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
est hee is dead unto God answered the Bishop Nam nequam perditus uno verbo Latro evasit for he is wicked and lost and in a word a Theefe Much matter might be collected from this Story to enlarge the ground of our Proposition to wit what imminent dangers are ever attending on Youth and how easie it is by the painted flag of vanity and sensuall pleasure to draw him to ruine For doubtlesse many excellent rules of instruction had this grave Bishop delivered and imparted to his young Pupill many devout taskes and holy exercises had hee commended to his practice many prayers full of fervent zeale had hee offered for his conversion many sighes had he sent many teares had he shed to reclaime him from his former conversation Yet see how soone this youthfull Libertine forgets those instructions which hee had taught him those holy taskes which were injoyned him those zealous prayers which were offered for him those unfained sighes and teares which were shed for him I hee leaves this aged Father to become a Robber he flies from the Temple to the mountaine he puts off the roabe of truth and disguiseth himselfe with the vizard of theft And no small theefe but a Leader Rachel was a theefe for shee stole idolls from her father Iosuah was a theefe seeing hee stole grapes from Canaan David was a theefe seeing he stole the bottle of water from Saul Ionathas was a theefe since he stole hony from the Hive Iosaba was a theefe since he stole the infant Ioash But here was a theefe of another nature one whose vocation was injury profession theevery and practice crueltie one whose ingratitude towards his reverend Foster-father merited sharpest censure for Bysias the Grecian Osigeâ— the Lacedemonian Bracaras the Theban and Scipio the Roman esteemed it lesse punishment to be exiled than to remaine at home with those that were ungratefull for their service So as it is not only a griefe but also a perillous thing to have to doe with ungratefull men And wherein might ingratitude be more fully exemplified than in this Young-man whose disobedience to his Tutor sleighting his advice that had fostered him deserved severest chastisement But to observeâ— the cause of his fall wee shall finde how soone those good impressions which he had formerly received were quite razed and defaced in him by reason of depraved company whence we may gather that Youth being indeed the Philosophers rasa tabula is apt to receive any good impressure but spotted with the pitch of vice it hardly ever regaines her former puritie Whence wee are taught not to touch pitch lest we be defiled for as that divine Father saith Occasiones faciunt Latrones Truth is the sweetest Apples are the soonest corrupted and the best natures quickliest depraved How necessary therefore the care and respect Youth ought to have in the choyce and election of his Company may appeare by this one example which sheweth that Society is of such power as by it Saints are turned into Serpents Doves into Devils for with the wise wee shall learne wisdome and with the foole we shall learne foolishnesse Dangerous therefore it is to leave illimited Youth to it selfe yea to suffer Youth so much as to converse with it selfe So as that Greeke Sage seeing a Young man privately retired all alone demanded of him what hee was doing who answered he was talking to himselfe Take heed quoth he thou talke not with thine enemie For the naturall pronenesse of Youth to irregular liberty is such as it is ever suggesting matter of innovation to the Soveraigntie of reason Now to reduce these enormities incident to Youth to certaine principall heads we will display the Vanitie of Youth in these foure distinct Subjects Gate Looke Speech Habit that by insisting and discoursing on each particular we may receive the feature of Ladie Vanitie portrayed to the life IT is strange to observe how the very Body expresseth the secret fantasies of the minde and how well the one sympathizeth with the other I have seene even in this one motion the Gate such especiall arguments of a proud heart as if the body had beene transparent it could not have represented him more fully And I have wondered how Man endued with reason could be so far estranged from that where with he was endued as to strut so proudly with feet of earth as if hee were never to returne to earth But especially when Youth is employed in ushering his Mistresse hee walkes in the street as if hee were dancing a measure He verily imagins the eyes of the whole Citie are fixed on him as the very patterne which they esteeme worthy imitation how neerely then concernes it him to stand upon his equipage He walkes as if he were an upright man but his sincerity consists onely in dimension He feares nothing so much as some rude encounter for the Wall and so be discredited in the sight of his Idoll Now I would be glad to weane this Phantasticke from a veine of lightnesse and habituate him to a more generous forme First he is to know how that which is most native and least affectâ—ve deserves choisest acceptance We were not borne to glory in our feet the Bases of Mortalitie but to walke as children of light in holinesse and integritie Safer it were for us to observe and make use of that which the Swan is reported to use when at any time shee glories in the whitenesse of her colour to wit shee reflects her eye upon her blacke feet which qualifies her proud spirit making her so much the more dejected as joying before in her owne beautie shee was erected Excellently was that Embleme of humane frailtie shadowed in the image of Agathocles the Syracusan tyrant who commanded his Statue to be composed after this sort the Head to be of gold signifying purenesse the armes of ivory intimating smoothnesse the body of brasse implying strongnesse but the feet of earth importing weaknesse Be the Head-peece never so pure be it a Diadem of gold wee weare it cannot promise to us perpetuitie wee stand on earthen feet how may we then stand long relying on such weak supporters Though Nebuchadnezzer strut never so proudly upon the turrets of his princely Palace saying Is not this great Babel which I have builded hee knowes not how soone he shall be deprived of his glory and be enforced to feed with the Beasts of the field being as one estranged from his former magnificence Quid ergo ad nos consolatio mundi Let us not glory in mundane vanitie nor repose too much confidence in these feet of frailtie Sipes interris mens sit in coelis Though our foot be on earth let our minde be in heaven knowing that as Saint Augustine saith Three cubits of earth doe expect us and how little or much so ere wee possesse this is all that shall be left us THe next Subject we are to treat of in
doggs buâ— resemblances of such whose untrained Youth never received the first impressions of a generous Education These as they were bred in the Mountaines so their conversation is mountainous their behaviour harsh and furious their condition distempered and odious Yet see the miserie of custome what delight these will take in actions of incivilitie nothing relisheth with them save what they themselves affect nor can they affect ought worthy approbation for Education which one calls an early custome hath so farre wrought with them as they approve of nought freely affect nought truly nor intend ought purposely save what the rudenesse of Education hath inured them to These mens aimes are so farre from attaining honour as they partake of nothing which may so much as have the least share in the purchase of Honour Their minds are depressed and as it were earth-turned for they aspire to nothing which may have being above them neither can they stoope any lower for nothing can be under them Nor can their actions be noble when their dispositions by a malevolent custome are growne so despicable Hence it is that the Philosopher saith The divine part in such men is drowned because not accommodated to what it was first ordained For how is it possible that their affections should mount above the verge of earth whose breeding and being hath beene ever in earth They saith Phavorinus who sucke sowes milke will love wallowing in the mire inferring that as our Education hath formed us so will wee addresse our selves in the passage and current of our life For as Nature is too strong to be forced so Education being a second Nature hath kept too long possession to be removed She it is that in some sort moldeth our actions and affections framing us to her owne bent as if wee received all our discipline from her by whom we were first nourished and since tutored But you may object if Education expresse such power as her first native impressions cannot be suppressed how did those men appeare educated whose first breeding was in mountains and afterwards advanced to no lesse glory than a Diadem Such were Romulus and Remus that translater of the Median Empire to the Persians victorious Cyrus and he who from the Plow-stilts was elected Emperour to wit Gordius Surely their Education came farre short of that which is expected in the majestie of a Prince yet what inimitable presidents of renowme were these shewing much resolution in conquering and no lesse policie in retaining what they had conquered To begin with the first to wit Romulus truth is he laid the first foundation of a glorious and flourishing State yet as his Nurse was a Wolfe he plaid the Wolfe to his brother He planted his kingdome in bloud as his infancie received food from her whose native disposition affecteth bloud Neither can I be perswaded that his carriage could be so civill as that his first breeding left no relique nor relish of barbarisme especially when I reade what injuries or indignities were offered the Sabines by him what cruelties were acted upon his owne uncle what impieties were committed upon the neighbouring Heards-men the multitude whereof expressed how cruelly he was naturally addicted and that the first seeds which his savage Education had sowne in him could hardly be suppressed Touching Cyrus no question his breeding was not altogether in the Mountaines for he had recourse or resort though unknowne to