summarily emploied the Intelligible the Irascible and the Concupiscible The Intelligible whereby we apprehend the end of our creation whereby we iudge of causes and events touching with the apprehensiue hand of iudgement what may concerne vs and the state wherein we are interested The Irascible when stirred vp with ire or indignation we prosecute reuenge not suffering the least disgrace without an intended requitall The Concupiscible when in an ambitious desire of honour or estate or lustfull satisfaction of our owne illimited affections we couet this or that ardent in pursuing and least contented when obteining that we haue pursued the vnderstanding if rightly seated like a wise Pylot steres the ship saues her from splitting mannaging all things with a prouident respect had of what may come after No Syren can tempt this wise and subtile Vlisses though the sea looke neuer so faire this wise and temperate mariner is suspicious of it knowing Where the Sea lookes the whitest oftimes the periloust rocks and ineuitablest shelfs are seated She sinks plumms and tryes the shaldes whether apt for nauigation or noe in briefe she doth nought without serious premeditation fore-thinks of the meane ere she attaine the end She affects not curiosity either in words habit or manners yet vertuously curious how to expresse herselfe truely honourable in all deportments without aspersion of scandall She will not disguise herselfe in an vnhonest couer but affecting Plainenesse teacheth the same rule and precept to her followers which Iesu the sonne of Syrach taught Ne accipias faciem aduersus faciem tuam not to be dooble faced but with sincere plainenesse such as thou art such do thou seeme A rule far more accomodate to the course of vertue and more directly leading to the seate of glory then all the pollicies which euer Machauell yet inuented or the dissembling appearances of all obseruing Timists Though Numa Pompilius in Rome kept the people in awe and subiected them to what tirannous lawes he pleased vnder pretence of conference with Aegeria Minos in Athens vnder colour he was inspired in a certaine hollow caue by Iupiter and Pallas in a counterfeite habit deceaued Claudius in the adoption of Nero. This deuine essence of the soule the vnderstanding part will assume no other forme then as she is knowing her perfection cannot be made more accomplished by anie borrowed colours She vnderstands her selfe to be composed of a more deuine element then to subiect her will to vnworthy ends for she knowes that as the Sence is conuersant in outward things she is seated in inward things not directed by the eye of the Body which is many times deceued but by the eie of the Soule which alwaies aimeth at one certaine scope to wit immortality She considereth the ends which mortality aimes at honour ample territories great possessions popular respect and long life to enioy these without disturbance and she makes vse of these with a penetrating iudgment apprehending wherto the ends of these externallie-seeming goods confer Honour saith she is quickly fading and an aspiring spirit like the loftie Cedar is euer subiect to most danger when like iacks in a virginall or nailes in a wheele the fall of one is the rising of another ample teritories and great possessions saith she are more then nature requireth she is content with a competent and that competency reduced to a very narrow scantling when of all our drosse estate tresure and possessions going downe into the earth nothing shall you take with you you shall carrie no more hence Nisi parua quod vrna capit but a coffin and a winding sheete When Saladine that puissant emperor of Persia with many victorious and successiue battails had extended the limits of his Empire and through the happinesse of his warrs being neuer in any one pitcht field vanquished become the sole terror of the Easterne part at last fell mortally sicke and perceiuing how there was no way but one with him called his Chiefetaine and commanded him hauing bin chiefe Leader in all those prosperous warres which the Emperor had atchieued to take his shrowding-sheet and to hang it vpon a staffe in manner of a banneret and with it to proclaime in the streets of Damascus This is all that Saladine the Emperor of Persia hath left of his many conquests this is all he hath left of all his victories Long life saith shee is not worth desiring since it giues but increase to a multitude of sorrowes she prefers a good life before a long life and esteemes that life best beyond all comparison which is exercised in the vse of her creation Shee concludes with the Philosopher Optimum est aut non omnino nasci aut quà m cito mori making life the Theatre of shame if abused but the eminent passage from a pilgrimage to a permanent Citie if rightly employed To be briefe she meditates of nought affecteth nought entertaineth nought with a free will and a pure consecrated desire but what tastes of the spirit hauing her eare barracadoed against the insinuating desires of euery seducing appetite shee is not of the world though in the world nor can shee loue any thing within the worlds circumference in regard the world hath her limits but shee not to be confined The Irascible is attended alwaies vpon by Reuenge for the obiect of the wrathfull facultie is honour and aduantage and if this cease straight-waies courage and stomach decay so as the least argument of distast like another Silla stirrs her blood and makes vp a Centaures banquet This Facultie is alwaies as ready to apprehend an occasion of punishing yea before it is offered as to obserue the meanes of executing when the occasion is ministred She will not say with that noble Venetian Duke It is sufiicient for a discreet Prince to haue power to reuenge that his enemies may haue cause to feare him No meditation vpon reuenge is the onely prayer-booke that this vnbounded passion vseth Yet may this part rightly tempered include in it an excellent good for Anger is not alwaies vnto sinne whence it is said Be angry but sinne not Wee may be angry through zeale and the feruencie we beare to the Gospell Christ was angry when he whipped the buyers and sellers out of the Temple he was angry when his Disciples contended for prioritie he was angry at the incredulitie of the Gentiles the obduracie of the Iewes yea he was angry at the barren fig-tree when it brought out no fruit and therefore cursed it shadowing thereby the fruitlesse synagogue O may my soule if euer shee be angry feele this passion in the feruent loue shee beares to her Creator may her anger be against her selfe in the wofull remembrance of her sins that her anger may breed a detestation detestation a reconciliation to her Sauiour But for such as with the Beare cannot drinke but they must bite the water far may my soule be diuided from their dwelling I will be angry but commit no sin for the
thoughts from such an vngenerous condition meane time as the intentions of my soule are grounded on a more setled foundation than the opinion of that monster-multitude so shall my studies euer be directed for the satisfactorie delight and profit of the generous I am now drawing from the world heauens forbid that I should proue such a seruile obseruer of the world as to prize her Fauours before my fortunes in an other world In briefe as I am now learning how to number my dayes so will I take a strict account of the expence of my howres that my dayes well numbred may bring me to the length of dayes neuer to be summed that my howres well expended may bring me to ioyes in that last howre neuer to be ended so shall those vertues which I haue in others admired moue me to imitation those vices which I haue obserued in others enforce in me a detestation Male de me loquuntur sed mali mouerer si de me M. Cato si Lelius sapiens si duo Scipiones ista loquerentur nunc malis displicere laudari est Seneca ad Galion de remed fortuit FINIS RESOLVES I Offered before the sacrifice of my teares now remaines the prosecution of my Resolues that as the first were symbols and signalls of my conuersion and contrition so the latter might be persuasiue motiues of my firmer resolution Dry be those teares of repentance which are not seconded by a zealous continuance sith the perfection of vertue is perseuerance and fruitlesse is that zeale which like the seede in the parable is either by the thornie cares of the world choaked by the heat of persecution parched or by stonie impenitencie and obduracie withered I will therefore by the power of him that made me so forme my Resolution that I may finde a comfortable friend in the day of my dissolution so shall the howre of my death be my convoy to life my Exit a conduct to a more glorious intrat my farewell on earth to my welfare in heauen reaping for what I sowed in teares in a plenteous haruest of ioyes Thus therefore I addresse my Resolues which I wish may be with like feruor receiued as they were composed ministring no lesse matter of consolation to the devout Reader then they did of mortification to the penitent Author I resolue to fix mine eye more intentiuely vpon my image that my forme may put me in minde of my former I haue conversed too long with the world I will fall from discourse to contemplation from talking with the world to contemplate him that made the world I will no longer put my candle vnder a bushell shrowding my soules lustre with my bodies couer but will display the eminence of the one by the basenes of the other Since it is not granted to man to loue and to be