to believe that she was yet spirituall This violent though irregular love was occasionally the cause of good and served the soul to free her from the body for Divine Justice which oft times makes us find our Punishment in our faults condemned the soul to forego the body as soon as she began to love it in excesse the same sin which did unite them did by death divide them their Chains grew weaker as their affection strengthened and when the soul had most passions to retein her body she was forced to forsake it for when Originall righteousnesse was retreated the Elements began to mutiny Naturall heat usurped upon the radicall moisture and all these contraries which lived in Peace declared open War Nature was enforced to call in industry to her succour and tooke advice with Physick to appease all her domestick divisions but she knew by experience that losing grace she had lost all remedies and that death was an incurable evill Thus did mans life become a long sicknesse in the which he was for some years preserved by food which could not notwithstanding keepe him from dying his soul was fain to employ her care to defend her self from death and she who by an irregular love was become Corporall by a just punishment became mortall for though the soul be immortall in her substance and that she continues this advantage even in her very sin yet is she punisht in her bodies death she is so well pleased with her Prison as she loves the lothsomness thereof and she is so accustomed to serve as she abhors the very name of Liberty she trembles when one speaks to her of death she makes her fear appear upon the body which she in-animates she weeps through the eyes thereof looks pale in it's visage sighs by it's mouth and in this mutuall suspiration a man cannot tell whether it be the souâ— that is afflicted or the body that complaineth The evill hath it's beginning in the body but passeth into the soul it is the body that perisheth but t is the soul that suffereth the body which is corrupt but the soul which despairs in fine it is upon the body that death exerciseth his cruelty but it is the soul that is pierced through with sorrow This is the bodies death the souls punishment and two guilty parties are punished with one and the same scourge But this bodily death is the effect of a spirituall death which is peculiar to the soul and which though it be invisible ceaseth not to be veritable this death is nothing else but the privation of Originall righteousnesse which commits more outrages upon the soul then natural death doth upon the body for man by losing grace lost all the advantages whereof Grace was the cause he ceased to be upon good Terms with God and began to be upon bad with himself all his Inclinations were changed all his enlightenings darkened and all his faculties out of order he could not conceive how being still himself in appearance he was no longer effectually so and that the fault which had drawn down Gods just anger upon his head had bereft him of all those glorious Qualities which he possessed with Innocency he sought himself out and could not find himself he was ashamed of his bodies nakedness and affraid of his souls misery he could not indure himself when he yet loved himself better by a strange miracle self caused hatred and the same sin which made him proud loaded him with confusion He was sensible of all evils at once and passed in a moment from supreame happinesse to extreame misery we are not sensible of sin because it is born with us we are not touched with the disorders thereof because it fore-runs our reasons Nature and sin are mutually confused in us and nothing doth so much comfort us in our misfortunes as that we have been always unfortunate If we have recourse to Grace in Baptisme t is of so nice a Nature as it is undiscernable and as we continue to find illusions in our senses and revolts in our Passions we have much ado to believe that Grace should reign there where sin doth yet live when by a voluntary offence we lose it we were hardly sorry for the losse of a thing the Possession whereof we are hardly sensible of we must become convinced by reasons before we be perswaded to believe that we are unfortunate preserving in our offence whatsoever we value most in our Innocence we cannot believe that we are faulty for a Phylosopher becomes not ignorant though he lose Grace a Prince though faâ—ulty descends not from his Throne the avaricious rich man augments his Revenue by continuing his usury a proud man loseth not his greatnesse though he lose humility nor doth a fair woman lose her beauty though she stain her honour Our sins bereave us not of our advantages and finding no change neither in fortune nor body we cannot believe that any such hath befaln us in our soul if the same sin whereby we lost Grace had taken from us our health we should strive more to preserve our Innocence and did Crimes cause the same disorder in our conditions as it doth in our souls we should oft times set Phylosophers ignorant Kings without subjects rich men ruined proud men abased and fair women become ill-fauoured but all the losse being spirituall it is insensible and because it leaves us whatever is most precious to us we doubt whether it be true or no. The Pledges of Heaven which Grace giveth unto us the quality of the Children ofâ— God which she obteins for us the dignity of the Temples of the Holy Ghost which she procures us and the honours of being the Members of Jesus Christ which she acquires in our behalf are the advantages which we possesse without being sensible thereof and which we lose without sorrowing Faith is requisite to the knowledge of our souls health and of our losse and unlesse we carefully enquire into our conscience hardly can we know whether we be guilty or innocent but Adam had all miseries poured down at once upon him his losse was not by degrees as ours is it was great at the first and if any advantages remain'd to him after his losse of favour he needed new Grace to make good use thereof he was sadly sensible of the privation because it was generall he was so much the more unfortunate for that his misery succeeded a height of happiness and he had so much the less reason of Comfort for that the fault which bereft him of righteousnes took therewithall from him all that he was thereby indow'd withall his soul found no longer any submission in her body no more faithfullnesse in her senses nor obedience in her Passions she was forced to encourage all their disorders and to give life to Rebels or such as were guilty she felt her self distracted by her own Inclinations and not comprehend how being but one in her Essence she
of the world grow weary of commanding they finde more content in a friend than in a slave and how brutish soever their nature be they are well content to have one to whom they may un-bosome themselves Tiberius loved Sejanus and had not this Favourite become his Rivall it may be he never had decreed his death Nero could not fence himselfe from friendship the sweetnesse of this vertue vanquisht that Monsters cruelty and whil'st he quencht the flames of Rome by the bloud of Christians he had some Confidents whom he called friends This Infidell Prince whose subjects were all slaves and in whose Empire the desire of liberty was a fault wanted not Favourites whom he loved he plays with those he ought to destroy he makes those the objects of his love who ought to be the objects of his fury a certain Captive had power over the Tyrant and under the assurance of friendship gave lawes to him who gave lawes to the greatest part of the world Though these reasons do mightily inhance the merit of Friendship yet must we conclude in Saint Austines Principles That the Friendship of Pagans is defective and doth not deserve the praises that are given it For if we take Aristotle for our Arbitratour friendship ought to be established upon self-selfe-love and to love his Neighbour well a man must love himselfe well He who prefers the pleasures of the body before those of the mind who hazards his honour to preserve his riches and who injures his conscience to encrease his reputation cannot be a good friend to others because he is his own Enemy and who wants vertue cannot have friendship Morall Philosophy with all her precepts cannot reforme a disorder which since the losse of originall righteousnesse makes up one part of our selves the unrighteousnesse thereof hath past into our nature and as we cannot without grace be upon good termes with our selfe neither can we without her be upon good termes with others We either give them too much or not enough we cannot keep that just measure which makes friendship reasonable we turne a vertue into a passion or to speak trulier we make an innocent action criminall and the same self-selfe-love which puts us on ill termes with our selves puts us upon the like with our Neighbours we love his errours whil'st we think to love his perfections we excuse his sins in stead of condemning them and we oft-times become guilty of his faults for having approved them Blosius confesseth he would have burnt Iupiters Temple if Gracchus had commanded him so to do he thought Justice ought to give place to friendship that his friend should be dearer to him than his God and that whatsoever he did through affection could not render him faulty It may be 't was for this cause that Aristotle blaming friendship whil'st he thought to praise her said that her perfection consisted in her excesse and that far differing from common vertues which do consist in mediocrity she was never more admirable than when most excessive That a man might give too much but not love too much that one might have too much courage but not too much love that a man might be too wise but not too loving yet this excesse is vitious and experience teacheth us that Common-wealths have no more dangerous Enemies than those who are ready to do or suffer any thing for their friends Therefore 't is that the same Philosopher prescribing bounds to friendship did publickly professe that truth was dearer to him than Plato that when he could not accord these two he forewent his friend to maintain his Mistresse Hence it is that Polititians calling in Religion to the succour of Morality have affirmed that affection ought to give way to Piety and that she ceased to be just when she prophaned altars Those notwithstanding that are of this opinion have not forborne to set a value upon faulty friendship and Antiquity doth hardly reverence any friends whose friendships hath not been prejudiciall either to the State or to Religion Pilades and Orestes were of intelligence onely to revenge themselves Theseus and Pirithoiis kept friendship onely to satisfie their unchaste desires Lentulus and Cethegus were faithfull to Catiline onely that they might be perfidious to their Countrey But what else could one expect than faults from those who had no piety what friendship could one hope from those who wanted the first of vertues how could they have bin faithfull to their friends since they were unfaithful to their Gods if they have loved any one even till death it hath been out of vain glory and if they loved them whil'st they were alive t' has been for Interest the sinner for the most part loves none but himselfe and though this irregulate love be both his fault and his punishment yet he therein findes his delight and his glory nothing can divert him from his own Interest when he thinks to free himselfe from himselfe he fasteneth himselfe closer to himselfe and if he love his friends 't is that he may love himselfe in more places than one and in more persons if he part with his heart 't is that he may receive it back again with the like of others his love is but usury wherein he hazards little to gain much 't is an invention of self-love which seeks to satisfie it selfe in others 't is a trick of humane pride which makes man abase himselfe onely that he may grow the greater which adviseth him to engage his liberty onely that he may bereave others of theirs and which makes him make friends onely that he may have slaves or such as love him What glorious name soever one attributes to friendship she hath no other designes than these when she is led on by self-love and whatsoever language the Infidels have held these have been their onely motives when they have lost either life or liberty for their friends if they were silent amidst tortures and if the cruelty thereof could not compell them to discover their associates 't was either for that they valued friendship more than life or that they thought treachery worse than death if they would not out-live their friends 't was to free themselves from sorrow and solitarinesse and if for their delivery they exposed themselves to Tyrants 't was for that their words bound them to it and that they thought they should be no losers in an occasion wherein though with losse of life they won honour And to say truth Aristotle hath well observed that he who dyes for his friend loves himself better then his friend and that in an Action which seems to violate Nature he doth nothing which self-self-love may not advise him to since that by suffering death he labours after glory and that by erecting a sacrifice unto his love he buildes a Trophy to his Memory The example of Damon and Pythias may confirm this Truth They had been brought up in Pythagoras his school the conformity of
