world even your faith For the trust whereby we rely on Christ and wholly commit our selves to such a Protector By confidence in Christ we must drive away the devills gets us the Victory against the Divels and the Princes of this world so that we can win and carry from him being cast under us rich spoils When therefore we would do any thing against this adversary and would resist his charms and witchcrafts the Dutch call that Toverye or would cast ill spirits out of mens mind it must be done by confidence in Jesus Christ contemning all old wives superstition and heathenish vanity and other Magical execrations For God by his Son who is the brightnesse of his glory Heb. 1. All things are attributed unto Christ and expresse Image of his person doth do all things in all men ruling all things by the word of his power He hath merited this prerogative by his singular obedience humility and meeknesse toward the Father For when he was in the form of God that is Philip. 2. Christ is equall with God like and equal unto him he thought it no robbery to be equal with God but he humbled himself and took upon him the form of a servant being made obedient unto death even the death of the Crosse so ignominious and execrable wherefore God hath highly exalted him and hath given him a name above every name that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow both of things in heaven things on earth and things under the earth and all tongues should acknowledg and confesse that Jesus Christ is the Lord to the glory of God the Father upon whom redounds all the glory of the Son The amplitude of the name of Jesus High matters are done by the name of Christ and so of the Father to the Son If therefore any man purposeth to go about any businesse to ease minds afflicted or dispossesse devills out of mens bodies let him attempt to do it by calling on God the Father in confidence of the name of Christ For so shall he obtain all his desires and shall not fail of what he seeks for By the force and power of this Majestical name so a man do not doubt and distrust Gods promises diseases abate affections and perturbations of the mind are allayed tempests and Seas are calmed the divells as Christ promised Mark 16. By trust in Christ all kind of diseases are driven away when he was to ascend into heaven fly away poysons grow dull serpents are charmed and grow harmlesse the clouds of the mind are dispelled fear and terrour and horrour of death are discussed all ill thoughts are dissipated and vanish away the mind obtains a quiet and peaceable conscience so that nothing can come which may make us afraid because God the Father through Christ Jesus supports us by his spirit Wherefore we must raise up our minds unto the living God by the Conduct of his Son and whatsoever thou determinest to go about remember to do it in the vertue of that wonderfull name Jesus For to him is given all power in heaven and in earth Math. 28. Mark 16. Acts 2. and there is no other name given under heaven wherein we may look forsalvation which is so terrible to wicked men and to devils but to those that trust in him is he power and Wisedome Salvation Act. 4. 1 Cor. 1. Revel 2. Life and Resurrection He even Jesus Christ is appointed by God to be the judge of the quick and the dead he is the faithfull Witnesse and Prince of the kings of the earth who loved us and washed us from our sins in his own bloud To him as the Apostle Peter saith in the Acts of the Apostles Acts 10. all the Prophets give testimony that every one who believeth in him might receive remission of sins through his name John 17. In Christ is remission of sins This is life eternal which Testimony Christ ascribes to the Father that they may know thee to be the onely true God and whom thou haste sent Jesus Christ unto whom is referred and from whom is derived all the force of divinity and all the Wisedome and Vertue of God may be ascribed unto him Since therefore this name is so renowned and Sacred and of so great Majesty and power we must be exceeding carefull that we use it not in vain or upon light respects and irreverently as those ridiculous exorcists did Acts. 16. who when they strove with certain rites and words conceived for gain and oftentation to drive forth the evil spirit in the name of Jesus by vertue whereof Saint Paul wrought so many miracles by this abuse they fall into great danger and their admiration or rather ridiculous practice was very hurtfull unto them The exorcists wounded For he that was possessed with the Devil leaped forth upon them and cruelly tore them so that they were forced to save themselves by flight There were also in our memory some Popish Priests The exorcists of these times are furnished with foolish and idle doctrine who having no faith in the name of Christ nor any sanctity of life attempted to do the like but they were so mocked and made ashamed by the evil spirit that they were forced to depart with quaking and leave the businesse undone Yet if any man would go about to do any such matter and to cast forth Divels out of mens bodies let him imitate the example of Saint Peter and Saint Iohn The miracle of St. Peter and Saint John Act. 3. who used no ambitious words yet raised up the lame man thus In the name of Iesus Christ of Nazareth Arise and walk and he presently his legs and ankle bones receiving strength leapt up and stood on his feet and walked and entred into the Temple with them leaping and walking and praysing God Since therefore Jesus Christ the onely Son of God is equal and coeternal with the Father All glory is given to Christ Colos 1. Heb. 1. in whom also are hidden all the treasures of Wisedome and knowledg ruling all things by the word of his power it is fit that placing all our confidence on God by Jesus Christ by his vertue and defence we should resist Satan sin and hell and all other enemies of mankind For great and excellent is the strength and force which God hath set forth in Christ Ephes 1. as Saint Paul saith when he raised him from the dead and made him to sit at his right hand in heavenly places above all power principality and dominion and above all that is named not onely in this world but in that also which is to come And he hath put all things under his feet and he hath made him the head over all Christ is head of the Church Christ doth all things in all men that is the Church which is his body the fulnesse of him who filleth all things in all men that is Christ
created that are in the compasse of the Heavens or comprehended in Sea or Land Which the Prophet David the chiefe admirer of Gods works doth testifie in these words O Lord our God how excellent is thy name in all the World For thy magnificence is exalted above the Heavens What is man that thou art mindfull of him Psalm 8. or the Son of man that thou so regardest him Thou hast made him little lower than the Angels that thou mightest crown him with Glory and worship thou hast set him over the works of thy hands Thou hast put all things under his feet c. In which words he declares how much God respects man next unto Christ and how great reckoning God makes of man to whom the world is made subject and obedient that not onely all things created are exposed for his use and profit but also Christ died for man by whose favour and merits the Father gives all things unto us abundantly CHAP. IV. How great Man's thankfullnesse should be unto God BUt this principally should stirr up exceeding great love and reverence in man toward God that when he was estranged from God and for breaking his Commandements cast down unto eternall death Mans reconciliation our Heavenly Father by the singular favour we enjoy for Christs merits received us into his mercy For Christ taking pity of mans misery reconciled man to his Father by shedding his own blood and conquering death and breaking the yoke of the most cruel Tyrant to whom man was bound and indebled he brought him back beyond expectation to his former liberty and restored him to his Inheritance of his heavenly Kingdome So that as St. Paul saith we are no longer strangers and Forrainers from God but Citizens and Heirs and friends Ephes 2. and of the houshold of