present â—…vill which the mind in vaine strugleth with as finding it selfe alone too impotent for the conflict Evill I say either formally as in sinne or paine present or feared or privatively such as is any good thing which we have lost or whereof we doe despaire or have beene disappointed And this is in respect of its object as the former Passion either Sensitive or Intellectuall Sensitive is that anguish and distresse of Nature which lyetâ—… upon the body A Passion in this sense little conducing to the advancement of Nature being allwaies joyned with some measure of its decay but onely as it serves sometimes for the better fortifying it against the same or greater evils it being the condition as of corporeall delights by custome to grow burdensome and distastefull so of paines to become easie and familiar The other and greater Griefe is Intellectuall which in Solomâ—…us phraise is A wounded spirit so much certainely the more quicke and piercing by how much a spirit is more vitall then a body besides the anguish of the soule findes alwayes or workes the same sympathy in the body but outward sorrowes reach not ever so farre as the spirituall and higher part of the soule And therefore we see many men out of a mistake that the distresse of their soules hath beene wrought by a union to their bodies have voluntarily spoiled this to deliver and quiet that The causes of this Passion are as in the former whatsoever hath in it power to disturbe the mind by it's union thereunto There are then two Conditions in respect of the Object that it be Evill and Present Evill first and that not onely formally in it selfe but apprehensively to the understanding And therefore wee see that many things which are in their Nature Evill yet out of the particular distemper of the Mind and deceitfulnesse in them may prove pleasant thereunto And this is the chiefe Corruption of this Passion I meane the misplacing or the undue suspending of it For although strictly in its owne property it be not an advancement of Nature nor addes any perfection but rather weakens it yet in regard of the reference which it beares either to a superior Law as testifying our Love unto the Obedience by our griefe for the breach thereof or to our consequent Carriage and Actions as governing them with greater Wisedome and Providence it may bee said to adde much perfection to the mind of man because it serves as an inducement to more cautelous living The next Condition in respect of the Object is that it be Present which may fall out either by Memory and then our Griefe is called Repentance or Fancy and Suspition and so it may be called Anxâ—… of Mind or by Sense and present union which is the principall kind and so I call it Anguish For the first nothing can properly and truly worke Griefe by ministry of Memory when the Object or Evill is long since past but those things which doe withall staine our Nature and worke impressions of permanent deformity For as it falleth out that many things in their exercise pleasant prove after in their operations offensive and burden some so on the other side many things which for the time of their continuance are irkesome and heavy prove yet after occasions of greater Ioy. Whether they be means used for the procuring of further good Per varios casus per tot discrimina rerum 〈◊〉 in Latium sedes ubi c. Through various great mishaps dangers store We hasten to our home and wished 〈◊〉 Where fates do promise rest where Troy revives Only reserve your selves for better lives Or whether they bâ—… Evils which by our Wisedome we have broken thâ—…ough and avoided sed 〈◊〉 olim 〈◊〉 iâ—…vabit When we are arrived at ease Remembrance of a strome doth please The Objects then of Repentance are not our passive but our active Evils not the Evils of suffering but the Evils of doing for the memory of afflictions past representâ—… unto us Nature loosed and delivered and should so much the more increase our Ioy by how much redemption is for the most part a more felt blessing than Immunity but the memory of sinnes past represents Nature obliged guilty and imprisoned And so leaves a double ground for Griefe â—…he staine or pollution and the guilt or malediction a deformity to the Law and a curse from it It would be improper here to wander into a digression touching Repentance only in a word it is then a Godly Sorrow when it proceeds from the memory of Evill not so much in respect of the punishment as of the staine When we grieve more because our sin hath made us unholy then because it hath made us unhappy and not only because we are runne into the danger of the Law but because we are run out of the way of the Law When it teacheth us to cry not only with Pharaoh take away this Plague but with Israel in the Prophet take away Iniquity Concerning Griefe of Preoccupation arising out of a suspitious Feare and expectation of Evill I know not what worth it can have in it unlesse haply thus that by fore-accustoming the Mind to Evill it is the better strengthned to stand under it For Evils by praemeditation are either prevented or mitigated the Mind gathering strength and wisedome together to meet it And therefore it is prudent advise of Plutarch that wee should have a prepared Minde which when any Evill falleth out might not be surprised by it To say as Anaxagoras did when he heard of the death of his Sonne sciome genuisse mortalem I know that I be gat a mortall Sonne I know that my riches had wings and that my comforts were mutable Preparednesse composeth the Minde to patience Vlysses wept when he saw his Dogge which he did not when he saw his Wife he came prepared for the one but was surprised by the other Hunc ego si potui tantum sperare dolorem Et perferre soror potero Had I foreseene this Griefe or could but feare it I then should have compos'd my selfe to beare it Which is the reason why Philosophers prescribe the whole course of a Mans Life to be only a meditation upon Death because that being so great an Evill in it selfe and so sure to us it ought to be so expected as that it may not come sudden and find us unprepared to meet the King of Terrour For it is in the property of custome and acquaintance not only to alleviate and asswage evils to which purpose Seneca speakes perdidisti tot mala si nondum misera esse didicisti thou hast lost thy afflictions if they have not yet taught thee to be miserable but further as Aristotle notes to work some manner of delight in things at first troublesome and tedious and therefore hee reckoneth mourning amongst pleasant things and teares are by Nature made the witnesses as well of Ioy as of Griefe 〈◊〉 〈◊〉
others or Inward on our selves specially where there is Passion to withdraw and pervert it as the one is stronger so commonly the other is weaker which is true most of all in this Passion of Feare wherein the more we see of dangers from outward oppositions the lesse we see of inward strength for resistance Insomuch that great minds when they meet with great dangers are oftentimes staggered as the Poâ—…t intimates when Ajax came forth to battell 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Feare had the other Trojans all opprest Yea Hectors heart panted within his breast A third Effect may be a Weaknesse of the Fa culties of the Minde and the Spirits in the Body whereby the one is made unfit for Search or Counsell the other for Service or Execution And hence as Plutarch noteth it imports in the Greeke a Binding or Shutting up and so withdrawing and indisposing the Soule for Action And such Actions as Feare forceth a man upon are presumed to be so weake and unnaturall that it is a Maxime in the Law Per metumgesta prâ—… non ratis habentur Those things which wee doe in Feare are void and invalide to binde when the Feare which forceth them is removed And as it is in the Civill State so it is in the Morall Common-wealth of the Soule there are three principall wayes to inferre Weaknesse Forreign Incursions Intestine Tumults and an Emptying of the Parts all which are to be seen in an Extremity of Feare Where first two things are to be granted one concerning the Body and the other the Mind The first is that the Spirits being of the most strong subtle and quicke motion are the principall Instruments of Entercourse either in Negotiation to or Service from Reason the other that the Mind being of a Spirituall and Elevating Nature retaines then the perfectest power of Operation when it least of all suffers the Incursion of grosser Passions which yet I understand not of all manner of Ministry and Admixtion of Appetite with Reason as if the Regular motions of inferiour powers did not serve to sharpen the Counsels of the higher but onely of Invasion and Tyranny Which granted wee may observe all the three former causes of Weaknesses in an Extremity of Feare For first there is a Confused and Vnserviceable mixture of Passion and Reason The Passion with too much outrage and assault breaking in and distracting the advices of Reason which is Forreigne Incursion For though these two are not parts of a different Regiment yet they are of a different Nation if I may so speake the one belonging to the higher the other to the lower parts or region of the Soule Secondly there is Tumult and Disorder amongst the Spirits which is Civill Dissention Thirdly there is a Retyring of them to the principall Castle or Fort the Heart whereby the Outward Quarters are left Naked and Vngarrison'd which though it be a strengthning of the Better yet it is a Weakning of the Major part and this answereth unto Emptying or Vacuity By all which both Reason is made unfit for Counsell all the Conceipts therof being choaked and stifled with a disorderly throng of Spirits and Passions â—…nd the Body likewise is so benummed that though our discourse were entire yet it could not be there seconded with any successefull service And hence are those many ill Effects of Feare upon the Body whitenesse of Haire Trembling Silence Thirst Palenesse Horrour Gnashing of Teeth Emission of Excrements The Outward parts being over-cooled and the Inward melted by the strength of the Spirits retyring thither Which Homer hath thus described speaking of a Coward His Colour comes and goes nor doth he set Long in one place he croucheth to his feet His Heart pants strong and intercepts his breath His Teeth doe gnash with but the thoughts of Death Brave men are still the same not much agast When the first brunt of their Attempts is past Where by the way we may observe what Seneca also tels us that Feare doth usually attend the beginnings of great enterprizes even in the worthiest men Which mindeth me of one more and that an usefull and profitable Effect of this Passion I meane Care Wisedome and Caution which ever proceeds from a Moderate Feare which is a Dictate of Nature And therefore the weakest Fishes swim together in shoales and the weakest Birds build in the smallest and outermost boughes which are hardest to come unto And we may observe that Nature hath made the weakest Creatures swiftest as the Dove the Hare the Hart and the say that the Hare is very quicke at hearing and sleepeth with his Eyes open every way sitted to discouer danger before it surprise him For as in Religion a Feare that is governed by the Word of God so proportionably in Morality a Feare grounded by the Word of Reason is the Principle of Wisedome As Security and Supinenesse is the Root of Folly which Tiberius replyed to the petition of Hortuluâ—… wherein he requested of the Senate a Contribution from the publicke Treasury to recover the honour of his Family which now was sunke and began to wither Industry saith hee will languish Idlenesse will increase if no man have Feare or Hope in himselfe but all will securely expect a supply from others in themselves lâ—…zy and burthensome unto us and it is the judgement of Tacitus upon one of the wisest Policies which ever that Emperour practised I meane his writing to the Legions abroad Tanquam adepto principatu as if he were already Emperour when at home in the Senate he used only Modesty and Refusals That he did it out of Feare so wise a Counsellor was his Passion unto him And we find that some * great Commanders have caused their Skout-watches to be unarmed that Feare might make them the more vigilant And therefore this Passion is the Instrument of Discipline seasoning the Minde as ground Colours doe a Table to receive those beauties and perfections which are to bee superinduced CHAP. XXIX Of that particular Affection of Feare which is called Shame What it is Whom we thus feare The ground of it Evill of Turpitude Injustice Intemperance Sordidnesse Softnesse Pufillanimity Flattery Vaine-glory Misfortune Ignorance Pragmaticalnesse Deformity Greatnesse of Minde Vnworthy Correspondencies c. Shame Vitious and Vertuous BEsides this generall Consideration of the Passion of Feare there is one particular thereof which calleth for some little observation namely Shame which is a Feare of just Disgrace and Reproof in the Minds of those whose good opinion wee doe or ought to value as hee said in the Poet 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Now those whom we thus feare are wise men for so Polydamas is said to looke behind and before him Aged men and all whose presence wee reverence as Parents Rulers Counsellers Friends Any whom we our selves Admire or who Admire us We feare disgrace with those whom we Admire because their judgement of us is in our own Apprehension
