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MYSTICAL BEDLAM, OR THE WORLD OF Mad-Men.
BY THO: ADAMS.
2. TIMOTH. 3. 9. Their Madnesse shall be manifest to all men.
AVGVSTIN. de Trinit. Lib. 4. cap. 6. Contrarationem nemo sobrius.
LONDON
Printed by George Purslowe, for Clement Knight, and are
to be sold at his shoppe in Paules Church-yard,
at the Signe of the Holy Lambe.
1615.
RIght Honourable: it
is a labor that hath
neyther recommadnesse, that faine would thinke
themselues sober. Hauing theretrouble
the peace, but) to disquiet the security
of our Israel: I durst not but
aspire to some noble Patronage,
that might shield both my selfe
Honour;
as the indiuiduall point of my
refuge, wherein I haue beene
taught the way by more worthy
precedents: your Honourable
Name hauing long stoode, as a
communis terminus, or Sanctuary of
protection, to the labours and
persons of many Students. The
vn-erring hand of God hath
placed your Lordship in the Seate
of Iustice, and Chaire of Honour,
(especially if it be true, what S.
Hieron: sayes, that Su ̄ma apud Deū
nobilitas, clarū essevirtutibus: whervertue
with encouragements, & to giue
vice the iust retribution of deserStar in the Star-Chamber:
conscionable mitigatiLawes rigour in the
Court of Chancery. To punish wheIustice
then Mercy: Iustice against the
offender, Mercy to the Commonwealth.
Those punishments are
no other then actual Physick miInheritance, Liberty,
Body, to the bettring of the Conscience,
sauing of the soule in the
day of the Lord Iesus. Behold, my
pen hath but writteCopy of your Honors actidoings, how to say; then to
teach you by my sayings, how to
mad
times: and he that would bind the
franticke, though hee loues him,
angers him. The detector of mens
much-loued sins, needs a Protector,
that is both good & great. I am
sure my elecioHonor to cast the eye
of acceptance on my weake laSunne of righteousnes,
that hath sauing health vnder
his wings, shine for euer on
your Lordship,
Church, &
among the rest to his vnworthi
The heart of the Sonnes of men is full of euill, and madnesse is in their heart while they liue: and after that, they goe to the dead.
Subiect of the discourse is
Man; and the speech of him
hath three Poynts, defined and
confined in the Text. 1. His
Comma, 2. his Colon, 3. his Period.
1. Mens harts are full of euill,
there's the Comma. 2. Madnesse
is in their hearts whiles they liue:
there's the Colon. 3. whereat not staying, after that they
goe downe to the dead. And there's their Period. The
first beginnes, the second continues, the third conSentence.
Mans setting forth, his peregrination, and
his iourneyes end. 1. At first putting out, His heart is
full of euill. 2. Madnesse is in his heart, all his peregrinawhiles they liue. 3. His iourneyes end, is the Graue, He
goes to the dead.
First, Man is borne from the wombe, as an arrow
shotte from the Bow. 2. His flight through this ayre, is
wilde, and full of madnesse; of indirect courses. 3. The
Center, where he lights, is the Graue.
First, his Comma beginnes so harshly, that it promiColon. 2. The Colon is
so madde and inordinate, that there is smal hope of the
Period. 3. When both the premises are so faulty, the
Conclusion can neuer be handsome. Wickednes in the first
proposition, Madnes in the second: the Ergo is feareful,
the conclusion of all is Death.
So then, 1. the beginning of Mans race is full of euill;
as if hee stumbled at the thresshold. 2. The further hee
goes, the worse: Madnes is ioyn'd- Tenant in his heart
with life. 3. At last, in his franticke flight, not looking to
his feet, hee drops into the pitte goes downe to the dead.
To beginne at the vppermost stayre of this graduComma of this tripartite sentence giues
mans heart, for a vessell. Wherein obserue
1. The Owners of this vessell, men, and deriuatiuely,
the sonnes of men.
2. The vessell it selfe is earthen, a Potte of Gods mamans marring, the Heart.
3. The Liquor it holds is Euill, a defectiue, priuatiue,
abortiue thing, not instituted, but destituted, by the
absence of originall Goodnes.
4 The measure of this vessels pollution with euill liquour.
It is not said sprinckled, not seasoned, with a moimpletion; it is filled to the brimme:
full of euill. Thus, at first putting forth, we haue Man
corrupted.
Adam was called the sonne of God, Luk. 3.Enos was
the sonne of Seth, Seth the sonne of Adam, Adam the son
of God: But all his posterity the sonnes of men: wee reGod, not traduced from man: for the
purest soule becomes stain'd and corrupt, when it once
toucheth the body.
The sonnes of men. This is a deriuatiue and diminumans conceit of himselfe is lesseMan, as Gods
creation left him, was a goodly creature, an abridgeEpitome of God and the
world: resembling God, who is a Spirit, in his Soule, and
the World, which is a Body, in the composition of his.
Deus maximus inuisibilium, mundus maximus visibilium:
God the greatest of inuisible natures, the World the
greatest of visible creatures: both brought into the litMan.
Now Man is growne lesse; and as his body in size,
his soule in vigour, so himselfe in all vertue is abated:
so that the sonne of man is a phrase of diminution, a
barre in the Armes of his ancient glory, an exception
of his derogate and degenerate worth.
Two instructions may the sonnes of men learne in bespirituall corruption. 2. Their naturall
corruptiblenes.
1. That corruption and originall prauity, which wee
haue deriued from our Parents. Psal. 51.Behold, sayth
Dauid, I was shapen in iniquity, and in sinne did my mother
conceiue me. The originall word is, warme me: as if the
first heate deriued to him, were not without contamisinner, sayth a Saint.
It is saide, Gen. 5.Adam begate a sonne in his
owne likenesse, after his image, and called his name Seth.
This image and likenesse cannot bee vnderstood of the
Soule: for this Adam begate not. Nor properly and
meerely of the Bodies shape; so was Cain as like to Adam,
as Seth, of whom it is spoken. Nor did that image
consist in the piety and purity of Seth: Adam could not
propagate that to his sonne, which hee had not in himgrace
follow generation, but regeneration. Neyther is Seth
said to bee begotten in the Image of Adam, because mancorruption, which descended to Adams poPelagian error
was, Peccatum primae transgressionis in alios homines, non
propagatione, sed imitatione transisse: that the guilt of
the first sinne was deriued to other men, not by propaAdam be
said, to begette a sonne in his owne image: neyther could
Death haue seazed on Infants, who had not then sinAs by one man sin entred
into the world, and death by sinne: so death passed vpon
all men, for that all haue sinned.
This title then, the sonnes of men, puts vs in mind of
our originall contamination, whereby we stand guilDura, tremenda refers: You will say with the
Disciples, Ioh. 6.This is an hard saying, who can heare it,
beare it? nay, be ready to conclude with a sadder infeDisciples, after a particular instance,
Math. 19.Who then can be saued?
I answere, We deriue from the first Adam, sinne and
death: but from the second Adam, Grace and Life. As
we are the sonnes of men, our state is wretched, as made
the sonnes of God, blessed. It is a peremptory speech, 1.
Cor. 15. 50.Flesh and bloud cannot inherite the kingdome
of God, neyther doth corruption inherite incorruption. It is a
Such wee were,
but wee are washed, but we are sanctified, but
we are iustified, in the name of the Lord Iesus, & by the spirit
of our God. The conclusion or inference hereon is most
happy.Now therefore there is no condemnation to them
which are in Christ Iesus, who walke not after the flesh, but after
the spirite. Wee may liue in the flesh, butif after the
flesh, wee shall die. Si voluntati & voluptati carnis satissacere
conemur: If our endeuours bee wholy armed and
aymed to content the Flesh: but if we bee led by the spirit,
cum dilectione, cum delectatione, with loue, with desonnes of men, made thesonnes of
God.
It is our happinesse, not to bee borne, but to bee
new borne. The first birth kills, the second giues life.
It is not the seed of man in the wombe of our mother;
but theseed of Grace in the wombe of the Church,
that makes vs blessed. Generation lost vs; it must bee
regeneration, that recouers vs. As the tree falls, so it lies:
and lightly it falls to that side, which is most loden
with fruites and branches. If wee abound most with
the fruits of obedience, wee shall fall to the right hand,
life: if with wicked actions, affections, to the left side,
death.
It is not then, worth the ascription of glory to, what
wee deriue naturally from man. Dauid accepts it as a
great dignity, to be sonne in law to a King. To descend
from Potentates, and to fetch our pedegree from prinmirabile, et memorabile decus, a dignity not
to bee slighted or forgotten. But to bee a Monarch;
Oh, this is Celsissima gloria mundi, the supremest hoPrinces are but men, saith the
Psalmist.
Put not your trust in Princes, nor in the sonne of
man, in whom there is no helpe. His breath goeth forth, hee
returneth to his earth. They may bee high by their calPrinces; yet they are but low by their nature, sons
of men. And meerely to bee the sonne of man, is to bee
corrupt and polluted. They are sinfull, the sonnes of
men: weake, there is no helpe in them: corruptible, their
breath goeth forth: dying, they returne to their earth.
It is registred as an euident praise of Moses his faith,
that for the rebuke of Christ, he refused to be called the son of
Pharaohs daughter. There is no ambitiosons
of men, but to be adopted the sons of God: vnder which
degree there is no happines, aboue which no cause of
aspiring.
2. Our Corruptiblenesse is heere also demonstrated. A
mortall Father cannot beget an immortall sonne. If
they that brought vs into the world, haue gone out of
the world themselues, we may infallibly conclude our
owne following. He that may say, I haue a man to
my Father, a woman to my mother in his life; may
in death, with Iob say to Corruption, Thou art my Father:
to the worm,
Thou art my mother, and my sister.
It hath beene excepted against the iustice of God,
that the sinne of one man is deuolued to his posteritie;
and that for the fathers eating sowre grapes, the childrens
teeth are set on edge, according to the Iewish Prouerbe,
Ier. 31. 29.sonne of man, as
Horace sung to his friend: Delicta maiorum immeritus
lues: Thou being innocent, doest suffer for thy nocent superiours.
This a Philosopher obiected against the gods;
strangely conferring it, as if for the fathers disease,
physicke should be ministred to the sonne.
I answere, Adam is considered as the roote of mancorrupt masse, whence can bee deduced no
pure thing. Can we bee borne Morians without their
blacke skins? It is possible to haue an Amorite to our
father, and an Hittite to our mother, without particisonne of man in the
cluster of mankind, but (eodem modo & nodo, vinctus &
victus) it is lyable to that common and equall law of
death.
Morieris, non quia aegrot as, sed quia viuis: sayth the Philosopher:
Thou shalt die, oh sonne of man, not because thou
art sicke,sonne of man. Cuinasci contigit,
mori restat: Who hapned to come into the world,
must vpon necessity goe out of the world.
It is no new thing to die, since life it self is nothing
els, but a iourney to death. Quicquid ad summum peruenit,
adexitum properat: He that hath climbed to his highthe sonnes of men die
not one death, for time and manner: for the matter
and end, one death is infallible to all the sonnes of men.
The corne is somtimes bitten in the spring, often trode
downe in the blade, neuer failes to bee cut vp in the
eare,Quisquis queritur hominem mortuum
esse, queritur hominem fuisse: Who laments, that a man
is dead, laments that he was a man.
When Anaxagoras heard that his son was dead,
hee answered without astonishment, Scio me genuisse
mortalem: I know that I begate a mortall man. It was a
good speech, that fell from that shame of Philosophie,
Epictetus: Non sum aeternitas, sed homo: particula vniuersi,
vt hora diei: venire igitur oportet vt horam, praeterire vt
horam: I am not eternity, but a man: a little part of
the whole, as an houre is of the day: like an houre I
came, and I must depart like an houre.
Some fruite is plucked violently from the tree, some
droppes with ripenesse; all must fall, because the sonnes
of men.
This should teach vs, to arme our selues with patiDeath: Saepe debemus
mori, nec volumus: morimur, nec volumus: Often we
ought to prepare for death, wee will not: at last, wee
die indeed, and wee would not. Adam knew all the
beasts, and called them by their names: but his own name
hee forgot, Adam, of earth. What bad memories haue
wee, that forget our owne names and selues, that we
are the sonnes of men, corruptible, mortall? Incertum est,
quo loco te mors expectat: itaque tu illam omni loco expecta.
Thou knowest, in what place Death looketh for thee:
therefore do thou looke for him in euery place. Watch
therefore;
for you know not what houre your Lord doth come.
Thus for the Owners.
The Heart is Mans principall vessell. Wee desire to
haue all the implements in our house good: but the
vessell of chiefest honour, principally good. Quanm
male de te ipse meruisti, &c. sayth Saint August. How mad
is that man that would haue all his vessels good, but his
owne heart! Wee would haue a strong nerue, a cleare
veyne, a moderate pulse, a good arme, a good face, a
good stomacke, onely we care not how euill the heart
is, the principall of all the rest.
For, howsoeuer the Head be called the Tower of the
mind, the Throne of Reason, the house of wisdom, the Treasure
of memory, the Capitol of iudgement, the shoppe of affections:
yet is the Heart the receptacle of life,Spiritus,
Copula animae & corporis,
a vertue vniting the soule and the body: if it bee
in the Liuer naturall, in the Head animal, yet is in the
Heart vitall. It is the member, that hath first life in ma
As man is Microcosmus, an abridgement of the
world, hee hath heauen resembling his soule: earth his
heart, placed in the middest as a center: the Liuer is like
the sea, whence flow the liuely springs of bloud: the
Braine, like the sunne, giues the light of vnderstanding:
and the senses are set round about, like the starres. The
Heart in man is like the roote in a tree: the organ or
lung-pipe, that comes of the left cel of the heart, is like
the stocke of the tree, which diuides it selfe into two
parts, and thence spreades abroad (as it were) sprayes
and boughes into all the body, euen to the arteries of
the head.
