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
could not attaine vnto some good meanes to direct them And albeit in every particular treatise of particular Passions I pretend to touch this string yet I could not omit to set downe some generall rules as both methode and matter require Before all other thinges it is most necessary for hi◠that will moderate or mortifie his Passions to know his owne Inclination and to what Passions his Soule most bendeth for you shall have no man but hee is inclined more to one Passion than another the meanes to come to this knowledge may be these To expend thy naturall constitution for cholericke men be subiect to Anger melancholy men to Sadnesse sanguine to Pleasure flegmatike to Slouth and drunkennesse Besides consider with what company thou most delightest and in them thou shalt see a patterne of thy Passions for like affecteth like as Augustus being at a Combate where was present an infinite number of people and among the rest as principal his two daughters Iulia and Livia Sueton. he marked what company courted them and perceyved that grave Senatours talked with Livia and loose yonkers and riotous persons with Iulia whereby hee came to discerne his Daughters inclinations and manners for he well knew that customes and company are cousin germanes and maners and meetings for the most part sympatize together Hereunto adde thoughtes and words if one speake and thinke much of beautie vaine attire glory honour reputation if he feele in his heart that often he desireth to be praised or to insinuate his owne praise it is most manifest that the Passion of Pride pricketh him and so I meane of all other Affections because the minde doth thinke and the tongue will speake according to the Passions of the heart for as the Ratte running behinde a paynted cloth betrayeth her selfe even so a Passion lurking in the heart by thoughts and speech discovereth it selfe according to the common Proverbe ex abundantia cordis os loquitur from the aboundance of heart the tongue speaketh for as a River abounding with water must make an inundation and runne over the bankes even so when the heart is overflowen with affections it must find some passage by the mouth minde or actions And for this cause I have divers times heard some persons very passionate affirme that they thought their hearts would have broken if they had not vented them in some sort either with spitefull words or revenging deeds and that they could do no otherwise than their Passions inforced them Another remedy to know thy selfe more palpable to be perceived most profitable to be practised I thinke to be a certaine reflexion that thou mayest make of thy selfe after this maner marke in other men their words gestures and actions when as they seeme to thee to proceed from some inordinate Passion as if thou see for example one eate very greedily stuffe his cheeks like two dugs then plainly it appeareth such actions glaunce out of gluttony likewise if thou heare one talke bawdily questionles such speeches leake out of a lecherous hart If one be fickle in apparel in customes exercises such are the of-springes of inconstancy after thou hast well noted the fruits of these Passions make then a reflexion vpon thy selfe and weigh whether thou hast not done heretofore and daily doest such like but that the vaile of self-love doth blind thy eies that thou canst not see thē It is good also to have a wise and discreet friend to admonish vs of our Passions when we erre from the path and plaine way of Vertue for as I have often sayde selfe-love blindeth much a man and another may better iudge of our actions than we can our selves but I would not haue this Scindicke to be molestfull and to make of a moale-hill a Mountaine but to shewe the Passion and the reason why such wordes and actions were vndecent Truely if a man might haue such a friend I would thinke hee had no small treasure And especially this ought to bee practised by great Persons who never almost heare the trueth concerning their owne actions for Flatterie fayneth falshood hope of gayne and preferment mooveth them to prayse vices for vertues This Trueth might largely bee prooved but that it is more palpable by experience than can be denyed It chanceth sometimes by Gods permission that our enemies who prie into our actions and examine more narrowly our intentions then wee our selves discover vnto vs better our Passions and reveale our imperfections then ever we our selves As befell vnto S. Augustines mother the holy Monica who as he relateth in his Confessions being from her youth accustomed to drinke onely water was after some time by her friendes and parents caused to sippe a little wine and so by sipping little and little she came to such a delight of drinking wine that she would sip off a prettie cuppe It happened one day that the Maid of the house and shee fell at some wordes and the Maid according to womens fashions vpbrayded her with all the faultes she knewe and among the rest expostulated this calling her meribibulam a tos-pot or tippler of pure wine the godly Monica conceyved such an aversion from wine and such a shame by this expostulation that she never drunke any more all the dayes of her life Lastly a good way to know the inclinations of the mind is like the manner we come by the knowledge of the inclinations of our bodies that is by long experience For as we say if a man before fortie yeeres of age be not a good physition of his owne bodie that is if he know not whether his inclination bendeth what doth him good what bringeth harme he deserueth to be registred for a foole euen so he that in many yeares by continuall practise of his owne soule perceiueth not where his passions lie in my iudgement he scarce deserueth the name of a wise man for as he may be begd for an ideot who riding a horse for tenne yeares euery day from morning to night and yet knoweth not the qualities of his horse and the vices whereunto he is subiect so he which euery day manageth his owne soule if after tenne yeeres labour he cannot find whither the inclinations tend he may well be thought either very vitious or very simple Meanes to mortifie Passions CHAP. II. AFter thou hast attained the knowledge of thy inclinations thou must then consider whether they be extraordinarily vehement or no For as to greater griefes stronger remedies are applied so to furious and outragious passions more forcible meanes are to be ministred If thou thorowly perceiue thy passions to exceed the common course then looke to the end of the 16. chapter where thou shalt see how hard they are to be reyned and what great yea and extreame difficultie they cast vpon thee against vertue and goodnesse and then thou mayest accept these few rules Euery moderat passion bordureth betwixt two extreames as liberalitie betwixt auarice and prodigalitie temperat diet
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
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
attayning vnto learning Whereupon grew those dissenting and contradicting Sectes of Peripatetikes Academikes Stoickes Epicures Thomists and Scotists Realles and Nominalles but by the disprooving of one anothers opinion which proceeded from the difficulty of vnderstanding and conceyving of Learning V. Ignorance and Errours about God YEt if men by sweate and labour by distilling their Braynes and spending their Spirits in studies at last could winne the victory of Errours and Ignorance then all paynes were sufficiently rewarded the interest would defray the expences of the Voyage But alas how many have wandered in a vast desart of learning amongst brambles and bryars not able to passe forward nor returne backeward who would thinke men could be ignorant of the Maiestye of God which all bruite and Interroga Iumenta et docebunt â—e Volatilia Coeli indicabunt tibi loquere terrâ— respondebit tibi narrabunt pisces Maris Quis ignorat quod manus Domini haec omnia fecerat Iob. 12 7. senselesse creatures confesse and yet such is and hath beene the palpable ignorance of the world that in place of God some worshipped Calves others Serpents other Crocodiles others Onions and Garlike I omit how many supposed very wise adored the Sunne Moone and Starres the Elements of earth fire and water for these errours might have carried some shew of wisedome in respect of the other absurdities How could men be more besotted than to imagine God by whom they lived mooved and were whose goodnesse sustayned them whose power vpheld them whose wisedome directed them to be a Crocodile or a Calfe or Commoâ—a quibus vtimur lucem qua â—rutmur spiritum quem ducimus a Deo nobis dari impartiri vâ—demus Cic. pro Rosâ— Amer. that Divinitie could inhabite such savage Beasts where was the imortall soule the Image of the Trinity the faculty of vnderstanding the power of apprehending iudging and discoursing Were all these drowned in darkenesse did no sparke of light or life shine over them O ignorance intollerable O blindnesse more grosse than not to see when the Sunne lodgeth in his Zenith VI. Ignorance and Errours about our Soules and bodies BVt some will say Gods Maiesty dazeled theyr eyes they were not able by the weake light of Nature to behold so super-excellent a glory well at least they might have knowne themselves for what was more neere them then their owne soules and bodies their five senses the operations of vnderstanding and affecting the Passions of the Minde and alterations of the body yet the Ignorance and Errours which both inchaunted them and inveigle vs are almost incredible I could propound above a hundreth questions about the Soule and the body which partly are disputed of by Divines partly by naturall and morall Philosophers partly by Physitians all which I am of opinion are so abstruse and hidden that they might be defended as Problemes and eyther parte of Contradiction alike impugned Some I will set downe that by them coniecture may be made of the rest Problemes concerning the substance of our Soules 1 WHether in mens bodies there reside more formes then one 2 Whether it can bee demonstrated by naturall reason that the Soule is immortall 3 How can the Soule extend it selfe thorow the whole body being a Spirit indivisible inextensed and able whole and entire to reside in one only and indivisible poynt 4 How are the Soule and Body Spirite and Flesh coupled together what chaynes what fetters imprison a spirituall Substance an immortal Spirit in so base stinking and corruptible a carâ—â—asse 5 How by punishing the flesh or hurting the body the Soule feeleth payne and is afflicted 6 Whether the hayres spirites blood choler fleugme skinne fatte nayles marrow be animated or no. 7 Whether the Bones and Teeth be sensitive or no. 8 How the Soule contayneth those three degrees of vegetative sensitive and reasonable 9 How these three degrees do differ 10 How the Soule of a Child being contained and dispersed in so little a body when it is borne afterward dilateth it selfe and spreadeth in the body of a man 11 When an Arme or a Legge is cut off by chance from the Body what becommeth of the Soule which informed that part 12 Why departeth the Soule from the Body in a vement Problemes concerning the faculties in generall Sicknesse it being immortall and independing of the Body able to live in ayre water or fire 13 How many faculties do spring from the Soule 14 How they spring in order one depending vpon an other or without any dependance 15 How do they differ from the Soule 16 Whether are they subiected in the Soule Body or the whole 17 What dependance hath our vnderstanding vpon Problemes concerning our vnderstanding the imagination 18 How a corporall imagination concurre to a spirituall conceit 19 What is apprehension and conceyving 20 What iudgement and affirming 21 What discourse and inferring 22 How these three differ what is their obiects 23 How apprehend wee so many things together without confusion 24 How are these three operations of our wit subordinated 25 How they erre 26 How they may be certified 27 What is a vitall acte of Vnderstanding 28 How the formes faculties habites and Soule it selfe concurre to such an acte about every one of these foure many questions may easily be propounded but hardly resolved 29 What is a Habite 30 How ingendred 31 How augmented 32 How diminished and corrupted 33 In what faculties of our Soules habites principally allodge 34 Whether the acte or habite be more perfite 35 How are habits distinguished in the same faculty 36 How the habites of our imagination and vnderstanding of our sensible appetite and will differ when they tend vnto sensible obiects 37 What is the vniversall obiect of our Vnderstanding every thing or onely the trueth of things 38 Whereupon commeth the difficulty we finde in Vnderstanding proceedeth it from the obiect or the weakenesse of the faculty or both 39 How doth Reason direct and correct Sense 40 Whether knowledge concurreth as an efficient cause to effect the operations of our will or no. 41 What is Arte what the Idaea in the Artificers minde by whose direction hee frameth his woorkes what is Prudence Wisedome the internall speech and words of the minde 42 What is the habite of principles 43 What the law of Nature and how engrafted in our Vnderstanding 44 What is Conscience 45 Whence-from proceedeth Remorce 46 What is evidence and certitude in Knowledge and how they differ 47 How Knowledge and perfit Science differ from credulity and opinion and whether feare be necessarily included in every opinion 48 If ever man had such a demonstration as Aristotle describeth in his first Booke of Posteriors 49 Whether a Demonstration once had can ever be lost or no. 50 Why can we not come by as firme knowledge in Logick Physicks or Metaphysicks as in Mathematicks 51 How wee vnderstand discourse and dispute in Dreames 52 Whether children discourse actually or no.