pass amongst them as deities and the lovers of beauty were the first Idolaters The command which she exerciseth over men is so powerfull and so pleasing as they are pleased with the losse of their liberty and contrary to the humour of slaves they love their Irons and cherish their prisons could Kings use this art to make themselues be obeyed they should never know what revolts were and all their subjects being their well-wishers they would be absolute without violence rich without imposts and saâ—e without Citadels Thus when the Sonne of God would reign amongst men he wonne their hearts rather by his comlinesse then by his power and he used clemency oftner then justice to reduce his Enemies to their duty consecrated beauty in his person when he took our Nature upon him though he assumed the pain of sin he would not assume the uglinesse thereof and as there was no ignorance in his soul so was there no deformity in his body There was but one Heretique who mis-interpreting the words of a Prophet imagined that Jesus Christ was deformed but tradition upheld by reason teacheth us that he was beautifull without art that the Holy Ghost who formed his body in the Virgins womb would have it adorned with comlinesse and that nothing might be wanting to his workmanship he exceeded men in this advantage as well as in all others His very Types in the old testament were all comely Solomon and David the one of which represented his victories the other his Triumphs were both of them famous for their beauty Nature seemed as if she would picture forth in them the Messias to satisfie the just desires of those who could not see him The Angels took upon them his visage when they treated with the Prophets whilest they spoke in his name they would appeare in his form Abraham saw him in that Glory wherein he appeared on Mount Tabor and numbred this vision amongst the chiefest favours he had received from Heaven Iacob had the honour to see him in the person of that Angell which wrestled with him before the break of day the three Children which were thrown into the fiery furnace saw him amidst the flames his presence freed them from fear they found paradise in the picture of Hell and that Angell which bore the visage of Jesus Christ broke their Irons in pieces preserved their vestures and punished their Enemies In fine Jesus Christ lost not his lovelinesse till he lost his life the Luster of his countenance was not effaced till by buffetting his face grew not pale till by stripes and he lost not that Majesty which infused respect into his Enemies till the bloud which distild from his wounds had made him an object of compassion and horrour In fine beauty is so amiable as her enemy is odious all the Monsters whereby the world receives dishonour are composed of uglinesse 'T is an effect of sin which corrupts the workmanship of God had there been no l sinner there had been no deformed Creature Grace and beauty were inseparable in the estate of originall righteousnesse Nothing was seen in the Terrestiall paradise which offended the eies all things were pleasing there because all things there were innocent There was no deformity known in the world till after sin Il-favourednesse is the daughter and the picture of sin and 't is a piece of injustice to hate the copy and to love the originall Albeit these reasons oblige us to reverence beauty where accompanied with Innocency yet have we as much and as just cause to fear her since she is mingled with impurity For sin hath left nothing in nature uncorrupted this Monster is pleased in setting upon the most Glorious works of nature and knowing that their chiefest ornament lay in their beauty hath pickt out her more perticularly to discharge it's fury upon There are none of nature works now which have not some notable defaults Did not love make men blind he could never make them in love did he not hide from them their imperfections whom they love he should not see so many souldiers fight under his colours and had he not taught women the secret how to imbellish themselves Impurity would have long since been banisht from off the earth The famousest beauties have their blemishes those who are not blind observe their defects had Helen of Greece lived in these our dayes the Poet who put such an esteem upon her would be found to be a lyer and a blind man but say that Nature should make a Master-piece indeed and that Paridoras fable should prove a true story her beauty would notwithstanding be contemptible since she could not grow old and keep it this advantage is so frail as it cannot long continue it is so soon gone as it rather seems a dream then a truth let women take what care they please to preserve it it will vanish from of their faces and when they shall see themselves in a glasse they will have much ado to perswade themselves that ever they were handsome All accidents have some power over beauty Time is as well her murtherer as her producer it effaceth all her glory tarnisheth her roses and Lillies and doth so alter the Godliest workmanship of nature as it maketh horrour and compassion arise in the same hearts which it had struck with love and envy 'T is not death but old age which triumphs over this perfection in women if they grow old they are sure to grow ugly the prolongation of their life diminisheth their beauty and they cannot live long but they must see that die which they loved dearer than their lives In the state of innocency old age would not have injured beauty the food which repaired nature maintained the good liking thereof men lived long and grew not old as death did not put a period to life neither did oldage weaken it the body was as strong at a hundred year old as at forty Beauty was then somwhat durable time bore respect to this quality and divine Justice which found no faults to punish did not punish women with the fear of old age or hard-favourednesse But now this fear is part of their punishment they are compelled to wish to die young if they will not dye ugly and thus divided in their apprehensions they desire to live yet fear to grow old Time is not beauties onely enemy the injuries which accompany it wage war against her and all the evils which we suffer through sin assaile this fraile perfection The mil-dew causeth defluxions which are prejudiciall to her the unseasonablenesse of seasons are averse unto her cold chils her and keeping back the bloud defaceth the vivacity of her complexion heat doth sun-burn her and that constellation which makes lillies white darkens the countenances of women Sicknesses do not so soon alter the temper as they do the tincture and the out-rages which they commit upon the welfare or good liking of the body are
them she inthrals the heart by the ears and whosoever doth not use Ulysses his harmles cunning indangers the losse of liberty Her hair is a net wherein Lyons and Tygers are taken her strength like that of Sampson lies in her weaknesse she imployes onely these weak arms to overcome the couragious and makes use onely of these small threads to stop the course of the most unconstant The lillies when on her face lose their purity and the innocent rose becomes guilty upon her cheeks and as the spider makes her poyson of the best things she composeth the venome wherewith she infects souls of the fairest flowers Modesty and Majesty which else where defend vertue do corrupt it in the person of a handsome woman and these two advantages which makes her beauty the more powerfull make it also the more dangerous her very gate is not without affectation and fault her studied steps have a certain becomingness which is fatall to those that behold them each pace steals a heart from some of her servants and doing nothing without design she either wounds or kils those indiscreet ones which approach her In fine beauty is so pernicious as God himself who extracts Grace from sin makes use thereof onely to punish his Enemies it is more dreadfull in his hands then thunder and he hath tane more vengeance by womens allurements then by the arms of souldiers He ruin'd Hamans fortunes by Hesters countenance the gracefull demeanor which he indued her withall made Ahasuerus condemn his Favorite and the death of this insolent enemy of the Iews is not so much an effect of Mordecais wisedom as of his Nieces beauty God chose out a widow to slay Holofernes he obteined two victories over this Conqueror by the means of one onely woman he took his heart from him by her eyes and his head by her hands he made first use of her beauty then of her courage and would have the Assyrians defeat to begin by love and end by murther Thus are handsome women the Ministers of Gods fury he imploys Hesters and Iudeths as souldiers to revenge his quarrels and beauty which causeth impurity doth oft-times punish it We see no faults in the creature from whence God draws not some advantage our weaknesse is the cause of our penitency if we cannot alter we cannot repent and if we had the constancy of Angels we might have the opiniatricy of Devils Our offences serve to humble us and the proudest spirits cannot think upon their sins without confusion Concupiscence which is one of the originals of our disorders is one of the foundations of Grace Adams sin fastens us to Jesus Christ and the miseries which we suffer under make us have recourse to divine Mercy But beauty seems onely proper to seduce sinners if she be not serviceable to Gods justice she is serviceable to the Devils malice and causeth Murthers when she cannot produce Adulteries Of all the perfections of man this is the onely one which Jesus Christ would not imploy to save souls He imployed the eloquence of Orators to perswade Infidels he made use of the doctrine of Philosophers to convince the ignorant he useth the power of Kings to reduce rebels and he imployes the wisedome of Politicians to govern states but he rejects beauty and judging her to hold Intelligence with his enemy he never makes use thereof but to undo sinners The beauty of those Virgins which were consecrated to him converted no Infidels the innocent allurements of the Lucia's and Agneses were of no use to the establishment of our Religion there modest countenances forbore not to kindle impure flames and if their executioners were toucht to see their constancy their beauty set Tyrants hearts on fire Gods beauty is then that which can onely securely beloved t is that that we ought to sigh all other desires are unjust Whosoever betakes himself to the beauty of Creatures revives idolatry erecting an Altar in his heart he offers Sacrifice to the chief Diety which he adores where he himself is both the Priest and Sacrifice The beauty of the creature ought not to be looked upon otherwise then as that of a picture which we value either for the persons sake whom it represents or for the painters hand that drew it He who exceeds these bounds Commits ungodlinesse and who doth not elevate his love to the first and chiefest beauty of which all others are but weak copies is either ignorant or impious If the beauty of the first Angel have made Apostates and if the love which it occasioned in the hearts of those pure spirits made them idolators what may we expect from a beauty which being engaged in the flesh and in sin produceth onely wicked desires Those who have fallen into this disorder must repent themselves with Saint Austin To repair their outrages done to th beauty of God by their infidelity they must afflict themselves for having so late known him And to make amends for their losse of time and losse of love they must labour to love him with more fervencie and to serve him with more constancie The seventh Discourse That the life of man is short and miserable T Is strange yet true that man having changed his condition hath not changed his desires and that he wisheth the same thing in his state of sin as he did in his innocency For that strong passion which he had for glory is but the remainder of that just desire which he had to command over all creatures his indeavouring to enlarge the bounds of his Empire tends onely to recover what he possessed before his revolt the pleasure which he seeks after in all his pastimes is grounded upon the remembrance of his former felicity Those riches which he accumulates with so much labour and preserves with so much care witnesse his sorrow for being fallen from his aboundance and the extream desire which he hath to prolong his life is a testimony that he as yet aspires after immortallity Yet hath not life those Charms which made it so amiable the longest is but short the sweetest but full of troubles and the most assured uncertain and doubtfull For since the soul ceased to be upon good tearms with God the body ceased to correspond fairly with the Soul Though they go to the composure of the same Integrall they cannot indure one another their love is mixt with hatred and these two lovers have alwayes somewhat of 〈◊〉 which makes them not agree The cords wherewith they are joyned together are so weakened as the least accident is sufficient to break them that whereof man is composed may destroy him the very things without the which he cannot live make him die rest and labour are equally prejudiciall to him his temper is altered by watching and by sleep when either are immoderate the nourishment which susteines him suffocates him and he fears abundance as much as want his soul seems as if she were borrowed and that she is onely
