when he had drunk gave the cup to his Deacon as esteeming him the most worthy person of the feast next himself Maximus who infinitely seemed to be pleased therewith although he inwardly felt himself gauled with this liberty did so outwardly dissemble it that he caused S. Martin to be applauded through all his Court protesting that none but â—e was worthy the title of a Bishop and that he had done at the table of an Emperour what the other Bishops would never have acted in the house of a mean Judge On the other side the wife of Maximus who already possessed the title of Empress made her self a Magdalen at the feet of Saint Martin and although never woman touched this chaste creature he suffered her to exercise all sort of ceremonies towards him undergoing a thousand troubles to rid himself of her importunities This seemed not strange in the age of threescore and ten and in the reputation of sanctity wherewith he had filled the world that a woman should kiss his feet but it was a thing very unusual to behold a Princess humbled in the dust of the earth to perform this office She regarded neither purple diadem quality nor Empire she had no eyes but for S. Martin being blind to the rest of the world After this first banquet Maximus and the Ladie went to the Saint and besought him again to take a bad dinner which the Empress would in private prepare for him with her own hands and although he in the beginning refused it was impossible for him to escape from these Saint-like invitations For these are snares which catch eagles as well as sparrows Needs would the Queen do all offices in this second feast She played the cook dressed the dining-room laid the cloth gave to the holy man water for his hands was his cup-bearer and waited on him all the time of his meal standing bolt upright as a servant with her mind intentive on her office Dinner being ended she did eat the scraps and remainder of the table which she preferred before all the Imperial delicacies Verily we may say women are violent in their affections and when once they go the right way their virtues have no mean I will not seek to penetrate the Ladies intentions which I suppose were very good but considering the proceedings of Maximus there is great cause to think he endeavoured by his infinite courtship to charm the nature of Saint Martin which to him seemed somewhat harsh Yet the great man endowed with the spirit of prophesie freely told all which should befal him Behold some part of the disposition of Maximus which I was willing to present on paper that it might appear of what condition they ordinarily are who bear arms against the obedience due to Kings who are the lively images of God The Tyrant began a revolt in England and from that time determined to establish the Citie of Trier in Germanie as the seat of his Empire and thence to raise a pair of wings to flie above the clouds which were Italie and Spain He chose for his Constable a man very consonant to his humour and of great resolution who caused himself to be called the Good man the better to colour the wickedness of his Master With this bad Councellour he endeavoured to stir up the souldiers and on every side drew the warlick troups to his party The good Emperour Gratian speedily armeth to stiffle tyranny in the birth thereof and in person goeth to encounter his adversary He had then very freshly drawn good souldiers from the Kingdom of Hungarie to his assistance of whom he made much account Others seeing that he much esteemed of them were stung with jealousie and grew cold in their Masters behalf The poor Prince being on the point to wage battel found himself carelesly and traiterously abandoned by his legions who daily stole away to increase the Army and strength of Maximus This black and hydeous treason much amazed the Emperour who complained as the Eagle in the Emblem that his own feathers gave him the storke of death seeing his souldiers who should have born him on their wings delivered him to his enemy through a neglect which shall make the Roman history to blush eternally So that seeing there was no safety for his person he sought to regain Italie as soon as possible accompanied onely with a full troup of horse consisting of about three hundred men Maximus well discovered that he would at any price whatsoever have the bloudy spoil of his Master For he charged this Good man to pursue him with all violence and not to desist till the prey were in his clutches which he did taking horses with him who ran like a tempest and could well endure any tedious travel In the end he met with the Emperour at Lyons and fearing he might escape bethought himself of a mischievous stratagem For he secretly caused the Emperour to be enformed the Empress his wife was in danger of her person if he stayed not some while to expect her because she was resolved to follow him thinking no place capable of safety or consolation where her husband was not This false report much softened the heart of Gratian who was as good a husband as an Emperour he therefore resolved to hasten to the Empress though not without evident danger of his life There is an unspeakable power in the love of neighbours which is the cause that birds and fishes are oft-times voluntarily caught with twigs and nets not fearing to put their life in danger where they see some part of themselves to be This Prince who in the extreamest disasters of his fortune was full of courage and flew every where like a flash of lightening to give order to his affairs at the news that the Empress was on her way to follow him was much terrified nor was Pitifull death of the Emperour Gratian. there an object of peril which he framed not in his thoughts Moments seemed days unto him and days as Ages A thousand santasies of affrightment summoned his heart in his solitude There was no living for him if he beheld not his dearest love in his arms She was a Princess of much merit daughter of the Emperour Constantius born after the death of her father whom Gratian faithfully loved though he as yet had no issue by her The Tyrant understanding his game succeeded to Socrat. lib. 5. cap. 11. Zozom lib. 7. cap. 13. his wish made a litter to pass along much like to that of the Empress and disposed his ambushes round about in the way The Emperour perceiving it afar off and supposing his wife Constantia was in it spurs his horse and flyeth with those wings which love and joy gave him being at that time followed by few of his people The murderers assailed and massacred him but he still shewing the courage of a Lion bare himself bravely amongst swords and halbards leaving the mark of his hand all bloudy on a wall as S. Hierom
the Apostles in S. Luke it not being corrected by our Saviour who was the rule of their faith Such the truth of the apparition of the soul of Moses upon Mount Thabor I insist not now upon proof Math. 17 but example contenting my self to produce one or two out of a great multitude recounted by Authours As for the first I hold the apparition of the soul Apparition of the soul of Samuel 1. Reg. 28. of Samuel is most formal in Scripture for any one who will consider the whole progress of the narration The history telleth us that King Saul after the death of Samuel was upon the point of giving battel to the Philistines and that having first addressed himself to God by ordinarie means to learn the way he should observe therein seeing he had no answer either by dream or the lively voice of Prophets he did what infidels and men desperate do who seek to get that from the devil they cannot obtain of God He commanded his servants to seek him out a forceress although himself had banished them by his Edicts out of his Kingdom The servants ever ready to observe their Masters in ill offices when their own interest concurreth found a famous Magician whom the Hebrews affirm to have been a woman of good place but out of a detestable curiosity had put her self into this profession Saul to cover his purpose and not to amaze her went thither by night in a disguized habit onely accompanied with two gentlemen where having saluted her he demanded the exercise of her profession But she being crafty and careful to keep her self from surprizes answered Sir go you about to undo me your self also Know you not the Edicts of King Saul Saul replied he knew all had passed but she might confidently proceed assuring her of his warranty and whereas she proposed punishments to her self she should meet with rewards But she still doubting and sticking on distrust usual in all mischiefs he engaged his word with great oaths protesting no ill should befal her for any thing might pass at that time between them Thereupon resolved to give him satisfaction she asked if it were not his desire to speak to the soul of a dead man as also whose it was It was very ordinary with these Negromancers to raise illusions and fantasms instead of true spirits of the dead S Apollonius made Achilles to be seen Philostr in Apoll. Zonaras Eunapius Sardianus appearing on his tomb as a giant of twelve cubits high so Santaberemus shewed to the Emperour Basilius the soul of his son Constantine so Jamblicus made to appear in certain baths of Syria two figures of little children like Cupids All this to speak properly had nothing real in it and it is no wonder if those who thought Samuel had been raised by a sorceress believed it was a specter But he who well will weigh the phrase of Scripture and consider that this spirit of Samuel suddenly appeared before the sorceress had used her ordinary spells plainly shewing he came meerly by the commandment of God and not by the charms of the Magician will easily change opinion Verily the Sorceress was much astonished seeing the dead came contrary to the manner of other and cried out aloud as one distracted Sir you have deceived me you are Saul much doubting it was to him Samuel came The miserable King who endeavoured by all means to assure her fear not saith he I will keep my promise what have you seen She answered DEOSVIDIASCENDENTES DE TERRA as who should say according to the Hebrews phrase she had seen a venerable person like an Angel or a God raised out of the earth In what shape replies the King It is an venerable old man saith she covered with the mantle of a Prophet Then Saul with much reverence prostrated on the ground and made a low obeysance to Samuel who spake to him and said QUARE ME INQUIETASTI UT SUSCITARER Why hast thou disquieted me to make me return into the world Necessitie hath constrained me answereth Saul I am plunged in a perplexity of affairs and cannot get any answer from heaven O man abandoned by God why doest thou ask of me that which I have foretold shall happen Thy army shall be defeated by the Philistins and thou with thy children shalt be to morrow with me that is to say among the dead as I am now which so fell out Now the Eccl. 46. Scripture upon this praiseth Samuel to have prophetized after his death if it were not the true Samuel but a specter who sees not it were to tell a lie and to applaud the work of the divel But to the end you may see this belief was held by Nations as by a decree of nature Josephus in the seventeenth book of his Judaical antiquities relateth the apparition of the spirit of Alexander son of the great Herod and Mariamne who was seen to his wife Glapphyra when she re-married again to the King of Mauritania to reproch her ingratitude and forgetfulness of her first husband which having amply deduced in the first Tome of the holy Court in the tenth edition upon an Instruction directed to widdows I forbear here to repeat it Philostratus in the eigth book of the life of Apollonius maketh likewise mention of a young man much troubled in mind concerning the state of souls in the other life and saith Apollonius appeared unto 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 him assuring him the soul was immortal and he need not to be troubled at all since it was rather the work of the Divine providence than of it I willingly passe over many other examples to tell you that Phlegon a good Authour who flourished about an hundred years after the nativity of our Saviour and was not of our religion to favour our opinions although honourably cited by Origen Eusebius and S. Hierom writeth a strange historie witnessed by the testimonie of a whole Citie wherein he then governed He saith that at Trayls a Citie 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Phrygia there was a young maid named Philenion daughter of Democrates and Chariton who as her storie well declareth was an amorous piece became court-like loved bravery delighted in too free conversation and followed the foolish pleasures of the world true gardens of Adonis which in the beginning make shew of silly flowers and in conclusion afford nought but thorns God who followeth the voluptuous by the track even into the shades of death sent her a sickness which having cropped the flower of her beauty left her almost nothing but a living carcass to deliver her over as a prey to death The miserable maid suffered the boiling fervours of the feaver through all her bodie not loosing the flames of love which she cherished in her heart She burnt with two fires not being able either to quench the one or other and having but a little breath of life left on her lips she gave to love what already was
souldiers and I say to this go and he goeth and to another come and he cometh and to my servant do this and he doth it And Jesus hearing this marvelled and said to them that followed him Amen I say to you I have not found so great faith in Israel And I say to you that many shall come from the East and West and shall sit down with Abraham Isaac and Jacob in the Kingdom of Heaven but the children of the Kingdom shall be cast out into the exteriour darkness there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth And Jesus said to the Centurion Go and as thou hast believed be it done to thee And the boy was healed in the same hour Moralities 1. OUr whole Salvation consists in two principles The one is in our being sensible of God and the other in moving toward him the first proceeds from faith the other comes of charity and other virtues O what a happy thing it is to follow the examples of this good Centurion by having such elevated thoughts of the Divinity and to know nothing of God but what he is To behold our heavenly Father within this great family of the world who effects all things by his single word Creates by his power governs by his councel and orders by his goodness this great universality of all things The most insensible creatures have ears to hear him Feavers and tempests are part of that running camp which marcheth under his Standard They advance and retire themselves under the shadow of his command he onely hath power to give measures to the Heaven bounds to the Sea to joyn the East and West together in an instant and to be in all places where his pleasure is understood 2. O how goodly a thing it is to go unto him like this great Captain To go said I Nay rather to flie as he doth by the two wings of Charity and Humility His charity made him have a tender care of his poor servant and to esteem his health more dear than great men do the rarest pieces in their Cabinets He doth not trust his servants but takes the charge upon himself making himself by the power of love a servant to him who by birth was made subject to his command What can be said of so many Masters and Mistresses now adays who live always slaves to their passions having no care at all of the Salvation health or necessities of their servants as if they were nothing else but the very scum of the world They make great use of their labours and service which is just but neglect their bodies and kill their souls by the infection of their wicked examples Mark the humility of this souldier who doth not think his house worthy to be enlightened by one sole glimpse of our blessed Saviours presence By the words of Saint Augustine we may say he made himself worthy by believing and declaring himself so unworthy yea worthy that our Saviour should enter not onely into his house but into his very soul And upon the matter he could not have spoken with such faith and humility if he had not first enclosed in his heart him whom he durst not receive into his house 3. The Gentiles come near unto God and the Jews go from him to teach us that ordinarily the most obliged persons are most ungratefull and disesteem their benefactours for no other reason but because they receive benefits daily from them If you speak courteously to them they answer churlishly and in the same proportion wherein you are good you make them wicked therefore we must be carefull that we be not so toward God Many are distasted with devotion as the Israelites were with Manna All which is good doth displease them because it is ordinary And you shall find some who like naughty grounds cast up thorns where roses are planted But we have great reason to fear that nothing but hell fire is capable to punish those who despise the graces of God and esteem that which comes from him as a thing of no value Aspirations O Almighty Lord who doest govern all things in the family of this world and doest bind all insensible creatures by the bare sound of thy voice in a chain of everlasting obedience Must I onely be still rebellious against thy will Feavers and Palsies have their ears for thee and yet my unruly spirit is not obedient Alas alas this family of my heart is ill governed It hath violent passions my thoughts are wandering and my reason is ill obeyed Shall it never be like the house of this good Centurion where every thing went by measure because he measured himself by thy commandments O Lord I will come resolutely by a profound humility and an inward feeling of my self since I am so contemptible before thine eyes I will come with Charity toward these of my houshold and toward all that shall need me O God of my heart I beseech thee let nothing from henceforth move in me but onely to advance my coming toward thee who art the beginning of all motions and the onely repose of all things which move The Gospel for the first Friday in Lent S. Matth. 5. Wherein we are directed to pray for our Enemies YOu have heard that it was said thou shalt love thy neighbour and hate thine enemie But I say to you Love your enemies do good to them that hate you and pray for them that persecute and abuse you that you may be the children of your Father which is in Heaven who maketh his Sun to rise upon good and bad and raineth upon just and unjust For if you love them that love you what reward shall you have Do not also the Publicans this And if you salute your brethren onely what do you more Do not also the heathen this Be you perfect therefore as also your heavenly Father is perfect Moralities 1. A Man that loves nothing but according to his natural inclination loves onely like a beast or an infidel The best sort of love is that which is commanded by God and is derived from judgement conducted by reason and perfected by Charity Me thinks it should be harder for a good Christian to hate than love his enemy Hate makes him our equal whereas love placeth us quite above him By hating a mans enemy he breaks the laws of God he fights against the Incarnation of Christ which was acted to unite all things in the bands of love he gives the lie to the most blessed Eucharist whose nature is to make the hearts of all Christians the lame he lives like another Cain in the world always disquieted by seeking revenge and it is a very death to him to hear another mans prosperity Whereas to love an enemy doth not bind us to love the injury he hath done us for we must not consider him as a malefactour but as a man of our own nature as he is the Image of God and as he is a Christian God doth onely command perfect
God will they are always heard if not according to the wishes of their own nature yet according to the greater profits of his grace He is always happie who hath that which he would because he knows how to wish what is fitting and finds means to obtain what he desires by reason of his abstinence from coveting that which cannot be had 5. We must not offer to limit our goodness but as it comes from an infinit God we should make it as near being infinite as we can He gives the lie to virtues who will reduce them to a certain number We must never be weary of well doing but imitate the nature of celestial things which never make any end but to begin again Aspiration O God what spots are in my soul and how little do I look into my own imperfections Wilt thou never shew me to my self for some good time that I may cure my self by horrour of seeing what I am since I do so often wound my self by being too indulgent to my own naughty affections It is a great offence to break the glass which representeth me to my self by brotherly correction and to think I shall commit to more sins when no body will take liberty to reprove me I will humble my self to the very dust and mount up to thy glorie by contempt of my own baseness Alas must my soul be always so far in love with it self that it cannot suffer the remonstrance of a friend how will it then endure the tooth of an enemy what can she love being so partial to her self if she do not love most ugly darkness O my redoubted Master I fear thine eyes which see those obscurities which the foolish world takes to be brightness If I cannot be always innocent make me at least acknowledge my self faulty that I may know my self as I am to the end thou mayest know me for an object capable of thy mercy The Gospel upon Wednesday the third week in Lent S. Matthew 15. The Pharisees asked Jesus Why do thy Disciples contradict ancient Traditions THen came to him from Jerusalem Scribes and Pharisees saying Why do thy Disciples transgress the tradition of the ancients For they wash not their hands when they eat bread But be answering said to them Why do you also transgress the commandment of God for your tradition For God said Honour father and mother and he that shall curse father or mother dying let him die But you say Whosoever shall say to father or mother The gift whatsoever proceedeth from me shall profit thee and shall not honour his father or his mother and you have made frustrate the commandment of God for your own tradition Hypocrites well hath Esaiah prophesied of you saying This people honoureth me with their lips but their heart is far from me And in vain do they worship me teaching doctrines and commandments of men And having called together the multitudes unto him he said to them Hear ye and understand Not that which entereth into the mouth defileth a man but that which proceedeth out of the mouth that defileth a man Then came his Disciples and said to him Dost thou know that the Pharisees when they heard this word were scandalized But he answering said All planting which my heavenly Father hath not planted shall be rooted up Let them alone blind they are guides of the blind and if the blind be guide to the blind both fall into the ditch And Peter answering said to him Expound us this parable But he said Are you also as yet without understanding Do you not understand that all that entereth into the mouth goeth into the belly and is cast forth into the privie But the things that proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart and those things defile a man For from the heart come forth evil cogitations murders adulteries fornications thefts false testimonies blasphemy These are the things that defile but to eat with unwashen hands doth not defile a man Moralities 1. THe spirit of man is wretched and makes it self business by being disquieted with petty little things and tormenting it self with formalities whiles it lives in a deep neglect of all that which is most essential to her salvation The Pharisees did place their perfections in washing themselves every hour of the day in bearing writs of the Law upon their foreheads and thorns upon their heels but made no scruple to take away the honour due to fathers and mothers from their children to make spoil of the world by a ravenous avarice which took upon it the appearance of piety and to give up innocent bloud under shew of justice The world doth now furnish it self with such like devotions Some make it a sin to look upon a fair flower with delight to eat with a good appetite to drink cool wine in hot weather to burn a paper upon which the name of Jesus is written to tread upon two straws that lie a cross But to set money to usury to remember injuries for ever to keep a poor workmans wages to oppress the weak to accuse the innocent to spoil miserable persons These are the little sins which pass for virtues in this world Assure your self that such proceedings are abominable before God and there can be no better devotion in the world than to have a true and right feeling of God and to live in honesty not sophisticated but such as is produced out of the pure lights of nature The conscience of hypocrites is a spiders web whereof no garment can ever be made Hypocrisie is a very subtil fault and a secret poison which kils other virtues with their own swords 2. Jesus is our great Master who hath abridged six hundred and thirteen Precepts of the old Testament within the Law of love Do but love saith Saint Augustine and do what you will but then your love must go to the right fountain which is the heart of God It is in him you must cherish and honour your nearest friends and for him also you are bound to love even your greatest enemies Be not afraid to shew him your heart stark naked that he may pierce it with his arrows for the wounds of such an archer are much more precious than rubies You shall gain all by loving him and death it self which comes from this love is the gate of life If you love him truly you will have the three conditions of love which are to serve him to imitate him and to suffer for him You must serve him with all fidelity in your prayers and all your actions you must imitate him what possibly you can in all the passages of his life And you must hold it for a glory to participate with a valiant patience all the fruits of his Cross Aspirations O Great God who judgest all hearts and doest penetrate the most secret retirements of our consciences drive away from me all counterfeit Pharisaical devotions which are nothing but shews and cannot subsist but by false
what game his sister meant to play having never hitherto known any such levity in her He presently hasteneth into Pulcheria's chamber And what devise saith he is this Where is my wife The poor prisoner stretched out her hand to him Pulcheria opposed it and sheweth she was hers to buy and sell and dispose of at her pleasure And as the Emperour admired much these so extraordinary proceedings in a person of his sisters humour she caused him to read the writing signed with his own hand then adding good counsel Behold saith she most Sacred Majesty the goodly order precipitation negligence bring to affairs The holy Emperour took this advertisement in good part and promiseth he never more would sign dispatches at this rate But Eudoxia was vexed at this Honours change manners sport in good earnest She was in an estate wherein she would no longer be over-awed she knew the power she held over her husbands heart having already given him pledges of her fruitfulness to wit a daughter named Eudoxia who was afterward married to the Emperour Valentinian It much troubled Athenais a poor maid preferred by Pulcheria could not brook her her that Pulcheria still retained some small predominance over her and shewed a spirit of command she resolved with herself that her person at this time required another consideration that such tricks had heretofore been well enough accepted in that estate she was in but not as now she is It is too great a game to play upon diadems These petty resentments of the point of honour easily creep even into the purest souls and who seasonably stops them not findeth his heart drencht in the gall of certain aversions which weaken charity I know not what cooling-card this goodly game cast between the two Princesses but from that time the one would no longer be commanded and the other pursued her ordinary course which was to command These hearts formerly united were now upon breach which notwithstanding never outwardly appeared so retentive they were on both sides God would exercise both and put them into the surnace of tribulation to purifie them and take away some dross which by long prosperities is easily contracted He first began with the Empress Eudoxia to whom he suffered a most sensible accident to happen the narration whereof behold which verily is pitifull But who will think it strange to see Eudoxia fallen into the sinister opinion of Theodosius seeing the same hath chanced to many Saints yea to her who hath born the standard of all sanctity the most Blessed Virgin Upon the day of Epiphany as the Emperour returned Sinister accident from Church with great pomp and magnificence a certain countrey man a stranger and unknown brake through the press accosteth Theodosius who was of most easie access and presenteth him with an apple of an extraordinary size esteemed at that time as a rare fruit The Emperour receiveth it gratefully and commandeth to give the good man presently about the value of one hundred and fiftie crowns As soon as he was returned to the Palace he goes to visit the Empress and full of joy giveth her this fair present which he had taken of the peasant for a great rarity Out alas this verily was the Apple of discord apple of discord infected with the breath of the serpent which horribly rent asunder this poor Court The good Empress having understood that Paulinus a great favourite of Theodosius was in bed sick of the gout to please and comfort him sent him the apple not mentioning from whom she had received it Paulinus was seized with so great joy seeing such a courtesie from a person so eminent used towards him that the contentment he received at that time charmed the pain of his gout He so admireth this goodly fruit that he judgeth it worthy of Imperial hands and without delaying resolved to send it to the Emperour excusing himself through indisposition of health that he was not himself the messenger Theodosius knew the apple which he had very lately put into the Empresses hand he turned it on every side and judged it to be the same thereupon a furious jealousie as if it had been breathed from hell began to lay hold on this gentle spirit all the objects of what was past returned to thicken this black vapour to frame a cloud thereof and resolve it into a storm It is true the Empress loved Paulinus with a most chaste and innocent love one must have had the heart of a Tiger not to love him He was a Lord very much affected by her husband it was he who partly had drawn her from the obscurity of Gentilism by his learned and friendly conferences he that had procured her Baptism he that had wrought her marriage he that yielded most faithfull service to their Majesties in the chiefest charge of the Empire wherein he had been most nobly employed all which made him worthy of great respects besides that he was of a very royal conversation which had great power over all those who treated with him The good Lady who ever had her pen in hand to work some piece of her invention to the glory of Altars which she affected was pleased to communicate her labours to Paulinus and discourse with him of holy things All these conferences which ever had been for the honour of an entire reputation and which before yielded nothing but honey were all turned into gall in the heart of Theodosius by this lamentable jealousie wherewith he was possessed He instantly sendeth for Eudoxia the more deeply The evil of a sleight lie to sound her heart demanding what was become of that fair apple he had given her The poor Princess was overtaken and seeing herself between the hammer and the anvile I know not what gesture appeared on the brow of her husband but she well perceived this fair soul was not in its ordinary situation She therefore declining suppliant intreaty thought to under-prop her innocency with a lie and said she had eaten the apple Virtue hath nothing to do with the veil of untruths to cover it self it is not her custom Had she freely told what she did with the apple as her intention was most sincere all the malignity of suspition would have been diverted But this sudden surprizal a little altered her judgement and all she did was to remedy the passion she saw to be enkindled in the heart of Theodosius by the eyes which are as the mirrours of our soul The Emperour urged her upon this answer She who already was involved tumbled herself further into the snare and that she might not seem a lier sware by the life and health of her husband she had eaten the apple He to convince her of this impudence drew this fatal fruit out of his Cabinet It is then flown from your stomach into my chamber without corruption behold I have found a wonder The Empress at the sight of this fruit endured the same symptoms in innocency
and that all Ladies who sometimes love vapour where it is not be loved must of necessity have love in store for them They enter into so great vanities as they cast their affections upon none but Princesses or eminent beauties esteeming the rest of the world too base for the entertainment of their affections They resemble those birds of Aegypt who will not build their nests but upon Palms nor will they love but in a high place Of this quality were Endimion and the Emperour Caligula who in the end distasting all the women in the world transferred the ambition of their loves above the sphere of fire supposing they were hardy enough to take the Moon in marriage One would not believe the frenzie of this passion if we had not by experience seen men of most base extraction with much content to entertain their thoughts upon the loves of the Queens of Antioch and Sicilie transporting themselves with joy whensoever it was told them they were entered far into their gracious favours This is it which maketh me say that we in two things know the greatness of our soul to wit that it can frame a world to its knowledge as God hath created one in nature and can lodge the thoughts in so high a place that the poorest begger of the world can entertain affection for the most emiment person of the earth The rich who do as it were forbid the use of elements cannot deny love but it is a gross infirmity to love out of the sphere of your power that which you can no more enjoy than the Moon in the Heavens If we will love aloft let us love him who hath made us When once we have passed far into his heart we shall find all the greatness of the world much lower than our feet If you my souldier entertain these fantastick loves I from this present will send you to the Strophad Islands with those who search for the hand of glory the Philosophers stone and quadratura circuli and who oft-times distil the money out of their purses with that little brain which is left them through the same limbeck I fear you rather have the love of servitude and Love of bondage make a Goddess of a piece of flesh to which it is your glory to sacrifice your liberty being so blind as to kiss the fetters of your slavery instead of breaking them Verily it is a pittifull thing to see a man burn in ice and congeal in fire having the colour wan the visage meagre the eyes hollow the cheeks sunk the spirit giddy the reason uncollected and the heart wholly feaverish for the love of a creature who flouteth him To see a man who walketh in his solitude and creepeth like a spectre not knowing whether he be of the number of the living or dead who speaketh writeth who prieth who hopeth who feareth laugheth sigheth waxeth pale blusheth desireth detesteth dieth riseth again sinketh into an abyss and then toucheth Heaven with a finger who playeth a Comedy of a dozen Personages in one hour and passeth through more metamorphoses in a day than Ovid in three years Oh what a miserable thing is it saith the golden mouth of Constantinople to seek to be rosted in ashes and so desperately love a beauty which is onely fair in the fantasie of a feaverish brain and of which in a short time the most licorous worms would scorn to make their dung-hill O my souldier let such a frenzie never enter into your heart you were better serve a Turk or an Arabian than such a love It is the punais-worm which bites while she liveth and after death maketh her infection to be felt Why go you about to idolatrize a woman Have you not slavery enough at home but you must needs seek it abroad Withdraw your self in good time from this captivity gain the haven before the storm surprize you for if you once be engaged there is neither arm nor oar can serve to bring you back again Is it not a comely thing think you to behold a souldier who hath a sword by his side able to hew monsters to seek to play the cocks-comb in quest of a wily wench that exerciseth the most infamous tyranny over him that ever was heard of It is said Omphale took the Diadem from a King named Hercules and set her slippers on his head That Dionysius the Tyrant wrote the expeditions of his Kingdom with his hand and that Mirrha cancelled or signed them at her pleasure That King Athanaricus tied the strings of Pincia's shoes That Themistocles caused himself to be purged and let bloud with his captive Mistress He that should see all the follies of the entranced lovers might observe an infinite number of matters much more strange In serving a scornfull piece who makes you die a thousand times a day you can oft-times hope for no other thing but ever to serve and if you come to the end of your pretensions brag not so much you perhaps have nothing but that which servants or persons more unworthy have obtained before you This well deserveth indeed to betray your honour and to commit such silly actions but if you open your eyes to see the end of this goodly stage-play you shall do as those who caused themselves to be shaved when they escaped a ship-wrack you would not let so much as a hair remain upon that young head which suffered it self to run at liberty after such sottish loves If you plunge your self further into this passion you Love of fury shall find fury which tieth cords which mingleth poisons which sharpeneth swords which openeth black caverns which erecteth gibbets which kindleth coals which prepareth racks which produceth all that may discover the proceedings of an engaged love and which maketh an arrow of all crimes to hit the mark it aimed at Were I in your place I would tear from my heart the sleightest cogitations which occur by this folly as cankers vermine and serpents and I would ride on post if it were possible beyond the elements with purpose to avoid such encounters All the bravest souldiers have made boast of chastity It was the trophey of Cyrus to whom God for this cause gave all the treasures of Asia It was the triumph of Alexander who in recompence had the conquest of the Persians and the Emperour Julian who made profession Julianus apud Ammianum to imitate him although he had renounced all the Sacraments would never forsake chastity which he had learned amongst Christians saying This virtue made beautifull lives as Painters fair faces But not to search any further into the ruins of antiquity look what your Bayard did upon this point behold an admirable passage which I will relate in the same words as it is expressed in his history They had caused a young maid to be conveyed into A Royal act of military chastitie his chamber which was one of the fairest creatures of the world and indeed she was endowed with
in the list of combat Clodovaeus quickly alighted from his horse to rid him of life and being about to mend some defect in his cuirass he was treacherously assaulted by two Goths but he having dispatched his adversary defended himself from both these and mounted up again on his horse whom he made to curvet in a martial manner demeaning himself so bravely in all that he seemed to be as it were a flash of lightening sent from the hand of God rather than a man This defeat ruined the hopes of the Goths and cut off all the designs of heresie which subsisted not but by their favour From thence Clodovaeus marched all covered over with laurels into the Countreys of his conquests with so much good success that being before the Citie of Angoulesm which made shew of resistance the walls miraculously fell down as did heretofore those of Jericho he having by the advise of Apronius his Chaplain caused some holy reliques to be lifted up whereunto he dedicated a singular devotion What need we here make mention of the adventures which he had with the Kings Chararic and Ragvachairus whom he defeated as it were without blows This man went every where as confidently as one who seemed to have a Guard of celestial Virtues by his side his hands were fatal to purge the earth from many infidel Princes that infected it with heresie tyrannies and sacriledges Who can but wonder that in so short a time he extended his Empire from Rheine to Seine from the river of Loyre to Rosne and from the Pyrenei to the Ocean Who can but admire that he was so feared by all the Monarchs of his Age as the Grecians who have written Suidas 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 after that time under the title of King intended for the more excellency to speak onely of the King of France Who will not highly esteem his great authority in that he first of all stampt golden coyn which the Emperours had always forborn through extream jealousie causing the marks of his faith to be impressed on this money And who can sufficiently marvel that having at his death left four sons to succeed him he hath besides been followed by seven and fifty Kings who constantly rendering themselves imitatours of his belief have likewise shared with him in his felicity I demand of you whether one must not become blind deaf and dumb not to see understand nor declare that all the happiness and prosperity of France is inseparably tied to the piety of our Ancestours since the hand of God thundering and lightening at the same time upon so great a number of Diadems of heretical Kings as of Gombaut Godemar Chilperic Godegisilus Alaricus and in the end on Theodorick himself led Clodovaeus by the hand through so many smoking ruins so many swords and such flames to establish him with all his posterity in a Throne whereunto the great Saint Remegius hath promised an eternity of years so long as it should remain cemented with the same faith and religion which first of all consecrated the Lilies to the service of the Divine Majesty The holy Clotilda amongst all these conquests of her husband lifted her innocent hands up to Heaven to apply the forces of the Saviour of the world to his Royal banners In the end having drawn him to Paris after so many bloudy wars and sweetened the extravagancies of his nature a little too violent propending to excesses of cruelty she caused him to tast in his repose devotion and justice in such sort that having closed up his eyes in the exercises of piety she enterred him with a most honourable reputation V. Kal. Dec. Depositio magni Regis Clodovaei Du Pleix There is yet to be found an old Calendar of the Church of S. Genovefue which maketh mention of the day of his death on the seven and twentieth of November The ninth SECTION The life of Clotilda in her widow-hood her afflictions and glorious death CLotilda vehemently desired to bring forth male children for the establishment of her State and though this affection seemed to be most just notwithstanding God who purgeth all the elect in the furnace of afflictions found a rough Purgatory for this good soul in the enjoying her desires She had sons as she wished whom she endeavoured with all her power to breed in the fear of God whilest she might bow them but these children who tasted too much of the warlike humours of the father and had not enough of the piety of the mother being arrived to an age wherein it was not possible any longer to restrain them they fell into many terrible extravagancies which transfixed the heart of the mother with a thousand swords of sorrow It happened that Sigismund the cousin-germain of Clotilda for whom she had procured the Kingdom of Burgundie after the death of his wife by whom he had a son named Sigeritus suffered himself to be surprized with the love of a Ladie waiting in Court whom he afterward married to the great heart-burning of the son who could not endure to see her clothed with the spoils of his mother This step-dame being drawn from servitude and wantonness to enter into the bed of a King beholding her self crossed in her loves by this Heir of the house conceived so much gall and rage against him that she prepared a most fatal calumnie for his ruin accusing him to have a plot upon the life of his father Sigismund who was of an easie nature stirred up with love and ambition quickly believed this shameless creature and after he had called this poor young man to dinner under colour of affection he commanded him in his sleep to be strangled by the hands of his servants But the miserable man delivered out of the gulf of his passion and seeing himself defiled with an act so black and wicked publickly confessed his sin and for it performed a most austere penance but God who ordinarily blotteth out the crime not forgiving the pains and satisfactions due to his justice deprived him of Scepter and life by the hands of his allies raising up a sharp revenge to give to such like an eternal horrour of his iniquitie The children of Clodovaeus who had already shared the Kingdom of their father were not yet satisfied but desired to advance the limits of their division as far as the point of their launce might extend Behold the cause why Clodomer who was the eldest of the legitimate seeing the Kingdom of Burgundie in this danger entereth thereinto with great forces and found little resistance Sigismond being formerly convinced by his crime Having possessed himself of the places most important he took the miserable King and led him away prisoner to Orleans to dispose of him according to his pleasure But Godimer the brother of Sigismund who had retired to the mountains while the French made all this notable havock returned with a great power and having slain the French Garrisons made himself Master of the Kingdom Clodomer
abundance unless we will say such as have been the most persecuted were the most eminent Where it seems it is an act of the Divine Providence to have many times given to vicious and faithless husbands the best wives Good wives of bad husbands in the world as Mariamne to Herod Serena to Diocletian Constantia to Licinius Helena to Julian the Apostate Irene to Constantinus Copronymus Theodora to the Emperour Theophilus Theodelinda to Uthar Thira to Gormondus King of Denmark Charlotte de Albret to Caesar Borgia Catherine to Henrie of England Katherine of England Flor. Remond This Ladie was infinitely pious yea beyond limit It is good to be devout in marriage and not to forget she is a married wife much way must be given to the humours of a husband much to the care of children and family and sometimes to loose God at the Altar to find him in houshold cares But this Queen onely attended the affairs of Heaven and had already so little in her of earth that she shewed in all her deportments to bemade for another manner of Crown than that of Great Brittain She for the most part shut her self up in the Monasteries of Virgins and rose at mid-night to be present at Mattins She was clothed from five of the clock not decked like a Queen but contented with a simple habit saying The best time should be allowed to the soul since it is the better part of our selves When she had the poor habit of Saint Francis under her garments which she commonly ware she reputed her self brave enough The Fridays and Saturdays were ever dedicated by her to abstinence but the Eves of our Ladies feasts she fasted with bread and water she failed not to confess on wednesdays and fridays and in a time when Communions were very seldom she had recourse thereunto every sunday In the fore-noon she continued six hours in prayer after dinner she read two whole hours the lives of Saints and speedily returned to Church from whence she departed not till night drave her thence This was to eat honey and Manna in abundance in a condition which had too strong ties for the earth to be so timely an inhabitant of Heaven Whilest she led this Angelical life her husband young and boyling overflowed in all sorts of riot and in the end came to this extremity as to trample all laws both divine and humane under foot to repudiate his lawfull wife who brought him children to serve as pledges of marriage and wed Anne of Bollen Since this love which made as it were but one tomb of two parts of the world never have we seen any more dreadfull The poor Princess who was looked on by all Christendom as a perfect model of all virtue was driven out of her Palace and bed amidst the tears and lamentations of all honest men and went to Kimbolton a place in commodious and unhealthy whilest another took possession both of the heart and scepter of the King So that here we may behold virtue afflicted and a devotion so constant that the ruins of fortune which made all the world tremble were unable to shake it She remained in her solitude with three waiting-women and four or five servants a thousand times more content than had she lived in the highest glory of worldly honour and having no tears to bewail her self she lamented the miseries she left behind her There is yet a letter left which she wrote to her husband a little before her death plainly shewing the mild temper of her heart and the force of devotion which makes the most enflamed injuries to be forgotten to procure conformity to the King of the afflicted who is the mirrour of patience as he is the reward of all sufferers My King and dearest spouse Insomuch as already the hour of my death approcheth the love and affection I bear you causeth me to conjure you to have a care of the eternal salvation of your soul which you ought to prefer before mortal things or all worldly blessings It is for this immortal spirit you must neglect the care of your bodie for the love of which you have thrown me head-long into many calamities and your own self into infinite disturbances But I forgive you with all my heart humbly beseeching Almightie God he will in Heaven confirm the pardon I on earth give you I recommend unto you our most dear Mary your daughter and mine praying you to be a better Father to her than you have been a husband to me Remember also the three poor maids companions of my retirement as likewise all the rest of my servants giving them a whole years wages besides what is due that so they may be a little recompenced for the good service they have done me protesting unto you in the conclusion of this my letter and life that my eyes love you and desire to see you more than any thing mortal Henrie the eight notwithstanding his violence read this letter with tears in his eyes and having dispatched a Gentleman to visit her he found death had already delivered her from captivity X. MAXIM Of PROPER INTEREST THE PROPHANE COURT THE HOLY COURT Every understanding man should do all for himself as if he were his own God and esteem no Gospel more sacred than his Proper Interest That proper Interest is a tyranny framed against the Divinitie and that a man who is the God of himself is a devil to the rest of the world THis Maxim of the Prophane Court is the source of all evils the very plague of humane life and one may say it is the Trojan horse which beareth fire and sword saccage and rapine in its entrails From thence proceed ambition rebellion sacriledge rapine Disloyalties that spring from this marim concussion ingratitude treacherie and in a word all that which is horrid in nature Self-love which should be contained within the limits of an honest preservation of ones self flieth out as a river from his channel and with a furious inundation covereth all the land it overthrows all duty and deep drencheth all respect of honesty Men who have renounced piety if they peradventure see themselves to be strong and supported with worldly enablements acknowledge no other Gods but themselves They imagine the Jupiter of Poets was made as they they create little Sultans and there is not any thing from whence they derive not tribute to make their imaginary greatness encrease When this blindness happeneth in persons very eminent it is most pernicious for then is the time when not being awed by the fear of a God Omnipotent they turn the world upside down to satisfie miserable ambition And such Princes there have been who have rather profusely lost the lives of thirty thousand subjects than suffered so much land to be usurped upon them as were needfull for their tomb Others whom birth hath not made Caesars extend Practise of worldly men Ingratitude their petty power what they may They observemen sound
whereof the poor have too much been frustrated to establish thy vanities and fatten thee in pleasures Where is thy liberality Where are thy alms toward miserable creatures who die in affliction in the streets Observe justice and take example by my disasters Husband it is thy wife so beloved that speaks to thee saying Ah my dearest friends where is the faith plighted in the face of the Church Where are the faithful loves which should have no limit but eternity Death no sooner absented me from thy eyes but forgetfulness drew me out of thy heart I complain not thou livest happy and fortunate in thy new affections for I am in a condition wherein I can neither envy nor malice any but I complain that not onely after my death the children which are pledges of our love were distastful to thee but thou hast wholly lost the memory of one who was so precious to thee and whom thou as a Christian oughrest to love beyond a tomb Open yet once unto her the bowels of thy charity and comfort by thy alms and good works a soul which must expect that help from thee or some other The seventeenth EXAMPLE upon the seventeenth MAXIM Apparition of Souls in Purgatorie HIstories tell us the apparation of souls in Purgatory are so frequent that he who would keep an account may as soon number the stars in the sky or leaves on the trees But as it is not fit to be too credulous in all may be said thereupon so a man must be very impudent to deny all is spoken of it and to oppose as well the authority of so many great personages as the memory of all Ages He who believes nothing above nature will not believe a God of nature How many extraordinary things are there the experience whereof teacheth us the effects and of which God hideth the reasons from us The Philosopher Democritus disputing with Solinus Polyhistor the Sages of his time concerning the secret power of nature held commonly in his hand the stone called cathocita which insensibly sticketh to such as touch it and they being unable to give a reason of it he inferred there were many secrets which are rather to humble our spirits than to satisfie our curiosity Who Jul. Scal. A Porta Caâ—eraâ— can tell why the theamede which is a kind of adamant draweth iron on one side and repelleth it on the other Why do the forked branches of the nut-tree turn towards mines of gold and silver Why do bees often die in the hives after the death of the Master of the family unless they be else-where transported Why doth a dead body cast forth bloud in the presence of the murderer Why do certain fountains in the current of their waters and in their colour carry presages of seasons as that of Blomuza which waxeth red when the countrey is menaced with war Why have so many noble families Diâ—â—arus Petrus Albinus certain signs which never fail to happen when some one of the family is to die The commerce of the living with spirits of the dead is a matter very extraordinarie but not impossible to the Father of spirits who holdeth total nature between his hands Peter of Clugny surnamed the Venerable and esteemed in his time as the oracle of France was a man who proceeded in these affairs with much consideration not countenancing any thing either frivolous or light Behold the cause wherefore I willingly make use of his authority He telleth that in a village of Spain named the Star there was a man of quality called Peter of Engelbert much esteemed in the world for his excellent parts and abundant riches Notwithstanding the spirit of God having made him understand the vanity of all humane things being now far stepped into years he went into a Monastery of the Order of Clugny there the more piously to pass the remnant of his dayes as it is said the best incense cometh from old trees He often spake amongst the holy Fryers of a vision which he saw when he as yet was in the world and which he acknowledged to be no small motive to work his conversion This bruit came to the ears of Venerable Peter who was his General and who for the affairs of his Order was then gone into Spain Behold the cause why he never admitting any discourses to be entertained if they were not well verified took the pains to go into a little Monastery of Nazare where Engelbert was to question him upon it in the presence of the Bishops of Oleron and Osma conjuring him in the virtue of holy obedience to tell him punctually the truth touching the vision he had seen whilest he led a secular life This man being very grave and very circumspect in all he said spake the words which the Authour of the historie hath couched in his proper terms In the time that Alphonsus the younger heir of the great Alphonsus warred in Castile against certain factious dis-united from his obedience he made an Edict that every family in his Kingdom should be bound to furnish him with a souldier which was the cause that for obedience to the Kings commands I sent into his army one of my houshold-servants named Sancius The wars being ended and the troups discharged he returned to my house where having some time so journed he was seized by a sickness which in few dayes took him away into the other world We performed the obsequies usually observed towards the dead and four moneths were already past we hearing nought at all of the state of his soul when behold upon a winters night being in my bed throughly awake I perceived a man who stirring up the ashes of my hearth opened the burning coals which made him the more easily to be seen Although I found my self much terrified with the sight of this ghost God gave me courage to ask him who he was and for what purpose he came thither to lay my hearth abroad But he in a very low voice answered Master fear nothing I am your poor servant Sancius I go into Castile in the company of many souldiers to expiate my sins in the same place where I committed them I stoutly replied If the commandment of God call you thither to what purpose come you hither Sir saith he take it not amiss for it is not without the Divine permission I am in a state not desperate and wherein I may be helped by you if you bear any good will towards me Hereupon I required what his necessity was and what succour he expected from me You know Master said he that a little before my death you sent me into a place where ordinarily men are not sanctified Liberty ill example youth and temerity all conspire against the soul of a poor souldier who hath no government I committed many out-rages during the late war robbing and pillaging even to the goods of the Church for which I am at this present grievously tormented But good Master if you loved me
a forraign Nation separated from the sweetness of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Synesius hymn 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 our dearest Country and lovely vision of the sovereign cause We are saith Synesius as little veins of water wandered from their fountains which desire nothing but to be re-united to their source should you afford them vessels of amber or chrystal to contain them they are never so well as in their origen We have a strong inclination that disposeth us to know love and admire this soveriegn Being which makes the world bring forth his great ide'as with more ease than the Sun could produce a ray Now here we must observe there are many sorts Diversity of unions of union The one of dependence which causeth the creature to depend on the Creatour as light on his star and heat on the fire which produced it The other of presence and most inward penetration by which God penetrateth all creatures by his admirable infusions by reason of his immensity and subtility The third of grace by which we are sanctified and in a sort made participant of Divine nature The fourth of glorie properly that which accomplisheth what grace had begun and setteth a seal upon the plentitude of all our felicities This being so divided it is evident that the union whereof we here speak is the glorified and ineffable union which disposeth the reasonable creature to the highest point of the commerce it may have with the divinity It is very hard to explicate how that is in our soul because of the weakness of our spirits which are now so tied to flesh Some Divines refuted by Chancellour Gerson and among others Doctour Almaricus and Henricus took this in a very high strain when they imagined that God coming to fall as a lightening-flash upon the soul of a blessed one filled it with his presence force and love and so possessed it that he wholly converted it into himself in such manner that from created Being it passed to increated Being returning to Anima perdit esse suum accipit esse divinum idea's of God and into the state it had before the worlds creation This opinion hath been rejected and condemned as a chymera for God will not beautifie us by ruining and destroying us but he will our felicitie be so wholly of him that it be notwithstanding wholly to us and there is no apparence our soul which is immortal and incorruptible should be annihilated by the approach of God from whom it must derive its being and conservation 5. We must then conceive this much otherwise Union of glorie what it is and believe the union of glorie that makes our beatitude consisteth in the vision love and joy of God which is the fruition termed by S. Thomas the ineffable kisses Imagine you see a needle which in presence of a diamond runs not to the adamant as being tied and fettered by the force of this obstacle but if you take away the diamond which captived it it goes stoutly and impetuously to its adamant which setteth it in the place of its repose by ordinarie charms I find something like in the state wherein we are Our poor spirit naturally tendeth to God as to the first cause and can take no contentment but in union with him yet is it here arrested by the poize of body by the bait of concupiscence and tie of sense but so soon as these obstacles are taken away and that it feeleth the vigorous infusions of this light of glorie which giveth it wings to raise it self to the Sovereign good above all the ways of nature it soareth as a feathered arrow unto the butt of its desires it sincks and plungeth it self into the bosom of God and there abideth contented with three acts which essentially compose its beatitude The first is vision the root of this so Sovereign happiness which causeth us to see with the eyes of a most purified understanding through the rayes of The three acts of beatitude the light of glorie the great God face to face with all the immensity of his essence the length of his eternity the height of his majesty the extent of all his excellencies and with the fecundity of his eternal emanations the productions of total nature and secrets of highest mysteries We shall see him saith Joan. 1. 3. August l. 9. de Trin. c. 10. Omnis secundum spiritum notitia similis est rei quam novit S. John as he is and thereupon S. Augustine addeth we shall necessarily derive a resemblance of God because knowledge here principally rendereth him who knoweth like to the thing known Of this vision necessarily is formed a great fire of love divinized when God like to a burning mirrour opposed to a glorified soul replenisheth it with his ardours ever by us to be adored And from this love proceedeth that excessive joy which is called the joy of God Vision causeth in us an expression of God love an inclination delicately violent to the presence of this Sovereign good joy a profound repose which seems to spread over our hearts a great river of peace benedictions and felicities Then this beatified soul not being able to be what God is by nature in some sort becometh such by favour So that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Naz. Hymn S. Gregory durst boldly say our soul makes it self a little God which eternally triumphs in the bosom of the great God It is properly then when man by an amorous consumption wholly dissolves into his beginning and not loosing what he is becometh one same spirit with him not by nature but by apprehension and affection He not onely will what God willeth but he cannot will any thing but what God will He takes part in all his interest all his greatness and all his joys being so divinely incorporated into the family bosom of this Father of essences He rejoyceth at the beatitude of all the elect as of his own he is rapt with admiration sometimes at the beauty of the place sometimes at the delicious correspondence of that great company sometimes at the unchangeable continuance of his most blessed eternity sometimes at the garments of glorie his body must put on and he every where beholdeth sources of comfort to spring which can never drie 6. From this favour besides so many other wonders Three great effects of beatitude I see three excellent effects succeed The first is impeccability The second verity of our knowledges which shall admit no errour The third tranquillity of our love which shall not know what wound or interruption is And first consider what a good it is The great happiness to be impeccable to be impeccable since we not onely shall be without sin but out of all danger of sinning All that which here afflicteth the most purified souls is not to be exposed to so many miseries and persecutions for they know good men are here on earth like flower-de-luces begotten by their
thereby bring to me the fountain of all happiness The Father hath given me to thee and I am the conquest of thy precious bloud Suffer not a soul to be taken away from thee which hath cost thee so many sweats and sufferings I am thine by so many titles that I will be no more mine own but onely to have the right of renouncing that which I am and to establish what shall be thine in this little kingdom of my heart The Gospel upon Thursday the fifth week in Lent S. John 7. Upon S. Marie Magdalen 's washing our Saviour's feet in the Pharisees house ANd one of the Pharisees desired him to eat with him And he being entered into the house of the Pharisee he sate down to meat And behold a woman that was in the Citie a sinner as she knew that he set down in the Pharisees house she brought an Alabaster box of ointment and standing behind beside his feet she began to water his feet with tears and wiped them with the hairs of her head and kissed his feet and anointed them with ointment And the Pharisee that had bid him seeing it spak-within himself saying This man if he were a Prophet would know certes who and what manner of woman she is which toucheth him that she is a sinner And Jesus answering said to him Simon I have somewhat to say unto thee But he said Master say A certain Creditour had two debtours one did ow five hundred pence and the other fifty they having not wherewith to pay he forgave both whether therefore doth love him more Simon answering said I suppose that he to whom be forgave more But he said to him Thou hast judged rightly And turning to the woman he said unto Simon Doest thou see this woman I entered into thy house water to my feet thou didst not give but she with tears hath watered my feet and with her hairs hath wiped them Kiss thou gavest me not but she since I came in hath not ceased to kiss my feet With oyl thou didst not anoint my head but she with ointment hath anointed my feet For the which I say to thee many sins are forgiven her because she hath loved much But to whom less is forgiven he loveth less And he said to her Thy sins are forgiven thee And they that sate together at the table began to say within themselves Who is this that also forgiveth sins And he said to the woman Thy faith hath made thee safe Go in peace Moralities 1. SAint Marie Magdalen is under the feet of Jesus Christ as is that work of Saphires mentioned in Exodus under the feet of God It is a work wrought by the right hand of the Highest the wonder of women the most happy of all lovers who made profit of sin which destroyes all who sanctified that love which so little knew the way to any sanctity This is the fountain mentioned in the Book of Esther in the vision of Mordocheus A fountain which became a river and after changes it self into the Sun which gives beams and showers at one instant She is a fountain at the Pharisees talbe she is a river in her solitary grove she is a Sun both in Paradise and in that great exaltation wherein the Catholick Church now beholds her Being now in glory she doth not yet forbear to open fountains of tears by imitation of her within the souls of repentant sinners of whom incessantly she procures the conversion Happy is that heart which is pierced with the imitation of her virtues thereby to gain some part of her crowns 2. Every thing is admirable in her conversion A sinner wounded with love cures her self by love She changes the fire of Babylon into that of Jerusalem She plucks out of her wound the venemous dart of worldly love to make large room for the arrows of Jesus which pierce her heart and at an instant make a harmony of heavenly passions within the bottom of her soul She holds the wound dearer than life and goes streight to her conquerour to desire death or increase of love 3. She appears most ingenious in her affections to provide no water wherewith to wash her Masters feet since she could draw it so fitly out of her own eyes This was the water which Jesus did thirst after when he asked of the Samaritane woman some to drink But that poor woman was so astonished that she forsook her pitcher and forgot that which Jesus asked Now the holy Magdalen brings her eyes to the Pharisees table as to vessels full of Chrystal water which was of that pure stream which comes from the holy Lamb. Heaven is wont to water the earth but here the earth waters Heaven A soul which was before black and burnt up with the fire of concupiscence provides a Fountain for the KING of highest Heaven She drawes tears from her sins to make them become the joyes of Paradise 4. She sanctifies all that which was esteemed most prophane Her hairs which were the nets wherein so many captive souls did sigh under the yoke of wanton love are now as the ensigns and standards of wicked Cupid trampled under the feet of her Conquerour Those kisses which carried the poison of a luxurious passion in her heart do now breath from her nothing but the delicacies of chastity Her pleasing odours which were before vowed to sensuality are now become the sweetest exhalations from that Amber Isle which brings an odoriferous perfume to Jesus Christ She brings with her Aromatick spices to burn her self at the Mountain of her Sun who makes himself her Priest her Advocate and Bride-man 5. She had gained the great Jubilee and was assured of it by the word of the Eternal Bishop and yet during all the rest of her life she practised upon her self a sanctified revenge and her penance never ends but with her life to confound our coldness who know so little what it is to bewail a sin She is as timorous in the assurance of her pardon as we are secure at the approch of Gods justice No body could be so patient and so constant in her love but she that had a holy emulation toward heavenly charity It is her perseverance which draws to the earth a perfect copy of that life without limit which the blessed souls enjoy in heaven It is she alone to whom eternity was then given because she had power to offer repentant frailty to Eternity it self Aspirations Upon Saint Mary Magdalens great Repentance O Jesus my Conquerour and my Sovereign Bishop thou art pleased to be satisfied of thy unworthy servant but I am not yet content with my self No no my life and penance shall end together since I have lost that which should never have been separated from my body before the separation of my soul And since I cannot enter chast into my grave I will now go repentant into an obscure and savage Cave where the Sun shall shine no more upon a head so sinfull
be a King but a King of hearts who requires nothing of us but our selves onely to make us happy and contented in him He triumphs before the victory because none but he could be sure of the future certainty of his happiness But he watered his triumphs with tears to weep for our joys which were to proceed out of his sadness It is related by an ancient Oratour that when Constantine made his entery into great Brittany where he was born the people received him with so great applause that they kissed the Sails and Oars of the vessel which brought him and were ready to pave the streets with their bodies for him to tread on If they did so for a mortal man what should we not do for an eternal God who comes to buy us with his precious bloud and demands enterance into our hearts onely to give us Paradise 2. He walks towards his Cross amongst the cries of favours and joy to teach us with what chearfulness we should conform our selves to abide our own sufferings imitating the Apostles who received their first reproches as Manna from heaven He would have us prepared and resolved always to suffer death patiently whether it be a death which raiseth up our spirit to forsake sensuality or a natural death Whethersoever it be we should embrace it as the day which must bring us to our lodging after a troublesom pilgrimage Doth it not appear plainly that those who are loth to forsake the world are like herbs put into an earthen pot among straw and dung and yet would be unwilling to come forth of it The furniture of our worldly lodging grown rotten the roof is ready to fall upon our heads the foundation shakes under our feet and we fear that day which if we our selves will shall be the morning of our eternal happiness It is not death but onely the opinion of it which is terrible and every man considers it according to the disposition of his own spirit 3. The Palm-branches which we carry in our hands require from us the renewing of a life purified and cleansed in the bloud of the holy Lamb. In the beginning of Lent we take upon our heads the ashes of Palm branches to teach us that we do then enter as it were into the Sepulcher of repentance But now we carry green bows to make us know that now we come out of the tomb of Ashes to enter again into the strength of doing good works in imitation of the trees which having been covered with snow and buried in the sharpness of winter do again begin to bud out in the Spring time 4. The garments spred under the feet of Jesus declare that all our temporal goods should be employed toward his glory and that we must forsake our affections to all things which perish that we may be partakers of his kingdom No man can stand firm that is delighted with moveable things He that is subject to worldly affections binds himself to a wheel which turns about continually Jesus accepted this triumph onely to despise it he reserved the honour of it in his own hands to drown it in the floud of his tears and in the sea of his precious bloud If you be rich and wealthy do not publish it vainly but let the poor feel it You must live amongst all the greatness and jollity of this world as a man whose onely business must be to go to God Aspirations O Sovereign King of hearts after whom all chaste loves do languish I am filled with joy to see thee walk amongst the cries of joy and the Palms and garments of thy admirers which served for carpets I am ravished with thy honours and the delights of thy glory and I applaud thy triumphs Alas that all the earth is not obedient to thy laws and that the tongues of all people do not make one voice to acknowledge thee sole Monarch of Heaven and earth Triumph at least in the hearts of thy faithfull servants O my magnificent Master make a triumphal Ark composed of hearts Put fire to it with thy adored hand Pour out one spark of that heat which thou camest to spread upon the earth Let every thing burn for thee and consume it self in thy love I do irrevocably bind my heart to the magnificence of thy triumph and I love better to be thy slave than to be saluted King of the whole world The Gospel upon Munday in holy week S. John 12. Saint Marie Magdolen anointed our Saviour feet with precious Ointment at which Judas repined JEsus therefore six days before the Pasche came to Bethania where Lazarus was that had been dead whom Jesus raised and they made him a supper there and Martha ministered but Lazarus was one of them that sate at the table with him Marie therefore took a pound of Ointment of right Spikenard precious and anointed the feet of Jesus and wiped his feet with her hair and the house was filled of the odour of the Ointment One therefore of his Disciples Judas Iscariot he that was to betray him said Why was not this Ointment sold for three hundred pence and given to the poor And he said this not because he cared for the poor but because be was a thief and having the purse carried the things that were put in it Jesus therefore said Let her alone that she may keep it for the day of my burial for the poor you have always with you but me you shall not have always A great multitude of the Jews knew that he was there and they came not for Jesus onely but that they might see Lazarus whom he raised from the dead Moralities 1. LAzarus being raised from his grave converseth familiarly with Jesus and to preserve the life which he had newly received he ties himself continually to the fountain of lives to teach us that since we have begun to make a strong conversion from sin to grace we must not be out of the sight of God we must live with him and of him with him by applying our spirit our prayers our fervours our passionate sighs toward him and live of him by often receiving the blessed Sacrament Happy they saith the Angel in the Apocalyps who are invited to the wedding-supper of the Lamb. But note that he who invites us to this feast stands upright amidst the Sun to signifie that we should be as pure as the beams of light when we come unto the most holy Sacrament Lazarus did eat bread with his Lord but to speak with S. Augustine he did not then eat the bread of our Lord and yet this great favour is reserved for you when you are admitted to that heavenly banquet where God makes himself meat to give you an Antepast of his Immortality 2. God will have us acknowledge his benefits by the faithfulness of our services S. Peter's mother in law as soon as she was healed of her Feaver presently served her Physitian And observe that Martha served the Authour of life who
time Jesus sanctified it by his sacred touch He took the Bason which being in his hands became greater and more full of Majesty than all the Ocean Our spots which eternity could not wash clean are taken away at Baptism by one onely drop of water sanctified by his blessing He prevents the bath of his bloud by the bath of an element which he doth expresly before his institution of the blessed Sacrament to teach us what purity of life of heart of faith of intentions and affections we must bring to the holy Eucharist It is necessary to chase away all strange gods which are sins and passions before we receive the God of Israel we must wash our selves in the waters of repentance and change our attire by a new conversation Is it too much for us to give flesh for flesh the body of a miserable man for that of Jesus Christ The consideration of our sins should bring up the bloud of blushing into our cheeks since they were the onely cause why he shed his most precious bloud upon the Cross for us Alas the Heavens are not pure before his most pure Spirit which purifies all nature Then how can we go to him with so many voluntary stains and deformities Is it not to cast flowers upon a dung-hill and to drive Swine to a clear fountain when we will go to Jesus the Authour of innocency carrying with us the steps and spots of our hanious sins 3. Jesus would not onely take upon himself the form of man but also of a base servant as S. Paul saith It was the office of slaves to carry water to wash bodies which made David say That Moah should be the Bason of his hope expressing thereby that he would humble the Moabites so low that they should serve onely to bring water to wash unclean houses Alas who would have said that the Messias was come amongst us to execute the office of a Moabite What force hath conquered him what arms have brought him under but onely love How can we then become proud and burn incense to that Idol called Point of honour when we see how our God humbled himself in this action Observe with what preparation the Evangelist said that his Heavenly Father had put all into his hands that he came from God and went to God yet in stead of taking the worlds Scepter he takes a Bason and humbles himself to the most servile offices And if the waters of this Bason cannot burst in us the foul impostume of vanity we must expect no other remedy but the eternal flames of hell fire Aspirations OKing of Lovers and Master of all holy Loves Thou lovest for an end and till the accomplishment of that end It appertains onely to thee to teach the Art of loving well since thou hast practised it so admirably Thou art none of those delicate friends who onely make love to beauties to gold and silk thou lovest our very poverty and our miseries because they serve for objects of thy charity Let proud Michol laugh while she list to see my dear David made as a water-bearer I honour him as much in that posture as I would sitting upon the throne of all the world I look upon him holding this Bason as upon him that holds the vast seas in his hands O my merciful Jesus I beseech thee wash wash again and make clean my most sinfull soul Be it as black as hell being in thy hands it may become more white than that Dove with silver wings of which the Prophet speaks I go I run to the fountain I burn with love amongst thy purifying waters I desire affectionately to humble my self but I know not where to find so low a place as thine when thou thus wast humbled before Judas to wash his traiterours feet Upon the Garden of Mount Olivet Moralities 1. JEsus enters into a Garden to expiate the sin committed in a Garden by the first man The first Adam stole the fruit and the second is ordained to make satisfaction It is a strange thing that he chose the places of our delights for suffering his pains and never lookt upon our most dainty sweets but to draw out of them most bitter sorrows Gardens are made for recreations but our Saviour finds there onely desolation The Olives which are tokens of peace denounce war unto him The plants there do groan the flowers are but flowers of death and those fountains are but fountains of sweat and bloud He that shall study well this Garden must needs be ashamed of all his pleasant Gardens and will forsake those refined curiosities of Tulips to make his heart become another manner of Garden where Jesus should be planted as the onely Tree of Life which brings forth the most perfect fruits of justice 2. It was there that the greatest Champion of the world undertook so great Combats which began with sweat and bloud but ended with the loss of his life There were three marvellous Agonies of God and Death of Joy and Sorrow of the Soul and Flesh of Jesus God and Death were two incomparable things since God is the first and the most universal of all lives who banisheth from him all the operations of death and yet his love finds means to unite them together for our redemption The joy of beatitude was a fruition of all celestial delights whereunto nothing which displeased could have access and yet Jesus suffered sorrow to give him a mortal blow even in the Sanctuary of his Divinity He afflicted himself for us because we knew not what it was to afflict our selves for him and he descended by our steps to the very anguishes of death to make us rise by his death to the greatest joyes of life To be short there was a great duel between the affectionate love and the virginal flesh of Jesus His soul did naturally love a body which was so obedient and his body followed wholly the inclinations of his soul There was so perfect an agreement between these two parties that their separation must needs be most dolorous Yet Jesus would have it so and signed the decree by sweating bloud And as if it had been too little to weep for our sins with two eyes he suffered as many eyes as he had veins to be made in his body to shed for us tears of his own bloud 3. Observe here how this soul of Jesus amongst those great anguishes continued always constant like the Needle of a Sea-compass in a storm He prays he exhorts he orders he reproves and he encourages he is like the Heavens which amongst so many motions and agitations lose no part of their measure or proportion Nature and obedience make great convulsions in his heart but he remains constantly obedient to the will of his Heavenly Father he tears himself from himself to make himself a voluntary sacrifice for death amongst all his inclinations to life to teach us that principal lesson of Christianity which is to desire onely what God will
whole world as he did proportioning his torments according to the fruits which were to proceed from his Cross Perhaps O faithfull soul thou lookest for a mans body in thy Jesus but thou findest nothing but the appearance of one crusted over with gore bloud Thou seekest for limbs and findest nothing but wounds Thou lookest for a Jesus which appeared glorious upon Mount Tabor as upon a Throne of Majestie with all the Ensigns of his Glory and thou findest onely a skin all bloudy fastened to a Cross between two thieves And if the consideration of this cannot bring drops of bloud from thy heart it must be more insensible than a diamond 3. To conclude observe the third quality of a good death which will declare it self by the exercise of great and heroick virtues Consider that incomparable mildness which hath astonished all Ages hath encouraged all virtues hath condemned all revenges hath instructed all Schools and crowned all good actions He was raised upon the Cross when his dolours were most sharp and piercing when his wounds did open on all sides when his precious bloud shed upon the earth and moistened it in great abundance when he saw his poor clothes torn in pieces and yet bloudy in the hands of those who crucified him He considered the extream malice of that cruel people how those which could not wound him with iron pierced him with the points of their accursed tongues He could quickly have made fire come down from Heaven upon those rebellious heads And yet forgetting all his pains to remember his mercies he opened his mouth and the first word he spake was in favour of his enemies to negotiate their reconciliation before his soul departed The learned Cardinal Hugues admiring this excessive charity of our Saviour toward his enemies applies excellent well that which is spoken of the Sun in Ecclesiasticus He brings news to all the world at his rising and at noon day he burns the earth and heats those furnaces of Nature which make it produce all her feats So Jesus the Sun of the intelligible world did manifest himself at his Nativity as in the morning But the Cross was his bed at noon from whence came those burning streams of Love which enflame the hearts of all blessed persons who are like furnaces of that eternal fire which burns in holy Sion On the other part admire that great magnanimity which held him so long upon the Cross as upon a throne of honour and power when he bestowed Paradise upon a man that was his companion in suffering I cannot tell whether in this action we should more admire the good fortune of the good thief or the greatness of Jesus The happiness of the good thief who is drawn for a cut-throat to prison from prison to the Judgement-hall from thence to the Cross and thence goes to Paradise without needing any other gate but the heart of Jesus On the other side what can be more admirable than to see a man crucified to do that act which must be performed by the living God when the world shall end To save some to make others reprobate and to judge from the heighth of his Cross as if he sate upon the chiefest throne of all Monarchs But we must needs affirm that the virtue of patience in this holds a chief place and teaches very admirable lessons He endures the torments of body and the pains of spirit in all the faculties of his soul in all the parts of his virgin flesh and by the cruelty and multiplicity of his wounds they all become one onely wound from the sole of his foot to the top of his head His delicate body suffers most innocently and all by most ingrate and hypocritical persons who would colour their vengeance with an apparance of holiness He suffers without any comfort at all and which is more without bemoaning himself he suffers whatsoever they would or could lay upon him to the very last gasp of his life Heaven wears mourning upon the Cross all the Citizens of Heaven weep over his torments the earth quakes stones rend themselves Sepulchers open the dead arise Onely Jesus dies unmoveable upon this throne of patience To conclude who would not be astonished at the tranquility of his spirit and amongst those great convulsions of the world which moved round about the Cross amongst such bloudy dolours insolent cries and insupportable blasphemies how he remained upon the Cross as in a Sanctuary at the foot of an Altar bleeding weeping and praying to mingle his prayers with his bloud and tears I do now understand why the Wiseman said He planted Isles within the Abyss since that in so great a Gulf of afflictions he shewed such a serenity of spirit thereby making a Paradise for his Father amongst so great pains by the sweet perfume of his virtues After he had prayed for his enemies given a promise of Paradise to the good thief and recommended his Mother to his Disciple he shut up his eyes from all humane things entertaining himself onely with prayers and sighs to his Heavenly Father O that at the time of our deaths we could imitate the death of Jesus and then we should be sure to find the streams of life Aspirations O Spectacles of horrour but Abyss of goodness and mercy I feel my heart divided by horrour pitie hate love execration and adoration But my admiration being ravished carries me beyond my self Is this then that bloudy sacrifice which hath been expected from all Ages This hidden mystery this profound knowledge of the Cross this dolorous Jesus which makes the honourable amends between Heaven and earth to the eternal Father for expiation of the sins of humane kind Alas poor Lord thou hadst but one life and I see a thousand instruments of death which have taken it away Was there need of opening so many bloudy doors to let out thine innocent soul Could it not part from thy body without making on all sides so many wounds which after they have served for the objects of mens cruelty serve now for those of thy mercy O my Jesus I know not to whom I speak for I do no more know thee in the state thou now art or if I do it is onely by thy miseries because they are so excessive that there was need of a God to suffer what thou hast endured I look upon thy disfigured countenance to find some part of thy resemblance and yet can find none but that of thy love Alas O beautifull head which dost carry all the glory of the highest Heaven divide with me this dolorous Crown of Thorns they were my sins which sowed them and it is thy pleasure that thine innocency should mow them Give me O Sacred mouth give me that Gall which I see upon thy lips suffer me to sprinkle all my pleasures with it since after a long continuance it did shut up and conclude all thy dolours Give me O Sacred hands and adored feet the Nails which have pierced
in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms of me Then he opened their understanding that they might understand the Scriptures And he said to them That so it is written and so it behoved Christ to suffer and to rise again from the dead the third day and penance to be preached in his Name and remission of sins unto all Nations Moralities 1. WE think sometimes that Jesus is far from us when he is in the midst of our heart he watches over us and stretches out his divine hands for our protection Let us live always as if we were actually in his presence before his eyes and in his bosom An ancient Tradition doth observe that after our Lords Ascension the Apostles did never eat together but they left the first napkin for their good Master conceiving that according to his promise he was always with them Let us accustom our selves to this exercise of Gods presence It is a happy necessity to make us do well to believe and apprehend that our Judge is always present If respect make him formidable love will teach us that he is the Father of all sweetness There can be no greater comfort in this world than to be present in heart and body with that which we love beast 2. Jesus is taken by his Apostles for a Spirit because after the Resurrection he pierced the walls and appeared suddenly as Spirits do S. Paul also saith in the second to the Corinthians that now we do no more know Christ according to the flesh that is to say by the passions of a mortal body as S. Epiphanius doth expound it We must make little use of our bodies to converse with our Jesus who hath taken upon him the rare qualities of a Spirit We must raise our selves above our senses when we go to the Father of light and the Creatour of sense He teaches us the life of Spirits and the commerce of Angels and makes assayes of our immortality by a body now immortal Why are we so tied to our sense and glued to the earth Must we suffer our selves to enter into a kingdom of death when we are told of the resurrection of him who is the Authour of all lives 3. Admire the condescending and bounties of our Lord to his dear Disciples He that was entered into the kingdom of spirits and immortal conversation suffers his feet and hands to be touched to prove in him the reality of a true body He eats in presence of his Apostles though he was not in more estate to digest meat than the Sun is to digest vapours He did no more nourish himself with our corruptible meats than the Stars do by the vapours of the earth And yet he took them to confirm our belief and to make us familiar with him It is the act of great and generous spirits to abase themselves and condescend to their inferiours So David being anointed King and inspired as a Prophet doth not shew his person terrible in the height of his great glory but still retained the mildness of a shepheard So Jesus the true Son of David by his condescending to us hath consecrated a certain degree whereby we may ascend to Heaven Are not we ashamed that we have so little humility or respect to our inferiours but are always so full of our selves since our Lord sitting in his Throne of glory and majesty doth yet abase himself to the actions of our mortal life Let it be seen by our hands whether we be resuscitated by doing good works and giving liberal alms Let it appear by our feet that they follow the paths of the most holy persons Let it be seen by our nourishment which should be most of honey that is of that celestial sweetness which is extracted from prayer And if we seem to refuse fish let us at least remain in the element of piety as fish is in water Aspirations THy love is most tender and thy cares most generous O mild Saviour Amongst all the torrents of thy Passion thou hast not tasted the waters of forgetfulness Thou returnest to thy children as a Nightingale to her little nest Thou dost comfort them with thy visits and makest them familiar with thy glorious life Thou eatest of a honey-comb by just right having first tasted the bitter gall of that unmercifull Cross It is thus that our sorrows should be turned into sweets Thou must always be most welcome to me in my troubles for I know well that thou onely canst pacifie and give them remedy I will govern my self toward thee as to the fire too much near familiarity will burn us and the want of it will let us freeze I will eat honey with thee in the blessed Sacrament I know that many there do chew but few receive thee worthily Make me O Lord I beseech thee capable of those which here on earth shall be the true Antepasts to our future glory The Gospel upon Low-Sunday S. John the 20. THerefore when it was late that day the first of the Sabbaths and the doors were shut where the Disciples were gathered together for fear of the Jews Jesus came and stood in the midst and saith to them Peace be to you And when he had said this he shewed them his hands and side The Disciples therefore were glad when they saw our Lord. He said therefore to them again Peace be to you As my Father hath sent me I also do send you When he had said this he breathed upon them and he said to them Receive ye the Holy Ghost Whose sins you shall forgive they are forgiven them and whose you shall retain they are retained But Thomas one of the twelve who is called Didymus was not with them when Jesus came the other Disciples therefore said to him We have seen our Lord. But he said to them Unless I see in his hands the print of the nails and put my finger into the place of the nails and put my hand into his side I will not believe And after eight days again his Disciples were within and Thomas with them Jesus cometh the doors being shut and stood in the midst and said Peace be to you Then he saith to Thomas Put in thy finger hither and see my hands and bring hither thy hand and put it into my side and be not incredulous but faithfull Thomas answered and said to him My Lord and my God Jesus saith to him Because thou hast seen me Thomas thou hast believed Blessed are they that have not seen and have believed Moralities 1. JEsus the Father of all blessed harmonies after so many combats makes a general peace in all nature He pacifieth Limbo taking the holy Fathers out of darkness to enjoy an eternal light and sending the damned to the bottom of hell He pacifieth the earth making it from thenceforth to breathe the air of his mercies He pacifieth his Apostles by delivering them from that profound sadness which they conceived by the imaginary loss of their dear Master
and danger of passions may profit us whether they edifie us by their repentance or divert us by their disasters I conclude the HOLY COURT in this Volume which I esteem above the rest by reason of its utillty and writing of passions to cure them I wish in my self an incurable one which is to desire the progression of my Readers and to beseech God they may submit Sense to Reason Time to Eternity and the Creature to the Creatour THE FIRST TREATISE OF LOVE Sect. 1. Of the Necessity of Love Against those Philosophers who teach Indifferency saying We must not Love any thing THe Divine Providence which hath concluded our salvation All Happinesse included in love in Love very plainly shews us That the means to be quickly happy is to love Felicity and that the way we walk in to become singularly happy is to esteem as we ought the chief of Felicities We lose all our good hap for want of loving and our Love through the defect of well placing it which is the cause that we daily learning so many Arts forget what we should eternally practise if it be true we desire to be everlastingly happy I find the great Apostle of France S. Denis said well when he called God The Father of Vnions who S. Dion l. de Hierarch coelest 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God the Father of unions draweth all to unity by the means of love ceaseth not to gather and rally together all the creatures into his heart which issued out of his heart He is That in the life of Intelligencies which the Sun is in the celestiall world but one immoveable Sun about which so many changes and agitations of all creatures circumvolve who groan and aim at this First beauty the true Center of Repose It concerneth us since we are made for it and that God hath given us Love which is to the soul That which wings are to Birds to carry us to it's fruition It is a riches which is onely ours and which would be infinitely profitable if we could tell how to employ it well but for want of well loving we apply the most precious thing which is Love to gain wretched Creatures as if one used a golden hook to fish for Frogs and a Sceptre to shake Hey This is it which causeth me to undertake in this discourse to speak of the well ordering of Love as the most assured way we can choose to arrive at Tranquility and to shew that we first of all most necessarily love to be happy in the world and that the most loving and tendrest hearts are ordinarily the best This age scant enough in goodnesse and fruitfull The Sect of Philosophers of Indifferency in malice hath of late brought forth a Sect of wits who term themselves the Philosophers of Indifferency and who make boast to be very insensible as well in the fear of the Divinity as in tendernesse towards the miseries of men To what purpose is it say they to addict ones self to the worship of a God whom we cannot sufficiently know And wherefore should we be solicitous for the afflictions of another which nothing concern us This is to make our selves eternally miserable and to be tormented with all manner of objects He who would live contented in the world must love nothing but himself entertein himself within himself and concerning himself and derive pleasure as a tribute out of all the creatures of the world but to take heed not to enter into the participation of their troubles and should we see all to be turned topsie turvey so it inconvenienceth not us in any thing to let time slide to catch good by the wings whilest we may and to let evil fall on the miserable These kind of people are so unnaturall that they laugh at all and mock at the miseries which others suffer If you tell them of a house burnt they say it is nothing and that it is but a fire of great wood If of an inundation of water that Fishes have a good time of it If of a warre or contagion that it is a good harvest for death and that there are too many bread-eaters If one say such a friend hath lost an eye they answer he is very happy because he shall see but half the bad times I do not think there is a vice in the whole world more btutish or contrary to nature then this obduratenesse which is the cause I would cast it under the feet of love and shew you that tendernesse towards God as a Father towards men as the lively Images of his Goodnesse is the principall foundation of all virtues Consider first that all the good order of life comes 1. Reason against the Indifferents from the knowledge of the First cause whereon all Creatures have their dependence as on the contrary the Disorder of all actions springeth from the ignorance of the submission we ow to the Increated Essence Now he who loveth none but himself and cares not but for his own Interests maketh himself as the chief end and the God of himself which sufficiently proveth it to be the most palpable folly and the greatest evil may be imagined in Nature It is a remarkable thing that among all Essences There is none but God which is for it self there is none but God alone who as he can know nothing out of himself nor love any thing but in himself so he doth nothing but for himself For in doing all for himself he doth all for us since we have no good which tendeth not to him as to its scope Monas geâ—uit monadem in se suum reflexit amorem S. Thom. 1. part q 32. a. t. 1. which subsisteth not in him as on its Basis which resteth not in him as in its Centre Thus did S. Thomas understand that notable saying of Mercury Trismegistus Vnity hath produced unity and hath reflected its love on it self It is not but for an Infinite Essence to do so but had the highest Angel in heaven the thought onely to behold himself and hence-forward to work for himself he would instantly be pulled out of heaven and would of a bright Sun become a sooty Coal What may one think then of a man who sayes in his heart I am born for my self and I have no other aim in the world but to satisfie my mind with all contentments nor shall the evils of another ever enter into my heart till Fire commix with Water and Heaven with Earth If I obtein my ends all shall go well Hearken how God speaketh in the Prophet Ezechiel to these wicked ones Behold I come to fall upon thee Ecce ego ad te draco magne qui tuba iâ— medio fluminum tuorum c. Ezec. 29. 3. oh thou great Dragon who lyest stretched out at length in the midst of thy Rivers and darest saey this stream is mine and I made my self Assure thee I will put a bridle upon thee and when I
