question in the like case to the Jews Who required this of you As if God took pleasure in the misery of his best creature and had so ordered it that Grace could not consist with prosperity and contentment We have seene then both those extremities wherewith men are mis-carried in matter of the palate and some outward usages of the body §. IV. Of the extreames in the cases of lust AS for the delight of the marriage-bed which some salacious spirits have thought fit in an eminence or propriety to call pleasure how far it hath bewitched men it is too apparent How many are thus drunk with their own wine spending their bodies to satisfy those sensuall desires wherwith they are impotently transported like that bird of whom Suidas speaks which dies in the very act of his feathering Certainly there is no such Tyran in the world as lust which where it prevailes enslaveth the soule and sendeth his best subjects not to the mill with Sampson or to the distaffe with Hercules but to the chambers of death to the dungeon of hell The witty Athenians could enact a Law for Bigamie and Socrates himself who was by the Oracle named for the wisest man of his time and the greatest master of his passions could be content to practice that wherein he was well punished And how their famous Philosophers were affected I had rather S. Ierome should speak then I And the Turks at this day whom their Alcoran restraines from wine yet are by their law let loose to this full scope of sensuality What speak I of these when the very Patriarks and Princes of Gods peculiar people were palpably exorbitant in this kinde The man after Gods own heart in respect of the sincerity of his soule divided himself betwixt sixe partners of his bed the mistaking of which permission hath drawne the modern Jews into a false opinion of no lesse then eighteen wives allowed still to their Princes But for his son Solomon in other things the wisest under heaven from whom the Eastâ—rne Potentates have borrowed their Seraglio's what stint was there of his bedfellowes he could not so much as know all their faces Neither was it for nothing that the allâ—wise God saw it fit in his royall law to give us two Commandements against lust and but one onely against murder or theft Doubtlesse as Gerson well observes because he saw us naturally more prone to these wanton desires then to those violent Contrarily there have not wanted some who out of a strong affectation of continency an over-valuation of the merit of virginity have poured too much water upon the honest flames of their lawfull desires and have offered a willing violence to nature Not to speak of Origen and some others that have voluntarily evirated themselves a practice justly cryed downe by some Councels such were Amnon the Heremite and Pelagius the Monk in the Ecclesiasticall history who the first day of their marriage took up a resolution of the continuance of a virginall chastity a fashion which some improbable legends have have cast upon S. Iohn the beloved Disciple in his mis-imputed marriage in Cana and retired to an agreed solitarinesse Many formall votaries have made profession of no lesse continency but with what successe I take no pleasure to relate Let an indifferent man speak Erasmus in an Epistle to his Grunnius who tels us of store of Monasteries such as in comparison vvhereof the stews were more sober more modest Out of their owne ingenuous casuists out of the vvofull complaints of their Alvarez Pelagius S. Brigit Gerson others it were easie to tell shamefull tales if we made disgrace our ayme it shall be enough to desire any reader to informe himselfe of the reason alledged in the Councel of Ments under Pope Stephen of so strict an inhibition to their clergie not to admit of so much as their sister to come within their doors and to take notice of that old by-word In Hispania preti c. I take no joy to discover the miserable nakednesse of Christians Inordinate minds where is no restraint of Grace are apt to run thus wilde whether amongst them or us but there so much more as there is lesse allowance of lawfull remedies A point which some of the most ingenuous spirits of the Roman correspondence have seriously wisht to have recommended to wiser consideration and redresse §. V. The liberty that God hath given us in the use of his creatures I Meant to dwell only so long in the extreams as to make my passage to the meane which is the sole drift of our indeavour There is therefore betwixt excesse and defect whereof we have spoken a lawfull and allowed latitude of just pleasure which the bounty of our good God hath allowed to his dearest creature man whereof it is meet for us to take knowledge To begin with the Palate He who is the author of appetite hath provided and allowed meanes to satisfie it not with asparing hand as for meere necessity but sometimes also liberally for delight I have oft wondred to see how providently the great House-keeper of the world hath taken