two sorts viz. Evil and Good The first evil effect of it is The evil effects of Fear That it dants the courage of men and makes valiant Souldiers become cowards and this is called a Panick Fear The Greek and Roman Histories are full of instances to prove it which I will pass over for brevity sake and will onely relate this ensuing See Philip de Commines in the War of the Publike good for so it was called or the battel de Monlebery recorded by Philip de Commines In the beginning of the reign of Lewis the eleventh King of France the Duke Charls of Burgundy and the discontented Officers of the Crown of France joyned with him raised a great Army and came neer to Paris against the said King who hearing of their approach came against them with another great Army and having both pitched their Camp within a mile one of another with a resalution to give battel the next day it fell out to be a misty morning and certain Troops of Horse being on both sides sent out to discover the intentions of both Armies they saw as they imagined a great range of Lanciers standing on a high ground the Bourgonians conceiving they came towards them and the French imagining they came towards their Camp and so transported both with a Panick fear they fled as hard as they could drive towards their Camp and raised a fearful alarm saying The enemies were at hand and so put both Armies into a strange confusion but when the Sun had dispersed the mist it was apparently seen that these imaginary Lanciers were but Tysels growing upon a long high bank And the two Armies being mixt the French having the better another Panick fear came amongst the French Horse Fear begets cruelty in effeminate Princes by a false rumor that the King was slain that made them flee as if all had been lost and had not the King suddenly shewed himself the French Army had utterly been routed Secondly Fear begets cruelty in the hearts of effeminate Princes for it hath been observed that Pusillanimity is ever accompanied with Fear The effeminate Emperors of Rome have all been addicted to this passion of Fear See Tacitus Dion Herodian and Suetonius Caligula did usually hide himself under a bed out of fear when it Thundred and Lightned and Nero Domitianus Commodus and Heliogabalus were afraid if men did but whisper together and they were all more cruel then Tygers or Cannibals Thirdly Fear hath no regard to consanguinity Tiberius Nero out of fear destroyed by one means or other all his nearest kinsmen See Tacitus in the Life of Nero. and caused the valorous and noble Germanicus his Nephew to be poysoned by Piso And Lewis the Eleventh King of France caused his own Brother Charls Duke of Normandy to be poysoned out of Fear See the History of France and of England and so did Richard the Third his two hopeful Nephews And out of reason of State or more properly out of Fear The elder sons of the Ottoman Family have for these many years caused their younger Brothers to be strangled Fourthly Fear doth in admirable Effects go beyond Nature for a Secretary of the State of Florence being over night condemned to die was so transported with the Fear of death that out of the violent apprehension of it the hair of his head and beard See the Florentine History which was as black as a Crow became before the morning as white as snow Lastly Fear is the cousen german of dispair for it makes men to eschew the shame of a publike death to lay violent hands on themselves For Hannibal rather then he would suffer to be made a publike spectacle of shame to the Romans poysoned himself And Cardinal Wolsey rather then he would lose his head upon Tower-Hill did the like and died in Leicester Abbey The good Effects of Fear may be these First Six good Effects of the Passion of Fear If it were not for the Fear of the punishments appointed by the Laws of the Land to chastise the misdemeanors of men the Rodes and High-ways would be so full of Thieves and Murtherers that honest men should not be able to go from one Town to another Secondly If it were not for Fear Laws and Magistrates would be trampled under feet and all manner of Obedience Reverence and respect would be banished Joane would be as good as my Lady and Jack-Straw would be as good as my Lord Mayor the Foot-man as good as his Lord and the Servant as good as his Master but Fear of correction makes every one to give honor to whom honor is due and to know his Rank and Degree Thirdly If it were not for Fear rash and timerary men would fix their hopes beyond the Stars and would think nothing impossible unto them but fear clips their wings and makes them to be more considerate Fourthly Fear is the only Antidote against the venome of presumption and were it not for Fear this world could not subsist for there never was an Age so full of Phaetons and Icarus's as this that would with their waxed wings flee to Heaven or burn the Earth by the guiding of Phoebus Chariot if Fear did not restrain them Fifthly Fear is the faithful Counsellor of great Politicians and States-men who would otherwise vaunt themselves as the great Mathematician Archimedes did to remove the World or turn it up-side down if he could finde out a solide Foundation to plant his Mathematical Instruments to set all the World together by the ears to make their Prince the only Monarch of the Earth by the means of their deep Machiavilian Policies but Fear whispers them in the ear that Policy hath ever been and ever shall be subordinate to Destiny and that the secret Decrees of God shall come to pass in despite of them and will turn their Wisdom and Policy into foolishness Sixthly As fear of temporal punishment is a Curbe to restrain open and gross Sinners from criminal offences so the Fear of eternal punishment is a strong motive to withdraw civil men from their secret sins for let civil men be as private in their sins as they can yet the All-seeing Eye of God and their own Conscience are witnesses of their sin so that their Conscience which is their Accuser doth infuse into their minde this Fear of eternal punishment whereby they are as much restrained from their secret sins as the gross Sinners are by the Fear of temporal punishment And as the hope of the recompence of reward doth draw many into the way of righteousness so the Fear of eternal punishment doth enforce many to forsake sin and to turn unfainedly unto God for Sinners must be first humbled and brought low by the terror of the Law before they can unfainedly embrace the gracious Promises of the Gospel I do therefore conclude that spiritual Fear joyned with spiritual hope are effectual means to beget in Christians a hunger
