Hermite as St. Jerome in his Life reports arrived to the Age of 115 Years an hundred whereof he spent in the Wilderness sustaining himself daily the first forty with a few Dates and a draught of Water and when Dates failed with half a Loaf of Bread which a Raven brought him St. Anthony as Athanasius witnesseth lived 105 Years of which he spent 90 in the Desert supporting his Body with Bread and Water only to which in his extreme old Age he added a few Sallet Herbs Arsenius The Emperor Arcadius his Tutor lived 120 Years fifty five whereof he spent in the Wilderness in wonderful abstinence Not long before our Times Ludovicus Câ—rnarus a Venetian Nobleman when he had lived unhealthfully to the 35th Year of his Age being frequently afflicted with divers Diseases at last by the advice of a certain Physician he used a restrained Diet whereby alone he gradually cured them all by little and little diminishing the quantity of his Meat and Drink till he descended to fourteen Ounces of Meat reckoning Bread Flesh Eggs and other Edibles and sixteen Ounces of Drink daily persevering in which Regimen he produced his Life healthful vigorous and free from Diseases above 100 Years as himself witnesseth in a Book he put forth entitled The benefits and advantages of a sober Life Whence we may collect saith Riverius out of whose Institutions I borrowed these Instances That a spare Diet doth very much conduce not only to the continuance of Health but also to the curing of contumacious Diseases and of long continuance For though Natural Heat having suddenly concocted that small quantity of Food taken in is afterwards employed about the superfluous Humours digesting dissipating and by little and little expelling them through the several Emunctories of the Body till at last the Body becomes pure and free from the Causes and Seeds of all Diseases Moreover It is very remarkable which the same Riverius adds That if an exact Diet cannot quite take away some chronical and incurable Diseases yet doth it much alleviate them and render them more tolerable so that the Sick persons may live a long time under them So we see not a fewdaily who produce their Lives many Years under an Ulcer of the Lungs a Scirrhus of the Liver or Spleen a Stone in the Reins or Bladder Aristotle in his Problems witnesseth That there was a certain Philosopher in his time named Herodicus who â—â—ough he laboured under a Consumption yet by a strict observation of Diet attained to 100 Years The Benefits of Temperance will best appear from the Mischiefs and Inconveniencies the contrary Vices of Intemperance and Excess bring upon us especially as to the impairing and ruining of our Health which is a natural consequent thereof For the Stomach by immoderate repletion being overcharged or clog'd with more than it can digest must needs slubber over its work as a Mill that is fed too fast and instead of a well concocted and benign Chyle transmit to the other Vessels a Crude and impure Juice full of many heterogeneous and noxious Particles or Qualities that breed an universal Distemper and Discrasie in the Body and lay the foundation of many future diseases an error in the first concoction as the old Physicians well observe being seldom or never corrected in the subsequent That most diseases owe their original to excess in eating and drinking appears in that they are cured by blood-letting purging vomiting sweating and other Evacuations whereby the abundance of superfluous Humours is exhausted It is a Proverbial Saying Plures occidit gula quà m gladius The Throat hath slain more than the Sword Rioting and drunkenness offer such violence to Nature do so inflame the Blood the vehicle of Life waste and dissipate the Spirits that Men guilty of them seldom live out half their days Insomuch that as Bishop Wilkins well observes no Man of ordinary prudence who is to take a Lease for Lives will be content if he can well avoid it to choose one whom he knows to be vicious and intemperate It may be objected that some who daily exceed all bounds in eating and drinking feeding themselves as the Apostle saith without fear do yet live to an extreme old Age. I answer That there are but very few of these and those of exceeding firm strength of Parts and temperament of Body who yet if they lived temperately might hold out much longer and would be more fit for all the Actions of the Mind and Understanding For saith Riverius Those who live intemperately must needs be fill'd with many noxious Humours and often troubled with Sickness neither can they without prejudice to their Health be long intent on the difficult Functions of the Mind both because in them the whole force of Nature and of the Spirits is spent in the concoction of Meats from which if by any contention of mind they be violently withdrawn concoction will be depraved and many crudities ensue and also because they have need of frequent Bodily Exercise to dissipate or Medicaments to purge out their ill Humours they daily accumulate So that though such men seem