moderation in this behalfe aboue all the rest that may be written or imagined so his nakednesse vpon the câ—osse doth teach vs to beware seeing with it he ransomed our excesse and prodigality in apparell 8. The Apostles and other faithfull people that spred their clothes vpon the ground to honour and serue our Sauiour when he ridde in humble maÌ„ner towardes Hierusaleâ— teach vs ChristiaÌ„s to contemne and cast away all arrogancy of attire vpon the view of Christes humility and by our apparell to endeauour rather to yield him honour and homage then to purchase vaine praise or estimation for our selues Wherupon the ancient Christians of the primitiue Church by direction of their faith and Religion kept great moderation in their apparell and for their outward cloathing chose rather to vse a cloake as a garment of lesse ostentation then a gowne which as Tertullian saith Tertul. lib. Palliâ— was in those dayes the Romans aâ—tirâ— who therfore reproached the Christians They reproued also the Grecian robe with a traine that trailed on the ground in signe of Maiesty and state for that as Clemens Alexandrinus teacheth Clem. Alex lib. 1. de ped cap. 11. they thought it vnseeming for ChristiaÌ„ humility How then doe we now degenerate so farre in apparell from our renowned ancestors as though either we were made of another mettle then they or cast in another mould or aymed at another end then theirs In their dayes inward solide vertues and ornaments of the mind were holden for precious and outward apparell esteemed only as a signe and testimony of that worth which was really within as the rich iewell is couered with the case But now the soule being naked of vertue and without any ornament to be worthily esteemed apparell is become forsooth an instrument of ambition Although the wiser sort make no other account then of old that the most corrupted stinking carcasses commonly are buryed in the richest sepulchers as the vilest and most abominable soules are many times couered with the gayest clothes which â—ell the beholders what kind of stuffe is vnder them 9. In other times sinners grieuing vpon the memory of their sinnes shrouded their bodyes in dolefull attire and fearing to fall againe after pardon auoyded all curiosity of apparell and whatsoeuer else might giue them occasion of sinne When they loued Almighty God they hated their bodies whose inclinations were contrary to his lawes and put their soules many times in danger to be lost But now that error and darknesse haue preuailed so farre that God is forgotten and sinnes holden by fooles for fatall or naturall defectes neither soule nor body are duely accused but rather excused by the offenders and in lieu of due chasticement the one is fed with flattery and the other pampered with dainty meates and couered with rich apparell vnder which are harboured snakes serpents toades and all sortes of venimous creatures yea sometimes foule vgly Diuels Vpon which consideration Clemens Alexandrinus Clem. Alex lib. 3. ped cap. 2 compareth persons in sumptuous attire to the Aegyptian Temples 10. Nothing ought to be more familiar with Christians according to their profession then mortification of their bodies For as they professe to loue God more then others as they are bound so ought they more carefully to remoue all obiectes that may hinder or diuert them from the accomplishment of this duety or entangle their wills in other imploymentes In which respect our bodies are to be restrained in discipline least they become Idols of selfe loue and treacherously depriue the true and sole God of his owne that is of our pure inflamed finall and totall affection 11. Hester that vertuous Lady although vpon occasion of Gods and her contryes seruice she was forced to put her selfe in costly apparell yet she Hest 19. did it with griefe protesting before Almighty God that from her hart she detested the diademe that she carried vpon her head Much more Christian Ladies generally haue cause to mislike themselues in any attire which is either arrogant or licentious And especially this mortification and modesty of apparell is by them to be vsed in the time of prayer when they present themselues before Almighty God according to the example of the same Hester Iudith Hest c. 14. Iudith c. 9. who going to pray cloathed themselues in sackcloth and haire and dolefully scattered ashes vpon their heads in witnesse of their repentance and humility of hart If then this mornfull attire be gratious in the sight of Almighty God and a fit habit for suppliantes wherin to tender their petitions and requestes the contrary brauery of Peacocks tailes set vp to band him as is the habit of his enemies friendes to Sathan who by such inuentions impeacheth his honour filleth the world with sinnes and worketh the bane of mankind Wherupon the Apostle S. Paul