do it Thus he insinuated himself into the affections of the People and by little and little stole away their hearts from his Father insomuch that afterwards he openly rebelled raising an Army against his own Father and to make himself irreconcileably odious abusing his Fathers Concubines in the sight of all Israel Chap. 16. 2. This was his Sin but he prospered not long in it For in the first Battle that he Fought against his Father his Army was overthrown and himself in great confusion flying from his Pursuers was in a Woody Place caught by the Hair of his Head in the thick Boughs of a Tree and his Mule going from under him was there hang'd alive between Heaven and Earth by the Bushy Hair of his Head till Joab the General of the King His Fathers Army finding him thrust him with three Arrows to the Heart and so he perished Thus Genes 39. 19. we read of the Sons of Jacob how they envied and bore ill-will to their Brother Joseph because his Father loved him and because that he happened upon a time innocently and without intending any harm or offence to them in his Fathers hearing to tell them certain Dreams he had had whereof they making an ill construction conceived so much hatred and ill will against him that they resolved to kill him outright saying to themselves at the sight of him Behold the Dreamer comes yonder let us put him to Death and then it will appear what his Dreams profit him But being prevented of this evil purpose Almighty God having otherwise decreed concerning him they finally sold him to the Ishmaelites who carried him down into Egypt But for this their wickedness and unkind usage of their Brother many afflictions came upon them with sorrows and distresses to their Families which forced them after some years through extremity and great want of necessaries to go themselves down into Egypt to buy Corn where necessity constrain'd them to humble themselves with all submission before their Brother Joseph though they knew it not and to adore him in the Person of the Governour of that Land until he was pleased to make himself known to them and to forgive them the injury that they had done him All which may be read more at large Genes chap. 37. 42 43 44 c. So true it is that to despise or be unnaturally unkind to those of our own Blood or near Relation is a cursed thing and ever attended first or last with due vengeance from God Sect. 3. Malediction upon those that Contemn their Kings and Princes Kings are the Common Fathers of their Countries and of the People that live under their Dominion and therefore even by the Law of Nature and Common Humanity deserve that their Persons should be had in all due Regard and Honour and their Commands Obeyed how much more when the Law of God seconds the Law of Nature and imposes a further Obligation upon us as it doth in very express manner Fear God and Honour the King saith the Apostle 1 Pet. 2. v. 17. My Son Fear God and the King saith Solomot Prov. 24. v. 21. cum detractoribus non commiscearis Meddle not with those that detract from him that speak irreverently and undutifully of him we must have nothing to do with such Do I say we must not speak evil of them that we must refrain our Tongues and not vilifie them with unseemly and contumelious Words That 's not all We must not so much as think ill of them In cogitatione tua ne detrahas regi We must not detract from him no not in our thought and if we do we do it at our Peril God who is the Great Guardian of Kings and solicitous for their Honour no less than his own will find a means to bring thy ill thoughts to light and thy self to condign punishment Aves coeli portabunt vocem tuam c. rather than fail The Birds of Heaven shall betray thy wicked mind and that which hath wings shall tell what thou sayest And yet notwithstanding that the wisdom of God doth take such order and provides so well for the Honour of his Vicegerents Deputies and Lieutenants upon Earth such as all Kings are yet how great is the number of Detractors how frequent and bold are they that dare despise Kings and detract from them not in thoughts only and the secret imaginations of their evil hearts but in open words proclaiming as it were their contempt and disaffection at once yea even their own Domestiques oft-times are found most injurious and blameable in this kind Witness the practice of that petulant Michol Wife to King David but a Daughter of Saul of whom in the Book of Kings Chap. 6. the Scripture makes mention that when King David her Husband with all the People of Israel brought up thâ— Ark of the Lord to Hierusalem with Shouting and Sound of Trompet in great Solemnity and that the King out of Devotion and Joy Danced before it girded with a Linnen Ephod she looking thorow a Window and seeing him despised him in her heart for so doing and when he was returning home to his own House she had the boldness to meet him and profess her contempt and despising of him in these scornful words Quam gloriosus fuit hodie Rex Israel c. Oh how Glorious was the King of Israel to day how well did he behave himself being uncovered and as it were naked in the eyes or before so many Handmaids of his Servants even as some Ribauld or Vain Fellow would uncover himself For which the King rebuked her in such manner as was most meet saying unto her Ante Dominum qui me elegit c. It was before the Lord and in honour to him that I thus appeared who chose me before thy Father to be King and to Rule over the Lords People and for this reason I will not forbear to Dance before the Lord and if this be to be vile I will be more vile in my own Eyes and of the Handmaids of which you speak I shall be had in more Honour And though the Kings reproof went no farther than this yet God was so displeased at what she had done that he permitted not that any Children should be born of her to her dying day She both liv'd and dyed under the Malediction of a Barren Womb esteem'd not without cause by all the People of the Jews a great infelicity Another Example of disrespect shewn to Kings in the Person of this good King David we read in the First Book of Kings Chap. 5. where it is