who are always ready to die and who placing their happinesse in the resemblance or imitation of Jesus Christ desire to lose their lives a thousand times amidst tortures to repair his charity by their love and to suffer for his glory what he hath undergone for their salvation The tenth Discourse That sleep is a punishment of sin as the image of death and that it bereaves us of reason as dreames do of rest THose who think sleep the most harmlesse part of life wil never be perswaded that it hath drawn some evill qualities from Adams sin for it seems to reduce men to the conditions of Children and that bereaving them of the use of reason it takes from them that unfortunate power which they by their offences abuse The guiltiest actions become innocent during sleep those vapours which do stupifie the senses excuse the sins of those that sleep and as their Vertues are not rewarded neither are their offences punished Murthers are committed without effusion of blood revenge is taken upon enemies without injustice and another mans goods are without violence tane away whilst sleep doth lull the senses The soul is not guilty of the faults which her body commits and though she gives it life and motion she hath not liberty enough to give it the guidance thereof Imagination is the sole faculty which doth in-animate it and this confused faculty not being guided by reason commits evil unpunished and pleads blindnesse for the excuse of it's errour Yet is it certain that in the condition wherein we are sleep is a punishment of sin and had man never sinned he had never proved those disquiets wherewith he is agitated during his rest Nature would have born a respect to her Sovereigns sleep the elements which formed his body would not have troubled his rest and vapours would have been so mild as stupefying all the senses they would have left the soul at liberty In this happy condition man might well have refreshed himself by sleep his eyes would have been closed against the light and his other senses would have dispensed with their ordinary functions But the soul would have retired to within her self and acting according to the manner of Angels she would have known Truth without the interposition of the Organs her rest would rather have bn an extasie then sleep and man might have said that his heart waked whilst his body took it's resti I have much ado to believe that man was reduced to the condition of beasts before he had sinned and that he should have undergone the punishment of an offence which he had not as yet committed If there have been some Saints whom sleep did not deprive of the use of reason and who loved God even whilst they slept I think it not strange that the heavens should have granted this favour to our first father in his innocency that he entertein'd himself with Angels whilest he could not entertain himself with men St. Iohn the Baptist adored the Son of God in the chast womb of the Virgin the obscurity of his Prison could not hinder the light of heaven from enlightning his understanding that stupefaction which continues nine moneths with other children hindred not him from instructing Elizabeth by his motions and from letting her know that the mother which she saw was a Virgin and that the child which she saw not was God The better part of Divines do not question but that the Virgin did enjoy this priviledge all her life and that her soul whilest her body rested was wholly busied in considering the wonders of her son she loved him as well sleeping as waking Sleep did not interrupt her love Sleep which makes us beasts made her an Angel and her soul had this advantage in the night season that it did act without any dependency upon her bodie rest did not bereave her of half her life as it doth us were she asleep or were she awake she did equally apply her self to God her sleep was more operative then all our watchings when her mouth was shut her spirit supplied her silence and she praised God with her heart not being able to do it with her tongue Imagine that Adams sleep did somewhat resemble that of the Virgins that he ceased not to reason when he could not speak that his noblest part slept not whilest his other did that his souls eyes were open when his bodily eyes were shut and that his soul exercising those species which she by the senses had received considered the works of God for why should we beleive that Adam should suffer that out-rage in the state of innocency which the Saints had much ado to tolerate in the state of sin Sleep which is the rest of their body is the punishment of their soul they are afflicted that their will should be rendered so long useless they conjure their tutelâ—ry â—els to wake whilest they sleep and to love in their behalf 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 goodnesse which cannot be loved according to its worth they look upon their bed as upon their grave they think to die as oft as they fall a sleep and they murmure that their soule which is immortall should be constrained to suffer such a kinde of death I pardon them these their complaints for 't is true that sleep is the shame of our nature and that the qualities wherewithall it is accompanied teach us that it is become criminall it reduceth men to the condition of beasts it takes from them their noblest priviledges and inhibits them the use of all the senses which may be serviceable to the soul. This punishment seems to be more injurious than death whose image it is for death loosens the soule from the body raiseth her to the condition of Angels and withdraws her from a prison which though she delighted in ceased not to be fatall to her but sleep stupifies the senses sets upon such parts of the body as the soule makes most claim to disperseth it's vapours into the eyes and ears and reduceth man into a condition wherein he can neither speak nor think The heart during sleep is in a perpetuall motion naturall heat disgests meat the liver converts it into bloud and distributes it abroad amongst the veines every part turnes it into it's own substance and by a continuall miracle one and the same nourishment doth extend it selfe into nerves thickens into flesh and hardens into bone Nature repaires these ruines which watchings had made in the body she leaves nothing uselesse in this condition and her diligence extends even to our haire which grows whil'st we Sleep But the noblest of our senses are a sleep our eyes serve no more for guides nor the ears for intelligencers the tongue to which motion is so naturall is no more the soules interpreter imaginations selfe doth only furnish her with confused species and the soul in this disorder is inforced to remain idle and unusefull Passions be they never so
his mother had brought him into the world After this crowd of reasons and authorities I know not what can be said against the belief of originall sin who can deny an evill of whose effects all men have a fellow-feeling Since all Phylosophers before they knew what name to give it knew the nature thereof and all the complaints they have made of our miseries in their Writings are so many testimonies born by them to the truth of our Religion The second Discourse What the state of man was before Sinne. THough there be nothing more opposite to the state of sin then the state of innocency there is not any thing notwithstanding which better discovers unto us the disorders thereof and it seems to be a true looking glasse wherein we may see all the other deformities To know the greatnesse of mans miserie wee must know the height of his happinesse and to know with what weight he fel we must know the height of his dignity Man was created with originall righteousnesse his Divineâ— Quality made a part of his being and seemed to be the last of his differences Reason and Grace were not as yet divided and man finding his perfection in their good Intelligence was at once both Innocent and rationall Since sin hath bereâ—t him of this priviledge he seems to be but half himself though he hath not changed Nature he hath changed condition though he be yet free he hath lesse power in his own person then in the world And when he compares himself with himself hardly can he know himself In the state of innocency nothing was wanting to his perfection nor felicity and whilst he preserved originall righteousness he might boast to have possessed the spring-head of all that was good T was this that united him to God and which submitting him to his Creator submitted all Creatures unto him t was this that accorded the soul with the body and which pacifying the differences which Nature hath plac'd between two such contrary parties made them find their happinesse in agrement this it was in fine which displaying certain beams of light about his Countenance kept wild beasts in obedience and respect In this happy condition man was only for God he found his happinesse in his duty he obeyed with delight and as Grace made up the perfection of his being it was not much lesse naturall for him to love God then to love himself he did both these Actions by one and the same Principle The love of himself differed not from the love of God and the operations of Nature and of Grace were so happily intermingled that in satisfying his Necessities he acquitted himself of his duty and did as many holy Actions as naturall and rationall ones He sought God and found him in all things much more happy then wee he was not bound to seperate himself from himself that he might unite himself to his Creator Godlinesse was practised without pain Vertue was exercised without violence and that which costs us now so much trouble cost him nothing but desires there needed no combates to carry away victory nor was there any need to call in vertue to keepe passions within their limits Obedience was easie to them nor is Rebellion so naturall unto them now as was then submission This Grace which bound the soule unto the body with bonds as strong as pleasing united the senses to the Spirit and assubjected the passions to reason Morality was a Naturall science or if it were infused t was togetther with the soul and every one would have been eased of the Pain of acquiring it all men were born wise Nature would have served them for a Mistris and they would have been so knowing even from their births as they would not have needed either Counsell or Instruction Originall righteousnesse govern'd their understanding guided their wills enriched their memories and after having done such wonders in their souls it wrought as many Prodigies in their bodies for it accorded the elements whereof they were Composed it hindred the waters from undertaking any thing against the fire tempered their qualities appeased their differences and did so firmly unite them as nothing could sever them Man knew only the name of death and he had this of comfort that he knew it was the Punishment of a fault from which if he would he might defend himself All nourishments were to pure that there was nothing superfluous in them Naturall heat was so vigorous as it converted all into the substance of the body was in all other respects so temperate as it was not prejudiciall to the radicall moisture Man felt nothing incommodious Prudence was so familiar to him as he prevented hunger and Thirst before they could cause him any trouble in his person and in his State he enjoyed a peacefull quiet and he was upon good Terms with himself and with his subjects because he was the like with his Sovereign he waited for his reward without anxiety and grounding himself upon the truth of his Creators promises he hoped for happinesse without disquiet Death was not the way to life there needed no descending to the earth to mount up to the heavens the soul fore-went not the body to enjoy her God and these two parts never having had any variance were joyntly to tast the same felicity But when the Devill had cozened the woman and that the woman had seduced the man he fell from this happy condition and losing Grace which caused all his good he fell into the depth ofall evills He received a wound which hecould never yet be cured of he saw himself bereft of his best part and could not conceive how being no longer righteous he continued to be rationall and left us in doubt whether he was yet man being no longer Innocent His Illuminations forsooke him together with Grace self-love came in the place of Charity He who before sought nothing but God began now to seek himself And he who grounded his happinesse upon his obedience would build his felicity upon Rebellion as soon as his soul rebell'd against God his body rebell'd against his soul these two parts changed their love to hatred and those who lived in so tranquill a peace declared open war one against another the senses which were guided by the understanding favoured the bodies revolt and the passions which were subject to reason contemned her Empire to inslave themselves to the Tyranny of Opinion If man were divided in his person he was not more fortunate in his condition wherein he underwent a Generall Rebellion the Beasts lost their respects they all became Savage and violence or Art is required to the taming of some of them the Elements began to mutiny following their own inclinations they broke the peace which they had sworn unto in behalf of man whilst Innocent the Seasons grew unseasonable to hasten the death of man grown guilty the very heavens alter'd their Influences and losing their