willeth Tim. 2. that women performe in the Church their deuotions in attire that may testifie their shamefastnes and sobriety not with frizled haire or with gold and pearles or precious garments 12. The head then must be couered and abased to natures simplicity The body cloathed in that weeÌ„d which rather signifieth misery and trespasse then of false pretended felicity gold may be left in the bowels of the earth which is his place the pearles to the cockle shell in the bottome of the sea sumptuous apparell belongeth to the Pagan Infidell that maketh an Idol of his body because he knoweth not Christ nor aspireth by harty affection to the friendship of God Therfore saith Tertullian it is an outward irreligious Tertul. lib. de pallio contempt and as it were a displaying of a banner of defiance against his diuine Maiesty when men and women come to Church in their brauery where consequently they are so farre from attayning pardon comming in such manner as in the sacred place they redouble their former faults because theâ— sinfully they despise Almighty God when they pretend he should be most mercifull vnto them 13. S. Hierome talking of the penitent plight of B. Mary Magdalen prostrate Hieron ep 10. ad Furian at Christs feet washing them with teares and drying them with her haire saith that in that case she was the fayrer by how much the fouler So the Niniuites punishing their bodies and doing pennance in sackloth were doubtles amiable vnto God who before shining in gould and siluer and precious apparell were odious to him and deserued that their citty should be destroyed But they saued it as S. Augustine noteth and from August in 2 Psal â—0 a Babylon worthy to perish they turned it into a Hierusalem by their pennance 14. Whilest we performe our duety in the Church the principall obiects of our thoughtes there must be the maiesty of God and the charity of our Redemer hanging vpon the crosse The former if we haue wit and discourse may cause in vs humiliation of soule and of body also in regard of so great a
doubt by inspiration of the holy Ghost the faithfull of the Primitiue Church solemnized Festiuall dayes consecrated to religion with precious Apparell as Theod. l. de Martyr S. Gregor Ep. ad August Theodoretus and S. Gregory report Vnto which signification by Apparell is conformable the habit of sacred and religious persons who as they haue by vow and institution of life forsaken all worldly endowments so do they declare as much by their exteriour cloathing As when the clergy-man weareth Pier. lib. 4. long garments of blacke or sad colour when the Monke seemeth rather shrowded and buryed then inuested in his Coole when the Hermite is apparelled in hayr-cloath or plat of the Hieron in vitâ— Pauli Palme-tree As Paul the Hermite saith S. Hierome had a meaner garment then is vsed by any mans slaue And accordingly S Athanasiâ— Athanas in vitâ— Antonij August l. 1. de mor. Eccles c. 31. â—p 109. Tertul. de velandis virgin writing the life of S. Antony maketh mention of the austerity of his attire Christs Precursor that came to preach pennance was clad in Camells hayre And for the same representation the veyle of vowed virgins which couereth their heads faces testifieth that their soules as well as their bodyes liue in separation from earthly contentmens in solitude and recollection with God Prudent l. 2. contra Sym. Sunâ— virginibus pulcherima praemia nostris Et pudor sancto â—ectus velamine vultus Et priuatus honos nec not a publica forma Et rarae tenuesque epulae meÌ„s sobria semper 8. Now to proceed from sacred to Ciuill persons it is comendable also iustifiable in Kings and Princes to haue their heads as the seates of reasons Empire adorned with Dâ—adems after the manner of Asia or with Crownes of Clem. Alex. l. 2. Pedag. Virgil. â— 7. Lazâ—us l. 8. de repub Roman Veget. l. 2. dere miâ—it Lauâ—el or Gold according to the fashion of the Romans and to be vested in Purple hold in their hands Scepters in resemblance of Authority 9. For this cause likewise Martiall men beare for armes in their ScurchioÌ„s and vpon their Crests the portraitures of Lyons Eagles and the like weare vpon their bodyes the skins of wild beasts to support the steele and yron of their armour notifying thereby their contempt of voluptuous effeminancy there warlike spirits deuoted to manhood and as it were promising victory ouer their enemies by their armour and Virgil. Enead 7. apparell â—pse pedes tegmen torquens immane Leonis Terribili impexum seâ—a cum dentibus albis Indâ—â—â—s capâ—â— sic Regia tecta subibâ—t Horridus Herculeâ—que humeros innexus amictu 10. The Nobleman also in token of his Nobility in those times was knowne by his attyre And for this Alâ—iat Emâ— cause the Athenian Gentâ—eman to signify that by ancestry he was not an alien or stranger but homebred of his City did weare vpon his vpper garment and the hayre of his head certayne grashoppers of gold for that grashoppers neuer part Clem. Alex. l. 2. pedag farre from their natiue nests as Clemens Alex recordeth And for the same end also the Noble Roman vpon his black shooe did heare the resemblance of the Alex. l. â—â— gen dieâ— cap. 18. Moone as it was ordayned by Numa where the vulgâ—r sort was not permitted to vse any such ornameÌ„ts Also vpon pâ—oâ—perous euents the same Romans and after other Nations as they were ioyfull or sorrowful for disasters so did they respectiuely change the colour and quality of their Apparell as we read in Cicero pro Sextio Seneca ep 18. Plutar. in Caesar Lucan l. 2. Phar. Plutarc q. Rom. 2. 