the mystery of their salvation to get an assurance their calling and u â— Pet. 1.10 election is sure and they are justified by the bloud of Christ shall be saved from x Rom 5.9 wrath through him and are y Rom. 15.16 sanctified by the holy Ghost and of the number who by the preaching of the Gospel have had their eyes opened to turn them from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God that they may receive z Acts 26.18 forgiveness of sins and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith in Christ and that they have received a white stone and in the stone * Revel 2. a new name which no Man knoweth saving he that receiveth it This assurance I say is able to fill a Christians heart with unspeakable pleasures and to ravish his soul into the third heavens where he shall injoy the presence of God in whom is the fulness of joy Psal 16.11 and in his right hand are pleasures for evermore But worldly pleasures vanish away like smoak and are meer vanity and vexation of spirit CHAP. V. Of the vanity of mens passions in general THe next aggravation of the vanity of the lives of men after the former description of the vanity of their desires is the vanity of their passions with the exorbitant care they take for the cure of their bodily diseases and their unparallel'd carelesness of the cure of the maladies of their souls for what greater vanity can there be then to prefer the health of their body that is momentary and nothing but dust to the preservation of the welfare and tranquillity of their immortall souls who are in the esteem of our blessed Saviour a Mar. 8.37 such a precious Jewel that there is nothing under the Sun that for value may be given in exchange for it and yet it is daily seen that if their finger doth but ake or if they have but a quotidian ague that is a wholsom medicine in the Spring they will presently take their bed and send for the best Physitians and will ingenuously declare unto them the symptoms of their disease that they may the better prescribe fit remedies for the cure of it but if their souls be sick by the rageful distempers of their passions which breed storms of preturbations in their soules as the impetuous windes do tempests at sea they make nothing of it neither will they send for a spiritual Physitian that can pour in their festered wounds the Balm of b Jer. 8.22 Gilead and asswage by their grave Counsels the fury of their passions but will rather if any come to visit them unsent for disguise their vicious passions by the names of vertues for they commonly call Ambition a desire of Glory and Avarice a prudent fore-cast and the furious passion of wrath a generosity of courage and so of all the rest and by this concealing and disguishing of their spiritual maladies make them by custome utterly incurable This common vanity of men hath induced divers learned Authors to prescribe in their Writings divers excellent remedies to cure these concealed maladies of the soul but before I speak of the remedies it is fit the Reader should be informed of the essentiall cause of these distempers for as it is impossible for a Physitian to cure the bodily infirmities of his patient before he be acquainted with the nature of them even so it is far more impossible for the Reader to pacifie the fury of his passions before he be informed by these insuing particulars of the cause and nature of them I will therefore speak in order of these things 1. Of the two distinct powers of the soul 2. Of the Concupiscible and Irascible appetite 3. Of the definition of mens passions 4. Of their seat and number 5. Of their original spring 6. Of their evil and good essects First There are two distinct powers in the soul the soul is distinguished into two distinct powers the one is called Rational the other Sensitive the Rational is onely peculiar to men but the Sensitive is common to men and beast See Aristotle in his Phys lib. 16 17. The Rational is a spark of the divine essence and therefore immaterial and immortal but the Sensitive is materiall and earthly and therefore mortal and corruptible and from hence the Christian Philosophy And Senault upon the use of passions doth infer the resurrection of the body because it hath such an affinity with one of the powers of the soul besides the Rational power doth its operations without the aid of the corporal organs but the Sensitive cannot execute its functions without the assistance of the organs of the body and that is the reason why the operations of it are more carnal and those of the Rational more divine and celestial and this made St. Paul c Rom. 7.23 24 25. cry out But I see another law in my members warring against the law of my minde and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members O wretched man that I am who shall deliver me from the body of this death I thank God through Iesus Christ our Lord so then with the minde I my self serve the Law of God but with the flesh the law of sin Moreover the Rational power of the soul is the spring of all the intellectual faculties of the minde but the Sensitive power is the spring of the senses and of all the affections and passions of men Secondly Because this Sensitive power is distinguished into two distinct appetites viz. the Concupiscible and the Irascible which are properly the faculties that the French call Appetitives which intimates in the English tongue an aptness See Beau-lieu in his Body of Philosophy pa. 721. an instinct or natural inclination inticing men and beast to pursue such objects as seem Good or to fly from such objects that seem to be Evil and the truth is The proprieties of the Concupiscible and Irascible appetites that the propriety of the Concupiscible appetite is to induce men to prosecute the objects that seem simply to be Good or to draw them back from such that seem simply to be Evil who have no appearance in them to be difficult to be obtained or to be avoided and the propriety of the Irascible appetite is to intice men to meet the objects presented by the senses unto them after a short result of the imagination that be not onely simply good or evil but full of difficulties to obtain or to eschew for the seeming good simply See Aristotle in his Physio lib. 16. cap. 3. is the proper object of the Concupiscible appetite because it is pleasant and useful to men or beast and may be obtained without difficulty but the seeming good that is apparently difficult to obtain and the evil that is hard to avoid is the proper object of the Irascible appetite But you are in this place to