wise willingly will I incurre the opinion of vnwise to gaine the loue of him that is solely wise The most precious things haue euer the most pernicious keepers which I found too true when I made my bodie my soules guardian I will henceforth esteeme more highly of such a treasure than to commit it to the trust of a Traytor I haue obserued two Solstices in the Sunnes motion but none in times revolution I will redeeme therefore my time while opportunitie is offred for being past shee is not to be recalled I haue seene young mens loue end in lust old mens in dotage if ere I plant my affection I will so waine my selfe from the first that my chast youth may exempt me from the latter Elegantly expressed was that conceit of the Emperor Fortune hath somewhat of the nature of a woman that if she be too much wooed shee is the farther of I will thinke it therefore the best of fortune neither to be allured by her fawne nor deiected by her frowne for our indifferencie towards fortune makes vs most fortunate Excellent was that soueraigntie or regencie of Fortune attributed by Liuie to Cato Maior In whom saith he there appeared such abilitie both for constancie of minde and maturitie of wit as in what place soeuer he bore himselfe he seemed to be the moulder and maker of his owne fortune but I desire no such transcendencie more haue fallen through the height of successe than for the want of meanes This is my wish to enioy no other meanes than my Sauiour who makes meanes for me to his Father I haue wondred at the strict accounts betwixt man and man while Man the image of his Creator forgets his accounts due to God by man I resolue therefore to make the Euening the summer vp of the day and morning that my daily Memorandums may direct me in my reckning when I shall come to be accomptant for my dispensing In my childhood I wished time after time to please my waggish fancie now is my wish extended to the length of time resoluing to liue to my fathers glory It grieues mee when I call to minde how those many howres of vanitie which did once delight me shall be produced as so many witnesses to condemne me yet am I cheered with this Resolue that He who moued me to this remorce for my sin will not suffer me to make relapse into sin nor will pronounce the iudgment of death on me for my former sin Grieuous sinnes require grieuous sighes I will passe therefore the remainder of my time in lamenting as I spent the prime of my time in transgressing so shall my teares witnesse my contrition my retire from the world my conuersion that in both I may adde to my soules glory by wayning my bodie from the conceit of her beauty Ech thing we see in her kinde and nature yet man by sin a priuitiue degenerates from his nature primitiue opposing himselfe by transgressing his law that made him for himselfe I haue heard many call this life a Pilgrimage yet did they liue in it as if it had bin the sole hope of their inheritance I resolue therefore to take in hand the actiue part and leaue the discursiue doe before I speake practise mortification before I prattle of it so shall my discourse be powerfull subsisting in the worke not word not externall or for fashion but in essence and operation I haue oftentimes entred into discourse with my selfe making the scope thereof venite abite I contemplated withall the happinesse of those fiue Virgins receiued the miserie of those fiue reiected reasoning with my selfe what this should meane and I found that no entry was admitted where the oyle of grace was not infused and that the heauenly Bridegroome will be by vs watchfully attended ere we be by him gloriously receiued I resolued therefore to prepare a Wedding garment to adorne me a Lampe full of oyle to lighten me and a trustie friend to direct me the garment of humilitie the oyle of charitie and my friendly conscience within me I haue wondred at some mens humors whose chiefest discourse was euer bent on their owne commendations
ESSAIES VPON THE FIVE SENSES with a pithie one vpon DETRACTION Continued VVith sundry Christian Resolues full of passion and deuotion purposely composed for the zealously-disposed By RICH BRATHWAYT Esquire Mallem me esse quà m viuere mortuum LONDON Printed by E G for Richard Whittaker and are to be sold at his shop at the Kings head in Paules Church-yard 1620. TO THE RIGHT EMINENT FAVOVRER and furtherer of all noble and free-borne studies Sr HENRY YELUERTON Atturney Generall accomplished happinesse SIR I Haue long sought the expressioÌ„ of my thoughts which haue euer with all sinceritie tendred them yours but how infirme is conceit without further demonstration Loue is a deepe effect of the soule which vndiscouer'd struggles yea strangles herselfe till shee be deliuer'd I haue many times purposed to offer some vowes next to him whose diurnall prouidence if nought else should induce and his Maiestie whose Halcyon-raigne makes vs happy vnto your Selfe to giue argument of my loue the exquisite Idea of humane life and now haue I seconded what I intended though not in that perfection as my intirest wishes aymed It is a great defect and I haue noted it not in will but worke nor in purpose but power to see so many extended desires limit their issue to leane effects which fareth vsually to best-affected dispositions where affectionatest thoughts are buried in silence for want of a tongue to discouer them I will say nothing for much speech rather argues affectation than intimacie of affection here be certaine Essaies or Obseruations or what you will dilating vpon the fiue Senses whereto as to their proper Obiects and Subiects they are limited where you shall finde as questionlesse you haue found in your selfe the eares choicest harmonie to be Gods glory the eyes cleerest vision his contemplation the noses sweetest posie the odours of his mercy the tastes delightfull'st fullnes meditation of his goodnesse the Touches mouingst action the feeling of his Passion Many subiects I confesse excellently composed whose Title deriues their essence from Essaies but few restrained to these Obiects which the devout Father termes those windowes which open to all vnbounded libertie organs of weale or woe happy if rightly tempered sinister if without limit For in what erre wee and take not the occasion as primitiue source from one of these The fable of the Syrens had allusion to the eare of Ixion to the eye of Atalanta to the taste of Mirrha to the smell of Semele to the touch where the eare not temperately restrained was soone inchanted the eye lightly affected was to misery exposed the taste for want of due relishing foyled her that was vanquishing the smell too rankly breathing brought it selfe to perishing the touch too highly aspiring through her ambition fell to ruine These were excellent types and not vnbeseeming the purest and piercingst eye now it rests that I draw in my sailes least my gate be too great for my worke onely thus much I may confidently say If my Presumption err my thoughts replie It is my loue that errs it is not I. may I euer so direct my subiect as to render you content whose deseruing parts make me honour you more then that title of honour which is conferred on you vowing to rest Yours in duest obseruance Rich Brathwaite An aduertisement to the devout Reader vpon the vse of the fiue SENSES LEnd here thine eare of zealous attenâ—ion fixe here thine eye of inward contemplation that following the sauour of thy Sauiours oyntments and tasting how sweet he is in goodnes thou may vnfainedly be touched with remorse of conscience Farewell THESES OR Generall rules drawne by Art from the line of Nature tried by the touchstone of infallible experience and applied as obseruances to these present times hauing reference to the fiue Sences proper subiects to which they are restrained Of Seeing 1. ESSAY THough the eye of my bodie allude to the eye of my soule yet is the eye of my soule darkned by the eye of my bodie where sence inclines to concupiscence affection to affectation and that part the curious modell of the eye which ought of it selfe to be a directrice to all other Sences becomes the principall organ of error to the affections there is a motiue of thankfulnes in the eye of man more than in the eye of any other creature a muscle which lifteth the eye vpward whereas others be more depressed bending downeward Why should man then fix the eye of his delight on the creature hauing his eye made to looke vp to his Creator The eye of our bodie is like the orbe of the world it moueth in the head as the Sunne in the firmament take away the Sunne and there is darknes by the depriuation of the eye there ensueth blindnes Conceits by nature ripest are euer wandringst and the eye of all parts most eminent is to obiects of all kindes most extended though I gaze till mine eye be dazled yet is the desire of mine eye neuer satisfied as the eye of all other Sences is most needfull so of all others it is most hurtfull it findes an obiect of affection pretending Loue when her ayme is cleane contrary peruerted by lust there is no passage more easie for the entry of vice than by the cranie of the eye there shee hath first acceptance facilest entrance and assuredst continuance She hath first acceptance because by the eye first entertained facilest entrance because of all others easiest to be induced and assuredst continuance because once perswaded not to be by any motiue afterwards restrained There is nothing so litle that hath such diuersitie of operations attending it being moued by the obiect that it lookes vpon to loue or hate Passions of the minde receiue their greatest impression by the eye of the bodie and soonest are they allayed when the eye is most temperate If the eye chance to be restrained and want an obiect outwardly it makes it self a mirror represented inwardly and sometimes Narcissus-like doates for want of a substance on an imaginarie shadow it is iealous and that is the cause it is euer prying into others secrets He is a wise man that carries his eyes in his head making them his Sentinels but he is foolish that sends them out like spies to betray his soule to the obiects of vanitie I haue heard some wish that some space before their death they might be depriued of their sight inferring that the motions of the Soule were aptest for inward contemplation when the eye of the bodie was least conuersant in outward delectations It is true but why should the principallst motiue and organ of thanks-giuing be an occasion to the minde of erring I haue eyes to direct me by obiects outwardly mouing to the affections of the soule inwardly working It is against reason that the greater light should be extinguished by the lesser the eye of the soule by the eye of the bodie A candle burnes the darkest when the Sun beames shut out the brightest so
