that the Pilot should call and give sign that all things were ready to set Sail which sign given thou wouldest presently make hast to the ship Soe thou art to doe in this life Fix thy mind alwaies on God and use the things of this world so as not to tye thy hart unto them nor to suffer them to withdraw thee from thy last End which is God All the riches and creatures of this world serve thee that thou maist serve God The neglect of this necessary care of thy salvavation is the cause that thou permittest thy thougts to wander after many unnecessary Objects so that t is true to say thou adorest as many Idols as thou louest Creatures with a disordinate love These are thy Gods unto whom thou offerest sacrifice not of an Oxe or Buck but thy self thy whole salvation It is not permitted in the law of divine Love to love any thing else besides God unles it be in him and for him There can be no greater misery then to abandon the soveraign Good to place our affection on creatures 4. That which the Prince of Phisitians sayes of sick bodies the same may be said of vicious souls to wit the more they are fed the worse they are For those who intend to passe from a bad life to a better ought first to vomit up all the Poyson of their past sins before they begin to receive the solid nourishments of vertue This purgation of thy soul must be done so as not only to expiate thy past sins but also to extirpate all affection unto them to root out all thy vicious habits to master all thy disordered appetites and make them subject unto reason to subdue thy body senses particularly that of the tongue and to avoid all that may hinder thee from arriuing to the state of perfection Why dost thou fear and imagine the way that leads to eternall Felicity to be hard and difficile It lies in thy own power to make thyself happy assisted with his grace who is the beginning end of all things But thou must first goe out of thyself before thou canst come unto him and the more thou leavest thyself the nigher thou wilt come unto him 5. Wherefore thou shouldest first consider with thyself what thou desirest to enjoy and whither thou art going then examine the means thou art to use for arriving to that happy state Which done thou will easily perceive what progresse thou dost make every day Be very carefull in examining thy Conscience and taking a serious view of thyself consider what thou oughtest to be whilst thou hast time to amend It will be too late to discover the deceit when thou canst not avoid it Learn how to moderate the violence of thy passions and desires how to appease the frights and fears of thy mind Learn to contemn all earthly things and willingly forsake those things which cannot remain long in thy power Leave all things before they leave thee that soe when Death comes it may find nothing to rob thee of Let thy cheifest care be to provide for thy soul for considering it is first in dignity it is not fit it should be the last in thy care What will it avail a man to have gained the whole world if he looseth his soul in the end we cannot esteem it any profit if the soul perisheth CHAP. II. That he who desires to live well must choose a good Spirituall Directour The qualities of such a Directour and the duties of such as desire to learn Vertue 1. NOthing is more necessary for one that begins to serve God then to permit himself to be guided and instructed by a good Maister And indeed what wise man would undertake to perform a long Journey where he knows not the way without a sure Guide who would goe about to learn any difficile Art without a Teacher We shall find but very few who have advanced in perfection rendered themselves vertuous without the help of others It is an easy matter to instruct in generall terms those who are absent and also to leave in writing for those that shall come after us what is to be done But no man at a distance can tell of persuade when and how this to be done We must be present in time place to deliberate aright of that A Physitian can never prescribe by letter the just time of taking some Medicine or dyet he must be present and feel the pulse of the sick person Soe in curing the maladies of the Soul there are some things which cannot be so well expressed and declared without being present S. Paul whom God had designed to be the Apostle of the Gentils after he had bine converted by Christ himself was sent to Ananias that he might learn of him the way of Salvation Thou hast a hard task to overcome the corruptnes of thy Nature to wrestle with the euill Spirits thy invisible Enemyes and to arrive to the height of Perfection amidst so many obstacles and Impediments Wherefore thou hast need to call for help and that from one who will lend thee his hand who will shew thee the dangers and discover unto thee all the Ambushes of Satan and in fine who will teach thee how to come of with victory in all thy spirituall combats But thou wilt