those vigilant virgins which attend with their Matth. 25. lamps lighted the comming of their heavenly spouse these be those carefull housholders which prevent infernall Matth. 24. 43. Luk. 12. 39. theeves lest they should rob their treasures these be those which live ever in peace and tranquillitie of Phil. 3. 20. minde who dwelling in earth converse in heaven The second reason and principall is ill education of the which we have spoken before yet I must say here with holy scripture that as it is impossible for the Ethiopean to change his skin so it is impossible for youth Iere. 13. 23. brought vp licentiously to change their ill maners for vse breedeth facilitie facilitie confirmeth nature nature strongly inclined can hardly be diverted from her common course but followeth her vitious determination It is a wonder to see how custome transporteth and changeth nature both in body and in soule the which may well be proved by the young Maide the Queene of India sent to Alexander the great the which being nourished from her youth with serpents poison had so changed her naturall constitution that if she had bitten any Aristot. ad Alexand. Vide Hieronimum Cagniolum de institutio principis § 7. man he presently died as Aristotle affirmeth that by experience he had proved even so as serpents poyson had changed her body so ill maners alter the soule and as her teeth poysoned that they bit so wicked men those soules with whom they talke Corrumpunt 1. Cor. 15. 33. bonos more 's colloquia prava and acuerunt linguas suas sicut serpentes nature therefore in tract of time Psal 139. 4. over-runne with so many weeds of wickednes abhorreth extreamely to supplant them loathing so long molestfull and continuall labor and therefore contenteth her selfe rather to eate the blacke beries of briers then the sweet cherries of vertue for this cause those children have a double bond to their parents schoolemaisters which distill even with milke into their mouths the sweet liquor of pietie vertue and good manners Quâ— semel est imbuta recens servaâ—it â—dorem testa diu â—laccâ—â— Of liquor first which earthen pot receives The smell it doth retaine for many dayes Whereunto agreeth that vulgare axiome of Philosophers Omnis habitus est difficilè separabilis à subiecte The third reason is present delectation for that we hope is future that pleasure worldlings perceive is present sensible delectation feedeth the corporall substance of sences and therefore we easily perceive it but vertue affecteth the soule not after so palpable and grosse manner therefore they despise it wherefore mens soules by inveterated customes vsed to sensuall and beastly delights either not beleeving or mistrusting or rather doubting of spirituall ioyes they neglect and for the most part care not for them contenting themselves with their present estate not looking any further and so as beasts they live and as beasts they dye according to that saying Home cum in honore esseâ— non intellexit Psal 48. 13. 21. comparatus est iumentis insipientibus similis factus est illis and so become sicut equus mulus in quibus non est Psal 31. 19. intellectus Finally the lacke of preservation hindereth our spirituall profite because I conceive our soules without prayer meditation the Sacraments of Christs church exercise of vertue and works of pietie not vnlike a dead body which for lack of a living soule dayly falleth away by putrifaction leeseth colour temperature and all sweetnesse and becommeth ghastly loathsome and stinking even so the soule without those balmes God hath prepared as preservatives it will be infected with vices and stincking with sinnes therefore those which neglect these benefits are not vnlike sicke men which know where medicines lie but will not seeke for them or receive them These foure causes I take to be the principall enimies Math. 11. 3â— of our spirituall life howbeit I doubt not that Christs yoke is sweete and his burthen easie if men would consider the meanes and accept those helps God hath bestowed vpon them But all meanes and helps which ordinarily we proove may be reiected by a wicked will Prov. 1. 24. Isa c. 5. 62. 2. Matth. 23. 37. and a hard indurated heart may resist the sweete calling of God Quia vocavi renuistis extendi manum meam non erat qui aspiceret By these Scriptures and many more we may easily Acts 7. 51. Mat. 11. 21. inferre that neither lacke of meanes nor lacke of grace hindereth vs from dooing well but our owne perverse and wicked will let vs but runne over two or three examples and we shall even touch with our fingers the certaintie of this veritie Consider but Adams fall how many meanes he had to do well and yet how basely he fell he first by Gods especiall grace was indued with so many internall gifts of vertues and knowledge that easily he might have observed that commandement the inferiour parts were subordinate by originall iustice to the superior so that passions could not assault him he had all beasts and the whole garden of Paradice with all the hearbs and trees at his pleasure therefore the precept was not so rigorous for what difficultie were it for a man to abstaine from one tree having the vse of thousands He knew most certainely how by eating into what a damnable estate he cast himselfe and all his posteritie wherefore the event might have taught him to prevent the cause but above all the perfit knowledge of the sinne he committed against God the extreme ingratitude disloyaltie and treacherie might have bridled his mouth from that poysoned Apple which brought present death of the soule and after a time a certaine death of the body But all these helps countervailed not his negligence in consideration and his ill will seduced with ambition Let vs take an other familiar example which dayly occurreth more common than commendable a woman married which breaketh her fidelitie promised to her husband marke but what helps she hath to restraine her from this sinne I omit the Sacraments of Christs Church the threatnings of death Gods iudgement and hell the enormious offence she committeth against God the abuse of his benefits the breach of his law the contempt of his grace the remorce of conscience the wounding of her soule and spoyling of the same all these and many more common helps graunted to all sinners I will speake nothing of albeit I thinke them sufficient to with-hold any ingenious heart from prevarication only let vs weigh those particular meanes she hath to abstaine and withdraw herselfe from this offence as the great iniurie she offereth her husband the breach of love betweene them the infamie wherevnto she for all her life shall be subiect the stayne of her kinred and friends for her fault redoundeth to their discredit as her good to their reputation the shamefastnesse wherewith God hath
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
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
vertuous directed with the square of Gods lawe and prudence if the inferior appetite or passions obey and concurre with the will then with much more ease pleasure and delight vertuous actions are accomplished performed Yea oftentimes they take away the molestations and tediousnesse that occurre in the practise of good woorks For example often in prayer men feele arridity lothsomnesse and paine yet if the sensible appetite get a little delight therein if Cor caro exultant in Deum that is our heartes and flesh reioyce in God then paine is turned into pleasure and a molesting service into a delightfull obsequie Hereupon the Philosophers and Fathers perceyving what commodities these passions afforded to a vertuous soule with divers similitudes declared their service Some say they were Cic. 3. Tusc sparkes of fire apt to kindle vertue others that they Basil hom cont irâ—sc Basil de virgiâ—â—tate were souldiers armed to attend their captayne They be like water sayth Basil that sustayneth oyle above that it may swimme purely and not be infected with earth others compare them with horses which draw a coach Lactant. lib. 6. c. 17. so the passions draw the soule to the fruition of her vertuous obiects Cicero in 4 Tuscâ—lan calleth anger cotem the whetstone of fortitude And indeede mee thinkes the passions of our minde are not vnlike the foure humours of our bodies whereto Cicero well compares them in the aforesayd Booke for if blood fleugme choller or melancholy exceede the due proportion required to the constitution and health of our bodies presently we fall into some disease even so if the passions of the Mynde bee not moderated according to reason and that temperature vertue requyreth immediatly the soule is molested with some maladie But if the humours be kept in a due proportion they are the preservatives of health and perhappes health it selfe By this Discourse may be gathered that Passions are not onely not wholy to be extinguished as the Stoicks seemed to affirme but sometimes to be moved and stirred vp for the service of vertue as learnedly Plutarch teacheth Plutarch in libro de virtâ— aâ—â—r for mercie and compassion will move vs often to pitty as it did Iob Quia ab infantia mea mecum crevit miseratio Compassion grewe with mee from my infancy and it came with me out of my mothers wombe therefore hee declareth what succour hee gave to the poore Iob 31. 18. Ire and indignation will pricke forward the friendes of God to take his quarrell in hand and revenge him of his enemies So Christ mooved with zeale which is a passion of love bordering vpon anger cast the buyers and sellers out of the Temple of Ierusalem because Zelus domus tuae commedit me the Iohn 2. zeale of thy house did eate me The passion of shamefastnesse brideleth vs of many loose affections which would otherwise bee ranging abroad The appetite of honour which followeth yea and is due vnto vertue encourageth often noble spirites to attempt most dangerous exploytes for the benefite of their countries feare Eccle. 1. 27. 2. Cor. 7. 9. expelleth sinne sadnesse bringeth repentance delight pricketh forward to keepe Gods commandements and Psal 118. 32. to bee briefe passions are spurres that stirre vp sluggish and idle soules from slouthfulnesse to diligence from carelesnesse to consideration Some questionlesse they almost by force draw to goodnesse and others withdraw from vice For if that many noble Captaynes had not possessed by nature such vehement passions of glory and honour they would never have atchieved such excellent victories for the good of the Common-weale If many rare wittes had not been pressed with the same affections we should never have seene Homers Poetrie nor Platoes Divinitie nor Aristotles Philosophie nor Plinies Historie nor Tullies Eloquence for Honour they aymed at and although perhaps they tooke thier ayme too high affecting more glory than their labour deserved or compleasing themselues more in the opinions and fancies of men than reason required yet no doubt but if they had levelled right and at no more than their workes merited nor more prized the opinions and honours given by men then they in very deede had beene to bee esteemed without all question they had obtayned more renowne and their passions had bin occasions of great good to all their posterity as now they profite them although they proceeded from their Authors vanitie I take it that shamefastnes in women restrayneth them from many shamefull offences and feare of punishment retaineth from theft and the remorce of conscience calleth many sinners to the grace of God Hereby wee may conclude that Passions well vsed may consist with wisedome against the Stoickes and if they be moderated to bee very serviceable to vertue if they be abused and overruled by sinne to be the nurcery of vices and pathway to all wickednesse And as I thinke the Stoickes were of this opinion for they said that feare and heavinesse was Aegritudo quaedam or animi Cic. 4. Tusâ—ul adversanteratione contractio An explication of the division of our sensitive appetite into Concupiscibile and Irascibile that is Coveting and Invading CHAP. V. BEfore we do declare the number of passions that issue out of our soules it is necessary to premitte a common division of our sensuall appetite found out by experience allowed of by Philosophers and Arist. lib. 1. Rhetor. c. 10. Damasc li. 2. fidâ—i orthod cap. 12. Thom. 1â— q. 23. a. 1. scolastici ibidem approved by Divines that is in concupiscibile which in English may be termed Coveting Desiring Wishing and irascibile that is Anger Invading or Impugning for so I thinke it may better be called These coveting and invading appetites are not two faculties or powers of the soule but one onely power and facultie which hath two inclinations as we have but one power or facultie of seeing but two eyes one power of hearing with two eares so wee have one sensuall appetite with two inclinations the one to covet the other to invade In the manner of explicating these two inclinations both Divines and Philosophers dissent yet two explications there are as more common so more probable and more conforme to reason The first may bee declared after this manner Wee see by experience that beastes sometimes have great facilitie to prosecute or obtayne those obiects they covet as for example a horse the grasse which groweth in the pasture where he feedeth sometimes they have great difficulty as for the Lyon to eate a Beare sometimes they have great facility to eschew that evill they hate as a Woolfe or a Foxe to escape with his prey from a little Curre other times we prove they have extreame difficultie to avoyde it as a Bull to fly from a Lyon Nowe the authors of this explication conclude that the coveting appetite inclineth onely to the obtayning of those obiects which may easily be come by and to the eschewing of those that may easily be
