of his Auditors I remember a Preacher in Italy who had such power over his Auditors affections that when it pleased him he could cause them shead aboundance of teares yea and with teares dropping downe their cheâ—ks presently turne their sorrow into laughter and the reason was because he himselfe being extreamely passionate knowing moreover the Arte of mooving the affections of those Auditors and besides that the most part were women that heard him whose passions are most vehement and mutable therefore hee might have perswaded them what hee listed The same commoditie may be gathered by all other Oratours as Embassadours Lawyers Magistrates See Aristotle Rhetorikes Captaines and whatsoever would perswade a multitude because if once they can stirre a Passion or Affection in their Hearers then they have almost halfe perswaded them for that the forces of strong Passions marvellously allure and draw the wit and will to judge and consent vnto that they are mooved Many things more might be saide concerning this matter but in all the other Chapters folowing except this first I meane to touch this point very largely As this Treatise affordeth great riches to the Physitian of the soule so it importeth much the Physitian of the bodie for that there is no Passion very vehement but that it alters extreamely some of the foure humors of the bodie and all Physitians commonly agree that among diverse other extrinsecall causes of diseases one and not the least is the excesse of some inordinate Passion for although it busieth their braines as also the naturall Philosophers to explicate the manner how an operation that lodgeth in the soule can alter the bodie and moove the humors from one place to another as for example recall most of the bloud in the face or other partes to the heart as wee see by daily experience to chance in feare and anger yet they consent that it See Fracastoriuâ— libr. de sympathia lib. 2. de intellectione circa medium may proceede from a certaine sympathie of nature a subordination of one part to another and that the spirites and humors wait vpon the Passions as their Lords and Maisters The Physitians therefore knowing by what Passion the maladie was caused may well inferre what humor aboundeth consequently what ought to be purged what remedy to be applied after how it may be prevented If all the aforesaide Professions may challenge each one a part in this Discourse surely the good Christian whose life is a warrefare vpon earth he who if he love his soule killeth it he whose studie principally standeth Iob 7. 1. in rooting outvice and planting of vertue hee Mar. 8. 35. whose indevour specially is imployed in crucifying old Adam and in refining the image of Christ he who pretendeth to be ruled by reason and not tyrannized by preposterous affection this man I say may best peruse this matter he may best meditate it he may best know where lieth the cave of those Serpents and Basiliskes who sucke out the sweete blood of his soule hee may see where the thorn sticketh that stingeth his heart finally he may view his domesticall enemie which never Matt. 10. 36. permits him to be quiet but molesteth in prosperitie deiecteth in adversitie in pleasure makes him dissolute in sadnesse desperate to rage in anger to tremble in feare in hope to faint in love to languish These were those temptations of the flesh that S. Paul did punish 1. Corint 9. 27 saying Castigo corpus meum in servitutem redigo I chasten my body and bring it into servitude these were those members the same Apostle exhorted vs to mortifie vpon earth Mortificate membra vestra quae Coloss 3. 5. sunt super terram Seeing then how all the life of a spirituall man ought to bee imployed in the expugnation of these molestfull Iebusites without all doubt it importes him much to knowe the nature of his enemies their stratagems and continuall incursions even vnto the gates of the chiefest castell of his soule I meane the very witte and will Not only the mortified Christian had need to know well his passions because by brideling them he winnes a great quietnesse of minde and enableth himselfe better to the service of God but also the civil Gentleman and prudent Polititian by penetrating the nature and qualities of his affections by restraining their inordinate motions winneth a gratious cariage of himselfe and rendereth his conversation most gratefull to men for I my selfe have seene some Gentlemen by blood and Noblemen by birth yet so appassionate in affections that their company was to most men intollerable for true is that Salomon saide Vir iracundus provocat Prover 15. 18. rixas qui patiens est mitigat suscitatas An angry man raiseth brawles but a patient man appeaseth them after they be raised And therefore howe vngratefull must his company seeme whose passions over-rule him and men had neede of an Astrolabe alwayes to see in what height or elevation his affections are lest by casting forth a sparke of fire his gun-powdred minde of a sodayne be inslamed I omit how he may insinuate himselfe into other mens love and affections how in traveling in strange countries he may discover to what passion the people are most inclined for as I haue seene by experience there is no Nation in Europe that hath not some extraordinarie affection either in pride anger lust inconstancie gluttonie drunkennesse slouth or such like passion much it importeth in good conversation to know exactly the companies inclination and his societie cannot but be gratefull whose passions are moderate and behaviour circumspect I say nothing of Magistrates who may by this matter vnderstand the inclinations and dispositions of their inferiors and subiects But finally I will conclude that this subiect I intreat of comprehendeth the chiefe obiect that all the antient Philosophers aymed at wherein they placed the most of their felicitie that was Nosce teipsum know thy selfe the which knowledge principally consisteth of a perfit experience every man hath of himselfe in particular and an vniversall knowledge of mens inclinations in common the former is helped by the latter the which knowledge is delivered in this Treatise What we vnderstand by Passions and Affections CHAP. II. THree sortes of actions proceede from mens soules some are internall and immateriall as the actes of our wittes and willes others be meere externall and materiall as the acts of our senses seeing hearing moving c. others stand betwixt these two extreames and border vpon them both the which wee may best discover in children because they lacke the vse of reason and are guided by an internall imagination following nothing else but that pleaseth their sences even after the same maner as bruite beastes doe for as we see beastes hate love feare and hope so doe children Those actions then which are common with vs and beastes wee call Passions and Affections or pertuâ—bations of the mind Motus saith saint
bee verified who thinketh that the Bulles with white spots which continued ever among the Egyptians and were adored for their god Apis was ever engendred by the acte of Aug. de â—ir c. 5 the Diuell to deceive the Egyptians who caused in the braine of the Cowe while she was in conceaving the imaginations of such a coloured Bul which imagination wrought so mightily that she conceaved the like and so they never wanted spotted Buls Galen also reporteth Galen de Theriaca ad Pison Gen. 30. that a woman beholding a most beautifull picture conceaved and brought forth a most beautifull childe by a most deformed father wee have also in the scriptures the like experience in Iacob who to cause his Ewes conceave speckled lambes put sundry white roddes in the chanels where the beasts were watered and thereby the lambes were yeaned party-coloured These prooved experiments by the censure of Aristotle a sage Philosopher and Galen a sound Physitian proceeded from a vehement imagination in the time of conception And for this cause saith Aristotle wee see the yonglings of bruite beastes for most parte to resemble in colours figures temper greatnesse proprieties and conditions their siers and dammes but in men we observe farre otherwise for wise parents beget foolish children vertuous vitious and contrariwise foolish parents wise children and vitious vertuous faire parents procreate foule children and deformed parents faire children and among the children of the same parents one will bee wise another foolish one fayre another foule The cause of this varietie are the various imaginations of the Parents at the time of their Conception Beastes therefore not being distracted with these various Imaginations conceave not with such diversitie I am not ignorant that Huartes in his triall of Wittes derideth this reason and saith that this answere of Aristotle savoureth of great simplicitie for he resolveth all this varietie into the multiplicity diversity of nourishment which men receive far different from beasts which is vniforme and for most part the same as also for that generation is an operation of the vegetative and not of the sensitive soule But by his leave Aristotles opinion is as probable as his and both ioyned together make one complete perfit For albeit generation be an action of our vegetive soule yet it is subordinate greatly qualified by the sensitive for divers imaginations of more or lesse pleasure in that acte inciteth more or lesse thereunto and so causeth a perfitter or more vnperfitte generation The varietie also of nourishment and qualities or tempers of the seede more or lesse concurre therewithall The fourth effect of Passions which is disquietnesse of the Minde CHAP. IIII. HEe that should see Hercules raging Orestes trembling Cain ranging Amon pining Dido consuming Archimedes running naked would little doubt that Passions mightily change and alter the quiet temper and disposition of the Minde for if peace bee a concord or consort of our sensuall soule with reason if then the Mind be quiet when the Will ruled by Prudence overruleth moderateth and governeth Passions questionlesse then the soule is troubled when Passions arise vp and oppose themselves against Reason Inordinate affections as experience teacheth many waies disquiet the Minde and trouble the peaceable state of this pettie common-weale of our soule but specially by five by Contradiction by Contrarietie by Insatiabilitie by Importunitie by Impossibilitie Contradiction § I. BY two wayes the Subiectes of every Common-weale vsually disturbe the State and breede civill broyles therein the first is when they rise vp and rebel against their King the second is when they brawle one with another and so cause riots and tumults the former is called Rebellion the latter Sedition After the same manner Passions either rebell against Reason their Lord and King or oppose themselves one against another that I call Contradiction this Contrarietie The former he well vnderstood that sayde Spiritus concupiscit Gal. 5. adversus carnem caro adversus Spiritum The Spirit affects against the Flesh the Flesh against the Spirit This internall Combate and spirituall Contradiction every spirituall man daily perceyveth for inordinate Passions will he nill he cease not almost hourely to rise vp against Reason and so molest him troubling the rest and quietnesse of his Soule It is related in the life of S. Anselme our Archbishop of Canterbury that walking In vita Anselâ—â— into the fieldes hee saw a Shepheardes little boy who had caught a Birde and tyed a stone to her legge with a thread and ever as the Bird mounted vp to soare aloft the stone drewe her downe againe The venerable olde man much mooved at this sight fell presently a weeping lamenting thereby the miserable condition of men who no sooner did endevour to ascend to Heaven by contemplation but the Flesh and Passions haled the heart backe againe and drew it downe to earth enforcing the Soule to lie there like a beast which should haue soared in the Heavens like an Angell For these rebellious Passions are like craftie Pioners who while Souldiers liue carelesly within their Castle or at least not much suspect they vndermine it and breake in so vpon them that they can hardly escape in like maner these Affections vndermine the vnderstandings of men for while the wittes are eyther carelesse or imployed in other affayres there creepeth vp into their heartes some one or other perverse Passion which transporteth the Soule cleane another way in so much as that with extreame difficultie she can recall her selfe againe and reduce her Affections vnto their former quietnesse and peaceable temper Who seeth and â—eeleth not that often times while Reason attendeth to Contemplation a villanous Passion of Love withdraweth the attention and with an attoxicated delight imprisoneth the Affection who perceyveth not that divers times Reason would pardon all iniuâ—ies and Ire opposeth it selfe importuning revenge who experimenteth not that Reason woulde willingly fast and abstayne from delicacies but inordinate Delight will feast and endure no austerities who knoweth not that Reason often prescribeth yea vrgeth to labour and payne for the service of God or to performe the affaires of the worlde and Sensualitie would passe her time idlely And after this sort almost continually inordinate Passions contradict right Reason Contrarietie of Passions §. II. THe Egyptians fought against the Egyptians the East winde riseth often against the West the South against the North the Winde against the Tyde and one Passion fighteth with an other The cholericke Cavalliere would with death revenge an iniurie but feare of killing or hanging opposeth it selfe against this Passion Gâ—â—ttonie would have dainties but Covetousnesse prescribeth parsimonie Lecherie would raigne and dominier but dreadfulnesse of infamie and feare of diseases draw in the raynes of this inordinate Affection By which opposition we may easily perceive how vnquiet is the heart of a passionate man tossed like the Sea with contrary windes even at the same time and moment An other
had need of some short remembrance to pull their wits by the elbow and will them not to diue too deepe least they who by reason should best vnderstand their reasons I meane the meaner wits who for most part are generall auditors be depriued of that instruction and information the Oratour intendeth and they expected Thirdly we must obserue that in amplifications which are in effect nothing else but either exaggerations or cumulations of reasons diuers things are to be noted First in amplifications all conceits should relish a certaine greatnesse and carie with them some sort of excesse if we praise then the persons and things praised must be commended for some admirable excellencie if we exhort or dissuade then are to bee discouered a sea of great goodnesse or a multitude of mightie euils Secondly the reasons which we amplifie require great perspicuitie and apertnesse in deliuerie because the attention which otherwise should be imployed about the affection will wholy be consumed or drawne to the vnderstanding for it is impossible to attend much at one time both to speculation and affection Furthermore our speech being cursorie and specially framed for meane capacities will not be able to make any impression in auditors except our reasons be meruailous plaine euident Thirdly our reasons should be largely declared and yet with sharpe and short varietie interlaced resembling a volley of shot speedily deliuered but not without bullets to batter downe the walles of wilfull affections And for this cause we may vse pithie short descriptions compounded of some metaphor annexed with some proprietie which is most vsuall with orators as Cicero commendeth histories for saith he Histories are the witnesses 1. Dâ— Orat. of times the light of trueth the life of memorie the mistris of life the messenger of antiquitie c. so may we in like manner describe man to be a shadow of pleasure a glorious flower a fading rose an vnsatiable appetite â— circle of fancies a running riuer a mortall angell a reasonable beast a vitious monster declining from his nature c. Many similitudes or dissimilitudes examples contrarieties effects repugnant may easilie be inuented readily deliuered and in a moment vnderstood so that by this meanes profound conceit shall bee facilited and there with the auditors instructed delighted and moued Fourthly as passions are diuers so motiues to stirre them vp are various and therefore now method requireth that we descend to the immediat sparkes which must set the soule on fire and kindle the passions or like winds blow off the ashes that the coales may be reuiued for hetherto we haue talked a farre off and layd but the first foundations by these particular motiues which follow passions immediatly properly effectually are moued Motiues to Loue. O My God the soule of my soule and the life of all true loue these drie discourses of affections without any cordiall affection haue long deteined not a little distasted me Now that I come towards the borders of Loue giue me leaue O louing God to vent out and euaporat the affects of the heart and see if I can incense my soule to loue thee intirely and suisceratly and that all those motiues which stirre vp mine affections to loue thee may be meanes to inflame all their hearts which read this treatise penned by me But alas where shall I begin to parley of affections who am so stained with imperfections and corrupted with infections Come come you sacred cherubins you morning starres of neuer darkening light descend you Seraphins you burning lampes of loue and tell me what motiues mooue you to loue your God so vehemently and vncessantly I know you will answere that your loue is of another stampe than mine and therfore that your language cannot bee vnderstood in the land of mortall men Ah my God euer loued too litle shall I neuer be able neither to loue nor speake of loue inough shall I aduenture to weaue a web of such subtile golden threds in such a rotten rustie loome did not Isay excuse himselfe for speaking of thee because his lips were polluted and durst not attempt so mightie an enterprise till with a burning coale of loue his mouth was purified Did not Dauid thirst after thee like the thirstie Hart the fountaines of cleare water and yet he exclaimed Imperfectum meum viderunt oculi tuâ— Thou hast O Lord beheld mine imperfection Did not the Seraphins Esay 6. glowing with fiery affections vaile their feet with golden wings thereby shewing a reuerent shame of their imperfit loue as vnworthie of such a supreme maiestie And what gratious Lord shall I thinke speake or write of thy loue whose best knowledge is scarce comparable with their ignorance whose purest affections are but inordinat passions in respect of their feruent desires and inflamed charitie But alas to say nothing were to admite thee but with blind ignorance to speake not condignly were irreuerently to conuerse with thee What shall I then neither speake nor hold my peace O fountaine of loue such is the abysse of thy goodnesse that thou reputest that ynough when we doe all we can endue me therefore O bountifull God with thy grace that since I cannot speake so worthily of thee as thou deserues at least I may speake in such sort of thee as at an vnworthie sinners hands thou expects A long season O my God the warie waigher of all my wayes haue I ranged abroad and reuelled among thy creatures I cannot say I loued them for then why did they cloy me and anoy me neither can I auer that I hated them for they delighted me Alas they pleased me because they were sprinckled and bedewed with some drops of amabilitie which thou diddest let fall vpon them from the immensiue Ocean of thy bountie they molested me because I loued not them aright that is in thee and for thee but for themselues and my delight After I had prodigally spent my patrimonie by surfeiting in pleasure and therein obseruing neither law rule nor measure at last I returned to thee found all those motiues in thy maiestie in a farre more eminent degree vnited than I before in all the vast multitude of thy creatures had tried dispersed I loued my parents as The first motiue of Loue is parâ—ntage authors of my being and imparters of life and this without teacher by nature I was instructed When after I turned mine eyes to thee I perceiued there was but a small sparke of paternitie in my progenitours compared to thee Thou gaue them bodies being and life to bee parents thou preserued conserued and enabled them thou created my soule alone wherin they neither had part nor action thou formed my body when they neuer minded me thou hast kept me day and night when they neuer remembred me yea when both they and I were fast asleepe thy watchfull eye waked ouer both them and me In the progresse of my tender yeares I loued them who Beneuolence bestowed fauours