6. Trig uâ—t lib. 1. hist Chin. c. 7. Cicero in Seneca Plutarch and Lucan Pleibâ—o tectus amictu Omnis honos nullos comitata est purpur a â—asces The women also of Rome as Plutarch reporteth performed their doale attired in white because this colour amongst the rest hath least resemblance of deceit which manner the Chinenses obserue at this day 11. Thus hath it beene declared how Nature in man maketh her vse of garmeÌ„ts as wel for some signification of estate quality affection disposition iudgment as for the necessary defence of life against diseases and other inconueniences repugnant to the honor and health of the body But it may be that the same nature hath yet a further intention insinuated by the generall practise of all nations in the sundry attire and ornaments of their bodyes of which we are now to enquire What may be the generall purpose of Nature in that all nations endeauour to adorne their bodyes CHAP. II. IT would be an argument answerable Tertul. de pallio CleÌ„ Alex. l. 2. pedagog to a bigge Volume to recount seuerally the diuersity of habits vsed by different nations which either Historiographers or Cosmographers haue described vnto vs who although they Pier. l. 4. much differ in manner and fashion yet do they make manifest what in euery one nature intendeth that is to honor grace and benefit their bodyes 2. The common obiect of these diuers fashions euery where is a certayne decorum or Corporall comlines fit to represent to others aspects that which men thinke most priceable in themselues and thereupon they procure tâ— make it knowne by Apparell as by a purchase of their best reputation notwithstanding this decorum or bodily ornament be not the selfe same euery where yea rather what in this country is esteemed gracefull and decent in another is contemned and scorned as euill fashioned and ridiculous what in this people or Countrey is ordayned to signifie a Martiall or a ciuill mind in another appeareth of a cleare opposite representation In so much that if some persons of euery nation should meet together euery one wearing his proper Nationall attyre nothing would so moue them all to laugh one at another as when they should behold ech others apparell formed in such diuersity notwithstaÌ„ding they al agree in general in that wherin they disagree in particular ech one procuring to set out himselfe but in that manner which to himselfe seemeth best 3. There may be thought vpon three causes why the soule by reason will secketh to beautifie the body through the vse of Apparell The first concerneth the close and neere coniunction which is betwixt the body and the soule as hath beene sayd for which respect the soule procureth to hide and dissemble with honest apparell what through sin or natures defect is deformed in the body From heÌ„ce procedeth that which S. Paul obserueth as natural 1. Cor. 12. in man concerning Apparell Such as we thinke sayth he to be the baser parts of the body we apparel them with more honor and the lesse honest parts with more shew of honesty 4. Another cause from which proceedeth this affection in the soule to adorne the body may be thought to consist in this that she
pectore nodum A ceruice fluens tenuâ— velamine limbus Concipit ingestas textis turgentibus auras 4. This passion of arrogancy and pride residing as I haue said in the hart and managing an empty body sendeth out hoate vitall spirits of the same nature and quality to the eyes the cheeks the legs and to all the rest from top to toe And to the end that the same parts of the body may be the fitter messengers that Vice which lyeth hidden and cannot get out by it selfe trimmeth them vp â—n diuers formes that they may carry newes where she lodgeth 5. It is likewise euident that Effeminacy is another speciall motiue to the kind and fashion of Apparell when it is with excesse And so those which employ their cogitations in sensuall pleasures describe also their thoughts as the proud man doth in the vanity and variety or their cloathes wherewith weaklings being doted are taken in Cobwebs become captiues in the same fetters and chaynes And for