yet divers instances may be produced to prove That Avarice doth change into Ambition in mens declining age Martius Crassus p See Plutarch in his life had by a sordid kinde of Avarice attained to the greatest riches of any that we read of and yet out of Envy that he bore to the warlike atchievements of Pompeius and Caesar such an insatiable Ambition or desire of honor possessed him in his declining age That at threescore and three yeers of age he gave away half his estate to the common people of Rome to obtain a general Commission to be Commander in chief of the Roman Legions that were appointed to make war in the furthest parts of Armenia against the Parthians Which insatiable and unseasonable Ambition of his was ingeniously reproved by an old Armenian Knight of whom he did desire to be informed of the condition and distance of the way he was to undergo and power he was to oppose in this Parthian journy saying unto him That it was too great for him to undertake the same in his declining age and that the morning Sun of his age had been fitter for such an enterprise then the setting of it And had Crassus been ruled by this wholesom Counsel he had not by his insatiable desire of honor faln from the highest degree of worldly prosperity to the lowest degree of humane disgrace and misery as he did for by this rash enterprise he was the cause of his own death and of his eldest sons and of the lives of a great part of the bravest Nobility of Rome and of the rout and utter overthrow of his whole Army This is to prove That men in their declining age are fitter for Counsel then for Action and that is the reason that the Roman Senate the Counsel of Areopage and the Senate of Venice have been and are composed of men much advanced in their declining age because their Passions are commonly more moderate their Experience greater their Judgment more solid and their Counsels safer then of those who are in the youth or virility of their age for as Job saith With the ancient should be wisdom and in length of yeers understanding q Job 12.12 Contrarily there have been others in whom the desire of honor hath raigned in their youth and virility as their Noble Martial atchievements do witness who have changed this Ambitious Passion into the Sordid Passion of Avarice in their declining age As may appear by the lives of Vespasiaanus r See Dion and the English and the French Histories of Henry the seventh King of England and of Henry the fourth King of France Howsoever the desire of Wine of Money and the malicious Passion of Envy is more natural and doth commonly increase with age as much as rash Temerity and carnal Delights do diminish by age whereby I conclude That the declining age of men is not free from Vanity For what greater Vanity can there be then to Envy at another mans prosperity or to desire Wine when our head-piece is so weakened by age that it cannot overcome the vapors of it or to desire Money when we have less need of it sith we daily expect to be carried to our Graves Sixthly and Lastly The decrepit age of men begins at seventy and ends when Death strikes them with her Dart which is according to the course of life between fourscore or fourscore and ten For none attains to the days of Methuselah Å¿ Gen. 6.26 or of the Patriarks Abraham Isaac and Jacob for God hath shortened the days of men because of their transgressions as it appears Gen. 7.3 My Spirit saith the Lord shall not alwayes strive with man for he also is flesh yet his dayes shall be an hundred and twenty years and the oldest man that hath been known in this age of the world was a Shropshire Husbandman that was brought up to London as a wonder in the days of King James who was said to be one hundred and thirtie three years of age and this long life of his according to the opinion of the learned Physitians did proceed from the simplicity of his meate and drink for as soon as he came to be fed with the dainties of the Court he came to be diseased and suddenly departed this life Plinius and other Naturalists have much troubled themselves to finde out the naturall reasons why mens lives are so short the best reason they give for it is their immoderate diet and the variety of dainties and change of superfluous meats cooked with art inticing men to gluttony and drunkenness for daily experience doth shew that those who live soberly and live upon simple food avoiding slowth and idleness do live commonly longer then such as feed on dainties and use a sedentary life but the chief cause of it is that men do daily increase in sin and it is just with God for the punishment of their sins to shorten their lives sith as the Apostle Paul saith t Rom. 6.23 That the wages of sin is death howsoever the decrepit age of men except it be indowed with free grace and sanctified by the blessed Spirit of God it is the vanity of vanities and the misery of all miseries for the numerous infirmities incident to it and especially if penury doth accompany the same for old age with penury is the greatest affliction that can befal to generous spirits and the greatest tentation of Satan to intice men to despair for if rich men who have all manner of comforts cannot with patience support the infirmities of a decrepit age but murmure as some have done in my hearing that they were weary of their lives of what distemper must the poor aged people be who have no worldly comforts at all but are ready to starve for cold and to famish for want of food therefore tender and compassionated Christians should exercise their charity upon these objects of unparalleld misery as the most acceptable sacrifice they can offer to God and yet all the hearts of most men are so hardened by a just Judgment of God upon this Nation for its transgressions that they can look upon these dying objects of compassion whoperish daily in the streets without pity or reluctation Now for a conclusion and confirmation of the vanity and misery incident to the life of men I will make a short relation of the Maladies incident to every one of the ages of their lives first in their very conception they may be extinguished by ill sents and vapours and by divers accidents of bruises or falls secondly in their infancy by the squincy convulsions measles or the smal pox thirdly in their adolescency by the sword the pleuresie and burning feavers fourthly in their virility by sanguin apoplexies bloudy-flixes and consumptions fifthly in their declining age by the stone and the gout by dropsies paralepsies and flegmtick apoplexies and in the decrepit age by gouts aches cough the retentions of urine the strangullion poverty cold and
power of the Concupiscible appetite to make the children of God commit such sins as the Prophet David and St. Peter did but it was because God was pleased to give them over to themselves to make them know that the perseverance in grace is a free gift of his neither is it in the power of the Irascible appetite to infuse such a continency as was found in Joseph nor such an unparallel'd undantedness as was in Shadrach Meshach Abednigo and in Daniel but it was the blessed Spirit of God that did infuse in their hearts that admirable fortitude c. CHAP. VI. Of the vanity of the passion of love AS after a hard winter the Sun is not onely seen to give a new life to all the Vegetative Sensitive and rational Creatures upon earth but also by the heat of his beams to penetrate the very bowels of the earth for to purifie the insensible creatures from their dross as the silver gold and precious stones even so after mens passions have by their natural commotions clouded their mindes with a Winter of anxiety and sorrow supernatural Love doth not onely revive their Spirits but doth also purifie them from the dross that these perturbations had left behinde them in their souls Love being then the most noble passion of men it is fit it should have the precedency in these Discourses sith without love all humane society should be extinguished and by it men deprived of all content and comfort in this life for the greatest comfort that men can attain to in this vale of Tears is to have a constant friend or a faithful consort in whose brest they may confide their greatest secrets and be partaker with