shame and many men in these days come to penury by often changing of Calling or by undertaking such Callings as they never were bred to or by exercising four or five Callings at one and the same time which is a great vanity for that is the cause that Artificers never attain to the perfection of their Art or handy-craft but remain ignorant hudlers in them all It is therefore convenient that men should be constant to one Calling and to take delight in it For godliness with content saith St. Paul c 1 Tim. 6.6 is great gain and without men take delight in their profession they will always be changing till they bring themselves to extream misery Secondly violent and superfluous Pleasures are desructive two ways the first impair mens health and shorten their dayes and the other doth waste and consume their estates how many have lost their lives by the excessive pleasures of Venery in the very act many more by excessive riots of drunkenness and gluttony and others by the violent exercises of Tennis Foot-ball play Leaping Vaulting and running of races some others by swiming The violent and superfluous pleasures and others by drinking in Summer wines cooled in snow and of late years how many have shortned their lives by the excessive use of Tobacco a bewitching herb in the taking of which the poorer sort consume the small means they have and the richer impair their health and fill their brains as full of foot as is the funnel of a chimney by which they deprive themselves of sleep consume their radical humor engender Palsies and apoplexies and go down to the grave before their time whereas if it be used moderately it purgeth the Phlegm prevents the Dropsie and refresheth the spirits It is then apparent that as these violent pleasures impair the body so they wast mens estates for rioting gluttony and drunkenness Tennis and Foot-ball-play running of races and drinking of wine cooled in snow are consumers of the means and estates of men Thirdly the moderate and lawful pleasures are not prohibited in the word of God so they be used with moderation for Christians may boldly take pleasure in a moderate way of all the creatures under the Sun so it be with thanksgiving and after a sanctified manner in all sobriety and temperance 1. They may take delight in the admirable works of God d Psal 136.8 in the contemplation of the light of the Sun in the constant course it observes in the regulating of the seasons of the year and in the increase and declination of its heigth whereby the days are lengthened or shortned In the various mutations of the Moon by whose influence the Tides increase or fall 2. They may delight to see the aspect of the Spring e Psal 8.3 when after a cold Winter the vegetative creatures begin to sprout and when Flora doth revest her self in her glorious apparel clothing the earth with variety of odiferous flowers inameled of divers colours which excel in beauty in the esteem of our blessed Saviour f Math. 6.28 the very glory of King Salomon and in Summer they may delight in the blessing of God upon the labour of the Husbandman and in Harvest upon the incredible increase of the seed and in Winter g Psal 72. â—6 in the consideration of the propriety that God hath given to the vegetative creatures to draw their sap which is their life into their root that it may be kept in the bowels of the earth from the danger of the frost and snow and how by his admirable providence he doth feed the beasts of the field and the fowls of the air in that barren season The moderate and lawful pleasures as well as in havest 3. They may delight in the glorious objects of the green and beautiful medows and in the sweet rivers running along their banks in the numerous herds of cattel feeding in the Valleys and Mountains 4. They may rejoyce in the commerce and trade of rich merchandise that are brought from forraign parts whereby the commonwealth doth flourish and the poor are set at work and all in generall provided of all necessary things for this life 5. They may take delight to see the Artificers Shop-keepers and all others of the poorer sort to prosper and to have vent and utterance for their wares whereby they are enabled to maintain themselves wives children and servants in a decent condition and free from want or penury 6. They may delight and bless the Lord for their health peace and prosperous estate and that they live and move and have a beeing with all necessary things for this life as meat drink and raiment but above all they may laud and praise the Lord for his mercy and the free liberty they have to hear his Word and Gospel preached with zeal and sincerity 7. They may solace themselves in honest recreations as in walking abroad to take the aire in the company of their friends their discourses being h Col. 4 6. seasoned with salt and rather tending to edification then depravation 8. They may sometimes go a hunting hawking fishing shooting bowling but these recreations are to be short and onely for to refresh their spirits after