and looking above them doe even contemne them in comparison of the more excellent things which then they know So let us as children in Gods family make a good use of this earthly honour and be thereby encouraged and excited to learne and search the way to the eternall glory of heaven of which this is but a shadow And when we are grown wise and skilfull men in rhe knowledge of divine things Let us then in comparison endeavour to be above and even contemne these toyes and trifles of the world for such is earthly honour even in it's greatest excellency in comparison of the heavenly honour and glory and then let us untye our selves from the overmuch and vitious desire of terrestriall honor which can never satisfie us and with a desire full of sprightfulnesse love and joy elevate our thoughts to heaven to eternity for certaine it is that those souls which doe often contemplate the heavenly glory and doe well know the excellency thereof are often raised farre above all the greatnesse of the earth inasmuch as eternity is above time and infinite glory above a shadow thereof And in these contemplations they are often so transported and raised beyond and above themselves as if they were then capable of terrestriall and humane vanities they would not know themselves while their souls doe thus direct their lookes desires affections and contemplations wholly to God himselfe to heaven Insomuch that while their spirits are so raysed in such divine thoughts and illuminations they doe seeme very gloriously then to despise all the honour and greatnesse of the earth and with unexpressable delight to marke out the thrones of their honour in the kingdome of heaven where they know that a crowne of immortall glory shall for ever environ their heads And in these divine thoughts and elevations they are often even astonisht with such wonderfull delights and happinesse as they can finde neither measure nor limits in these divine glorious amuzements heavenly irradiations and elevations of spirit So not being able to find any thing on earth worthy of their greatnesse they have designed the crowne and set up the throne of their honour and glory in the empyrean heaven To conclude Let it alwaies be our glory to glorifie our fathet which is in heaven Mat. 5.16 Ier. 9.23 They that honour me I will honour saith God 1 Sam. 2.30 Psal 9.14 15 16. O how honourable how happy is he whom God is pleased to honour Teach oh Lord this secret divine language to my heart to desire onely thy honour thy glory and that I may glory onely in thee who art mans soveraigne glory yea onely true happines Let me esteeme this honour this glory this happinesse as heaven already The third PARTITION Of Conjugall Love SECTION I. Of the excellency of such Conjugall or Marriage Love in generall and the miseries of the losse and want thereof KIng Solomon saith a prudent wife is from the Lord Prov. 19.4 From the beginning of the creation saith our Saviour God made them male and female for this cause shall a man leave his father and mother and shall cleave to his wife and they two shall be one flesh Mar. 10.7 Mat. 19. So it appeares God himselfe is the Author of this lawfull conjugall or marriage-marriage-love And therfore in respect of him the Authour to be very well esteemed accordingly Therefore in his sacred word by King Solomon he saith Rejoyce in the wife of thy youth c. See Prov. 18.2 Eccl. 9.9 and by Saint Paul Husbands love your wives as Christ loved his Church So ought men to love their wives as their owne bodies for he that loveth his wife loveth himselfe Eph. 5.25 28. Let me here againe make a short though perchance very necessary digression Since God himselfe as hath been shewed is the Authour of this Conjugall true Love and commends the same unto us I doe intend God willing to write on of this Subject though all the severe Grandsires and Stoickes of the world should frowne and the more nice then wise people turâ—e aside their heads and though envious malitious people should pine and grieve exceedingly at such loving felicities though over-doting sottish and brain-sicke Lovers should be toucht to the quick in this ensuing discourse and therefore kicke and though whoremasters should be gall'd and lash though Momus or jeering Coxecombes should carp and scoffe at this subject of Conjugall Love and though meere earthly sensuall fooles should not see or conceive the good and divine use thereof which is principally heavenly Love of God And I protest I shall in this discourse principally endeavour to please God the Authour of this Love that is to doe good for I know all goodnesse pleaseth him and what better and more necessary endeavour then to increase this so good and necessary happinesse of Conjugall or Marriage-Love in the world from which springeth so many good and happy effects therein as in this the next the fourth and fifth Sections of this Partitioâ— I intend to shew more largely And in the next place I would gladly also please all vertuous pious men and of them especially true-lovers which I hope I shall the rather since I have formerly been much encouraged by such and since I have followed and learned the substance of this Partition of many wise and worthy Authours who have formerly written of this subject done much good thereby and are deservingly commended for the same And lastly I write this to please and recreate my selfe also amidst more serious studies and occasions Now therefore let the said severe Grandsires Stoicks over-nice people envious malitious men over-doting sottish brain-sicke Lovers carping scoffing geering coxcombs meere sensualists or any other vitious men for such onely I thinke will frowne looke aside pine grieve be angry barke stir kick lash carp scoffe soulely detract or remain still meere sensuall fooles I care not since I have endeavoured and shall endeavour