conceive them to be the cause of all the burden that are laid upon their backs I mean Lones Subsidies Taxes and Monopolies fifthly The wicked are addicted to Hatred 1 Cor. 4.13 for they hate implacably the Just and the Righteous and hold them as the off-scouring of all things Fifthly the nature and effects of Hatred in the unregenerate are nothing else but murders ruine and desolation first Hatred provoked f Gen. 4.8 Cain to kill his brother Abel and this hatred did proceed from Envie because his sacrifice was rejected of the Lord and the sacrifice of his brother was accepted secondly Hatred provoked Simeon and Levy g Gen. 34.25 26. to murder under the vail of Religion all the Shechemites and to plunder their City thirdly Hatred and the desire of Vengeance provoked h 2. Sam. 13.29 Absolom to murder under colour of friendship and hospitality his brother Amnon at a banquet as he set at table fourthly It was Hatred that provoked men to invent all maner of Weapons to destroy themselves and the devillish Art of making Canons Gunpowder Muskets Calivers Carabines and Pistols whereby the most valiant are as soon slain as the greatest cowards fifthly It was Hatred that provoked men to dive into the bowels of the earth to finde out Mines of Silver and Gold whereby they might execute their hatred spleen and malice and set all the world together by the ears sixthly Hatred hath given men an habit in all maner of impiety who have left by it their natural humanity and are become devouring Lyons and Tigers Nay when open violence cannot serve to execute their hatred they have an art to poyson men in their meat and drink by the smelling of a pair of gloves The Queen of Navarr was poysoned by the smell of a pair of Gloves by the putting on of a shirt or by the drawing off a pair of Boots nay by the very taking of a man by the hand under colour of curtesie as the Genovais Admiral did to the Venetians Admiral after he had been overcome by him at sea In a word Hatred hath been the projector of all the horrid actions of men for it is a passion that deprives men of all Reason Judgment and hath bin the cause of all the woes of men for by the hatred of Satan was our first mother Eve i Gen. 3.6 deluded and by her charms she deluded Adam her husband and so by their transgression sin is come into the world and sin like a contagious disease hath infected the whole race of mankinde Moreover Hatred is of a permanent nature for it is not like Envie or Wrath for Envy declines according as the prosperity of its object doth diminish and Wrath vanisheth into smoak if its fury may have some vent or it may be mitigated For a soft answer turneth away wrath saith Salomon k Pro. 15.1 but Hatred continues from generation to generation and death it self cannot extinguish Hatred Amilcar father to Hanibal out of an inveterate hatred he bore to the Roman Commonwealth See Livius Plutarch made Hanibal to take an Oath a little before his death that he should be to the end of his life a mortal enemy to the Romans and the hatred that Henry the seventh King of England bore to the House of York induced him to make his son Henry the eight to swear as he was upon his bed of death that after his decease that he would cause the Duke of Suffolks head to be cut off that was then his prisoner in the Tower of London as being the last apparent hair of the House of York an Unchristian part saith Montagnes See Montagnes Essais for a Prince to have his heart filled with hatred at his departure out of this world Nay the unparallel'd hatred that was between the two brethren Eteocles and Polinices could not be extinguished after their death for after they had slain one another in a Duel See Garnier in the Tragedy of Antigone or single Combat their bodies being brought together to be burned the fire by an admirable antipathy did cleave of it self into two parts and so divided their bodies that their ashes might not be mixed together and the inveterate hatred that was between the Guelfs and Gibbelins See Guiechardine in the wars of Italy Paulus Jovius in his Tragical Relations did continue from one generation to another But Paulus Jovius relates the most unheard of cruelty proceeding from an inveterated hatred that ever was read of Two Italians having had some bickerings together such a hatred was bred in their hearts that one of them having got his enemie at an advantage made him by threats deny his Saviour promising to save his life if he did it but he had no sooner by imprecations impiously denied him but the other stabbed him through the heart with his Ponyard saying The death of thy body had not been an object worthy of my hatred and vindication except I had also procured the eternal death of thy soul An horrid and unparrallel'd cruelty and a matchless effect of hatred Sixthly Having thus described the evil nature and effects of Hatred I will now come to the use that Christians should make of it I remember to have said in the beginning of this Chapter that this passion of Hatred had not been given to men to abuse it as they do but rather to eschew sin the greatest evil upon earth and that being used as an aversion to fly from sin it would serve for a strong motive to the propagations of a godly life for sin should be the onely object of mens hatred as the efficient cause of all their miseries and why our blessed Saviour out of his tender compassions towards his Elect was willing to suffer the ignominous death of the Cross Matth. 27.35 to redeem them from the guilt and punishment of sin which was eternal death And men cannot by any other means shew themselves grateful and to be sensible of this incompre hensible love of Christ then by having an inveterate hatred against sin and to detest and abhor with all their hearts all sinful courses sith sin is the onely separation wall that bars them from having an intimate and loving familiarity with God for the hatred of sin is the first step to attain to the love of God and without the love of God a true faith in Christ and unfained hatred of sin there is no possibility of salvation hatred against sin being the chiefest ingredient required in a true Repentance and how can men love God that hate their brethren and therefore the blessed Spirit in holy Writ doth so often exhort men to avoid all hatred except it be against sin He that l Ioh 3 14. 1 Ioh. 3.15 loveth not his brother saith St. John abideth in death and whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer and ye know no murderer hath eternal life Men must then love God and