tell me whom shall I call to help me I answer It must be a wise and trusty man who shal be able and willing to doe all for thy spirituall Good one that shall strike respect and not fear into thee when thou meetest him one that is more ready to teach thee how to rise and amend after thy fall then to cry out against thee when thou fallest one who gives more Edification by his vertuous life then by his eloquent words He is little fit to govern who commands others to doe well but doth no good himself 2. Choose such a Helper or Director who flatters no body who doth not haunt much company who doth not goe to great banquets nor intrude himself into the houses of great persons choose one if possible who hath the spirit of discretion and can discern betwixt vertue and vice betwixt good and bad as a skillfull Goldsmith discerneth betwixt true and false money who like a shilfull Phisitian can judge of all thy spirituall diseases prescribe fit remedies to every one of them Choose one that shall be free from all interest and seeketh nothing but thy spirituall profit One that shall instruct thee in the spirit of mildnes and charity one that shall tell thee of thy faults one that shall be able to discover and teach thee how to ouercome all the subtileties stratagems of thy spirituall enemy the Devill one in whom thou maist have a particular confidence unto whom thou maist have no difficulty to reveal thy most hidden thoughts If thou canst find such an one thou are happy is this world 3. Speak frequently unto him of thy spirituall affairs let him
know all thy evill inclinations all thy vicious qualities let him know all the good thou dost and all the evill thou committest Discover unto him all the particular favours thou receivest from God Desire him that when he perceiveth in thee any irregular and disordinate affection he will not forbear to tell thee of it that too very often least that by being ashamed to reprehend thee he should dissemble at thy faults But if it should chance that he telleth thee he finds nothing to be reprehended in thy life doe not presently conclude that thou art innocent because perhaps the reason of his silence is for that he sees he shall get thy hatred by speaking or else that he despairs of thy amendment Wherefore entreat him more and more that soe he may see thou hast a reall and earnest desire of advancing in perfection Begin to lay before him the number of thy imperfections resolve to reform thy manners according to his Counsell Rejoyce as often as he reprehendeth thee for thy faults and still endeavor to come better from him or at least in a disposition to grow better It is a great matter considering the common frailty of our nature when a man is willing desirous to amend 4. These are the mutuall offices of a spirituall Directour one that desires to learn vertue of him that soe the one may grow better and the other not loose his labour in instructing him The greatest obstacle in Beginners is a rebellious refractory Spirit impatient to learn incapable of being cured For some that confide too much in their own wisedome refuse to be governed by another All these things say they which you tell me I know already What profit is there in shewing me things which are clear enough of themselves and repeating the same things over and over Very much because thou knowest many things which thou dost not perhaps attend unto Admonitions are not so much for teaching us as for exciting the memory and hindring us from forgetting things We often dissemble things that are clear and therefore t is not amisse to inculcate the knowledge of what we already know Vertue gathers strength when it is touched and encouraged Some are hindred and disheartned by a foolish apprehension or fear which is a childish fault and unworthy of any man Others like frantick men keep all close to themselves will not discover their infirmities to their spiritual Physitian The Devill persuades them to this silence hoping thereby to make his advantage of it as long as they discover nothing When thou art troubled with any corporall disease however soe shamefull thou hast no difficulty to shew it to him that is to cure it and yet thou hidest with great care the Vlcers of thy Soul as if hiding would cure them whereas they will at some time or other discover themselves in spight of all thy care He that hideth his wounds will never be cured 5. Does the Phisitian doe thee any wrong if he discovers thy disease if when thou art in danger he tells thee that thou art ill that thou art in a feavor that thou art to abstain one day from meat ordains thee to drink water in another Sure thou wouldst commend him and thank him for it But if any one should tell thee that thy passions or desires are violent that thy opinions are vain and idle thy affections immoderate or the like thou wouldest presently cry out that thou art affronted injured abused and therefore wilt be revenged