tedious studies and weekly employments and to strengthen their bodies by these laudable exercises and not to make them as some do their daily work for otherwise these honest and laudable recreations would become vitious and destructive to body and soul for nothing ought to be more precious to Christians then Time Fourthly Vicious and unlawful pleasures are the snares of Satan and the harbengers of death and yet they are most in fashion in these days See Plutarch and the English and French History and few or none that are addicted to them will give them any bound or limits It is recorded that Cesar Edward the fourth King of England and Henry the fourth King of France were over-much addicted to Venery and yet those that have written their Lives give them this commendation that they bounded this Passion within certain limits for their Venerian delights did never say they make them neglect any affairs of State or actions of war because saith a modern Author of Cesar Senault in the use of Passions that the Passion of Ambition was more predominate in him then the Passion of Love although the Passion of Love in the opinion of Aristotle and of Senault himself is held to be the most violent Passion of all the other Passions but if men are to be moderated as I have said before in the natural and necessary pleasures there is great reason they should be more temperate in their vitious pleasures sith they are sinful and odious to God and to all vertuous and temperate men and St. Paul i 1 Thes 4.3 would have men to be moderate in their cating and drinking for their healths sake and for conscience sake for the abuse of the creature is prohibited by the
exorbitant degree of Self-murdering but draw men off from their vain hopes and rash enterprises of which I shall have occasion to speak in the Effects of this passion of Despair The Causes of Moral Despair proceed from the fatall events from generous and Martial achievements or from the managing of affairs of State first after the Battel of Cannae that Hanibal won upon the Romans the young Nobility that fled and saved themselves from the rout of it were so transported with Despair that they resolved to fly out of Italy and had done so but for Publius Scipio who hearing of their resolution See Titus Livius in his third Decade lib. 3. came amongst them and after a sharp censure for their pusillanimity made them swear never to forsake him till he had been avenged upon Hanibal for the shame the Romans had received at Cannae And by their means was he elected by the voyce of the People to go as General into Africa to inforce Hanibal by a diversion of war to withdraw his forces out of Italy secondly The Carthaginians were so transported with Fear and Despair after the last overthrow that Scipio gave them not far from Carthage where he routed Hanibal and Iuba King of the Numidians that they lost all hope and courage and made a most shameful peace with the Romans for they did deliver up unto them all their shipping But contrarily after the loss of three famous battels that Hanibal won upon the Romans Hope inflamed their courage and by it from a conquered People they became Conquerors A good caveat for Princes or States to disswade them from Despairing in the dismal events of war but to foment hope in their breast in their greatest disgraces for if Despair creap in mens hearts that hold the Helm of the ship of the Common-wealth See Titus Iavius in his third Decade lib. 3. all goes to wrack thirdly Charls the seventh King of France was for sometime so possessed with Despair by the evil events that his men of war had daily with the English Armies that were under the Command of the Duke of Bedford that he suffered his own and publick affairs to go to ruine till his Concubine La bella Agnes by the perswasion of the French Peers See du Halian in his French History and some of his chiefest and most faithful Commanders of war infused Hope into his heart by saying unto him that she was minded to leave him for she had been told that she should be the Mistress of the most valourous Prince in Christendom and she saw nothing but pusillanimity in him for he did suffer the English to rent his Kingdom in piece-meals This coming from a woman filled the King with indignation and with the hopes that the Pucelle of Orleans as they called her gave him to raise the siege of Orleans that was then besieged by the English he took from that time forward his and the publick affairs to heart and became a valorous Prince fourthly In the beginning of the reign of Henry the fourth King of France the true French Nation was brought into such a plunge of Despair by the conspiracy of the Chatholick league and the association it had with Spain with the general revolt of the greatest Cities in France against their lawful King that had not God filled the heart of Henry the fourth with Hope and undanted valour that Kingdom had been rent and torn in pieces by forraign Princes fifthly Ahitophel fel into such a deep Despair 2 Sam. 27.23 because his Councel was rejected and Hushaies Councel was accepted that he went and put his house in order and then hanged himself sixthly The Cardinal Ximines See the Spanish History in the beginning of the reign of Charls the fifth who was Viceroy in Spain during the minority of the Emperor Charls the fifth died with Sorrow and Despair because his faithful services to the Crown of Spain were rewarded with an ingrateful dismission from the Court and all publick afairs First Apostacy is the cause of spirtual Despair for Saul King of Israel fell into Despair for disobeying the Commandment of the Lord Four causes of spiritual Despair in not cutting off all the Amalekites and for repairing to the Witch of Endor in stead to ask counsel of God and being wounded by the Philistins and his Army routed