so much lamented for that is of necessitie and therefore exacts no teares of sorrow being if spent as fruitlesse as the doome reverselesse but their sudden or inopinate departure Whereto I answer that no death is sudden to him that dies well for sudden death hath properly a respect rather to the life how it was passed or disposed than to death how short his summons were or how quickly clozed Io. Mathes preaching upon the raising up of the womans sonne of Naim by Christ within three houres afterward died himselfe The like is written of Luther and many others As one was choaked with a flie another with a haire a third pushing his foot against the tressall another against the threshold falls downe dead So many kinde of wayes are chalked out for man to draw towards his last home and weane him from the love of earth Those whom God loves saith Menander die young yea those whom hee esteemeth highest hee takes from hence the soonest And that for two causes the one is to free them the sooner from the wretchednesse of earth the other to crowne them the sooner with Happinesse in Heaven For what gaine wee by a long life or what profit reape wee by a tedious Pilgrimage but that wee partly see partly suffer partly commit more evils Priamus say more dayes and shed more teares than Troilus Let us hence then learne so to measure our sorrow for ought that may or shall befall us in respect of the bodie that after her returne to earth it may be gloriously re-united to the soule to make an absolute Consort in Heaven Thirdly and lastly for the goods or blessings of Fortune they are not to command us but to be commanded by us not to be served by us but to serve us And because hee onely in the affaires of this life is the wealthiest who in the desires of this life is the neediest and he the richest on earth who sees little worth desiring on earth we are so to moderate our desires as I have formerly touched in respect of those things we have not that wee may labour to over-master our desires in thirsting after more than we already have likewise so to temper and qualifie our affections in respect of those things we have as to shew no immoderate sorrow for the losse of those we have but to be equally minded as well in the fruition of those wee have as privation of those we have not For of all others there is no sorrow baser nor unworthier than that which is grounded on the losse of Oxe or Cow or such inferiour subjects Neither incurre they any lesse opinion of folly who carried away with the love of their Horse Hound or some such creature use for some prize or conquest got to reare in their memory some Obeliske or Monument graced with a beauteous inscription to preserve their fame because poore beasts they have nothing to preserve themselves for howsoever this act seeme to have some correspondence with gratitude labouring only to grace them who have graced us rearing a stone to perpetuate their fame who memoriz'd our Name by speed of foot yet is it grosse and so palpable to those whose discretion is a moulder of all their actions as they account it an act worthier the observation of an Heathen than a Christian. Cimon buried his Mares bestowing upon them specious Tombs when they had purchased credit in the swift races of the Olympiads Xanâ—ippus bewailed his Dogs death which had followed his master from Calamina Alexander erected a Citie in the honour of Bucephalus having beene long defended by him in many dangerous battels And the Asse may well among the Heathen be adorned with Lillies Violets and Garlands when their Goddesse Vesta by an Asses bray avoided the rape of Priapus But howsoever these actions among Pagans might carry some colour of thankfulnesse rewarding them by whose speed fury agilitie or some other meanes they have beene as well preserved as honoured yet with Christians whose eyes are so clearely opened and by the light divine so purely illumined would these seeme acts of prophanenesse ascribing honour to the creature to whom none is due and not to the Creator to whom all honour is solely and properly due In briefe let us so esteeme of all â—he goods and gifts of Fortune as of Vtensils fit for our use and service but of the Supreme good as our chiefest Soâ—ace For he who subjected all things to the feet of man that man might be wholly subject unto him and that man might be wholly his he gave man dominion over all those workes of his so he created all outward things for the bodie the bodie for the soule but the soule for him that shee might only intend him and only love him possessing him for solace but inferiour things for service Thus farre Gentlemen hath this present discourse inlarged it selfe to expresse the rare and incomparable effects which naturally arise from the due practice of Moderation being indeed a vertue so necessary and well deserving the acquaintance of a Gentleman who is to be imagined as one new come to his lands and therefore stands in great need of so discreet an Attendant as there is no one vertue better sorting his ranke not only in matters of preferment profit or the like but in matters of reputation or personall ingagement where his very name or credit is brought to the tesh Looke not then with the eye of scorne on such a follower but take these instructions with you for a fare-well Doth Ambition buzze in your eare motions of Honour This faithfull Attendant Moderation will disswade you from giving way to these suggestions and tell you Ambition is the high road which leads to ruine but Humilitie is the gate which opens unto glory Doth Covetousnesse whisper to you matters of profit Here is one will tell you the greatest wealth in the world is to want the desires of the world Doth Wantonnesse suggest to you motives of Delight Here is that Herbe of Grace which will save you from being wounded and salve you already wounded In briefe both your expence of Time and Coine shall bee so equally disposed as you shall never need to redeeme Time because you never prodigally lost it nor repent your fruitlesse expence of Coine because you never profusely spent it Thus if you live you cannot chuse but live for ever for ever in respect of those choice vertues which attend you for ever in respect of your good Example moving others to imitate you And for ever in respect of that succeeding glory which shall crowne you THE ENGLISH GENTLEMAN Argument Of Perfection Contemplative and Active The Active preferred Wherein it consisteth Of the absolute or Supreme end whereto it aspireth and wherein it resteth PERFECTION WE are now to treat of a Subject which while we are here on earth is farre easier to discourse of than to finde for Perfection is not absolute in this life but
the contemplative man whose affections are estranged from earth and seated in heaven makes use of whatsoever he seeth on earth as directions to guide him in his progresse to heaven His eyes are not like the Ambitious mans whose eye-sore is only to see others great and himselfe unadvanced nor like the Covetous mans whose eyes Tarpeia-like betray his soule seeing nothing precious or prosperous which he wisheth not nor like the Voluptuous mans whose sealed eyes are blinde to the objects of vertue but unsealed to the objects of vanitie seeing nothing sensually moving which he affects not nor like the Vain-glorious maâ—s who practiseth seldome what is good or honest for the love of goodnesse but to bee praised and observed Whereas the true Contemplative man loves vertue for vertues sake concluding divinely with the Poet This amongst good men hath beene ever knowne Vertue rewards herselfe herselfe's her crowne And for these light objects of vanity he as much loaths them as the Voluptuous man loves them and for coveting he is so farre from desiring more than he hath as he is indifferent either for injoying or forgoing what he already hath and for aspiring he holds it the best ambition of any creature to promote the glory of his Maker He is ever descanting on this divine ditty O how glorious things are spoken of thee O thou City of God! for his thoughts are sphered above earth and lodged in the Contemplation of heaven And if so be that he chance to fix his eye upon earth it is as I said before to direct his feet and erect his faith to the Contemplation of heaven For by consideration had to these temporall goods to use the words of a devout Father hee gathereth the greatnesse of the heavenly Councell comprehending by these little ones those great ones by these visible those invisible ones For if the Lord shew or rather showre so great and innumerable benefits from heaven and from the aire from the land and sea light and darknesse heat and shadow dew and raine winds and showres birds and fishes and multiplicity of herbs and plants of the earth and the ministry of all creatures successively in their seasons ministring to us to allay our loathing and beget in us towards our Maker an incessant longing and all this for an ignoble and corruptible body what how great and innumerable shall those good things be which he hath prepared for them that love him in that heavenly Countrey where we shall see him face to face If he doe such things for us in this prison what will â—ee doe for us in that Palace Great and innumerable are thy workes O Lord King of heaven For seeing all these are very good and delectable which hee hath equally bestowed upon both good and evill how great shall those be which he hath laid up only for the good If so divers and innumerable be the gifts which he bestoweth both upon friends and foes how sweet and delectable shall those be which he will only bestow upon his friends If such comforts in this day of teares and anguish what will he conferre on us in that day of Nuptiall solace If a prison containe such delights what I pray you shall our Countrey containe No eye O Lord without thee hath seene those things which thou hast prepared for them that love thee for according to the great multitude of thy magnificence there is also a multitude of thy sweetnesse which thou