Astiâ—ges Court where he received no small bettering in the progresse of his reigne Neither as it may probably be collected would Harpagus permit so great hopes as were treasured in him and by all Auguries and Predictions likely to be confirmed of him to be destitute of instructions fit and accommodate for so high a person Forelsâ— how should such excellent Lawes have beene devised such exquisite Cautions for state government provided the Empire of the Medes with whom it had so long continued to the Persians peaceably translated and without faction established These I say might probably confirme how well this victorious Shepherd was furnished with all precepts apt to informe him stored with all princely habiliments fit to accomplish him and exercised in all regall discipline the better to prepare him against all occurrents that should assaile him For the last as he was from obscurity raised so did he little in all his time that could be worthily praised being more skilfull in setting of a Turnep than setling of a state more experienced in correcting the luxurious growth of his Vine than rectifying those abuses raging and reigning in his time so as his small acquaintance in state-affaires during his Minority made him lesse affected to those employments in his riper years Whereas if we reflect upon the noble and inimitable exploits of Alexander the great whose fame hath given life to many Volumes we shall see that his princely Education gave him such rare impressions of glorious emulation in his father Philip as it raised him to those hopes hee afterwards attained For where was that Enemie he encountred with that he overcame not that Citie he besieged and wonne not that Nation he assailed and subdude not yet who more mildly affected though a Souldier or more humble-minded though a Conquerour which may appeare by that answer of this invincible Chieftaine to his Mother who desirous to execute an innocent harmlesse man the better to prevaile with him remembred him that her selfe for the space of nine moneths had carried him in her wombe and for that reason he must not say her nay But what replied he Aske saith he good mother some other gift of me for the life of a Man can be recompenced by no benefit Behold a princely disposition lively charactred having an eye no lesse to saving than subduing to receive mercie than to gaine a victorie to preserve the conquered than become a conquerour to get a friend than to win a field which as it requires a noble and free disposition not engaged to crueltie boundlesse ambition desire of triumph without compassion so questionlesse it shewes a composed civill and generous Education for these exclaime not with the Poet Omnis in ferro est salus but esteeme it the most glorious conquest to be subduers of their owne wills preferring the saving of a life before the gaining of an Empire Yet doe I not conclude these men to be exquisite as if they were freed from all such insulting affections as usually invade the brests of these high aspirers for so should I renounce the credit and authoritie of all Histories Themistocles as I have elsewhere noted walked in the open street because he could not sleepe the cause whereof when some men did enquire he answered that the triumph of Miltiades would not suffer him to take his rest see the strength of Ambition how powerfully it subdued a man of approved resolution exquisite temper Pausanias killed Philip of Macedon only for fame and
a Necessitie of Vocation injoyned all of what ranke or degree soever wee may prove by many pregnant places of Scripture inveighing against Idlenesse and commending imployment unto us Amongst which that of the Prophet Ezechiel may be properly applied to our purpose Behold saith he speaking of the sinnes of Ierusalem this was the iniquitie of thy sister Sodome pride fulnesse of bread and abundance of idlenesse was in her and in her daughters neither did she strengthen the hand of the poore and needie Againe in that of the Proverbs He that tilleth his land shall be satisfied with bread but he that followeth the idle is destitute of understanding Againe He that is slothfull in his worke is even the brother of him that is a great waster Againe that of the Sonne of Sirach If thou set thy servant to labour thou shalt finde rest but if thou let him goe idle he shall secke libertie Againe Send him to Labour that he goe not idle for idlenesse bringeth much evill This likewise the blessed Apostle admonisheth the Thessalonians of saying For even when wee were with you this wee warned you of that if there were any which would rot worke that he should not eat For wee heare that there are some which walke among you inordinately and worke not at all but are busie bodies Therefore them that are such we warne and exhort by our Lord Iesus Christ that they worke with quietnesse and eat their owne bread Againe that serious exhortation of the Apostle to Timothie describing the natures of such factious and busie bodies as intend themselves to no setled imployment but being idle they learne to goe about from house to house yea they are not only idle but also pratlers and busie bodies speaking things which are not comely Againe that expresse charge given by the Apostle touching every ones distinct profession or Vocation Let every man abide in the same vocation wherein he was called See here how much Idlenesse is condemned and Labour commended the former being the mother of all vices the latter a cheerer cherisher and supporter of all vertues For wherein may man better expresse himselfe than in the display and dispatch of such offices to the management and execution whereof he was first created Vertue as it consists in action time in revolution so the maze of mans life in perpetuall motion wherein non progredi est regredi non procedere recedere est It is given to man to labour for life it selfe is a continuate labour See then the Necessitie of a Vocation being a peculiar labour allotted or deputed to any one person in particular Whence sprung up first the diversitie of trades and occupations which now by processe of time have aspired to the name of Companies gaining daily new prerogatives the better to encourage them in their severall Offices It is a saying of Cn. Bentatus That he had rather be dead than live dead meaning that vacancie from affaires and retiring from such actions as tend to the conservation of humane societie was rather to die than to live For Life that is compared to a Lampe or burning Taper so long as it is fed with oyle giveth light being an Embleme of mans life which should not be obscured or darkned but ever sending forth her rayes or beames both to light it selfe and others Whence the Poet Life is a Lampe whose oyle yeelds light enough But spent it ends and leaves a stinking snuffe Gellius compares mans life to Iron Iron saith he if exercised is in time consumed if not exercised is with rust wasted So as this rust which indeed is rest from imployment doth no lesse consume the Light or Lampe of our Life than labour or exercise for our life decayes no lesse when wee are eating drinking or sleeping than toyling or travelling about our worldly affaires So much of our life is shortned as wee are even in these things which preserve and sustaine nature imployed thus death creepes on us when wee least thinke of it surprizing us when wee least expect it Some with Ammon carousing others with Haman persecuting or with Sanherib blaspheming or with Belshazzar sacrilegiously profaning Ahitophel plotting the Children mocking that incredulous Prince of Israel distrusting or that rich man in the Gospell presuming Few or none with Iacob exhorting with Martyr-crowned Steven blessing with the Apostles rejoycing or with all those glorious Martyrs whose garments were deepe died in the bloud of zeale singing and triumphing And a good reason may be here produced why many die so wofully dejected for how should they cloze their dayes cheerefully who have spent all their dayes idly If they that disobey God shall plant the vineyard and others shall eat the fruit how may those expect to be partakers of the fruit of the vineyard who neither obey God nor plant vineyard How long have many whose exquisite endowments were at first addressed for better imployments stood idling in the market-place never making recourse to Gods vineyard either to dung or water it refresh or cherish it labouring rather to breake downe her branches than sustaine it How many be there who will rather imploy whole yeeres in contriving some curious Banquetting-house than one moneth in erecting one poore Almes-house How choice and singular will the most be in their Tabernacles of clay while the inward Temple goes to ruine As Charles the Emperour said of the Duke of Venice his building when hee had seene his princely Palace like a Paradice on earth Haec sunt quae nos inviâ—â—s faciunt mori They draw us backe indeed and hale us from meditation of a more glorious building which needs not from the inhabitant any repairing How necessary is it for us then to addresse our selves to such imployments as may conferre on the state publike a benefit For as wee have insisted on the Necessitie of a Vocation so are wee to observe the conveniencies of a Vocation Which that wee may the better doe wee are to consider three especiall things which as Scales or Greeses may bring us to the right use and exercise of our Vocation The first Consideration is Divine or to God-ward the second Civill or to Man-ward the third Peculiar and to our selves-ward For the first because indeed the rest have dependance on it and could have no subsistence but from it wee are to consider by whom we are deputed to such a place or office 〈◊〉 for what end The person by whom wee are so deputed is God who in his goodnesse as hee hath bestowed an Image more noble and glorious on us than on any other creature so hath he enabled us to execute our place under him with due feare and reverence to his name ever observing the end for which wee were to such places deputed which is to honour him and be helpfull unto others who resemble him which is the second Consideration wee before observed