should the eye of the bodie subiect her light to the soules beauty that as the Sunne cheeres and renewes by his milde aspect cleeres and purifies by his more piercing reflex so the eye of the soule might cheere the bodie if deiected renew her if decayed and purifie her maleuolent affections if corrupted Lastly as the eye is the bodies guide it should not be made a blinde guide it should lead vs and not in our straitings leaue vs as it chalkes vs out our way here vpon earth so it should cheere vs in our convoy vnto heauen Of Hearing 2. ESSAY HEARING is the organ of vnderstanding by it we conceiue by the memorie we conserue and by our iudgement wee revolue as maine riuers haue their confluence by small streames so knowledg her essence by the accent of the eare As our eare can best iudge of sounds so hath it a distinct power to sound into the centre of the heart It is open to receiue ministring matter sufficient for the minde to digest some things it relisheth pleasantly apprehending them with a kinde of enforced delight some things it distastes and those it either egesteth as friuolous or as a subiect of merriment meerly ridiculous In affaires conferring delight the voluptuous man hath an excellent eare in matters of profit the worldly-minded man is attentiue and in state-deportments the Politician is retentiue The eare is best delighted when any thing is treated on which the minde fancieth and it is as soone cloyed when the minde is not satisfied with the subiect whereof it treateth As a salue faithfully applied oportunately ministred and successiuely continued affords comfort to the Patient so good instructions deliuered by the mouth receiued by the eare and applyed to the heart will in time proue motiues to the most impoenitent They say the obiect of the eare to wit Melodie is the soueraing'st preseruatiue against Melancholy which opinion is true if grounded on the melodie of the heart for externally sounding accents though they allay the passion for an instant the note leaues such an impression as the succeeding discontent takes away the mirth that was conceiued for the present The eare is an edifying sence conveying the fruit of either morall or diuine discourse to the imagination and conferring with iudgment whether that which it hath heard seeme to deserue approbation A judicious and impartiall eare obserues not so much who speakes as what is spoken it admires not the externall habit with the garish vulgar but the force of reasons with what likelyhood produced If Herod speake hauing a garment glittering like the sunne the light-headed multitude will reuerence Herod and make him a deitie not so much for his speech for that is common as for his apparell to them an especiall motiue of admiration Such as these the common sort I meane haue their eares in their eyes whatsoeuer they heare spoken if they approue not of the person it skils not such a neere affinitie haue the eare and the eye in the vulgar A discreet eare seasons the vnderstanding marshals the rest of the sences wandring renewes the minde preparing her to all difficulties cheeres the affections fortifying them against all oppositions those be the best Forts and impregnablest whose seats most opposed to danger stand in resistance against all hostile incursions brauely bearing themselues with honour in the imminencie of danger Such be the eares they are planted in the high-rode-street and exposed to a world of incursions Scandall than which nothing more swift nothing more frequent shoots her arrowes detracting by aspersion from the excellentest modell of perfection yet a resolued eare like an other Antomedon tempers the heat of her passion by recourse had to herselfe and the sinceritie of her owne reputation There is no discord so harsh to a good eare as the discord of the affections when they mutine one against another for shee heares how a kingdome diuided cannot stand I heare many things I would not heare yet being enforced to heare them I meane to make this vse of them that hearing what moueth detestation to me in an other I may be cautioned not to represent that to an other in my selfe As the Martin will not build but in faire houses so a good eare will not entertaine any thing with an approued iudgment but what is faire in it selfe and confers an equall benefit vnto others As of all vertues none more eminent than Iustice so no sence of all others more accommodate than Hearing vnto Iustice. It is an excellent commendation which the Historian giueth to that princely Monarch and father to the worlds sole Monarch Philip of Macedon that after hearing of the Plaintffe he would euer keepe one eare open for the Defendant a prerogatiue princely and worthy the management of her affaires that is princesse of all vertues But as best things peruerted proue the worst so fares it in Attention many haue eares who Mydas-like are depressed to earths obiects erect them how can they hauing their attention fixed on the basest of subiects with how prepared an eare come these to the prediction of a scarce Summer how apt these be to heare report of a young scape-thrift ready to vnstrip himselfe of a faire inheritance vpon any termes how vnworthy tidings these be for so diuine an Herald The Eare is one of the actiuest laborioust faculties of the soule pitty then it is that the soule should be by her intangled or by her meanes to such base subiects enthralled being for the succour of the soule principally ordained I haue thought long time with my selfe how I should imploy this Sence best for my soules aduantage wherein I tooke a suruey of all those subiects to which this peculiar sence of Hearing was especiallest extended and I found the Eare much delighted with Musicke but finding it but an aërie accent breathed and expired in one instant I thought there was no abiding for my attentiue Sence fitter to be employed in a delight more permanent Presently I made recourse to the acts of Princes and gaue my Eare to the discourse of fore-past exploits Subiects I found well deseruing my attention mouing me to imitation and eying my own weaknesse with their puissance forcing me to admiration But retyring to my selfe with this expostulatorie discourse Where be those eminent and memorable Heroës whose acts I haue heard recounted where those victorious Princes whose names yet remaine to posteritie recorded and hearing no other answer saue that they once were and now are not I wayned my eare from such a subiect as onely had power to giue vnto the memorable a name but no essentiall being From hence trauersing my ground I descended a descent I may terme it being a studie of lesse height though of more profit to the discourse of the Lawes where I found many things in their owne nature worthily approued by the Prescription of time and Proscription of conscience to be strangely depraued here me thought I saw the Poets Arachne spinning webs
