them resolve to be active in their commands passive to their wills patient under their displeasures free of their fortunes to supply them of their persons to fight for them of their minds to consult for them yea it arms their prayers and tears to encounter their misfortunes with their zeal and to despise hazzard to fear as little to sink for as desire much to swim with them and all this that they may be taken notice of as Clyents and Votaries to Greatness pleased with nothing beneath or besides it Non ego ambitiosus sam sed nemo aliter Romae potest vivere non ego sumptuosus sum sed urbs ipsa magnas impensas exigit Ep. 50. This Seneca sayes was the humour of Rome where nothing was requested but Ambition nothing commendable but what was costly and gay And this is so much the darling of the Sparkish youth that they think the still and quiet humour sottishness and mediocrity of station plebeity of humour and flettenness of spirit Necessario itaque magnus apparuit qui nunquam malis ingemuit nunquam de fato suo quaestus est fecit multum intellectum sui non aliter quam in tenebris lumen effulsit adverâ—itque in se omnium animos cum esset placidus lenis humanis divinisque rebuâ— pariter aeques Senec. Ep. 120. which is the reason that these precocious natures put themselves upon affairs in a kind of rape and compulsive violence upon them and are content to be instruments in and agitators about those matters which softer and better poysed tempers and modester judgments decline as uneasie difficult and unhandsome for them to appear in or promote And indeed were it not for such forlorn and desperate services it were impossible for heady and fortuneless men to come to Riches or Greatness because they would be voyd of friends and reason to countenance them in and manage them amidst the Maeanders of those courses but they counting all their own they attempt to get Celsoâ— cursus nisi confidentia magna non appetit dum generosi est animi in optare quod summum est audentes facit homines fidentia sui quia se non patitur occulere quem precipit naâ—ura prodire Theodariâ— Felici Ep. 2. Var. lib. 2. and concluding themselves born for and destinated to those toyls and hazzards which other men are not nor shall be rewarded for put themselves in the heat of the service and venture their lives to rescue Greatness from contempt and to revenge the insolence of its opposition with the ruine of the Oppressors in the return of which well-couraged service they have Guerdons of honour and acceptance from the fountain of Honour which title is the only true and honourable origination of Honour Not that Ambition and Confidence of ones self is the only way of rising for it is seen and known that Rises and Honour sometimes attend modest and meek spirits who are so far from appearing canditates for them that they avoyd and disfigure themselves that they maybe not beleagured by commands to enter upon action or be taken notice of for wel discharging them though more often great friends usher men in accidentally and their own parts continue them profitably in that way which is attended with Greatness and Wealth So was the great E. of Essex called from Sir H. Wotton p. 4. 76 78 79. his retiredness at Lampsey by the great E. of Leicesters means and the great Duke of Buckingham by Sir Iohn Greham who first spake of and commended him to King Iames. But yet the way of some is to buoy up themselves and to become graduates in grandeur from their own Spontenanscency and to hew out their own way to what they wish and would thorow the Alps of seeming impossibilities and unconquerable hardships such Caesars are they in their own minds that they believe their coition with the Moon and thereby entitle themselves to the courtesie of taking the profits of all sublunary casualties which makes Seneca attribute much to mans spirit in the adjustment of weale or woe to himself For he calls the mind now a King anon a Tyrant a King Animus noster mode Rex â—odo Tyrannus Rex cum honesta intuetur salutem sibi corporis commissi â—urat nihil imperat turpe nihil sordidum ubi vero imprudens cupidus delicatus est transtulit in nomen detestabile dirum sit Tyrannus Ep. 114. when it considers vertue Turkish Hist. p. 947. and according to it conducts the body to actions worthy and of good report but when it is imprudent vehement curious then it becomes a Tyrant Which that it may not be nor men miss of their ayms so far as they are approved by God good for them and proper for the publique it becomes them not to apply themselves to sinister means such as are rebellion murder injury as that wretch Amida sonne to Muleasses King of Tunis did who betrayed his trust forced his fathers Throne and Concubines slew his brethren yea villain and divel as he was pickt out his own fathers eyes with a Pen-knife such such black brutish savage truculent actions are execrable and indurable paths to Greatness while the walker in this wicked way loses his own soul to gain a triffing and momentary government in this world but the lasting and vertuous way to greatness is to comprecate God that he would not interpose nor cast cross accidents athwart the way of their endeavour for if he do the eggs of mens ambition will be addle and the edge of their confidence turned and become blunt which truth is hardly to be drilled into the beliefs of those boysterous spirits that are the Virago's in this kind For to tell them of Gods inclination of great mens wills to favour them and of his adaptation of them to their favours without which those bounties would be unsavoury and the soul and spirit of them evaporate and become ineffectuall to their hoped for ends is to bespeak them to prejudice against and censure of such discourse as madness and bigottry They are all for gay cloaths spruce looks high rants facetious drolls pleasant froliques hot spirited mettle all or most of which they ascribe more to in the motives to and merits of their favour then to any thing else when as truly they are mistaken for these things though in some sence notable seconds to the most noble fruits of vertue and ability yet are not to be attributed to as to Gods permission so to have it is be acknowledged though therefore I am no friend to ambition or confidence yet because I know it a way to Rise and Wealth if it will be limited by reason and religion it shall have my Godspeed to it though I must own to all the world that I value more a grain of content then a pound of ambition and a mite of modesty then a treasury of self-confidence because the one works in