can they produce so much as one Catholique Person in England that had his hand in any of those Bloudy Actions but many may be produced who suffered all that men could suffer in this World to prevent and hinder them to the Praise of God and their Conscience Protestants therefore may see that We Catholiques have greater reason to have their Persons in Contempt and Hatred upon the account of Treason than they ours if that were justifiable but we think it is not and therefore proceed Sect. 7. Contempts between Nations and Nations In the same manner are to be apprehended all those that take pleasure and make it their sport to speak contemptuously and slightingly of whole Nations Countries Kingdoms Peoples An evil Disease this is under the Sun and the symptome of a very bad Humor arguing a great want both of Charity and Prudence What can be worse than to be continually censuring and undervaluing the Common and Publique behaviour or Manners of People the Customs of Places in which perhaps they never were to be Ey-witness of any thing It may be that some Countries Nations Provinces Kingdoms are addicted to some particular Things which are displeasant unto us yea perhaps not so agreeable to Reason or Vertue What if they be are we altogether free of the like Are there no evil Conditions no evil Customs no ill Manners to be observ'd amongst us that may be as justly displeasing to them If we censure them for some particular things perhaps we our selves are more guilty in others We take notice of the Vice of Nations and People but we over see their Vertues which for ought is certain to the contrary they may excel us For this we know that as to Persons so to Nations God distributeth his particular Gifts according to his good pleasure which Gifts we are not to contemn but should endeavour to obtain our business should not be to spy and to take notice of other Mens Faults and Imperfections but to amend our own studying to be more perfect and vertuous our selves It is well known that the Greeks are generally speaking more Eloquent than others Brasilians more Chaste Spaniards more Ingenious Italians more fix'd and constant in their Judgments Germans more Sincere the French more Nimble and Active Polonians are more Hospitable to Strangers and Pilgrims the English more Civil one towards another the Scotch more Frugal and those of the Low Countries more Industrious and willing to Labour All which Vertues and particular Endowments we should rather acknowledge and commend in them as the Gifts of God than take upon us impertinently to censure them or have the whole Nation in Contempt because we forsooth do not fancy their manners a thing conttary to all Reason Justice Charity and the Law of God which commands us to love and esteem our Neighbours as we love and esteem our Selves SECTION IV. Of Gods Indignation towards Contemners SECT 1. Malediction upon Contemners either of God or their Neighbour 2. Malediction upon Contemners of Parents and Relations 3. Malediction upon those that contemn their Kings and Princes 4. Malediction upon those that contemn their Neighbours 5. Remedy against the contemning of others 6. A Reflection upon the whole Matter fore-going Sect. 1. Malediction upon Contemners either of God or their Neighbours THe wise Solomon in his Proverbs by the Spirit of God speaks thus Chap. 1. v. 24. Quia vocavi renuistis c. For as much as I have called and ye refused to come I have stretched out my hand and there was none that would regard But you have despised all my counsel and would none of my reproof Therefore shall a sudden Calamity fall upon you and Destruction as a tempest shall seize you c. Against whom is this threatned but such as despise God neglect and fear not to transgress his holy Commandements contemn and slight his Word his Counsels his Exhortations Admonitions threatnings that are unthankful for Mercies and Favours received and being gently scourged and corrected by him do not amend their Lives Against these and the like Divine Wisdom by the Pen and by the Mouth of this Wise King denounceth this Woe and not in vain for that such Vengeance hath followed Obstinate and Impudent Sinners Holy Scriptures do abundantly declare Witness in the first place Pharaoh King of Egypt who for his contemning of God and hardening his heart against the People of Israel contrary to the Commandment of God after innumerable Plagues sent upon Him and His People was finally himself and His mighty Army drowned in the Sea which while they pursued the People of Israel returned upon them and overwhelmed them all without exception so that they sunk â—ike Stones into the bottom thereof Exod. 14. v. 27 28. Esau Jacob's Brother is another like Example who for contemning Gods Benefits â—amely his Birth-right which was not only a Perogative and Priviledge of Humane Right but also an assured Token and Pledge of Divine Benediction to all that liv'd well and were worthy of it was justly deprived of both that is of his Birth-right and of the Blessing which his Father Isaac out of his private Affection intended him How he undervalued his Birth-right we read Gen. 25. 32 33 34. where being hungry he sold it to his Brother Jacob for a Mess of Pottage En morior Behold I die saith he and what will this Birth-right avail me And that he lost Gods Blessing thereby that is by so slighting and making light of that which was a Sacred Thing appears by the Apostle Heb. 12. 