summons you shall have from the will of God It is not perfection not to care for life through impatience nor to have an ear not deaf to death through faintness of courage This resignation was most excellent and very admirable in our Ladie for two reasons First the great knowledge she had of beatitude Secondly the ineffable love she bare to her Son For I leave you to think if our desires follow the first rays of our knowledges and if we be so much the more earnest after a good as we are the better informed of its merit what impatience Patience of our Lady to endure life must our Ladie needs have of life since she received a science of beatitude strong powerful and resplendent above all other creatures God giving her leave to see in Calvarie the abyss of his glories in the depth of his dolours It is no wonder we so very easily affect life seeing we are as the little children of a King bred in the house of a shepheard as the gloss upon Daniel reporteth touching the education of Nebuchadnezzar We know not what a scepter Kingdom or crown is in this great meaness of a life base and terrestrial But had we talked onely one quarter of an hour with a blessed soul and discoursed of the state of the other life our hearts would wholly dissolve into desires Which makes me say It was an act of a most heroical resolution in the blessed Virgin in those great knowledges she had of Paradise to have continued so many years in this life and if you consider the most ardent love she bare her Son who was the adamant of all loves you shall find the holy Virgin who had born all the glory of Paradise in her womb more merited in this resignation she made to see her self separated the space of thirty years both from Paradise and her Son than all the Martyrs did in resigning themselves to deaths strange bloudy and hydeous There is nothing comparable to the martyrdom of Martyrdom of love love It is an exhalation in a cloud It is a fire in a myne a torrent shut up in ditches a night of separation lasteth Ages and all waxeth old for it but its desires Now this holy Mother to be thirty years upon the cross of love without repining without complaint or disturbance peaceably expecting the stroke of her hour what virtue and how far are we from it So now adays throughout the world you see nothing Worldly irresolutions of death Boet. Carm. 1. Eheu cur dura miseros averteris aure Et stentes oculos claudere saeva negos but mourners who are loth to live or faint-hearted that would never die Some crie out Come to me O sluggish death thou hast forgotten me what do I here I am but a living death and an unprofitable burden to the earth Ah death hast thou ears of brass and diamond for me alone Canst thou not shut up mine eyes which I daily drown in my tears Much otherwise when we see one die young fresh flourishing in honour wealth health prosperity we crie out upon death as if it were cruel and malicious To take saith one this young betrothed this poor maid this husband intended this excellent man who so well played the Rhodomont to lay hold of one so necessarie for the publick in the flower of his age Why took it not away this cripple this beggar who hath not wherewith to live Why took it not away this other who daily dies yet cannot die once O our manners O dainty conceits O fit language Were it not some little humane respect we would take Gods Providence by the throat Whom do we contend withal The indifferency we daily see in the death of men where as soon the young is taken as the old the happie as the miserable the Emperour as the porter is one of the greatest signs of Gods Providence to be admired Why then complain we that God maketh us to leave life when he pleaseth It is not a punishment but a wholesom doctrine by which we learn the power of the Divine Wisdom First when we entered into life our advise was not required whether we would be born in such or such an Age such a day such a year such an hour so when we must be gone from hence there is no reason to ask our counsel Let us onely yield up this last loan and not murmure against the father of the family Let us not say this man should go before and this after Who knows them better than God You complain this miserable creature lives so long how know you whether he accomplish the years of his purgatory How know you whether God suffers him to become a spectacle unto you of his patience Why gnash you your teeth for anger that this man rich that man fortunate and that other so qualified is taken hence in his flourishing youth How know you the misadventures and shipwracks which attended him had he still continued in the world You say he was necessary why God will shew there is not any thing necessary in the world but himself Vnâ— aâ—ulso non deficit alter aureus Poor eyes of a bat which see nothing but darkness you would give eyes to Argus and light to the Sun If you desire to take part in the prudence of the just handle the matter so that for the first sign of a good death you be ever indifferent to live or die accordding to our Ladies example Daily expect death stand perpetually on your guard Do as the brave bird the Grecians call Onocratalus which is so well practised Instinct of the Onocratalus Constancy of faith to expect the Hawk to grapple with her that even when sleep shuts up her eyes she sleepeth with her beak exalted as if she would contend with her adversary Know we are continually among rocks and dangers that there needs but one hour to get all or loose all that the day of Judgement comes with the pace of a thief and that we must be ready to receive it and resolute to combat with death to gain immortalitie Hold this concluding sentence of Tertul. Idol c. 2. Hos inter scopulos velisicata spiritu Dei fides navigat tuta si cauta secura si attonita Caeterúm ineluctabile excussis profundum inexplicabile impactis naufragium irrespirabile â— devoratis hypocriphium Second quality of good death Philo l. 3. de vita Mosis in fine Notable speech of Philo of Moses his state 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Tertullian as an Oracle Amongst the rocks and shelves of this sea called life Christian faith passeth on breaking the waves filling the sails with Gods spirit ever assured yet ever distrustful and perpetually fearless yet still carefull of the future As for the rest it sees under its feet an abyss not to be passed by swimming and inexplicable ship wrack for those who are drenched a gulf which suffocates all such as it once swalloweth The second
whether in reverence to the man or for fear to precipitate the death of such a Minister of the State by too hasty an execution demanded counsel of Fannius his Captain what in this case he ought to do who did advise him to execute the command of the Emperour and this was done by a sloth fatall to all of the Conspiracy some Ladies onely excepted who shewed themselves more courageous then the Senatours and the Cavalliers Howsoever he having not the heart to carry these heavy tidings did deliver his Commission to a Centurion who informed him with the last of all necessities Seneca without troubling himself desired so much liberty as to make his Will which was refused him On which he turned to his friends and said That since it was not permitted to him to acknowledge their merit that he would leave unto them the very best of all he had which was the Image of his Life in which if they would please to call to mind how he had passed it in so many commendable Exercises they should enjoy for their recompence the reputation of a faithfull and a constant friendship And this he spake not out of arrogance but as it were by the authotity of a Father when he bids his last Farewell unto his Children recommending to them to imitate him in what he had done well and so said S. Paul to his Disciples Be you imitatours of me as I am of Jesus Christ This made their hearts to melt and they began all to weep but he did endeavour to wipe away their tears mingling sweetnesse with reproaches What do you mean he said where are the Precepts of Philosophy where is that Reason so long prepared against all the chances of humane Life who is he that can be ignorant of the cruelty of Nero and who did not see that after the death of his mother and his brother there nothing remained but to adde unto it the murder of his Master and Governour After this Discourse which served for them all he embraced his wife gave her his last farewell and having fortified her against the terrours of the present dangers he did intreat and conjure her to moderate her grief and to sweeten the sorrows of her dear husband by the consideration of his life which was without reproach He loved most tenderly that virtuous Lady and did not cherish his own life but for her sake saying sometimes That he would spare himself a little the more becausâ— in an old man there lived a young woman who deserved that he should take care for her and being not able to obtain from his dear Paulina that she should love him more fervently her love being in the highest degree of perfection she should obtain from him that he should use himself for her sake with the more indulgence This fair Lady observing all that had passed said That there was no longer life for her after the death of him whom she loved above all things in the world and that she would keep him company in the other world On that word he stood a little in a pause and would not contradict her as well for the glory of the action as for the love which he did bear her and for the fear he had to leave so dear a person to the affronts of an enemy be therefore said unto her My dear Love I have shewed you the sweetnesse and the allurements of life but I see you preferre unto it the honour of a generous death I will not envy the example of your Virtue and although the constancy in our death shall be equall in us both yet yours shall be alwayes more glorious then mine for you contribute unto it a courage which is above your sex Having said this they caused their veins to be opened by one hand in the presence one of the other and because the body of her husband was attenuated by great abstinence and the bloud did issue but slowly from him he gave order that there should be a new incision made in the veins of his legs and of his feet The poor old man did endeavour to put himself all into bloud and indured cruel dolours but more in the body of his dear wife then in his own which was the reason that he caused her to be conveighed into another chamber to mitigate a little the sorrows which one had for the other in beholding themselves to die with so much violence It is a wonderfull thing that this great man had so untroubled and so ready a spirit in so fatall an act He called his Secretary to whom he did dictate his last Thoughts which were full of a generous constancy In the mean time Nero having no particular hatred against Paulina and considering that the death of so innocent a Lady would but render himself and his cruelty more abhorred did command that her veins should be stopped and the bloud stanched which it appeared that she suffered to her greater grief both by the short time that she out-lived her husband and by the inviolable faith which she did bear unto his ashes and she looked ever after as she were some prodigy such abundance of bloud and so much spirits she had lost Seneca was yet remaining in the tedious pangs of death when upon advice he demanded poyson of his Physicians which had no operation at all his members being already cold and his body shut up against all the forces of the poyson He caused himself therefore to be carried to a Bath and taking some of the warm water he sprinkled his servants with it that stood about him saying according to Cornelius Tacitus That he offered that water to Jove the deliverer after which words he entred into the stove and was stifled with the vapour that did arise from it Many grave Personages have conceived that he died a Christian and though it is no easie matter to perswade those to this opinion who are possessed with another and who speak but with little consideration on this subject yet there are not wanting grounds to prove the truth thereof Flavius Dexter a most antient Historian who hath composed a small Chronicle from the Nativity of our Saviour unto the fourth Age affirmeth in expresse terms that in the sixty fourth year Seneca entertained good thoughts of Christianity and that he died a Christian although not a declared one S. Hierome in the Book of Ecclesiasticall Authours doth put him in the number of Saints that is to say of those who acknowledge and confesse Jesus Christ Tertullian a most grave Authour saith that he was one although not openly S. Augustine in the City of God alledgeth many excellent passages of a Book which Seneca undoubtedly did write against the Superstition of the Pagans in which he overthrows all the Heathenish Religion of Rome although he doth not vigorously perswade them to change it for fear of troubling the Estate This Book was afterwards condemned and burned by the Enemies of our Religion The holy Doctor doth
with the excess thereof for fear that good Offices be turned into misprisions and Charity render it self too importunate But so it is that we must confess that Pieces well wrought are never seen in so great a number as to bring any fastidiousness to them who do know their merit Here do I stop my pen and if there appears any worth in this Volume I look upon it as on the Mirrour planted on the wall of a Temple in Arcadia where those that beheld it in stead of their own face saw the representation of the Divinity which they adored Even so in all this which may bring any profit to the Reader I see nothing of my own but I acknowledge the Father of lights who is the Beginning and the End of all which we do make praise-worthy And I beseech him if there be found any thing attractive in these Discourses that He will like the Load-stone draw up the Readers and carry them to the love of their Creatour to whom is due the tribute of all honour as to him who is the Beginning of all Perfection It is indeed the onely consolation which we can receive from our labours For not to dissemble the Truth he that cares more to write than to live flattering his pen and neglecting his conscience shall have work enough to defend himself from the Scurf the Rat and from Oblivion And when in a passionate life he shall carry with him the applauses of the world it shall be as a small sacrifice unto him of smoke abroad to lodge a fire and tempest in his own house It is reported that the Stars contribute their beams to enlighten the Infernals and I can affirm that all the lights of Understanding and Reputation shall serve onely to inflame the torments of a reprobate soul who shall shut his eyes against God to open them onely to let in Vanity In the end after many Editions of the HOLY COURT as I desired here to put the last hand to it I am now retired into the solitary place of Quinpercorentin for the love of the truth where the honesty of the Inhabitants have made me to find it as my Countrey which other men have taken for a place of banishment There on the banks of the Ocean at the feet of a Saint who is the Tutelar of the Village perceiving that God had sweetened to me all the bitterness both of men and of the times by the infusion of his Paternal Consolation I have composed more Treatises both of Doctrine and Piety to render in some sort my silence profitable to the publick of which one day I will give a good account unto my Readers if God shall grant me life Amongst other things I have digested into good order this Work of the HOLY COURT and I have enriched it with a remarkable Augmentation of the Lives and Elogies of the Illustrious Personages at Court as well in the Old as the New Testament Now I do produce it to the light after that by the singular favour of Heaven the obstacles are removed and Truth acknowledged on the Throne of Lights with which God hath round environed it THE TABLE OF THE Chief CONTENTS of the First Tome of the HOLY COURT FIRST BOOK Motives to stir up Persons of quality to Christian Perfection MOTIVE Page THat the Court and Devotion are not incompatible 1 I. Name of Christian. 2 II. Nobilitie 4 III. Eminent Dignitie 5 IV. Riches 8 V. Corporal endowments 9 VI. Endowments of the mind 11 VII Courage 13 VIII Education 15 IX Court a life of penance 17 X. Gratitude 19 XI Example 21 XII Punishment 22 XIII Reward 24 SECOND BOOK Hinderances that worldly ones have in the path of salvation OBSTACLE Page I. WEak faith 26 II. Errour in faith in Religion 30 III. To live according to opinion 37 IV. Inconstancie of manners 39 V. Masked life 41 VI. Ill mannage of time 43 VII Libertie of tongue 45 VIII Curiosity in bearing affronts 47 IX Carnal love 49 X. Superfluous Attire 51 XI Envie 54 XII Ambition and Avarice 56 Conclusion A bad Courtiers life is a perpetual Obstacle to virtue 58 THIRD BOOK Practice of VIRTUES SECTION Page I. DEvotion for Great-ones 60 II. Wherein consisteth all Devotion and Spiritual life 61 Character of the spiritual man ibid. Character of the carnal man ibid. III. First combat of a spiritual man against ignorance 62 IV. Practice of faith ibid. V. Four other lights to disperse ignorance 64 VI. Twelve Maxims of salvation ibid. VII Twelve Maxims of wisdom 66 VIII Practice of Devotion and Prayer 68 IX Necessitie of confession ibid. X. Practice of confession 69 XI Practice of examen of conscience 71 XII Practice of receiving 72 XIII Practice of hearing Mass 74 XIV Practice of meditation 75 XV. Practice of vocal prayer and spiritual reading and frequenting Sermons 77 XVI Second combat of the spiritual man against pusillanimitie 78 XVII Twelve Maxims to vanquish temptations 79 XVIII Remedies against the passions and temptations growing from every vice 81 XIX Shame in well doing 82 XX. Affection towards creatures ibid. XXI Indiscreet affliction of mind and sadness 83 XXII Third combat of the Spiritual man against impurity 85 XXIII Practise of chastity 85 XXIV Practise of temperance 86 XXV Practise of modesty 87 XXVI Practise of prudence and government in conversation ibid. XXVII Against another impurity to wit desire of having and first of poverty of the rich 89 XXVIII Practise of justice ibid. XXIX Practise of thankfulness 90 XXX Practise of charity 91 XXXI The practise of humility and magnanimity 92 XXXII Practise of patience 93 XXXIII Practise of daily actions 94 Instructions for Married XXXIV Misery of marriages ill managed 96 XXXV Evils of marriage grow from disorders therein committed 99 XXXVI Selected instructions for the married 101 XXXVII Instructions for Widdows 102 To Maids XXXVIII Praises of virginity and of the modesty they ought to observe in their carriage 104 To Fathers and Mothers XXXIX Concerning bringing up and instructing children 107 To Children XL. Of piety towards parents 110 The fourth Book treateth of Impiety of Courts and Unhappy Policie page 114 The fifth Book setteth forth Fortunate Pietie page 137 A TABLE OF THE TITLES and SECTIONS contained in the Second Tome of the HOLY COURT THE PRELATE SECT Page I. THat it is convenient the Nobilitie should govern the Church 165 II. That the Nobilitie should not aspire to Ecclesiastical offices but by lawfull ways 167 III. Of the Vocation or calling of a Prelate 168 IV. Virtues requisite in the carriage of a Prelate 169 V. The second virtue of a Prelate which is Fortitude of spirit against Avarice and Riot 170 VI. The third Qualitie of a good Prelate which is purity of life 171 VII The fourth perfection of a Prelate which is observed in Zeal and Charity 172 VIII The fifth excellency of a Prelate which is science and prudence ibid. IX The Motives which noble Prelates have to the duty of their
profession 173 X. The Examples of great Prelates are very lively spurs to Virtue ibid. S. AMBROSE I. HIs Calling 175 II. A short Elogie of the life and manners of S. Ambrose 179 III. His Government ibid. IV. His Combats and first against Gentilism 182 Oration of Symmachus to Theodosius and Valentinian the Younger for the Altar of Victory Exercise of Pagan Religion and Revenue of Vestals ibid. V. Oration of S. Ambrose against Symmachus 184 VI. The triumph of S. Ambrose in the conversion of S. Augustine 188 VII Dispositions to the conversion of S. Augustine 191 VIII Agitations of Spirit in S. Augustine upon his conversion 194 IX Accidents which furthered this conversion 195 X. The Admirable change of S. Augustine 196 XI The Affairs of S. Ambrose with the Emperours Valentinian the Father and Gratian the son 199 XII The death of the Emperour Gratian and afflictions of S. Ambrose 202 XIII The Embassage of S. Ambrose 204 XIV The persecution of S. Ambrose raised by the Emperess Justina 206 XV. Maximus passeth into Italie 208 XVI Affliction of S. Ambrose upon the death of Valentinian 210 XVII The tyranny of Eugenius and not able liberty of S. Ambrose 211 XVIII The differences of S. Ambrose with the Emperour Theodosius his death 213 THE SOULDIER I. THe excellency of warlike virtue 217 II. He Enterance into the palace of Valour and the illusions of the Salmoneans and Rodomonts 218 III. The Temple of Valour and sage Precepts given by the Christian Souâ—dier to refute the manners of the times And first That Piety helpeth Valour 220 IV. Manifest proofs which declare that Piety and Valour are not things incompatible 222 V. Against Duels 224 VI. Against the ill mannage of arms 225 VII Against sensual Love Impurity 228 VIII Against the perfidiousnes of interests 230 IX Short and notable Instructions 231 CONSTANTINE I. THe providence of God over Constantine 233 II. The Nobility of Constantine 235 III. His Education and Qualities 237 IV. His entery into the Empire 238 V. His prowess against Maxentius 242 VI. The death of Diocletian and feats of Arms performed by Constantine against Lycinius 243 VII The vices and passions of Constantine before his Baptism with the death of Crispus and Fausta 245 VIII The calling of Constantine to christianity The progress of his conversion and Baptism 247 IX The acts of Constantine after his Baptism 248 X. The endeavour of good works with the virtues and laws of Constantine 249 XI The Zeal of Constantine in the proceedings in the Councel of Nice 251 XII The government of Constantine 254 XIII The death of Constantine 255 THE STATES-MAN I. THe excellency of politick virtue 263 II. He Table of Babylon drawn from sundry conceptions of the most singular wits of Antiquity 264 III. The destruction of Babylon and the government of the Divine Providence over the Estates of the world 266 IV. The Table of the Citie of God otherwise called The Citie of honest men drawn out of many excellent conceits of ancient Authours and things practised in some former Common-wealths 268 V. Sage Precepts drawn out of the Monuments of the divine Agathopolis 271 BOETIUS I. HIs great Nobility 276 II. The eminent Wisdom and Learning of Boetius 278 III. His enterance into government of state 280 IV. The enterance of Theodorick into Rome and his happy Government by the counsel of Boetius 282 V. The Honours of Boetius and alteration of Theodorick 287 VI. The imprisonment of Boetius 291 VII The death of Boetius 293 THE LADIE I. THat the HOLY COURT cannot subsist without the virtue of Ladies and of their piety in the advancement of christianity 297 II. That Women are capable of good Lights and solid Instructions 298 III. The ten Orders of women and the vicious qualities which Ladies ought especially to avoid 299 IV. The tenth Order of Women full of Wisdom and Virtue 302 V. A brief Table of the excellent Qualities of a Lady And first of true Devotion 302 VI. Modestie 303 VII Chastitie 304 VIII Discretion in the manage of affairs 305 IX Conjugal Love 306 X. The care of children 307 XI The conclusion of the Discourse ibid. CLOTILDA I. HEr Birth and Education 307 II. Clodovaeus requireth Clotilda in marriage 308 III. Embassage to the King of Burgundie for the marriage of Clotilda 310 IV. The arrival of Clotilda in France the life she led in the time of her Wedlock 312 V. The prudence which the Queen used in the conversion of her Husband 313 VI. The conversion of Clodovaeus 315 VII What Clodovaeus did by the perswasion of Clotilda after his Baptism 316 VIII The good success which God gave to Clodovaeus after he became a christian 317 IX The life of Clotilda in her widowhood Her afflictions and glorious death 319 INDEGONDIS X. ISsued from the bloud and house of Clotilda she transporteth the Catholick Faith into Spain 323 XI The persecutions of Indegondis 324 XII The Retreat of Hermingildus and his conversion 325 XIII The Reciprocal letters of the father and the son upon their separation 326 XIV The Treatie of peace between Levigildus and his son by the mediation of Indegondis 327 XV. Hermingildus is wickedly betrayed 328 XVI The letter of Hermingildus to Indegondis and his generous resolution 330 XVII The death of Hermingildus 331 A TABLE OF THE MAXIMS AND EXAMPLES Contained in the third Tome of the HOLY COURT The First Part of the Third Tome touching the Divinitie I. Maxim OF Religion page 339 I. Example OF the esteem we ought to make of faith and Religion 342 II. Maxim Of the Essence of God 343 II. Example The power of God over faithless souls 346 III. Maxim Of the excellency of God 348 The greatness of God compared to the abjectness of man 349 III. Example Of the weakness of man and inconstancy of humane things 352 IV. Maxim Of the providence of God 354 The foundation of truths of the providence of God 356 IV. Example Divers observations upon providence 358 V. Maxim Of Accidents 359 V. Example Of the providence of God over the estates and riches of the world 363 VI. Maxim Of praedestination 365 VI. Example Of the secret power of praedestination 368 VII Maxim Of the Divinity of Jesus 370 Of the revelation of the Word Incarnate and how all creatures bear witness of his divinity ibid. VII Example The triumph of Jesus over the enemies of Faith 373 VIII Maxim Of perfections of Jesus which make him to be beloved 375 Excellencies in the person of our Saviour 376 VIII Example Of the admirable change of worldly love into the love of Jesus Christ 379. The Second Part touching the Order of this present Life IX Maxim OF Devotion 381 IX Maxim OF dark Devotion 382 IX Maxim Affected Devotion 383 IX Maxim Transcendent Devotion 384 IX Maxim Solid Devotion 386 IX Example Of solid Devotion 387 X. Maxim Of interest 389 X. Example Of liberality and the unhappiness of such as seek
with lawful and necessary circumstances touch the motive without extravagancies and the intention which hath excited us to do it and continuance of the sin to represent the state of the soul to the life Yet for all this you must not so much think upon this preparation nor the means to unfold your self that thereby the principal part of penance be neglected which is contrition This contrition is a sorrow to have offended God Contrition not principally for the deformity of sin and the fear of punishment for that is nothing but attrition but for that this sin is committed against God infinitely good and infinitely amiable and for that one maketh a firm resolution to be confessed and to preserve himself from sin in time to come Behold the point of contrition which to attain you must seriously and advisedly represent to your self the greatness goodness power wisdom justice love mercy benefits of God opposed to your malice weakness Hostility of sin baseness ignorance presumption misery ingratitude and well figure to your self the hostility of mortal sin to obtain an eternal detestation against it To consider how it ruineth riches honours credit reputation posterity and Empires That it soyleth the glory of an innocent life and leaveth a character of infamy That it overthroweth bodies health good grace that it openeth the gates of sudden and unexpected death That it maketh man blind dumb deaf wicked senseless stupid savage and many times furious and enraged by the remorse of conscience That it dispoileth a soul of all the graces beauties excellencies priviledges love favour of God hope of life and salvation That it killeth it and rendeth it more cruelly than a tiger or panther That a life of God was needful to take away such a blemish and that if a soul be spotted at the hour of death an eternity of flames cannot deliver it and such like In sins which seem least you shall always have great cause of contrition when the benefits of God shall be represented unto you which he particularly and personally hath conferred upon us opposed to our childishness of heart tepidity slackness infidelity negligence ingratitude As for the proceeding Proceeding in confession to confession the preparatives being well made it is needful to choose a Confessour who hath four qualities jurisdiction reputation knowledge discretion and after you have confessed to him entirely faithfully sincerely to accomplish the penance enjoyned you with obedience promptness and punctual diligence afterward to take a new spirit to resist temptations and to busie your self in good works with more courage than ever The eleventh SECTION The Practice of Examen THe practice of Confession is made more easie Necessity of examen by the examen of conscience as well general as particular Think not too much is required of your profession if there be speech used to you of the examen of conscience Not onely the Philosophers have made it as Pythagoras Seneca Plutarch but poor barbarous Indians by the relation of Apulejus took an account every evening of the good and evil they had done each day This is it which is required of you Prepare daily a little Consistory of justice in your conscience see what passeth within your self acknowledge your defects and amend them to prevent the justice of God It is said the eclipse of the Sun causeth the earthquake and the eclipse of reason by ignorance of the interiour man produceth great disorders in the Culielm Pariâ—iens c. 12. Sacro poenite In hoc Tribunali sedet misericordia assidet autem justitia ubi quicquid contra poenitentem inscribit justitia totum delet misericordia acumen styli velut â—igens in corde poenitentis soul For the wicked spirit saith Procopius upon the first of Kings endeavoureth to use us as did the Ammonites the inhabitants of Jabes They seek to pull out our right eye and to bereave us of the sight of our selves to bury us in great and deep confusions But let us make use of all the lights which God hath given us to cast reflections into the bottom of our thoughts The conscience is an admirable Tribunal where Justice pleadeth and Mercie sentenceth All that which the me writes the other blotteth out putting as it were the point of the pen upon the heart of the penitent A good Interpreter of the Scripture relateth the Delrio ser de Conscientia vision of a wise man who on a day sought for the house of conscience and it seemed to him he beheld a Citie built with goodly architecture beautified with five gates which had as many narrow paths ending in one larger way Upon this way stood a Register who took the names of all passengers to record them Beyond that he saw two Tribunes attended by a great concourse of the common people who governed the inferiour parts of the Citie above was beheld a Cittadel wherein a great Princess commanded who had a scepter in hand and crown on her head By her side was a Ladie very ancient and venerable who in one hand held a torch with which she lighted this Queen and in the other a goad wherewith she pricked her if she governed not according to her direction The wise man amazed asked in his heart what all this train meant and he heard a voice within which said unto him Behold thy self ere thou art aware arrived at the house of conscience which thou â—oughtest for These five gates thou seest are the five senses The way where they all meet is common sense All the people which enter in by heaps are the objects of the creatures of the world which first touch our senses before they pass into the soul This Register who writeth down the names is imagination that keeps record of all things These two Tribunes are the two appetites the one is called the appetite of concupiscence which is ever in search after its desires the other the appetite of anger extreamly striving to strike at all obstacles which oppose its good either real or pretended This mass of people thou seest are the passions which make ill work in the inferiour parts of the Citie This Princess in the Cittadel with crown and scepter is reason The ancient and venerable Ladie by her side is conscience She hath a torch to shew the good way and the goad to prick those that wander In a word if Dictamen rationis spiritus corrector paedagogus animae S. Thom. 1. p. q. 79. thou desirest to know what conscience is it is a sovereign notice of good and ill which God impresseth on our hearts as with a hot iron and is very hard to be taken off Happy he who often visiteth this interiour house God hath given him and pondereth all his thoughts his words and actions to adopt them to the measures of the eternal law You know a general examen hath five parts Parts Thanksgiving invocation discussion petition resolution In thanksgiving we thank God
ought to be freed from wars of nature which ever keep in humility your soul a little too indulgent to it self The eighteenth SECTION Remedies against passions and temptations which proceed from every vice I. TO consider that passion is a motion of the sensual appetite which proceedeth from the imagination of good or evil with some agitation of the body II. That there are eleven passions six in the appetite of concupiscence which are love hatred desire aversion joy sadness Five in the appetite of revenge which are hope despair boldness fear anger III. That there are two means to vanquish all passions whereof the first is a precaution of mind against the occasions and vain apparences of all things of the world and the second a serious entertainment of the mind in better things as prayer study labour affairs But above all you must beg of God the light and strength of his holy grace which infinitely surpasseth all humane remedies We here adde some preservatives against passions and the most ordinary vices Against carnal love I. To consider the barrenness of worldly loves which are the true gardens of Adonis wherein nothing is gathered but wretched flowers environed with many thorns II. To set a true estimate upon things and not to be deceived with apparences III. To keep watch over your senses to avoid the opportunities and occasions of sin and above all to have recourse unto God upon the first impression of your thoughts IV. To free your self by main force from the presence of objects to be delighted with serious purposes and good employments V. To present to your self very often the defect ingratitude levity inconstancy and treachery of creatures which we most servilely love Against aversions hatreds and envies I. To esteem nothing great in this life is the way to envie nothing II. To love onely the great inheritance of the land of the living which never becomes less by the many and several divisions made to those who possess it III. To consider attentively the motives which excite us to love our neighbour as the participation of the same nature same life same bloud and like profession and such other reasons which are as so many knots of amity IV. The wretched life of Cain to live in envie troubles disturbances and rage of a distempered spirit which causeth the immortality of its being to contribute to the eternity of its pains V. To behold how envy ere it is aware serveth many times to the advancement of those who are envied Against covetousness worldly hope and joy I. The disquiet of an hungry mind II. The unsatiableness of desires III. The wars and battels we must oft-times undergo to satisfie one sole desire IV. The dishonour of denial insupportable to a generous soul V. The dependence and slavery we must endure to please those from whom we expect the accomplishment of our desires VI. the frailty in offending God through too much greediness of temporal things VII The poor and short pleasure taken in things we most ardently desire VIII That God many times affordeth us the accomplishment of our desires as a punishment of our imperfections Against sadness and despair There is a holy sadness as that we entertain upon the passion of our Saviour or for our sins which is a gift of God and not a punishment There is another furious which hath no ears and which is rather cured by miracles than precepts There is one natural which proceedeth from humour and another vitious fostered by evil habits and neglects of salvation I. Against this last we must consider our desires and affections oft-times make up all our sadness and that the true means to lessen the cares which consume us is to sweeten the sharp and ardent love we bear towards worldly things II. The small account we make of God is the cause we many times are troubled at frivolous things either distantly threatning us or already happened He that would truly love this great God who deserveth all the love both of Heaven and earth should not suffer fear or sadness for any thing but the loss of the love of God which no man looseth if he be not willing to for go it III. Nought but tears of the damned is remediless He that may be in the way of Paradise should not make a kind of hell on earth and who may hope this great All should never be sad for any thing Against evil confidence I. That to be confident in evil things is to have a desperate instrument of ones own misery which entertaineth all exorbitancies of the heart to make them the more punishable II. That there is no assured confidence against the power of God which in an instant ruineth the posterity of the greatest Tyrants III. That the strongest things are wasted by the weakest Lyons have been eaten up by flies and rust though contemptible consumes the hardest mettals IV. That to be confident through presumption of strength is the high-way to become ridiculous in enterprises and unfortunate in all successes We must not go about to soar to the sun with the wings of a Reare-mouse nor sail on the Ocean in the shell of a Tortoise Against fear I. Neither to desire nor love any thing inordinately is the path-way to peace where fear never harbours II. To have a strong charity towards God and to love him fervently with perswasion of his reciprocal love This is the means to enter into a firm confidence For what evil may we fear against us when God is with us III. We many times fear evils which are the fources of great blessings some are not truly evils other much less than we make them and many will never happen Why will you abide where you are not and put your self on the rack in your imagination IV. He who resolves to suffer all that God will have him takes in hand a powerful remedy against all sorts of fears For he who is a Master over sorrow commandeth terrour since the evil present is much more troublesom than the future V. There are natural fears much tied to flesh unless they be vanquished and sweetned by frequent custom with the things which are feared and conversation with men confident and couragious Against anger I. To consider how it depriveth us of six things very precious to wit of wisdom justice civility concord truth and the splendour of the spirit of God II. How it suddenly transfigureth a man into a little monster III. How it is hurtful to the state of health which we so tenderly love IV. That it abaseth the person surprized with it and especially if he be in some eminency of life and dignity V. That the effects thereof are cruel the spoils pernicious events shameful and falls for the most part irrecoverable VI. The contentment to have kept back an evil word which had destroyed a good affair VII The abstinence from curiosities and niceness of life cutteth asunder the sinews of anger The less curious a man is the more
by loving all he loves and hating all he hates Imitation by ever bearing some mark of him upon our flesh according to the Apostles precept who said Glorifie and bear God upon your bodie And to conclude let us often say Feed O Lord thy poor begger with continual influences Blosiâ— of this Divinitie I ask and desire with all my heart thy love may penetrate replenish and transform me wholly into thee The seventh EXAMPLE upon the seventh MAXIM The triumph of JESUS over the Enemies of Faith JULIAN the Apostate ALl those who forsake the Word of God are Recedentes a te in terra scribentur Hier. 17. wretched men blotted out of Heaven to be written on earth and whose names the earth it self being unable to preserve abandoneth to forgetfulness or contempt and very often to execration This is manifested by many sensible proofs in the examples of the Emperour Julian who betraying his Religion and dishonouring the character of Christianity made himself one of the most miserable Princes that ever was under Heaven leaving his soul as a prey for devils his enterprizes to ill success his life to a most bloudy death his person to the scorn and hatred of men and his memory to the detestation of all Ages Notwithstanding he wanted no eminent qualities Qualities of Julian which shew that without true Religion all is unprofitable which might have raised him had he not forsaken the source of height and glory Birth gave him Constantius brother of great Constantine for father Besilina a most noble Princess for mother an Emperour for uncle three for cousin-germains Constantinople for his native soil and to serve for a Theater of great actions He had a good wit strong body tongue eloquent conversation pleasing and courage masculine There was not any science in the world whereof he had not some tincture he most prosperously mingled arms with letters and appeared as couragious in the front of Armies as in learned Schools He very little esteemed his body so much was his soul divorced from his flesh worldly riches were nothing at all in his hands nor did he value them but to give them He said It was for those who had no spirit to beg praise from the body that he was ever handsom enough who was chaste and that if Painters made fair faces chastity beautifull lives His counsel was to avoid love as an enraged Master according to the saying of Sophocles to live in the command over proper passions and free enjoying of himself The Gentlemen of his chamber and all domesticks who most nearly looked into his life gave assurance never was any thing more chast He slept little fed very soberly continually afflicted his body accustomed it to travel in such manner that he was seen in the snows of Germanie and broyling ardours of Persia perpetually in the same state After indefatigable toyls of the day he betook himself by candle-light to studies of the night He almost never lay but on the bare boards and waked at an hour prefixed not needing any one to give him notice He expected so little service about his person that being at Paris which he called His well-beloved Citie in the time of a sharp winter when the Seine was frozen scarcely would he suffer a fire to be made in his chamber so discourteously he used himself He hated riot superfluities Bals and Comedies and if needs he must sometime permit them it was more to reprove than behold them He afforded good and speedy justice his heart was patient and temperate towards the people whom he freed what he could from tributes making his impositions accord with the ability of particulars and saying He would leave his treasures to be kept by his good friends which were his subjects Is it not a lamentable case that so great a man was so miserably lost with so many excellent parts For want of preserving the best which is piety It is true that almost all our Historians have written of him with much rigour dissembling what was good in him to render him the more odious but for my part I am of opinion the greatness of Christianity more appeared therein if having shewed the ornaments of nature which this Prince had we make you plainly see all that very ill succeeded with him and that we cannot find any other source of his misery but his infidelity The judicious Readers shall here observe the cause The causes of his corruption of his ruin and consider the first education of children is an impression very tender which being not well mannaged in the beginning filleth the whole life with disorders Tutours are the fathers of spirits said Tutours are fathers of spirits S. Irenaeus as having more influence over the resemblance of souls than carnal fathers over bodies Ill luck would have it that little Julian being left young in the guardianship of his uncle Constantine was recommended to Eusebius of Nicomedia to be instructed in faith Now this Eusebius was a wolf in a lambskin who counterfeiting to be very Catholick ceated not by his credit to advance Arianism so that this young Prince fashioned at first by so ill a hand could not entertain belief and reverence towards the Person of our Saviour Heresie is the key of Atheism and when a soul is disposed to contempt of its gracious Mother on earth it easily learns no longer to acknowledge a Father in heaven He being so ill grounded in the elements of faith Ecebolus an hypocrite was put under the discipline of a Rhetorician named Ecebolus who turned with all winds and admitted Religion according to the times For when he saw Christian Emperours reign he for ceremony seemed a Christian If Pagans swayed there was none more insolent than he If Empire returned again to Christians he placed himself in Church-porches beseeching every one to tread on him as a thing contemptible He above all hearkened to and honoured Libanius one of the greatest Sophisters of his time but a Pagan till death He had a spirit mild and very indifferent upon articles of Religion he equally received Christians and Pagans into his school and permitted S. Basil himself to preach to his schollars but omitted not silently to contrive the means how to re-establish the Altars and Temples of the Gods He reflected on Julian as the Palladion of Gentilism and bound him fast to his own person by the charms of his eloquence to apply him to his counsels All the little piety which Julian might have learned School of Julian from a man who had none began to wither away in a school where all was known but God Apollo there possessed the name of Jesus Diana of Mary Aristotle Plato were the Prophets Isocrates the Preacher and the names of Tritons were there better understood than of S. Peter and S. Andrew the fisher-men This new disciple took such a tast of eloquence that it made him forget devotion he would have given a whole Province
abundance unless we will say such as have been the most persecuted were the most eminent Where it seems it is an act of the Divine Providence to have many times given to vicious and faithless husbands the best wives Good wives of bad husbands in the world as Mariamne to Herod Serena to Diocletian Constantia to Licinius Helena to Julian the Apostate Irene to Constantinus Copronymus Theodora to the Emperour Theophilus Theodelinda to Uthar Thira to Gormondus King of Denmark Charlotte de Albret to Caesar Borgia Catherine to Henrie of England Katherine of England Flor. Remond This Ladie was infinitely pious yea beyond limit It is good to be devout in marriage and not to forget she is a married wife much way must be given to the humours of a husband much to the care of children and family and sometimes to loose God at the Altar to find him in houshold cares But this Queen onely attended the affairs of Heaven and had already so little in her of earth that she shewed in all her deportments to bemade for another manner of Crown than that of Great Brittain She for the most part shut her self up in the Monasteries of Virgins and rose at mid-night to be present at Mattins She was clothed from five of the clock not decked like a Queen but contented with a simple habit saying The best time should be allowed to the soul since it is the better part of our selves When she had the poor habit of Saint Francis under her garments which she commonly ware she reputed her self brave enough The Fridays and Saturdays were ever dedicated by her to abstinence but the Eves of our Ladies feasts she fasted with bread and water she failed not to confess on wednesdays and fridays and in a time when Communions were very seldom she had recourse thereunto every sunday In the fore-noon she continued six hours in prayer after dinner she read two whole hours the lives of Saints and speedily returned to Church from whence she departed not till night drave her thence This was to eat honey and Manna in abundance in a condition which had too strong ties for the earth to be so timely an inhabitant of Heaven Whilest she led this Angelical life her husband young and boyling overflowed in all sorts of riot and in the end came to this extremity as to trample all laws both divine and humane under foot to repudiate his lawfull wife who brought him children to serve as pledges of marriage and wed Anne of Bollen Since this love which made as it were but one tomb of two parts of the world never have we seen any more dreadfull The poor Princess who was looked on by all Christendom as a perfect model of all virtue was driven out of her Palace and bed amidst the tears and lamentations of all honest men and went to Kimbolton a place in commodious and unhealthy whilest another took possession both of the heart and scepter of the King So that here we may behold virtue afflicted and a devotion so constant that the ruins of fortune which made all the world tremble were unable to shake it She remained in her solitude with three waiting-women and four or five servants a thousand times more content than had she lived in the highest glory of worldly honour and having no tears to bewail her self she lamented the miseries she left behind her There is yet a letter left which she wrote to her husband a little before her death plainly shewing the mild temper of her heart and the force of devotion which makes the most enflamed injuries to be forgotten to procure conformity to the King of the afflicted who is the mirrour of patience as he is the reward of all sufferers My King and dearest spouse Insomuch as already the hour of my death approcheth the love and affection I bear you causeth me to conjure you to have a care of the eternal salvation of your soul which you ought to prefer before mortal things or all worldly blessings It is for this immortal spirit you must neglect the care of your bodie for the love of which you have thrown me head-long into many calamities and your own self into infinite disturbances But I forgive you with all my heart humbly beseeching Almightie God he will in Heaven confirm the pardon I on earth give you I recommend unto you our most dear Mary your daughter and mine praying you to be a better Father to her than you have been a husband to me Remember also the three poor maids companions of my retirement as likewise all the rest of my servants giving them a whole years wages besides what is due that so they may be a little recompenced for the good service they have done me protesting unto you in the conclusion of this my letter and life that my eyes love you and desire to see you more than any thing mortal Henrie the eight notwithstanding his violence read this letter with tears in his eyes and having dispatched a Gentleman to visit her he found death had already delivered her from captivity X. MAXIM Of PROPER INTEREST THE PROPHANE COURT THE HOLY COURT Every understanding man should do all for himself as if he were his own God and esteem no Gospel more sacred than his Proper Interest That proper Interest is a tyranny framed against the Divinitie and that a man who is the God of himself is a devil to the rest of the world THis Maxim of the Prophane Court is the source of all evils the very plague of humane life and one may say it is the Trojan horse which beareth fire and sword saccage and rapine in its entrails From thence proceed ambition rebellion sacriledge rapine Disloyalties that spring from this marim concussion ingratitude treacherie and in a word all that which is horrid in nature self-Self-love which should be contained within the limits of an honest preservation of ones self flieth out as a river from his channel and with a furious inundation covereth all the land it overthrows all duty and deep drencheth all respect of honesty Men who have renounced piety if they peradventure see themselves to be strong and supported with worldly enablements acknowledge no other Gods but themselves They imagine the Jupiter of Poets was made as they they create little Sultans and there is not any thing from whence they derive not tribute to make their imaginary greatness encrease When this blindness happeneth in persons very eminent it is most pernicious for then is the time when not being awed by the fear of a God Omnipotent they turn the world upside down to satisfie miserable ambition And such Princes there have been who have rather profusely lost the lives of thirty thousand subjects than suffered so much land to be usurped upon them as were needfull for their tomb Others whom birth hath not made Caesars extend Practise of worldly men Ingratitude their petty power what they may They observemen sound
own tears and that in the same manner they are produced to beatitude by Plin. 21. 5. Lilium lachrymâ suâ seritur their proper afflictions but it is to see themselves in a state of power to loose the grace of God and to be able to be separated from the first of lives by an action of death That is it which made Job being on the dunghil like to the dunghil it self as on the throne of patience to deplore his condition and say Why hast Quare me posuisti contrarium tibi sum mihimetipsi gravis thou made me seeing I am contrary to thy divine Majesty That is it which renders me in supportable to my self Now there shall be in beatitude an impotencie of sin because in full sight of Sovereign good it will be impossible to propend to the least evil or least disorder without which there can be no sin Moreover as our knowledges are here wretched Excellency of beatifick science and starven there is not a man so knowing in the world who for one drop of knowledge hath not a tun of ignorance and who in the little he knoweth hath not ever many errours which stick to science as the worm to the tree or the moath to the cloath Now there above the ray of increated light which shall appear in full lustre will dissipate all the weakness of understanding all inconsiderations all faults and shall fill us with a most resplendent verity So that our In lumine tuo videbimus lumen soul shall be like to that Aegyptian pyramid which perpendicularly reflected on by the Sun cast no shadow Lastly we see our love is ill guided in this way-faring Beauty of beatifick love compared to the weakness of wordly love life it sticks upon so many frivolous objects which are foolish fires that often lead it into precipices It is taken by the eys with blessings which have nothing more certain in them than their loss blessings which we ever shall leave by death if they forsake not us by misfortune Being surprized it tumbleth therein and perpetually bendeth to all which feedeth its dolours and drives away content All it least can do is that thing it most desires all it seeks is many times the good it escheweth It looseth labour to run after a flitting phantasm and if it stay it is not but through despair not to overtake all which kils it But if it come to possess what it loves it is instantly turmoiled with its happiness and not having need to labour any more in desires it grows mouldly in proper fruition It is willing to be resisted to enkindle its flame and resistance thrusts it into rage as possession into distast That is it which maketh me say the earth being made for us we are not made for the earth and that we should seek the place where love suffers neither offence nor interruption I say offence for it hath an object which contents all the world and offendeth none I say interruption for if we cease to love in Paradise it must proceed from God or from our selves If it be by the commandment of God we cease to love we shall cease in loving and in ceasing we shall incessantly love since we shall cease through love This cessation cannot come from us for we shall love without obstacle and of necessitie that Sovereign good which for its infinities will not be beloved but in infinitum O what pleasure to have but one pleasure and what joy to derive all joys from their source Why say we not with S. Augustine O fountain of life O vein of living waters when shall I come to thy delights and eternal sweetness I here on earth sigh after thy beauties O holy Hierusalem in a land scorched with fervours of sensuality O when will it be that I shall come before the face of my God! Think you I shall see that fortunate day that day of comfort and triumphs that day which God hath made and which takes its eastern rise from his eys O bright day which hath no evening nor knows what the setting Sun is When do you think I shall hear that word Enter into the joys of thy Master enter into a joy inaccessible to sorrow wherein is all good with an eternal banishment of all evil There it is where youth waxed not old where life hath no limits where beauty decays not where love knoweth not what it is to be cold nor health to impair O dear Citie With weeping eyes we behold thee afar off we thy poor exiles but yet thy children redeemed with his bloud who makes thee happie by his aspects Stretch out thy arms unto us O mild Saviour cast an eye on us from the haven in these storms of life and give us leave to walk in so undoubted paths that we may come to the place where thou livest and reignest for ever The nineteenth EXAMPLE upon the nineteenth MAXIM Of the Pleasures of beatitude THe joys of Paradise are without example and as they are here above our experience so they pass beyond our imagination Yet well may we conceive raised bodies shall have some manner of contentment in the perfect use of their senses and beauty of objects which shall satiate them with everlasting delights When after a long winter which covered us in darkness and buried us in snow we behold a new world arise under the benign favour of the spring and consequently the golden days of summer we feel our heart dilate seasonably taking in some antipast of the repose of the blessed What sweetness is it to enjoy delights in a body sound and a spirit well purified What contentment to behold those goodly Palaces where is seen an admirable consort of art and nature so many Hals so well furnished within such rich hangings such most exquisite pictures such marbles such gildings and without mountains which make a natural theater tapistred without art to surpass all workmanship forrests which seem born with the world hedges and knots curiously cut alleys and mazes where both eyes and feet are lost rivers which creep along with silver purlings about gardens enameled with most fragant flowers cavernes replenished with a sacred horrour grots and fountains which gently gliding contend with the warble of birds and so many other spectacles which at first sight astonish spirits and never satiate All this is but a little atome I do not say of the essential pleasure of the blessed which is ineffable but of the sole content of the senses of a glorious bodie which may in some sort be expressed S. John to accommodate himself to the weakness Apoc. 21. and 22. of our understanding hath made a description of it in the Apocalyps where he depainteth this goodly Cittie of the blessed with singular curiosity It is a pretty thing to consider how Lucian an excellent wit though a bad man intruding into our mysteries hath set out in his idea's to the imitation of it the life of
Emissenus The eternal nights of hell have been visited by the rays of God plaints and clamours ceased direful chains fell off executioners were amazed and the whole habitation condemned to eternal pains shook under the feet of this admirable Conquerour The Prophet pursueth (b) (b) (b) Parata sedes tua c. Elevaverunt flumina c. Mirabiles elationes maris The seat of glory O Saviour was prepared for thee from all eternity and thereinto thou makest a victorious triumphant entry after so great an inundation of sufferings All the waves of persecutions have roared over thy head and have buried thee in the acerbities of death How much the more this sea of passions immeasurably swelled so much the more thou appearedst resplendent in the supream eminency of thy glory and triumphs 6. (b) (b) (b) The sweetness of the repose of Jesus and all the elect in the state of the resurection Transfer your consideration from thence to the effect of our Saviours glorification which consisteth in repose and stability represented by the Angel which appeared at the resurrection sitting on a solid stone This verily is the great day which we may call the mystical Sabbaoth and the eternal repose of Jesus It is said in the mystery of the creation (c) (c) (c) Complevitque Deus die septimo opus suum quod fecerat requievit die septimo ab universo opere quod patrarat benedixit diei septimo sanctificavit illum Genes 2. 1. The relation of the resurrection to the creation that God rested on the seaventh day and casting his eye on all these great works which he drew out of nothing he thereupon took satisfaction in his spirit and impressed them all as with the seal of his approbation To speak according to our understanding it was an incomparable comfort to the heart of the Sovereign Creatour to behold in six days so goodly a world where before that time reigned an huge imaginary vacuum accompanied with a sad horrour of darkness And to consider how a Nothing in the hands of a great work-man was a mighty thing having been as the ground of the greatness beauty of the universe What contentment to see a heaven distended as a Pavilion over all creatures which already circumvolved with so much impetuousness and besides to see it enameled with so great a number of stars in the peaceable silence of the night and in the day to see it enlightened with a sun which is the visible Image of God invisible the eye of the world the heart of nature the treasury of heat light and influences that animate illustrate and quicken all the parts of this great work To see a moon to serve for a sun by night so constant in her in constancy so regular in her increasings and waynings so measured in all her course so effectual and fruitfull in the impressions she maketh on nature To see days and nights return into our hemisphere at a time prefixed to agree as brothers sisters to afford time one to another and to yield it one in winter another in summer with so much integrity that all therein goes in compass To see the order of seasons a delicious spring-tide strewed all over with flourishing beauties a summer with harvests an Autumn with its fruits and a winter which is as the depository of nature dies to live again with the first rays of renovation To see the Sea so spacious in its extents so fertile in its productions so concluded in its limits to see the floud and ebbe of the Ocean the tomb of curiosity the impetuous stream of rivers the eternal veins of fountains the height of mountains the depth of valleys the winding of hillocks the wideness of fields To see so prodigious a quantity of trees herbs flowers so curious in beauty so wholsom in their utility and so divers in their multiplicity To see so many speckled birds flying in the air which they fill with their natural musick so many fishes to swim in the chrystal of waters so strange a variety of beasts armed some with horns some with teeth some with spurs other with saws many with paws And lastly man who contracteth in himself all the draughts and works of the divine hand and epitomizeth the whole world in his perfections and beareth the most animated character of the living God Is it not true that God casting his eye on this had a certain delight therein as the Master of a family when he sees a house which he had long time designed to be raised in one night entirely perfect throughly furnished and in all kinds accommodated with whatsoever concerns necessity and beauty Here raise your thoughts above all that is mortal The joys of the heart of Iesus in the first instant of the resurrection and momentary Imagine with your self the ineffable joy of the heart of Jesus and the profound repose of his spirit when at the first instant of his resurrection he represented unto himself not creatures elements plants and a corruptible world but a world of wisdom understanding love beauty force and felicity A Church which was to take birth from his The goodly world he beheld in his Jdaea's at the day of his resurrection bloud life from his death and spirit from the most subtile spirits of his heart He then saw this Church as a great Temple divided into two parts whereof one made the Quire another the body In the Quire he beheld an infinite number of Angels who chanted a song of triumph in honour of his victories He saw in his idea the number of the elect who should accompany the magnificent legions of Intelligences He saw about him those sacred first-fruits of immortals whom he very lately had taken out of Limbo and himself he beheld in the front of so many clean and purified souls rejoycing to busie the earth in the memory of his triumphs and to make heaven happy by his sweet aspects He beheld himself as in a picture in that manner Ecce equus albus qui sedebat super cum vocabatur fidelis verax In capite ejus diademata multa vestitus erat veste aspersa sanguine c. Apoc. 19. wherein S. John presenteth him in his Apocalyps all laden with crowns clad in a white garment imbroidered with precious drops of his bloud which gave him a lustre a thousand times more honourable than that of diamonds and rubies and after him an infinite number of celestial Courtiers who waited on the triumph of his resurrection He heard acclamations which gave him the title of True and Faithful voices of trumpets of water and thunder which ceased not to resound Alleluja O what a source of joy did then over-flow the breast of God that treasury of chast delights From the Quire he cast his eyes on the body of his great Temple and saw in magnificent idea's all the state of the Church militant which is compared to
thereby bring to me the fountain of all happiness The Father hath given me to thee and I am the conquest of thy precious bloud Suffer not a soul to be taken away from thee which hath cost thee so many sweats and sufferings I am thine by so many titles that I will be no more mine own but onely to have the right of renouncing that which I am and to establish what shall be thine in this little kingdom of my heart The Gospel upon Thursday the fifth week in Lent S. John 7. Upon S. Marie Magdalen 's washing our Saviour's feet in the Pharisees house ANd one of the Pharisees desired him to eat with him And he being entered into the house of the Pharisee he sate down to meat And behold a woman that was in the Citie a sinner as she knew that he set down in the Pharisees house she brought an Alabaster box of ointment and standing behind beside his feet she began to water his feet with tears and wiped them with the hairs of her head and kissed his feet and anointed them with ointment And the Pharisee that had bid him seeing it spak-within himself saying This man if he were a Prophet would know certes who and what manner of woman she is which toucheth him that she is a sinner And Jesus answering said to him Simon I have somewhat to say unto thee But he said Master say A certain Creditour had two debtours one did ow five hundred pence and the other fifty they having not wherewith to pay he forgave both whether therefore doth love him more Simon answering said I suppose that he to whom be forgave more But he said to him Thou hast judged rightly And turning to the woman he said unto Simon Doest thou see this woman I entered into thy house water to my feet thou didst not give but she with tears hath watered my feet and with her hairs hath wiped them Kiss thou gavest me not but she since I came in hath not ceased to kiss my feet With oyl thou didst not anoint my head but she with ointment hath anointed my feet For the which I say to thee many sins are forgiven her because she hath loved much But to whom less is forgiven he loveth less And he said to her Thy sins are forgiven thee And they that sate together at the table began to say within themselves Who is this that also forgiveth sins And he said to the woman Thy faith hath made thee safe Go in peace Moralities 1. SAint Marie Magdalen is under the feet of Jesus Christ as is that work of Saphires mentioned in Exodus under the feet of God It is a work wrought by the right hand of the Highest the wonder of women the most happy of all lovers who made profit of sin which destroyes all who sanctified that love which so little knew the way to any sanctity This is the fountain mentioned in the Book of Esther in the vision of Mordocheus A fountain which became a river and after changes it self into the Sun which gives beams and showers at one instant She is a fountain at the Pharisees talbe she is a river in her solitary grove she is a Sun both in Paradise and in that great exaltation wherein the Catholick Church now beholds her Being now in glory she doth not yet forbear to open fountains of tears by imitation of her within the souls of repentant sinners of whom incessantly she procures the conversion Happy is that heart which is pierced with the imitation of her virtues thereby to gain some part of her crowns 2. Every thing is admirable in her conversion A sinner wounded with love cures her self by love She changes the fire of Babylon into that of Jerusalem She plucks out of her wound the venemous dart of worldly love to make large room for the arrows of Jesus which pierce her heart and at an instant make a harmony of heavenly passions within the bottom of her soul She holds the wound dearer than life and goes streight to her conquerour to desire death or increase of love 3. She appears most ingenious in her affections to provide no water wherewith to wash her Masters feet since she could draw it so fitly out of her own eyes This was the water which Jesus did thirst after when he asked of the Samaritane woman some to drink But that poor woman was so astonished that she forsook her pitcher and forgot that which Jesus asked Now the holy Magdalen brings her eyes to the Pharisees table as to vessels full of Chrystal water which was of that pure stream which comes from the holy Lamb. Heaven is wont to water the earth but here the earth waters Heaven A soul which was before black and burnt up with the fire of concupiscence provides a Fountain for the KING of highest Heaven She drawes tears from her sins to make them become the joyes of Paradise 4. She sanctifies all that which was esteemed most prophane Her hairs which were the nets wherein so many captive souls did sigh under the yoke of wanton love are now as the ensigns and standards of wicked Cupid trampled under the feet of her Conquerour Those kisses which carried the poison of a luxurious passion in her heart do now breath from her nothing but the delicacies of chastity Her pleasing odours which were before vowed to sensuality are now become the sweetest exhalations from that Amber Isle which brings an odoriferous perfume to Jesus Christ She brings with her Aromatick spices to burn her self at the Mountain of her Sun who makes himself her Priest her Advocate and Bride-man 5. She had gained the great Jubilee and was assured of it by the word of the Eternal Bishop and yet during all the rest of her life she practised upon her self a sanctified revenge and her penance never ends but with her life to confound our coldness who know so little what it is to bewail a sin She is as timorous in the assurance of her pardon as we are secure at the approch of Gods justice No body could be so patient and so constant in her love but she that had a holy emulation toward heavenly charity It is her perseverance which draws to the earth a perfect copy of that life without limit which the blessed souls enjoy in heaven It is she alone to whom eternity was then given because she had power to offer repentant frailty to Eternity it self Aspirations Upon Saint Mary Magdalens great Repentance O Jesus my Conquerour and my Sovereign Bishop thou art pleased to be satisfied of thy unworthy servant but I am not yet content with my self No no my life and penance shall end together since I have lost that which should never have been separated from my body before the separation of my soul And since I cannot enter chast into my grave I will now go repentant into an obscure and savage Cave where the Sun shall shine no more upon a head so sinfull
and who knoweth himself to be deformed and wicked yet faileth not by Nature to be in love with himself So through a love of Concupiscence he may love things which have neither Beauty nor Goodnesse although he daily have a blind feeling of some thing suitable to sensuallity and an unperceivable attractive As for love of reason which is properly Humane love one may be assured it alwayes looks directly upon good and fair not simply but good fair acknowledged agreeable to its contentment This is the root of all reasonable amities and hitherto those great sources Means to make ones self to be beloved worthily of love reduced which are Honesty utilitie Delectation Resemblance reciprocall love obliging and pleasing conversation Within these six heads in my opinion the fifteen means to make one to be beloved are comprised which are touched by Aristotle in the second book of his Rhetorick To wit to love that which a friend loveth to entertain his apprehensions his joyes and his discomforts his hatred and Amities to keep him in a laudable opinion of our sufficiency by good parts of wit courage virtue industrie and reciprocally to hold him in good esteem to love him to oblige him to praise him unto others to bear with him in his humours to trust him with your secrets readily to serve him without forgetfulnesse or negligence to be inviolably faithfull to him which we will more amply deduce in the subsequent section But if you regard its effects I find three great empires Notable effects of love in the 3. worlds it exerciseth in the world naturall civil and supernaturall In the naturall it causeth all simpathies antipathies accords ties generations productions In the civill world it builds two cities as saith S. Augustine very different If it be good it raiseth a Citie of peace wherein chaste Amities sway and with them Truth Faith Honour Virtues contentments delights If it be bad It makes a Babylon full of confusion where cares fears griefs warre enmities impurities adulteries incests sacriledges bloud murther and poison inhabit and all that which commonly ariseth from this fatall plague In the supernaturall world it causeth nine effects which are very well figured by the celestiall throne of love composed of nine diaphanous globes whose effects are Solitude Silence Suspension Indefatigability Languishment Extasie and Transanimation which we more at length will consider in the sequele of this Treatise §. 2. Of Amity AMITY is the medecine of health and Immortality Eccl. 6. Medicamentùm vitae Amity the tree of life of life and in a manner doth that in Civill life which the tree of life in terrestriall Paradise promises in naturall life with an infinite number of sweetnesses and pleasures it immortaliseth us after death in the remembrance of that which is most dear unto us in the world It is that which giveth light to dark affairs certainty It Includeth all blessings to doubtfull support to tottering goodnesse to evil grace to good order to irregular ornament to simple and activenesse to dead By it the banished find a countrey the poor a patrimony great ones find offices the rich services the Ignorant knowledge the feeble support the sick health and the afflicted comfort Should a man live on Nectar and Ambrosia among starres and Intelligencies he would not be happy if he had not friends to be witnesses of his good fortune and we may truly say that Amity continually makes up the greater part of our Felicities It is not here my purpose to extend my self with full sail upon the praise thereof since so many excellent wits have already handled this subject but to shew how good Amities are to be chosen and how to be cultivated There are some who make profession to be friends What amity is Affectus est spontanea suavis animi ad aliquem inflectio Cassiod de amicit and know not so much as what friendship is but Aristotle plainly proves there is difference between affection Good-will Love Amity and Concord Affection is a spark of love not yet throughly formed in which understanding hath some slight passion Good-will A simple Good-will and consent born towards some one although many times there be no great knowledge of the party as it happeneth to such who of two Combatants favour rather the one then the other not knowing either of them Love is an affection already formed and inclined with fervour to the good of Conformity Amity is a love of mutuall well-wishing grounded upon communication Whence may be inferred that all those who love are not friends but all such as are true friends necessarily love The meanest people may love the most eminent but there can be no Amity since they therein find not correspondence There are entranced lovers in the world who are enamoured Miserable lovers of all beauties none returning them love again which deserves either laughter or compassion seeing they may directly go to the first of Beauties where they shall find reciprocall contentment After love followeth concord which is the fruit of it in the union of judgement and will Now well to understand how to choose good Amities the Species or kind of them must be known wherein I find that one Hippodamus a great Platonick Philosopher hit right when he established three sorts of Three sorts of amity Amities whereof one belongs to beasts the other to men and the third to Demi-gods Animall-Amities are those which subsist onely in Animal-amity Nature and which are common to us with beasts Thus saith S. Augustine a mother which loveth Pro mugno laudarurus sum in homine quod videam in Tigride August 410. homil 38. her children for flesh and blouds sake not otherwise raising her thoughts towards God doth but as a Hen a Dove a Tigresse a Serpent and so many other living creatures which have so great affection towards their little ones It is not that these Amities are not very necessary since Nature inspires them and powreth them into the veins with the soul by admirable infusions which preserve the estate of the world entire It is good much to affect ones own but we must build upon the first elements of Nature and by Grace and Reason raise the edifice of true charity Parents ought to love their children as a part of their own bodies which Nature hath separated from themselves But Amity should never divide their hearts Children are bound to love their parents as fishes their water Brothers cannot too much esteem the love and Concord which they mutually maintain together A husband and a wife are bound to a most strict commerce of Amity since as God produced a word in heaven and with the word the holy Ghost So he hath been pleased to create Adam on earth as his own Image and out of this Image he hath drawn Eve to be unto a man a spirit of peace and a love of a perpetuall lasting There is no doubt but that to fail in
your self by the practise of retirement of penance of hair-cloth and fasting A holy maid of Alexandria was twelve years in a sepulchre Raderus to free her self from the importunities of concupiscence cannot you be there one hour so much as in thought Another had this stratagem to elude love for she seeing Speculum Anonymi a young man to be very much touched with her love who ceased not to importune her with all the violent pursuits which passion could suggest told him she had made a vow to fast forty dayes with bread and water of which she would discharge her self before she would think of any thing else and asked whether he pleased not to be a Party for the triall of his love which he accepted but in few dayes he was so weakned that he then more thought upon death then love Have not you courage to resist your enemy by the like arms your heart faileth you in all that is generous and you can better tell how to commit a sin then to do penance Then chuse out that which is most necessary and reasonable separation from that body so beloved which by Separation the first remedy its presence is the nourishment of your flames Consider you not that comets which as it is said are fed by vapours of the earth are maintained whilst their mother furnisheth them with food so love which shineth and burns like a false star in the bottome of your heart continually taketh its substance and sustenance from the face which you behold with so much admiration from the conversation which entertains you in an enchanted palace full of chains and charms Believe me unlose this charm stoutly take your felfe off dispute not any longer with your concupiscence fly away cut the cable weigh anchor spread sails set forward go fly Oh how a little care will quickly be passed over Oh how a thousand times will you blesse the hour of this resosolution Look for no more letters regard not pictures no longer preserve favours let all be to preserve your reason Ah! why argue you still with your own thoughts Take me then some Angel some Directour The counsel and assiduity of a good directour is an excellent antidote who is an able intelligent industrious couragious man resign your self wholly up to his advice he will draw you out from these fires of Gomorrha to place you in repose and safety on the mountain of the living God I adde also one advice which I think very essentiall which is infinitely to fear relapses after health and to avoid all that may re-enkindle the flame For Love oft-times resembleth a snake enchanted cast asleep and smothered which upon the first occasions awakeneth and becomes more stronger and more outragious then ever You must not onely fortifie your body against it but your heart for to what purpose is it to be chast in your members and be in thought an adulterer Many stick not to entertain love in their imagination with frequent desires without putting them in execution but they should consider that Love though imaginary makes not an imaginary hell and that for a transitory smoke they purchase an eternall fire § 10. Of Celestiall Amities BUt it is time we leave the giddy fancies of love to behold the beauties and lights of divine Charity which causeth peace in battails conquest in victories life in death admiration on earth and paradise in heaven it self It is a strange thing that this subject the most amiable of all proves somewhat dreadfull to me by the confluence of so many excellent Writers antient and modern who have handled it so worthily since thier riches hath impoverished their successions and their plenty maketh me in some sort to fear sterility They had much furtherance in their design they took as much stuffe as they thought good referring all that to the love of God which is in nature and above nature in grace and beyond grace They have enlarged themselves in great volumes the sight whereof alone seems to have much majesty and to please their own appetites they have said all they might possible But here forasmuch as concemeth my purpose I have reduced my self into contractions of great figures which will not prove troublesome if measures and proportions be therein observed and nothing forgotten of all that which is most essentiall to the matter we treat I find my self very often enforced to confine giants to Myrmecidia opera apud Aelianum the compasse of a ring and to cover ships under the wing of a fly drawing propositions out of a huge masse of thoughts and discourses to conclude them in a little Treatise not suffering sublimity to take ought away of their facility nativenesse of their majesty shadows of their lustre nor superficies of their dimensions Besides that which renders this my discourse the lesse pleasing is that speaking to men of the world I cannot disguise the matter in unknown habits splendid and pompous words conceptions extatick I cannot perswade them that a Seraphin hath penetrated rhe heart of one with a dart of fire and that another hath had his sides broken by the strength of the love of God I must pursue ordinary wayes and teach practises more nearly approching to our humanity I am then resolved to shew there are celestiall Amities which great souls contract with God that their condition is very excellent and most happy and that the practice of them must begin in this world to have a full fruition of them in the other Carnall spirits which onely follow animall wayes have much a-doe to conceive how a man can become passionate in the love of God and think there is no affection but for temporall and visible things It is a Love too high say they to transferre their affections into heaven It is a countrey wherein we have no commerce There comes neither letter nor message thence No ships arrive on that coast It is a world separated from ours by a great Chaos wholly impenetrable That there may be a celestiall amity by the commerce of man with God How would you I love God since he is all spirit and I a body He is Infinite I finite He so High and I so low It is a kind of insolency to go about to think of it Behold how spirits ignorant of heavens mysteries do talk But I maintain upon good grounds that we are made to place our love in the heart of God and that if we do not seasonably take this way well we may go on but never shall we arrive at repose First the Philosopher Plato hath worthily observed An exellent conceit of Plato Plato in Sympos Marlil Ficinus Amor memoria primi ac summi purissuni pulchri Appetitor artis desertor artificis amplectitur speciem eujus non miratur authorem S. Eucherius ep Paraenâ—t that the love we have here below is a remembrance of the first fair sovereign and most pure of all beauties which is
love which drowneth all humane thoughts which swalloweth all earthly affections which flieth to the superiour region of man which hideth all that is eminent in sciences transcendent in virtue great in imagination and which causeth the spirit to forget it self and to look on nothing but heaven § 12. The Practise of Divine Love THe love of God is a science inspired not studied where the infusion of the Holy Ghost is more eloquent then all Tongues and more learned then all Pens That which comes to us by art oft-times begins very late and quickly endeth That which is given us by the favour of heaven comes very readily and never is dost Those who think to learn the love of God by precepts onely croak like Ravens 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Pindarus and have nothing solid such as have it by grace are Angels who are raised into the highest region and poize themselves on their wings Grave discourses and good books fail not to contribute much to this purpose as we lately may have tried by the treatise which the R. F. Stephen Binet hath published fully replenished with the holy ardours of extraordinary devotion and which seem to have been dictated by love it self and conceived in that fire which Jesus came to enkindle on earth to enflame the whole world If then you desire to profit in this love let your endeavour The means to acquire the love of God be continually to beg it of God with the most fervent prayers which the holy Ghost shall suggest to esteem it above all worldly things and to apply all your actions to this happy conquest Be ye very carefull to cut off from your heart all impediments which may give it any obstacle for if you should imagine to entertain it in a soul sullied with terrestriall affections it were to ask a most precious Quot vitia habemus tot recentes habemus Deos Hieron Balm to put it in an unclean vessel We have as many Idolls in our heart as passions opposite to the law of God Be not satisfied with taking away vices but stifle the remembrance of worldly things which may in you occasion any exorbitancy Withdraw your mind as much as you can from a thousand imaginations which fly as aiery spirits about your heart when it begins to take wings to its repose Perplex not your self likewise more then is reason with affairs both spirituall and temporall which cause a thousand cares to arise and onely serve to quench the vigour of devotion and to draw out the juice of piety Fly acerbities of heart apprehensions and servitudes accustoming your self to do all with a spirit of sweetnesse and holy liberty Consequently make a practise of the love of God The practise of the love of God undertaking it with a resolute purpose a great application of mind and employing all possible industries to profit therein as one would in affecting some great bargain some very considerable office or affair most important For it is a very unworthy thing to behold all despicable Trades full of artisans who kill themselves How we may earn to love God above the love of the world Jnhonestos amatores ostendite si quis amore foeminae lasciviens vestit se aliter quà m amatae placet Aug. ler. 19. de verbis Apost to find out inventions that may set forth the profession and that onely the occupation of the love of God should have workmen so lazy and unnaturall After all following the counsel of S. Augustine consider what the children of darknesse often do to prosper in worldly loves and amities They strive to insinuate themselves by some good office they consider on every side the person of him of whom they would be beloved they study his nature his inclinations his desires his affairs and they oblige him ere he is aware in what he desireth most Are they entred into his amity they persist in the practise of great assiduities they have entertainments and admirable correspondencies they delight they serve they mingle the recreative with the serious They apply all they see all they think upon all they invent all they hope all they possesse all they say all they write to the contentment of this creature They draw tribute out of all for it and if it be possible will give it its hearts-wish in all things They transform themselves into its humours and likings They espouse its loves enmities quarrels and revenges They publish its virtues with discretion conceal its favours they have tricks to pacifie its anger to stir up its languours to open its heart to hold their possession and if it be needfull will passe through ten purgatories of fire ice tears bloud torrents seas enflamed serpents gnawing vultures to arrive at one of its pretentions O reproch that all this is done for a frivolous worldly love which oftentimes is the Hangman of life the gulf of Reason the Hell of souls and that there is none but Jesus for whom they will not so much ss stir a finger Make a resolution to insinuate your self into his friendship by some notable Act which you know to be acceptable to him and which he already hath required of you by so many inspirations Enter into his house and into his bosome render him assiduity in your prayers your meditations your communions and in all your exercises of devotion Learn to speak to him every hour by jaculatory prayers as one would to some friend tenderly loved and vehemently affected Referre all creatures to his love and love nothing but him but in him but for him publish his greatnesse every where make a thousand instruments of his glory but conceal his favours by a profound humility Behold men your like as his images Engrave all his words all his actions all his wounds in the bottome of your heart make your selves like him as much as you may bear him on your flesh suffering for him not onely with patience but alacrity through a desire of conformity Behold the principall means by which one may come to the love of God and to the unitive way Observe there withall the three Conditions which S. Bernard prescribeth to wit to love sweetly prudently strongly sweetly without violence prudently without illusion strongly without separation But there being nothing which more forcibly moveth That we learn to love God himself and by the character of his substance which is Jesus In medio animalium splendor ignis de igne fulgur egrediens Ezekiel 1. the soul then Example I advise you often to present unto your self the love of God and Jesus Christ which should be the source of ours and to make a sacred posy to your self of all the lovers who were most vehement in Divine Love Reflect O Christian soul upon the chariot of Cherubins in Ezechiel and thou shalt learn what God would have of thee I see saith the Prophet a clear and bright fire in the midst of these living Creatures and from
many remedilesse calamities and that this onely sonne disdaineth not to become its ransome delivered himself for it to torments so enormous and confusions so hideous The earth saith S. Augustine expecteth light and rain from heaven and we from a Messias expect truth and mercy He came after so long expectations and hath replenished the earth with his knowledge and the effects of his benignity What shall we now admire in the ineffable mystery of the Incarnation If we cast our eyes on the heavenly Father we there see a work of the power of his arm wherein he seems to have exhausted all his strength The heavens and the starres saith Saint Gregory Nyssen were but the works of the fingers of this divine Majesty But in the Incarnation he proccedeth with all the extent of his might with all the engines of his power and all the miracles of his Greatnesse It is a Maxime among Politicians that a man to appear very great should not waste all his force at an instant but still to reserve to himself somewhat to do wherein he may make his ability to be seen as it were by degrees by daily surpassing himself From whence it came that Seneca said to Nero Plutarch de Ira. who had caused a certain Pavillion infinitely precious to be made that he therein had shewed his weaknesse for if it should chance to perish he could not recover it and were it preserved it would be an everlasting reproch to him to have done to the uttermost of his power Behold the proceedings of humane prudence But our celestiall Father setting aside all other considerations and forgetting his greatnesse to be mindfull of his mercy did a work in our behalf which hath so limited his power that we may truly say that God cannot in the world in all Eternity make any thing greater then a Man-God And if we on the other part do reflect on the holy Ghost it seems that this third person which in the sphere of the Trinity had a mysterious barrennesse springing from the incomparability of a new production in the divine emanations would make recompense in this mystery pouring out at once heats lights and beauties in the blessed Virgin there to form the body of Jesus Christ and to raise his holy Humanity to the union of the Word Increate But what piece meriteth more admiration then to see the person of a God-man then to see a Jesus Christ who in himself uniteth Divine and Humane Nature who carries in himself the last lines of the love and power of his Father who beareth the consummation of all his designes for the government of man who includeth all possible communications to an inferiour nature in one inimitable communication who makes himself the source of Grace and Glory in Angelicall and humane nature as he is the source of life and love in the Trinity O what a goodly spectacle is it To behold how he blesseth by his presence how he replenisheth by his greatnesse how he governeth by his power how he sanctifieth by his influences both heaven and Earth If we yet doubt of his love and fatherly goodnesse let us look on his hands and we shall see that he hath written our name with his nails Let us see his heart which was opened for us by that lance which at the latter end of his dayes digg'd from out his entrails the remainder of his life and we shall observe how we therein live how we therein breathe and how we therein honourably burn as in a great fornace common to all intelligible Nature If you would know what you have cost and happily do not believe your Creatour Quà m preâ—iosus siâ— si factori forte non credâ—s interroga redemâ—torem Euseb Gal. Homil. 2. de Symbol ask your Redeemer and he will tell you Let us also behold the effects which have succeeded from the alliance of the Divine nature with the Humane and let us reverence the divine Goodnesse which hath raised up all the great Masse of men in a supernaturall Being to innocency to felicity to light and to life eternall Who was more destitute then Man more brutish and more ignorant in so great a night and in so horrible confusions of Idolatry and Jesus by his Incarnation hath revealed unto us the secrets and wisdome of heaven Who was more unfurnished of wise direction and he affordeth us his examples Who was more forlorn he adopteth us for his children Who was more needy and he gives us the treasure of his merits Who was more hungry and he nourisheth us with his flesh and bloud Who was more unhappy and he divideth his Beatitude among us If after so many benefits we remain still faithlesse to his fidelity he expecteth us with a singular long forbearance if we delay he stirreth us up if we fly he followeth us if we return he stretcheth forth his arm He washeth us in his bloud He regenerateth us in his love He makes it his trophey to have conquered us as if he entred afresh into the possession of an Empire causeth our proper sinnes to contribute to our glory If we endure somewhat for him he endureth with us he weepeth over us he prepareth eternall sources of consolations and as it is said that there is a certain fish which sweetens the water of the salt sea in its mouth so Jesus mingleth all our acerbities in the inexplicable Fasten apud Maiolum sweetnesses of his benignity And yet thou O Man wilt in presence of this Modell The source of charity still remain a little Tiger as irreconcileable to amities as streight-handed to works of liberality Believe me among all the Ensignes of Greatnesse which thou canst have there is not any more sensible then the charitable communication of one man to another by waies of liberality and alms which God receiveth in the nature Plin l. 2. c. 7 Deus est mortali benefacere mortalem haec ad aeternam gloriam via of victimes It is a Divinity for one man by his benefits to oblige another and this is properly the way of eternall glory Who are they in your opinion that first of all deserved the title of Cardinall which is now-a-dayes accounted among the great dignities of the Church Do From whence the Title of Cardinals cometh you think that nobility of extraction favour of great ones Eminency of wisdome prudence in the government of Empires gave these Titles to the primitive Church I say all these qualities are very considerable Fabianus Vide Concil Rom. sub Sylvestro Lacerdam adversar c. 35. Cardinales á Cardinibus seu vicis Rome yet neverthelesse it is true that the first fourteen Cardinals who were called by this name were fourteen personages of honour and merit who under Pope Sylvester were ranged in as many streets of the City of Rome to take care of the poor So true it is that they who begat us to Christianity placed the magnificence of men not
