soueraignty and the other ought to prouoke vs to sorrow of hart true repentance of our sinnes for which he suffered Behold sayth S. Iohn he commeth with clouds Apoc. 1. Zach. 12. and euery eye shall see him and they that wounded him And all the tribes of the earth shall bewaile themselues vpon him Moyses approched to God Iesus Naue entred into the land Exod. 7. Iosue 5. Luc. 10. of promise bare footed and the Apostles the neerest seruantes about our Sauiour vsed no shooes Whē one part of the ballance is depressed the other ariseth so saith S. Basil prayer being an eleuation Basil hom in illud Attende tibi of the soule vnto God then it mounteth vp the highest when the body as the opposit part of the ballance by penance and mortification is borne downe and most depressed 15. Neither only in time of prayer and supplication are we to represent the humiliation mortification of our bodys by our apparell and modest attire but in the whole course of our liues It is the maine cry of S. Paul Mortifie your Colloss 3. bodies which are vpon the earth for they be enemies to the soule From which practice the custome of our dayes declineth much accordingly we thriue The enemy of the soule is to be kept vnder not to be pampered and much lesse applauded maintayned in his hostility and as it were carryed about in triumph when he worketh our ruine Who attireth a coarse when it is to be buried in other colour then in blacke or who according to Christian discipline his dead Christened body then in a weed of humiliation and pennance We know according to the same Apostle that we Rom. 6. are dead in Christ and our liues hidden with him in God To what purpose then are our bodyes to be set out vpon the stage of vanity in splendor of apparel to make profession that they liue yet in sinne 1. Cor. 7. The same Apostle rehearsing such cōmodities as be lawfull in this life aduertiseth vs that we are so to enioy them as if they were not ours as indeed they be not but lent that is not to dwell in them or to expect our felicity by them but to vse them and loue them in such manner as we be not loth to leaue them when God shall please to take them from vs or vs from them and that in no wise they hinder our loue towardes him in which respect they are lent 16. But where great curiosity of apparell is seene there is giuen a quite contrary signification If all glory in this Tertul. lib. 2. de cult Eem life be vaine saith Tertullian that is the vainest of all which is found in our flesh The present miseries of our dayly corruptiō the tragical end of our liues the earthly funerall of our bodyes declare sufficiently if we be not senselesse that neither the tragedy is to be increased nor our funerals garnished with vnseemely apparell What a fall will it be fit for a tragedy when after much ado to trimme vp a rotten body in painted cloathes it must be shrowded in the winding sheet The funerals must needs be more dolefull where pompe of apparell affordeth more prey for death the spoiles for deuouring sepulchers be greater Owe we so much to the dole of the tragedy or to the gastly spectacle of the opened earth as to honour our fall by the one our corruption by the other with a costly maske of curiosity preceding I haue heard of diuers fortunate sea-faring men who returning home with a rich booty haue entred the harbour in triumph and brauery their sailes and topsailes of silke displayed with oftentation But I neuer heard of of any that solemnized his shipwrack in such a fashion if he were not mad much lesse did it on purpose to runne vpon the rockes In like sort it may seeme a preposterous errour to attire superfluously these bodys of ours which haue already receaued an irreuocable sentence of death and runne on by natures motion directly as to shipwrack to our death-bed and to the loathsome appurtenances of our graue 17. When the Spider out of her owne bowels hath spunne her curious habitation in the webbe then commeth the sweeper with his broome and in a trice defaceth all she hath done And when the best part of our life of our time of our money and of our cogitations and study haue beene spent in cloathing our body trimming it vp a little after entreth death called by another name Stoupe gallant and with one dash casteth all into dust Your richesse saith S. Iames are putrified and your Iacob 5. garments eaten vp by the mothes But aboue all the acknowledgement of Almighty Gods finall iudgment should worke in vs restraint of this vanity And though superfluity and curiosity of apparell were not otherwise offensiue to his diuine maiesty or hurtfull to vs then only in respect that it wasteth our time withdraweth our cogitations from our last account and the employments of our hartes from the memory loue and reuerence of God yet it is to be estemed as very hurtful and to be auoyded 18. Man was created to the likenesse of almighty God that his principall occupation should be to thinke vpon his Creator to loue him to serue him to conuerse with him and to liue continually in his presence Wherfore he must withdraw himselfe from all impertinēt or contrary distractions which turne his eye another way diminish interrupt or extinguish his care affection towardes his maister maker or hinder his endeauours or the execution of what he is to do if he will not be reiected and punished as a carelesse and vnprofitable seruant For what Maister would keep a lubber in his house which should spend all the day in putting on his cloathes Heereupon is the Counsaile of our Sauiour Be not solicitous of your body what to weare as if he should say Employ Matth. 6. not much time nor care of apparel but be content with that which is easy ready to be had in this kind through my prouidence The cause of which aduertismēt is for that a Christian which hopeth to get to heauen ought so to be wholy and perpetually in the memory and contemplation of heauenly thinges and in the execution of his necessary or charitable employmentes so entierly occupied with them that he should haue no leasure to thinke of trifles amongst which is the care curiosity of superfluous apparell when it had no other bad intention nor effect but only losse of time choosing rather to be a Lilly of the field then a Puppet of the Taylors shop 19. But when it shal be proued against vs in the last iudgement that we haue in this life beene more carefull to beautifie the body then the soule lesse carefull and circumspect to please the eyes of God then to present to the world a false couer to a filthy carcasse that where
