Part 605

And I must tell you that fulness doth naturally cherish lust, as fuel doth the fire. Fulness of bread prepared the Sodomites for their filthy lusts. It is no more wonder that a stuffed paunch hath a lustful fury, than that the water runs into the pipes when the cistern is full, or than it is wonder to see a dunghill bear weeds, or a carrion to be full of crawling maggots. Plutarch speaks of a Spartan that being asked why Lycurgus made no law against adultery, answered, There are no adulterers with us: but saith the other, What if there should be any? saith the Spartan, Then he is to pay an ox so great as shall stand on this side the river Taget and drink of the river Eurota: saith the other, That is impossible: and saith the Spartan, _Et quo pacto Spartæ existat adulter in qua divitiæ, deliciæ, et corporis adscititius cultus probro habentur? et contra verecundia, modestia, ac obedientiæ magistratibus debitæ observatio decori laudique dantur?_ that is, And how can there be an adulterer at Sparta, where riches, delights, and strange attire, or ornament are a disgrace or reproach? and contrarily shamefacedness, modesty, and the observance of due obedience to magistrates, is an honour and praise? And if rich men think it their privilege to fare sumptuously and satisfy their appetites, they must take it for their privilege to feed their lust. But God giveth no man plenty for such uses; nor is it any excuse for eating and drinking much, because you have much, any more than it would be to your cooks to put much salt in your meat more than in poorer men's, because you have more.[458] He that observeth the filthy and pernicious effects of that gluttony which is accounted rich men's honour and felicity, will never envy them that miserable happiness, but say rather as Antisthenes, _Hostium filiis contingat in deliciis vivere_,[459] Let it befall the children of my enemies to live in delights; but that the curse is too heavy for a christian to use to any of his enemies. But for himself he must remember that he is the servant of a holy God, and hath a holy work to do, and holy sacrifices to offer to him, and therefore must not pamper his flesh, as if he were preparing a sacrifice for Venus. For, as 1 Thess. iv. 3, 4, "This is the will of God, even your sanctification, that you abstain from fornication, that every one of you should know how to possess his vessel in sanctification and honour, not in the lust of concupiscence, as the gentiles that know not God." As the philosopher answered Antigonus when he asked him whether he should go to a merry feast that he was invited to, Thou art the son of a king;[460] so it is answer enough for a christian against temptations to voluptuousness, I am the son of the most holy God. If thou be invited to feasts where urgency or allurement is like to make thee break thy bounds, go not, or go back when thou seest the bait. As Epaminondas in Plutarch finding excess at a feast that he was invited to, went away when he saw it, saying, _Ego te sacrificare, non lascivire putaram_; so say thou, I came to dine and not to be wanton or luxurious; to support my body for duty, and not to pamper it for lust. Plutarch marvelleth at the folly of those men that detest the charms of witches lest they hurt them, and fear not but love the charms of dishes which hurt a thousand where witches hurt one. Withdraw the fuel of excess, and the fire of lust will of itself go out; or at least this enemy must be besieged and starved out, when it cannot be conquered by storm.