in Italy where she was with her husband and from thence they all returned to Constantinople where this crafty artificious woman had the leisure to satiate her self with the simplicity of the one and the love of the other But it is a strange thing yet true that That kind of Love is nourished with Opposition whereas the full enjoyment renders the seeds of Iniquity lesse Active and more Languishing Theodosius now began to feel a great remorse of Conscience for his infamous Life He was fully perswaded that he could not escape the disastre of some violent death if he continued that debauchery that the patience of an husband so many times provoked would break out at length in some evill end and that happen what would he could not escape the judgements of God neither Alive nor Dead Upon these thoughts he steals away secretly from the Court transports himself to Ephesus enters into a Monastery and makes himself a Monk causing those handsome locks to be shaven off that were the strings that tyed Antoninas affection This unhappy woman hearing the news of it put on mourning as for a publick disastre deprived her self of all company persecuted her own life by a horrour of eating and drinking and not contenting her self with weeping for her Beloved she howled and sent out cryes that afrighted the whole World It is a thing sufficiently remarkable that Love encamped in that Friars Cowle darted more subtle fires and sharpened his Arrows with the Ashes of Repentance Imitating the Sorcerers that employ the Masse and Bible to fortifie their Enchantments The Passion of Antonina was so desperate that Belizarius pitied her and so wrought that by the Authority of the Empresse Theodosius was fetched back again from the Monastery and brought unto her house It is true that he made a great resistance before he would come forth whether it was feignedly or really it is doubtfull but he yielded to the violent pursutes that were made for him and quitting the Altar of Jesus made himself again of a Monk an Adonis to sacrifice himself to his Venus One would have thought that the flames of that cursed passion would have been totally extinguished and that there had been no danger to be feared in such a conversation But O God who knowes not that the presence of Lovers especially after a long absence makes love arise again out of its own ashes and extracts sparks of fire even out of ice and snow Belizarius marches in an expedition towards the coasts of Persia where Photius his son in law comes to seek him who resenting in his heart the bitter displeasures that the persecution of his mother caused him was resolved to pluck out her Minion from between her armes or to dye in the attempt He disposes his Spyes at Constantinople to observe diligently what should passe in their Conversation He hath news sent him from all parts that the fire is again kindled and that Triclaresses continue to the scandall of the whole City He causes a very understanding man and most faithfull to the service of Belizarius to go to him and tell him from point to point that which he least desired to hear His displeasure was so greatly kindled that the very same moment he goes to seek out Photius and sayes to him My son it is now that you must succour your miserable father if you would not have grief send him to the grave you are not my sonne by nature but you are by love and by election I have given you goods and honour I have not ceased to oblige you all my life-time yet I desire to passe by whatever I have done hitherto on condition that you will revenge me upon that disloyall Theodosius who hath placed again dishonour in my bed Photius who desired nothing more then that discourse comforts him and promises him quickly to dispatch him of his enemy They both of them swear upon the Gospels mutually to keep close the secret The other to acquit himself of his promise takes his time learns by his Spyes the day wherein Theodosius was to make a Voyage to Ephesus and transport himself thither with a company of resolute souldiers The Adulterer doubting that all that commotion was against him saved himself in Saint Johns Church as in a secure Sanctuary But he was drawn out from thence by a Trick and delivered by the Bishop himself of the Place into the hands of Photius who being of a very sweet Nature would not kill him but contented himself to send him away into Cilicia to the utmost bounds of the Empire and to keep him in close prison under the guard of men very much engaged to him in such a manner as he should be never heard of any more He was seasoned a sufficient time in this Prison-hole which worked an enraged sadnesse in his Antonina who found no better remedy then to implore the assistance of the Empresse with whom she was so familiar that shee deposed even her loves and immodesties in her bosome She makes an horrible perquition of Theodosius's businesse and by misfortune it happened that one Calligonius who was the Confident of Belizarius his wife having been taken and ill used by Photius to make him disclose to him all the secrets of his Mistresse made an escape and came secretly to Constantinople where he charged the sonne of having attempted something upon the friend of the Mother Theodora suffers him to come to Court privately and when he dreamed not of it causes him to be apprehended confines him into a secret place and unknown to all the world where he was put to the Rack without having any regard to his Great Quality or even to the infirmities of his Body He kept Belizarius his counsell in his sharpest torments but he told them the place where Theodosius was deteined from whence the Empresse caused him secretly to be fetched and commanded that he should be brought to Constantinople without noyse to drown in a sudden and unhoped for joy the spirit of her Confident She kept him some dayes in her Palace to put him in better liking and told her dear Antonina who was very curious in her pearls that she had a rare Jewell to shew her which made her haste to the Palace with a great desire to see what it was The Empresse after she had a long time suspended her hopes causes Theodosius to come forth out of the chamber of one of her Eunuches and casts the whole Sun into her eyes She fell down in a swoune at that sight and was like to dye but at length when she had been succoured and was come to her self again she had so much stayednesse as not to cast her selfe hastily upon her friends neck before she had kissed Theodoras feet to whom she said with transports of an unparalell'd joy Madame You have been hitherto my Empresse and my Mistresse but I shall now in time to come esteem you as the Goddesse of my safety seeing you have withdrawn my Sonne
often observed that Noblemen who have established tyrannie in the world have neither been fruitful nor fortunate in their posteritie and as nature is scantie in the propagation of wolves designed for spoil which otherwise would bring all the world into desolation so Almightie God by a secret oeconomie of his divine Providence permitteth not that great men who have made themselves disturbers of publick peace and infringers of laws both divine and human whereof they ought to be protectours should make the bruitishness of their savage souls to survive them in their posterity But as for those who are arranged in the list of sanctitie and modesty God hath as it were immortalized their bloud in their posteritie as we see it happen in worthie and illustrious families But to what value amounteth all this which I have said in comparison of that crown of glorie which God placeth on the heads of Noblemen in the other life when they have virtuously governed in this mortal mansion O what a brave death it is to die under the shadow of the Palms of so many heroical virtues Oh it is the death of a Phoenix to die in the odours of a holy conversation to change his sepulchre into a cradle and even draw life out of the Tomb Oh what an immortalitie it is to survive eternally in the mouths of men but much more to live in Heaven enjoying the knowledge love life and felicitie of God! O Nobles betake your selves betimes and in a good hour to the way of this temple of honour by the exercise of holy virtues which are like Elias chariot all flaming with glory to carrie your purified souls even to the height of the Emperial Heaven THE SECOND BOOK Of Hinderances which worldly men have in the way of SALVATION and PERFECTION The first OBSTACLE Faintness and weakness of Faith Against Atheists HAving sufficiently proved the obligations which Great-ones and men of qualitie have to perfection let us now see the hinderances which may stop the increase thereof as well to take from them all pretext of false libertie as to denote the confusions very frequent in the corruptions of this Age. The first is a certain languor and debilitie of faith which openeth the way to all sorts of vices so that putting all the greatness of the world into a false seeming it beholdeth Paradise and all the blessings of the other life with blear-eyes and clouded with a perpetual eclipse And that you may well Two sects of men conceive this let us observe that in this Age greatly changed by heresie libertie and vice two sorts of men are to be seen whereof the one doth symbolize with just Abel and the other are of the sect of Cain These two brothers began to contend together even in the worlds cradle as Jacob and Esau in the bellie of Rebecca Abel had a soul impressed with a good stamp religious docile pure perpetually fixed in the chaste apprehensions of the Divinitie Cain quite contrary an impious soul greatly infected with the serpents breath black variable wavering in faith and in the virtue of the Divine providence He verily is the father of Atheists and S. Bernard hath properly Bern. serm 24 in Contic Fideicida antequam fratricida Procop. in Genes said He killed faith before he murdered his brother Procopius calleth him the son of the earth because this unfortunate creature perpetually looked downward having already as it were buried in the tomb of oblivion the lights and knowledges of heaven From thence proceeded the irreverence of his unbridled spirit his wicked sacrifices his envie against his brother afterward his furie murder and bloud and lastly a deluge of calamities The onely example of his disaster should suffice to terrifie those who following him in his impietie make themselves undoubtedly the companions of his misfortune but since it also is expedient we proceed herein by discourse and reason I observe the causes and remedies of this infidelitie Faintness and debilitie in Three sorts of consciences from which impiety springs faith and consequently atheism is formed in three sorts of consciences to wit the criminal the bruitish the curious Atheism proceedeth from a criminal conscience when a soul findeth it self involved in a long web of crimes and as it were overwhelmed in the habits of sin In the mean time God doth inwardly Horrible state of a sinful conscience torture prick forward and scourge it and then all bloudy and ulcerous as it is not able longer to remain within it self but tasting so many disturbances in its proper mansion it searcheth evasions and starting-holes expatiateth in the pleasures and delights of the world to dissolve her many griefs and findeth in every thing her gnawing worm She looketh back upon the path of virtue which she hath either forsaken or never trodden as an impossible track the spirit of lies representing it unto her all paved with thorns and briars she re-entereth into herself and saith in her heart that there is none but God who afflicteth her and that necessarily she must free herself from him for our felicities are measured by the ell of our opinion and no man is miserable but he that apprehendeth his own unhappiness Then soothing herself with these humane discourses she herein much laboureth to acquit herself from God from the belief of judgement of hell and the immortality of the soul Notwithstanding she cannot albeit these wicked spirits have scoffed at the mysteries of Religion with their companions as if they would put on a bold fore-head and an impudence strong enough to endure a stroke so dreadful but contend against the essence of God Care findeth them in their bed and is pinned to their silken curtains the thoughts of a Divinitie which they supposed to have totally banished from their hearts in pleasures upon Et ubi Deus non timetur nisi ubi non est Tert. de prescrip 41. Ponam eam possessionem Ericii Isaiah 14. 2. the least afflictions return and make themselves felt with very piercing points which head-long throw them into despair The Prophet Isaiah hath divinely prophesied of such a soul I will make her the inheritance and possession of hedge-hogs Verily the miserable caytif hatcheth in her entrails a thousand little hedge-hogs which as they encrease make their pricks and darts multiply a thousand gnawings a thousand apprehensions as uncapable of repose as apt to afflict a conscience Such heretofore was the state of Nero for this Condition of Nero. barbarous monster who so often had dipped his hand in bloud sought out a bath of delights to bath himself in he ran up and down to prie into all the inventions of the pleasures of the world to rid himself from the arrow which he had in his heart and to dispoil himself for ever of an opinion of the Divinitie This was a matter for him impossible When he was at feasts sports or Theatres the apprehension of God stung his heart as a Bee and
satietas poenitentia The disorder of it wicked love is full of anxiety and ever in its satiety it finds repentance Disorder You may as well tell the leaves of the trees the sands of the sea and the stars in the skie as number the disorders which have vomited and still overflow upon the face of the earth by means of the sin of luxury If there be poyson to be dissolved love mingleth it If swords be forged and fyled to transfix the sides of innocent creatures love hammereth and polisheth them in his shop If there be halters to be fastened wherewith to strangle love weaveth and tyeth them If there be precipices love prepareth them If there be massacres love contrives them If you go about to find little embryons even in the mothers womb to be bereaved of the life which they have not as yet tasted love is the authour and actour of these abominable counsels All the mischief and crimes which have in former Ages been perpetrated love hath done them and daily invented them It hath from all times pushed and shouldred good order out of the world It hath been the butt and aim of all the vengeances of God It hath been strucken with fire and brimstone from Heaven swallowed in the entrails of the earth drenched in the waters of a general deluge Yet it escapeth yet it perpetually armeth yet it walloweth it self in bloud and slaughter yet it holdeth the sword of justice ever perpendicular over the head and in conclusion it is esteemed but as a sport Is not all this of power sufficient to make it be believed that this filthy vice is an infallible mark of reprobation Flie O Noblemen this fleshly pestilence of mankind and never suffer it to exercise its tyranny over hearts consecrated by the precious bloud of the Lamb. All consisteth in flying far from the occasions thereof If you love danger you shall perish therein If you had the best intentions which did ever bud in the hearts of Saints yet if you seek out occasions of doing ill they become crooked and distracted Nature being Remedies as now it is corrupted the ignorance of vice better serves our turn than all the precepts of virtue Our affections attend on our knowledge the absence of objects maketh us to forget all our most enflamed desires To live in lust and idleness to have our eyes always in pursuit unchaste books in our hands to hear comedies and impure stage-plays to have gluttonous discourse in our mouth to frequent buffons and loose livers to converse familiarly with women these are not the instruments of chastity it is â—ather to put oyl into the flame and then to complain of much heat Petrarch in his books against vanity giveth remedy Petrarch l. 1 2. c. 23. de remediis Occupatio liber incultier habitus villus asperior secessus inque unum aliquid jugiâ— intentio aâ—â—aec testis charus verendus frequâ—nâ— admonitio dulces minae si quando res exigat asperae Cyprian de bono pudor Ante ocules obversetur defermis atque dejectus peccati pudor nihil corpori liceat ubi vitandum est corporis vitium Cogitetur quam honestum sit viâ—â—â—se dedecus quam inhonestum victum esse à dedecore to the wounds which seem to have been inflicted in the time of his loves Love creepeth into idleness handle the matter so that he may always find you busied Love is pleased with curiositie of attire give him hayrcloth He is entertained with feasts subdue him with austerity He will fall upon some object scatter and confound him He laboureth to find out a loose and unbridled spirit hold yours extended upon some good affair He requireth liberty private places night darkness let him have witnesses and enlighten him on every side He will be governed by fantasie keep him dutiful both by admonitions and menaces S. Cyprian found nothing more powerful to conquer a temptation of dishonest wantonness than to turn the other side of the medal and as this sin hath two faces so not to stay upon that which looketh amiable and attractive to deceive us but to behold that which under a black veil sheweth it self to be pensive sad shamefac'd desperate and full of confusion The great Picus Mirandula said the most part of men yielded to temptation because they never tasted the sweetness of glory which is drawn from the victory over a sin Above all it is behoveful to use the advise of a wise Arabian who represented to himself perpetually over his head an eye which enlightened him an ear which heard him a hand which measured out all his deportments and demeanours The exercise of the presence of God joyned with prayer frequentation of Sacraments often invocation of the Mother of purity and the Angels Guardians of chastity daily blunt a thousand and a thousand arrows shot against the hearts of brave and undaunted Christian Champions Adde hereunto that it is good to live in a ceaseless distrust of ones self which is the mother of safety that you may not fall into the fire it is good to avoid the smoke not to trust ones self too much to those petty dalliances which under pretext of innocency steal in with the more liberty Mother of pearls produce sometimes windy bunches for true and native pearls and the will through complacence of passion ill digested in stead of good love bringeth forth silly abortions of amities which are nothing but flashes and wild fantasies yet such as may notwithstanding dispose an emptie soul to some finister affections The tenth OBSTACLE Excess in diet and apparel THe world was as yet in her cradle man was Terrestrial Paradise the chamber of justice no more than born when God making a Palace of justice of terrestrial Paradise pronounced against him the sentence of labour and pain and afterward wrote it as with his finger in the sweat of his brow Thou shalt eat thy bread Gen. 3. 19. In sudore vultus tui vesceris pane Noblemen appeal from the sentence of labour with the sweat of thy brow Noblemen perpetually appeal from this sentence as if they were not men it seemeth labour is not for them Let nature hold to the chain and labour those grosser bodies which are moulded of the clay of Adam they have forsooeth bodies composed of I know not what kind of starrie matter which never must sweat nor take pains but in a dance What a folly it is Ought not he to be dissolved into sweat since he is to be reduced into ashes He cannot free himself from the sentence of death and why shall he decline pains-taking seeing it proceeded from one and the same mouth in the same time and upon one and the same subject But behold the reason which is that to satisfie the sentence of labour sureties are found the houses of rich men are filled with officers and servants who take pains in their fields prune their vines carry
good success of affairs and such like which are given to us from Heaven as instruments to work our salvation And sometimes one of the greatest blessings is that which few esteem a benefit not to have all these advantages which lead a haughty weak and worldly spirit even into a headlong precipice but quite contrary good disadvantages in the opinion of the world put him into the estimation of heavenly things Man beholding what he hath been what he is what will become of him from whence he proceedeth whither he goeth and how the union with God his beginning is his Scope But and Aim if he doth that which reason dictateth to him he instantly takes a resolution neither to have vein sinew nor artery which tendeth not to his end to conquer his passions and no longer to serve creatures but so far forth as he shall know them profitable to lead him to his Creatour Everie creature speaketh these words to man O man keep what Bernard de gradibus humilit Serva commissum expecta promissum cave prohibitum is given to thee expect what is promised thee and avoid what is forbiden thee III. The third consideration is the passion of the Son of God a bottomless abyss of dolours scorns annihilations love mercy wisdom humility patience charity the book of books the science of sciences the secret of secrets the shop where all good resolutions are forged where all virtues are purified where all knots of holy obligations are tied the school where all Martyrs are made all Confessours all Saints Our weakness our faintness come not but for want of beholding this table of excess Who ever would open his mouth to complain of doing too much of suffering too much of being too much abased too much despised too much turmoyled if he considered the life of God delivered over and abandoned for him to so painful labour so horrible confusions so insupportable torments O my God my wounded God! As long S. Bonav in stimul Nolo vivere sine vulnere cum te videam vulneratum 4. Example of Saints as I shall see thy wounds I will never live without wound IV. The examples of all Saints who have walked in the royal way of the cross When we consider the progression of Christianity and the succession of so many Ages wheresoever our consideration setteth foot it findeth nothing but the bloud of Martyrs combats of Virgins prayers tears fastings sack-cloth hair-cloth persecutions afflictions of so many Saints who have as it were won heaven by main force Such have been found who had heretofore filled sepulchers with their members S. Zeno homil de Sancto Arcadio Remorabantur in luce detenti quorum membris pleniâ—erant tumuli torn with engins and swords of persecution and were yet alive to endure and suffer in their bodies which had more wounds then parts of body to be tormented Is it not a shame to have the same name the same Baptism the same profession and yet to be always desirous to tread on roses To be embarked in this great ship of Christianity with so many brave spirits which even at this day hourly do wonders in the world and to go under hatches to sleep in the bottom of the vessel as needless out-casts and the very scorns of reasonable nature V. The peace of a good conscience the inseparable 5. Inward peace companion of honest men which sugareth all their tears which seasoneth all their acerbities which dissolveth all their sharpness a perpetual banquet a portative theater a delicious torrent of inexplicable contentments which begin in this world and which many times are felt even in chaines prisons and persecutions What will it be when the consummation shall be made in the other world when the curtain of the great Tabernacle shall be drawn when we shall see God face to face in a body impassible as an Angel subtile as a ray of light swift as the wings of thunder radiant as the Sun when he shall be seen amongst so goodly and flourishing a company in a Palace of estimable August Nesâ—io quid erit quod ista vita non erit ubi lucet quod non capit locus ubi sonat quod non rapit tempus ubi â—let quod non spargit flatus ubi sapit quod non minuit edacitas ubi haeret quod non divellit eternitos 6. Condition of this life wel described glory and when one shall lead no other life but that of God of the knowledge of God of the love of God as long as God shall be God What will this life be nay what will this life not be since all the goods thereof either are not or are in such a life of lights which place cannot comprehend of voyces and harmonies which time cannot take from us of odours which never are scattered a feast which never is finished a blessing which eternity well may give but of which it never shall see an end VI. It is to be considered on the other side the condition of this present life A true dream which hath the disturbances of sleep but never the repose a childish amuzement a toyle of burdensom and ever-relapsing actions where for one rose a thousand thorns are found for one ounce of honey a tun of gal for blessings in apparance evils in substance The most happy there count their years and cannot reckon their griefs The carriers of the greatest honours are there all of ice and oftentimes are not bounded but with headlong ruines Its felicities are floating Ilands which always recoyl backward at that time when we think to touch them with our finger They are the feasts of Heliogabalus Lamprid. Heliogab where there are many invitations many ceremonies many reverences many services and at the end thereof we find a table and a banquet of wax which melts before the fire and from whence we return more hungry than we came It is the enchanted egge of Oromazes wherein this impostour vanted to have enclosed all the happiness of the world and in breaking it there was found nothing but wind All these pleasures flatter our senses with S. Eucher in paranesi Omnia haec conspectui nostro insidiosis coloribus lenecinantur vis illa ocâ—lorum attributa lumini non applicetur errori an imposture of false colours why do we suffer those eyes to be taken in the snares of errours which are given to us by heaven to behold the light and not minister to lying Yea that which greatly should distast us in this present life is we live in an Age stuffed with maladies as old age with indispositions We live in a world greatly corrupted of which may be said It is a monster whose understanding is a pit of darkness reason a shop of malice will a hell where a thousand passions outragiously insult over it Its eyes are two conduit-pipes of fire from whence flie sparkles of concupiscence its tongue an instrument of malediction its visage a painted
devotion As concerning that which we ought to pray and beg for our great Master hath abridged it for us in our Lords Prayer a true Epitom of the celestial Lords prayer wisdom as if one would comprehend all this great Universe in the round circuit of a ring From thence it is that all prayers are derived as all waters flow from the Ocean From the union of this excellent prayer with the Rosary Angelical salutation the Rosary is composed a prayer as singular as familiar to the whole world whether it be simply recited or whether one proceed therein by the way of meditation upon the mysteries as many pious and devout books do teach We have besides this the Psalter of the Kingly Psalter Prophet which operateth that in the Church which the Sun doth in Heaven It illuminateth heateth and makes fruitful all the good desires and devotions of Christianity Consequently there follow many well digested offices many Collects Litanies Prayers collected from holy Scriptures and Fathers You have a plentiful treasurie of them compiled by Henry Kispenvigius able to satisfie the most curious devotions But all is not in multitude The Breviaries Hours and Manuels of devotion say enough Those who have obligation of saying some office ought seriously Government of vocal prayer to think of the discharge of their consciences upon this point But you which have it not it is reason with the advise of your spiritual Father you task your selves upon some daily exercise seasoned with some variety that every day you may repeat it with exact diligence and moreover you have many jaculatory prayers drawn from the psalms or other books for all manner of necessities as well spiritual as temporal and a list of the persons as well living as dead for whom you are to pray When you have the matter digested it remaineth The form your self adde form thereunto a serious attention a profound reverence a fervent love You must imagine with your self that with those holy old men of the Apocalyps you stand before the throne of God with a vial or cup in the one hand which Cup and harp in prayer is your heart replenished with holy thoughts as with odoriferous balm and a harp in the other which is the collection of so many notable prayers Serve your self well with this celestial harp Do not as one Neanthus who having inherited Orpheus his Neanthus To use itwel harp thought to do wonders and played so ill that dogs affrighted with his untuneably skreaking noise tate him in pieces It is not enough you have so many holy prayers which sound like the string of Gods harp consigned to you by Jesus Christ himself and so many holy personages you must use them well lest you find your punishment even in the sacrifice of propitiation Take heed you sacrifice To sacrifice the calf without flower not as S. Gregory saith the calf without flower which is to make prayer with lips without application of heart Four things will greatly serve you to resist distractions Remedies against distractions and driness which happen in prayer The first before prayer and in the time of prayer frame to your self a lively and strong idea of the presence of God and when any distraction occurreth recal your thoughts into their center by often renewing your intentions in the beginning of every part of prayer The second not being charged with any office by obligation make a few vocal prayers and stay upon every word the space of a breathing fit in the mean time pondring both the word which you pronounce and the person to whom you speak and your baseness and unworthiness This manner is very sovereign and available to pray The third to follow the counsel of Cassiodorus to take this vocal prayer which you rehearse as if it were particularly made for you or that it originally had born the very like sprouting buds in your heart So ought you to connaturalize it and punctually espouse all the effections which the Authour of this prayer had when the Holy Ghost did dictate it unto him You must rejoyce bewail hate and love upon David's harp as by a certain divine inspiration The fourth often to ask of God the gift of prayer to offer him all your devotions in union with those of our Saviour and to chastise your neglects by some voluntary satisfaction To water and moysten your prayers and retain them in full vigour it is needful that as you speak to God in the exercise of prayer he speak to you in books and by the mouth of Preachers Wherefore make a resolution to employ daily some part of your time in the reading of some devout book as well that which containeth precepts as examples Go not as it were boot-haling with an unsteaddy curiosity which swalloweth all and ever remaineth hungry but fixe your thoughts and affections upon that which you read in such sort that you may be imbrued and coloured with a firm tincture Good books are as the cave Good books the cave of Sibylla Spiritual reading and Sermons of Sibylla Cassius Longinus saith the inhabitants of that cave had a certain rapture of prophesie and in often revolving the writings of Saints the spirit of Saints is acquired And as for Sermons take heed of that canker of worldly spirits who hear Preachers as Athenian Oratours or as one would a curious lute-player or a Comedie in the Burgundian hostery If he who preacheth to you have no other intention but to please you nor you any other purpose but to sooth your own curiosity he hath wearied his lungs and you in the mean space have had the itch in your ears the time will come when he shall have the worm in his heart to gnaw him and you the tingling in your ears for your punishment The seller and the buyer shall be paid with the coyn of reprobation Who speaketh not and who heareth not to do and become better abuseth a word signed with the bloud of Jesus Christ the loss whereof is most dangerous and the account inestimable The sixteenth SECTION Of the second combat of the spiritual man against weakness ALl that on which I have before very largely discoursed serves to dissipate the darkness of ignorance and to replenish a soul with the knowledge of God with good maxims good desires and good purposes and doubtless nothing would be found more easie and familiar than to do well Temptations remoraes of the soul were it not temptations come athwart us which are the remoraes as it were and hinderances of the soul And therefore it is necessary to frame to your self an undoubted courage high and resolute to resist with an invincible hand and to strike at an infinite number of obstacles which present themselves in all sorts of occasions and which bring upon our souls accesses of fire and yce fire of concupiscence yce of pusillanimity to form in the end an absolute inability of virtue This
Ancients both Greek and Latine they will tell us wonders but let us hearken to Holy Scripture and Fathers First Immisit Deus soporem in Adam cumquè obdormivisset tulit unam de costis ejus replevit carnem pro eá aedificavit Deus costam quam tulerat in mulierem Adam particeps Angelicae curiae intravit in sanctuarium Dei August l. 9. de Genes ad lit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Aquila 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Symach 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Tertul. Accidentium spiritus in Genesis chap. 2. where the creation of woman is declared it is said that God caused a profound sleep to steal upon Adam and that being asleep he drew woman out of his side These words are very considerable What meaneth it that God before he made woman caused sleep to steal into the eyes of Adam I will not here tell you that some have glossed that he could not have admitted this production of woman in any other manner but I affirm with the Septuaginta this sleep was an extasie with Saint Augustine that it was a repture and with others a trance of spirit For he then had need enough to fortifie himself with consideration since woman came into the world who would bid him many battels Poor Adam fell into an apoplexy into a convulsion into swooning fits as already feeling the cross thwartings passions and afflictions he should receive from woman Moreover who can but admire the phrase which the Scripture useth in this creation where it is said woman was built Good God! what meaneth this thou already hadst erected so many goodly buildings Heaven and earth the high and low stations of the world thou hadst created Adam with a plentiful concurrence of many parts and yet the Scripture saith not thou then didst build but when woman was to be created God built God made his first piece of architecture And why It is because woman is a house wherein the heart of man should inhabit who is alas there but too often captive Or is it that a woman costs as much in making as a fair house To build a house you must have so much sand lime stone timber iron-work manufactures hands strokes of hammers masons carpenters and to dress and attire a woman so many coiffs kerchiefs cawls so many false hairs paintings gowns petticotes chopins verdingals whalebones so many carcanets gold chains jewels gemmes attendants that a house were almost as soon built as a woman furnished What doth she when she is built Saint Augustine saith she becomes the scholler of a serpent the gate of sin the fountain of errour and the rust of pietie Good God! what unhappiness is this If from the side of man a flaming dart or keen sword had been drawn they would have done less hurt than an evil woman which I speak without prejudice of the virtuous The first woman ungrateful towards God a traiteress to her husband a murderess of her race made a bridge for Satan to pass into the world and needs would lodge him in her heart whom God had confined to the deep pit of hell Others who have prostituted themselves to evil for these five thousand sixe hundred and thirtie years that the world hath circumvolved have acted upon this large Theatre of many forms so many bloudy tragedies that they make histories to blush thereat The daughters of Loth the Thamars Athaliaes Jezabels Vasties Helenaes Fredegondaes approve it and their ashes also incessantly produce others into the world Work-mistresses of all mischief Alas Mothers instruct your daughters well whilst they are young breed them up in the fear of God frame them to duty imprint on their tender hearts as with a searing-iron the love of chastity modesty in their behaviour and devotion in their souls And you young men who suffer your selves to be cheated and deceived by impudent women permitting them to bewitch you with love-drinks and wicked attractives open your eyes and behold the precipice before you and then I doubt not you will abhor it Trust not their familiar conversation Efficacissimum est glutinum ad capiendas animas mulieris August and dalliances know they are full of danger and that there is not any can resist them without the particular grace of God Strength little availeth the Sampsons sunk to the ground Wisdom is to seek the Solomons fell Valour therein is short the Davids found it Sanctity is not free from their batteries the Elishaes were persecuted by women and the John Baptists therein lost their heads That venerable face those eyes enflamed with heavenly rays which won reverence from the wild beasts of the desert could not mollifie a female dancer That wise head where the maxims of eminent virtues resided was taken from the shoulders of a Saint carried in a dish to a banquet by the sacrilegious hands of a shameless woman That tongue from whence distilled a stream of honey was pricked and pierced with a bodkin wherewith the wretch used to curle her hair Now according to the counsel of Saint Chrysostom take into your hands this bloudy head ask of it O head which should never die who hath drenched thee into the wanness of death Who hath bathed thee in this bloud Who hath put out thine eyes the torches of the elect and thunder-strokes of the wicked Who hath layed an eternal silence on that tongue which first of all announced the Kingdom of Heaven The love of women Lyons and Tigers reverenced me in wildernesses and women massacred me in a Kings Palace women mingled my bloud with wine and made me as a pompous morsel of their tragical banquets When I say this I not onely accuse women but carnal men who suffer themselves to be allured and surprized with sottish love and trampling under foot the honour of God the presence of Heaven and Angels the conjugal bed and faith promised to their wives wallow themselves in execrable adulteries which fill families with opprobrie confusion and tragedies why say I families nay Kingdomes and Empires and if we will well examine it we shall find the greatest part were turned topsie-turvie by foolish love O you that sigh hearing speech of the furious disorders this unhappy sin brings into the world I beseech you with Saint Paul by the very bowels of our Lords mercy offer your bodies to God as an hoast lively holy and acceptable to the Divinity and you especially who are in the state of marriage entertain your beds honourable and chaste cemented with a perpetual knot of faith love and peace that God may please thereon perpetually to shower down from on high his holy benedictions and after the course of this painful life crown you with comforts in the glory of the Blessed The thirty fifth SECTION That the evils of marriage ought not to be imputed to sex but sin and of the disorders committed in this Sacrament IF the unhappiness of marriages proceeded onely from women we might necessarily conclude they were alwayes unfortunate
devotion you raise fortunes like a Colossus of glass which will shiver in pieces over your head After you have resigned this your conscience to God you owe to your self the government of your senses and use of reason and as it appears you are O men strictly bound in marriage the more to render your selves men since God placeth you therein to afford men to the Christian Common-wealth It is necessary you draw from the fountain of wisdom more wit and more light since you are to make use of it to enlighten a wife and children who depend on your direction As for the duty of both I find if marriage be a Lilly it must have six leaves which are Respect Love Loyalty Support Direction and Help It is fit love begin by a certain Regard which man and woman should bear one to another all the time of their life For the functions of this society permitting a great familiarity if it be not counterpoyzed with a chaste reverence soon degenerateth into contempt The wives Respect ought to pass even to obedience which the Apostle S. Paul so punctually recommendeth to Christians and the husbands should be mixed with a Mulier collateralis virâ— Gloss in Gen. tenderness and moderation to let him know God drew woman out of his side to make her his companion and not his slave It is good for the entertainment of this respect that both of them accustom to conceive a good opinion of each others abilities For where there is dis-esteem honour will hardly be found because it is tyed to worth as the shadow to the body For this purpose they must endeavour to cover the defects they may have by nature by other virtues in their power and to persevere in a belief of sufficiency in each ones condition To this respect the Love is added which should be rendred according to the precept of S. Paul in the matter of conjugal duty For it is an intollerable thing and wherein God may be grievously offended when a woman imagineth that to be married is nothing else but to have a Coach to her self to buy stuffs according to her own fantasie to become brave and have no regard to obligations essential amongst the married But we may truly affirm all love of sense is very low if it tend not to those eternal sources of amities which distil from the Paradise of God and learn to love by grace and reason that which is to be loved God to cement this love together drew woman out of man saith Tertullian as some part of Tertul. de resur carnis a liquor from the vessel which contained it He made two of one to put them both afterward into one It is to tear each others flesh and gnaw their bones to waste one another by discord the most capital plague of marriage Holy love is always accompanied with mutual loyalty in any thing which concerneth conjugal chastity as being the knot of affections and foundation of all the happiness of the married O wife a ring is given you of a circular form to teach your loves are limited within the nuptial bed The ring which heretofore bare the seal of promise to signifie your heart ought to be sealed with charity and closed up from all other pretensions Believe not those make-bates who tell you good is of its own nature communicable and that a fair wife is not for one alone that chastity is a note of deformity and that a husband and a friend are not things in compatible These are not words but hisses of the serpent Fear the least blemishes of honour and do not so much as cast an eye upon the smoke of this cole which now adays burneth so many unhappy souls Love not to be wooed and courted by so many eyes and lips nor to behold such worldly pleasures to become pliant to others or to attempt to afford love and receive none back again Out alas these sleight entertainments breed many acerbities They are enchanted apples which poison all who tast them Men likewise remember the best lessons of loyalty which your wife can learn she must derive from your example Think not because you are a man all things are permitted you and that your sex is a sanctuary for your crime If you be the head saith S. Augustine Caput ducat corpus sequatur August Serm. 49. move it that way whither you would have the body follow You are the more bound to conjugal chastity because you ought to be the most wise strong because you have the most employments to divert your temptations in the affairs of civil life and lastly because you have most liberty and may make your evil most general by disturbing many wedlocks as it happeneth to reprobate and inordinate souls in this kind I adde to loyalty mutual bearing with defects and imperfections which is a singular virtue in marriage For we being in this world as in a territory where good and evil easily mix together there is no plant which hath not its worm nor beauty which suffereth not diminution There are not any married couple so accomplished who have not vices defects and imperfections which who practice not to digest through Christian patience shall become not unlike a sea-calf said to be always moody against his fellow The husband and the wife are upon the river called Life in marriage as in a boat If there happen a leak and it receive water they must seek to stop it presently and if you have nothing to put into it rather set a foot upon it than pierce round about it to make the leak wider A word or indiscreet action hath escaped to what purpose is it to reproach or pick quarrels with a man or woman upon it on all occasions Rather use the speediest remedies you may and if none be at hand bury it in silence Finally know you enter into marriage for direction and assistance and though direction be principally proper to man notwithstanding it is a poor business to see a woman have neither care nor government in her family imagining she from morning till night should have no other employment but to dress her self and many times to be attired when divers think of unclothing to go to bed It is a shameful thing to prattle all the day long and make a whole city trot upon her tongue and yet be ignorant of what is done in her own house A virtuous wife should not onely govern her family but with wisdom and discretion temper her husbands passions and if such things escape him redress them rather by love than power If God heretofore caused a she-ass to speak to instruct a false Prophet why should he not at a need draw a good word from the mouth of a discreet woman to set man into a fair way Know we not that the last unhappiness of Pilate was not to have believed his wife much more enlightened by God than himself As for help it is so necessary that next after
so much advanced the power of Satan as the making of sinfull gods The young man looking on the statue of Jupiter soothed his own lust and drew the nourishment of his sin even from Altars So doth the son who beholds himself in the vices of his father and takes paternal authority for pledg of his wickedness I leave you to think if in Exodus 22. He who unawares suffered a silly spark to flie into his neighbours corn be guilty of the fires hurt as we heretofore told you what will it be with a father who in his house shall enkindle the torch of iniquity to enflame his whole family First then lay the foundation of piety and consequently find employments for your children lest they consume in idleness which is the seminary of all vices Charlemain soon put his sons to exercises and commanded his daughters to sow or spin that the gate might be shut up against lazy sluggishness of spirit wherewith the soul suffers it-self insensibly to slide into all sorts of corruptions Yea great discretion must beused in this point not to enforce children to undertake vocations wholy disproportionable to their humours and qualities to make them thereby row all the rest of their life against the stream Saint Basil in the Epistle to Eudoxus praiseth the Athenians who tried the nature of their children before they put them to any profession proposing unto them sundry instruments of all kind of arts and easily admitting that to which they most inclined As for accommodation you must therein reasonably provide according to your estate and not according to the extrauagant ideas of this insatiable Age. It is an admirable thing to see to what a height these offices and huge marriages are mounted I think they will flie into the Kingdom of the Moon The time hath been when a man was thought rich who had fifty crowns of yearly rent We find when the marriages of the daughters of France exceeded not six thousand crowns payd down Nay which is more daughters were bought and now they purchase husbands with prodigious sums This is it which wasteth spirits which renders instructions unprofitable and throws all our evils into the despaire of remedy If you knew well how to order this matter you would find repose and facility in the rest of the government of youth and when you have done that which belongs to you leave the rest in the hands of the divine providence who well understands how to handle the web of our lives and to apply every one to what is fittest for his salvation If all I have said O fathers and mothers be not sufficient to instruct and perswade you I would draw hither out of the other world Hely the High-Priest severely punished by the revengeful hand of God for negligences committed in the education of his children He would cry aloud unto you I am that Hely heretofore the prime man amongst the people of God that Hely from whose lips passed so many brave oracles that Hely who with the winck of an eye made the people obedient that Hely who shined as a pharos in the Tabernacle of God and in the mean space for permitting youthful follies and indiscreet libertie to my children see me become the object of the most enflamed anger of God which may be imagined against one of my profession Behold me cast from the High-Priest hood as a rotten member my house everlastingly deprived of that honourable dignity all my posterity condemned to die under the scourge of God and not any one of them ever to attain to mans estate another enriched with my spoils which my Nephews shall never see but to wither with grief in consideration of the felicity of their rival my two sons sensual and voluptuous slain in one day my daughter in Law dead in child-bed but above all through my sin the Ark of God taken away by enemies and dishonoured by Infidels and lastly my self buried under the ruins of my countrey as the last victim of Gods justice O Sovereign Creatour of Heaven and earth how terrible thou art nay how just nay how severe to chastise parents for the sins of their children but how reasonable in this their punishment Fathers and mothers fear fathers and mothers shake under the hand of the Omnipotent fathers and mothers be satisfied with your own sins and carry not your childrens into the other world instruct them so that in their education you may find the discharge of your consciences they good doctrine and you rest and comfort to have well bred them The fourtieth SECTION Advice to children concerning the duty they should render to their fathers and mothers contrary to the contumacy of irregular youth THe Wiseman said it was a hard matter to Funiculus â—â—plex difficile rumpitur break a triple coard A triple law divine natural and civil hath straightly bound children to the honour and duty they ordinarily yield to parents He is forsaken of God an enemy of nature and an infringer of publick tranquility who would be exempted First I say nature distilleth with the soul those amorous infusions of amity which children have towards their fathers and mothers The beam belongeth to its sun the river to its fountain the branch to its tree and the child to his progenitours They are not Storks alone who have taught us the law of reciprocal love Lions though of nature untractable of life savage even in their roring moods which make woods and mountains tremble give us a lesson of this charity Lions whelps whose paws itch and bloud boileth in their veins go chearfully a hunting to seek out food for their fire now worn with age And hunters have often observed an old Lion lying in the entrance of a cave and a young one to come laden with booty putting it into the paws of the other who expected it He received the prey making shew of a thousand thanks to his whelp which freely divided the prize according to the law of nature These inclinations are found even in birds of rapine who pull the prey one from another to feed those with it who begat them Albertus Magnus noteth that fowlers seeking for goshawks found one in a vast wilderness perched upon a tree not offering to stir from them but seeming wholly immoveable They wondring why this bird flew not away at the sight of men as well as others of her kind perceived she was weak blind lame and wasted with decrepit age whereupon they hid themselves expecting the coming of other goshawks when instantly behold two hastened thither laden with meat which they pulled in pieces and thrust into the beak of the poor old one They made no doubt but these were the young who fed the dam. O what charms of nature Nay rather what providence of God! Is not he an Apostata to the great Law of the world who violateth charity due to fathers and mothers As for humane Laws what have they in them more noble or Religious than the
her it was a thing in the judgement of all those who would truly weigh it very far from her thought since she had always more feared King Herods love than hatred Lastly that she made no reckoning of life wherein she had suffered too much sorrow yea much less of the Court from whence she never received any contentment and that if they would oppress her by false testimonies it was easie to gain victory of one who made no resistance more easie to take the Diadem from her head and her head from her shoulders but most hard to bereave her of the reputation of a Princess of honour which she had of her Ancestours and would carry to her tomb The poor creature was like a silly sheep in the Lions throat or among the paws of many wolves They proceeded to sentence all tended to baseness It was supposed the King was willing to be rid of her and that sufficed Never was any one to be found who had the courage to plead the cause of this innocent Queen or in any sort to mollifie the passion of Herod All those consciences were oppressed either with crimes or cowardise from whence it came to pass these false Judges did more for the Tyrant than he desired for they all resolved upon death He himself was surprized with horrour though he were wholly a bloudy man and commandeth she should be kept in a prison of the Palace with delay of execution thinking perhaps by that means to make her more plyant to his passion But the enraged Salome who had raised this storm not willing to do any business to halves approched to the King her brother and shewed him such birds were not to be kept in cages that his life and crown thereby ran into hazard that already all tended to a revolt and that if he delayed this execution he hastened the ruin of himself and his whole state Whereupon Herod let fall this word Let her be taken away And behold instantly an officer dispatched to the good Queen who brought her the news of the last hour of her life saluting her with a low reverence and saying Madame Invincible patience and very admirable the King commandeth you must presently die She without any disturbance said Let us then go my friend it cannot be so soon for King Herod but it will be as late for me and speaking this word she set forward and went directly to the place of execution without change of colour having a sweet aspect which drew tears from the whole world To crown her patience as she was ready to receive the stroke of death Alexandra her own mother the companion of her imprisonment the Guardian of her thoughts who had ever been one heart with her betraying bloud nature and all piety by a mischievous trick of state thereby avoiding the suspition of Herod as consenting to her daughters humour came to charge her with most bloudy injuries Barbarous act of Alexandra and it was a great chance she had not taken this poor Ladie by the hair to dreg her up and down the pavement saying to her with the foam of boyling choller That she was wicked and extreamly proud and well deserved to die in that manner by shewing herself refractory to so good a husband Behold verily the greatest indignity which could happen in such an accident There is no better honey nor worse sting than that of bees no better amities nor greater injuries than of allies The patient Mariamne onely made her this answer Mother let my soul pass in peace which already is upon my lips and trouble not the repose of my death and with a generous silence shutting her mouth up to further replies Heroick silence and opening her heart to God the onely witness of her innocency most unworthily used stretched out her neck to the executioner to seal with her bloud the last testimonies of her patience Josephus speaketh not expresly enough of the punishment she doubtless being executed in the manner at that time ordinary which was to behead offenders Most pitifull death of that quality This day-break which bare stil in the rays thereof joy refreshment to the poor afflicted souls through the horrible confusions of tyranny was then extinct in her bloud Yea the eyes of all the standers by bathed in tears beheld her in her eclipse when that fore-head full of Royal Majesty was seen couragiously to affront approaching death which maketh the most confident to tremble and when this alabaster neck was stretched out and bowed under the shining steel to be separated from this beauteous body a shivering horrour crept into the What horrour bones of all the beholders and there was no rock so hard which afforded not the water of tears before she poured out her bloud The head was separated from the body and the body from the soul But the soul never shall be divided from God raising to death such a trophey of patience The limbs lay all cold and stiff extended on the place and the voice of innocent bloud which already penetrated the clouds to ask vengeance of God was instantly heard as you shall understand onely I beseech you stay to behold the Pourtraict and Elogie of the good Queen by us here inserted MARIAMNE REGINA MARIAMNE REGINA MACHABAEORUM STIRPE INCLYTA HERODIS PESSIMI OMNIUM VIRI UXOR OPTIMA FORMA CORPORIS SUPRA CAETERAS EXIMIAANIMI ETIAM VIRTUTIBUS MAJOR INTEGERRIMAE PUDICITIAE ET INELUCTABILIS PATIENTIAE FOEMINA INIQUISSIMIS CALUMNIIS OPPRESSA MARITI GLADIO REGIAS CERVICES DEDIT ANNO ANTE CHRISTI NATALEM VIGESSIMO OCTAVO Upon the Picture of MARIAMNE FOrtune a heavenly beauty did engage To a fell husband who through boundless rage Practiz'd fierce tyranny and foul debate As well in love as in his Royal state She liv'd on gall upon the sword she dy'd Soon in the Lamb's bloud to be purifi'd The Cross so to prevent in pains pertake With patient God mishaps thrice-happy make Which after death immortalize her story And from her body take less bloud than glory Thus from the world this holy Queen remov'd Breaths forth affections to her God belov'd And her great soul to heav'n in silence rears Purg'd in her flame washed with her tears Who bravely so both lives and leaveth breath Makes of a dying life a living death THe disloyal husband who so inhumanely had treated a Ladie worthy of all honour as soon as she rendered up her soul as if he had been strucken by some invisible dart cried out with grief and said he had done an act worthy the wrath of Fury of Herod after the death of Mariamne God then dreadfully howling he ceaselesly invoked the memory and name of the poor dead creature to whom he by his sorrows could not again restore what had been taken from her by the sword of the executioner Wheresoever he went he still was accompanyed with the image of his crime still tormented and assailed with black furies
her innocency and at that time the flames of his chaste love began to burn more forcible than ever He loved her with a love mingled with respect of her merit and compassion of persecuted innocency He was pleased to have her spoken of in private and hear the life described she led in this new world Chrysaphius perceiving him to take fire in good earnest followed his opportunity according to promise and one day seeing the Emperour well disposed adventured to say SACRED MAjESTY How long will you deprive us of this Saint Must needs the deserts of Palestine so long time possess her to our prejudice It is a wonder your Palace hath not been able to endure a Virtue which maketh it self to be seen heard and adored in the savage wildernesses The poor Ladie hath well paid for a little sudden surprizal of speech Know besides she never hath failed in fidelity to your bed and hereon I would swear upon the holy Evangelists and expose my hand to the fire But God hath already sufficiently declared it by the sequel of her deportments What is done is done we cannot restore life to the dead but we ought to yield honour to the living which hath unjustly been taken from them It is an obligation of conscience Who hindereth we cannot suddenly see her by your sides Theodosius answereth It would be my desire but thou seest the impediment I fear my sister will not like it Chrysaphius replieth Truly my Ladie your Sister ought to be satisfied with the absolute command your Majesty giveth her in all the affairs of your Kingdom without attempting on the contentments of your marriage or the honour of this good Princess whose faults she should rather cover with her royal purple if any such had escaped her but of necessity she ought to honour her merits Let me alone and I will give her satisfaction Theodosius giveth him absolute Commission and thereupon as it is most probable he adviseth the Empress to return to Constantinople with small noise and much haste and so plotteth that the Emperour under colour of going a hunting saw her spake to her treateth with her of her return which presently was published and all the Citie which passionately affected her ushered her in Behold her arrived as if she had flown in the air and received with much honour and magnificence into the Palace Pulcheria amazed at this accident setteth a good face upon it entertaineth her with strict embraces congratulateth her pilgrimage speaketh to her of nothing but of Monasteries Crosses Reliques In the mean time very closely sheweth she did not well like him who had contrived this Chrysaphius imagining Chrysaphius an heretical Eunuch projecteth to ruin Theodosius his Couâ—â— he had to do with an Imperious Maid seasoned from her youth in government who never would forgive him this fault resolveth to play at fast and loose thinking he had credit enough to do this by the means of Eudoxia For the love which Theodosius bare to her upon her return was a torrent which after it hath a long time been restrained breaketh the forced dammes and with vigorous impetuousness drowneth the fields He was so ardent and passionate that he seemed unable to deny her any thing This was the cause why Chrysaphius whose name is as much as to say a seamster of gold having already made a seam of his trade stitched another together more strong than the former He boardeth the Emperour under the wings of Eudoxia in the heat of his affections most ardent Both joyning to make the battery more forcible declare to him That MADAME his Sister daily desired to gain repose as she had often said and that it was a thing lawfully due for the long services she had yielded to the Crown That it was a wonder how she having dedicated herself to the Church by the vow of virginitie could persevere so long in Court That hereafter Theodosius had one who held with him the first place in all favours on whom be might repose himself and was thereunto obliged by reason which was his wife That the spirit of Pulcheria was not suitable to the humour of Eudoxia when one star riseth the opposite must fall Theodosius apprehended this business as the most slippery path he had ever trod but what cannot love and the soft inticements of a woman do Wearied out with ceaseless importunities he yieldeth he sendeth for Flavian the Patriarch and intreateth him to put his sister Pulcheria in the rank of virgins who are dedicated to the service of the Church were she willing or unwilling Flavian much amazed at this manner of proceeding telleth him he should take good heed of this resolution that he undertook one of the greatest passages of State he had ever done in his life and that the danger thereof was much to be feared The Emperour replieth he hath well pondered it that such was his will and he must speedily see it executed The Patriarch Pulcheria being exceedingly affected by all the Clergy adviseth her to withdraw without further resistance otherwise he should be forced to do that which would much trouble him The good Ladie understood well Virtue of Pulcheria what he would say she had already smelt the plot and was unwilling to do any thing unworthy of her virtue for seeing her fortune altered by the change of the Emperour her brothers will she freely dispoyled herself of the manage of affairs as from a shirt which one hath long worn and retiring from the Palace went to lodge in a house somewhat distant from Constantinople where she lived in marvellous sanctity Virtue is as the Geometrical Cube on what side soever it be cast it always findeth its basis Behold then a new face of government which beginneth Chrysaphius entangleth the Emperour and his wife in the heresie of Eutyches under Chrysaphius and Eudoxia But the mischief was an old dotard called Eutyches came into the field to sow an heresie holding the body of our Lord after the union with the Word was no more of the same nature that ours are but that the humanity was wholly dissolved into the Divinity The hypocrite so covered his opinion that he shewed not to teach this doctrine but for the reverence he bare to the Son of God This became a stumbling-block to many good souls As he advanced this proposition the Bishops opposed to suppress it and he for a shelter cast himself into the arms of Chrysaphius who not contented to embrace this business with all fervour embarketh likewise therein the Emperour Theodosius and Eudoxia his wife first through great simplicity afterward by a strange unhappiness which almost brought them to destruction if the Divine goodness had not otherwise disposed Theodosius the holy and pious Emperour persecuted the Religious and Saints He wrote to Pope Leo in favour of Eutyches he caused false Councels to be held and covered the seditious under the protection of his arms even to the authorizing the attempt committed on
to declare him Successour in his Empire Pulcheria married him onely under the title of wedlock with mutual consent of both parties to keep virginity This woman was made to govern men and Empires She was already fifty years old and had mannaged the State about thirty seven Behold she beginneth a new reign with the best man of the world who onely had the name of a husband and in effect served and respected her with as much regard and humility as if he had been her own son She could not in the world have made a better choice This great man was naturally enclined to piety justice compassion towards the necessities of mankind He was very valiant for he Marvellous accident of Martianâ—s had all his life time been bred among arms and during his Empire no barbarous Nation durst stir so much was he feared It was a wonder by what byass God led him directly to the height of worldly honours He was of base extraction a Thracian born of a good wit and a body very robustious which made him find a sweetness in war He going to Philippolis to be enrolled in the list of souldiers by chance it happened he found a dead body upon the way newly massacred This good man who was very compassionate had pitie thereon and approched to give it burial but this charity was like to have cost him his life for being busily employed to enterre this body one laid hold on his throat as if he had been the murderer and that he made this grave for no other intention but to bury his own guilt The poor man defendeth himself in his innocency as well as he could but conjectures prevail beyond his defence He was now under the sword of the executioner when by good hap the homicide was produced who had done the deed convicted by his own confession This man thrust his head into the place of the innocent and Martianus brought his away to behold it one day glitter under the rubies and diamonds of the Imperial Crown This was not without long trials of his ability which transferred him from degree to degree through all the hazards of a long and painfull warfare He was then mature in years in account one of the greatest Captains of the Empire Behold why Pulcheria could not be deceived in her choice This good husband who held his wife as a Saint was wholly directed by her counsels and she daily purified his soul in religion and policie He became in short time so brave and perfect in this school that he was accounted one of the most accomplished Emperours who had born the scepter since Constantine God well shewed his Good success of Martianus love and faithfull protection towards Martianus when in the second year of his Empire he diverted the furious Attila from the East who even now roared over the Citie of Constantinople as a thunder-stroke before it brake in shivers This Attila was a Scythian a great Captain who promised to himself the Empire of the world and for that cause had taken the field with an Army of 700000. men composed of strange and hydeous Nations who had gone out of their countrey like a scum of the earth ranging themselves under the conduct of Attila for the great experience he had in the mannage of arms He notwithstanding was a little man harsh violent his breast large his head great the eye of a Pismeer his nose flat his beard close shaved beginning already to wax grisled He walked with so much state as if he thought the earth had been unworthy to bear him and â—â—ough meerly barbarous the desire of honour so possessed him that being one day at Milan and seeing pictures where the Roman Emperours were represented who had Scythians his Countrey-men cast at their feet was so enraged that instantly he sent for a painter and caused himself to be drawn in a very eminent golden throne and clothed in royal robes and the Emperours of Rome and Constantinople bearing bags on their shoulders filled with crowns then made them to be poured at his feet alluding hereby to the vast sums of money he in good earnest extorted from the Empire and which Theodosius gave him afterwards to divert the course of his arms thinking that speedily to dispatch such an enemy out of his territories it was onely fit to make for him a bridge of silver This man seemed created to shake the pillars of the earth and for that cause made himself to be called The scourge of God There was no infant so little in the arms of the nurse who hearing Attilas named did not think he saw a wolf He considering that Martianus a most valiant man at that time swayed the Eastern Empire durst not come near but hastened to fall upon the West where Valentinian the Younger reigned son of Honorius cousin of Theodosius and Pulcheria a wanton and dissolute Prince as you shall understand in the course of this history loosing his life and Empire by his sensuality So it was that Attila attempting first upon the Gaules found work enough for the Romanes French and Gothes not unlike dogs who after they have worried one another rally themselves together to resist the wolf by a common consent heartened each other under the conduct of Aetius Moroneus and Thyerry against this Barbarian and having given him battel defeated one part of his army in the Catalonian plains but he failed not to pack a way creeping along like a great serpent which loaden with redoubled blows given by peasants hath received a maim in his body and notwithstanding saved his head God who derideth the proud and in his Amphitheater is pleased to make not Lions to fight with bulls but the weakness of the earth against the most insolent greatness reserved the conquest of this monster to Religious persons and women It is a wonder he coming to Rome as to the period and butt of his ambitions all enflamed with great desires in this clattering of harness and loud noise of Armies all the world trembling under the scourge the brave Pope S. Leo went out to seek him and preached so well unto him that being come thither as a lion he returned as a lamb for Attila entertained him with marvellous respect So had he done before to S. Lupus Bishop of Troyes granting him whatsoever he could desire All his Captains were much amazed for among other titles this Hun had the name of being inexorable to suppliants and it then being curiously asked of him who made him at that time loose his furie he confessed he saw a venerable person by Leo's side it was the great Saint Peter who threatned him with death if he condescended not to what the good Pope desired of him Attila then leaveth Italie and passeth into Sclavonia without being wished for again but by one sole woman Alas who would believe it Honoria sister of the Emperour cousin germane to Pulcheria fell in love with this monster I know not what
answered their desires For in this second Volumn I treat of the Courts of Constantine the Great the two Valentinians Gratian Theodosius the Elder Theodorick in Boetius his cause Clodoveus Clotilda Levigildus Hermingildus and Indegondis in such sort that I have selected the principal sanctities of Great-ones in the first six Ages of Christianity which will not be sleightly valued by those who better love to finish a Work than unboundedly distend it Moreover also to be better than my promise in my first Volumn having taken the Court in general I here descend into particulars and there being four sorts of persons which compose the life of Great-ones that is to say the Prelate the Souldier the States-man and the Court-Ladie I have made a brief Table of the conditions necessary in every state couched in four discourses pursued with as many Books of Histories which contain excellent models of virtues proper to all orders and states of life in persons most eminent I can assure my Reader these Summaries of Precepts which I have so contracted in so few words it being in my power to enlarge them in divers Volumns are not unprofitable and the Histories are so chosen that besides their majesty which unfoldeth the goodliest affairs and passages of Empires in the beginning of their Christianity they have also a certain sweetness which solid spirits shall find as much to transcend fables and modern eloquence as the satisfaction of truth surpasseth the illusions of Sorcerers You shall perpetually therein observe a large Theater of the Divine providence wherein God himself knoweth I have no other aim but to dignifie virtue and depress vice without any reflection upon the persons of these times no more than if I wrote in the Reign of Charlemain or St. Lewis I heartily entreat all those spirits of application who cannot hold their nose over a piece of work unless they find it to suit with their own fantasies imagining that all literature is the eccho of their own thoughts that if they have any Commentary to produce they would rather make glosses upon their own dreams than my Books We are not as yet God be thanked in so miserable an Age that we dare not offer sacrifice to truth without a disguise since it is the glory of Great-ones openly to wage war against vices as their greatest enemies For to speak truly after I had presented my First Tome at the feet of the sacred person of our great King I likewise considered in his Court rich and resplendent lights in all orders which might serve as models for my Treatises but to avoid affectation of all worldly complacence I have purposely declined it my nature and habit having already so alienated me from all worldly pretences that it would prove painfull to me to court any man if he had not Heaven and the Stars to give me for reward For so much as concerneth the form of writing observed by me in this Second Volumn I will truly confess to my Reader that I have therein proceeded rather guided by my proper Genius than art or cunning And although I heretofore have been curious enough to read and observe all what ever Greek or Roman eloquence hath produced of worth yet I confess there is a certain ray of God which encountering with our spirit and mixing with nature is more knowing than all precepts and I may affirm this for the instruction of youth which hath asked my opinion concerning the qualities and conditions of stile True it is I have handled many books written in all Ages and have found the wisest of them to be elevated in conceits and words above the ordinary strain but always free from affectation Others are so passionately enamoured of certain petty courtships of language which are capital enemies of perswasion and which we most especially ought to avoid in discourses of piety the nerves whereof they weaken and blemish the lustre since even those who speak to us out of Chairs by word or writing although in terms discreetly modest make the less impressions on our hearts and many times so seek after their own reputations as they forget how much they are engaged to truth We see some who through over-much wit search out strange ways conceptions different from common understanding words extravagant and in all other things so vehemently adore their own imaginations that they cannot endure any but themselves in paper which is the cause they very seldom meet with the habit of humane understanding as being true Citizens of Plato's Commonwealth of ability to controle all and to do nothing Some glory in barrenness and would willingly be displeased with God that he hath more plentifully sown stars in some parts of the Heaven than in others They can brook nothing that is generous without snarling at it and taxing it supposing beauties and splendours are defects because they surpass their capacities Finally there are some who so furnish themselves with the worth of others ceaseless allegations that they frame discourses like to those Helena's all of gold where we can behold nothing but drapery not being able to distinguish the hand from the foot nor the eye from the face I enter not into the consideration of our times having learned rather to regard the Works of the meanest Writers than censure them But to speak sincerely I never thought it fit to advise or pursue such courses And as in this Work I have not wholly declined learning nor ornament of language which I supposed apt for the purpose endeavouring many times to enchase them with seemly accommodation so have I been unwilling to replenish my leaves with Authours and forreign tongues this being undertaken rather to perswade virtue among men eminent than to fill the common places of young Students I likewise have so intermingled my style that not descending into a petty language of complement which had been below my subject I thought to make it intelligible yea even unto those who make no profession of arts or study My onely aim is to speak and to be understood perswaded thereunto by the saying of Philo That speech and thought are two sisters they youngest whereof is created that the eldest may be known I have more laboured upon the weight of sentences than ornaments of words not at all pretending to the honour of earthly pens which we daily behold to grow in so many Authours of this Age who would be much more absolute did they apply themselves to graver subjects and in some sort imitate the Sun who affording admiration to the world hath none himself Notwithstanding it often happeneth not with the most eminent Writers who ordinarily are endowed with much modesty but certain extreamly profane wits to idolatrize their own inventions to condemn all treatises of worth and value that it is impossible to be eloquent in our language but in the expression of vanities and impurities Truly if question were made to judge of French eloquence the riches of Babylon are not so exquisite as
they shewed themselves as depraved in their proceedings as greedy in matter of honour The Roman Emperours who stretched their authority as far as the point of their launce could be extended and who needs would be Commanders of arms to become thereby Masters of laws failed not to joyn the Myter with the Diadem and as soon to make themselves great Prelates as great Emperours thinking by this means to have the more power over the hearts of the people and the less opposition for resistance when they had depressed the forces which might give some remarkeable counterpoize to their greatness And it is an admirable thing that the first Baron ad annum Christi 383. num 6. Gratianus primus nomen Pontificis respuit Christian Emperours as Constantine and his children still retained the titles of the great Pontifices of Gentilism as a Maxim of State lest forgoing this fantasie of dignity they should behold themselves bereaved of some jewel of their Crowns This is to authorize my proposition which saith true honour belongeth to Ecclesiastical charges when they are well administred since the Monarchs of the world from the very abuse of these dignities have derived glory but to desire them for honour is to dishonour the dignity by the unworthiness of your desire So many Ixions now adays cast themselves athwart the smoke to court a cloud that there is almost no love left but for false Deities That which maketh Ecclesiastical men honourable is well to use their titles and embellish their charges with the ornament of their lives Otherwise all this petty gaudery which we see sparkling round about them is very little It is not the Myter which maketh the Bishop but to be esteemed worthy of the Myter by transcendency in virtue is to be more than a Bishop without merit Sometimes we beholding the Meteors of the air Superiora non habent coronas quia nè ventos quidem Senec. natural q. l. 1. c. 1. imagine to see Crowns about the Sun and Stars which really are nothing but vapours composed of gross air which illusion coloureth our imagination figureth and the wind scattereth This is to make fools believe there are Crowns encompassing this mighty Star The Sun is adorned sufficiently with his proper rays should he borrow his brightness from the vapours of the earth he would no longer be the Sun Even so is it when with a terrestrial and impure eye we consider some exteriour marks of Ecclesiastical dignity we think such things make Prelates and we therein are deceived for they are vapours of the earth which the wind sooner or later will dissipate He that will be truly resplendent must within himself bear the source of his own light Herein consisteth the most excellent form of honour when a Prelate allieth sincerity of life to the dignity of his place and that to serve as an example for all noble spirits who make election to be of the Church he advanceth his extraction by the lustre of virtues which are as rays reflecting from the Divine greatness I say for a second reason that when Noblemen hold Ecclesiastical offices and therein employ their whole extent of duty we may hope from their ministeries not onely more radiance but succour also as from such as command with greater authority and make themselves to be obeyed with more advantage It is undoubtedly true that God sufficiently maketh it appear he hath no need of men when purposing to stretch out his arm to some extraordinary actions he oftentimes extracteth creatures from dregs and dust to set them in thrones and establish them with such authority that he causeth the powers of the earth to bow under their commands who bear the decrees of Heaven which hath been seen in the infancy of the Church and in the sequel thereof through all Ages Yet must we say that as our Saviour S. Thom. 3. part q. 30. although he had a science increate as God a science infused as a Prophet a science of beatitude as he who was possessour thereof from the first moment of his life notwithstanding to accommodate himself to the laws of that nature which he had assumed spared not to work by humane science which Divines call experimental so in the government of the Church though he sometimes operates without any regard had to dependence on the ordinary course which himself hath established as when he took simple fisher-men to make them Masters over the Sages and Instructers of Monarchs yet at other times proceeding in a common strain and more usual to nature he chose men of note and authority to employ them in the large confines of his Empire and jurisdiction So drew he Moses from Pharaoh's Court to make him the God of Pharaoh so for Princes among the Gentiles which he meant to enrole under his standard he elected Kings and Sages so after he had constituted his Church under the government of a poor fisher-man of Galilie he took one derived from the bloud of Emperours whom he made his Successour to wit S. Clement so he caused in divers occasions Ambroses Gregories Leoes Calixtuses to arise and so many others of most honourable extraction that they might bear Nobility as a dowry into the bosom of the Church which they had so happily governed This Nobility was to their dignity as a guilded case to a rich tablet as gold to the diamond beauty of body to the soul habiliaments to the grace and garb of body They had more lustre more splendour more resolution and the subjects who have not always intentions so pure in rendring honour to Ecclesiasticks as not to regard the exteriour ornament of their qualities and conditions became more obsequious to their commands having not boldness enough to contradict even those who by right of their birth had as soon entered into Empire as life How many times had secular powers been seen to transgress their limits to usurp on the Church and what disorder had we beheld to arise from the prosecution of this confusion had not the hand of God raised Ecclesiasticks of noble houses of great authority of much courage to sustain the shock to tie the hands of the factious and punish the boldness of the most daring to call back as Job saith the prey out of the teeth of iniquity and make a Diadem to himself wholly composed of actions of justice magnanimity religion in this manner more resplendent than if he had possessed all the pearls of the Orient What a fair field of battel what goodly palms what bright glory hath a noble soul to make it self a brazen wall for the defence of the Church and obtain of God the blessing pronounced by the Prophet Isaiah in favour of the High-Priest Eliachim Isaiah 22. Figam illum paxillum in loco fideli erit solium gloriae domui patris sui suspendent super cum omnem gloriam dâ—mus patris ejus What a glorious honour is it to be set in a place of
that being sent into the Territory of Milan in the quality of a Governour Probus who substituted him merily said Go Vade age non ut Judex sed ut Episcopus rule like a Bishop rather than a President recommending mildness unto him that he might apply a lenitive to the great rigours that were used in matter of justice This fell out much otherwise than Probus and Ambrose had projected for as the history telleth Auxentius an Arrian Bishop who had much longer lived than was fit for a man so wicked some little time before deceased at Milan the Metropolitan place of his Diocess and when there was question to proceed to election there were many difficulties between the Catholicks and Arrians every one coveting to create a Bishop of his own party The emulation which was much enkindled threatned to draw bloud from the veins of both sides before it could be quenched Ambrose as a Magistrate went thither to redress it And behold at the same instant a little child as if it had been an Angel descended from Heaven cried out in the midst of the assembly Ambrose must The election of S. Ambrose be created Bishop This loud voice was seconded by all men as a voice sent from the mouth of God The fire of dissention was quenched in an instant the most outragious courages forsook their arms and thought on nothing but to raise Ambrose who was not as yet baptized to bear him by ordinary degrees to the Episcopal chair There were some obstacles herein on every side Concil Nicenum Can. 1. Miserum est eum fieri â—â—gistrum qui necdum dificit esse discipulus Innocentius primus ep 12. ad Aurelium Hieron Ne milesantequm Tyre ne prâ—â—s magister sis quà m discipâ—lus For first it was against the laws of the Church to choose a Bishop since the Councel of Nice condemneth those Prelates who give Orders to Priests presently after baptism Secondly there was an Edict of the Emperour which forbade the advancement of his Officers and civil Magistrates without his express consent In the third place Ambrose who was wholly dedicated to a secular life had neither vein nor artery which enclined to election But who can resist the spirit of God when he is pleased to strike a stroke with his own hand beyond the imagination and judgements of men All difficulties one after another were taken away and this election was approved not onely by the holy See but of all the Eastern and Western Bishops who much rejoyced and congratulated with S. Ambrose by their letters The Emperour Valentinian gave his assent thereunto boasting he had sent such good Governours to Provinces that they were thought capable of Bishopricks There was no body but Ambrose to subdue who used all sort of engines and practises to divert this purpose He who ever of his own nature was exceeding mild feigned himself bloudy causing racks and tortures to bepublickly exercised on offenders yet needs would they have him for Bishop He who was most chaste made men and women of ill life haunt his house and descended even to the shadow of sin to flee the light of glory yet ceased they not to pursue him He fled and after he had for a whole night travelled hard thinking he was far off found himself at the gates of Milan from whence he departed In the end he was forced to yield to the spirit of Almighty God who gave him such evident tokens of his calling Needs must he undergo the charge he so constantly had refused and where humane prudence looseth its sight we must suffer it to attend the direction of Eternal Providence The second SECTION A short Elogie of the life and manners of S. Ambrose I Will do as Geographers who put the whole world into a little map I intend to comprize in few words that which deserveth a volume and give you a brief table of the life and manners of this great Saint S. Ambrose was a man in whom it seemed virtue Rare endowments of a Prelate was incorporated to make it self visible to mortal eyes Goodness which cometh to others by studie seemed his by nature since he had consecrated his infancy by the ignorance of vice and whiteness of innocency Others think it ill to commit a sin and with him it was a great vice to omit a virtue When he lived in the house of his father with his good sister Marcellina he attended to the practice of virtuous actions they both were as flint-stones which by proximity make the sparkles flie so the holy emulation they used in the pursuit of good enkindled the sensible apprehension of God in their hearts by a mutual reverberation He went from this school as Samuel from the Tabernacle to bear innocency to the Episcopal Throne and there to receive dignity His life served as a rule his example as a torch his learning as an ornament and his very silence as an admonition If you regard the virtues which ordinarily lay the foundations of spiritual building such as are sobriety and continency Ambrose undertook fasts for delight commonly eating but once aday and that with moderation he tyed himself to the one for the love of the Cross and admitted the other by way of necessity This exercise much served him to conserve his purity which most inviolably he kept even in the very course of secular life as it was found in his private papers where he very ardently begged of Almighty God that he would give him grace to maintain in his Episcopal dignity the gift of chastity which he had afforded him in a secular life He daily rose from his bed as the Phenix from her nest having no other flames but those of that great Sun which scorcheth Angels in Heaven and the most Angelical hearts on earth From this temperance proceeded his admirable conversation which gained all hearts and who so well knew how to joyn the wisdom of the serpent with the simplicity of the dove He was prudent with good men sharp against the practises of the wicked yet crafty never His discourse came from him with such an Oeconomy that the ignorant found instruction therein the curious light the learned solidity the eloquent grace the vitious terrour the virtuous edification the timorous confidence the afflicted consolation and the whole world admiration There was nothing idle in this man all spake in him all tended to praise-worthy actions his study was holy letters his care to express in his manners what he had read in books he was prompt in all which he did and had but one hinderance in the world and that was prayer which he would never have left if discretion had not taught him to forsake God to find God His intentions were most sincere his negotiations honourable his silence discreet his words ever profitable his heart full of compassion and although the eminency of his life raised him above all men yet the sweetness of his nature made him familiar
would he not die for fear the part of his friend which yet lived in himself might perish All this well declared he had great dispositions to love and that to what side soever his affections tended they never would be with mediocrity It seemed now all things conspired against him to kindle a coal in his veins which the revolution of many years could not extinguish First as nothing is more dangerous to foment this passion than ill example he lived in a place as contagious for chastity as the North wind for plants Saluianus a great Writer speaking Salvian l. 7. de gubernat Tam novum est impudicum non esse Afrum quâ—m Afrum non esse Afrum of Africk which bred S. Augustine saith It was the Country of loves and that it was as strange a man should be an African without being an African as to be an African and not lascivious Secondly these dangers so frequent which seemed to require much retention found liberty enongh in the house for the tears of the blessed S. Monica were not as yet sufficient to stay the course of insolent youth since the father little cared for that he having one day beheld his son in the baths spake some free words which served rather as a spur for sensuality than a motive to continency In the third place as the eye must be open to direct occasions so he therein used so little study that having a soul as it were of sulphure so much was it disposed to take fire he hastened to throw himself into the midst of flames He haunted the company of Libertines who are the most dangerous enemies to chastity and being of a humour very gentile and pleasing gave love and reciprocally received and although he had none needs must he counterfeit When he came to Carthage about the sixteenth year of his age there was not a street where love spread not his nets He as yet knew not well what it was to love and yet desired to be beloved and grew weary of living in innocency He hated his liberty and sought a hand which captived him He went to Theaters there to behold loves represented where he servently was enamoured of the passions of imaginary lovers yea his very eyes hunted in the Church after objects of concupiscence by glances too too dissolute for which he confessed to have been very particularly chastised by the hand of God since he mingled the sanctity of the place with the enterainment of the profane actions This ulcered soul threw it-self out of its compass and took wind and fire on every side It seemed to him he must excel in vice as well as in science He made himself more vicious than he was to appear more gentile in the eyes of evil men and there remained for him nothing more as it were in this point but one shame not to have been sufficiently impudent In the end he fell into the snares he desired and was involved in admirable labyrinths where ever the end of one love was the beginning of another This life so carnal was a perpetual hinderance to the visitations of God For as Platonists say stars cannot exercise their virtue on the sphere of fire So all the light of good counsel had no force in the flames of such a passion His spirit was depraved by sensuality allured by the bait of worldly beauties and darkned with the obscurity of his blindness in such sort that the light of the spirit of God in him found no place If there be a vice in the world which tyeth the soul to flesh and makes it stupid to the feeling of God it is this foul sin and although it be not wholly incompatible with science yet never accorded in the wisdom of heaven which is more conversant in the tast of heavenly things than in knowledge The seventh SECTION Dispositions towards the conversion of Saint Augustine BEhold the principal impediments of the conversion of S. Augustine but God who insensibly wove this work and draws good even from the evil of his elect caused him to use the remedy of the scorpion that stung him For as he pursuing his ordinary curiosity plunged more and more into solid sciences he began by little and little to distast the doctrine of the Manichees finding it very strange that a man should make all kind of dreams and sottishness to pass for verities under the false seal of the holy Ghost Those of his faction who saw him waver oft lent their helping hands too weak to support him and knowing their own inability promised quickly to cause the prime man of their Sect to come from Carthage who should disengage his mind from so many doubts and afford him ample satisfaction They failed not in their promise for in few Faustus and his qualities Pretiosorum poculorum decentissimus ministrator Conf. 5. 6. days the false Bishop Faustus arrived who was as the sword and buckler of the Manichees He was a man of a fair presence had charms in his tongue and many attractives in his conversation able to ensnare the most subtile wits He instantly set himself to frame some studied discourses upon the maxims of his superstition which were heard with great applause by the whole faction For indeed he was an Eagle among Parrets These men supposing that Augustine was fully setled in all their apprehensions and approbations asked him what he thought of the Bishop Faustus and whether he were not an incomparable man He very coldly answered he was eloquent and throughly able to tickle an ear but his malady daily encreasing could not be cured by a man who perpetually speaketh and shuffles up the matter and threfore besides his goodly sermons there was need of a particular conference where he might fully discharge his mind Faustus endowed with a natural curtesie thinking he had to do with a young spirit whom he with words would amuse accepts the disputation where instead of finding a crane he encountred an eagle who handled him roughly from the beginning of the battel This man made him presently appear to be of base gold and that this tallent was no other than that he was an indifferent Grammarian had read some orations of Tully the memory whereof were very fresh in him some epistles also of Seneca with a mixture of poesy but in the books of his own Sect he had very little knowledge All that which made him esteemed in publick consisted in a grace of language which proceeding from a fair body was exposed with the more exteriour pomp Behold that which now throughout the world authorizeth an infinite number of men who are in the opinion of ignorant or the indifferently knowing as flying fires in the air When Augustine put him upon the solstices equinoctials eclypses the course and motion of stars wherewith the books of Manes are replenished this man then found himself in a new world but yet was wily for he was not as the sottish Manichees who promising evidence upon this