swerve into disordered and confused or into idle and vaine motions â—…ut might ever worke towards that fixed end which God hath appointed them to moove â—…nto Passions which proceed from Knowledge severed and extrinsecall are those motions of meerely naturall Agents which are guided to their generall or particular ends by the Wisdome and Power of Him that made them And this it is which causeth that peremptorie and uniforme order observed by these kind of Agents in their naturall course never either swarving or desisting there-from so farre as the condition of the matter and subject whereon they worke permitteth them because they are all governed by an immutable most wise and most constant Law proceeding from a Will with which there is no variablenesse nor shadow of changing And therefore we finde those aberrations and irregularities of Nature wherein it swerveth from this Law onely or at least principally in these inferiour things wherein partly from the deficiencie and languishing of secondarie Agents and partly from the excesses defects mutabilitie and the like exigences of matter wee finde sundry times error and enormitie in their severall workes and ends Which whether it be to set forth the beautie of regular operations which by deformitie and confusion will appeare more beautifull or whether the originall thereof be divine malâ—…diction which for the sinne of man hee pleaseth to lay upon his fellow creatures which were all created for his comfort and service which Saint Paul calleth the vanitie of the Creature it proceedeth certainely from the Will anâ—… Power of that Law-giver who is onely able sâ—… Reasons best knowne to his owne Wisdome tâ—… dispense sometimes with that otherwise unalterable Law which he gave all his creatures to observe So that all the Miracles which ever God hath beene pleased to worke for the conversion of men unto the Faith or confirmation in it were but so many exceptions and dispensations from that generall Law But as I said those irregularities and deviations before spoken of are seene principally in inferiour things The Earth being the principall Creature that did beare the Curse of Manâ—… Fall which made if wee will beleeve that relation though I rather suppose it to be fictitious the Heathen Philosopher upon observation oâ—… that wonderfull Eclipse of the Sunne at the Passion of our Saviour to crie out Aut Deus Naturâ—… patitur aut Mundi machina dissolvetur either the God of Nature suffereth or the Frame of Nature dissolveth Either something hindereth that universall Power which sustaineth and animateth all the Creatures or he doth at least willingly detaine that vertue and the vigour of that Law without execution whereof there cannot but follow a laxation of the whole Frame which particular I have the rather observ'd to note that the more raysed and heavenly a Nature is the more stable and constant likewise it is to every Divine Law imposed on it Now this naturall Passion which I speake of is called by sundry Names amongst Philosophers the Law the Equitie the Weight the Instinct the Bond the Love the Covenant and League of naturall things in order to the conservation of themselves propagation of their kind perfection and order of the Vniverse service of Man and glory of the Creator which are the alone ends of all naturall Agents By all which we are given to understand that when at any time the ordinarie course of Nature is intermitted when any creature forsakes its native motion and falleth into confusion and disorder there is then admitted a breach of a Law or as Aristotle calls it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an error which Saint Iames telleth us is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an iniquitie of Nature also a certaine levitie unusefulnesse and emptinesse of true worth which I call in Saint Pauls phrase the vanitie of the Creature thirdly loosenesse decay and dissolution and thereupon discord and unserviceablenesse towards the other parts with which it should jointly conspire for the glory of the whole These are the inconveniences that follow Natures how much greater are those which follow Reasons disobedience for all this touching the Passions of Nature I have observed onely to give light unto those of Reason there being the same proportion of government in them all saving that what in things destitute of all knowledge is guided by the Law-giver himselfe is in the rest performed by a knowledge conjoyn'd and intrinsecall to the Worker and this is either Mentall or Sensitive or Rationall from all which arise sundry degrees of Motions or Passions Mentall Passions are those high pure and abstracted delights or other the like agitations of the supreme part of the Vnderstanding which Aristotle calleth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Latines Mens or Apex animi which are the most simple actions of the Mind wherein is the least intermixtion or commerce with inferior and earthy saculties Which Motions are grounded first on an extraordinarie Knowledge either of Vision and Revelation or of an exquisite naturall Apprehension both which are beyond the compasse of usuall Industrie here to attaine unto The former of these I call with the Schoole-men Extasie and Rapture such as Saint Pauls was for so himselfe calleth it Novi hominem raptum and such as was the Passions of the Mind in the Prophets and holy men of God when they were inspired with such heavenly Revelations as did slide into the Soule with that lustre and abundance of Light that they could not but ravish it with ineffable and glorious delight And such no doubt is that joy unspeakable and Peace past understanding which the Apostle makes to be the fruits of the Spirit of God in those hearts wherein he lodgeth whereby the purest and most abstracted part of the Soule the Mind is lifted up to some glimpses and apprehensions of that future Glory which in Heaven doth fill the spirits of men with ineffable Light And for the later Branch Aristotle hath placed his greatest felicitie in the contemplation of the highest and divinest Truths which he makes to be the object of that supreme part of the Soule And it was the speech of the Philosopher Heraclâ—…tus to the same purpose that Animae sicca est sapientissima which toucheth something upon that of Aristotle That Melancholy complexions are usually the wisest for that Temper is the dryest of all the rest That a Mind not steeped in the humours of carnall and grosse affections nor drench'd in the waves of a disquiet Fancie but more raysed and soaring to its originally by divine contemplations is alwayes endued with the greater wisdome Another Knowledge from whence the Passions of this Facultie are raysed in Man is that light of Naturall Principles which the Schooles call Synteresis unto which the custodie of all practicall Truths being committed they there-hence worke in the Conscience motions of Ioy Love Peace Feare Horror Despaire and the like spirituall Passions according as the Soule out of those generall Principles shall gather unto its owne particulars any
nourish and exercise Knowledge The reason whereof is that unseparable union which is in all things between the Truth and Good of them for it being the property of Truth to unite and apply Goodnesse nothing being apprehended as Good unlesse that Goodnesse be apprehended as true the more Appetite enjoyeth of this the deeper inquiry doth it make and the more compleat union doth it seeke with that the Heart and the Treasure can seldome be severed the Eagles will alwayes resort to the body Davids Love gave length and perpetuity to his meditation even all the day And herein methinkes may consist another proportion betweene the strength of Love and Death for as in Death nature doth collect and draw in those spirits which before lay scattered in the outward parts to guard and arme the heart in its greatest conflict uniting all those languishing forces which are left to testifie the naturall love which each living creature beareth to its owne conservation so doth Love draw and unite those Spirits which administer either to the Fancie or Appetite to serve onely for the nourishing of that Affection and for gazing upon that treasure whereunto the Heart is wholly attracted Which Spirits being of a limited power and influence doe therefore with the same force whereby they carry the mind to the consideration of one thing withdraw it from all other that are heterogeneall no determined power of the Soule being able to impart a sufficient activity unto diverse independing operations when the force of it is exhausted by one so strong and there being a sympathy and as it were a league between the faculties of the Soule all covenanting not to obscure or hinder the Predominant Impressions of one another And therefore as in Rome when a Dictatour was created all other Authority was or that time suspended so when any strong Love hath taken possession of the Soule it gives a Supersedeas and stop unto all other imployments It is therefore prescribed as a Remedy against inordinate Love Pabula Amoris Absterrere sibi atque aliò convertere mentem To draw away the â—…ewell from this fire And turne the minde upon some new desire For Love is Otiosorum Negotium as Diogenes spake the businesse oftentimes of men that want imployments Another effect of Love is Iealousie or Zeale Whereby is not meant that suspicious inquisitive quick-sighted quality of finding out the â—…lemishes and discovering the imperfections of one another for it is the property of true Love â—…o thinke none evill but onely a provident and solicitous feare least some or other evill should either disturbe the peace or violate the purity of what we love like that of Iob towards his sons â—…nd of the Apostle towards his Corinthians I am jealous over you with a godly jealousie So Penâ—… lope in the Poet was jealous of the safety of Vlisses In tâ—… singebam violentos Troas ituros Nomine in Hectoreo pallida semper eram How oft my decre Vlisses did I see In my sad thoughts proud Trojans rush on thee And when great Hectors name but touch'd mine-ears My cheeks drew palenes froÌ„ my paler fears Zeale is a compounded affection or a mixture of Love and Anger so that it ever putteth forth it selfe to remove any thing which is contrary to the thing we love as we see in Christ whose zeale or holy anger whipped away the buyers and sellers out of the Temple In which respect it iâ—… said that the zeale of Gods house did consume him As water when it boyleth from which metaphoâ—… the word zeale is borrowed doth in the boyling consume or as the candle wasteth It selfe with burning In which respect likewise it is said that much water cannot quench Love It is like Lime the more water you cast upon it the hotter it growes And therefore the sinne of Laodieeâ—… which was contrary unto zeale is compared unto lukâ—…warme water which doth not boyle and so cannot worke out the scumme or corruption which is in it And from hence it is that Love makes Weake things strong and turneth Cowardice into Valouâ—… and Meekenesse into Anger and Shame into Boldnesse and will not conceive any thing too hard to undertake The fearefull Heâ—… which hath nothing but flight to defend her selfe from the Dogge or the Serpent will venter with courage against the strongest creatures to defend her little chickens Thus Zeale and Love of God made Moses forget his meekenesse and his Anger was so strong that it brake the Tables oâ—… the Law and made the people drink the Idol which they had made And this is wiâ—…lly expressed by Seneca that Magnus dolor iratus amor est a great griefe is nothing else but Love displeased and made angrie It transporteth Nature beyond its bounds or abilities putteth such a force and vigour into it as that it will adventure on any difficulties as Mary Magdalen would in the strength of her Love undertake to carry away the dead body of Christ as she conceived of him not considering the weight of that or her owne weakenesse It hath a constraining vertue in it and makes a man do that which is beyond his power as the Corinthians when they were poore in estate were yet rich in Liberality It makes a man impatient to be unacquainted with the estate of an absent friend whom wee therefore suspect not sufficiently guarded from danger because destitute of the helpe which our presence might afford him In one word it makes the wounds and staines of the thing loved to redound to the grief and trouble of him that loveth it He that is not jealous for the credit security and honour of what hee pretendeth affection to loves nothing but himselfe in those pretenses Another Effect of Love is Condescension to things below us that wee may please or profit those whom we love It teacheth a man to deny his owne judgement and to doe that which a looker on might happily esteeme Weaknesse oâ—… Indecencie out of a fervent desire to expresse affection to the thing beloved Thus Davids great Love to the Arke of Gods presence did transport him to leaping and dancing and other such familiar expressions of joy for which Michall out of pride despised him in her heart and was contented by that which she esteemed basenesse to honour God herein expressing the love of him unto Mankind who was both his Lord and his Sonne who emptied and humbled and denied himselfe for our sakes not considering his owne worthinesse but our want nor what was honourable for him to doe but what was necessary for us to be done Quicquid Deo indignum mihi expedit what ever was unworthy of him was expedient for us Thus Parents out of Love to their children doe lispe and play and fit their speeches and dalliances to the Age and Infirmities of their children Therefore Themistocles being found playing and riding on a reed with his little boy
