Trouble of the Mind and the Disease of Melancholy, Discourse · Part 3 · Chapter 1
CHAP. I.
Of the many miſeries of this mortal Life, that are the uſual occaſions of ſorrow to the Sons of Men; with reſpect both to their bodies and ſouls.
1. THE Life of Man is full of ſorrow; which yet is not ſo to be underſtood, as that it is in every part full of darkneſs and calamity: We have, indeed, ſtormy days, but then we have fair weather too; we have not only the ſharpneſs of the Winter that pierces us with its Cold, and Froſts, and Snow; but we have the mild and the favourable Summer afterwards, that cauſes all the whole frame of Nature to rejoice, and brings to us many grateful pleaſant things, that gives us occaſion to praiſe the Wiſdom of our Maker, that has made a World ſo beautiful wherein we are to dwell; That has provided for us all innumerable Comforts, not only ſuch as are abſolutely neceſſary to maintain our Life; but ſuch as may give us delight, and recreate our ſenſe. We can no way turn our Eyes, but they behold wonders of his goodneſs, his Sun, his Moon, in his Stars, whoſe influences are for our benefit, as well as for his Glory; give us daily cauſe to ſay with David, Lord, what is man that thou art mindful of him, or the ſon of man that thou viſiteſt him! He does not willingly grieve the Children of Men, he does not make us always to weep, but affords us frequent occaſions of rejoicing; whereas all our time might be as one Rainy day, from the riſing of our Sun to its going down; but his Providence does permit us however to be laden with many Miſeries before we come to another World: And let us take a view of them; for it will be uſeful to ſubdue our Pride, to keep us from Vain-glory, to make us to remember that we are not at Home, that here is not our Reſt, and that we ought earneſtly to deſire a better State.
1. Let us conſider Man in his firſt arrival in the World, or in his Infant-ſtate: And there we diſcern this ſame Creature, that in his after years makes ſo great a noiſe and buſtle in the VVorld, to be a poor helpleſs thing, that is no way able to cheriſh the newly begun Life, nor to keep the Candle that is lighted, from expiring the ſame minute wherein it began to ſhine. Man comes crying into the VVorld; an action very ſuitable to him, at the entrance into a VVorld whoſe pleaſures are floating and tranſcient, but whoſe griefs are very ſure. Other Creatures are endued with inſtincts and inclinations for their own preſervation, and know in ſome meaſure, as ſoon as they begin to live, how to maintain their own Life; but Man of all others is moſt deſtitute and helpleſs in this reſpect, he is ſo tender and ſo frail, that the leaſt cold or dangers do more eaſily affect him. Tho God has put that great love into Parents, that they do, as well as they can, ſupport and comfort and help their Children, and with his bleſſing, and their own great care and labour, they make a ſhift to rear theſe little Plants. But then there are abundance of diſeaſes that begin to ſet upon the new-born Creatures, Convulſions and other pains which greatly torment and vex them; but which they are not able to expreſs, and which we do not know: But we are ſure they begin betimes to weep and to be ſorrowful, and their pains and ſorrows make their Parents alſo to be afflicted and to weep with them, when they ſee their miſeries, indeed, but cannot help them. This ſoft and tender Age is eaſily troubled and diſquieted, every little thing troubles and moleſts them; ſo that the firſt hour of the night, in which we travel when we begin to live, is an hour of ſorrow.