16 17. who calls him a Profane Person for so doing and says that he found no place of Repentance that is so as to recover his Birth-right and that Blessing belonging to it though he sought it with tears Sect. 2. Malediction upon the Contemners of Parents and Relations As concerning those that have their Parents in Contempt nothing can be less doubted but they are all of them under Divine Malediction The Commandment it self concerning the Duty of Children to their Parents implying so much for in being commanded to honour our Parents that our days may be long upon earth which is a principal Blessing we are at the same time admonished that if we do not honour them as we ought our days shall be few and short upon Earth which is to want and fall short of the Blessing But Deut. 27. 16. it is more expresly denounced in these words Maledictus qui non honorat c. Cursed be he that seteth light by his Father or Mother and Prov. 30. 17. it is said The Eye that mocketh at his Father and despiseth to obey his Mother the Ravens of the Valley shall pick it out and the Young Eagles shall eat it Rebellious Absalon was such a despiser and therefore a like Judgment met him and took him away He so far despised his Father King David that he endeavour'd to deprive him of his Kingdom and make himself King pretending to have more knowledge in the Law and more will to do Justice and Judge according to Equity in all Causes than his Father saying thus 2 Reg. 15. v. 4. Quis me constituat judicem c. O that some Body would make me Judge over the Land that all might come to me me that have any Law-business and I might to do them Justice seeing there is none appointed by the King to
44. in these words Ego autem dico vobis c. But I say unto you love your enemies do good to them that hate you and pray for them that persecute you and that slander or falsly accuse you that you may be the children of your Father which is in Heaven who maketh his Sun to rise upon the good and the bad and causeth it to rain upon the just and unjust What can be more express and clear For it might possibly be objected by some concerning the Old Law that there was nothing expresly declared or written that we should love our Enemies but only that we should help him in his necessity that we should not revenge our selves nor rejoyce in his ruine or adversity But in the New Testâ—ment it is positively and expresly said Love your Enemies as is above-mentioned out of S. Matthew which the Evangelist S. Luke also confirms Chap. 6. v. 27. in the like words Love saith he your enemies do good to them that hate you bless them that curse you and pray for them that calumniate you Nay more than this The Gospel or New Law requires so great equanimity patience and good affection of mind towards those that hate us and treat us injuriously and that we be so far from revenging our selves that it requires us when we are stricken on the one Cheek to offer also the other For so this Evangelist S. Luke writeth Chap. 6. v. 29. Et qui te percutit in maxillam praehe alteram When one strikes you on one Cheek give him the other also to strike In fine for the accomplishment or full performance of this Precept we must know that as in relation to our Neighbour we are to love him corde ore opere in heart in word and in deed so must we also do towards our enemy We must in heart wish him as much happiness as to our selves we must in our actions do them as much good as we would have done to our selves in like case we must not defame slander injure or do them any harm in our words but in all our expressions and speech of them tender their good and their just concerns as our own So that although our enemies hate us yet we in charity are to love them and though they curse us we are to bless them though they persecute and trouble us we must forgive them and pray for them if they be wicked that hinders not us to be good if they be our enemies yet the holy Commandment obliges us to be their friends These things I doubt not will seem to many extream hard to be perform'd such is humane wâ—â—â—ness yet perform them we 〈◊〉 and that for Gods sake for so is Gods Commandment We must be not only content but willing with the Prophet David to say Psal 16. v. 14. Propter verba labiorum tuorum ego custo divi vias duras For the words of thy lips I have kept hard ways that is to say by reason of thy Commandment I have overcome my self and kept the narrow way of vertue how hard and difficult soever I found it to Flesh and Bloud Because thou hast commanded it I have loved and will still persist to love even mine Enemies and to pursue them with kindnesses as much as they persecute me with words and deeds of hatred all this I will do to fulfil your Divine Pleasure and to gain the more interest in your love Nor will any good Christian think it much or a hard thing to love his Enemies that well considers the matter and sets before his eyes the example of Christ upon the Cross None had greater Enemies than he no Innocent person was ever persecuted so maliciously so causlesly none ever suffered more contrary to all justice right gratitude at the hands of his Enemies and yet even upon the Cross while he lay under the greatest pain misery and shame that their hatred and ill will could possibly bring upon him and was breathing out his Soul with the extremity of it yet even then he loved them and did the best offices he could for them to his Father namely praying for them and excusing in some part the wickedness of their sin in these words Luke 23. v. 34. Pater dimitte illis non enim sciunt quid faciunt Father forgive them for they know not what they do Thus did the Saviour of the World requite the hatred of his Enemies thus did he repay all their revilings cursings injuries all their cruel