disâ—…retion of their owners 6 Give not an easie Eare to Reports nor an Easie entertainement to suspicioâ—…s bee not greedy to know who or wherein another hath wrong'd thee That which wee are desirous to know or apt to beleeve wee shall be the more ready to revenge Curiosity and â—…dulity are the Handmaides unto Passion Alexander would not see the woman after â—…hom he might have Lusted Nor Casar search Pompeyes Cabinet lâ—…st he should find new matters of Revenge He chose rather to make a Fire of them on his Hearth then in his Heart Injuâ—…ies unknowne doe many times the lesse hurt when I have found them I then begin to feele them and suffer more from mine owne discovery then from mine enemies attempt 7 Bee Candid in Interpreting the thingâ—… wherein thou sufferest Many times the glasse through which I looke makes that seeme formidable and the wave that crooked which in it selfe was beautifull and straight Haply thou art Angry with that which could not intend to hurt thee Thy Booke thy Penne the stone at which thou stumblest the winde or raine that beates upon thee bee Angry gaine but with thy selfe who art either so bold as to be Angry with GOD or so foolish as to be Angry with nothing Thou art displeased at a Childish or an Ignorant miscarriage Call it not Injury but Imprudence and then pitty it Thou art Angry with Counsell Reproofe Discipline why doest thou not as well breake the Glasse in which thy Physitian Ministreth a potion unto thee Bee Angry with thy sinne and thou wilt love him that takes it from thee Is hee that adviseth thee thy Superiour Thine Anger is undutifull is hee thy friend thine Anger is ungratefull 8 Give Injuries a New Name and that will worke a new Affection In blinde Agents call it Chance in weake Persons Infirmity In simple Ignorance in wise Counsell in Superiours Discipline In equals Familiarity ' in Inferious Confidence where there is no other construction to be made doe as Ioseph and David did call it Providence and see what God sayes to thee by it Get a minde conversant with high and noble things the more heavenly the lesse Tempestuous 9 Be not Idle Sluggish Luxurious wee are never more apt to bee Angry then when we are sleepy or greedy Weake resolutions and strong Desires are sensible of the least exaâ—…peration as an empty ship of the smallest Tempest Againe be not â—…ver-busie neither That man can hardly bee master of his Passion that is not master of his imployments A minde ever burdened like a Bow alwayes bent must needes grow impotent and weary the fittest preparations to this distemper When a mans businesse doth not poise but presse him there will ever bee something either undone or ill-done and so still matter of Vexation And therefore our Mindes as our Vessels must bee unloaded if they would not have a Tempest hurt them Lastly wrastle not with that which pincheth thee If it bee strong it will hurt if cunning it will hamper and entangle thee Hee that strives with his burden makes it heavier That Tempest breakes not the stalkes of Corne which rends asunder the armes of an Oake the one yeelds the other withstands it An humble weaknesse is safer from injury then a stubborne strength I have now done with the Passions of the Minde And briefly proceede to those Honours and Dignities of the Soule of Man which belong unto it in a more abstracted Consideration CHAP. XXXII Of the Originall of the Reasonable Soule whether it be immediatly Created and Infused or derived by Seminall Traduction from the Parents Of the Derivation of Originall sinne THe dignity of Man in respect of his Soule alone may be gathered from a consideration either of the whole or of the parâ—…s therof CoÌ„cerning the whole we shall consider two things It s Originall and its Nature Concerning the Originall of the Soule divers men have diversly thought for to let passe the Opinion of Seleucus who affirmed that it was educed out of the Earth and that of Origin and the Platoâ—…ists who say that the Soules of men were long agoe created and after detruded into the Body as into a Prison There are three Opinions touching this question The first of those who affirm the Traduction of the Soule by generaâ—… some of which so affirm because they judged 〈◊〉 a Corporeall substance as did Tertullian Others because they beleeved that one spirit might as easily proceed from another as one fire or light be kindled by another as Apollinarius Nemesiâ—… and divers in the Westerne Churches as St. Hierome witnesseth The second of those who deby the naturall Traduction and say that the Soule is 〈◊〉 â—…ion infused into Bodies organiz'd and praedisposed to receive them of which Opinion among the Ancients were St. Hierom Hilarie Ambrose Lactantius Theodoret. Aeneas Gazâ—…us and of the moderne Writers the major part The third is of those who doe haesitare stick betweene both and dare affirme nothing certaine on either side which is the moderation of St. Augustine and Gregory the great who affirme that this is a question incomprehensible and unsolvable in this life Now the only reason which caused St. Austin herein to haesitate seemeth to have been the difficulty of traducing Originall sinne from the Parents to the Children For saith he writing unto St. Hierome touching the Creation of the Soule If this Opinion doe not oppugne that most fundamentall faith of Originall sinne let it then be mine but if it doe oppugne it let it not be thine Now since that Opinion which denieth the Traduction seemeth most agreeable to the spirituall substance of the soule I shall here produce some few reasons for the Creation and solve an argument or two alledg'd for the Traduction of the Soule reserving notwithstanding unto my selfe and others the liberty and modesty of St. Austins haesitation which also I finde allowed by the Holy Ghost himselfe Two things there are of certainty in this point 1. That the soule is not any corporeall Masse or substance measurable by quantity or capable of substantiall augmentation 2. That the Traduction of one thing out of another doth connotate these two things That the thing traduced doth derive Being from the other as from its original principle that this derivation be not any other manner of way but Ratione semiâ—…ali per modum decisionis by a seminall way and the decision seperation or effluxion of substance from the other which things being laid The Arguments against Traduction are these First the testimonies of Holy Scripture calling God the Father of spirits as our naturall Parent the Father of our bodies Iob 33. 4. Eccles. 12. 7. Esa 57. 16. Num. 16. 22. 27. 16. Heb. 12. 9. Zach. 12. 1. which though they doe not according to the judgement of St. Aug. conclude the point by infallible consequence yet doe they much favour the probability
of these senses since they are in this life delivered from the Malediction of the Law from the Wrath of the Judge from the Tyrannie of the Enemie from the Raigne of Sinne and by Death freed not only from the Dominion but from the Possession or Assault of the Enemie not only from the Kingdome but from the Body of Sinne and is withall in good part possessed of that Blisse which it shall more fully enjoy at last But our Bodies though before that Great day they partake much of the benefits of Redemption as being here sanctified vessells freed from the Authority and Power of the Devill World Flesh and from the Curse of Death too wherein they part not only with life but with sinne yet after all this doe they want some part of either Redemption as namely to be raised and delivered from that dishonour and corruption which the last Enemie hath brought upon them and to be Admitted into those Mansions and invested with that Glory whereby they shall be Totally possessed of their Redemption In a word the Soule is in its separation fully delivered from all Enemies which is the first and in a great measure enjoyeth the Vision of God which is the second part or degree of mans Redemption But the Body is not till its Resurrection either quite freed from its Enemie or at all possessed of its Glory I meane in its selfe though it be in its Head who is Primitiae P◅gnus Resurrectionis the first fruits and earnest of our Conquest over Death Touching the Dignity of our Bodies though there be more comfort to be had in the Expectation than Curiosity in the enquirie after it yet what is usually granted I shall briefly set down And first it shall be Raised a whole entire and perfect Body with all the parts best fitted to be Receptacles of Glory freed from all either the Usherers in or Attendants and followers on the Grave Age Infirmity Sicknesse Corruption Ignominie and Dishonour And shall rise a true whole strong and honourable Body For though every part of the Body shall not have those peculiar uses which here they have since they neither eat nor drink marry nor are given in marriage but are as the Angels of God yet shall not any part be lost Licet enim officiis liberentur judiciis re◅inentur Though they are freed from their Temporall service for which they were here ordained yet must they be reserved for receiving their judgment whether it be unto Glory or unto Dishonour The second Dignity is that Change and Alteration of our Body from a Naturall to a Spirituall Body whereby is not meant any Transubstantiation from a Corporeall to a Spirituall substance For our Bodies shall after the Resurrection be conformable unto Christs body which though glorious was not yet a Spirit but had flesh and bone as we have Nor is it to be understood of a thinne Aereall Invisible Body as some have collected since Christ saith of his Body after he was risen Videte Palpate Wheresoever it is it hath both its quantity and all sensible qualities of a Body Glorified with it It is a strong Argument that it is not there where it is not sensible And therefore the Doctrines of Vbiquity and Transubstantiation as they give Christ more thā he is pleased to owne an Immensity of Body so doe they spoyle him of that which hee hath beene pleased for our sakes to assume Extension Compacture Massinesse Visibility and other the like sensible Properties which cannot stand with that pretended miracle whereby they make Christs Body even now a Creature and like unto ours in substance though not in qualities of Corruptibility Infirmity Ignominie Animality to be truly invested with the very immediate properties of the Deity True indeed it is that the Body of Christ hath an efficacie and operation in all parts of the world it worketh in Heaven with God the Father by Intercession amongst the blessed Angels by Confirmation in Earth and that in all ages and in all places amongst Men by Justification and Comfort in Hell amongst the Devils and Damned by the Tremblings and Feares of a condemning and convicting Faith But Operation requireth only a presence of Vertue not of Substance For doth not the Sunne work wonderfull effects in the bowels of the Earth it selfe notwithstanding being a fixed Planet in the Heaven And why should not the Sunne of Righteousnesse work as much at the like distance as the Sunne of Nature Why should he not be as Powerfull Absent as he was Hoped Or why should the Not presence of his Body make