of these It is hard for me if not impossible O God the center of my soule to explicate the admirable proportion conveniencie and agreeablenes betwixt thy mercies and our miseries thy riches and our poverty thine habilities to perfit vs and our indignities to be perfited thy patience and longanimitie to support iniuries and our perversenes to commit offences Tell me O thou hart of man why thou livest in this life for most part disgusted distasted vnquiet ever loving never perfitly liking thirsting ever for a happy quiet rest and never attaining any quietnes to thy full contentment or rest Ah my God! one who knew this miserie and had felt the finger of thy mercy told the cause for being as vnable to settle himselfe as he had perceived the same in others at last was stirred vp to seeke to thee the center life and satietie of the soule Tuenim excitas vt laudare te delectet Quia fecisti nos Aug. lib. 1. confes cap. 1. ad te inquietum est cor nostrum donec requiescat in te Thou excites vs O God with delight to praise thee Because thou hast made vs for thee and our heart is vnquiet vntill it rest in thee So that as the fire flieth to his Sphere the stone to his Center the river to the Sea as to their end and rest and are violently deteyned in all other places even so the heartes of men without thee their last end and eternall quietnesse are ever ranging warbling and never out of motion not vnlike the needle touched with the Load-stone which ever standeth quivering trembling vntil it enioy the full and direct aspect of his Northerne Pole O my God of infinite wisedome who canst speake as well with workes as words let it be lawfull for me symbollically to interpret the triangular figure of mans hart say that as the face of the body may be termed the portrait of affections and passions so the heart may be called the face and figure or resemblance of the soule and consequently of thee whose image lies drawne in the plane thereof limmed with thine owne pensil and immortal colours the heart then of man triangularly respecteth the blessed Trinitie every corner a Person and the solide substance your common Essence This heart then resembling thee touched with desire of thee cannot bee quiet but vnited and conioyned with affectuall love and amity with thee But come wit of man and shew thy sympathy in desire of thy God that by thee wee may discover the agreeablenesse hee hath with all reasonable Natures What is thine inclination and what thing with mayne and might doest thou wish and essentially crave Trueth what trueth All so that thy thirst can never bee served except all trueth thou see revealed And where is this Trueth to bee found passe over the vaste vniverse from the convexe superficies of the highest Heaven to the center of hell and thou shalt not get such a request satisfied passe and pierce thorow all these trueths and yet the immensive capacitie of thy desire will not completely bee filled For vntill the Sea of all Truth the graund origen of al verities flow into thee these little drops will rather cause a greater then quench thy former thirst Thy God then who is prima Veritas in essendo dicendo the first Veritie in being and speaking and infinite in both of all other obiects doth consort with this thy boundlesse comprehension best and in fine must be thy full satietie or else never looke to be satisfied Now that the Wit knoweth where his Rest resteth Come thou Will of man and tell vs what thou aymest at where dwelleth the purport of thy wishes where lyeth the proiect of thy desires In goodnesse and perfection for as the eye beholdeth light and all colours limmed with light so thou affects all goodnes and all things gilded with goodnesse And where is all this goodnesse to be gotten Ah! wee trie too palpably that all things covered with the cope of Heaven are as farre from fully contenting our willes as a bitte of meate to a man almost halfe dead of hunger Who ever yet in this life accounted himselfe persitly happie and thorowly satisfied in minde but those which sincerely and affectually loved thee Alas who is hee that seeth not how our affections goe rowling and ranging from one base creature to another seeking contentment ever hoping and never obtayning now in walking now in conversing now in beholding after in eating studying and a thousand such like inveagling baites which do nothing else but with a clawing and cloying varietie rid vs from a sensuall satietie for when one sense hath drunke vp all his pleasure and either feeleth not his thirst quenched or with too much his facultie or corporall instruments endammaged presently the soule seeketh an other baite to avoyd the former molestation with a new recreation and so wandreth and beggeth of every poore creature a scrap of comfort All this my sweete God the only obiect of complet contentation argueth that what is loved without thee although it agreeth in part with vs yet it iumpeth not right it consorteth not in forme and manner as our soules and wils requires Thou only who foulds in thy selfe all kind of goodnesse art the sole convenient and agreeable obiect of our wits wills loves and desires The 12. Motive to Love is Necessitie NEcessitie was the first inventor of Artes Pleasure added divers Vanity found out the rest Al corporall creatures issued from the hands of God with a serviceable harmonicall convenience consorting with the nature of man many for necessity some for delight others for ornaments Among the parts of a mans body some are necessary as the hart braine and liver some exceeding profitable yet not absolutely requisite as two hands two eyes two eares ten fingers ten toes some are for ornaments as the haire of a womans head and 1. Cor. 11. 15. the beard of a man an apt figure and personablenes of body pleasant colours and divers such like naturall complements Wherefore if pleasant artes delightfull creatures complementall ornaments be greatly loved and liked questionles necessary trades creatures and parts ought much more to be esteemed and affected because that every one first loveth himselfe and then all those meanes which in some sort concerne the being or conservation of himselfe among which those which are most necessary are necessaryly beloved If I consider my body O good God the only moulder of all creatures how it dependeth vpon thee in vpholding and propping vp continually the weake pillers thereof least continually they should fall I well know their feeblenes to be such and so extreame that no hand but thine Almighty is able to sustaine them What way can I walke what sense can I vse what worke can I worke what word can I speake what thought can I thinke what wish can I will if thou guide not my feet concurre not with my sense work not with my hands
to his divine providence an inclination facultie or power to conserve it self procure what it needeth to resist impugne whatsoever hindereth it of that appertaineth vnto his good and conservation So we see fire continually ascendeth vpward because the coldenesse of the water earth and ayre much impeacheth the vertue of his heate heavie substances descend to their centre for their preservation the hare flieth from the houndes the partridge hideth her selfe from the tallent of the hawke and in fine God hath enabled every thing to eschew his ennemy and enioy his friend Whereuppon grew that protrite distinction of a triple appetite naturall sensitive and reasonable the first we finde in elements and plants the second in beasts and men the third in men and angelles the first Philosophers call a naturall inclination the second a sensitive appetite the third a reasonable or voluntary affection neverthelesse the naturall inclinations of inanimate creatures and the sensitive appetites of living thinges dissent in some points because they with one motion eschew their contraries procure their owne good and obtaine that they need as for example the fire by the same motion ascendeth to heaven getteth his place and flieth from earth and water as contraries the boyling water set from the fire cooleth it selfe and withall expelleth the vnnaturall heate Men and beastes with one appetite prosecute the good they desire and with an other they slie the evill they abhorre as for example with one appetite a man desires good wine and with another detesteth ill wine An other difference besides there is because men and beasts in their appetites have a certaine pleasure and delectation paine or griefe the which affections can not be found in any inanimate creatures This delight or payne God imparted vnto vs that wee might thereby be stirred vp to attempt those actions which were necessary for vs or flie those inconveniences or harmes which might annoy vs for who would attend to eating or drincking to the act of generation if Nature had not ioyned thereunto some delectation A pregnant proofe of this may be seene in sicke men who having lost their appetites loathe nothing so much as meate Heere we may beginne to discover the coasts of Selfe-love for God having so bountifully granted vs meanes to provide for such thinges as were needefull and to avoyde such things as were harmefull adioyning pleasure to the one and paine to the other wherevppon ensued that having a reasonable soule the which like an Empresse was to governe the body direct the senses guide the passions as subiects and vassalles by the square of prudence and rule of reason the inferior partes were bound to yeeld homage and obey Then self-Selfe-love vpstarts and for the affinitie with sense for the causes alleadged in the precedent chapter will in no case obay reason but allured with the baite of pleasure and sensualitie proclaymeth warres and rebellion against prudence against the love of GOD in so much this tyrant prevaileth that if reason commaund a temperate dyet she will have exquisite and superfluous dishes if reason will be contented with a meane decent attire she will have gorgeous and above her state and condition In summe from this infected love sprung all the evils welnie that pester the world the which Saint Augustine Aug. lib. 22. deciv cap. 2â— With saint Augustine consenteth Plato 5. de legibus And Arist 9. Eth. c. 8. doth gather together yet leaveth out many Mordaces curâ— c. griping cares perturbations moanes feares madde ioyes dissensions strifes warres stratagems angers enmities falshood flatterie theft rapine and a number more which there he reckneth and I to avoyd tediousnes omit Yet by this may also be vnderstood that famous distinction more practized than knowen of many I meane of two loves the one that buildeth the citie of Ierusalem the other the citie of Babylon Aug super psal 64. that is the love of God buildeth the cittie of the predestinate Selfe-love the cittie of the reprobate that repaireth the ruines of Angelles this filleth the infeâ—â—all dennes with Divels for charitie and the love of God being the base and foundation of all goodnesse without which all vertues are dead and not availing to life everlasting rendreth a spirituall life animating the iust to serve God flie vice follow vertue with which vertues and good workes Gods church is replenished and Sathans synagogue emptied Contrariwise Selfe-love following inordinate affections inticeth the cittizens of Ierusalem to prosecute pleasures vnbridle their senses enioy the roses till they flourish not to let wither the Mayie flowres of their flesh haleth the poore soules from the libertie of Ierusalem to the captivitie of Babylon thereby casting the children of God into the thraldome of Sathan By this it appeareth howe God gave every man an inclination to love himselfe yet subordinated to reason and how by the pleasure of sensualitie it is growne to such a head that rather it ruleth reason than reason ruleth it Selfe-love then may bee defined an inordinate inclination of the soule affecting too much the pleasures of the body against the prescript of right reason this may well be called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 olde Adam the law of the flesh sensualitie the enemie of God the spring of vice the roote of impietie the bane of godly conversation the obiect of mortification the sincke of sinne ever craving never concent tyrannizing over the greatest and overthrowing the least How the Passions may be well directed and made profitable CHAP. III. IT hath beene declared I thinke sufficiently howe most men inordinately followe the vnbrideled appetite of their sensual passions yet no doubt but they may by vertue be guided and many good men so moderate and mortifie them that they rather serve them for instruments of vertue than foments of vice and as an occasion of victory than a cause of foyle For Christ our Saviour in whom neyther sinne nor inordinate affection could fall no doubt was subiect to these passions Tristis est anima Matth. 26. Luke 22. Marke 14. mea sayth he vsque ad mortem My soule is sadde even vntill death And Coepit pavere toedere He beganne to bee afrayde and heavy Feare and heavynesse no doubt are passions of the mind yet because in Christ they were prevented with reason and guided by vertue neyther alluring him to sinne nor ingendring vitious Hieron ep 22. ad Eustoch quem sequuntur scolastici Psalme 4. Philip. 2. habites therefore of Divines they rather were called propassions than passions Moreover the Scriptures exhort vs to these passions Irascimini nolite peccare Be angry and sinne not Cum metu tremore salutem operamini with feare trembling worke your salvation And therefore it were blasphemous to say that absolutely all passions were ill for so the Scriptures should exhort vs to ill The reason also commonly allowed of Philosophers and Divines most pregnantly prooveth this veritie for if the motions of our willes be
their eyes and gestures may quickely be marked so honest matrons by their grave and chaste lookes may soone be discerned To which effect the Spose sayd vnto his Spouse Vulnerasti cor meum in vno oculorum tuorum Cantic 4. 9. Thou hast wounded my heart with one of thine eyes because thorow the window of her eye hee beheld the chastitie of her heart By this wee may knowe the cause why children and epsecially women cannot abide to looke in their fathers masters or betters faces because even nature it selfe seemeth to teach them that thorowe their eyes they see their heartes neyther doe we holde it for good manners that the inferiour should fixe his eyes vpon his superiors countenance and the reason is because it were presumption for him to attempt the entrance or privy passage into his superiors minde as contrariwise it is lawful for the superior to attempt the knowledge of his inferior The Scriptures also teach vs in the face of a harlot to reade the impuritie of her heart Mulieris fornicatiâ— in extollentia oculorum Eccles 26. in palpebris illius agnoscetur The fornication of a woman shall be knowen by the lifting vp of her eyes and in her eye-bries Hereby also we may perceyve the cause of blushing for that those that have committed a fault are therein deprehended or at least imagine they are thought to have committed it presently if they be Candidae naturae that is of an honest behaviour and yet not much grounded in vertue they blush because nature beeing afrayd lest in the face the fault should be discovered sendeth the purest blood to be a defence and succour the which effect commonly is iudged to proceede from a good and vertuous nature because no man can but allowe that it is good to bee ashamed of a fault And thus to conclude we must confesse that Passions have certayne effectes in our faces howbeit some doe shew them more evidently than others Yet wee may not say that this face is the roote and kore where the Passions reside but onely the rhinde and leaves which shew the nature and goodnesse of both the roote and the kore That there are Passions in the reasonable soule CHAP. VIII NOw that we have determined how the Passions must dwell in an other soyle than the face the order of methode requireth wee should wade deeper into the soule to view if in the reasonable part we might finde out their habitation And to be briefe in this poynt I thinke it cannot Three causes why there bee affections in the will like those which reside in the sensitiue appetite be douted vpon but that there are some affections in the highest and chiefest part of the soule not vnlike to the Passions of the Minde for to God the Scriptures ascribe love hate ire zeale who cannot be subiect to any sensitive operations And therefore as in him they are perfections and we are commaunded and may imitate him in them there is no reason why they should be denyed vnto vs in such sort as they be perfite and that is principally in the Will Besides we know most certaynely that our sensitive appetite cannot love hate feare hope c. but that by imagination or our sensitive apprehension we may conceyve for Malum amare possumus incognitum vero amare non possumus wee may love an ill thing but wee cannot love an vnknowne thing nowe experience teacheth vs that men doe feare the iudgements of God they love him and hope in him they hate sinne and finally exercise many notable affections which reason prescribeth and whereunto the sensitive apprehension ascendeth not Furthermore as beneath shall be declared the sensitive appetite often yea and for the most part traleth and haleth the will to consent and follow her pleasures and delights even for the same reason that she pretendeth the as for example I would to God it were not true howe oft yeeldeth the will to the appetite in procuring sensuall pleasures and pastimes for no other ende than to pleasure the vnpleasable appetites and lustes of the flesh this experience more pregnantly prooveth it than any reason can confirme it finally as our witte vnderstandeth whatsoever our senses perceive even so our will may affect whatsoever out passions doe follow for as the obiect of the wit is all trueth teall or apparant so the obiect of our will is all goodnesse indeede or carrying the glosse thereof Neverthelesse I must confesse that these affections which reside in the will differ much in nature and qualitie from those that inhabite the inferior partes of the soule because these being bredde and borne in the highest part of the soule are immateriall spirituall independant of any corporall subiect but those of the sensitive appetite are materiall corporall and depending vpon some bodily instruments as beneath shall be delivered That the heart isc the peuliar place where that Passions allodge CHAP. IX NO Philosopher can deny but that our Passions are certayne accidents and qualities whose immediate subiect house and lodging is the very facultie and power of the soule because all vitall operations of which sort Passions are challenge by right that the mother which hatched them should also sustayne them and harbour them in her owne house But a question may be demaunded and not easily resolved whether the faculty of our sensitive appetite hath allotted vnto it some peculiar part of the body where shee exerciseth her proper functions and operations for as wee see by experience the facultie of seeing the power of hearing the sense of smelling tasting and touching have assigned vnto them divers corporall instruments habitations or seates wherein they see heare smell taste and touch as eyes eares nose tongue flesh and sinewes nowe the question propounded is thus to bee vnderstood whether may there be determined any Parte of the bodie wherein peculiarly the passions of the minde are effected To which question I answere that the very seate of all Passions is the hearte both of men and beastes divers reasons move me to this opinion First the very common experience men trie daily and hourely in themselves for who loveth extreamely and feeleth not that passion to dissolve his hearte who reioyceth and proveth not his heart dilated who is moyled with heavinesse or plunged with payne and perceiveth not his heart to bee coarcted whom inflameth ire and hath not heart-burning By these experiences wee proove in our hearts the working of Passions and by the noyse of their tumult wee vnderstande the woorke of their presence The second reason is because as our sensitive apprehension hath her seate in the brayne for we all proove that in vnderstanding we especially bend the force of our soule to the former part thereof so the affections and passions in proportionate manner must have some corporall organ and instrument and what more convenient than the heart for as the brayne fitteth best for the softnesse and moysture to receyve the formes