hast hid for them that feare thee for great thou art O Lord our God and unmeasurable neither is there end of thy greatnesse nor number of thy wisdome nor measure of thy mercy neither is there end nor number nor measure of thy bountie but as thou art great so be thy gifts great because thou thy selfe art the reward and gift of thy faithfull warriours Thus is the spiritually Contemplative man ever employed thus are his affections planted thus his desires seated caring so little for earth as he is dead to earth long before hee returne to earth drawing daily neerer heaven having his desire only there long before he come there Now to instance some whose profession was meerely contemplative having retired or sequestred themselves from the society of this world we might illustrate this subject with many excellent Patternes in this kinde as those especially who strictly professed a monasticke life becomming severe Enemies to their owne flesh and estranging themselves from conversing wittâ—man Which kinde of discipline as it was in respect of humanity too unsociable so in respect of themselves doubtlesse sweet and delightfull being so intraunced with divine contemplation as they forgot earth and all earthly affections Of this sort you shall reade sundry examples whereof one more memorable than the rest might be instanced in him who reading that sentence of holy Scripture Goe and sell all that thou hast presently imagining it to be meant by him did so The like contempt towards the world might be instanced in holy Ierome Paulinus that good Bishop of Nola and many others upon which I would be loth to insist for brevity sake Neither certainly can they whose thoughts are erected above the centre of earth having their Hearts planted where their treasure is placed deigne to fix their eye upon ought in the world because they see nothing worthy affecting in the World for they thinke godlinesse is a great gaine if a man be content with that he hath They doe good being rich in good workes and ready to distribute and communicate laying up in store for themselves a good foundation against the time to come that they may obtaine eternall life Yea they have not only learned in whatsoever state they are therewith to be content but wholly to relinquish both selfe and state to advance the glory of God But it may be now well objected that these men whereof we now treat are fitter for a Cell than a Court and therefore too regular masters to have young Gentlemen for their Schollers for how should these whose education hath beene liberty conversation publike society and who hold good fellowship an appendice to Gentry betake themselves to such strictnesse as to be deprived of common aire live remote from all company passing the remainder of their dayes in a wildernesse as if they had committed some egregious fact that deserved such severe Penance mistake me not my meaning is much otherwise for as I would not have Gentlemen Libertines so I would not have them Hermits for the first as they are too prodigally secular so the latter are too severely regular Neither am I ignorant how a Cloister may be no lesse shelter unto error than a more publike place of delight or pleasure But my discourse touching this Contemplative Perfection was purposely to draw the Curtaine from before the Picture and to shew to their eye that faire Idaea or feature which hath beene so long shadowed I meane the faire and beautifull structure of the inward man
God unto them Diogenes trod upon Platoes pride with much greater selfe-pride but the Christian with patience and humilitie surmounteth and subdueth all worldly pride being of nothing so carefull as lest he should taste the Lotium of earthly delights and so become forgetfull with Vlysses companions of his native Countrey Meane time he sojournes in the world not as a Citizen but as a Guest yea as an Exile But to returne to our present discourse now in hand in this quest after that soveraigne or supreme end whereto all actuall perfection aspireth and wherein it resteth wee are to consider three things 1. What is to be sought 2. Where it is to be sought 3. When it is to be sought For the first wee are to understand that wee are to seeke only for that the acquisition whereof is no sooner attained than the minde whose flight is above the pitch of frailtie is fully satisfied Now that is a blessed life when what is best is affected and enjoyed for there can be no true rest to the minde in desiring but partaking what she desireth What is it then that wee seeke To drinke of the water of life where our thirst may be so satisfied as it never be renued our desires so fulfilled as never higher or further extended He that hath once tasted of the fountaine named Clitorius fons and choice is the taste of such a fountaine will never drinke any wine no wine mixed with the drâ—gs of vanitie no wine drawne from the lees of vaine-glory the reason is hee reserves his taste for that new wine which hee is to drinke in his Fathers kingdome And what kingdome The kingdome of heaven a kingdome most happy a kingdome wanting death and without end enjoying a life that admits no end And what life A life vitall a life â—empiternall and sempiternally joyfull And what joy A joy without sorrowing rest without labouring dignitie without trembling wealth without losing health without languishing abundance without failing life without dying perpetuitie without corrupting blessednesse without afflicting where the sight and vision of God is seene face to face And what God God the sole-sufficient summary supreme good that good which wee require alone that God who is good alone And what good The Trinitie of the divine persons is this summary good which is seene with purest mindes The Heart triangle-wise resembleth the image of the blessed Trinitie which can no more by the circumference of the World be confined than a Triangle by a Circle is to be filled So as the Circular world cannot fill the Triangular heart no more than a Circle can fill a Triangle still there will be some empty corners it sayes so long as it is fixed on the world Sheol it is never enough but fixed on her Maker her only Mover on her sweet Redeemer her dearest Lover she chants out cheerefully this Hymne of comfort There is no condemnation to them which are in Christ Iesus She then may rest in peace And what peace A peace which passeth all understanding Shee then may embrace her Love And what Love A Love constantly loving She then may enjoy life And what life A life eternally living She then may receive a Crowne And what Crowne A Crowne gloriously shining This Crowne saith S. Peter is undefiled which never fadeth away The Greeke words which S. Peter useth are Latine words also and they are not only Appellatives being the Epithetes of this Crowne but also Propers the one proper name of a Stone the other of a Flower for Isidore writeth there is a precious stone called Amiantus which though it be never so much soiled yet it can never at all be blemished and being cast into the fire it is taken out still more bright and cleane Also Clemens writeth that there is a flower called Amarantus which being a long time hung up in the house yet still is fresh and greene To both which the stone and the flower the Apostle as may be probably gathered alludeth in this place Here then you see what you are to seeke For are your desires unsatisfied here is that which may fulfill them Are your soules thirstie here is the Well of life to refresh them Would you be Kings here is a Kingdome provided for you Would you enjoy a long life a long life shall crowne you and length of dayes attend you Would you have all goodnesse to enrich you enjoying God all good things shall be given you Would you have salvation to come unto your house and secure you rest you in Christ Iesus and no condemnation shall draw neere you Would you have your consciences speake peace unto you the God of peace will throughout establish you Would you have your constant'st Love ever attend you He who gave himselfe for you will never leave you Would you have him live ever with you Leave loving of the world so shall he live ever with you and in you Would you have a Crowne conferred on you A Crowne of glory shall empale you Seeke then this one good wherein consisteth all goodnesse and it sufficeth Seeke this soveraigne or summary good from whence commeth every good and it sufficeth For he is the life by which wee live the hope to which wee cleave and the glory which wee desire to obtaine For if dead he can revive us if hopelesse and helplesse he can succour us if in disgrace he can exalt us Him then only are we to seeke who when we were lost did seeke us and being found did bring us to his sheepe-fold And so I descend from what wee are to seeke to where wee are to seeke that seeking him where he may be found wee may at last finde him whom wee so long have sought For the second wee are to seeke it while wee are on earth but not upon earth for earth cannot containe it It is the Philosophers axiom That which is finite may not comprehend that which is infinite Now that supreme or soveraigne end to which this Actuall Perfection is directed whereto it aspireth and wherein it resteth is by nature infinite Ena without end beginning and end imposing to every creature a certaine definite or determinate end The sole solace of the Soule being onely able to fill or satisfie the Soule without which all things in heaven or under heaven joyned and conferred together cannot suffice the Soule So boundlesse her extent so infinite the object of her content How should Earth then containe it or to what end should wee on Earth seeke it Seeing whatsoever containeth must of necessitie be greater than that which is contained But Earth being a masse of corruption how should it confine or circumscribe incorruption Seeing nothing but immortalitie can cloath the Soule with glory it is not the rubbish or refuse of earth that may adde to her beautie Besides the Soule while it sojournes here in this earthly mansion she remaines as a captive inclosed in prison
