Spiritual Use of it First This Passion hath several names some call it Confidence and have good reason for it because it is its unseperable companion others call it Audacity but this terme doth blemish the true Nature of it The definition of the passion of Undantedness for audacious and presumptuous men are held to be under one and the same predicament other call it boldness but this word is often taken for Impudency but the French call it Hardiesse which doth express most properly the nature of it which is Undantedness in the English Tongue And here is the definition of it according to the judgment of the best Moralists Boujou fol. 7 23. Vndantedness saith one is an affection and assurance to eschew an evil and to overcome all the difficulties of it Vndantedness The Bishop of Marseilles in pag. 401. saith another is a Passion of the soul which strengtheneth the same and makes it confident it can overcome the most difficult evils that can befall it in this life and doth also incourage it to prosecute the good that is most difficult to obtain And to this last definition I assent as concerning the same the best of the two for it doth truely express the nature of this passion which is the third passion incident to the Irascible Appetite 2. The Causes of it are many but they may be reduced to these six the two first are Natural the two middlemost accidental and the two last supernatural The first natural cause of undantedness is a hot and moist temper of the body The first Natural cause may be a moist and hot temper of the body for the Naturalists have observed that all such as are of that constitution of body have ordinarily an undanted spirit The Natural reason of it is that this hot and moist temper doth suppress the Melancholick humor and its evil proprieties and effects whereby the blood that is hot and airy an ful ofvital spirits and the bilia that is dry and fiery and the flegm that is cold and moist being thus mixt become of a dilative nature and by the motion of the heart spread themselves into all the utmost parts of the body and inableth the minde to undertake and the body to execute all maner of generous designs be they never so difflcult or perillous The second natural cause of Undantedness may be the largeness of the heart of men for it hath been observed by the Physitians when they have opened the bodies of valiant and undanted spirits that their hearts were larger then the hearts of ordinary men See Plutarch in the life of Themistocles and King Xerxes King of Persia having caused the body of Leonidas King of Sparta to be opened partly out of admiration of his valour and in part out of curiosity The second natural cause of undantedness is the largeness of the harts of men to see whether the heart of such an undanted spirit was larger then the hearts of common men he found the same to be as big again and hairy all over a natural propriety incident to such as are of a hot and moist constitution of body to abound in hair The Natural reason why men with larger hearts then others should be addicted to Valour and Undantedness is this that the larger the heart is the morevital spirits it can contain which are the essential causes of Valour and Undantedness and therefore it may very well be that the largeness of the heart is a natural cause of Undantedness That tall and burly men are commonly less valorous then short and middle stastured men Divers men are of opinion that tall and burly bodied men are more addicted to Valour and Undantedness then short and middle-statur'd men but they are mistaken for tall men have smaller hearts then others and are also commonly more faint-hearted then other men and the Naturalists give this reason for it If their hearts say say were proportionable to their body they might have reason to be of that opinion but it is commonly smaller because Nature extended its vertue to the utmost parts deprives the inward parts of it Besides all the vitall spirits reside in the bloud and in the heart and by its motion they are dispersed through all the parts of the body Now the farther distant these parts are from the heart the longer time are the vital spirits a going to quicken and vivifie them and by consequence tall and burlybodied men are fuller of Flesh then of Spirits and less couragious then others It is true that they have a presuming undantedness because of their strength but what is done by strength proceeds from Strength and not from Valour which doth reside in the heart and in the minde and not in the arms and in the sinews And the most valorous and undanted spirits of this Age and of other Ages were for the most part short or at the most of a middle stature Leonidas See Plutarch in Peleopidas life and Peleopidas were but short men and Sir Francis Veere and Sir Francis Drake and the Marshal de Biron and the Marshal Gastion were all short men I conclude then that Valour and undantedness doth reside in the heart and minde and not in the strength of the body and that some of all statures may be valiant and undanted The first accidentall cause may be the innocency of men and the justice of their Cause for as Salomon saith Prov. 28.1 The wicked flee when no man pursueth but the righteous are bold as a a Lyon and it is daily seen that three true men will overcome half a dozen of theeves And when men fight for the preservation of the Liberties of their native Countrey and the lives of their wives and children and all the means they have they fight commonly like Lyons The second accidentall cause of Undantedness may be The relations support or alliances that men have with potent and powerful Princes or States for the confidence they have to be backt and supported by them doth make them undertake with undanted courage difficult and perillous enterprises The two accinentall causes of the undantedness of men for Instance The Hollanders a small Commonwealth being at the first supported by Elizabeth Queen of England and afterwards by Henry the fourth King of France have for many years together undantedly waged war with the great King of Spain and likewise the Kingdom of Sweden a petty Kingdom in comparison of the Empire of Germany being supported by Lewis the 13th King of France hath with an undanted courage waged war many years with the House of Austria See the Histories of Germany England and France Thirdly The first supernatural cause of the undantedness of men may be their zeal to Religion for
by this saying of S. Paul 1 Tim. 6.9 10. They that will be rich fall into temptations and snares and into many foolish and noisom lusts which drown men in perdition and destruction For the love of money is the root of all evil which while some lusted after they erred from the Faith and pierced themselves through with many sorrows Eighthly The considerations inducing men to allay the fire of this passion are these 1. They are to consider that nature is contented with a little for some bread and water some Rise Reasons Almonds or Figgs will satisfie the same So that all such as are not nice but sober in their diet and temperate in their drinking will never be enforced to sell their Land to feed their bodies for it is the excess of the superfluous volupties used in these dayes that brings men to penury 2. They are to consider That he who cannot be contented with a little will not be satisfied with all he could desire nothing under the Sun being able to satisfie the desires of men but God only And that is the reason why S. Paul saith 1 Tim. 6.6 That godliness with contentment is great gain for none can be truly contented except he hath the power of godliness in him because the love of God doth suppress all other desires in men It was therefore a wise saying of a Heathen That he who can give bounds to his desires is a greater Conqueror and a richer Monarch then Alexander was See Quintus Curtius in his Life for having conquered one World and having in his possession all the Treasures of Asia which Darius had heaped together yet were not his desires satisfied for he did enquite if there were any more Worlds to satisfie his Ambition and Avarice 3. They are to consider that riches are accounted the gifts of Fortune which is held to be blind therefore it is no wonder if she bestows her gifts upon undeserving men such as were Nabal Sobna and the rich glutton Besides vertuous and Religious men make conscience of their ways and will rather be poor then use indirect and unlawful means to enrich themselves but such as neither fear God nor man stretch their consciences upon the Tenters and conceive no courses unlawful or sinful so they enrich themselves by them 4. They are to consider that Avarice is worse then Prodigality for the profuseness of Prodigal men is not destructive to any but to themselves but the courses used by Avaritious men to enrich themselves are destructive to the whole Commonwealth for all Shop-keepers and Artificers are the better by Prodigals but they are the worse by Avaritious men and specially the poorer sort For they commonly engross or monopolize into their hands all manner of Commodities to sell them dear and principally corn and so like horsleeches suck the very blood of the Poor which makes them to be hated of God and of Men. The consideration of which should move all conscientious men to abhorr Avarice and to endevor by all means to subdue this sinful Passion 5. They are to consider that if they had in their possession all the gold and silver Mines of the West Indies yet they would not adde any thing to their present and future Felicity but rather traverse the first and deprive them of the second Neither can they prolong their Lives an hour nor free their bodyes from any of the numerous Infirmities they are naturally subject unto It is then an absolute Madness for men to tire their bodyes and to waste their spirits by laboring and carking day and night to accumulate some smal