God built upon the foundation of the Apostles and Prophets Jesus Christ himselfe being the chiefe corner stone by whom we have admission and entrance unto the Father in one spirit Wherefore since every one of us is ingrafted by the help of saving doctrine by faith and the washing of regeneration into Christ and as St. Paul saith have obtain'd grace and inheritance Tit. 3. by the renovation of the holy spirit that he hath powred forth upon us abundantly it is fit and the restauration of our salvation requires it that placing all our hope and trust upon so magnificent a Father and upon his Son Jesus Christ who hath destroyed death and sin we should submit our selves to him and conform unto him our lives We must approve our lives to God manners and customes and with all purity of Mind and holy and unblameable conversation with daily and earnest prayer we should procure his favour to us and endeavour to win his love and gracious acceptance CHAP. V. What Baptism adds to Man and what it minds him of What Baptism doth BEcause Baptism or sacred washing is the first Entrance into the Church and company of the faithfull and is the very gate and footstep this is it that leads us to hope and confidence of Salvation For by Faith and Repentance that is by detesting our former life and by mortifying our bodies and by renewing of our minds we are ingrafted into Christ who hath wiped off and cleansed us from all spots and abolished all faults of our souls applying this external Sacrament unto us and by infusing the holy Ghost into our hearts whereby being assured of our Salvation we cry Abba Father Which double and continually ingeminated invocation is so effectual and present help that it will obtain all things from our munificent father if so be that a man direct his prayers and desires and groans unto God for Christ his sake For by this Leader and Mediatour who hath deserved favour for us 1 John 5. James 1. with his own bloud we obtain all things that are good for us and our prayers are never in vain and uselesse For so mercifull a Father will never stop his ears to their requests Prayers are effectual by Christ Deut. 6. Levit. 7. for whose sake and redemption he gave his onely begotten Son to dye CHAP. VI. Next unto God we must love our neighbours BUt since we are chiefly to love God to whom we owe all things Mark 12. Luke 10. Love towards God and for whose service man is bound to employ all his force that is in his heart mind and service so also he must be loving to his neighbour that is to man who is of the same nature and condition with him and must love him as himself So that each man must willingly lend his help unto him and when there is need and an opportunity offered which also it is fit we should seek for and take to assist him with Moneys and counsell For this is the principal fruit of our faith and is a sincere and no counterfeit testimony of our true Christian profession Love to our neighbour CHAP. VII How great should be the piety of children towards their Parents MOreover as we owe all to God much to our country and friends so it is no small matter that we owe unto our Patents But what respect and honour we ought to shew unto them I need not speak any more or prescribe since naturally every one is enclined to love his own even the very heathen as Christ testifies so that this love though we do our duties Math. 5. deserves no commendation but is our duty and must be done if we will be blamelesse But this must from our child hood be daily inculcated unto every man that he love heartily and entirely his Parents by whose means and ministery he enjoyed his first being and life Children must love their Parents Prov. 28. that he obey them in all things that equity and reason shall dictate unto him as Christ is said to be subject to his Mother Mary and to Joseph For Piety is acceptable to God Luk. 2. and the service and obedience we shew to our Parents is approved by him which is also carefully commanded in the Old and New Testaments Exod. 20. Deut. 5. Math. 25. Ephes 5. Math. 7. Mark 4. That is is a witty saying of Pittacus the Philosopher Such duty as you shew to your Parents expect the same from your children To which respects that speech of Christ that is more large Such measure as you mete the same shall others measure to you again For from the errour and negligence of this it commonly falls out that children are unruly and disobedient to their Parents that when they come to years they scorn to hear their Parents instructions and that sometimes by a deserved and just retaliation and revenge because their Parents were not obedient to their Parents before them but were stubborn and untoward CHAP. VIII How every Man ought to behave himself toward his Master MAster 's that instruct you and adorn your mind with principles of Learning We must
love their children very little or but from the lips outward when as poor dumb creatures ordained for the slaughter shew such great love toward their young CHAP. IV. Of the likenesse of Parents and Children whence it is that outward accidents are communicated to the Children and the Mothers Imagination is the cause of the production of many Forms The force of the Seed is a reason of similitude IT is a constant opinion amongst Physitians and confirmed by many reasons that if the Woman afford most seed the child will be like the Mother but if the man afford most then it will be like the Father but if they both afford alike for quantity and force then will the child be like to them both or one part will resemble the Father another part the Mother Lastly if it fall on the right side of the Womb and proceed from the right Testicle by reason of heat it will be a Manchild but if it proceed from the left and incline to the left side by reason of cold and moisture it will be a Girle Libro de opifice Lactantius his mind of the likenesse of the seed Lactantius saith that sometime when the mans seed falls on the left side of the womb a male child is begotten But because the conception is perfected in that part of the womb that is ordain'd for the procreation of females there will be something in it that is but half man and will be fairer and whiter or smoother and lesse hairy than is convenient for a man to be or the voice will be small and sharp or the chin will be bare and bald and the courage will be lesse Whence is the name Virago Again if the seed be cast into the right side of the womb it may be a girle may be begotten but because she is conceived in the place ordained for the male she will be more viraginous than ordinary women as having strong limbs very tall a swart countenance What woman is most imperious a hairy chin a ruder face a strong voyce and a bold and man-like courage whence it falls out that such women will cast off the yoke and rule over men and will take so much power to themselves in governing that men dare not speak or stir for them Though these things and many more might be alledged for the similitude of the form which are very probable and for the most part they so fall out yet the principal cause of this effect seems to me to consist in the tacite Imagination of the woman For if she conceive in her mind or do by chance fasten her eyes upon any object and imprint that in her Mind the child commonly doth represent that in the outward parts The womans Imagination what it doth So whilest the Man and Woman Embrace if the woman think of the mans countenance and look upon him or thinks of any one else that likenesse will the child represent For such is the power of Imagination that when the woman doth intentively behold any thing she will produce something like that she beheld so it falls out that children have the forms of divers things upon them as Warts Spots Moles Dashes which cannot easily be wiped off or taken away So some of our women seeing a Hare bring forth a child with a Hare-lip Hare-lip so some children are born with flat Noses wry mouths great bubber lips and ill shaped of all the body because the woman when she conceived the child and in the time she was big of it had her eyes and mind busied upon some monstrous creature Art can change the shape and colour of Animals Men