and prints of obiects for vnderstanding even so the heart endued with most fiery spirites fitteth best for affecting Lastly for what other reason in feare and anger become men so pale and wanne but that the blood runneth to the heart to succour it I saw once in Genoa a Bandite condemned to death and going to Execution to tremble so extraordinarily that he needed two to support him all the way and for all that he shivered extreamely Besides whence-from proceedeth laughter dauncing singing and many such externall singes of ioy but as wee say from a merrie heart therefore ioy and feare dwell in the heart Howbeit I thinke this most true and especially in those passions which are about obiectes absent as love hatred hope flight ire and such like yet I cannot but confesse that when the obiectes are present and possessed by sense then the passions inhabite not onely the heart but also are stirred vp in every part of the body whereas any sensitive operation is exercised for if wee taste delicate meates smell muske or heare musicke we perceyve notonely that the heart is affected but that also the passion of ioy delighteth those partes of our sences the like wee prove in payne and griefe for which cause commonly wee say our teeth ake our fingers toes or legges payne vs Payne therefore and Pleasure beeing Passions of the Minde and evermore felt in that part of the bodie where Sense exerciseth her operations therefore as touching is dispersed thorow the whole bodie even so the Passions of pleasure and payne for in everie parte if it bee cherished it reioyceth if be hurte it payneth Yet supposing the Passions principally reside in the hearte as wee perceyve by the concourse of humours thereunto wee may demaund two curious questions The former is for what ende hath Nature given this alteration or flocking of humours to the hearte It seemeth questionlesse for some good ende for God and Nature worke not by chaunce or without respecting some benefite of the subiect To the which question it may bee answered First Why humors flocke to the heart in passions that the humours concurre to helpe dispose and enable the heart to worke such operations for as we prove by experience if a man sleepe with open eyes although his sight be marvellous excellent yet he seeth nothing because in sleepe the purer spirites are recalled into the inner partes of the body leaving the eyes destitute of spirits and abandoned of force which presently in waking returne againe euen so I conceive the heart prepared by nature to digest the blood sent from the liver yet for divers respectes not to have the temperature which all Passions require for love will have heate and sadnesse colde feare constringeth and pleasure dilateth the heart therefore which was to bee subiect to such diversities of Passions by Nature was deprived of all such contrary dispositions as the Philosophers say that Materia prima caret omni forma quia omnes formas recipere debet And although the hearte hath more excesse of heate than colde yet a little melancholly blood may quickly change the temperature and render it more apt for a melancholly Passion The second reason may be for that these humours affecting the heart cause payne or pleasure thereby inviting Nature to prosecute the good that pleaseth and to flie the evill that annoyeth as in the Common-wealth Vertue ought to be rewarded with preferment and vice to be corrected with punishment even so in this little common-wealth of our bodies actions conformable to Nature are repayde with pleasure and passions disconsorting nature punished with payne The other question concerneth the efficient cause of these humours what causeth their motions to the heart they themselves as it were flie vnto the heart or the parte where they soiourned sendeth or expelleth them from her and so for common refuge they runne to the heart or finally the heart draweth them vnto it This difficultye requireth an answere whereby many such like questions may bee resolved as for example when the meate in our stomackes is sufficiently disgested the chile which there remayneth prepared to be sent to the liver for a further concoction doth it ascend thither by it selfe as vapours to the head or doth the stomacke expell it or the liver drawe and sucke it To this demaund I answere that in mine opinion the partes from whence these humours come vse their expulsive vertue sending the spirites choler or blood to serve the heart in such necessity as the hand lifteth vp it selfe to defend the head howbeit I doubt not but the heart also affected a little with the passion draweth more humors so encreaseth Many more curious obiections here I omit which perhaps would delight the more subtil wits but hardly of many to be conceived What sort of persons be most passionate CHAP. X. OVt of the precedent Chapter we may gather how that the heart is the seate of our passions that spirites and humours concurre with them here we may deduce a conclusion most certayne and profitable that according to the disposition of the heart humours and body divers sortes of persons be subiect to divers sortes of passions and the same passion affecteth divers persons in divers manners for as we see fire applyed to drie wood to yron to flaxe and gunpowder worketh divers wayes for in wood it kindleth with some difficulty and with some difficulty is quenched but in flaxe soone it kindleth and quencheth in yron with great difficulty is it kindled and with as great extinguished but in gunpowder it is kindled in a moment and never can bee quenched till the powder be consumed Some men you shall see not so soone angrie nor yet soone pleased and such be commonly fleugmatike persons others you have soone angrie soone friended as those of a sanguine complexion and therefore commonly they are called good fellowes others be hardly offended and afterward with extreame difficulty reconciled as melancholy men others are all fiery and in a moment at every trifle they are inflamed and till their heartes be consumed almost with choller they never cease except they be revenged By this we may confirme that olde saying to be true Animi mores corporis temperaturam sequâ—ntur the manners of the soule followe the temperature of the body And as in maladies of the body every wise man feeleth best his owne griefe euen so in the diseases of the soule every one knoweth best his owne inclination neverthelesse as Physitions commonly affirme how there be certayne vniversall causes which incline our bodies to divers infirmities so there are certayne generall causes which move our soules to sundry passions First young men generally are arrogant prowde prodigall incontinent given to all sortes of pleasure Their pride proceedeth from lacke of experience for they will vaunt of their strength beautie and wittes because they have not yet tryed sufficiently how farre they reach how frayle they are therefore they make more account of them
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
way of all and by spirituall men daily put in vre is to diuert the thoughts to some other obiect for as we vse in common conuersation when two be brawling about any thing to diuert their talke to another matter for as long as they continue about the same subiect they are in danger to fall into the same inconuenience so the best way to expell an inordinate passion is to transport the attention to some other matter as he that will be rid of an ill guest the worse he entertaineth him the sooner he shall be dispatched of him and for this cause when any passion oppresseth a man those who are addicted to studie haue great aduantage of others because they may diuert their mindes easily with their Bookes The sixt remedie to mortifie passions is to bridle the bodie that is to chastise it according to that saying of Saint Paule Castigo corpus meum in seruitutem redigo 1. Corin. 9. 27. ne cum alijs praedicauero ipse reprobus efficiar I chastise my bodie and bring it into sâ—ruitude least I that preach to others become reprobat For questionlesse he that pampereth his bodie seedeth his enemie and he that will feede it with dainties cannot but find it rebellious for this we see in wild beasts That the best way to tame them is by ill vsage pamper a horse and you shall haue him too wanton pamper your flesh and it will ouerrule you And he that will mortifie his passions and let his bodie flow with delicacies doth like him which will extinguish fire by adding more fewell Therefore fasting praying lying hard course shirts pinching cold much studie and such austerities are foements of vertue and bane of passions and in fine how much the more with reason and prudence we afflict this rebellious flesh we make it so much the more a fitter instrument for mortification vertue and all goodnesse The seuenth remedie requireth a resolute good will and endeuour to attaine vnto this perfit gouernment of a mans selfe whence from will follow a diligent execution of mortification for such a man will not cease daily and incessantly to demaund grace and fauour of God to ouercome his rebellious nature resist temptations withstand all false allurements of this inticing world Such an one will examine daily his conscience and note what thoughts words or deeds against God himselfe and his neighbour he hath committed whereby either vertue is extinguished or vice increased Such an one will determine in the morning when he riseth not to let passe that day without the extirpating of some stinking and poysoned thorne and planting some sweet and pleasant flower within the garden of his soule Such an one will not onely preuent occasions but also arme himselfe as well as he can to resist such tentations as he knoweth especially shall be offered in certaine places and companie which he cannot conueniently auoid To this helpeth greatly the consideration of that small pleasure passions doe yeeld for almost in a moment they are commenced practised and past wherefore much better it were to crosse them a little and win a crowne of glorie than to please them a moment to be condemned to hell Lastly but chiefely when thy passions are most vehement then seeke for succour from Heauen flie vnder the wings of Christ as the chickens vnder their henne when the kite seeketh to deuour them beate at the gates of his mercie craue grace to ouercome thy miserie He is thy Father and will not giue thee a serpent if thou aske him a fish humble thy selfe before him open thy sores and wounds vnto him and the good Samaritane will poure in both wine and oyle and then thou shalt see thy passions melt and fall away as clouds are consumed by the Sunne Prudence to be vsed in Passions CHAP. III. AS the Physitian of the bodie ordaineth not onely medicines for his patients maladies but also prescribeth his diet rest or exercise sleepe or waking what he ought to doe in the accession of his aguâ— what in declination euen so about the passions of the mind which are certaine diseases of the soule like care and diligence must be vsed The remedies were deliuered in the precedent chapter the carriage and demeanour in them shall be set downe in the present Two sorts of prudence we may vse concerning passions the one how to behaue and carrie our selues when we are troubled with them the other how to deale with others when we perceiue they are possessed of them the first I will call prudence in passions the second pollicie The former I meane to handle here the latter in the next chapter The first point of prudence which all prudent men confesse and obserue is to persuade our selues when we are mooued with a vehement passion that our soules are then as it were infected with a pestilent ague which both hindereth the sight of our eyes and the tast of our tongues that is corrupteth the iudgement and peruerteth the will that as certaine spectacles make mountaines seeme mole-hils and others mole-hils like mountaines euen so passions make the passionate to iudge all those things which tend to the fauour of his passion reasonable great and worthie and all that stands against it base vile and naughtie as in the twelfth chapter was declared Hereupon followeth that at what time the passion is aflote and raigneth it were not good to make any resolution or determination of change for some I haue seene so vehement in their passions that whatsoeuer was suggested them either by the diuell or their passions they presently would put it in execution I doe thinke there be few men liuing which haue not ouershot themselues in this point and repented when their soules were calmed that they committed when they were tempested The most part of the world is bewitched with this sorcerie for what wicked resolutions attempt the cholericke in the very dregs of their anger What desperat words flie What fields are pitched in the heat of ire How many kill drowne and hang themselues in melancholie and desperations What fornications adulteries incests and other beastialities are effected in the furious flame of fleshly lust All the world can witnesse which I thinke to be too too sufficient proofe wherfore Architas did wisely when he found his seruants in the field to haue committed once a fault and perceiuing himselfe to be greatly mooued therewithall he would not beat them in his ire but said Fortunati estis quod irascor vobis Happie are you that I am angrie with you for otherwise hee would haue beaten them Cicero 4. Tuscul And Athenedorus a wise Philosopher departing from Augustus Caesar and bidding him farewell he left this lesson with him most worthie to be printed in an Emperours breast That when he was angrie he should neither speake nor doe any thing before he had recited the foure and twentie names of the Greeke Alphabet The which lesson Caesar receiued as a most pretious iewell Plutarch in