upon Mount Gilboa 1 Sam. 31.40 he fell upon his sword and killed himself secondly Iudas Iscariot that betraied our blessed Saviour fell into Despair for his Apostacy and disloyalty and brought again the thirty pieces of silver to the chief Priest and Elders and said I have sinned in that I have betrayed the innocent blood Mat. 27.3 4. and so went out and hanged himself thirdly Francisco Spira fell into Despair for his Apostacy for having imbraced the Protestant Religion he was by large promises of great preferments seduced to return to Popery but the worm of Conscience did so rack him See the book of Martyrs that he often cried out he was in in hell because the torments of hell as he said could not be greater then those that he did suffer fourthly The persecuting of Gods children is a cause to beget a spiritual Despair in men as you may see at large in a Treatise called The Iudgments of God upon Persecutors Thirdly The worst effect of Self-murdering Despair is that it deprives men of Repentance and by consequence of salvation for Repentance is a gift of the free grace of God neither can men repent when they will Six pernitius effect of De-Despair sith it is not their own gift but Gods and how can they repent when their Understanding and their Will which are the noblest faculties of their soul are perverted and so distempered with this furious passion of Despair that they are rather like mad then rational men and worse then the bruit creatures for none of them will destroy their own kinde much less themselves Repentance is a gift of God and is not at mens disposing and must be attained by prayers and not to be deferred to the hour of death for Self-murdering is an action contrary to the Law of Nature for Nature strives in all its Effects to preserve its own beeing besides it is expresly prohibited by the Law of God that one man should murder another but suppose he do yet if he murder the body of a man he cannot murder his soul but he that murdereth himself doth murder his owne body and his own soul and therefore deserves a far greater punishment then a common murderer secondly This kinde of Despair proceeds from a distrust of Gods mercie and what greater injury can be done to God by man then to distrust of his infinite mercy and to be a wilful rebel to his blessed Commandments thirdly It deprives men of all Reason Judgment Compassion and Humanity for they are more cruel to themselves then their greatest enemies can be to them as it
inlarge my self upon these particulars 1. On the Definition of this Passion 2. On the Causes of it 3. On the Nature and Proprieties of it 4. On the evil and good Effects of it 5. On the Spiritual Use of it First This Passion hath several names some call it Confidence and have good reason for it because it is its unseperable companion others call it Audacity but this terme doth blemish the true Nature of it The definition of the passion of Undantedness for audacious and presumptuous men are held to be under one and the same predicament other call it boldness but this word is often taken for Impudency but the French call it Hardiesse which doth express most properly the nature of it which is Undantedness in the English Tongue And here is the definition of it according to the judgment of the best Moralists Boujou fol. 7 23. Vndantedness saith one is an affection and assurance to eschew an evil and to overcome all the difficulties of it Vndantedness The Bishop of Marseilles in pag. 401. saith another is a Passion of the soul which strengtheneth the same and makes it confident it can overcome the most difficult evils that can befall it in this life and doth also incourage it to prosecute the good that is most difficult to obtain And to this last definition I assent as concerning the same the best of the two for it doth truely express the nature of this passion which is the third passion incident to the Irascible Appetite 2. The Causes of it are many but they may be reduced to these six the two first are Natural the two middlemost accidental and the two last supernatural The first natural cause of undantedness is a hot and moist temper of the body The first Natural cause may be a moist and hot temper of the body for the Naturalists have observed that all such as are of that constitution of body have ordinarily an undanted spirit The Natural reason of it is that this hot and moist temper doth suppress the Melancholick humor and its evil proprieties and effects whereby the blood that is hot and airy an ful ofvital spirits and the bilia that is dry and fiery and the flegm that is cold and moist being thus mixt become of a dilative nature and by the motion of the heart spread themselves into all the utmost parts of the body and inableth the minde to undertake and the body to execute all maner of generous designs be they never so difflcult or perillous The second natural cause of Undantedness may be the largeness of the heart of men for it hath been observed by the Physitians when they have opened the bodies of valiant and undanted spirits that their hearts were larger then the hearts of ordinary men See Plutarch in the life of Themistocles and King Xerxes King of Persia having caused the body of Leonidas King of Sparta to be opened partly out of admiration of his valour and in part out of curiosity The second natural cause of undantedness is the largeness of the harts of men to see whether the heart of such an undanted spirit was larger then the hearts of common men he found the same to be as big again and hairy all over a natural propriety incident to such as are of a hot and moist constitution of body to abound in hair The Natural reason why men with larger hearts then others should be addicted to Valour and Undantedness is this that the larger the heart is the morevital spirits it