The Egyptians haue a conceite, that mans growing
or declining followes his Heart. The Heart of man,
say they, increaseth still, till hee come to fifty yeares
old, euery yeare two drachmes in weight, and then
decreaseth euery yeare as much, till hee come to an
hundred: and then for want of Heart, hee can liue no
longer. By which consequence, none could liue avessell, a liuing vessell,
a vessell of life.
It is a vessell properly, because hollow: hollow to
keepe heat, and for the more facile closing & opening.
It is a spirituall vessell, made to containe the holy dewes
of grace, whichmake glad the City of God. It is euer full,
eyther with that precious iuyce, or with the pernicious
liquor of sinne. As our Sauiour sayth, Math. 15. Out of
the heart proceede euill thoughts,
murders, adulteries, fornications,
thefts, false witnesse, blasphemies.
Know you not,
his Apostle, that you are the Temple of God, and that
the Spirite of God dwelleth in you? If our Corpus be Templum
Domini, sure our Cor is Sanctum sanctorum. It was
the answere of the Oracle, to him that would bee inDamedium Lunae, solem simul, & canis iram.
Giue the halfe Moone, the whole Sunne, and the dogs anger.
Which three Characters make Cor the heart. The good
heart is a receptacle for the whole Trinity: and therePersons of that
one Deity would inhabit there. The Father made it, the
Sonne bought, the Holy Ghost sanctifies it: therfore they
all three claime a right in the Heart. It hath three cels
for the three persons, and is but one Heart for one God.
The world cannot satisfie it: a Globe cannot fill a
Triangle. Onely God can sufficiently content the
Heart.
God is,non corticis, sed cordis Deus:
not regarding the rinde of the lippes, but the root of
the Heart. Hence Sathan directs his malicious strength
against the Heart. The foxe doth gripe the necke, the
mastiffe flies at the throat, and the Ferret nippes the
Liuer: but the Deuill aymes at the Heart, inficere, interficere.
The Heart he desires, because he knows, God
desires it: and his ambition still inclines, intends his
purposes and plots, to robbe God of his delight. The
Heart is the chiefe Tower of life to the body, and the
spirituall Citadell to the whole man: alwayes besiedomesticall enemy, the Flesh: by a ciuill, the
world: by a profest, the Deuill. Euery perpetrated sinne
doth some hurt to the walls; but if the Heart be taken,
the whole Corporation is lost.
How should Christ enter thy house, and suppe with
thee, when the Chamber is taken vp, wherein he would
rest,Heart? All the faculties of Man follow the
Heart, as seruants the Mistresse, wheeles the poyse, or
linkes the first end of the chaine. When the Sunne riHeart leads, directs,
moues the parts of the body, and powers of the soule:
that the mouth speaketh, hand worketh, eye looketh,
eare listneth, foote walketh; all producing good or efrom the good or euil treasure of the heart.
Publican beat his Heart, as if he would cal vp
that, to call vp the rest.
It is conspicuous then, that the heart is the best vessel,
whereof any sonne of man can boast himselfe possessour:
and yet (prohdolor!) euen this is corrupted. To declare
this pollution, the next circumstance doth iustly chaHearts,
ere we leaue them. Since the Heart is the most precious
vessell, man hath in all his corporall housholde, let him
haue good regard to it. Omni custodia custodi cor tuum:
Keepe thy heart with all diligence, sayth Solomon. GOD
hath done much for the Heart, naturally, spiritually.
For the former; He hath placed it in the middest of
the body, as a Generall in the midst of his Army: bulspleene we are moued to laugh; by the gall to be angry:
by the braine wee feele, by the liuer we loue, but by the
heart we be wise.
Spiritually, hee hath done more for the heart, giuing
the bloud of his Sonne to clense it, soften it, sanctifie it,
when it was full, both of hardnesse and turpitude. By
his omnipotent grace hee vnroosted the Deuill from
it, who had made it a stable of vncleannesse: and
now requires it (being created new) for his own chamheart is Gods SaAugust. glosseth the first words of the Pater noster. Our
Father which art in heauen, that is, in a heart of an heauenly
disposition. Quàmpropitia dignatio ista, that the King of
Heauen will vouchsafe to dwell in an earthly Taber
The Heart then being so accepted a vessell, keepe it
at home: hauing but one so precious supellectile or
moueable, part not with it vpon any termes. There are
foure busie requirers of the Heart, besides he that iustly
oweth it. Beggars, Buyers, Borrowers, Theeues.
1 He that begges thy Hart, is the Pope: and this hee
doth not by word of mouth, but byletters of commeSeminary factors.
He begs thy Heart, and offers thee nothing for it, but
crucifixes, images, &c. meere images or shadowes of
reward: or his blessing at Rome; which, because it is so
farre distant, as if it lost all the vertue by the way, doth
as much good, as a candle in Sunshine.
2buy this vessell of vs, is the Deuill;
as one that distrusts to haue it for nothing: and thereSathan would faine haue his Iewvessels, and thinkes them richer
ornaments,Babylonian Ambassadors thought
the treasures of Hezechiah. Haman shall haue grace
with the King, Absolon honour, Iezabel reuenge, Ammon
his lusts satisfied, Iudas money, Demas the world,
if they will sell him their Hearts,. If any man, like Ahab,
sell his heart to such a purchaser, let him know, that
qui emit, interimit: he doth buy it, to butcher it.
3 The Flesh is the Borrower, and hee would haue this
vessell to vse, with promise of restoring. Let him haue
it a while, and thou shalt haue it againe; but as from
an ill neighbour, so broken, lacerated, deformed, defaProdigall, it
returnes home tattered and torne, and worne, no more
like a heart, then Michols image on the pillow was like
Dauid. This Sutour borrowes it of the Citizen, till vsuCourtier, til amGallant, till riot hath
made him a beggar: of the Luxurious, till lust hath
filled him with diseases: of the Country Churle, till
couetise hath swelled his barnes: of the Epicure, till he
bee fatted for death: and then sends home the heart,
like a Iade, tired with vnreasonable trauell. This is that
wicked borrower, in the Psalme, which payeth not againe.
Thou wouldest not lend thy beast, nor the worst ves
4. The World is the Theefe,
Absolon) steales
away the heart. This cunningly insinuates into thy
brest,senses, and corrupting the seruants, which are thy affections.
The world hath two properties of a Theefe: first,
It comes in the night time, when the lights of reason
and vnderstanding are darkened, and security hath
gotten the heart into a slumber. This dead sleepe, if
it doth not find, it brings.
Sunt quo quae faciunt altos medicamina somnos, que Ouid. Amor. Vitaque Lethaealumina nocte premunt.
The world's a potion; who thereof drinkes deepe, Shall yeeld his soule to a Lethargicke sleepe.
2 It makes no noyse in comming, lest the family of
our reuiued thoughts wake, and our sober knowledge
discerne his approch. This theefe takes vs, as it tooke
Demas, napping: terrifies vs not with noyse of tumulhearts: neyther begger, buyer, nor
borrower could doe much without this theefe. It is some
respect to the world, that makes men eyther giue or
sell, or lend the vessell of their heart. Astus pollentior armis:
Fraud is more dangerous then force. Let vs betheefe.
First, turne the begger from thy dore, hee is too sawPope was yet a little
more reasonable, that shewed himselfe content with a
King of Spaines remuneration; The present you sent mee
was such, as became a King to giue, and S. Peter to receyue:
But da pauperibus: the Pope is rich enough.
Then reiect the buyer: set him no price of thy heart,
for he wil take it of any reckoning. He is neere driuen,
that sels his heart. I haue heard of a Iew that would
for security of his lent money, haue onely assur'd to
him a pound of his Christian debters liuing flesh: a
strange forfeit, for default of paying a little money. But
the Deuill, in all his couenants, indents for the heart.
In other bargaines, caueat emptor, sayth the Prouerbe:
Let the buyer take heed: in this, let the seller looke
to it. Make no marte nor market with Sathan.
Non benè pro multo libertas venditur auro.
The heart is ill solde, what euer the price be.
Thirdly, for the borrower: Lend not thy heart in hope
of interest, lest thou lose the principall. Lend him not
any implement in thy house, any affection in thy heart:
but to spare the best vessell to such an abuser, is no lesse
then mad charity.
Lastly, ware the theefe: and let his subtilty excite thy
more prouident preuention. Many a man keepes his
goods safe enough from beggers, buyers, borrowers, yet
theeues.
Therefore locke vp this vessell with the Key of faith,
barre it with resolution against sinne, guard it with suDinah it be deflouIacob bought Esau's birth-right, & Satha stole
Adams Paradise, whiles the tenure was in their owne
hands. An Apple beguiled the one, a messe of pottage
the other. Trust not thy heart in thine owne custoheauen with thy treasure. Commit it
to Him, that is the maker and preseruer of men: who will
lappe it vp with peace, and lay it in a bed of ioy, where
no aduersary power catheefe break through
to steale it.
Euill is double, eyther of Sinne, or of Punishment:
the deseruing and retribution: the one of mans owne
affecting, the other of Gods iust inflicting. The former
is simpliciter malum, simply euill of it owne nature: the
latter but secundum quid, in respect of the sufferer, being
good in regard of Gods glory, as an act of his Iustice. For
the Euils of our sufferings, as not intended here, I pretribulation may
as well produce patience, as sinne hath procured tribulation.
Non sentire mala sua non est hominis, & non ferre non
est viri:
The iuyce in the heart of the sonnes of men is euill, all
haue corrupted their wayes. Solomon speakes not here in
indiuiduo, this or that sonne of man: but generally, with
an vniuersall extent, the sonnes of men. And leauing the
plurall with the Possessors, by a significant salaecisme, he
names the vessell in the singular; the heart, not hearts: as
if all mankind had cor vnum in vnitate malitiae: one heart
in the vnity of sinne: the matter of the vessell being of
one polluted lumpe; that euery man, that hath an hart,
hath naturally an euill heart. Adam had no sooner
by his one sinne slaine his posterity, but hee begote a
sonne, that slew his brother. Adam was planted by God
a good Vine, but his Apostasie made all his children
sowre grapes. Our nature was sowne good, behold, wee
are come vp euill. Through whose default ariseth this
badnesse?
God created this vessell good; man poyson'd it in the
seasoning. And being thus distayned in the tender
newnesse, seruat odorem testa diu: it smels of the olde
infection, till a new iuyce bee put into it, or rather it
selfe made new. As Dauid prayes: Create in me, oh Lord,
a cleane heart,
and renew a right spirit within me. GOD
made vs good, we haue mar'd ourseluesa,nd behold:
wee call on him, to make vs good againe. Yea, euen
the vessel thus recreated, is not without a tang of the
former corruption. Paul confesseth in himselfe a body
of Death,
Dauid a natiue vncleannesse.
euill had been the lesse intolerable, if we had not been
made so perfectly good. Hee that made heauen and
earth, ayre and fire, Sunne and Moone, all elements, all
creatures good, surely, would not make him euill, for
whom these good things were made. How comes he
thus bad? Deus hominem fecit, homo se interfecit. In the
words of our Royall Preacher, Eccles. 7. Loe, this onelie
I haue found,
that God hath made man vpright: but they
haue sought out many inuentions. Man was created
fuimus Troes, we haue been blessed.
If the heart were thus good by creation, or is thus
good by redemption, how can it bee the continent of
such euill liquour? when by the word of His mouth that
neuer erred,A good tree cannot bring forth bad fruits. I
answere, that saying must be construed in sensu composito:
a good tree continuing good, cannot produce euill
fruites.
The heart borne of God (in quanto renatum est,
not peccat) doth not commit sinne, so farre as it is
borne of GOD. Yet euen in this vessell, whiles it
walkes on earth, are some droppes of the first poyson.
And so,
Dat dulces fons vnus aquas, qui et praebet amaras.
The same fountaine sends forth sweet water and bitter;
Iames propounds
it.
But Solomon speakes here of the heart, as it is geneAdam, not
from the second. It is thus a vessell of euill. Sinne was
brewed in it, & hath brewed it into sinne. It is strangevessell, that
changeth some kind of liquour put into it, into it selfe:
as fire transformes the fuell into fire. But heere the
content doth change the continent; as some mineeuill iuyce turnes the whole heart into euill; as waThe wickednesse
of man was so great in the earth,
euery imagination of the thoughts of his heart onely euill
continually.
Here, if wee consider the dignity of the vessell, & the
filthinesse of the euill it holds, or is rather holden of;
(for non tam tenet, quam tenetur) the comparison is suf
Quàm malè conueniunt vas aureum, atrum
Oh! ingrate, in considerate man! to whom God hath
giuen so good a vessell, and hee filles it with so euill
sappe.In a great house there be vessels of honour, and vessels
of dishonour; some for better, some for baser vses.
The heart is a vessell of honour, sealed, consecrated for
a receptacle, for an habitacle of the graces of GOD.
Shall wee take the member of Christ,
and make it an harlots;
the vessell of God, & make it Satans? did God inheart, or the heart for them? when the seat of holinesse
is become the seate of hollownesse: the house of innocence,
the house of impudence: the place of loue, the
place of lust: the vessell of piety, the vessell of prauity: the
throne of God, the court of Satan; the heart is become
rather a Ielly, then an heart. Wherein there is a tumulDutch, French, Spanish, Greeke, and many country
wines; enuy, lust, treason, ambition, auarice, fraud, hyheart hath lost the name of heart, and is become the naeuill.