have fastned to thy scale all the fishes of the waters wherein thou bearest sway I will drag thee from the midst of the Kingdome of waves and I will throw thee into a wildernesse thou shalt lie upon the dry land nor shall any one care to sae thy obsequies performed For I have abandoned thee to the beasts of the field ard to the birds of the air to be devoured This sentence of God was executed on the person of the Emperour Tyberius under whom our Saviour suffered that death which gave life to the world Verily he was a man who through the whole course of his Empire made himself the God of himself the slave of his passions and the hatred of mankind He lay close as an Owl in the retirement of his filthy lusts he was greedy as a Griphon in such sort that dying he had above three-score and six millions of gold in his coffers which he with the Empire left to an infamous nephew who as it is thought hastned his death tearing that sensuall soul out of the body which in the world breathed nothing but the love of it self How can a man so wretched so caitive behold himself as a Divinity seeing God in the heighth of glory riches and beauties which so happily entertains him within himself hath so affectionate bowels of mercy for man that he thinks of him from all eternity he presenteth himself unto him on all sides with hands replenished with benefits in so great a diversitie of Creatures and hath in generall so much care of all men and of every one in particular S. Tho opus de Beatit Quasi homo sâ—t Dei Deuâ— that he who were not well instructed by faith might have matter to imagine that Man were the God of God himself Let us besides produce another proof which more 2. Reason drawn from the communication of creatures evidently convinceth this obduratenesse of heart and this cruel rechlessnesse of the Philosophers who teach Indifferency which is that all creatures yea the most insensible are made by God to impart and to compassionate If the Sun hath light it is not for himself he clotheth the Air the Land and Sea with a golded net he imparteth it also as well to the little eyes of the Ant as to those of the mightiest Monarch in the world he soweth seeds of flames and vigour to warm and quicken totall nature If the Air hath Rain it keeps it not eternally within the treasurie of clouds but distilleth it as in a Limbeck to moysten the earth If the Sea have waters it so diveth them among all the Rivers as to bear men and victuall in Vessels and to make it self a knot of commerce from Land to Land from Countrey to Countrey from World Unaquaeque res cogitur dare â—eip â adeo exclusit Deus avaritiam à rebus humanis Guil. Paris l. de univers to World If the earth hath fruits it preserves them not for it self no more then the trees which bear them but plentifully opens its bosome profusely to communicate it self to all nature Every thing saith a great Bishop of Paris is bound by the Divine Providence to communicate it self so true it is that God hath banished avarice from humane things As each creature giveth it self by love so it suffers with others by conformity All the world is united and collected within it self as the parts of an Egg are tyed one within another All the members of the Universe mutually love and embrace and if they make warre it is but to establish their peace If there be want of an element as of Air the Water would mount to heaven or heaven descend to the water rather then not supply the defect of a neighbour It is a law which God hath engraven as with a toole of Adamont in the bosome of Nature It â—ath been observed that Palmes divided one from another by an arm of the Sea which had overflowed the countrey bowed their tops one towards another by a naturall inclination as witnessing their Amity and protesting against the fury of that element which had disunited them and if this sense be in plants what may we say of living creatures where we see cares troubles anxieties goings and comings combats yells neglect and losse of body repose and life with the sense they have of the detriment and dammage of their like And shall we not say then that a man who loveth nothing in the world and onely studieth the preservation of himself is a prodigie in Nature fit to be denyed the Air he breatheth the light which reflecteth on him the fire which warms him the viands which feed him and the earth which bears him I add for a third reason that pity and tendernesse 3. Reason of the tendernesse of great hearts of heart is not onely authorized by God and nature but it is established as by a common decree of nations Photius the learned Patriarch of Constantinople observeth in his Bibliotheque a wonderfull judgement A notable sentence of the Areopagites given in the City of Athens where he saith the Senate of Areopagites being assembled together upon a mountain without any roof but heaven the Senatours perceived a bird of prey which pursued a little Sparrow that came to save it self in the bosome of one of their company This man who naturally was harsh threw it from him so roughly that he killed it whereat the Court was offended and a Decree was made by which he was condemned and banished from the Senate Where the most judiciall observe That this company which was at that time one of the gravest in the world did it not for the care they had to make a law concerning Sparrows but it was to shew that clemency and mercifull inclination was a virtue so necessary in a State that a man destitute of it was not worthy to hold any Place in government he having as it were renounced Humanity We likewise see that the wisest and most courageous men in the world have been infinitely tender full of love zeal affection care anxiety and travel for the good of another David and Jonathan who were the bravest Princes over the people of God loved each other so much that the Scripture speaking of this Amity saith Their souls were tied together with an inseparable band S. Paul was so affectionate and jealous for the salvation of his Corinthians that he seemed to carry them all in his bowels and daily to bring them forth with convulsions and pains attended by joyes and delights not to be expressed Saint Ambrose bitterly bewailed the death of his brother Satyrus that to hear him speak one would think he meant to distill out his eyes and breathe out his soul on his Tombe So did S. Bernard at the decease of his brother Gerard. S. Augustine was a man all of fire before and after his conversion with onely this difference that this fire before the morn-tide of his salvation was nourished with
of the Hypocondry the disturbances of the waking the stupidities of the Lethargie the fits of the falling sickness the faintness of the Phthisick the heavings of the passion of the heart the pangs of the collick the infections of the leprosie the venome of ulcers the malignity of the plague the putrefaction of the gangrene and all which is horrible in nature After all this it is made a God to whom Elogies Hymns Songs and victimes are offered Empire over the heart is given to it a soul not created but for him who hath saved it is subjected fetters are honoured and its Tyranny adored There are many millions of men in the world Disasters of evil love who would be most fortunate and flourishing if they knew how to avoid the mischievous power of this passion but having not used any consideration or endeavour they have abandoned their bodies to dishonour their reputation to infamy their estates to pillage and their lives to an infinity of disturbances and torments Hence it is that virgins of noble bloud are stolen away that families are desolated that parents are precipitated into their Tombs by ungratefull children that so many young widows are dishonoured in the world that so many miserable creatures after they have served for talk to a City die in an Hospitall that so many little innocents are made away by a death which preventeth their birth that so many Infants are thrown into life as froth of the sea exposed to poverty and vice by that condition which brought them forth Hence is it that chaste wedlocks are disturbed that poysons are mingled that Halters are noozed that swords are sharpned that Tragedies are begun under the Coverture of night and are ended in a full day-light upon a scaffold O God how happy might a soul be which would well consider all this and take what I am about to speak as a letter sent from heaven for the remedy of infinite many evils which in this passion environ our miserable life I invite hither every age each sex all conditions I entreat my Readers to peruse these lines with the same spirit wherewith I addresse them and although it befell me to treat of this subject in my other works notwithstanding never have I yet undertaken it with so much method vigour or force as at this present I will shew you the Essence the Causes the Symptomes and the effects of love as religiously as Vereenndiā periclitari malo quà m probationē l. 1. de anima c. 17. I can possibly supposing my self not bound to follow Tertullians opinion who though very chaste spared not to speak of this subject a little grosly saying for excuse that he had rather put himself upon the hazard of losing shame then a good argument I made you see in the beginning of this treatise that love considered in generall was properly an inclination to the good of Conformity which putteth on divers faces according to the sundry objects and wayes it pursues to arrive thither If it go directly towards God and reflect on a neighbour as his Image loving the one for himself and the other for his Authour this is charity If it diffuse it self upon divers creatures sensible and insensible which it pursueth for its pleasure and commodity it is an appetite and a simple affection as that which is towards hunting birds books pictures pearls and Tulips If it be applyed to humane creatures loving them withall integrity by a reciprocall well-wishing it is Amity If it regard the body for pleasures sake it is a love of venereall concupiscence which being immoderate even Tertull. in exhortatione ad castitatem Nec per aliud fit marita nisi per quod adultera in the intention of marriage fails not to be vitious which made Tertullian say that the same thing an Adulterer would do the married likewise did If it be chaste and guided within the Limits which the Law of God prescribeth it is conjugall love If it overflow to sensuall pleasures It is Luxury S. Denis saith It is not love but an idoll and a fall from true love And Plato Plato in convivio in his Banquet addeth that sober love is contentment of heart eyes and ears but when it will content it self by the other senses namely that of touching it is not love but a spirit of insolency a passion of a servile soul a rage of a triviall lust which maketh shew to love beauty but through its exorbitancy descended to the worst of deformities I know there are learned pens which here distinguish Division of Lone all love into two parts and say there is one of consideration and another of inclination They call it love of consideration when one is therein embarked with a full knowledge and a setled judgement love of inclination when one loveth not able to give any reason But I find this division is not exact enough insomuch as it confoundeth the Genus and Speeies and doth not clearly distinguish the members of this body since all love is nothing else but an inclination and since that which is made by consideration inclineth the loving to the thing loved Whence it appeareth that to mention a love of inclination is to say love is love without any further explication I had rather say there are two loves the one of Election which resulteth from Consideration and is formed when after one hath acknowledged a thing to be fair profitable and pleasing he out of reason affects it The other of humour when without consulting with reason one is suddenly surprized by some secret attractive in the thing loved without giving himself leasure to judge what it is and this properly is to love by humour and fantasie which is now adays the most ordinary love but not the best It is a kind Love of humour of love which quickly beginneth and which never ends slowly so full it is of inconstancy It seems to it self all its bands are silken although they be rough chains it will not take pains to consider them It thinks not it cherisheth the wound nor looks it back on the hand which gave it It is heedlessely engaged and signeth transactions without reading them that it may not be ashamed to abrogate what it made or to entertain that which kills it There are many miserable ones who daily marry upon the first sight and whose amities arise but from a glance which passeth away more swiftly then a shadow and then there must be a thousand repentances to redeem the pleasure of one moment It is ever better to preferre Election for though in the beginning it had not so much sweetnesse in the search it hath lesse sorrow in the possession But to enter farther into the knowledge of Carnall love it is good to penetrate the causes and effects thereof which will the more perspicuously enlighten us in the choice of remedies We see many people in the world who being tormented by this evil euen unto folly seek
robes of cloth of gold this ugly Hat into a Diadem this Spade into a Sceptre This Cottage into a Palace this servitude into an Empire For whom shall treasures officers services arms greatnesse pleasures joyes and feasts be but for you who art the heir of the Assyrian throne Do not we think that upon the recitall of these words this young man felt a flame which spread it self over his heart that he was touched to the quick with his extraction and ravished with love towards a Father by whom he was born so great And have we not the like apprehensions when faith dictateth unto us Thou art not created to live perpetually among mire and dirt and to be tyed to a wretched frail and perishable body to walk upon thorns and to embroil thy self in the tolls and cares of a mortall life there are above palaces of stars of Intelligencies of incomprehensible lights of ineffable beauties which expect thee of crowns prepared for thee of sceptres made to fill thy hands All times are for thee and all which Nature endeavoureth here below is but to contribute to thy contentment Thou art the son of a noble Father who makes men happy at his pleasure He loves thee as his heart and would have thee near him to accomplish thee with all his dearest delights and the highth of his glories And what can a soul do which learns all this from faith but raise it self above all concupiscences of flesh but love but dilate it self but readily mix with this most pure spirit which inviteth it in all creatures Have we yet the heart to say we have not familiarity enough with God and that he is of too high a The conversation of God with man by the mystery of the incarnation in the consummation of love Leo serm 3. de Passione Venit in hunc mundum dives atque misericors negotiator coeli commutatione mirabili inivit commercium salutare nostra accipiens sua tribuens strain to love him when we think upon Jesus who for us descended from the highest part of heaven to the slime of Adam who made himself our brother who sucked the dugs of our Mother who spake our tongue who took upon him our semblance who charged himself with our burdens who on himself laid our miseries to turn them into felicities He is that Merchant who is come out of a happy and rich countrey full of treasures glory and greatnesse which were to him more naturall then rayes to the Sun and yet being lodged as it were with us in a silly Cottage hath dispoiled himself for us wholly inebriated with the extasies of love hath made himself poor to make us rich weak to strengthen us contemptible to render us glorious full of sufferings to beautifie us and a man that we might be Gods This is the man who hath been able to contract all Gods extent under a little clay who went not a step which was not worthy to produce a star who carried the Divinity upon the ends of his fingers whose life was a flash of lightning his word a thunder his virtues lessons and actions prodigies Hath he not loved the ungratefull when he heaped on his own body the paines and sufferings of all ages making himself of a King of glory a man of dolours to purchase pleasures for us with as many wounds as he had members as many crosses as we have sins After all this he gives himself to us in the Sacrament The Eucharict the last degree of love which he hath instituted as an abridgement of his miracles wherein he is incorporated within our heart inour soul as one piece of wax melted within another I readily here remember what an antient lover said that love made a Butt of his heart where so soon as it had shot all its arrows it threw it self as an enflamed dart into the bottome of his breast to set him all on Anacre on 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ita applicat Johannes Eusebius l. 4. arte voluntatis fire What arrows and what shafts flying on every side in Nature in Grace what benefits what favours what Amities what forward affections for which man still continued obdurate till Jesus wholly gaining him did descend into his entrails fully replenished with love and flames and heavenly ardours Is it not time to pronounce Anathema with S. Paul against him who loveth him not after his coming in this manner to captivate us by his bounty To speak sincerely he must needs be amiable since according to the Canticles he is wholly composed of Love of Saints towards Jesus desires and satisfactions and that all the just sigh after him We have heard talk through so many Ages of the most accomplished beauties of certain ereatures who have drawn many Amorists after them but never have we seen one sole woman to gain the affection of an entire City Province or Kingdome From whence cometh it that there is not any beauty but that of Jesus Christ which enchaineth Cities Empires and Monarchies From whence cometh it that so many Kings and Queens have followed him through Forrests Thorns and among Rocks even to the abandoning of themselves From whence cometh it that so many millions of souls the wisest most purified and most courageous on the earth have loved him even to the suffering of flames and wheels in the dislocation of bones and the dismembring of their whole bodies From whence cometh it that all which is most pure and most eminent in the world daily dissolveth for him and that so many hearts melt for his service in honourable flames which purifie them without consuming them Verily we may say there is nothing which equalleth the excellency of celestiall Amities and that well to place your love you must fix it in the heart of God § 11. Of the Nature of Divine Love Of its Essence Qualities Effects and Degrees THe great Anachoret Raymond went very high Blanquerna in l. de amico amato when he said The love of God was an influence of Eternity For it is true that we coming from an eternall God have an infinite desire to make our Being perpetuall And for this purpose we tie our selves by love to so many things to live again in them and by them but they being transitory and frail we there find no support untill God hath poured his holy love into our heart which is the true influence of Eternity that alone can purifie our life and eternize our souls We then must not feign to our selves that the love of God proceeds meerly from our own strength but we must hearken to the decision of the Councell of Concilium Arausicanum Donum Dâ— est diliâ—â—re Denm ipse ut diligeretur dededit qui non diligentes diligit displicentes amati sumus ut esset in nobis unde placeremus The growth of love like unto pearls Orange which saith that to love God is a gift from God It is he who inspireth
the love with which he will be loved and who hath loved us even in disfavour to transport us to favour Whereby it appeareth that this fair love is nought else but a celestiall quality infused into the soul by which we love God above all and all for God Now I imagine with my self that he is born in our hearts in such a manner as pearls grow in their shells The mother of pearl is first pierced by a celestiall influence as with an arrow fiery and sharp which sollicits and importuneth it to dispose it self to this excellent production Which is the cause that it spreads openeth and dilates it self to receive the dew distilled into it from the air and having moistned it it digesteth concocteth and transfigureth it into this little miracle of nature which is with so much curiosity sought after Behold what passeth in a soul when it bringeth forth this precious love it is prevented by a speciall grace from the Divine Goodnesse which at first gives it a distaste of all things in the world and fixeth a generous spur in the heart to excite awaken and enflame it to the quest of so great a good Then it extendeth dilates and opens all its gates to the Holy Ghost who descendeth into it as the dew of Hermon by qualities and Donec Christus formetur in vobis Gal 4. 10. effects admirable which through free-will it embraceth and ties and habituateth it self therein conceiving and forming Jesus Christ as saith S. Paul Then is the time when this divine love is conceived which is no sooner born but it causeth a rejoycing in the heart of man like unto that which happened in the house of Abraham at Isaacs nativity It is a celestiall laughter The Empire and eminencies of Divine love an extraordinary jubilation an expansion of all the faculties and functions of the spirit and will This little Monarch is no sooner born but it begins to command and sits on the heart as in its Throne All powers do it Instructi in charitate in omnes divitias plenitudinis intellectûs Col. 2. 2. Ailredus tom 13. Bibliorum in speculo charitatis Excellent conceit of charity homage all passions render it service All the virtues applaud at its coronation and confesse they hold of it and are all in it He who is once well instructed in charity aboundeth with all riches and hath the full plenitude of the spirit according to the Apostles and is a Tree grafted with siens of all perfection and which fail not to bring forth their fruits Sciences and virtues are that to us which oars to vessels what the viaticum to travellers what light to blear-eyes what arms to souldiers but charity alone is the repose of the wearied the Countrey of Pilgrims the light of the blind the Crown of the victorious Faith and the knowledge of God carry us to our countrey Hope maintaineth us the other virtues defend us but where charity is perfect as it is in glory one no longer believes any thing because it seeth all one hopes for nought because he possesseth all Temperance combateth against Concupiscence Prudence against errour Fortitude against adversity Justice against inequality But in perfect charity there is a perfect chastity which standeth not in need of the arms of temperance having no blemish of impurity A perfect knowledge which expecteth not any help from ordinary Prudence since it hath no errours a perfect Beatitude which needeth not Fortitude to conquer adversities since to it nothing is uneasie a Sovereign peace which imploreth not the aid of Justice against inequality since all therein is equall For in a word what is charity but a temperate love without lust A prudent love without errour a strong love without impatience a just love without inequality Faith is the first day of our Creation which driveth away darknesse Hope is the second which makes a firmament for us and which divideth waters from waters things transitory from eternall Temperance is the third which arraungeth the waters and storms of passions in their proper element and causeth the land of our heart to appear which sendeth up vapours to God that are its sighs Prudence is the fourth which lighteth up in us the sun of understanding and the lights of knowledge Fortitude is the fifth which sustains us in the Ocean of adversities not suffering us to corrupt as fishes in salt-waters and as birds above the Tempest Justice the sixth for it gives us to command over our passions as Adam who on the same day he was created obtained it over all living creatures But charity is the seventh day The Symbole of Glory which contracteth all delights in the circle of its Septenary And how can it but abbridge all Theology since it abbridgeth God himself S. Zeno ser de fide spe charit Tu Deum in hominem demutatum voluisti tu Deum abbreviatum paulisper à majestatis suae immensitate peregrinari fecisti tu virginali carcere nove nâ—mensibus religasti tu mortem Deum mori docendo evacusti and that we have cause to speak to him in such terms as Saint Zeno did O love what hast thou done Thou hast changed God into Man Thou hast contracted him drawing him out of the lustre of his Majesty to make him a pilgrime on earth Thou hast shut him in the prison of a virginall womb the space of nine moneths Thou hast annihilated the empire of death when thou taughtest God to dy Love thus acknowledged by all the virtues mounteth as on a chariot of Glory maketh it self conspicuous with heroick and noble qualities It is pious since it employeth all its thoughts on God It is generous and magnanimous since it is ever disposed to great designs It is liberall as that which spareth nothing It is strong not yielding to any of all those obstacles which present themselves to divert the course of its intentions Qualities of divine love by which we may know whether it inhabit a soul It is just equally distributing rewards to merit It is temperate admitting no excesses but of love It is prudent having eyes alwayes upon its deportments It is witty to find out a thousand inventions It is violent without eagernesse active without participation sage without coldnesse good without remissnesse and calm without idlenesse But I must tell you though its perfections be without number you shall chiefly know it by three qualities Three principall marks of love which will make it appear unto you plyant obliging and patient I say plyant for there is nothing but fires desires sweetnesse affections joyes admirations extasies Plyantness pleasures transportments for its well-beloved This is the State which the great Origen figureth unto us Orig. Hom. de Magdal of S. Mary Magdalen when he saith that by the strength of love she was dead to all the objects of the world She had her thoughts so employed upon her Jesus that she was almost insensible she had
eyes and saw not ears and heard not senses and felt not she was not where she was for she was wholly where her Master was although she knew not where he was She knew no other art but that of love she had unlearnt to fear to hope to rejoyce to be sad all in her turned to love by reason of him whom she loved above all The Angels who descended from heaven to comfort her were to her troublesome nor could she endure them she stood upright near the sepulchre where in the place of death she found her heaven Now as in efficacious plyantnesses are flowers of Liberality love which never bring forth any fruit so it takes a second quality which is to be liberall and much obliging For this cause the hands of the bridegroome according to the Canticles are all of gold and round to shew there is not any thing crooked or rough to stay Cant. 5. 14 Manus ejus tornatiles aureae plenae Hyacinthis alia versio Globi aurei pleni mari his gifts besides they are all filled with pretious stones to figure his benefits unto us Jacinths and Diamonds which he scattereth and bestoweth as liberally as the sand of the sea The Hebrew saith that the same hands are vessels of gold replenished with the sea because love is an Ocean of liberalities which is never exhausted There remains nothing but to be patient which it Patience Pennas habet non pondus Ailredus doth with so much grace that one may say its yoke hath wings not weight The heart of it oft-times is invironed with thorns and it sweareth they are roses It swims in a sea of worm-wood and faith it is sweet water It is covered all over with wounds and protesteth they are Pearls and Rubies It is overwhelmed with affairs and maintains they are recreations It is surcharged with maladies and they are sports with calumnies and they are blessings with death and that is life These three qualities cause twelve very notable effects Twelve effects of love in love which are To love God above all and in comparison of him to despise all To account ones self unhappy if but a very moment diverted from his sweet Ideas To do all that may be and to endure all things impossible to come near him To embellish and adorn our soul to please him To be alwayes corporally present with him as in the Sacrament or spiritually as in prayer To love all which is for him and to hate all which is not for him To desire that he may be declared confessed praised and adored by all the world To entertein all the most sublime thoughts that is possible of his dear person To passe over with sweetnesse all the acerbities suffered in his service To accommodate ones self to all his motions and to receive both sad and joyfull things with his countenance To languish perpetually with the desires to behold him face to face and lastly To serve him without anxiety or expectation of reward These things being so sublime we must not presume to arrive thither at the first dash It is very fit to file and continually to polish our soul by long services and goodly actions to arrive in the end at the happy accomplishment of love For this cause there are reckoned certain degrees by which the soul is led to the pallace of this triumphant Monarch There is a love as yet but young which doth onely begin and hath five degrees within the compasse whereof it dilates it self to passe to a much greater perfection It beginneth first by the taste of the word of God and the sweetnesse it feels by the reading of good books which is a sign that a soul already hath an arrow of true love in the heart This taste maketh a man take good resolutions for the amendment of his manners and order of his life this resolution is followed by a happy penance which bewaileth all the imperfections of the life past with a bitter distaste and a fit satisfaction By this way we proceed to the love of a neighbour and a beginning is made by a tender compassion of his afflictions and a rejoycing at his prosperities Lastly or addicts himself much to many very laudable good works and to the holy exercises of mercy Behold here a most sincere condition and to be wished in many men of honour who may therein persist with great constancy The second order comprehendeth those which are Three orders of true lovers of the World yet more strong and it conteineth five other degrees First they are very assiduous in prayer wherein they are much enlightned with the knowledge of verities and celestiall maximes Secondly they obtain an excellent purity of conscience which they cleanse and polish by an enquiry into their interiour holily curious and perfectly disposed Thirdly they feel the exteriour man much weakned by a generous mortification wherewith concupiscence is quailed Fourthly followeth the vigour of the inward man who finds him self happily enabled to all the functions of the spirit with a certain facility which becometh as it were naturall to him Fifthly appeareth a great observance of the law of God which maketh him apprehend the least atomes of sin through a notable fidelity with which he desires to serve his master In this rank are many good religious who lead a life most accomplished in devotion and in the continuall mortification of senses Lastly in the third order of perfect lovers are the great effects of perfect charity as is not to have any humane and naturall considerations in all ones actions but to tread under foot all respect of flesh and bloud to defend truth Not to stick to earth by any root but to account all things worse then a dunghill to gain Jesus Christ to run before the Crosse and to bear the greatest adversities with a generous patience to love ones enemies to do good to persecutours and in conclusion freely to expose ones life for the salvation of a neighbour To say truly they had need to be persons most heroick to go so far and there is no doubt but this is the full accomplishment of love Notwithstanding nine degrees also are added of Seraphick love which concern Contemplatives which are Nine degrees of Seraphicall love for the contemplative The solitude of a heart throughly purified from all the forms of Creatures Silence in a sublime tranquillity of passions Suspension which is a mean degree between Angell and man Inseparability which adhereth to its welbeloved for an eternity not admitting the least disunion Insatiability which never is satiated with love Indefatigability which endureth all labours without wearinesse Languour which causeth the soul to dissolve and melt on the heart of its beloved Extasie which causeth a destitution of the vegetative and sensitive soul totally to actuate the intellectuall Deiformity which is a degree approching near to beatifick love Then is there made in the soul a deluge of mysterious and adorable
this fire I see lightning flashes to issue forth This is the fire of the love of God and these lightnings are the eruptions he made by communicating himself to man Consider O soul redeemed with the bloud of the sonne of God that thou canst not live without love on what side soever thou turnest thou necessarily must love and God foreseeing this necessity would that thou lovest like him that thou take the object of his love for the object of thine own his manner of loving for thine his scope and contentment for thine And where thinkest thou hath God the heavenly Father placed his love from all eternity but in himself Because he alone is worthy to be originally beloved as the source and fountain-head of all beauties and bounties which are the two baits of affections excessively as he who hath neither end nor beginning He loves himself by his holy Spirit which is his own substance and he loves himself necessarily because love is his Essence O soul if thou couldest a little lift up thine eyes surcharged with so many terrestriall humours and behold in the bosome of the heavenly Father the eternall Fire-brand which he gives for a rule of thy love what secrets and what mysteries of love wouldst thou learn there mightest thou observe the four conditions which constitute all the excellency of love to wit Purity Simplicity Fervour and Communication First thou must learn to purifie thy love this love being most pure and excellent for it is God himself produced in the bosome of God it is the first of Sanctities holy by origin by object by example and by form It is the holy Ghost burning in the heart of the eternall Father S. Thomas teacheth us a very singular piece of Theology in the Treatise he wrote of charity S. Thom. opusc 61. De Dilectione omne receptum est in recipiente per modum recipientis where he saith every thing placed in another is measured and adapted to that which receiveth it as water which is round in a round vessell and square in a square vessell For if the thing received be lesser then that which received it it by this reception gets a state of excellency and a Title of worth above its Nature so saith he the visible species are ennobled in our eyes and the Intelligible in our understanding This admitted I say that if we onely consider the love of God in that manner as we do in men as drawn from exteriour objects yet would it be a matter of a marvellous value to be received into the heart of God and to be conform to the Diviniâ—y but when Divinity telleth us that this love produced of God is the substance of God received in God hinself and inseparable from his essence what greatnesse and what purity must we conceive in this love of God and if he will that this same love which is all his should be not onely the object but the efficient cause of ours by the infusions Charitas Dei dâ—ffusa est in cordibus nostris per spiritum sanâ—tum Rom. 5. 8. he worketh in our hearts O how much shame ought we to have so to defile our love with contaminations and impurities of the earth Secondly you must know this love is most simple and totally as well in this unity as in the Essence of God and although he love creatures as the tokens and footsteps of his bounty which are in kinds so manifold in multitude so innumerable yet is he not devided nor severed because he gathers all those creatures together in his bosome where their beginning and end is and therein uniteth them as rayes of his benignity contracted and drawn together into one Centre in a burning-glasse Monas genuis monadem in se suum reflexit amorem it a explicat S. Thom 1. part 9. 23. Fornacem custodiens in operibus ardoris Eccl. 43. 3. Thereupon thou shouldst be sorry to see thy heart torn and divided by so many objects which divert thy affections and hinder thee from simply giving them to God for whom they are made Thirdly thou must understand this love is most ardent since the bosome of the eternall father is as a great Fornace which with its flames enkindleth all the chaste loves that burn whether they be in heaven in the heart of Angels or whether on earth in the souls of the elect Ah! how much oughtst thou to blush and to be ashamed considering how in stead of enkindling thy love with the sacred fires of this eternall fornace thou hast sought to beg a profane fire from the eyes of a wretched woman which hath burnt thee to the bones thou hast gone door after door to all sorts of creatures opening thy heart to forraign flames whereby thou hast gone about to burn even the sacrifice of the living God Ah? Thou insensible creature knowest thou not that Nadab and Abihu for putting ordinary Levit 10. fire into their Incensories when they came to the Altar of the synagogue were devoured as unfortunate victimes with the proper coles of their own sacrifices and dost thou think it will be lawfull for thee to approach the Altar of the eternall Testament with this forraign love which thou lodgest in thy heart Art not thou afraid to hear those thundring words This Sacrifice shall be a punishment to thee since thou hast Crysol serm 26. sums de sacrificio pâ—nam quia feciâ—â— de propitistione peccatum made a sinne of thy propitiation Lastly faithfull soul thou shouldst know the love of God is most communicative for it is streamed forth in his eternall productions by two emanations of understanding and will as by two Conduit-pipes of Glories and beauties And not content with this this eternall communication being involved in a profound obscurity unknown to all creatures he hath cleft the cloud in five places and is come to communicate himself to the world by five admirable wayes of his magnificence which are Creation Conservation the Incarnation of the word Justification and Exaltation of the soul to beatitude O! how thou shouldest be confounded hereupon to see thy heart so narrow and streightned in the exercise of good works Look back again upon thy second modell and attentively The love of Jesus towards his heavenly Father consider how Jesus the pattern of all chaste amities loved his eternall Father and on earth rendered him that honourable tribute of love which could not well have been payed to a God so justly loved but by a loving God and who did with so much perfection love Jesus alone passed with an incomparable eminency those nine degrees whereof we spake before which are as nine spheres of love This most blessed foul which had an exact knowledge of all the excellencies of increated beauty loved him according to its science equalling his fervours to its lights It first of all entred into the solitude of love which made a little fortunate Island of the heart wherein there was
he fell into an extasie of holy comfort to have found a man so conform to his humour and both of them wept so much out of love over this fountain that they seemed to go about to raise those streams by their tears If he wrote a letter he imagined love gave him the pen and that he dipped it in his tears and that the paper was all over filled with instruments of the passion and that he sent his thoughts and sighs as Courtiers to seek out the well-beloved of his heart When he saw an Epistle or a letter wherein the name of Jesus was not premised it sensibly tormented him saying Sarazins had more devotion for Mahomet a man of sin setting his name in the front of all their letters then Christians had for their Redeemer A holy occasion one day drew him to a Church to hear excellent musick but he perceiving the words were of God and the tune according to the world he could not forbear to cry out aloud Cease profane men Cease to cast pearls into mire Impure airs are not fit for the King of virgins Some took delight to ask him many questions and he answered them nothing but the word love which he had perpetually in his mouth To whom belongest thou To love whence comest thou from love whither goest thou To love who begat thee Love Of what dost thou live upon love where dwellest thou In love He accounted them unworthy to live who died of any other death then of love and beholding a sick-man in an agony who shewed no feeling of joy to go unto God but onely complained of his pain he lamented him as a man most miserable At his entrance into a great Citie he asked who were the friends of God and a poor man being shewed him who continually wept for the love of heaven and heavenly things he instantly ranne to him and embracing him they mingled their tears together with unspeakable joy God often visited him by many lights and most sweet consolations as it happened at that time when he thought he saw a huge cloud between his Beloved and him which hindred and much troubled him but presently it seemed to him that love put it self between them both and gilded the cloud with great and admirable splendours in such sort that through this radiant beauty he saw a ray of the face of his well-beloved and for a long space spake to him with profusions of heart and admirations not to be expressed From this obsequious love he passed to obliging love and made a strong resolution to become profitable to all the world For which purpose feeling every moment to be replenished with sublime and divine thoughts which God had communicated to him and that he had no insight in Grammer nor other slight school-notions he resolved to learn the Latine tongue being now full fourty years old He hit upon a teacher one Master Thomas who taught him words conjugations and concords but he rendred him back again elate conceptions unheard of discourses and harmonies wholly celestiall so much honouring his Master that he dedicated the most part of his books to him wherein for the dead letter he offered unto him the spirit of life Not satisfied with this he added the Arabick tongue of purpose to convert the Mahumetans and for this end he bought a slave for whom having no other employment but to teach him it and he having therein already well profited and endeavouring to convert this wretched servant who had been his teacher the other found him so knowing and eloquent that he had an apprehension that through this industry he was able to confound the Mahumetan-law which was the cause that the Traitour espying his opportunity took a knife and sought to kill his Master but he stopt the blow and onely received a wound which proved not mortall All the house ran at the noise and there was not any one who would not have knocked down the ungratefull creature but he hindered it with all his might and heartily pardoned him in the greatest sharpnesse of his dolours Instantly the officers seized on this compassion and put him into prison where he was strangled repenting himself of nothing but that he had not finished his mischief which caused extreme sorrow in Raymond who bewailed him with many tender tears of compassion After this he undertook divers journies into France Spain Italy Greece and Africk wandring continually over the world and not ceasing to preach write and teach to advance the salvation of his neighbours Paris many times received him with all courtesie in such sort that the Chancellour Bertand who was infinitely affected to knowledges permitted him to reade them publickly in his hall The reverend Charter-house Monks whose houses have so often been sanctuaries for Learning and Devotion were his hoasts and so much he confided in their integrtty and sincerity that he with them deposed all which he had most precious The love of God which is as lightning in a cloud still striving to break forth suffered him not to rest but disposed him to undertake somewhat for the glory of God It is true he had first of all that purpose which afterwards our father S. Ignatius so gloriously accomplished for he was desirous to make Seminaries of learned and courageous spirits who should spread themselves throughout the world to preach the Gospel and to sacrifice themselves for the propagation of Faith For this cause he multiplied his voyages to Rome to Lions to Paris to Avignon incessantly solliciting Popes and Kings to so excellent a work without successe He used fervour and zeal therein but our father thereunto contributed more order and prudence The one undertook it in a crosse time during the passage of the holy See from Rome to Avignon where the Popes more thought upon their own preservation then tha conquests of Christianity The other knew how to take occasion by the fore-lock and he interessed Rome and the Popes thereof in his design The one made his first triall under Pope Boniface the Eighth who having dispossessed a Hermite of S. Peters Chair held those for suspected who were of the same profession fearing they a second time might make a head of the Church The other happened upon Paul the Third who was a benign Pope and he gained his good opinion by his ready services and submissions which tended to nothing but the humility of Jesus Christ The one embroiled himself too much in Sciences even unto curiosity and made them walk like Ladies and Mistresses the other held them as faithfull servants of the Crosse subjected to holy Humility The one stood too much upon his own wit and needs would beat out wayes not hitherto printed with any foot-steps nor conferred enough with the Doctours of his times in matters of Opinion and Concord the other passed through the surges of Universities and followed an ordinary trackt in the progression of his studies The one was of a humour very haughty the other of a spirit
de concent l. 38. I were created to live free from all worldly contrarieties I who commit so many fins on the other part will to day do an act of virtue in honour of my Master and in despite of passion Let us go to heaven by love since we cannot go thither by sufferings This is the true gate by which we enter into the sanctuary eternally to enjoy the sight of the inaccessible beauties of the holy and regall Trinity Hear you not the God of peace who saith to us If thou O unhappy soul wilt still persist in Hatred I pronounce unto thee the six punishments of Cain Banishment from the sight of God fear stupidity of mind the life of a beast the malediction of the earth and as Procopius addeth persecuting Angels armed with swords of fire who shall pursue thee like spectres and spirits in all places and shall make themselves visible and dreadfull to thee at the last day of thy life Behold here deservedly thy inheritance since being mortall thou makest thy enemies immortall and dost still persecute the afflicted widow and her children who are become orphans after the death of a husband and a father whom thou hatest The strongest enmities oft-times are appeased at the sight of a dead body and a tomb which we find exemplified in Josephus for Alexander was extremely hated by the Jews as having reigned over them with a rod of Iron But when death had closed up his eyes and that the Queen his wife most sorrowfully presented Joseph l. 3. c. 23. A notable example to appease hatred her self accompanied by two young children and exposed the body of her husband saying aloud Sirs I am not ignorant that my husband hath most unworthily used you but see to what death hath brought him if you be not satisfied tear his body in pieces and satisfie your own revenge but pardon a deplorable widow and her little innocent orphans who implore your mercy The most salvage spirits were so softned by this act that all their hatred turned into pity yet you Barbarian still persist to hate a man after his death to persecute him in a part of himself to tear him in pieces in his living members O good God if you renounce not this revenge you will be used like Cain as an enemy of mankind and a hang-man of Nature O flame O love O God! As thou art dispersed throughout us by love so banish all these cursed Hatreds of Hell and make us love all in thy goodnesse to possesse all in thy fruition § 6 Of the profit may be drawn from Hatred and the course we must hold to be freed from the Danger of being Hated THere now remains to consider here what profit may be derived from hatred and with what Oeconomy Utility of hatred it may be husbanded to render it in some sort profitable and in case it be hurtfull to prevent its assaults and sweeten its acerbities If the industry of men found out the way to make preservitives out of the most dangerous poysons why should it be impossible for us to make some notable utilities to arise out of a passion which seems not to be created but for the dammage and ruine of all things yet it is certain that Nature which never is idle in its productions hath given it us for a great good For it may serve love well rectified in its pretentions it furnisheth it with centinels and light-horse to hinder that which opposeth its inclination and to ruine all contrarieties banded against its contentments How often would Nature throw it self out of stupidity into uncertain dangers and most certain mischiefs were it not that naturall a version did awaken it did avert it from its misery and insensibly shew it the place of repose Is it not a wholesome Hatred to hate Pride Ryot Ambition and all ill Habits Is it not a reasonable Hatred discreetly to fly from maladies crosses incommodities which hurt the body and nothing advantage the mind This passion which in the beginning seemed so hideous teacheth us all this When it is well managed it conspireth against others by an according Discord to the lovely Harmony of totall Nature One may say there is happinesse and advantage to hate many things but what profit can one find in passive Hatred which makes a man many times to be hated and ill wished without cause or any demerit To that I answer with Saint Ambrose that it is That it is good to be honestly loved good to avoid such a kind of Hatred that it is fit to make ones self to be beloved with all honour by good men and to gain as much as possible the good opinion of all the world thereby to render glory to God as Rivers carry their tribute to the Ocean A publick Bonum est testimonium habere de multorum dilectione hinc nascitur fides ut committere se tuo affectul non vereatut alienus quem charum advertit pluribus Ambr. l. 2. offic c. 7. Means to gain the good will of the publick person who is in the employments and commerce of the great world may have all the treasures of the Indies and all the dignities of old Rome but if he have not the love and good-will of men I account him most indigent and poor Thence it is that confidence taketh beginning without which there is no fortune maketh any notable progression nor affair which can have such successe as might be expected It is infinitely profitable for great men that they may divert the Hatred of the people to have innocency of life greatnesse without contempt of inferiours revenues without injustice riches without avarice pleasures without ryot liberty without tyranny and splendour without rapine All the rich who live in the society of men as Pikes called the tyrants of rivers in the company of other fishes to ruine devour and fatten themselves with the bloud of the commons are ordinarily most odious but as there is a certain fish which Elians History calleth the Adonis of the Sea because Adonis an admirable fish Aelian l. 9. c. 16. de animal it liveth so innocently that it toucheth no living thing strictly preserving peace with all the off-spring of the sea which is the cause it is beloved and courted as the true darling of waters so we find in the world men of honour and estate who came to eminent fortunes by pure and innocent wayes wherein they demeaned themselves with much maturity sweetnesse and affability which put them into the possession of the good opinion of all the world But those who are hated ought diligently and carefully to consider from whence this hatred proceedeth and by what wayes it is fomented that fit remedies may thereunto be applyed There is a hatred which cometh from equals another How hatred is to be diverted from inferiours a third from great ones and sometimes from powerfull and subtile women which is little to be feared That which proceedeth
gaudium sed Lazarus mortuus est inquir gaudeo propter vos quia non eram ibi An tristitiaâ—â— sed triâ—â—is est anima mea usque ad mortem An excellens observation upon the terming our Saviour a Lambe light of his glory Notwithstanding we must not think he would undergo all sorts of passions especially such as carry in them any uncomely misbeseeming but those he took upon him which were most decent and incident to man If love saith the oracle of Doctours be a humane passion Jesus hath taken it shewing many times tendernesse of affections towards persons of merit as it is said that seeing a young man who had strictly kept the commandments of God from his most innocent years he loved him and had some compassion of him for that he entred not directly into the way of the Gospel being withheld by the love of his riches If fear be accounted among the motions of nature had not he fear and anxiety when he was near unto his passion If you look for joy doth not he say Lazarus is dead but I rejoyce for your sake because by this means the Apostles faith must be confirmed Lastly if sadnesse be the inheritance of our condition hath he not said My soul is heavy to the death But there are other passions which he would never admit as sensuall Love Hatred of a neighbour Envie and Anger As for that which concerneth this last passion it is certain that our Lord was more meek and gentle then all men from whence it came that he would be called the lamb of God by a solemn title and that he in the primitive Church was represented under the same figure as it appeareth in the Christening Font of Constantine where the statue of a Lamb of massie gold poured out the water of Baptisme Never in his greatest sufferings hath he shewed one least spark of anger or impatience but was alwayes calme and peacefull even shewing an incomparable sweetnesse to a naughty servant who had cruelly wronged him at the time of his passion And as for that he did in the matter of buyers and sellers that ought not to be called anger but a servent and vigorous zeal which caused him to punish irreverences committed against his eternall Father Good God! Had we perpetually before our eyes this mirrour of meeknesse we need not seek for any other remedies His aspect would remedy all our anger as the brazen serpent cured the plagues of Israell This sacred fish would cause a Calm wheresoever it rested and the presence of his aspect would banish tempests but since passion so cloudeth our reason let us apply remedies more obvious against the motions of anger §. 5. Politick Remedies to appease such as are Angry ANger being a jealous passion ever grounded upon the opinion of contempt ought to be handled with much industry and dexterity There are some who very soon are cured by joy by the meeting of light-hearted people and by some pleasing and unexpected accident This notably appeared at the Coronation of Philip Augustus where there was a prodigious confluence Rigordus of many people who out of curiosity excessively flocking thither much hindered the Ceremony A certain Captain troubled to see this disorder was desirous to remedy it ceasing not to cry out and thunder with a loud voice to them to be quiet but the earnestnesse of those that thronged had no ears for Thunders which made him being much incensed with anger to throw a cudgell he had in his hand at the heads of such as were the most unruly and this cudgell being not well directed lighted upon three lamps of Chrystall hanging right over the King and Queens heads which breaking the oil abundantly poured down upon them All there present were troubled at an act so temerarious but the pleasure of the fight put off their anger The King with the Queen his wife instead of being offended laughed heartily seeing themselves so throughly besmeared and a Doctour thereupon inferring that it was a good presage and that it signified aboundance of unction both of honours and prosperities which should overflow in their sacred persons they had no power to be angry out of the Imagination of glory which drieth up the root of this passion Verily there is no better a remedy to appease such as are cholerick then to flatter them with honour and submission which likewise was to be seen in that which happened in the person of Carloman He was a virtuous religious man brother of King Pepin who had buried himself in humility Chronicon Cassinense that he might couragiously renounce all the greatnesse whereunto by birth he was called It fell out that being in a Monastery of Italy not discovering himself he begged he might serve in the Kitchin which was granted him But the Cholerick cook seeing him to do somewhat contrary to his liking not contented to use him harshly in words with much indignity strake him But there being not any thing which more vexeth a generous spirit then to see him ill treated whom he most loveth Carlomans companion who was present not remembring himself to be a religious man entereth into a violent anger and suddenly taketh a pestle and throws it at the cooks head to revenge the good father who bare this affront with incredible generosity But so soon as this his companion had declared his extraction and related all which had happened the whole convent fell at his feet who was affronted and begged pardon of him Where were to be seen sundry sorts of passions Some of indignation others of compassion the rest of Reverence But Carloman thought it a thing intolerable to see himself honoured in such a manner whilst his Companion laughed beholding the Cook beaten and the submissions yielded to his Prince There are others who seeing their friends much incensed seign to take their part and seem angry with them saying this wicked fellow must at leisure be chastised to render his punishment the more exemplary Mean while they give time and expect the return of reason and then they perswade the contrary Many also have in apparence pretended fear to flatter the anger of great ones who take pleasure to render themselves awfull in this passion as did Agrippa towards the Emperour Caligula §. 6. Morall Remedies against the same Passion I Will descend into more particulars against the three More particular remedies against the three sorts of anger kinds of choler which we infinuated As for the first which consisteth in that hastinesse and heat of liver that breaks forth in motions somewhat inordinate First I say God is offended to see persons who make profession of a life more pure and whose soul verily is not bad to be perpetually upon the extravagancies of passions unworthy of a well composed spirit Besides it causeth a notable detriment to our repose For by being often angry our gall increaseth as Philosophers observe and the encrease of gall maketh us the more
King he is sufficiently faulty because he is too virtuous They say that Love and Tears are learned without Envy is easily learned at the Court. any master and I may say that there is no great need of studying at the Court to learn Envy and Revenge It is a strange thing that Saul of a simple countrey-fellow should become so malicious and subtil a Courtier as to practise the most refined dissimulations of the Court He had resolved to destroy David and yet conceived that this duel with Goliah had set him in too high an esteem in the opinion of the people and that if he should openly attempt against his life he should bring his own into danger He thought best to bestow on him a chief place in the Army under pretence of honour which might be most subject to the violence of the Philistims believing that his courage would carry him into dangers and that the Philistims being incensed by the death of their countrey-man would no wayes spare him and that by this means his death would be imputed to his Destiny and not to the Envy of Saul But after that he saw that he returned from the manifest dangers with a crowned head with the applause of the people and that he behaved himself within the Kingdom with very great wisdome he began to suspect him more then before he took heed of bestowing great riches on him and married his eldest daughter which he had promised to him to another using him by this means injuriously Nevertheless for that his honour was engaged therein and that one might justly complain of his faithlessnesse he took advice to marry him to his younger which was Michol with very harsh and dangerous conditions making him to buy a thing that was due to him by the death of 200. Philistims conceiving that by so great a number of men and so many fights re-iterated he might be entangled in some mischance or if he should escape that the best that could hap was onely to gain a woman of a costy humour which would be to him but for a reproach and much discontent Behold how mans reasoning doth propound but Humane wisdome overthrown by the power of heaven God which catches the subtil in their devices and overthrows the designs of the malicious to establish his own counsels upon their ruines caused the victories and the marriage of David to succeed to his good content together with the good will and admiration of all the Court Jonathan the eldest son of Saul was so astonished The love of David and Jonathan with his valiant exploits his rare virtues and his incomparable brave carriage that he loved him as his own heart and bereft himself of the most precious things that he had to adorn him withall David likewise swears unto him reciprocally an immortal friendship These two souls to speak according to the phrase of the Scripture were united together with an indissoluble affection Their hearts were two fornaces which continually breathed forth flames of sacred love and might sooner be found without any thoughts then to be without thinking one of the other Their separations were as so many dyings and their meetings again did prevent their paradise The longest dayes were but as a small moment while they lovingly conversed together then they never perceived that the time ran away and they were departed from each other but with promise to visit again as soon as may be Each of them in their absence seemed to it self a wandring soul without habitation and without a body their spirits made wonderful transpirations for to joyn themselves together and talk to each other as in an Idea when Saul hindred their visits Poor Jonathan which was of an incomparable mildnesse The good offices of Jonathan declared to his father as much as he could the Innocency of David and the great services that he had done for the Crown and when he saw his spirit moved against him he was almost ready to die therefore he ceased not to represent to him with horrour of mind the monstrous impiety that it would be to sacrifice such a personage as he which had so often devoted himself for the safety of his Countrey the out-cry of the people and the vengeance of God At other times he dealt with him with sweet and persvvasive language causing him as it were to touch with his fingers the brave carriage and excellencies of David and assuring him that there was not a man in his whole Kingdome which was of a more harmlesse and pleasing a conversation and that it was the joy of his heart and his onely safety to have him alwayes at his side Saul suffered himself to be overcome with these his discourses whether it were indeed that he was perswaded Saul cleared for a while again returns to his evil spirit or whether he feigned himself to be appeased and suffered David whom he had driven farre of to return again near his person But this mad-man upon a day when he played on the Harp in his presence took his launce and endeavoured to strike him through therewith which he dad done if David by his nimblenesse had not avoided that evil blovv and lest that any should charge him vvith this perfidiousnesse he excused it by the distemper of his spirit Jonathan endeavoured yet another time this reconciliation but having been repelled by Saul by pricking words and vvith threatnings to kill him if he did not give over this his frienship with David he saw clearly that there was no more safety for his friend and gave him the counsel which was for himself the sharpest of all causing him to retire David goes from the Court and makes a sad departure from his friend for to avoid the unmercifull fury of his father These two dear souls on the day of this sad departure were pierced with a thousand darts of grief and were a thousand times upon their eyes and lips for to fly from thence and to mingle themselves one with the other The time past caused them to remember that which they had lost the present that which they were to lose and that to come was unto them a bottomlesse pit of terrour and affrightment They apprehended the one for the other as many dangers as there are upon the earth and sea and they could not promise themselves any thing but dayes without comforts and nights full of terrible dreams and torments They poured out so many tears and fetched so many sighs having no other eloquence but that of their hearts mutually wounded in their lodging that it was a thing vvorthy of compassion even of Saul himself This mad-man seeing that he vvas escaped out of David is pursued and escapes his bloudy hands vvould have caused him to be taken and sent forth souldiers for to bring him back But his vvife Michol having descryed the evil intent of her father advertised her husband of it and made him depart suddenly in the deep silence of
whether in reverence to the man or for fear to precipitate the death of such a Minister of the State by too hasty an execution demanded counsel of Fannius his Captain what in this case he ought to do who did advise him to execute the command of the Emperour and this was done by a sloth fatall to all of the Conspiracy some Ladies onely excepted who shewed themselves more courageous then the Senatours and the Cavalliers Howsoever he having not the heart to carry these heavy tidings did deliver his Commission to a Centurion who informed him with the last of all necessities Seneca without troubling himself desired so much liberty as to make his Will which was refused him On which he turned to his friends and said That since it was not permitted to him to acknowledge their merit that he would leave unto them the very best of all he had which was the Image of his Life in which if they would please to call to mind how he had passed it in so many commendable Exercises they should enjoy for their recompence the reputation of a faithfull and a constant friendship And this he spake not out of arrogance but as it were by the authotity of a Father when he bids his last Farewell unto his Children recommending to them to imitate him in what he had done well and so said S. Paul to his Disciples Be you imitatours of me as I am of Jesus Christ This made their hearts to melt and they began all to weep but he did endeavour to wipe away their tears mingling sweetnesse with reproaches What do you mean he said where are the Precepts of Philosophy where is that Reason so long prepared against all the chances of humane Life who is he that can be ignorant of the cruelty of Nero and who did not see that after the death of his mother and his brother there nothing remained but to adde unto it the murder of his Master and Governour After this Discourse which served for them all he embraced his wife gave her his last farewell and having fortified her against the terrours of the present dangers he did intreat and conjure her to moderate her grief and to sweeten the sorrows of her dear husband by the consideration of his life which was without reproach He loved most tenderly that virtuous Lady and did not cherish his own life but for her sake saying sometimes That he would spare himself a little the more becausâ— in an old man there lived a young woman who deserved that he should take care for her and being not able to obtain from his dear Paulina that she should love him more fervently her love being in the highest degree of perfection she should obtain from him that he should use himself for her sake with the more indulgence This fair Lady observing all that had passed said That there was no longer life for her after the death of him whom she loved above all things in the world and that she would keep him company in the other world On that word he stood a little in a pause and would not contradict her as well for the glory of the action as for the love which he did bear her and for the fear he had to leave so dear a person to the affronts of an enemy be therefore said unto her My dear Love I have shewed you the sweetnesse and the allurements of life but I see you preferre unto it the honour of a generous death I will not envy the example of your Virtue and although the constancy in our death shall be equall in us both yet yours shall be alwayes more glorious then mine for you contribute unto it a courage which is above your sex Having said this they caused their veins to be opened by one hand in the presence one of the other and because the body of her husband was attenuated by great abstinence and the bloud did issue but slowly from him he gave order that there should be a new incision made in the veins of his legs and of his feet The poor old man did endeavour to put himself all into bloud and indured cruel dolours but more in the body of his dear wife then in his own which was the reason that he caused her to be conveighed into another chamber to mitigate a little the sorrows which one had for the other in beholding themselves to die with so much violence It is a wonderfull thing that this great man had so untroubled and so ready a spirit in so fatall an act He called his Secretary to whom he did dictate his last Thoughts which were full of a generous constancy In the mean time Nero having no particular hatred against Paulina and considering that the death of so innocent a Lady would but render himself and his cruelty more abhorred did command that her veins should be stopped and the bloud stanched which it appeared that she suffered to her greater grief both by the short time that she out-lived her husband and by the inviolable faith which she did bear unto his ashes and she looked ever after as she were some prodigy such abundance of bloud and so much spirits she had lost Seneca was yet remaining in the tedious pangs of death when upon advice he demanded poyson of his Physicians which had no operation at all his members being already cold and his body shut up against all the forces of the poyson He caused himself therefore to be carried to a Bath and taking some of the warm water he sprinkled his servants with it that stood about him saying according to Cornelius Tacitus That he offered that water to Jove the deliverer after which words he entred into the stove and was stifled with the vapour that did arise from it Many grave Personages have conceived that he died a Christian and though it is no easie matter to perswade those to this opinion who are possessed with another and who speak but with little consideration on this subject yet there are not wanting grounds to prove the truth thereof Flavius Dexter a most antient Historian who hath composed a small Chronicle from the Nativity of our Saviour unto the fourth Age affirmeth in expresse terms that in the sixty fourth year Seneca entertained good thoughts of Christianity and that he died a Christian although not a declared one S. Hierome in the Book of Ecclesiasticall Authours doth put him in the number of Saints that is to say of those who acknowledge and confesse Jesus Christ Tertullian a most grave Authour saith that he was one although not openly S. Augustine in the City of God alledgeth many excellent passages of a Book which Seneca undoubtedly did write against the Superstition of the Pagans in which he overthrows all the Heathenish Religion of Rome although he doth not vigorously perswade them to change it for fear of troubling the Estate This Book was afterwards condemned and burned by the Enemies of our Religion The holy Doctor doth
was his condition of life assigned him from his nativity but by this most detestable murder he is now become the Regenet of a great Kingdom Who had a more labouring desire to see the King out of the world than he who daily expected from the hand of death the just reward of his disloyalty We are here ready to represent unto him a paper signed with his own hand and the hands of his Adherents where amongst them all they are obliged against all to defend that person who should attempt upon the person of the King That execrable writing was intrusted in the hands of Bolfou Captain of the Castle of Edinborough whom at the first they had drawn unto their side and being since incensed against some of the Conspiratours hath discovered all the business This is that which we now manifest with reasons more clear than the day and with assurances as strong as truth it self My Lords We demand what is that which the Rebels oppose against all these proofs nothing at all but frivolous conjectures which are not sufficient to condemn the vilest creature in the world although they are made use of to overthrow the person and Majesty of a Queen Ten thousand tongues such as Murrays are and his Accomplices ought not to serve to make half a proof against the honour of Mary and yet you have the patience to hear them rather than chastise them Her poor servants have bin examined again and again they have been torn to pieces and flead alive to accuse the Queen and could ever so much as one effectual word be racked from them to stain her innocence Have they not in the middle of their torments declared aloud and before all the people that she was ignorant of whatsoever was done and that they never heard the least word proceed from her which tended to the murder of the King All their Reasons are reduced into two Conjectures The first whereof is That the Queen committed the said Act in revenge of the death of her Secretary The second is Her Love and Marriage with the Earl of Bothuel the murderer of her husband these two are the inevitable charges against her But to answer to the first I demand If the Queen had any desires of revenge on whom should she exercise that vengeance Upon her husband whom she loved with incomparable affection whom in all companies she defended as a young man seduced by evil counsels to whom she had given a full forgetfulness and abolition of the murder of David Riccio for fear that one day he should be called to an account for it whom she very lately had received into favour and the strictest friendship to whom she had given the testimonies of a fervent love unto the last hour of his death Is it on him that she would discharge her choller or on those who were the Authours and Executioners of the act If she hath pardoned the Earls of Murray and Morton her sworn Enemies whom on a thousand occasions she could cut off here is it to be believed that a Lady who had ever a most tender conscience would destroy a husband so agreeable to her and whom she knew to have never offended but through the malice onely of these desperate spirits But why then hath she married him who made this attempt against the King her husband This is their second Objection and to speak the truth the onely one which they so much crie up For this it is that they have taken away her Rings and Jewels and put in the place of them infamous letters invented by Buchanan or some like unto him who treat of love not as in the person of a Princess but of a loose licentious woman And these Letters when they were produced did appear to be never made up or sealed but exposed to all the world as if so chaste and so wise a spirit as this Queen could be so stupid or so wicked as to publish her own infamy to the face of all the world But in the end they say the Marriage was accomplished And who did do it but these onely who now do make it a capital Crime These are they who did give advice to this match by reasons did sollicit it by pursuits did constrain it by force and did sign it by continuance Behold we are here ready in your presence to represent unto you the Contract which doth bear their names and seals of Arms which they cannot disprove The Queen hath protested before God and men that she had rather die ten thousand deaths than to have married Bothuel if she had thought he had been stained but with one drop of her husbands bloud and if he had not been proclaimed to be innocent And now judge My Lords with what impudence they dare appear before you and do believe that the Queen of England hath sent you hither to serve their passions and sacrifice so great a Princess to their vengeance We do hope all the contrary and do firmly perswade our selves that the great God the undoubted Judge of the living and the dead will inspire you with such counsels as shall give the Day to Truth for the glory of your own consciences and the comfort of the most afflicted of Queens who desireth not to breathe out the rest of her life that is left her but under the favour of your Goodness This in this manner being spoken the Agents and Deputies for the Queen having aloud protested that they here assembled not to acknowledge any power Superiour to the Crown of Scotland but onely to declare in the behalf of their Queen being unwilling to lose time in words they came to the proofs and did defend them with incredible vigour making in the first place the falsifications which were very ordinary with the Earl of Murray to appear in full Councel In the second place representing the Contract of the Marriage with Bothuel which he condemned to be signed by him and his Adherents Moreover producing the instrument of the Conspiracy against the King subscribed by their own hands and signed by their own Seals And lastly reporting the Depositions of John Hebron Paris and Daglis who being executed for this Act did fully discharge the Queen at the instant of their death before all the people After that the Commissioners had judged the Her justification Queen of Scots to be innocent of all the Cases and Crimes which falsely had been imposed on her by her traiterous and disloyal Accusers and that the proceedings which they made were for no other purpose but to exempt themselves from the crimes which they had committed and to cover the tyranny which they had exercised in the Kingdom of Scotland The Earl of Murray did flie away filled with The confusion of her Accusers fear and with confusion seeing that his life was in great danger if he had not been secretly protected by the Queen of England In the pursuit of this Sentence the most honest of the Councel did
learning of Jesus who was never taught 502 Upon S. John the 9. Of the blind man cured by clay and spittle 503 Upon S. Luke the 7. Of the widows son raised from death to life at Naim by our Saviour 504 Upon S. John the 11. Of the raising up Lazarus from death 505 Upon S. John the 8. Of our Saviours words I am the Light of the world ibid. Upon S. John the 8. Of these words Who can accuse me of sin 506 Upon S. John the 7. Jesus said to the Pharisees You shall seek and not find me and he that is thirsty let him come to me 507 Upon S. John the 7. Jesus went not into Jury because the Jews had a purpose to take away his life  Upon S. John the 10. The Jews said If thou be the Messias tell us plainly ibid. Upon S. John the 7. Of S. Mary Magdalen's washing our Saviours feet in the Pharisees house 509 Upon S. Mary Magdalen's great repentance 510 Upon S. John the 11. The Jews said What shall we do for this man doth many miracles ibid. Upon S. John the 12. The Chief Priests thought to kill Lazarus because the miracle upon him made many follow Jesus 511 Upon S. Matthew the 21. Our Saviour came in triumph to Jerusalem a little before his passion 512 Upon S. John the 12. Mary Magdalen anointed our Saviours feet with precious ointment at which Judas repined 513 Upon S. John the 13. Of our Saviours washing the feet of his Apostles ibid. Moralities upon the garden of Mount Olivet 514 Moralities of the apprehension of Jesus 515 Aspiration upon S. Peter's passionate tears ibid. Moralities upon the Pretorian or Judgement-Hall 516 Moralities for Good Friday upon the death of Jesus Christ ibid. The Gospel for Easter day S. Mark the 16. 518 The Gospel for Easter Munday S. Luke 24. 519 The Gospel on Tuesday S. Luke 24. 520 The Gospel on Low-Sunday John 20. 521 A TABLE Of the Treatises and Sections contained in this fourth Tome OF THE HOLY COURT The First TREATISE Of the necessity of Love SECTION Page 1 AGainst the Philosophers who teach Indifferency saying We must not Love any thing 1 2 Of Love in generall 3 3 Of Amity 5 4 Of Amity between persons of different sexes 7 5 Of the entertainment of Amities 11 6 Of Sensuall Love its Essence and Source 14 7 The effects of Sensuall Love 17 8 Remedies of evil Love by precaution 18 9 Other Remedies which nearer hand oppose this Passion 19 10 Of Celestiall Amities 22 11 Of the Nature of Divine Love Its Essence Qualities Effects and Degrees 25 12 The practise of Divine Love 27 13 A notable Example of Worldly Love changed into Divine Charity 29 The Second TREATISE Of Hatred 1 ITs Essence Degrees and Differencies 32 2 That the consideration of the goodnesse of the heart of God should dry up the root of the Hatred of a neighbour 33 3 That Jesus grounded all the greatest Mysteries of our Religion upon union to cure Hatred 34 4 Of three notable sources of Hatred and of politick remedies proper for its cure 35 5 Naturall and Morall Remedies against this passion 37 6 Of the profit may be drawn from Hatred and the course we must hold to be freed from the danger of being Hated ibid. The Third TREATISE Of Desire 1 WHether we should desire any thing in the world the Nature the Diversitie and Description of Desire 39 2 The Disorders which spring from inordinate Desires and namely from Curiosity and Inconstancy 40 3 The foure sources out of which are ill rectified Desires 42 4 That the tranquility of Divine Essence for which we are created ought to rule the unquietnesse of our Desires ibid. 5 That we should desire by the imitation of Jesus Christ 43 6 The Condemnation of the evil Desires of the World and the means how to divert them 44 THE FOURTH TREATISE Of Aversion SECTION Page 1 THe Nature and Qualities thereof 44 2 The Sweetnesses and Harmonies of the heart of God shew us the way how to cure our Aversions ibid. 3 The consideration of the indulgent favours of Jesus Christ towards humane nature is a powerfull remedy against the humour of disdain 47 4 The Conclusion against disdain ibid. THE FIFTH TREATISE Of Delectation 1 THat Delectation is the scope of Nature It s Essence Objects and differences 48 2 The basenesse and giddinesse of Sensuall voluptuousnesse 49 3 The Sublimity Beauty and Sweetnesse of heavenly delights ibid. 4 The Paradise and Joyes of our Lord when he was on earth 50 5 Against the stupidity and cruelty of worldly pleasures 51 6 The Art of Joy and the means how to live contented in this world ibid. THE SIXTH TREATISE Of Sadnesse 1 ITs Description Qualities and the diversity of those who are turmoiled with this Passion 54 2 Humane Remedies of Sadnesse and how that is to be cured which proceedeth from Melancholy and Pusillanimitie 55 3 The remedie of Sadnesses which proceeds from divers accidents of humane life 56 4 That the Contemplation of the Divine patience and tranquility serve for remedie for our temptations 58 5 That the great temper of our Saviours soul in most horrible sufferings is a powerfull lenitive against our dolours 59 6 Advise to impatient soules 60 THE SEVENTH TREATISE Of Hope 1 THe Description Essence and appurtenances thereof 61 2 That one cannot live in the world without Hope and what course is to be held for the well ordering of it ibid 3 That God not being capable of Hope serveth as an Eternall Basis to all good Hopes 63 THE EIGHTH TREATISE Of Despair 1 ITs Nature Composition and effects 65 2 The causes of Despair and the condition of those who are most subject to this Passion 66 3 Humane Remedies of Despair 67 4 Divine Remedies 68 5 The Examples which Jesus Christ gave us in the abysse of his sufferings are most efficacious against pusillanimity 69 6 Encouragement to good Hopes ibid. THE NINTH TREATISE Of Fear 1 THe Definition the Description the Causes and effects thereof 70 2 Of the vexations of Fear Its differences and Remedies 71 3 Against the Fear of the accidents of humane life 72 4 That the Contemplation of the power and the Bounty of God ought to take away all our Fears 73 5 That the Example of a God-man ought to instruct and assure us against affrightments of this life 74 THE TENTH TREATISE Of Boldnesse SECTION Page 2 THe Picture and Essence of it 76 2 The diversitie of Boldnesse ibid 3 Of laudable Boldnesse 77 4 That true Boldnesse is inspired by God and that we must wholly depend on him to become Bold 78 5 That Jesus hath given us many pledges of a sublime confidence to strengthen our Courage 79 THE ELEVENTH TREATISE Of Shamefactnesse 1 THe decencie of Shamefac'tnesse It s nature and definition 81 2 Divers kinds of Shamefac'tnesse ibid. 3 The Excellency of Shamefac'tnesse and the uglinesse of Impudency 83 4 Of Reverence
to the same port It is that which maketh Kings to reign 1. Reg. 25. 29. and giveth them officers as members of their state and by this means frameth the Court of Great-ones But if after it hath so made and composed them as of the flower and choise of men it should abandon them in the tempest without pole-star without rudder without Pilot were not this with notable deformitie to fail in one of the prime pieces of its work-manship Judge your self For the second reason it is most evident that to further this impossibilitie of devotion in the course of Courtiers lives is to cast them through despair of all virtues which cannot subsist without piety into the libertie of all vices which they will hold not as extravagant fallies of frailtie but as the form of a necessary portion of their profession And as the rank they hold maketh them transcend other men who willingly tie themselves to the manners and affections of those on whom they see their fortunes depend that would be as it were by a necessary law to precipitate mankind into the gulf of corruption To conclude for the third reason this proposition is manifestly contradicted by an infinit number of examples of so many Kings and Princes of so many worthy Lords and Ladies who living in the Ocean of the world as the mother pearls by the dew of heaven have preserved and do yet still preserve themselves for ever in admirable puritie and in such heroick virtues that they cannot gain so much wonder on earth but they shall find in heaven much more recompence This is it which I intend to produce in this Treatise of the Holy Court after I have informed the mind with good and lively reasons which as I hope by the grace of the holy Spirit of God shall make all persons of quality to behold they do infinit wrong to take the splendour of their condition for a veil of their impieties and imperfections Virtue is a marvellous work woman who can make Mercury of any wood yea should the difficultie be great the victorie would be more glorious but all the easieness thereof is in their own hands and the obligations they have to tend to perfection are no less important than those of Hermits as I intend shall appear in the process of this discourse The first MOTIVE Of the obligation which secular men and especially persons of qualitie have to perfection grounded upon the name of Christian. A Great abuse is crept into the minds of secular persons who hold vice in predominance and virtue under controle It is in that they esteem Christian perfection as a bird out of their reach and a qualitie dis-proportionable to their estate As for my self saith one of these I have made provision of virtue according to my quality I pretend not to be a S. Francis nor to be rapt as a S. Paul to the third heaven I find there is no life but with the living and to hold time by the fore-lock while I can Let our pleasures take that scope which nature presenteth to them were we as wicked as Judas if we have the faith of S. Peter the mercy of God pardoneth all An impertinent discourse as I will hereafter declare On the other side there are women who chatter and say I will not be a S. Teresa it is not my intention to be canonized I love better to see my diamonds in my life glitter on my fingers than to carrie themafter my death on my statues I better love a little perfume whilst I yet breath air than all the Arabian odours after my death I will have no extasies nor raptures It is enough for me to wallow in the world I may as well go to Paradise by land as by water Such words are very impure in the mouth of a Christian nay so prejudicial to eternal salvation that through the liberty of speaking too much they take away all hope of doing well For pursuing the tender effeminacy of that spirit they take the measure of virtue very short and disproportionable their intentions being infirm the works are likewise the more feeble not squarely answering the model of knowledge from whence proceedeth a general corruption I affirm not all Christians ought to embrace the perfection of S. Francis and of S. Teresa No. There are some whom the Divine providence will direct by other aims But I say that every Christian is obliged to level at perfection and if he hath any other intention he is in danger to loose himself eternally A bold saying but it is the sentence of S. Austine You should always be displeased with your Aug. Serm. 11 of the Apostle Semper tibi displiceat quod es si viâ— pervenire ad id quod non es Si dixeris sufficit periisti A notable speech of S. Augustine self for that which you are if you desire to attain to that which you are not and if you chance to say it is enough you are undone And who are you that dare limit the gifts of God And who are you that say I will have but such or such degree of graces I satisfie my self with such a sanctity I have proceeded far enough in a spiritual life let us set up our staff here What wickedness is this Is not this to imitate that barbarous and senseless King who cast chains into the sea to tie the Ocean in fetters God hath given us a Xerxes heart of a larger latitude than the heavens which he will replenish with himself and you will straiten it like a snail to lodge him in narrow bounds whom the whole world cannot comprehend Judge if this proceeding be not very unreasonable and if you yet doubt weight two or three reasons which you shall find very forcible and by them you will conclude with me you have no less obligation to be perfect than the most retired Hermit that ever lived in the most horrid wilderness of Egypt The first reason I propose to underprop this assertion is drawn from the nature and essence of perfection At what mark think you should one aim to arrive to this scope If I should say will you be perfect bury your self alive in a sack put a halter about your neck go roast your self in the scorching beams of the Sun go roal your self in snow and thorns this would make you admire your hair stand an end and bloud congeal in your veins But if one tell you God Perfection engrafted upon love hath as it were engrafted perfection with his own hands upon the sweetest stock in the world what cause have you of refusal Now so it is as I say There is nothing so easie as to love the whole nature of the world is powred and dissolved into love there is nothing so worthy to be beloved as an object which incloseth in the extent thereof all beauties and bounties imaginable which are the strongest attractives of amity yea it forceth our affections with a sweet
violence to love is natural not to love is monstrous Then here admire the charms of Divinity which hath placed all the perfection of man in the love of his Creatour and Saviour to love an infinite good which one cannot hate and not become a devil Chrys serm 94. Tenerae militiae delicati conflictus est amore solo de cunctis criminibus reportare victoriam The warfare of Christians delicate S. Peter Chrysologus crieth out A more delicate warfare never was seen than to conquer all by love Ask I pray of all Divines if charity be not the quintessence of perfection Ask of all Religious men where they pretend to place it in sack-cloth or hair-shirts They will answer you No. In the vows of poverty chastity obedience No. These are most undoubted wayes to perfection but they are not properly perfection In what then In the love of God which Cap. 63. Iren. lib. 4. Eminentissimum charismatum S. Irenaeus expresseth by a most elate epithete Eminentissimum charismatum the most eminent of all the gifts of God The Master of the Sentences and some other Divines The excellency of charity have placed charity so high in which we establish perfection that they have presumed to say it was the substance of the Holy Ghost united and as it were incorporated to mans soul adding that as light is called radical light in the Sun light infused in bodies transparent colour in bodies which we call coloured in like manner this charity as it is say they originally and radically in God is the holy Ghost as it is united to the substance of our soul it is grace as it maketh sallies out upon our neighbour it is charity This Doctrine is very subtile and really giveth a very high idea of the merit of Charity but if we Notable opinion of some Divines would wholly examine it according to the strict rigour of Schools and weigh it in S. Thomas his equal ballance we shall find Charity is not to speak properly the Holy Ghost but as it were the first ray of Divinity which bringeth with it self all perfections This beam if you will is as it were in your power God every day presenteth it unto you as freely as the Sun doth his light it onely behoveth to will it behoveth seriously once to resolve to love an object so amiable and then behold your selves perfect Notwithstanding if you lay your hand on the bottom of your conscience you shall ever find it in its proper interests in humane respects in intentions and affections nothing sincere in the love of creatures This is to coyn false money in matter of love this is to put God under the Altar and the love of himself above that it may have the better part of incense What think you of this indignitie See you not the obligation of being perfect still remaineth but the effect is ever pretermitted For the second reason I say the perfection of man Imitation of Jesus Christ abridgement of wisdom Matth. 5. Estote perfecti sicut Pater vester caelestis perfectus est Greg. Nyssen 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In the book of the life of Moses Humanity of Jesus An excellent conceit of Origen Origen 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Indeclinabiliter eosdeÌ„ motus suscipieâ—at consisteth in the imitation of God Be ye perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect and very well S. Gregory Nyssen assureth us that this imitation is an abridgement of all wisdom Now who is able to mount by force of wing and flie into the bosom of the eternal Father thence to draw a pourtraict of his holinesses Certainly no creature can aspire thereto And what I pray hath God all goodness all wisdom done He hath imprinted all his perfections upon our Saviour the true figure of his substance as if one should impress a golden seal upon virgin-wax which made Origen say his most sacred humanity was as the foot-step and shadow of the Divinity and agreed with it as equal well-made dyals with the Sun whereupon the spirit of God calleth all Christians and saith to them Imitate couragiously behold your Prototype behold the model of your actions He saith not I have two Images of my substance I have two Sons I send them both upon the earth one shall be for men of eminencie the other for the multitude Behold one delicately One same Jesus for the Nobles and plebeyans curious crowned with roses for the nobility behold another crowned with thorns for the vulgar It is meer dotage to imagine it And see you not it is like sottishness since all Christians bear the same name the same livery participate of the same God the same Sacraments and pretend to the same Paradise to think perfection is not appointed but for a silly handful of men separated from secular life and that others are excluded Miserable creatures who to sooth their own remisness plant their own condemnation upon their foreheads Briefly to conclude the title and dignity of a Christian draweth with it great and just obligations which you cannot countervail but with an exact endeavour of perfection Do you think one requireth too much of you who have been nourished and trained up in the Church of God if you be demanded at the least to shew resolution and courage to resist a sin as some Heathens have done in their infidelity And to produce in gross three examples upon the three most ordinary temptations behold with S. Austine Polemon who telleth you I was an insidel a S. Augustine Epist 130. saith of this Non humano operi tribuerim sed divino Polimon praised by S. Augustine young man deprived of the knowledge of the true God resigned over to all sort of intemperance wine love play rashness were the Chariot which drew my youth to downfal I was no sooner entered into the school of a Heathen Philosopher as my self but behold I was wholly changed And thou O Christian dost thou think it will be lawful for thee amongst so many important and forcible instructions so many enlightenings so many inspirations to play the smiths old dog and lie sleeping under the anvile This man here upon the onely word of a man layeth down his flowery crowns which he bare on his head his drunkenness his unthrifty riots and where is there a worldly woman at this day who at the end of a Sermon enkindled with zeal dissolveth one piece of her gaudy dressings Behold on the other side Spurina who saith in Spurina S. Ambrose I was a Gentile bred in the corruption of an age where virtue was in declination and vice on the top of the wheel I was endowed with an exquisit beauty which by right of natural force gave me the key of hearts and I seeing it was too much affected and courted by wanton eyes and served for a stumbling-block to chastity I purposely made scars S. Ambrose in the exhortation to virginitie Deformitatem sanctitatis