of so different a warpe that great Flies might easily breake out while litle ones suffered strange vnctions able to cast Iustice on an Euphuus slumber motions made to moue commotions twixt party and party Here was no employment for my Sence desiring rather a direction in her way to eternitie than to haue partiall-guilt corruption her best Solicitor in this vale of misery Whilest I was thus roving seeking for a Pylot to giue free and safe waftage to my vnharbored Sence at last after many tempestuous occurrences my afflicted mindes perturbations I fixt anchor and by the direction of Reason got what I sought for a quiet harbour And where may I limit or how confine the straying circle of many perplexed and confused thoughts wherewith I am surprized within so blest a period Not by the appetite for that slaues the best of man to vnworthiest ends nor by the obedience of my owne proper will for that I found perverted by ayming at indirect obiects nor by ambition which alwaies as Pindarus defined her was accompanied with danger in assaying impatience in prosecuting and an opposition of expectance in atchieuing nor by the Vsurers Calender for there is Auarice that decrepit infirmitie of old age haling many a poore-prodigall Wittall cursing and an inward corasiue worse than any outward affliction tormenting Nor by the Courtiers fawning where times be obserued fashions imitated good-cloths admired and the onely-generous qualitie is to be phantasticall-idle Nor by the country-Farmers engrossing where many a poore Orphans teare accusing many a desolate widowes complaint contesting and the hunger staru'd soule witnessing make him of all others most wretched in that his Nabal-securitie makes him obdurate These are not guides to lead my directing Sence to her harbour she is not for earth her Musicke is mixt with too many discords The worlds harmonie to a good Christian eare may be compared to that of Archabius the trumpeter who had more giuen him to cease than to sound so harsh is the sound of this world in the eare of a diuinely-affected soule A good eare will not say as the powerfull auditor or incorrigible sinner saith to his Preacher Speake to vs pleasing things speake to vs pleasing things for these must haue Orphuus melodie whom the Cyconian women tore in peeces because with his musicke he corrupted and effeminated their men These are not like those Deuils whereof Guydo reporteth that cannot abide Musicke these are contrary Deuils for they delight in nothing but the musicke of Flatterie These obiects are not made to harbour me my pitch is higher my thoughts more vnbounded my eare more arrected and the consideration of mine owne imbecillitie more apparent it is heauen she aymes at the Angels with which shee would consort and that melodie of the superior powers which yeeldeth to her eare the absolutest concord shee shall sound forth therefore tuning her voyce by her eare the vnworthinesse of earths affections compared to that excellencie of reall delights planted aboue First shall be that delight which depriued the first Angell of his eternall delight to wit Pride whereby we become like Cinnamon-tree whose rinde is better than all the bodie Hence is it we desire to reforme the workmanship of God becomming polishers of nature garnishers of corruption and proud of our shame And how should we thinke that God will respect vs who haue disfigured his owne similitude and so disguised our selues as he can hardly know vs There is no workman that regardeth or esteemeth his owne workmanship after it is translated and transposed by others and wee becomming creatures of our owne making shadowing natiue modestie with a dissembling blush seeme to translate that amiable forme and proportion which was giuen vs by our Creator to an vgly and promiscuous habit extracted like Flaccus crow from the phantasticke invention of all countries The ancient law obserued that such as had a yellow locke vpon their leprous parts were not to consort with other people though we want that yellow locke the apparent token of leprosie yet we haue a yellow band and other running sores of vanitie Far be this vice from the mansion of my soule lest her speedy surprisall depriue me of all and euer may the consideration of my owne weaknesse restraine me from the least conceit of aspiring arrogance Next of pleasure shall be sensuall delights the vaine obeying of our owne affections the soules bane the bodies vlcer and the Deuils watch bell We are rocked asleepe and sit dandled on the knee of an impudent strumpet as Babels subversion proceeded from the height of her sinne so this linke of impietie by which death and ruine is haled along to vs promiseth subuersion to the possessor the best reward her serpentine embraces adulterate affections and obsequious delights can propose to her attendants Shall my eare be intangled with her soules staine or prostitute her attention to so odious a subiect shall my Sence of Direction tend to my subversion or the bodies instructresse like a blinde guide throw her headlong to confusion No I will not engage so excellent an hostage as my soule for the bitter-sweet of a repenting pleasure Reason tells me that pleasure merits onely that title when it is relished with vertue nor can sensualitie satiate the delight of the intellectuall part when it is confined to immerited respects This I will make my position in the bent of my resolution I meane onely so far to obey my delights as the after-hope of my soule may not be abridged the future ioy in the expectance of soueraigne happinesse impayred but that my Sence to reason subiected may in the sweet concord of an inward contemplation drawne from her creator apprehend an exceeding pleasure to haue done any thing pleasing to her maker Can I finde in rich coffers the misers idols any true obiect to plant this excellent organ ô no the corruption of coine is the generation of an vsurer or a lowsie begger For the first I loue my soule too wel for so meane base a traffick to hazard a gem so incomparable heau'n is the Tabernacle I desire to dwell in but so far is that Mansion from the conceit of our English Iew or oppressing Vsurer as he chuseth rather to liue in the tents of Kedar with the depraued issue of Dathan than by hauing Lazarus scrip to be carried after to Abrahams bosome Rightly was his experience grounded who said that the multitude of Physicians and Lawyers are the signes of a distempered state but the number of Vsurers and their factors is the argument of a fatall disease raigning For the second to wit Beggery I know not what to thinke on 't It is a beneficiall trade where impudence marshals it but a shamefast beggar saith Homer neuer yet could liue on his profession I could wish a more temperate harbour neither too rich lest the fulnes of my estate make me insolent nor too poore lest the consideration of my want force me to some course exorbitant
God of Sion hath prescribed mee a forme to be angry for the zeale of Gods house wherin is no sin The Concupiscible is as the rest of it selfe indifferent and as a line in a circle equally tending to either part of good or euill yet so depraued is man become that Medea-like he is euer more prompt to take the worse rather than the better here the couetous miser couets to engrosse an huge estate to himselfe making his purse the diuels mouth and with his hydroptick conscience though euer purchasing yet euer coueting Here the ambitious man displaies his own humor to the eye of the world of whom I may say as was once said of one puffed vp with the like spirit Quod habere non vult est valde bonum quod esse non vult hoc est bonū that is good which he desires not to haue that is good which he would not haue come to passe so exorbitant is the desire of the ambitious as what he desires is nothing lesse then vertuous here the Merchant aymes at an exceeding gaine in trafficke he sliceth the seas opposeth himselfe to all dangers all distempratures of winde and weather euer vsing this concupiscible part desiring a happy fraught for his aduenture Here the Warriours desire is confined to gaine by the spoile of an other euen the basest mechanicke offices be conuersant in this facultie ayming at some especiall end whereto their labors be directed To couet things temporarie planting our affections on them is discrepant from the right vse of this excellent facultie there is a good couetousnes and it is heauenly there is a good theft and it is heauenly there is a good ambition and it is heauenly The good and godly couetous couet not with Demas nor Magus nor Demetrius they couet righteousnes sobrietie temperance yea all vertues which confer to humane perfection there is but one pearle of esteeme and to purchase it they sell all that they haue this is a happy couetousnesse a glorious merchandise the good and godly thiefe cares not for embezling earthly treasure for he knowes mothes will corrupt it rust will consume it and continuance of time will deface it it is that immortall treasure which he would steale for he obserues how it is subiect to no alteration but continues in the same state euer Againe he reads the kingdom of heauen suffers violence and rather then he will loose it with all violence he meanes to pursue it The good and godly ambitious ayme not at worldly honour but as a subiect incomparably aboue all externall seeming happinesse for they consider how it is better to be a doore-keeper in the Lords house than to be conversant with Princes Happy theefe whose theft is heauen blessed couetousnesse to couet heauen glorious ambition to aspire to heauen may this Theft be my soules discipline this Couetousnesse her exercise this Ambition her prize so like the good Theefe may shee be crowned with the godly-couetous Zacheus rewarded and with the heauenly-aspiring soule exalted How happy shall I be in this Sence the life of humane essence if by vsing these three faculties of my soule sincerely I shall at last attaine to the state of glory yet how much is this Sence especially conuersant in these three subiects perverted and violently wrested from her own nature where such as desire to touch the Arke make this Sence the instrument of their fall others Gehezai-like whose beating pulse will not forgo the touch of gold though they purchase it by a leprosie O how many fall by this Sence of life making it their sence of death Sodoms apples were but touched and to dust and ashes they were reduced the fairest of all our vanities be but Sodoms apples they cannot endure the touch for they are painted and adulterate Far be my Sence estranged from so prophane a subiect Vertue as it needs no colour to garnish it so can it endure the Touch and neere be changed It is shee that shall attend my Sence so as touching her intellectually my soule by so sweet an apprehension may be incorporate in her indiuidually Here is my liuing Sence well satisfied