can contain which are the essential causes of Valour and Undantedness and therefore it may very well be that the largeness of the heart is a natural cause of Undantedness That tall and burly men are commonly less valorous then short and middle stastured men Divers men are of opinion that tall and burly bodied men are more addicted to Valour and Undantedness then short and middle-statur'd men but they are mistaken for tall men have smaller hearts then others and are also commonly more faint-hearted then other men and the Naturalists give this reason for it If their hearts say say were proportionable to their body they might have reason to be of that opinion but it is commonly smaller because Nature extended its vertue to the utmost parts deprives the inward parts of it Besides all the vitall spirits reside in the bloud and in the heart and by its motion they are dispersed through all the parts of the body Now the farther distant these parts are from the heart the longer time are the vital spirits a going to quicken and vivifie them and by consequence tall and burlybodied men are fuller of Flesh then of Spirits and less couragious then others It is true that they have a presuming undantedness because of their strength but what is done by strength proceeds from Strength and not from Valour which doth reside in the heart and in the minde and not in the arms and in the sinews And the most valorous and undanted spirits of this Age and of other Ages were for the most part short or at the most of a middle stature Leonidas See Plutarch in Peleopidas life and Peleopidas were but short men and Sir Francis Veere and Sir Francis Drake and the Marshal de Biron and the Marshal Gastion were all short men I conclude then that Valour and undantedness doth reside in the heart and minde and not in the strength of the body and that some of all statures may be valiant and undanted The first accidentall cause may be the innocency of men and the justice of their Cause for as Salomon saith Prov. 28.1 The wicked flee when no man pursueth but the righteous are bold as a a Lyon and it is daily seen that three true men will overcome half a dozen of theeves And when men fight for the preservation of the Liberties of their native Countrey and the lives of their wives and children and all the means they have they fight commonly like Lyons The second accidentall cause of Undantedness may be The relations support or alliances that men have with potent and powerful Princes or States for the confidence they have to be backt and supported by them doth make them undertake with undanted courage difficult and perillous enterprises The two accinentall causes of the undantedness of men for Instance The Hollanders a small Commonwealth being at the first supported by Elizabeth Queen of England and afterwards by Henry the fourth King of France have for many years together undantedly waged war with the great King of Spain and likewise the Kingdom of Sweden a petty Kingdom in comparison of the Empire of Germany being supported by Lewis the 13th King of France hath with an undanted courage waged war many years with the House of Austria See the Histories of Germany England and France Thirdly The first supernatural cause of the undantedness of men may be their zeal to Religion for
argued with his Prince after this manner Suppose saith he my Liege that Fortune be so favorable to you as to grant you the fruition of your hopes See Plutarch in Pyrrhus life in which I see small probability because the Roman State is potent and abounds in valiant and warlike men and experienced Commanders where will you then fix your hopes Pyrrhus answered when I shall have the possession of Italy I will cross over into Sicilia and subdue that and then replied Cynias where will you bend your Hopes to conquer Carthage said Pyrrhus and all the coasts of Africa and whether then saith Cynias we will then saith Pyrrhus return into Albania and joy in our Conquest and make good chear and be merry and who hinders you saith Cynias to be joyful and make good chear and be merry sith you have a rich Kingdom of your own and abound in Treasures and in all things that your heart can desire my counsel is then that you should give bounds to your hopes and prefer the certain to the uncertain events of Fortune By this Instance onely these things will be confirmed first That the hopes of men are insatiable secondly That young and sanguin men are most addicted to hopes and to undertake hard and difficult enterprises thirdly That rash and inconsiderate hopes void of probabilities are always deceitful and vanish into smoke for this young and valiant Prince was deluded by his hopes and was foiled in Italy by the Romans and in lieu of the conquest of Italy of Sicilia Carthage and the coast of Africa after the shedding of his subjects blood the exhausting of his Treasures and the many hazards he was in to lose his life he was inforced to return into Albania and was slain in the City of Argos by a woman that did cast a Tyle upon his head Fifthly The effects of worldly hope may be these first it is Hope that incourageth generous spirits to undertake all hard and difficult enterprises It was Hope that moved Alexander to forsake his Kingdom of Macedonia to undertake the conquest of Asia and that made him leave a certain good for an imaginary hope of conquest which had a prosperous success against all human probabilities by the secret decree of God The effects of worldly Hopes that the Persian Monarchy should be transferred to the Greeks as it was fore-told by the Prophet Daniel It was Hope that moved Ferdinand and Isabella King and Queen of Spain to undertake the conquest of the West-Indies and by Hope the Ottoman Family hath been inticed to undertake the conquest of the third part of the Kingdoms of the