then they are it makes her her own Idolater it raiseth her incensibly up to the height of impiety and by different steps mounts it even to the hatred of God for as the faithful man is perfect when he loves God even to the pitch of hating himself the sinner even hath the measure of his sin filled up when he loves himselfe even to the degree of hating God This passion reignes not much save in the souls of the damned one must be wholly possest by sin to conceive this designe and I know not whether there be any so sinful soule on Earth as can have so damnable a recentment Hell is the abode of these wicked ones and I firmly believe that as their hatred of God is the sow lest of there sins so is it the cruellest of their punishments yet can they not hate this Summum Bonum with there whole heart the foundation of their being is possest by the love of God they love him naturally whom they hate willingly they are divided between love and hatred there will is parted by these two contrary motions and for all they can do to stifle this naturall Inclination they cannot hinder their best part from languishing and sighing after God they afflict themselves that nature fights against there will and that her unalterable laws forceth them to love the author of their everlasting punishment But to reassume the threed of our discourse the last opposition of selfe love and charity is that the latter hath no more violent desire then to purchase lovers to God almighty to enlarge the bounds of his Empire and to disperce the holy flames of his Divine love into all hearts for a heart that is inflamed with this sacred fire knowing very well that it cannot love God according to his lovelinesse wisheth that all the parts of its body were changed into hearts and tongues to praise and love the only object of its love But as she sees her wishes are uselesse she endeavours to increase the number of Divine lovers to the end that making amends for her indigency they may love him with all their might whom she cannot sufficiently love Self love in opposition to this which obligeth man to make a god of himselfe inspires him with a desire to make himselfe be beloved of all the world Instructed by so good a master he imployeth all his cunning to rob himself of his liberties he discovers all his perfections to purchase lovers he proposeth himselfe unto himselfe as an Idoll to be adored and believeth that the truest and most legitimate happinesse on earth is to have slaves who are fairly forced to love him When Kings are arrived at this height of of injustice and Impiety men thinke them happy and the Politicks which labours to decypher a good Sovereigne is never better content then when she hath raised in them this violent desire of enjoyning their Subjects good will T is herein that she distinguisheth Kings from Tyrants and that she opposeth unjust Sovereignes to Legitimate Monarchies but we are taught by Christian Religion that blame may be incurred as well by making ones self be beloved as in making him be feared For though she honours Kings and condemnes Tyrants though she approve of Moderate Government and detests ruling by rigour yet doth she equally blame those who intrench upon Gods rights and who proposing themselves to their Subjects as their final end will possesse all their affections love appertaines aswell to God only as glory of all offerings he is best pleased with that of the heart and he loves much better to rule over men by the way of mildnesse then of rigour insomuch as Kings who would make themselves be beloved as Gods are not much lesse faulty then those who would make themselves be dreaded as Tyrants they are both of them guilty of Treason against the Diety and pretend to honours which are only reserved for God Lucifer never purposed to establish his greatnesse by violence he made more use of his beauty then of his power to Corrupt the inferiour Angels and if his Empire be terminated in rigour it began in clemency A legitimate Sovereigne straies as well from his duty in seeking after the love as after the fear of his Subjects and though one of these two ways be more innocent then the other in the sight of men it is not much lesse faulty in the sight of God it is not permitted in our Religion for a man to make himselfe be beloved t is a presumption to endeavour those liberties which pertain only to God to deboysh his subjects is to divide his Empire hee will have all his slaves to love him and according to Saint Austines maximes we owe all our love to God the Prince is bound to fasten his subjects to their Creator to make him reign in his kingdome and to receive no homage from his people save only for that he is the Image of God t is therefore the most dangerous impression that self-self-love can make in men when it perswades them that they deserve the love of the whole world and that they ought to imploy all their might to augment the number of their Lovers yet every one is possest with this passion and I see none who do not by severall ways aspire to this tyranny Men discover the perfection of their minds to make themselves admired women make the most they can of their bodily beauty to make them be adored but the one and the other of them will have their malady turn contagious and spread abroad the poyson of self-self-love which hath infected them into the souls of all those that come neer them The eighth Discourse That Concupiscence or Self-love divides it self into the love of Pleasure of Honour and of Knowledge MAns losse doth so sute with his greatnesse that to understand the one wel the other must necessarily be comprized and we must know what advantages he did possess in his Innocency that we may not be ignorant of such miseries as he undergoes by sin Originall righteousnesse which united him to God made him find innocent delights pure and certain knowledge and elevated honours of which ours are but the shadows in the Possession of the Summum Bonum when he lost Grace he therewith all lost all these glorious Privileges which were the dependances thereof his Pleasures were turned into Punishments his light into darkness and his glory into infamy the misery into which he saw himself faln did irritate his desire and the remembrance of his past felicity made him seek for that in the Creature which he had lost in his Creator Self-love which succeeded the love to God spread it self abroad into three as impure rivolets as was the spring head from whence they did derive the first was call'd the love of Pleasure the second the love of light or novelty and the third the love of greatnesse or of glory these three generall causes of all our disorders are the fatall
vertue being solovely steals away the hearts of her Enemies and makes her self be admired even by those that persecute her the lascivious praise her whil'st they make war against her they wish that such women as they have corrupted were chast and that such as commit Adultery with them would be true unto them We must not therefore wonder if the Romans were ravished with her beauty that they have praised her and that there hath been some Commanders who amidst the licenciousness of war have supprest their Passions that they might purchase the glorious Title of Temperate they thought that to overcome pain they must overcome pleasure that before they fight for their Country they must fight for reason that it was not to be hoped for that he who could not resist a womans beauty could defend himself against a souldiers valour They perswaded themselves that temperance was the first step to fortitude and that one judged of the victory which a Commander might get over his Enemy by what he had won over his sensuality Thus great men did study this vertue early she was their first Apprentisage and when the bloud which boiles in the veines kindled in them unclean desires they quenched the fire thereof by the help of temperance One of the Scipioes won more glory by vanquishing his love than by quelling the pride of Carthage he purchased more credit in Spain by his Continency then by his valour and the quitting of a famous beauty and free gift of her to her sweet-heart got him a whole Province he won many Battels by defending himself from a Maide And his enemies were perswaded that their Souldiers could not overcome him whom their Yeomen could not corrupt this combat is heightened above his victories his valour is never spoken of without mention made of his continencie and as oft as men talk of the taking of Carthage they adde thereunto the restitution of this Princesse All the Circumstances of this action are so remarkable as they are not to be omitted without injury to this gallant man He commanded a victorious army to which the laws of war made all things lawfull which were not by them forbidden he had tane a Town by assault the resistance whereof had stirr'd up his anger 't was thought that to astonish all Spain he would have made it a cruell example and that the bloud of the inhabitants should have been that wherewith he would have quenched the flames which devoured their houses that he would have made victimes of all the Prisoners and that if the Womens lives were preserved it should onely be to bereave them of their Honours In this belief they present him with a glorious beauty whose misfortune it was to be immured within that fatall Town she was unfortunate enough to move pitty but too fair not to provoke love The Souldiers were perswaded that their General would suffer himself to be vanquished in his victory and that he would become his captives captive they expected to have seen him once overcome whom they had alwaies seen victorious Though they had his continencie in great esteem they did think it was not proof good enough against so exquisite a beauty and they could not imagine that a man who was yet in the prime of his youth should have power to withstand the Allurements of so fair a Maide who had nothing but her tears to defend her self withall The truth is his eyes thought to have betrayed his heart and he found how difficult a thing it is to behold a rare beauty and not love it his passion would have perswaded him that without injuring his greatness he might become his captives captive he had examples enough to excuse his fault flattery would have authorized it and if he would have listned to his Domesticks he had neer triumphed over his love Amidst this his trouble he endeavoured to comfort her who caused his pain and would give security to her who intrench upon his liberty He understood by her that though her fortune had made her a Prisoner she was by birth a Princesse that her Parents had promised her to a young Prince and that her Fate had cast her into the hands of her enemies the knowledge of these particulars and that his Prisoner was of so high a rank was enough to make Scipio resolve to give her her Liberty he made her Father and her husband be sought for who came upon his word into Carthage every one looked for an event answerable to the passion which gave it life some think he will demand her in marriage others that he will inquire into her birth and see whether without offending the Glory of the Scipioes he may take his prisoner to be his wife some fear least he will begin his Marriage by Murther and secure his sute by his rivalls death few believe that he will betray his love and by one and the same act of Justice restore a daughter to her Father and a Mistris to her servant this mean while when he knew that this Princesse was no lesse Nobly born then beautifull that her Father was Governour of a Province and that her servant did Command an Army he presently delivered her into their hands and would no longer suffer his eyes to behold a beauty which might invite him to do an unjust act and to Crown this Noble Action he gave her the money which was brought him for her ransom as part of her portion to the end that all Spain might know that Scipio knew aswell how to Triumph over Avarice as over Love I foresee I cannot condemn this Action without under-going the jealousie of such as favour the party of the Infidels that I shall draw either publique envie or publique hatred upon me if I shall question whether so glorious a victory deserve the name of vertue or no and that men will think my love to Saint Austine hath made me forgoe the love of truth yet according to his principles we must confesse that this vertue is a sin that not deriving from charity it proceeded from self love that Scipio did but â—ence himself from one by an other and that his keeping himself from Incontinencie proceeded from vain glory Infidels are slaves to the Devil their will is in his hands and as long as this cruell Tyrant doth possesse them he permits them not to do any one good Action out of a good motive he may suffer them to resist the violence of Love or the fury of Avarice but he corrupts their intentions and never with draws them from one evil but he ingageth them in another they shun an ill step to fall into a precipice and their will is so subject unto his as after long deliberation they alwaies put on the worst resolution This unjust Sovereign fits himself to their inclinations that he may undo them he adviseth them onely to such things as he knows doth please them and when he gives any counsel he alwaies
pass amongst them as deities and the lovers of beauty were the first Idolaters The command which she exerciseth over men is so powerfull and so pleasing as they are pleased with the losse of their liberty and contrary to the humour of slaves they love their Irons and cherish their prisons could Kings use this art to make themselues be obeyed they should never know what revolts were and all their subjects being their well-wishers they would be absolute without violence rich without imposts and saâ—e without Citadels Thus when the Sonne of God would reign amongst men he wonne their hearts rather by his comlinesse then by his power and he used clemency oftner then justice to reduce his Enemies to their duty consecrated beauty in his person when he took our Nature upon him though he assumed the pain of sin he would not assume the uglinesse thereof and as there was no ignorance in his soul so was there no deformity in his body There was but one Heretique who mis-interpreting the words of a Prophet imagined that Jesus Christ was deformed but tradition upheld by reason teacheth us that he was beautifull without art that the Holy Ghost who formed his body in the Virgins womb would have it adorned with comlinesse and that nothing might be wanting to his workmanship he exceeded men in this advantage as well as in all others His very Types in the old testament were all comely Solomon and David the one of which represented his victories the other his Triumphs were both of them famous for their beauty Nature seemed as if she would picture forth in them the Messias to satisfie the just desires of those who could not see him The Angels took upon them his visage when they treated with the Prophets whilest they spoke in his name they would appeare in his form Abraham saw him in that Glory wherein he appeared on Mount Tabor and numbred this vision amongst the chiefest favours he had received from Heaven Iacob had the honour to see him in the person of that Angell which wrestled with him before the break of day the three Children which were thrown into the fiery furnace saw him amidst the flames his presence freed them from fear they found paradise in the picture of Hell and that Angell which bore the visage of Jesus Christ broke their Irons in pieces preserved their vestures and punished their Enemies In fine Jesus Christ lost not his lovelinesse till he lost his life the Luster of his countenance was not effaced till by buffetting his face grew not pale till by stripes and he lost not that Majesty which infused respect into his Enemies till the bloud which distild from his wounds had made him an object of compassion and horrour In fine beauty is so amiable as her enemy is odious all the Monsters whereby the world receives dishonour are composed of uglinesse 'T is an effect of sin which corrupts the workmanship of God had there been no l sinner there had been no deformed Creature Grace and beauty were inseparable in the estate of originall righteousnesse Nothing was seen in the Terrestiall paradise which offended the eies all things were pleasing there because all things there were innocent There was no deformity known in the world till after sin Il-favourednesse is the daughter and the picture of sin and 't is a piece of injustice to hate the copy and to love the originall Albeit these reasons oblige us to reverence beauty where accompanied with Innocency yet have we as much and as just cause to fear her since she is mingled with impurity For sin hath left nothing in nature uncorrupted this Monster is pleased in setting upon the most Glorious works of nature and knowing that their chiefest ornament lay in their beauty hath pickt out her more perticularly to discharge it's fury upon There are none of nature works now which have not some notable defaults Did not love make men blind he could never make them in love did he not hide from them their imperfections whom they love he should not see so many souldiers fight under his colours and had he not taught women the secret how to imbellish themselves Impurity would have long since been banisht from off the earth The famousest beauties have their blemishes those who are not blind observe their defects had Helen of Greece lived in these our dayes the Poet who put such an esteem upon her would be found to be a lyer and a blind man but say that Nature should make a Master-piece indeed and that Paridoras fable should prove a true story her beauty would notwithstanding be contemptible since she could not grow old and keep it this advantage is so frail as it cannot long continue it is so soon gone as it rather seems a dream then a truth let women take what care they please to preserve it it will vanish from of their faces and when they shall see themselves in a glasse they will have much ado to perswade themselves that ever they were handsome All accidents have some power over beauty Time is as well her murtherer as her producer it effaceth all her glory tarnisheth her roses and Lillies and doth so alter the Godliest workmanship of nature as it maketh horrour and compassion arise in the same hearts which it had struck with love and envy 'T is not death but old age which triumphs over this perfection in women if they grow old they are sure to grow ugly the prolongation of their life diminisheth their beauty and they cannot live long but they must see that die which they loved dearer than their lives In the state of innocency old age would not have injured beauty the food which repaired nature maintained the good liking thereof men lived long and grew not old as death did not put a period to life neither did oldage weaken it the body was as strong at a hundred year old as at forty Beauty was then somwhat durable time bore respect to this quality and divine Justice which found no faults to punish did not punish women with the fear of old age or hard-favourednesse But now this fear is part of their punishment they are compelled to wish to die young if they will not dye ugly and thus divided in their apprehensions they desire to live yet fear to grow old Time is not beauties onely enemy the injuries which accompany it wage war against her and all the evils which we suffer through sin assaile this fraile perfection The mil-dew causeth defluxions which are prejudiciall to her the unseasonablenesse of seasons are averse unto her cold chils her and keeping back the bloud defaceth the vivacity of her complexion heat doth sun-burn her and that constellation which makes lillies white darkens the countenances of women Sicknesses do not so soon alter the temper as they do the tincture and the out-rages which they commit upon the welfare or good liking of the body are