seasonable order for the maintenance of all his creatures so as their mouthes are not sooner ready then their meat Whether in man or beast conception is immediately seconded with nourishment neither is the issue brought forth into the light of the world before there be bottles of milk ready prepared for the sustenance The birds except some domestick hatch not their young in the dead of winter but when the growing Spring hath yeelded a meet meanes of their food In the very silk-worme I have observed that the small and scarce-sensible seed which it casts comes not to life and disclosure untill the mulbery which is the slowest of all trees yeelds her lease for its necessary preservation And the same God who hath given the creature life appetite meat hath by a secret instinct directed them to seeke it so as the whelp even before it can see hunts for the teat â—nd those shell-fishes to which â—ature hath denyed meanes of â—ight or smelling yet can follow â—nd purchase their food And if â—ll thy creatures O God vvait upon thee that thou maist give them â—heir meat in due season if thou openest thy hand and they are filled vvith good how much more magnificent art thou to that creature for whom thou madest all the rest Thou vvho at the first broughtst him forth into a vvorld furnished before-hand vvith all varieties hast beene graciously pleased to store him stilâ— vvith all things that might serve for the use of meat medicine delicacy Hadst thou only intended our meere preservation a little had beene enough Nature is neitheâ— vvanton nor insatiable We know vvhat those Brachmanni are reported to have said to the great Conqueror of the world in shaminâ— his conquest by their owne Wâ— know vvhat the Romane commander said to his Souldiers in â— just
are we wilfull beggers Wherefore hath he given the warme fleece to the sheep the rich hides to the Bever and Ermin the curious case to the silk-worm the soft and faire feathers to the fowles of the aire but after their owne use for ours Wherefore hath he clothed the trees with cotton or the fields with flaxe wherfore hath hee enriched the earth with variety of sweet and delicate flowers with precious metals and with more precious stones the sea with beautifull and costly pearles why hath he treasured up such orient and pleasing colours in graines and fishes if not for the use and behoofe of man what other creature knows wherefore they serve or how can our blessed Creator be any other then a greater loser by our either ignorance or willing neglect As for the comfort of conjugall society what other did our good God intend in the making of that meet helper He that made those creatures could have made many more having set this stint to his creation he that made the woman of the man could as well have made man of man and could in the infinitenesse of his wisedome have appointed thousands of waies for the multiplication of mankinde but now having thought meet to pitch upoÌ„ the traducing of man by this living rib of his owne he hath holily ordained that they two shall be one flesh not onely as two bodies animated with one soule but rather as one body animated with two united spirits so as it is equally lawfull for them to enjoy each other in a mutuall and holy communion and to enjoy themselves in their single and personall contentments How safely then may we take wise Solomons vvord for this innocent and sweet conversation Let thy fountaine be blessed and rejoyce with the wife of thy youth let her be as the loving hinde and pleasant Roe let her brests satisfie thee at all times and be thou ravisht alwayes with her love And when towards the latter end of his daies he had found more bitter then death the woman whose heart is snares and nets and her hands as bands Yet even then he renues this charge in the height of his mortification Live joyfully with the wife whom thou lovest all the dayes of the life of thy vanity which he hath given thee under the Sun all the dayes of thy vanity for that is thy portion in this life and in thy labour which thou takest under the Sun §. VI. Together with our liberty the just bounds of our moderation in the liberall use of Gods creatures and therein our limitation in respects to God SO then that God who hath given us meat drink apparell wife children recreations and what ever other conveniences of this life intended no other but that we should make our use and have the fruition of these comforts and if he meant not that we should take some pleasure in the fruition of them wherefore are they given us as blessings or what place is there for our thankfulnesse If I may take no pleasure in one food above another what use is there of my taste what difference doe I make betwixt a course crust and the finest of the wheat why am I more bound to God for giving me wine then water many dishes then one better then worse or how can I be more sensible of my obligation If I may not take contentment in the wife of my