men were patient And great men were valiant And red men were loyall All the world would be equall To this seemeth not vnlike an other olde saying of theirs From a white Spaniard A blacke Germaine And a red Italian Liberâ—nos Domine And we in English To a red man reade thy reed With a browne man breake thy bread At a pale man draw thy knife From a blacke man keepe thy wife The which we explicate after this sort The redde is wise The browne trustie The pale peevish The blacke lustie By which auncient Proverbes may be collected the verity of the assertion set downe that divers complexions are inclined to divers passions and in generall I take them to be very true and verified in the most part for that the same causes which concurre to the framing of such a constitution serve also to the stirring vp of such a passion as for example a little man having his heate so vnited and compacted together and not dispersed into so vast a carkasse as the great man therefore he by temperature possesseth more spirits and by them becommeth more nimble lively chollericke hastie and impatient Many more discourses I could deliver about this subiect but indeede it requireth a whole booke for I might declare what Passions they are subiect vnto whom Nature monstrously hath signed what affectious rule Rustickes possesse Cittizens tyrannize over Gentlemen which are most frequented in adversity and which in prosperity I might discourse over Flemmings Frenchmen Spaniardes Italians Polans Germanes Scottishmen Irishmen Welchmen and Englishmen explicating their nationall inclinations good or bad but every one of these exacteth a whole Chapter and perhaps some of them more prowd than wise would be offended with the trueth for this passion of Pride over-ruleth all the children of Adam for we see very few will confesse their owne faultes and then they thinke their reputation disgraced when they are singled from the rest and condemned of some vice therefore See Lerâ—nuâ— Lemâ—ius de complexion lui they must of force have it although they will not heare it Thus I will ende this matter referring the Reader to the next bookes where handling the passions in particular I shall have occasion more in particular to touch this vniversall subiect The manner how Passions are mooved CHAP. XI AS the motions of our Passions are hidde from our eyes so they are hard to bee perceived yet for the speculation of this matter I thinke it most necessary to declare the way and maner of them the which will give light not onely to all the Discourses following but also to all the Chapters preceding First then to our imagination commeth by sense or memorie some obiect to be knowne convenient or disconvenient to Nature the which beeing knowne for Ignoti nulla cupido in the imagination which resideth in the former part of the braine as we proove when we imagine any thing presently the purer spirites flocke from the brayne by certayne secret channels to the heart where they pitch at the doore signifying what an obiect was presented convenient or disconvenient for it The heart immediatly bendeth either to prosecute it or to eschewe it and the better to effect that affection draweth other humours to helpe him and so in pleasure concurre great store of pure spirites in payne and sadnesse much melancholy blood in ire blood and choller and not onely as I sayde the heart draweth but also the same soule that informeth the heart residing in other partes sendeth the humours vnto the heart to performe their service in such a woorthie place In like maner as when we feele hunger caused by the sucking of the liver and defect of nourishment in the stomacke the same soule which informeth the stomacke resideth in the hand eyes and mouth and in case of hunger subordinateth them all to serve the stomacke and satisfie the appetite thereof Even so in the hunger of the heart the splene the liver the blood spirites choller and melancholy attende and serve it most diligently By this manifestly appeareth that we insinnuated in the last Chapter howe the diversities of complexions wonderfully increase or diminish Passions for if the imagination bee very apprehensive it sendeth greater store of spirites to the heart and maketh greater impression likewise if the heart be very hote colde moyst tender cholericke sooner and more vehemently it is stirred to Passions thereunto proportionated finally if one abound more with one humour than another he sendeth more fewell to nourish the Passion and so it continueth the longer and the stronger ⸪ The second Booke wherein are declared foure effects of inordinate Passions ⸫ AFter the declaration of the foure causes of our Passions formall materiall efficient and finall the order of methode requireth wee shoulde entreate of their effectes and proprieties And heere I must speake specially of inordinate passions because although those which be ordinate participate in parte some of those effectes yet for that the inordinate principally cause them therefore I thought good to sette them downe as more necessary and that by them coniecture be made of the rest There be foure proprieties consequent to inordinate Passions blindenesse of vnderstanding perversion of will alteration of humours and by them maladies and diseases and troublesomnesse or disquietnesse of the soule The first proprietie I meane to handle in this Chapter the other in the three next following Passions blinde the Iudgement CHAP. 1. WIse men confesse and ignorant men prove that Passions blind their iudgements and reason for as Saint Basil saide Quemadmodum oculis turbatis Basil psal c. 23. 1. c. As when the eyes are troubled wee can not perceive exactly the obiects of our sight even so when the heart is troubled no man can come by the knowledge of trueth the which similitude Saint Chrysostome declareth more aptly Chrysost hom 1. in Iohan. Sicat oculorum acies c. As the facultie of our eyes being pure and bright it laboureth nothing to deprehend the least moaths but if an evill humour descende from the head or some darkenesse fall vpon the eyes a dimme cloude is cast before the pearles thereof which permitteth them not to see even grosse blockes So it befalleth to the soule when every inordinate affection is purged that might offend her shee seeth all thinges convenient most aptly but being troubled with many affections all that vertue shee leeseth neyther can shee behold any high thing To the authoritie of these Fathers experience agreeth for I never knewe any man troubled with a vehement passion of hatred ire or love who would not bring many reasons to confirme his purpose although after he had performed his pleasure and the tempestuous passion was past hee condemned himselfe and thought his fact vitious and his reasons frivolous The which experience teacheth vs that men for the most parte are not very good iudges in their owne causes specially for the Passion of Love which blindeth their iudgement for which
passion continueth the force of our imagination because whatsoever passeth by the gates of our senses presently entreth into the court of our imagination where the sensitive appetite doth entertaine it therefore seeing all passions cause some sence or feeling more or lesse in the body so long as they endure the imagination likewise representeth to the vnderstanding so long the obiect of the passion and as a deceitfull Counsellor corrupteth his Iudge The last reason which importeth more then both the other proceedeth from a naughty will for that the soule hauing rooted in it these two partes sensitive and reasonable the will perceiving that the soule reioyceth she also contenteth herselfe that the inferior appetite should enioy her pleasure or eschew her griefe with reason or against reason she careth not so she may be made partaker as the great Turke permitteth every one to live in his Religion so they pay him tribute And for this cause she commandeth the witte to employ all the power and force to finde out reasons and perswasions that all the appetite demaundeth standeth with reason and is lawfull the which collusion I take to be one of the rootes of all mischiefes that nowe cover the face of the world that is a wicked will commanding the wit to finde out reasons to pleade for Passions for this corrupteth yea wholy destroyeth the remorce of conscience the carefull gardian of the soule this maketh men obstinate in all enormious vices for when the witte is once perswaded and no further appellation can be admitted then the soule is confirmed almost in malice this maketh so many Atheists for vinum mulieres apostatare Eccles 19. faciunt sapientes wine and women make men leave Religion for as wine maketh men drunke and robbeth the vse of reason so inordinate love and affection make drunke the soule and deprive it of iudgement this in fine robbeth soules from God and carrieth them to the divell For if we examine exactly the groundes and origens of Apostasie from true fayth and the causes of heresies we shall finde them to be some one or other wicked vice of the will or vehement Passion which perverteth the iudgement specially when the Religion forbiddeth or punisheth those vices wherevnto the wicked will or Passions tend S. Augustine relateth diuers who denyed the tormentes of hell and their Eternitie thereby to flatter their vitious affections Aug. lib. 1. de â—â—â— cap. 18. with a pretended assurance of impunitie S. Chrysostome reporteth that the arch-heretike Paulus Samosetanus for Chrysost hom 7. in Iohan. the love of a woman forsooke his fayth and religion S. Gregorie the great imputeth it to avarice and covetousnesse that many fall from their faith or not admit a true faith for the Iew that thirsteth after Vsury will hardly admit Christianitie which shutteth from the Gregor lib 20. moral cap. 12. holy mount of Gods eternal blessednesse all those that lende their money to Vsurie as in the 14. Psalme is manifest Furthermore wee may aptly remonstrate how inordinate Passions cause and ingenerate in the soule all those vices which are opposite to prudence The first is Precipitation or Rashnesse which is nothing else but Precipitation an vncircumspect or vnripe resolution or determination in affaires or negotiations for the iudgement being blinded with the Passion considereth not exactly for the importance of the businesse those circumstances which may withdraw it from the prosecution of such a vitious action I remember that when I was in Italy there was a Scottish Gentleman of most rare and singular partes who was a Retainer to a Duke of that Countrey hee was a singular good Scholler and as good a Souldier it chanced one night the yong Prince either vpon some spleene or false suggestion or to trie the Scots valour mette him in a place where hee was wont to haunt resolving eyther to kill wound or beate him and for this effect conducted with him two of the best Fencers hee could finde the Scot had but one friende with him in fine a quarrell is pickt they all draw the Scot presently ranne one of the Fencers thorow and killed him in a trice with that hee bended his forces to the Prince who fearing least that which was befallen his Fencer might happen vpon himselfe he exclaimed out instantly that he was the Prince and therefore willed him to looke about him what he did the Scot perceyving well what he was fell downe vpon his knees demaunding pardon at his handes and gave the Prince his naked rapier who no sooner had receyved it but with the same sword he ranne him thorow to death the which barbarous fact as it was condemned of all men so it sheweth the Precipitation of his passionate irefull heart for if hee had considered the humble submission of his servant and loyaltie of his subiect and valour of his souldier if he had weighed the cowardlinesse of his fact the infamie that hee should thereby incurre hee would never have precipitated into so savage an offence But if with overmuch rashnesse a man contemne or despise any Lawe preferring his passionate iudgement before the prescript of lawe and reason then his headdinesse is termed Temeritie The second vice is Inconstancie which is a change Inconstancie or alteration of that purpose or resolution which a man had prudently determined before And this we may daily try in al incontinent persons who resolutely determine in the calme of their passions never to fal into their former filthinesse but presently when the Passion ariseth all the good resolutions are forgotten and that which an vnpassionate mind detested a passionate soule most effectually pursueth Not much vnlike that which David once writ of himselfe Ego dixi in abundantia Psalme 29. mea non movebor in aeternum I sayde once in my abundance or as the Calde text hath in my tranquillitie I will not be moved eternally Avertisti nanum tuum factus sum conturbatus Thou turnedst away thy hand and I was troubled as if he had sayde thou permittedst me to be troubled with a Passion and then my confident determination was changed The third vice against Prudence groweth vpon excesse of wicked consideration as precipitation inconstancie Astutia or craftinesse vpon the want or defect of circumspection For the Passion delighting or afflicting the minde causeth the iudgement to thinke invent devise all meanes possible eyther to enioy the Passion of delight or to avoyde the molestation of sadnesse and feare Wherefore Love is sayd to be Ingeniosissimus most wittie for the thought of such matters as concerneth love continually delighting the minde and rolling daily and hourely in the fancie suggesteth a worlde of conceites and inventions to finde out meanes and wayes to nourish preserve and increase the Passion insomuch as they which love vehemently are never well but eyther with them whom they love or solitary by themselves coyning some new practises to execute their inordinate love and
inclineth to peace blood to rise and thirst after the shedding of the blood of their enemies so contrariwise another sort of musicke pacifieth the minds of men and rendreth them quiet and peaceable The Arcadians by musicke as I sayd aboue were transformed and transported from sauagenesse to ciuilitie from fiercenesse to affabilitie from crueltie to humanitie And questionlesse as nothing is more opposit to a warlike heart which neuer ceaseth from killing than an effeminate heart which is wholy addicted to louing so if musicke can make warriers womanish it will consequently render them quiet tractable and peaceable Diuers other passions besides the related are moued by musicke as mercie and compassion and for this purpose many beggers with songs demaund their almes and specially the Germains where the man the wife and their children make a full begging quier according to the Italian prouerbe Cosi Vanno cattando Li Tudesci cantando Li Francesipiangendo Li Spagnioli biastemando Thus goe a begging The Germanes singing The French men weeping The Spaniards cursing That is the poore needie Spaniards will sometime curse if a man denie them almes There are also some stately maiesticall songs and consorts of musicke which with a certaine paused grauitie seeme to inuite a mans heart to magnanimitie for they release I know not what resemblance of action and gesture consorting with great personages Many more passions doubtlesse are stirred vp with musicke and Saint Augustine is of opinion that all for hee did perceiue Aug. lib. 10. conf cap. 33. Omnes affectus spiritus nostri pro sui diuersitate habere proprios modos in voce atque cantu quorum nescio qua occulta familiaritate excitentur But to knit vp this discourse there remaineth a question to be answered as difficult as any whatsoeuer in all naturall or morall philosophie viz. How musicke stirreth vp these passions and moueth so mightily these affections What hath the shaking or artificiall crispling of the aire which is in effect the substance of musicke to doe with rousing vp choler afflicting with melanlancholie iubilating the heart with pleasure eleuating the soule with deuotion alluring to lust inducing to peace exciting to compassion inuiting to magnanimitie It is not so great a meruaile that meat drinke exercise and aire set passions aloft for these are diuers waies qualified and consequently apt to stirre vp humors but what qualitie carie simple single sounds and voices to enable them to worke such wonders I had rather in this point read some learned discourse than deliuer mine opinion neuerthelesse in such an obstruse difficultie he that speaketh most apparently and probably saith the best and therefore I will set downe those formes or manners of motion which occurre to my mind and seeme likeliest The first is a certaine sympathie correspondence or proportion betwixt our soules and musick and no other cause can be yeelded Who can giue any other reason why the loadstone draweth yron but a sympathie of nature Why the Needle toucht but with such a stone should neuer leaue looking towards the North Pole who can render other reason than sympathie of nature If we make a suruey of all birds of the aire fishes of the sea beasts of the land we shall find euery sort affect a proper kind of food a lyon will eat no hay nor a bull beefe a horse eateth bread and a leopard abhorreth it a kite liueth vpon carrion and a hen cannot endure it if a man should beat his braine to find out the reason no better can be giuen than sympathie of nature So we may say that such is the nature of our soules as musicke hath a certaine proportionat sympathie with them as our tasts haue with such varieties of daintie cates our smelling such varietie of odours c. The second manner of this miracle in nature some assign and ascribe to Gods generall prouidence who when these sounds affect the eare produceth a certaine spirituall qualitie in the soule the which stirreth vp one or other passion according to the varietie of voices or consorts of instruments Neither this is to be meruailed at for the very same vpon necessitie we must put in the imagination the which not being able to dart the formes of fancies which are materiall into the vnderstanding which is spirituall therefore where nature wanteth Gods prouidence supplieth So corporall musicke being vnable to worke such extraordinarie effects in our soules God by his ordinarie naturall prouidence produceth them The like we may say of the creation of our soules for men being able to produce the bodie but vnable to create the soule man prepareth the matter and God createth the forme so in musicke men sound and heare God striketh vpon and stirreth vp the heart The third maner more sensible palpable is this that the very sound it selfe which according to the best philosophie is nothing else but a certaine artificiall shaking crispling or tickling of the ayre like as we see in the water crispled when it is calme and a sweet gale of wind ruffleth it a little or when wee cast a stone into a calme water we may perceiue diuers warbling naturall circles which passeth thorow the eares and by them vnto the heart and there beateth and tickleth it in such sort as it is moued with semblable passions For as the heart is most delicat and sensatiue so it perceiueth the least motions and impressions that may be and it seemeth that musicke in those celles playeth with the vitall and animate spirits the onely instruments and spurres of passions In like maner we perceiue by a little tickling of our sides or the soles of our feet how we are mooued to laughter yea and the very heart strings seeme in some sort to be mooued by this almost sencelesse motion And in confirmation hereof we may bring two apt coniectures The first is in our own hands or face the which if we smooth tickle presse downe nip heat or coole wee perceiue diuers sorts diuersities of sensations and feele our selues sundry wayes affected if such varieties we find in a thicke skin how much more in a tender heart farre more apter to feele than any member else of our bodie The second coniecture is the filing of iron and scraping of trenchers which many naturally yea and almost all men before they be accustomed vnto them abhorre to heare not only because they are vngratefull to the eare but also for that the aire so carued punisheth and fretteth the heart The last and best manner I take to be that as all other sences haue an admirable multiplicitie of obiects which delight them so hath the eare and as it is impossible to expound the varietie of delights or disgustes which we perceiue by them and receiue in them for who can distinguish the delights wee take in eating fish flesh fruit so many thousand sauces and commixtions of spices with fish flesh and fruit so in musicke diuers consorts stirre vp in the heart diuers sorts of