to doe this good hereby It matters not to me what such men say While I please God good men my self enjoy And since God the Authour of this Conjugall Love hath commended the same unto us in such a sweet amiable and pleasant manner as is said Prov. 5.18 c. Eccles 9.9 Ephes 5. and divers other places and also in the Canticles and elsewhere even in a misterious and divine way therefore if I or any man endeavour to shew and increase this happinesse and to do this so necessary good in a pleasing â—â—d harmelesse manner what wise well disposed man who but some rugged discontented envious carping maligne spirited men will be displeased therewith I wonder why any should be so maligne as to dislike grudge or envy the felicities of lovers I protest I wish that all the true-lovers and married men in the world might enjoy as much pleasure and felicity in their loves and wives as they can wish and thinke of though it were upon this condition that my selfe should lose all my joyes hopes and
with love and joy to think that our Love was crucified for us See what a Vertue is in the Passion of our Saviour that if our soules in Contemplation of his wounds should resent the smart yet knowing that he suffered all this most willingly to make us happy it is enough to make us even swoune with love and joy and be extasied with a thousand sorts of pleasures insomuch as to be willing even with sweetest joy to die of love for his sake Oh Lord what are we that thou shouldst daigne to accept our love but that thou shouldest so desire it at such a rate as thy heart blood is a miracle of mercy far beyond all humane and angelicall apprehension who unlesse a devill or a blinde ignorant worldling will not greatly thanke thee and love thee who hast and doest so infinitely merit the same and the rather also since who truly loves thee shall for thy sake and by thy sufferings and merits enjoy infinite heavenly happinesse and may in some degree taste thereof even on earth Lord teach us a language wholly divine and heavenly to thank thee for such Love O love the Lord all ye his Saints Moreover when we thinke how lovers sweet discourses please one another let us then also contemplate our soules sweet conversation discourses and soliloquies with our beloved God and Saviour Oh how our soules may be inflamed with divine love and joy when wee contemplate these most sweet and pleasant words of our beloved calling us his Sister his Spouse his Love his Dove c. and saying thou art all faire my Love there is no spot in thee Thou hast ravished my heart with one of thine eyes c. Cant. 4. And my beloved is the fairest among women the chiefest among ten thousand looking forth as the morning faire as the Moone pure as the Sun c. Cant. 5. That she is a Kings daughter As a Queene in a vesture of Gold of Ophir embroidered raiment of needle worke that the King might take pleasure in her beauty Psal 45. Clothed with the white raiment the righteousnesse of Jesus Christ crowned and enriched with his tryed and purified Gold his heavenly graces Rev. 3. O how the sweet harmonious accents of these words do ravish the spirits and powerfully attract the hearts of all those thereunto who are able truly but to heare the Eccho of them and to perceive the sweetness thereof Insomuch as they are ready to borrow wings on all sides and to flie out of themselves that they may be wholly possest with the love and joy of their Saviour Let us then feelingly speake to our beloved in the same language that he speakes to us then which indeed can be no better no sweeter Come then my beloved Kisse me with the kisses of thy mouth for thy love is better then wine Draw me and I will runne after thee Shew me Oh thou whom my soule loveth where thou feedest and where thou makest thy flock to rest at noon Can. 1.2 4 7. Stay me with thy Flagons and comfort me with Apples for I am sicke of Love Cant. 2.5 Come my Beloved let us goe forth into the fields let us lodge in the villages let us get up early to the vineyards let us see if the Vine flourish whether the tender Grape appeare and the Pomegranate bud forth There will I give thee my Love Cant. 7.11 12. Set me as a Seale on thine heart and as a Signet on thine arme for Love is as strong as death it is a fire a vehement flame many waters cannot quench Love and the floods cannot drowne it c. Cant. 8.6 7. Let us also endevour to be perswaded with Saint Paul that neither life nor death nor Angels nor principalities nor powers nor things present nor things to come c. shall ever be able to separate us from the love of God which is in CHRIST Romans chap. 8. verse 38. True Love suffers not for the subject which it loves It hath a power in it to change the nature of things From the time that a soule is chastly taken with this passion even the pains torments thereof are changing the name and quality within the heart They are Roses rather then Thornes for if it sigh it is of Joy and not of paine If it be necessary to die for the glory of this lovely cause of it's life it is no death to it but a meere Rap't of Contentment which severs it selfe from it selfe in favour of another selfe whom it loves more then it selfe So that if we were truely capable of the Love Beauty Glory and Excellency of our Saviour though with Saint Lawrence wee should broyle upon devouring flames yet our hearts which would burne more hot with the fire of his love then that of our punishment would quite extinguish the same for our hearts being all a flame already and our soules a fire how could we expire amidst those heates though our bodies were burned to ashes since the stronger must needs prevaile Insomuch as we should fee e the delights of heaven in the fire whereof wee should make our selves a crowne of glory It seemes also Policarpus Master Glover Master Sanders and others both Primitive and Queene Maryan