anger and allay your passion when it rageth and riseth into hugest distemper Forthwith so soone as you shall perceive your selves moved restraine your passion but if you cannot appeale nor compose your inward Commotion at least restraine your tongue and injoyne it silence that if it speake no good it may speake no evill lest being loose and set at liberty it utter what wrath and not reason dictates More soveraigne and peacefull it will be for you to retire from society make recourse to your Oratory by recommending to your best Physician the cure of this infirmity Vse likewise this Cordiall salve to your corroding sore the receit is Divine if seasonably applyed and will minister you comfort when you are most distempered So soone as your disquieted minds begin to expostulate with the quality of your wrongs which your Enemy is apt to aggravate and exasperate purposely to hasten your precipitate revenge propose and set before you all the disgraces which possibly you can suffer and conferre them with those that were aspersed on your Saviour this will prepare you to suffer teach you to conquer for Arrowes foreseene menace lesse danger Likewise when you consider the injuries which are done you by others you may reflect upon the wrongs which are done by you unto others for the consideration of your owne infirmity will exact of you towards others an impunity Weigh with your selves how much others suffer of you how much God himselfe suffers of you who if hee should have inflicted revenge for every particular offence you should have perished long since In a word you your selves are frequently grievous and displeasing to your selves Seeing then you are so distastefull unto your selves as you must of necessity suffer many injuries and affronts from your selves repine not at the sufferings which are inflicted by others on your selves You are likewise to consider these discommodities which arise from this Passion which will arme you with patience if of your selves you have any compassion What availes it to be revenged after our injury bee received Is your wound by anothers wound to be cured Or disgrace tendred by rendring disgrace restored Besides all this see what he obtaineth who anger obeyeth 1. Hee is deprived of the Crowne of glory and reward of eternity 2. Hee becomes a Minister and Instrument of the Divell 3. Hee destroyeth his owne soule that hee might hurt anothers body For a dispassionate or angry person is like unto him who that hee may kill his Asse destroyeth himselfe or rather like him who for huge debts which hee is not able to discharge is throwne into prison and disdainefully refuseth any ones offer to pay his debt for him For by him who doth you wrong is the debt which you owe to God forgiven if with patience you suffer the injury which is done Whereas the angry person who will bee his owne revenger telleth God how and in what sort hee is to deale with him that as hee suffered not small disgraces from another so neither should small things bee suffered in him by God As it is written With what measure you mete the same shall bee measured to you againe Six other detriments or discommodities there bee which arise from the exorbitancy of this passion For by Anger is lost first Wisedome while reason becomes blinded Secondly Righteousnesse for the wrath of man worketh not the righteousnesse of God Thirdly Society for the Acquaintance of one angry man is pleasing unto none Bee not saith the Wiseman a companion with the angry man Fourthly Concord while peace is disturbed Fifthly the Light of Truth because anger casteth the darkenesse of confusion upon the mind or understanding from whom God hideth the cheerefull beame of his Divine knowledge Sixthly the Splendor of the holy spirit upon whom saith the Prophet shall my spirit rest but upon the humble and quiet that is upon the meeke mild and compassionate Thus you see what benefits may bee procured by attempering what discommodities incurred by fostring this Passion Whereon I have the rather insisted because I am not ignorant how the strongest and constantest tempers have beene and may bee distempered and disparaged by it much more you whose mainest strength consists in the expression of that Passion At all times therefore use a moderate restraint in the prime of your yeares when youth sends forth her first promising blossomes behave your selves mildly without bitternesse humbly without haughtinesse modestly without lightnesse soberly without childishnesse The Caske will reteine her first taste the Wooll her first dye the purest Tablet her prime impression the loyall'st Spirit her first affection If you shew too much waywardnesse in your youth small good is to bee expected in your age As you tender your preferment seeme milde while you are maids lest you prove scare-crowes to a young mans bed Conforme your selves likewise to a nuptiall State and preserve your honour without staine Contest not with your head for preeminence you came from him not hee from you honour him then as hee cherisheth the love hee conceives in you A domestick fury makes ill harmony in any family The discord which was hatched and increased towards M. Anthony by Fulvia was ever allayed and attempered by the moderation of Octavia Bee you all Octavia's the rougher your crosse the richer your Crowne The more that injuries presse you the more shall your patience praise you The Conflict is but short and momentanie the Triumph glorious and impall'd with eternity And thus much touching those three particulars whereon your Behaviour principally reflects wee are now to descend to the next branch which shall shew how a Gentlewoman of ranke and quality for to such onely is my discourse directed is to behave her selfe in Company SOciety is the solace of the living for to live without it were a kinde of dying Companions and friendly Associats are the Theeves of time No houre can be so tedious which two loving Consorts cannot passe over with delight and spend