that uneffectuall now which the Not existing could not before his Incarnation Why should we mistrust the Eyes of Stephen that saw him in Heaven at such a Distance of place when Abraham could see him in his own bowels through so great a Distance of Time That Speech then that the Body shall be a Spirituall Body is not to be understood in either of those former senses but it is to be understood first of the more immediate Union and full Inhabitation of the vertue and vigour of Gods Spirit in our Bodies quickning and for ever sustaining them without any Assistance of Naturall or Animall qualities for the repairing and augmenting of them in recompence of that which by labour and infirmity and the naturall opposition of the Elements is daily diminished Secondly it shall be so called in regard of its Obedience Totall Subjection to the Spirit of God without any manner of Reluctance and dislike Thirdly in respect of those Spirituall qualities those Prerogatives of the Flesh with which it shall be adorned which are First a Shining and Glorious Light wherewithall it shall be cloathed as with a Garment for the Iust shall shine as the Sunne in the Firmament Now this shal be wrought first by vertue of that Communion which wee have with Christ our Head whose Body even in its Mortality did shine like the Sunne and had his cloathes white as light And secondly by diffusion and Redundancie from our Soule upon our Body which by the Beatificall Vision filled with a Spirituall and unconceiveable brightnesse shall work upon the Body as on a Subject made throughly Obedient to its Power unto the Production of alike qualities The second Spirituall Property shall be Impassibility not in respect of Perfective but in respect of annoying disquieting or destructive Passion There shall not be any Warre in the members any fighting and mutuall languishing of the Elements but they shall all be sustained in their full strength by vertue of Christs Communion of the Inhabitation of the Spirit of the Dominion of the Glorified Soule There shall be no need of rest or sleepe or meat all which are here requisite for the supply of our Infirmities and daily defects and are only the Comforts of Pilgrimage not the Blessednesse of Possession For although Christ after his Resurrection did eat before his Disciples yet this was none otherwise done
desires of inferior Faculties till they taint the Will are not formally sinnes as having been naturall to Adam himselfe in Innocencie though by infused and supernaturall Grace bridled and suspended An Opinion which retaineth that odious scandall which they fasten upon us more justly and truly on their owne heads touching making God the Author of Sinne in that they affirme that Concupiscence whereby Sense is carried to its object inordinately that is without the government and assent of Reason to have been naturall to Adam which yet Saint Paul hath so many times called by the expresse name of Sinne in one Chapter And for the Argument which they bring we answer That naturally and from the Law of Creation there was no formall opposition but a subordination betweene Spirit and Sense And therefore notwithstanding the operations of Appetite are common unto Men and Beasts yet we may not grant that they have the same manner of being educed and governed in both these For as the operations of the vegetative Soule though common to Beasts Men and Plants are yet in either of these severally so restrained as that they are truly sayd to be the proper and peculiar workes of that specificall forme unto which they are annexed So likewise the sensitive Appetite though generally it be common to Men and Beasts yet in Men it was ordained to proceed naturally from the government of Reason and therefore may properly be called a humane Appetite as being determined restrained and made conformable unto Mans Nature so that as long as Man continued entire and incorrupt there was a sweet harmonie betweene all his Faculties and such an happie subordination of them each to other as that every motion of the inferior powers was directed and governed and therefore might truly and properly be attributed to the superior but when once Man had tasted of that murthering Fruit which poysoned him and all his posteritie then began those swellings rebellions and unjoynting of Faculties which made him as lame in his Nature as it did dead in Grace whence Passions are become now in the state of corruption beastly and sensuall which were before by Creation reasonable and humane For man being in honour was without understanding and is become as the beasts that perish But to returne we are as I said to remember that there is in Man by reason of his generall corruption such a distemper wrought as that there is not onely crookednesse in but dissention also and fighting between his parts And though the Light of our Reason be by Mans Fall much dimmed and decayed yet the remainders thereof are so adverse to our unruly Appetite as that it laboureth against us as the Philistims against Samson or rather indeed as Dalilah for Samsons eyes were truly put out before ever the Philistims were upon him it laboureth I say to deprive us of those Reliques of Sight which we yet retaine And this is that first corrupt effect which I call Imposture or occaecation whereby Passion reigning in the lower parts and being impatient altogether of resistance or controule laboureth to maske Reason and to obliterate those Principles and originall Truths whereby their unrulinesse might be restrained or at least convinced And hence it is that every man when he hath given place to the violence of Appetite laboureth next to incline and prepare his Mind for assent and to get Reason on the same side with Passion Disobedience is ever cavilling and contentious and he who will not worke the righteousnesse of God will be sure to dispute against it and to stumble at it And therefore the Apostles tell us that Repentance and putting away of Lusts is the onely preparation to acknowledge the Truth for so long as any man resolves to hold fast his sinne he will ever reâ—…ct the Truth that opposeth it and bribe Reason to say something for it He made himselfe a Lyon and anon Became a Boare a Panther a Dragon So likewise the Vnderstanding being once invaded by Passion is brought to change into diverse shapes and to judge of things not according to their naked and naturall truth but according as it finds them beare in the Fancie those impressions of Pleasure which are most agreeable to corrupted Nature And another Reason why we seeke to warrant and to maintaine a Passion when we have given way unto it is the love of our Ease For every man though he can be content to delight in the pleasure of a Corrupt Passion yet that part of it which hath the sting in it is unpleasant and therefore there is required the hand of Reason by Apologies Pleadings and Blandishments either to mollifie the Passion that it shall not then pierce or to harden and arme the subject that it may not be sensible of it And that this Deceit and Exâ—…ation is a proper worke of Passion besides our owne dayly experience this one Argument might sufficiently proove namely the Practice of Heretiques who proposing to themselves eyther Gaine or any other Carnall and corrupt End did thereupon presently as the Apostle notes vent the perverse Disputes of their owne corrupt Minds and make all Truth an Hand-maid and Lacquey to their owne Lusts And proportionably thereunto their custome hath beene Priùs persuadere quà m docere to creepe upon the Affections of Men and get footing there before ever they would adventure the entertainment of their false Doctrines And as it is sayd of God that hee first accepted Abel and then his Sacrifice so doe they labour first to worke an approbation of their Persons in the hearts of Men whence in the second place their perverse Conceits doe finde the easier accesse to their Vnderstandings For when silly and unstable Mindes shall once be brought to such a Prejudice as to have the Persons of Men in Admiration when they shall see an Impostor come unto them as a man that had wholly renounced the World like Zopyrus or Synon clothed and deformed with seeming Povertie and Repentance drawing in and out his breath with no other motions than sighes pretending to bring nothing but the plentifull Promises of Salvation Teares in his Eyes Oyle and Honey in his Mouth and the most exquisite Picture of true Holynesse which it is possible for the Art or Hypocrisie of Mans Invention to drâ—…w out How can the Vnderstanding of weake and simple people choose especially being before framed unto beleefe by those two Credulous Qualities of Ignorance and Feare but be made inclinable to receive not onely willingly but with greedinesse also whatsoever poysonous Doctrine under pretence of wholesome and saving Physique such a subtill Impostor shall administer unto them Such a great force there is in Voluntarie Humilitie neglecting of the Body and other the like pretended pious Frauds to insinuate and take possession of weake and credulous Natures with whom haply more Reall Serious and Spirituall Arguments comming with lesse pompe and ostentation would not prevaile Captique dolis
divers according to the particular nature of the Passions sometimes too sudden and violent sometimes too heavie oppression of the heart the other sudden perturbation of the spirits Thus old Ely dyed with sudden griefe Diodorsu with shame Sophocles Chilo the Lacedemonian and others with joy Nature being not able to beare that great and sudden immutation which these Passions made in the Body The causes and manner of which cogitation I reserre as being inquiries not so directly pertinent to the present purpose unto Naturall Philosophers and Physicians And from the generalitie of Passions I proceed unto the consideration of some particulars according to the order of their former division In all which I shall forbeare this long Method of the Antecedents Concomitants and Consequents of their Acts many particulars whereof being of the same nature in all Passions will require to be observed onely in one or two and so proportionally conceived in the rest and shall insist principally in those particulars which I handle on the causes and effects of them as being Considerations wherein commonly they are most serviceable or prejudiciall to our Nature CHAP. IX Of the affection of Love of Love naturall of generall communion of Love rationall the object and generall cause thereof NOw the two first and fundamentall Passions of all the rest are Love and Hatred Concerning the Passion of Love we will therein consider first its object and its causes both which being of a like nature for every morall object is a cause thougâ—… not every cause an object will fall into one Love then consists in a kind of expansion oâ—… egresse of the heat and spirits to the object loved or to that whereby it is drawne and attracted whatsoever therefore hath such an attractive power is in that respect the object and generalâ—… cause of Love Now as in Nature so in the Affections likewise we may observe from their objects a double attraction The first is thaâ—… naturall or impressed sympathie of things wherâ—… by one doth inwardly incline an union with the other by reason of some secret vertues and occâ—… qualities disposing either subject to that 〈◊〉 all friendship as betweene Iron and the Loaâ—… stone The other is that common and moâ—… discernable attraction which every thing receivâ—… from those natures or places whereon they 〈◊〉 ordained and directed by the Wisedome anâ—… Providence of the first Cause to depend both in respect of the perfection and conservation of their being For as God in his Temple the Church so is He in his Pallace if I may so call it the World a God of Order disposing every thing in Number Weight and Measure so sweetly as that all is harmonious from which harmonie the Philosophers have concluded a Divine Providence and so powerfully as that all things depend on his Government without violence breach or variation And this Order and Wisdome is seene chiefely in that sweet subordination of things each to other and happie inclination of all to their particular ends till all be reduced finally unto Him who is the Fountaine whence issue all their streames of their limited being and the fulnesse of which all his creatures have received Which the Poet though something too Poetically seemeth to have express'd Principio Coelum ac Terras camposque liquentes Lucentemque globum Lunae Titaniaque Astra Spiritus intus alâ—… â—…otamque infusa per Artus Mens agitat molem magno se corpore miscet Heaven Earth and Seas with all those glorious Lights Which beautifie the Day and rule the Nights A Divine inward Vigour like a Soule Diffus'd through ev'ry joint of this great