body composed only of Light and Heat But Christian Religion teacheth us that she is a spirit created by God in time infused into a body to inanimate it the spring head of Motion and Life and that in her noblest operations she stands in need of her salves Organes to operate withall Light is in some sort naturall to her in her understanding she comprehends the Principles of all Sciences her will hath in it the seed of all vertue the senses are so many Messengers which informe her with whatsoever passeth in the world and by their faithfull reports teach her those truths which she was ignorant of t is true that there are some truths which are rather infused into her then acquired by her and which Nature hath so powerfully imprinted in her Essence as Errours self cannot deface them she without an Instructer knows there is but one God she preserves this belief in the midst of Superstition in this point she is Christian even when Infidell whilst she offers Incense to her Idols she trusts in him who seeth all things and after having invoked Saturn and Iupiter she implores ayd from him whom her Conscience tels her is the true Creator of Heaven and Earth she is ignorant of the fall of Devils and by the hatred which she bears unto them makes it appear that she is not ignorant of their guile whilst she is possessed with these Tyrants she ceaseth not to think upon her lawfull Sovereign and sin which hath not been able to destroy her Nature c could not deface her knowledge nor her love she loves God though she offends him all the tyes she hath to these perishable things are the remainders of that Naturall Inclination and because every Creature is an Image of it's Creator she cannot see them without being in some sort transported the shadow of God awakens her flame but having neither light nor heat enough to raise her self up to him she remains engaged on the earth and by a strange blindnesse she forgets the Summum Bonum to fasten her self to his Picture she presageth her misfortune before she hath any knowledge thereof she prophesieth it before she disputes and when she first enters into the world she witnesseth by her tears that she hath some sense of her miseries as soon as she hath by her cryes saluted the Sun she teacheth those that understand her that she very well knows the earth is the seat of misery and that one cannot live long there without suffering much sorrow When age indues her with the use of Reason she doth not lose the use of Prophecie her dreams serves for presages The Heavens whilst she is at rest advertize her of her disasters and the Angels treating with her in a condition wherein she cannot treat with men acquaints her with the good and bad successes of her enterprizes she makes out salleys which cause men to believe that though she be fastened to the body yet she is not a Prisoner for when she pleaseth she abandons the senses and collects her self that she may be the lesse interrupted in her Meditations she seeks for knowledge in the Center of her essence and as if she did complain of the sights Infidelity or the ears sloath she endeavours to learn at home within her selfe what she cannot find out in the world in effect she would be very ignorant if she knew nothing but what she learns from her Officers for as they are but the Organes of the body they can only observe the qualities of the objects and can only inform their Sovereign of the lustre of Colours the diversity of sounds and of the varities of smels but when she withdraws within her self she knows subsistances she treats with spirits and raising her self-above all things created she forms unto herself certain Ideas of a Divinity Nay she is an Image thereof and it seems God took pleasure to draw his own Picture in the soul of man and to make us admire in this chief work of his power the unity of his Nature and the Plurality of his Persons for though this spirit be engaged In Materia and that it works differently according to the severall Organes of the body that it digests meat by naturall heat converts it into bloud by means of the Liver distributes it into all parts by the veins and by a miraculons Metamorphosis gives a hundred severall shapes to the same food yet is it not divided and representing the unconceivable unity of God it is Tota in Toto Tota inqualibet parte Thus the soul conteins that which seems to inclose her she lends her hoast house room she upholds her house she inanimates her Sepulchre and this Created Divinity is so great as she Circumscribes the Temple wherein she makes her residence This admirable unity agrees with a Trinity of powers which makes the soul an excellent Image of God for she hath an active understanding which conceives all things a happy memory which records them and an absolute will which disposeth of them she knew the highest of our miseries by reflecting on her self before Faith had revealed unto her the procession of the Divine persons Nature had given her some glimmering thereof by studying what she found to be in her self she learnt what was in God and seeing that she conceived a word in her understanding and a love in her will she had no trouble to comprehend that the father begot a Sonne and that the Sonne together with the Father produced a Holy Ghost Plato who had read no other book then that of his own soul guest at these Truths Trismegistus who had only learn'd these lights out of the bosome of Nature had some weak knowledge of the mysteries and we are bound to confess that neither the one nor the other would ever have known the Divine Originall had they not seriously considered the copy As the soul is the shadow of the divine Essence it shares in part of his highest perfections her light is not obscured by her Prison the body which is formed but of earth doth not derogate from her Nobility nor Power and death which threatens the House wherein she lives injures not her Immortality she is knowing in the midst of obscurity Absolute amidst the revolt of her Subjects Immortall in the bosome of death it self the senses which endeavour to seduce her by their unfaithfull reports cannot abuse her and let them use what foul play they please she hath always light enough to discover their Imposture she corrects their errours and when she will make use of her own rights she finds Counsellors in the Basâ— of her being who convince these faithless Officers of fals-hood she finds oft times lesse resistance in her body then in her self one only Act of her will makes the eyes open the arms be lifted up and the legs go these parts are so obedient to her commands as they never resist when in health their Rebellion ariseth
considering the evil which threatens them they take vain diversions these monsters making use of their imprudencie become so redoubted as they dare assail them no more The onely way to overcome them is to stifle them in their birth and not to fall oft into the same sin least an evil habit being formed in our soul we be inforced to live under the Tyranny thereof OF THE CORRUPTION OF THE VERTUES The Third Treatise The First Discourse A Panegyrick of Morall Vertues IF a man may use Civility in combating and if the Fury of War keep not men from treating their enemies with respect I think I may be permitted to handle the vertue of the Pagans with esteem and to make the Panegyrick thereof before I make it's processe for though I hold with Saint Augustine that their chiefest vertues have their defects I do notwithstanding find beauties in them which obligeth me to reverence them and though I am their enemy I cannot chuse but be their admirer For when I consider that these great men had no other light than that of Nature and that self-self-love which tyrannized over their wil was the soul of all their designs I cannot imagine how so fatall a cause could produce such gallant effects and I wonder that the desire of Glory hath been powerfull enough to make them overcome Pain and despise pleasure The Ambition of Command hath made almost as many Martyrs in the Romane Common Wealth as Charity hath done in the Christian Church and all those Glorious Saints whose lives we read with admiration have suffered no more for the defence of Religion than those first Romans did for the defence of their Liberty her Senators and Consuls were a long time Corruption-proof The Generals of their Armies did subdue their passions as well as their enemies the greatest danger could never abate their courage they were most famous when most miserable and Romes greatnesse never shone brighter than in adverse Fortune Worth was not confined to the most illustrious Subjects of that Common Wealth the people were obedient as long as the Senate was modest Particular Families preserved their Innocency whilst Publique persons preserved justice Wives were chast whilest their Husbands were valiant the Vestals kept their Virginity whilest the Priests kept their Religion all these actions which have so fair an appearance had no other Principle then Vertue and Vertue had no other Force then what she drew from Glory or Eloquence she was praised by the mouth of Orators Every Philosopher was her Panegyrick and hardly could you read their works without being passionate for her who was their onely Subject She is so well set forth in Seneca's writings as one could not see her there but they must reverence her And he being the man that speaks the most worthily of her I think I am bound to borrow his words to make her Panegyrick Listen then to what he writes of her in divers parts of his book Vertue hath this of advantage that she is Noble and easie her Noblenesse gives her value amongst men and her easinesse invites them to seek after her the desire of her is sufficient to acquire her and this Famous beauty doth not scorn any that love her shee bestows her self freely on all those that court her and be she never so chast she ceaseth not to be common you need not crosse the seas nor discover new worlds to find her out We have her Principles in our selves and if we be but a little carefull in the husbanding thereof we may turn every good Inclination into a Vertue she raiseth us above our Condition for though we be composed of Clay and dust by her Inter-position we may enter into allyance with God who loves those that are vertuously given who in his greatnesse disdains not any one and vertue is the onely disposition which he requires in those who would approach him He acknowledgeth them for his Children who vouch her for their Mother and Heaven is their Inheritance whom she adopts on earth This last recompence is that alone which doth in-animate her Lovers all other rewards are indifferent to them And knowing that happinesse and vertue never part asunder they hold for certain that a vertuous man cannot be miserable the delight which accompanieth their Mistris doth not inhaunce her merit they are so faithfull to her as when the servant forsakes her they increase their love and they are glad to love her in a Condition wherein she can onely promise thorns to those that take her part Let her put on what disguise she will she is always pleasing be it that she withstands vice that she melt into sweat or tears that dust and bloud ternish her Lustre that fasting and sufferance pull her cheeks down she hath still beauty enough to keep her Lovers the faithfullest whereof love her as well in open field as in Towns and the Lustre which she borroweth from Apparel or Palaces doth not heighten her merit Let fortune assail her never so oft she is still victorious that hood-winkt Sovereign which bears down the best establisht Thrones which reverses the best grounded States which takes delight to bruise Scepters in the greatest Monarchs hands comes off with shame when she assails her though Fortune arme Tyrants against her and employ all her slaves to undo her yet she is forced to yield the Field and to confesse that Vertue may loose her repute but never her courage nor Innocence Her Enemies reverence her and her merit wins so much upon them after having offended her they give her Honourable satisfaction and praise her publiquely if they hear her comliness spoken of they declare for her and foregoing her adversaries party they rank themselves under her colours When this Tyrant seeth that he is abandoned he hath no better way to reduce his slave under his Laws than to take upon him the Semblance of Vertue and to borrow his Enemies beauties to cover his own il-favour'dnesse This disguise is vertues highest praise 't is the greatest advantage she can have and though she be thereby sometimes prejudiced yet is it always glorious to her for she can easily disabuse the unwary Let her be but a little carefull to make her beauty appear she wins their heart and causeth so much love in them as it is easily discerned if they have not taken her part 't is because they knew not her worth he who could see her stark naked would never be disloyall to her and would she discover all her perfections all her enemies would become her friends T is in fine the greatest advantage that man can possesse All of good that Avarice or Ambition do promise him are but disguised evils Riches are but a little earth on which the Sun hath set a price by giving it a colour Glory which the Ambitious do so much Idolatrize is but a little smoake and the pleasure which the Voluptuous seek after is but the Felicity of Beasts but
it in the flower of their youth and revenged themselves upon their own countenances for the unchast thoughts which they without design had caused they never appeared in publick unvailed they sentenced themselves not to see that they might not be seen very well knowing that these two faults proceed from the same principle They would not cause love for fear of receiving it they were so scrupnlous as they thought their chastity blemisht by mens eyes that as fruits lose their verdure if once toucht a woman lost her chastity if once seen and that since adultery begins by the eyes sight was as much to be shun'd as touching they remembred that their beauty was cause of scandall in Heaven and interpreting the Scripture according to the letter they feared to cause love in men since they imagined their mothers had done the like in Angels In fine these chast women did sufficiently witnes by their negligence how much they undervalued their beauty for sackcloth was their habit ashes the powder with which they perfumed their heads the white of innocency and red of shamefac'tnesse was the paint they used modesty did give life to all their actions and thus adorned they had Jesus Christ for their lover If the example of these famous women cannot reform the disorder of those of our age yet ought they at least to think that beauty is no lesse dangerous to those that possesse it than to those that covet it that it is exposed to temptations and environed with scandals that if it be not the cause of sin it is the occasion thereof and that if it do not form bad desires it is at least unfortunate in causing them This effect is so ordinary to beauty as the Fathers of the Church make the contrary pass for a miracle for if the comlinesse of the Virgine Mary infused good thoughts if her countenance inspired chast desires and if her eyes the tears whereof did propagate our souls health did raise mens souls to God t' was rather an effect of Grace then of Nature and as her Innocency was a priviledge wherewith the heavens would honour her purity the sense of piety which she inspired into mens hearts was a favour wherewith they would advantage her beauty Other saints did not deserve to obtein so much though nothing was so precious to them as their chastity they perceived nevertheless that their countenances caused sometimes unchast thoughts that flames iâ—hued from their eyes which against their wils set mens hearts on fire and that though their bodies were consecrated to Jesus Christ yet did they not cease to be pleasing in the eyes of his enemies Therefore did they revenge the faults of others upon themselves they sentenced their mouth to moanes their eyes to tears and their heart to sighs they did penance for a sin which they never committed and to the end that Gods justice might be satisfied they punished the innocent for the guilty some of them were so generous as they pul'd out their own eyes not being able to resolve to keep one part of their body which without their consent had been cause of unchastity If the beauty of unpolluted souls be so dangerous we must not wonder if the like in lost women be so pernitious and that the Devil makes use thereof to corrupt the mightiest men For women is a fatall Instrument in the Devils hands he is never more to be feared then when assisted by this fatall second If he undid Adam by Eves cunning if he made so many wounds with one blow and if by one single combat he got so many victories 't was because our first mother held Intelligence with him if he cannot