heaps of white and yellow Clay that will be of no use unto them at the hour of death Nay they run great hazzard without the mercy of God to lose their own souls in or by the acquisition of them Therefore they should have always this Saying of our Blessed Saviour in their mind Mark 8.36 For what shall it profit a man if he shall gain the whole World and lose his own soul 6. They are to consider that there is a greater difference between the spiritual and temporal riches then there is between Light and Darkness in regard of the superexcellency and duration of the first and the baseness and mutability of the second For spiritual riches are free from all Accidents durable and eternal but the temporal riches are subject to changes and mutations and of no continuance their abode being uncertain men being rich to day and extreme poor to morrow as it appears by the History of Job and of Croesus king of Lydia the one being the richest man of the East and the other the richest Prince in Asia And yet in the revolution of one day Herodotus in Croesus life the last was deprived of his incredible treasures and kingdom and became also the Captive of his mortal Enemy And the first came to be an Object of Poverty and Misery See the Book of Job Ch. 1. and a Subject of Derision and false Imputations to his own wife and intimate freinds It is Recorded that at the sacking or destruction of the City of Thebes by Alexander the Great a Greek Philosopher for his rare parts was permitted to go away with all he had before the rest of the Inhabitants were slain and the city set on fire And being asked as he came out Why he carryed not away his Goods Answered In saving my person I preserve all that may truly be called Riches or Goods meaning his Learning and Vertue Even so if Christians would be as careful to hoard up spiritual riches as they are to heap up gold and silver they should not need to fear the loss of them For Godliness and Holiness that are the spiritual riches of a true Christian are free from all Accidents And this is the reason why our Blessed Saviour doth charge us all To seek first the kingdom of God Math 6.33.34 and his righteousness and all these things shall be added unto us And Let us take no thought for to morrow for the morrow shall take thought for the things of it self sufficient unto the day is the evill thereof CHAP. XIX Of the vanity of the passion of Ambition AS it is not the quality but the quantity of wine that is offensive to men So it is the excess and the irregularity of mens ambition that is destructive to mankind for as a little wine rejoyceth the heart so a spark of ambition in the heart of men bends their minds upon generous actions And could they make vertue and holiness the only objects of their Ambition as they do the honour and glory of this world Ambition would prove to be the best and the most commendable passion of men See Plutarch in his Life Themistocles did use to say That the great Trophies of Miltiades did hinder him to take his rest even so if the Faith of Abraham the righteousness of Lot the patience of Job the continency of
Parents towards them and this indulgency and fond love of Parents is the cause of two evils first that the children come to a shameful end secondly that their Parents hoary heads go down with sorrow to the grave and Solomon confirms the same The rod and k Prov. 29.15.17 reproof give wisdom but a childe left to himself bringeth his mother to shame and in the 17. vers Correct thy son and he shall give thee rest yea he shall give delight unto thy soul This Infancy of man is then but meer vanity for the first five years of it is but imbecillity the second five but puerility and the last five nothing but malice obstinacy and disobedience so that according to their good or bad education they become a blessing or a curse to their Parents Thirdly the adolescency or youth of man begins at 15 years of age and ends at thirty the greater part of it is spent under the restraint of their Tutors or Masters and by consequence freed from cares and curbed from vices if their Tutors or Masters discharge their duty but if they do not they commonly become so vicious that without the speciall grace of God they can never be recalled and continue prophane and unthrifty all their dayes And therefore Tutors and Masters who neglect their duty and are too indulgent towards their Pupils or Servants are the cause of their overthrow and will be called to a strict account for it before the Tribunal of God The remisness or indulgency of i 1 Sam. 2.2.3 and 3.17.18 Ely towards his two sons Hophny and Phineas drew a great judgment of God upon him and upon them both and the Pupils and Servants that reject the sharp reprehensions and corrections of their Tutors or Masters aggravate their own guilt and acquit their Tutors and Masters for they do not shew themselves onely disobedient to them but also to God for St. Paul chargeth them m Ephe. 6.5.9 Servants be obedient to them that are your Masters according to the flesh with fear and trembling in singleness of your heart as unto Christ not with eye-service as men pleasers but as the servants of Christ And ye masters do the same things unto them forbearing threatnings knowing that your master also is in Heaven neither is there respect of persons with him But when young men are freed from the subjection of their Tutors and Masters and have as it were the Bridle cast over their necks they run as fiercely after the pleasures delights and vanities of the flesh as untamed Colts run from their riders when they have cast them down and without Gods special grace miscarry in their race as it is confirmed by Solomon who in derision of their folly saith Rejoyce O young man in thy youth and let thy heart cheer thee in the days of thy youth and walk in the ways of thy heart and in the sight of thine eyes but know thou that for all these things God will bring thee into judgment n Eccles 11.9 The reason why in this age men are more addicted to their pleasure then in any other is Because their Passions are more predominant in them and experience doth shew That from twenty five yeers to thirty five yeers of age men are by the strength of their bodies the abundance and hear of their blood in which doth reside the vital spirits fitter for great enterprises where they may shew their courage and valor then at any other season and that the Passions of Love and Ambition are more violent in them then in any other age For the Adolescency of men is compared to the Spring their Maturity or Virility to the Summer their Declination to the Autumn or Harvest and their decrepit age to Winter the most irksome time of the yeer But as it is the most pleasant and precious age of men so is it the most dangerous for more are carried away with death in this age then in any other because of the distemper and excessive riots of young men which beget burning Feavers Pleurisies Sanguine Apoplexies and divers loathsom Diseases that sends them to their Grave before their time And as their Passions are more turbulent in that age so are their Actions more irregular Young men being most addicted to Vindication Spleen Indignation Wrath Rapines and Oppressions then others and as fickle and inconstant as the wind fit to undertake and active to execute but rash and inconsiderate for want of a rational solidity of Judgment In a word As this age of man hath many rare Prerogatives over the others so it is subject to great inconveniencies and fuller of vanity then any Fourthly The maturity of mans age begins at Thirty and continues till Fourty five In this age mens mindes are commonly full of the cares of this world they have wives children and servants to care for and as their families increase so doth their toyl and their cares The vices or sins of their youth are rather changed then forsaken their delights and pleasures are changed to Envy or Avarice their desires are now bent to attain to honor and riches and to out-go their neighbors in all things but in Vertue or a Godly life their thoughts flie high and are bent only upon Machavilian policies that they may by them over-reach their Brethren by false lights by falsifications of Wares by distinctions and equivocations and as for Religion they use it onely as a baite to deceive men and are more unsatiable after gain and money then the Horse-Leeches are after blood They account this saying of Solomon a Paradox He that loveth silver shall not be satisfied with silver nor he that loveth abundance with increase He that trusteth in his riches shall fall but the righteous shall flourish as a branch o Eccles 10.5 6 7 8. And so either by right or wrong they will become rich and honorable at least in shew according to the world but not really according to God for in his sight they are the most vile the poorest and the most despised Creatures under the Sun for they never take into consideration this saying of our blessed Saviour What availeth if a man getteth all the world and loose his own soul This virility of man is then but vanity and not inferior in Vices to Adolescency but they are not so visible to the eyes of men but as odious to the eyes of God Fiftly The declination of mens lives begins at fourty five yeers and continues till seventy This age of man is as much subject to Envy and Avarice as the former age is to Ambition and carking cares whereby it appears that mens Passions and Sins do rather change then forsake them for volupty and carnal delights to which young men are most addicted in their Adolescency doth change in their declining age to Envy and Avarice and sometimes their Avarice doth change to Ambition a Passion more incident to the virility or mature age of men then to old age