Whole Doth vegetate and with a constant force Guideth each Nature through its fixed course And such is the naturall motion of each thing to its owne Sphere and Center where is both the most proper place of its consisting and withall the greatest freedome from sorraine injurie or violence But we must here withall take notice of the generall care of the Creator whereby he hath fastned on all creatures not onely his private desire to satisfie the demands of their owne nature but hath also stamp'd upon them a generall charitie and feeling of Communion as they are sociable parts of the Vniverse or common Body wherein cannot possible be admitted by reason of that necessarie mutuall connexion betweenâ—… the parts thereof any confusion or divulsion without immediate danger to all the members And therefore God hath inclin'd the nature of these necessarie agents so to worke of their discords the perfect harmonie of the whole that iâ—… by any casualtie it fall out that the Body of Nature be like to suffer any rupture deformitie oâ—… any other contumely though haply occasioned by the uniforme and naturall motions of thâ—… particulars they then must prevent such damagâ—… and reproach by a relinquishing and forgetting of their owne natures and by acquainting themselves with motions whereunto considered iâ—… their owne determinate qualities they have aâ—… essentiall reluctancie Which propertie and sense of Nature in common the Apostle hath excellently set downe in 1 Cor. 12. where he renders this reason of all that there might be 〈◊〉 Schisme in the Body which likewise he divinely applyeth in the mysticall sense that all the severall gifts of the Spirit to the Church should drive to one common end as they were all derived from one common Fountaine and should never be used without that knitting qualitie of Love to which he elsewhere properly ascribeth the building continuation and perfecting of the Saints Now as it hath pleased the infinite Wisdome of God to guide and moderate by his owne immediate direction the motions of necessarie agents after the manner declared to their particular or to the generall end which motion may therefore as I before observed be called the naturall Passion of things so hath it given unto Man a reasonable Soule to be as it were his Vice-gerent in all the motions of Mans little World To apply then these proportions in Nature to the affection of Love in Man we shall finde first a Secret which I will call Naturall and next a Manifest which I call a Morall and more discursive attraction The first of these is that naturall sympathie wrought betweene the affection and the objâ—…ct in the first meeting of them without any suspension of the person â—…ll farther inquirie after the disposition of the object which comes immediately from the outward naturall and sensitive Vertues thereof whether in shape feature beautie motion 〈◊〉 behaviour all which comming under the spheare of Sense I include under the name of Iudiciarie Physiognomie Which is not a bare delight in the outward qualities but a farther presumption of the Iudgement concluding thence a lovely disposition of that Soule which animateth and quickneth those outward Graces And indeed if it be true which Aristotle in his Ethicks tels us That similitude is the ground of Love and if there be no naturall Love stronger
debate One Towne did worship what the next did hate Another dangerous effect of Hatred is Envy and Malignitie at the sight of anothers happines and therefore Envy is called an Evill Eye because all the diseases of the Eye make it offended with any thing that is light and shineth as Vermine doe ever devoure the purest Corne and Moaths eat into the finest Cloath and the Cantharides blast the sweetest Floures So doth Envy ever gnaw that which is most beautifull in another whom it hateth and as the Vulture draweth sicknesse from a perfume For such is the condition of a rankorous Nature as of a raw and angry wound which feeles as great paine in the good of a Chirurgions as in the ill offices of an Enemies hand it can equally draw nourishment unto this Passion from the good and ill of whom it hates yea and commonly greater too from the good than from the ill For Odiorum 〈◊〉 causa quandâ—… iniquae When Hatred is built upon a bad foundation it commonly raiseth it self the higher And the reason is because in Passions of this Nature the lesse we have from the Object the more we have from our selves and what is defective to make up our malice in the demerit of him whom wee hate is supplyed by the rising of our owne stomacke as we see in the body that thin and empty nourishment will more often swell it than that which is substantiall And therefore I thinke there are not any Examples of more implacable Hatred than those that are by Envy grounded on Merit As Tacitus observes between the passages of Domitian and Agricola that nothing did so much strengthen the Emperours hatred against that worthy Man as the generall report of his honourable behaviour and actions in those military services wherein hee had been imployed And the same likewise he intimates in the affections of Tiberius and Piso towards Germanicus It is wisely therefore observed by the Historian That men of vast and various imployments have usually the unhappinesse of Envy attending them which therefore they have sometimes declined by retyring and withdrawing themselves from continuall addresses as a wise mariner who as he spake doth aliquantulum remittere Clavum 〈◊〉 magnam fluctus vim And thus we finde the honour which Davids merits procured him which was the foundation of that implacable Hatred of Saul towards him For as in naturall motions that which comes from the faithest extreme is most swift and violentiso in the motions of the Minde the further off wee fetch the reason of our Hatred the more venomous and implacable it is And here we may observe the mutuall and interchangable services which corrupt affections exercise amongst themselves For as Philosophy observes in the generation of those cold Meteors which are drawne to the middle region of the Aire they are first by the coldnesse of the place congealed and afterward doe by the like impressions fortify and intend the same quality in the Region so here Hatred first generates Envy and this againe doth reciprocally increase Hatred and both ioyne in mischiefe So much the more hurtfull to the Soule wherein they are than to the Enemy whom they respect by how much they are more neer and inward thereunto for certainly a malignant humour doth most hurt where it harboureth From this followeth another evill Effect which I will but name being of the same Nature with Envy and it is that which Philosophers call 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a rejoycing at the calamity of him whom wee hate a quality like that of those who are reported to have been nourished with poyson For as in Love there is a mutuall partaking of the same loyes and Sorrowes for where the will and affections are one the senses are in some sort likewise so Hatred ever worketh contrarietie of affections That which worketh Griefe unto the one doth worke Ioy unto the other And therefore Thales being asked how a Man might bee cheerfull and beare up in afflictions answered If hee can see his enemies in worse case than himselfe The Poet hath given us the Character of such kinde of Men Pectora selle virent Lingua est suffâ—…sa veâ—…eno Risus abest nisi quem visi fecere Dolâ—…res Their breasts with gall their tongues with venome flow They laugh not till they see men brought to woe And therefore they are elegantly compared by the Philosopher unto Cupping Glasses which draw onely the vitious humours of the body unto them and unto Flies that are overcome with the spirits of Wine but nourished with the froth Like those Wormes which receive their Life from the corruption of the Dead And surely the Prince of Devils may well have his Name given him from Flies because hee taketh most pleasure in the ulcers and wounds of Men as Flies ever resort unto Sores Another corrupt Effect of Hatred is a sinister and crooked suspition whereby with an envious and criticall Eye we search into the actions and purposes of another and according as is the sharpnesse of our owne wits or the course of our owne behaviour and practices we attribute unto them such ends as were haply never framed but in the forge of our owne braines Evill men being herein like Vultures which can receive none but a foule Sent. It is attributed amongst one of the noble Attributes of Love that it Thinketh none Evill and certainly there is not a fouler quality against Brotherly Love than that which for the satisfying of it selfe in but the Imaginary Evill of him whom it disliketh will venture to finde out in every action some close impiety and pierce into the reserved and hidden passages of the heart like him in the Philosopher who thought where ever hee went that hee saw his owne Picture walke before him And there fore we see how Agrippina when she would not discover any shew of Feare or Hatred towards her Sonne Nerâ—… who had at the first plotted her death on the Sea and that fayling sent the second time Anicaetus the Centurion to make sure worke did in both these practices decline all shew of suspition and not acknowledge either the Engine or the Murther to be directed by him Solum Insidiarâ—…m remedium aspiciens si non intelligerentur Supposing the onely remedies of these plots to bee if shee seemed not to understand them For ill meanings doe not love to be found out As the same Historian telleth us of Tiberius Acrius accepit recludi quae premeret Hee hated that man who would venture to dive into his thoughts And certainly there is not any crooked Suspition which is not rooted in Hatred For as to thinke the worst of our owne Actions is a signe of Hatred to our sinnes for I thinke no man loves his sinnes who dares search them so contrâ—…riwise to have an humour of casting the worst glosses upon the Actions of another Man where there is not palpable dissimulation argues as great a want of
the motions of a wounded Body so the Discourses of a wounded Minde are faint uncertaine and tottering Secondly in the Will it woâ—…keth first Despaire for it being the propertic of griefe to condensate and as it were on all sides besiege the Minde the more violent the Passion is the lesse apparant are the Passages out of it So that in an extremity of anguish where the Passages are in themselves narrow and the reason also blind and weake to finde them out the Minde is constâ—… ned having no Object but it 's owne paiâ—…e to re flect upon to fall into a darke and fearefull contemplation of it's owne sad estate and marvellous high and patheticall aggravations of it as if it were the greatest which any man felt Not considering that it feeles it 's owne sorrow but knowes not the weight of other mens Whereas if all the calamities of mortall men were heaped into one Storehouse and from thence every man were to take an equall portion Sâ—…crates was wont to say that each man would rather choose to goe away with his owne paine And from hence it proceedeth to many other effects fury sinfull wishes and exâ—…rations both against it selfe and any thing that concurred to it's being in misery as we see in Israel in the Wildernesse that mirror of Patience Iob himselfe and thus Homer bringeth in Vlysses in des paire under a sore tempest bewailing himselfe 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Thrice foure times happy Grecians who did fall To gratifie their friends under Troy wall Oh that I there had rendred my last breath When Trojan darts made me a marke for Death Then glorious Rites my Funerals had attended But now my life will be ignobly ended Another evill effect is to indispose and disable for Dutie both because Griefe doth refrigerate as the Pilosopher telleth us and that is the worst temper for action and also diverts the Minde from any thing but that which feeds it and therefore David in his sorrow forgot to eate his bread because eating and refreshing of Nature is a mittigating of Griefe as Pliny telleth us And lastly because it weakneth distracteth and discourageth the Minde making it soft and timerous apt to bode evils unto it selfe Crudelis ubique luctus ubique paâ—…or Griefe and feare goe usually together And therefore when Aeneas was to encourage his friends unto Patience and action he was forced to dissemble his owne sorrow Curisque ingentibus ager Spem vultu simulat premit altum corde dolorem Although with heavy cares and doubts distrest His looks fain'd hopes and his heart griefes supprest And it is an excellent description in Homer of the fidelity of Antilochus when he was commanded to relate unto Achilles the sad newes of Patroclus death 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. When