that reason affordeth no sufficient argument to perswade a man to such grosse and foule delights as are common to brute beast therefore the sensuall poysoned spider lurking in her hole vseth apparell as a lure to call the silly fly into her nets for the senses haue there most power where reason is most weake 6. Thus is the Abuse of Apparell the displayed banner of dishonesty the fowlers glasse which allureth to poysoned baites the smoake of that impure and smothered fire which wasteth inwardly all the substance and ornaments of nature grace and vertue And wheras naturally all other fire is bright and the smoke filthy and stincking here the fire is foule and blacke and the smoke to wit the Apparell adorned and perfumed 7. To this effect when age declineth in the Autumne of decay with one foote in the graue we see sometime not without laughing though with compassion the inordinate loue of fading beauty past borrow the Paynters colours to fill vp the wrinckles of a withered face adorne the head with dead yea and perhaps damned hayre and whilest art seeketh to reforme nature in shew deformeth and depraueth it in very deed recommending the truncke of life to the memory of fancyes past though loath to dye yet stroweth flowers vpon the hearse whilest death gathereth vp the rotten windfals of foolish youth 8. This kind of poyson in custome drunke out of Circes cup maketh â—t at men and women can hardly be wâ—anâ—d from their inueterate miseryes and being loath to bid them adue discouer by their Apparell and artificiall ornaments inordinate desires which time should haue taken away and shame would haue at least concealed VVhat if Seneca Epist 90. Possidonius sayth Seneca should behold the thin linnen of our dayes in garments which doe scarse couer and so farre from affording help to the body that they giue it not to modesty or shamesastnes Clem. Alex lib. 2. pedagog 9. The third and last note out of which springeth this disorderly cost and excesse of attire is Impiety and neglect of God and heauenly affaires For such is the quality of mans nature that when in his iudgement he admireth and in his heart exalteth the diuinity and greatnes of Almighty God then doth he most of all humble and debase himselfe And to the contrary when he forgetteth God and liueth without feare of his iudgments prouidence of the life to come theÌ„ doth he extoll himselfe and declineth from the care of his soule to the loue of his body bestowing all his time study and endeuours to pamper and adorne it and to serue it as an Idoll And this hapneth not onely amongst them that haue knowledge of of the true God and Christian religion but it is so grafted in the very bowels of Nature that these two like a ballance when the one goeth vp the other declineth And so the old Romans whilst they held reuerence after their fashion to Diuinity as Nature it selfe teacheth all Nations to do vpon a reasonable iudgement of their owne vnworthines subiection and dependence of a higher prouidence they contented themselues with such things as serued meerely for succour against necessity abstayning from super fluityes which they thought might be displeasant to the power that gouerneth with order or serued only for their owne magnificence and glory The Romanes being in flower saith Salust Salust de coniur were sumptuous in their piety towards the Gods but sparing at home towards themselues Nec fortuitum spernere cespitem Horat. l. 2. carm od 15. Leges sinebant oppida publico Sumptu iubentes Deorum Templa nouo decorare saxo 10. Whereupon when any Nation commeth to be extraordinarily addicted to gorgeous apparell variety of new fashions it is a most forcible argument that it beareth little regard towards heauenly greatnes And for the same reason the inhabitants each one in his degree endeauour to get as high as they can and to greaten and extoll themselues and as if they were petty Gods they set themselues out with osteÌ„tation of Apparell as spectacles to be admired and adored by the beholders 11. Vpon this consideration S. Augustine Angust l. 1. de ciuit comparing the Citty of the pious to Hierusalem and this confused world to impious Babylon saith that where the selfe loue of Babylon wageth warre and preuayleth against Hierusalem that then it impareth it and when Hierusalem by the loue of God is raysed and getteth the better hand that then the Towers of Babel do fall Wherefore it is conuinced that Babylon is the Citty of those who for arrogancy impiety or nicenesse and inordinate loue of their bodyes set out themselues in Apparell aboue their degree to the misprision of others and extenuation of the Deity it selfe and with no small burden to the common wealth For as they say fooles bring in fashions and wise men are obliged to follow them not to be noted as singular But because this vice and vanity yea