when he had drunk gave the cup to his Deacon as esteeming him the most worthy person of the feast next himself Maximus who infinitely seemed to be pleased therewith although he inwardly felt himself gauled with this liberty did so outwardly dissemble it that he caused S. Martin to be applauded through all his Court protesting that none but â—e was worthy the title of a Bishop and that he had done at the table of an Emperour what the other Bishops would never have acted in the house of a mean Judge On the other side the wife of Maximus who already possessed the title of Empress made her self a Magdalen at the feet of Saint Martin and although never woman touched this chaste creature he suffered her to exercise all sort of ceremonies towards him undergoing a thousand troubles to rid himself of her importunities This seemed not strange in the age of threescore and ten and in the reputation of sanctity wherewith he had filled the world that a woman should kiss his feet but it was a thing very unusual to behold a Princess humbled in the dust of the earth to perform this office She regarded neither purple diadem quality nor Empire she had no eyes but for S. Martin being blind to the rest of the world After this first banquet Maximus and the Ladie went to the Saint and besought him again to take a bad dinner which the Empress would in private prepare for him with her own hands and although he in the beginning refused it was impossible for him to escape from these Saint-like invitations For these are snares which catch eagles as well as sparrows Needs would the Queen do all offices in this second feast She played the cook dressed the dining-room laid the cloth gave to the holy man water for his hands was his cup-bearer and waited on him all the time of his meal standing bolt upright as a servant with her mind intentive on her office Dinner being ended she did eat the scraps and remainder of the table which she preferred before all the Imperial delicacies Verily we may say women are violent in their affections and when once they go the right way their virtues have no mean I will not seek to penetrate the Ladies intentions which I suppose were very good but considering the proceedings of Maximus there is great cause to think he endeavoured by his infinite courtship to charm the nature of Saint Martin which to him seemed somewhat harsh Yet the great man endowed with the spirit of prophesie freely told all which should befal him Behold some part of the disposition of Maximus which I was willing to present on paper that it might appear of what condition they ordinarily are who bear arms against the obedience due to Kings who are the lively images of God The Tyrant began a revolt in England and from that time determined to establish the Citie of Trier in Germanie as the seat of his Empire and thence to raise a pair of wings to flie above the clouds which were Italie and Spain He chose for his Constable a man very consonant to his humour and of great resolution who caused himself to be called the Good man the better to colour the wickedness of his Master With this bad Councellour he endeavoured to stir up the souldiers and on every side drew the warlick troups to his party The good Emperour Gratian speedily armeth to stiffle tyranny in the birth thereof and in person goeth to encounter his adversary He had then very freshly drawn good souldiers from the Kingdom of Hungarie to his assistance of whom he made much account Others seeing that he much esteemed of them were stung with jealousie and grew cold in their Masters behalf The poor Prince being on the point to wage battel found himself carelesly and traiterously abandoned by his legions who daily stole away to increase the Army and strength of Maximus This black and hydeous treason much amazed the Emperour who complained as the Eagle in the Emblem that his own feathers gave him the storke of death seeing his souldiers who should have born him on their wings delivered him to his enemy through a neglect which shall make the Roman history to blush eternally So that seeing there was no safety for his person he sought to regain Italie as soon as possible accompanied onely with a full troup of horse consisting of about three hundred men Maximus well discovered that he would at any price whatsoever have the bloudy spoil of his Master For he charged this Good man to pursue him with all violence and not to desist till the prey were in his clutches which he did taking horses with him who ran like a tempest and could well endure any tedious travel In the end he met with the Emperour at Lyons and fearing he might escape bethought himself of a mischievous stratagem For he secretly caused the Emperour to be enformed the Empress his wife was in danger of her person if he stayed not some while to expect her because she was resolved to follow him thinking no place capable of safety or consolation where her husband was not This false report much softened the heart of Gratian who was as good a husband as an Emperour he therefore resolved to hasten to the Empress though not without evident danger of his life There is an unspeakable power in the love of neighbours which is the cause that birds and fishes are oft-times voluntarily caught with twigs and nets not fearing to put their life in danger where they see some part of themselves to be This Prince who in the extreamest disasters of his fortune was full of courage and flew every where like a flash of lightening to give order to his affairs at the news that the Empress was on her way to follow him was much terrified nor was Pitifull death of the Emperour Gratian. there an object of peril which he framed not in his thoughts Moments seemed days unto him and days as Ages A thousand santasies of affrightment summoned his heart in his solitude There was no living for him if he beheld not his dearest love in his arms She was a Princess of much merit daughter of the Emperour Constantius born after the death of her father whom Gratian faithfully loved though he as yet had no issue by her The Tyrant understanding his game succeeded to Socrat. lib. 5. cap. 11. Zozom lib. 7. cap. 13. his wish made a litter to pass along much like to that of the Empress and disposed his ambushes round about in the way The Emperour perceiving it afar off and supposing his wife Constantia was in it spurs his horse and flyeth with those wings which love and joy gave him being at that time followed by few of his people The murderers assailed and massacred him but he still shewing the courage of a Lion bare himself bravely amongst swords and halbards leaving the mark of his hand all bloudy on a wall as S. Hierom
hath observed and ever having on his lips the Cruentae manus vestigia parietes tui Lugdune testantur Hieron ep 3. name of S. Ambrose His body after the soul departed was taken up to be presented to Maximus as the monument of a faithfull assassinate O God! who shall here be able to cleave a cloud to read through so much darkness and so many shadows the secrets of your Providence This poor Abel butchered by the hand of a Cain with a cruelty so barbarous a manner so perfidious and a success so deplorable A Prince who sheltered the whole world under the valour of his arms forsaken by the most trusty servants of his house An Emperour most Religious separated by death from the assistances of Altars A Monarch most just given as a prey to injustice One of the best Maâ—â—â—rs of the earth slain by servile hands and used like a beast among the halbards and courtelaxes of his own servitours So many rare qualities as were in him leave nothing else to mortals but the sorrow to have lost him A man who deserved to have lived Ages torn from his Throne and life in his 28 â—h year after a reign so advantagious to the Church and wishfull to all the world O Providence Must he pass away as the foam glideth on the face of the water Must he be hayl-strucken as the Crown Imperial the honour of a garden in the height of his beauty Must he wither as lightening causeth pearls in their growth leaving them in stead of a substance nought else but a shell O God! What bloud of Abels must be shed in all Ages to teach us a lesson which telleth the reward of our children consisteth not in the favour and prosperities of the world but that seeing in such innocency they are so roughly handled your justice hath infallibly disposed them for another life where they live covered with the purple and glory of your Son whose sufferings they have imitated The poor Constantia wife of Gratian hearing this lamentable news was seized with overwhelming sorrow and as soon as she came to herself again Ab Gratian saith she my Lord and dear husband I have then found an evil worse than your death which is to have been the cause of the same Must my name be so much abused Must the love of a creature so caytive as I am engage into danger a life so important as yours I began my unhappiness from the day of my birth being Ambros in Psal 61. Meminit Gratiani morsistâ— magis est peccati fuga quà m morientis detrimentum born after the death of my father Constantius nature not permitting me to see him who gave me life That little age I have hath not ceased to be turmoiled with many uncertainties which enforce me to reap thorns in the fortune of Caesars where the world imagineth roses Yea I avow my most honoured Lord that this accident hath outgone all my apprehensions For although I figured you mortal as a man I could not suppose that he in whom all my charities and hopes survived should be taken from me so suddenly in a fortune so eminent in an age so flourishing with a death so unworthie of his goodness not leaving me at the least a son in my entrails to be born of me as his mother and which is worse that I instantly must Ob my dearest Gratian the sweetest amongst all men living redeem your bloudie bodie with the price of gold from the hands of a wretched slave My God I confess I have no strength to bear these calamities so violent if you afford it not The news of this death which flew like a fatal bird through all the world transfixed the hearts of all good men The little Valentinian resented it beyond his age seeing himself deprived of a brother whom he so faithfully had loved S. Ambrose though most couragious selt himself as it were surprized with sorrow and sadness not being able to unlose his tongue to pronounce any funeral Oration All the Court was infinitely affrighted as if Maximus had already been at the gates of Milan to finish the catastrophe of the Tragedy Justina the Empress mother of young Valentinian taking the care of affairs for her son in minority instantly made her address to S. Ambrose and besought him to undertake an Embassage and present himself before Maximus so to divert the stream of his arms which came to pour themselves on Italie and to demand the body of his pupil humbly praying not to neglect him dead whom he alive had so faithfully served The thirteenth SECTION The Embassage of S. Ambrose OUr great Prelate couragiously undertook the business fortifying his heart with assistances of Heaven to treat with the murderer of his son for one may well say the love he bare to the dead equalled that of fathers towards their children The acts of his first Embassage are lost although the effect hath been sufficiently published Which was the diversion of the arms of Maximus so much feared by the Empress Justina But as for the Emperours body it was impossible to gain it from him for Maximus said he with-held it upon a point of State well knowing this spectacle would have no other effect but to exasperate the memory of what was past and that the souldiers through fury might revenge the dead body much ashamed they had betrayed their living Emperour This wicked man insatiable in his desires and perfidious in his promises soon repented to have signed the peace complaining that Ambrose had with his fair words cast him into a sleep he was full of impetuous passions and incessantly threatned to pass into Italie nor should any thing hereafter hinder his intentions which made S. Ambrose enterprize a second Embassage at the sollicitation of the Empress Justina of whom we have a most faithfull narration from the pen of the Saint himself in an Epistle which he wrote to the Emperour Valentinian to yield him an account of his Commission There he relateth how being arrived in the Citie of Trier where Maximus had placed his Throne that he the next morning went to the Palace to speak to him in private The treacherous man who with so many Legions could not endure the counterbuff of truth delivered by a Bishop thinking to silence him sent one of the gentlemen of his chamber to demand if he had any letters from Valentinian to deliver him if so he should receive answer but that he might not speak to the Emperour himself but in full Councel S. Ambrose replieth that was not the audience which is usually given to persons of his quality that he had most important affairs to handle which might better be privately expressed in his cabinet than at the Councel-table He prayed the gentleman of his chamber to let him know this his request which indeed was most civil He did so but brought back no other answer but that he should be heard in Councel The good Bishop said that was somewhat
factious to be herein opinionative and in the mean time when they came to bear arms where they must witness true valour for the service of their Prince such encounters have happened that they so despairingly ran off that they have passed through forrests two leagues over and not seen a tree so much affrighted they were It is not necessary to name them happily they are already too much renowned in the Histories of the times And yet you will make much account of these goodly swaih-bucklers Assure your self the most part of those who shew Courage of duel like to that of the possessed such boyling fury in these barbarous acts are as Lunaticks possessed with an evil spirit You would be amazed to see a little girle so strong that there must be twenty men to hold her From whence I pray hath she this force but that she hath the devil in her body And tell me a young Gentleman who many times hath father mother wife children honours riches pleasures in his life would he go upon cold bloud to deprive himself of all this Would he contemn the sacred Edicts of his Prince now very lately renewed by the zeal of our great Monarch Would he descend with open eyes into hell if he had not some black spirit of the abyss which dreggeth him to the last mischief He doth that for a cold countenance an extravagant word and a caprich of spirit which he would not either for God the King or the whole world We may well say this is the malady of inferiour houses and you take it for valour A poor cocks-comb forsooth called a second who putteth into compremise at the discretion of a crack't brain all that which is most dear unto him in this world and what he hopeth in the other going to be the victim of death or the murderer of a man whom he never saw or knew or if he have seen or known him so far as to love or honour him would he play all this goodly prize if he were not possessed with an evil spirit Yet you admire this Why do you not rather wonder at the countenances the twindges and distorted mowings of the possessed I begin to perswade you to reason say you my Gallant You are an enemy of this race of Cadmus derived from the teeth of serpents and think not these petty wranglers of the times with all their letters and challenges have any valour But if a brave spirit be urged to fight by such kind of men should he refuse it Verily there are main differences in duels in the causes which make them and the proceedings of such as execute them If you must needs go to duel pass thereunto as David in sight of an Army with permission of your Prince or your Captain against some Goliah who hath defied you Go thither with intention to defend the honour of your Nation and to weaken the contrary faction Behold who is worthy If you must go to duel go thither when your King or Lord shall command you to accept the combat to end some notable war and stay a great effusion of bloud but by the hazard of two Champions Behold who is glorious But if you hasten thither upon some chimera of spirit which you call by the name of honour upon some ambiguous word to which you frame an interpretation against your self for a cold countenance a surly brow for a desire which you have to become pledge of the follies of some fellow witless and a slave to his own passions if you hasten thither for the love of some unchaste woman to whom you sacrifice humane bloud how can you be excusable For if you tell me your honour is more precious unto you than your wealth and life and therefore that as the law of nature permitteth you to defend both your riches and body at the point of your sword against a robber and a homicide from whom you cannot otherwise dis-engage your self you have the same right for the defence of your reputation which is in man as the apple in the eye I answer that being so surprized upon the sudden by some assailant who provoketh you threatneth you and thrusteth his sword into your sides if you use not a lawfull defence it is not then said that you are bound to flie with some kind of ignominy Nay I will say besides that if true honour were interessed in refusal of a challenge he that should accept it might likewise according to the laws of conscience seem somewhat tollerable But from whom ought we to derive this estimation and judgement of true honour Is it from certain sleight braggards and witless people who have sold themselves to passion eternally to renounce prudence Behold goodly Judges of honour Behold who well deserveth to prescribe unto us the rule and price of the most precious thing in the world If we desired sincerely to establish the judgement to be made of the point of honour we ought to search into the resolutions of the Church and Civilians but these kind of people are suspected by you as being alienated from the profession of arms Let us enquire it in the mouthes of warriours Was there ever a braver souldier than the late King of most famous memory And hath there likewise ever been a Prince more dexterous in arms and more fortunate than he that now reigneth Since their Edicts condemn duels both in those who challenge and such as are challenged although much different in their proceedings what do we need any other judgement to decide the point of honour But Kings and Princes sovereign say you notwithstanding their Edicts approve those by word of mouth who shew courage in such like actions Who dare reproach them with this Who dare tell them to their faces that they bely their Edicts by their particular judgements Who sees not such words are purposely invented by those men who seek for pretexts to their false liberties Why these Edicts dictated by reason agreed unto with judgement supported by justice provoked by piety to the writing of which Jesus Christ would contribute his own bloud to spare the bloud and with it the souls of so many as are lost and whom to save he gave up his own life Where should we learn the rule of honour the judgement and will of the Prince but in Oracles and virtues which he hath consigned to the memory of all Ages I intreat you trouble my head no more with these dastardly combats and detestable massacres let this be no longer but for the infamous and melancholy bloud-thirsters One Bachet understanding that a Turkish Captain had called his companion into duel What saith he are there no more Christians And have not we cause to say Are there no Saracens nor Moors and other Infidels to turn thâ—â—dge of the sword against our entrails The sixth SECTION Against the ill mannage of Arms. FRom hence it is likewise that you are taught in time of war to play the little Cannibal in arms
to these Embassadours of Diocletian who were much amazed thereat But the brave Prince after their departure restored all had been presented unto him saving he loved better to see riches in the coffers of his subjects and to retain their loves for himself than to have all the treasures of the Indies in his house without friendship It was verily a fair and generous lesson which he taught the Great-ones of the earth who through excess of avarice heap together all that which they must forsake and in great abundance of wealth have a main want of two things which ought to be eternall to wit Love and Truth Constantius did all this by ways of moral virtues for although he had very good inclinations to Christianitie he was no Christian by profession being as yet straitly associated to the great persecutours thereof yet because the accidents of time and place might permit it he freely made use of Christian Officers judging those would be most loyal in his service who were most constant in piety And to this purpose Eusebius addeth that he being one day desirous to make trial of the faith of Christians which were of his train commanded them to sacrifice to Idols which the most faithful constantly refused resolving rather to forsake Court and life than to be traitours to the character of their Religion Others yielding to the stream of the times and hope of worldly favours shewed themselves somewhat To be faithful to the King one must be loyal to God more pliant to his will which he having perceived dismissed them all supposing they might well be perfidious to their Prince since they had been disloyal to their God And as for the rest having highly commended them he afforded them extraordinary preferment One would wonder from whence such sincere affections Helena should arise in so ill education as he found among Persecutours of the faith But for my part I think we ought to impute this change next after God to the holy and couragious Helena whom he espoused in his first marriage and who was mother of our admirable Constantine This incomparable Lady that sought the Cross with more industy than others do Empires hath engraven her praises with an adamantine pen in the memory of all Ages It is strange why certain modern Graecians as Nicephorus and others have been so desirous to attribute to Greece this creature so that striving to make her a Grecian they have made her an out-cast I have not so much leisure in this treatise as to amuse my self in recounting and refuting their fabulous narrations being naturally an enemy of men affectedly eloquent who have no other profession but to lye in good terms I speak that which is the more probable agreeing It is the opinion of Polidorus lib. 10. Of Radulâ—h in his Poly. chron l. 4. cap. 29. Of Hunter lib. 1. Of Oâ—â—â— in the Treatise of Roman Emperours Of Harpsselaius in his histor Eccles of England Lipsius is of another opinion with what is written by Cardinal Baronius whose opinions are ordinarily most sincere Helena was an English woman by Nation daughter of one of the best qualified men of this great Iland who lodged in his house the Lieutenant of the Roman Empire Zosimus the historian who could neither love Constantine nor his mother morally hating Christianity reproacheth her that she was no Lady and speaketh as of a woman of base extraction but we may well say that his history when he speaketh of faithful Princes hath mingled much gall with his ink Certain it is that Helena being a stranger could not be in the Roman Empire of reputation equal to so many Princesses of the Court from whom Constantius might at that time expect alliance yet was very honourable in her own Country not so much by Nobility of bloud as that of faith wherein in my opinion she already was instructed there being many Christians in England under the Empire of Diocletian For I hold with S. Paulinus that she was the first Mistress of her Son in the faith and that we should not have had a Constantine if God had not given us an Helena Princeps Principibus Christianis esse meruit non tam suâ quà m Helenae matris fide saith this great Bishop Constantius at that time Governour in great Britain Beauty and grace of S. Helena for the Roman Emperour being lodged in the house of her father did cast his eye upon Helena who was endowed with an absolute beauty by reason whereof as we may conjecture she was afterward called Helena in the Empire this name being not otherwise familiar with the English With this eminent comlines of body she had modesty and a singular grace which was a ray imprinted by God upon her forehead as he did heretofore to the virtuous Hester to make her amiable to all the world It is true which Eustatius a Greek Bishop said that beauty which hath no grace is a bait floating on the water without a hook to be taken and to catch nothing but when these two things do meet they exercise much power over hearts And at that time Constantius felt the eyes of Helena had made more impression upon his soul than could the sword upon his body and being a Prince of a singular continency so highly praised by the Pagans themselves he would not require the daughter of his host by any other means than those of a lawful marriage which Zosimus hath not wholly denied in this point more respective than some Graecians of Christianity The father seeing the honour His marriage done him by his host made no difficulty to resolve upon it and the prudent Helena with as much ease condescended to the will of those to whom she owed her being She entred into marriage for the universal good of the Church to which she should bring forth a Constantine Her first care was to soften the warlick humour of her husband by the temper of sweetness and goodness which she gave him in such sort that in so great a rage of shedding of Christian bloud which than reigned he kept his hands the rest of his days most innocent This marriage was as the sacrifice of Juno where the gall of the offering was never presented There was so much love on both sides that the spirit of Constantius lived onely in that of Helena and Helena as the flower of the sun perpetually followed the motions of this bright star together with all the good dispositions of her husband The young Constantine born in the same Britain seemed also more firmly to knit the knot of these chast loves when behold an obstacle which interposeth Constantius is sent to succeed in the Empire and is Inconstancy of men declared Caesar by the Emperour Maximianus on this condition that he should forsake Helena his wife and marry Theodora the daughter-in-law of the same Emperour An Empire is a mervellous flash of lightning in the eyes it dazleth and shuts them up from
poverty that he with much straitness enjoyed the necessities of life Crispus having manured his spirit with learning very couragiously addicted himself to the exercise of arms wherein he very well expressed the Genius and dexterity of his father but with much more grace and sweetness For Histories assure us he was of visage most amiable full of attractives and admiration which made upon the minds of men so much the more impression as they were ingrafted in a singular modesty and a goodness so natural that no man could near hand behold it without affection O God what fury is there in dishonest love and how much did it disturb the house of Constantine If Lords and Ladies who give admittance to affections and thoughts unlawful did well consider the acerbities which attend this passion they would rather tear their hearts out with their nails than pollute them with such ordures It is not without cause what the wise Aristophanes hath said that love was banished So Simon the MagiciaÌ„ said that the soul of Helena had put fire trouble and jealousie among the Angelâ— but that taking from thâ— this object of concupiscence he had accorded them Phâ—â—astrius de haeres from Heaven as a trouble-feast and disturber of the repose of Divinities The truth is where this passion setteth foot it exileth from thence innocency and tranquility two the most precious pearls of life and and were there wicked loves in Heaven there would no longer be felicities Happy is that life which hath no eyes for those carnal beauties and is all eyes to preserve it self especially in the beginning from such surprizals The miserable Fausta wife of Constantine daughter of Maximian who had received good education in the house of her father and was of a very sensual humour even so far as to controle the devotions of her husband and pick quarrels against Religion which she would never embrace had in this disorder vehement dispositions sinisterly to admit the love which the beauty of Crispus might easily afford her This divine feature standing always as an object for the wanton eyes of the Empress enkindled so much fire in her veins that another flame must be found to quench it The children which she had by her husband were nothing to her in comparison of Crispus Crispus was in her heart Crispus in her thought Crispus in her discourse wherein she yet had some temper fearing to discover her passion Yet could she not forbear but say Crispus was the idaea of perfect men and the incomparable son whose worth and virtue would survive with the world It was much wondered how a step-mother should entertain so much good opinion of the son of her husband yet she having hitherto lived within the limits of honour it was interpreted all these affections were sincere and innocent Crispus who then thought not upon his own defence in a combat that was nothing but courtesie took all these favours as witnesses of a most unspotted amity reciprocally rendering to her much respect wherewith she shewed her self not a little troubled desiring he would treat with her in a more free fashion for love had already despoiled her of majesty Saint Augustine hath very well said that he who will punish an exorbitant spirit must leave it in its own hands to serve both as a scaffold and executioner to it self The unfortunate Fausta who had already given over-free passage to sin felt accesses of ice and fire of desires of affrightments of confidence and remorse Her conscience accused her in the bottom of her heart and ceased not to shew her the enormity of this fault when by the help of impudency she thought to have quenched these little sparkles of goodness which God soweth in the most forsaken hearts She knew not how or where to begin this pernicious design Crispus seemed to be too chaste his Christian religion made him in her opinion too austere his spirit was as yet too tender and not capable of a most powerful wickednes and although he should consent where may faithfull complices be found fit occasions and liberty to content an infamous desire The pain which ordinarily attendeth crimes the rigour of a Constantine jealous of his bed the infamy and apprehensions of punishments coming to fall upon her thoughts made her well to see both the abyss and horrour but passion transported her hood-wincked beyond all considerations so that one day taking her opportunitie she accosted the young Prince with words which sufficiently testified her a lost woman But he who would not at the first put her into confusion with modestie declined what she had said and interpreted it far from her thought She who would no longer appear a Lucrece being much troubled he should understand in a chast sense what she had spoken to an ill purpose unfolds her self so freely that the wise Crispus no further able to suffer this blushless spirit spake a word to her rough and hopeless That if she persisted in this infamous desire he would give the Emperour notice and thereupon flew from her like a lightening and withdrew leaving her in a despair and rage not sufficiently to be expressed All her love then turned into a diabolical hatred which suggested Love turned into rage furies and black thoughts resolving with her self to use him as as the wife of Potiâ—â—ar did Joseph She served her self with all the arms of grief which were at that time very natural to her ceasing not to weep and sigh before her husband as if she had afflicted her self for anothers sin yet had she so much cunning that she feigned to hide her tears and smother her sighs to render the disguise more dangerous by a pretext of modesty The Emperour seeing her in this plight asked the A wicked calumny cause of her sadness She answered it was fit for his Majesty not to know it He the more persisted to understand what she feigned to conceal pressing and interrogating her to draw her calumny from her with as much earnestness as one would a truth In the end she declared with many counterfeit horrours and words cruelly modest That his son Crispus would have enterprized upon the honour of his bed but God be thanked her faith inviolable put her under safety free from such dangers And that she demanded no other satisfaction from this miserable man who was fled but the remorse of his wicked conscience Constantine recommending silence unto her entered into a black and deep anger proposing unto himself that the retreat of his son was a note of his crime he determined therefore to put him speedily to death and for this purpose calling one of his servants the most trusty and best resolved for executions having under great oaths and execrations obliged him to secresie gives him express commandment to meet with his son Crispus as soon as he could to treat warily with him not affrighting nor giving him the least suspition and withal to fail not to serve him at his
derived from frail honours of the world he had cause enough to rejoice on that day when he saw his two sons carried in Pomp through the Citie in a triumphant Chariot accompanied with the whole Senate and attended by an infinite concourse of people who ceased not to congratulate the father and the children as the of-spring of a race born for the good of the Common-wealth The same day he made in full Senate an oration of thanks-giving to Theodorick for the large liberalities extended towards his house which was delivered with such a grace that in conclusion they presented him a Crown as to the King of eloquence He likewise gave notable largesses to all the people and appeared in the great Court of the Circus siting in the middest of his two Consuls in presence of the whole Citie having his heart replenished with content and tears of joy in his eys for the affections which the people witnessed To crown all those blessings of fortune he had married a wife held one of the most accomplished Ladies under heaven For which is very rare she injoyed a great spirit a singular modesty and an excellent chastitie of whom Boetius sufficiently to praise her said in one word She was the image of her father Symmachus who had given her to him in a most chast and happie marriage Now this Symmachus called the pearl and precious ornament of the whole world was a Senatour who seemed to be composed of nothing but wisdom and virtue for which cause he then lived in much reputation and all this family of Boetius was in Ennodius in epist ad Boetitan l. 8. epist 1. Venae purpurarum Purpurae possessoris luce crescentes such sort esteemed that Ennodius writeth it was a vein of purple signifing thereby it contained therein all great dignities no otherwise than as veins inclose the bloud He notwithstanding addeth those purples increased by the lustre of Boetius who possessed them and after when Rome became the prize of those who subdued it it being no longer lawfull for Consuls to reap Palms in the fields of battels he equalled the ancient triumphs by the greatness of his judgement Gerebert an Authour who wrote of those times calleth this Boetius the father and light of his Countrie who managing the reins of the Empire in the qualitie of a Consul spared not to diffuse by the force of his abilitie in good letters all the lustre they had equalling them with the wits of Greece Tu Pater Patriae lumen Severine Boeti Gerebertur l. 2. Epigt Pithae Consulis officio rerum disponis babenas Infundis lumen studijs cedere nescis Graecorum ingenijs Boetius thou father and Countreys-light Disposest Consuls office common right Giv'st studies radiant lustre and no whit In any thing submit'st to Graecian wit Verily we may see by that which followeth in this historie the little assurance may be had either in men or favours If men be vessels who do nothing all their life time but play with the winds favours are waves of glass which fail not to shiver themselves against the rocks We would think the moon much greater than all the stars were it not that the shadow of the earth which we make use of to measure it causeth the contrarie to appear and we might have some opinion these great dignities of the world had much eminencie above all that which is here below were it not that they dayly fall into shadows and fantasms of nothing which well approve we have much illusion in our eys since these greatnesses have taken such estimation in our hearts Jealousie a bad daughter born of a good house which is that of love and honour divideth beds and Empires and hath ever eys so bleared that it cannot endure a ray of the virtue or prosperitie of another And for that cause the lustre which proceeded from the house of Boetius in such manner as day progresseth froÌ„ the gates of the East failed not at all to give suspicions to King Theodorick who seeing himself a stranger and ignorant among Romans and men of so great counsel being not able to derive any other recommendation to himself but what the sword gave him envied so many heavenly riches as were contributed to the happiness of his Empire The change which then succeeded at Constantinople greatly fortified his distrusts for it is written that Anastasius an Emperour who had done nothing in the throne but create schisms beholding the Laurels of Caesar wholly withered on his head had some distast both of life which he had passionately loved and of the scepter possessed with so much ambition It is certain that being one day in the Circus as he espied a furious sedition whispered against him he voluntarily laid down his Crown and let the people know by his Heraulds he was willing to be rid of the Empire which for some time appeased the most passionate notwithstanding being greatly hated and foreseeing he could not make much longer aboad in the world he began to reflect on his Successours desiring to transfer to the Throne one of his three Nephews whom he had bred up having no male issue to succeed him There was difficultie Zacharias Rhetor M. S. Sirmuâ—di in the choice and he having a soul very superstitious put that to lot which he could not resolve by reason for he caused three beds to be prepared in the royal chamber and made his Crown to be hanged within the Tester of one of these beds called the Realm being resolved to give it to him who by lot should place himself under it This done he sent for his Nephews and after he had magnificently entertained them commanded them to repose themselves each one chusing one of the beds prepared for them The eldest accommodated himself according to his fancie and hit upon nothing the second did the same He then expected the youngest should go directly to the crowned bed but he prayed the Emperour he might be permitted to lie with one of his brothers and by this means not any of the three took the way of the Empire which was so easie to be had that it was not above a pace distant Anastasius much amazed well saw God would transfer the Diadem from his race and it is also added that he likewise knew by revelation that it was Justine who should succeed for he having determined to kill him with Justinian heard a voice which spake in his heart and said He should take good heed to touch those two personages because they should do each one in their turn good services to God Afterward as this Justine being ever near the person of the Emperour one day by chance set his foot on the train of his robe the Emperour looking back Thou holdest me said he by the gown and shalt follow me but stay a while your time is not yet come which much amazed all there present who thought him to speak like a man distracted
of the bosom thereof as a man treacherous and put into the hands of the Guard to lead him to Pavia the place of his imprisonment He was not suffered to speak with his father-in-law Symmachus for all those who were honoured with his friendship are sequestred scarcely had he the means to give the last adieu to his wife Rusticiana who seeing her husband suddenly fallen from so eminent a dignitie into such disaster could not contain from saying unto him with scalding tears Syr is this then it which your innocencie hath deserved If the King be resolved to put you to death why suffereth he still a piece of your self to live which hath ever been so dear unto you I have courage enough to follow you either in exile imprisonment or death But Boetius replied again in few words that he might not any further increase her grief Madam the hour is not yet come trouble not your self to see me suffer for justice It is a title of honour which God hath reserved for his children The education which you have derived from your good father and the instructions you have received from me give me occasion to hope you will bear this accident with a Christian resolution My daughter it is not fit that our tears which fall from so much a higher place as we have been bred in greatness may shew any dejection in the estimation of men Support your self a little under your burthen and open your heart to the consolations of heaven since those of earth are mingled with so much acerbities Then turning to his children all dissolved into tears My children saith he God hereafter will become your father Make provision of great virtues which have ever been the inheritance of our house for all other blessings are but dust and wind This is the lesson which God giveth you in the change of my fortune Comfort your good mother by the dutie of faithfull obedience and live in hope Perhaps you shall see me again if it please God sooner than you imagine These words were arrows that pierced these faithfull hearts with most just resentments of nature which could not quickly end notwithstanding all the lenitives that might be applied The sixth SECTION The imprisonment of Boetius THe great changes of fortune which suddenly happen have this property in them that they strike our souls as waves not foreseen and give us the blow before we have leisure to understand our selves The poor Boetius seeing himself between four walls sequestered from the Citie which had served as a theater of glory for all his house taken away from the love of his own bereft of his library and all the most precious accommodations of life shut up as a victim destined for a bloudy sacrifice found himself in the beginning surprized with an over-whelming sadness as he hath left expressed in writing He bewailed with broken sighs his innocency unworthily handled he traced in his thoughts the marks of his former fortune he cast his eyes upon his forsaken family which seemed to him in the Lions throat he called into memory the unworthiness of his accusers who had been heard against him the ingratitude of the Senate that had condemned him for being faithfull unto them the cruelty with which this sentence was executed the wrack of his means the loss of his reputation and all the black horrours which a man declared criminal of treason figureth to himself In this abyss of disturbances he was displeased as Eâ—eu cur durs miseros a verteriâ— Ã â—e Et stentes oculis claudere saeâ—â— negas Lib. 1. Metr 1. it were with death which layeth hold on so many young men that desire nothing but to live and deigned not so much as to shut up his eyes which he perpetually moistened with his tears Hereupon we may see that the most couragious spirits in these accidents so strange and unexpected ever pay some tribute to the natural passions of men But likewise on the other side we shall observe the power which a well rectified judgement hath over it self when we behold it to dissipate all the troubles and agitations of the heart by the vivacity of reason and use of precepts of wisdom which he most exactly practised in this his captivity We have also the book of his Consolation composed in this prison which is verily in the judgement of learned men one of the most excellent pieces of work that may be framed on this subject where he introduceth Philosophie who visiting and awakening him from this dead sleep of sadness What Boetius saith she are you be then whom I have fed with my milk whom I have cherished with so good nutriments and bred up until you arrived to the strength of mans estate Verily I have given you arms which would strengthen you against all the strokes of fortune were it not that you have forsaken them Know you me no longer From whence proceedeth this silence Tell me is it out of shame or stupidity I had rather it were derived from a just bashfulness but as far as I can perceive you are become wholly senseless Will you say nothing to me Ah poor man he is not absolutely lost but so near as I can guess he hath a Lethargie a common disease with those who suffer themselves to be transported with illusions of the mind He hath forgot himself but he will recover when he shall know me Let us onely wipe his eyes surcharged with terrestrial humours and covered with a thick cloud of the world This done Boetius came to himself and framed an admirable Dialogue with this Queen of spirits to which I remit the Reader contenting my self to observe here the principal arguments which served him for his Consolation to the end we may learn with him in our afflictions to fix our resolution on the will of God and suck honey from the rock as the Scripture speaketh The first reason proposed to him by this Wisdom Lib. 1. pros 6. Maximus somes salutis vera de mundi gubernatione sententia descended from Heaven was to ask of him what opinion he had of the Providence of God and whether he thought the world moved by chance or were governed by reason God forbid saith Boetius that Iever come to this degree of folly as to think that all here below is casually done I know God ruleth in the world as in an house built by his own hands and that nothing happeneth in the affairs of men but either by his command or permission Thereupon Philosophie crieth out Just God! it is verily marvellous that a man who hath such an understanding of the Divine Providence can be sick of the disease wherewith I see you surprized My friend you entered into the world as into a list or circle whereof this Providence hath made the circuit with his own hands It is fit you Lib. 1. pros 1. alibi patiently suffer all that which happeneth to you within these limits as an ordinance
the direction of the family the government of men and maid-servants the example of youth and the comfort of the family She maketh her self necessary in the best affairs there is much repose in her prudence her health is accounted important her life precious her death deplorable and her memory replenished with honour The wisest of men Solomon hath given no other marks to know a virtuous woman than the Oeconomy she holdeth in the government of her family She hath considered saith Pâ—ov 3â— he the paths of her house and hath not eaten her bread in idleness she hath taken pains in linnen and wollen She is become as a ship laden with victuals and riches She riseth before day to provide fitting food for her familie She hath made purchase of farms and entertained traffick She hath put her hand to work then opened it to the necessity of the poor All her servants are in good order her husband and children cannot sufficientlie praise her for her great wisdom She is a lamp which will never be extinguished in the darkness of night Behold somewhat near the terms which he useth to reckon up the perfections of a wife ending with wisdom and fear of God which is the first and last ornament The ninth SECTION Conjugal Love IN the end as love is a generous passion which by It is the Epithere which S. Paul giveth to virtuous women calling them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Tit. 2. its good government crowneth all virtues I would advise a married Ladie for the accomplishment of her perfection to bear a most cordial charity towards her husband This is no hard matter when there is good fortune and correspondence in marriages for complacence ever maketh wings for love and it is held a happiness to love that which pleaseth our passion But it is a most pitifull thing when parents blinded with avarice and charmed with the sweetness of pretended interests renew the example of cruel Mezentius who tyed the living to the dead and endeavoured to match a poor young maid who surviving in favours blessings from heaven with a husband putrified in vices ordures and diseases of body Then is a time when much virtue is to be shown in putting on a resolution to love a monster from their most tender years to their tomb What should we do therein The law of nature gives us free permission to desire good husbands but the laws of marriage exhort us to bear theÌ„ as much as we may howsoever they prove If we love for our selves this is impossible but if for God we therein shall find duty and facility A woman cannot seek out a shorter way to the perfection of her sex than by wedding the humours of her husband so that they be not opposite to the commandments of God she who well obeyeth commandeth well and when we once have surprised the heart of a man there is not any thing resisteth our wills Union is a marvellous cement which so straightly knitteth obedience and power together that it is a very hard matter to distinguish him who obeyeth from him that commandeth We have in all ages excelled in this conjugal piety there are hereof so many rare examples to be found that pens are troubled Vives relateth this in the second book of a Christian Woman of one named Clâ—râ— to express as well as ears to believe them Tender delicate young maidens have been seeÌ„ who inconsiderately married to husbands worn out with maladies perceiving froÌ„ the first night of her nuptials unguents ulcers and evil savours and finding a counterfeit health in bodies more fit for a tomb than a marriage bed yet have not abandoned them but loved honoured and served them watching sometimes fourtie days and fourtie nights about their beds never disarraying themselves Some one man hath been found among others whose indisposition drawing along with it seven years together the stench of wounds that were incurable the horrible infirmitie of members which appeared wholly disfigured did weaken all the forces of those who were willing to assist him overthrew the patience of the most faithfull wasted the charitie of the most zealous yea even such as do all for money abhorred to come near him And then to see a young maiden of sixteen years of age weak of complexion handsoâ— of bodie and endowed with a beautie which the most flourishing husbands would have coveted to tie her self to this dead body to stir it touch it cleanse it to give it broths to blow the powder of herbs into the nostrils of it which distilled an humour insupportable to all the world to cut his beard and hair when no man would undertake this adventure is it not a miracle of our sex worthy of the admiration of men the applause of histories and love of all posteritie What shall I say of one Eponina who having espoused See Lipsius in his Politiâ—ks a husband much clogged with troublesom affairs crimes yea even of treason was 9 years shut up with him in the vault of a sepulchre and afterwards seeing him to be discovered and condemned to death by the Emperour Vespatian would needs accompany him to execution die with him saying she alreadie was prepared for a tomb and that she could better tolerate it dead than alive What should I speak of a Persian Queen named Cabadis who seeing her husband detained in prison came to visit him not suffering her self to be known and giving him her garments of a wife to put on those of a husband afforded him opportunitie to escape paying afterward with her noble bloud the errour of her pietie Are not these prowesses worthy to be written in letters of gold and azure to be exposed to the view of all Ages A thousand-fold happy they whose concord hath bound love up with chains of adamant separation never finding place in the knot of marriage which God hath been pleased to tie with his own hands Let us for this cause preserve us from jealousie which useth to grow from the most beautifull loves as those worms which are said to issue from the fairest flowers It is a most unhappy passion formed by fantasie attired by suspitions darkened by discontents sed with bad humours by curiositie entertained with impostures by slander which gnaweth asunder all that which there is of virtue in chast affections troubleth the repose of beds embroyleth the affairs of housholds reateth alliances produceth monsters soweth fury and rage and having tormented all the world devoureth it self If our husbands fall into this miserie let us pitie them as franticks and take away from them all manner of occasions which may stir up their imaginations and if the like maladie surprize us let us not resemble those women who have travelled in the dead time of night through huge forrests full of horrour that they might hasten to watch their husbands accompanied onely with their passions whereof some fell between the teeth of wild beasts which to them were more pleasing
some beggers whose misery she assisted Her whole heart went towards God her feet to the Church her hands to alms her eys to reading books of devotion her arms to exercises and works of her sex all her body to sacrifices and victims of her soul Observe you young maids who read these pages of what wood God useth to frame Saints and that never any happeneth to produce the miracles which Clotilda did in the conversion of a Kingdom not acting wonders of virtue in the interiour of the soul The King her uncle was so ravished with these pretious parts that the excess of his admiration turned into a furious jealousy for beholding this spirit more masculine than he could have wished and fearing least she might be possessed by some other besides himself he had no purpose to marry her but kept her so straightly that one would have said to have seen him he was the dragon in fables that ever stood centinel near the golden apple But oh silly humane prudence which still rowing against the current of the providence of God findest as many precipices in passion as thou openest snares for innoceny This man notwithstanding all his endeavours which went the contrary way bred up in his house a maid whom God had already destined to chastise his cruelty and make he unwitting thereof his Scepter tributary to a valorous husband who was to marry Clotilda and joyn the Kingdom of virtues to the force of his arms The second SECTION Clodovaeus requireth Clotilda in marriage CLodovaeus King of France a man born to make it appear what valour may produce when it is supported by piety dayly advanced his conquests among the Gauls yet still in so many victories remained a slave to Idolatry God was willing to win him to himself by the ways of chast love and by the means of a wife which should sanctifie his person and house The fame of the beauty and virtues of Clotilda which spread through neighbour Kingdoms with so sweet an odour failed not to approach him at that time when he was upon terms to take a wife in lawful marriage Love which many times surprizeth as well by the ear as the eye so enkindled him at the report made by his Embassadours of the perfections of this divine maid that he no longer retained either heart or thought but for her He affected what he never saw with a love mixed with reverence felt a more noble flame than he was wont which scorched him with a generous passion and excited him to require this Princess as the type of his felicities The difficulties proposed upon the effecting of this marriage augmented desire in him For he was of a vigorous spirit who measured all by the greatness of his own courage and resolved to break through obstacles to crown his purposes He addressed himself to his great favourite Arelianus and having opened unto him the project of this marriage would needs instantly dispatch him upon a solemn Embassage to confer with the maid and treat with the King her uncle This man who understood the suspicions and apprehensions of Gombaut made it appear unto him that the conquest of the golden fleece and the marriage of Clotilda were almost one and the same thing and that no access could be had to this maid without first speaking to this bull who threw flames and fire through his throat Clodovaeus conjureth him to use all possible industries to satisfie his passion assuring him he could not oblige him in any matter whereof he would be more sensible Aurelianus obeyeth and taking a ring from the Kings finger with certain other Jewels to present the Lady hastened towards Burgundy I cannot here conceal that which Baronius the Father of Ecclesiastical History was unwilling to omit seeing it is witnessed by good Authours and hath nothing incredible therein but onely with such who think it is a note of wisdom to seem very incredulous We know by what hath been spoken before that Clotilda seldom appeared in publick if it were not at Church and cast her eyes on very few but the poor God made use of this disposition for her good for Aurelianus having learned this Lady dayly conversed willingly with needy persons and that it was necessary to seem of this quality to speak unto her without suspicion took the habit of a beggar and as the servant of Abraham sent by the first Father of believers treated the loves of Isaac in requiring water of Rebecca who was to be his future spouse so this man managing the commssion of marriage for the prime King of the faithful resolved to beg alms of Clotilda to find means of access to her and for this cause he stood at the gate of a Church among a great rabble of beggers expecting till Mass were done that he might see the Princess come forth She failed not to perform acts of charity to all the poor according to her custom and perceiving this man who seemed of a generous aspect in these miserable rags felt her heart seized with extraordinary piety beholding one of so good carriage reduced to such misery and without any further enquiry she gave him a piece of gold Aurelianus seeing this royal hand so charitably stretched out to succour a counterfeit want whether he were transported with joy or whether he were desirous to make himself observed by some act he lifted up the sleeves of the Princess which according to the fashion of robes than usually worn covered all even to her hands and having bared her right hand kissed it with much reverence Clotilda blushed heartily thereat yet passed on further not shewing any resentment nor blaming the begger as some Authours adde Well saith she in secret to an old Lady who was her confident friend Have you observed what this begger did The other replied It was a very easie matter to note it since this act had painted her forehead with a most lively scarlet But yet said Clotilda to her what think you of it The Lady answered smiling What can I els think but that your rare perfections joyned to your liberality have transported him For my part I suppose said the Princess he hath some other design and if you think good we will cause him to come to the Palace to beg alms and thereupon take occasion to be informed of his person Aurelianus failed not to entertain this commandement which was the scope of his desire and accordingly to pass to the place assigned him where Clotilda beholding him soundly chid him for his boldness in lifting up the sleeve of her garment and kissing her hand He who was a most queint Courtier found out his evasion and said The custom of his countrey permitted to kiss the lips of Ladies at salutation but the happiness of his condition having abased him so low he could not aspire to the face Behold the cause why he contented himself with the hand it being a thing very reasonable to kiss a hand which is the source of
so many charities since the doors of Churches from whence we expect good are kissed Clotilda was much pleased with this reply and well saw this man belyed his habit by his discourse and garb She therefore importuned to tell who he was and from whence it proceeded that he was reduced to such misery as to beg his bread Madam saith Aurelianus since your Greatness presseth me thus far you shall know I am born of a good place and that it which hath brought me to this state is nothing els but the love of a Lady whom I court not for my self but for one of the greatest Princes under Heaven The maid was very curious to know who this Prince was as also the Lady sought unto with so much pains Aurelianus seeing it was now time to speak to the purpose said The Lady is three steps from me for indeed it is your self At which she began to blush again and to shew some disturbance of mind but quoth he Madam trouble not your self since I am in a place where I with confidence may speak unto you your Excellency shall know I am sent by Clodovaeus King of France my Master who is the best Prince and the most valiant Monarch in the whole world The fame of your most precious and eminent qualities coming to his ear he desireth to marry you and hath dispatched me to give you notice thereof and require your consent I could have entered into the Court with some very solemn Embassage but the difficulties the King your uncle enforceth upon you made me resolve to take this attyre to speak to you with the more freedom You may well assure your self this marriage shall make you the prime Queen of the West and the most happy in the world and to approve the authority of my commission behold the ring of the King my Master which I present unto you There is not any woman so holy who is not capable of much delight upon praises afforded her and who doth not willingly open her eyes to greatness Clotilda was not so insensible as not to be touched to the quick with such an Embassage howsoever she shewed in this surprisal she had within her a heart very faithful to God for most freely refusing the ring and interrupting the Embassadour Speak no more Syr said she I know your Prince is a Pagan and I a Christian God forbid that I ever marry an Infidel were he the Monarch of the world Madam replieth the Gentleman frame to your self no difficulties upon the difference of Religions my Prince is not so tied to his Sect as not to forsake it for your love But what means will there be said Clotilda to gain my uncle I do not think he hath any purpose to marry me The Embassadour answereth If you give me your consent we will find opportunity to bear you from hence Not so replyed the prudent maid it is a course I will never admit Ah why Madam saith Aurelianus should you do it who would condemn your discretion Is it a sin in your Religion to flie from the den of a furious wretch to resign your self into the hands of a King We know how he used your father and mother and how he also treateth you at this time At this word the Lady poured forth some tears and said Do by Embassadours all that possibly you can and assure the King your Master that I hold my self much honoured by the choise he maketh of me and that he cannot be so soon for God as I for him at least in heart and body when the King my uncle shall give me leave Upon these conditions I take your ring which I very charily will keep All this passed very happily in a Court of the Palace where she ordinarily spake to the poor interrogating them of their necessities and none perceived there was any other business but the care of the poor her confident friend onely excepted who had a share in the secrets of Clotilda The third SECTION The Embassage to the King of Burgundy for the marriage of Clotilda AUrelianus touched Heaven with his finger that he had so successefully thrived in his commission and forgot not parcel-meal to relate to the King his Master all the particulars of his voyage entertaining him above all with a curious discourse made upon the admirable beauty and singular prudence of Clotilda Clodovaeus burnt with impatience and would presently have taken the King of Burgundy by the beard to make him let go his hold but wisdom adviseth him he must observe therein requisite formalities and that it was fit to send his Embassadours to Gombaut to require of him his neece in marriage which he speedily did appointing thereunto his faithful Aurelianus to whom he allotted a flourishing company of Nobility which caused such apprehensions to arise in the mind of the Burgundian that he slept not upon it either night or day From whence proceedeth it said he to himself that Clodovaeus knoweth my neece since I have hitherto kept her so close that she hath seen nothing but the wals of the Church and my Palace Is there some eel under a rock Would he have my estate This French man is too harsh I would neither have him for a son in law nor a neighbour Besides this maid who hath seemed hitherto as a lamb in my house being at my dispose when she behold her self Queen of France and have swords at her command who can tell whether she will not shew me her teeth and revenge on me the bloud of her father and mother I must rather keep her immured within ten iron gates that she may not escape my power Behold a great act of State which I must cunningly play This man environed with such thoughts receaved the Embassadours of France very sleightly and having promised with all speed to give them answer he was wary enough not to discover all the thoughts he had thereupon but taking the most pleasing pretext answered that he honoured the King Clodovaeus as one of the most valiant Princes of that Age and should ever account the service done him as one of the greatest favours he could receive from Heaven but as for this alliance which he sought it was a matter he could not thinke on First because his neece had never raised her ambition so high as to pretend marriage with so great a King having nothing in her person so eminent as might deserve such a husband and although there were some equality on this side yet was there on the other part an assential impediment which was diversity of Religions it being a thing unheard of for a Christian maid to marry a Pagan nor could he permit it without betraying the salvation of his nlece and disgracing himself through the whole world Aurelianus who well knew where it itched with him replyed in few words That for the qualities of his neece he should not trouble himself that the woman best beloved was ever best conditioned that it was
spared to use many love-dalliances but the affection she bare to this good Queen was so great that it razed out of his heart all other love as the ray of the sun scattereth the shadows and phantasms of the night The holy Lady perceiving the spirit of her husband already moved in hers and that there was no need of power but example so composed her manners in her marriage that she made her self a perfect model of perfections requisite for this estate Royal Crowns loose their lustre on heads without brains and brows without Majesty But this Lady made it presently appear that although her birth had not made her worthy of a Crown nor her good fortune had afforded it her merit alone had been of power to make her wear the best diadem in the world She practised in the Court of a Pagan King a strong vigorous devotion which was not puffed up with outward shews and vapours but wholy replenished with wisdom For she had a fear of God so chast that she apprehended the least shadows of sin as death a love so tender that her heart was as a flaming lamp which perpetually burned before the Sanctuary of the living God Her faith had a bosom as large as that of Eternity her hope was a bow in Heaven all furnished with emeralds which never lost its force and her piety an eternal source of blessings She had made a little Oratory as Judith in the royal Palace where she attended as much as time would permit to prayers and mortifications of flesh abiding therein as in a fortunate Island which made the sweetness of her immortal perfumes to mount up to heaven Yet did she mannage all her actions with singular discretion that she might not seem too austere in the eyes of her Court for fear weak souls might be diverted from Christianity by observing in her carriage perfections transcendent above ordinary capacities But all that which most passed in a common life was done by her and her maids with much purity fervour majesty and constancy It was an Angelical spectacle to see her present at Mass and dispose her self to receive the blessed Sacrament which she very often frequented to draw grace and strength from its source She honoured Priests as Messengers descended from Heaven as well to discharge her conscience as to hold her Religion in much estimation among Pagans The zeal of the houses of God which are Churches enflamed her with so much fervour that she had no delights more precious than either to cause new to be raised or to adorn those which had been erected so far as to make them receive radiance from the works of her royal hands Her charity towards the poor was a sea which never dryed up and her heart so large that all the hearts of the miserable breathed in hers She composed and decked herself dayly before the eyes of God putting on all virtues as it were by nature and rich attire of Ladyes for necessity But the King her husband she honoured as if she had seen the Saviour of the world walking upon the earth and not staying alone on the body she penetrated even to the center of this infidel soul which she beheld with eyes of unspeakable compassion She most particularly endeavoured to observe all his humours and follow the motions of his heart as certain flowers wait on the sun All that which Clodovaeus affected took presently an honourable place in the soul of Clotilda if he delighted in arms in dogs in horses she for his sake praysed arms dogs and horses regarding even the objects of the honest pleasures of her husband as her best entertainments Her conversation was full of charms and attractives which ever carryed profit along with them Sometimes she sweetened the warlick humours of her husband with harmony of reason sometimes she comforted him upon occasion of troubles which might happen in the world sometime she withheld very soberly and with prudent modesty his spirit which took too much liberty sometime she repeated unto him certain precepts of wisdom and practices of the lives of Saints and worthy personages that he might love our Religion sometime she pleased him with an eloquent tongue and an entertainment so delicate that nothing might be said more accomplished She was magnificent and liberal towards her household servants most exactly taking notice of the faithful services they yielded to her husband and kept her house so well united within the bands of concord and charity that it seemed as it were a little Temple of peace Slander uncleaness idleness impudence were from thence eternally banished virtues industry and arts found there a mansion and the miseries of the world a safe Sanctuary For she embraced all pious affairs of the Realm and governed them with so much equality of spirit that she resembled Angels who move the Heavens not using in themselves the least agitation May we not very well say this divine woman was selected out by God to a set golden face on an entire Monarchy by the rays of her piety The fifth SECTION The prudence which the Queen used in the conversion of her husband THe holy Queen brought forth a King and a great Monarch to Jesus Christ bearing perpetually his Court and the whole Kingdom in the entrails of her charity She had her Centinels day and night before the Altars who ceased not to implore the assistance for Heaven of the salvation of her husband and she her self often in deep silence of darkness caused her weeping eye to speak to God and adressed many vows to all the elect for the conversion of this unbelieving soul She very well considered that that which oftentimes slackeneth these wavering spirits in their endeavour to find the way of eternal life is certain interests of flesh and bloud certain impediments of temporal affairs some inordinate passion which tortureth and tyrannizeth over the mind Behold the cause why she took great care to sweeten the dispositions of her husband calm his passions and through a certain moral goodness facilitate unto him the way of the mysteries of our faith This being done she took her opportunity with the more effect and found the King dayly disposed better and better for these impressions He alreadie had the arrow very deep in his heart and began to ask questions proposing conditions which shewed he would one day render himself He said to Clotilda Madam I should not be so far alienated from your Religion were it not that I saw therein matters very strange which you would have me believe by power and authotity not giving any other reason thereof You would have me believe that three are but one in your Trinity that I adore a Crucified man and that I crucifie my self in an enforced and ceremonious life wherein I was never bred My dearest had I your good inclinations all would be easie to me but you know that all my life time I have been trayned up in arms If I should to morrow receive
in the list of combat Clodovaeus quickly alighted from his horse to rid him of life and being about to mend some defect in his cuirass he was treacherously assaulted by two Goths but he having dispatched his adversary defended himself from both these and mounted up again on his horse whom he made to curvet in a martial manner demeaning himself so bravely in all that he seemed to be as it were a flash of lightening sent from the hand of God rather than a man This defeat ruined the hopes of the Goths and cut off all the designs of heresie which subsisted not but by their favour From thence Clodovaeus marched all covered over with laurels into the Countreys of his conquests with so much good success that being before the Citie of Angoulesm which made shew of resistance the walls miraculously fell down as did heretofore those of Jericho he having by the advise of Apronius his Chaplain caused some holy reliques to be lifted up whereunto he dedicated a singular devotion What need we here make mention of the adventures which he had with the Kings Chararic and Ragvachairus whom he defeated as it were without blows This man went every where as confidently as one who seemed to have a Guard of celestial Virtues by his side his hands were fatal to purge the earth from many infidel Princes that infected it with heresie tyrannies and sacriledges Who can but wonder that in so short a time he extended his Empire from Rheine to Seine from the river of Loyre to Rosne and from the Pyrenei to the Ocean Who can but admire that he was so feared by all the Monarchs of his Age as the Grecians who have written Suidas 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 after that time under the title of King intended for the more excellency to speak onely of the King of France Who will not highly esteem his great authority in that he first of all stampt golden coyn which the Emperours had always forborn through extream jealousie causing the marks of his faith to be impressed on this money And who can sufficiently marvel that having at his death left four sons to succeed him he hath besides been followed by seven and fifty Kings who constantly rendering themselves imitatours of his belief have likewise shared with him in his felicity I demand of you whether one must not become blind deaf and dumb not to see understand nor declare that all the happiness and prosperity of France is inseparably tied to the piety of our Ancestours since the hand of God thundering and lightening at the same time upon so great a number of Diadems of heretical Kings as of Gombaut Godemar Chilperic Godegisilus Alaricus and in the end on Theodorick himself led Clodovaeus by the hand through so many smoking ruins so many swords and such flames to establish him with all his posterity in a Throne whereunto the great Saint Remegius hath promised an eternity of years so long as it should remain cemented with the same faith and religion which first of all consecrated the Lilies to the service of the Divine Majesty The holy Clotilda amongst all these conquests of her husband lifted her innocent hands up to Heaven to apply the forces of the Saviour of the world to his Royal banners In the end having drawn him to Paris after so many bloudy wars and sweetened the extravagancies of his nature a little too violent propending to excesses of cruelty she caused him to tast in his repose devotion and justice in such sort that having closed up his eyes in the exercises of piety she enterred him with a most honourable reputation V. Kal. Dec. Depositio magni Regis Clodovaei Du Pleix There is yet to be found an old Calendar of the Church of S. Genovefue which maketh mention of the day of his death on the seven and twentieth of November The ninth SECTION The life of Clotilda in her widow-hood her afflictions and glorious death CLotilda vehemently desired to bring forth male children for the establishment of her State and though this affection seemed to be most just notwithstanding God who purgeth all the elect in the furnace of afflictions found a rough Purgatory for this good soul in the enjoying her desires She had sons as she wished whom she endeavoured with all her power to breed in the fear of God whilest she might bow them but these children who tasted too much of the warlike humours of the father and had not enough of the piety of the mother being arrived to an age wherein it was not possible any longer to restrain them they fell into many terrible extravagancies which transfixed the heart of the mother with a thousand swords of sorrow It happened that Sigismund the cousin-germain of Clotilda for whom she had procured the Kingdom of Burgundie after the death of his wife by whom he had a son named Sigeritus suffered himself to be surprized with the love of a Ladie waiting in Court whom he afterward married to the great heart-burning of the son who could not endure to see her clothed with the spoils of his mother This step-dame being drawn from servitude and wantonness to enter into the bed of a King beholding her self crossed in her loves by this Heir of the house conceived so much gall and rage against him that she prepared a most fatal calumnie for his ruin accusing him to have a plot upon the life of his father Sigismund who was of an easie nature stirred up with love and ambition quickly believed this shameless creature and after he had called this poor young man to dinner under colour of affection he commanded him in his sleep to be strangled by the hands of his servants But the miserable man delivered out of the gulf of his passion and seeing himself defiled with an act so black and wicked publickly confessed his sin and for it performed a most austere penance but God who ordinarily blotteth out the crime not forgiving the pains and satisfactions due to his justice deprived him of Scepter and life by the hands of his allies raising up a sharp revenge to give to such like an eternal horrour of his iniquitie The children of Clodovaeus who had already shared the Kingdom of their father were not yet satisfied but desired to advance the limits of their division as far as the point of their launce might extend Behold the cause why Clodomer who was the eldest of the legitimate seeing the Kingdom of Burgundie in this danger entereth thereinto with great forces and found little resistance Sigismond being formerly convinced by his crime Having possessed himself of the places most important he took the miserable King and led him away prisoner to Orleans to dispose of him according to his pleasure But Godimer the brother of Sigismund who had retired to the mountains while the French made all this notable havock returned with a great power and having slain the French Garrisons made himself Master of the Kingdom Clodomer
being in the agonies of that fatal hour which took from us this great Queen she embraced my brother and me beseeching you by your chast loves and inviolable faith of marriage to be unto us both father and mother We were then of an age wherein we could not as yet either feel or bemoan our losses Notwithstanding seeing you bowed over the bodie which yielded up the ghost with weeping eyes we gave our infant-tears to her memorie as a just tribute of Nature but you taking your little orphans into your bosom forbade them to mourn which you could hardly do and wiping away their tears promised you hereafter would become to us a father for protection and a mother for indulgence I then grew up under your eyes spinning out the course of my innocent years and am come to an age capable to bear some share in your hopes Had you any thing at that time in the world more dear unto you than your Hermingildus Dignities were for him for him Empires wars were made by him and peace concluded in his name Hermingildus was the object of your thoughts the entertainment of your discourse the contentment of your heart Your Majestie then resolved to marrie me although very young you found out for me a wife daughter of a King sister of a King neece of a King but such an one as by her virtues surpassed all titles of Kingdoms Ah poor maid who would have said then that thou wast reserved to be the subject of so lamentable a Tragedie I was reputed the most happie man of the world since for me were born so many singular virtues and perfections admired by all men I must confess I loved this Princess not so much by the ways of an ordinarie love as a certain admiration of her virtues For I have received the faith by her pietie her example and her doctrine holding in her soul the rank of a husband a disciple and as it were of her own son Thereupon Goizintha began to possess your heart and to gain superemtnence in your affairs so changing your will by her ordinarie practises that she hath turned all your ancient favours into disdain your confidence into suspition your resolution into disturbance and your mud temper into command This woman hath so persecuted me that in your Court I neither enjoyed watchings rest recreation nor affairs without danger But I have willingly passed under silence all that which touched mine own person until she fell upon an action so barbarous which were sufficient to justifie the Scythians and Tartars I have no words to speak it having so much sorrow to feel it Enough is said when there hath been seen a daughter of so many Kings trampled under the foot of a woman whose birth I will not reproch because indeed I well know it not a Princess most innocent beaten even to bloud by a mother-in-law a Ladie replenished with honour disarayed of her garments by unworthie servants and plunged by little and little into a pool in a cold season to consummate a Martyrdom such as the ancient Tyrants never invented more cruel for women contenting themselves to impose oftentimes onely nakedness for a punishment Had I revenged my self of such inhumanitie with sword and fire no man could have thought my proceeding unjust nor my thoughts unreasonable notwithstanding I have still endeavoured to cure my self by the remedie most ordinarie with me which was patience I in silence retired unto a Citie which your Majestie gave me for lively-hood resolved there peaceably to pass my days with my wife whilest we beheld the face of this Court so adverse to our hopes But your Goizintha as if we had committed a great sin in not enduring her to thrust a sword through our throats hath sounded an alarm in your Palace and afterward in all the Province declaring me an enemie to the countrey an usurper of the Crown of my father a Parricide a creature excommunicate and adding thereunto words much more injurious against me and my wife For my part Sir I wish you had rather hearkened to our innocencie than served her passion all then had succeeded better But after strange Levies were made you came thundering upon Sevil to besiege me with a huge Armie so that you seemed to stir all the elements against me I confess it I then followed the instinct which God giveth creatures even the most bruitish to defend their own family and fortune I took arms not to offend you but to safeguard my self and my wife against the furies of a step-mother who makes use of all arrows for our rain Yet seeing my armies reduced to that point that I had no means to escape without giving battel which must necessarily be fatal to both parts I renounced for your sake the laws of nature and am come to render my self up to your discretion I call to witness the Altars holy fire and the Angel-guardians which have seen me prostrated before them of the sinceritie of my intentions and of the tears I have shed for you having not leisure then to bemoan my self Afterward your Majestie sent my brother unto me to give me assurance of your love you called me forth I am come I have suppliantly intreated you have received me I prostrated my self at your feet you have raised me with so many favours and so many tokens of good will that I could require no more for my safetie I ask who hath changed your affection who hath tarnished our joys and withered the olives of peace but she who being not able to ruin me with weapon in hand seeks to have my bloud by form of justice Behold my accusation and crime behold all that which hath made me to be clothed with sackcloth and chained with fetters ordained for Galley-salves The father who was of an ardent spirit interrupteth him hereupon and demandeth where his wife was whether he had not sent her into Africk to pass from thence to Constandinople The Prince answered He had onely projected this in his mind not for any other purpose but to advise upon the safetie of her person not knowing as then how matters would stand and that accidents had taught him he was wise enough in his counsels but less happie than he imagined The King insisteth and interrogateth whether he had not treated alliance with the Emperour Tiberius He thereunto replied that he had never practised any other correspondence but to draw from him some Troups for the defence of his life and that so soon as he saw some overture of peace he had dismissed them resolving to make no further use of them He then was pressed upon divers questions to which he made most pertinent answers shewing very evidently to the miserable father the colours and pretexts which they made use of to ruin him unless passion should cast a film over his eyes In the end seeing he could not convince his son to have practised any thing since the accord was made between them both he made a
away by the hand of a hang-man the life which he gave him Had his condition been capable of tears even Tygers themselves would have deplored him seeing so much piety such faith so much goodness such worth eclipsed in a bloud so precious in an Age so flourishing in a fortune so replenished with hope The news of his death hastened to find out Indegondis who was yet in Africa where she also received the last Letter which her husband wrote to her out of prison The servants that were about her person began to make hydeous lamentations as if they themselves had been condemned to death But the couragious Indegondis kissing the letter of her dear husband then opening it with singular reverence and reading the last words which he as it were had steeped in his bloud she cried out Alas Generous and faithfull heart you have done all that which a good man might you have manfully fought you are happily arrived at the Crown Nothing can be desired in you but the imitation of your constancy Servants Why do you weep This is the very day wherein I am a Queen and when I esteem my self the most triumphant woman in the world having my husband a Martyr in Heaven Give me roses and flower-de-luces that I may crown his Image and honour at the least with these testimonies a soul which hath left unto us such sweet odours of virtue She had with her her little Hermingildus almost dead with the wearisomness of travel on the way which indeed had been somewhat easie for the tenderness of his age The mother beholding him Go my son saith she follow your good father God hath given you a favour in your cradle that he doth not to all children which is to be banished for the faith and to take part in the Martyrdom of him who begot you Go little innocent and rejoyce with others before the Altar of the Lamb your mother shall not long stay behind you The child died shortly after and the good Princess Others say he was sent prisoner to the Emperour Mauritius but without ground having for a long time combatted in a brave manner against the apprehensions of nature poured forth on a sudden thick sobs and a main tyde of tears which distilled from her eyes against her will whereupon she mildly said Alas my tears what fitness can you find to bemoan a Martyr My God it is done the father and the son are alreadie at rest there remaineth nothing but to take the mother Behold two parts of the world Europe and Africk which I have filled with my miseries If you will that I yet pass into Asia your will be done But if I no longer be ought but an unprofitable burden to the earth what do I here I have spun out all the web which you gave me I have ended all the hopes of the world why stay you O my God to receive my soul which I bear on my lips She was heard For in few days being all wasted with love travel and desires after an exemplar death she found her tomb in Africk What shall I say here and what shall I do to shut up this discourse We have all certain natural softnesses in the bottom of our souls and some humane apprehensions which alter the force of our judgement My pen cannot almost pass over this history and not commix the waters of mine eyes with mine ink and perhaps also you my Reader cannot peruse it without compassion It seemeth unto you these chaste loves of Hermingildus and Indegondis are too unhappy that such virtues are cruelly handled that such noble courages have met with a fortune sinister hydeous and persecutive even to the tomb You would gladly see these brave spirits after so many tempests such thunder-claps and whirle-winds arrive at a Port of some large temporal felicity You would behold them with Crowns on their heads with Scepters in their hands with Provinces flourishing in revenues with prosperities perpetually smiling in their house with loves free from disturbance desires void oâ— denials affairs without trouble greatness without change pleasures without acerbities and a long posterity fully laden with honours It grieves you that this poor Prince hath passed away as a pearl parched up with lightening in its growth or as an eagle strangled in the shell You bewail this Princess that being born in France she died in Africk separated by the sword from a husband who loved her so tenderly deprived of a son who gave so many good hopes abandoned by all her allies but some poor waiting-women that buried her with sorrow so full of pitie that it was of power to move the monsters of Africk to commiseration Ah ignorant that we are of the works of God perpetually fixed to the earth and deprived of those sparkles of fire and light which burn under the most generous breasts Let us a little draw aside the curtain and see through so many clouds one sole ray of the Sanctuary What injury hath the Divine Providence done to Prince Hermingildus if for a Crown which is the weather-cock of winds if for a Scepter which is the reed of the times if for a life which is the harbinger of death it afford him virtues delights and glories which out-strip the flight of our thoughts which drie up our mouthes which out-run our desires which surmount all our imaginations What injury if it make a Saint of him whose name is couched in Martyrologes whose memory liveth in writing whose praise flourisheth in mouthes whose words are nought but honour and works but blessings whilest his step-mother Goizintha dies like a dog and is buried in the opprobrie of her name What injury if it have so handled the matter that his father touched with a lively repentance hath justified him as an innocent deplored him as a son invoked as a Martyr If it hath sanctified his setters consecrated the tower of his prison raised up his ashes above all the Crowns of the Kings of Spain If it hath given him Altars on earth and a Diadem of beatitudes in Heaven Is it to have despised his virtue neglected his sufferings disobliged his constancy and frustrated his travels What would you have God to have made the virtuous Indegondis A Queen delicate ambitious covetuous haughty which had not spit but in gold walked but on roses flown over the heads of men and putrified in delights How many such like are there who have defiled their names with reproach wearied the earth with their importunities astonished posterity with their deportments and peopled hell with their crimes But this Ladie having been purified with the burning coals of tribulation issued from the hands of God as a vessel of glory to make her lustre resplendent in the sight of all Ages Ah Ladies who read this piece and who many times flatter your selves with the title of virtue in some petty tracks of devotion which have nothing but outward semblance what example of piety see you here What
favoured by those to whom he hath given full power over me submitted the slenderness of my wit to the power of their wills perswading myself a silly nothing may become a matter important in their hands You know how having a purpose to frame a Christian Institution in the HOLY COVRT for men of qualitie I began with their obligation to Pietie and consequently shewed the Obstacles must be vanquished to arrive thither Then I gave precepts of the principal virtues most concern them which were waited on with the Histories of Courts abbreviated into four Models In this that the good Court may triumph I represent a combat of two Courts the Holy and Counterfeit the Religious and Prophane wherein I unsold the victories of the chief Maxims of Christianitie divided into three Parts whereof the one treateth of the Diviuitie the other of the Government of this present life and the third of the State of the other world You may behold how divine the subject is and that the other Books were onely to prepare you to these great lights the rays whereof I diffused I must needs tell you that being surpassed by so many excellent men who have worthily handled a pen I have in this seriously sought to go beyond my self I have contracted large subjects into little Tracts which hath been no small labour there being not a Maxim whereof I could not have compiled an ample Volume But imagining conceptions are like hairs which more easily may be filletted up than dissheveled I have endeavoured to give you more substance in this Book than words and amplifications And seeing all the subjects are very serious I have sweetened them with excellent Examples to afford fit nourishment both to Eagles and Doves All which I now offer you in this is more than my promise thinking it better to give without promise than to promise and not give Your affection sets an edge upon my industrie and if labour waste the bodie for your avail and reserve works of the wit for posteritie it shall be as a Cedar which causing the death of the living seems to give life to the dead This Tome being replenished with important considerations cannot be for him who cursorily reads it with those delicious loyterings which sleightly furnish out the titles of Books and thence derive nothing but wind Give me Gentle Reader the contentment that God may be glorified in your manners by reading this as I here seek to honour him in his works MAXIMS OF THE HOLY COURT AGAINST THE PROPHANE COVERT First Part touching the DIVINITIE The first MAXIM Of Religion PROPHANE COURT HOLY COURT That matters of faith being invisible and uncertain we must tie our selves to the world which is visible and certain That matters of faith being most certain and very excellent we should fix the whole order of our life unto it 1. THere is nothing so reasonable in nature as to desire good nothing so eminent as to know much nothing so absolute as to have the power of all but there is not any thing so profitable as to proceed to true wisdom by a mysterious ignorance and to be in in created light by blindness The soul becometh another world by the means of knowledge or rather as God createth a world in essence that frameth another in Idaea But if truth and love do not co-operate therein man tormenteth himself in his knowledges and createth evils without end from which he cannot free himself no not by issuing out of life The Prophane Court say you leads you into a visible world but it is to behold miseries in it To a world certain but it is to teach you that happiness being therein un certain loss is undoubted All we have in The happines to be born a Christian the world is base caityf and difficult without knowledge of the true God It is but a laboursom turmoyl of affairs an amazement of transitory pleasures an illusion of deceitfull blessings which trouble us and starve us in stead of satisfying our desires or nourishing our hopes But the knowledge of God is the root Scire justitiam virtutem tuam radix est immortalitatis Sap. c. 15. 3. of immortalitie I then require of you O Reader that in the beginning of this discourse you adore the wisdom of God over you who hath selected you out of the Mass of so many Infidels to inrole you in the number of his children and hath drawn you from the confusions of so great darkness to call you into the light of Christianity Behold so many people covered under the veil of shadie night born in errour to live in bruitishness and die in despair of eternal salvation and you are enlightened by the rays of God illuminated by his wisdom guided by his direction covered with his protection nourished with his bloud animated with his life are made participant of his felicity If you be desirous in some measure to observe the Three tokens of the perfection of a thing S. Thomas 1. p. q. 6. excellency of your Faith and Religion consider the perfection of any thing is known by three principal notes Essence Operation and Repose All which you have visible in the wisdom of Heaven you profess His Essence is of an infallible verity his Operations miraculous and his Repose an unchangeable happiness For what assurance more solid than to have a God Solidity of our religion Incarnate for Authour who is come to cast the seeds of a golden Age and adopt a new world in the bloud of an eternal Testament Who can better teach us the secrets of God than God himself I cannot account Varro apud Vincen. tom 2. Illum quidem eruditorem elige quem magis mireris in suis nihil magnisicum docebit qui à se nihil didicerit him said Varro a skilfull Master who learns nothing of himself And he hath understood all in the bosom of his Eternal Father and from his own wisdom which is no other than his Essence He was promised from the beginning of the world preached through all Ages given as a pledge to the memory of all mankind so long before his coming was appointed his time birth life and death He came at his prefixed time all environed with prodigies and miracles all composed of virtues making greatness to proceed out of the lowliness of his humble and painfull life as lightening-flashes break through the obscurity of night 2. What foundations think you hath he laid of The foundations of faith your faith Men believe men upon a little piece of paper yea very often upon the breath of a silly word And Jesus would not be believed but by writing his Law with the rays of an infinite number of Prophesies which were verified in his Person with the bloud of more than ten millions of Martyrs who suffered for his doctrine with miracles so visible and irreprochable that they changed even executioners into Confessours and Tyrants into Martyrs To speak plainly he