to live long in the Body yet in effect they live but little to their mind and to those ends for which Life was given being but a little while fit for the Functions of the Soul the greatest part of their time being necessarily bestowed on the Service of the Body And yet even in these the Body is not made of Steel or Adamant the strength of their Natural Temper cannot always resist and hold out against the rude shocks and batteries of so many excesses and debauches but must needs by degrees be weakened and impaired and at last utterly marred and subverted I might add further in commendation of this Grace of Temperance that it conduces much to the preservation of the External form and comliness of the Body an Endowment highly valued by all men Whereas on the contrary Vicious Courses but especially Intemperance defacing the inward pulchritude of the Soul do change even the outward Countenance into an abhorred hue as I have elsewhere noted out of Dr. Moor. I should now dismiss this Particular did not the great prevalency of this Vice of Intemperance especially in drinking invite me to superadd something further of the pernicious effects and consequents of it 1. First Then this Vice hath a very ill influence upon the Spirit and Soul of Man degrading it and subjecting it to the Body The generality of Heathen Philosophers as Bishop Wilkins observes agree in this That Sin is the Natural Cause of debasing the Soul immersing it into a state of sensuality and darkness deriving such an impotency and deformity upon the mind as the most loathsome Diseases do upon the Body I shall add but especially Intemperance which clouds the Understanding disabling it to any Studies of sublime and subtile Speculation the gross fumes of strong and inebriating Liquors having a like effect upon the Understanding as thick Foggs and Mists upon
our bodily Eyes hindâ—ing them from seeing things at a distance or discerning clearly Objects that are near Neither doth it only darken the Understanding but mightily weaken the Memory dulling also and impairing all the Parts and Faculties of the Soul depressing and fastning down to the earth that Particle of the divine Breath Atque affigit humi Divinoe particulam aurae Stupifying and infatuating the Man by degrees till at last there be little left of him but the outward shape and that too very much marred and deformed 2. This Sin not only sows the Seeds of future Diseases but very often is the occasion of many present Quarrels and Fightings and Wounds and even Death it self Prov. 23.19 Who hath wo Who hath sorrow Who hath contentions who hath bablings Who hath wounds without cause who hath redness of eyes They that tarry long at the wine they that go to seek mixt wine Nothing more frequent than quarrelling and brawling at drinking Meetings and sometimes challenging and duelling Some also we now and then hear of who being in Drink by Falls from Horses or other Casualties have ruined or destroyed themselves and alas in what condition must such men die 3. It occasions an unaccountable expence of time which by all Wise Men is esteemed a most precious and inestimable Jewel Cujus unius saith Seneca honesta est avaritia which alone may honesty be coveted Sometimes whole Afternoons and Nights being spent in drinking bouts and as much time more before they can get clear of the evil effects of them Time was not given us to waste in the service of our Lusts but to bestow on the duties of God's Worship or some honest Calling whereby in our Places and Stations we may be serviceable to our Generations and do good in the World No Man need want Employment and yet if he did he were better be idle than not well occupied as the Proverb is He that hath no bodily Labor or Exercise to busy himself in may find Work enough in cultivating his mind in advancing and improving his Faculties in searching out the Mysteries of Nature and Works of God whereby he may be induced to glorifie his Creator to admire and celebrate his infinite Wisdom Power and Goodness and may probably hit upon something which may be of publick use and benefit When at the great day of account the Supreme Judge of all Men shall demand of us How we spent such an Afternoon or such a Night Think we that we shall have the confidence to answer him in drinking or vain talking or rather that we shall not stand mute being ashamed to confess how we spent them or that he would be satisfied with such an account should it be given him Let us then be careful so to husband and manage so to expend and improve our time that we may have a good account to make thereof at that day 4. Intemperance is a chargeable and expensive Vice unaccountably wasting the outward Estate Prov. 23.20 21. Be not among wine bibbers among riotous eaters of flesh For the drunkard and the glutton shall come to poverty Deer it egentibus Aes laquei pretium They shall not have Money enough to buy them a Halter No Vice hath consumed so many Estates and reduced so many of the meaner sort to poverty as this which being so men