Ambition to raise themselves yet to a higher Perfection by the knowledge of the greatness of his Theology and of the greatness of his Benefits to Mankind In Reality we know that it is He alone that has ennobled our Nature and that from the lowest station of the World into which the Malice of the Serpent had cast us even below the basest of Brutes has infinitely raised us not only above Beasts and above the Devils but above the Angels themselves and has given us the Rank of Honour before all Creatures both of this and the other World I say infinitely above Beasts in that on the first day of our Fall he did restore us to the use of Wisdom Conscience and Moral Goodness with the other Privileges our Condition has above them Privileges granted by Nature and lost by Sin which He has restored us by Grace and purchased back for us with the price of the Blood of a God the Mark of our Value ever since O homo Erige te tanti Vales. I say infinitely above the Devils in that He has compelled them to adore our Nature in his Person and to become for all Eternity the Worshipers of a Man-God to become the Captives of other Men and even of little Children since we have known so many Infant-Martyrs to have conquyered them by the Victorious Grace of that Invincible Redeemer Apparuerunt Humiles mei Filii Puellarum Compunxerunt eos In fine infinitely above the Angels inasmuch as he has carried Human Nature up where it sits in Triumph upon teir Throne and has not given them in Heaven a Seraphim or any other Spirit of the Prime Orders but a Man to command them and be eternally their Sovereign Lord it being his Will besides that other Men should enter into their Fellowship and share with them in their Felicity We know also His Will to be such that Men composed of Flesh and Blood born amongst Beasts upon the Earth and subject as they are to Death and Rottenness Men that have been dead and buried for many years and become the Horror and Infection of the World shall rise out of their Graves and Mount up to Heaven in Triumph crowned with the Splendor of Glory and Immortality that they shall enter there with their Bodies and that the Beauty of their Faces adorned with all Majesty by his Redemption will prove one of the great Ornaments of Paradise and that in fine they will make so admirable an appearance there as the Angels shall think themselves honoured to pass their happy Eternity with them To know all this and keep an Indifference without a desire of knowing any further how is it possible for any Man that has a sense and feeling in him It would be a very hard Law to tye you up so as that you should have only Acts of Faith in reference to the Person of Christ and not have the liberty of enquiring of his Interpreters touching the Wonders of his Incarnation and the secret ways of his Conduct which he will have communicated to the Humble and hid from the Reprobate What is blamed in some Persons of Quality of both Sexes and in others indiscreetly curious is to take upon them to be able to dispute in the favour of Heresies and become Judges and Censures of the Churches Doctrine What is most justly blamed besides is the Rashness of some who failing both in Wit and in their Endeavours to know and weigh any thing exactly will nevertheless be so bold as to talk confidently of all matters to the scandal of the Angels and those good People which happen to be in their company These are a sort of Persons who upon the first occasion offered them of venting their Opinions upon any point of the Gospel mingle the Errors and Blasphemies of their Ignoranee and Vanity with the most Sacred Truths and cause all this to enter together into the Minds of those simple People that hearken to them and believe them Know all you can of the Mysteries of our Faith let them be the Subject of your Reading of your Meditation and of your Study if you think good but as to matter of Speaking of them there is one thing necessarily required that you be wise and humble and have a high Respect for your Religion If it be thus with you you have your Freedom for the rest for whilst you are in this Condition you will be sure never to speak or hold your Peace but very fitly Observe that here are three different Lessons that of Death Memento Remember that of the Gospel Believe Qui Crediderit salvus erit and lastly that of Nature Behold and look about you Peto Nate ut in Coelum ad terram Aspicias This third Proposition will appear more clear from the words of Solomon which follow and yield more Light to it MAXIM VIII Mundum tradidit disputationi eorum ut non inveniat homo opus quod operatus est Deus ab initio usque ad finem PARAPHRASE God has delivered up the World to the Disputes of the Learned but never a one of them is able by his Conjectures to reach at that which he would not have known REFLECTIONS I have said That the Voice of Nature is to be hearkened to as a Teacher and you will find by Experience that you will learn the rest of your Philosophy sooner from her than you can from the Schools with all their old and new Methods She does but shew you the Heavens and the Earth with the other Creatures and by these means instructs you that both you and they with her self are the Workmanship of an Infinite Power teaching you to read in the Sun and the Stars the first words of God the Creator's Testament In Principio Deus Creavit Coelum teiram In the Beginning God who was created that which was not Whatever your Quality may be and the Excuses you may draw from your Pride Idleness or Multiplicity of Affairs do not neglect the study of this Philosophy there is not any thing more honourable than to understand it and discourse handsomly of it or any thing more easie than the learning of it All that She calls upon you to do is but to open your Eyes at your Idle Hours and look upon the World Peto Nate says she to you ut in Coelum ad terram aspicias ad Omnia quoe in eis sunt intelligas quia ex Nihilo fecit illa Deus O my Son I ask but this one thing of you that you will contemplate the Heavens and the Earth and that you will let that Light enter into your Mind which they will produce and it will not fail to bring along with it Science Devotion and Humility Open your Eyes then O Christian and contemplate and whilst do you contemplate be careful in three matters The First To see your self with your own Eyes or to learn by the Report of Credible Persons the Variety of Things which God has formed