inexplicable excellencies Yet say we all we can of him we affirm he never is so well esteemed as when we account him wholy incomprehensible He not onely environeth the world with his presence but beareth it within his arms and bosom He formeth it in his Idae's he accommodateth it in his dispose he penetrateth it by his virtue maintaineth it by his wisdom and establisheth it by his power He is without yet not excluded from it he is within yet not contained he is under yet not drenched he is above yet not advanced He confirmeth scepters and crowns he raiseth Cities Provinces and Monarchies he erecteth States he circumscribeth laws he directeth virtues he enlighteneth stars in heaven he engraveth the beauty of flowers in the meadows and travelleth throughout all nature without taking pains ever present yet always unseen ever in action yet always in repose ever searching yet not needing any thing ever loving yet never burning ever amassing yet never penurious ever giving yet never losing any thing drawning to himself yet hath nothing without himself Good God what say we when we say GOD. Yet thou ô sinner thou yet wilt lift an armed haÌ„d against thy Lord against a God Omnipotent who notwithstanding will not appear potent towards thee but to do thee good Blind and insensible fugitive from the sovereign Essence in the region of nothing and whither wilt thou go not to find the reproches of thy crimes A caytife pleasure a wreched gain a satisfaction of vengeance dissolute company take God out of thy heart to resign thee as a prey to thy passions Thou wilt adore the favours of men that are like the rain-bow in heaven and which having made ostent of so many splendours and varied paintings leave us nothing but water and morter Thou wilt build fortunes upon a foundation of quick-silver upon a frail reed upon a man who beareth all the figures of vanity Thou wilt seek for Paradise in the Capitol as said Tertullian Thou wouldst find sovereign Coelum in Capitolio quaeriin aversi ab ipso Deo coelo Apol. c. 4. Isaiah 30. 3. Decalvare tondere super filios deliciarum tuarum Mich. 1. beatitude in the Courts of great men and perpetually estranged from heaven the living God thou graspest nothing but Chimaeraes of honour and feeble images of content The strength of Pharao saith the Prophet Isaiah shall be thy confusion and the confidence thou hast in the shadow of Aegypt shall be the reproach of thy countenance Shouldst thou not now forsake all thy superfluities Oughst not thou to wear sack-cloth and carry ashes of penance having buried the children of thy delights loves and vanities which so far transported thee into the forgetfulness of eternal blessings If God be the Essence of essences why dost thou please thy self with making so many nothings by committing sins without number infidelities without consideration and ingratitudes void of shame If God be a Spirit why holdest thou thy self perpetually fixed to carnal pleasures which flatter to strangle thee Look on worldly ambitions and thou shalt see them bordered with precipices Reflect on delights and thou shalt find them strewed all-over with thoms View the ways of sin and thou there shalt observe nothing but remorse Ought not we at this time to resolve upon consideration of the greatness and goodness of God to bear a reverence and an eternal love towards him a reverence by faithfully keeping all his laws and commandments and holding his will more dear than the apple of our eyes a love by dayly offering our selves if it were possible a hundred times for him in as many Sacrifices as our soul hath thoughts and body members My God make me from henceforth to enter into the bottom of my soul and to silence all these troublesom creatures all these inordinate passions which so often bereave me of the honour of thy sight Appease their storms and surges that I may silently speak to thee and enter with thee into the great abyss of delights which thou reservest for souls the most purified that there I may be rapt in contemplation of thy bounties may be absorpt in consideration of thy beauties and may wholly dive into thy heart by sacred ardours of thy love The third EXAMPLE upon the third Drawn from Josephus 18. book of his antiquities and S. Luke Act. 11. MAXIM Of the weakness of man and inconstancy of humane things AGRIPPA WHo saith Man says all vanity He is a wretched Arist creature affirms that Ancient whom fortune tosseth as a tennis-ball whom misery and envy poize in a ballance whom time despoyleth death takes away and of whom inconstancy makes Bernard l. 2. de consider c. 9. Fragili corpore mente sterili cui infirmites corporis fatuitus cordis cumulatur traduce sortis a continual metamorphosis He entereth into the world by the gate of sin with a body as frail as his spirit is barren weakness of mortal members and stupidity of heart are given him as a portion of his birth and a necessity of his condition If you as yet be not perswaded of this verity and more esteem to confide in the world and to frame to your self an arm of straw than to seek support from him who sustaineth with three fingers of his power the whole globe of the earth King Agrippa of whom S. Luke maketh mention in the Acts of Apostles and Josephus in the eighteenth book of his Antiquities is able to give you a fair lesson of it You have heard in the History of Herod how this Agrippa grand-child of Herod unnatural Prince put his two sons to death lawful children by the chast Mariamne This Agrippa of whom I speak son of the youngest named Aristobulus came into the world with great priviledges of nature dexterous courteous amiable pleasing born to court and entertain the favour of the world Judaea was a Theater too streight for his great Spirit he burnt with impatience to be seen in the Court of Tyberius Caesar where his mother was already become gracious with one of the greatest Princesses of the Empire Antonia mother of the great Germanicus and the Emperour Claudius It was no hard matter for him to satisfie his desire For behold him presently at the Court of Rome where he closely adhered to the person of Drusus the Emperour Tyberius his son honoured by all the world as successour of the Empire Agrippa â—o well knew how to gain this great Amities of great men barren Prince by the sweet charms of his conversation that he could not live without him but as Tyberius was a frugal man suffering his son not to fall into any excess so Drusus was full of free affection towards his favourite the effects whereof were yet very slender In such sort that Agrippa entertaining correspondence with the son of so great an Emperor more pleasing than profitable for him dayly consumed as the butter-flys in the flames of this greatness so profuse was his
not be possible to God he being Omnipotent Immense Infinite How according to the confession of ancient Philosophers can he replenish all the world with his Divnity and is not able to accommodate himself with enough of it to divinize his holy Humanity Is it because we say it is united to the Word in this mystery in a quite other fashion than the Spirit of God is with the world I admit it For the union of it is truely personal But must it not be confessed the Word in this divine Essence as under title of efficient cause it hath an influence infinite over all the effects of the world and as under title of final cause it hath a capacity to limit and measure all the inclinations of creatures so under title of substantial bound it may confine and accomplish by its personality all possible Essence Why shall we tie the hands of Divine bounty in its communications since it binds not our understanding in its conceptions Is it not a shamefull thing that man will estimate and set a value upon the Divine Essence If God please not man he shall not be God Should we say man is incapable of this communication And how is it that the holy Humanity resisted the Omnipotency of God to the prejudice of his own exaltation since it is found as soon in the union of the Word as in the possession of Essence See we not in nature that the rays of the Sun draw up vapours from the earth and incorporated with them do create Meteors in the air not any one making resistance to his exaltation What contradiction can there be in our understanding against such a maxim seeing it appears the most famous Philosopher said This union of God with man might be very fit and Plutarch also Plutarch in Numa 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 speaking of the communication of the Creatour with the creature pronounced these words That God was not a lover of birds nor other living creatures but a lover of men and that it is a very reasonable matter that be communicate himself to his loves and delights But this would seem to abase the Divinity Hear what Volusianus said I wonder that he to whom this whole Volusianus Miror si intra corpus vagientis infantiae latetâ— cui parva putatur universilas c. universe is so small can be shut up within the bodie of a little child having a mouth open to crie as others What uncomeliness is there if God be united to a little body Have not Plinie (a) (a) (a) Plin. Natura nusquam magis quà m in minimis tota est and Seneca (b) (b) (b) Servitus magnitudinis non posse fieri minorem Senec. Homo quippe ad Deum accessit Deus à se non decessit August said That nature was ever so admirable as in little bodies and that it was a slavery in Great-ones to be unable to be little I wonder the Sovereign Lord of all things is so long absent from Heaven and that all the government of the world is transferred to so little a creature From whence proceedeth this amazement but from the baseness of our thoughts If we said God being made man ceased to be God and were despoiled of his Empire Greatness Essence there would be somewhat wherewith to question this Mystery but when we say God came to Man by inclination of a Sovereign bounty and mercy not leaving himself when we say humane nature is received into the Word as a small source into a huge river and not loosing its Essence is fixed upon the personality of the Word it self is it not to honour the power majesty and wisdom of God 5. In what were the Divinity abased Can it be in doing a work so noble so singular so divine that it deserveth to entertain the thoughts of men and Angels through times and eternity What is more specious and more sweet than to represent to ones self the Person of our Saviour who in himself makes an alliance of all was most eminent in spiritual and corporal nature to wit of God and man verily say I one composed of an unheard-of composition to render the majesty of his father palbable and visible to the hands and eyes of mortals What dignity to behold in the world a Man-God become a part of the world to possess the Spirit of God from all eternity who proposed this person as the end of his communications the bound of his power the first-born of all creatures who held all Ages in breath for him all hearts in desires all minds in expectation all creatures in prophesies The Book of God hath written me In copite libri scriptum est de me Psal 39. 8. in the beginning of its first page said the Word with the Psalmist All creatures of this great universe all predictions and conceptions of these two great books the world and the Bible tended to the accomplishment and revelation of this God-Man who should set a golden head upon all nature intelligent sensitive and vegetative All creatures were but leaves and flowers that promised the great fruit which the Prophet calleth The fruit of earth sublime Isaiah 4. 20. We must religiously speak what deserveth to be heard Religiose dicendum reverentér audiendum est quis propter hunc hominon gloris honâ—re coronandum Deus omnis creavit Rupert l. 13. de glor Trinit proces Spi. Sancti with reverence It is for this incomparable man that God created the world and all creatures are but as silly rays from the Diadem of glory which covereth his head What a spectacle to see them all wound up as the strings of a harp to praise and declare unto men the Name of God to behold the nine Quires of Angels enter into this consort and every one of them to honour this first Essence by so many distinct perfections notwithstanding all to confess their ability cannot reach that degree which the Divine greatness meriteth And thereupon behold here the Word Incarnate which passing through all the spheres of nature grace and glory enter into the new sphere of the hypostatical union where it appears as a rainbow imprinted with all the beauties of the father he manifesteth them to men and making himself an adoring God a loving God an honouring God he adoreth he loveth he honoureth God so much as he is adorable amiable and honourable through all Ages for evermore Let us unfold our hearts in the knowledge and love of the Word revealed Let us adore this great sign this eternal character of the living God for whom all signs are Let us make a firm purpose not to pass over a day of our life wherein we afford him not three things due to him by titles so lawfull Homage Love Imitation Homage by adoring him and offering him some small service directed according to times in acknowledgement of the dependence we have of him by an entire comformity of our wils to his Love
eternal seed of so many sundry books as were hitherto published and which will encrease to the consummation of the world And although the most able Philosophers had they been persecuted by Tyrants would not willingly have lost a tooth for defence of their Maxims yet the wisdom of our Saviour is such that having possessed the heart and hands of those who profess it causeth them to pour out all the bloud of their veins and to use so much courage for preservation thereof as it afforded them lights in its establishment 5. From thence consider it is his absolute power over His power Data est mihi â—â—nis potestas in coelo in terrd Matth. 28. 18. all things and note if you please that it is manifested principally in three Articles First the facility of prodigies and miracles which appeared in Jesus Christ For this large house of nature which we call the world had no other motion but from his will and he therein commanded so universally that he seemed to hold the Heavens and elements under hire to be instruments of his wonders He lighted new stars at his birth he eclipsed the ancient Sun at his death he walked on waters as on marble pavements he caused the earth to cast up the dead four days after We find many of Pharaoh's Magicians have done false miracles but it was saith Saint Augustine by speedily applying active natural things to passive We find Saints have done true miracles but in the quality of Ministers It onely appertaineth to Jesus Christ to do them with an original power which hath its source in his bosom with an absolute command which receiveth not any modification in all nature with a simple will which needeth no other instruments It onely belongeth to him to do them for the full mannage of the worlds government and to transmit them into the person of Saints to the consummation of Ages In the second place I say this power marvellously shineth in the great Empire of the Church which his Heavenly Father hath put into his hands to build it raise it cement it with his bloud illuminate it with his lights nourish it with his substance to make laws in it establish Sacraments eternize sacrifices create Pastours and Priests and invisibly to rule in it by a visible head a power not to be shaken even unto the gates of hell to exercise a jurisdiction over souls to bind them to unloose them pardon sins change hearts ordain their predestination according to his will Finally this great power appears in that he first of all opened Paradise his soul being exalted from the first day of his creation to the vision of Gods Essence and afterward passing through all the Heavens to place himself at the right hand of his Father and put his Elect into the possession of the Kingdom he had purchased by his bloud Have not we cause to crie out thereupon and say O happy he Beatus quem elegisti assumpsisli habitabit in atriis tuis replebitur in bonis domus tuae â—ancium est templum tuum mirabile in aequitate Psal 64. Temple of Justinian whom you have chosen to raise him to the Hypostatical union He shall dwell in the Palace of the Divinity and we shall be filled with the blessings of thy house Thy Temple which is his sacred Hamanitie is infinitely holy It is said Justinian having finished the magnificent Church of S. Sophie which he built with so much industry and charge such numbers and such a general contribution of endeavour of riches and power of the whole Empire placed therein a statue of Solomon who seemed to be astonished and to hide himself through shame and confusion to see his Temple surpassed by that of the Emperour It was a vanity of a worldly Prince But we in verity would we represent what passeth here should paint both Moses and all the Prophets absorpt in a profound reverence in the consideration of the Temple of the Church and the wonders of Jesus Christ 6. Let us for conclusion of this discourse adore that which we cannot sufficiently comprehend and endeavour to bear an incomparable love to the Person of our Saviour for the excellencies we have expressed But if you require the practise of this I say Practise of the love of Jesus reduced to 3. heads 1. To adhere Conglutinata est anima 〈◊〉 cum ed. Gen. 34. 3. it is reduced to three heads which are to adhere to serve and suffer The first note of faithfull affection appears in a strong adherence to the thing beloved so as the Scripture speaking of love says it causeth one soul to clasp unto another If you begin heartily to love Jesus Christ you will find you shall think upon him almost insensibly every moment and as saith S. Gregorie every time you fetch your breath there will come a pleasing idea of God to fill your soul with splendours and affection You will feel a distast and unsavouriness of heart against all earthly things so that it will seem to you that the most pleasing objects of the world are mingled with gall and wormwood You will seek for your Jesus in all creatures you wil languish after him all which beareth his name Numquid quem diligit anima mea vidistis Cantic and memory will be delightsome to you you will speak of him in all companies you will have an earnest desire to see him honoured esteemed acknowledged by all the world And if you perceive any contempt of his Person which is so estimable you will think the apple of your eye is touched Your solitude will Suspiret ac â—eties se a summo bono anima nostra sentiaâ— recessisse quoties se ab illo intuitu deprehenderit separatim fornicationem judicans vel momentaneum a Christi contemplatione discessum be in Jesus your discourse of Jesus Jesus will be in your watchings and in your sleep in your affairs in your recreations and you will account it a kind of infidelity to loose sight of him but an hour Love is a great secret very well understood by Abbot Moses in Cassianus Let our soul saith he sigh and think it self sequestred from the sovereign goodness so soon as it looseth never so little sight of the divine presence accounting it a spiritual fornication to be separated one sole moment from beholding Jesus For the second degree as it is not enough in Siquis diligit me sermonem meum servabit Ioan. 14. worldly amities to have affections languors and curious lip-complements but you must necessarily come to some good effects and considerable offices which are the marks and cement of true affection so you must not think the love of Jesus consisteth in slight affectations of idle devotion He must serve who will love his will must be wedded his command entertained and executed his liveries put on and we wholly transformed into him by imitation of his examples S. Augustine to confound the weakness
August serm 19. de verbis Apost Inhonestos amatores â—stendite Siquis amore foeminae lasciviens vestis se aliter quà m amatae placet illi dixerit nalo te habere tale birrhum non habebit si per hyemem illi dicet in lacinia te amo eliget tremere quà m displicere Numquid illa tamen damnatura est Numquid adhibitura tortores Nunquid in carcerem missura Hoc solum ibi timetur non te videbo faciem meam non videbis of our love towards God pertinently maketh use of the practise of prophane loves Behold saith he these foolish and dishonest Amourists of the world I demand whether any one surprized with the love of a woman attyreth himself any otherwise than to the liking of his Mistress If she say I would not have you wear such a cloke he puls it off I command you in the midst of winter to take a sommer garment he had rather shiver with cold than displease a miserable creature But yet what will she do if he obey not Will she condemn him to death Will she send him executioners Will she thrust him into a dungeon Nothing less she will onely say if you do not this I will never see you more This word alone is able to make a man tear himself in pieces in the endeavour of complacence and service O foul confusion of our life and prostitution of spirit A God who makes a Paradise of his aspects and a hell in his separation from us promiseth never to behold us with a good eye unless we keep his commandements nor can his menaces but be most effectual since he hath sovereign authority in his hands He deserves to be served above all things service done to him is not onely most pleasing but after this life gaineth recompence In the mean time we rather choose to live the slaves of creatures and dwell under the tyranny of our passions than to embrace the yoke of God Were it not fit we hereafter order the small service we do to God as well in our prayers as actions in such sort that there be neither work word nor thought from morning till night which hath not all its accommodations and is not squared within the rule God desireth of us with intentions most purified and indefatigable fervours Finally the last character of love is to suffer for 3. To suffer Satiabor cum apparuit gloria tua Psal 16. Satiabor cum affâ—ictuâ— fuero ad similitudinem tuam Jesus the father of sufferings and King of the afflicted The Kingly Prophet said I shall be satisfied when thy glory shall appear to me Another translation importeth I shall be well pleased when I shall behold my self marked with the characters of thy sufferings Jesus Christ in the great sacrifice of patience made in the beginning of Ages supplyes the person of a great Bishop putting on flesh wholly imprinted with dolours a heart drenched in acerbities a tongue steeped in gall Round about him are all the most elevated and couragious souls who all wear his livery and both constantly and gloriously dispose themselves to this great model of dolours Would we at the sight of so many brave Champions lead a life lazy languishing and corrupt Know we not all creatures of the world groan and bring forth that all elements are in travel and in a ceaseless agitation The air it self say Philosophers is perpetually strucken with the motion of heaven as with a hammer or whip that this benummed mass may not hatch any poyson Rivers are cleansed and purified by the streaming current of their waters The earth is never in repose and the nature of great things is generously to suffer evils The clock goeth on by the help of its counterpoise and Christian life never proceedeth in virtue but by counter-ballance of its crosses Our souls are engaged by Oath to this warfare Animas nostrâ—s authorati in has pugnas accessimus Tertul. ad Scap. so soon as first we enter into Christianity said the noble Tertullian Suffering is our trade our vow our profession Love which cannot suffer is not love and if it cease to love when it should bear it never was what it professed A lover said in Olympius that when he was onely Olympius Te sine vâ— misero mihi lilis nigra videntur Pallentesque rosae c. some little moment absented from the creature he most loved in the world all the best seasons were irkesome all discourses troublesome and the greatest delights turned into bitterness Flower de-luces seemed cole-black in the meadow when he beheld them in his pensive solitude roses the most vermillion grew pale gilli-flowers lost their lustre the very bay-trees which resist winters cold could not withstand the sadness caused by this absence but in a moment they all appeared quite withered to him Viands with him had no rellish wine tast nor sleep repose But so soon as this creature returned all was animated by her presence Flower-deluces became white again roses resumed their vermillion gilli-flowers their beauty lawrels their verdure wine and viands their tastfulness and sleep its contentment But if there happened any harsh and painful accidents which he must bear for her sake they seemed a Paradise All worldly loves speak the same yet are we unwilling to say or do any thing for this excellent Word of God which is endowed with a beauty incomparable exalted above all the beauties of the sons of men This Jesus who maketh a Paradise spring from his eyes This Jesus who distilleth honey from lips of roses for the comfort of his elect This Jesus who causeth Nations to tremble under the force of his word as under flaming arrows and is attired with the conquest and tropheys of souls Behold him on the bright empyreal Heaven crowned with a diadem of honour and revested with celestial purple who regardeth us who beholdeth us and never ceaseth to draw us unto him So many brave spirits have followed him amongst torrents thorns and flames which they found replenished with a sweetness that charmed their pain in the sight of their best beloved It is this sweetness turned the stones of S. Stephen into flower-de-luces and changed the burning coles of S. Lawrence into roses For it S. Bartholomew despoiled himself of his skin as freely as of a garment and S. Catharine hastened to the wheel armed with keen rasors S. Tecla to Lyons S. Agnes to the wood-pile S. Cicely to the sharp sword and S. Appollonia suffered her teeth to be torn out with as much ease as the tree suffers his leaves to fall away from him O the sweetness of Jesus who makes all the valiant and knoweth how to turn doves into eagles of fire Shall we never understand what it is to love him towards whom all generous hearts sigh and for whom all charities are crowned with immortal garlands The eighth EXAMPLE upon the eighth MAXIM Of the admirable change of worldly love Drawn from the Ecclesiastical history
Contemplation also is divided into divers degrees Divers degrees of contemplation For there is one ordinary which maketh use of imagination and of sensible species drawn from the sight of objects though it subtilize and purifie them by the help of the understanding There is another termed immediate and perfect which goes directly to God without any mixture of fantasies or aid of creatures but if it be much discharged from all things create it is called dark contemplation because the soul being in it wholly dazeled and as it were blinded with rays of the divine Essence frameth not to it self any sensible idaea of God but beholdeth him by the way of negation banishing all representations and resemblances of creatures the more firmly to adhere unto the simplicity of the first Being But if it proceed in a superiour manner then it mounteth S. Ambros l. 3. de virginibus Influentibus divinis corporeus peregrinatur affectus usus ille exterioris hominis exâ—lesâ—it to the contemplation termed the most eminent which is the whole-sister of the beatified vision and the last heaven whereunto S. Paul was rapt a sphere totally enflamed with seraphical love where the use of sense and exteriour man seems quite annihilated and the spirit transported to the ineffable conversation with the Divinity Now we must observe upon this discourse what S. Thomos in 3. dist 52. the learned S. Thomas said That whilest our life is shut up in this mortal body its manner of actuating proceedeth by simple and ordinary ways which conduct us to the Creatour by contemplation of creatures and if any one understand spiritual things in this sublime nakedness which is discharged of images it is an admirable way and surpasseth all humane things First it is necessary to have a pious affection The ordinary manner of proceeding in things divine to matters divine thence we pass to meditation from meditation to ordinary contemplation which is attended by admiration and admiration by a certain spiritual alacrity and this alacrity by a certain fear with reverence and fear by fervent charity diffused into the exercise of good works These are the most assured ways to walk in spiritual life But these transcendent souls will in the beginning Illusions of this transcendent devotion lift a man up from the earth and make a Seraphin of him from the first day of his apprentiship To meditate well is nothing else but to make a review of our self and actions to adapt them to the commandments of God and counsels of Jesus Christ You must flie fervently even to the third Heaven and remain there rapt without knowledge whether one be on this side or that side of the world But alas how many times happeneth it these Eagles descend from this false emperial heaven to fish some wretched frog in the marsh of this inferiour earth After all these large temples of prayers gilded with so goodly words we see in the Sanctuary a pourtraict of a Rat a soul faint and pusillanimous shut up in self-love tied to petty interests imperiously commanded by so many tumultuous passions which play their prize whilest the spirit slumbers in this mystical sleep and living death They will in the beginning go equal with the seraphical souls of Saints who arrived at this purity of prayer by great mortifications and most particular favours from God But they imitate them so ill that in stead of being suited with great and solid virtues they retain nought but ostentous forms and a vain boast of words What importeth it a devote who cannot tell how to govern her house to know the retire introversion extroversion simplification dark prayer mystical sleep spiritual drunkenness tast fire quiet the cloud of glory and so many other kinds which serve to disguise devotion Know we not many spirits of young women loose themselves herein and seeking too much to refine ancient piety have made it wholly to vapour out in smoke finding themselves as void of humility as they were puffed up with presumption From thence often proceeds the curiosity of matters ravishing and extraordinary to gain to themselves the reputation of great spiritual persons and to sooth themselves with the opinion of a false sanctity When one is once gained by a false pretext of errour it is no hard matter to be perswaded all we think on is a vision all we say is a prophesie and all we do is a miracle The evil spirit finding souls drunk with this self-love hath played strange pranks which may be read in Epiphanius and Cassianus and whereof it would be an easie matter to produce many examples were it not much better to deplore than recount them 8. This vanity not satisfied to harbour in the mind The word of God altered in chairs by the extravagant opinions of hearers which bred it extendeth to the chairs of Preachers where the curious and phanatical spirits of Auditours would willingly hatch chymaera's for such as are yet but young beginners in the mystery One will have that use be made of thoughts transcendent and extraordinary and many times extravagant entangled with a perplexity of periods which leave nothing but noise in the ear and arrogance in the mind the other who is most ignorant startles at this quaint Theologie and seeks to wrest mysteries and disjoynt mens judgements thereby to draw upon all sorts of people discourses of the Trinity and Incarnation involved in visionary imaginations and turned about on a counter-battery of affected antitheses and if this be not as ordinary in all sermons as was the Delphick sword which heretofore served for all purposes in sacrifices it is to be ignorant in the ways of souls elect The other delighteth in doctrines unheard-of in a vast recital of Authours and forreign tongues as if he went about to exercise devils and not instruct Christians some one boasts to alledge neither Scripture Fathers nor any passage whatsoever for fear of marring the plaits of his periods he makes trophey to take all within his own fancy and to borrow nothing of the Ancients as if Bees who rob flowers in the garden to make honey of them were not much better than spiders who spin their wretched webs out of their own substance There are of them who desire to bundle up an endless train of fantastical conceptions without Scripture or reason who seem to tell wonders and rarities most ravishing but if any man will weigh them in an equal ballance he shall find vanities onely big with noise and wind They who have the itch of ear Sapientiae atque facundiae caupones Tertul. l. de anima c. 3. are devoted to the beauty of language and bestir them rather to talk than speak in a sermon They adore discourses replenished with a youth full eloquence and devested of wisdom having no sinews for support and less sting to transfix a heart Good God! how knowing would Preachers be did they understand as saith S. Paul how to speak
bestowed most costly gifts on the Temple of Jerusalem From thence distending his benefits to men Ioseph l. 12. c. 1. Liberary of Ptolomey of learning he furnished that incomparable Liberary wherein in the end were numbered seven hundred thousand books and having given the charge of it to Demetrius Phalereus he caused to be brought thither as we find in so many histories the books of the law with the seventy two Interpreters who translated them into Greek to be a singular ornament of his Liberarie All this passed over with ceremonies magnificencies and the wonders which so many Authours recount the King wept for joy such affection he bare to things divine in comparison of which he no more esteemed gold than dirt By which means he gained the affection of all men causing himself to be beloved and adored by the whole world But Antiochus the God being as the Antipodes opposite Manners of Antiochus in manners to him esteeming himself as a Divinity thought upon nothing but to satisfie his ambition augment his revenues and seek his own ends to the prejudice of equity and all the most holy amities Which was the cause that undertaking a wicked design of invading the Kingdom of Aegypt he set a huge Army on foot against Ptolomeus Philadelphus of War against Ptolâ—mey whom we speak without any pretext but the satisfaction of an enraged ambition which possessed him Ptolomey who for the love of books abandoned not the sollicitude of war had put his Kingdom into such order that he was able to bring into the field two hundred thousand foot and twenty thousand horse besides he had two thousand carriages for the war four hundred Elephants an hundred and fifty tall ships So that Antiochus coming with all the strength of Asia to surprize him found one ready to talk with him for the Aegyptian without any incommodity to himself tyred and supplanted all his endeavours which were grounded more upon passion than good discretion This man loth to return with so much shame being unable to get a Kingdom sought to win a wife He passionately courted Berenice daughter of Ptolomey whether he were in love with her or whether he would make use of this marriage to give some colour to peace which could not be concluded without leaving on his face the marks of his temerity Ptolomy a Prince very peaceful readily inclined to the resolution of matching his daughter with him that he might quit his Territories of him but it was understood he had been already married to Laodice by whom he had children which seemed to make this matter meerly impossible Notwithstanding this unhappy Prince who betrayed God and men without reflecting on any thing in his designs but proper interest sware deeply to give assurance that he kept not Laodice in the quality of a wife and Queen but of a concubine whom he would dismiss so soon as the love of a lawful wife should possess his heart They who desire are ordinarily credulous It was wished peace might be purchased for the wearisomness of war and this Princess must be sacrificed as a victim without consideration that as faith and treachery upon one side were incompatible in the person of Antiochus so on the other Laodice a Princess much like her husband would not suffer another to lodge in her bed Notwithstanding the marriage is concluded Berenice It was ended by a marriage is conducted to Damietta by her own father who gave huge treasures with her in marriage she is put into the hands of this false husband who carried her to Babylon the capital City of his Kingdom Berenice daughter of Ptolomey entereth into Babylon This beautiful Queen who had all attractive graces on her cheek and the caduceum of Mercury in her hands by reason of the peace she made between two puissant Nations was received with much applause Besides there went along with her a great number of mules laden with gold silver and all the most splendid riches of Aegypt For the father who was so liberal towards strangers had made spare of nothing to his daughter The solemnity of marriage was performed with extraordinary pomp there was nothing but games theaters publick joys Heaven smiled and the earth assisted in these Hymeneal rites There was none but Laodice who being repudiated looked on Laodice repudiated these triumphs with an owl-like eye and a countenance surcharged with the vapours of her envy which hastened to raise a tempest She failed not to flie out in the beginning and to speak whatsoever a desperate jelousie could suggest to her to embroil affairs and stir up the Kingdom but finding her self not throughly seconded she covered her discontent under silence and the fury of her revenge under an apparance of sweetness supposing craft might afford that which force had bereaved her of Beholding her self far distant from Court and put into a condition wherein she could not disturb any thing she with a malicious prudence dissembled all that which lay on her heart feigning to have no other pretence upon the Kings marriage but that she onely desired to gain from him some solace to sweeten the change of her fortune Forth with she wrote a letter to King Antiochus very cunningly excusing her self of all had passed and shewing That if she at the beginning spake a little too boldly Her cunning touching the alteration he had made in his Kingdom it was a folly pardonable since it onely proceeded from the love she bare him That the disfavour she suffered by being deprived of a God seemed at first so haâ—sh unto her that she could find no means to digest it But that time had shewed her some part of her duty and her evil fortune daily taught her the humility she could never learn in Empire That she acknowledged it was not for her to controul his affections but observe them and rather to entertain admiration for her who hath the honour to enjoy his love than envy it That she now hath no care to think on thrones and scepters but that the sovereign happiness wherein she desires to breath out the remainder of her miserable life is to approach near his person more dear than all the world and to behold with an eye more innocent than she had done the prosperity of his affairs Antiochus was very well satisfied with Queen Berenice and already had by her a fair son who was as the seal of marriage yet touched at the beginning with some compassion to see Laodice so humbled he gave her leave to come nearer him which Berenice all made of goodness and over-credulous never sought to hinder She returned with shews of humility pretext of amity and admirable conformity Antiochus saw her and readily entertained her with discourse and witty merriments thinking her unable to re-enkindle his affection but she still had a commanding beauty accompanied with a wily wit and a voluble tongue of power to win love which the other very easily laid
the power of God in his Saints caused a fair Church to be built to this most blessed woman and a Cross to be erected in the place where she left him which was called the Cross of the place Thus was God pleased to ratifie by so great miracles the pardon Constantia had given to Prince Charls I will shut up this discourse with a passage of so rare clemency of a Monarch offended in the honour of a daughter of his by a mean vassal as it seems could never have fallen but into the heart of a Charlemaigne It is to this purpose recounted that one Eginardus Curio l. 2. rerum Chronologicarum who was Secretary to the Prince having placed his affections much higher than his condition admitted made love to one of his daughters which was in mine opinion natural who seeing this man of a brave spirit and a grace suitable thought not him too low for her whom merit had so eminently raised above his birth She affected him and gave him too free access Goodness and in dulgence of Charlemaigne to her person so far as to suffer him to have recourse unto her to laugh and sport in her chamber on evenings which ought to have been kept as a sanctuary wherein relicks are preserved It happened upon a winters night these two amorous hearts having inwardly so much fire that they scarcely could think upon the cold Eginardus ever hastening his approches and being very negligent in his returns had somewhat too much slackened his departure The snow mean while raised a rampart which troubled them both when he thought to go out Time pressed him to leave her and heaven had stopped up the way of his passage It was not tolerable for him to go forward Eginardus feared to be known by his feet and the Lady thought it not any matter at all to see the prints of such steps about her door They being much perplexed love which taketh the diadem of majesty from Queens so soon as they submit to its tyranny made her do an act for a lover which had she done for a poor man it would have been the means to place her among the great Saints of her time She tooke this Gentleman upon her shoulders and carried him all the length of the Court to his chamber he never setting foot to the ground that so the next day no impression might be seen of his footing It is true which a holy Father saith that if hell lay on the shoulders of love love would find courage enough to bear it But it hath more facilitie to undertake than prudence to hide it self the eye of God not permitting these follies should either be concealed or unpunished Charlemaign who had not so much affection in store for women that he spent not some nights in studie watched this night and hearing a noise opened the window and perceived this prettie prank at which he could not tell whether he were best to be angrie or to laugh The next day in a great assembly of Lords and in the presence of his daughter and Eginardus he proposed the matter past in covert tearms asking what punishment might a servant seem worthie of who made use of a Kings daughter as of a Mule and caused himself to be carried on her shoulders in the midst of winter through night snow and all sharpness of the season Every one gave hereupon his opinion and there was not any who condemned not this insolent man to death The Princess and Secretarie changed colour thinking nothing remained for them but to be flayed alive But the Emperour looking on his Secretarie with a smooth brow said Eginardus hadst thou loved the Princess my daughter thou oughtest to have come freely to her father who should dispose of her libertie and not to play these pranks which have made thee worthy of death were not my clemency much greater than the respect thou hast born to my person I now at this present give thee two lives the one in preserving thine the other in delivering her to thee in whom thy soul more survives than in the body it animateth Take thy fair portress in marriage and both of you learn to fear God and to play the good husbands These lovers thought they were in an instant drawn out of the depth of Hell to ascend to heaven and all the Court stood infinitly in admiration of this judgement It appears by the narration what was the mild temper of Charlemaign in this point and that he followed the counsel of S. Ambrose who advised a Father named Epist l. 8. ep 64. Si bonam duxit acquisioit tibi gratiam Si erravit accipiendo meliores facies refutando deteriores Sisinnius to receive his son with a wife he had taken for love For receiving them both said he you will make them better rejecting them render them worse The goodness of these great hearts for all that justifieth not the errours of youth which grievously offendeth when it undertaketh resolutions in this kind not consulting with those to whom it oweth life XIII MAXIM Of the Epicurean life THE PROPHANE COURT THE HOLY COURT That the flesh must be daintily used and all possible contentment given to the mind That life without crosses and flesh void of mortification is the sepulcher of a living man EXperience teacheth us there is in the World a sect of reformed Epicures who do not openly profess the bruitishness of those infamous spirits which are drenched in gourmandize and lust but take Maxims more refined that have as they say no other aim but to make a man truly contented For which purpose they promise themselves to drive all objects from their minds which may bring the least disgust and to afford the bodie all pleasures which may preserve it in a flourishing health accompanied with grace vigour and vivacity of senses Here may the judicious observe that such was the The Philosophie of Epicurus swayeth in the world doctrine of ancient Epicurus For although many make a monster of him all drowned in ordure and prodigious pleasure yet it is very easie to prove that he never went about to countenance those bruitish ones who through exorbitance of lusts ruin all the contentments of the mind and bodie But he wholly inclined to find out all the pleasures of nature and to banish any impediments which might make impression on the soul or bodie For which cause I think Thedor l. 2. Therap Nicet 2. Thesau c. 1. Tertul. apol c. 38. Hieron 2. in Jovin Laertius lib. 10. Senec. l. de vitâ beatâ Theodoret mistook him when he made him so gluttonous as to contend with Jupiter about a sop and that Nicetas who representeth him so licourish after honied tarts well understood him not For Tertullian S. Hierom Laertius and Seneca who better noted his doctrine assure us he was a very sober man and speaketh not in his writings but of pulse and fruits not for the honour he bare to
river Miser qui porcum esurit defecit in saginam Chrysol serm de prodigo Plato 9. de Rep. such an one there is who hath sold himself for the life of a hog who will never have his fill of hogs draft as S. Peter Chrysologus said of the prodigal child Men covetous of bodily riches would willingly make themselves horns and claws of iron to speak with the wise Plato of purpose to take and defend the one his wealth the other his loathsome pleasures Many times iron gates must be broken to purchase a fruition Inorditate love of health which draweth along with it a thousand disturbances Behold how a man who is excessively enamoured of his own health becomes suppliant and servile to his bodie He fears his proper dyet all kind of airs are dreadful to him nor can he take but with distrust those very comforts which afford him life He makes of his stomach a soyl of drugs he perpetually consulteth with his Physicians he tells his infirmities to all the world he seeks out extraordinarie cures as he often hath imaginarie diseases he lives in an afflicting equality would many times rather transgress Gods ten commandments than fail in one of Hypocrates aphorisms I leave you to think what death were not much sweeter than health so religiously preserved See now on the other side a worldly woman who Slavery of women Cultus magna cura magna virtulis iâ—ria Cato Censorius feeleth her beautie that short tyrannie already in the wain and yet would cherish it in the opinion of men who heretofore adored it or of such likewise who may be taken in the same snare What doth not this silly creature to make her self to be esteemed fair What time wasteth she not to seem slender to wash paint to divide the white well to mingle the red to powder her hair to make her self ey-browes to preserve the whiteness of her teeth to set a vermillion tincture on her lips little patches like flies on her cheeks choose stuffs and think of new fashions What torture inflicteth she not on her bodie with those iron stayes and whale-bones How many turns maketh she dayly before a looking-glass What perplexities of mind what apprehensions least her defects may appear And what discontent when after such torments so miserably ended she sees her self despised by men before she becomes the food of worms What Captain of a Galley was ever so cruel to fettered slaves as vanity and love of the body are to the soul Pursue the track of all other pleasures and you shall find them painful and dolorous and in the end you will be enforced to say there is no worse bondage than that which is afforded to wretched flesh The Prophet Scribe ei super huxum Isai 30. 8. Observation upon Esay Flower of box Esay speaking of punishments due to sinners worldlings saith they are written on box whereupon we may say with S. Hierom it is to shew the lasting of it since characters graven on such kind of wood cannot so easily be taken off But I here consider a secret which teacheth me box bears no fruit onely satisfied to produce a flower which otherwise making a goodly shew killeth bees that suck it The Prophet in this figure presented to us a lively image of pleasure which surprizeth the eyes by a vain illusion whilest it conveieth poison into the heart Rest then assured you shal never meet with solid contentment of mind but by the wayes the Saviour of the world shewed us on earth to transfer us to Heaven The just are here below as Life of the Just little halcyons on the trembling of waters or nightingales on thorns They find their joys amongst holy tears and their delights in austerities of life There is nothing so Sovereign as early to accustom to depend little on your body and quickly to forsake a thousand things by election which you shall be enforced to abandon of necessitie When a manner of virtuous life is chosen and which hath some austerity in it custom makes it sweet grace fortifieth it perseverance nourisheth it and glorie crowns it How many worldlings dayly putrifie in a miserable condition who have from their tender age yielded all submission to their flesh and how many delicate bodies in monasteries have we seen which the whole world condemned to the beer from their entering into religion to go out of hair-cloth ashes fasts as a Phoenix from her tomb A life without crosses is a dead sea which breedeth nought but stench and sterility but austerity is like the Aegyptian thorn which had an excellent grace in crowns We are called to Christianity to bear a God crucified Glorificate portate Deum in corpote vestro on our flesh and as it were impressed with the Characters of Divine love Let us carefully preserve our selves from prostituting members to sensuality made to be the Temple of the living God and the ornament of Paradise Holy Job was in state so lamentable that those who beheld him could scarcely tell whether it were a man reduced into a dunghil or a dunghil into the shape of a man Notwithstanding in the midst of these smarting dolours which over-ran all his body and the afflictions which assailed his mind he received so unspeakable comforts from God that himself confesseth to have nothing so strange in his own person as his proper torments Behold the reason why he exalted Mirabiliter me crucias Job 10. himself on his dunghil as upon a throne of virtue he adorned himself with his wounds as with a royal purple he took the Scepter in hand over all effeminacies of body and pronounced Oracles unto us which to all Ages shew that there is neither evil nor affliction wherein God maketh not his miracles of our pains and his glorie of our rewards The thirteenth EXAMPLE upon the thirteenth MAXIM The Miserable event of Lust AMMON the Son of DAVID IT is not one of the least miseries of the greatest of all evils I mean sin that the ill example which often accompanieth it doth likewise survive it It is to say truly a most bitter fruit of this direful tree or rather a scien which it in growing produceth and which being fed from it's sap stands upright after the fall of it Nor is it strange that when once the mercy of God onely able for this great work hath stifled the monster sin in the soul of parents yet fails it not though wholly dead to infect their families and poison their posteritie with the stench of it's ordure David that great Prince that King according to Gods heart had lost the affections and sweet indulgencies of it by an adultery and an homicide He afterward weepeth he humbly prayeth he lowdly cries and God who is willing to be moved turneth his eyes from his crimes and that he may no more hereafter see them applies the sponge to cleanse them yet behold long after Ammon one
COURT That it is to no purpose to think upon death so far off and that it always cometh soon enough without thinking on it That the best employment of life is to bewel prepared for death and that good thoughts of death are the seeds of immortalitie 1. IT is a strange thing that men being all made out of one and the same mass are so different in beliefs in reasons in customs and actions as the Proteus in Poetical fables Our manners daily Diversitie of men teach us a truth which says There is not any thing so mutable upon earth as the heart of man Yet we see in the world many honourable personages and good men who travel apace to this triumphant Citie of God this Heavenly Jerusalem looking on the blessings of the other life with an eye purified by the rays of faith and expecting them with a hope for which all Heaven is in bloom But there Opinion concerning the other life are an infinite number of black souls marked with the stamp of Cain who consider all is said of the state of the other world as if it were some imaginary Island feigned to be in the Ocean to amuze credulous spirits and fill them partly with pleasing dreams partly with irksom visions If these people could find some apparent proofs they would easily perswade themselves there were no death but their senses convinced of the contrary from experience of all Ages they believe that which they dare not think on and commonly die after so bruitish a fashion that a man may say They had converted the lights of an immortal spirit wholly into flesh But you generous souls whom at this present I intend to guid through the hopes and terrours of the other life observe this first step you must make to enter into a new world with constancy not unworthy a soul sensible of its immortality 2. Life and death are two poles on the which all Life death the two poles of the world creatures rowl life is the first act moveable and continual of the living thing death the cessation of the same act And as there are three notable actions in things animated the one whereof tendeth to nourishment and increase the other to sense the third to understanding so there are three sorts of lives Divers kinds of life the vegetative the sensitive and the intellectual the vegetative in plants sensitive in beasts the intellectual which onely appertaineth to God Angels and men The intellectual life is divided into two other which are the life of grace and glory In Heaven the place of things eternal reign those great and divine lives which never die and which are in a perpetual vigour being applied to the first source of lives which is God But in the more inferiour rank of the world are dying lives of which we daily see the beginning progress and end Here properly is the dominion of death and our onely mystery is to die well Some do it of necessity others every day anticipate it by virtue Now it is my desire here to shew you That death in the state wherein the world is at this present is a singular invention of Divine Providence whether we consider the generality of men whether we look on the vicious or fix our thoughts on the just 3. Some complain of death but you would see Providence of God concerning the sentence of death in the generality of men much other complaints if in such a life as we live there were no death You would see men worn with years and cares daily to charge altars with vows and prayers men insupportable to all the world irksom to life inexpugnable to death men old as the earth incessantly calling upon the hour of death and almost eating one another with despair God hath herein saith Plato well provided for seeing the soul was to be Plato in Timaeo Pater misericors illis mortalia vincula faciebat shut up in the body as in a prison he hath at least made it chains mortal What makes you so much desire life I find saith the worldling it is a pleasure to behold the light the star elements and seasons There will be much more delight to see them one day under your feet than there is now to behold them over your head Are there now so many years you have been upon the earth and have you not yet sufficiently looked upon the elements There were certain people among the Pagans who by laws forbade a man of fifty years to make use of the Physitian saying It discovered too much love of life and yet with Christians you may find at the age of four-score who will not endure a word of the other world as if they had not yet one days leisure to look into it But I must still Ambr. l. 2. de Abel Cain Non advertitis senectutem hanc aerumnarum esse veteranam processionibusque aetatis miseriarum crescere stipendia Scyllâ—o quodam usu circumsonari nos quotidianis naufragiis perform the actions of life Have you not done them enough See you not that to live long is to be long in the entertainment of travel and misery which extend their power over our heads according as the web of our life lengtheneth Do you not consider we are in this life as fish in the sea perpetually in fear of nets or hooks Will you not say we live here in the midst of misery and envie as between Scylla and Charybdis and that to decline once perishing we daily make ship wrack Notwithstanding we are pleased with life as if man were not so much a mortal creature as an immortal misery Do you not know life was given by God to Cain Revolution troublesom the most wicked man on earth for a punishment of his crime and will it rest with you as a title of reward There is great cause to desire life Were there no other miseries which are but too frequent this anxiety and turmoil of relapsing actions would tyre us What is life but clothing and unclothing rising and down-lying drinking eating sleeping gaming scoffing negotiating buying selling masonry carpentery quarreling cozening rowling in a labyrinth of actions which perpetually turn and return filling and emptying the tub of the Danaïdes and to be continually tied to a body as to the tending of an infant a fool or a sick man That is not it which withdraweth me say you But I must see the world and live with the living Had you been all your life Baseness of the world time shut up in a prison and not seen the world but through a little grate you had seen enough of it What behold you in the streets but men houses horses mules coaches and people who tumble up and down like fishes in the sea who have many times no other trade but to devour one another and besides some pedling trifles hanged out on stals When I have seen all this but for half an hour
the Apostles in S. Luke it not being corrected by our Saviour who was the rule of their faith Such the truth of the apparition of the soul of Moses upon Mount Thabor I insist not now upon proof Math. 17 but example contenting my self to produce one or two out of a great multitude recounted by Authours As for the first I hold the apparition of the soul Apparition of the soul of Samuel 1. Reg. 28. of Samuel is most formal in Scripture for any one who will consider the whole progress of the narration The history telleth us that King Saul after the death of Samuel was upon the point of giving battel to the Philistines and that having first addressed himself to God by ordinarie means to learn the way he should observe therein seeing he had no answer either by dream or the lively voice of Prophets he did what infidels and men desperate do who seek to get that from the devil they cannot obtain of God He commanded his servants to seek him out a forceress although himself had banished them by his Edicts out of his Kingdom The servants ever ready to observe their Masters in ill offices when their own interest concurreth found a famous Magician whom the Hebrews affirm to have been a woman of good place but out of a detestable curiosity had put her self into this profession Saul to cover his purpose and not to amaze her went thither by night in a disguized habit onely accompanied with two gentlemen where having saluted her he demanded the exercise of her profession But she being crafty and careful to keep her self from surprizes answered Sir go you about to undo me your self also Know you not the Edicts of King Saul Saul replied he knew all had passed but she might confidently proceed assuring her of his warranty and whereas she proposed punishments to her self she should meet with rewards But she still doubting and sticking on distrust usual in all mischiefs he engaged his word with great oaths protesting no ill should befal her for any thing might pass at that time between them Thereupon resolved to give him satisfaction she asked if it were not his desire to speak to the soul of a dead man as also whose it was It was very ordinary with these Negromancers to raise illusions and fantasms instead of true spirits of the dead S Apollonius made Achilles to be seen Philostr in Apoll. Zonaras Eunapius Sardianus appearing on his tomb as a giant of twelve cubits high so Santaberemus shewed to the Emperour Basilius the soul of his son Constantine so Jamblicus made to appear in certain baths of Syria two figures of little children like Cupids All this to speak properly had nothing real in it and it is no wonder if those who thought Samuel had been raised by a sorceress believed it was a specter But he who well will weigh the phrase of Scripture and consider that this spirit of Samuel suddenly appeared before the sorceress had used her ordinary spells plainly shewing he came meerly by the commandment of God and not by the charms of the Magician will easily change opinion Verily the Sorceress was much astonished seeing the dead came contrary to the manner of other and cried out aloud as one distracted Sir you have deceived me you are Saul much doubting it was to him Samuel came The miserable King who endeavoured by all means to assure her fear not saith he I will keep my promise what have you seen She answered DEOSVIDIASCENDENTES DE TERRA as who should say according to the Hebrews phrase she had seen a venerable person like an Angel or a God raised out of the earth In what shape replies the King It is an venerable old man saith she covered with the mantle of a Prophet Then Saul with much reverence prostrated on the ground and made a low obeysance to Samuel who spake to him and said QUARE ME INQUIETASTI UT SUSCITARER Why hast thou disquieted me to make me return into the world Necessitie hath constrained me answereth Saul I am plunged in a perplexity of affairs and cannot get any answer from heaven O man abandoned by God why doest thou ask of me that which I have foretold shall happen Thy army shall be defeated by the Philistins and thou with thy children shalt be to morrow with me that is to say among the dead as I am now which so fell out Now the Eccl. 46. Scripture upon this praiseth Samuel to have prophetized after his death if it were not the true Samuel but a specter who sees not it were to tell a lie and to applaud the work of the divel But to the end you may see this belief was held by Nations as by a decree of nature Josephus in the seventeenth book of his Judaical antiquities relateth the apparition of the spirit of Alexander son of the great Herod and Mariamne who was seen to his wife Glapphyra when she re-married again to the King of Mauritania to reproch her ingratitude and forgetfulness of her first husband which having amply deduced in the first Tome of the holy Court in the tenth edition upon an Instruction directed to widdows I forbear here to repeat it Philostratus in the eigth book of the life of Apollonius maketh likewise mention of a young man much troubled in mind concerning the state of souls in the other life and saith Apollonius appeared unto 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 him assuring him the soul was immortal and he need not to be troubled at all since it was rather the work of the Divine providence than of it I willingly passe over many other examples to tell you that Phlegon a good Authour who flourished about an hundred years after the nativity of our Saviour and was not of our religion to favour our opinions although honourably cited by Origen Eusebius and S. Hierom writeth a strange historie witnessed by the testimonie of a whole Citie wherein he then governed He saith that at Trayls a Citie 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Phrygia there was a young maid named Philenion daughter of Democrates and Chariton who as her storie well declareth was an amorous piece became court-like loved bravery delighted in too free conversation and followed the foolish pleasures of the world true gardens of Adonis which in the beginning make shew of silly flowers and in conclusion afford nought but thorns God who followeth the voluptuous by the track even into the shades of death sent her a sickness which having cropped the flower of her beauty left her almost nothing but a living carcass to deliver her over as a prey to death The miserable maid suffered the boiling fervours of the feaver through all her bodie not loosing the flames of love which she cherished in her heart She burnt with two fires not being able either to quench the one or other and having but a little breath of life left on her lips she gave to love what already was
Deum pro cujus spiritu postules pro quâ oblationes annuas reddas 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Gifts for ransom of the soul answerable to what Tertullian writeth that it was the custom of the ancient Church to pray for the souls of the dead yea and to make annual offerings for them We must no longer say for evasion it is Plato it is Quintilian who speaketh but confess with Aristotle when we see an universal agreement in a proposition it is not one man speaks but the mouth of heaven which uttereth this verity When S. James telleth us God must be feared and proves it by example of the divels themselves he saith not we must fear God because Daemones credunt contremiscunt the divels do so but if any despise him he is therein worse than divels Likewise when the holy Fathers produce an example of Pagans it is not to instruct us by the Pagans but to shew that to waver in the belief of things they generally held by the sentence of nature is to be worse than a Pagan 3. I say for the second argument that so often as Second proof drawn from the light of faith Vnde haec quia ita facienda sunt disputare insolentissimae insania est a truth is proved to Catholicks by the universal consent of the Church and of all Ages if any one chance to make doubt of it it is an evident sign either that he hath a giddy spirit or is malicious in religion This proposition is grounded upon the axiom of S. Augustine who in his Epistle written to Januarius assureth us that when we find the tracks of a custom generally observed throughout the whole Church it is evident that it cometh from the Apostles or those to whom God hath given full Authority in the Church and that to go about to bely or question it is to pass from folly to insolency Now so it is the truth of purgatorie is established by the opinion practice sentence and decisions of all the Church in such sort that there is not any verity of our faith more fortified How is that Begin with our France Behold the Councel of Chalons upon Saone for prayers for the dead and the truth of purgatorie Go into Spain behold that of Braga into Germany behold that of Wormes into Italy behold the sixth Councel held at Rome under Pope Symmachus into Greece behold a number of Synods collected by Martius into Affrick behold the third of Carthage Lastly behold the three Oecumenical of Lateran Florence and Trent which say the same Doth not this suffice to establish a truth in the wit of a man who hath never so little understanding Our adversaries who still bark against this verity as dogs at the moons brightness when they have said Jesus made purgation of sins and that it was said to the good thief thou shalt to day be with me in Paradise or produced some other frivolous objections have shewed all their ability I leave you a little to ponder the goodly consequences Jesus purged sins there is then no purgatorie Should not we have cause to say in the same fashion Jesus prayed for remission of our sins then we no longer stand in need of prayer or pennance and in vain is that S. Luke saith that Jesus must suffer and Luc. 24. 47. that pennance was preached in his name As the prayers of our Saviour destroy not our prayers so his satisfaction overthroweth not ours He prayed that we might pray he satisfied to give strength and merit to our satisfaction which would be dead and unprofitable were they not quickened by his bloud To what purpose is it to say the good thief went directly to Paradise without feeling purgatorie As if we should say it was necessarie for all the world to pass that way Make your self a great Saint and you shall have nothing to do with it Purge all your sins by a love so fervent that the purifying flames may not find any thing to cleanse He who hath payed ows nothing and who hath satisfied in this world shall find unrestrained freedom in the other But think you in a life which contracteth so many stains a soul may be raised in an instant above the celestial orbs to the sight of God before it have passed by those purgations which the Divine justice ordaineth to every one according to his demerits Endeavour is used to deafen your ears with piety wranglings and unprofitable disputations to make you believe purgatory is an invention of interessed Priests it seems this doctrine came into the world but within these two dayes But read the Scripture and see the Fathers who interpret it you shall find proofs to fall upon you like a cloud for confirmation of this verity When S. Paul in the first to the Corinthians third Chapter said that the day of God to wit the day of judgement be it general or particular shall be manifested by fire which shall put every ones works upon trial and that he who upon the foundations of Jesus Basil in Isa c. 1. Non exterminium minatur sed purgationem innuit Ambros Hic ostendit paenas ignis passurum shall build with wood straw or hay to wit with vain and sleight works shall be saved as by fire he clearly declared the doctrine of purgatorie unless you be more illuminated than S. Basil and S. Ambrose who have judged it so for the first saith he threateneth the soul not with destruction but purgation and the other plainly expresseth he speaks of the pains of fire which God hath appointed to purify souls And it is a poor resistance to object he said as by fire and not by fire For it is a manner of expression in Scripture which nothing diminisheth the reality of things otherwise we should say when S. John wrote in the first Chapter of his Gospel that men saw Jesus as the onely Son of God that he were onely a figure of it not a truth And when S. Paul to the Philippians second Chapter witnesseth he was found as a man we might infer he were not man See you not how these silly curiosities of words directly invade the truth When S. Matthew in the twelfth Chapter makes mention of one sin which shall never be remitted either in this world or in the other S. Bernard in his three-score sixth homily upon the Canticles mainly insisteth upon this passage and takes it as an infallible proof of our doctrine When the Evangelist himself toucheth the discourse of the prisonner which shall be put into a place from whence be shall not come until he have paid the last penny Saint Cyprian Cyprian l. 4. ep 2. says plainly It is one thing to be a long time purged for sins by the torment of fire another by the purgation which is made by the passion of Jesus Christ When in the same Authour it is spoken of divers punishments of choller handled in the fift Chapter S. Augustine in
the General in this siege that she disposed his heart to what she pleased In such sort that going forth in the fear and confusion of all the people she returned with peace and assurance of quiet which made them all to come out to receive her at the Citie gates with loud acclamations some throwing flowers other Crowns and all rendering thanks to her as their Sovereign Preserveress She apprehended so much joy therewith that in the very instant she expired in her honours at the Citie gate and in stead of being carried to the throne was brought to her tomb with the infinite sorrow of all her countrey I leave you to think if humane comforts have such force what will the great joy of God be for these unheard-of spectacles these continual triumphs and inexhaustible sources Must we not say we should there every moment leave our souls in the height of pleasure were not the happiness of it conjoyned to immortality XX. MAXIM Of RESURRECTION THE PROPHANE COURT THE HOLY COURT That we must not deny our bodies the benefit of time since they must perish That we must use our bodies as the Temples of God since they must rise again WE may truly say there is not any mysterie The resurrection proved more than any other mysterie in all our faith which God hath pleased to teach and prove unto us more effectually than the resurrection For it being sufficiently averred that our salvation consisteth in the knowledge of three principal Articles which are that of the Trinity of the incarnation with its extension made to the Sacrament of the Altar and of the Resurrection although they be all of like necessity yet it seems God disposing himself more to our ends than his own hath more abundantly explaned himself in this last mysterie which most concerneth our peculiar profit It is very true that for the doctrine of the Trinity the Incarnation and the Sacrament of the Altar he was contented to give us some figures of them in the old Testament not fully shewing the effects but for the Resurrection he was pleased to establish it even before his coming into the world really and actually by raising many dead by the merits of Elias and Elizeus as we learn in the history of Kings It is well enough known that having afforded to the Ancients very obscure knowledges of the Trinity and Incarnation for the Resurrection alone he made the law of nature the Mosaical the order of the world the form of Common-wealths and the Evangelical law to speak so intelligibly that he could speak nothing more perspicuously In the law of nature I understand the chief Secretary Scio quod Redemptor meus vivit in novissimâ— die de terra resurrecturus sum c. Job 19. of the world Job who crieth out on the dunghil I know my Redeemer liveth and that at the last day of the world I must rise again from the earth and shall see God in mine own flesh that I shall see my self in person and that my eyes shall behold him and no other this hope I keep as a pledge in my bosom A man who lived about three thousand years ago before all books all Doctours and all schools to speak in so clear terms so pressing so peremptory is it not a prodigie In the Mosaical law besides formal passages in the Ecce ego aperiam tumulos vestros educam vos de sepulchris vestris Ezech. 33. Macch. 2. Math. 22. D. Tho. art 1. ad 2. supplem q. 75. prophet Ezechiel I will open your tombs and will take you from your sepulchers besides the generous confession of the Macchabees we have in the Pentateuch a passage alledged for proof of the resurrection by the Son of God himself which for this purpose ought to be held as an argument necessary and invincible It is so many times said The God of Abraham Isaac and Jacob Now he is not the God of the dead but of the living and therefore needs must these Patriarchs beliving not onely in the immortality of their souls for the soul makes not a man entire but in future resurrection In the order of the world we have the new birth Tertul. l. de Resur c. 12. and 13. Greg. Mag. 14. mor. c. 10. Cyril Catech. 18. Macar hom 5. de Resur Nil Ora. 2. de Pasca Theod. serm de Provid of stars dayes seasons planets of birds who make a perpetual image of the Resurrection in the world on which the holy Fathers enlarge with much eloquence In the form of Common-wealths and policie of the universe we observe the great care all Nations the most barbarous have had of the burial of bodies not to have been but through an instinct and estimation of the resurrection Which the chiefmen in Gentilism have publickly and notably professed And although they had very weak knowledge of other mysteries of our faith and spake of it with much obscurity in the point of resurrection they unfolded themselves most distinctly and expresly Mercurius Trismegistus in the first chapter of Pymander assureth us of the resurrection of bodies as a thing infallible The great Athenagoras sheweth it was the doctrine of Pythagoras and Plato the two first lights of Philosophy And verily we have also the writings of Plato which witness the wicked shall be judged and condemned to hell in bodie and soul a passage alledged by S. Justine in the tenth of his Common-wealth and which is more this singular man to win us to this belief hath couched a very notable axiom in his Phedon where he saith that all 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Plato in Phaedon Plin. l. 7. c. 55. which is living in the world comes from some thing dead Democritus who was as Hippocrates affirmeth one of the wisest men in the world wished the bodies of the dead should be honourably used in respect of resurrection which Pliny could not dissemble Phocyllides said the same in verses written as with the rayes of the Sun Nay if we would consult with the tombs of the dead we shall find there hath not been any but some wicked and irregular spirits who have renounced the blessings of the other life as by publick profession causing it to be engraven on their tombs So did Sardanapalus the most infamous of men whose epitaph Aristotle having read said It was more fit for a hog than a King So did that wretched woman of Bress whose monument is yet to be seen in antiquities causing to be set over her ashes That after the death of her husband Vixi ultra â—â—tam nihil credidi Nihil unquam pâ—ccavit nisi quod mortua â—st Brisson formul she had been neither widdow nor wife and that her house served onely for a snare to loves Otherwise that during life she never believed any thing but life So did one Julia who caused also to be inscribed over her bones That she had lived seven and twenty years without committing any
of ours If we desire to sweeten the a cerbities of life and to replenish our hearts with the antipast of our immortality let us make a perpetual Pasch in our souls and reflect on our Jesus our Phenix who goeth out of his sepulcher on the day of his triumphs That the resurrection of Jesus Christ is the foundation of ours and we must behold his sweetness and glories as the sources of our eternity NAture which is an expression of Divine understanding Nature delighteth in contrarieties Discordant accords of the world is never so great and admirable as in contrarieties and it seems she takes delight to derive the goodliest harmonies of the world from certain disagreeing accords We admire contrarie motions in the heavens which compose an eternal peace In the air a bird which takes life from death and the beauty of her plumage from a tomb of ashes On earth bees bred in the throat of a dead Lion that find life in a savour able to kill them In the sea a fish named the holy fish which as histories say taking its original in the Kingdom of tempests fails not to create a calm by Ael l. 8. de animal its presence And among fountains we cannot sufficiently wonder at the water of Dodone into which a torch falling is put out and coming forth is lighted S. Isodo de fonte Epiri and Solinus Jesus Authour of nature beareth all these miracles in his own Person to make a miracle in our hearts and to draw them out of the dust and darkness from which he freed our bodies He is the great heaven which by motions of his life holily contrary unanimously divers and harmoniously disagreeing Miracles of the person of Jesus Isa 46. 11. hath made the accords of the Church militant and triumphant He is the bird of the East whereof Isaiah speaketh which glorifieth his tomb and quickneth his death to slay ours He is the Bee of the Celestial Father which from all Eternity having his hive in the heart of his Father soareth into the region of death to sit upon dying flowers which took away his life and put him into the throat of a lionness of a death which devouring all is devoured it self as saith the Apostle and from this gulf which yielded nothing issueth a life to be the seed of all lives It is the Divine fish of the Sybilles sacred by so 1. Cor. 15. many titles to consecrate all intelligent nature which after the rage of so turbulent a passion makes a great calm in the world which he establisheth by his fall quickeneth by his death washeth by his bloud and glorifieth by his torments He is the torch which entered dead into the river of Cocytus whereof holy Job Job 21. 53. speaketh and came out lighted and all environed with flames of a triumphant glorie Let us then say that God who by his providence Jesus entereth into his glory by his merit and by a singular predestination governeth the state of intellectual creatures in all perfect height and accomplishment of beatitude hath so tied glory to merit and merit to glory that he would not glorifie the Angels without giving them some moment of a wayfaring life and some exercise of meritorious actions to obtain the crown and consummation of felicity And consequently to the same purpose it is very true the most holy humanity of the worlds Saviour from the first instant of his beginning was inseparably united to the Divinity but not to be the lights Suspension of actual glory in the body of our Saviour and actual splendours which were incessantly to spring from this ineffable union of the Word to the flesh The Father ordained and the Son for our love received and freely accepted a suspension of the light of glory for the space of three and thirty years And although he had the foundation and root in himself the exercise of it was staid and proposed to him in the end of his race as the recompence of his painful life and unspeakable dolours of his death He naturally desired the glory of his body as our soul sticking in flesh and bloud vehemently covets a full liberty of its intellectual functions and behold here in this mysterie his desire is accomplished and this humanity darkened by the space of a long night of life hidden and buried in the obscurity of an ignominious death cometh from it as the Sun out of a cloud and makes a transfusion of himself into the bosom of ineffable lights which issue from the Sanctuary of the most holy Trinity In such sort that it is as a second birth of the most sacred humanity which being born to the communication of divine subsistence is here born to glory 5. Now observe if you please that as the lightening-flash Three properties of splendour in the resurrection of our Saviour which appeared in the face of the Angel messenger of the resurrection hath three properties the first is that it is a subtile part of enflamed elements the second that it is endowed with a splendour and sparkling which dazeleth humane eyes the third that it goes from one pole to another with an extream vivacity a shril sound So three things are observable in the glory which our Saviour entertained in his Resurrection first that this body taken from the clay of Adam and matter of elements became in an instant wholly invested in sweet and honourable flames of divinity secondly that he appeared with an Fles delectationum amoenitâ—s deliciarum veri amoris initium August homil in exurg Mariae A Remarkeable Psalm Psalmus David quando ei terra restituta est Alij quando fundata est terra Dominus regnavit decorem indutus est c. The triumphant glory of the Resurrection Emiss hom 1. in diem Paschae admirable beauty which made that S. dugustine gave him this title The flower of pleasures and the most purified pleasure of all delights the root of holy loves the third consisteth in the lustre of this great name which went from the East to the West from the South to the North filling the world with his wonders It seems this was divinely prophesied in the 29. Psalm which beareth a title very remarkeabe It is a Psalm sung by David to the Messias on the day when his land was restored to him to wit his body was rejoyned to his soul in the possession of glory and therefore he saith according to the paraphrase It is verily on this day our Saviour beginneth an eternal Empire and a supream Monarchy in his militant and triumphant Church It is on this day be cloathed himself with a body endowed with a flourishing beauty with beauty be took an invincible force which hath penetrated even into hell as divinely saith (a) (a) (a) Aeterna nox inferorum Christo descendente resplenduit silüit stridor ille lugentium catenarum disrupta acciderunt vincula damnatorum c. Eusebius
all which here pleaseth and distracteth hearts is but a poor praeludium of the great act of the inexplicable contentment which passeth in eternity O man thou hast heretofore been a little infant in thy mothers womb amongst bloud and ordure involved in thin skins swadled in clouts and swath-bands which nature gave thee thou wast held in them to prepare for this world for this life where thou now breathest air with all liberty know this world is a second womb in comparison of heaven Thou art yet in prison in obscurity in fetters till the coming of the great day wherein God shall give thee a new body a glorious body a spirituall body With these hopes the mother of the young Machabees saw the members of her children hewed and cut in pieces under the bloudy sword of persecution With this hope holy Anchorites filled the desarts with their tears walked on scorching sands trampled dragons under foot stifled the concupiscences of flesh in snows and thorns with this hope Martyrs sacrificed themselves in as many torments as they had members They preached on crosses sang in flames triumphed on wheels and to merit this glory thou wilt not resolve to forsake that company which hath robbed thee of thy heart and dishonoured the character of thy profession Thou wilt not resolve to suffer a little injury a slight persecution Thou wilt not accomplish thy vows discharge thy obligations put thy self into some course of a regular piety And what may we think of thee O soul so many times ungratefull and disloyal if Heaven open in rewards cannot yet dilate thy heart to his love who readily offers them The twentieth EXAMPLE upon the twentieth MAXIM Divers observations upon the length of life and desire of the state of Resurrection IT is not my purpose to enlarge hereupon narration of many Resurrections whereof we have sundry notable examples both in the old and new Testament and in the lives of Saints in which kind there is not an Age which doth not furnish us with store I onely rest upon some observations which evidently shew the passionate desires humane nature hath to the most blessed state proposed us in the Resurrection The Platonists said The presence of felicity was August l. 22. de Civitate Dei c. 11. Omne corpus fugiendum ex Platonicis 2 Cor. 5. 4. Qui sumus in hoc tabernaculo ingemiscimus gravatii eo quod nolumus expoliari sed super vestiri ut absorbeatur quod mortale est a vita the absence of body and that we must flie from it as from a prison to enter into the liberty of beatitude But the Apostle hath much better said That we groan in this tabernacle and are in great pain not that we desire to be despoiled but to be better clothed that all which is mortal in us may be as swallowed up by life Verily we have a tender love of our bodies and even those who do most torment them do it for no other purpose but to place them one day in ease We live not without thinking on this Resurrection and immortality the fruition whereof we shall never find but in Heaven God hath given us this desire to teach us we are created for it but he doth not afford us the performance of it here to tell us we must seek for it else where We desire to live long and commodiously shortness of life taketh away the one and continual sicknesses bereaves us of the other So many men have sought for their resurrection here on earth and have found nought but their destruction Our body in the declining of age is not like Vestal fires to be everlastingly repaired All in it is lost all is dissolved but if any thing therein be re-established it is not to the proportion of its primitive vigour Spirits without which we cannot live cease not to alter our life and the very air we breath drieth and devoureth us There have been men in the world who have in this life made boast of great age as if they had already some scantling of the condition of Resurrection but they have been very rare and to speak truly they have continued long and lived but a while since there is nothing long in a happiness whereof we find an end It is a remarkable thing that the eldest of all the Patriarchs Pet. 2. 3 5. Vnus dies apud Dominum sicut mille anni mille anni sicut dies unus in Genesis who was Methusalem arrived not to the time which S. Peter calleth a day of God A thousand years saith the great Apostle are before God but one day And not any one of the first men of the world with his so many years mounted to the thousand year of his age Yea it is a thing very well to be observed that in the account the Scripture maketh of the years of Patriarchs the age of women is not considered And Baronius findeth the Bible never reckoned the days and years of women but of Sara Judith and Anne the daughter of Phanuel to teach us our lives are short since those of Eve the mother of the living and of so many other mothers from whom men issued entered not into the line of account in Gods Chronicle We know not how long the first woman of the world lived but we understand she returned into dust and that we must tread the like path Greece the mother of fables sought to use posterity as they do children it hath pleased it self to scare us with strange tales of huge bodies and long lives but we have more difficulty to believe them than it facility to invent them Phlegon a rare Authour Phlegon de rebus mirabil c. 17. says he read in Appollonius the Grammarian that the Athenians desirous to fortifie the long Island which was near to their Citie laying the foundation of their fortresses found a sepulcher one hundred cubits long with this Epitaph which said Macrosiris is here interred in the long Island after he had lived five thousand years compleat These are impostures and Rhodomontadoes which seek to brave Ages and cannot affront worms nor be defended from corruption All about us is sufficient to give us a lesson of the shortness of our life The corn on which we live dies every year to the root The Vine feels as many deaths as winters and although it renew every year it cannot attain to the reasonable age of some drunkards Fifty or three-score years make up its age as also of Apple-trees Pear-trees Plumb-trees Cherie-trees and other such like whereof eating the fruits we should think the wood which bears them liveth no longer than we Tame creatures which are perpetually among us live but a while The age of a horse ends at twenty years It is a great chance if a dog arrive to that number The ox will be well contented with sixteen sheep with ten cats are between ten and six pigeons and so many flying fowl live not long for we daily
in grace and enjoy in the other thy eternal joys in the bosom of Glorie So be it The fourteenth SECTION Of the time proper for spiritual reading BElieve me you shall do well at this time of the morning when your mind is freest from earthly thoughts to use some spiritual reading sometimes of the precepts sometimes of the lives of the Apostles and Saints calling to mind that saying of Isidore in his Book of Sentences He that will live in the exercise of God's presence must pray and read frequently When you pray you speak to God and when you read God speaks to you Good sermons and good books are the sinews of virtue Observe you not how colours as Philosophie teacheth have a certain light which in the night time is obscured and buried as it were in matter But as soon as the Sun riseth and diâ—playeth his beams on so many beauties that languished in darkness he awakes them and makes them appear in their true lustre So may we truly say that we have all some seeds of knowledge which would be quite choaked as it were with the vapours arising â—rom our passions did not the wisdom of God which speaketh in the holy Scripture and in good spiritual books stir them up and give them light and vigour to enflame the course of our actions to virtue Always before you take a book in hand invoke the Father of light to direct your reading Read little if you have but little leisure but with attention and make a pause at some sentence which all that day may come into your memory You will find that good books teach nothing but truth command nothing but virtue and promise nothing but happiness The fifteenth SECTION An Abstract of the doctrine of Jesus Christ to be used at the Communion JOhn 14. 6. I am the way the truth and the life no man cometh to the Father but by me Mark 1. 15. The time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God is at hand Repent ye and believe the Gospel Matth. 11. 28. Come unto me all ye that labour and are heavy laden and I will give you rest 29. Take my yoke upon you and learn of me for I am meek and lowly in heart and ye shall find rest unto your souls 30. For my yoke is easie and my burden is light Matth. 7. 12. All things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you do ye even so to them for this is the Law and the Prophets John 15. 12. This is my commandment that ye love one another as I have loved you 13. Greater love hath no man than this that a man lay down his life for his friend 14. Ye are my friends if ye do whatsoever I command you Matth. 5. 44. Love your enemies bless them that curse you do good to them that hate you and pray for them which despitefully use you and persecute you 45. That you may be the children of your Father which is in Heaven For he maketh his Sun to rise on the evil and on the good and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust Luke 5. 35. Be ye mercifull as your Father also is mercifull 23. Judge not and ye shall not be judged condemn not and ye shall not be condemned forgive and it shall be forgiven 30. Give and it shall be given unto you Luke 12. 15. Take heed and beware of covetousness for a mans life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth Matth. 7. 13. Enter ye in at the strait-gate for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction and many there be which go in thereat 14. Because strait is the gate and narrow is the way which leadeth unto life and few there be that find it Matth. 10. 38. He that taketh not his Cross and followeth after me is not worthy of me John 16. 33. In the world ye shall have tribulation but be of good cheer I have overcome the world Matth. 28. 20. Lo I am with you alway even unto the end of the world Matth. 26. 41. Watch and pray that ye enter not into temptation the spirit indeed is willing but the flesh is weak Luke 12. 36. Let your loyns be girded about and your lights burning 37. And ye your selves like unto men that wait for the Lord when he will return from the wedding that when he cometh and knocketh they may open unto him immediately Luke 21. 34. Take heed to your selves lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfetting and drunkenness and cares of this life John 5. 28. The hour is coming in the which all that are in the grave shall hear his voice 29. And shall come forth they that have done good unto the resurrection of life and they that have done evil unto the resurrection of damnation The sixteenth SECTION What is to be done at the Celebration of the Sacrament AT the Celebration of the Sacrament you shall endeavour to stir up in your self a great reverence of this incomparable Majestie who cometh to fill the Sacrifice with his presence and say O God dispose me to offer unto Thee the merits of the life and passion of thy well-beloved Son At this present I offer up to thee in the union thereof my understanding my will my memorie my thoughts my words my works my sufferings and consolations my good my life all that I have and all that I can ever pretend unto Afterwards at the Preface when the Priest inviteth all to lift up their hearts to God or when the Angelical Hymn called by the Ancients Trisagion is pronounced may be said as followeth being taken out of the Liturgies of S. James and S. Chrysostom TO thee the Creatour of all things visible and invisible To thee the Treasure of eternal blessings To thee the Fountain of life and immortalitie To thee the absolute Lord of the whole world be given as is due all praise honour and worship Let the Sun Moon and Quires of Stars the Air Earth Sea and all that is in the Celestial Elementarie world bless thee Let thy Jerusalem thy Church from the first-born thereof alreadie enrolled in Heaven glorifie thee Let the elect souls of Apostles Martyrs and Prophets Let Angels Arch-Angels Thrones Dominations Principalities Powers and Virutes Let the dreadfull Cherubims and Seraphins perpetually sing the Hymn of thy triumphs Holy holy holy Lord God of hosts Heaven and Earth are full of thy glorie Save us O thou that dwellest in Heaven the palace of thy Majestie O Lord Jesus thou art the everlasting Son of the Father When thou tookest upon thee to deliver man thou clothedst thy self with flesh in the Virgins womb When thou hadst overcome the sharpness of death thou didst open unto us the Kingdom of Heaven Thou sittest at the right hand of God in the glory of the Father and shalt judge both the quick and the dead O Lord help thy servants whom thou hast redeemed with thy precious bloud