tire out Iob's patience by the losse of his goods and his children he hath recourse to his wife speaking through her mouth he endevours to make him despair and to perswade him under pretence of compassion to end his unhappy life by an honourable death but of all women the handsomest are properest for his designs and when a singular beauty serves him for Organ or Interpreter he is almost sure to overcome those he assails By Dalila's charms he triumphed over Sampsons c strength by the allurements of Bathsheba he engaged David in adultery and in murther by the idle discourse of a handsome stranger he perswaded the wisest of all Kings to offer up incense to the workmanship of his hands he rob'd him of his wisdome by depriving him of his continency and to execute so great a designe he onely used the countenance of a Pagan Princesse But he never appeared more powerfull then when he set upon the whole Army of the Israelites and when in a moment he made it unchaste and idolatrous This wicked spirit had to no purpose armed the Midianites against the Iews all their endeavours proved vain though their numbers were greater and their souldiers better warriours they were ever either repulst or beaten the very names of Israelites wan battells the glittering of their Arms routed their enemies and the Elements anticipating the valour of these Conquerours did most commonly begin the battell So many bad successes made the Devill have recourse to his old tricks He commanded his partners by the mouth of a faithless Prophet to set upon those with women whom he could not overcome by men and to make use of beauty where strength was bootlesse Obeying this his counsell they placed before their Battalions a troop of loose women who carrying looking glasses and Idols in their hands invited the Israelites at one and the same time to lose their continence and to forgoe their religion This wile was of so great power that the Army in whose favour the heavens had done so many miracles doth adore these women and their idols they forget their duty to obey their love and renounce their faith to satisfie their lust He still useth the same cunning he corrupts Christians as he did the Israelites and the beauty of women is the smallest temptation wherewith he astonisht the courage of men A handsome woman is the Courts plague after she hath once resolved to bereave hearts and to have servants she purchaseth as many subjects to the devill as she deprives Christ Jesus off After once she hath resolved to hazard the reputation of an honest woman to purchase the name of a stately dame she turnes to be a false Diety to which all unchaste people offer incense an Idoll which makes more Idolatours than impiety makes Libertines a contagion which being taken in by all the senses sweeps away more men than the plague doth consuming fire which heats whatsoever it comes nigh and burns all that it toucheth a Monster which being the more dangerous by how much the more pleasing scatters abroad impurity wheresoever it passeth and which commit murthers and adulteries by all the parts of it's body Her looks undo men the flames which proceed from her eyes reduce soules to ashes her words bewitch those that hear
them she inthrals the heart by the ears and whosoever doth not use Ulysses his harmles cunning indangers the losse of liberty Her hair is a net wherein Lyons and Tygers are taken her strength like that of Sampson lies in her weaknesse she imployes onely these weak arms to overcome the couragious and makes use onely of these small threads to stop the course of the most unconstant The lillies when on her face lose their purity and the innocent rose becomes guilty upon her cheeks and as the spider makes her poyson of the best things she composeth the venome wherewith she infects souls of the fairest flowers Modesty and Majesty which else where defend vertue do corrupt it in the person of a handsome woman and these two advantages which makes her beauty the more powerfull make it also the more dangerous her very gate is not without affectation and fault her studied steps have a certain becomingness which is fatall to those that behold them each pace steals a heart from some of her servants and doing nothing without design she either wounds or kils those indiscreet ones which approach her In fine beauty is so pernicious as God himself who extracts Grace from sin makes use thereof onely to punish his Enemies it is more dreadfull in his hands then thunder and he hath tane more vengeance by womens allurements then by the arms of souldiers He ruin'd Hamans fortunes by Hesters countenance the gracefull demeanor which he indued her withall made Ahasuerus condemn his Favorite and the death of this insolent enemy of the Iews is not so much an effect of Mordecais wisedom as of his Nieces beauty God chose out a widow to slay Holofernes he obteined two victories over this Conqueror by the means of one onely woman he took his heart from him by her eyes and his head by her hands he made first use of her beauty then of her courage and would have the Assyrians defeat to begin by love and end by murther Thus are handsome women the Ministers of Gods fury he imploys Hesters and Iudeths as souldiers to revenge his quarrels and beauty which causeth impurity doth oft-times punish it We see no faults in the creature from whence God draws not some advantage our weaknesse is the cause of our penitency if we cannot alter we cannot repent and if we had the constancy of Angels we might have the opiniatricy of Devils Our offences serve to humble us and the proudest spirits cannot think upon their sins without confusion Concupiscence which is one of the originals of our disorders is one of the foundations of Grace Adams sin fastens us to Jesus Christ and the miseries which we suffer under make us have recourse to divine Mercy But beauty seems onely proper to seduce sinners if she be not serviceable to Gods justice she is serviceable to the Devils malice and causeth Murthers when she cannot produce Adulteries Of all the perfections of man this is the onely one which Jesus Christ would not imploy to save souls He imployed the eloquence of Orators to perswade Infidels he made use of the doctrine of Philosophers to convince the ignorant he useth the power of Kings to reduce rebels and he imployes the wisedome of Politicians to govern states but he rejects beauty and judging her to hold Intelligence with his enemy he never makes use thereof but to undo sinners The beauty of those Virgins which were consecrated to him converted no Infidels the innocent allurements of the Lucia's and Agneses were of no use to the establishment of our Religion there modest countenances forbore not to kindle impure flames and if their executioners were toucht to see their constancy their beauty set Tyrants hearts on fire Gods beauty is then that which can onely securely beloved t is that that we ought to sigh all other desires are unjust Whosoever betakes himself to the beauty of Creatures revives idolatry erecting an Altar in his heart he offers Sacrifice to the chief Diety which he adores where he himself is both the Priest and Sacrifice The beauty of the creature ought not to be looked upon otherwise then as that of a picture which we value either for the persons sake whom it represents or for the painters hand that drew it He who exceeds these bounds Commits ungodlinesse and who doth not elevate his love to the first and chiefest beauty of which all others are but weak copies is either ignorant or impious If the beauty of the first Angel have made Apostates and if the love which it occasioned in the hearts of those pure spirits made them idolators what may we expect from a beauty which being engaged in the flesh and in sin produceth onely wicked desires Those who have fallen into this disorder must repent themselves with Saint Austin To repair their outrages done to th beauty of God by their infidelity they must afflict themselves for having so late known him And to make amends for their losse of time and losse of love they must labour to love him with more fervencie and to serve him with more constancie The seventh Discourse That the life of man is short and miserable T Is strange yet true that man having changed his condition hath not changed his desires and that he wisheth the same thing in his state of sin as he did in his innocency For that strong passion which he had for glory is but the remainder of that just desire which he had to command over all creatures his indeavouring to enlarge the bounds of his Empire tends onely to recover what he possessed before his revolt the pleasure which he seeks after in all his pastimes is grounded upon the remembrance of his former felicity Those riches which he accumulates with so much labour and preserves with so much care witnesse his sorrow for being fallen from his aboundance and the extream desire which he hath to prolong his life is a testimony that he as yet aspires after immortallity Yet hath not life those Charms which made it so amiable the longest is but short the sweetest but full of troubles and the most assured uncertain and doubtfull For since the soul ceased to be upon good tearms with God the body ceased to correspond fairly with the Soul Though they go to the composure of the same Integrall they cannot indure one another their love is mixt with hatred and these two lovers have alwayes somewhat of 〈◊〉 which makes them not agree The cords wherewith they are joyned together are so weakened as the least accident is sufficient to break them that whereof man is composed may destroy him the very things without the which he cannot live make him die rest and labour are equally prejudiciall to him his temper is altered by watching and by sleep when either are immoderate the nourishment which susteines him suffocates him and he fears abundance as much as want his soul seems as if she were borrowed and that she is onely
and the seeking after it always dangerous Beauty is one of the excellentest perfections which religion acknowledgeth in God 't is the chiefe object of our beatitude and were not God as beautifull as he is good he would not be the desire and the happinesse of all rationall creatures yet we cannot seek after the possession of this advantage without danger in women pride accompanies beauty chastity and she are not upon good tearms and 't is a kinde of prodigy when a woman is as chaste as fair Greatnesse and power are two of Gods Attributes which merit equall honour each of them inspires fear into the soule of the creature if they be ravisht with his goodnesse his Majesty astonisheth them and if his beauty oblige them to love him his power enforceth them to reverence him Thus dividing themselves between respect and love they love him as their Father and adore him as their Sovereign yet this perfection which preserves the honour of God amongst men cannot without danger be wished for who prescribes not bounds to the desire thereof falls easily into errour and he who pretends to his greatnesse who hath no equall cannot avoid his just anger Lucifers undoing was for that he would reign in heaven if pride was his sin greatnesse was the object thereof and if that glorious Angell be now a devill 't is because his ambition made him wish himselfe a God The cause of his disaster is oft-times the cause of ours that which drove him from heaven banisht Adam out of Paradise this children of the unfortunate father mistaking his fault bear his punishment and finde by experience that of all worldly conditions the most glorious is most dangerous and the most absolute is most faulty It is more safe to obey than to command and let Kings be never so godly in their Thrones they run more hazard in their welfare then their subjects do the higher they be raised up by greatnesse the more are they threatened by vanity that which draws them neerer God keeps them the farther from him and the same Majesty which makes them his images makes them oft-times his enemies This condition placeth Kings upon the brink of a precipice the higher it is the more dangerous is it and like the highest mountains is always exposed to storms so great is the danger which doth accompany it as it may be doubted whether a Scepter be not aswell the punishment of Gods justice as the favour of his mercy The first King of Israel was a reprobate his election which was somewhat miraculous freed him not from sin neither could the prayers of a Prophet appease Gods anger his fault at first was but impatience and in the progresse thereof but a slight enterprize upon the priestly office The presence of his enemies whereby he was obliged to fight might serve him for an excuse and the laws of war which will have a man make use of advantages was a reason of state which might have sheltred him in the opinion of Polititians Yet this fault which had so fair an appearance was punished by the routing of his army he found death when he sought for glory and the same mountain which was the pitcht field wherein he set upon his enemies was the scaffold whereon he was punished by Divine Justice Poets who never read our scripture judged aright that Crowns were not always set upon the most innocent heads and that kingdoms were oftner the punishment of sin than the reward of vertue Iocasta made use of this reason to divert Polinices from the war which he undertook against Eteocles she assured him that without troubling himself with fighting he should be sufficiently revenged of a reigning brother for that a kingdome was a severe punishment and that of all his ancestors there was not any Sovereign who had not been unfortunate Though this Maxime be not always true in Christianity and that there have been Kings whose Thrones have served them for steps to mount up to heaven by 't is alwaies very dangerous to be raised to a condition which permits them to doe what they please and with not bereaving them of their passions unrulinesse affords them means of satisfying them For in this supream authority which hath no arbitrator nor censurer they can do what they will their power meets with no resistance all their councellors are their slaves and either flatttery or fear makes all men praise their injustice or bear with their violence if they be unchast 't is not safe to be chast in their dominions All women are not couragious enough to expose their lives to save their honour those who have worth enough to resist the vain discourses of men have not strength sufficient to withstand a Princes promises and there are but very few who will not hazard their chastity to triumph over the liberty of a Monarch If they be greedy they will find a thousand pretences to enrich themselves at their subjects costs and to fill their cofers with the spoyles of Orphans and Widows If they be cruell they will find fitting Ministers for their fury glorious names are given unto their faults all their revenges passe for acts of justice they are termed the Fathers of the people when they wash their hands in their subjects bloud their anger is animated by servile praise and their cruelty incouraged by approbation so as Kings have no greater enemies to their welfare then this uncurbed licentiousnesse which accompanieth their greatnesse and that absolute power which furnisheth them with means to execute all their designs But say they were lesse irregular and grant that reason assisted by Grace should keep them from abusing their Sovereign Authority they would not be exempt from fears and dangers For as they are the heads of their People they are answerable for their faults they commit all the evil which they do not hinder those publike disorders wherewith all the world is scandalized are the particular sins of Sovereigns When they examine their conscience they are bound to renew their state to consider whether justice be exercised in all their hightribunals whether the governors of Provinces do not abuse their power whether the nobility in the Countrey do not trample upon the poor sort of countrey people and whether the Judges suffer themselves not to be terrified by threats or corrupted by promises they ought to accuse themselves of all such faults as grow insolent thorow impunity and make their kingdomes disorders the chief article of their confession How great is this obligation how dangerous is this condition and what hazard is there in making good a dignity wherein Innocency becomes guilty where though exempt from sin one is not exempt from fear and where to acquit himself of his duty a man must to the quality of an honest upright man adde the quality of a good Sovereign In the state of innocency the world had had no kings or kings would have had no trouble for passion