they will chafe as much for a penny as another man for a pound These men questionlesse haue some little shrubs of pride and vanitie for although the most pleasure in play consisteth in the victorie yet to affect it too much to wrangle to chafe to fret therefore argueth an vnmortified affection the which wise men ought to ouercome because such passions are in very deed childish and vndecent for graue persons Some men wholly consecrat themselues to play either you shall haue them at dice cards bowles or some such game These as vnprofitable members deserue to be cut from the bodie of euery good commonweale for what wise man would tollerat a seruant in his house which did nothing but eat drinke and play They weigh little their soules for if they did doubtlesse they would spend better their time because it seemeth that they were rather created to play than to labour addicting themselues more to the pleasures of the bodie than to the seruice of the soule and most like bruit beasts follow the inordinat appetite of sence more than the right rule of reason These actions proceed from a soule altogether depriued of vertue and replenished with vice which better may be named brutish than reasonable By this it appeareth that those that are addicted much to play are sensuall chafers in play are couetous great gamesters are foolish the first getteth base pleasure the second gaineth great vexation the last winneth pouertie all seeme to loue themselues but doubtlesse all hate their soules I say they seeme to loue their bodies but indeed they are most cruell enemies for they are butchers which feed their calues for slaughter they are fishers who cast a golden hooke with a little alluring bait to catch the fishes for the frying pan they cherish their bodies with a moment of pleasure after to be punished with an eternitie of paine To play too earnestly doth argue pride couetousnesse choller or follie to play too carelesly troubleth good coÌ„pany carieth some sparke of contempt not to play at all proceedeth either from extreame holinesse grauitie hypocrisie or insensibilitie Therefore in game vse the golden meane play not too much nor too seriously nor to great game take it as medicines vse some attention play for a trifle II. Discouery of Passions in feasting GReat feasters and gullars cannot but be subiect to many vices First leacherie springeth from gluttonie because as their seats are neere by scituation so they are subordinat in operation gluttonie is the fore-chamber of lust and lust the inner roume of gluttonie therefore all disorders and tumults raised in the former presently are perceiued in the latter The superfluities of gluttony are norishments to leacherie and great repasts swim vnder the froath of lust wherefore not without reason said some Sine Cerere Baccho friget Venus Lust faileth where good cheere wanteth and almost it is impossible that he should be continent in mind that accustometh to gormandize his belly But I know some will demaund In what consisteth this gluttonie whereunto I answere That gluttons thinke talke and earnestly procure to haue great cheere daintie dishes they eate more than nature requireth at the table they will haue the best and in fine the easiest rule to perceiue them is to note their care and anxity to fare daintily to feast often and therein to delight much Gluttouie causeth not onely lecherie but also blockishnesse and dulnesse of wit Pinguiâ— venter non generat subtilem sensu say the Graecians A fat belly engendreth not a subtile wit for as if a man were drowned in a puddle of mire he could not perceiue the light of the Sunne euen so a soule drowned in meat fat and blood cannot behold the light of God because as Saint Basil noteth Basil in ser de Ieâ—unio when a cloud is interposed betwixt our eyes and the Sunne it hindreth the light from vs euen so there riseth from a gluttonous stomacke a multitude of vapors to the braine which causeth such a mist before the eyes of the soule that shee cannot possibly speculate any spirituall matters concerning her selfe or the glory God Hereupon followeth a rule to bee marked That such men in the heat of their gulling feasts ouershoot themselues extreamely and the excesse of feeding venteth foorth in superfluous speaking for the wit being a little distempered with fumes the tongue breaketh forth into indiscreet words and often they vtter so much in that foolish vaine that afterwardes costeth them both griefe and paine whereas a discreet man obseruing them in such humours might get great aduantage and reape no small commoditie Many more crooked braunches spring from this stemme of gluttony and feasting for hardly at such times they can conceale secrets vpon a full paunch commonly waiteth slouthfulnesse sleepe and ease and except his stocke be good it will soone be spent besides great fare breedeth many diseases for as abundance of doung ingendreth abundance of vermine so abundance of meat abundance of filthie thoughts and pernicious maladies forgluttonie must be the nursse of Physitians since Plures occidit gula quam gladius III. Discouery of Passions in drinking SVperfluitie of meat causeth dulnesse of mind but superfluitie of drinke bereaueth men of wit for as I haue seene in some hospitals of mad men sundry differences of mandnesse so I haue found not vnlike humours of drunkennesse for some are merry mad some melancholy mad some furious others fainting so in drunkennesse some you shall haue merry drunke others dead drunke others raging others casting The Passions from whence this vice proceedeth and whereunto it leadeth are many Drunkennesse groweth of intemperance and causeth lust and vncleane talke Nolite saith the Scripture inebriari vino in quo est luxuria Ehes 5. 18. Be not drunke with wine wherein is lecherie Drunkennesse bereaueth men of reason and for the present time maketh mad To drunkards commit no secrets for experience hath taught vs that many haue reuealed most secret matters when they were drunke for hardly hee can keepe thy secret who cannot keepe his owne wit I heare in high Germany that parents will see men drunke before they marry their daughters vnto them because they wil know to what kind of drunkennesse they are subiect and according to the good or ill qualities if a drunkard can haue good qualities they iudge him conuenient or not for their marriages There is almost no passion in these men that you shall not discouer in their drunkennesse because that reason being buried in them they rule themselues wholly by inordinat appetites and sensitiue apprehension which cannot conceale at such time the verie dregges of their passions And therefore to conclude drunkards haue little feare of God they hurt their bodies they dull their wits they clog the soule with vices they spend their substance they spoyle the common-weale one deuouring more than would suffice for three or foure and finally they are neuer to be trusted with any secret matter for I
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
requested him to auert them Auerte Psal 11. 8. oculos meos ne videant vanitateÌ„ Salomon his sonne inspired by Gods eternall wisedome exhorteth vs to obserue 2. Reg. 11. 1. wherein he himselfe most grossely offended and attend well our eyes and therefore not to looke vpon a woman trimmed and decked vp Auerte faciem tuam a muliere Sap. 9. compta Ieremie putting on the person of many of his carelesse people lamented the losse which was befallen them for not keeping diligently the gates of their eyes Oculus meus depredatus est animaÌ„ meam my eye hath sacked my soule how O holy Prophet can the eye an externall sence rob thy soule of her riches ah it is easie to answere The sence cannot bee free from theft and sinne which openeth the gates letteth the theefe in Wherfore Iob thought to preuent such harmes and dammages and therefore cut off the occasions couenanting with his Iob. 31. eyes that hee would not somuch as thinke of a virgin Pepigi faedus cum oculis meis vt ne cogitarem guidem de virgine And Salomon rendreth a reason hereof Because perhaps he might haue bene scandalized or induced to offend God allured by her beautie Virginem ne conspilias Sap. 9. ne forte scandalizaris in decore illius Questionlesse the holy Ghost in sacred writ would neuer haue so often and so seriously councelled vs vnto a carefull watchfulnesse ouer this sence specially but for some important and waightie reasons For hee well knew that of all sences sight was the surest and certainest of his obiect and sensation no sence rangeth abroad and pierceth the skies like vnto this no sence hath such varietie of obiects to feed and delight it as this no sence imprinteth so firmely his formes in the imagination as this no sence serueth the soule so much for knowledge as this no sence is put so oft in action as this no sence sooner mooueth than this and consequently no sence well guided more profitable to the soule than this nor no sence peruerteth more perilous than this for if the guide be corrupted the followers will hardly escape vninfected Wherefore I would persuade all them that feare God and would auoid occasions of sinnes either not to behold at all such things as may induce them easily to offend or so perfunctorily passe ouer them as they leaue no sting behind them and therfore we are willed not to behold wine when it glistereth and as it were glorieth in the glasse for such alluring sights dart presently into the hart inordinat delights his meaning is we should not demur in sensuall beholding least perhaps ensue too much affectioÌ„ or drinking Epiphanius giueth a very apt morall reason why in the old law when a dead course passed by any house they were commaunded to shut their doores and windowes For saith he by this thou art taught Si audieris vocem Epiphan lib. 1. heres tom 1. heâ—â—s 9. p. q. peccati aut speciem delicti videris claude oculos thos à concupiscentia os à vanitate verborum aurem à prauo sono vt ne mortisicetur tota domus hoc est anima corpus If thou heare the voice of sinne or see the face of offence shut thine eyes from concupiscence and thy mouth from sinfull sounds least all thy house die that is thy body and thy soule For as he addeth after out of the Prophet Mors per fenestras ascendit death ascendeth into the house of our hearts by the windowes of our sences He therefore that intendeth to keepe death from his heart must shut the gates of his sences in the face of sinne For the better performance hereof it is to be considered that passions are not onely mooued by their principall obiects and directly but also by certaine appurtenances apappendices or let me call them for lacke of a better word scraps of the principall obiect indirectly the which appertaine and haue some reference thereunto When Iacob saw the garment of Ioseph sprinkled Gen. 37. with blood it stirred vp in him extreamely the passion Iudith 16. 11. of sorrow The sandals or pantofles of Iudith rauished the eyes of Holophernes Sandalia eius repuerunt oculos eius and hailed his heart to lust The Antiochians were so vexed with certaine extraordinarie exactions the emperour Theodosius imposed vpon them that they for extreame Chry. in variis homil ad populum Antiochâ—uÌ„ spite and anger which the sight of his armes and statues stirred vp in them would no longer endure them in their citie but broke the one and rased the other We see a dog when he cannot or dare not assault him that throweth the stone with whom he is angry runneth to bite the stone and so in part to reuenge his spite Dauid agreeued with the death of Saul and Ionathas cursed the sencelesse mountaines of Gelboe which vpheld their enemies till the Israelits were slaine Montes Gelboe nec 2. Reg. 1. 21. ros nec pluuiae veniant super vos And Iob execrated the day that gaue light when he was borne after hee was plunged into so many miseries Pereat dies in qua natus Iob. 3. 3. sum noxin qua dictuÌ„ est conceptus est homo Raguel wheÌ„ he heard Raphael the Angel tell him how yong Tobie was old Tobies sonne could not absteine from teares the sight of the sonne so mooued and stirred vp the affection he bore to his father the like did Sara his wife and Tob. 7. Anne the daughter And the reason of this enlarged and extensiue affection in passions I thinke proceedeth from the very heart and nature of euery passion For when we loue God our parents or friends we are well pleased and contented with all those treasures of goodnesse honestie wealth and all other perfections they haue and wish them such as beseeme them which they want and this we desire to see performed and reioyce when it is accomplished and therefore since that a man hath many good things of nature as children wife kinsfolke c. and many additions by fortune as seruants horses possessions c. and many prised ornaments as credit glorie fame images statues c. and diuers other things which haue reference and relation vnto him as their master lord and owner and therefore he that loueth intirely his friend loueth all that belongeth vnto his friend and valueth them at that rate it deserueth and his friend priseth them In hatred and enuie contratiwise euery one detesteth not onely the person but also all that appertaineth vnto him for the contrarie reason neither can he abide to see any thing prosper which concerneth him Wherefore Dauid offering his prayer to God requesteth him to defend his innocencie and punish his enemie and not onely his person but also wisheth his children should become orphanes Fiant filij eius orphani Psal 108. and his wife a widow vxor etus vidua That his
wee see it not worke that effect in the teacher which he would stirre vp in the hearer Againe vsually men are more moued with deeds than words reasonable persuations resemble words affectuall passions are compared to deeds Furthermore the passion passeth not onely thorow the eyes but also pierceth the eare and thereby the heart for a flexible and pliable voice accommodated in manner correspondent to the matter whereof a person intreateth conueyeth the passion most aptly pathetically and almost harmonically and euery accent exclamation admiration increpation indignation commiseration abhomination exanimation exultation fitly that is distinctly at time and place with gesture correspondent and flexibilitie of voice proportionat deliuered is either a flash of fire to incense a passion or a bason of water to quench a passion incensed A man therefore furnished himselfe with the passion or affection he wisheth in his auditors shewing it with voice and action although his reasons be not so potent hath no doubt a most potent meane to persuade what he list Wherefore Demosthenes as of all Oratours the prince for action so he defined that the principall part of Cicero in Brut. an Oration was action the second the same the third no other than action Isocrates otherwise called the father of eloquence for lacke of a good voice neuer pleaded publickely Cicero saith some were viri diserti that is very eloquent but for lack of action or rather vntowardnesse habiti sunt infantes they were accounted infants and I haue seene some preachers very meane schollers and in truth otherwise but sillie men yet for that they excelled in action all the world followed them For action is either a certaine visible eloquence or an eloquence of the bodie or a comely grace in deliuering conceits or an externall image of an internall mind or a shaddow of affections or three springs which flow from one fountaine called vox vultus vita voice countenance life that is the affection poureth forth it selfe by all meanes possible to discouer vnto the present beholders and auditors how the actor is affected and what affection such a case and cause requireth in them by mouth he telleth his mind in countenance he speaketh with a silent voice to the eyes with all the vniuersall life and bodie he seemeth to say Thus we moue because by the passion thus we are mooued and as it hath wrought in vs so it ought to worke in you Action then vniuersally is a naturall or artificiall moderation qualification modification or composition of the voice countenance and gesture of bodie proceeding from some passion and apt to stirre vp the like for it seemeth that the soule playeth vpon these three parts as a musition vpon three strings and according to his striking so they sound A number of precepts Oratours prescribe about these three parts and labour extreamly by art to perfit and accomplish the rude indigested motions of nature to them therefore I will leaue the minching of this matter in particularities and onely set downe certaine