or if this motion be over-fierce and violent it doth extinguish their life as the snuff of a Candle goeth out when it hath no more tallow to sustain its light Now the heart who is the efficient cause of life being thus deprived of heat loseth its motion upon which depends the life of men for the beating of the heart gives life and motion to all the members of the body and is congealed and frozen to death by this sudden motion and privation as water is congealed into Ice by a great frost and this may be confirmed by another violent action of men of which many are yet living that were eye-witnesses to it Two English Foot-men running a race for a great wager from London to Kingston did by their swift and violent running so drive their blood and vital spirits from the heart to the extreamest parts of their bodies that their faces looked as black as their hats one of them obtained the victory and out-ran the other about twenty yards and being joyful of his gain and honor presumed over-much of his strength and did not use the means to preserve himself as the other did who was much more distempered then he whereby his blood and vital spirits in stead of returning to the heart were congealed in the extream parts of his body by taking cold which did deprive him of life within few hours after but the other putting on his apparel and covering himself with a warm cloak prayed two of his fellows to walk him up and down till his blood and vital spirits were setled again about his heart A remarkable Relation and by this means he was as well the next morning as ever he was before now the motion of the blood being more violent by the inward distemper of the fiery passion of Joy then it can be by the motion of a long-continued race it must by consequence be more dangerous and mortal then the other thirdly As the immoderate Joy hath dangerous proprieties the moderate joy hath many good for moderate joy preserves and increaseth the health of the body fourthly It giveth a seemly and loving aspect and a fresh colour to the face fifthly It makes mens company and conversation more pleasant and acceptable to all other men sixthly It makes men more chearful in their particular and general calling and pass their days through this vale of Tears with more alacrity and content Fourthly The effects of immoderate Joy would be incredible The effects of immoderate joy See Livius in his third Decade li. 3. if they had not been recorded by approved and faithful Authors first A Roman Lady saith Livius died with joy at the sight of her son whom she conceived to have been slain at the battell of Cannae secondly The Author of the Turkish History Records See the Turkish History in the life of Achmath that Sinna Basha had but one son of great valour who was taken prisoner in a sea fight by a Venetian Galley whereupon tidings were brought to Sinna his father that he had been slain in that fight because he had been wounded but by the care of the Captain of the Galley who hoped to receive a great ransom for him he did recover and his wounds were cured and it hapned some days after before the Venetian Galley could carry him to shore that it was taken at sea by Cicala Basha a great friend of the above-said Sinnae who finding this prisoner of note in the Venetian Galley was exceedingly joyful as knowing how grateful a present it would be to his friend and therefore after he had apparelled him with rich vestures he sent him in a well-appointed Galley and with an honorable train to his father Sinna that had lately been made grand Visier by Achmath Emperor of the Turks who was then at Caffa upon the black sea but this yong man was no sooner come into his sight but Sinna transported with joy fell dead at his sons feet whereby it appears that he who had the power to bear with admirable constancy the tidings of the death of his onely son had not the power to moderate the joy that he did receive by his unexpected return thirdly Theophrastus Boujou records the names and means of a dozen more at least who have died suddenly by the violent distemper of immoderate joy some by honors received others for seeing their mortal enemy ly wallowing in his own blood See Boujou in his Commentary upon Aristotle lib. 19. ca. 39. fol. 835. ready to give up the Ghost and others by looking upon Pictures which by their ugly features inforced them to such an immoderate laughter as it did deprive them of life others for being victorious in the Olympian Sports and others in the field as it is recorded of Epamonides and of the Duke of Roan who died rather for joy of two great victories obtained against their enemies in two pitcht battels then by their wounds Fifthly The bad and good use of this passion of Joy doth onely consist in the not regulating or in the regulating of it for if Joy be let in to the soul by degrees the sting and venom of it is changed into an Antidote and doth rather comfort Nature then destroy it for as it is dangerous to open the Floud-gates of a river suddenly The bad and good use of worldly joy and all at once for fear the violence of the water break down the banks and pull up the foundation of the sluce even so it is dangerous to let in into the soul all at once the swift currant of good or evil tidings therefore if Cicala Basha had only at the first sent word to the Visier Sinna that he had happily rescued his son and that as soon as his wounds should be cured he would send him back unto him in an honorable condition this had undoubtedly prevented the death of this old man but the sudden and unexpected sight of his son whom he thought to have been dead caused so violent a perturbation in his minde and so great an alteration in the vital faculties of his body that his natural strength being then in his declining age was overcome with it and his life utterly extinguished as the light of a candle is by a violent blast of winde But the Duke of Medina Coeli who was General for Philip the second King of Spain See the Spanish History in Philip the seconds life of the invincible Armado as they termed it that came against England in the Year 1588. did deal more prudently with his Prince for his ship being the first that arrived into Spain after the utter rout of this great Navy he sent a discreet Messenger unto him to inform him that some part of his Navy had miscarried by foul weather and that himself had been driven back by a storm and eight days after he sent another messenger to the King informing him of the particulars and some days after came in person to give him