of his enemies where he that had not slaine an enemy could not drinke of the Goblet spiced with the ashes of some memorable Ancestor at solemne feasts and banquets For other painting too much affected at this day it was not so much as used by any Matron Wife or Virgin whose best red was shamefastnesse and choicest beauty maiden bashfulnesse onely as Festus Pompeius saith common and base whores called Schaenicolae used daubing of themselves though with the vilest stuffe But this may seeme an art rather than a recreation wee will therefore descend to some others whose use refresheth and recreateth the minde if imployed as they were first intended being rather to beguile time than to reape gaine And first for the Antiquity of Dice-play we have plenty of authorities every where occurring being much used by all the Roman Emperours at banquets and solemne meetings where they bestowed themselves and the time at no game so much as dice. So as Augustus was said to be a serious gamester at dice affecting them much when at any time hee retired from Court or Campe. Whence it is that Suetonius bringeth in Augustus Caesar speaking thus Si quas manus remisi cuique exegissem aut retinuissem quod cuique donavi vicissem c. If I had exacted those chances which I remitted every one and kept that which I bestowed I had gotten by play whereas now I am a loser by my bounty Though no game more ancient or which indeed requireth a conceit more pregnant than the Chesse which we read to have beene in great request amongst the ancient Romans whereof we have a History in the time of Caius Caligula tending to this purpose This Emperour being naturally addicted to all cruelty chanced one day amongst others to send for one Canius Iulus a Philosopher of eminent esteeme at that time with whom after some conference the Emperour fell into such a rage as he bade him depart thence but expect within short time to receive due censure for his boldnesse For quoth he flatter not thy selfe with a foolish hope of longer life for I have dooâ—ed thee to bee drawne by the officer unto death But see with what resolution this noble Canius bore himselfe I thanke you quoth he most gracious Emperour and so departed Within some few dayes after the Officer according to the Emperours commandement repaired to the houses of such as were adjudged not by any legall processe but onely by the Emperours pleasure to suffer death amongst which he made repaire to Canius house whom hee found playing at Chesse with one of his companions The Officer without delay gave him summons to prepare himselfe for it was the Emperours pleasure he should die whereat as one nothing amated or discouraged he called the Officer unto him and numbring the Chesse-men before him and his companion with whom hee played See quoth hee that after my death thou report not that thou hadst the better of the game then calling upon the Centurion or Officer Be you witnesse quoth he that I was before him one Thus laughed this noble Philosopher at death insulting as much over death as hee insulted over him who adjudged him to death This kinde of game now flater yeares is growne so familiar with most of our neighbouring Countries as no one play more affected or more generally used So as wee have heard of an Ape who plaid at Chesse in Portugall which implyed the daily use and practice of that game brought the Ape to that imitation And certainly there is no one game which may seeme to represent the state of mans life to the full so well as the Chesse For there you shall find Princes and Beggers and persons of all conditions ranked in their proper and peculiar places yet when the game is done they are all thrust up in a bagge together and where then appeares any difference betwixt the poorest Begger and the potentest Peere The like may be observed in this stage of humane frailty while we are here set to shew during the Chesse-game of this life we are according to our severall ranks esteemed and fit it should be so for else should all degrees be promiscuously confounded but no sooner is the game done the thred of our short life spunne than wee are throwne into a bagge a poore shrouding sheet for that is all that wee must carrie with us where there shall bee no difference betwixt the greatest and least highest and lowest for then it shall not bee asked us how much wee had but how we disposed of that we had Thus farre have we discoursed of the first part to wit of the difference of recreations thinking it sufficient to have touched only such as are most usuall and knowne unto us For some others which wee have purposely omitted lest our Mindian gate should grow greater than our City we shall have occasion to speake of some of them when we are to discourse of such Recreations as are to be made choice of by Gentlemen of best ranke and quality In the meane time we will descend to the second part to wit the moderate and immoderate use of Recreation IF wee eat too much honey it will grow distastfull so in Recreations if we exceed they must needs grow hurtfull I approve therefore of his opinion who adviseth us to doe with Recreations and such pleasures wherein wee take delight as Nurses doe with their brests to weane young children from them annoint them a little with Allöes sprinkling our sweetest delights with some bitternesse to weane us from them with more easinesse Neither is it my meaning that Gentlemen should be so from the pleasure of Recreâ—tion weaned as if from society wholly estranged for this were like him who became Hermit because he might not have her he loved But rather so to attemper or allay the sweetnesse of such pleasures or delights as they betake themselves to that they bee never too much besotted with them This course that Gentleman tooke who perceiving himselfe too much affected on Hawking resolved one day to weane his minde a little from it by trying his patience with some inconveniences incident to it Wherefore he set a lazie Haggard on his fist and goes to his sport where he finds store of game but few flights for wheresoever the Partridge flew his Hawke never made farther flight than from tree to tree which drove the Gentleman faulconer to such impatience as he lesse affected the pleasure for long time after The like I have heard of a Gentleman who used much bowling which Recreation he so continually practised for the love he bore it as his occasions were much neglected by it which to prevent as he rode farre for his pleasure so he stayed late ere hee returned home of purpose so to become wearied that his minde by that meanes might from his pleasure be the sooner weaned But these experiments as they are oft failing where the minde is not come to setling so in
with honest delight you shall account the time you bestow in hearing them not altogether fruitlesly spent For albeit the Italians are held worthy before all others to carry away the Garland for Poesie being for number and measure fuller and for weight and merit better as may appeare in the happy labours of Petrarch and Boccace yet if wee looke homeward and observe the grace of our presentments the curiositie of our properties and proprietie of our action wee may justly conclude that no Nation is or hath beene so exquisite in that kinde But to draw in our sailes touching this Recreation as I approve of the moderate use and recourse which our Gentlemen make to Playes so I wholly condemne the daily frequenting of them as some there be especially in this Citie who for want of better imployment make it their Vocation And these I now speake of be our Ordinary Gentlemen whose day-taske is this in a word They leave their beds to put on their cloathes formally repaire to an Ordinary and see a Play daily These can finde time enough for Recreation but not a minutes space for Devotion So as I much feare mee when they shall be struck with sicknesse and lie on their death-bed it will fare with them as it fared with a young Gentlewoman within these few yeeres who being accustomed in her health every day to see one Play or other was at last strucke with a grievous sicknesse even unto death during which time of her sicknesse being exhorted by such Divines as were there present to call upon God that hee would in mercy looke upon her as one deafe to their exhortation continued ever crying Oh Hieronimo Hieronimo me thinks I see thee brave Hieronimo Neither could shee be drawne from this with all their perswasions but fixing her eyes intentively as if shee had seene Hieronimo acted sending out a deepe sigh shee suddenly died And let this suffice to have beene spoken of the moderate use of this Recreation upon which I have the longer insisted because I am not ignorant how divers and different opinions have beene holden touching the lawfulnesse of Stage-playes which I resolved to reconcile in as briefe and plaine a manner as I could before I descended to the rest For as much as wee have begunne to treat of such Recreations as require small use or exercise of the Body we will first proceed with such as follow being ranked in the same Siedge because Recreations of the same nature descending from them to exercises requiring more alacrity of spirit and more ability of bodie Of these which may bee rather termed exercises of the minde than exercisers of the faculties of the body are Cards and Dice a speciall Recreation meerely invented and intended to passe tedious winter nights away and not to hazard ones fortunes at them as many inconsiderate gamesters now adayes will not sticke to doe which done what ensueth hence but entertaining of some desperate course which bringeth the undertaker many times to an end as unfortunate as his life was dissolute which makes me thinke I never see one of these Gamesters who in a bravado will set their patrimonies at a throw but I remember the answer of one Minacius who having on a time lost at Dice not only his money but his apparell too for hee was very poore sate weeping at the portall doore of a Taverne It chanced that a friend of his seeing him thus to weepe and lament demanded of him How it was with him Nothing quoth Minacius why weepest thou then said his friend if there be Nothing for this cause doe I