use to effect the like by art in other creatures setting before them when they are to conceive the colours of divers things Jacob used that stratagem who was afterwards called Israel laying rods he had pilled off the rinds from before them every where Gen. 30. and so he made the greatest part of the flock spotted and party-coloured So we make painted birds dogs and horses dapled and with divers spots Which Artifice of Nature and all the reasons and causes of similitude Pliny exactly comprehended almost in these words Similitude in the mind is a diligent thinking of a thing L. 7. c. 12. Pliny his opinion of the cause of similitude wherein many accidents have great force as sight hearing memory forms taken up at the very instant of conception and a sudden thought rising of any thing is supposed to give the form and similitude hence some are like their Grandfathers others like their Fathers or some other kindred Hence there are more differences in Man than in other Creatures because the quicknesse of his thought and nimblenesse of his mind and variety of his wit imprint divers marks because other creatures have their minds fixed almost and unmoved and all of the same kind are alike Hence it is that a woman may cause her Child to have a strange form and nothing like to the father So a woman that had layn with another besides her husband fearing lest her husband should come in the mean time after 9. moneths she brought forth a Child not like the party that she lay with but like her husband that was absent There is a very witty Epigram written of this Sir Tho More 's witty Epigram by that most ingenious Man Sir Thomas More Those four boys Sabine Which thy Wife brought forth Thou think'st are not thine Unlike thee naught-worth But that Boy alone That she lately bore Like thee for thine own Thou tak'st and no more Four as bastards born Rejected are in scorn Yet wise men suppose That the Mothers mind Doth the Child dispose For likenesse in 's kind Four were begot When that many miles From home thou wert not Feared nor thy wiles This last like to thee Was begot in fear Thy Wife was not free Thou wert then too near This I think was it That thy likenesse hit Hence it followes that the argument is vain to assign the Father from the likenesse of the Child Likenesse can confiâ—m no child to be the Fathers own For neither the Law of Nature nor the publick consent of Mankind will suffer a child to be laid to any man because it is like him But what concerns Wit and Manners and propensions of the mind daily examples teach us that Children which have all force and vital spirits from the faculty of the Seed are commonly of the same condition with their progenitors and of the same nature But there is much in this whether Venery be used with great or weak desire For many are lesse venereous and not so hot and do not with any great desire use copulation but rather decline from it and that they may pacifie their wives they pay their due benevolence as St. Paul calls it very faintly and drowsily 3 Cor. 7. whence it happens that the Child falls short of the Parents nature manners and
Resurrection strengthens feeble minds and all comfort in the greatest dangers is in the faith of the Resurrection let us set this faith against all the terrours and temptations wherewith the Devil endeavours to overthrow and weaken our minds and let us hope assuredly in him who is the Author unto us of so great advantage and liberty What Christ's Birth did The long expected birth of our Saviour did exceedingly raise the Souls of men to a high hope of salvation and confidence of it His conversation amongst men his upright life his doctrine and lastly his death which he suffered for us to free us from destruction did confer much thereunto What Christ's Resurrection did But the truth of his resurrection did effect this that when he had got the victory over death no man need to doubt of his salvation but ought to hold a firm hope that what hath been done already in Christ their head shall be perfected in them also Wherefore all our hope depends on our Saviours Resurrection whereby he vanquished death and thereby he pulled out the sting of death that is sin that bred the Enmity between God and us Wherefore since we have obtain'd so great felicity by the death and resurrection of Christ Peter 1. let us not be removed from the truth but let us endeavour to partake of the fruit of so much good works and look steadfastly upon him who by his singular favour and mercy hath regenerated us unto a lively hope by Christs rising from the dead and hath restored us to life that shall never end and hath assigned unto us an immortal Inheritance pardoning all our offences Colos 2. and blotting out the hand-writing that was against us The memory of this benefit should be alwaies before our eyes especially at our last conflict The Resurrection should still be in our minds when detesting all the wickednesse of our former life we must oppose against Satan sin death and hell the immense mercy of God the Father by out full assurance in Christ by whom there is provided certainly for us salvation and remission of all our sins and reconciliation by his blood By him we have admission and entrance unto the Father He is the propitiation for our sins Considence in Christ gives us courage For so God loved the world that he gave his onely Sonne to redeem us that every one that believes in him trusts in him and relyeth on his promises may not perish but have everlasting life Which confidence raiseth our minds to bring forth good fruits by works of charity whereby we love God above all things and our neighbour for his sake Matâ—h 25. What Faith dictates Charity performs For a working Faith begets charity and charity nourisheth faith Faith joyn'd to Love So in the foolish Virgins lamps the light of faith went out because there wanted oyl of charity Wherefore this faith and confidence of promised mercy that is infused into our hearts by the Holy Ghost must be stirred up and nourished in us that by the merit of Christ our Mediatour we may cry Abba Father For the Spirit of Adoption Gal. 4. and the earnest of our Inheritance raiseth up our hearts and comforts us with the redemption and possession purchased for us and takes from our minds all fear and trembling and terrour of Conscience and makes us acknowledge Gods favour presence and mercy and that we may attain Redemption and Reconciliation by the help of Jesus Christ whom God hath set forth to be our peace-maker through faith in his blood Wherefore being justified by faith we have peace with God and a settled Conscience and a quiet mind so that all distrust and desperation is discussed and we apprehend certain hopes of the Resurrection and Immortality and doubt nothing of our salvation so that we depart from hence chearfully to our heavenly Country and place of rest to enjoy everlasting comfort with our Redeemer And that these things may never slip out of our minds and so great a benefit may never be forgot Christ instituted his holy Supper The Communion whereby we may remember and recollect what he hath done for us that our mind may be elevated and grow hot with the frequent meditation of the new Covenant to adore him and receiving his body and blood we may be united to him and may conceive certain hope and trust of his great love and mercy to us whereby he was willing to dye for us Which wonderful work we ought daily but especially to meditate on at our end when death approaches The Lords Supper that our minds may be settled and we may firmly believe in him and we may give him continual thanks for that inestimable gift of our salvation by the shedding of his blood whereby he wiped away all spots of sin from us and freed us from dear of death and from the cruel tyranny of our great Enemy the devil so setting us at liberty Therefore by this mystical Bread and holy Sacrament we are assured that Christ is in us and we in him and that we are joyned to him by the most firm bond of love Heb. 8. Whence it is that being born up with certain hope as with a staff we are confident to receive those things that faith infused into us by the Spirit prompts us with and