barbarous and despiteful usage to wit by the greatest charity and good will shewed on their behalf his love contending and gloriously triumphing over their hatred I do not doubt but having such an object of Charity before our eyes and excited by such an example we will desire above all things to imitate and be like unto him his most perfect goodness duly considered will work in us the like affection so as it shall not be grievous unto us to follow his steps per vias duas in any kind of vertue though never so hard to flesh and bloud and particularly not in this of loving for the future those that we have at present in aversion Our Saviours most perfect and unparallell'd example alone might serve for this But we have several others besides this in the holy Scriptures not unworthy to be taken notice of in order to the good effect of loving and carrying our selves well to those who deserve not very well of us as namely that of the holy Patriarch Joseph who being well beloved of his Father was for that reason so hated of the rest of his Brethren that as the holy Text speaketh of them Non poterant ei quicquam pacifice loqui They were not able to speak a good or peaceable word to him Gen. 37. 4. but were perpetually quarrelling and contending with him till at length their aversion grew to such a height that they conspired his death v. 19 20. casting him first in order to that end into a Cistern or certain dry Pit in the Wilderness and afterwards sold him to the Ishmaelites to be their Bond-slave Viginti argenteis for Twenty pieces of Silver v. 28. yet Joseph took all these doings well meditated not revenge though it was in his power to have done it but when his Brethren were fall'n into distress by reason of the Famine he provided for them and their Families all manner of Food and when his Brethren did not know Joseph their Brother he made himself known to them in this kind manner excusing their iniquity towards him Accedite ad me nolite pavere Ego sum Joseph Frater vester c. Gen. 45. v. 3 4 5. Come near unto me I pray you be not troubled I am Joseph your Brother whom ye sold into Egypt Is my Father yet alive and let it not seem grievous to you that you sold me for God sent me hither before you to preserve you alive Non vestro consilio sed Dei voluntate
ignorant with what exorbitancy this Vice did both reign and rage for many years together of late times the very lowest and meanest sort of People Coblers Brewers and other Mechanicks taking the liberty to dispise even the Highest Powers and most Sacred Dignities of the Nation having the King and all his Nobility in Scorn the Laws in Contempt and utterly rejecting whatsoever Commands His most Sacred Majesty thought fit to give for the good and security of His Kingdom and not only so but seizing at length upon His Sacred Person and by Injustice and Violence not to be parallelled in any History or Example save that of the Saviour of the World Pronouncing and Executing the Sentence of Death upon him as a Criminal who was most Innocent in the view of the World and using the same hard measure to many of his Chiefest and most Loyal Subjects Sect. 2. Contempts between Man and Wife The Extent and Dominion of this raging Vice being so large as it is and holding in subjection in a manner all Mankind tainted therewith no Place no Condition or Quality of Persons free it will not I hope seem inexpedient to take a short view of those several sorts of People wherein it principally resides and hath its most quotidian and constant effects These are first the State of Marriage or the Contempts which happen between Men and their Wives The second is of the Contempts that happen between Children and their Parents The third of that which happens between Servants and Masters The fourth of those between the Poor and the Rich and lastly those which fall out between the Wicked and the Just These or most of these several Contempts the Holy Scripture mention and first that which happens in the Married Estate In the Book of Esther you will find how the Queen Vasthi having by the seven Chief Eunuchs and Officers of the Kingdom received a special Command from the King Assuerus her Husband to appear before him Crowned and in her Royal Attire she would not obey his Command though she were both his Subject and Wife but refused to come contemning at once both his Royal Command and Loving Request But what came of her Contempt Verily that which Justice required The King being highly incensed at her undutifulness and to give an exemplary Caution or Warning to all other Women not to despise their Husbands nor to have their Persons and Commands in Contempt put her away from being any longer his Queen or Wife and chose another in her stead namely Queen Esther of the Race of the Jews See Esther Chap. 1. v. 21 22 2. 17. Sect. 3. Contempts between Children and Parents The Holy Scripture also taketh notice of the great Contempts which Children sometimes much contrary to their Duty shew towards their Parents giving also a great and strict charge to have all such Contempts speedily and severely punished for the example and terror of others There is a remarkable passage to this purpose in the Book of Deuteronomy Chap. 21. v. 18. where we read thus Si genuerit homo filium contumacem protervum c. If a Man beget a Son that is Stubborn and Rebellious not obeying the Voice of his Father nor the Voice of his Mother and being chastized by them will not regard it his Father and Mother shall lay hold on him and bring him out to the Ancients of the City and to the place of Judgment and shall say this our Son is Stubborn and Rebellious and dispiseth to hear our Counsels and all the Men of that City shall Stone him with Stones that he die So shall you put away evil from you and all Israel