Martyrs were so warmed with those truely Promethean fires of divine Love as exhilarated their soules with heavenly delights at the stake in the fire So let us endevour to be baptized with the baptisme of the fire of Heavenly Love and Joy And then how willingly and delightfully shall we suffer all the tribulations we meet with for his sake whom our soules so divinely love and rejoyce in Jesus Christ Me thinkes I could gladly dwell in this Discourse of Divine Love The more to enflame our Loves to God see how he wooes us unto his Love by very many and gracious Promises of Happinesse in his divine Word to such as Love him Insomuch as all things shall worke to their good Rom. 2.28 But I shall onely mention and conclude with that of Saint Paul 1 Cor. 2.9 Eye hath not seene nor eare heard neither hath it entred into the heart of man those things which God hath prepared for them that love him Thinke then you soules of the World what felicity this is We know the eye hath seene most beautifull lovely and glorious things the eare hath heard rare consorts of Musick Voices The heart of man can imagine worlds of Diamonds more glorious then the Sunne and millions of extreame Pleasures Delights and Felicities What sweet Joy and Pleasure hath the heart of Man imagined of the Orchards of Adonis the Gardens of Hesperides the Delights of the fortunate Islands of the Elizian Fields and Turkes Paradise but let humane Imagination thinke of all these at once And let them imagine also a Quire of Syrens Let them joyne therunto in consort both the Harpe of Orpheus and Voyce of Amphian Let Apollo and all the Muses bee there to beare a part Let all the Graces all the
Nymphes be present in this Imaginary Paradise Let them search within the compasse of Nature all the choysest Pleasures which it hath produced in the word hitherto to charme our Senses and to ravish our Spirits In summe let them assemble in one Subject all whatsoever is and hath beene most beautifull and delitious in the World Yet are all these but meere Chimera's and as a vaine Idea a meere shadow of a body of pleasure in comparison of these divine thoughts and pleasures which the Saints may and shall enjoy in the Contemplation of God and of his infinite Beauty Glory Love and of the Felicities which hee hath prepared for them that love him Their thoughts and Contemplations even in this life may be composed of unutterable Glories Crownes Kingdomes Divine Visions heavenly exultations of Spirit of extreame marveilous Joyes Pleasures and Felicities It is impossible to expresse the pleasures of a heavenly soule The Contentments thereof are not to be so called It 's Extasies and Ravishments cannot bee uttered Saint Paul himselfe could not expresse the same He could not tell whether he were in his body or no. So as the heart that feeles them cannot comprehend them Well and truely therefore doth Saint Paul say That such pleasures have not entred into the heart of man as God hath prepared for them that love him Not entred into the heart of Man This seemes to be a Riddle how can man enjoy it then Indeed hee must be above a naturall man above himselfe that enjoyes such pleasures he must be a Partaker of the Divine Nature of a super-humane and heavenly temper for all grace is above Nature And if by reason of our Frailties and Infirmities we cannot attaine to such a height of Love to and Joy in God in this life yet if wee endeavour truely to love him hee who alwayes accepts the Will for the Deed and whose power is made perfect in our weaknesse and infirmities as Saint Paul saith will lovingly accept of our good Wishes Wils and Endeavours And then there shall come a time when we shall see God as he is know him as wee are knowne love him beyond expression and enjoy in him infinite pleasures and felicities for ever And then wee shall bee made like him as Saint Iohn saith 1 Iohn 3.2 In such sort as fire by uniting it selfe to Iron in an exceeding extreame heate doth purifie the Iron and convert the same into fire In like manner but above all degrees of comparison doth God purifie and reduce us to a being supernaturall and deified unites and takes the soule into his owne divine Nature And this fire which shall so unite us to God is Divine Love And then shall we have a new being we shall bee like him 1 Iohn 3.2 Phil. 3.21 One with him as his members and as a wife to her husband Rev. 21. Wee shall dwell in him and he in us 1 Iohn 4.16 And then wee shall also have a new name that is of our Spouse of our Beloved of God himselfe for saith our Saviour I will write upon him the Name of my God Revel 3.12 So as hereby the soule becomes a part of God and as it seemes may be said to bee no more a soule but God himselfe and with him and in him enjoyes all happinesse Oh then let us fervently wish and long for this time which shall be at the marriage of the Kings Sonne to which the Angels shall invite us Then shall we celebrate an everlasting wedding feast our soules shall be the Bride and Love shall be the banner over us And then shall wee enjoy infinite pleasures and felicities for ever How may the thoughts of this heavenly happinesse delight and possesse us with divine Love and Joy before hand also while we live on earth To come towards a Conclusion If we could truly say with King Davids heart I love the Lord and with Saint Peter Lord thou knowest that I love thee if all our streame could runne in that Torrent to love only him and all other things but only for him and so farre as they tend to his love and glory Oh then what peace what delight what a heaven upon earth should we enjoy If we were capable truly to love and know God it were impossible but wee should be infinitely pleased with what hee pleases and with nothing else Oh Lord if thou wouldest make me so love thee as I should and as I desire which is infinitely I