be freed from the Tyranny thereof The seventh Discourse That self-love is nothing else but Concupiscence Though Divines have given as many names to Concupiscence as she hath committed sins and that every one paints her out as he finds her in another or according to his own experience yet they all agree that her most celebrated name and that which best expresseth her nature is self-love For as Charity comprehends all vertues self-love comprehends all vices as Charity unites us to God and loseth us from our selves her Enemy self-self-love severs us from God and fasteneth us to our selves As Charity hath no greater a passion for any thing then to love God and make him be beloved by all others self-self-love produceth no more violent desire in man then to love himself and to obliege all other men to love him To comprehend these truths you must know that Charity according to S. Pauls words and S. Augustines Comment composeth all vertues to be perfect It sufficeth to be charitable one vertue is sufficient in Christs school to acquire all others she believeth all things saith that great Apostle and so hath the merit of Faith she waits for the accōplishment of Gods promises so possesseth the certainty of hope she suffers all injuries as well as Patience doth she withstands sorrow with as much courage as doth fortitude and this Famous Doctor of the Gentiles who perfectly knew the Inclinations of charity gives her all the Advantage which belongs to all the vertues so as according to his principles the loue of God is only Requisite to become highly vertuous Saint Augustine who learnt nothing but in S. Pauls school mixeth all vertues with Charity and as if he wold reduce al things to an unity he teacheth us that the only vertue on earth is to love him who is perfectly lovely For love hath several names according to his severall imployments he changeth qualities though not Nature and continuing stil the same presents himself unto us under divers forms and shapes Temperance is a faithful love which wholly gives herself over to what she loveth not permitting Voluptuousnesse to divide them Fortitude is a generous love which with delight overcomes all the difficulties which can be met withal for her well beloved sake Justice is an uncorrupt love which instructeth how to reign in obedience which submitting herself to God as to her sovereign commands over all creatures as over her slaves In fine wisdome is an illuminated love which happily discerning between the wayes which may estrange her from God and those which may fasten her to him chooseth the former and rejects the other or to expresse the same truth in other tearms Love is termed wisedome when he keeps himself from straying and hath right to what he loves he is called fortitude when he fights against such sorrows as would astonish him Temperance when he despiseth such pleasures as would corrupt him Justice when to consecrate his liberty to God he disdains to serue the Creature so may we say that self-love which is Charities mortall Enemy comprehends all vices and that it only changeth countenance when it appears under the form either of Pride Colour or Envy it is unjust in it's Ambition prepares for Combat when irritated for vengeance when offended when unjust it bereaves it's Neighbour of his goods and good name and when Intemperate it engageth it self in unlawfull delights The great Apostle when he numbers up all faults puts it in the first rank and teacheth us that there is no sin which is not a sort of self-love disguised And Saint Augustine who hath drawn all his Doctrine from Saint Pauls words instructeth the whole Church that the faults which wee detest are not so much the effects as the proprieties of self love In effect is not Avarice an unjust love of riches is not Pride an unjust love of Honours is not opiniatrecie a furious love to be always victorious is not colour a detestable love of revenge And to conclude all in a few words are not all sins as many different loves which changing rather countenance then humour agree all in a designe of fastning themselves to objects which they like and of keeping a loofe off from such as they like not There is also the second opposition of the love of God and the love of our selves for charity hath no nobler imployment then to free us from all things to unite us to God she endeavours to perswade us that to love our selves well we must hate our selves that to have a care of our selves we must forget our selves and if we would finde out our happinesse we must seek for it from without our selves men wonder that the law of God which commands us to love our Neighbour doth not command us to love our selves and that it only mentions the love we owe unto our selves when it recommends unto us the love which we owe unto our Neighbours but to boot that this love was imprinted in the foundation of our wills by the hands of Natures selfe and that it was more then needed to command us a thing to which we had so great an inclination man loved himselfe sufficiently in loving of God and God had sufficiently provided for mans happinesse in ordaining man to love him above all things The love of God is mans true happinesse we are rich when we possesse it and poore when we lose it let our designes be waited upon by whatsoever good successe let the world promise us what ever good event what ever favour Fortune affordeth us all riches which consists not in the possessions of the Summum bonum is but a meer reall poverty for as Augustine saith God is so good as all men that leave him are miserable and man is so noble as whatsoever is not God cannot render him happy t is charities chiefest designe to fasten man to God so straightly As that nothing may seperate him from God and to in lighten his soule with so much love as that she may exstinguish selfe love or turn it into a holy hatred of himselfe This Divine vertue can mount no higher so glorious a Metamorphosis is the utmost of her power and God can demand nothing more of those that love him when that they may love him perfectly they arrive at the height of hating themselves Self love takes a clean opposite way from that of charity and by direct contrary traces endeavours to estrange man from God and to fasten him to himselfe or to the Creature it effaceth as much as it is able the inclination which his soule hath for the Summum Bonum if it cannot stifle it it diverts it and seeing that the heart of man cannot be without imployment it lays before him the beauty of the Creatures to divert him from those of the Creatour being accompanied with blindnesse and pride it easily abuseth the soule which it possesseth and figuring out the perfections thereof more glorious
then they are it makes her her own Idolater it raiseth her incensibly up to the height of impiety and by different steps mounts it even to the hatred of God for as the faithful man is perfect when he loves God even to the pitch of hating himself the sinner even hath the measure of his sin filled up when he loves himselfe even to the degree of hating God This passion reignes not much save in the souls of the damned one must be wholly possest by sin to conceive this designe and I know not whether there be any so sinful soule on Earth as can have so damnable a recentment Hell is the abode of these wicked ones and I firmly believe that as their hatred of God is the sow lest of there sins so is it the cruellest of their punishments yet can they not hate this Summum Bonum with there whole heart the foundation of their being is possest by the love of God they love him naturally whom they hate willingly they are divided between love and hatred there will is parted by these two contrary motions and for all they can do to stifle this naturall Inclination they cannot hinder their best part from languishing and sighing after God they afflict themselves that nature fights against there will and that her unalterable laws forceth them to love the author of their everlasting punishment But to reassume the threed of our discourse the last opposition of selfe love and charity is that the latter hath no more violent desire then to purchase lovers to God almighty to enlarge the bounds of his Empire and to disperce the holy flames of his Divine love into all hearts for a heart that is inflamed with this sacred fire knowing very well that it cannot love God according to his lovelinesse wisheth that all the parts of its body were changed into hearts and tongues to praise and love the only object of its love But as she sees her wishes are uselesse she endeavours to increase the number of Divine lovers to the end that making amends for her indigency they may love him with all their might whom she cannot sufficiently love Self love in opposition to this which obligeth man to make a god of himselfe inspires him with a desire to make himselfe be beloved of all the world Instructed by so good a master he imployeth all his cunning to rob himself of his liberties he discovers all his perfections to purchase lovers he proposeth himselfe unto himselfe as an Idoll to be adored and believeth that the truest and most legitimate happinesse on earth is to have slaves who are fairly forced to love him When Kings are arrived at this height of of injustice and Impiety men thinke them happy and the Politicks which labours to decypher a good Sovereigne is never better content then when she hath raised in them this violent desire of enjoyning their Subjects good will T is herein that she distinguisheth Kings from Tyrants and that she opposeth unjust Sovereignes to Legitimate Monarchies but we are taught by Christian Religion that blame may be incurred as well by making ones self be beloved as in making him be feared For though she honours Kings and condemnes Tyrants though she approve of Moderate Government and detests ruling by rigour yet doth she equally blame those who intrench upon Gods rights and who proposing themselves to their Subjects as their final end will possesse all their affections love appertaines aswell to God only as glory of all offerings he is best pleased with that of the heart and he loves much better to rule over men by the way of mildnesse then of rigour insomuch as Kings who would make themselves be beloved as Gods are not much lesse faulty then those who would make themselves be dreaded as Tyrants they are both of them guilty of Treason against the Diety and pretend to honours which are only reserved for God Lucifer never purposed to establish his greatnesse by violence he made more use of his beauty then of his power to Corrupt the inferiour Angels and if his Empire be terminated in rigour it began in clemency A legitimate Sovereigne straies as well from his duty in seeking after the love as after the fear of his Subjects and though one of these two ways be more innocent then the other in the sight of men it is not much lesse faulty in the sight of God it is not permitted in our Religion for a man to make himselfe be beloved t is a presumption to endeavour those liberties which pertain only to God to deboysh his subjects is to divide his Empire hee will have all his slaves to love him and according to Saint Austines maximes we owe all our love to God the Prince is bound to fasten his subjects to their Creator to make him reign in his kingdome and to receive no homage from his people save only for that he is the Image of God t is therefore the most dangerous impression that self-love can make in men when it perswades them that they deserve the love of the whole world and that they ought to imploy all their might to augment the number of their Lovers yet every one is possest with this passion and I see none who do not by severall ways aspire to this tyranny Men discover the perfection of their minds to make themselves admired women make the most they can of their bodily beauty to make them be adored but the one and the other of them will have their malady turn contagious and spread abroad the poyson of self-love which hath infected them into the souls of all those that come neer them The eighth Discourse That Concupiscence or Self-love divides it self into the love of Pleasure of Honour and of Knowledge MAns losse doth so sute with his greatnesse that to understand the one wel the other must necessarily be comprized and we must know what advantages he did possess in his Innocency that we may not be ignorant of such miseries as he undergoes by sin Originall righteousnesse which united him to God made him find innocent delights pure and certain knowledge and elevated honours of which ours are but the shadows in the Possession of the Summum Bonum when he lost Grace he therewith all lost all these glorious Privileges which were the dependances thereof his Pleasures were turned into Punishments his light into darkness and his glory into infamy the misery into which he saw himself faln did irritate his desire and the remembrance of his past felicity made him seek for that in the Creature which he had lost in his Creator Self-love which succeeded the love to God spread it self abroad into three as impure rivolets as was the spring head from whence they did derive the first was call'd the love of Pleasure the second the love of light or novelty and the third the love of greatnesse or of glory these three generall causes of all our disorders are the fatall
body composed only of Light and Heat But Christian Religion teacheth us that she is a spirit created by God in time infused into a body to inanimate it the spring head of Motion and Life and that in her noblest operations she stands in need of her salves Organes to operate withall Light is in some sort naturall to her in her understanding she comprehends the Principles of all Sciences her will hath in it the seed of all vertue the senses are so many Messengers which informe her with whatsoever passeth in the world and by their faithfull reports teach her those truths which she was ignorant of t is true that there are some truths which are rather infused into her then acquired by her and which Nature hath so powerfully imprinted in her Essence as Errours self cannot deface them she without an Instructer knows there is but one God she preserves this belief in the midst of Superstition in this point she is Christian even when Infidell whilst she offers Incense to her Idols she trusts in him who seeth all things and after having invoked Saturn and Iupiter she implores ayd from him whom her Conscience tels her is the true Creator of Heaven and Earth she is ignorant of the fall of Devils and by the hatred which she bears unto them makes it appear that she is not ignorant of their guile whilst she is possessed with these Tyrants she ceaseth not to think upon her lawfull Sovereign and sin which hath not been able to destroy her Nature c could not deface her knowledge nor her love she loves God though she offends him all the tyes she hath to these perishable things are the remainders of that Naturall Inclination and because every Creature is an Image of it's Creator she cannot see them without being in some sort transported the shadow of God awakens her flame but having neither light nor heat enough to raise her self up to him she remains engaged on the earth and by a strange blindnesse she forgets the Summum Bonum to fasten her self to his Picture she presageth her misfortune before she hath any knowledge thereof she prophesieth it before she disputes and when she first enters into the world she witnesseth by her tears that she hath some sense of her miseries as soon as she hath by her cryes saluted the Sun she teacheth those that understand her that she very well knows the earth is the seat of misery and that one cannot live long there without suffering much sorrow When age indues her with the use of Reason she doth not lose the use of Prophecie her dreams serves for presages The Heavens whilst she is at rest advertize her of her disasters and the Angels treating with her in a condition wherein she cannot treat with men acquaints her with the good and bad