It is detestable ingratitude in a Subiect, on whom
his Soueraigne hath conferred a golden cuppe, to imKing of heauen and earth hath giuen thee a rich vessell,
heart; wherin, though it be a peece of flesh or clay
of it selfe, hee hath placed the chiefe faculties of thy
spirit and his: how aduerse to thankefulnesse and his
intent is thy practise, when thou shalt powre into this
Cuppe lees, dregges, muddy pollutions, tetricall poyheart from him that crehim that bought it, from him that keepes
it; and bequeathing it in the death of thy soule, to him
that infects, afflicts, tempts, and torments it: making
him thy Executour, which shall bee thy executioner;
that hath no more right to it, then Herode had to the
bed of his sister? What iniury, what indignity is ofSathan is gratified with his goods:
when his best moueable on earth is taken from him, &
giuen to his enemy?
The heart is flos solis, and should open & shut with
the sunne of righteousnesse.
him, as the Landlord, duplici
iure, it should stand opehis lockes bee wette with the dew of heauen.
Alas! how comes it about, that hee which is the
owner can haue no admission? That wee open not the
dores of our hearts, that the King of glory might enter;
who will then one day open the dores of heauen, that
a man of earth may enter? Did God erect it as a lodhimselfe
had sent before for his owne supper:
Steward, and haue his ChamHe that made it, one day break
it with a rod of yron,
and dash it in peeces like a Potters
vessell?
Belshazzar,
Tyrant of Hel,
sit drinking his wines of abomination and wickedsacred boules of the Temple, the vessels of
God, the hearts of men, without ruine to those that devessels of the Sanctuary;
and will he brooke with impunity the hearts of men
to be abused to his dishonour? Sure, his iustice wil puvessels vnder
the Law, that had (but) touched an vncleane thing, must
be rinced or broken. What shall become of the vessels
vnder the Gospell, ordayned to hold the faith of Christ,
if they be (more then touched) polluted with vncleanrinced with repentance, or
broken with vengeance.
I am willingly led to prolixity in this point. Yet in
vaine the Preacher amplifies, except the hearer aphearts, aske
his owne heart, how it doth? Perhaps, Security will
counterfeit the voyce of the heart, as Iacob did Esaus
hands, to supplant it of this blessing; saying, I am well:
and stoppe the mouth of diligent scrutinie with a preOmnia benè. Take heed; the heart of man is
deceitfull aboue measure. Audebit dissimulare, qui audet
malefacere: He will not sticke to dissemble, that dares
to do euil. Thou needst not rip vp thy brest, to see what
bloud thy heart holds, though thou hast beene vnkind
inough to it in thine iniquities: behold, the beames of
the Sun on earth witnes his shining in heauen; and the
fruits of the Tree declare the goodnes or badnes. Non ex
folijs, non ex floribus, sed ex fructibus dignoscitur arbor.
What is lust in thy heart, thou adulterer; malice in
thine, thou enuious: vsurie in thine, thou couetous; hypocrisie
in yours, yee sons of Gibeon; pride in yours, yee
daughters of Iezabel; falshood in yours, yee brothers of
Ioab; and treachery in yours, yee friends of Iudas? Is this
sons of Belial will be filthy; let
them be filthy still. Who can helpe them, that wil not be
saued? let them perish.
Let me turne to you, that seeme Christians, (for you
are in the Temple of Christ, and I hope, come hither to
worshippe him,) with confidence of better successe.
What should vncleannesse doe in the holy City, euill in a
heart sanctified to grace, seal'd to glory? The vessell of
euery heart is by nature temperde of the same mould;
nor is there any, (let the proud not triumph) Quorum
praecordia Titan de meliore luto sinxit. But though nature
knew none grace hath made difference of hearts; and
the sanctified heart is of a purer mettall, then the polluted.
A little liuing stone in Gods building is worth a
whole quarrey in the world. One poore mans honest
hart is better then many rich euil ones. These are dead;
that's aliue: and a liuing dogge is better then a dead Lion.
Solomons heart was better then Absolons,
Iudes then Iudas,
Simon Peters then Simon Magus his: all of one matgrace, with
flesh faith; with humanity Christianity in these hearts.
How it becoms it such a hart, to haue hypocrisie, iniuharts
are not vessels for such liquour. If wee should intertaine
thePolygamie was restrained withinLamechs dores, it did
but moderate harm: but when it once insinuated into
Isaac's family, it got strength, & preuailed with great
preiudice. The habites of vices, whiles they dwel in the
harts of Belials children, are meerly sins: but when they
haue room giueharts of the sons of God, they
But how can this euill iuyce in our hearts be perceianatomizing of the
heart remaines for the worke of that last and great
day.Out of the
heart proceede actuall sinnes: the water may bee close in
the fountaine, but will bee discerned issuing out. The
heart cannot so containe the vnruly affections, but
like headstrong rebels they wil burst out into actions;
and works are infallible notes of the hart. I say not, that
works determine a man to damnation or blisse: the deworks distinguish of a
good or bad man. The Saints haue sinned, but the
greatest part of their conuerted life hath beene
holy.
Indeed wee are all subiect to passions, because
men: but let vs order our passions wel, because Christiā
men. And as the skilful Apothecary makes wholeHee sees afarre off what he
would doe, but knowes (neere at hand, that's certainVt si moueant,
non remoueant: that if they moue thee, they may
not remoue thee from thy rest. A man then sleepes
surely, securely; when hee knowes (not that hee will
not, but) that his enemy cannot hurt him. Violent is
the force and fury of passions, ouerbearing a man to
those courses, which in his sober and collected sense he
would abhorre. They haue this power, to make
him a foole, that otherwise is not; and him, that is a
foole, to appeare so. If in strength thou canst not keep
out passion, yet in wisdom temper it: that if, notwith
Thou seest how excellent and principall a worke it
is to manage the heart, which indeed manageth all the
rest: and is powerfull to the carrying away with it
selfe, the attendance of all the senses: who bee as reaCenturion had: wayting onely for a come, goe, doe,
from their leader the Heart. The eare will not heare,
where the heart minds not, nor the hand relieue, where
the heart pitties not: nor the tongue prayse, where the
heart loues not. All looke, listen, attend, stay vpon
the heart, as a Captaine to giue the onset. The Philosopher
sayth; It is not the eye that seeth, but the heart:
so it is not the eares that heare, but the heart.
Indeed: it sometimes falleth out, that a man heares
not a great sound or noyse, though it be nigh him. The
reason is, his heart is fixed, and busily taken vp in some
obiect, serious in his imagination, though perhaps in it
heart, lose the act of that auditiue Orheart hath done with
them, and giuen them leaue. Curious and rare sights,
able to rauish some with admiration, affect not others,
whiles they stand as open to their view: because their
eyes are following the heart, and doing him seruice ahearts errand. Bee then
all cleane, if thou canst: but if that happinesse bee denyheart be clean; there is then the
more hope of the rest.
It hath not aspersion, nor imbution, but impletion. It
is not a moderate contamination, which admitted into
comparison with other turpitudes, might be exceeded,
but a transcendent, egregious, superlatiue matter, to
which there can be no accession: the vessell is full; and
more then full, what can be? One vessel may hold more
then another, but when all are filled, the least is as full
as the greatest. Now Solomon, that was no flatterer,
because a King himselfe; without awe of any morSeruant to the King of Kings, &
put in trust with the registring of his Oracles; tels man
plainely, that 1. his heart, not some lesse principal part,
2. is euill, not good, or inclining to goodnesse. 3. nay, full
of euill, to the vtmost dramme it containes.
This describes Man in a degree further, then nature
left him, if I may so speake: for wee were borne euill,
but haue made our selues full of euill. There is time reAmorites,
till their wickednesse becomes full: and the Iewes
are forborne, till they hauefulfilled the measure of their
fathers. Sinne loued, delighted, accustomed, habituaimpletion.
Indeed, man quickly fils this vessell of his owne
accord: let him alone, and he needs no helpe to bring
himselfe to hell. Whiles Gods preuenting grace dooth
not fore-stall, nor his calling grace conuert, man runs
on to destruction, as the foole laughing to the stockes. He
sees euill, hee likes it, he dares it, he does it, hee liues in
it; and his heart, like an hydropicke stomacke, is not
quiet till it bee full.
Whiles the heart like a Cesterne, stands perpetually
open, and the deuill like a Tankerd-bearer, neuer rests
fetching water from the conduit of hell to fill it; and
there is no vent of repentance to empty it; how can it
chuse, but be full of euill? The heart is but a little thing,
one would therefore thinke it might be soone full: but
the heart holds much, therefore one would thinke, it
could not bee soone full. It is a little morsell, not aPellaean Monarch, would he yet say, My heart is full, my
mind is satisfied.
There must then concurre some co-working accirepletion. Satan suggests: concupiscence
harkens, flatters the heart with some perswasion of
profite, pleasure, content: the heart assents; and sends
forth the eye, hand, foote, as instruments of practise:
lastly, sinne comes; and that not alone: one is intertayMala sunt contigua & continua inter
se. Then the more men act, the more they affect; &
the exit of one sinne, is anothers hinte of entrance: that
the stage of his heart is neuer empty, till the tragedy of
his soule be done.
This fulnesse argues a great height of impiety. Paul
amply deliuered the wickednesse of Elimas, Act. 13.O
full of all subtilty and all mischiefe, thou childe of the Deuil,
thou enemy of all righteousnesse, &c. a wretched impletion.
So is the reprobate estate of the Heathen described.
Rom. 1.filled with all vnrighteousnes, fornication,
couetousnesse, &c. The same Apostle in the same Epistle
speaking of the wicked in the words of the Psalme,
saith,Their mouth is ful of cursing and bitternes. Here, the
heart is full of euill. The commander being so filled with
iniquity, euery member as a Souldier in his place, fils
it selfe with the desired corruption.The eye is full of adultery
and lust, sayth the Apostle. Thehand ful of bloud,
sayth the Prophet. The foot full of auersenes, the tongue
full of curses, oathes, dissimulations. Euery vessell will
be full, as well as the heart; full to the brimme, nay, runvessels at the marriage in Cana, though
with a contrary liquour. And when all are replenished,
the heart is ready to call,widow in the 2. of Kings,
the 4. Bring me yet another vessell, that it may be filled.
This is the precipitation of sinne, if God doth not
preuent, as Sathan doth prouoke: it rests not, till it bee
full. Sinful man is euermore carrying a stick to his pyle,
a talent to his burden, more foule water to his cestern,
more torments to be layde vp in his hell: hee ceaseth
not, without a supernaturall interruption, & gracious
reuocation, till his measure be full.
Thus I haue runne through these 4. circumstances
of the Comma, or first Point of man: obseruing, 1. from
the Owners, their corruptible fragility. 2. from the vessel,
the Hearts excellency. 3. from the liquour contained in
it, the pollution of our natures. 4. and lastly, from the
plenitude, the strength and height of Sinne. The summe is,
1. the heart. 2. of man. 3. is full. 4. of euill.
I should now conclude, leauing my discourse, and
you to meditation of it; but that you would then say, I
had fayled in one speciall part of a Physitian; that haHearts ruines are
these. 1. Seeing this vessell is full, to empty it. 2. Seeing
it is foule, to wash it. 3. Since it hath caught an ill tang,
to sweeten it. 4. And when it is well, so to preserue it.
with these foure vses, goe in peace.
1. There is first a necessitie, that the hart which is full
of euill by nature, must be emptied by conuersion, and
replenished with grace, or not saued with glory. what
scuppet haue we then to free the heart of this muddy
pollution? Loe, how happily we fall vpon Repentance;
God grant Repentance fall vpon vs. The proper engine
ordained & blessed of God to this purpose, is Repenta ̄ce:
a grace, without which man can neuer extricate himSatan: a grace whereat (wheAngels reioyce
in heauen.
hearts of such a burden, that Rockes and Mountains,
and the vast body of the earth layed on a distressed &
desperate sinner, are corkes and fethers to it.
This is that, which makes the eternal wisedome conMercy, to separate our sinnes from the face
of God, to binde them vp in heapes and bundels, and
drowne them in the sea of obliuion. This makes Mary
Magdalen of a sinner, a Saint: Zacheus of an extortioner,
charitable, and of a persecuting Saul, a professing
Paul. This is that mourning master, that is neuer withRepentance: shee stands at the dore, and offers her lothy heart of that euill poyson, and were it ful to the brim,
returne it thee empty. If you welcome Repentance,
knocking at your dore from God, it shall knocke at
Gods dore of mercy for you. It askes of you amend
2. The heart thus emptied of that inueterate corwashed, before it bee replenished.
The olde poyson stickes so fast in the grayne of
it, that there is onely one thing of validity to make it
cleane, the bloud of Iesus Christ. It is this, that hath bahearts, that euer were, or shall be receyued inglory.
bloud clenseth vs from all sin.
Paul seemes to inferre so much, in ioyning to the spirits
of iust men made perfect,
Iesus the Mediatour of the new
Couenant, and the bloud of sprinckling, that speaks better
things then the bloud of Abel. As if he would proue, that
it was this bloud, which made them iust and perfect. In
vaine were all repentance without this: no teares can
wash the heart cleane, but those bloudy ones, which the
side of Christ, & other parts wept, when the speare and
nayles gaue them eyes: whiles the Sonne of eternall ioy
became a Mourner for his brethren. Could we mourne
like doues, bowle like Dragons, & lament beyond the
waylings in the valley of Hadradimmon, quid prosunt lacrimae,
what boots it to weepe, where there is no merbloud of
Christ?
This is that euer-running fountain, that sacred Poole
of Bethesda, which without the mediation of Angels,
stands perpetually vnforbidden to al faithful visitants.