and in this harbour planted she will neuer desire to be remoued for affliction is ended discontent cheered and a perfect rest without interruption by her that is the true essence of delight proposed Of Tasting 4. ESSAY THis Sence makes mee weeppe ere I speake of her sith hence came our greefe hence our miserie when I represent her before my eyes my eyes become blinded with weeping remembring my grandame Eue how soone she was induced to taste that shee ought not Hence doe I imagine imagination is the end of man how pure I had bin if this one Sence had not corrupted my pristine innocencie apples are suspicious to me being the first that depraued me I will rather distaste mine owne palate to giue true rellish to my soules appetite than by satisfying the first corrupt the puritie of the latter By the ministerie of this Sence I apprehend the vniuersal delights of this world and as in the Palate so finde I in them a distinct operation Many things hot in the mouth are cold in the stomacke such are wordly pleasures hot they are in the first pursuite or assault and eagerly are they followed but in the stomacke that is when digested and rightly pondered how cold are those Pleasures being attended on by remorse and obserued by repentance Againe hence doe I gather the frailty and breuity of all earthly pleasures Whatsoeuer ministers singular'st content vnto our appetite is no longer satisfieing then in the palate for after going into the stomach that content is done So delights momentany and limitarie to an instant may for the present yeild a satisfaction but how soone be these ioyes extinguished how soone forgotten This Sence cautions me of two Sects the Epicure and Pithagorist the first by too much exceeding the latter by too much restraining the Epicure puts his mony in his belly as the Miser doth his belly in his purse but the Pithagorist neither cares for belly nor purse scrupulously abstayning from that which was ordained for his vse The fiue Sences saith one be our greatest sleepers yet I may affirme that this Sence neuer sleepeth for there is nothing seemingly-sencelesse which she apprehends not either with free taste or distaste Of all others this Sence produceth the diuerst qualities whence it is we say Like lips like lettice where this facultie either by an indisposition of the bodie or a distinct operation in the subiect showes this pleasing and acceptable to one which is noysome and different to an other This Sence must haue the bodie and minde prepared before shee can rightly show her owne power she admits of no distemper suffers no restraint whence it is that we finde by experience where the bodie is not equally disposed this facultie hath much of her operation impaired The best taste is to distaste sin and the worst taste is to
affect that which confers to the soulea distaste of all tastes inherent in all subiects none lesse distinguishing than the hungry-mans taste which may appeare in those miserable famines of Samaria and Ierusalem ratts mice weasels and scorpions were no common mens iunkets where motherly loue renounced her name and became the ruine of that shee should cherish as the Matron Myriam who constrained for her liues supportance though shee had but one sonne killed and rosted him Hence comes it that necessitie hath no law nor hunger needs no sawce Let my Taste be directed by reason and not by sence Reason may enlighten her and make her distinguish of desires but Sence perplexeth her and subiects the better part to a slauish appetite Many haue exceeded in the vse of this Sence but few restrained their desires with moderation More Cleopatra's than Cornelia's more Vitellij than Vticae more Sileni than Salustij ancient and moderne replenish vs with stories of this nature where violent ends euer attended the immoderation of Princes but healthfull liues and ioyfull periods summ'd vp the dayes of the temperate The Venetians giue vs instance of these in themselues amongst which there appeares one more memorable Domenico Syluio his Duchesse was so delicate a woman as she would haue dew gathered to make her Baine withall with many other curious perfumes and tricks yet before her death her flesh did rot so as no creature could come neere her May my Taste be seasoned with no such delicacie let my affection rather disclaime herselfe than vndo my soule by intemperate subiects I will not care so much to taste what I loue as what I hate for I know my selfe more subiect to surfet in the one than in the other I haue tasted most of inferior delights yet in a generall suruey of all my pleasures I cannot chuse but weepe to remember how those delights which I affected produce no other fruit but Repentance The taste of vice to a mortified affection is like sweet meats to him that is in an ague shee is distastfull and becomes more odious in that shee cloaths delight with an habit of wantonnesse I will chuse with holy Hierome to build me a cell in the desart to liue out of the heat of concupiscence rather than by liuing in the eye of the world enthral my reasonable part to the appetite of Sence Taste ingenders delight I will not taste euery thing I like lest late repentance force me to distaste that which I liked I will fore-see the end ere I approue of the means that grounding on a golden meane I may attaine a glorious end No tempting delight shall feede my appetite for as preuention is the life of policie so temptation if consented to is the passage to miserie Fowles of the ayre though neuer so empty-stomackt flie not for foode into open pit-falls Quae nimis apparent retia vitat avis My soule shall imitate the bird that she may escape like the bird out of the hand of the Fowler How happy were I if I would taste nothing but what ministers content to the minde sustayning nature but not oppressing her feeding but not pampering her cheering but not cramming her I haue tasted many liquors yet none like the brinie current of mine eyes teares are best extinguishers of sin preparatiues to remorce motiues to true contrition precious Elixir may thou euer be my drinke in the time of my pilgrimage and quench my thirst of sin with a desire of an heauenly inheritance As the Nurse layeth wormwood or aloes on her pap to waine her childe from sucking so will I sprinkle some bitter thing vpon such things as I affect that my delight may be restrained How full of comfort am I when my taste is directed to a right end and how directed when it is besotted with vanities How far better were it to liue temperate taste all things as indifferent and conclude our dayes in quiet than to haue Diues doom Nabals doale or Balthazar 's fall how far better were it to liue like the Hermit in the desert then like the sensuall Libertine in the world so dissolute what is it to feed lusciously fare daintely tast all things with full satiety when our fare shal be reduced to famine our luscious feeding to Soule-staruing and our Satiety here on earth to our penury for euer in hell it is better to distribute to those that craue vse temperance in what we haue make our posteritie true heyres of what we leaue than to cry in midst of an eternall flame for one small drop to quench our thirst and not be heard for one crum and not be satisfied for one minutes ease and not released Taste may my soule no such dainties as may starue her delighted be my soule but with no such vanities as may corrupt her reioyce may my soule but in no other subiect no other obiect yea her only maker Soe in the tast of this life shall I remember my yeres with bitternesse of heart that my life which is reckned not by yeres but Howres not how many but how good may be as the Tast of sweete smelling odors in the nose-thrills of her Sauiour there is no odour like it no perfume to be compared to it it is a saving sauour a pretious odour and the Saints honour Happy Sence that is thus saincted comfortable taste that is thus renewed and blessed soule that is thus invited Taste and see how sweet the Lord is sweet in his mercies sweet in his promises and sweet in his performance And such is the spirituall sweetnes which euery devout soule conceiueth in the contemplation of eternitie whose ioy is not in the tents of Kedar but in the bowels of her Sauiour not with the inhabitants of Moloc but the glorious seed of Isaac these haue their taste in the greene and flourishing pastures of Gods word distasting the slesh-pots of Aegypt and relishing onely the manna of heauenly Canaan Pleasures which are earthly they neither long for in expecting nor loue when enioying They haue found obstruction in the Sences corporall but free passage in the Sences spirituall They compare worldly-tasting men to those wilde asses which snift the winde their desires extend onely to be thought good dis-esteeming the excellencie of reall goodnesse which maketh man truly happy They obserue foure sorts of men in the world discouered by the eye of wisdome Some are wise but seeme not so some seeme so but are not so some neither are nor seeme some both are and seeme the last these onely partake for as their essence concurrs with their appearance so scorne they to expresse more in semblance than they are in essence if there were no God yet these men would be good and for sin though they wist to vse Seneca's words that neither God nor man knew it yet would they hate it O my taste be thus seasoned my palate thus relished my affections thus marshalled my whole pilgrim-course thus managed that my Taste may
