A10663:921
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…
A treatise of the passions and faculties of the soul of man With the several dignities and corruptions thereunto belonging. By Edward Reynolds, late preacher to the honourable society of Lincoln's Inn: and now rector of the Church of Braunston in Northamptonshire.A treatise of the passions and faculties of the soule of man With the severall dignities and corruptions thereunto belonging. By Edvvard Reynoldes, late preacher to the honorable society of Lincoln's Inne: and now rector of the Church of Braunston in Northamptonshire.
London: printed by R. Hearne and John Norton for Robert Bostock, 1640
Modern spelling is a reading aid: the words are the author’s, only the spelling is modernized. Original shows the page as printed, with the transcription marks.
Thirdly, Fidelity of Retention; for he is not1 likely to grow Rich, who puts up his Treasure as the Prophet speaks, into a *bag with holes. For as Nature hath given to the Bodies of men for the furtherance of corporeal strength, and nutriment, ⟨p. 453⟩a Retentive power to clasp and hold fast that which preserveth it, until a through concoction be wrought; so proportionably is the Faculty of Memory given to Reason, as a means to consolidate and enrich it. And fluxes, as in the Body, so in the Mind too, are ever Arguments and Authors of Weakness. Whence it comes to pass that in matter of Learning many of us are fain to be Day-labourers, and to live from hand to mouth, being not able to lay up any thing. And therefore in the choice of fit persons to breed up unto Learning, we should take a like course as wise Architects do in choice of fit timber for Building. They choose first the straitest and that which hath fewest knots, and flaws in it; which in the mind answereth unto clearness, and evenness of Apprehension. For a clear mind, like strait and smooth timber, will work easiest. Next, they take the heart and strongest substance, and cut out the sap: because that is best able to bear the weight that shall be laid upon it: And this answers unto Maturity and firmness of Judgement. Lastly, they do not take Sally, or Willow, or Birch, and such other Materials as are quickly apt to putrefy and wear away, but such Timber as is lasting and Retentive of its Nature, as Oak and Elm, which may make the Superstruction of the nature of the Foundation, strong and lasting: and this answereth to that excellent Faculty of the Mind, a Rational ⟨p. 454⟩memory: from which one particular (I think more than any other) do arise those vast differences of felicity and infelicity in the minds of men addicted to the search of Knowledge. Strange was the unhappiness of Calvisius Sabinus 3in Seneca, who being at vast charges in matter of learning, was not yet able to retain fast the Names of Achilles, or, Ulysses: But, as his Parasite4