them of their prosperity honor and glory or sympathize with them in their afflictions and miseries It is recorded that Fpamonides the Commander in Chief of the Thebanes a man as free from vain-glory as any one we read of did not glory in any thing but in this See Plutarch in his Moâ—is that his father was living when he won three famous battels against the Lacedemonians that were then held for their valour to be invincible regarding more the content and honor that his father whom he loved intirely should receive of it then his own and certainly the greatest fruit that men can receive of their prosperity is when their friends rejoyce and partake of it and the greatest comfort they can have in their afflictions is when they are assured to have friends that sympathize with their miseries Now the passion of Love being of such concernment I will for the better description of it speak in order of these particulars first of the definition of Love secondly of the essentiall cause of Love thirdly of the variety or kinds of Love fourthly of the end or interest of mens Love fifthly of the qualities required in men for to obtain Love sixthly of the good and bad effects of Love seventhly of the Love of God towards men eighthly of the Love of men to God First Love is nothing else but to wish good to another not for mens own interest Definition of love according to Aristotle and Senault but for the good and merit of the party beloved to whom men are to procure all the good and content that shall be in their power Upon which definition observe these four Particulars first that Love doth ever unite the Heart and Will of men to the party beloved And therefore the ancients said commonly that Alexander and Ephestion had but one soul in two distinct bodies because their joy and glory sorrow or disgrace was mutuall to them both secondly Mens love is not to be grounded upon the pleasure or profit they may receive by them they seem to love for it can be no love except their love be grounded upon the vertues and merits of the party beloved thirdly Lovers are to wish and procure the good and honor of their beloved and to require nothing of them but what they may do with honor and equity fourthly The goods and lives of men are to be at the disposing of the party beloved Honor Religion and Loyalty onely excepted for true friendship doth not oblige men to blemish their honor rack their conscience nor to betray their Prince at the request of their beloved because these requests are beyond the bounds of love which is only to be confined within the limits of Vertue See Plutarch in his Moralls and therefore the ancient Moralist highly commends this saying of a Heathen who said to his friend who did require him to perjure himself I am saith he thy friend untill the Altar and the like answer was given to Charls Duke of Burbon See Du Belay Commentaries when he did intreate his noble friends to side with him against his and their natural Prince Francis the first King of France Secondly The cause of Love is conceived by some to be a sympathy or natural inclination that inticeth men to love one man before another for it is often seen that when a man comes in the company of other men he never had seen before he will affect one of that company more then any of the rest which proceeds say they from a sympathy of affections that is between these two men Others conceive that the cause of Love doth consist in the influence of the Planets and for proof of their Opinions say that the love of Achilles to Patroclus See Homer See Quintius Curtius and of Alexander to the Amazon Queen was because they were born under one and the same Planet Others conceive the cause of Love to be the intimate conversation and familiarity of the parties which by an habit and custom begets love between them Others conceive that the goodness and beauty of the object is the cause of love and with these I concur in Opinion for God who is the Beauty and Goodness it self is certainly the essential cause of true love Thirdly All sorts of love may be comprised under natural and supernatural the natural hath divers branches that may all be reduced under the love of Interest and the love of Friendship of which I shall speak hereafter when I have set forth the Opinion of those who maintain there is five severall sorts of Love first the love of the innanimate creatures secondly the love of the sensitive creatures thirdly the love of the rational creatures fourthly the love of Angels fifthly the love of God first The love of the innanimate creatures is apparent in the prosecution of the perfection of their beeing the light ones ascending upwards and the heavy ones descending downwards as to their center secondly The love of the sensitive creatures is an impression wrought by the senses in their imagination by the objects it conceives to beuseful unto them which begetteth a desire to injoy them and this passion is not onely incident to the bruit creatures but also to the rational who are overcome by the sensitive appetite
conceive them to be the cause of all the burden that are laid upon their backs I mean Lones Subsidies Taxes and Monopolies fifthly The wicked are addicted to Hatred 1 Cor. 4.13 for they hate implacably the Just and the Righteous and hold them as the off-scouring of all things Fifthly the nature and effects of Hatred in the unregenerate are nothing else but murders ruine and desolation first Hatred provoked f Gen. 4.8 Cain to kill his brother Abel and this hatred did proceed from Envie because his sacrifice was rejected of the Lord and the sacrifice of his brother was accepted secondly Hatred provoked Simeon and Levy g Gen. 34.25 26. to murder under the vail of Religion all the Shechemites and to plunder their City thirdly Hatred and the desire of Vengeance provoked h 2. Sam. 13.29 Absolom to murder under colour of friendship and hospitality his brother Amnon at a banquet as he set at table fourthly It was Hatred that provoked men to invent all maner of Weapons to destroy themselves and the devillish Art of making Canons Gunpowder Muskets Calivers Carabines and Pistols whereby the most valiant are as soon slain as the greatest cowards fifthly It was Hatred that provoked men to dive into the bowels of the earth to finde out Mines of Silver and Gold whereby they might execute their hatred spleen and malice and set all the world together by the ears sixthly Hatred hath given men an habit in all maner of impiety who have left by it their natural humanity and are become devouring Lyons and Tigers Nay when open violence cannot serve to execute their hatred they have an art to poyson men in their meat and drink by the smelling of a pair of gloves The Queen of Navarr was poysoned by the smell of a pair of Gloves by the putting on of a shirt or by the drawing off a pair of Boots nay by the very taking of a man by the hand under colour of curtesie as the Genovais Admiral did to the Venetians Admiral after he had been overcome by him at sea In a word Hatred hath been the projector of all the horrid actions of men for it is a passion that deprives men of all Reason Judgment and hath bin the cause of all the woes of men for by the hatred of Satan was our first mother Eve i Gen. 3.6 deluded and by her charms she deluded Adam her husband and so by their transgression sin is come into the world and sin like a contagious disease hath infected the whole race of mankinde Moreover Hatred is of a permanent nature for it is not like Envie or Wrath for Envy declines according as the prosperity of its object doth diminish and Wrath vanisheth into smoak if its fury may have some vent or it may be mitigated For a soft answer turneth away wrath saith Salomon k Pro. 15.1 but Hatred continues from generation to generation and death it self cannot extinguish Hatred Amilcar father to Hanibal out of an inveterate hatred he bore to the Roman Commonwealth See Livius Plutarch made Hanibal to take an Oath a little before his death that he should be to the end of his life a mortal enemy to the Romans and the hatred that Henry the seventh King of England bore to the House of York induced him to make his son Henry the eight to swear as he was upon his bed of death that