Alexander that loued it but regarded and rewarded as a vertue whilest hee more esteemed the vulgar Medes and Persians for reuerencing him for the sonne of Iupiter then he did the Nobles of Macedonia for their loyal and faithfull dealing so where voluptuousnesse ambition and auarice get hands to their passe they are disputed by some as necessary by others as conuenient to be vsed loosing the note of sinnes Why so As in Egypt sometimes they that were vnlearned in Necromancy were accounted infamous wherfore the best and wisest would apply their study vnto it So not to bee skilled in these blacke Artes were enough to bring disease disrespect and pouerty vpon vs besids the accumulating of other vnworthy contumelies Therefore to auoyd the tax of being cruel to our selues which Saint Austine layes vpon them that neglect their fame meaning the good report which a christian should be carefull to preserue wee in a misconstruction of his sence will bee tyrants to our soules that we may be famous sinners This ignorance springs from our non proficiency in the Schoole of Christ as Saint Pauls example effectually prooues against vs who being ripe in that measure of diuine knowledge which is giuen as diuersly to the Saints in this life so to all sufficiently toward their eternall state would not reioyce but in the Crosse of Christ whereby the world was crucified to him and he vnto the world Gal. 6. teaching the same to bee the duty and practise of all well gouerned christians to hold fast with the rock whereon they are founded and not to suffer the externall respects of riches reuerence and time-seruing to loosen their anchor from this shore and bewitch them from his obedience on whom they ought meerely to depend as being wholy his We are either old learners and too young proficients or but yong learners and no proficients who hauing in Christs Gymmasy but one word to learne haue not yet learned it as wee should Christ faith Discite a me quia corde mit is sum et humilis We must learne of him humility but pride commune nobilitatis malum that common mischiefe of Nobilitie that too common misery imo pene omnium almost of al men doeth so often put them all out as they goe about to pronounce it yet necessity lies so hard vpon vs deuiating Pilgrimes if we will be happy and happy are we that we can be taught that we must not thinke our direction hard thence be discou raged from following it but labour and thereby we shall be able to take the low way which is the right way for there is no high way to that high countrey and heauenly inheritance Quicunque desiderat primatum caelestem sequatur humilitatem terrestrem non enim qui maior fuit in honore ille maior sed qui iustior ille maior as Chrisostome Our humility on earth must helpe vs to preferment in heauen for the most honourable heere shall not in that in that respect be the greatest there but the iust shall shine as the brightnes of the firmament and they that turne many to righteousnesse shall shine as Starres for euer and euer Dan. 12.3 The lesson is but short the vnderstanding sweet our obedience vnto it gracious the reward glorious therefore detesting pride the enemie of prayer and bane of all godly motions Humilitate omnia facto nostra condiantur as S. Augustine aduiseth let vs season all our wordes and workes with humility CHOYCE AND APPLICATIONS Which may serue partly for the vse of the precedent Treatise Not vnprofitable for direction as well in Sacred as in ciuill duties By Charles Goldwell Master of Artes. LONDON Prined by Bernard Alsop for Iohn Pyper 1621. TO THE WORTHY and right nobly disposed Sir Walter Tichborne Knight the blessing of heauen and earth be multiplied SHall not my hand present my heart to him That gaue my feeble armes more strength to swimme Then faile my hand to guide thine artlesse pen And heart forget good nature vnto men If both prefer him not to lasting praise That made me happy in my dysmall dayes This be a Record of your noble mind Seated in blood of a most loyall Kind That Prince and people cannot wish to see Hearts better stockt with true integrity Nor any blame my gratefull heart that giues Aduancement to your worth where merit liues SIR I Haue entred so great a Bond to your worship that I am hopelesse euer to say as the indebted seruant to his master vpon your patience I will pay you all yet doe I not desire that vpon proofe of my willingnesse your clemency should pardon all I would not be so secure lest ingratitude corrupt me but that hauing iustly to consider your free and frequent fauours my best endeauours may still bee striuing to procure your acquittance so shall your Worship bee sure not to loose what is worth the requiting I hopefull still to receiue those benefits which may continue my study thereunto Sir I could make choyce of no better thing to present you with all then what my heart hath chosen to rule and content it selfe withall desirous to perswade you so much hereby that no greater seruice shall bee wanting which may deriue a promise from this briefe Hierogliphick The shortnesse is to bee measured by the streightnesse of my time not by the defect of my loue the matter to bee examined by my purpose of profiting others so well as my selfe not in any thing taxable of presumption the vnfiled composure to bee tollerated for the condition of the