successes of her enterprizes she makes out salleys which cause men to believe that though she be fastened to the body yet she is not a Prisoner for when she pleaseth she abandons the senses and collects her self that she may be the lesse interrupted in her Meditations she seeks for knowledge in the Center of her essence and as if she did complain of the sights Infidelity or the ears sloath she endeavours to learn at home within her selfe what she cannot find out in the world in effect she would be very ignorant if she knew nothing but what she learns from her Officers for as they are but the Organes of the body they can only observe the qualities of the objects and can only inform their Sovereign of the lustre of Colours the diversity of sounds and of the varities of smels but when she withdraws within her self she knows subsistances she treats with spirits and raising her self-above all things created she forms unto herself certain Ideas of a Divinity Nay she is an Image thereof and it seems God took pleasure to draw his own Picture in the soul of man and to make us admire in this chief work of his power the unity of his Nature and the Plurality of his Persons for though this spirit be engaged In Materia and that it works differently according to the severall Organes of the body that it digests meat by naturall heat converts it into bloud by means of the Liver distributes it into all parts by the veins and by a miraculons Metamorphosis gives a hundred severall shapes to the same food yet is it not divided and representing the unconceivable unity of God it is Tota in Toto Tota inqualibet parte Thus the soul conteins that which seems to inclose her she lends her hoast house room she upholds her house she inanimates her Sepulchre and this Created Divinity is so great as she Circumscribes the Temple wherein she makes her residence This admirable unity agrees with a Trinity of powers which makes the soul an excellent Image of God for she hath an active understanding which conceives all things a happy memory which records them and an absolute will which disposeth of them she knew the highest of our miseries by reflecting on her self before Faith had revealed unto her the procession of the Divine persons Nature had given her some glimmering thereof by studying what she found to be in her self she learnt what was in God and seeing that she conceived a word in her understanding and a love in her will she had no trouble to comprehend that the father begot a Sonne and that the Sonne together with the Father produced a Holy Ghost Plato who had read no other book then that of his own soul guest at these Truths Trismegistus who had only learn'd these lights out of the bosome of Nature had some weak knowledge of the mysteries and we are bound to confess that neither the one nor the other would ever have known the Divine Originall had they not seriously considered the copy As the soul is the shadow of the divine Essence it shares in part of his highest perfections her light is not obscured by her Prison the body which is formed but of earth doth not derogate from her Nobility nor Power and death which threatens the House wherein she lives injures not her Immortality she is knowing in the midst of obscurity Absolute amidst the revolt of her Subjects Immortall in the bosome of death it self the senses which endeavour to seduce her by their unfaithfull reports cannot abuse her and let them use what foul play they please she hath always light enough to discover their Imposture she corrects their errours and when she will make use of her own rights she finds Counsellors in the Basâ— of her being who convince these faithless Officers of fals-hood she finds oft times lesse resistance in her body then in her self one only Act of her will makes the eyes open the arms be lifted up and the legs go these parts are so obedient to her commands as they never resist when in health their Rebellion ariseth
rather from Infirmity then malice if her subjects forget their duty they are never the first Authors of disorder the tongues diligence in expressing her thoughts exceedeth belief the eyes makes prodigious hast to bring her news and the ears as lazie as they are are wonderfully faithfull in informing her of what they understand the hands invent a thousand means to content her the five branches whereof they are Composed are the mothers of all Arts and they are so affectionate to their Sovereign as she hath no sooner design'd any thing but these industrious officers do forth-with faithfully execute it Nature would be jealous of their labours did she not know that their Power is boūded and that for all they can do to imitate her they can neither give life nor motion to their workmanship in fine the soul which governs them so dexterously and which seems to foregoe all the other parts of the body to inanimate them loseth half her Power when she hath no hands and this high and mighty Sovereign seems to execute her greatest designs by the means of these faithfull confederates As she is absolute in her servitude she is immortall in her grave and all the atteints which sicknesse gives her cannot trouble her rest if she apprehend Pain t is because the body that she inanimates resents it if she fear death t is because it destroys her Mansion and if she seem to be moved or affraid t is because she loves the slave that would foregoe her the knowledge she hath of her own Immortality makes her rest quiet she takes delight in entertaining her self with thought of the life which must succeed this life she sees far into ages that are to come she ordains things which must not be accomplished till after her departure she is very jealous of her honour and knowing very well that death which will destroy her body shall not ruine her she endeavours to do Actions for which she shall suffer no reproach in the other world her cares which extend themselves beyond the precincts of time are proofs of her Immortality and the Paision she hath for Glory witnesseth that she is not ignorant of the happinesse which is prepared for her in Heaven when the moment wherein she is to make her entrance thereinto approacheth and that she is ready to be divorced from her body she operates with a new strength she sees things with more light all her words are Oracles it seems that freeing her self from Materia she becomes a pure spirit and that having no further Commerce with men she treats invisibly with Angels her last endevours are usually the greatest she gathers strength out of her bodies weaknesse and death destroys her Prison only to set her at liberty she beginsto tast the sweet of Heaven and she looks upon parting from the earth as upon the end of her servitude I should be too tedious if I would perticularize in all the souls advantages the rest of this discourse must be imployed in shewing what out rages she receiveth from sin for as soon as she took up her lodging she became slave to the body she lost her Power when she lost her Innocence when she ceased to obey she ceased to command and as if obedience had been the foundation of all her greatnesse rebellion was the cause of her miseries of all the cognizances whichwere together with Grace infused into her none remain'd in her but doubts and jealousies which makes her as oft embrace fals-hood as truth though she know God she adores the workmanship of his hands her enlightnings detein her not from engaging her self in errour and the great Inclination which she hath for the Summum Bonum doth not estrange her from the love of perishable things she is the Image of God and ceaseth to resemble him she expresseth his greatnesse and doth no longer imitate his vertues she conserves the Trinity of her power in the unity of her essence yet cannot conceive one God in three Persons she makes and Idol unto her self of every Creature all that pleaseth her seem Gods unto her her Interest is the soul of her Religion her love ariseth from fear she adores whatsoever she fears and unlesse the God which she serveth had thunders wherewithall to punish her she would have no victimes to load his Altars withall Her Punishment is the Picture of her offence she meets with rebellion in her slave the conspiracy of all the parts of her body is generall her senses do seduce her Her Passions do torment her her Imagination troubles her and her subjects do despise her she sees her self obliged to encourage their disorders to give life to Rebels which justle her Authority to nourish up monsters which rend her in peices and to arme souldiers which plunder her estate but nothing ads more unto her Pain then the love which she bears her enemy for though he prosecute her she cannot resolve to hate him dares not make War against him without assistance from heaven this Traitor is so full of cunning as he makes himself be beloved by her whom he abuseth she is sensible of all the evils that he endures and as if her pain arose from her love she never ceased to suffer since she began to love him she apprehends her slaves miseries more then her own she fears death more then sin she is more affraid of ruine then of falshood and as if this inclination had changed her Nature she desires no other good nor dreads no other evill then what is sensible Musick charms her discontents Pictures serve her for a diversion she is pleased with smels and the greatest part of her delights consists in what contents her senses by a sequell as shamefull as necessary she is burnt by Feavers pained by the Gout weakened by sicknesse and whatsoever hurteth her body abaseth her courage After the Injuries which she hath received from this domestick enemy It is hard to judge which of the two hath juster cause of complaint for each of them seem to be equally guilty and that the one and the other of them are the mutuall cause of their displeafures In Adam sin arose from the soul but in his Children it draws it's birth from the flesh and in the most part of their errours t is the senses which seduce them Pleasures which corrupt them sorrows which keep them love and passions which tyrannize over them Thus our misfortunes drive equally from these two and if the soul made our first father guilty It is the body which makes his Children unfortunate yet must we avow that the soul is the greater Delinquent in us as well as in him for if she have no freedom to defend her self against Originall sin and if necessity may excuse a misfortune which is not voluntary she is more guilty then the body because she commits so many faults with delight stays not for being solicitated by the senses and that by a blind Impetuosity
she willingly embraceth whatsoever is pleasing unto her she ads voluntary sins to sins of Nature and will have that of her faults some be the effects of her misfortune and others of her lewdness In fine it seems that those that follow her motions endevour to exceed the sin of their birth by the sins of their life and as if they thought it an offence to be more innocent then their Father they strive to be more faulty then hee who committed all the sins in the world when he made all that descended from him Criminall The second Discourse That the soul is become slave unto the body by reason of sin THough the soul be the noblest part of man yet is she not void of fault and for any excessive praise that Prophane Phylosophy may give her she hath naturall weaknesses which do accompany her even in Innocency Adams soul was engaged in his body and in her Noblest operations she needed the Organes thereof to expresse her thoughts or execute her designs though she were pleased with this dependancy she ceased not to be servile and whosoever should reduce an Angel to this condition should take from him his glory and his liberty she could not quit her body to go to Heaven whethersoever her love did carry her she must carry her host with her and rather then to forego this pleasing Prison she did prorogue the accomplishment of her desire Ignorance was in some sort naturall unto her and though knowledge was infused into the soul of Adam together with Grace we are not sure that he could have transmitted it unto his off-spring had not the way of learning it been painfull it would have at least been tedious and if labour had not been requisite time would at least have been required to the acquiring thereof though the Organes of the body had been well disposed there would have been a difference in their temper and all souls would not have had the same advantages of Grace which was their last perfection would never have raised them into the rank of Angels and whatsoever communication men might have had with those happy spirits they could never have arrived at their Hierarchy Though we are hereby taught that the soul had her weaknesses in the state of Innocency yet being Naturall they were not painful and though they were faults yet were they not punishments for in this condition man knew nothing which pained him he was satisfied with his Advantages and was not lesse happy though no Angell his nature being the meer work of God had no defaults that which seem'd humble ceased not to be glorious and the tye which the soul had to the body was not a servitude though a necessity she was well pleased with her abode and though she were of a more elevated Condition then was her body the service she had from thence made her love her Quarter the Chains wherewith they were united were so strong as nothing but sin could breake them their Inclinations in the difference of their Nature were so conformable as whatsoever pleased the one did not dislike the other the body by an admirable prodigie heighthned it's self into the souls Employments without violence and the soul deigned to submit her self to the necessities of the body without injury to her self she found no difficulty in all she did and if the body were not serviceable to her in her more noble works yet did it not resist her therein their contentments were Common and as the soul was not subject to sorrow neither did the body feel any pain This happy Condition lasted no longer then the time of Innocency