his Hall up to his Chamber into his very Closet begging a moments audience whilst at the same time his Heart begs of him a little Respite to breath in and cannot obtain it What a kind of Life is this Is it not for a Man to be banished from himself in his own House and to be divorced from all that is dear to him in the World Observe that besides our selves there are three sorts of Persons which are no less dear to us and stick as close to our Hearts as does our Life I mean our Family our intimate and faithful Friends and above all our God and Maker To pass whole days then far from these precious Shares of us to see from morning to night only Strangers Men troublesome and whose Business it is to persecute and torment us I say once more what is it but a Real Banishment And what Help is there for these Troubles what Means is there to breath in quiet at least for some little time unless it be to take our flight as Nature and Heaven has taught us to do and to carry with us into some Country Solitude those inseparable Persons whom our Heart is still calling for at every moments absence Veni dilecte mi says the Wife to her Husband the Son to his Father says one true Friend to another says the Understanding Man to himself says the Devout Soul to its God Veni dilecte mi egrediamur in agrum Commorremur in Villis It is in this Solitude where you truly enjoy your Family and your Family enjoys you where you have nothing to do more than to mind it by which you give your self the Satisfaction you owe to your excellent good Nature here it is where you find a renewing of your Life with the possession of these beloved Persons a Life that was lost before in a labyrinth of publick affairs where one meets with all manner of ways except that of getting out of it and with all manner of Persons except those we care for Vbi omnia nisi tu sed quid omnia sine te You will own in this agreeable Retirement the Truth of what a great Person of our Country said who lived in this latter Age That a Man whom Heaven has well allotted in Wife and Children is in his own House by the possession of them at the highest pitch of Honour that Ambition can aim at and that no Employment can be more glorious and pleasing to him than to rule there in sweet Peace where he duly and perfectly loves and is beloved In this same Solitude it is that you also truly enjoy your Friend here his Time his Life and his Mind will be yours as much as his own here walking together in some solitary Grove communicating your Thoughts and entertaining one-another upon several Subjects either of Morality History or Policy when you find that your Conceptions make a pleasing Impression in your Friend and that his Answers bring you a suitable Return you will have cause to make to one-another the noted Complement of those ancient Friends Alter alteri Theatrum sumus I am your Theatre and you are mine To have your attention to what I say and receive your sincere and undissembled Approbation is an Honour more charming to me than it would be to have the applause of Kings and Courts or to be famed to after times by the Pens of the most celebrated Writers Alter alteri Theatrum sumus The Delight you take in this kind is perfectly compleated when in conclusion of Serious Discourses you come to enjoy the Freedom of diverting one another by an easie communication proper for this purpose then you let loose your Soul to all that is charming in Merriment and Jesting and take the whole Pleasure that a familiarity of Hearts does usually beget At such a time as this you will be ready to think of that fine Expression of Cicero used to his dearest Friend Vnam tecum apricationem in Lucretino tuo sole malim quam ista omnia Regna I vow my dear Atticus that I would chuse to possess one little Chamber near you in your Country House rather than all those Kingdoms to which the great Leader of our Armies does aspire In fine O Christian in this same Solitude it is where you have the Pleasure perfectly to enjoy your self such a Pleasure as you are continually sighing after during the Troubles and Toils of the Employments you are in but be mindful that the surest way to be right with your self is to be perfectly so with God Veni dilecte mi egrediamur in agrum Commorremur in Villis MAXIM XXV Donum Pax est electis ejus Sap. iii. PARAPHRASE Peace the most precious Gift of the Holy Ghost dwells in the Hearts and Houses of the Elect. REFLECTIONS It will signifie little to have Riches in your Family if you want Peace in it How many mighty and wealthy Houses do we see become the Horror and the Scandal both of Heaven and Earth by their domestick Discords Two unruly Horses put into a Boat where there is a Company of Passengers that fight and drown with themselves all these Persons who go about to part them is the true Figure of that Man and his Wife who are daily renewing of old Quarrels and Disputes and flying to their Kindred and Friends with their Complaints their Children dissatisfied both with Father and Mother joyn in a Scandalous Faction and do all they can to defame and ruine them their Servants ill exampled carry abroad all the Reproaches they make one to another and divulge them far and near with the Disorders of their Master's and Mistresses Life whether true or false In fine the Curses and Blasphemies which their Fury begets ringing continually in the Ears of their Neighbours to show the deplorable Condition of their Temper and Affairs are to be reckoned as so many Tempests that come from Heaven with its Malediction ready to make the Earth open under their Feet and swallow them up with their Unhappy Family in which according to St. Gregory the Fire of Hell is already kindled for a beginning of their Damnation which is to end in everlasting Despairs Get you Peace within your Doors to effect which follow the Counsel of that old Philosopher who seeing a Man transported with Fury asked him what it was gave him that high Displeasure and at whom he was so angry At my Shadow answer'd this furious Man I run after it as fast as I can to stop it I call and threaten it with Oaths and with my Sword and use all ways to bring it to my Will but to no purpose which makes me mad What would you have with it I would have it says he stand still and not move Stand you still your self replied the Philosopher and make no manner of motion do not you stir and you will see it will obey you presently and keep it self in the posture you would have it What would you be at added