after his decease that he would cause the Duke of Suffolks head to be cut off that was then his prisoner in the Tower of London as being the last apparent hair of the House of York an Unchristian part saith Montagnes See Montagnes Essais for a Prince to have his heart filled with hatred at his departure out of this world Nay the unparallel'd hatred that was between the two brethren Eteocles and Polinices could not be extinguished after their death for after they had slain one another in a Duel See Garnier in the Tragedy of Antigone or single Combat their bodies being brought together to be burned the fire by an admirable antipathy did cleave of it self into two parts and so divided their bodies that their ashes might not be mixed together and the inveterate hatred that was between the Guelfs and Gibbelins See Guiechardine in the wars of Italy Paulus Jovius in his Tragical Relations did continue from one generation to another But Paulus Jovius relates the most unheard of cruelty proceeding from an inveterated hatred that ever was read of Two Italians having had some bickerings together such a hatred was bred in their hearts that one of them having got his enemie at an advantage made him by threats deny his Saviour promising to save his life if he did it but he had no sooner by imprecations impiously denied him but the other stabbed him through the heart with his Ponyard saying The death of thy body had not been an object worthy of my hatred and vindication except I had also procured the eternal death of thy soul An horrid and unparrallel'd cruelty and a matchless effect of hatred Sixthly Having thus described the evil nature and effects of Hatred I will now come to the use that Christians should make of it I remember to have said in the beginning of this Chapter that this passion of Hatred had not been given to men to abuse it as they do but rather to eschew sin the greatest evil upon earth and that being used as an aversion to fly from sin it would serve for a strong motive to the propagations of a godly life for sin should be the onely object of mens hatred as the efficient cause of all their miseries and why our blessed Saviour out of his tender compassions towards his Elect was willing to suffer the ignominous death of the Cross Matth. 27.35 to redeem them from the guilt and punishment of sin which was eternal death And men cannot by any other means shew themselves grateful and to be sensible of this incompre hensible love of Christ then by having an inveterate hatred against sin and to detest and abhor with all their hearts all sinful courses sith sin is the onely separation wall that bars them from having an intimate and loving familiarity with God for the hatred of sin is the first step to attain to the love of God and without the love of God a true faith in Christ and unfained hatred of sin there is no possibility of salvation hatred against sin being the chiefest ingredient required in a true Repentance and how can men love God that hate their brethren and therefore the blessed Spirit in holy Writ doth so often exhort men to avoid all hatred except it be against sin He that l Ioh 3 14. 1 Ioh. 3.15 loveth not his brother saith St. John abideth in death and whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer and ye know no murderer hath eternal life Men must then love God and
are to flee from as from a contagious Air or from the sight of a Serpent for ill company are Satans Panders and the corrupters of youth and as men cannot handle Pitch without soiling their hands so young folk cannot haunt ill company without they blemish their reputation and defile their maners nor remain in their innocency for they are the Schools of Sin and sin draws the wrath of God upon men from whose wrath it is impossible to flee as the Prophet David saith Whether shall I go from thy Spirit Psal 139.7 8 9 10. or whether shall I flee from thy presence If I ascend up into heaven thou art there If I make my bed in bell behold thou 〈◊〉 there If I take the wings of the morning and dwel in the utmost parts of the sea even there shall thy hand lead me and thy right hand shall hold me Now sith it is so that sin draws upon men the wrath of God that cannot be eschewed nor avoided because it is a consuming fire For a fire saith Moses is kindled in his anger Deut. 32.22 and shall burn unto the lowest hell and shall consume the earth and set on fire the foundations of the mountains how careful should they then be to eschew and fly from sin Sixthly The use that men should make of this passion of Flight should be to flee from all appearance of evil as well as from sin and not transfer their own sins upon others as Adam did upon Eve The woman saith he to the Lord Gen. 3.12 whom thou gavest to be with me she gave me of the Tree and I did eat Much less to charge and accuse men of sins of which they are most guilty themselves for this kinde of sin is altogether in fashion in these days neither must men make conscience of one sin and make none of another some will make scruple to swear but they will make no account to lye a hundred times in a day so they may with these lyes delude their brethren and attain to their own ends Others will forbear to eat Fish upon a Friday but will make no account of drabbing and whoring others will flee from one sin and will run eagerly after another In a word there never was an age more addicted to painting then this for the most notorious sins are so varnished and painted over that men take Vices for Vertues And that is the reason why I said in the beginning of this Chapter that men should be cautious how they make use of this passion for fear they flee from the good in lieu to eschew the evil or get an habit of aversion against the good in stead to have it against the evil but if this passion of Flight be applied against its right object it will prove to be of great efficacy to the propagation of a godly life for it is impossible to love and affect the good unfainedly before men have obtained a strong aversion against the evil and therefore to attain to that blessed condition that the Prophet David speaks of in the first Psalm they must flee from all maner of conversation with the wicked Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly Psal 1.1 2. nor standeth in the way of sinners nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful but his delight is in the Law of the Lord and in his Law doth he meditate day and night Pro. 4.18 And Salomon secondeth him thus Enter not in the path of the wicked and go not in the way of evil men avoid it and pass not by it turn from it and pass away This triple gradation of Salomon sheweth with a great Emphasie how necessary it is for men to flee from the conversation of wicked men and from all appearance of sin and yet there are too many that add sin to sin and so fall under this censure of the Prophet Isaiah Isai 31.3 Wo to the rebellious children saith the Lord that take counsel but not of me and that cover with a covering but not of my Spirit that they may add sin to sin To conclude It is apparent that the passion of Flight except it be to flee from sin is but vanity for Gods wrath can over-take and finde out as it hath been shewed impenitent sinners wheresoever they flee CHAP. X. Of the vanity of the passion of worldly joy AS Laughter is an expression of Joy so Weeping is an evidence of Sorrow but these two proprieties are onely peculiar to mankinde because the Ape that seemeth to laugh doth but grin and the Crocodile that seemeth to weep doth but mone for Joy and Sorrow are affections of the minde and therefore the unreasonable creatures are incapable of them Notwithstanding some Moralists conceive that the passion of Joy and the passion of Delight which the French call Delectation is but one and the same passion which cannot certainly be because Delight is common to men and beast so is not Joy for Delight proceeds from the pleasures of the Senses and Joy from the contentedness of the minde and our blessed Saviour while he was upon earth shewed that these affections did reside in him as it may appear by these words Joh. 15.11 These things have I spoken unto you that my joy might remain in you and that your joy might