What delights then can be pleasing what delicates relishing to the palat of this prisoner She is an exile here on earth what societie then can be cheerefull to one so carefull of returning to her Countrey If Captives restrained of their libertie Exiles estranged from their Countrey can take no true content either in their bondage be it never so attempred nor in their exile be they never so attended how should the Soule apprehend the least joy during her abode on earth Where the treasure is there is the heart her treasure is above how can her heart be here below Mortalitie cannot suit with immortalitie no more can Earth with the Soule Whereto then be the motions of our Soule directed To Him that gave it no inferiour creature may suffice her no earthly object satisfie her nothing subject to sense fulfill her In Heaven are those heavenly objects wherewith her eye rests satisfied in Heaven are those melodious accents wherewith her eare rests solaced in Heaven those choicest odours wherewith her smell is cherished in Heaven those tastfull'st dainties wherewith her soule is nourished in Heaven those glorious creatures wherewith herselfe is numbred What difference then betwixt the satietie and saturitie of Heaven and the penurie and povertie of Earth Here all things are full of labour man cannot utter it The eye is not satisfied with seeing nor the eare filled with hearing whereas in Heaven there is length of dayes and fulnesse of joy without ending And wherein consists this fulnesse Even in the sweet and comfortable sight of God But who hath seene God at any time To this blessed Austine answers excellently Albeit saith he that summary and incommutable essence that true light that indeficient light that light of Angels can be seene by none in this life being reserved for a reward to the Saints only in the heavenly glory yet to beleeve and understand and feele and ardently desire it is in some sort to see and possesse it Now if wee will beleeve it though our feet be on earth our faith must be in heaven or understand it wee must so live on earth as if our conversation were in heaven or feele it wee must have so little feeling of the delights of this life as our delight may be wholly in heaven or desire it wee must hunger and thirst after righteousnesse to direct us in the way which leadeth to heaven It cannot be saith a devout holy man that any one should die ill who hath lived well Wee are then to labour by a zealous religious and sincere life to present our selves blamelesse before the Lord at his comming O if wee knew and grosse is our ignorance if we know it not that whatsoever is sought besides God possesseth the minde but satisfies it not wee would have recourse to him by whom our minds might be as well satisfied as possessed But great is our miserie and miserable our stupiditie who when wee may gaine heaven with lesse paines than hell will not draw our foot backe from hell nor step one foot forward towards the kingdome of heaven Yea when wee know that it pleaseth the Devill no lesse when wee sinne than it pleaseth God to heare us sigh for sinne yet will wee rather please the Devill by committing sinne than please God by sending out one penitent sigh for our sinne For behold what dangers will men expose themselves unto by Sea and Land to increase their substance Againe for satisfaction of their pleasures what tasks will they undertake no lesse painfull than full of perill A little expectance of penitentiall pleasure can make the voluptuous man watch all the night long when one houre of the night to pray in would seeme too too long Early and late to inrich his carelesse heire will the miserable wretch addresse himselfe to all slavish labour without once remembring either early or late to give thanks to his Maker Without repose or repast will the restlesse ambitious Sparke whose aimes are only to be worldly great taske himselfe to all difficulties to gaine honour when even that which so eagerly he seekes for oft times brings ruine to the owner Here then you see where you are to seeke not on earth for there is nought but corruption but in heaven where you may be cloathed with incorruption not on earth for there you are Exiles but in heaven where you may be enrolled and infranchised Citizens not on earth the grate of miserie but in heaven the goale of glory In briefe would you have your hearts lodged where your treasures are locked all your senses seated where they may be fully sated your eye with delightfull'st objects satisfied your eare with melodious accents solaced your smell with choicest odours cherished your taste with chiefest dainties relished your selves your soules amongst those glorious creatures registred Fix the desires of your Heart on him who can only satisfie your heart set your eye on him whose eye is ever upon you and in due time will direct you to him intend your eare to his Law which can best informe you and with divinest melodie cheere you follow him in the smell of his sweet oyntments and hee will comfort you in your afflictions taste how sweet hee is in mercy and you shall taste sweetnesse in the depth of your miserie become heavenly men so of terrestriall Angels you shall be made Angels in heaven where by the spirituall union of your soules you shall be united unto him who first gave you soules And so I come to the third and last When wee are to seeke lest seeking out of time wee be excluded from finding what wee seeke for want of seeking in due time If words spoken in season be like apples of gold with pictures of silver sure I am that our actions being seasonably formed or disposed cannot but adde to our soules much beautie and lustre To every thing there is a season and a time to every purpose under the heaven which season neglected the benefit accruing to the worke is likewise abridged There is a time to sow and a time to reape and sow wee must before wee reape sow in tears before wee reape in joy Seeke wee must before wee finde for unlesse wee seeke him while he may be found seeke may wee long ere wee have him found After the time of our dissolution from earth there is no time admitted for repentance to bring us to heaven Hoc momentum est de quo pendet aeternitas Either now or never and if now thrice happy ever Which is illustrated to us by divers Similitudes Examples and Parables in the holy Scripture as in Esaus birth-right which once sold could not be regained by many teares and in the Parable of Dives and Lazarus where Abraham answered Dives after he had beseeched him to send Lazarus that he might dip the tip of his finger in water and coole his tongue Sonne remember that thou in thy life
is And therefore Prudentius in one of his Hymnes give this memorandum Thinke with thy selfe if thou from sin would free thee Be 't day or night that God doth ever see thee O then let us fix our thoughts upon God here on earth that we may gloriously fix our eyes upon him in heaven Let us so meditate of him here on earth that wee may contemplate him there in heaven So repent us to have dishonoured him here on earth that wee may be honoured by him in heaven Let us become humble Petitioners unto him and prostrate our selves before his foot-stoole of whom if we begge life his hand is not so shortâ—ed as it will not save his eare so closely stopped as it will not heare it is reported that when a poore man came to Dionysius the Tyrant and preferred his petition unto him standing the imperious Tyrant would not give eare unto him whereupon this poore Petitioner to move him to more compassion fell downe prostrate at his feet and with much importunity obtained his suit after all this being demanded by one why he did so I perceived quoth he Dionysius to have his eares in his feet wherefore I was out of hope to be heard till I fell before his feet But God who intendeth rather the devotion of the heart than the motion of the hand or prostration of the bodie will heare us if wee aske faithfully and open unto us if wee knocke constantly and having fought a good fight crowne us victoriously Thus you have heard what we are to seeke where we are to seeke and when we are to seeke What a Kingdome not of earth but of heaven Where not on earth nor in earth but in heaven When while we are here on earth that after earth we may reigne in heaven What a Garden inclosed a Spring shut up a Fountaine sealed What a crowne of righteousnesse a precious pearle a hid treasure What wisdome health wealth beautie libertie and all through him who is all in all Aristippus was wont to say that he would goe to Socrates for wit but to Dionysius for money whereas this we seeke and seeking hope to enjoy confers upon us the rich treasures of wisdome and abundance of riches for evermore For first seeke we the kingdome of heaven and the righteousnesse thereof and all things else shall be ministred unto us Secondly where wee are to seeke Where in Heaven the House of God the Citie of the great King the inheritance of the just the portion of the faithfull the glory of Sion Where not without us but within us for the kingdome of God is within us So as I may say to every faithfull soule Intus habes quod quaeris That is within thee which is sought of thee It is God thou seekest and him thou possessest thy heart longeth after him and right sure thou art of him for his delight is to be with those that love him Lastly when on earth when in this life when while we are in health while we are in those Tabernacles of clay while we carry about us these earthen vessels while we are cloathed with flesh before the evill day come or the night approach or the shadow of death encompasse us now in the opportunate time the time of grace the time of redemption the appointed time while our peace may be made not to deferre from youth to age lest wee be prevented by death before we come to age but so to live every day as if we were to die every day that at last we may live with him who is the length of dayes What remaineth then but