elevation up to the high Spring of Light and a continual Familiarity with God in fine an Immensity of Heart always fixed upon Heaven and yet always present to this Lower World in the exercise of its Courage and Bounty towards those who depend on him Can we then do less than own that where these are such a Man in a Country altho' one of the least rich and least befriended by Fortune is in spight of her the most happy and most amiable of Men All that she can give to Kings comes not into comparison with the value of what he possesses Pretiosior est cunctis opibus omnia quae desiderari possunt non valent sapientiae comparari It is not my design O Christian Soul to raise up your hopes to this high Pitch so much above your Reach measure your strength and know your self Wisdom has its different degrees and do you aim at that station to which God and your Conscience calls you All that I pretend here is to tell you That you that are not content with your present condition nor with that you have been in formerly if you will be but as wise as you may be by the Help and Grace of Almighty God which he offers you you shall find in what Station or Place soever you are your Quiet in it and your Happiness thus setled shall never more be overthrown by any Misfortune I do not say that Fortune shall then become favourable to you or that she shall not Attempt to do you Mischief I only say it shall not be in her power to Afflict you There is no question but that those Miseries which over-run whole Kingdoms may enter into your Country fall upon your Lands and enter your very House but never into your Self That part of the Immortal Soul where God has graved his Image and Wisdom stamped her Priviledge must be exempt from all those Prophanations to which the rest of Man is so much liable Grief Vexation and Impatience come not at that place but in the midst of Loss and Ruines Quiet shall never perish there no more than Innocence Let them weep and lament who know their Sins and the Imprudence of their Actions have brought upon them these ill Accidents Your Virtue which has kept you from being one in the number of the Faulty will keep you also from being one in the number of the Unhappy whilst such as they make Outcries of Despair and sink under the Storm you shall possess a perfect calm of Heart and will reckon it a better Condition and more honourable to have had no share in the Faults which may have brought Misery amongst your Family than to have a part in a good Fortune that should befal it meerly by Accident In a word Non contristabit Justum quidquid ei acciderit says Solomon No Accident that befals the wise and the just man can turn him from his right Byass and the doing of his Duty or so much as cause in him disorderly Motions There may be Tumult and Noise round about him but Peace shall never forsake him within And whilst he finds his Soul serene and quiet it will little concern him though his Aims be crossed or if he suffers in his Affairs Non contristabit quidquid ei acciderit But David says more and goes yet further let us not fear to follow Non accedet ad te Malum Flagellum non appropinquabit Tabernaculo tuo him in saying That if there be Wisdom in you the Goodness of God will not permit the Strokes of his Anger to come at you or so much as to threaten or approach your Habitation The greatest part of our Misfortunes and almost all of them befal us by the want of foresight That which happens to the Merchant who having left the Harbour indiscreetly and not foreseeing the Tempest perishes upon the Sea is common to almost all the afflicted that lament either the Overthrow of their Law-suits or their other Losses They lay the Fault both upon Heaven and Earth when the true cause is that they were blind and could not see the Disguises put on Truth by false-hearted Men nor the secret Turns of Fortune hid in the obscurity of the time to come Quia non cognovisti tempus saith the Gospel Whoever you be that relate your Mischances complaining bitterly of the cruelty of your Enemies of the deceit of your Flatterers or injustice of your Judges accuse not any thing but your own Ignorance and the small reach of your Thoughts which could not see beyond what appeared before your Eyes the discerning Thoughts of Wisdom go much further Observe that though it be said of the generality of Men that they are subject to Afflictions yet it is rarely said of the Wise Man who has a holy Modesty and Prudence There is a kind of Instinct in us which prompts us to believe that to be wise and happy are not two distinct Qualities in such a Person we are perswaded that he can never miss of Success because he bears in his Looks the Character of a Mind not to be deceived in the Events of what he Undertakes In Reality according to the Motto which Solomon does bestow upon him one of his Essential Properties Omnia improvisa didici is to know to day what will be to morrow and to prevent the Evil by his Care and Precaution which are enlightned from above He does not limit his Sight to the Countenances of Men he has a Light that goes further than the Eyes and shews him what lies most dark and hidden in their Hearts St. Peter says speaking of true Wisdom It is a Light created by God to shine in dark places Lucerna lucens in Caliginoso loco The Apostle means that as there are two Lights in this World appointed to discover to our mortal Eyes things material and visible one the Sun which shews them clearly by day the other the Moon which shews them also but yet obscurely in the absence of the Sun so are there two other Lights appointed for our Souls by which to see things spiritual and immaterial the first that Sun of Paradice termed the Light of Glory which will manifestly discover to us the infinite Greatness and Beauty of the King of kings and all whatever that is wonderful and incomprehensible in the Mysteries of the Trinity and of the Incarnation of the Word the second which is the lesser luminare minus the Light of Wisdom which has its Rise and Spring from the Bosom of God and is to enlighten us upon the Earth and to shew us obscurely yet certainly those Truths which are invisible and impenetrable to the blind Skill of vain Politicians and Philosophers Lucerna lucens in Caliginoso loco Enlightned by the Rays of this glorious and divine Star the Sages of all times have penetrated thro' the Clouds of Ignorance with which all Men are involved into the most profound Mysteries of the Gospel and into those of Grace