of him Unhappy man what hurt does it doe thee to be admonished of thy Salvation What injury canst thou call it unles such a one as a looking glasse may be said to doe to an ugly face He shews thee what thou art Mend therefore thy faults which he reprehends in thee correct thy manners wash of the spots of thy Conscience T is in thy power if thou wilt to live soe that no man can justly reprehend thee CHAP. III. Of the purgative way and how to extirpate all sins and vicious Affections The best motive to this is a continuall Remembrance of Death and Eternity 1. WHensoever any man committeth a Sin he actually strayeth from God this is the cause of all the misery in the world From this proceed all the pains and troubles of this life this is the Poyson which infecteth the whole world We doe not perceive the malice of it when we commit the sin but when t is once committed then we understand the mischeif it brings with it We read of Tyrants that were wont heretofore a strange punishment to tye living bodies unto dead carkases that soe they might be poysoned to death with the horrid infection of an abominable stench By sin we are brought to suffer the like punishment we carry about with us our own Executioner cannot easily deliver ourselves from it If thou canst not resolve to suffer something for avoiding sin thou wilt be forced to suffer much after thou hast committed it An evill action is no sooner resolved upon but it presently produceth its own punishment T is this which makes us guilty of death and eternall damnation We must therefore have a speciall care to expiate our conscience from all Sin by contrition confession and satisfaction And t is not enough to avoid falling into great sins but we must also have a care to avoid lesser faults which although they doe not cause immediate death to the Soul yet weaken our spirituall forces are a disposition to mortall sin But the ship wrack is equally the same whither the ship be swallowed up and lost under one great wave or sunk by degrees the water entring in drop by drop We may be more to blame for yeilding unto these lesser faults in regard the difficulty to ouercome them was lesse The weaker our enemy is the greater is our shame if we permit ourselves to be overcome by him 2. Thou wilt never be able to attain unto much Vertue and to restore thyself to thy former liberty unles thou canst first quit thyself of all affection even to the least sins For otherwise thy body may be in the desert and thy mind at the same time in Egipt All does not goe well with thee if after having pardoned injuries and forsaken thy dishonest loues thou dost still give ear to calomnies detractions against thy neighbors if thou art still delighted with some dangerous beauty For to purchase an interior purity t is not enough to extirpate all sin out of thy soul but thou must also root out all evill habits or affections which may often remain behind after the sin is forgiven If thou dost only cut the boughs leave the root entire thou wilt see in a short time new branches of iniquity grow up from the same stock Thou sayest that thou art resolved to root out of thy soul all thy old Vices But I fear thou dost not barr the Door against them but leavest it seemingly
the next place learn to doe and speak little for if thou cuttest of in thy words and actions all that is not necessary thou wilt have lesse trouble of mind Doe not say this is a thing of no great importance or concern Whatsoever is the beginning of vertue and perfection although it seem of little consequence is notwithstanding a matter of great concern 5. The originall and sinfull man which is derived from Adam if we consider him as bearing the ressemblance of a Tree hath for his root selflove for his trunk a propension unto evill for his boughs his disordered passions for his leaves vitious habits for his fruit thoughts words and deeds which are contrary to Gods law Wherefore that the boughs of evill affections may not bud forth into leaves and fruit put the Axe to the root and cut down all self-self-love When thou hast once taken away this thou hast cut of with one blow all the vicious ofspring of thy sensitive appetite The means to root it out is to contemn thyself to esteem thyself the least amongst men and that thou hast no preeminence before others either in learning vertue or other prerogatives not to be afraid to displease men and be contemned by them to be willing to want all comfort and temporall commodities Thou wild save thyself if thou canst hate thyself thou wilt damn thyself if thou hast too much love for thyself CHAP. XIII Of Love The nature Causes Effects of it Of the Remedies against it Of Hatred 1. LOve is a compleasance of Good or the first impression which is made upon our desires when the knowledge of Good begins to make us like it T is this which rules all the world which if once subdued and brought to obey it will be an easy