faithfully beloved by him gravely remonstrated to â—im He kindly accepted of the reproof and commanded Mustapha to summon together all the Commanders of his Army before whom he would quit himself of the effeminacy charged upon him Before them he brought Irene and asked which â—f them would not be taken with such a â—eauty All consented to the efficacy of â—he Transport after all to shew his Ottoâ—an Courage or rather Cruelty he drew â—â—s Falchion and at one blow strook of â—er head But the main Caution that is in debaseâ—ent to be needed is in point of Marriage for Marriage being the Seraglio of life out of which all the furtherances to succession are transmitted the condition and humour and so the good or evil fortune of Posterity is probable to be such as the choice good or ill of the wife is nor is there any action of life which denominates prudence and magnanimity truer Unde melius nobilitati collegam quaerimus quam de vena nobilium qui se promittunt abhorrere moribus quam refugit sanguine vilitatem Cassiod Var. Ep. 12. lib. 1. and less fallible then Marriage doth which was the reason that Theodoric the Gottish King a wise man writing to his Friend sayes thus Whence is it likely to find a Noble Associate but from Noble Stocks and birth of Honour who hold themselves bound from that baseness of action which they abhorr in the dignity of their degree and quality as beneath it and King Iames oâ— blessed and pious memory hath positived the truth of this Basilicon Doron 2 Book p. 172. If a man marry basely beneath his rank he will ever be the less accounted of thereafter whereupon it waâ— ever the counsel of wisdom to avoid debasing by entring upon equal Marriages which Pittachus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Laertius lib. 1. Par pari jungatur conjâ—x quicquid impar dissidet Reg. Iuris being asked by one whether he should marry a rich or a sutablâ— Wife answered by turning the Inquirer to the Boyes then at play and the Cry thaâ— was from them to each other which was Take thou thy like which the Civilians accord to in their rule Like to like do well iâ— marriage for whatsoever is unlike discords And this our Law commends as necessary and thereupon Magna Charta c. 6. 20. H. 3. c. 6. Command Wards who are usually men of great Blood and Estates shall be married without disparagement That 〈◊〉 Stat. Merton c. 6. Instit. upon Littleton Sect. 107. p. 80 81. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Plutarchus in Nuptial praeceptis 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Philo lib. de Praemiis paenis p. 918. not to people beneath them villano 〈◊〉 Burgensi or to others unmeet for them 〈◊〉 Sir Edward Cooke enlarges upon it for 〈◊〉 marriage be the merry age of persons that are willingly and with a vertuous â—â—ncerity of condition and humour brought â—nto that Estate then to be defeated of â—â—eir aim makes the Estate marriage the â—â—ne of all content and the depth of miâ—â—ry For as a Glass set out with Gold and â—earls avails nothing unless it represent 〈◊〉 true likeness So saies Plutarch is there â— comfort in marriage if there be not a â—â—ness of conversation and concord of Huâ—â—ur For marriage in Philo's words is a â—ind of pitch'd field wherein the soul and â—â—â—son of man musters up its vertues to opâ—â—se their contrary Vices in it Prudence opâ—â—ses Folly Constancy Wavering Frugality â—â—xury Fortitude Rashness and Fear And 〈◊〉 to these Noble designs there ought â—o be care preceding I know it is often seen that as men of â—â—eat parts spirits and forecast do err in point of Conduct Perit judicium cum res transit in affectum Scholastie Surius in Commentarium rerum gestarum ad Annum 1539. as did the Emperour Charles the fifth who notwithstanding Francis the first of France his disgrace at Pavia and his imprisonment in Spain would pass thorough France to Flanders upon a safe conduct of King Francis and H. 3. of France when he slew the Cardinal of Guese beloved of the Nobility and Commons having neither Money Army nor strong place after to make good the fact I say as men of great parts often are ove-ruled by providence of discovery or punishment to over-shoot themselves in other affaires So in the great affaires of marriage in which pasâ—â—sion is an ill guide and men conducted to love by the fire of youth contracted in the burning-glass of the eye and thence intending it self in the action formed according to the engaged mind Idea may be deceived into a captivity to an unmeet object and yet in all otheâ— actions be prudent Yet because this iâ— the Master-choyce of life and is in fluential on all the after-actions and deâ—grees of a mans condition No man reâ—taines a good reputation that degeneâ—rates in this from the merit of advise and prudent not that any man can avoiâ— what is concluded by God to be his porâ—tion nor is the force of resolution and caution vigorous enough to dispel the impedencies of Fate which is according to nature Quae Fato manent non facile vitantur Tacit. as inseparable from the subject it attends as the effect is from the cause But then men are