in some sort this sacriledge and idolatry of Apparell is crept into our countrey growne into custome it will be necessary to speake something more in particuler of euery one of the sayd three heads or fountaynes from whence it came and by which it is maintayned How Modesty and Prudence condemne excesse in Apparell and the like as signes discouâ—-ring Pride and Arrogancy in the mind CHAP. V. THE Counsaile of Ecclesiasticus is Ecclesiast 11. good saying Glory not at any tyme in Apparell for assuredly what glory is aymed at by excesse in apparell is no glory in substance but a fond fiction of the mind which causeth rather contrary effects of dishonour and disdayne for who knoweth not that arrogancy pride of heart is odious when by any way it is discouered And for that naturally men aspire more or lesse to soueraignty and to be freed from subiection to others whom they hold as their equalls wheÌ„ they see one that hath neither prehemineÌ„ce nor dignity aboue them
in all the body and malignity of diseases which as Aristotle teacheth are to be dryed vp and taken away by vertue of a temperate restraint And as during the time in which that filth remayned vpon the earth no hearb flower nor fruit could grow vpon it so as long as such euill dregges of drinke be in the body it is incapable of all good from the soule barren for all operations of vertue 19. But the similitude is yet extenuated August in Psal 1. by S. Augustine and yet notwithstanding the same morall truth auerred He compareth then the body of man to the arke of Noë by which also we may learne our lesson in this affaire The Arke made for the saluatioÌ„ of mankind was to swim aboue the water for otherwise if the water had broken into the Arke both mankind and beastes had perished In like manner our body which containeth a reasonable soule and withall some wild passions and affections of the sensitiue appetite is to be kept from all excesse of drinke least man and beast reason and sense be drowned 20. Pleasures saith Seneca when they exceed measure become penalties Is it not a Seneca ep 82. punishment for him which according to his naturall constitution should be a man with vigour and strength to be brought to such weakenesse as he is not able to defend himselfe from the most impotent enemy nor to hide his misery from the mockery and scorne of the beholders no not to stand vpon his feet Finally the body of man commeth to that deformity by excesse of drinke that when the soule is infatuated therwith it is worse then the body of any brute beast and in this respect S. Basil Basil hom â—â— Chryso hom 1. 37. Senec. ep 85. and S. Chrysostome call drunkennesse a voluntary Diuell as Seneca calleth it a voluntary madnesse 21. Instinct of nature preserueth in beastes their naturall shape and all ornaments agreable to their kind where the body of a drunkard depriued of the vse and defence both of reason and nature through voluntary sinne resteth with no prototype or likenesse either of man or beast but resembleth rather a filthy Fiend in hell Let the Christian therfore whose body adorned with many giftes of nature hath byn washed in Baptisme and receiued therin new dignity loath this turpitude Let the body made to be a heauen for the soule an instrument of Iustice an inheritour of eternall blisse abhorre this hellish deformity not occasioned by necessity not brought vpon it by hazard of euill successe but voluntarily procured and consummated only by folly and freedome of the drunkards owne will 22. Thus much for the body But now if we consider what deriment the soule receaueth by this vice and how the corrupt vapours of immoderate drinke spylling the complexion destroying the beauty of the body below mounteth vp to blind also the eye of the soule to blemish darken and defile the chrystall glasse of intelligence with the loathsome ordure of mortall sinne to surrender the castle of free will impregnable by force of any creature to the subiection of Sathan and the faculties of body and soule for armes and instruments to performe all maÌ„ner of wickednes and finally set the image of God vpon Dagons Altar and in open hostility against God himselfe deseruing therby Eternall punishment iust cause shall we haue to conceaue extreme hatred against so monstrous and pernicious a vice 23. But yet a litle further deuiding the whole hability of mans soule into three parcels or portions the coÌ„cupiscible irascible and reasonable faculties we shall find that immoderate vse of drinke disordereth them all VVine Prou. 20. sayth Salomon stirreth vp lust See then how concupiscence is set on fire by the feruour of drinke And drunkenesse is tumultuous Behold â—re enraged by the same intemperance He which delighteth in them shall not be wise So as this beastly excesse depriueth also the reasonably portion of wisdome and knowledge 