without distaste Bee the night never so darke the place never so meane the cheerefull beames of conceiving consorts will enlighten the one and their affections mutually planted enliven the other What a Desart then were the world without friends and how uselesse those friends without conceiving mindes and how weake those mindes unlesse united in equall bonds So then love is the Cement of our life a load without love Now Gentlewomen you are to put on your vailes and goe into Company Which I am perswaded you cannot enter without a maiden-blush a modest tincture Herein you are to be most cautelous seeing no place can bee more mortally dangerous Beware therefore with whom you consort as you tender your repute for report will brute what you are by the Company which you beare Augustus being at a combat discerned the inclinations of his two daughters Iulia and Livia by the Company which frequented them for grave Senators talked with Livia but riotous persons with Iulia. Would you preserve those
ever living never dying yea that worme which gnaweth and dieth not that fire which burneth and quencheth not that death which rageth and endeth not But if punishments will not deterre us at least let rewards allure us The faithfull cry ever for the approach of Gods judgement the reward of immortality which with assurance in Gods mercy and his Sonnes Passion they undoubtedly hope to obtaine with vehemency of spirit inviting their Mediator Come Lord Iesus come quickly Such is the confidence or spirituall assurance which every faithfull soule hath in him to whose expresse Image as they were formed so in all obedience are they conformed that the promises of the Gospell might be on them conferred and confirmed Such as these care not so much for possessing ought in the world as they take care to lay a good foundation against the day of triall which may stand firme against the fury of all temptation These see nothing in the world worthy their feare This only say they is a fearefull thing to feare any thing more than God These see nought in the world worthy either their desire or feare and their reason is this There is nothing able to move that man to feare in all the world who hath God for his guardian in the world Neither is it possible that he should feare the losse of any thing in the world who cannot see any thing worthy having in the world So equally affected are these towards the world as there is nothing in all the world that may any way divide their affection from him who made the world Therefore may we well conclude touching these that their Light shall never goe out For these walke not in darknesse nor in the shadow of death as those to whom the light hath not as yet appeared for the Light hath appeared in Darkeness giving light all the night long to all these faithfull beleevers during their abode in these Houses of Clay Now to expresse the Nature of that Light though it farre exceed all humane apprehension much more all expression Clemens understandeth by that Light which the Wise-woman to wit Christs spouse kept by meanes of her candle which gave light all the night long the heart and he calleth the Meditations of holy men Candles that never goe out Saint Augustine writeth among the Pagans in the Temple of Venus there was a Candle which was called Inextinguishable whether this be or no of Venus Temple wee leave it to the credit of antiquity onely Augustines report we have for it but without doubt in every faithfull hearer and keeper of the Word who is the Temple of the Holy Ghost there is a Candle or Light that never goes out Whence it appeares that the heart of every faithfull soule is that Light which ever shineth and his faith that virgin Oile which ever feedeth and his Conscience that comfortable Witness which assureth and his devoted Zeale to Gods house that Seale which confirmeth him to be one of Gods chosen because a living faith worketh in him which assures him of life howsoever his outward man the temple of his body become subject to death Excellently saith Saint Augustine Whence comes it that the soule dieth because faith is not in it Whence that the body dieth because a soule is not in it Therefore the soule of thy soule is faith But forasmuch as nothing is so carefully to be sought for nor so earnestly to be wrought for as purity or uprightnesse of the heart for seeing there is no action no studie which hath not his certaine scope end or period yea no Art but laboureth by some certaine meanes or exercises to attaine some certain proposed end which end surely is to the Soule at first proposed but the last which is obtained how much more ought there to bee some end proposed to our studies as well in the exercises of our bodies as in the readings meditations and mortifications of our mindes passing over corporall and externall labours for which end those studies or exercises were at first undertaken For let us thinke with our selves if we knew not or in mind before conceived not whither or to what especiall place wee were to run were it not a vaine taske for us to undertake to runne Even so to every Action are wee to propose his certaine end which being once attained we shall need no further striving towards it being at rest in our selves by attaining it And like end are wee to propose to our selves in the exercise of Moderation making it a subduer of all things which sight against the spirit which may bee properly reduced to the practising of these foure overcomming of anger by the spirit of patience wantonness by the spirit of continence pride by the spirit of humility and in all things unto him whose Image we partake so neerely conformed that like good Proficients wee may truly say with the blessed Apostle Wee have in all things learned to be contented For the first to wit Anger as there is no passion which makes man more forgetfull of himselfe so to subdue it makes man an absolute enjoyer of himselfe Athenodorus a wise Philosopher departing from Augustus Caesar