shall hear and fear This was the Law against a Son that despised and contemned his Parents he was to be Stoned to Death by all the People every Mans Hand was to be against him and chiefly those of his wronged and grieved Parents Alas what would it be if this Law were now to be reviv'd or put in execution I tremble to think how many Parents it would leave Childless amongst Christians How many Children are there now-a-days to be seen that have their Parents in scorn How many are there that will be ashamed to acknowledge their Father and Mother yea how many are there that not only despise and contemn their Parents and are so far from honouring and loving them as they ought that they fear not to curse them with Heart and Tongue and to wish evil to them to wish they were dead as being weary of them and greedily looking to have what they leave Sect. 4. Contempt between Servants and Masters But what shall we say of Servants that contemn their Masters and Mistrisses upon pretence that they are miserable and hard to them or too harsh and severe shall they upon this account be allowed to contemn their Persons or to neglect their affairs or to refuse to do what they are Commanded Shall we give Servants leave to have their Masters in scorn and derision for these Reasons or to murmur complain and speak evil of them when they are reprov'd or corrected for their faults By no means But on the contrary We must cause them to know what their Duty what Christianity requires of them the sum whereof is thus set down by Saint Paul Ephes 6. 5. 6. 7. Servi obedite dominis carnalibus cum timore c. Servants saith he be obedient to them that are your Masters according to the Flesh with fear and trembling in singleness of heart as unto Christ with good will doing service as unto our Lord and not to Men c. and by Saint Peter 1 Pet. 2. 18. who requires Servants to be subject to their Masters with all fear and that not only to the good and gentle sed etiam dyscolis but even to the froward and ungentle So that there is no excuse no plea for the Servants contemning his Master or making light of his Person Authority Words and they that will do otherwise wo unto them I say wo unto them for so that Wise Master King Solomon hath pronounced long since Viâ—o qui corripientem dura cervice contemnit repentinus ei superveniet interitus c. The Man that despiseth to hear reproof especially having for his offence deserv'd to hear it a sudden destruction shall overtake him health shall be far from him Sect. 5. Contempts between the Poor and Rich. Others are to be found that have the Poor too much in Contempt and attribute all their necessities to negligence and carelessness on the Poors part but very unjustly the poor for a great part of them being innocent of that charge and to their power diligent and careful But it is crime enough to be poor If you be poor you are sure enough to be slighted and contemned be your innocency and your case what it will for though as the Wise Man saith Ecclus 10. 23. it be not expedient to despise the Poor Man that hath understanding it is
SECT 1. The Sobriety of the Patriarchs and Prophets 2. The Sobriety of the Apostles and other Religious Christians 3. The Sobriety of divers great Kings and Eminent Philosophers 4. The Sobriety of some Pagans Ethnicks and Infidels Sect. 1. The Sobriety of the Patriarchs and Prophets HAving in the precedent Discourses represented to you in some measure the Excesses which are daily committed by several sorts of people in Meat and Drink and the great Inconveniencies and Mischiefs which follow upon them both to Body and Soul it behoves us now to offer you such Motives and Considerations as we judge may be most effectual to with-draw you from the said Excesses and to work in you a love of Temperance and Sobriety not forgetting also to mention some remedies against the above said Vices all to the intent that good Christians may avoid the same and God be more honoured by their Vertuous Lives and Conversations The First Motive which I now think of and shall propound against Gluttony is that we attentively consider and reflect with our selves upon the strict Abstinence and Sobriety which the Prophets and all those ancient Fathers of the Old Law did use Good Examples are apt to work upon Good minds Now truly so many Prophets so many great Observers there were and Practisers of Sobriety being therein the Avantguards as it were and Forerunners to those Armies of Ascetiques which were to succeed them under the Law of Grace Amongst those of the Old Law was Moses the Law-giver a great President and Example of Sobriety of whom it is said in the Book of Exodus Chap. 24. v. 18. Ingressus medium nebulae Moses ascendit in Montem fuit ibi quadraginta diebus quadraginta noctibus c. That Moses entring into the midst of the Cloud went up to the Mount to wit Mount Horeb whither God calleâ— him and remained there Forty Dayes and Forty Nights without any manner of Food neitheâ— eating Bread nor drinking Water as himself testifies Deut. 9. v. 9. after which Abstinence and Sobriety he merited the Society Presence and Familiarity of God and to be made the great Law-giver of Israel â— God Almighty speaking unto him and informing him of what both he and all the Children of Israel were to do and perform pertaining to Divine Service and Worship Who was more Sober and Abstemious than Elias the Prophet who in obedience to Gods Will and Commandement went into the Desart and dwelt by the Brook Cherith over against Jordan during which time he had nothing to eat but what the Ravens by the special appointment of God brought him morning and evening his Drink being the water of the Brook 3 Reg. 17. 