24. And concerning the first domage very natural Philosophy deemeth it a great bondage and calamity to be perturbed with lust In so much as Cicero Cicero lib 1. offic among other good qualities and commodities of old age iudgeth one and a great one to be that it is freed from that bestiality Seeing therfore that a Christian knoweth how through originall sinne his body is distempered and disposed of it selfe to vnquiet the mind and incline reason to the imitation of brutish appetite his office is and his care should be rather to diminish the force of this poyson to quench the heat of this fire and rid himselfe from the importunity and trouble of so base and contemptible a commaunder keeping his body in a temperate constitution with moderation of diet yea and with abstinence from meat and drinke sometimes as there is need and as Christian people vse and haue vsed to do in all times and places when and where God is or hath byn duely serued and by this temperance to defend the soule and keep it pure and free not only from the combustion of this infernal fier but from the soote and shame of the smoke rather then to seeke fewell to cast into the fornace and increase the deflagration of this miserable Troy To what purpose must youthfull bloud boyling of it selfe be enflamed by the hoat spirits of wine which not only consume the naturall vigour of the bloud it selfe drying it vp and making it vnfit for generation as Aristotle teacheth but also blast all the vertues which as greene plantes flourish in the soule and disfigure the soule it selfe What brute beast is so beastly as to adde fier to fier for increase of his lust 25. Therfore when a Christian putteth in practise by drinke that which a beast abhorreth by nature in what degree of abasement should we hold him Assuredly there is no affection more disgracefull and opposite to a laudable life or against which a Christian man ought more to striue as vnworthy of his name and person then this perturbation for where it is not bridled by temperance and subdued with the grace of God it carryeth away mens actions to the vilest and basest obiectes against both reason and faith tying them both to the stake with an iron chaine of slauery and by litle and litle consuming into ashes of intemperance all which either grace or nature had giuen for ornament so as there remayneth no more of Christianity but the bare name nor of man-hood but the shape 26. The truth of this miserable chaunge may be seene in a notorious example of one that liued not long agoe famous for the mischiefe and publike scandall that hath followed in these parts of the world by his fal into sinne Martin Luther who had not only vowed Religion and chastity but liued many yeares chast in Angellical profession and company and yet in his declining yeares by intemperance of gluttony and drunkenesse degenerated so far from himselfe as measuring all
by his owne misery after his fall from Gods grace amongst other pernicious errours he taught with shame inough that man could not liue chast Though his meaning was to couer his incontinent life with an excuse of impossibility the deceit lying in supposition of the like intemperance that a man giuen ouer to riot and drunkenesse can hardly liue chast which without preiudice to chastity may be graunted to the Doctors weaknesse that taught this learning and to the experience of his chiefest disciples which haue followed his doctrine and life And yet for all this the contrary is most certaine for if Chastity could not be kept Christ our Sauiour would neuer haue coūsailed it to his followers nor the Apostles commended so highly this kind of life 27. The difference is that the disciples of Christ which by continuall temperance keep the body subiect alwayes to the soule and all the senses employed in exercise of Christian life within the compasse of reason faith as in the rest of their actions dedicated wholy to the honour and seruice of Almighty God they imitate the Angels that serue him in heauen so they receaue from him as a necessary ornament of their estate as a Gods penny of greatter reward the precious iewell of perpetuall Chastity which in some degree aduanceth them aboue the dignity of Angels Whilest they conserue Angelicall purity in corruptible bodyes of flesh and bloud as we see performed by innumerable persons of both sexes holpen as I say by the grace and assistance of him that gaue this counsaile example helping themselues also as they should by auoyding occasions of temptation not to giue aduantage to the Diuell and by the ordinary meanes of temperate diet and abstinence yea and of rigorous fasting also and other exercises of pennance when there is need which remedies the old Heathens could tell were helpes to Chastity and so they taught that sine Cerere Baccho friget Venus But these new Doctors