say to you on my part the Prophet David has included whatsoever can be or ought to be said on this Subject in these few words That there is in Man great Sin and in GOD great Mercy Great Sins are such as are committed contrary to the most holy Laws of Nature and which spring in the Heart in Ingrateful Man after Baptism during the heighth of the Favours and Benefits of his Redemption They are such as are renewed after Pardons received and Promises made of Repentance such as are multiplied by continual Relapses as are fortified by Impunity are hardned by Chastisements and such as scandalousloy encrease under the weight of Sickness Misfortune and Malediction mocking at the Authority and Threats of Justice In fine great Sins are such as put a Man alive into the Beginning Flames of Hell when sharp Sorrows and a despairing Remorse seize on the Heart of a Sinner and that to get some Ease he falls into that desperate Frenzy of imagining he is got out of the Reach of God Almighty's Hand which makes him stand at defiance with Heaven and abandon himself to all the wicked Effects of Atheism and Brutality Opprimamus Justum nec Parcamus viduae Impleamus nos Vino Nullum sit praetum quod non pertranseat luxuria nostra Great Mercy is that which beholds this Spectacle with an Eye of Compassion and efficaciously undertakes to afford a Remedy To effect this it assembles what is most strong and attractive in the Conquering Grace of the Holy Ghost Quast antelucanum illumino of which it frames a Light like to the Morning Aurora By the means of such a Light spread over the Face of the most stupified Sinners this Divine Mercy gets into their Eyes without Violence or Trouble and breaking the Fetters of their Dead Sleep awakens and illuminates them makes them in an instant see the Beauties of Virtue and calls and draws them to it then this Mercy it self entring into them with its divine Attractives and becoming Mistris of their Hearts engages them by an irrevocable resolution to the performance of Acts of Penance and Sanctity Corruscasti splenduisti Rupisti Surditatem meam S. Aug. O Great and Adorable Mercy which sets no Limits to the extent of its Benefits which has not seen in Six thousand Years the Crime committed on the face of the Earth that it was not ready to pardon if the Sinner were ready to repent and accuse himself of it which does not see any such in Hell amongst all the Blasphemies and execrable Impieties of that place that it would not now be ready to forgive if the Devils and the Damned would stoop from their Pride to ask that Grace and draw from their Hearts an Act of Humility and Contrition How many are the Sins O Christian Soul that your Life numbers since you were first a Sinner and how many have the Favours of God been since that time Has there a day passed in which this loving Father of his prodigal Children has not been watching fo ryou and looking about to offer you his Hand that He might draw you out of the Pit you were fallen into from the Gates of Death and Hell and out of the Bonds of the Devil In a word There is great Sin and foul Ingratitude in Man and in GOD great and high Mercy Consider then if you think good what you have to do in this Case and which of the two Resolutions you ought to take whether to flee as you purposed so far from God that you might be out of the call of his Voice running where Despair and Blindness will lead you or whether you will turn home to that Mercy which stretches out its Arms to you and calls you to your Salvation Consider I say and chuse Chuse Alas said St. Peter Ad quem ibimus verba vitae aeternae habes Grace and Life O Divine Saviour are between your Lips ready to be poured forth on miserable Man my Heart longs for both I am a Sinner Death and Sin are in me and stop my Breath there remains for me but a moments space of Life and then follow Pains to Eternity Whither shall I go to seek for Remedy Whither can I unless I go to you Verba vitae aeternae habes Examine well these few words and try to hear what is said to you thereupon from above for my part I have nothing more to say than what you have newly heard you have great Sins upon you and you stand in need of great Mercy go up to Mount Calvary there is no other place where it may be found or where you ought to seek it True it is that you are there accused of having shed the Blood of your Saviour and of having been the Executioner that has crucified him There you are shewn on the top of a Tree the most enormous Crime that ever was committed and it is laid to your charge but be not frighted only be sure as soon as you appear before the Crucifix to let the Truth issue from your Heart and out of your Mouth confess that you are the Guilty One against whom both Heaven and Earth call out for Vengeance Iniquitatem meam Ego Cognosco you will strait find there will come Mercy out of the Heart of God to meet and embrace you and He will join his Grace on your Lips to the Confession of your Faults and the Truth of your Sorrow Misericordia veritas obviaverunt sibi Speak out then own your Crime and say with David Peccatum meum Contra me est semper True it is O Lord that my great Sin which contains all the infinite multitude of my Offences is present with you on the Cross but then your great Mercy is with you there too it is by that Standard you will measure the designs of your Heart towards me and it is with it you will consult to learn what Answer you shall return to my Tears Miserer mei secundum magnam Misericordiam tuam I implore not the Mercy of Angels or Saints or of a God all Glorious in Heaven my Need reaches to the want of the Greatest and Supreme Mercy and that is not to be had but from a God upon the Cross whom I have put to death He is the Only One that must renew my Life Unite those innumerable Pardons and Favours which you have granted to all Sinners since the beginning of the World O unite them all at present into one for me alone Secundum multitudinem Miserationum tuarum In me you behold all the Sinners that ever were therefore I must seek in you for all that Goodness and all that Love that has converted them all even to this day O my divine Saviour glorifie your Omnipotence and shew what a God can do for so lost a Creature and how his Grace can raise a quite dejected Heart Entertain these kind of Thoughts in your Mind as much as you are able and by the number of your Acts of