be reuiled by them being shee that first produced them One findes fault with nature and taxeth her of indiscretion for setting the Bulls hornes rather on his head then his backe being the stronger part An other that she should place both the eyes before whereas prouidence would haue set one behinde and an other before to arme man against danger aswell behinde as before Yea euen those Orators and Pleaders for the prerogatiue of nature haue beene oftimes seene to detract from her Soueraignty as the sensuall Epicure whose absurd opinion was that there was indeed a Superiour power which had commaund ouer the inferiour Creatures Yet was that Power but an idle God louing his rest and quiet and retyring himselfe from the care of man or his affaires giuing him free scope and liberty to doe what he list and reposing the Supreame happinesse of a Deity in rest To confirme which palpable opinion some irreligious Epicures of our time for the better establishing their doctrine of security haue produced or rather most impiously traduced that portion of sacred Scripture Requieuit Dominus in septimo die super omnia quae patrarat So generally pernicious is this poison of the world as it aymes not onely at inferiour Subiects but euen at the transcendent power of the Almighty piercing that I may vse Homers words the spheare of Heauen wounding Iupiter himselfe These be those Aspes tongs which poyson our good names Those Spiders which with an art full of secret admiration bring webs out of their bodies to intangle vs poore Flies in their snares Those spreading tetters which eate into our reputation Those Suck-blouds which exhaust the pith and marrow of our Soules They are those Canker-wormes which euer browze on the tenderest and sweetest blossomes of our vertues In briefe whatsoeuer is opposed to good that are they aspersing the foulest blemishes on men of approuedst deseruings True it is that nothing is more swift than Calumnie for shee is euer flying more eager for she is euer assailing more cautelous being euer prying more tyrannous being euer raging or more remorcelesse being euer deuouring In a well-gouerned state this Axiom holds euer impregnable Eadem est foelicitas vnius hominis totius ciuitatis but how far shee is estranged from that felicitie may appeare by the hate shee beares to euery good man within the Citie professing for faith fraud mixing deceit with fairest pretences of affection conversing with purpose to traduce importunate in the pursuit of acquaintance which she makes as notorious by her report as if they were Prodigies in nature by their life Shee cannot endure to entertaine such into the lists of her discourse as affect a reserued silence for those cannot yeeld her argument of talke because they are not talkers Those which Catiline-like will promise much and doe litle rellish better in her palate than such as Iugurth-like will speake litle but doe much Thus far in expression of her nature I will now touch the place of her abode For the place of her abode it is harder to finde where she is not than where she is in diuers villages as obscure as time could make them haue I liued and I haue euer noted one Mother Trattles newes-carrier to all her neighbor-gossips within the parish One that had art to tell a tale with winks and nods yea so excellent were these old-trots in invention as they could make one and the selfe-same tale told in disgrace of one neighbour to another with a litle alteration as pleasing to the latter as the former It pleased therefore the Spartan Orator to call them brands because raisers of ciuill differences and heart-burnes one with another Brands indeed as well to publike states as priuate families whose many ruines will witnesse that though the wound be healed the scar remaines still harboring that Viper within them that preyed on them so miserable was their fate to cherish her which occasioned their fall Rightly did he say that termed them Antipodes to all good men because they walke alwaies in a path opposite to the trace of vertue being as indirect in their courses as vncharitable in their censures For iudgment they as much disclaime it as those that are profest enemies vnto it so much for conceit they thinke onely requisite as may detract from merit and adde to disgrace The Athenian tearmed them Owles haters of light Bats recreants to their owne Scarabees euer feeding on vlcerous flesh aptly displaying their natures by these borrowed names But for their place of being as they euer loue to insinuate into the acquaintance of the eminentst persons so they make them the vsualst subiects of their discourse wherein they vse to compare their Actions and parts with their Progenitors whose vertues they make as transcendent as they disvalue the commendable qualities of those now present and which is more remarkeable though they be altogether ignorant of what their Ancestours did yet expresse they their actions in dispraise of their successours as by ocular experience they knew what they did Farre bee my thoughts estraunged from conuersing or commercing with these men yea may I rather not speake then detract from the vertues of the least eminent by speaking I haue euer wished that my speeches might tend rather to edification of some then imputation to any For so free haue my intentions beene from publike or priuate Calumnie as my inuention euer grounded on a probable truth hath euer seated and setled it selfe on the serious commending of goodnesse with a modest improuing of what was vicious Yea I may safely auow out of a sincere confidence within me that I neare saw the man who could worthily taxe me in this kinde indeede Poesie which one of the Fathers is pleased to terme vinum daemonum not because it cheeres but charmes Sinne may seeme sometimes to Satyrize when it is personall application not the Authours intention which makes his Poeme a Satyre rightly therefore was that resolue of the Greeke Poet grounded At him my Satyre aimes Whose application claimes That it to him was sent Howseuer it was ment and that againe of the golden Moralist Satyres are like to Images in wax Taxing such men whose guilt themselues doth tax for my part I haue bin euer so religious an obseruant of my friend as I wish rather not to liue than by my lines to loose any mans loue especially when I esteeme with that diuine Sage my friends life my best of humane glory and his good name the essentiallst part of his life but wonder I cannot chuse for else should I wonder at my owne stupiditie how any should harbour the least conceit of an intended Detraction by me or by my Labours vnlesse my title of Deuill imply so much which may seeme to haue affinitie with that which the Greekes terme 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Detraction but I hope the iudicious whose censures haue not their dependence on titles but essences types but truths are resolued of the remotenesse of my
gaue me motion to serue him I haue sometimes wished an end of my miserie lest miserie should cause my end but I found how foolish I was to wish for an end of that which can no way possible haue an end before my end for miserie is an inseparable companion to man so long as he is man for ceasing to be miserable he becommeth an Angell and no man He that falls from diuine contemplation to take content in the world is as he that after he hath bin fed with meat of Angels falls afterward to delight in Swines meat sensuall desires shall not captiuate my reason to the soueraigntie of Sence I resolue so to liue that dying I may liue for this life as it is a death so death to the good is an aduantage of life True it is which Democritus saith Truth lyeth hid in certaine deepe mines or caues yet being daughter to time she will be at last discouered after she hath bin so long depressed neuer neuer Truth loues to be retired from the world because shee sees that her fauourites be few in the world and rather will she liue a stale virgin than bestow herselfe of such as will but make a stale of her Mans life is a globe of examples a shadow of imitation where the latter day is euer scholer to the former I wish no further knowledge than to be a perfect scholer in Christ-crosse row for there as in a mirrour shall I behold Gods mercie mans miserie his miserie in falling Gods mercy in raising matter of thanksgiuing in man to God argument of affection in God to man Long is it since I purposed my conversion but yet a litle and then a litle makes to morrow as far from conversion as was yesterday I collect hence how powerfullst Resolues produce oft-times the poorest effects henceforth therefore I intend not to put off till to morrow by idling to day lest I neuer liue to repent on to morrow being call'd on to day I haue run a great part of my race am out-stripped by all in the course of vertue what remaines but that I should now strip my selfe of this heauy garment with which I am ouer-loaded that I may put on the heauenly garment with which those happy runners the Saints are adorned He that failes in his course cannot obtaine the goale and soone brethlesse am I vnlesse the Lord infuse his diuine breath in me I will therefore run and pray run that I may obteine pray that I cease not to run till I obteyne I haue found how soone affliction alters the countenance of adulterate friendship I haue a litle taste of it and experience bids me make this vse of it Though one Swallow make no summer yet one mans summer makes many Swallowes I will seeke therfore to gaine friends after time since most of these worldly friends are but obseruers of time Pittie it is I