Moses was come to years refused to be called the son of Pharoahs daughter chusing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God then to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches then the treasures of Egypt for he had respect to the recompence of reward And were it not for this Spiritual Hope the true Christians should be more miserable then the profane nay more then the bruit beast for the portion of the children of God in this life is most commonly nothing but affliction grief and sorrow tribulations persecutions reproaches and ignominy whereas the wicked flourish in this world like green Bay trees Psal 37.39 and injoy all the delights and pleasures of this life because they make no conscience to sin but the true children of God hate and abhor sin and are conscious to commit the least sins therefore without this hope which doth uphold and comfort them their race through this vale of tears would be tedious and irksome unto them for as Salomon saith Hope deferred maketh the heart sick Prov. 13.12 but when the desire cometh it is the tree of life The first effect of spiritual Hope is that it breeds in the hearts of men such a fortitude and confidence that it expelleth all fears from their souls and makes them say with the Prophet David Psal 16.8 I have set the Lord always before me because he is at my right hand I shall not be moved secondly Hope engendreth joy in the hearts of the Elect and this joy is so constant and permanent that it never forsakes them in their greatest perplexities nay at the very hour of death when all worldly comforts forsake them this joy chears up their hearts and makes them say with the Prophet David Psal 16.9 10. My heart is glad and my glory rejoyceth my flesh also shall rest in hope for thou wilt not leave my soul in hel neither wilt thou suffer thy holy one to see corruption thirdly Hope breeds patience and makes Christians suffer patiently the greatest torments that the cruellest tyrants can inflict upon them Rom. 5.3 4 5. For we glory saith S. Paul in tribulation knowing that tribulation worketh patience and patience experience and experience hope and hope maketh not ashamed because the love of God is shed in our hearts by the holy Ghost that is given us fourthly Hope gives life to all our Christian and religious Duties as St. Paul saith 1 Cor. 9.10 He that ploweth should plow in Hope and he that thresheth in hope shall be partaker of his hope Hope is one of the best defensive Arms of a Christian to oppose the fiery darts and the temptations of Satan as the Apostle St. Paul saith Putting on the breast-plate of faith and love 1 Thes 5.8 and for an helmet the hope of salvation sixthly Hope is like a sure Anker to all afflicted Christians in the midst of the impetuous storms of persecution as the Apostle St. Paul saith Heb. 6.18.19 That by two immutable things in which it was impossibile for God to lye we might have a strong consolation who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope that is set before us which hope we have as an Anker both sure and stedfast seventhly Hope doth mitigate and sweetens all kinde of afflictions that befall to the children of God in this life Colos 1.5 whether they be perplexities of the minde or anguishes of the body eighthly All such as confide and hope in Christ shall never be ashamed nor confounded c. CHAP. XIII Of the vanity of the passion of Despair NOthing can be more hateful and odious unto God who hath been pleased to create men after his own Image then when they distrust of his mercies and fall into despair for in the second of the first Table of his Commandments he doth exalt himself his Mercies above his Justice Deut. 5.9.10 in these words For I the Lord thy God am a jealous God visiting the iniquitie of the father unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me and shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me and keep my Commandements Yet the Stoicks the most presumptuous Sect of all the ancient Philosophers honor the passion of despair above all other passions for Seneca one of the greatest Champions of it doth exalt the criminal and abhorred act of Cato of Vtica who ripped up his own bowels with his own hands See Plutarch in the life of Cato because he would not be obliged to the clemency of Cesar for his life as the most heroical action that ever was acted See Tacitus in the life of Nero. And notwithstanding Seneca himself was strucken with a certain fear and horror when the messenger that was sent unto him from Nero told him that it was the Emperors pleasure that he should make choise of what manner of death he would for die he must whereupon seeing there was no other remedy he made as they say of necessity Vertue and commanded his servant to heat a Stove and caused his veines to be opened as he was in the Stews that he might depart this life with the lest torment and anguish that might be out of fear that his Stoick constancy should have failed him at his need That the Academick Sect was the best of all the Heathen Philosophers But the Academicks another Sect of the Heathen Philosophers maintain that it is rather a Pusillanimity then a true fortitude of courage for men to lay violent hands upon themselves to be free of the greatest evil that can befall them in this life and this opinion doth best agree with the principles of the Protestant Religion for he that doth with constancy and patience endure the greatest evils torments and anguishes of the body that can be inflicted upon him by the cruellest Tyrants That true constancy and fortitude is more visibly seen in the bearing of evils with patience then by laying violent hands upon our selves and the grief and sorrow of minde which may proceed from the shame reproaches and ignominy that is done by them to his person in the publick view of the world hath a far higher degree of fortitude and manly courrge then they who to prevent the foresaid evils torments and anguishes or shame and ignominy lay violent hands upon themselves because the longer the Dolour continues the greater is the constancy and fortitude of men that endure the same and it is daily seen that the pains of violent deaths are of no continuance And this was the reason why the Emperor Tiberius Nero See Tacitus in Tiberius life one of the most cruel Tyrants that ever lived upon earth did prolong the lives of those he most hated by keeping of them in dungeons with bread and water for many years together saying to his friends that desired to know the reason of it because they shall said he feel