2. When we are got over the weakneſs of our Infant-ſtate, and begin to have more ſtrength, and Reaſon dawns a little, and yields us a little light to guide our ſelves. That Light is mingled with darkneſs; our ſmall skill hath abundance of imprudence, and we run into a thouſand dangers that we do not ſee, and thoſe dangers make us to weep and to be ſorrowful; our careleſs youth is full of miſeries, and the blooming Roſe has many Thorns about it. When our Reaſon begins to diſplay it ſelf with our increaſing-years, then the ſeveral tasks that are ſet us, the ſeveral things we are obliged to learn in order to a good and well-improved Education, bring forth grief and pain; our unwillingneſs to Labour, and the Corrections that we meet with if we do it not, do both afflict us; our Ignorance is our miſery, and the difficulties that are planted about the Tree of Knowledg, do fright and vex us. Many of our early days are ſpent in digging for this hidden treaſure, and which we cannot find, but with a vaſt toil and ſweating for it; and which when we have found, does not ſatisfy. It's true, indeed, our firſt youth has to ſweeten it, many pleaſures, many recreations and diverſions, and we are then void of the many Cares of Life that afterwards do pierce our hearts; but even then we are ſo confident and ſo fooliſh, ſo apt to truſt our own underſtandings, and ſo backward to receive the advice of others who are more experienced, that we do often wound our ſelves, and ſow thoſe ſeeds of ſorrow that yield us an uncomfortable Harveſt many years afterwards: And when in our freer time we come to reflect upon what we have done, that reflection makes us weep, to think that we have done ſo little for God, or for our own Souls; and that we loſt ſo great a part of our Age in Trifles and Vanities: For we can then ſay, by ſad experience, Childhood and youth are vanity, Eccleſ. 11.10. The Joys that we then were pleaſed with, are paſt and gone; but the Wounds that we then received, do many times ſmart and bleed afreſh.
3. When we have got the yoak of out Maſters and Inſtructors off our necks, and begin to manage and guide our ſelves and our Actions, then we have many ſorrows ſtill.
And that 1. With reference to the Common Affairs of Life.
2. With reſpect to knowledg and underſtanding.
1. With reference to the Common Affairs of Life: They are uſually very many; they bring along with them a huge Train of Cares, of grave anxieties and ſollicitude; if Men have no imployment or buſineſs, they grieve for the want of it; and if they be imployed, they are hurried, and diſturb'd, and grieved and vexed; they meet with many people that are falſe and treacherous, with many buſineſſes that are intricate and perplexed; and thus their plodding Heads are ſtung with Cares, and their Breaſts with ſorrow, all groaning under the Curſe, and proving the puniſhment to be true, That in the ſweat of his Brows Man muſt eat his Bread, Gen. 3. Eccleſ. 2.23. All his days are ſorrows, and his travel▪ grief: yea, his heart taketh not reſt in the night. This is alſo vanity. All his drudgery and his toyl is to ſmall purpoſe, it is, indeed, vanity, when a Man deprives himſelf of ſleep, the ſweet repoſe of Nature, and next to the Grace of God, the greateſt bleſſing in the World. The Poor are almoſt every where ſhedding Tears of Impatience and Diſcontent for the ſtraitneſs of their Circumſtances; they are mourning becauſe they are like to want what would bear their Charges to the Grave; and the Rich are troubled how to ſecure the Riches they enjoy, and fear to loſe them, as many have done before; for they cannot live long, but they ſhall ſee many whom a few days, and ſome unforeſeen Accidents have brought from the greaeſt heights to the loweſt poverty; whom the Riſing-Sun found rejoicing, and whom he left, for their ſudden miſeries, plunged in Tears. How many Foreheads do you ſee covered with a Cloud of grief, for their Loſſes and their Diſappointments! Look into the Country-fields, there you ſee toyling at the Plow and Sythe;*Bp. Hall, Vol. 1. p. 451. Look into the Waters, there you ſee tugging at Oars and Cables; Look into the City, there you ſee a throng of Cares, and hear ſorrowful complaints of bad times, and the decay of Trade; Look into Studies, and there you ſee paleneſs and infirmities, and fixed Eyes; Look unto the Court, and there are defeated Hopes, Envyings, Underminings, and tedious attendance; all things are full of Labour, and Labour is full of Sorrow; and theſe two are inſeparably joyned with the miſerable Life of Man.