Sam 23.8 to 39. from the 8 verse to the 39 verse Many other testimonies might be produced out of ancient Histories to prove that divers of the Heathen have attained to honor by their strength as three or four of the Hercules Hector Aiax Milun and divers others but in regard that the naturall strength of men is little accounted in these days when a youth of fifteen years of age can with a musket shot kill the strongest man upon earth I will onely say That strength is meer vanity and that honor obtained by it can not be grounded but upon a sandy foundation The third means to attain to honor is Beauty and Comliness sith strength is subject to many accidents and mutations For the third which is an extraordinary stature comliness and Beauty divers have attained to honor by these gifts of Nature l Sam. 10.23 24. Saul for his extraordinary stature and personal parts was chosen King of Israel as it appears in the tenth of the first of Samuel 23 24. verses And they ran and fetched him thence and when he stood among the people he was higher then any of the people from the shoulders upwards and Samuel said to all the people See ye him whom the Lord hath chosen that there is none like him among the people And all the people shouted and said God save the King but for as much as the personal representation of the body without the gifts of the minde is not sufficient for the discharge of the honorable function of a King it is said in the 9. verse that God was pleased to adorn him after he was chosen with the spirit of Government viz. with Prudence and Wisdom the chiefest ornament of a Prince And it was so that when Saul had m 1 Sam. 10.9 turned his back to go from Samuel God gave him another heart Contrarily it might be proved by divers instances that the deformity of body a small stature and the want of personal representation is a great impediment to Princes because the common people do always more regard the outward gifts then the intellectual as it doth appear in the lives of n See Plutarch and Quintius in their lives Agisclaus of Leonidas Philopoemen all wise and valourous Princes and Commanders that were despised of the vulgar sort because they were of a short stature and of no representative Majestie but the comliness of Alexander Alcibiades and of Pompeius the great made them to be honored and respected above others o 2 Sam. 14.25 Absolom was also much beloved of his father and honored of the people of Israel for his comliness and natural indowments for from the soal of his feet to the grown of his head there was no blemish in him And the comely feature and excellent beauty of p Esther 1.1 and 2.17 Esther made her from a Captive attain to that superlative honor to be the Queen of the great King Ahasuerus who raigned from India even to Ethiopia over one hundred and twenty seven Provinces and the King loved Esther above all the women and she obtained grace and favour in his sight more then all the Virgins so that he set the royall Crown upon her head and made her Queen in stead of Vesta It is then apparent that personal representation comliness and beauty are means whereby men and women attain to worldly honors but how sandy the foundation of these honors is I leave it to the consideration of the Reader for nothing is more casuall and subject to mutation then comliness and beauty and therefore these honors are meer vanity and vexation of spirit Fourthly The fourth means to attain honors is by riches Riches are an ordinary means in this vicious age whereby men attain to worldly honors for honors that are the onely recompence of wisdom prudence fidelity and valour are now sold for ready money and the honorable titles of Earls Barons Knights Esquires and Gentlemen are obtained for a lump of clay gold or silver the base excrements of the earth this is one of the secondary causes of all our distractions and present miseries and hath ever been the overthrow of Kingdoms and Common-weales as long as the Roman civil Magistrates Senators and Commanders of Armies were chosen in to such places of honor and trust for their noble q See Livius Decades descent their prudence and valour their State did flourish and did inlarge its dominions more in one century of years then it did in three after these places of honor became to be venal and purchased by concession for then men of no parts were for money promoted to highest dignities whereupon civill contentions were fomented factions increased and continuall bloudy r See Appian in the Roman civil wars intestine wars maintained by which the ancient liberties of that State were suppressed and the last government of it changed into an Imperiall Monarchy As long as the chiefest Officers of the Crown of France and the places of Judicature of the Realm were given by Charls the fifth surnamed the Wise to men of learning of wisdom and valour in recompence of their loyalty vertue and merits that Kingdom did flourish with peace honor and prosperity and the Courts of Å¿ See the History of France Parliaments of France had the honor for their Justice and Equity to be the Arbitrators and Umpires of all the differences that hapned in those days between the greatest Princes of Christendom but when these places of honor and trust were made venal in the reigns of Francis the second Charls the ninth and Henry the third and sold for ready money to such as gave most for them then was Justice and Equity banished and that flourishing Kingdom reduced to the brim of ruine and desolation by variety of factions and a bloody civill war And the selling of places of honor and Judicature of late years in this Kingdom hath been the spring of all the discontents divisions and distractions which have somented this unnatural war because of the injustice rapines and oppressions that followed at the heels the sale of these places of honor and trust for such as bought them by the great sold them to their Clients by retail whereby it appears that honors bought for money are destructive to the Sellers to the State and to the Buyers and that such as injoy them carry upon their foreheads rather ignomy then honor For the fifth Concerning favors many have been promoted to worldly honors The fifth means to attain to honors is by the favor of Princes by favor of the Prince or such as are in authority for their vertue and merits but of these commendable favors I intend not to speak of as being out of fashion in these days but undeserving favors proceeding from vicious services t Esther 3.5 Haman the son of Amedatha the Agagite was promoted by King Ahasuerus to the greatest honors of his Court for he advanced him and set his
Christians have with their gracious God by contemplation meditation or fervent prayers The first is a sudden and violent motion of the heart that causeth a great alteration in the body The definition of Joy See Theuphrast Boju in his Commentaties upon Aristotle Phys fol. 727. proceeding in the opinion of the Moralists from the possession or fight of some object much desired which is really good or reputed to be so by the imagination of men yet it will appear by the proprieties and effects of it that it doth not always come from the possession or injoyment of a beloved object or from an imaginary good but sometimes from relations scurrilous speeches ridiculous postures and deformedobjects for Joy is as I have said before an affection of the minde and is rather infused in the Heart by the Eye and by the Ear then by any of the other three Senses for those are more proper to the passion of Volupty of which Delight or Delectation is a branch however it is the fifth passion incident to the Concupiscible appetite and proceeds from divers causes as it will appear in the next Discourse Secondly The causes of worldly joy are either Publick or Private the Publick proceed commonly from the immediate hand of God or from his favor or by his permission and of these I shall speak in the first place first It was a great cause of publick joy proceeding from the immediate hand of God to the people of Israel presently after their coming out of Egypt to see the sea go back Exod. 14.21 to 31. and make a free passage for their host to pass through the midst of it and when they were all safe come to dry land to see the rowling waves of the sea to turn back and overwhelm Pharoah and all his Army secondly It was a cause of publick Joy when it pleased the Lord to deliver the people of the Iews from that bloody decree obtained by Haman from the great King Ahasuerus against the whole Nation of the Iews Esther 3.4 The causes of publick joy that were scattered through the one hundred and seven and twenty Provinces of the said Kings Dominions for which admirable deliverance the people of Israel made the 15th and 16th day of the moneth Adar days of Thanksgiving and of Feasting and Rejoycing from one generation to the other which were called the days of Purim See the Spanish and Turkish History thirdly It was the cause of publick joy to the Venetians and to all Christendom when God was pleased to give unto the Christian Fleet such a memorable victory over the Turkish Navy at the Battel of Lepantho for which after thanks given to God many days of Feasting and Rejoycing were kept at Venice and other parts of Christendom fourthly See Speed in the life of King James It was an incredible cause of publick joy for England when the Lord was pleased to deliver this Nation from the devillish plot of the Gunpouder Treason for which miraculous deliverance after hearty thanks given to God great Feasting Bond-fires and other expressions of joy were made in London and through the whole Land 1. It was a cause of private joy to the old Patriarch Jacob to hear by the report of his sons that his beloved son Joseph Gen. 45.26 who he thought had been devoured by wild beasts was chief Governor of Egypt and the next man in honor to the King 2. It was a cause of private joy for old Iesse The causes of private joy 1 Sam. 16.12 to see his youngest son David from a Shepherd to be promoted to be King of all Israel and specially to be reputed