3 4 5 c. After some time of his abode here the Brook dried up for want of rain and then necessity compelled him to change his habitation So by the inspiration of God he cometh first to Sarephta and is there maintain'd by a poor Widow whose whole sustance was a handful of meal in a barrel and a little oyle in a cruise upon which through Divine Benediction both he she and her Son lived the space of some years v. 15. after this flying the persecution of Queen Jesabel and resting himself under a Juniper Tree in the Wilderness an Angel of God comes to him being asleep and bids him Rise and eat for he had a great journey to go Thus we read of him 3 Reg. 19. v. 6 7 8. c. so he arose and finding at his head a Cake baked on the coals with a pot of water he did both eat and drink and went his way with such courage and alacrity that in the strength of that meal only he continued his Journey for the space of forty dayes anâ— forty nights together without any nourishment till he came to Horeb the Mount of God Observe here â— pray you how expresly the Scripture mentions that the Angel of God brought Elias Bread and Water for his refection a Cake of bread and a cruise of water and nothing else If your curiosity moves you to know the reason seeing the Angel could as easily have brought him other meat to eat and some other liquor to drink more delicious and more pleasing to the palate yea and entertain'd him with varity too if he had pleas'd the only reason of this without question was Because Bread and Water were the usual Meat and Drink of the Prophets they liv'd not upon delicacies and dainties they drunk not much Wine but used such a repast as became Men that professed Temperance and Sobriety What shall I say of the wonderful Abstinence and Sobriety of the Prophet Daniel and his three Companions who though they liv'd in the Court of that great King the King of Babilon and were so favoured that they might have freely tasted and taken their fill of all the Dainâ—ies and Varieties of Meats and Drinks which that Court afforded â—et neither this holy Prophet nor any of his three Brethren would receive the least portion of them but contented themselves with Pulse and Water For so we read Dan. 1. v. 8 9 12 c. Proposuit Daniel in corde suo ne pollueretur de mensa regis de vino ejus c. Daniel had proposed with himself that he would not be polluted with the Portion of the Kings Meat nor with the Wine which he drank and to that end made it his earnest request to the Governour of the Eunuchs with whom he was in favour that he might have the priviledge to abstain from the Meat that came from the Kings Table fearing as the Annotations rightly observe in the first place least otherwise he should happen to eat that which had been offered to Idols Secondly for fear he should eat Meat forbidden by the Law of Moses Thirdly for fear that by such delicate Diet as came from the Kings Table he might be provok't to Gluttony or to any other Sins The Prophet Ezechiel may likewise rightly be put in the rank of these Temperate and Abstemious Prophets since he not only loved and practized the same but exhorted others thereto as may be seen in the Scripture For what concerns his own Practice and Observation thereof we may take notice what is said to him by God Ezek. 4. v. 9. Sume tibi frumentum hordeum fabam lentem c. Take thee Wheat and Barley Beans and Lentils Millet and Fitches and put them in one Vessel and make thee Loaves or Bread thereof according to the days of thy Captivity for three hundred and ninety days shalt thou eat of the same and by measure shalt thou eat from time to time What shall I say of the Sobriety of the Rechabites mentioned by the Prophet Hieremy Chap. 35. v. 6 7 8 c. who to observe the Command of Jonadab the Son of Rechab their Father drank no Wine nor planted Vineyard all their days they nor their Wives their Sons nor their Daughters Finally what shall I say of all the
and Wine it seems to me better to involve that in silence than to speak any thing of it The reason was because it was a known thing that not only Saint Anthony but all other Monks and Ascetiques beside never used any such Meat or Drink In fine this Holy Hermit remained for the most part of his Life not only in the Desart or Wilderness but in the more Rocky Desolate and Inaccessible Places thereof where company could not but with extream difficulty come to him and scarce admitting in his Old Age the small additament of a few Figs and Olives to his wonted Diet. What shall I say of Saint Paul the first Hermit and of his great Sobriety and Abstinence who lived in the Wilderness for the space of a hundred and thirteen Years in a Rocky Place nigh unto a Fountain of which he drank all that time having no other Garment than of the the Palm-Tree Leaves This Holy Man seemed to be another Elias receiving daily half a Loaf of Bread by a Raven and that for the space of Threescorce years together Saint Hierom speaking of some Monks that were in the Wilderness in the time of Saint Paul the Hermite and of their wonderful Abstinence fearing as he saith that the Reader should think it incredible what he was to report of them makes a protestation in these words Jesum testor Sanctos Angelos c. I call Jesus Christ to witness and his Holy Angels That in the same place of the Wilderness where Saint Paul heretofore lived which is adjacent to the Country of the Saracens I have seen Monks De quibus unus per triginta annos clausus hor deaceo pane lutulenta aqua vixit One of which being a Cloyster'd Man for the space of thirty years together lived with nothing but Barley Bread and Dirty Water Of another he testifies that he lived for a great many years together in a Cistern or Pit in the Wilderness receiving no other Food for his nourishment than Five Figs a day concluding his relation in these words Haec videbuntur incredibilia