heare some say such a braue spirit should want but what a wittall was he that through his owne follie should enforce his own want with others pittie Enuie is better than pitty in estate not in honour for the decrease of honor as she is enuied before her fall yeelds argument of pitty so is shee oft-times restored by being generally pittied where estate as she was an obiect of enuie so piteously complayning shee remaines the same poore without altering I will not like another Herodicus doe nothing all my life long but intend my health for why should I bestow more care on the case than on the instrument within the case on the bodie than the soule No I will reserue that moderate care for the health of my bodie that like a good instrument it may euer yeeld cheerfull musick to the eare of my soule so shall my soule by the ministerie of my bodie conforme her-selfe in obedience to him that made the soule to enlighten the bodie It is strange to know what an impression of loue absence breeds in the Louer I wish the like effect in the absence of my soule from her Creator she is here diuided by the vaile of her flesh may shee be more firmely vnited to him in spirit she is here a prisoner may her desires pierce through these walls of earth and expresse their feruencie to the God of heauen shee is here a pilgrim may her skrip be humilitie her weede sanctitie her staffe charitie and her foode the nourishing milke of the word shee is an exile may shee hasten to her natiue country cherefully leauing this vale of misery shee is an Orphan may she addresse her-selfe thither where raignes the Widdowes iudge and Orphans father Abide here ô my soule let this be thy retreit cheere thy spirit ô my soule with this eternall receit he it is that from perills past hath preserued thee in perills present hath armed thee against perills to come hath fore-warned thee He it is invites thee fore-slowing expects thee opposing recalls thee straying and embraces thee returning He it is that protects thee resting assists thee labouring exhorts thee fighting and crownes thee vanquishing fore-slow not therfore since he invites thee oppose him not since he expects thee stray no farther since he recalls thee but returne with speed that he may embrace thee Rest thou mayst with ioy being so protected labour in hope being so assisted fight with courage being so excited and vanquish with comfort being to be crowned We must passe through a wildernesse to Canaan this wildernesse is the wide world ô may my soule neuer murmur though hunger should annoy her thirst afflict her all perturbations enclose her yea let her rather say with Iob I beleeue that my Redeemer liueth and that with these eyes I shall see him happie eyes that are made contemplators of such exceeding glory ô may my eyes grow dim with weeping to be afterwards partakers of so glorious a vision I resolue now to bid farewell to the world before I leaue it that being in it I may not be of it there is no affinitie betweene the citizens of Mammon and Syon I will fall by a loathing of the one to an vnfained louing of the other that in contempt of this world I may make my account more free in the world to come I will make the worlds follie my chiefest policie soule-wise without desire of sole-wise or self-wise may humilitie henceforth conduct me for conceit of knowledge through an opinionate arrogance hath made me many times glory in my owne ignorance I had rather be imprisoned in the flesh then by the flesh for so I bee freed in minde I little care though I be imprisoned in body since restraint of the one enlargeth the Libertie of the other whether therefore at freedome or restrained I resolue so to liue that my conscience may be a Testimonie how I haue liued making in Prison better vse of my grace then the Curtezan of her Glasse for there will I note the blemishes of my soule while she the spots and moles in her face
there shall I learne how to liue how to die for my Creator while she how to loue how to dye her colour different from what was giuen her by her Maker Hee that seeks to preuent that which cannot be auoyded flies into Adams groue to sconce himselfe from Gods iudgment I finde this approued when I labour to be exempted from the stroke of Death which can by no meanes be preuented whose doome as it is certaine so is his date vncertaine knocke he will but at what time I know not I will therefore so set all things in order before he come that he may finde me prouided when he comes I would be loth to be taken napping I will therefore so addresse my selfe euery houre that I may cheerfully embrace death in my last houre receiuing him not with feare as a guest that will be of necessitie harboured but with a friendly wellcome as one by whom I shall be to a secure harbour conducted Death as he is importunate so is he iminent fearefull to the rich but cheerefull to the poore for affliction breeds a loathing in liuing an accomplished content in dying knowing that there is an end of miserie apportioned by Death which was not granted to man during life I wish so to liue that my life may be an argument that I did liue sith life without employment the essence of mans life hath more affinitie with death than life As my God is Alpha and Omega being my Alpha begun in the kingdome of grace so he will be my Omega accomplished in the kingdom of glory the last day of my liuing the first day of my raigning the houre of my bodies discention into earth the houre of my soules ascention into heauen FINIS The heauenly Exercise of the fiue Sences couched in a diuine Poem LEt eye eare touch tast smell let euery Sence Employ it selfe to praise his prouidence Who gaue an eye to see but why was 't giuen To guide our feet on earth our soules to heauen An Eare to heare but what not iests o' th' time Vaine or prophane but melodie diuine A touch to feele but what griefes of our brother And t' haue a fellow feeling one of other A tast to relish what mans soueraigne blisse Come taste and see the Lord how sweet he is A smell to breath and what flowers that afford All choice content the odours of his word If our fiue Sences thus employed be We may our Sauiour smell tast touch heare see Vpon his Resolues MAy I resolue so my resolues expresse That th' world may see I am what I profess May Earth be my least care my heart on him Whose crosse's my crowne whose Sonne did salue my sin THE AVTHORS OPINION OF MARRIAGE Deliuered in a satisfying Character to his friend SIR as I am no Timon so am I no marriage-affecting Libertine I will labour therefore to satisfie your demands exactly making experience my directresse whose late familiaritie hath instructed me in this positiue Doctrine As it repenteth me not to know it now so it litle repenteth me not to haue knowne it before now for as the present estate adds to my content so my former want perhaps kept me from discontent I perceiue no such thing as bondage in marriage onely a restraint from Batchler-sensualitie which merits not the name of seruitude but libertie Vpon consideration had of two estates I account mariage concurring neerer with perfection and I ground my opinion vpon no worse probabilitie than the Arithmeticians maxime Numbers haue their beginning but not perfection from vnities yet exclude I not these two indiuidually vnited from that incomparable effect of marriage vnitie Content I finde more accomplished where mindes are consorting for singlenesse includes rather the condition of an Anchorite than of one affecting societie This better for procreation That for contemplation There is no felicitie if earth may be said to enioy it like a fellow-helper no fellow-helper equall to a faithfull bosom-friend I am neither for committing secrets nor concealing them till I finde an aptnesse to conceale or faith to reserue I finde Mysogenes opinion grosse and erroneous touching the secrecie of a woman a faithfull wife cannot chuse but be a good Secretarie Shee makes her husbands reputation her principall subiect and chuseth rather to dye than it should dye Her acquaintance is not popular nor craues shee rather to be seene what she weares than to be knowne what shee is Vertue is her best habit and her garnish is beholden more to Nature than Art shee affects no colours doing well without pretence of glory affecting what is good without desire of applause I haue bin in a strange error and it much repents me of it where imagination suggested to me wedlocke could not be without some aspersion of lust for I perceiue the sanctitie and puritie of the rite adds more to content than the outward delight it relisheth more of the Spirit than the flesh he that feeles an other effect in marriage he is more brutish than reasonable The best purchase is a good wife and the worst is her contrary I haue commended Arminius opinion and haue long embraced it whose conceit was so much remoued from the affection of marriage as he censured him dead to earths-comforts that tooke himselfe to any other bed-fellow than his owne minde to converse with but I exclaime now vpon that heresie I finde my minde strengthned by conference and that proceeds with best grace and consonance from a faithfull mate I will not trust her with my bodie whom I dare not make partner of my minde and though the excellencie of the one surpasse the frailtie of the other yet will I not commend the one where I dare not commit the other For frailtie of Sexes I conceiue how apt man is to iudge sinisterly of the weaker vessell and I impute it either to a want of Braines in that they cannot diue into the excellencie of so pure and exquisite a composition or some hard hap they haue had in making choice of such infirme creatures I haue found one though weake by condition yet firme in her affection making her resolues so vndoubtedly approued by him she loues as she hath vowed to engrosse her loue to none saue him she onely loues her content is so setled as she scornes to haue it diuided for she knowes that a heart diuided cānot liue She professeth her selfe to be not where shee liues but where she loues and the Adamant which drawes her to affection is the perswaded ground she intertaines of her husbands disposition which is too choice to be popular and too relenting not to be wonne as meere protestations were not of force to winne her so flatterie was too palpable a suter to woe her Content is worth a kingdome and my kingdome is my owne familie where I make euery day my account casting vp in the euening what I did in the day I thinke my day well bestowed if employed in the seruice of