and strength for a litle transitory â—ast of pleasure in the mouth as it passeth down the throat should be wholy referred to the contrary that is to multiply exâ—rements and bring detriment decay and ruine to the body Besides the inordinate appetite of delight in drinking not only maketh the great drinker an enemie to himselfe selling as it were away the inestimable worth of his life for the short pleasure he taketh to powre into his belly some base liquour as Esau sold his prehemineÌ„cy patrimony for a dish of pottage but he offendeth with all perniciously in a triple abuse Against Almighty God the Lord and giuer of life against the propriety of drink profitable for the maintenance of the body when it is temperatly vsed and against the loue which he oweth to his family his friends country common wealth to which his health life and honest labours might be more or lesse profitable according to his talent if all were not buried in the barrell and drowned in excesse of drinke 10. Is it not then a childish folly so to delight himselfe and play with his tast as he not only diuert the vse of drinke ordayned for the conseruation of health to a contrary end but make it the bane of his body The stomakâ— is a principall instrument of life and the common fosterer of all the other partes to maintayne them in a good and florishing estate and therfore nature hath placed it in the middest as Galen saith of the body as in the center Wherfore when this is surcharged disgestion weakened it commeth to be filled and infected with corrupt and vnnaturall humours wheÌ„ce of necessity the whole body must want good nourishment become distempered and corrupt the vitall spirits dull and the soule so heauy as it waxeth weary of the bad intertaynement it hath in a ruinous habitation pestered with diseases and therefore with desire to be gone shortneth life For if drinke euen according to the precise necessary vse appointed by nature taken neuer so temperatly causeth alwayes some repassion and giuing as it were euery time a fillip or a stroak to the stomake by little and little enfeebleth disgestion abundance of drinke floating continually in the same stomake either with meate or without it by it selfe must of necessity worke a straÌ„ge effect vpon that faculty and make it euery day lesse lesse able to disgest And when naturall heat which is the instrument of concoction in the stomake is once decayed then nourishment is neither so much in quaÌ„tity nor in quality so good but much of the food resteth behind as matter of hurtfull crudities nature not being able to draw from it any further commodity nor expell the excrements Whereupon follow ioyntly decay of colour a wrinckled skin gray haires before time drowsines in the head vnweldinesse in all the body and other like forerunners of the speedy funerals that are to folow and giue warning to make ready the graue 11. VVhat a foule and vnnaturall fault is it then in a man to shorten voluntarily his owne dayes by drinke to worke diseases by the instrument of health and to powre into the lampe so much oyle as to extinguish the light which it should nourish and preserue What an hostility vseth he against himselfe to defloure the complexion of his body to infect it with cholericke humor and staine it with yellow to dull the vitall spirits and betray his owne life bringing into the stomake as into the castell of health and storehouse of prouision so deadly an enemy as poysoneth the vitals and ouerfloweth the whole building of his lesser world 12. But this vice is yet greater and of more especiall deformity in a yong man who by the good disposition of his strength and wit should be profitable to himselfe amiable to others apt for matrimony to vphold his house and family and to continue the succession of those that are to honour and serue God in this world and to fill vp the empty seates in heauen of the Angells that fell But all this is hindered and reuersed by abundance of drinke wherby the body becommeth as it were a quagmyre or bogge as S. Augustine saith August sermâ— 23â— infirme â—asie ill coloured fluent dissolued and more fit to bring out with the fennish marshes frogges serpents venimous wormes of naughty actioÌ„ then either children of any worth or themselues to be profitable for any action of man-hood For when by excesse of drinke and of grosse vndisgested humors which be the dregges of that superfluity the stomake is weakened then all the parts of the body faile in their action and perfection as well naturall as animasticall The bloud is not so pure as it should nor so clearly refined in the first passage from the originall cause and matter of nourishment and consequently the vitall spirits loose their fiery quality of motion agility operation and become dull heauy materiall and slow The vitall actions of the senses which depend vpon the spirites are also consequently more dampish and dead for as temperate drinesse giueth force to action so superfluous moisture doth debilitate and destroy it Is it not then an vnreasonable and vnseasonable domage for a momentary pleasure in drinking to sustaine all these harmes and losses of our naturall life Is not the exchange for those that haue skill in merchandize more then vnthrifty for those that make accouÌ„t of pleasure sottish and foolish to loose the greater and more durable for lesser both in quality and durance and especially for those that haue more noble cogitations to make themselues contemptible and worse then beastes which though they want the vse of reason yet exceed not in this kind 13. But to retaine yet a while longer our discourse about consideration of the stomake we are to know that not only the faculty of disgestion is impayred by too much drinke but that the stomake it selfe becommeth also imbued and infected therby with a bad rellish and euill sauouring humour of so wrenesse which fâ—etteth it and bringeth in an vnnaturall and vicious quality For if wine and beere haue force to worke this effect in the wood of the barrell much more when they lye long in the stomake through the excesse of continuall drinking they procure this corrosiue and crabbish disposition in the tender bulke of the same And no doubt but this biting gall as it hindereth disgestion and is painefull to the drinkers making them ircksome to themselues so also they become harsh in conuersation and troublesome to others 14. To this bad constitution of the stomake by abundance of drinke may be added in consideration the dregges of putrifaction and choler which Wine Ale or Beere drunke out of measure leaue behinde them which from the stomake flow and are dispersed through all the partes of the body And hence it proceedeth according to obseruation that Northren nations abound comonly more with this kind of choler bred of indisgestion then others