matter As they are I heartily wish they may at least content you if not adde a scruple to your happy experience The Lord who hath abundantly blessed you with many sweete hopefull branches likewise enrich your hearts with his graces that you may bee throughly and perfectly blessed in body and soule and euermore protect and direct all yours to the glory of his sauing health Your Worships euer bounden CH. GOLDVVILL TO THE WORshipfull my deare Father Iohn Goldwell Esquire the continuation of blessings temporall the increase of graces Spirituall and the assurance of life eternall be granted and sealed by God and his holy Spirit SIR AMong many your necessary and wholsome rules laid downe by way of Fatherly aduertisement vnto me this hath beene one as not the least repeated not the least worthy Efficacius est vitae quam linguae testimonium It is better specially for a Diuine to make his life then his tongue his witnesse vnto the people that in being an example vnto his flocke bee may saue himselfe and them that heare him wherein howsoeuer I haue failed or may hereafter yet I intended hereby to expresse my desire euen by this my resolution vnto a constant setlednesse and composition of life Who shall thankefully entertaine the friendly reprehension of any noting my going astray from that which I haue chosen Sir that I haue not made the dedication of these my labours vnto you the world knoweth that
to put off an iniury by holding ones peace then get the vpper hand by wrangling and contention 23 Since the Phisitiā knowes better what is good for the patient then himselfe doth I will not doubt of Gods mercy though I doe not alwayes receiue what I pray for for being he knowes my imbecilitie such as asketh often amisse and what would be hurtful he is no lesse mercifull in not hearing at some times then in giuing at other 24 It is a great inconuenience in that which the world cals good fellowship not to see what sufficeth whereby it either amitteth the name of good or else such as vse it account nothing their good that is not euill I will leaue with too little rather then with too much lest I seeme to allow Satan for an Angel of light and the Prodigals wandering the path-way to heauen 25 Warre is not vniustly preferred to a miserable peace Then seeing carnall tranquillitie is a very spirituall misery I will change it at all times for a godly aduersity for the goodnesse of a thing depending on the ende though I taste the roote bitter I shall receiue a full compensation in the sweetnesse of the fruite which is heere but green and ripenesse in heauen 26 It is bad talking with a madman not so much for that his heart is depraued but because his braine is distempered and his reason for the time peruerted It is worse arguing with a foole for though he hath a reasonable memory he is madde in the heart he denyeth God and therefore wil beleeue no truth he may be held vp as one in a swoune by force but cannot stand of himselfe I will not spende my strength in lifting at a logge hauing a more necessary building to follow lest getting a bruise by the former I proceede with lesse profite in the latter 27 Hee that would bee what he desires must desire to be what he should the wisest to disemble hath the best meanes to liue according to this world but he that beares true loue in an innocent heart is onely wise to eternall life by how much sweeter the ioy of Angels will be at my conuersion then the shreiking of hellish furies at my confusion by how much it is better to haue the testimonie of Gods Spirit then of man and to bee found in Christ then hanging at the breasts of the world I will esteeme an honest godly life before deceitfull pernicious hypocrisie 28 For euery ioy the worldling hath I will choose to receiue a stripe at Gods hands and yet liue more contentedly then he for how can those ioyes content him wherewith hee is neuer filled but still hungreth and hunteth after more Or how can I bee discontented that vnable of my selfe to purchase the least grace haue this meanes allowed to cause vnto me a most excellent and eternall weight of glory 29 Of the wicked some heare Gods word willingly as Herod heard Iohn Baptist other tremble in their hearing as Felix when hee heard Paul but neither was of grace the first being occasioned by the fame of the person the second enforced by the efficacy of the Scriptures Some vtterly refuse to meddle with religion as Gallio others sleepe in the Assembly and heare nothing as Eutichus others heare and profite nothing as the rich man by hearing of Christ They differ in shew they are one in effect I were as good to be vnwilling to heare as heare and not practise as good haue mine eyes shut as mine eares heauy and my heart fat I am each wayes the deuils subiect and by trembling at iudgement if not thirsting for mercy I am made his fellow there is neuer a good the head the hand and the foot cry out together they are all damned 30 By the principles of natural Philisophy the abūdance of hony is chiefly ingendered in such regions where the heat of Summer is temperate and continuall as well by night as by day and by experience that heart most commonly nourisheth spirituall motions and sweete contemplation that is of a mild and temperate disposition not subiect to extreame passion or not often inflamed therewith for when