celestial brightnesse the Angels desire to behold the blessed saints contemplat and we wandering pilgrims aspire vnto in the end of our perigrination the which will feed vs without satietie content vs without appetite of change wherein consisteth all happinesse ioy and rest Beautie is the rind of bountie and those creatures are 5 Motiue â—ountie or goodnesse more beautifull which are more bountifull For bountie and goodnesse resemble the Sunne beautie the beames bountie the spring beautie the riuer bountie the heart beautie the face bountie the tree beautie the flower bountie the flesh beautie the feathers This truth cannot bee denied for if that beautie bee nothing els but a iust proportion of parts with an apt correspondence of temper in colours in these inferiour bodies or brightnesse and lightnesse in the superiour and such semblable perfections in soules and spirits no doubt but better parts finer colours purer lights proportionably combined cause a more excellent beautie shew and lustre as the siner gold the richer stones if art bee correspondent the more vage and beautifull iewell But here alas in humane corpes it falleth out contrariwise for although indeede a beautifull bodie in a child a youth a man a woman an old man for a different beautie adorneth all these argue a better substance and a more sound corporall perfection yet the soules of such by the mallice of men and women are commonly worse for beautie they make an instrument of vice which by right reason should be an ornament of vertue and therefore such beautie ill beseemeth such bodies and fitly the holy ghost compareth Circulâ—s aurtus in nuribus suis 〈◊〉 pulchra fatua Prou. c. 11. a womans beautifull bodie linked with a bad soule to a ring of gold in a swines snout which euer lies rooting in dirt and myre Bountie then and beautie by nature are linked together though peruerse soules like stinking corpes lie buried in beautifull sepulchres though rustie blades bee couered with golden sheaths though dragons gall and bane of Basiliskes stand closed vp in viols of Christall Yet howsoeuer by sympathie of nature they be connexed and by malitious affections in vs disconsorted neuerthelesse I haue alwaies proued by experience that bountie and goodnesse were principall motiues of loue yea to say truth I knew neuer thing loued but that it was gilded with goodnesse If I loued learning it was because it was good in it selfe and a perfection of mine vnderstanding if meat or drinke because they were good for my bodie to restore the forces vanished if cloaths because they kept me warme and finally whatsoeuer I affected I palpably felt it either good in it selfe or good for my selfe And thereupon I remember a sound philosopher pronounced a solemne axiome as vndoubted in speculation so dayly experimented in action Bonum est quod omnia appetunt Goodnesse is that which all things affect All beasts though reasonlesse yet in loue follow this generall instinct and inclination of reason imprinted in their hearts O infinit wisedome with the indoleble characters of thy prouidence to affect nothing but that in some sort concerneth their good Ah my God of boundlesse bountie Nemo bonus nisi solus Deus thou Luk. 18. onely essentially of thy selfe without list or limit art good all things else by participation and limitation An Angell hath goodnesse and therefore is amiable yet he is but a drop distilled from thee in that quantitie degree and measure thy wisedome prescribed and his circumferenced nature required What O my God is goodnesse but perfection integritie of essence completenesse and fulnesse of beautie What is perfection but an intier possession of all that such a nature or substance should haue and so thy word witnesseth that the Jâ—itur perfecti â—unt 〈◊〉 omnis ernatus â—â—rum Gen. 2. 1. heauens were framed perfit because they wanted nothing necessarie or requisit to their nature and for all this the heauens want wit and reason howbeit they are perfit in their sencelesse kind But in thee what want can their be no parts because thou art simple without composition no perfection can bee scant in fulnesse and intention where all are infinit And therefore if in earth I thirsted after the vnpure drops of thy created goodnesse compared to thine increate bountie how much more should I thirst after thee the pure Christall fountaine of life Ah Quam bonus Israel Deus ijs qui recto sunt corde Psal 72. How good is the God of Israel to them who are of a right heart Trinit as diuinarum personarum est summum bonum quod purgatissimis mentibus cernitur The Trinitie of diuine persons saith Austen thy seruant is a supreme Aug. 1. de Trini cap. 2. circa initâ—um goodnesse which is beheld with most purified minds Bonus est Dominus sperantâ—bus in eum animae quaerenti illum Our Lord is good to them that hope in him to that soule which inquireth for him What then my God the abisse of bountie art thou not good to all but to such soules as search for thee as are purified from offences as are right hearted No no thy goodnesse no lesse extendeth her sphere than thine omnipotencie her might and as nothing euer receiued being but by thine almightie hand so nothing integritie of being but by thy bountifull hand What man euer liued and enioyed not the heat and light of this visible sunne Or who euer liued or continued life but by the beames of thine inuisible bountie But true it is and registred in all sacred records of antiquitie for an infalliable veritie that thy goodnesse is specially extended poureth forth her treasures more aboundantly vpon those good soules who in sincere pure affectuall and thirstie hearts seeke for thee Thou art a sea of goodnesse fauours and graces euery one may enioy thee that will with all his heart serue and loue thee howbeit the greater vessell receiueth more abundance The sixt motiue to Loue is Pleasure IN all the sonnes of men and in all sorts of beasts I dayly and hourely discouered an insatiable desire of delight and almost nothing loued vehemenrly but that which was canded with semblable pleasure it were in vaine to demonstrate this by reason since euery moment fresh experience teacheth that sensualities first step in euery action tendeth to pleasure and solace and those things she accounteth and priseth most which sensually delight her best O God of incomprehensible wisdome and ininuestigable prouidence how potent is this bait of pleasure to allure to deceiue to precipitate vnwarie soules into eternall miserie It is passed almost in euery sence in a moment and yet the importunitie neuer ceaseth The base and bad conditions of sensuall pleasure It is beastly for all sences are common to men with beasts and yet it seemeth euer to promise a paradice of ioy It is most erronious sophisticating mens minds and yet beareth or at least pretendeth a show of reason It in apparance
and therefore a man in ioy participateth a certaine kind of felicitie for felicitie is nothing else but a complete contentation quietnes and rest of the minde and body wherefore the greater delight either really or apparently apporteth the greater contentation rest and quietnesse consequently the greater felicitie And as there is no man affecteth not extremely felicitie happinesse so there is no man extremely desireth not ioy delight They therefore that can move these passions feed them continue them must needs be most gratefull acceptable and beloved yea they may almost do what they list in any company for all meÌ„ love happines and the continuance thereof and those that can aptly stir vp this passion may be accounted authors of a terrestriall happinesse and felicitie Therefore I will alittle enlarge this discourse as most profitable if not necessary for most sorts of men First of all we must suppose that all those motives Motives to delight which stir vp love and affection consequently move desier and delight for love is like the quality of lenity or lightnes in fier which inclineth and bendeth it to motion desier is the motion passage or voyage delight the quietnes or rest of the soule in her obiect and therefore all those causes of love we have delivered in the matter of Love all those may serve for this subiect Secondly it is requisite a man consider the inclinations of those persons he would move to delight for quicquid recipitur per modum recipient is recipitur according to the disposition of the hearer are received the words of the speaker Some men are inclined to piety some to study some to one thing some to another every one willingly heaâ—eth delighteth to have commended that he professeth for in praising that we commend him and this reason is gathered out of a common experience that men for most part desier to be praised It is a world to see how blind selfe-love maketh women to dote of themselves and it seemeth ridiculous sometime to see how they are fed and delighted with the panigeries of parasites I have seene some old Ladies halfe rotten some others monstrously deformed to take an extraordinarie delight in themselves when others for flattery commended their beauty In this point also we may consider a secret motive to delight in that thing a man is delighted in as if one be delighted in Musick in hunting hauking c. some prety new devise in any of them would please the person exceedingly and therefore the parasites of Princes study dayly hourely how by deeds words they may feed this humor yea some of theÌ„ proceeded so far in dignifying their Kings and Monarks that they adored them as gods And the others no lesse sacrilegious in accepting them they blasphemous in ascribing were contented to have their mortall corruptible bodies and horribly infected sinfull soules worshipped as immortall spotlesse divine deities This act of new pleasing inventions proportionate to their passions inclinations whom we would move to delight cannot but greatly help vs in the way of perswasion if it be plausibly and artificially handled for otherwise if it be grossely managed it 〈◊〉 of flattery and affected folly 3. A firme hopâ— assurance of those things we desier love causeth delight spe gaudentes saith S. Paul reioycing in hope and that other spes alit agricolas hope nourisheth the Countrymen for the hope of gaine causeth the laboring Husbandman not to feele the scorching heate of summer nor the hoarie frosts of winter hope of glory allotteth the souldier to receive a certaine sweet messe in all dangerous incounters hope of lucre maketh the Merchant merry at midnight although he lye in the midst of the vast ocean sea tossed with billowes shaken with tempests and the surer the hope is the greater ioy ensueth as wheÌ„ the Merchant after his long voyage returneth with his Ship laden with merchandize and commeth with a pleasant gale within the sight of his exspected haven then his hope for the certainty of his future possession of his apported wealth being delivered from all danger is changed into ioy and present delight He therefore that will move delight in this matter of hope must exactly declare the certain grounds vndoubted securitie of obteyning the thing exspected according to the rules of exciting hope alleaged in the precedent Paragraffe 4. Because delight consisteth in the possession of some good thing reall or apparant therefore all those reasons which tend to the amplification or evident demonstration of the goodnes of the thing all those are fewell of delight and sparks of ioy For example a man hath bought a Mannour-house wherein he delighteth to please and delight him there is nothing more fit then to amplifie the goodnes thereof as for situation it standeth in a pleasant ayre free from fennes or standing waters no infection neere it the inhabitants in former times were of a very good complexion lived many yeares were strong wittie c. all which are good signes of a healthfull soyle the roomes and conveyances are very apt proportioned the walls and roofes firme durable the water sweet the walks gardeÌ„s other commodities so pleasant as they resemble a Paradice 5. It is admirable how the minching particularising of the obiect of delight increaseth and augmenteth delight wherefore the fantasticall and lascivious Poets though vainely and vitiously yet wittily and artificially depaint their lovers bodies from the head to the heeles in every part discovering one or other perfection excellency or amiablenesse apt to move and stir vp delight And herein also all Trades-men excell for to perswade their wares to be good and perfit they will presently open vnto you a number of circumstances or oppurtenances of goodnes or excellencie wherewith their merchandise is affected for as they have more insight and know more exactly the goodnes and defects of their wares then other men so they can vnfold best the particular reasons which move love delight And for this cause I would have all those who would move men to good life vertue to induce them thereunto by particularising of the pleasures delights incident thereunto as the quietnes of conscience the gratefulnes to God the honour reputation of all good men the reward in the world to come and every one of these the finer it is sifted the more pleasant it will appeare 6. It importeth much in moving delight to perswade the stabilitie and continuance thereof that it seeme not like a May-flower which is budded blossomed and blasted in a small time and the reason is for momentarie and cursorie delights are for their brevitie rather despiseable then commendable The continuance of delight may be grounded vpon the removing of all impediments which any way may impeach or diminish it 7. As there are two sorts of delight sensuall intellectuall sensuall which taketh his source from sense passions and intellectuall which draweth his
the doores and we with his grace must open Apoc. 3. 20. Mat. 23. 37. them he calleth vs as the hen her chickens and we must runne to shrowd vnder his winges hee inviteth vs to Mat. 11. 29. beare his yoake and we must carry it with him finally so many perswasions exhortations promises and prayers pregnantly proove that not we nor God alone must overcome the forces of our enemies but we with God and God with vs. Therefore since wee have declared what meanes God hath granted vs to fight with the divell let vs see now what stratagems and deceits the divel vseth to daw vs from God to a perpetuall thraldome and slavery in Hell The first Impediment is the Suggestions of the Divell FIrst the Divell immediatly by his suggestions allureth vs to sin he being a spirite by secret meanes can enter into the former part of our braine and there chop and change our imaginations he can represent pleasures with a goodly shew he can propound Vertue as a most bitter obiect he can make vs slothful in the way of God by stirring the humors altering the blood which cause a tedious loathsomnesse in vs. His craft is admirable his malice extreame his experience long his forces mighty his darts invisible and indeed so strong that if we were not assisted by Gods providence the ministery of his holy Angelles it were not possible to resist him Yet I doubt not but Gods good Angells helpe vs more to Vertue then the wicked spirits incite vs to vice because questionlesse the charitie of them exceedeth the malice of these whereunto if wee adioyne the providence of God in restraining and limitating the Divels power as we see he restrayned him in tempting of Iob there can be no comparison The second Impediment is ill Education WEare also haled to vice by ill Education for as I have sayde before all our youth-time wee give our selves to pastime and play living like so many bruite beasts engendering and daily encreasing a number of vitious habites which ere we come to the vse of discretion are made so connaturall that vice seemeth more conformable to Nature than Vertue Yet the principall inclination of our Soules to Reason so many Vertues given vs of God so many giftes bestowed vpon vs by the holy Ghost much more forcibly moove vs to goodnesse than vitious habites to wickednesse for Vertue inclineth more vehemently than Vice and Grace overcommeth Nature The third Impediment is wicked Conversation ILl Examples and vngodly Conversation imprinted in tender yeeres and weake soules take such roote that hardly after they can be supplanted this we see by experience that as those speake with whom children converse purely or barbarously Latine Greeke or English so children learne even in like manner as those live youth live and frame their manners according to their conditions Wherefore holy Writ hath instructed vs that as a man vseth wise or foolish company so hee shall become himselfe foolish or wise Qui cum sapientibus Proverb 13. graditur sapiens erit amicus stultorum similis efficietur A man therefore being brought vp among wicked men for most part accommodateth himselfe to theyr humours the reason is not onely because as men perswade by words so they doe much more by deeds every action being a silent perswasion our eyes perceiving theyr obiects more certaynely then our eares but also for that many examples I knowe not howe come at length to breede such impressions in men that even vices seeme Vertues Let vs not seeke very farre for tryall but even at home sometimes I have seene Tarleton play the Clowne and vse no other breeches than such slâ—â—s or slivings as now many Gentlemen weare they are almost capable of a bushell of wheate and if they be of sacke-cloth they would serve to carry Mawlt to the Mill. This absurd clownish and vnseemely attyre only by custowe now is not misliked but rather approoved The like I might say of long steepled hattes of going naked in Baths and washing places yea in every place as in the Indiaes because the vse of many seemeth to take away all abuse Now therefore to our purpose since most men are vitious and few men vertuous by evill examples wee are vehemently inticed to vice and wickednesse Neverthelesse wee may oppose many good men with whow we live the examples of Christ and his Apostles dayly preached and teached cannot but countervayle the examples of men eyther voyde of reason or religion for who is hee but eyther an Atheist or a foole which will immitate an others vices contrary to lawe conscience and reason onely because he seeth many do so Who will not condemne him as an Idiote who sayd hee would erre with many for company Who would not iudge him an Atheist who vaynely vaunted he would go to Hell with so many Gallants rather then to Heaven with poore Fishers these reasons are as voyd of wit as destitute of piety The fourth Impediment is corrupted Bookes THe worlde leadeth vs to sinne not onely by trayning vs vp vitiously and inticing vs by 〈◊〉 examples but also by suggesting vnto vs â—any occasions of ill by obscenous and naughty Bookes as light and wanton Poets as Machivellian policies the Arte of coniuring and such other dregges of mens wittes and of-springs vngodly affections to these if you adioyne many shewes stage-playes and such impure exercises which tende to the manifest overthrow of tender Soules you shall have a troupe of souldiers or rather robbers serving the worlde to winne a Kingdome Indeed I must confesse that these books and exercises corrupt extreamely all good manners and with a silent perswasion insinuate their matter vnto the chiefe affection and higest part of the Soule and in all good Common-weales are either wholy prohibited or so circumcised that no such hurt followeth as some by stealth purchase and by a wilfull theft robbe their owne soules of grace and goodnesse yet agaynst these Pamphlets I oppose thousands of spiritual Volumes the holy Scriptures sermons exhortations homilies meditations prayer-bookes which surpasse the other in number in efficacie in learning and therefore those ought not to bee compared with these The fift Impediment is of Passions THe flesh molesteth vs in the service of God with an army of vnruly Passions for the most part withdrawing from goodnes and haling to ilnesse they tosse and turmoyle our miserable soules as tempests waves the Ocean sea the which never standeth quiet but ey 〈◊〉 in ebbing or flowing either winds do buzze about it or raynes alter it or earthquakes shake it or 〈◊〉 tyrannize over it even so our soules are puffed vp with self-selfe-love shaken with feare now they be flowing with concupiscences and desires and presently ebbing with desperation and sadnesse ioy altereth the minde and ire tyrannizeth and consumeth both body and minde Against the garboyle of these tumultuous Passions I oppose the barking byting and gnawing of a wounded conscience which wayteth continually vpon inordinate
shall converse very long with him before you shall know what is in him he will shew a countenance of friendship although he intendeth revenge he can trayne his purposes afarre off to vndermine where hee pleaseth hee will praise where he spiteth and disprayse where he loveth for a further proiect hee can observe his times better than we for his plots and marke fitter occasions to effectuate his iâ—tent he can winne ground in a mans affection by some small conversation and after prevaile in what he list when he hath got the advantage In sine he can dissemble better his owne passions and vse himselfe therein more circumspectly than we can doe Wherefore I thought good to trie if a little direction would helpe â—ur Countriemen to counterpoise their native warinesse and open the way not to become craftie and deceitfull which is vitious but how to discover other mens passions and how to behave our selves when such affections extraordinarily possesse vs the which is the chiefest poynt of prudence and fittest mean to attayne vnto religious civil gentlemanlike conversation which is vertuous Whereunto especially this discourse of Affections aymeth albeit for more compleate doctrine I have handled almost all those questions which concerne the Passions in generall But for all this I would not have any man to thinke that I am of opinion that all Italians and Spaniards go beyond all Englishmen in subtiltie and warinesse for I have found divers of our Nation whom I beleeve neyther Italian nor Spanyard câ—uld over-reach in what negotiation soever but onely I meane that for the most part those Nations surpasse ours in a certaine politique craftinesse the which Nature first bred in them Education perâ—ited Vertue amendeth and Art discovereth The which I have endevoured first of all as I thinke to draw into forme and method according to the principles of Sciences hoping that some other will hereby take occasion eyther to perfite mine or to attempt a better my desire is the good of my Countrie the effect every mans prudent carriage the last end the glory of God whereunto all our labours must tend and all our actions be directect and therefore to him let these little sparkes be consecrated to kindle the â—ire in his most holy Temple in tremore sperando To the ternall and aeternall Vnitie FLame of bright love and beauty thou whose beames Reflected heere have so â—â—bellished All Creatures finding how my fancy fed Vpon this earthy circles glimmering gleames Not else reclaimable from those extreames Centrally drewst my heart to one faire head Enamelled with browne blew white and red So to allure it to those heavenly Reames Purify all the Passions of my Minde And light my vnderstanding So may I Reede foorth and heed what Passions heere I find Kindle my will and heave it vp for why Even as thy love like fire drawes vp my love Right so my love like fire will mount above To the Author IN Picture they which truly vnderstand Require besides the likenesse of the thing Light Posture Height'ning Shadow Culloring All which are parts commend the cunning hand And all your Booke when it is throughly scan'd Will well confesse presenting limiting Each subt'lest Passion with her source and spring So bold as shewes your Art you can command But now your Worke is done if they that view The severall