causal of their own woe and detractive from their wel-doing and happy enjoying when they delight to be solely privy to their actious and refragate all counsel which is better from a stranger than their engaged selves whose judgement is drowned in their resolved pertinacy Nemo inde sâ—rui potest unde destruitur nemo ab eo illuminatura aquo contenebratur lib. de Praescrip advers Haeretic c. 12. so true is that of Tertullian in this case which he uttered in another sense No man can be built up by that which is his ruin nor enlightned by that which is his Ecclipse And yet so great is the seduction of man and so stone-blind his error that he is less curious and advised in this that is the great secret and sacred concern of his life and well-doing then he is in trivial matters which do neither make him happy in having or miserable in wanting while in this that is the Heaven of Earth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Philo lib de de victimas offerentibus p 856. and the Haven of life there is not so much the honour of God which Philo calls the cement and indissolvable bond of conjunctive benevolence as sudden thoughts and transient humours consulted with which the very man that uses them in ayd to marriage would not be guided by in a purchase of Land drift of a bargaine loan of money bodily distemper no not almost in the choice of a servant while in chusing a wife to which as the best of mercies when good and the worst of curses when bad all others are triffles men go passionately without judgment to like court present to and marry considering not the consequence
may be thought inconsistent with this world and with the men and things of and in it yet secundum quid and in compare with courses diametral to frugality and the benedictions of industrious deligence the principles of growth and beauty of Families it promises much towards its establishment at least more then the sensual and senseless courses of prodigality and loose living which are not springs to but dreyns of estates and let them run at wast by intemperance and neglect I know the activity and concerns of the Romans in the severalties of their conquests dispersing those of them that were strenuous and learned into the several quarters of it made the generosity of their spirits at home not seem so much and quick as it would had they been kept nearer their heart and seat of life and not distributed into the remote veins and arteries of their growing body which they were to inform and quicken Yet did they in their transplantation not dye Orta omnia aut serius aut ocyus tandem occident senescunt volvet motu continuo rotans fortuna de gente ingentium volubilia regnâ— versabit Facies illa cum volet reges ex servis servos ex regibus in urbem Romam in orbem Romanam suam ineluctibilem poteutiam exercebit Petrarcha Ep. 4. sine Tit lo Tom. 2. p. 714. but by their change of climate more improve For since it is the good pleasure of God that the Ague of time should by variations serve to the revolution of this vicissitudinary world in which all the Natives of what edition soever are by their principle of composition and the regency of Gods Decree inclined to change and not without miracle to be preserved from the fate of their declention and variation which is but the gradual preface to their interition They that â—ix Absolom's Pillar on this Pedestal of dust do but fancy their own deceit and consent to their posterities delusion For though it may please God that some Families are so happy that they produce as many Heroicks as men Qui tot annis continuus simul splendeâ— claritate virtutis quamvis rara siâ— gloria non agnoscitur in tam longo stemmate variata seculis suis producit nobilis vena primarios nescit inde aliquid nasci mediocre Tot probaâ—ii quot geniti quod dissicile provenit electa frequentius ita ut quod addidit familiae juvenes tot reddidit curiae consulares Theodoric Rex Ep. 6. Importuno apud Cassiod Var. lib. 3. every one born in it proving not only not a blemish but an Ornament companion to the Nobles and best of men in whom nothing trite or prostrate appears but every thing that proves a spring to the emulation of their contemporaries as the Decian Family is remembred to have which lasted for hundreds of years unallayed and in its prime and encreasing keenness so that to be of it was to be whatever is expectable from manhood incarnate Or as the Domitian Family Omnes ad consulatum sacerdotiaque ad triumphantium paoene omnes pervenerunt insignia Pater lib. 2. p 438. 440. Plurimas vivendi causas habentem Plin. de Correllâ—o Rufo of whom Paterculus writes all of them either arrived at Consular Sacerdotal or Triumphal Grandeur Or the Brethren of Metellus who triumphed in one and the same day I know there have been these Instances of auspicious providence to some who with Corellius Rufus have had felicities of all kinds constellated in them and have had the issue of their prosperity imponderated by the massiness of their own wishes yea by those concentrated accommodations which have advanced them above parallel and declared them single in those not almost to be believed enjoyments To have a clear reputation and great power Wife Daughter Sons Nephews dutiful and virtuous a number of choice Friends and all this with a chast and unviciated Conscience is that which but few Romans besides him had Nor of many English men can that be said which our Learned Cambden writes of the Earl of Wiltshire Britannia p. 267. Treasurer to King Edward the sixth who well understood the different times he lived in and was to steer his course by That he was raised not suddenly but by degrees in Court that he built Noble and Princely Buildings was temperate in all other things full of years for he lived ninety seven years fruitful in his generation for he saw one hundred and