3. In the next place, conſider the miſeries of the Body of Man, that make him to weep and mourn: Perſons of weak conſtitutions are liable to tedious and languiſhing pains that afflict them for many months together; and thoſe that are of a ſtronger temper, to ſuch that are ſo ſharp and ſo violent, that they diſpatch them it may be in a week or two. Man is ſeldom without pain, and always near to ſickneſs, to ſickneſs that will make him groan and ſigh whether he will or not; and ſome ſickneſs which is all ſorrow throughout, ſuch as Melancholly, which is all ſad, and has not one bright or clear ſide, all diſconſolate and grievous, ſtagnating the Blood, changing the brisk and chearful motion of the Spirits, and fixing the Mind unavoidably upon amazing and dreadful objects. So is that of Job verified, His fleſh upon him ſhall have pain, and his ſoul within him ſhall mourn, Job 14. laſt. The ſeveral Seaſons of the year have their inconveniencies, which annoy poor mortal men; not only the Winter-quarter (as one expreſſes it) is full of ſtorms, and cold, and darkneſs; but the beauteous Spring hath Storms and ſharp Froſts; the fruitful teeming Summer is melted with heat, and choaked with duſt; and the Autumn is full of ſickneſs. And how can the Eyes but ſhed innumerable Tears, when they conſider the doleful pains to which they themſelves, and all the other parts of the body are expoſed! How can the Man but groan, to find himſelf preſent in ſuch a Body, from which he cannot for many painful years be diſlodged, and in which he has no delight or eaſe! What grief is it to him to have no help or relief, when his ſpirits are broken, and his heart is overwhelmed? To have many cutting afflictions upon him, and the fear of more to come! Eccleſ. 8.6, 7. To every purpoſe there is time and judgment: and therefore the miſery of man is great upon him. For he knoweth not that which ſhall be: for who can tell him when it ſhall be? To be daily dying in anguiſh and vexation, and not to be able to die! To be ſurrounded with Troops of Diſeaſes, of Agues, Fevers, Conſumptions, Cholick, Gout, Stone, and not to be able to keep any of theſe off, nor to run away from them when they come!
4. Add to all theſe natural ſorrows, ſuch as are diſtributed by God in Judgment: Such are the Tyrants that God ſuffers long to Flouriſh and to Triumph in the World, that tread upon the necks of others to advance themſelves; and glut themſelves with the Blood of the Innocent; daring to do what is moſt unjuſt, to gratify their Lawleſs Ambition, and their Luſtful deſire of Empire; and from them and their arbitrary deſigns, flow innumerable injuries, and wrongs, and robberies, and miſchief, Eccl. 4.1. Then the other Judgments; Plagues and Famine, ſpreading Contagions, or Bloody Wars; Plagues that at the ſame time ſeize and kill; that Conquer whereever they come, and ſend Thouſands of miſerable mortals to the Grave on a ſudden; that tear the Children from their Mothers Breaſts; that ſeparate one part of the Family from another, and make them afraid of each others Company; or elſe ſend them together to the Houſe prepared for all Living; that turn flouriſhing Cities into ſolitudes, and put a ſtop to all Commerce and Trade. Or Famine, that kills by as ſure, but by flower methods; That makes them to know they are dying before they die; That cauſes them to walk to and fro with pale, and meagre, and drooping looks, and turns a fruitful Land into barrenneſs, where the poor ſtarving Children come begging to their Mothers for Bread, and they have none to give; but are forced to ſee them die before their Eyes, as Lam. 4. Or War, where many Children are deprived of their Fathers, many Wives of their Husbands, many that lived plentifully, bereaved of all their dear and pleaſant things; War, which fills every place with Blood and Violence, with Noiſe and Clamour, and Oppreſſion and Woe; That lays Countries waſte and deſolate; and ſacrifices multitudes of harmleſs people to its cruel rage and fury: Theſe are the terrible Voice of God, which will cauſe us to weep, and to be afraid.