youth wherefore is she mine what is left to me to counterpoyse those houshold distractions which doe unavoidably attend the state of matrimony If I may not joy in my children what difference is there to me betwixt my owne and other mens save that my care is more without hope of requitall And if I may not take pleasure in my recreation how is it such what difference is there betwixt it and work Yea if I may not take pleasure in the works of my calling what difference is there betwixt a slave and me But the same God who hath allowed us to take pleasure in all these hath also thought good to set bounds and stints to our pleasure which we may not exceed he hath indulged to us a lawfull freedome not a wilde licentiousnesse If wee passe our limits we sin Now because in our naturall pronenesse to excesse there is nothing more difficult then to keepe within due compasse and to be at once delighted and holy it highly concernes us to take notice of those just boundaries within which our freest pleasure must be ranged First then we cannot offend in our delectations if we be sure to take God with us more plainly we shall safely partake of our pleasures if we receive them as from God if we enjoy them in God if we referre them to God From God as the author and giver of them in God as the allower and sanctifier of them to God as to the end and scope of them the least deviation from any of these makes our delights vicious Wee receive them as from God when we know them to be allowed of him and granted to us by him Herein therefore lawfull pleasures differ from sinfull we have his vvarrant for the one for the other his inhibition The act may be alike in both but differs both in the subject and ground of it Gods institution justifies that act in a lawfull conjugall society which he abhorres and condemnes in a stranger Marriage is made in heaven adultery is brewed in hell The teeth kept the same pace under the law in eating the cleane flesh and the uncleane and still doe in the morsells of sufficiency and surfet The first draught of the wine vvhich is for refreshing goes downe the same vvay vvith the lavish and supernâ—â—erary carowses of drunkennesse That holy God whose will is the rule of goodnesse cannot give any approbation of evill If then I can boldly present my pleasure in the face of God and say Lord this is the delight thou hast allowed me the liberty thou givest I take here is thy word and my deed my heart cannot but sit downe in a comfortable assurance We enjoy them in God whiles we can enjoy God in them not suffering our selves so to be possessed of them as that we should let goe the sweet hold of the divine presence and complacency the very thought whereof must necessarily exclude all disorder and excesse It is the brand which St. Iude sets upon the sensuall false-teachers of his time feeding without feare and the Prophet Esay to the same purpose The Harp and the Viole the Tabret and the Pipe and wine are in their feasts but they regard not the work of the Lord neither consider the operation of his hands If then we be so taken up with any earthly pleasures that they doe either banish God from our hearts or steale our hearts from God our tables are made snares to us and our wives in stead of ribs become thornes in our sides For me let me rather want delights then be
I shall say It is good for me that I was afflicted My friend my wife my child is dead say rather they are departed I can scarce allow it to be a death where they decease well prosectio est quam tu putas mortem as Tertullian of old It is a meere departure of those partners which must once meet and from those friends which must soone follow and overtake us Sorrow is so proper for a funerall that the Jews were wont to hire mourners rather then they would want them Even our blessed Saviour bestowed teares upon the Exequies of him whom he meant presently to raise it is not for us to be too niggardly of this warme dew but those teares which are shed at the decease of good soules should be like those drops of raine which fall in a Sun-shine mixed with rayes of comfort Let them put no stint to their sorrow who think there is no rest no happinesse after death but for us who know death to be only the end of our life not of our being yea rather the change of a better life for worse we have reason to dry up our teares and in some sort to imitate the patterne of those nations which were wont to mourne at the birth of their children and rejoyce and feast at their death a practise which in part was taken up by the Jewes themselves who with their mourners mixed also musitians in their Funerall banquets and countenanced by great and wise Solomon The day of death is better then ones birth day Shortly then I have parted with a good child but to a better Father to a more glorious patrimony whether now is the childs gaine or the Fathers losse greater and what can it be but selfe-love that makes me more sensible of my owne losse then