when man once lost his righteousnesse he lost his happinesse and when he became Criminall he became miserable the soul went less in her greatnesses and this living Image of the Divine Essence saw her self brought to such misery as may better be exprest by tears then words nothing remain'd intire in man and the outrages of sin dispersed themselves into all the parts of the body the understanding was darkned the memory weakned and the will depraved In all the faculties of the soul the soul received some prejudice in her very Essence and evill found her out in such a condition wherein as being Forma corporis she was engaged in the Materia thereof for since her offence she her self as it were obliged to love a cruell Tyrant to bear with an irreconcileable Enemy to serve a rebellious slave and to make up all her misfortunes reduced to that necessity as she is not able without sorrow to forego the Cause of all her disasters To conceive her corruption we must of necessity comprehend her purity and observe the Effects which Originall righteousnesse wrought in the soul the first was that notwithstanding her being engaged in a body she ceased not to be spirituall her Functions made her not Animale and though united to the body by Grace yet was she not thereby a Prisoner she communicated her perfections to it and shared not in it's defects she was free though bound her body was her Temple not her Prison and the love she bore unto it did not injure her liberty but as soon as sin had insinuated it self into the ground work of her Essence she changed condition the chain of love which tyed her to her body was turned to a servile ord which bound her to her slave her charity was turned into self-self-love she forgot her greatnesse and that she might interest her self in all the desires of her body she lost all the qualities of her spirit sensible things became her diversions she delighted in nothing but the voluptuousnesse of the senses if she had changed nature by changing condition she ccased to love the Summum Bonum and began to idolize her body she fore-went her noble desires for such as were infamous and confining all her wishes either to the affairs or pleasures of her body she loved nothing but what was earthly and sensible They say that in the state of glory the bodies of the blessed will become spirituall and that losing all the feelings of their Materia they shall only have the inclinations of the spirit that they shall follow their soul without trouble and by an unconceiveable agility they shall fly faster then the winds or lightening that they shall pierce the most solid things and that being more subtill then flames of fire they shall penetrate even the substance of the Heavens they shall shine with glory and being more radiant then the Sun they shall fill all parts with light but in the state of sin the soul assumed the qualities of the body her love engaged her further in the Materia then Nature had done she made her Prison more streight and more obscure she lost the lights she was infused withall that she might see no longer but through the senses and her Compliance with her slave did so alter her Inclinations as reflecting upon her self she had much ado
considering the evil which threatens them they take vain diversions these monsters making use of their imprudencie become so redoubted as they dare assail them no more The onely way to overcome them is to stifle them in their birth and not to fall oft into the same sin least an evil habit being formed in our soul we be inforced to live under the Tyranny thereof OF THE CORRUPTION OF THE VERTUES The Third Treatise The First Discourse A Panegyrick of Morall Vertues IF a man may use Civility in combating and if the Fury of War keep not men from treating their enemies with respect I think I may be permitted to handle the vertue of the Pagans with esteem and to make the Panegyrick thereof before I make it's processe for though I hold with Saint Augustine that their chiefest vertues have their defects I do notwithstanding find beauties in them which obligeth me to reverence them and though I am their enemy I cannot chuse but be their admirer For when I consider that these great men had no other light than that of Nature and that self-love which tyrannized over their wil was the soul of all their designs I cannot imagine how so fatall a cause could produce such gallant effects and I wonder that the desire of Glory hath been powerfull enough to make them overcome Pain and despise pleasure The Ambition of Command hath made almost as many Martyrs in the Romane Common Wealth as Charity hath done in the Christian Church and all those Glorious Saints whose lives we read with admiration have suffered no more for the defence of Religion than those first Romans did for the defence of their Liberty her Senators and Consuls were a long time Corruption-proof The Generals of their Armies did subdue their passions as well as their enemies the greatest danger could never abate their courage they were most famous when most miserable and Romes greatnesse never shone brighter than in adverse Fortune Worth was not confined to the most illustrious Subjects of that Common Wealth the people were obedient as long as the Senate was modest Particular Families preserved their Innocency whilst Publique persons preserved justice Wives were chast whilest their Husbands were valiant the Vestals kept their Virginity whilest the Priests kept their Religion all these actions which have so fair an appearance had no other Principle then Vertue and Vertue had no other Force then what she drew from Glory or Eloquence she was praised by the mouth of Orators Every Philosopher was her Panegyrick and hardly could you read their works without being passionate for her who was their onely Subject She is so well set forth in Seneca's writings as one could not see her there but they must reverence her And he being the man that speaks the most worthily of her I think I am bound to borrow his words to make her Panegyrick Listen then to what he writes of her in divers parts of his book Vertue hath this of advantage that she is Noble and easie her Noblenesse gives her value amongst men and her easinesse invites them to seek after her the desire of her is sufficient to acquire her and this Famous beauty doth not scorn any that love her shee bestows her self freely on all those that court her and be she never so chast she ceaseth not to be common you need not crosse the seas nor discover new worlds to find her out We have her Principles in our selves and if we be but a little carefull in the husbanding thereof we may turn every good Inclination into a Vertue she raiseth us above our Condition for though we be composed of Clay and dust by her Inter-position we may enter into allyance with God who loves those that are vertuously given who in his greatnesse disdains not any one and vertue is the onely disposition which he requires in those who would approach him He acknowledgeth them for his Children who vouch her for their Mother and Heaven is their Inheritance whom she adopts on earth This last recompence is that alone which doth in-animate her Lovers all other rewards are indifferent to them And knowing that happinesse and vertue never part asunder they hold for certain that a vertuous man cannot be miserable the delight which accompanieth their Mistris doth not inhaunce her merit they are so faithfull to her as when the servant forsakes her they increase their love and they are glad to love her in a Condition wherein she can onely promise thorns to those that take her part Let her put on what disguise she will she is always pleasing be it that she withstands vice that she melt into sweat or tears that dust and bloud ternish her Lustre that fasting and sufferance pull her cheeks down she hath still beauty enough to keep her Lovers the faithfullest whereof love her as well in open field as in Towns and the Lustre which she borroweth from Apparel or Palaces doth not heighten her merit Let fortune assail her never so oft she is still victorious that hood-winkt Sovereign which bears down the best establisht Thrones which reverses the best grounded States which takes delight to bruise Scepters in the greatest Monarchs hands comes off with shame when she assails her though Fortune arme Tyrants against her and employ all her slaves to undo her yet she is forced to yield the Field and to confesse that Vertue may loose her repute but never her courage nor Innocence Her Enemies reverence her and her merit wins so much upon them after having offended her they give her Honourable satisfaction and praise her publiquely if they hear her comliness spoken of they declare for her and foregoing her adversaries party they rank themselves under her colours When this Tyrant seeth that he is abandoned he hath no better way to reduce his slave under his Laws than to take upon him the Semblance of Vertue and to borrow his Enemies beauties to cover his own il-favour'dnesse This disguise is vertues highest praise 't is the greatest advantage she can have and though she be thereby sometimes prejudiced yet is it always glorious to her for she can easily disabuse the unwary Let her be but a little carefull to make her beauty appear she wins their heart and causeth so much love in them as it is easily discerned if they have not taken her part 't is because they knew not her worth he who could see her stark naked would never be disloyall to her and would she discover all her perfections all her enemies would become her friends T is in fine the greatest advantage that man can possesse All of good that Avarice or Ambition do promise him are but disguised evils Riches are but a little earth on which the Sun hath set a price by giving it a colour Glory which the Ambitious do so much Idolatrize is but a little smoake and the pleasure which the Voluptuous seek after is but the Felicity of Beasts but
much the more dangerous by how much it is the more concealed and the vanity which in-animates their vertue is so much the more difficult to cure for that it is more subtill and more nice for though they make no accompt of Honour and that they seem to despise Glory and that satisfied with the merit of Vertue they seek not after the reputation which doth accompany her yet are they drunk with the esteem of themselves and are their own Idolaters The lesse praises they receive the more they think they deserve and who could read their hearts would find nothing there but proud insolent thoughts they tye themselves up to reason and despise Divinity they think themselves wise and better than Gods and not knowing that the Angels were Rebels they become guilty of their faults for as Saint Augustine says very well all men who stop at the Creature and do not raise themselves up to the Creator are criminall He trifles with those things which he ought to make use of he makes that his onely end which is but onely a means to arrive at it and reversing all the laws of Nature he will find in himself the happinesse which is onely to be found in God Thus are these Philosophers proud even when they contest against vain glory they trample upon ordinary Pride by a more subtill Pride they despise not riches save onely that they adore vertue they loosen themselves from the world onely that they may fasten themselves to their own persons and they make war against their bodies onely that they may make love unto their minds They are not Epicureans but Stoicks they neither love Pleasure nor Glory yet cease not to be slaves to both of them self-love is their voluptuousnesse and the satisfaction which they receive from their vertue is their vain glory they behold not one another without admirations and if they appear modest in their writings their designs are full of Pride Doubtlesly they are proud since they take Pleasure in themselves and they are not aware that this Complacency is a proof of their Folly since as Saint Augustine saith every man is a fool who delighteth in himself and he alone is wise who pleaseth God To conclude this discourse by a reason of Saint Pauls y of which Saint Augustine shall be the Interpreter the delight which we have in our selves is aswell a sin as the pleasure we take in others This great Apostle doth equally condemn these two disorders he will not have us to delight in our advantages the satisfaction which we take in our selves is a science or young shoot of self-self-love and if we be forbidden to love our selves we are not permitted to esteem our selves Saint Peter all whose words are Oracles Places complacency amongst the number of sins and condemning those who raise themselves above their deserts he condemnes those also who take pleasure in their Vertues and Saint Augustine discovering the intention of these great Apostles teacheth us that there are two sorts of Temptations the one exterior which being easily discovered are not hard to overcome the other interior and which lying in the bosome of our souls are as hard to cure as to know Of this sort is their Temptation who not requiring the praises which they deserve or who rejecting such praises as are given them cease not notwithstanding to be displeasing to God because being filled with a vain glory so much the more dangerous as the more subtill they delight in themselves and do not raise themselves up to the Summum Bonum which is the fruitfull Fountain-head of all true vertues This is the fault whereof prophane Philosophers were guilty the vain glory which blindes the Socratesses the Catoes this is the nice Temptations which undid all the excellent wits of Rome and Athens The rest which were so very fine were contented with the peoples applause and demanded no other recompence for their vertues than triumphs and victories and certeinly those could not complain of Gods Justice since he hath changed their desires into effects and proportioning their recompences to their Actions hath crowned their fallacious vertues with a vain Honour since he hath paid their Labours with so many conquests and hath submitted so many