clarior inventus sit non id nobilitas efficit sed sanitas Petrarch l. 1. de remediis dialog 16. The souls of men different in qualities say with Petrarch If Nobilitie were not tied but to flesh and bloud it were a small matter since it is very difficult to distinguish between the bloud of Caesars and Porters Nor yet will I touch what might pertinently be disputed that the souls of men extracted from the treasures of Heaven though they be all cast in one mould and be of the same kind may notwithstanding be created by God with qualities very different as we behold in the flowers of a beautiful meadow which are of the same name and nature a very great dis-proportion in figure colour and other accidents semblably between the stars and precious stones which are of the same substance one will have a lustre more sparkling another more dull and blunted This maketh us probably believe that the souls of men when they are infused into bodies although they be essentially marked with the same stamp may have some accidental perfections one above another and that this great diversitie which we observe therein making one man appear of gold another of lead doth not onely depend on the varieties Mercur. Trismeg in Cratere sive Monade Cup of spirit of Organs Mercury Trismegistus was of this opinion when under the bark of a fable he represented souls unto us which before they entered into the bodie drank in the cup of spirit not all of them but those which happily encountred that fortunate success For he feigneth according to the inventions of his brain that God sendeth a messenger upon the earth to wit one of his Angels who placeth a large cup as big as it is to be supposed that of Semiramis was which as Aelian reporteth weighed a thousand and four-score pound and this cup is full of a celestial liquor of power to make men subtile and spiritual the messenger maketh his proclamation and saith to every soul Up soul drench thy self deeply 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and drink with all thy force in this cup of spirit Thereupon they drink some more some less which maketh a great diversitie of understandings Some wholly abstain who when they have entered into the bodie have no other share but the gifts of reason which necessarily is a prerogative of their nature but as for spirit they are deprived as being absolutely stupid and extreamly shallow It is a wonder how these ancient Sages have pleased themselves in these fabulous discourses Needeth there so much outward cover to give us this maxime that all souls have not one and the same relation to accidental qualities though as Aristotle teacheth us they are in their own essence as unchangeable as numbers in Arithmetick This diversitie of spirits presupposed one may say that great and noble men are more priviledged from the time of their birth and that with some probabilitie Double understanding So Philo hath given to Kings and Potentates a double understanding the one for the rule of themselves and the other for the government of their estates But not to sooth the Nobilitie with feeble Mens ista aurea quam de communi Deo plusquam unus hausisti Auson in panegyri Gratian and superficial reasons it behoveth they know that although one should admit this accidental diversitie in the Oeconomie of humane spirits yet would the consequence not necessarily ensue that they always thereby should be the better provided God maketh no difference of persons in this distribution There are spirits that have come into the world from among the cobwebs of a nasty cottage who have filled Ages with admiration of their greatness Others have been clothed in golden glitter and purple who have been miserably stupid and dull and although fortune doth still hold to the oar who deserve to be at the stern yea and some be at the stern who merit to be at the oar yet the providence of God doth mannage it as best pleaseth himself for certain ends which our foresight cannot penetrate with the best light What infallible motive shall we then derive to establish the obligation which tieth the Nobilitie to virtue above others since we rather seek weight of reason than colour Behold one Shamefac'dness of women which cannot well be denied by a well-rectified judgement It is that as God hath given to women I know not what instinct of shamefac'dness which enforceth them as it were with a sweet violence to the defence of their honour and this in them is so powerful a touch from Heaven that they cannot discharge themselves thereof rather they feel it in every part unless they be wretchedly insensible Plinie affirmeth the same who saith their Plin. lib. 7. bodies after death float in such posture upon the waters Pronae fluitant pudori carum parcente natura Where is the motive of virtue in the Nobilitie that they hide the nakedness from humane eyes whereof nature during life hath been so careful Even as God hath ingrafted the love of modestie upon this sex so likewise he hath affixed a spur of honour upon the spirit of Noblemen This is the pourtraict of Phidias which cannot be taken away without breaking the Minerva This is the character wherewith God will imprint virtue in them They are all naturally sensible in the points of honesty or else degenerate from their Nobilitie Behold I pray you the force and power of this spur which God hath used for the good of Nobilitie They would flie if it were possible to Heaven and penetrate the depths to avoid the least stain of dishonour What flames actually would not they go through to what breaches assaults musket-shots to what images of death which make nature to tremble with cold fear do not they expose themselves to conserve or acquire reputation The spirit of lies seeing they cannot be altered in this spur of the inseparable honour of their condition what doth he Not being able to wrest it from them he rebateth the point nay rather he rebateth the brain and makes them place the point of honour in infamie knowing very well that this is an effectual means to ruin them without discoverie A wonder They rather will become Apostates from Christianitie than from the spur of honour They meet in the field cut one anothers throat and emptie their quarrels through the channels of their bloud for that they think the thing is honourable Judge now and conclude what I am to say if they would suffer this spur to pursue that course which God hath begun in their souls perswading themselves what is most undoubted that the most ignoble act which a Gentleman can do is to serve sin would not they quickly become perfect would not they be invincible against all vices and ever in possession of virtue This argument is very strong and will admit no evasion Noble spirit thou naturally lovest honour more than thy life and therein
in her eclipse Other Authours grounded on this passage of the Psalm 44. speciosus forma prae filiis hominum assure us our Saviour expresly selected for himself an excellent beauty of body and a supream grace of speech Nicephorus relateth certain lineaments of Niceph. l. 1. c. 40. Beauty of our Saviour his stature colour and proportion of his bodie which he drew out of antiquitie in all parts lovely and specious And S. Epiphanius speaking of the beauty of the blessed Virgin saith She was Majesty it self Judge and behold since God voluntarily despoiling himself of honours riches and greatness of the world to give us an example of humility would notwithstanding sanctifie beauty in himself and his Mother what value you ought to set upon this Heavenly gift and whether it be lawful for you to profane it Moreover I affirm that the Creatour hath not onely cherished beauty but hath likewise held in account the instruments employed to the service thereof It is a wonder that in Exodus Fecit labrum aeneum cum basi sua de speculis mulierum quae excubabant ant ostium Taber nacli Exod. 38. 8. Mirrour for women Theodoret in Catena Zephyr Cyrillus de spiritu veritate l. 9. Procopius in Exod. he commanded Moses to make a brasen bason with a foot to bear it for the Priest to wash in and to furnish and adorn it with looking-glasses who kept as it were centinel before the gate of the Tabernacle To what purpose was it to fasten these mirrours in a holy place to this sacred vessel Tâ—eodoret Saint Cyril and Procopius observe that the Aegyptians went to the sacrifices of Isis clothed with a linen garment holding a scepter in one hand and a looking-glass in the other and that the Hebrew women afterward appeared in the desert in the same manner But God who would shew the spoils of Aegypt were reserved for his greatness caused them to lay aside these mirrours to consecrate the use of them in his own Tabernacle The Hebrew Interpreters yield another reason to wit that the Israelites seeing themselves to languish in Aegypt in the fetters of a painful bondage had resolved to abstain from the act of marriage that they might get no children to inherit their misery But God who intended another web different from that which the thoughts of men wove stirred the women who tricked and adorned themselves so well with these Aegyptian looking-glasses that they enkindled the chaste loves of their husbands buried under the ashes of their servitude to produce a posteritie by help whereof the Nations of the earth should be blessed And this action of the women so pleased Almighty God that he afterward caused these mirrours to be placed in his Tabernacle which they had used to grace that beauty which had been the cause of so much good It then being so see you not God hath made himself a favourer and a protectour of corporal beauty who then dare to condemn it In the third place I adde this command which Power of beauty beauty exerciseth over hearts is not a thing due to human forces to the end that nature become not ambitiously proud it is God who as it were imprinteth with his finger upon the foreheads of men and especially of great ones the beams of grace and majestie to make them more reverenced of the people which he doth to excellent purpose but the creature sinisterly abuseth the gifts of the Creatour Maximus Tyrius saith that a fair soul in a fair bodie 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is as a river that windingly creepeth with many wavie turnings within the enamel of a beautiful meadow and ravisheth the whole world with the admiration of its excellency A brave Oratour in a Panegyrike he made of Constantine who was one of Beauty of Constantine the goodliest Princes of the earth saith that nature was sent of God as a gallant Harbinger to compose Te cum milites â—ident admirantur diligunt Jequuntur oculis ani mo tenent Deo so obsequi putant cujus tam pulchra forma est quà m certa divinitas a bodie for him suitable to his great spirit as a stately house for a beautiful Ladie in it and that onely this exteriour form made him to be beloved and esteemed of all the world no less then a God descended from Heaven Which is also much more admirable in the other sex How many Monarchs after they had with horrour terrified the world have been seen to become tributaries to a mortal beauty captives to their slaves and how many to buy out their bondage have yielded at the feet of silly women to do services and commit follies unworthy to be remembred on paper Bathsheba was neither a Lion a Goliah nor a Saul yet notwithstanding with the glance of an eye she powerfully quelled him who tore Lions trampled Goliah under feet and resisted all the arms power and legions of Saul The Philistines found not cords strong enough to bind robustious Sampson in yet Dalila quickly captived and fast tied him with one hair of her head Solomon had a heart as deep as the sea yet women found the bottom of it It is a wonder what Pythagorical trans-animatious this beauty of bodie maketh which causeth it to be acknowledged and esteemed every where a true tyrannie without an executioner as Carneader calleth it Doubtless the impostures Carneader apud Lactantium the sinister intentions the unchaste loves the abuses which are affixed to beauty proceed from the sleights of Satan and depraved will of man but the lustre and commanding power thereof is the real gift of God which operateth that in human bodies which the Sun doth in the clouds to form a Rainbowe in the Heavens Ladies think hereon you to whom God hath Abuse of damnable beauty imparted this grace this delicate composition of bodie whether it be not a great motive to you to serve him well and to employ it wholly to his glorie You shall be accountable for your beauty at the Judgement-day even to the least hair of your head If you harbour an ill hostess in this goodly mansion which God hath builded for his service a wicked soul an unchaste soul if you make glorious vaunts of borrowed coyn of a fading flower the spoil whereof time age sickness and death will divide between them if you display a scandalous nakedness to kindle the fewel of lusteful affection if you seek the courtship and unlawful love of men with a gift which is not yours if you so often consult with your looking glasses and take so much pain gaudily to dress and attire your selves for a meer vanitie which you turn into an absolute profession you shall be the marks of the wrath and vengeance of God This great Justicier will suffer this malediction pronounced by the Prophets to fall upon you That your carkasses shall one day be drawn Ejicient ossa de sepulchris expandent ea ad
often observed that Noblemen who have established tyrannie in the world have neither been fruitful nor fortunate in their posteritie and as nature is scantie in the propagation of wolves designed for spoil which otherwise would bring all the world into desolation so Almightie God by a secret oeconomie of his divine Providence permitteth not that great men who have made themselves disturbers of publick peace and infringers of laws both divine and human whereof they ought to be protectours should make the bruitishness of their savage souls to survive them in their posterity But as for those who are arranged in the list of sanctitie and modesty God hath as it were immortalized their bloud in their posteritie as we see it happen in worthie and illustrious families But to what value amounteth all this which I have said in comparison of that crown of glorie which God placeth on the heads of Noblemen in the other life when they have virtuously governed in this mortal mansion O what a brave death it is to die under the shadow of the Palms of so many heroical virtues Oh it is the death of a Phoenix to die in the odours of a holy conversation to change his sepulchre into a cradle and even draw life out of the Tomb Oh what an immortalitie it is to survive eternally in the mouths of men but much more to live in Heaven enjoying the knowledge love life and felicitie of God! O Nobles betake your selves betimes and in a good hour to the way of this temple of honour by the exercise of holy virtues which are like Elias chariot all flaming with glory to carrie your purified souls even to the height of the Emperial Heaven THE SECOND BOOK Of Hinderances which worldly men have in the way of SALVATION and PERFECTION The first OBSTACLE Faintness and weakness of Faith Against Atheists HAving sufficiently proved the obligations which Great-ones and men of qualitie have to perfection let us now see the hinderances which may stop the increase thereof as well to take from them all pretext of false libertie as to denote the confusions very frequent in the corruptions of this Age. The first is a certain languor and debilitie of faith which openeth the way to all sorts of vices so that putting all the greatness of the world into a false seeming it beholdeth Paradise and all the blessings of the other life with blear-eyes and clouded with a perpetual eclipse And that you may well Two sects of men conceive this let us observe that in this Age greatly changed by heresie libertie and vice two sorts of men are to be seen whereof the one doth symbolize with just Abel and the other are of the sect of Cain These two brothers began to contend together even in the worlds cradle as Jacob and Esau in the bellie of Rebecca Abel had a soul impressed with a good stamp religious docile pure perpetually fixed in the chaste apprehensions of the Divinitie Cain quite contrary an impious soul greatly infected with the serpents breath black variable wavering in faith and in the virtue of the Divine providence He verily is the father of Atheists and S. Bernard hath properly Bern. serm 24 in Contic Fideicida antequam fratricida Procop. in Genes said He killed faith before he murdered his brother Procopius calleth him the son of the earth because this unfortunate creature perpetually looked downward having already as it were buried in the tomb of oblivion the lights and knowledges of heaven From thence proceeded the irreverence of his unbridled spirit his wicked sacrifices his envie against his brother afterward his furie murder and bloud and lastly a deluge of calamities The onely example of his disaster should suffice to terrifie those who following him in his impietie make themselves undoubtedly the companions of his misfortune but since it also is expedient we proceed herein by discourse and reason I observe the causes and remedies of this infidelitie Faintness and debilitie in Three sorts of consciences from which impiety springs faith and consequently atheism is formed in three sorts of consciences to wit the criminal the bruitish the curious Atheism proceedeth from a criminal conscience when a soul findeth it self involved in a long web of crimes and as it were overwhelmed in the habits of sin In the mean time God doth inwardly Horrible state of a sinful conscience torture prick forward and scourge it and then all bloudy and ulcerous as it is not able longer to remain within it self but tasting so many disturbances in its proper mansion it searcheth evasions and starting-holes expatiateth in the pleasures and delights of the world to dissolve her many griefs and findeth in every thing her gnawing worm She looketh back upon the path of virtue which she hath either forsaken or never trodden as an impossible track the spirit of lies representing it unto her all paved with thorns and briars she re-entereth into herself and saith in her heart that there is none but God who afflicteth her and that necessarily she must free herself from him for our felicities are measured by the ell of our opinion and no man is miserable but he that apprehendeth his own unhappiness Then soothing herself with these humane discourses she herein much laboureth to acquit herself from God from the belief of judgement of hell and the immortality of the soul Notwithstanding she cannot albeit these wicked spirits have scoffed at the mysteries of Religion with their companions as if they would put on a bold fore-head and an impudence strong enough to endure a stroke so dreadful but contend against the essence of God Care findeth them in their bed and is pinned to their silken curtains the thoughts of a Divinitie which they supposed to have totally banished from their hearts in pleasures upon Et ubi Deus non timetur nisi ubi non est Tert. de prescrip 41. Ponam eam possessionem Ericii Isaiah 14. 2. the least afflictions return and make themselves felt with very piercing points which head-long throw them into despair The Prophet Isaiah hath divinely prophesied of such a soul I will make her the inheritance and possession of hedge-hogs Verily the miserable caytif hatcheth in her entrails a thousand little hedge-hogs which as they encrease make their pricks and darts multiply a thousand gnawings a thousand apprehensions as uncapable of repose as apt to afflict a conscience Such heretofore was the state of Nero for this Condition of Nero. barbarous monster who so often had dipped his hand in bloud sought out a bath of delights to bath himself in he ran up and down to prie into all the inventions of the pleasures of the world to rid himself from the arrow which he had in his heart and to dispoil himself for ever of an opinion of the Divinitie This was a matter for him impossible When he was at feasts sports or Theatres the apprehension of God stung his heart as a Bee and
which God so puissantly and highly hath exalted that he therein hath confined his whole power and greatness not being able to create any thing greater than Man-God Judge what a sacriledge it is to do a personal affront to the most immaculate and most virginal flesh of Jesus sitting on the right hand of his Father Eternal August de verbis Apost Serm. 18. Parâ—â— in te Christo cognosce in te Christum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the habiliments of glory and yet carnal impurity would if it might carry thither the effects of its malice Before the incarnation of the Son of God the sins of the flesh were simply sins but after this ineffable union of the Divine nature with the humane they became monsters And you see likewise that the holy Fathers call some by this name and by other tearms full of execration The second reason which much augmenteth the Ancir Concil can 17. Fury of lust Tertul. de pudic enormity of this sacriledge is that not onely it debaseth a nature which God hath exalted even to God but also engulfeth it in an action sordid blockish bruitish reputed so unworthy that the Scripture disdaineth to name it S. Epiphanius searching out the Epiphan beres 55. 67. cause why the Holy Text maketh no mention of the Genealogie of Melchisedeth bringeth a reason from the Hebrews which affirms this eminent man to be born of unchaste parents as a rose from thorns and that the Scripture useth not to name such men in detestation of their sin And verily you see the practice hereof In Genesis Noe abstained from naming Cenes 9. Mâ—ledictus Chanaan of Cham though it were to curse him it seemeth this name of a son marked out by these deportments of filthy sin would defile the malediction it self if it had been pronounced For the same reason the Tribe of Simâ—on is not numbered when question is made of blessing the Patriarchs in Deuteronomie because from this Line issued that wicked Deut. 33. Prince who sinned with the Midianitess In the new Testament in the Genealogie of the Son of God Num. 25. 6. Bathsheba is not called by her own name but by her Eaque fuit Utiae husbands Magdalen in the time of her sin had no Matth. other name but of a sinner It seemeth Isaiah hath Isaiah 14. 20. truly prophesied of such voluptuous people The race of the wicked shall be buried in perpetual oblivion Non vocabitur in aeternum nomen pessâ—morunt Luxury the sin of the heel Some other Interpreters subtilizing this passage of the 48. Psalm Iniquitas calcanei circundabit me say luxury was called the sin of the heel which was not improper yet not for that reason which some in my opinion have without ground invented affirming there is a vein which answereth to the heel that serveth as a fiery match and an incentive to lust but because this sin is low and debased amongst other vices as the heel under other parts of the body and in respect it is tied to the heels which is to say that leaving high and elevated objects onely worthy of the love of men as are virtues and graces it applieth it self to baseness and beggary to a dung-hill covered with snow to a beauty passing away like a dream and which hath no other character of its merit but the judgement of a mad man So the pantables of Judith bewitched the eyes of Judith 16. Holofernes This Ladie was beautiful as a star and adorned as a Temple yet notwithstanding this blind lover suffered himself to be inconsiderately surprized with the heels of a woman to shew that lust is base in all its objects and pretences Behold why some sage Hebrews have written that certain Sandalia râ—puerunt ocules ejus infernal spirits remembring themselves of their ancient nobilitie abhor to tempt men with the sin of luxury as a thing unworthy their thoughts and industrie giving this commission to some other more gross devils and more terrestrial Alas what shall we say if we go about to plant upon the forehead of a nature honoured with the hypostatical union of the Word a sin which maketh even the devils themselves to be ashamed May we not well say if there be a mark in the world which plainly discovereth a reprobate soul it is this seeing it is so impudently opposed to the venerable mysterie of mans redemption The third reason which maketh us believe this Hell of love dishonest sin hath great alliance with hell is that it carrieth already the marks thereof in this world What are they Darkness fire stench the worm disorder Behold the principal liveries of hell all which are to be found in the sin of luxury Darkness because it maketh the soul dark gross clouded with black vapours of folly which extinguish all the radiance of judgement and very aptly it is said of those infamous fire-brands who sollicited the chaste Susanna that they turned away their eyes that they Daniel 13. Declinaverunt oculos suos nè viderent solem Hier. l. 1. adversus Jovinian The fire of it might not see the Sun Saint Hierom hath very well relished this passage of Seneca (a) (a) (a) Amor insaniae proximus foedum minime conveniens animo sospiti vitium turbat consitia omnibus inutilem ipsi novissimum amori facit Si digito aâ—â—gero incendam syloam simul omnem Noysomness Love and folly go hand in hand it is a passion which never lodgeth at the sign of health it turneth the spirit up-side down it maketh man bruitish unprofitable to all and in the end to love it self Fire All those unfortunate lovers speak of nothing else but of their flames they are always in fire like the Salamander they perpetually have the mount Aetna upon their shoulders one of them saith he will do nothing but touch a forrest with his finger thereby to burn and wholly waste it And verily it is a hell-fire which hath gluttony for fewel pride for flame unclean words for sparkles infamy for smoke ordure for ashes hell for center as saith S. Hierom. Noysomness and dishonesty are inseparable companions of the sin of the flesh The voluptuous cannot endure their like and when passion hath cast its fire they are troublesom and insupportable to themselves Which well is witnessed by the many nasty and shameful diseases which never had been known in the world if they had not entered by the gate of this infamous sensuality The worm This sin is no sooner committed but it It s worm hath its executioner attending thereon it hath the worm of damnation which diveth and pepetrateth even into the bottom of the heart of him that committeth it and then especially when he findeth as yet some reliques of a good conscience remaining in his soul remorse to have lost the incomparable treasure of purity perplexeth it perpetually Concupiscence of Appetitus fornicationis anxietas est
jealous Bern. ser 24. in Cant. Quid miraris ô Cain si non respicit ad te qui ita divisuâ— es in te si manum devotioni quid animum das livori non concilias Deum tibi discors tecum non placas sed peccas si necdum fratricida jam tamen fideicida teneris Cain Thou art amazed that God regardeth not thy sacrifice seest not thou art divided and severed within thy self I shall have somewhat to doe with thy wicked sacrifice It is to much purpose to turn thy hand to an act of religion and thy heart to envy This which thou doest is not to appease God but to provoke him It is to present him with sacrifice in the one hand and a ponyard in the other said S. Bernard And truly to touch the second reason although the divelish malice of this vice cannot gain conquest over hearts to divert them yet ought the calamity it draweth along with it to beget in our souls a perpetual horrour thereof This sin is no sooner born but it hath its torments and executioners attending All that which may truly be called miserable commeth to us from envy and the hatred of our neighbour First it bereaveth us of an infinit number of blessings which we might enjoy by the means of charity Nothing is so rich as the love of God all beauties all riches all possessions are tributary thereunto Yea love in loving I know not by what kind of powerful alchymy draweth all to it-self changeth all into it-self and maketh the whole world it s own This is the discourse which S. Augustin made of it O prodigie Will you know Aug. l. quinquag homiliarum homil 15. tom 10. Congaude illi cui Deus gratiam aliquam donavit tua est Habet ille forte virginitatem ama illam tua est Tu habes forte majorem patientiam diligat te sua est ille potest satis vigilare si non invides tuum est studium ejus Tu forte potes amplius jejunare amet te suum est jejunium quia tu per charitatem in illo es ipse in te est Particeps sum emnium timentium te Psal 118. 63. Ex alienis bonis quae si di ligerâ—tis vestra saceretiâ— bona non diligenâ—o vestra facitis mala Grego in pastorâ—l an effectual means how to become in a short time rich wise fortunat and holy You have nothing to doe but to love Virginity pleaseth you and have you it not Love it in your brother and sister to whom God hath granted it it is yours This man hath more knowledge than you and you perhaps more patience than he love his knowledge and be your patience and you both shall be contented Another is more watchfull than you and you fast better than he love his watchfulness and let him love your fasting and then behold you shall become watchfull and abstinent That which I say of virginity patience knowlege industry and abstinence is also to be understood of all other blessings which we by loving make our own Such was the exercise of David who tasted the good of another as peculiar to himself he sanctified himself in all Saints he instructed himself in all the Sages he enriched himself in all the rich he participated withall the just Behold you not here the admirable Philosophy of love This being true as it is most evident consider the evils and disasters which proceed from envy So many blessings as the Sun dayly discovereth to you in so infinit numbers of creatures may by loving be yours and in not loving every happiness each prosperity of your neighbour is an iron lance in your side a thorn in your heart and a nayl in your eye Have we so few misfortuns in the world that we must seek them in the prosperity of others The earth vomiteth up miseries which dayly draw tears from our eyes sighs from our hearts and compassion for our most obdurate souls yet not content therewith insteed of searching out some lenitive for our wounds in union and charity we envy our neighbour thereby bereaving our selves of all comforts and deep drenching us in all the miseries of the world For what evil is comparable to that of envy to be perpetually like a wretched owle not able to endure the day-light of anothers prosperity to be as a ravenous vultur who flyeth from sweet savours and searcheth out carion to imitate the fly which delighteth among wounds and vlcers What a life is it to run up and down taxing the imperfections of your brethren and never Qualis est animâ— tinea in malum proprium bona convertere aliena illustrium prosperitate torquâ—ri aliorum gloriam paenam suam facere velut quosdam pectori suo carnisices admovere qui se intestinis cruciatibus lacerent secreta cordis malevolentiae vngulis pulsent Cypri de zelo livore to open an eye to the splendour of their vertue What a life is it to make the evil of another your good to have his prosperity your executioner his glory your punishment ever to bear an ill disposition in your brest to cary tallons nayls and sharp combs of iron in your own proper entrailes and never to end your sin to make thereby your torments immortal This is it which the eloquent S. Cyprian spake in these terms Although through envy some profit or parcel of good might be drawn from the subject envied by extenuating the honour or good of a neighbour with some benefit applicable to ones self yet God oftentimes permitteth that by the means of envy the glory of those who are so maligned is made more illustrious So the brothers of Ioseph in being desirous to make him a slave gave him opportunity to become a Lord over all Aegypt So the envy of Saul when he least thought of it set the crown on Davids head and affording him matter of affliction gave him occasion of triumph So Maximian the Tyrant through the jealousie of the honours attributed to Constantine contributed all that which a desperate envy could invent and a great vertue surmount He first made him Generall of an army which he sent against the Sarmatians a people extreamly furious supposing he there should loose his life The yong Prince went thither and returned victorious leading along with him the Barbarian King enchained It is added hereunto that this direful Prince excited by a most ardent frenzy in his return from this battaile engaged him in a perilous encounter with a Lyon which he purposely had caused to be let loose upon him But Constantine victorious over Lyons as well as men slew this fell beast with his own hands and impressed an incomparable opinion in the minds of his souldiers which easily gave him passage to the throne by the same degrees which were prepared for his ruin We must have an Euristheus to make up a Hercules Envy many times layeth the first stone of the
with lawful and necessary circumstances touch the motive without extravagancies and the intention which hath excited us to do it and continuance of the sin to represent the state of the soul to the life Yet for all this you must not so much think upon this preparation nor the means to unfold your self that thereby the principal part of penance be neglected which is contrition This contrition is a sorrow to have offended God Contrition not principally for the deformity of sin and the fear of punishment for that is nothing but attrition but for that this sin is committed against God infinitely good and infinitely amiable and for that one maketh a firm resolution to be confessed and to preserve himself from sin in time to come Behold the point of contrition which to attain you must seriously and advisedly represent to your self the greatness goodness power wisdom justice love mercy benefits of God opposed to your malice weakness Hostility of sin baseness ignorance presumption misery ingratitude and well figure to your self the hostility of mortal sin to obtain an eternal detestation against it To consider how it ruineth riches honours credit reputation posterity and Empires That it soyleth the glory of an innocent life and leaveth a character of infamy That it overthroweth bodies health good grace that it openeth the gates of sudden and unexpected death That it maketh man blind dumb deaf wicked senseless stupid savage and many times furious and enraged by the remorse of conscience That it dispoileth a soul of all the graces beauties excellencies priviledges love favour of God hope of life and salvation That it killeth it and rendeth it more cruelly than a tiger or panther That a life of God was needful to take away such a blemish and that if a soul be spotted at the hour of death an eternity of flames cannot deliver it and such like In sins which seem least you shall always have great cause of contrition when the benefits of God shall be represented unto you which he particularly and personally hath conferred upon us opposed to our childishness of heart tepidity slackness infidelity negligence ingratitude As for the proceeding Proceeding in confession to confession the preparatives being well made it is needful to choose a Confessour who hath four qualities jurisdiction reputation knowledge discretion and after you have confessed to him entirely faithfully sincerely to accomplish the penance enjoyned you with obedience promptness and punctual diligence afterward to take a new spirit to resist temptations and to busie your self in good works with more courage than ever The eleventh SECTION The Practice of Examen THe practice of Confession is made more easie Necessity of examen by the examen of conscience as well general as particular Think not too much is required of your profession if there be speech used to you of the examen of conscience Not onely the Philosophers have made it as Pythagoras Seneca Plutarch but poor barbarous Indians by the relation of Apulejus took an account every evening of the good and evil they had done each day This is it which is required of you Prepare daily a little Consistory of justice in your conscience see what passeth within your self acknowledge your defects and amend them to prevent the justice of God It is said the eclipse of the Sun causeth the earthquake and the eclipse of reason by ignorance of the interiour man produceth great disorders in the Culielm Pariâ—iens c. 12. Sacro poenite In hoc Tribunali sedet misericordia assidet autem justitia ubi quicquid contra poenitentem inscribit justitia totum delet misericordia acumen styli velut â—igens in corde poenitentis soul For the wicked spirit saith Procopius upon the first of Kings endeavoureth to use us as did the Ammonites the inhabitants of Jabes They seek to pull out our right eye and to bereave us of the sight of our selves to bury us in great and deep confusions But let us make use of all the lights which God hath given us to cast reflections into the bottom of our thoughts The conscience is an admirable Tribunal where Justice pleadeth and Mercie sentenceth All that which the me writes the other blotteth out putting as it were the point of the pen upon the heart of the penitent A good Interpreter of the Scripture relateth the Delrio ser de Conscientia vision of a wise man who on a day sought for the house of conscience and it seemed to him he beheld a Citie built with goodly architecture beautified with five gates which had as many narrow paths ending in one larger way Upon this way stood a Register who took the names of all passengers to record them Beyond that he saw two Tribunes attended by a great concourse of the common people who governed the inferiour parts of the Citie above was beheld a Cittadel wherein a great Princess commanded who had a scepter in hand and crown on her head By her side was a Ladie very ancient and venerable who in one hand held a torch with which she lighted this Queen and in the other a goad wherewith she pricked her if she governed not according to her direction The wise man amazed asked in his heart what all this train meant and he heard a voice within which said unto him Behold thy self ere thou art aware arrived at the house of conscience which thou â—oughtest for These five gates thou seest are the five senses The way where they all meet is common sense All the people which enter in by heaps are the objects of the creatures of the world which first touch our senses before they pass into the soul This Register who writeth down the names is imagination that keeps record of all things These two Tribunes are the two appetites the one is called the appetite of concupiscence which is ever in search after its desires the other the appetite of anger extreamly striving to strike at all obstacles which oppose its good either real or pretended This mass of people thou seest are the passions which make ill work in the inferiour parts of the Citie This Princess in the Cittadel with crown and scepter is reason The ancient and venerable Ladie by her side is conscience She hath a torch to shew the good way and the goad to prick those that wander In a word if Dictamen rationis spiritus corrector paedagogus animae S. Thom. 1. p. q. 79. thou desirest to know what conscience is it is a sovereign notice of good and ill which God impresseth on our hearts as with a hot iron and is very hard to be taken off Happy he who often visiteth this interiour house God hath given him and pondereth all his thoughts his words and actions to adopt them to the measures of the eternal law You know a general examen hath five parts Parts Thanksgiving invocation discussion petition resolution In thanksgiving we thank God
you deign to know me who am but a poor forraigner What ought you to say IV. That it is as the humble Esther before Ahasuerus Esther 7. 3. Quae est petitio tua Esther ut â—etur tibi Et quid vis fieri Etiamsi dimidiam partem regni mei petieris impetrabis and that it kisseth the golden rod and moreover that it understandeth these words What is thy demand Esther Tell me to the end it may be granted Whae wouldst thou have me do If thou askest me the moity of my Kingdom thou shalt have it Answer you would have nothing but the King and that he alone sufficeth you V. That it is as Mephibosheth the son of Jonathan Mephibosheth 2 Reg. 9. Et tu comedes panem in mensâ meâ semper Quis ego sum servus tuus quoniam respexisti super me canem mortuum 1 Reg. 1. Jonathan to whom David spake these words My meaning is you shall eat at my table all the days of your life What answered this little son of the King thereupon Alas Sir who am I your poor servant that you please to cast your eye upon me a dead dog such as I am VI. That it is as Jonathan who extreamly tired dipped the end of a wand which he carried in his hand into an honey-comb and lifting it to his lips at that instant behold his eyes before heavy and oppressed became clear again and his body reassumed new and fresh vigour There needeth but a little consideration to a well composed spirit both to cast it presently down by humility into the center of nothing and to raise it by love even above the emperial Heaven One may likewise every time he receiveth Other considerations prepare divers meditations to entertain himself more at large either before or after the mysterie I. As meditation upon the history considering 1. The eating of the lamb 2. The washing of feet 3. The institution of the Blessed Sacrament II. The names as Eucharist Communion Sacrifice Bread Viaticum and other such like practising your self to search out the reason of every one with application of spirit to derive from thence things agreeable to the name which one meditateth As upon the name of Communion the resolution of peace concord and charity III. The figures as the bread and wine of Melchisedech the Paschal Lamb Manna the bread of Elias meditating upon the histories and conformities which they have with this Divine mysterie and the fruits we ought to draw from thence IV. The causes of the institution 1. As to serve us for a memory of the Passion 2. An incitement of love and charity 3. For spiritual nourishment 4. For Sacrifice 5 For a pledge of beatitude considering whether we answer to the intention of the Son of God in this action After receiving you must rest upon the two last leaves of the lilly which are thanksgiving Fifth and sixth leaf of the lilly What you are to do after Communion and renovation of spirit You then must adore this great guest whom you have in your heart with all the powers of Heaven and creatures of the earth to play your part as if you were a little string of the great harp of the world To offer to God the whole world as a votive-table hanged on his altar collected in the perfections of his onely Son who is wholly yours being so freely given to you so solemnly so irrevocably as he whose Divinity soul life flesh and bloud you have in this incomprehensible Sacrament To give him thanks for the infinite riches he hath placed in this sacred humanity which you enjoy and for that he hath given you his Son for father brother Master Leader Redeemer for the good he communicateth to all faithful people by the means of this inexhaustible fountain of grace for the special favours he hath done to you and yours for the natural talents with which he hath adorned you and likewise for the various change of comforrs and discomforts with which he hath enterlaced your life Briefly for the present visit which he hath made in the house of your heart so ill prepared After adoration and thanksgiving followeth petition for the faithful and unfaithful whose conversion we desire For the Church and all the Prelats which govern it namely him whom he hath appointed to be our Pastour For the person of the King and all the Realm For his kinred friends benefactours living and dead To ask for your self seven gifts which a holy Virgin by the relation of S. Bonaventure daily begged of God 1. Effectual grace Bonavent 1. 6. med c. 3. to accomplish the law of love 2. To love all that God loveth 3. To hate all he hateth 4. Humility chastity obedience contempt of the world garnishment of all virtues 5. That God would make his true Temple of our soul and body 6. That he would give us his vision in beatitude 7. That he may be divinely served in this place where you receive the Blessed Sacrament and in all the other parts of Christendom To conclude to make in the end a renewing of the oath of fidelity which we have sworn to our great Master and to employ our time in his service with more diligence than ever and since we are upon the palm-tree let us gather the Fruits of Communion fruits which are spiritual food strength against temptations heavenly alacrity light of understanding flames of charity union with God augmentation of virtues hope of glory renovation in all our faculties and functions and namely let us often stay upon some particular object of virtue which we would ask of our guest in favour of this celestial visitation The thirteenth SECTION * * * Parcè haec in transcursis tantian delibet Lector ut Canis è Nilo The practice to hear Mass TO hear Mass is verily one of the most serious actions of all spiritual life Had one all the understanding and reverence of Angels to be present thereat it would never be enough Saint Dyonys the Areopagite saith that exactly to discharge Dyonis de Eccle. Hierarch c. 6. Vspue ad extramas imagines An excellent saying of S. Bonaventure Cum fueris tous alteratus t divinus effectum ita ut nihil videas nisi Deum tunc accede this duty we must purifie our heart Usque ad extremas imagines so dispoiling it that it may be free from all imaginations and humane representations and that is it which Saint Bonaventure hath more clearly expressed principally speaking of Priests who celebrate That the time when they ought to approach is when they feel themselves wholly changed and become divine in such sort that they behold not any thing but God Philo the Bishop addeth that the Sacrificers are as the ivory neck of the spouse which must serve as a chanel for the Holy Ghost to make his graces distil upon the rest of the members that are present at this Sacrifice The
ought to be freed from wars of nature which ever keep in humility your soul a little too indulgent to it self The eighteenth SECTION Remedies against passions and temptations which proceed from every vice I. TO consider that passion is a motion of the sensual appetite which proceedeth from the imagination of good or evil with some agitation of the body II. That there are eleven passions six in the appetite of concupiscence which are love hatred desire aversion joy sadness Five in the appetite of revenge which are hope despair boldness fear anger III. That there are two means to vanquish all passions whereof the first is a precaution of mind against the occasions and vain apparences of all things of the world and the second a serious entertainment of the mind in better things as prayer study labour affairs But above all you must beg of God the light and strength of his holy grace which infinitely surpasseth all humane remedies We here adde some preservatives against passions and the most ordinary vices Against carnal love I. To consider the barrenness of worldly loves which are the true gardens of Adonis wherein nothing is gathered but wretched flowers environed with many thorns II. To set a true estimate upon things and not to be deceived with apparences III. To keep watch over your senses to avoid the opportunities and occasions of sin and above all to have recourse unto God upon the first impression of your thoughts IV. To free your self by main force from the presence of objects to be delighted with serious purposes and good employments V. To present to your self very often the defect ingratitude levity inconstancy and treachery of creatures which we most servilely love Against aversions hatreds and envies I. To esteem nothing great in this life is the way to envie nothing II. To love onely the great inheritance of the land of the living which never becomes less by the many and several divisions made to those who possess it III. To consider attentively the motives which excite us to love our neighbour as the participation of the same nature same life same bloud and like profession and such other reasons which are as so many knots of amity IV. The wretched life of Cain to live in envie troubles disturbances and rage of a distempered spirit which causeth the immortality of its being to contribute to the eternity of its pains V. To behold how envy ere it is aware serveth many times to the advancement of those who are envied Against covetousness worldly hope and joy I. The disquiet of an hungry mind II. The unsatiableness of desires III. The wars and battels we must oft-times undergo to satisfie one sole desire IV. The dishonour of denial insupportable to a generous soul V. The dependence and slavery we must endure to please those from whom we expect the accomplishment of our desires VI. the frailty in offending God through too much greediness of temporal things VII The poor and short pleasure taken in things we most ardently desire VIII That God many times affordeth us the accomplishment of our desires as a punishment of our imperfections Against sadness and despair There is a holy sadness as that we entertain upon the passion of our Saviour or for our sins which is a gift of God and not a punishment There is another furious which hath no ears and which is rather cured by miracles than precepts There is one natural which proceedeth from humour and another vitious fostered by evil habits and neglects of salvation I. Against this last we must consider our desires and affections oft-times make up all our sadness and that the true means to lessen the cares which consume us is to sweeten the sharp and ardent love we bear towards worldly things II. The small account we make of God is the cause we many times are troubled at frivolous things either distantly threatning us or already happened He that would truly love this great God who deserveth all the love both of Heaven and earth should not suffer fear or sadness for any thing but the loss of the love of God which no man looseth if he be not willing to for go it III. Nought but tears of the damned is remediless He that may be in the way of Paradise should not make a kind of hell on earth and who may hope this great All should never be sad for any thing Against evil confidence I. That to be confident in evil things is to have a desperate instrument of ones own misery which entertaineth all exorbitancies of the heart to make them the more punishable II. That there is no assured confidence against the power of God which in an instant ruineth the posterity of the greatest Tyrants III. That the strongest things are wasted by the weakest Lyons have been eaten up by flies and rust though contemptible consumes the hardest mettals IV. That to be confident through presumption of strength is the high-way to become ridiculous in enterprises and unfortunate in all successes We must not go about to soar to the sun with the wings of a Reare-mouse nor sail on the Ocean in the shell of a Tortoise Against fear I. Neither to desire nor love any thing inordinately is the path-way to peace where fear never harbours II. To have a strong charity towards God and to love him fervently with perswasion of his reciprocal love This is the means to enter into a firm confidence For what evil may we fear against us when God is with us III. We many times fear evils which are the fources of great blessings some are not truly evils other much less than we make them and many will never happen Why will you abide where you are not and put your self on the rack in your imagination IV. He who resolves to suffer all that God will have him takes in hand a powerful remedy against all sorts of fears For he who is a Master over sorrow commandeth terrour since the evil present is much more troublesom than the future V. There are natural fears much tied to flesh unless they be vanquished and sweetned by frequent custom with the things which are feared and conversation with men confident and couragious Against anger I. To consider how it depriveth us of six things very precious to wit of wisdom justice civility concord truth and the splendour of the spirit of God II. How it suddenly transfigureth a man into a little monster III. How it is hurtful to the state of health which we so tenderly love IV. That it abaseth the person surprized with it and especially if he be in some eminency of life and dignity V. That the effects thereof are cruel the spoils pernicious events shameful and falls for the most part irrecoverable VI. The contentment to have kept back an evil word which had destroyed a good affair VII The abstinence from curiosities and niceness of life cutteth asunder the sinews of anger The less curious a man is the more
our ingratitude or disability II. To be thankfull not onely in the presence of the benefactour by some little vain ostentation of acknowledgement but to publish it to others in time and place and to retain it as it were engraven in a respective memorie III. To recompence him according to power not onely in proportion but superabundantly which that it may be the better effected to consider what is given to us from whom when and how A benefit is ever best accepted from a friendly frank and free hand and many times from whom it is least expected in a pressing necessitie A benefit from a harsh man given as it were frowardly is a stonie loaf of bread which necessitie enforceth us to take not free-will It is no gift when that is given which can no longer be withheld as Emanuel the Emperour who Sordid liberalitie of Emanuel Conunus seeing his full coffers in the hands of the Persians said to his soldiers Go take them I give them to you It is a negligent and remiss giving when the extream want of a poor man is expected As the fountain of Narni which never distilled its streams Leander in umbrià but on the eve of a famin A small courtesie seasonably done deserveth much and that was the cause why King Agrippa made a poor servitour named Joseph lib. 18. antiq Thou mastus the second man in a kingdom for having given a glass of water Thaumastus the second person of his kingdom for that he had given him a glass of fair water in his great necessitie when under Tyberius he was tied to a tree before the Palace of the Emperour and endured a most ardent thirst IV. As it is not good to suffer a benefit to wax old so it is not always expedient to recompence it so readily as if we bear our obligation with impatience and that we had an opinion this benefit came to us from a hand besmeared with bird-lime with intention to grasp another The best way is to let your observances creep into credit in time and place with so much the more precaution as they ought to have the less of ostentation The thirtieth SECTION Practice of Charitie SAaint Ireneus as we have said calleth charitie a Eminentissimum charismatum S. Iren. l. 4. c. 63 S. Maximus Occonem cent 1. 38. Reg. 4. c. 2. Plenitudo legis Charita Aug. tract in epist Joan. Derothem 5. Bibliothec. PP Doct. 6. most excellent present from heaven the top and zenith of all virtues gifts and favours of God Saint Maximus saith it is the gate of the Sanctuarie which leadeth us aright to the vision of the holy Trinitie It is the double spirit which Elizeus required wherewith to love God and our neighbour Behold the whole law behold all perfection You are not much to afflict your self saith S. Augustine to become perfect Love God and then do what you will For if you desire to know whether your love towards God be real and not counterfeit mark how you love your neighbour By how much the lines draw nearer one to another so much the more they approch to the center By how much the nearer you approch to your neighbour in love by so much the nearer you are to God The Actions of this Royal virtue are Acts of Charitie I. To have an affectionate delight in God for that he is God all-wise all-good all-powerfull all-amiable all-just all mercifull the original fountain of all wisdom goodness power beautie justice mercie Most heartily to rejoyce that he sitteth in the throne of glorie as in an abyss of splendour adored without intermission by all the celestial powers by all the Saints by all the exalted Spirits To desire that all the creatures in the world might adore and serve him that all understandings were replenished with the knowledge of him all memories with his benefits all wills with his love Such was the affection of that good Fryer Giles companion to Saint Francis who was much moved in beholding the beauties of God and afterwards wept bitterly because as he said love was not beloved enough Amor non amatur II. To be sensibly sorrowfull for the impieties heresies infidelities errours sins dissolutions which have covered the face of the earth To resent the injuries done to God as one would the rebukes of a good father of a loving brother or of some person most tenderly affectionate as the apple of your eye It is an admirable thing to see in Scripture a poor Mervelous zeal of a Lady Princess daughter in law of Heli falling in travail upon the news brought her of the taking of the Ark of covenant and death of her husband and neighbours for her neither to think of father brother husband no nor the pains of her child-bearing nor to complain of any thing but of the surprisal of the Ark and to have dying these words on her lips Farewel the glory of Israel since the Ark of God is taken 2. Reg. 4. Translata est gloria de Israel quia capta est Arca Dei away what zeal is this in a woman And now adays one cannot loose a greyhound a curtal jade a bird but all the house is filled with noice and outcries whilest for injuries done to God the hearts of men are very insensible III. To love all mortal men as creatures made to the image of God but above all the faithfull in the qualitie of persons destined to the sovereign beatitude to wish them true blessings as justification grace virtues spiritual progression glory Moreover to desire they may be fortunate in riches honour credit good success in their affairs if such comforts may conduce to procure them beatitude IV. Never to despise never to judge rashly never to interpret other mens actions in an ill sense but to compassionate their infirmities bear their burdens excuse their weaknesses make up and consolidate the breaches of charitie happened by their fault to hate imperfections and ever to love men yea even your enemies Therein the touch-stone of true charitie is known The means to preserve one from his enemies is to pardon enemies said S. Augustine One Disce diligere inimicum si vis cavâ—re inimicum Aug. in Ps 99 of the goodlyest spectacles able to attract Angels to to the gates of heaven to behold it is neither Theaters Amphitheaters Pyramids nor Obelisks but a man who knoweth how to do well and hear ill and to vindicate himself from ill by doing well Cardinal Petrus Damianus relateth how he being a student at Faenza one told him of an Act of charitie happened as I believe in his time at the same place of which he made more account than of all the wonders of the world It was a man whose An excellent passage of charitie eyes another most trayterously had pulled out and this accident had confined him in a Monasterie where he lived a pure and unspotted life yielding all offices of charitie according
Ancients both Greek and Latine they will tell us wonders but let us hearken to Holy Scripture and Fathers First Immisit Deus soporem in Adam cumquè obdormivisset tulit unam de costis ejus replevit carnem pro eá aedificavit Deus costam quam tulerat in mulierem Adam particeps Angelicae curiae intravit in sanctuarium Dei August l. 9. de Genes ad lit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Aquila 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Symach 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Tertul. Accidentium spiritus in Genesis chap. 2. where the creation of woman is declared it is said that God caused a profound sleep to steal upon Adam and that being asleep he drew woman out of his side These words are very considerable What meaneth it that God before he made woman caused sleep to steal into the eyes of Adam I will not here tell you that some have glossed that he could not have admitted this production of woman in any other manner but I affirm with the Septuaginta this sleep was an extasie with Saint Augustine that it was a repture and with others a trance of spirit For he then had need enough to fortifie himself with consideration since woman came into the world who would bid him many battels Poor Adam fell into an apoplexy into a convulsion into swooning fits as already feeling the cross thwartings passions and afflictions he should receive from woman Moreover who can but admire the phrase which the Scripture useth in this creation where it is said woman was built Good God! what meaneth this thou already hadst erected so many goodly buildings Heaven and earth the high and low stations of the world thou hadst created Adam with a plentiful concurrence of many parts and yet the Scripture saith not thou then didst build but when woman was to be created God built God made his first piece of architecture And why It is because woman is a house wherein the heart of man should inhabit who is alas there but too often captive Or is it that a woman costs as much in making as a fair house To build a house you must have so much sand lime stone timber iron-work manufactures hands strokes of hammers masons carpenters and to dress and attire a woman so many coiffs kerchiefs cawls so many false hairs paintings gowns petticotes chopins verdingals whalebones so many carcanets gold chains jewels gemmes attendants that a house were almost as soon built as a woman furnished What doth she when she is built Saint Augustine saith she becomes the scholler of a serpent the gate of sin the fountain of errour and the rust of pietie Good God! what unhappiness is this If from the side of man a flaming dart or keen sword had been drawn they would have done less hurt than an evil woman which I speak without prejudice of the virtuous The first woman ungrateful towards God a traiteress to her husband a murderess of her race made a bridge for Satan to pass into the world and needs would lodge him in her heart whom God had confined to the deep pit of hell Others who have prostituted themselves to evil for these five thousand sixe hundred and thirtie years that the world hath circumvolved have acted upon this large Theatre of many forms so many bloudy tragedies that they make histories to blush thereat The daughters of Loth the Thamars Athaliaes Jezabels Vasties Helenaes Fredegondaes approve it and their ashes also incessantly produce others into the world Work-mistresses of all mischief Alas Mothers instruct your daughters well whilst they are young breed them up in the fear of God frame them to duty imprint on their tender hearts as with a searing-iron the love of chastity modesty in their behaviour and devotion in their souls And you young men who suffer your selves to be cheated and deceived by impudent women permitting them to bewitch you with love-drinks and wicked attractives open your eyes and behold the precipice before you and then I doubt not you will abhor it Trust not their familiar conversation Efficacissimum est glutinum ad capiendas animas mulieris August and dalliances know they are full of danger and that there is not any can resist them without the particular grace of God Strength little availeth the Sampsons sunk to the ground Wisdom is to seek the Solomons fell Valour therein is short the Davids found it Sanctity is not free from their batteries the Elishaes were persecuted by women and the John Baptists therein lost their heads That venerable face those eyes enflamed with heavenly rays which won reverence from the wild beasts of the desert could not mollifie a female dancer That wise head where the maxims of eminent virtues resided was taken from the shoulders of a Saint carried in a dish to a banquet by the sacrilegious hands of a shameless woman That tongue from whence distilled a stream of honey was pricked and pierced with a bodkin wherewith the wretch used to curle her hair Now according to the counsel of Saint Chrysostom take into your hands this bloudy head ask of it O head which should never die who hath drenched thee into the wanness of death Who hath bathed thee in this bloud Who hath put out thine eyes the torches of the elect and thunder-strokes of the wicked Who hath layed an eternal silence on that tongue which first of all announced the Kingdom of Heaven The love of women Lyons and Tigers reverenced me in wildernesses and women massacred me in a Kings Palace women mingled my bloud with wine and made me as a pompous morsel of their tragical banquets When I say this I not onely accuse women but carnal men who suffer themselves to be allured and surprized with sottish love and trampling under foot the honour of God the presence of Heaven and Angels the conjugal bed and faith promised to their wives wallow themselves in execrable adulteries which fill families with opprobrie confusion and tragedies why say I families nay Kingdomes and Empires and if we will well examine it we shall find the greatest part were turned topsie-turvie by foolish love O you that sigh hearing speech of the furious disorders this unhappy sin brings into the world I beseech you with Saint Paul by the very bowels of our Lords mercy offer your bodies to God as an hoast lively holy and acceptable to the Divinity and you especially who are in the state of marriage entertain your beds honourable and chaste cemented with a perpetual knot of faith love and peace that God may please thereon perpetually to shower down from on high his holy benedictions and after the course of this painful life crown you with comforts in the glory of the Blessed The thirty fifth SECTION That the evils of marriage ought not to be imputed to sex but sin and of the disorders committed in this Sacrament IF the unhappiness of marriages proceeded onely from women we might necessarily conclude they were alwayes unfortunate
devotion you raise fortunes like a Colossus of glass which will shiver in pieces over your head After you have resigned this your conscience to God you owe to your self the government of your senses and use of reason and as it appears you are O men strictly bound in marriage the more to render your selves men since God placeth you therein to afford men to the Christian Common-wealth It is necessary you draw from the fountain of wisdom more wit and more light since you are to make use of it to enlighten a wife and children who depend on your direction As for the duty of both I find if marriage be a Lilly it must have six leaves which are Respect Love Loyalty Support Direction and Help It is fit love begin by a certain Regard which man and woman should bear one to another all the time of their life For the functions of this society permitting a great familiarity if it be not counterpoyzed with a chaste reverence soon degenerateth into contempt The wives Respect ought to pass even to obedience which the Apostle S. Paul so punctually recommendeth to Christians and the husbands should be mixed with a Mulier collateralis virâ— Gloss in Gen. tenderness and moderation to let him know God drew woman out of his side to make her his companion and not his slave It is good for the entertainment of this respect that both of them accustom to conceive a good opinion of each others abilities For where there is dis-esteem honour will hardly be found because it is tyed to worth as the shadow to the body For this purpose they must endeavour to cover the defects they may have by nature by other virtues in their power and to persevere in a belief of sufficiency in each ones condition To this respect the Love is added which should be rendred according to the precept of S. Paul in the matter of conjugal duty For it is an intollerable thing and wherein God may be grievously offended when a woman imagineth that to be married is nothing else but to have a Coach to her self to buy stuffs according to her own fantasie to become brave and have no regard to obligations essential amongst the married But we may truly affirm all love of sense is very low if it tend not to those eternal sources of amities which distil from the Paradise of God and learn to love by grace and reason that which is to be loved God to cement this love together drew woman out of man saith Tertullian as some part of Tertul. de resur carnis a liquor from the vessel which contained it He made two of one to put them both afterward into one It is to tear each others flesh and gnaw their bones to waste one another by discord the most capital plague of marriage Holy love is always accompanied with mutual loyalty in any thing which concerneth conjugal chastity as being the knot of affections and foundation of all the happiness of the married O wife a ring is given you of a circular form to teach your loves are limited within the nuptial bed The ring which heretofore bare the seal of promise to signifie your heart ought to be sealed with charity and closed up from all other pretensions Believe not those make-bates who tell you good is of its own nature communicable and that a fair wife is not for one alone that chastity is a note of deformity and that a husband and a friend are not things in compatible These are not words but hisses of the serpent Fear the least blemishes of honour and do not so much as cast an eye upon the smoke of this cole which now adays burneth so many unhappy souls Love not to be wooed and courted by so many eyes and lips nor to behold such worldly pleasures to become pliant to others or to attempt to afford love and receive none back again Out alas these sleight entertainments breed many acerbities They are enchanted apples which poison all who tast them Men likewise remember the best lessons of loyalty which your wife can learn she must derive from your example Think not because you are a man all things are permitted you and that your sex is a sanctuary for your crime If you be the head saith S. Augustine Caput ducat corpus sequatur August Serm. 49. move it that way whither you would have the body follow You are the more bound to conjugal chastity because you ought to be the most wise strong because you have the most employments to divert your temptations in the affairs of civil life and lastly because you have most liberty and may make your evil most general by disturbing many wedlocks as it happeneth to reprobate and inordinate souls in this kind I adde to loyalty mutual bearing with defects and imperfections which is a singular virtue in marriage For we being in this world as in a territory where good and evil easily mix together there is no plant which hath not its worm nor beauty which suffereth not diminution There are not any married couple so accomplished who have not vices defects and imperfections which who practice not to digest through Christian patience shall become not unlike a sea-calf said to be always moody against his fellow The husband and the wife are upon the river called Life in marriage as in a boat If there happen a leak and it receive water they must seek to stop it presently and if you have nothing to put into it rather set a foot upon it than pierce round about it to make the leak wider A word or indiscreet action hath escaped to what purpose is it to reproach or pick quarrels with a man or woman upon it on all occasions Rather use the speediest remedies you may and if none be at hand bury it in silence Finally know you enter into marriage for direction and assistance and though direction be principally proper to man notwithstanding it is a poor business to see a woman have neither care nor government in her family imagining she from morning till night should have no other employment but to dress her self and many times to be attired when divers think of unclothing to go to bed It is a shameful thing to prattle all the day long and make a whole city trot upon her tongue and yet be ignorant of what is done in her own house A virtuous wife should not onely govern her family but with wisdom and discretion temper her husbands passions and if such things escape him redress them rather by love than power If God heretofore caused a she-ass to speak to instruct a false Prophet why should he not at a need draw a good word from the mouth of a discreet woman to set man into a fair way Know we not that the last unhappiness of Pilate was not to have believed his wife much more enlightened by God than himself As for help it is so necessary that next after
the comfort of posterity marriage is constituted for that end It is not enough to assist a mortal body in its infirmities but so much as one may mutually to manure a soul immortal you must between you share all your prosperities and adversities I say prosperities to moderate them and adversities to honour them you must mutually strive to lend a shoulder and if your burdens be weighty by the yoke of necessity sanctifie them by your patience You must think it is a blessing even from God to be chosen out to preserve a husband or a sick wife since this infirm creature is the Image of God and your proper flesh to whom you render duties which perhaps at this time seem thorns unto you but shall one day be crowns if you know how to make virtues of your necessities Be not discouraged through pusillanimity but do like the Dolphin who raiseth himself with much alacrity against the sea-waves during the tempest Understand you not the Holocaust must burn from evening till morning Burn in this fire of love and tribulation expecting to see glory in the day-break to crown your perseverance Though God allot you no issue yet no whit the less love your comfort God oftentimes suffereth barrenness of body to afford fruitfulness of virtues The thirty seventh SECTION Instructions for Widdows PErfect widdows are in the Church as the horizon of Marriage and Religion they participate of both conditions when they be in the world for the example of the world for the government of their children and family but they also have a share in the life of the Religious when they wholly dispose their hearts to God We sometimes see a bank of earth which keepeth two seas from intermixing but being taken away those two waters will pass along together and engulf themselves one within another O how often said you during the knot of marriage that if God once took away your husband you would wholly be for him Conjugal obligation and affairs of the world was your bank and your obstacle but now God hath taken it away dissolve your heart into his This is the passage where you are expected Here it is where proof shall be made of your constancy When you have deplored the death of your husband as a wife you must learn to bear it like a Saint It is a wretched virtue not to know what else to do than bewail the dead and be desirous to derive glory from the peevishness of your sorrow If we could draw aside the curtain of Heaven to see the state of souls already passed out of mortal bodies to the promised recompence of the faithful how much we should be ashamed and confounded at the weakness of our tears we should see this great Eternity seated in a chair of diamond all sparkling with stars and brightness holding a flaming mirrour in its hand at which time it would let us behold a goodly harmony of all the beatitudes these glorious souls now enjoy separated from the contagion of our mortality then wiping away the tears from our eyes it would say to us with a voice replenished with sweetness and majesty Why bewail you these kinred and friends who live better than ever in my bosom absorpt in a torrent of eternal felicities An hundred and an hundred-fold happy are the dead who depart in the favour of God! Behold them for the time to come discharged from labours Behold them freed of a thousand and a thousand cares fears pains passions maladies wants ignominies and all those evils which divide our miserable life Behold them folded within the arms of the Sovereign where they reap the good works they sowed on earth You are much troubled O widdow that this your spouse is at this present of the houshold of God an inhabitant of his mansion and a possessour of his glory Have you so many tears to lament miseries that you waste them in felicities as if it were a great unhappiness to pass from the servitude of the slave of the world to the liberty and joy of the children of God This is admirably well expressed in the 21. Chapter of Exodus where God at the going forth of Aegypt shewed himself to Moses Aaron Nabal Abiud and all the most eminent of this Nation having saphires for his foot-stool which are stones of a celestial colour whereupon a learned Commentary drawn from the Hebrew Interpreters most divinely answereth that God would say unto them You have laboured in Aegypt with much patience about morter and tyles and behold all your tyles turned into saphires into heavenly stones to build of them the foot-stool of your glory This is it which the most Blessed Eternity saith to us concerning the dead whom we deplore It is not fit any longer to take pains with tyles and morter businesses cares troublesom affairs of the present life are past there is not any thing but repose peace glory and felicitie Behold that which comforteth all solid and generous souls with lively fruitful and eternal consolations Will you have a singular resignation in the death of your kinred which may daily happen and fall out of necessity Behold Saint Lewis when news was brought him of the death of his mother Queen Blauncb he soon perceived by the countenance of the messengers who were the Archbishop of Tyre and his Confessour they were ready to tell him somewhat able to afflict the heart of man before they could open their mouthes Let us go saith he into my Oratory for it was the magazin where this great King took up arms to combate against worldly disasters and when they came thither speak now what have you to say Sir God who had a long time lent you your mother for the good of your person and Kingdom hath taken her out of the world for her own repose At these words S. Lewis fell upon his knees before the Altar and lifting up his hands to heaven said O my God I give thee thanks thou â—â—st afforded me my dear mother whilest it was thy will and that now according to thy good pleasure thou hast taken her to thee It is true I loved her above all the creatures of the world and she well deserved it but since thou hast bereaved me of her thy Name be for ever blessed Conclude your tears as he did but never the resolution of your widdow-hood It were to be wished a good vow might fix it with a nail of adamant but that should be done with discretion for all in woman being frail her tears can have no constancy You may have read in the history of the unhappy Politician the sorrow of Glaphyra the wife of Alexander son of Herod whom his father most cruelly put to death to satisfie his chimaeraes and suspitions Never woman more passionately resented the death of her husband her lamentations were yellings her tears torrents her words furies her countenance despair and life a little hell There was no light to be seen after the eclipse of
sought her adding Behold what you love He seized with horrour hastened to hide himself in a Monastery where he remained the rest of his days to expiate his loves O incomparable patience I would go further but she stays me For what can I speak more having said this Is it not enough to shew chastity can do little of it self but that it dissolveth as incense on the burning coals of charity To give away the light of the day the sweetest of all creatures to give up her bloud drop after drop to give her torn eyes so to avoid a sin which faithless souls account but a sport Infinite many pusillanimous people justly chastised for their sins cannot endure the least sting but with complaint and murmur against God they burn but it is as lawrels crackling in the flames but this virgin in the sharpest rigours of a most sensible torment burnt sweetly couragiously silently O what a perfume of the living God is virginity If the smoke of the bodies of the damned and despairing Babylon perpetually mount to Heaven in a sacrifice of vengeance may we not affirm this delicious perfume of virginity will on the other side ascend as a sacrifice of honour whilest there is Religion and Altars men and Angels O women prodigal of a good irrecoverable Ah wretched maids Ah young witless women that give for a momentary delight a treasure for which the Church hath shed so much bloud Ah inexcusable treachery to give to a bold libertine what is taken from Jesus Christ Ah pusillanimity to yield at the first shock by delivering up a gift of God for which so many virgins have persisted under the teeth and paws of Lions under the sharp irons of tyrannical wheels in cauldrons of scalding hot oyl in the tearing out their eye-strings in dislocation of their bones and massacring their bodies yea even to the last breath of life Unhappy victim made a prey to dishonour what wilt thou answer to an Agnes a Tecla a Katharine a Lucie when they shall shew thee their palms their bloud and wounds more bright and radiant than the stars in the skie And what will they say behold what we have suffered for a virtue which thou hast so sleightly valued as to trample it under foot and through a strange prostitution hast thrown into their eyes who required it not O mothers breed your daughters piously and preserve them as pledges charily recommended unto you by Almighty God What a shame what an ignominie nay what a fury to behold maids now adays ill taught bold amongst men as souldiers wanton as leaping kids and impudent as Syrens who hath ever sequestred shamefac'dness from the soul that did not separate modesty from the bodie How can you account a gadding house-wife a dancing reveller an idle wanton to be modest since the strongest chastities have now adays much adoe to defend themselves from calumnie Snares are laid on every side as well upon the mountain as the valley There is not a stone whereon some scorpion sleepeth not Never was the lust of impudent men so enflamed and yet you dally without fear or danger Hearken to the advise of S. Hierom concerning the instruction of maids with which I will conclude this discourse Let a maid who ought to be the Temple of God be so Hierom. ad Laetam instructed that she neither hear nor speak any thing which tendeth not to the fear of God Let not impure speeches approch her ears Let her be ignorant of worldly pleasures Let her tongue in her tender years be seasoned with the praises of Jesus Christ Let her banish young men from her company who have any loose fashion in their behaviour and let the maids themselves who come amongst them be alienated from worldly commerce least having been ill disciples of sensuality they thereby become the worse Mistresses If she also learn to read let her letters be made of box or ivory and be all called by their names that so they may be a recreation for her eyes to serve as instruments for her instruction Let her in good time practice to write and let her tender hand be guided on the paper to trace the letters which are shewed her Let her have some reward for doing well for in this her minority these sleight ornaments prove to be an allurement to virtue Let her have companions for emulation and entertain a generous envie against their praise Let her not be chidden if she be of a heavie spirit but encouraged by the help of commendation Let her take delight to overcome and be as loth to be vanquished Heed must be taken she hate not studie and travel lest the bitterness she may conceive in her infancy spread beyond her most innocent years Let the first letters she begins to call compose some holy names to prepare her memory to piety Let her have a governess grave and modest Let her entertain her companions with serenity of countenance Let her become affable and amiable to all the world Accustom her not to wear pendants in her ears to paint to load her neck and head with pearls Change not the colour of her hair by art nor frizle or crisp her with fire and irons lest it prove a prediction of infernal flames Take heed she be not touched with the hammer which now adays strikes all the world to wit Vanity Let her not drink in the cup of Babylon which is Impurity beware she go not forth with Dinah to see how the maids of the countrey are attired Let her not be a dancer nor gawdy in apparel Poyson is not given but by rubbing the goblet with honey nor doth vice deceive us but under colour and pretext of virtue Above all let her see nothing either in father or mother the imitation whereof may make her guilty Let her be disposed to the reading of good books and never appear in publick without the advise of her mother Let her not entertain some spruce young Amourist to cast wanton glances nor let her bear particular affection towards any of her servants who may whisper in her ear but cause them to speak aloud that all the rest may hear Let her orderly every day offer her devotion to God be very sober in her deportement and delighted with works worthy of her condition Let her be most obedient nor ever so hardy as to see any or undertake ought without their leave who govern her Doing this she shall save her soul and edifie all the world To Fathers and Mothers The thirty ninth SECTION Concerning the education and instruction of their children O What a goodly chain of gold is Charitie which with its many lincks enchaineth the world The more closely it shutteth the more strength it affordeth The more it tieth our hearts the more it fasteneth our felicities The first liberty of a reasonable creature is the thraldom of an honest love wherein fathers and mothers have a great part for their union floweth from the bowels of
nature and none can falsifie it who violate not the first laws of the world The father loves the son as a portion cut from himself naturally the son loves the father and so often as he wandereth from this love he is like a fish out of the water This was the conceit which S. Ambrose had upon the passage of Genesis Let the Producant aquae reptile Genes 1. Quam bona mater sis aquae hinc considera ô homo docuisti altercationes parentum in filios separationes odia offen sam disce ergò ab aquâ quae sit parentum filiorum necessitudo Genes 9. Maledictus Chanaan servus servorum erit waters bring forth fish Let the good mother be the water and good children the fish saith he God once commanded the water to bring forth forth fish and instantly it obeyed and ever since for almost these six thousand years that the world wheels about the water feedeth its fishes without murmur and the fish never go out of the water but by constraint O man who hast taught divisions between father and son mother and daughter thou shouldst be ashamed Entreat the water to teach thee and the fish to shew thee thy lesson It is a strange thing the Patriarch Noe justly provoked against an unnatural son who had revealed the nakedness of his father shooteth the arrow of malediction not against the head of the guilty son but his children He cursed not Cham but Canaan and if you ask why Theodoret upon Genesis answereth Noe would not curse him whom God once had blessed For this had been to take off the seal of the Sovereign Master and raze his edicts but S. Ambrose says very pertinently that Noe the more to punish his evil son cursed him in his race as if the wounds which fathers receive in the affliction of their children were more sensible to them than their proper and personal hurts Take away the beam from the Sun and he shines not the stream from the fountain it drieth up the member from the body it putrifies the son from the father and he no longer is a son This admitted and resolved we draw a necessary consequence from the reciprocal love between two and since we must hereafter speak of the duty of sons towards their parents let us now pursue the course begun and mention the duty of parents towards their children One would not at first perhaps believe what I say but it is most undoubted Parents are in some sort more obliged to their children than children to parents For who is more bound than he who by justice both divine and humane oweth most Now what owe children to their parents The life they received which they cannot render again and therefore are not bound to it Well may they owe the honour which falls upon themselves well the helps and services in case of necessity But the father so soon as the infant hath set foot into being is very straightly obliged to provide him two things nourishment and instruction according to capacity These are the two heads of this discourse wherein I purpose to shew O fathers and mothers that you commit a great sin when you abandon your children to become a prey of misery ignorance and iniquity The reasons are evident For first you sin against the grand Law of nature written by God with a stile of fire not onely on the hearts of all living creatures but even on plants which is to cherish what they have produced Grapes hang on the vine fruits on the tree and take with time their just encrease from the juice and substance of the wood which brings them forth The lamb knows his damme among a thousand to suck her and asks the tribute of nature Eagles bear their young on their backs Serpents throw themselves many times into boyling cauldrons to save their egs The Pelican as the report is lets her self bloud to make a bath of it for her brood And you in this vessel of the vast world wherein all creatures row alike in this point according to the course of nature would you be an unprofitable burden Deserve not you to be banished from all the parts of the earth and not to enjoy any thing but fire or nothing to settle on since the one is barren and the other devoureth all Secondly see you not that neglecting your children you do like an adulterer not a father For what seeks the adulterer posterity No To afford a child to the world servant to God a Citizen to the Common-wealth No To have a creature who may serve for the exercise of his charity to be an object of his providence and an encouragement for his diligence No what pretends he then loathsom and lewd lust And what do you else when after consummation of marriage and the birth of a son you carelesly leave him without providing for his necessities Besides if as saith Tertullian it is to be a homicide anti-dated Homiâ—idii festinatio est prâ—hibere nasâ—i Tertul. in Apol. to hinder the generation of a man what will it then be when he is already born and registred amongst mortals through remisness and sloth to suffer him to die with hunger cold thirst and misery When wrinkles and grisly hairs shall seize on your forehead when old age shall bow your back and necessity cast you into calamity with what face dare you crave help from that son or daughter whom you all the time of their life have neglected Were it not well all creatures made complaint over your ashes This man will perhaps answer As for my part Gods name be praised I have had a care of my children They want nothing necessary for sustentation of life Is it enough to give them necessaries But how do you give them without love and void of charity as a stony loaf given and taken by constraint Fathers and mothers it is a strange thing to Partiality of parents see your odde proceedings One loves the male another the female One the girles another the boyes One this because he is nosed like himself the other that because she hath her eyes gate and speech The father takes his Idol to his side the mother hers and in one and the same house set up Altar against Altar If you strike my little Deity I wil not spare yours If you bring not incense to mine I will overthrow yours Childish and ridiculous people to cast affection on children through sensuality passion and fury perpetually to fall out about children to let them suck discord with their milk from the example of those who begot them what is it else but early to put a sword into the hand of these little creatures but to tear one another and to cherish factions and partialities before their eyes be open to understand them Let them look to it who govern in such manner saith the other as for my self I take no other care than to breed my children well and regard them all alike What
fashion and indeed somewhat too bitter according to her custom Joseph who was desirous to entertain the Queen in the good favour of his Master were it out of folly or drunkenness said Madame your mother Alexandra may tell you what pleaseth her But to give you a clear and ample testimony of King Herod your husband his love know that in case he happen to be put to death he hath commanded me to kill you not being able to abide in the other world without your company At these words the poor Ladies looked pale with horrour Out alas the frantick man said Alexandra in her heart what will he do living if after death he intend to destroy those who are yet alive In the mean time many bruits the dreams of the credulous were spred through Jerusalem that Herod was dead that Mark Anthony had caused him to be executed he being convicted of the murder of Aristobulus whether these rumours were divulged by Herods enemies or whether himself caused them to be secretly buzzed to try the face and disposition of the times The wise Mariamne seemed to believe nothing Alexandra grew passionate and bated like a hawk on the pearch entreating Joseph with all possible supplications he would remove them from Court and conduct them to the Court of Guard of the Roman Legions disposing them into the hands of Colonel Julius from thence to pass to Mark Anthony for she vehemently desired this Prince might see her daughter perswading herself that so soon as he should behold her he would be taken with her beauty and doe any thing in her favour These intentions being oblique were unhappy in the success and all Alexandras pursuits served her for no other purpose but to vent her passion In the end Herod returneth victorious with authenticke Return of Herod testimonies of his justification and Anthonies amity notwithstanding the endeavours of Cleopatra God reserving this parricide for a life like Cain attended with a death most dreadful His mother and sister fayled not presently upon his arrival to serve him up a dish of their own dressing and to tell him the design which Alexandra had to put herself into the power of the Romans Salome envious against Mariamne even to fury steeping her serpentine tongue in the gall of black slander accused her of some secret familiarity with Joseph whereupon Herod who was extreamly jealous thought in that very instant to ruin her and so drawing Mariamne aside he demanded of her from whence this correspondence grew which she had contracted with Joseph The most chaste Queen who never went out of the lists of patience shewed her self both with eye visage countenance word to be so penetrated with this cursed calumny that well the trayterous wretch perceived how far she was alienated from such thoughts and verily being ashamed to have uttered such words he asked pardon of her bemoaning with scalding tears his credulity giving her many thanks for her fidelity and making a thousand protestations of an everlasting affection The good Ladie who was displeased to behold such hypocrisie said covertly to him That truly it was an argument of love to his wife to desire her company in the other world He who understood by half a word presently perceived what she would say and entered into such desperate fury that he seemed as a mad man tearing his beard and hair of his head and crying out Joseph had betrayed him and that it was apparent he had great correspondence with Mariamne otherwise so enormous bruitishness would never have escaped any man as to reveal such a secret Thereupon he commandeth Joseph should be killed in the place to serve as a victim at his return not consenting to see him nor hear one sole word of his justification It was a great chance he had not at that time finished the sacrifice of his intemperate cruelty and that to satisfie his chymerical humour he had not put Mariamne to death But the irrefragable proofs of her innocency and the impatient ardours of his love withheld the stroke onely to make the sparkles of his choller flie further off he discharged it upon Alexandra shutting her up for a time keeping her a part from the Queen her daughter and doubtlesly resolving with himself it was in her shop where all these counsels plotted for his ruin were forged and fyled Certain time after Herod saw himself embarqued Troublesom affairs of Hâ—rod in another business which he thought to be at least as perillous as the former Mark Anthony who always had lent his shoulders to underprop him after he had for a long time stroven against the fortune of Augustus Caesar fell to the ground in the Actiack battel ending his hopes and life with a most mournfull catastrophe This accident struck the Tyrant more than one would think seeing his support ruined his affairs which he supposed to have been so well established in one night dissolved and that he had him for an enemy who was in a fair way to become Emperour of the world His friends and enemies judged him as a lost man He who already had escaped so many ship-wracks despaireth not at all in this extremity but resolves to seek out Caesar who was then at Rhodes and prostrate himself at his feet But before he set a step forward he did an act wholly barbarous and inhumane Hircanus the true and lawful King who by his Most lamentable death of Hircanus sweetness and facility had first raised Antipater and afterward saved Herod's life seating him in the Regal throne to the prejudice of his own allies was as yet alive worn even with decrepitness for he now was past eightie years of age The Tyrant fearing lest he being the onely remainder of the bloud Royal should again be re-established in the throne by the suppliant request of the people who much affected his innocency seeing him already upon the brink of his grave threw him head-long into it tearing out his soul with bruitish violence which he was ready to yield up to nature Some held this was meer crueltie without any colour of justice wherewith this diabolical Prince was wont to palliate his actions Others write that Hircanus days were shortened upon this occasion Alexandra being not able to put off her ambition Ambition of Alexandra causeth the death of her father but with her skin seeing Herod gone upon a voyage from which it was likely he should never return sollicites her father Hircanus shews him the time is come wherein God will yet again make his venerable age flourish in Royal purple The Tyrant is involved in snares from which he can never free himself Fortune knocketh at the gate of Hircanus to restore the Diadem which is due to him by birth-right and taken away by tyranny It onely remaineth that he a little help himself and his good hap will accomplish the rest Hircanus answereth her Daughter the time is come wherein I should rather think of my grave than a Regal
both in the water of tears and in the boiling furnace of afflictions O the providence of God! That is true which the Scripture saith Your ways are now in the abyss and your pathes on the waters Who could discover such tracks whilest this most chaste and innocent Queen amidst the dark obscurity of a prison daily drowneth one part of her life in tears Herod who was now embarqued all bloudy with Arrival of Herod at Rhodes massacre committed on the person of Hircanus found the sea winds men and all his affairs successfull This Proteus who made his wit comply with all accidents seeing he could not conceal the service which he had done for Mark Anthony ever playing the dog sleeping under the feet of his fortune resolved to colour and cloak them with the mantle of virtue He knew Augustus was a Prince born to goodness generous just and that he endeavoured to make faithfull servants in this change of affairs which he began to undertake he deceives him under the shadow of virtue with the colour of constancy and pretext of fidelity Behold he presenteth himself to the Emperour and speaks in these terms O Great Augustus behold here my person and crown His speech to Augustus at your feet It is good reason that all depend upon your Greatness since God is pleased to put the Empire of this Universe into your hands For mine own part I cannot deny what I have been no more than I will dissemble what I ought to be and what I will be I have hitherto been a great friend of Mark Anthony It is true and had he believed me as he hath done Cleopatra his Mistress you Caesar had felt bow far I was your enemy and he how much I was his friend But this miserable Prince cozened by this creature took money of me and counsel of her to destroy in so doing his fortune and raise yours upon his own ruins I have followed him even to the brink of the grave and not fallen therein since my death could nothing advance his service He is in that state and condition wherein I am able to render him nought but tears To you O Caesar are due the services which I tender with much heartiness if you shall please to accept them on this condition that you enforce me not either to hear or speak evil of my old master whom being no longer able to serve I notwithstanding ought after death to love Augustus took pleasure in this liberty and thought this man was made of the wood whereof good servitours are composed not seeing the subtility of the fox who measured all according to his own interests He then taketh the crown which Herod had laid at his feet and set it on his head saying I desire you may live peaceably in your Territory onely be faithfull to me as you have been to Mark Anthony Herod after this so favourable access ceased not to put himself forward into the grace of Augustus by seeking out all occasions to procure it and namely in the voyage the Emperour made into Aegypt wherein he perpetually attended him and performed many singular offices This business so prosperously dispatched he triumphantly returneth into the Citie of Jerusalem to the amazement of the whole world Here it is that the virtuous Mariamne endeth her Accusation and pitifull death of Mariamne career to serve as a sacrifice in the lamentable triumphs of her husband Let us behold how this bright flame is extinguished we shall from thence expect no evil odour the good vapours of her life will wait upon her even to death So soon as Herod was arrived in his capital Citie he hasteneth to salute the Queen his wife whom he had already caused to be set liberty being secure of his affairs and was the first brought her the news of his happy success in this voyage He was so puffed up Sottish love with his prosperities that he could not contain himself and the love of so amiable an object which he then beheld in his presence after so many dangers did so unloosen his tongue in excess of vaunts and and superfluity of words thinking he made himself very acceptable with such impertinencies Mariamne much perplexed to hear him and being free and generous in all her actions shewed not to take much pleasure in these his idle boastings which passion likewise made to appear somewhat childish He thinking at the first this was nothing but a trifling humour of melancholy which would quickly vanish into smoke flattered her the more with words playing the wanton beyond his custom Upon these dalliances the poor Ladie sighed often remembring herself of the secret commandment very lately given to Sohemus He well saw by this her countenance she was not content and beginneth to enter into suspition that Sohemus had used the like intemperance of tongue as Joseph He at that time knew not what face to set upon it so much was he turmoyled love anger jealousie suspition drew him with four horses He could not be angry as he would nor knew how to love what he affected This proud spirit unacquainted how to bow under any one but to deceive him was ashamed to behold himself dis-armed and to become a counterfeit in amorous courtships not so usual to his nature He then seeing this mommery succeeded not was the more afflicted and thought it was time to brandish his sword But love proved of more force than anger and withheld the stroke He retired shaking his head and muttering I know not what between his teeth as cursing love which made him mercifull in despite of his own disposition Out alas Can one find out a more spitefull hatred than in women against women when jealousie hath laid hold of their brain Cypre an Arabian by nation mother of Herod and Salome his sister seeing him so passionate ceased not to blow the cole with their tongues and enkindle him with many calumnies which the Tyrant partly believed yet could not suddenly resolve to give the blow He was long time debating with himself without power to conclude any thing In the end an unhappy day comes in which about noon being retired into his chamber he sendeth for Mariamne who instantly came thither but conjugal rites being required of her she stuck in the refusal saying The law of nature forbad her to company with a man who had murdered her father and brother speaking of her father Alexander who by the pursuit of Herod had been oppressed by the Romans and of her brother Aristobulus so cruelly smothered Here Josephus the Historian after he had highly praised Mariamne as a most chaste Queen and truly endowed with an admirable faith for such are his words taxeth her with a little disdain which was as he said engrafted in her nature for that she rejected the dalliances of her husband But he that will well consider how Herod had used her nearest of kin most unworthily massacring them and how holding the scepter from her