figures languish in suspence To iudge which Passion 's false and which is true Betweene the doubtfull sway of Reason ' and sense T is not your fault if they shall sense preferre Being tould there Reason cannot Sense may erre B. I. The first Booke of the PASSIONS of the MINDE wherein is declared the essence of Passions The end and profite of this Discourse wherein are declared the Passions and Affections of our Soules CHAP. I. THERE can be no man who works by right reason but when he first intendes his worke he aymeth at some end he levels at some good viz. either to instruct the wit with doctrine move the will to virtue delight the minde with pleasure or in fine direct the Reader to do some thing that may be either commodious to himselfe or profitable to the common weale This Treatise therefore of the Passions of the Minde cannot but carry with it a goodly and faire glosse of profite and commoditie not onely because it concerneth every mans particular but also for that there be few estates or conditions of men that have not int'rest in this matter the Divine the Philosopher the curers both of the bodie and the soule I meane the Preacher and Physitian the good Christian that attendeth to mortification and the prudent civill Gentleman that procureth a gratefull conversation may reape some commoditie touching their professions and in sine every man may by this conse to a knowledge of himselfe which ought to be preferred before all treasures and riches The Divine herein may first challenge his parte because the inordinate motions of Passions their preventing of reason their rebellion to virtue are thornie briars sprung from the infected root of original sinne the which Treatise wholy concerneth Divines and all the deformed broode thereby ingendred the Passions likewise augment or diminish the deformitie of actuall sinnes they blinde reason they seduce the will and therefore are speciall causes of sinne whereuppon among Divines grew that common distinction of sins that some are of Passion others proceede from ignorance 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 others from malice and wilfulnesse Finally Passions are meanes to help vs and impediments to withdraw vs from our end the Divine therefore who specially entreateth of our last end and of the meanes to atchieve it and difficulties to obtaine it muâ—â— of necessitie extend the sphere of his knowledge to this subject of our Passions and for this respect of Divines they are See Thom. cum Scholasticis in 12 q. 22. alios in 1. part vbi de hâ—mine divinely handled The Philosopher as well naturall as moâ—â—ll the one for Speculation the other for Practise wade most profoundly in the matter of our Passions The naturall See the Philosophers in the second and third de Anima Philosopher contemplating the natures of men and beasts sensitive soules for Passions are common to both consequently enter into discourse about the actions and operations thereof for without the knowledge of them it were impossible to attaine vnto the perfite vnderstanding of either of them The morall Philosopher describing maners inviting to virtue disswading from vice sheweth how our inordinate appetites must be brideled with fortitude temperance he declareth their natures their craft deceit in what sort of persons they are most vehement and in whome more moderate and to be briefe he spendeth wel nie in this disputation all his morall Philosophie in teaching how they may be vsed or abused The christian Orator I meane the godly Preacher perfitely vnderstanding the natures and proprieties of mens passions questionlesse may effectuate strange matters in the mindes
Augustine animae quos Graeci 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 appellant ex Latinis quidam vt Cicero 3. Tuscul perturbationes dixerunt alii affectiones alii affectus alii expressas passiones vocav runt The motions of the soule called of the Greekes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 some Latines as Cicero called them perturbations others affections others affectes others more expresly name them Passions They are called Passions although indeed they be actes of the sensitive power or facultie of our soule and are defined of Damascene Motio sensualis appetitivae virtutis ob boni vel mali Damasc 2 de fide orth ca. 22. imaginationem a sensual motion of our appetitive facultie through imagination of some good or ill thing because when these affections are stirring in our minds they alter the humours of our bodies causing some passion or alteration in them They are called perturbations Cic. in 3. Tusc for that as afterward shall be declared they trouble wonderfully the soule corrupting the iudgement seducing the will inducing for the most part to vice and commonly withdrawing from vertue and therefore some call them maladies or sores of the soule They bee also named affections because the soule by them either affecteth some good or for the affection of some good detesteth some ill These passions then be The definition of Passions Zeno apud Cic. 4 Tusc itâ— definit perturbatio ceu 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 aversa a recta ratione contra naturam animi commotio certaine internall actes or operations of the soule bordering vpon reason and sense prosecuting some good thing or flying some ill thing causing therewithall some alteration in the body Here must bee noted that albeit these passions inhabite the confines both of sense and reason yet they keep not equall friendship with both for passions and sense are like two naughtie servants who oft-times beare more love one to an other than they are obedient to their Maister and the reason of this amitie betwixt the passions and sense I take to bee the greater conformitie and likenesse betwixt them than there is betwixt passions and reason for passions are drowned in corporall organs and instruments aswell as sense reason dependeth of no corporall subiect but as a Princesse in Why passions follow rather Sense thaâ— Reason her throne considereth the state of her kingdome Passions sense are determined to one thing and as soone as they perceyve their obiect sense presently receives it and the passions love or hate it but reason after shee perceiveth her obiect she standes in deliberation whether it bee convenient shee should accept it or refuse it Besides sense and passions as they haue had a league Cic. vbi supra Aristotle insinuates 3. Eth. ca. 2. the longer so their friendship is stronger for all the time of our infancie and child-hood our senses were iointfriendes in such sort with passions that whatsoever delighted sense pleased the passions and whatsoever was hurtfull to the one was an enemy to the other and so by long agreement and familiaritie the passions had so engaged themselves to sense and with such bondes and seales of sensual habites confirmed their friendship that as soone as reason came to possession of her kingdome they beganne presently to make rebellion for right reason oftentimes deprived sense of those pleasures he had of long time enioyed as by commaunding continencie and fasting which sense most abhorred then passions repugned very often haled her by force to condescend to that they demaunded which combate and Rom. 7. 23. captivitie was well perceived by him who sayd Video aliam legem in membris meis repugnantem legi mentis meae captivantem me in lege peccati I see an other law in my members repugning to the law of my minde and leading mee captive in the law of sinne Whereupon Saint Cyprian sayde Cum Avaritia c. Wee must contend Cypr. in lib dâ— mortalitate with avarice with vncleannesse with anger with ambition wee have a continuall and molestfull battell with carnall vices and worldly inticements Moreover after that men by reason take possession over their soules and bodies feeling this warre so mightie so continuall so neere so domesticall that eyther they must consent to doe their enemies will or still bee in conflict and withall foreseeing by making peace with them they were to receive great pleasures and delights the most part of men resolve themselves never to displease their sence or passions but to graunt them whatsoever they demaund what curiositie the â—ies wil see they yeelde vnto them what daintie meates the tongue will taste they never deny it what savours the nose will smell they never resist it what musicke the eares will heare they accept it and finally whatsoever by importunitie prayer or suggestion sensualitie requesteth no sooner to reason the supplication is presented but the petition is graunted Yet if the matter heere were ended and reason yeelded but onely to the suites of sensualitie it were without doubt a great disorder to see the Lorde attend so basely vpon his servants but reason once beeing entred into league with passions and sense becommeth a better friend to sensualitie than the passions were before for reason straightwaies inventeth tenne thousand sorts of new delights which the passions never could have imagined And therefore if you aske now who procured such exquisite artes of Cookerie so many sawces so many broths so many dishes No better answere can bee given than Reason to please sensualitie who found first such gorgeâ—â—s attyre such varietie of garments such decking trimming and adorning of the body that Taylors must every yeere learne a newe trade but Reason to please sâ—nâ—ualitie who dâ—uised such stately Palaces such delicious gardens such precious canopies and embroidred beddes but Reason to feede sensualitie In fine discourse over all artes and occupations and you shall find men labouring night and day spending their witte and reason to excogitate some newe invention to delight our sensualitie In such sort as a religious man once lamenting this ignominious industry of reason imployed in the service of sense wished with all his hearte that godly men were but halfe so industrious to please God as worldly men to please their inordinate appetites By this wee may gather howe passions stand so confined with sense and reason that for the friendship they beare to the one they draw the other to bee their mate and companion Of Selfe-love 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Amor proprius CHAP. III. ALthough in the precedent Chapter wee touched in part the roote from whence did spring those spinie braunches of briarie passions that was the league and confederacie made with senses yet for more exact intelligence of their nature or rather nativitie I thought good to intreate of selfe-love the nurse mother or rather stepdame of all inordinate affections God the author of nature imparter of all goodnes hath printed in euery creature according
Apoph Rom. The second point of prudence in passions is to conceale as much as thou canst thy inclinations oâ— that passion thou knowest thy selfe most prone to follow and this for two causes first for credite secondarily for many inconueniences that may thereby ensue It impeacheth questionlesse greatly a graue mans credite a great mans authoritie and a ciuile mans good conuersation to be subiect to some one only inordinate passion for such a corrupt iudgement hath now so much preuailed with men yea and euer hath ben that they will contemne the whole for some one notable defect as for example if we see a picture of a man or woman drawne with exquisit colours great proportion and art yet if there be but one eye one arme yea or one finger out of square men will say the image is spoyled for that one defect yea the first thing almost we marke is the improportion or disquaring of that part How many prize almost nothing their geldings because they lacke their tailes eares mane or good colours Euen so we trie by dayly talke that commonly men descant vpon other mens doings they will say such a nobleman is resolute in warres goodly in person but subiect to choller too much addicted vnto his owne iudgement such a maÌ„ excelleth in learning yea but pride ouerruleth him such a Senatour iudgeth profoundly but is impatient in hearing of causes such a man raigneth in the Pulpit but blinded with couetousnesse such a man passeth in Musicke but is buried for the most part in the tauerne such a man giueth great almes but attendeth too much to good cheere and in fine there is no man so well qualified but alwayes the world will condemne him because they iudge him stained with some passion therefore great prudence wisemen account it for graue and great persons not to lay their passions open to the censure of the world Many inconueniences may follow if others know what passions men are subiect vnto for if thy enemies would bee reuenged of thee no fitter meanes they might sleightly vse than to procure some way whereby thy passions should be stirred and put in execution for by often ministring matter thy passions would easily subdue thee as a Spanish souldier and a Dutchman after many bragges of their valour and feats of armes aptly insinuated for sayd the Spanish souldier with one Spaniard a hundred buttes of wine I would kill a whole armie of Dutchmen because I would set my wine at night in such a place where I knew the Dutch troupes should lodge and then I know they would neuer leaue drinking while there remained any wit in their braines and so buried with drinke it were no great masterie to despatch them all Nay quoth the Dutchman without any man I would destroy a troupe of Spaniards onely by sending against them a multitude of women for they might easily make of them a massacre like Paris or an euensong of Sicilie at midnight in their beds These two knew well the inclinations of both Countries and consequenly perceiued the way how one might ouerthow the other yet although they were simple and souldierlike discourses for many things may be in common auoided which in particular may be hardly escaped neuerthelesse they knew how easie a thing it was by ministring matter to passions to cast a baite with a hooke to draw them into their owne ruine But some would be glad to know how a man might well conceale his passions so that the world should not iudge him passionatâ— I answere that this question yeeldeth some difficultie for hardly can a passionate man bridle so his affections that they appeare not But yet if he be neuer so passionat and would but follow a litle direction I thinke he might albeit not wholy yet in great part auoyd the infamie of a passionate person The way may be thus in great assemblies or at such times as most men marke our actions wordes and gestures then if a man haue an occasion of choler indignation lust pride feare or such like passion if he refraine but a little all those will at least suspect that he permitteth not his passions wholy to ouerrunne him For all historiographers which Basil in hom de legend lib. Gent. write of Alexander the great highly commend his continencie and especially moued with the carriage of himselfe when Darius wife and her daughters were taken prisoners and subiect to his power they being beautifull he in the prime of yeeres yet because he would but scarcely looke on them hee woon for euer the name of Continencie Besides it were good to dispraise in words before others that passion thou art most addicted vnto for by so doing thou shalt make men beleeue in deed that thou abhorrest much that â—ice questionlesse if the passion be not too pregnantly known such words will blemish a great part of mens conceits for according to the Italian Prouerbe Buone parole cattiui fatti Ingannano li sauij li matti That is Wordes good and workes ill Makes fooles and wisemen leese their skill I say not this because I would haue a man to doe one thing and speake another but that if he cannot but sometime of fragilitie slide it may bee a good way to recall him againe and not to fall so often if he speake in dispraise of his owne fault for men will be ashamed to commit often that they themselues dispraise eagerly and besides it repaireth anew his credit almost cracked with the former passion The third point may be Not to vex and trouble thy selfe too much wheÌ„ a passion seizeth vpoÌ„ thee but diuerting thy mind from it and restraining thy consent as well as thou canst from yeelding vnto it and in short time thou shalt see it vannish away as wee prooue in daily temptations of ire sadnesse loue lust and such like which fall and consume away euen by themselues either because the humour which was mooued returneth to his former seat or the impression made in the imagination deminisheth or the attention of the soule destracted with other matters faileth or some other passion expelleth it or the deuill ceaseth to tempt either I say all these or most of them mittigat consume and wholy subuert that passion which before so troubled vs and seemed insuperable The fourth poynt which ought principally to bee considered and well waighed of those whose passions are most vehement and inordinate is this that they which perceiue in themselues such disordered affections ought first to know the root of them to bee selfe-loue and the greater they find the boughs of their passions the greater and deeper root let them bee assured lieth hidden vnder the bottome of their soule for which cause such men must persuade themselues to haue great difficultie to vertue and extreame facilitie to vice that as they loue pleasures of the body exceedingly so they hate all that may hinder or oppose it selfe thereunto mightily That they bee blinded as battes in their owne
certaine signes wise men may gather the inclinations whereunto other men are subiect I omit heere what passions euery countrie inclineth vnto like wise to what sorte melancholy sanguine flegmaticke and cholericke persons are addicted for this was insinuated sufficiently aboue neither will I handle what sortes of men passions most ouer-rule for in the same place this was sufficiently entreated onely I will brieflie deliuer some meanes whereby in particular conuersation euery one may discouer his fellowes naturall inclinations not by philosophicall demonstrations but onely by naturall coniectures and probabilities because that wise men mortifie their passions and craftie men dissemble yet we may for the most part attaine vnto the knowledge of them for that most men follow the instinct of Nature and few either the precepts of reason or exquisit craftinesse by which two meanes passions are concealed He therefore that desireth to discouer an others passions or inclinations after he hath considered from what countrey he came if he be some of those mentioned heretofore then he may discourse vpon him and withall marke what passions are common to such persons and after descend to these notes For that we cannot enter into a mans heart and view the passions or inclinations which there reside and lie hidden therefore as Philosophers by effectes find out causes by proprieties essences by riuers fountaines by boughs and floures the kore and rootes euen so we must trace out passions and inclinations by some effects and externall operations And these be no more than two words deeds speech and action of which two knowledge may be gathered of those affections we carry in our minds therfore first I will entreate of words and then of deeds Words represent most exactly the very image of the mind and soule wherefore Democritus called speech 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Lacitius image of life for in wordes as in a glasse may be seene a mans life and inclination Wherefore Diogenes Idem lib. 6. wondred that men would not buy earthen pottes before they proued by the sound whether they were whole or broken yet they would be contented to buy men by sight before they prooued their speech Whereupon grew that old prouerbe frequented of Socrates and approued of auntient Philosophers Loquere vt te videam speake that I may know thee for passions so swell within the soule that they must needs haue some vent as Elihu said of himself Loe my belly is like to new wine lacking Iob. 32. a vent the which breaketh new vessels Sometimes I haue enquired of sundry persons what they thought of certaine mens inclinations I found that almost whatsoeuer they had noted in others commonly to proceed from one sort of speech or other Plainely you may perceiue if mens words openly tend to their owne commendations if they bragge or boast of their valor in wars learning qualities giuen by nature or purchased by labour that they are of a proud disposition if they discourse lasciuiously or shamelesly questionlesse what the tongue speaketh the heart affecteth if men talke of meat and drinke of â—â—â—ling and feasting wishing for this meat lamenting of that meat such persons for most part addict themselues to gluttonie if they rage with furious words braull or wrangle such carie the conscience of cholericke Thus you may coniecture by words the passions of the mind when the speech manifestly carieth the coat of pride choller lust or gluttonie But many there be more wise than to commit such notorius errours and blaze their imperfections to the eyes of the world therefore wee must sound out a little further and wade something deeper into a certaine secret suruey of mens speeches to see if we may discouer some more hidden passions And this either in the maner or matter of speech Much talke HEe that talketh and pratleth too much both by prophane and holy Writers is accounted vnwise or rather foolish Hereupon came those voices Totum spiritum suum profert stultus The foole putteth Pro. 29. 11. foorth all his spirit but Sapiens differt reseruat in posterum A wise man deferreth and reserueth it for afterwardes And beneath Vidisti hominem velocem ad loquendum stultitia magis speranda est quam illius correptio Hast thou seene a man prone to speake foolishnesse is Verse 20. rather to be expected than his amendment Wherefore fooles cary their hearts in their mouthes wise men their mouthes in their hearts for fooles speake and then deliberat but wisemen first deliberat with reason and then speake with circumspection By this may be gathered the reason why ianglers praters deserue to be registred in the catalogue of fooles because many fancies come into mens minds he that wil poure foorth all he conceiueth deliuereth dregges with drinke and as for the most part presently men apprehend more folly than wisedom so he that sodainely vttereth all he vnderstandeth blabbeth foorth more froath than good liquor and thus much speech and hastie proceedeth from rash foolishnesse the which passion raigneth for the most part in yong men women and doting proud old age Therefore Theocritus sayd that Anaximines had a flood of words Stob. serm 34. and a drop of reason For if you descant vpon some long tale or discourse of theirs you shall find them as void of matter as prodigall in words The cause hereof I take to be their lacke of iudgement for whatsoeuer occurreth to their minds concerning any matter they thinke such conceits as they are new to them so they should be to others whereas in very deed other better wittes reiect and contemne them wherefore the leaues of loquacitie spring from the root of small capacitie Taciturnitie SOme contrariwise bee of too little speech the which taciturnitie although it repugneth to modestie which standeth betwixt these two extreames yet commonly wise men account this extreame more secure for many words almost euer offend but silence very rarely and therefore the Philosophers say that he which will learne to speake ought first to learne to hold his peace This silence may proceed sometimes of sottishnesse because a man knowes not how to reason and so you see clownes or dull persons not able to speake in a wise company Sometimes of feare as I haue knowne a most excellent Rhetoritian in writing yet most vnable in speaking for the presence of his auditors did exceedingly affright him Others vse it for prudence pollicie because in conseruation when men either would conceale their owne affections or discouer others prudence and pollicie require a space of silence because the wisest man in the world if hee talke long and much without premeditation will hardilie keepe close his passions from discreet hearers Slownesse in speech SOme sorts of men speake very slowly and so leisurely that a cart of hay might passe almost betwixt one word and another the which manner of speech is very lothsome and tedious to their auditors and especially to some quicke spirits