Were our Leprosie worse then Naamans, here's the true
water of Iordan, or Poole of Siloam, Wash and be cleane;
Bring your hearts to this Bath, yee corrupted Sonnes of
men; hath God giuen you so precious a Lauer, and will
you be vncleane still? Pray, intreat, beseech, send vp to
heauen the cryes of your tongues and hearts for this
bloud: call vpon the preseruer of men, not onely to distill
some drops, but to wash, bathe, soake your harts in this
bloud. Behold, the Sonne of God himselfe, that shedde
this bloud, doth intreat God for you: the whole Quire
of all the Angels & Saints in heauen are not wanting.
Let the meditation of Christs mediation for you, giue you
encouragement and comfort. Happy Sonne of man, for
whom the Sonne of God supplicates, and intercedes.
What can He request without speed?
He doth not onely pray for you, but euen to you,
yee sonnes of men. Beholde him with the eyes of a
Christian, faith and hope; standing on the battlements
of heauen, hauing that for his pauement, which is our
seeling, offring his bloud to wash your hearts, which
he willingly lost for your hearts: denying it to none,
but Wolues, Beares, and Goates, and such reprobate,
excommunicate, apostate spirites, that treade it vnder
their prophane and luxurious feet, esteeming that an
vnholy thing,
wherewith they might haue beene sanctified.
Come we then, come we, though sinners, if beleeuers,
and haue our hearts washed.
3. All is not done with this vessell, when washed.
Shall wee empty it,clense it, and so leaue it? Did not Satan
reenter to the house swept and garnished, with seuen
worse spirites, whiles it was empty? Behold then, when
it is emptied, and washed, and sweetned, it must bee filled
againe: a vacuity is not allowable. It must bee replenished
with somewhat, eyther euill or good. If God
bee not present, Satan will not be absent. When it is
euacuated of the works of the flesh,
fruits of the Spirit. Humility must take
vp the roome, which pride had in the heart. Charitablenesse
must steppe into the seate of auarice. Loue
extrude malice, mildnesse anger, patience murmuring.
Sobriety must drie vp the floudes of drunkenesse.
Continence coole the inflammations of Lust. Peace
dissentions. Honesty pull
off Hypocrisies vizour; and Religion put prophanenesse to
an irreuocable exile.
Faith is the hand, that must take these Iewels out
of Gods treasury, to furnish the heart: the pipe to
conuey the waters of life into these vessels. This infusiSatan is locked out. If our former
courses and customes, like turn'd-away abiects, profKing of heauen, let vs disdayne the compaopera tenebrarum, the
works of darknesse. Let vs now onely frequent the
dore of mercy, and the fountaine of grace; and let faith,
& a good conscience be neuer out of our society. Here's
the supply.
4. We haue now done, if when our hearts bee thus
emptied, cleansed, supplyed, we so keepe them. Non minor
est virtus, &c. Nay, let me say, non minor est gratia. For it
was Gods preuenting grace, that clensed our hearts, and
it is his subsequent grace that so preserues them: That we
may truely sing;
Yet haue we not herein a Patent of security and neghe that hath this hope,
purgeth himselfe. And wee are charged tokeepe and
possesse our vessell in sanctification and honour: and to
liue
vnspotted of the world.
Return not to your former abominations, lest your
latter end bee worse then your beginning. Hath God done
hearts good, and will you fru
Yea, oh Lord, since thou hast dealt so graciously
with these frayle vessels of flesh, emptied them, wa
The heart of the Sonnes of men is full of euill, and madnesse is in their heart while they liue: and after that, they goe to the dead.
MANS sentence is yet
but begunne; and you
will say, a Comma
doth not make a perSense. Wee are
now got to his Colon:
hauing left his heart
full of euill, wee come
to his madnesse. No
maruell if, when the
stomacke is full of
strodrunken. The heart being so filled with that pereuill, becomes drunke with it. Sobriety, a
morall daughter, nay, Reason the mother is lost; he runs
mad, starke mad. This Frenzy possessing, not some outHeart.
Neyther is it a short madnesse; that wee may say
of it, as the Poet of anger, furor breuis est; but of long
continuance; euen during life, whiles they liue. Other
drunkennesse is yet after sleepe sober; but this is a per
Considerable then is 1. the matter. 2. the men. 3. the
time, Quid, in quo, Quamdiu. What, in whom, and how long.
Madnesse is the matter. 2. the place, the heart. 3. The
time, whiles they liue. The Colon or medium of mans Sentence
spends it selfe in the description of
A
1. Madnesse. 2. holds the heart. 3. during life. It
is pitty. 1. so bad a Tenant. 2. hath so long time. 3. in
so good a house.
There is a double madnesse, corporall and spirituall,
The obiect of the former is Reason: of the latter, Religion.
That obsesseth the braine, this the Heart. That exMysticall. The difference is; this spirituall madnesse
may insanire cum ratione, cum Religione numquam. The
morally-franticke may be mad with reason, neuer with
Religion.
Physitians haue put a difference betwixt Phrenzy,
and Madnesse: imagining madnesse to be onely an inCell of the
head; whereby Imagination is hurt: but the Phrenzy
to extend further, euen to offend the reason and memory;
feuer. Galen cals it an inflammation
of the braines, or filmes thereof, mixed with a sharpe
feuer. My purpose needes me not to be curious of this
distinction.
To vnderstand the force of madnesse, we must conbrayne three ventricles; as houses assign'd
by Physitians for three dwellers, Imagination, Reason,
and Memorie. According to these three internal
senses or faculties, there be three kinds of Phrensies or
Madnesses.
1. There are some mad, that can rightly iudge of
the things they see, as touching imagination & phantasie:
but for cogitation and reason, they swarue from na
2. Some being madde, are not deceiu'd so much in
common cogitation and reason; but they erre in Phantasie
and Imagination.
3 There are some, that be hurt in both imagination
and reason, and they necessarily therewithall doe lose
their memories. That whereas in perfect, sober, and
well composed men, Imagination first conceiues the
formes of things, and presents them to the reason to
iudge; and reason discerning them, commits them
to Memorie to retaine: in mad-men nothing is con
For spirituall relation, we may conceiue in the soule;
vnderstanding, reason, will. 1. The vnderstanding appreReason discusseth them, arguing their fitnesse or
inconuenience, validity or vanity: and examines their
desert of probation or disallowance, their worthinesse
eyther to be receyued or reiected. 3. The Will hath her
particular working, and embraceth, or refuseth the
obiects, which the vnderstanding hath propounded, &
the reason discoursed.
Spirituall madnesse is a deprauation, or almost depriquoad coelestia; so farre as
they extend to heauenly things. 1. For vnderstanding,
the Apostle sayth.The naturall man perceyues not spirituall
things, because they are spiritually discerned. And the
veryminds of vnbeleeuers are blinded by the god of this
world. 2. For Reason: it iudgeth vanities more worthy,
of prosecution when they are absent, of embracing
when they salute vs.It is in vaine to serue the Lord: and
what profite is it, that wee haue kept his ordinance, or walked
mournefully before him? This is the voyce of distracted
cogitation, and of reason out of the wits.Wee call the
proud happy; and the workers of wickednesse are set vp: yea
they that tempt God are deliuered. 3. For Will; it hath lost
the propensenesse to good, and freedome of disposing
it selfe to well doing: neyther hath it any power of it
owne, to stoppe and retarde the precipitation to e
Now whereas they distinguish Soule. 1. in vegetabilem,
that giueth life. 2. in sensibilem, that giueth feeling.
3. in rationalem, that giueth reason: the first desiring
esse, to be; the second, benè, to bee well; the third optimè
esse, to be best; so not resting till it be with God: bespiritual madnesse eneruates this last action of
the soule, as corporall endeuors to extinguish the two
former.
They attribute to the Soule 5. powers. 1. Feeling,
whereby the Soule is moued to desire conuenient
things, and to eschue hurtfull. 2. Witte, whereby shee
knoweth sensible and present things. 3. Imagination,
whereby she beholdeth the likenesse of bodily things,
though absent. And these three vertues, say Philosophers,
be common to men with beasts. 4. is Ratio, whershee iudgeth betweene good and euill, truth and
falshood. 5. Intellectus, whereby shee comprehends
things (not onely visible, but) intelligible, as God, Ansoule, liuing in the flesh, and after death.
It beholdeth still the higher things per intellectum, and
the lower per rationem.
As corporall madnesse drawes a thicke obfuscation
ouer these lights, so spirituall corrupts and peruerts
them: that as they are strangers to heauen, quoad intellectum,
so at last, they become fooles in natural things,
quoad rationem.
Apostle plainely. Euen as they
did not like to retaine God in their knowledge, so God gaue
them ouer to a reprobate mind, to doe those things that are
not conuenient. They that forget God, shall forget nafrenzies, and with them
a dissimilitude to men, to Christian men. It is reckoThe Lord shall smite thee with
madnesse, blindnesse, and astonishment of heart. But it is a
fearefull accumulation of Gods iudgements and our
miseries, when spirituall Phrensie shall possesse the
soule, and scatter the powers of the inner man: euacuknowledge; not reason,
but faith; not sense, but conscience. When the opinion
of the world shall repute men sober and wise, and the
scrutinie of God shall finde them mad-men.
To draw yet neerer to the point of our compasse, &
to discouer this spirituall madnesse; let vs conceiue in
mans heart, (for therein this frenzy consists) in answerabrayne, and
powers of the soule before manifested, these three vertues,
Knowledge, Faith, Affections. The defect of grace,
and destitution of integrity, to the corrupting of these
three, cause madnesse. We will not inquire further into
the causes of corporall frenzy: the madnes which I would
minister to, is thus caused: a defectiue knowledge, a
faith not well informed, affections not well reformed.
Ignorance, vnfaithfulnesse, and refractary desires make a
man mad.
Is a cause of this madnes; nay, it is madnes it selfe. Supplicij
causa est, supplicium
How mad are they then,
that settling their corrupted soules on the lees of an affrantike: Hi dementiam, illi ignorantiam suam ignorant:
These are ignorant of their owne ignorance, as those
of their madnesse.,
Wickednesse is folly; and ignorance of celestiall
things is eyther madnesse, or the efficient cause, (or ramadnesse ensueth.All the
workers of iniquity haue no knowledge. The wicked in
the day of their confusion, shall confesse, that the madnesse
of their exorbitant courses, and their wildnes erring
from the way of truth, arose from their ignorance of
the way of the Lord.Therefore haue wee erred from
the way of truth, and the light of righteousnese hath not shined
vpon vs, &c. Will you heare their acknowledged
reason? For the way of the Lord wee haue not knowne. So
Wisd. 13.knowledge of the true God, &
for want of vnderstanding, and confessing by the workes
the workemaster, the madnesse of Idolarry is hatched.For
health, hee calleth vpon that which is weake: for life, hee
prayeth to that which is dead: and for a good iourney, hee asketh
of that which cannot set a foot forward. Through this
errour, they were so mad, as to ascribe, first to stockes
and stones, insensible creatures; secondly, to men, dust
and ashes; thirdly, to wicked men, the worst of those
that had a reasonable soule; fourthly, to Deuils, the maGod and men,
that incomparable name
of God.
Beyond exception, without question, the authospirituall
madnesse,
people doe erre in their very heart, sayth the Psalmist,
the locall seate of this madnes, when they haue not known
the wayes of the Lord. The true obiect of diuine knowBooke wherein we learne him, is
his Word. How shall they scape the rockes, that saile
without this Compasse? when the Frenzy hath turned
the edge of common sense, frustrated the power of reason,
and captiuated the regent-house of vnderstanding,
a man dreades not fire, mockes the thunder, playes at
the holes of Asps, & thrusts his hand into the mouthes
of Lions: ignoti nec timor, nec amor; he knowes not the
danger.
So, whiles the supreme Iustice is not knowne, nor
the auenger of wickednesse vnderstood,vngodly
are so madde, as to mocke at sinne, to play at the brinks
of the infernall pitte, and to dally with those Aspes &
Crocodiles, the stinging and tormenting spirits; to
precipitate themselues into that vnquenched fire, to
fillup the darts of thunder backe againe to the sender,
and with a thirsty voracity to swallow down the dregs
of the wrathfull viall. Quid in causa nisi ignorantia? what
hath thus distempered the heart, and put it into this
wildnesse, that without feare or wit, men run into the eignorance? Aprudent
man foreseeth the plague, and hideth himselfe, but the foolish
run madly on, and are punished.
If the Romists were not mad-me ̄, or worse, they would
neuer set vp ignorance as a Lampe to light men to headeuotion; when it
is indeede an originall cause of madnesse, the mother of
errour and wildnesse; making mans way to blisse more
vncertaine, then Hannibals on the Alpes, or a Larkes
in the ayre: The truth is; know to know, and be wise;
know to obey, and be happy. This is eternall life, to know
God, and his Sonne whom he hath sent, Iesus Christ. Labour
to vnderstand the Bible, lest thou vndergoe the curses
in it. Lege historiam, ne fias historia. Saint Paul after the
recitation of many fearefull iudgements, concludes:
Now all these things hapned vnto them for ensamples,
and
are written for our admonition, &c. If wee will not bee
admonished by these ensamples, wee may become ensamples
our selues, histories of madnesse to future generatiIgnorance by neuer so toleraIgnorance still, still cause of
madnes. If madnes may bring to heauen, there is hope
for these wilfully ignorant.