in every Element and in every part of the Universe The Second To consider with Wise Reflections what is Rare in the Quality and Property of each thing what the Lands Rivers Fountains Metals Beasts Plants and the Productions of every Country yield that is most singular and curious in a word whatever the Eye of Man sees here below that is remarkable to be careful to get a Knowledge of it if you can possibly and to lay it up as a Treasure in your Mind making out of it an inexhaustible Spring of Natural Curiosities such as may cause the Company that hears you talk to say of you what was said of a great King of old Impletus est quasi flumen Sapientia That at times of Conversation there flowed out of his Lips Rivers of Science and an Infinity of Admirable Things which ravish'd the Hearers without ceasing The Third To observe in this Variety of Wonders the differing Marks that are shewn of the Greatness and Beauty of God and whilst you are observing to let your Heart go after the sweet Attractives of his Grace which are able to raise you up to him and make you say with David in Transports of Love and Admiration O Lord O God of gods how admirable you are how sublime and incomprehensible in your ways how profound in your designs and mighty in your actions how magnificent you are how amiable and adorable Potentiam tuam Justitiam tuam usque in altissima quoe foecisti magnalia Deus quis similis tui This is the Character of a true Philosophy to terminate its Speculations by acts of Divine Love and an encrease of Sanctity The Character of a false and corrupt Philosophy is to terminate its Enquiries by an encrease of Presumption and Ignorance and by making the Philosopher become prouder and blinder than he was before his Studies Another Difference between these two so opposite Philosophies is this That which I invite you to learn employs it self in contemplating and admiring what God shews us of his Works the other busies it self in striving to see that which God will not have us see but will have hidden from our Eyes Is it not a strange thing The Divine Wisdom has sealed up in darkness certain Secrets touching its Productions not at all material to be known by us and yet the Philosophers of this other School will undertake to come to the knowledge of them God therefore permits them for their punishment to pursue the Undertaking and they painfully consume their Lives in hunting through a dark Labyrinth after that which they shall never find They hunt and search indeed all their Wits are employ'd in studying night and day to penetrate to the very Center of Beings to dive into the bottom of Substances and to devine what those mysterious Secrets are which the Creator has so carefully buried in an everlasting Night then to speak their Thoughts of them and after to maintain with Arguments all they have said and placing the World as it were in the middle of them to strive in their Academical Combats to carry away the Honour one from another of having best guess'd and known in spight of God's Will the Reasons of his Works and the Mysteries of his Providence It was in contemplation of these men that Solomon pronounced the remarkable words of my Text Mundum tradidit disputationi eorum God who haâ— left it to the pleasure of Kings to beset with their Armies of an Hundred thousand Men some Town or Spot of fortified Ground le ts also these Assemblies of Doctors fall to work about a little Atome and suffers them for these Three or Four thousand years to be obstinately set upon comprehending the devisibility which he has hidden in the Point of a Needle or upon discovering what are the Springs from which the Sun receives his Motion from whence the Sea derives its regular Agitation or the Beasts their Quickness when they course and run whether it be one vast Soul spread over the whole World or whether it be a multitude of little indivisible Souls which flye up and down blindly every where and by their continual motions produce all Action Noise Light Colours and Smells and all manner of Figures that appear within the Universe not having so much as the assistance of any Reason Intelligence Imagination or Life to further them in it All this cries out Solomon like the Labours of the Ambitious and the Cares and Disquiets of the Covetous is but Vanity of Vanities It is the Sickness and Distemper of their Minds who wilfully bind themselves over to the sway of their Passions and the dreams of their Pride spending their days to no end but to convince other men that they have dream't aright It was a fine Saying of St. Augustin That the Pythagoras's and the Democritus's shut themselves up alone in their Closets and there each sets himself on work to shape and frame his particular Opinion and Folly after which is done they meet at publick Assemblies and by their Disputes do as much as call one another Fools in a learned way Dispute with these if you will upon their Positions or rather exercise your Wit with them to divert your self and ease your Mind of any weight It is not to be denied but that a Wise Man without diminishing any thing of his Wisdom may encounter a Friend in this way so that he pretend to no more than to divert himself by putting his Friend to his shifts to defend his Opinion or by forcing him to quit an ill Game yet should you prove good at this Sport you must not therefore take your self to be a great Philosopher we shall never be that truly and perfectly till such time as the Philosophy of the Angels above in Heaven be our Study here below and the Philosophy of Men only our Entertainment and Pastime MAXIM IX Curam habe De bono Nomine hoc enim permunebit magis tibi quam Mille thesauri pretiosi magni Eccles xli PARAPHRASE Amongst all those things which you possess have a particular care of that which may last beyond Life and be enjoyed by you after Death This Death will transport your Riches into other Hands Time will destroy your Buildings and consume your Works nothing but the Merit of your good Actions will follow you to Heaven and nothing will remain to you upon Earth but the Reputation you shall have acquired by the Wisdom of your Carriage and the good Examples you have left behind you Labor still with all your force to make your self as rich this way as you can possibly that when you come to dye you may end with the Consolation of having left that Honour in your Family which you found in it when you came first into the World REFLECTIONS Curam habe de bono nomine when you are well spoken of in Company or amongst the generality of the People and that you have got a Reputation in your Country do not make