people to men that are Ambitious of Command and glory The fourth Discourse That the vertue of Infidels cannot be True VErtue is so beautifull as her very shaddow is delightfull vices have some sort of comelinesse when they borrow her accoutrements and we cannot forbear praising such errours as appear in her likely-hood We approve of prodigality in Princes because it counterfeits liberality We admire boldnesse in Souldiers because it hath an air of valour and courage We adore ambition in conquerours because it borders upon Generosity This errour would be excusable did it not advance further but there are some men who preferring appearances before truths value a glorious vice at a higher rate than a neglected vertue Socrates his conference with his friends seems of a more lofty style to them than doth S. Pauls last words and this Philosophers discoveries prevailes more with them than the examples of our Martyrs Hence it is that Christians admire the vertues of Infidels that not content to make their Apologies they make Panegyricks in their behalf and praise men on earth whom God punisheth in hell Saint Austine not being able to endure this injustice which had its birth with the Pelagian Heresie opposeth it in a thousand parts of his writings and contradicting the reasons which it proffers in ' its defence Makes Christians confesse that the greatest part of infidels vertues are but glorious vices as I am of his opinion I will march under his colours and I will make use of his weapons to preserve the advantages of the Graces of Jesus Christ and to take away the vanity of corrupted Nature But to proceed by degrees we must presuppose with S. Austine that no action can be holy which proceeds not from Faith according to this holy Fathers sense a man must be faithful if he will please God and the soul which is not enlightened by the Divine light cannot acquire any Christian vertues that which hath no regard to the Summum Bonum cannot be good in this sense and where supreme tatis cognitio is wanting no Divine vertue can be practised Either Grace or corrupted Nature are the Originals of our actions whatsover proceeds from the former is sacred whatsoever derives from the second is prophane a good tree cannot bring forth bad fruit nor can a bad one bring forth good Since humane Nature hath lost her Innocence and her Inclinations are corrupted unlesse she be amended by Grace she remains always bâ—assed towards the earth she must be raised up by faith if she will look up to heaven though she see â—er disorder she cannot amend it and though she be conscious of her evill she cannot hate it she wants both light and
it is a part of our selves In fine no reason can justifie despair the number of our enemies the evils of the present life the Good of the Future the cruelty of sicknesses rigour of servitude sweetnesse of liberty strength of Temptations nor the very fear of sin are not considerations sufficient to make us hasten our death 't is alwaies poornesse of spirit not to be able to suffer the evil which we will shun by Homicide Pride hath lesse part in this crime then weaknesse and whatsoever praise the desperate man expects for his attempt wise men will alwaies beleeve that if he had courage enough to bear the miseries of life he would never have had recourse to so cowardly a remedy Al the Fortitude of Philosophers is then but meer cowardise those wounds which despair impatience have made them give themselves deserve more blame then they have received praise a man cannot approve of their fault without becoming guilty thereof and when Seneca imploys his weak reasons to excuse Catoes murther he lets us see that he knew not wherein greatnesse of courage consisted since he made it consist in an action which is more familiar to women then men to slaves then to free persons and to weak than to strong spirits The eigth Discourse That Friendship without Grace is alwaies interessed IF the vertue of Pagans have her stains we must not wonder if their Friendship have her defaults sin hath corrupted the best things and her malice hath left almost nothing in man which doth not deserve reproach or punishment since a sinner is upon bad termes with God he cannot be upon good terms with himself nor with his Neighbour If he love himself t is in excesse and if he love another t is for interest his will being in the power of his enemie he can hardly make good use of it whatsoever he does he is in danger of sinning his love is not much more Innocent than is his hatred and be it that he loves his friends or hates his enemies t is with so little justice as he stands alwaies in need of pardon profane Philosophie prefers Friendship before vertue she gives her such praises as taste of Flattery and if we will beleeve her reasons she will perswade us that the joynt uniting of Hearts is the greatest contentment which man can partake of on Earth 'T is the knot of Society without which States cannot be preserved nor Families maintained Nature made this project in production of woman whom she drew from the rib of man to the end that the resemblance and equality which she placed between them might oblige them to love one another she renews this in brothers who proceed from the same Originall and who are shaped in the same womb to the end that all things may invite them to love Vertue endeavours to make this good more universal and seeing that nature did not give all men brethren she would give them Friends repair their losse with usury For though brothers proceed from the same stem they are not alwayes of the same Humour they differ often more in their Inclinations then in their Countenances but say there were any thing of resemblance in their humours the dividing of Estates divides hearts and Interest which hath to do every where doth many times ruine their best intelligence But Friendship more powerfull than Nature makes a paâ—ty between those whom she will unite the unity of hearts is that which makes all things common and the words Thine and Mine which sets division between Brethren cannot do the like between Friends Nature leaves us no choise in her alliances we are engaged before we be capable of choise and she oft-times makes us love a Monster because he is our Brother but friendship gives us a freedome of choise she permits us to take the best and we are onely to blame our own folly if in the liberty she leaves us we make choise of one for a friend who deserves not our affection Our Brethren are the workmanship of nature she did not advise with us when she gave them life and not having the care of producing them we delight not in preserving them But our friends are the children of our will we formed them when we chose them we think our selves concernedin their losse because we have laboured in the acquiring of them And as Mothers expose themselves for their Children because they are their workmanship so men expose themselves for their friends because they are their Productions But not to spend more time in observing the advantages which friendship hath over and above nature we must confesse there is nothing in the world which ought not to give place to friendship Law which preserves Estates which punisheth vice defends vertue is not equall to her neither for antiquity nor power Punishments nor rewards were never ordained ' till friendship began to coole whil'st she continued in full vigour the use of lawes was uselesse and the Politiques do confesse that States are better governed by good Intelligence amongst Subjects than by Ordinances of Princes the latter reforme onely the mouth or the hand impede onely bad actions or insolent speeches but the former reformes the heart and gliding into the will guides desires and regulates thoughts The Law ends differences but friendship reconciles enemies the law inhibits injuries but friendship adviseth good offices In fine the law is requifite to the commencement or initiation of a good man but friendship is required to his accomplishment and by her advice renders him perfect She is also of use to all sorts of Conditions and that man liues not that needs not a friend A friend is needfull to old men to assist them to young men to guide them to the miserable to comfort them to the ignorant to instruct them and to Kings themselves to increase their felicity For though their condition seem to be raised above that of all other men and that amidst the abundance of riches and honours wherewith they are environed there remains nothing for them to wish for yet ought they to make friends and endeavour a delight which agrees as well with Greatnesse as with Innocence Friendship is the best of all exteriour Goods and 't were unjust that Kings who possesse whatsoever else is of good should not possesse this Friendship obligeth us rather to give than to receive and Kings are in a condition wherein liberality is their principall vertue In fine happy Princes ought not to be solitary and I know not whether any one of them would accept of their felicity at the rate of living solitarily Therefore greatnesse doth not forbid friendship to Soveraignes that which seems to keep them aloofe off from this vertue draws them nearer to it and their power is never more pleasing than when imployed in succouring the miserable or in making men happy Neither do we see any Prince who hath not his Favourite The proudest Monarches
her she boasts that no power equals hers and that without use of fire or sword she hath the power of perswading the opinioned of reducing Rebels and of obliging wicked men to side with vertue She thinks her profession no lesse illustrious than that of Arms that Demosthenes and Cicero may waigh in the scales with Alexander and Caesar and that if there were one Hercules who by his valour overcame monsters there was another who prevailed over men by reason she imagines she may be serviceable to Religion that Christ himself in the plainnesse of his discourse did not neglect adornments that after having astonished sinners by his Miracles he convinced them by his words and that the people being overcome by the Power of his Doctrine confest that no man ever spoke like him In fine if she expresse her self by the mouthes of her Orators we are bound to beleeve that whatsoever is atributed to Philosophie or to Justice is onely the work of Eloquence For they say that 't was she that withdrew men from deserts who reduced them too within Towns who prescribed laws unto them who kept innocence from calumnie and oppression and who changed Tyrannies into lawful Kingly Government To hear them speak you would think that vertue were banisht from off the earth had not Eloquence taken her into her protection and that there should be no longer peace in Kingdoms did not she by her dexterity appease seditions But without listning any longer to her unjust praises I pretend to make her partakers confesse that since she became a slave to sin she injures by one and the same excesse Truth Reason and Religion 'T is hard to say whether Cunning be the father of Eloquence or Eloquence be the mother of cunning but 't is easily to discerne that each of them assist other in the bearing down of truth Both of them being ingenious in extremity they dissemble their meanings and hide their hatred under the appearance of love they speak on their enemies behalfe and the one of them seems to employ his wiles the other her Figures and Tropes onely to make truth appear the more pleasing yet under pretence of serving her they injure her and under colour of establishing her power they destroy her Empire For this vertue worth adoration despiseth deckings she knows her beauty is never more ravishing than when most neglected she rejects borrowed lustre and paint being a kin to falshood she approves not of the use thereof She suspects any thing that may deceive her language is plain her apparell modest and were it not for fear of those unchaste ones who prophane even holy things with their looks she would throw away the vaile that covers her and shew her selfe stark naked to 〈◊〉 her lovers As all her glory consists in her naked plainnesse so doth also her strength the very sight of her is sufficient to make her be beloved she very well knows that they that know her cannot oppose her nor yet defend themselves from her She hath no greater passion than sweetly to insinuate her selfe into mens mindes and by her light to dissipate the obscurity of falshood she very well knows that men do naturally reverence her and that unlesse they be foolish they be never unfaithfull to her Therefore no humane help is of use to her and this powerfull Princesse needs no souldiers to re-possesse her selfe of her State nor to reduce her Rebels to obedience Her very sight is sufficient to make her be obey'd her presence stifles rebellion and as soon as she appears she awakens respect and love in her Subjects hearts But if the malice of the Age were such as should make her seek for partners to defend her certainly she would never implore aid from Orators They are too full of Quircks to please her and she loves plain dealing too well to approve of their cunning All the Tropes and Figures which they make use of in their discourses are but so many disguised falshoods they cannot speak without lying and all the inventions which they borrow from Rhetorick are but undertakings against truth But least I may be accused of falling into an errour which I finde fault with I will examine the figures and make such as make use of them confesse that they are onely to be termed pleasing falshoods The Metaphora which is so frequent with them and wherewithall they heighten their style to raise up the meannesse of their cogitations is it not an Imposture and doth not Eloquence abuse her Auditors when she will perswade them that the fields are thirsty that the drops of deware pearles flowers in medowes are stars and the murmuring of waters musick if thus much license be to be allowed who cannot say that little birds are Angels of the Forrests that Whales are living rocks or ships with soules that the Sea is a moving earth and fountain water liquid Christall who can imagine that truth needs such cunning to defend her selfe that men are onely wrought upon by such raving and that a man cannot please unlesse he be ridiculous Ironia is no truer and if it deserve any pardon 't is because 't is lesse serious for it disguiseth not it's falshood but openly protests against being believed it gives it selfe the lye by it's accent terms not a man innocent save onely that he may be thought guilty 't would think it selfe too silly should it call all things by their names and would not think it selfe sufficintly bitter should it not know how to cover a reall reproach under a false praise Are not Allegories impertinent when to un-weary mens minds they abuse them and say one thing when they think another they will perswade us that a Ship is a Common-wealth Tempests the State-affairs wherewith it is troubled and Mariners the lead men that govern it May not a man with the same affrontednesse affirme that open Countries are Kingdoms that the Mountains are their Kings little hills their Magistrates and Vallies their Subjects must not a man have lost his wits to have made use of these figures and had not one better hold his peace than speak a language which the common sort of people understand not and which wise men despise but an Hyperbole is the more unsufferable for it's insolency and seeming seriousnesse Common expressions seem poor to it it cannot endure any thing that is ordinary but affects extravagancy to hide it's basenesse it heightens nothing with 〈◊〉 exaggeration tells no truth un-mingled with falshood and by aâ—just punishment looseth credit through coveting too much beliefe 'T will make snow black to make a womans face seem fair tarnish the verdue of the rose to exalt the freshnesse of her complexition and darken the Sun to give lustre to her eyes This figure is not to be excused but by acknowledging that it is conscious of it's own rashnesse that it dares more than it hopes for that it is of the humour of those who