Menelaus gave him this command Antilochus astonished did stand Smitten with dumbnesse through his griefe and feares His voyce was stopt and his eyes swamme inteares Yet none of all this griefe did duty stay He left his Armes whose weight might cause delay And went and wept and ran with dolefull word That great Patroelus fell by Hectors sword In a tempest saith Seneca that Pilot is to be commended whom the shipwracke swalloweth up at the Sterne with the Ruddâ—…r in his hand And it was the greatest honour of Mary Mag. dalene that when above all other she wept for the losse of Christ yet then of all other she was most diligent to seeke him Lastly in the body there is no other Passion that doth produce stronger or more lasting inconveniences by pressure of heart obstruction of spirit wasting of strength drynesse of bones exhausting of Nature Griefe in the heart is like a Moath in a garment which biteth asunder as it were the strings and the strength thereof stoppeth the voyce looseth the joynts withereth the flesh shrivelleth the skinne dimmeth the eyes cloudeth the countenance defloureth the beauty troubleth the bowels in one word disordereth the whole frame Now this Passion of griefe is distributed into many inferiour kindes as Griefe of Sympathy for the evils and calamities of other men * as if they were our owne considering that they may likewise be fall us or ours which is called mercy griefe of repining at the good of another man as if his happinesse were our misery As that Pillar which was light unto Israel to guide them was darknesse unto the Egyptians to trouble and amaze them which is called Envie Griefe of Fretfulnesse at the prosperity of evill and unworthy men which is called Indignation griefe of Indigence when we finde our selves want those good things which others enjoy which we envie not unto them but desire to enjoy them our selves too which is called Emulation griefe of Guilt for evill committed which is called Repentance and griefe of Feare for evill expected which is called Despaire of which to discourse would be over-tedious and many of them are most learnedly handled by Aristotle in his Rhetoricks And therefore I wall here put an end to this Passion CHAP. XXIII Of the affection of Hope the Object of it Good Future Possible Difficult of Regular and Inordinate Despaire THe next Ranks and Series is of Irascible Passions namely those which respect their Object as annexed unto some degree of Difficulty in the obtaining oâ—… avoiding of it the first of which is Hope whereby I understand an earnest and strong inclination and expectation of some great good apprehended as possible to be obtained though not by our owne strength nor without some intervenient Difficulties I shall not collect those prayses which are commonly bestowed upon it nor examine the contrary extreames of those who declaime against it making it a meanes either of augmenting an unexpected evill before not sufficiently prevented or of deflowring a future good too hastily pre-occupated but shall onely touch that dignity and corruption which I shall observe to arise from it with reference to it's Objects Causes and Effects Concerning the Object or fundamentall cause of Hope It hath these three conditions in it That it be a Future a Possible a Difficult Good First Future for good present is the Object of our sense but Hope is of things not seene for herein is one principall difference betweene divine Faith and divine Hope that Faith being 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The substance of things hoped fâ—…r 〈◊〉 ever respect to it's Object as in some manner present and subsisting in the promises and first fruits which we have of it so that the first effect of Faith is a present Interest and Title but the operation of Hope is waiting and expectation but yet it will not from hence follow that the more a man hath of the presence of an Object the lesse he hath of Hope towards it for though Hope be swallowed up in the compleat presence of it's Object yet it is not at all diminished but encreased rather by a partiall
see sundry times strength takes off the yoake of Obedience not only in the civill government of men but in the naturall government of creatures by men to whom by the law of Creation they were all made subject yet the strength of many of them hath taught them to ferget their originall Subjection and in stead of Fearing to terrifie man their lord and when ever we tame any of them and reduce them to their first condition this is not so much an act of our Dominion wherby we awe them as of our Reason whereby we deceive them and we are beholding more therein to the working of our Wit than to the prerogative of our Nature and usually every thing which hath knowledg enough to measure its owne abilities the more it hath of Strength the lesse it hath of Feare that which Solomon makes the strongest the Apostle makes the fittest to expell Peare to wit Love So likewise on the other side Immunity from Subjection in the midst of Weaknesse removes Feare Of this we may give an instance in guilty persons who notwithstanding their Weaknesse yet when once by the priviledge of their Sanctuary or mercy of their Iudge they are freed from the obligation of the Law though not from the Offence their former Feares doe presently turne into Ioy and Gratulations and that is the reason why Good men have such Boldnesse Confidence and Courage that they can bid defiance unto Death because though they be not quite delivered from the Corruption yet they are from the Curse and Condemnation of Sinne though by reason of their Weaknesse they are not delivered from the mouth yet they are from the teeth and stings of Death though not from the Earth of the Grave yet from the Hell of the Grave though not from Sinne yeâ—… from the Strength and Malediction of Sinne the Law ouâ—… Adversary must be strong as well as our selves weake if he looke for Feare The Corruption then of this Passion as it depenâ—…eth upon these Causes is when it ariseth out of too base a conceit of our owne or too high of anothers strength the one proceeding from an errour of Humility in undervaluing our selves the other from an errour of Iudgement or Suspition in mistaking of others There are some men who as the Orâ—…our speaks of despairing Wits De 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 â—…rentur who are too unthankfull unto Nature in a slâ—…ight esteeme of the abilities shee â—…ath given them and deserve that Weakenesse which they unjustly complaine of The sight of whose Iudgment is not unlike that of Perspective Glasses the two ends whereof have a double representation the one fuller and neerer the truth the other smaller and at a farre greater distance So it is with men of this temper they looke on themselves and others with a double prejudice on themselves with a Distrusting and Despairing Iudgement which presents every thing remote and small on Others with on Overvaluing and Admiring Iudgement which contrariwise presents all perfections too perfect And by this means between a selfe-dislike and a too high estimation of others truth ever fals to the ground and for revenge of her selfe leaves the party thus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Timorous For as Errour hath a property to produce and nourish any Passion according to the nature of the subject matter which it is conversant about so principally this present Passion because Errour it selfe is a kinde of Formido Intellectus a Feare of the Vnderstanding and it is no great wonder for one Feare to beget another And therefore when Christ would take away the Feare of his Disciples he first removes their prejudice Feare not those that can kill the Body onely and can doe no more Where the overflowing of their Feares seemes to have been grounded on the overiudging of an adverse power Thus much for the Root and Essentiall cause of Feare these which follow are more casuall and upon occasion Whereof the first may be the Suddennesse of aâ—… Evill when it ceiseth upon as it were in the Dark for all Darknesse is comfortlesse and therefore the last terrible Iudgement is described unto us by the Blacknesse and Vnexpectednesse of it by the Darknesse of Night and the Suddennesse of Lightning All Vnacquaintaince then and Igno rance of an approaching Evill must needs worke Amazement and Terrour as contrarily a foresight theâ—… of worketh Patience to undergoe and Boldnesse to encounter it as Tacitus speaks of Caecina Ambiguarum rerum sciens eoque intrepidus that hee was acquainted with difficulties and therefore not fearfull of them And there is good reason for this because in a sudden daunt and onset of an unexpected evill the spirits which were before orderly carried by their severall due motions unto their naturall works are upon this strange appearance and instant Oppression of danger so disordered mixed and stiâ—…lled that there is no power left either in the Soule for Counsell or in the Body for Execution For as it is in the warres of men so of Passions those are more terrible which are by way of Invasion then of Battell which set upon men unarmed and uncomposed then those which find them prepared for resistance and so the Poet describes a lamentable overthrow by the Suddennes of the one side and the Ignorance of the other Invadunt urbeâ—… somno vinâ—…que sepultam They do invade a City all at rest Which ryot had with sleep and Wine opprest And this is one reason why men inclinable to this Passion are commonly more fearfull in the Night than at other times because then the Imagination is presenting of Objects not formerly thought on when the spirits which should strengthen are more retyred and Reason lesse guarded And yet there are Evils too which on the other side more affright with their long expectation and traine than if they were more contracted and speedy Somâ—… set upon us by sleath affrighting us like lightning with a sudden blaze others with a train and pomp like a Comet which is ushered in with a streame of fire and like Thunder which hurts not only with its danger but with its noise and therefore Aristotle reckoneth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the signes of an approaching evill amongst the Objects of Feare Another cause of Feare may be the Neernesse of an Evill when we perceive it to be within the reach of us and now ready to set upon us For aâ—… it is with Objects of Sence in a distance of place so it is with the Objects of Passion in a Distance of Time Remotion in either the greater it is the lesse present it makes the Object and by consequence the weaker is the impression there-from upon the faculty and this reason Aristotle gives why Death which else where he makes the most terrible evill unto Nature doth not yet with the conceit thereof by reason that it is apprehended at an indefinite and remote distance worke such terrour and amazement nor so stiffe Reason and the Spirits as Objects farre lesse in