his qui non crediderint These things saith he will seem incredible to those that have not believed yet that which I have reported is a most certain and real Truth Now although by reading these Stories of the wonderful Abstinence and Sobriety of these Monastiques you be not moved to follow or take upon you such a strict and austere course of Life yet at least their Heroique Example should be a great Motive to you to withdraw you from all excess in Meat and Drink and make you to live temperately though you cannot live so austerely and to be content with what is sufficient though you know not how to suffer want For to encourage you the more you may be pleas'd to take a short view of what is at present to be observed of this kind in all Catholique Countries where if you were to Travel you would not fail to meet with or hear of objects worthy of your admiration in both Sexs Men and Women living in the Wilderness that is in desolate unfrequented Places or otherwise in or near unto Cities and great Towns exercising themselves with most severe Discipline and Penance and using an Abstinence not much inferiour or less strict than those above-mentioned There you will find Monasteries Convents Nunneries Hermitages and other Religious Houses or Places in which no doubt is to be made there live at this day many Persons of most exemplary Austerity and strictness in this kind witness the Houses of the Carthusians the discalceate Carmelites the reformed Benedictins the Minims and the poor Clares of Saint Francis with many other Religious Orders both of Men and Women that never eat Flesh-meat Consider the four great Orders approv'd by the Church among them you will find the Holy Order of the Seraphical Father Saint Francis who was such a Lover of the Vertue of Sobriety that he very exactly observed Five Lents in the Year In the first he fasted forty days next after the â—piphany or Twelve days of Christmass His second Lent he fasted from the Feast of the Apostles Saint Peter and Saint Paul to the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary The Third Forty-days-Fast he kept from the Assumption until Michaelmass The Fourth was from the Feast of All Saints to the Nativity And the Fifth he observed Forty days before Easter according to the Institution of the Catholique Church Besides he Fasted all Frydays in the Year all Vigils Ember and Rogation days with diverse other particular days according to his own private Devotion Sect. 4. Sobriety of Great Monarchs and Ancient Philosophers We have declared in some measure the wonderful Sobriety and Abstinence which the Ancient Patriarchs and Prophets of old time the Apostles and their Successors the Ancient Fathers of the Church and other Devout People since Christs time have used who were all Christians in Name or Effect believing in the True God and unto whom the Living and True God had by Revelarion vouchsafed to make known his Holy Will Commandements and Law What shall we say of the Gentiles who knew not God had nothing but the Light and Law of Nature to instruct them Shall we find any such Vertue among them Doubtless we shall if we make search into the matter in point of Moral Vertue as this we are speaking of is we meet with many worthy Examples in the Gentiles History of Great Monarchs Kings Princes Ancient Philosophers who have excelled as in other so in this particular Vertue of Abstinence and Sobriety Most certain it is that the Kings of Egypt were by their Law forbidden Wine which they never drank but upon some eertain days and that by measure which they were not to exceed The Turks generally observe the same Prohibition being contain'd in their Alcaron though for the present I suppose their great ones may dispense with themselves herein Alexander the Great how intemperate and excessive soever his Ambition was and the desire to inlarge his Dominions yet in respect of Moderation in Meat and Drink his Practice is commendable He bore a great respect to the Ancient Philosophers and from their Instruction and Example had conceived such a Love to the Vertues of Temperance and Sobriety that it is reported of him that being in his Great Asian Expedition and Ada the Queen Caria to gain his Favour had sent him a great quantity of extraordinary Provision and many of her chief Cooks and Pastery-men to make it ready for him in the most curious and exquisite manner he return'd her answer That he had no need of Cocks for the small Dinner he used since one would serve his turn very well Cyrus that Great Monarch of the Persians from his Child-hood gave a notable Testimony how Sober and Temperate a Man he would be one day For being while he was yet very young demanded by Aslyages his Grand-Father Why he would drink no Wine He presently answered for fear
distempers both of Flesh and Spirit in those Inhabitants of the Old World that Gods Service was generally neglected and all manner of wickedness and lewdness so practised that Almighty God did therefore resolve to bring that general Deluge upon the whole World and by a Flood of Waters at once to drown and destroy all Mankind of which we read Gen. 6th and 7th Chapters Noah only who was righteous before God Ch. 7. 1. and his Family being saved And yet notwithstanding this general washing the World could not be so totally purified and cleansed but that the filthiness of this sin beside so many others still remains and sticks to the Posterity of Noah unto this day all Mankind generally speaking and all the Nations of the Earth labouring under it in a most sickly and weak condition and many absolutely perishing by means thereof The World still abounds with lewd persons walking in the lusts of Concupiscence notwithstanding that the blessed S. Paul so expresly warns and threatens them with death for it Rom. 8. 