perswades us unto for from faith as the root spring forth the branches of charity James 2. that yield plentifully the fruits of good works For works testifie that faith is alive and safe and sound in all parts of it There must be choice of works For saving faith is never without good works that are pleasing to God but as a good Tree brings forth both leaves and fruit Since therefore those heroick and divine vertues inspired by God which are so joyned together that they can never be asunder are so necessary to salvation the mind must be daily busied in them that after the troubles of this life are past after that we have approved the profession of our faith and shew'd it openly which God requires we should do Sinners are Justified by Faith in God and exerciseth us therein we may come to those riches that Inheritance those rewards that God hath appointed for them who in the conflict of this life have employ'd their Talent as they ought to do Ezek. 18. wherein if they have erred the next way to salvation is to lift up their souls to God and to commit themselves wholly to his great mercy Wherefore depending on his clemency in hopes of mercy which he denyeth to none that repent Heb. 4. Let us come with boldnesse to the Throne of Grace that we may find mercy in time of need And let us continually from our very heart speak in the ears of our merciful and placable Judge those words of the Prophet Psal 148. Enter not into Judgment with thy servant Psal 119. O Lord because in thy sight
purpose of a better life And no man can be perswaded that God is displeased with his way of living or that his manners and customes and studies are not approved by him unlesse his mind be afflicted with some grief and sadnesse and his body with some diseases For the mind is so deaf to all wholesome admonitions and counsels and the understanding is so hardned with the custome of sin that it will either reject milder corrections or not be much moved by them and there appears no hopes of amendment unlesse more sharp remedies be applied Hence was it that God threatens by Esaias Chap. 5. and 9. because this people returns not to him that smites them therefore is not his fury turned away but his hand is stretched out still and lifted up again to smite them The like is said in Jeremiah and complained of Chap. 2. In vain have I smitten your children and they have not received instruction Hierem. 5. Again I smote them and they lameâ—â—d not I bruised them but they refused to be instructed they made their â—â—ces harder than a stone and they would not return they are grown rich great and fat and they foulely passed over my words Wherefore God sometimes chastiseth us more bitterly to recall us to an honest and more pious life So Alexander King of Macedo who suffer'd men to honour him as a God Alexander wounded confessed he was mortal when he was wounded with an arrow and when he saw the blood run out abundantly he forthwith remembred that he was but a man and laid aside all his cruelty and Arrogancy Psalm 88. To which may be referred that of the Psalmist Thou hast humbled the proud as one that is wounded thou hast broken all his strength Wherefore when things are at the height of prosperity and all goes according to our minds and as we would have it let no man too much elevated by his good successe pride himself too much or bray immoderately but let every man duly consider himself and think on adversities losses crosses dangers calamities diseases mishaps that hang continually over our heads and that God sometimes sends these upon man for a remedy and cure to correct his errours and cause him to repent and may have a certain confidence of his salvation elevating his heart unto God which God would have every man to know and observe diligently when he saith Psalm 88. If his sons offend and obey not my laws and keep not my Commandements I will visit their iniquities with the rod and their sins with scourges but I will not take my mercy from them nor suffer my truths to fail whereby he openly declares that he corrects us for our amendment God corrects us to make us better and not for our destruction That so our carnal desires being subdued and our licentiousnesse in sinning restrained every man might turn to lead an honest and innocent life and to sober and good manners For it is Gods correction on us which proceeds from his fatherly affection a great argument of his exceeding love and a Testimony of his good will towards us For whom the Lord loves them he chasteneth Prov. 1. and correcteth them as a man doth the son whom he loveth But such as God suffers to wander licentiously and to live loosly and to be involved in all corruptions Heb. 12. and doth not by his secret spirit call them back from their errours it is because God hath given them over and forsaken them I will not saith he Hosea 4. visit nor correct your sons and daughters when they commit fornication nor your wives when they pollute themselves with adulteries as there are some women whereof our age can shew examples that have layn with other men Adulteries noted before they lay with their husbands to whom they were before contracted so that another man had their Maiden-head before the nuptial feast was ended and that they came to bed to their husbands So God provoked by the continuance of sin and daily custome of doing wickedly holds back his hand from smiting them and suffers them to fall and run to all disgrace infamy reproach and to obey their lusts By which erroneous life they first get a troublesome and restlesse mind than which nothing can befall a man more lamentable and miserable then besides their unhappy end and bitter death wherein they have nothing to support them they passe to eternall punishment and intollerable torments When therefore God gives a man abundance of all things as riches Gold Silver gallant houses stately furniture brave garments in a large measure We should be thankfull to God we should never forget that God by whose bounty we have obtained all this abundance freely For there is no vice in magnificent houses and Mannors in money Lands possessions if we look how to use and employ them well Rches are not ill but the abuse of them Lastly if what is the principall and is chiefly required at out hands we have a thankfull heart towards God and are bountifull to our neighbours and poor people Deut. 8. Moses the Law-giver amongst the Jews by the Commandment of God and by what he received from God did admonish them of this matter and often inculcated it unto them that no man should ever forget him to whom we owe our selves and all we have When saith he thou hast eaten and art full and hast built goodly houses and when thy heards and they flocks thy Silver and thy Gold are multiplyed and all that thou hast take heed that thine heart be not then lifted up and thou forget the Lord thy God the giver of all these things And least that should be objected to them for their ingratitude and forgetfulnesse that God gave them butter from the heard and milk of sheep with the far of Lambs and Rams with the flower of Wheat and delicate Wines in abundance but when Israel was fat and full he kicked backwards and forgot the Lord that made him and was unthankfull to the Authour of his salvation Wherefore to such backfliders Moses threatneth terrible threatnings and punishments and lays it down that many sad and miserable calamities shall befall them whereby Let their posterity learn an be warned as God speaks in Jeremias Deut. 32. If they continue in the same fault Chap. 2. what a sad and bitter thing it is to forsake the Lord our God and not to fear and reverence him who is the Lord God of hosts CHAP. XXX Stones or Jewels dug forth of the Earth or taken out of the Sea or out of the bodies of living Creatures what vertue they have and by what means they perform their operations BOth reason and experience prove that stones and Jewels have great vertues so they be not counterfeit and artificial stones Wherefore to wear a ring or a Jewel that hath a handsome and effectuall stone set in it is good for the eyes to look on