matter to overcome all our other passions True love ever tends unto that from whence it had its beginning it still inclineth to Good because it is derived from the Soveraign Good Examine thy life and weigh thy hart in the balance of a strict consideration observe what sort of love prevaileth in it for that which weighs heaviest in the balance of love that is thy God that is the Idol which thou adorest God hath commanded thee to love him with all thy hart to this end that he might keep thy mind and affections employed because it is certain that that which thou louest with all thy hart is the thing which thou adorest as thy God 2. T is not only goodnes and beauty which makes us love any person but also a certain sympathy and proportion of mind and manners as also an exterior modesty industry noble birth learning quicknes of wit and such like other endowments of body and mind Love itself is the loadstone of love which if accompanied with any curtesy or civility he is now forced to return love who before would not begin to love In fine some have more naturall inclination to love then others For example those who are of a lively spirit a tender hart a delicate blood a sweet facile nature 3. The power of Love is very great it transformeth him that loveth into the thing loved Love is a kind of sally wandering out of ourselves a kind of voluntary death He that loveth is absent from himself thinks nothing of himself takes care of nothing does nothing and unles he is received by the person loved he seems to himself to be setled no where Oh how unhappy is that love which is not directed to God For he that loveth the objects of this world cannot dwell in them nor find any solid contentment in them because they are limited subject to vanity and death But he that loveth God is in God and ceasing to live in himself lives in him in whom all things live who is our center and immutable Souveraign Good Human love is violent and bitter divine love is alwaies humble and peaceable human love is tormented with jealousy but we need not fear any Rivall in divine love The one fears least another should love the same object the other wisheth all may love the same he loveth Wherefore if thou lovest thyself love God for this love profiteth thee not him Any human object may change or perish but God is never lost unles we wilfully dismisse him from our harts 4. That the love wherewith thou louest thy neighbor may be sincere be sure to exclude from it all human causes of wit compleasance and similitude and regard only those causes which consist in piety and vertue That sort of Love which is called Platonick and by which some fancy that the Soul is raised from the sight of a corporall beauty to contemplate the eternall beauty of God is very dangerous The sight of a beautifull face raiseth a desire of touching it and whatsoever it is that proceedeth from the eyes of a beautifull person whither it be a light or some subtile spirit or humor it bewitcheth a mans hart and is often the occasion of his ruine It is better and more safe that our feet should occasion our fall to the ground then our eyes be the occasion of our falling into sin But the remedies of love are very hard because whilst we seek to overcome it the more it torments us and unles we resist it in the beginning it so creepeth by little and little that we find ourselves much entangled in love before me thought of louing But if we resist it in the first beginning t is easy to be cured T is not amisse likewise to keep our mind employed in other things which bring some care with them and may blot out the memory of the object we love Then we ought to avoid all things that may bring it again into our mind as seeing and speaking of it for nothing is sooner renewed then love which if it once invade thee and take possession of thy hart it wil soe vexe thee that nothing but the slow remedy of time and absence will be able to cure thee of it to wit when tyred with long sufferings it will expire of itself Many have bine cured by shame to wit when they have perceived they were noted talkt of pointed at by all that knew them as also by considering the shamefulnes of it being a thing full of disgrace full of danger and subject to much sorrow in the end Others have found help by seeking into and considering attentively the defects and imperfections of the object they had loved for by this means the beauty and lovelynes of it is much lessened Lastly it is a good remedy to change our love into the love of God into the love of vertue and eternall rewards things which truly deserve to be loved that soe good love may drive out our bad love and our mind which was created for more noble objects blush to soil and defile itself with terrene objects Evill and dishonest loves cannot but infect good manners 5. Nature seems to have tyed all things together with