Interest be the Rule of Superstition there is nothing in Nature more usefull for us then the Stars they are placed in the highest and most beautifull part of the world they seem to rule over us and that their favourable or maligne influences goes to the making of us fortunate or unfortunate We hardly partake of making any sensible favour but by their interposition and prophane men call them the arbitratours of chance and the dispensors of good and evil Though we be free they pretend to a certain power over our wils by the means of our inclinations a man must withstand stifly to resist their impressions and as most men act more by instinct then by reason we must not wonder if forming our temper and our humours they govern our designes and guide our motions Hence it is that all men have reverenced them that this hath been the commonest Superstition that the best wits who would not bow to men have prostrated themselves before the Stars and that the Sun hath passed amongst very Philosophers for the visible God of the world To say truth we owe all things to his heat and light his course governs our seasons his influences distribute forth fruitfulnesse through all the parts of the Universe Nature would be barren were it not for his beams and should this glorious constellation cease looking on her she would neither conceive nor produce his Eclipses though but of a small durance put her in disorder and the earth cannot want his heat without witnessing her sorrow by sterility if he be a long time hidden from us by clouds the yeares are unfruitfull and the Labourers pains are uselesse if he do not favour them by his aspect It must be granted that he who should consult with nothing but his own sense would acknowledge no other divinity but the Sun his very beauty parted from his advantage seems to exact some respect from all men his worth is not sufficiently known if he be valued onely for his effects Though he were barren he would not cease to be wonderfull and if the ripening of fruits and government of the seasons did not depend upon his heat and course his very light would suffice Seneca to adore him but God being jealous of his glory and not desirous that the supremest honours should be rendered to his works he hath revenged himself upon them for our sins he hath disordered them to punish us he hath tane from them their advantages to disabuse us and he hath order'd that the noblest creatures should have their blemishes to the end that their beauty might not make us Idolaters he took from them a part of their perfections when sin bereft us of our innocency and foreseeing that we should through blindnesse fall into errour he would not that their Lustre should serve us either for occasion or excuse he mingled death with life in the Suns beams he parted his light from his heat and did not permit them to joyn always together in acting equally the lightsomest places are not the hottest and those Countries wherein the Sun makes the longest days enjoy not the most pleasing Summers He for our punishment doth corrupt what for our service he had produced and as his influences do cause our health so do they our sicknesse likewise if he dissolve vapours into rain he makes them break forth in thunder if he ripen fruit he dries up flowers if he form meteors he sets Comets on fire if he make the dew fall so doth he also the Sercine or Mildew and if he deserve praise for the good he bringeth us he merits also blame for the evil which he sendeth us The fifth Discourse That all Creatures do either tempt or persecute us SInce Tyranny in Princes causeth rebellion in their subjects we must not wonder if the creatures do disobey man who treateth them with so much rigour and violating the laws of Justice imployes them in his offences against their common Sovereign For there is nothing in the world which hath escaped his fury the most innocent creatures in his hands are become criminall he makes them serve his unjust designes and not considering that he hath received them from Gods liberality he abuseth them contrary to his Glory Whatsoever presents it self before his eyes doth either flatter his ambition or his avarice that which in the state of innocency would have excited devotion in his soul causeth impiety therein now he turns all things to his advantage or to his honour and seeks for nothing in the use of nature but his pleasure or his profit He corrupts his Judges with gold he tames his enemies with the sword he kindles his concupiscence with wine and this furious Tyrant abuseth all things to undo himself his malice reacheth even to the most innocent Creatures making them confederates in his crime by an ingenious cruelty for he finds out the means how to make the chastest serve his unchastity he assubjects the noblest to his Ambition and imploys the holiest in his Impiety There is nothing that appears to be more cleeer then Chrystall if we will believe Philosophers 't is a water congeal'd by cold light is so inamor'd thereof as it cannot see it without penetration their imbraces are so chast as that their purity is not therein concerned their union is so streight as it is hard to say whether the Chrystall be changed into light or the light into Chrystall Chrystall becomes lightfull without softning it's hardnesse Light becomes solid without losse of Lustre or brightnesse their qualities are confounded without alteration of their nature and their marriage is so exact that they possesse in common all the advantages which nature hath given them in particular yet impurity makes chrystall serve it's infamous designes in looking glasses a woman growes in love with herselfe by seeing of her face she turns the fable of Narcissus into a truth she consumes in desires before her Idoll and after being sufficiently in love with her selfe she perswades her selfe she is able to make all men in love with her upon this assurance she undertakes the conquests of all hearts she joynes art to beauty to purchase her selfe lovers and she hazards her honour to encrease her Empire Who would have believed that impurity could have corrupted so pure a thing that the flames of love should be kindled in ice that chrystall intermixt with light should carry both smoak and flame into the heart of one and the same woman Looking Glasses were at first invented to the end that men seeing their defaults might amend them many advantages were made of this innocent art this faithfull Councellour gave good advice his dumb answers were speaking oracles and whosoever would listen unto them could not chuse but put on good resolutions A handsome woman learnt by her looking glasse that she was to shun dishonour that to become accomplisht she was to joyn vertue to beauty and not to be an hypocrite she was to be
and makes the fields barren he shakes the foundations of the earth he over-whelms men under the ruines of their houses and immolates victimes to his fury when he cannot win slaves to his ambition so as be it in prosperity or in adversity we are bound to confesse that by the good will of God the elements hold of the Devil and that the Creatures are corrupted by sin since they serve as Instruments to our enemy to sooth us into our concupiscence and to abase our courage The sixth Discourse That it is more secure to sequester a mans self from the Creatures then to make use of them A Man must be ignorant of all the Maximes of christianity if he know not that he is forbidden the love of the creature and that we cannot love them without betraying our dignities or forgetting our duty for nothing but God can lay lawfull claim to our affections he is the center of all love he is bereft of that love which is not given him and he is injured in the chiefest of all his qualities if one propose any other end unto himself then God himself we are born onely to serve and love him no other object is able to satisfie us and our heart is too great to be filled with a good which is not infinite We molest the order which God hath established in the world when by an unjust going lesse we raise the creatures above our selves He who abaseth himself through the meannesse of his spirit is not lesse guilty then he who through his ambition raiseth himself up and he gives against Gods Providence as well who obeys those creatures which are inferiour to him as he who would command over those which are his equals or Superiours Man hath received an unrepealable law which obligeth him to submit himself to God because he is his Sovereign and to raise himself above the other creatures because they are his Servants he treats upon equall terms with other men because they are his equals he bears respect unto the Angels without adoring them because they are his companions do in the difference of their natures aspire with man to one and the same end and seek out the same happinesse Whatsoever is not rationall is subject to the Empire of man and he is not vain glorious when he thinks the earth is fruitfull onely to afford him nourishment that the Sun rises onely to light him and that the flowers do display themselves onely for his recreation when he loves them out of an inclination or out of necessity he disturbs the order of God he submits himself to that which is below him he degenerates from his nobility and becomes a slave to his subjects for if he love a creature he must obey it he cānot give his love to it preserve his liberty Love is an imperious passion it assubjects all those souls which it possesseth it makes as many slaves as lovers and reduceth them to a condition wherein having no longer any will they are not Masters of their desires they look pale when in the presence of those that they adore they tremble when they come neer them and the Stars have not so much power over their bodies as those whom they love have absolute command over their souls the object of their love is the cause of all their motions if it be absent they consume away in desire and languish in vain hopes if it be threatened with any danger they quake for fear if it be set upon they pluck up their courage if it go far off without hopes of being soon seen again they fall into despair and if it be lost without hope of recovery they give themselves over to grief and sorrow Thus these slaves take upon them their Masters livery these Camelions change colour as oft as that which they love changes condition and betraying their own greatnesse they assubject themselves to creatures which ought to obey them I know very well that lovers indevour to throw of this yoke that they strive to free themselves from this Tyranny and that being weary of obeying they fain would command their turn about but all they can do is to no purpose and the unalterable laws of love force them fairly to submit to those subjects which are Masters of their liberty The ambitious man would fain be the Sovereign of honour but let him do what he can he still remains the slave thereof and whilst he leads on Troops and commands Armies he is shamefully enforced to obey ambition which tyrannizeth over him The Avaritious man would fain be Master of his riches what ever pleasure he takes in keeping them he would take more in spending them but he is as it were bound to adore them and to dedicate all his care and watching to the Devil which doth possesse him The lustfull man wisheth that he were his Mistresses Master and that he might prescribe laws to that proud beauty which domineers over him but his excesse of passion keeps him a servant still and the nature of love forceth him with content to renounce his liberty his slavery is a just punishment of his ambition and Heaven permits that he remain a slave to the Creature because he would have made himself Master thereof by unlawfull means This is the cause why he will not acknowledge any thing to be amisse in what he loves why he doth admire the perfections thereof and why he doth mingle his vices and vertues together for to give right judgment of any thing a superiority is required in the judgment giver Some advantage must be had over that whose weaknesses would be known and lovers being slaves to those they love their blindnesse lasts as long as doth their slavery by a no lesse necessary then unfortunate consequence they assume the qualities of that object which causeth their love they transform themselves into what they love and change nature as well as condition but that which is most unjust in this change is that these wretched creatures take unto themselves the worst of the qualities of what they love and cannot take the best and having a capability of becomming easily imperfect they can never become accomplisht a deformed man loseth not his deformity though he love an exquisite beauty an ignorant body grows not learned though he love a Philosopher an ambitious man mounts not the throne though he love a Sovereign and covetous men grow not rich though they court wealth but by a deplorable misfortune lovers share in the faults of that subject whence they derive their love they put on all the evill qualities thereof and having no design to imitate it they resemble it in loving it Ambitious men become as vain as the honour which they idolatrize greedy men are no lesse obdurate then is the metall which they adore and the lascivious are as base as is the pleasure which they so much cherish Love is the mixture of Lovers he mingleth their wils
the Angels sin and that having learnt by Revelation that God was to allye himself to humane Nature he could not tolerate that the Angelicall Nature should be deprived of this honour imagining that the Angels did very well deserve whatsoever dignity God would confer upon man Others have thought that self-self-love was the sin both of the Angel and of man that seeing themselves so perfect they grew in love w th themselves that forgetting the greatnesse of God they considered only their own beauty that they made an Idoll of their own understandings that not envying Gods perfections they sought for all their happinesse within themselves and that rather by an Amorous then Proud blindnesse they endeavoured to find out their contentment in the Possession of their own advantages If it be not rashnesse to go about to discover what our leaders have been ignorant of and if a man may divide that which hath neither parts nor moments I would say that the sin of man and of the Angell is neither single nor yet Composed of all sins as S. Augustine affirmeth weaknesse which is so naturall to the Creature was as it were the disposition thereunto negligence the beginning self-love the ensuing or progresse and Pride the accomplishment thereof weaknesse is so naturall to the Creature as to free it thereof it must suffer change and be raised above itself Grace whose effects are so many miracles dares not undertake to free the Creature from it there is nothing but Glory which can fix the fancy of the Creature and take from it that Inconstancy which is the cause of all it's offences We acknowledge none but Jesus Christ to be void of sin The Angell and man not being raised to this height of happinesse we must not wonder if they be fallen and if those which proceeded ex nihilo did not defend themselves from sin every perishable Creature may become Criminall that which may lose its being may lose Grace and what cannot preserve it selfe in Nature will have much a doe to preserve it selfe in innocencie Weaknesse then prepared that Angel and man to sin and these two noble Creatures became faulty only because they were not unchangeable negligence begun the fault which weaknesse had prepared they made not use of all the grace which they had received they left a vacuum in their being which made place for sin they did not employ all the advantages which they had received from God and deserved to lose them for having neglected them as this fault was yet but an omission it might have been expiated by humility and by abasing themselves before God it may be they might have obteined pardon they became Idolaters at unawares and framed vain Idols to themselves out of the workmanship of God This fault was already well grown and the Angel and men were guilty of having turned their eyes from Divine perfections to settle them upon their own advantages yet did they only love those beauties which God had placed in them they might have adored his Image in these Looking-glasses and have returned to the Spring-head by these Rivolets and by these beams have raised themselves up to the Sun but Pride finished their fault they grew proud of Gods favours their vain-glory proceeded from his grace that which should have submitted them to their Creator was cause of their Rebellion and the more they were beholding unto him the lesse were they acknowledging from the times they thought themselves able to reigne without him they would reign in despight of him and as soon as they had raised up a Throne unto themselves they would have Subjects the Angel got a party in heaven he debauched some of his companions hee made slaves of his equals and these excellent Spirits were not ashamed to adore a creature which though it were more elevated was not lesse dependent upon God then were the rest Rebellion did not not withstanding disperse it self throughout all their Orders the number of the faithfull exceeded that of the revolters Michael couragiously opposed himselfe to Lucifer and be it that he made good use of his graces or that he received addition thereunto he kept the greater part of the Angels in their obedience and drove the Rebels from the Empyerean Heaven Man was more absolute in his unjust designe for his sin became the sin of all his off-spring not any one opposed himselfe to his blinde fury those who lived in him and descended from him were guilty of his Rebellion they lost themselves together with their unfortunate Father they suffered for a sin which they could not hinder they found themselves engaged in death before they knew life and wondered that not being reasonable they were already criminall This sin which shed it self like a contagion became the Spring-head of errour in the World The greatest part of Hereticks have withstood it and the pride of Phylosophy wherewith they were puft up would not permit them to confesse a disorder which would have forced them to be humble Catholicks believe it though they conceive it not Faith teacheth them what reason cannot perswade them unto and they care not though they be esteemed ignorant so long as they may be esteemed faithfull They finde by experience that man is become guilty but they know not how he hath contracted this crime they dispute not the maladie but cannot comprehend by what secret wayes the Father hath communicated it to his children and the children have received it from their father This is that which we will examine in the pursuit of this Treatise The fourth Discourse How ADAM'S sin did communicate it self to those that are discended from him IT must be acknowledged that there is nothing more hidden nor any thing more known then Originall Sinne unruly nature is an evident proofe thereof mens wicked inclinations doe sufficiently witnesse it and it 's easily to be conjectured that so unfortunate a creature cannot be innocent But certainly the way how this sin sheds it self through mankinde and passeth from the father into the children is extreamly unknown all that is said of it doth but weakly prove it and after having listned to reason we must betake our selves to the light of Faith Doubtlesse Saint Augustine is he who hath written the worthiest thereupon his proofs are efficacious his discourses solid if he had as well established the beliefe of Originall Sin as that of concupisence all men would be convinced and we might as easily make Phylosophers believe Adam's fault as the irregularity of Nature for all men see that Fathers communicate their diseases to such as do descend from them that the Aethiopians Complexion appears in their childrens visages that there are maladies which are more hereditary in Families then are possessions and that there are men which suffer for their fathers debaucheries we must not wonder if we partake of their diseases since we are composed of their substance and since our bodies are a part of theirs it is easily conceived that