the body For it hath been observed in our dayes that a certain woman being dissected some beasts were taken out like to rats and mice that it seems were bred from some foul excrements that came from the food she are For natural heat being busied in digesting that matter could make no other shape of it than such as the matter would bear it had to work upon wherefore the inward force of nature frameth a living creature of that kind and endeavours it that moist substance being fit and ready to obey the efficient cause For it is found by experience that house-creatures as whelps cats mice rats flitter-mice toads and frogs when they wander up and down in Cellars and Butteries do sometimes leave upon meats an excremental seed Creatures bred of filth which when men do not wash clean from filth or do not wipe clean the outsides of fruits or pare them from that moist foul matter that pollutes the meats some such things are bred And if snails and mice breed from corruption and beetles drones and wasps from dung and from dew and moist Aire caterpillars butterflies ants locusts grashoppers who can think it strange that in the bodies of men from such like causes such things should be bred Since here is a more effectuall reason that yeilds a seminary cause for this businesse For those breed of corruption and not from seed though it be answerable thereto for force and vigour and next kind in faculty But those things that are bred alive in the secret parts of mans body Animals bred of their own accord from no seed proceed from a vitall humour and a living Creature Therefore this must not seem against reason or a Paradox of some old women when as we see so many things bred spontaneously without any copulation or incubation of living creatures and that from a humour enlivened by the heat of the outward Ayre For besides those creatures that are bred on the wide earth what an infinite number of fish are thus produced in the vast Seas and waters for mans use and commodity For there is nothing more fruitfull than the Sea Why the sea is fruitfulll with fish because the substance of it is grosse and is full of a vitall heat in all parts In which as many things are bred from seed so a great many of themselves without seed or help of any living creature So all Shell-Fish are first bred from some muddy and slimy moisture and all glib fish as Eels in speciall which afterwards by copulation breed whole sholes Spearing or Groundlins Groundlins very small fish in Holland are bred abundantly from the froth of the Sea when after long drouth rain falls in great quantity For when the Mouths of the Rhine and the Mare are very Salt by the Seas continuall influence especially in Summer those Rivers being supplied with a great deal of rain and watred very much abound excedingly with these small fish who when they grow great do procreate and breed exceedingly Since therefore Nature attempts many strange things whose force by the guift of God is spread every where let no man think it an old Wives dream that some prodigious Creatures are framed in mens bodies since in corrupt rotten wood and many dead things Teredines and many nimble Worms are bred as we see them in Cheese and many other meats in Summer season where Wormes breed in abundance Add to this that from filthy Ulcers and Impostumes pieces of Nails Hair Shels Bones Stones are taken forth that grew from the concretion of putrid humours Impostums send forth rubbish and hair and I have known Worms with tails and little Creatures of strange forms cast up by vomit especially from such as were sick of contagious diseases in whose Urines I have often seen small Creatures to swim like to Ants or especially like to those that in Summer use to role in the dew Goat-worms in Summer bred in dew and none of these persons but was foully peppered with the French Pox. The intent therefore of this discourse is to this purpose that no man should without care cram in foul meats and not well wash'd and cleansed from outward accidents which when Country people neglect they use to be scabby and full of Pushes that itch and to be deformed with many fores and vices of their skins For they are not of so good habit of body and sound constitution nor so comely and ingenious and of such excellent naturall parts nor yet so healthfull generally as some Noble men and Gentlemen are that will suffer no meat to come to their Tables no not the purest White-bread untill the outside and crust of it be finely chipt off and the rest of their provision must be curiously and accurately provided with all decency and cleanlinesse Cleanlinesse in diet is joyn'd to health And this I find no fault with so long as all is done farr from luxury frugally and temperately in respect of diet For great men and Courtiers should have such a manner of diet and Life that all may tend to health comlinesse honesty and unblamable Manners that the splendour of their fortune and prosperity and abundance that God hath given them may not serve for luxury and prodigality but for moderation and temperance The most illustrious Phillip the most powerfull King of Spain and England The prayse of King Phillip and Prince of the Netherlands giveth us an example of this who for his most large endowments of Nature doth represent a divine patterne unto mortalls who hath so many valiant Peers to assist him by whose authority and counsel so many flourishing Kingdoms and so many large Dominions that came to him by succession from his renowned Father Charles the Emperour are governd and preserved CHAP. XLI The force and Nature of the Sun and Moon in causing and raising tempests And next to that what change may be made in the bodies minds and Spirits of men by the outward Ayre By the way whence proceeds the ebbing and flowing of the Sea that is interchangeably twice in the space of a naturall day The effects of the Sun and Moon upon inferiour bodies THe Beams of the Sun and Moon do afford us certain and notdoubtfull signes of fair weather rain and winds and they thereupon represent unto us divers colours either from the scituation of the place and the compasse of the Heavens they are wont to passe or from the Nature of the object or some other matter that staines them which if they would observe well that write Almanacks and deceive the common people and foolish old women with their predictions they would not mistake so often and be deceived nor deceive the credulous people with false hopes For tempests and winds may be undoubtedly foretold by these when they are not farr off and what shall be the condition of the Aire whereby we shall have a plentifull or penurious year and many more rare things which Virgil
no truce no delayes or times to deliberate but as enemies in war as fire in houses Plague in a City and as smoot in Corn hasten to destroy all Nor must a man be frighted or leave off from what he undertook though he seem to go about it when the Star is malignant and is against him In acute diseases the Stars are to be neglected So in the Pleuresy Quinsey Inflammation of the Lungs and Liver we must neglect the extream observation of the Stars and Aspects of the Planets and make haste to open a Vein in time though it be in that part that the Moon then governs A Simile from Natures industry For as when a Tempest is coming and the winds rage the Pilot though the Tide be against him and the wind not prosperous doth maturely provide for his safety and strives with Ores and Sails to gain a safe harbour for his Ship to ride in lastly as a husbandman at the season of sowing A simile from the industry of the Husbandman or mowing dispatcheth all in haste for fear of rain for early sowing oft-times deceives us but late sowing alwaies so the Physitian supported by reason and experience at the first occasion and opportunity offered assoon as he can endeavours to apply a safe remedy looking more to the superfluity of humours and fiercenesse of the disease than to the Stars The courses of the celestial bodies are indeed to be observed Gen. 1. How the Stars are to be observed Esay 47. Hier. 10. which God hath appointed for signs and seasons for years and dayes and moneths but excluding all rash vanity and impudence of foretelling events which Esaias and many more do blame and speak against