A GVIDE TO HEAVEN OR MORALL INSTRVCTIONS COMPILED Partly out of the Maximes of holy Fathers and partly out of the Sentences of Antient Philosophers Written in Latin by the Reverend Father D. John de Bona Generall of the Order of Cistertian Monks and now since created Cardinal Bona. Translated into English By IAMES PRICE Printed at Roan 1673. TO THE EVER HONOVRED Very Reverend and truly Religious Abbesse MADAME WINEFRIDE GIFFORD Thrice worthy Superiour of the English Monastery of S. Clare in Roan And to all the vertuous Ladyes and Gentlewomen living in holy Obedience unde her charge and Direction MADAME BEsides the relation of my Employment to your whole Community in generall and the many obligations which I have to yourself in particular I had another reason which determin'd my thoughts to make choice of your name and that of your Spirituall Daughters to appear in the Frontispiece of this little work And that is I was ever of opinion that all Books of this kind challenge it as their Birth-right to be dedicated unto persons of eminent vertue for otherwise it were a sin against Iustice to present holy things unto those whose life is quite contrary to all the Maximes of Christian Perfection This supposed MADAME it was not soe much a choice as a kind of necessity in me to dedicate this little tranformed Piece unto yourself cheifly and secondarily unto all those vertuous Persons who have the happines to live under your pious Conduct For although vertue is practicable in all states and conditions yet we must grant that none can be said to practise it in a higher degree whatsoever the Adversaries of the Catholick Church dare unreasonably murmur to the contrary then such as following the Evangelicall Counsels have willingly and joyfully abandonned all the Charms of the world to embrace a Monasticall retirement and therein to consecrate the remainder of their Lives to love serve praise God without cease or interruption a life which hath more of Angelicall solitude then Terrestriall conversation Vpon this ground I had reason to presume this little Treatise which hath nothing of mine but that it speaks English would not be wholly neglected by such devout Souls who willingly accept any thing that may contribute to their advancement in vertue I had this Interest also in it that I durst flatter myself to have given it unto those who are soe much my friends as to be ready to pardon greater faults then such as may have bine committed in this Translation Now as for the Book itself I hope you will find the matter pious and solid and consequenly worthly the reading and application 〈◊〉 all sort of persons who aspire unto Heaven The Authour as I am credibly informed by those of his own Order is a Person of no common vertue and I should not fear to be argued of untruth if I should tell the World that his late Promotion to that eminent dignity he now holds in the Church was more a reward of his vertue and learning then a Gift of fortune blindly conferred on him for his birth and friends His Book then not degenerating from his Person and his words not contradicted in his life I hope you will have a double satisfaction in reading good Things originally delivered by soe good a man I will say no more of my Authour but leave you to judge of the rest by the Book itself T is true it may seem at first sight more proper for secular persons such as are still entangled in the occasions and vanities of the world then such as are already withdrawn into the secure harbour of a Monasticall life It is more familiar then studyed more Practicall then speculative more appropriated for the purgative then unitive way However I am persuaded there are many instructions in it which are common to all states and conditions And indeed to say the Truth As I doe not love our pretended Illuminees and imaginary Saints soe I doe not much affect imaginary Writings Books that will sooner make one mad then make one a Saint Certainly there is more profit in a little intelligible Piety then in whole volumes of un-intelligible Raptures and Chimericall Elevations I like those who take more care to live well then to be esteemed Devotes who take more pains to doe good Works then to fancy high notions who are more diligent to mortify their Passions then to fill their heads with unprofitable Conceits This Book is for such And therefore Madame having no reason to doubt but that you and all those who live under your Lady-ships direction are of my opinion in this Point I was moved to hope a favorable acceptance of this little though well-meaning Present from him who is and will evâ—… be in all dutifull respect MADAME Your most humble and Obliged Servant IAMES PRICE THE INTERPRETER to the Reader GENTLE READER Having an Interest in thy Salvation as being a Christian consequently rhy Brother in Christ I make bold to present thee with a Guide to Heaven I cannot think thou hast soe much presumption of thy own knowledge but that thou maist have need of some other