Is a sufficient-efficient cause of madnes. Faith is
the Christian mans reason: now on the priuation of reason,
must needes follow the position of madnes. For
shall the Creatour of heauen and earth, the eternall
Iustice, and infallible Truth affirme? shall he sweare? wil
you put him to his oath; and that by two immutable
things, the best in heauen, and the best on earth? will you
haue him set his hand to it, and write it with his owne
finger? dare you not yet trust him without a Seale? must
hee seale it with that bloudy waxe, in the impression
of death on his Sonne? must you haue witnesses, three
on earth, and as many in heauen, when the King of
Kings might well write Teste meipso? and will you not
yet beleeue him? Is there no credite from your hearts
to all these premises, promises, attestations, protestatimadde, haplesly, hopelesly mad, vnmeaspirituall wits. Were you as deepely
gone in a corporall frenzy, I would sigh out your de
Hei mihi quod nullis ratio est medicabilis herbis!
Shall the Lord threaten iudgements, woe to him
that trembles not. Non sapient, sentient tamen. Hell was
not made for nothing. The vantguard of that accurvnbeleeuers. Reuel. 21. An vnsetled
heart accompanied incredulity.If yee will not beleeue,
surely yee shall not be established. Neyther are they that
beleeue not, gathered within the pale and solde of the
Church; but wander like straggling goates, and wilde
beasts on the mountaines and forrests of this world.
Hereupon, through the improuident and incircummadde Infidelity keepes, the soule
stumbles at the Rocke,
madly inuite dangers to salute them. Sub clypeo fidei, &
subsidio virtutis vir tutus. But where faith is not our
Proctor, nor is prouidence our Protector: what shall
shield vs, in the absence of faith? Not Solon, not Solomon,
a Wise man among the Gentiles, a wiser among the
Christians; but grow madde in the deficiencie of
faith.
Men see by vnanswerable arguments, that the hand
of God is too strong for sinners; that the least touch
of his finger staggers their liues, their soules: that hee
sends his Executioner, Death, to cal the wicked away;
and that in a more horrid shape, then to others; arming
him with plague, murder, distraction, destruction, and
that often with suddennesse: they behold that (Cadit
corpus, inde cadauer; sepelitur, seponitur) the body dies,
and turns to rottennesse: they know their owne builquocunque sub axe, whither
soeuer thou turnest thine eyes, thou must needes be a
spectator. Shall we still thinke, that solummodò pereunt,
vt pereant; vel vt pereundo alios deterreant: they only
perish to perish, and not to terrifie others, threatning
the like wretchednes to the like wickednes? Surely,
the iudgements of God should bee like his Thunders;
Poena ad paucos, terror ad omnes: Whilest some fall, others
should feare. They that will not take example by o
But we see those that are as ripe in lewdnesse, draw
long and peaceable breathes: neither is it the dispopatience, that thus forThe Lord is not slacke, as some count slacknes,
but is long-suffering to vs-ward, &c. If this gentle Phymadder, hee hath a darke chamber to
put thee in, a dungeon is more lightsome and delightGraue; bands of darkenesse to restraine thy
outrages, and potions of brimstone to tame and weaNemo me impunè lacessit: No man shall prouoke
me vnpunished.
Infidelity of Gods iudgements is madnesse; vnbeliefe
of his mercies hath neuer beene counted lesse. What
is it else, to refuse the offer of that Lambe, which takes away
the sinnes of the world,
Moritur Christus pro indigenis,
pro indignis: and spreaders out his armes on the Crosse,
to embrace both Iew and Gentile. Why doth not
God giue faith?Father. Non ideo
non habet fidem, quia Deus non dat; sed quiatu non accipis.
Thou doest not therefore lacke faith, because God
The name of Iesus Christ is, sayeth Saint August.
Nomen, sub quo nemini desperandum est: A name able
to defend vs from desperation. But there are many implafaith; none without reseruation
of mercy to repentance. Euery conditionall propoNil ponit in esse. As a conditionall promise inferIf thou hast
sinned: if thou doest not repent. There is place for remissi
If then distrust of Gods mercy bee not madnesse,
what is? when it causeth a man to breake that league
of kindnesse which he oweth to his owne flesh; and
offers to his hand engines of his owne destruction: emad, that will giue credite to
the Father of lies, rather then to the God of Truth? when
God promiseth to Penitence, the wiping away her teares,
the binding vp her wounds, and healing her sores: and
the deuill denyeth it; giuing it for impossible to haue
the iustice of God satisfied, and thy sinnes pardoned:
behold, darkenes is beleeued rather then light, and faltruth.
Lyon-like in your houses, and franticke in
your hearts,
mad in your desperate follies; to shut
vp heauen, when the Lord hath opened it; to renew
that score which he hath wiped; and when hee hath
pulled you out of the fire, to runne into it againe: like
Tygers, to teare and deuoure your owne soules, which
that bloud of eternall merite hath freed from the Dragon
of hell. It is not a light and inferior degree of madnes,
but a diffident and desperate; when the Physitian
(euen He of heauen) shall promise helpe to a bloud to it, the Patient shall
thrust his nayles into it, and answere, nay, It shall not be
healed.
Beast in the 7.
of Daniel, without distinction of name or kind. Dreadfull,
terrible, exceedingly strong; and it had great yron teeth,
&c. The Lyon, Beare, Leopard are tame and gentle, in
regard of this Beast: it is desperate madnes: That grinds
the poore with his yron teeth, and stampes his own heart
vnder his malignant feet, and dasheth against God himhornes of Blasphemie.
It is then clearer then the day, that the darkenes of
Infidelity is Phrenzie; whether (as it hath beene in stanIustice, or deMercy. For, who but a mad-man
would hope for impunity to his wilfully-continued
sins, where he visibly perceiues, that peccatum peccante ̄
necessitat morti: that iniquity giues soule and body lyamad-man,
hauing sinned, will despayre of forgiuenes, when the
mercy of God hath allowed a place to repentance?
Turn,
and liue, sayth the Lord: for I haue no pleasure in the
death of him that dyeth.
Make the possessed franticke. This is a speeding
knowledge, that the Patient may say, Video meliora, I see
better things: and secondly, a faith, (but such as is inprobo
I allow of them: but thirddeterior a sequor, hee
concludes his course with, I follow the worse. Obserue
the Philistines crying,God is come into the
Campe; woe vnto vs, &c. Yet they settle, hearten, harWoe vnto
vs: who shall deliuer vs out of the hand of these mightie
Gods? yet verse 9. Bee strong and quit your selues like
men, O yee Philistines: quit your selues like men, and
fight. Twice they behold their Dagon falne down before
the Arke:
Dagon must bee their God still, and
the Arke is only reuerenc'd for a ne noceat.
How many runne madde of this cause, inordinate &
furious lusts! If men could send their vnderstandings,
like Spyes, downe into the Well of their hearts, to
see what obstructions of sinne haue stopp'd their
veines, those springs that erst deriued health and commale afficiuntur,
quia malè afficiunt: their madde affects haue bad effects:
and the euill disposednesse of their soules, ariseth from
the want of composednesse in their affections. The
Prophet Ieremy,
chap. 2. compareth Israel to a swift Dromedary,
trauersing her wayes, and to a wilde Asse vsed to
the wildernesse, that snuffeth vp the winde at her pleasure. Be
yee not,
Psalmographer, as the horse and mule,
which haue no vnderstanding: whose mouth must bee helde
in with bit and bridle. Men haue vnderstanding, not
beasts: yet when the frenzy of lust ouerwhelmeth their
senses, wee may take vp the word of the Prophet, and
powre it on them. Euery man is a beast by his own knowledge.
And therefore man that is in honour and vnderstandeth
not,
is like vnto beasts that perish. Did not the brimadnes, they would cast off the saddle of reason,
and kicke nature it selfe in the face.
This is that which Solomon calles the wickednesse of
follie,
foolishnes, and madnesse: an actuall deuiation &
deuitation of the way of righteousnesse: a practicall frenzy,
a rouing, wandring, vagrant, extrauagant course;
which knowes not which way to flie, nor where to
light, except like a Dorre in a dung-hill: an opinion
without ground, a going without a path, a purpose
to doe it knowes not what, a getting and losing, ben
So madly doe these frantickes spend their time and
strengthes, by doing and vndoing, tying hard knots,
and vntying them, affecting the issue of their owne
braynes not a day together; and destroying much seed
in the birth of their thoughts, because the conception
now pleaseth them not. The Prouerbe sayth, that the
most wilde are in least danger to bee starke madde: but
here, wildenes is madnes; an indefatigable frenzy; an
erring starre reserued for the blacke darkenesse; a rolling
stone that neuer gathers any mosse to stay it; an
incessant and impetuous fury, that neuer ceaseth
rouing and rauing, till it come to the Center,
Hell.
Madnesse,
in the true definition, forme and colours. But as a
man cannot so well iudge of a Summe, whiles it lyes
in the heape, as when it is tolde and numbred out: if
this vnited and contracted presentation of madnes bee
not so palpable in your conceites, as you would desire
it; behold, to your further satisfaction, I come to parwhole denominates the parts; as all of
water, is water; all of flesh, flesh: so euery wilfull
sinne is madnesse. Doubtlesse, when we come to this
precise distribution, and narrow scrutiny, to the singFrenzies, you will blesse your selues, that
there are so few Bedlam-houses, and yet so many out
of their wits.
Stultorum plena sunt omnia. It were no hard matter
to bring all the world into the compasse of a fooles
Cappe. I dare not goe so farre: onely magna est plenitudo
hominum, magna solitudo sapientum: There is great
plenty of men, and no scarsity of mad-men. Plurima
pessima: The most are not the best. Pretiosa non numerosa:
Vile things breed as plentifully as mountaine-mise.
Goodnesse, like the Raile, flyes alone: but Mad-men,
like Partridges by Coueys. Nay, we may say, Magna
solitudo hominum: if it bee true that Lactantius sayes.
Nemo potest iure dici homo, nisi qui sapiens est: He is not a
man, that is a mad-man. The foole is but imago hominis,
the shadow or resemblance of a man. The world is full
of madde-men, and the madder it is, the lesse it is sensiSemel insaniuimus omnes:
Wee haue beene all once madde, is too true a saying:
some in youth, others in age. The first is more obuious
and common: wildnesse is incident to youth: the latter
more perilous, and of lesse hope to bee reclaymed. If
we must be madde, better young then olde: but better
not be borne then be madde at all, if the mercy of God
and grace of Iesus Christ recollect vs not. In the
All are once madde; this holds for too strong truth: Blest man! whose madnes comes and goes in youth.
I promised to particularize and set open the gates
of Bedlam, to leaue madnesse as naked, as euer sinne
left the first propagators of it and mankind. The Epicure
shall leade the ring, as the fore-man of this
madde Morisco.
I would faine speake (not onely of him, but) with
him. Can you tend it, Belly-god? The first question
of my Catechisme shall be, What is your name? Epicure.
Epicure? What's that? speake not so philosophically; but
tell vs in plaine dealing, what are you? A louer of pleasure,
more then of God.
belly my executour,
and bequeath all my goods to consumption, for the
consummation of my owne delights. Hoh! a gooda mad-man. What is your summu ̄
bonum? Pleasure. Wherein consists it? Rehearse
the Articles of your beleefe. I beleeue that delicacies,
iunkets, quotidiaDalila in mine armes, are very comfortable. I
beleeue that glistering silkes, and sparkling Iewels, a
purse full of golden charmes, a house neately decked,
gardens, orchards, fish-ponds, parkes, warrens, and
whatsoeuer may yeelde pleasurable stuffing to the
corpes, is a very heauen vpon earth. I beleeue, that
Now a deft Creed, fitte to stand in the deuils Camadnes, starke and staring madnes?
What is the Flesh which thou pamperst with such
indulgence; as thou feedest beasts to feede on them,
doest thou not fatte thy flesh, to fat the wormes? Goe
Heliogabalus to thy prepared muniments, the monumadnesse: thy Towre is poli
Thou imaginest felicity to consist in libertie, and
liberty to bee nothing els, but potestas viuendi vt velis;
a power to liue as thou list. Alas, how madde art
thou? thou wilt not liue as thou shouldst, thou canst
not liue as thou wouldst: thy life and death is a slauery
to sinne and hell. Tut, Post mortem nulla voluptas; and
here, verse 4. It is better to a liuing dogge, then a dead Lyon.
Thou art mad; for, for all these things thou must come
vnto iudgement.
How many of these mad-men ramble about this City?
that lauish out their short times in this confused diwatch,
but they pray not: they fast when they haue no money,
and steale when they haue no credit; and reuelling the
whole weeke, day and night, only the Sunday is resermadde,
Apostle sayth: Bee not deceiued; for
because of these things commeth the wrath of God on the
children of disobedience. Are not these mad men: that
buy the merry madnesse of an houre, with the eternall
agonies of a tormented conscience?
Is the next Mad-man, I would haue you take view
of in this Bedlam. The proud man? or rather the proud
woman: or rather hac aquila, both he and shee. For if
they had no more euident distinction of sexe, then
they haue of shape, they would be all man, or rather
all woman: for the Amazons beare away the
Bell: as one wittily, Hic mulier will shortly bee good
latine, if this transmigration hold: For whether on
horsebacke, or on foot, there is no great difference: but
not discernable out of a Coach. If you prayse their
beauty; you rayse their glory: if you commend them,
command them. Admiration is a poyson, that swelles
them till they burst.
Laudatas extendit auis Iunonia pennas.
Is not this madnesse?
De ignorantia tui, venit in te superbia.
Selfe-ignorance is the originall of pride. Is not hee
madde, that knowes not himselfe? Quantò quis humilior,
tantò Christo similior. Humility is Christs resemblance,
Pride the Deuils Physnomie. Is he not mad, that had
rather be like Satan then God? Humilitie is begunne by
the information of Christ, wrought by the reformatiSpirit, manifested in conformation to obediPride, sayth Aug. Vbi mentem possederit,
erigendo deijcit, inflammando euacuat, & domum destruit,
quam inhabitat. Pride casteth downe by lifting vp, by
filling emptieth,superbire be supraregulam ire, then is pride
extrauagancy and madnes: a pernicious, perilous sinne,
that intraps euen good works.