doubt by inspiration of the holy Ghost the faithfull of the Primitiue Church solemnized Festiuall dayes consecrated to religion with precious Apparell as Theod. l. de Martyr S. Gregor Ep. ad August Theodoretus and S. Gregory report Vnto which signification by Apparell is conformable the habit of sacred and religious persons who as they haue by vow and institution of life forsaken all worldly endowments so do they declare as much by their exteriour cloathing As when the clergy-man weareth Pier. lib. 4. long garments of blacke or sad colour when the Monke seemeth rather shrowded and buryed then inuested in his Coole when the Hermite is apparelled in hayr-cloath or plat of the Hieron in vitâ— Pauli Palme-tree As Paul the Hermite saith S. Hierome had a meaner garment then is vsed by any mans slaue And accordingly S Athanasiâ— Athanas in vitâ— Antonij August l. 1. de mor. Eccles c. 31. â—p 109. Tertul. de velandis virgin writing the life of S. Antony maketh mention of the austerity of his attire Christs Precursor that came to preach pennance was clad in Camells hayre And for the same representation the veyle of vowed virgins which couereth their heads faces testifieth that their soules as well as their bodyes liue in separation from earthly contentmens in solitude and recollection with God Prudent l. 2. contra Sym. Sunâ— virginibus pulcherima praemia nostris Et pudor sancto â—ectus velamine vultus Et priuatus honos nec not a publica forma Et rarae tenuesque epulae meÌ„s sobria semper 8. Now to proceed from sacred to Ciuill persons it is comendable also iustifiable in Kings and Princes to haue their heads as the seates of reasons Empire adorned with Dâ—adems after the manner of Asia or with Crownes of Clem. Alex. l. 2. Pedag. Virgil. â— 7. Lazâ—us l. 8. de repub Roman Veget. l. 2. dere miâ—it Lauâ—el or Gold according to the fashion of the Romans and to be vested in Purple hold in their hands Scepters in resemblance of Authority 9. For this cause likewise Martiall men beare for armes in their ScurchioÌ„s and vpon their Crests the portraitures of Lyons Eagles and the like weare vpon their bodyes the skins of wild beasts to support the steele and yron of their armour notifying thereby their contempt of voluptuous effeminancy there warlike spirits deuoted to manhood and as it were promising victory ouer their enemies by their armour and Virgil. Enead 7. apparell â—pse pedes tegmen torquens immane Leonis Terribili impexum seâ—a cum dentibus albis Indâ—â—â—s capâ—â— sic Regia tecta subibâ—t Horridus Herculeâ—que humeros innexus amictu 10. The Nobleman also in token of his Nobility in those times was knowne by his attyre And for this Alâ—iat Emâ— cause the Athenian Gentâ—eman to signify that by ancestry he was not an alien or stranger but homebred of his City did weare vpon his vpper garment and the hayre of his head certayne grashoppers of gold for that grashoppers neuer part Clem. Alex. l. 2. pedag farre from their natiue nests as Clemens Alex recordeth And for the same end also the Noble Roman vpon his black shooe did heare the resemblance of the Alex. l. â—â— gen dieâ— cap. 18. Moone as it was ordayned by Numa where the vulgâ—r sort was not permitted to vse any such ornameÌ„ts Also vpon pâ—oâ—perous euents the same Romans and after other Nations as they were ioyfull or sorrowful for disasters so did they respectiuely change the colour and quality of their Apparell as we read in Cicero pro Sextio Seneca ep 18. Plutar. in Caesar Lucan l. 2. Phar. Plutarc q. Rom. 2. 6. Trig uâ—t lib. 1. hist Chin. c. 7. Cicero in Seneca Plutarch and Lucan Pleibâ—o tectus amictu Omnis honos nullos comitata est purpur a â—asces The women also of Rome as Plutarch reporteth performed their doale attired in white because this colour amongst the rest hath least resemblance of deceit which manner the Chinenses obserue at this day 11. Thus hath it beene declared how Nature in man maketh her vse of garmeÌ„ts as wel for some signification of estate quality affection disposition iudgment as for the necessary defence of life against diseases and other inconueniences repugnant to the honor and health of the body But it may be that the same nature hath yet a further intention insinuated by the generall practise of all nations in the sundry attire and ornaments of their bodyes of which we are now to enquire What may be the generall purpose of Nature in that all nations endeauour to adorne their bodyes CHAP. II. IT would be an argument answerable Tertul. de pallio CleÌ„ Alex. l. 2. pedagog to a bigge Volume to recount seuerally the diuersity of habits vsed by different nations which either Historiographers or Cosmographers haue described vnto vs who although they Pier. l. 4. much differ in manner and fashion yet do they make manifest what in euery one nature intendeth that is to honor grace and benefit their bodyes 2. The common obiect of these diuers fashions euery where is a certayne decorum or Corporall comlines fit to represent to others aspects that which men thinke most priceable in themselues and thereupon they procure tâ— make it knowne by Apparell as by a purchase of their best reputation notwithstanding this decorum or bodily ornament be not the selfe same euery where yea rather what in this country is esteemed gracefull and decent in another is contemned and scorned as euill fashioned and ridiculous what in this people or Countrey is ordayned to signifie a Martiall or a ciuill mind in another appeareth of a cleare opposite representation In so much that if some persons of euery nation should meet together euery one wearing his proper Nationall attyre nothing would so moue them all to laugh one at another as when they should behold ech others apparell formed in such diuersity notwithstaÌ„ding they al agree in general in that wherin they disagree in particular ech one procuring to set out himselfe but in that manner which to himselfe seemeth best 3. There may be thought vpon three causes why the soule by reason will secketh to beautifie the body through the vse of Apparell The first concerneth the close and neere coniunction which is betwixt the body and the soule as hath beene sayd for which respect the soule procureth to hide and dissemble with honest apparell what through sin or natures defect is deformed in the body From heÌ„ce procedeth that which S. Paul obserueth as natural 1. Cor. 12. in man concerning Apparell Such as we thinke sayth he to be the baser parts of the body we apparel them with more honor and the lesse honest parts with more shew of honesty 4. Another cause from which proceedeth this affection in the soule to adorne the body may be thought to consist in this that she