generalities First although art supplie the defects of nature yet if a man haue not a good naturall habilitie it is impossible by art to come to any perfection for this manner of motion The reason hereof is manifest because as in musick he that wanteth a tunable voice by nature although he otherwise excell in the art of musicke yet it were lesse paine to heare him say than sing And I haue knowne most exquisit musitians vnable to sing aptly fiue notes so in action he that wanteth a good voice a good nimble eye a proportionat bodie and other parts naturall may speak with reason but neuer almost aptly for persuasion indeed if the habilities of nature be not very vntoward art may correct many defects of nature as Demosthenes had a little lisping at first but by labour and diligence amended Isocrates impediments were incorrigible and therefore all his labour had been lost if he had emploied himselfe to acting Secondly he that will act well must of necessitie stir vp first that affect in himselfe he intendeth to imprint in the hearts of his hearers and the more vehement the passion is the more excellent action is like to ensue The reason is for as I said aboue the voice eyes and gestures sound without as the heart striketh within and therfore the vehementer passion venteth forth the liuelier action Yet here must one or two cautions be considered First in ire and indignation that the passion and action relish not of some priuat quarell or reuenge for then it leeseth all the force and grace of persuasion because the passion smelleth then of proper interest and vtilitie and consequently will be accounted inordinate and vitious Secondly in feare and sadnesse that they render not the actions vile and abiect for then the passion will rather be occasion or cause to smother and kill them than to reuiue and animate them Thirdly euery part of action ought to expresse the mind as grauely as prudently as solidly as may be The reason is because he that publickely intendeth to persuade must be esteemed a wise and a good man wisedome must make the auditors beleeue he erreth not vpon ignorance honestie must induce them to thinke hee will not lie therefore all his actions ought to be prudent and graue for if they be any way light or rash then presently he will be suspected either not to haue premeditated maturely his matter or not to regard what he saith or not to be so setled in vertue and knowledge as such an important matter requireth for leuitie and rashnesse at least argue imprudence inconsideration immortification and precipitation which all are capitall enemies to deepe consulation specially in matters which concerne persuasion to vertue or dissuasion from vice exhortation to goodnesse or dehortation from ilnesse Wherefore in action all leuitie must be auoided In voyce that the words be not pronounced too fast nor any light or scurilous word enter in In face that the eye range not abroad vagabond like nor be tossed or turned too lightly that the oratour make no faces writhing of mouth wrinkling of nose or too much shaking of head Ingesture no tickling with fingers quickly wresting of the bodie light going or much gestiâ—ulation Fourthly he ought to endeuour that euery part of action immitate as liuely as may be the nature of the passion Sextus Philosophus said our bodie was imago animi because the maners of the soule followed the temper of the body and therfore he that knew perfitly this could not be ignorant of that so the actions of the bodie shold be in a perfit persuader an image of the passion in the mind But how shal this be performed Two general rules at this present occurre vnto my memorie not very hard to be learned but exceeding profitable to be practised The first is that we looke vpon other men appassionat how they demeane themselues in passions and obserue what and how they speake in mirth sadnesse ire
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
and benefits vpon mâ— and this I perceiued not to bee a thing proper to men alone but also incident to beasts who loue and fawne vpon their benefactors When I lifted vp mine â—ies to thee and considered the meat I eat the drinke I dranke the cloathes I wore the aire I breathed the sences I vsed the life I enioied the wit wherewith I reasoned the will wherewith I affected all were thy dayly gifts hourely momently yea instantly by thy prouident hand vpheld and maintained I concluded with my selfe that of all benefactors thou was the best and therefore deserued to be loued most and for that euery instant I wholly in bodie and soule life and being depended vpon thee so in euery instant if it were possible I should consecrate my selfe intirely with a most gratefull remonstrance and recognition of thy benefits bestowed vpon me When yeares grew vpward and reason riper in reading antient prophane and sacred writers I found in them certaine worthie men highly commended and celebrated here a Salomon for wisedome a Dauid for valour a Hercules an Achilles an Alexander a Caesar a Scipio an Hanniball a Constantine in panigericall Orations in heroicall verses blazed abroad to all the world present and registred for record to all posteritie as Third motiue Excellencie valiant captaines prudent gouernours glorious Heroes mirrors and maiesties for their times in the world And it seemed to me that my heart was drawne to loue affect such personages for albeit I admired their eminencie aboue the rest yet I know not how but such an excellencie wrung out and enforced a reuerent affection in my breast for I esteemed them worthie of loue whom so many wise men thought worthie of admiration and reputed as worthies of the world Afterwards with the eies of my consideration I glanced O my God of infinit perfection vpon thee all these renowned Heroes resembled to my sight so many mirmicoleons or lions amoÌ„gst emmets who surpasse them a little in greatnes and force in comparison of lions indeed for might and Olyphants for immensitie nay lesse for what are all monarchs and mights compared to thee but folia quae vento rapiuntur Iob. 13. dried and withered leaues blowne abroad with dust in the wind with a blast of thy mouth they are blowne downe from their regall thrones withered with diseases dispersed in sepulchres consumed to dust and euery moment wheÌ„ it pleafeth thee annihilated reduced to nothing What hath their power to doe with thine omnipotencie their base excellencie with thy supreme maiestie their prudence policie stratagems with thine infinit wisedome and incomprehensible counsels Ah my God of boundlesse blessednesse as the highest pitch of their preheminence is vile vassalage compared to thee so thy loue should disdaine not onely to be equalled but also conferred with theirs The further I passed the more obiects alluring to loue 4. Motiue Beautie I discouered for beautie of bodies the glorie of nature the glimpse of the soule a beame of thy brightnesse I see so inticed mens senses inueagled their iudgements led captiue their affections and so rauished their minds that such hearts were more present in thoughts desires with such bodies where they liked and loued than with that bodie wherein they soiourned and liued And what was this beautie which so fed their appetites it could not be certainely any other thing than the apt proportion and iust correspondence of the parts and colours of visible bodies which first delighted the eye and then contented the mind not vnlike the harmony of proportionable voices and instruments which seed the eare and health which issueth from the iust proportion temper of the foure humors and some daintie tast which ensueth from the mixture of diuers delicat meats compounded in one This harmony of mortall bodies O my God the beauty of beauty hath disconsorted and consequently deformed many an immortall soule Thou neither hast bodie nor parts and therefore art thou not beautifull Why then didst thou say pulchritudo agri mecum est the beautie Psal 39. Isay 66. of the field is with me and in me If thou didst argument profoundly and conclude infallibly that thou wast not Psal 73. Luck 12. barren who imparted fecunditie to others questionlesse thou must by right reason be beautifull who deckes and adornes the poore lillies in the field with a more glorious mantle than euer couered the corps of sage Salomon for all his treasures wisdome Thou wantest grosle massie terrene corruptible parts wherein according to our materiall sensuall conceits beautie consisteth but thy beauty transcendeth this infinitly more than all the world the least graine of sand which lieth vpon the Ocean shoare For thy harmonie thy consort thy proportion springeth from the admirable vnion of all thy perfections all thy creatures produced and producible in thee are vnited the lambe and the lion fire and water whitenesse and blacknesse pleasure and sadnesse without strife or contention without hurt or iniurie in a diuine harmonie and most amiable beautie dwell reside and liue in thee Some philosophers said truly albeit not so plainely as all common people could perceiue them That thou wast a centre out of which issued innumerable lines they meant thy creatures the further they extended from thee the further they were disunited among themselues and the neerer they approched vnto thee more strictly they were linked together and at last all vnited and identified in thee their centre last end and rest Gardens and fields are beautifull pallaces cities prouinces kingdomes bodies of men and women the heauens the angels and in fine the whole vniuersall world framed in number weight and measure all parts keeping their places order limits proportion and naturall harmonie all these in particular in themselues and combined in one are inameled with a most gratious vagisnesse lustre and beautie all which proceeded from thee and resideth in thee and are comprised in a far more sublime and eminent degree in thee than in themselues or than an angell of gold containeth in value ten shillings of siluer for in themselues they are limited in essence and kept within the narrow bounds and bankes of naturall perfection but these little riuers ioined in thee find an illimitate and boundlesse sea wherein they haue neither bottome nor bound What shall I say of you three three sacred persons in Trinitie distinguished really and yet indistinct essentially doth not this distinction cause a difference and this admirable vnion an inexplicable consonance Are not your three persons hypostases or subsistences the infinit bounds lists and limits of an interminat immensiue and endlesse essence Are not these the borders of your beautie your attributes of bountie simplicitie vnitie veritie eternitie immensitie impassibilitie wisdome prouidence omnipotency charity iustice mercie clemencie benignitie magnificencie in some sort distinguished yet really the same perfection are your blessed intellectuall face those amiable colours that glorious beautie that maiestical countenance that
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
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
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
reputeth yron as strawes and brasse like rotten wood who swalloweth slouds and exspecteth that the whole River of Iordan should runne into his mouth Yet armed Iob. 41. 18. 40. 18. Vide Marâ— 1. 26. 5. 2. 9. 26. Luc. 8. 29. the forces of the Devill his craft 1. Reg. 13. 19. 2. Esd 4. 11. with thy protection I feare not to prostrate him as David that mighty tower of flesh the vncircumcised Philistian who boasted against the God of Israel For in Deo meo transgrâ—diar murum I will pierce even the stony walles by the power and force of my God Si exurgant adverfum me castra non timebit cor meum If whole Camps assault me my heart will not feare for I know O omnipotent God that love thee as I should thine almighty hand will vphold me in all dangers and strengthen me in all assaults Sweet God enable me therefore with thy love for the surest Castell Galat. 5. 6. 1. Pet. 5. 8. against the Devill is a faith working with charity and the Devils bullets of battery against this fort are suggestions 2. Cor. 12. 7. working with concupiscence or selfe-love and sensualitie The 15. and 16. Motives to Love which are delivery from evill and toleration of wrongs for vs. GOodnes or true love principally by foure meanes are discovered first in bountifully giving gifts and bestowing benefits as Alexander the great who herein so excelled that in all occasions he woon eternall fame and incomparable love of all that delt with him for his magnificent deportment in powring forth his treasures and no doubt but that common verse more true then olde was penned for this and many more such like experiences to wit Si quis in hoc mundo vult cunctis gratus haberi Det capiat quaeratâ— plurima pauca nihil He that to all will heere be gratefull thought Must give accept demaund much little nought Secondly in not punishing or revenging iniuries wheÌ„ they be offered wherefore Saul vnderstanding that David whom he so mightily persecuted got him at such advantage as that if it had pleased him to have revenged so many wrongs offered him by Saul he might with as much facilitie have bereaved him in the cave of his life as Saul had desire to dispoyle him of his lyfe I say after 1 Reg. 24 cap. 26. that Saul vnderstood the revengelesse heart of David levavit vocem suam slevit hee wept for ioy and apertly confessed his vertue love kindnes and withall acknowledged his owne iniustice and iniquitie Thirdly in riddance and delivery from evill when Iudith entred into Bethulia with Holophernes head and Iudith 1â— by that meanes had redeemed her Countrie from the extreme danger of the Assyrian Hoast which of that people had not occasion sufficiently offered to love admire Ester 7. 