helps The way to Heaven hath alwaies bine counted very hard to find without a Guide Wherefore I thought it worth my labour to recommend One unto thee contrived at first by an excellent master in that Art I know well enough that my Version of it doth not approach the pithy shortnes of the Latin stile and indeed it was neither necessary nor convenient to render it soe nay I dare say nor possible If thou art no Latinist perhaps it may seem tolerable but otherwise if thou goest to compare the English to the Latin I shall soon loose my cause However I comfort myself with this Apology for not being able to give it the same grace which it hath in the Originall that it seems to me not only a common fault but a necessary defect in all Translations But thou wilt easily pardon me if I tell thee that my principal intention was the same with my Authors in his Preface viz to endeavour to teach thee how to live well and not how to speak well As for the Title I hope thou wilt not quarrell with me for not rendring it according to the Latin expression which is Manuductio ad Coelum I had some reason to apprehend the word might sound a little harsh and un-usuall in our English Tongue especially coming from one who pretends no Authority to coyn new Terms and to make them passe for current In fine I humbly exhort thee to read meditate and practise the Contents and I desire no other recompense at thy hands then that thou wilt make use of all for thy spirituall good THE AUTHOURS PREFACE TWo things Gentle Reader I must acquaint thee withal in the beginning of this Treatise Firft I am afraid least that I should be accused by some of too much boldnes and temerity For how will they say darest thou presume to
thou art unworthy of all honour because no man justly deserves to be honoured but he that is vertuous and comtemns all honour and glory True nobility is never proud and he that is above others in dignity is also above them in modesty the chief glory of great men is when they humble themselves most 6. Consider the weaknes of thy condition measure thy body and thou wilt find many things whereof thou oughtest to be ashamed but nothing whereof to be proud Doe not contemn the opinion of Philosophers and Mathematicians it is true what they teach that the whole earth is but a point compared to the vast extent of the heavenly sphears What madnes what folly then to divide this point into soe many kingdomes so many Governments No man can be great in a little space This earth which thou treadest on now with so much pride will cover thee ere long and all that thou wilt possesse of it will be but just soe much as will cover thy cold body Goe now and build great and immortall pallaces upon this nothing Goe and exercise thy fury and insolency upon it Goe and increase here thy avarice extend thy ambition gather armies and make war against thy neighbors When thou hast bine mad and frantick long enough thou wilt see acknowledge at last the vanity and deceit of all these Titles and honours All that shineth in this world is but glasse it breaks at the same time that it casteth a lustre Great trees are many years in growing but are cut down in one hour 7. If thou canst be content to live private thou hast cut of a great inticement to pride No man lives in state and pompe to please his own eyes or the eyes of a few of his familiar friends but the reason of his living with great spendor is to be noted by the world Who would put on purple if he thought he should be seen by no man who cares when he eats in private to have his meat served in gold and silver who would expose his gallant Tapestries and other rich moveables under the shadow of an old tree where none but himself should look upon them Ambition desires to be seen as on a Theater and never strives to make a greater shew then when commended and applauded If the Bee hath made her honey if the horse hath run well if the Tree hath born good fruit they seek nothing else but man still desires praise to be taken notice of and to hear men cry There he is that is He. But if thou considerest well who they are by whom thou desirest to be praised thou wilt not find it such a hard matter to contemn the applause of the Vulgar and common sort The multitude is a vain and changeable rabble whom thou thyself often callest mad and who every moment accuse themselves of their own folly by disapproving and recalling so often what they had done said not long before The life as well of him that praiseth as of him that if praised is short and these praises too are only given a man in a small corner of the world which is all but a point and there too all doe not agree to it nor perhaps doth he that is praised beleeve all that is said of him But it is a brave thing to be spoken of in future ages and to be praised by those whom thou never sawest nor never shalt see Why dost thou not grieve also for not having bine praised and commended by those