pectore nodum A ceruice fluens tenuâ— velamine limbus Concipit ingestas textis turgentibus auras 4. This passion of arrogancy and pride residing as I haue said in the hart and managing an empty body sendeth out hoate vitall spirits of the same nature and quality to the eyes the cheeks the legs and to all the rest from top to toe And to the end that the same parts of the body may be the fitter messengers that Vice which lyeth hidden and cannot get out by it selfe trimmeth them vp â—n diuers formes that they may carry newes where she lodgeth 5. It is likewise euident that Effeminacy is another speciall motiue to the kind and fashion of Apparell when it is with excesse And so those which employ their cogitations in sensuall pleasures describe also their thoughts as the proud man doth in the vanity and variety or their cloathes wherewith weaklings being doted are taken in Cobwebs become captiues in the same fetters and chaynes And for that reason affordeth no sufficient argument to perswade a man to such grosse and foule delights as are common to brute beast therefore the sensuall poysoned spider lurking in her hole vseth apparell as a lure to call the silly fly into her nets for the senses haue there most power where reason is most weake 6. Thus is the Abuse of Apparell the displayed banner of dishonesty the fowlers glasse which allureth to poysoned baites the smoake of that impure and smothered fire which wasteth inwardly all the substance and ornaments of nature grace and vertue And wheras naturally all other fire is bright and the smoke filthy and stincking here the fire is foule and blacke and the smoke to wit the Apparell adorned and perfumed 7. To this effect when age declineth in the Autumne of decay with one foote in the graue we see sometime not without laughing though with compassion the inordinate loue of fading beauty past borrow the Paynters colours to fill vp the wrinckles of a withered face adorne the head with dead yea and perhaps damned hayre and whilest art seeketh to reforme nature in shew deformeth and depraueth it in very deed recommending the truncke of life to the memory of fancyes past though loath to dye yet stroweth flowers vpon the hearse whilest death gathereth vp the rotten windfals of foolish youth 8. This kind of poyson in custome drunke out of Circes cup maketh â—t at men and women can hardly be wâ—anâ—d from their inueterate miseryes and being loath to bid them adue discouer by their Apparell and artificiall ornaments inordinate desires which time should haue taken away and shame would haue at least concealed VVhat if Seneca Epist 90. Possidonius sayth Seneca should behold the thin linnen of our dayes in garments which doe scarse couer and so farre from affording help to the body that they giue it not to modesty or shamesastnes Clem. Alex lib. 2. pedagog 9. The third and last note out of which springeth this disorderly cost and excesse of attire is Impiety and neglect of God and heauenly affaires For such is the quality of mans nature that when in his iudgement he admireth and in his heart exalteth the diuinity and greatnes of Almighty God then doth he most of all humble and debase himselfe And to the contrary when he forgetteth God and liueth without feare of his iudgments prouidence of the life to come theÌ„ doth he extoll himselfe and declineth from the care of his soule to the loue of his body bestowing all his time study and endeuours to pamper and adorne it and to serue it as an Idoll And this hapneth not onely amongst them that haue knowledge of of the true God and Christian religion but it is so grafted in the very bowels of Nature that these two like a ballance when the one goeth vp the other declineth And so the old Romans whilst they held reuerence after their fashion to Diuinity as Nature it selfe teacheth all Nations to do vpon a reasonable iudgement of their owne vnworthines subiection and dependence of a higher prouidence they contented themselues with such things as serued meerely for succour against necessity abstayning from super fluityes which they thought might be displeasant to the power that gouerneth with order or serued only for their owne magnificence and glory The Romanes being in flower saith Salust Salust de coniur were sumptuous in their piety towards the Gods but sparing at home towards themselues Nec fortuitum spernere cespitem Horat. l. 2. carm od 15. Leges sinebant oppida publico Sumptu iubentes Deorum Templa nouo decorare saxo 10. Whereupon when any Nation commeth to be extraordinarily addicted to gorgeous apparell variety of new fashions it is a most forcible argument that it beareth little regard towards heauenly greatnes And for the same reason the inhabitants each one in his degree endeauour to get as high as they can and to greaten and extoll themselues and as if they were petty Gods they set themselues out with osteÌ„tation of Apparell as spectacles to be admired and adored by the beholders 11. Vpon this consideration S. Augustine Angust l. 1. de ciuit comparing the Citty of the pious to Hierusalem and this confused world to impious Babylon saith that where the selfe loue of Babylon wageth warre and preuayleth against Hierusalem that then it impareth it and when Hierusalem by the loue of God is raysed and getteth the better hand that then the Towers of Babel do fall Wherefore it is conuinced that Babylon is the Citty of those who for arrogancy impiety or nicenesse and inordinate loue of their bodyes set out themselues in Apparell aboue their degree to the misprision of others and extenuation of the Deity it selfe and with no small burden to the common wealth For as they say fooles bring in fashions and wise men are obliged to follow them not to be noted as singular But because this vice and vanity yea in some sort this sacriledge and idolatry of Apparell is crept into our countrey growne into custome it will be necessary to speake something more in particuler of euery one of the sayd three heads or fountaynes from whence it came and by which it is maintayned How Modesty and Prudence condemne excesse in Apparell and the like as signes discouâ—-ring Pride and Arrogancy in the mind CHAP. V. THE Counsaile of Ecclesiasticus is Ecclesiast 11. good saying Glory not at any tyme in Apparell for assuredly what glory is aymed at by excesse in apparell is no glory in substance but a fond fiction of the mind which causeth rather contrary effects of dishonour and disdayne for who knoweth not that arrogancy pride of heart is odious when by any way it is discouered And for that naturally men aspire more or lesse to soueraignty and to be freed from subiection to others whom they hold as their equalls wheÌ„ they see one that hath neither prehemineÌ„ce nor dignity aboue them