person said he reuealed secrets to the whole citie as who should say he sold his secrets publiquely and the wiser sort would laugh in their sleeues to heare him speake of secrecie Sowers of dissention OTher men more maliciously pretend friendship and vse strange dealing either to make friends or to breed dissention some I haue found of such an humour that if they see two conuerse familiarly together and one to affect much another they vnder colour of amitie will goe secretly and reueale to the one of them what they know or heare or that the other person his friend secretly spoke or wrought to his discredit yea diuers things they will relate by their owne malice inuented as by his friend discouered yet this they will not deliuer but vnder an oath that he should not detect them to the other whereby he of simplicitie often reuealeth all he knew of his friend because he beleeued his friend in very deed had betrayed him whereas for the most part all was but a bait forged to catch the seely simple soule Presently after they conuent the other whom in secret they tell all they had fished out of his friend in his dispraise and so learne what they can of the other charging him withall in no case to manifest that he heard to the other This stratageme I know many politique superiors to haue frequented and some persons of great pollicie but of most small conscience Because this wicked inuention proceedeth from a most malicious vncharitable and enuious mind which hateth the peace and concord of friends it argueth also a craftie politique wit apt to sift out other mens actions for he casteth the poore man into an inextricable labyrinth for forcing him to sweare he cannot examine whether his friend spoke so ill of him or no lest by the notice thereof he should incur the crime of periurie neither can he tollerat in his mind that his friend should so notoriously abuse him wherefore he resolueth himselfe either wholy to breake friendship or at least not to vse his friend so familiarly as before But how shall a man behaue himselfe in such a case At the beginning whē he telleth thee thy friends defects excuse them supposing the relatour to be ill informed or that he mistooke thy friend for true friendship requireth that a friend should in all cases when euidently the concrary is not conuinced defend the good name and estimation of his friend and thereby the sower of dissention shal be frustrated of his intention Much more I could deliuer about this subiect but to wise men it sufficeth to shew the way they will follow further than I can direct them simple men for as much as I can see must first trie then trust for their rule lieth in experience and practise more than in reading and speculation because their owne harmes or their neighbours must schoole them for few are capable for practicall rules in vniuersall or at least they can not apply them to particular subiects The discouery of passions by externall actions CHAP. II. THe internall conceits and affections of our minds are not only expressed with words but also declared with actions as it appeareth in Comedies where dumbe shewes often expresse the whole matter and by gestures in dancing some can giue to vnderstand most mechanicall arts and Calius Rhodiginus lib. 5. c. 3. trades The Rhetoritians likewise doe not content themselues with the simple pronuntiation of their Orations but also prescribe many rules of action the which they hold so much the better how much more liuely it representeth the conceits and affections of the mind because that both thorow the eares and the eyes of their auditors they intend to imprint them in their soules the deeper for indeed words and actions spring from the same root that is vnderstanding and affections and as leaues floures and fruit declare the vertues of trees so wordes and actions the qualities of minds And as if the fruit or flowers be corrupted or vitious we know the root must be infected so if mens words or actions be disconsorted doubtlesse the soule cannot be well disposed for as one said well A troubled Fountaine yeedeth vnpure water an infected soule vitious actions Plutarch in Moralib In many externall actions may be discouered internal passions as in playing feasting going drinking praising apparelling conuersing and writing Somewhat I will note of each one in particular remitting the rest to the Readers diligent consideration for to intreat of all would exceed the sphere of my proiect by discoursing of these few wise men may passe forward with the rest I. Discouery of Passions in play PLay pregnantly prooueth passions for pride choller and couetousnesse commonly wait vpon great gamsters Some when they leese are so inflamed with ire and choller that you would take them rather for bedlams than reasonable creatures they sweare curse and crie euery word spoken against them sufficeth to picke a quarrell or deserueth in their iudgements a buffet This inordinat behauiour argueth first blindnesse and folly for if you aske them with whom they are offended they themselues cannot shew you not with themselues for that were madnesse with the dice and that were as great follie with fortune but that is nothing therefore wee must conclude that they in such fits are fooles and brawle with the very aire Besides these chafing players play not for recreation but for gaine they vse company more for couetousnesse than for honesty because they would not fret so much at their loosing if they affected not too much the winning and in very deed they abuse the nature of play the which was giuen as a medicine to recreat mens afflicted minds but these preposterously rather afflict the mind make it a poison for they are so anxious in themselues and many feare so much to leese that as soone as a little summe is drawne from them you could hardely discerne whether the heart were more vexed with griefe or the tongue defiled with oathes I would truely that in euery common-weale princes should punish all persons that play greater games than their abilitie doth affoord for I take such sorts of exercises to be most pernicious for many reasons to the state and I thinke the punishment meetest for them should be that it were lawfull to beg them for Wardes and giue them tutors because they lacke discretion to vse their money Rarely you find great players that carry not proud minds who if they win they vaunt of gaine if they leese they doe brag of losse as a Spaniard in a brauado thought he deserued great commendation because hee was able one night to leese ten thousand crownes at dice. Others in play shew likewise their passions albeit they exceed not much the lawfull quantity requisit to recreation yet they carry a secret pride vehement desire to win because they would not be inferior to others euen so much as in play wherefore if any cast come crosse vnto them
thing to the purpose that wee perceiue better our desires of the soule without any corporall alteration of the body than either loue pleasure or hatred for this comment spoyleth the text because hardly we conceiue any actions of the soule but by these corporall alterations the which induce vs to name them according to Thomas his meaning neither is it true that we prooue by experience without the motions of the body more sensibly concupiscence than ioy or sadnesse and this assumption was admitted of Caietane without any probation Wherefore I thinke we may best say that of all passions wee prooue paine griefe sadnesse pleasure feare and delectation are most notoriously knowne yet because these vehement passions doe not affect vs so commonly but at certaine times and desires of those things we loue continue the longest and fall foorth oftenest therefore men called our sensitiue appetite Concupiscibilis coueting First of all then sadnesse most manifestly is knowne to vs because wee suffer often and feele most sensible paine then pleasure then feare the other are not so open but sometimes they may exceed and so more shew themselues as ire desperation c. Order of Passions in generation or production 2 DIuines and Philosophers commonly affirme that all other passions acknowledge loue to be their fountaine root and mother the reason I take to be for that al passions either prosecut some good or flie some euill those which flie euill as hatred feare sadnesse presuppose the loue of some good the which that euill depriueth as for example who hateth death but he which loueth life who feareth aduersity but he that loueth prosperitie who is pensiue in his sickenesse but hee that loueth health Loue then goeth before all those passions which eschew euil Amongst them which prosecute good loue likewise proceedeth for the passions of our minds are not vnlike the motions of our bodies For as things naturally mooued haue an appetite or naturall inclination to the place whereunto they are mooued mooue and rest therein as the water which runneth so fast downe the mountaines hath an instinct of Nature to be vnited with the Sea for which cause we see brookes and flouds runne with such a maine force to attaine thereunto when they come to the Sea presently they ioyne in friendship and liue in concord ioyning together as louing friends euen so we see in beastes the horse loueth water when hee is thirstie and therefore by desire hee seeketh out some riuer or fountaine when he hath found it he drinketh pleaseth himself therewith and so resteth contented This ordinarie course keepe passions but sometimes this subordination is changed for if a man bee wounded vpon a sodaine the present passion of griefe and ire inuade him and so per accidens in many other cases the foresaid order may be broken Order of Passions in Intention 3 IF we discourse of those Passions which reside in the sensitiue appetite it euer first intendeth pleasure and delight because therewith Nature is most contented from which intention followeth loue hatred ire and such like this passion beasts most desire yea children and sensuall persons wholy seeke after and direct almost their whole actions thereunto for pleasure is the polestare of all inordinat passions and if a man examine himselfe thorowly he shal find that riches glorie health learning and what else most men desire aime commonly at pleasure and delight of the body because these pleasures are easily perceiued and in them the soule seemeth to purchase a quiet rest Neuerthelesse vertuous men whose passiōs are ruled by reason leuel at a higher mark and subordinate pleasure to honestie and delight to vertue because as we say Glorie waiteth on Vertue as the shadow followeth the body euen so vnto good actions followeth a certaine pleasure and sweetnesse howbeit a good man giueth almes yet dooth he not giue it with intention men should commend him as hypocrites do and so be repayd with the pleasure of a good reputation but with the testimonie of a good conscience that hee doth it for the glorie of God Order of Passions in Dignitie 4 IF we compare our passions in dignitie or perfection then those wherewith we prosecute good are more excellent than those wherewith wee esteeme ill and among these loue holdeth the principall place and as a queene in dignitie preceadeth the rest because that loue vniteth the louer in affection with the obiect beloued loue is the root of other affections loue finally maketh vs friends with God and man All we haue said of passions residing in our sensitiue appetite the same we find in the reasonable passion of our will because the will hath such like acts specified of the same obiects directed to the same end for as a Rhetoritian will make an Epistle according to the rules of Grammer as well as a Grammarian euen so what our sensatiue appetite followeth or abhorreth the same our will may prosecute or detest THE FIFT BOOKE of the Passions of the Minde Wherein are deliuered the means to mooue Passions THe water which wee find in euery Citie by three wayes passeth into it either by fountaines or springs by riuers or conduits or by raine snow or halestones that is some water ariseth some passeth some descendeth so in like manner our imaginations or internall sences and consequently our Passions by three wayes are mooued by humours arising in our bodies by externall sences and secret passage of sensuall obiects by the descent or commaundement of reason How passions are stirred vp by humours was aboue deliuered here onely remaineth to declare how they are prouoked by sences and incited by the wit and will And first of all we will begin with the motions of sences as most knowne obuious and ordinarie How sences mooue Passions and specially our sight §. 1. GEnerally they loue and affect vanitie for what is that they loue or can loue in the world and worldly but vanitie that is neither before it is had contenteth nor when it is possessed fully pleaseth nor after it is departed satisfieth For such things are vaine which vanish away and are resolued into nothing They search after lies not onely because all worldly allurements yeeld no felicitie and contentation as they beare vs in hand but also for that in very deed and really they be lies shewing one thing in the rind and externall apparance and an other in the coare and internall essence for cousining arts falsifie and sophisticat nature causing copper seeme gold hypocrisie sanctitie and sences surfeits the soules solaces All sences no doubt are the first gates whereby passe and repasse all messages sent to passions but yet the scriptures in particular wonderfully exhort commaund and admonish vs to attend vnto the custodie and vigilance ouer our eyes Dauid who had once vnwarily glaunced awry and let goe the raines of his eyes at his passions importunity thought himselfe vnable without Gods speciall grace to guide direct and withdraw them from vanitie and therefore
nature and further grace but he that knoweth neither himselfe nor thee what is thy raine and dew which continually fall and fatten the earth but our gaine purchased without either payment or paine What is the heat of the Sunne and foure seasons of the yeere so requisit for nature so beneficiall to all mortall men but dayly commodities and hourely profits what bird in the aire what fish in the sea what beast in the land what planet in the heauens what starre in the firmament what mettall in the earth what floure in the field what tree in the orchard what herbe in the garden what root barke wood leafe floure or fruit yeeldeth not some emolument to man serueth not him either for meat medicine cloathes exercise pleasure or some other conuenient end and consequently are profitable vnto him and thou therefore the root fountaine and origen of all profitable in all by all and aboue all In the spirituall life of our soules thy sacraments are conduits of grace thine inspirations helpes to holinesse thy word a medicine for Ghostly maladies thy crosses and afflictions meanes for amendment And thus my God of endlesse wealth euery creature affoording one commoditie with a sounding voice vnto my heart though silent to mine eare cryeth continually and exhorteth me vncessantly to conferre them all to thy honour who hast so kindly bestowed them vpon me for my good The 8. Motive to Loue which is Honestie I Take not Honestie in this place as an obiect of temperance opposite to dishonestie or impuritie but as a generall obiect to all Vertue called by Divines and moral Philosophers Honestum contra-distinguished to vtile delectabile to profitable and delightfull for in the former sense a man may be honest and yet an vniust person an Vsurer a Murtherer c. For divers men may Vide Aristâ— 9. moral Nicâ— cap. 4. Plâ—â—â— in Hipparcho be chaste of body who are otherwise addicted to sundry vices in Soule But here I take Honestie as comprehending all actions or good inclinations or vertuous habilities tending and bending the Soule to follow Reason and enabling a man to live like a man and so Honestie includeth all Vertues and excludeth all vices Wee proove by daylie experience that if a man bee beautifull and personable he is amiable if valour bee therewith conioyned hee is more esteemed if Prudence be added hee is more accounted if Vertue bee annexed he is highly reputed if Religion adorne all these precedent partes he is admired if eminent Sanctitie glorifie them he is adored For although every excellencie carrieth with it a sweete grace and motive to amabilitie yet such is the lustre and glorie of Vertue and Honestie that it alone causeth a more solide friendship love and amitie a personable body is often linked with a pestilent soule a 〈◊〉 Captaine in the field for most part is infected with â—â— effeminate affection at home those things we love as profitable we love not absolutely but rather in them our selues for whose vse they serve and therefore when commoditie faileth love quaileth But those men we affect for their honestie those wee love indeed and that affection is permanent because it standeth vpon a sound foundation to wit Vertue and Honestie the principall obiects of Reason and reasonable affections And so we proove daily our selves that wee finde many men who neyther have beautie of body nor martiall mindes nor ornaments of learning nor riches nor degrees and yet onely for that we know them sincere vpright and honest all honest men love them and maugre malice of the wicked though spitefully they backe-bite them yet in their heartes they cannot but commend them And truely there is almost nothing in this life which absolutely ought to be loved but that which eyther is or rellisheth of Honestie for all other loves are either indifferent mercenarie or vicious if Vertue or vertuous men for their Vertue ought to be loved and esteemed O my GOD the Life of Vertue what Love is due to thee who art the Quintessence and supreme Perfection not of heroicall vertue but of innate and consummate goodnesse dignitie and maiestie which are as farre aboue the pitch of all excellent Vertues heroicall supernaturall or theologicall and infinitely more then the chiefest Vertues surmount the baddest vices All men by nature are sinners are peccable the iust offend often and he that saith he hath no sinne is a Liar But thou art spotlesse impeccable and as farre from all sinne as incomprehensible Wisedome from ignorance and infinite Goodnesse from malice The erroneous ignorant Philosophers who stumbled sometimes vpon true Vertues though in most they missed the marke could say that if a vertuous Soule could be beheld with corporall eyes it would ravish a man with love and admiration but what if they had thorowly penetrated the admirable secrets and hidden perfections which long experience and Gods grace hath taught would they have said what if they had vnderstood the mysteries of christianitie and entred into consideration of the worth lustre and glory of Faith Hope Charitie Grace and other divine Vertues which they never dreamed vpon certainely they could not have concluded otherwise but that a vertuous and religious soule was gilded with sparkes of Deitie or inameled with the various radiant beames of Divinitie and therefore deserved to bee loved admired honoured But what then should both they and we say and affirme of thee whose wit and will neede no inclining Vertues to moove or bend them to wisedome or goodnesse who runne amayne of themselves Vertues in vs perfite those powers of our soules which without them were vnperfect but in thee as there can be no imperfection to staine thine Essence so all Vertues are needlesse in thee in whom all faculties flow in abundance by their owne force efficacie and therefore thou art in regard of thine eminent Vertue to be affectually loved reverently honoured and with all humilitie submission and recognisance adored The 9. Motive to Love is Love it selfe THe Diamond formeth and fashioneth the Diamond and Love formeth and fashioneth Love fire converteth fewell into fire and fewell converted encreaseth fire Love causeth Love and the beloved reloving augmenteth the originall Love For albeit no man in this life can infallibly assure himselfe to be beloved by any for Love lyeth secretly closed vp within the closet of the heart which is inaccessible to any mortall eye yet Love like hidde perfumes muske and other odoriferous smelles casteth a sente though not seene for wordes eyes deedes gestures are morall messengers and daily discoverers of a loving minde And without all question those persons cannot but bee accounted hard hearted barbarous fierce and savage who belove not them of whom they are loved in case the Love be pure honest and consorting with Christianity for base worldly love grounded vpon interest fleshy concupiscence deserveth rather the name of Mercinarie Lust then Love the reason is because Love is so pretious a Treasure so