who lived before thou wert born But suppose that those who shall praise thee after thy death were immortall and also that thy memory should last for ever what will this avail thee being dead and what does it avail thee being yet alive to hear thou art praised Thou art often praised where thou art not present and at the same time thou art troubled or tormented where thou art The price of every thing is in the thing itself and it is not made better by being commended nor worse if not praised Can we say that the Sun looseth any thing of his light if no man looks upon it or admires it Can a fig loose its sweetnes a flowr its beauty a Iewell its lustre because they are not commended It is a great argument of a noble Soul and one that knows it hath its origine from above to contemn the praises of men and to find content in itself Thou loosest all praise if thou desirest it for what is there in thee which deserveth 〈◊〉 how great is thy frailty how great 〈…〉 misery how great is the incertitude 〈…〉 Salvation Thou art an unprofitable servâ—… to God although thou didst doe all which thou art obliged to doe But with what face wilt thou dare to say that thou hast done all thou wert obliged to doe Take heed therefore thou art not said to be that without which thou art not within and take heed thou art not praised by others for what thy own conscience tells thee thou art to blame in Render unto God what thou hast received from him to wit thy Being life and understanding then what will be left thee but thy sins Since therefore thou art nothing thou canst not boast of this nothing Thou will then begin to be something when thou shalt acknowledge thyself to be nothing CHAP. X. Of moderating our outward Senses How we must treat our Body and how to govern our Eyes Of the vanity of Apparell 1. OBserve well this commendable form of life that is to allow unto thy Body those things only which are necessary to preserve it in health Thou must use it hardly that it may not rebell against the Soul for the body is to obey the spirit and not the Spirit to obey the body Eat to satisfy hunger and drink to satisfy thirst let thy garments be such as to keep out the cold thy house such as to defend thee against the injuries of the Weather As for other things which have bine invented for vain ornament and pompe be afraid to use them for they are like so many snares to catch thee in He easily contemneth all that is honest who is too sollicitous for his body and loueth it too much Thou art born to greater things and not to make thy Soul a slave unto thy body upon which thou must look as the prison of thy mind the fetters of thy liberty The just and wise man hath a care of his body not for the love he bears unto it but because he cannot live without it The body is the instrument of the Soul and we should esteem that Artist but a bad work-man who insteed of working his Art should spend all his time in looking after the Tools of his Trade T is the sign of a dull spirit to be busyed and employed in nothing but what concerns the Body 2. In regard that Death commonly enters into the Soul through the windows of our Senses let it by thy care to change their
bid adieu to all wordly things and can live within himself as in a strong castle well guarded against all enemies To such a man the world seems a prison and solitude a paradise 4. T is no great matter to have quitted the company of men unles thou art attentive to thyself and to the practise of vertue There can be no good where vertue is wanting no quiet no happines unles it proceed from vertue There are three things which correspond with one another in the whole universe Amongst all things above all things God amongst sensible things light and amongst the affections of the mind Vertue God is the light and vertue of all things light is the Vertue of the world and the image of God Vertue is the light of the mind through which we are named become the children of God Thou must approach it with a clean hart and purifyed mind if thou desirest to arrive to the height of perfection For vertue is the perfection of man restoreth innocency is full of all spirituall sweetnes It supplyeth the defect of nature which of itself is not capable of supernaturall felicity It consisteth in a facility to doe good by means of which we live as we ought are enlightned in our understanding resist sin and merit eternall life In pursuance of this thou must first learn the nature and acts of those vertues thou pretendest unto because no man loves what he doth not understand Then when thou hast once begun endeavor not to intermit or cease from the practise of it although occasion should be wanting we must imitate souldiers who in the midst of Peace are still exercising themselves and by fighting with one another only in jest prepare themselves for reall combats Imagine thou were accused of the greatest crimes fancy thyself calumniated or that all