5. Conſider Men as aſſociated together in their ſeveral Relations, and ſo their ſorrows, and their cauſe of weeping is increaſed. The Courts of Princes have their occaſions of grief and trouble; they grieve, tho their grief be more pompous, and clad in a more ſolemn dreſs. Thoſe that that have a numerous and great Kindred and Alliance, are oftner in Mourning than others; for Death does oftner viſit their greater Friends and Acquaintance. Few Families there are without ſorrow; that Houſe that now rejoyces, is quickly turn'd into a Houſe of mourning; and where this day there is nothing but the ſound of the Timbrel, the Harp, and the Viol; it may be the next day there is the voice of Crying and Lamentation: How many Parents that have long prayed for Children, and have at length obtained them, ſee them ſnatcht away with an early ſtroke, and the flower wither in the bloſſom that they began to doat upon, and their eyes cloſed by death as ſoon as they had but peep'd into the World? and how many do we find in tears, becauſe they do but bring forth Children to the Grave, and will not be comforted, becauſe they are not, and find a greater ſorrow in parting with them, than in bringing them forth? How many Parents are there, whoſe Children live ſeveral years, to whoſe Education they contribute all they can, and hope to have them to be the ſtaff and comfort of their Old Age; and when they begin to flouriſh, a ſtorm comes and blaſts the fair and the goodly Fruit; and while they look for abiding-joys from their dutiful obedience, and holy converſation, they are forced to follow the promiſing and hopeful Youths to the Grave; and mourn as David, even for a bad Son; O Abſalom! my ſon! my ſon! would God I had died for thee! O Abſalom! my ſon! my ſon! Nay again, How many Parents are there weeping for the diſobedience of their Children, that are like to be the Heirs of Wrath, and to fall into deſtruction? it coſts them many a tear, and a ſigh, to think that their Children are Children of the Devil, and Brands of Hell! How does it ſink their Souls, to ſee, that all their Prayers and Exhortations, and all their coſt and charge, is like to be in vain! What ſorrow can be greater, than to think, that what they have done for them, will aggravate their condemnation; and that they muſt find their Children, their now dear and beloved Children, at the Left-hand of Chriſt in the great day; and the thoughts of this ſends them mourning to the Grave! How many Congregations are there mourning for the death of their faithful Miniſters, whom they ſhall never hear, nor with whom they ſhall never pray more? it grieves them to ſee thoſe Stars ſet, that gave them light; and thoſe Embaſſadors called home, that entreated them to be reconciled! How many Soldiers are bewailing the death of their General, who in the midſt of all his Victories; and their Applauſes, was on a ſudden ſnatcht away!
6. Death is another occaſion of weeping to the ſons of men as are alſo many of its violent and quick approaches; Eccl. 9.12. For man knoweth not his time; as the fiſhes that are taken in an evil net, and as the birds that are caught in the ſnare; ſo are the ſons of men ſnared in an evil time, when it cometh ſuddenly upon them. Hezekiah turn'd his face to the wall, and wept, when he had his ſummons to depart: and if ſo good a man was ſo much concern'd, how much more may the generality be ſuppoſed to be concern'd! It is a very melancholly thought to one in fleſh, to think, that he, and his dear Body, muſt ſhortly part; and that the Body, in which he has eat, and drank, and ſlept at eaſe; which has been treated ſo kindly, and cloathed ſo neatly, ſhall be turned into the Grave, and there in a very hideous manner conſume away. As Children cry when they come into the World, ſo do they generally weep when they go out again. Muſt I, often ſays a dying man, leave you my dear Friends, my comfortable Cildren, my pleaſant Acquaintance, and never ſee you any more! I muſt never eat, nor drink, nor talk with you any more! I muſt not walk in my pleaſant Gardens, nor ſurvey my Habitation, nor viſit my Friends, nor they me, any more for ever! I am going into the cold, and the lonely Grave; and muſt by my ſelf, without your company, travel that unknown and ſolitary path. The change of ſtate, the greatneſs of the next World, and the different way of living out of the Body, and the many dreadful pains that are in their laſt concluding Agonies, make men to ſee the period of Life with weeping eyes; and when they are dying, it diſſolves their Friends to tears to ſee their wan and pale looks, to hear their laſt and dreadful groans; and immediately after death, it melts them to ſee the perſon, with whom a few days before they comfortably diſcours'd, and lived, now changed into a mere lump of Earth; for that Soul that made it active and vigorous, is fled away, when they follow him to the Grave; it troubles them to part; it troubles them to think what their Friend is, and what they themſelves are ſhortly like to be: and when they come home, the Houſe is no more ſo pleaſant as it was; they miſs one that made it to be ſo; and one whom it muſt never know again for ever. Thus mourners not only go about the ſtreet, but are almoſt every-where to be found in every Countrey, and in every Family. Job 14.1. Man that is born of a woman, is of few days, and full of trouble.