and do utterly disdain those that dare speak confidently and deliver their Judgment concerning any mans fate that is of that thing which God hath ordered and appointed for him and what fortune he shall have what successe and event shall happen to any man There are principall men of greatest respect that I have sometimes argued with who refer to the revolutions and aspects of the Stars the progresse and increase of publick affairs as also the defects and decay of them the mystery of Religion innovated or restored and such tumults as arise because of it and the persecutions great part whereof fall upon innocent men that is such who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus 2 Tim. 3. whereas the propagation of the Gospel whereby faith by the spirit of the Lord and confidence that we rest upon him by are kindled in our minds by the free will of God doth proceed from the eternal will of the Father which as St. Paul saith was hid with God Ephes 3. who created all things by Jesus Christ and was revealed in his time to those which he hath made heirs and partakers of the promise by Christ So truth being revealed Religion is not ruled by the Stars but by Gods spirit he thought good by the bright splendour of his word and Gospel at what time he pleaseth to root out errours superstitions Idolatries and beat down impieties and to establish his true worship and to write in mens minds the knowledge of himself which was determined and appointed by God before the world was made or the heavens adorned with Stars Astrologers should lift up their minds to God Wherefore let them that depend too much on the Stars and look no higher nor ever think of God that made them forbear to make celestial things as their minds and Souls are subject to the Star's inclinations For though the bloud and the other humours The humours are ruled by the Stars and the spirits both vital and natural endure the influences and forces of the Stars manifestly yet the mind and Soul were taken from the Antient-pattern of the divine nature and cannot be driven by force of the Stars nor doth the Soul find any hurt or help from them unlesse you will say perhaps that it is affected by consent with the body For the mind of man his reason understanding Mans mind is different from the Stars will knowledg or Faith and confidence that we rely upon God by love of Religion and adoration wherein is contained the chiefest worship of God and whereby it subsists proceeds from that eternal mind that is immutable nor is mans mind moved by any other force to do what is best and good for mans salvation than by Gods inspiration and instinct of his divine spirit So when other living creatures are carried on by force of nature Mans mind is ruled by Gods spirit and not by the Stars man alone is guided by reason and counsel so he keep within the compasse of his condition and do not wholly degenerate from that dignity and excellency God hath given him CHAP. XVI The counsel wherewith I use to gratify young men that they may have beards betimes and that a comely Doun may grow upon their chins By the way a fit comparison of Grasse and Corn with the Hair and Locks of Man MAids that are marriageable and desire to be married suddenly wish chiefly that they may grow comely and decently tall Maids love to seem beautifull and young men to lock manly that they may be thought to be ripe and fit for Husbands and may get them Suiters But young men wish that they may have mens forces and may soon have hair upon their chins and comely Beards Those that want heards are not thought to be so manly For besides the Dutch other Nations think that such as are smooth and want Beards are not so strong for Venus-sports and fit to get children that many men are unwilling to marry their daughters to them though it be sometimes otherwise and such as have no beards nor down on their chins shew themselves men in the marriage-Bed though more frequently for want of heat their forces fail and natural faculties decay and they want children so much hoped for That the beard may grow it must be often shaved But those that desire to have Beards and take care to make it grow must have that grasse often mowed that so the pores being loosned and by often agitation the heat being called forth that draws out the humour the hair may break forth the more abundantly which must be practised chiefly in the Spring at what time of the year heat and moysture increaseth The comparison of Grasse and hair and is diffused into those parts For where the beard is often shaved the hairs grow thicker as Grasse doth for hairs are in some respects like Grasse and twigs that being oft mowed and cut down grow the faster and the more abundantly Wherefore young men that have no beard appearing and look like boyes if they will hear me must use the Rasour oft For if the chin and upper lip be continually wet and soked with warm water the heat and humour that flyes to those parts will be
help for the more convenient leading of their lives which of these three you would learn and to which you are addicted by nature you must deliberate maturely to find out Theology that is the knowledge of divine things Use of Theology delivered by inspiration from God informs the mind with godlinesse and shews the manner God must be worshipped and how every man must obtain his falvation Which so it be taught sincerely doth so far leave all other Arts behind it What part of Theology is profitable for all men as divine things are better than humane things solid than things transitory That part of this science is usefull for all men to obtain salvation by which instructs the mind with Faith adorned with the works of charity as I spake more largely elsewhere for by this Christ being our guide we have an accesse and entrance to the Father by one Spirit Physick by describing frugality and temperance in diet The use of Physick and by the use of wholesome things takes care of our health and cures diseases This as Plutarch testifies is so of the number of the liberal Arts Detuend valetud that it is inferiour to none in the splendour of Policy and for pleasure This brings a most plentifull reward to those that study it for besides the increase of their substance they have health of body which exceeds all possessions A man can hardly perswade others what great delight and profit there is in the contemplation of hearbs The Pleasant contemplation of plants and to know their vertues what in the dissecting of the members of mans body and in the observation of all the parts unlesse a man hath had the tryal and use thereof The Civil law was alwaies in high honour The profit of Law the office whereof is to govern Cities by counsels to found them by laws and to amend them by judgments To give good counsels and to help at need To spare good subjects and make rebells bleed If any man think this order to be despised Pro Caelio he as Cicero saith pulls up not onely the bounds of Judgments but also of profit and common life Cicero commended Law We see that Common-wealths are fenced by the help of it and all things are thus kept peaceable and quiet amongst the Citizens and that by the Authority of the sacred Laws whereby the Prince or Magistrate executes Justice and by his power received from God Christ and Paul approved the civil Laws Rom. 13. as Saint Paul testifies punisheth wicked and ungodly men and protects the good Therefore God will have singular honour and obedience given to Kings so they command what is equal and not against Gods Laws CHAP. XIX We must stand fast to some certain kind of study To hold to one certain study SInce some men are so delighted with these pleasant studies that they continue in them till they grow old nor do they betake themselves to solid learning I think it is good counsel that he who would receive any fruit of his studies and not to lose his labour and pains should betake himself to that kind of learning that he is naturally most fit for least he seem to go against nature and his own inclination Nothing against Nature then let him diligently follow that study to which he hath addicted himself and let him hasten to come to the perfection of it with all