=* ' Various colours,' as of a rich-figured robe. Cf. Shakespere, ' Taming of Shrew, L, induction. — G.
HeB. XII. 14.] AND BEAUTY OF HOLINESS. 57
head, but bald behind, to signify that while a man hath it before him, he may lay hold on it, but if he lets it slip away, he cannot pull it back again. There is a great truth in what the Rabbi hath long since said, Memo est cui non sit hora sua : Every man hath his hour, and he who oversUps his season may never meet with the like again. There are many thousand spiritual fools in hell, that find this true by experience, and therefore now they bewail their folly, but all too late, all too late. (3.) Thirdly, Natural fools are very inconstant; they are never long in one mind : now they are for this, and anon for that ; now in this mind, and anon in that, Ecclesiasticus xxii. 11-15. Their minds are more changeable than the moon ; they turn oftener than the weathercock, they are only constant in inconstancy: and such spiritual fools are all unholy persons. For now they are for a right- eous cause, and anon they are against it : now they are for Grod, and anon they are against him : now they are for Christ, and by and by they are against liim : now they cry out ' Hosanna, Hosanna in the highest,' Mat. xxi. 9, 15 ; but did they hold in this mind long? No, their mind is presently changed, and they cry out, ' Crucify him, crucify Mm,' Luke xxiii. 21. Now they are for the saints, and anon they are against them: they cry up the gospel, and presently they make opposition against the gospel ; like the kingdom of Congo, who at first kindly embraced the gospel, but as soon as they found it re- strain their lusts and carnal liberties, they made fierce opposition against the gospel. This week they are for ordinances, and the next they are against ordinances : this hour they will forsake their sins, and the next hour they will return to their sins as the ' dog to his vomit, and as the sow to her wallovsdng in the mire,' 2 Peter ii. 20-22. Now they are for this way, and anon for that : now they are for this opinion, and anon for that : now they are for this religion, and to-morrow they are for another rehgion, 2 Kings xvii. 33 ; like Baldwin a French lawyer, of whom it is said [by Beza] that he had religionem ephemeram, every day a new religion, but constant to none. This moment you shall hear them bless, and the next moment you shall hear them curse: James iii. 9, 10, 'Out of the same mouth proceeds blessing and cursing.' Louis the Second would swear, and then kiss his crucifix, and then swear again more confidently, and kiss his crucifix again more devoutly. Now because this age is full of such swearing fools, and happily this Treatise may fall into some of their hands, give me leave to say, that it is observable that the word in the Hebrew which the Scripture useth for swearing, is always used in the passive voice, i^iu;j, nashabange, to note, say some, that a man should not swear but when an oath is laid upon him, and he driven to it. The word also hath a signification of seven, y21D, as having reference, say some, to the seven spirits of God before the throne, before whom we swear, and therefore should never swear but in ' truth, righteousness, and judgment,' Jer. iv. 2 ; Rev. i. 4, and v. 6. One day you shall have these spiritual fools, these profane fools, crying out, Oh heaven, heaven, heaven ! Oh that we may go to heaven ! and the next day you shall see them live as if there were neither heaven nor hell : one day with Balaam you shall have them wish. Oh that we might die the death of the righteous ! and the next day with Saul you shall have
58 THE NECESSITY, EXCELLENCY, RARITY, [HeB. XII. 14.
them a-persecuting of the righteous to death : one day you shall have them cry out, ' What shall we do to be saved ? ' and the next day you shall see them live as if they were resolved to be damned. Thus these spiritual fools, like natural fools, are always fickle and inconstant.
(4.) Fourthly, Fools delight to sport and play loith such things as are most hurtful, pernicious, and dangerous to them, as you all know that have observed anything of natural fools : Pro v. x. 23, ' It is a sport to a fool to do mischief.'! Fools take as great delight and pleasure in doing mischief, as wise men do in their lawful sports or pastimes. Wisdom is not more a joy and delight to a man of understanding, than mischief and wickedness is a sport or recreation to a fool. It is a great contentment and merriment to a fool to do wickedly : Prov, xiv. 9, 'Fools make a mock of sin;' they make a jeer of that which they should fear more than hell itself ; they make that matter of sport which may prove matter of damnation to them ; they make a May- game, a pastime of that which may make them miserable to all eter- nity; they make a mock and flout of that on earth for which the devil will mock and flout them for ever in hell. Justice will at last turn over such fools to Satan, who will be sure to return mock for mock, jeer for jeer, and flout for flout. They that love such kind of pastime shall have enough of it in hell. Now all unholy persons are such spiritual fools, as that they delight and take pleasure in sin, which is the most pernicious and dangerous thing in the world: Ps. Ixii. 4, ' They delight in lies,' Prov. i. 22. Though every lie deserves a stab from God, yet spiritual fools make but a sport of them. Such a one was Thespis the poet, who being reproved by Solon for lying, an- swered him that it was not material, seeing it was but in sport : upon which Solon, beating the ground with his staff, replied, If we commend lying in sport, we shall find it afterwards in good earnest in all our bargains and dealings.^ It is said of Epaminondas, a heathen, that he abhorred mendacium jocosum, a jesting lie ; ^ this heathen in the great day will put such liars to the blush who delight in lies : Isa. Ixvi. 3, ' Their soul dehghteth in their abomination ; ' 2 Thes. ii. 12, ' They take pleasure in unrighteousness ;' 2 Pet. ii. 13, ' They count it plea- sure to riot in the daytime, sporting themselves with their own de- ceivings.'^ Not that there is any real delight in intemperance ; for if there were, then Heliogabalus, an exceeding intemperate person, should have been more happy than Adam in paradise. Apicius was the greatest glutton that ever was ; at length he hanged himself : ^ such shall hang in hell at last, who delight to abuse many at once ; the creatures, their Creator, and their own souls and bodies. Well, sirs, sin is the poison of the soul, the nakedness of the soul, the disease of the soul, the burden of the soul, and if mercy do not prevent, will prove the bane of the soul. Oh, then, how great is their folly that delight in it, and that make a sport of it !
^ Mischief is the fool's bauble, the fool's fiddle. Fools can rejoice in other men's harms, and laugh to see others lament.
* Plutarch in the life of Solon. * Ibid. s.n. Epaminondas. — Q.