should certainely enjoy such delights in thy love as would transport me to an heaven of joy immediatly Keepe me I pray thee with all my soule still in this minde to wish no other happinesse then what I enjoy in thy love of thy goodnesse to thy glory and which may encrease my love to thee Me thinkes I can desire nor wish no greater happinesse than I now enjoy in knowing that God whom I would love infinitely above my selfe is infinitely happy I doe esteeme it more happinesse to mee then heaven already to know that my Love my God is in heaven THE FOURTH PARTITION Of Eating SECTION I. The benefits of eating in generall also the abuses of eating and the extent thereof BEhold that which I have seene saith the Preacher Eccles 5.18 it is good and comely for a man to eate and to drinke and â—o take comfort in his labours for this is his portion And againe There is nothing better saith hee than to eate and drinke Eccles 2.24 The same is the gift of God chap. 3.13 and 5.19 Iob. 36.31 It is the blessing of God Psalm 128.2 Behold sayth God by his Prophet Esay my servants shall eate and rejoyce Esay 65.13 They shall eate and praise the Lord Chap. 62.9 By eating we sustaine Nature repaire infirmities of the body satisfie hunger please our appetites and preserve life it selfe Without this happinesse of Eating we should become on earth wholy miserable enjoy nothing and must of necessity die and perish For the most solid parts of the body are sustained strengthened and repaired by eating as the humid parts are by drinking and the aierie or spirituall parts are by pleasant and comfortable savours and wholsome aire Bread strengtheneth the heart of man saith the Prophet Psal 104.15 Eating also serves to glad and rejoyce the heart And especially Gods children and servants should eate with joy and gladnesse To such speaketh the wise Preacher saying Goe thy way eate thy bread with joy and drinke thy wine with a merry heart for God accepteth thy workes Eccles 9.7 See also as before Esay 65.13.14 and 1 Tim. 4.3 And so also for good society one with another as those ancient Christians mentioned in Acts 2.46 who eate their bread together with gladnesse singlenesse of heart The moderate naturall convenient and pleasant use of eating makes the body a fit and apt instrument for the Soule yea it preserves and maintaines the whole body and soule in due temper and good disposition Though it be true indeed that
good and be well pleasing to God and good men But yet perchance my Grandsire may say It seemes to him that such light vaine discourses are of little power or perswasion to increase love and happinesse yet if we thinke of the Parties by and to whom these things are spoken that is Lovers who are a great deale more vaine wanton youthfull and not of such serious and sollid substance as my Grandsire is we shall know that such discourses are most apt and pleasing and much more perswasive for this purpose to increase love and joy then other more grave and sollid And we know that Lovers esteem every word of one anothers discourse though perchance but slight matter as if it were spoke like an Angel And yet truly there is I wish my Grandsire may see it a great deale of seriousnesse mingled in this Love-discourse and such as concernes the greatest choycest and sweetest happinesse of our lives insomuch as indeed such artificiall discourses such pleasant convincing perswasions and reasons are most justly really and seriously sufficient even to inchant and inflame a wise one a Saint with true Love and Ioy and surely the wisest and best Saint cannot be too loving and joyfull in this blessed and honourable way of conjugall or marriage Love no not joyfull and loving enough herein if you will not beleeve this See againe Prov. 5.18 Ephe. 5.25 c. I know you will or must beleeve that To returne I know that such discourses will so increase Love and Joy in true Lovers that if there be a reasonable sympathy betweene the parties in age degree fortunes countenance Constitution and good Conditions and a willing consent of Parents and Friends at first though afterwards great and strange opposition should happen in many respects it would be a marvellous hard matter if not almost impossible to part and disunite their Love If such discourses then be of so strong effect and operation as to joyne hearts in true love and increase it's Joyes notwithstanding many crosses and great opposition much more is it when those are past when both parties and their friends are well pleased when all their thoughts are composed of Kindnesse Love and Joy Medea's Oyntment Helen's Bowle Circes Cup Phaedra's Ring Venus Girdle or Gyges Gloves cannot so sweetly inchant move and please the minde so delightfully increase Love and Joy as such discourses will and with good reason may in Lovers SECTION III. Remedies and considerations against the losse of Love against an over-sottish and doting Love and against the miseries incident to crosse marriages BVt now here comes a question What is to be done if wee should lose our Loves c. Indeed many Lovers for want of enjoying their wishes in this kinde become extreme melancholly and sorrowfull and some for Remedy betake themselves to ill courses as Whoring and Tavern-haunting and sometimes spoyle themselves This is to leap out of the warme Sunne into the fire But if we consider rightly there is little or no cause why wee should grieve for such a losse but wee may rejoyce notwithstanding Of this hereafter But first of some Remedies and Considerations usually prescribed in Authors against this malady the losse of Love As to withstand beginnings to avoyd all occasions to goe to some other Mistresse a better if shee may be gained or if not yet to know that of all necessary evils such as men say Wives are any may serve for necessity and because they are said to bee evils 't