A treatise of the passions and faculties of the soul of man With the…A treatise of the passions and faculties of the soule of man With the…

Those imputations therefore which Tully and Seneca, and other Stoical Philosophers make against Passions, are but light and empty, when they call them diseases and perturbations of the Mind; which requireth in all its actions both ⟨p. 60⟩health and serenity, a strong and a clear judgement; both which properties, they say, are impaired by the distempers of Passion: For it is absurd to think, that all manner of rest is either healthful or clear; or on the other side, all motion diseased and troublesome: for what water more sweet than that of a Spring, or what more thick or loathsome, than that which standeth in a puddle, corrupting it self. As in the Wind o• Seas, (to which two, Passions are commonly compared) a middle temper between a quiet Calm and a violent Tempest, is most serviceable for the passage between Countries; so the agitations of Passion, as long as they serve only to drive forward, but not to drown Virtue; as long as they keep their dependence on Reason, and run only in that Channel wherewith they are thereby bounded, are of excellent service, in all the travail of mans life, and such as without which, the growth, success, and dispatch of Virtue would be much impaired.

Those imputations therefore which Tully and Seneca, and other Stoicall Philosophers make against Passions, are but light and emptie, when they call them diseases and perturbations of the Mind; which requireth in all its actions both ⟨p. 60⟩health and serenitie, a strong and a cleare judgement; both which properties, they say, are impaired by the distempers of Passion: For it is absurd to thinke, that all manner of rest is either healthfull or cleare; or on the other side, all motion diseased and troublesome: for what water more sweet than that of a Spring, or what more thick or lothsome, than that which standeth in a puddle, corrupting it selfe. As in the Wind o• Seas, (to which two, Passions are commonly compar'd) a middle temper betweene a quiet Calme and a violent Tempest, is most serviceable for the passage betweene Countreyes; so the agitations of Passion, as long as they serve onely to drive forward, but not to drowne Vertue; as long as they keepe their dependance on Reason, and run onely in that Channell wherewith they are thereby bounded, are of excellent service, in all the travaile of mans life, and such as without which, the growth, successe, and dispatch of Vertue would be much impaired.