by God himself to be a man after his own heart 3. It was a cause of private joy for old Mordecay to see his Neece Esther Esther 2.16 from a Captive to be exalted to be the wife of the great King Ahasuerus and the greatest Queen in the world 4. It was a cause of incomprehensible joy to the Virgin Mary and to all mankinde to hear the blessed and glad tidings that the Angel Gabriel brought her from the Lord saying Behold Luke 1.26.46 thou shalt conceive in thy womb and bring forth a son and shall call his name Jesus He shall be great and shall be called the son of the Highest and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David whereupon the Virgin Mary transported with joy and ravished in spirit sung some dayes after this excellent Song My soul doth magnify the Lord beginning at the fourty sixt Verse of the first Chap. of St. Luke Here was a true and real Cause of Spiritual Joy not onely for the Virgin Mary but also for all the Elected of God who by free grace have part in the merits of Christ By these Instances it appears that these causes of joy did proceed from the seeing and hearing which are the two Senses most proper to the passion of Joy There are divers other Causes of worldly joy which are not so well grounded as these but are most vain and ridiculous and they are these following The joy of private and worldly men suits with their inclinations first The Ambitious will rejoyce in the increase of their honors secondly The Covetous men in the abundance of their riches thirdly The causes of private mens joy The Voluptuous men will rejoyce in the injoyment of their pleasures fourthly The Merchants and Trades-men in the increase of their Trade fifthly The Lawyers in the multiplicity of their Clients and in the discord of their neighbors sixthly The prophane and Libertine in all manner of ridiculous Sports scurrilous Songs lewd Musick Dancing Valting and in lascivious Pictures and Postures and in Chambering Gluttony and Drunkenness and these are the common and ordinary causes of the joy of worldly men Let the Reader judg then whether carnal joy be not meer vanity and vexation of Spirit for the great vanity of it moved Solomon to say I said of laughter Eccles 2.2 it is mad and of mirth what doth it and the very truth is that men transported with immoderate joy are like fools and mad men Thirdly The proprieties of worldly joy are these first Worldly joy is of hot temper secondly It is of a dilative or spreading quality and these two proprieties are the cause that sudden joy doth bereave men of life for when some beloved object or glad tidings are unexpectedly represented to the eyes or ears of men this causeth a violent alteration in all the parts of the body but specially in the heart by means of the hot and dilative quality of this passion of Joy because the blood and the vital spirits that reside in it are with great violence driven from the inward parts to the extremity of the members of the body The proprieties of worldly joy whereby mens hearts are deprived of their natural heat and of their vital spirits and so fall into a swoon
for Lovers Ambitious and Covetous men are cast into strange fits of Melancholy and sorrow if they be deprived of their Love or of the honors and riches they aim at secondly The carking cares that men usually take to increase their means or to preserve their lives and estates is a cause of their sorrow thirdly The fear that many men have to fall into penury is a common cause of their sorrow fourthly The losses of mens goods fame or reputation is a cause of their sorrow because they want the grace of patience and cannot say with Iob Job 1.21 The Lord gave and the Lord hath taken away blessed be the name of the Lord nor with the Prophet David I will wash my hands in innocency Psal 26.6 fifthly The loss of Parents Wife Children or intimate Friends is often times the cause of mens sorrow for want of the rememoration of this saying of Salomon Eccles 3.20 All are of the dust and all shall return to dust again sixthly the vain apprehensions that man have of the evil to come is the cause of their sorrow because they rely not upon this gracious promise All things work together for good to them that love God seventhly Rom 8.28 The want of courage in men is the cause of their sorrow because like faint hearted Pilots they give over the Helme of the Ship in a storm I mean the Helme of their Reason whereby they might regulate the distempers of this passion of Sorrow eightly The fears that possess men for the punishment of their sins is a cause of their sorrow whereas they should fear and grieve for the guilt of sin to attain to that spiritual Sorrow which worketh repentance to salvation The Natural causes of the Dolour and Anguish of the body may be these first Long and tedious diseases The natural causes of the Dolour and Anguish of the body as the Stone in the Kidneys or Bladder the Gravel the Strangullion the Gout the Cough and consumption of the Lungs or the Hectick Feaver for all these in continuance of time by the secret communion that the senses have with the sensitive power of the soul do beget in the minde grief and sorrow besides the Dolour and Anguish of the body secondly The Adust or burnt Choler or Bilis gathered in the Mesentery veines which sendeth virulent vapors up into the braine is a natural cause of much sorrow 4. The accidental causes of sorrow The accidentall causes may be these first when men themselves or their Parents Children or intimate Friends do accidentally come to their end by sea or by land as to be murdered upon a Rode or cast away at sea or taken captive by Pyrats or slain by a fall from a horse or lamed by some other accident all these things are causes of sorrow and grief yet none of these natural or accidental causes are or should be sufficient to breed sorrow to mens minde sith nothing happens casually or accidentally but is guided by the hand of the divine Providence to whose blessed will men are obliged to submit themselves and our blessed Saviour doth assure us that the meanest Sparrow or an hair of our head doth not fall to the ground without the permission of our heavenly Father Fourthly The nature and effects of Sorrow are directly contrary to the nature and to the effects of Joy first The nature of Joy is to dilate and spread the blood and the vital spirits that reside in it into the utmost parts of the members of the body but Sorrow being of a cold and dry nature draws the blood and vital spirits from the utmost parts of the body towards the heart to comfort the same secondly Joy is hot and active and by its sudden motion indangers the life of men The natur and the effects of Anguish Grief and Sorrow but Sorrow is cold and slow and comes upon men with leaden feet and never causeth death but by long continuance and lingering diseases except it cast men into despair as it doth oftentimes as it will be shown in the effects of it thirdly Joy is proper and pleasant to Nature and rejoyceth the heart and makes men chearful in their Calling both private and general but Sorrow is adverse and distasteful to Nature and makes men slow and stupid in their particular and general calling fourthly Joy preserveth and increaseth health and lengtheneth mens days and makes them pass their lives with mirth and content but Sorrow impairs mens health and shortens their days and makes their lives to be tedious and irksome In a word moderate Joy is comfort to man and excessive Sorrow is the bane of man And the effects of worldly Sorrow are as bad or rather worse first Sorrow makes men flee the society of men nay the very light of the Sun and all things that may rejoyce and comfort Nature the sight of their dearest friends nay of their wife and children is irksome to men that are possessed with excessive sorrow secondly See the Acts and Monuments or Book of Martyrs If mens Sorrow proceeds from mens Apostacy in Religion it doth commonly cast them into despaire and inflicts upon them in this life the very paines of hell as it doth appear in the life of Francisco Spira thirdly Sorrow tempts carnal men to be rid of it to desperate resolutions as to bereave themselves of life by hanging stabbing and drowning of themselves as it hath lately been seen in this City of London fourthly Sorrow makes men careless to make their calling and election sure and to neglect the means appointed by God for their salvation I mean the hearing of the Word with that attention as they should for their thoughts and cogitations are so fixed upon the object of their sorrow that they minde nothing else for this pernicious passion doth stupifie the most noble faculty of the soul as the Memory the Imagination and the Understanding Divers other effects might be produced but these will suffice to induce men to indeavor to eschew or regulate this dangerous and destructive passion Fifthly The Remedies against the venom of this passion are first Natural secondly Moral thirdly Spiritual The Natural are first to flee as far as men can from the object of their sorrow secondly If mens sorrow proceeds from Natural infirmities they are in the first place to call upon God and then use the Counsel of Physitians for they must not do as Ahaziah King of Israel did 2 Kings 1.2 who being faln from an upper Chamber thorow a Lattess sent to the God of Ekron to know whether he should recover of his disease as too many do in these days who send to Astronomers to know the events of things not to the Physitian 2 Chron. 16.12 as Asa King of Iuda did who being diseased in his feet sent to the Physitian before he had called upon the Lord by prayer for God is the Paramount Physitian and the God of Nature and