pleasures Fortitude Fortitude is a virtue which confirms us against the pusillanimity that may hinder good actions It hath two arms one to undertake the other to suffer Aristotle assigneth it four parts that is confidence patience love of labour and valour Patience Patience is an honest suffering of evils incident to nature The points thereof are To bear the loss of goods sickness sorrows injuries and other accidents with courage neither to complain nor to groan but discreetly to conceal your grief to be afflicted in innocency for justice sake and sometimes even by those that are good to covet and embrace persecutions out of a generous desire to be conformable to the patience of the Saviour of the world Justice Justice is a virtue which giveth to every one that which is his due and all the acts of it are included in this sentence You must measure others by the same measure wherewith you desire to be measured your self Magnanimitie Magnanimitie according to Thomas Aquinas is a virtue which aimeth at great things by the direct means of reason The acts thereof are To frame your self to an honest confidence by purity of heart and manners to expose your self reasonably to difficult and dreadfull exploits for Gods honour neither to be bewitched with prosperitie nor dejected at adversitie not to yield to opposition not to make a stay at mean virtues to despise complacence and threats for love of virtue to have regard onely to God and for his sake to disesteem all frail and perishable things to keep your self from presumption which often ruins high spirits under colour of Magnanimitie Gratitude Gratitude is the acknowledgement and recompence as far as lies in our power of benefits received The acts thereof are To preserve the benefit in our memory to profess and publish it to return the like without any hope of requital Amitie Amitie is a mutual good will grounded upon virtue and communitie of goods The acts thereof are To choose friends by reason for virtues sake communicating of secrets bearing with imperfections consent of wills a life serviceable and officious protection in adversities observance of honesty in every thing care of spiritual profit accompanied with necessary advice in all love and respect Simplicitie Simplicitie is nothing but union of the outward man with inward The acts thereof are To be free from all false colour never to lie never to dissemble or counterfeit never to presume to shun equivocation and double speech to interpret all things to the best to perform business sincerely to forgo multiplicity of employments and enterprizes Perseverance Perseverance is a constancy in good works to the end through an affection to pursue goodness and virtue The acts thereof are firmness in good quietness in services offices and ordinary employments constancy in good undertakings flight from innovations to walk with God to fix your thoughts and desires upon him neither to give way to bitterness nor to sweetness that may divert us from our good purposes Charitie toward God and our neighbour Charitie the true Queen of virtues consisteth in love of God and our Neighbour the love of God appeareth much in the zeal we have of his Glory the acts thereof are to embrace mean and painfull things so they conduce to our Neighbours benefit To offer the cares of your mind and the prayers of your heart unto God for him To make no exceptions against any in exercise of your charge to make your virtues a pattern for others To give you what you have and what you are for the good of souls and the glory of God to bear incommodities and disturbances which happen in the execution of your dutie with patience Not to be discouraged in successless labours To pray fervently for the salvation of souls to assist them to your power both in spiritual and temporal things to root out vice and to plant virtue and good manners in all who have dependence on you Charitie in Conversation Charitie in the ordinary course of life consisteth in taking the opinions words and actions of our equals in good part To speak ill of no man to despise none to honour every one according to his degree to be affable to all to be helpfull to compassionate the afflicted to share in the good success of the prosperous to bear the hearts of others in your own breast to glory in good deeds rather than specious complements to addict your self diligently to works of mercy Degrees of Virtues Bonaventure deciphers unto us certain degrees of Virtue very considerable for practise his words are these It is a high degree in the virtue of Religion continually to extirpate some imperfection a higher than that to encrease always in Faith and highest of all to be insatiable for matter of good works and to think you have never done any thing In the virtue of Truth it is a high degree to be true in all your words a higher to defend Truth stoutly and highest to defend it to the prejudice of those things which are dearest to you in the world In the virtue of Prudence it is a high degree to know God by his creatures a higher to know him by the Scriptures but highest of all to behold him with the eye of Faith It is a high degree to know your self well a higher to govern your self well and to be able to make good choice in all enterprizes and the highest to order readily the salvation of your soul In the virtue of Humilitie it is a high degree to acknowledge your faults freely a higher to bow with the weight like a tree laden with fruit the highest to seek out couragiously humiliations and abasements thereby to conform your self to our Saviours life It is a high degree according to the old Aâ—iom to despise the world a higher to despise no man yet a higher to despise our selves but highest of all to despise despisal In these four words you have the full extent of Humility In Povertie it is a high degree to forsake temporal goods a higher to forsake sensual amities and highest to be divorced from your self In Chastitie restraint of the tongue is a high degree guard of all the senses a higher undefiledness of body a higher than that puritie of heart yet a higher and banishment of pride and anger which have some affinity with uncleanness the highest In Obedience it is a high degree to obey the Law of God a higher to subject your self to the commands of a man for the honour you bear your Sovereign Lord yet a higher to submit your self with an entire resignation of your opinion judgement affection will but highest of all to obey in difficult matters gladly couragiously and constantly even to death In Patience it is a high degree to suffer willingly in your goods in your friends in your good name in your person a higher to bear being innocent the exasperations of an enemy or an ungratefull man a higher yet to suffer much and repine at nothing but
highest of all to go to meet crosses and afflictions and to embrace them as liveries of Jesus Christ In Mercy it is a high degree to give away temporal things a higher to forgive injuries the highest to oblige them who persecute us It is a high degree to pitie all bodily afflictions a higher to be zealous for souls and highest to compassionate the torments of our Saviour in remembering his Passion In the virtue of Fortitude it is a high degree to overcome the world a higher to subdue the flesh the highest to vanquish your self In Temperance it is a high degree to moderate your eating drinking sleeping watching gaming recreation your tongue words and all gestures of your body a higher to regulate your affections and highest to purifie throughly your thoughts and imaginations In Justice it is a high degree to give unto your Neighbour that which belongeth to him a higher to exact an account of your self and highest to offer up to God all satisfaction which is his due In the virtue of Faith it is a high degree to be well instructed in all that you are to believe a higher to make profession of it in your good works and highest to ratifie when there is necessitie with the loss of goods and life In the virtue of Hope it is a high degree to have good apprehensions of Gods power a higher to repose all your affairs upon his holy providence a higher than that to pray to him and serve him incessantly with fervour and purity but highest of all to trust in him in our most desperate affairs Lastly for the virtue of Charitie which is the accomplishment of all the other you must know there are three kinds of it The first the beginning Charitie The second the proficient The third the perfect Beginning Charitie hath five degrees 1. Dislike of offences past 2. Good resolution of amendment 3. Relish of Gods Word 4. Readiness to good works 5. Compassion of the ill and joy at the prosperity of others Proficient Charity hath five degrees more 1 An extraordinary puritie of Conscience which is cleansed by very frequent examination 2. Weakness of concupiscence 3. Vigorous exercise of the faculties of the inward man For as good operations of the exteriour senses are signs of bodily health so holy occupations of the understanding memory and will are signs of a spiritual life 4. Ready observance of Gods law 5. Relishing knowledge of Heavenly Truth and Maxims Perfect Charity reckoneth also five other degrees 1. To love your enemies 2. To receive contentedly and to suffer all adversities couragiously 3. Not to have any worldly ends but to measure all things by the fear of God 4. To be dis-entangled from all love to creatures 5. To resign your own life to save your neighbours The fifth SECTION Of four Orders of those who aspire to Perfection NOw consider what virtues and in what degree you would practise for there are four sorts of those who aspire to perfection The first are very innocent but little valiant in exercise of virtues The second have besides innocency courage enough to employ themselves in worldly actions but they are very sparing towards God and do measure their perfections by a certain Ell which they will upon no terms exceed like the ox of Susis that drew his usual number of buckets of water out of the Well very willingly but could by no means be brought to go beyond his ordinary proportion The third order is of the Fervent who are innocent couragious and virtuous without restriction but they will not take charge of others supposing they are troubled enough with their own bodies wherein they may be often deceived The fourth rank comprehends those who having with much care profited themselves do charitably refresh the necessities of their neighbour when they are called to his aid thinking that to be good onely to ones self is to be in some sort evil Observe what God requires of you and emulate the most abundant graces But if the multiplicity of these degrees of virtue perplex your mind I will shew you a shorter and easier way to perfection The sixth SECTION A short way to Perfection used by the Ancients THe Ancients were accustomed to reduce all virtue to certain heads and some addicted themselves with so much fervour and perfection to the exercise of one single virtue as possessing that in a supream degree by one link onely they drew insensibly the whole chain of great actions One dedicated all his lifes study to government of the tongue another to abstinence another to meekness another to obedience So that at the death of a holy man named Orus as Pelagius relates it was found he had never lied never sworn never slandered never but upon necessity spoken So Phasius in Cassian said upon his death-bed that the Sun had never seen him take his refection for he fasted every day until sun set So John the Abbot professeth that the Sun had never seen him angry that he had never done his own will nor ever had taught others any thing which he had not first practised himself To arrive at this requires much fortitude of spirit If you desire things more imitable be assured you shall lead a good life if you endeavour continually to practise these three words To abstain To suffer To go forward in well doing as S. Luke saith in the Acts of the Apostles of the Son of God To abstain 1. By refraining from all unlawful things and sometimes even from lawful pleasures through virtue 2. By mortifying concupiscence anger desire of esteem and wealth 3. By well ordering your senses your will your judgement and obtaining always some victory over your self by the mastery of your passions To suffer 1. By enduring the burdens of life with patience esteeming your self happy to partake of our Saviours sufferings which are the noblest marks of your Christianity 2. By endeavouring to use a singular meekness in bearing with the oppressions and imperfections of others 3. By undergoing with advice some bodily austerities 4. By keeping your foot firm in the good you have already begun For as old Marcus the Hermit said The wolf and sheep never couple together nor did change and dislike ever make up a good virtue To go forward in well-doing By becoming serviceable and obliging to all the world every one according to his degree but above all having a catalogue of the works of mercy as well spiritual as temporal continually before your eye as a lesson wherein you must be seriously examined either for life or death eternal And for this purpose some Saints had these words in stead of all books in their Libraries Visito Poto Cibo Redimo Tego Colligo Condo Consule Castiga Solare Remitte Fer Ora. To Visit Quench thirst Feed Redeem Cloath Lodge Bury To Teach Counsel Correct Comfort Pardon Suffer Pray Mans best knowledge is how to oblige man the time will come when death shall strip us to the very bones and
Fear and Anger 3. That there are two ways to overcome all passions the first is a precaution of mind against the occasions and vain appearances of all worldly things The second a serious diversion to better things as prayer study labour and business But above all you must pray to God for the light and strength of his holy grace which infinitely transcends all humane remedies Against Gluttony 1. REpresent unto your self the miserable state of a soul polluted and plunged in the flesh 2. The hardness of heart 3. The dulness of understanding 4. The infirmities of body 5. The loss of goods 6. The disparagement of Reputation 7. The horrour of the members of Jesus Christ to make members of an unclean creature 8. The indignity to worship and serve the belly as a bruitish and vile God 9. The great inundation of sins flowing from this spring 10. The punishments of God upon the voluptuous Against sloth 1. The ceaseless travell of all creatures in the world naturall and civil 2. The easiness of good works after grace given by Jesus Christ 3. The anxiety of a wavering and uncertain mind 4. The shame and contempt 5. The confusion at the day of judgement 6. The irreparable loss of time Against Covetousness 1. The disquiet of a greedy mind 2. The insatiability of desire 3. The many wars and battels which we must run through to satisfie one single desire 4. The dishonour of denial insupportable to a generous soul 5. The dependance and servitude we must undergo to comply with those from whom we expect the accomplishment of our wishes 6. The easiness of offending God through excessive greediness of temporall things 7. The transitory and fleeting pleasure of those things which we most ardently desire 8. That God many times allows us the fulfilling of our desires as a punishment for our faults Against carnall love 1. To consider the barrenness of worldly loves which are true gardens of Adonis where 〈◊〉 can gather nothing but triviall flowers surrounded with many bryars 2. To set a value on things and not to be deceived with shows 3. To guard your senses to shun accidents and occasions of sinning and above all to have a particular recourse to God upon the first impression of thoughts 4. To pull your self away by main force from presented objects and to direct your self by serious designs and good employments 5. To set often before you the imperfection the ingratitude the levity the inconstancy the perfidiousness of those creatures we most servilely affect Against Sadness THere is a holy sadness as when we are moved at our Saviours Passion or for our own sins which is the gift of God not a punishment There is one furious which hath no ears and is rather cured by miracle than precept There is another natural arising from our disposition and another vicious which is nourished by ill habits and neglect of our own salvation 1. Against this last we must consider That our desires and love cause for the most part our sadness and that the true way to diminish the cares that consume us is to sweeten the sharp and ardent Affection we bear to worldly things 2. The little esteem we have of God is the cause that we are often troubled at frivolous things whether they threaten or happen He that would truly love this great God which deserveth to possess all love of heaven and earth should not entertain fear or sadness for any thing but for the loss of God no man can loose him but he that purposely forsakes him 3. There is nothing beyond remedy but the tears of the damned A man who may persist in the way to paradise should not place himself in the condition of a little hell and he who can hope for that great All ought not to be sad for any thing Against Envy 1. THe way not to envy any thing is to account nothing in this life great 2. To covet onely the inheritance of the land of the living which is never lessened by the multitude or shares of the possessours 3. To consider seriously the motives which induce us to love our neighbour as participation of the same nature THE THIRD PART OF THE CHRISTIAN DIARY The first SECTION BUSINESSE Of what importance THe third employment of the day is business whether Publick or Private the government of your Family or discharge of some Office Good devotion is a good employment and nothing is more to be avoided than idleness which is the very source of sin He that labours said the old Hermite is tempted but by one devil he that is idle is assaulted by all No man is too Noble to have an occupation If iron had reason it would choose rather to be used in labour than to grow rusty in a corner The second SECTION Two Heads to which all Business is reduced IN Business we must consider the Substance and the Form The Substance for it is great wisdom to make good choice herein to take in hand good employments and to leave the bad the dangerous and burthensom which do nothing but stop up the mind and choke all feeling of devotion especially when there is no obligation to undertake them They are truly sick even in health who interpose out of curiosity to know to do and solicite the business of others It is sufficient said the Emperour Antonius that every one in this life do that well which belongs to his calling The Sun doth not the office of the rain nor the rain that of the Sun Is it not absolute madness of some in the world whose onely employment is to attempt all things but perform none As for the Form in the exercise of charge offices and business there is required knowledge conscience industry and diligence Knowledge 1. In learning that which is requisite to be known for the discharge of your duty 2. In informing your self of that which of your self you cannot apprehend 3. In hearkening very willingly to advise examining and weighing it with prudence and governing your self altogether by counsel Conscience in performing every thing with good intention and great integrity according to the Divine and Humane laws Industry in doing all discreetly and peaceably with more fruit than noise so that we express no anxiety in business like that Prince of whom it was said That he seemed always vacant in his most serious employments Diligence in spying out occasions and doing every thing in due time and place without disorder confusion passion haste irresolution precipitation For these are the faults which commonly destroy good government He that hath never so little wit good inclination shall ever find wherein to busie himself especially in works of mercy amongst so many objects of the miseries of his neighbour The third SECTION Of the government of a Family THat man hath no little business who hath a Family to govern a good Father who breedeth his Children well that they may one day serve the Common-wealth is employed
to obey thy Commandments and also that by thee we being defended from the fear of our enemies may pass our time in rest and quietness through the merits of Jesus Christ our Saviour In the time of Plague LEt thy anger cease O Lod and be appeased for the iniquity of thy people as thou hast sworn by thy self O holy God holy and strong holy and immortal have mercy upon us For the Clergy ALmighty and everlasting God who by thy Spirit dost sanctifie and govern the whole body of the Church graciously hear our prayers for all those whom thou hast ordained and called to the publick service of thy Sanctuary that by the help of thy grace they may faithfully serve thee in their several degrees through Jesus Christ our Lord. For a Citie COmpass this Citie O Lord with thy protection and let thy holy Angels guard the walls thereof O Lord mercifully hear thy people For the sick O God the onely refuge of our infirmities by thy mighty power relieve thy sick servants that they with thy gracious assistance may be able to give thanks unto thee in thy holy Church through Jesus Christ For grace LOrd from whom all good things do come grant unto us thy humble servants that by thy holy inspiration we may think those things that be good and by thy merciful guiding may perform the same through our Lord Jesus Christ For the afflicted O Almighty God the afflicted soul the troubled spirit crieth unto thee Hear O Lord and have mercy for thou art a merciful God For friends I Beseech thee O Lord for all those to whom I am indebted for my birth education instruction promotion their necessities are known unto thee thou art rich in all things reward them for these benefits with blessings both temporal and eternal For enemies O God the lover and preserver of peace and charity give unto all our enemies thy true peace and love and remission of sins and mightily deliver us from their snares through Jesus Christ our Lord. For travellers ASsist us mercifully O Lord in our supplications and prayers and dispose the way of thy servants towards the attainment of everlasting salvation that among all the changes and chances of this mortal life they may ever be defended by thy most gracious and ready help through Christ our Lord. For a Family ALmighty and everlasting God send down thy holy Angel from heaven to visit protect and defend all that dwell in this house through Jesus Christ our Lord. For the dying FAther of spirits and God of all flesh receive the souls which thou hast redeemed with thy bloud returning unto thee For the fruits of the earth O God in whom we live and move and have our being open thy treasure in the due season and give a blessing to the works of thy hands For women in travel O Lord of thy goodness help thy servants who are in pains of child-birth that being delivered out of their present danger they may glorifie thy holy name blessed for ever Against temptation ALmighty God which dost see that we have no power of our selves to help our selves keep thou us both outwardly in our bodies and inwardly in our souls that we may be defended from all adversities which may happen to the body and from all evil thoughts which may assault and hurt the soul through Jesus Christ For misbelievers and sinners ALmighty and everliving God who desirest not the death of a sinner mercifully look upon all that are deceived by the subtility of Satan that all evil prejudice laid aside they may return to the unity of thy truth and love For Prisoners O God who didst deliver S. Peter from his chains and restoredst him to liberty have pitie upon thy servants in captivity release their bonds and grant them freedom and safety for his merits who liveth and reigneth with thee and the holy Ghost ever one God world without end For temporal necessaries REplenish those O Lord we beseech thee with temporal nourishment whom thou hast refreshed with thy blessed Sacraments Against tempests DRive spiritual wickedness from thy house O Lord and preserve it from the malignity of tempestuous weather A Prayer of Thomas Aquinas before study O Unspeakable Creatour who out of the treasure of thy wisdom hast ordained Hierarchies of Angels and hast placed them above the highest heaven in a wonderfull order and disposed them sweetly for all parts of the world Thou the true fountain and incomprehensible principle of light and wisdom vouchsafe to illuminate the darkness of my understanding with a beam of thy light remove the darkness wherein I was born sin and ignorance Thou who makest the tongues of infants eloquent loosen my tongue and pour forth the grace of thy spirit upon my lips give me acuteness to apprehend capacity to retain subtility to interpret aptness to learn readiness to speak direct my beginning further my progression and perfect my conclusion THE PENITENT OR ENTERTAINMENTS for LENT And for the first day upon the Consideration of Ashes THou art Dust and to Dust thou shalt return Genes 3. 1. It is an excellent way to begin Lent with the consideration of Dust whereby Nature gives us beginning and by the same Death shall put an end to all our worldly vanities There is no better way to abate and humble the proudest of all Creatures than to represent his beginning and his end The middle part of our life like a kind of Proteus takes upon it several shapes not understood by others but the first and last part of it deceive no man for they do both begin and end in Dust It is a strange thing that Man knowing well what he hath been and what he must be is not confounded in himself by observing the pride of his own life and the great disorder of his passions The end of all other creatures is less deformed than that of man Plants in their death retain some pleasing smell of their bodies The little rose buries it self in her natural sweetness and carnation colour Many Creatures at their death leave us their teeth horns feathers skins of which we make great use Others after death are served up in silver and golden dishes to feed the greatest persons of the world Onely mans dead carcase is good for nothing but to feed worms and yet he often retains the presumptuous pride of a Giant by the exorbitancie of his heart and the cruel nature of a murderer by the furious rage of his revenge Surely that man must either be stupid by nature or most wicked by his own election who will not correct and amend himself having still before his eyes Ashes for his Glass and Death for his Mistress 2. This consideration of Dust is an excellent remedy to cure vices and an assured Rampire against all temptations S. Paulinus saith excellently well That holy Job was free from all temptations when he was placed upon the smoke and dust of his humility He that lies upon the ground can
greatest of all conquerours Charity drew her from home to seek health for her daughter because like a good mother she loved her not with a luxurious love but in her affliction feeling all her dolours by their passionate reflection upon her heart Her faith was planted upon so firm a rock that amongst all the apparances of despair her hope remained constant Humility did effect that the name of Dog was given her for a title of glory she making profit of injuries and converting into honour the greatest contempt of her person Her words were low and humble but her faith was wonderous high since in a moment she chased away the devil saved her daughter and changed the word Dog into the name of a Sheep of Christs flock as Sedulius writes Perseverance was the last of her virtues in the Combat but it was the first which gained her Crown If you will imitate her in these four virtues Love Faith Humility and Perseverance they are the principal materials of which the body of your perfection must be compounded Aspirations O Jesus Christ Son of David I remember well that thy forefather did by his harp chase away the devil from Saul And wilt not thou who art the Father of all blessed harmonies drive away from me so many little spirits of Affections of Appetites and Passions which trouble and discompose my heart This poor soul which is the breath of thy mouth and daughter of thine infinite bounties is like the Sun under a cloud possessed with many wicked spirits but it hath none worse than that of self-love Look upon me O Lord with thine eyes of mercy and send me not away with silence since thou art the Word Rather call me Dog so that I may be suffered to gather up the crums which fall from thy table Whatsoever proceeds from thy mouth is sacred and must be taken by me as a relique If thou say I shall obtain my desire I say I will have no other than what thou inspirest and I can be contented with nothing but what shall be thy blessed will and pleasure The Gospel upon Friday the first week in Lent S. John 15. Of the Probatick Pond AFter these things there was a festival day of the Jews and Jesus went up to Jerusalem and there is at Jerusalem upon Probatica a Pond which in Hebrew is named Bethsaida having five porches In these lay a great multitude of sick persons of blind lame withered expecting the stirring of the water And an Angel of our Lord descended at a certain time into the Pond and the water was stirred And he that had gone down first into the Pond after the stirring of the water was made whole of whatsoever infirmity he was holden And there was a certain man there that had been eight and thirty years in his infirmity Him when Jesus had seen lying and knew that he had now a long time he saith to him Wilt thou be made whole The sick man answered him Lord I have no man when the water is troubled to put me into the Pond for whiles I come another goeth down before me Jesus saith to him Arise take up thy bed and walk And forthwith he was made whole and he took up his bed and walked And it was the Sabbath that day The Jews therefore said to him that was healed it is the Sabbath thou mayest not take up thy bed He answered them He that made me whole he said to me Take up thy bed and walk They asked him therefore What is that man that said to thee Take up thy bed and walk But he that was made whole knew not who it was For Jesus shrunk aside from the multitude standing in the place Afterward Jesus findeth him in the Temple and said to him Behold thou art made whole sin no more lest some worse thing chance to thee That man went his way and told the Jews that it was Jesus that made him whole Moralities 1. ALl the world is but one great Hospital wherein so many persons languish expecting the moving of the water and the time of their good fortune The Angels of earth which govern our fortunes go not so fast as our desires But Jesus who is the great Angel of Counsel is always ready to cure our maladies to support our weakness and make perfect our virtues We need onely to follow his motions and inspirations to meet with everlasting rest It is a lamentable thing that some can patiently expect the barren favours of men twenty or thirty years together and yet will not continue three days in prayer to seek the inestimable graces of God 2. The first step we must make toward our salvation is to desire it That man is worthy to be eternally sick who fears nothing else but the loss of his bodily health Men generally do all what they can possibly to cure their corporal infirmities they abide a thousand vexations which are but too certain to recover a health which is most uncertain And as for the passions of the mind some love the Feavers of their own love and their worldly ambition above their own life They suck the head of a venemous aspick and are killed by the tongue of a viper They will not part with that which kills them and if you take from them the worm which makes them itch or the executioner who doth indeed torment them they believe you take away the chiefest of their felicity Happy is that soul which holds nothing so dear in this world but will forsake it willingly to find God and will spare nothing to gain Paradise 3. There is nothing more common nor so rare as man The world is full of vicious and unprofitable men But to find one very compleat in all good things is to find a direct Phenix There are more businesses without men than men without businesses For how many charitable employments might many lazy and idle persons find out So many poor mens affairs continue at a stand so many miserable creatures languish so many desolate persons long to find some man who with little trouble to himself would take some small care of their affairs and make up some little piece of their fortunes Jesus is the man of God desired of all Ages to him we must apply our selves since he is both life and truth By him we may come to all happiness by him we may live in the fountains and streams of life and in him we may contemplate the chiefest of all truths Aspirations WHat patience have I in committing sins and how impatient am I in my sufferings for them I am ever most ready to execute vice and unwilling to abide the punishment O good God there are many years in which I have retained an inclination to this disorder to that sin My soul is bound as it were with iron chains in this unhappy bed will there be no Angel to move the water for me But art not thou the Lord and Prince of Angels Then I most humbly
was there known to all the world and the disdain of that ungratefull Nation closed the hands of his great bounty Is it not a great unhappiness to be weary and tyred with often communicating to be wicked because God is good and to shut up our selves close when he would impart himself to us Men make little account of great benefits and spiritual helps for that they have them present They must lose those favours to know them well and seek outragiously without effect what they have kickt away with contempt because it was easily possest 2. The choices and elections of God are not to be comprehended within our thoughts but they should be adored by our hearts He is Master of his own favours and doth what he will in the Kingdoms of Nature Grace and Glory He makes vessels of Potters earth of gold and silver He makes Holy-dayes and working-dayes saith the Wiseman his liberalites are as free to him as his thoughts We must not examine the reason why he doth elevate some and abase others Our eye must not be wicked because his heart is good Let us content our selves that he loves the humble and to know that the lowest place of all is most secure No man is made reprobate without justice no man is saved without mercy God creates men to repair in many that which he hath made and also to punish in the persons of many that which he hath not made 3. Jesus doth not cure his brethren and yet cures strangers to shew that his powers are not tied to any nation but his own will So likewise the graces of God are not to be measured according to the nature of him who receives them but by the pure bounty of him who gives them The humility of some doth call him when the presumption of others doth estrange him The weak grounds of a dying law did no good to the Jews who disdained the grace of Jesus Christ And that disdain deprived them of their adoption of the glory of the New Testament of all the promises and of all Magistracy They lost all because they would keep their own wills Let us learn by the grace of God to desire earnestly that good which we would obtain effectually Persons distasted and surfetted cannot advance much in a spiritual life And he that seeks after perfection coldly shall never find it Aspirations THy beauties most sweet Jesus are without stain thy goodness without reproch and thy conversation without importunity God forbid I should be of the number of those souls which are distasted with Monna and languish after the onions of Egypt The more I taste thee the more I incline to do thee honour Familiarity with an infinite thing begets no contempt but onely from those whom thou doest despise for their own faults O what high secrets are thy favours O what Abysses are thy graces We may wish and run But except thou cooperate nothing is done If thou cease to work all is undone I put all my happiness into thy hands It is thou alone which knowest how to chuse what we most need by thy Sovereign wisdom and thou givest it by thy extream bounty The Gospel upon Tuesday the third week in Lent S. Matth. 18. If thy brother offend thee tell him of it alone BUt if thy brother shall offend against thee go and rebuke him between thee and him alone if he shall hear thee thou shalt gain thy brother and if he will not hear thee joyn with thee besides one or two that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may stand And if he will not hear them tell the Church and if he will not hear the Church let him be to thee as the Heathen and the Publican Amen I say to you whatsoever ye shall bind upon earth shall be bound also in heaven and whatsoever ye shall loose upon earth shall be loosed also in heaven Again I say to you that if two of you shall consent upon earth concerning every thing whatsoever they ask it shall be done to them of my Father which is in heaven for where there be two or three gathered in my name there am I in the midst of them Then came Peter unto him and said Lord how often shall my brother offend against me and I forgive him until seven times Jesus said to him I say not to thee until seven times but until seventy times seven times Moralities 1. THe heavens are happy that they go always in one measure and in so great a revolution of ages do not make one false step but man is naturally subject to fail He is full of imperfections and if he have any virtues he carries them like dust against the wind or snow against the sun This is the reason which teaches him that he needs good advice 2. It is somewhat hard to give right correction but much harder to receive it profitably Some are so very fair spoken that they praise all which they see and because they will find nothing amiss they are ordinarily good to no body They shew to those whom they flatter their virtues in great and their faults in little they will say to those who are plunged in great disorders they have no other fault but that they are not sufficiently carefull of their own health Others do correct with such sharpness and violence that they wound their own hearts to cure other mens and seem to have a greater mind to please their own passions than to amend those whom they would instruct Correction should be accompanied with sweetness but it must carry withall a little vigour to make a right temper and to keep a mean between softness and austerity Jesus in the Prophet Isaiah is called both a rod and a flower to shew us according to Origen that he carries severity mingled with sweetness to use either of them according to the diversity of persons 3. It is not a very easie thing to receive brotherly correction patiently we are so far in love with being well thought of And after we have lost the tree of life which is virtue it self we would keep the bark of it which is onely reputation All shadows proceed from those bodies upon which somewhat shines honour is the child of a known virtue and many when they cannot get one lawfull are willing to have a Bastard This is the cause why so many resemble those serpents which requite them with poison who sing to them pleasant songs Whatsoever is spoken to instruct them makes them passionate and dart out angry speeches against those who speak to them mild and gentle words of truth and tending to their salvation Rest assured you can never get perfection except you count it a glorie to learn and discover your own imperfections 4. There is nothing of more force than the prayers of just men which are animated by the same spirit and cimented together with perfect concord They are most powerfull both in heaven and earth When they desire what
God will they are always heard if not according to the wishes of their own nature yet according to the greater profits of his grace He is always happie who hath that which he would because he knows how to wish what is fitting and finds means to obtain what he desires by reason of his abstinence from coveting that which cannot be had 5. We must not offer to limit our goodness but as it comes from an infinit God we should make it as near being infinite as we can He gives the lie to virtues who will reduce them to a certain number We must never be weary of well doing but imitate the nature of celestial things which never make any end but to begin again Aspiration O God what spots are in my soul and how little do I look into my own imperfections Wilt thou never shew me to my self for some good time that I may cure my self by horrour of seeing what I am since I do so often wound my self by being too indulgent to my own naughty affections It is a great offence to break the glass which representeth me to my self by brotherly correction and to think I shall commit to more sins when no body will take liberty to reprove me I will humble my self to the very dust and mount up to thy glorie by contempt of my own baseness Alas must my soul be always so far in love with it self that it cannot suffer the remonstrance of a friend how will it then endure the tooth of an enemy what can she love being so partial to her self if she do not love most ugly darkness O my redoubted Master I fear thine eyes which see those obscurities which the foolish world takes to be brightness If I cannot be always innocent make me at least acknowledge my self faulty that I may know my self as I am to the end thou mayest know me for an object capable of thy mercy The Gospel upon Wednesday the third week in Lent S. Matthew 15. The Pharisees asked Jesus Why do thy Disciples contradict ancient Traditions THen came to him from Jerusalem Scribes and Pharisees saying Why do thy Disciples transgress the tradition of the ancients For they wash not their hands when they eat bread But be answering said to them Why do you also transgress the commandment of God for your tradition For God said Honour father and mother and he that shall curse father or mother dying let him die But you say Whosoever shall say to father or mother The gift whatsoever proceedeth from me shall profit thee and shall not honour his father or his mother and you have made frustrate the commandment of God for your own tradition Hypocrites well hath Esaiah prophesied of you saying This people honoureth me with their lips but their heart is far from me And in vain do they worship me teaching doctrines and commandments of men And having called together the multitudes unto him he said to them Hear ye and understand Not that which entereth into the mouth defileth a man but that which proceedeth out of the mouth that defileth a man Then came his Disciples and said to him Dost thou know that the Pharisees when they heard this word were scandalized But he answering said All planting which my heavenly Father hath not planted shall be rooted up Let them alone blind they are guides of the blind and if the blind be guide to the blind both fall into the ditch And Peter answering said to him Expound us this parable But he said Are you also as yet without understanding Do you not understand that all that entereth into the mouth goeth into the belly and is cast forth into the privie But the things that proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart and those things defile a man For from the heart come forth evil cogitations murders adulteries fornications thefts false testimonies blasphemy These are the things that defile but to eat with unwashen hands doth not defile a man Moralities 1. THe spirit of man is wretched and makes it self business by being disquieted with petty little things and tormenting it self with formalities whiles it lives in a deep neglect of all that which is most essential to her salvation The Pharisees did place their perfections in washing themselves every hour of the day in bearing writs of the Law upon their foreheads and thorns upon their heels but made no scruple to take away the honour due to fathers and mothers from their children to make spoil of the world by a ravenous avarice which took upon it the appearance of piety and to give up innocent bloud under shew of justice The world doth now furnish it self with such like devotions Some make it a sin to look upon a fair flower with delight to eat with a good appetite to drink cool wine in hot weather to burn a paper upon which the name of Jesus is written to tread upon two straws that lie a cross But to set money to usury to remember injuries for ever to keep a poor workmans wages to oppress the weak to accuse the innocent to spoil miserable persons These are the little sins which pass for virtues in this world Assure your self that such proceedings are abominable before God and there can be no better devotion in the world than to have a true and right feeling of God and to live in honesty not sophisticated but such as is produced out of the pure lights of nature The conscience of hypocrites is a spiders web whereof no garment can ever be made Hypocrisie is a very subtil fault and a secret poison which kils other virtues with their own swords 2. Jesus is our great Master who hath abridged six hundred and thirteen Precepts of the old Testament within the Law of love Do but love saith Saint Augustine and do what you will but then your love must go to the right fountain which is the heart of God It is in him you must cherish and honour your nearest friends and for him also you are bound to love even your greatest enemies Be not afraid to shew him your heart stark naked that he may pierce it with his arrows for the wounds of such an archer are much more precious than rubies You shall gain all by loving him and death it self which comes from this love is the gate of life If you love him truly you will have the three conditions of love which are to serve him to imitate him and to suffer for him You must serve him with all fidelity in your prayers and all your actions you must imitate him what possibly you can in all the passages of his life And you must hold it for a glory to participate with a valiant patience all the fruits of his Cross Aspirations O Great God who judgest all hearts and doest penetrate the most secret retirements of our consciences drive away from me all counterfeit Pharisaical devotions which are nothing but shews and cannot subsist but by false
woman answered and said I have no husband Jesus saith to her Thou hast said vvell that I have no husband for thou hast had five husbands and he vvhom thou now hast is not thy husband This thou hast said truely The vvoman saith to him Lord I perceive that thou art a Prophet Our father 's adored in this mountain and you say that Jerusalem is the place vvhere men must adore Jesus saith to her woman believe me that the hour shall come vvhen you shall neither in this mountain nor in Jerusalem adore the Father You adore that you know not vve adore that vve know for salvation is of the Jews but the hour cometh and now is when the true adorers shall adore the Father in spirit and verity For the Father also seeketh such to adore him God is a spirit and they that adore him must adore in spirit and verity The vvoman saith to him I know that Messias cometh which is called Christ therefore vvhen he cometh he vvill shew us all things Jesus saith to her I am he that speak vvith thee And incontinent his Disciples came and they marvelled that he talked vvith a vvoman No man for all that said what seekest thou or vvhy talkest thou vvith her The vvoman therefore lest her vvater-pot and she went into the Citie and saith to those men Come and see a man that hath told me all things vvhatsoever I have done Is not he Christ They went forth therefore out of the Citie and came to him In the mean time the Disciples desired him saying Rabbi eat But he said to them I have meat to eat vvhich you know not The Disciples therefore said one to another hath any man brought him for to eat Jesus saith to them My meat is to do the will of him that sent me to perfect his vvork Do not you say that yet there are four moneths and harvest cometh Behold I say to you lift up your eyes and see the Countries that they are white already to harvest And he that reapeth receiveth hire and gathereth fruit unto life everlasting that both he that soweth and he that reapeth may rejoyce together For in this is the saying true that it is one man that soweth and it is another that reapeth I have sent you to reap that for which you laboured not others have laboured and you have entered into their labours And of that Citie many believed in him of the Samaritanes for the vvord of the vvoman giving testimonie that he told me all things vvhatsoever I have done Therefore vvhen the Samaritanes vvere come to him they desired him that he vvould tarrie there And he tarried there two dayes And many moe believed for his own vvord and they said to the vvoman That now not for thy saying do vve believe for our selves have heard and do know that this is the Saviour of the vvorld indeed Moralities 1 THe God of all power is weary the main sea desires a drop of salt water the King of Angels becomes a suppliant for a little part of all that which is his own This Gospel shews us clearly the love of God toward humane nature and the infinite zeal which he hath to the salvation of souls Is it not a thing which should load us with confusion to see that he who is filled with all felicities hath onely one thirst which is that we should thirst after him and that we should make chief account of that living water which he carrieth within his breast which indeed properly is grace the onely way to glory 2. Behold the difference between Jacobs Well and the Well of Jesus between contentments of the world and the pleasures of God The Well of Jacob is common to men and beasts to shew unto us that a man which glorifieth himself of his sensual delights makes a Trophee of his own baseness and and a Triumph of his fault It is just â—s if Nâ—bucadnezzar forsaking his Crown and Throne to transform himself into a beast should brag that he had gotten a hansom stable and very good hay But the fountain of Jesus holds in it the water of graces a wholesom water pure and Christalline which brings us to the society of Angels The water of Jacob though it be but a water for beasts yet it is hard to obtain There are many which run mad after riches honours and contentments of this world and can never come to possess them They live in a mill and gain nothing out of it but the noise and dust They turn round about upon the wheel of disquiet and never rest But if good fortune sometime cast them a bone there are a hundred dogs which strive to catch it All their life is nothing but expectation and their end onely despair Whereas the Well of Jesus is open to all the world he seeketh he asketh he calleth he giveth gratis he requireth nothing of us but our selves and would have us for no other reason but onely to make us happie The Well of Jacob begetteth thirst but doth not quench it Do not you consider that the Samaritan woman left her pot there and did not drink After so many fantasms and illusions which do amuse worldlings they must part from the world with great thirst But the fountains of our Saviour free us from the desire of all creatures and do establish within mans spirit an object of which the heart can never lose the delight O happy Samaritan saith Saint Ambrose which left her pot empty that she might return full of Jesus Christ She did no wrong to her fellow Citizens for if she brought no water to the Town yet she made the fountain it self come thither 3. Is it not a shamefull thing that God should seek us amongst the heats of his love and sufferings desireth nothing but us is contented with the possession of our heart and yet we cannot be content with him Shall not we forsake all the disorders of a sensual life which hinder the effect of Gods grace Shall not we forsake and leave behind us our pitcher bidding farewell to all those occasions which lead us to sin to avoid that fire whereof we have reason to fear the smoke Aspirations O Unexhaustible fountain of all beauties that my soul hath been long alienated from thee I have so many times run after the salt waters of worldly pleasures and contentments which have not ceased to kindle a wicked thirst within my veins in such a violent proportion that I could not quench it But now O sweet Saviour my soul being weary and distasted with all the fading delights of this transitory world doth languish incessantly after thee Whether the break of day begin to gild the mountains with his brightness whether the Sun be advanced high in his course or whether the night do cast a dark vail over all mortall things I seek and desire thy entertainments which are the onely sweet Idea's of my soul I plunge my self within the contemplation of thy greatness I
honour of God and the reverence of sacred things shall not accompany all your pretences For if you ground your piety upon any temporal respects you resemble that people which believes the highest mountains do support the skies 2. There are no sins which God doth punish more rigorously nor speedily than those which are committed against devotion and piety He doth not here take up the scourge against naughty Judges usurers and unchaste persons because the Church is to find remedy against all faults which happen in the life of man But if a man commit a sin against Gods Altar the remedy grows desperate King Ozias felt a leoprofie rise upon his face at the instant when he made the sume rise from the censor which he usurped from the high Priests Ely the chief Priest was buried in the ruins of his own house for the sacriledge of his children without any consideration of those long services which he had performed at the Tabernacle Keep your self from simonies from irreverence in Churches and from abusing Sacraments He can have no excuse which makes his Judge a witness 3. Jesus was violently moved by the zeal which he bare to the house of his heavenly Father But many wicked rich men limit their zeal onely to their own families They build great Palaces upon the peoples bloud and they nothing care though all the world be in a storm so long as they and what belongs to them be well covered But there is a revenging God who doth insensibly drie up the roots of proud Nations and throws disgrace and infamy upon the faces of those who neglect the glories of Gods Altars to advance their own He who builds without God doth demolish and whosoever thinks to make any great encrease without him shall find nothing but sterility Aspiration O Most pure Spirit of Jesus which wast consummate by zeal toward the house of God wilt thou never burn my heart with those adored flames wherewith thou inspirest chaste hearts Why do we take so much care of our houses which are built upon quick-silver and roll up and down upon the inconstancies of humane fortunes while we have no love nor zeal towards Gods Church which is the Palace which we should chuse here upon earth to be as the Image of heaven above I will adore thy Altars all my life with a profound humility But I will first make an Altar of my own heart where I will offer sacrifice to which I doubt not but thou wilt put fire with thine own hand The Gospel upon Tuesday the fourth week in Lent S. John 7. The Jews marvel at the learning of Jesus who was never taught ANd when the festivity was now half done Jesus went up into the Temple and taught And the Jews marvelled saying how doth this man know letters whereas he hath not learned Jesus answered them and said my doctrine is not mine but his that sent me If any man will do the will of him he shall understand of the doctrine whither it be of God or I speak of my self he that speaketh of himself seeketh his own glorie but he that seeketh the glorie of him that sent him he is true and injustice in him there is not Did not Moses give you the Law and none of you doth the Law Why seek you to kill me The multitude answered and said thou hast a Devil who seeketh to kill thee Jesus answered and said to them One work I have done and you do all marvel Therefore Moses gave you circumcision not that it is of Moses but of the Fathers and in the Sabbath ye circumcise a man If a man receive circumcision in the Sabbath that the law of Moses be not broken are you angry at me because I have healed a man wholly in the Sabbath Judge not according to the face judge just judgement Certain therefore of Jerusalem said Is not this he whom they seek to kill And behold he speaks openly and they say nothing to him Have the Princes known indeed that this is Christ But this man we know whence he is But when Christ cometh no man knowerh whence he is Jesus therefore cried in the Temple teaching and saying Both me you do know and whence I am you know and of my self I am not come But he is true that sent me whom you know not I know him because I am of him and he sent me They sought therefore to apprehend him and no man laid hands upon him because his hour was not yet come But of the multitude many believed in him Moralities 1. IT appears by this Gospel that Jesus was judged according to apparences not according to truth It is one of the greatest confusions which is deeply rooted in the life of man that every thing is full of painting and instead of taking it off with a spunge we foment it and make our illusions voluntary The Prophet Isay adviseth us to use our judgement as men do leaven to season bread All the objects presented to our imaginations which we esteem are fading if we do not adde some heavenly vigour to help our judgement 2. To judge according to apparences is a great want both of judgement and courage The first makes us prefer vanity before truth the second gives that to silk and golden clothes which is properly due to virtue We adore painted coals and certain dark fumes covered outwardly with snow But if we did know how many great miseries and what beastly ordure is hidden under cloth of gold silk and scarlet we would complain of our eyes for being so far without reason It is a kind of Apostacy and rebellion against Gods providence to judge without calling God to be a president in our counsel or to take in hand any humane inventions without the assistance of his Spirit 3. God is pleased to lodge pearls within cockles and bestows his treasures of wisdom and virtue many times upon persons who have the most unfashionable outsides to countercheck humane wisdom He makes his orators of those who are speechless and numbers of frogs and flies to overthrow mighty armies He makes Kings out of shepherds and serves himself of things which are not as if they were The most pleasing Sacrifice which he receives upon earth is from the humble and when we despise those we divert the honours of God We offer Sacrifice to the worlds opinion like the Sages of Egypt who did light candles and burn incense to Crocodiles The Jews lost their faith to follow apparences and there is no shorter way to Apostacy than to adore the world and neglect God 4. An ill opinion make folks many times pass a rash judgement They mount into Gods chair to judge the hearts of men The chaste doves are used like Ravens and Ravens like Swans Opinion puts false spectacles upon our eyes which make faults seem virtues and virtues crimes Yet nevertheless we should think that virtuous persons will not conceive an ill suspition of their neighbour without a very sure
approching near the light love their own darkness They hate the light of their salvation as the shadow of death and think that if you give them eyes to see their blindness you take away their life If they seem Christians they yet have nothing but the name and the appearance the book of Jesus is shut from them or if they make a shew to read they may name the letters but never can produce one right good word 4. Others destroy themselves by false lights who being wedded to their own opinions and adoring the Chimera's of their spirit think themselves full of knowledge just and happy that the sun riseth onely for them and that all the rest of the world is in darkness they conceive they have the fairest stars for conductours but at the end of their career they find too late that this pretended light was but an Ignis fatuus which led them to a precipice of eternal flames It is the worst of all follies to be wise in our own eye-sight and the worst of all temptations is for a man to be a devil to himself 5. Those ruin themselves with too much light who have all Gods law by heart but never have any heart to that law They know the Scriptures all learning and sciences they understand every thing but themselves they can find spots in the sun they can give new names to the stars they perswade themselves that God is all that they apprehend But after all this heap of knowledge they are found to be like the Sages of Pharaob and can produce nothing but bloud and frogs They embroil and trouble the world they stain their own lives and at their deaths leave nothing to continue but the memory of their sins It would be more expedient for them rather than have such light to carry fire wherewith to be burning in the love of God and not to swell and burst with that kind of knowledge All learning which is not joyned with a good life is like a picture in the air which hath no table to make it subsist It is not sufficient to be elevated in spirit like the Prophets except a man do enter into some perfect imitation of their virtues Aspirations O Fountain of all brightness before whom night can have no vail who seest the day spring out of thy bosom to spread it self over all nature will thou have no pitie upon my blindness will there be no medicine for my eyes which have so often grown dull heavy with earthly humours O Lord I want light being always so blind to my own sins So many years are past wherein I have dwelt with my self and yet know not what I am Self-love maketh me sometimes apprehend imaginary virtues in great and see all my crimes in little I too often believe my own judgement and adore my own opinions as gods and goddesses and if thou send me any light I make so ill use of it that I dazle my self even in the brightness of thy day making little or no profit of that which would be so much to my advantage if I were so happy as to know it But henceforth I will have no eyes but for thee I will onely contemplate thee O life of all beauties and draw all the powers of my soul into my eyes that I may the better apprehend the mystery of thy bounties O cast upon me one beam of thy grace so powerfull that it may never forsake me till I may see the day of thy glory The Gospel upon Thursday the fourth week in Lent S. Luke the 7. Of the widows son raised from death to life at Naim by our Saviour ANd it came to pass afterward he went into a Citie that is called Naim and there went with him his Disciples and a very great multitude And when he came nigh to the gate of the Citie behold a dead man was carried forth the onely son of his mother and she was a widow and a great multitude of the Citie with her whom when our Lord had seen being moved with mercy upon her he said to her Weep not And he came near and touched the Coffin And they that carried it stood still and he said Young man I say to thee Arise And he that was dead sate up and began to speak And he gave him to his mother and fear took them all and they magnified God saying That a great Prophet is risen among us and that God hath visited his people And this saying went forth into all Jewry of him and into all the Countrey about Moralities JEsus met at the Gates of Naim which is interpreted the Town of Beauties a young man carried to burial to shew us that neither beauty nor youth are freed from the laws of death We fear death and there is almost nothing more immortal here below every thing dies but death it self We see him always in the Gospels we touch him every day by our experiences and yet neither the Gospels make us sufficiently faithfull nor our experiences well advised 2. If we behold death by his natural face he seems a little strange to us because we have not seen him well acted We lay upon him sithes bows and arrows we put upon him ugly antick faces we compass him round about with terrours and illusions of all which he never so much as thought It is a profound sleep in which nature lets it self fail insensibly when she is tired with the disquiets of this life It is a cessation of all those services which the soul renders to the flesh It is an execution of Gods will and a decree common to all the world To be disquieted and drawn by the ears to pay a debt which so many millions of men of all conditions have paid before us is to do as a frog that would swim against a sharp stream of a forcible torrent We have been as it were dead to so many ages which went before us we die piece-meal every day we assay death so often in our sleep discreet men expect him fools despise him and the most disdainfull persons must entertain him Shall we not know and endeavour to do that one thing well which being once well performed will give us life for ever Me thinks it is rather a gift of God to die soon than to stay late amongst the occasions of sin 3. It is not death but a wicked life we have cause to fear That onely lies heavy and both troubles us and keeps us from understanding and tasting the sweets of death He that can die to so many little dead and dying things which makes us die every day by our unwillingness to forsake them shall find that death is nothing to him But we would fain in death carry the world with us upon our shoulders to the grave and that is a thing we cannot do We would avoid the judgement of a just God and that is a thing which we should not so much as think Let us clear our accounts
fear glorious without change And it is there onely where we find all our satisfactions perfectly accomplished For to speak truth contentment consisteth in four principal things which are to have a contenting object to have a heart capable to apprehend it to feel a strong inclination to it and to enter into an absolute full possession of it Now God hath provided for all this by his infinite bounty He will not have us affect any other object of pleasure but his own He is God and therefore can have nothing but God for his satisfaction and intends graciously that we shall have the same He will have us thirst after him and quench our thirst within himself and to this our soul is singularly disposed for as God is a Spirit so is our soul onely spiritual We have so strong an inclination to love God that even our vices themselves without thinking what they do love somewhat of God For if pride affect greatness there can be nothing so great as the Monarch of it If luxury love pleasure God containeth all pure delights in his bosom and this which I say may be verified of all sins whatsoever If the presence of a right object and the enjoying be wanting we have nothing so present as God S. Paul saith We are all within him within him we live and within him we have the fountain of all our motions we see him through all his creatures until he take off the vail and so let us see him and taste of his Glory 3. A true and perfect way to make us thirst after God is to forsake the burning thirst which we have after bodily and worldly goods Our soul and flesh go in the several scales of a ballance the rising of one pulls down the other It is a having two wives for us to think we can place all our delights in God and withal enjoy all worldly contentments A man must have a conscience free from earthly matters to receive the infusion of grace we must pass by Calvary before we come to Tabor and first taste gall with Jesus before we can taste that honey-comb which he took after his resurrection Aspirations O God true God of my salvation My heart which feeleth it self moved with an affection-are zeal thinks always upon thee and in thinking finds an earnest thirst after thy beauties which heats my veins My soul is all consumed I find that my flesh it self insensibly followeth the violence of my spirit I am here as within the desarts of Affrica in a barren world the drought whereof makes it a direct habitation for dragons O my God I am tormented with this flame and yet I cherish it more than my self Will there be no good Lazarus found to dip the end of his finger within the fountain of the highest Heaven a little to allay the burning of my thirst Do not tell me O my dear Spouse that there is a great Chaos between thee and me Thou hast already passed it in coming to me by thy bounty and wilt not thou lift me up then by thy mercy The Gospel upon Tuesday the fifth week in Lent S. John 7. Jesus went not into Jewry because the Jews had a purpose to take away his life AFter these things Jesus walked into Galilee for he would not walk into Jewry because the Jews sought to kill him And the festival day of the Jews Scenopegia was at hand And his brethren said to him Pass from hence and go into Jewry that thy Disciples also may see thy works which thou dost For no man doth any thing in secret and seeketh himself to be in publick if thou do these things manifest thy self to the world for neither did his brethren believe in him Jesus therefore saith to them My time is not yet come but your time is always ready The world cannot bate you but me it hateth because I give testimony of it that the works thereof are evil Go you up to this festival day I go not up to this festival day because my time is not yet accomplished When he had said these things himself tarried in Galilee But after his brethren were gone up then he also went up to the festival day not openly but as it were in secret The Jews therefore sought him in the festival day and said Where is be And there was much murmuring in the multitude of him For certain said that he is good And others said No but he seduceth the multitudes yet no man spake openly of him for fear of the Jews Moralities 1. JEsus hides himself in this Gospel as the Sun within a cloud to shew himself at his own time to teach us that all the serets of our life consisteth in well concealing and well discovering our selves He did conceal the life which he took from nature when he might have been born a perfect man as well as Adam and yet did he hide himself in the hay of a base stable He concealeth his life of grace dissembling under silence so many great and divine virtues as if he had lockt up the stars under lock and key as holy Job saith He keeps secret his life of Glory retaining for thirty three years the light of his soul which should without intermission have glorified and cast a divine brightness upon his body But when he concealed himself the stars discovered him at his birth the Sun at his death all the Elements did then confess him and all creatures gave testimony of his Divinity 2. We should be well known of God if we did not so curiously enquire into the knowledge of the world Vanity at this day opens all her gates to manifest divers men to the world who should otherwise be buried in obscurity and darkness It maketh some appear by the luxurious excess of their apparrel as so many sale creatures whose heads being high and costly drest up go to the market of idle love Others by the riches and pomps of the world others by honours and dignities others by the spirit of industry and others by the deeds of arms and policy Every one sets out himself to be seen and esteemed in the world It seemeth that life is made for nothing but to be shewed and that we should always live for that which makes us die We are a kind of walking spirits which return late to our lodgings But yet nevertheless giving our selves so continually to the world me thinks we should at least stay with our selves every day one short hour It is said that the Pellican hides her egs and that they must be stollen from her to make them disclose But vanity is an egge which all the world hatcheth under her wings and none are willing to forsake it 3. If it be needfull to shew your self to the world be then known by your virtues which are characters of the Divinity Let men know you by your good examples which are the seeds of eternity and of all fair actions You must be known by your
you love binds you fast enough to the Cross without them But do thou O Lord hold me fast to thy self by the chain of thine immensity O Lance cruel Lance Why didst thou open that most precious side Thou didst think perhaps to find there the Sons life and yet thou foundest nothing but the Mothers heart But without so much as thinking what thou didst in playing the murderer thou hast made a Sepulcher wherein I will from henceforth bury my soul When I behold these wounds of my dear Saviour I do acknowledge the strokes of my own hand I will therefore likewise engrave there my repentance I will write my conversion with an eternal Character And if I must live I will never breathe any other life but that onely which shall be produced from the death of my Jesus crucified The Gospel for Easter-day S. Mark 16. ANd when the Sabbath was past Mary Magdalene and Mary of James and Salome bought spices that coming they might anoint Jesus And very early the first of the Sabbaths they come to the Monument the Sun being now risen And they say one to another who shall roll us back the stone from the door of the Monument And looking they saw the stone rolled back For it was very great And entering into the Monument they saw a young man sitting on the right hand covered with a white Robe and they were astonied Who saith to them Be not dismayed you seck Jesus of Nazareth that was crucified he is risen he is not here behold the place where they laid him But go tell his Disciples and Peter that be goeth before you into Galilee there you shall see him as he told you Moralities 1. THe Sepulcher of Jesus becomes a fountain of life which carries in power all the glories of the highest Heaven Our Saviour riseth from thence as day out of the East and appears as triumphant in the ornaments of his beauties as he had been humbled by the excess of his mercies The rage of the Jews looseth here its power death his sting Satan his kingdom the Tomb his corruption and hell his conquest Mortality is destroyed life is illuminated all is drowned in one day of glory which comes from the glorious light of our Redeemer It is now saith Tertullian that he is revested with his Robe of Honour and is acknowledged as the eternal Priest for all eternity It is now saith S. Gregory Nazianzen that he re-assembles humane kind which was scattered so many years by the sin of one man and placeth it between the arms of his Divinity This is the Master-piece of his profound humility and I dare boldly affirm saith S. Ambrose that God had lost the whole world if this Sacred Virtue which he made so clearly shine in his beloved Son had not put him into possession of his Conquests We should all languish after this Triumphant state of the Resurrection which will make an end of all our pains and make our Crowns everlasting 2. Let us love our Jesus as the Maries did that with them we may be honoured with his visits Their love is indefatigable couragious and insatiable They had all the day walkt round about the Judgement-Hall Mount Calvary the Cross and the Sepulcher They were not wearied with all that And night had no sleep to shut up their eyes They forsook the Image of death which is sleep to find death it self and never looked after any bed except the Sepulcher of their Master They travel amongst darkness pikes launces the affrights of Arms and of the night nothing makes them afraid If there appear a difficulty to remove the stones love gives them arms They spare nothing for their Master and Saviour They are above Nicodemus and Joseph they have more exquisite perfumes for they are ready to melt and distil their hearts upon the Tomb of their Master O faithfull lovers seek no more for the living amongst the dead That cannot die for love which is the root of life 3. The Angel in form of a young man covered with a white Robe shews us that all is young and white in immortality The Resurrection hath no old age it is an age which can neither grow nor diminish These holy Maries enter alive into the sepulcher where they thought to find death but they learn news of the chiefest of lives Their faith is there confirmed their piety satisfied their promises assured and their love receives consolation Aspirations I Do not this day look toward the East O my Jesus I consider the Sepulcher it is from thence this fair Sun is risen O that thou appearest amiable dear Spouse of my soul Thy head which was covered with thorns is now crowned with a Diadem of Stars and Lights and all the glory of the highest Heaven rests upon it Thine eyes which were eclipsed in bloud have enlightened them with fires and delicious brightness which melt my heart Thy feet and hands so far as I can see are enamel'd with Rubies which after they have been the objects of mens cruelty are now become eternal marks of thy bounty O Jesus no more my wounded but my glorified Jesus where am I What do I I see I flie I swound I die I revive my self with thee I do beseech thee my most Sacred Jesus by the most triumphant of thy glories let me no more fall into the image of death nor into those appetites of smoke and earth which have so many times buried the light of my soul What have I to do with the illusions of this world I am for Heaven for Glory and for the Resurrection which I will now make bud out of my thoughts that I may hereafter possess them with a full fruition The Gospel upon Munday in Easter-week S. Luke the 24. ANd behold two of them went the same day into a Town which was the space of sixty furlongs from Jerusalem named Emmaus And they talked betwixt themselves of all those things that had chanced And it came to pass while they talked and reasoned with themselves Jesus also himself approching went with them but their eyes were held that they might not know him And he faid to them What are these communications that you confer one with another walking and are sad And one whose name was Cleophas answering said to him Art thou onely a stranger in Jerusalem and hast not known the things that have been done in it these dayes To whom he said What things And they said Concerning Jesus of Nazareth who was a man a Prophet mighty in work and word before God and all the people And how our chief Priests and Princes delivered him into condemnation of death and crucified him But we hoped that it was he that should redeem Israel And now besides all this to day is the third day since these things were done But certain women also of ours made us afraid who before it was light were at the Monument and not finding his body came saying That they saw a vision also
of Riot 461 Rispeliones 265 Rodomonts 93 A condemnation of Rodomonts and Duels 224 Roman Empire full of strange disorders 154 S SAcriledge of fair souls 13 To Sacrifice the Calf without flower 78 Sanctity the character of Nobility 5 Sanctity an irrefragable argument of Faith 29 Sadness the snare of Satan 83 Immortification one cause of Sadness 84 Sadness a plant of our own growing ibid. Prayer the best remedy against Sadness ibid. Unworthiness of Sadness 85 Two great Obstacles of Salvation 43 To handle the affairs of Salvation is a matter of no small importance 31 Sameas his grave and free Speech concerning Herod 116 Same 's a Martyr of poverty 89 Scoffing the harbinger of Atheism 46 Danger of Scoffing 47 368 Self-love hard to be repressed 400 Semblances the children of opinion and lying 37 Sesostris his Chariot applied to the rich 9 Simplicity defined 468 Simplicity the chief virtue of Saints 41 What it is to be Simple ibid. Simplicianus a holy man 96 Sins committed for want of witnesses 6 Sin of the flesh a mark of Reprobation and injurious to the incarnation of the Son of God 50 Sincerity preserved in the light of Nature 396 Slander the wound of Frogs 46 Greatness of the Soul 64 Souls of men different in qualities 4 Excellencies of the Soul remarkable 11 The Soul clothed with royal purple 12 What the Soul is and wherefore it is a Spirit ibid. The care that is to be had of the Soul 423 Piety the first virtue and the Soul of Military virtue 220 The belief of the immortality of the Soul invincible 420 The operations of the Soul are admirable 421 Sentence of God upon the immortality of the Soul ibid. Piety and Valour of a French Souldier 222 Notable Devotion of a Souldier 223 Military virtues of a French Souldier 226 A great indignity of the abuse of the Spirit 12 Apparition of the Soul of Samuel 423 Spurina 3 Stratonica her ridiculous pride 93 Supereminency of person ibid. Suemâ—s persecuted 342 His admirable constancy ibid. Three Suns shine at one time 370 Symmachus magnifieth the Vestals 182 Shamefull Law of the Sybarites 87 Synagogue of the Jews burned 213 T TEmperance the first tribute of Sanctity 86 Emptations remora's of the Soul 79 Temptation is a Christians trade ibid. What is the cause that many yield in Temptation ibid. It is not good to tempt Temptations 80 The sweetness of victory over Temptation ibid. Tertullian his parable of the Ass to the Hereticks of his time 33 An excellent conceit of Tertullian 19 Tertullian his saying is repugned 267 Thaumastus made the second man in the Kingdom for having given a glass of water 91 Theodosius his birth and extraction foretold 137 His Baptism 139 His Education 140 Sanctity of his Court. 143 The Discourse between him and a Hermite 144 Theodosius destroyeth Marna 139 He maketh the Court holy 212 His remarkable Piety 261 His death 148 Theodosia her revenge 368 Theodorick's practice which he gave to Cassiodorus 274 Theodorick slew Odoacer at a Banquet 281 Strange act of Theodorick 90 A crafty and witty conceit of Theodora 397 Theophilus a bloudy Emperour 402 The admirable Justice of Theodorick 285 Time not onely precious but onely necessary 43 Time compared to a River 44 Time irrevocable ibid. The Tongue compared to the Almond-Tree 45 The Tongue a feathered Bell. ibid. The Tongue the incensory of the Divinity 47 Trajan his notable Act. 90 Travel of worldlings 79 Triumph of Asmodeus with a description of his Chariot wheels horses coach-man and Court 49 The power of Truth 395 As bad contesting against Truth as against the master of the Bowe ibid. Tutours are Fathers over the Spirits 373 V VAlentinian father to Gratian his death 200 Erity a Sea 45 Virgins give an Altar of Gold to the Church of S. Sophia 140 Ungratefull men punished 23 Diversity of Unions 437 Union of glory what it is ibid. Unworthiness of being ashamed of well-doing 82 W WAnt a great misery 15 Excellent discipline in War 226 The name of Sun given to Warriours 172 Tragical events of the Wicked 257 Equity of the Senate of Rome to support Widows 340 William of Paris his notable Doctrine 360 Weakness of humane Wisdom 362 Good Wives of bad husbands 388 Wisdom requisite in Prelates 169 All Wisdom reduced to one Word 88 Over-much Wit troubleth 37 Modesty of Great Wits 450 Women stout to do good 39 Women without Devotion as a Bee without a sting 302 Therare qualities which are given to them in Scripture ibid. Houshold affairs recommended to Women 305 Words are the Chariot of the Soul 70 Word of God altered in Chairs by the extravagant opinions of hearers 385 The World a Clock and how 18 Worldlings condition 24 The World an Island of Dreams 16 The vanity of the World and misery thereof 119 The vanity and inconstancy of the World 146 Practise of Worldly men 389 Baseness of the World 414 Tertullian his Conceit concerning the World ibid. Three Ties of the World 417 Discordant acts of the World 442 The World is full of Craft 397 A Wonderfull Spectacle of the affairs of the World 238 Z ZEal of a Ladie towards God 90 Eal ought to be had towards Religion 341 The End of the Table of the first Three TOMES THE HOLY COURT THE COMMAND OF REASON OVER THE PASSIONS VVritten in French by F. N. CAUSSIN AND Translated into English by Sir T. H. WITH HISTORICALL OBSERVATIONS UPON IT Printed M.DC.L TO THE EXCELLENT PRINCESSE THE DUTCHESSE OF BUCKINGHAM Excellent Princesse THis Translation of the Holy Court as it had it's first life breathed into it by the animating spirit of her sacred Majesties Royall acceptance so in this last and concluding piece it infinitely desires such your favourable enterteinment Nor verily can I where so bright and resplendent a Star from a Sphear of Greatnesse hath already lighted up a flame to direct others in their approbation but with much confidence hope the like propitious rayes may benignly reflect from your so near a confining Influence Here shall your Grace behold the powerfull predominance of Reason over passions not taught in Epictetus or Senecas Prophane School but dictated from the Truth-teaching sacred Oracles of Christian Piety Here the soul is informed and judgement rectified to hate vice and flie it to love virtue and practise it not in exteriour garbs and petty slight formalities which onely serve to amuse vulgar spirits but by the interiour Habits and serious embracement of the most solid virtues The pretious memory Excellent Princesse of your thrice-noble Father whose living Image and second-self you representatively are together with your known love of pious Books and daily practise in your life of the wholesome precepts couched in This hath encouraged my present addresse to serve for the enterteinment of your vacant hours which thus silently spent and maturely digested will have the force and efficacy of the most serious employment and may Exemplarily invite other eminent Spirits to
and danger of passions may profit us whether they edifie us by their repentance or divert us by their disasters I conclude the HOLY COURT in this Volume which I esteem above the rest by reason of its utillty and writing of passions to cure them I wish in my self an incurable one which is to desire the progression of my Readers and to beseech God they may submit Sense to Reason Time to Eternity and the Creature to the Creatour THE FIRST TREATISE OF LOVE Sect. 1. Of the Necessity of Love Against those Philosophers who teach Indifferency saying We must not Love any thing THe Divine Providence which hath concluded our salvation All Happinesse included in love in Love very plainly shews us That the means to be quickly happy is to love Felicity and that the way we walk in to become singularly happy is to esteem as we ought the chief of Felicities We lose all our good hap for want of loving and our Love through the defect of well placing it which is the cause that we daily learning so many Arts forget what we should eternally practise if it be true we desire to be everlastingly happy I find the great Apostle of France S. Denis said well when he called God The Father of Vnions who S. Dion l. de Hierarch coelest 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God the Father of unions draweth all to unity by the means of love ceaseth not to gather and rally together all the creatures into his heart which issued out of his heart He is That in the life of Intelligencies which the Sun is in the celestiall world but one immoveable Sun about which so many changes and agitations of all creatures circumvolve who groan and aim at this First beauty the true Center of Repose It concerneth us since we are made for it and that God hath given us Love which is to the soul That which wings are to Birds to carry us to it's fruition It is a riches which is onely ours and which would be infinitely profitable if we could tell how to employ it well but for want of well loving we apply the most precious thing which is Love to gain wretched Creatures as if one used a golden hook to fish for Frogs and a Sceptre to shake Hey This is it which causeth me to undertake in this discourse to speak of the well ordering of Love as the most assured way we can choose to arrive at Tranquility and to shew that we first of all most necessarily love to be happy in the world and that the most loving and tendrest hearts are ordinarily the best This age scant enough in goodnesse and fruitfull The Sect of Philosophers of Indifferency in malice hath of late brought forth a Sect of wits who term themselves the Philosophers of Indifferency and who make boast to be very insensible as well in the fear of the Divinity as in tendernesse towards the miseries of men To what purpose is it say they to addict ones self to the worship of a God whom we cannot sufficiently know And wherefore should we be solicitous for the afflictions of another which nothing concern us This is to make our selves eternally miserable and to be tormented with all manner of objects He who would live contented in the world must love nothing but himself entertein himself within himself and concerning himself and derive pleasure as a tribute out of all the creatures of the world but to take heed not to enter into the participation of their troubles and should we see all to be turned topsie turvey so it inconvenienceth not us in any thing to let time slide to catch good by the wings whilest we may and to let evil fall on the miserable These kind of people are so unnaturall that they laugh at all and mock at the miseries which others suffer If you tell them of a house burnt they say it is nothing and that it is but a fire of great wood If of an inundation of water that Fishes have a good time of it If of a warre or contagion that it is a good harvest for death and that there are too many bread-eaters If one say such a friend hath lost an eye they answer he is very happy because he shall see but half the bad times I do not think there is a vice in the whole world more btutish or contrary to nature then this obduratenesse which is the cause I would cast it under the feet of love and shew you that tendernesse towards God as a Father towards men as the lively Images of his Goodnesse is the principall foundation of all virtues Consider first that all the good order of life comes 1. Reason against the Indifferents from the knowledge of the First cause whereon all Creatures have their dependence as on the contrary the Disorder of all actions springeth from the ignorance of the submission we ow to the Increated Essence Now he who loveth none but himself and cares not but for his own Interests maketh himself as the chief end and the God of himself which sufficiently proveth it to be the most palpable folly and the greatest evil may be imagined in Nature It is a remarkable thing that among all Essences There is none but God which is for it self there is none but God alone who as he can know nothing out of himself nor love any thing but in himself so he doth nothing but for himself For in doing all for himself he doth all for us since we have no good which tendeth not to him as to its scope Monas geâ—uit monadem in se suum reflexit amorem S. Thom. 1. part q 32. a. t. 1. which subsisteth not in him as on its Basis which resteth not in him as in its Centre Thus did S. Thomas understand that notable saying of Mercury Trismegistus Vnity hath produced unity and hath reflected its love on it self It is not but for an Infinite Essence to do so but had the highest Angel in heaven the thought onely to behold himself and hence-forward to work for himself he would instantly be pulled out of heaven and would of a bright Sun become a sooty Coal What may one think then of a man who sayes in his heart I am born for my self and I have no other aim in the world but to satisfie my mind with all contentments nor shall the evils of another ever enter into my heart till Fire commix with Water and Heaven with Earth If I obtein my ends all shall go well Hearken how God speaketh in the Prophet Ezechiel to these wicked ones Behold I come to fall upon thee Ecce ego ad te draco magne qui tuba iâ— medio fluminum tuorum c. Ezec. 29. 3. oh thou great Dragon who lyest stretched out at length in the midst of thy Rivers and darest saey this stream is mine and I made my self Assure thee I will put a bridle upon thee and when I
have fastned to thy scale all the fishes of the waters wherein thou bearest sway I will drag thee from the midst of the Kingdome of waves and I will throw thee into a wildernesse thou shalt lie upon the dry land nor shall any one care to sae thy obsequies performed For I have abandoned thee to the beasts of the field ard to the birds of the air to be devoured This sentence of God was executed on the person of the Emperour Tyberius under whom our Saviour suffered that death which gave life to the world Verily he was a man who through the whole course of his Empire made himself the God of himself the slave of his passions and the hatred of mankind He lay close as an Owl in the retirement of his filthy lusts he was greedy as a Griphon in such sort that dying he had above three-score and six millions of gold in his coffers which he with the Empire left to an infamous nephew who as it is thought hastned his death tearing that sensuall soul out of the body which in the world breathed nothing but the love of it self How can a man so wretched so caitive behold himself as a Divinity seeing God in the heighth of glory riches and beauties which so happily entertains him within himself hath so affectionate bowels of mercy for man that he thinks of him from all eternity he presenteth himself unto him on all sides with hands replenished with benefits in so great a diversitie of Creatures and hath in generall so much care of all men and of every one in particular S. Tho opus de Beatit Quasi homo sâ—t Dei Deuâ— that he who were not well instructed by faith might have matter to imagine that Man were the God of God himself Let us besides produce another proof which more 2. Reason drawn from the communication of creatures evidently convinceth this obduratenesse of heart and this cruel rechlessnesse of the Philosophers who teach Indifferency which is that all creatures yea the most insensible are made by God to impart and to compassionate If the Sun hath light it is not for himself he clotheth the Air the Land and Sea with a golded net he imparteth it also as well to the little eyes of the Ant as to those of the mightiest Monarch in the world he soweth seeds of flames and vigour to warm and quicken totall nature If the Air hath Rain it keeps it not eternally within the treasurie of clouds but distilleth it as in a Limbeck to moysten the earth If the Sea have waters it so diveth them among all the Rivers as to bear men and victuall in Vessels and to make it self a knot of commerce from Land to Land from Countrey to Countrey from World Unaquaeque res cogitur dare â—eip â adeo exclusit Deus avaritiam à rebus humanis Guil. Paris l. de univers to World If the earth hath fruits it preserves them not for it self no more then the trees which bear them but plentifully opens its bosome profusely to communicate it self to all nature Every thing saith a great Bishop of Paris is bound by the Divine Providence to communicate it self so true it is that God hath banished avarice from humane things As each creature giveth it self by love so it suffers with others by conformity All the world is united and collected within it self as the parts of an Egg are tyed one within another All the members of the Universe mutually love and embrace and if they make warre it is but to establish their peace If there be want of an element as of Air the Water would mount to heaven or heaven descend to the water rather then not supply the defect of a neighbour It is a law which God hath engraven as with a toole of Adamont in the bosome of Nature It â—ath been observed that Palmes divided one from another by an arm of the Sea which had overflowed the countrey bowed their tops one towards another by a naturall inclination as witnessing their Amity and protesting against the fury of that element which had disunited them and if this sense be in plants what may we say of living creatures where we see cares troubles anxieties goings and comings combats yells neglect and losse of body repose and life with the sense they have of the detriment and dammage of their like And shall we not say then that a man who loveth nothing in the world and onely studieth the preservation of himself is a prodigie in Nature fit to be denyed the Air he breatheth the light which reflecteth on him the fire which warms him the viands which feed him and the earth which bears him I add for a third reason that pity and tendernesse 3. Reason of the tendernesse of great hearts of heart is not onely authorized by God and nature but it is established as by a common decree of nations Photius the learned Patriarch of Constantinople observeth in his Bibliotheque a wonderfull judgement A notable sentence of the Areopagites given in the City of Athens where he saith the Senate of Areopagites being assembled together upon a mountain without any roof but heaven the Senatours perceived a bird of prey which pursued a little Sparrow that came to save it self in the bosome of one of their company This man who naturally was harsh threw it from him so roughly that he killed it whereat the Court was offended and a Decree was made by which he was condemned and banished from the Senate Where the most judiciall observe That this company which was at that time one of the gravest in the world did it not for the care they had to make a law concerning Sparrows but it was to shew that clemency and mercifull inclination was a virtue so necessary in a State that a man destitute of it was not worthy to hold any Place in government he having as it were renounced Humanity We likewise see that the wisest and most courageous men in the world have been infinitely tender full of love zeal affection care anxiety and travel for the good of another David and Jonathan who were the bravest Princes over the people of God loved each other so much that the Scripture speaking of this Amity saith Their souls were tied together with an inseparable band S. Paul was so affectionate and jealous for the salvation of his Corinthians that he seemed to carry them all in his bowels and daily to bring them forth with convulsions and pains attended by joyes and delights not to be expressed Saint Ambrose bitterly bewailed the death of his brother Satyrus that to hear him speak one would think he meant to distill out his eyes and breathe out his soul on his Tombe So did S. Bernard at the decease of his brother Gerard. S. Augustine was a man all of fire before and after his conversion with onely this difference that this fire before the morn-tide of his salvation was nourished with
when it comes to extend it self in the world and to draw it to it The natâ—â—e of love Lib. 1 de civit â—8 Amor inhians labere quâ—â— amatuâ— cupiditâ— est idem â—mor habens cóque fruenâ— letitia est fugiens quod adversatur el timor est quod si acciderit eitristitia est proinde mala sunt ista si malus est amor bona si bonus self it is called love But if you consider it in the condition wherein it gathereth together all Creatures to the first cause and makes its works re-ascend to God they say it then takes the name of Pleasure which is a most happy satisfaction of to all Nature in its Authour So love is a circle which turns from good to good by an everlasting revolution Now if you desire I should in few words explicate the nature thereof its origen progresse causes qualities and effects you must observe a notable doctrine of S. Augustine who saith That Love whilest it is in the search of what it loveth is called Desire and when it enjoyeth the thing beloved it is changed into joy But if it avoid that thing which is contrary to it either in effect or opinion it is Fear and if the Fear hath its effect by the arrivall of the evil it apprehendeth it turns into Sadnesse This love takes sundry countenances according to divers Circumstances I agree all this is said with good reason yet notwithstanding we must affirm with divines that this Oracle of Doctours hath in this difinition rather comprised the cause the effects and progresses of love then its essence and nature For to speak properly love is neither Desire Fear Joy nor Sadnesse but A Complacence of the Appetite or will in an object conveniont 5. Definition of love either according to verity or apparence But if we will speak more generally we say it is nothing but an inclination Richard de Medvill dist 27. l. 3. Art 1. q. 1. propending and moving to a good which is conform to it For by the definition we include all the kinds of love which are divided principallly into three branches to wit Naturall Animall and Reasonable It s division love Naturall love consisteth in things inanimate which have their sympathies and Antipathies As Palmes male and female Amber and straw Iron and the Adamant Animall love is that Beginning which giveth motion to the sensitive appetite of beasts to seek for that which is fit for them and to be pleased in the enjoying what they fought for Reasonable love is an Act which pursueth and accepteth the good represented by the understanding wherein we may also comprehend Angelicall and Divine love which S. Denis addeth to these three kinds whereof we speak Reasonable love is also divided into love of Amity and love of Concupiscence Love of Amity which wisheth good to the thing beloved for it self without enquiry into its own proper interesse As when it desired to one Health knowledge grace virtues wealth honours without pretence of any benefit to it self This Gabriel d. 27. q. 1. l. 3. is to affect with a love of amity which is very rare now a daies so mercenary are affections and when this love is not onely Affective as Divines speak contenting it self with bare desires but Effective by plentifully opening hauds to liberality it mounteth to a huge degree of Complacence Love of Concupiscence is an interessed love which causeth one to love a thing not for it self but for the pleasure and commodity derived from it or to be hoped in time to be dersved from it So the Horseman desireth beauty strength and courage in his horse and dog not for their sakes but his own contentment Such love is worldly love commonly defiled with base and animall consideration nor is ever purified but when it for God loveth that which cannot in it self be lovely Behold the nature and Essence of Love in its whole latitude Now to speak of the proceedings of the soul in its loves The first step it makes when it beginneth to love is the degree of the conformity of the will with The steps and progressions of â—ove the good is proposed The senses imagination understanding give it notice of some Beauty Goodnesse or Commoditie which it conceiveth to be fit for it Thereupon it beginneth to take fire and to have sparks of desires 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which make it to wish the good proposed unto it Thence it passeth to the second Degree which is that of Sharp-sweet Complacence which pleasingly each moment holds it fixed upon the thoughts of its object Sometimes between hope to possesse it another while between fear to lose it and many other passions which accompany this as yet suffering Complacence From this degree it goes to the third which is inqui +sitioâ— and motion where love putteth on wings to fly speedily into the bosome of its repose employing all possible means for its contentment and if it be favoured in its pursuit it advanceth to the fourth degree which is union esteemed the principall scope of Amities From this union ariseth another Complacence which is not painfull and dolorous but satisfied and pleased in the fruition of its object which is the heighth of love By the sides of love are lodged Beauty and Goodnesse for that as S. Denis saith they are the objects Its causes and motive of love which are so allied together that the Grecians call them by one self same name The Sages have ever sought for the true causes which dispose the wils of men to love and there are many different opinions upon this point Some hold it is a quality which God imprinteth on nature others imagine it comes from the aspect of starres and from divers constellations Others make it to proceed from Parents and education others from a certain Harmony and consonancy of hearts which meeting in accord upon the same Tone have a naturall correspondence Lastly the Maxime of Divines and Philosophers much swayeth which saith that Fair and Good make all loves I hold that to accord these opinions a notable distinction must be made of three loves which we have proposed in the beginning to wit Naturall Animall and Reasonable Forasmuch as concerneth Naturall or Animall love besides the order of nature it is God which giveth to each creature necessary inclinations to arrive at their end Well there may be influency of starres which bear sway over humours and bodies and with the starres bands of bloud temperature of Humours education and secret qualities which tie creatures with the knot of a certain love the cause whereof is not well known For how many are there who love things which are neither lovely nor good I not onely say in effect but in their own opinion and judgement yet are they thereunto fastned by some Tie nor can they free themselves from it but by the absolute power of Reason Do we not daily find by experience that a Man who is