she willingly embraceth whatsoever is pleasing unto her she ads voluntary sins to sins of Nature and will have that of her faults some be the effects of her misfortune and others of her lewdness In fine it seems that those that follow her motions endevour to exceed the sin of their birth by the sins of their life and as if they thought it an offence to be more innocent then their Father they strive to be more faulty then hee who committed all the sins in the world when he made all that descended from him Criminall The second Discourse That the soul is become slave unto the body by reason of sin THough the soul be the noblest part of man yet is she not void of fault and for any excessive praise that Prophane Phylosophy may give her she hath naturall weaknesses which do accompany her even in Innocency Adams soul was engaged in his body and in her Noblest operations she needed the Organes thereof to expresse her thoughts or execute her designs though she were pleased with this dependancy she ceased not to be servile and whosoever should reduce an Angel to this condition should take from him his glory and his liberty she could not quit her body to go to Heaven whethersoever her love did carry her she must carry her host with her and rather then to forego this pleasing Prison she did prorogue the accomplishment of her desire Ignorance was in some sort naturall unto her and though knowledge was infused into the soul of Adam together with Grace we are not sure that he could have transmitted it unto his off-spring had not the way of learning it been painfull it would have at least been tedious and if labour had not been requisite time would at least have been required to the acquiring thereof though the Organes of the body had been well disposed there would have been a difference in their temper and all souls would not have had the same advantages of Grace which was their last perfection would never have raised them into the rank of Angels and whatsoever communication men might have had with those happy spirits they could never have arrived at their Hierarchy Though we are hereby taught that the soul had her weaknesses in the state of Innocency yet being Naturall they were not painful and though they were faults yet were they not punishments for in this condition man knew nothing which pained him he was satisfied with his Advantages and was not lesse happy though no Angell his nature being the meer work of God had no defaults that which seem'd humble ceased not to be glorious and the tye which the soul had to the body was not a servitude though a necessity she was well pleased with her abode and though she were of a more elevated Condition then was her body the service she had from thence made her love her Quarter the Chains wherewith they were united were so strong as nothing but sin could breake them their Inclinations in the difference of their Nature were so conformable as whatsoever pleased the one did not dislike the other the body by an admirable prodigie heighthned it's self into the souls Employments without violence and the soul deigned to submit her self to the necessities of the body without injury to her self she found no difficulty in all she did and if the body were not serviceable to her in her more noble works yet did it not resist her therein their contentments were Common and as the soul was not subject to sorrow neither did the body feel any pain This happy Condition lasted no longer then the time of Innocency when man once lost his righteousnesse he lost his happinesse and when he became Criminall he became miserable the soul went less in her greatnesses and this living Image of the Divine Essence saw her self brought to such misery as may better be exprest by tears then words nothing remain'd intire in man and the outrages of sin dispersed themselves into all the parts of the body the understanding was darkned the memory weakned and the will depraved In all the faculties of the soul the soul received some prejudice in her very Essence and evill found her out in such a condition wherein as being Forma corporis she was engaged in the Materia thereof for since her offence she her self as it were obliged to love a cruell Tyrant to bear with an irreconcileable Enemy to serve a rebellious slave and to make up all her misfortunes reduced to that necessity as she is not able without sorrow to forego the Cause of all her disasters To conceive her corruption we must of necessity comprehend her purity and observe the Effects which Originall righteousnesse wrought in the soul the first was that notwithstanding her being engaged in a body she ceased not to be spirituall her Functions made her not Animale and though united to the body by Grace yet was she not thereby a Prisoner she communicated her perfections to it and shared not in it's defects she was free though bound her body was her Temple not her Prison and the love she bore unto it did not injure her liberty but as soon as sin had insinuated it self into the ground work of her Essence she changed condition the chain of love which tyed her to her body was turned to a servile ord which bound her to her slave her charity was turned into self-love she forgot her greatnesse and that she might interest her self in all the desires of her body she lost all the qualities of her spirit sensible things became her diversions she delighted in nothing but the voluptuousnesse of the senses if she had changed nature by changing condition she ccased to love the Summum Bonum and began to idolize her body she fore-went her noble desires for such as were infamous and confining all her wishes either to the affairs or pleasures of her body she loved nothing but what was earthly and sensible They say that in the state of glory the bodies of the blessed will become spirituall and that losing all the feelings of their Materia they shall only have the inclinations of the spirit that they shall follow their soul without trouble and by an unconceiveable agility they shall fly faster then the winds or lightening that they shall pierce the most solid things and that being more subtill then flames of fire they shall penetrate even the substance of the Heavens they shall shine with glory and being more radiant then the Sun they shall fill all parts with light but in the state of sin the soul assumed the qualities of the body her love engaged her further in the Materia then Nature had done she made her Prison more streight and more obscure she lost the lights she was infused withall that she might see no longer but through the senses and her Compliance with her slave did so alter her Inclinations as reflecting upon her self she had much ado
not the fallacy of their maximes Ignorance is naturall to the understanding the wisest Phylosophers have complained that science was long life short and that we were surprized by death before we could be learned Aristotle compared the understanding to a Painters cloath which may indeed receive all manner of colours from the Painters hand but which not having any one ofit self cannot become a Picture without the Painters help Humane understanding may acquire knowledge but possesseth none and the difficulty that goes to the learning of it is a sufficient proofe that there goes somewhat more to it then bare remembrance Mans sin deserved punishment and for his desire of too much knowledge he was adjudged to remain ignorant for as a disorderly desire of greatnesse threw him head-long into misery and as his immoderate desire of living always made him die his unjust thirst after knowledge made him fall into blindnesse and ignorance We are born with this punishment Errour is an hereditary evill as well as sin and as all the sons of Adam are guilty they are all ignorant If we want Masters to teach us this evill grows with us and thinking to get more light we engage our selves in new darknesses T is the first piece of Art the Devill useth to undo us he blinds our understanding to corrupt our Will and throws us into errour that we may fall into sin we have two Enemies which set upon us at unawars the ignorance of things which we ought to do and the desire of what we ought to shun these two evils draw on two others for ignorance produceth errour and desire sorrow We spend our whole life in this Combat and very well knowing that we cannot utterly defeat these two powerfull Enemies we think our selves happy enough if we can but weaken them We expect the victory and Triumph in Heaven and knowing that we cannot be conquerors on earth we are there content with Combat Thus do the greattest Saints beg of God that he wil be their strength and light that as light he may dissipate their darknesse and as strength sustein their weaknesse a man must be as blind as proud to dispute these Truths and unlesse we will side with that proud Sect which would not acknowledge any fault in man that they might not be bound to correct it we must confesse that Ignorance and weaknesse are equally naturall to us the first is seen in all actions Nature Morality and Religion furnish us with as many proofs thereof as they give us Instructions For though Nature be not jealous of her works though she freely expose all her beauties to our eyes and that she discover unto us her rarest products who is he that knoweth all her secrets though the heavens be extended over our heads who knows whereof they be Composed though the Sun rise and set every day who knows his Influences and Motions though the earth bring forth her flowers under our feet and ripens her fruit before our eyes who knows what art it useth to give them their severall colours who knows by what secret vertue Nature changeth earth into gold and taking from it's impurity gives it that glittering Lustre which makes the finall ornament of all our workmanship Who can comprehend how the dew congeals into pearl how the water thickens into Chrystall and how becomming solid it continues still transparent who can give a reason for these naturall Miracles which we neglect only because they are too common who knows why straw being so Cold as that it preserves Ice in the midst of Summer is yet so hot as that it ripens fruit even in the midst of winter Doth not Amber and the Loadstone make all Phylosophers wild and these Miracles which come so neer our senses do they not confound our understanding we see all things that know nothing we have the use of the Elements but not the knowledge of them Whatsoever entertains our vanity accuseth us of blindnesse and whatsoever serves for diversion to our eyes or ears upbraids our understanding with Ignorance Morality confirms this truth as well as Nature doth for though she undertake to enlighten mans understanding and to rule his will though she boast to make man an Angell and to take from him all the feelings of the flesh and bloud doth she not lay open unto him his ignorance when she instructeth him and doth she not shew that he is blind in offering her self to be his Guide and Mistris t is true that he may glory that he himself hath formed her who teacheth him and to be his Mistresses Master since she hath no Maximes which are not the inventions of the understanding But this his vain glory is very is very ill grounded and Morality is a bad proofe of his sufficiency since she herself is so full of errours and doubts For what is that Truth which Phylosophers dispute not about into how many Sects have they divided themselves on what principles do they agree to establish their Maximes and what propositions have they put forth which they themselves have not crossed or gain-said hath not every one of them made unto themselves a differing Idea of Happinesse And this point which is the ground work of Morall Phylosophy hath it not been the rise of all their disputes Aristotle made it to consist in the knowledge of the Summum Bonum Seneca in the possession of Vertue and Epicurus in the enjoying of Delight But do not all sinners make a party in Morality and do not their Inclinations formas many several Sects do not the Ambitious place their felicity in Glory the Curious in Novelty the Avaritious in riches and the unchast in love If men cannot agree in their choise in the Summum Bonum how will they agree in the definition of Vertue this indeed is the rock of all Phylosophers and it seems that following their Inclinations rather then their judgments they would make vertues of all vices which they delighted in sins against Nature have not only been excused but even highly commended in their schools Socrates the Stoicks God and the only just man who all Phylosophers oppose to our greatest Saints did not he love Alcebiades the Praises which he giues him in Plato do they not tast of wantonnesse doth he not seem as if he made love to a Mistrâ— and the Panygericks which he makes of his good behaviour and beauty do they not afford us reason of suspition whether it were his body his mind that he was most in love withall Is not Pride and madnesse the soul of all the Stoicks vertue doe not they compare their wise men with their Iupiter do they not make a God of their Zeno and as oft as they put their Gods Masters together in ballance do not they prefer those who first formed their proud Phylosophy would not Epicurius make vertue a slave to voluptuousnesse and according to Seneca's one opinion is he not guilty of having endevoured to set
acquiring Glory or of increasing her authority When Romulus his valour Numa's Piety and Tullies wisdom had Founded the Roman Common wealth she thought not so much upon extending her limits as in defending them she never declared war against her Enemies but when she saw her self in danger of being opprest She fought for her Altars and for her houses and her first commanders had no other spur to egge them on to vertue than a desire to live or dy in liberty When all Italy was under their Laws when those who would not be their friends were become their Subiects they suffered themselves to be tickled with the desire of Glory and those who had no other thought but to be free began to covet Fame and Glory This ambitious Passion being very powerfull made them undertake a thousand gallant Actions and we must confesse the Roman Common-wealth was never more fruitfull in vertue than when most desirous of a glory her Citizens imbraced all occasions which promised them Honour not being yet so corrupted they valued their dutie and thought the nearest way to win reputation was to render justice to all men to keep their words to their enemies to despise riches and value vertue with these fair maximes they blinded all mens eyes their alliance was sought after and men thought they must be subject to this Republique if they would be free They notwithstanding who took upon themselves the trouble of examining their vertues found that vain glory was their onely motive thereunto and that if they had withstood vice 't was onely that they might win glory They confess it themselves by their superstitions and by building the Temple of Vertue neer to that of Glory they did sufficiently witnesse that Honour was the end and recompence of all their Actions To say truth there is nothing famous in their history which relisheth not of vain glory it appeares so evidently therein as their very Historians cannot disguise it when they praise their vertue they discover the motive and are enforced to impute that to the deâ—e of glory which ought to be atributed to the desire of justice When Virgil makes Brutus his Panegyricke and when he useth all his eloquence and skill to excuse his Parricide he gives no other reasoâ— than the love of his Country and his dâ—sire of praise he makes us see by this onely example that Murthers were permitted provided they were glorious and that there was no Father in Rome that was not ready to sacrifice his own son to augment his repâ—tation If Camillus deliver his Country from whence he was banisâ—t 't was because he could not live else-where more gloriously If he assist his fellow-Citizens 't is because his glory may be inhaunced by their ingratitude and that by re-stablishing the Republique he may improve his power If Regâ—s keep his word which he had past to the Carthaginians and if he enter himself prisoner again 't is onely that he may acquire honor by the loss and to let all the world see that he who had been slave to Carthage could no longer be a Citizen of Rome If Pompie cleered the Sea of Pirats if Eurâ—pe seemed not to him a Theatre large enough to show his valour in if after having Conquered Spain he inâ—rencheth upon the liberty of Asia if he carry war into all the parts of the world 't is to merit the name great 't is to equall the faults of Mariâ— and Scilla and to â—fface the glory which they had got in oppressing the Republique If Caesar march in Catelines steps if he happily end what the other had unjustly undertaken if seeing no more enemies worthy of his anger he sets upon his Citizens if being no more able to suffer an equall he will have all to be his slaves if by one and the same fault he violâ—e both the Laws of Nature and of Nations if amongst so many vices he mingle some illustrious vertues 't is onely that he may win reputation and that by giving some colour to his Tyranny he may march in the head of Caesars and give a beginning to the most famous Empire of the world For as manners were corrupted in Rome and that particular interest prevailed over the publique the Romans who laboured onely after glory began to labour after government these who thought onely to enlarge the State bâ—hought themselves how to usurpt it and being weary of obeying Senators they would command over slaves 'T is true that when their greatnesse was once confirmed they changed their love of glory in the like of voluptuousness they preserved their power only to satisfie their pleasure they gave over doing of gallant Actions because flattery gave the same praises to their crimes as vain glory gave to the vertues of their Ancestors and they troubled themselves no more with making new conquests because the best part of the world obeyed them thus their vertue ceased to blossom when vain glory ceased to inanimatein them when they knew they could win reputation by their debaucheries they neglected the glorious labours which had made their forefathers famous This change makâ—s it evident that the Romans strove not after vertue for her own sake and thâ—t they fell into the same fault as thâ—y do who seek her for pleasures sake for though Honorbe more Noble than pleasure and ambition seem to be more generous than intemperance yet are they both equally prejudiciall to vertue if wantonness soâ—ten the heart and abase it Ambition puffs it up and makes it insolent if voluptuousnesse be brutish ambition is cruel and if pleasure master the senses ambition Tyrannizeth over the minde but the greatest disorder which she causeth is that those who are possest by her abandon vertue when she no longer promiseth them either glory or pleasure for the ambitious contemn obscure vertues which delight in solitarinesse and silence the volupruous fear such vertues as are aâ—re and which either swim in bloud or bathe themselves in tears by a consequence as vexatious as necessary they both of them adore vice when it is mixt with glory or with pleasure they have not strength enough to defend themselves against a pleasing or glorious sin they have not light enough to distinguish between good and bad and they have so great a Passion for honour and Pleasure as every thing which doth bear the badges thereof seems to them worthy to be sought after yet this is so great a disorder as Seneca hath observed that those who do love vertue truly ought to lose Glory to preserve Innocence that like Merchants who throw their riches over board to save their lives they should sacrifice their reputation to their Conscience and not be troubled to appear Criminall so as they be in effect vertuous I must confesse that a Vertue so clarified comes very nigh true vertue and that a little Grace would have made these Philosophers Great Saints yet the Poyson which doth infect them is so