neither the Art of men nor the hidden Vertues of drugs and Simples are of any effect without his blessing thirdly the change of Air from bad to good and the pleasent prospects of green Medows corn Fields beautiful Gardens The natural remedies against Sorrow and odiferuos Flowers rejoycing the Senses are remedies against Sorrow fourthly Honest and godly Company and moderate Exercises as Walking Shooting and Bowling divert and drive away Sorrow fifthly wholsom Diet and broath with Chickens and Mutton Borage Buglos Marigolds and yellow Flowers with a cup or two of Claret Wine with Sugar are excellent remedies against Grief and Sorrow The Moral remedies are Fortitude Temperance Constancy and Patience for the use and practice of these Vertues are special antidotes against the venom of Sorrow I do not allow of the Stoicks Constancy The moral remedies against Sorrow who would have their wise men to be insensible of anguish in the midst of the greatest torments nor to be sad for the loss of Parents Wife Children or intimate Friends for this is rather a brutish stupidity then a true constancy Neither do I approve of an extream dejectedness or excessive sorrow for the loss or deprivation of any thing that is dear unto men but of a moderate demonstration of the sinsibility required by Humanity and Christianity of such a loss for such as are truly wise are never transported with excessive Joy nor with extream Sorrow for any thing which befalleth them in prosperity or in adversity the medium temper being to be preferred before any extream as for Fortitude Temperance and Constancy I must acknowledg the Heathen have out-gone in their Vertues the Christians in these days The Pagans have out-gone the Christians in Moral Vertues as it may appear by the lives and actions of divers of them as of Aristides Phocion Epamonides Scevola Regulus Fabricius and Cato but for true Patience Christians have out-gone them as it may appear in the Book of Martyrs Now because Patience is not onely a moral Vertue but also a divine Grace I will speak of it in the next Discourse because Sixthly The Remedies I am to speak of have a coherence with the use of Spiritual Sorrow and the chiefest are these first Humility secondly Fortitude thirdly Patience for the pride of mens hearts is the essential cause of all their sorrows the other causes being but branches of it The spiritual remedies against Sorrow as the of loss Parents Wife Children intimate Friends Goods Riches Honor Reputation and the Anguish and Paines of their natural infirmities Now if men endevor to obtain from God by fervent prayer these three graces they will be able to regulate their greatest sorrows first If they acknowledg with all humility that all things they have are the immediate gift of God they will have no occasion to be grieved or to be sorrowful when God who was and is the giver of them all is pleased to take them away And for instance let the Humility Fortitude and Patience of Job be their Patern and President Job 1. he lost his dear children all his goods and riches by four casual accidents as men call them and besides Job 2. the immediate hand of God was upon him to try and prove his patience for besides the sore Boiles that were upon his body his wife and intimate friends that should have comforted him did aggravate his grief nay as he saith himself Job 6.4 The Arrows of the Almighty are within me the poison whereof drinketh up my spirit the terrors of God do set themselves in array against me and yet Satan with all his temptations nor by these losses and bodily anguishes could never induce him to murmur against the Lord nor cast him in a pit of excessive Sorrow being always supported by the confidence he had in the mercies of God and in the assurance that his Redeemer liveth Job 29.25 and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth besides Humility makes men to be contented in any condition but Pride makes men fret and grieve for the want of superfluous things secondly Fortitude makes men cast away all timerous fears that beget sorrow for men are apt to grieve and sorrow for imaginary evils that they apprehend will come upon them although there is no probability they should befal them as much as for those which they suffer The spiritual use of Sorrow Moreover in Dolour and Anguish of the body Fortitude gives men courage and makes them to regard them no more then a Flea-bite Lastly Patience mixt with Hope suffers all Griefs Anguishes sorrows afflictions tribulations and persecutions as things that be of no continuance for it teacheth men to know That weeping a Psal 30.5 may indure for a night but joy cometh in the morning and that the sufferings of this present time b Rom. 8.18 are not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed in us The first Use is that men should not grieve nor be sorrowful for any thing but for sin for sin indangereth the soul which is more worth then all that a man hath nay men must not onely be sorrowful for sin but they must c Zach. 12.10 mourn for sin as one mourneth for his onely son Nay men must not onely mourn for their sins but their sins d Psal 51.3 must ever be before them that they may say with the Prophet David Hide thy e Psal 51.9 face from my sins and blot out mine iniquities and they must continually pray Wash me f Psal 51.2 throughly from mine iniquity and cleanse me from my sin then shal all worldly sorrow be bah shed away and their mourning shal be turned into joy and they be made partakers of this blessing promised by our blessed Saviour Blessed are they that g Matt. 5.4 mourn for they shall be comforted It appears then by these Discourses that worldly Sorrow is meer vanity and vexation of Spirit and that godly Sorrow is an introduction to a godly life and by consequence to Salvation c. CHAP. XII Of the vanity of the passion of worldly Hope IF the greatest evil is nothing else but the privation of the greatest good how miserable should the lives of men be in their tedious Pilgrimage through this vale of Tears if they were deprived of Spiritual Hope sith it is their greatest Comforter and their chiefest Cordial against the anxieties of their minde and the anguish of their bodies under the burden of which their hearts would faint if they were not supported and comforted by this Hope And in this as much as in any thing is the incomprehensible wisdom of God visibly seen that he hath been pleased to store men with Antidotes against all kinde of venoms and evils that might be destructive to them and to their beeing for were it not for this passion of Hope men upon the lest disgraces afflictions tribulations and persecutions of
passion of Undantedness drives away all fears from their mindes yet these come oftentimes short of their hopes See the French Mercury for Baligny one of the most undanted spirits of the French Nation who had slain in Duel or in single Combat seventeen valiant Gentlemen as any were in France was slain himself in the streets of Paris manfully by another Gentleman who was reputed but a Novice in the feats of Arms. Therefore mens hopes are for the greater part of a deluding Nature if they be not grounded upon Reason and good Probabilities Thirdly The Objects of the Hope of worldly men are these first Honors secondly Riches thirdly Pleasures fourthly Self-ends and Vain-glory for all the hopes of carnal men are fixed upon one of these Objects The vanity and incenstancy of worldly honor and by consequence their hopes must be meer vanity and vexation of spirit first Men that make Honors the Objects of their Hopes will finde them to be grounded upon quick-sand for what is more subject to mutation and change then worldly Honors The Favorites of Princes are compared to Moucherons that grow up in one night Jonah 4.6 7. or to Jonahs Gourd that sprouted and grew to its perfection in one day and by a Worm was withered the next day even so the honors of Favorites are taken away in a moment Esther 4 2. and 7.10 Hamon the Agagite was promoted on a sudden above all the Princes that were with the great King Ahasuerus but he lost in a moment his life and his Honors and suffered an ignominious death for he was hanged on a Gibbet of fifty cubits high Sejanus likewise the Great Favorite of the Emperor Tiberius Nero See Tacitus in Tiberius life was raised to the greatest honors of the Roman Empire but in a moment he was degraded of all his Honors and dragged like a dog thorow the streets of the City of Rome See the French History and of late years the Marquess d'Auere of a Groom was promoted to the greatest Honors of the Crown of France but in an instant he was pistoled by the command of the King Lewis the thirteenth and having been buried in a Church neer to the Kings Palace his body was taken out of the grave by the common people the next day The vanity and mutability of worldly Riches and dragged up and down the streets of the City of Paris and afterwards hacked in pieces burned and his ashes cast into Seine Therefore mens hopes that are fixed upon worldly Honors have a very sandy foundation secondly If mens Hopes be fixed upon Riches they are as ill grounded for what is more fickle then Riches that make themselves wings and flee away Prov 23.5 See Herodotus in the life of Cyrus Cressus King of Lydia lost all his incredible Treasures and his Kingdoms in a day and Crassus the richest Roman that ever was See Plutarch in Crassus life lost his life and his unparallel'd riches by indeavouring to increase them Riches are then a tottering foundation for mens hopes thirdly if mens Hopes be fixed upon worldly pleasures they are of less continuance then the fire of thorns under a Pot for carnal pleasures seem tedious in the continuance The vanity of worldly Pleasures and mens estates will be sooner wasted and their bodies consumed by lothsome diseases then they will besatisfied with carnal pleasures fourthly Although Self-ends and Vaine-glory are the ordinary objects of the Hopes of the most generous spirits yet Vain-glory is but a meer shadow and for Self-ends it is contemptible and base for moral Hope which inticeth men to generous