seeke to set himselfe before them out of his ranck only with title of better cloathes they disdaine and hate him for his pride Is it not then an egregious folly when with great industry care and expences the proud man reapeth nothing but disdayne and contempt where he procured estimation and honor 2. Therfore by excesse in cloathing he can expect no good from others and so his only reward is to please his owne fancy with dislike of the beholders and much more of the wiser sort that looke vpon our young Gallant as vpon Esops Cocke clad with the borrowed feathers of other birds For all the gay attire which eyther man or woman can put on to make ostentation of themselues may as well be put vpon a statua of stone or vpon a hedgstake VVhat state then or what greatnes excellency or ability of mind or body is represeÌ„ted by excesse of Apparell If to be great and excellent in any good quality require no more but fancies of new fashions and painted cloathes who cannot excell if he haue more money then wit or the Taylour be his friend But how base is such an excellency that may be common to the foole as well as to the wise man to the Cobler or Carter if he haue money or trust in the Marchants bookes as well as to the Prince to beasts yea to senselesse Creatures as well as to men and women 3. Truly they do publish too much their weaknes and little worth when they condemne themselues as needy of Cuts Iagges needleworks inuention of Artificers who commonly haue all their vnderstanding in their fingers endes to vphold their reputation for dead flesh needeth salt to keep it from stincking and the most corrupted bodyes sweet smells and perfumes These Peacocks or Iayes these feathered fooles disgrace and deiect the highest state of themselues they set nature and vertue Bernard l. 5. de consid a begging to craue as S. Bernard prudently noteth forraine dignity and reputation from such thinges as are farre inferiour to themselues It is the true doctrine of our Sauiour that The Mat. 7. body is more then the garment as the souse is more then the meate Why then is the body of a man animated with a reasonâ—ble souâ—e to be adorned superfluously and impertinently as though it could be honoured or made great by that which in comparison of it selfe is base and ignoble and rather to be graced by the body then the body by it 4. It is not coâ—uenient as it seemeth to me saith Clemeâ—s Alexandrinus that that CleÌ„ Alex. l. 2. â—â—â— c. 12. which is couered should shew it selfe worse then the couer As we see in the Temple and Image in the body and the soule But now it falleth out quite contrary for if the body were to be soull who would giue a thousand atticke groates for it wheras for a costly coate or iewel diuers are ready to offer a thousand talents See then mans nature inuerted and his dignities borne dowâ—e by excremenâ—â— of the elements by the off â—â—â— of brute beasts by the bowâ—â—â— of wormes and the worke manship of the basest member of the Common wealth who ordinarily are neither idle nor well occupied 5. But in this kind that which is particularly and most iniurious to the soueraignty of nature is the shamefull practice of painting the face wherein they vse liquors distilled from filthy weeds from gums and poysoned iuyces which once aduanced aboue their naturall degree to the visage of a woman and plastered vpon the cheife mansion of a reasonable soule created to the likenes of Almighty God there they eate and fret the skin there they putrifie fester and dry vp into parchment the place where they were put to cause beauty which they might as wel do vpon an old buskin as vpon a wrinckled twisted face yea a great deale better and with a fresher gloze and longer continuance What basenes then is it for a man that he may seeme forsooth a man or a woman according to her sexe and not in may-games or monsters to begge with much labour payne and hurt to themselues such ornaments as I haue spoken off with so much disparagmeÌ„r if confideratioÌ„ be duly made as though nature and reason had not remembred to giue sufficient and conuenient ornaments to both and for vnprofitable fancies to reuerse and disorder the whole course of Gods creatures abusing the better and magnifiyng those that are most vile and contemptible 6. So is it appoynted by our creation and by the vitall motion of nature that our life consisting of the action of heate that feedeth vpon moysture as the flame in the lamp feedeth vpon the oyle by little and little the moysture should be consumed and with it that fresh colour and flower of beauty which thereby is caused fade and decay After the same manner and with the same end that nothing be permanent that is made only for vse and passage to better purpose all the seasons of the yeare haue their peculiar properties ornaments graces with amiable intercourse of change which teach vs the seuerall dignities and comlinesse of all the parts of our life To our youth because it wanteth experience prudence and many other preheminences that are not due but to industry and time and specially to women as to the most deficient by reason of their sexe is giuen the veyle of exterior beauty or good fauour to couer other wants 7. Now when this spring and suÌ„mer are past and Autume hath brought the blossoms to fruite and green fruite to maturity what a folly is it for men or women to vsurpe out of time and counterfaite the couers and ornaments of their former defects And what a shame for a man to play the boy or which is worse the womans part or that the matrone should be such a turne-backe to the follies of a litle girle The true ornaments of this age be not gewgawes nor trifling shadowes of youth but all those thinges which declare and testifie the grauity and maturity of a discreet modest spirit which is venerable of it selfe and needeth no exteriour ornaments nor helpes to be reuerenced and respected 8. These ornamentes when they be not out of their season they are in season when out of measure they are ridiculous but when they be false and Clem. Alex lib. 2. paedagog cap. 11. counterfaite they be ignominious Against them and specially against painting Clemens Alexandrinus maketh this dilemma If the visages of painted women be faire of themselues nature is sufficient to recommend their beauty and then they need not to striue by art against nature nor with fraud to wage warre against truth But if they be not faire by benefit of nature then applying this counterfeit gloze to their faces they make open confession to the beholders that they want beauty Is it I pray you laudable in a woman or any wayes to be esteemed that her face can performe the office of a