13. Si enim secundum carnem vixeritis moriemini c. If you live according to the lusts and sensualities of the flesh ye shall die all of you without exception which S. Hierome in his Comment upon this place of the Apostle confirms saying that Whosoever living in the body useth Carnal Copulation with any out of lawful Wedlock at the same instant he dies spiritually and perishes as to the life of his Soul Hugo that Worthy Author reflecting seriously upon the infectious nature of this Disease could not forbear crying out in this manner Who is able to recount the particular infections and pestilent strength of Carnal Concupiscence who is able to conceive the mischief it hath done in all times and still continues to do unto this day This it was that drowned the whole World this it was that destroyed Sodom and Gomorra with the adjacent Countries by Fire from Heaven this it was that turned those fertile and pleasant Lands into a stinking and poysonous Lake It was Concupiscence that slew the Sichemites and destroyed their City Genes 34. 26 27 c. It was Concupiscence that rooted out almost the whole Tribe of Benjamin from among their Brethren for the sake of a Woman This destroyed in the Wars with the Philistims the Sons of Heli the High-Priest This procur'd the death though und eserved of Vrias the Husband of Bethsabee This murthered Amnon the Son of David This brought his Fathers Curse upon Reuben the Eldest Son of Jacob instead of his Blessing It was Concupiscence that betrayed Sampson first into the power of a Harlot and by her means soon after into the hands of his Enemies This ston'd to death many under the Ancient Law of Moses So that in fine it is most true what the wise Man saith Eccles 9. 9. Propter speciem mulieris multi perierunt through the beauty of Women and their lusting after it many have perished For which reason it is that our blessed Saviour in the Gospel Mat. 5. v. 29. doth so absolutely and strictly forbid the looking after Women with any lustful or unchaste affections pronouncing that whosoever doth so is guilty of Adultery though he never perpetrates the outward act of that sin with any person Ego autem dico vobis c. But I saith he tell you that whosoever looketh on a Woman to lust after her hath already committed Adultery with her in his heart The Adulterous Woman is in this respect like the Serpent called the Basilisk whose Eyes are said to dart such a poyson as kills the beholder forthwith and for that reason if we love our Souls we are to avoid the very sight of such lewd Creatures as much as may be but upon no terms or for any reason whatever to admit of private and familiar conversation with them Qui tetigerit picem inquinabitur ab ea saith the Wise Man Eccles 13. 1. He that toucheth pitch shall be defiled therewith and he that keeps Company with dishonest persons will soon learn to be like them Can a man carry Coals in his Bosom and not be burnt by them No more is it possible to frequent the society of unchaste people without prejudice to Chastity A muliere iniquitas viri from the company of naughty Women Men become naught as the Moth proceeds from the Garment All which is agreeable to the sense of the holy Fathers teaching that all fleshly sensualities of this kind how pleasing soever they seem are but a delicious poyson swallowed with much ease but working direful effects afterward an Epidemical Plague raging amongst men of which many die and all languish all even the whole Race of Mankind some few only excepted being much weakened in point of spiritual strength and their spirit and courage to all good much abated by it Sect. 3. Carnal Concupiscence detestable to God therefore to be avoided Pleasure is the Bait by which the Ghostly Enemy catcheth Souls as Fishes are caught by a Hook and not without great reason For Pleaâ—ure generally speaking but more â—specially the pleasure of the Flesh â—or Carnal Concupiscence is a thing which darkens the light of the Soul â—ot letting her see or perceive the â—ook that is under the Bait that is the great and long pain which attends the short pleasure it hinders all good counsel and all good thoughts that come to mind from taking place and through its luscious inticements turns men quite out of the way of Vertue and throws them headlong into the Gulph or into the bottomless Pit of Sin and Wickedness which renders it a most abominable Vice and in some respects more than all other Vices detestable in Gods sight because there is no Vice that doth so debase the dignity of mans Nature and violate the Prerogative of his Creation as this Vice of Lust oâ— Carnal Concupiscence doth Shalâ— we look any further into the nature of this pleasure Yes the better to avoid and hate the same by considering the cursed Fruit it brings forth it may be expedient to do so The definition of Carnal Concupiscence according to Divines is to this effect Luxuria est impurae â—ibidinosae voluptatis inordinatus apâ—etitus Carnal Concupiscence is noâ—hing else but an inordinate appeâ—ite and desire of Venereous or lustâ—ul pleasure which kind of pleaâ—ure though it tickles and affects the â—enses much for the present yet most commonly it leaves behind it â—ather matter of repentance and reâ—orse than of remembring again â—ith delight For how many unâ—appy Souls Men and Women have â—y means of this vile pleasure unâ—awfully and immoderately pursued â—allen into great inconveniencies conâ—racting grievous and loathsom disâ—ases and ruining themselves both â—oul and Body What prejudice hath â— not done to mens Estate What â—orrows I speak here onely in a â—orldly sense what affliction and â—isturbance of mind hath it not cauâ—ed yea what sottishness what loss â—f wonted wisdom and sound judgâ—ent have not proceeded from it How