8. and adore her After that Ester had procured the death of Hamman and the reclaime of that bloody Edict Assuerus at Hammans suggestion had sent abroad to be executed thorow all the kingdoms of the Medes and Persians what Iew had not there a most forcible motive to love and reverence that godly Queene which so wisely so couragiously so effectually had saved their lives and restored them to former libertie The same wee may say of Moses who ridde the Israelites from the thraldom of Egypt and of Iosua and Sampson who divers times defended their people from the hostile furie and invasion of their enemies and for this cause such noble Generalls among the Romanes were intituled Patres Patriae Fathers of the Countrie because they as Fathers had defended it and therefore deserved to be reputed and loved as Fathers Fourthly in tollerating wrongs crosses disasters afflictions for vs. This Veritie we finde recorded in holy Writ Maiorem charitatem nemo habet quam vt animam ponat quis pro amicis suis No man can shew more love then by powring out his life for his friend if then any suffer wrongs for our cause the neerer they approch to death the neerer they border vpon the most perfite remonstrance of Love and consequently are more forcible to cause or encrease kindnesse and affection When Saint Paule persecuted the Christians in the primitive Church Christ for whose cause they endured such persecutions accounted their ignominies his iniuries and therefore said Saule Saule cur me persequeris Saul Saul why dost thou persecute me as though his servants harmes were his hurts Who dishonoureth an Ambassadour but his King reputeth the iniurie offered vnto his Person who revileth a servant sent from his Lord but his Master will thinke therein his honour stayned wherefore as Christs Apostles and Disciples Ambassadors or Servants wrongs redound to their disgrace that sent them and in very deed they ought so to esteeme them as done to themselves because they plead and negotiate the Senders causes and affaires and in some sorte represent their persons even so whosoever handleth or dealeth in our behalfe and thereby incurreth any disgrace in honour wealth or body for vs ought to be reputed our friend in furthering our causes and negotiations and have repayred all the dammages he suffered in our defence Whosoever then suffereth for our cause wee account as innocent and to suffer wrongfully therefore wee condole with him and no doubt but love him Secondly such an one is violently bereaved of some good for our good which cannot but argue an extraordinary good will towards vs and consequently an apt motive to move vs to love Thirdly if that Position of Aristotle be true that we love them Arist. 2. Rheâ— cap. 4. which tell and confesse sincerely their faults and offences for as Thomas Aquinas noteth such men shut the doore to all fiction and dissimulation and therefore are thought vpright and so deserve to be loved Certainly they that suffer any dammage or danger of dammage for vs exclude all fiction or dissimulation and really proove they love vs affectually and not superficially and therefore deserve to be beloved reciprocally O my sweete Saviour and impassible God! who by Divine nature art incapable of dammage griefe sorrow or disgrace of whom well we may say Non accedet ad te malum nec slagellum appropinquabit Tabernaculo tuo Psal 90. Evill shall never come neere thee nor any scourge approch to thy Tabernacle Yet to ridde me and all mankinde from evill thou abased thy selfe almost to the abysse of nothing factus vermis non homo opprobrium hominum abiectio plebis A worme and not a man the scorne of men and the scomme of the people Whether shal I say was greater and deserved more love the evill thou hast endured for mee or the evill from which thou hast delivered me My payne from whence thou hast ridde mee should have beene infinite in durance and thy payne sustained for mee was infinite in dignitie my soule and body were most cruelly in hell to have beene tormented and thy body and soule vpon 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
proportion that a man be sicke it is enough that one humour onely exceede that an harmony of Musicke be good all partes must keepe tune time and apt concordance that it be badde one iarring voyce will disconsort all in like manner that a man be honest and good is required that hee be endued with all Vertues to be nought or baâ—â—e it is sufficient he be a drunkard a theefe a whoremasâ—â—â— an vsurer or infected with any one vice c. Wherefore honest love supposing a man to be vertuous absolutely thereupon groundeth most effects of kindnesse and therefore the contrarieties thereof will not so aptly moove hatred as some other particular considerations for example wee determined that tolleration of wrongs mooveth a man to love the contrary of this will hardly stirre vp hatred for if wee grant that him we hate refused to suffer any wrongs for vs but avoyded them with mayne might we may well conclude he doth not greatly love vs but violently we should inferre therefore that hee deserved hatred and so I say of some others therefore for more perspicuity and that wee may find out more vrgent arguments to induce men to hatred the case is to be sifted a little more narrowly In hatred of enmitie we detest the person as stayned with evill sinne vice or wickednes for which we wish him iustly punished wherefore all these reasons which induce vs to conceive the greatnesse of his offence or the indignitie of the person or ill demeanour of his life towards God in himselfe or his neighbour all these aboundantly will excite hatred against him Sometimes occasion wil be offered to moove the passion of hatred against some particular person as to inveigh against a Traytour or publike enemie to the State or our selves otherwhiles against a whole State as Turkes Iewes Pagans Heretikes Rebelles against a Common-wealth or some Kingdome which warreth with vs and as these evilles are different so by divers meanes we must perswade our auditors or friends to hate them A private person may be brought into contempt and hatred by Motives gathered from these three Principles His Ingresse into this world His Progresse of life His Egresse or death His Ingresse § 1. 1 IF his Parents were base wicked or infected with any notorious vice if deformed in body or marked by any monstruositie of Nature 2 If the manner of his begetting was vnlawfull as Bastardy and herein be divers degrees of fornication adulterie incest sacrilege 3 If he were born at such a time as the influence of the heavens had some extraordinary action in the tempring of his body as dog daies or at what time his father was in prison for some demerit or in time of great plagues or diseases or commotion in the common-weale 4 If he were borne in a bad place as a wicked Country among vitious people if in a City treacherously inclined or hath bin branded with any notorious vice or persons infamous 5 If his mother in her childing died or was tormeÌ„ted in bringing him into the world with more vehement pangues then women commonly suffer or if before his birth his good father dyed as though God would not vouchsafe to let the wicked child behold his fathers face or presently after hee was borne wherein God shewed him a most speciall grace to take him away betime lest his wicked sonne had caried his grey hayres with sorow to his grave 6 If in the childish yeeres he accustomed to steale lie sweare or were addicted to any vice which shewed the first buddes of a blasted body and corrupted soule But some will obiect as I have heard divers what fault have I if my Parents bee vicious and base And what commendation is thine if thy parents bee vertuous and noble and yet who is hee that had not rather have beene borne of vertuous then vicious noble then ignoble Progenitors That is no fault but a staine this no vertue but an ornament men know full well that waters which runne thorow stinking soyles carrie an vnsavory smell and that winds and vapours drawne from infected places are plaguie messengers to many Countries in like manner Parents naturall propensions to wickednesse imprint for most part in their children a certaine resemblance wherefore as these externall respects be not invincible arguments to convince a vitious nature or a corrupted soule so when in the progresse of life we infallibly discover an exorbitant badde carriage and brutish demeanour then we may well inferre that the first staines and infections were ominous presages of future malice as if Nature had foreseene what an infamous guest was to lodge in that body and therefore prepared a lodging correspondent Adam had a Caine Abraham an Ismael Isaac an Esau Iacob a Dan David an Absolon and many godly Parents vngodly children which argueth manifestly that neither good nature in Parents for what bodies could bee more perfit then those of Adam and Heua wholy framed by Gods owne handes and consequently could have no defect nor vertuous example nor provident instructions can suffice to withdraw a man from wickednesse if his wicked will intendeth to follow it What have not many Bastards prooved well Yes but more have prooved ill and consequently wee may presume they will become rather vitious then vertuous for as the Cannon law well noteth such children are Ca. sigens d. 56 not brought vp with like care and vigilance of their Parents as other legitimate and commonly such spurious ympes follow the steppes of their bad parents His Progresse § 2. THe persons whome wee intend to moove to hatred That vice should most be amplified which the auditors most detest ought to be considered well before wee represent vnto them the filthinesse of the mans vice for which we intend to make him odious vnto them for such is the corruption of some companies as great sinnes with them are little accounted for example he that would disgrace a souldier in the Campe by vehemently exaggerating the mans fornication should little prevayle or a Merchant among Merchants for vsury in taking ten in the hundred or drunkennesse among the Dutch men and such like offences before such persons who eyther will boast of them or defend them or at least extenuate the deformity of them wherefore in every company that vice specially must bee noted which among these men is most detested as treachery and cowardlinesse among souldiers bloud and cruelty among Citizens all sortes of heynous offences among grave sober iudicious and vertuous hearers As in every vertue there is a lowe degree a meane Intension of vice and an excellent for there be beginners goers forward and perfite incipientes proficientes perfecti Likewise in every vertue there is a supreame excellency rare singular and admirable in temperance virginity in fortitude apert perilles of death in prudence present resolutions deepe councell in affaires of greatest importance as manage of States and governement of Kingdomes In iustice neyther to spare friend father
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
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
of infections of fits of agues theyr causes courses continuances whence-from proceedeth the indeficient regular and irregular beating of the pulse the substance scituation correspondence and vse of all partes of a mans body the conversion dispersion perfection and alteration of blood No man I thinke can be learned who may not plainely perceyve what an infinite matter I have propounded here of knowledge and yet how little even the wisest know This subiect would have bin more apparant if I had interlaced these questions with diversities of opinions and confirmed each one with the best grounds and arguments but this curious sort of discourse I leave to Schooles Onely I will inferre our extreme Ignorance that few or none of these difficulties which concerne vs so neere as our soules and bodies are throughly as yet in my iudgement declared even of the profoundest wits for I know not how their best resolutions leave still our Vnderstandings drye thirsting for a clearer and fresher Fountaine VII Ignorance and Errours in knowing base Creatures BYt no doubt God is of infinite Maiestie our soules immateriall spirits our bodies thereunto proportionated and therefore there may be some excuse pretended of this Ignorance the obiects are too noble our capacities too feeble the meanes to attayne vnto such knowledge too difficult our Soule dwelleth in the tabernacle of flesh blood it is drowned in humors and fatnes it is blinded with vapours mists it sees thorow carnall windowes and cloudy spectacles Well I admit this ignorant answere but at least if we cannot vnderstand those things which be above vs our selves and those which be equall with vs wee shall comprehend and fully conceyve all those Creatures beneath which serve and obey vs. But alas our Ignorance is not here finished for I know not whether I may better say men are ignorant of all things in generall or know nothing in particular for in trueth there is no Creature in the world that wee perfectly comprise and vnderstand I now leave the Heavens the Starres the Planets the Birds of the ayre the Fishes of the Sea the Beasts of the Land and wil take one of the least creatures which creepeth vpon the earth and thereby convince our Ignorance Basil epi. 168. quae est ad Eunomium as Saint Basil convinced the boasting presumption of Eunomius the heretike who vaunted that he knew GOD and his Divinity and that shall be a very Emmet so little in body so base in substance of so small account yet I say that no man how learned soever can satisfie those demaunds which may be propounded about this contemptible beast 1 Whether it breatheth or no. 2 If those little corps be vpheld with bones 3 If those small members be lincked together with sinewes or chayned with strings 4 If those sinewes be fortified with muscles 5 Whether downe the backe Nature extendeth a chayne plyable to turning or bending 6 Whether thorow the chain passeth a white marow 7 Whether the sinowy membranes impell the rest of the body 8 Whether it hath a Lyver or no. 9 Whether in the Lyver a receptacle of Choler 10 Whether a heart 11 Whether kidneis 12 Whether arteries 13 Whether veines 14 Whether skinnes 15 Whether a traverse or midriffe 16 Whether is it bare or hayrie 17 Whether single or cloven footed 18 How long liveth it 19 After what manner is it begotten 20 How long dwelleth it in the wombe 21 Why do not al creep but some fly some creepe All these questions are mooved by S. Basil and hee concludeth thus Si minutissimae formicae naturam nondum cognitione apprehendisti quomodo incomprehensibilis dei vim te imaginari gloriaris If thou canst not comprise by knowledge the nature of the least Emmet how gloriest thou to imagine the power of the incomprehensible God These questions onely concerne the body of an Emet but many more might be demaunded and ten times more about the sensitive soule yet these suffice to declare the weakenesse of our Vnderstanding Yea I will adde an other consideration of no smaller importance then the rest that although as wee see by dayly experience many men study night and day poring forth their braines and eies vpon their bookes yet I am of opinion that if we could see the opinions even of the best learned man in the world with as plaine perspicuitie as we discerne blacke from white wee should find in his vnderstanding more errours then truethes more falsities then verities more ignorances then sciences more that ought to be forgotten then is well learned finally more chaffe then corne I alwayes except matters of faith and religion The reasons which induce me to this opinion are these