three issue from him by his Wife I say though God leave these Instances and such like to assert and make good the imperativeness and priviledge of his pleasure yet mostly it is otherwise Statues do not more gather moss and moulder away with weather nor Vegetables fade and dye by the currency of their season and the aridness of their root the decay of whose succulency appears in the contraction and cessation of the Flowre then Men and Families do by Time which has swept away with its Besome and carried down its Current Kingly Peery and Gentry Families and set them and their Honours on shore in that Terra incognita wherein they are extinguisht Yea in our own Nation how has the same Carere and fate mortified the quondam being and greatness of Name in the Brittish and Saxon Families yea and in the Families from the Conquest by name Albanay Fitz-Hugh Mountacute Mountford Beauchampt Brewier Cameis Bardolf Mortimer Valtort Botereaux Chaumond Curcey De la Beche Carminow Brewire Fitz-lewis Marmion Deincourt Burnell Plantagenet all right Noble and Knightly Families in their times but now either wholly eraced or couched under Families who married their Heirs and with their Lands and Blood carry their Names only in their Title I say this Vulture and vehemence in time tells us that as here there is no Permanency so here good brave Men must expect rather to be deplorable objects of desertion and poverty then the Favourites of credit and abundance nor do I observe the lines of life crosser or the channels of prosperity lower to any then to these Envy or some other mischievous accident either calmming their design so that they can make no Port before they are ruined or else the surges of the storms in which they and their honest projects ride suffering them never to be happier then a shipwrack of all can make them and the breaking of their hearts for greif superadded can by it detriment the world in their loss This I the rather introduce to turn Men and my self upon rumination of Gods proceedings herein more abstruse then the nature of unmortified man is capable to submit to or patient to acquiesce in Nor is there anything that I know wherein the carnal Heart and inquisitive Wit more covets to fathom and concerns it self to circumvolve then Gods wrapping of himself up in the Cloud executing the pleasure of his Will in this which our dwarfy reason and insolent ignorance tearms with reverence I write it the hysteron
the tokens of Gods good will to them and ill tidings and casualties coming not by chance but commission are signes also of God paternally correcting their wanders and unmortifiedness which not being collectable from the like carriages of his greatness to evil men to whom God is contrary Psal. 7. 11. and with whom displeased there may be sufficient warrant for looking upon their temporary flourishing but as a minuts gaity before an eternal setting and expiration And hereupon when ever I see Men or Families turn upon God their backs Ier. 32. 33. and imagine evil against the Lord Nahum 1. 11. when their heart is fully set in them to do evil because sentence is not presently executed upon them Eccles. 8. 11. When I consider They take crafty counsell against the Lord and against his Anoynted Psalm 2. And hatâ— the man and thing that is good Micah 3. 2. And speak evil of what is good When these Iude v. 15. impudencies are exert and the rancour of their prophane irreligious hearts breaks forth at their lips they do not only with Esau contemn that sacred gift of God divine primo-geniture by bartring it for triobolary contents momentany nothings but they dare own Religion no further practicable by a wise man then in the uutside and in that part of it which is popular and exemplary Non cogitamus quid ipsâ— simus sed quid alteris esse videmurâ—â—â—di eo perduâ— a resset ut neglecta veritate meriti de sola opintone curamus Pelahius in quaâ—rela ad Demeâ—riam Proâ—â—nos appellam ubique homines sacris non imitatos Budâ—eus in Pandect p. 180. Fol. when men make no conscience of duties and things sacred but can pass them over and swallow them down deriding the precisianism of those that make scruple of sacriledge and impiety that is gainful No wonder that God is known to these in the judgment he executed and these wicked ones are taken in their own snare Psalm 9. v. 16. No wonder that God denies them the comforts and conducts of his Spirit in their way and the glory of his Sonne in his Kingdom who deny him their obedience and adoration here in their day and who set themselves to dethrone his Holiness Power Goodness Justice from its command over the events of things and upon the hearts of men no wonder that he leaves these trusters in man and these makers of flesh their arm and whose heart departeth from the Lord by making them like â—eath in the Desart and not see good when good commeth as the words are Ier. 17. 5 6. When they set themselves to contradict his Institutions and to live contrary to his punishments and rewards no wonder God gives them the whirlwind of instability for their portion and razes their posterity and glory out of honourable Hab. 2. 16. record who design his dishonour in their heart and establish it by their power and defend it by their wit Horum sententiâ—â— non modo superstitionem tollunt in qua inest timor inanis deorum sed etiam religionem quae deorum culta pio continetur St. Augustin lib. 4. Civit. dei and propagate it by their example Can God be jealous of his glory and power which he will not give to any other and yet pass by the provocations of these insolencies which question his being as a God good as a Spirit holy as a Lord great as a Judge just And when he gives to such as give him the courage of their Faith 1 Iohn 5. 4. the sincerity of their love Matth. 20. 37. the perfect work of their patience Iames 1. 