that wee conclude the whole Series or progresse of this Discourse with an Exhortation to counsell you an instruction to caution you closing both in one Conclusion to perswade you to put in daily practice what already hath beene tendred to you Now Gentlemen that I may take a friendly farewell of you I am to exhort you to a course Vertuous which among good men is ever held most Generous Let not O let not the pleasures of sinne for a season withdraw your mindes from that exceeding great weight of glory kept in store for the faithfull after their passage from this vale of misery Often call to minde the riches of that Kingdome after which you seeke those fresh Pastureâ— fragrant Medows and redolent Fields diapred and embrodered with sweetest and choicest flowers those blessed Citizens heavenly Saints and Servants of God who served him here on earth faithfully and now raigne with him triumphantly Let your Hearts be enditers of a good matter and your voices viols to this heavenly measure O how glorious things are spoken of thee thou Citie of God as the habitation of all that rejoyce is in thee Thou art founded on the exaltation of the whole earth There is in thee neither old-age nor the miserie of old-age There is in thee neither maime nor lame nor crooked nor deformed seeing all attaine to the perfect man to that measure of age or fulnesse of Christ. Who would not become humble Petitioner before the Throne of grace to be made partaker of such an exceeding weight of glory Secondly to instruct you where this Crowne of righteousnesse is to be sought it is to be sought in the House of God in the Temple of the Lord in the Sanctuary of the most High O doe not hold it any derogation to you to be servants yea servants of the lowest ranke even Doore-keepers in the House of the Lord Constantine the Great gloried more in being a member of the Church than the Head of an Empire O then let it be your greatest glory to advance his glory who wil make you vessels of glory But know that to obey the delights of the flesh to divide your portion among Harlots to drinke till the wine grow red to make your life a continued revell is not the way to obtaine this Crowne Tribulation must goe before Consolation you must clime up to the Crosse before you receive this Crowne The Israelites were to passe thorow a Desart before they came to Canaan This Desart is the world Canaan heaven O who would not be here afflicted that he may be there comforted Who would not be here crossed that he may be there crowned Who would not with patience passe thorow this Desart onely in hope to come to Canaan Canaan the inheritance of the just Canaan the lot of the righteous Canaan a fat Land flowing with milke and honey Canaan an Habitation of the most holy Canaan a place promised to Abraham Canaan the bosome of Father Abraham even Heaven but not the heaven of heaven to which even the earth itselfe is the very Empyraean heaven for this is heaven of heaven to the Lord because knowne to none but to the Lord. Thirdly and lastly that I may conclude and concluding perswade you neglect not this opportunate time of grace that is now
in May-games profest lovers of all sensuall pleasures That Roman Curtezan Semphronia was noted for her singing sporting and dancing wherein shee laboured to shew more art than became a modest woman with other motives of Licentiousnesse But in my opinion there is no one meanes to sift out the Disposition of Man better than by noting how he beares himselfe in passion which is of that violence as many times it discovers him though his purpose was to walke never so covertly from the eye of popular observance Should we have recourse to the lives of sundry Tyrants whose outward appearance or semblance promised much goodnesse we might finde sufficient matter to confirme this argument Some whereof as Tiberius so commonly carried and covered their plots as none could dive into their thoughts pretending ever most smoothnesse when they intended a tempest Yet if at any time as it befell many times their Spirits became netled or incensed so farre did passion transport them as they apparantly expressed their Natures without further Character Other discoveries may be made and those are the manifestest of all how men are affected or disposed when they are least themselves and this is with griefe I speake it for too highly doth Albion labour of it when Man losing indeed that Name at least his Nature becomes estranged from the use of reason by drowning his understanding with drunkennesse In high Germanie the parents of such children as should be married will see those which should be their sonnes in law to be drunke before them to see what Disposition they are of before they marrie their children unto them For they imagine if they be subject to any especiall vice they will then discover it having no Locke to keepe it secret Yet in this there are different humours which reigne and rage according to the Disposition of the person subject unto it as we shall see one lumpish without all conceit another jocund and merry apt for any conceit one weeping as if some disastrous fortune had befallen him another laughing 〈◊〉 if some merry Scene were presented him We reade of two distinct conditions in Philip and Alexander when they were in drinke for the one shewed his rage and furie towards his foes the other to his friends the one whereof participates of more true generous spirit than the other For as nothing can be imagined more ignoble than to triumph over our friend so nothing relisheth of more resolution than to shew our spirit so it be upon equall termes and without braving upon our Enemie But would you indeed see the disposition of Man truly discovered and the veile which kept him from sight cleare taken away Then come to him when he is advanced to place of honour or esteeme for Promotions declare what men be and there you shall finde him pourtrayed to life Galba was esteemed in the opinion of all fit to governe till he did governe Many have an excellent gift of concealing and shadowing which giveth grace to any picture so long as they are obscure and private but bring them to a place of more eminent note and give a lustre to their obscuritie you shall view them as perfectly as if their Bodies were transparant or windowes were in their bosomes Here you shall see One unmeasurably haughtie scorning to converse with these Groundlins for so it pleases him to tearme his inferiours and bearing such a state as if he were altered no lesse in person than place Another not so proud as he is covetous for no passion as a learned Schooleman affirmeth is better knowne unto us than the coveting or desiring passion which he calls Concupiscible and such an one makes all his inferiours his Sponges and Ostridge-like can digest all metalls Another sort there are whose well-tempered natures have brought them to that perfection as the state which they presently enioy makes them no more proud than the losse of that they possesse would cast them downe These Camillus-like are neither with the opinion of Honour too highly erected nor with the conceit of Affliction too much deiected As their conceits are not heightned by possessing it so they lose nothing of their owne proper height by forgoing it These are so evenly poized so nobly tempered as their opinion is not grounded on Title nor their glory on popular esteeme they are knowne to themselves and that knowledge hath instructed them so well in the vanitie of Earth as their thoughts have taken flight vowing not to rest till they approach heaven Pompey being combred with his Honour exclaimed to see Sylla's crueltie being ignorant after what sort to behave himselfe in the dignitie he had and cried out O perill and danger never like to have end Such is the nature of Noble spirits as they admire not so much the dignitie of the place to which they are advanced as they consider the burden which is on them imposed labouring rather how to behave themselve in their place than arrogate glory to themselves by reason of their place Neither are these sundrie Dispositions naturally ingraffed in men meerely produced from themselves as the affections or Dispositions of our mindes doe follow the temperature of our bodies where the Melancholy produceth such the Cholericke Phlegmaticke and Sanguine such and such according to Humours predominant in that body whence these affections are derived but I say these participate also of the Clime wherein we are For otherwise how should our Observations appeare good which we usually collect in the Survey of other Countries noting certaine vices to be most entertained in some especiall Provinces As Pride among the Babylonians Envie among the Iewes Anger among the Thebans Covetousnesse among the Tyrians Gluttonie among the Sidonians Pyracie among the Cilicians and Sorcerie among the Aegyptians to whom Caesar gave great attention as Alexander was delighted in â—he Brachmans So as I say our Dispositions how different or consonant soever doe not only partake of us but even of the Aire or temperature of Soile which bred us Thus we see what Diversitie of Dispositions there is and how diversly they are affected Let us now take a view of the Disposition it selfe whether it may be forced or no from what it naturally affecteth THe Philosopher saith that the Disposition may be removed but hardly the Habit. But I say those first Seeds of Disposition as they are Primitives can hardly be made Privatives being so inherent in the Subject as they may be moved but not removed Not removed objectest thou Why Disposition can be of no stronger reluctance than Nature and wee see how much shee may be altered yea cleare removed from what she formerly appeared For doe we not in the view of humane frailtie observe how many excellent wits drained from the very Quintessence of Nature as apt in apprehending as expressing a conceit strangely darkned or dulled as if they had beene steeped in some Lethaean slumber Nay doe we not in
