The Holy Life and Happy Death of John Bruen, Chapter 8 – Chapter 9
CHAP. VIII.
His recreation of hunting.IN the beginning of which time when he was firſt married, being then in the prime of his ſtrength, and flower of his age, about the age of one and twenty yeeres, he was much addicted to the cuſtomary and ordinary exerciſes and recreations of hunting, and hawking, following the courſes, and affecting the company of ſuch Gentlemen, as being of note and quality, took pleaſure in ſuch things. Inſomuch that joyning with Ralph Done Eſquire (grandfather to that worthy Knight, Sir John Done, late high Sheriffe of the County) for maintaining their game, and ſatisfying their humour, and pleaſure in theſe ſports, they kept betwixt them foureteene couple of great mouthed dogges, M. Done eight, and himſelfe ſix. I have not much to commend him for, in theſe matters,In ſome abuſes reproved. but rather thinke him blame-worthy for miſpending ſo much precious time in ſuch carnall pleaſures, and waſting his eſtate upon baſe and brutiſh creatures to ſerve his luſt,Pars…ſacrilegii eſt, rem pauperum dare non paupenbus. Hicron. ad Pa…mach. which might have been much better beſtowed on his owne family, or on the poore members of Chriſt to do them good. For if we muſt give an account at the day of judgment (as the Judge himſelfe hath told us) of every idle word; how much more accountable ſhall we be of every idle houre, and of every idle worke? And if when we have plenty of food, we are carefully to gather up the broken meat, that nothing be loſt; how much more carefull ought we to be, that wee bee not guilty of ſo wilfull and wicked waſt, as to give the childrens bread unto dogs, and that by breaking whole loaves, and powring out many buſhels to maintaine our wide mouthed dogs, when the poore open their mouthes wide for want, calling and crying out for ſcraps and crummes, and cannot have reliefe, cannot be heard crying, for the cry of dogs? A matter ſo much the more lamentable, becauſe many are leſſe ſenſible of the grievouſneſſe of their ſin in this kinde.Some inconveniences of hunting. Dogs are devouring creatures (and ſo are Hawkes too)
1. They ſwallow up a mans beſt deſires and delights.
2. They eat up the beſt of his dayes.
3. Devoure the moſt, of his ſubſtance.
4. Spoile a man of his faireſt and fitteſt opportunities either to be ſerviceable unto God, or profitable unto men.
5. Rob wife and children of their meanes and maintenance, and oftentimes tyre upon the carkaſſes, and ſuck the blood of poore tenants, being charged upon them, to eaſe their good maſters of all charge in keeping of them.
That which Judas ſpake falſly and prophanely, wee may here ſpeake truly and religiouſly, Ad quid perditio hac, What need all this waſte? for albeit the Oyntment were coſtly which was powred out on Chriſt, yet was there no loſſe nor waſte in this coſt, ſhe did well that did it, and he was well worthy of it. But for Gentlemen, who (having abundance) ſhould honour the Lord with their ſubſtance, and being rich in ſubſtance, and being rich in goods, ſhould be rich in good workes, and ready to diſtribute, as the Apoſtles charge lyeth upon them; for them I ſay, to be ſo mindleſſe of their owne duties, and other mens neceſſities, and ſo ſparing and cloſe handed to beſtow any thing on Christ, or Chriſtians, and yet ſo laviſh and profit in ſpending upon their luſts, they care not what they regard not how; this may cauſe us to aske them this queſtion, which they are as unable, a… unwilling to anſwer, Ad quid perditio haec? wh… needeth all this waſte? and if they cannot anſwer us, their fellow ſervants, how will they anſwer their Lord and Maſter, that hath truſted them with ſo many talents, when hee ſhall call them to their reckoning, for the miſpending or miſplacing of them?
CHAP. IX.
BUt what is your meaning (will ſome man ſay) in all this? Will you be ſo ſtrict, as to condemn all Hunting and Hawking as ſinfull and unlawfull? Becauſe you aske mee the queſtion, I will tell you my opinion in few words. Amongſt the creatures of God, ſince the fall of man,The eſtate of the creatures ſince the fall and before. there are ſome noyſome and hurtfull, ſome profitable and helpfull; and there are now many of both ſorts at enmity amongſt themſelves, none that are ſervicable unto us, but they groane under the bondage and burden of it. But from the beginning it was not ſo. The creatures were firſt all at peace amongſt themſelvs, all very good in themſelves, and good for the uſe of man. And had not man ſinned, there ſhould never have beene any variance or ſtrife amongſt the reſt of the creatures, They would never have purſued one another for their lives, nor have preyed one upon another for their food. The Wolfe would have dwelt with the Lambe, and the Leopard have lyen down with the Kid, the Calfe and the young Lion and the Fatling together, and a little childe might have led them; as the Prophet Iſaiah, alluding to that eſtate, ſpeaketh. Whence we may well coniecture, or conclude rather, that if now the Eagle fly after her prey,Their enmity a fruit of our ſin. the Hound purſue the Hare, the Hawke ceiſe upon the Partridge, if now one beaſt bite and devoure another, if any of the foules of the aire doe rend and teare one another, all this is but the fruit of our ſinne, which can never be rightly rejoyced in, ſo long as the root whence it ſprang, is to bee mourned for.
Vnlawfull to take pleaſure in it.This then is my opinion (which yet I ſubmit to the cenſure of ſounder judgement) I think it utterly unlawfull for any man, to take pleaſure in the paine and torture of any creature, or delight himſelfe in the tyranny, which the creatures exerciſe one over another, or to make a recreation of their brutiſh cruelty which they practiſe one upon another.