4. the duty of their holiness 1 Pet. 1. 16. the exceedings of their zeal Gal. 1. 14. the indeterminateness of their perseverance when to these he gives a name better then Isa. 56. 5. that of sonnes and daughters and settles upon them the sure mercies of David which shall not depart from his seed sorevermore Isa. 55. 3. Is it not just with him to give to those that despise his counsell and dispute his power and deride his holiness and disgrace his Gospel and grieve his Spirit and crucifie his Son afresh and put him again to open shame by their hard hearts rash speeches vicious lives is it not just with him to rend them and their children and fortunes with the stormy wind of his fury and in the overflowing storm of his anger and by the great hayl-stones of his fury to consume them as the threatning is Ezek. 13. 13. Yes sure and such will be the end of all contemners of God and his Gospel who though they be too big for men to deal with and too sturdy for them to argue off their courses to undeceive in their placing happiness and content in the luxury of life yet are by God severely met with sometimes in terrours of mind and visions of horrour as was that wicked Metropolitan of Saxony Adalbertus Archbishop of Hannaburgh who being highly born but not so noble in grace as blood was wont to boast that all his predecessors were pitiful obscure Priests and had no descent nor was the See ever honoured with a Gentleman Bishop before he came into it God met with the Atheism and pride of his heart for on a certain night he dreamt he was officiating at the Altar and that he saw one resusing his service and heard a voyce Thou proud Prelate Tu homo nobilis clarus non potes habere parâ—em cum humilibus Melchior Adam Hist. Eccles. p. 60. c. 19. that gloriest more in thy stemm then rendrest thy self glorious by the grace of thy heart hast no portion with Gods contrite ones Or if God calls them not home this way he either chastens them by great mis-fortunes in their posterity as he did the Conquerour for his Sacriledge in throwing down 36. Mother Churches besides Monasteries Villages Chappels Houses and Towns where men habited to make new-Forrest his Chase for beasts which place was fatal to his sonnes for William Cambden in Hanâ—shire p. 259. Rufus and Richard his two sonns both perished therein the one by pestilent ayre the other by the arrow of Tyrril and Henry his grand-child was hanged in the boughs of a Tree pursuing his Game in this Forrest according to the fourth Commandement To the fourth generation of them that hate him Or by sweeping their posterity away so were Ieroboams 1 Kings 15. 29. So Baasha's 1 Kings 16. 3 4. So Ahabs 2 Kings 21. 21. Which is the judgement David imprecates on the wicked Let his posterity be cut off and in the generation following let their name be blotted out Psal. 109. 13. Thus is irreligion in the heart and prophaneness in the word and works enervative of the prosperity and duration of Men and Families SECT XIV Presents Injury and Oppression a Demolition to Men and Families SEcondly No less to Men or Families harm and dock is Injury and Oppression which therefore
be able to hide the shining of His face while God gives Him a heart frequently and humbly to converse with him from whom alone are all the irradiations of true Glory and Majesty as the Kingly Martyrs words are To be Favourite to a Prince as our most Gracious Lord and Master the King that now happily and with general blessing of God and the people reigns over us is whose conscience is not chargeable to Gods justice for the ruine of Favourites and the blood of Subjects but is Vigilant Mild Just Generous and strict in Religion and Government according to his Lawes both Sacred and Civil Consider this O England and be thankful and lâ—yal To be a Favourite to such a Prince is to be presumed vertuously compleat and to be an Instance of happiness which if not alloyed by a deceitfull heart within yields no temptation but to be a Nehemiah an Aristides a Samuel a what not that is complexive of Greatness and Goodness for if the zeal of God and the rules of Honour and Justice inspire such a one he cannot chuse but be presidentially good And therefore since it is not boldness but love to the prosperity of Good and Great Favourites that invites me to write upon this head the only Rock that Favour hath to fear is from Gods jealousie that any thing should rival with him for the glory of his Munificence Since that promotion as it is from him so ought it wholy to revert to him in fruits suitable to his bounty and intendment For then he leaves men to themselves when they leave him by forgetfulness of him and themselves and when they remember not That it is he that gives them friends to bring them into view parts to carry them thorow Fortunate accidents to co-operate to their continuation Acceptation in and for what they have done and in this thus variated confirms them Yea if Favourites consider how necessary every fibre sparkle punct and occult meatus of Providence is to their being and stability and how important the Soveraign benediction of God is to their consistence Sic me inebriaverat ambitio â—ic â—me blanda principis promissa preverterunt ut sciens prudens viderer in omne discrimen animae corporis dispendium pertinaciter conjurasse Pet. Bles. Ep. 14. they will find abundant matter to solicite God to their ayd Eicon Basil. c. 27. and to the subduing of their hearts Psal. 87. 