passion ariseth like an angry storme it tosseth and troubles the mind that during the agitation therof it cannot admit the setling of any calme or comfortable apprehension 31 Some I haue knowne obserue their friends for a time more then God that hauing reaped a wished haruest of profite by them they might after resolue to a strict and religious course of life whereto a meane estate and a troubled minde would not before admit them Gehazi was cleane before such corruption made him loathsome Zaccheus hauing offered away halfe his goods and dissolued his league with the world was knit to Christ in loue and familiaritie that was before a stranger and as I haue read the Loadstone and the Iron will not meete so long as the Diamond lyeth neere It is impossible for our hardened hearts to yeeld vnto God or bee drawne by his word whilest the loue of riches sticketh in them If I cannot resolue well being poore I shall not persist in a good resolution beeing rich If in a cleere day I cannot discern colours lesse should I in a mist not at all if I were blinde I will first seeke God and then no farther If I want I know it is my good for whilest he is my shepheard I shall want no manner of thing that is good for me Rather had I susteine pouerty for my good then haue abundance to annoy me 32 It is not the meere leauing of all which seldome happeneth without griefe but the contemning of all things which is a voluntary forsaking of what wee haue euen whilest we enioy it for the loue of Christ that fitly prepares vs to runne the race of Christianity Many for lacke of this preparatiue cannot runne at all others runne but faint by the way and returne with shame and losse of victorie as Demas Before I run I will consider who hath runne before mee what I runne for and whom I shall encounter by the way Christ led the way I shall follow him therefore I will be resolute The prize is a crowne of righteousnes which he holdeth in his hand ready to set vpon my head when I shall haue ouercome therefore remembring what I haue purposely contemned and that I haue denied my selfe neither life nor death things present nor things to come nor prncipalities nor powers shall set such a fainting period to my race but that I will holde it out for this cause I will run naked and stript of all by preferring Christ before all that hee may assist mee with his grace in all because knowing who and what my assailants are how full of subtilty and rage they may not lay hold on me to my hinderance 33 The naturall man in regard of accelerating death can say that griefe is light to him that can beare it howsoeuer it is short to him that cannot beare it But the
worthy precedent for the imitation of Greatnesse who are to know that Parui sunt foris arma nisi est consilium domi To master our little world is the first step to the mastery of the whole world albeit they meane not to contend for Countries vi armis yet are they bound to endeauour virtute abstinentia to that christian fortitude wherby not to feare what man can doe vnto them Let Temperance keepe the doore of the stomacke and exclude superfluities and the foule spirit shall finde no place of habitation in the heart whereby to subiect it to worldly feares for that which is recti iudicij tenax doctrinae capax bonae famae semper auida salubria atque vtilia creans as is Temperance of a right and orderly iudgement of an able capacitie for doctrine couetous of a good report creating profitable and wholsome Theorems in the soule is to well resolued and to heauenly affected to let in so hostile a guest so dangerous a truce-breaker betweene God and Man Daniel that hee might not be entised to forget his Religion and accustomed sobriety for so was the Kings purpose in appointing him prouision of his owne costly fare determined in his heart that he would not defile himselfe therwith but eate pulse and drank water being a certaine preseruatiue for them both for so Origen obserueth that sobrietie is the mother of all vertues and Saint Austine Dan. 1.8.12 Est virtutis singulare auxilitam cuncta cum ratione disponens It is a singular ayde to vertue disposing all things with reason For which cause could not the most temperate Agesilaus bee ouercome by the importunitie of the Noble Thrasians to taste of their prepared dainties hee fed onely on their bread and drinke commaunding his Foote-men and slaues to feede if they would vpon such cheere for that hee said Princes might not pamper themselues with delicate cheere and Wines but vse abstinence temperance the one being vicious and shamefull the other a free Nurse to vertue and Fame He respecting himselfe as hee was a King turned ouer this pleasure as a sordide and slauish exercise to his meanest seruants least vsing it himselfe hee might through forgetfulnesse haue become as infamous as the worst of them hauing lost that Iewell which is of best note and most valuable in the Diadem of Princes So did Eliah and Iohn Baptist nourish the Spirit by Prayer and abstinence Mat. 3.4 his meate was no flesh neither dranke hee Wine nor strong drink Luke 1.15 The other was contented with bread and flesh as the Rauens brought it him morning and euening and dranke of the riuer 1. King 17.6 Woe bee to thee O Land when thy King is a Childe and thy Princes meaning Magistrates and Rulers eate in the morning