of the Morning to direct us that Brazen wall reared by that Brazen Serpent to shield and protect us that faire Lilly of the valley cropt by that fairest often thousand to beautifie and adorne us that sweet odoriferous plant budding out of the root of Iesse to sweeten and perfume us What skills it then if we be deprived of all possessing vertueâ—hat â—hat includeth all The Levites who were chosen for the Altar and for Gods owne service were to have no possessions for the Lord was their inheritance Againe God chuseth the poore for an inheritance of his heavenly Kingdome Againe Blessed are you that bee poore for yours is the kingdome of heaven And againe Miserable are you rich men who in your riches have all your consolation Againe O Death how bitter is the remembrance of thee to that man whose peace is in his substance Hence we see the difference betwixt the state and condition of the worldling whose affections are wholly planted and placed upon earth and his whose desires transcend the pitch of earth having his feet below but his faith above The Poet very covertly and wittily in derision of such whose delights were wholly fixed on mould Satyrically concludeth Not only Vertue winged Fame and Honour too I say But things divine humane too must Riches all obey But to returne where we left whence commeth this so avaricious and illimited desire but only from a Selfe-love which these men have to their owne private and peculiar profit Which that wee may the better pâ—â—vent being such a shelfe as it endangers the ship that commeth neere it we are daily to examine our selves and observe what especiall affection we are most prone unto which found out we are to apply such remedies or receits as may best cure such enormities as arise from the vicious and corrupted source of our affections Now to come to the cure because Medicines provided and not applied are fruitlesly employed Are yee naturally subject to vain-glory Labour to suppresse those motions even in their rising by becomming vile and contemptible in your owne sight Are yee affected to wantonnesse and effeminacie Impose your selves a Taske inure your bodies to labour reserve some houres for reading as well those exquisite Morall precepts of Heathen Writers as those blessed Patternes of continencie recorded in sacred Writ Are ye slaved to the misery of a worldling Wrastle with your affections entertaine bountie affect hospitalitie so in time yee shall become weaned from base and servile Parcimony To be briefe as Vices are best cured by their Contraries ever oppose your selves to that which your Natures affect most for this is the way to make you that were slaves before commanders of your owne affections which soveraigntie surpasseth all inferiour command for by this meanes you command those who have had the greatest Monarchs in subjection Thus have we proposed the Necessitie of a Vocation and what especiall rules were to be observed in the undertaking of that Vocation which observed yee shall conferre no lesse good on your Countrey who expects much good from you then yee shall minister content unto your selves finding all depraved or distempered affections buried in you And so we descend from the Necessitie of a Vocation to inquire whether any from the highest to the lowest be exempted from it NO lesse authenticke than ancient is that position The higher place the heavier charge So as howsoever that erring opinion which vulgar weaknesse hath introduced seem approved that Men whom Fortune hath made Great may hold themselves exempted from all Vocations because either Noblenesse of bloud may seeme too worthy to partake of them or greatnesse of Successe little subject to the feare of want hath made them too high to stoope unto them I may safely averre that of all other degrees none are lesse exempted from a Calling than great men who set like high Peeres or Mounts should so over-view others as their lives may be lines of direction unto others Hee sinnes doubly that sinnes exemplarily whence is meant that such whose very persons should be examples or patternes of vigilancie providence and industrie must not sleepe out their time under the fruitlesse shadow of Securitie Men in great place saith one are thrice servants servants of the Soveraigne or State servants of Fame and servants of Businesse So as they have no freedome neither in their persons nor in their actions nor in their times First they are Servants to their Soveraigne or State for as they are by place set neere his Person so are they with due and tender respect ever to observe him in affaires tending to the safetie of his Person and generall good of the State They are Servants likewise of Fame for howsoever the actions of inferiour men may seeme sleighted with neglect or clouded with contempt they are sure to have their deeds bruted by Fame either to their glory or disgrace Yea these are also eager hunters after Fame preferring opinion before all other inferiour respects and wishing rather themselves to die than it should die Whence it was that Anaxagoras telling Alexander that there were many worlds Alexander wept replying That he had not wonne one implying that his Fame being that which he principally tendred having scarce yet dispersed it selfe to the circumference of one world it would be long ere it could diffuse or dilate it selfe to many worlds Lastly they are Servants of Businesse being placed neere the Helme of the State and therefore like wise and vigilant Pilots must be carefull lest the Rudder of the State be not shaken by their securitie Neither is their State so sure that it should move them to be secure for men in high places are for most part pursued by many Enemies whose eyes are ever prying into their actions which they invert by labouring to bring the State in distaste with their proceedings Now what meanes better to frustrate their practices than by a serious and cautelous eye to looke into their owne actions Diogenes being asâ—â—d how one should be revenged of his Enemie answered By being a vertuous and honest man Which badge I meane honesty as it should be the Cognizance of every Christian so should it shew her full lustre or splendour in these persons whom Descent or Place hath so ennobled Now these Enemies of Greatnesse if right use be made of them may conferre no small profit to such as they hate NASICA when the Roman Common-weale was supposed to be in most secure estate because freed of their enemies affirmed that though the Achaians and Carthaginians were both brought under the yoake of bondage yet they were in most danger because none were left whom they might either feare for danger or who should keepe them in awe This we shall finde verified even in our selves for tell me are wee not most circumspect in all our actions wherein we have to deale with our enemie Are we not fearefull lest by some inconsiderate or
sweet requiem saying with that Cormorant in the Gospell Soule take thy rest for in heaven onely which is our Fathers house there are many mansions to rest in In this world which is not of our Fathers house there are not many mansions to rest in but onely Vine-yards to worke in Wherein because not to goe forward is to goe backward we are to labour even to the day of our change Hereupon Charles the fifth gave this Embleme Stand not still but goe on farther Vlterius as God saith to his guest Superius Sit not still but sit up higher Doing thus and resolving to be no masters over that Family whose chiefest care is not the advancement of Gods glory you shall demeane your selves being here worthy that Vocation or calling over which you are placed and afterwards by following hard toward the marke obtaine the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Iesus THE ENGLISH GENTLEMAN Argument Of the difference of Recreations Of the moderate and immoderate use of Recreation Of the Benefits reâ—ounding from the One and inconveniences arising from the Other Of Recreations best sorting with the qualitie of a Gentleman And how he is to bestow himselfe in them RECREATION RECREATION being a refresher of the minde and an enabler of the bodie to any office wherein it shall be imployed brancheth it selfe into many kinds as Hawking which pleasure one termed the object of a great minde whose aymes were so farre above earth as he resolves to retire a while from earth and make an Evening flight in the aire Hunting where the Hounds at a losse shew themselves subtill Sophisters arguing by their Silence the game came not here againe by being mute it came not there Ergo by spending their mouthes it came here Fishing which may be well called the Embleme of this world where miserable man like the deluded fish is ever nibbling at the bait of vanitie Swimming an exercise more usuall than naturall and may have resemblance to these diving heads who are ever sounding the depths of others secrets or smimming against the streame may glance at such whose only delight is opposition Running a Recreation famously ancient solemnized by the continued succession or revolution of many ages upon the Olympiads in Greece so as the account or yeerly computation came from Races and other solemne games used on Olympus Wrastling Leaping Dancing and many other Recreations of like sort as they were by the continuance of many yeeres upon Olympus kept and with publike feasts duly celebrated so in many places of this Kingdome both Southward in their Wakes and Northward in their Summerings the very same Recreations are to this day continued Shooting amongst the Scythians and Parthians was an exercise of especiall request as afterward amongst the Amazonites being women expert above all people of the world in Shooting and practising the Dart. Bowling amongst the Romans was much used especially in Lucullus time whose Garden-alleyes were ever stored with young Gentlemen who resorted thither to Recreate themselves with this exercise The Greekes had a Cynosargus to traine and exercise their Youth in Wrastling and a Cerostrotum to annoint their bodies in before they wrastled The ancient