strength her wisdome is full of errour her strength is mingled with weaknesse if she have any cognizance of vertue 't is in so confused a manner as she cannot discern it from sin and if she do any good 't is so faintly as she cannot shun evill let her turn on what side she please she is always out of the way and till she be guided by faith she hardly steps a step without stumbling If man in this unhappy condition expose himselfe to the fire for Truths sake if he fight for his Countrey if he suffer â—or Justice he dyes a Martyr to vain glory as he had no other end than Glory he can look for no other recompence and having had no other motive than his own Interests he cannot shun the punishment which his injustice deserves when the intentions are bad the actions cannot be good and when man proposeth an unlawfull end unto himselfe the means he useth to come thereby may be specious but can never be innocent To succour a mans Countrey when 't is in oppression to assist ones Parents or friends when they are in danger to hazard life for the defence of Liberty and to lose liberty to preserve Innocence are Actions which cannot be blamed at the first looking upon and which draw praises from all mens mouthes when they onely consider them as they appear But when a man shall penetrate into their intentions and shall see that self-love is the motive therof that Honour is their end and vain glory their Originall we are bound according to Saint Austines Doctrine to condemne them and to say that vertue and vice differ not so much in their actions as in their designes the Prodigall gives almes as well as he who is liberall despair throwes us into danger as well as valour Pride defends â—her selfe better from unchastity than doth continence her selfe and as rare exploits are wrought by vain glory as by vertue yet all men will confesse that these are bad actions that their intention tarnisheth their beauty and that their end makes them criminall Let Catiline overcome voluptuousnesse let him despise riches out of the love of honour let him assist his friends couragiously let him be as constant as Cato let him lead on his designs happily let him order his Troops as wisely as did Scipio and fight more valiantly than Pompey All these gallant actions will be sallied by his bad intentions and you shall have reason enough to condemne him when you shall know that he plots the losse of his Countrey and imployes all the advantages which nature hath bestowed upon him to change the Republique into a Tyranny by the same reasons we must conclude that whatsoever the Infidels have done deserves not the name of virtue since the motive thereof was unjust and the end unlawfull Let Scipio undertake the defence of his Countrey because in duty he is bound to do so let him being egg'd on with glory or touch'd by compassion passe into Affrica let him beâ— Caâ— to deliver Italy and let him defeat Hâ—ll to revenge the losse of Cannas all these glorious considerations cannot excuse him if vain glory the peoples applause or selfe-complacency have been his end therein Man is guilty as oft as he stops at the Creature he goes 〈◊〉 when he goes not to God and he makes an Idoll of goodnesse or vertue when he works onely through their motions Man is so noble as he can have no finall end but God into whatsoever condition sin hath reduced him he is always bound to look upon him though it be not in his power to unite himselfe of himselfe to him yet is he bound to aspire thereunto His Impotency doth not dispence with his duty and though he knows not God yet he is bound to love him Thus were the Pagans guilty when they sought after nothing but glory and pleasure those amongst them were the more innocent or the lesse guilty upon consulting with reason desired onely vertue and who despising honour sought onely how to acquit themselves of their duty This Truth may seem a Paradox and there is none who will not condemne Saint Austine of too much rigour if he do not very well conceive mans greatnesse in the state of innocency and the corruption of nature in the state of sin To understand it well we must know that our disobedience hath not altered Gods Designe His Commands are of force after our rebellion and though we have lost grace we are not freed from our obligations we ought to love God above all things Though we have lost originall righteousnesse we ought to shun sin though we have not the liberty that Adam had we ought to aspire after Heaven though the Gates be shut upon us and we ought to have no other end upon earth than what we had in Paradise though we have lost the means Thus are Infidels bound to despise glory and pleasure that they may seek out the finall end and they faile of theâ— duties as oft as they adore verâ—ue and neglect the Divine Essence All the Stoicks would be great Sâ—ints if a man could loâ—e vertue and not an Idolater Elyseaâ— Fields must be made to receive them after their death if Integrity could 〈◊〉 make Philosophers innocent All their Actions would 〈◊〉 recompence if the Instructions of Morality were infallible and thâ— Grace of Jesus Christ would be of no use if reason could promise any felicity such as Zenâ— and Sâ—crates would reign in Paradise set a pâ—t where Vertue should be theâ— Idoll where 〈◊〉 should be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 where without the Grace of believers or the Glory of the 〈◊〉 they should live exempt from pain with a heapâ—d up 〈◊〉 contentment The Church acknowledgeth b◠〈◊〉 Hell neithr doth she acknowledge more than one Paradise and as in the former none but true faults 〈◊〉 punished so in the laâ— none but reall vertues are recompensâ—d who hath not had Grate fâ— his originall shall not have Glory for his deseâ— and who hath not had God for his end shall not have him for his happinesse All these Actions which we so unjustly value had no other rise but self-love the Stoicks and Epicâ—raans agreed in this point and though the one considered vertue the other pleasurâ— they both loved man and by severall ways endeavoured the same end For as saith S. Austine the Epicuraans were ingaged in the body and believing there was no other happinesse than what consisted in the sense the Pleasures of the soul seemed Illusions to them they thought all that was not sensible imaginary knowing no other life than the present they expected no other happines The Stoicks were more haughty and estranging themselves from their body that they might ement themselves the more strongly to their souls they despised pleasure that they might value vertue their chains were not the weaker for being the more finely wrought their Irons were not the lesse for being gilded
it is a part of our selves In fine no reason can justifie despair the number of our enemies the evils of the present life the Good of the Future the cruelty of sicknesses rigour of servitude sweetnesse of liberty strength of Temptations nor the very fear of sin are not considerations sufficient to make us hasten our death 't is alwaies poornesse of spirit not to be able to suffer the evil which we will shun by Homicide Pride hath lesse part in this crime then weaknesse and whatsoever praise the desperate man expects for his attempt wise men will alwaies beleeve that if he had courage enough to bear the miseries of life he would never have had recourse to so cowardly a remedy Al the Fortitude of Philosophers is then but meer cowardise those wounds which despair impatience have made them give themselves deserve more blame then they have received praise a man cannot approve of their fault without becoming guilty thereof and when Seneca imploys his weak reasons to excuse Catoes murther he lets us see that he knew not wherein greatnesse of courage consisted since he made it consist in an action which is more familiar to women then men to slaves then to free persons and to weak than to strong spirits The eigth Discourse That Friendship without Grace is alwaies interessed IF the vertue of Pagans have her stains we must not wonder if their Friendship have her defaults sin hath corrupted the best things and her malice hath left almost nothing in man which doth not deserve reproach or punishment since a sinner is upon bad termes with God he cannot be upon good terms with himself nor with his Neighbour If he love himself t is in excesse and if he love another t is for interest his will being in the power of his enemie he can hardly make good use of it whatsoever he does he is in danger of sinning his love is not much more Innocent than is his hatred and be it that he loves his friends or hates his enemies t is with so little justice as he stands alwaies in need of pardon profane Philosophie prefers Friendship before vertue she gives her such praises as taste of Flattery and if we will beleeve her reasons she will perswade us that the joynt uniting of Hearts is the greatest contentment which man can partake of on Earth 'T is the knot of Society without which States cannot be preserved nor Families maintained Nature made this project in production of woman whom she drew from the rib of man to the end that the resemblance and equality which she placed between them might oblige them to love one another she renews this in brothers who proceed from the same Originall and who are shaped in the same womb to the end that all things may invite them to love Vertue endeavours to make this good more universal and seeing that nature did not give all men brethren she would give them Friends repair their losse with usury For though brothers proceed from the same stem they are not alwayes of the same Humour they differ often more in their Inclinations then in their Countenances but say there were any thing of resemblance in their humours the dividing of Estates divides hearts and Interest which hath to do every where doth many times ruine their best intelligence But Friendship more powerfull than Nature makes a paâ—ty between those whom she will unite the unity of hearts is that which makes all things common and the words Thine and Mine which sets division between Brethren cannot do the like between Friends Nature leaves us no choise in her alliances we are engaged before we be capable of choise and she oft-times makes us love a Monster because he is our Brother but friendship gives us a freedome of choise she permits us to take the best and we are onely to blame our own folly if in the liberty she leaves us we make choise of one for a friend who deserves not our affection Our Brethren are the workmanship of nature she did not advise with us when she gave them life and not having the care of producing them we delight not in preserving them But our friends are the children of our will we formed them when we chose them we think our selves concernedin their losse because we have laboured in the acquiring of them And as Mothers expose themselves for their Children because they are their workmanship so men expose themselves for their friends because they are their Productions But not to spend more time in observing the advantages which friendship hath over and above nature we must confesse there is nothing in the world which ought not to give place to friendship Law which preserves Estates which punisheth vice defends vertue is not equall to her neither for antiquity nor power Punishments nor rewards were never ordained ' till friendship began to coole whil'st she continued in full vigour the use of lawes was uselesse and the Politiques do confesse that States are better governed by good Intelligence amongst Subjects than by Ordinances of Princes the latter reforme onely the mouth or the hand impede onely bad actions or insolent speeches but the former reformes the heart and gliding into the will guides desires and regulates thoughts The Law ends differences but friendship reconciles enemies the law inhibits injuries but friendship adviseth good offices In fine the law is requifite to the commencement or initiation of a good man but friendship is required to his accomplishment and by her advice renders him perfect She is also of use to all sorts of Conditions and that man liues not that needs not a friend A friend is needfull to old men to assist them to young men to guide them to the miserable to comfort them to the ignorant to instruct them and to Kings themselves to increase their felicity For though their condition seem to be raised above that of all other men and that amidst the abundance of riches and honours wherewith they are environed there remains nothing for them to wish for yet ought they to make friends and endeavour a delight which agrees as well with Greatnesse as with Innocence Friendship is the best of all exteriour Goods and 't were unjust that Kings who possesse whatsoever else is of good should not possesse this Friendship obligeth us rather to give than to receive and Kings are in a condition wherein liberality is their principall vertue In fine happy Princes ought not to be solitary and I know not whether any one of them would accept of their felicity at the rate of living solitarily Therefore greatnesse doth not forbid friendship to Soveraignes that which seems to keep them aloofe off from this vertue draws them nearer to it and their power is never more pleasing than when imployed in succouring the miserable or in making men happy Neither do we see any Prince who hath not his Favourite The proudest Monarches
their humours and opinions had so straightly united their souls that death it self could not part them The Tyrant Dionysius to whom vertue was an Enemy condems one of these faithfull friends to his last sufferings he findes that his occasions ingage him to make a voyage the Tyrant who would adde mirth to cruelty permits him so to do provided he finde out Baile who may take his place and who will be bound to die for him if he defer his return Pythias accepts of this Condition and entring into Prison wisheth that the day of Execution drew nigh that he might deliver his friend the fatall hour being come and Damon not yet appearing Pythias is led to punishment he rejoyceth at his happinesse whilst the people are afflicted at his misfortune he excites the Hangman to make hast and fears death lesse then his friends return and without excusing his delay or suspition of his fidelity he commends Fortune which keeps his friend from making good his word at this very moment Damon arrives quite out of breath he presseth through the crowde presents himself before the Tyrant and the Executioner and calls for his baile in Pithias pleades the hower is past that Damon having failed in his assignment is no more lyable to death and that it is he Pythias that must end what he had begun This strife makes the Hang-man stay his hand moves wonder in the people and softens the Tyrant who for their fidelity revokes his Decree desires to be admitted into their society this monster who had never studied any thing but to make himself to be feared ravisht to see this Miracle wisheth to be beloved It cannot be denied but that this was a rare example and that in this mutuall correspondancy the height of friendship is seen for it was of power to inspire the contempt of death to cancell the love of life to mollifie cruelty to change rage into mildness and to turn the pain of punishment to a glorious recompence but who doth not also see that this contestation might rather proceed from vain Glory then love who thinks not that each of these loved themselves better than their companion since leaving life to him he would keep Glory to himself who will not confesse that in this dispute there was more of Ambition then fidelity and who will not acknowledge that so gallant an adventure might have been wisht for by men not so wel known to one another and between whom there was not so great a friendship as between Damon and Pythias But we must not wonder if friendship be faulty amongst the Pagans since she is not alwayes innocent amongst Christians and since interest which gives against the designes of Charity keeps her from inlarging her self and doth unjustly confine her self between two parties for we suffer our selves to be perswaded by Philosophy that common friendship cannot be reall that he who loves many loves none and that who doth so readily ingage himself doth disingage himself with as much as Ease Yet the Son of God bindes us to love all Christians as our brothers he will have his body and blood to be the bond of all the faithfull and that his chiefest mysteries tend onely to the uniting of them together his pleasure was that we should all have one and the same Father to the end we might have one and the same inheritance he ordeined but one Baptisme to the end that