and bidding him farewell left this lesson with him most worthy to be imprinted in an Emperours brest That when hee was angry hee should repeat the foure and twenty Greeke letters Which lesson received Caesar as a most precious jewell making such use thereof as hee shewed himselfe no lesse a Prince in the conquest of this passion than in his magnificence of state and majesty of person No lesse praise-worthy was that excellent soveraignty which Architas had over this violent and commanding passion as we have formerly observed who finding his servants loitering in the field or committing some other fault worthy reproofe like a worthy master thought it fit first to over-master himselfe before he would show the authority of a Master to his servants wherefore perceiving himselfe to be greatly moved at their neglect as a wise Moderator of his passion hee would not beat them in his ire but said Happy are ye that I am angry with you In briefe because my purpose is onely to touch these rather than treat of them having so amply discoursed of some of them formerly as the Sunne is not to goe downe upon our wrath so in remembrance of that sonne of righteousness let us bury all wrath so shall we be freed from the viols of wrath and appeare blamelesse in the day of wrath For in peace shall we descend to our graves without sighing if in peace we be angry without sinning Secondly wantonness being so familiar a Darling with the flesh is ever waging warre with the spirit she comes with powdred haire painted cheeks straying eyes mincing and measuring her pace tinkling with her feet and using all immodesty to lure the unwarie youth to all sensuality These light professors as St. Ierome to Marcella
shee should bee engaged to it Her thoughts are not admitted to entertaine vanity They must not conceit it lest they should bee deceived by it Occasions wisely shee foresees timely prevents and consequently enjoyes true freedome of minde You shall not see her consume the precious oyle of her Lampe the light of her life in unseasonable reere-bankets unprofitable visits or wanton treaties Those will shee not admit of for companions who are prodigall of their Honour These shee reproves with a milde spirit labouring to reclaime them with an ingenuous tender of her vertuous compassion towards them None shee more distastes than these Brokers or Breakers of licentious bargaines Shee excludes them the List of all civill society How cautelous shee is lest suspition should tax her Outwardly therefore shee expresseth what shee inwardly professeth That honourable bloud which shee from her Predecessors received till death surprize her will shee leave untainted Neither is there ought shee hates more than pride nor scornes more than disdaine Shee rightly considers how her daies are mensurable being but a span long which implies her brevity and miserable being altogether vanity Shee disclaymes that state which consists in scornefull lookes A sweet and affable Countenance shee ever beares The honour shee enjoyes makes her humbler and the prayses which are given her work in her thoughts no distemper So farre is shee from affecting the pompe of this world as it growes contemptible to her higher-mounting thoughts A faire and well-seeming retinue shee ever keepes about her but none of these must bee Sycophants with their oylie tongues to delude her neither must any who cloaths his Countenance with scorne attend her Shee observes on what steepe and dangerous grounds ambition walketh Her sleepes are sweter her content higher her thoughts heavenlier It is one of her greatest wonders that any one should bee so rest of understanding as to forget what infirme ground hee stands on The purest Creature bee shee never so absolute in her feature is of no richer temper than Earth our Common-mother Shee is wiser than to preferre a poore handfull of red Earth before her choycest treasure Though her deserts merit honour shee dis-esteemes her owne deservings being highly valued by all but her selfe Thus shee prepares her selfe daily for what shee must goe to Her last day is her every dayes memoriall Lower may her body bee when interred but lower cannot her mind bee than at this instant So well hath shee attained the Knowledge of her selfe as shee acknowledgeth all to bee fraile but none frailer than her selfe Here Gentlewomen have yee heard in what especiall Objects you are to bee Honourable Presidents You shine brighter in your Orbe than lesser Starres The beames of your reflecting vertues must admit of no Eclipse A thousand eyes will gaze on you should they observe this in you Choyce and select are the societies you frequent where you see variety of fashions imitate not the newest but neatest Let not an action proceed from you which is not exemplary good These that are followers of your persons will bee followers likewise of your lives You may weane them from vice winne them to vertue and make them your constant followers in the serious practise of piety Let your vertues cloath them within as their veiles doe without They deserve not their wage who desist from imitating you in actions of worth Your private family is a familiar Nursery Plants of all sorts are there bestowed Cheere cherish those that be tender but curbe and correct those that bee of wilder temper Free and fruitfull Scions cannot bee improved till the luxurious branches bee pruned But above all things take especiall care that those vices spread not in you which are censured by you You are Soveraignesses in your families neither extend your hand too much to rigour neither contract it by shewing too much remisnesse or favour Let neither vertue passe unrewarded nor vice if it grow domineering passe unreproved Foule enormities must admit of no Privileges No should you by a due examination of your selves finde any bosome-sinne secretly lurking any subtill familiar privately incroaching any distempred affection dangerously mutining bee your owne Censors Bee not too