his might that when he hath run a long time in that way he may be compleat in it if it be possible to attain a perfection therein Let a man taste of the delights of other studies at idle times as for recreation and rest from labour so that he return back to his wonted task and businesse We must study and not be weary and that his mind may betake it self to those studies he hath intermitted for a time CHAP. XX. What studies and employments are laboursome and lesse profitable what are hurtfull and pernicious Unfruitfull studies are to be rejected BUt we must take heed of that which some do in some Arts that we do not bestow great study and labour upon hard and obscure things and such as are not necessary but it is praise-worthy to employ great pains and care upon things honest and worthy to be known For there are some who are busied in some studies and they place all their industry upon them which are full of tediousnesse trouble and molestation and yet yeild but small profit for the labour bestowed upon them Such are the over-curious observations and judgments concerning the Stars How Astrology must be used fetcht from the vanities of the Chaldeans upon which the rash professours depending pronounce undoubtedly what shall befall every man what fate he was born to what end he shall come to what successe every man must have never taking the providence of God into counsel by whose will it is certain this whole world is guided C. 47.44 Esaias speaks against their rash and uncertain predictions and laughs at such who go to enquire of them and seek for Oracles from these impostors For so he derides them let the Star-gazers stand and save thee who look up to the Stars and count the Moneths that they might shew thee what is to come Likewise Chap. 10. Jeremias saith Do not learn the waies of the Gentiles and fear not the signs of the heavens which the Nations fear The Prophets disallow the vanities of Astrology Astrology is not altogether forbid because the Laws of the people are vain that is their demonstrations are false and idle By which words the sacred Prophets do not wholly condemn or forbid all Astrology which hath both its use and profit but they speak against such professours who by their false impostures deceive the people and make the credulous multitude believe some things that are false and to expect in vain for somethings that are to come hereafter Near kin to these are those vanities that concern palmestry What Arts are hurtfull that by looking on the lines of the hands shew wonders in a trifling way such are the fumes and cheats of the Alchimists whereby these juglers perswade men that they can change the species of things and can turn Silver and all Brasse into Gold To these may be added such Arts as are far worse as Necromancy whereby they use to call the bodies of dead men out of their Graves and to ask questions to be answered by them as we read that the Pythonist did who to please Saul brought up Samuel 1 Reg. 28. in a false and counterfeit apparition Next to these are Hydromancy and Pyromancy that are done by water and by fire and many more frauds of Devils and magical incantations as South saying divination Auguration good fortune that is such signs that were taken from looking into the entrals of beasts and from the singings of birds I refer to these hurtfull and inchanting Arts those Arts
of mischief that long custome procures boldnesse and confidence unto this Sex that if any man begin to grow weary of them and would fain be quit of them it cannot be done but by a tumult For they will mingle heaven and earth together when once they hear of a divorce or when upon any discontent arising they fear they shall be shut out of dores Those Concubines which the Priests keep in their houses to live with them are examples sufficient for these men are forbid lawfull Matrimony and are commanded to lead single lives which is a thing exceeding hard and laborious for lusty men that are full of natural moysture Wherefore they erre as much as can be and are wholly deceived in the choice of humane society Copulation without marriage is a burden to the Conscience who suppose that they live in peace who being free from a wife keep a Concubine in their houses or hunt after one abroad to take their pleasure and whose company they can enjoy when they please when as oft-times besides the unquietnesse of their minds and torture of Conscience there riseth more trouble and molestation by a friend that is so kept for a time and more jealousy and suspition than from a lawfull and laithfull wife which is soleâ—only marryed to live with us so long as welive No slate of life is void of trouble And though in this estate as in many more sweet and fowre are mingled together sadnesse and joy bitter and pleasant cloudy and clear weather nor are there jarrings wanting in this course of life with contentions quarrels and affections of jealousy as there is no kind of life happy in all things yet no fault is to be put upon the order of Matrimony For however many inconveniencies accompany Matrimonial life and these men are busied with many cares great anxieties and disturbances in educating and bringing up of their children 2 Cor. 5. as Saint Paul testifies in providing for their families yet mutual love sweetneth and mitigates all the rest and the procreation of children according to Gods Ordinance Now children are the delights and singular joy of Matrimony for conjugal love increaseth and is fostered thereby Children are the pleasure of Marriage and on both sides thereby is there great comfort taken But if contrary to our will and desire we chance to have no off-spring Want of children must be born patiently and that the hope of posterity is deferred for many years yet must we hold the promise made in wedlock sacred and we must so continue between us a mutual society of life that one may bear up another as fruitfull Trees planted hard by do uphold the Vine by which it is prooped and as it were marryed and taking hold of them by its tendrils it grows very high and spreads very far For as a Vine wanting props and stayes falls down upon the earth A comparison of a Vine and Matrimony so Matrimony and houshold affairs run to ruine unlesse they be upheld by the mutual support of man and wife But if there be any fault in this society if any distempers tumults Mens affections and not nature to be blamed quarrels or suspicions arise we must ascribe them rather to mens affections and ill manners than to this ordinance For they are not the vices of marriage but of depraved nature and of a troublesome mind contracted from the guilt of original sin upon which all the fault must be laid CHAP. LVI How it may be obtained that death may not prove fearfull to a Man that naturally fears it SInce in humane affairs there is nothing firm and constant but all things are transitory frail and uncertain We must not trust in transitory things and the best things are subject to ruine it is not for any man to admire or to love these things too much and be affected with them out of measure But rather let every man lift up his mind and thoughts upward to heaven and there contemplate things that are solid and eternal For whoever with a full confidence in God the Father through Jesus Christ is lead with certain hope and expectation of immortality he need not sear any chances that shall hang over him or inconveniences he hath no cause to be frighted with diseases calamities and dangers or with death it self which they especially fear who are destitute of Gods Spirit and have no true knowledge of God For such as place their trust in God are supported by his holy Spirit and they stand undaunted against all adversities Rom. 8. â— Tim. 1. Galat. 