drinking of it become worse then bruit Beasts because they deprive themselves of Judgment and Reason The Viper is naturally rank poyson and yet the Mithridate and other Antidotes against venoms are composed of it even so this passion of Fear is much abused and made worse then it is although it proceed from an evil spring I mean the weakness and infirmity of men yet God is pleased to make good use of it to convert sinners and to make them prosecute with greater fervency then they would otherwise do the ways of Righteousness Divers conceive Fear to be a Feminine passion and unworthy to be harbored in a Masculine Brest yet it maketh the proudest of men to be cautious and circumspect in their undertakings and clips the wings of their vain hopes and ambitious designes Tacitus saith See Tasitus in the life of Nero. That it serves as a curb to the licentious will of Princes and of all others that are in power and authority and for instance saith That as long as Agrippina the mother of the Emperor Nero lived of whom he stood in fear his actions were not so exorbitantly wicked as after her death but he having like a graceless son deprived her of life took free liberty to commit the greatest impieties that his heart could imagine And Joash King of Juda did the like for as long as Jehojada the high Priest lived whom he feared he seemed to love the Lord but soon after his death he gave himself over to Idolatry and cruelty for like an ungrateful wretch he caused Zechariah 2 Chro. 24.17 22. the son of Jehojada to be slain because he onely delivered unto him the message he had received from the Lord. Divers prefer Love before Fear but there cannot be any true Love without Fear Others say it is better to be feared then beloved but it is better to be equally loved and feared for men without Love endevor to be rid of the object of their Fears But if men be beloved and feared this composure keeps off all danger and begets security and obedience Neither can there be any filial obedience without Love for the obedience that proceeds from Fear is not free Prov. 1.7 and 20.2 but forced The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledg And the fear of a King is as the roaring of a Lyon who so provoketh him to anger sinneth against his own soul How much more should men be afraid to provoke Gods wrath by their sins and yet that is one of their least fears for they fear those things which they should not fear and fear not to sin which they should most fear But sith the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom and of all saving knowledg which knowledg doth teach men to be afraid of sin which is the greatest evil Give me leave to inlarge my discourse upon these ensuing particulars that you may know to fear nothing but sin 1. On the definition of Fear 2. On the Nature of it 3. On the causes and remedies of mens fears 4. On the evil and good Effects of Fear 5. On the Spirtiual use of Fear The Moralists do vary in opinion Boujou in his Commentaries upon Aristotles Phâ—s lib. 16. cap. 6. concerning the definition of this Passion of Fear Fear saith one is a passion and apprehension of an evil that is to come but near at hand and looked for and unlikely to be avoided Fear saith another The Bishop of Marseille p. 408. is nothing else but a Grief and Dolor of the soul apprehending an evil at hand in which men see little probability it can be eschewed although it aims at the annihilation of their Being or to some dismal disgrace that threatneth their life or estate Yet it will appear by the nature the proprieties and effects of Fear that men are rather transported with Fears of imaginary Evils then of real and that mens fears do but rarely proceed from the annihilation of their Being However it is the fourth passion incident to the irrascible Appetite and the opposite and great Antagonist to the noble passion of Undantedness Secondly The nature of Fear is different from the nature of Joy for Joy dilates the blood and the vital spirits residing in it from the heart to the utmost parts of the body contrarily Fear withdraws the blood from the extreams of the body to the heart because Fear is a cold passion and the heart finding this cold to oppress it withdraws and calls as it were the blood and vital spirits from the further parts of the body to his ayd that by their natural heat he may be revived and cherished And that is the reason why divers men and women have been deprived of life by a sudden fear or fright because this cold passion congealeth the blood about the heart as a great frost congealeth water into Ice but if the Fear be not so violent yet it produceth a great alteration in the body for mens and womens faces will become as white as a cloth and sometimes all their members will tremble as a leaf and the motion proceeding from this alteration is so swift and forcible that women great with-childe miscarry by it nay it doth oftentimes turn the childe in their womb which depriveth the mother and the childe of life But Fear and Dolor have a great resemblance one with the other for they have both this withdrawing quality and are both of an extream cold and dry nature and therefore Fear and Sorrow are compared to the Winter Season and Joy and Delectation to the Spring and Summer in which the vegetative Creatures sprought and spring out their branches leaves flowers and fruits but in Winter time they withdraw their sap which is their life into their Roots as Fear and Sorrow doth draw the blood and vital spirits about the heart that is the essential cause and motion of mens lives Having both one and the same end the vegetatives to preserve themselves from the Frost and Snow and the heart to warm and cherish it self against these cold and frosty passions of Fear and Sorrow Thirdly The causes of mens fears are many and of several natures and by consequence their remedies must be proportionable unto them I will therefore speak first of the causes and to every cause apply the remedy but as I have said a little before mens fears do oftner proceed from imaginary evils then from the real and the worst propriety of this passion of Fear is That it anticipates and creates Fears in the Minde the real effects of which evils oftentimes are not like to trouble such as apprehend them nor their childrens children which kinde of Fear proceeds from a distrust of Gods providence and therefore as odious to God as any other kinde of Fear as it shall be proved when I come to speak of the effects of this passion First Worldly men Fear to loose their honors and dignities Secondly Their treasures and riches Thirdly