ignorant what answer to give unto the Emperour Ah Sir said she I see you are much hindered in a brave way if it onely rest in your wife that you be not great and happy I freely deprive my self of all yea of your company which is more precious to me then all the Empires of the world rather then prejudice your fortune For 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 know I love you better then my self And saying this she cut off her hair and voluntarily entred into a Monastery which the other was willing enough to suffer preferring ambition before love a matter very ordinary among great ones Out of all this it may be inferred that women are to be found very virtuous and most constant in their affections But the question I proposed in the second place if in case it so fall out whether amities may be fixed out of marriage between sex and sex is a passage very dangerous and worldlings must not think it strange if I look into it with much precantion It is Rodomanto of Pelagius Jerem in Pelagium a pleasant thing to hear how Pelagius the Arch-heretick talks in S. Jerome For he makes a Rhodomantade suteable to a spirit swoln up with pride and blinded within the opinion of his own worth There are saith he who shut themselves within cells and never see the face of any one woman yet suffer themselves to be enslamed with love and tormented with desires which may very well happen for they are miserable creatures who well deserve to be so handled As for me I freely professe I am daily environed with an host of women and feel not the least spark of concupiscence S. Basil S. Basil de Virginitaâ—e Inclination of sex to sex was of another opinion when he sheweth that a man who perpetually converseth with women and saith he feeleth not any touch thereof participateth not at all of humane nature but rather is some extraordinary prodigie For as he learnedly disputeth in the Book he composed of Virginity the body of a woman is as it were a section and a fragment of that of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Dangerous autractives in the conversation with women the first man which is the cause he naturally desireth her as a part taken from himself The palm hath not more inclination to the palm nor the iron to the adamant then one sex hath towards another When God created the mother of the living it is written he built as if the Scripture would say That woman is a house Aedificavit dominus costam quà m tulerat de Adam in mulierem Gen. 2. 22. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 S. Basil ibid. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Clem. Alex. paedag l. 3. wherein the heart of man lodgeth but too often Sole glances saith this great man are spirituall hands which cause wonderfull effects From thence the first battery of Concupiscence beginneth as saith Clemens Alexandrinus Adde that after the corruption of sinne we have in us an evil source of carnall desire which floweth from the bottome of our soul by our five senses as by so many conduit-pipes Nature is extremely subtil and busie and when one hath a hundred times together by strong hand chased it away a hundred times it returneth It insinuates it self it presseth forward with sweet violences with charming sweetnesses it insensibly spinneth the web and doth what it list Moreover it is seconded with a certain curiosity to know all that which is most pernicious to it It kicketh against the laws of honesty and modesty and thinks the forbiddance of an evil is the greatest of all torments It will know too much to be chaste and makes a snare to it self of proper science O God of purity how many do we now adayes see who to give entrance to a wicked curiosity through too free conversation receive as many wounds as they give glances and as many deaths as beauty shoots arrows against them Solomon who well knew the effect of this passion said Thy eyes shall see forreign women and thy heart shall Prov. 23. Oculi tui videbunt extraneas cor tuum loquetur perversa c. entertain a very evil discourse within thee Thou shalt be as one fast asleep in the midst of the waves of the sea or as a lazy plot who oppressed with drowsinesse hath forsaken the helm Thou wilt say It is true they struck me but I feel no pain of it They have drawn me this way and that way but I am not sensible of it when shall I be awakened to be again drunk with love and to return to my accustomed pleasures See how a senslesse soul talketh which having not well guarded its senses in the first assault delivereth the heart over as a prey and sinks into the bottome of Abysse But to rest within the limits of honest Modest amities with women should alwayes be handled with much precaution amities it is undoubted one cannot use too much precaution so subtil and penetrative are the stings thereof especially when it is sharpned by Beauty Bounty and Benefits Yea misery therein doth sometimes bear so sensible a part that a beautifull and virtuous woman being in her innocency afflicted shooteth Magnus amor est qui de misericordia venit 8. Cant. 6. arrows of victorious love into the heart of man And very well the Philosopher Seneca hath observed that love is great when it grows out of commiseration It is true which Cassidorus said in the book of Cassiod de amicitia Amity that one affection degenerateth insensibly into another Love in the beginning is wholly divine then it becometh humane being yet within the limits of reason From humane it passeth to naturall wherein Degeneration-amity it quickly feels the sting of nature and the first fervour of Concupiscence From naturall it becometh officious entertaining it self with discourses complements complacence offices and services From officious it most times becometh carnall and from carnall absolutely unchaste Iamblichus a Philosopher very curious saith that Observation of Iamblichus applied to the amities of women those who professed to consult with spirits by this divine operation as is pretended saw in the beginning obscurities spectres and night but persisting in their search they perceived the air by little and little waxed bright with a pleasing serenity and the apparitions became more lightsome It falleth out quite otherwise in the matter of Amities indiscreetly tied with women For at first those shevvs are fair and specious but the issues of them if one be not heedfull are black and hideous A soul vuhich feareth God might sometimes be very confident among such as make profession to be none of the honestest because it is prevented by some aversion which hindereth its perdition but virtue consorted by sweet disposition hath another manner of power for it insinuateth it self into the soul with admirations and satisfactions which attract the inclination before the consideration can be permitted to frame
any further discourse So S. Bonaventure in S. Bon. l. de Purit Conf. the Treatise he composed of the Purity of Confession saith The Amity of virtuous women is more to be feared and the testimonies of mutuall affections which one sex rendereth to another are infinitely able to enkindle love One who is not extremely exorbitant beginneth not the practice of vice on the top iniquity hath its apprentiships none comes in an instant to the utmost of impudency Above all heed must be had of the beginnings before vice take much predominance to our prejudice Have you observed what a stone doth thrown into a S. Basil de Virginitate pond it maketh at first a small circle which causeth another and the other a third the third out of that produceth a fourth and they are still infinitely upon A notable comparison of S. Basil Subtilties of the passion of love encrease so much that the water onely curled with a little pebble makes a long chain of circles which fill up the totall superficies This happeneth in love it falls into our heart not perceived nor foreseen and in the beginning causeth some slight touch which according as it is entertained distends it self and is in such sort multiplied that it replenisheth the whole capacity of our soul with arrows and chain-links which we cannot but with much labour dissolve and unloose A spirit which before rested in a generous liberty becomes captive This imperious visage perpetually knocks at the gate of his heart It enters into game study repose repast sleep and action It insinuateth it self into prayer with distractions pleasingly troublesome it busieth the thoughts it exerciseth the discourse it enflameth the desire to go to visit to speak it replenisheth the memory with what is past the imagination with the future and the present with disturbance A soul finds it is not well that it dissolves that it consumes by the senses and hath already dried up all its smiling beauties and weakned that vigour which is in devotion It notwithstanding flattereth it self with the colour of innocency it feigneth to it self that this is an act of charity that it is a duty of civility that it is an act of the soul that burns not but for virtue but the mischief is this soul is not an intelligence separated from matter and that in the guest thereof we passe by the veil of body which becometh a snare to chastity How many Bulls have we seen feeding in a pasture 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 strong and sound who having heedlesly swallowed a little worm called by the Grecians The fire of Aelian de animal l. 6. cap. 35. Love compared to the fire of Oxen. Oxen become meagre and faint retaining nothing at all of their bodies but bones and figure And how many great spirits have we beheld which were in excellent state and in full vigour of the functions of intellectuall life who by approching over-near to this sex have entred into affections of fire and flames which like little creeping serpents have stoln into their hearts and destâ—oyed virtue I will not soil the purity of my Pen with the exorbitancies which both ancient and modern histories have observed upon this subject I passe over it as bees over hemlock without any stay it seeming unto me that many Authours had done better to have covered the stains of their mother then to have divulged them to maligne spirits who make use of poison and readily impute the disorders of particular to the generall body The opinion of Fathers concerning the Amity of women All I have said hereupon hath been to suit my self to the sense of Scripture and holy Fathers who so notably have condemned the over-much familiar conversation with women and if they seem sometimes to speak of it with too much rigour it is for that in great crimes the evil might be diverted by exaggeration of the peril to the end that since the fire is to be feared the very smoke might be avoided It is not to be wondered at what the Wise-man said Prov. 6. 27. That the too free familiarity with women was a firebrand in the bosome That S. Ephraim thought it was as easie to live among burning-coals as to converse with this sex and not to wound the soul That S. Bernard Bern. ser 64 in Cant. wrote that to be alwayes among women without hurt was to do more then to raise the dead That S. Cyp. de singular Cler. S. Hâ—ron ad Nepotian Cyprian imagined it was to erect a precipice to be addicted to such society That S. Jerome advised that we should either equally love them all or equally not know them We see many shipwracked fools standing on promontory Shipwracks happened by â—he love of women tops who tell us of the ruines which these passions haue caused Simon Magus was undone by a Hellen being more bewitched by her love then he enchanted others by his sorcery Appelles was corrupted Ex monoeis by Philumene Montanus by Prisca and Maximilla Donatus by Lucilia Elpidius by Agape Women have ended among all these what Magick and Heresie had but begun O good God! what man would not be astonished at the Roman Macarius who having overcome love in the world was surprised in the wildernesse by finding a womans shoe To conclude Heaven is most happy said Tertullian very wittily In coelo non Angelus Angela Tertul. adversus Val. because though it hath Angels it hath not Angelicals though it hath a God it hath no Goddesses and it might be feared if there were diversity of Sex there it would alter something of its tranquility So many great men who were much accomplished in sanctity have thought of women upon the brink of the grave and have found we must ever fear that we may never fall Besides I leave you to think with what conscience a spruce youth who hath a body full of bloud and a spirit replenished with flames can say He will love God in his works and that he findeth not any one better then a handsome woman He knoweth how to manage his love he will take in no more fire then he list and this fire shall not burn but at his discretion This beauty shall serve to raie him towards God he will passe from the creature to the Creatour without any difficulty It is a ladder of gold which God hath set for him to climb up into heaven by But it is to be doubted lest it prove Archimedes his engine whereon the higher they mounted the lower they descended Such an one by this way thinks to touch heaven with a finger who already hath a foot in hell But since I write this Treatise for Courtiers and for the well-ordering of divine and humane love I neither That there may be spirituall Amities between persons of different Sexes endowed with great virtue and rare prudence Nec inferorum reguum in terra Sap. 1. must nor will by
to be waited on like Demy-gods and magnifie what comes from their own hands in such sort that their benefits are scorned and we begin to hate that which was too late resolved on or too proudly afforded He must give his Presents according to the common practice of men observing circumstance of place time season persons guild his favour with the gold of graces and not do as they who give so sadly that one would take them for men who deny Friends also who receive ought not to be troublesome there being not any thing which more offendeth firm Amities then the too great importunities of the bold who ever have their hand open to receive and never have a brow soft enough to blush There are many Amities which are by this way dissolved when friends perswade themselves to ask boldly and will not be denyed but think one gives them nothing if they give them not all The fifth condition of a good friend consisteth in Patience most necessary in Amities Advice and correction of friends Non asperè quantum existimo non durites non modo imperioso vitia tolluntur sed magis docendo quam jubendo magis movendo quà m minando S. Aug. in ep ad Aurel. Non caret scrupulo socictatis occultae qui manifesto facinori desinit obviare S. Athanas in Conc. Alexand. a strong patience to bear with the defects of the person he loveth whether they be in the mind the body or in the exteriour Yet it is not that crimes and scandals hidden under the shadow of Amity should be tolerated for that were to be a traitour to the most innocent of virtues Above all it is expedient to observe and in the beginning to touch the passion of one dear unto us with hands of silk and words of sattin not to distemper him if he be somewhat sensible But if light remedies make not impression we must urge sollicit labour with all the liberty which confidence affordeth and not forsake the sick untill we see some little hope of amendment But if the evil daily increase by the contempt of remedies and that it be such that it involves a friend within the danger of infamy a man ought not to think it strange if he be abandoned since he first of all degraded himself of the character of Amity which is virtue Other defects of manners which proceed not to crime ought to be handled with singular sweetnesse and discretion and these of nature and humane accidents cannot be taken by a good friend but as a decree from heaven and an exercise of his goodnesse There are some who have their souls so generous that they love miseries they find deformity to be handsome when it is dressed up in the liveries of Loves plagues and cankered sores breed neither fear nor aversion in them They digest all by the heat of an immortall affection Then it is when we come to perfect fidelity which Fidelity and its excellency is the Basis that supporteth the whole house of Amities It is a virtue really divine and one of the most pretious treasures in the heart of man It is a Bud of Fidelity a proof of an invincible courage a note of Ante Jovem generata Qua sine non tellus pacem non aequora â—ô runt Silius an inviolable goodnesse It is an imitation of the order of the heavens and of the elementary world where all persevere in the observance of the laws which were written by the Divine Providence from the beginning of ages by the help of Fidelity which the principall parts of the universe do observe one towards another It is that which is the cause that stars eternally circumvolve within their divisions not usurping one upon another That which causeth dayes and nights yearly to restore the time they had borrowed one of another and so well to make up their accounts that they pay even to the utmost minute It is that which stayeth the waves of the sea and current of rivers That which maketh masters and servants families and Provinces States and Empites All is quickned all lives all under the divine hands of this great Mistrisse By it Kings have subjects Lords their officers Common-wealths Magistrates Communities Administratours Fields Labourers Civil-life Merchants and Artificers by it the whole world hath order and by it order prospers in all things One must rather break an hundred times then once fail in fidelity to a good friend Were the devil capable of commerce with men he must observe fidelity by how much a more just title ought we to preserve love and honour it even with veneration in holy Amities If a friend one of those who have been very acceptable to you chance to fail whether it be by evil life or through manifest contempt of you or out of other ill dispositions yet must you on the rotten trunk honour the last characters of Love you must rather unstitch then break you must keep the secrets he at other times hath committed to you and not publish his defects Amity is so venerable that we must honour even its shadows and imitate the Pythagorians who celebrated the obsequies of such as forsook their society to bury them with honor These precepts being observed Children will live with Parents in great duty and submission Husbands with Wives will hold together not onely by eyes flesh and bloud which are too feeble tyes but by excellent conjugall virtues Parents will live in all sweetnesse of nature People will be fastned with the knot of indissoluble Concord Great ones will be indulgent to inferiours Inferiours pay obedience to the great and intimate friends gather flowers and fruits of immortall delights in the sacred garden of Amity § 6. Of sensuall Love Its Essence and Source I Here could wish my pen were born on the wings of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hippocrates in ep ad Abderites winds from one pole to another and that it might fall with a strong and impetuous flight upon a passion which maketh attractives charms and illusions to march before it and after it draggeth along furies disasters and rapines The wise Hyppocrates in his time deplored the evil effects of Avarice and said the life of man was miserable because insupportable Avarice like unto a spirit of storms and tempests had poured it self upon mortals and that it were to be wished the best Physicians might meet together from all parts to cure this disease which is worse then folly and which occasioneth a mischief irreparable Because instead of seeking remedies to drive it away false prayses are invented to flatter it I may say the like of Love since it is the most fatall Love is a strange malady plague among all passions It is not a simple malady but one composed of all the evils in the world It hath the shiverings and heats of Feavers the Ach and prickings of the Meagrim the rage of Teeth the stupefaction of the Vertigo the furies of Frenzy the black vapours
of the Hypocondry the disturbances of the waking the stupidities of the Lethargie the fits of the falling sickness the faintness of the Phthisick the heavings of the passion of the heart the pangs of the collick the infections of the leprosie the venome of ulcers the malignity of the plague the putrefaction of the gangrene and all which is horrible in nature After all this it is made a God to whom Elogies Hymns Songs and victimes are offered Empire over the heart is given to it a soul not created but for him who hath saved it is subjected fetters are honoured and its Tyranny adored There are many millions of men in the world Disasters of evil love who would be most fortunate and flourishing if they knew how to avoid the mischievous power of this passion but having not used any consideration or endeavour they have abandoned their bodies to dishonour their reputation to infamy their estates to pillage and their lives to an infinity of disturbances and torments Hence it is that virgins of noble bloud are stolen away that families are desolated that parents are precipitated into their Tombs by ungratefull children that so many young widows are dishonoured in the world that so many miserable creatures after they have served for talk to a City die in an Hospitall that so many little innocents are made away by a death which preventeth their birth that so many Infants are thrown into life as froth of the sea exposed to poverty and vice by that condition which brought them forth Hence is it that chaste wedlocks are disturbed that poysons are mingled that Halters are noozed that swords are sharpned that Tragedies are begun under the Coverture of night and are ended in a full day-light upon a scaffold O God how happy might a soul be which would well consider all this and take what I am about to speak as a letter sent from heaven for the remedy of infinite many evils which in this passion environ our miserable life I invite hither every age each sex all conditions I entreat my Readers to peruse these lines with the same spirit wherewith I addresse them and although it befell me to treat of this subject in my other works notwithstanding never have I yet undertaken it with so much method vigour or force as at this present I will shew you the Essence the Causes the Symptomes and the effects of love as religiously as Vereenndiā periclitari malo quà m probationē l. 1. de anima c. 17. I can possibly supposing my self not bound to follow Tertullians opinion who though very chaste spared not to speak of this subject a little grosly saying for excuse that he had rather put himself upon the hazard of losing shame then a good argument I made you see in the beginning of this treatise that love considered in generall was properly an inclination to the good of Conformity which putteth on divers faces according to the sundry objects and wayes it pursues to arrive thither If it go directly towards God and reflect on a neighbour as his Image loving the one for himself and the other for his Authour this is charity If it diffuse it self upon divers creatures sensible and insensible which it pursueth for its pleasure and commodity it is an appetite and a simple affection as that which is towards hunting birds books pictures pearls and Tulips If it be applyed to humane creatures loving them withall integrity by a reciprocall well-wishing it is Amity If it regard the body for pleasures sake it is a love of venereall concupiscence which being immoderate even Tertull. in exhortatione ad castitatem Nec per aliud fit marita nisi per quod adultera in the intention of marriage fails not to be vitious which made Tertullian say that the same thing an Adulterer would do the married likewise did If it be chaste and guided within the Limits which the Law of God prescribeth it is conjugall love If it overflow to sensuall pleasures It is Luxury S. Denis saith It is not love but an idoll and a fall from true love And Plato Plato in convivio in his Banquet addeth that sober love is contentment of heart eyes and ears but when it will content it self by the other senses namely that of touching it is not love but a spirit of insolency a passion of a servile soul a rage of a triviall lust which maketh shew to love beauty but through its exorbitancy descended to the worst of deformities I know there are learned pens which here distinguish Division of Lone all love into two parts and say there is one of consideration and another of inclination They call it love of consideration when one is therein embarked with a full knowledge and a setled judgement love of inclination when one loveth not able to give any reason But I find this division is not exact enough insomuch as it confoundeth the Genus and Speeies and doth not clearly distinguish the members of this body since all love is nothing else but an inclination and since that which is made by consideration inclineth the loving to the thing loved Whence it appeareth that to mention a love of inclination is to say love is love without any further explication I had rather say there are two loves the one of Election which resulteth from Consideration and is formed when after one hath acknowledged a thing to be fair profitable and pleasing he out of reason affects it The other of humour when without consulting with reason one is suddenly surprized by some secret attractive in the thing loved without giving himself leasure to judge what it is and this properly is to love by humour and fantasie which is now adays the most ordinary love but not the best It is a kind Love of humour of love which quickly beginneth and which never ends slowly so full it is of inconstancy It seems to it self all its bands are silken although they be rough chains it will not take pains to consider them It thinks not it cherisheth the wound nor looks it back on the hand which gave it It is heedlessely engaged and signeth transactions without reading them that it may not be ashamed to abrogate what it made or to entertain that which kills it There are many miserable ones who daily marry upon the first sight and whose amities arise but from a glance which passeth away more swiftly then a shadow and then there must be a thousand repentances to redeem the pleasure of one moment It is ever better to preferre Election for though in the beginning it had not so much sweetnesse in the search it hath lesse sorrow in the possession But to enter farther into the knowledge of Carnall love it is good to penetrate the causes and effects thereof which will the more perspicuously enlighten us in the choice of remedies We see many people in the world who being tormented by this evil euen unto folly seek
the heart by the Garb the Humour the smiles the speech the silence the courage the discretion of a man layes a plot with her passion to betray her reason The poison of love by little and little spreads it self throughout all the veins the presence of the object begins to cause blushing palenesse unquietnesse disturbance of the mind so that she cannot tell what she desireth nor what she would have Absence awakeneth the Imagination which makes an Eccho of all the discourses of all the actions that past in presence This man is presented unto her in a thousand shapes there is not a lineament a word a gesture but is expressed The understanding quickly creates to it self too many ill lights the will too much fire and the soul wholly propendeth to the thing beloved Yet the fire of God awakeneth her and suffers her to have good respites which makes her ashamed to tell her own thoughts to her proper heart Conscience and Honour make some resistance and glimmering flashes and if there be found some good directour who may help them in this first battell they many times get the victory But if a soul be deprived of good counsel abandoned to it self and which is worse soothed in its malady by some soft and complying spirit it is an unhappinesse which cannot sufficiently be deplored Reason is weakned shamefac'tnesse flies away passion prevaileth there is nothing left but wandering of the soul a feaver a perpetuall Frenzy a neglect of works of affairs of functions sadnesse languour Impatience Confidence and affrightment Shall she say so shall she do so God forbids it the law menaceth it and honour cries vengeance The pleasure of a dream and beyond it nothing but Abysses Love notwithstanding urgeth and strikes at all considerations they impute to starres to destiny to Necessity what is nothing but folly They think businesse is done when it is but thought on that they must be audacious and that there are crimes which are sanctified in the worlds opinion by the good hap of their succestes They come Prosperum ac foelix seclus viâ—tus vocatur Senec. Diversities of Love to that passe that they no longer sinne by method but through exorbitancy In some Love is sharp and violent in others dull and impetuous in others toyish and wanton in others turbulent and cloudy in others brutish and unnaturall in others mute and shamefac't in others perplexed and captious in others light and tradsitory in others fast and retentive in others fantastick and inconstant in others weak and foppish in others stupid astonished in others distempted in some furious and desperate It enflameth the bloud it weakens the body it wanneth Moechia affinis Idololatriae Tertul. de pudicitia the colour it halloweth the eyes it overthrows the mind it hath somewhat of being possessed and witchcraft something of Idolatry For you behold in those who are entred farre into this passion flouds and Ebbs of thoughts Fits and Countenances of one possessed and it is in all of them to deifie the creature of whom they are so passionately enamoured and would willingly set it in the place where the Sun and starres are yea upon Altars All which proceeds from it is sacred chains and wounds are honourable with them if they come from this beloved-hand They would die a hundred times for it so it throw but so much as a handfull of flowers or distill but a poor tear on their Tombe It is to deceive to say that love excludeth all other passions it awakeneth them and garboileth them and makes them all wait on it it causeth Aversion Hatred Jealousie envie hope sadnesse despair anger mirth tears scorn grief songs and sighs and as it is thought that evil spirits shuffle in storms to stirre up lightning flasks and make the thunder-stroke the more terrible and pernicious So is it likewise true that the Evil Angels intermeddle in the great tempests of love angell of darknesse involveth himself in these great tempests of love many times making use of the abominable minestery of Magicians and acteth Treasons furies fierings poysonings murders and ransackings And how should it spare its enemie since it Cruelty of love on the persons of lovers is cruell to it self It maketh some to sink in the twinkling of an eye drinking their bloud and insensibly devouring their members It confineth others into regions of Hobgoblins and darknesse It kils and murdereth those who have the most constantly served it It sharpned the sword which transfixed Amnon It shaved and blinded Samson It gave a Halter to Phyllis A downfoll to Timagoras A gulph to Caleazo and caused Hemon to kill himself on the tomb of Antigone Volumes would not be sufficient for him who should write all the Tragedies which daily arise from this passion all pens would be weak words be dryed up and wits lost therein § 8. Remedies of evil Love by precaution I Leave you now dear Reader to argue within your self whether one who hath never so little humane judgement for his comportment and quiet ought not to bend all his endeavours to banish the fury which plungeth his whole life in so great acerbities and such horrible Distrust ofones self recourse to God calamities But if you desire to know the way the first thing I advise you while you are yet in perfect health is seriously to consider that one cannot be chaste but by a most singular gift from God as the wise-man saith and therefore it is necessary to have a particular recourse to the most blessed Trinity which according to S. Gregory Nazianxen is the first of virgins humbly beseeching it by the intercession of the most pure among creatures and by the mediation of your Angel-guardian to deliver you from the reproches of the spirit of impurity in such sort that you may passe Love is sometimes the punishment of pride Climachus de castitate your life innocently and it may become inaccessible to the pollutions of flesh If you feel your self free from this vice yet enter not into any vain complacence of your self as if it proceeded from your own forces and not from heavens benignity Above all take heed of pride for the most illuminated Fathers have observed that God oft-times permitteth arrogant spirits to fall into carnall sinnes to abate the fiercenesse of their courage by the sensible ignominy of the stains of luxury and this is so proper to quail the exorbitance of humane arrogance that God had not a better Counterpoise to make S. Paul humble in such heighth of revelations then the sting of the flesh Pardon not your Et ne magnitudo revelationis extollat me datus est mihi stimulus earnis meae Angeâ—us Satanae qui me colaphizet Cor. 2. 12. self any thing no not so much as the shadow of this sin but onely excuse such as fall through some notable surprisall or pitifull frailty Think if you have not experienced the like falls you are beholding to
robes of cloth of gold this ugly Hat into a Diadem this Spade into a Sceptre This Cottage into a Palace this servitude into an Empire For whom shall treasures officers services arms greatnesse pleasures joyes and feasts be but for you who art the heir of the Assyrian throne Do not we think that upon the recitall of these words this young man felt a flame which spread it self over his heart that he was touched to the quick with his extraction and ravished with love towards a Father by whom he was born so great And have we not the like apprehensions when faith dictateth unto us Thou art not created to live perpetually among mire and dirt and to be tyed to a wretched frail and perishable body to walk upon thorns and to embroil thy self in the tolls and cares of a mortall life there are above palaces of stars of Intelligencies of incomprehensible lights of ineffable beauties which expect thee of crowns prepared for thee of sceptres made to fill thy hands All times are for thee and all which Nature endeavoureth here below is but to contribute to thy contentment Thou art the son of a noble Father who makes men happy at his pleasure He loves thee as his heart and would have thee near him to accomplish thee with all his dearest delights and the highth of his glories And what can a soul do which learns all this from faith but raise it self above all concupiscences of flesh but love but dilate it self but readily mix with this most pure spirit which inviteth it in all creatures Have we yet the heart to say we have not familiarity enough with God and that he is of too high a The conversation of God with man by the mystery of the incarnation in the consummation of love Leo serm 3. de Passione Venit in hunc mundum dives atque misericors negotiator coeli commutatione mirabili inivit commercium salutare nostra accipiens sua tribuens strain to love him when we think upon Jesus who for us descended from the highest part of heaven to the slime of Adam who made himself our brother who sucked the dugs of our Mother who spake our tongue who took upon him our semblance who charged himself with our burdens who on himself laid our miseries to turn them into felicities He is that Merchant who is come out of a happy and rich countrey full of treasures glory and greatnesse which were to him more naturall then rayes to the Sun and yet being lodged as it were with us in a silly Cottage hath dispoiled himself for us wholly inebriated with the extasies of love hath made himself poor to make us rich weak to strengthen us contemptible to render us glorious full of sufferings to beautifie us and a man that we might be Gods This is the man who hath been able to contract all Gods extent under a little clay who went not a step which was not worthy to produce a star who carried the Divinity upon the ends of his fingers whose life was a flash of lightning his word a thunder his virtues lessons and actions prodigies Hath he not loved the ungratefull when he heaped on his own body the paines and sufferings of all ages making himself of a King of glory a man of dolours to purchase pleasures for us with as many wounds as he had members as many crosses as we have sins After all this he gives himself to us in the Sacrament The Eucharict the last degree of love which he hath instituted as an abridgement of his miracles wherein he is incorporated within our heart inour soul as one piece of wax melted within another I readily here remember what an antient lover said that love made a Butt of his heart where so soon as it had shot all its arrows it threw it self as an enflamed dart into the bottome of his breast to set him all on Anacre on 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ita applicat Johannes Eusebius l. 4. arte voluntatis fire What arrows and what shafts flying on every side in Nature in Grace what benefits what favours what Amities what forward affections for which man still continued obdurate till Jesus wholly gaining him did descend into his entrails fully replenished with love and flames and heavenly ardours Is it not time to pronounce Anathema with S. Paul against him who loveth him not after his coming in this manner to captivate us by his bounty To speak sincerely he must needs be amiable since according to the Canticles he is wholly composed of Love of Saints towards Jesus desires and satisfactions and that all the just sigh after him We have heard talk through so many Ages of the most accomplished beauties of certain ereatures who have drawn many Amorists after them but never have we seen one sole woman to gain the affection of an entire City Province or Kingdome From whence cometh it that there is not any beauty but that of Jesus Christ which enchaineth Cities Empires and Monarchies From whence cometh it that so many Kings and Queens have followed him through Forrests Thorns and among Rocks even to the abandoning of themselves From whence cometh it that so many millions of souls the wisest most purified and most courageous on the earth have loved him even to the suffering of flames and wheels in the dislocation of bones and the dismembring of their whole bodies From whence cometh it that all which is most pure and most eminent in the world daily dissolveth for him and that so many hearts melt for his service in honourable flames which purifie them without consuming them Verily we may say there is nothing which equalleth the excellency of celestiall Amities and that well to place your love you must fix it in the heart of God § 11. Of the Nature of Divine Love Of its Essence Qualities Effects and Degrees THe great Anachoret Raymond went very high Blanquerna in l. de amico amato when he said The love of God was an influence of Eternity For it is true that we coming from an eternall God have an infinite desire to make our Being perpetuall And for this purpose we tie our selves by love to so many things to live again in them and by them but they being transitory and frail we there find no support untill God hath poured his holy love into our heart which is the true influence of Eternity that alone can purifie our life and eternize our souls We then must not feign to our selves that the love of God proceeds meerly from our own strength but we must hearken to the decision of the Councell of Concilium Arausicanum Donum Dâ— est diliâ—â—re Denm ipse ut diligeretur dededit qui non diligentes diligit displicentes amati sumus ut esset in nobis unde placeremus The growth of love like unto pearls Orange which saith that to love God is a gift from God It is he who inspireth
the love with which he will be loved and who hath loved us even in disfavour to transport us to favour Whereby it appeareth that this fair love is nought else but a celestiall quality infused into the soul by which we love God above all and all for God Now I imagine with my self that he is born in our hearts in such a manner as pearls grow in their shells The mother of pearl is first pierced by a celestiall influence as with an arrow fiery and sharp which sollicits and importuneth it to dispose it self to this excellent production Which is the cause that it spreads openeth and dilates it self to receive the dew distilled into it from the air and having moistned it it digesteth concocteth and transfigureth it into this little miracle of nature which is with so much curiosity sought after Behold what passeth in a soul when it bringeth forth this precious love it is prevented by a speciall grace from the Divine Goodnesse which at first gives it a distaste of all things in the world and fixeth a generous spur in the heart to excite awaken and enflame it to the quest of so great a good Then it extendeth dilates and opens all its gates to the Holy Ghost who descendeth into it as the dew of Hermon by qualities and Donec Christus formetur in vobis Gal 4. 10. effects admirable which through free-will it embraceth and ties and habituateth it self therein conceiving and forming Jesus Christ as saith S. Paul Then is the time when this divine love is conceived which is no sooner born but it causeth a rejoycing in the heart of man like unto that which happened in the house of Abraham at Isaacs nativity It is a celestiall laughter The Empire and eminencies of Divine love an extraordinary jubilation an expansion of all the faculties and functions of the spirit and will This little Monarch is no sooner born but it begins to command and sits on the heart as in its Throne All powers do it Instructi in charitate in omnes divitias plenitudinis intellectûs Col. 2. 2. Ailredus tom 13. Bibliorum in speculo charitatis Excellent conceit of charity homage all passions render it service All the virtues applaud at its coronation and confesse they hold of it and are all in it He who is once well instructed in charity aboundeth with all riches and hath the full plenitude of the spirit according to the Apostles and is a Tree grafted with siens of all perfection and which fail not to bring forth their fruits Sciences and virtues are that to us which oars to vessels what the viaticum to travellers what light to blear-eyes what arms to souldiers but charity alone is the repose of the wearied the Countrey of Pilgrims the light of the blind the Crown of the victorious Faith and the knowledge of God carry us to our countrey Hope maintaineth us the other virtues defend us but where charity is perfect as it is in glory one no longer believes any thing because it seeth all one hopes for nought because he possesseth all Temperance combateth against Concupiscence Prudence against errour Fortitude against adversity Justice against inequality But in perfect charity there is a perfect chastity which standeth not in need of the arms of temperance having no blemish of impurity A perfect knowledge which expecteth not any help from ordinary Prudence since it hath no errours a perfect Beatitude which needeth not Fortitude to conquer adversities since to it nothing is uneasie a Sovereign peace which imploreth not the aid of Justice against inequality since all therein is equall For in a word what is charity but a temperate love without lust A prudent love without errour a strong love without impatience a just love without inequality Faith is the first day of our Creation which driveth away darknesse Hope is the second which makes a firmament for us and which divideth waters from waters things transitory from eternall Temperance is the third which arraungeth the waters and storms of passions in their proper element and causeth the land of our heart to appear which sendeth up vapours to God that are its sighs Prudence is the fourth which lighteth up in us the sun of understanding and the lights of knowledge Fortitude is the fifth which sustains us in the Ocean of adversities not suffering us to corrupt as fishes in salt-waters and as birds above the Tempest Justice the sixth for it gives us to command over our passions as Adam who on the same day he was created obtained it over all living creatures But charity is the seventh day The Symbole of Glory which contracteth all delights in the circle of its Septenary And how can it but abbridge all Theology since it abbridgeth God himself S. Zeno ser de fide spe charit Tu Deum in hominem demutatum voluisti tu Deum abbreviatum paulisper à majestatis suae immensitate peregrinari fecisti tu virginali carcere nove nâ—mensibus religasti tu mortem Deum mori docendo evacusti and that we have cause to speak to him in such terms as Saint Zeno did O love what hast thou done Thou hast changed God into Man Thou hast contracted him drawing him out of the lustre of his Majesty to make him a pilgrime on earth Thou hast shut him in the prison of a virginall womb the space of nine moneths Thou hast annihilated the empire of death when thou taughtest God to dy Love thus acknowledged by all the virtues mounteth as on a chariot of Glory maketh it self conspicuous with heroick and noble qualities It is pious since it employeth all its thoughts on God It is generous and magnanimous since it is ever disposed to great designs It is liberall as that which spareth nothing It is strong not yielding to any of all those obstacles which present themselves to divert the course of its intentions Qualities of divine love by which we may know whether it inhabit a soul It is just equally distributing rewards to merit It is temperate admitting no excesses but of love It is prudent having eyes alwayes upon its deportments It is witty to find out a thousand inventions It is violent without eagernesse active without participation sage without coldnesse good without remissnesse and calm without idlenesse But I must tell you though its perfections be without number you shall chiefly know it by three qualities Three principall marks of love which will make it appear unto you plyant obliging and patient I say plyant for there is nothing but fires desires sweetnesse affections joyes admirations extasies Plyantness pleasures transportments for its well-beloved This is the State which the great Origen figureth unto us Orig. Hom. de Magdal of S. Mary Magdalen when he saith that by the strength of love she was dead to all the objects of the world She had her thoughts so employed upon her Jesus that she was almost insensible she had
eyes and saw not ears and heard not senses and felt not she was not where she was for she was wholly where her Master was although she knew not where he was She knew no other art but that of love she had unlearnt to fear to hope to rejoyce to be sad all in her turned to love by reason of him whom she loved above all The Angels who descended from heaven to comfort her were to her troublesome nor could she endure them she stood upright near the sepulchre where in the place of death she found her heaven Now as in efficacious plyantnesses are flowers of Liberality love which never bring forth any fruit so it takes a second quality which is to be liberall and much obliging For this cause the hands of the bridegroome according to the Canticles are all of gold and round to shew there is not any thing crooked or rough to stay Cant. 5. 14 Manus ejus tornatiles aureae plenae Hyacinthis alia versio Globi aurei pleni mari his gifts besides they are all filled with pretious stones to figure his benefits unto us Jacinths and Diamonds which he scattereth and bestoweth as liberally as the sand of the sea The Hebrew saith that the same hands are vessels of gold replenished with the sea because love is an Ocean of liberalities which is never exhausted There remains nothing but to be patient which it Patience Pennas habet non pondus Ailredus doth with so much grace that one may say its yoke hath wings not weight The heart of it oft-times is invironed with thorns and it sweareth they are roses It swims in a sea of worm-wood and faith it is sweet water It is covered all over with wounds and protesteth they are Pearls and Rubies It is overwhelmed with affairs and maintains they are recreations It is surcharged with maladies and they are sports with calumnies and they are blessings with death and that is life These three qualities cause twelve very notable effects Twelve effects of love in love which are To love God above all and in comparison of him to despise all To account ones self unhappy if but a very moment diverted from his sweet Ideas To do all that may be and to endure all things impossible to come near him To embellish and adorn our soul to please him To be alwayes corporally present with him as in the Sacrament or spiritually as in prayer To love all which is for him and to hate all which is not for him To desire that he may be declared confessed praised and adored by all the world To entertein all the most sublime thoughts that is possible of his dear person To passe over with sweetnesse all the acerbities suffered in his service To accommodate ones self to all his motions and to receive both sad and joyfull things with his countenance To languish perpetually with the desires to behold him face to face and lastly To serve him without anxiety or expectation of reward These things being so sublime we must not presume to arrive thither at the first dash It is very fit to file and continually to polish our soul by long services and goodly actions to arrive in the end at the happy accomplishment of love For this cause there are reckoned certain degrees by which the soul is led to the pallace of this triumphant Monarch There is a love as yet but young which doth onely begin and hath five degrees within the compasse whereof it dilates it self to passe to a much greater perfection It beginneth first by the taste of the word of God and the sweetnesse it feels by the reading of good books which is a sign that a soul already hath an arrow of true love in the heart This taste maketh a man take good resolutions for the amendment of his manners and order of his life this resolution is followed by a happy penance which bewaileth all the imperfections of the life past with a bitter distaste and a fit satisfaction By this way we proceed to the love of a neighbour and a beginning is made by a tender compassion of his afflictions and a rejoycing at his prosperities Lastly or addicts himself much to many very laudable good works and to the holy exercises of mercy Behold here a most sincere condition and to be wished in many men of honour who may therein persist with great constancy The second order comprehendeth those which are Three orders of true lovers of the World yet more strong and it conteineth five other degrees First they are very assiduous in prayer wherein they are much enlightned with the knowledge of verities and celestiall maximes Secondly they obtain an excellent purity of conscience which they cleanse and polish by an enquiry into their interiour holily curious and perfectly disposed Thirdly they feel the exteriour man much weakned by a generous mortification wherewith concupiscence is quailed Fourthly followeth the vigour of the inward man who finds him self happily enabled to all the functions of the spirit with a certain facility which becometh as it were naturall to him Fifthly appeareth a great observance of the law of God which maketh him apprehend the least atomes of sin through a notable fidelity with which he desires to serve his master In this rank are many good religious who lead a life most accomplished in devotion and in the continuall mortification of senses Lastly in the third order of perfect lovers are the great effects of perfect charity as is not to have any humane and naturall considerations in all ones actions but to tread under foot all respect of flesh and bloud to defend truth Not to stick to earth by any root but to account all things worse then a dunghill to gain Jesus Christ to run before the Crosse and to bear the greatest adversities with a generous patience to love ones enemies to do good to persecutours and in conclusion freely to expose ones life for the salvation of a neighbour To say truly they had need to be persons most heroick to go so far and there is no doubt but this is the full accomplishment of love Notwithstanding nine degrees also are added of Seraphick love which concern Contemplatives which are Nine degrees of Seraphicall love for the contemplative The solitude of a heart throughly purified from all the forms of Creatures Silence in a sublime tranquillity of passions Suspension which is a mean degree between Angell and man Inseparability which adhereth to its welbeloved for an eternity not admitting the least disunion Insatiability which never is satiated with love Indefatigability which endureth all labours without wearinesse Languour which causeth the soul to dissolve and melt on the heart of its beloved Extasie which causeth a destitution of the vegetative and sensitive soul totally to actuate the intellectuall Deiformity which is a degree approching near to beatifick love Then is there made in the soul a deluge of mysterious and adorable
nothing but God and It God who was in it with eternall contentments It which was in God with reciprocall and wholly ineffable affections This heart of Jesus resembled the Halcions nest which cannot hold one silly fly more then the bird it self So he knew not how to lodge one creature in himself to the prejudice of the Creatour but could tell how to lodge them altogether to uâ—ite them to their Head O it was properly his businesse to give us this lesson which he afterward dictated by one of his Oracles He loveth thee not August â—olil Minà s tâ— amat qui tâ—cum aliquid amat quod propter te non amat Apoc. 8. enough whosoever loveth any thing with thee which he loveth not for thee From solitude he entred into the silence which Synesius calleth Beatifick Silence and which S. John placeth in heaven in the peacefull condition of the Blessed It was properly the calm and repose which the holy soul of Jesus took with his heavenly Father in his divine Orisons which he many times continued the space of whole nights watching and weeping for us and dwelling as it were in the fire of love It is that silence which the Canticle calleth the Cantic 3. Bed of Solomon encompassed with threescore valiant ones but of that great Host of Angels From silence he passed to the suspension whereof Job speaketh Job 7. 15. Elegit suspendium anima 〈◊〉 where his soul felt it self totally pulled up by the root from earth but not as yet placed in heaven because he was corporally in this transitory life We verily find three admirable suspensions in Nature That of water in the clouds of Heaven above the clouds and of earth under the clouds and two ineffable suspensions in the Humanity of Jesus The first is that of his blessed soul which was alwaies hanging at the heart of God and the second of his body on the Crosse to purifie by his death all the regions of the world both above and beneath above by the exhalation of his spirit beneath by the effusion of his bloud After suspension he mounted to insatiability which Daâ—iâ—â— Cardi. â—â— Hymno dâ— Paradiso Avidi semper plâ—ni quod habent de â—â—â—â—rant caused him that drinking those eternall sources by long draughts in the delighrs of Contemplation which streams upon him from heaven he slaked his thirst in his own bosome not quite quenching it therein retaining the condition of those who see God of whom it is said That they are still replenished yet still greedy incessantly desiring what they possesse From insatiability he came to the degree of Indefatigability which caused him perpetually to spend himself in most glorious labours for the redemption of the world measuring and running over the earth as the sun doth Heaven and fowing virtues and benefits every where to reap nought but Ingratitude From thence he proceeded to that Inseparability which tied him for the love of his heavenly Father not onely to the punishment of the Crosse but to so many scorns and miseries as he embraced for us and he made so much account of this mortall flesh which he took of us that he associated it unto himself with an eternall band and hath transmitted it into the bosome of Immortality placing his wounds which were the characters of his love and of our inhumanity even in the sanctuary of the most blessed Trinity From this Inseparability he suffered himself to slide into languours extasies and transanimations which make up a Deified love such as was that of Jesus Languour dried him up with the zeal he had for our salvation exhausting all the strength of his body and to speak with Philo he seemed as if he would have transformed his flesh into the nature of Mark 3. 21. his spirit causing it to melt and dissolve under the ardours of ineffable affection as we see a Myrrhe-Tree which distilleth the first fruits of its liquour under the lustre of the sun-beams Extasie which bare this great soul with a vigorous violence to the heart of God made a truce in all the actions of sensitive nature and as it happeneth that the Ocean extraordinarily swelling up upon one shore forsaketh the other So the spirit of our Saviour already divinized amassing together the whole multitude of his forces to serve his love and satisfie the passion he had towards his celestiall Father overflowed in the heart of the Divinity with so immeasurable a profusion that all his inferiour Nature seemed to be forsaken and despoiled of the presence and government of his soul In the end he entred into that transanimation which Orig. 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Anima ilia quasi scrâ—um in igne semper in verbo semper in sapientia semper in Deo in convertibilitatem ex verbi Dei unitate indesinenter ignita possidebat so powerfully united him to God that onely retaining the property of two natures Divine and Humane he made an incomparable commixtion of heart of love of affections and conformities which made Origen say This soul like unto Iron which is on burning Coles was alwayes in the word alwayes in wisdome ever in God and took an immutable constancy from the ardour wherewith it is enkindled in the union of God If you find this love too sublime for you behold it as it were tempered and reflected in so many saints as were S. Paul S. Augustine S. Bernard and so many other §. 13. A notable Example of worldly love changed into divine Charity I Will give you a very familiar one in a man of the world a man of the Court and one who is at this present a treasure hidden from many who was hated by the envious persecuted by the proud condemned by the Ignorant and yet a great servant of God It is the learned and pious Raymundus Lullus as it Vitae Patrum Occid l. â— Ex Carolo Bovillo appeareth by his life faithfully written in the Tome of the lives of the Western Fathers This man flourished above three hundred years ago and was born in the Island of Majorica of a notable extraction which gave him passage into worldly honours and caused him to be bread in the Court of his King by whom he afterward was made one of his prime Officers Never was there a man more inclining to love for he loved transportedly and spent all his youth in this vanity having no employment more acceptable then to write amourous verses to expresse his passion In the end he fell into the snare of a violent affection that long turmoiled him which was the love of an honourable Lady endowed with an invincible chastity Here ordinarily love which delights to pursue what it cannot arrive unto finds most admiration for the eyes and food for its flame He was so on fire in this quest that he thought he should lose his wits suffering himself to fall into unbeseeming and extraordinary actions so farre as being one day on horse-back
and Sanctity which is an eternal rule that looketh round about on every side condemneth and censureth the works of darknesse For as in things artificiall all the perfection of works consist in the conformity they have with the rule of the art which made them and all their imperfection proceedeth from their recesse from the same rule which without speech or motion declareth the defects of manufactures that depart from its direction so all the good and all the beauty of moral actions is in the correspondence they hold with Reason and the eternall Law As all their deformity and mishap comes from their departure from this same law which is the Justice the Holinesse and Essence of God himself who perpetually stands in opposition against iniquity It is it which he drenched in the waters of the deluge whic◠he burnt in the ashes of Sodom which he swallowed in the gulf of Core Dathan and Abiram which he tormented by the plagues of Pharaoh which he gnawed by worms in the person of Herod which he consumed by ordure and stenches in Antiochus which he punished with gibbets and tormenting wheels in so many offenders which he still tortureth to all eternity sunk down into the abysse of the damned and it is out of which he produceth his glory whence he raiseth his trophies and makes his triumphs to be by Essence and Nature a perpetuall enemy and a destroyer of sinne O magnificent hatred O glorious enemy O triumphant persecution Let us enter with God into this community of glory let us hate sinne as he doth by him and for him let us destroy it in our selves by penance let us destroy it out of our selves by our good examples let us destroy it by a good resolution since Jesus hath destroyed it with so much pain and bloud How can we love such a monster but by hating God And how can we hate God but by making our selves worse then devils For if they hate him they hate an avenging God a punishing God And we will hate a God that seeks us a loving God and hate him after so many execrable punishments of sinne which we nave before our eyes and hate him after he hath offered himself up for us in the great sacrifice of love and patience Is not this intollerable We will employ some part of our life to revenge an injury and to hate a man as if we had too much of it to hate sinne we make a shew to honour the Master and wee kill his servants we make profession to adore the Creatour and we tear his images asunder Where are we and what do we when we make a divorce between our likes to disunite our selves from the first Unity which draweth all to it self by union §. 3 That Jesus grounded all the greatest Mysteries of our Religion upon Vnion to cure Hatred LEt us also contemplate our second model let us behold our Jesus and we shall learn that all the greatest mysteries of his life and death are mysteries of Union to unite us to him to unite us to his Father to unite us to our selves with sacred and indissoluble bands First all creatures of this great Universe were made Heb. 1. ◠Locut us est nobis in Filio quem constituit haeredem universorum per quem fecit secula by the Word in the Unity of Beginning He spake to us by his Sonne whom he hath established the heir of the whole universe by whom likewise he created the worlds Secondly all the parts of this great All were so streightly tyed one to the other that they never have suffered the least disunion and although many seem to have antipathy and reciprocally to pursue each other yet they will not be separated but joyn together in a manner so adherent that he who should go about to disunite one Element from another all these great pieces of the world would infinitely strive beyond their quality to replenish its place worthily and to leave nothing void And it is a wonder that from the beginning of the Aeterno complectitur omnia nexu Tot retum mistique salus concordia mundi Lucan l. 4. Plin. l. 36. cap. 17. world all things are held together by this Divine Tie Concord which in its union causeth the happinesse of the world and those sacred influences of love hath woven eternall chains to tie indissolubly all the parts of the universe All this great body resembleth the stone Scyrus which floateth on the water while it is whole and sinks into the bottome so soon as it is broken This is the cause why all creatures have from all times conspired and do still daily conspire with inviolable inclinations in the maintenance of this concord that the celestiall and elementary world may subsist in a state unchangeable There is none but Angel and Man in the intellectuall world who have made false accords and have begun to sow division the one in Heaven the other in the terrestriall Paradise He who placed it in heaven is banished into the abysse without recovery Joh. 17. 21. Ut omnes unum sint sicut tu Pater in me ego in te the other is succoured by a Redeemer who came to restore the lost world and he in Saint John professeth he aimed at nothing but Unity to make this reparation For this cause saith S. Maximus he united himself S. Max. secunda cent 146. 147. to humane Nature not by a simple union of will of love and of correspondence but by the ineffable knot of Hypostaticall union conjoyning two Natures in one sole Person and by making a communication of all he is to his humane Nature transplanted into the Divine For this he likewise doth daily unite himself to us in the Sacrament of the Altar a true Sacrament of Love where if we will speak with S. Cyril we 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Cyril in Johan say that God is dissolved into us as one piece of wax melted and poured together with another and if we will reason with S. John Chrysostome we say He Chrys hom 46. in Johan 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 giveth us his virginall flesh as a most sacred Leaven to season the whole masse of Humane nature It is that which in us should work that virtue which the great Areopagite calleth a Conformity of affections and manners drawing near to Divinity It is that which giveth the name of peace to the holy Eucharist with S. Cyprian and that which so united the Christians in Cyp. ep 10. 29. 30. Dare pacem lapsis the Primitive Church that they went from this mysterious Table as from a banquet of Love after which they breathed nothing but most pure flames of perfect Vide ut invicem se diligant vide ut pro alterutro moti sint parati Tertul. in Apol. amity whereat the Pagans who saw them cryed out See how they love one another Behold how ready they are to die one for another as we have
a Curiosity black and faulty as those who seek for a Master in matter of Religion and would gladly talk with a devil to learn news from Paradise or such as those who strain curious Sciences so hard that they sqeeze black and maligne vices out of them as Magick or the trick of coining false money or as those who are mad to hear to see to know the vices or mischiefs of others Others have a more innocent Curiosity one of medals another of Tulipaes some of voyages others of companies and indeed of all things which may serve for incentives to Concupiscence There are of them who are much disquieted with matters which little concern them they are curious to know all that passeth in the world in the Indies in Japonia how many elephants the great Mogull keeps who is to succeed the King of China in his Empire whether the great Turk armeth whether the Persian stirreth and what forces Prester John hath for the preservation of his State They think within themselves what a face they would set upon it if they were Kings or Popes They in their heads dispose of Kingdomes They raise Republicks they rig forth ships they pitch battels and after they have doated they find nought but nothing in their hands Others advance not their aims so high but rest satisfied with inferiour thoughts and petty cares as how to trot up and down the streets to visit houses and to ask of all they meet what news do you hear As also to observe post-dayes and to visit their friends round by a list-roll indifferently to heap together the bruits of the City to vent them again without any consideration There are some who make vows of pilgrimages not out of Devotion towards Saints but from a purpose to content their Curiosity They know all the Indulgencies which are throughout all the Churches of the Province and beyond all the houses that are built all the christnings every day all the weddings celebrated all the child-births of male or female all the merchandizes newly brought in all the strangers who arrive all the suits determinated all the charges given all the offices sold all the pamphlets cryed up and down the streets Their heads are wonderfull Fairs whither merchants come from all sides there is not a moment of repose and solitude with such is accounted a petty Hell This multiplicity of Desires is waited on by another In constancy followeth the multitude of Desires Malady of Inconstancy which is properly a levity and an irresolution of mind which sheweth it self in his manners actions and words who is touched with it To say truth this passion is a Devil who inhabiteth in The kingdome of Inconstancy a land of Quicksilver where Earthquakes are almost perpetuall winds blow on each side and blowing make many weather-cocks to turn to and fro and every moment change posture In this place an admirable Creature is to be seen who is not what she is and is that she is not so many faces and figures she hath She likewise is still upon transformations and seems to do nothing at all but to make and unmake her self One while she is great another while little one while grosse another while slender one while affable another while harsh one while serious another while gamesome but ever slippery and if you lay hold of her you catch nothing She goes forth of her lodging to appear in publick as if she came into a Theatre clothed one while in changeable Taffaty another while with different pieces set together out of a singular Fantastick addlenesse of wit She alone representeth all personages talks with all kind of voyces and in all manner of languages After her we behold a million of petty phantasmes imperfect in shape and which seem to be but pieces roughly begun which we may say are her works If you a little observe the men which inhabit this kingdome of Inconstancy you shall find they are people whose humours consist much of air and water for they are alwayes supple and pliant to all manner of objects they have a spirit which brooketh not businesses with a strong and solid penetration to see the bottome of it but onely scratch them with a little bodkin which is blunted and broken presently If you could see their heart and brain you should behold in the one huge squadrons of thoughts which scuffle together like Cadmus his souldiers in the other a mighty masse of desires and indigested purposes which renders them very unable to receive the impressions of the Divinity as S. Basil hath observed upon that Prophet Isaiah 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 S. Basil Hom. 1. in Isaiam It seemeth all this kind of people have a will of wax and that any man may work it which way he list Their passions are sharp and ardent in the beginning so that they transport judgement which is either notably weak or much benummed but they last not for they instantly are troubled at things present and ever tum their face away from the future never as it were being where they are and still being where they neither are nor can be You shall see they every day begin to live yea when they should make an end and if they do any good they do it but by halves never allowing themselves leisure to lick their Bear as they say nor to finish their work so precipitate they are by contrariety of different desires which draw them this way and that way and destroy all the abilities of their wits You shall note in them a great greedinesse after novelties and continuall changes of manners study apparel of wearing their hair of their manner of living gate of voyce of conversation of sports exercises counsels loves of amities words and of mouths which at once breathe forth hot and cold To conclude their life is nought else but the floud and ebbe of a continuall Euripus it is replenished with shadows giddinesse and illusions which in effect make it miserable For commonly it is waited on by disesteem grief shame anxiety and great shipwracks of wit and renown § 3 The four sources out of which ill-rectified desires proceed YOu must know that those restlesse desires which toil us proceed from four sources the first and Four sources of Desires which toil us principall whereof is a Heart void of things Divine there being not saith S. Augustine a more manifest signe that a soul is not well with God then when it entertaineth a multiplicity of desires Moses pulled off his shoes before the burning bush where he saw his eyes cleared by the rayes of the Divine Majesty in my opinion to teach us that his heart was at an end of its journey since he had found the Centre of eternall Rest Whilst the soul of man is out of the limits which God assigned it well it may find Innes to lodge in but it never finds a home But he who knows the way how to accommodate himself in all things
the eternall and unquenchable fornace of all chaste affections He hath all his desires limited and replenished since as he sees nothing out of himself so he cannot desire any thing out of himself If you imagine the sea saith S. Augustine Mare co gitas non est hoc Deus omnia quae sunt in terra homines animalia non est hoc Deus Augin Psal 85. it is not God If you imagine the earth with so many rivers which moisten it so many herbs and flowers which enamel it so many trees which cover it so many living creatures which furnish it so many men which inhabite and cultivate it it is not God If you in your thoughts figure the air with all its birds so different in shape so various in plumage so diversified in their notes it is not God If you go up to those Chrystaline and Azure vaults where the Sunne and Moon and so many Starres perform their career with such measure it is not God If you behold in heaven innumerable legions of Angels Spirits of fire and light resplendent before the face of God as lamps of balsamum lighted before the propitiatory it is not God but God is he who comprehendeth all that who bounds it and incomparably surpasseth it All things say Divines are in God by way of eminency as in the Exemplar Cause which mouldeth them as in the Efficient Cause which produceth them as in the Finall Cause which determines them but they are in a manner so elate and exalted that those same which in themselves are inanimate in God are spirit and life All the Creatures we have seen produced in the revolution of so many Ages are as Actours which God Quod factum est in ipso vita erat Joh. 1. who is the great Master of the Comedy which is acted in this world kept hidden behinde the hangings in his Idea's more lively and more lustrous then they be on the stage The World strikes the hour of their Entrances and Exits of their life and death but the great Clock of God in his Eternity hath at one instant strucken all their hours Nothing to him is unexpected nothing unknown nothing new All that which tieth the desires of the most curious all that which suspendeth the admiration of the sagest all which enflameth the hearts of the most passionate Lands and Seas Magazines of Nature Thrones Theatres Arms and Empires all are but a silly drop of dew before the face of God Then how can God but live contented within himself Ecce gentes quasi stilla fitulae quasi momentum staterae reputatae sunt ecce insulae quasi pulvis exiguus Libanus non sufficiet ac ad succedendum Isa 4. 16. since the smallest streams of the fountain which springs from his bosome may suffice a million of worlds O ungratefull and faithlesse soul the same Paradise which God hath for himself he hath prepared for thee he will thou beholdest thy self that thou contemplatest thy self that thou reposest thy self in his heart yet thou flutterest up and down like a silly butterfly among so many creatures so many objects so many desires perpetually hungry ever distant from thy good ever a traitour to thy repose and glory Beggarly soul which beggest every where Miserable soul which in every place findest want in abundance Ignominious soul upon whose front all loves have stamped dishonour when wilt thou rally together all thy desires into one period When wilt thou begin to live the life of God to be satisfied with Gods contentment and to be happy with Gods felicity § 5. That we should desire by the imitation of Jesus Christ THe second Reason that I draw from the second 2. Reason of the onely desire which Jesus had in seeking the glory of his heavenly Father Model which is the Word Incarnate the Rule and Example of all our actions is that Jesus Christ had no other desire on earth but to suffer to be dissolved and to annihilate himself for the glory of his heavenly Father by subjecting rebellious powers to his Sceptre and by gaining souls of which he infinitely was desirous even to the last moment of his life The Plato lib. de ordine universi apud Viennam Philosopher Plato in the Book of the order of the Universe writeth that all the Elements naturally desired to evaporate themselves in the Celestiall Region as it were therein to obtain a more noble and more eminent state of consistence Now the deaf and dumb desire which things inanimate have to be transformed into a nature more delicate is most apparent in the sacred Humanity of the Son of God which although it alwayes remained within the limits of its Essence it notwithstanding had an ineffable sympathy with the Divinity being totally plunged therein as iron in burning coals It in all and through all followed its motions will and ordinances as true dials wait on the Sun nor had it any desire more ordinary then to make a profusion of it self in all it had created Theology teacheth us that albeit the will of God were necessitated in certain actions as in the production of the love which sprang from the sight of God notwithstanding in others it was altogether free able to do and not to do such or such a thing according to his good pleasure as at such or such a time to go or not to go into Jury Able of two good things which were presented to chuse the one or leave the other as to do miracles rather in Jury then in Sidon Able also Nonvolebat in Judaeam ambulare Job 7. 1. to do the things ordained him by his heavenly Father out of motives and reasons such as his wisdome thought best to chuse In all those liberties never pretended he ought but the Glory and Service of his Father Good God what sublimate is made in the limbeck of Love what evaporations and what separations of things even indivisible are made in the five great annihilations which Theology contemplateth in the person of Jesus Christ First the inseparable Word of God seemeth to make a divorce but a divorce of obedience and to separate it self but with a separation alwayes adherent by the condition of a forreign nature transplanted into Radius ex sole portio de summa de spiritu spiritus de Deo Deus Tertul Apol 2. Greg. l. 28 mor. cap. 2. the Divinity Secondly he by a new miracle permitteth that this Humane nature tied to the Divine nature be separated from its subsistence its last determination and substantiall accomplishments Thirdly that Glory be separated from the estate and condition of Glory yielding his glorious soul up as a prey to sadnesse Fourthly he separateth himself not onely from the signs and conditions of a Messias but almost from the resemblance of a man being become us a worm Lastly he draws himself into the interiour of his Quasi ignis effulgens thus ardens in igne soul
who restored his grand-father to his estate and was the honour of his family O good God! A man of the world to speak and do all this for worldly amity to command over himself in all the great aversions of nature to content a friend To act all these admirable prodigies in fight of all the world for the satisfaction of a morall virtue And can it become us to play the nicelings and so much to give way to our aversions to forsake the law of God Nature and our own salvation Will we never understand the saying of Saint Justine That to live according to the propensions of Nature is not to live like a Christian The fifth Treatise Of DELECTATION § 1. That Delectation is the scope of all Nature Its Essence Objects and Differences GOd seemed to have made all things for Delectation since even Creatures which have no God hath made all creatures to have Delectation soul nor reason have a dead Delectation applyed to the place and end for which they were made Had fire sense it would triumph for joy to see it self in an eminent place and a stone would receive contentment to be below the Iron would smile to feel it self enchained by the charms of the Adamant and a straw to behold it self caught by the Amber Now for as much as these things are without judgement all their joy consisteth onely in the cessation of their motion which is done when they are arrived at their proper elements Creatures the most eminent have a sensitive knowledge of things agreeable to them and do infinitely rejoyce in their possession and fruition But man who worketh by more powerfull and exalted engines of reason is created to participate in Joy not by a dead Action but by an understanding and a reasonable fruition And that you may the better conceive wherein the joy of a reall Man consisteth you must know it is composed of four things the first whereof is that to receive one must have an object Four things compose the solid delectation of man pleasing and delightfull which is as the basis of rejoycing and secondly a facultie capable to conceive and know this object which in it self naturally disposeth to Delectation from whence it cometh to passe that a Beast will hear the bravest and best Lutenist in France without any pleasure because it hath not ears to judge of it thence we must go to a third degree which is an affection toward this object otherwise had it all the perfections in the world there is no contentment taken therein from whence it cometh that devils albeit they have a certain presence of the sovereign of all objects which is God and have a certain knowledge of him they cannot find any repose therein because they love him not To conclude the accomplishment of pleasure is the presence possession and fruition of the good which is known to us and which we love For from thence proceedeth a sweetnesse vitall lively and delicious which poureth it self forth into the bottome Why devils love not God whom they know to be so amiable of our souls and diffuseth it self upon our senses as a gentle dew falling on plants See what joy doth if you have never well tryed it which is indeed nought else but a satisfaction of the soul in the enjoying what it loves But now at this present to expresse all the objects and particular causes thereof is a discourse which rather Three sorts of joy extendeth in length then establisheth any solid verity Yet I think one may undertake to affirm there are three sorts of joy some are wholly divine and inspired as those of holy Confessours Virgins and Martyrs who rejoyce in the practice of virtues in austerities and torments others are indifferent partly humane and civill as are the pleasures we take in the beauty and diversitie of naturall things honest amities and sciences in honour and estimation in the successe and prosperity of affairs and in the exercise of great charges Others come from the Base Court and from animall nature as are the pleasures of eating and drinking of feasts of banquets of love of dancing of sports of playes and of jeasting Every one measureth his likings by his own nature Contentments â—â— rather in the will then in pleasing objects and condition and one may truly say that pleasure is not properly in things exteriour but in the interiour of our wills and appetites See we not that all colours have no lustre in the night-time and that necessarily light must awaken and put them in possession of being coloured so all objects in the world are of the same nature they are dumb dead and insensible unlesse the ray of our will reflects on them to actuate them to set them a-work and of them to make matter of our delight If pleasure sprang from the quality of creatures it would be alike in all hearts and never would any thing which is pleasing to one be irksome or distastfull to another but sith we see so many diversities in the contentments of particulars and that one self-same man is sometimes displeased with that he hath most affected we may well say there is some secret in joy which is not derived from any thing else then it self Chiron could not endure to be a feigned God because he daily saw the same things Polycrates was impatient to have Felicity fixed upon him and sought of his own accord to become unfortunate as one glutted with his own happinesse There are a thousand fantasticall tricks in a spirit over-much contented with worldly blessings needs must our appetite in the same tone meet with objects to accomplish our felicity Wherefore it much importeth to habituate it in delight which ariseth from things good and laudable to purchase its joyes at a low rate to have them continually within ones self without begging them from elsewhere which will never happen but by flight from unlawfull lusts and by the application of our minds to things divine For which purpose I will here represent unto you the reproach of evil pleasure that you may adapt your selves to the sources of the delights of God § 2. The Basenesse and Giddinesse of sensuall Voluptuousnesse VVIcked pleasure is an inordinate delight in The essence of this Passion sensuall things proceeding from a soft nice and effeminate soul which adhereth to its flesh and excessively loveth it and which also oft proceedeth from a spirit become cold in the love of God and darkned in the knowldge of the blessings of the other life from bad education and from many vitious habits contracted in youth strange is the dominion of flesh and admirable the sway of pleasures Figure unto your self that you in a Table see that Delubrum voluptatis Isa 13. 21. Edifice which the Prophet Esay calleth The temple of pleasure It is a house of delight where one entrethin by five gates which are all crowned with Roses and carry the badge of youth and
give a sergeant leave to bring him a summons in the midst of the pleasures of his Table The two most triumphant daies of his mortall life seem to be that of his Transfiguration and that whereon he made his magnificent entrance into Jerusalem And yet on this he wept as moistning his triumph with tears from his eyes and on rhe other Moses and Elias who appeared by his sides to serve as Oratours in his praises spake of that he was to fulfill in Jerusalem to wit of his excessive sufferings as if one had proclaimed to Cesar the sentence of his death at the instant when he entred into his Ivory chariot to be drawn by four white horses Jesus Christ was at that time in a body all resplendent with lights which was as a chariot to his soul and he would to be enterteined with his passion mingle the Cypresse with the lawrell I do not wonder the Fathers have applyed to him the passage of Genesis I will put my Bowe in the clouds This verily was the Rainbowe of the Celestiall Father Arcum meum ponaâ—â— in nubibes Gen. 9. which shone and showred both at one time For we see this goodly Meteor all composed of clouds of glory which serve as a Mirrour for the sun ceaseth not to pour down it self in rain upon our heads so the Saviour of the world in the pavillion of the Beatitude of his soul all covered over with fires and lights had eyes weeping over the sins and miseries of men Where think you were his joyes S. Augustine will tell you the soul of Jesus Christ was perpetually content because Aug. l. de Incarnatio ne Verbi it was drenched in God his father as a drop of dew in the Ocean It was ever in the place of pleasures which were born with it All it thought all it did all it aimed at was nothing but God and from this so perfect union waited on by immortall ardours of his love it derived its Immutability The soul besides these delicious Torrents of beatifick vision which overflowed it drew its consolations from the very sufferings it endured for the glory of the Divine Majesty It drew them from the destruction of Idols and from the confusion of devils which yelled being now despoiled under its feet from the exaltation of the Church in sufferings and persecutions from the glory of so many souls who sailed from the red sea of their bloud to eternall rewards from so many holy Virgins who were to follow the standard of the purity which his Mother did first of all place on his Altars from so many Doctours who should be born to beat down heresie in so many battels which were to be waged throughout the revolution of Ages from so many Confessours who should bedew themselves with tears of penance and burn themselves in a Holocaust of sweetnesse All was presented unto it as in a burning-glasse the rayes whereof reflected in diametre upon its heart to set it all on fire in such sort that it was then like to the great Angell of whom the Prophet Zachary Zach. 1. 8. speaketh who sat upon a red horse among gardens of Myrrhe which are the Hieroglyphes of love his red horse was the ardour of his celestiall affection and the branches of Myrrhe so many elect souls which were even then in the Book of Prescience wherein he took unspeakable delight § 5. Against the Stupidity and Cruelty of worldly pleasures ANd now O disloyall soul to be called to the society of the joyes of the celestiall Father and of the sonne of God and to despise them for a miserable fansie of pleasure Ah illusion Ah witchcraft What sense is there to feast perpetually and to live in the profuse excesse of Taste and gourmandize which you shall one day have more cause to curse then cherish whilst so many poor Widows so many little Orphans and people heretofore fortunate now necessitous even to the extremity of penury have not dry bread to moisten it with their tears before they eat it When have you enquired after their Calamities When have you opened an eye to behold them When have you so much as made a ray of mercy to reflect on so pressing and deplorable miseries Go O thou ungratefull to God traitour to thy own salvation enemy Ingrate Deo tibi ne quam hostis panperum divitum nota carcer naturae Chrysol serm 104. of the poore scorn of the rich and prison of humane Nature who keepest it shut up in thy bowels of brasse not suffering it so much as to behold its like What wilt thou answer to the voice of the bloud of so many poor who will plead against thee at the day of judgement if thou from this time resolvest not to cut off thy superfluities to comfort their afflictions where wilt thou find any to receive thee into those celestiall mansions if thou dost not visit the poor in their Hospitals and Cabbins abandoned by all the world Where wilt thou find rewards from heaven if thou sowest not liberalities on earth O thou nice wanton who wiltst perpetually be observed according to the giddy fancies of the exorbitant spirit and the many sufferings which have covered and swallowed up the third part of man-kind never to enter into thy thoughts Of what flesh of what bloud of what bones dost thou think thou art made to desire here to be served like a demy-God and to walk on the heads of men Ignorant of thy self nay Hangman of thy self who canst not live without so much prodigality superfluities and services not knowing that the first imitation of God is to depend little in the world on ought which concerneth the service of the body O thou old raven of the Deluge who still art tied with a long chain of servitude to a wretched piece of Carrion which hath exhausted the wealth of thy purse and brain Is it then infamous pleasure for which thou hast renounced the delights of heaven for which thou hast betrayed thy salvation and trampled under foot the bloud of the Testament and thou not yet so vouchsafe to open thy eyes to see the headlong ruine which threatneth thee Unhappy Bacchanalians who make Temples to be consecrated among Christians to Idolatrize you where will you find any place to lodge you in unlesse you mean to leap and skip upon the bloud of the lamb Hence with riot curiosity sports feasts and dissolute delights I pronounce it I publish it aloud They are the Apostacies of Christianity if you daily go about to countenance their libertismes Traiterous pleasures pleasures enemies of the Crosse Num. 11. 34 see see at the door of the house of these Syrens the sepulchres of Concupiscence which stink and smoke still with the disastrous carrions of those unsatiable bellies which made warre against heaven to have dainties which they no sooner received into their throats but the anger of God fell on their criminall heads and do you think that following
discourses of Philosophers There is question how to help the soul by the body hundred shillings are of more worth then a hundred reasons to a poor wretch who hath need of sustenance and refreshment to solace his pains A little good usage meat apparel a Crosse upon gold or silver remedieth many Crosses of needy people If they to whom God hath given worldly wealth took the pain to imitate so many honourable personages and to accustome themselves to visit the shamefaced poor they would dayly do miracles they would drive away the devils of Melancholy bad humors spectres despairs and maladies they would pull millions of souls out of the hands of their evil fortunes and would be more to men then were the demy-Gods of Antiquity How many herbs simples compositions of physick how many lenitives what powerfull effects of Chyrurgery being well ordered do cure strange infirmities and do pluck one from out of the gates of death But as the cure and easing of the senses is neither present nor efficacious with all the world what should a man do who hath never so little heart but try to cure himself by reason It is it which God hath given unto The comfort derived from reason man instead of so many offensive and defensive armes born with other creatures why should we not use its help It is it which teacheth us that grief is nothing else but an apprehension of division and that Aug. l. 3. de liber at bitr cap 23. Quid est enim aliud dolor nisi quidam sensus divisionis vel corruptionis impatiens as we are out of excesse tyed to all pleasing things in the world so the want of them becomes very sensible in such sort that our Sadnesses ordinarily proceed from our love Experience sufficiently shewing that all such spirits as most are in love with themselves are the most tormented but if we come to lessen thoser geat affections which straightly tie us to conceits and account as lost all which may be lost there is no doubt but we shall begin to find a wholesome medicine for all the afflictions of life A mother greeved for the death of her Amabam misera periturum We most ardently love the things we most lose sonne said in Quintilian That all her evil came from loving too much what she might lose and that our passions are insensibly most ardent for things which must quickly be taken from us as if our grief were to take revenge upon the exorbitancy of our love It is reason that weakneth the opinion of evils which many times torment us more then their effect It which giveth light to things obscure order to confused vigour to languishing and resolution to despair there is nothing for which it finds not a lenitive if poverty make How it remedieth all humane accidents you sad why complain you Ignorant of thy self saith it unto us it is not poverty it is thy fancy which tormenteth thee No man is ever so poor as he is born Hast thou brought gold in thy veins and pearls Poverty in thy entrails that thou complainest of the change of thy condition why dost thou set thy self upon the rack for a thing whereof Jesus made boast and so many wise-men make vows Expect a little Death will make thee as rich as Croesus If thou thinkest thou art poor for that thou hast not what thy covetousnesse desireth it is an Illusion If thou wantest necessaries for life after thou hast lived commodiously and happily it is somewhat pitifull but make thy self a good poor man since God will have thee such suffer a while without murmuring and the divine Providence will not fail to raise for thee the mercy of some rich man to become thy steward Pray be patient endeavour take paines live meanly thou shalt become A suit rich by learning to live contented If a suit be lost what cares what apprehensions what pains what toils are in the same instant lost If it be according to Justice endure it if angainst Justice those who have lost their conscience in making thee lose thy cauie have more cause to be sorry then thou If thou hast lost much in game it is a lesson of wisdome to cure a folly If thou Losse of money hast lost all give thanks to God that thou shalt never lose any more so basely and that thou hast meanes to purchase a little in this occasion If fire and water winds and tempests harpies and theeves take away thy goods what wilt thou do against chance violence and iniquity but preserve submission and innocency The whole masse of worldly wealth is a torrent which swellerh now upon one side and then upon another let that go with patience which thou canst not hold by force If slander assail thy renown and condemne thee perhaps it doth that thou oughtest to do hadst Slander thou more virtues Many by despising themselves have prevented all contempts Tongues cannot hurt thy conscience we stand before God such as we are and all the teeth of calumny take not from us one sole atome of perfection Others have but one tongue to say and thou hast two hands to do Perfect thy life since it hath censures verity will force light through those vapours of maligne spirits derive glory out of thy proper confusion If thou beest discountenanced by great ones put thy self into the good favour of Disgrace God who is above all greatnesse and after thou hast made thy self a slave to men live a while a master over thy self Thou shalt find envy will have consecrated thee and that thy punishments will make a part of thy felicities If thou enterest into sadnesse for being frustrated of some expected good wherefore art thou so earnest in thy desires and so credulous in thy hopes and wherefore makest thou crosses to thy self out of thy own thoughts If it be for the absence Absence of friends of a beloved friend thinkest thou he must continually be tied to thee as if he were a second body It is in absence where our imaginations oftentimes render all that we affect most present we enter into the bottome of our soul and there find the images of our friends despoiled of matter and body we practise the best amities in mind where the envious watch us not the jealous observe us not and the troublesome interrupt not our discourses If this good friend be gone into the other world we every moment run after him and each hour draw near to him Let us be satisfied that his death is the cause that death hath nothing Death terrible for us and that for him we begin to desire what we most fear If we in body must suffer chains imprisonment Bodily pains maladies sharp pains hunger thirst the sword fire and all the hostility of nature we must needs say all which toucheth the skin toucheth us very near and that there are few charming words that can well cast