my childes glory It is my weaknesse therefore if I doe not either swallow or stifle my sorrow I have lost my health and am seized with sicknesse and paine This this next to death is the King of sorrowes all earthly crosses vaile to it and confesse themselves trifles in comparison what ease can I now find in good vvords more then Callicon found to his head in that chaffe vvherewith he stuffed his earthen pitcher vvhich he made his pillow vvhiles the thorne is ranckling in my foot vvhat ease can I finde in a poultesse Know O weak man there is that in a Christian heart vvhich is a more then sufficient cordiall against sicknesse paines death and that can triumph over the vvorst extremities This is the victory vvhich overcomes a vvorld of miseries even our faith Not so only saith the chosen vessell but we glory or rejoyce in tribulations For lo our faith is it vvhich puts true constructions upon our paines Health it self vvould not be vvelcome to us if we did not know it good and if vve could be perswaded that sicknesse were good or better for us vvhy should not that be equally vvelcome It vvas a good speech of that Hermite vvho vvhen he heard a man praying vehemently for the removall of his disease said Fili rem tibi necessariam abjicere audes Alas sonne you goe about to be rid of a necessary commodity The Christian heart knowes it is in the hands of him who could as easily avert evill as send it and whose love is no lesse then his power and therefore resolves he could not suffer if not for the better The parent is indulgent to his child were his love well improved if he would not suffer his son to be let blood in a plurifie whiles the Physitian knowes he dyes if he bleed not An ignorant pesant hath digg'd up a lump of pretious Ore doe we not smile at him if he be unwilling the finer should put it into the fire The presse is prepared for the grapes and Olives and as Austin well neither of them will yeeld their comfortable and wholsome juyce without an hard strayning would not that fond Manichee make himselfe ridiculous that should sorbid to gather much more to wring them Shortly then am I visited with sicknesse it is not for me like a man that is overloaded with too heavy a burden to make ill faces but to stir up my Christian resolution and to possesse my soule in patience as well knowing that the vessell that would be fit for Gods cup-board must be hammered with many stroakes the corne for Gods table must passe under the sickle the flayle the mill the spices for Gods perfume must be bruised and beaten In â—umme worldly crosses cannot affect us with too deepe sorrow if we have the grace and leasure to turne them round and view them on all sides for if we finde their face sowre and grisly their back is comely and beautifull No chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous but grievous neverthelesse afterward it yeeldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousnesse unto them which are exercised thereby wherefore lift up the hands which hang downe and the feeble knees §. XIII Of spirituall sorrow and the moderation thereof NOt so rise but more painfull is the spirituall sorrow vvhether for the sense of sinnes or the vvant of grace This is that which the Apostle styles 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a godly sorrow vvorking repentance to salvation not to be repented of the tears vvhereof the Almighty puts up in his bottle and keeps them for most pretious it is seldome vvhen this griefe exceeds too many are so afraid of enough that they are vvilling to learne of their confessors that a meere velleity of sorrow is sufficient to true repentance But give me not an attrition but a contrition of heart give me a drouping head red eyes blubbered cheeks a macerated body met vvith a pensive soule give me sackcloth and ashes fastings watchings prostrations ejulations vvhen I have offended my God and let me bee let loose to my free sorrow Let me be in bitternesse as Zechariah expresses it as one that is in bitternesse for his only sonne Not but that it is possible to drink too deep of this bitter cup We have known those who have pined themselves away in a continuall heavinesse refusing all possible meanes of comfort out of a sense of their sinnes vvhose vvhole life hath beene like a gloomy winters day all over-cast vvith clouds vvithout the least glimpse of a Sun shine vve have seene them that have thus lived and dyed disconsolate raving despairing Experience makes this so true that we may well conclude that even the best spirituall sorrow must be moderated the worst shunned every sorrow for sinne is not good there is a sorrow that lookes at the punishment through the sinne not regarding the offence but the smart of evill this would not care for the frowne of God if he vvould not strike as that vvhich indeed feares not God but hell as that vvhich apprehends only lashes and tormâ—nts this is incident even to divells and damned soules all