his Church the state politike her head so it is a neerer combining of the bodie to the soule The Soule hath promised for the bodie that shee shall not make her selfe a Cage of vncleane birds nor prostitute her-self to many and the Bodie hath so tyed her by plighting her faith by her hand that shee will inviolably performe what her Soule hath promised Sr God send you ioy A Shrow IS a continuall dropping whose actiuitie consists principally in the volubilitie of an infatigable tongue her father was a common Barretter and her mothers sole note being the voice of her vocation eccoed New wainflete Oysters in her sleepe when shee is barr'd from scolding shee falls to a terrible vaine of snoring and fomes at mouth as if she were possessed or shrudely rid by the Night-mare shee is most out of her element when most at quiet and concludes ioyntly with the Arithmetician that vnities are to be excluded from numbers Her progenie is but smal yet all hopefull to be interested in some clamorous offices for her eldest itcheth after Bellman her next after Cryer and her daughters scorn to degenerate vowing to bring the aunciently-erected Cuckstoole into request shee frets like gum'd Grogram but for weare she is Sempiternum Shee goes weekly a catterwauling where shee spoiles their spice-cup'd gossiping with her tarttongued calletting she is a Bee in a box for she is euer buzzing her eyes though they be no matches for she squints hatefully are more firing than any matches she is a hot shot for she goes euer charg'd she hath an excellent gift for memorie and can run diuision vpon relation of iniuries In some thing she is praise-worthy for shee hates complement and grins when she heares any one commended much more flattered all the phrensies in Bedlam cannot put her downe for humors If shee be married she makes her husbands patience a fit subiect to work vpon where his miserable eares are deafed with her incessant clamour she is neuer pleasd for being pleasd she were not her selfe whose choysest Musique is euer to be out a tune a nest of wasps and hornets are not comparable to her for spite nor may equall her in splene and in this they principally differ she hath her sting in her tongue they in their tayle she is monstrously vnsociable and grounds the reason of her distast vpon others approbation when shee hath none to exercise her furie on she mumbles ouer some dogg'd Pater-noster to her self as if she were conjuring her signe is euer in Cancer and hates Patience left it should bastardize her blood shee is euer suspicious of others thoughts and therefore answers for her selfe before she needs were she as strong in power as will she would commit more insolencies with her tongue than euer Nero did tyrannies with his sword Silence shee hates as her sexes scandall and reprou'd for her distemper her answer is The worme will turne againe Happy were her husband if shee were wormes-meat but her hope is to out-weare her winding-sheete when shee comes in companie all cry God blesse them as if they heard thunder she omits no time spares no person obserues no state but wounds with her tongue terming it her sole defensiue instrument Great ones she as much disvalues as shee contemnes inferiors yet neither shall slip her for she neuer saw that creature which might not giue her argument to vent her impatience her reading is but small yet when she heares of Stentors tongue shee would giue her Dowrie for such a cimball she somtimes counterfeits grauitie but her ferret eyes and hooke nose display her for an hypocrite Her tongue neuer findes vacation but in Church which time giues her occasion to commence some new brawle Her tongue is as glibberie as an Eele all the Posts in the Kings high roade cannot equall her for speed marie truth is she enterfears dangerously shee weares her clothes negligently of set purpose to moue her husband to taxe her for her sluttishnes whose reproofe she retorts with haile-shot and pellets him with words as disgracefull as she is fulsom By this time she hath formald a paire of high corke shoes to heighten her dwarfish proportion purposely intended to beard her husband In her infancie she was tongue-tyed but by an expert Artist the string being cut she euer after vowed neuer to loose the facultie of her vtterance by discontinuance she hath seriously protested to make her husband run mad but he is a foole then she claimes some priuiledge in his Bretches and that is th' efficient cause of a breach betwixt them It may be she is honest but if her dogd humor would giue her leaue I am perswaded shee would enter parlie with a knaue in a corner being as she is a very Crab if shee affect any pleasures they must be backward she resembles the Raile and her name concurrs with her nature shee condemnes no act so much as that of Hypemnestra who procured her husbands safetie while all the rest practised their deaths shee approues of no ancient soueraigntie but that of Amazon where the gouernment was feminine and for the Salique law she hath already repeald it as expresly preiudiciall to their sex Her tongue-feuer is quotidian for it is euer shaking her nature is so far out of temper as shee hath vowed to be phrenticke euer she maintaines this that fancie is a phrensie and Loue such a painted Idoll as she will rather burne than tye her selfe to such a fopperie I would see that Saint which shee would not incense a man of that temper whom she will not nettle There is no bird which she lesse resembles than the Doue for she is all gall Saturne hath sole predominance ouer her dis-affecting nothing more than affabilitie she can be merry by times but then especially when her husband is malecontent she liues of litle sleepe and seldome sleeps but dreames and awakes laughing relating how in her sleepe she beat her husband The Crocodyles teares are not by halfe so mortally dangerous making euer her hatefull teares assured harbingers of reuenge she weeps because she may not effect what she would tuning all the day a hellish discord best sorting with her serpentine subtiltie she willingly entertaines her owne dislike to infer her husbands distast which she apprehends with ioy and obserues with a continuate delight she rewards the Sexton liberally in her husbands presence onely adding a day will come she presseth him to make his will perswading him he cannot liue long albeit he finde no such fault with himselfe she would make an excellent Hawke for she is euer sharpe shee vowes Temperance is none of the cardinall vertues and that too much sufferance may make the bleare-eyed world esteeme such an on a Saint whose recreant Patience deserues rather the title of Sot she may seeme to haue some allusion to the Pismire wheresoeuer she is she brings smarting and in Prouidence too for the shrow is euer scraping Her tongue would make a singular Scarcrow for it is euer ratling in her discontent as when is she out of that humor her only dolefull song is Lachrimae which she vsually sings in any consort Her complexion is sallow of constitution strong yet is her bodie incomparably weake to her will which can finde no period till death be her Herald to whose comfortable arrest I bequeath her FINIS TO MY LOVING friends my Country-Cottoneeres DRoupe not though dead you may reviue againe By th' cheerefull beams of such a Soueraigne Who can discerne what painfull men deserue And would be loath your families should starue Or want the staffe of bread but by command Will see your case redressed out a hand Meane time read my Resolues where you shall finde In state-distresse some solace to your minde Which found build on this ground and be as I Who am resolu'd hows'ere I liue or die Yours or not his owne R. B. For the Booke I 'le say if there be errors in 't The world had not known them but for th' Print Errata PAg. 5. lin vlt for strailings read strayings Pag. 15. lin vlt for passions read in some copies fashions Pag 26. lin 9. for charuell-house read charnell-house Pag 54. lin 3. for yea read then Pag. 58. lin 20. for reciued read receaued Pag 71. lin 3. for repentance read in some copies report Pag. 73. lin 16. for to denie read not to denie Pag. 113. lin 14. for grace read in some copies grate 1 Sence Of Seeing 2 Sence Of Hearing Esay 30. â— Ossic. Ibid proper finem 3 Sense Of Touching 4 Sence Of Tasting 5 Sence Of Smelling Cantic 4. Cant. 4. * Alluding to that sacred-secret mysterie of his fiue wounds curing and crowning our fiue Sences 1 Character Lycosthen in Apotheg Homer in Telemach in Odiss 2 Character