First I see such varieties of opinions even among the profoundest wittes that ever the worlde yeelded whose writings are extant about the selfe samething one contradicting and condemning another both bringing strong reasons to confirme their opinions one or both must needes erre the Trueth being one and indivisible Secondly I perceyve the same profound Scholers at one time defending with many reasons one opinion and after with as great boldnesse impugning the same retracting the former And why I pray you may they not erre the second time as well as the first for I warrant you they thought they had as great evidence assurance before as they presently possesse And why may they not as well reclayme agayne as they did before You will say secundae cogitationes be prudentiores and wise men recall their former errors And I pray you are not tertiae and quartae prudentissimae After a sleepe vpon the pillow many correct their dayly thoughts doth not one day teach another Wherefore I see no reason why wise men may not in their retractation as wel erre as in their former assent Thirdly the Scriptures seeme to insinuate little lesse Cunctae res difficiles non potest homo Eccles 1. eas explicare sermone All things are difficult neither can man declare them with speech and after speaking of God he saith mundū tradidit c. he delivered the world Idem cap. 3. to their disputation that man should not finde out the work which God had wrought from the beginning to the end VIII Curiositie in knowing things not necessarie AN other generall defect and imperfection proceeding from Nature corrupted and tending to corruption followeth all the Sonnes of Adam and that is a certaine naturall curiosity a diligent inquisition of other mens actions and an extreame negligence in our owne moale-hilles in other men seeme mountaynes and craggie rockes in our selves smooth rushes other mens faults be before our eyes but our owne behinde our backs It is a world to see with what rigor and partialitie men censure others actions with what smooth countenance they conceale their owne defects Let vs not looke any further but to David who never was angrie with himselfe for killing Vrias and abusing his wife but straitwayes after that Nathan had propounded
that errours once drunke vp are quickly converted into nature and consequently sealed vp with vitious habites X. Of Distractions AS the earth vnmanured bringeth foorth brambles and briars with many stincking weedes and manured also springeth forth here and there darnell and cockle even so our vnderstanding if it be ill guided yeeldeth not only vayne discourses if it be ill guided yeeldeth not only vayne discourses but also in the middest of most serious meditations it blasteth foorth many impertinent distractions what exercise can be more holy than prayer and where occurre more impertinent thoughts than in the heate of such an holy exercise the which imperfection Saint Ierome feeling and Hieron in dial go adversus Lu. â—serianos lamenting sayd Nunc creberrimè c. Now most often in my prayer I walke in galleries now I reckon my gaines or withdrawne by some vncleane thought I do those things which are shamefull to be spoken Abraham could not offer sacrifice vnto God but with one hand he was constrayned to warde his offring from the molestfull crowes which were about him ready to carry it away Alas how often do the infernall kites seize vpon our soules and hinder the holy sacrifices of our prayers by impertinent thoughts In the depth of studies how oft do we proove that idle cogitations distract our minds and inforce them to wander in forraine countries in such sort as although the body be consistent in one place yet the soule runneth like a vagâ—ant person or rather slieth from country to country and almost in a moment sayleth over the immensive Ocean Sea wherevpon ensueth that the vse of a mans soule lieth not in his owne hands because his actions be subiect vnto so many interruptions which proceede eyther from the malignitie of the Divell the vehemence of some passion a strong imagination and deepe impression or an inconstant mind desirous of varietie and alteration The Defects and Imperfections of our Willes NOt only the land by the vniversall course of God was plagued with sterilitie and vnprofitable ofsprings but also the Sea bordering vpon the Land with horrible tempests mists rocks shelves and other miserable dangers whereupon poore Marriners miscarrie even so not only our vnderstanding by that bitter Apple which edged all mens teeth was distasted by ignorance and infected with errours but also our wills were troubled with tempests of wicked inclinations and shelves of vitious perversitie whereupon soules perish and fall into eternall calamitie Difficultie to do well ONe huge rocke I finde in this vast Ocean of our boundlesse Will common to all men and wherevnto all others may be reduced yet not in like degree I meane an exceeding difficultie to do well our vnderstandings I confesse must labor to find out the truth but no labour to be compared with the labor to do good few beasts you have which do themselves more ill than good and as few men which do themselves not more ill than good Were it not a miracle to see a mightie huge stone ascend by it selfe above all the cloudes or the Sunne descend to the earth Yes doubtlesse but why were this a myracle Because a stone by nature is inclined to descend and the Sunne to rowle about the world therefore it were a wonder to see them move against their owne inclinations As great and as strange a marvell it might seeme to see our wills so prone to vice to descend to the vayne pleasures and delights of the flesh because these motions are most opposite to their naturall and principall inclination for no wise man can be ignorant how the chiefest force of our will bendeth to follow the rule of reason prosecute vertue and honestie detest vice and iniquitie therefore to follow vertue is connaturall to affect vice a vitious miracle Notwithstanding we daily try what difficultie we find in the narrow way to goodnes and what extreame facilitie in the broad way of wickednes for one man that is vertuous how many thousands are vitious Whereupon commeth this notable excesse Of the extreme difficultie meÌ„ find in doing well which deterreth the most part of them from it the rootes of vertue sayeth one are bitter and therefore delicate lips will not taste them well-willers of vertue must resist flesh and blood which worldlings so beastly pamper and cruelly cherrish Yet I know some would desire to vnderstand from whence proceedeth this wonderfull difficultie â— we all prove to do well the reason which may moove a man to doubt questionlesse deserveth good consideration for if we that be Christians well expend what meanes we have to do good and what to do ill we shall finde that these be fewer in number and weaker in force and efficacie then the other the which I thought good briefly to set downe partly to declare our wilfulnes and perversitie who having so many meanes will not vse them partly to remember the Reader that hereafter he may benefit himselfe of them and be confounded for his misdemeanour in them We are moved to do well First by the law of nature imprinted in our harts like a lanterne or a torch to direct vs in the darkenes of the continuall night of this miserable life 2 Our will principally bendeth to follow this lawe as our hands and feet the direction of our eyes 3 The remorce of conscience which in the very act of sinning keepeth the watch of our soules adviseth vs by barking that enimies are present and after that we have sinned how the wall is broken and consequently opened to the invasion of infernall theeves 4 The infamie and discredit which waiteth vpon vice for such aversion all men by nature carry in theyr minds from sinne that no man can esteeme in his heart or love truely any vitious man 5 We see in every good common-weale vertuous men preferred esteemed and accounted of and therefore honos alit artes why then should not credit and reputation nourish and augment vertue 6 By naturall discourse a man may well perceive how the oyle of his carnall Lampe dayly consumeth the naturall heate vanisheth death approacheth and therefore why should not the vicinitie and certaintie of death cause him to leade a vertuous life 7 All states and kingdomes ordered by lawes and governed by reason appoynt punishments for vices according to their qualities for what meane prisons stocks fetters gives racks gallowes hatchets but to warne vs that their creation was for sinnes extirpation 8 Nothing can have more force to allure a man to do well than the peace and tranquillitie of the minde a quiet and serene conscience is iuge convivium this we gayne by vertue this we leese by vice 9 The Infidels brought vp in the mistie fogges of infidelity conceived a terrour of their gods iudgement thinking them ready to punish their sins and condemne their offences which feare even nature teacheth vs when we offend that God being most iust will not permit vnpunished iniustice 10 And did not the same Infidells expect Elizian
fields as Paradises of pleasure wherein was layd by the author of nature a reward for those who had not abused nature but grace being above nature affordeth vs more motives to vertue more helps to flie vice 11 What adamant heart can be so hardned with vice that the blood of Christ shall not breake why was he drawne vp the Crosse but to draw vs to vertue from vice Why cryed he longe à salute mea verba delictorum but because he crucified indeede our sinnes in his owne body which in vaine before without vertue of this passion had been washed with blood of goats and calves 12 The Sacraments of his Church those fountaines of grace those conduits of his passion those heavenly medicines those linckes and chaynes wherewith the members of Christes church are vnited in religion for what other effect were they instituted than for the watering of our soules to the encrease of vertue and the whole supplanting of vice 13 The internall gifts of God the armour of Faith Hope and Charitie with graces and favors wherewith the holy ghost endueth our soules fortifie vs against vice and habilitate exceedingly to vertue 14 The manifold inspirations of God the illustrations of his holy Angels which stand in battell aray to defend vs tend to no other end than to perswade vs to vertue and disswade vs from vice 15 Why hath God provided so many teachers and preachers but to be so many watchmen over the house of Israel to cry like Trumpets and blaze the sinnes of the house of Iacob lest by wallowing in wickednesse they reclaime no more to goodnesse 16 The holy scriptures were written with the finger of God as Registers of his eternall will letters of love to invite vs to vertue and threatnings of ire to dehort vs from vice therein by more sure authoritie he delivereth vnto vs whatsoever he had written more obscurely in the booke of Nature perswading directing counselling to goodnes pietie and religion disswading diverting threatning and terrifying from vice impietie and vngodlines wherefore one of the chiefest scopes for which the sacred Volume was sent from Heaven was to make vs decline from evill and do good dye to old Adam and live with Christ crucifie sinne and follow vertue 17 God by his infinite wisedome and charitie gave vs not only teachers in words but also actors in deeds not only them who filled our eares with godly perswasions but also them which represented vertue most lively to our eyes with good examples and holy actions so were the lives of Saintes in all ages as so many Orig. libr. 1. in Iob Grego ibid. Starres which gave vs light how to walke in the darkenesse of this life and so many spurres to pricke vs forward that we should not linger in so divine a voyage Their fervent charitie reprehendeth our tepiditie their diligence in Gods service our negligence their watching and praying our sluggishnes and indevotion 18 If there were a Kings sonne of most beautifull countenance and divine aspect resembling his father as much as a sonne could doe who would not iudge this Prince both inhumane and mad if he would cut mangle and disgrace his owne face with grieslie woundes and vgly formes What an iniurie were this against his father what an offence against all his parents Even such crueltie vse sinners to themselves and God because by sinning they deface and mangle that lively Image of the holy Trinitie drawne by God himselfe in the substance of theyr soules and so are iniurious not onely to themselves but also to their God their Father their King the holy and individed Trinitie 19 Who spoyleth Gods Temple is accounted irreligious who prophaneth his Church is thought sacriligious and who but he which hath lost all sparks of pietie dare adventure to attempt so heinous a crime Yet Vitious adventure and performe it they prophane their bodyes and soules they fell them to lust and wickednesse they expell the holy ghost from them they put him forth of his iust possession which he holdeth over them as a Father by vertue and after by wicked deserts enforce him as a iudge like prisoners to iayle them by iustice 20 Those which live in Christs true Catholike Church by communion of Saints enioy an other meane to doe well and that is the common prayers and supplications of the faithfull which beate continually at the gates of Gods mercy and doubtlesse returne not voyde agayne for many petitions God hardly can deny 21 A dioyne hereunto the supernaturall providence of God which feedeth the foule of the ayre and cloatheth the lillies of the field the which being so carefull of vnreasonable creatures what shall we thinke he doth to the faithfull questionlesse he neither will sleepe nor slumber that watcheth the house of Israel he will keepe his servants as the apple of his eye he will give them meate in due season he will finally sustaine their weakenesse erect them if they fall direct them if they erre succour them if they want refresh them in the heates of concupiscences mittigate the tempests of their temptations moderate the waves of wicked occasions 22 The horrible paines of Hell thundred in holy Writ the weeping and gnashing of teeth the woorme which will gnaw perpetually vpon the very heart of the soule with remorce of conscience those inextinguible flames of infernall fornaces that cruell hatred of griesly Divels and vgly hell-hounds those remedilesse paines and torments without hope of recoverie remission or mittigation and above all that privation and losse of the sight of the face of God prepared for all those that would serve him in sanctitie and holinesse of life all these evils certainely to be incurred I thinke might move sufficiently any wise man to looke about him what he doth whether he goeth what reckoning he must make for these be not May-games or Esops fables but sacred truths registred in Scriptures dayly put in execution hourely felt and of every wicked man to be prooved 23 If God had onely terrified vs from sinne with inexplicable paynes every discreete man might have had sufficient cause to abhorre it but besides having invited vs to vertue by promising ineffable ioyes who can now excuse vs what can we pretend With reward he pricks vs forward with torments he drawes vs backward he bridles our wantonnesse with one and spurres on our slouthfulnesse with the other 24 Vertue of it selfe even naked if neither reward had been promised nor punishment threatned might sufficiently have mooved vs to love her and follow her because she carrieth such a shew of honestie such internall beautie such a grace and excellencie that her possession may be thought a sufficient remuneration 25 The horrible punishments mentioned in Scriptures inflicted for sinne even in this life if we had grace might inforce vertue vpon vs for what cast Adam out of Paradise Sinne what wounded him in nature and spoyled him of grace Sinne what drowned the world Sinne what rained fire and
