A treatise of original sin ... proving that it is

SECT. V.

The great Usefulness of the Memory.

The great Usefulnesse of the Memory.

But before we speak to the discovery of this Memory, it is good to take notice of what use and consequence it is, that so when we shall consider the dignity and serviceableness of the memory, we may then bewail the sinfulness thereof, for when that is made sinful, it is as if a fountain were poisoned, of which all must drink: or as the air pestilential, which all must receive in their nostrils: if the memory be corrupted then all is corrupted; Hence (as you heard) all wicked men are said to forget God. Memory is of so great use, as the Heathens made ⟨p. 252⟩a goddess of it, yea they make it to be the mother of the Muses of all Arts, of all Wisdom and Prudence; No tongue can either express the serviceableness of it, or the nature of it, not the serviceableness of it; For if there were no memory, there could be no discourse, no civil society; if there were no memory, a man could not take heed of any danger, or prevent any mischief; hence they attribute it to the forgetfulness and stupidity of the Fly, that when it is flapped off from the meat, and was in danger of death, yet it will immediately fly to it again: Thus would man without memory plunge himself into all misery; If there were no memory, there could be no learning, no humane sciences, for memory is made the mother of them; Yea, if there were no memory, there would be no Religion, no Worship of God, or service of him: Thus both the natural, civil and religious life of a man would be destroyed were there not a memory; So that we are infinitely bound to praise God for this power left in us, and as deeply to humble our selves, that it is so corrupted, that it cannot do its proper acts in a spiritual way at last, thereby to promote our happiness, our memory helpeth to damn us, not to save us.