she had done in crime for she becometh very pale and was so confounded that she had not courage enough to speak one onely word Theodosius in an instant retireth like lightening and withdraweth into his Cabinet having his heart wholly drencht in gall and bitterness The poor Eudoxia on the other part poureth herself into tears without comfort as her misery seemed devoid of remedy Here was a rough trial which God sent to these innocent souls and yet we need not wonder since Saint Joseph as I have said one of the most perfect husbands which the earth ever bare gave too much scope to his suspition upon the chastity of her who was more pure than Angels Love jealousie anger and sorrow divided the heart of the Prince in the sad retirement of his Cabinet and drew strange sighâ— from him A silly maid said he come of nothing who was tossed in a storm as the tennis-ball of fortune without support without means without favour to have been preferred before such and so many Princesses who sought my alliance raised even to my bed by lawfull marriage to plant dishonour there to have been ennobled with a diadem and negligently to pollute it by her ingratitude and Paulinus whom I trusted as my self that he might satisfie his desires with all the greatness and beauties of my Empire for all was in his hands to proceed so far as to attempt the bed of his Master Where shall we hereafter find fidelity We must search for it among Tartars and Scythians for it is banished from Christianitie It is not well known who in these confusions suggested to the Emperour this wicked counsel to destroy Prince Paulinus The soul of Theodosius was too sweet to resolve on an act so tragical without others motion so likewise it is not credible it should proceed from Pulcheria who was in affairs more reserved and ever guided by the rule of conscience However it was the history saith the poor Paulinus who knew nothing of that which passed was cured of the gout the same night by a very rough and most bloudy phlebotomy for he was put to death without any form of process Other have written he was first banished into Cappadocia and there oppressed by the faction of his enemies O God what may not depraved love do since sincere amity cannot avoid suspition attended by an accident so strange Some have said nothing else followed but the sequestration of Paulinus and that should more pleasingly run from my pen which abhorreth bloud But as the Scripture speaking of David and other holy Kings hath not dissembled their faults I will not so paint Theodosius exteriourly that I cover this aspersion of too much credulity precipitation and revenge in this matter which proceeded even to bloud as the Chronicle of Alexandria assureth us It is a fearfull example to see a soul so mild by the disturbance of a passion and some pernicious counsel transported so far to teach Great-ones they cannot maturely enough consult in the like occasions The father of this Paulinus had been High-Steward in the Court of the Emperour Paulinus himself from his infancy had been bred with Theodosius participating in all his counsels and pleasures of youth he was grown so high that nothing but the hand of his Master could ruin him He lived in the reputation of a great man and his words were heard in Court like Oracles Yet notwithstanding behold him to satisfie jealousie miserably massacred and the glorious services he had done to the Crown recompenced with a direfull catastrophe It is unknown why the Divine Providence permitted the same It oftentimes holdeth the affairs of the world under the veil and silence but we must presume all which it permitteth is done with justice When the afflicted Empress understood the death of Paulinus so sudden and unexpected she well saw the Emperour was tainted with the venom of most cruel jealousie and that all her apologies would be fruitless The poor Ladie saw nothing about her but darkness fantasies and affrightments The clock which struck ever seemed to her the last moment of life yea and that in her opinion over-slow to end her miseries When her soul was able to surmount the storm she said to God with an affectionate heart Alas God of justice Strange affliction of Eudoxia and her words for I dare not implore thy mercies thou hast well touched me on that part which was most sensible in me Although I had seen my diadem thunder-strucken by thy hand fall into dust at my feet though thou hadst taken this creature from my side which thou hast afforded us as a pledge of our marriage though all infirmities and manners of death had conspired against me I doubted not always to have had courage enough to bear my self above wind and tempest But what light of spirit would not be eclipsed what temper of heart would not be lost in these dolorous afflictions Thou hast lifted me up as they do little children to the branches of a tree to make me fall down head-long and crush me with a ruin as ignominious as my fortune was eminent Were I now under the poor roof of the house from whence Vanity and inconstancy of worldly affairs thou drewest me I should be too happy You have exposed me to the mid-day light that I might not be unfortunate without making all the world witness of my wretchedness and disgaace And yet my God thou knowest my eyes have ever been chaste and that never any other love entered into my heart but that of a lawfull husband It is better to suffer in innocency than crime but it always is a thing worthy of compassion to behold chastity unworthily persecuted That poor innocent hath gone before me into the other world and hath served as a sacrifice for his Masters jealousie his services ought not to have been crowned with such a recompence It is my friendship as chaste as unhappy that hath betrayed him my sins are so great that I cannot do good but by doing ill My God expiate them by death and onely deliver me from the bands of dishonour Thus went the afflicted turtle mourning in the solitary retirement of her heart the nights were irksom to her so much was her sleep clogged with dreams and fantasies which with the more horrour represented her calamity and when the Sun arose to bring comfort in his rays to all creatures he found the eye-lids of this poor Princess all watered with tears which he could not drie up In the mean time the Court of Theodosius was in a sad silence It was not well known what tragedy was played The Emperour shewed a melancholy distracted spirit the Empress bare the image of her sorrow in her dejected countenance Pulcheria abode in a prudent dissimulation and an admirable advisedness The sudden death of Paulinus made it to be suspected there was some strange accident Every one discoursed according to his opinion At that instant Eudoxia was seen to be
her innocency and at that time the flames of his chaste love began to burn more forcible than ever He loved her with a love mingled with respect of her merit and compassion of persecuted innocency He was pleased to have her spoken of in private and hear the life described she led in this new world Chrysaphius perceiving him to take fire in good earnest followed his opportunity according to promise and one day seeing the Emperour well disposed adventured to say SACRED MAjESTY How long will you deprive us of this Saint Must needs the deserts of Palestine so long time possess her to our prejudice It is a wonder your Palace hath not been able to endure a Virtue which maketh it self to be seen heard and adored in the savage wildernesses The poor Ladie hath well paid for a little sudden surprizal of speech Know besides she never hath failed in fidelity to your bed and hereon I would swear upon the holy Evangelists and expose my hand to the fire But God hath already sufficiently declared it by the sequel of her deportments What is done is done we cannot restore life to the dead but we ought to yield honour to the living which hath unjustly been taken from them It is an obligation of conscience Who hindereth we cannot suddenly see her by your sides Theodosius answereth It would be my desire but thou seest the impediment I fear my sister will not like it Chrysaphius replieth Truly my Ladie your Sister ought to be satisfied with the absolute command your Majesty giveth her in all the affairs of your Kingdom without attempting on the contentments of your marriage or the honour of this good Princess whose faults she should rather cover with her royal purple if any such had escaped her but of necessity she ought to honour her merits Let me alone and I will give her satisfaction Theodosius giveth him absolute Commission and thereupon as it is most probable he adviseth the Empress to return to Constantinople with small noise and much haste and so plotteth that the Emperour under colour of going a hunting saw her spake to her treateth with her of her return which presently was published and all the Citie which passionately affected her ushered her in Behold her arrived as if she had flown in the air and received with much honour and magnificence into the Palace Pulcheria amazed at this accident setteth a good face upon it entertaineth her with strict embraces congratulateth her pilgrimage speaketh to her of nothing but of Monasteries Crosses Reliques In the mean time very closely sheweth she did not well like him who had contrived this Chrysaphius imagining Chrysaphius an heretical Eunuch projecteth to ruin Theodosius his Couâ—â— he had to do with an Imperious Maid seasoned from her youth in government who never would forgive him this fault resolveth to play at fast and loose thinking he had credit enough to do this by the means of Eudoxia For the love which Theodosius bare to her upon her return was a torrent which after it hath a long time been restrained breaketh the forced dammes and with vigorous impetuousness drowneth the fields He was so ardent and passionate that he seemed unable to deny her any thing This was the cause why Chrysaphius whose name is as much as to say a seamster of gold having already made a seam of his trade stitched another together more strong than the former He boardeth the Emperour under the wings of Eudoxia in the heat of his affections most ardent Both joyning to make the battery more forcible declare to him That MADAME his Sister daily desired to gain repose as she had often said and that it was a thing lawfully due for the long services she had yielded to the Crown That it was a wonder how she having dedicated herself to the Church by the vow of virginitie could persevere so long in Court That hereafter Theodosius had one who held with him the first place in all favours on whom be might repose himself and was thereunto obliged by reason which was his wife That the spirit of Pulcheria was not suitable to the humour of Eudoxia when one star riseth the opposite must fall Theodosius apprehended this business as the most slippery path he had ever trod but what cannot love and the soft inticements of a woman do Wearied out with ceaseless importunities he yieldeth he sendeth for Flavian the Patriarch and intreateth him to put his sister Pulcheria in the rank of virgins who are dedicated to the service of the Church were she willing or unwilling Flavian much amazed at this manner of proceeding telleth him he should take good heed of this resolution that he undertook one of the greatest passages of State he had ever done in his life and that the danger thereof was much to be feared The Emperour replieth he hath well pondered it that such was his will and he must speedily see it executed The Patriarch Pulcheria being exceedingly affected by all the Clergy adviseth her to withdraw without further resistance otherwise he should be forced to do that which would much trouble him The good Ladie understood well Virtue of Pulcheria what he would say she had already smelt the plot and was unwilling to do any thing unworthy of her virtue for seeing her fortune altered by the change of the Emperour her brothers will she freely dispoyled herself of the manage of affairs as from a shirt which one hath long worn and retiring from the Palace went to lodge in a house somewhat distant from Constantinople where she lived in marvellous sanctity Virtue is as the Geometrical Cube on what side soever it be cast it always findeth its basis Behold then a new face of government which beginneth Chrysaphius entangleth the Emperour and his wife in the heresie of Eutyches under Chrysaphius and Eudoxia But the mischief was an old dotard called Eutyches came into the field to sow an heresie holding the body of our Lord after the union with the Word was no more of the same nature that ours are but that the humanity was wholly dissolved into the Divinity The hypocrite so covered his opinion that he shewed not to teach this doctrine but for the reverence he bare to the Son of God This became a stumbling-block to many good souls As he advanced this proposition the Bishops opposed to suppress it and he for a shelter cast himself into the arms of Chrysaphius who not contented to embrace this business with all fervour embarketh likewise therein the Emperour Theodosius and Eudoxia his wife first through great simplicity afterward by a strange unhappiness which almost brought them to destruction if the Divine goodness had not otherwise disposed Theodosius the holy and pious Emperour persecuted the Religious and Saints He wrote to Pope Leo in favour of Eutyches he caused false Councels to be held and covered the seditious under the protection of his arms even to the authorizing the attempt committed on
to declare him Successour in his Empire Pulcheria married him onely under the title of wedlock with mutual consent of both parties to keep virginity This woman was made to govern men and Empires She was already fifty years old and had mannaged the State about thirty seven Behold she beginneth a new reign with the best man of the world who onely had the name of a husband and in effect served and respected her with as much regard and humility as if he had been her own son She could not in the world have made a better choice This great man was naturally enclined to piety justice compassion towards the necessities of mankind He was very valiant for he Marvellous accident of Martianâ—s had all his life time been bred among arms and during his Empire no barbarous Nation durst stir so much was he feared It was a wonder by what byass God led him directly to the height of worldly honours He was of base extraction a Thracian born of a good wit and a body very robustious which made him find a sweetness in war He going to Philippolis to be enrolled in the list of souldiers by chance it happened he found a dead body upon the way newly massacred This good man who was very compassionate had pitie thereon and approched to give it burial but this charity was like to have cost him his life for being busily employed to enterre this body one laid hold on his throat as if he had been the murderer and that he made this grave for no other intention but to bury his own guilt The poor man defendeth himself in his innocency as well as he could but conjectures prevail beyond his defence He was now under the sword of the executioner when by good hap the homicide was produced who had done the deed convicted by his own confession This man thrust his head into the place of the innocent and Martianus brought his away to behold it one day glitter under the rubies and diamonds of the Imperial Crown This was not without long trials of his ability which transferred him from degree to degree through all the hazards of a long and painfull warfare He was then mature in years in account one of the greatest Captains of the Empire Behold why Pulcheria could not be deceived in her choice This good husband who held his wife as a Saint was wholly directed by her counsels and she daily purified his soul in religion and policie He became in short time so brave and perfect in this school that he was accounted one of the most accomplished Emperours who had born the scepter since Constantine God well shewed his Good success of Martianus love and faithfull protection towards Martianus when in the second year of his Empire he diverted the furious Attila from the East who even now roared over the Citie of Constantinople as a thunder-stroke before it brake in shivers This Attila was a Scythian a great Captain who promised to himself the Empire of the world and for that cause had taken the field with an Army of 700000. men composed of strange and hydeous Nations who had gone out of their countrey like a scum of the earth ranging themselves under the conduct of Attila for the great experience he had in the mannage of arms He notwithstanding was a little man harsh violent his breast large his head great the eye of a Pismeer his nose flat his beard close shaved beginning already to wax grisled He walked with so much state as if he thought the earth had been unworthy to bear him and â—â—ough meerly barbarous the desire of honour so possessed him that being one day at Milan and seeing pictures where the Roman Emperours were represented who had Scythians his Countrey-men cast at their feet was so enraged that instantly he sent for a painter and caused himself to be drawn in a very eminent golden throne and clothed in royal robes and the Emperours of Rome and Constantinople bearing bags on their shoulders filled with crowns then made them to be poured at his feet alluding hereby to the vast sums of money he in good earnest extorted from the Empire and which Theodosius gave him afterwards to divert the course of his arms thinking that speedily to dispatch such an enemy out of his territories it was onely fit to make for him a bridge of silver This man seemed created to shake the pillars of the earth and for that cause made himself to be called The scourge of God There was no infant so little in the arms of the nurse who hearing Attilas named did not think he saw a wolf He considering that Martianus a most valiant man at that time swayed the Eastern Empire durst not come near but hastened to fall upon the West where Valentinian the Younger reigned son of Honorius cousin of Theodosius and Pulcheria a wanton and dissolute Prince as you shall understand in the course of this history loosing his life and Empire by his sensuality So it was that Attila attempting first upon the Gaules found work enough for the Romanes French and Gothes not unlike dogs who after they have worried one another rally themselves together to resist the wolf by a common consent heartened each other under the conduct of Aetius Moroneus and Thyerry against this Barbarian and having given him battel defeated one part of his army in the Catalonian plains but he failed not to pack a way creeping along like a great serpent which loaden with redoubled blows given by peasants hath received a maim in his body and notwithstanding saved his head God who derideth the proud and in his Amphitheater is pleased to make not Lions to fight with bulls but the weakness of the earth against the most insolent greatness reserved the conquest of this monster to Religious persons and women It is a wonder he coming to Rome as to the period and butt of his ambitions all enflamed with great desires in this clattering of harness and loud noise of Armies all the world trembling under the scourge the brave Pope S. Leo went out to seek him and preached so well unto him that being come thither as a lion he returned as a lamb for Attila entertained him with marvellous respect So had he done before to S. Lupus Bishop of Troyes granting him whatsoever he could desire All his Captains were much amazed for among other titles this Hun had the name of being inexorable to suppliants and it then being curiously asked of him who made him at that time loose his furie he confessed he saw a venerable person by Leo's side it was the great Saint Peter who threatned him with death if he condescended not to what the good Pope desired of him Attila then leaveth Italie and passeth into Sclavonia without being wished for again but by one sole woman Alas who would believe it Honoria sister of the Emperour cousin germane to Pulcheria fell in love with this monster I know not what
Wandals in sect an Arian reigning in dffrick to make a voyage into Italie which he did with a huge Army by means whereof he easily possessed himself of Rome where all was in disorder And as he thither came rather led by his unquencheable avarice than any motive of justice or piety he riffled all that which was rich and excellent even to the treasures of the Temple of Jerusalem whereof some had still been preserved at Rome ever since Vespasian Maximus after he had reigned two moneths is knocked down and rent like a sacrifice He who in all charges had well thrived with honesty when he began to practice treachery found that which a great Prelate had said Sidon Apol. lib. 3. Ep. 13. Vt scorpius ultimâ parte percutis in his history That great mens fortunes like sâ—orpions carry their venom in their tails The Empress Eudoxia who to satisfie her feminine passion had made all this goodly innovation in the sight of the great Pope S. Leo who was spectatour of all these calamities mended not her market for she with her two daughters were by this Barbarian carried into Africk one of which bare her name and was married to the son of Gensericus who afterward possessed the scepter and the other was Placidia sent in the end with her mother to Constantinople after the death of Martianus Behold terrible accidents Eudoxia our pilgrime after recital made to her of Conversion of Eudoxia all this tragedy be gan seriously to open her eyes and laying her hand just upon the wound acknowledged so many disasters had befallen her for that she had strayed from the true faith Thereupon to settle her wavering spirit she deputeth an Embassadour to holy Simeon Stilites near the Citie of Antioch This Simeon was a prodigie of man who lived in a Stilites body as if he had been but a spirit For figure to your self a pillar fourty foot high and on this pillar some little shroud fixed there as a birds nest open and exposed on all sides to the injuries of weather there this great man to raise his body to God as well as his heart placed his abode It was a strange lodging where he could neither lye nor sit in any fashion but ever stood bolt upright without roof without coverture his hairs being somewhat whitened with snow and his beard full of ysicles sometime roasted with the boiling heats of the Sun and in the midst of all this he passed his days and nights in contemplation eating but once a week and that very sparingly To this famous Hermit then who was the Oracle of Christendom Eudoxia sendeth Anastatius a trusty Bishop who in much secrecy laboured her conversion to consult with him upon doubts of faith Simeon answereth in these terms Poor Princess the malice of the evil spirit who saw the great treasures of thy rare virtues would needs winnow and sift thee Theodosius the false Monk a minister of Satan hath corrupted thy fair and glorious soul But courage my Daughter thou shalt die in the true faith consult no more with me thou seekest water far off having the fountain near at hand It he hoveth to address thee to Euthymius who will serve as thy directour in a happy way This answer being related to Eudoxia she caused this Euthymius to be sought out on all sides who should undertake this business He was a venerable Hermit having become hoary in the exercises of a long penance and one who was hard to be found out so much he avoided light and the conversation of men Notwithstanding God permitted him to be found and brought as it were by force to the place where the good Empress was She seeing this blessed old man prostrated herself at his feet saying Father I have lived long enough since I have the honour to behold you it is from your hand I expect the remedy of all my evils The holy man raising her with much sweetness Daughter saith he the evil spirit hath too much abused your credulity It is time you open your eyes to see the scourges of God All your ills have proceeded of nothing but infidelity And if now you desire to be cured there is but one word Stand no longer upon disputation but follow the Councels of Nice and Constantinople Behold the rule of your faith which you shall learn of John Bishop of Jerusalem Euthymius after he had thus spoken to her returneth to his Cell and she goeth directly to the Temple of Jerusalem attended by an infinite number of Religious lifting their hands to Heaven in thanksgiving for this conversion She abjureth the heresie of Eutyches between the hands of the Bishop and absolutely reconcileth herself to the Catholick Church with so much fervour and zeal that she ceased not all the rest of her days to extirpate impiety amplifie the church in all parts of the East where her power extended The good Empress then led a life wholly celestial Worthy life and glorious death of Eudoxia her soul being purged in the furnace of painful tribulation afterward purified more and more in the love of God held not of the body but by a slender thread Her heart was an incense daily dissolved into the flames of her charity sending to Heaven its fragrant exhalations Her two eies were the conduits by which penance with a powerfull expression distilled tears which are as the nectar of the love of God her hands like those of the Spouse true globes of gold replenished with an ocean of bounty poured through the cities and deserts of Palestine In every place nothing was to be seen but Churches and Hospitals but houses for the poor built at her cost so that an Authour named Cyrillus who lived in her time assureth it was a thing impossible to number them God being willing to dispose her passage out of this life by the exercise of so many good works And being upon the confines of her last year she went to visit a magnificent Church of S. Peter which she had founded and one day reposing near to a cestern where she laboured for the good of the said Church she began to cast her eyes upon a great number of Monasteries all near one to another which were in the charge of her good father Euthymius then fetching a deep affectionate sigh she spake these words of the 24. Numeri O Jacob Numb 24. Quam pulchra sunt tentoria tua O Jacob habitationes tuae O Israell how fair are thy pavillions O Israel how excellent thy tabernacles Then turning herself to a gentleman of her train Go saith she seek out Euthymius and intreat him to do me the honour that I once again may speak to him If he shall say he speaketh not with women tell him I no longer know what sex is and that I converse onely with Angels Euthymius in his cell had by revelation that this Saint should quickly pass to a better life and he came directly to bring
would he not die for fear the part of his friend which yet lived in himself might perish All this well declared he had great dispositions to love and that to what side soever his affections tended they never would be with mediocrity It seemed now all things conspired against him to kindle a coal in his veins which the revolution of many years could not extinguish First as nothing is more dangerous to foment this passion than ill example he lived in a place as contagious for chastity as the North wind for plants Saluianus a great Writer speaking Salvian l. 7. de gubernat Tam novum est impudicum non esse Afrum quâ—m Afrum non esse Afrum of Africk which bred S. Augustine saith It was the Country of loves and that it was as strange a man should be an African without being an African as to be an African and not lascivious Secondly these dangers so frequent which seemed to require much retention found liberty enongh in the house for the tears of the blessed S. Monica were not as yet sufficient to stay the course of insolent youth since the father little cared for that he having one day beheld his son in the baths spake some free words which served rather as a spur for sensuality than a motive to continency In the third place as the eye must be open to direct occasions so he therein used so little study that having a soul as it were of sulphure so much was it disposed to take fire he hastened to throw himself into the midst of flames He haunted the company of Libertines who are the most dangerous enemies to chastity and being of a humour very gentile and pleasing gave love and reciprocally received and although he had none needs must he counterfeit When he came to Carthage about the sixteenth year of his age there was not a street where love spread not his nets He as yet knew not well what it was to love and yet desired to be beloved and grew weary of living in innocency He hated his liberty and sought a hand which captived him He went to Theaters there to behold loves represented where he servently was enamoured of the passions of imaginary lovers yea his very eyes hunted in the Church after objects of concupiscence by glances too too dissolute for which he confessed to have been very particularly chastised by the hand of God since he mingled the sanctity of the place with the enterainment of the profane actions This ulcered soul threw it-self out of its compass and took wind and fire on every side It seemed to him he must excel in vice as well as in science He made himself more vicious than he was to appear more gentile in the eyes of evil men and there remained for him nothing more as it were in this point but one shame not to have been sufficiently impudent In the end he fell into the snares he desired and was involved in admirable labyrinths where ever the end of one love was the beginning of another This life so carnal was a perpetual hinderance to the visitations of God For as Platonists say stars cannot exercise their virtue on the sphere of fire So all the light of good counsel had no force in the flames of such a passion His spirit was depraved by sensuality allured by the bait of worldly beauties and darkned with the obscurity of his blindness in such sort that the light of the spirit of God in him found no place If there be a vice in the world which tyeth the soul to flesh and makes it stupid to the feeling of God it is this foul sin and although it be not wholly incompatible with science yet never accorded in the wisdom of heaven which is more conversant in the tast of heavenly things than in knowledge The seventh SECTION Dispositions towards the conversion of Saint Augustine BEhold the principal impediments of the conversion of S. Augustine but God who insensibly wove this work and draws good even from the evil of his elect caused him to use the remedy of the scorpion that stung him For as he pursuing his ordinary curiosity plunged more and more into solid sciences he began by little and little to distast the doctrine of the Manichees finding it very strange that a man should make all kind of dreams and sottishness to pass for verities under the false seal of the holy Ghost Those of his faction who saw him waver oft lent their helping hands too weak to support him and knowing their own inability promised quickly to cause the prime man of their Sect to come from Carthage who should disengage his mind from so many doubts and afford him ample satisfaction They failed not in their promise for in few Faustus and his qualities Pretiosorum poculorum decentissimus ministrator Conf. 5. 6. days the false Bishop Faustus arrived who was as the sword and buckler of the Manichees He was a man of a fair presence had charms in his tongue and many attractives in his conversation able to ensnare the most subtile wits He instantly set himself to frame some studied discourses upon the maxims of his superstition which were heard with great applause by the whole faction For indeed he was an Eagle among Parrets These men supposing that Augustine was fully setled in all their apprehensions and approbations asked him what he thought of the Bishop Faustus and whether he were not an incomparable man He very coldly answered he was eloquent and throughly able to tickle an ear but his malady daily encreasing could not be cured by a man who perpetually speaketh and shuffles up the matter and threfore besides his goodly sermons there was need of a particular conference where he might fully discharge his mind Faustus endowed with a natural curtesie thinking he had to do with a young spirit whom he with words would amuse accepts the disputation where instead of finding a crane he encountred an eagle who handled him roughly from the beginning of the battel This man made him presently appear to be of base gold and that this tallent was no other than that he was an indifferent Grammarian had read some orations of Tully the memory whereof were very fresh in him some epistles also of Seneca with a mixture of poesy but in the books of his own Sect he had very little knowledge All that which made him esteemed in publick consisted in a grace of language which proceeding from a fair body was exposed with the more exteriour pomp Behold that which now throughout the world authorizeth an infinite number of men who are in the opinion of ignorant or the indifferently knowing as flying fires in the air When Augustine put him upon the solstices equinoctials eclypses the course and motion of stars wherewith the books of Manes are replenished this man then found himself in a new world but yet was wily for he was not as the sottish Manichees who promising evidence upon this
hath observed and ever having on his lips the Cruentae manus vestigia parietes tui Lugdune testantur Hieron ep 3. name of S. Ambrose His body after the soul departed was taken up to be presented to Maximus as the monument of a faithfull assassinate O God! who shall here be able to cleave a cloud to read through so much darkness and so many shadows the secrets of your Providence This poor Abel butchered by the hand of a Cain with a cruelty so barbarous a manner so perfidious and a success so deplorable A Prince who sheltered the whole world under the valour of his arms forsaken by the most trusty servants of his house An Emperour most Religious separated by death from the assistances of Altars A Monarch most just given as a prey to injustice One of the best Maâ—â—â—rs of the earth slain by servile hands and used like a beast among the halbards and courtelaxes of his own servitours So many rare qualities as were in him leave nothing else to mortals but the sorrow to have lost him A man who deserved to have lived Ages torn from his Throne and life in his 28 â—h year after a reign so advantagious to the Church and wishfull to all the world O Providence Must he pass away as the foam glideth on the face of the water Must he be hayl-strucken as the Crown Imperial the honour of a garden in the height of his beauty Must he wither as lightening causeth pearls in their growth leaving them in stead of a substance nought else but a shell O God! What bloud of Abels must be shed in all Ages to teach us a lesson which telleth the reward of our children consisteth not in the favour and prosperities of the world but that seeing in such innocency they are so roughly handled your justice hath infallibly disposed them for another life where they live covered with the purple and glory of your Son whose sufferings they have imitated The poor Constantia wife of Gratian hearing this lamentable news was seized with overwhelming sorrow and as soon as she came to herself again Ab Gratian saith she my Lord and dear husband I have then found an evil worse than your death which is to have been the cause of the same Must my name be so much abused Must the love of a creature so caytive as I am engage into danger a life so important as yours I began my unhappiness from the day of my birth being Ambros in Psal 61. Meminit Gratiani morsistâ— magis est peccati fuga quà m morientis detrimentum born after the death of my father Constantius nature not permitting me to see him who gave me life That little age I have hath not ceased to be turmoiled with many uncertainties which enforce me to reap thorns in the fortune of Caesars where the world imagineth roses Yea I avow my most honoured Lord that this accident hath outgone all my apprehensions For although I figured you mortal as a man I could not suppose that he in whom all my charities and hopes survived should be taken from me so suddenly in a fortune so eminent in an age so flourishing with a death so unworthie of his goodness not leaving me at the least a son in my entrails to be born of me as his mother and which is worse that I instantly must Ob my dearest Gratian the sweetest amongst all men living redeem your bloudie bodie with the price of gold from the hands of a wretched slave My God I confess I have no strength to bear these calamities so violent if you afford it not The news of this death which flew like a fatal bird through all the world transfixed the hearts of all good men The little Valentinian resented it beyond his age seeing himself deprived of a brother whom he so faithfully had loved S. Ambrose though most couragious selt himself as it were surprized with sorrow and sadness not being able to unlose his tongue to pronounce any funeral Oration All the Court was infinitely affrighted as if Maximus had already been at the gates of Milan to finish the catastrophe of the Tragedy Justina the Empress mother of young Valentinian taking the care of affairs for her son in minority instantly made her address to S. Ambrose and besought him to undertake an Embassage and present himself before Maximus so to divert the stream of his arms which came to pour themselves on Italie and to demand the body of his pupil humbly praying not to neglect him dead whom he alive had so faithfully served The thirteenth SECTION The Embassage of S. Ambrose OUr great Prelate couragiously undertook the business fortifying his heart with assistances of Heaven to treat with the murderer of his son for one may well say the love he bare to the dead equalled that of fathers towards their children The acts of his first Embassage are lost although the effect hath been sufficiently published Which was the diversion of the arms of Maximus so much feared by the Empress Justina But as for the Emperours body it was impossible to gain it from him for Maximus said he with-held it upon a point of State well knowing this spectacle would have no other effect but to exasperate the memory of what was past and that the souldiers through fury might revenge the dead body much ashamed they had betrayed their living Emperour This wicked man insatiable in his desires and perfidious in his promises soon repented to have signed the peace complaining that Ambrose had with his fair words cast him into a sleep he was full of impetuous passions and incessantly threatned to pass into Italie nor should any thing hereafter hinder his intentions which made S. Ambrose enterprize a second Embassage at the sollicitation of the Empress Justina of whom we have a most faithfull narration from the pen of the Saint himself in an Epistle which he wrote to the Emperour Valentinian to yield him an account of his Commission There he relateth how being arrived in the Citie of Trier where Maximus had placed his Throne that he the next morning went to the Palace to speak to him in private The treacherous man who with so many Legions could not endure the counterbuff of truth delivered by a Bishop thinking to silence him sent one of the gentlemen of his chamber to demand if he had any letters from Valentinian to deliver him if so he should receive answer but that he might not speak to the Emperour himself but in full Councel S. Ambrose replieth that was not the audience which is usually given to persons of his quality that he had most important affairs to handle which might better be privately expressed in his cabinet than at the Councel-table He prayed the gentleman of his chamber to let him know this his request which indeed was most civil He did so but brought back no other answer but that he should be heard in Councel The good Bishop said that was somewhat
occasions as if they should thereby blot out their ignominie I say cowardous for it is to become confident in a base business where lackies and butchers may be Masters I say unhappy for it is the means to consummate his misery without having many witnesses needs must the desperate find some gate to escape from life as would enraged beasts from a list by leaping over the rails In the end when thou shalt die in this combat thou hast nothing to loose but a wicked soul And though thou art most wretchedly slain our Salmoneans will say thou diedst in the bed of honour and that sufficeth to be valiant to the world When thou art in the war thou shalt be a kind of 4. Disorder Tyranny in war Barbarian in such sort that the Peasants shall take thee to be more than an Army of Hunnes or Tartars If thou hast any command thou shalt march all puffed up with vain-glory and make thy self known by the disasters of the poor If thou be called on to put thy hand to thy purse thou shalt pay thy hostess with threats and thy souldiers with impunity of crimes Thou shalt endeavour to lengthen out the war as long as thou canst and if thou couldest kill peace it self it should suffer transfixed through the body with thy sword as the greatest enemy of worthy actions Thou shalt not hazard thy self to go much among musket-shots unless those muskets be charged with powder of Cypress as an Authour of this time hath told us where pistolets were shot in stead of bullets Trouble not thy self to number up thy wounds 5. Disorder Impuritie most dissolutâ— thou shalt ever more easily reckon them than thy crimes As for that which concerneth the vice of impurity I ordain no more limits to thy lust than health to thy reason Heretofore men affected to become better and a young Cavalier who made love to a Ladie by the lawfull ways of an honest marriage shewed himself virtuous to be beloved such correspondence was there then between love and virtue men always endeavoured to lodge their affections in a good place to become honest by the imitation of their loves which is the most pleasing way that may be found to innocency All was treated with so much honour that the least spot of blame was apprehended much more than death at this day matters go not so If thou wilt follow the course of times and the proceedings of Salmoneans thy pleasures shall be without order as thy concupiscence without measure Thou shalt make a trophey of dishonour nor shalt thou have other scope in thy love than vice nor other means but those which thy bruitishness shall provide thee Thou shalt make no difference between the bed of married that of virgins and women prostitute and when thou hast seduced an unhappy maid thou shalt vaunt it as if thou hadst gained a Citie For this purpose it is fit thou entertainest bravery 6. Disorder Perpetual wickedness thy belly and game for these will be the furies most familiar to thy humour thou shalt take the most costly stuffs out of the shops of Merchants to cover thy stench with gold and scarlet and thou shalt hold all the best Artisans in breath to serve thee When thou must pay thy debts thou shalt revenge benefits by force of injuries and close up thy infidelity with all sorts of ingratitude If thou hast 7. Disorder Barbarousnes in government of those under you subjects thou shalt use them like slaves and govern them with all rigour exercising violence on their bodies and rapine on their goods one shall feed thy dogs the other thy horses the other thy servants which ordinarily are petry Tartarians whose insolency fostered by the Masters and Lords doth all which may be expected from a servile soul that hath authoritie in its hands yea thou shalt endeavour to make good men believe that what thou hast done is for their preservation as was said to the poor shepheard from whom the sacrificers of Hercules had more sheep than would have served an Army of wolves Thy table notwithstanding the tears and necessities of the publick shall ever be abundant in delicacies and for thy recreation thou shalt play thy gold with a full hand although it be the bloud of so many men to whom thou art beholden Thou shalt be the chicken of the white hen and needs must the riches of the wealthy the industry of trades-men the virtues of innocent even hunger it self and the miseries of the most wretched be tributaries to thy riots I wish that exteriourly thou appear with an open 8. Disorder Perfidiousness visage a smiling countenance a very honest deportment but be thou inwardly full of cauteries and be thy heart always replenished with more stains than the most spotted skin of a Panther Thou shalt Abominable manners sell thy soul to ambition and to advance thy fortune shalt neither hearken to God Angel conscience nor virtue Thou shalt have no regard to the person either of father mother brother or sister but the measure of all thy amities shall be thy own interests Thou must not think any thing unjust when it shall be for thy own accommodation nor be thou scrupulous in matter of conscience of what side soever profit accrew it hath ever a good savour Thou shalt to suit with the time bear a mind more black than the abyss and to ruin an innocent shalt not spare such treacheries and treasons as have heretofore been accounted most horrible but the custom of the Age which is so naturalized in vice causeth that we now grow familiar with monsters Thou shalt raise gain out of all if thou canst and let there not be a vice that yields thee not tribute Thy words shall be full of cunning thy cunning of promisses and thy promisses of wind Finally thou shalt live in Christianity as a Janissary at the Porta of the great Turk and for recompence when thou shalt end thy days which cannot last very long thou shalt directly go to the Paradice of Mahomet with those great lights Sardanapalus Epicurus Bajazet and Selymus Behold the infamous and pernicious discourse which this wicked Master held with this young man wherein you may observe a true Satyre of the lives of many who entitle themselves Noble although their manners are far worse than these my words and that the imagination of a writer cannot so much feign but they in their profane actions will express much more Let us now behold the Palace of true valour and take an antidote against the poisons of the times The third SECTION The Temple of Valour and sage Precepts given by the Christian Souldier to refute the manners of the times And first that Pietie helpeth Valour THe Souldier pursuing his way entereth into the Temple of Valour where according to the excellent conceits of the painter before mentioned he beholdeth on the frontispiece of the Palace a goodly tower of Chrystal adorned with lights as
it were a prime virtue of your profession Believe me it is the worm which gnaweth all great actions the moth which eateth all the vigour of spirit the stain which defileth al the fairest ornaments of life the labyrinth which hindereth all generous designs the rock which wracketh all vessels the gulf which devoureth bodies and souls The wise Secretaries of nature have observed that Divers kinds of love all creatures which have the breath of fire have the tayl of a Dragon Nor likewise do we ever see carnal love vehemently enflamed but that it produceth some serpentine hydeous and disasterous issue I affirm fire penetrateth into the marrow of the total nature of the Universe but hath effects very different according to the subjects wherein it resideth It otherwise scorcheth in Heaven otherwise in hell otherwise in the bodies of beasts otherwise in sulphur and gun-powder and such like bodies able to receive its action It filleth the stars in Heaven with a flame full of lustre and honour It tormenteth the damned in hell it entertaineth the life of creatures it wasteth all bodies drie or oily to reduce them either into ashes or smoak Take my comparison and say with me there are lovers who burn as Heaven others as hell others as bodies well composed others as oyl and wood The first lovers have the ardours of Heaven who entertain chaste and spiritual love for things Divine These are pleasures which the jealous eye cannot espie the slanderous tongue cannot bite bad report is not accustomed to defame which equals have no cause to envie nor can Tyrants armed with horrour of so many torments find the means how to take it from Martyrs When we love God we find him every where we speak to him every where we serve him every where and every where we feel the services done to him have their recompence We talk to him as well in the whales belly as in the flaming furnace witness Jonas and the three children who found Chappels wholly built in the entrails of fishes and flames because the love of God the wisest architect of the world had framed such for them The second lovers burn as hell who live perpetually in stinking wicked and infamous concupiscences in dark extraordinary and desperate passions who are in sensuality as in an abyss fettered with a long chain of servitude never having any part of the air or light of the children of God The third are as bodies mixed who entertain conjugal honest and moderate amities such as are found in good marriages which are used according to God in all honour and sanctity Those of the fourth order enkindle one another as so many little bodies that daily minister fuel to the fire wasting spirit flesh and means in certain frivolous and giddly loves which after much use make men of vapour ashes and smoak You now adays shal find that affections purely conjugal are very rare and celestial loves much more but every where there are many men who burn like hell or pitch There are four sorts of love which have been great Four sorts of love enemies and still are to the reputation of a good souldier the one is the love of sensuality the other of fantasie the third of servitude and the fourth of fury On what side soever you turn your face assure your self Sir you shall find nothing beautifull in this ugly beast Love of sensuality which subsisteth onely in voluptousness Love of sensuality of body is a bruitish base and wandering love which is ever employed to spie out and trade for flesh having no other design but to satiate an unworthy concupiscence more unsatisfied than fire the abyss and hell If nature had created you some Mustapha to grow fat in a Seraglio that you had never heard speech of good or honour it were tollerable but to see a brave souldier well born and bred up to pass his life in laying snares for chastity to search out of both sexes such as make traffick of the sins of others to train up a wicked servant to be the messenger of your passions to promise swear forswear to seduce poor forsaken maids to cast them from necessity into disgrace and from disgrace into despair how can it be but abominable Think you the earth is made to be replenished with your sins and charities to be instituted to support your crimes It is idleness that serves as a store-house for your passions and it is your remisness which doth not so much as vouchsafe to seek out a remedy If you be resolved to lead such a life give up your sword for you dishonour it It is no reason that it alone should retain the virginity which all your other members have lost You cannot well serve two mistresses Venus and Bellona since they are so different And go not about to propose to your self that Sampson David and Caesar made them well accord together believe me when they came to be lascivious they ceased to be valiant It was neither with the looking-glass nor comb of Dalila that Sampson slew a thousand Philistines but with the jaw-bone of an Ass Whilest he preserved himself from women he was a sun and a thunder-blot a sun to enlighten his Nation a thunder-bolt to destroy the Philistines So soon as a woman had shaved him he of a sun became a coal of a thunder-bolt a vapour and of a man a lame jade who from the field of battel was sent to mill no longer having eyes but to deplore the disaster of his loves with tears of bloud When David in the list overthrew the Giant he had not then received the wound from Bath-sheba's eye But after he had seen her at the fountain his eyes ceased not to cast forth flouds and love dried up all his Laurels that they had very much ado to wax green again in the water of so many tears Hold it also for undoubted that Caesar being in the snows of the Gauls thought not of committing adulteries at Rome the business or war took from him all the taste of love and never did he submit to the imaginations of a beast till he retained no more designs worthy of a man Voluptuousness never acteth any thing great but hath destroyed all that is great And when God is pleased to overthrow Empires he chooseth souldiers who have chaste hands to chastise the effeminate So Arbaces vanquisheth Sardanapalus So Alexander who would not look upon Queens his prisoners but with an eye of chastity defeated the Persians bond-slaves to luxury So the Gothes gained the Empire of Rome as saith Salvianus God being willing to purge the earth which the Romans had defiled by the arms of a Nation more chaste than themselves it being reasonable that those should enjoy their goods who would have no share in their vices The love of fantasie is more sottish than malicious Love of fantasie or sordid There be Cavaliers who perswade themselves they are the bravest men of their Age
first repast with poison well prepared so to send him into the other world This man amazed at such a dreadfull command asked of the Emperour If he had so well resolved on this affair as to use a son of so great merit in this manner Yea saith he I have thought upon it and it is necessary he die for I must tell you it not being needfull to inform you further that besides the practise conceived by him his life is incompatible with mine The other supposed he had plotted some conspiracy upon the life and scepter of his father behold the cause why he hastened the blow and being already very familiar with poor Crispus he accosted him with great complements of honour and courtesie feigning to make him merry because indeed he then saw him in a very sad humour upon that which had passed between him and Fausta covering his thoughts as much as he might to preserve the honour of his wicked step-mother Hereupon an unhappy banquet was prepared for the innocent Death of Crispus which was the last of his life poison being traiterously given him there where he least expected it Verily this death which way soever we look is most lamentable The Tragedies which bemoan it with so much ornament as that of our Stephanius have much spirit in them but taking onely the thing in the simple nakedness of the fact it ministereth matter of compassion to hearts most obdurate A young Prince at that time the most absolute in the world beautifull as an Absalom valiant as an Alexander innocent as a Joseph at that time taken away when he was at the gates of the Empire which expected him and taken away by a death so hydeous and treacherous and by the commandment of his father who caused him to die as one incestuous not admitting him to speak nor permitting him to justifie himself nor affording leisure to know himself nor one small moment of time to prepare himself for death which is allowed to the most criminal He was silently involved in the extremity of unhappiness to shut up the mouth of innocency and open that of calumny to rail against his very ashes The generous soul ever prepared for this passage by the laws of Christianity which it had so devoutly embraced issued out of his chaste body to hasten to the crown of the Elect leaving incomparable sorrows behind it Alas what doth not a wicked affection a calumny a suspition an unbridled anger an inconsiderate word O you Great-ones will you never learn wisdom by the evils of others As soon as this news came to the Court the wicked The rage of Fausta turned into pitie Fausta well saw it was an effect of her treachery and lively representing before her own eyes this poor Prince whom she before had so much affected at that time so unworthily massacred in a beauty in an age wherein such as die are most pittied and in a goodness which would have given matter of compassion to Tigers and Lions all her passion and hatred was turned into an enraged sorrow which made her crie out and lament at the feet of her husband confessing she had slain the chaste Crispus by her detestable calumny that it was she who had sollicited Calumny discovered him to evil but had found him a Joseph endowed with an invincible chastity and had detested her sin as it well deserved whereupon excited with choler and fearing to be prevented she had proceeded to this dreadfull accusation and therefore was unworthy to live since she had slain the most innocent Prince of the world and stained his own father with his proper bloud Constantine amazed beyond description at so prodigious an accident had neither reply nor sense of a man so much wonder had rapt him from himself but when he saw his holy mother Helena who had so tenderly bred up the poor Crispus bewailing him with unconsolable tears and begging of the father at the least the body of her grand-child to wash it with the waters of her eyes and bury it with her hands saying the wicked beast had slain her Joseph he was pierced to the quick with compassion mingled with fury Then the poor sister of the deceased who seemed nought else but the shaddow of her brother coming also to dissolve her self wholly into tears near to her Grand-mother this spectacle the more enkindled the passion of the Emperour And thinking that Fausta well deserved death being convinced of such a mischief by her own confession he caused her to enter into the bath and so in an instant to be smothered with the vapour which was a punishment wherewith many times they put persons of quality to death Behold the issue of the hydeous loves of Fausta to Death of Fausta teach all Ladies that those passions which begin by complacencies soothings and curiosities very often end in horrible tragedies In the mean time the house of Constantine remained long drenched in a dead silence and all was very secretly carried so that none knowing what publickly to think of the death of Crispus and Fausta it gave occasion to many to affirm they died for some conspiracy We cannot here excuse Constantine of a violent anger a precipitation a proceeding too bloudy Howsoever he caused Crispus to die under a false belief of impurity which he thought was to be revenged and Fausta punished by way of justice Behold why this sin though it hath much mischief in it yet it hath not the determinate wickedness of the sin of David in the death of Urias because the one wrought with a manifest knowledge of his crime and the other proceeded therein with much ignorance and sense of justice Yet Constantine after these exorbitances was touched with great remorse which in the end put him actually on the profession of Christianity The eighth SECTION The calling of Constantine to Christianitie The progress of his Conversion and Baptism I Have always esteemed the saying of S. Paulinus Constant 19. which we before alledged very probable that the faith of S. Helena did not onely make Constantine a Christian but the first of Christian Princes This good mother without doubt gave him the first tincture of Christianity but being of an ambitious and warlike spirit who went along with the main stream of the world he was not so soon confirmed in the faith and integrity of religion Notwithstanding he began to have most lively apprehēsions for his conversion about the seventh year of his Empire which was the year of the defeat of Maxentius whilest he had this great war upon his hands his temporal necessities opening his eyes that he might have recourse to spiritual forces He then endeavoured as he afterward relateth Beginning of the conversion of the Emperour to meditate seriously within himself that there was some Divine Providence from Heaven which gave concussions to victories and Empires without which the counsels of men were cloudy their Armies weak and labours vain Afterward
civil life which happeneth to them through depraved habits and inordinate idleness whereinto they have suffered themselves to slide from their tender years or by some other corruptions of a melancholy spirit which they soment to the prejudice of their repose These kind of natures are good neither in the countrey citie house-keeping nor in religion For we find that in all things we must use endeavour and that we came into the world as into a galley where if one cannot manage either the stern or oar he must at the least make a shew to stir his arms and imitate the Philosopher Diogenes who roled his tub up and down wherin it was said he inhabited to busie himself For my August l. â— de Civit. Dei Philo de sacri Abel Cain part I like well those people who banished all idle gods out of their walls and retained such as enjoyned travel For to live and take pains is but one and the same thing and that which the nourishment we take operateth for the preservation of life labour doth the like for accommodation thereof In the fifth station you have women of the sea who Non est ira super iram mulieris Eccles 15. much deceive the world by their fair semblances for they at first appear quiet and peaceable as a sea in the greatest calm having no want of grace or beauty which promiseth much good to those who know them not but one would not believe how they shift away upon the least wind of contradiction which is raised how they are puffed up and become unquiet with anger love avarice jealousie and other passions very active Such an one seeth the flower of the thorn who knoweth not the pricking thereof and such an one beholdeth with admiration those excellent beauties who cannot believe how many pricks and stings they cover under these imaginary sweetnesses You shall therein ordinarily observe very great levity and impatience which maketh them hourly to change their resolution in such sort that they think nothing so miserable as to remain still in one and the same condition I have seen young widows who had washed S. Zeno Hoâ— de continent the bodies of their husbands with their tears wiped them away with their hairs and as it were worn it by force of kisses and who not content with these ardent affections discharging the surplusage of their passion upon their own proper bodies tore their hair pulled their cheeks were rather covered with dust than apparel They died every hour saying they could not live one sole moment without their best-beloved and filled the air and earth with their complaints which was the cause why such as came to the funerals knew not whether they should bewail the dead or the dying Notwithstanding presently after these goodly counterfeitings they began again to reform their hair and change the dust of the pavement into the powder of Cypress to put painting upon their tears to adorn with a carcanet of pearl the neck which they seemed to destine to a halter to seek for Oracles from their looking-glass and to do all things as if death and love conspired to make their feast in one and the same Inn. I have observed others who being yet under the yoak were the best servants in the world but as soon as they saw themselves at liberty there were no worse mistresses than they There are noted to be in the heart of a woman the passions of a tyrant and should they continually have wheels and gibbets at their command the world would become a place of torture and execution Never have I seen passions more hard to vanquish for in the end the sea which threateneth the world to make but one element suffereth it self to be distinguished into ditches by little grains of sand which stayed it with the commission they received thereupon from God but when a woman letteth the reins of her passion go there is not as it were neither law divine or humane which can recal her spirit to reason Fair maids take ever from the modesty of your hearts the laws which may be given you by justice In the sixth degree are the natures of the Ape who Custodi te à muliere mâ—lâ— Prov. 6. have a certain malice spightfull and affected and such spirits may be found of this kind who day and night dream on nothing but mischief They are filled with false opinions sinister judgements disdains smothered choller discontents acerbities in such sort that the ray of the prosperity of a neighbour reflecting on their eyes makes them sigh and groan And as those Apes which sculck in the shop of a Trades-man mar his tools disturb his works scatter his labours and turn all topsie-turvie So these malicious creatures spie occasions to trouble a good affair to dissolve a purpose well intended to overthrow a counsel maturely diliberated to cause a retardation on the most just desires and frustrate the most harmless delights How many times do we behold the sun to rise chearful and resplendent in a bright morning and every one is abashed to see a mist arise which in this serenity doth that which blemishes on a fair body It is said it sometimes proceedeth from a sorceress which darkeneth that glorious eye of the day with her charms And how often have you observed prosperities more radiant than the clearest summers day which have been cloyed with duskie vapours by the secret practises of a woman who biteth the bridle in some nook of a chamber Fair maids malice is an ill trade It ever drinketh down at least the moity of the poison which it mingled for others In the seventh Region there are some kind of owls Mulicrum penus avarissimum or wild-cats certain creatures enemies of day of all conversation all civility and all decorum who having received from God many honest enablements to adorn life and to do good to persons necessitous so lock up their entrails that you may sooner extract honey and manna from flints than get a good turn out of their hands How is it possible they should be courteous to oblige their likes since they are many times cruel to themselves defrauding themselves of the necessities of life which are as it were as common as elements to satisfie a wicked passion of avarice that gnaweth them with a kind of fury For they endure in abundance part of that which the damned suffer in flames perpetually and fearing lest the earth may fail them they bewail what is past they complain of the present they apprehend the future they love life onely to hold money in prison and fear not death but for the expence must be made at their funerals Let us take heed we resemble not those fountains Fountain Garamant Holunicus S. Bonaventura in dieta which are so cold in the day that they cannot be drunk and so hot in the night that none dare come near them Let us do good both in life and death
the direction of the family the government of men and maid-servants the example of youth and the comfort of the family She maketh her self necessary in the best affairs there is much repose in her prudence her health is accounted important her life precious her death deplorable and her memory replenished with honour The wisest of men Solomon hath given no other marks to know a virtuous woman than the Oeconomy she holdeth in the government of her family She hath considered saith Pâ—ov 3â— he the paths of her house and hath not eaten her bread in idleness she hath taken pains in linnen and wollen She is become as a ship laden with victuals and riches She riseth before day to provide fitting food for her familie She hath made purchase of farms and entertained traffick She hath put her hand to work then opened it to the necessity of the poor All her servants are in good order her husband and children cannot sufficientlie praise her for her great wisdom She is a lamp which will never be extinguished in the darkness of night Behold somewhat near the terms which he useth to reckon up the perfections of a wife ending with wisdom and fear of God which is the first and last ornament The ninth SECTION Conjugal Love IN the end as love is a generous passion which by It is the Epithere which S. Paul giveth to virtuous women calling them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Tit. 2. its good government crowneth all virtues I would advise a married Ladie for the accomplishment of her perfection to bear a most cordial charity towards her husband This is no hard matter when there is good fortune and correspondence in marriages for complacence ever maketh wings for love and it is held a happiness to love that which pleaseth our passion But it is a most pitifull thing when parents blinded with avarice and charmed with the sweetness of pretended interests renew the example of cruel Mezentius who tyed the living to the dead and endeavoured to match a poor young maid who surviving in favours blessings from heaven with a husband putrified in vices ordures and diseases of body Then is a time when much virtue is to be shown in putting on a resolution to love a monster from their most tender years to their tomb What should we do therein The law of nature gives us free permission to desire good husbands but the laws of marriage exhort us to bear theÌ„ as much as we may howsoever they prove If we love for our selves this is impossible but if for God we therein shall find duty and facility A woman cannot seek out a shorter way to the perfection of her sex than by wedding the humours of her husband so that they be not opposite to the commandments of God she who well obeyeth commandeth well and when we once have surprised the heart of a man there is not any thing resisteth our wills Union is a marvellous cement which so straightly knitteth obedience and power together that it is a very hard matter to distinguish him who obeyeth from him that commandeth We have in all ages excelled in this conjugal piety there are hereof so many rare examples to be found that pens are troubled Vives relateth this in the second book of a Christian Woman of one named Clâ—râ— to express as well as ears to believe them Tender delicate young maidens have been seeÌ„ who inconsiderately married to husbands worn out with maladies perceiving froÌ„ the first night of her nuptials unguents ulcers and evil savours and finding a counterfeit health in bodies more fit for a tomb than a marriage bed yet have not abandoned them but loved honoured and served them watching sometimes fourtie days and fourtie nights about their beds never disarraying themselves Some one man hath been found among others whose indisposition drawing along with it seven years together the stench of wounds that were incurable the horrible infirmitie of members which appeared wholly disfigured did weaken all the forces of those who were willing to assist him overthrew the patience of the most faithfull wasted the charitie of the most zealous yea even such as do all for money abhorred to come near him And then to see a young maiden of sixteen years of age weak of complexion handsoâ— of bodie and endowed with a beautie which the most flourishing husbands would have coveted to tie her self to this dead body to stir it touch it cleanse it to give it broths to blow the powder of herbs into the nostrils of it which distilled an humour insupportable to all the world to cut his beard and hair when no man would undertake this adventure is it not a miracle of our sex worthy of the admiration of men the applause of histories and love of all posteritie What shall I say of one Eponina who having espoused See Lipsius in his Politiâ—ks a husband much clogged with troublesom affairs crimes yea even of treason was 9 years shut up with him in the vault of a sepulchre and afterwards seeing him to be discovered and condemned to death by the Emperour Vespatian would needs accompany him to execution die with him saying she alreadie was prepared for a tomb and that she could better tolerate it dead than alive What should I speak of a Persian Queen named Cabadis who seeing her husband detained in prison came to visit him not suffering her self to be known and giving him her garments of a wife to put on those of a husband afforded him opportunitie to escape paying afterward with her noble bloud the errour of her pietie Are not these prowesses worthy to be written in letters of gold and azure to be exposed to the view of all Ages A thousand-fold happy they whose concord hath bound love up with chains of adamant separation never finding place in the knot of marriage which God hath been pleased to tie with his own hands Let us for this cause preserve us from jealousie which useth to grow from the most beautifull loves as those worms which are said to issue from the fairest flowers It is a most unhappy passion formed by fantasie attired by suspitions darkened by discontents sed with bad humours by curiositie entertained with impostures by slander which gnaweth asunder all that which there is of virtue in chast affections troubleth the repose of beds embroyleth the affairs of housholds reateth alliances produceth monsters soweth fury and rage and having tormented all the world devoureth it self If our husbands fall into this miserie let us pitie them as franticks and take away from them all manner of occasions which may stir up their imaginations and if the like maladie surprize us let us not resemble those women who have travelled in the dead time of night through huge forrests full of horrour that they might hasten to watch their husbands accompanied onely with their passions whereof some fell between the teeth of wild beasts which to them were more pleasing
spared to use many love-dalliances but the affection she bare to this good Queen was so great that it razed out of his heart all other love as the ray of the sun scattereth the shadows and phantasms of the night The holy Lady perceiving the spirit of her husband already moved in hers and that there was no need of power but example so composed her manners in her marriage that she made her self a perfect model of perfections requisite for this estate Royal Crowns loose their lustre on heads without brains and brows without Majesty But this Lady made it presently appear that although her birth had not made her worthy of a Crown nor her good fortune had afforded it her merit alone had been of power to make her wear the best diadem in the world She practised in the Court of a Pagan King a strong vigorous devotion which was not puffed up with outward shews and vapours but wholy replenished with wisdom For she had a fear of God so chast that she apprehended the least shadows of sin as death a love so tender that her heart was as a flaming lamp which perpetually burned before the Sanctuary of the living God Her faith had a bosom as large as that of Eternity her hope was a bow in Heaven all furnished with emeralds which never lost its force and her piety an eternal source of blessings She had made a little Oratory as Judith in the royal Palace where she attended as much as time would permit to prayers and mortifications of flesh abiding therein as in a fortunate Island which made the sweetness of her immortal perfumes to mount up to heaven Yet did she mannage all her actions with singular discretion that she might not seem too austere in the eyes of her Court for fear weak souls might be diverted from Christianity by observing in her carriage perfections transcendent above ordinary capacities But all that which most passed in a common life was done by her and her maids with much purity fervour majesty and constancy It was an Angelical spectacle to see her present at Mass and dispose her self to receive the blessed Sacrament which she very often frequented to draw grace and strength from its source She honoured Priests as Messengers descended from Heaven as well to discharge her conscience as to hold her Religion in much estimation among Pagans The zeal of the houses of God which are Churches enflamed her with so much fervour that she had no delights more precious than either to cause new to be raised or to adorn those which had been erected so far as to make them receive radiance from the works of her royal hands Her charity towards the poor was a sea which never dryed up and her heart so large that all the hearts of the miserable breathed in hers She composed and decked herself dayly before the eyes of God putting on all virtues as it were by nature and rich attire of Ladyes for necessity But the King her husband she honoured as if she had seen the Saviour of the world walking upon the earth and not staying alone on the body she penetrated even to the center of this infidel soul which she beheld with eyes of unspeakable compassion She most particularly endeavoured to observe all his humours and follow the motions of his heart as certain flowers wait on the sun All that which Clodovaeus affected took presently an honourable place in the soul of Clotilda if he delighted in arms in dogs in horses she for his sake praysed arms dogs and horses regarding even the objects of the honest pleasures of her husband as her best entertainments Her conversation was full of charms and attractives which ever carryed profit along with them Sometimes she sweetened the warlick humours of her husband with harmony of reason sometimes she comforted him upon occasion of troubles which might happen in the world sometime she withheld very soberly and with prudent modesty his spirit which took too much liberty sometime she repeated unto him certain precepts of wisdom and practices of the lives of Saints and worthy personages that he might love our Religion sometime she pleased him with an eloquent tongue and an entertainment so delicate that nothing might be said more accomplished She was magnificent and liberal towards her household servants most exactly taking notice of the faithful services they yielded to her husband and kept her house so well united within the bands of concord and charity that it seemed as it were a little Temple of peace Slander uncleaness idleness impudence were from thence eternally banished virtues industry and arts found there a mansion and the miseries of the world a safe Sanctuary For she embraced all pious affairs of the Realm and governed them with so much equality of spirit that she resembled Angels who move the Heavens not using in themselves the least agitation May we not very well say this divine woman was selected out by God to a set golden face on an entire Monarchy by the rays of her piety The fifth SECTION The prudence which the Queen used in the conversion of her husband THe holy Queen brought forth a King and a great Monarch to Jesus Christ bearing perpetually his Court and the whole Kingdom in the entrails of her charity She had her Centinels day and night before the Altars who ceased not to implore the assistance for Heaven of the salvation of her husband and she her self often in deep silence of darkness caused her weeping eye to speak to God and adressed many vows to all the elect for the conversion of this unbelieving soul She very well considered that that which oftentimes slackeneth these wavering spirits in their endeavour to find the way of eternal life is certain interests of flesh and bloud certain impediments of temporal affairs some inordinate passion which tortureth and tyrannizeth over the mind Behold the cause why she took great care to sweeten the dispositions of her husband calm his passions and through a certain moral goodness facilitate unto him the way of the mysteries of our faith This being done she took her opportunity with the more effect and found the King dayly disposed better and better for these impressions He alreadie had the arrow very deep in his heart and began to ask questions proposing conditions which shewed he would one day render himself He said to Clotilda Madam I should not be so far alienated from your Religion were it not that I saw therein matters very strange which you would have me believe by power and authotity not giving any other reason thereof You would have me believe that three are but one in your Trinity that I adore a Crucified man and that I crucifie my self in an enforced and ceremonious life wherein I was never bred My dearest had I your good inclinations all would be easie to me but you know that all my life time I have been trayned up in arms If I should to morrow receive
strong sally and willed him freely to answer one word upon which he would ground the whole proceeding to wit Whether he were not a Roman Catholick That is it Sir saith the Prince which I avow which I publish which I protest For verily it is a crime which maketh the Judges become pale and the offenders laugh The accusation whereof is a vow all great souls should profess and the pain is a felicitie which Martyrs have bought with their bloud I wish to die a hundred times if it might be done for the glorie of that goodly title so far is it too little with one mouth to confess the praises of God Command if you please that my bodie be hewed and cut in pieces for the profession of the Catholick faith and then I shall have as many mouthes as wounds to praise my Saviour and all those wounds shall be as gates of bloud to give passage to my soul to the place where it is expected by so good companie The father said thereupon he was become a fool and that no man hated life but he who had ill employed it The son replied The misuse had been in heresie of which he repented him And at that instant the Guard received commandment to re-convey him to prison where he was so comforted with the visitations of God that finding with much difficulty means to send a Letter to his dear Indegondis he wrote to her in this manner The sixteenth SECTION The Letter of Hermingildus to his dear wife Indegondis and his generous resolution MY holy Mistress from whom I have received the faith and true knowledge of God I write these lines unto you clothed with sackcloth and loaden with fetters in the bottom of a dark dungeon for the defence of that Religion which you have taught me If I did not know by experience the invincible force of your heart and the resolution you practise in affairs which concern the service of God I had concealed my estate from you that I might not contristrate objects sensible to nature But most dear wife you have a forehead too noble to blush at the disgrace of the Crucifix and a courage too well fortified to refuse taking part in the liveris of the Saviour of the world I protest upon mine honour ' I could never perswade my self there might be contentment to suffer that which I tolerate when your innocent mouth preached unto me the reward of suffering wherewith your bodie bad heretofore been gloriously covered But since my imprisonment I have felt consolations of God so tastfull that I cannot think it possible to relish in the world any other antipasts of Paradise You are not ignorant that my life and conversation which hath been so long time plunged in errour and vanitie deserved not these benefits but your most pure hands which you so often have lifted up before Altars for my salvation have obtained that for me which much transcended my merit and all my hopes The King my father hath been pleased to hear me and I have pleaded my cause in fetters with so great assistance from the Heavenly goodness that I justified my self in all charges objected against me and have put the matter into such a condition that I am no further accused as a thief and homicide but as a Catholick I speedily expect my sentence and do not think I am put into the state wherein I am to save my life but I undoubtedly believe this will be the last Letter you shall receive from my hand I earnestly beseech your loyal heart that as in this action which shall close up my days I intend to do nothing unworthie of you so on your part act nothing unworthie of me betraying the happiness of my death with tears which would be little honourable to the condition whereunto God hath called me I put into the hands of the Divine Providence both you and your little Hermingildus the onely pledge of our holy loves Be couragious my dearest love and after my death take the way of Constantinople to render your self at the Palace of the Emperour Tiberius who is a good Prince and most Catholick I recommend unto you my poor soul as for the bodie let that become of it which shall please my father If the alteration of times and affairs bring you back into Spain there to bold the rank you deserve my ashes will likewise rejoyce at the odour of your virtues I hope my death shall not be unprofitable and that God will make use of it for the good of the Kingdom You know how many times I have heard you say that you would have bought the salvation thereof with your bloud you have already in it employed one part it is my turn to perform the rest upon a scaffold For in what place soever you are I promise my self to be most particularly assisted by your holy prayers The good Princess received this Letter with the news of his death as we will presently tell you but in this space of time Râ—caredus the younger brother of Hermingildus extreamly afflicted that having been a mediatour of this counterfeit peace he saw it end in so deplorable a Tragedie hasteneth to cast himself at the feet of his father beseeching him with infinite abundance of tears and lamentations either to give him the stroke of death with his own hand or save the life of his brother The father replied He was a furious fellow and a traitour to his fortune and that be ought to suffer justice to be done which would give him a Crown That his brother well discovered himself an enemie to his father and the State since he would not for his sake renounce onely so much as a fantasie Religion that he was onely questioned upon this point and that if be could perswade him to reason he was readie to save his life Recaredus prepared himself strongly to gain him and asketh leave to go to the Prison which was allowed him The young Prince seeing his brother covered with sackcloth and bowed under fetters was so amazed at this spectacle that he stood a long time mute as a statue but in the end breaking silence with a deep sigh Ab brother saith he it is I who have betrayed you it is I who have covered you with this fatal sackcloth I who have bound and fettered you with these cruel chains made for ignominious slaves not for your innocencie Brother behold my poynard which I present you revenge your self upon my guiltie head I have been culpable enough in that I have produced from a good intention so bad effects Hermingildus beholding him with a peacefull eye answered Brother why do you afflict your self Fall well do I know your innocencie What innocencie replied the other if unadvisedly I be the cause of your death by my disasterous Embassage But good brother since you are reduced to this extremitie I beseech you forgo the name of Catholick or if that seem unworthie of your constancie dissemble for some time and
making use of a riding-rod which he had in his hand drew a circle about Antiochus and enclosed him within it saying There is but one word to be used Before you come out from thence you must necessarily resilve either on peace with your sister or wars against the Senate and people of Rome He seeing himself so strongly charged gave way to their demands and wrote to the Senate That he esteemed the Masked complement Peace which came from their motion more glorious than all his victories and heard their Embassadours as if the Gods had spoken out of heaven to him Therein imitating the most supple Courtiers who in stead of shewing their discontent against power give thanks for a beating Howsoever becoming enraged with rancour Horrible persecution of the Hebrews to see so rich a prey escaped out of his hands he discharged all his choller upon the Jews as those who make their servants suffer for the losses they had in game He had a spleen against this religious Nation both through the motive of his own impiety and reason of State suspecting them more to encline to King Ptolemee's faction Behold why he entered into Jerusalem Anno Antiochi 7. like an enraged Lion with huge troups in the beginning pillaging the Citie and Temple sparing neither the prophane nor sacred swallowed excessive riches and plunged the fiery flames of his anger in the bloud and tears of four-score thousand people some killed divers sold and many fettered unable to satisfie his cruelty For presently after came out those wicked and Anno ejus 9. bloudy Edicts which made God a party with a violent hatred and let loose the rains of impiety even to the desire of utter defacing the marks of Religion The streets of Sion mourned Priests were banished or massacred the Altars demollished Temples polluted with ordures and uncleanness by abominable monsters who renewed sacrifices to Bâ—elphegor and Bacchus in the Sanctuary heretofore impenetrable to mortal eyes The abomination of desolation foretold by the Prophet Daniel which was a statue of olympick Jupiter was seen to be raised in the holy place in sight of all the world The books of the law were sought out through all the houses and committed to flames the festivals changed into Bacchanals all exercise of piety interdicted with whips wheels fires so far that two poor mothers being found administering Circumcision to two little in fants were drawn through the Citie having their lamentable offipring hanged about their necks and in that posture thrown into a ditch The whole Citie was nought else but a spectacle of gibbets and slaughters the Pagans by some false brothers conspiring with much fervour to put the Kings Edicts in execution Then was the time Eleazars combat with the seven young Machabees appeared Combat of Eleazar which is excellently described in the Scripture in Josephus and the Fathers of the Church that it were a thing superfluous to endeavour enlargement upon it with a more ample discourse I onely say that if God permitted upon one side to be seen the unbridled soul of a man professed an enemy of all piety on the other an admirable spectacle was beheld of fear and reverence rendered to his Name by the faithfull What a prodigie to see an aged man four-score and ten years old of one of the prime families of his Nation learned in the Law of an Angelical aspect to go smiling to punishment And he cracking even their hearts with compassion who sate as Magistrates upon his execution some perswaded him onely but to make a shew to eat hogs flesh for the Kings satisfaction But he reflecting on the true point of honour The hoariness saith he of this venerable hair wherewith my head is covered having waxed old in the exercises of Religion sufficiently teacheth me my dutie It is not fit for Eleazar to counterfeit impietie but profess virtue God forbid I should forget the law of my God dishonour the school and doctrine in which I was bred or become a scandal to these young men to whom God is now pleased to make a Theater of my Constancie The honour of my passed life shall enter into the ashes of my Tomb and my soul shall flie out of this bodie truly innocent and not bear infidelitie into the bosom of my Ancestours Then they tormenting him under the lashes of whips and fervour of flames he added My All-knowing God thou art not ignorant that it being in my power to free my self from death not to fail in thy fear I faint in my life I make thee the depositorie of my soul which issueth out of these torn members choosing rather to die tortured on all sides than to live one silly moment unfaithfull After Eleazar went the glorious mother of the The mother of the Macchabees Machabees along having the spirit of a man in a feminine body She entered first of all into the combat although she were the last that arrived to the crown bringing seven sons with her to death as to the true source of immortality This blessed creature stood between two flames the one of natural love the other of charity towards God Both combatted but there was but one prevailed that she might transcend all things under God As she lived in seven souls so she was sacrificed in seven bodies She saw the tongue torn out from one the toes and fingers of feet and hands cut off from another the skin pulled away all bloudy from the head of this that thrown into a boyling cauldron finally she beheld them all equal in punishment as she parallel'd them in love Some while she delivered one to the executioners another while she received the bloud upon her garments presently the mangled members in her arms she fought in all and for all having no other fear but of their deliverance But she infinitely fearfull for the youngest of her sons shewed him Heaven then her breasts the one to have bred him the other to glorifie him When she saw him dead then was the time she thought him born and then with most courage she waited on his execution O incomparable mother saith S. Augustine who August serm 109. c. 6. knew what it was to possess children since she feared not to loose them Mother of Martyrs and eight times a Martyr who equailed her triumphs to her childrens and her glory to eternitie In the end Antiochus after all this butchery retiring Punishment of the wicked Antiochus the living God who pursued the tracks of this impious man and who in his eyes bare the lightenings of his justice raised Mattathias and his children who with a silly handfull of men restored sanctification to the Temple and liberty to the Citizens having in four encounters defeated four Royal Armies This wretched creature and who had no religion in him though in apparence he made shew of that of the Grecians went to Elymas to invade a Temple of Diana where great treasures were kept but was
her for love which she cannot have by nature It is a shadow of the goodness of God who ceaseth not to provide for our necessities to love us as his children Hosea 11. Et ego quasi nutritius Ephraim portabam eos in brachiis meis nescierunt quod curarem eos In funiculis Adam traham eos in vinculi◠charitatis Exod. 2. to defend us as the apple of his eye I was said he by his Prophet as the foster-father of my people I bare them all between my arms they never vouchsafing to open their eyes to my protection Yet will I draw them to me by the hands of Adam which are the chains of my charity Behold in Exodus the little Moses who floateth on Nilus in a cradle of reeds the mother for fear of the rigour of men abandoneth him to death the sister followeth him with her eyes to see what will become of him but her weakness could do nothing to warrant him from danger God in the mean space becomes the Pilot of this little bark he conducteth it without sails without rudder without oars he bears it upon the waves he makes it arrive at a good haven He draweth out this infant who was as a victim exposed to make of him a God of Pharaoh one day to drown in the red sea the posterity of those who would have drenched him in Nilus 8 Adde to this immenss goodness justice an inseparable His Justice virtue of the Divinity which seems to oblige God to preserve and direct what he created But it is to judge most abjectly of this divine understanding to say as did Averroes he abused his magnificence and soyled his dignity if he busied himself in the mannage of so many trifles S. Ambrose judged better when he said If God wrong himself in the government Amb. l. 1. offic c. 13. Si injuria est regere multò major injuria fecisse cum aliquid non fecisse nulla sit injustitia non curare quod feceris summa inclementia of the world did he not himself a greater injury in creating it For to do or not to do what one is not obliged unto hath no injustice in it but to abandon a creature after it is produced is a stain of inhumanity And if we regard the justice which appertaineth to the government of men what malignity and prostitution of mind were it to think souls the most caitive having some spark of justice yet God who must be sovereign perfection would suffer the world to be exposed to fortune or delivered over to tyrāny as a prey and a booty without any care of it or inquiry into injustices There is not any Age which could not furnish out a million of proofs against these mischievous beliefs if we would open our eyes to consider them but our distrusts and pusillanimities blind us and alienate us from knowledge of those truths which God reserveth for the most purified souls 9 To conclude the last colume which should settle His Power our faith in the verity of divine government is the magistral power God exerciseth over all the world which he ruleth tempereth and directeth with one sole thought much otherwise than did 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Arist l. de mundo heretofore those practick wits who vanted to animate statues because they by certain engines gave them motion Wretched and blind that we are ever bowed down to the earth perpetualy divested of those great lights of Saints We measure God by the ell of men we cloth him after our fashion and we hold impossible to the Divinity what our understanding cannot comprehend Shall we never say with the Prophet Jeremiah O most strong O onely great and Hier. 32 19. Fortissime magne potens Domine excercituum nomen tibi magnus consilio incomprehensibilis cogitatu cujus oculi aperti sunt super omnes vias filiorum Adam onely potent The God of bosts is thy name Thou art great in thy counsels incomprehensible in thy cogitations and thy eyes are upon all the waies of the children of Adam We daily see upon men who are but worms of the earth so many tokens of Gods power A King speaketh and a hundred thousand swords hasten out of scabbards at the sound of one syllable A master of a family builds and at one silly beck behold so many artificers so many mules and horses some draw materials out of the bottom of quarries others carry them in waggons some make morter and cement others hew stones some raise them aloft others lay them some play the carpenters and others polish marbles There are some who work in iron and others in brass all is done to the liking of one man who is possessed of a little money Do you never consider God as a great King in an army as a great father of a family in a house who by his sovereign power governs all he created not with a toilsome care but an incomparable facility He gave in the begining of the creation an instinct to all Guil. Par. de vnivers 1. p. par 3. c. 14. Nascitur aranea cum lege libro lucern◠living creatures and there is not any so little a spider which comming into the world bringeth not its rules its book its light it is presently instructed in all it should do God speaketh interiourly to all creatures in a double language with a powerfull impression a secret commandement he gives a signal into the world and every one doth his office every one laboureth regularly as in a ship and all things Deus ipse universa sinu perfectae magnitudinis potestatis includit intentus sempe operi suo vadens per omnia movens cuncta vivificans universa Tertul. l. de Trin. c. 2. agree to this great harmony of heaven The little Nightingal in the forrests makes an Organ of her throat sometimes breaking her notes into warbles sometime stretching them out at length The Swallow is busie in her masonrie the Bee toileth all the day in her innocent thefts the Spider furnisheth out the long train of her webs and makes more curious works with her feet than the most skilfull women can weave with their hands Fishes play their parts under the water beasts of service labour in their duty small grains of seed though dead and rotten give life to great trees which advance to the clouds There is nothing idle in all nature nothing disobedient but men and divels who employ their liberty to resist him whose power is as just as it is eternal 10 Let us then concluding this discourse adore the divine Providence which holdeth the helm of the universe Let us behold it as a watch-tower furnished with a thousand fires that abundantly enlighten this Ocean whereon we sail Let us behold it as a burning pillar in the wilderness of this life Let us behold it as our pole-star and never loose sight of it It is our support our sweetness our