indulgent in the favouring of your selves Proficients you cannot bee in the Schoole of vertue unlesse you timely prevent the overspreading growth of vice Let not your Sunne the light of your soule bee darkned let not your Spring the fount of your vertues bee troubled Let not your Fame the perfume of your Honour bee impaired As you are generous by descent bee gracious by desert Presidents are more powerfull than Precepts These onely lead those draw Bee examples of goodnesse that you may be heires of happinesse The style you enjoy the state you reteine the statues which after you may remaine are but glorious trophies of fading frailty Vertues are more permanent Monuments than all these these are those sweet flowers that shall adorne you living impall you dying and crowne you with comfort at your departing Lastly as you were honourable Personages on Earth where you were Presidents of goodnesse so shall you bee glorious Citizens in heaven where you are to bee Participants of all happinesse WHere Vertueâ—s â—s sowne in a noble Seed-plot manured and fructisied by good Discipline strengthened by Example and adorned with those more gracefull parts which accomplish the subject wherin vertue is seated what bickrings of fortune will it sustaine What conflicts in the necessities of nature will it cheerefully encounter Her spirit is raised above any inferiour pitch Yea the habit of goodnesse hath wrought such divine impressions in her soule who is thus disposed as society may improve her but cannot corrupt her because a zealous affection to vertue doth possesse her You shall ever observe these whom Nobility of blood hath advanced to reteine some seeds or semblances of their progenitors which are so impressive in them as no occurrent bee it never so violent can estrange these from them Here you shall see a native affability or singular art of winning affection to one naturally derived There in another such a rough and unseasonable austerity as her very count'nance is the resemblance of a Malevola Some from their infancy have reteined such a sweet and pleasing candor as they could cover anger with a cheerefull smile and attemper passion with a gracefull blush Besides they had the gift to expostulate with their discontents and by applying seasonable receits to their wounds free themselves from falling into any desperate extreames Others would rather dye then suffer the expressions of their Passions to dye For affronts as their spirits could not beare them so did their actions discover them and make them objects of derision to such as observ'd them And whence proceeds all this Surely from the very first relish of our humours when that unwrought Table of youth becomes furnished with choice characters and the Subject begins to affect what is engraven in them by continuance of time
exploit how successively or prosperously soever managed Such is the native Modesty wherewith they are endued as their victories are never so numerous or glorious as to transport them above themselves Which Modesty surely becommeth men of all Degrees but especially men of eminent and noble ranke to the end they may understand and acknowledge in every action that there is a God from whom all things proceed and are derived Now as there is no glory equall to the command or soveraingtie over our owne passions the conquest whereof makes Man an absolute Commander so there is no ornament which confers more true or native grace to one ennobled by place or birth than to put on the Spirit of Meekenesse being expresly commanded and so highly commended of God as the goodnesse thereof is confirmed by a promise The meeke shall inherit the earth So Humility is said to purchase Gods favour for by that one vertue wee become to have a resemblance of him whose glory it was to disesteeme all glory to fashion us like unto himselfe Now how precious may that exquisite Treasure appeare unto us which conferres so much light on us as by it we are brought to know our selves being strangers as it were and aliens unto our selves till Humility tooke off the veile shewed man his Anatomy So rare was this divine vertue and so few her professors in former time especially amongst such whose titles had advanced them above inferiour ranke as the place which they held made them forget the mould whereof they were made An excellent historicall demonstration we have hereof as we receive it from venerable Bede who reports it thus Aidan a religious Bishop weeping for King Osvinus and demanded by the Kings Chaplaine why he wept I know said he that the King shall not live long for never before this time have I seene an humble King Which hapned accordingly for hee was cruelly murdered by Oswin But thanks to him who became humble for us wee have in these declining dayes among so many proud Simeons many humble Iosephs whose chiefest honour they make it to abase themselves on earth to adde to their complement of glory in heaven so much sleighting the popular applause of men as their onely aime is to have a sincere and blamelesse conscience in them to witnesse in that judiciall day for them These have not like those furies of revenge hearts full of wrath but with all meekenesse and long-suffering will rather endure an injury than inflict too violent revenge though they have ready power to effect or performe it It is reported of Thomas Linacres a learned Englishman much commended for his sanctitie of life that when hee heard it read in the fifth Chapter of S. Matt. Diligite inimicos Blesse them that curse you c. he brake forth into these words O amici aut haec vera non sunt aut nos Christiani non sumus O my friends either these things are not true or we are no Christians True it is indeed that so strangely are some men affected as they tender revenge equally deare as their owne life their plots are how to circumvent their traines how to surprize their whole consultations how to inflict due revenge where they have alreadie conceived distaste And these