resemblance in Nature We have heretofore heard of a Prince who desirous to offer himself to death for rhe preservation of his subjects took the habit of a Peasant to steal himself from his greatnesse and facilitate his death All histories say he laid down his purple and crown and all the ensigns of Royalty retaining none but those of love which caused him to go into his enemies army where he left life to purchase an immortall trophey for his reputation But I must tell you he had a mortall life and in giving it he gave that tribute to nature which he owed to nature from the day of his birth and which of necessity he was to pay yea he gave it to buy the memory of posterity and to beg honour which is more esteemed by generous spirits then life But in what history have we read that a man glorious by birth immortall by condition necessarily happy hath espoused humility which all the world despiseth mortality which the most advised apprehend misery which the bravest detest for no other occasion but to have the opportunity to dy for a friend And this is it which Jesus Christ did He was by nature immortall impassible impregnable against all exteriour violencies he took not the habit of a peasant as Codrus nor a body of air as Abscondit purpuram sub miseri◠vestimentis ad lutum ubi jacebam inclinatur non mergitur the Angell-conductour of Tobias but a true body a flesh tender and virginall personally united to the word of God to quail it with toils to consume it with travails and lastly to resign it as a prey to a most dolourous death he casts tottered rags over his royall purple and takes pains to stoop down to pull me out of the mire where I lay and to take my miseries upon him not sullying himself in my sins My God! what a prodigie is this All ages have Abbas Guerricus observed a thousand and a thousand industries of men which they found out to avoid the pains and torments of life but never have we seen a man who sought to invent means and to offer violence to his own condition to become suffering and miserable according to the estimation of the world since there are day and night so many gates open to this path yet thou Oh God of Glory O mild Saviour hast done it Thou hast found a way how to accord infirmity with sovereign Mortem nec solus Deus sentire nec solus homo vincere poterat homo suscepit Deus vicit Faustus l. 1. de lib. arbitr The quality of the sufferings of our Saviour power honour with ignominy time with eternity and death with life It was not possible that sole God should endure death or that sole Man could vanquish it but man hath abided it and God hath overcome it As for the quality of pains it sufficeth to say that if men judged of the greatnesse of Gyants by one of their footsteps impressed on the sand and if we likewise measure the course of the sun by a small thread of shadow one may have some grosse knowledge of so great a mystery by the figures which forewent it Now all the sacrifices of the Mosaick law and so many travails and sufferings of the antient Patriarchs were but a rough draught of the passion of Jesus Christ from whence we may imagine what the originall was sith the Copies thereof were so numerous and different throughout the course of all Ages The perpetuall sacrifice which was evening and 3 Reg. 8. 63. 22000 bullocks and 120000 sheep sacrificed for the dedication of Solomon his Temple morning made in the Temple the twenty two thousand oxen and the hundred and twenty thousand sheep which were sacrificed by Solomon at one feast of the dedication of the Temple so much bloodshed that it seemed a red sea to those who beheld it was to no other end but to figure the blood of the immaculate Lamb and of all its members which have suffered after it But if so much preparation and profusion were needfull to expresse one sole shadow of his passion what may we conjecture of the body and the thing figured Besides if all the antient Patriarchs who were so persecuted in times past and all the Martyrs who since the death of our Saviour have endured torments almost infinite in number and prodigious in kinds made but an assay or tryall of the dolours of this King of the afflicted what an account shall we make of his pains which ever ought to be as much adored by our wills as they are incomprehensible to our understanding The Lamb was sacrificed from the beginning of the world saith Saint Apoc. 13. 8. Agnas accisus est ab origine mundi Our Saviour hath suffered in the person of all the just and the martyrs John He was massacred in Abel saith S. Paulinus tossed upon so many waves in the person of Noah wandring in that of Abraham offered up in Isaac persecuted in Jacob betraied in Joseph stoned in Moses bruised on a dunghill in the patience of Job blinded in Samson sawn in Esay flayed afterward in the person of S. Bartholmew roasted in that of Saint Laurence thrown out to Lions in that of Saint Ignatius burned in that of Saint Polycarp Confummatio abbreviata Isa 10 12. Unâ oblatione consummavit in sempiter num satisfactos Heb 10 14. Unigenitus Dei ad peragendum mort is suae sacramentum consummavit humanarum omne genus passionum Hilar. l. 10. de trinit pulled in picees by four horses and cast headlong into a ditch full of Serpents in that of Saint Tecla drowned in that of S. Clement exposed to wasps in that of many other Martyrs From whence it commeth that the passion of Jesus is called a short Consummation by the Prophet Esay and that Saint Paul hath said to the Hebrew That by one sole Sacrifice he hath consummated those which were to be sanctified for all eternity And S. Hilary clearly confesseth That Jesus Christ the onely Son of God desirous to fulfill this great and mysterious Sacrament of his pretious death did passe through all imaginable dolours which were as it were melted and distilled together to make of it a prodigious accomplishment Jesus is the stone with seven eyes whereof the Prephet Zachary speaketh which the heavenly Father says he hath cut and engraven with his own hand Zach. 39. thereon figuring all the most glorious characters of patience He is an Abysse of love of mercy of dolours of ignominies of blood of lowlinesse and greatnesse of excesse of admiration and amazement which swalloweth all thoughts dryeth up all mouths stayeth all pens and drencheth all conceptions Who now then will dare to complain that he suffereth too much that he doth too much that he is treated with lesse tendernesse then he deserveth O our coldnesse and remissnesse whence can it proceed but from not studying enough on this incomparable
notwithstanding it is not enough to will good unlesse one therein observe circumstances and measures requisite for its accomplishment One of the best rules for the passion of which we treat is to adapt To adapt our selves to our hope ones self to his hopes to see what comports with his birth his breeding his capacity his genius his knowledge his power his credit and his pains and not rashly to be stirred up with the desire of things above his strength unlesse he will disturb his life and hasten his death The world is a great Sepulchre of so many little Phaetons who will guide the sun and hours although Spes impii tanquam lanugo est quae à ven to tollitur tanquam spuma gracâ—lis quae à procella dispergitur tanquam fumus qui à vento diffusus est tanquam memoria hospitis uniâ—s dici praetereuâ—tis Sap. 5. 15. their life be but a continuall deviation they have no other honour but to be fallen from on high and to have used more temerity in affairs then ability such hopes also are very well compared by the Wiseman To those little downs of flowers scattered in the air to the froth which floateth on the water and is instantly dissipated by a tempest to smoke which vanisheth under the blast of winds and to the memory of a traveller who passeth by an Inne By the sight of a bird we judge of her flight by the genius of men we make conjectures of their fortunes needs must there be much extravagancy when a man in all kinds little proposeth to himself nothing but great things I well know the divine Providence the worker of wonders delighteth sometimes to strike a stroke with its own hand drawing out men of most base extraction to bear them to the highest tops of worldly greatnesse It is that which forged a Diademe for â—ulgotius l. 3. c. 4. Pupienus upon the same anvil whereof his father hammered Iron That which changed Martianus his spade into a Sceptre That which taught Valentinian Idem l. 6. c. 10. to make crowns by twisting ropes That which shewed Justine in a Carpenters-shop how to build a Throne for himself That which drew Petrus Damianus from the midst of sheep to be made a Cardinall and Gregory the seventh out of a Joyners house to give him a Popes Mytre But one Swallow makes not a summer nor one accident from an extraordinary hand which happeneth scarcely in an age makes not all fortunes S. John saith that the measure of an Angel is the measure of a man but this is not but in the celestiall city of Hierusalem where we shall be as the Angel Apoc. 21. 1â— of God Here our thoughts are high our aims great but the limit of our power little He who doth well understand what he can wills but what is reasonable and shall find that the modesty of wishes makes life more commodious and happinesse more undoubted To this first rule of the moderation of hopes we To ground them well must add a second which is to give them good foundations to the end we be not constrained to see the indiscretion of our desires punished by the small successe of our pretentions There are some who infinitely confide in the words of Astrologers and to speak plainly it is a prodigious thing to hear the predictions they make upon the life and fortunes of men which cause amazement among the wise and love in the curious as at the time when they answered to the Edict of the Emperour Vitellius who commanded them to leave the city that they would obey on such condition that Theodorus Merechista hist Rom. fol. 86. he instantly should leave life which so fell out Yet we must say that although God should write down in the book of stars the successes of our life which cannot be easily agreed unto yet ever would they be extremely encumbred nor ever happen out of a fatall necessity That is the cause why for some presages which hit right there are many other notably false which makes it sufficiently appear that God hath reserved to himself the full knowledge of what shall befall us Among other qualities which the holy Canticle gives him it forgeteth Coma ejus nigra quafi Corvus Cant. 5. 11. not to say He had hair as black as the feather of a Crow Where you shall observe rhe hairs mystically signifie the Thoughts and when the Scripture termeth them black it will declare the obscurity and depth of Gods councels over the wisdome of men Tertullian Tertul. Homo divini cura ingenii Deus in omnia sufficit nec potest esse suae perspicaciae praevaricator said man was the care of the understanding of God who provideth for all and who cannot be a prevaricatour of his own providence Can we think men are permitted to enter into those great abysses of knowledg and to take the rains of nature into their hands think we that a man who doth not alwayes very plainly see what lies before his feet can assuredly behold that which is infinitely exalted above his head Where have not Astrologers sowed lyes where is it that great ones who hearkened unto them as to their Gospel were not filled with disastrous successes By their saying all which is born Gen. 38. 27. at Rome comes into the world like unto little Zara already marked with red There are some who consume themselves with anxieties and cares of their life-time to verifie the words of an Astrologer and who instead of scarlet find perhaps in the other world a Powerfull friends may serve for a support for Hope Fatis accede Diisque cole foelices Lucan Maledictus homo qui ponit carnem brachium suum Jer. 17. 3. Robe of flames It is a wretched support to tye ones hopes to so great an uncertainty I find the favour of great and powerfull friends is much more certain for God establisheth them on earth as his images to be the treasurers of felicity and distributers of good hap When they be just upright and gratefull men of merit have some cause to hope of their good affections and an Antient said that we must approach near to the Destinies and the Gods and honour the happy But how many are there who adhering too much unto men make to themselves an arm of flesh without bones and a fortune as frail as Reeds Others make themselves brave fellow with their sword and expect all from their valour Others from their wit and eloquence Others from their gold Others from dexterity in businesses All this may do well when a great integrity of long services puts these good qualities into action but if it happen you have some ray of hope grounded upon some good title do as Job and keep it hidden as long as is To hope without vanity fit in your bosome for fear that discovering it you lose the pretended effects thereof There are who tell all
to save himself in a Region of nothing O poor soul thou fearest the poverty which thy Jesus Resolution against fear hath consecrated in the Crib and in Clouts Thou fearest the reproaches which he hath sanctified in the losse of his reputation thou fearest the dolours which he hath lodged in his virginall flesh thou fearest death which he overcame for thee thou fearest the false opinions of the world And what fearest thou not since thou dreadest fantasies which are lesse then the shadow of an hair There is but one thing which thou fearest not to Nulla metuendi causa nisi ne quod amamus aut adeptum amittamus aut non adipiscamur speratum Aug. q. 33. 83. lose innocency and sanctity which thou exposest to so many liberties and alluring occasions so prodigall thou art of a good which thou hast not O thou welbeloved of God although the most ungratefull to the love of God! wilt not thou dresse thy wounds wilt not thou apply some remedies to those vicious fears which gnaw thee and daily devour thee If thou wilt follow my counsell thy first resolution shall be to regulate the love of thy self not to have so indulgent and passionate a care of all things which concern thee as if thou wert an onely one in the species and that thy death were waited on by the Sepulchre of the world Thy aim should be to unloose thy self as much as thou mayest from so many ties and dependencies which multiply thy slaveries Thou must as it were live here a life of Nabatheans which were people of Arabia who neither planted nor sowed nor Diodor. l. 6. built but by expresse laws flew from delicious and fruitfull Countreys for fear that Riches might subjugate them to Passions the Commands of great ones But if we cannot come to this heighth at least let us have our heart well devested from these ardent affections which we have towards worldly enablements and behold them as one would an inconstant moving of shadows and spirits which glide before our eyes with a swift course and which ever move with the step of time and of the Sun to account as already lost whatsoever may be lost to cast your immortall cares upon an immortall soul and to place it in the first rank of your affections But if naturall love do yet tie us to health to life to honour and to slight pleasures to the preservation of our own person to whom should we entrust all this but to the Divine Providence with whom so many just have deposited their goods their reputation their life their bloud and hove loft nothing by this confidence but have transmitted Qui te tibi committis melius te potest servare qui te potuit antequam esses creare Aug. serm 8. de verbis Apostol their purchases and conquests to the bosome of Eternity In all which happeneth to us let us look towards this eye of God which perpetually beholdeth us this puissant hand of God this amorous direction Let us behold it as our Pole-starre as our flaming pillar as our great intelligence which manageth all the treasures of our life Let us learn to repose us in his bosome to slumber upon his heart to sleep between his arms Upon the first accident which befalleth us let us readily bend our knees in prayer let us adore the ordinances of our sovereign Master Let us behold with a confident countenance all which is happened or may happen Let us say God knoweth all this God permitteth all this God governeth all this He loves me as his creature he wisheth me well as one who hath given himself to him he can free me from this affliction if it be his holy will He is all good to will it he is all potent to do it Nay he is all wise to will and to do all that which is best Let us not meddle with the great current of his Counsels He maketh light in the most dusky nights and havens in the most forlorn shipwracks Were we with him in the shades of death what should we fear being between the arms of life Secondly let us not be corrupted by opinions which invade Nullus est miseriarum modu◠si timetur quantum potest Sence ep 13. us with a great shew of spectres and terrours and make us so often to fear things which are not and which shall never be It is to be too soon miserable to be so before the instant and if we for some time must be so let us consider that all the blessing and evils of the world are not great since they cannot long time be great Let us take away the mask from these fears of Poverty of Sicknesse and above all from humane respects as one would from him who goes about to affright children Why fear we so much such and such accidents which they who are made of no other flesh and bones then we do daily despise The acquaintance with perils hardneth to perils and there is nothing so terrible as the ignorance of reall truths Lastly let us hold for certain that a great part of our tranquillity dependeth upon our conscience Let us settle in Anchora mentis pondu◠timoris S. Gregor it repose by a good Confession let us constantly undertake the fear of God who will cure us of all our fears since the Anchor of the floating understanding is the Honour of the Divinity The tenth Treatise Of BOLDNESSE § 1. The Picture and Essence of it BOldnesse is very well depainted in the bosome of power shewing a heart in its The picture 〈◊〉 Boldness hand all encompassed with spirits and flames its visage is replenished with confidence its habit altogether warlike and countenance undaunted It looketh upon good all invironed with dangers as a Rose among thorns or as the golden fleece among dragons and is no whit amazed but it is on fire to flie through perils and to beat down all obstacles which oppose its conquest Good hap walketh before it by its sides innocency benignity piety strength experience and other good qualities which excite courage The presence thereof dissipateth a thousand petty Fancies which are lost in the obscurity of night not able to endure the sparkling of its eyes All this natively representeth unto us the nature and It s essence condition of Boldnesse which is properly an effect of good hope and a resolution of courage against dangers It is no wonder if Power hold it in its bosome since all the Boldnesse a man hath comes to him from the opinion he conceives to be able enough not to yield to the accidents which may assault him This heart of fire in which so many vigorous spirits sparkle is a token of the bold who commonly have more heat and vivacity from whence it comerh that young-men have herein more advantage then old were it not that they derive more assurance from some other part then from the weaknesse of their age The
Titanians O senslesse man canst thou not be bold but from the presumption of thy strength And hast thou not yet learned that the things which according to the opinion of the world are most strong are confounded by the weakest Lions have been fed upon by flies and wretched rust wasteth the hardest metals If we must be bold let it be in things honest let it be for virtue for verity for Gods cause Should the heavens Si tactus illabatur orbis impavidum serient ruinae Quadratum lapidem qua verteris stat Aug. in Psal 86. fall in thunder-claps upon our heads their ruines have not power to astonish a mind courageous Turn a square stone which way you will it never stands immoveable upon the solidity of its Basis said S. Augustine One would have me do an ill act and if I consent not thereto I am threatned with the losse of a suit of a ruine of my affairs and with poverty the worst scourge of all Let my enemies vomit forth all their rage on me they cannot make me poorer then I was when I was born I came not into the world glittering with precious stones and it was not gold which instead of bloud ran up and down my veins let poverty come against me with all the train of its terrours When I behold on the Crosse a God all naked who in his nakednesse We must fearnothing in the world to the prejudice of our soul giveth all things I say we should account it a glory to die poor for a God so despoiled They threaten me with banishment the Spirit of God teacheth me not to care what land be under my feet when my eyes are fixed on heaven and on the most blessed repose of the living which concludeth all evils in a beatitude infinite They threaten me with imprisonment fetters gibbets and death the terrible of terribles I expect not till it fall on me I look on it afar off with an eye strucken with the first rayes of felicity What can death take from me but a miserable carcasse subject to a thousand deaths but a life of pismires and flies And what can it bring unto me but a cessation from so many relapsing actions and from a wretched embroilment which every day endeth not but to begin again O how little are all things mortall with him who looks on a God immortall I will walk in the shades of death with a firm footing and a confident countenance since it cannot separate me from the source of Lives The eleventh Treatise Of SHAMEFACTNESSE § 1. The Decency of Shamefac'tnesse its Nature and Definition SHamefac'tnesse is a humane Passion more reasonable then the rest because being properly Shamefac'tnesse a very reasonable Passion A fear of Dishonour it makes distinction between that which is decent or undecent laudable or blame-worthy glorious or infamous which appertaineth to the Court-hall of Judgement and Reason It hath this priviledge that Its sources honour and conscience it takes its Origin from two very eminent sources which are Conscience and Honour seeing the things which cause shame in us are ordinarily vitious or naught in the common understanding of men Conscience which according to S. Thomas is a naturall habitude that exciteth us to good and maketh 1 Part. q. 80 us to disapprove evil insensibly stirreth in us shame so soon as any of our thoughts actions or words transgresse its laws Honour on the other side casts forth a ray from the circuit of its glory which visibly figureth The love of reputation is a strong spurre unto us the blemishes that darken its beauty The love of Reputation is powerfull It seems to be some Atome of Divinity which enters into hearts the most generous makes men very desirous to be well esteemed thinking by this means to lead a pleasing life in the minds of many which is much more prized then the life of bodies seeing there are some who daily sacrifice themselves for Punctillio's of Honour to bloudy deaths in the most exalted heighth of their prosperity This reputation pompously marchethe before Conquerours and causeth a million of Trumpets to be sounded to make them famous It cultivateth the verdant Laurels of great Captains It encourageth the most heartlesse souldiers to Combat It cherisheth the learned and sweetneth the toils of their pens It awakeneth arts It raiseth the most excellent Ladies as it were on the wing of Glory by singularpraises of their Chastity It entreth into places the most infamous as the ray of the Sun into a puddle and makes even those who have renounced Honour still to seek some rag of Renown to cover their reproach S. Augustine saith S August in Psal 19. Herostratus and others Non sum tantus ut sim contentus conscientia mea Ambr. l. 1. Offic. c. 48. men are so ready to make themselves to be known that those who cannot be known for their goodnesse make themselves many times to be talked of for their wickednesse as if they thought it were as good to be nothing as to see themselves deprived of the knowledge of the living S. Ambrose saith admirably well I am not so great a man as to be satisfied with my own Conscience I have this infirmity that I cannot endure the least stain of shame without washing it off This is the cause that the whole world endeavoureth to preserve for it self as much as it can an inviolable estimation among so many different opinions of judgements passions favours disgraces interests and revolutions of the world Manners saith S. Bernard have their colours and their odours which are good examples So soon as Reputation is wounded by the object of some dishonour the soul is moved all the bloud is stirred spreading it self over the face with a ruddinesse as if it proceeded from this wound It is a favour from heaven when we have our senses tender in this kind and I find the antient Oratour Demades spake 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Demades right when he said Shamefac'tnesse was the Cittadel of Beauty and Virtue Likewise the Oracle of Doctours S. Augustine writeth that a more acceptable sacrifice we cannot give to devils then to offer them up Aug. Epist 202. our Shamefac'tnesse forsomuch as if that be once extinct there remains nothing but to expect a generall inundation of all wickednesse § 2. Divers kinds of Shamefac'tnesse NOw we must here observe that there are many kinds of Shamefac'tnesse one whereof is Holy Three kinds of shamefac'tnesse the other Humane and the other Evil. I say a holy Shamefac'tnesse as that which being a most faithfull companion of Chastity cannot endure the least thing Holy shamefac'tnesse contrary to this holy virtue but that it becomes much interessed therein This most evidently appeareth in so many good men in so many virtuous women and chaste virgins who cannot hear an unchaste word but that it fixeth a wound in their hearts Tertullian said Virginibus etiam ipsum
marcheth environed with lightnings of arms who sendeth thunders and tempests and calm air in the midst of storms cannot endure a Companion in this dignitie The least suspicions cause wounds in the mind which are many times waited on by anger poyson furie and massacres Bloud and asfinitie is not therein acknowledged is not assured virtue hath no credit parents will have no children how perfect so ever yea even those who are worn with old age borrow vermilion to paint their faces and still think themselves young enough to command Diadems and Sceptres run the like hazard and they have but one desire in the midst of Authoritie which is to reserve the appeals of death to themselves and never to leave the places void which they have once replenished This poyson creepeth into Ecclesiasticks Learned men subject to Jealousie into Priests Religious Graduates into the Learned into Doctours and Preachers who are willing to bear sway in Letters in Eloquence and chairs and to have none to argue their supeâ—-eminencie and when some one out-strips the Course of his years by the lustre of his wit and in the beginning stands in high esteem the old Gamesters cannot digest it Masters spare not to lessen the credit of their scholars Fountain-heads envie rivolets and the Sun his proper rayes especially when some barbarous applause of people of slender judgement and little wit giveth excessive praise to a young man who discovereth more wind and ostent in brave undertakings then capacitie This frenzy endeavours to insinuate it self into Altars into Tribunals of Penance where without touching so many deserving Jealousie goath to Altars men who worthily acquit themselves therein there are some who are more jealous of their spiritual daughters then the most passionate husbands of their wives It seems to some that now adayes to have a notable penitent is to possesse a piece of land that yields a good revenue or a fat Abbacy and that they must have a perpetual title to it It is cunning deceit to blind their eyes to taptive them to tie them to a Confession-seat with an indissoluble chain not to permit them conference nor commerce with any which may let them see their bondage to be offended if they change Confessour to throw out complaints and to make it to be accounted as if it were a sin of Adulterie God forbid such a folly ever enter into a generous mind and unworthily profane the Sanctuary It is very certain that all good directours imitate the sea which receiveth rivers into its bosome without asking from whence they come or what countrey they passed through and when they came from thence nay so farre is it from being displeased that it hath not any feeling of it this being not able to cause any diminution of its greatnesse so a good spirituall Father leaveth all the souls he directeth not in exorbitant libertie but in a discreet permission to go to come to absent themselves to return according as it shall be most fit for their commoditie and spirituall advancement He neither feels them almost to come near him or retire from him so little is his mind busied in the distinguishment of persons One may here adde the Jealousie of unfortunate Jealousie in Marriage Marriages although to say truly it is an effect of the Passion of Love I am not ignorant that great personages and learned Writers have thought that Jealousie The Jealousie of marriages which may hold the first place among the envious proceeded not at all from Love because Love is obsequious and readily taketh the tincture of the affections of the thing beloved which the Passion of Jealousie doth not thwarting the most innocent inclinations of a creature and framing suspicions upon actions But it is easie to answer to this objection and to say that never hath any of understanding had the opinion That Jealousie might proceed from a generous and well rectified Love and neverthelesse it followeth not that it doth not proceed from a Love of concupiscence bad and inordinate For it is very reasonable the definition of S. Thomas stand good as being the Definition of Jealousie according to S. Thomas most judicious who said That Jealousie is nothing else but Love impatient of a Corrivall And it is to no purpose to say That there are many jealous Husbands to be found who notwithstanding love not their Wives For if their passion be without Love it is not properly Jealousie but Malignitie and Envie because they envie them the sweetness of conversation the good and honour they might derive from the honest conversation of persons of merit and do resemble the Dog who eats no hay nor suffereth the Ox to come near it The envious man cannot endure it out of the hatred he hath of anothers contentment and the Jealous cannot suffer it through the over much love he beareth to himself perpetually fearing lest communication of love may not tend to the diminution of the good he possesseth or pretends to have right to possesse This passion ordinarily is framed out of a dull Out of what Jealousie is framed feaver of indiscreet love and taketh its originall in minds too greatly in love with themselves greedy weak and interessed upon one side they have a most strong imagination of the excellencie of the thing beloved which they excessively affect on the other a certain distrust of their own small capacitie and of the uncertaintie of love which makes them perpetually to apprehend the losse of that which they love A lover in Plato seeing the creature he most loved did use to Plato in Anthol Graec. behold the starres wished he were heaven to look on her with as many eyes as there were stars These eyes in my opinion would be very proper for good love but Jealousie is a monster with a hundred eyes which are enkindled with certain flames like to those of hell dark and mischievous And besides it hath very many ears continually hearkning and receiving all which any one will pour into them Its loves are rages benefits snares thoughts crimes words outrages designes Description of Jealousie follies and events tragedies So soon as it observeth in the things beloved the least inclination to another suspicions are framed distrusts and giddy fantasies in a man who would willingly number his wives hairs on her head for fear lest she should have laid apart some of them to give them to a lover And if these suspicions be fortified by some ill accident or some reports of a venemous tongue then do we see anger anxiety fury and despair to come forward which many times run to fire and bloud to precipices and halters What is more ugly or monstrous then this passion Think you not you see the pit of the Abysse whereof S. John speaketh in his Apocalyps when he saith That the pit of the Abysse is open and the smoke comes out of it as from a great furnace wherewith the Sun is darkned and in
consume the estate and person of thy neighbour O miserable Owle where wilt thou find waters strong enough to wash a stain so criminally opposite to the Sovereign bounty of the Creatour § 6. The mercifull eye of Jesus serves for an Antidote against all sorts of Envy LEt us next consider the second modell and if we The eie o◠Jesus watching sparkling weeping be stung by the birings of Envie Let us cast our eyes upon Jesus Christ as heretofore did the Israelites on the brazen serpent to free themselves from serpents of fire The eie of Jesus was a gentle eie an eie of love of compassion and of mercy which opened as the gates of the East to let in day light and the spirit of life It alwayes had in our cause the symptomes which Physicians gave a sick eie which is to watch to sparkle and to weep yea the eie of the Saviour of the world was to watch incessantly for our salvation even to the passing of nights in oratories dedicated to God as S. Luke observeth Is it not this eie the Prophet Jeremy meant when he said I see awaking rod The interpreters think He erat pernoctans in oratione Dei Hier. 1. 11 he alluded to the sceptre of the Kings of Egypt which had an eye pourtraied upon the top of it and that such was the sceptre and power of Jesus for our sakes a power not harsh and imperious but sweet and charitable which spent it self without waste in the watches wherein it persevered for our salvation Others following the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hebrew letter instead of a waking Rod reade a twig of an Almond-tree which first of all other trees flourisheth and expecteth not the summer to tell us news of the spring So the eie of Jesus so soon as it began to exercise the functions of life was seen all in blossome and in an amorous aspect for us In blossome when at his arrival he caused the Angels to sing the Hymne of Glory and Peace of Glory to God and of Peace to men In blossome when at the age of twelve years he so sweetly darted forth beams in the Temple of his father In blossome when from the top of a mountain he looked on his poor famished people who wandred through the deserts as sheep deprived of their shepheard In blossome when he stayed upon so many miserable bodies deteined by incurable maladies to give them health O eie of Jesus Eie of the Nazarean always flourishing and blown for the comfort of mortals I say in the second place this eie sparkled when he was to give the example of zeal which it behoved him to have the honour of his heavenly father then it was when he was armed with terrours and lightnings to cast astonishment into wicked souls and to deliver Igneum quoddam atque sydereum radiabat ex oculis ejus divinitatis majestas lucebat in facie 8. Hier. in Mat. those from their Tyranny who thereby were oppressed There was seen I know not what of glittering and flaming to sparkle from his eyes and the Majesty of a Divinity did shine on his face saith S. Jerome Have you heretofore considered the Angel of the living God who was as a sentinell in the great flaming pillar of fire which led the Israelites in the passage of the red-sea Have you observed how placed just in the midst Exod. 14. 20 of two armies the one whereof was of the people of God and the other of the Egyptians he darted raies of favour on the heads of the elect which were all lighted with a celestiall light notwithstanding the thick darknesse of the Egyptian night and at the same time he threw on Pharaohs Diadem and on his warlike horses the avenging dart of Gods anger to involve them in remedilesse misery So the eye of our Lord hath alwayes beheld and at this day likewise doth lovingly behold such as fear his holy name and do tremble out of the reverence they bear to his divine Majesty but as for perverse souls who have hands armed against heaven he hath sparklings sharp and quick which are the messengers of his justice As for thee Libertine this sparkling eie for thee Harpy for thee bloudy Devil for thee wicked creature it throws forth sparks of fire which in this life will begin to burn thy sinfull soul but as for souls chaste and loyall he hath sweet influences and mercies In the last place I likewise say to shew the benignity of this eye that it was almost alwayes weeping and dropping for us in tears a thousand times more precious then those of Myrrhe O what tears were those of Jesus Jesus was the firmament which divided waters from waters heavenly tears from earthly tears And seeing Interpreters say that the masse of waters was divided into two substances whereof the one congealing into a bright Chrystall made Heaven and the other remaining on the earth made the Sea I may say the tears of Jesus were all Chrystalline and wholly celestiall as that Palace of God which we see over our heads but ours are salt bitter and storm like the sea Jesus yet walking on the earth was towards the wicked and proud a mount Sinai which roared thundred light ned and seemed to be as the Charriot of the God of Hosts but in respect the miseries of the earth and the pains likewise which waited on sinners he was a Mount Lebanon that ceased not to make the waters stream forth in the spring which issued from the snows wherewith the winter had wholly covered it Jesus the true Lebanon Numquid deficiet de petra agri nix Libani Hier. 18. in whitenesse of innocency Jesus the true Lebanon in the continuall waters of his eyes which can no more be dryed up then the fountains of Lebanon Jesus also the true Lebanon in the sweetnesse of the odours of his eternall sacrifice He burnt as the incence of Lebanon and dissolved as the snow of Lebanon at the same time giving us fire and water Fire to enkindle our love water to wash our sinnes O how these waters have quenched the flames of the sword of the Cherubin able to burn all the earth with the fire of Justice O how sweetly distilled these tears for us on the day of his birth when he moistned the clots of his poverty O how often have these tears hathed his eyes in the sacrifice In diebus carnis suae preces supplicationésque cum clamore valido et lachrymis offerens exauditus est pro sua reverentia Hob 5. 7. of prayer O how pitifully these tears bedewed the pomp of his triumph when he wept over miserable Jerusalem O how efficacious were these tears when he oftered them for us in the bloudy Sacrifice of the Crosse and rendered up his sweet soul into the hands of his heavenly Father bleeding and weeping and looking this last time on the earth in his mortall conversation to lift it up to Heaven § 7.
and already well felt he was not born to be predominant over a beauty so triumphant The easinesse of his nature suffered him not to be long in resolving to give way to his passion He instantly declares himself and coloureth his request with the title of marriage Brunhault gives ear whether for the love of Meroveus or whether out of the hatred of Fredegond his mother supposing it was an opportunity to carry fire very far into the Royall race They secretly marry the Nephue espouseth the Aunt by a crime unheard Love is their Pope and King from whom they take dispensation and leave Fury conceiveth this marriage Timerity signeth it but misery sealeth the contract Meroveus returneth from Roan stil hiding his fire under the ashes He gives account of his commission The King his father resolveth to send him to take possession of Guyenne which he judged to be fallen unto him by the death of Sigebert He fergneth to depart from the Court with intention to go to Bourdeaux but the countrepoise of love insensibly carryed him to Roan and he hastneth to court his pretended spouse and forgets all cares and affairs to please his passion which being not kept with in the limits of moderation made a great noyse and was carried to the ears of the Court. King Chilperic went to Roan with an army to quench the fire in its beginning thinking there was some notable plot contrived against his state but he finds these lovers had no other arms but those of Cupid and that the excesse of their passion had given them so little leisure to think on their own safety that seeing themselves beset by souldiers they had recourse to altars which were then secure refuges for the miserable Chilperic durst not violate Sanctuaries in the presence of Pretextatus Bishop of Roan a man courageous and zealous for things divine He promised himself to take this new married Couple by the want of victuall and other naturall neecessities But he seeing the businesse to be drawn at length patience slips from him and he made them to come out of the Church with promise of impunity His soul was softned seeing a young Queen a widdow and miserable by the cruelty of his wife Nature pleadeth in his heart for his own bloud he embraceth them both with tears in his eyes and not to affright them enterteins them with fair hopes whilest they little think of it he sends Brunhault into Austrasia her own Countrey and keeps Meroveus under good and sure guard judging one could not well trust him if he were at his own dispose In the mean time Fredegonda immeasurably displeased with the proceedings of this affair and supposing the King her husband went on too remissly made it a great crime of state and of manifest conspiracy wherein she involved the Archbishop Pretextatus He was Meroveus his God-father could not but have some tendernesse towards this Prince his God-child which being sinisterly interpreted drew much misery upon him He with his moveables and papers were seized on where they found certain packets of Queen Brunhaults which strengthened the suspition they conceived to his prejudice He is sent for to an assembly of Bishops where the King coming in chargeth him with the crime of rebellion accusing him to have withdrawn the people from their obedience to crown his son and thereupon roundly required the Prelates that justice might be done according to holy Canons The witnesses are heard and confronted who do not throughly enough prove the crime whereof he was accused Pretextatus justifieth himself by a solemne protestation of his innocency which caused compassion in many But these Prelates assembled were partly weak and partly sold to serve the Kings passions there was almost none but Gregory of Torus who having an invincible spirit in a little body encouraged the whole Assembly to the defence of the truth the menacies of the King and murthering flatteries of Queen Fredegonde being unable to shake his constancy Other batteries were likewise made to ruine a man half dead by stirring up against him divers calumnies from which he very happily vindicated himself untill at length some treacherous Bishops counselled him to accuse himself by way of humiliation of the offence of state which was objected against him They told him he must not appear too just before his Master that it was not reasonable the King should receive an affront in this affair that he was a mild Prince who would Pretextatus should owe his safety to his clemency and that he no sooner could speak one word of confession but he should be freed from this vexation and restored to his Dignity The unfortuante Prelate giving ear to the hissing of serpents made his tongue the snare of his soul and owned an imaginary crime to undergo a reall unhappinesse He had no sooner pronounced the word but the King transported with excessive joy prostrated himself on his knees before the assembly of Bishops demanding that his robe for ignominy should be cut off and the execrations thundring against Judas to be pronounced over him The compassion of some procured moderation therein Neverthelesse he was instantly degraded condemned to banishment and delivered to the Kings Guard who lead him to a little desert Island near the city of Constance in Normandy whence he esaped to be in the end massacred by the practises of Q. Fredegonde This step-mother was not content to see Meroveus confined to a prison but she violently urged he might be shaven and shut in a Monastery which was executed But it is a great errour to think to make a religious man by holding a poignard to his throan and by taking hair from his head when the consent of his heart cannot be had The thoughts which according to the Interpreters of Scripture are as the hairs of the soul were not taken away by the roots from this miserble Samson They much persecuted him about his passed Loves that hâ— quickly forsook Cowl and Monastery to begin new stirs He went directly to Torus which gave much trouble to good Saint Grogory and spent nights upon the tomb of Saint Martin fasting and praying to have a revelation which might promise him a crown But seeing Chilperic pursued him with armed hand he fled from town to town and from Sanctuary to Sanctuary finding not any one who would support his rebellion In the end he gets into Austrasia and returneth to the embracements of his Spouse as it were to end himself in those eyes which had enkindled his first flames But the cunning Queen considering that her subjects were raised in alarms upon his comming and fearing she might draw upon them the totall storm of Chilperics arms preferred reasons of state before those of love besought him to retire They of Tours who were suspected by the King for having first of all favoured his flight thinking not to find their own safety but in his ruine called him back again under colour to support his arms and to become
of his side The Prince in whom passion caused a continuall drâ—â—kennesse of Reason being more easie to believe then prudent to examine reasons turned towards them and presently found himself caught in their snare When seeing himself betraied and ready to be delivered into the hands of his Father and step-mother whom he more feared then a Panther he addressed himself to Geilan his confident friend and prayed him to give an end to his miserable life sith having found so much infidelity in his beloved treachery in his friends and crueltie in his father there nothing remained for him but a Tomb to bury all his miseries The other thinking to do him great service thrust his sword into his body and separated his soul Which may be a fearfull example for youth to make them for ever to abhor the charms of love That of Carloman was as light although it had Paulus Aemilius not so long a sequele of accidents Paulus Aemilius recounteth that this young Prince accustomed to sottish and sordid love having in a street perceived a creature which to him seemed handsome he began to follow her being mounted on his horse but the maid very chaste to avoid his courtships cast her self speedily into a house whither Carloman spurring his horse desperately followed her not observing that the door of the house was too low which smote him and stroke him down so unfortunately that he left both love and life It was a direfull thing to see so great a Prince to die in jeast but the sports of this passion are ordinarily bloudy and Venus came from a sea of water to swim in a sea of bloud 3. I will here also let you see the effect of a passion Concilia Gallieana tom 3. to all extremity dissolute and scandalous which made a great noise throughout all Christendome and will serve to make men detest the wickednesse of such as break conjugall bands to satisfie their lust The young Emperour Lotharius grand-child of Lewis the Courteous loved in his younger years a Lady much mentioned in the Epistles of Popes under the name of Valdrada She had a commanding beauty was of a humour full of attractives and wiles which surprized the young Prince with an affection so strong and catching that after a thousand crosses he could not be unloosed from it but by death Neverthelesse Time and Reason inviting him to think upon a lawfull marriage he espoused Theutbergue a beautifull and virtuous Princesse Scandalous love of the Emperour Lotharius and Valdrada who was thought fit to quench the fire of his unchaste love and hereafter to enkindle his heart with flames more chaste and happy But fascinated by his evil Genius he presently took an aversion against his wife being seldome personally with her and perpetually in mind and affection with her who had laid hold of his first love Whether it were that this audacious woman imperiously ruled over him as a man timorous in his passions who durst not yet confidently do a mischief or whether he were sufficiently disposed thereunto by the violence of his love he undertakes a very scandalous businesse which was to unmarry himself falsly imputing adultery and barrennesse to his wife The criminall processe is handled in the Ecclesiasticall Court Gontier Archbishop of Collen who had great power and great faults supporteth the Princes part what he might having won Theutgard Archbishop of Trew on his side he drags along souls set to sale by a torrent of authority to which none make resistance The innocent Theutbergue is condemned in two pestilent Synods and handled as a prostitute the Crown is taken from her and put on Valdrada's head who appeared with a marvellous pomp whilest the other groaned under the ashes of a publick penance The chaste Princesse who not so much regarded eminent wedlocks as the honour of her purity which she meant to preserve to her tomb appealed to the Pope which at that time was Nicholas the first and wrote mournfull letters to him able to rent rocks asunder The common Father of Christendome heareth her complaints animated by truth and deputeth two Legates to do her right These Prelates had not courage enough to decide the matter and seeing themselves upon one side assailed by their conscience and on the other besieged by the powerfull contentions of Lotharius and two Archbishops they found out a way how to wash their hands from this judgement They shew that since two Provinciall Councels had passed upon it and that the Archbishops Gontier and Theutgard had born sway therein it were good that the same men took pains to go to Rome to let the Pope see the acts of those two assemblies and to justifie all their proceedings These two Prelates who thought nothing was impossible to their credit refused not the commission They go armed with impostures and tattle to oppresse truth and overwhelm innocency The Pope a clear-seeing and charitable man interessed himself in the cause and in full assembly discovereth their jugling with such vigour and perspicuity that all the Fathers cast their stone at them The mischief they meant against the innocent Theutbergue falls back upon their own heads they are excommunicated degraded deprived of their offices and benefices to be reduced to the communion of Lackies Never did men practise a mischief with more unluckinesse and lesse successe A Legate is dispatched to annull all they had done which was the courageous Arsemius who caused all the processe to be reviewed drave away the impudent Valdrada restored her honour to Queen Theutbergue and tied her marriage with an indissoluble knot Neverthelesse this judicious Lady well foreseeing that those loves which are re-enkindled with the fires of S. Peters thunders would neither be happy nor faithfull for her saith she was satisfied to have put her honour into safegard and that having observed so much evil disposition in her husband and treachery in the world she desired to spend the rest of her dayes with God Lotharius was transported with joy upon this news and addressed an humble supplication to the Pope shewing he had obeyed his commandments being dutifully bent to take his wife again but since the piety of this Princesse who is not born for worldly matters is suggested with the thought of entering into religion it would please him to favour her generous purpose to give him leave to marry Valdrada which would be a means to take away all the sin scandall of his miserable life The holy Father answers that he much commended the charity he had towards queen Theutbergue his spouse but that it was fit this good affection might begin in himself and should he throughly resolve to enter into a Monastery the permission he required for his wife should hinder nothing This answer confounded him and seeing that of two wives he was despised by the one and interdicted from the other he lived in the world as a man without soul or contentment Mean while he hoped that
God calling Theutbergue he at least should then have all facility in his marriage with Valdrada but the Pope considering the evil practises of this lustfull love which had scandalized all Christendome and the former usage of his wife he let him understand that this match was for ever forbidden Provoked desire burns to fury and he again beginneth a most notorious whoredome since he could not colour it with the title of marriage Thereupon menaces and thunders from Rome follow and the name of Valdrada is mentioned in all excommunications reiterated one after another The miserable Lotharius seeing himself crossed by God and men perpetually pricked with remorse of conscience resolved to take a journey to Rome and to present himself to Hadrian the second successour of Nicholas and to get his absolution and to mediate the affair of his marriage his heart still propending towards her whom he so unfortunately had loved The Pope harkened to him and received him to penance and disposed himself to say Masse wherein he was fully to finish the affair of his reconciliation When he came to the instant of Communion he takes the venerable Hoast in his hand and addresseth himself to king Lotharius and all his complices ready to communicate and sayes to them Sir if it be true that having renounced your unchaste loves you this day do present your submissions to God and to the Church in all sincerity come near you and yours to this blessed Sacrament with all confidence in the mercy of God But if you still retein the old Leaven of your inordinate affections get you from the Altar both you and all those who have served you in this businesse if you will not be involved in the vengeance of God This speech was a stroke of thunder that affrighted the king and his followers and which made many of them instantly to retirâ— Lotharius was ashamed to go back and albeit he yet felt the flames of his love to burn in his heart yet failed he not to passe further with his greatest intimates and friends From that time not any one of those who had unworthily communicated had any health all miserably died and the poor Lotharius returning from his voyage found the end of his life and direfull passion in the city of Placentia Valdrada submitting her self to a just penance obteined absolution from Pope Adrian Gontier and Theutgard seeing themselves deposed without hope of recovery armed their pens against the Pope to no purpose But afterward Gontier made great submission that he might be reestablished yet obteined not what he desired for it was answered him that it was from respect of honour and temporall gain that all these humiliations proceeded and therefore it were much better for him to persever in the exercise of his penance which was so much the more bitter unto him for that he had in the beginning of this businesse prostituted his Niece to King Lotharius under the hope of marriage which his ambition figured to him So true it is that God chasticeth vice with a rod of Iron in such as too near approch the Sanctuary Valdrada is not alone among the Ladies of the old Court who hath made her self to be talked of in so ill a sense Love appeared as weak and shamefull in Ogine Queen of France Mother of Lewis Outremer who transported with foolish affection married her self to a young gallaâ—t nâ—med Heribert sonne of him who had betrayed and imprisoned Charls the simple her husband 5. The like passion was scandalous in the time of Annals of France Philip le Bel in three noble Princesses married to three sons of France who were all accused of unchastity by their own husbands and fell into horrible disasters to teach women of quality in what account they ought to hold the honour of chastity 6. But verily never any thing in this kind did equal the exorbitancy of Queen Eleanor who renounced Fâ—ance which had eyes too chaste to tolerate her disorders She going along to the conquest of the holy land with King Lewis the young her husband lost piety and reputation resigning her self to the love of a Sultan Sarazin the turbant nor dusky colour of a hideous man being able to stay the fury of her passion She was the daughter of William the last Duke of Aquitane who in his time was a scourge of mankind he alone at one meal did eat as much as eight men and this vast body filled with wine and viands burnt like a Fornace throwing out flames of choler and lust on all sides S. Bernard knocked him down like a Boar foaming at his feet presenting the holy Hoast before him and by that miracle made a Hermit of him His daughter imitating his evil habits had no part in his conversion living in all liberty Which was the cause that the King under colour of affinity made his match with her to be broken and restored Guyenne to her which she brought This bold woman not amazed at this divorce espouseth Henry of England a man as passionate as she where she found a terrible businesse when her unquiet spirit powerfully bustling in affairs of state and the interests of her husbands children she saw her self shut up in a prison where she lay for the space of fourteen years in rage and languours which put a penance upon her more irksome to her humour then it proved profitable to her soul Good God! what heavie horrours what Tragedies and what scourges of God do alwayes fall on sin What a pleasing spectacle it is to see amidst such confusions victories gained over evil love 7. It is very true that he who would recount the remarkable The honour the French have born to the virtue of Chastity acts of chastity resplendent in the Court of France and especially among Ladies for one who ought to be forgotten a thousand might be found who had lived with very singular testimonies of Integrity but it is certain that Historians have an itch to set down mischiefs and crimes rather then virtues which is the cause that when so many honourable women walk in the beaten track of a well ordered life we no more admire it then the ordinary course of the Sun But if one step awry all curious eyes look on her as on a star in Eclipse Yet in so great a negligence of Historians to write the rare effects of modesty we do not want good arguments which testifie the love our nation hath in all ages born to purity 8. Nicetas a Greek Authour in the lamentations of the city of Constantinople taken by the French cannot hold from admiring Baldwin the conquerour thereof who entring into a vanquished City wherein there were many beauties never did he cast so much as one wanton glance beginning his triumph from the victory he got over himself and that which he practised in his own person he caused to be exactly observed among his attendants commanding his Heralds twice in a week to proclaim throughout the
great spectacle of the Creatures thereby to ascend to the Creatour is not unprofitable for a good understanding that which teaches to reason and discourse is good for every occasion but the Morall Politicall and History make up the best part of a Kings Library and if hee make a little digression into Musick and Painting it cannot but be commendable Promote that knowledge that puffs not up vain spirits but that rather which humbles the solid ones for by learning that which we know not we understand our Ignorance and know by experience that one might make a great Library of that which is beyond the knowledge of the most learned in the World There are none but those that know little and which know ill who take upon them to have a sufficiency of knowledge they crackle like little Rivulets whereas the greater Rivers run quietly That Prince which by reason that he hath studied will carry all his counsell in his own head shews that he hath little profited by his study for in this mortall life a man is so far wise as he seeks still to become so but after that he thinks that he hath atteined it and hath no more need of others help then he begins to be out of the way The use of wisedome is to become wise as that of the eye is to see The wisedome of a King may be seen by a reasonable tincture of Learning by the knowledge that he hath of himself and the frail flourishing of all humane things by the discreetnesse of his words by his modesty in prosperity by his constancy in adversity It will shew it self by a Greatnesse without Affectation a Majesty without Pride an Humimity without Contempt a Comelinesse without Striving where every thing declares a King without any shew of making him seem so it will shew it self by its Temperance by the moderating of his passions and by Prudence in the government of his life and estate This is to have deeply studied to be able to overcome his Anger to disarm Revenge to moderate a Victory to overcome Concupiscence to regulate his Affection to keep under Ambition to restrain his Tongue to over-rule his Delights to asswage his Discontents to live like a Saint and speak like an Oracle This is exceedingly to have profited in wisedome to be able to proceed in all affairs according to the laws of true prudence But the false maketh that its principall which is but the accessary it takes Greatnesse and Pleasures for the chief ayme of a Kings life it consults little it judgeth ill it decreeth nothing But the true Prudence can look unto the end can take a right mark in all businesses it doth all things with advice it brings Judgement without Passion in all occurrences and gives an effectuall order for the performance of all that which hath been wisely concluded the remembrance of that past the understanding of the present and foreseeing of that to come makes up its whole perfection a quick apprehension prepares an accutenesse works it good advice orders foreseeing confirms and performance crowns it It is by these steps that a Prince ascends to the Throne of wisdome which is an unestimable Gift and the true favour of the Deity Saint Lewis whose life might have been the school of the ablest Philosophers although he bore in his mind the best maximes of Empires yet ceased not to reade good Books and as he had seen in the time of his imprisonment in the East that a Sarazen Prince had a Library of the Books of his Law he caused the like to be made at his return in his Palace where he spent many hours and would converse freely with men of learning and desert Demetrius Phalereus advised Kings to instruct themselves often by reading for that there one may learn of the dead which they cannot know by the living The next to Wisedome followeth Justice which performs in a manner the chief duty that is required of a Prince and Royalty seems to be nothing else but an excellent science of Justice as Justice is taken for that habit of virtue by which we render to every one the right that belongs to him Tertullian said That Goodnesse had created the World but that Justice had made the Concords thereof This wise mother of Harmonies ceaseth not to open an ear to the dissents that are made in the World to correct the disagreeing Voices by its own love and to bring all to its own end Ambition inventeth extravagant sounds Covetousnesse sends forth enraged cries tyranny makes an infernall Musick but Justice corrects all these excesses and if it meet with valiant and incorrupt souls to serve it as an instrument it sends forth incomparable Melodies which delight the ears of God and rejoyce the whole fabrick of Nature There are two great Virtues which make all the equalities of mans life Truth equals the understanding to all the objects and Justice the hearts to that which is right Lying and Injustice make every where great inequalities which fill Kingdomes with Disorder Consciences with Crimes and the World with Confusion But Truth and Justice render light to dark things strength to feeble certainty to doubtfull and order to the confused We naturally take a delight to behold the fair bow in heaven which compasseth the air with a crown of glory but Alcuin the School-master of Charlemagne writes That that which makes it the more admired is for that amongst its other beauties it carrieth the ensigns of Justice It shews the fire and the water in its red and blew colours to instruct us that Justice holds the fire in its power to consume the wicked and the water to bring refreshment to those scorching heats of calamities that trouble the miserable Justice is Gods profession and an Antient said that his continuall exercise was to weigh the hearts and the works of men and to distribute rewards and ordain chastisements according to the good and ill deserving of every one in particular The Scripture saith that he is glorious and magnificent but that these magnificences are chiefly seen upon the mountains of wounds and robberies when he beats down with an invincible arm the great ones of the earth loaden with the spoils of iniquitie The Hebrews said that Good took such delight in Justice that he had bestowed even the Saphires of his own Throne to engrave the Law thereon The Saviour of the world is named the Just by the holy Ghost in the writings of his Apostles not in dissimulation but by his Essence All the great Imitatours of God have honoured this quality and have held it in the number of their dearest delights Job maketh it his crown and his garment David his virtue Solomon his wisdome Josias his love Augustus his exercise and Trajan his honour The memory of so many Conflicts Sieges Battels Conquests Triumphs whereby the life of this great Emperour was so famous are found but in the record of a few lines but that which remaineth engraven
Elections of two Kings one after the other who lived but a while and did nothing but the third named Totilas was endowed with so eminent and lovely qualities that he raised up all their hopes and his coming to the Crown of the Gothes was as the infusion of a new soul into a dead body He puts himself suddenly into the field with all that he could rally of the wrack of Vitiges and at first he was so happy that he defeated Bessa and Vitalius The two Generals of Justinian left by Belizarius for the Guard of all the Countrey of Italy After that he took Spoletum dismantled Beneventum planted a Siege before Naples and wan it by valour and by patience But besides he shewed so many proofs of his Moderation and of his Goodnesse toward the Conquered that with all their hearts they wished for nothing more then his Government He gave great order for the comfort of the people that were at that time oppressed with a cruell famine he provided for the security of the Goods of his Subjects chastising rigorously the thieveries of the Souldiers he preserved the modesty of Women and Maids with so much severity that he caused his Generall to be beheaded for having violated a Gentlewoman By these so commendable wayes he rendered himself Master of all Pou and from thence transported himself to Rome which he held a long time besieged and which was at last delivered to him by the treachery of a Court of Guard of Isaurian and Cilician Souldiers He used his Victory with so much clemency that he caused to be proclaimed that the Churches should serve for a Sanctuary forbidding expresly to touch those that should retire themselves thither He used the Pope Pelagius and all the sacred persons with great respect the Ladies with Honour the Citizens with Courtesie contenting himself onely to demolish the Walls of Rome without hurting any thing within He rendered himself so absolute a Master of the City and peoples hearts that every one confessed they had never seen the like and published him worthy of the Empire of the World The Emperour Justinian fortifies his Courage a-against this ebb of bad successes and with draws Belizarius from the warre with the Persians to send him back to Italy believing that all the happinesse of his Arms subsisted wholly in his hands But it seems that Felicity was weary to follow alwayes the Standarts of that valourous Captain the affairs of Warre quite changed their face all good Successes now are onely for the Goths and misfortune seemed to be fastned to all the enterprises of the Romans Belizarius was as a man forlorn in the hands of an evil destiny that darkened his Prudence froze his Courage weakned the strength of his Arms and made him unprofitable to all things so that hee seemed to have passed back into Italy for nothing but to be the spectatour of his own disasters At last he was called home again and Narses the Eunuch was sent in his place who mended the businesse and defeated Totilas in a pitched Battell who dyed suddenly of his wounds Providence if it be permitted here to lift up the veil and to enter into your secrets whence could this change proceed We know that Belizarius was the most accomplished of all the Generals of Armies that were at that time under Heaven He was endowed with a lively and luminous spirit with an inventive understanding with a profound judgement that had nothing like it but his Courage Providence for the future and Activenesse for the present contended in him which should carry away the Palm his Valour was incomparable and his Experience compleat in all sorts of businesse his Prosperity without Insolence and his Adversity without Discouragement He was Prudent Sober Chaste even to a wonder Affable Gracious Liberall Charitable Just Mercifull Happy Not onely the Souldiers respected him but even the Labourers looked upon him as their Protectour and the Father of their Quiet From whence then came it that he made a wrack at the end of his Life and that he saw all the eminent lustre of his Glory bleaked even in his hands Here may Great ones learne a wise Instruction for the governance of their Actions and have cause to admire the Judgements of God And for that purpose I shall enlarge my self upon the causes of the miseries that happened to the fortunes of the highest Lords of the earth and the more curiously search into this History in its source I confesse that the Secret one of Procopius is too rayling in many places where it speaks things incredible but it is not deceived when it tells us that two women Theodora the Empresse and Antonina the wife of Belizarius were the two Helen's of the Empire and the Torches that consumed mankind by their flames Behold saith he from whence began the Misery of Belizarius that ruined his bravest Enterprises and plunged him deep into great displeasures He had in his house a young Gentleman named Theodosius whom he loved with a sincere affection having converted him from Heresie and procured him to be Baptized at Constantinople whose God-father he himself would be He put him so farre in the good esteems of his wife that they having no children of their Marriage resolved both of them to Adopt him Theodosius conquered by so great a courtesie rendred himselfe obedient to Belizarius and above all observant to the humours of Antonina She loved him at first with a tender affection but honest enough which gave occasion to the more curious sort of people to think but permitted not the wiser sort to speak At last as the best Wine degenerates into Vineegre so the chastest Love of the spirit if heed be not taken changes it self to flesh The conversation of the young Theodosius in the African voyage the graces that smiled upon his face the sweetnesse of his speech the wittinesse of his discourses his good offices his observances his confidence and the secrecy of the place kindled so great a fire in the heart of Antonina that she cherished no more that object as a Mother but loved him as a frontlesse woman that sells her prostitution Happy are the women that reject the first thoughts of such miserable designs as the sparkles of the fire of Hell She gave at first too much command to her passion and too much overture to her unhappinesse Her Caresses seemed already too soft to the young man that strived to pay them with respect feigning himself not to understand that language of Love for fear he should make her faulty in his thoughts But she ceased not to pursue him and kindled continually her flames by the liberty of her life Conscience Honour the fear of an Husband contended for a time in her heart but in the end quitted the place She forgot all Divine and Humane Laws and abandoned her self to her passion and openly sollicited Theodosius to sin She acted the part of Potiphars wife but she met not with a Joseph He was
out of the bottomelesse pit of Hell whither his enemy had precipitated him There were nothing then but Caresses but Dalliances and discourses upon the adventures of Theodosius But God whose just anger followes alwayes sinners at the heels waited till the Offering was fat to sacrifice it He permitted them to make so many Banquets so many Dancings and so many youthfull debaucheries for the return of that Minion that he suffering himself to be carryed to excesses above the ability of his body fell sick of the Bloody-flux by which he was carried within few dayes into the other World to render an account to the Sovereign Judge of his Unfaithfulnesse and Dissolute Life Antonina remained near the Corps as the Ghost of the Body but a Damned Ghost and deprived eternally of all she loved most God gave her a life long enough and prolonged her Hell among the living to anticipate that of the other life seeing that we know her crimes and know nothing of her Repentance In the mean while poor Photius was three years in a black Dungeon out of which having twice escaped and saved himself in Churches which served for a Sanctuary he was taken again and shut up close without being ever able to get forth but by a Miracle which discovered to him in a Vision the Prophet Zachary who drew him out of that deep pit wherein he was and conducted him to Jerusalem whither indeed he went and made himself a perfect Votary to accomplish the Vow that he had made if ever he did obtein his dear liberty Behold here the springs of Belizarius his misery which Procopius hath observed in his secret History It is believed that it is but a Fable to say that he had his eyes put out by the command of Justinian and was reduced to beggery but it is true that the Emperour had a jealousie of him as if he had aspired to the Empire and that Theodora who had a mind to persecute him to favour his wives wicked humour who yet cherished in her heart some poison against him for the businesse of Theodosius made him to be disgraced his offices were taken from him his goods confiscate the souldiers that he had trained up given to other Captains his friends interdicted with a prohibition to speak to him This brave Generall who before drew the whole world in throngs after him was forsaken and walked through the streets of Constantinople with two or three poor servants as a man that had outlived his Funerals to serve for a spectacle of Pity One day as he went to do his Courtship at the palace the Empresse shewed him a bad countenance whereat he was so affrighted that at his coming forth he expected nothing every hour but murderers to assassinate him He returns into his lodging being dismayed above all that can be imagined of so generous a man He presently throws himself upon his bed trembling and sweating with fear One comes to tell him that a Gentleman is at the gate with a message from Theodora he prepared himself already for death when the man gave him a Billet from the Empresse which imported thus Belizarius thy conscience tells thee that thou hast offended me and that thou deservest to be punished but I give thee to thy wife to whom I am obliged It is from her that in time to come thou shalt hold thy life thy goods and thy honour I shall know how thou shalt behave thy self towards her and with what submissions thou shalt acknowledge and thank her for her benefits He instantly kisses the Letter and in the presence of him that brought it to him enters into his wives chamber throws himself down at her feet kisses sometimes one sometimes the other professes that he ows to her his life and that he will no longer hold the rank of an Husband but of a Slave The Lady receives him into favour and goes and thanks the Empresse But is it possible that Belizarius that thunder-bolt of warre that had made the East the West and the South to tremble that had led two Kings in triumph that shaked not before armies of an hundred and fifty thousand men having but a little handfull Belizarius before whom the mighty Powers of the earth crawled along in dust was so basely subjugated by women Procopius assures us that it was a Charm that caused that perturbation of his mind and stole him from himself and needs must it be a work of the Devil that could quite change upside down and besot so great a personage Yet may we affâ—rm that it was not onely the wicked spirit of Antonina that made that Tragedy but that the person of the Popes violated by that General who was too basely obedient to the Empresse brought on him an infinite number of miseries that broke out at last upon Justinian and upon the whole Empire Here is a great Theatre of Providence where Princes may learn that it is very dangerous to be observant to womens wicked humours and to seize even on sacred persons to satisfie their Revenge Behold then the Prime and most capitall fury of the Empire Theodora who made her husband fall into Heresie who made the Popes be plucked out of their Sees to put therein her servants that turned topsie turvie all Divine and Humane Laws to content her Passion Procopius speaks shamefully of the originall of this woman and saith that she was the daughter of a Bear-keeper a Comedian by her trade a Prostitute by her publick profession and abandoned even to the little boyes of the Theatre from her infancy He addes also that she had a very good grace in puffing up her cheeks to receive boxes on them and to gain money by that pastime and that in her little youth she was debauched by one Ecebolus who kept her for a time and afterward was weary of her which made her having now nothing whereon to live run from place to place through the whole East in that shamefull prostitution and afterward returning to Constantinople Justinian made love to her as to a famous Courtisan and finding her to his liking married her in the life time of the Emperour his uncle It appears clearly that this Authour enraged against the memory of Justinian invented execrable lies that passe in the approbation of those that nourish themselves willingly with poison and that think that one cannot speak too much ill of great ones and that those are the best Historians that relate their most abominable vices But we ought to consider that this wicked man who appeared more a Pagan in his Writings then a Christian after he had highly praised his Master in publick when he had not the recompence he expected and was perhaps punished for his loosenesse and his demerits sets himself to write a secret History wherein he speaks fearfull things which never came into the thought of so many other Historians that wrote after him and in a time when they had a full liberty who would not have omitted
terminate their Law-suits by his Verdict His principal care was to commit Justice unto innocent hands but the horrour of his thoughts was perpetually against the unjust and against the violent thinking that his Authority and his Arms could have no better employment then in the destruction of tyrants But on the contrary he had goodnesses of heart inexhaustible for honest men and a wonderful care of the quiet and commodity of his people his access was easie his words gracious his caresses full of attractions his command sweet his answers judicious his orders so just that they seemed all consorted in heaven He denyed with sweetnesse and gave with measure although his hands were seas of Liberality and Magnificence that were never dry He had all his life time the possession of his soul by a singular moderation that retained his mouth his tongue and his anger but it could not pluck back Love by the wings which caused some spots to be seen in this Sun although they were afterward washed away again by a strong Repentance That which was most resplendent in all the parts of his life was an high generosity that never forsook his heart and that found exercise continually in all his actions He contented not himself with middle Virtues but he carried them all even up to the altitude of their Glory He had a spirit incessantly bent to great designs and a soul alwayes filled with a strong confidence which he had seated totally in God of whom he thought himself to be beloved He never was kept back by any obstacles from generous enterprises he exposed himself to all dangers even to the most terrible for the glory of his sovereign Master Prosperity had no charms upon him and adversity found not any darts that were able to abate his resolution All these virtues marched in him under the conduct of a great Reason and failed not to be followed with an happinesse that had no equal but his Prudence God having ennobled him with so eminent qualities ceased not to furnish him with Objects to put them in practise as well by the condition of his Birth as by the divers occurrences of Affairs It seems that Providence made him be born on purpose at Ingeheim upon the river of Rhine and on the Borders of France and Germany as the man that should unite those two Estates under one Sceptre He found a Monarchy at his birth which his Grandfather touched upon and which his father openly possessed that had much need of being settled by his power and husbanded by his cares He enterprised for this purpose divers warres but he never waged any one that he was not led to by strong reasons of Piety and Justice His first Arms were employed against the Saxons who were at that time Infidels and Pagans and who besides rebelled against the lawfull Power that ruled them One may say truly that that Nation was the Hydra of our Hercules whose heads continually weâ—e born again and whose bloud so often shed was but the seed of a new Warre even to infinite Never did the Arms of the Romans dare to attempt any thing upon this people which they desired rather not to know then fight with Their Standards had never resolution enough to see that which Charlemagne had power enough to beat They were warlike even to a wonder and obstinate even to all extremity The businesse was not onely to conquer the Lands and to gain the men but to overcome their Superstition and to disarm the furies of despair This is that which our Charles performed in nine Warres as cruel as possible and in the space of three and thirty years so much Constancy had he against stubbornnesse and so much Power against madnesse He defeated them in many battels he subdued their cities and took their principall fortresses he demolished the Altars of the pernicious Irminsul so many times besprinkled with humane bloud he plucked all the other Idols also out of their demolished Temples and at last constrained the brave Vitiguinde their King to yield to the happinesse of France which made him find the kingdome of God in Baptisme by the losse of that of the Barbarians But it is true that this magnificent Conquerour found not any where a Theatre of his deeds more famous then that of Italy whither the Church groaning under the chains of the Lombards called for him incessantly Above all Pope Adrian the first whom Charlemagne loved afterwards as his brother conjured him to help him speedily and to recover the Patrimony of Jesus out of the hands of so many unjust usurpers He transported over into Italy with an Eagles wings and a lions strength marching upon his fathers steps that exhaled yet the odour of his generous piety He took at first the city of Verona then that of Pavia after a long tedious siege and appeared victorious with an Army of fire in the champains of his enemies Didiâ—â— King of the Lombards that was more ready to do an injury to a disarmed power then to ward the blows of an adversary was seen conquered and taken prisoner rendering the Church her liberty by his captivity It was a sight fill'd with Magnificence and Piety to see him arrive at Rome where the heavens seemed to be all in Blessings over his head and the earth all in respect under his feet He would have marched with a little noise and prevented the Pope not desiring to make his entrance with great pomp But Adrian that watched over his march perceived it and sent out very farre to meet him abundance of the Nobility and Officers for a Convoy and when he was near enough to Rome the Souldiery with all the Citizens appeared in Anns but that which was most delightfull was a Procession of little Children well chosen out that carried boughs and sang Benedictus qui venit in nomine Domini Blessed be he that comes in the name of God The Pope desiring to honour the lively image of the saviour by some kind of honours that had been heretofore rendred to the originall When the King saw the Crosses of the Senatours and that came also out to meet him he alighted off his horse and walked afoot as farre as S. Peters Church where the holy Father was at the door to receive him with his Cardinalls and all his Chair Charlemagne by a Ceremonious devotion and great respect that he bare to S. Peter and his successour would kisse every stair of the ascent of the Portall before he would close with Adrian that received and embraced him with extasies of joyes and the King kissed his hand amongst a thousand acclamations of cheerfulnesse and happinesse which the people ceased not to redouble They went both of them into the Church to render thanks for the favours that God had done them on that great day which was an holy Saturday and which gave not place for that time to the triumphs of the Resurrection The Feasts of the Passeover were spent amidst powerfull Devotions pretty
tender age in this voyage conceiving that he ought not to spare any thing which the service of God might require The ardent love caused him to expose his Royall person not onely to wearinesse but to the most dangerous blows of battels There is a certain jealous strictnesse of judgement in the understanding of men which would not that any one person should be excellent in the degree of Sovereignty in two illustrious qualities The reputation of Arms took away the high title of eloquence from Julius Cesar and we may see that S. Lewis contented himself with his rare devotion without taking that high part that he deserved in valour But this is the truth that he was courageous heroicall and valiant above all those brave ones whom the opinion of men do often deifie without very much desert Together with all his devotion he seemed to have obliged himself to take up Arms against his enemies even from his tenderest infancy He made wars both by sea and land in Europe Asia and Africa He was set upon in his minority by the neighbouring Princes and by the greatest Lords of his State from which he freed himself both by wisedome and valour marching forth into the field with the assistance of God and good counsell of his Mother He disarmed Philip his Uncle by courtesie the English by force he vanquished the inconstancy of Theohald by his stedfastnesse and the self-conceitednesse of Peter de Drues by his patience After he had pacified his kingdome he undertook the Holy War by a pious generousnesse of heart in the which he shewed marvellous valiantnesse of his person Joinville that was present saith that he stoutly ventured himself into the hottest conflicts of the battalions and fought fiercely with his own hand scattering and overthrowing the Sarazens that opposed his enterprises They speak much of the valour of Attila that visiting a certain place was set upon by two souldiers that had a purpose to kill him and escaped both the one and the other by his valour and mention But S. Lowis on a day having gone aside from the Army was set upon by six whom he put to flight by a victorious resistance When they were in some doubt about going a shore in his first voyage to Africa he was the first that threw himself upon the Coast of the Enemies with his sword in his hand without any amazement although he was up to the neck in water When he was seen at the beginning of the battel arrayed in his Royall arms he appeared like a Sun to the whole Army but as soon as he began to enter into the fight he was like a lightning that made a wonderfull flashing upon the Infidels together with all the misfortune of the time wherewith he was overborn he took the great and famous City of Damiata in his first voyage he discomfited the Sarazens in two battels he fortified four great places in Syria he compell'd the Emmiers of Egypt to restore him his prisoners he provided for the safety of all the Christians that were remaining in Palestine In his second voyage he vanquished at the first onset the Africans which had antiently made Italy Greece and Spain to tremble and had so long time disputed for the Empire of the world with the Romans and if he had not been hindred by sicknesse he had forthwith made himself master of Thunis and Carthage Behold what this ardent love did by his hands But the love indefatigable the true and faithfull character of a great stoutnesse of courage caused him not to be amazed at any thing and that he continued with an invincible magnanimity under the most burthensome accidents that contraried his enterprises This love caused him to make tryall of another voyage after the sad accidents of the first this love caused that the seas filled with terrours the Lands with Ant-heaps of Sarazens formed into Batalions the air that seemed from every part to let fly arrows of pestilence the wayes which were full of toyles the wars of terrours and maslacres the encounters of evil successe and the champions of a million of divers kinds of death never altered the constancy of his invincible heart The very day of his captivity after he had lost a great battel which overthrew all his affairs when as he saw the wayes covered with the dead bodies of his servants when he saw the river Nilus smoaking and bubling up the French blood when as the arrows of the Sarazens did fly round about his head like the hail on a winters day when as he was taken and carried to the Aunt of the Sultan and that he heard the clamours of those outrageous mouths that he saw so many infernall faces that might shake a soul of the stoutest temper he remained still in a great tranquility of mind and asked his page for his book of prayers which being ready he began to perform the duty of his Orazons which he presented every day to God with as quiet a spirit as if he had been returned from taking a walk in his gardens The very day that he was seased upon by the pestilence he beheld death coming upon him with a settled countenance he disposed of the affairs of his kingdome and of his house with a great judgment gave very excellent instructions to the princes children comforted all his good servants strengthened himself with the Sacraments entred into extasies of divine love which drove out of his heart all the cares of this present life The poor Prince sooner failed of his life then he could fail of his constancy and faithfulnesse to his high virtue It is here O Providence that you cover with a canopy of the night and darknesse the great events of the affairs of the world it is here that we acknowledge your government This Prince so wise so humble so holy which deserved that the world should bend under his laws and to have constrained good fortune to fly no where but about his colours in the mean while was handled by you as it seems to many not like to an indulgent mother but as by a step-mother severe and rigorous Alas the Lands have often undertaken the yoke and the seas have spread their back with coverlids by a pleasing calmnesse under the arms and vessels of Pirates Was there none but this Monarch to whom all creatures ought to have served as a defence that could deserve to be so evil handled at your hands In the first of his expeditions he lost his liberty and in the second his life What is the meaning of this O Providence draw the courtain a little uncover your secrets and unceil our eyes to behold them She answereth that the generall truth hath revealed to us in the Gospel his judgements on this point when he said to the Jewes which were come to take him behold your hour and the power of darknesse It is true that by a certain order of God and for causes very reasonable well known to his Providence
the evil spirits have their reign and their time which good men are not able to hinder no more then the winter and the night and that the sovereign Creatour and Governour of all things hath limited their powers and their endurings by certain celestiall periods which being not yet come to an end do make all the endeavours which can be used to destroy them unprofitable This is the cause why there is not taken in hand with such eagrenesse as might be wars in the East and Africa nor that we should undertake great designs against the powers of darknesse if we cannot see by very evident conjectures that God directs us as by the hand Neverthelesse as he reveals not alwayes to his Saints the times and seasons of Empires it happens that those that with great zeal and very rationall prudence do embark themselves in generous designs to advance the glory of God should not justly alwayes be commended even in the default of good successe And I may very well say that the most glorious action of S. Lewis was his prison and his death For to kill the Sarazens to make mountains of dead bodies rivers of bloud to overthrow Cities all in a smoke this is that which Chamgy and Tamerlan have done But to do that which S. Lewis hath done it is it which hath no compare it is that which the Angels would do willingly if they could merit it by a mortall body God which had drawn him from his Kingdome with the faith of Abraham which had lead him through so many dangers with the guiding of Moses gave him in the end to seal up his great actions the patience of Job And to countreballance that which the world esteems mishap he would have him to govern a great Kingdome a long time with an high wisdome and profound peace an exact justice for the good and repose of his people and an uncredible sweetnesse of spirit which hath made him the most amiable of all Kings on the earth and a great Saint in Paradise by the consent of all mortals and the Universall approbation of the Church Queens and Ladies JUDITH HESTER IVDITH HESTER ROYNE EXpect nothing Feminine in this Woman all in her is Male all in her is Generous all in her is full of Prodigies Nature hath put nothing in her but the Sex she hath left to Virtue to make up the rest who after she had laboured a long time in this her Master-piece incorporated her self in her work Never was beauty better placed then upon this face which bears a mixture of Terrour and of Love Lovely in its Graces Terrible in its Valour What a Court-Lady is this that came thither for nothing but to draw the sword Her hand did much by destroying an 100000 men in one onely head but her eye did much more then her hand it was that that first triumphed over Holophernes and with a little ray of its flames burnt up a whole army O what a magnificent employment had Love in this act of hers and to say truth he consecrated his arrows never was he so innocent in his Combats never was he so glorious in his Triumphs Represent to your selves a Nabuchodonozor in the flower of his age in the vigour of his Conquests holding a secret Councel wherein he makes a resolution to subdue the World After a short conclusion of an affair so great he calls Holophernes and commands him to march towards the West with an Army of 100000 Foot and 12000 Horse All the Captains assemble themselves together and in all places souldiers swarm It seems that that brave Generall did nothing but give a stamp with his foot to procreate armed men Behold him already invironed with Legions all glittering with fire and flames his Army is on foot with an horrible Artillery of military Engines and a great preparation of Victuall and Ammunition It seemed that heaven looked upon this Host with affrightment and that the earth ecchoed at every step under the clattering of its Arms. The motions of it give terrour to the stoutest sort and confusion to the weaker before it marches Noyses Affrights and Threats after it Weepings Ruins and Desolations Holophernes is in the middle as a Gyant with an hundred arms which promises to himself to demolish smoaking Cities to-overthrow Mountains and to beat all Arms to powder with the lightning of his eyes Ambassadours of all Nations are seen waiting at his gate who present unto him Crowns who offer him Tapers and Incense desire peace and mercy of him and beseech him to grant them servitude But this supercilious Generall would march upon the heads of men and make himself a river of Bloud to water therewith his Palms Fame that publishing with an hundred mouthes the wasts that that Army made on all sides failed not to fly unto Jerusalem and to carry that sad newes unto the people of God Nothing was then heard but the sighs and groans of a scared people who beholding that furious Tempest coming afar off had neither heart nor arms to oppose themselves against it Their courages were dismaied their hands weak their tongues mute they had no other defence but their tears which they powred out in abundance to begin the funeralls of their dear Countrey Manasseh reigned at that time in Jerusalem seven hundred years before the Nativity of our Lord who seeing no expedient to divert this misery abandoned himself to silence and to darknesse But Joachim the High Priest executing a Captains office together with a Priests encouraged his poore people and wiped off their tears to make them see the first ray of hope which they conceived of their dear Liberty He dispatches Posts to all parts and commands the cities that were menaced with the marches of that army to contribute all that they were able of Money Iron Men and Victuals to beat back the common Enemy and above all to prepossesse themselves of the streights of the mountains to stop up the passages where a few men would be able to do much rather then to expect them in the champain where so great forces would swallow up all that could be opposed against them After this he commands publick prayers to be made where the Altar of God was covered with sackcloth and the Priests with hair-cloth all the people were at their supplications tears and fastings even the children prostrated themselves on the earth and cryed to implore the mercy of God This excellent High-Priest not being ignorant that with Piety we ought to move the hand contented not himself onely to weep before the Altar but visited in person the Cities and the Burghs comforting the afflicted stirring up the slack strengthening the weak and doing that which the infusion of the soul doth in the Body in giving life and vigour to all the members of the State The newes comes to Holophernes that the Jews prepared themselves to make resistance to his Army whereat he entred into great fits of choler and called the Princes of the