4. â— John 4. with a couragious mind and as Saint Paul saith we have not receiâ—â—â— the Spirt of bondage and fear but the spirit of adoption of power and of love whereby we cry boldly Colos 2. Abba Father For in this saith Saint John is our love made perfect that we may have confidence in the day of Judgment There is no fear in love but perfect love casteth out all fear for fear breeds pain or trembling Wherefore that we may shake off all fear and not be daunted at death or any thing else that may make us tremble let us cast all our hope wishes thoughts confidence upon our most bountifull father through Jesus Christ Christ overcame death who hath purged us with his own bloud and hath set us at liberty from fin and the tyranny of death blotting out and taking away the hand-writing which was against us whereby we were bound to the Devil and were indebted to him A simile from such who are oppressed by bonds The Dutch say In hem ghebonden teghens hem verbonden But that Christ might support fearful and fainting minds and might shew that all hope and confidence must be placed in him he saith Be of good chear I have overcome the World Now the Prince of this world is Judged that is he that brought in death John 16. John 12. is driven away by my death and is condemned to Judgment and is spoiled of all power of doing harm The Prince of this World is come and hath found nothing in me Christ is formidable to Satan By which comfortable words he shews that Satan and all his confederates by reason of sin in this world have no power against Christ or his members that firmly believe in him and are engrafted into him These saving and comfortable words work thus much upon the minds of men that depend upon his help Comfortable sentences that shaking off all fear of death they fortify themselves cheerfully against the greatest tempests that can arise Psalm 19. Psalm 26. Psalm 3. Psalm 22. and become invincible and with great confidence break forth into these sayings My eyes are still toward the Lord for he shall pull my feet our of the snare God is my light and my salvation whom shall I fear The Lord is the upholder of my life of whom shall I be afraid If an army
were encamped against me my heart should not fear I will not be afraid of thousands of people that shall compasse me about If war rise against me I will trust in him Though I walk in the middle of the shadow of death I will fear no evill because thou art with me Though he should kill me Job 13. I will trust in him that is if he should set before me the terrours of death and I were to lose my life yet will I trust in him who by his providence will find a way to preserve me Psalm 117. Heb. 13. Jeremiah 17. The Lord is my help I will not fear what flesh can do unto me And that of Jeremiah behold they say where is the word of the Lord let it come And I was not troubled following thee my Shepheard and I desired not the day of man Lord thou knowest The place of Jeremiah expounded That is I look for help from no other place but from thee alone so that I neither regard nor fear those who threaten my destruction Be not thou a cause of fear to me thou that art my hope in the day of my affliction let them fear and let not me be afraid Saint Paul inflamed with the same heat of faith and leaning on Gods protection confidently pronounceth that nothing any where is so formidable and horrible that can make godly minds afraid or divide them from their love and relyance upon God For saith he I am certainly perswaded Rom. ult that neither death nor life nor Angels or invisible substances nor principalities nor powers nor things present nor things to come nor any other creature can be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Saint Pauls confidence doth make others more bold Psalm 30. So Saint Paul pronounceth constantly that he who is engrafted into God the Father by Christ will stand unmoved against all terrours from whence soevever they may arise against the incursions and fightings of enemies against the horrour of death which either the enemies purpose to bring or the law of nature or diseases do bring upon him What can take away the fear of death Wherefore since nothing is more effectual to take off fear of death from the minds of men than a firm confidence in God Christ being our Leader whereby we conceive a certain hope of a resurrection and expectation of eternity let all men make haste and strive to come to this let every one embrace and cherish this saving doctrine and fix it in their minds by this let them strengthen themselves when the greatest troubles are at hand by this let them pacify and quiet their conscience by meditatioâ— hereof let them wipe off all grief of mind and discusse all sadnesse and sorrow that may befall them for death of Parents or Children To this belongs that excellent consolation of Saint Paul 2 Thes 4. wherewith by a certain expectation of a Resurrection and of eternity he corroborates the Thessalonians We must not lament the dead as the Gentiles do and he will have them refrain from weeping not lament for their friends departed as the Gentiles do I will not have you ignorant brethren concerning those that are asleep not as dead but asleep that you grieve not as those who have no hopes of a Resurrection for if we believe that Jesus died and rose again Death is a sleep so those that are a sleep by Iesus shall God bring with him Again when he withdraws the Philippians from earthly things Phil. 3. and recalls them to solid things he saith Our conversation is in heaven from whence also we look for the Lord Iesus Christ who shall transform our vile bodies and make them like unto his glorious body according to his mighty power whereby he subdues all things unto himself Wherewith is the fear of death to be discussed By which words Saint Paul perswades them to comfort and support themselves in their afflictions by a love and desire of eternity and in the conflict of this life that they should fear nothing that might turn them away from a better life whereunto Christ hath opened the way for us by the power of his Resurrection Wherefore when we come to the last day of our life and death is near which is formidable to all men unlesse they rely upon Christ or when we think of any such thing in the time of health or if want calamity diseases or other miseries of life afflict us let us refer all our desires hope and wishes unto Christ who by his death hath endured the punishments due unto us who hath pardoned all our sins We must look upon Christ Colos 3. 2 John 2. 1 Tim. 2. Esay 50. and is become the propitiation for all our transgressions who is our advocate as Saint Iohn faith and Mediatour unto God the Father who is the reconciler of God to men and who as Saint Paul saith made himself a redemption and a sacrifice for all In him is appointed salvation â—ite and resurrection By him we have accesse and an entrance in one spirit unto the father Ephes 2. Colos 1. John 2. By the shedding of his bloud we have obtained redemption and remission of our sins Because it pleased the father that in him should all fullnesse dwell and to reconcile all things by him who hath made peace by his bloud Since therefore we have an high Priest Heb. 4. as he saith in the Hebrews who hath entred into heaven Jesus the Son of God who was in all points tempted as we are Christ is the peace-maker between God and man yet without sin who is touched with the feeling of our infirmities let us come boldly unto the throne of Grace that we may find mercy to help in time of need We being supported by the defence of so great a Captain How the mind must be confirmed when death comes and compassed with his guard against all the monstrous designs of the devill which presently vanish when the light appears we subsist against sin death hell and are transported from the uncertain station of this life unto our desired harbour and blessed mansion And if any misfortune or inconvenience befall a man in the course of this life if any man chance to be cast upon any difficulty of his life to be pressed with poverty tortured with diseases to be vexed by his enemies if any destructions or calamities come on if wickednesse abound and the innocent are oppressed and murdered wholesome and true doctrine be contemned In Christ there is a consolation against calamities heresies and pernicious opinions do spring up and that perverse errours are sowed in all places in so great a confusion of things let every man look unto Christ let him seek for safety from him and rely wholly upon him Christ is our sacred Anchor in a tempest Psalm 25. and confirm himself by him as by