actions cannot be pure if it be not free from Self-ends and vain ostentation The vanity of Self-ends and vain-glory and notwithstanding if the most heroical actions of the ancient and modern Worthies both in Arms and in learning were well examined few will be found that were acted meerly for the love of Vertue or the publique good but were mixt with Self-ends and Vain-glory for the Conquests of Alexander and of Cesar and of a hundred more were to increase their fame and Dominions And the learned Works of Aristotle of Plate of Demosthenes of Cicero of Seneca of Salust and of many more were written as much to perpetuate their memory as for the love of Vertue or of the Publick good Mens Hopes must then have a more excellent object and a more solid foundation then these before related or they will prove to be but meer vanity and vexation of spirit Fourthly The nature and proprieties of this passion of worldly Hope are these first Although all worldly Hope is of an earthly nature because of its corruptible and transitory objects yet it hath a propriety of agility for it is as swift as the thoughts and desire of men for in an instant of time mens Hope may be here in France in Spain in Turky or any where where men have commerce or trading The nature and probabilities of worldly Hopes acquaintance or intimate friends secondly The worldy Hope of men is as inconstant as the Windes for sometimes it is fixed upon Honors other times upon Riches and again upon Pleasures or upon this undertaking or this other design and alters according to mens fancies and imaginations thirdly the worldly Hope of men is ordinarily voide of Prudence for it is extravagant and oftentimes ridiculous because it doth not take his measures and distances aright I mean in fixing their Hopes upon impossibilities which is the reason that so many are deluded in their Hopes divers unreasonable creatures having by a natural sagacity a better aim then they for the Lyons the Tygers the Bares and all other devouring beasts will not set upon any other beast except they see some probability they may master them for if they be too swift or too strong they forbear to set upon them nor the Kite will not offer to ravish the young Chickens if its sees the Hen neer at hand to defend them The wilde beasts by a natural sagacity undertake nothing without probability they may attain nor the Hawk will not fly after the Partridge except it sees that she is within her reach but worldly men for the greater part fix their hopes upon objects wherein there is no probability at all they should attain to the injoyment of them which is against the natural propriety of this passion of Hope for true Hope eschews all impossibilities fourthly The worldly Hopes of men are insatiable as well as their Desires for when they have attained the fruition of one of their Hopes they instantly fix their Hopes upon another object so that the thirst of an Hydropick will be sooner quenched then the worldly hope of men will be satisfied Pyrrhus King of Albania had conceived a vain Hope of the conquest of Italy but his wise and prudent Counsellor Cynias perceiving no probability in this hope of his because the Roman Common-wealth was then powerful
make golden bridges for their enemies to retreat then by despair to enforce them to fight To conclude Despair is a dangerous passion and Self-murdering Despair is to be abhorred of Christians for it doth not onely destroy the body but it doth also cast mens souls into the pit of eternal wo. There is also another sort of Despair which I have not as yet spoken of which proceeds from natural infirmities as from burning Feavers Frenzies and Madness but the evil effects which proceed from these are rather to be imputed to keepers of the Patients then to themselves or to the fury of the disease and therefore cannot come within the compass of Self murder The Remedies against which horrid sin are contained in the insuing Discourse Fifthly Six remedies against Despair The Remedies to prevent the evil and most pernicious effects of this dangerous passion of Despair which is one of the strongest temptations of Satan may be these and such other passages of Scripture a Psal 5.2 Hearken unto the voyce of my cry my King and my God for unto thee will I pray for constant and fervent prayers are able to cast back this temptation like filth in Satans face and to obtain of the Lord these supernatural graces whereby Christians will be inabled to defie and overcome Despair first Faith as a shield wherewith men shall be able saith St. Paul to quench all the fiery b Ephes 6.16 darts of the wicked And to say with Iob in the greatest tribulations that can befall them in this life Though he slay me yet will I c Job 13.15 trust in him secondly Repentance for it is a pretious Antitode against the venom of Despair What had become of St. Peter for denying his Lord and Master three times before the Cock d Matth. 26.75 crowed once if by the bitter tears of Repentance he had not obtained mercy Nay the very temporal and fained Repentance of Ahab King of Israel moved God to transfer or remove the execution of his wrath e 1 Kings 21.27 28 29. from him to his children And it is conceived by the best Divines that if Iudas who betraied our blessed Saviour had repented of his horrid sin he had not faln into f Matt. 27.5 despair for the compassions of the Lord are incomprehensible and his mercies are infinite as it appears by his towards Manasseh g 2 Chron. 33.12 13. King of Iudah who had committed all the wickedness that could be imagined by the hearts of men for he caused the Prophet Isaiah to suffer a most cruel death by sawing his body in the midst with a Saw and he turned aside from the Lord to commit Idolatry and caused his son to pass through the fire and dealt with Familiar Spirits and made the streets of Ierusalem to overflow with the innocent blood he caused to be spilt and yet when he humbled himself by an unfained Repentance before the Lord God was so gracious as to shew him mercy and from a miserable Captive he restored him to his royall dignity thirdly Patience is a special remedy against Despair for it preserved Job in the midst of his greatest temptation nay when his wife that should have been his greatest comforter said unto him Dost thou still retain thy integrity Curse h Job 2.9 10. God and die He answered with an admirable meekness of Spirit Thou speakest as one of the foolish women speaketh What Shal we receive good at the hand of God and shall we not receive evil And this onely consideration That all things work for good to them that i Rom. 8.28 love God should keep men from Despair when they are in a maner overwhelmed with the greatest afflictions that can befall them in this life fourthly Confidence in God is an excellent remedy against Despair for such as trust in the Lord may say with the Prophet David I will not k Tsal 3.6 be afraid of ten thousands of people that have set themselves against me fifthly Hope is a powerful remedy against Despair for if men say with the Prophet David The Lord is my Rock l Psal 18.2 and my Fortress and my Deliverer for my m Psal 39.7 hope is in thee sixthly Fortitude is an excellent remedy against Despair for it is able to dash and overcome all the evil apprehensions that beget Despair and check mens pusillanimity with these words of the Prophet David Why art thou cast down O my soul and why art thou n Psal 42.11 disquieted within me hope thou in God for I shall yet praise him who is the health of my countenance and my God By these and the like passages of Scripture men may prevent the dangerous effect of Despair Nay draw unspeakable comforts out of the very Causes that beget Despair which passion is full of vanity and vexation of spirit c. CHAP. XIV Of the vanity of the passion of Vndantedness IF Diamonds were as common as Pipples and Vertues as natural to men as Vices they would not be so precious nor valued at so high a rate as they are in these days for it is the rarity of things more then their goodness that makes them to be esteemed among men for Instance Bread is the only staff of mans life and the best food that Nature hath appointed for his subsistence and yet because it is common it is little regarded for Beggers will hardly give men thanks if they give them nothing but dry bread But this passion I am to speak of is not onely rare sith one man among one hundred is not indowed with it but also good and excellent and therefore the more to be esteemed and valued of men as a rare and precious Jewel By it mens hopes are attained all fears expelled and despair suppressed and were it not a Passion I should call it a Vertue because of the resemblance it hath with Fortitude For Undantedness is the Spring of all true Valour and manly courage and by it all the generous actions that have been acted since the Creation till this day have had their beeing and successful end And therefore most judiciously and properly placed by the Moralists after Despair and before Fear to mitigate by the excellent proprieties of it the evil qualities of the two others for were it not for this passion men would be diverted from undertaking any noble design by Fear and Despair who have a natural propriety to withdraw the vitall spirits into the Center of the body which hinders the natural faculties to do and execute their functions and makes men timerous and remiss to undertake any noble action but Undantedness causeth the blood and the vital spirits that reside in it to dilate themselves to the utmost parts of the members of the Body and so gives them life and vigor and makes men apt and fit to undertake and execute all noble enterprizes Now for the better description of this noble Passion I will