of this Opinion 2. To have Being by Traduction is when the soule of the Child is derived from the soule of the Parent by the meanes of Seed but the Seed of the Parent cannot reach the Generation of the soule both because the one is a Corporeall the other a Spirituall substance uncapable of Augmentation or Detriment Now that which is spirituall cannot be produced out of that which is corporeall neither can any Seed be discinded or issue out from the soule being substantia simâ—…lex impartibilis a substance simple and indivisible 3. That which is separable from the body and can subsist and work without it doth not depend in its Being or making upon it for if by the Generation of the Body the soule be generated by the corruption of the Body it would be corrupted for every thing that is generable is corruptible But the Soule can subsist and work without the Body therefore it doth not from corporeall generation derive its Being 4. If the Soule be seminally traduced it must he either from the body or from the soule of the Parents not from the Body for it is impossible for that which is not a body to be made out of that which is a Body no cause being able to produce an effect out of its owne spheare and more noble than it selfe not from the soule because that being a spirituall and impartible substance can therefore have nothing severed from it by way of substantiall seed unto the constitution of another soule 5. If there be nothing taken from the Parents of which the soule is formed then it is not traduced by naturall generation but there is nothing taken from the Parents by which the soule is formed for then in all Abortions and miscarrying Conceptions the seed of the Soule would perish and by consequence the soule it selfe would be corruptible as having its Originall from corruptible seed These and divers other the like arguments are used to confirme the doctrine touching the Creation of the Reasonable Soule Unto which may be added the judgement and testimony of some of the forecited Fathers St. Hierome telleth us that the Originall of the soule in mankinde is not as in other living creatures Since as our Saviour speaketh The Father worketh hitherto And the Prophet Esat telleth us That hee formeth the spirit of mâ—…n within him and framâ—…th the hearts of all men as it is in the Psalmes And so Lactamius whom I doe wonder to finde numbred amongst the Authors that affirme the Traduction of the soule by Ruffinus and the Author of the Dialogue amongst the works of Hierome It may be questioned saith he whether the soule be generated out of the Father Mother or both Neither of all three is true Because the seed of the Soule is not put into the Body by either or both of these A Body may be borne out of their Bodies because something may be out of both contributed but a Soule cannot be borne out of their Soules in as much as from so spirituall and incomprehensible a substance nothing can issue forth or be severed for that use So also St. Hilary The Soule of man is the work of God the generation of the flesh is alwayes of the flesh And againe It is inbred and an impress'd Beliefe in all that our Soules have a divine Originall And in like manner Theodoret God saith he frameth the Bodies of living creatures out of Bodies subsisting before but the Soules not of all creatures but of Men only hee worketh 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 out of nothing that had beene before Against this Doctrine of the Soules Originall The principall argument is drawn from the consideration of Originall sinne and the propagation thereof which alone was that which troubled and staggerd S. Augustine in this point For if the Soule be not naturally traduced how should Originall sinne be derived from Adam unto it And if it were not in the loynes of Adam then neither did it sinne in his loynes whereas the Apostle expresly telleth us that by one Man sinne came into the world and that in one all have sinned and that not only by imputative participation but by naturall Propagation deriving an inhaerent habituall pollution which cleaveth inseparably to the soule of every man that entreth into the world and is the fruit of Adams loynes Unto which Argument to omit the different resolutions of other men touching the pollution of the Soule by the immediate contact of the flesh and the Parents attinging the ultimate disposition of the Body upon which naturally followeth the Union of the Soule God being pleased to work ordinarily according to the exigence of second causes and not suffering any of them to be in vain for want of that concurrence which he in the vertue of a first and supreame cause is to contribute unto them I shall set downe what I conceive to be the Truth in this point First then it is most certaine that God did not implant Originall sinne not take away Originall righteousnesse from Man but man by his Praevarication and Fall did cast it away and contract sin and so derive a defiled nature to his posterity For as Maâ—…arius excellently speaketh Adam having transgressed did loâ—… the pure posâ—…esion of his Nature Secondly Originall injustice as it is a sinne by the default and contraction of Man so it is also a punishment by the ordination and disposition of Divine Justice It was mans sinne to cast away the Image of God but it is Gods just judgement as hee hath that free dispensation of his owne Gifts not to restore it againe in such manner as at first he gave it unto that nature which had so rejected and trampled on it Thirdly In this Originall sinne there are two things considerable The Privation of that Righteousnesse which ought to be in us and the lust or Habituall concupiscence which carrieth Nature unto inordinate motions The Privation and want of Originall justice is meritoriously from Adam who did voluntarily deprave and reject that Originall rectitude which was put into him which therefore God out of his most righteous and free disposition is pleased not to restore unto his Nature in his posterity againe In the habituall lust are considerable these two things 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The sinfull disorder of it And 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Punishment of sinne by it Consider it is as a Punishment of Adams first Praevarication and so though it be not efficiently from God yet it falls under the Order of his Justice who did most righteously forsake Adam after his wilfull fall and leave him in the Hand of his owne Counsell to transmit unto us that Seminary of sinne which himselfe had contracted But if we consider it as a sinne we then say that the immediate and proper cause of it is lapsed nature whole and entire by Generation and Seminall Traduction derived upon us But the Reâ—…ter cause is that from which wee
receive and derive this Nature Nature I say first fallen for unto Nature Innocent belonged Originall Righteousnesse and not Originall sinne 2. Nature derived by ordinary generation as the fruit of the loynes and of the womb For though Christ had our Nature yet hee had not our sinne 3. Nature whole and entire For neither part as some conceive is the Totall spring and fountain of this sinne For it is improbable that any staine should be transfused from the Body to the Soul as from the foule vessell to the cleane water put into it The Body it selfe being not Soly and alone in it selfe corrupt and sinfull else all Abortions and miscarrying conceptions should be subject to damnation Nothing is the seat of sin which cannot be the seat of Death the wages of sinne Originall sinne therefore most probably seemeth to arise by Emanation partiall in the parts totall in the whole from Mans Nature as guilty forsaken and accursed by God for the sinne of Adam And from the parts not considered absolutely in themselves but by vertue of their concurrence and Vnion whereby both make up one compounded Nature Though then the Soule be a partiall subject or seat of Originall sinne yet wee have not our sinne and our soule from one Author because sinne followes not the part but the Nature whole and entire And though we have not from our Parents Totum naturae yet we have totam naturam wee have our whole nature though not every part of our nature Even as whole Christ was the Son of Mary who therefore by vertue of the Communication of properties in Christ is justly called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Mother of God against the Nestorians in the Councell of Chalcedon Though in regard of his divine Nature he was without beginning the reason is because the integrity of Nature ariseth from the Vnion of the two parts together which is perfected by Generation so then wee say that Adam is the Originall and meritorious cause Our next Parents the instrumentall and immediate cause of this sinne in us not by way of Physicall Emission or Transmigration of sinne from them to us but by secret contagion as S. Augustine speaks For having in the Manner aforesaid from Adam by our Parents received a nature most justly forsaken by God and lying under the Guilt and Curse of the first praevarication from this Nature thus derived as guilty and accursed doth immediately and intimately flow Habituall pollution So then Habituall Concupiscence is from Adam alone meritoriously by reason of his first praevarication From Adam by the mediation of our Parents seminally by naturall generation And from Nature generated not as Nature but as in Adam guilty forsaken and accursed by secret and ineffable Resultancy and Emanation This is that which I conceive of this Great difficulty not unmindfull in the meane time of that speech of S. Augustine That there is nothing more certaine to be knowne and yet nothing more secret to be understood than Originall sinne For other Arguments to prove the Traduction of the Soul they are not of such moment And therefore I passe them by and proceed to the consideration of the Soule in its Nature CHAP. XXXIII Of the Image of God in the Reasonable soule in regard of its simplicity and spirituality COncerning the dignity of the soule in its nature and essence Reason hath adventured thus farre to confesse that the soule of man is in some sort a spark and beame of divine brightnesse And a greater and more infallible Oracle hath warranted that it was breathed into him by God himselfe and was made after his Image and likenesse not substantially as if there were a Real Emanation and Traduction of the Soule out of God which were blasphemous and impious to conceive but only by way of Resemblance and imitation of God properties in mans originall created nature which is more notable in him than in the otheâ—… parts of the world there is indeed in all God works some kind of image and lineaments anâ—… footsteps of his glory Deum namque ire per omnes Terrasque Tractusque maris Coelumque profundum c. For all the tracts of Earth of Sea and Sky Are filled with divine immensity The whole world is a great book wherein we read the praise glory power and infinitenesse of him that made it but man is after a more peculiar manner called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the image and glory of God the greater world is only Gods workmanship wherein is represented the wisdom and power of God as in a building the Art and cunning of the workman but man in the originall purity of nature is besides that as wax wherein was more notably impressed by that divine spirit whose work it is to seale a spirituall resemblance of his owne goodnesse and sanctity Againe the greater world was never other than an Orator to set forth the power and praises of God but he made the soule of man in the beginning as it were his Oracle wherein he fastned a perfect knowledge of his law and will from the very glimpses and corrupted Reliques of which Knowledge of his Law some have beene bold to call men 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the kindred of God And Senec. Liber Animus Diis cognatus which is the same with that of Aratus cited by S. Paul 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for wee are his off-spring yea Euripides as Tully in his * Tusculans observes was bold to call the soule of man by the name of God and Seneca will venture so farre too Quid aliud vocas animum quà m deum in humano corpore hospitantem But to forbeare such boldnesse as it may be one of the Originals of heathen Idolatry Certaine it is that there are as Tully many times divinely observes sundry similitudes betweene God and the minde of man There are indeed some Attributes of God not only incommunicable but absolutely inimitable and unshadowable by any excellency in mans soule as immensity infinitenesse omnipotency omniscience immutability impassibility and the like but whatsoever spirituall and Rationall perfections the power bounty of God conferr'd upon the soule in its first Creation are all of them so many shadowes and representations of the like but most infinite perfections in him The Properties then and Attributes of God wherein this Image chiefely consists are first these three Spirituality with the two immediate consequents thereof Simplicity and Immortality in which the soule hath partaked without any after corruption or depravation Concerning the former it were vast and needlesse to confute those sundry opinions of ancient Philosophers concerning the substance of the soule many where of Tully in the first of his Tusculans hath reported And Aristotle confuted in his first de Anima Some conceived it to be blood others the braine some fire others ayre some that it consists in Harmony and Number and the Philosopher