6. against elevation under such Sunshins The Flatteries of which are as inseparable from prosperity as Flies are from fruit in Summer And if Princes are but Gods that are mutable and mortal as men and the counsels of God must take place against all secular projects and in defiance of all Politique contrivements how prudent and Christian is it for Great men to trust mainly in the Lord Iehovah who is the same yesterday to day for ever And to serve trust in Princes as those who must give account to God and Them every moment and in which reddition their innocence will be their best refuge For since God has entailed passancy on this world and here the best of men have no abiding City but are wafted to and fro by the impetuosity of passions and the blasts of inharmonious variations which admit no anchoring but in sincerity of aym and piety of desire and deed according to the possibilities and allowances of humane infirmity It is good to remember Mortality and Mutability in the greatest transports of advancement and affluence Which had Abraham the great Visier Bassa to Solyman believed He who had his souls residence in his Masters body as was said he had would never have been such a Doter on greatness who after the misfortune of his Masters Army in Persia which Expedition he was Counsellour to was disfavoured Turkish History p. 654. cursed murthered and after all submersed and a great weight tied to his dead body 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Plutarchus in Solone p. 94. Edit Paris cast into the Sea Nor would Solon have so divinely and with such a prophetique importunity pressed on Craesus moderation of soul in a state of prosperity but that he knew the treacheries of its incantation and the fatality of its obcaecation and seduction Yea God himself would not fore-arm men by reason fore-warn them by counsell and president of frequent miscarriage in this voyage of pleasure but that he would have his learn to deny themselves and take up his Cross and follow his Christ to the contempt of this world as their rest and refuge For he that was in his time a Prince Psalm 146. 3. dehorts from putting trust in Princes Yea Psalm 118. 3. declares it to the world It is better to trust in the Lord then to put confidence in Princes And why Not thorough pufillanimity or inaptitude to Maiesty it as high as any Monarch does he utter this but because of a spirit subacted by grace and reduced by God to see and detract from its self Princes are mortall Princedoms are casual and therefore t is good to trust to God Psalm 82. 7 Psalm 107. 40. Eicon Bâ—sil Sect. 27. in whose Mercy no relyant miscarries For as That King that keeps to true Piety Vertue and Honour shall never want a Kingdom so that Favourite that relies on God for the favour of his Master shall never want such favour as God sees best for him to be favoured with whom he would bestow the Glory of the next after the Grace of this world Notwithstanding all which praeconsidered the Maxim remains firm that Princes favours are the ready and most pregnant way to Enrich and Enhonour Men and Families in England SECT XXIII Considers Ambition and Confidence in wel-parted Men a Means to the Rise and Riches of Men and Families THirdly Next to the two former Rises to Greatness Ambition and Confidence may be allowed a notable stepp to Honour and Riches In maximis animis splendidissimisque ingeniis plerumque existunt honoris imperii potentiae gloriae cupiditates Cic. lib. 1. Offic. For men having a conceit that they are born for great and that small things do not become them that no courses beseem them but Olympique ones and no companions but Kings what is there that they will not undertake and industriously follow which hasâ— a probability of arriving them at and fixing them in the sphere they aym at This busies their thoughts impedes their rest accelerates their motion cherishes their spirits intends their correspondence beautifies their civility Thence they refuse not tedions voyages desperate rencounters dangerous intelligences pawning soul and body to propagate their party and merit of their chief This calls them from their native seats and gaining callings to actions turbulent perillous and as to the present losing making them despise being for a while miserable that they may for ever after purchase â—and live in the Sunshine and Summer of Regal favour This makes
who are but ministring spirits to the Elect and so under service inferiour to our Coparcenry with him in Soveraignty This is to be in Nazianzens words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Nobles Indeed Orat. 23. not in the sence that is ordinary 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as referrable to ancient descents and inscriptions of Monuments of Ancestors who hundreds of years since were men of renown but as Nobles by vertue and Nobles by the fear of God first in their own hearts and then in in the effects of it Piety in others O Nobles and Gentry how zealous is my soul to bespeak you for Christs Virgins whose Lamps he hath filled with Oyl of gladness above your fellows in Manhood how great a present and how welcome a boon to my holy ambition would that Oratory be which might entice you to be Enamoured of Gods mercy and winn you to be reconciled to Gods love and grateful to his Sonnes condescension and bounty in his purchase of you How doe I long to obtain a Starr-ships Oriency in Heaven upon procuring though but one of you convert to God upon this my humble address to you and I hope my honest zeale for you Be not heedless of your own good who are so supplicated to be wise in this your day for Eternity fear not any undervaluation For this prudence which hath the promise of this and of the life that is to come Consider that Golden saying of That Magnificent Heroique I care not much to be reckoned among the unfortunate Eicon Basilic c. 23. if I be not in the black List of Irreligious and Sacrilegious Princes no restraint shall ensnare my soul in sin nor gain that of me which may make my Enemies more insolent my Friends ashamed nor my name accursed For never man served God for nought nor are the Indempnifyings of the name against dishonour and the soul against Hell fire small