The Worthy Churchman, Section 2
SECTION II. The Topaze.
THis is the ninth in the Apocalypse: a notable gemme it is. Pliny begins his 8 Chap. of his 37 bookaEgregia etiam Topazio gloria est &c., with setting a price on it.bVide lib. de lapidibus. Cardan saith of all other hee chose this, both because of the hardnesse, and beauty of it, to engrave his effigies and name in, and the verycforeign. name of it sounds as much, as desireable: whence it is probable holy writt ioynes together for their valuedIob 28. 19. the Topaze and wed of fine gold; which text of Scripture withall to mee seemes to compound the strife amongst the Etymologists, about the reason of the imposition of the name, in that it calls it the Topaze of Aethiopia; and our Cosmographers point us out an Isle in the red sea called Topazus.
The Vertue.
THe Vertue of this stone is, that it is soveraigne against feare & sadnesse, the two essentiall parts of Melancholy. Cardan the most industrious searcher into the secrets of nature, saith, he hath seene a dosis of 15. graines given to a melancholist a present remedy to him. We must strive with our harts to have them cheerfull and comfortable, therefore not unfitly doth this stone immediately follow the former: because as obsignation is one office of the holy Ghost; so consolation is another: as it is a seale, so it is a Comforter. eIohn 14. 16.Some indeed grace Melancholly so much, as to turne it over to adorne wisedome, old age, vertue, and conscience; and indeed I thinke a sanguine complexion which is so tempered with a convenient measure of naturall melancholy, that the suddaine motions and enforcements of the blood bee allayed, is both most wise to see what is best, and most regular to performe it; but if it be once growne to afS…oici vocant crebros & inveteratos motus, Morbos animi; primos autem & leves, Affectus tantùm. Lips. Const. l. 1. cap. 1. disease of the mind, it is the most unprofitable and unteachable passion of all others;gPost peditem equitem que sedebit atra cura. therefore the Fathers did it no wrong to call it thehBalneum & esca Dioboli. bath and baite of the Devill. Sathan, saith holy Greenham, under the colour of repentance bringeth many to an extreame sadnesse. No sorrow, unlesse it be for sin, is good for ought, & not that neither, if it be immoderate; a pound of sorrow will not pay an ounce of debt, except it be our debts to God. A Minister therefore ought first to work his own mind to a harmles jovisance; for the more his heart is above, the better able he is to search out the whole counsell of God, and find more divine truths. Knowledge and mirth are of neere alliance: for Salomons great knowledge of things was onelyonly latitudo cordis, the largenesse of his heart; and mirth we know doth dilate and spred out the heart, as griefe doth gripe and contract it. Besides, this is a compendious way to make profelytes, & to draw customers to the profession of Religion, when they see they must not needs be ever encreasing the ayre with sighes, and rivers with teares; but thatiProu. 3. 17. the wayes of wisedome are wayes of pleasure, and that they may bee as farre from temporall dejection, as from eternall rejection. Secondly, hee should beware of making the hearts of Gods people sad, k2 Cor. 2. 7.Paul had a care even of the incestuous Corinthian, that his spirit were not too much contristated; they cast too much salt on their sacrifices, who are no sooner clasped in their Pulpits, but as if they were on mount Sinai giving the Law, speake thunder and lightning at eueryevery word, and can foreign as bitterly as Archilochus, lIsa. 50. 4.but have not the tongue of the learned to minister a word in due season to him thats weary; and throw forth a plancke, or breake open the Spicknard box of precious promises to him that is ready to suffer shipwracke; doe such rigid Orators consider how ten Barnabases, sons of consolation, cannot often put to silence the voyce of despaire, which one Bonerges (sonne of thunder) hath coniured up? Must a poore soule that stands need of ghostly ayde, and repaires to the Priests lipps, sayingmCantic. 2. 5., Stay me with Apples, comfort me with flagons, returne Sermon-sick, complaining,nChap. 5. ver. 7. I sought my beloved, but the watchmen that went about the City found me, they smote me, they wounded me, the keepers of the walls tooke away my vaile from me, oIob 16. 2.Miserable Comforters.
The Colour.
THe Colour of the Topaze is yellow, of the colour of gold or saffron, whichpLoimat. Chap. 16. of his booke of Colours. signifieth preheminence and superiority, because gold is the chiefe of all metalls: whence it is that Miters, Scepters, Crownes, Thrones, iudgment-seates, the Vestures of Emperors, Kings, Popes, are either of gold, or much adorned with it: euen the Church is said to be aqPsal. 45. Queene adorned in a vestment of gold. How fitly therefore doth the golden Topaze follow the earthy Ruby; that going before, lest wee be puffed up, this comming after, lest wee bee too much cast downe: this is the reason why Priests were anointed with oyle, which doth supernatare, swim above all other liquors; and the very names of Prelates, Primates, Priors, Overseers, Fathers, Superintendents, Lords, Ambassadors, did surely in the worlds better dayes entitle them to some priority both of order and jurisdiction. This precedency should be twofoldrPrioritas dignitatis & pretiationis.: the one of worth, the other of esteeme, or of vertue and honour; that is inherent in our selues; this imputed by others. The former is that whereby we should strive to excell other in knowledge and holinesse, and to worke out our owne honor by Vertue: if we were such Clerkes as Beringarius, who was said to know all knowable; and such good men as Bonavent…re, of whom it is said, hee was of so sweet a disposition, that Adams fall could scarce be seene in him; then surely contempt could not like a burre, thus sticke to our coat as it doth; but some of us are so foolish, as no wise man, and some so wicked as no honest man can honour us: there is no reason (as Bernard slib. 2. de Consid.to Eugenius) that sedes prima and vita ima should goe together. tIsa. 9▪ 14, 15.The Prophet that teacheth lyes deserves to bee the Tayle: or if hee teach the truth, if so bee his practice give his pulpit the lye, the latter, to wit, priority of esteeme will as naturally follow the former, as the shadow the body. Wise and good Christians will give us ouru1 Tim. 5. 17. double honour, and *1 Thes. 5. 13.have us in singular love for our workes sake: and a good name, though it borrow but its valuation from opinion, yet if the ground of it bee merit, and the esteem of worthy men, it is then a precious ointment indeed. Knowledge hath no enemy but an ignorant man, nor godlines but a wicked man; and as for such both their invectives are true Panegyricks, and God will sanctifie unto us the enmity of unreasonable opposites. And thus far we may safely bee xIo. ep 3. v. 92foreign ▪ After the Topaze followes