thy riches were suddenly taken away from thee and by this mean thou maist exercise thy patience as much as if such things were really soe Thou wilt not be dismayed when the thing happens if thou canst thus exercise thyself before it comes He that hath bine often wounded in the war fights with a good courage when the battle comes 5. The habits of Vertue are not got but by long exercise To know if thou hast learnt any vertue take these marks To wit if thou findest that the vices which are opposite to the vertue thou desirest to practise are quite extinguished in thee or at least very much suppressed If thou hast overcome the motions of evill affections and brought them to obey reason If thou findest not only facility but also an inward delight in the practise of vertue If thou canst contemn the murmurs reproaches of tepid spirits and use a full liberty of will in the exercise of those vertues which displease such imperfect Christians If thou beginnest to detest and abhor those evill practises unto which formerly thou hadst a strong inclination If thou art afraid even in sleep to consent to or take delight in any dishonest action or to approve any unjust proceeding If thou striuest to imitate what thou praisest and admirest in others and abstainest from those things which thou reprehendest in them If thou esteemest no fault little but art carefull to avoid all sort of imperfections however soe little If when thou seest hearest that those who are no better than thyself abound in riches and are raised to great honours thou canst look upon them without envy or emulation If thou hast no difficulty to acknowledge thy faults desiring that all men would reprehend correct thee If content with the testimony of thy own conscience thou hidest and concealest thy good works For vertue is a reward to itself and desires no other recompense for doing well but the satisfaction of having done it Finally if thou applyest thyself without cease to the practise of vertue for true vertue never droopâ— but is alwaies in action CHAP. XXI Of the three Theologicall Vertues Faith is to be shewn by the exercise of good works Our hope must be in God alone Motives of divine Love The love of our neighbors is shewed by helping them and doing them good An Exhortation to Almsgiving 1. FAith is the ground of all other vertues and foundation of the life of a Christian without which it is impossible to please God This was the wisâ—dome by which the whole world was subdued we must stick close to it laying aside all curiosity or searching into the misteries of it Beleeue then and doe good works withall because Faith without good works is but a dead faith In thy speech profession thou endeavorest to passe for a faithfull Believer take heed thy life and manners doe not speak thee an Infidell Thou beleevest the Gospell why then dost thou not obey it Thou beleevest there is a life everlasting why then dost thou prefer a short time in this world before Eternity which shall have no end What doth it avail thee to beleeve Truth and goodnes if thou art false thyself and workest iniquity It is impossible that he who beleeveth well can live ill for no man can be said to beleeve well but he that practiseth what he beleeves 2. Since it is certain that all things are disposed and governed by the providence of God so as not so much as a bird falls out of the ayr nor a leaf from any Tree without his will and knowledge thou oughtest to commit thyself wholly to his protection and to have a strong confidence in his help not doubting but that he will alwaies be ready to help thee in all occasion Know that all human Counsells are deceitfull and uncertain therefore thou oughtest to permit thyself to be wholly guided and governed by God without the least trouble or anxiety And though some unexpected misfortune should happen which may seem to confound spoyl all thy actions and designs whither it be sicknes calumnies false accusations or some other greater afflictions doe not loose courage for all this but confiding in his divine assistance commit thyself wholly to his will for God hath decreed perhaps from all Eternity to make these chances afflictions a means for working thy Salvation He that hath a strong hope of the future joyes and riches of paradise doth not feel the present miseries of this life As much as thou hopest believest so much thou maist be said to possesse 3. Charity which is the Queen and soul of all other Vertues regardeth God and our neighbour As for God we are bound to love him above things with all our hart with all our Soul and with all our strength we must love him purely for himself and for the love of his goodnes That thou art that thou livest that thou hast motion and sense that thou understandest all this is the grace and gift of God It is he that hath redeemed thee from the slavery of the Devill it is he that hath endowed thy Soul with innumerable prerogatives it