be ful this confirms his affection of Joy and these will verifie his affection of Sorrow Ioh. 11.33 34. When Jesus therefore saw her weeping and the Jews also weeping which came with her he groaned in the Spirit and was troubled and said Where have ye laid him They say unto him Lord come and see Iesus wept Now Christ being the purity it self it is impossible he should have had any affections proceeding from the Senses And therefore it is certain that Joy and Delight are two distinct passions This sweet and comfortable passion of Joy was given to the reasonable creatures by their gracious and merciful Creator for to sweeten and temper the bitterness of their Sorrows that come upon them as thick as a storm of Hail under the burden of which they would undoubtedly have fainted if God had not been pleased to afford them this cordial of Joy for although Joy be pleasant to Nature yet it is a meer stranger to it but Sorrow which she abhors is her constant guest and for one dram of joy that men have in their life time they have a pound of Sorrow yet because Joy is the comforter of mens lives for without it they could not subsist observe for your better information of the qualities of it these particulars 1. The definition of Joy 2. The causes of it 3. The proprieties of it 4. Its effects 5. The bad and good use of it 6. The excellency of spiritual Joy First There are two different sorts of Joy the one is Worldly and the other Spiritual the last is a rapture or ravishment of the Soul by an intimate familiarity that true
an account of his Journey whereby he did prevent the evil effects that such a loss might have caused by a sudden impression in his Princes heart therefore the mitigation of the violence of the passions of Joy and Sorrow is of great use whereas if they be not moderated they are dangerous and destructive It may then be collected by these discourses that worldly joy is but meer vanity and vexation of spirit for as Job saith The triumphing of the wicked is short Job 20.5 and the joy of the hypocrite is but for a moment The Spiritual Joy doth as much excel the worldly Joy as the Light doth Darkness it ravisheth the soul and fills it with unspeakable pleasures the nature of it is incomprehensible neither can the superlative excellency of it be expressed nor described by the Tongue nor Pen of men for our blessed Saviour himself saith St. Paul a Heb. 12 2. For the joy that was set before him endured the Cross despising the Shame and is set down at the right hand of God and for and by that joy all the Martyrs have despised the burning flames nay some have kissed the stakes where they were to be burned and their greatest torments seemed unto them when they were upon the torturing racks as if they had been upon a bed of roses The excellent effects of spiritual joy This joy is the true Or-potabily which can as Physitians feign cure all diseases for if a Christian hath but a grain of this joy the greatest torments and the greatest persecutions that ever were invented and exercised by the cruel and blood-thirsty Tyrants will not dant them but they will bear them with an incredible fortitude of spirit And St. Paul to manifest the excellency of spiritual joy saith in the fourteenth Chapter and the seventeenth Verse of his Epistle to the Romans That in b Rom. 14.17 righteousness peace and joy in the holy Ghost doth consist the Kingdom of God And in all his Salutations and Wishes to the Churches and Saints he conjoyns Joy with Peace c Rom. 15.13 Now the God of Hope fill you with all joy and Peace in believing And St. Iohn in his first Epistle Chap. 1. and verse 4. making a relation of the excellent Mysteries of eternal life manifested by the coming and incarnation of Christ concludes with these words And these things write we unto you that d 1 Joh. 1.4 your Ioy may be full intimating that mens joy cannot be ful nor perfect but in the meditation of the Mysteries of their salvation And St. Peter in his first Epistle Chap. 1. vers 8. speaking of the triall of the faith of the true children of God saith Whom having not seen ye love in whom though now you see him not e 1 Pet. 1.8 yet beleeving ye rejoyce with joy unspeakable and full of glory Sufficient proofs that mens chiefest joy doth consist in a true faith in Christ and in the delight they take in the reading and meditating on the Law of God And that is the reason that the Prophet David breaks out in this expression Be glad in the Lord f Psal 32.11 and rejoyce ye righteous and shout for joy all ye that are upright in heart for this spiritual joy is onely peculiar to the true children of God impenitent sinners being incapable of it and therefore the Prophet David after his grievous sins of Adultery and Murder feeling that this excellent joy was departed from him doth earnestly intreat the Lord in the 51. Psalm to make him hear joy and g Psal 51.8 gladness that the bones which thou hast broken saith he may rejoyce And after a heavy burden of sorrow that he had carried in a penitent way for these abovesaid transgressions which had in a maner broken his bones and dried up the marrow that was in them he breakes out again with this expression Restore h Psa 51.12 unto me the joy of thy salvation and uphold me with thy free Spirit To conclude Blessed are those who prefer the good and wellfare of i Psal 137.6 Ierusalem above their chiefest joy and unhappy are they that make worldly joy that is nothing but vanity and vexation of spirit their supream good c. CHAP. XI Of the vanity of the passion of Dolour or Sorrow SOme Moralists are of opinion that Adam in the state of Innocency was free from this passion of Dolour and that it was after his Fall inflicted upon him as a punishment for his disobedience against his Maker because this passion is so common to men that it followeth them at the heeles as the Spaniel doth his Master their lives being but a continual succession of anguish grief and sorrow from their very Cradle to their Grave Which unparallel'd misery could not consist say they with that blessed condition in which man was created at the first yet I rather conceive that all the passions that are at this present incident to men were in our first father in the time of his innocency and that God was pleased then to give him the power and ability to keep them obedient and subordinate to his Will and Reason which power was taken away from him for his apostacy and presumptuous rebellion against the special charge and * Gen. 3.6 7. command given unto him by his Creator and was not onely deprived of this power but also of that royal Prerogative that God had given him over the beasts of the Field the fowls of the Air and the fishes of the Sea so that ever since his Fall his seed hath had enemies within and without to punish and correct them for the transgression of their first Parents and their own actual sins against their gratious God who had created all things perfectly a Gen. 1.25 good and submitted the most fierce and cruel beasts of the Field the devouring fowls of the Air and the monsters of the Sea to be subject and subordinate to the will of man But he having first of all rebelled against his Maker his own passions and the bruit creatures by the just judgment of God have also b Gen. 3.18 shaken off the obedience and respect they did ow unto him yet the unreasonable creatures are his meanest enemies for by that small spark of knowledg and divine Power and Majesty that is left in him he doth daily finde out means to curb their fury and rage but wants power and ability to regulate the exorbitant distemper of his own passions of all which Dolour is one of the most irksome Now for the better description of it I will speak of these particulars in order 1. Of the definition of Dolour 2. Of the different sorts of it 3. Of the causes of it 4. Of its nature and effects 5. Of the remedies of it 6. Of the use of spiritual sorrow First The Moralists are of different opinions concerning the definition of this passion of Dolour under which is comprised Anguish