intellectual Adultery of the heart committed in the Matrimonial Bed which is as odious to God although it be not censurable by men because it is invisible as the actual Adultery with a strange woman This should move all true Christians who through a filial fear are timerous to offend God to be cautious of their ways that they be not ensnared by their deceitful hearts and the temptations of Satan in this kinde of Adultery or if they be that they may unfainedly repent of it before death part their soul from their body otherwise without the special mercies of God their souls may run as much hazard by this sort of Adultery as by the actual Secondly men are to endevor to attain to an habit in Temperance and Sobriety vertues or graces opposite to the vices of gluttony drunkenness two of the greatest provokers to Lust These are also distinguished by corporeal and Intellectual The corporal Temperance may be acquired by Moral Precepts but the Intellectual is an immediate gift of the Sanctifying Spirit of grace and cannot be obtained but by Prayer for God is the only giver of it And it is properly called Meekness of spirit and the inseparable companion of the grace of sanctification The proprieties and effects of which are apparently seen in the carriage and replies of Job Moses Ely David and Hezekiah 1. When the Messengers came suddenly after one another to acquaint Job of the loss of all he had and of the death of his Children he replyed with an admirable meekness of spirit Job 1.21 The Lord hath given and the Lord hath taken blessed be the name of the Lord. 2. Moses with the like meekness did patiently endure the false and offensive reproaches of his own brother and sister Numb 12.3 for the which he is called by the Holy Ghost the meekest man upon earth 3. Eli with the same meekness of spirit answered the Prophet Samuel when hd had acquainted him of the will of the Lord 1 Sam. 3.18 concerning the death of his two sons and the casting off of his Posterity from the High-Priests office it is the Lord let him do what seemeth good unto him 4. When King David heard the bitter Curses of Shimei for the which Abishai would have slain him he answered with the like meckness of spirit 2 Sam. 16.9 10. Let him curse because the Lord hath sayd unto him curse David who shal then say Wherefore hast thou done so 5. When the Prophet Isaiah was sent to King Hezekiah to denounce the heavy judgement of God against Jerusalem and his posterity he answered with the like meekness of spirit Isal 39.8 The word of the Lord is good which thou hast spoken Whereby it appears that the temperance of the minde is a great curb to bridle the violence of the Passions of men for the Answer that Joseph gave to his lewd Mistress when she tempted him to lie with her did proceed from the same root and from the filial fear he had of God Gen. 39.8 9. Begold my Master knoweth not what he hath in the house but hath committed all he hath into my hands there is none greater in the house then I neither hath he kept any thing from mee but only thee because thou art his wife How then can I do this great wickedness and so sin against God But such is the depravation of this age that I have heard some Voluptuous men call continent Joseph a very Sot for having rejected the lascivious Summons of his Mistress and neglected through a Puerile Fear the Time Place and Opportunity to enjoy the pleasures of her embracements As for the Corporeal Temperance and Sobriety the Heathens have also excelled most of the Christians of these days in that noble vertue as it shall appear by these Instances 1. King Cyrus being demanded by his Steward Where and What he pleased to have for his Supper Answered I will sup by the River-side and have only for my Diet Bread and Salt for Drink we shall have enough out of the River 2. The Queen of Caria having sent to Alexander the rarest Cooks that were in Asia he sent them back unto her with this Message that he had no need of Cooks as long as he did observe the Precepts of his Tutor Leonides who had charged him to exercise his body in the Morning in running of Races on foot or in the mannaging of his War horse to give him a stomack to his Dinner and to walk two or three miles in the Evening to have an Appetite to his Supper 3. Phocion one of the Governors of the Athenian Commonwealth was found at Dinner by the Embassador that Alexander sent to him with a Present of ten Talents with one single dish of meat See Plutarch in his Life and having demanded of the Embassador the reason why Alexander did send him such a Present he answered Only for your integrity vertue Let him leave me so said Phocion for this Gold will make me unjust and vitious and so with thanks sent the present back to Alexander 4. Lucius Quintus Cincinnatus See Livy in his 1. Decade Dictator of the Roman Commonwealth was found at Dinner with a small piece of meat and a dish of Turnips by the Embassadors of the Samnites that were sent unto him with a great sum of Gold to induce him to shew them favor in the obtaining of a Peace which they required of the Roman Senate Whereupon Cincinnatus shewing them the frugality of his Diet said unto them Tell the Samnites that he that can be contented with such Fare needs no Gold and therefore carry it back for if their request be just they shall have my favor without it There are evidences of the Temperance of the ancient Persians Greeks and Romans concerning the passions of Avarice and Volupty But as soon as the Persians by Cambises and the Greeks by Alcibiades and the Romans by Lucullus were allured to desire riches and pleasures See Herodotus in Cambises Life they became the most covetous and voluptuous Nations of the World and all their former Vertues were turned into Vices Therefore I conclude that Temperance and Sobriety are the inseparable companions of Continency and sanctification And that Riches Gluttony and Drunkness are the greatest Provokers to lust and carnal Volupties And this Passage of S. Paul doth confirm the same They that sleep saith he 1 Thes 5 7 6. sleep in the night and they that are drunken are drunken in the night But let us which are of the day be sober Therefore let us not sleep but let us watch and be sober Intimating that none are more fit to attain to holyness then those who are temperate and sober And none more adverse then drunkards and voluptuous men Thirdly men are to endevor to attain to an habit in Fortitude called by some a vertue but when it is accompanied with Faith it is a grace of the sanctifying Spirit 1. By it