Doe you thinke, there is no pride, no madnes in the
land? Aske the Silke-men, the Mercers, the TyrePride and madnesse. Powders,
liquours, vnguents, tinctures, odors, ornaments depride and madnesse.
Such translations and borrowing of formes,
that a silly countryman walking the City, can scarce
say, there goes a man, or there a woman. Woman, as
shee was an humane creature, bore the image of God;
as shee was woman, the image of man: now she beares
the image of man indeed, but in a crosse and mad fashiimage of God.
Howsoeuer; that sexe will be the finer, the prouder, the
madder. For pride and madnesse are of the feminine genearth; Woman of refined earth; being taken out of
man, who was taken out of the earth: therefore shee
arrogates the costlier ornaments, as the purer dust. Afine dust, proud clay?
the attribute is too good for the subiect.
A certaine man desired to see Constantine the Great:
whom intentiuely beholding, hee cryed out: I thought
Constantine had beene some greater thing; but now I see,
hee is nothing but a man. To whom Constantine answeTu solus es, qui in me oculos, apertos habuisti.
Thou onely hast looked on mee with open and true
iudging eyes. O nobiles magis quā foelices pannos; may maO honoranda,
magis quam honestavestimenta; may proud creatures
say of theirs. What is a silken coate to hide abody and the disDuo sunt in carne vna: they are two in
one flesh.
There is mortality in that flesh, thou so deckest: &
that skinne which is so bepainted with artificial comDetrahetur
nouissimum velamentum cutis. You that sayle betwixt
heauen and earth in your foure-sail'd vessels, as if the
ground were not good enough to be the pauement to
the soales of your feet: know that the earth shall one
day set her foot on your neckes, and the slime of it
shall defile your surphul'd beauties: dust shall fill vp
the wrinckled furrowes, which age makes, and
paint supplies. Your bodies were not made of the
substance, whereof the Angells; not of the nature
of starres, nor of the water, whereof the fire, ayre, waHanibal is at the gates, death
stand at your dores: be not proud, be not madde: you
must die.
Is not to be missed in this Catalogue. The Poet
cals amantes, amentes; taking (or rather mistaking)
Loue for Lust. Indeed it is insana libido, a blinding,
blending fascination; a Witch that with her powerFather conCertè enim
fuit consuetudo, non fuit culpa: Whiles it was a custome,
it was scarce held a fault. Wee may say no lesse of our
dayes: Lasciuiousnesse is so wonted a companion for
our Gallants, that in their sense, it hath lost the name
of being a sinne. They call it Magnatum ludum; and
whether it be or no, thence deriue to themselues au
But still, Quae te dementia cepit? Thou art mad, whiles
incontinent, Is it not malum sui diffusiuum? a sawcy
sinne, a costly disease? yet were it cheape to the purse,
is it not the price of bloud? Can al your prouocatiues,
enliuenings, trepidations, and fomenting preseruadrie the bones.
If my heart, sayth Iob, hath
beene deceiued by a woman; it is a fire that consumeth to
destruction, and would roote out all mine encrease. Luxuriam
sequitur dissipatio omnis: Luxurie is attended on by a
generall consumption: first,Substance, Prou. 6. By
meanes of an whorish woman, a man is brought to a peece of
bread.
Body. Tremores pedum, & articulorum
generat depriuationem: It weakens the limbes, and
vnties the ioynts, those knots whereby the body is
trussed together.Paul calles it a sinne against a
mans owns body. Thirdly, of Name. A wound and dishonour
will he get, and his reproch shall not be wiped away.
I would mention the losse of his Soule too; but
that hee cares not for: the other hee would seeme to
loue, then how mad is he to endanger them? If thou
be not mad, away with these fomenta luxuriae: feede nature,
not appetite. Nature nihil parùm, appetitui nihil satis.
Qui minùs tradit corpori, quàm debet corpori, ciuem necat:
Qui tradit plus corpori, quàm debet corpori, hostem nutrit:
As hee that allowes lesse to his body, then hee owes to
his body, kils his friend: so hee that giues more to his
body, then hee owes to his body, nourisheth his eneCaro
non est mala, si malo careat. But Christ was more faAdulteresse, and sent her away with imaccused,
but to conuince the wickednes of the accusers. Putauit
lapidandam,
non à lapidandis. Noluit talem, noluit à
talibus: He might thinke her worthy to die, but not by
them that were worthy to die. Hee would not haue
her polluted, nor yet to perish by so polluted hands. I
conclude the madness of these men with the Poet.
If they will not see this yet, (as what frantick man permadnes?) they shall feele it vnder the
hands of an ill Surgion on earth, or a worse in hell.
Playes the mad-man vnder couert and concealeDauid, Psal. 131. Mine heart is
not haughty, nor mine eyes lofty. Cor & oculi, fons & rivuli.
The tongue that brags of humility, deserues
little credite. Frons, vultus, oculi saepè mentiuntur; lingua
verò saepissimè: The forehead, eyes, and countenance do
often deceiue, the tongue most commonly. The worst
Inne hath sometimes the biggest Signe; and the baser
mettall the lowdest sound.Turpiora sunt vitia, cum
virtutum specie celantur: Vices are then more vgly,
when they haue put on the robes of vertues. Hypocrita
solus vult omnibus videri melior,
& solus est omnibus
peior: The Hypocrite would seeme better then asibimet pulcherrima merces, a sufficiSonne of a
hand-maide,
bramble indeed, as Iotham spake
of Abimelech; hee bragges as much of his shadow,
as eyther Vine, Oliue, Figge-tree, or the tallest Cedar
in Lebanon.
Hee mournes for his sinnes, as a hasty Heyre at the
death of his Father. Haeredis luctus sub Larua, risus est:
Hee is at once a close mourner, and a close reioycer.
When the wicked man counterfeits himselfe good, he
is then worst of all. Dissembled sanctitie is double iniquity:
quia & iniquit as est, & simulatio: because it is both
sinne and simulation. Hypocrites are like Iugglers, that
shew trickes of Legerdumaine, seeming to doe the
feates they doe not, by casting a mist before mens
eyes. Howsoeuer it was once sayde, Stultitiam simulare
loco, prudentia summa est: I thinke it not so intoleProtagoras in Plat. somewhat
agreeing to Machiauel: Hee is a madde-man, that cannot
counterseit Iustice, and dissemble integrity. I am
here rather occasioned to say: Hee is a mad-man, that
doth counterfeit good things, because hee doth but counterfeit.
And in that great Epiphany, and manifestation
mad-man.
Meane time, he is a franticke too: for hee incurres the
worlds displeasure, in making a shew of good lines;
Gods double displeasure in making but a shew. Hee
that would purchase the hatred both of God and man,
is he lesse then mad?
Is a principall in this Bedlam. Soft: if it were granCouetous were madde, the world it selfe
would runne of a garget: for who is not bitten with
this madde dogge? It is the great Canon of the Deuil,
charged with chaine-shot, that hath killed charity in
almost all hearts. A poyson of three sad ingredients;
whereof, who hath not (to speake sparingly) tasted? Insatiability,
rapacity,
tenacity. In concupiscendo, acquirendo,
retinendo. Couetousnesse hath three properties, saith
Ambrose, Concupiscere aliena, cupita inuadere, celare quod
ruadit: To couet not her own, to get what she couets,
and to keepe what shee gets. And yet, Oh Auarous,
why art thou so mad after money? Non habentes inficit,
habentes non refecit: It hurts them that it possescouetousnesse hatcheth, is an ofspring intricated
with cares terrestriall, infected with desires carnall,
blinded with passions, subiected to affections, infirmed
by tentations, informed by lusts, infolded in errors, in
ambiguities difficult, obnoxious to suspicions. Is hee
not madde, that will foster in his bosome a damme, with
such a damned littour?
Tria retia habet Diabolus in mundum extensa: vt quicquid
euaserit de retibus gulae,
incidat in retia inanis gloriae;
& quicquid euaserit his, callidius capiatur retibus auaritiae.
De his nullus perfectè euasit: The Deuils three nettes are
Ryot, Vaine-glory, Couetousnesse: The second catchflies from the Lion, the Beare meets him; and the esSerpent (Couetousnesse) bites, not
vnlike the prediction of God to Elias, concerning
Hazael, Iehu, and Elisha; whom hee was commanded
to annoint.
It shall come to passe, that he that escapeth
the sword of Hazael, shall Iehu slay: and him, that escapeth
from the sword of Iehu, shall Elisha slay.
If this bee madnesse, who are well in their wittes?
And yet madnesse it is, and infatuate frenzy. What is it
els, to forsake Paradise for Sodome, heauen for earth,
God for Mammon, when as (by most irreconcileanemo bonus bona
bonum aestimat, male vtenti: no good man will account
those goods, good for him, that can not commaund his
affections to their sober vsage. Hee that shall preferre
profite to vertue, his body to his soule, his purse to his
body, his eye to his purse, time to eternity, let him goe
for a mad-man.
The Epicure feedes on fowle a hundred times, that
it may feede him but once: the Couetous feedes his
purse a thousand times, and starues himselfe. He cares
not to destroy his soule, to please his lust; yet for the
saluation of his soule, will not holde his purse short of
the smallest gaine. To conclude, the God whom hee
serues, cannot helpe him; the God, whom hee should
serue, will not helpe him, because hee hath forsaken
him. There is no other helpe or hope to reclayme the
auarous: but Lord haue mercy on them,
for they are lunatike
and sore vexed; as that Father spake of his possesLunatike they are perpetually,
and not at some fittes by the Moone, as that word
seemes to intimate: Sore vexed, with the implacable,
Oft-times
they faell into the fire, and oft into the water. Their Epilepticke
courses now driue them into the fire of malice &
dissention; now plunge and drown them in the floudes
of oppression: till the inundation of their cruelty haue
spoyled the whole Country; and themselues at last sufbrought
to the
Disciples, the Ministers of Christ, but they cannot
cure them. Alas! this frenzy is harde to heale. Though
they bee neytherfaithlesse, nor peruerse, negatiuely:
though they striue byfasting and prayer, affirmatiueCouetousnesse
will not be expelled. Onely Lord haue mercy on them;
conuince them, conuert them; for they are mad-men.
Would laugh, to heare himselfe brought into the
number of mad-men. Hee sits close, and is quiet at
home, whiles madnesse rambles abroad. Hee holds omadnes
rores: hee keepes a succinct course, and walkes in an
euen pace to Hell. Slaunder him not for one of Bedlam:
yet hee is madde, rauing, roaring madde; and
that by the verdict of God in the penne of Solomon:
Eccl. 7.Surely, oppression maketh a man mad.
It is indeed a thriuing occupation. Vsurie is like
that Persian Tree, that at the same time buddes, blosmad; for his sinne at once buds,
blossomes, and brings forth the fruit of vengeance. ESatan: as he hopes, his debtors wil keepe
day with him, the Deuil expects no lesse of himselfe. ELucifer;
and euery morgag'd land he seazeth on, enlargeth his
dominions in hell.
But why doe you call this benefit made of our movsurie and madnesse? It is but vsance, and husbanmad-men.
Thus I haue read of the people of Bengala, who
are so much afraide of Tygers, that they dare not call
them Tygers, but giue them other gentle names. As
some Physitians; that will not call their impatient Pamadnesse, but melancholy. But let the Bengalans
call them what they will, they are Tygers still:
and giue vsury what name you please, (for what Vsurer
is not asham'd to bee called so?) it is meere madnesse.
He is madde, that cals euill good, and sowre sweet: but
hee is no slaunderer,Vsurie madnesse. It
is no lesse; when the eternall God in his word, shall
condemne Vsurie to hell, stil to prosecute it with hope
of heauen.
But many learned men are patrons and patterns for
it. They are as madde as you; and learne you by their
madnesse to become sober. Aliquid auxilij est, aliena insania
frui. There is some benefite vsually to bee made,
by another mans exemplary madnesse. Were it more
questionable; yet he is no lesse madde, that will venmad man. It were
good for the common-wealth, if all these mad-men the
Vsurers were as safe and fast bound in a locall, as they
are in spirituall Bedlam.
Must also bee thrust into this Bedlam, though his
port be high, and he thinks himselfe inciuisible from
the Court. Whiles hee beholds the starres, with Thales,
he forgets the ditch; and yawning so wide for preMenecrates a Physitian, that would needs
bee counted a god, and tooke no other fee of his PaDiony sius Syracusa
hearing of this, inuited him to a banket; and to
honour him according to his desire, set before him nomad-man. Sapor a Persian King
wrote himselfe, Rex Regum, Frater Solis & Lunae, particeps
Syderum, &c. King of Kings, brother to the Sunne
and Moone, and partner with the Starres. Yet alas! hee
was a man, therefore a mad-man, in the arrogation of
this Stile.
Let the Romane Canonists turne their Pope into a
new nature;madde that giue it him, and hee is madde to accept it.
Let Edom exalt her selfe, as the Eagle, and set her nest
among the starres: yet sayth God, the pride of thine heart
bath deceyued thee. Let the Prince of Tyrus imagine
himselfe to sitte in the seate of God: Wilt thou yet say
before him that killeth thee,
I am God? but thou shalt
bee a man, and no God before him that slayeth thee.
Let Senacherib thinke to drie vp riuers with the
soale of his foote; and Antiochus to sayle on the
mountaines:
What euents haue answered their grand intendments,
but madnes?