given to it would do well to consider before-hand how unsupportable Poverty and Necessity will be to them who have lived plentifully especially seeing instead of being pitied and relieved they are like to be reproach'd and scorn'd by others If Poverty makes all men ridiculous as the Poet saith much more then those who have brought it upon themselves by their own default Men who by riotous courses waste Estates left them by their Ancestors I look upon as injurious to their Posterity such Estates being not acquired by their industry and consequently not theirs to dispose of or make away but only to use for term of Life according to the intention of their Progenitors by whom they were raised and left them However all are accountable to God for the expence of their Estates Seneca could say Tam expensorum quà m acceptorum rationem esse reddendam We must give an account as well of what we spend as of what we receive or get 5. Intemperance is a Vice contrary to Charity and Justice disabling us to relieve the Poor or contribute to any good Work Can we think that he hath the least spark of Charity or indeed common Humanity in him who will spoil and destroy that which would serve to support and maintain the indigent and necessitous who will rather mischief himself than benefit others who will rather abuse and ruine his own Body than refresh the fainting Spirits of his Brethren Surely God intended that all that are born into the World should have a portion in the World not that one should devour and waste more than is fit and another starve for want of Sustenance All came alike naked into the World and if Providence hath divided to thee more than to another it hath made thee but a Steward to dispense thy Estate among others which if thou be a good Man possibly thou mayest do more to their advantâ—ge than they would do themselves were they owners of it or were it equally divided among them And this thou art to look upon as the main reason why God hath given to thee more than to them The Scripture saith Withhold not good from him to whom it is due making relief a debt to the indigent but to discharge debts is a piece of Justice and not of Charity But if he be unjust who relieves not the poor though nothing related to him what shall we call them of the poorer sort who spend that at the Alehouses which should serve to maintain their Families who have Wives and Children at home that want Necessaries and they consume upon their Lusts what should support them these Men are something more than unjust barbarous and inhumane We find them in the black List of those whom the Apostle Rom. 1. saith are given up to a reprobate mind 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Men without natural affection 6ly I might add That this Vice is injurious to posterity entailing Diseases upon them Children do very often inherit the Distempers and Infirmities of their Parents as well as the Shape and Lineaments of their Bodies And therefore let men as they love their Children and tender their ease and well-being in this woâ—ld have a care lest by their debauches and excesses they contract diseases and ill habits of body on themselves and derive them to their Issue which if of the more painful sort as Gout or Stone may give their Children I will not say just cause to curse the day wherein they were born and the Parents which begat and brought them forth Lastly This Vice blasts a Man's Reputation Honour and Esteem in the World As Vertue is honourable in the sight of
Friendship affords us we reap many and great Benefits from it As 1. Faithful Counsel and Advice which is of great moment in any doubtful Matter it being true Plus vident oculi quà m oculus Many Eyes see more than one Or any Matter of weighty concernment wherein it is not safe to trust to our own Judgments Prov. 27.9 Ointment and perfume rejâ—ice the heart so doth the sweetness of a man's friend by hearty counsel How great comfort must it needs be to have one whom we may securely unbosom our selves to and trust with a Secret to whom we may open our Griefs disburthen our Minds and so find ease and relief 2. Seasonable Reproof This saith the Author of the Whole Duty of Man is of all others the most peculiar Duty of a Friend I might add the greatest benefit he can bestow upon his Friend it being indeed that which none else is qualified for Such an unwilingness there is in most men to hear of their faults that those that undertake that Work had need have a great prepossession of their Hearts to make them patient of it Of the absurdity and unreasonableness of this unwillingness to be reproved Cicero saâ—th very well Atque illud absurdum est quod ii qui monentur eam molestâ—am quam debent capere non capiunt eam capiunt quâ debent carere Peccâ—sse enim se non anguntur objurgari mâ—lestè ferunt quâ—d câ—ntra oportebat delicto dolere objurgatioâ—e gaudere It is absurd that they which are admonished receive not thence the trouble which they ought to have but that which they ought to want For they are not sorry