attainments or insuasive motives to love fear follow and resign to God our trusts for the obtaining of what is best for us And in order thereto to do nothing that is contrary to abhorred by or inconsistent with his Regency over presence with approbation of remuneration to Men and Things And that O Nobles and Gentlemen this humble Application may not savour more of a weeping and soft devotion then of a solid reason and preventive prudence give me leave to offer my reasons for this Importunity The first whereof is to alloy the vanity of life which though it be a bounty of God and a delight of natures yet is no other then a centre of Cyphers which in their connumeration makes no summe of real consistence or durable amount For it is but a Termer to Gods pleasure and in a great degree servile to every accident the compliance of which therewith doth not more beautifie and sustain it then the contrary does perstristate eclipse and nul the contents of it which Hegesius the Cyrenean Philosopher did so accurately and with such affectionate passions set forth the miseries of that Many to avoid them laid violent hands upon themselves Indeed there needs no fuller comment on the nature of life then that curt determination of Solomans which comprehends at once both 〈◊〉 summe of his own wisdom as a King â—nd his own misery as a man placed in a â—orld all the arrivals in which are but â—â—nity and vexation of spirit Eccles. 1. 14. Ch 2. v 11. v. last vanity in reâ—â—d of its Elementary composition and 〈◊〉 tenuours connexion of sublunaries â—hich are the arteries of its motion and â—he ligaments of its fastning and vexation 〈◊〉 spirit in order to that penal calamity â—oth present and future which without Gods preventing and condonating mercy â—t betrayes man to merit and delivers â—an up to suffer for while for the enjoyâ—ent of a minuits sensuality and a few years wander from his chief good he not only hazzards but forfeits and incurs both the eternal loss of the best good and the eternal passion of the worst evil Gods displeasure and the frustration of his blesâ—â—d intuition and fruition In asmuch then as the vanity of life â—easured up in a Beauteous face a Strong body a Learned brain a brave Fortune interest in Favourites Conquest of difficulties Enjoyment of ends Evasion of snares Gratification of passions Exemption from Diseases prosperity in Families accession to Honour and the like which are the greatest attainments of life are difficult to come by uncertain to hold vexatious to part with which made hiâ— in Plutarch to cry out Where is the consâ—â—stency and pride of Power where the greaâ— Lydian Monarch Crassus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. where Xer xe who glutted Hellespont with his ships Arâ— they not all passed and entombed is noâ— their glory ingrav'd with their bodies anâ— all the tumour of their Equipage vitiated by a putrid superduction of more numerouâ— Worms who worry and feast upon their Carcases I say since * Concillorum naturae participem Plin. Nat. Hist. lib. 2. c. 12. Hyparchus natures Counsellour and Eudoxus the Suns intimate and Archimedes the Worlds Operator and Solomon the Universal Librarier since the Philosophers Conquerours Princes Theologues Preach 9. 8. Artists of the several ages of time are incinerated remember nothing of their own nor know nothing of our affairs but are all after the favour honour pleasure command of life receded into silence and laid asleep in oblivion what a vanity is it to affect life or any thing in it impetuously while what is considerable in them is so coy to obtain so unfixed to prosecute Or how can men wisely compose themselves to their service under which no man is or can be free Or lament for their losse which are thievs to all that is vertuous serene and communicative in us Yet thus are all the best of sublunary glories and requests vexatious and angaâ—ious to men they disturbe the mind they â—â—pede the rest they debilitate the apâ—etite they bedull the fancy they distort â—he judgment they trouble Friends wast â—ortunes corrupt Modesties destroy Reâ—utation deboyst Youth seduce Age inâ—ect the retirements and entrench upon â—he devotions of men and yet are not â—woyded but made the Mistresses they Court the Altars they Immolate to the â—dols they bow down before the Marks â—hey aym at when God wot all that these Datisses have ever in their mouths 〈◊〉 their repast and ditty 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I sing I fare well 〈◊〉 rejoyce is but a vain shadow a trouble to get a torment to keep a laboâ—ynth to engage in a lethe to live to a â—oss to be everlastingly ruined for much like the titillation of Atepomarus that rain Petty Bellicose King of France who would not retreat warr against the Roâ—ans till he and his Army had lustfully satisfied themselves with the Wives and Daughters of the Romans which he demanded them to send forth to that purpose when as God knows and Stories tell