rich a Iewell so divine a Guift that I am perswaded if men could beholde the heartes â—â—a Plato in Lyside of them that truely love them it would be as violent to withhold them from reloving againe as a Lionesse from her whelpes lying in her sight a stone in the ayre from his center a bullet within a discharged Cannon And no crosse in this life can befall an honest Lover more mortall and deadly then not to bee beloved where hee loveth because in Love life thoughts and affections are transported into the person beloved where if they finde not semblable affection to entertayne them they pine they perish they die Who would not love an honest vertuous Lover who honoreth prizeth and serveth whom he loveth for honor estimation and servitude if they bee cordiall cannot bee accounted but rare treasures Hee that loveth vertuously esteemeth the beloved worthy of honour because hee reputeth him vertuous and therefore in affection yieldeth him condigne honour due to Vertue he serveth him in regard of his great goodnesse which in his conceit meriteth all servitude and obsequious complements Who would not love a vertuous Lover who consecrateth himselfe and all hee hath vnto the person beloved for that one friend is thought able to doe which his friendes can performe and effect and therefore a man hath so many Arist. 3. moral Nicom c. 3. bodies soules heartes eies eares tongues handes feete as he hath friendes and so by this meanes is made potent and mightie For a true friend will in all cases places and occasions deale in the affaires and occurrents of his friend and for this cause Aristotle thought that friendship and amitie were more necessarie for a Citie then lawes and iustice and that the Legifers should have no lesse regard to Love then to Lawes for if Cittizens Arist 8. moral c. 1. loved as friendes they should need no lawes to punish them as enemies Ah my loving God! I demurre too long in these speculative discourses and with-hold my soule too much from patheticall affections Doest thou Love vs who doubteth for if thou hadst never loved we had never lived and if thy Love continued not preserving Diligis omnia quae sunt nihil odisti corum quae fecisti Sap. cap. 11. our being we should presently be resolved into dust and nothing Well then thou doost prize vs and honor vs else thou wouldest never have given the pretious blood of thy Sonne to have redeemed vs. This argueth estimation but not honour for honour supposeth subiection inferioritie and I know not what kinde of vassalage and servitude it seemeth too presumptuous if not blasphemous to make thee either inferior or equall with men whose Maiestie the highest Seraphims admire reverence worship and with trembling knees adore Ah my God! of most maiesticall and extaticall Love shall I presume to enter into the abysse of thy eclypses excesses and charitable extasies They be too deepe for mee yea and all the world beside to comprise yet I know who sayd that thou went out of thy selfe and suffered extacie thorow the vehemencie Dyonis Artop cap. 4. de diuin nom of Love his meaning was that thou seemed to abase thy Maiestie with succouring and relieving our misery and that exinanition and transformation of thy supreme Glorie with Mount-Calvaries ignominie telleth vs no lesse Thy providence is such over the vniversall world in generall and every kinde of creature in speciall and every man in particular giving them meanes to atchieue their endes concurring with them in all their actions disposing of all so sweetly that Nature Grace consort so well together and thy watchfull provident eye with both that the wisest may admire thee and the simplest perceive thee and none of vs all ever doubt of thy vigilant solicitude I dare not call it servitude yet if service bee a succouring sustaining helping ministring necessaries and in every thing assisting vs in best and basest offices I may say thou lovingly serves all who without thy service could not serve themselves nor al the world except thy selfe Great no doubt is thy love O God without paragon in love to men in this life for here thou doest not only affect them powre out thy benefits vpon them distill thy graces into their hearts and a thousand wayes externally and internally worke their salvation but also that which surpasseth all it seemeth thy will and power are at the command or rather ready to obey the desires of thy faithfull servants for what else meane those protrite words of the Psalme Voluntatem timentium se facit He fulfilleth the will of Psal 144. them that feare him and what other sense can be brought of that request thou made to thy servant Moses Dimitte me vt irascatur furor meus contra eos deleam Exod. 32. eos Suffer me that my fury be revenged of them and that I may destroy them but that thy anger and revenge thy displeasure and their intended destruction laid in Moses power to rule and guide according to his pleasure O admirable omnipotencie of love which hath power even over the omnipotent but if in this life such is Loves puisance what shall we say of thy friends and lovers in glory where all graces and favours abound where love like the Sunne ever standeth in the Zenith where presses swim with wine and fields flow with honnie Certainely we cannot imagin or conceave otherwise and well but as thou who put on the person of the good old father who said to his elder sonne Fili tu semper mecum es omnia mea tua sunt O Luc. 15. Sonne thou art alwayes with me and what is mine is thine so that thou and all thy treasures are the finall inheritance possession and kingdome of thy children But yet more emphatically our blessed Saviour declared the force effects of thy love when he said Beati illi servi quos cum venerit dominus invenerit vigilantes amen Luc. 12. dico vobis quod pracinget se faciat illos discumbere transiens ministrabit illis Blessed be those servants whom their Lord when he commeth shall finde watching Amen I say vnto you he will cause them sit downe and passing by will serve them this service and sitting no doubt signifie the eternall glory whereupon thy Saints shall ever feed the which cannot be prepared and ministred vnto them by any others hands then thine which made them And alitle below to the same effect speaking of his faithfull and trustie servant what wages in blessednes he shall receive he addeth Super omnia quae possidet consiliet eum his Lord and Maister will give him signiorie and authoritie over all he possesseth which is the consummation and finall perfection of all true love and affectuall wishes of all true lovers that the one have a king of charitable commaund and a certaine friendly dominion over the other The 10. Motive to Love which is Resemblance THe
ground of every mans love of himselfe is the Identitie of a man with himselfe for the lover and beloved are all one and the same thing because love being nothing else but a complacence or contentation in the goodnes or perfection one hath with a desier of the accomplishment thereof consequently as we ought both in grace and nature to preferre none before our selves in the affection of vertue and perfection so we should not love any above our selves From the Identitie of our selves and the love thereof necessarily followeth a certaine love to all them who are vnited any way vnto vs and the stricter this vnion is the stricter affection it engendreth and for that all things vnited have a kind of resemblance therefore Philosophers and Divines ground friendship vpon similitude here hence we love our kinsemen parents and children for the vnion and resemblance in blood students ground their friendship in the same kind of studies souldiers in martiall affaires courtiers in civill courtly carriage tradesmen in their artes marriners in navigation and finally all men of one profession love them of the same and Omne animal Eccles 13. diligit sibi simile and every beast affecteth the like liveth with the like consorteth with the like And the reason is because a man in this life by nature and grace by the instinct of his innate iudgement and reasonable affection prescribeth vnto himselfe an end in this world void of troubles and molestation quiet peaceable full of rest and contentation whereat all his labours thoughts and meditations levell moreover he being a sociable creature had need of men to help him in councell comfort him in griefes succour him in sundrie disasters of fortune which dayly and casually occurre and finally converse peaceably and agreeably with him all which none can performe better not so well as they whose natures and conditions are like vnto ours for what dissention can be among those men whose wills are one and the same what sorrowes can greatly molest vs where friends carrie their portions with vs and thereby alleviate a great part of their waight what counsell can preuaile against many friends who are wise discreet faithfull vertuous what conversation can be more gratefull then that where neither iniuries are offered nor suspected in few as vertue is the surest chaine wherewith men can be bound together so resemblance in vertue the surest foundation of friendship and a vertuous companie the happiest societie O my God of most pure and perfit loue thou spake the word and begot thine eternall word thou breathed out thy love and produced the holy ghost the life and soule of all true love as well create as increate thy love in Trinitie is one and the selfe-same identified in all the three persons and the selfe-same thing with their substance and therefore most intier inexplicable and perfit is your loue the which may not be termed friendship but rather charitable amitie of an indivisible vnitie Thy creatures are all beloued of thee because thou like a father in them hast imprinted and stamped a resemblance of thy Maiesty and because there is none so base and vnperfit but that all the goodnesse it hath resideth in thee much more perfitly then it selfe therefore no child so representeth his father as every creature thy Maiesty according to that perfection it enioyeth and thy boundlesse essence comprehendeth What shall I heere say of the image of thy essence and three persons in Trinitie engrauen in the center of every reasonable soule this were a matter too prolixe to discourse vpon but well I may conclude that if thou love all thy creatures for a darke cognisance they carry vpon their backs of thy glorious greatnesse no doubt but thou wilt love fauour man who beareth in the face of his soule thy perfit portrait and image in a farre higher degree much more might be added of the blood of Christ wherewith all soules are sprinkled who have put him on in their baptisme Long treatises might be penned of the supernaturall colours and celestiall graces of faith hope charitie and other infused vertues wherewith thy friends are refined enriched adorned beautified and thy image perfited but of this more diffusedly in my third booke of Threans Finally thy future resemblance which all thy faithfull servants shall possesse in glory of whom is verified that prophesie of S. Iohn Scimus quoniam cum apparuerit 1. Ioh. 3. similes ei erimus quoniam videbimus eum sicuti est Because we know when he appeareth we shall be like vnto him for that we shall see him as he is This glorious retreate of thy blessed face would affoord ample matter to praise thy goodnes extoll mans greatnes in felicitie declare the beautie of thy sacred beames wherewith our soules shall be gloriously inamelled excite vs to love thee heere more fervently to resemble thee there more lively but this large subiect would passe the strait compasse of my prefixed brevitie therefore O blessed God renew vs within so perfitly here that we may one day try this truth with thee there The 11. Motive to Love which is agreeablenesse with Nature IF a man should inquire why the Vine so loveth by nature the Elme that it wrappeth more kindly about it and bringeth forth more plentie and better grapes then planted at the roote of any other tree questionles no other reason could be giuen then a certaine secret sympathie of Nature a proportionate agreeablenes and naturall conveniencie What paine taketh the Hen to sitte so long vpon her egges what labour endure little Birdes to build their nestes to feede their yonglings to teach them by daily examples to avoyde dangers to procure foode to conserve protect and defend themselves all these and thousands such like proceed from a certaine Love grounded vpon the agreeablenesse and concordance with Nature So that small pleasures the poore Birdes finde to leave their owne provision sought with such labour to cramme their little ones and no great delight the Hen can reape by so daintily and carefully covering her egges but that the want of pleasure is supplied by the conformitie of Nature which therein is apertly shewed When we see beasts fight we commonly wish in our harts the victorie should happen rather to the one party then the other If a reason of this desire were demaunded it were impossible divers times to be rendred except we resolved it into a secret sympathie of nature likewise meeting with a companie of strangers which we never see men or women presently one shall perceive a certaine more affectuall fancie inclined to love one then an other although divers times both proportion comelinesse or I know not what other perfection be more spectable in the reiected then in the accepted The same we might say of divers meates drinks ayers smells lodgings apparell c. which agree and are conformable to some mens nature but marvellous hurtfull and offensive to others the which therefore are loved of those and abhorred
direct not my tongue manage not my wit move not my will without thy continual effectual and principal influence neither my heart can breathe my stomack disgest my pulses move my liver make concoction or any part of my body suck the vitall nourishment which restoreth lost forces and keepeth my life in continuance And therefore I may well say that thou art as necessary to preserve my being as in first imparting of it and as requisite to any thing I can do as my very soule substance and faculties which are principles of doing And therefore with what love should I incessantly affect thee who have such dependance vpon thee There be some fishes which presently dye if once they be taken out of the water no doubt but much more speedily should both my body and soule perish and be brought to nothing thing if they were not environed on every side above below within and without with the omnipotent vertue of thine immensive Maiesty The 13. Motive to Love which is the pardoning of Iniuries ALthough every vertue rendreth a man amiable yet some there be so immediately grounded vpon the base of love as liberality and magnificencie vpon goodnes and amity that they ravish wholy leade mens affections towards them for that by them love bountie powre out themselves by communication of what they have to others Contrarywise some other vertues so fortifie and establish a man in goodnes that they arme him invincibly and make him most potent either by mildnes not to perceive any Iniuries or so corroborate him with patience that he cannot or will not revenge them When Mary had murmured against Moses and for the foulenesse of her fault God who was most zealous of his servants estimation had stricken her with a loathsome leaprie Moses as the scripture reporteth Num. 12. being the mildest man vpon earth could not suffer this iust punishment to be inflicted vpon her but presently demaunded of God that he would cure her Whereas it seemeth that he neither perceived the Iniury nor could indure the Revenge And in very deede it cannot but proceede from a noble magnanimious minde to contemne all base iniuries offered and to disdaine to repay condignely their deserts for whomsoever I iniure I impayre either his estimation or his riches or his body or his soule he then that can tollerate such harmes sheweth himselfe superior to all that fortune or nature can affoord Alexander the great went to visite Dioâ—enes the cynicall Philosopher who would not vouchsafe to visit him and demanded of him if he had need of any thing Yes marrie quoth Diogenes who satte in his philosophicall barrell that thou stand from before mee and hinder not the Sunne from comming to me Alexander was exceedingly delighted with this answere and so wondered at the maiestie of this Philosophers minde that after his departure perceiving his Nobles and Minions to mocke and ieast at such a satyricall and exoticall answere vnto their Emperour Well well quoth Alexander you may say what you will but I assure you if I were not Alexander I would wish to be Diogenes For hee desired in his heart to surmount all men and esteeme nothing and here he found Diogenes make none account of him whom hee deemed all the world feared and trembled to heare of But yet Alexander prooved not Diogenes one step further for if he had reviled him if he had whipped him divers other wayes iniuried him then he might have sayd in deede he was arrived at the haven of happinesse if he had tollerated them with patience and neither by deed word nor thought meditated or intended revenge for it is not so hard for a man to contemne that he hath not as to despise all he hath and patiently to suffer himselfe to be dispoyled of all he hath and besides in body to be afslicted as Iob or to be blinded as Tobie or cast in prison as Ioseph If Alexander so prized Diogenes vayne contempt proceeding from a popular bravado rooted in a private pride how would he have esteemed Saint Peter and the rest of the Apostles who left all and followed Christs innocencye tollerating with invincible patience a sea of afflictions crosses and iniuries But thou O blessed Saviour who ecclipsed thy Maiesty with our mortall ignominies and forsooke the vse of no Macedonian Empire but of the vniversall world to whom the vse as well as the dominion belonged for in the hemme of thy garmeÌ„t we finde writteÌ„ Apoc. 19. Rex Regum and Dominus Dominantium the King of Kings and Lord of Lords that is one of the basest graces and priviledges graunted to thine humanitie wherewith thy Divinitie as with a scarlet roabe was vayled was the proprietie and dominion over the world yet for all this ample inheritance over Iewe and Gentile thou hadst not so much house to cover thy head as Foxes which hold their holes and Birds that in fee-simple keepe their neasts What iniuries O sweet Iesu have sinfull soules exhaled breathed nay darted out against thy sacred humanitie frustrating it for as much as in them layd of all those noble effects which thou deserved for vs by thy most bitter death and passion and yet thou art so armed with humble mildnesse and compassion of heart that thou by internall favours and externall benefits cherishes them as though thou wert nothing offended with them but rather with opportune kindnesse seemes to contend with their importune malice with invincible patience exspecting their repentance What wrongs do wee offer every moment thy soveraigne Divinitie by transgressing thy commaundements and thereby iniurying all the attributes of thy Divine Maiesty And yet no sooner the prodigall childe sayeth peccavi O Father I have offended but thou falls vpon him with kisses and customarie favours forgetting his former follies no sooner the sinfull Magdalen batheth thy feete with mournefull teares but thou bathes her breast with pardoning ioyes Ah my God of all goodnes and mercy what shall I preferre in thee the benefits I have received from thy hands or the not present revenging of iniuries thou hast received from my hart for in them thou communicated thy goodnes conformably vnto thy will here thou sustayned dishonour against thy will that tended to glorifie thee and perfit vs this impugneth thee and destroyeth vs iniuries were violent benefits connaturall iniuries issued from corruption and aymed at destruction benefits proceeded from mercie and aymed at the reliefe of miserie iniuries deserved infamie and benefits recognition glory wherein then didst thou shew more love bounty in conferring benefits or pardoning iniuries Questionles in pardoning iniuries for temporall favours and spirituall graces all except Christs incarnation his merits and death argue but a limited greatnes not infinit because a gift amongst men is thought to proceed from a proportionable love vnto the gift as for example if a king give a 1000. pound we valew his love to the person who receiveth such a benefit in the degree of the