much account of it if it be owing to Fortune and less still if you are beholden to the Contrivance and Partiality of your Friends for it who go about by their interested Praises and officious Lyes to make you pass for an Extraordinary Person but if this befals you through the Blessing of God who disposes Men to observe the Merit of your Actions and set a Value on you in their Hearts cherish it with a particular Care and be sensible that it ought to be rank'd amongst the most precious things that belong to you Preserve it tenderly for it is a Duty in you to do so but make it not on any terms the Aim and End of your Designs and Hopes You must consider that this Reputation is as it were yor Shadow and that it is impossible for you to turn your Eyes and Thoughts that way and fix them there for one moment without turning your self away from the true Sun and losing his Sight Nothing sure renders a Man more glorious whilst he walks in the Paths of Innocence and Justice than to be waited on by the Peoples Praises and the Voice of Fame but it would be a shameful thing for you should you run after these Shadows and make them the Motives of your doing your Duty and the Causes of setting your Heart on any Employment To speak clearly in one word To have a care of your Reputation is not to be bent upon seeking the Esteem and Praises of Men but it is to be bent on doing no other thing but what is pleasing to God and truly deserves the Approbation and Esteem of All. An indifferent thing it should be to you whether Men or Angels value your Actions but you ought to take all the care in the World to order them so that they may be worthy to be valued both in Heaven and Earth And certainly you may observe that amongst all the great Princes and Prelates in the World the most illustrious still have been those that in their Undertakings never sought the Favour of Peoples Tongues or the Applause of Nations but those who have acted so well and gloriously in all they have done as that this World which they had no design to please could not but covet to know all they did and give it their admiration The difference between them and the others is that the Ambitious by their heroick actions seek the pleasure and satisfaction of being applauded and praised by Men whereas these have the same Enjoyment but look not out for it their Aim is at something incomparably more attractive and honourable and more worthy to be rested in Do like them you who are a considerable Person and bear some high Office in your Countrey Curam habe de bono Nomine You would be unworthy to carry the Name of a Gentleman should you fail in having a great Care of your Honour this Care consists not in getting Men to praise you nor in quarreling with those that will not honour you or that do shew a contempt of you it consists in being offended at your self for having done contemptible things The Subject of your Choller and your Trouble should not be to have the Disorders of your Life taken notice of and known but that you have suffered them to fix upon you for so long a time and that you still shew no dislike to them call not those faulty who observe and talk of them their Liberty in this does not depend on your Complaints or Threats Heaven your Conscience and the People are three Witnesses against you which you will never have the power to blind or silence it is you that are the faulty Person it is your own Heart which by its scandalous Crimes blackens you both in the Face and in your Reputation when you appear in this condition before the Eyes of these three dreadful Spectators and that you blush to be thus seen accuse not those that see you blame your own blind Ambition if it has put you upon getting a prime Dignity in the Church only to make you appear spotted as you are with the more Shame and Infamy Since you stand upon the point of Greatness and Honour be effectually honourable and imitate those that are so Imitate them you that bear Offices and sit upon your Tribunals and consider that to appear in those stations without Honour nothing can be more infamous nor nothing more ridiculous in such an one than to go seek for Honour there Never hunt after Reputation in these occasions but do so well as that you may find it in them make these two Duties to agree To effect this looks like a Task for an Angel and yet however it is the most important of your Affairs and not the most difficult all the Difficulties as I have said lies in this point That whilst you exercise your Charge you so well govern your Mind and Intentions as to do nothing purposely to make you honoured and esteem'd of Men nor nothing but what will oblige them to honour you sincerely Whensoever you shall refuse to commit an Injustice when you shall chuse rather to perish than to betray the Innocent and give up their Right either to Favour or Power do not say to your self as Cato did What will Rome think of my Baseness if I do thus say with Judas Macchabeus Should I stoop to Fear what will God say who forbids me to scandalize my Countrey and stain the Glory of our miraculous Victories by such an Infamy Absit ut fugiamus abiis Moriamur in Virtute Nostra Cato dying to get an everlasting Name in Rome became the Martyr of the Commonwealth become you in the like occasion the Martyr of the Living God maintain your Honour with an invincible Force and Courage even to Death but do it not for the sake of your Honour do it because this is inseparably joined to the Glory of God the Good of the Publick the Edification of Man and the Interest of Religion In a word the Point lies here To do all that deserves to be liked by Man but yet in pleasing Man to do nothing but to the end of pleasing GOD. Whosoever you be then that live in the face of the World looked upon by Heaven and Earth you that are addressed to by Crowds of Suitors who come begging to your Feet with Tears to do them Justice be sure you keep your self free from endeavouring by counterfeit Looks and vain or False-appearances to win their Approbation and Esteem so to be noted for a Man of Honour and Integrity Think never further than how to act in your Employment according to the Laws of Conscience and to acquit your self before God in all your Christian and Civil Duties but do this with that winning Grace as that the Benefit you may hope for in undertaking an Affair comes short still of the Reputation and that the Persons you deal with be fully satisfied with all your ways by the handsom Marks you give of your