are those Bulls of Basan who rome and rore and when the prey falleth they seaze on it and teare it with their teeth On these men may that of the Poet be truly verified They feare no Lawes their wrath gives way to might And what they plot they act be 't wrong or right But how farre the Disposition of these men may seeme removed from the meeke and humble affected whose only glory is to redresse wrong and render right judgement unto all there is none but may at the first sight apparently discerne For these humble and mildly-affected spirits stand so firme and irremoveable as no adversitie can depresse them no prosperitie raise them above themselves For adversities they account them with that excellent Morall nothing else than exercises to trie them not to tire them And for Prosperities they receive them as they come not so much admiring them as making a profitable use of them and with a thankfull remembrance of divine Bountie blessing God for them These are those impregnable rockes as one aptly compared them subject to no piercing those greenē Bayes in midst of hoarie Winter never fading those fresh Springs in the Sandie Desart never drying Whos 's many eminent vertues as they deserve your imitation Gentlemen so especially their Meeknesse being the first marke I tooke to distinguish true Gentilitie THe second was Munificence that is to be of a bountifull Disposition open-handed yet with some necessary caution as to know what we give and the worth of that person to whom we give For without these considerations Bountie may incline to profusenesse and Liberalitie to indiscretion This moved that Mirror of Roman Princes the Emperour Titus to keep a Booke of the Names of such whose deserts had purchased them esteeme but had not as yet tasted of his Bountie So as it is observed of him that no day came over his head wherein he exprest not his princely Munificence to such whose names he had recorded which if at any time through more urgent occasions he neglected he would use these words to such as were about him O my friends I have lost this day No lesse was the bountie which Cyrus expressed first in words but afterward in deeds to such Souldiers as tooke his part against his grand-father Astyages that such as were Footmen he would make them Horse-men and such as were Horse-men hee would make them ride in their Chariots It is said of the House of the Agrigentine Gillia that it seemed as if it had beene a certaine Storehouse or repository of all Bountie Such indeed was the Hospitalitie esteemed in this Iland formerly one of the apparantest signals of Gentrie which was showne to all such as made recourse to that Mansion And because I have accidentally fallen into this Discourse let me speake a word or two touching this neglect of Hospitalitie which may be observed in most places throughout this Kingdome What the reason may seeme to be I know not unlesse riot and prodigalitie the very Gulfes which swallow up much Gentrie why so many sumptuous and goodly Buildings whose faire Frontispice promise much comfort to the wearied Traveller should want their Masters But surely I thinke as Diogenes jested upon the Mindians for māking their gates larger than their Citie bidding them take heed lest the Citie run out at the gates so their Store-house being made so strait and their Gates so broad I much feare me that Provision the life of Hospitalitie hath run out at their gates leaving vast penurious houses apt enough to receive but unprovided to releeve But indeed the reason why this defect of noble Hospitalitie hath so generally possessed this Realme
tendered both love and life and not have made prodigall expence of that which might have beene a meanes to strengthen and support her state Yet doe I not speake this as one insensible of wrong or incapable of disgrace for I know that in passages of this nature publike imputations require publike satisfaction so that howsoever the Divine Law to which all humane actions ought to be squared may seeme to conclude That wee are to leave revenge to whom revenge belongeth yet so passionate is the nature of man and through passion so much weakned as hee forgets many times what the divine Law bids him doe and hastens to that which is owne violent and distempered passion pricks him to Now to propose my opinion by way of direction in a word it is this As one may be angry and sinne not so one may revenge and offend not and this is by heaping câ—ales of fire upon our Enemies head for by this meeknesse is anger appeased and wee of our owne fury revenged But the best meanes to prevent occasion of distaste in this kind is to avoid the acquaintance or society of such as are given to offence whence it is that the wisest of Kings exhorteth us in these words To have no familiarity with an angry man neither goe with the furious man And why Lest thou learne his wayes and receive destruction to thy soule For indeed these whose turbulent dispositions are ready to entertaine any occasion of offence albeit the occasion perchance was never intended are unfit for any company or to passe time withall in any Recreation So as of one of these it may be said as was said of Scava who shewed apparent arguments of resolution to slave himselfe to the servile yoke of tyrannous subjection Infelix dominum quantâ virtute parasti How many courses miserable man hast thou tryed how many wayes hast thou traced how many adventures entertayned to get thee a Master Fury Arch-traytor to that glorious fortresse of Patience These are those Blood-bounds who are ever in quest and are never satisfied in pursuit till their eyes become the sâ—d spectators of a fall yea rather then these men will be out of action they will engage themselves in maintaining other quarrels so prompt they are to take offence as a strangers engagements must be made their owne rather then they will discontinue in their former profession Another sort there are who albeit they find ability in themselves to subdue and