is like better to have none at all Though we Batchelours perchance may thinke wives fine things yet such as have tryed will tell us otherwise as that there are many thornes amidst the Roses of Marriage which hinder the pleasures thereof and cause much sorrow That married mens shooes wring them and we know not where That the love of the body is at the highest and will fall when it hath gotten admittance into the hidden and worst parts thereof and that so it is of the minde though our Lovers shew us their best conditions forward yet when those hidden and worst parts of the soule which they dare not shew the world are detected 't is like we shall finde them much worse then wee look't for How soone was Ahasuerus weary of his Vasti Marke Anthony of the daughter of Caesar Philip King of France of the King of Denmarkes daughter Selenchus King of Syria of the faire Stratonices and Nero of his Poppea And so many in all Ages though they prosecute their Loves before marriage by many and strange promises oathes and protestations of Love yet after they doe distaste and perchance as Amon loathed Thamar they even loath their Wives We see after honey monthes past Marriages often turne to repentance bitternesse dislike contempt How soone doe many women waxe stale fulsome phlegmaticke out of fashion infirme diseased or old riveld witherd or at their best a wise man can very plainely and perpicuously see their greatest beauty and lovelinesse so vaine fading uncertain and undureable even as a bubble dew snow smoake winde aire yea even as nothing for a thousand yeares are even as nothing to eternity And their beauty passeth away with time as swift as thought and so after a moment of time in comparison of eternity comes to nothing and in the meane time a Feavour small Poxe losse of an eye or limme one of many and divers severall diseases yea even a little scarre or however Age and Time spoyles the choysest beauties And yet before they are spoyled even at their best and greatest beauty if thou sawest them in foule ragged nasty Beggers apparell or when they scold brawle are angry mad gape make ill favoured faces or as one saith undrest you would very likely be quite out of love with and perchance loath them But let us looke to future time they are creatures of an inferiour nature as beasts who minde only present things A wise mans soule is of a future nature as well as present It can see things to come also as if they were present If then you have a wise mans eyes in your soule and can but see yea if you will but imagine or suppose that you see the fairest loveliest and choisest beauties as they shall be when they are sick olde withered dead rotten in their graves the same will appeare so ugly gastly terrible dreadfull as you will be so far out of love as rather to loath and shun them Yea if thou couldst but see what they are now already that is but earth a meere excrement which thou so admirest thy soule would be at rest Imagine her skin from her face or other parts of her body There is nothing within but filthy Phlegme Choller Melancholy Blood Gall Spittle Snevill Snot and other stinking putrid excrementall loathsome stuffe If you thinke I speake unseemly in this case it is a good deed and necessary for it is a remedy against Love I hope young man you are now wiser than to grieve
enough to reade them But in good earnest againe Marriage is said to be a Rocke on which many men cast themselves away also a Yoke and a bondage a multitude of hinderances charges cares crosses and annoiances are incident to married people What wise man would marry Some men are Cornuted and father Children which are none of their owne To many men their children prove undutifull disobedient arrogant prodigall and become bitter Crosses to their Parents as Ham to Noah Absolon to David Hophni and Phineas to old Eli. Of moderne Examples to this purpose there are innumerable If I should reckon up all the troubles vexations cares charges hinderances and miseries belonging to marriage I should be very much too long and tedious Besides I might for this purpose tell how happily Batchelours live without wives how freely securely merrily pleasantly and without controule There are yet further more generous and sublime remedies considerations and consolations to ease and cheare the soule of a discontented and pining Lover As to consider that S. Paul and very many wise men learned Divines Philosophers and others prefer a single life before marriage I hope you will beleeve them And also that marriage corrupts many great and good spirits hinders many good and worthy actions and enterprises I have married a wife saith one and therefore I cannot come Luke 14.20 Also to consider that it is fittest for such to marry who are of lower minds such as have the most grosse spirits more of earth than heaven in them tye such men to women to the flesh to mundane troubles cares distâ—actions c. Let the other be free and happy Also to contemne and even scoffe at Cupid and all his wooden darts like that young man who could merrily sing Sir Cupid is blinde I say Though some have thought he seeth And though he hit my heart one day A T in Cupids teeth So to endeavour to be Cupids Masters to use him as we list and if we chance to play with him a little sometimes for recreation as wise men doe with a foole or Ladies with a little dog yet let us also scoffe at contemn and despise him when we please and see good occasion But now concerning that which is the best and most glorious remedy and consolation not onely against pining Love but against all other mundane desires wants losses and crosses which is to endeavour so to be possessed and inflamed with divine love of God and heavenly joy in him and so to trust in his never fayling providence as to be most sweetly contented and pleased at heavens will and pleasure to rejoice even in losses and crosses and thinke them divine love-tokens as certainely they are to them who love him Rom. 8.28 He that loves God better than himselfe cannot but be sweetly pleased with his will in all things So let us endeavour to love him above our selves and so to be pleased with his pleasure as to say yea Vow to God men to this purpose if there be occasion as I doe now That since 't is Gods will I wish no other happinesse then what I doe enjoy but all things to be as they are since he thinks good Me thinks I neither dare nor can wish greater happinesse then to know that God whom I would love infinitely above my selfe is infinitely happy Let us then endeavour to be of such an heavenly temper so enlightened with divine Love and Joyes as to have little or no roome left in our soules for carnall grosser love and joyes while we are elevated in heavenly thoughts and contemplations for certainly those spirits which are truly raised to the knowledge of divine things and doe well know the Art of heavenly contemplations are elevated above all the love and pleasures of the earth inasmuch as eternall heavenly felicities are above humane temporary earthly vanities and not finding any thing on earth worthy of their love and desires they doe note and set out their desires their pleasures and felicities in heaven So as they doe in part beforehand taste of the sweetnesse of those delights which they pretend to receive at the end of their life which makes them very graciously to set under their feet all the Love and pleasures of the earth while their soules are in such contemplations directing their aimes to heaven And while they are in these divine extasies their spirits are so strong as they doe overcome their carnall desires so heavenly as they doe then esteeme the greatest pleasures of the body as this of carnall Love but as dung and drosse in comparison of the heavenly Love and pleasures which they enjoy in their soules And in such contemplations and comparison they rejoyce more inâ—contemning this earthly love and pleasures then in enjoying the same What need wee care for farthings who may have gold enough for earthly that may have heavenly happinesse But as Saint Paul signifies Marriage hinders this divine Love and heavenly pleasures He that is married saith he careth for the things of the world how he may please his wife But he that is unmarried careth for the things that belong to the Lord c. 1 Cor. 7.32 c. One doubted not to say that if men could live without desiring women and other superfluous things of the world they would be visited and very familiarly accompanied with Angels And certainely there bee many married men in the world if they did but truly know the excellency of such a contemplative heavenly life and did seriously consider how freely and joyfully Batchelors may live they would even runne through fire and water to be so happy But now lest married men should be too much displeased with what I have written Let me tell them I write this chiefly to comfort ease and cheere the hearts of discontented melancholy pining languishing Lovers And herein I thinke I have endeavoured to doe a very good deed and to shew very good causes and reason enough to cheere comfort and rejoice the most sad drooping languishing and discontented Lover if he be not gone out of his senses or without reason And let those displeased married men if any be so know or thinke that when we speake against Marriage wee meane onely of unfit and evill marriages Such as that of Spungius and Philtra They would quarrell sweare curse fight c. Let such be alwayes scoft at and remaine miserable till they mend their manners And least Batchelours should bee too averse from Marriage and such as lose their first Love should forbeare a second choyce which alwayes drowns the love of the former in oblivion and is one of the best Remedies against Loves losse for heere they finde it againe in another Let us still say as Saint Paul saith That marriage is honourable in all men and that it is good to marry though better to live single And that a Consonant equall and fit marriage when both parties bee loving kinde wise constant and of good conditions is even a
be saved to defray the charges of his buriall To which purpose is that ancient Epitaph Here lies Father Sparges Who dyed to save charges These covetous cares feares and griefes doe often distemper the body also they are an occasion of restlesse unpleasing and interrupted sleepe pining and drying the body causing in some men a wearish and pale constitution and shortning their lives And sometimes by accident also covetousnesse may cause losse of Riches of honour of health and of life it selfe Gehezi lost his health by reason of his covetousnesse Achan Iudas Ananias Saphira their lives Mauritious the Emperour was deptived of his Empire for his covetousnesse King Cressus of Lydia by seeking to encrease his Riches lost his Kingdome and after his life So as it appeares that oftentimes Riches doe covetous men no more good than Achans Midas or the Tholouse gold or Iudas his thirty pieces of silver to the possessours When age and sicknesse approacheth and appeareth to the covetous man he is stung at the heart to thinke he must part with his Riches which addes to all his paines and griefes and perchance kils him the sooner So hee leaves his Riches saith God by his Prophet Ieremy and at his end shall be a foole Ierem. 