our birth might be alike and that the difference of Conditions being banisht from out his Church reciprocall love might not by mistake be diminished he gave us but one head to the end we might be inanimated by the same spirit and that the conformity of our opinions might be the preservation of our friendship he hath left us his body in the Eucharist to the end we might have one and the same food and that being converted to himself we should be obliged to love one another as being his members he hath caused us to be born in one and the same Church to the end that we might have but one Mother upon earth as we have but one Father in Heaven he hath promised us one and the same Paradise to the end we might have one and the same Country and that being so straightly united in time we may not be separated in Eternity yet all these powerfull means cannot keep friendship amongst Christians self love derides them the division of wealth divides their wills every one prefers his interest before Charity the Common people end their differences by suite at Law Gentle-men by Duels and Princes by Battails Men defend their right either by cunning or by force not considering that Jesus Christ lives in our enemies we kill them to revenge our selves and commit murther to cancell an injury But though we should be more charitable we cannot shun being unfortunate for sin hath so corrupted our nature Divine Justice hath so severely punisht sins as the life of man is rather a succession of miseries then of years man cannot live long without much suffering if his body be in health his minde is sick if his wealth be not exposed to injustice his Innocency is exposed to Calumny if he fence himself from one misfortune he is assayed by another and he learns to his own cost that long life is but a long punishment And then again whosoever engageth himself in friendship obligeth himself to new displeasures as he lives in two bodies he suffers in two places and addes his friends miseries to his own if he have many friends Fortune hath more to lay hold off in him and as afflictions are more common than blessings he must resolve to be often miserable Those deceive themselves who esteem friendship a consolation to the afflicted to give her her due name she ought to be termed the torment of the fortunate because she hath made evil Common between those who mutually love and since she makes a man suffer in his friends misfortune though otherwise he himself should be in a happy condition she augments the number of the miserable under pretence of diminishing it she turns a single Malady into a contagion she inlargeth displeasures under colour of easing them and by an ingenious Cruelty she findes a means to hurt many in indeavouring to heal one Therefore do the unfortunate fear having friends when they are uninteressed they love not that their maladie should be contagious it sufficeth them that they are miserable without making others so they are as covetuous of their Pains as they have been prodigall of their pleasures they think not themselves freed of their miseries by laying them upon their friends they shun company for fear of infecting them knowing that solitarinesse is the abode of the afflicted they forsake the world and hold for certain that an unfortunate man becomes faulty when he wisheth for Companions in his misery Be it confest that friendship is very fantastick and that she imprintes
strange opinions in men for if they be Just they ought not to desire that their friends contentment should be disquieted by their misfortunes they are unworthy of their Compassion if they too eagerly desire it they deserve not to be bemoned if they exact tears they are Tyrants and Hang-men if they will have their friends to be their Martyrs and that for having partaken in their Prosperity they should do the like in their Adversity notwithstanding 't is true that Friendship never appears but in Affliction 'T is misfortune that tries Friends their friendship is approved of when Fortune frowns we must be Miserable to know that we are beloved we cannot get this assurance without the Losse of our Felicity and as long as Fortune favours us we dare not build upon our friends Fidelities Heaven therefore is the true harbour of Friendship 't is there that our Love divides it self without fear of Jealousie and waxeth not weak 't is there that we shall have so many Friends as God makes blessed Saintes 't is there that without trying them by our Misfortunes we shall be assured of their good-wills 't is there that reading their Hearts and seeing their Thoughtes we shall no longer run the hazard of being abused by Words 't is there that without fear of adding to our mis-fortunes by the increase of our Friends we shall enjoy all good and fear no evil 't is there that living for ever together we shall no longer fear to be separated by Death or absence Finally 't is there that being perfectly united to God we shall see our selves in his Light and love our selves in his Goodnesse The ninth Discourse That the Uncertainty and Obscurity of Knowledge is derived from sin IT must be confest that man is very unfortunate in becoming guilty since his perfections and his defects are almost equally fatall to him His vertues are false and his vices true his most glorious actions do oft-times derive from so bad an originall as they are not to be praised without injuring in some sort both grace and reason His ignorance doth not always excuse his sin and his knowledge doth not always enhance his vertue The more he is knowing the more guilty is he as Saint Paul saith He withholds the truth in unrighteousnesse and his light is intermixt with so much darknesse that it may lead him out of the way and cannot conduct him This is notwithstanding mans most violent passion desire of knowledge is born with him and if it makes not his difference it is one of his chiefest Proprieties For Beasts are wrought on by ambition they fight for glory and as if that were the onely reward of their victory they pardon their enemies after they have beaten them they are tormented with love and jealousie Lions can endure no rivalls and if they want rewards to honour fidelity they want not chastisements to punish Adultery Desire of life is not much lesse violent in beasts than in men the same instinct which animates Tigres to seek out prey for their nourishment makes Stags hide themselves in woods for their preservation Nature teacheth them remedies for their evils and this common mother furnisheth them with herbes to cure them the apprehension of death encourageth the most timerous when they are bereft of all hope of safety they turn their fear to fury and to shun danger throw themselves head-long into it But the desire of knowledge is peculiar to man and there is no cruelty which he useth not to content his curiosity He rips open the bowels of the earth to know the secrets thereof he melts metals to discover their essences he descends to the bottome of the Sea to learn the wonders thereof he turns the world upside down to know it under pretence of succouring those that live he dissects those that are dead and seeks out the causes of their maladies that he may finde out remedies for them This passion is much augmented by the esteem which it hath won in the world for nothing is more honoured than knowledge the Devil gave it credit in the earthly Paradise by the praises which he gave it made our first Parents long after it their children imitated them in their errour consecrated their watchings to the atchieving of so rich a fleece Greatest honours have been conferr'd upon the most knowing men and if those which have freed their Countrey from the Insolence of Tyrants have past for Heroes those who have found out Arts who have defended men either from ignorance or from necessity have had Temples and Altars erected to them in so much as the Devill kept his word which his gave our first Parents when to seduce them he would perswade them their knowledge would make them Gods and his promise though false hath been in some sort accomplisht by peoples simplicity who have adored knowing men For it must be confest that the monuments of our mindes are more durable than those of our hands and that Sciences have much better fenced themselves against the injuries of time than the stateliest Edifices of Antiquity Aristotles Philosophy hath had her admirers in all Ages this gallant man had more Disciples since his death than during his life and there have been greater disputes had to maintain his Doctrine than the most famous Conquerour hath given Battels to enlarge his Territories Homers Verses are still read with respect men admire his invention reverence his defects and labour almost as much to understand his Conceipts as to understand Oracles some men passe whole nights in perusing his works who glory to be a dead mans Interpreter who enrich themselves at the cost of a poor man and boast themselves of enlightning all mens understandings by explicating the words of a blind man since his time all Empires have been dissipated Rome hath seen her self twice or thrice buried under her own ruines her Republique hath been turn'd to a Monarchy and her Monarchy hath divided it selfe into as many parts as there are Kingdomes in the world Men know not where the capitall Cities of Media and Persia were situated it is disputed in what parts of the World Thebes and Memphis were built their high walls large circuits and number of Inhabitants have not been able to preserve the memory thereof these works of great Kings have not been able to defend themselves against Time and these miracles of Art have either been ruin'd by the Sword or devoured by fire but Homers works live yet Troy was never so beautifull in Asia as in his Verses if he could not keep it from being burnt he hath kept it from being forgotten The Grecian Achilles and Hector of Troy never won so much renown by their valour as by his praises This onely example makes it evident that Knowledge hath the upper-hand of Courage and that the labours of the brain are more durable than the Conquests of Kings yet hath knowledge her defaults since the state of sin
what she hath received by the eare and as she is rich onely by means of the senses so is she by them onely liberall She observes the different qualities of objects by the eyes she judgeth of the diversity of sounds by the eares she comprehends mens intentions by their discourse she makes hers known by the tongue and this miraculous part of the body frames words which draw her thoughts unto the life If those who are absent cannot understand her she hath recourse to the hand which draws her dictates upon paper and which makes that appear to the eyes which the tongue could not make the eares comprehend Thus the soule acts onely by the body and all Sciences by which we are either instructed or perswaded are as well the work of the senses as of the soule Vertue it selfe owes her birth to the meanest part of man and were he not made of flesh and bloud he could offer no sacrifice to God neither could he satisfie divine Justice by his repentance The purity which equals him with Angls is not wholly spirituall if be borne in heaven 't is bred upon earth and if it begin in the soul it ends in the body Fasting and silence keep the flesh under to purifie the soule and if man had not a tongue and mouth he could neither praise God in silence nor honour him by self-affliction Martyrdom which is the utmost of charity and the highest degree of perfection is consummated onely in the flesh meer spirits cannot be a prey to wilde beasts and a soule which hath put off her body cannot overcome Tyrants nor triumph over Executioners Mortallity is requisite to Martyrdom and if the Angels be somwhat more than we men because they cannot die they are in some sort lesse because they cannot suffer death is the triall of our love and as oft as we lose our lives in Christs quarrell we strike terrour into devils and fill Angels with admiration In fine the honour which God receives on earth proceeds from the body 'T is the body which is his Priest and Victime 't is the body which bears his imprinted characters in it's face 't is the body which commands on earth and which playing the part of Gods Lieutenant findes obedience amongst the Elements and mildnesse amongst savage beasts 'T is the body which fights for the Glory of the Son of God and which defends his Interest to the face of Tyrants and which sings his praises amidst the Flames 'T is the body which being made by his hands and in-livened by his breath hath the honour to be his workmanship and his Temple 'T is the body which is the object of his love and of his care which seeth the Sun surround the world to lighten it fruits bud to nourish it flowers spring up to recreate it and whole nature labours for it's pleasure or service In fine 't is the body which is offered up upon Altars which fights in persecutions which praiseth God in prosperity which blesseth him in afflictions which honours him in death which in the Grave expects his promises which will rise again at the end of the World and which will reign for ever in Heaven The second Discourse Of the miseries of the Body in Generall THe evils which we receive from the body are so great as that al Philosophy is nothing but an invective against this enemy of our repose If we beleeve the Platonists t is a prison wherein the Soul is inclosed to expiate the sins which she hath committed in Heaven If we will listen to the Academicks t is a grave wherein the Soul is buried and where being more dead than alive she cannot make use of all those perfections which she hath received from Nature If we trust the Stoicks t is a disobedient slave which opposeth it self to all the souls desires and which being born to obey hath no so great passion as to command t is a subject which aspires to Tyranny and which forceth its legitimate sovereign to forgo both honour and vertue and to embrace voluptuousnesse If we will give ear to the Peripateticks who come neerest the truth t is the least part of Man which being given him to serve the soul crosseth all her designs and hinders the execution of her noblest enterprises Hence it is that all Philosophers do what in them lieth to have no commerce with the body and wish for death or old age to the end that the one may weaken this Domestick enemy and that the other may free them from it Christian Religion which marcheth in the midst of errours with assurance confesseth that the body is as well the workmanship of God as the soul is and though it be not altogether so noble it ceaseth not to be destined to the same happinesse But as slaves are punisht for their masters and as children sometimes bear the punishment of their fathers sins the body hath been punisht for the soul and from the time it became confederate in her crime it partook in her punishment Though the soul be the more guilty the body is the more unfortunate and of the two parts which go to the composure of man the most innocent seems to be the most miserable For to boote that it is subject to pain by reason of the elements bad intelligence that it undergoes sicknesses whereby the health thereof is prejudiced that it cannot be cured but by troublesome remedies that the fear of death be a punishment which lasts as long as its life it is notwithstanding occasion of the most sins whereof the soul is guilty and this Sovereign thinketh she should be innocent if she were not fastened to so guilty a Party To disintangle all these things we must know that when the soul lost her priviledges the body lost likewise its advantages for the same grace wâ— made the soul pleasing to God made the body subject to the soul the same innocencie which preserved the sovereign from sin warranted the slave from death But when once man became guilty he became unfortunate and when once he lost originall righteousnesse he therewith lost all the dependencies thereupon Errour and blindness slid into the understanding malice glided into the will and by a consequence which Divine Justice made necessary illusion crept into the senses sicknesse altered mans temper pain disquieted his rest and death sho tened his life These punishments are so irksome as each of them deserves a discourse and not to enter upon a subject which I should handle more at large it shall suffice me for the present to make it manifest that though the body be the Souls slave since sin it is become her Tyrant and that it neither tastes of contentment nor suffers sorrow wherein it shares not with her Pain is a sensible evill and were not the Soul ingaged in the body she without the least commotion would behold the most grievous punishments but nature having composed man of these two