weepe replied Minacius because there is Nothing His friend still wondring Why then quoth hee doest thou weepe thus when there is nothing for the very same cause quoth hee because I have nothing The one understood that there was no cause why hee should weepe the other wept because he had nothing left to play How many be there who may sing Lachrymae with Menacius going by weeping-crosse being either by crosse fortune as they ascribe it or rather by flat cheating as they may more properly terme it stript of their substance Amongst the Romans Venus or Cous was the best chance at Dice but indeed the best chance that any one can have is not to throw at all Howsoever I could wish young Gentlemen to beware of frequenting these common gaming houses where they must either have fortune with advantage or else bee sure to play like young Gamesters to their owne disadvantage Truth is I would have none to play much but those which have little to play For these as they have little to lose so they cannot be much poorer if they lose all Whereas such whose Ancestors have left them faire revenues by investing them as Heires to their providence need little to raise or advance their fortunes by these indirect meanes For tell mee Gentlemen doe yee game for gaine or passing time if for gaine it is needlesse yee have sufficient If for passing time your stake shâ—uld be lesse and your care for winning more indifferent Besides doe yee not observe what foists yee have daily resorting and frequenting these Houses whose purses are lined with cheats and whose profession is only to sharke Shun their companies then lest they prey upon you whereby you shall make your selves subjects both of want and weaknesse Of want by filling their purses with your coine of weaknesse by suffering your selves to be made a prey of by their cheats If you will game make choice of such as you know to be square gamesters scorning to bring their names in question with the least report of advantage As for tricks frequently used in these dayes learne rather to prevent them than professe them For I never knew Gamester play upon advantage but bring him to the square and his fortune was ever seconded with disadvantage But above all use moderation in Play make not your Recreation a distemper and set up this as your rest never to mount your stake so high as the losse of it may move you to choler And so I descend to Recreations more virile wherein I will be briefe because I would hasten to the next branch In this ranke may be numbred Hunting and Hawking pleasures very free and generous and such as the noblest dispositions have naturally affected For what more admirable than the pleasure of the Hare if wee observe the uses which may bee made of it as I have elsewhere more amplie discoursed purposing here rather to touch them than treat of them in her doubles note her cunning in the dogges eagernesse of pursuing Where all the senses remaine for the time pleased but when at default how much are they grieved What an excellent Melody or naturall Consort to delight the eare What choice Objects to content the eye what odoriferous smells in the flourie Meads to refresh the nose onely the Touch and Taste must have their pleasures suspended till the sport be
weaknesse this is acquaintance for Macchiavells Schollers whose principall ayme is to undermine and under pretence of amity shroud their villany These hold concurrencie with Frier Clement Ravillac Iaurequy Baltazar Gerard. They have an open gate but a shut countenance or if an open countenance a close shut heart Aristotle saith that friendship is one soule which ruleth two hearts and one heart which dwelleth in two bodies Whereas these men whose acquaintance hath relation to their owne peculiar ends have a heart and a heart a Heart outwardly professing and a Heart secretly practising a Heart outward and a Heart inward outwardly pretending and inwardly plotting These are no Acquaintance for you Gentlemen their Hearts are too farre from their mouths learning to prosper by others errours Yea by often conversing and practising with others no lesse cunning than themselves they have so farre prevailed as they are not onely able to match them but out-strip them Serpens nisi serpentem comederit non fit Draco These are they who hatch the Cockatrice egges come not therefore neere them for The poyson of Aspes is under their Lips Yea they sucke the gall of Aspes and the Vipers tongue shall slay them Yet to leave you alone without company would make your life as much loathed as choice of Acquaintance makes you love it He is a weake Prince that enjoyes an Empire without people and no lesse desolate or disconsolate is his state who wants not for meanes yet wants a friend to whom hee may impart his minde Lend me your hands therefore Gentlemen and I will direct you in a way how to make choice of Acquaintance in matters of Advice which is the second benefit redounding from the use of Acquaintance IF a man saith Seneca finde his friend sad and so leave him sicke without ministring any comfort to him and poore without releeving him wee may thinke such an one goeth to jest rather than visit or comfort Whence we may observe the office or condition of a friend who if his friend be sicke he will visit him iâ— sad hee will cheare him if poore hee will releeve him if afflicted in minde he will comfort him otherwise his friendship is but dissembling his visiting him a meere mocking of him Iob called his friends Miserable comforters because their discourses were rather afflictions than comforts their counsels rather corasives than cordialls their exhortations rather scourgings and scoffings than soule-solacing refreshings These doe not advise friends but despise them miserable are such Comforters Wherefore I may well distinguish Acquaintance into two sorts the one Halcion-like come to us in a storme the other Swallow-like draw neere us in a calme The former sort observe Periandors precept Shew thy selfe still the same whether thy friend bee in prosperity or adversity but the latter observe that sentence of Optatus All for the time but nothing for the truth All Acquaintance may be either compared to pitch staining oâ—to balme curing Hee that toucheth pitch shall bee defiled therewith saith the sonne of Sirach such is the nature of much Acquaintance especially in these latter dayes where vanity is more affected than the practice of vertue which should be onely loved Where many returne worse than when they went forth confirming that sentence Sanabimur si separemur à coetu But Balme it refresheth cheereth and cureth such is that Acquaintance whose conceits are delightfull discourse chearefull and instructions fruitfull These if wee be at any time doubtfull will advise us if in necessitie will releeve us if in any affliction either outward or inward will beare a part with us to allay griefe in us A little Stybium is too much such are the first a great quantitie of Styrax is too little such are the last A Iuniper-tree maketh the hottest coale and the coolest shadow of any tree the coale is so hot that if it be rak't up in ashes of the same it continueth unextinguished by the space of a whole yeere so doth true friendship or faithfull Acquaintance it affordeth the coolest shadow to refresh us and the hottest coales implying fervour of affection being once kindled to warme us When poore Andromache craved Vlysses advice what he thought best to be done in behalfe of her young sonne Astyanax Conceale him said he this is the only meanes to save him This shewed his faithfulnesse in advising albeit her Countries foe for otherwise hee would have perswaded her to submit her selfe and him to the hand of the mercilesse souldier or reape a benefit by their bondage making them his owne Captives As it is in the fable of the Crow who comming to the Eagle that had got a Cockle the fish whereof he could not get out neither by force nor art hee counselled him to mount up on high and throw the Cockle downe upon the stones and so breake the shell now all the while did the craftie Crow stay below expecting the fall The Eagle throwes it downe the shell is broken the fish by the Crow is taken and the Eagle deluded Many such Counsellors there be who advise not others for their good but their owne good Others there be who make use of their friends or acquaintance meerely for their owne ends and rather than they will be prevented of their aimes they will expose the life and safetie of their friend to imminent perill And these resemble the Fox who seeing a Chestnut in the fire made use of the Cats foot to take it out But these are not those friends whose advice is faithfull as their friendship is firme and gratefull Their aimes are indirect their advice tends to their owne benefit their counsell tastes of profit and their directions become as pitfalls to their friends Those to whom I would have Gentlemen knowne are men of an other ranke and qualitie appearing like the Canii Senecae Aruntii and Sorani whose admirable vertues were inimitable in so corrupt a government Neither would I have them to shake off these friendly Monitors if at any time their advice relish not halfe well to their palate but rather honour them for their vertuous sinceritie as Epaminondaâ— honoured Lysias Agesilaus Xenophon Scipio Penetius Alcibiades Socrates Achilles Phoenix sent him by his father Peleus For such as will not endure a friendly reproofe I would have their Acquaintance doe with them as Plato did with Dionysius who perceiving him to be incorrigible left him The rebukes of a friend are better than the kisses of an enemie for the one though at first displeasing tend if rightly used to his conversion but the other though pleasing tend if not prevented to his confusion Had Alexander understood this aright he would have preferred the faithfull advice of his affectionate Clitus before all his conquests for by his instruction might hee have learned Humilitie which lesson had beene worth his worlds Monarchie Had Nero that President of Tyrants or Monster of men given care to the