17.11 Such men therefore as meane to bee happy in respect of their Riches must take Saint Pauls counsell who saith Let your conversation be without covetousnesse and be content with such things as you have Hebr. 13.5 Let us then banish out of our soules this low sordid and miserable vice of Covetousnesse and endevour to settle our mindes in a contented and fearelesse condition Of which in the ensuing Section SECTION IIII. Our mindes ought to be perswaded of the goodnesse and fitnesse of our estate and setled in a contented condition LEt us endevour to be thorowly and firmely perswaded that what estate soever we possesse it is best if not in it selfe yet for us and so convert our mindes to such a resolved habit of contentednesse as that we doe not too much feare the losse or be grieved for the want of Riches Let us therefore use our best endevours in all good wayes for the attainment thereof let us be thankfull to heaven for and rejoyce in what we have using the same well and still leaving the successe and issue of all our good endevours to God relying on trusting him in al things so may we be surely and truely perswaded that what estate soever we possesse is most good most fit for us and be contented with all accidents and crosses yea even in the lowest condition of Poverty For the spirit of a man wil bear his infirmities so that if we can live more for our soules then bodies wee may finde Remedies against yea Contentment amidst Losses Crosses Poverty and Misery Let us maintaine confidently that a man may find Contentment in all conditions with the onely Riches of a tractable soule resolv'd and resign'd to take all things as they come without ever distrusting or arguing divine providence Hee whose will submits to Gods will lives ever contented He is most rich and happy And why then should we not submit to his will the rather since hee wils all things that are good All things worke to the good of them that love God saith Saint Paul To such as relye on and trust him in all things even crosses and poverty is ablessed estate and furthereth them in the happy way to heaven And it is no matter which way we goe whether through adversity or prosperity riches or poverty so we come to heaven Further to this purpose that wee may not too much feare the losse of Riches if we possesse them nor be too much grieved or dejected for their want but rather rejoyce and be contented even in losses and poverty let us consider first concerning losses and crosses in Riches That 't is good for us sometimes to be crost Nothing would be more tedious and noysome to our minds then to be glutted with continuall prosperities as with Iollities What a proud and foolish thing wold man grow to be if he shold alwaies attain his desires in the world and never be crost surely he would in time forget goodnesse and God himselfe How farre how secure should we run on in vice if some crosses did not sometimes checke us and make us rememher our selves There are some few perchance whose pathes are wash't with Butter and the Rose Bud crownes them even continually They seldome meet with losses and crosses but how dangerous a thing is it to live in oyled vice when her wayes are made slippery therewith and leade to ruine and misery And without doubt that is not onely the best but the pleasantest life that is sprinkled with the Salt of some crosses without this even prosperity and pleasures would be soone ranke tainted stale and corrupted and we should be even cloyd and perchance glutted therewith Some crosses sorrowes losses and discontents doe increase quicken and enâ—ighten both our soules and our joyes when does joy relish more pleasant and sweeter then after crosses and misery are past And oftentimes those so farre doe us good as they make us better more circumspect industrious couragious wiser livelier spirited then ever before so as without them we should want much of the joyes and prosperity we have I have very often observed in my selfe and some others that those crosses which in reason we thought would have done us much hurt have yet bin occasion of very much good to us So as it appeares it is usually a fit mixture of adversity with prosperity that makes both good and pleasant to us and our lives the happier ever after And many men after some though perchance small losses crosses and wants become thereby so industrious and circumspect ever after as they grow also very much the richer thereby in a lives time as well as the more joyfull and happy However let us be contented and even scorne to be of so fraile and low a temper as to be impatient at every losse and crosse which happens the rather since no man lives without them sometimes How contented was Thales and Bias at the losse of their riches Fabricius Seranius Marcus Curius and others have made themselves merry with their losses Zeno thanked God after his shipwracke So let us endevour to he contented If we should lose something yet let us looke to what is left and let us rejoyce and be thankfull that we have lost no more and that we have yet something left perhaps sufficient and much more then many others who deserve the same better then we If we should should lose all yet Gods presence is infinite plenty Divine graces are eternall Treasures if wee have these they are better then all the Riches in the world And now concerning poverty it selfe It is esteemed a very peaceable and quiet estate One saith that many wise men have seemed to embrace a quiet poore estate as some divine thing