for that nature hauing prouidently giuen them hoater liuers to resist the cold of the region which with the same also is augmented by Antiperistasis and repercussion they drinke more then others and are more subiect to excesse if with reason and temperance it be not moderated But for better vnderstanding of this matter it is to be knowne that there be two kindes of choller the one naturall which causeth animosity fearcenesse rising from the hoate agile and quick spirits which one hath by constitution of nature and may be increased by fumes of drinke that heat the braine in which sense Galen saith that wine causeth men to be headlong in wrath But there is another choler accidentall ingendred in the stomake by indisgestioÌ„ and putrifaction of superfluous meat and drinke which being continued by surfets breedeth a permanent quality of the same nature in the stomake and consequently a like habitual disposition and inclination in the whole body wherby a man is sayd to be cholerike that is affected in such manner as he is prone in all occasions of conuersation to shew his Ire as drie wood is quickly kindled And in this sense we take choler in this place speaking of accidentall and vnnaturall choler that proceedeth from putrifaction in the stomake and immoderate drinke And according to this sober reckoning the vice is seene to be detestable for this distemperance of the stomake and consequently in the bloud spirites causeth bitternesse and teastinesse in the very operation of the soule and banisheth that sweetnesse of life which nature hath otherwise ordayned as a reward of temperance in such as be maisters of themselues 15. Besides this accidentall and vnnatural choler is an opposite disposition to all good abearance towardes superiours equals and inferiours And therfore must needs be accounted an harmefull condition when a man cannot liue with his wife his children nor with his familie or friendes without continuall brauling and breach of a mitie wherby not only he looseth that delight which he might enioy by quiet and tractable conuersation and tormenteth himselfe inwardly by euery occasion with bitternesse of wrath and dislike but moreouer he purchaseth at a very deere rate and without any profit the disfauour and hatred of others as many as must liue in his company or haue any dealings with him 16. Neither is this choler of which we speake that which serueth as an instrument to valour and fortitude but another beastly humour that makes a man brutish and good for nothing For coÌ„monly where it aboundeth there are not to be found those ardent gallant spirites which other people in hoater climates or in the same that be moderate in their drinke haue by nature and good complexion their bodyes being more dry their bloud more pure and their spirits more Etheriall whose choler is temperate but constant as naturall and therfore as it is not moued but by reason so is it reasonable and lasteth as long as by reason it should where the other brutish perturbation as it is easily vp to contradict braule reuile so is it done with the drinke or at least when the fumes are disgested and fitter for the tauerne then for the field For great drinkers though they abound with accidentall choler and are tall fellowes when they are armed with drinke yet their bodys are full of moyst and cold humors which make them heauy and cowardly especially if any danger be presented vpon cold bloud 17. Besides who is cholerike in this manner cannot possibly be permanent in contemplation or prudent in practise for that reason and iudgement is either wholly oppressed in him or very much hindered by his turbulent beastly choler yea it suffereth not the tongue to deliuer the month to vtter nor the hand to execute orderly what the minde hath conceaned but with fury and confusion ordinarily breaketh out into dishonourable and reprochfull yea sometime into sacrilegious blasphemous wordes and causeth a man to do with precipitation and hast that which afterwardes he is to bewayle by leasure And this humour abounding turneth consequently all other humors into it and so working still and fretting vpon life hasteneth death by corrosion or which is as bad with a moisty fogge of putrified fleame neuer sufficieÌ„tly concocted which queâ—â—heth by litle and litle as it were drowneth naturall heat and so when moysture cold the proper quality of drinke haue gotten the victory they returne the body in which they abound as a prey to the earth from whence it was taken 18. Neither doth drinke powred immoderatly into the belly attaine the end for which it is taken to wit extinction of thirst For putrifaction causeth hear as may be seene by a dunghill and that vnnaturall heate affecteth the stomake with the like quality and inflameth also the liuer adioyning and so as out of a vessell full of corruption set vpon the fire ascend perpetually corrupted vapours to the tongue and mouth which cause continuall thirst And therfore Pline writeth that the Embassadours Plin. l. 14. hist â— 2â— of Scythia were wont to say of the Parthians that they became dry in drinking 19. Loe then how great an abuse is committed against nature by this excesse That whereas drinke is ordayned to quench and expell the distemper of heat and drinesse the same drinke becomâ—â—th an instrument of insatiable thirst as if men were made to hang by the spigot and all their cogitations and desires to be directed and employed about the remedy of this continuall sicknesse procured by themselues What a slauery of base ignominous employment is this what a circle of disorder from the preposterous and hurtfull vse of drinke when through a momentany delightonly of the mouth or throat which the organ of tast affecteth with excesse where reason beareth no rule the foolish man endeuouroth voluntarily to make his body still thirsty by coÌ„tinuance of drinking and effecteth vpon himselfe that penalty and torment of continuall thirst which damned gluttons suffer in hell 20. This hatefull effect of too much drinke is so manifest that experience to the eye and sense it selfe giueth vs no leaue to doubt of it for those which are drunke ouer might besides other euill consequences alwayes find themselues in the morning distempered with thirst proceeding from indisgestion and putrification of humors dregges in the stomake which thirst is not taken away as the tripler imagineth with adding more more drinke though for the present his mouth and throat â—e refreshed as it goeth downe but must be cured with abstinence and moderate exercise that may help the stomake to disgest the crudities which cause that thirst as hath beene said Besides some kind of drinke oft taken in prouoketh the tast and causeth appetite to haue frequent vse of the same so as inordinate request after drinke is caused not only by vnnaturall heate of the stomake but also by the particular disposition of the tast it selfe distempered both which proceed from