that is intemperatly for surfeiting not for strength Prou. 10.16 In this sense spake Queene Bethsheba to her Sonne King Salomon It is not good for Kings O Lemuell Pro. 31.4.5 it is not good for Kings to drinke wine nor for Princes strong drinke least he drinke and forget the decree and change the iudgement of all the children of affliction We may stay our eies at home vpon our famous and sacred Lemuel who hath as vprightly as euer any obeyed the voyce of wisedome his Mother to eate her meate and drinke the Wine that shee hath drawne Prou. 9.5 And published the fruits therof to the incomparable comfort and satisfaction of his people feeding them with a faithfull and true heart and ruling them prudently with all his power Psal 78.73 of whom all our Israel impartially confesseth They haue heard the iudgement which the King hath iudged and they feare the King for they see the wisedome of God is in him to doe iustice 1. King 2.28 Would the Starres of our Sphere I meane not the sixed but the wandring ones take lustre from this Sunne considering themselues to be eyes of a maigne bodie through whom it should see to walke safely neuer would so many stumble at their vices lying in the way as hauing nothing to excuse it withal but want of light It were not credible that the seruant would smoake his flitches with his Masters Indian fuell and after bathe them in the foolish forfeiture of his wits till he farther ieopard his saluation by the heedelesse aggrauating of hartfrighting oathes in his sight and hearing were such commaunders any better then darke Lanthornes which shine not backe to those that follow them How cleerly doe they cast off not onely the desert of imposed dignitie of Men seeing that Nemo est dignus nomine hominis qui vnum diem totum velit esse in voluptate He is vnworthy to be called a Man that will waste one whole day in pleasure Whereof Saint Paul rendereth a strict and vnanswerable reason in telling vs the end of all things is at hand and therefore wee must be sober and watch in prayer There is no allowance permitted vnto vs for the loosing any time in offensiue pleasure for then is there no hope that we shall stand in the iudgement * Psal 1. or quit our selues like men if we neglect to prepare our soules with those commanded Graces sobrietie and Prayer against the comming of the Lord and yet is a day but a minute that is but a moment that as nothing with them that will make to morrow as this day and much more abundant crying out after delight as the sluggard for his sleepe yet a little more so holding out their progresse Vntill the strong men bow themselues and the grinders cease and the dust returne to the earth as it was Eccles 11.13 It was the demaund of the Prophet Haggai to Zerubbabel a Prince of Iudah and Iehoshua the high Priest concerning the Temple of the Lord. Is it time for your selues to dwell in your scaled houses and this house lye waste The pleasure taken in stately edifices is oftentimes enough to drowne the care of Gods seruice they being now become as in the olde world holes of Cockatrices and teguments of iniquitie where out seldome creepes a vertue for want of grace within to giue it liuelihood strength ranck prouender growes about them plentifully but latet anguis in herbis it is not gathered nor spent without sinne and shame Christs impotent members lye begging of the crums which Christ in his own person vouchsafed from the Table of his mercy to the Canaanitish Dogge but there is no man to giue vnto them for as Saint Hierome truly Cor habet in ventre gulosus lasciuius in libidine cupidus in lucro The glutton hath such a mind on his belly the wanton on his lust and the auarous on his gaine that by that time the Cormorant hath spent all in feeding his luxurious appetite and the couetous spared all to the consumption of his own carkases the poore may depart emptie as they came bearing in their hunger bitten cheekes and deiected Spirits an example of that approoued
rule Semper eris pauper si pauper es If wretched soule thou liu'st in need The richer sort will let thee bleed The Dogs may lecke thy smarting sores But pittie none peeps out of doores Somtimes the pretence of Iustice in obseruing the Statutes is a barre to their deuotion but Oh! vniust crueltie when as their loue to true Iustice indeede is nothing lesse then they would heerein praise it to be Experience proclaiming another right deplorable cause thereof to be Nil tamen attuleris c. For gifts blind the eies of the wise yet so that they will neuer see to vndertake the indigent till they haue thus put them out Gods house cals vpon such pompeous Landlords for tribute to repaire her ruines but they haue so many euils Deuils fashions conformities deformities lie nibling at their bagges gaping for maintenance that Caesar cannot haue his due neither can they spare ought to the honor of God whereas to the former Noctes atque dies patet atri ianui Ditis Their bags the mouth of Plutoes sable caue Which beare this thirsty Motto still we craue Lye euer open to the hand of sinne Where Grace in vaine petitions to come in It shall neither mooue them to passion nor compassion to pitty nor piety to see the gates of Sion which the Lord so highly preferreth to lye waste Againe this Sanctuary opens her doore that the King of glorie according to his promise