it self to All without exception it is but an ill Principle in a Master and Mistress to chuse out one in a Family where there is a number of Servants and to repose their whole Trust on his shew of Fidelity discarding in a manner all the rest for then his idle and rash Reports must needs make them commit a thousand faults and cause more noise in a House in one day than there would be in a year would they endeavour to make themselves beloved of all To win Hearts there lies the true and perfect Secret of Oeconomy in a Family of Policy in a State and of Hierarchy in the Sanctuary whatsoever Government you may have to make it happy you must be taking and amiable go not about to seek a more ingenious and uncommon method GOD himself uses no other in his Eternal Empire Vbi regnat aeternus Amor aeterna Pulchritudo This Lady we speak of neglects not to employ her self in Works befitting her Sex performing curious things with her Needle and though she has no farther Skill than what Nature put into her Fingers in her Childhood yet she proves knowing enough to set Patterns and give Directions to the most skilful Work-women making her self admired of all the Ladies that spend the time of their Visits in seeing her work and in learning of her but they come too late to her acquaintance to be capable of imitating her Quaesivit lanam linum operata est consilio manuum suarum These little Employments set not says Solomon the bounds to her Virtue Capacity and Industry Manum suam misit ad fortia She that knows how to employ her Fingers so well knows also how to employ her Arm and when Necessity requires it can shew that Heroick Courage which gives her the Title of the strong Woman Is she to resist any violent Assaults of her Neighbours to withdraw ill-gotten Goods out of an Injust Possession to maintain the Rights of Innocence against the Power and Subtilties of the Law and relieve her oppressed Dependents or Is she to buy and sell or to conquer such Obstacles as hinder her Designs to encrease the limits of her Lordships by some advantagious acquisition and to get a Victory over all the Policies of Envy and Treachery This matchless Lady undertakes it pursues it and brings it to effect Roboravit fortitudine brachium suum Beyond all this says the Prophet her miraculous Genius has taught her the Art of trafficking she knows how to transport the Grain and Profits arising from her Lands as far as the Indies and bring back in the same Ships the Riches of Ophir and Tharsus with all the Gold and Silver and other things of which her Family or her Country can stand in need Facta est quasi navis institoris de longe portans panem A fine Conceit it is of Solomon That her Ships are the figures of her two Hands wonderfully skilful and wonderfully successful both in giving out and receiving in insomuch as that God blessing these at home blesses those when they are on the Sea and the very Storms yielding an Obedience to the Benediction of God pay them a Respect and even help to bring them home to their Port. But in all this the Miracle of her Parts which is the most charming and best deserves to be published is that she has made her Husband the Richest of Men without impoverishing or hurting any Person and without giving occasion either to Heaven or Earth to complain of her Confidit in ea Cor Viri sui spoliis non indigebit There remains yet a Miracle in her Person which in my opinion should make her admired by Posterity above all the rest and that is That in all this bustle of Traffick and of the manage of her Household Affairs she makes not the least shew of any such matter but in occasions where Decency engages her to be in the company of Knowing Men ravishes them with the manner of her Conversation Her delight and merit in these Conversations lies not in talking her self nor in mixing her Opinions and Reasonings with their Arguments she holds that the Rules of Wisdom and Modesty forbid her to appear before them but in the quality of a Disciple and that she ought to rank her self as Mary Magdalen did at the Feet of our Saviour Sedens secus pedes domini audiebat verbum illius True it is that she has not studied and would therefore be much in the wrong to reason with them upon high Mysteries but what is not to be found in other Women she possesses three Sciences in perfection which ravish these Masters of Learning The first is That she knows how to put Questions that are the most pertinent and to offer the finest Subjects on which they can exercise their Parts The second is That she knows how to conceive clearly and without difficulty the Answers which they make The third That she knows how to value them and to show this value by excellent and sincere Expressions the truth of which appears in her Looks The soveraign Pleasure of those Men who know great things is not to vent them in the Schools one of the chief and them in the Schools one of the chief and most ancient Laws of the Schools is That whatsoever is said there is to be contradicted so that the Schools are as their Field of Battel and the Standers-by as Witnesses of their Triumph At least it appears to me to be very well said of a solid Writer of our Times That in those Conversations where the Unlearned have a great deal of Wit and Modesty and the Learned a great deal of Wisdom and Eloquence the Delight and Honour of both is not unequally matched The great Character of this strong Woman is comprised in these words Fallax gratia vana est pulchritudo Mulier timens dominum ipsa laudabitur MAXIM XVIII Salus animae melior est omni auro argento Corpus Validum quam Census immensus Eccles xxx PARAPHRASE Know you who have a Non est census super censum salut is nec oblectamâ—ntum super gaudium Cordis mind to be rich and happy in this Lower World that there is no greater Treasure than the Health of Body and that you can aim at no Happiness beyond the Joy of Heart Lose not these good things by running after other and be convinced that an Empire is not to be compared to them Death is to be preferred Melior est mors quam Vita amara requies aeterna quam languor perseverans before a Life of Bitterness and Affliction and it is more easie to be at rest in a Grave than to lye languishing on a Bed and suffer for several years the insupportable Weariness and Pains of a lasting Malady REFLECTIONS Life and Health are two of God's Presents which deserve to be cherish'd and tenderly preserved The Wise man fails not in this Care concerning Health and it really