humane and politick without Heavens direction For so doing you will build upon quick-silver phantasms of greatness which will afford you illusions in this life to drench you in the other into eternal confusions When you have done all which justice and conscience Nec consilio prudenti nec remedio sagaci divinâ— providentiae fatalis dispositio subverti vel reformari potest Apul. Metamor 9. Heâ— fatis superi certasse minores Sil. Ital. l. 5. dictate leave successes to God and know there are strokes from Heaven that cannot be vanquished either by prudence of counsels or any humane remedies We are to be answerable unto God with our good desires not powers the petty gods of the earth can do nothing against the Decrees of Heaven Take these words of S. Paul not as ordinary but as Oracles of an immutable Veritie (a) (a) (a) Rom. 8. Prudentia carnis mors est prudentia autem spiritus vita pax Prudence of flesh is death but prudence of spirit is peace and life If you have good success in ought you do thank God and look on him saith (b) (b) (b) Bernard de consider l. 5. Tob. 6. 3. S. Bernard as an Omnipotent Will a virtue full of affection an eternal light a sovereign beatitude which replenisheth all here below with the abundance of his ever-honoured bounty But if in doing all you can you find main oppositions and irksom afflictions in the world say as the chast Sara did seeing her self injured by her servant O God I turn my face to the Ad. te Deus faciem mâ—am converto ad te oculos meos dirigo Peto Domine ut de vinculo improperii hujus absolvos me aut certe desuper terram cripias me c. place whence I expect my consolation I fix mine eyes on thee because thou settlest all my hopes I beseech thee deliver me from the fetters of this disgrace or deliver me out of this world Thy counsels are impenetrable to the weakness of my understanding but I am wel assured of one thing that he who faithfully serves thee shall never be deceived If his life be assaulted with afflictions it shall reap Crowns If it be exposed to the ardour of tribulations thou wilt stretch out an assisting hand If thou exercisest it under thy chastisements it shall be to make it find out the path of thy mercies The fifth EXAMPLE upon the fifth MAXIM Of the Providence of GOD over states and riches of the world EULOGIUS THe Divine Providence is a marvellous workman Drawn from the observation of Paul a Greek Authour which ruleth here below over the heads of mortals it laboureth in this great mass of mankind it takes men of earth to make them of gold and of those men of gold makes men of earth It commixeth slaves and Kings and causeth the one not thinking of it to spring from the other in the revolution of times as Plato said But we who know not all its secrets sometimes blame the works of it which should rather stir up our admiration than be subject to our censure One complaineth the wealth of the world is not well divided and that the wicked have ever the greatest share Men who oftentimes know not how to part with a finger breadth of land but by dis-joyning most intimate charities would make themselves distributers of the worlds fortunes as if they looked more narrowly into the world than he that made it I will here set down a memorable history drawn out of a rare Grecian Authour named Paulus who Paul Syllegus l. 3. c. 48. compiled many Narrations learned from the best of his Age. He recounteth how in the time of the Emperour Justin the elder about the year 528. after the birth of Christ there was in Thebais one named Eulogius a stone-cutter by his trade of poor means but very rich in virtue Which maketh us say Poverty resembles the Island of Ithaca as said Archesilas which Poverty the Isle of Ithaca 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Stob. serm 93. though rough and bushie failed not to breed the bravest men of Greece whom she made use of as a school for all the exercises of virtues This man who at that time had no other wealth on earth but his hands spared not to store up treasures of good works as pledges in Heaven He feared Virtues of a good poor man God was devout chaste sober abstinent courteous peacefull charitable and embraced eminent virtues in a mean fortune It is a strange thing that notwithstanding his labour which was hard enough he fasted most part of his time even to Sun-set and with the little money he got by the sweat of his brows relieved the poor He walked like Abraham before pilgrims he washed their feet and received them into his little house with all possible charity Then seeking out needy persons of his own Parish to give them some refection according to his abilitie he extended his compassion even to beasts not suffering any thing to escape his bounty One would have said seeing all this poor trades-man did he had been some rich Lord such abundance appeared in so low a poverty It happened that a holy Hermit called Daniel who Daniel the Hermit made a rash demand lived in great reputation for the excellent endowments of his soul passing along that way so journed in the poor cottage of Eulogius who received him like an Angel descended from Heaven He who was a most spiritual man looking very far into the Mason's life found therein such eminent perfection that he well perceived devotion many times lodged with little noise in a secular life and that God who is a great Master had servants every where This so enflamed him to the love of those virtues he observed in his hoste that returning to the Monastery he exercised great devotion as fasting three whole weeks together with intention to obtain an ample estate from God for Eulogius Fervour so transported this good man that he considered not that God who preserveth us to health loveth us not to curiosity and that the banquets he made for his greatest servants as Elias and S. Paul the Hermit when he for them opened the treasures of Heaven were onely bread and clear water of fountains Notwithstanding 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he without intermission importuned Heaven by his prayers complaining God who was most just gave riches in excess to so many sinners to puff up their pride and foment riot when the poor Mason who deserved rivers should stream nothing but gold for him was invaded by harsh poverty which tied up his hands from virtue But he persisting day and night to beg the fruit of his request heard a voice from Heaven which commanded him to lay aside so indiscreet a request saying If his Eulogius left his poverty he would forsake his conscience But he pertinaciously persevering in the pursuit of his desire through a goodness wholly blind answered He well knew
honour conferred protesting to be nothing the less pliant to his commands and that the period of his obedience should be the end of his life Constantius fell into such a fury upon this news that he deigned not so much as to see his Embassadour but sent him presently a letter of disclaim which he desired might be read to the Army commanding forthwith to lay down the title of Augustus unless he would leave his life Julian who already had passed the Rubicon hazardeth the business and advanced towards Italie with his troups wherewith the Emperour infinitely irritated made an Oration in the midst of his Army shewing to the souldiers the treason and wickedness of Julian in terms very pressing and saying He went to require a speedy satisfaction well knowing God condemneth the ungrateful Numen perenni suffragio damnat ingratos Death of Constantius with an everlasting judgement Hereupon every one cried out he must needs march on to fight with the traitour and rebel and verily the Emperour hastened thither by great journeys at which time he felt himself seized by a feaver so ardent that he burnt like an oven and was besides so troubled all night with dreams and horrible visions which told him his good Angel had forsaken him and that it was time to leave life and Empire which he did being chastised by God for his cruelty towards Catholicks and by his death left Julian in full possession of all He instantly pulled off the mask and caused the Temples of the gods to be opened persecuting Christians not so much by the bruitishness of Diocletian as with subtile wiles of a wise Politician But behold the invincible force of our Religion Punishment◠of Julian remarkable and how unhappiness is necessarily tied to all their designs who forsake the true God He was resolved to shut up the name of Christian within a narrow nook of the earth calling us by the name of Galileans But God limiting the enterprizes of this impious man and not confining his own name hath covered with the beams of his own glory and knowledge all the parts of the habitable world and contrariwise the name of this deplorable Prince is ignominious For although Emperours the most bloudy against our religion are named without addition never almost is Julian pronounced but that for a note of eternal infamy the Apostate is added He set out an Edict by which he deprived Christians of the knowledge of letters Yet God hath permitted millions of Writers to spring up in Christianity whilest other superstitions as Judaism Gentilism and Mahometism being now fallen into extream ignorance there is none but Christianism the mother of sciences and mistress of mankind He resolved to re-edifie the temple of Jerusalem and having given the commission thereof to Alipius bals of fire were seen to issue from the foundations as fast as they laid them which made the design as frivolous as the place was inaccessible He extreamly affected honour yet change of religion made him so contemptible that the most abject people mocked at him saying he must shave his beard to make halters and that he spent so much in sacrifices that he would unfurnish the world of sheep and oxen He sought to give himself authority yet were his laws spiders webs continually broken by his subjects In the end to imitate Alexander he would undertake a war against the Persians but after infinite many toils he was there strucken by a blow from Heaven which quickly concluded his life and shut up his mouth by the blasphemy we have heard when filling his hand with bloud which distilled from his body he threw it against heaven and said Thou O Galilean hast vanquished This miserable Prince who thought by the help of his false Gods to command the waves of the sea and to walk upon Stars being pulled from the Empire at the age of thirty and one year and the first of his reign was carried on a beer as a sad spectacle for all those who adored his fortune His death was waited on by the bone fires of Persians and joy of Christians whose chains this day were dissolved his memory was buried in execrations and horrours nor were there any yea of pens the most sacred who had not gall for him so true it proves that a man who hath defiled his sanctification and sets Jesus aside findeth hell every where as in all things he sought to oppose the Divinity VIII MAXIM Of the Perfections of JESUS which make him amiable THE PROPHANE COURT THE HOLY COURT That we should love things visible not troubling our selves with invisible That all love is due to Jesus Christ by reason of his incomparable excellencies ALl the greatest evils in the world do ordinarily proceed from the ill manage of love which exceeding the limits prescribed by God causeth every where a deluge to occasion afterward disasters Sensual men perswade themselves one cannot love but by the eyes And verily they are those who according to the saying of Clemens Alexandrinus begin the skirmish in all the battels of worldly love And if 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Clem. Alex. Nutibus oculorum ibant Isaiah 3. 16. Baseness of worldly loves Astomorum Gens vestita frondium lanugine halitu tantum vivens we follow the opinion of the Prophet Isaiah we shall term them The feet of the heart since by them it goeth to objects of bodies to which it inclines But O good God how wretched are these loves of things visible since they idolatrize a little skin and resemble the people called Astomes who are clothed with leaves and live on smoke The carnal man who daily crucifieth himself upon so many crosses as he entertaineth thoughts for the creature he loveth is taken by the eye with a little exteriour skin called by the Physitians Epidermis Pull that a way from this body which gives him so many martyrdoms he would think that a monster he now adoreth for a Goddess Is not this a strange weakness of judgement and must we not confess the eyes so enflamed in their pursuits are very scanty in their fruition reserving to themselves no other object than thin colours which put upon them so many illusions to occasion so many flames I hold every judicious man will be enforced Love of invisible things most penetrating through the sole consideration of nature to affirm the most noble loves yea the greatest are employed on things invisible For behold a woman who with a most lively and fervent affection loved her husband be he taken away and carried to a tomb in the flower of his age and greatest splendour of his fortune she presently becomes passionate at it more through necessity than election It is not to speak truly the body she loveth for should that be left to her discretion it would in a short time become insupportable What is it then she esteemed most in this person The spirit which imprinted the character of its beauty and vigour upon this
mortal flesh yet that notwithstanding she seeth not at all nor ever did which maketh us believe her love was of a thing invisible We love excellent men though separated from us by so many lands and seas yea by death it self because we have seen some ray of their wits upon paper We love virtues which have neither bodies nor colours yea the Amorists of the world confess they often feel vehement passions not for the nobility riches or beauty of such women as they court well imagining there are other of them much more accomplished in all kind of perfections who notwithstanding make no impression upon their minds What is it then they love That which they cannot see speak unto nor think on so true is it that the most penetrating arrow of love proceedeth from things invisible But if that be acknowledged in natural objects how much more by just titles should it be in things divine which have attractives so much the more noble and entire as they have qualities more solid and eminent I will here shew God hath set a Jesus composed both of visible and invisible upon the frontis-piece of the Temple of Eternity as a lively Image of his greatness to draw to himself the love of Angels and men Excellencies in the Person of our SAVIOUR 1. GReat-ones naturally delight to do works Works of Great men 2 Reg. 18. 18. Vocavitque titulum nomine suo appellatur manus Absolom 3 Reg. 10. 18. Non est factum tale opus in universis regnis Baron Annal. Just 31. Cedr l. 4. c. 30 wherein they heap together the most visible marks of their power So Absolom made a proud monument to preserve his memory which he called The hand of Absolom So Solomon made a magnificent throne all of ivory covered with plates of gold environed with statues of Lions very gracefully set out and the Scripture assureth us there never was such a piece of work through all the Kingdoms of the world So Justinian the Emperour made the Altar of Saint Sophie of gold silver and precious stones out of all the rarities in the world which he caused to be melted and incorporated into one mass a wonder never till then known nor used So we have many times heard talk of the seven wonders of the world which are at this time but seven silly Fables upon a piece of paper I now demand of you if mortals who can do nothing Singular work of God A God Incarnate immortal do notwithstanding endeavour to leave contracted works to posterity for witness of their greatness what should the Father of glory and sovereign Monarch of the whole world do Were it not a thing very reasonable and befitting his Majesty that having distended the rich pavillion of the Heavens over our heads which is notwithstanding no other than the works of his own hands as the Scripture speaketh he made a monument wherein he might employ the strength of his arm and assemble together all the most delicious attractives of his beauty and the most conspicuous characters of his power And this verily is it he did in the mystery of the Incarnation affording to the earth a Man-God of whom we cannot discourse but must say what S. Hilarie did My understanding feareth to touch the Hilar. 2. de Trinit Filium mens veretur attingere trepidat omnis sermo se prodere discourse of this great Word and I have not a word which trembleth not to be uttered before such a divine light Let us imitate those sacred creatures of the Prophet Ezechiel which clasp their wings when they hear the voice of God in the firmament Let us hearken and say with reverence what Saints did of the excellencies of the Person of Jesus Christ 2. If we seek his name in the Prophet Isaiah he Excellent qualities of Jesus Christ Isaiah 9. Candor lucis aeternae teacheth us he is called ADMIRABLE If we look for his beauty in the writings of the Wiseman he instructeth us it is THE BRIGHTNESS OF ETERNAL LIGHT If we consider the band of two natures in the Person of the Redeemer and so much riches and treasure arranged in good order we shall find the Prophet Zacharie compareth them to a Pomegranate Zach. 12. Adrademmon malogranatum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 70. Isaiah 64. If we reflect on his Divinity it is THE ANGEL OF THE FIRST FACE according to the Evangelical Prophet If we weigh his continuance HE IS THE ELDER OF THE DAYS AND FATHER OF AGES If science HE IS THE INTERPRETER Revelator secretorum Genes 41. Aegyptiis AND ORACLE OF DIVINE MYSTERIES If the harmony of his wisdom HE IS THE HARP OF THE LIVING GOD in the thirty sixth Psalm If his office HE IS THE ETERNAL BISHOP OF SOULS in S. Peter If his effects HE IS THE RESTORE◠1 Pet. 2. OF AGES All lips are opened with singular prerogatives in honour of the Saviour and are all dried up in the abundance of his praises It seems Constantinus Manasses said well in his Ecclesiastical Annals when he named the Word Incarnate Jesus a concurrence of all perfections 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the universalitie of perfection For it is there where God hath engraven as on gold the last draughts of his love power wisdom consummation of his designs and counsels over men And it is that which according to my opinion moved the grave Pacies ultim◠pulchritudinis Guil. Paris 1. p. de univer p. 1. c. 26. Authour William of Paris to say it was the Face of the last beautie Now know that to understand this title it is necessary to consider an axiom of Saint Thomas which saith The great diversitie of creatures Divina assimilatio est causa diversitatis in rebus S. Thom. opus 2. c. 102. in all the orders of the world hath no other aim but to represent the Divinitie by some image whatsoever And in so much as the Sovereign Essence is infinite it was expedient to produce many things that the one might supply the others defects and all conspire to express some character of Divine perfections So that God beholdeth himself figured in such varietie of beauties as appear from earth to Heaven But all these beauties being unable to pourtraict him to the life he painted himself in the mysterie of the Incarnation which is his true table his design his work wherein he included his Essence and all his Excellencies and in which he bounded and limited himself it being impossible to make any thing more worthy or greater than a God humanized and a man deified He is the visible Image of a God invisible the first-born Colos 1. 15. Imago Dei invisiblis primogenitus omnis creaturae quoniam in ipso condita sunt universa in ipso complacuit omnem plenitudinem inhabitare Per cum in eo se cognose◠vult Deus celi Tertul. Appolog c. 2. Invention of Valentinians of all creatures because
eternal seed of so many sundry books as were hitherto published and which will encrease to the consummation of the world And although the most able Philosophers had they been persecuted by Tyrants would not willingly have lost a tooth for defence of their Maxims yet the wisdom of our Saviour is such that having possessed the heart and hands of those who profess it causeth them to pour out all the bloud of their veins and to use so much courage for preservation thereof as it afforded them lights in its establishment 5. From thence consider it is his absolute power over His power Data est mihi â—â—nis potestas in coelo in terrd Matth. 28. 18. all things and note if you please that it is manifested principally in three Articles First the facility of prodigies and miracles which appeared in Jesus Christ For this large house of nature which we call the world had no other motion but from his will and he therein commanded so universally that he seemed to hold the Heavens and elements under hire to be instruments of his wonders He lighted new stars at his birth he eclipsed the ancient Sun at his death he walked on waters as on marble pavements he caused the earth to cast up the dead four days after We find many of Pharaoh's Magicians have done false miracles but it was saith Saint Augustine by speedily applying active natural things to passive We find Saints have done true miracles but in the quality of Ministers It onely appertaineth to Jesus Christ to do them with an original power which hath its source in his bosom with an absolute command which receiveth not any modification in all nature with a simple will which needeth no other instruments It onely belongeth to him to do them for the full mannage of the worlds government and to transmit them into the person of Saints to the consummation of Ages In the second place I say this power marvellously shineth in the great Empire of the Church which his Heavenly Father hath put into his hands to build it raise it cement it with his bloud illuminate it with his lights nourish it with his substance to make laws in it establish Sacraments eternize sacrifices create Pastours and Priests and invisibly to rule in it by a visible head a power not to be shaken even unto the gates of hell to exercise a jurisdiction over souls to bind them to unloose them pardon sins change hearts ordain their predestination according to his will Finally this great power appears in that he first of all opened Paradise his soul being exalted from the first day of his creation to the vision of Gods Essence and afterward passing through all the Heavens to place himself at the right hand of his Father and put his Elect into the possession of the Kingdom he had purchased by his bloud Have not we cause to crie out thereupon and say O happy he Beatus quem elegisti assumpsisli habitabit in atriis tuis replebitur in bonis domus tuae â—ancium est templum tuum mirabile in aequitate Psal 64. Temple of Justinian whom you have chosen to raise him to the Hypostatical union He shall dwell in the Palace of the Divinity and we shall be filled with the blessings of thy house Thy Temple which is his sacred Hamanitie is infinitely holy It is said Justinian having finished the magnificent Church of S. Sophie which he built with so much industry and charge such numbers and such a general contribution of endeavour of riches and power of the whole Empire placed therein a statue of Solomon who seemed to be astonished and to hide himself through shame and confusion to see his Temple surpassed by that of the Emperour It was a vanity of a worldly Prince But we in verity would we represent what passeth here should paint both Moses and all the Prophets absorpt in a profound reverence in the consideration of the Temple of the Church and the wonders of Jesus Christ 6. Let us for conclusion of this discourse adore that which we cannot sufficiently comprehend and endeavour to bear an incomparable love to the Person of our Saviour for the excellencies we have expressed But if you require the practise of this I say Practise of the love of Jesus reduced to 3. heads 1. To adhere Conglutinata est anima 〈◊〉 cum ed. Gen. 34. 3. it is reduced to three heads which are to adhere to serve and suffer The first note of faithfull affection appears in a strong adherence to the thing beloved so as the Scripture speaking of love says it causeth one soul to clasp unto another If you begin heartily to love Jesus Christ you will find you shall think upon him almost insensibly every moment and as saith S. Gregorie every time you fetch your breath there will come a pleasing idea of God to fill your soul with splendours and affection You will feel a distast and unsavouriness of heart against all earthly things so that it will seem to you that the most pleasing objects of the world are mingled with gall and wormwood You will seek for your Jesus in all creatures you wil languish after him all which beareth his name Numquid quem diligit anima mea vidistis Cantic and memory will be delightsome to you you will speak of him in all companies you will have an earnest desire to see him honoured esteemed acknowledged by all the world And if you perceive any contempt of his Person which is so estimable you will think the apple of your eye is touched Your solitude will Suspiret ac â—eties se a summo bono anima nostra sentiaâ— recessisse quoties se ab illo intuitu deprehenderit separatim fornicationem judicans vel momentaneum a Christi contemplatione discessum be in Jesus your discourse of Jesus Jesus will be in your watchings and in your sleep in your affairs in your recreations and you will account it a kind of infidelity to loose sight of him but an hour Love is a great secret very well understood by Abbot Moses in Cassianus Let our soul saith he sigh and think it self sequestred from the sovereign goodness so soon as it looseth never so little sight of the divine presence accounting it a spiritual fornication to be separated one sole moment from beholding Jesus For the second degree as it is not enough in Siquis diligit me sermonem meum servabit Ioan. 14. worldly amities to have affections languors and curious lip-complements but you must necessarily come to some good effects and considerable offices which are the marks and cement of true affection so you must not think the love of Jesus consisteth in slight affectations of idle devotion He must serve who will love his will must be wedded his command entertained and executed his liveries put on and we wholly transformed into him by imitation of his examples S. Augustine to confound the weakness
August serm 19. de verbis Apost Inhonestos amatores â—stendite Siquis amore foeminae lasciviens vestis se aliter quà m amatae placet illi dixerit nalo te habere tale birrhum non habebit si per hyemem illi dicet in lacinia te amo eliget tremere quà m displicere Numquid illa tamen damnatura est Numquid adhibitura tortores Nunquid in carcerem missura Hoc solum ibi timetur non te videbo faciem meam non videbis of our love towards God pertinently maketh use of the practise of prophane loves Behold saith he these foolish and dishonest Amourists of the world I demand whether any one surprized with the love of a woman attyreth himself any otherwise than to the liking of his Mistress If she say I would not have you wear such a cloke he puls it off I command you in the midst of winter to take a sommer garment he had rather shiver with cold than displease a miserable creature But yet what will she do if he obey not Will she condemn him to death Will she send him executioners Will she thrust him into a dungeon Nothing less she will onely say if you do not this I will never see you more This word alone is able to make a man tear himself in pieces in the endeavour of complacence and service O foul confusion of our life and prostitution of spirit A God who makes a Paradise of his aspects and a hell in his separation from us promiseth never to behold us with a good eye unless we keep his commandements nor can his menaces but be most effectual since he hath sovereign authority in his hands He deserves to be served above all things service done to him is not onely most pleasing but after this life gaineth recompence In the mean time we rather choose to live the slaves of creatures and dwell under the tyranny of our passions than to embrace the yoke of God Were it not fit we hereafter order the small service we do to God as well in our prayers as actions in such sort that there be neither work word nor thought from morning till night which hath not all its accommodations and is not squared within the rule God desireth of us with intentions most purified and indefatigable fervours Finally the last character of love is to suffer for 3. To suffer Satiabor cum apparuit gloria tua Psal 16. Satiabor cum affâ—ictuâ— fuero ad similitudinem tuam Jesus the father of sufferings and King of the afflicted The Kingly Prophet said I shall be satisfied when thy glory shall appear to me Another translation importeth I shall be well pleased when I shall behold my self marked with the characters of thy sufferings Jesus Christ in the great sacrifice of patience made in the beginning of Ages supplyes the person of a great Bishop putting on flesh wholly imprinted with dolours a heart drenched in acerbities a tongue steeped in gall Round about him are all the most elevated and couragious souls who all wear his livery and both constantly and gloriously dispose themselves to this great model of dolours Would we at the sight of so many brave Champions lead a life lazy languishing and corrupt Know we not all creatures of the world groan and bring forth that all elements are in travel and in a ceaseless agitation The air it self say Philosophers is perpetually strucken with the motion of heaven as with a hammer or whip that this benummed mass may not hatch any poyson Rivers are cleansed and purified by the streaming current of their waters The earth is never in repose and the nature of great things is generously to suffer evils The clock goeth on by the help of its counterpoise and Christian life never proceedeth in virtue but by counter-ballance of its crosses Our souls are engaged by Oath to this warfare Animas nostrâ—s authorati in has pugnas accessimus Tertul. ad Scap. so soon as first we enter into Christianity said the noble Tertullian Suffering is our trade our vow our profession Love which cannot suffer is not love and if it cease to love when it should bear it never was what it professed A lover said in Olympius that when he was onely Olympius Te sine vâ— misero mihi lilis nigra videntur Pallentesque rosae c. some little moment absented from the creature he most loved in the world all the best seasons were irkesome all discourses troublesome and the greatest delights turned into bitterness Flower de-luces seemed cole-black in the meadow when he beheld them in his pensive solitude roses the most vermillion grew pale gilli-flowers lost their lustre the very bay-trees which resist winters cold could not withstand the sadness caused by this absence but in a moment they all appeared quite withered to him Viands with him had no rellish wine tast nor sleep repose But so soon as this creature returned all was animated by her presence Flower-deluces became white again roses resumed their vermillion gilli-flowers their beauty lawrels their verdure wine and viands their tastfulness and sleep its contentment But if there happened any harsh and painful accidents which he must bear for her sake they seemed a Paradise All worldly loves speak the same yet are we unwilling to say or do any thing for this excellent Word of God which is endowed with a beauty incomparable exalted above all the beauties of the sons of men This Jesus who maketh a Paradise spring from his eyes This Jesus who distilleth honey from lips of roses for the comfort of his elect This Jesus who causeth Nations to tremble under the force of his word as under flaming arrows and is attired with the conquest and tropheys of souls Behold him on the bright empyreal Heaven crowned with a diadem of honour and revested with celestial purple who regardeth us who beholdeth us and never ceaseth to draw us unto him So many brave spirits have followed him amongst torrents thorns and flames which they found replenished with a sweetness that charmed their pain in the sight of their best beloved It is this sweetness turned the stones of S. Stephen into flower-de-luces and changed the burning coles of S. Lawrence into roses For it S. Bartholomew despoiled himself of his skin as freely as of a garment and S. Catharine hastened to the wheel armed with keen rasors S. Tecla to Lyons S. Agnes to the wood-pile S. Cicely to the sharp sword and S. Appollonia suffered her teeth to be torn out with as much ease as the tree suffers his leaves to fall away from him O the sweetness of Jesus who makes all the valiant and knoweth how to turn doves into eagles of fire Shall we never understand what it is to love him towards whom all generous hearts sigh and for whom all charities are crowned with immortal garlands The eighth EXAMPLE upon the eighth MAXIM Of the admirable change of worldly love Drawn from the Ecclesiastical history
into the love of Jesus Christ St. BONIFACE IT is a thing very rare to see worldly love suddenly transported from the visible to the invisible from the temporal to eternal from errour to truth and from wretched passion to perfect charity Notwithstanding Histories furnish us with some examples and we often observe those who were very sensible in worldly affections when they found a good object were more fervent and couragious in the love of God Such were the heart of Saint Augustine Worldly lovers being cōverted are the most fervent in the love of God such likewise of generous Magdalene For both of them knew so well to make use of their losses that they seemed to have served their apprentiship unto creatures to learn how the Creatour ought to be beloved Architects when they build vaults and arches A goodly comparison make certain counterfeits of wood which they call Centries to serve as preparatives for their designs but so soon as they thereon have raised true and solid works they destroy fiction to admit veritie Much so it happeneth to souls as yet sensual they are taken with sleight affections which many times are not dishonest but ever light and far distant from perfection Yet therein is to be learned what we should do for a God immortal since we undertake so much for a mortal man But Jesus insensibly building his architecture in these loving hearts ruineth all these feignings of amity there to establish his love This which I say is evidently to be seen in the person Aglae a noble dame of Aglae and S. Boniface whose acts I will here produce to give instruction how to sanctifie worldly love by the love of Jesus Christ This Aglae was a Roman Dame of prime quality having a delicate wit in a beautifull body and powerfull passions in a great fortune She had been married but becoming a widow in an age as yet furnished with verdant freshness grace and beauty she had not buried all her affections in the tomb of her husband After she had a little wiped away the first tears which nature exacteth as tribute in such like accidents she quickly plaid so much the Courtier in her slight sorrow that she seemed greatly to desire as soon as might be to finish what she had never well begun She failed not to be sought unto by many gentlemen She is a worldly widow who saw her to be accomplished with all parts desired in an eminent marriage and although she denied not to like their services yet making no resolution to marry she was all for her self and for none else so much she feared to take a master in stead of a husband It is nothing commendable in a Christian widow Superfluities of widows to make a shew no longer to have a heart for the world so to draw all the world into her heart to change a moaning life into perpetual chatter turn her widow-hood into a petty Empire Aglae was not yet entered into vice but pleased her self so much to afford the love of her person and receive none that ere aware she was surprized and having disdained masters saw her self become the slave of a servant She had a Steward in her house named Boniface a Boniface Aglaes Steward witty man and of a good presence who mannaging the affairs of his Mistress discreetly forgat not his own He so well knew how to please her to His sweet behaviour conform to her humours to feed her with glorie whereof she was very ambitious to free her from cares and fill her heart with joy that he already possessed no ordinary place in her favours besides that he was handsom he had a singular grace in jesting without offence to any to utter good conceits and entertain his Mistress with all the delightfull occurrents of the Citie Love entereth in very far by this gate It is not always beauty which surprizeth for if it be not joyned with promptness of wit and discourse it is a bait which floats on the water without a hook Familiar conversation with an Officer so pleasing Dispositions to love should be avoided was no slight snare in the house of a young widow who lived easily and loved pleasure It is not without cause Saint Hierom would not endure to see about widows servants so frizled and quaint fearing lest love might render them Masters over their proper Mistresses Aglae began with pretty love-tricks which are the little idols of affection not observing that all these gentle daliances in a carriage too free still thought to be constant in innocency are not without danger But by success of time she felt her passion so much enkindled towards this Steward that she neither thought spake nor lived but for him not daring to discover her fancies so much is vice ashamed of its own conscience Boniface who had an intelligent and ready wit Aglae in love well enough imagined from whence these extraordinary favours proceeded which he received from his Mistress but the more he saw her grow passionate for him the more he persisted in his duty whether that he in the beginning would divert this affection which he perhaps thought not firm enough or whether he was willing to kindle the fire by a slight resistance His Mistress beholding him more serious in this matter than she wished let him plainly enough understand that having had the stewardship of her estate he should have the like of her heart and entertained him with more courtesie than was fit for a man of his employment and condition She in the beginning mannaged her affections with some discretion following the advise of Boniface who knew how to hide the matter his fortune not making him loose the rememberance of what he had been nor passion providence in what he might be Notwithstanding it being a thing very difficult long Disorder of love to restrain fury all composed of fire and violence the favours of Aglae so plainly appeared that they no longer could be hidden from the world which is a hundred-ey'd Argus She occasioned speech of her even to infamy with so much noise and scandal in the Citie that it much abashed all such as had relation to her But being of a haughty humour which rather useth to irritate passion by censure than amendeth manners she neglected what was said of her since she stood free from controul For love which had bereaved her of innocency and gravity despoiled her likewise of the care of reputation one of the greatest miseries may happen to a wretched soul She well saw her kinred neither had the will or power to hinder her pleasure which made her change close affection into manifest whoredom Love sometimes is weakened by over-much easiness Love is weakned by too much easiness of entertaining of it It is like the Polypus which finding nothing to oppose nor devour eateth it self by gnawing its feet and fins So this passion finding no more resistance with which
bodies of his servants and Nilus overflowing with the bloud of his French himself surprized and taken by his enemies and led into the Sultan's Tent among clamours out-cries infernal countenāces of Sarazens and all the images of death able to overwhelm a soul of the strongest temper notwithstanding though his heart were steeped as a sponge in a sea of dolours and compassion ever making use of reason he entered into the Barbarians pavillion not at all changing colour and as if he had returned from his walk in the garden of his palace he asked his pages for his book of prayers and taking it disposed himself to pay the usual tribute of his oraisons in a profound tranquility of mind which I conceive to be very rare since there needeth oftentimes but the loss of a trifle to stay devotion which is not yet arrived to the point of solidity But if you therein seek for a perfect humility consider what passed in the Councel of Lyons and see how he laboured to depose the Emperour Frederick the second who was ruined in reputation in the opinion of almost all the world Other Princes who have not always their hands so innocent but that they readily invade the goods of others when some religious pretext is offered them would have been very ambitious to be enstalled in his place whom they meant to despoil but the universal consent of great men judged this throne could not be worthily supplied but by this great King yet he notwithstanding declined it as a wise Pilot would a rock and thought better to choose the extremity of all evils of the world among Sarazens than to mount to the Empire by such ways But that which is most considerable in the matter we handle may be observed in his valour never weakened by his great devotion for he was one of the most couragious Princes in a cold temperature with reason that was then under Heaven It was courage which taking him from the sweet tranquility of a life wholly religious caused him to leave a Kingdom replenished with peace contentment and delights to go to a land of Sarazens live in all incommodities imaginable to nature It was courage which caused him so many times to expose his royal and valiant person not onely to the toyls of a desperate voyage but to the strokes also of most hazardous battels witness when at his arrival in Aegypt the coast being all beset with Sarazens very resolute to hinder the passage of his ship he threw himself first of all from the ship into the water where he was plunged up to the shoulders with his target about his neck and sword in hand as a true spectacle of magnanimity to all his Army which encouraged by the example came to the land as the King had commanded The greatness of the sun is measured by a small shadow on the earth and there many times needeth but very few words to illustrate a great virtue So many excellent pens have written upon his brave acts and made them so well known to all the world that it were to bring light into day to go about to mention them If some say He is to be a pattern for Kings and Divers Ladies excellent in piety Lords Ladies who should manure devotion as an inheritance for their sex shall never want great lights and worthy instructions if they will consider those who being more near to our Age should make the more impression upon their manners If we speak of the endeavour of prayer look upon See the reverend Father Hilarion of Costa Barbe Zopoly Queen of Polonia who continuing days and nights in prayer all covered over with fackcloth affixed good success to the standards of the King her husband and for him gained battels If account be made of the chastity of maidens and sequestration from worldly conversation reflect on Beatrix du Bois who being one of the most beautifull creatures of her time and seeing the innocent flames of her eyes too easily enkindled love in the hearts of those who had access to her put her self upon so rough a pennance for others sin that she was fourty years without being seen or to have seen any man in the face If you speak of modesty let wanton Courtiers behold Antonietta de Bourbon wife of Claudius first Duke of Guize who after the death of her husband was clothed in serge and went continually amongst the poor with her waiting-women to teach them the practise of alms If charity be magnified toward persons necessitous cast your eye upon Anne of Austria Queen of Poland who accustoming to serve twelve poor people every munday the very same day she yielded her soul up to God when she had scarcely so much left as a little breath on her lips asked she might once more wait on the poor at dinner and that death might close her eyes when she opened her hands to charity If the instruction of children be much esteemed fix your thoughts upon Anne of Hungarie mother of eleven daughters and admire her in the midst of her little company as the old Hen-Nightingale giving tunes and proportions of the harmony of all virtues and so breeding these young creatures that they all prospered well with excellent and worthy parts If you delight in the government of a family which is one of the chiefest praises of married women take direction from Margaret Dutchess of Alencon who governed the whole family with so much wisdom that order which is the beauty of the world found there all its measures and that if the domestick servants of other Lords and Ladies are known by their liveries she caused hers to be known by their modestie If you desire austerities look with reverence on the hair-cloth and nails of Charlotte de Bourbon the Kings great Grand-mother and behold with admiration Frances de Batarnay who during a widow-hood of three-score years was twenty of them without ever coming into bed If you praise chast widows who can pass without an Elogie Elizabeth widow of Charls the ninth who in a flourishing youth being much courted by all the great Monarchs of the world answered That having been the widow of a Charls of France she had concluded all worldly magnificencies and that nothing more remained for her but to have Jesus Christ for a spouse And verily she spent the rest of her days in a conversation wholly Angelical amongst religious women whom she had founded If constancy in the death of kinred have place let the lesson be hearkened unto which Magdalen wife of Gaston de Foix gave who having seen the death of a husband whom she loved above all the world and afterward of an onely son remaining the total support of her house made her courage to be as much admired among the dead as her love was esteemed among the living And what stile would not be tired in so great a multitude of holy and solid devotions and who can but think the choise becometh hard by
father which was done he remaining unknown in the Citie of Sydon But that he was now returned as from the gates of death to demand his right as being the indubitate and lawfull heir of the Kingdom This Impostour had gained a subtile fellow a servant of Herod's houshold who taught him all the particulars of the Court the better to colour his counterfeiting He led the Bear through all the Citie with good success and great applause of the people who embraced this false Alexander as a man returned back from the other world For besides that the Jews were credulous enough in any thing which flattered them they were ever much inclined to the race of poor Mariamne whose son this man counterfeited to be under this pretext he was very welcome into all the Cities where there were any Jews and the poor Nation freely impoverished themselves to afford some reasonable support to this imaginary King When he saw himself strong in credit and coyn he was so confident as to go to Rome to question the Crown against Heroa's other sons there wanted not those whereof some countenancing him by credulity others through the desire they had of alteration bare him to the throne He failed not to present himself before Augustus Caesar the God of fortune and distributour of Crowns shewing he had been condemned to death by his own father through false rumours but was delivered by the goodness of the God he adored and the mercifull hands of the ministers of execution who durst not attempt on his person beseeching him to pitie a fortune so wretched and a poor King who threw himself at his feet as before the sanctuary of justice and mercy Every one seemed already to favour him But Augustus a Monarch very penetrating perceived this man tasted not of a Prince for taking him by the hand he found his skin rough as having heretofore exercised servile labours Hereupon the Emperour drew him aside saying Content thy self to have hitherto abused all the world but know thou art now before Augustus to whom thou must no more tell a lie than unto God I will pardon thee on condition thou discover the truth of this matter but if thou liest in any one point thou art utterly lost This man was so amazed with the lustre of such majesty that prostrating himself at his feet he began to confess all the imposture Augustus perceived by the narration he was none of the most daring in impostures and said Friend I give thee thy life on condition thou ransom it in my Galleys thou hast a strong body and canst well labour the Scepter would have been too full of trouble I will have thee take an Oar in hand and live hereafter an honest man without deceiving any As for the Doctour who had been Tutour to this counterfeit Alexander the Emperour observing him to be of a spirit more crafty and accustomed to evil practises caused him speedily to be put to death One might make a huge Volume of such Impostours as have been entrapped in their tricks but satisfie your self with experience of Ages and if you dare believe me take in all your affairs a manner of proceeding noble free sincere and true throughly perswading your self what the Wise-man said That he who goes forward with simplicity walketh most confidently XII MAXIM Of REVENGE THE PROPHANE COURT THE HOLY COURT That it is good to reign over men like a Lion and take revenge not permitting fresh favours to abolish the memorie of old grievances That mildness and pardon is the best revenge THis maxim of the prophane Court more properly proceeds from the throat of Tygres and Lions than the lips of men but being harsh in execution it is ever direfull in it's effects The experience How this maxim opposeth common sense of Tiberiuses Caligulaes Neroes Domitians Herodes and so many other who have pursued this with events so tragical and lives so monstrous are fit lessons to convince a heart which yet retaineth some humanity All power imployed onely to hurt is ever pernicious Notable verities and having made havock it resembleth the ruins of buildings which overwhelm not any but such as they oppress by falling on them Man is a creature more tender than any other and must be handled with much respect Nor is there any bloud so base which ought not to be spared as much as justice and reason may permit The most part of men in these miseries and weaknesses of nature seldom hit upon innocencie but by passing through many errours He who cannot tolerate some one banisheth all virtue He must necessarily excuse many things within himself who pardons nothing in another If he think himself a God his nature ought to be mercie and if a man the experience of his own faults should render him more favourable to the like in another It is a strange folly to think greatly to prosper by rigour For all done through fear being forced cannot be of long lasting unless the course of humanity fail The savage beast is then much to be dreaded when he sees the knife on one side and rails on the other There is no strength so feeble which becomes not fierce upon the defensive within the limits of necessity A man who menaceth every one with blows of a cudgel sword or fire should remember he is not a Briareus with an hundred hands and hath but one life Now becoming cruel and inexorable he makes himself an enemy of all mankind which hath so many hands and so many lives Such an one thinks he is well accompanied in revenge who shall find himself all alone in peril Then let us here say there is nothing so Sovereign The scope of the discourse for the government of men as the love of a neighbour clemency and pardon and that the character of an excellent nature is to forgive all other so much as reason may permit and to pardon nothing in himself Love is the first law of nature and last accomplishment Excellencie of love of our felicity Love from all eternity burneth in the bosom of the living God and if he breath with his Word as he doth with a respiration substantial he breaths nought but love He respiteth this love by necessity within himself he inspireth it by grace out of himself and lastly draws all to himself by love The worthy S. Dyonisius in the book of Divine attributes Division of love 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 S. Dyoni distinguisheth three sorts of love one is called circular the other love in a right line and the third oblike Circular love properly is that which carrieth the soul with full flight into the bosom of God and there holds it as in a sweet circle of ravishing contemplations which transport it from perfection to perfection never finding end or beginning in the Divinity Love in a right line is that which tends directly to creatures by wayes not onely lawful and lawdable loving them for God of God and in
God but wayes likewise easie and yielding to natural inclinations Oblike love is that which holdeth of both the other and which imitating the Angels of Jacobs ladder climbs to God by creatures and descends to creatures by the love of God But behold a love of enemies commanded by God which seemeth not comprized in this division so much it seeketh out wayes alienated and inaccessible to nature yet I intend to shew it may be found in the third part of this list and that it is a love which by the love of God descendeth unto the love of man to love him according to God A love which I maintain to be possible Three proofs of this discourse glorious and necessarie in three proofs that shall make three heads of this discourse 2. To deny the possibility of the love of enemies is First reason possibility of the love of enemies Diligite inimicos vestros to bely the Gospel and reason the Gospel which commandeth it reason which fortifieth the justice of the commandment The words spoken by our Saviour Love your enemies is not a counsel but a commandment so explicateth the Councel of Carthage the fourth chap. 93. the Councel of Agde Can. 22. and all holy Fathers who lent the light of their stile to the first light in the Gospel Now to say God commandeth a thing impossible is to make a tyranny of the Divinity and to make a God like to the cruel duke of Muscovia named Basilides who commanded from his subjects a tribute of sweat and of nightingales in the midst of winter Reason dictateth to us this commandment is not Right of nature onely of Divine right but of nature so far is it from being contrarie to nature that to speak naturally we judge that should be done to our neighbour we would have done to our selves and we desire to be beloved by all the world yea by those whom we have offended we then necessarily conclude we are bound to love those who have done us some injury Besides we well see that to seek revenge by proper authority is to destroy the right of nature and to make of a civil life the life of a Cyclop which were to have no other reason than strength nor limit but the sword Some will say it were good could love as easily be Answer to an objection put on as a shirt but if we have much ado to love things indifferent how can we affect bad and offensive Love ever pursueth good as the shadow the body and God who made both love and nature will not that it settle it self unless there be some attractive or appearance of good which inviteth it to love Now what is lovely in an enemy in whose person all is odious yea the very name Behold how carnal Philosophy with strong passions and weak reasons strikes at the eternal Word as if in the worst man in the world there could not ever be found something which may be an object of reasonable love We are not commanded to affect him with a love of tenderness but of reason It is not said you must love him as vicious you must endear Omne animal diligit simile sibi sic omnis homo proximum sibi Eccl. 13. 19. him as injurious or wicked for that were to force nature but we are commanded to love him as a man to love him as a Christian to love him as the work of God and as a creature capable of life eternal All things in the world said an Ancient have two handles and two faces Take a good hold-fast look on the good countenance and you shall find that easie which you thought impossible Let us also pass with Divinity to a reason more eminent and say it is not a thing against nature to love above nature by the commandment of him who made nature It is asked whether a creature can naturally love God more than it self since all that nature loveth it loves as a thing united to it it self according to the Amicabilia ad alterum sumumtur ex amicabiltus ad se Arist Ehick l. 4. c. 8. D. Tho. 2. 2. q. 26. saying of Philosophers all well considered the most learned Divines answer that the soul of man remaining within the lists of natural reason should love the Creatour more than its own life because naturally the will well rectified hath a strong inclination to its end which is the Sovereign Good and the understanding necessarily judgeth the subsistence of essence increate and independent which ought rather to be preserved than that of essence create And if that be done by ways of nature how may one say it is against nature to love an enemy when there is the commandment and honour of God in it Nay it is so much otherwise that I will adde a reason which perhaps may seem strange but it is undoubted true I say it is much more hard to love ones self well than an enemy For I beseech you why was A remarkable consideration it that the Son of God so much spake laboured wept and bled if not to teach how we should aptly love our selves And wherefore were so many Saints fifty yea threescore years at school in desarts but to learn this hard lesson And who hath ever thought Self-love very hard to be repressed any thing more difficult to be repressed than self-self-love which powerful in fury and impotent within it self forgetful of God still mindful of its own interests ever gluttonous and still hungry swalloweth like a gulph sweepeth along like a torrēt beateth down like thunder and in the end is buried in the ruins it made If well to love ones self this monster be necessarily be to tamed who sees not there is much difficulty therein and that on the other side there is nothing to be done but to love the gift of God in man which cannot be ill but in your imagination Why create we so many impediments in the love of an enemy and find none in the love of our selves Were it not natural Effects of the love of enemies in the Law of nature Senec. l. 3. de irâ c. 38. why in the Law of nature did Cato smilingly wipe away tough phlegme which an enemy spit on his face when he pleaded a cause Why was Socrates content having received a blow on the cheek from an insolent man to set over his head the scroul used on ancient tables Lycus faciebat Why did Augustus in an absolute sovereign power of revenge tolerate with so much courtesy a certain writer named Timagenes who perpetually barked against him Traytours that we are to nature so to cover our neglect and weakness with the pretext of nature 3. Let us yet adde more force to truth and more Second point of proofs drawn from the glory of pardon scope to our pen. Let us enter into the second point of this discourse which teacheth us the greatness and glory of a man who
any doth notwithstanding particularly bind himself to patience Let us conclude with four excellent instructions to be observed in adversity which are expressed in the book of Job (l) (l) (l) Job 1. Tunc surrexit seidis vestimenta sua tonse capite corruens in terram adoravit dixit Nudus egressus sum c. for it is said He rent his garments and having cut off his hair and prostrated himself on the earth adored and said Naked I came out of my mothers womb and naked I return into earth Note that rising up he rent his garments to shew he couragiously discharged himself of all exteriour blessings which are riches and possessions signified by garments He cut his hair which was a sign he put the whole bodie into the hands of God to dispose of it at his pleasure For as those Ancients sacrificing a victim first pulled off the hair and threw into the fire to testifie the whole bodie was already ordained to sacrifice so such as for ceremony gave their hair to temples protested they were dedicated to the service of the Divinity to whom the vow was made In the third instance he prostrated himself on the earth acknowledging his beginning by a most holy humility And for conclusion he prayed and adored with much reverence Behold all you should practise in tribulation well expressed in this mirrour of patience First are you afflicted with loss of goods either by some unexpected chance or by some tyranny and injustice Abate not your courage but considering the nullity of all earthly blessings and the greatness of eternal riches say My God although I have endeavoured hitherto to preserve the wealth thou gavest me as an instrument of many good deeds yet if thou hast ordained in the sacred counsel of thy providence that I must be deprived of them for my much greater spiritual avail I from this time renounce them with all my heart and am ready to be despoiled even to the last nakedness the more perfectly to enter into the imitation of thy poverty Say with S. Lewis Divitia mea Christus desixt caetera Omnis copia qua Deus meus non est mibi inopia est Archbishop of Tholouse Jesus is all my riches and with him I am content in the want of all other wealth All plenty which is not God is mere penurie to me If you be tormented with bodily pain by maladies by death of allies say My God to whom belongs this afflicted bodie Is it not to thee Is not this one of thy members It now endureth some pain since thou hast so appointed and it complains and groaneth under the scourge where are so many precepts of patience where is the love of suffering where conformity to the cross S. Olalla a Virgin Quam juvas bos apices le gere qui tus Christe trophea notant Prudent about thirteen or fourteen years of age as she was martyred and her bodie torn with iron hooks beheld her members all bloudy and said O my God what a brave thing is it to read these characters where I see thy trophies and monuments imprinted with iron on my bodie and written in my bloud A creature so tender so delicate shall she shew such courage in the midst of torments such transfixing pains and cannot I resolve to suffer a little evil with some manner of patience If be the death of an ally behold that bodie not in the state wherein it now appears but in the bright lustre of glorie wherewith you shall behold it in the day of the Resurrection wiping away your tears say what Ruricius did Let them bewail the dead who cannot have any hope of Resurrection Let the dead Fleant â—ntuos qui spom resurrectionis habere non possunt Flems mortui mortuos suos quos in perpetuim existimant interiisse lament their dead friends whom they account dead for ever In the third place arm your self with profound humility and looking on the earth from whence your body came say My God it is against my pride thy rod is lifted up in this tribulation Shall such a creature as I drawn out of the dust become proud against thy commandments and so often shake off the yoke of thy Law I now acknowledge from the bottom of my soul the abjectness of my nothing and protest with all resentments of heart my dependence on thee The little hearb called trefoyl foldeth up the three leaves it beareth when thunder roareth thereby willing to tell us it will not lift a creast nor raise a bristle against Heaven Lightening also which teareth huge trees asunder never falls upon it My God I hear thy hand murmuring over my head in this great affliction and I involve me within my self and behold the element whereinto I must be reduced to do the homage my mortality oweth thee Exercise not the power of thy thunders against a worm of the earth against a reed which serves for a sport to the wind Lastly take courage what you may in the accidents Factus in agonia prolixius erabat Domine quid multiplicati sunt qui tribulant me Multi insargunt adversum me multidicunt animae meâ— non est solus ipsi in Deo ejus Tu autem Domine susceptor meus c. that happen and by the imitation of our Saviour retire into the bosom of prayer which is a sovereign means to calm all storms Jesus prayed in his agony and the more his sadness encreased the more the multiplied his prayers Say in imitation of him My God why are my persecutours so encreased Many rise up against me Many say to my soul there is no salvation for it in God But Lord thou art my Protectour and my glorie thou art he who wilt make me exalt my head above all mine enemies The fourteenth EXAMPLE upon the fourteenth MAXIM Of Constancie in Tribulation ELEONORA WE are able to endure more than we think For there are none but slight evils which cause us readily to deplore and which raise a great noise like to those brooks that purl among pibbles whilest great-ones pass through a generous soul as huge rivers which drive their waves along with a peacefull majesty This manifestly appeareth in the death of Sosa and Maffaeus hist Indicar l. 16. Eleonora related by Maffaeus in the sixteenth book of his history of the Indies This Sosa was by Nation a Portingale a man of quality pious rich liberal and valiant married to one of the most virtuous women in the whole Kingdom They having been already some good time in the Indies and enflamed with the desire of seeing their dear Countrey again embarked at Cochin with their children very young some gentlemen and officers and with about six hundred men The beginning of their navigation was very prosperous but being arrived at Capo de bona speranza they there found the despair of their return A westerly wind beat them back with all violence clouds gathered thunders
summons you shall have from the will of God It is not perfection not to care for life through impatience nor to have an ear not deaf to death through faintness of courage This resignation was most excellent and very admirable in our Ladie for two reasons First the great knowledge she had of beatitude Secondly the ineffable love she bare to her Son For I leave you to think if our desires follow the first rays of our knowledges and if we be so much the more earnest after a good as we are the better informed of its merit what impatience Patience of our Lady to endure life must our Ladie needs have of life since she received a science of beatitude strong powerful and resplendent above all other creatures God giving her leave to see in Calvarie the abyss of his glories in the depth of his dolours It is no wonder we so very easily affect life seeing we are as the little children of a King bred in the house of a shepheard as the gloss upon Daniel reporteth touching the education of Nebuchadnezzar We know not what a scepter Kingdom or crown is in this great meaness of a life base and terrestrial But had we talked onely one quarter of an hour with a blessed soul and discoursed of the state of the other life our hearts would wholly dissolve into desires Which makes me say It was an act of a most heroical resolution in the blessed Virgin in those great knowledges she had of Paradise to have continued so many years in this life and if you consider the most ardent love she bare her Son who was the adamant of all loves you shall find the holy Virgin who had born all the glory of Paradise in her womb more merited in this resignation she made to see her self separated the space of thirty years both from Paradise and her Son than all the Martyrs did in resigning themselves to deaths strange bloudy and hydeous There is nothing comparable to the martyrdom of Martyrdom of love love It is an exhalation in a cloud It is a fire in a myne a torrent shut up in ditches a night of separation lasteth Ages and all waxeth old for it but its desires Now this holy Mother to be thirty years upon the cross of love without repining without complaint or disturbance peaceably expecting the stroke of her hour what virtue and how far are we from it So now adays throughout the world you see nothing Worldly irresolutions of death Boet. Carm. 1. Eheu cur dura miseros averteris aure Et stentes oculos claudere saeva negos but mourners who are loth to live or faint-hearted that would never die Some crie out Come to me O sluggish death thou hast forgotten me what do I here I am but a living death and an unprofitable burden to the earth Ah death hast thou ears of brass and diamond for me alone Canst thou not shut up mine eyes which I daily drown in my tears Much otherwise when we see one die young fresh flourishing in honour wealth health prosperity we crie out upon death as if it were cruel and malicious To take saith one this young betrothed this poor maid this husband intended this excellent man who so well played the Rhodomont to lay hold of one so necessarie for the publick in the flower of his age Why took it not away this cripple this beggar who hath not wherewith to live Why took it not away this other who daily dies yet cannot die once O our manners O dainty conceits O fit language Were it not some little humane respect we would take Gods Providence by the throat Whom do we contend withal The indifferency we daily see in the death of men where as soon the young is taken as the old the happie as the miserable the Emperour as the porter is one of the greatest signs of Gods Providence to be admired Why then complain we that God maketh us to leave life when he pleaseth It is not a punishment but a wholesom doctrine by which we learn the power of the Divine Wisdom First when we entered into life our advise was not required whether we would be born in such or such an Age such a day such a year such an hour so when we must be gone from hence there is no reason to ask our counsel Let us onely yield up this last loan and not murmure against the father of the family Let us not say this man should go before and this after Who knows them better than God You complain this miserable creature lives so long how know you whether he accomplish the years of his purgatory How know you whether God suffers him to become a spectacle unto you of his patience Why gnash you your teeth for anger that this man rich that man fortunate and that other so qualified is taken hence in his flourishing youth How know you the misadventures and shipwracks which attended him had he still continued in the world You say he was necessary why God will shew there is not any thing necessary in the world but himself Vnâ— aâ—ulso non deficit alter aureus Poor eyes of a bat which see nothing but darkness you would give eyes to Argus and light to the Sun If you desire to take part in the prudence of the just handle the matter so that for the first sign of a good death you be ever indifferent to live or die accordding to our Ladies example Daily expect death stand perpetually on your guard Do as the brave bird the Grecians call Onocratalus which is so well practised Instinct of the Onocratalus Constancy of faith to expect the Hawk to grapple with her that even when sleep shuts up her eyes she sleepeth with her beak exalted as if she would contend with her adversary Know we are continually among rocks and dangers that there needs but one hour to get all or loose all that the day of Judgement comes with the pace of a thief and that we must be ready to receive it and resolute to combat with death to gain immortalitie Hold this concluding sentence of Tertul. Idol c. 2. Hos inter scopulos velisicata spiritu Dei fides navigat tuta si cauta secura si attonita Caeterúm ineluctabile excussis profundum inexplicabile impactis naufragium irrespirabile â— devoratis hypocriphium Second quality of good death Philo l. 3. de vita Mosis in fine Notable speech of Philo of Moses his state 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Tertullian as an Oracle Amongst the rocks and shelves of this sea called life Christian faith passeth on breaking the waves filling the sails with Gods spirit ever assured yet ever distrustful and perpetually fearless yet still carefull of the future As for the rest it sees under its feet an abyss not to be passed by swimming and inexplicable ship wrack for those who are drenched a gulf which suffocates all such as it once swalloweth The second
wholly acquired to death sighing after a young Gentleman then absent and not daring fully to manifest her passion In the end death took away the spoils of her life with her pretences The father and mother bewailed her with inconsolable tears furnishing out very honourable obsequies And whereas she most ardently affected her dressings and little cabinet they buried with her all whatsoever she held most precious Six moneths were now past since her burial when the Gentleman she loved named Machates arriving at Trayls came to lodge in the house of his friend her father The spirit of the maid which was of the condition of those whom Plato called body-lovers retaining still the affections with which she went out of her bodie appeared one evening to this Machates with words of affection embraces and dalliances which plainly discovered it was a damned spirit and an instrument of the divel that tormented the one to burn the other The young man at the first was much affrighted with these proceedings notwithstanding becoming tractable by little and little he soon made this specter very familiar It happened during this time that an old servant sent by her Mistress to see what their guest did found Philenion sitting neer unto him with the same countenance and the same garments she ware in her life time whereat much amazed she ran to the father and the mother to tell them their daughter was alive They sharply reprehended her for a distracted and wicked woman as going about again to open their wound which still bled The servant justified her self and answered she had not lost her wits nor spake ought but truth Hereupon she so enkindled the curiositie of her Mistress that she secretly conveyed her self by night into the chamber yet perceived nothing at all able to resolve her The next day being vehemently excited with the curiositie of knowing what to believe of this apparition she threw her self at the feet of Machates and conjured him to tell her the name of the young maid who conversed with him The Gentleman in the beginning was much surprized and sought evasions to divert her but in conclusion either through compassion of the mother whom he saw in the posture of a suppliant or by vanity of his passion which easily unloosned his tongue he confessed he was married to Philenion that it was a business accomplished by the will of the Gods wherein nothing must be altered and speaking this he drew forth a little casket wherein he shewed her a gold ring her daughter had given him with a piece of linnen she ware about her neck protesting she was his wife so much was he seduced by the subtile practizes of the evil spirit The mother having acknowledged the tokens of the deceased fell down with astonishment and coming again to her self she a thousand times kissed one while the ring another while the linnen moistning them with her tears and moving the whole family to sorrow which ran to see this spectacle Then again embracing Machates she signified it would be an infinite favour from heaven to have him for a son in law but that she entreated as a courtesie one comfort he could not deny an afflicted mother which was once again to see her daughter whom she accounted dead The other promised to give her all satisfaction and as Phelenion came secretly according to custom to converse with him he closely sent his lackey to the mother who advertised her husband of it and both of them came into Machates his chamber where they surprized their daughter at which they were so rapt that being not able to utter a word they cast themselves about her neck straightly embracing and with tears bedewing her which fell from their eyes But the daughter with a sad and dejected countenance fetching a deep sigh out of her breast Alas saith she loving father and mother your curiosity will cost you dear for you will lament me the second time Thereupon she fell down dead leaving a horrible stinck in the chamber which filled the whole house with terrour groans and out-cries in such sort that the neighbours came in upon the noise and consequently the whole Citie ran thither to behold the corps The magistrates wondering at an accident so frightfull deputed some Cittizens neerest of kin to open the tomb where the body of Philenion could not be found but a cup a ring she had received from this Gentleman The carrion lying in the fathers chamber was by decree of the Senate thrown on the dunghil the Citie purged and as for Machates he was so overwhelmed with shame and confusion that he slew himself with his own hands Behold what an Authour recounteth onely illuminated by the light of nature who wrote this historie after he had been a spectatour of it of purpose to send a man immediately to the Emperour Hadrian to make a recital thereof unto him as he saith in a letter he directed to a friend of his I might have many things to say upon all circumstances which are not repugnant to that which Ecclesiastical Authours relate concerning other apparitions of the damned But I will not exceed the laws of Historians and it is enough for me here to let you see the belief of the Ancients and the punishment of God upon souls resigned to sin XVIII MAXIM Of Purgatorie THE PROPHANE COURT THE HOLY COURT That death is the remedy of all evils and that the soul separated from the body hath no more to suffer That the soul which hath not in this Ne dogmata de Pâ—râ—atorio pro saâ—â ecclesiae doctrinâ nobis obtrudant Pontificii cavendum est world satisfied Gods justice must pass in the other life through Purgatorie HAve you well considered in Genesis an Genes 2. Angel of fire who with a flaming sword keepeth the gate of terrestrial Paradise placed as an usher of the enterance into the delicious hall which prepared by God to entertain the first man of the world after it had been the theater of his glorie became the scaffold of his punishments Procopius Purgatorie compared to the Cherubins fiery sword observeth that poor Adam at the time of his banishment was placed just over against this Cherubin and that this centinel of the God of hosts no sooner lifted up his curtelaxe but he made a terrour and icie horrour creep into his bones and in that proportion the sparkles flew from the sword of justice fears and affrightments invaded the heart of this offender who being a murderer of his race before he was a progenitour had brought forth a thousand deaths by the sole bite of an apple Alas if the miserable Adam was so astonished at the steel of the Cherubin which dazled his eyes what ought our representments to be what our apprehensions when we think on the flames of purgatory enkindled by the breath of the love and wrath of God So many souls lie there now plunged having heretofore conversed amongst us in mortal abode and we
believe them Wert not thou mad Cruel ambition thou hast given me the stroke of death Disastrous riches you have forged gyves which now fetter me Loves pettie vipers of inhumane hearts you ceased not to breath and enkindle sparks which made these fires for me Wicked companies charming companies traiterous companies you were the chains of my ruin O why was not the womb of my Mother that served for the first bed of my conception the Sepulcher of my birth O why the stars which predominated at my coming into the world in lieu of their benign aspects threw they not darts of poyson against me Why did not the earth swallow me in my Cradle Must I live one sole moment to live an enemy of God eternally O God what an abyss is thy judgement Let us draw let us draw aside the curtain of silence thy spirit can no longer endure me nor my pen maintain the conceptions of my heart 6. It seems enough is said to shew the horrour of mortal sin which alone is the cause and procurer of Hell Think serously on all I have said and all I have omitted and if you desire to eschew the unhappiness of a reasonable creature which I have expressed observe I pray perpetually and inviolably these things which I would if I might inscribe on your hearts in unremoveable characters The first is that you must diligently seek to fore-arm your selves against a certain liberty of heart which neither feareth sin hell nor evils of the other life liberty of heart which swayeth now adays throughout the world of which Sathan makes use to blunt the darts of heaven and all the incitements to the fear of God as being the true way of athiesm and an undoubted note of damnation But contrariewise frame unto your self a conscience termed timorous a conscience filially and lovingly fearfull which layeth hold without scruple and disturbance even of the least offences and imperfections Fear is the mother of safety and the means Nemo saepius opprimitur quà m qui nihil timet frequentissimum calamitatis initium securitas Velleius not to fear hell at all is to fear it always In the second place you must effectualy apprehend frequent relapse into mortal sins which is the second note of reprobation For when a creature suddenly returneth into enormous sins and playeth as between Paradise and hell it is a sign he harboureth in this evil heart a plain contempt of God and an eternal root of sin the sprout whereof is an everlasting punishment In the third place you must still live in the state wherein you would die and often to call your soul to an account of your actions Ah my soul If you were at this present instant to dislodge out of this world are you in a state to be presented before the inevitable throne of the Sovereign Judge Have you not some touch of mortal sin Is there not some restitution to make some satisfaction not accomplished Rests there not in your heart some blemish of evil company worldly love which slackeneth your purposes Let us break let us break these chains there is neither pleasure money nor honour can hold You must seek salvation and say O God of mercy O most mild Saviour I embrace thy Altars and implore thy clemencie deliver my poor soul from the snares of Sathan and eternal death at the great day when heaven and earth shall flie before thy Justice I am neither greater than David nor more holy than S. Paul not to think of Hell All my members quake and bloud waxeth cold in my veins when I reflect on it O Jesus O love of eternal mountains deliver not a soul over to this infernal beast which will have no lips but to praise and confess thee eyes but to behold thee feet but to run after thy commandments nor hands but eternally to serve thee The eighteenth EXAMPLE upon the eighteenth MAXIM Of Judgement and of the pains of Hell ALl affairs of the World end in one great affair of the other life which is that of the judgement God will give upon our soul at its passage out of the body A heart which hath no apprehension thereof unless it have some extraordinarie revelation of its glorie is faithless or stupid to extremity The simple idea's of this day make the most confident to quake not so much as pictures but have given matter of fear and if some sparks of knowledge touching that which passeth at the tribunal of God come unto us it ever produceth good effects in souls which had some disposition to pietie Curopalates relateth that whilest Theodora possessed Curopalates Scilizza the Empire of Constantinople with her son who was yet in minoritie one named Methodius an excellent Painter an Italian by Nation and religious by profession went to the Court of the Bulgarian King named Bogoris where he was entertained with much favour This Prince was yet a Pagan and though trial had been made to convert him to faith it succeeded not because his mind employed on pleasures and worldly affairs gave very little access to reason He was excessively pleased with hunting and as some delight in pictures to behold what they love so he appointed Methodius to paint an excellent piece of hunting in a Palace which he newly had built and not to forget to pencil forth some hydeous monsters and frightful shapes The Painter seeing he had a fair occasion to take his opportunity for the conversion of this infidel instead of painting an hunting-piece for him made an exquisite table of the day of judgement There upon one part was to be seen heaven in mourning on the other the earth on fire the Sea in bloud the throne of God hanging in the clouds environed with infinite store of legions of Angels with countless numbers of men raised again fearfully expecting the decree of their happiness or latest misery Below were the devils in divers shapes of hydeous monsters all ready to execute strange punishments upon souls abandoned to their furie The abyss of Hell was open and threw forth many flames with vapours able to cover heaven and infect the earth This draught being in hand the Painter still held the King in expectation saying he wrought an excellent picture for him and which perhaps might be the last master-piece of his hand In the end the day assigned being come he drew aside the curtain and shewed his work It is said the King at first stood some while pensive not being able to wonder enough at this sight Then turning towards Methodius what is this said he The religious man took occasion thereupon to tell him of the judgements of God of punishments and rewards in the other life wherewith he was so moved that in a short time he yielded himself to God by a happy conversion If draughts and colours have this effect what do not visions and undoubted revelations which were communicated to many Saints concerning affairs of the other life Every one knows the
own tears and that in the same manner they are produced to beatitude by Plin. 21. 5. Lilium lachrymâ suâ seritur their proper afflictions but it is to see themselves in a state of power to loose the grace of God and to be able to be separated from the first of lives by an action of death That is it which made Job being on the dunghil like to the dunghil it self as on the throne of patience to deplore his condition and say Why hast Quare me posuisti contrarium tibi sum mihimetipsi gravis thou made me seeing I am contrary to thy divine Majesty That is it which renders me in supportable to my self Now there shall be in beatitude an impotencie of sin because in full sight of Sovereign good it will be impossible to propend to the least evil or least disorder without which there can be no sin Moreover as our knowledges are here wretched Excellency of beatifick science and starven there is not a man so knowing in the world who for one drop of knowledge hath not a tun of ignorance and who in the little he knoweth hath not ever many errours which stick to science as the worm to the tree or the moath to the cloath Now there above the ray of increated light which shall appear in full lustre will dissipate all the weakness of understanding all inconsiderations all faults and shall fill us with a most resplendent verity So that our In lumine tuo videbimus lumen soul shall be like to that Aegyptian pyramid which perpendicularly reflected on by the Sun cast no shadow Lastly we see our love is ill guided in this way-faring Beauty of beatifick love compared to the weakness of wordly love life it sticks upon so many frivolous objects which are foolish fires that often lead it into precipices It is taken by the eys with blessings which have nothing more certain in them than their loss blessings which we ever shall leave by death if they forsake not us by misfortune Being surprized it tumbleth therein and perpetually bendeth to all which feedeth its dolours and drives away content All it least can do is that thing it most desires all it seeks is many times the good it escheweth It looseth labour to run after a flitting phantasm and if it stay it is not but through despair not to overtake all which kils it But if it come to possess what it loves it is instantly turmoiled with its happiness and not having need to labour any more in desires it grows mouldly in proper fruition It is willing to be resisted to enkindle its flame and resistance thrusts it into rage as possession into distast That is it which maketh me say the earth being made for us we are not made for the earth and that we should seek the place where love suffers neither offence nor interruption I say offence for it hath an object which contents all the world and offendeth none I say interruption for if we cease to love in Paradise it must proceed from God or from our selves If it be by the commandment of God we cease to love we shall cease in loving and in ceasing we shall incessantly love since we shall cease through love This cessation cannot come from us for we shall love without obstacle and of necessitie that Sovereign good which for its infinities will not be beloved but in infinitum O what pleasure to have but one pleasure and what joy to derive all joys from their source Why say we not with S. Augustine O fountain of life O vein of living waters when shall I come to thy delights and eternal sweetness I here on earth sigh after thy beauties O holy Hierusalem in a land scorched with fervours of sensuality O when will it be that I shall come before the face of my God! Think you I shall see that fortunate day that day of comfort and triumphs that day which God hath made and which takes its eastern rise from his eys O bright day which hath no evening nor knows what the setting Sun is When do you think I shall hear that word Enter into the joys of thy Master enter into a joy inaccessible to sorrow wherein is all good with an eternal banishment of all evil There it is where youth waxed not old where life hath no limits where beauty decays not where love knoweth not what it is to be cold nor health to impair O dear Citie With weeping eyes we behold thee afar off we thy poor exiles but yet thy children redeemed with his bloud who makes thee happie by his aspects Stretch out thy arms unto us O mild Saviour cast an eye on us from the haven in these storms of life and give us leave to walk in so undoubted paths that we may come to the place where thou livest and reignest for ever The nineteenth EXAMPLE upon the nineteenth MAXIM Of the Pleasures of beatitude THe joys of Paradise are without example and as they are here above our experience so they pass beyond our imagination Yet well may we conceive raised bodies shall have some manner of contentment in the perfect use of their senses and beauty of objects which shall satiate them with everlasting delights When after a long winter which covered us in darkness and buried us in snow we behold a new world arise under the benign favour of the spring and consequently the golden days of summer we feel our heart dilate seasonably taking in some antipast of the repose of the blessed What sweetness is it to enjoy delights in a body sound and a spirit well purified What contentment to behold those goodly Palaces where is seen an admirable consort of art and nature so many Hals so well furnished within such rich hangings such most exquisite pictures such marbles such gildings and without mountains which make a natural theater tapistred without art to surpass all workmanship forrests which seem born with the world hedges and knots curiously cut alleys and mazes where both eyes and feet are lost rivers which creep along with silver purlings about gardens enameled with most fragant flowers cavernes replenished with a sacred horrour grots and fountains which gently gliding contend with the warble of birds and so many other spectacles which at first sight astonish spirits and never satiate All this is but a little atome I do not say of the essential pleasure of the blessed which is ineffable but of the sole content of the senses of a glorious bodie which may in some sort be expressed S. John to accommodate himself to the weakness Apoc. 21. and 22. of our understanding hath made a description of it in the Apocalyps where he depainteth this goodly Cittie of the blessed with singular curiosity It is a pretty thing to consider how Lucian an excellent wit though a bad man intruding into our mysteries hath set out in his idea's to the imitation of it the life of
the General in this siege that she disposed his heart to what she pleased In such sort that going forth in the fear and confusion of all the people she returned with peace and assurance of quiet which made them all to come out to receive her at the Citie gates with loud acclamations some throwing flowers other Crowns and all rendering thanks to her as their Sovereign Preserveress She apprehended so much joy therewith that in the very instant she expired in her honours at the Citie gate and in stead of being carried to the throne was brought to her tomb with the infinite sorrow of all her countrey I leave you to think if humane comforts have such force what will the great joy of God be for these unheard-of spectacles these continual triumphs and inexhaustible sources Must we not say we should there every moment leave our souls in the height of pleasure were not the happiness of it conjoyned to immortality XX. MAXIM Of RESURRECTION THE PROPHANE COURT THE HOLY COURT That we must not deny our bodies the benefit of time since they must perish That we must use our bodies as the Temples of God since they must rise again WE may truly say there is not any mysterie The resurrection proved more than any other mysterie in all our faith which God hath pleased to teach and prove unto us more effectually than the resurrection For it being sufficiently averred that our salvation consisteth in the knowledge of three principal Articles which are that of the Trinity of the incarnation with its extension made to the Sacrament of the Altar and of the Resurrection although they be all of like necessity yet it seems God disposing himself more to our ends than his own hath more abundantly explaned himself in this last mysterie which most concerneth our peculiar profit It is very true that for the doctrine of the Trinity the Incarnation and the Sacrament of the Altar he was contented to give us some figures of them in the old Testament not fully shewing the effects but for the Resurrection he was pleased to establish it even before his coming into the world really and actually by raising many dead by the merits of Elias and Elizeus as we learn in the history of Kings It is well enough known that having afforded to the Ancients very obscure knowledges of the Trinity and Incarnation for the Resurrection alone he made the law of nature the Mosaical the order of the world the form of Common-wealths and the Evangelical law to speak so intelligibly that he could speak nothing more perspicuously In the law of nature I understand the chief Secretary Scio quod Redemptor meus vivit in novissimâ— die de terra resurrecturus sum c. Job 19. of the world Job who crieth out on the dunghil I know my Redeemer liveth and that at the last day of the world I must rise again from the earth and shall see God in mine own flesh that I shall see my self in person and that my eyes shall behold him and no other this hope I keep as a pledge in my bosom A man who lived about three thousand years ago before all books all Doctours and all schools to speak in so clear terms so pressing so peremptory is it not a prodigie In the Mosaical law besides formal passages in the Ecce ego aperiam tumulos vestros educam vos de sepulchris vestris Ezech. 33. Macch. 2. Math. 22. D. Tho. art 1. ad 2. supplem q. 75. prophet Ezechiel I will open your tombs and will take you from your sepulchers besides the generous confession of the Macchabees we have in the Pentateuch a passage alledged for proof of the resurrection by the Son of God himself which for this purpose ought to be held as an argument necessary and invincible It is so many times said The God of Abraham Isaac and Jacob Now he is not the God of the dead but of the living and therefore needs must these Patriarchs beliving not onely in the immortality of their souls for the soul makes not a man entire but in future resurrection In the order of the world we have the new birth Tertul. l. de Resur c. 12. and 13. Greg. Mag. 14. mor. c. 10. Cyril Catech. 18. Macar hom 5. de Resur Nil Ora. 2. de Pasca Theod. serm de Provid of stars dayes seasons planets of birds who make a perpetual image of the Resurrection in the world on which the holy Fathers enlarge with much eloquence In the form of Common-wealths and policie of the universe we observe the great care all Nations the most barbarous have had of the burial of bodies not to have been but through an instinct and estimation of the resurrection Which the chiefmen in Gentilism have publickly and notably professed And although they had very weak knowledge of other mysteries of our faith and spake of it with much obscurity in the point of resurrection they unfolded themselves most distinctly and expresly Mercurius Trismegistus in the first chapter of Pymander assureth us of the resurrection of bodies as a thing infallible The great Athenagoras sheweth it was the doctrine of Pythagoras and Plato the two first lights of Philosophy And verily we have also the writings of Plato which witness the wicked shall be judged and condemned to hell in bodie and soul a passage alledged by S. Justine in the tenth of his Common-wealth and which is more this singular man to win us to this belief hath couched a very notable axiom in his Phedon where he saith that all 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Plato in Phaedon Plin. l. 7. c. 55. which is living in the world comes from some thing dead Democritus who was as Hippocrates affirmeth one of the wisest men in the world wished the bodies of the dead should be honourably used in respect of resurrection which Pliny could not dissemble Phocyllides said the same in verses written as with the rayes of the Sun Nay if we would consult with the tombs of the dead we shall find there hath not been any but some wicked and irregular spirits who have renounced the blessings of the other life as by publick profession causing it to be engraven on their tombs So did Sardanapalus the most infamous of men whose epitaph Aristotle having read said It was more fit for a hog than a King So did that wretched woman of Bress whose monument is yet to be seen in antiquities causing to be set over her ashes That after the death of her husband Vixi ultra â—â—tam nihil credidi Nihil unquam pâ—ccavit nisi quod mortua â—st Brisson formul she had been neither widdow nor wife and that her house served onely for a snare to loves Otherwise that during life she never believed any thing but life So did one Julia who caused also to be inscribed over her bones That she had lived seven and twenty years without committing any
in grace and enjoy in the other thy eternal joys in the bosom of Glorie So be it The fourteenth SECTION Of the time proper for spiritual reading BElieve me you shall do well at this time of the morning when your mind is freest from earthly thoughts to use some spiritual reading sometimes of the precepts sometimes of the lives of the Apostles and Saints calling to mind that saying of Isidore in his Book of Sentences He that will live in the exercise of God's presence must pray and read frequently When you pray you speak to God and when you read God speaks to you Good sermons and good books are the sinews of virtue Observe you not how colours as Philosophie teacheth have a certain light which in the night time is obscured and buried as it were in matter But as soon as the Sun riseth and diâ—playeth his beams on so many beauties that languished in darkness he awakes them and makes them appear in their true lustre So may we truly say that we have all some seeds of knowledge which would be quite choaked as it were with the vapours arising â—rom our passions did not the wisdom of God which speaketh in the holy Scripture and in good spiritual books stir them up and give them light and vigour to enflame the course of our actions to virtue Always before you take a book in hand invoke the Father of light to direct your reading Read little if you have but little leisure but with attention and make a pause at some sentence which all that day may come into your memory You will find that good books teach nothing but truth command nothing but virtue and promise nothing but happiness The fifteenth SECTION An Abstract of the doctrine of Jesus Christ to be used at the Communion JOhn 14. 6. I am the way the truth and the life no man cometh to the Father but by me Mark 1. 15. The time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God is at hand Repent ye and believe the Gospel Matth. 11. 28. Come unto me all ye that labour and are heavy laden and I will give you rest 29. Take my yoke upon you and learn of me for I am meek and lowly in heart and ye shall find rest unto your souls 30. For my yoke is easie and my burden is light Matth. 7. 12. All things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you do ye even so to them for this is the Law and the Prophets John 15. 12. This is my commandment that ye love one another as I have loved you 13. Greater love hath no man than this that a man lay down his life for his friend 14. Ye are my friends if ye do whatsoever I command you Matth. 5. 44. Love your enemies bless them that curse you do good to them that hate you and pray for them which despitefully use you and persecute you 45. That you may be the children of your Father which is in Heaven For he maketh his Sun to rise on the evil and on the good and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust Luke 5. 35. Be ye mercifull as your Father also is mercifull 23. Judge not and ye shall not be judged condemn not and ye shall not be condemned forgive and it shall be forgiven 30. Give and it shall be given unto you Luke 12. 15. Take heed and beware of covetousness for a mans life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth Matth. 7. 13. Enter ye in at the strait-gate for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction and many there be which go in thereat 14. Because strait is the gate and narrow is the way which leadeth unto life and few there be that find it Matth. 10. 38. He that taketh not his Cross and followeth after me is not worthy of me John 16. 33. In the world ye shall have tribulation but be of good cheer I have overcome the world Matth. 28. 20. Lo I am with you alway even unto the end of the world Matth. 26. 41. Watch and pray that ye enter not into temptation the spirit indeed is willing but the flesh is weak Luke 12. 36. Let your loyns be girded about and your lights burning 37. And ye your selves like unto men that wait for the Lord when he will return from the wedding that when he cometh and knocketh they may open unto him immediately Luke 21. 34. Take heed to your selves lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfetting and drunkenness and cares of this life John 5. 28. The hour is coming in the which all that are in the grave shall hear his voice 29. And shall come forth they that have done good unto the resurrection of life and they that have done evil unto the resurrection of damnation The sixteenth SECTION What is to be done at the Celebration of the Sacrament AT the Celebration of the Sacrament you shall endeavour to stir up in your self a great reverence of this incomparable Majestie who cometh to fill the Sacrifice with his presence and say O God dispose me to offer unto Thee the merits of the life and passion of thy well-beloved Son At this present I offer up to thee in the union thereof my understanding my will my memorie my thoughts my words my works my sufferings and consolations my good my life all that I have and all that I can ever pretend unto Afterwards at the Preface when the Priest inviteth all to lift up their hearts to God or when the Angelical Hymn called by the Ancients Trisagion is pronounced may be said as followeth being taken out of the Liturgies of S. James and S. Chrysostom TO thee the Creatour of all things visible and invisible To thee the Treasure of eternal blessings To thee the Fountain of life and immortalitie To thee the absolute Lord of the whole world be given as is due all praise honour and worship Let the Sun Moon and Quires of Stars the Air Earth Sea and all that is in the Celestial Elementarie world bless thee Let thy Jerusalem thy Church from the first-born thereof alreadie enrolled in Heaven glorifie thee Let the elect souls of Apostles Martyrs and Prophets Let Angels Arch-Angels Thrones Dominations Principalities Powers and Virutes Let the dreadfull Cherubims and Seraphins perpetually sing the Hymn of thy triumphs Holy holy holy Lord God of hosts Heaven and Earth are full of thy glorie Save us O thou that dwellest in Heaven the palace of thy Majestie O Lord Jesus thou art the everlasting Son of the Father When thou tookest upon thee to deliver man thou clothedst thy self with flesh in the Virgins womb When thou hadst overcome the sharpness of death thou didst open unto us the Kingdom of Heaven Thou sittest at the right hand of God in the glory of the Father and shalt judge both the quick and the dead O Lord help thy servants whom thou hast redeemed with thy precious bloud