Romans had a Circus to inure and practise their Youth against military service wherein they wrastled and contended They used likewise as the French doe to this day the exercise of the Ball which play is never sufficiently praised by Galen being an exercise wherein all the organs or faculties of mans bodie are to be imployed as the eye to be quicke and sharpe in seeing the hand readie in receiving the body nimble in moving the legges speedie in recovering That Fencing also was of much use and practice among the Romans even in their height of glory and during the flourishing time of their Empire may appeare by that high commendation which Cicero giveth it terming it The strongest and soveraignest exercise against death and griefe That Iusts Turnaments and Barriers likewise were amongst our ancient Knights usually practised and observed both for gaining the favour of such Ladies as they loved as also for the honour of their Country vanquishing such strangers with whom they contended may appeare in Histories of all ages Or to descend to more soft and effeminate Recreations we shall finde of what great esteeme Musicke was even with some who were in yeeres as ripe as they were for wisdome rare Socrates when he was well strucke in yeeres learned to play upon the Harpe Minerva and Alcibiades disliked the lowd Musicke of Dulcimers and Shalmes but admired the warbling straines of the Harpe Plato and Aristotle would have a man well brought up in Musicke Lycurgus in his sharpe lawes allowes of Musicke Chyron taught Achilles in his tender yeeres Musicke Achasia with Diotima and Hermione taught Pericles Prince of Troy or rather Duke of Athens Musicke Epaminondas of Leuctra was experienced in Musicke Themistocles was lesse esteemed because not seene in Musicke Alexander was so ravished with Musicke that when he heard a Trumpet he used to cry ad arma ad arma not able to containe himselfe so highly were his spirits erected by the force of Musicke Painting likewise among the ancient Pagans was for a Recreation used though at this day through the dishonour our painted Sepulchers doe to their maker much abused Fabius surnamed Pictor from whence the Fabii tooke their names was a painter for he painted the walls of the Temple of Peace Metrodorus a Philosopher and painter of Athens sent to by L. Paulus to bring up his children and to decke the Romane triumphs Protogenes his table wherein Bacchus was painted moved King Demetrius lying at the City Rhodes so much to admire his rare Art and Workmanship that whereas he might have consumed the City with fire he would not for the preciousnesse of that table and therefore staying to bid them battell wonne not the City at all So Campaspe pictured out in her colours by Apelles and Crotons five daughters lively pourtrayed by Zeuxes gained those famous Artists no lesse honour Howsoever his art was in painting I cannot chuse but commend his quicke wit in answering being by them reproved whom he most distasted and thus it was Two Cardinalls reproving one Raphael a painter in that he had made the pictures of Peter and Paul too red answered That Saint Peter and Saint Paul were even as red in heaven as they saw them there to see the church governed by such as they were This device or invention of painting was by the Pagans generally but especially those of the better sort taken only for a recreation and no trade or profession labouring to shew their cunning in beautifying garnishing and adorning the triumphs of their Conquerours or in decoring their Temples dedicated to the Gods As the Scythes used to erect Obeliskes or square stones upon the hearse of the deceased in number so many as he had slaine
flesh wanting those inward graces which truly adorne and beautifie women So as it is much better to follow his direction in the choice of a wife who said that they were to be chosen Modestiá non formâ which Modestie cannot admit of this ages vanitie where there nothing is lesse affected than what is comely For these garish fashions agree well with none but prostitutes and shamelesse women Neither can that face be a good one which stands in need of these helpes For what madnesse is it to change the forme of nature and seeke beautie from a Picture Which Picture is vices posture and the ages imposture Neither doe these affected trumperies nor exquisite vanities become a Christian. For what is more vaine than dying of the haire painting of the face laying out of breasts Doe not say that these can have shamefast mindes who have such wandring and immodest eyes For the habit of the minde is to be discerned by the carriage so as even in motion gesture and pace is modestie to be observed How miserable then is the state of these phantasticke Idols who can endure no fashion that is comely because it would not be observed How base is her shape which must borrow complexion from the shop How can shee weepe for her sinnes saith S. Hierome when her teares will make furrowes in her face With what confidence doth she lift up her countenance to heaven which her maker acknowledges not I would I poore wretch saith Tertullian might see in that day of Christian exaltation whether with Cerusse and Vermillion and Saffron and those tyres and toyes upon your head you are to rise againe which if they doe they shall certainly witnesse against them to receive the reward of their painting in a Lake of tormenting For these are they who lay hands upon God correcting with a hand of contempt the workmanship of God These never carry a box of ointment to bestow on the members of Christ but a box of complexion they have in readinesse to bestow on a cheeke Which sort of Wantons for how should I otherwise terme them are well displayed by one in their colours after this manner Shee surely keepes her fault of Sex and Nation And best alloweth still the last Translation Much good time lost shee rests her faces debter Sh 'as made it worse striving to make it better This introduced ulcer which is now esteemed no sore because custome hath taken away the sense of a sore how much it was abhorred formerly may appeare by that command or constitution purposely exhibited to restrain it Doe not paint thy face which God hath made But if our women would but consider how hatefull these abuses are in the sight of the Almightie yea how much they were loathed even of all honest women in former ages they would distaste them sure I am farre more than they affect them For if we will credit Saint Hierome writing to Marcella who saith That those women were matter of scandall to Christian eyes which painted their faces and eyes with Vermillion and such like adulterate complexions Yea he writes That Maximilla Montanus his Prophetesse a woman-devill by command from him whom shee served did use to paint So Festus Pompeius saith That common and base Whores called Schoenicolae used dawbing of themselves though with the vilest stuffe So did the Druids amongst the Romans expresly shadowed by the Poet Preserve what Nature gave you nought's more base Than Belgian colour on a Roman face So did our ancient Britaines but not to make their faces more amiable but to appeare more terrible to the enemie Thus much Gentlemen I thought good to write before you make your choice that you may see who are worth loving before you make your choice There is one flower to be loved of women a good red which is shamefastnesse Here make your choice and you shall finde farre more content in a native than artificiall blush For as Diogenes said to one that had anointed his haire Take heed that thy smelling head bring thee not an ill-smelling life so beware lest these perfumed Ones become not polluted Ones For whosoever shall use them I cannot choose but suspect them howsoever I have read of some that maintained the use of painting grounded upon these ensuing respects Such a cause there may be saith one that women may use painting and without sinne As for example if it be done of purpose to cover any blemish or deformitie Likewise if the husband command that his wife should doe it to the end that among other women shee might appeare more amiable Which opinion seemes likewise confirmed by another who affirmes That to receive more beautie by attire or painting though it be a counterfeit worke yet it is no mortall sin So as Platina writeth that Paulus Secundus Bishop of Rome used to paint himselfe Whom if Diogenes had seene he would doubtlesse have said to him as hee once said to a youth too curiously and effeminately drest If thou goest to men all this is but in vaine if unto women it is wicked Wicked surely it cannot choose being as it were a reproving or reforming of the Almightie whose workmanship is so absolute as it admits of no correction Take heed therfore that you be not taken with one of these Idols as Pigmalion was with his Image but so direct your affections as she may be worthy your embrace whom you shall choose Which that you may the better effect follow the Sages advice in your choice Match with your equall If not in fortunes for so both may prove beggers at least in descent so will she the better content her selfe with your estate and conforme her the better to your meanes For I have seldome seene any difference greater arising from Marriage than imparitie of birth or descent where the wife will not sticke to twit her husband with her Parentage and brave him with repetition of her descent Likewise as I would not have you to entertaine so maine a businesse without mature advice so I would not have you wholly rely upon a friends counsell but as you are to have the greatest Oare in the Boat so to make your selfe your owne carver for he that is enforced to his Choice makes a dangerous bargaine Wherefore ground your Choice on Love so shall you not choose but like making this your conclusion To her in Hymens bands I 'le nere be tide Whom Love hath not espous'd and made my Bride For what miseries have ensued on enforced Mariages there is no Age but may record where rites enforced made the hands no sooner joyned than their minds divorced bidding adue to Content even at that instant when those unhappie rites were solemnized The next Observance in making your Choice is matter of Portion a businesse not altogether to be neglected for if she be a good wife