drinking of it become worse then bruit Beasts because they deprive themselves of Judgment and Reason The Viper is naturally rank poyson and yet the Mithridate and other Antidotes against venoms are composed of it even so this passion of Fear is much abused and made worse then it is although it proceed from an evil spring I mean the weakness and infirmity of men yet God is pleased to make good use of it to convert sinners and to make them prosecute with greater fervency then they would otherwise do the ways of Righteousness Divers conceive Fear to be a Feminine passion and unworthy to be harbored in a Masculine Brest yet it maketh the proudest of men to be cautious and circumspect in their undertakings and clips the wings of their vain hopes and ambitious designes Tacitus saith See Tasitus in the life of Nero. That it serves as a curb to the licentious will of Princes and of all others that are in power and authority and for instance saith That as long as Agrippina the mother of the Emperor Nero lived of whom he stood in fear his actions were not so exorbitantly wicked as after her death but he having like a graceless son deprived her of life took free liberty to commit the greatest impieties that his heart could imagine And Joash King of Juda did the like for as long as Jehojada the high Priest lived whom he feared he seemed to love the Lord but soon after his death he gave himself over to Idolatry and cruelty for like an ungrateful wretch he caused Zechariah 2 Chro. 24.17 22. the son of Jehojada to be slain because he onely delivered unto him the message he had received from the Lord. Divers prefer Love before Fear but there cannot be any true Love without Fear Others say it is better to be feared then beloved but it is better to be equally loved and feared for men without Love endevor to be rid of the object of their Fears But if men be beloved and feared this composure keeps off all danger and begets security and obedience Neither can there be any filial obedience without Love for the obedience that proceeds from Fear is not free Prov. 1.7 and 20.2 but forced The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledg And the fear of a King is as the roaring of a Lyon who so provoketh him to anger sinneth against his own soul How much more should men be afraid to provoke Gods wrath by their sins and yet that is one of their least fears for they fear those things which they should not fear and fear not to sin which they should most fear But sith the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom and of all saving knowledg which knowledg doth teach men to be afraid of sin which is the greatest evil Give me leave to inlarge my discourse upon these ensuing particulars that you may know to fear nothing but sin 1. On the definition of Fear 2. On the Nature of it 3. On the causes and remedies of mens fears 4. On the evil and good Effects of Fear 5. On the Spirtiual use of Fear The Moralists do vary in opinion Boujou in his Commentaries upon Aristotles Phâ—s lib. 16. cap. 6. concerning the definition of this Passion of Fear Fear saith one is a passion and apprehension of an evil that is to come but near at hand and looked for and unlikely to be avoided Fear saith another The Bishop of Marseille p. 408. is nothing else but a Grief and Dolor of the soul apprehending an evil at hand in which men see little probability it can be eschewed although it aims at the annihilation of their Being or to some dismal disgrace that threatneth their life or estate Yet it will appear by the nature the proprieties and effects of Fear that men are rather transported with Fears of imaginary Evils then of real and that mens fears do but rarely proceed from the annihilation of their Being However it is the fourth passion incident to the irrascible Appetite and the opposite and great Antagonist to the noble passion of Undantedness Secondly The nature of Fear is different from the nature of Joy for Joy dilates the blood and the vital spirits residing in it from the heart to the utmost parts of the body contrarily Fear withdraws the blood from the extreams of the body to the heart because Fear is a cold passion and the heart finding this cold to oppress it withdraws and calls as it were the blood and vital spirits from the further parts of the body to his ayd that by their natural heat he may be revived and cherished And that is the reason why divers men and women have been deprived of life by a sudden fear or fright because this cold passion congealeth the blood about the heart as a great frost congealeth water into Ice but if the Fear be not so violent yet it produceth a great alteration in the body for mens and womens faces will become as white as a cloth and sometimes all their members will tremble as a leaf and the motion proceeding from this alteration is so swift and forcible that women great with-childe miscarry by it nay it doth oftentimes turn the childe in their womb which depriveth the mother and the childe of life But Fear and Dolor have a great resemblance one with the other for they have both this withdrawing quality and are both of an extream cold and dry nature and therefore Fear and Sorrow are compared to the Winter Season and Joy and Delectation to the Spring and Summer in which the vegetative Creatures sprought and spring out their branches leaves flowers and fruits but in Winter time they withdraw their sap which is their life into their Roots as Fear and Sorrow doth draw the blood and vital spirits about the heart that is the essential cause and motion of mens lives Having both one and the same end the vegetatives to preserve themselves from the Frost and Snow and the heart to warm and cherish it self against these cold and frosty passions of Fear and Sorrow Thirdly The causes of mens fears are many and of several natures and by consequence their remedies must be proportionable unto them I will therefore speak first of the causes and to every cause apply the remedy but as I have said a little before mens fears do oftner proceed from imaginary evils then from the real and the worst propriety of this passion of Fear is That it anticipates and creates Fears in the Minde the real effects of which evils oftentimes are not like to trouble such as apprehend them nor their childrens children which kinde of Fear proceeds from a distrust of Gods providence and therefore as odious to God as any other kinde of Fear as it shall be proved when I come to speak of the effects of this passion First Worldly men Fear to loose their honors and dignities Secondly Their treasures and riches Thirdly
fear and tempt them 1 Cor. 6.15 To make of the members of Christ the members of a Harlot It is also one of the most prevailing snares of Satan by which he draweth more millions of souls into the Pit of destruction then by any other sin whatsoever And therefore give me leave to enlarge my self upon these particulars 1. Upon the definition of this passion 2. Upon the nature of it 3. Upon the causes why some are more addicted to it then others 4. Upon the evil proprieties of it 5. Upon the pernitious effects of the same 6. Upon the judgements that God doth inflict upon voluptuous men 7. Upon the means or remedies which are to be used to avoid the venome of it 8. And lastly Upon the express prohibition of the same by the Word of God First Volupty is a composed passion of love and desire The definition of Volupty arising from a tickling delight of the senses when men enjoy really or by imagination such objects as seem pleasant to their phansie It is so general that all such as are under the state of Nature are more or less addicted to it Nay the regenerate are sometimes ensnared by it by the temptations of Satan and their original corruptions the difference between them is that the unregenerate by their impenitency die in their sins and the regenerate by the free grace of the sanctifying Spirit of God are awaked out of this spiritual lethargy and by an unfained repentance are converted and reconciled to God Secondly It is of a feminine nature for all such as are overmuch addicted to this passion loose their masculine generosity and become effeminate Hercules did cast off his Club and Lyons skin to vest himself and spin like a woman before Omphale his Mistress And it is daily seen that voluptuous men imitate in their gestures carriage and fashions the Courtizans of these days for they powder their hair wear black patches and paint their Faces as they do It was not then without cause that the ancient Poets did represent volupty under the shape of the old Witch Circe for as she transformed the Passengers who sailed through the Straits of Sicilia into Swine if they listned to her Charms Even so Volupty doth transform into brute beasts rational men if they converse long and let themselves be ensnared by the alluring Charms of Harlots for as Zerubbalel proved it before King Darius the Charms of a beautiful woman are more powerful then strong Wine Esdras 3. from the 14. ver to the 32. or a mighty King Thirdly The Causes why some men are more addicted to this passion then others may be natural accidental or artificial such as are naturally more addicted to it are commonly of a hotter and moister constitution then others and these are of a sanguine complexion for the Bilious are hot and dry the Flegmatick moist and cold and the Melancholike cold and dry which are not so apt to the Venereal delight as the Sanguine The Accidental Causes are The hot Climate where men live for Heat dilates the spirits outwardly and Cold restrains them inwardly And Experience doth shew that the Africans Spaniards and Italians whose Climate is hotter then the Germans Dutch English are the most addicted to Venery And yet they are not so apt to generation as the last because the desire of the reiteration of the Act doth weaken their bodies and doth waste their spirits Idleness Pride and Fulness of bread is also an Accidental Cause why one Nation may be more addicted to Venery then another For this was the Cause why the Sodomites as the