may come in when his seruants shall repaire to that place where hee hath put his Name to do him worship But heere is found vsually as a confluence of a great many so not of many great whereof some rest satisfied with a few typid petitions of their owne at home being onely a morning sacrifice for the whole day and offered vp in a Closet without any testimony but of their owne consciences that is enough to free them of hypocrisie and as they are perswaded to obtain remission here and a reward in heauen Others heare them from other men but without a mentall consent or ioyning of the heart as the sequell of their behauiour shamefully confesseth neither of them loues a fiery zeale for affecting a carnall prosperity they cannot beare to bee eaten vp with the zeale of Gods house Howbeit the Church stands not as a Rocke in the Sea to bee auoyded but as a Cliffe on the shoare to shew vs that thither we should direct our course Neither did the people of God in their banishment vow the prelation of Ierusalem to their chiefest ioy but that they were there most happy where they could freely serue the Lord. For all this they hauing builded their sumptuous houses by the might of their power for their honour as proudly said Nabuchadnezzar they resolue it is time for them wholy to repose in these and leaue their rooms in the Lords house empty The Adamites were a Sect whose custome modesty is loath to mention But they deuised them a Church after an hot-house for the space of seruice time they went all naked Men and Women and the virgins preached vnto the rest Are not such houses made if I may so say our most frequented Churches Or I would such Preachers were not most reuerenced best beloued Beeing with them our Adamites as those other iudge themselues in Paradise one word distilling from the tongue of such an Oratresse gaines soules and bodies to her seruice more then many vigilant Diuines can ouercome to God The Arke of the Lord was accounted the glory of Israel The glory is departed from Israel for the Arke of God is taken 1. Sam. 4.22 But we like Gentiles of vncircumcised hearts doe not so esteeme of his Temple but cast vp our accounts another waies and goe a whoring after heathenish abominations yet not imagining a Queene of Heauen but imagining an earthly Mistresse to worship her who works a stranger effect with her flexible audience then Saint Pauls long Sermon did with Eutichus he fell downe in a sleepe and was taken vp dead Act. 20.9 notwithstanding his heauenly doctrine but they if halfe dead are by her mortall incantations throughly quickned and reuiued This is a pleasure conceiued partly in the eye and for that the Philosophers condemne our choice saying it is praeclarius homine dignius Coelum potius quam coelata intueri hoc pulcherrimum opus inter micantibus astrorum luminibus tanquam floribus adornatum quam ficta picta gemmis distincta mirars More excellent and worthy of a Man to behold the Heauens then any thing fashioned and set forth by the art of Man and rather to admire the beauty of that fabricke graced with luminous Lamps to put vs in mind of our Creator of our calling of our Country that the first is God and not Man secondly that we being christians haue lastly not Earth but Heauen for our Country thē as the sense may fairely beare it womē in respect of their monstrous vncouth disguisments feigned painted and adorned with Iewels It hath also its conception partly in the eare by reason of effeminate adulation and bewitching blandishments for as Lactantius aply Oratio cum suauitate decipiens capit mentes quo voluerit impellit Speech sweetly season'd doth intrap mens minds And as it list seduce in sundry kinds And forasmuch as such pellacious charmes doe vndoubtedly draw them to a dislike aspernation of the simple speech of the Gospell of Christ and are irratamenta vittorum quae ad corrumpendos animos potissime valent the spurs of vices which mghtily preuaile to the corruption and deprauation of our soules it is needfull to conclude with the Author of these words Ergo tollenda sunt nobis We must therefore void abandon and renounce them WHAT AND HOW FARRE PLEASVRES ARE lawfull and to be vsed ALbeit affliction was dictated by Christ to his Disciples through them to all the faithfull for the very portion which they are to expect and receiue from the World in this world yet was it not with an absolute inhibition of all outward pleasure or any full exception taken thereunto it being meant onely so much as was necessaty for them because it is a Point in Christs Church that through many tribulations they must enter into the Kingdome of Heauen And the godly haue beene somtimes excited by the Prophets from God himselfe to reioyce in regard he would remoue this grieuance from thē and in stead of affliction cast out their enemies giuing them rest and a release from his iudgements Reioyce O Daughter Sion be ioyfull O Israel be glad and reioyce with all thy heart O Daughter Hierusalem the Lord hath taken away thy iudgements he hath cast out thine enemies Zep. 3.14.15 The Preachers comparatiue position It is better to enter into the house of mourning then into the house of feasting doth not ouerthrow our priuiledge of some recreation it proouing chiefely the prestantiority of mourning as it serueth to expresse the mortification of our