and shakes even the strongest The Altars overturn'd upon the bleeding Priests the children strangled in the bosome of their sighing Mothers the flames that without distinction devoured the sacred and profane the Houses that seemed now but dens of Beasts presented to the world an hideous spectacle that gave more desire to dye then courage to live Amidst these desolations was found a gallant old man named Matathias the father of many sonnes all men of valour who went our of Jerusalem to retire himself in the City of Modin There he assembled all those of his family who were followed of whatsoever remained yet of most courageous to oppose themselves against the fury of the Tyrant and to retein the remnants of the true Piety As soon as the infidels had heard that a little handfull of men assaid to subtract themselves from their puissance and refused to make open profession of the Religion of the Pagans they failed not hastily to send unto them a Lieutenant of the Kings that summoned Matathias to render up himself with all his men and to offer Incense to the Idols But this virtuous man assembling his sons and his allies said thus unto them It would be to be too much in love with Life to be willing to spare and keep it in the losse of the true Religion I am sorry that I ever entred into the world when I consider the time to which God hath reserv'd my age to see the disasters of my people and the desolation of holy Jerusalem abandoned to the pillage of rapinous hands and to the prophanation of the impious Her Temple hath been handled as the object of all reproches and those Vessels of Glory that served for the Ministery of the Living God hath been taken away by violence We have seen her streets covered with dead bodies and the little children having their throats cut upon the Carcases of their Fathers And what Nation hath not possessed our heritages and is not inriched with our spoils The holinesse of the Temple hath not stayed sacrilegious hands and so many slaves of that proud City have not been able to preserve themselves from flames After this what interest can we have in life unlesse it be to revenge the quarrell of God I am promised all the honours and all the goods that I can reasonably hope for If I will obey the King Antiochus and range my self on the party of those that have so basely betraied their faith But God forbid that I should ever fall into such a prostitution of Judgment or of courage When all those of my nation shall have conspired to forsake their Law to obey the time and to accommodate themselves to the Prince's will I can answer for my self and for my children and for my brothers assuring my self of their Generosity that they will never do any thing that is base Let all those that shall have a zeal to the true Religion joyn themselves to us and know that amongst so many miseries there is nothing better then to mark with their blood the way of Safety and of Glory to give example to Posterity In the mean time the Kings Commissioners pressed every one to declare himself and to sacrifice whereupon a man of the people of the Jewes whether he was frighted by the terrour of the punishments or allured by the promise of rewards stepped forth to sacrifice upon an Altar set up in publick and dedicated to the false Deities But Matathias having looked steddily upon him felt his heart enflamed with a violent heat of the zeal that possessed him and running to that Apostate killed him with his own hand and laid him dead upon the Altar making him serve for an offering in the place to which he came to be a Priest He added to him also that Lieutenant of the King that commanded them to offer those sacrifices of abominations and declared open warre to all the Infidels that would constrain them to forsake their Law It is a wonderfull thing to consider the power of a man in zeal that contemns his life and is ambitious of death This holy old man began an army with five sons that he had and a few kinsmen He quitted the City of Modin where he could not be the stronger to entrench himself upon a mountain whither those that were zealous for the defence of the antient piety arrived from all sides with their wives their children and their flocks all resolved to live or to dye with the Illustrious Maccabeans Matathias seeing his army every day increase did brave exploits of warre so that he was not contented to beat back the Infidels but assaulted them even in their trenches and chased them away which gave him all liberty to demolish the prophane Altars that they had erected in many places to cause Circumcision to be administred to little Infants and to recover the sacred books out of the hand of the enemyes In fine this valorous Captain after many Combats seeing his last day approch made a long oration to his children enflaming them to the zeal of their Religion against the Tyranny of King Antiochus and after he had given them Judas Maccabeus for their Chief and Simeon for their Counsell blessed them and shut up his life by a most glorious end Judas that had been a good Souldier under his Father became a great Commander amongst his brethren and continued the design that had been traced out unto him by the virtue of their Ancestours employing all his power to raise again the Trophies of the God of Hosts that had been thrown down by the fury of the Infidels I find that this great Cavalier founded his whole life upon Conscience and Honour which he alwayes esteemed above all that is precious in Nature and recommendable to Grace He believed even in perfection a God Sovereignly Almighty that hath an eye always open upon the actions of men that is the distributour of Glory and the Revenger of Iniquities and held firmly that he was to be acknowledged and adored by the worship and the Ceremonies ordained in the law of his Fathers and therefore embraced with an Incomparable ardour the true Religion using his uttermost endeavour to practice defend and maintain it to the prejudice of goods life honour and of all that is esteemed dearest in the world He yielded himself to be totally conducted by Providence which he held to preside in all Battels so that he measured not victories by the multitude of souldiers by arms by fortresses by ammunitions of warre but assured himself that there was a secret Providence from above that made all the happinesse and misery of men From thence it came that he had a wonderfull confidence in the Divine Protection believing himself to be beloved of God whom he loved reciprocally more by sincerity of affection then by exteriour Pomp He never went to fight but he fore-armed himself with strong and ardent prayers he never undertook to give battell but he exhorted his men to implore
the assistance of God upon their Arms. He also shewed himself very sensible of the favours of Heaven and desired that God should first of all triumph in all the good successes that accompanied his Standards which he expressed visibly when having defeated the Generals of King Antiochus in manifold assaults and gotten a little rest to his dear countrey he took a pressing care to cause the Temple to be repaired and cleansed that had been horribly profaned by the Infidels It was an incomparable joy to all the people when after so many desolations that had preceded he celebrated a Triumphant Dedication by which he caused the hopes of his Nation to reflourish His cares extended even beyond the World wherein we live and one may well affirm that he was the first of the Antient Fathers of the Old Testament that expressed more openly the charitable offices that ought to be rendred to the souls of the Deceased This manifestly appears in an encounter which he had with Gorgias Generall of the Army of the Enemy in which he lost some Souldiers and when he came to visit the field of battell to view the Dead and to cause them to be carried to the Sepulchre of their Fathers he found that some amongst them had in their clothes certain pieces of the offerings presented to the Idols thinking perhaps that it was lawfull for them to accommodate themselves with it for their use though in effect the Law forbad it This gave a shock at first unto his conscience that was very delicate and he deplored the unhappinesse of those forsaken people that had loaded themselves with profane Booties yet when he thought that that befell them more for want of consideration and by the hope of some little gain then by any consent that they had given to Idolatry he sent twelve thousand Drachmes into Jerusalem to cause Sacrifices to be offered for the rest of their Souls This made him to be honoured with very particular favours of heaven for he hath been sometimes seen in a combat environed with celestiall virtues that watched for his protection and filled his enemies with terror His very dreams were not without a mystery witnesse that which shewed him the Prophet Jeremy and the high Priest Onias who prayed before the face of God for the safety of the People the former of which two put into his hand a guilded sword telling him that it was that wherewith he should bring down to the earth the enemies of his Religion The great love that he had for God reflected it self continually towards his neighbour on whom he contemplated the image of the first beauty He bore in his heart all that were afflicted and burned with a most ardent love for the good of his dear countrey The zeal of Justice possessed his soul and he had no greater delights in the world then to succour widows orphans and all necessitous persons They ran to him as to their true Father they ranged themselves under the shadow of his virtue and found there a refreshment in their most parching heats His conversation was sweet his speech affable his manners without avarice He never sold his Protection nor made any Traffick of his Valour He knew not what it was to buy his neighbours lands to build palaces to plant orchards to make gardens and to heap up treasures He was rich for the poor and poor for himself living as a man untyed from all things else and fastned to virtue alone by an indissoluble knot of duty His Temperance passed even to admiration so greatly did he contemne those pleasures and delights that others regard as their chief felicity He never dreamed of causing the beautifull women-prisoners to be preserved for himself because he was skilfull in the trade of defending Ladies honours rather then assaulting them He never had any Mistresse being perpetually Master of himself and one shall have work enough to find out his wives name it is not read that he had any other children but Virtues and Victories He lived as an Essean estranged from all the pleasures of the flesh and tasted no other contentment in the world then to do great actions He never enterprised the warre against King Antiochus to make himself great and to reign but for the pure love of his Religion and dear countrey Traytours and corrupted spirits blame him for having taken up arms saying That it behoved them rather to suffer the Destinies then to make them That it behoved them to obey the Powers that God had set over their heads That it was a great rashnesse to think to resist the forces of all Asia with a little handfull of souldiers that it could not chuse but provoke the conquerours and draw upon the vanquished a deluge of calamities The world hath been full in all times of certain condescending Philosophers who accommodate themselves to every thing that they may not disaccommodate themselves for virtue They care not what visage is given to Piety so that they find therein their own advantages By how much the more mens spirits are refined to search out reasons to colour the toleration of vices by so much the more their courages are weakned and neglect to maintain themselves in duty There are some that had rather lie still in the dirt then take the pains to arise out of it Judas considered that King Antiochus was not contented with having brought the Jews to a common servitude but would overthrow all their Laws and abolish entirely their Religion He did not believe that it was lawfull for him to abandon cowardly the interests of God He thought that there are times wherein one ought rather destroy ones self with courage then preserve ones self with sluggishnesse He looked not so much upon his strength as upon his duty He perswaded himself that a good Cause cannot be forsaken of God and that we ought to essay to serve him applying our wills to his orders and leaving all the successe of our works to his disposall This great zeal that he had of Justice was accompanied with a well tempered prudence As he never let loose himself in that which was absolutely of the Law so did he never use to rack himself by unprofitable scruples that are ordinary enough to those that are zealous through indiscretion Some of his Nation shewed themselves so superstitious that being assaulted by their enemies on the Satturday they let their throats be cut as sheep without the least resistance for fear of violating the Sabbath if they should put themselves upon a defence Judas following the example of his father Matathias took away that errour which tended to the generall desolation of his countrey and shewed by lively reasons that God who hath obliged us to the preservation of our selves by the Law of Nature had never such an intention as to give us for a prey to our enemies by an indiscreet superstition That it was a good work to defend the Altars and ones countrey against the Infidels and
this change kindled again his antient vigour and rallied all his forces to oppose the Generalls of King Demetrius so that at first he defeated some of them with a very famous rout which more inflamed that Monarch not being able to endure that his Arms should be cryed down at the beginning of his Reign this made him send into the field Army upon Army with so great impetuousnesse that there was no more any means left to make resistance Yet the great heart of the Maccabee could not yield but sailed against wind and tide the thoughts of his valour making him forget those of his danger He had yet three thousand men very resolute fellows with which he promised himself to continue his victories but when Bacchides the Generall was seen appear with an army of two and twenty thousand men many withdrew themselves for fear of the danger into which the Maccabee following the ordinary tracts of his courage was about to precipitate them These run awayes beginning to wheel about to the other side stole away so handsomely from the Army that of three thousand there remained but eight hundred The Maccabee felt his heart much pierced seeing himself forsaken of his brethren and of his friends in his greatest need he burned with a desire to charge his enemies but when he considered the small forces he had about him his heart bled within him It was an evident peril to approach the enemy and death to retire from them divers thoughts about this combate contended in his heart but those that favoured his boldnesse had the upper hand Let us go sayes he to his men and try our fortune let us essay whether we shall have heart enough to encountre the army that comes against us The most considerate men replyed that they wanted not any courage but that their small appearance would not be able to affront an army of two and twenty thousand men with a Regiment not compleat and that it was expedient for them to retire that day to rallie some new troops and to return to the combate with hopes of greater advantages God forbid replyed the Maccabee that our enemies should have that contentment to see us turn our backs and flie before them this is a a thing I could never yet be taught since I took up arms Ha! Where is that gallantry that I have alwayes seen in you Ought we to be so much in love with life If our hour be come let us die valourously for our brethren and let us not leave a blemish upon the lustre of the honour that we have acquired He carries them away all by his authority and they are already resolved to conquer or to die The trumpets sounds on both sides the earth eccho's with the noise of the arms and shouts of the souldiers Bacchides causes his dragoons armed with arrows and with slings to advance who began the skirmish and lead up a great battle that endured from the morning to the evening the one combating by number and the other by valour And when the Maccabee saw that the best troops were on the right point about the person of Bacchides he resolved to make his way thither which he did with a prodigious violence making them lose their footing and beating them back with much confusion But those on the left point that were yet fresh seeing the disorder of their companions came to fall upon Judas and upon all his troop that were extremely wearied with having laid upon the place so many bodies of the enemies These defended themselves valiantly but the multitude of those that set upon them on all parts overwhelmed them and the incomparable Maccabee by having received many wounds opened as many bloudy gates to his generous soul to flie away into the other world There are neither Colossus's nor Pyramids that can equall the deeds of this gallant man Never did any man fight better or for a better Cause His heart was a source of generous flames his hand was the thunder it self his valour a miracle his life an example and his death was like to be that of his whole countrey that would have buried it self in his tomb if his brothers Jonathan and Simon had not enlarged his conquests by the imitation of his prowesse The good party was much weakned by the decease of him that was the soul of his whole countrey and it seemed that Judea would quickly be swallowed up by the great forces of King Demetrius but the succouring hand of the God of hosts was not wanting to his servants in the extremity of so many miseries The pernicious Alcimus that had raised that whole storm when he thought himself to be above his hopes was smitten with a stroke from heaven and died suddenly of a strange malady Demetrius after a Reign of some years saw a great faction raised against him from that coast whence he least expected it which deprived him of his Sceptre and his life His scornfull and haughty nature made him disdain the Kings his neighbours even so farre as to offend them by wayes of words and deeds He was also little affable and courteous to his Subjects that loved naturally to be caressed of their Prince and although at first he was of an humour good enough yet he was so much changed that having built a very sumptuous Castle near his capitall city he lived there constantly to take his pleasure and let himself be seen by very few His people of Antioch that was on the other side arrogant enough were incensed and wearied with his Reign They began to raise rebellions that were fomented under hand by the Kings of Egypt of Asia and of Cappadocia that distrusted him and thought to find him a successour He was quite astonished when he saw one Pompalus a young man before that time unknown that called himself the son of Antiochus the Illustrious and brother of Eupator come and demand the Kingdome of Syria as appertaining to him by right of birth Many Historians hold that it was a pure fiction and that that pretended was suborned by the artifice of those three Kings and namely of Ariarathes the Cappadocian yet since the Scripture names him the son of Antiochus the Illustrious I find that it is very probable to follow that which others have written and to say that that Antiochus had heretofore made love to a young Rhodian woman named Bala on whom he had begotten this naturall son with his sister Laodice He failed not to shew himself at Rome and to make himself be somewhat taken notice of by the practices of one Heraclides a wise and crafty man in managing businesses The enemies of Demetrius embraced this occasion to disturb him and carried as much as they were able this man to the Throne not by reason of Justice but because they believed they should have a better market for their pretensions by making a new creature then suffering any longer him they had rendred more absolute then they desired he should be It
end to the miseries of his life Eternal Wisdome said Tertullian you cut your children's throats and use them as sacrifices as if you could not crown them but by their torments as if you could not honour them but by their punishments But why do we complain said a learned Father of the Church Joseph is free in this captivity if his body groans under the irons his spirit walks with God philosophizes with God and thinks that the recompence of a good action is to have done it Behold the exact method that Providence keeps in the conduct of her chosen ones One deep must call upon another deep the deep of afflictions calls for that of glories and the heighths of honour are prepared according to the measure of tribulations It is the gold that according to Job's speech comes from the Ab quilone aurum venit flante Deo concrescit gâ—iâ— Job 37. North it is that divine crystall that is congealed under the breath of God it is those burning arrows of the Lord of hosts that cause those combatants to let fly their colours and that make wounds by communicating lights Joseph's prison was a school of wisdome where God spake and his servant hearkned to him having his ear in heaven and his heart in that of his Master A certain Grace that proceeding from the interiour of his soul spread it self upon his visage and made it self be heard in every one of his words gained him the heart of his goaler that used him kindly having already an high esteem of his innocence and of his virtue There are some men so happy that they find Empires every where which was the cause that this holy Patriarch obtained by merit the charge of all the prisoners that were companions of his misery and made himself by love the governour even of him that held him in captivity It happens in this accident that two of the King's officers his Butler and his Baker were brought into the same prison and given in ward to Joseph to administer to them things necessary for life He comforted them in their adversity and entertained them with good discourses and as he saw them one day very melancholy he inquired after the cause of their sadnesse and perceived that they disquieted themselves about their Dreams The Butler had dream'd that he saw a Vine with three branches which at one time was adorned with leaves with buds with blossomes and with ripe grapes and that after he had gathered of its fruit he squeezed it into Pharaoh's cup which he held in his hand and presented it unto him Whereupon Joseph foretold him that within three dayes he should be re-established in his office The other had seen himself in his Dream carrying three paniers of meal upon his head and it seemed to him that in that which was the highest of all there was abundance of the delicacies of his trade which the birds of prey came and snatched away which made his Prophet denounce to him an ignominious death The effect was answerable to the predictions in the limited time and the one died upon the gallows and the other was re-invested in his place But that being very true which S. Thomas hath observed that there be four sorts of people that easily forget a courtesie Proud men to whom one does some small displeasure though they have been at other times greatly obliged in divers accidents Base and mean persons that are unexpectedly raised to some degree of honour Children that are become men and Prisoners that are set at liberty The Butler was so ravished with his change of fortune that he was no longer mindfull of his friend the enjoyment of a present good making him lose the remembrance of the Prophecy concerning the time to come Yet Providence that would exalt Joseph to the highest top of honour at the time at which she had destined it sent Dreams to Pharaoh about the state of his Kingdome which caused great troubles in his mind there being no body that he could find able to resolve his doubts It was then that the Butler spake not being ignorant that this news would be most pleasing to the King and told him the Dreams that had happened both to him and to his companion when they were in prison adding the interpretation given upon them by a young slave an Hebrew by Nation kept in the same goal and the effect that had followed the Oracles of his mouth Whereat the King being much joyed commanded that he should be instantly fetched out of prison and be brought to be seen and heard by his Majesty which was readily performed for after they had trimmed his hair and cloathed him with a befitting habit he was presented to the Kings eyes who received him with much courtesie and having related to him his Dreams which were of seven kine fat and wonderfull fair that had been followed and devoured by other lean ones and as much as could be out of flesh as also of seven ears of corn extremely well filled that had been eaten up by other empty and barren ones he desired him to give him the Resolution of them Whereupon Joseph shewed a singular modesty telling the King that the true explications of Dreams and all certain and infallible Prophecies came from God which is the father of lights and at length opening his opinion said That Egypt should have seven years such as never were for abundance and fruitfulnesse that should be followed with seven others over which should reign such a barrennesse and famine through all the land that it should deface the memory of all that great fertility that had gone before And therefore he would counsel his Majesty to find out a prudent and active man to give him the superintendency of all the land of Egypt which should have Commissaries under him through all the Provinces that should cause diligently the fifth part of the fruits and the revenues of corn that should proceed every year out of that fecundity to be laid up and kept in the Kings granaries and magazines that should be distributed in divers Provinces for that purpose and that this would be a most secure means to remedy the great famine that should follow that long prosperity The interpretation of Pharaoh's Dream was admired and the advice judged exceeding good which caused the King thinking that there was no man in all his Realm more capable of that design then he that had given the invention of it to establish from that time Joseph in that Charge so important to the whole Nation It is a marvellous thing to consider the honours that this Prince did him and the high titles wherewith he qualified him God being pleased to shew in this that he multiplies the consolations of his faithfull servants above all the measure of the displeasures that they can have received for he did not content himself to give him the silk robe the collar of the order the ring of his finger to procure him a rich marriage
Monarch chusing rather to suffer with his Brethren as saith S. Paul then to taste any more the sweetnesses of a temporall glory It is an act of prudence to steal away from the fury of a wicked Prince who holds for enemy all that there is of virtuous and to hide ones self as those Rivers that go a long way under ground without being seen of any one and then unexpectedly produce themselves to water the meadows to bear boats to serve for a knot to the commerce of men and to make Islands and Beauties for the ornament of Nature These retirings have been advantageous to many whom they have hid for a time with an intention to set them afterward in bright day The fire which devours every thing hath no more to do with the ashes and the rage of Tyrants that swallows up every thing thinks no more on those that enter while they live as it were into the sepulchre of a life unknown to all the world Moses passed from one extremity to another without the middle when forsaking the Court after a stay of fourty years he went to range himself in the life of shepherds and remained as one lost in the world to find himself with God He withdrew himself into the countrey of the Midianites where he had at first approach a pleasing encountre that made him find a commodious dwelling and a marriage according to his heart The sacred History sayes that Jethro a Priest and Shepherd in that Region had sent seven daughters whereof he was the father to draw water at a fountain for their flocks to drink and that having met with other shepherds insolent enough that taking a pride to insult over the infirmity of that sex ceased not to harry them and to hinder them from the use of an Element that nature had made to slide for the commodity of the publick Moses that had the quality of Plato's Magistrate whom he would have to be zealous and courageous for the defence of Justice could not endure the insolence of those wicked men and takes the maidens part whom he defended against oppression with so much successe as that he chased away their adversaries and gave them free liberty to draw water For which they thought themselves very much obliged and failed not to make a large relation to their father of the courtesie of that Egyptian that had taken them into his protection Their father received him into his house and took so much pleasure in his conversation that he gave him one of his daughters in marriage and allied him to his family by an indissoluble amity This new son-in-law accustomed himself to a countrey life and practised the laborious exercises of shepherds so true it is that able men bend their spirit whither they will and are good at doing every thing habituating themselves to persons and to places where their lot hath ranged them bearing equally want and abundance and shewing by their example that there is no life in the world so strange that may not serve for matter to virtue But without speaking yet of the great secrets that God kept hidden in this ordering of Moses I find that it was the means to make a great States-man of him because that Philosopher which hath deserved the title of Divine sayes that a good King is nothing else but a shepherd of a reasonable flock and that he ought to take his first Rudiments from the manner of ordering sheep to succeed well in the Government of Kingdomes that he ought to see the tender love the cares and the toils of the true shepherds to learn how he ought to demean himself towards his Subjects Moses had all leasure to lay those grounds tarrying as many years in his Countrey life as he had before passed at Court and ceasing not to play the Philosopher and to contemplate in that great School of Nature where God spake to him and taught him lessons through the veil of all the Creatures O how little did the pompous pride of the Pharaoh's then seem to him O how contemptible then did seem all those beauties of dust and those fortunes of wind that are at Court His heart dilated it self in the greatnesses of God and became every day wiser then it self This long solitude having purged him from the impurities of the earth rendred him capable of the visits and commerce of God and the time destined to the deliverance of his people being now at hand as he went along entertaining his thoughts he was got farre into the desert and perceived that miraculous Bush all crowned with innocent flames that gave it a delightfull beauty and the fire that consumes every thing seemed rather to dresse then to offend it God meaning to signifie by this the estate of his chosen people for whom the burning coals of Persecution prepared an high lustre of glory Moses charmed with this Vision draws near and hears a voyce out of the middle of the Bush that calls him and having commanded him to put off his shooes through reverence speaks with him and declares to him its will about the going out of Egypt which the Israelites were to enterprise and execute under his command To speak truth this was one of the greatest Colloquies and one of the highest Discourses that was ever under Heaven wherein the Sovereign Master seated upon a Throne of Fire talked with the most excellent man of all Ages touching the means to break the chains of six hundred thousand men besides women and little children that groaned under an horrible Captivity and drowned every day a part of their life in their tears Moses that was now totally accustomed to the sweetnesse of his solitude refused at first to be the Negotiatour of a businesse of so great importance and to betake himself again to the Court of Egypt to treat with Pharaoh alledging his inability the incredulity of the people and the impediment of his speech to free himself from that Embassage But God having assured him that he was He that is that is to say The absolute Being the Independent and the first Originall of all Essences that would be with him and would give him for a companion his brother Aaron who was eloquent enough and in fine having confirmed him by prodigious Miracles that he caused to be done in his presence wan him and made him consent to his will Aristotle in the fifth of his Politicks hath said That of all the things that cause the subversions of Kingdomes and of Empires there was not any more pernicious then Injustice and Oppression of the innocent which may be observed clearly in this proceeding For behold the ruine of a great Realm procured by the cruelty of the Ministers of Pharaoh who by his consent and orders turmoiled incessantly a people miserable and afflicted above all measure Their piercing clamours so many times redoubled clave the clouds and were carried by the Angels even up to the Heaven of heavens represented before the Throne of
make so fair a world to abandon it but governs it by a secret providence that insinuates it self into all the parties of the universe So this great Legislatour employed all his cares to the conduct of this great multitude to which his presence produced the same effect as the infusion of the soul into the body The chief and most ordinary pains that he took was to appease the murmures and seditions that were born at every season and and sometimes for very light occasions But the greatest part was for the belly to which hunger gives a greedinesse and the law gives no ears When amidst the deserts of Arabia where they journied they felt any mitigation in their pain Moses was a man incomparable but as soon as water and bread and flesh failed them he was no more their friend they longed incessantly after the flesh-pots of Egypt and stirred up furious tempests We see examples of this in all Polities Empires and Republicks where all those things that assault the life of the people make them send forth great cries run to stones and steel and tear men into little shreds Those that would reign peaceably think more of gaining the hearts of their subjects then the money and take a wonderfull order that the inferiour people may have wherewith to nourish and maintein themselves in mean commodities and all that is absolutely necessary to life Augustus Cesar the wisest of the Roman Emperours had so particular a care to provide for the City of Rome that when he saw it threatned by any famine he would be like to dye and he took more pleasure to hear the poor Mechanicks commending his paternall sweetnesse and the happinesse of his time then to behold Colossus's and Arches of triumphs erected in his name Those that take a way quite contrary say Let Clown grumble and let Clown pay that one ought little to care for the complaints and murmurings of a disarmed Communalty They fill every place with menaces and with terrours they authorise themselves by a great force of arms seeing well that they cannot arrive to what they would have by love But besides that this fashion of governing provokes God which is the father of the poor and the comforter of the afflicted It cannot subsist but by a great violence which cannot continue long either in nature or in a civil life Moses took nothing from this people to whom it was an injury in their opinion to give nothing It seemed as if he bore them all in his entrails and that he was to nourish them as a mother If he came to fail in it they forgot all the benefits of the time past and ceased not to grumble and murmure at the present He had need have had the Magazins of God himself to satisfie them in a desert where there was little to live and much to suffer So also the Divine goodnesse was never wanting to them in their necessities and this mild Conductour that made it his glory to overwhelm these ungratefull men with benefits opened by his prayers the gates of heaven to cause Manna to be rained down for them It is formed in the dew when the subtler parts of the earth mix themselves with the moisture and when all this composition is purified and baked by the heat of the Sun to a convenient temper It happens in certain places with profit enough but if the blessing of God had not given an extraordinary virtue to this food it was a Diet too dainty for hungry stomachs So were they weary of it and desired flesh crying with full mouth and forcing a man that had nothing to do miracles to content their sensuality This great conductour that pitied their necessities and was not willing to destroy them pacified them by a fashion full of modesty a powerfull speech sweet promises and good performances by making himself a Mediatour to God to obtein favours for them when they merited punishments They saw clouds of Quailes fall down upon the Army which God sent them very opportunely but he failed not to punish afterward their intemperance by sudden deaths and Sepulchres raised in the wildernesse that bore a long time the name of their concupiscence Another time as they were in great want of water and made a great tumult for the thirst that tormented them Moses assisted by the Divine power opened the flancks of the Rocks and made fountains to issue forth of them that quenched the thirst of the whole Army Their distrust caused the greatest part of their evils and if they had nothing capable to afflict them they themselves framed Spectrums of terrour to themselves and found their torment in their own imaginations Above all they exceedingly scared themselves at the return of the Spies from the land of Promise a false Rumour being sowed in the Army that it was a Land that devoured its inhabitants and that it was inhabited by Gyants of so prodigious an heighth that other men being compared to them appeared no more then Grashoppers Then they entred into strange fumes crying all aloud that they ought rather to create a Generall to lead them back to Egypt then to go and sacrifice their wives and children unto Monsters Moses and Aaron thinking themselves not able to appease that furious storm of words humbled themselves before them and remained prostrated on the earth while Joshua and Caleb renting their clothes for the horrour that they had of that sedition assured them that that report was false that the Land of Promise was very good that it flowed all in Milk and Hony and that by the help of God they would possesse it and over-master the originaries which they would eat as bread Notwithstanding all this they had run to stones if God had not appeared in that high lustre of his glory and threatned to consume them all by a generall pestilence But Moses laboured earnestly both with voyce and prayers to appease the wrath of God who punished at last the Rebels by the privation of the Land of Promise which they had spoken against with so much extravagancy These murmures that proceeded from fear and weaknesse of courage seemed more sufferable then those that came from pride and malice as the sedition of Corah Dathan Abiram which made an horrible havock These men followed with two hundred and fifty of the Princes of the Synagogue rebelled against Moses and Aaron usurping the Censer and publishing aloud that all the people was consecrated as well as they and that they did wrong to claim to themselves an Empire over their brethren that belonged not to them that that which had made them presse this going out of Egypt was nothing but an ambition that carried them to domineer over free-men and that they exercised so great a tyranny over their subjects that there remained nothing more but to pluck out their eyes Moses very much astonished at such insolent Language prostrated himself with his face on the earth referring to God the decision of the
Acroceraunia beholding her self in that danger cryed out that she was the mother of the Emperour and that they should make haste to preserve her which was the occasion of her death for immediately on those words she was killed with the blows of the poles and oars Agrippina beholding this goodly pageant and being most assured that it was a design of her sonnes had yet such a command over her passion that she spake not one word and was saved by the swimming of one of those who were not of the Conspiracy The Frigots made haste to receive her and to convey her to her own house which was not farre off The amazement of the accident did not so abate her spirits but she sent to Nero to acquaint him That the Gods and the good Fortune of her Sonne had delivered her from a great danger but she desired him not to take the pains to visit her nor to send any of his servants to her because she desired to take her rest The dismall Prince who every moment attended The amazement of Nero. the issue of this most execrable enterprise was much amazed to understand that she had escaped the danger and counterfeited that the messenger whom his mother had sent was an Assassinate imployed to murder him He awaked Seneca and Burrus to demand their counsel and did remonstrate to them the danger in which he was if he should not throughly accomplish what he had so ill begun These two great personages did look on one another being unwilling to disswade him without effect or to consent unto it by reason of the horrour of it Seneca to whom the fluencies of Language were never before wanting held his eyes fixed on Burrus Captain of the Life-guard as if without speaking to him he would ask him if he had not souldiers enough of his company to execute that which should be conceived to be expedient but Burrus did prevent him and told the Emperour that the men under his command were too much affectionated to the Bloud of the Cesars to undertake so hardy an enterprise They both had a desire to divert him from so bad a deed for the want of an undertaker But the detestable Anicetas Admirall of the Fleet The death of Agrippina did again present himself to put the last hand unto the massacre He immediately with some souldiers did transport himself to Agrippina's castle he broke open the gates and found her in bed forsaken of all the world Assoon as she beheld three frightfull faces to enter her chamber she spake courageously to them and told them if they came to give her a complement that she had no need of it and if they had any other design she believed her son was not so wicked as to command her murder These villains without answering one word did begin the assassinate one struct her with a truncheon another had his sword at her bleeding breast to whom she cryed out and onely said The Belly Souldier the Belly that did bear the monster after which she gave up the ghost her body being hacked with many wounds Her corps was burned that very night and one of her servants killed her self before the funerall pile either for fear of the sonne or for grief of the mother Howsoever Nero caused a Declaration to be published in which not without horrour to the Readers he laid all the fault upon his Mother and after this he had never any rest for he dreamed almost every night that he saw his mother calling him down to hell and beheld unnumbred Furies tormenting him in the flames thereof For all this he desisted not from the nature of a Nero continueth his cruelties Tygre but to the massacre of his mother he added the murder of his wife Octavia the most innocent Princesse on earth The cause of it was one Otho a companion of his deboistnesse had taken from Crispus a man of quality his wife Poppea and in a fury such as Nero's himself had espoused her He told Nero so many wonders of the pleasures of his marriage that he gave him a desire to taste them thinking it would be a means to raise him to a higher dignity but the event was that the Lady perceiving her self to be beloved of the Emperour did totally devote her self unto him and did advise him to send her husband into Portugall under the colour of Ambassadour This cunning woman had a commanding beauty He salls in love with poppea and estrangeth himself from his wise Octavia a sweet and pleasing voyce and incomparable attractions and allurements She did leade Nero as a child and observing him so violently inamoured of her she would be his Mistresse without a Paramour and would not permit his own wife to partake of his bed For which purpose she contrived a detestable plot and caused the virtuous Empresse to be accused for prostituting her self to a player on the Flute who by his birth was an Alexandrian an accusation which could not be spoken without the absolute dislike of all good men nor believed by any but ignorant and depraved persons Neverthelesse Tigillinus the most intimate with Nero who was a great stickler in the marriage with Poppea caused the men and maid-servants of the Princesse to be examined some of whom being torn upon the rack did in the extremity of the torment let fall some untruths to deliver themselves from the intollerable pain others continued constant and there was a maid-servant of that courage that being in the midst of all her torments she said to infamous Tigellinus Know Executioner that there is not one part in all the body of my Mistresse but is more chaste then thy mouth There being not proofs sufficient to destroy her Nero was content to send her away into one of his houses and to be divorced from her under the pretence of barrennesse Not long after she was removed thence and kept under guard and was afterwards called back to Rome to appease the trouble which the absence of so illustrious and so virtuous a Lady had caused She was received with great applause of all the City which so alarm'd the spirit of Poppea that she threw her self at Nero's feet and did remonstrate to him That he should take no more care for his loves but for his life and that this return did tend to nothing else but to ruine him with her self and to make them both fall under the fury of the people That this was not it which she had deserved of his friendship and if he had rather advance in his palace the child of a player on the Flute then to have from her a legitimate heir that would give her leave to depart in a good hour and that she would look out her husband Otho in whatsoever place of the world she could find him She used such and so many attractions so many A hottible calumny counterfeit tears such sweetnesses and such rigours of love that she prevailed with detestable
of a licentious King and of a wanton mother whose head the King did cause to be cut off for her unchastness The one from five years of age was brought up in France with so much piety gravity and honour that nothing more could be added or desired The other had a licentious Education under the bad Example of her licentious parents The one had an excellent an active and a clear spirit resembling the quality of the Sun The other was of a crafty malignant and a sullen Nature resembling the condition of a Cornet The one was experienced in the knowledge of tongues and sciences as much as was necessary for an honest Lady who ought not to appear too learned The other gave her self to such a vanity of study that oftentimes she committed some extravagances as when she undertook to translate the five books of the Consolation of Boetius to comfort her self on the Conversion of Henrie the Fourth The one did speak and write with an extraordinary clearness and an accurate smoothness The other in her expressions was harsh and did much perplex her thoughts as may appear in a subscription of a Letter written with her own hand and directed to Henrie the Fourth after his Conversion Vostre saeur sice soit a la virille avec novelle Je n'ay que faire Elizabeth R. which is in English Your Sister if it be after the old fashion with the new I have nothing but to do Elizabeth R I leave to the most liberal Interpreter to divine what she meaneth by it The one had a generous free and a credulous heart The other was malicious obstinate and deceitfull The one loved honour to which her condition had obliged her The other had a furious and bloudy Ambition and spared none to improve the interest of her Greatness The one retained an admirable constancy in her ancient Religion by reason whereof though she was outragiously persecuted yet she omitted nothing in her devotion The other did put on Religion as she did her mask making her self a Heretick amongst Hereticks and a Catholick amongst Catholicks for when in the reign of her sister Mary she made a high and solemn profession of the Roman Faith she afterwards counterfeited her belief and betrayed that character to authorize heresie and rebellion against the Church The one feared God and finding her self the Relict of Francis the Second at seventeen years of age she had rather stoop to the marriage yoke to give life unto a King than to live inordinately and under the veil of widow-hood to conceal her secret wantonness The other who had not so strict a conscience did find a way to reconcile Ambition and Love and lived not married and not a maid and though I am unwilling to believe that she lived so salt and melting a life as some have affirmed yet I cannot deny but that she had her Favourites and her Minyons which Cambden her own Historiographer doth not conceal The one studied for the advancement of Virtue The other for the advancement onely of vain Reputation The one held forth a generous liberty in all her actions The other painted her life and covered her vices with great pretences she extreamly feared the censure of Posterity which made her with so much artifice to indeer unto her the ablest men of forreign Countreys and entertained mercenary quills to increase her glory thinking by that means to conceal her Defects and blind the eyes of mankind Wherefore we ought not to give too much belief to some Historians though otherwise men of esteem who deliver many and great praises having received many and great Presents Men of that quality are always credulous enough and are not accustomed to bark at those who do feed them with bread The one was very religious in her promises the other was captious and inconstant and this most visibly she made apparent to the Duke of Alencon Brother to Henrie the Third of France who was come into England to espouse her and though the Contract of the Marriage was confirmed both on the one side and the other and though the Marriage-Ring was given yet she broke all for the Caprichiousness of one night and to obey the cries of some Maids of Honour who besought her that she would not marry The one was full of bounty to her poor Subjects to whom she could not do all the good she desired by reason of the Rebellions that were stirred up in her Kingdom The other was carefull enough not to tax her Subjects with Imposts or with Subsidies which caused her to be beloved of her people who in all the virtues of a Prince do cherish nothing more than a moderation in their Subsidies The one was indued with an extream sweetness of disposition which sometimes did seem to lie too open and defenceless as when with out seeing justice done she pardoned great Crimes which tended to the diminution of her Authority The other was naturally cruel a lover of bloud and one who horribly tormented the Catholicks and too easily would bring the Heads of her Great-ones upon the Scaffold to obtain the honour and title of being just among popular Spirits To conclude one reigned like a Dove and the other like a Bird of prey It is a horrible thing to read the History of her Reign written by her Admirers where in stead of the Contemplation of Virtues and of Beauties you shall observe in every page the Rages of Accusers bloudy Judgements Proscriptions Massacres which I alledge not in any disparagement to the Nation which I love with a true Christian charity but to the ignominie and the shame of Heresie It seems to me when I read the Life of Elizabeth that I enter into the Countrey of the Anthropophagi where I behold nothing but men drawn upon Sledges Hang-men tearing out of bowels and dividing carkases into quarters which are still dropping bloud and hanging in the most remarkable places of the Citie as the tapestry of the ancient cruelty of the Puritans I assure my self that those who are now in authority under so gracious a Prince do reflect upon it with as much horrour as my self and by their moderation will endeavour to wipe away the stains of so bloudy a Time Who is he then that is not amazed to see Virtue so forsaken and the best Queen in the world to lead so tempestuous a life persecuted in her estate in her body in her honour in her own person in the person of her friends despoiled outraged dishonoured torn by bloudy calumines drawn to unjust Tribunals locked up in so many prisons abandoned by those most near unto her and sacrificed by her kinred to the vengeance of her enemies and that in so tragical a manner and by so barbarous a hand And how comes it to pass that the other being laden with crimes did mount on the Throne by ways unexpected and did continue there by uncontrouled power and reigned as if she had all good Fortune at her own
eyes enlightened with the Beams of the face of God Consider the waves of the Ocean which cease not to carry the Memory of your Deeds unto the ends of the earth pardon your Subjects and wash away the stain which the effusion of that generous bloud hath made since you had rather be a Messenger of Reconciliation than to be the Bearer of Vengeance O great and illustrious Brittanie Is it possible that this bloud hath yet wrought nothing on the hardness of thy heart and that thou dost still delight by force of Arms to fight against Heaven to oppose thy own safety and to shut the gate against thy own happiness Where is that glory of thy Christianism which heretofore did make thee to be lookt upon as on a land of Benediction which opened her liberal breasts to give so many Doctours to Europe so many Lights of learning to the Church so many Examples of piety to all Christendom and so many Confessors unto Paradise Thy Kings by a pious violence have forced their way to Heaven and their people have followed their foot-steps There was nothing spoken of thee but obedience to the Church of Rome of Saints of Reliques of Piety of Combats of Virtue and of Crowns And since the devil of lust and rebellion raised from the most black Abyss hath seized on the soul of a miserable King thou hast sullied thy perfection thou hast destroyed thy Sanctuary the lamentable Reliques whereof are now spread over all the world and the sacred stones of thy Temples groaning amongst the Nations do attend the day of the Justice of God and the Re-union of the hearts of thy people in the performance of his service What hast thou done with the cradle of Constantine and of S. Helena who were born with thee to give Laws unto all Christendom What hast thou done with those precious stones which composed that Diadem the beams whereof did sparkle with admiration in the eyes of all the people in the world Return O Sbunamite return Return fair Island to thy first beginning the hand of God is not shortned his arms all day are stretched forth to receive thee If the insolent hands of Heresie have made them bars which have been planted for so many years do not think but the hands of true piety will tear away the disorders which protect themselves in the night of so corrupted an Age. Feign not to thy self imaginary horrours and overthrowings of Estates by the Inquisitions and Thunders of Rome The beams of the Sun will make the Manna to melt which no Power can destroy The bloud of this immortal Queen shall break the Diamond in pieces and one day work those great effects which we our selves cannot believe nor our Posterity sufficiently admire It is in your veins most mighty Monarch of Great Brittain where still her bloud doth run That cruel Axe which made three Crowns to fall with one head hath not yet poured it all out it doth preserve it self in your body and in the body of your Posterity animated with the Spirit of Marie and imprinted with the image of her goodness It is she who hath given you so temperate a spirit such attractive inclinations such royal Virtues and so triumphant a Majesty It is she who uniteth you with the Queen your dear Spouse with a will so cordial and with a love so perfect and makes your marâ—iage as a continual Sacrifice of the Ancients whose offerings that were presented had no gall at all in them The Queen of Scotland your Grand-mother was given unto France and France hath rendered you a Princess according to the heart of God and according to your own-heart a Blossom of our Lilies the Daughter of a King the Sister of a King the Wife of a King Royal in her bloud Royal in her Religion Royal in her Piety in her Prudence and Royal in her Courage She enters into your cares she partakes of your troubles She conspires with your Designs her spirit turneth unto yours and yours continually is ready to meet with hers They are two clocks excellently ordered which at every hour of the Day do answer one another Great Majesties of Brittanie carry the same yoke in the service of God and the piety of your Ancestours and as you have but one heart maintain also but one Religion Establish that which your Grand-mother of everlasting memory hath practised by her Virtues demonstrated by her Examples honoured by her Constancy and sealed with her Bloud CARDINAL POOL LE CARDINAL POLVS NExt unto Boëtius I will insert Cardinal Pool one of the most excellent Men of the Age before us who being chief of the Councel in the Realm of England under Queen Marie did know so well to marry the Interests of the State to the Interests of God that rendering himself the Restorer of Religion he repaired the Ruins of the Kingdom which were fallen into a horrible desolation His Birth most high and illustrious made him a His birth and Education near Kinsman to the King of Great Brittain as well by the Fathers side as by the Mothers His spirit did equal his Nobility but his Virtue did exceed them both and proved him to be the wisest and the most moderate person in all the Clergy The care of his good Mother did with great advantage improve his more innocent and tender years and omitted nothing that might either enlighten his understanding in the knowledge of learning or inflame his heart with a generous heaâ— after gallant actions In his most tender age he testified a Divine Attraction His love of solitude which made him to eschewall commerce of company and secretly did inspire him with the love of Solitude He did delight in the Countrey life where the pureness of the Air the aspect of the Stars the ennammel of the Meadows the covert of the Woods the veins of the Waters and other objects did prepare him as many Degrees to mount up to God as he did there behold Beauties in the discovered breasts of Nature It was for this that he made his first studies near unto the House of the reverend Fathers of the Charters whose conversation he loved more than all the pleasures in the world which occasioned a certain tincture of Devotion and of probitie to pass into his manners which continued with him all his life From thence he removed to the Universities in England where he gave most admirable proofs of his Capacity On the approach of the twentieth year of his age His Travels he travelled into Italie where he beheld the wonders of Rome and had a tast of the rarest spirits in that Age some whereof did afterwards live with him and did much conduce to fill his spirit with the height of learning which made him to be admired by all and the rather because it no way diminished the holy heats of his Devotion Having travelled into forreign Countreys for the space of five years he returned into England where he was lookt
upon as a man slâ—d down from Heaven whose excellent Qualities did promise him the fullness of glory But he suddenly observed the Affairs of the Kingdom His return to England to be greatly perplexed by reason of the horrible divorce which Henry the Eight resolved on who indeavoured at once to separate himself from his wife and from the Church of God He much desired that Pool who was Famous for knowledge and integrity should approve his intention to the end that finding no assistance from Truth he might beg some apparence from the opinions of men This was no small temptation to this young Prelate The Combat in his spirit who was not altogether so austere as to distast all honour of preferment nor so little versed in Court as not to look on the King as the Original from whence it flowed He a long time consulted with himself to find a mean which might make his conscience to accord with the will of the King His integrity which was to him as another Birth did dispute in his heart with the Interest of his Fortune and he sought after the means to temper them into one One day he thought he had found it and addressed himself to the Court to expose his advise unto the King which was an advise more pleasing than just and he had then a care that the liberty of his words should not hinder the pretences to his dignity O who is he that is able to Counsel a King in his passion If you alledge unto him too much of Justice you hazard your Fortune If you comply unto him with too much Gentleness you do betray your heart The words of a Prince are the surnace which doth prove you where you may behold some to burn and consume away like straw and others to come forth purified like Gold The spirit of God did seize on the heart and the tongue of this wise Councellour he forgot all the worldly and flattering reasons he had prepared to open onely his eyes unto the Truth How Sir said be unto the â—â—ng to labour a divorce He took part with God from Queen Katharine after so many years of your marriage who hath brought you issue to succeed you in the Crown It is true that she was given a spouse to your elder Brother but he died in his youth before his marriage was consummated And you have espoused the Queen in the face of the Church with a dispensation as authentical as the Pope could give and which he granted with your consent at the request of the King your Father of glorious memory And since your Majesty hath had a secret Repugnance caused by a respect to him to whom you ow your Birth that can bring no prejudice to the publick Faith nor to the consummation of a marriage followed by such fruits and Benedictions as ordinarily do attend that mutual commerce Alas Sir your Majesty hath consecrated its Reign by so many Royal virtues and excellent Examples which have acquired you the love and admiration of Christendom will it now eclipse so pure a life and so Triumphant a reputation by a stain which cannot be washed away but by the effusion of the bloud of all your Realm Your Majesty hath sacrificed both its Scepter and its pen by the obedience which it hath rendered to the holy Sea and by the book which it hath made in the defence of the Church Cannot it honestly cast off those Laws which it hath authorized by a publick Testimony What will your people say who have so just an apprehension of Religion What will forreign Princes say who have conceived so high an opinion of your Merit Those who do Counsel you to that divorce are the most capital Enemies of your glorie who do draw upon you the indignation of God the censure of the Sovereign Priest the arms of a great estate who being offended at this affront will conjure your ruin That which hath droven you to it is onely a passion of youth which ought to be moderated it is had Counsel from which you should retire your self it is a mischief which you should labour to avoid In this case the advice which doth least please you will be the best The precipitation of so hazardous an Act can bring nothing but repentance This I speak unto your Majesty being driven to it by the fervent zeal which I have unto the safety of its Soul and by the tender respect which I have always born to your Royal Person I must beseech it that I may not be surprized in so important an affair as this marriage is which had his Ordinance in heaven and its happiness on earth This was boldly spoken by a Man who saw that in accommodating his humour to the King he incontinently entered into the possession of the richest benefits of the Kingdom and that crossing his design he exposed his liberty his Estate his life to most apparent danger Nevertheless he had the constancy to make him this grave Remonstrance without following the Example of those which flatter all evil actions and make Divinity to speak that which the interest of their Fortunes doth suggest unto them Henry the Eighth grown more hardened Henry the Eighth was no way softened at this so grave an Oration but on the contrary he had a most earnest desire to arrest his Cosin Pool and to put him to death which had been put in Execution if the hand of God had not withheld the blow He very well observed that the heart of the King was impoysoned with lust and choler even to the despair of all remedy Wherefore not long after finding his opportunity he asked leave of the King under some pretence to go out of the Kingdom and did abandon himself to a willing banishment because he would not offend his conscience He came Pool banished himself into France and stayed sometime in Avignon from thence he traveled to Padua and from Padua to Venice where he was acknowledged and esteemed for one of the chiefest men of Christendom and renowned Pool made Cardinal for excellent quallities In the end God being pleased to demonstrate that there is nothing lost in serving him and that honours are not onely for them who by a politick suppleness do accommodate themselves unto the Times and the lusts of great men he stirred up the spirit of Paul the third a great lover of learned men who made him Cardinal with approbation of all the world So that forsaking a Bishoprick in England for the satisfying of his conscience and the defence of the truth he obtained by his merit so high a place of Eminence in the Church which all the Crimes of a conscience prostituted to evil could never procure unto them Henry who had already declared war against God and all his Saints by his divorce was inflamed with choler by reason of the retreat and the promotion of this holy man causing him to be proscribed over all England and promising fifty
revolt ibid. His designs ibid. His Ambition 148 He caused himself to be proclaimed King ibid. He giveth battell to his Father wherein he is overthrown and killed 149 We must not condemn him that by lawfull means seeks his own Accommodations 46 Achior his oration 182 It is pleasing to Holophernes and his souldiers ibid. The pernicious counsell of Achitophel 148 Adonijah competitour of the Crown and his faction 151 The fault of Adonijah in his Councell of State ibid. Adonijah desired the Shunamite which did complete his misfortune 152 Adonis an admirable fish 38 A good deed done to a great one in Afflictions is of much value 142 what are the subjects of Afflictions 57 The dispositions of Ages 19 The death of Agrippina 273 Ahab goeth to meet Elijah in person 249 He desireth Naboths Vineyard 251 His death 253 Ahashuerus his banquet which continued for the space of one hundred and fourscore dayes 188 Alcimus the false high Priest 199 Amantius plotteth against Justin ian 58 A notable observation of Clemens Alexandrinus 83 The courage we may derive from the Sacrament of the Altar 80 Shallow and fantastick Ambition 13 The Ambition of Ecclesiasticks and Religious men much more subtle then others ibid. Crodield daughter of king Caribert a religious woman raiseth great troubles by her Ambition ibid. Ambition which buddeth in hearts of base extraction is most insolent which is instanced in a Chirurgion of S. Lewis is wisely repressed and chastised by the prudence and justice of King Philip the third of France 115 The French revengers of Ambition ibid. The furious Ambition of Alexius the Tyrant of Greece punished by the valour and justice of the French 116 Ambition the beginning of all evils 292 The effects of Ambition and envie ibid. The fury and infidelity of Ambition 296 The inhumane cruelty of Ambition 297 What Amity is 5 Three sorts of Amity ibid. Naturall Amity and its foundation ib. Amity of demy-gods 6 Amity grounded upon honesty ib. Men too endearing uncapable of Amity ib. Men banished from the Temple of Amity ib. Reasons for which women do seem uncapable of Amity 7 Degeneration Amity 8 There may be spirituall Amities between persons of different sexes endowed with great virtue and rare prudence 9 Amity in S. John Chrysostome 10 The right stains of Amity are forgetfulnesse of friends negligence contempt dessention suspition distrust inequality impatience and infidelity 11 12 Six perfections which preserve Amity ib. Bounty a true note of Amity 13 The benefits of Amity ib. Patience most necessary in Amity 14 There may be a celestiall Amity by the commerce of man with God 22 What Anger is 86 Divers degrees of Anger ib. Three Regions of Anger the first of sharp choler the second of bitter choler the third of fury 87 Remedies against these three sorts of Anger ib. The propertie of the Yew-Tree like unto Anger ib. Anger is very prejudiciall in military art in a Generall 118 Philip of Valois a great and generous King looseth a battell out of a pievish humour of Anger ib. The barbarous Anger of Bajazet ib. Lewis the younger admonished by Bernard chastiseth himself for his Anger by sadnesse and penance ib. Anger of women ib. Anger out of simplicity many times causeth hurt for a word too free witnesse that of Enguerrand ib. The humility and wisdome of Queen Anne to overcome the passion of Anger 120 Addresse of Bavalon to appease the Anger of the Duke of Brittaign 121 Anastatius dying Amantius his high Chamberlain aimed at the Empire 158 Antonina wife of Belizarius prostiâ—uted herself to Theodosius whom she and her husband had made their adopted son 164 Antiochus his horrible cruelty 197 The death of Antiochus â—01 How we ought to govern our Antipathies 246 A notable sentence of the Areopagite 2 The notable practise of S. Athanasius 10 The Essence and nature of Aversion 45 How Aversion is formed ib. The character and true image of a spirit subject to Aversion ib. The consideration of the love which God bears to his creatures is a powerfull remedy to cure Aversion ib. The first motions of Aversion for the most part are inevitable ib. The example of our Saviour serveth for a strong remedy to sweeten our Aversions 47 It is a shame to have an Aversion against one for some defect of Body or some other deformity of nature when as we are bound to love him ib. A generous act of a Pagan who teacheth us powerfully to to command our Aversions ib. The death of Azael by his rashnesse 144 B THe Prophets of Baal are murthered 250 The Basilisk cannot be enchanted 10 The love of Batsheba 145 Bathsheba fitly insinuates her self and procures the crown for her sonne Solomon ib. The martiall virtues of Bayard 214 He is wounded at the taking of Bressin 216 Beautie imperious 16 An excellent saying of venerable Bede 68 Bees bear the sign of a Bull on their bodies 60 Belizasius is chosen generall against Gilimer who had usurped the crown from Hilderick 161 He marcheth to the gates of Carthage ib. A triumph after the manner of the Ancients was ordained in honour of Belizarius 162 The valour of Bellizarius 163 His rare qualities 164 The originall of the miseries of Belizarius ib. The cause why Belizarius was debased was because he had violated the persons of the Popes ib He is brought into disgrace and his offices taken from him 167. Belshassar makes a sumptuous banquet and the hand-writing upon the wall in unknown characters is discovered 246 He is murthered ib. Bethulia is besieged 282 The Bethalians murmure against the Priests ib. The picture of Boldnesse 76 The Essence of Boldnesse ib. The notable Boldnesse of Saints who have often defended the truth with the hazard of their lives against the rage and malice of cruell and bloudy tyrants 78 Why Boldnesse is not in God ib. The rash love of the Earle of Bothuel 295 Boucicaut is taken prisoner 211 By his wisdome he endeavoreth the liberty of himself and other Lords and obtaineth it 212 His whole course of life contrary to that of Souldiers generally was very religious 213 C CAligula her fury against Seneca 274 Calumny against Julian and Seneca 275 Divers degrees of Calumniatours 94 From whence the degree of Cardinall cometh  George Castriot was a souldier as soon as he was born a man 209 He died of a Feaver in the city of Lyssa 210 Presages of the generosity of Cesar 79 An excellent conceit of Charity 25 The source of Charity 102 The rare qualities of Charlemaign the Great 172 His great learning ib. His seriousnesse in his study ib. Martel and Pepin reproduced in the person of Charlemaign ib. His rare virtues ib. His brave exploits against the Infidels 173 His war with the Italians and his succouring the Church which did groan under the chains of the Lombards ib. His entrance into Rome in great pomp ib. He warreth against the Saracens ib. He was the first King of France 174
Foix General of the Army come daily to visit him and that these men in a Citie of conquest spake of paying for all they had taken The good hostess waited on him as on an Angel of Heaven so much honour and virtue saw she to shine in him When he was cured and that he spake of dislodging to be present at the battel of Ravenna where his General passionately desired him the Ladie who accounted her self as his prisoner with her husband and children considering if her guest would rigorously use her he might draw ten or twelve thousand crowns from her resolved to give him a present and coming into his chamber with a servant of hers who carried a little steel box she presently threw her self at his feet but he readily raised her up again not suffering she should speak one word till she was seated by him at which time she made this speech well observed by the Secretary of Bayard SIR The favour which God hath afforded me in the taking of this Citie by sending you into this house which is wholly yours hath not been less than the preservation of the life of my husband mine own and that of my daughters with their honour which they ought to esteem more precious than life Besides your people have lived with such temper here in my house that being not able to complain of any injurie I have cause for ever to commend their modestie Sir I am not so ignorant of the condition whereunto the misery of war hath reduced us as not very well to see that my husband my self and children are your prisoners and that all the goods in the house are at your discretion to be disposed of to your liking But knowing the nobleness of your heart which is incomparable I am come most humbly to beseech you to take pitie on your poor captives and to use us according to your accustomed liberalitie Behold a poor present which we offer intreating it may be acceptable In speaking this she took the box out of the hands of her servant and opened it before the good Captain who saw it to be full of fair Duckets at which he smiled replying Madame how many Duckets are there in this box The poor woman who thought this smile proceeded from some discontentment answered There are in it but two thousand five hundred but if you be not satisfied we will find more Nay Madame replied the Captain I can well assure you that should you give me a hundred thousand crowns you could not do me so much good as you have done in the courteous entertainment I have here received In what place soever I shall remain while God gives me life you shall have a Gentleman ready at your command As for your Duckets I will none I render you thanks take them up again I have ever more esteemed people of honour than crowns and think not but I go as well satisfied from you as if this Citie were at your disposition and you thereof have made me a present She again prostrateth her self on her knees and the Captain lifting her up answered No Sir I should think my self for ever the most unhappy woman of the world if you accept not this present which is nothing in comparison of the infinite obligations I ow to your worth Well saith he since you give it with so good a will I accept it for your sake but cause your daughters to come hither for I will bid them fare well These good creatures had charitably assisted him during the time of his infirmity in the presence of their mother many times touching the lute whereon they played very well for his recreation They fell at his feet and the eldest made a short speech in her mother language to thank him for the preservation of their honour The Captain heard it as it were weeping for the sweetness and humility he therein observed and then said Ladies you do that which I ought to do which is to give you thanks for the many good helps you have afforded me for which I find my self infinitely obliged You know men of my profession are not readily furnished with handsom tokens to present fair maidens withal But behold your good Ladie mother hath given me two thousand five hundred Duckets take each of you a thousand as my gift for so I am resolved it shall be Then turning to his Hostess Madame saith he I will take these five hundred to my self to distribute them among poor religious women who have been ransacked and I recommend the charge thereof to you for you better than any other understand where there is necessity At this time the Ladie touched to the quick with so great a piety spake these words couched in the History in ancient language O flower of Chivalrie to whom no other may be compared our blessed Saviour and Redeemer Jesus Christ who for sinners suffered death and passion both here in this world and in the other reward you The Gentleman of the house who at that time heard the courtesie of his guest came to thank him with bended knee making offer of his person and his whole estate The young Gentlewomen who were skilfull at the needle made him a present of two bracelets woven with threed of gold and silver and a purse of crimson sattyn very richly wrought He very graciously receiving them Behold saith he I have more than ten thousand crowns and instantly he put the bracelets on his arms and the purse in his pocket assuring them whilest these gifts lasted he would wear them for their sakes Thereupon he mounted on horsback accompanied with his true friend the Lord D'Aubigny and about two or three thousand men the Lady of the house the daughters and the whole family as bitterly deploring his departure as if they should have been put to the sword I demād of you if the stars were to descend from heavē whether they might find more love and respect Where be these silly fencers who are as commets of fire and bloud to bear murder pestilence and poison into houses who make the pillars of buildings to tremble with the force of blasphemies who load whole families with injuries wounds and scars who pill and ravage like Harpies fed with humane bloud Should they do nothing else all their life but heap up mountains of gold and silver they could not arrive to the least part of the contentment which this good Captain enjoyed who sought no other recompence from his great actions but the satisfaction of his conscience and the glory to have done well Thus is it O Noblemen that hearts are gained to make a crown of immortality Thus is Heaven obliged and earth tributary to virtues The seventh SECTION Against sensual love and impuritie I May well say that among all the qualities of a Nobleman there is not any hath a sweeter odour than temperance which represseth the voluptuous pleasures of the body Let no man flatter you in the passion of love as if
it were a prime virtue of your profession Believe me it is the worm which gnaweth all great actions the moth which eateth all the vigour of spirit the stain which defileth al the fairest ornaments of life the labyrinth which hindereth all generous designs the rock which wracketh all vessels the gulf which devoureth bodies and souls The wise Secretaries of nature have observed that Divers kinds of love all creatures which have the breath of fire have the tayl of a Dragon Nor likewise do we ever see carnal love vehemently enflamed but that it produceth some serpentine hydeous and disasterous issue I affirm fire penetrateth into the marrow of the total nature of the Universe but hath effects very different according to the subjects wherein it resideth It otherwise scorcheth in Heaven otherwise in hell otherwise in the bodies of beasts otherwise in sulphur and gun-powder and such like bodies able to receive its action It filleth the stars in Heaven with a flame full of lustre and honour It tormenteth the damned in hell it entertaineth the life of creatures it wasteth all bodies drie or oily to reduce them either into ashes or smoak Take my comparison and say with me there are lovers who burn as Heaven others as hell others as bodies well composed others as oyl and wood The first lovers have the ardours of Heaven who entertain chaste and spiritual love for things Divine These are pleasures which the jealous eye cannot espie the slanderous tongue cannot bite bad report is not accustomed to defame which equals have no cause to envie nor can Tyrants armed with horrour of so many torments find the means how to take it from Martyrs When we love God we find him every where we speak to him every where we serve him every where and every where we feel the services done to him have their recompence We talk to him as well in the whales belly as in the flaming furnace witness Jonas and the three children who found Chappels wholly built in the entrails of fishes and flames because the love of God the wisest architect of the world had framed such for them The second lovers burn as hell who live perpetually in stinking wicked and infamous concupiscences in dark extraordinary and desperate passions who are in sensuality as in an abyss fettered with a long chain of servitude never having any part of the air or light of the children of God The third are as bodies mixed who entertain conjugal honest and moderate amities such as are found in good marriages which are used according to God in all honour and sanctity Those of the fourth order enkindle one another as so many little bodies that daily minister fuel to the fire wasting spirit flesh and means in certain frivolous and giddly loves which after much use make men of vapour ashes and smoak You now adays shal find that affections purely conjugal are very rare and celestial loves much more but every where there are many men who burn like hell or pitch There are four sorts of love which have been great Four sorts of love enemies and still are to the reputation of a good souldier the one is the love of sensuality the other of fantasie the third of servitude and the fourth of fury On what side soever you turn your face assure your self Sir you shall find nothing beautifull in this ugly beast Love of sensuality which subsisteth onely in voluptousness Love of sensuality of body is a bruitish base and wandering love which is ever employed to spie out and trade for flesh having no other design but to satiate an unworthy concupiscence more unsatisfied than fire the abyss and hell If nature had created you some Mustapha to grow fat in a Seraglio that you had never heard speech of good or honour it were tollerable but to see a brave souldier well born and bred up to pass his life in laying snares for chastity to search out of both sexes such as make traffick of the sins of others to train up a wicked servant to be the messenger of your passions to promise swear forswear to seduce poor forsaken maids to cast them from necessity into disgrace and from disgrace into despair how can it be but abominable Think you the earth is made to be replenished with your sins and charities to be instituted to support your crimes It is idleness that serves as a store-house for your passions and it is your remisness which doth not so much as vouchsafe to seek out a remedy If you be resolved to lead such a life give up your sword for you dishonour it It is no reason that it alone should retain the virginity which all your other members have lost You cannot well serve two mistresses Venus and Bellona since they are so different And go not about to propose to your self that Sampson David and Caesar made them well accord together believe me when they came to be lascivious they ceased to be valiant It was neither with the looking-glass nor comb of Dalila that Sampson slew a thousand Philistines but with the jaw-bone of an Ass Whilest he preserved himself from women he was a sun and a thunder-blot a sun to enlighten his Nation a thunder-bolt to destroy the Philistines So soon as a woman had shaved him he of a sun became a coal of a thunder-bolt a vapour and of a man a lame jade who from the field of battel was sent to mill no longer having eyes but to deplore the disaster of his loves with tears of bloud When David in the list overthrew the Giant he had not then received the wound from Bath-sheba's eye But after he had seen her at the fountain his eyes ceased not to cast forth flouds and love dried up all his Laurels that they had very much ado to wax green again in the water of so many tears Hold it also for undoubted that Caesar being in the snows of the Gauls thought not of committing adulteries at Rome the business or war took from him all the taste of love and never did he submit to the imaginations of a beast till he retained no more designs worthy of a man Voluptuousness never acteth any thing great but hath destroyed all that is great And when God is pleased to overthrow Empires he chooseth souldiers who have chaste hands to chastise the effeminate So Arbaces vanquisheth Sardanapalus So Alexander who would not look upon Queens his prisoners but with an eye of chastity defeated the Persians bond-slaves to luxury So the Gothes gained the Empire of Rome as saith Salvianus God being willing to purge the earth which the Romans had defiled by the arms of a Nation more chaste than themselves it being reasonable that those should enjoy their goods who would have no share in their vices The love of fantasie is more sottish than malicious Love of fantasie or sordid There be Cavaliers who perswade themselves they are the bravest men of their Age
wholly acquired to death sighing after a young Gentleman then absent and not daring fully to manifest her passion In the end death took away the spoils of her life with her pretences The father and mother bewailed her with inconsolable tears furnishing out very honourable obsequies And whereas she most ardently affected her dressings and little cabinet they buried with her all whatsoever she held most precious Six moneths were now past since her burial when the Gentleman she loved named Machates arriving at Trayls came to lodge in the house of his friend her father The spirit of the maid which was of the condition of those whom Plato called body-lovers retaining still the affections with which she went out of her bodie appeared one evening to this Machates with words of affection embraces and dalliances which plainly discovered it was a damned spirit and an instrument of the divel that tormented the one to burn the other The young man at the first was much affrighted with these proceedings notwithstanding becoming tractable by little and little he soon made this specter very familiar It happened during this time that an old servant sent by her Mistress to see what their guest did found Philenion sitting neer unto him with the same countenance and the same garments she ware in her life time whereat much amazed she ran to the father and the mother to tell them their daughter was alive They sharply reprehended her for a distracted and wicked woman as going about again to open their wound which still bled The servant justified her self and answered she had not lost her wits nor spake ought but truth Hereupon she so enkindled the curiositie of her Mistress that she secretly conveyed her self by night into the chamber yet perceived nothing at all able to resolve her The next day being vehemently excited with the curiositie of knowing what to believe of this apparition she threw her self at the feet of Machates and conjured him to tell her the name of the young maid who conversed with him The Gentleman in the beginning was much surprized and sought evasions to divert her but in conclusion either through compassion of the mother whom he saw in the posture of a suppliant or by vanity of his passion which easily unloosned his tongue he confessed he was married to Philenion that it was a business accomplished by the will of the Gods wherein nothing must be altered and speaking this he drew forth a little casket wherein he shewed her a gold ring her daughter had given him with a piece of linnen she ware about her neck protesting she was his wife so much was he seduced by the subtile practizes of the evil spirit The mother having acknowledged the tokens of the deceased fell down with astonishment and coming again to her self she a thousand times kissed one while the ring another while the linnen moistning them with her tears and moving the whole family to sorrow which ran to see this spectacle Then again embracing Machates she signified it would be an infinite favour from heaven to have him for a son in law but that she entreated as a courtesie one comfort he could not deny an afflicted mother which was once again to see her daughter whom she accounted dead The other promised to give her all satisfaction and as Phelenion came secretly according to custom to converse with him he closely sent his lackey to the mother who advertised her husband of it and both of them came into Machates his chamber where they surprized their daughter at which they were so rapt that being not able to utter a word they cast themselves about her neck straightly embracing and with tears bedewing her which fell from their eyes But the daughter with a sad and dejected countenance fetching a deep sigh out of her breast Alas saith she loving father and mother your curiosity will cost you dear for you will lament me the second time Thereupon she fell down dead leaving a horrible stinck in the chamber which filled the whole house with terrour groans and out-cries in such sort that the neighbours came in upon the noise and consequently the whole Citie ran thither to behold the corps The magistrates wondering at an accident so frightfull deputed some Cittizens neerest of kin to open the tomb where the body of Philenion could not be found but a cup a ring she had received from this Gentleman The carrion lying in the fathers chamber was by decree of the Senate thrown on the dunghil the Citie purged and as for Machates he was so overwhelmed with shame and confusion that he slew himself with his own hands Behold what an Authour recounteth onely illuminated by the light of nature who wrote this historie after he had been a spectatour of it of purpose to send a man immediately to the Emperour Hadrian to make a recital thereof unto him as he saith in a letter he directed to a friend of his I might have many things to say upon all circumstances which are not repugnant to that which Ecclesiastical Authours relate concerning other apparitions of the damned But I will not exceed the laws of Historians and it is enough for me here to let you see the belief of the Ancients and the punishment of God upon souls resigned to sin XVIII MAXIM Of Purgatorie THE PROPHANE COURT THE HOLY COURT That death is the remedy of all evils and that the soul separated from the body hath no more to suffer That the soul which hath not in this Ne dogmata de Pâ—râ—atorio pro saâ—â ecclesiae doctrinâ nobis obtrudant Pontificii cavendum est world satisfied Gods justice must pass in the other life through Purgatorie HAve you well considered in Genesis an Genes 2. Angel of fire who with a flaming sword keepeth the gate of terrestrial Paradise placed as an usher of the enterance into the delicious hall which prepared by God to entertain the first man of the world after it had been the theater of his glorie became the scaffold of his punishments Procopius Purgatorie compared to the Cherubins fiery sword observeth that poor Adam at the time of his banishment was placed just over against this Cherubin and that this centinel of the God of hosts no sooner lifted up his curtelaxe but he made a terrour and icie horrour creep into his bones and in that proportion the sparkles flew from the sword of justice fears and affrightments invaded the heart of this offender who being a murderer of his race before he was a progenitour had brought forth a thousand deaths by the sole bite of an apple Alas if the miserable Adam was so astonished at the steel of the Cherubin which dazled his eyes what ought our representments to be what our apprehensions when we think on the flames of purgatory enkindled by the breath of the love and wrath of God So many souls lie there now plunged having heretofore conversed amongst us in mortal abode and we
sin but by resigning her self to death But on the contrarie you observe some of the Gentiles who professed the happiness of the soul in the other life and the resurrection even on their tombs We at this day read in Rome the Epitaph of Lucius and Flavius two friends who witnessed In caelo spiritus unus adest Vt in die censorio sine impedimento facilius resurgam Brisson They would have but one grave on earth since their souls make but one in Heaven And that of Aulus Egnatius who maketh mention That all his life-time he learned nothing but to live and die from whence he now deriveth the joys of beatitude And that of Felicianus who having led a solitarie life saith He did so to rise again with the more facility being freed from trouble at the day of Judgement Where the Interpreters under this word Trouble understand his wife What voice of nature is this What touch of God What impression of verity In the Evangelical law besides the passages of S. Matthew 22. of S. John 5. of S. Paul 1. to the Corinthians 15. the Saviour of the world remained fourty days upon earth after his resurrection that he might be seen reviewed touched handled and manifested to more than five hundred people assembled together as writeth S. Paul in the fore-alledged place of purpose most deeply to engraft the mysterie of resurrection in the hearts of the faithfull 2. And as for that which concerneth reason this belief was acknowledged to be so plausible and conform to humane understanding that never hath there been any who doubted it were it not some hereticks furious infamous and devillish as the Gnosticks Carpocratians Priscillianists Bardesanites Albigenses and such like enemies of God and nature or Epicures and Libertines who finding themselves guilty of many crimes have rather desired not to be perswaded of the end of souls and bodies to burie their punishments with their life For which cause they framed gross and sensual reasons touching this truth unworthily blaspheming that which their carnal spirit could not comprehend What impossibility should there be in resurrection Reason of possibility to an Omnipotent hand We must necessarily say it comes either from matter or form the final or efficient cause It cannot come from matter since our bodies being consumed by death the first matter still remaineth and after a thing is once created never is it meerly reduced into nothing Shall it be said that God who made thee of nothing cannot make thee again of the remainders of matter and that he hath less power over dust than over nothing The Philosopher Heraclitus saith birth is a river which never dries up because nature is in the world as a workman in his shop who with soft clay makes and unmakes what he list Think we the God of nature cannot have the like power over our flesh that nature hath over the worlds Proceeds the impediment from form It cannot since the soul which is the form of bodie remaineth incorruptible and hath a very strong inclinatiion to its re-union Proceeds it from the end No since Resurrection is so the end of man that without Leoin l. 2. de mirac c. 52. it he cannot obtain beatitude for which he is created perfect felicitie being not onely the good of the soul but of the whole man Will then impediment arise from the efficient Wonders of nature cause And is it not an indignity to deny to the Sovereign power of god the restauration of a body he made being we daily see so many wonders in nature whereof we can yield no reason Why doth a liquor extracted from herbs by a certain distillation never corrupt Why is water seven times purged not subject to corruption Why doth amber draw a straw along which other mettals repel Why do the lees of wine poured to the root of vines make them fruitfull How with so base ingredients are so goodly and admirable glasses made Why do men by the help of a fornace and a limbeck daily make of dead and putrified things so wonderous essences What prostitution of understanding to think that the great Architect having made our bodies to pass through this great fornace of the world and through all the searces his divine providence ordaineth cannot render them more beautifull and resplendent than ever What should hinder him Length of time There is no prescription for him Multitude of men That no more troubles him than millions of waves do the Ocean since all Nations before him are but one drop of dew The condition of glorions bodies COnsider I pray the state of glorified bodies and observe that there commonly are four things irksom to a mortal bodie sorrow weight weakness and deformity These four scourges of our mortality shall cease in the Resurrection being banished by gifts quite contrarie to their defects We may truly say among the miseries of bodie there is not almost any comparable to pains and maladies which are in number so divers in their continuance so tedious in their impressions so sharp that it is not without reason an Ancient said health was the chief of Divinities and an incomparable blessing For what is a soul inforced perpetually to inhabit a sickly bodie but a Queen in a tottering and ruinous house but a bird of Paradise in an evil cage and an Intelligence tied to attend on a sick man As the bodie very sound serves the soul for a house of pleasure so that which is continually crazy is a perpetual prison Now observe that against the encounters of all sorts of pains and maladies God communicateth to glorified bodies the chief gift which is impassibility wherewith they shall be exempt not onely Apoc. 21. Abstergeâ— Deus omnem lachrymain ab oculis eorum c. Isai 49. Non esurient neque sitient neque percutiet eos aestus from death but from hunger thirst infirmities and all the diseases of this frail and momentarie life O God what a favour is the banishment from so many stones gravels gouts nephreticks collicks sciaticks from so many pains of teeth head heart so many plagues and sundry symptoms of malladies which afflict a humane body This good if maturely weighed will be thought very great by such as have some experience of the incommodities of this life Adde also thereunto a singular Theological reason that this gift shall not be in us by a simple privation as the non-essence which the Epicureans imagined but by a flourishing quality communicated by God to our bodies and which shall have the force to exclude all whatsoever is contrarie and painful onely admitting the sweet impressions of light colours melodies odours and other things pleasing to sense Note I say quality Scot. in 4. distinct 49. q. 13. Durand d. 15. 44. q. 4. num 13. for I am not ignorant Divines dispute concerning the true cause of the impassibility of a glorified bodie and that some place it in a virtue and external