Prophet Ezekiel saith were so vitious Ezek. 16.49 and transported with Lust The Artificial Causes are Sophistical meats Delitious Wines and enticing Simples Drugs and Amber-gris over-much used in these days to provoke Men and Women to Lust See Guicciardine in the Emperor Charls the Fifth his Life Guicciardine records that a King of Tunis being at Naples spent five hundred Ducats in enticing Drugs and Amber-gris to dress a Peacock to incite himself and the company that supped with him that night to Lust But these Means are destructive to the Soul and Lives of Men. For Instance the Queen of Arragon gave Ferdinand her Husband an inticing Love-Drink to make him more apt to the Venereal sport See the History of Spain in Ferdinands Life but it cast him into an incurable Consumption which brought him to his grave And Van-Dick an excellent Dutch Painter lost lately his life by these inticing Drugs provoking to Lechery Alass Men are too prone of themselves to sin without Artificial Means to provoke them to it Fourthly The evil Proprieties of this vitious Passion are so numerous that I should be over-tedious to speak of them all and therefore will speak but of some of them First It is insatiable and may be compared to the horsleech to the barren womb and to the Grave for the Desires of Voluptuous men are never satisfied with their carnal Delights their bodies being sooner tyred with the reiteration of the Act then their Lust can be exstinguished For many have been found dead in their Mistresses Armes by endeavoring to satisfy their Lust beyond their Natural Abilities The Reason of it was because overmuch evacuation of the spirits exstinguisheth life Secondly it is as inconstant as the wind for they delight in nothing more then in changes because their judgement is so depraved by the Spirit of uncleanness which besots them that they cannot discern the beauty of one Object from another and do often forsake the most lovely to dote upon the most unworthy and deformed conceiving erroneously that stollen waters are the sweetest Thirdly It hath a Destructive quality for it provoketh men to commit the most abhorred sins that can be named Gen. 12.15 By it the Sodomites were inticed to commit with the very Angels the sin against Nature Gen. 19.5 It moved Pharoah and Abimelech to take away by violence Sarah Abrahams wife Reuben to defile his Fathers bed Gen. 35.22 Gen 34.2 Judg 19 25. Sechem to deflour Dinah The Gibeahnites to abuse brutishly the Levites concubine David to commit Adultery with Bathshebah and to vail his sin to murther Vriah her husband Amnon to ravish his own sister Tamar Sueton. in his Life Augustus to take away by force Livia from her husband Tacitus in his life Caligula to commit Incest with his two Sisters Nero to defile himself with his mother French History Faragonde to murther King Clotair her Husband that she might the more freely enjoy her Paramour English History King Edgar to murther his Favourite to marry his Wife And King Roderick to ravish Duke Godfreys Daughter Spanish History which was the cause of the Conquest of Spain by the Moors And a thousand like abhorred sins which should move Christians to abhor and flee from this most accursed and sinful passion as from a Serpent Fifthly The Effects of
Florence was slain in his bed as he waited for the coming of a Gentlewoman he had allured to his lust 16. A Counsellor of the Court of Parliament of Paris slew a Gentleman and his own Wife as they lay abed together for he struck them both thorow the body with a Stiletto as they were upon the very act And from thence went to the Court and without perturbation pleaded the Case under fained names and obtained a definitive sentence of absolution from the said court for the murther by him committed For as Solomon saith Prov. 6.34 Jealousie is the rage of a man therefore he will not spare him in the day of vengeance These instances and many others that might be produced of the judgements of God inflicted upon whole Nations and particular men for the punishment of their lascivious volupties should refrain them from this destructive passion and make them flee from it as from a Serpent induce them to leave no remedies unattempted to mortifie the same But before I come to speak of the moral and spiritual remedies which are to be used to curb or to subdue this sinful passion give me leave to answer an Objection which some Moralists make to palliate the sin of it Voluptie say they is but a venial sin Object and the most innocent Passion of all others for it is the Darling of Nature and all men and women are naturally inclined to Delight neither could they subsist in the midst of so many woes and sorrows to which they are incident if it were not for these natural refreshments that you call Volupties And sith the fire and heat of this passion is cooled or utterly extinguished by old age men need not be so copious in the description of the evil nature proprieties and effects of it Nor so tedious in the manifestation of the remedies that may mortifie the same For Volupty doth not encrease by Age as Avarice and drunkenness doth I answer Answ that in regard of the actual act of Volupty old age may quench the flames of it But as for the intellectual desires I say that old men who have from their youth been addicted to this kinde of Volupty will long as much after that delight as the Avaricious men do after the encrease of their Treasures or the Drunkards after the taste of delicious Wines except they be sanctified both in body and soul by the sanctifying Spirit of Gods Free-grace for old age nor all the precepts of Morality cannot cast out of a mans heart this spirit of uncleanness if once he hath taken possession of it because it is of the same kinde Which goeth not out as our Saviour saith himself but by prayer and fasting Math. 17.21 that is to say by the meer and immediate operation of the sanctifying Spirit of Grace as it shall be proved by Instances and divers Passages of the Word of God when I shall speak of the spiritual remedies which are to be used to mortifie this passion As for the moral remedies that I am now to speak of they are these first men are to endeavor to attain to an habit in these four Vertues or Graces 1. Continency 2. Temperance 3. Fortitude 4. Sanctification Secondly they are to eschew these four splitting rocks or great inticers to all lascivious Volupties 1. Idleness 2. Alluring Objects 3. Suspected places 4. Evil company And in so doing they will undoubtedly by the help of the sanctifying Spirit obtain the victory over this spirit of uncleanness that is the greatest Opposite to the grace of sanctification for there is a greater antipathy between holiness and pollution then there is between fire and watter the Lyon and the Cock the Dog and Cat or between Vice and Vertue These things considered I will begin with those things which are to be eschewed for it were to small purpose to endevor to attain to an habit in these four Graces If men do not eschew the four things above spoken of by which the use of these Graces would be soon annihilated First Idleness is to be eschewed for if mens minds be not bent upon laudable employments they will busie themselves in unlawful things because their spirits are naturally active And as standing waters become loathsome even so men who have no employment become vitious And daily experience sheweth that such as are rich and have no calling are more addicted to Volupties then the meaner sort The Lacedemonians of all the other Greeks were the most active and valorous and the Athenians the most voluptuous because the first were kept under a strict Discipline gold and silver being prohibited in their Common-wealth and all manner of volupties banished and Military Atchievements cherished But the second were rich and by consequence Idle and did nothing as the Apostle S. Paul saith but hear or tell news Act. 17.21 or did employ themselves in all kinde of carnal Volupties Therefore such as will be continent must addict themselves to some lawful calling and are to be diligent in the same Prov. 10.4 For a slothful hand saith Solomon maketh poor but the hand of the diligent maketh rich Fulness of bread and Idleness were the cause saith the Prophet Ezechiel of the abhorred lusts of the Sodomites And for this cause the Emperour Severus made a Decree that all men whatsoever living in the City of Rome should imploy themselves in some lawful calling See Herodian in Severus life and wear upon their Apparel the badges of their profession that all idle persons might be banished out of the Commonwealth because Idleness is the mother of all vices The point might be proved by many instances but two shall serve for brevity sake 1. As long as King David addicted himself to Martial Achievements he never was carryed away by the temptations of Satan to lust after other mens Wives but when he was Idle and walking upon the Leads of his Palace he was ensnared into sin by the beauty of Bathsheba the Wife of Vriah the Hittite 2 Sam. 11.2 2. As long as the Prodigal Son was employed about the mannaging of his Fathers Houshold affairs he carryed himself like a dutiful Son but as soon as he was Idle and had obtained his Portion he wasted the same among Harlots Luk. 15.13 and by riotous living for Satan desireth no better opportunity to tempt men to sin then when they are Idle Secondly alluring Objects are to be eschewed and specially those of the feminine Sexe for many are bewitched by the glances of their eyes and that is the reason why King David after his fall prayed unto God he would be pleased to turn his eyes from beholding vanity Psal 101.3 as conceiving the beauty of women to be the greatest vanity under the Sun for the glances of their eyes are as destructive to mens souls as the glances of the eyes of a Basilisk are to their bodies Prov. 4.25 And that is the cause why Solomon saith Let thine