earth See the Spanish History but all their hopes had no other object then self-ends and vain-glory secondly It is Hope that induceth Polititians See the Turkish History and Statesmen to impaire their health and tire their spirits to dive into the mysteries of the Maximes and Reasons of State to propagate the increase honor and glory of their native Countrey as Cardidinal Ximenez did for Spain and the Cardinal de Riche-lieu for France See the French History yet their Hopes were mixt with self-ends and vain-glory It is Hope that moves Commanders and Souldiers to venture their lives in the dangerous atchievements of war under colour to fight for the Liberties and increase of the peace and extent of the demains of their native Countrey yet Marius Sylla and Cesar had a self-end in all their Military exploits tending more to the utter subversion of the Liberties and desolation of their native Countrey then to the increase of the good or glory of it fourthly It is Hope that inticeth Merchants to venture their means and lives at Sea and Tradsmen and Artificers to moyl and toyl and the Husbandman to to endure the heat in Summer and the cold blast of the Northerly windes in Winter Hope incourageth men in their calling nay all the injuries of the Meteors of the Air but all their Hopes have no other object then their private gain and to keep themselves and their Families in a decent condition and free from penury This hope is necessary and therefore more commendable then any of the former so it be kept within the bounds of moderation because it is profitable to the Common-wealth without which it could not subsist but the other are destructive to mankinde for they are cause of much shedding of blood and of the desolation of Kingdoms fifthly Moral Hope excels worldly Hope Moral Hope is better then wordly Hope for it is a preserver of Life and the Moderator of Grief and Sorrow and a Cordial against all Anguishes and Infirmities of the body it supports men in their greatest miseries and is the opposite of the passion of despaire for it moved a Rhodian who had been cast into a dungeon ful of Adders and Snakes for some horrid crimes by him committed to use daily antidotes for his preservation and to answer to some that perswaded him to rid himself by a violent way out of that misery where he lay no saith he as long as I have breath in my nostrils I will ever hope for my deliverance and it is daily seen Hope forsakes not men till death that the Gally-slaves and those that are condemned to die do ever hope to be redeemed or reprived and the sickest or the oldest man hath hope to recover or to live one year longer Nature having as it seems indowed men with this passion of Hope for the preservation of their beeing for as soon as Hope forsakes men they go the way of all flesh or fall into despaire sixthly If Moral Hope be thus qualified it will be of excellent use first Its objects must be a real good secondly This good must be absent or to come thirdly It must be difficult to obtain fourthly It must have some probability that it may be obtained for impossibilities destroy the nature and the proprieties of Hope Vertue is then the true object of moral Hope but it must be without mixture of self-ends and Vain-glory. But Sixthly The Spiritual Hope is free from both for it is a supernatual gift of God The Apostle St. Paul in the eighth of the Romans makes a clear definition of it Hope that is seen is not Hope Rom. 8.24.25 for what a man seeth why doth he yet hope for but if we hope for that we see not then do we with patience wait for it Now the object of this hope is the Rock of Eternity Christ Jesus our Lord and the Joy and Glory to come for as the Apostle saith in the same Chapter We are saved by hope The cause of this hope is the immediate grace of God for so excellent a Flower doth not grow in the Garden of our corrupt Nature The effects it prroduceth in all true Christians proceed from the Promises of God and the recompence of reward as the Apostle St. Paul saith of Moses Heb. 11.24 26. By faith when
will appear by these three insuing effects of Despair fourthly In the time of the civil wars See Plutarch in Syllaes life between Sylla and Marius Sylla besieged Preneste a small but a very strong City of Italy because it had sided with Marius and after a long siege he took the same and commanded that all the Inhabitants should be put to the Sword and the City set on fire onely he charged that his Host and his Family should be preserved because in former time he had shewed him much love and good hospitality so at the first entrance of the Town an Officer with a band of souldiers were sent to this Hosts house to preserve it from plunder but he hearing of Syllaes cruel decree against the City was so transported with Despair that he slew himself saying He would not be obliged for his life to the destroyer of his native Countrey See Plutarch in Cesars life fifthly in the civil war between the Cesarean and the Pompeian faction a Centurion or Captain of Cesar and some thirty common souldiers were taken in a fight and brought before Cornelius Scipio that was then Governor of Africa for the Pompeian party who condemned them all to death the Centurion excepted who seeing the cruelty of Scipio drew out his sword and slew himself in his presence saying He would not be obliged for his life to so cruel an enemy of Cesar sixthly In the war that fell out between the Romans and the Iews in the days of the Emperor Vespasianus See Josephus in the war of the Iews Titus his son laid siege and incompassed Iopata a strong City of the Iews with trenches and a powerful Army and after a long siege and great resistance thirty of the chiefest Magistrates of Iopata seeing no probability that the City could hold out any longer hid themselves in a private Vault