intemperate vse of drinke And how base vnmaÌ„ly an act it is for one to tye himselfe as it were with his owne handes to the barrell or the bottel and put his body into a continuall ague and fury of thirst and let the Reader iudge which is more by drinke it selfe appointed as a remedy against thirst to condemne his life to this perpetuall and painfull slauery for as the Martial lib. 4. ep 7. Poet sayth Liber non potes gulosus esse 21. Consider then what drinke powred into the stomake with superfluity worketh in the whole body and what disposition it causeth The stomake as it is the common store house for nouriture so what euill yâ—ice or matter aboundeth therin is conueyed from thence presently to all the partes of the body So as when there is too great abondance of moysture in the stomake it filleth the veines rather with crude and indisgested dregs and putrifactioÌ„ then with pure perfect bloud for that nature oppressed with the abondance of these dregges caÌ„not disgest and refine them to perfect nourishment so the attractiue faculty of euery part draweth in dispatch what it findeth Wherby a man commeth by litle and litle to loose the very excellencie of his complexion and kind and consequently decay in vnderstanding and valour and with the corruption of his bloud and spirites to chaunge also his manners and condition And that which I say of the superfluity of all moysture and excesse of all kinde of drinke is more pernicious and sooner infecteth and destroyeth the natural complexion the stronger it is as the dregges and corruption of strong Wine Ale or Beere indisgested are much more hurtful and cause more incurable diseases then the smaller and weaker drinke indisgested 22. No doubt but that liuing creatures the hoater they be by naturall complexioÌ„ so are they also therby more excellent in their kind and likewise all nutriment the stronger it is to feed the more potent it is to poyson if it be corrupted And so the dryer bodies because the spirits are more fiery and subtile haue naturally as Heraclitus witnesseth Eusâ—b l. 8. praepar c. 8 the better wittes And in this respect a man is said to excell a woman for that in naturall complexion he is hoater and dryer then she Wherefore seeing that abondance of moisture must needs debilitate naturall heat as contrariwise it is sharpened and increased by drinesse the exceeding moysture of drinke flowing in the stomake from thence dispersed must needes cause a continuall decay of naturall vigour wit and manhood so as he that receaued from God the dignity of a man becommeth by this excesse equall or inferiour in nature and complexion to a woman and sometimes worse then a beast as afterwards shal be seene for the heat which followeth vpon the surfet of drinke of which we haue spoken is no vitall nor naturall heat but a heat of distemperature and putrifaction as the heat of an ague that consumeth the vitall spirits and the ardent forces of nature no otherwise then the sunne as Celius Rhodiginius sayth and Cel. Rhod. l. 28. cap. 31. experience teacheth vs extinguisheth the fier when it shineth vpon it And this heat may cause an appetite of beastly lust or reuenge but it neuer performeth any action of manhood 23. But aboue all we must remember the effectes of superfluous drinke in the stomake when they ascend to the head and inuade the principall instrument of sense and reason From the stomake are extended directly vpward to the head certaine sinewes which haue their root in the braine and from thence are deriued to sundry Galen lib. 12. de vsu part ca. 4. parts of the body and be the especiall meanes and instrumentes of feeling Now when their common knot and roote the Braine is ill affected and distempered by the vampe and vapour of superfluous drinke consequently the sense of feeling is euery where hindred and tasting also which according to Aristotle is a kind of feeling is likewise benummed and so first the pleasure which nature affoardeth to eating and drinking is diminished and decayeth And next from those vapours of drinke engrossed aboue in the head streameth downe into euery part of the body an infinite number of diseases as Catarrs Aches Palsies the falling sicknesse and the like and among the rest the stomake receaueth back againe with anguish and hurt that which first it entertayned with excesse Much drinke saith Galen hurteth the sinewes and their organ Galen l. 3. demorb vulgar the braine which braine retourneth downe againe by the sinewes an infectious cold humour ingendred of the superfluous vapours sent vp from the stomake into the same wherby it looseth the force of digestion is weakened and distempered and therby disposed to new crudities and defluxions 24. This defluxion from the head to the stomake and other partes is not like to that which first drawne from the earth in vapours descendeth after from thence againe in dew and rayne to fertilize the ground nature repaying with gaine what erst she borrowed of curtesie but contrariwyse the indisgested vampe of superfluous drinke mounting from the stomake to the head and there engrossed by the cold quality of the braine falleth down after vpon the stomake as poyson and putrifaction to it and to all the rest of the body not nature but sinne repaying with penalty that which a litle before not nature but sinne exacted with inordinate pleasure of sensuality Surely it is an extreme folly and madnes for a man by the spoute of his throat to annoy thus his health to ouerflow himselfe with a flood of waterish humours to make passage for an vnnaturall corrupt pestilent liquour into euery part of his body and so to infect and corrupt them all How farre then is the vse of immoderate drinking from reason and all humane decencie and dignity To which if we adde also the perturbation of the minde the oppression and dulnesse of wit forgetfulnes of the memory and extinction of prudence folly frenzy fury câ—rriage worse then brutish and finally want of the soules best direction and help occasioned only by abondance of drinke no monster wil be thought more vnnaturall and vgly to be seene them one of those swilling Drunkards 25. Drunkards saith Plinie do not see the sunne rise neither liue they long They be Plin. l. 14. Hist ca. 22. pale coloured haue hanging cheeks bleard eyes trembling hands and powre out vessels full For the present they suffer hellish dreames and vnquiet sleep and the day after haue a stincking breath with obliuion almost of all thinges and as it were a death of memory And so alwayes they loose both the day wherin they liue that which followeth VVhich premises considered make me wonder at the folly of some of the popular sort who according to Ceâ— Rhod. lib. 28. c 28. Aristophanes barbarously deeme it valour and manhood to beare much drinke without being drunke