brimstone from heaven vpon those infamous citties of Sodome and Gomorrha Sinne many examples more I could bring out of the old Testament as deaths of private men Princes submersions of armies dispersions of Countries mortalitie of thousands famin warres plagues captivities and imprisonments for no other cause inflicted than wickednesse and sinne but let vs only fixe our eies vpon the Sonne of God nayled vpon the Crosse and we shall see how sinne mangled his body and afflicted his soule those nayles teares streames of blood exclamations gall and paines are monuments of sinne and memories of our perverse and wicked life 26 Above all other evils incident to an evill life of great force to restraine our vntoward willes from vice is the extreame iniurie we offer to God by sinne transgressing his lawe perverting his order disposition and providence iniuring his infinite goodnes which ought of all creatures to be beloved despising his Maiestie to which as to their last end all men ought to direct their actions And finally shewing our selves vngratefull to his love the which ought to be affected with all submission obedience and gratitude 27 What can more deterre men from wickednesse then their owne private losse or move them more to vertue then their owne present gaine By vice our soules are spoyled of their riches their most precious robes heavenly attire by vertue they are apparelled by vice they are wounded even to the centre by vertue they are healed by vice they are impoverished by vertue enriched by vice they are defiled by vertue cleansed by vice they become dennes of devils by vertue seates of Angels 28 But some will obiect the soule is spirituall and her losses cannot so well be perceived but if we had some palpable sensible motives to draw vs from vice to vertue then the case would be altered But sensible reasons want not and no day or hower passeth wherein appeareth not some silent sermon or reall perswasion to avoyd sinne and follow goodnes Do we not see dayly men dye is not death of the body caused by the death of the soule is it not an effect of Adams originall disobedience Whence-from proceed so many diseases plagues and pestilences that Phisitians braines are troubled to know their number for the multitude or reduce them to method they are so disordered But say what brought first hunger and thirst sweate and labour toyling and moyling into this world but our forefathers gluttonie What made so many poore men such a number of beggars but Adams originall theft what causeth our dayes to be so short that many drop away in the very prime of their yeeres few come to the time their complexion requireth the strongest scarce arriveth to a hundred yeeres but our progenitours inordinate appetite of Divinitie and consequently of eternitie finally the terror of death ever imminent the dayly crosses in common conversation the distonsorted courses of the heavens with their influences tempests and stormes contrary to the generation and increase of fruites of the earth the disobedience of beasts the cruelty of men the craft and cosinage we dayly prove all descend from sinne and well admonish vs that if one sinne deserved so many so long so great punishments what will a multitude 29 Wicked men do not only by offences iniurie the maiestie of God but also they abuse his gifts and benefits not only like Scorpions they kill their mother before they be hatched but also like vngratefull debtours oppugne their creditours with their own goods for the vngodly vse that will God gave them to love him to hate him that wit he bestowed vpon them to meditate vpon his law commandements they pervert by thinking how to transgresse them that hart he imparted to affect their neighbours in pure love and charitie that they defile with malice and dishonestie that tongue he lent them to vtter his prayses that they blot with othes and blasphemies those hands he framed as flowing conduits to feede the poore those are wholy imployed to avarice and rapine and to be briefe that vniversall body and soule which ought to have bin kept in holines and sanctification they abuse to offend God with sinne and prevarication 30 To conclude all creatures which God created for the vse of man and as servants attended vpon him as their maister all they I say exclaime against a vitious life they are so many trumpets which cease not to sound the abuses we offer them by offending their Maker the Sunne giveth the light to worke works of light not to live in the shadow of darknes the Moone with her fecunditie inviteth thee to bring forth fruites of iustice and not iniquitie the harmonie of the heavens the multitude varietie brightnes of so many Starres and Planets exhort thee to subordinate thy soule to God to adorne thy minde with vertue to give good example and shine vnto men by a godly conversation Isay 24. 23. for otherwise in signe of revenge before the day of Mat. 24. 29. iudgement they will withdraw theyr beames fall from heaven vpon thee shew themselves as disdainefull to behold Mark 13. 24. sinners as sinners were carelesse to enioy the benefite of their influences and operations to the glory Wisd 5 18. Armabit creaturam ad vltionem immicorum of God and the profite of their soules By this it appeareth what abundance of meanes God hath imparted to vs to the intent all difficulties in the way of Vertue might with facility bee over-commed some be internall some externall some of grace some of nature some instructing the vnderstanding some inclining the affection some continuall some by turnes and to be briefe no man can say that God hath beene a niggard with him but that he hath beene vnanswerable to God The Impediments to Vertue MAn in this world standeth in the middest betwixt God and the divell both pretend to win him to their Kingdomes God to eternall pleasure Sathan to eternall payne God by his power could quickely deliver him and breake all the bondes and chaynes wherewith the divell did or doth bind him but his wisedome thought good not to admit any man of wisedome and discretion to his friendship without his ownâ— consent for as Saint Augustine saith Qui creavit te sine te non iustificabit te sine te He that created thee without thee that is thy consent or cooperation will not iustifie thee without thee that is thy consent cooperation Wherefore wee see Christ in Scriptures so often asked them whom he cured in body and healed in soule Vis Iohn 5. 6. Mat. 9. 2. 22. Luke 8. 50. sanus esse confide crede and such like speeches which signifie that hee would not cure any but them who were willing wherefore God would not oppose all his power and might against our ghostly enemies but onely such sweete meanes as might procure our assent and yet able to overthrow all the troupes of our adversaries he beats at
indued women to retayne them from these shamefull actions the basenesse and brevitie of that pleasure she pretends vnvailable to that cost she bestoweth yet for all this losse she will hazard it she neither regardeth the good she leeseth nor the harmes she incurreth nor the little trifle she winneth transgresseth the law of nature the law of God the law of christianitie the law of friendship onely for lacke of prudent and mature consideration married to a wicked Wili and perverse affection That which I have sayde of this lewd Woman the same might be sayde of all sinners because the meanes to do well are so many and the dommages so great that every sinne consummate carrieth with it that I could make a whole booke of them and perhaps in time I will do it In the meane season gentle Reader whensoever occurreth any occasion apt to induce thy Will to offende God runne not too fast after it ponder a little crave helpe from above consider thy helpes expende thy harmes and presently thou shalt see that all tentations of this worlde will become like to the huge Statue that Nabuchodonozor beheld with the head of golde the breast of silver the belly of brasse the legges of yron Daniel c. 3. the feete of yron and earth for all pleasures are golden in the entraunce but still decrease to terrestriall and earthly substaunces towardes the ende they become lothsome and are accounted vilde the little stone without any humane hands cut from the mountayne will deiect and cast prostrate on the ground this huge masse of mettall I meane the grace of Christ all the multitude of tentations and suggestions of the Divell and then thou mayest raigne over them by grace in this life and glory in the end Amen FINIS A Succinct Philosophicall declaration of the nature of Clymactericall yeeres occasioned by the death of Queene Elizabeth ⸪ Written by T W LONDON Printed for Thomas Thorpe and are to be sold in Paules Church-yard at the signe of the Crane by Walter Burre 1604. A Succinct Philosophicall declaration of the nature of Clymactericall yeeres occasioned by the death of Queene Elizabeth ⸪ AFter the death of Queene ELIZABETH who died in the 70. yeere of her age which was the Clymactericall period of her life diuerse pregnant wits and curious Philosophers were assembled by chance togither among sundry other learned Discourses one demaunded of me what were these Clymactericall yeeres their nature and effects For quoth hee I haue heard many Philosophors and Phisitians talke of them but as yet I neuer throughly could pierce or penitrate them I aunswered him that the Treatise thereof required longer time then that place and present occasions afforded but that afterwards at more ley sure hee should vnderstand them if hee were desirous to learne The Gentleman importuned me so much as at last hee drew me to write this Discourse which followeth for that it seemeth not altogether impertinent to this explanation of Passions I thinke it not vnfit to be inserted in the last Booke of the Passions of the Minde because the same temper of body and propension to death which is the base of Clymactericall yeres the very same conferres much either to mooue Passions or hinder the opperations of the soule as in the progresse of this discourse shal plainly appeare Clymax in Greeke signifieth a Staire or a Ladder and metaphorically is applyed to the yeeres of a man or womans life as if the whole course of our dayes were a certaine Ladder compounded of so many steppes True it is that as the constitutions of mens bodies are for the most parte of two sortes the one is firme and strong the other more weake and feeble so the Phisitians by long experience haue obserued that the fatall ends of them who be of a lustie constitution finish for most part in some score of yeeres and so they number such persons periods by twentie 40. 60. 80. 100. 120. And to Other count them by tens this purpose sayde Moses * whose eyes were neither darkned nor any tooth loosed * Centum viginti Deut. 31. 2. annorum sum hodie non possum vltra egredi ingridi I am now an hundred and twenty yeeres old I can no more goe out and come in that is no longer liue and so it fell out for that * same yeere Deut. 34. 7. he died And GOD himselfe said of man * Erunt Genes 6. 4. dies illius centum viginti anni The dayes of man shall be an hundred and 20. yeeres The next Clymactericall yeere in them of solide and virile constitution is an 100 and so the Scriptures report Numerus dierum vitae hominum vt Eccles 18. 8 multum centum anni The number of the dayes of the life of men at most is an 100 yeeres Another kinde of men whose complexion is weaker haue a lesser kinde of measure as they haue shorter life and yet these also be of two sorts some stronger some weaker the first Clymactericall yeeres are nine eighteene tweentie seauen thirty six forty fiue fifty foure sixty three seauenty two eighty one the seconds are seauen foureteene twenty one twenty eight thirty fiue forty twoo forty nine fifty six sixty three seauenty Of these two ages spake Dauid when hee sayde Dies annorum Psalme 89. 10. nostrorum in ipsis septuaginta anni Si autem in potentatibus octoginta anni amplius corum labor dolor The dayes of our yeeres are seauentie yeeres and if in Potentates they be eightie the labour and griefe is greater The most daungerous of all these passages or steps are the forty nine compounded vpon seuen times seauen and sixty three standing vppon nine times seauen and next to these is seauenty which containeth tenne times seauen they number them also by nine and so make eighty one the most perillous as comprehending nine times nine These obseruations then of Phisitians presupposed as true for men that are wise vertuous and experimented in their faculties ought to be belieued for wisdome and experience protect them from errour and honestie from lying and deceite it were good to examine and search out the cause of these notable alterations and daungers of death in the Clymactericall yeeres for those humors which alter the bodie and dispose it to sicknesse and death the same bend the soule to take inordinate affections and passions I haue heard some Phisitians resolue this doubt into the influence of heauens to wit that so manie courses of the Sunne Moone and Planets from the time of a mans Natiuitie worke such effects so that some men let them liue neuer so orderly after so manie circular motions of the Sunne and Moone haue warbled ouer their heads vppon necessitie they must fall into one sicknesse or another and so die Some others ground this varietie and daungerous diuersitie vppon the singular prouidence of God who hath created all thinges In numero pondere mensura and therefore hath