harder to be repaired than those which they commit upon the constitution whole mouthes are required to their reparation after p the fever hath left them the colour in the cheek is not so soon re-gained as health And women as if they did prefer pleasure before profit are sorry to see themselves sooner well than fair nothing can consolate them for the losse of a thing held so precious but the knowledge that it was natures pleasure it should not be permanent For her rarest workmanships are of least durance there is no beauty constant save that of the stars and yet they may complain that the cloudes darken them by night and the sun by day The rain-bow is the most beautifull of all Meteors it shames the Art of painting be it either for lustre or for the mixture of colours it 's figure is so perfect as the compasse cannot imitate it the greatnesse thereof is so vast as it incompasseth halfe the world the waters whereof it is composed nourish hope in the husbandman it causeth fruitfulnesse in fields and warns men to shun the storms which it threatens 'T is a pledge of the peace which heaven hath made with earth and though it presage rain to men in generall yet doth it assure the faithfull that the world shall never be drowned again yet so rare a marvaile lasts but a few moments One and the same hour sees the beginning and the end thereof the Sun seems to have made it only to please itselfe in the un-making thereof The rose amongst flowers is like the rain-bow amongst Meteors her vermillion out-vies all the beauty of the world Her odour naturally as it is disputes for precedency with the most pleasing perfumes that Art can compose the placing of her leaves puts painters who would imitate her to their wits ends yet too boot that she is environed with prickles and that she seems to share more in the curse of the earth than other flowers her life lasts but for a few days the Sun which gave her life gives her death and that fire which enlivens her purple is extinguished as soon as lighted Neither is the beauty of women of long durance that lustre which bewitcheth men is lost in a few years and they are unjust in wishing that men should be constant in their love since the object which gives it birth is so subject to alteration But this fault in beauty were excusable since it cures the malady which it caused were it not accompanied with another which can admit of no excuse neither deserves any pardon For beauty is become an enemy to chastity and since the soule and body are at ods these two qualities have much adoe to agree Fair women are seldome chaste nature since corrupted is turned hypocrite beauty is no longer a mark of goodnesse she forgoes the soule as soon as she appears upon the body and as if perfection were no longer to be found upon earth a woman ceaseth oft-times to be chaste when she begins to be lovely That Father in Ovid did witnesse this very well who being desired by his daughter that he would give her leave to consecrate her virginity to Diana reply'd that her beauty gain-said her designe that she was too fair to be chaste and that though she should have resolution enough to keep her vow she had too many lovers to preserve her chastity 't is very hard for a woman who delights in causing love in others not to share therein her selfe and that a woman of an excellent beauty should be ice since she gives fire to so many flames she cannot resolve to hate all those that love her she cannot be perswaded that those who honour her should undoe her what advise soever her directour gives her she cannot believe that those who are her slaves should be her enemies nor that those that praise her beauty would wound her honour She thinks that beauty of no power which hath no Martyrs she believes she cannot judge of her own charmes but by her servants sighes that she is ignorant of her own conquests if she learn them not from their mouthes and that there is yet somwhat wanting to her Triumph if those who have experience of her cruelty do not implore her mercy Flattered by these false perswasions she exposeth her selfe to danger and out of hope of obtaining new victories she engageth her selfe in fresh combates if she be not seduced by vanity she is misled by pitty and believes that those who behave themselves so handsomly in their complaints suffer reall pains compassion makes her throw open the doores to love and under pretence of easing anothers malady she forgets her duty and betrayes her honour If she preserves her chastity amidst so many rocks which threaten her shipwrack she runs great hazard of loosing her humility her lovers Panegyricks make her think better of her selfe and those praises which men rob God of to give her perswade her that she is somwhat of divine Those who cannot corrupt her by their idle discourse seduce her by their adorations not being able to make her unchaste they make her proud not being able to bereave her of her chastity they take from her her modesty and bring her into a sad condition wherein pride is as it were necessary to her for defence of her honesty She likes not of common homage she thinks her selfe injured if men use not blasphemy to heighten her beauty and unlesse upon cold bloud men say what enamour'd Poets use to do in raptures she thinks her selfe slighted her lovers extravagancies are her Panegyricks she thinks not that they love unlesse they lose their reason nor doth she judge their passion to be extream unlesse they commit a thousand follies She judges of her power by her injustice if she doth not engage those who serve her in hard and ridiculous enterprises she doubts of their fidelity and because love is a kind of madnesse she will have all her lovers to be either mad or out of their wits 'T is not enough for a man to lose his liberty in her service unlesse he lose his judgment also more cruell then Tyrants and more absolute then Kings she will have her slaves to be her Martyrs that they kisse their fetters love their sufferings and listen with respect to their doom of death Thus Pride springs from beauty fair women grow proud and their insolence grows to that height as to ravish men from God to commit that execrable attempt on earth which Lucifer did in Heaven and to make all creatures adore rhem The first Christian women who very well knew the misfortune which accompanied this advantage did gallantly despise it they were ashamed to be handsome they neglected what our women so much value they thought it a fault to heighten a perfection which produceth lewd desires the purest amongst them wisht that old age might free them of this domestick enemy the most zealous did set upon
punishment of his sin His wife knew not as yet the art of trimming her self all her daughters eloquence could not perswade her that that which was a punishment of her disobedience should adde unto her beauty and comparing her innocency with all her other ornaments she could never think to gain by an exchange where for originall righteousnesse which she lost she got nothing but the slaver of worms or scum of fishes Let us use what art we can to lenifie our losse or to excuse our vanity we cannot deny but that our most gaudy apparell are the spoils of beasts and that we are very miserable since betraying our greatnesse we seek for ornaments in the bottome of the sea or in the bowels of the earth for what else is wooll but sheep fleeces what is silk whereof so many different silks are made but the drivell of worms and the sepulchre which those little animals make unto themselves when they die what is purple which had wont to be the badge of Sovereignty but the bloud of certain fishes what are Pearls but the warts of certain shel-fish and the thickest part of the fome of the sea which could not be turned into it's substance what are diamonds and rubies but water congealed within rocks what is gold which is made use of in so many prophane things which men disguise in so many shapes which is sought for with so much pain which is got with so much injustice and kept with so much care but the excrement of a barren soil to which the fire gives Lustre and our errour valuation what in fine is the linnen cloth with which we are covered all over and wherein the greatest part of our vanity consists but a kind of herb or grasse which we see grow up and die flourish in the fields and in a short time weather away which passeth through womens hands which is wetted with their spittle turned with the spindle strecht upon the loom wrought with the shittle whitened in the dew and at last cut into bands and handcherchiefs must not one have lost his judgment to glory in such trifles and if his ornament deserve any praise is it not rather due to those that made them then to those that wear them whosoever glories in a sute of apparell intrencheth upon his tailors right and who values himself the more for the stuffe he wears injures the worms that spun it or the workmen that wrought it Our glory ought to be in our selves and we ought never to ground our greatnesse upon a thing which we forego as oft as we put off our cloths A man must not adorn himself with that which he borrows from other creatures and to believe that all the spoils of nature can heighten his descent is to have too ill an opinion of himself But if the materials whereof our cloths be made be contemptible the cause why we wear them is criminall for those who may be said rather to set out then to cloth themselves and who joyn pleasures to necessity have for the most part but two designs which are equally unjust The first is to satisfie themselves and to entertein their self-love by the care they have of their body they will make an Idol of a slave adorn a guilty person who deserves death bring him with pomp to his punishment and disguise his misery to flatter his ambition they are like those captives who think the better of their Irons because they are guilded yet all their ornaments are but marks of their sin and mis-fortunes and as a foot-man who wears a gaudy livery makes but his misery more visible those who trim themselves the finest make but their shame more publick The art of trimming or adorning acknowledgeth no author but the Devil He who taught the curious the vertue of herbs to make their inchantments and the influences of the stars to order their Horiscopes by he who taught the avaritious the way to purifie the earth to make thereof the preciousest of metalls he who taught the ambitious the secret of intrenching upon the peoples liberty taught women to mingle colours to polish diamonds to calcive pearls to compose materials and to falsifie whole nature to inhaunce their beauty and to acquire reputation by the losse of their modesty ought not this masters condition infuse distrust into his disciples and if women had not as well lost their judgment as their modesty would they not believe that a sinfull Angell would tarnish their innocence that impure spirits would attempt their chastity and that rebellious slaves would endevour to make them lose their humility The second designe of those who delight in sumptuous apparell is to please those that look upon them to entangle souls in their nets to purchase lovers or slaves to govern by the pomp of their apparell as Monarchs do by the terrour of their Arms. This is the more usuall and the more dangerous motive the more usuall because vain glory seeks out a Theater because self-love as well as ambition will have spectatours To say truth women do not greatly care for dressing themselves when they are alone solitarinesse is an enemy to pomp a body is soon weary of linifying himselfe when he means not to appear the pain he findes in doing it makes him lose the pleasure of it and as Peacocks close up their plumes when no body beholds them women neglect their dressing when no body admires them They reserve their pearls and diamonds for great meetings Courts and Masks are the occasions whereupon they heighten their beauty and when they have neither witnesses to observe them nor servants to adore them selfe love is not of power enough to make them adorn themselves As this motive is the more usuall so is it the more sinfull for to boot that a woman that will cause love in another runs danger of being caught therewithall her selfe that it is hard to carry fire to ones neighbour without self-burning 't is assuredly to imitate the devill to serve for instruments to wicked spirits to lose the souls that Jesus Christ would save and to present poison or a poniard to mad men who would kill themselves Let women disguise their designes how artificially they please let them excuse their intentions by their pretences the endeavouring to seem pleasing to men is never blamelesse the desire of entangling them is always sinfull and the care they take in attiring themselves either to captivate them or to continue them captives is equally prejudiciall to their chastity Pomp and luxury in apparell savours of prostitution or vain glory both these faults are contrary to our religion The difference of condition is but a piece of cunning which self-love hath found out to authorize our disorders Our first condition is the condition of sinners we are sinners before we be Sovereigns our souls were sullied with Adams sin before our bodies were clad in purple and all the titles which flattery confers upon
in it's greatest storms not to out-passe it's bounds it takes nothing in one place which it repayes not in another it restores to Swethland what it hath taken from Holland and foregoes our coasts when it intrencheth upon our neighbours if the ebbing flowing thereof be sometimes irregular they never move to such a height as to threaten the whole world it's inroads are rather for pastime then mischief and should it have tane that liberty in the state of innocency man who very well knew the nature thereof would neither have been surprised nor astonished thereat But if it now spread it self over the fields if it cover the highest steeples with it's waves if it turn populous towns into lakes or ponds if it bear it's Empire beyond it's bounds and if breaking the banks which are made to oppose it's fury it threaten us again with an universall Deluge it follows rather the motions of Divine Justice then it 's own and this prodigie is rather an effect of Gods anger then of Nature Thus ought we to argue of that generall inundation which destroyed the whole world two thousand years after it was first made the cause came from heaven the decree was pronounced by Gods own mouth the execution thereof was given to the evil spirits the Elements received a new commission to obey their new order The earth furnisht part of the vapours which were to drown her the vapours distil'd down in rain rivers being swoln with such fall of rain broke their banks the sea not able to contain so many flouds forewent its bounds Towns were changed into ponds their streets were turned into rivolets their inhabitants quitted their houses the wals whereof were undermined by waters and equally fearing two contrary evils they know not whether they were to perish by the fall or by the drowning of their houses Torrents were seen every where which charged with booty did at the same time carry down the seilings of palaces and trees out of gardens all rivers lost their names and channels the Rhine was confounded with Rome Euphrates and Ganges were mingled together all those great rivers which had won fame by reason of the towns which they watered found their losse in their greatnesse and ruined themselves that they might ruine the whole world the tops of mountains made Islands in this wast Ocean which being by little and little quite effaced left the world at last drowned in waters there was then but one onely Element seen Whole Nature became a Sea in the which the winds guided a vessell which carried in it the worlds onely hope and which preserved eight people amidst this deluge which were to re-people the world It is very likely that so great a spoil was not made without Thunder and that to make this punishment the more dreadfull the Sun hid his face that the day gave place to night that the world was covered with darknesse and the Lightening was the torches which did attend the funerall pomp whilst any mountains were yet uncovered with water the remainders of man-kind were fixed there in this extremity no comfort but astonishment remained fear was changed into stupidity and the wonder which they conceived at this so hideous an accident did so possesse their spirits as they saw the sea without fear had not feeling of the mischief and perished without complaining Who will not confesse that so strange an accident could be no naturall effect who will not judge by the greatnesse thereof that it was a miracle of divine Justice who will not confesse that these disorders which tend to the ruine of man-kind are the punishments of sin and that nature would never have conceived so much indignation against her own children had she not believed to revenge their father by their death and to repair his honour by their punishment The eighth Discourse That Thunder Plagues and Tempest are the effects of Sinne. WHen I consider the worlds condition since sin me thinks I see a combat between self-love and divine Justice and that these two parties do with equall courage endevour to win the victory Divine Justice disorders the seasons to punish sinfull man altereth the nature of the elements robs the earth of flowers and covers it over with thorns makes the winters longer and Summers shorter and mingling the saddest of our seasons with all the other makes snow be seen in the spring and thick fogs in Autumn arms savage beasts with new fury draws them out of their forrests to set on sinners in towns destroyes her own workmanship ruines the beauties of the world to take revenge of the Lord thereof and raiseth up as many enemies against him since his sin as he had Subjects during his innocency self-Self-love imploys all it's industry to to repair these disorders and by tricks which seem to augment it's sin withstands all the designs of Divine Justice it cultivates the earth and by it's labour makes her fruitfull it ingrafts roses upon thorns and indevours to make the place of it's exile a stately palace it hath had such good successe in it's enterprizes as the sinfull world comes not far short of the world when innocent did our first father live again and partake of our contentments he would not so much lament the losse of the earthly paradise but blaming the tears which his banishment drew from him he would passe his time merrily away with his children in so pleasing an abodâ— In effect all things are refined by time solitary places are inhabited forrests which infused horrour into those who saw them furnish hunters with pastime the barren sands are sowed upon vines are planted upon rocks Marish grounds are dried that they may be plough'd up and provinces are now fuller of palaces then formerly they were of cottages Islands are no longer un-inhabited and those famous rocks which made the Pylots tremble now bear high Towers for Land-marks unto them and Towns to receive them all the parts of the world are peopled nor are there any desarts which have not some Inhabitants and houses But let self-love use all the cunning that it can there are some mischiefs which wee cannot shâ— and there are some disorders in the world which will oblige us to confesse that the wisedome of man cannot defend it self against Gods anger Thunder is of this sort and one must have lost his reason not to fear a cause which produceth such strange effects All Poets have armed the hands of God therewithall and nature which is the Mistresse of Infidels hath taught them that he makes use thereof to punish offenders the lightenings which fore-run it the noyse which doth accompany it and the prodigies which follow after are undeniable proofs of this truth Let Philosophy defend her self against it by her vain reasons let her oppose her pride to our feaâ— let her destroy religion by her libertinisme she cannot keep reasonable men from redoubting thun-Thunder and from confessing by the fear