moderate this passion of furie by the soveraignty of reason yet it fares with them as it did with Hannibal Who knew better how to conquer then how to make use of his conquest or as it is said of Glendor That hee was more able to get a victory then skilfull to use it So these though reason like a discreet Monitor advise them to moderate their passions yet so ambitious are they of popular praise as rather then they will lose the name of being esteemed resolute they will oppose themselves to all perils and entertaine a course in the eye of true valour most dissolute Yet respect to our good name being indeed the choycest and sweetest perfume must not be so sleighted as to incurre apparent termes of disgrace and not labour to wipe off that staine by shewing some arguments that wee have so much conceit as to apprehend what an injury is and so much Spirit as to take revenge on him by whom the injury is offered It is true neither am I so stupid as not to conceive how insupportable the burden of those wrongs is which touch our name So as indeed to speake as a man unto men these wrongs are above the nature of mortality to beare for the naturall man tasting more of Earth then Heaven whilest hee ponders the quality of his disgrace and how farre hee stands engaged in respect of the opinion of men to beare himselfe like himselfe and not to bury such wrongs in silence as if senselesse of the nature of an injury hee never considers what the divine Law injoynes but casteth his eye upon the wrong hee sustaines Wherein if passion will needs over-master reason albeit I doe not hold it consonant to the Divine Law Morall or Nationall but to all generous spirits experimentally usefull I could wish him to come off faire at the first for this either wins him the buckler or loseth it so shall hee ever gaine to himselfe an esteeme of conceit in knowing the nature of a wrong and an opinion of spirit in daring to wipe off the disgrace that shall be laid upon him For this is my Position Faile at the first and faile ever for as the first onset terrifies the enemy so in actions of this nature the onely meanes to gaine opinion is to come off bravely in the beginning Now perchance it may happen that he from whom you have received wrong will take no notice of your distaste but will doe as hee did who receiving a Challenge upon some personall touch whereby hee apprehended the occasion for his best advantage of making choice as the Challenged may of time place weapon and Second returned this answere to the Messenger For the time I know not when for the place when that time comes it shall be the Alpes for the weapon it shall be Guy's sword that slew the Cow on Dunmoth heath and for my Second it shall be your selfe that I may bring you within the compasse of Duelloes If with such your fortune be to deale as many there are more valiant in tongue then hand more apt to offer wrong then tender satisfaction know thus much that these Alpes which hee hath named and whereto he never meanes to come is what place soever you shall meet him the time whensoever you shall have fit opportunity to encounter him the weapon though hee chuse it you may refuse it because it is too closely kept to come to and make choice of your own weapon left by going to Warwicke Castle to procure a sword you forget your wrong before you come there and the Second your only selfe that as you are particularly wronged you may be particularly righted for as the wrong toucheth you and no Second so you are to right your selfe without a Second But the safest and surest course as I said before not to partake with men of this condition is to refraine their company and conversation for these firy spirits who have Thersites tongue and Ant aeus hand are dangerous to consort with for they seldome resort to any meeting but either they doe hurt or receive it So as even in these tolerable Recreations of Horse-races Cockings Bowlings c. you shall ever see these throw one bone or other to make differences amongst men of quality and ranke wherein they will be sure to be interested as Seconds if not as principall Agents My advice therefore is that you avoid their company as disturbers of the publike peace interrupters
shall in superabundant measure bee recompenced else-where But it may be objected that some aspersions are not to be borne with for those scandals which are laid upon our persons where our faith is not taxed or touched may bee more easily endured but where these are struck at they are not to be suffered To confirme which wee reade how Peter and Iohn having by prayer and imposition of hands given the Holy Ghost and Simon the Sorcerer saw that through laying on of the Apostles hands the Holy Ghost was given hee offered them money saying Give mee also this power that on whomsoever I lay hands bee may receive the Holy Ghost But Peter incensed herewith saith unto him Thy money perish with thee because thou hast thought that the gift of GOD may be purchased with money Whence it appeareth that out of a holy zeale one may shew passion towards such as detract from the honour of God or asperse a blemish upon his servants in the worke of their ministery The like we reade of Paul that glorious vessell of election conceiving much indignation against one who had withstood the word saying Alexander the Copper-smith did mee much evill the Lord reward him according to his workes The reason is inclusively annexed of whom bee thou ware of for hee hath greatly withstood our words The like spirit of zeale might Iames and Iohn bee said to be of who when they saw that the Saritanes would not receive Christ said Lord wilt thou that wee command fire to come downe from heaven and consume them even as Elias did But how this passion of theirs was approved may appeare by the ensuing verse But hee turned and rebuked them and said Yee know not what manner of spirit yee are of Now to cleare this objection there is no Patterne which wee ought sooner to imitate then Christ himselfe who is the master of truth and directeth us in all truth who as hee was most blamelesse of all others for in his mouth was never guile found yet was hee in his owne person more blamed in his doctrine more reproved in his miracles more injured then all others for one while hee is accused to have a Divell anon that hee casteth out Divels through the Prince of the Divels anon that hee is a man gluttonous and a wine-bibber a friend of Publicans and Sinners yet what answer vouchsafed hee unto all these save onely this Wisedome is justified of her children Now I know there are differences of Scandals or aspersions where some leave deeper impression then others doe for as the name is more precious then any earthly substance so it receiveth the deepest staine when the estimation of our faith is questioned being the very maine foundation whereon all religion is grounded and the perfection of that building which makes a Christian rightly accomplish'd Saint Basil could shew himselfe calme enough in his conference with the Emperour till a Cooke came in and saucily told him hee did not well to stand so precisely upon such small matters but rather to yeeld to his master the Emperour in a word or two for what were those divine affaires whereon hee so much insisted but such as with indifferency might be dispensed But what answered this reverend Father Yea Sir Cooke quoth hee it is your part to tend your pottage and not to boile and chop up divine matters which as they little trouble you so in weight and consequence are farre above you And then with great gravity turning to the Emperour said that those that were conversant in divine matters which were principally to be intended would with conscience rather suffer death then suffer one jot of holy Scripture much lesse an article of faith already received to be altered or corrupted Another holy man though most innocent could indure to be counted a whore-master an uncleane person and the like but when one called him an Heretike hee could beare no longer so neere be we touched when our faith is questioned But as wee have a noble and glorious Patterne who shewed himselfe a Conquerour in his suffering let us wrastle with flesh and blood that suffering all things for him and with him wee may after our conquest joy in him and with him And let this be sufficient to have beene spoken of Mortification in respect of our name or esteeme in the world labouring daily to dis-value and humiliate our selves while wee are in the world If it be no great thing to leave our substance but our selves let us at least leave our substance that wee may the better enjoy our selves It was the wise exhortation of the wisest of Princes Honour the Lord with thy substance and with the first fruits of all thy increase annexing a promise to this precept So shall thy barnes bee filled with plenty and thy presse shall burst out with new wine But forasmuch as many things are required to the mortification of this earthly Mammon wee will reduce them to two speciall heads the better to retaine in memory this meanes of mortification 1. to consider from whom wee have received these worldly blessings 2. how to dispose of them lest they become cursings of blessings For the first wee are positively to set downe that every good gift and every perfect gift commeth from above the beasts that graze on a thousand hils are his the treasures of the earth are his for from whom should wee thinke are they derived to us but from him by whom they were created for us Hee who never had it how can hee give it but hee who hath all guids all governes all and is all in all is sole sufficient for all Hee it is then that maketh rich and maketh poore exalteth and humbleth sending forth his waters out of their treasuries and all things are drowned shutteth them in their treasuries and all things are dried He it is that maketh the fruitfull barren and the barren fruitfull Instead of the thorne shall come up the firre tree and instead of the briter shall come up the mirtle tree and it shall be to the Lord for a name for an everlasting signe that shall not be cut off He it is that made Heaven and Earth and all things replenished Heaven and Earth with all things giving Man dominion over all things that Man might be subject unto him who made all things Mow as hee gave them to man so are they to be disposed of by man to his glory who made man And how is that Not in laying land unto land with the oppressour nor in repairing to the house of the strange woman with the adulterer nor consuming your substance in excesse with the rioter nor hoording up vengeance against the day of wrath with the miser nor grinding the face of the poore with the extortioner but rather distributing freely of that which you have and communicating to the necessity of the Saints so shall you make to your selves friends
Motto's or Imprezes to imbellish these SECT 4. THeir Continency in assaults Sundry Historicall Emblemes of Beasts and Birds illustrating this Subject How an unaffected reservancy suites best with Conjugall Fancy Age becomes rather an object of pity then fancy to the eye of youth SECT 5. THeir Modesty in Count'nance Habit and Expression of affection Candid thoughts are ever most legible in the eyes Piety receives scandall from the Count'nance and Chastity treason from the Eye by conveighing treacherous thoughts to the heart Imitation of forrain Habits begets in us a dis-esteeme with Forrainers More advantage in dispatch then delay Delay gives way to Corrivals Fancy when it falls remisse in pursuit it produceth cold fruit A Pleasant old prophesie of aged fancy A Presidentall Love-letter SECT 6. THeir violence upon such as were Corrivals in their Choice A parallel betwixt the River Himetus and the disposition of a woman with the reasons of this Allusion A Womans disposition bounds upon two extreames Boundlesse Love Or Endlesse Hate No receit more soveraigne then the one No deceit more subtile then the other One