because they desire not to liue chast will not make vse of this doctrine Thus we see that the disciples and followers of Christ our Sauiour by temperance and Chastity are exalted aboue their owne nature to be like Angels in life as the others giuing themselues ouer to gluttony and drunkennesse become worse then beastes And so no meruaile if their maister and Foreleader taught so filthy and beastly doctrine taking the measure of mans possibility by himselfe and his owne weaknesse after he had degenerated to the habit and custome of a beastly life 28. The chast temperate soule in the water of baptisme beholdeth Almighty God his Angels the sacred mysteries of our holy faith and there contemplateth the temperate and fruitfull quality of a Christian The others in their riot and intemperance of drinke what shape can they find but of vgly Diuells and fiends of hell who are delighted to see them wallow in the myre of beastly pleasures and become worse then beasts inordinate desires like to themselues 29. Consequently when immoderate drinke hath thus set the concupiscible part of the soule on fier as hath bin said the dregges and droppinges are choler fury in the irascible A strange effect that from hony should be strayned gall But so it is the face of a Nimph but with the sting of a serpent Much Ecclesiast cap. 19 wine drunken sayth the Wise-man prouoketh wrath and many ruines What thing more hurtfull or more mad then for a man willingly to poyson himselfe and draw downe his throat the sweetest liquor that may bereaue him of his wits The mountaine Etna in Sicily whose bosome alwayes full of fier groaning and roaring as it were in rage to disgorge itselfe of wrathfull rancor casteth vp burning coales continually as it were to take reuēge of the heauens such a monster is a drunkard when the heate of drinke hath entred into his body down his throat scalded his veines scorched his liuer and enflamed his head for then like an Etna with a burning face glowring eyes after that drinke hath let loose in him all possible distemper of nature and vice he beginneth in rage to breath out contumelious words and many times breaketh out into effects of fury no lesse then if he were mad as he is indeed whilest the fit endureth and therfore Bacchus was painted in forme of a Mad-man as Athenius Iuuenal Satyr 6. reporteth and Iuuenal that the Aegyptian Bacchanalies or solemnities of wine were outragious in violence of contention and fight and seldome without bloud Which disposition who knoweth not how farre it repugneth to the mild spirit of a Christian So as he denyeth this holy and most honorable name and in very deed renounceth his baptisme whosoeuer giueth himselfe ouer to riot and drinke for these kind of people be those of whome the Apostle sayeth Quorum Deus venter est gloria eorum in confusione Their tast and belly is their God and their glory confusion and repoach 30. Thus farre we are come in the offence domage which a man receaueth in the concupiscible and irascible parts of his soule by excesse of drinke Now let vs come to the third and chiefest For as nothing in him is more precious and honorable then the light of reason so nothing can be to him of greater impeachmēt nor more disgracefull then to haue it by any meanes troubled or eclipsed The grosse vapour raysed from the earth though it ascend to the middle region of the ayre yet it neuer ariseth so high as to touch the sunne it selfe How foule and vnworthy a thing is it then that the filthy vampe of intemperate drink boyling in the stomake should presume to depriue the soule of vnderstanding freedome S. Thom. 1. 2. q. 48. art 1. ludic 16. by which principally it carryeth the image of Almighty God Which surprised and blinded by drinke like another Sampson is exposed to the scorne and laughter of foolish perturbations And if no countrey clowne be so rude and vnmannerly as to touch the robes of a Prince without reuerence or to enter into his priuy-chamber vncalled what an vnworthy presumption is it for the ignominious breath of vndisgested drinke not only to touch the light of the soule but ouerpresse it in captiuity and darknesse yea to strike it dead till the force of nature holpen by sleep reuiue it and restore it to liberty 31. How thinke you will God Almighty beholding our drunkard depriued both of reason and sense and all resemblance of a man take this villany cōmitted against the soueraignty of his Royall armes and image in his broad Seale surprised defaced and contemptously defiled by surfet of drinke which redoundeth also as an iniury to himselfe worthily to be punished The Angels also looking vpon the same spectacle of a reasonable soule thus annoyed by drinke will hold themselues highly preiudiced for that the same image similitude which they see defaced in man is their principall flower and the