more certaine then it the minde having no more proper nor effectuall riches then this of Contentment A contented joyfull minde is the chiefest riches in the world He that covets no more riches then what he hath is as if he possâ—ssed all the riches in the world To him that desires but a little a little seemes much and we know that a little is enough to suffice nature and to live well If we desire and live according to nature and reason as we should we shall alwaies find that which is sufficient but if we live according to common opinion while wee live wee shall never finde it A man that hath but any Art or Science yea that hath but his hands at will how can he justly complaine of want or poverty since in nature and reason so little and so few things are necessary and sufficient those few to bee found almost every where in such plenty as being moderately used may suffice the condition of every man How happily and how healthfully doe those creatures live which follow harmelesse nature and reason How well are they pleased with conveniencies care not for curiosities nor superfluities It is a notable folly not to be contented with so much as is naturall and necessary Sufficiency is a large Seigniory a Kingdome if wee could as in nature and reason wee should be contented therewith If we have much yet let us not much regard the superfluity but in our minds rather set it apart for losses and crosses We may take as much felicity in sufficiency as if we possessed all the world which if we did we could enjoy the rest onely by looking on and contemplation So may we while it is others How reasonable how easie how happy is it for a man to be contented with a reasonable meane estate and having so to thinke himselfe right blessed therein to live a life full of joy and happinesse to live and raigne as a Vice-Roy over his owne affections to be so farre from grumbling and being discontented as to bee rather very thankfull and joyfull that his lot is fallen into so faire a ground as to have sufficient and not to want what is naturall and necessary If we have not abundance yet since we have that which is needfull convenient decent and sufficient in all respects why should we not be most pleasingly contented therewith as an estate that heaven seems to smile upon with a gracious aspect and promise of blessing if we can but enjoy it bee thankfull and live well therewith If we can doe this then may we be assured the estate that God gives us is best for us whether it be little or much he was ever so carefull of his children as to give them that which is most for their good Vnworthy men they are who can thinke God will suffer such to want that which is good for them who with a dutiful endeavour do depend on him Let us truly love serve him beleeve and upon my soule he will never faile us in what is best for us either he will give us that which we desire or better if not in this life yet most certainly in that which is infinitely better in heaven eternally yea in both if it be good for us Let me be so dutifull and depend on him and I have ground enough to be contented and heartily joyfull .. Henceforth then it shall be my resolution to bee contented and sweetly pleased onely with what God pleases I shall enjoy Further concerning Gods love care and providence towards his children Read Psal 34 10.37.3 c. 84.11 Matth. 6.25 Luke 12 23. And to this purpose Saint Paul adviseth us Be content saith he with such things as ye have For God hath said I will never leave thee nor forsake thee Heb. 13.5 Some men would perswade us that it is impossible to finde any firme quiet and contentment in this world without wishing or desiring any other thing or condition then wee now enjoy whether little or much But if we will be guided by divine reason and wisedome what is more easie what impossibility can there be to regulate our wils to Gods What reason is there to the contrary but that wee should even with good grace and sweetest contentment obey our Soveraigns our heavenly fathers decrees and live upon earth onely of the pure gifts and blessings of heaven without wishing any other then what he wils and pleases If we could truly love and know God it were impossible but we should be infinitely pleased with all that hee pleases and with nothing else Oh how rich how happy are they who are able to undergoe what heaven hath decreed without complaint without desiring any other without arguing or distrusting divine providence still endeavoring to doe the best they may and still being sweetly contented and pleased with what heaven wils What greater riches then this can a man wish or desire To conclude then let us therefore above all rely on the divine providence of God and trust him in all things So may we assuredly know that what estate soever we possesse is most good most fit for us This is the way to be contented so may wee rejoyce in the riches which we do possesse and not feare the losse or want thereof SECTION V. Of the good and divine use of Riches IF God please to give us Riches let us use them well Though Riches be often abused by evil vitious men to their great prejudice and sometimes ruine yet prudent religious men can use the same as also the benefits which spring from thence to many good ends and purposes as to the glory of God and good of his Church And although poverty may be a blessed estate also to such as can use the same well as hath been shewed in the fourth Section So likewise is Riches an happy estate to such as can use them well as hath been also shewed in the first Section as being the gifts and blessings of God From which also spring many blessed and happy effects in their good use and imployment And it seemes more praise-worthy and a greater vertue to command and use Riches well then to contemne and neglect them unlesse in some cases as in comparison of heavenly Treasures divine Happinesse They who otherwise contemne and neglect them seeme to doe the same out of pride and presumption contemning nnd neglecting even the gifts and blessings of God as if they were wiser in refusing then God in offering the enjoyance of such blessings for so they are in their good use And also they doe unworthily discharge themselves of many good duties exercises and vertues which are required in the good and honest government of Riches in their acquisition and attainment in their conservation distribution good use and imployment Not to desire search conserve use well and so enjoy Riches in a good and vertuous manner is rather weaknesse of mind then wisedome The lawfull enjoying of Riches and the benefits springing from