wise advice of his loyall and learned Seneca hee might have found a Subject to love him a Scholer to live with him a Souldier to fight for him and a Mother to blesse him For surely as of all possessions friendship is most precious being suted with vertue without which there is no true friendship so are we to value the life of our friend as the crowne of our glory For tell mee are you fad your friends conceit as a soveraigne receit will cheere you Are you disposed to be merry Mirth alone is a single consort your friend will partake with you Would you have one to passe the tedious night away in telling tales or holding you with talke your friend will invent a thousand pastimes to cheere you and make the night seeme lesse tedious unto you Is the burden of your griefes too heavy to beare you have a friend to share with you in your burden In briefe want you comfort he will supply it want you meanes to releeve your wants hee will afford it want you counsell he will impart it want you all that man can want you want not a friend who will supply your wants with his want And so I descend from the benefit redounding from Advice to the third and last which is the profit or benefit which redounds from one friend to another in every peculiar action exercise or recreation Cicero the glory of Rome and flower of Orators exemplifying the prowesse of Themistocles and Epaminondas useth these words The Sea shall sooner overwhelme the Isle it selfe of Salamine than it shall drench the remembrance of the Salamine triumph and the towne of Leuctra in Boeotia shall sooner be razed than the remembrance of the field there fought forgotten But howsoever these Monuments may be razed or defaced by continuance of time sure I am that the love which they shewed to their friends even to the apparent danger of their owne lives shall eternize their memory Pelopidas a noble Grecian skirmishing with the Lacedemonians against the Arcadians untill such time as being hurt in seven places hee fell downe at last for dead Then presently Epaminondas out of a princely resolution and noble affection to his distressed friend stepping forth bestrid him and fought to defend his body he alone against many till being sore cut on his arme with a sword and thrust into the brest with a pike he was even ready to give over But at that very instant Agesipolis King of the Lacedemonians came with the other point of the battell in a happy houre and saved both their lives when they were past all hope Here see apparent arguments of true love mixed with a noble and heroick temper for friends are to be tried in extremities either in matters of state or life in state by releeving their wants in life by engaging themselves to all extremes rather than they will suffer their friend to perish These are they who will latch the blow of affliction laid upon their friends with the buckler of affection preferring death before their friends disgrace Marcus Servilius a valiant Roman who had fought three and twenty combats of life and death in his owne person and had alwayes slaine as many of his enemies as challenged him man to man when as the people of Rome resisted Paulus Aemilius triumph stood up and made an Oration in his behalfe in the midst whereof hee cast up his gowne and shewed before them the infinite skars and cuts he had received upon his brest the sight of which so prevailed with the people that they all agreed in one and granted Aemilius triumph Here observe the tender respect of one friend towards anothers honour there is nothing unassayed nothing unattempted which may procure or further it For this friendship or combination of minds as there is nothing more precious so there is nothing which doth comparably delight or solace the minde like unto it being faithfully grounded Their discourse like some choice Musicke delights our hearing their sight like some rare Object contents our seeing their presence fully satisfies us in their touching their well-seasoned jests like some delicious banquet relish our tasting and their precepts like sweet flowers refresh our smelling Thus is every sense satisfied by enjoying that which it loveth for as senses wanting their proper objects become uselesse so men whether in prosperitie or adversitie wanting friends to relie on are wretched and helplesse So as there is no greater wildernesse than to be without true friends For without friendship societie is but meeting acquaintance a formall or ceremoniall greeting Wheras it is friendship when a man can say to himselfe I love this man without respect of utilitie for as I formerly noted those are no friends but hirelings who professe friendship only to gaine by it Certainly whosoever hath had the happinesse to enjoy a true faithfull friend to whom he might freely impart the secrets of his brest or open the Cabbinet of his counsels he I say and only he hath had the experience of so rare a benefit daily redounding from the use of friendship where two hearts are so individually united as neither from other can well be severed And as it is certaine that in bodies inanimate union strengthneth any naturall motion and weakneth any violent motion so amongst men friendship multiplieth joyes and divideth griefs It multiplies joyes for it makes that joy communicative which before was single it divideth griefes for it shares in them and so makes them lesse Now perfection of friendship is but a speculation if wee consider the many defects which are for most part subject to all worldly friendship yea and as the world increaseth in age so it decreaseth most commonly in goodnesse for in Courts are suits and actions of Law in Cities tricks and devices to circumvent in the Country ingrossing and regrating of purpose to oppresse It is rare to see a faithfull Damon or a Pythias a Pylades or Orestes a Bitias or a Pandarus a Nisus or Euryalus And what may be the cause of this but that the love of every one is so great to himselfe as he can finde no corner in his heart to lodge his friend in In briefe none can gaine friends and make a saving bargaine of it for now it is a rule commonly received He that to all will here be gratefull thought Must give accept demand much little nought So as it may seeme it is not given to man to love and to be wise because the Lover is ever blinded with affection towards his beloved so as he dis-esteemes honour profit yea life it selfe so hee may gratifie his beloved But my opinion is quite contrary for I hold this as a firme and undoubted Maxime that he who is not given to love cannot be wise For is he wise that reposeth such trust in his owne strength as if he stood in no need of friends Is he wise who dependeth so
this suffice for the Definition wee will now descend to the second branch wherein wee intend to shew that no vertue can subsist without Moderation being indeed the temper which allayeth and aptly disposeth all our actions making them equally seasoned which otherwise would become violent and immoderate AS Moderation is a subduer of every inordinate or indisposed affection so is it a seasoner or temperer of all our actions making them seeme worthy the title of vertuous which without this temper would appeare vicious For without this Moderation he that is liberall should incurre the name of prodigall the frugall the name of miserable the resolute be termed dissolute the morall civill man a coward the wise Stoicall the regular meerely formall the just rigorous the mercifull remisse So defective is the structure of all vertues wanting the sweet temper of Moderation to season them Neither proceedeth this from the malevolent or uncharitable censures of men as former times have beene too apt to traduce or mis-interpret their best deservings by aspersing some unworthy blemish upon their demerits As in Rome if the Pisoes be frugall they are censured parcimonious if the Metelli religious they are taxed superstitious if the Appii popular they are termed ambitious if the Manlii austere they are stiled tyrannous if the Lelii wise they are curious the Publicolae aspiring if courteous But meerely upon the want or deficiencie of such actions which are not tempered with Moderation For to give instance in each kinde how nobly and invincibly did Alexander the great beare himselfe in all exploits how much feared abroad and how much loved at home how afâ—able to his friends and how terrible to his foes Yet how much were all his actions of valour and matchlesse resolution darkned through want of Moderation being so excessively given to passion in his drinke as his nearest and dearest friends could not be secure from his fury For howsoever those acts and exploits of his against Darius yea against all opponents expressed the noblenesse of his person with the continued attendance of succeeding fortune yet the death of Clyâ—us and depopulation of Persepolis detracted as much from his glorie as ever his Conquests gained him glory Likewise how just and sincere was Agesilaus held in all matters of justice how free from this Ages staine corruption how farre from personall respect or to be over-awed by the offenders greatnesse so as like the worlds Generall of whom wee even now made mention and of whom Plutarch reports that hee used to shut the one eare with his hand when he heard any accuser in criminall causes thereby as he said reserving audâ—ence for the defendant semblably did this renowmed Patron and Patterne of unblemished Iustice yet how greatly did he eclipse those more glorious lights which shone in him for want of moderating his affection towards his children So as his riding upon a cockhorse did no lesse argue his weaknesse than his sinceritie in matters of Iustice witnessed his uprightnesse Lastly how profoundly wise was the Lacedemonian Chilo held to be being numbred among the seven Sages of Greece and elected Ephorus a place of especiall honour and esteeme how exquisite his sentences how quick and pregnant his answers how solid his reasons how absolute in all his proceedings Yet behold for want of moderation of his passions how childishly hee gave way to excesse of joy whereby he was inforced to pay his debt to nature Whence we may easily collect that no vertue how Cardinall soever can subsist without the assistance of moderation being that Lesbian rule