7. As to his Soul, man is expoſed to abundance of ſorrows: He labours under a miſerable darkneſs in his underſtanding, and his natural ignorance creates him abundance of trouble and vexation in his ſoul. He has fooliſh hopes, and extravagant deſires, and a vain curioſity of knowing many things which he ſhall never know, and then the light of his underſtanding is apt to be eclipſed and confounded with the irreſiſtible diſeaſes of the body; ſo that it is impoſſible for him to think in ſickneſs after the ſame manner as he uſed to do in health: His Will alſo miniſters to his ſorrow; for he wills and affects abundance of things that are contrary to his real intereſt; and if he have the things that he is apt to will, they give him new torment and diſquiet, and he ſuffers innumerable miſeries, from his precepitant and eager inclinations. Knowledg is the greateſt ornament of a rational ſoul; and yet that hath its troubles, Eccleſ. 1.18. For in much wiſdom there is much grief, and he that increaſeth wiſdom encreaſeth ſorrow. It is not to be attained without great pains and difficulties, without laborious and diligent ſearch, and vaſt perplexities. Whether we conſider the blindneſs of our underſtandings, or the intricacy of things themſelves, the many dark receſſes of Nature, the implication of Cauſes and Effects, beſides thoſe accidental difficulties which are occaſioned by the ſubtilty and intanglement of Error. The variety of intricate Opinions, the many involutions of Controverſies and Diſputes, which are apt to whirl a Man about with a Vertigo of contradictory probabilities; and inſtead of ſetling, to amuſe and diſtract the mind; ſo that much ſtudy is a weariſomneſs to the fleſh*Bp. Wilkin's Sermons. p. 174.; and beſides, it makes a further trouble to the ſoul, in regard the more a Man knows, the more he ſees there is yet to be known; as a Man, the higher he climbs, ſees more and more of the journey that he is to go; and then he that is vers'd in the knowledg of the World, ſees abundance of miſtakes and diſorders which he cannot remedy, and which to behold is very ſad; and by knowing a great deal, is liable to abundance of contradiction and oppoſition from the more peeviſh, and ſelf-willed, and ignorant part of mankind, that are vex'd becauſe he will not think and ſay as they do; and they are very prone to cenſure and condemn the things they do not underſtand, for it is moſt eaſie ſo to do; whereas to pierce into the Reaſons of things, requires a mighty labour, and a ſucceſſion of deliberate and ſerious thoughts, to which the nature of Man is averſe: And lazily and haſtily to judge, requires no trouble; and were it not that it is a man's duty to know, and that his ſoul, if it have any thing of greatneſs and amplitude in its faculties, cannot be ſatisfied without it, it were a much ſafer and quiet courſe to be ignorant. Study and painful enquiries after knowledg, do oftentimes exhauſt and break our ſpirits, and prejudice our health, and brings upon us thoſe Diſeaſes to which the careleſs and thinking ſeldom are obnoxious, Eccleſ. 1.13, 14, 15. I have ſeen all the works that are done under the Sun, and behold all is vanity and vexation of ſpirit; that which is crooked, cannot be made ſtraight; and that which is wanting, cannot be numbred.