ground of a disease is to mix the sound with the sicke now the soules disease is sinne wherewith she laboureth more painfully than the body can doe being annoyed with any infirmitie Those that are sicke are vicious men whose disease though it bee insensible and in that lesse curable it breakes out into loathsome ulcers which staine the pristine beautie of the soule Now as wee serve so many vices wee serve so many masters and so many masters so many devils each one having so many devils as evils Which miserable servitude to prevent for no slaverie is baser than the service of sinne the best and soveraignest receit that may be applied or ministred to the soule-sicke patient is the receit of aversion to turne aside from the wayes of the wicked and to keepe no company with the transgressour for this aversion from the companions of sinne is a conversion to the God of Sion Would you then have God turne to you turne you from your sinnes Would you be at one with your Maker be ever divided from these sensuall mates so shall you be made happie by the company of your Maker Would you bee found at heart leave to confort with these of an uncircumcised heart whose paths lead to perdition and they that walke therein shall be the heires of shame For howsoever these instruments of sinne as I have sometimes observed may make a shew of godlinesse or pretend meerely under colour to give a varnish to their vicious lives a semblance of goodnesse yet it is but meere painting they deale with they deny the power thereof in their life and conversation A ridiculous Actor in the Citie of Smyrna pronouncing O coelum O heaven pointed with his finger toward the ground which when Polemo the chiefest man in the place saw hee could abide to stay no longer but went from the company in a chafe saying This foole hath made a Solecisme with his hand he hath spoken false Latine with his hand Such ridiculous Actors are these time-spenders they pronounce heaven with their mouth but point at earth with their lives like wise Polemoes therefore stay no longer with them if at any time you have consorted with them for their practice is only to gull the world and with smooth pretences delude their unhappy consorts Their profession is how to play the hypocrite-christian but being unmasked their odious Phisnomies are quickly discovered Make use therefore of your experience and with all Temperance so counterpoize the weight of your passions as none of these assailants though their incursions be never so violent may ever surprize the glorious fortresse of your minde Which the better to effect let Lust be counterpoized by continence Ambition by humblenesse gorgeous apparell by comelinesse luscious fare by abstinence and company-keeping by that sweet seasoner of all vertues Temperance Thus you have heard how as without salt there can be no seasoning no warre without discipline no tillage without manuring no estate without mannaging no building without a foundation so no vertue can subsist without moderation AS wee have hitherto expressed the dignitie or sufficiencie of this vertue in that it giveth subsistence to all other vertues so are wee now to intreat of the amplenesse of it proposing such subjects wherein it is principally said to be conversant Now though there be no humane action which is not subject to many defects being not throughly seasoned by this exquisite vertue yet the use thereof may be reduced to these two as proper subjects wherein it is to be exercised expence of coine and expence of time for without moderation in the one wee should be prodigall of our substance without moderation in the other wee should grow too profuse in the expence of that which is more precious than any earthly substance Now touching worldly substance as wee are to be indifferent for the losse or possession of it so ought wee to be carefull in the use or dispensation of it As it is not to be admired when wee possesse it no more is it to be altogether disesteemed because wee stand in need of the use of it If money be so much to be contemned saith an ancient Father expresse thy bountie shew thy humanitie bestow it upon the poore so may this which of necessitie thou must lose releeve many which otherwise might perish by hunger thirst or nakednesse Thus to bestow it were not prodigally to spend it but to lay it up in a safer Treasurie even in Christs almes-box to the disbursers great advantage Yea but you will object you have other meanes to imploy it in you have a familie to support a posteritie to provide for a state to maintaine and pleasures suiting with your ranke and qualitie to uphold I grant it and you doe well in having a care to your familie for he is worse than an Infidell that wants this care It is commendable likewise in you to have an eye to your posteritie for Nature requires this at your hand To maintaine likewise your state and to continue your pleasures suiting with men of your ranke I allow it But where or in what sort must this be done For the place where surely none fitter than your owne countrey where you were bred setting up there your rest where you received your birth Let your Countrey I say enjoy you who bred you shewing there your hospitalitie where God hath placed you and with sufficient meanes blessed you I doe not approve of these who flie from their Countrey as if they were ashamed of her or had committed something unworthy of her How blame-worthy then are these Court-comets whose only delight is to admire themselves These no sooner have their bed-rid fathers betaken themselves to their last home and removed from their crazie couch but they are ready to sell a Mannor for a Coach They will not take it as their fathers tooke it their Countrey houses must be barred up lest the poore passenger should expect what is impossible to finde releefe to his want or a supply to his necessitie No the cage is opened and all the birds are fled not one crum of comfort remaining to succour a distressed poore one Hospitalitie which was once a relique of Gentrie and a knowne cognizance to all ancient houses hath lost her title meerely through discontinuance and great houses which were at first founded to releeve the poore and such needfull passengers as travelled by them are now of no use but only as Way-marks to direct them But whither are these Great ones gone To the Court there to spend in boundlesse and immoderate riot what their provident Ancestors had so long preserved and at whose doores so many needy soules have beene comfortably releeved Yet see the miserie of many of these rioters Though they consume their meanes yet is the port they live at meane for they have abridged their familie reduced their attendants to a small number and unnecessary expences set aside
some mixture of pride for they would have the world to observe how well they deserve it and againe their humilitie which is seldome in these without some tincture of vaine-glory in that they so little desire it So as these popular and firie spirits whose only aimes are to dignifie themselves deserve no sharper curbe for over-valuing themselves than these who pride themselves in their humilitie deserve for counterfeiting a kinde of debasing or dis-valuing of themselves to the eye of the world Whence I might take occasion to speake of those precise Schismaticks who cannot endure any precedencie or prioritie of place to be in the Church but an equalitie of Presbyterie but I will leave them to a sharper censure till they be throughly cured of their distemper Now for the second motive to sinne which is the Concupiscence of the eye as it is so to be moderated that it stray not so should it be so directed that it sleepe not sleepe not I say in the survey of that for which it was created The eye strayeth when it coveteth what it should not it sleepeth when it retireth from what it should it strayeth when it lusteth after a strange woman it sleepeth when it readeth not the Law of God to reclaime it from lusting after a strange woman it strayeth when it lusts after Naboths vineyard it sleepeth when it lookes not after Gods vineyard Neither is the eye so to be limited as if contemplation were only intended for as it is not sufficient to pray unlesse wee practise as well as pray so is it not sufficient to looke upon the Law unlesse wee live after the Law on which wee looke Wee reade that Abraham buried Sarah in the cave of Maâ—pelah that is in a double Sepulchre He that burieth his minde in knowledge only without any care of practice he buries Sarah in a single Sepulchre but he that buries his minde as well in the practice and feeling of religion which is all in all as in the knowledge and understanding of it he buries Sarah in a double Sepulchre and so must all wee doe which are the true children of Abraham for then with Abraham burying our spirit in a double Sepulchre wee shall with Elizeus have a double Spirit a spirit that as well doth as teacheth Otherwise wee are but tinkling Cymbals making only a sound of religion without any sound or sincere profession being as that honey-tongu'd Father saith in body inward but in heart outward Now the eye as it is the tenderest and subtilest organ of all others so should the object on which it is fixed be the purest and clearest of all others The Eagle accounts those of her young ones bastards which cannot fix their eyes upon the Sunne and with equall reflexion as it were reverberate the beaming vigour or splendour thereof which should be the Embleme of divine contemplation teaching us that howsoever wee have our feet on earth wee are to have our eyes in heaven not by prying too saucily into the sealed Arke of Gods inscrutable will but by meditating ever of him so to rest in him that after earth wee may for ever rest with him It is observed by