to obey thy Commandments and also that by thee we being defended from the fear of our enemies may pass our time in rest and quietness through the merits of Jesus Christ our Saviour In the time of Plague LEt thy anger cease O Lod and be appeased for the iniquity of thy people as thou hast sworn by thy self O holy God holy and strong holy and immortal have mercy upon us For the Clergy ALmighty and everlasting God who by thy Spirit dost sanctifie and govern the whole body of the Church graciously hear our prayers for all those whom thou hast ordained and called to the publick service of thy Sanctuary that by the help of thy grace they may faithfully serve thee in their several degrees through Jesus Christ our Lord. For a Citie COmpass this Citie O Lord with thy protection and let thy holy Angels guard the walls thereof O Lord mercifully hear thy people For the sick O God the onely refuge of our infirmities by thy mighty power relieve thy sick servants that they with thy gracious assistance may be able to give thanks unto thee in thy holy Church through Jesus Christ For grace LOrd from whom all good things do come grant unto us thy humble servants that by thy holy inspiration we may think those things that be good and by thy merciful guiding may perform the same through our Lord Jesus Christ For the afflicted O Almighty God the afflicted soul the troubled spirit crieth unto thee Hear O Lord and have mercy for thou art a merciful God For friends I Beseech thee O Lord for all those to whom I am indebted for my birth education instruction promotion their necessities are known unto thee thou art rich in all things reward them for these benefits with blessings both temporal and eternal For enemies O God the lover and preserver of peace and charity give unto all our enemies thy true peace and love and remission of sins and mightily deliver us from their snares through Jesus Christ our Lord. For travellers ASsist us mercifully O Lord in our supplications and prayers and dispose the way of thy servants towards the attainment of everlasting salvation that among all the changes and chances of this mortal life they may ever be defended by thy most gracious and ready help through Christ our Lord. For a Family ALmighty and everlasting God send down thy holy Angel from heaven to visit protect and defend all that dwell in this house through Jesus Christ our Lord. For the dying FAther of spirits and God of all flesh receive the souls which thou hast redeemed with thy bloud returning unto thee For the fruits of the earth O God in whom we live and move and have our being open thy treasure in the due season and give a blessing to the works of thy hands For women in travel O Lord of thy goodness help thy servants who are in pains of child-birth that being delivered out of their present danger they may glorifie thy holy name blessed for ever Against temptation ALmighty God which dost see that we have no power of our selves to help our selves keep thou us both outwardly in our bodies and inwardly in our souls that we may be defended from all adversities which may happen to the body and from all evil thoughts which may assault and hurt the soul through Jesus Christ For misbelievers and sinners ALmighty and everliving God who desirest not the death of a sinner mercifully look upon all that are deceived by the subtility of Satan that all evil prejudice laid aside they may return to the unity of thy truth and love For Prisoners O God who didst deliver S. Peter from his chains and restoredst him to liberty have pitie upon thy servants in captivity release their bonds and grant them freedom and safety for his merits who liveth and reigneth with thee and the holy Ghost ever one God world without end For temporal necessaries REplenish those O Lord we beseech thee with temporal nourishment whom thou hast refreshed with thy blessed Sacraments Against tempests DRive spiritual wickedness from thy house O Lord and preserve it from the malignity of tempestuous weather A Prayer of Thomas Aquinas before study O Unspeakable Creatour who out of the treasure of thy wisdom hast ordained Hierarchies of Angels and hast placed them above the highest heaven in a wonderfull order and disposed them sweetly for all parts of the world Thou the true fountain and incomprehensible principle of light and wisdom vouchsafe to illuminate the darkness of my understanding with a beam of thy light remove the darkness wherein I was born sin and ignorance Thou who makest the tongues of infants eloquent loosen my tongue and pour forth the grace of thy spirit upon my lips give me acuteness to apprehend capacity to retain subtility to interpret aptness to learn readiness to speak direct my beginning further my progression and perfect my conclusion THE PENITENT OR ENTERTAINMENTS for LENT And for the first day upon the Consideration of Ashes THou art Dust and to Dust thou shalt return Genes 3. 1. It is an excellent way to begin Lent with the consideration of Dust whereby Nature gives us beginning and by the same Death shall put an end to all our worldly vanities There is no better way to abate and humble the proudest of all Creatures than to represent his beginning and his end The middle part of our life like a kind of Proteus takes upon it several shapes not understood by others but the first and last part of it deceive no man for they do both begin and end in Dust It is a strange thing that Man knowing well what he hath been and what he must be is not confounded in himself by observing the pride of his own life and the great disorder of his passions The end of all other creatures is less deformed than that of man Plants in their death retain some pleasing smell of their bodies The little rose buries it self in her natural sweetness and carnation colour Many Creatures at their death leave us their teeth horns feathers skins of which we make great use Others after death are served up in silver and golden dishes to feed the greatest persons of the world Onely mans dead carcase is good for nothing but to feed worms and yet he often retains the presumptuous pride of a Giant by the exorbitancie of his heart and the cruel nature of a murderer by the furious rage of his revenge Surely that man must either be stupid by nature or most wicked by his own election who will not correct and amend himself having still before his eyes Ashes for his Glass and Death for his Mistress 2. This consideration of Dust is an excellent remedy to cure vices and an assured Rampire against all temptations S. Paulinus saith excellently well That holy Job was free from all temptations when he was placed upon the smoke and dust of his humility He that lies upon the ground can
fall no lower but may contemplate all above him and meditate how to raise himself by the hand of God which pulls down the proud and exalts the humble Is a man tempted with pride The consideration of Ashes will humble him Is he burned with wanton love which is a direct fire But fire cannot consume Ashes Is he persecuted with covetousness Ashes do make the greatest Leeches and Bloud-Suckers cast their Gorges Every thing gives way to this unvalued thing because God is pleased to draw the instruments of his power out of the objects of our infirmities 3. If we knew how to use rightly the meditation of death we should there find the streams of life All the world together is of no estimation to him that rightly knows the true value of a just mans death It would be necessary that they who are taken with the curiosity of Tulips should set in their Gardens a Plant called Napel which carries a flower that most perfectly resembles a Deaths head And if the other Tulips do please their senses that will instruct their reason Before our last death we should die many other deaths by forsaking all those creatures and affections which lead us to sin We should resemble those creatures sacred to the Aegyptians called Cynocephales which died piece-meal and were buried long before their death So should we burie all our concupiscences before we go to the grave and strive to live so that when death comes he should find very little business with us Aspiration O Father of all Essences who givest beginning to all things and art without end This day I take Ashes upon my head thereby professing before thee my being nothing and to do thee homage for that which I am and for that I ought to be by thy great bounties Alas O Lord my poor soul is confounded to see so many sparkles of pride and covetousness arise from this caitiffe dust which I am so little do I yet learn how to live and so late do I know how to die O God of my life and death I most humbly beseech thee so to govern the first in me and so to sweeten the last for me that if I live I may live onely for thee and if I must die that I may enter into everlasting bliss by dying in thy blessed love and favour The Gospel for Ashwednesday S. Matthew 6. Of Hypocritical Fasting WHen you fast be not as the hypocrites sad for they disfigure their faces that they may appear unto men to fast Amen I say to you that they have received their reward But thou when thou doest fast anoint thy head and wash thy face that thou appear not to men to fast but to thy Father which is in secret and thy Father which seeth in secret will repay thee Heap not up to your selves treasures on the earth where the rust and moth do corrupt and where thieves dig through and steal But heap up to your selves treasures in heaven where neither the rust nor moth doth corrupt and where thieves do not dig through nor steal For where thy treasure is there is thy heart also Moralities 1. THat man goes to Hell by the way of Paradise who fasts and afflicts his body to draw the praise of Men. Sorrow and vanity together are not able to make one Christian Act. He deserves everlasting hunger who starves himself that he may swell and burst with vain glory He stands for a spectacle to others being the murderer of himself and by sowing vanity reaps nothing but wind Our intentions must be wholly directed to God and our examples for our neighbour The Father of all virtues is not to be served with counterfeit devotions such lies are abominations in his sight and Tertullian saith they are as many adulteries 2. It imports us much to begin Lent well entering into those lists in which so many holy souls have run their course with so great strictness have been glorious before God and honourable before men The difficulty of it is apprehended onely by those who have their understandings obstructed by a violent affection to kitchen-stuffe It is no more burdensom to a couragious spirit than feathers are to a bird The chearfulness which a man brings to a good action in the beginning does half the work Let us wash our faces by confession Let us perfume our Head who is Jesus Christ by alms-deeds Fasting is a most delicious feast to the conscience when it is accompanied with pureness and charity but it breeds great thirst when it is not nourished with devotion and watered with mercy 3. What great pain is taken to get treasure what care to preserve it what fear to loose it and what sorrow when it is lost Alas is there need of so great covetousness in life to encounter with such extream nakedness in death We have not the souls of Giants nor the body of a Whale If God will have me poor must I endeavour to reverse the decrees of heaven and earth that I may become rich To whom do we trust the safety of our treasures To rust to moths and thieves were it not better we should in our infirmities depend onely on God Almighty and comfort our poverty in him who is onely rich and so carrie our souls to heaven where Jesus on the day of his Ascension did place our Sovereign good Onely Serpents and covetous men desire to sleep among treasures as Saint Clement saith But the greatest riches of the world is poverty free from Covetousness Aspiration I Seek thee O invisible God within the Abyss of thy brightness and I see thee through the vail of thy creatures Wilt thou always be hidden from me Shall I never see thy face which with a glimpse of thy splendour canst make Paradise I work in secret but I know thou art able to reward me in the light A man can lose nothing by serving thee and yet nothing is valuable to thy service for the pain it self is a sufficient recompence Thou art the food of my fastings and the cure of my infirmities What have I to do with Moles to dig the earth like them and there to hide treasures Is it not time to close the earth when thou doest open heaven and to carrie my heart where thou art since all my riches is in thee Doth not he deserve to be everlastingly poor who cannot be content with a God so rich as thou art The Gospel for the first Thursday in Lent S. Matthew 18. of the Centurions words O Lord I am not worthy ANd when he was entered into Capharnaum there came to him a Centurion beseeching him and saying Lord my boy lieth at home sick of the palsie and is sore tormented And Jesus saith to him I will come and cure him And the Centurion making answer said Lord I am not worthy that thou shouldest enter under my roof but onely say the word and my boy shall be healed For I also am a man subject to Authority having under me
approching near the light love their own darkness They hate the light of their salvation as the shadow of death and think that if you give them eyes to see their blindness you take away their life If they seem Christians they yet have nothing but the name and the appearance the book of Jesus is shut from them or if they make a shew to read they may name the letters but never can produce one right good word 4. Others destroy themselves by false lights who being wedded to their own opinions and adoring the Chimera's of their spirit think themselves full of knowledge just and happy that the sun riseth onely for them and that all the rest of the world is in darkness they conceive they have the fairest stars for conductours but at the end of their career they find too late that this pretended light was but an Ignis fatuus which led them to a precipice of eternal flames It is the worst of all follies to be wise in our own eye-sight and the worst of all temptations is for a man to be a devil to himself 5. Those ruin themselves with too much light who have all Gods law by heart but never have any heart to that law They know the Scriptures all learning and sciences they understand every thing but themselves they can find spots in the sun they can give new names to the stars they perswade themselves that God is all that they apprehend But after all this heap of knowledge they are found to be like the Sages of Pharaob and can produce nothing but bloud and frogs They embroil and trouble the world they stain their own lives and at their deaths leave nothing to continue but the memory of their sins It would be more expedient for them rather than have such light to carry fire wherewith to be burning in the love of God and not to swell and burst with that kind of knowledge All learning which is not joyned with a good life is like a picture in the air which hath no table to make it subsist It is not sufficient to be elevated in spirit like the Prophets except a man do enter into some perfect imitation of their virtues Aspirations O Fountain of all brightness before whom night can have no vail who seest the day spring out of thy bosom to spread it self over all nature will thou have no pitie upon my blindness will there be no medicine for my eyes which have so often grown dull heavy with earthly humours O Lord I want light being always so blind to my own sins So many years are past wherein I have dwelt with my self and yet know not what I am Self-love maketh me sometimes apprehend imaginary virtues in great and see all my crimes in little I too often believe my own judgement and adore my own opinions as gods and goddesses and if thou send me any light I make so ill use of it that I dazle my self even in the brightness of thy day making little or no profit of that which would be so much to my advantage if I were so happy as to know it But henceforth I will have no eyes but for thee I will onely contemplate thee O life of all beauties and draw all the powers of my soul into my eyes that I may the better apprehend the mystery of thy bounties O cast upon me one beam of thy grace so powerfull that it may never forsake me till I may see the day of thy glory The Gospel upon Thursday the fourth week in Lent S. Luke the 7. Of the widows son raised from death to life at Naim by our Saviour ANd it came to pass afterward he went into a Citie that is called Naim and there went with him his Disciples and a very great multitude And when he came nigh to the gate of the Citie behold a dead man was carried forth the onely son of his mother and she was a widow and a great multitude of the Citie with her whom when our Lord had seen being moved with mercy upon her he said to her Weep not And he came near and touched the Coffin And they that carried it stood still and he said Young man I say to thee Arise And he that was dead sate up and began to speak And he gave him to his mother and fear took them all and they magnified God saying That a great Prophet is risen among us and that God hath visited his people And this saying went forth into all Jewry of him and into all the Countrey about Moralities JEsus met at the Gates of Naim which is interpreted the Town of Beauties a young man carried to burial to shew us that neither beauty nor youth are freed from the laws of death We fear death and there is almost nothing more immortal here below every thing dies but death it self We see him always in the Gospels we touch him every day by our experiences and yet neither the Gospels make us sufficiently faithfull nor our experiences well advised 2. If we behold death by his natural face he seems a little strange to us because we have not seen him well acted We lay upon him sithes bows and arrows we put upon him ugly antick faces we compass him round about with terrours and illusions of all which he never so much as thought It is a profound sleep in which nature lets it self fail insensibly when she is tired with the disquiets of this life It is a cessation of all those services which the soul renders to the flesh It is an execution of Gods will and a decree common to all the world To be disquieted and drawn by the ears to pay a debt which so many millions of men of all conditions have paid before us is to do as a frog that would swim against a sharp stream of a forcible torrent We have been as it were dead to so many ages which went before us we die piece-meal every day we assay death so often in our sleep discreet men expect him fools despise him and the most disdainfull persons must entertain him Shall we not know and endeavour to do that one thing well which being once well performed will give us life for ever Me thinks it is rather a gift of God to die soon than to stay late amongst the occasions of sin 3. It is not death but a wicked life we have cause to fear That onely lies heavy and both troubles us and keeps us from understanding and tasting the sweets of death He that can die to so many little dead and dying things which makes us die every day by our unwillingness to forsake them shall find that death is nothing to him But we would fain in death carry the world with us upon our shoulders to the grave and that is a thing we cannot do We would avoid the judgement of a just God and that is a thing which we should not so much as think Let us clear our accounts
fear glorious without change And it is there onely where we find all our satisfactions perfectly accomplished For to speak truth contentment consisteth in four principal things which are to have a contenting object to have a heart capable to apprehend it to feel a strong inclination to it and to enter into an absolute full possession of it Now God hath provided for all this by his infinite bounty He will not have us affect any other object of pleasure but his own He is God and therefore can have nothing but God for his satisfaction and intends graciously that we shall have the same He will have us thirst after him and quench our thirst within himself and to this our soul is singularly disposed for as God is a Spirit so is our soul onely spiritual We have so strong an inclination to love God that even our vices themselves without thinking what they do love somewhat of God For if pride affect greatness there can be nothing so great as the Monarch of it If luxury love pleasure God containeth all pure delights in his bosom and this which I say may be verified of all sins whatsoever If the presence of a right object and the enjoying be wanting we have nothing so present as God S. Paul saith We are all within him within him we live and within him we have the fountain of all our motions we see him through all his creatures until he take off the vail and so let us see him and taste of his Glory 3. A true and perfect way to make us thirst after God is to forsake the burning thirst which we have after bodily and worldly goods Our soul and flesh go in the several scales of a ballance the rising of one pulls down the other It is a having two wives for us to think we can place all our delights in God and withal enjoy all worldly contentments A man must have a conscience free from earthly matters to receive the infusion of grace we must pass by Calvary before we come to Tabor and first taste gall with Jesus before we can taste that honey-comb which he took after his resurrection Aspirations O God true God of my salvation My heart which feeleth it self moved with an affection-are zeal thinks always upon thee and in thinking finds an earnest thirst after thy beauties which heats my veins My soul is all consumed I find that my flesh it self insensibly followeth the violence of my spirit I am here as within the desarts of Affrica in a barren world the drought whereof makes it a direct habitation for dragons O my God I am tormented with this flame and yet I cherish it more than my self Will there be no good Lazarus found to dip the end of his finger within the fountain of the highest Heaven a little to allay the burning of my thirst Do not tell me O my dear Spouse that there is a great Chaos between thee and me Thou hast already passed it in coming to me by thy bounty and wilt not thou lift me up then by thy mercy The Gospel upon Tuesday the fifth week in Lent S. John 7. Jesus went not into Jewry because the Jews had a purpose to take away his life AFter these things Jesus walked into Galilee for he would not walk into Jewry because the Jews sought to kill him And the festival day of the Jews Scenopegia was at hand And his brethren said to him Pass from hence and go into Jewry that thy Disciples also may see thy works which thou dost For no man doth any thing in secret and seeketh himself to be in publick if thou do these things manifest thy self to the world for neither did his brethren believe in him Jesus therefore saith to them My time is not yet come but your time is always ready The world cannot bate you but me it hateth because I give testimony of it that the works thereof are evil Go you up to this festival day I go not up to this festival day because my time is not yet accomplished When he had said these things himself tarried in Galilee But after his brethren were gone up then he also went up to the festival day not openly but as it were in secret The Jews therefore sought him in the festival day and said Where is be And there was much murmuring in the multitude of him For certain said that he is good And others said No but he seduceth the multitudes yet no man spake openly of him for fear of the Jews Moralities 1. JEsus hides himself in this Gospel as the Sun within a cloud to shew himself at his own time to teach us that all the serets of our life consisteth in well concealing and well discovering our selves He did conceal the life which he took from nature when he might have been born a perfect man as well as Adam and yet did he hide himself in the hay of a base stable He concealeth his life of grace dissembling under silence so many great and divine virtues as if he had lockt up the stars under lock and key as holy Job saith He keeps secret his life of Glory retaining for thirty three years the light of his soul which should without intermission have glorified and cast a divine brightness upon his body But when he concealed himself the stars discovered him at his birth the Sun at his death all the Elements did then confess him and all creatures gave testimony of his Divinity 2. We should be well known of God if we did not so curiously enquire into the knowledge of the world Vanity at this day opens all her gates to manifest divers men to the world who should otherwise be buried in obscurity and darkness It maketh some appear by the luxurious excess of their apparrel as so many sale creatures whose heads being high and costly drest up go to the market of idle love Others by the riches and pomps of the world others by honours and dignities others by the spirit of industry and others by the deeds of arms and policy Every one sets out himself to be seen and esteemed in the world It seemeth that life is made for nothing but to be shewed and that we should always live for that which makes us die We are a kind of walking spirits which return late to our lodgings But yet nevertheless giving our selves so continually to the world me thinks we should at least stay with our selves every day one short hour It is said that the Pellican hides her egs and that they must be stollen from her to make them disclose But vanity is an egge which all the world hatcheth under her wings and none are willing to forsake it 3. If it be needfull to shew your self to the world be then known by your virtues which are characters of the Divinity Let men know you by your good examples which are the seeds of eternity and of all fair actions You must be known by your
had redeemed her brother from the power of death The faithfull Mary who had shed tears gave what she had most precious and observes no measure in the worth because Jesus cannot be valued Cleopatra's pearl estimated to be worth two hundred thousand crowns which she made her friend swallow at a Banquet this holy woman thought too base She melts her heart in a sacred Limbeck of love and distils it out by her eyes And Jesus makes so great account of her waters and perfumes that he would suffer no body to wash his feet when he instituted the blessed Sacrament as not being willing to deface the sacred characters of his sacred Lover 3. Judas murmures and covers his villanous passion of Avarice under the colour of Charity and Mercy toward the poor And just so do many cover their vices with a specious shew of virtue The proud man would be thought Magnanimous the prodigal would pass for liberal the covetous for a good husband the brain-sick rash man would be reputed couragious the glutton a hospitable good fellow Sloth puts on the face of quietness timorousness of wisdom impudence of boldness insolence of liberty and over-confident or sawcy prating would be taken for eloquence Many men for their own particular interests borrow some colours of the publick good and very many actions both unjust and unreasonable take upon them a semblance of piety S. Irenaeus saith that many give water coloured with sleckt whitelime or plaster in stead of milk * * * A Farse is a French Jig wherein the faces of all the actours aâ—e whited over with meal And all their life is but a Farse where Blackamores are whited over with meal Poor truth suffers much more amongst these cozenages But you must take notice that in the end wicked and dissembling Judas did burst and shew his damned soul stark naked Yet some think fairly to cover foul intentions who must needs know well that hypocrisie hath no vail to cozen death Aspirations I See no Altars in all the world more amiable than the feet of our Saviour I will go by his steps to find his feet and by the excellencies of the best of men I will go find out the God of gods Those feet are admirable and S. John hath well described them to be made of mettal burning in a furnace they are feet of mettal by their constancy and feet of fire by the enflamed affections of their Master Let Judas murmure at it what he will but if I had a sea of sweet odours and odoriferous perfumes I would empty them all upon an object so worthy of love Give O mine eyes Give at least tears to this precious Holocaust which goes to sacrifice it self for satisfaction of your libidinous concupiscences Wash it with your waters before it wash you with its bloud O my soul seek not after excrements of thy head to drie it Thy hairs are thy thoughts which must onely think of him who thought so kindly and passionately of thee on the day of his Eternity The Gospel upon Maunday Thursday S. John the 13. Of our Saviours washing the feet of his Apostles ANd before the festival day of the Pasche Jesus knowing that his hour was come that he should pass out of this world to his Father whereas he had loved his that were in the world unto the end he loved them And when supper was done whereas the devil now had put into the heart of Judas Iscariot the son of Simon to betray him knowing that the Father gave him all things into his hands and that he came from God and goeth to God be riseth from supper and layeth aside his garments and having taken a towel girded himself After that he put water into a bason and began to wash the feet of the Disciples and to wipe them with the towel wherewith he was girded He cometh therefore to Simon Peter and Peter saith to him Lord dost thou wash my feet Jesus answered and said to him That which I do thou knowest not now hereafter thou shalt know Peter saith to him Thou shalt not wash my feet for ever Jesus answered him if I wash thee not thou shalt not have part with me Simon Peter saith to him Lord not onely my feet but also hands and head Jesus saith to him He that is washed needeth not but to wash his feet but is clean wholly and you are clean but not all for he knew who he was that would betray him therefore he said You are not clean all Therefore after he had washed their feet and taken his garments being set down again he said to them Know you what I have done to you You call me Master and Lord and you say well for I am so If then I have washed your feet Lord and Master you also ought to wash one anothers feet For I have given you an example that as I have done to you so do you also Moralities 1. JEsus loves his servants for an end and till the full accomplishment of that end The world loves his creatures with a love which tends to concupiscence but that is not the end for which they were made or should be loved There is a very great difference between them for the love of worldly men plays the tyrant in the world snatching and turning all things from the true scope and intention for which they were made by God diverting them to profane uses by turbulent and forcible ways The world pleaseth it self to set up Idols every where to make it self adored in them as chief Sovereign It makes use of the Sun to light his crimes of the fatness of the earth to fatten his pleasures of apparrel for his luxury of all mettals to kindle Avarice and of the purest beauties to serve sensuality And if by chance it love any creature with a well-wishing love and as it ought to be loved that is not permanent The wind is not more inconstant nor a calm at Sea more unfaithfull than worldly friendship For sometimes it begins with Fire and ends in Ice It is made as between a pot and a glass and is broken sooner than a glass The ancient Almans tried their children in the Rbine but true friendship is tried in a sea of Tribulation It is onely Jesus the preserver and restorer of all things who loves us from Eternity to Eternity We must follow the sacred steps of his examples to reduce our selves to our first beginning and to bring our selves to the final point of our happiness 2. The water at first was a mild element which served the Majesty of God as a floting chariot since as the Scripture saith his Spirit was carried upon the waters from whence he drew the seeds which produced all the world But after man had sinned like a Supream Judge he made use of the gentlest things to be the instruments of our punishments The water which carried the Divine Mercies was chosen at the deluge to drown all mankind Now at this
you love binds you fast enough to the Cross without them But do thou O Lord hold me fast to thy self by the chain of thine immensity O Lance cruel Lance Why didst thou open that most precious side Thou didst think perhaps to find there the Sons life and yet thou foundest nothing but the Mothers heart But without so much as thinking what thou didst in playing the murderer thou hast made a Sepulcher wherein I will from henceforth bury my soul When I behold these wounds of my dear Saviour I do acknowledge the strokes of my own hand I will therefore likewise engrave there my repentance I will write my conversion with an eternal Character And if I must live I will never breathe any other life but that onely which shall be produced from the death of my Jesus crucified The Gospel for Easter-day S. Mark 16. ANd when the Sabbath was past Mary Magdalene and Mary of James and Salome bought spices that coming they might anoint Jesus And very early the first of the Sabbaths they come to the Monument the Sun being now risen And they say one to another who shall roll us back the stone from the door of the Monument And looking they saw the stone rolled back For it was very great And entering into the Monument they saw a young man sitting on the right hand covered with a white Robe and they were astonied Who saith to them Be not dismayed you seck Jesus of Nazareth that was crucified he is risen he is not here behold the place where they laid him But go tell his Disciples and Peter that be goeth before you into Galilee there you shall see him as he told you Moralities 1. THe Sepulcher of Jesus becomes a fountain of life which carries in power all the glories of the highest Heaven Our Saviour riseth from thence as day out of the East and appears as triumphant in the ornaments of his beauties as he had been humbled by the excess of his mercies The rage of the Jews looseth here its power death his sting Satan his kingdom the Tomb his corruption and hell his conquest Mortality is destroyed life is illuminated all is drowned in one day of glory which comes from the glorious light of our Redeemer It is now saith Tertullian that he is revested with his Robe of Honour and is acknowledged as the eternal Priest for all eternity It is now saith S. Gregory Nazianzen that he re-assembles humane kind which was scattered so many years by the sin of one man and placeth it between the arms of his Divinity This is the Master-piece of his profound humility and I dare boldly affirm saith S. Ambrose that God had lost the whole world if this Sacred Virtue which he made so clearly shine in his beloved Son had not put him into possession of his Conquests We should all languish after this Triumphant state of the Resurrection which will make an end of all our pains and make our Crowns everlasting 2. Let us love our Jesus as the Maries did that with them we may be honoured with his visits Their love is indefatigable couragious and insatiable They had all the day walkt round about the Judgement-Hall Mount Calvary the Cross and the Sepulcher They were not wearied with all that And night had no sleep to shut up their eyes They forsook the Image of death which is sleep to find death it self and never looked after any bed except the Sepulcher of their Master They travel amongst darkness pikes launces the affrights of Arms and of the night nothing makes them afraid If there appear a difficulty to remove the stones love gives them arms They spare nothing for their Master and Saviour They are above Nicodemus and Joseph they have more exquisite perfumes for they are ready to melt and distil their hearts upon the Tomb of their Master O faithfull lovers seek no more for the living amongst the dead That cannot die for love which is the root of life 3. The Angel in form of a young man covered with a white Robe shews us that all is young and white in immortality The Resurrection hath no old age it is an age which can neither grow nor diminish These holy Maries enter alive into the sepulcher where they thought to find death but they learn news of the chiefest of lives Their faith is there confirmed their piety satisfied their promises assured and their love receives consolation Aspirations I Do not this day look toward the East O my Jesus I consider the Sepulcher it is from thence this fair Sun is risen O that thou appearest amiable dear Spouse of my soul Thy head which was covered with thorns is now crowned with a Diadem of Stars and Lights and all the glory of the highest Heaven rests upon it Thine eyes which were eclipsed in bloud have enlightened them with fires and delicious brightness which melt my heart Thy feet and hands so far as I can see are enamel'd with Rubies which after they have been the objects of mens cruelty are now become eternal marks of thy bounty O Jesus no more my wounded but my glorified Jesus where am I What do I I see I flie I swound I die I revive my self with thee I do beseech thee my most Sacred Jesus by the most triumphant of thy glories let me no more fall into the image of death nor into those appetites of smoke and earth which have so many times buried the light of my soul What have I to do with the illusions of this world I am for Heaven for Glory and for the Resurrection which I will now make bud out of my thoughts that I may hereafter possess them with a full fruition The Gospel upon Munday in Easter-week S. Luke the 24. ANd behold two of them went the same day into a Town which was the space of sixty furlongs from Jerusalem named Emmaus And they talked betwixt themselves of all those things that had chanced And it came to pass while they talked and reasoned with themselves Jesus also himself approching went with them but their eyes were held that they might not know him And he faid to them What are these communications that you confer one with another walking and are sad And one whose name was Cleophas answering said to him Art thou onely a stranger in Jerusalem and hast not known the things that have been done in it these dayes To whom he said What things And they said Concerning Jesus of Nazareth who was a man a Prophet mighty in work and word before God and all the people And how our chief Priests and Princes delivered him into condemnation of death and crucified him But we hoped that it was he that should redeem Israel And now besides all this to day is the third day since these things were done But certain women also of ours made us afraid who before it was light were at the Monument and not finding his body came saying That they saw a vision also
fearfull maladie 135 His notorious cruelty even in his extreamest sickness ibid. His miserable death ibid. Hermingildus his retreat and conversion 325 His father's letter to him and his to his father 326 He is wickedly betrayed by Goizintha 328 His letter to his wife and his undaunted resolution 330 His death 331 His young son Hermingildus died not long after 332 A notable Observation upon the habit of a High-Priest 93 Hilarion of Costa a reverend Father 388 Hippocrates his desire how to cure the itch of ambition 56 House of the Moth. 25 House of Swallows ibid. A notable Doctrine of Hugo 61 Humility defined 468 Humiliation of Death 350 State of Humilitie 18 All the world teacheth us the lesson of Humilitie 56 The kingdom of Hypocrisie 11 Reasons against Hypocrisie ibid. Baseness of Hypocrisie ibid. Hypocrisie confuted in the great School of the world 42 Hypocrisie condemned by the Law of Heaven ibid. Deformity of Hypocrisie ibid. I JAcques de Vitry his pretty Observation 39 Idleness the business of some Great men 44 Abuse of an Idolatrous spirit 13 Jesus one and the same for Nobles and Plebeians 3 Excellent qualities of Jesus Christ 376 He is the Concurrence of all perfections ibid. Three Excellencies of Jesus in which all other are included ibid. His Sanctity Wisdom and Power 377 Practice of the love of Jesus reduced to three heads ibid. Miracles of the person of Jesus 442 Jesus entereth into his glory by his merit ibid. Suspension of actual glory in the body of our Saviour Jesus ibid. Imitation of Jesus Christ the abridgement of Wisdom 3 Images of Emperours how much reverenced 13 Impietie hath its misery 36 Impietie condemned in the Tribunal of Nature 420 Impietie chastised 451 Against Toleration of Impietie 452 Impuritie of life ariseth from three sources 85 Reasons against Inconstancie 40 Inconstancie of men 236 Indegondis transporteth the Catholick Faith into Spain 323 The persecutions of Indegondis 324 By her mediation there is a Treaty of peace between Levigildus and his son 327 The glory and greatness of that man who knows how to suffer Injuries 40 Observation of Isaiah 30. 8 406 Belief of Judgement most general 430 Judea in what condition before Herod came to the Crown 89 The causes of the corruption of Julian 373 The School of Julian ibid. How he became depraved 374 He is a Christian for policie and an Infidel in soul ibid. Prowess of Julian among the Gauls ibid. His subtility to invade the Empire ibid. His Embassage ibid. His remarkable punishment ibid. He had ill success with the qualities that Machiavel furnished him with 260 Jupiter painting goats in the Clouds what it meaneth 14 Justina an Arian requireth a Church in Milan 206 Justice and Mercy the two Arms of God 22 Necessity of Justice with its acts 89 Justice without favour very remarkable ibid. Justice of Belizarius and Aurelianus 226 Justice defined 468 K KNowledge of good and evil doth make the sin more foul 23 Knowledge of ones self very hard 69 No certain Knowledge of four things 440 L LAcedaemonians practice 381 LAdies excellent in pietie 388 Sordid Liberalitie of Emmanuel Comenus 91 Ignorance and bruitishness of Libertines 449 Arrogancy of Libertinism 450 The Table of Philo of the manners of Libertines ibid. Punishment of God upon Libertines ibid. Evil of a sleight Lie 145 Lying the key of vice 469 A Life led by opinion is ridiculous 8 Condition of this Life well described 65 Man must lead a Pilgrims Life in this world 72 Our Life is a Musick-book 84 Four sorts of Life 137 Opinion of the other Life 403 Life and Death the two poles of the World ibid. Divers kinds of Life ibid. Life was given to Cain for a punishment 414 Disturbances of Life 435 Divers wayes of humane Life according to Saint Gregorie ibid. The choice of conditions of Life is hazardous ibid. Miseries of this present Life 436 Of the Lilie with six leaves 72 Divers kinds of Love 228 229 Love turned into rage 244 The baseness of Love 375 Love of invisible things most penetrating ibid. Worldly Lovers being converted are the most servent in the Love of God illustrated by a comparison 379 Excellency of Love 399 Division of Love ibid. There is a possibility in man to love his enemies ibid. Effects of the Love of enemies in the Law of Nature 400 Loyalty of a wife to her husband 352 Lust ruineth Empires 154 Lust is a fire that burneth the garment of the soul 182 Luxurie the sin of the heel 195 Lycinius his condition 242 His end 242 Lycurgus his greatness 3 M MAgnanimitie 468 MAn a Stage-player upon the Theatre of the world 12 Three sorts of Man in every man 61 Character of the carnal and spiritual Man ibid. Of the nature and dignity of man what he hath been what he is and what he shall be 64 Man hath more non-essence than essence 350 Mans ingratitude towards God 346 Mutability of men ibid. Miseries of an indebted man 352 It is dangerous to disoblige pious and learned Men. 379 Diversitie of Men. 413 Monument of the Empress Marie 418 Five notable things in the mystery of the Mass 74 Mass a sacrifice ibid. Instructions for the Married 96 Mariamne's accusation and pitifull death 124 Martianus of whom a marvellous accident 150 His good success ibid. A great Massacre at Thessalonica 214 Maxims very dangerous used by Hereticks 183 Maxentius acteth a strange Tragedie 240 He is defeated by Constantine 241 Maximian the Baloon of Fortune 239 A remarkable speech of Maximus 79 Maximus overthrown and put to death 209 210 Meditation its definition 75 Necessity and easiness of Meditation ibid. What you must understand to Meditate well ibid. Practice and Form of Meditation consisteth in six-things 76 Seven ways to dilate ones self in Meditating in abundance upon sundry thoughts ibid. Modestie important 87 Modestie of a son of S. Lewis 418 Modestie defined 468 The actions of Modestie ibid. Marvellous contempt of money 227 Monica the mother of S. Augustine her qualities 193 Her death 198 A singular saying of Sir Thomas Moor. 90 Mother of Macchabees persecuted 348 N NAtures evils 355 NAtures voice 370 Nature delighteth in contrarieties 412 Nature the price of time 43 Nebucadnezzar nursed by a Goat 16 Nero his folly 12 Notable action of Noah 414 Nobility the first gift of God 4 Nobility not tied to bloud ibid. Against such as betray their Nobility 5 Nobility of Noah wherein ibid. Nobility of Eleazar and his excellent speech ibid. Priviledges of Nobility 8 Noble-men why ill educated 16 Nobility very much corrupted 17 Noble-mens particular obligation 20 Noble-men examples of great importance in the world 21 Noble-men appeal from the sentence of Labour 51 Disorders in corrupt Nobility 218 219 Novelty in Religion dangerous 31 Novelty ever suspected by the Wise 32 O OAths of Magistrates 90 OBedience defined 468 The qualities of an Officer 272 Onocratalus his instinct 417 Souls in the torrent of Opinion 37
corruptible matter of Earth but after he became a Christian he lived upon the most pure influences of heaven S. Gregory Nazianzen saith he more breathed S. Basile then the aire it self and that all his absences were to him so many deaths S. Chrysostome in banishment was perpetually in spirit with those he most esteemed S. Jerome better loved to entertain his spirituall amities in little Bethelem then to be a Courtier in Rome where he might be chosen Pope And if we reflect on those who have lived in the light of nature Plato was nothing but love Aristotle had never spoken so excellently of friendship had he not been a good friend Seneca spent himself in this virtue being suspected by Nero for the affection he bare to Piso Alexander was so good that he carried between his arms a poor souldier frozen with cold up to his throne to warm him and to give him somewhat to eat from his royall hands Trajan brake his proper Diadem to bind up the wound of one of his servants Titus wept over the ruines of rebellious Jerusalem A man may as soon tell the starres in the heavens as make an enumeration of the brave spirits which have been sacrificed to amity Wherefore great hearts are the most loving If we seek out the causes we shall find it ordinarily proceedeth from a good temperature which hath fire and vigour and that comes from good humours and a perfect harmony of spirit little Courages are cold straightned and wholly tied to proper interests and the preservation of their own person They lock themselves up in their proprieties as certain fishes in their shell and still fear least elements should fail them But magnanimous hearts who more conform themselves to the perfections of God have sources of Bounty which seem not to be made but to stream and overflow such as come near them This likewise many times proceedeth from education for those who fall upon a breeding base wretched and extremely penurious having hands very hard to be ungrasped have likewise a heart shut up against amities still fearing lest acquaintance may oblige them to be more liberall then they would contrariwise such as have the good hap to be nobly bred hold it an honour to oblige and to purchase friends every where Add also that there is ever some gentilenesse of spirit among these loving souls who desiring to produce themselves in a sociable life and who understanding it is not given them to enlighten sands and serpents will have spectatours and subjects of its magnificence Which happens otherwise to low and sordid spirits for they voluntarily banish themselves from the conversation of men that they may not have so many eyes for witnesses of their faults So that we must conclude against the Philosophers of Indifferency that Grace Beauty strength and power of nature are on their side who naturally have love and affection §. 2. Of Love in generall LOve when it is well ordered is the soul of the universe Love the soul of the universe which penetrateth which animateth which tieth and maintaineth all things and so many millions of creatures as aspire and respire this love would be but a burden to Nature were they not quickned by the innocent flame which gives them lustre as to the burning Bush not doing them any hurt Fornacem custodiens in operibus ardoris Eccl. 43. at all I may say that of honest love which the wise man did of the Sunne That it is the superintendent of the great fornaces of the world which make all the most Love the superintendent of the great Fornace of the world Faber ferrarius sedens juxta in eodem considerans opus ferri vapor iguis uret carnes ejus in calore fornacis concertatur c. Eccl. 29 38. Pieces of work in Nature Have you ever beheld the Forge-master described by the same wise-man You see a man in his shirt all covered over with sweat greace and smoke who sporteth among the sparks of fire and seemeth to be grown familiar with the flames He burns gold and silver in the fornace then he battereth it on the Anvil with huge blows of the hammer he fashioneth it he polisheth it he beautifies it and of a rude and indigested substance makes a fair piece of plate to shine on the Cup-boards of the most noble houses So doth love in the world it taketh hearts which are as yet but of earth and morter it enkindleth them with a divine flame It beats them under the hammer of tribulations and sufferings to try them It filleth them by the assiduity of prayer It polisheth them by the exercise of virtues lastly it makes vessels of them worthy to be placed above the Empyreall heaven Thus did it with S. Paul and made him so perfect Act. 9. that the First verity saith of him that he is his vessel of election to carry his name among nations and the Kings of the Earth and that he will shew him how much he must suffer for his sake The whole nature of Pigri mortui oetestandi eritis si nihil ametis Amare sed quid ameris videte August in Psal 31. Hoc amet nec ametur ab ullo Juvenal Seven excellent things the world tendeth to true love every thing loves some of necessity other by inclination and other out of reason He who will love nothing saith S. Augustine is the most miserable and wretched man on earth nor is it without cause that in imprecations pronounced over the wicked it is said Let him not love nor be beloved by any The ancient Sages have observed in the light of Nature that there are seven excellent things to be esteemed as gifts from heaven which are clearnesse of senses vivacity of understanding grace to expresse ones thoughts ability to govern well Courage in great and difficult undertakings fruitfulnesse in the productions of the mind and the strength of love and forasmuch as concerneth the last Orpheus and Hesiodus have thought it so necessary that they make it the first thing that came out of the Chaos before the Creation of the world The Platonists revolving upon this conceit have built us three worlds which are the Angelicall nature Vide Marsilium Ficinum in convivium Platonis An exâ—ellent conceit of the Platonists the soul and the Frame of the universe All three as they say have their Chaos The Angel before the ray of God had his in the privation of lights Man in the darknesse of Ignorance and Sinne The materiall world in the confusion of all its parts But these three Chaoses were dissipated by love which was the cause that God gave to Angelicall spirits the knowledge of the most sublime verities to Man Reason and to the world Order All we see is a perpetuall circle of God to the world and of the world to God This circle beginning in God by inestimable perfections full of charms and attractives is properly called Beauty and
when it comes to extend it self in the world and to draw it to it The natâ—â—e of love Lib. 1 de civit â—8 Amor inhians labere quâ—â— amatuâ— cupiditâ— est idem â—mor habens cóque fruenâ— letitia est fugiens quod adversatur el timor est quod si acciderit eitristitia est proinde mala sunt ista si malus est amor bona si bonus self it is called love But if you consider it in the condition wherein it gathereth together all Creatures to the first cause and makes its works re-ascend to God they say it then takes the name of Pleasure which is a most happy satisfaction of to all Nature in its Authour So love is a circle which turns from good to good by an everlasting revolution Now if you desire I should in few words explicate the nature thereof its origen progresse causes qualities and effects you must observe a notable doctrine of S. Augustine who saith That Love whilest it is in the search of what it loveth is called Desire and when it enjoyeth the thing beloved it is changed into joy But if it avoid that thing which is contrary to it either in effect or opinion it is Fear and if the Fear hath its effect by the arrivall of the evil it apprehendeth it turns into Sadnesse This love takes sundry countenances according to divers Circumstances I agree all this is said with good reason yet notwithstanding we must affirm with divines that this Oracle of Doctours hath in this difinition rather comprised the cause the effects and progresses of love then its essence and nature For to speak properly love is neither Desire Fear Joy nor Sadnesse but A Complacence of the Appetite or will in an object conveniont 5. Definition of love either according to verity or apparence But if we will speak more generally we say it is nothing but an inclination Richard de Medvill dist 27. l. 3. Art 1. q. 1. propending and moving to a good which is conform to it For by the definition we include all the kinds of love which are divided principallly into three branches to wit Naturall Animall and Reasonable It s division love Naturall love consisteth in things inanimate which have their sympathies and Antipathies As Palmes male and female Amber and straw Iron and the Adamant Animall love is that Beginning which giveth motion to the sensitive appetite of beasts to seek for that which is fit for them and to be pleased in the enjoying what they fought for Reasonable love is an Act which pursueth and accepteth the good represented by the understanding wherein we may also comprehend Angelicall and Divine love which S. Denis addeth to these three kinds whereof we speak Reasonable love is also divided into love of Amity and love of Concupiscence Love of Amity which wisheth good to the thing beloved for it self without enquiry into its own proper interesse As when it desired to one Health knowledge grace virtues wealth honours without pretence of any benefit to it self This Gabriel d. 27. q. 1. l. 3. is to affect with a love of amity which is very rare now a daies so mercenary are affections and when this love is not onely Affective as Divines speak contenting it self with bare desires but Effective by plentifully opening hauds to liberality it mounteth to a huge degree of Complacence Love of Concupiscence is an interessed love which causeth one to love a thing not for it self but for the pleasure and commodity derived from it or to be hoped in time to be dersved from it So the Horseman desireth beauty strength and courage in his horse and dog not for their sakes but his own contentment Such love is worldly love commonly defiled with base and animall consideration nor is ever purified but when it for God loveth that which cannot in it self be lovely Behold the nature and Essence of Love in its whole latitude Now to speak of the proceedings of the soul in its loves The first step it makes when it beginneth to love is the degree of the conformity of the will with The steps and progressions of â—ove the good is proposed The senses imagination understanding give it notice of some Beauty Goodnesse or Commoditie which it conceiveth to be fit for it Thereupon it beginneth to take fire and to have sparks of desires 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which make it to wish the good proposed unto it Thence it passeth to the second Degree which is that of Sharp-sweet Complacence which pleasingly each moment holds it fixed upon the thoughts of its object Sometimes between hope to possesse it another while between fear to lose it and many other passions which accompany this as yet suffering Complacence From this degree it goes to the third which is inqui +sitioâ— and motion where love putteth on wings to fly speedily into the bosome of its repose employing all possible means for its contentment and if it be favoured in its pursuit it advanceth to the fourth degree which is union esteemed the principall scope of Amities From this union ariseth another Complacence which is not painfull and dolorous but satisfied and pleased in the fruition of its object which is the heighth of love By the sides of love are lodged Beauty and Goodnesse for that as S. Denis saith they are the objects Its causes and motive of love which are so allied together that the Grecians call them by one self same name The Sages have ever sought for the true causes which dispose the wils of men to love and there are many different opinions upon this point Some hold it is a quality which God imprinteth on nature others imagine it comes from the aspect of starres and from divers constellations Others make it to proceed from Parents and education others from a certain Harmony and consonancy of hearts which meeting in accord upon the same Tone have a naturall correspondence Lastly the Maxime of Divines and Philosophers much swayeth which saith that Fair and Good make all loves I hold that to accord these opinions a notable distinction must be made of three loves which we have proposed in the beginning to wit Naturall Animall and Reasonable Forasmuch as concerneth Naturall or Animall love besides the order of nature it is God which giveth to each creature necessary inclinations to arrive at their end Well there may be influency of starres which bear sway over humours and bodies and with the starres bands of bloud temperature of Humours education and secret qualities which tie creatures with the knot of a certain love the cause whereof is not well known For how many are there who love things which are neither lovely nor good I not onely say in effect but in their own opinion and judgement yet are they thereunto fastned by some Tie nor can they free themselves from it but by the absolute power of Reason Do we not daily find by experience that a Man who is
and who knoweth himself to be deformed and wicked yet faileth not by Nature to be in love with himself So through a love of Concupiscence he may love things which have neither Beauty nor Goodnesse although he daily have a blind feeling of some thing suitable to sensuallity and an unperceivable attractive As for love of reason which is properly Humane love one may be assured it alwayes looks directly upon good and fair not simply but good fair acknowledged agreeable to its contentment This is the root of all reasonable amities and hitherto those great sources Means to make ones self to be beloved worthily of love reduced which are Honesty utilitie Delectation Resemblance reciprocall love obliging and pleasing conversation Within these six heads in my opinion the fifteen means to make one to be beloved are comprised which are touched by Aristotle in the second book of his Rhetorick To wit to love that which a friend loveth to entertain his apprehensions his joyes and his discomforts his hatred and Amities to keep him in a laudable opinion of our sufficiency by good parts of wit courage virtue industrie and reciprocally to hold him in good esteem to love him to oblige him to praise him unto others to bear with him in his humours to trust him with your secrets readily to serve him without forgetfulnesse or negligence to be inviolably faithfull to him which we will more amply deduce in the subsequent section But if you regard its effects I find three great empires Notable effects of love in the 3. worlds it exerciseth in the world naturall civil and supernaturall In the naturall it causeth all simpathies antipathies accords ties generations productions In the civill world it builds two cities as saith S. Augustine very different If it be good it raiseth a Citie of peace wherein chaste Amities sway and with them Truth Faith Honour Virtues contentments delights If it be bad It makes a Babylon full of confusion where cares fears griefs warre enmities impurities adulteries incests sacriledges bloud murther and poison inhabit and all that which commonly ariseth from this fatall plague In the supernaturall world it causeth nine effects which are very well figured by the celestiall throne of love composed of nine diaphanous globes whose effects are Solitude Silence Suspension Indefatigability Languishment Extasie and Transanimation which we more at length will consider in the sequele of this Treatise §. 2. Of Amity AMITY is the medecine of health and Immortality Eccl. 6. Medicamentùm vitae Amity the tree of life of life and in a manner doth that in Civill life which the tree of life in terrestriall Paradise promises in naturall life with an infinite number of sweetnesses and pleasures it immortaliseth us after death in the remembrance of that which is most dear unto us in the world It is that which giveth light to dark affairs certainty It Includeth all blessings to doubtfull support to tottering goodnesse to evil grace to good order to irregular ornament to simple and activenesse to dead By it the banished find a countrey the poor a patrimony great ones find offices the rich services the Ignorant knowledge the feeble support the sick health and the afflicted comfort Should a man live on Nectar and Ambrosia among starres and Intelligencies he would not be happy if he had not friends to be witnesses of his good fortune and we may truly say that Amity continually makes up the greater part of our Felicities It is not here my purpose to extend my self with full sail upon the praise thereof since so many excellent wits have already handled this subject but to shew how good Amities are to be chosen and how to be cultivated There are some who make profession to be friends What amity is Affectus est spontanea suavis animi ad aliquem inflectio Cassiod de amicit and know not so much as what friendship is but Aristotle plainly proves there is difference between affection Good-will Love Amity and Concord Affection is a spark of love not yet throughly formed in which understanding hath some slight passion Good-will A simple Good-will and consent born towards some one although many times there be no great knowledge of the party as it happeneth to such who of two Combatants favour rather the one then the other not knowing either of them Love is an affection already formed and inclined with fervour to the good of Conformity Amity is a love of mutuall well-wishing grounded upon communication Whence may be inferred that all those who love are not friends but all such as are true friends necessarily love The meanest people may love the most eminent but there can be no Amity since they therein find not correspondence There are entranced lovers in the world who are enamoured Miserable lovers of all beauties none returning them love again which deserves either laughter or compassion seeing they may directly go to the first of Beauties where they shall find reciprocall contentment After love followeth concord which is the fruit of it in the union of judgement and will Now well to understand how to choose good Amities the Species or kind of them must be known wherein I find that one Hippodamus a great Platonick Philosopher hit right when he established three sorts of Three sorts of amity Amities whereof one belongs to beasts the other to men and the third to Demi-gods Animall-Amities are those which subsist onely in Animal-amity Nature and which are common to us with beasts Thus saith S. Augustine a mother which loveth Pro mugno laudarurus sum in homine quod videam in Tigride August 410. homil 38. her children for flesh and blouds sake not otherwise raising her thoughts towards God doth but as a Hen a Dove a Tigresse a Serpent and so many other living creatures which have so great affection towards their little ones It is not that these Amities are not very necessary since Nature inspires them and powreth them into the veins with the soul by admirable infusions which preserve the estate of the world entire It is good much to affect ones own but we must build upon the first elements of Nature and by Grace and Reason raise the edifice of true charity Parents ought to love their children as a part of their own bodies which Nature hath separated from themselves But Amity should never divide their hearts Children are bound to love their parents as fishes their water Brothers cannot too much esteem the love and Concord which they mutually maintain together A husband and a wife are bound to a most strict commerce of Amity since as God produced a word in heaven and with the word the holy Ghost So he hath been pleased to create Adam on earth as his own Image and out of this Image he hath drawn Eve to be unto a man a spirit of peace and a love of a perpetuall lasting There is no doubt but that to fail in
Velocitas cogitationum animi celeritas ingeniâ— varictas multiformes illis notaâ— imprimâ—t Plin. l. 7 cap. 12. thoughts divers inflexions of the heart tastes distastes which thrust on one another as the waves of the sea They likewise thereunto adde that they very easily are turmoiled with suspicions jealousies and distrusts the least matters offend them and many once displeased are irreconcileable And which is more that the most part of them have narrow hearts and hands nor open enough to help their good friends at a need they being ordinarily much tyed to the interest of their family so that there are many who love not so much for love as for gain Reasons for the modest love of women Amor magis lentitur cum prodit eum indigentia August l. 10. de Trin. c. 12 S. Thom. 1. 2 q 25. This may well happen in certain humours but there are some grievous spirits who do not so easily receive the impressions of these ill qualities and who persevere till death in an unshaken constancy of affection And verily it seemeth that contrary to what hath been spoken nature more favoureth them therein because Love as saith S. Thomas after S. Augustine appears best in indigence and those love most fervently and powerfully who besides other attractives see themselves bound unto it by some kind of necessity Now the inclination which a woman hath towards man is as it were necessary For it is more easie for a man to be without a woman having regard to spirituall and temporall assistances as Sacraments and Physick then for a woman to be without a man Adam was for a while all alone in Paradise in a vaste world but God permitted not that Eve should be there alone one moment for this solitude would have gone hard with her to see so many living creatures and in so divers kinds and not meet with one to bear her resemblance This being so one may with reason say that as we love things necessary with more endeavour and stability so women are tyed with the more indissoluble chains in virtuous inclinations But not to speak of this motive which proceeding from a meer motion of nature cannot be the most generous we find men who rest upon Indifferency and seek nothing but to content their own senses and to idolatrize themselves but women very rarely stay upon neutrality needs they must love or hate there is no third condition for them and since according to the Philosopher it is fit to judge of Contraries by proportion we will truly say that if they be susceptible of the impressions of hatred above all may be said so are they likewise capable of noble Amities They think themselves more engaged in honour to entertain them when they have begun fearing to be disparaged by the multitude of wandring and flitting affections Adde also to this that they are more tender then men and that softnesse of temperature is to love as the air to the ray of the Sun seeing the affections more easily penetrate where they find dispositions which have already prepared a way for them Lastly as they commonly are more devout and religious then men so they observe virtuous Amities with respect and entertain them out of conscience and especially such as are grounded on piety which is the thing that most powerfully predominateth over their heart I speak this in respect of those who are very virtuous but as we find few rare virtues and strong amities accompanied with all necessary circumstances are not so frequent in their sex It seemeth also that the Examples we derive as well from Nature as Civil life insensibly lead us to the proof of that which we propose Among living creatures the Females are the more Bodin Theatri natur l. 3. sect 6. sharp and ardent as well in their affection as in their anger the cuttle-fish takes revenge on that which striketh her male but the male flyeth if his female catch a blow as Aristotle hath observed in the ninth book of his living Creatures I well remember the Antients studiously reckoned up the pairs of friends which they had observed throughout all Ages and that Lucian Luc. Toxatis in his Toxaris hath strange examples of amity between men as of him who left his whole family in a fire to carry out his dearest friend on his shoulders and of another who gave his own eyes for the ransome of him whom he most tenderly affected But who likewise would in particular decipher the notable acts of love which many wives have witnessed to their husbands should find wherewith to be moved to admiration and to settle his constancy If we talk of preserving a widdow-hood inaccessible to second wedlocks Rare amitieâ— of women Valer. Max. l. 4 c. 6. how many may we find of them even in Gentilisme who after the death of their dear husbands have said what the antient Valeria did My husband is dead to others but not to me If we speak of suffering great toils of body Queen Hipsicrates followed King Mithridates her husband as one of his bravest Captains gallautly corvetting a horse and galloping through snows and wildernesses not to be separated from him If we discourse of banishment and ignominies Sulpitia brake up doors and locks to run Idem lib. 6. cap. 7. maugre her mother after her exiled husband among the proscripts of the Triumvirat If imprisonments be Lipsii exem politica put into the list of account Eponia was nine years shut up with her husband in the hollow cavern of a Tomb. If you regard maladies a daughter of Spain daily Rhod. Santius histor Hispan p. 1. cap. 4. Scard lib. 3. hist Paravinae with her tongue licked the envenomed wound of King Edward of England her dear husband If you look on the terrible of terribles death Blaunch the Italian Lady scorning the flatteries of the Tyrant Actolin who passionately woed her captive though she were escaping out of the hands of souldiers she went to breathe out her life upon the tomb of him to whom she first of all had given her heart and affections Yea I much more admire those who willingly have deprived themselves of all riches greatnesse yea even of the presence of their husbands whom they dearly loved to procure them liberty wealth and honour Cedrenus Cedren in Epirom hist p. 596. observeth in his history that Constantine the ninth exercising tyranny as well in matter of love as within his Empire caused the Roman Argyropylus to be sought out and commanded him to repudiate his wife whom he had lawfully married to take his daughter on condition that he would make him Cesar and associate him with himself in his dignity but if he condescended not to his will he threatned to pull out his eyes and to make him all the dayes of his life miserable The Excellent loyalty of a Lady Lady who was present seeing her husband involved in all the perplexities that might be and
displeaseth All which hath contented them discontenteth one knows not into what posture to put himself to give satisfaction Good words vex them services distast them submissions torment them contradictions make them mad It seemeth Sauls devil possesseth them and that they 1 Reg. 18. 10. know not themselves they hate by humour as if they had loved without consideration of merit But we must say that of all the plagues of Amity there is none so fatall to it as the discovery of a secret by Treason and Infidelity That is it which Petrus 8. Infidelity Petrus Blesenfis l. de amie c. 6. Plutarch in Julio 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Blesensis called the blow without noise under the shadow of Amity It is that which Brutus gave to great Cesar and which was the cause that the valorous Emperour long tumbled to and fro among his murderers and defending himself from every blow they gave him covered his eyes with his garment not enduring the treachery of a man whom he had loved and obliged above all other But saying Ah son art thou then one of these He suffered himself as a victime to be butchered ashamed to behold the day light which made him see so black a mischief And what is there more to be deplored then to behold a generous heart which dilates it self in the presence of a pretended friend and powreth out unto him all he hath in his soul whilst the wretch shooting back envenomed shafts against all the raies of Amity maketh a prey of his goodnesse and a trophey of his sincerity abandoning him to the discretion of such as persecute him There are some who suffer themselves to fall into these Infidelities by the surprizall of some wicked spirits who wholly govern them and who draw out of them all they have in their hearts either by craft or power which rendreth them lesse culpable but not innocent Others run to it with the malignity of a Devill and joyfully triumph Sient novatulla acut◠fecisti dolum propterea Deus destructte when they have prospered in an Act so base and barbarous Do not these kind of people deserve to be accounted the horrour of nature the scorn of Ages the execration of mankind And shall we not believe that if Pythagoras Metempsychosis were in being their souls would put on no other bodies but of Hyena's Rats or Owls to fly in an eternall night and never to be illustrated with one sole ray of the bright day of Amity Now if you desire to know the things which are Psal 51. 4. Six perfections which preserve Amity of power perpetually to uphold Amity I must tell you it subsisteth in honesty good disposition communication Bounty Patience and Fidelity Assure your self you will not long be a good friend if you study not to be ever virtuous The heart of a wicked man saith the Prophet is a Cor impurum quasi mare servens Isa 57. turmoyled sea which never rests it hath as many changes as the waves in the Ocean as many agitations as Tempests which with Amity is incompatible of its own nature peacefull and which enterteins the mind in a constant situation What is the cause the blessed are never weary of loving but that they perpetually find in God new beauties and perfections The body is finite and quickly thrusts forth all its qualities which with time rather fade then flourish but our spirit is profound as an abysse and our soul tendeth in some sort Dum unusquisque se sub umbra alterius obscurare volebat tan quam res percussa claritas utrumque radiabat S. Hilar. In Honorat to Infinity Hence it comes that two friends seriously disposing themselves to perfection daily receive some new lustre which rendreth them lovely so that increasing in goodnesse by degrees they insensibly love some better thing Saint Hilary of Arles said of two good friends that they sought to hide themselves in the shadow of one another but that thence their humility was reflected as from a solid bottome which made its lights the more resplendent Yet would I not that your virtue should be austere Humour and unmanaged but seasoned with a good disposition and a certain cordiality which is the best temper of Amity There are some who love so coldly that their love is as a day in winter when the Sun is involved in grosse vapours and shews nothing but sadnesse which is extreamly troublesome for it is better to receive a manifest Correction then to endure a hidden Amity to speak with the Wiseman Melior est manifesta correptio quam amor absconditus Prov. 27. and you shall find many women who better love harsh men then such as are neither one nor other He is no good friend who rejoyceth not at the presence of his friend who is not sorry for his absence yet not opposing the conformity we should have with Vid. Chrys ep p. 715 716. 1 Thes 2. 3. the divine Providence S. Chrysostome in the letters he wrote to his dear Olympias observed these sensible affections in S. Paul for he was much troubled at the absence of his best friends and desired to see their faces as he saith where this great Prelate insisteth upon Tertul. de velandis c. 12. Quis audebit oculis suis premere faciem clausam faciem non sentientē faciem ut ita dixerim tristem on the word face and sayes it is good right that we desire the face of our friend because it is the place where the soul sheweth it self in all its senses There is not any man saith Tertullian unlesse he hath little to do delighteth to hold long discourse before a face shut up a visage sensible of nothing and which to say truly cannot but be melancholy in this posture This hindreth not but that the use of veils is very laudable in time and place among religious women who make profession of penance and the fore-alledged Authour who ardently urgeth virgins to this observance gives them an example of Arabian women who were so veiled that they had but one eye free to guide them and to Contente sunt dimidiatâ fruiluce quà m totam faciem prostituere Idem de velandis Virg. cap. 14. receive a half light which caused a Roman Queen to say that they were miserable women who went so because they might take in love but not give it out again But contrariwise they were most happy to be delivered from a thousand importunities of wanton eyes which do nothing but court beauties Howsoever true amity is necessarily accompanied with some tendernesse and sensibility which causeth one to be perpetually anxious for such as he loveth Love in the heart is an exhalation in a cloud it cannot continue idle there It daily formeth a thousand imaginations and brings forth a thousand cares It findeth out an infinity of inventions to advance the good of the beloved It openeth it self in his prosperities it shuts it self up in
his flock and kill his brethren by your ill example Carnall love in what person soever is still ill situate said Epictetus In a maid it is a shame in a woman it is a fury in a man a lewdnesse in youth it is a rage in mans estate a blemish in old-age a disgrace worthy of scorn You will say all these considerations are very effectuall but that they cure not passion already enflamed and almost desperate of remedy Remedies for affections which come against our will To that I answer we must proceed with more efficacy and addresse among such as are surprised with vehement affection of which they would be free but they find all possible repugnancies I approve not the course of certain directours who think all maladies are healed by words as if they had ears To what purpose is it to hold long discourses and to appoint many meditations to a sharp feaver which is full of ravings and furious symptomes All the maladies of Love are not cured in one and Diversity of the maladies of love and their cures the same manner There are some who are engaged in the sense of the passion but not in the consent to the sinne which is expresly sent by God to persons very innocent but not entirely perfect to punish some negligencies or some slight liberties of conversation whereinto they have suffered themselves to slide by surprisall that they may feel the danger of sinne by the torment they suffer and may correct themselvs by the scent of the smoke before they be involved in the flame And this many times lasteth long being ordained as under a sentence of the divine Providence as a punishment to become afterward a bridle to negligence and a precaution against peril Some also are permitted by heaven and imposed upon certain souls who had a little too much rigour towards such as were tempted to the end they might learn by their experience more mildly to handle suffering hearts and not exasperate their wounds by the sharpnesse of the remedy Witnesse that old man of whom Cassian speaketh who having roughly entertained a young religious man that discovered his passion Cas Col. 2. de discret Intellige te vel ignotarum hactenus a dia bolo vel despectum to him was tempted so violently that he thereby became frantick and understood from the venerable Abbat Apollon this had befaln him by reason of his great harshnesse and that although he hitherto had not felt any rebellion against chastity it was because the devill either knew him not or contemned him There are some which like tertian and quartan agues have their accesses and recesses measured and what diligence soever be used therein well the pain may be mitigated but the root is not taken away till it arrive to a certain period of time wherein the sick man is insensibly cured There are some driven away by hunger and others overthrown by a reasonable usage as it happeneth to melancholy Lovers whose bodies are dry and brains hollow if you appoint them fasts and austerities ill ordered you kill them Some advise them recreation wine bathes honest and pleasing company necessary care of the body Some sweet and active entertainment which gives not leasure to the wild fancies of the mind but this must be taken with much moderation There are some who expect a good sicknesse and many bloud-lettings which may evacuate all the bloud imprinted with Images of the thing beloved to make a new body others are cured by a suit a quarrell ambition an ill businesse great successe a new state of life a voyage a marriage an office a wife There are now very few fools of Love to be found who neglect worth and honour to serve their passion There are nice and suspicious Loves which have more of vanity then concupiscence when one troubleth and hinders them from honestly seeing that which they love they are distempered and if one resist them not they vanish away as if they had not had so much intention to love as to vanish It were almost necessary for many if it may be done without sinne or scandall to converse continually for being somewhat of their own nature coy they still observe some defect in the thing beloved which weakneth their passion and find that the presence is much inferiour to their Idea which is the cause they easily desist from their enterprise having more shame to have begun it then purpose to continue it Some are enflamed by deniall others become totally cool by contempt as proud and predominate loves who have not learn'd to suffer the imperious carriage of a woman a disdain of their mistresse a cunning trick a coldnesse a frown makes them quickly break their chains One would not believe how many humane industries there are to cure the pain of Love but ever it is better to owe ones health to the fear of God to Penance to Deuotion then to all other inventions For which cause you must consider the glorious battails which so many heroick souls have waged to crush Solid remedies this serpent and to walk with noble steps in the liberty of the children of God Some have fought with it on thorns as S. Bennet others on flowers as the Martyr Nicetas who being Admirable examples of the combats of Saints against Love bound on a bed of roses with silken cords to resign himself to the love of a courtesan spit out his tongue in her face Others have thrust sharp pointed reeds under their nails as S. John the Good others have quenched it in snows as S. Francis others in flames as S. Martinian who being by an unchaste woman sollicited to sinne burnt his face and hands to over-throw the strongest passion by the most violent pain There are many of them in the new Christianity of Japonia who pursue the same wayes and run to their chimney-hearths to vanquish the temptations of the flesh thinking there is not a better remedy against this fire then fire it self Others have overcome this bruitishnesse by a savage life as S. Theoclista who being taken by Arabians stole from them and was thirty years hidden in the forrests living on grasse and clothing her self with leaves To say truly there is not any virtue hath cost mankind so much as invincible Chastity But since these manners of conquests are more admirable then imitable at least mortifie your body by some ordinary devotion Make use of the memory of death make use of assiduity of prayer of labour of care over the eyes ears heart and all the senses Humble your spirit and submit to obedience that your flesh may obey you Be not transported with extravagancies Ubi furoris insederit virus libidâ—niâ— quoque incendium nâ—cesse est peneâ— Casde spiritu fornic c. 23. animosity and revenge since Anger and Love according to the Ancients work upon one subject and that the same fervours of bloud which make men revengefull will make them unchaste fail not to heal
your self by the practise of retirement of penance of hair-cloth and fasting A holy maid of Alexandria was twelve years in a sepulchre Raderus to free her self from the importunities of concupiscence cannot you be there one hour so much as in thought Another had this stratagem to elude love for she seeing Speculum Anonymi a young man to be very much touched with her love who ceased not to importune her with all the violent pursuits which passion could suggest told him she had made a vow to fast forty dayes with bread and water of which she would discharge her self before she would think of any thing else and asked whether he pleased not to be a Party for the triall of his love which he accepted but in few dayes he was so weakned that he then more thought upon death then love Have not you courage to resist your enemy by the like arms your heart faileth you in all that is generous and you can better tell how to commit a sin then to do penance Then chuse out that which is most necessary and reasonable separation from that body so beloved which by Separation the first remedy its presence is the nourishment of your flames Consider you not that comets which as it is said are fed by vapours of the earth are maintained whilst their mother furnisheth them with food so love which shineth and burns like a false star in the bottome of your heart continually taketh its substance and sustenance from the face which you behold with so much admiration from the conversation which entertains you in an enchanted palace full of chains and charms Believe me unlose this charm stoutly take your felfe off dispute not any longer with your concupiscence fly away cut the cable weigh anchor spread sails set forward go fly Oh how a little care will quickly be passed over Oh how a thousand times will you blesse the hour of this resosolution Look for no more letters regard not pictures no longer preserve favours let all be to preserve your reason Ah! why argue you still with your own thoughts Take me then some Angel some Directour The counsel and assiduity of a good directour is an excellent antidote who is an able intelligent industrious couragious man resign your self wholly up to his advice he will draw you out from these fires of Gomorrha to place you in repose and safety on the mountain of the living God I adde also one advice which I think very essentiall which is infinitely to fear relapses after health and to avoid all that may re-enkindle the flame For Love oft-times resembleth a snake enchanted cast asleep and smothered which upon the first occasions awakeneth and becomes more stronger and more outragious then ever You must not onely fortifie your body against it but your heart for to what purpose is it to be chast in your members and be in thought an adulterer Many stick not to entertain love in their imagination with frequent desires without putting them in execution but they should consider that Love though imaginary makes not an imaginary hell and that for a transitory smoke they purchase an eternall fire § 10. Of Celestiall Amities BUt it is time we leave the giddy fancies of love to behold the beauties and lights of divine Charity which causeth peace in battails conquest in victories life in death admiration on earth and paradise in heaven it self It is a strange thing that this subject the most amiable of all proves somewhat dreadfull to me by the confluence of so many excellent Writers antient and modern who have handled it so worthily since thier riches hath impoverished their successions and their plenty maketh me in some sort to fear sterility They had much furtherance in their design they took as much stuffe as they thought good referring all that to the love of God which is in nature and above nature in grace and beyond grace They have enlarged themselves in great volumes the sight whereof alone seems to have much majesty and to please their own appetites they have said all they might possible But here forasmuch as concemeth my purpose I have reduced my self into contractions of great figures which will not prove troublesome if measures and proportions be therein observed and nothing forgotten of all that which is most essentiall to the matter we treat I find my self very often enforced to confine giants to Myrmecidia opera apud Aelianum the compasse of a ring and to cover ships under the wing of a fly drawing propositions out of a huge masse of thoughts and discourses to conclude them in a little Treatise not suffering sublimity to take ought away of their facility nativenesse of their majesty shadows of their lustre nor superficies of their dimensions Besides that which renders this my discourse the lesse pleasing is that speaking to men of the world I cannot disguise the matter in unknown habits splendid and pompous words conceptions extatick I cannot perswade them that a Seraphin hath penetrated rhe heart of one with a dart of fire and that another hath had his sides broken by the strength of the love of God I must pursue ordinary wayes and teach practises more nearly approching to our humanity I am then resolved to shew there are celestiall Amities which great souls contract with God that their condition is very excellent and most happy and that the practice of them must begin in this world to have a full fruition of them in the other Carnall spirits which onely follow animall wayes have much a-doe to conceive how a man can become passionate in the love of God and think there is no affection but for temporall and visible things It is a Love too high say they to transferre their affections into heaven It is a countrey wherein we have no commerce There comes neither letter nor message thence No ships arrive on that coast It is a world separated from ours by a great Chaos wholly impenetrable That there may be a celestiall amity by the commerce of man with God How would you I love God since he is all spirit and I a body He is Infinite I finite He so High and I so low It is a kind of insolency to go about to think of it Behold how spirits ignorant of heavens mysteries do talk But I maintain upon good grounds that we are made to place our love in the heart of God and that if we do not seasonably take this way well we may go on but never shall we arrive at repose First the Philosopher Plato hath worthily observed An exellent conceit of Plato Plato in Sympos Marlil Ficinus Amor memoria primi ac summi purissuni pulchri Appetitor artis desertor artificis amplectitur speciem eujus non miratur authorem S. Eucherius ep Paraenâ—t that the love we have here below is a remembrance of the first fair sovereign and most pure of all beauties which is
the Divinity Our soul which is the blast of his mouth the image of his bounty the representation of his power as it beareth so lively characters of his Majesty hath as it were also not heeding it a generous passion towards him unlesse it be infected by the breath of the serpent and obstructed by vapours of sensualty it seeks for him it speaks to him in all creatures It beholdeth him through so many veils which nature hath spread before it in so divers objects But it often falleth out that charmed with present pleasures it is so much delighted with beautifull workmanships that it forgetteth the work-man It embraceth momentary beauties for eternall verities It takes the shadow for the body It creates to it self an Empire in banishment and a haven in shipwrack This carnall piece which is ravished with the contemplation of this goodly face will not stay upon flesh It feeleth there is some invisible hand which shoots arrows at it amidst the vermilion of roses and the whitenesse of lillies it well knoweth not what transports it what entranceth it what worketh these transanimations in it It is not the body which must rot but it is the shadow of the first-fair upholds it self in the frailty of dying things and incessantly causeth returns to the first origen in souls which know how to profit by theri wounds O how attractive is the Beautie O should it on a sudden take away the veil from all mortall eyes who court it the world in an instant would dissolve under its much to be adored rayes souls would fly out of bodies and totall nature would impetuously affect its delights It is so naturally imprinted on the heart of man that Hell it self cannot forget it since the evil rich man laid on the coals of so unfortunate a lodging did for his first act lift up his eyes to heaven as desirous to look for the lovely face which he had eternally lost Secondly I will deliver an excellent reason which I Aug. l. 2. conf c 6. An excellent reason of S. Augustine to shew the inclination we have to love God draw out of S. Augustine to convince us that there is some very forcible inclination which insensibly moveth us to the love of God which is the cause that even our vices and exorbitancies not reflecting thereon love some perfection of the Divinity although not regulated nor limited in the bounds wherewith it ought to be beloved Pride contends for heighth and what is higher then God who sits upon Thrones predominateth over Dominations who governeth Principalities and makes Heaven bow even to the Abysse under the shadow of his Majesty Ambition passionately seeketh after honours and who hath more honour then God who seeth glory to be hatched in his own bosome for whome so many Altars smoke for whom so many sacrifices burn under whom so many Diadems bow to whow so many Sceptres obey before whom so many States Kingdomes and Empires are but a drop of dew Power will make it self great and who is more formidable then this great Judge for whom Thunders roar Lightnings fly Thunder-stones shiver lofty rocks for whom elements fight and nature dresseth up its scaffolds to prosecute offenders even in hell there being neither Place Time Heighth or Power which hath ability to deliver it self out of his hands Flattery and Complacence will make it self to be beloved and what is more lovely then the sweetnesse of the charity of this good Father which distilleth like unto a celestiall Manna upon all the creatures of the Universe Curiosity affecteth the study of wisdome And what is wiser then God who seeth all within himself who hath Abysses of knowledges in his heart riches of eternall sapience in his bosome for whom Time hath no prescription nature no veil Heighth no heighth and abysses no depth Who is the Father of Sciences Creatour of thoughts Treasure of Eloquence who dazeleth all humane Ability who taketh his Sages from among Ideots and out of the dumb raiseth his Oratours Lazynesse seeks out a life soft and peacefull continually fixed upon its repose and the contentments of the flesh and spirit and where shall we find the repose out of God since it is he who is perpetually ingulphed in the delights of a pure tranquillity Luxury ardently desireth pleasures and will satisfie all the desires of its heart And God is he not the plenitude of joy an abundance which never fails a sweetnesse incorruptible a feast which consumeth not a perpetuall Theatre of comsorts a Flood of most pure contentments which floweth overall Paradise Avarice will possesse much it stretcheth out the hands of a Harpy over the goods of another It garboileth the world it disquieteth the earth It would willingly delve into hell it pleadeth it wrangleth it assails it defendeth to satiate its covetousnesse yet still is hungry For what is he that possesseth all but the prime of the rich who is the beauty of fields the lustre of flowers the fecundity of fruits the wealth of minerals and the fertility of totall nature Envie is troubled about supereminency and will have the highest place accounting him an enemy who precedeth And is it not the eternall Father who is King of Glory who seeth all to be much lower then himself and seeth nothing beyond what he is Choler will revenge for it it striketh at heaven it troubleth the earth it causeth lightning and tempests which raise so many Tragedies in the world And who better knowes how to avenge sins then the soveraign Monarch of the Universe for whom exterminating Angels carry the sword of Justice for whom hell reserveth treasures of flames eternall Now I demand of you if it be true that even our Tantus est ille ut qui non amant eum injustâ— quidem non nisi quoddam ejus amare possint S. Eucherius Objection about the invisibâ—lity of God Mercur. Trism 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That God renders himself infinitely amiable in totall nature Synesius Hymn 4. Naturam universam lyram aeâ—erni Patris vocat diversis fidibus intentam 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ubi alludit ad chordas cytharae hypatem mesen neten The sun the image of God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Orpheo Boni conspicuus filius conspicuum in templo mundi Dei simula chrumâ— Platonicis Proclus thronum justitiae in medio sole collocat vices are in love with some perfections which are in God how can our virtues but bear a singular affection towards him why should they not be enamoured of his beauties why not sigh after his attractives since they are his reall daughters Some one will say it were but reasonable if God to make himself beloved would become visible to men but he is a secret so hidden that our poor spirit seeking for him finds more confusion then light Verily I like Mercury Trismegistus for he stopping his mouth who complained of the invisibility of God Hold thy peace thou profane fellow saith he and if thou hast