which directs the Modell and makes it truly accomplishd All vertues saith one doe make a Common-wealth happy and peaceable but Temperance alone is the sustainer of civill quietnesse for it taketh care that the Realme be not corrupted with riot and wanton delights whereby divers States have beene cast away Or to descend more particularly to those divine effects which this vertue produceth it hindreth dishonest actions restraineth pleasures within certaine bounds and which maketh men to differ from bruit beasts Moreover this is that herbe which Mercury gave to Vlysses lest he should taste of the Inchanters cup and so with his fellowes be transformed into a Hog wallowing in the mire of all sensuall delights So as whosoever is endued with this vertue stands fortified against all assailants those eye-sores for so Plutarch calls them I meane those attractive objects of lust cannot surprize him nor those worldly tumours for so Eucherius stiles them I meane worldly honours intrap him Nor those roabes or rags of shame the gorgeous attire of sinne which Hierome calls Antichrists veile delude him Nor those Theeves of time for so the Orator is pleased to call them I meane friends and acquaintance over-joy him In briefe as the Vnicornes horne being dipt in water cleeres and purifies it so there is no poison either arising from the tempting object of beautie from the ambitious aspiring to honour from the attire of sinne or cover of shame or from those sweet time-beguilers our acquaintance which is not frustrated by this choice and soveraigne receit of Temperance So as this is that vertue which though in generall it deserve to be affected of all great men ought specially to embrace that by their example the common sort might become temperate for this is the reason why so many now adayes live riotously like beasts namely because they see Noblemen and Magistrates that governe the Common-wealth to leade their lives wantonly as Sardanapalus did Whence it was that the Poet so seriously concluded Great is the crime it cannot chuse If he be great that doth it use For as wee see in colours there is none which discovers any soile or blemish so much as white or as wee have observed in the eclipse of the Sunne that it drawes more eyes to view it than the darkning of any inferiour light so amongst the children of men though sinne be sinne in every one yet more noted and in that more exemplar in these high peering Cedars I meane our Peeres and Nobles than in these lower shrubs whose humble condition frees them from like publike observance How necessary is it then for you Gentlemen whose birth hath ennobled you whose breeding hath enabled you and whose more generous spirits have emboldned you to undertake assayes for the glory and benefit of your Countrey the better to expresse your love allegeance to your Prince to become affecters and practicers of so singular a vertue that your lives might be patternes of Moderation unto others seeing more eyes are fixt upon you than on inferiours You are the Molds wherein meaner men are casten labour then by your example to stampe impressions of vertue in others but principally Temperance seeing no vertue can subsist without it It is dangerous saith Austine when prodigalitie and riot sway a Scepter neither only is it dangerous for the person
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
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
like answers will flesh and bloud make to dispence with workes of Charitie or like the answer of churlish Nabal Who is David and who is the sonne of Iesse There be many servants now adayes that breake away every man from his master Shall I then take my bread and my water and my flesh which I have killed for my Shearers and give it unto men whom I know not whence they be O let not these objections divert the current of thy compassion Eye not so much his Countrey whether neighbour-borne or a stranger as his Countenance the expresse Image of thy Saviour But to descend to some reasons why the Active part of Perfection is to be preferred before the Contemplative this amongst others is the most effectuall and impregnable In that great day of Account when the sealed booke of our secretest sinnes shall be unsealed our privatest actions discovered our closest and subtillest practices displayed and the whole inside of man uncased it shall not be demanded of us what knew we but what did we Fitting therefore it were to prefer Action before Knowledge in this life being so infallibly to be preferred after this life Howbeit greater is their shame and sharper doubtlesse shall be their censure whose education in all Arts divine and humane hath enabled them for discourse fitted or accommodated them for managements publike or private yet they giving reines to liberty invert their knowledge to depraved ends either making no use of such noble and exquisite indowments or which is worse imploying them to the satisfaction of their owne illimited desires O happy had these beene if they had never knowne the excellence of learning for ignorance is to be preferred before knowledge loosely perverted Yea but will some object I cannot see how any one should observe a Law before they know it wherefore as I thinke Knowledge is to be preferred because by Knowledge is Action directed It is true indeed Knowledge directs and instructs for otherwise we should grope in darknesse neither doe I exclude all Knowledge but admit so much as may instruct man sufficiently in matters of faith put him in remembrance of heaven whose joyes are ineffable of Hell whose pains are intollerable of the last judgement whose sentence is irrevocable So as I exclude only this grosse ignorance or blinde Paganisme for to these is the way to heaven closed because they are divided from that light without which the celestial way cannot be discerned Wheras then I have so much insisted heretofore upon the Contemplative part of Perfection my ayme was to shew how those who continued in a Contemplative and solitary life sequestring themselves from the cares and company of this world doubtlesly conceived ineffable comfort in that sweet retirement yet in regard they lived not in the world the world was not bettered by their example But in this Active Perfection where the Active part no lesse than Contemplative is required we intend those who doe not only know but doe and in the Actions of this life use to make their Lights so shine before men that they may see their good workes Yea but it may be againe objected all sinnes be properly called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and beare the name of ignorance how then may wee exclude any knowledge Every Sinne indeed implyes an ignorance of the creature towards the Creator which ignoranâ—â— imports rather a forgetfulnesse For admit a man should steale commit perjury or any such act contrary to the expresse will and commandement of God it were to be imagined that this breach or transgression of the divine Law proceeded not of ignorance for he could not chuse but know that consent to any of these incurred the breach of his Law but rather it may be said he had not God before his eyes but out of a wilfull forgetfulnesse violated the ordinances of God But to conclude this Branch in a word the Active is to be preferred before the Contemplative for two respects The first whereof hath relation to our selves The second to others To our selves having account to make for the Actions of our life how we have imployed or bestowed those Talents which he hath lent us what use profit or benefit we have made of them in what spirituall affaires have we beene exercised in what holy duties trained Have we not preferred private profit before the testimony of a good conscience Have we not laboured to inhaunce our means by sinister and indirect courses Have wee not withdrawne our hand from releeving our needfull brother or defrauded the labourer of his wages Have wee not consorted with the evill doer and encouraged him in his sinne Have we not hindred some pious worke tending to the honour of God and imitable for example of others Have we propagated the Gospel comforted Sion when shee mourned repaired those breaches which were in her and received those in peace which blessed her Have we only sought the kingdome of God and the righteousnesse thereof esteemed godlinesse to be great riches left our selves and all to be followers of him who gave us dominion over all If we have done this as we are here in the Alpha of grace we shall be there in the Omega of glory here initiate there consummate but having knowne the will of our Father and done it not read principles or instructions of a good life and observ'd them not conversant in deepe mysteries and applied them not studied in all Arts and Sciences and practised them not how miserable is our knowledge pronouncing on us a heavier judgement Wherefore in respect of our selves whether our knowledge be great or little if our conversation be not in heaven though our habitation during our Pilgrimage be on earth our knowledge is but as a tinckling Cymball and shall smally availe us before the high Tribunall For knew we the power and vertue of all creatures of all plants and vegetive bodies from the Cedar of Lebanon to the Hyssop upon the wall yet were this knowledge fruitlesse being not seconded by a life conformable to that knowledge § Secondly in respect of others Action is the life of man and example the direction of his life How much then doe such men prejudice those who live in the world that betake themselves to a private or retired life estranged from humane societie and ending their dayes in some solitary cave as men divided from the world For howsoever their manner of life be religious their discipline strict and rigorous and in their devotion fervent and zealous yet they deprive others of the benefit which they might reape by their example Wherefore most safe and sure it is to use the words of a judicious Author for those who have a desire to take upon them a solitary life to retire and withdraw their affections before they withdraw their bodies from the world and to force the world to flie from their minde before they flie the world lest going out of