Eusebius reports of Simon Magus, that hee would
be honour'd as a God, and had an Altar with this inSimon the holy God: which it seem'd, his
harlot Helena did instigate. But when by the power
of the Deuill he presumed to flie vp to heauen, at the
commaund of Saint Peter, the vncleane spirite brake his
necke. Hee climbed high, but hee came downe with
a vengeance. His miserable end shewed him an ambitious
man, a mad-man. Soare not too high, yee sonnes
of Anak; striue not to attaine heauen by multiplying
of earth, like Babel-builders: Feriunt summos fulgura
montes. Though you aspire in glory, you shall expire
in ignominie. If you were not franticke, you would
sistere gradum, keepe your stations, know when you
are well, and giue a fiat to His will, that hath placed
you in a site happiest for you. You are madde to out
Wil, sure, wrangle with me, that his name comes
so late in this Catalogue; that deserued to bee in the
front or vantguard of mad-men. Demens Ebriet as is an
attribute giuen by an heathen. It is a voluntary
madnesse, and makes a man so like a beast, that whereas
a beast hath no reason, hee hath the vse of no reason:
and the power or faculty of reason suspended, giues
way to madnes. Nay, he is in some respect worse then
a beast: for few beasts will drinke more then they
need, whereas madde Drunkards drinke when they
haue no need, till they haue need again.
To proue himselfe a blest. I canmad-man, hee dares quarrell with
euery man, fight with any man; nay, with postes and
walles,Bacchus ad arma
vocat:
Nec enim haec faceret sobrius
vnquam. Are not these mad? If you should see
them like so many superstitious Idolaters, drinking
healthes on their bare knees to their fayre Mistresse:
which (may be) is but a foule strumpet, swearing amad-men? no: let them goe among the
rest to Bedlam.
Man, you will say, is not madde: for mad-men can
hardly bee kept in, and hee can hardly bee gotte out.
You need not bind him to a poste of patience, the loue
of ease is strong fetters to him. Perhaps, he knowes his
owne madnesse, and keepes his Chamber; both that
sleepe may quiet his frenzy, and that the light may not
distract him. Hee liues by the sweat of other mens
browes, and will not disquiet the temples of his owne
head. If this be his wit, it is madnesse: for by this means,
his Field is couered with nettles and thornes, his body ouer
Seneca could say, Malo mihi male esse, quàm molliter,
I had rather bee sicke then idle: and indeed to the slothfull,
ease is a disease: but these men had rather bee
madde: for they would not
bee poore, nor want means to giue allowance to their
sluggishnesse; yet by their refusall of paines, they call
on themselues a voluntary, and ineuitable want. Oh
that the want of grace thus procured, were not more
heauy to their soules, then the other to their carkases.
Complaine they of want? Iustly may they, should they,
shall they: for the want of diligence hath brought thefrenzy,
their idlenesse madnesse.
Is rauingly madde: his owne lippes so pronounce
him; as if hee would be reueng'd on his. Maker; for
giuing him a tongue. It is so bilster'd with his hote
breath, that he spittes fire at euery sentence. He swears
away all part of that bloud, which was shed for his reName,
as if He heard him not.
What frenzy exceedes his? for he cals his bread, his
drinke, his clothes, the Day, Sunne, Starres, Plants, and
stones to testifie his truth: indeed hee calles them to
testifie against him. How shall the Name of that God
doe him good, which hee so eyther disallowes, or dismadde to giue him that blessing,
which hee is so madde to vilefie. And for a full exemplimadnesse; by oathes he thinkes to get creoathes he loseth it.
Is in the same predicament with the Srearer;
mad-men. As hee
findes now exclusion out of all humane faith; so hee
shall at last out of Gods Kingdome,Reu. 21. Lyes haue
beene often distinguished: the latest and shortest remerry Lye, and a very Lye: eyther is a
Lie, though of different degree: for the malicious lye
exceedes the officious lye. The Prouerbe giues the
Lyer,
Da mihi
mendacem, & ego ostendam tibi furem: Shew me a Lyer,
and I will shew thee a theefe.madde: for the
mouth that speaketh lyes, slayeth his owne soule. This is
not all; hee giues GOD iust cause to destroy him
more.Thou shalt destroy them that speake lyes. This is his
madnesse: Hee kils at least three at once. The Theefe doth
onely send one to the Deuill: the Adulterer two: the
Slanderer hurteth three: himselfe, the person of whom,
the person to whom hee telles the lye. Lie not in earLye not in iest; if thou doest accustome it, get thee
into Bedlam.
All will confesse a mad-man: for hee fiskes vp and
downe, like a nettled horse, & wil stand on no ground.
He hath a charge of his owne properly distinguished:
yee hee must needes trouble his head, with alien and
vnnecessary affayres. Hee admits all mens businesses
into his brayne, but his owne: and comes not home
for his owne, till he hath set all his neighbors ploughes
a-going. Hee hurries vp and downe, like Iehu the sonne
of Nimshi in his Chariot, or as a Gallant in his new Camad.
He loues not to sleepe in his owne dores; and hinLawyer himselfe madde. There is not a Boate,
malus genius, and a plague to memad-man; for he takes great paines withmad in Bedlam. I will be rid
of him with this Distich.
Hee cleaues to those he meddles with, like pitch: Hee's quick siluer, good onely for mens itch.
Is a mad-man,
As a mad-man, who caesteth
firebrands, arrowes, and death. So is the man, that deceyueth
his neighbour, and sayth, Am I not in sport? Hee
displeaseth his conscience, to please his concupiscence:
and to curry a temporary fauour, he incurreth cuerlaAchish did of
Dauid,
Haue I need
of mad-men, that you haue brought this fellow to play the
mad-man in my presence? Shall this fellow come into my
house?
Is madnesse: for the vnthankefull man both makes
himselfe vnworthy of receyued fauours, and preuents
Quod facis
ingrato, perit: what you doe to a mad-man, is lost. But if
hee bee vnthankefull to God, hee turneth his former
blessings into curses, and shuts vp heauen against his
owne soule. Cessat cursus gratiarum, vbi non fuerit recursus:
The course of grace, where it hath no recourse, is
soone stopp'd. All waters come secretly from the sea,
but returne openly thither: though fauours haue a semadde, O elate and puffed
spirite, that vsest, abusest, takest, swallowest the blesgratitude.
Nones dignus pane,
quo vescer is: For, nodatis: Hee is vnworthy of more benefites, that is vnthankefull
for those hee hath. The Ingratefull man must
needes bee one of this number, and salute Bedlam.
None will deny to be a mad-man, but they that are
eyther madde or angry. The Scripture hath so condemNature so censured him: therefore hee canBedlam. Anger resteth in the bosom of fooles;
It is all one; of mad-men. Ira furor, though but breuis:
the longer it lasts, the madder it is. Bee angry, ther's the
reynes:sinne not, ther's the bridle. Let not the sunne
goe downe on your wrath, if you must needs be angry: neyther
giue place to the Deuill. If he suffer the Sunne to set
on his wrath, the Sunne of mercy may set on his soule:
and when hee hath giuen the Deuill place, the Deuill at
last will giue him place;place, which his
mad fury hath voluntarily accepted. He is starke mad;
for he bloud.
Is more closely, but more dangerously madde. Enuie
is the consumption of the bones, sayth Solomon: he doth
make much of that, which will make nothing of him:
he whets a knife to cut his owne throat. The Glutton
feeds beasts, to feed on; and like a Witch, nourisheth a
deuil with his own bloud. He keeps a disease fat, which
will euer keepe him leane: and is indulgent to a Sermad-man? Others strike him,
and like a strangely-penitentiall Monke, as if their
blowes were not sufficient, hee strikes himselfe. That
Physitians may not begge him when hee's dead, hee
makes himselfe an Anatomie liuing. Sure, hee giues
cause to thinke, that all the olde fables of walking
ghosts were meant of him, and but for a little starBedlam.
Is as franticke as any. Heare him speake, his words
are incendiary: obserue his feete, they runne nimbly
to broyles, not knowing the way of peace. Looke vpon
his eyes, they sparkle fire: marke his hands, they are
euer sowing debate: he will strike a neighbour in the
hates all men, and the Lord
him;seuenth abomination, that his soule abhorreth,
one that soweth discord among brethren.
witnesse against him beyond exception. The debatefull
man is madder, &c. The words of a talebearer are as wounds,
and they goe downe into the innermost parts of the belly,
&c.
When hee speakes faire,
beleeue him not: for there are seuen
abominations in his heart. Hee comes to a Marte or
Market, to breede quarrels; as if he were hired by some
Surgeon. He neyther sees, nor heares of a discord, but
hee must make one; but euer couertly, cowardly, out
of the reach of weapons.Hee that passeth by and medleth
with strife belonging not to him, is like one that taketh
a dogge by the eares: hee will bee soone weary of holmadde: for hauing incensed, incouBedlam with him.
Is a madde-man: for when the ties of softer afflicPatienter ferendu ̄, quod non festinanter
auferendū: He makes his yoke more troublesome,
then it would be: and by his strugling, forceth his gyues
to make prints in his flesh. He is mad; for hee longs for
ease, and denyes it himselfe. It hath been sayde among
men, Beare one wrong, and prouoke greater: but I
say, Beare one affliction from God well, and preuent
madde, that is angry with God, that cares
not for his anger, that will plague his anger. How ill
had it gone with God before this, if such a man could
haue wrought his teene vpon him? Meane time, God
is at peace, out of his reach, and hee is plagued for his
madnesse. Teach him patience in Bedlam.
Is a meere mad-man, whether hee boast of his good
deedes, or his ill. If of his vertues, they are generally
more suspicable: if of his vices, hee is the more despiostentation insults, hee
loseth that he would finde, by seeking the wrong way.
Hee is madde: for when hee would be accounted verfame, he loseth it,
and runs mad vpon't. Put him into Bedlam.
To omit our Schismatickes, and Separatists, who are
truly called, Protestants out of their wittes, lyable to the
imputation of Phrenzy: the Papists are certainely madmen,
dangerous mad-men; madde in themselues, dangeBedlam, lest their spirituall lunacy doe vs some hurt.
Madde in themselues: for who but mad-men would
forsake the fountaine of liuing waters,
word of truth, and
pinne their faith and saluation on the Popes sleeue? a
Prelate,
Pilate, that mingles their owne bloud with their
sacrifices. Thinke how that inchanting cup of fornications
preuailes ouer their besotted soules; and you will
say they are not lesse then madde. Come you into their
Temples, and behold their Pageants, and histrionicall
gestures, bowings, mowings, windings, and turnings;
together with their seruice in an vnknowne language,
and (like a deafe man, that sees men dancing, when hee
heares no musicke) you would iudge them madde. BeSpectatum
admissi, risum tencatis amici? would you not thinke
them ridiculously madde? But no wonder if they runne
madde; that haue drunke that poyson. Many volumes
haue beene spent in the discouery of their madnesse; I
doe but touch it, lest I seeme to write Iliads after our
learned Homers.
Surely Mad-men are dangerous without restraint.
Papists are ready instruments of commotion, peruersiimmedicabile vulnus
Ense recidendum, ne pars sincera trahatur.
Our land cannot bee at ease, so long as these lye on
her stomacke. They pricke and wound her sides, not
with praying against her, (for their imprecations wee
hope, are irrita vota) but with preying vpon her: and
when all stratagems faile, ready to fetch arguments
from the shambles,ferio. Whose Religion
is politicke, learning bloudy, affections malicious,
ambitious, diuellish. The Inquisition is their Grammar,
fire and fagot their Rhetoricke, fleet and fetters their Logicke,
the Cannons rore their Musicke, and poysoning
is their Phisicke. Whose Priests haue such almighty
power, that they can make their Maker, that whereas
in their Sacrament of Order, (as they tearme it) God
Priest: now in their Sacrament
of the Aliar, the Priest shall make Almighty
God. Yea, as he made them with a word, and put them
in their mothers wombe: so they can make him with a
word, and put him in a boxe. They that thus blas
It was an ingenuous answere of a Spanish NobleCharles the 5. to lodge the Duke
of Bourbon at his house in Madrid:
Dauid did counterfeyt himselfe madde,
when he was not, for his owne security: these are mad,
and dissemble it; till by one franticke act, they can bring
vs all to ruine. If they were forraine, publike and pro
Tut, they can satisfie their consciences by distinTreasons. Indeed, all their Religion is a reliexcommunicate
Prince may bee dethroned; and being once vnChurch: Quoad animam, non quoad regnum. Thus they
leaue positiue, textuall, schoole-duinity, and fall to
Crowne-diuinity. Antichrist pleades, their Religion
is maintain'd by the Fathers. Did euer any Father alTreason? Shame they not to auerre it? If any aFathers did seem
to consent to their errors: yet wee know, that Audiendi
Patres, non vt Indices, sed vt testes: The Fathers are to
be heard as witnesses, not as Iudges. It is Gods scriptum est,
not their traditum est, that must giue decision of all
doubts.
They obiect, that those are birdes of our owne hatpoyson from the inchanting Cuppe of Rome. They are
euer extrauagant persons, that like rotten armes or
legges haue drop'd from the body. Men sine sede, sine
fide, sinere, sine spe. They are desperate men, and destiRome, where their former
learning, and the better learning of their conscience,
is peruerted, periured. That (forgetting to speake the
language of Canaan) enigmaticall, epicene, spurious,
and abortiue equiuocation, is the mayne accent of their
speeches: an ambiguous, ambagious, couzening voice,
which Cranmer, Latimer, Ridley, neuer knew, neuer
practised to saue their blouds. A strange, stigmaticke,
mishapen, halfe-borne, halfe-vnborne child; I know
not where bred, nor by what Pope, Cardinall, or Iesuite
gotten: but this I am sure, whosoeuer was the father,
Rome keepes the bastard, and nurseth it with her best
indulgence. So that now,
How els could it bee; but to the sophisticating of true
substances, must be an accesse of false qualities?