by which we live There scarce passes an hour wherein our Thoughts are not tossed several ways and our Reason does not fall at odds with our Passions In like manner Cities Provinces and other Assemblies of Men are but so many Seas where it is a rare thing to meet with a calm day we sail all of us upon these Tempestuous Billows but yet it does not necessarily follow that our Minds should be shaken by them Man's Soul depends not on the Vessel that wafts it much less on the tempestuous Noises resounding round about him or the strange Revolutions that amaze so many Persons give an Ear you may to them but have nothing to do there more than to behold the busie Medlers in the midst of those Whirlwinds going this way and that way as they are carried and driven How sweet a thing it is to observe with a calm Spirit the Tempest of a Mind where Passion reigns without controul Whensoever the Winds begin to rise let us make haste to get into the Haven let us flye to God as long as the Storm lasts let us remain close to this dear Spouse conversing with Him and asking His Counsels Then whilst we enjoy the sweet of this Divine Familiarity supported between His Arms let us from thence behold the strange Agitations of the World and tell Him what our Thoughts are of them Treat with God in these conjunctures as you use to do with the Persons you love When there happens some unexpected Change in the Publick Affairs or that there starts up some News of high importance it is a Pleasure to us to tell it one-another and to communicate our Opinions and Conjectures thereupon Take the same Pleasure with God and shew him what you think of it and all you have been told True it is All this is known to him before it was ever spoken of but it is no less true that he loves you and that he would learn from your self not only what passes in your own House and private Closet but in the Common wealth also and amongst the People As soon as you shall hear of any Matter hapning strangely and unexpectedly and that makes a great noise and disturbance go and discourse with him about it who expects you to this end say to him with David That the Waters have Elevaverunt flumina vocem suam raised their Voices That there are great Tempests upon the Sea and great Tumults in the World That Chance has alter'd the Affairs of the Earth and made strange Changes in the Stations of Men by setting up and pulling down beyond belief although our Eyes behold it Mirabiles Elationes Marâ—â— But my God you may say to that which is most to be wonder'd at in these Downfals is to see the Man who rises upon another's Ruine imagine he is seated at that heighth for ever These little Insects carried up by the Waves to the Clouds look upon themselves with as much Pride in this Elevation as if they were seated upon firm Rocks and forget that their Station depends wholly upon the Winds all these Waves which Fortune has stirred up and raised so high will make but a moments appearance at the same time they are risen from their lowness they are returning back to it again The Ambitious who mount thus high and get at such a distance from their former littleness rise to this pitch only to make the greater noise in the World by their Fall and these very Mountains of their Greatness turn to their ruine by falling back upon them where they miserably perish and lye buried in this Rubbish But the Reports of these Changes amongst Creatures are of small importance the News that pleases and concerns me most and which my Heart is continually repeating as the Angels are still telling it over and over to one another without cease is that he whom we love does never change Mirabiles elationes Maris Mirabilis in altis dominus You my God are the same this day that you ever were and will eternally be the same the immovable perpetuity of your Power and of your Word makes the Glory and Happiness of those that serve you Idem ipse es anni tui non deficient yet give me leave to say that what appears the most to be admired and most pleases me is that at the same time when your infinite Goodness gives me the News of the Perseverance of your Grace and Protection on my behalf I can return you the News of the Eternity of my Love The Heavens and Earth will change my Goods my House my Friends my Health my Body my Fortune and my Life must also change they are changing at this instant and at every hour they change but my Love shall never alter I will love you as long as I shall live as often as I shall draw my Breath as lastingly as you will be my God Deus Cordis mei pars mea Deus in aeternum MAXIM XXIII Erit allocutio Cogitationis meae toedii mei Sap. viii PARAPHRASE With God will I deposite all my Cares my Fears and Troubles should his Providence and Justice deny to allow me that Consolation my Hopes aim at at least I shall have the Happiness to have talked with him and shewn sure Marks of my Respect and the Trust I repose in him From the Disturbances that happen in the World let us pass to those which particularly touch and concern our selves let us make God acquainted with the Disquiets and Pains we undergo by reason of our Affairs and let us address our selves to him in the same words which being dictated by him heretofore to a holy Spouse had a miraculous effect Confirma me Deus respice ad opera Manuum mearum ut hoc quod credens Cogitavi per te fieri posse perficiam REFLECTIONS There are usually lodged in our Hearts certain Designs upon which our whole Faculties are bent such as our Imagination works upon night and day to find out the Means may make them succeed in spight of the Difficulties and Hindrances in their way if your Mind be taken up with any of this nature instead of applying your self unprofitably to Men who either cannot or will not assist and comfort you go and talk with God tell him all the secret Thoughts of your Heart on this occasion Exurge in occursum meum vide tu domine Deus Virtutum I confess O my Lord that the Undertaking which you see disquiets me when I look on it on each side shews me nothing but ill Presages and Dangers of Ruine would you please to look into it you will own that it stands in a sad condition and that I am to be pitied I neither can nor ought to forsake it I have begun it in the view of Men and Angels and both my Reputation and my Conscience are concerned in it the Honour of your Name to which I have consecrated my Blood and Life the Good of my Neighbour the