noting his errour It is not your Hen that is lost but your Citie Roma that is taken by Alaricus King of the Gothes Wherewith comming a little to himselfe he seemed to beare with much more paâ—ience the surprize of the one than the losse of the other O childish simplicity you say well yet the like is in us We cannot endure that any one should steale from us our silver yet either honour riches or pleasure may have free leave to steale away our heart We would by no meanes be defrauded of our treasure yet it troubles us little to be depraved with errour We avoid the poisons of the body but not of the minde intending more the diet of the body than the discipline of the minde Since then in these externall desires this Actuall Perfection whereof we have formerly treated may receive no true rest or repose for to those it only aspireth wherin it resteth wee must search higher for this place of peace this repose of rest this heavenly Harbour of divine comfort we are to seeke it then while we are here upon earth yet not on earth would you know what this soveraigne or absolute end is wherein this Actuall Perfection solely resteth wherein the Heart only glorieth and to the receiver long life with comfort in abundance amply promiseth Hearken to the words of Iesus the Sonne of Sirach It is a great glory to follow the Lord and to be received of him is long life Nor skils it much how worldlings esteeme of us for perhaps they will judge it folly to see us become weaned from delights or pleasures of the world to see us embrace a rigorous or austere course of life to dis-esteem the pompe and port of this present world This I say they will account foolishnesse But blessed are they who deserve to be of that number which the world accounts for fooles God for wise men But miserable is the state of these forlorne worldlings whose chiefest aime is to circumvent or intrap their brethren making their highest aymes their owne ends and accounting bread eaten in secret to be the savourest and stolne waters the sweetest for these never drinke of their own Cisterne or feed of the flesh of their owne fold but partake in the spoile of others yet wipe their mouths as if they were innocent but behold this Haman-policy shall make them spectacles of finall misery wishing many times they had been lesse wise in the opinion of the world so they had relished of that divine wisdome which makes-man truly happy in another world even that wisdome I say who hath built an everlasting foundation with men and shall continue with their seed neither can this divine wisdome chuse but be fruitfull standing on so firme a root or the branches dry receiving life and heat from so faire a root Now to describe the beauty of her branches springing from so firme a root with the solidity of her root diffusing pith to her branches The root of wisdome saith the wise Son of Sirach is to feare the Lord and the branches thereof are long life This feare where it takes root suffers no worldly feare to take place Many worldlings become wretched only through feare lest they should be wretched and many die only through feare lest they should die but with these who are grounded in the feare of the Lord they neither feare death being assured that it imposeth an end to their misery nor the miseries of this present life being ever affied on the trust of Gods mercie How constantly zealously and gloriously many devout men have died and upon the very instant of their dissolution expostulated with their owne soules reproving in themselves their unwillingnesse to die may appeare by the examples of such whose lives as they were to God right pleasing so were their soules no lesse precious in their departing upon some whereof though I have formerly insisted yet in respect that such memorable Patteâ—nes of sanctity cannot be too often represented I thought good purposely as usually I have done in all the Series of this present Discourse where any remarkable thing was related to have it in divers places repeated to exemplifie this noble resolution or contempt of death in the proofe and practice of some one or two blessed Saints and Servants of God Ierome writeth of Hilarion that being ready to give up the ghost he said thus to his soule Goe forth my soule why fearest thou Goe forth why tremblest thou Thou hast served Christ almost those threescore and ten yeares and doest thou now feare death Saint Ambrose when he was readie to die speaking to Stillico and others about his bed I have not lived so among you saith he that I am ashamed to live longer to please God and yet againe I am not afraid to die because we have a good Lord. The reverend Bede whom wee may more easily admire than sufficiently praise for his profound learning in a most barbarous age when all good literature was in contempt being in the pangs of death said to the standers by I have so lived among you that I am not ashamed of my life neither feare I to die because I have a most gracious Redeemer He yeelded up his life with this prayer for the Church O King of glory Lord of Hostes which hast triumphantly ascended into heaven leave us not fatherlesse but send the promised Spirit of thy truth amongst us These last funerall Teares or dying mens Hymnes I have the rather renued to your memory that they might have the longer impression being uttered by dying men at the point of their dissolution And I know right well for experience hath informed me sufficiently therein that the words of dying men are precious even to strangers but when the voice of one we love and with whom we did familiarly live calls to us from the Death-bed O what a conflict doe his words raise How strongly doe griefe and affection strive to inclose them knowing that in a short space that tongue the organs whereof yet speak and move attention by their friendly accents was to be eternally tied up in silence nor should the sound of his words salute our eares any more and certainly the resolution of a devout dying man being upon the point of his dissolution cannot but be an especiall motive to the hearer of Mortification Which was one cause even among the Heathens of erecting Statues Obelisks or Monuments upon the Dead that eying the Sepulchres of such noble and heroick men as had their honour laid in the dust they might likewise understand that neither resolution of spirit nor puissance of body could free them from the common verdict of mortalitie which begot in many of them a wonderfull contempt of the world Albeit it is to be understood that Christians doe contemne this world much otherwise than Pagans for ambition is a guide to these but the love of
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
word is his gage and his promise such a tye as his reputation will not suffer him to dispence with Men of this ranke as they are readie to beare an equall share in their friends misery so are they resolved with a spirit undanted if such be their chance in their own persons to sustaine misery for they esteeme no man so unhappie as he that cannot beare unhappinesse In Sicilia there is a fountaine called Fons Solis out of which at mid-day when the Sunne is neerest floweth cold water at mid-night when the Sunne is farthest off floweth hot water Such fountaines are these firme friends who when the Sunne shineth hottest upon you with the raies of prosperitie will yeeld you cold water no great comfort or succour because you need it not but when the Sunne is farthest off and the darkest clouds which fortune can contract sit heaviest on you then they send forth hot water they weepe with you there is hot water they suffer with you there is hot water they cheere you drooping comfort you sorrowing support you languishing and in your extremest fortunes are ever sharing These crie with Theophrastus What care we if this friend be rich that friend poore we are the same to either Make choice therefore of these well bred Ones for though some degenerate most of them hold Whereas contrariwise these who are of a base dunghill descent it is seldome seene but they have some base and unworthy condition being generally all for the time but little for trust or as Tops which alwayes run round and never goe forward unlesse they be whipt Such a Neuter among the Romans was Tully who could not resolve whether he should take Caesars part or Pompeyes part Among the Grecians was Tydides who could not determine whether he should joyne himselfe with Achilles or Hector 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Among the Persians was Nabarzanes who seeing his Masters fortunes decline laboured to joyne himselfe to him whose fortunes were in rising Such were Tiberius friends who shrunke from him hearing with patience Tiberium in Tiberim And such were our Northerne Borderers who have beene alwayes uncertaine friends in extremities and assured enemies upon advantage Of which it may be said as was spoken of the Philosophers cloake Pallium video Philosophum non video I see the cover of a friend but no friend For as nothing is more hatefull than a doubtfull and uncertaine man who now draweth his foot backe and now putteth it forward so there is nothing more distastefull to any man than these faire protesting friends whose hollow and undermining hearts make a shew of faire weather abroad when there is a tempest at home comming towards you with their feet but going from you with their hearts In briefe they are Danaus tubs or running sieves that can hold no water leave them therefore to themselves if you desire in safety to enjoy your selves Now to the end I may acquaint you likewise with the rest of such Motives to Love as are powerfully working in the affection of the minde as we have touched the first Motive or inducement to Love to wit Parentage or descent which cannot so farre degenerate from it selfe but it must of necessity shew it selfe so it attracts other motives of love unto it as Benevolence in rewarding excellencie or admiration proceeding from the fame of such redoubted Hero's as have their names charactred and ingraven in leaves of brasse to preserve their memorie as Salomon for his wisdome whom no doubt Nicaula