us He and his men had their pleasure of Women sent out to them from the Romans but they were but She-slaves on whom the French men were so enfeebled that being layn to sleep to recover their wasted spirits and enfeebled strength they all a sleep were surprised by the Romans and slain Thus and thus only are the snares of sense and the pleasures of life to be accounted of True joy is terminated to vertue and obtainable only from Supralunaries non capit has pompas humilis domus The low roof'd lodge of mortality entertaines no such Gyant-like joyes and altitudinous assurances which Bernard phrases Iubilus cordis non strepitus oris motus gaudiorum non sonus labiorum voluntatum non vocum consonantia The hearts joy not the mouths motion the sense of the souls joy not the sound of the lips agility a consonancy not of syllables and ayres but of wills and desires I confess to live is the greatest and most acclamated naturall priviledge 't is that which is the great evidence of natures perfect work in us Stus Bernardus Serm. 1. in Cantic Cantic Sunt ista bona consequentia summum bonum non consumm â—n tia Seneca de vita beata c. 15. and Gods vitall word to us but if life be considered by the description of those that have clearest light into the discovery and reallest experience of the result of it it will appear is but a vacillating transient futile thing The wise Eliphaz in Iob terms it a wind Iob 7. 5. and Iob in Ch. 24. v. 22. saies No man is sure of his own life And David tels us his life is spent in grief and his years 〈◊〉 sorrow Psal. 31. 10. And King Solomon Who knoweth what is good for a man in this 〈◊〉 all the daies of his vain life which he â—â—ndeth as a shaddow Eccles. 6. last And â—â—iah professes his Age is departed and is â—moved from me like a Shepheards Tent â— have cut off like a Weaver my life he will 〈◊〉 me off with pining sickness from day to 〈◊〉 even to night will thou make an end of 〈◊〉 Chap. 38. v. 12. And when St. Paul â—â—lls the godly that if their hope were of â—â—is life they were of all men most miserable 1 Cor. 15. 19. What doth he less then diâ—â—inish this life into nothing of reall good â—nd true contribution to good men And therefore if a man will only summon â—s own experience to enquire and verâ—ict this the result of that Justice which â—â—at will do to it self and its entrust â—ill confirm beyond all scruple That 〈◊〉 is nothing but a Sea of misery a Renâ—ezvouz of cares a Mint of diseases a â—â—ine of dangers a Rode of Misery a â—â—ss to Forgetfulness Nor is any man â—appy further to live Eccles. 7. 14. Chop 1. 11. then he lives to â—lorifie God to oblige men and immorâ—allize himself which they do best who â—onour God with their Honours as David Josiah Hezechiah and all godly great men 〈◊〉 to do with their Parts as the Prophets Apostles Martyrs Primitive Bishops and all Christian learned Clerks and Genâ—tlemen have and ought further to do and who oblige men by their examples wriâ—tings and actions of vertuous Charity and diffusive goodness in which none of latâ— ages has deserved beyond the Famouâ— Pereskius who if Gassendus do not Hyperâ—bolize of him was the true Pandora that haâ— the collection and amassation of all vertuâ— in him above the expression of any Encoâ—mium or Panagerick Epist. Philippo Valesio ante opera Gassendi and that not only beâ—cause he was a Mecaenas of Learning but on that never did in his life any thing mean oâ— little which because the most of meâ— fail in they ought to fall short of the gloâ—ry of this Divinity For since they live as beasts not men as Pagans not Chriâ—stians whose god is their belly whosâ— glory is their shame whose lust is theiâ— law whose strength is their confidence whose sensuality is their conscience whosâ— interest is their friendship whose falshooâ— is their wisdome whose shift is their deâ—ceit whose words are snares whose looâ— are ponyards whose actions are poysons whose religion is rebellion whose faith iâ—â—action because they live in this riot aâ—gainst reason and in this breach of the Peace of their Soveraign Lord the King â—f Heaven in their souls Therefore are â—â—ey to be strangers from the comforts of 〈◊〉 Almighty and to be tormented with â—uilt before consumed with fire O Lord what Monsters are we men how â—â—attique is even Europe in its production 〈◊〉 Satyrs Oedipusses Centaurs Apes Peaâ—ocks Lyons Wolves Serpents Adders full â—â—all Venom Mortiferanism which if reâ—â—esentable to sober eyes in that posture â—nd turpitude of action in that evidence of â—â—onstrosity and Peccant villany wherein God sees it nothing but shame amazement â—nd horror would possess the seers or heaâ—â—rs of that sad spectacle and and dismall â—â—rrative Good God when a man conâ—â—ders that God has bestowed upon man 〈◊〉 share of Divinity and endowed his soul with reason 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hetrussio legati apud Dionis Halycarnass lib. 5. against which he ought to do â—â—thing it being the direction and line of 〈◊〉 termination and enlargment that its â—â—te the body is but the ring in which 〈◊〉 Jewell soul is set and life the foyl by â—hich it is set off to a transparency Now â—â—at men of mortal bodies should have immortal vices and men of divine souls have â—â—vellish projects and designes to dishoâ—â—our the divine excellency of it by is â— strange Nonsense and Manless brutishâ—ess yet such is the sinful eddy and prevalent currant of life that it bears every mortal down the stream of its vanity into the torrent of enmity against and displeasure from God if Adam should be presented to us in his innocence environed with pleasure attended with plenty exempted from sin consorted with a beauteous mateâ— priviledged with converse with God and yet This great model of incarnate Divinity This creature that had the Prerogative to be the Viceroy of God and had the terrour of his Power and wisdom upon all the creatures who durst not come into This persons presence 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Philo de Adamo In lib. de nobilitate p. 906. nor into the view of his Majestique eye nor deserve the rebuke oâ— his terrifying voyce or provoke the power of his armed hand if this Adam that was this all that God could put into the Power of the second to himselfe to manage iâ— Adam thus secured thus accomplished be considered for all this tempted to and prevailed by the hising of a Serpent that crawles on the earth and licks the durt and the redness and sweetness of an appleâ— that God had reserved to himself upon the tree of Knowledge Nec Adam de Baradiso descendisset nisi delectatione deceptus esset Stus Ambrosius c. 1. lib. de Fug siculi seperate from him and