into which they conveied victuals for three days before which time the City was taken by a Storm and the greatest part of the people put to the sword and such strickt watch set to the gates that none could escape so that these thirty in the Vault must either yield themselves to the Romans or famish whereupon transported with Despair they resolved rather to kill themselves then to die a lingering death or to yield themselves to the mercy of the Romans a desperate mad and barbarous resolution for the fury of the souldiers being over they had undoubtedly obtained mercy and so they cast lots who should be killed first till there were but two left alive and that was Iosephus and another who abhorring this Self-murdering perswaded his fellow to yield themselves to the Romans to which he consented and having discovered themselves they were brought before Titus who having heard of the merit of Iosephus shewed him mercy and at his intreaty saved the life of his fellow Fourthly The good effects of the passion of Despair may be these first It annihilates and turneth to smoak all the vain and extravagant hopes of men that are fixed upon impossibilities Four good effects of Despair secondly It doth quench the burning flames of love and clips the wings of presumptuous Lovers who fly too high with their desires that would otherwise rack and torment their mindes and make them daily sigh and groan because they could not obtain the enjoyment of that object that is too rare and excellent for their degree but Despair coming on makes them desist from the prosecution of things in which there is no probability they can be obtained thirdly it mitigates the ambitious hopes of Princes who would conceive nothing impossible to them because of their might and power if this faithful counsellor of Despair did not respresent unto them the difficulties there may be to attain to the fruition of their Hope The Emperor Charls the fifth See du Bailys Commentaries in the life of Francis the first King of France being ready to pass out of Italy into France with a very potent Army led by approved Commanders and composed of old and experienced souldiers caused this Army to be ranged in Battel array and when it was Marshalized in the best order it could be according to the Art and Rules of War he sent for a French Noble man that was his Prisoner to ride along with him to view this Army and after they had ridden through the same and viewed all the Squadrons of it The Emperor did ask the Noble man what he conceived of this Army He answered that it was a gallant one and well disciplined I hope said the Emperor to ride with this Army thorow the heart of France without impediment of any moment and come to the very walls of Paris safe Sir said the French Noble man mitigate your Hopes with Despair for I can assure you if you had three such Armies you will not come to Paris before you are well beaten and so it fell out for he went no furthen then Marsellies and there lost thirty thousand of his men and was inforced to raise his siege and to return with shame and dishonor into Italy fourthly As Despair makes men fly and takes away their courage so when it isextream and that there is no hope left for the preservation of their lives it inflames their courage See the English History and du Halian in his French History and makes them fight like Lyons The Black Prince having entred France with an Army of some ten thousand men and taken divers strong holds in Poytou Iohn then King of France came against him with an Army of thirty thousand men the Prince seeing himself over-matched by the means of the Popes Nuncio desired to come to a Treaty and offered to the French King to restore unto him all the strong holds he had taken and to make good the damages he had received so he might peaceably retreat with his Army into Aquitain that did then belong to the Kingdom of England but King Iohn a rash and inconsiderate Prince required greater things which stood not with the Princes honor to grant and so was inforced out of Despair to fight whether he would or no and being an excellent souldier seated his Camp in a high ground full of thorns and bushes which he lined with his Archers and caused in the night time a deep ditch to be cast up about his Camp to break the fury of the French horse the French in the morning in stead to send their foot to make a passage through this ditch sent their horse who falling atop of one another in the ditch were slain by the Archers and the battel of the French disordered whereupon the Prince came upon them with his whole Army and obtained a famous victory and took King Iohn and his youngest son Philip le Hardy that was afterwards Duke of Burgundy prisoners and a great number of the French Nobility which confirms that extream Despair makes men fight like Lyons and that wise Princes are rather to
men do commonly fight like Lyons for the preservation of the true Religion as the Protestants have done in Germany and in France who were but a handful in comparison of the Roman Catholikes and yet they have obtained divers famous victories over them And notwithstanding Machiavel out of an Atheistical mpudency doth maintain that the Protestant Religion doth extinguish all true Valour and Undantedness in the heart of men yet divers instances migh t be produced to prove that none are so couragious and undanted as those that are truly religious The two supernatural causes of undantedness for the wicked and prophane do fight but out of despair but true Christians fight out of assurance that they shall prevaile because God takes their part The second supernatural cause of undantedness may be the true eonfidence that men have in the Omnipotency of God who is able by small means nay without means if it pleaseth him to make them obtain unexpected Victories