Queen of Saba had a desire to see be known to through report of his wisdome so as her long journey seemed short having understood that to be true with her owne eare which shee had only heard of before by report How much likewise was David affected for his Valour in discomfiting the uncircumcised Philistin So was Alexander whose report brought the Amazon Thalestris from her owne Countrey of purpose to be knowne to so invincible a spirit So Hercules Achilles Dardanus Diomedes Scipio Hannibal Constantine c. whose exploits purchased them Love to such as were never acquainted with their persons Pardoning likewise of injuries is an excellent motive of Love When Chylo's brother was angry that himselfe was not made Ephorus as well as he O quoth he I know how to suffer injuries so doest not thou Though Diogenes the Cynick answered uncivilly to Alexander when he came to his poore Mansion in Synope his Philosophers Barrell yet hee replied unto his Satyricall speech with no indignation but said to such of his attendants as derided the boarish and exoticke speech of Diogenes If I were not Alexander I would wish to be Diogenes The like instance may be confirmed by holy Writ where Miriam for murmuring against Moses was stricken with a lothsome Leprosie he could not suffer this condigne punishment to be inflicted on her but demanded of God that hee would cure her Another motive to Love is Hatred where an ill occasion procureth among enemies a reconciliation Herod and Pilat enemies before were reconciled in combining their powers together against Christ. Mastives if set together will fight till death but in the presence of a Bull will joyne together Sometimes mutuall affliction procureth mutuall affection Such resorted to David as were persecuted by Saul being such as were amaro animo Where Sauls enmitie brought David to a triall of Hushai's faithfull amitie where hee found the words of Ecclesiasticus to be true A faithfull friend is a strong defence and hee that findeth such a one findeth a treasure For when wee are in the greatest straights such an one sheweth the most strength So as the Apostles words may be here verified Strength is made perfect in weaknesse Where one afflicted friend supporteth another by joyning their strengths together Another motive there is proceeding from some especiall delivery from danger for who will not esteeme him for a friend who will expose himselfe to danger to deliver his friend Iudith entred Bethulia with Holofernes head and by that meanes preserved her Countrey from ruine and desolation Esther procured the death of Haman repealed those severe and cruell lawes enacted proclaimed and even ready to be executed by Hamans suggestion in the kingdome of the Medes and Persians whereby she purchased eternall honour love and memory in her Countrey The same love gained Moses for delivering the Israelites from the thraldome of Aegypt The like may be said of Ioshua Samson Maccabeus and many others frequent in holy Writ The Romans so highly honoured and affected such as protected their Countrey and defended her Libertie as they bestowed no lesse style on them than Patres Patriae Another motive there is drawing one Enemie to love another induced thereto in respect of Compassion or some other princely vertue which he seeth in him When Saul understood that David might have taken away his life and would not Levavit vocem
flevit his threats were changed into teares and his passion into a teare-swolne admiration to see his foe so full of compassion We are induced likewise to love them that tell and confesse sincerely their offences for an ingenuous acknowledgment of what is done moves us to commiserate his case by whom it is done yea quencheth all hate as if a small sparke were drenched in the Sea Likewise in the toleration of wrongs wee are enforced to love him who suffereth them and having power to revenge will not out of the noblenesse of his spirit doe what he may To conclude Bountie is a Motive to Love for giving gifts gathereth friends which Bountie is most worthy acceptance when done with cheerefulnesse Hilarem datorem diligit Deus Thus have we traced over such Motives as generally induce or procure Love Friendship or Acquaintance wherein observe the lesson of the Sonne of Sirach Depart from thine enemies and beware of thy friends for some man is a friend for his owne occasion and will not abide in the day of thy trouble Now if you would understand how a man may know a friend you shall find him described and by certaine infallible markes discovered in the twelfth Chapter of the same booke But alwayes Beware saith he of deceitfull friends lest feeling the bitternesse of them you finde the saying of the Prophet true All the men of thy confederacie have driven thee to the borders the men that were at peace with thee have deceived thee and prevailed against thee they that eat thy bread have laid a wound under thee there is none understanding in him Make choice then of him for your Acquaintance whom you may worthily esteeme of as a second-selfe so may you communicate your counsells freely acquaint him with your griefes friendly and share in comforts and afflictions fully Thus much for the choice of Acquaintance wherein I have the rather enlarged my discourse because I know that as there is nothing more usefull to direction or instruction than where good ones are elected so there is nothing more hurtfull in the maine matter of discipline or conversation than where ill ones are affected and frequented MAny and singular were the commendations attributed to Augustus amongst which none more absolute than this As none was more slow in entertaining so none more firme of constant in retaining which agrees well with that of the Sonne of Sirach If thou gettest a friend prove him first and be not hastie to credit him But having found him we are to value him above great treasures the reason is annexed A faithfull friend is a strong defence and hee that findeth such a one findeth a treasure This adviseth every one to be no lesse wary in his choice than constant in the approvement of his choice so as it rests now that wee presse this point by reasons and authorities illustrating by the one and confirming by the other how consequent a thing it is to shew our selves constant in the choice of our Acquaintance There is no one thing more dangerous to the state of man or more infallibly proving fatall than lightnesse in entertaining many friends and no lesse lightly cashiering those who are entertained Which errour I have observed to have borne principall sway in our new-advanced Heires whose onely ambition it is to be seene numerously attended phantastically attired and in the height of their absurdities humoured These are they who make choice of Acquaintance only by outward habit or which is worse by roisting or russian behaviour with whom that false Armory of yellow Bands nittie Lockes and braving Mouchato's have ever had choice acceptance And herein observe the misery of these depraved ones who having made choice of these mis-spenders of time and abusers of good gifts they will more constantly adhere to them than with better affected Consorts Oh that young Gentlemen would but take heed from falling unwarily upon these shelves who make shipwracke of their fortunes the remaines of their fathers providence yea not only of their outward state which were well to be prevented lest misery or basenesse over-take them but even of their good names those precious odours which sweeten and relish the Pilgrimage of man For what more hatefull than to consort with these companions of death whose honour consists meerely in protests of Reputation and whose onely military garbe is to tosse a Pipe is stead of a Pike and to flie to their Tinderbox to give charge to their smoakie Ordnance to blow up the shallow-laid foundation of that shaken fortresse of their decayed braine These hot-liverd Salamanders are not for your company Gentlemen nor worthy your Acquaintance for of all companions those are the worthiest acceptance who are so humble-minded and well affected as they consort with others purposely to be bettered by them or being knowing men by their instructions to better them That course which the ancient Vestalls observed such usefull Companions as these have ever seconded They first learned what to doe secondly they did what they had learned thirdly they instructed others to doe as they had learned Such as these were good Companions to Pray with to Play with to Converse or Commerce with First they are good to Pray with for such as these only were they who assembled together in one place imploying their time religiously in prayers supplications and giving of thankes and honouring him whom all Powers and Principalities doe honour with divine Melodie which was expressed not so much with the noise of the mouth as with the joyfull note of the heart nor with the sound of the lips as with the soule-solacing motion of the spirit nor with the consonance of the voice as with the concordance of the will For as the precious stone Diacletes though it have many rare and excellent soveraignties in it yet it loseth them all if it be put in a dead mans mouth so Prayer which is the onely pearle and jewell of a Christian though it have many rare and exquisite vertues in it yet it loseth them every one if it be put into a dead-mans mouth or into a mans heart either that is dead in sinne and doth not knocke with a pure hand So many rare presidents have former times afforded all most inimitable in this kinde as to make repetition of them would crave an ample volume we will therefore only touch some speciall ones whose devotion hath deserved a reverence in us towards them and an imitation in us after them Nazianzen in his Epitaph for his sister Gorgonia writeth that shee was so given to Prayer that her knees seemed to cleave to the earth and to grow to the very ground by reason of incessancie or continuance in Prayer so wholly was this Saint of God dedicated to devotion Gregory in his Dialogues writeth that his Aunt Trasilla being dead was found to have her elbowes as hard as horne which hardnesse shee got by leaning to a deske