and thirst to obtain by the merits of Christ eternal life Fifthly The spiritual Uses of Fear may be these 1. Men are not only to fear The spiritual uses of fear but also to love God that their fear may not be a servile but a filial fear for the Divel himself fears and trembles at the very name of God yet doth he not love but hate and detest him 2. Men are not only to fear to disobey God but they are also to endevor to do his will and to perform his commandements that they may neither commit sins of commission nor sins of omission for it is not sufficient for them to eschew evill but they must also endeavor to do good 3. Men are not only to fear and to love God but they are also to love and to fear to offend their neighbors that they may fulfill the second Table as well as the first and observe this precept of our blessed Saviour Math. 7.12 Therefore all things whatsoever you would that men should do to you do ye even so to them for this is the Law and the Prophets 4. Men are not only to love and fear God but they are also to love fear honor and respect his Substitutes or Deputies upon Earth I mean the supream and subordinate Magistrates to whom he hath given the sword of Justice in hand for to preserve the Innocent and to punish the wicked Rom. 13.1 For there is no power but of God the powers that be are ordained of God 5. Men cannot fear God except they fear to commit sin because there is nothing more odious to God then sin and such as fear God do hate and abhor sin for the fear of the Lord doth always precede the hatred of sin as it appears by this saying of Solomon Prov 10 27. â— Fear the Lord and depart from Evil Intimating that men cannot depart from sin before they fear the Lord And how pleasant acceptable this fear is unto God it may be collected by these sayings of the Prophet David Psal 61.5 Thou hast saith he given me the heritage of those that fear thy name meaning that such as fear the Lord have a most excellent Heritage as it is by him confirmed by these words Psal 16.6 The lines are fallen unto me in pleasant places yea I have a goodly Heritage And in another place he saith that God is the help and shield of those who fear him Again Solomon saith Psal 115.11 The fear of the Lord prolongeth days Prov. 10.27 but the days of the wicked shall be shortned Whereby it appears that such as fear the Lord have most excellent prerogatives 6. The fear of the Lord is the rarest jewel under the Sun for King Solomon after he had shewn in his Book of recantations that all things under the cope of Heaven were but meer vanity and vexation of spirit he concludes That to fear God Eccl. 12.23 and to keep his Commandments is the whole duty of man And I conclude with him that all fears whatsoever except it be the fear of God and the fear of sin are meer vanity and vexation of spirit CHAP. XVI Of the vanity of the passion of Wrath. IN the former Ages of the World They only were accounted generous and of a masculine courage that could with patience endure all manner of injuries and suffer with meekness all kinde of reproaches that were done or said unto them without being moved or distempered with this fiery passion of Wrath as it may appear by these ensuing Instances that have been recorded by the Ancient Authors in the praise and commendation of such Princes and private men See Plutarch in his Trearise against Wrath. that have been endowed with this rare vertue of Fortitude It is recorded that Antigonus King of Macedonia walking one evening thorow his Camp heard some of his Souldiers to curse him bitterly but he with an admirable patience without being moved or distempered pray'd them lovingly to go a little further that the King might not hear them See Sueto mus in Augustus life And the Emperour Augustus Caesar being earnestly entreated by his Son-in-law Tiberius Nero to punish severely the Author of divers scandalous Libels that had been dispersed through the Streets of Rome against him Answered without being moved with anger That the greatest correction he could inflict upon him was to disdain to take notice of his calumnies And King Philip Father to Alexander the Great See Plutarch in Alexander and in Demosthenes lives being entreated by one of his Courtiers to punish severely an Athenian Orator that made him odious to the Greeks by venting in his publike Declamations bitter invectives against him answered without being distempered with wrath It may be said he I have not as yet done him any good as I have done to many others that deserved not so well as he whereupon he sent him a present of two Talents in Gold that made this Nightingal to change his tune to exalt the Liberality and Heroical Vertues of the King as high as the Skie And Philip being informed of it told his Courtier that he was a better Physitian then he to cure the malignancy of evil-tongued men See the French History And Lewis the Twelfth King of France being perswaded by some of his Peers to avenge himself of some affronts and injuries done unto him by some great Officers of the Crown in the dayes of Charls the Tenth his Predecessor when he was onely Duke of Orleans answered with an admirable magnanimity of courage That it was unseemly for a King of France to revenge himself of the injuries done formerly to the Duke of Orleans But in this decrepit Age of the World wherein we live They only are reputed generous and of a manly courage that are addicted to wrath and apt to vindicate themselves for the least offence and injury which are done unto them although it be done unwillingly And this is one of the causes of all the Divisions that reign in this Commonwealth Give me leave therefore to enlarge my discourse upon these particulars to shew you the evil Nature Proprieties and Effects of this furious passion of Wrath. 1. Upon the definition of Wrath. 2. Upon the causes that move Wrath. 3. Upon the Nature and Proprieties of it 4. Upon the evil and good Effects of the same 5. Upon the Remedies of it The Moralists do vary in their Opinions concerning the definition of this Passion Senalt and others maintain it hath an opposite but the Bishop of Marseilles and Theophraste Boujou Lord of Beaulien in his Commentaries upon Aristoles Physicks maintains the contrary to whose Works I refer the Reader for brevity sake To come to the definition it self Wrath saith Boujou Boujou fol. 723. is a Passion intising men to vindicate themselves for some injury received or for having been hindred to attain to some good by them prosecuted and desired Wrath saith Senault
fear and tempt them 1 Cor. 6.15 To make of the members of Christ the members of a Harlot It is also one of the most prevailing snares of Satan by which he draweth more millions of souls into the Pit of destruction then by any other sin whatsoever And therefore give me leave to enlarge my self upon these particulars 1. Upon the definition of this passion 2. Upon the nature of it 3. Upon the causes why some are more addicted to it then others 4. Upon the evil proprieties of it 5. Upon the pernitious effects of the same 6. Upon the judgements that God doth inflict upon voluptuous men 7. Upon the means or remedies which are to be used to avoid the venome of it 8. And lastly Upon the express prohibition of the same by the Word of God First Volupty is a composed passion of love and desire The definition of Volupty arising from a tickling delight of the senses when men enjoy really or by imagination such objects as seem pleasant to their phansie It is so general that all such as are under the state of Nature are more or less addicted to it Nay the regenerate are sometimes ensnared by it by the temptations of Satan and their original corruptions the difference between them is that the unregenerate by their impenitency die in their sins and the regenerate by the free grace of the sanctifying Spirit of God are awaked out of this spiritual lethargy and by an unfained repentance are converted and reconciled to God Secondly It is of a feminine nature for all such as are overmuch addicted to this passion loose their masculine generosity and become effeminate Hercules did cast off his Club and Lyons skin to vest himself and spin like a woman before Omphale his Mistress And it is daily seen that voluptuous men imitate in their gestures carriage and fashions the Courtizans of these days for they powder their hair wear black patches and paint their Faces as they