the Gift in it selfe THe fuller Fountaine causeth a greater Spring the better Plant the more pretious Fruite the fatter Soile the more plentiful Harvest and the kinder Heart the greater Gifts Among speciall and intier friendes Gifts admitte not degrees of greater or lesser because such have all their goods and habilities one at the becke and least intimation of an other whereupon grew that solemne sentence Amicorum omnia sunt communia But this Circumstance holdeth among our common friends and generall wel-willers whose affections by little and little discover themselves vnto vs and this rule is not to be esteemed one of the worst that greatnesse of gifts argueth greatnesse of good will for although some few prodigall persons lavish forth their substances for a vaine proiect and estimation to be reputed liberall bountifull and despisers of Fortunes favours yet when evidently we are not certayne our Well-willer is such a braine-sick person right Reason teacheth vs to inferre out of the greater gift the greater good will and consequently to deserve a correspondence of a semblable affection Some gifts are so exceeding in value and so vnprizable that a man is never able perfitly to recompence them as for example yong Toby conferring with his old father what reward they should bestow vpon the Angell Raphael who had guided and protected him in Toby 12. all his iourney said thus vnto him What reward shall we give him or what thing worthie of his benefits he carried me and brought me back againe in health he received the money of Gabelus he procured me a Wife and delivered her of the Devill he comforted her parents he hindred the Fish from devouring me he hath caused you see the light of heaven and thus hath he replenished vs with all good things What condignely may we for all these bestow vpon him But I beseech you father to request him if perhaps he will vouchsafe to accept the one halfe of all these riches we have brought Thus the gratefull Toby acknowledged the Angels gifts greater then he could ever satisfie howbeit in recognition of his good will he offered halfe he had whereby with the greatnes of the remuneration he intended to declare vnto the Angell the greatnesse of his affection It is a common received principle as well among prophane philosophers as sacred writers that the gifts of God of nature and grace the gifts of parents of body and life the gifts of instructors in learning and manners are vnvaluable and inecompensable for as vertue learning body life soule grace farre surpasse in degree and perfection all other riches and treasures whatsoever so all men in respect of such persons must for ever hold themselves obliged and never out of debt because the vertue of gratitude is such that a man should ever recompense the benefit received like the earth which receiveth one graine of â—â—lieate and yeeldeth therefore twenty and more so benefits should ever be repayed with interest for if we returne lesse we remayne in debt if equall we seeme to exchange and rather follow the law of iustice and equalitie then of friendship and amitie therefore by gratitude we ever ought to exceed the gift in value which we receive wherein equalitie releeseth recompense and the excesse an emulous superioritie in good will Zuxis a famous Painter so prized his Pictures that he gave them all away and never would sell any because he thought them so pretious as no gold could countervayle them Some others I have knowne who esteemed no lesse their literall labours because they were of-springs of wit distilled from the purest spirits in their braines the which therewith they had aboundantly consumed and therefore not to be bought with any treasure besides bookes divulged are generall gifts and common communications of wisdom the which ought so much more to be esteemed how much wisdome surpasseth all worldly wealth bonum quo communius eo melius and every good the commoner the better for it were malitious perversitie to withhold from others a good thing profitable to many without our impeachment and hindrance wherefore I cannot but condemne that repining indignation of Alexander the great who vnderstanding that Aristotle his inâ—â—â—â—â—or had divulged publiquely his booke of Metaphysicks which he had taught him privatly wrote vnto him in anger that in so doing he had left him nothing peculiar whereby he might excell all others in knowledge and science as though it grieved him that any man should be wise except himselfe With how much more reason and charity desired Moses that all the people might prophetize Quis tribuat vt omnis populus prophetet â—â—â— 11. 29. det eis dominus spiritum suum 6. Circumstance If the gift tended to our great good or riddance from some great evill A Showre of rayne after a long drought is more worth then ten showers another time Money lent a Merchant falling bankerout to vphold his credit may be accounted so much money given Those loaves of bread and that sword Achimelech gave David in his flight from the face of Saul were questionles in his penurie 1. Reg. 22. ten times more gratefull and acceptable then in his abundance Therefore it is great prudence friendly policy to reserve gifts and helps for men till great wants because they prize a little more then then much another time And withall it deserveth consideration that in such cases not only the affection wherewith we bestow the benefit vpon him but also the good which ensueth and the evill which he eschueth and all such desiderable consequent effects are thought intended wished and to proceed from that favour we shew in such a case so opportunely and in such extremity 7. Circumstance If it be given with alacritie I Have received some gifts of friends given with such a promptnes alacritie shew of affection as in very truth it seemed vno me that the very manner of giving doubled the gift When the Angels came to Abraham in the vale of Mambre he invited them to dinner with Gen. 1â— such alacritie so civilly and affectuously as in very deed they had seemed to have vsed him discourteously if they had refused his importune courtesie 1 If you favour me 2 passe not your servant 3 I will bring a little water to wash your feet 4 and rest vnder the tree 5 I will bring you some bread 6 and you shal 〈◊〉 your harts 7 and then you shall depart 8 therfore you came this way the Angels accepted his invitation 9 and the good old man ranne presently and brought the tenderest and best calfe he had and caused one of his servants to kill him 10 Sara in as great haste moulded paste to make theÌ„ ember-cakes 11 when all was done Abraham stood served while they sat downe All these circumstances shew the great desier that Abraham had to entertaine those strangers I have seene some men so ready prompt to grant what was requested them that they would have moved
circumspectly 4. Circumstances more VNto the former Circumstances we may for better distinction fuller comprehension of the matter adde 4. more The first is Vehemency of affection which appertaineth to the maner of giving may be reduced to the 7. Circumstance of Alacritie yet in very deed these two differ for divers times wee give things speedily and quickly because wee esteeme them not much or for some interest or other respect albeit with no great affection yet the way to wade into mens heartes and discover whether they bestow their benefites vpon vs with such intire and full affections or no may bee these First alacritie in giving is a good signe 2. If in the giving we perceive the giver much presseth himselfe 3. If the gift be great in it selfe 4. If some danger be imminent vnto the giver for such a gift 5. If the giver be our intire friend 6. If our capitall enemie for therein we may thinke he by a vehement charitable good will overcommeth himselfe The second is if the gift be common to many as if a Prince bring a Conduit of most excellent water into the Centre of a Cittie If a Noble man erect a great Hospitall for the poore blind lame and impotent If a devout Cittizen give all he hath to builde a Church Bridge or such like charitable workes these benefites as they are extended to many so they are more worthie in this respect then such as are communicated to few The third is if in giving gifts among a multitude of equall desert one be singled from the rest vpon whom it is bestowed for in such a case affection signiorizeth and love maketh election because when in the receyvers there is none or small difference in merite then the determination resteth vpon the givers good will which then may best be declared when among many specially one is severed The last is lacke of interest for such gifts as are vnspotted with any blemish of private profitte warrant vs of a sincere affection but how may we know when givers ayme rather at vtilitie then amitie first if wee be well acquainted with their prowling shifting crafty vndermining nature we may assure our selves that that flame is the effect of sea-coales which carrieth ever more smoake of selfe-love then fire of refined good will 2. If apertly by some circumstance of speech or request he maketh we see evidently some commoditie conioyned as for example in all suiters presentes a man of a bad scent may easily feele a smell of profit which perfumeth those gifts 3. If a mean man bestow a great gift vpon one in authoritie which hath no neede of it such a token for most part telleth his masters errand to wit that such a present must prepare the way for some future favour and this rule we are to thinke holdeth so much the surer when the giver is in some want and necessitie 4. If the customary vse of such giftes require some interest as commonly poore mens New-yeere giftes require better recompensations then they bring Certaine Corollaries deducted out of the precedent Discourse of the Motives to Love THe first Corollarie concerneth the love of God the which in giving vs the second Person in Trinitie to be our Saviour and Redeemer hath almost observed all these Circumstances of giftes in a most emminent degree as if I would enlarge this Chapter I could make most manifest but every discreet learned Divine without much labour by appropriating onely these generall considerations to those speciall meditations may performe it by himselfe The second Corollarie touching the Motives of Love which are in number seventeene for memories sake we may reduce to 3. heads For love is an operation of the Wil the Wil affecteth nothing but canded with Goodnesse Goodnesse generally is divided into three kindes Honestie Vtilitie Delightfulnesse but in regard that things profitable are esteemed good or badde honest or vnhonest in respect of the end whereat they ayme for they be alwayes meanes and levell at some ende therefore I thought good to obliterate that second member and in lieu thereof insert conveniency or agreeablenesse to Nature for such things we love for themselves and as it were in them stay our affections without relation to any other particular proiect Goodnes the obiect of our will is the perfection or appetibilitie of every thing reall or apparant and is divided into 1. Honest which is the obiect of vertue and consisteth in conformitie to Reason comprehending these motives to Love 2 Excellencie in Prudence Learning Fortitude Magnanimitie Temperance Iustice c. 3 Bountifulnesse 4 Condonation of iniuries 5 Toleration of wrongs 6 Riddance from evill 7 The manner of giving gifts 8. Convenient to nature that is agreeable to nature for the conservation therof eyther in being perfection or preservation of the kinde and includeth these motives to Love 9 Parentage 10 Beneficence 11 Necessitie 12 A speciall kinde of hatred causing vnion 13. Delightful that is a certaine kinde of goodnes polished with pleasure or wherin pleasure specially appeareth and containeth these motives to Love 14 Beautie 15 Profit of Soule Body Fortune 16 Resemblance in Nature Affection Iudgement Exercise 17 Love of Benevolence cōcupiscēce I am not ignorant that the immensity of mans will may chop and change these motives of love in diverse manners for if we releeve often poore mens miseries for vaine-glory we pervert the vertue of mercy if some fast for hypocrisie they abuse the virtue of temperance if some pray with pride and contempt as the arrogant Pharisee they stayne the vertue of religion and questionles any wicked man may love him that easily condoneth iniuries not for honesty and vertue but thereby to prevayle more against him and crow more insolently over him to coosin him the more boldely and deceyve him without punishment Likewise though beuty be placed among the obiects of Delight yet it may be affected for honesty and so I say of almost all the rest But heere I consider the first aspect and connaturall shew that all these obiects carry with them and how they first enter into a mans affection and are apt to moove and in this sense I doubt not but theyr seates are right and in consideration thereof I have reduced them to these heades The third Corollary It may easily be perceyved in every one of these motives how much more is insinuated then is sette downe and a good Scholler with a flight meditation may by discourse apply these generalities to particular matters for the motive of pleasure or profite may be minced into many partes and in every one a number of particular reasons found out apt to induce the perswasion of the same passion and so I say of the rest Much more I could have added to every one but then the Treatise woulde have growne too great wherefore I iudged it sufficient to touch the tops of generall perswasions to stirre vp love intending therby by to represent occasions to wise men of
with endamaging vs endamaged greatly himselfe as a flye to put forth a mans eye leeseth her owne life so many men both wickedly and iniustly care not to waste consume their own wealth and substance in sutes and lawes so they may begger their adversaries and not much vnlike him who said he could well be contented to be hanged so he had killed his enemy I say this circumstance aggravateth greatly the iniury because it argueth an excesse of malice whereby the iniurer doth not only iniury me against equitie and reason but also rather then he will omit to harme me he careth not to harme himself as though he preferred my evill before his own good and iudged it better to hurt vs both then his malitious mind should rest vnsatisfied 7. If he had offered me many iniuries before the which I never revenged for by this appeareth his malice is vnsatiable and therefore reiterateth often his mischievous mind as though no drop of spite should rest in his heart vnpowred out The iniurie in it selfe § 9. WE may be iniuried in the goods of our soules our bodies of fortune or of good name existimation or reputation In the goods of our soules if any man craftily inveagle our iudgements with errours heresies or false opinions If we be importunely induced or deceitfully inticed to any offence of God or breach of his commandements If any hinder oâ—â—â—op vs from the service of God receiving of sacraments hearing of his word preached or taught In the goods of our bodies by killing mayming wounding beating or any way abusing of them In goods of fortune by theft cosinage vsurie not repaying due debts hurting our cattell fervants children friends lands tenements or any kind of possession In goods of same or reputation by detracting calumniating convitiating or any way dishonoring vs as mocking gibing or after any scurrilous maner deriding libelling against vs or any way impeaching our good name fame we hold among meÌ„ Ordinarily the goods of the soule are prized above the goods of the body and these more esteemed then the favours of fortune and they preferred before the blazon of honour because as the origen of love is first a mans selfe and for it all other things beloved so these goods which are most neere himselfe and concerne his substance or necessary preservation thereof are more affectually loved then they which touch him lesse as first his body then goods of fortune and last of all same I sayd ordinarily for if we compare a title of honor as to be Earle Baron c. these are to bee preferred before a great summe of money yet I doubt not but if election were given an Earle to bee a beggar and an Earle all his life or a simple Merchant but exceeding rich hee would rather choose this and refuse that for there is no miserie like Nobility pressed with penury Wherefore alwayes must be held with the chiefest of one degree of goods with the chiefest of an other and so the comparison framed as the chiefest goods of the soule of grace vertue wisedome prudence c. are to be valued above the life of the body integritie of members wealth fame c. I know against this division and reason some will obiect that common Text of Scripture Melius Proverb 22. 1. est nomen bonum quam divitiae multae super argentum aurum gratia bona A good Name is better then many riches and a good grace that is a gratious and favourable good liking among men above silver and gold But to this Text I answere that in it are involved good friends and their gratious good willes which are favors of Fortune and so to be preserred before riches which are contayned in the same degree Secondly fame and a good name sometime is necessarie to the perfection of vertue and the good of the soule as without them the Preacher should perswade but sorrily the Magistrate be obeyed but servilely the Prince honored but ceremoniously in fine take away a good Name and all vertuous examples wil seeme counterfeit hypocrisie Thirdly true it is a good Name ought to bee prized above many riches but I thinke there be few rich men in the world that had not rather bee iniuried in their good Name then fall to begging Fourthly a good Name or a good Fame wayteth vpon a good Life and he that liveth badly for most part carrieth as bad a name and a fame to our purpose then a man must have care of his good Name because hee should live vertuously whereby such a good Name is gotten and indeed such a precious fruite hanging vpon so noble a Plant surpasseth all worldly wealth and this I take to be the true and literall sense of this Text of Scripture whence-from exhaleth that sweete and fragrant smell of gracious pleasing and contenting of all men for a soule that is really vertuous and so knowen and blazed abroad cannot but stirre vp mens hearts to like and love well such a Person Every iniury then offered tendeth to the bereaving of vs of some of these goods related of soule body fortune or fame and therefore according to every degree of goodnesse ought to be esteemed Secondly if the iniury did vs much harme and the iniurer no good if it hurt many a Towne Citie Province State or Kingdome for to more persons it extendeth the poyson is more pestilent and the malice more vehement Thirdly At what end the Iniurie aymed if he cosined to procure meanes to murder to commit adultery to hurt the State this externall Motive augmenteth his malice The Iniuried § 10. FIrst the greatnesse of the Person iniuried encreaseth the iniurie as a blow given to a Prince even by a Prince is accounted more offensive then done to a private man by a Prince or a private person Secondly the nocuments ensuing are to be considered which necessarily follow and are not casually therevnto annexed For example one causeth an Innocent to be imprisoned or hanged by false accusations and forgeries the charges as fees to Officers Iaylors losse of lands goods libertie and life extraordinary expences for lodging diet going abroad c. as all these dammages follow and augment the iniurie so they ought to be satisfied and without consideration of this recompensation and full accomplishment thereof the heires of the iniuried receyve not iustice nor a correspondent equalitie to the excesse of the iniurie when restitution should be made Thirdly if among divers who might and in reason should have beene iniuried rather then wee yet vpon spite we were singled from the rest for this iniust separation proceedeth from maligning hatred specially bent against our persons Fourthly if the person iniuried was then presently doing or labouring for the offenders good or commoditie as if an Oratour were perswading the Common-weale to some glorious enterprise a private subiect should goe about to kill him The manner of Iniurying § 12. IF wee be in countenance and externall apparance held as