Those are those critical, hypocritical Canibals, that
make dainty at some seasons to eate the flesh of beasts,
but forbeare at not time to drinke the bloud of men. As
the Pharises, that stucke not to buy Christs death, (and
their owne withall) with money: yet would not adTreasurie: fearing to polTemple, not the spirituall of their
soules. The Romans make conscience in their fasting
seasons, to eate any flesh but Buls flesh; I meane, that
which the Popes Bulles haue made holy: (for that
which Saint Paul sayth,inter opera mala, no nor adiaphora, but inter meritoria:
is not euill, nor indifferent, but a worke of
merite.
They say, (and we forsooth must grant that improChayre from Peter: and what doe they deriue this doPeter exhorts to patience, not to carParry is aggrauated.
Quòd Regina scelus, scelus est quòd virgo petatur, Quòd pia virgo scelus, quòd tibi grata scelus. Cum virgo, Regina, pia, et tibi grata petatur: Proh scelus! est, superat quòd scelus omne, scelus.
Which I haue thus interpreted.
It's treason, that a Queene should ruin'd be, that a Maid; ill. That she was good, yet worse: that good to thee; more wicked still. But when a Queene, a Maid, Good, and thy friend, thou wouldst dispatch: The treason, that thy blacke heart doth intend, dare Hell to match?
Popes, (as it was once of the Emperours in
that Seate) manifest, that by treason the Chayre is got,
by treason lost. It would then bee a good degree tomad-men were shut
vp in some strong Bedlam.
There are many other mad-men; whom, though I
particularly name not in this Catalogue, you shall
finde in Bedlam. I desire not to say all, but enough. All
are not taken into that taming-house in a day: it is filfranticke Patients, another discouery will
not be lost labour.
You conceiue the nature of the Tenant: you may
a little better vnderstand his vilenesse, if you convsurper, intruding himselfe into
Gods freehold; which both by creation, and re-cremadnesse, as hee did that vnbidden
Guest in the Gospell,
marriage without
his wedding Garment: Friend, how camest thou hither?
Eyther like that wretch, hee would be mute, or els anMan let me into his heart. What a Traytour is
man, to let into his Landlords house, his Landlords
enemy?
2 That hee doth not pay the rent of Gods house.
God rich in mercies, lends and (as it were) lets to farme
diuers possessions; as the graces of the Spirite, the vermind, gifts of the Body, goods of the world; &
for all these requires no rent, but thanksgiuing: that we
prayse him in heart, tongue, and conuersation. But so
long as Madnesse is in any of these Tenements, God
cannot haue this little rent of his Farme. They are mad,
that think they may enioy Gods blessings without rent,
3. That hee doth suffer Gods Tenement to decay: he
doth ruinate where hee dwels. For the out-houses of
our bodies, madnesse doth striue eyther to burne them
with lust, or to drowne them with drunkennesse, or to
starue them with couetousnesse. For the spirituall and
inward building, the foundation of Gods Tenement in
our soule is faith, the walles hope, the roofe charity. Now
madnes continually endeuours to raze our foundation,
to digge through our walles, to vncouer our roofe: that
hauing neyther faith in God, nor loue to men, our soule
may bee without hope, exposed to the tempests of the
deuill. Shall not madnesse account for these dilapida
4. That he doth imploy the house to base vses. It
is ill done in a Tenant to a fayre house, to make the best
roomes stables for his horses, stalls for his oxen, or styes
for his hogges. But madnes makes the Memory a stavnderstanding a dunwill a vault for
hypocrisie and disobedience. So the Body, which is the
Temple of God, is made a denne of theeues.
This is the Tenant, Madnesse: a sorry inhabitant, and
vnworthy of so good a lodging, as the next point ap
The Heart is a mansion for God, not for madnesse.
God made it, and meant to reserue it to himselfe: hee
neuer placed such a Tenant in it, as the Frenzy of sinne.
Christ is sayde to haue a fourefold house, Anagogicall,
Allegoricall, Corporall, Morall.
1. The first is the Church triumphant, that glorious,
and euerlasting habitation of his Deity.
2. The second, is the Church militant, wherein hee
Ministery.
3. The third is Corporall, that consecrated wombe of
the Virgin, wherein he dwell't 9. moneths.
4. The last is Mans Heart, wherein he hath a myChrist doth dwell in our
hearts by faith,
and by loue. As he loues the gates of Sion,
more then all the dwellings of Iacob: so hee delighteth
in the heart of man, more then in all Palaces and
Pauilions of Princes. When an aduersary Tyrant
hath taken the chiefe Forte in a Country, and driuen
out their iust and mercifull Gouernour; feare, sorMan, when Iesus Christ is expelled his habitation,
the heart; and so sauage a Tyrant is admitted to Tenure,
as madnesse: a strong man, that will fortifie the
Castle, and scornes to lose it, except strength it selfe,
the vnresistable grace of Christ layes battery to it. But
this Theme is scarce cold, since I last handled it. I
must bee forced to leaue the Tenement awhile, in the
vnmercifull hands of madnesse; and inquire, (if perTenure lasteth.
Alas! what gaine wee by searching further into
this euidence? the more we looke into it, the worse we
like it. Whiles they liue. The 1. Tenure of Madnes. 2. in
the Heart. 3. is for terme of life. Too long a time for so
bad a Tenant. But you will say vnto mee, as the Disciples
to Christ:
Who then can bee saued? Nunquid daturus
est Deus regnum coelorum stul
Will God giue the
Kingdome of heauen to madmen? Feare not, all are not
mad-men that haue madnesse a Tenant in their heartes;
but they that haue it for their Landlord. It is not my
distinction,Pauls, Rom. 7. Sinne may dwell,
Sinne will dwell in your hearts; let it not raigne
there, sayth the Apostle. It must be a houshold seruant,
it must not be a King. Aliud est habere insaniam, aliud haberi
ab insania. It is one thing to haue madnes, another
thing for madnesse to haue thee. Since it will dwell in
thee, whiles thou dwelest in the flesh, make it a seruant,
a slaue, a drudge. Set the Gibeonites to draw water;
let it make thine eyes laue thy body with repentant
teares: and to cleaue wood, let it rend thy heart with
sorrow. Keepe that subtill deceiuer, with whom thou
ignorantly struckst the hand of couenant, vnder bit and
bridle: velle, reuelle, turne, restraine, command, controll
it at thy pleasure. Let it neuer be thy Captain, thy La
Though Sinne, the Deuils madde dogge hath bitten
thee, and thou at first beginnest to runne franticke: yet
apply the plaister of the bloud of Christ to thy sores. This
shall draw out the venome, and grace shall get the mamadnesse. Bee of good comfort, thou shalt not
die franticke. Encourage thy selfe with a holy violence
against thy fleshly lusts: intend, contend to infeeble,
and at length to extinguish the force of thy depraued
nature. Kill madnesse, lest madnesse kill thee. Bee senspirituall frenzy, and
doe not laughing die. Madnesse is at first, inimicus
blandus, a fleering enemy: in the middest, dulce venenum,
sweet poyson: at last, the Epithets of blandum
and dulce being lost, it is Scorpio pungens, a stinging
Serpent. Well, yet let it sting thee heere, that it
may not sting thee hereafter. Happy is hee, that
learnes to bee sober by his owne madnesse; and conI haue sinned, I will not sinne. Madnesse
may bee in his heart, like a Tenant; it shall neuer
bee like a Tyrant. Innocent Adam was naked, and
knew it not: sinnefull Adam was naked, and knew it.
Then comes God, hearing his excuse of concealing
nakednesse: Who tolde thee
that thou wast naked?
mad, and are now come to our selues, to
know our owne madnesse. If it be asked, who told vs, that
wee were madde? I answere, Euen the same grace of
Gods Spirite, that reclaymed vs from madnesse. For
the wicked, since they loue madnesse, be it vnto them:
and when they will neuer be recollected, let them bee
mad still. But blessed be that God, that helped vs; praysed
bee his holy Name, that hath recalled vs. Hee hath
in this life freede vs from madnesse, as a Tyrant, and shal
hereafter free vs from it as a Tenant.
Thus haue you the Mystery of this spirituall Bedlam
detected, and a crue of Mad-men let out to your view:
whose house is the world, whose bonds are iniquities,
whose delight is darkenesse, whose master is the Deuil:
for those whom he keepes in this metaphoricall Bedlam,
without reclayming by the power of the Gospell; hee
hath ready prouided another materiall, locall, infernall
Bedlam, a dungeon, not shallower then Hell, wherein
there is no light of Sunne or Starre, no food but speckeuerlasting chaynes; and himselfe (with
his same-suffering spirites) doe eternally whip them
with roddes of burning steele and yron. One houre
in this Bedlam will tame the most sauage madde-men,
that were euer nurst among wolues, or suck'd the brests
of inhumanity.
I heare them talke of some irrefragable Rorers,
creatures, (not men) whom no limits of reason can tedvery anguish of their
hearts: howling like Dragons, that haue liued like
Tygers. Thinke of this Bedlam, ye madde-men, Eccl. 11.
Reioyce,
O young man, in thy youth, &c. Reioyce, nay (it
ioy) be mad; in thy
youth, tempus insaniendi, a time of illimited desire; Let thy
heart cheare thee, and do thou cheare thy hart; that, thee
with lusts; thou, that with wine and iunkets: and walke
frantikely, inordinately; in thy wayes, by-wayes, & wrytruth thou wilt not know; and in
the sight of thine eyes, such tempting, and lust-prouomadder, extend
thy desires to finde out experimentall madnesse: but
know thou, that for all these things, God will bring thee into
iudgement: remember, that there is an infernall Bedlam,
whereunto they that liue and die spiritually-mad-men,
must be eternally confined.
He that should now tell the Couetous, the Ambitious,
the Voluptuous, &c. they are mad-men, should apmadde, in saying so. They rather thinke
vs madde; as Festus, though madde himselfe, without
learning, could tell Paul, that Much learning had made
him mad.
Augustine
of Dauids madnesse: Insanire videbatur, sed regi Achish
insanire videbatur: Dauid seemed mad, but to King
Achish:
mad-men, of none but madde-men,
because wee runne not with them to the same excesse of
riot,
franticke. They thinke
vs mad-men, wee know them so. And they shall at last
despairingly confesse in this lower Bedlam:
We fooles
accounted the godly mans life madnesse, and his end to bee
without honour: Now is hee numbred among the children of
God, and his lotte is among the Saints. Bee wise then in
time, yee sonnes of men; trust not spirituall madnesse, lest
it bring you to eternall Bedlam. From whose iawes
when you are once entred, bee you neuer so tame,
Wee haue ended Mans Comma, and his Colon, but
not his Sentence: the Period continues and concludes
it. Wee 1. found his heart full of euill. 2. Wee left it full
of madnesse. 3. Let vs obserue at the shutting vp, what
will become of it. After that, they goe to the dead. Heres
the end of mans progresse: now he betakes himselfe to
his Standing-house, his Graue. The Period is deli
The Summe is,Death is the wages of sinne. 1. After that,
they haue nourished euill and madnesse in their hearts,
this is the successiue (not successefull) euent and conseThey goe, they shall trauell a new iourney,
take an vnwilling walke; not to their medowes, garTo the dead:
a dismall place, the habitation of darkenesse and dis
If a man lookes into what life it selfe is, hee cannot
but finde, both by experience of the past, and proofe of
the present age,As soon as we are born,
wee beginne to draw to our end. Life it selfe is nothing, but
a iourney to death. There is no day, but hath his night:
no sentence, but hath his period: no life on earth, but
hath the death. Examine the scope of thy desires, and
thou shalt perceyue, how they hasten to the graue: as
if death were the gaole, prize or principall end, which
the vanity of humane endeuours runnes at. Bee a man
in honour, in wealth, in gouernment: he still ambitisentence, and attayned their Period, gone to
the dead.
All men, yea all inferiour things must be freed by
an end: and as the Philosopher answered to the newes
of his sonnes death: Scio me gen
so God
the Father of all, may say of euery man liuing, Scio me
creasse mortalem: I haue made a man that hath made
himselfe mortal. Man is a little world, the world a great
man: if the great man must die, how shall the little
one scape? Hee is made of more brittle and fragile
matter, then the Sunne and Stars: of a lesse substance
then the earth, water, &c. Let him make what shew he
can with his glorious adornations; let rich apparrell
disguise him liuing; seare-cloths, spices, balmes enHee returneth to
his earth. His body returneth not immediately to heauen,
but to earth, nor to earth, as a stranger to him, or an vnearth; as one of his most fa
If wee bee sinnefull, wee must die; if wee bee full of euill,
and cherish madnesse in our hearts, we must to the dead.
Wee haue sinnes enough, to bring vs all to the graue:
God grant they bee not so violent, and full of ominous
precipitation, that they portend our more sudden ruOh nullum sit in omne
pondus.
But I haue beene so prolixe in the former parts
of the Sentence, that I must not dwell vpon the Period.
Hee needs not bee tedious, that reades a Lecture
mortality. How many in the world, since this Sermon
begunne, haue vndergone experimentall demonSentence is but the morall
of those spectacles, and those spectacles, the iustifying
examples of this Sentence. They are come to their
Period before my speech: my speech, my selfe, and all
that heare me, all that breathe this ayre, must follow
them. It hath beene sayd, We liue to die: let me a little
inuert it: Let vs liue to liue: Liue the Life of grace,
that wee may liue the life of glory. Then
though we must goe to the dead, we shal
rise from the dead; and liue with
our God out of the reach
of death for euer.