do It was not then without cause that the ancient Poets did represent volupty under the shape of the old Witch Circe for as she transformed the Passengers who sailed through the Straits of Sicilia into Swine if they listned to her Charms Even so Volupty doth transform into brute beasts rational men if they converse long and let themselves be ensnared by the alluring Charms of Harlots for as Zerubbalel proved it before King Darius the Charms of a beautiful woman are more powerful then strong Wine Esdras 3. from the 14. ver to the 32. or a mighty King Thirdly The Causes why some men are more addicted to this passion then others may be natural accidental or artificial such as are naturally more addicted to it are commonly of a hotter and moister constitution then others and these are of a sanguine complexion for the Bilious are hot and dry the Flegmatick moist and cold and the Melancholike cold and dry which are not so apt to the Venereal delight as the Sanguine The Accidental Causes are The hot Climate where men live for Heat dilates the spirits outwardly and Cold restrains them inwardly And Experience doth shew that the Africans Spaniards and Italians whose Climate is hotter then the Germans Dutch English are the most addicted to Venery And yet they are not so apt to generation as the last because the desire of the reiteration of the Act doth weaken their bodies and doth waste their spirits Idleness Pride and Fulness of bread is also an Accidental Cause why one Nation may be more addicted to Venery then another For this was the Cause why the Sodomites as the Prophet Ezekiel saith were so vitious Ezek. 16.49 and transported with Lust The Artificial Causes are Sophistical meats Delitious Wines and enticing Simples Drugs and Amber-gris over-much used in these days to provoke Men and Women to Lust See Guicciardine in the Emperor Charls the Fifth his Life Guicciardine records that a King of Tunis being at Naples spent five hundred Ducats in enticing Drugs and Amber-gris to dress a Peacock to incite himself and the company that supped with him that night to Lust But these Means are destructive to the Soul and Lives of Men. For Instance the Queen of Arragon gave Ferdinand her Husband an inticing Love-Drink to make him more apt to the Venereal sport See the History of Spain in Ferdinands Life but it cast him into an incurable Consumption which brought him to his grave And Van-Dick an excellent Dutch Painter lost lately his life by these inticing Drugs provoking to Lechery Alass Men are too prone of themselves to sin without Artificial Means to provoke them to it Fourthly The evil Proprieties of this vitious Passion are so numerous that I should be over-tedious to speak of them all and therefore will speak but of some of them First It is insatiable and may be compared to the horsleech to the barren womb and to the Grave for the Desires of Voluptuous men are never satisfied with their carnal Delights their bodies being sooner tyred with the reiteration of the Act then their Lust can be exstinguished For many have been found dead in their Mistresses Armes by endeavoring to satisfy their Lust beyond their Natural Abilities The Reason of it was because overmuch evacuation of the spirits exstinguisheth life Secondly it is as inconstant as the wind for they delight in nothing more then in changes because their judgement is so depraved by the Spirit of uncleanness which besots them that they cannot discern the beauty of one Object from another and do often forsake the most lovely to dote upon the most unworthy and deformed conceiving erroneously that stollen waters are the sweetest Thirdly It hath a Destructive quality for it provoketh men to commit the most abhorred sins that can be named Gen. 12.15 By it the Sodomites were inticed to commit with the very Angels the sin against Nature Gen. 19.5 It moved Pharoah and Abimelech to take away by violence Sarah Abrahams wife Reuben to defile his Fathers bed Gen. 35.22 Gen 34.2 Judg 19 25. Sechem to deflour Dinah The Gibeahnites to abuse brutishly the Levites concubine David to commit Adultery with Bathshebah and to vail his sin to murther Vriah her husband Amnon to ravish his own sister Tamar Sueton. in his Life Augustus to take away by force Livia from her husband Tacitus in his life Caligula to commit Incest with his two Sisters Nero to defile himself with his mother French History Faragonde to murther King Clotair her Husband that she might the more freely enjoy her Paramour English History King Edgar to murther his Favourite to marry his Wife And King Roderick to ravish Duke Godfreys Daughter Spanish History which was the cause of the Conquest of Spain by the Moors And a thousand like abhorred sins which should move Christians to abhor and flee from this most accursed and sinful passion as from a Serpent Fifthly The Effects of
it are rather worse then better 1. It deprives men of Reason and Understanding for Sampson a Nazarite from his Mothers womb and a Judge and Deliverer of Israel was so besotted by the charms and lascivious allurements of Dalilah Judg. 13.6 that he revealed a secret unto her in the concealing of which did consist the safety of his own life and of his native Countrey 2. Solomon the wisest Prince that ever lived upon Earth 1 King 3.12 was by the allurements of his Wives and Concubines turned away from the Lord and offered Sacrifices to their Idols 3. Marcus Antonius a valiant Commander of the Romans who never had been foiled in all his Martial Archivements before he was infatuated by the alluring charms of Cleopatra was so deprived of understanding that at the Battel of Antrium when he had the better of the day he fled away Plutarch in his life to follow her that carryed his heart away and by the fond love of a woman lost his life and the Empire Charls the Seventh King of France was so besotted by the lascivious embracements of La-belle Agnes his Concubine The French History that he neglected all the Civil and Military Affairs of his Kingdom to Court and dally the time away with her and had lost utterly his Kingdom by this passion of Volupty if his Mistress that was of a generous spirit had not rouzed him out of his lascivious dumps saying thus unto him I was foretold in my youth saith she that I should be one day the love and Mistress of the greatest and most valorous Prince in Christendom But it appears by your carriage that I am the love of the most effeminate Prince in Europe for you suffer the English Nation to rent your Kingdom into piece-meals and in lieu to be King of France you are through your pusillanimity become the petty King of Bourges for shame rouze up your spirits and let not a Forraign Nation deprive you of Life and Crown These taunting reproaches coming from a woman that was dearer unto him then his own life did so enlighten his understanding and inflame his courage that he instantly undertook to relieve Orleance that was then besieged by the English And after he had enforced them to raise their Siege he drove them by degrees out of all they held in France Calice only excepted 2. It deprives the dearest childern of God for some time of the love and favour of their heavenly Father As it doth appear in the lives of King David and of Solomon his Son 2 Sam. 11.2.3 for David by the lascivious embracements of Bathsheba was cast into a spiritual Lethargy for a whole year together and deprived of the sweet communion he had formerly with his gracious God so that in lieu to be penitent for his sin of Adultery Vers 13. he committed one after another two other abhorred sins for to palliate the first he caused his Servants to allure Vriah to drunkenness that his understanding being depraved by the vapors of the Wine he might return home and lie with his Wife but this wile failing he caused him to be murthered by the sword of the children of Ammon yet was his understanding so stupified by this bewitching spirit of uncleanness that he had dyed in his sins if God out of his infinite mercy had not sent the Prophet Nathan unto him 2 Sam. 12.1 to rouze him out of this mortal spiritual slumber 1 King 3.11 12. And King Solomon lay many years in such a deadly spiritual lethargy that he was utterly insensible of his gross