profest Oculists that whereas all creatures have but foure muscles to turne their eyes round about man hath a fift to pull his eyes up to heaven How farre divert they then their eyes from the contemplation of that object for which they were created who cannot see their neighbours ground but they must cover it nor his beast but they desire it nor any thing which likes them but with a greedy eye they heart-eat it So large is the extent or circuit of their heart to earthly things as they can see nothing but they instantly desire so strait is the circumference of their heart to heavenly things they set no minde on them as if altogether unworthy their desire So as I cannot more aptly compare these idolizing worldlings to any thing than to the bird Ibis which is of that filthy nature as she receives those excrements in at her mouth which she had purged before from her guts Neither doe they resemble this bird only in respect of their bestiall or insatiate receit but also in the unbounded extent of their heart Oris Apollo writeth that the Egyptians when they would describe the heart paint that bird which they call Ibis because they thinke that no creature for proportion of the body hath so great a heart as the Ibis hath Neither hath our worldly Ibis a lesse heart to the filthy desires of the world being of necessity forced to leave the world before he can leave desiring the things of this world for their Satan-like come from compassing the whole earth esteeming no joy to the worldling like much enjoying yet am I not so rigorously affected or from feeling of humanity so farre estranged as with Democritus to move you to pull out your eyes that the occasion of temptation might be removed by being of your eyes those motives to temptation wholly deprived Nor with that inamored Italian to wish you to fix your eyes upon the beames of the Sunne till they were â—eared that the sight of your Mistresse might not move your disquiet No enjoy your eyes and make them directers to guide you not as blinde or deceitfull guides to entrap you use the object of this Sense but weane it from assenting to concupiscence concluding ever with that good remembrance May that object be from our eyes removed which makes us from our deare Lord divided Now for the last Motive which is the Pride of life it was Lucifers sinne and therefore should be each true Christians scorne For this sinne saith an ancient and learned Father are the children of the kingdome throwne into utter darknesse and whence commeth this but because they ascend up unto that Mountaine unto which the first Angell ascended and as a Devill descended Hee who entertaineth this Motive is an ambitious man who as one rightly observeth may be well and fitly similized with the Chameleon who hath nothing in his body but Lungs so the badge of the ambitious is to be windy and boisterous whereas if hee would measure all his undertakings rather by the dignity of the thing than the Ambition of his minde he should finde as much content as now he finds disquiet It was the rule of a wise Statesman and well deserves it the observance of every private person but especially of such who sit neere the Sterne of State not to suffer any ambitious heat transport him but to measure aâ—l things according to their dignity and worth and withall rather to refer the opinion of themselves and their actions to the censure of others and freely put themselves to be weighed in the judicious scale or ballance of others than to be approvers of themselves without the suffrage of others for certainely as there is no humour more predominant than Ambition nor
placere qâ—em diligit quia nulla major expetenda est remuneratio quà m ipsa dâ—ectio â—eo Magnus Serm. 7. dejejunio Mat. 4.1.3 Psal. 63.4 1 Tim. 2 8 Iob 7.1 Bernard in 4 lib. de consid ad Eugen In codem lâ—b c. 4 Periâ—litaâ—ur castitas in delaiis humiâ—â—tas in divitâ—â—s pietas in negotio veritas in â—â—ultiloquio charitas in hoc nequam saeculo 〈◊〉 Gen. 1.18 ☞ Afranius Of the benefit we reape by Acquaintance in matters of discourse ☞ Amor â— praesente gâ—ndâ—t absente dolet Bern. sup Cant. Nil interest habere ostium apertum vultum clausum Cicero No rush without mire no corrupt heart without sinne Plin. in Nat. hist. Iob. 20.16 ☞ Of the choice of Acquaintance in matters of advice Iob 16.2 Laert. in vit Perâ—and Omnia proten pore niâ—il pro veritate Optatus l. 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ecclus. 13.1 * Whose wood is sweetest shade coolest and coale hottest Fabiolae Maus 15. Latâ—at hac uno sâ—â—w Sâ—n. in Troad In Tiberius time Pro. 27.5 6. Laert. in vit Biant Suet. in August Tusc. lib. 1. Of the benefit properly derived from one friend to another in every peculiar action Plutarch in Pelopida initio Plutarch in Paulo Aemilio fine Nihil lam aeque â—â—lâ—ctaâ—â—riâ— anâ—num quam amâ—â—itia side is Sen. in tranq anim Vt flores qui odore delictâ—nt Ibid. * The expressive Character of a reall friend Nam in soro sunt lites â—câ—â—ones molâ—â—stae Posidip dict Si quis in hoe mundo cunctis vult gratus haberi Det capâ—al quaerat plurâ—ma pauca nihil Plato The benefits which redound from the mutuall union or communion of friends in the exercise of Pleasure Ioci non sâ—nt nimusalsi multo minus insulsi illi enim multum officiuni isti nisi per cachinnum parum pâ—oficiunt Vanitati prosrie festivitas cedit Cic. de orat lib. 2. As many Stars 〈◊〉 in the heavens bee So many maids ha's Rome to welcome thee As many kids as on the Downes we see So many Prostitutes in Rome there bee Scipio Nasica A tergo Nemesis Lacrt. in vil Biant A rule of infallible direction touching â—hâ—â—ce of Acquaintance Quisquis plus justo non sapit ille sapit Martial l. 14. Those jests are best seasoned that are least saked Of the choice or judicious approvement of Acquaintance in affaires of highest Consequence Aâ—icos sequere quos non â—udâ—at â—legisse Bias. Neither Timist nor Timonist are within the lists of Acquaintance to be entertained The Timist or Time-observer displayed and displaced Nec 〈…〉 Sext. Aurel. in Constant. These Timists have resemblance to those applauding Parasiâ—es by whom Antiochus was at one time saluted both 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a glorious Prince and a furious tyrant Tam gravis ille mihi nigri quà m limina ditis Ore aliud qui fert aliud suo pectâ—re condit Homer lib. 2. ☞ Cum Catilina polliceri novas tabulas proscriptiones divitum magistratus sacerdotia rapinas aliâ— omnia quae bellum atque libido victorum fert Salust Plures homines pudore magis quam bona voluntate prohibitis abstinent Esse inter nocentes 〈…〉 est Cyprian Epist. 2. Caâ—panus ☞ ☞ Peccatum semper pregnans 〈◊〉 ex alio gigâ—â—t Vitia mâ—bi sant an mi. Sen. Vâ—tia ad viâ—inos serpunt conâ—acta noâ—ent ib. * Quae male â—â—ssiâ—â—tur misâ—râ— insicitur Qâ—â—t vitâ—a tot Dâ—moniâ— Tot Daemoâ—ia quo◠〈…〉 Si inrecentes 〈…〉 praemia Salust Gratia quae coeat fictâ—â—ale-sâ—rta sodalis Est velut in Siculo Scylla cavenda mari Pub Faust. Andrel Pro. 29.5 The Timonist or Time detracter discovered and discarded ☞ Arâ—st Hist. aniâ—n Nosque ubi 〈…〉 oriens 〈…〉 rubens 〈◊〉 â—umina 〈◊〉 Tu voluptatem complecteris nos compescirrus Tu omnia voluptatis causa facis nos nihil Sen. de malis accidentibus bonis Lib. 1. Neu tihi pulchra patent caeci vestigia mundi â—allere quae citiâ— quam renovare solent Plutarch What directions are to be observed in the choice of a wife Gen. 1.13 The harsh and heremiticall conceit of the Carthaginian Arminius touching Mariage Se non prosperae tantum sed â—mnâ— fortunae inssesocietatem vix ulla perennior uâ—na est Vel tibi grata magis proprio quam corpâ—re bustum Condere und requiescit in urna Ovid. Met. lib. 4. Hebr. 13.4 Arist. lib. 1. Polit cap. 1. Eam â—ligas magâ—â—â—â—â— quem magis admire is 〈◊〉 â—ideas quâ—m cum anciâ—â— Sâ—neca Egnatius quod candidos habet dentes reâ—idâ—t usquequaque seu aed rei ventum est subsellium Vid. Catull. in lib. Eâ—eg a Epictet Enchirid b Cypr. de discipâ—ina habitu virg ☜ c Petr. Mart. in 2 Reg. 9.30 d Cyprian e Aâ—bâ— Hexam lib. 6. cap. 8. f Hieron g Iunius h Aug. de Christ. fide i Ambros. lib. 1. de offic cap. 18. k Hier. ad Furiam de vid. Ser. Tom. 1. l Tertul. de hab Mal. cap. 7. m Scult n Cyprian in lib. de hab virg o Vict. ad Salmonem p Tho. Hudson q Clemens Alex. const Apost l. 1. cap. 9. r Hier. de exitu Leae s Vict. ad Salmonem t Caesar. in Comment u Nazian contra multeres immodice câ—mptas x Laert. lib. 6. Optimisunt odores qui adorant mâ—â—s alâ—teâ— noâ— sunt flores sed faetores y Lessius dejâ—sti 〈◊〉 jure lib. 4. cap. 4 fol. 802. z Pet. Alâ—gora in Compend o Manuâ—l Navar. c 25 Numb 19. fâ—l 257. Laert. in vit Câ—eâ—b Portion and Proportion a Vbi Deus est ibi pâ—dicitia Hâ—â—â—en ad Furiam de vid. Serm. Tom. 1. b Velamen istud Anâ—iâ—hristi ibid. Cal. Rhod. lib. 12. cap. 8. Privileges of Marriage Plin. l. 35. c. 10. Laert. in vit Chyl Fortes creantur fortibus bonis Est in juvencis est in equis patrum Virtus Horat. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Insel cem dicebat Bias qui ferre nequiret inselicitaâ—em â—aert Pomp. 〈◊〉 l. 1. Quorsum alter dives alter pauper Theophrast Nil habet infelix paupertas darius in se Quam quod ridiculos homines facit Iuven. Sat. 3. Quem sugiam scio quem sequar nescio Homer Iliad 5. Nihil turpius dubio incerto pedem monò reserente modò producâ—nte Sen. epist. 96. Sundry inducing motives to Love recounted Parentage Benevolence Fame Pardoning of injuries Numb 12.10.13 Concurrencie in hatred Compassion in affliction 1 King 22.2 2 Sam. 15.37 Ecclus. 6.14 Virtus in infirmitate perficitur 2 Cor. 12.7 Delivery from danger Judith 13.10 Esther 8.11 Exod. 15.1 Joshua 24.31 Judg. 16.2 Maccab. 13.15 Vâ—d Eccl. à cap 44. ad 51. Expression of vertue 1 Kâ—ng 24.26 Acknowledgement of injuries A position of Aristot. Rhet. 2. cap. 4. Vt tenuissima scintilla quae in Oceanum demittitur Chrysost. in hom ad Pop. Suffering of injuries Bountie or Munificense 2 Cor. 9.7 Ecclus. 6.8.13 Ecclus. 12.8 9. Ibid. cap. 13.6.8