Shadrach Dan. 3.20 Meshach and Abednego did endure with admirable Constancy the burning flames of the fiery furnace heated seven times hotter then it was wont to be rather then to worship the golden Image that Nebuchadnezzar had set up 2. By the same Fortitude Daniel did make choyce to be cast alive into the Lyons Den Dan. 6.10 16. rather then to restrain himself from making his Addresses by fervent prayers three times a day to God 3. By it all those Worthies nominated in the eleventh Chapter to the Hebrews did suffer with incredible Patience all the torments there specified Heb. 11. 4. See the book of Martyrs By the like Fortitude all the Martyrs in Queen Maries days did suffer with a sweet temper of spirit the fiery Tryal that was inflicted upon them And as it is the propriety of the Christian Fortitude to endure without murmuring all the torments that are inflicted upon them so it is another of its proprieties to endevor to subdue the lascivious Volupties of the flesh believing that he who can overcome his own Passions is a greater Conqueror then Alexander The Heathen do much extoll and boast of the fortitude of Cato See Plutarch in his Life who ripped up his bowels with his own hands rather then he would be beholding to the clemency of Caesar But these murthering resolutions are rather evidences of Pusillanimity then of true Fortitude For a sudden Death is a lesser torment then to continue a long time in anguish and daily tortures Besides the magnanimity of Decius Curius and others did rather proceed from vain glory then from any true fortitude But the Christian fortitude hath no other end then the glory of God and to overcome their sinful Passions Fourthly men are to endevor to attain an habit in the grace of Sanctification as the Seal of their Justification and Regeneration and Redemption And the onely way to obtain the same is by frequent prayers and dayly exercises in Religious duties having ever in their mind these Passages of Scripture Heb. 12.14 For without holiness no man shall see the Lord. 2 Thes 2.12 Because God from the beginning hath chosen you to salvation by the sanctification of the Spirit 1 Thes 4.3 4 5 6. and the faith of truth And that you should abstain from fornication that every one of you should know how to possess his vessel in holiness and honor and not in the lust of Concupiscence even as the Gentiles which know not God For God hath not called us to uncleanness but unto holiness Now because Sanctification is the crown of all other Christian graces I will here set down the ordinary means whereby the Blessed Spirit doth infuse the same in the hearts of the Elect for all natural men are incapable of it which is commonly done by degrees and not suddenly as their Justification Yet in some it is more sudden and in others more flow according to the activity or remisness of Christians in their exercises of Piety The first Means is That the Blessed Spirit doth move them to be diligent Hearers and Readers of the Word of God Rom. 10.17 For Faith saith S. Paul commeth by hearing and hearing by the word of God And none can be Sanctifyed without a Justifying Faith 2. It endows them with the spirit of Prayer and with mortifying Graces whereby they overcome their Original and Actual corruptions 3. It moves them to be cautious in all their ways and to be sensible of the smallest sins and to flee from all appearance or provocation to sin 4. It infuseth in their hearts a strong Aversion to sin 5. It engendreth in them a reverent love and a filial fear which keeps them from sin 6. It doth convince them of all their sins and specially of their bosome sin 7. By this conviction it begets in them an implacable hatred against their Darling sin 8. By this hatred it doth enlighten their Judgement and openeth the eyes of the same whereby the miserable condition they are in by the enormity and multiplicity of their sins is made apparent unto them 9. By the consideration of this misery it induceth them to seek earnestly the means whereby they may be delivered out of it 10. It infuseth in them a constant resolution to return to their heavenly Father and to humble themselves in Sackcloth and Ashes before him 11. It mollifies their hearts and makes them grieve mourn and lament for their sins by which Spiritual Sorrow never to be repented of it begets in them an unfained Repentance 12. And Lastly being by this Cordial Repentance reconciled to God by the merits of the Passion of their Blessed Saviour it begets in them an extream thirst after the living waters of that Fountain which was opened to the house of David Zach. 13.1 and to the Inhabitants of Jerusalem for sin and uncleanness And so by a constant perseverance in the ways of Righteousness they attain by degrees to that measure of Sanctification as is required to see the Lord with Joy and Consolation For the most Sanctified man upon Earth cannot attain to a perfect degree of Sanctification as long as he liveth in these tabernacles of clay the perfection of this Grace being reserved for the glorified Saints in Heaven Eighthly to Conclude I admonish all those who earnestly desire to attain to some degree of holiness to suppress betimes the venom of this vitious Passion of Volupty before it turn into an Habit in them For as I have said in my Answer to the Objection of some Moralists the Volupty of the mind doth as much encrease with Age as do the vices of Avarice and Drunkenness as it is confirmed by this Saying of the wise Son of Sirach All bread is sweet to a Whoremonger Eccl. 23.17 he will not leave off till he dye Now to terrifie and induce Voluptuous men to abhor this sin of Uncleanness I have collected these ensuing Passages out of Solomons Proverbs and out of Ecclesiasticus to shew them how Destructive this sin is to their Means Bodies and Souls The lips of a strange woman drop as an hony comb and her mouth is smoother then oyl but her end is as bitter as wormwood and sharper then a two-edged sword her feet go down to death her steps take hold of hell Prov. 2.3 4 5. Who so committeth adultery with a woman lacketh understanding he that doth it destroyeth his own soul Prov. 9.32 Stollen waters are sweet and bread eaten in secret is pleasant but he knoweth not that the dead are there and that her guests are in the depth of hell Prov. 9.17 18. For a whore is a deep ditch and a strange woman a deep pit Prov. 23.27 Give not thy soul to a woman to set her foot upon thy substance Eccles 8.2 Meet not with a harlot lest thou fall into her snares Eccles 8.3 Gaze not on a mayd that thou fall not by those things that are precious in her