Idolatries and abhorred Fornications for in number of Wives and Concubines he did excel all the Turkish Emperours and had perished in his sins if God out of his accustomed mercy towards his Elect had not out of Free-grace given him the gift of an unfained repentance as it appears by his Book of Ecclesiastes written after his conversion 3. It deprives men of all true content and over-whelms them with grief and sorrows for in what condition soever voluptuous men finde themselves they neither take pleasure nor content except their minde be alwayes bent upon the means that can make them attain to the fruition of their carnal delights for in them they erroneously conceive doth consist their supream felicity whereas the termination of the pleasures of the flesh is ever the beginning of misery and wo And therefore Aristotle to disswade his Disciples from carnal volupties told them that they were like the Mer-maids who are extraordinarily beautiful above water for their face is round and fair their hair as yellow as gold their eyes of a loving dark gray their mouth small their lips as red as Coral their teeth as white as snow their breast as round as an apple and their arms hands shoulders back flanks as white as Alabaster but their tail is like the tail of a great Serpent frightful full of teeth and mortal venom Even so carnal volupties are delightful to mens corrupt nature and seem to be sweeter then honey and the honey comb at the first enjoyment of them but at their adieu they are bitterer then gall and more loathsome then the snuff of a candle and for one dram of carnal delight they over-whelm their Clients with anguish and sorrow and make them shed rivers of penitent tears whensoever God is pleased to give them the gift of an unfained repentance Besides all true joy and content doth consist in the favour and love of God and in the assurance he doth infuse in the hearts of his Elect by his blessed Spirit that they are justified and reconciled unto him by the sufferings blood and passion of Christ his only Son our most gracious Saviour and this love favour and assurance is permanent and eternal but the joy and content proceeding from carnal volupties are for continuance like a fire of Thorns under a Pot or like the morning dew which vanisheth away at the rising of the Sun for the least blast of dolor and affliction doth suddenly make the very remembrance of carnal pleasures vanish away like smoak moreover the very conceits imaginations and deportments of voluptuous men are meer vanity and vexation of minde for their paradise upon Earth is to be always musing upon the beauty comliness and perfections of their Mistress Nay some are so infatuated by the spirit of uncleanness which doth possess them that they do Idolize their picture kiss their dressings and other things they wear nay the very ground they tread upon And can there be any real content in these absurd vanities mad and foolish deportments surely no for these vain phansies whereon they fix their minds divert their thoughts from being diligent Hearers of the Word of God and careful observers of his Ordinances from which they might reap true content 4. It deprives men of their means for Princes Noble-men Gentlemen Merchants and Artificers who are given to volupties do commonly fall into penury for as
Shadrach Dan. 3.20 Meshach and Abednego did endure with admirable Constancy the burning flames of the fiery furnace heated seven times hotter then it was wont to be rather then to worship the golden Image that Nebuchadnezzar had set up 2. By the same Fortitude Daniel did make choyce to be cast alive into the Lyons Den Dan. 6.10 16. rather then to restrain himself from making his Addresses by fervent prayers three times a day to God 3. By it all those Worthies nominated in the eleventh Chapter to the Hebrews did suffer with incredible Patience all the torments there specified Heb. 11. 4. See the book of Martyrs By the like Fortitude all the Martyrs in Queen Maries days did suffer with a sweet temper of spirit the fiery Tryal that was inflicted upon them And as it is the propriety of the Christian Fortitude to endure without murmuring all the torments that are inflicted upon them so it is another of its proprieties to endevor to subdue the lascivious Volupties of the flesh believing that he who can overcome his own Passions is a greater Conqueror then Alexander The Heathen do much extoll and boast of the fortitude of Cato See Plutarch in his Life who ripped up his bowels with his own hands rather then he would be beholding to the clemency of Caesar But these murthering resolutions are rather evidences of Pusillanimity then of true Fortitude For a sudden Death is a lesser torment then to continue a long time in anguish and daily tortures Besides the magnanimity of Decius Curius and others did rather proceed from vain glory then from any true fortitude But the Christian fortitude hath no other end then the glory of God and to overcome their sinful Passions Fourthly men are to endevor to attain an habit in the grace of Sanctification as the Seal of their Justification and Regeneration and Redemption And the onely way to obtain the same is by frequent prayers and dayly exercises in Religious duties having ever in their mind these Passages of Scripture Heb. 12.14 For without holiness no man shall see the Lord. 2 Thes 2.12 Because God from the beginning hath chosen you to salvation by the sanctification of the Spirit 1 Thes 4.3 4 5 6. and the faith of truth And that you should abstain from fornication that every one of you should know how to possess his vessel in holiness and honor and not in the lust of Concupiscence even as the Gentiles which know not God For God hath not called us to uncleanness but unto holiness Now because Sanctification is the crown of all other Christian graces I will here set down the ordinary means whereby the Blessed Spirit doth infuse the same in the hearts of the Elect for all natural men are incapable of it which is commonly done by degrees and not suddenly as their Justification Yet in some it is more sudden and in others more flow according to the activity or remisness of Christians in their exercises of Piety The first Means is That the Blessed Spirit doth move them to be diligent Hearers and Readers of the Word of God Rom. 10.17 For Faith saith S. Paul commeth by hearing and hearing by the word of God And none can be Sanctifyed without a Justifying Faith 2. It endows them with the spirit of Prayer and with mortifying Graces whereby they overcome their Original and Actual corruptions 3. It moves them to be cautious in all their ways and to be sensible of the smallest sins and to flee from all appearance or provocation to sin 4. It infuseth in their hearts a strong Aversion to sin 5. It engendreth in them a reverent love and a filial fear which keeps them from sin 6. It doth convince them of all their sins and specially of their bosome sin 7. By this conviction it begets in them an implacable hatred against their Darling sin 8. By this hatred it doth enlighten their Judgement and openeth the eyes of the same whereby the miserable condition they are in by the enormity and multiplicity of their sins is made apparent unto them 9. By the consideration of this misery it induceth them to seek earnestly the means whereby they may be delivered out of it 10. It infuseth in them a constant resolution to return to their heavenly Father and to humble themselves in Sackcloth and Ashes before him 11. It mollifies their hearts and makes them grieve mourn and lament for their sins by which Spiritual Sorrow never to be repented of it begets in them an unfained Repentance 12. And Lastly being by this Cordial Repentance reconciled to God by the merits of the Passion of their Blessed Saviour it begets in them an extream thirst after the living waters of that Fountain which was opened to the house of David Zach. 13.1 and to the Inhabitants of Jerusalem for sin and uncleanness And so by a constant perseverance in the ways of Righteousness they attain by degrees to that measure of Sanctification as is required to see the Lord with Joy and Consolation For the most Sanctified man upon Earth cannot attain to a perfect