love which drowneth all humane thoughts which swalloweth all earthly affections which flieth to the superiour region of man which hideth all that is eminent in sciences transcendent in virtue great in imagination and which causeth the spirit to forget it self and to look on nothing but heaven § 12. The Practise of Divine Love THe love of God is a science inspired not studied where the infusion of the Holy Ghost is more eloquent then all Tongues and more learned then all Pens That which comes to us by art oft-times begins very late and quickly endeth That which is given us by the favour of heaven comes very readily and never is dost Those who think to learn the love of God by precepts onely croak like Ravens 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Pindarus and have nothing solid such as have it by grace are Angels who are raised into the highest region and poize themselves on their wings Grave discourses and good books fail not to contribute much to this purpose as we lately may have tried by the treatise which the R. F. Stephen Binet hath published fully replenished with the holy ardours of extraordinary devotion and which seem to have been dictated by love it self and conceived in that fire which Jesus came to enkindle on earth to enflame the whole world If then you desire to profit in this love let your endeavour The means to acquire the love of God be continually to beg it of God with the most fervent prayers which the holy Ghost shall suggest to esteem it above all worldly things and to apply all your actions to this happy conquest Be ye very carefull to cut off from your heart all impediments which may give it any obstacle for if you should imagine to entertain it in a soul sullied with terrestriall affections it were to ask a most precious Quot vitia habemus tot recentes habemus Deos Hieron Balm to put it in an unclean vessel We have as many Idolls in our heart as passions opposite to the law of God Be not satisfied with taking away vices but stifle the remembrance of worldly things which may in you occasion any exorbitancy Withdraw your mind as much as you can from a thousand imaginations which fly as aiery spirits about your heart when it begins to take wings to its repose Perplex not your self likewise more then is reason with affairs both spirituall and temporall which cause a thousand cares to arise and onely serve to quench the vigour of devotion and to draw out the juice of piety Fly acerbities of heart apprehensions and servitudes accustoming your self to do all with a spirit of sweetnesse and holy liberty Consequently make a practise of the love of God The practise of the love of God undertaking it with a resolute purpose a great application of mind and employing all possible industries to profit therein as one would in affecting some great bargain some very considerable office or affair most important For it is a very unworthy thing to behold all despicable Trades full of artisans who kill themselves How we may earn to love God above the love of the world Jnhonestos amatores ostendite si quis amore foeminae lasciviens vestit se aliter quà m amatae placet Aug. ler. 19. de verbis Apost to find out inventions that may set forth the profession and that onely the occupation of the love of God should have workmen so lazy and unnaturall After all following the counsel of S. Augustine consider what the children of darknesse often do to prosper in worldly loves and amities They strive to insinuate themselves by some good office they consider on every side the person of him of whom they would be beloved they study his nature his inclinations his desires his affairs and they oblige him ere he is aware in what he desireth most Are they entred into his amity they persist in the practise of great assiduities they have entertainments and admirable correspondencies they delight they serve they mingle the recreative with the serious They apply all they see all they think upon all they invent all they hope all they possesse all they say all they write to the contentment of this creature They draw tribute out of all for it and if it be possible will give it its hearts-wish in all things They transform themselves into its humours and likings They espouse its loves enmities quarrels and revenges They publish its virtues with discretion conceal its favours they have tricks to pacifie its anger to stir up its languours to open its heart to hold their possession and if it be needfull will passe through ten purgatories of fire ice tears bloud torrents seas enflamed serpents gnawing vultures to arrive at one of its pretentions O reproch that all this is done for a frivolous worldly love which oftentimes is the Hangman of life the gulf of Reason the Hell of souls and that there is none but Jesus for whom they will not so much ss stir a finger Make a resolution to insinuate your self into his friendship by some notable Act which you know to be acceptable to him and which he already hath required of you by so many inspirations Enter into his house and into his bosome render him assiduity in your prayers your meditations your communions and in all your exercises of devotion Learn to speak to him every hour by jaculatory prayers as one would to some friend tenderly loved and vehemently affected Referre all creatures to his love and love nothing but him but in him but for him publish his greatnesse every where make a thousand instruments of his glory but conceal his favours by a profound humility Behold men your like as his images Engrave all his words all his actions all his wounds in the bottome of your heart make your selves like him as much as you may bear him on your flesh suffering for him not onely with patience but alacrity through a desire of conformity Behold the principall means by which one may come to the love of God and to the unitive way Observe there withall the three Conditions which S. Bernard prescribeth to wit to love sweetly prudently strongly sweetly without violence prudently without illusion strongly without separation But there being nothing which more forcibly moveth That we learn to love God himself and by the character of his substance which is Jesus In medio animalium splendor ignis de igne fulgur egrediens Ezekiel 1. the soul then Example I advise you often to present unto your self the love of God and Jesus Christ which should be the source of ours and to make a sacred posy to your self of all the lovers who were most vehement in Divine Love Reflect O Christian soul upon the chariot of Cherubins in Ezechiel and thou shalt learn what God would have of thee I see saith the Prophet a clear and bright fire in the midst of these living Creatures and from
nothing but God and It God who was in it with eternall contentments It which was in God with reciprocall and wholly ineffable affections This heart of Jesus resembled the Halcions nest which cannot hold one silly fly more then the bird it self So he knew not how to lodge one creature in himself to the prejudice of the Creatour but could tell how to lodge them altogether to uâ—ite them to their Head O it was properly his businesse to give us this lesson which he afterward dictated by one of his Oracles He loveth thee not August â—olil Minà s tâ— amat qui tâ—cum aliquid amat quod propter te non amat Apoc. 8. enough whosoever loveth any thing with thee which he loveth not for thee From solitude he entred into the silence which Synesius calleth Beatifick Silence and which S. John placeth in heaven in the peacefull condition of the Blessed It was properly the calm and repose which the holy soul of Jesus took with his heavenly Father in his divine Orisons which he many times continued the space of whole nights watching and weeping for us and dwelling as it were in the fire of love It is that silence which the Canticle calleth the Cantic 3. Bed of Solomon encompassed with threescore valiant ones but of that great Host of Angels From silence he passed to the suspension whereof Job speaketh Job 7. 15. Elegit suspendium anima 〈◊〉 where his soul felt it self totally pulled up by the root from earth but not as yet placed in heaven because he was corporally in this transitory life We verily find three admirable suspensions in Nature That of water in the clouds of Heaven above the clouds and of earth under the clouds and two ineffable suspensions in the Humanity of Jesus The first is that of his blessed soul which was alwaies hanging at the heart of God and the second of his body on the Crosse to purifie by his death all the regions of the world both above and beneath above by the exhalation of his spirit beneath by the effusion of his bloud After suspension he mounted to insatiability which Daâ—iâ—â— Cardi. â—â— Hymno dâ— Paradiso Avidi semper plâ—ni quod habent de â—â—â—â—rant caused him that drinking those eternall sources by long draughts in the delighrs of Contemplation which streams upon him from heaven he slaked his thirst in his own bosome not quite quenching it therein retaining the condition of those who see God of whom it is said That they are still replenished yet still greedy incessantly desiring what they possesse From insatiability he came to the degree of Indefatigability which caused him perpetually to spend himself in most glorious labours for the redemption of the world measuring and running over the earth as the sun doth Heaven and fowing virtues and benefits every where to reap nought but Ingratitude From thence he proceeded to that Inseparability which tied him for the love of his heavenly Father not onely to the punishment of the Crosse but to so many scorns and miseries as he embraced for us and he made so much account of this mortall flesh which he took of us that he associated it unto himself with an eternall band and hath transmitted it into the bosome of Immortality placing his wounds which were the characters of his love and of our inhumanity even in the sanctuary of the most blessed Trinity From this Inseparability he suffered himself to slide into languours extasies and transanimations which make up a Deified love such as was that of Jesus Languour dried him up with the zeal he had for our salvation exhausting all the strength of his body and to speak with Philo he seemed as if he would have transformed his flesh into the nature of Mark 3. 21. his spirit causing it to melt and dissolve under the ardours of ineffable affection as we see a Myrrhe-Tree which distilleth the first fruits of its liquour under the lustre of the sun-beams Extasie which bare this great soul with a vigorous violence to the heart of God made a truce in all the actions of sensitive nature and as it happeneth that the Ocean extraordinarily swelling up upon one shore forsaketh the other So the spirit of our Saviour already divinized amassing together the whole multitude of his forces to serve his love and satisfie the passion he had towards his celestiall Father overflowed in the heart of the Divinity with so immeasurable a profusion that all his inferiour Nature seemed to be forsaken and despoiled of the presence and government of his soul In the end he entred into that transanimation which Orig. 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Anima ilia quasi scrâ—um in igne semper in verbo semper in sapientia semper in Deo in convertibilitatem ex verbi Dei unitate indesinenter ignita possidebat so powerfully united him to God that onely retaining the property of two natures Divine and Humane he made an incomparable commixtion of heart of love of affections and conformities which made Origen say This soul like unto Iron which is on burning Coles was alwayes in the word alwayes in wisdome ever in God and took an immutable constancy from the ardour wherewith it is enkindled in the union of God If you find this love too sublime for you behold it as it were tempered and reflected in so many saints as were S. Paul S. Augustine S. Bernard and so many other §. 13. A notable Example of worldly love changed into divine Charity I Will give you a very familiar one in a man of the world a man of the Court and one who is at this present a treasure hidden from many who was hated by the envious persecuted by the proud condemned by the Ignorant and yet a great servant of God It is the learned and pious Raymundus Lullus as it Vitae Patrum Occid l. â— Ex Carolo Bovillo appeareth by his life faithfully written in the Tome of the lives of the Western Fathers This man flourished above three hundred years ago and was born in the Island of Majorica of a notable extraction which gave him passage into worldly honours and caused him to be bread in the Court of his King by whom he afterward was made one of his prime Officers Never was there a man more inclining to love for he loved transportedly and spent all his youth in this vanity having no employment more acceptable then to write amourous verses to expresse his passion In the end he fell into the snare of a violent affection that long turmoiled him which was the love of an honourable Lady endowed with an invincible chastity Here ordinarily love which delights to pursue what it cannot arrive unto finds most admiration for the eyes and food for its flame He was so on fire in this quest that he thought he should lose his wits suffering himself to fall into unbeseeming and extraordinary actions so farre as being one day on horse-back
facil and sweet The one took the golden branch with violence the other gathered it gently as if the Providence of God had put it into his hands Now Raymond not satisfied with seminaries of students embraced the conquest of the Holy Land and stirred up many cities of Italy in this matter exhorting them to make contributions wherein he was so perswasive that the city of Pisa alone which is none of the greatest furnished him with devotists who made of one sole free gift twenty five thousand crowns which he would by no means handle leaving it to the dispose of the Pope who would not give ear to the erection of new Colledges so much were the affairs of the Papacy embroiled He more easily obtained one thing which was one of his three wishes to wit the suppression of the books of Averroes an enemy to Christianity which many with too much curiosity read in the Schools of Philosophy God many times grants good dispositions to his servants whereof he will not they have the accomplishment making them appear more eminent in sufferings then actions This great man was of the number of those for he made himself most remarkable in the love of suffering wandring over the world in extreme poverty great incommodities of heat cold nakednesse hunger scorns contempts dolours banishments dangers both by sea and land shipwracks treasons chains prisons and a thousand images of death One day travelling alone through a huge forrest he met two lions which caused some little fear of death in him as he witnesseth in his writings desirous to live that he might yet on earth serve his well-beloved but in this great surprisall be had a thought that love would put it self into the midst of this passage and make him endure death with the more contentment herewith he comforted himself and the lions drew near and licked his face bathed in tears of Devotion and kissed his feet and hands doing him no harm Men were more sharp and discourteous to him who ceased not to drag him before Tribunals to charge him with calumnies for his extraordinary wayes to give sentence against him but in all he appealed to his well-beloved who never forsook him Seeing himself destitute of all succour for the conversion of Sarazens he passed alone into the kingdome of Thunes where he freely disputed with the chief of the Mahometans concerning the greatnesse and excellency of our Faith against the impostures of Mahomet which was the cause that he was immediately cast into prison and condemned by the King himself to have his head cut off to which he disposed himself with an incomparable fervour of love At which time one of the prime men of State in the countrey who had conceived well of him out of the admiration of his wit perswaded the King to be satisfied with banishing him out of his kingdome and that by this way he should do all he was obliged unto for the preservation of his own law and should get the reputation of a mild Prince among Christians abstaining from the bloud of such a man which he did but he was thrust out of Thunes with so many blows and ignominies that he therein gained a noble participation in the Crosse of Jesus Christ The fervour which incessantly boiled in his veins suffered him not to be long at rest He went into the kingdome of Bugia as Jonas into Nineveh crying out aloud through the streets that there was in the world but one Religion and that was ours and that the law of Mahomet was a meer imposture and a fantasie He was instantly laid hands on as a mad-man and lead to the high Priest named Alguassin who asked him whether he knew not the Laws of the countrey which forbad him upon pain of death to speak against Mahometisme To which he answered he could not be ignorant of it but that a man who knew the truth of Christian Religion as he did could do no other but seal it with his blood This Alguassin proud of science perceiving him to be a man of a good wit entred farther into discourse with him where he found himself shamefully gravelled which made him forsake the Syllogismes of the School to have recourse to the arguments of tyrants which are arms and violence for he caused him to be presently taken as an Emissary Goat there being not any Mahometan hand so little which delighted not to hale and leade him with blows untill they brought him into the most hideous prison which was rather a retreat then a gaol where he endured a thousand miseries with an unshaken constancy The Genowayes his good friends who traffick in these parts moved with his affliction got with good round summes of money a more reasonable prison for him where he began again to dispute with the most learned of the sect and made himself to be so much admired by those his adversaries that they endeavoured to gain him to their Religion promising him wife family honours and riches as much as he could wish but he mocked at all their machinations and seeing them fervent to dispute he persisted therein with great strength of reason and courage They said words were lost in the air but they must take the pen in hand and write on both sides with which he was infinitely pleased and spent nights and dayes in prison to compose a great volumn for defence of our Religion But the King of Bugea coming into his capitall city dissipated all these counsels much fearing the touch of his Law which was gold of a base allay and caused him the second time to come out of prison From thence he sought to get something in Greece passing over into Cyprus where he disputed against the Nestorians and Jacobites who rendred him poison for the honey of his discourses whereof he was like to die had he not been preserved by divine Providence and the assistance of a good Angel The blessed man had already passed forty years in a thousand toils and crosses and spared not to suffer by reason of the flames of love which burnt his heart but he knew not whether he suffered or no so much he took to heart the cup which God had mingled for him Verily our Lord appearing one day unto him and asking him if he well knew what love was of which he so many years had made profession he very excellently answered If I do not well know what Love is I at least well understand what Patience is meaning that it was to suffer since nothing troubled him for the satisfaction he had in Gods causes And another time being asked whether he had Patience he said All pleased him and that he had no cause of impatience which onely belongs to them who keep the possession of their own will Lastly being about fourscore years of age he considered within himself what he said afterwards that love was a sea full tempests and storms where a port was not to be hoped for but with the losse of himself and
that its depth was his exaltation He went back again into the kingdome of Sarazens in Africk where being known he was suddenly stoned to death in a popular commotion and buried under a great heap of stones in which place his body long remained unknown to all the world but it pleased God that certain merchants his countrey-men sailing into that countrey saw in the night a Pyramis of fire to rise up over his tomb which caused a curiosity in them to see what it was and coming to dig into it they found this venerable old man who was so gloriously buried in his own triumph they brought him back into his own countrey where he is all this time reverenced out of an antient Devotion of the people which the holy See permitteth rather by way of toleration then expresse Canonization The second Treatise Of HATRED § 1. It s Essence Degrees and Differences WHat a Comet is among stars Hatred is Hatred a hidenus Comet among virtues It is a passion maligne cold pernicious deadly which ever broodeth some egge of the serpent out of which it produceth infinite disastres It is not content to vent its poison in certain places and times but it hateth to the worlds end yea as farre as eternity To set before your eyes the havock it maketh in a soul it is necessary to understand it in all the degrees and dimensions thereof For which purpose you shall observe that Hatred being properly an hostility of the appetite against those things which it apprehendeth to be contrary It s nature to its contentment It hath some similitude with Choler but there is much difference as between pieces engraven and painted which may easily be defaced Choler is more sudden more particular more ardent and more easie to be cured Hatred more radicall more generall more extended more sad and more remedilesse It hath two notable properties whereof the one Its properties consisteth in aversion and flight the other in persecution and dammage There is a Hatred of aversion which is satisfied to flie from all that is contrary to it There is another Enmity which pursueth and avengeth and tends to the destruction of all whatsoever The first property hateth the evill the second wisheth it to the authour of the evill and when it hath once possessed a black soul it maketh terrible progressions and is especially augmented by four very considerable degrees First it beginneth in certain subjects by a simple Its degrees aversion and a hatred of humour which is the cause we have an horrour at all those things that oppose naturall harmony which appears as well in the good constitution of body as in the correspondencies of senses and the faculties of the soul with their objects And although this contrariety be not alwayes evident enough unto us yet there is some feeling which in the beginning maketh us many times to have an aversion from some person whom we never saw and from whom we have never received the least suspicion of affront or dammage Be it out of some disproportion of body of speech of behaviour or whether it be there is some secret disaccord we often hate not well knowing the cause thereof which very easily happeneth to the femall sex For women being full of imaginations the vivacity of fancy furnisheth them with infinite many species of conveniences and inconveniences that cause a diversity of humours which very seldome make a good harmony but if they do it is ever easie enough to be disturbed There are loves and hatreds which cannot be put on and put off as easily as a man would do a shirt which teacheth us it is very hard to make one to love by commands as if we went about to introduce love by cannon-shots The first degree of Hatred is properly called Antipathy and is so generall in nature that it The natural antipathies passeth into things inanimate and into bruit beasts which are no sooner born but they exercise their enmities and warre in the world A little chicken which yet drags her shell after her hath no horrour at a horse nor at an elephant which would seem so terrible creatures to those that know not their qualities but it already feareth the kite and doth no sooner espy him but it hasteneth to be hidden under the wings of the hen Drums made of sheep-skins crack as it is said if another Jo. ◠Por a in Chao ther be strucken near them made of a wolfs hide and such as are made of the skin of a camel scare horses The lion is troubled at the crowing of a cock Cabbages and herb-grace cannot endure each others neighbour-hood such enmity they have and a thousand other such like things are observed in nature wherein there are such expresse and irreconciliable hatreds If man who should moderate his passions by reason suffers himself to run into Antipathies and naturall aversions and doth not represse them by virtue it falleth out they increase and are enflamed out of interest contempt slander ill manners outrages offences or out of simple imaginations of offence which then causeth a second degree of hatred which is a humane hatred consented to with deliberation which putteth Humane hatred it self into the field to exercise its hostilities here by injuries there by wrangling here by forgery there by violence and by all the wayes which passion inventeth to do hurt by Abject courages hate with a cold and cloudy hatred which they long hatch in their hearts through impotency of vindicative strength The haughty and proud do it with noise accompanied Its differences with disdains affronts and insolency All they who love themselves tenderly perpetually swarm in hatreds and aversions seeing themselves countre-buffed and crossed in a thousand objects which they passionately affect All the most violent hatreds come out of love Hatred of love and namely when lovers the most passionate see themselves to be despised despair of amity transporteth them to a◠outrageous hatred finding they have afforded love the most precious thing that is in our dispose to receive scorn There are likewise who without receiving any injury begin to hate out of wearisomnesse in love and coming to know the defects of such as they had the most ardently loved they take revenge upon the abuse of their own judgement by the evill disposition of their own will and do as those people who Quintil. decl 17. Non habent proximorum odia regressum quaecunque nexus accepere naturae quae sanguine visceribúsque constructa sunt non laxantur diducta sed percunt burnt the Gods they had adored Whether hatred arises out of a weary love or whether it proceeds from an irritated love it is ever to be feared and there are not any worse aversions in the world then those which come from the sources of amity Quintillian also hath observed That the Hatreds of neighbours are enmities irrecoverable and wounds which never are cured because bands
resemblance in Nature We have heretofore heard of a Prince who desirous to offer himself to death for rhe preservation of his subjects took the habit of a Peasant to steal himself from his greatnesse and facilitate his death All histories say he laid down his purple and crown and all the ensigns of Royalty retaining none but those of love which caused him to go into his enemies army where he left life to purchase an immortall trophey for his reputation But I must tell you he had a mortall life and in giving it he gave that tribute to nature which he owed to nature from the day of his birth and which of necessity he was to pay yea he gave it to buy the memory of posterity and to beg honour which is more esteemed by generous spirits then life But in what history have we read that a man glorious by birth immortall by condition necessarily happy hath espoused humility which all the world despiseth mortality which the most advised apprehend misery which the bravest detest for no other occasion but to have the opportunity to dy for a friend And this is it which Jesus Christ did He was by nature immortall impassible impregnable against all exteriour violencies he took not the habit of a peasant as Codrus nor a body of air as Abscondit purpuram sub miseri◠vestimentis ad lutum ubi jacebam inclinatur non mergitur the Angell-conductour of Tobias but a true body a flesh tender and virginall personally united to the word of God to quail it with toils to consume it with travails and lastly to resign it as a prey to a most dolourous death he casts tottered rags over his royall purple and takes pains to stoop down to pull me out of the mire where I lay and to take my miseries upon him not sullying himself in my sins My God! what a prodigie is this All ages have Abbas Guerricus observed a thousand and a thousand industries of men which they found out to avoid the pains and torments of life but never have we seen a man who sought to invent means and to offer violence to his own condition to become suffering and miserable according to the estimation of the world since there are day and night so many gates open to this path yet thou Oh God of Glory O mild Saviour hast done it Thou hast found a way how to accord infirmity with sovereign Mortem nec solus Deus sentire nec solus homo vincere poterat homo suscepit Deus vicit Faustus l. 1. de lib. arbitr The quality of the sufferings of our Saviour power honour with ignominy time with eternity and death with life It was not possible that sole God should endure death or that sole Man could vanquish it but man hath abided it and God hath overcome it As for the quality of pains it sufficeth to say that if men judged of the greatnesse of Gyants by one of their footsteps impressed on the sand and if we likewise measure the course of the sun by a small thread of shadow one may have some grosse knowledge of so great a mystery by the figures which forewent it Now all the sacrifices of the Mosaick law and so many travails and sufferings of the antient Patriarchs were but a rough draught of the passion of Jesus Christ from whence we may imagine what the originall was sith the Copies thereof were so numerous and different throughout the course of all Ages The perpetuall sacrifice which was evening and 3 Reg. 8. 63. 22000 bullocks and 120000 sheep sacrificed for the dedication of Solomon his Temple morning made in the Temple the twenty two thousand oxen and the hundred and twenty thousand sheep which were sacrificed by Solomon at one feast of the dedication of the Temple so much bloodshed that it seemed a red sea to those who beheld it was to no other end but to figure the blood of the immaculate Lamb and of all its members which have suffered after it But if so much preparation and profusion were needfull to expresse one sole shadow of his passion what may we conjecture of the body and the thing figured Besides if all the antient Patriarchs who were so persecuted in times past and all the Martyrs who since the death of our Saviour have endured torments almost infinite in number and prodigious in kinds made but an assay or tryall of the dolours of this King of the afflicted what an account shall we make of his pains which ever ought to be as much adored by our wills as they are incomprehensible to our understanding The Lamb was sacrificed from the beginning of the world saith Saint Apoc. 13. 8. Agnas accisus est ab origine mundi Our Saviour hath suffered in the person of all the just and the martyrs John He was massacred in Abel saith S. Paulinus tossed upon so many waves in the person of Noah wandring in that of Abraham offered up in Isaac persecuted in Jacob betraied in Joseph stoned in Moses bruised on a dunghill in the patience of Job blinded in Samson sawn in Esay flayed afterward in the person of S. Bartholmew roasted in that of Saint Laurence thrown out to Lions in that of Saint Ignatius burned in that of Saint Polycarp Confummatio abbreviata Isa 10 12. Unâ oblatione consummavit in sempiter num satisfactos Heb 10 14. Unigenitus Dei ad peragendum mort is suae sacramentum consummavit humanarum omne genus passionum Hilar. l. 10. de trinit pulled in picees by four horses and cast headlong into a ditch full of Serpents in that of Saint Tecla drowned in that of S. Clement exposed to wasps in that of many other Martyrs From whence it commeth that the passion of Jesus is called a short Consummation by the Prophet Esay and that Saint Paul hath said to the Hebrew That by one sole Sacrifice he hath consummated those which were to be sanctified for all eternity And S. Hilary clearly confesseth That Jesus Christ the onely Son of God desirous to fulfill this great and mysterious Sacrament of his pretious death did passe through all imaginable dolours which were as it were melted and distilled together to make of it a prodigious accomplishment Jesus is the stone with seven eyes whereof the Prephet Zachary speaketh which the heavenly Father says he hath cut and engraven with his own hand Zach. 39. thereon figuring all the most glorious characters of patience He is an Abysse of love of mercy of dolours of ignominies of blood of lowlinesse and greatnesse of excesse of admiration and amazement which swalloweth all thoughts dryeth up all mouths stayeth all pens and drencheth all conceptions Who now then will dare to complain that he suffereth too much that he doth too much that he is treated with lesse tendernesse then he deserveth O our coldnesse and remissnesse whence can it proceed but from not studying enough on this incomparable
marcheth environed with lightnings of arms who sendeth thunders and tempests and calm air in the midst of storms cannot endure a Companion in this dignitie The least suspicions cause wounds in the mind which are many times waited on by anger poyson furie and massacres Bloud and asfinitie is not therein acknowledged is not assured virtue hath no credit parents will have no children how perfect so ever yea even those who are worn with old age borrow vermilion to paint their faces and still think themselves young enough to command Diadems and Sceptres run the like hazard and they have but one desire in the midst of Authoritie which is to reserve the appeals of death to themselves and never to leave the places void which they have once replenished This poyson creepeth into Ecclesiasticks Learned men subject to Jealousie into Priests Religious Graduates into the Learned into Doctours and Preachers who are willing to bear sway in Letters in Eloquence and chairs and to have none to argue their supeâ—-eminencie and when some one out-strips the Course of his years by the lustre of his wit and in the beginning stands in high esteem the old Gamesters cannot digest it Masters spare not to lessen the credit of their scholars Fountain-heads envie rivolets and the Sun his proper rayes especially when some barbarous applause of people of slender judgement and little wit giveth excessive praise to a young man who discovereth more wind and ostent in brave undertakings then capacitie This frenzy endeavours to insinuate it self into Altars into Tribunals of Penance where without touching so many deserving Jealousie goath to Altars men who worthily acquit themselves therein there are some who are more jealous of their spiritual daughters then the most passionate husbands of their wives It seems to some that now adayes to have a notable penitent is to possesse a piece of land that yields a good revenue or a fat Abbacy and that they must have a perpetual title to it It is cunning deceit to blind their eyes to taptive them to tie them to a Confession-seat with an indissoluble chain not to permit them conference nor commerce with any which may let them see their bondage to be offended if they change Confessour to throw out complaints and to make it to be accounted as if it were a sin of Adulterie God forbid such a folly ever enter into a generous mind and unworthily profane the Sanctuary It is very certain that all good directours imitate the sea which receiveth rivers into its bosome without asking from whence they come or what countrey they passed through and when they came from thence nay so farre is it from being displeased that it hath not any feeling of it this being not able to cause any diminution of its greatnesse so a good spirituall Father leaveth all the souls he directeth not in exorbitant libertie but in a discreet permission to go to come to absent themselves to return according as it shall be most fit for their commoditie and spirituall advancement He neither feels them almost to come near him or retire from him so little is his mind busied in the distinguishment of persons One may here adde the Jealousie of unfortunate Jealousie in Marriage Marriages although to say truly it is an effect of the Passion of Love I am not ignorant that great personages and learned Writers have thought that Jealousie The Jealousie of marriages which may hold the first place among the envious proceeded not at all from Love because Love is obsequious and readily taketh the tincture of the affections of the thing beloved which the Passion of Jealousie doth not thwarting the most innocent inclinations of a creature and framing suspicions upon actions But it is easie to answer to this objection and to say that never hath any of understanding had the opinion That Jealousie might proceed from a generous and well rectified Love and neverthelesse it followeth not that it doth not proceed from a Love of concupiscence bad and inordinate For it is very reasonable the definition of S. Thomas stand good as being the Definition of Jealousie according to S. Thomas most judicious who said That Jealousie is nothing else but Love impatient of a Corrivall And it is to no purpose to say That there are many jealous Husbands to be found who notwithstanding love not their Wives For if their passion be without Love it is not properly Jealousie but Malignitie and Envie because they envie them the sweetness of conversation the good and honour they might derive from the honest conversation of persons of merit and do resemble the Dog who eats no hay nor suffereth the Ox to come near it The envious man cannot endure it out of the hatred he hath of anothers contentment and the Jealous cannot suffer it through the over much love he beareth to himself perpetually fearing lest communication of love may not tend to the diminution of the good he possesseth or pretends to have right to possesse This passion ordinarily is framed out of a dull Out of what Jealousie is framed feaver of indiscreet love and taketh its originall in minds too greatly in love with themselves greedy weak and interessed upon one side they have a most strong imagination of the excellencie of the thing beloved which they excessively affect on the other a certain distrust of their own small capacitie and of the uncertaintie of love which makes them perpetually to apprehend the losse of that which they love A lover in Plato seeing the creature he most loved did use to Plato in Anthol Graec. behold the starres wished he were heaven to look on her with as many eyes as there were stars These eyes in my opinion would be very proper for good love but Jealousie is a monster with a hundred eyes which are enkindled with certain flames like to those of hell dark and mischievous And besides it hath very many ears continually hearkning and receiving all which any one will pour into them Its loves are rages benefits snares thoughts crimes words outrages designes Description of Jealousie follies and events tragedies So soon as it observeth in the things beloved the least inclination to another suspicions are framed distrusts and giddy fantasies in a man who would willingly number his wives hairs on her head for fear lest she should have laid apart some of them to give them to a lover And if these suspicions be fortified by some ill accident or some reports of a venemous tongue then do we see anger anxiety fury and despair to come forward which many times run to fire and bloud to precipices and halters What is more ugly or monstrous then this passion Think you not you see the pit of the Abysse whereof S. John speaketh in his Apocalyps when he saith That the pit of the Abysse is open and the smoke comes out of it as from a great furnace wherewith the Sun is darkned and in
resembleth the Vulture whom carrions nourish and Greg. Nyss in vita Mosis perfumes kill All the evill it meeteth prepareth a refection of Serpents for its mind and all the good afflicteth it to death Accustome not your self likewise easily to believe those tale-tellers who to gain your good liking by base servitude relate the vices and disasters of the party whom you envie for that much avails to foment your Passion Prosper hath sagely said that the envious are ready to believe all the evils in the world which the Prosper l. 3. de contemplat c. 9. tongue of a complaining spirit telleth them touching the mishaps of such as they hate and if any one by chance not knowing the disease happen to speak good Omne malum quod mendax fama citaverie statim credunt feraliter el qui illud verum non esse probare volucrit contradicunt of them they sufficiently witnesse by their contradiction that they believe not what they say Secondly it is very behooffull incessantly to labour in the mortification of pride and the exorbitant appetite of ones own proper excellency as being the principall root of the passion of Envie as affirmeth the fore-alledged Authour saying that Sathan became envious out of pride and not proud through Envy we must inferre Pride is not the fruit of Envy but Envy a sprout Non superbia fructus invidiae fuit sed invidia de superbiae radice processit Prosper ib. of Pride The ambition you have every where to have the highest place to be in great esteem to possesse a petty sovereignty in all savours necessarily makes you envious and jealous so that one cannot praise any body in your presence but that this commendation instantly seems to tend to the diminution of your reputation Your heart bleeds at it the bloud flieth up into your face nature arms her self to beat back a good office which a charitable tongue would render a person of merit as if it were a great injury and a suit commenced against you It is a sign you deserve little praise since you cannot endure it in another How would you be esteemed since you first of all betray your own reputation shewing your self to be of so weak a judgement Multis abundar virtutibus qui alienas amat Vincen. Bel. 8. 2. l. 4. c. 7. that one cannot speak a good word of another but it ministers matter of an evil thought in you Were you as rich in merits as your mind figureth to you you would no more be moved when a good word is spoken of another then a man infinitely wealthy to give a small piece of coin to a poor creature who were in want I add also a third remedy that many have found to be very efficacious which is to know and much to esteem the gifts that God hath given us to content our selves with what we are and with the state the divine Providence allotteth us without attempting on forreign hopes which would perhaps be great evils unto us S. Chrysologus saith that Envie once shut up Terrestriall Paradise with a sword of fire but I may say it Paradisi nobis amoena flammeo custode seclusit daily stoppeth from us the sources of many contentments which would plentifully moysten all the parts of our life that many would be happy if they could tell how to manure their fortune could content themselves with their own mediocrity and take the felicities which Nature presenteth them without being troubled at others Miserable that they are not knowing how to be happy unlesse another be unhappy unfortunate that they are to forsake Roses which grow in their gardens to hasten to reap thorns in their neighbours Tertullian writeth the Pagans in his time were so Tantinon est bonum quanti est odium Christianorum enraged against the Christians that all their comforts seemed nothing to them in comparison of the pleasure they took to hate and torment them This is the fury which many envious now-a-dayes practise All their prosperities fade all their joyes languish and all their good successes never are accomplished whilst they see those to flourish whom they persecute It grieves them they are what they are that God hath fixed them in a mean condition and that they are not born to be of those great Colosses which shrink and daily fall by the sole burthen of their weight If they knew the black phantasmes of cares which leap on the top of silver pillars and go athwart gilded marbles to find out those pompous lives who most commonly have but the bark of happinesse they would every day a thousand times blesse their condition but this maligne ignorance which sealeth up their eyes makes them complain of all that they should love and causeth them to love all they ought to complain of Lastly to remedy the bitings of Envie you must entertain a spirit of love and correspondence often representing unto your self that a man who loveth none but himself and wholly lives to himself not able to endure the prosperities of another is a piece unlosened from this great universe which altogether bendeth to the unity of our sovereign God who is one in Essence and who gathereth all creatures into the union of his heart What would this jealous man have who is so desperately passionate concerning this creature Doth he not well see that loving so inordinately he takes the course to be no longer loved by her and looseth all he desireth most by the violence of desiring it A woman out of a desire to be beloved would not be tyrannized over She wisheth love not fury fire of Seraphins not of devils These Courtships are offences to her these suspitions injuries these prohibitions rigours these solitudes imprisonments How can she love a man who loves not any but himself who will play a God in the world who will fetter the freedome of creatures which is the will for which God himself hath made neither bands nor chains How can she affect an Argus who observeth her who watcheth her who reckoneth up her words who questeth at her thoughts who prepareth racks of the mind for her in the most innocent pleasures The sole consideration of the ruines and miseries which envie and jealousie do cause to themselves were able to stay these exorbitancies were it once well considered but if these humane reasons seem yet too weak raise your self to divine § 5. Divine Remedies drawn from the Benignity of God O Man Behold for a first remedy among all the Remedy by the consideration of the first modell divine ones thy first modell and contemplate the benignity of God opposed to thy malice It is an excellent thing to consider against an envious eye that God who will reform us to his likenesse doth all the good to the world by simple seeing and by being seen God doth all by seeing and by being seen For by seeing he giveth Essence and grace and by being seen he
these Motives and the felicity of others who have gloriously surmounted them And to add a pleasing variety to this last piece I will conclude with many short and remarkable Examples suited to those four mentioned Passions THE DISASTERS OF SUCH As have yielded to the Passion OF LOVE AND The Glory of Souls which have overcome it 1. LEt us begin with that Passion which is the Source of the rest and which in all times hath caused trouble among men to give a ground to our discourse The children of great Clodoveus became not so soon tractable to the severity of Christian manners but suffered themselves very often to be transported with very violent exorbitancies and particularly with unlawful loves which caused ill example in their house and great disorder throughout their Kingdome Gregory of Tours l. 4. Gregory of Tours observeth fordid and shamefull affections in the person of King Caribert grand-child of Clodoveus which cast an Eclipse upon the lights of the Diademe of this great King and could never be rooted out but by patience by prayers and by the effects of the puissant hand of God Queen Ingobergua who knew the humours of her The plot of Queen Ingobergna to cure her husbands passion succeedeth ill out of too much affectation husband to be addicted to inconsiderate love and who was jealous enough of her bed took not among her attendant Ladies those nymphs of the Court which are full of attractives and deserve admiration but purposely chose out base and despicable wayters thinking it was a singular remedy against the Kings malady She had at that time in her Court and service two daughters of a Clothworker the eldest of which was called Marcovessa and the youngest Mirefleur Caribert whose love was more lustfull then ambitious became desperately in love and courted them to the prejudice of his honour and wedlock which wounded the soul of the Queen with a very sensible arrow seeing the havock this passion made in the mind of this Monarch Jealousie suggesteth her a trick which seemed sufficient to divert him from his infamous servitude if this passion might be cured by another and that a jealous woman did not irritate the wounds of love by its proper remedies She calleth the Father of her two servants commanded him secretly to practise his trade in some corner of the Court whither she very cunningly brought his Majesty to make him see the base extraction of his Mistresses and to throw shame confusion upon him But he who at distance saw this wile coming towards him and the solemn preparation of it was displeased saying that if nothing were wanting but nobility to render these maids worthy of his love he would sufficiently ennoble them by his person and that it onely belonged to him to raise inferiour things by loving them and as great ones will rather be flattered in their passions then censured instantly he made a shamefull divorce with the Queen contrary to laws both divine and humane to take to wife the younger of these sisters which was Mirefleur But love which being of its nature a slave faiâ—eth not to be disdainfull quickly put a distaste of her unto him to make him look after the elder who seemed the more modest and wear a religious habit whether desirous to enflame love by this pretext which ordinarily is eagre to pursue all it can least obtein or whether she did it to give lesse advantage and suspicion to the jealous spirit of Queen Ingobergua The fire of Concupiscence which spareth not to enflame Linsey-wolsey as well as Satin continually blowed by the wind of ambition which promised this creature a giddy Fancy of a Crown burnt so strongly that this spirit which had more cunning then beauty caused so much madnesse to creep into the heart of this miserable king that he resolved to marry her which he did qualifying a prodigious whoredome with the title of wedlock The Queen was ready to dy and addresseth her complaints to God and men The Bishops who were assembled in the Councell of Tours in favour of her made Canons against incestuous marriages but the Canons at that time were not strong enough against the arrows of love S. German Bishop of Paris sent forth thunders of excommunication but passion armed with authority made no more account of them then of flying fires which are quenched in their birth God thereto put his hand by the prayers of the Church and took away this religious woman by a horrible and sudden death which affrighted the King and he in the end conceived shame and sorrow for his fault deriving his salvation out of necessity since he could not gain it from the glory of his refistance That which remained him of life was short and miserable and his passion having rendred him contemptible to his own subjects he quickly left Crown and Scepter to pay a tribute to his Tombe 2. Another kind of sottish love appeared in the government Gregory of Tours l. 5. of young Meraveus which I will here relate as being able to minister matter of terrour to youth which takes liberty in clandestine marriages King Chilperic his father happened to bear away the bloody spoil of his brother Sigebert who had been traiterously murthered by the subtile practises of Fredegond when he was come to the Eve of his triumph The famous Brunhault widow of the deceased King as yet very young was become a party of this miserable booty and saw her pretious liberty enthralled in the hands of her brother in law and sister who was born for vengeance and exercised in massacres Her fortune represented nothing unto her but a thousand images of terrour and the cruelty of her adversaries made her apprehend all that which notable mischievous wickednesse can do when it hath the sword of power in hand Yet her bloud was spared to consume her with languors sentence of her Captivity was pronounced by giving her the City of Roan for prison A trusty man A notable example of Merouevs to dievrt youth from licentious mariages was sought for to execute this Commission and the King cast his eye on his son Meroveus a young Prince of a nature sweet and facile endowed wiht excellent parts which made him to be beloved and beheld as a rising star by all the eyes of France This was to put fire too near to stubble not considering that the calme of such natures is ordinarily the most turmoiled with storms of love So soon as Brunhault who according to the relation of S. Gregory of Torus was a very beautyfull and well spoken Princesse began to unciel her eyes which had hitherto been drenched in a deluge of tears she appeared to Meroveus as a blushing Morn which raiseth the more fair after a shower and the arrow of love sharpned by compassion made such flames to sparkle in his heart that he was enforced to quench them with his bloud He saw himself the captive of his fair prisoner
and already well felt he was not born to be predominant over a beauty so triumphant The easinesse of his nature suffered him not to be long in resolving to give way to his passion He instantly declares himself and coloureth his request with the title of marriage Brunhault gives ear whether for the love of Meroveus or whether out of the hatred of Fredegond his mother supposing it was an opportunity to carry fire very far into the Royall race They secretly marry the Nephue espouseth the Aunt by a crime unheard Love is their Pope and King from whom they take dispensation and leave Fury conceiveth this marriage Timerity signeth it but misery sealeth the contract Meroveus returneth from Roan stil hiding his fire under the ashes He gives account of his commission The King his father resolveth to send him to take possession of Guyenne which he judged to be fallen unto him by the death of Sigebert He fergneth to depart from the Court with intention to go to Bourdeaux but the countrepoise of love insensibly carryed him to Roan and he hastneth to court his pretended spouse and forgets all cares and affairs to please his passion which being not kept with in the limits of moderation made a great noyse and was carried to the ears of the Court. King Chilperic went to Roan with an army to quench the fire in its beginning thinking there was some notable plot contrived against his state but he finds these lovers had no other arms but those of Cupid and that the excesse of their passion had given them so little leisure to think on their own safety that seeing themselves beset by souldiers they had recourse to altars which were then secure refuges for the miserable Chilperic durst not violate Sanctuaries in the presence of Pretextatus Bishop of Roan a man courageous and zealous for things divine He promised himself to take this new married Couple by the want of victuall and other naturall neecessities But he seeing the businesse to be drawn at length patience slips from him and he made them to come out of the Church with promise of impunity His soul was softned seeing a young Queen a widdow and miserable by the cruelty of his wife Nature pleadeth in his heart for his own bloud he embraceth them both with tears in his eyes and not to affright them enterteins them with fair hopes whilest they little think of it he sends Brunhault into Austrasia her own Countrey and keeps Meroveus under good and sure guard judging one could not well trust him if he were at his own dispose In the mean time Fredegonda immeasurably displeased with the proceedings of this affair and supposing the King her husband went on too remissly made it a great crime of state and of manifest conspiracy wherein she involved the Archbishop Pretextatus He was Meroveus his God-father could not but have some tendernesse towards this Prince his God-child which being sinisterly interpreted drew much misery upon him He with his moveables and papers were seized on where they found certain packets of Queen Brunhaults which strengthened the suspition they conceived to his prejudice He is sent for to an assembly of Bishops where the King coming in chargeth him with the crime of rebellion accusing him to have withdrawn the people from their obedience to crown his son and thereupon roundly required the Prelates that justice might be done according to holy Canons The witnesses are heard and confronted who do not throughly enough prove the crime whereof he was accused Pretextatus justifieth himself by a solemne protestation of his innocency which caused compassion in many But these Prelates assembled were partly weak and partly sold to serve the Kings passions there was almost none but Gregory of Torus who having an invincible spirit in a little body encouraged the whole Assembly to the defence of the truth the menacies of the King and murthering flatteries of Queen Fredegonde being unable to shake his constancy Other batteries were likewise made to ruine a man half dead by stirring up against him divers calumnies from which he very happily vindicated himself untill at length some treacherous Bishops counselled him to accuse himself by way of humiliation of the offence of state which was objected against him They told him he must not appear too just before his Master that it was not reasonable the King should receive an affront in this affair that he was a mild Prince who would Pretextatus should owe his safety to his clemency and that he no sooner could speak one word of confession but he should be freed from this vexation and restored to his Dignity The unfortuante Prelate giving ear to the hissing of serpents made his tongue the snare of his soul and owned an imaginary crime to undergo a reall unhappinesse He had no sooner pronounced the word but the King transported with excessive joy prostrated himself on his knees before the assembly of Bishops demanding that his robe for ignominy should be cut off and the execrations thundring against Judas to be pronounced over him The compassion of some procured moderation therein Neverthelesse he was instantly degraded condemned to banishment and delivered to the Kings Guard who lead him to a little desert Island near the city of Constance in Normandy whence he esaped to be in the end massacred by the practises of Q. Fredegonde This step-mother was not content to see Meroveus confined to a prison but she violently urged he might be shaven and shut in a Monastery which was executed But it is a great errour to think to make a religious man by holding a poignard to his throan and by taking hair from his head when the consent of his heart cannot be had The thoughts which according to the Interpreters of Scripture are as the hairs of the soul were not taken away by the roots from this miserble Samson They much persecuted him about his passed Loves that hâ— quickly forsook Cowl and Monastery to begin new stirs He went directly to Torus which gave much trouble to good Saint Grogory and spent nights upon the tomb of Saint Martin fasting and praying to have a revelation which might promise him a crown But seeing Chilperic pursued him with armed hand he fled from town to town and from Sanctuary to Sanctuary finding not any one who would support his rebellion In the end he gets into Austrasia and returneth to the embracements of his Spouse as it were to end himself in those eyes which had enkindled his first flames But the cunning Queen considering that her subjects were raised in alarms upon his comming and fearing she might draw upon them the totall storm of Chilperics arms preferred reasons of state before those of love besought him to retire They of Tours who were suspected by the King for having first of all favoured his flight thinking not to find their own safety but in his ruine called him back again under colour to support his arms and to become
of his side The Prince in whom passion caused a continuall drâ—â—kennesse of Reason being more easie to believe then prudent to examine reasons turned towards them and presently found himself caught in their snare When seeing himself betraied and ready to be delivered into the hands of his Father and step-mother whom he more feared then a Panther he addressed himself to Geilan his confident friend and prayed him to give an end to his miserable life sith having found so much infidelity in his beloved treachery in his friends and crueltie in his father there nothing remained for him but a Tomb to bury all his miseries The other thinking to do him great service thrust his sword into his body and separated his soul Which may be a fearfull example for youth to make them for ever to abhor the charms of love That of Carloman was as light although it had Paulus Aemilius not so long a sequele of accidents Paulus Aemilius recounteth that this young Prince accustomed to sottish and sordid love having in a street perceived a creature which to him seemed handsome he began to follow her being mounted on his horse but the maid very chaste to avoid his courtships cast her self speedily into a house whither Carloman spurring his horse desperately followed her not observing that the door of the house was too low which smote him and stroke him down so unfortunately that he left both love and life It was a direfull thing to see so great a Prince to die in jeast but the sports of this passion are ordinarily bloudy and Venus came from a sea of water to swim in a sea of bloud 3. I will here also let you see the effect of a passion Concilia Gallieana tom 3. to all extremity dissolute and scandalous which made a great noise throughout all Christendome and will serve to make men detest the wickednesse of such as break conjugall bands to satisfie their lust The young Emperour Lotharius grand-child of Lewis the Courteous loved in his younger years a Lady much mentioned in the Epistles of Popes under the name of Valdrada She had a commanding beauty was of a humour full of attractives and wiles which surprized the young Prince with an affection so strong and catching that after a thousand crosses he could not be unloosed from it but by death Neverthelesse Time and Reason inviting him to think upon a lawfull marriage he espoused Theutbergue a beautifull and virtuous Princesse Scandalous love of the Emperour Lotharius and Valdrada who was thought fit to quench the fire of his unchaste love and hereafter to enkindle his heart with flames more chaste and happy But fascinated by his evil Genius he presently took an aversion against his wife being seldome personally with her and perpetually in mind and affection with her who had laid hold of his first love Whether it were that this audacious woman imperiously ruled over him as a man timorous in his passions who durst not yet confidently do a mischief or whether he were sufficiently disposed thereunto by the violence of his love he undertakes a very scandalous businesse which was to unmarry himself falsly imputing adultery and barrennesse to his wife The criminall processe is handled in the Ecclesiasticall Court Gontier Archbishop of Collen who had great power and great faults supporteth the Princes part what he might having won Theutgard Archbishop of Trew on his side he drags along souls set to sale by a torrent of authority to which none make resistance The innocent Theutbergue is condemned in two pestilent Synods and handled as a prostitute the Crown is taken from her and put on Valdrada's head who appeared with a marvellous pomp whilest the other groaned under the ashes of a publick penance The chaste Princesse who not so much regarded eminent wedlocks as the honour of her purity which she meant to preserve to her tomb appealed to the Pope which at that time was Nicholas the first and wrote mournfull letters to him able to rent rocks asunder The common Father of Christendome heareth her complaints animated by truth and deputeth two Legates to do her right These Prelates had not courage enough to decide the matter and seeing themselves upon one side assailed by their conscience and on the other besieged by the powerfull contentions of Lotharius and two Archbishops they found out a way how to wash their hands from this judgement They shew that since two Provinciall Councels had passed upon it and that the Archbishops Gontier and Theutgard had born sway therein it were good that the same men took pains to go to Rome to let the Pope see the acts of those two assemblies and to justifie all their proceedings These two Prelates who thought nothing was impossible to their credit refused not the commission They go armed with impostures and tattle to oppresse truth and overwhelm innocency The Pope a clear-seeing and charitable man interessed himself in the cause and in full assembly discovereth their jugling with such vigour and perspicuity that all the Fathers cast their stone at them The mischief they meant against the innocent Theutbergue falls back upon their own heads they are excommunicated degraded deprived of their offices and benefices to be reduced to the communion of Lackies Never did men practise a mischief with more unluckinesse and lesse successe A Legate is dispatched to annull all they had done which was the courageous Arsemius who caused all the processe to be reviewed drave away the impudent Valdrada restored her honour to Queen Theutbergue and tied her marriage with an indissoluble knot Neverthelesse this judicious Lady well foreseeing that those loves which are re-enkindled with the fires of S. Peters thunders would neither be happy nor faithfull for her saith she was satisfied to have put her honour into safegard and that having observed so much evil disposition in her husband and treachery in the world she desired to spend the rest of her dayes with God Lotharius was transported with joy upon this news and addressed an humble supplication to the Pope shewing he had obeyed his commandments being dutifully bent to take his wife again but since the piety of this Princesse who is not born for worldly matters is suggested with the thought of entering into religion it would please him to favour her generous purpose to give him leave to marry Valdrada which would be a means to take away all the sin scandall of his miserable life The holy Father answers that he much commended the charity he had towards queen Theutbergue his spouse but that it was fit this good affection might begin in himself and should he throughly resolve to enter into a Monastery the permission he required for his wife should hinder nothing This answer confounded him and seeing that of two wives he was despised by the one and interdicted from the other he lived in the world as a man without soul or contentment Mean while he hoped that
affrightment in the towns and as many sackings as quarterings Those which sit at the Stern of Empires and Common-wealths are greatly accountable to God for that which hath past in this businesse Kings ought not onely to maintain Justice by their Arms but to teach it by their behaviour and to consecrate it by their examples The Doctour Navarrus hath set down divers sins against Justice by the which Princes Common-wealths and Lords may offend against God mortally as to take unlawfully the goods that belong not to them and to keep them without restitution To govern loosely and negligently their Kingdomes and Principalities To suffer their Countreys to be unprovided of victualls and defence necessary which may bring their Subjects in danger of being spoiled To wast and consume in charges either evil or unnecessary the goods which are for the defence of their estates To burden excessively their subjects with Imposts and Subsidies without propounding any good intent therefore and without having any necessity not pretended but true and reall To suffer the poor to die with famine and not to sustain them with their Revenues in that extremity Not to hearken to reasonable conditions for a just Peace and to give occasion to the enemies of the Christian name to invade their Lands and root out our Religion To dispense either with the Law of God or Nature To give judgement in the suits of their Subjects according to their own affection To deceive their creditours to suppresse the Liberty and Rights of the people to compell them by threatnings or importunate intreaties to give their goods or to make marriages against their wills or to their disadvantage To make unjust Wars to hinder the service of the Church to sell offices and places of Charge so dear that they give occasion to those that buy them to make ill use thereof To present to Benefices with Cure of Souls persons unworthy and scandalous To give Commissions and Offices to corrupt and unfit officers To tolerate and permit vices filthinesse and robberies by their servants and to condemne to death and cause to be slain unjustly without due order of Law and to violate the marriage-beds of their Subjects All these things and others which this Doctour hath noted cause great sins of Injustice in the persons of great ones unto which they ought especially to take heed and to prevent the same it is most necessary that they be instructed in the duties of their charge and in the estate of their affairs bending themselves thereto as the most important point of their safety and seeing that the passion of Hatred or Love which one may bear to some person will trouble the judgement and pervert Justice S. Lewis counselled the King his son strongly to keep his heart in quiet and in the uncertainty of any differences alwayes to restrain his own affection and to keep under all movings of the spirit as the most capitall enemy to Reason Many Princes have often lost both their life and Sceptre for giving themselves to some unjust action and there is no cause more ordinary for which God translates Kingdomes from one hand to another then Injustice as on the contrary those Princes which have been great Justiciaries do shine as the stars of the first magnitude within Gods Eternity and even their ashes do seem as yet to exhale from their Tombs a certain savour which rejoyceth people and keeps their memory for ever blessed But one cannot believe the rare mixture that Justice Goodnesse its Excellency and Goodnesse make joyned together Goodnesse is an essence profitable and helpfull which serves as a Nurse to Love it hath its originall in the Deity and from thence disperseth it self by little veins into all created Beings and mixeth it self with every object as the light with every Colour It drives away and stops up evil on every side and there is no place even to the lowest hell where it causeth not some beam of its brightnesse to shine Beauty which amazeth all mortall eyes is but the flower of its essence but Goodnesse is the fruit thereof and its savour is the savour of God which all creatures do taste and relish God which as Casiodore saith is the cause of all Beings the life of the senses the wisdome of understandings the love and glory of Angels having from all eternity his happinesse complete in his own bosome hath created man that he might have to whom to do good as Gregory Nyssen writes and S. Cyprian saith that this eternall Spirit did move upon the waters from the beginning of the world to unite and appropriate the Creature to its self and to dispose it for the loving inspirations of its Goodnesse The Prince which according to the obligement of his Charge would make himself an imitatour of God ought to be exceedingly good with four sorts of Goodnesse of Behaviour of Affability of Bounty and of Clemency I say first of Behaviour for that there is small hope of any great one which is not good towards God which keeps not his Law and rules not his life thereby if he have any virtues they are all sophisticate and if he do any good it is by ebbing and flowing by fits and for some ends No person can be truly good towards others which doth not begin with himself he must needs have Christian Love without which no man shall ever see God if he possesse this virtue he will first have a love of honour to those which have begot him a conjugall love for his wife a cordiall love to those of his bloud and all his kindred from thence it will spread it self over his whole house and through all his estate and will cause him to love his Subjects with a certain tendernesse as his own goods and as the good shepherd cherisheth his flocks He will imitate our Lord which looked from the top of the mountain upon the poor people of Judea that followed him and his heart melted for them with singular compassion Herein doth truly consist the virtue of Piety which gives so great a lustre to the life of Princes Now according to the Goodnesse that is in his heart he must needs pour it forth upon all his by these three conduit-pipes that I have said of Affability of Liberality and of Clemency Affability which is a well ordered sweetnesse both in words and converse ought to increase together with a Prince from his tender age This is a virtue which costeth nothing and yet brings forth great fruit it procures treasuries of hearts and wills which do assist great ones when need requires A good word that cometh forth of the mouth of a King is like the Manna that came from heaven and fell upon the desert It nourisheth and delighteth his Subjects it hath hands to frame and fashion their hearts as it pleaseth him it carrieth with it chains of gold sweetly to captivate their wills The command that cometh with sweetness is performed with strength invincible and every
his ambition did here bound it self and promised to speak to the King thereof very willingly which she did going expresly to visit him Solomon went forth to meet her made her very great reverence received her with most courteous entertainment and having ascended his Throne he caused another to be set at his right hand for his mother which said to him That she came to make a very little request unto him upon which it would be a displeasure to her to receive any deniall The son assured her and said That she might boldly demand and that he was no wayes intended to give her any discontent As soon as she had opened the businesse and named Abishag's name Solomon entred Solomons rigour into great anger and said she might have added thereto the Kingdome seeing that he was his eldest brother and that he had Joab and Abiathar on his side and without giving any other answer he swore that he would make Adonijah die before it was night whereupon presently he gave order to Benaiah who supplied the office of Captain of the Guard which failed not to slay this young Prince Those that think that Solomon might do this in conscience He cannot well be justified for the murder of his brother and that one may conjecture that God had revealed it unto him take very small reasons to excuse great crimes and see not that whosoever would have recourse to imaginary Revelations might justifie all the most wicked actions of Princes There is not one word alone in the Scripture that witnesses that after the establishment of Solomon this poor Prince did make the least trouble in the State he acknowledged Solomon for King he lived peaceable he was contented with the order that God permitted for the comfort of the losse of a Kingdome which according to the Law of Nations did belong to him he desired but a maid servant in marriage and he is put to death for it Who could excuse this I am of opinion of the The just punishment of God upon Solomon Dr Cajetan who saith that this command was not onely severe but unjust and I believe that hence came the misfortune of Solomon for that having shewed himself so little courteous towards his mother and so cruel towards his brother for the love of a woman God to punish him hath suffered that he should be lost by all that which he loved most After this murder he sent for Abiathar the chief Priest and gave Abiathar the high Priest deprived of his dignity by a very violent action him to understand that he was worthy to die but forasmuch as he had carried the Ark of the living God and had done infinite services for the King his father even from his youth he gave him his life upon such condition that he should be deprived of the dignity of the high Priest and should retire himself to his house The Scripture saith that this was to fulfill the word of the Lord which had been pronounced against the house of Eli but yet it follows not for all that that this depriving was very just on Solomon's side being done without mature consideration And although God ordains sometimes temporall afflictions upon children for the punishment of the fathers yet one cannot neverthelesse inferre from this that those which torment and persecute them without any other reason then their own satisfaction should not any wayes be faulty for otherwise one might avouch that the death of our Lord having come to passe by the ordinance of God Pilate and Caiaphas that did co-operate unto this order without any knowledge thereof should be without offence As for those that think that the Levites were accusers in those proceedings it is a conjecture of their own invention and if indeed it were so one might yet further reason by what Law could the Levites bring accusation against their chief Priest This jealousie of Government is a marvellous beast and those that would excuse it find for the most part that there is no stronger reasons then swords and prisons and banishments In the mean time the news comes to Joab that he was in great danger for having followed the party of Adonijah and as he saw himself on the sudden forsaken and faln from the great credit that he had in the Militia he had recourse to the Tabernacle which was the common refuge and taking hold of the Altar he asked mercy and his life Banaiah the executour of the murder goes to him by Solomons order and commands him to come forth for which he excuses himself protesting that he would rather die then forsake his refuge which was related to King Solomon who without regard to the holy place caused him to be massacred The death of Joab at the foot of the Altar to mingle his bloud with that of the sacrifices Behold what he got from the Court after fourty years services and one may affirm that if it had been sometimes a good mother to him now it acted a cruel step-mother at the last period of his life There remained no more but Shimei to make up the last Act of the Tragedy and although David had given commandment for his death Solomon seemed yet to make some scruple upon the promise of impunity that was made to him and this was the cause that he appointed him the city of Jerusalem for a prison with threatning that if he should go forth thence and onely go over the brook of Cedron he would put him to death The other that expected nothing but a bloudy death willingly received the condition and kept it three years until the time that on a day having received news of his servants that were fled to the Philistims it came into his mind to follow them without taking heed to that which was commanded him which caused that at his return he was murdered by the commandment of Solomon by the hand of Benaiah Behold the beginning of a reign tempestuous and one must not think to find Saints so easily at the Court especially in those which have liberty to do what they please many things slip from them which may better be justified by repentance then by any other apology That which follows in this history of Solomon is all peaceable and pleasing even unto his fall which may give cause of affrightment The third year of his reign he had an admirable Dream after the manner of those that are called Oracles A wonderfull Dream of Solomon It seemed to him that God appeared to him and spoke to him at the which he was in an extasie and seeing himself so near to him that could do all he desired of him with incredible ardency the gift of Wisdome to govern his people the which pleased so much the Sovereign Majesty that not onely he gave him a very great understanding above all the men of the world but further also added thereto Riches and Glory in so high an eminence that none should equall him There
and fourscore thousand crowns and the two sums taken together make one thousand one hundred ninety four millions of gold eight hundred fourscore thousand crowns and all this but to serve for that which should be wrought in gold and silver for the use of the Temple Josephus also in the eighth Book of his Antiquities Josep l. 8. cap. 3. saith That there was numbred there fourscore thousand cups and as many plates of gold twenty thousand cencers of the same materiall two hundred thousand trumpets of silver and fourty thousand instruments of musick fashioned of gold and silver garments of linnen and surplasses to the number of ten thousand Lastly the whole Temple from the top to the bottome and the pavement it self was covered with plates of gold fastned together with nails of gold which weighed every one five and twenty ounces To say the truth some Interpreters of the Scripture have taken that very high making the value of their moneys according as they will in this great obscurity of those that have written of the diversity of their values according to the diversity of their Ages and Nations but one may not doubt of the truth of the Scripture which raises this Temple to a heighth of magnificence which exceeds all other works After that the House of God was established Solomon made a solemne Dedication thereof for the which he sacrificed 2200. oxen and 20000. sheep He prayed to God aloud before all the people with a wisdome and zeal unparallel'd He blessed all his Subjects with an uncredible joy so that the face of Jerusalem that day seemed an anticipated Paradise He busied himself after in building for himself he made himself a palace wherein he spared nothing for gloriousnesse with the most sumptuous Kings of the earth When as the Scripture relates this with a plainnesse of its style it ceaseth not to fill our spirits with amazement and if we had not recourse to the sovereign power of God which doth all which pleaseth him we should scarce be able to believe that the Kingdome of Judea having begun but in Saul by so miserable beginnings that there was hardly found any iron to make swords of and that at sometimes there was but two to be found in a whole Army that it should on a sudden rise to so great an increase that silver was there as common as stones This gives a large entry to all sorts of delights and pleasures of stately Princes of the earth which Solomon soon caused to enter into his palace and which ruined him by a farre greater disastre then ever the armies of the Philistims Ammonites and Moabites could have done And as Juvenal said That luxury had taken room and had reserved unto it self the vengeance for all the evil usage wherewith the Romans had handled so many Kings and People of the habitable world So we may say That the Licenciousnesse of Solomon did revenge all the injuries of the Nations stirred up against the people of the Jews He which should see a starre fall from heaven into The fall of Solomon the dirt for to be trodden upon by the feet of men and beasts after it had shined amongst the celestial globes would he be more affrighted and amazed then in considering Solomon thrown down from the beautiful firmament of glory where the hand of God had placed him into those opprobrious passions labirynths of errours and unexplicable confusions Solomon that was as high lifted up above other Kings as Kings are above common men this man of wonders and miracles the well-beloved of God which had wisdome for his spouse virtue for his delight happinesse for his companion and glory for the assistant of his throne to disgrace by a detestable old age all the comelinesse of his life to deface all the rare inventions of his mind to eclipse all the weak lights of his understanding O women alwayes fatal to the ruine of great men who will hereafter think it strange that you have changed the Gods of the heathens into beasts seeing that you have transported Solomon into a monster It is not almost imaginable into what a gulf of destruction Love plunged this miserable Prince and that Philosopher Antisthenes said true that if there were such a Venus as the Poets have made he would be her hang-man If there were such a Cupid as they have painted out he would pull off his wings and throw him down from the Heaven of heavens where they had placed him into the deepest of the bottomlesse pits for that this is the frenzy of the understanding the poison of the heart the corruption of the manners and the desolation of our life O true God! how ought all good understandings and all persons that make profession of knowledge of honour and virtue look upon Solomon as a mast broken on the top of a mountain which God hath placed there above to make them take heed of the shipwracks of Love One doth seldome begin wickednesses at the top The beginning of his debauchednesse vices have their degrees as well as virtues Solomon at first began to grow cool in the worship of the true God his conversations with him were not so often nor so pleasing the pleasures of the world invited him the delights of the Court charmed him actions that are too free soon become evill and evil ones turn themselves into custome and custome into an habit This child of God saw the daughters of men these strange beauties which pricked him by their novelty he became man and made of them his Goddesses The daughters of the Amorites and of the Moabites those of Egypt of Sidon of Idumea and so many others whereof God had forbidden him any alliance were the Idols of his heart after they had been the plague and poison of his understanding He which had pronounced so many excellent parables against love which had so many times advertised youth that the lips of an unchaste woman distilled honey at the beginning but at the end they gave a potion of wormwood was taken by the eyes enchained with infinite affections His love was pompous his luxury sumptuous he loved as much for glory as for concupiscence he would act the King in his unchastenesse as stately as in the furniture of his Temple He had about seven hundred women which were as his Queens and with that three hundred Concubines which is according to the account of the Scripture a thousand wives which he had shut up in a Seraglio for the pleasures of his eyes and of his flesh and of so many loves there is but one sonne to be found Rehoboam void of wisdome and understanding What could a Prince do amongst so many delights so many allurements so many charms and so many bewitchings A man is oft-times much hindered by the troublesome brain of one woman onely what serious businesse then could he set himself to that had them multiplied by hundreds These strangers came Their artifice each of
tender age in this voyage conceiving that he ought not to spare any thing which the service of God might require The ardent love caused him to expose his Royall person not onely to wearinesse but to the most dangerous blows of battels There is a certain jealous strictnesse of judgement in the understanding of men which would not that any one person should be excellent in the degree of Sovereignty in two illustrious qualities The reputation of Arms took away the high title of eloquence from Julius Cesar and we may see that S. Lewis contented himself with his rare devotion without taking that high part that he deserved in valour But this is the truth that he was courageous heroicall and valiant above all those brave ones whom the opinion of men do often deifie without very much desert Together with all his devotion he seemed to have obliged himself to take up Arms against his enemies even from his tenderest infancy He made wars both by sea and land in Europe Asia and Africa He was set upon in his minority by the neighbouring Princes and by the greatest Lords of his State from which he freed himself both by wisedome and valour marching forth into the field with the assistance of God and good counsell of his Mother He disarmed Philip his Uncle by courtesie the English by force he vanquished the inconstancy of Theohald by his stedfastnesse and the self-conceitednesse of Peter de Drues by his patience After he had pacified his kingdome he undertook the Holy War by a pious generousnesse of heart in the which he shewed marvellous valiantnesse of his person Joinville that was present saith that he stoutly ventured himself into the hottest conflicts of the battalions and fought fiercely with his own hand scattering and overthrowing the Sarazens that opposed his enterprises They speak much of the valour of Attila that visiting a certain place was set upon by two souldiers that had a purpose to kill him and escaped both the one and the other by his valour and mention But S. Lowis on a day having gone aside from the Army was set upon by six whom he put to flight by a victorious resistance When they were in some doubt about going a shore in his first voyage to Africa he was the first that threw himself upon the Coast of the Enemies with his sword in his hand without any amazement although he was up to the neck in water When he was seen at the beginning of the battel arrayed in his Royall arms he appeared like a Sun to the whole Army but as soon as he began to enter into the fight he was like a lightning that made a wonderfull flashing upon the Infidels together with all the misfortune of the time wherewith he was overborn he took the great and famous City of Damiata in his first voyage he discomfited the Sarazens in two battels he fortified four great places in Syria he compell'd the Emmiers of Egypt to restore him his prisoners he provided for the safety of all the Christians that were remaining in Palestine In his second voyage he vanquished at the first onset the Africans which had antiently made Italy Greece and Spain to tremble and had so long time disputed for the Empire of the world with the Romans and if he had not been hindred by sicknesse he had forthwith made himself master of Thunis and Carthage Behold what this ardent love did by his hands But the love indefatigable the true and faithfull character of a great stoutnesse of courage caused him not to be amazed at any thing and that he continued with an invincible magnanimity under the most burthensome accidents that contraried his enterprises This love caused him to make tryall of another voyage after the sad accidents of the first this love caused that the seas filled with terrours the Lands with Ant-heaps of Sarazens formed into Batalions the air that seemed from every part to let fly arrows of pestilence the wayes which were full of toyles the wars of terrours and maslacres the encounters of evil successe and the champions of a million of divers kinds of death never altered the constancy of his invincible heart The very day of his captivity after he had lost a great battel which overthrew all his affairs when as he saw the wayes covered with the dead bodies of his servants when he saw the river Nilus smoaking and bubling up the French blood when as the arrows of the Sarazens did fly round about his head like the hail on a winters day when as he was taken and carried to the Aunt of the Sultan and that he heard the clamours of those outrageous mouths that he saw so many infernall faces that might shake a soul of the stoutest temper he remained still in a great tranquility of mind and asked his page for his book of prayers which being ready he began to perform the duty of his Orazons which he presented every day to God with as quiet a spirit as if he had been returned from taking a walk in his gardens The very day that he was seased upon by the pestilence he beheld death coming upon him with a settled countenance he disposed of the affairs of his kingdome and of his house with a great judgment gave very excellent instructions to the princes children comforted all his good servants strengthened himself with the Sacraments entred into extasies of divine love which drove out of his heart all the cares of this present life The poor Prince sooner failed of his life then he could fail of his constancy and faithfulnesse to his high virtue It is here O Providence that you cover with a canopy of the night and darknesse the great events of the affairs of the world it is here that we acknowledge your government This Prince so wise so humble so holy which deserved that the world should bend under his laws and to have constrained good fortune to fly no where but about his colours in the mean while was handled by you as it seems to many not like to an indulgent mother but as by a step-mother severe and rigorous Alas the Lands have often undertaken the yoke and the seas have spread their back with coverlids by a pleasing calmnesse under the arms and vessels of Pirates Was there none but this Monarch to whom all creatures ought to have served as a defence that could deserve to be so evil handled at your hands In the first of his expeditions he lost his liberty and in the second his life What is the meaning of this O Providence draw the courtain a little uncover your secrets and unceil our eyes to behold them She answereth that the generall truth hath revealed to us in the Gospel his judgements on this point when he said to the Jewes which were come to take him behold your hour and the power of darknesse It is true that by a certain order of God and for causes very reasonable well known to his Providence
at the party that was made against him withdrew himself to the K. of Parthia to desire assistance of him where it hapned that by the calumny of his enemies he was clapt up in an honourable prison as if he had come to make an attempt upon the Kingdome of his neighbour His spirit that was alwayes wanton made love even in that captivity and debauched a daughter of that King his host whom he was constrained to wed although he was already married and when he had stoln out of prison he was caught and brought back again to this new wife Tryphon knowing what had befaln him caused his Pupil to be murdered by an execrable cruelty feigning that he had been taken away by a naturall death and took the Diadem professing himself to be the revenger of the Tyrant and the lawfull King of Syria After some time the liberty of the young Demetrius was mediated but his wife Cleopatra that had a crafty and proud spirit vext with the inconstant loves of her husband and wearied with his loosenesse raised up against him puissant enemies that massacred him and some are of opinion that she her self was one of the complices of that attempt and that Demetrius his brother whom she married afterwards was not innocent of it My pen hath horrour at these bloudy tragedies and passes over them as upon burning coals Antiochus Sidetes seeing himself on his brothers Throne eagerly pursued Tryphon and besieged him in the city of Dora where finding himself extremely straightned and out of all hopes of succour he killed himself with his own hand and yet could not deface by his bloud the villanous stain of perfidiousnesse that remained upon him by the death of the young King The Conquerour perceiving himself above his businesses saw that the Maccabees in the troubles of Syria possessed by so many Kings had made great progresses would represse them and made warre against Simon that succeeded his brother Jonathan and who was afterward assassinated at a banquet by Ptolomy his son-in-law The King as 't is thought upholding by his favour that cruel basenesse two of his sonnes were involved in the misery of the father and the murderers were already dispatched to adde to them John Hircan son of the same Simon But he having had intelligence of that first design stood upon his guard and governed Judea the space of more then thirty years with much prudence and happinesse out-living a long time that last Antiochus that was stoned to death as he was going to pillage the Temple of Mannaea Hyrcan had for Successour his son Aristobulus who took the Diadem and resumed the name of King among the Jews after a long discontinuation which hapned an hundred years before the Nativity of our Lord. Those of his race failed not to continue the Regall Dignity in their house till that Hyrcan which was so cruelly spoiled and mafsacred by Herod as I have said in the history of Mariamne Behold how the virtue of Judas Maccabeus extended it self through many Ages and without thinking of it put the Crown upon the head of those that were of his family and of his name God recompencing his Zeal and Justice beyond the fourth generation I have endeavoured to make in this discourse a little abridgement of that which is contained in the two books of Maccabees and relate it to you my Reader in a streight line and a method clear enough hoping that you will have content and edification to see the Justice of God reign over so many crowned heads who ceases not to punish the wicked and to render to the good safety and glory for a recompence of their virtue GODFREY of Bovillon GEORGE CASTRIOT GEORGE CASTRIOT OR SCANDERBERG GODFREY OF BOVILLON IT was not the voyce of a man but an Oracle of the holy Spirit that Pope Vrban the second pronounced when he gave to the Crofier for a Devise God will have it so This speech was the soul of all the Intentions of Godfrey of Bovillon It was the But of all his Actions God never made the prodigious effects of his power more visibly appear then in the conduct of this most Illustrious Personage It was a Captain formed in his Bosome and instructed by his hand that was to break the chains of the Christians and to pull down the pride of the Sultans So many other Expeditions were almost all splitted but this of Godfrey bore a God would have it so and nothing resisted its Good hap Many men torment themselves all their life-time in great designs that are as the Dragons the Chimera's and armed men that our fancy shapes upon the body of a Cloud The wind drives them the divers postures confound them the Asspects change them and all that we behold with admiration in the Heavens falls in water upon our head and makes morter under our feet How many Princes have made great preparations both of Men and Elephants of Horses and of Ships of Arms and Ammunitions out of a design to make great Conquests and all this hath vanished for want of a God will have it so There are certain impressions in great affairs which are never found without the favours of heaven One God will have it so will make us sail in the Sea upon an Hurdle or upon a Tortoise-shell one God will not have it so will drown us in a well Rigged Ship It was a God wills it that seized in an instant the spirit of the most excellent Cavaliers of Europe to undertake a voyage into the Holy Land It was a God wills it that made them followed by innumerable multitudes of Mortals But it was also a God wills it that made them cast their eyes upon Godfrey of Bovillon as upon the most valiant the most happy and the most able to pluck Jerusalem out of the hands of Saladine The King of the Bees appears not more visible in the middle of his swarm then this great Captain appeared amongst an infinite number of Cavaliers assembled to revenge the holy Sepulchre There was not one onely ray of the eyes that beheld him that did not expresse some favour to his Merit he had as many Approvers as Spectatours and every man signed him his Commissions even by his silence That illustrious blood of the Heroes that ran in his veins that advantageous Stature that raised him the head above so many Millions of men that face that Majesty had chosen for her throne that tongue that carried insensible chains to captivate mens hearts that comelinesse of the forehead that was at once modest and bold that valour that was painted on all his limbs that courage that kindled a delightfull fire in his eyes All the Virtues that seemed to march about his Person and in fine that finger of God that had imprnited on him the Character of Conquerour made him be chosen as the first Moover of that wonderfull design There was nothing but his Modesty that opposed the desires of all the World and that would