by this saying of S. Paul 1 Tim. 6.9 10. They that will be rich fall into temptations and snares and into many foolish and noisom lusts which drown men in perdition and destruction For the love of money is the root of all evil which while some lusted after they erred from the Faith and pierced themselves through with many sorrows Eighthly The considerations inducing men to allay the fire of this passion are these 1. They are to consider that nature is contented with a little for some bread and water some Rise Reasons Almonds or Figgs will satisfie the same So that all such as are not nice but sober in their diet and temperate in their drinking will never be enforced to sell their Land to feed their bodies for it is the excess of the superfluous volupties used in these dayes that brings men to penury 2. They are to consider That he who cannot be contented with a little will not be satisfied with all he could desire nothing under the Sun being able to satisfie the desires of men but God only And that is the reason why S. Paul saith 1 Tim. 6.6 That godliness with contentment is great gain for none can be truly contented except he hath the power of godliness in him because the love of God doth suppress all other desires in men It was therefore a wise saying of a Heathen That he who can give bounds to his desires is a greater Conqueror and a richer Monarch then Alexander was See Quintus Curtius in his Life for having conquered one World and having in his possession all the Treasures of Asia which Darius had heaped together yet were not his desires satisfied for he did enquite if there were any more Worlds to satisfie his Ambition and Avarice 3. They are to consider that riches are accounted the gifts of Fortune which is held to be blind therefore it is no wonder if she bestows her gifts upon undeserving men such as were Nabal Sobna and the rich glutton Besides vertuous and Religious men make conscience of their ways and will rather be poor then use indirect and unlawful means to enrich themselves but such as neither fear God nor man stretch their consciences upon the Tenters and conceive no courses unlawful or sinful so they enrich themselves by them 4. They are to consider that Avarice is worse then Prodigality for the profuseness of Prodigal men is not destructive to any but to themselves but the courses used by Avaritious men to enrich themselves are destructive to the whole Commonwealth for all Shop-keepers and Artificers are the better by Prodigals but they are the worse by Avaritious men and specially the poorer sort For they commonly engross or monopolize into their hands all manner of Commodities to sell them dear and principally corn and so like horsleeches suck the very blood of the Poor which makes them to be hated of God and of Men. The consideration of which should move all conscientious men to abhorr Avarice and to endevor by all means to subdue this sinful Passion 5. They are to consider that if they had in their possession all the gold and silver Mines of the West Indies yet they would not adde any thing to their present and future Felicity but rather traverse the first and deprive them of the second Neither can they prolong their Lives an hour nor free their bodyes from any of the numerous Infirmities they are naturally subject unto It is then an absolute Madness for men to tire their bodyes and to waste their spirits by laboring and carking day and night to accumulate some smal heaps of white and yellow Clay that will be of no use unto them at the hour of death Nay they run great hazzard without the mercy of God to lose their own souls in or by the acquisition of them Therefore they should have always this Saying of our Blessed Saviour in their mind Mark 8.36 For what shall it profit a man if he shall gain the whole World and lose his own soul 6. They are to consider that there is a greater difference between the spiritual and temporal riches then there is between Light and Darkness in regard of the superexcellency and duration of the first and the baseness and mutability of the second For spiritual riches are free from all Accidents durable and eternal but the temporal riches are subject to changes and mutations and of no continuance their abode being uncertain men being rich to day and extreme poor to morrow as it appears by the History of Job and of Croesus king of Lydia the one being the richest man of the East and the other the richest Prince in Asia And yet in the revolution of one day Herodotus in Croesus life the last was deprived of his incredible treasures and kingdom and became also the Captive of his mortal Enemy And the first came to be an Object of Poverty and Misery See the Book of Job Ch. 1. and a Subject of Derision and false Imputations to his own wife and intimate freinds It is Recorded that at the sacking or destruction of the City of Thebes by Alexander the Great a Greek Philosopher for his rare parts was permitted to go away with all he had before the rest of the Inhabitants were slain and the city set on fire And being asked as he came out Why he carryed not away his Goods Answered In saving my person I preserve all that may truly be called Riches or Goods meaning his Learning and Vertue Even so if Christians would be as careful to hoard up spiritual riches as they are to heap up gold and silver they should not need to fear the loss of them For Godliness and Holiness that are the spiritual riches of a true Christian are free from all Accidents And this is the reason why our Blessed Saviour doth charge us all To seek first the kingdom of God Math 6.33.34 and his righteousness and all these things shall be added unto us And Let us take no thought for to morrow for the morrow shall take thought for the things of it self sufficient unto the day is the evill thereof CHAP. XIX Of the vanity of the passion of Ambition AS it is not the quality but the quantity of wine that is offensive to men So it is the excess and the irregularity of mens ambition that is destructive to mankind for as a little wine rejoyceth the heart so a spark of ambition in the heart of men bends their minds upon generous actions And could they make vertue and holiness the only objects of their Ambition as they do the honour and glory of this world Ambition would prove to be the best and the most commendable passion of men See Plutarch in his Life Themistocles did use to say That the great Trophies of Miltiades did hinder him to take his rest even so if the Faith of Abraham the righteousness of Lot the patience of Job the continency of