degree of Sanctification as long as he liveth in these tabernacles of clay the perfection of this Grace being reserved for the glorified Saints in Heaven Eighthly to Conclude I admonish all those who earnestly desire to attain to some degree of holiness to suppress betimes the venom of this vitious Passion of Volupty before it turn into an Habit in them For as I have said in my Answer to the Objection of some Moralists the Volupty of the mind doth as much encrease with Age as do the vices of Avarice and Drunkenness as it is confirmed by this Saying of the wise Son of Sirach All bread is sweet to a Whoremonger Eccl. 23.17 he will not leave off till he dye Now to terrifie and induce Voluptuous men to abhor this sin of Uncleanness I have collected these ensuing Passages out of Solomons Proverbs and out of Ecclesiasticus to shew them how Destructive this sin is to their Means Bodies and Souls The lips of a strange woman drop as an hony comb and her mouth is smoother then oyl but her end is as bitter as wormwood and sharper then a two-edged sword her feet go down to death her steps take hold of hell Prov. 2.3 4 5. Who so committeth adultery with a woman lacketh understanding he that doth it destroyeth his own soul Prov. 9.32 Stollen waters are sweet and bread eaten in secret is pleasant but he knoweth not that the dead are there and that her guests are in the depth of hell Prov. 9.17 18. For a whore is a deep ditch and a strange woman a deep pit Prov. 23.27 Give not thy soul to a woman to set her foot upon thy substance Eccles 8.2 Meet not with a harlot lest thou fall into her snares Eccles 8.3 Gaze not on a mayd that thou fall not by those things that are precious in her
Eccles 8.5 Give not thy soul unto harlots that thou loose not thine Inheritance Prov. 8.6 Look not round about thee in the streets of the City neither wander in the solitary places thereof Eccles 8.7 Turn away thine eye from a beautifull woman and look not upon anothers beauty for many have been deceived by the beauty of a woman For herewith Love is kindled as a fire Sit not at all with another mans wife nor sit down with her in thy arms and spend not thy mony with her at the wine lest thine heart incline unto her and so through thy desire thou fall into destruction Eccles 8.10 A man that breaketh wedlock saying thus in his heart Who seeth me I am compassed about with darkness the walls cover me and no body seeth me What need I to fear The most High will not remember my sins Such a man only feareth the eyes of men and knoweth not that the eyes of the Lord are ten thousand times brighter then the sun beholding all the ways of the sons of men This man shall be punished in the streets of the City and where he suspecteth not he shall be taken Eccl. 23.18 19 21. By these and many other places contained in the Word of God it is apparent that the lascivious Passion of Volupty is more destructive to men then any other Passion whatsoever Therefore it behoveth all sorts of men whether they be yong or old to be cautious of their ways that they may not by their own corruptions set on fire by the temptations of Satan be ensnared in this horrid sin of uncleanness And specially that it turn not by a continued custom into an habit For if it doth it will cost them rivers of bitter tears before this spirit can be expelled Because the best Divines hold that an old Voluptuous sinner is harder to be converted then any because the sin of Volupty is so sutable with the natural inclinations of men Yet if yong men would always have this Saying of Solomon in their mind Eccle. 11.9 Rejoyce O Yong man in thy youth and let thy heart chear thee in the days of thy Youth and walk in the ways of thy heart and in the sight of thine eyes But know thou that for all these things God will bring thee to judgement And Old Voluptuous men this Saying of the Prophet Isaiah Isal 55.6.7 Seek ye the Lord while he may be found call ye upon him while he is near Let the wicked forsake his ways and the unrighteous his thoughts and let him return unto the Lord and he will have mercy upon him and to our God for he will abundantly pardon There is no doubt but God out of his infinite mercy would have compassion of them and hinder that Satan should not tempt so many Voluptuous Old men to Despair as he doth by suggesting falsly that their sins are unpardonable And so inticeth them to put violent hands upon themselves which is to commit a sin that is Cousin-german to the sin against the Holy-Ghost Therefore when Old men who have from their Youth been addicted to Actual Fornications and Adulteries and by an habit in these sins do impenitently continue in their decrepit Age by the instigations of Satan in the intellectual Fornications and Adulteries of the heart let them cast I say these false Suggestions of Satan like dung into his face For to despair of the Mercy of God is to yield him up their Spiritual weapons and to commit an unpardonable sin For were their sins greater then the sins of Manasseh King of Judah and equal with that of Judas who betrayd his Lord and Saviour yet if they despair not of Gods Mercy they will undoubtedly find Mercy God being pleased sometimes to magnify his unparalleld Mercy by calling some impious sinners into his Vineyard at the last hour of the day and to give them out of his free grace the same wages as he had agreed to give to those who had born the burden and heat of the day Math. 20.12 CHAP. XVIII Of the vanity of the passion of Avarice DIogenes the Cynick being demanded why Gold was of so pale a yellow Answered ingenuously that it was out of fear because all men did run after it to make it their captive or rather their god For it is daily seen that avaritious men are the slaves of their riches and that Gold is their only Deity But the Poet Simonides being moved by a friend of his to resolve him which of these two viz. of Wisdom or Gold was to be most desired and pursued Answered Wisdom saith he for she is the Mistress and Gold is her Hand-maide Notwithstanding said he I see daily the wisest men court wait and attend upon the Gold-mongers and rich men of these days so little is Vertue regarded and Vice so highly esteemed Whereas in the judgement of King Solomon riches are nothing but vanity and vexation of Spirit And to this purpose he gives this caveat to avaritious men Labor not to be rich Prov. 23.4 5. wilt thou set thine eyes upon that which is not for riches certainly make themselves wings they flie away as an Eagle towards heaven Prov. 8.11 But Wisdome saith he is better then Rubies and all things that may be desired are not to be compared to it But these sayings of Solomon seem to be paradoxes to avaritious men for the glistering lustre of their Gold hath dazled the eyes of their judgement to conceive erroneously that Gold is a soveraign remedy for all diseases For it can say they deliver them from all danger raise them to honours and give them the fruition of all the delights of this life so they become more eager after the purchase of these momentary riches then sincere and zealous Christians are fervent active and diligent after the acquisition of the spiritual Treasures Now because this vitious passion of Avarice is extraordinarily predominant in this Age and enticeth many to undertake strange projects and practice undirect means to hoard up Gold and Silver to the undoing of the Common-wealth and the destruction of their own souls Give me leave to enlarge my self upon these particulars to shew you the virulency of this sordid passion 1. What is properly called Avarice 2. How it is composed 3. Of what nature it is being thus mixt 4. What kinde of men are most addicted to it 5. The causes moving men to affect the same 6. The pernitious proprieties of it 7. The destructive effects of the same 8. The considerations inducing men to allay the fire of it First What men properly call Avarice The definition of Avarice is only an exorbitant and insatiable desire to hoard up Gold and Silver Secondly This desire is never free from fear and self-love so that Avarice is a composed passion of fear love and desire Thirdly Being thus mixt Of what passions Avarice is composed it is of a violent nature by the means of love that is