continually and forget all the functions of the reasonable life So may you see abundance of such men who perceiving themselves raised upon the wings of fortune fall into such a madnesse of glory that they are as it were dizzy-headed by certain venimous fumigations of ambition and know themselves no more But this man sees himself at his going out of prison mounted to the highest point of honour that ever happened to a Favourite He hath the Kings Ring and Seal he triumphs upon his Chariot he sees the Nobles in admiration of his Fortune and the Commons in veneration he sees the applauses he hears the Clamours of those that highly publish him the saviour of the world And yet for all this great preparation there escapes not from him one onely word of vanity He expresses not any complacency in those honours and in that habit and it is not read that after the day of the Ceremony he ever used them He publickly a vouches that he is the son of a Shepheard he causes his Father and his Brothers to come into the Kingdome of Egypt not to give them the Offices of the Court and the Treasures of Pharaoh but he lets them alone in their vocation contenting himself to procure their quiet and some small commodities sutable to that Pastorall life He humbles himself before his Father he acknowledges and makes much of his Brethren he gains the heart of all the world and bears so actively that high top of glory that he seems to be no more laden with it then a Bird is with his Feathers The third perfection of Joseph is remarkable in the great and laborious services that he rendered to his Prince with an high Prudence an exquisite Diligence and an inviolable faithfulnesse He visited in person all the Provinces of Egypt and in the great fertility of those fortunate years when Corn was almost as cheap as sand he laid up a prodigious store in the Kings Magazines to relieve the necessities of the barrennesse that was to come and indeed it did not fail to happen but indured the space of seven years with such a violence and so great disasters that it seemed that the bowels of the Earth were iron and that God had resolved to destroy mankind by a Generall Famine It was then that all the People implored the mercy of the King who sent them back to Joseph who caused the Granaries of all Egypt to be set open and sold corn to all those that had need of it first for money afterward for Cattell and at last when both money and Cattell failed the Egyptians they sold their Lands in great number so that all Egypt was submitted to the discretion of the King to avoid that raging Famine They gave themselves and their little possessions with all their heart for Bread But Joseph takeing pity of their great miseries made them Conditions that were above all their hopes This people was of a spirit bright enough addicted to novelties and seditions which made them often shake off the yoak but Joseph tamed them insensibly by their own necessities and subjected all Egypt to his Master causing him to reign peaceably and with a great authority and yet for all this drew no envy upon himself but quite contrary he made his Government be admired and his memory blessed Amongst all this it is not said that he enriched his house with the great treasures that he heaped up for Pharaoh and although that his Master had put all things into his power yet he used them so moderately that when he had a mind to offer presents to his brother Benjamin whom he loved as his own heart he contented himself to give him five suits of Clothes and three hundred Livers making the same largesse to his Father with some Mules to transport their Baggage Yet is is very true that he caused the Land of Goshen to be given them but it was as it were by way of loan to dwell there and to husband it till the return that Jacob pretended to make to the Countrey of his Fathers In a word Joseph plainly shewed that he was little affected to all the Riches of the Egyptians when he received of his father and made reckoning of it a little piece of Land that he had gained from the Amorites A fourth quality of this wise Governour which is greatly to be priz'd is seen in the great prudence and singular sweetnesse which he used in his Government in such a manner that he gained the affection of all the great men of Egypt David speaking of this discretion and of this goodnesse saith according to the Hebrew Text That he tyed them all to his heart which is as much as to say That he united them to his person by a great affability by good offices and by honest yieldings They looked upon him as a Father and as a Master and had him in veneration and yet for all this he was not puffed with Pride nor inebriated with the opinion of his own sufficiency But in all the extraordinary favours that he received of the King his Master he was communicable and esteeming himself as one of them he saw them all under him To speak sincerely it is an admirable thing That a stranger should have held the Stern of a Kingdome the space of four score years in a Nation full of Spirit and sufficiently seditious without complaints without discontents and without intermissions in a calm so peaceable a Peace so amiable a Love so Universall How many do we see in Histories that being come to some dignity seem continually to hold a Wolf by the ears and as they love nothing but their own Interest so are they loved sincerely of no body which puts them in continuall frights and makes them fear even the very shadow of an hair They think not that there is any security for themselves unlesse they put the whole world in danger nor safety unlesse it be in the publick Ruines This makes them be hated of God and Men and causes cares to leap over Ramparts of Steel and Iron to beset their silver Ballisters and to call them to an account at every moment for the Calamity of the Living and for the Blood of the Dead This was a fifth Lineament of his good demeanour that he had bowels of Compassion for the poor People in that cruell Famine and generall despair of all Egypt And although one might imagine that he had promoted the Interests of the King in an excesse to the detriment of the Subject yet is it true that he that will well consider the estate and Lawes of that Monarchy will impute to Josephs favour that which he would have taken at first sight for Rigour in his Government It is certain that according to the Antient Histories which treat of the Policy of that Nation the Revenue of Egypt was divided into three parts the first of which was claimed by the Priests that were in great number and in great esteem in a
and the Cup was found in the sack of the youngest The brothers are seized with a profound astonishment and the poor child so amazed that he hath not a word to defend himself They begin all to afflict themselves and to rent their clothes and return to the City as Thieves taken in the fact to render an account to the Governour As soon as he saw them he reproched them of ingratitude and said to them that they were much deceived to come to him to steal seeing there was not a man in the whole world that had more news of secret things then he All prostrate themselves on the ground and do him Reverence Judah takes the word and sayes That they came not to excuse themselves that they had nothing to say since God had rendred their iniquity so visible that they were come all to offer themselves to him to be his slaves with him that had done the deed Nay it shall not go so saith Joseph but the culpable shall stay with me and ye shall return all of you at liberty to your house Then Judah drew near desired audience with a profound humility and declared how that child was his Fathers heart and life and that having received order from his Excellence to pluck him out of the arms of the old man and to bring him they had given him battells to make him resolve on that Voyage to which he would by no means hearken But the desire they had to give all possible satisfaction to his greatnesse had made them presse that businesse so farre as to oblige themselves life for life body for body and to deliver their little children to death in case that they brought not back their brother Benjamin that thereupon the goodman rendred himself with much difficulty and that to go and tell him at present that his dear sonne in whom he lives and by whom he breathes is stayed prisoner in Egypt for a case of theft would be to give him a double death and to send him to the Grave with inconsolable griefs And therefore he beseech'd his Greatnesse to shew them mercy and to take him for a slave in the place of his brother Benjamin Joseph could hear no more so much love and pity did he feell in the bottome of his heart He caused all the servants to withdraw not being willing that any of the Egyptians should be witnesse of this action and then he lifted up his voyce with a great sigh and a torrent of tears that glided from his eyes and said I am Joseph is my Father yet alive At that speech these poore men stood so surprised and in such an extasie that they made him no reply By how much the more he saw them astonished by so much the more did he make much of them and making them approach very near him he said again I am Joseph I am he that ye sold to the Ishmaelites to be carried into Egypt Trouble not your selves God permitted this for my good and for yours Two years of Famine are past there are yet five remaining and I have been sent from on high into Egypt to nourish you and to preserve you in the rigour of the time It was not by your counsels but by the ordinances of God that I came into this Kingdome And now behold I am as a father to Pharaoh the Superintendent of his house and the Prince of Egypt Go haste ye to return to my father carry him the news of my life and of my dignity relate to him all the glory and all the magnificence that invirons me and tell him that I expect him here and that it is the will of God that he should come to sojourn in the land of Goshen where he shall have all that he can desire for his children and for his flocks This said he embraced them weeping begining with the little Benjamin and then they took the boldnesse to speak to him with open heart about all that had passed thinking themselves obliged above all measure to his goodnesse The fame of this acknowledgement ran in the house of Pharaoh who ordered Joseph to cause his Father to come and sojourn in Egypt with his brothers dispatching many charriots to carry all his baggage The children returned Triumphing and gave him the news that his sonne Joseph was alive and the second person of the Realm of Egypt that had the managing of all The Good-man thought that it was a dream and the admiration of it held him so seized that he could not come to himself again at length when he saw that it was all in good earnest and that the Chariots that were to carry away all his family were at the gate he said that now there remained nothing more for him to desire if his sonne Joseph was alive and that he would see him before his death Some time after he departed being encouraged by an heavenly Vision that promised him all good successes in that journey and when he was arrived at Goshen he dispatched Judah to give the newes of it to his sonne Joseph who at the same instant went up into his Coach to go to meet him and seeing him embraced him with close enfoldings weeping for joy and tendernesse upon his neck His Father holding him between his arms said My son It is at this houre that I shall dye content since God hath shewed me the grace to see you and to leave you alive after me The holy man was also presented to King Pharaoh who made him a great enterteinment and demanded of him his age to which he answered that he was but an hundred and thirty years old that those dayes were few and evil and were not extended to the age of his Fathers He blessed the King and his place of abode was assigned in the land of Goshen where he lived in a most full content And now I demand of my Reader if there be any thing more magnificent more sweet and more benigne then the heart of Joseph in all the circumstances of that Reconciliation with his brethren We see many Histories wherein the Grandees of the earth that mount up on their Thrones after they have been offended who have nothing so ordinary as to make Furies and Vengeances with squadrons of Hangmen march with them by their side to Ruine those that have done them any displeasure But this man after he had been so cruelly used after he had been stripped of his cloathes cast into an old pit of water domineered over and sold to Barbarians by his own brothers with an intention to keep him in an hard slavery the rest of his dayes not onely forgets all that had passed but pardons them with a profusion of Charity he does them good he over-whelms with good offices those ungratefull men and in obliging them he hath but one trouble which is to see them shamefull of their crime He weeps while he embraces them one after another He would not that that fault should be imputed to them
they preferred a flint before a pearl The first unhappinesse of his conduct was that he had not an heart for God but for his own interest and that he did not unite himself close enough to Samuel that had made him King and that was the Oracle from which he should have learned the divine Will The second was a furious State-jealousie his capitall devil that put his Reason into a disorder and infected all the pleasures and contentments of his life He was but weak to hold an Empire and govern with love and yet he loved passionately all that he could least compasse and would do every thing of his own head thinking that the assistance of a good Councel was the diminution of his Authority Sometimes he was sensible of his defects but instead of amending them he desired to take away the eyes of those men that perceived them His Spirit was little in a great body his Reason barren in a multitude of businesse his Passions violent with small reservednesse his Breakin gs out impetuous his Counsels sudden and his Life full of inequalities Samuel had prudently perceived that the Philistims were dangerous enemies to the State of Judea because they knew its weaknesse and kept it in subjection a long time depriving it of the means of thinking fully upon its liberty And therefore he maintained a peace with them and used them courteously gaining all that he could by good Treaties and would not precipitate a Warre which was to weaken the Israelites without recovery But Saul thought not himself an able man if he had not spoiled all and without making any other provision of necessary things he made a great levy of Souldiers and a mighty Army to go against the enemies in which there was but two swords It was a plot that permitted not the Hebrews to have Armorers nor other men that laboured in Iron totally to disarm them and at the least motion that they should make expose them for a pâ—ey These assaulted Philistims found him businesse enough through the whole course of his Government and Life and in the end buried him with his children in the ruines of his State But God that would give some credit to Samuel's choice sent at first prosperities to Gods people under the conduct of that new King wherein that which served for a glory to that holy man was a vain bait to Saul to make him enterprise things that could give him no other ability but to destroy himself About a moneth after his election Nahash the Ammonite raised an Army to fall upon the Jabites that were in league with the people of Israel and those seeing that they were not strong enough to resist so terrible an enemy dispatched an Embassage to him to treat about a Peace But that insolent Prince made answer to their Embassadours that he would not make any treaty of Peace with them on any other condition then by plucking out their right Eyes and covering them with a perpetuall ignominy These poor people that were reduc'd almost to a despair implored on all sides the assistance of their neighbours and failed not to supplicate to the Israelites their friends to do something in their favour Their Messengers being arriv'd at Gibeah related the sad news of the cruelty of Nahash that filled the people with fear and tears Saul returning from the fields was driving his oxen when hearing the groans of his Subjects demanded the cause of it and having been informed entred into so great a rage at the pitilesse extremities of that fierce Ammonite that he instantly tore in pieces his two oxen and sent the pieces of them through all the cities and villages of his Dominion commanding every one to follow him to revenge that injury otherwise their cattle should be dealt with as he had done with his two oxen The Israelites mov'd partly by compassion and partly also by fear of those menaces poured out themselves from all parts to this Warre in such a sort that he had got together three hundred thousand men He divided them into three Battalions and went to meet the Ammonite whom he set upon so vigorously and combated so valiantly that he totally defeated his Army and humbled that proud Giant that thought on nothing but putting out mens eyes making him know that pride goes before reproach as the lightning before the thunder All the great people that compos'd that Army returned unto their houses and Saul retained onely three thousand men whereof he gave one thousand to his son Jonathan that was a man full of spirit and generosity and farre better liked then his father Saul This Militia was too little considerable for so great enemies yet he had a courage to assault a place of the Philistims and routed their Garrison whereat they being pricked beyond measure betake themselves into the field with an Army in which there were thirty thousand chariots of warre and people without end whereat the Israelites were so affrighted that all scatter'd themselves and went to hide themselves in caves so that there remained but about six hundred men with Saul who marched with a small noise and durst not appear before his adversaries Samuel had promised to see him within seven dayes to sacrifice to God and encourage the people But Saul seeing that the seventh day was come without having any tidings of him takes himself the burnt offering offers the Sacrifice and playes the Priest without having any Mission either ordinary or extraordinary As soon as he had made an end of burning the Holocaust Samuel arrives to whom he related how that seeing all the people debauch themselves and quit the Army and how that being pressed by his enemies in a time wherein it behoved them to have recourse to prayer before they gave battle he was perswaded that God would like well enough that in the necessity and long absence of Samuel he should perform the office of a Priest by presenting the burnt offering which he had done with a good intention without pretending to usurp any thing upon his office Samuel rebuked him sharply for that action to shew that there is no pretense nor necessity that is able to justifie a sin and that it no way belongs to Lay-people to meddle with the Censer and to do the Functions that regard the Priests Then Samuel fore-told him that his Kingdome should not be stable and that God would provide himself another that should be a more religious observer of his Law thereupon he left him for a time and Saul having recollected all the people that he could endeavoured to oppose the enemy The brave Jonathan accompanied with his armour-bearer found a way to climb over rocks and to surprise a court-of-Guard of the Philistims which they thought had been inaccessible which put them in a terrible fright imagining that those that had got so farre had great forces though they did not yet appear This brought their Army into a confusion and God also putting his hand farre into the
Love for Nero and to divert him from that infamous passion towards his mother in which he demean'd himself as Lot who presented his daughters to the Sodomites to avoid the greater fury of their brutish lust This Acta played her part so well by the counsel of Seneca that mingling with her familiarities the considerations of State she gave Nero to understand that his great privaces with Agrippina would render him contemptible to the great ones of his Empire and to all his Subjects and would also give an advantage of power to his mother which she would abuse to his own destruction He believed her and became very amorous of her His mother inraged and that so furiously that he intended to prepare a Genealogy for her in which he would make her to be descended from the Kings of Asia and afterwards would marry her His mother was as much in rage on the other side that a slave was become her rivall her choler did so much boil over that she made horrible threatnings what she would say and what she would do She would go to the Army she would complain to the Senate she would discover the disastres of her infortunate house and the empoysonings by which she had ravished the Diadem which belonged to the sons of Claudius her husband to put on the head of ingratefull Nero. Nero whether he would appease her or else deride Nero's present to his mother her did send her a gown of the antient Emperours which was very rich but quite out of fashion at which she was much incensed and said she was no Comedian to be drest in such habiliments as those and that he ought not but give one part to her from whom he received the whole she would see she said if so poor a fellow as Burrus was or such a pedantick as was Seneca should govern the world at their pleasure in the disgrace of the bloud of the Cesars Sometimes again she would display her self so weakly that she would offer her self to be a procurer of Loves for her sonne and to hide in her own cabinet nay in her own breast whatsoever he would keep secret Behold how God doth punish all fond affections The fond love of parents chastned by God in their children and wickednesses by those themselves who have received the profit from their poysons What shall this miserable mother do She is no more in a condition to give content if there came by the by any small re-accommendation in their friendships it was but languishing and of a short continuance Nero desired nothing more then to eschew her company and if he was obliged to see her it was with a Complement as cold as ice he would kisse her indeed but rather out of ceremonies then out of love and would immediately forsake her It is recorded that beholding her self altogether Suer ca. 35. in Nero ne misprised her fury provoked her to love a young Prince on his mother side of the bloud of Augustus named Plantius whom she served for the satisfaction of her desires and to find a subject to imbroil the seat This was brought to the ears of the Prince who began to startle at the apprehension of it and could not be at rest untill he was rid of them both He killed Plantius having first violated his body and took a dismall resolution to infold his mother in the same calamity After a faint reconcilement which continued for a The horrible attempt of Nero upon his mother few dayes he sent her a letter full of fine Complements inviting her to Bajae where he then took his pleasures Aristotle saith That women are naturally credulous especially when they have something sent them to amuse their passion She immediately prepared to come to him who was as ready to entertain her and brought her to Baula where was his house of pleasure He had a desire to poyson her as he did his brother Britannicus but he knew she had an eye alwayes open for her own preservation and had with her antidotes to divert the operation of any poyson Therefore he consulted to put her to death on the sea which is the field of dangers where there is more of the effect and lesse of the suspicion To accommodate her on her return he caused a pompous vessel to be prepared the deck whereof was to fall down by artifice and charge was given to disloyall Anicetus who was to conduct it to put the device in practise and to drown the barge In the mean time he entertained the Queen in his Palace of delight with incomparable chear He would place her at the table above him he would comport and comply with her in a gallant and gracefull posture sometimes he would whisper some soft words in her ear sometimes he would openly renew the tendernesse of his first love and antient confidence he served her both with the gentle and with the serious to give her full satisfaction she poor woman in long draughts drank deeply of the sweets of those poysonous indearments and found her heart much inlarged at so unexpected a change At the hour of her departure he would conduct her to the boat and entertain her with suger'd words telling her that he would not live but onely for her love and that the greatest and the most acceptable office that she could do him was to be chearfull and to have a particular care of her health He seemed to look upon her with ravishments whether it were to put the better countenance on his perfidiousnesse or whether he were touched in mind at the near misfortune of his mother who being made a lamentable sacrifie was going now insensibly to her death At parting he was not onely content to kisse her mouth but taking her in his arms he in a lovers complement did embrace her and omitted nothing to cover his horrible design She entred into the barge in the evening The sea was calm the winds had faln asleep upon it The sky was full of stars as if it had opened all its eyes to behold the spectacle which it ought to revenge upon the Authour Agrippina had two Gentlemen which sate on each side of her and a Lady on whom she much relyed named Acroceraunia who was placed at her feet who entertained her with the rehearsall of many of the late passages at Court and the obligations and the protestations of her sonne when behold the sign being given the roof of the cabbin in which they were being covered with weights of lead with which their treason overcharged it did fall down and killed one of the Gentlemen and wounded Agrippina on the shoulder The Ingineers who undertook the charge that the deck should fall directly down being troubled in their consciences or counterchecked by those who knew nothing of the game they were to play did not perform it with that dexterity as was pretended but gave leisure to those whom they would destroy to provide for their safety
best testimony of full satisfaction As he departed the King came in and then it appeared Love and Piety how Grace and Nature wrought their effects for the innocent Queen fashioning her countenance and her words to the most sensible passion spake thus unto him Alas and wherefore thus SIR Is this that I have deserved for loving you above all the men in the world Must I be forced from your friendship to adhere to my most cruel Enemies If I have deserved death for doing you all the good that lay in the possibility of my power what hath this little Innocent in my womb commited whom I do not preserve but onely to increase your power The Excess of these violent proceedings will tear away the life both from the Mother and the child and then I am afraid you will too late discover the violence and rage of those who perswade you to destroy that which you should hold most dear and to bury your self in my ruins As she spake these words and mixed them with The King reconciled with the Queen her tears the Kings heart was softened into compassion Upon his knees he demanded pardon breathing forth many sighs accompanied with groans and tears of love And having declared to her the conspiracy that was plotted for her ruine he told her That he now came either to live or to die with her This confidence did greatly rejoyce her and having exhorted him above all things to appease the anger of God and particularly to have recourse unto his mercy she gave him instructions necessary for him she counselled him to dissemble this their love and make not the least discovery of it to the Conspiratours but onely to represent unto them that he had found the Queen very ill and that the violence of her malady might be as strong as poison or steel to take her out of the world That there was now no more need of keeping any Guard upon her for in passing affairs according to their advice he would answer for her if God should not otherwise dispose of her This counsel was followed and after the King had perswaded the Rebels to what he had desired he returned to his dear wife and about midnight both of them saved themselves nine or ten thousand armed men being drawn together by the diligence of the Earl of Bothuel who in one morning made the whole rebellion to vanish with the Rebels Now the Earl of Murray had re-possest himself Choller and Vengeance Nejudicial of the favour and good opinion of the Queen but the King who well understood the pernicious counsels of which he was the Authour and that he made him serve to be his instrument at the death of the Secretary could by no means endure him and though the good Queen who would have nothing done violently had expresly charged the contrary he was resolved to seize upon him But Murray apprehending the ill intent of the King towards him did by a most detestable crime prevent it by drawing to him the Earl of Bothuel a man bold of spirit and of hand and prevailing on him to massacre the King assuring him that he should marry the Queen if ever he arrived to the end of his fatal Enterprize This miserable King whom Jealousie had transported to the cruel murder of the Secretary was now again fully reconciled to his wife and loved her most tenderly and conceived an extream pitie to see her youth intangled among such pernicious counsels of her enemies He was then at Glasco sick of the Small-pox which the Queen understanding she immediately repaired thither to bring him unto Edingborough where were better accommodations for him At the same time Horrible inventions of Envy and Vengeance the Conspiratours assembled themselves to accomplish their Design and moreover they had a desire to involve the Queen and her Son in the same ruin but they feared that it would be too apparent and it would be more expedient for them to bring all the Envy of the death of the husband upon the head of his wife whom they conceived to be still highly offended for his ill demeanour towards her To which purpose they undertook to torment her spirit and prompt her to thoughts of vengeance which they never could effect so strong was the new knot of their reconciled love They deliberated amongst themselves to put this miserable Prince to death by fire and because it was inconvenient to perform it in the Palace they entered into counsel amongst themselves to remove him into a fair house which was at the upper end of the Citie where they had prepared a fatal Myne for his destruction His sickness being such the Queen accorded to his removal and very innocently did take her husband by the hand and did conduct him to the Entery of his Lodging where with a singular prudence she disposed of every thing which concerned the recovery of his health And not contented with that she stayed with him without the apprehension of any danger of infection which put the Plotters of this delicate conspiracy into fear but she seemed to be nothing troubled at it and staying with him until midnight she entertained him with all the satisfaction that he could expect from so bountifull a Nature As soon as she was retired behold by the secret The death of Henry Stuart artifice of the powder to which fire was given under the lodging of the King the chamber was blown into the Air and the bed all on fire He found himself to be desperately in wrapped in this calamity and the Authours of the Mischief conspiring with the Elements did dispatch him outright having found him half dead in a Garden into which place the violence of the fire had thrown him The Queen hearing of it was possessed with a wonderfull amazement and lost in the depth of sorrow she feared every thing and knew not what to do or what to hope every hour attending to see the end of that Tragedy to be the beginning of another on her own life The malicious Earl of Murray who now had given the blow by the instrument of his wickedness as he had spoken a little before to those that were nearest to him that the King should die the same night did cunningly retire himself The people murmured and knew not what to take to but the clearest sighted amongst them perceived that it was a work of this pernicious Brother who had a desire utterly to destroy the Royal Family to mount himself upon the Throne And this is that which Cambden assureth us in the Cambden in the first part of his History in the year 1567. first part of his History who though by Religion he was a Calvinist and by profession the Historiographer to the Queen of England yet he hath not dissembled the truth in confirmation whereof he produceth proofs as clear as the day with the attestations of the Earls of Huntley and Argathel two principal Lords of Scotland who
of all Interests to procure her death In stead of coming to the Court to be received there according to her birth and merit she found her self to be confined into a corner of a desart Island where in a new captivity she most unworthily was detained Her disloyal Brother the Vice-roy seeing her escaped from his bloudy hands did promise to himself to oppress with much ease by the circumventions of the Protestant Judges He laid anew for her the nets of his old Accusations and made use of all the falsities which had been invented to eclipse her honour Queen Elizabeth in stead of suppressing the unnatural insolence of her subjects gave them Commissions and an Order that a Process should be made against her The Puritans and the Lutherans the mortal Enemies of Queen Mary are now her Accusers her Judges and her Witnesses The number of honest men was here very few and the apprehension of the danger did stop the mouthes of those men which understood the truth but had not the courage to defend it Nevertheless amongst others there was a Scotch Gentleman the Viscount Herrin worthy of eternal Memory who presented himself to Elizabeth for the defence of his own Queen and said unto her MADAM THe Queen my Mistress who is nothing subject to A generous Compassion you but by misfortune doth desire you to consider that it is a work of an evil Example and most pernicious Consequence to give way that her rebellious Subjects should be heard against her who being not able to destroy her by arms do promise themselves to assassinate her even in your own breast under the colour of Justice Madam Consider the estate of worldly affairs and bear some compassion to the calamities of your poor Suppliant After the most horrid attempt on the King her husband the murder of her servants the cruel Designs on her sacred Person After so many prisons and chains the subjects are heard against their Queen the Rebels against their lawfull Mistress the guilty against the Innocent and the felons against their Judge Where are we or what do we do Though Nature hath planted us in the further parts and the extremities of all the earth yet she hath not taken the sense of humanity from us Consider she is your own bloud your nearest kins-woman she is one of the best Queens in the world for whom your Majestie is preparing bloudy Scaffolds in a place where she was promised and expected greatest favours I want words to express so barbarous a deed but I am ready to come to the Effects and to justifie the innocence of my Queen by witnesses unreproveable and by papers written and subscribed by the hands of the Accusers If this will not suffice I offer my self by your Majesties permission to fight hand to hand for the honour of my Queen against the most hardy and most resolute of those who are her Accusers In this I do assure my self of your Equitie that you will not deny that favour unto her who will acknowledge her self obliged to your bounty Elizabeth who found her advantages in the misfortunes of Mary made no account of these remonstrances and commanded the Commissioners who were the Dukes of Norfolk and of Sussex to proceed unto the Charge But there is a God who rules the Assemblies of men and oftentimes doth turn their Advice against their own consciences The greatest part of this Court were so transported that they had a Resolution to destroy Queen Mary Murray Morton the infamous Bishop of Orcades and the pernicious Buchanan with divers other Enemies of the Queen were now come and brought with them the most execrable inventions and blackest calumnies that ever were fetcht from hell to charge the Queen with the death of the King her husband nay Letters of love were produced which had been invented by some Puritans who with an insupportable impudence affirmed that they found them in a silver coffer of the Queens The Earl of Murray who in the beginning pretended The inhumane cruelty of ambition to wish better to no man than to Bothuel doth now declare himself the chief of this Accusation outragiously pursuing the death of his Sister alledgeing That she was the occasion of her husband's death in revenge of the murder of her Secretary that she never loved him afterwards that she never lamented his loss nor repented of her own sin That she altogether abandoned her self to the love of the Earl of Bothuel whom afterwards she married although he was the murderer of her husband Lesley the Bishop of Rosse Gordon Gauvin Baron and others who were there on the behalf of the Queen for she was present her self in person knowing the whole truth of the business and being incensed at the heart to see the foul treasons of this Judas did handle him according to his desert and did answer him by a very strong Apologie which was afterward presented to the Judges to consider of it at their leisure I will in this place insert the substance of it having some years since found it amongst the Acts of the Queen of Scotland MY LORDS IT is a great favour of Heaven to us that the Earl of Murray is an Accuser in this Cause since his name is able to justifie the greatest crimes much more to accuse the Innocent before persons so approved for their justice and their wisdom It is sufficiently known that by the ignominie of his mother he was the son of a Crime as soon as a son of Nature that he hath ever since lived by wickedness and is grown great by insolence The Queen his Sister hath but one fault which is that she hath advanced him against the intentions of the King her father who designed to him no Crown but what when he was to take Religious Orders the Barber should give him and now he hath usurped the Crown of the Realm His desire and endeavours are that the Diadem should be taken from the head of Mary in recompence to him for having cried her down by his calumnies dishonoured her by his outrages imprisoned her by his fury and dispossessed her by his tyranny Murray doth accuse the Innocent for having contrived her husbands death and he doth accuse her in a Court where there are Witnesses unreproveable that will presently be deposed upon Oath that having plotted this horrible murder he being in a Boat did say That the King should that night be cured of all his maladies And surely it was easie for him to presage it when he and his Accomplices had before decreed it and he had assigned them the place the time and the manner of the execution Murray hath made himself an Accuser to ravish the Kingdom and sway the Scepter imbrued with the bloud of the Queen his sister And we are not so much amazed at this for he hath sold his soul to work wickedness at a far cheaper rate Who had a deeper interest in the death of the King than a Monk for so
thousand Crowns to him who should bring him to him and having understood that the Pope had made him his delegate into France and Flanders he did importune the French King by all manner of Sollicitation to deliver him into his hands But the brave Prince although it was directly against his Interest would do nothing that was against his generous mind and received the Cardinal with all courtesie and fidelity because he would not offend the Pope howsoever he would not suffer him to continue long in France because he would not exasperate the King of England for he had great use of his assistance in the war which he made against the Emperour Pool was then constrained to repair to Flanders where he was charitably received by Cardinal Everard Bishop of Cambray and he continued there sometimes attending the disposition of the Pope But Henry understanding that he was retired into that Province did again kndle his choler and that in so violent a heat that he promised the Flemmings to entertain four thousand men in pay for ten Moneths in favour of the Emperour against the French if they would abandon the Cardinal to his discretion Howsoever he found none that would favour his violence which did so incense him that he caused the Countess of Salisburie to be arrested She was mother to the Cardinal and daughter to the Duke of Clarence brother to Edward the fourth She was accused for having received a letter from her Son and for having worn about her neck the figure of the five wounds of our Saviour on which he commanded that a Process should proceed against her which was performed accordingly and the perverse and abominable Judges who made all their proceedings to comply with the merciless sury of their Prince did condemn her to death and caused her head to be cut off upon a Scaffold where she gave incomparable demonstrations of her piety and constancy Her dear Son who did love and respect her with all the tenderness of affection was extreamly afflicted at it and could find no comfort but in the order of Gods providence and in the glory of her death which was pretious before God After this the Legate was called back to Rome and after he had informed Paul the third of the misery of the people of Christendom who incessantly groaned under the calamity of war kindled betwixt the two principal Crowns he did contribute the uttermost of his indeavour to provide a remedy for it This good Pope was courteous liberal magnificent well versed in letters and above all a great lover of Astrology It seemeth that the Harmony of celestial bodies with which his spirit was so delicately transported did touch his Soul with a desire to make a like harmony on earth He was passionate for the Peace of Christian Princes and as he well understood the great capacity of Cardinal Pool joyned with the Royal bloud which gave him a more full Authority he did not delay to send him with a most Authenticall Commission to mediate an accord betwixt the two Kings The holy Prelate undertook this busines with great courage being carried to it as well by his own inclination as by election He failed not to represent unto their puissances all reasons both Divine and humane which might move them to an accord for the glorie of God for the glory of their own Monarchies and for the safety of their people But as he found in the ear of Henry the Eighth a Devil of lust which obstructed all the force of reason which was presented to him to divert his passion so he found in the spirit of these two Monarchs a horrible jealousie of Estate which stopped all enterance to his saving Counsels The time was not yet come and it was to row against the wind and tide to press that business any further He was constrained to return to Rome where the Pope gave him Commission to go to Wittimbergh where he continued certain years delighting in the fruits of a sweet tranquillity In the end the Councel of Trent being already assembled to extirpate Heresies and remedy the disorders with which its venemous Contagion had infected the brest of Christendom he was chosen to be president thereof which place for some time he executed to the admiration of his knowledge and the universal approbation of his zeal But when Paul the third having exceeded the age He is considered on to be Pope of four-score years did pay the Tribute common to the condition of the living he was obliged to return to Rome where all the world did cast their eyes on him to make him the head of the Church All things seemed to conspire to his Election his age his bloud his virtue his knowledge his great experience in affairs the general affection of all which did pass almost to veneration It was onely himself that resisted his own Fortune because he would not assist himself and permitted nothing of a submiss softness to over-act his generosity neither in that nature would he be a suppliant although it were for the chiefest Miter in the world The Nephews of Paul the third who as yet possessed the most high Authority of affairs considering the faithfulness of the great services which he had rendered their uncle did perswade him with importunity to this chief Bishoprick of the world And as the Conclave was assembled and the Decision of the great business did approch unto maturity they came at night into his Chamber to speak with him concerning his promotion and to offer themselves to his service to prefer unto him that Sovereign dignity But he shewed so little complacence to their discourse that in stead of making indearments and submissions of which they who pretend to honour are always excessively prodigal he made answer to them That God was the God of light and that the affair which they came about ought not to be treated on in darkness That one word did rebate the edge of their spirits and on the morning following the good Fortune which for two moneths together did look directly on Cardinal Pool did slack its foot at the dismission of the Nephew Cardinals and Julius the Third was chosen Pope a person of much renown and a great Lawyer Pool his Competitor well understanding that it was He retireth again into solitude not expedient to reside under the eyes of a Potentate to whom the power over Christendom was secretly preferred retired to Mentz into a monastery of Saint Benets where he enjoyed the delights of rest to which his inclinations carried him exercising his devotion to the height and recreating himself with good letters which he always loved But God who by his means was pleased to bring about the greatest revolution of Estate as Europe ever saw did cause occasions to arise to draw him from that solitude to return again to his great imployments It is necessary in this place to make mention of the condition of the affairs in England to behold virtue in
catalogue of Kingdomes and Titles as provokes the emulous terrifieth their neighbours and pricketh even those that are removed from them by intervals of distance They apprehend the Dignity of one to presage the danger of all They conjecture that the extent of his jurisdiction bodeth an unattempted servitude to all Kingdomes they fear whatsoever the land provideth and whatsoever monsters the sea nourisheth Greedy Domination that could never yet overcome it self when it hath once been cherished by Fortune it unlearneth nature and forgetteth moderation Moreover the temperature of the Nations as they report is fiery hot and dry swelling with pride patient of hunger and well enduring labour thirsty after glory prone to admire it self and apt to continue the virtue and valour of other Nations I produce not these things as the emanations of my own judgement which for the present is addicted to no Nation but comprehendeth all in Christ but I commemorate the vulgar reports and such things as are openly bruted by many which if they were supprest by a removall of their Causes it could cut off the occasions of many controversies The French on the other side as they write who have had knowledge of them although they are forward to dart reproaches against others unable to endure them and most impatient of contempt yet they know they are of that Nation whereof it was said Animóqūe supersunt Jam propè post animam They boast that they filled the world with the fame of their Arms before the Spaniards could redeem themselves from the diuturnall servitude of the Goths and Vandals That they have managed the Empire of the East and West that they have vanquished Constantinople by assault restored Jerusalem to Christ and Rome to the Pope seven times deprived of it by his enemies They affirm that the Gospel was first preached unto them that the primigeniall adoption of the Sonnes of God was given to them that they have advanced Learning in all Christian Kingdomes the whole world almost becoming Students of our Academy at their Paris in a word they think they have nothing to be contemned they are more apt to desire admirers then able to dispence with contemners From hence it comes to passe that both the Nations being prodigall in the accumulations of their own and envious of the others glory such flames have of late been kindled as will it may be feared become unquenchable Would to God that that Charity which is diffused in us by the spirit would suffocate these super-seminated tares of contentions Oh that it would cut off the occasions of these inhumane strivings then should we have fewer anxieties and more supportable labours of heart knowing by what remedies we might resist so pestilent an evil This is frequently augmented by the servants and favourites of Princes whilst with a familiar but a direfull glory to the greatest Empires they desire to boast the power of their Lords they display all their offensive strength and ability to hurt they presse a secret beneficence and whilst they proceed in these ambitious circulations nay whilst they bewray a fear and discover in themselves a caution by that very sedulity and caution they provoke things not to be feared and act things not to be tolerated Here I appeal to you great Masters of Policy and Participatours of hidden Councels I speak more willingly to you then to your Fortunes Consider how much God hath given you and how much he requireth of you You sit as Gods among men the Arbiters of mankind what shall be each mans lot is the verdict of your Dispensations What good things Felicity intendeth to each individuall person she pronounceth by your mouths what Navies must be prepared what Warres must be prosecured what Cities destroyed what Nations depopulated are the ambiguous effects of your opinions You are judges of the fortunes and bloud of men and of your behaviours and existimation men are judges God the discerner of all things judgeth of your head at the terrible and inevitable audit Every one beholdeth many things by the deception of his own sense uttereth many things from the dictates of affection I cannot believe what is reported that so eminent persons blest with such admirable wits adorned with the glorious gift of prudence and conscious of this frailty of humane affairs can think themselves seated in that heighth to measure all things by the circle of their own advantage that publick plenty should quit the preheminence to their private profit that all things should be serviceable to their amplitude that they should dispose their trust according to the level coyl of love hatred and ambition and that they should sacrifice the bloud of the people to their Fortunes that they therefore love Warres and are affected with Divisions and Confusion hoping thereby to purchase to themselves more beneficiall or honourable commands to close with an opportunity of treasuring up large summes of money and by the necessity of their Ministration to wed themselves to a more faithfull office or to leap into an Authority of a more hopefull permanency but goodnesse forbid that such sordid earthly and narrow cares should be the dishonourable employment of such capacious souls I rather believe that you are incited by emulous anhelations after your Masters glory whereof you have ever been most zealous ever prepared to retaliate his injuries to assert his Majesty and to dilate his Empire but I beseech you by the immortall God and by so many beloved pledges of your Kingdomes to take heed and diligently to beware lest a supervehement appetite of Glory make them averse from the right pursuit of Glory You follow Glory by a muddy search but now all mortall men desire it by a clear acquist Consider where there is the greatest splendour of celestiall virtues either in the loud cracks of thunder possessing all men with sudden fear and when fires and thunderbolts are promiscuously hurl'd about or in a fair day the air being defecated and serene and the pleasure of the light dispelling sadnesse from mens hearts hitherto you have made the power of your Lords sufficiently fearfull now render it sweet and make it amiable for therein onely it is invincible This is not the greatnesse of Princes to be alwayes encompassed with the terrours of his armed men and busied in warlike preparations with a fiery mouth to be alwayes denouncing the cruelties of torments and tortures to condemne these men to fetters those to the sword perpetually to carry about him fire and darts to make his progresse thorow smoaking Cities over the trampled bodies of half dead men and to exhaust all things lest they should be exhausted How much more glorious is it like a fortunate Cornet to prevent and exceed the hopes of all men with causes of rejoycing To repair things ruinous and disordered to conveigh glad tydings of consolation to the pensive soul to recollect things scattered and to reunite things divided By this heavenly solicitude many Kings lending their succour
revolt ibid. His designs ibid. His Ambition 148 He caused himself to be proclaimed King ibid. He giveth battell to his Father wherein he is overthrown and killed 149 We must not condemn him that by lawfull means seeks his own Accommodations 46 Achior his oration 182 It is pleasing to Holophernes and his souldiers ibid. The pernicious counsell of Achitophel 148 Adonijah competitour of the Crown and his faction 151 The fault of Adonijah in his Councell of State ibid. Adonijah desired the Shunamite which did complete his misfortune 152 Adonis an admirable fish 38 A good deed done to a great one in Afflictions is of much value 142 what are the subjects of Afflictions 57 The dispositions of Ages 19 The death of Agrippina 273 Ahab goeth to meet Elijah in person 249 He desireth Naboths Vineyard 251 His death 253 Ahashuerus his banquet which continued for the space of one hundred and fourscore dayes 188 Alcimus the false high Priest 199 Amantius plotteth against Justin ian 58 A notable observation of Clemens Alexandrinus 83 The courage we may derive from the Sacrament of the Altar 80 Shallow and fantastick Ambition 13 The Ambition of Ecclesiasticks and Religious men much more subtle then others ibid. Crodield daughter of king Caribert a religious woman raiseth great troubles by her Ambition ibid. Ambition which buddeth in hearts of base extraction is most insolent which is instanced in a Chirurgion of S. Lewis is wisely repressed and chastised by the prudence and justice of King Philip the third of France 115 The French revengers of Ambition ibid. The furious Ambition of Alexius the Tyrant of Greece punished by the valour and justice of the French 116 Ambition the beginning of all evils 292 The effects of Ambition and envie ibid. The fury and infidelity of Ambition 296 The inhumane cruelty of Ambition 297 What Amity is 5 Three sorts of Amity ibid. Naturall Amity and its foundation ib. Amity of demy-gods 6 Amity grounded upon honesty ib. Men too endearing uncapable of Amity ib. Men banished from the Temple of Amity ib. Reasons for which women do seem uncapable of Amity 7 Degeneration Amity 8 There may be spirituall Amities between persons of different sexes endowed with great virtue and rare prudence 9 Amity in S. John Chrysostome 10 The right stains of Amity are forgetfulnesse of friends negligence contempt dessention suspition distrust inequality impatience and infidelity 11 12 Six perfections which preserve Amity ib. Bounty a true note of Amity 13 The benefits of Amity ib. Patience most necessary in Amity 14 There may be a celestiall Amity by the commerce of man with God 22 What Anger is 86 Divers degrees of Anger ib. Three Regions of Anger the first of sharp choler the second of bitter choler the third of fury 87 Remedies against these three sorts of Anger ib. The propertie of the Yew-Tree like unto Anger ib. Anger is very prejudiciall in military art in a Generall 118 Philip of Valois a great and generous King looseth a battell out of a pievish humour of Anger ib. The barbarous Anger of Bajazet ib. Lewis the younger admonished by Bernard chastiseth himself for his Anger by sadnesse and penance ib. Anger of women ib. Anger out of simplicity many times causeth hurt for a word too free witnesse that of Enguerrand ib. The humility and wisdome of Queen Anne to overcome the passion of Anger 120 Addresse of Bavalon to appease the Anger of the Duke of Brittaign 121 Anastatius dying Amantius his high Chamberlain aimed at the Empire 158 Antonina wife of Belizarius prostiâ—uted herself to Theodosius whom she and her husband had made their adopted son 164 Antiochus his horrible cruelty 197 The death of Antiochus â—01 How we ought to govern our Antipathies 246 A notable sentence of the Areopagite 2 The notable practise of S. Athanasius 10 The Essence and nature of Aversion 45 How Aversion is formed ib. The character and true image of a spirit subject to Aversion ib. The consideration of the love which God bears to his creatures is a powerfull remedy to cure Aversion ib. The first motions of Aversion for the most part are inevitable ib. The example of our Saviour serveth for a strong remedy to sweeten our Aversions 47 It is a shame to have an Aversion against one for some defect of Body or some other deformity of nature when as we are bound to love him ib. A generous act of a Pagan who teacheth us powerfully to to command our Aversions ib. The death of Azael by his rashnesse 144 B THe Prophets of Baal are murthered 250 The Basilisk cannot be enchanted 10 The love of Batsheba 145 Bathsheba fitly insinuates her self and procures the crown for her sonne Solomon ib. The martiall virtues of Bayard 214 He is wounded at the taking of Bressin 216 Beautie imperious 16 An excellent saying of venerable Bede 68 Bees bear the sign of a Bull on their bodies 60 Belizasius is chosen generall against Gilimer who had usurped the crown from Hilderick 161 He marcheth to the gates of Carthage ib. A triumph after the manner of the Ancients was ordained in honour of Belizarius 162 The valour of Bellizarius 163 His rare qualities 164 The originall of the miseries of Belizarius ib. The cause why Belizarius was debased was because he had violated the persons of the Popes ib He is brought into disgrace and his offices taken from him 167. Belshassar makes a sumptuous banquet and the hand-writing upon the wall in unknown characters is discovered 246 He is murthered ib. Bethulia is besieged 282 The Bethalians murmure against the Priests ib. The picture of Boldnesse 76 The Essence of Boldnesse ib. The notable Boldnesse of Saints who have often defended the truth with the hazard of their lives against the rage and malice of cruell and bloudy tyrants 78 Why Boldnesse is not in God ib. The rash love of the Earle of Bothuel 295 Boucicaut is taken prisoner 211 By his wisdome he endeavoreth the liberty of himself and other Lords and obtaineth it 212 His whole course of life contrary to that of Souldiers generally was very religious 213 C CAligula her fury against Seneca 274 Calumny against Julian and Seneca 275 Divers degrees of Calumniatours 94 From whence the degree of Cardinall cometh  George Castriot was a souldier as soon as he was born a man 209 He died of a Feaver in the city of Lyssa 210 Presages of the generosity of Cesar 79 An excellent conceit of Charity 25 The source of Charity 102 The rare qualities of Charlemaign the Great 172 His great learning ib. His seriousnesse in his study ib. Martel and Pepin reproduced in the person of Charlemaign ib. His rare virtues ib. His brave exploits against the Infidels 173 His war with the Italians and his succouring the Church which did groan under the chains of the Lombards ib. His entrance into Rome in great pomp ib. He warreth against the Saracens ib. He was the first King of France 174
Saviour Jesus Christ to animate our constancy 80 The power of the name of Jesus ibid. The admirable effects of the Crosse of Jesus ibid. To know whether our Lord Jesus was subject to Anger 88 The eye of Jesus watching sparkling and weeping 96 Impatient men o◠divers qualities 54 The picture of Impudence 83 Divers spirits subject to impudencie ibid. The miserable end of an unhappy Impudent man 86 It is a hard thing not to feel some Incommodities life being so full of them 46 The kingdome of Inconstancy 24 Three sorts of Envious Indignation 93 The plot of Ingobergua to cure her husbands passion of love succeeded ill out of too much affectation 107 John Baptist apprehended 267 His rare qualities ibid. He is beheaded 269 Joab and Abner do strive for the government of Judah 144 Joab and Abner combat ib. Joab in his fault upon necessity is tolerated by David ib. Joabs insolency 149 The death of Joab 153 The courage and resolution of Joachim who executed the office both of a Priest and Captain 181 The good offices of Jonathan 141 Josiah slain 263 Joseph the son of a shepheard 219 His divine qualities 220 His brethren sell him ibid. Mervellous constancy of Joseph amidst those great temptations of the Court and of his Mistresse 221 He is accused for attempting to ravish that honour which he preserved ib. He is imprisoned ib. He is taken out of the prison and doth interpret Pharaohs dream 222 He is promoted to high preferment by Pharaoh ibid. Josephs deportment in Court a pattern for all Courtiers ibid. His singular piety and modesty 223 His fidelity to his Prince ibid. His demeanour in his government 224 His brethren came down to Egypt for food and their intertainment 225 He meeteth with his aged Father and apointeth him a place to live in 226 Josua his education 196 His familiarity with Moses ibid. He is made Generall of the Army of the Israelites ibid. His death 177 Three sorts of Joy 48 The art of Joy 51 The Israelites murmure against Moses 231 232 They have war with the Amalekites and worst them 233 The Israelites disrelish Samuel 236 A great famine in Israel which was caused by a very great drought 249 Judas Macchabeus the sonne of Mattathias made Generall over the Army of the Hebrews against the tyrannie of Antiochus 198 His piety for restoring the Temple ib. Particular favours which he received from God ib. He maketh peace with the Romans 199 He defeated nine Generals of Antiochus in pitched battell 200 Isaiah his vision 260 His eloquence as his birth is elevated ib. He is sawed alive 262 The kingdome of Judah divided by the ambition of favourites 144 The rare endowments of Judith 181 Her prayer to God 183 Her speech to Holophernes being brought before him 184 Her courteous entertainment ibid. Judith being conducted by Vagoa to Holophernes Pavillion in his sleep cut off his head 185 She returneth to the Bethulians with the head of Holophernes ibid. Her entertainment by the Citizens of Bethulia ibid. Her counsell to the people ibid. An excellent observation of Julian 58 Acts of Justice in punishment and reward  Justine who was born a Cow-heard mounted to the throne of the Emperours of Constantinople 158 The fidelity and goodnesse of Justinian ibid. His greatnesse 159 His nature and manners ibid. His manner of life was austere ib. Some abuse the belief of men in reporting that he could neither reade nor write mistaking Justinian for his uncle Justin ibid. His great love to learning but chiefly Law and Divinity ibid. A great conspiracy against him 160 A speech concerning the mutiny against him ibid. Justinian kept prisoner in his palace and Hypatius is proclaimed Emperour ibid. The stoutest men assail Justinian in his Palace 161 The sedition against Justinian is appeased ibid. The reflux of the affairs of Justinian 164 The defects of Justinian 168 Justinian in the latter end of his age fell into two great errours 169 K THe words of the Wise man directed to the Kings of the times Wisd 6. 131 Kings ought to professe the outward worship and service of God for the performance of his duty and the example of his people 133 Knowledge of ones self 18 Knowledge ought to be moderate 153 L THe prodigious victory which in the end Lotharius gained over himself after a great storm of the passion of love in becomming Religious 113 The cruell handling of Pope Leo. 175 Strange desire of Lewis the eleventh 113 Generous act of Lewis the eleventh 120 An excellent observation of Libanius 81 All happinesse included in Love 1 God the Father of Unions doth draw all to unitie by Love ibid. The sect of Philosophers of the indifferency of Love ibid. The first reason against the indifferency of Love is that thereby he maketh himself as chief end and the God of himself ibid. The second reason is drawn from the communication of creatures 2 A third real on against the indifferency of Love is drawn from the tenderness of great hearts ibid. Wherefore great hearts are most loving 3 Love is the soul of the universe ibid. Love is the superintendent of the great fornace of the world ibi The nature of Love ibid. The definition of Love with its division 4 The steps and progression of Love ibid. The causes of Love ibid. The means to make ones self to be worthily loved ibid. Notable effects of Love in three worlds ibid. Love includeth all blessings 5 There are miserable Lovers in the world ibid. Who loveth too much loveth too little 6 A notable comparison of S. Basil touching Love 9 Love is a strange malady 14 Disasters of evill Love 15 Division of Love ibid Love of humour ibid. Interiour causes of Love 16 The secret attractives of Love ibid. Modification of their opinion who place Love in transportation ib. The senses being well guarded shut up all the gates against Love 17 The miserable estate of one passionately in Love ib. The diversities of Love ib. Evill Angels intermeddle in the great tempests of Love 18 Cruelty of Love on the persons of Lovers ibid. Love is sometime the punishment of pride ib. Advices and remedies against Love in its full 19 The medall of Love hath two faces ib. An excellent conceit of Solomon concerning Love ibid. Disasters of Love in each age and condition 20 Advice to all sorts of persons concerning Love ibid. Diversitie of the maladies of Love and their cures 21 Remedies for the affection of Love which come against our wills ibid. Admirable example of the combate of Saints against Love ib. Separation the first remedie against Love 22 The counsell and assiduity of a good directour is an excellent antidote against Love ibid. The conversation of God with man by the mystery of the incarnation in the consummation of Love 24 The Eucharist the last degree of Love ibid. The Love of Saints towards Jesus ibid. The growth of Love like to pearls 25 The Empire and eminencies of
Divine Love ib Qualities of Divine Love by which we may know whether it inhabiteth a soul 26 Pliantnesse Liberality and Patience three principall marks of Love ibid. Twelve effects of Love ibid. Three orders of true Lovers in the world ib. Nine degrees of Seraphical Love for the conterplative ib. That it is good to be honestly Loved 38 We most ardently Love the things we most lose 58 The scandalous of the Emperour Lotharius and Valdrada 109 The Love of David and Jonathan 140 Excellent loyaltie of a Ladie 8 Lysias his speech before the raising of the siege of Hierusalem 203 Lysias is taken and slain by the souldiers ibid. M THe gallant resolution of Maccabeus who with a handfull of men gave battell to a great army wherein being over powered he lost not his honour but his life 204 Some Men are in the world as dislocated bones in the body 52 Man terrible above all terribles 72 Man as he is the most miserable of all creatures so he is the most Mercifull 98 Man hath no greater evil then himself ibid. An observation of Bernardine concerning Marriage 35 Mattathias the father of Judas Machabeus opposeth the tyranny of Antiochus 197 He refuseth to offer incense to Idols ibid. His courage for Religion 198 His glorious death ibid. Utility of Melancholy 55 A notable example of Meroven to divert youth from Marriage 106 The first Mervell in the life of S. Lewis is the joyning of the wisdome of State with the Gospell 177 The second is of the union of Humility and Greatnesse 179 The third is his devotion and courage ibid. Incomparable Mildnesse of Lewis the sonne of Charlemaign 120 Mildnesse of the first men 99 The beauty and utility of Mildnesse 100 Sin and Folly the chief evils of the Mind 58 Remedies for Minds full of scruple 56 Moderation of the Kings of France 117 Great Moderation in S. King Robert 119 Mordecai his excellent personage 187 His entertainment in the Court of Ahashuerus ib. He discovereth the treason which was plotted against Ahashuerus ib. Moses flooted in the river of Nile in a cradle of bull-rushes 227 His education 228 He killeth an Egyptian 229 He withdraweth into the countrey of Midian ib He talketh with God ibid. He dyeth having first seen the land of promise from mount Nebo 234 Gods judgement on wicked Murray 300 N NAaman the Assyrian commanded by Elisha to wash seven times in the river Jordan 257 His leprosie stayes upon Gehezi 258 Naboth unjustly condemned and slain 251 Nathan and Bathsheba's advice 151 Nature necessarily brings with it its sympathies and antipathies 46 Nebuchadonozar his dream 242 He worshippeth Daniel 241 He erecteth a statue of gold of sixty cubits high 243 He commandeth all his nobles to do homage to it ib. He commandeth the three children that disobeyed his command therein to be cast into the fornace 244 His second dream and the interpretation by Daniel ibid. His misfortune is bewailed by the whole Court 245 He is again found out and reinvested in his throne ib. The birth and education of Nero. 271 The perfidiousnesse of his mother ibid. His cruelty towards Britanicus 272 The love of his mother did degenerate to misprision ibid. His present to his mother ibid. His horrible attempt upon his mother ibid. The amazement of Nero. 273 Nero continueth his cruelties ibid. He falls in love with Poppea and doth estrange himself from his wife Octavia 274 Nero grows worse and worse 284 The conspiracy against him is detected ibid. The image of Nice-ones 49 Treason against the Duke of Norfolk and his ruine 299 The horrible Catastrophe of the Duke of Norfolk 300 O FLight from Occasions is the most assured bulwark for chastity 18 Octavia calumniated by Poppea 274 Ozias Prince of the people in the presence of Joachim appeaseth the people of Bethulia 182 P THe over-fond love of Parents to their children is chastised in them 272 The exercise of Patience what it is 37 Necessitie forceth Patience 58 S. Paul tender in holy affections 8 He came to Rome 279 He is falsly accused ibid. His conversation with Peter ib. He preacheth the Gospel ib. He is threatned and persecuted 280 He is condemned to the whip but diverted that punishment ib. He is committed to the hands of Felix ibid. He appears before the Tribunal of Felix ibid. Drusilla comes to hear him ib. S. Paul appeals to Rome 281 The young Agrippa king of Judea with his sister Bernice assist at the judgement of S. Paul ib. Festus is touched with his words ibid. He is imbarqued for Rome ibid. He arrives there and treateth with the Jews ibid. S. Paul is undoubtedly known by Seneca ibid. His Oration to the Senate of Rome 282 The effect of his Oration ibid. The paralel betwixt S. Paul and Seneca 283 The grace of Jesus and the Crosse are the two principles of S. Paul ibid. His perfection and high knowledge 284 He leaveth Rome ibid. The politick counsell of Pharaoh 227 He dreameth 222 He fails in his purposes 228 Marks of reprobation in Pharaoh 230 The plagues of Egypt ibid. An excellent conceit of Plato concerning terrestriall love 222 An excellent conceit of Platonists  The secrets of the Divine Policy of God 238 The birth and education of Cardinall Pool 313 His love of solitude ibid. His travels and return to England ibid. The combat in his spirit 314 He took part with God ibid. He is made Cardinall ib. He is considered on to be made Pope 315 He retireth again into solitude ibid. He travels to the reducement of England to the antient faith 317 His speech to the States 318 Princes the workmanship of God 132 What the wisdome of a Prince should be 133 Princes should not give too much authority to their subjects 144 Whether learning be fitting for Princes 153 That learning is fitting for Princes defended ibid. The favour of Princes is very uncertain 219 Procopius his extravagant fables of Justinian and Theodora disproved 168 The secrets of Providence 164 The great Providence of God in Josephs entring and negotiating in Egypt 218 R REason remedieth all humane actions 57 The love of Reputation is a strong spur 81 The wicked Revenge of an Abbot and of John Proclytas against the French 119 Rigour misbecometh persons Ecclesiasticall 99 The causes of differences of Rigour ibid. Elogy of the city of Rome 79 The estate of Rome and court of Nero when Paul came to it 271 The Practise of Romulus 131 The end o◠Royaltie 131 Royalty a glorious servitude 132 Royalty a mervellous profession ibid. S THe Essence and Image of Sadnesse 54 Four kinds of Sadnesse 55 The remedies against Sadnesse 57 The three Sadnesses of our Blessed Saviour 60 Samuel from his infancy was conversant in the Tabernacle 235 His zeal and other rare qualities 236 His speech to the people ibid. His wisdome in concluding a peace with the Philistims ibid. He dieth 240 The widow of Sarepta's oyl and meal fails not during the
famine 249 The qualities of the sufferings of our Saviour 60 Our Saviour hath suffered in all the persons of the just and Martyrs ibid. An excellent observation upon the terming our Saviour a Lamb. 88 The prudence of Saul 63 He found a Kingdome seeking his Fathers Asses 238 The excellency and defects that were in Saul 239 The resolute valour of Saul in relieving the men of Jabish ib. Saul being in great perplexity consulteth with the soul of Samuel 143 Saul cleared for a while again returns to his evil spirit 141 Saul marcheth against the Philistims and is overthrown in battell ibid. Sauls end ib. The shame of scoffing 82 The danger of Scoffing 118 The scoffs of certain rebellious Flemings severely punished by the generosity of Philip de Valois ib. Seneca by a lesse evil diverts a greater 272 From whence proceed the calumnies of Seneca 274 His birth ib. His education and spirit ib. He is banished to Corsica where he composed excellent works 275 His excellent complement ibid. He is in great repute 276 His manners ibid. He made a Libel against Claudius 277 His judgement on Nero. ibid. He is made minister of State ibid. He put the State in good order ib. His Maxims ibid. His opinion of the Soveraign good 278 His falling off from Agrippina ibid. Why Seneca having so many brave qualities did perform so little in reformation of manners 283 His constant and famous death 284 Sin corrupteth the goodnesse of Essence in intellectuall creatures 45 A civill shame doth hinder good designs 297 Shamefac'tness a reasonable passion 81 Its sources honour and conscience ibid. Three kinds of Shamefac'tness ib. The esteem the antients had of Shamefac'tness 83 The Queen of Sheba 154 Her quality ibid. The picture of Slander 94 There would be no Slander if it were not made Slander by thinking thereon ibid. Solomons entry into the Realm full of trouble 151 He is declared King ib. The bloudy entrance of Solomon after the death of David 152 Solomons rigour ibid. He cannot well be justified for the bloud of his brother ibid. The just punishment of God upon Solomon ibid. A wonderfull dream of Solomon 153 His knowledge ibid. The judgement of Solomon in the contention of the two women 154 Solomon his zeal to the building of the Temple ib. The fall of Solomon 155 The beginning of his debauchednesse ibid. Solomon is perverted in Religion 156 The estate of Solomon in the other world ibid. The prodigious course of some Stars 74 The evil opinion of the Stoicks to trust altogether to themselves without acknowledging the grace and assistance of God 283 The birth and education of Queen Mary Stuart 291 Her return into Scotland ibid. The death of Henry Stuart 294 Persecution of the Queen Mary Stuart by the Protestants 295 She comforts her self in prison and hopeth against hope 296 She escaped out of prison ibid. Her languishment in her imprisonment in England 301 Elizabeths hatred to her 304 The Processe against the Queen of Scotland ibid. Her invincible Apology 305 The unjust judgement given against her 307 The vain endeavour to delay her death 308 Queen Elizabeth chiefly to be charged for her death ibid. Her death and miraculous constancy 309 The Sunne is an hundred and fourty times bigger then the earth and in twenty four hours goeth more then twelve millions of leagues 74 T TWenty two thousand Bullocks and one hundred and twenty thousand sheep sacrificed for the dedication of Solomons Temple 3 Reg. 8. 63 Mervelsous Temples where Lions are tractable 46 The generosity of Theodora wife of Justinian 161 Procopius speaketh shamefully of Theodora but undeservingly 167 Her death 169 Theodat honoured by Amalazunta 162 His perfidiousness ib. He causeth Amalazunta to be strangled in a Bath ib. Theodat is put to death and Vitiges is chosen in his stead 163 Time stealeth away from us the sense of Evils 58 Timidity its causes and Symptomes 71 Remedies for Timidity in declaiming 72 Timidity sometimes turneth into insolency ibid. Remedies against accidentall fear or Timidity 64 Totilas is chosen king of the Goths 163 The carriage of Truth doth cost dear at Court 146 V VAlour of Charles the simple 117 Vagoa Chamberlain to Holophernes 185 Vashâ—â— wise of Ahashuerus doth make a banquet for the women answerable to the King her husband 188 She is degraded and divorced ibid. The burning of Vesuvius in the year 1631. 73 Vigilius shamefully used 169 The slights of Vigilius to get the Popedome from Sylverius 168 He is again received into favour and afterwards dyed of the stone in Sicily ibid. The death of Uriah 146 W THe greatnesse of Wisdome 133 Humane Wisdome overthrown by the power of Heaven 140 Reasons for the modest love of women 7 Rare Amities of Women ibid. Modest amitie with women should alwayes be handled with much precaution 8 Observation of Jamblicus applyed to the amity of Women ibid. The opinion of Fathers concerning the Amity of Women 9 Shipwracks happening by the love of Women ibid. The love of Women dangerous 16 Hatred of Women 38 Humour of Women 45 Women among the Sabeans command over men 154 The artifice of Women 156 It s very dangerous to be observant to wicked Womenâ— humours 167 What hindereth the production of admirable works 68 The attractives of the world are not very urgent 18 Z A notable speech of Zaleuchus 58 FINIS
is daily and the victory very rare If you regard the third ingredient of this perfume which is the Onyx solid and permanent the symbole of constancy where can you meet with a virginity more bravely defended than among Christians For if constancy as Saint Thomas teacheth consist in surmounting all difficulties and obstacles which offer to cross a good affair who hath overcome more innumerable in quantity more sharp in kind more various in quality than virginity Domestick enemies are ever most to be feared and such there are who have torn Lions that could not rend from their hearts the least passion But virginity how many times hath it within its own body extinguished the flames of concupiscence by couragious and magnanimous acts as are those which we find in the lives of so many holy creatures How often did some roul themselves in ice and snow as Saint Francis How often did others drag themselves over thorns all torn and bloudy as Saint Benet How often did others fight against fire with another fire taking in open hand the prime element to vanquish the principal passion as Saint Marcian It seems to me when I hear of these combats I may apply a notable place of the Seventy fourth Psalm to them Help O my God help the earth of this mortal flesh is all Liquefacta est terra ego confirmavi columnas ejus confregi potentiaâ— arcum scutum gladium bellum Factum est in pace locus ejus Illuminans tu mi rabiliter de montibus aeternis Psal 74. 75 on fire it is consumed if you assist not What have you to fear faithfull soul answereth the God of hosts Be firm in your good purpose it is I who will strengthen the columns and foundations of the earth It is I who will shiver in pieces the bows arrows quivers bucklers and swords yea all the temptations and powers of hell opposed against thee My God thou madest it O what peace I now find in my heart what great and divine lights descend upon me from the eternal mountains Behold the interiour combats but if you regard the exteriour what violences what warlike engines have not been employed against virginity The teeth of Lions and Tigers were onely to be feared in beasts yet they have been sought out in forrests and wildernesses to be encouraged against virgins and virgins have vanquished them How many times hath a Lion been seen let loose against a silly Christian maid in an Amphitheater to lick her feet and in fight of four-score thousand people adore his prey taking upon him that courtesie which in men was wanting Coals which cast up devouring flames frying-pans boyling cauldrons made their hair stand an end who afar off beheld them without danger yet virgins felt them on their bodies virgins overcame them virgins stood free from hurt in the midst of these horrours singing the praises of God and the triumphs of chastity Wheels armed with sharp irons to make bodies flie in pieces by gobbets were O quà m pulchra est casta generatio cum claritate immortalis est enim memoria illius c. Et in perpetuum coronata triumphat in coinquinatorum certamine praemium vincens Sapient 4. the practises of Satan never seen heard or thought on yet being applied to the bodies of virgins virgins blunted and rebated them with their tender and delicate flesh Now that none may object all this to be done by wily tricks of extatick souls and that there could not be a true constancy observed therein which is onely seen when there is a firm setling for some good space in the exercise of a virtue you find an infinite number of them who waxed old in great combats great afflictions great austerities great flatteries yet never left their resolution And to let others pass under silence who are innumerable I will onely remember a maid of Alexandria endowed with an exquisite beauty and sued unto with all possible importunities who hid her self in a sepulchre of the dead and lived twelve years in a little cell made to lodge such as had nothing to do with the world she being found in this manner and asked what she meant to do made answer I preserve the treasure Thesaurum castitatis sâ—rv inter arenâ—s calvarias undâ— nulla flamma erumpit Raderus of chastity amongst these dead carkases from whence I behold not the sparkles of concupiscence to flie O my God what constancy is this what vigour of spirit what adamantine courage and what may weak souls say to this who yield at the first brunt and seem to have nothing in the world more easie and familiar than to loose that which can never be recovered To conclude constancy being never consummate without perseverance to the last breath behold the fourth ingredient of the perfume of God which is incense and you shall see that as incense is melted on coals so many have been dissolved in torments for the defence of chastity Some have presently yielded up their lives others were burned with a slow fire delivering their bodies up to flames as freely as one would be dispoiled of a garment Witness that young man mentioned by S. Hierom fast tyed with silken cords upon a bed all strewed over with flowers who in such posture having nothing at liberty but his tongue spit it out all bloudy in the face of a lewd woman who came to tempt him Witness Raderus in viridario another maid called Lucie who lived a virgin among many others and whose exquisite beauty was sought unto with vehement sollicitations by a powerfull Lord who having command and authority in his hands sent messengers of his fury to seize on this innocent lamb and whilest they were at the gate menacing to kill her and to set all on fire if this poor creature were not delivered into their hands the maid came forth who is there Sirs said she What demand you I beseech you tell me whether there be any thing in my power to purchase your Lord and Masters love Yea answered they in a flouting manner your eyes have gained him nor ever can he have rest till he enjoy them Well go to then saith she onely suffer me to go to my chamber and I will give satisfaction in this point The poor maid seeing herself between the hammer and the anvile acted a thing at that time which could never have been done without the particular revelation of God she spake to her eyes and said How my eyes are you then guilty I know the reservedness and simplicity of your glances nor have I in that kind any remorse of conscience But howsoever it be you appear to me not innocent enough since you have kindled fire in the heart of a man whose hatred I have ever more esteemed than his love Quench with your bloud the flames you have raised Whereupon with a hand piously cruel she digged out her eyes and sent the torn reliques embrewed in her bloud to him who
not be possible to God he being Omnipotent Immense Infinite How according to the confession of ancient Philosophers can he replenish all the world with his Divnity and is not able to accommodate himself with enough of it to divinize his holy Humanity Is it because we say it is united to the Word in this mystery in a quite other fashion than the Spirit of God is with the world I admit it For the union of it is truely personal But must it not be confessed the Word in this divine Essence as under title of efficient cause it hath an influence infinite over all the effects of the world and as under title of final cause it hath a capacity to limit and measure all the inclinations of creatures so under title of substantial bound it may confine and accomplish by its personality all possible Essence Why shall we tie the hands of Divine bounty in its communications since it binds not our understanding in its conceptions Is it not a shamefull thing that man will estimate and set a value upon the Divine Essence If God please not man he shall not be God Should we say man is incapable of this communication And how is it that the holy Humanity resisted the Omnipotency of God to the prejudice of his own exaltation since it is found as soon in the union of the Word as in the possession of Essence See we not in nature that the rays of the Sun draw up vapours from the earth and incorporated with them do create Meteors in the air not any one making resistance to his exaltation What contradiction can there be in our understanding against such a maxim seeing it appears the most famous Philosopher said This union of God with man might be very fit and Plutarch also Plutarch in Numa 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 speaking of the communication of the Creatour with the creature pronounced these words That God was not a lover of birds nor other living creatures but a lover of men and that it is a very reasonable matter that be communicate himself to his loves and delights But this would seem to abase the Divinity Hear what Volusianus said I wonder that he to whom this whole Volusianus Miror si intra corpus vagientis infantiae latetâ— cui parva putatur universilas c. universe is so small can be shut up within the bodie of a little child having a mouth open to crie as others What uncomeliness is there if God be united to a little body Have not Plinie (a) (a) (a) Plin. Natura nusquam magis quà m in minimis tota est and Seneca (b) (b) (b) Servitus magnitudinis non posse fieri minorem Senec. Homo quippe ad Deum accessit Deus à se non decessit August said That nature was ever so admirable as in little bodies and that it was a slavery in Great-ones to be unable to be little I wonder the Sovereign Lord of all things is so long absent from Heaven and that all the government of the world is transferred to so little a creature From whence proceedeth this amazement but from the baseness of our thoughts If we said God being made man ceased to be God and were despoiled of his Empire Greatness Essence there would be somewhat wherewith to question this Mystery but when we say God came to Man by inclination of a Sovereign bounty and mercy not leaving himself when we say humane nature is received into the Word as a small source into a huge river and not loosing its Essence is fixed upon the personality of the Word it self is it not to honour the power majesty and wisdom of God 5. In what were the Divinity abased Can it be in doing a work so noble so singular so divine that it deserveth to entertain the thoughts of men and Angels through times and eternity What is more specious and more sweet than to represent to ones self the Person of our Saviour who in himself makes an alliance of all was most eminent in spiritual and corporal nature to wit of God and man verily say I one composed of an unheard-of composition to render the majesty of his father palbable and visible to the hands and eyes of mortals What dignity to behold in the world a Man-God become a part of the world to possess the Spirit of God from all eternity who proposed this person as the end of his communications the bound of his power the first-born of all creatures who held all Ages in breath for him all hearts in desires all minds in expectation all creatures in prophesies The Book of God hath written me In copite libri scriptum est de me Psal 39. 8. in the beginning of its first page said the Word with the Psalmist All creatures of this great universe all predictions and conceptions of these two great books the world and the Bible tended to the accomplishment and revelation of this God-Man who should set a golden head upon all nature intelligent sensitive and vegetative All creatures were but leaves and flowers that promised the great fruit which the Prophet calleth The fruit of earth sublime Isaiah 4. 20. We must religiously speak what deserveth to be heard Religiose dicendum reverentér audiendum est quis propter hunc hominon gloris honâ—re coronandum Deus omnis creavit Rupert l. 13. de glor Trinit proces Spi. Sancti with reverence It is for this incomparable man that God created the world and all creatures are but as silly rays from the Diadem of glory which covereth his head What a spectacle to see them all wound up as the strings of a harp to praise and declare unto men the Name of God to behold the nine Quires of Angels enter into this consort and every one of them to honour this first Essence by so many distinct perfections notwithstanding all to confess their ability cannot reach that degree which the Divine greatness meriteth And thereupon behold here the Word Incarnate which passing through all the spheres of nature grace and glory enter into the new sphere of the hypostatical union where it appears as a rainbow imprinted with all the beauties of the father he manifesteth them to men and making himself an adoring God a loving God an honouring God he adoreth he loveth he honoureth God so much as he is adorable amiable and honourable through all Ages for evermore Let us unfold our hearts in the knowledge and love of the Word revealed Let us adore this great sign this eternal character of the living God for whom all signs are Let us make a firm purpose not to pass over a day of our life wherein we afford him not three things due to him by titles so lawfull Homage Love Imitation Homage by adoring him and offering him some small service directed according to times in acknowledgement of the dependence we have of him by an entire comformity of our wils to his Love
by loving all he loves and hating all he hates Imitation by ever bearing some mark of him upon our flesh according to the Apostles precept who said Glorifie and bear God upon your bodie And to conclude let us often say Feed O Lord thy poor begger with continual influences Blosiâ— of this Divinitie I ask and desire with all my heart thy love may penetrate replenish and transform me wholly into thee The seventh EXAMPLE upon the seventh MAXIM The triumph of JESUS over the Enemies of Faith JULIAN the Apostate ALl those who forsake the Word of God are Recedentes a te in terra scribentur Hier. 17. wretched men blotted out of Heaven to be written on earth and whose names the earth it self being unable to preserve abandoneth to forgetfulness or contempt and very often to execration This is manifested by many sensible proofs in the examples of the Emperour Julian who betraying his Religion and dishonouring the character of Christianity made himself one of the most miserable Princes that ever was under Heaven leaving his soul as a prey for devils his enterprizes to ill success his life to a most bloudy death his person to the scorn and hatred of men and his memory to the detestation of all Ages Notwithstanding he wanted no eminent qualities Qualities of Julian which shew that without true Religion all is unprofitable which might have raised him had he not forsaken the source of height and glory Birth gave him Constantius brother of great Constantine for father Besilina a most noble Princess for mother an Emperour for uncle three for cousin-germains Constantinople for his native soil and to serve for a Theater of great actions He had a good wit strong body tongue eloquent conversation pleasing and courage masculine There was not any science in the world whereof he had not some tincture he most prosperously mingled arms with letters and appeared as couragious in the front of Armies as in learned Schools He very little esteemed his body so much was his soul divorced from his flesh worldly riches were nothing at all in his hands nor did he value them but to give them He said It was for those who had no spirit to beg praise from the body that he was ever handsom enough who was chaste and that if Painters made fair faces chastity beautifull lives His counsel was to avoid love as an enraged Master according to the saying of Sophocles to live in the command over proper passions and free enjoying of himself The Gentlemen of his chamber and all domesticks who most nearly looked into his life gave assurance never was any thing more chast He slept little fed very soberly continually afflicted his body accustomed it to travel in such manner that he was seen in the snows of Germanie and broyling ardours of Persia perpetually in the same state After indefatigable toyls of the day he betook himself by candle-light to studies of the night He almost never lay but on the bare boards and waked at an hour prefixed not needing any one to give him notice He expected so little service about his person that being at Paris which he called His well-beloved Citie in the time of a sharp winter when the Seine was frozen scarcely would he suffer a fire to be made in his chamber so discourteously he used himself He hated riot superfluities Bals and Comedies and if needs he must sometime permit them it was more to reprove than behold them He afforded good and speedy justice his heart was patient and temperate towards the people whom he freed what he could from tributes making his impositions accord with the ability of particulars and saying He would leave his treasures to be kept by his good friends which were his subjects Is it not a lamentable case that so great a man was so miserably lost with so many excellent parts For want of preserving the best which is piety It is true that almost all our Historians have written of him with much rigour dissembling what was good in him to render him the more odious but for my part I am of opinion the greatness of Christianity more appeared therein if having shewed the ornaments of nature which this Prince had we make you plainly see all that very ill succeeded with him and that we cannot find any other source of his misery but his infidelity The judicious Readers shall here observe the cause The causes of his corruption of his ruin and consider the first education of children is an impression very tender which being not well mannaged in the beginning filleth the whole life with disorders Tutours are the fathers of spirits said Tutours are fathers of spirits S. Irenaeus as having more influence over the resemblance of souls than carnal fathers over bodies Ill luck would have it that little Julian being left young in the guardianship of his uncle Constantine was recommended to Eusebius of Nicomedia to be instructed in faith Now this Eusebius was a wolf in a lambskin who counterfeiting to be very Catholick ceated not by his credit to advance Arianism so that this young Prince fashioned at first by so ill a hand could not entertain belief and reverence towards the Person of our Saviour Heresie is the key of Atheism and when a soul is disposed to contempt of its gracious Mother on earth it easily learns no longer to acknowledge a Father in heaven He being so ill grounded in the elements of faith Ecebolus an hypocrite was put under the discipline of a Rhetorician named Ecebolus who turned with all winds and admitted Religion according to the times For when he saw Christian Emperours reign he for ceremony seemed a Christian If Pagans swayed there was none more insolent than he If Empire returned again to Christians he placed himself in Church-porches beseeching every one to tread on him as a thing contemptible He above all hearkened to and honoured Libanius one of the greatest Sophisters of his time but a Pagan till death He had a spirit mild and very indifferent upon articles of Religion he equally received Christians and Pagans into his school and permitted S. Basil himself to preach to his schollars but omitted not silently to contrive the means how to re-establish the Altars and Temples of the Gods He reflected on Julian as the Palladion of Gentilism and bound him fast to his own person by the charms of his eloquence to apply him to his counsels All the little piety which Julian might have learned School of Julian from a man who had none began to wither away in a school where all was known but God Apollo there possessed the name of Jesus Diana of Mary Aristotle Plato were the Prophets Isocrates the Preacher and the names of Tritons were there better understood than of S. Peter and S. Andrew the fisher-men This new disciple took such a tast of eloquence that it made him forget devotion he would have given a whole Province
jealousie of Saul which torments him a thousand wayes for to adorn him with as many Crowns An Antient A great secret of life said very well That the greatest secret of ones life was to undergo destiny and endure patiently the ordinance of God concerning our lives and estates for by learning Patience we learn to forget our misery but by Antholog 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 bearing the Divine appointment with Impatience we row all our life against a torrent which swallows us up David was at the heart of God but he was not at the heart of Saul God had made him for to command and Saul would not allow any wayes that he should be obeyed He sought his life when as God had appointed his Crown for him He desired his death and procured for him immortality God and man did strive who should exalt or depresse this man but the counsels of the one were immoveable and the endeavours of the other were violent in their on-sets and feeble in their effects Assoon as David was seen one might see some Divine The qualities of David thing a little body well made enlivened with a great spirit a comelinesse which could not be learned at school but which was a gift from above a mildnesse without weakenesse a behaviour without affectation a valiantnesse without ostentation a gallantnesse without vanity a virtue that was made to be admired by all and imitated but by few All flowers have their being from the earth by their Men of God roots but they have influences from heaven much different Men also are all of Adams clay but the gifts of God do manifest themselves in some so visibly that it is wisdome to give them place and but headinesse to fight against them This little boy neglected which fed the sheep and whom the father would not so much as reckon amongst the number of his sonnes this is He whom Samuel chose for King by Gods direction who commands not to measure Kings any more by their stature but by their endowments from heaven He comes first to the Court under the quality of a Divids entrance into the Court. player on instruments there he makes himself known for a good Souldier admired as Commander of an Army and crowned as a Conquerour Saul was tormented with an evil spirit which was maintained by his melancholick Humour and nourished by his passion They seek out for him a fair young man which withall was skilfull in playing on the Harp for to make him merry One of his servants said that David the sonne of Jesse would be very fit for that employment he is sent for in the Kings Name he comes he pleaseth while he played on the instruments but he displeases while he handled his weapons when as Envy Envy never sleepeth begins to cause his valour to be reputed for a fault Such kind of enraged asps never sleep at the sound of Musick his Devil is offended at this comelinesse is incensed by those gallant actions and even vomits its poison against those which cast flowers at it Saul knew not that God prepared him this little Musician for to be his heir if hee had known that which heaven intended to do with this child that would have sufficed to have troubled all the Musick He was at that time happy in his blindnesse and his first mischance was to have eyes which could not endure the lustre of anothers virtues This young shepherd which in his apprenticeship had learned to fight with Lions and Bears would go to the warres as well as his brethren who do blame that his curiosity and despise his person There must alwayes be some famous exploit for to put a man at first in great credit at the Court all that which is humane goes on very slowly and an ability is not gotten but by long experience But when God will put to his hand he gives to a man in one happy moment that which thirty years pains could not obtain The combate with Goliah Goliah was that that raised David Heaven had prepared this giant for to serve for a triall of his valour and for an ornament of his prowesse One man alone which had affrighted a whole army nine foot high and armed with five hundred pound weight of iron continues for the space of fourty dayes his stately bravado's challenging the stoutest of the Israelites to combate All their hearts are frozen at the sound of his terrible voyce there is not his like in the world which dares come forth against him The King propounds great riches and his daughter in mariage to him which would take away this blemish from the people of God printed on the face of the whole army by this Philistim David hereupon presents himself and goes forth to fight with him not with the guilded Arms of Saul but with a Sling The Giant scoffs at him and finding him sufficiently armed to defend himself from dogs but not for to set upon men he looks now upon this little body as a fit prey for some bird of rapine But this Champion of the Lord of Hosts reads a lesson first to him of Religion before he shews him his skill in fencing Thou comest to me saith he with a spear a sword and a buckler but I come to thee in the name of the God of armies of the God of the hosts of Israel at which thou this day hast scoffed with so great insolence It is written in heaven that this great God will deliver thee into mine hands and that I shall take away thy head from off thy shoulders and that I shall make a great feast for all beasts of prey with the flesh of this monstrous body and this shall be the means for thee to learn that there is a God in Israel He saith it he doth it he strikes his adversary with a blow of the sling in the midst of his fore-head and makes this mighty tower of flesh to fall in a moment this terrible giant cutting off his head with his own sword which put the whole army of the Philistims to confusion and lifted up the glory of the chosen people to an incomparable heighth Behold the fountain of all great evils that David suffered afterwards all the laurels that he gathered in the field of the battel carried an evil tincture of Sauls envy The great ones admire him the people applaud him he is the subject of the Songs of the daughters of Jerusalem which set him above Saul It is this musick that enraged his evil spirit and would The horrible Envy of Saul not give him any rest Goliah overcome in the opinion of all the world is still upon his legs to torment him here is the cause of his rage as it was before of his fear David must be destroyed because he hath saved the Nation he must be put to death because he hath restored the people to life he must be dishonoured for having upheld the honour of the