and come off with honor and reputation from the most perilous enterprises they undertake as it shall be proved by instances when I shall speak of the Effects of Undantedness Thirdly The Nature and Proprieties of this Passion of Undantedness will best appear in a comparative way by shewing the differences there are between it and Temerity first undantedness is ever accompanied with Prudence and Justice The nature and proprieties of undantedness described in a comparative way with those of Temerity but Temerity tramples them both under its feet secondly Men of undanted courage never imploy their valour but upon some noble occasion as the defence of their native Countrey or for the increase or glory of it but men transported with Temerity run headlong upon all occasions and will rather shew their valour to murder their dearest friends in a Duel upon some trivial word spoken unadvisedly then to meet the enemy of their Countrey in the Field thirdly Men of undanted courage are cautious in all their undertakings and will not attempt things except they fee some probability they may come off with honor and reputation unless it be in desperate cases that threaten the ruine of their Prince or of their native Country for in such cases they will willingly sacrifice their lives as Leonidas did at the straites of Thermopilae But men transported with temerity will hazard their lives for things of no moment that conâ—… her do them nor their Countrey good fourthly Men truly valorous 〈◊〉 with patience and great magnanimity 〈…〉 and offences that are 〈…〉 their own persons and 〈…〉 of such offences and injuries which blemish the honour of their Prince or Countrey but such as are possessed with temerity vindicate with severity the offences done to themselves and connive at those that are done to their Prince or native Country It hath been a subject of much debate among the Moralists which of these two famous Conquerors viz. Alexander or Cesar See Quintius Curtius in Alexanders life did excel one another in Undantedness of courage the greater part hold that Alexander in his actions had shewn to have more temerity then prudence and true undanted valour and that Cesar in his actions had been more unjust but less temerary and had far excelled Alexander in Valour and Courage first The undertaking of the conquest of Asia by Alexander was more just then Cesars for he undertook to suppress the Persian Monarchy that had ever been a mortall enemy to the Greeks but Cesar undertook to suppress the liberties of his native Country that had raised him to his honors and dignities and had intrusted him with their Armies for their defence and not for their overthrow secondly All the Actions of Cesar but one that was when he commanded the Master of a Ship to cross the sea in a most impetuous storm See Plutarch in Cesars life saying Fear not for thou carriest in thy Ship Cesar and his Fortune which savored over-much of Temerity were guided with much Wisdom and Prudence but all the Actions of Alexander were guided by vaine hopes and his undertakings were rash and temerary for there was no humane probability that an Army of fourty thousand foot and ten thousand horse should be able to encounter and foile two or three millions of men but they were raw and unexperienced souldiers whereas Cesar had to oppose the most expert Commanders and well trained souldiers that were in the world his onely excepted and therefore his undanted courage was far the greater in over-coming of them But some will object How came it then to pass that their actions were so successful and fortunate sith the first were accompanied with Temerity and the second with Injustice It may be answered God in his infinite Wisdom had long before decreed that Alexander should give the last period to the Persian Monarchy Dan. 7.6.7 and be the first Erector of the Grecian Monarchy and Cesar the first Founder of the Roman Monarchy which was to excel in Strength and Power all the former Monarchies and it was Gods Wil and Decree that gave their Temerary and unjust designs such success and not their prudence nor undantedness The evil effects of undantedness when it is abused Fourthly The Effects of Undantedness are of two sorts Evil and Good the evil proceed from the abuse that men make of so noble a Passion but the good are essential and natural to it first As there is nothing so good but may be abused by the corrupt and depraved inclination of men even so this noble Passion whose natural object is Vertue Prudence and Justice is extraordinarily abused by the evil intentions of men who make it the Emissary of their wrath and revenge Gen. 34.26 The undanted courage of Simeon and Levi was by them made the agent and instrument of their cruel revenge upon all the Inhabitants of Shechem and upon Hamar and Shechem the Father and the Son and had not God out of his mercy towards the old Patriarch Jacob been pleased to send a panick fear upon the Cities that were round about them Gen. 35.5 their rash temerity had been the cause of their utter ruine secondly The undanted courage of Joab who was a man of valour from his youth was made by his immoderate ambition the instrument of the two base and horrid murders of Abner 2 Sam. 3.27 2 Sam. 20.9 and of Amasa two more righteous men then he thirdly The undanted courage of Alexander of Marius of Sylla of Cataline and of Cesar was by their ambition made the instrument of the shedding of an ocean of humane blood See the History hf France fourthly The undanted courage of the Duke of Guise and of the Marshal de Biron was made by their excessive ambition the instrument of the desolations that hapned in the civil war of France and of the troubles that hapned in Henry the fourths dayes and of their own distruction and fatall end whereby it appears that if Valour and