that they have sinned but they take it ill that they are reproved Whereas on the contrary they ought to grieve for their Offence but rejoice for their Reproof 3. Condoleance and Coâ—solation in any Adversity Affliction or Suffering as Sickness the Death of any near Relation or Friend loss of Worldly Goods by Fire Shipwrack Innundation Invasion of Enemies or the like He that condoles with his Friend in such Accidents doth as it were bear pâ—rt of his Burthen and by consolatory Considerations strengthens his Spirit and enables him to support it And there is great need of this to some Natures which otherwise are in danger to be oppressed and overwhelmed with Grief and even distracted by such Calamities 4. Relief and Supply of Want in case of Poverty and Necessity a true Friend as well as a Brother is born for adversity and will rather rejoice in contributing liberally to the support of his Friend than desert him or deny his assistance In this case Friends may be a snare to us tempting us to put our confidence in Man rather than God and to think our Security greater in the multitude of friends than the providence and protection of God 5. Prayers to God for us recommending us to him for all Blessings both Spiritual and Temporal Now all true Friendship is grounded upon Vertue Virtus amicitiam gignit contiâ—et nec sine virtute Amicitia ullâ— pacto esse potest Cic. de Amicitia Virtue doth both beget and maintain friendship nor can there possibly be any frienship without Vertue True friends are such as sincerely desire and endeavour each others real good both spiritual and temporal but such friendship cannot be contracted and continued but only between persons truly religious that love and fear God We cannot expect fidelity and the benefits before recited from any but those who are so qualified And those that are so their friendship is courted by all Men and who so happy as they that can get an interest in it CHAP. XI Of the Happiness of the Inward Man I Proceed now to treat of the Happiness of the Inner Man the Soul or Spirit and that consists in the love of God and of our Neighbour whatever makes the Soul happy must be suitable and agreeable to the Nature of it Now the Soul is a spiritual substance and therefore its Objective Happiness must be so too The Soul is immortal and therefore the Object which makes it happy must be of eternal duration The Desires of the Soul are very vast and extensive nay infinite and therefore not to be satisfied but by an Infinite Good From the Love of God flows an universal Obedience to all his holy Commandments John 14.23 If a man love me he will keep my words It is the nature of love to desire and endeavour to please and gratifie the Party beloved And therefore he that loves God will labour to please him by doing those things that are acceptable to him and right in his sight The Love of God will add Wings to his Soul and constrain him to run the ways of his Commandments which will no longer seem grievous or burthensome to him but pleasant and delightful yea eligible were they proposed to his chioce in competition with the short and unsatisfactory Pleasures of Sin Now Holiness of Life and Obedience to the Commandments of God hath the proâ—ises of all good things both for the Soul and Body for this Life and a better Psal 84.11 He will give gâ—ace and glory and nâ— good thing will â—e withhold from them that liâ—e uprightly Psal 34.10 They that fear the Lord shall nâ—t want any good thing Rom. 8.28 We know that all things work together for goâ—d to them that love God 1 Tim. 4.8 Godliness is profitable to all things having the promises of the Life that now is and of that which is to come Moreover those that love God cannot but be happy because they that love him shall be beloved of him both of the Father and of the Son John 14.21 He that loveth me shall be beloved of my Father and I will love him and manifest my self to him And again v. 25. If a man love me my Father will love him aâ—d we will come to him and make our abode with him God is the fountain of Happiness whatever good is in the Creature it came from him and is but a Beam of his Light Whatever is in the Creature in a limited restrained imperfect manner is in him without limitation without restriction without imperfection He both can and will make them whom he loves as happy as they are capable of being God is the only Object that deserves the highest degree of our Love and he requires it And therefore it is as well against our Duty as our Interest to deny it As for the Love of our Neighbour that is commanded us by God Levit. 19.18 Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thy self repeated Matt. 22.9 1 John 4.21 And this Commandment have we from him that he who loveth God love his Brother also From this immediately flows the performance of the Duties of the Second Table That great Rule of doing to others as we would they should do to us in like case and the contrary of not doing to others that we would not should be done to us are necessary