wee finde any of them hurtfull and Rebellious wee cannot but remember that the occasion thereof was our owne disloyalty they doe but Revenge their great Masters wrong and out of a Faithfull care and jealousie to Preserve his Honour Renounce their Fidelity and Obedience to a Traitom * And indeed how can we looke to have our Dominion intire over Beasts and inferiour Creatures when by continuall Enormities we make our selves as one of them Continued by the Generall Providence of God whereby hee is pleased to preserve things in that course of Subordination wherein first hee made them and like a gracious Prince to continue unto Man the use of his Creatures even then when hee is a prisoner unto his Justice Renewed by the Promise and Grant made againe unto Noah And there is a Double Promise under which wee may enjoy the Creatures the one a Morall Promise made unto Industry as The Diligent hand maketh Rich and hee that Ploweth his Land shall have Plenty of Corne the other an Evangelicall Promise made unto Piety and Faith in Christ whereby is given unto Christian men both a freer use of the Creatures than the Iews had and a purer use than the wicked have For unto the Cleane all things are Cleane And this Grant of God doth sometimes shew it selfe extraordinarily as in the Obedience of the Crowes to Eliah the Viper to Paul the Lyons to Daniel the Whale to Ionah the Fire to the three Children and the trembling and feare of wilde Beasts towards many of the Martyrs Alwayes Ordinarily in ordering and dispensing the course of Nature so as that Humane Society may be preserved both by power in subduing the Creatures which hee must use and by wisedome in escaping the Creatures which hee doth feare Now for the second Attribute Wisedome there is also a remainder of the Image thereof in Man for albeit the fall and corruption of Nature hath darkned his eyes so that hee is enclined to worke Confusedly or to walk as in a Maze without Method or Order as in a Storme the Guide of a Vessell is oftentimes to seek of his Art and forced to yeeld to the windes and waves yet certaine it is that in the minde of Man there still remaines a Pilot or Light of Nature many Principles of Practicall prudence whereby though for their faintings a man do's often miscarry and walke awry the course of our Actions may be directed with successe and issue unto Civill and Honest ends And this is evident not only by the continuall practise of Grave and Wise men in all States Times and Nations but also by those sundry learned and judicious Precepts which Historians Politicians and Philosophers have by their naturall Reason and Observation framed for the compassing of a Mans just ends and also for Prevention and disappointment of such inconveniences as may hinder them Lastly for the Attribute of Knowledge It was doubtlesse after a most eminent manner at first infused into the Heart of Man when hee was able by Intuition of the Creatures to give unto them all Names according to their severall Properties and Natures and in them to shew himselfe as well a Philosopher as a Lord. Heâ—… filled them sayth Siracides with the Knowledge of Vnderstanding And herein if wee will beleeve Aristotle the Soule is most neerely like unto God whose infinite Delight is the Eternall Knowledge and Contemplation of himselfe and his Works Hereby saith hee the Soule of man is made most Beloved of God and his minde which is Allied unto God is it selfe Divine and of all other parts of Man most Divine And this made the Serpent use that Insinuation only as most likely to prevaile for compassing that Cursed and miserable project of Mans ruine By meanes of which Fall though Man blinded his understanding and â—…obd himselfe of this as of all other blessed habits I meane of those excellent Degrees thereof which he then enjoyed yet still the Desire remaines Vast and impatient and the pursuit so violent that it proves often praejudiciall to the estate both of the Body and Minde So that it is as true now as eyer that Man is by Nature a Curious and inquiring Creature of an Active and restlesse Spirit which is never quiet except in Motion winding it selfe into all the Pathes of Nature and continually traversing the World of Knowledge There are two maine Desires naturally stamped in each Creature a Desire of Perfecting and a Desire of Perpetuating himselfe Of these Aristotle attributeth in the highest degree the latter unto each living Creature when he saith that of all the works of living Creatures the most naturall is to Generate the like and his Reason is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Because hereby that Immortality the Principall end as hee there supposeth of all naturall Agents which in their owne Individuals they cannot obtaine they procure by deriving their Nature unto a continued off-spring and succession But though in regard of life it hold true of all Man notwithstanding is to be exempted from the universality of this Assertion And of himselfe that other desire of Perfection which is principally the desire of Knowledge for that is one of the principall advancements of the Soule should not only in a Positive sense as Aristotle hath determined in the Entrance to his Metaphysicks but in a Superlative degree be verified that He is by nature desirous of Knowledge This being the Principall thing to use Aristotle his owne reason whereby Man doth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Partake of Divinity as I observed before out of Aristotle himselfe And the reason of the difference betweene Man and other Creatures in this particular is First Because Man hath not such necessary use of that former desire as others have in regard of his owne Immortality which takes away the Necessity of Propagation to sustaine his Nature And secondly because Knowledge the Perfection of the Soule is to Man as I may so speake a kinde of generation being of sufficiencie to exempt the Person endued therewith from all injurie of Time and making him to survive and out-live his owne Mortality So that when the Body hath surrendred unto each Region of the World those Elements and Principles whereof it was compos'd and hath not so much as Dust and Cinders left to testifie that Being which once it had then doth the Name lie wrapped in the Monuments of Knowledge beyond the reach of Fate and Corruption The Attributes of God which are manifested more especially in his Word though sundry yet as farre forth as they had ever any Image in Man may be comprized in this more Generall one of Holinesse Whereby I understand that Absolute and Infinite Goodnesse of his Nature which is in him most Perfect Pure and Eternall Of which though Man according to that measure as it was unto him communicated was in his great Fall utterly rob'd and spoyl'd as not being able in any thing to resemble it
lacrymisque coactis Quos neque Tydides nec Larissaeus Achilles Non anni domuere decem non mille carinae They are surpriz'd by frauds and forced teares In whom their greatest foes could work no feares Whom ten yeres war not won nor thousand ships Are snar'd and conquer'd by perjurious lips The second manner of Corruption which Passion useth on the Vnderstanding and Will was Alienating or withdrawing of Reason from the serious examination of those Pleasures wherewith it desireth to possesse the Mind without controule that when it cannot so farre prevaile as to blind and seduce Reason getting the allowance and Affirmative Consent thereof it may yet at least so farre inveagle it as to with-hold it from any Negative Determination and to keepe off the Mind from a serious and impartiall consideration of what Appetite desireth for feare lest it should be convinced of sinne and so finde the lesse sweetnesse in it And this is the Reason of that affected and Voluntarie Ignorance which Saint Petâ—… speakes of whereby Minds prepossessed with a love of inordinate courses doe with-hold and divert Reason and forbeare to examine that Truth which indeed they know as fearing lest thereby they should be deterred from those Vices which they resolve to follow Which is the same with that excellent Metaphore in Saint Paul who sayth That the wrath of God was revealed from Heaven on all Vngodlinesse and Vnrighteousnesse of Men 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whicâ—… hold or detaine the Truth in Vnrighteousnesse that is which imprison and keepe in that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the Apostle interpreteth himselfe in the next Verse all those Notions of Divine Truth touching the Omnipotencie and Iustice of God which were by the singer of Nature written within them to deterre them from or if not to make them inexcusable in those unnaturall pollutions wherein they wallowed Thus Medea in the Poet 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I know 't is wicked that I goe about But Passion hath put all my Reason out And therefore that Maxime of the Stoicall Philosopher out of Plato is false 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That all men are unwillingly deprived of Truth since as Aristotle hath observed directly agreeable to the phrase of Saint Peter there is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an elected or Voluntarie Ignorance which for their Securities sake men nourish themselves in And that there should be such an Alienation of the Mind from Truth when the Fancie and Heart are hot with Passion cannot be any great wonder For the Soule is of a limited and determined Activitie in the Body insomuch that it cannot with perspiâ—…uitie and diligence give attendance unto diverse Objects And therefore when a Passion in its fulnesse both of a violence and delight doth take it up the more cleare and naked brightnesse of Truth is suspended and changed So that as the Sunne and Moone at their rising and setting seeme farre greater than at other times by reason of thick Vapours which are then interposed so the Mind looking upon things through the Mists and Troubles of Passion cannot possibly judge of them in their owne proper and immediate Truth but according to that magnitude or colour which they are framed into by prejudice and distemper But then thirdly if Reason will neither be deluded nor won over to the patronage of Evill nor diverted from the knowledge and notice of Good then doth Passion strive to confound and distract the Apprehensions thereof that they may not with any firmenesse or efficacie of Discourse interrupt the Current of such irregular and head-strong Motions And this is a most inward and proper Effect of Passion For as things presented to the Mind in the nakednesse and simplicitie of their owne Truth doe gaine a more firme Assent unto them and a more fixed intuition on them so on the contrarie side those things which come mixt and troubled dividing the intention of the Mind between Truth and Passion cannot obtaine any setled or satisfactorie Resolution from the Discourses of Reason And this is the Cause of that Reluctancie betweene the Knowledge and Desires of Incontinent Men and others of the like Nature For as Aristotle observes of them they are but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Halfe-Evill as not sinning with that full and plenarie Consent of Will but Pratâ—…r Electionem as he speakes so I may more truly say of them that they have but an Halfe-Knowledge not any distinct and applicative Apprehension of Truth but a confused and broken Conceit of things in their Generalitie Not much unlike unto Nighttalkers who cannot be sayd to be throughly asleepe nor perfectly awaked but to be in a middle kind of inordinate temper betweene both or as Aristotle himselfe gives the similitude it is like a Stage-Player whose Knowledge is expresse and cleare enough but the things which it is conversant about are not personall and particular to those men but belonging unto others whom they personate So the Principles of such men are in the generall Good and True but they are never brought downe so low as if they did concerne a mans owne particular Weale or Woe nor thorowly weighed with an assuming applying concluding Conscience but like the notion of a Drunken or sleeping man are choaked and smothered with the Mists of Passion And this third Corruption is that which Aristotle in the particular of Incontinencie calleth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the weakenesse and disabilitie of Reason to keepe close to her owne Principles and Resolutions Whereunto exactly agreeth that of the Prophet How weake is thy heart seeing thou doest all things the workes of an imperious Whorish Woman And elsewhere Whoredome and Wine are sayd to take away the Heart So Hector describes lascivious Paris 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Thy face hath beautie in 't but in thy brest There doth no strength nor resolution rest The last Effect which I shall but name is that which Aristotle calleth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rashnesse or Precipitancie which is the most Tyrannicall Violence which Passion useth when in spight of all the Dictates of Reason it furiously over-ruleth the Will to determine and allow of any thing which it pleaseth to put in practise and like a Torrent carryeth all before it or as the Prophet speakes rusheth like an Horse into the Battell So Lust and Anger are sometimes in the Scripture called Madnesse because it transporteth the Soule beyond all bounds of Wisdome or Counsell and by the Dictates of Reason takes occasion to become more outragious Ipsaque praesidia occupat feedes like Wild-fire upon those Remedies which should remove it As she sayd in the Poet Levis est dolor qui capere consilium potest Libâ—… ire contra That 's but light griefe which counsell can abate Mine swells and all advice resolves to hate The corrupt effects which Passion worketh in the last place on the Body are