God by participation wherof men become wise setteth it forth in such words as we may vnderstand it to be far from all materiall constitution and quality and consequently teacheth vs that if we wil enioy any parcell therof in our selues we must free our soules from all troublesome passions and as much as we can lighten them of all vnnecessary charge which the body otherwise being ouerloaden must needs be burdenous to the soule hinder her functions necessary for wisdome For in wisdome saith he Sap. 7 is the spirit of vnderstanding holy one and manifold subtill eloquent moueable vndefiled sure sweet louing goodnesse c. For it is a vapour of the power of God and a certaine sincere emanation of the glory of God omnipotent and therfore no defiled thing can come neere it for it is the brightnesse of euerlasting light the vnspâ—tted glasse of Gods Maiesty and the image of his goodnes By which metaphoricall words translated from things of the noblest substance is described the spirituall nature and condition of diuine wisdome Therfore a soule which is to be endowed therwith must be weaned as much as may be without incoÌ„uenience from the obiects of our senses especially from such as are more grosse materiall earthly and which cause any violent alteration of the body For as long as our soules be harboured in our bodyes they must needs be troubled with their affections which as they haue immediatly a kind of dominion ouer the imagination so once admitted consequently haue ability and occasion to trouble the vnderstanding and so to subdue the will if it be not otherwise preuented 2. We may therfore in two respects giue a reason why drinke taken out of measure is an obstacle in vs to diuine wisedome and to the loue which we owe to Almighty God one consisteth in the peculiar temper of the braine which being once replenished with vapours of drinke as the imagination is therby carryed away and distracted to wander gazing after many impertinent matters so the vnderstanding which hath a natural combination and friendship with it is consequently so occupied with trifles as it hath no leasure to contemplate seriously and stedfastly vpon Almighty God and the other obligations of man wherby the vnderstanding is not only distracted for the time togeather with the imagination but with custome of trifling becometh also a trifler and is dulled and made vnable to penetrate any thing which is sequestred from the senses loosing as it were the edge and sharpnesse of all spirituall eye sight by continuall looking vpon sensible and materiall things Moreouer by reason of the bodyes constitution great desire of sensuality in the sensuall appetite it beareth such sway in man wheÌ„ it is not restrained that it coÌ„maundeth his mind his will and the loue of his hart and keepeâ—h all his affections in seruitude So that where disorder about drinke whose force with custome becommeth a Hercules hath ingendred Seneca ep 83. in one egar desiâ—e still to be swilling he cannot haue feeling of God nor of any spiritual matter which to a creature so materiall and beâ—otted will seeme rather fantasticall then credible and so fare off to giue tast or comfort to an vnderstanding soped in drinke as the very remembrance of heauenly matters wil be ircksome to it 3. Alas what a misery is this when the soule a spirituall substance must be weaned and kept so far from her naturall food and as a noble mans child driuen froÌ„ conuersation with his peeres be forced to conuerse with wild sauage people or liue with brute brastes and so become like to them in behauiour sauage rude and beastly 4. If a soule thus barbarized and abased in the body by intemperate drinking could for a time behold her owne estate and the cloud of ignorance dispersed see perfectly what she enioyeth now and what she hath lost what sorrow would she conceiue for as Ecclesiasticus Eccles 2. saith He which addeth to knowledge addeth to griefe as it would fall out in this case whilest the soule should consider the â—urpitude of the things about which it is employed dead puâ—ryfied carcasses loathsome to generous minds to thinke of and rather for dogges to feed vpon then for men to ioy in so many false baytes of the Diuell to draw men to damnation and as themselues are to be corrupted a litâ—e after and come to nothing so also the soules deuoted to them Iacob 5. shall perish with them and iumpeat vnawares into an estate of eternall miserie worse then nothing August in Psal 15. 5. The husband-man sayth S. Augustine carryeth vp his corne from a lower roome vnto a higher lest it puâ—rify And so a mans hâ—rt if it be not lodged aboue in God will fester below Wherfore a soule delighted in such corruption euen by the iudgement of Aristotle Aristl l. 2. Magnor Moral a heathen Philosopher hateth it selfe Yet this is the Patrimony and portion wherof the drunkard maketh choice and to which he sticketh for the inordinate loue of drinke to loose friendship and acquaintance with Almighty God and vertue With God and vertue I say which two make the center wherupon is founded the whole circumference of mans felicity and being so as not to be acquainted with vertue nor conuersant in harâ— and cogitatioÌ„ with Almighty God in whome is eminently comprised all perfection al sweetnesse all true contentment and happines what is it but a liuing death and an epitome of all miserie 6. Deerly beloued sayth S. Augustine August â—â— Psal 84. thinke vpon all the beautifull thinges in the world which you see and loue and remember that God Almighty made them If they be faire what is God himselfe if they be great what is he if they be pleasant he must needs be more VVherfore by meanes of these things which we loue let vs desire him and loue him aboue all contenning all other things besides Vpon this consideration Daniel 6. the Prophet Daniel and his companions thought it a thing worse then death not to haue accesse to Almighty God by prayer in thirty dayes or not to adore him seauen times euery day though it were forbiddeÌ„ by the Prince And not to be vertuous what a detriment is it considering that vertue is a continuall worke of the soule inseparably accompained with pleasure euen as Aristotle teacheth surpassing all corporall Aâ—rist lib. Magnor Moral August l. 4. contra I â—l cap. 3. delights and as S Augustine saith an endeauour with perfect coÌ„tentment affording the proper ornament of a reasonable soule wherby it is distinguished in superiority of nature from the soule of a brute beast What exchange then is this for so short and brutish a pleasure of drinke to forsake God and vertue what losse by drinke to liue without God and vertue in the darkenesse of vnderstanding and to surke in the obscurity of a mouse-hole in the corner of a Tauerne fearfull to behold the light