of the best policies in a Christian is to delude a wily wanton and decline the fury of a jealous woman Disparity of Years Fortunes or Descent ever begets in the Parties married most discontent A Similitude suiting well with the temper of a stale Batchler SECT 7. THeir modest Defence Though Cruelty admit no Apology yet when too impressive a fancy occasions this Cruelty it merits rather the title of a distracted phrensy then an affected Cruelty Love when it falls into these Extreames is more apt to expostulate with Passion then Reason A memorable Example in this kind Degenerate and creeping spirits are ever promptest to taxe the weaker sexe of errors Their censorious Objections retorted and with a merry story requited Womens Inventions discover no such lightnesse in their Love-Imprezes and Poesies as more masculine spirits usually doe in their devices An Arabicke resolution to this Question Why a woman might not as properly wooe man as man woman None but proud Pharisees were ever known to winke at the approach of women And these though they had sealed eyes they had seeing and stealing hearts SECT 8. THeir witty Aphorismes Apothegms and Answers Obscene Pasquils detract from the style and state of serious Aphorismes These divine and Morall Aphorismes were not onely delivered by them but personated in them in their Humility Contentment Charity Patience Continency Abstinence and Industry Their excellent Rules delivered unto others for the better regiment of their thoughts words and workes SECT 9. THeir Eminent Labours and how they were Assistants in the exquisitest Workes that have beene formerly composed either for History or Poesie And all this ennobled by memorable patterns and Professors in all ages where zeale of goodnesse was such a glorious Ambition as it could never be too aspiring The discreet Reply of a wife to her husbands assertion How all inferiour blessings were comprised in this three-fold dimension 1. To have a wife of his owne chusing 2. To have an Orchard of his owne planting 3. To have a child of his owne begetting Nuptiall delights are more perpetuate because with goodnesse dignifi'd Whatsoever reteines in it selfe a proclivity to declining cannot conceive much felicity in the enjoying Whereas these On goodnesse not on greatnesse cast their care â—Shee's truly noble that is Vertues heire Consorts inwardly beautifi'd are the choicest Companions for Closet Casket Carpet And this authorized with ancient and moderne instances The ingenious contest of three Gentlemen touching their fruition of happinesse in their choice with answers to each others Imprezes Discreet women sort themselves to their choice in each condition whether they be Old-mens Nurses or Young-mens Mistresses Though they be young Brides they will performe the offices of old Nurses And being young-mens Mistresses they can shew a modest freedome without squeamish precisenesse Their pleasant Love-posies to their loyall Consorts No Learning shewes more lustre then when enshrined in the bosome of a woman No Eloquence leaves a deeper Impressure then when delivered by the tongue of a Woman Their Silence an implying Eloquence Their Defence in the disposition of every Sense to the improvement of their honour against the opposition of every Critick feminine Censor He addresseth his Conclusion to all such worthy women whose vertuous lives promise a glorious Evening And with a recollection of every Subject formerly handled recommends them to their usefull Observance His Labours to their gracefull Acceptance A Sonnet LADIES yee that would be faire I a Cerusse can prepare Will make you clearer then the ayre 'T is such choice and precious ware Hold your purse it costs you nought 'T is in no shop to be bought Worth an Empire seldome sought Being from Elysium brought Have yee rivels in your face Want yee love-spots for a grace Want yee borders edging lace Favour feature posture pace Would yee ever be in fashion Vye inventions with our Nation In your Treaties move compassion Suite your persons to occasion Would yee make Affection flye From your love-attractive eye To intrance the Standers by Wishing there to live and dye Would yee fixe in Fancies Spheare Or enjoy your onely Deare And no sly Corrivall feare Apt to undermine you there Would yee feed on such choice food As enliveneth the blood Purging ill infusing good A rare Conserve for Woman-hood Would yee Courtly measures tread On the flowry-checker'd Mead Would yee no Love-powders need Would yee in your seed succeed Would yee love and feele no heat That may wrong chaste Delia's Seat Would yee in rich language treat Without Envie become great Here is ONE will make you fit Both for Lineament and Wit As yee cannot chuse but hit The Marke that may accomplish it Here is ONE will fancy move And such a Tyre-woman prove In the Discipline of love As ne're was such a Turtle-dove Poore shee is yet is shee pure VERTVE her name her only lure A constant care a carefull cure To make her loyall Lovers sure This 't is will cheere your amorous braines like Nectar And crowne you happy Schollers in Loves-Lecture THE TURTLES TRIVMPH PRESENTED IN A SVPPLEMENT HIGHLY CONDVCING to an usefull Application and gracefull Reconciliation of the two former Subjects Continued by Ri. Brathwait Esquire LONDON Printed by Iohn Dawson INTENTISSIMO VIRO PVBLICAE SALVTIS STVDIOSISSIMO IOHANNI BANKS MILITI ATTVRNATO AVGVSTISSIMI REGIS GENERALI R. B. PARNASSIDVM HVMILLIMVS OBSERVANTIAE VESTRAE DEDITISSIMVS HEROINAM HANC CORONIDEM LEGALI IVGO SPONSALI VOTO GENIALI THORO CONJVNCTAM D. D. D. A SVPPLEMENT HIGHLY CONDVCING to an usefull Application and gracefull Reconciliation of the two former Subjects LOng time have these two affectionate Consorts beene divided now at last it is their happinesse to become united To confirme their Loves which they have vowed to remain inviolably firme to their expired Lives wee are to propose such necessary Observances as may prevent all occasion of distrust and