shun an ill step or two she falls into a precipice This misfortune may be observed upon a thousand occasions but particularly in what concerns the body of man for some seeing the unrulinesse thereof could not beleeve that it was the workmanship of God and falling insensibly into an Errour perswaded themselves that the Devil was the author thereof some others thinking to withstand this heresie fall into another and considering the beauties of the body thought that it still retained its first purity that the faults thereof were perfections and that all the motions thereof might be represt by free-will without grace The Catholick truth walks in the midst between these two errours condemning the Manichees she acknowledgeth that mans body is made by God enlivened by his breath and fastened to the soul by invisible chaines to make one and the same whole condemning the Pelagians she confesseth that mans body hath lost its innocencie that sin reigns in the members thereof that it infecteth the soul which inanimates it and that the well fare thereof which begins in Baptisme will not be accomplisht till the last generall resurrection Thus God is the Author thereof and 't is a marke of ' its Goodnesse Jesus Christ is the redeemer thereof and 't is a mark of it's corruption I therefore am obliged to part this subject into two discourses the first of which shall contain the bodyes plea the other its condemnation Though the body be the least part of man and that it be Common to him with beasts yet hath it advantages which make it sufficiently known that it is destin'd to be the organ of an immortall soul. For the members thereof are so artificially formed as we cannot judge whether they be more usefull or more pleasing their number causeth no confusion their difference augments their beauty and their proportion gives the last touch to the work which they all together make up All of them have their particular employments they mutually assist one another without intrenching one upon another they hold such intelligence as their good and bad is common the tongue serves for interpreter to the whole body the eyes serve it for a guide the hands for its servants the ears for informers and the leggs for supporters Some of them are in perpetuall motion and never rest Action is their life and rest their death whilest the eyes are lull'd asleep the ears closed up and whilest the feet and hands lie fallow the heart is always in action it seems that nature intended to make it her chief piece of workmanship and that she employ'd all her industry to render it admirable 'T is the first part of man that lives and the last that dies it is so little as 't will not suffice to give a Kite a meal and yet so great as the whole world cannot satisfie it nothing but his immensity that made it can fill the infinite capacity thereof All passions derive from it as from their spring-head 't is this that causeth love and hatred 't is this that shuns what it hates for fear and draws neer to what it loves through desire 'T is lodged like a King in the midst of its subjects it gives its orders without departing from its Throne its motions are the rules of our health and assoon as it is assailed we are sick it s least hurts are mortall Nature which knows the worth and the weaknesse thereof hath endued all its subjects with a secret inclination to expose themselves for its defence the hands put by the blows that are made at it and knowing that their welfare consists in the preservation thereof they hazard themselves to save it from danger To reward this their service this Sovereigne is so vigilant as he never takes rest he labours alwayes for the weal-publick and whilest the senses are asleep he is busied in moving the Arteries in forming the Spirits and in distributing them about all the parts of the Body The Braines finish this work and giving it its last perfection dispose it to the noblest operations of the soul. This work ceaseth not though men sleep though the Soul take some refreshment these two parts of the Body are always in action and when they cease to move they cease to live All these live in so full a peace as the difference of their temper is not able to disturbe it Cold accords there with heat moystnesse is there no longer an enemy to drynesse and the elements which cannot tolerate one another in the World conspire together in man for his bodies preservation If any disorder happen it is occasioned by forreign heat the naturall Subjects never trouble the States tranquility they are so straightly joyn'd by their Interests as nothing can befall the one which the other doth not resent the pain of one part is the sicknesse of the whole body and if the foot be hurt the tongue complains the heart sighes the eyes weep the head bowes to consider the evill and the armes extend themselves to apply remedy If their love be so rare their obedience is no lesse remarkable for they force their own inclinations to observe the orders of the will and their fidelity is so ready as the command is no sooner impos'd then obey'd at their Soveraigns bare motion the hands strive to be acting the tongue explains his intentions the eyes expresse his thoughts and the eares execute his designs The will findes out so much submission in the faculties of the soule as in the parts of the body she is oft-times divided by her desires and opposed by her own inclinations sheis a rebell to her selfe cannot comprehend how one and the same object can cause horrour and love in her at the same time but she never commands her body without being obey'd and unlesse passions make a mutiny in it or that it be disorder'd by sicknesse it fulfils her orders with as much readinesse as faithfulnesse She likewise undertakes nothing without the assistance of this faithfull companion she stands in need of his aid in her noblest operations and though she be a meer spirit she can neither discourse nor reason but by the interposition of the body if she will forme thoughts she must consult with the imagination and if she will explain them she is forced to make use either of tongue or hand she hath no strong agitations which appear not in the eyes and when she is disquieted by any violent passion 't is soon seen in the face A man must be very vigilant to hinder the commerce between the body and the soule the rules of discretion and all art of policy which re-commends dissimulation to Soveraigns cannot keep their countenances from discovering their designes nor their eyes from betraying their wills the soule conceales nothing from this her faithfull confident he that could well study the changes which appear in the face might infallibly know the alterations of the minde and without needing to wish as that
what she hath received by the eare and as she is rich onely by means of the senses so is she by them onely liberall She observes the different qualities of objects by the eyes she judgeth of the diversity of sounds by the eares she comprehends mens intentions by their discourse she makes hers known by the tongue and this miraculous part of the body frames words which draw her thoughts unto the life If those who are absent cannot understand her she hath recourse to the hand which draws her dictates upon paper and which makes that appear to the eyes which the tongue could not make the eares comprehend Thus the soule acts onely by the body and all Sciences by which we are either instructed or perswaded are as well the work of the senses as of the soule Vertue it selfe owes her birth to the meanest part of man and were he not made of flesh and bloud he could offer no sacrifice to God neither could he satisfie divine Justice by his repentance The purity which equals him with Angls is not wholly spirituall if be borne in heaven 't is bred upon earth and if it begin in the soul it ends in the body Fasting and silence keep the flesh under to purifie the soule and if man had not a tongue and mouth he could neither praise God in silence nor honour him by self-affliction Martyrdom which is the utmost of charity and the highest degree of perfection is consummated onely in the flesh meer spirits cannot be a prey to wilde beasts and a soule which hath put off her body cannot overcome Tyrants nor triumph over Executioners Mortallity is requisite to Martyrdom and if the Angels be somwhat more than we men because they cannot die they are in some sort lesse because they cannot suffer death is the triall of our love and as oft as we lose our lives in Christs quarrell we strike terrour into devils and fill Angels with admiration In fine the honour which God receives on earth proceeds from the body 'T is the body which is his Priest and Victime 't is the body which bears his imprinted characters in it's face 't is the body which commands on earth and which playing the part of Gods Lieutenant findes obedience amongst the Elements and mildnesse amongst savage beasts 'T is the body which fights for the Glory of the Son of God and which defends his Interest to the face of Tyrants and which sings his praises amidst the Flames 'T is the body which being made by his hands and in-livened by his breath hath the honour to be his workmanship and his Temple 'T is the body which is the object of his love and of his care which seeth the Sun surround the world to lighten it fruits bud to nourish it flowers spring up to recreate it and whole nature labours for it's pleasure or service In fine 't is the body which is offered up upon Altars which fights in persecutions which praiseth God in prosperity which blesseth him in afflictions which honours him in death which in the Grave expects his promises which will rise again at the end of the World and which will reign for ever in Heaven The second Discourse Of the miseries of the Body in Generall THe evils which we receive from the body are so great as that al Philosophy is nothing but an invective against this enemy of our repose If we beleeve the Platonists t is a prison wherein the Soul is inclosed to expiate the sins which she hath committed in Heaven If we will listen to the Academicks t is a grave wherein the Soul is buried and where being more dead than alive she cannot make use of all those perfections which she hath received from Nature If we trust the Stoicks t is a disobedient slave which opposeth it self to all the souls desires and which being born to obey hath no so great passion as to command t is a subject which aspires to Tyranny and which forceth its legitimate sovereign to forgo both honour and vertue and to embrace voluptuousnesse If we will give ear to the Peripateticks who come neerest the truth t is the least part of Man which being given him to serve the soul crosseth all her designs and hinders the execution of her noblest enterprises Hence it is that all Philosophers do what in them lieth to have no commerce with the body and wish for death or old age to the end that the one may weaken this Domestick enemy and that the other may free them from it Christian Religion which marcheth in the midst of errours with assurance confesseth that the body is as well the workmanship of God as the soul is and though it be not altogether so noble it ceaseth not to be destined to the same happinesse But as slaves are punisht for their masters and as children sometimes bear the punishment of their fathers sins the body hath been punisht for the soul and from the time it became confederate in her crime it partook in her punishment Though the soul be the more guilty the body is the more unfortunate and of the two parts which go to the composure of man the most innocent seems to be the most miserable For to boote that it is subject to pain by reason of the elements bad intelligence that it undergoes sicknesses whereby the health thereof is prejudiced that it cannot be cured but by troublesome remedies that the fear of death be a punishment which lasts as long as its life it is notwithstanding occasion of the most sins whereof the soul is guilty and this Sovereign thinketh she should be innocent if she were not fastened to so guilty a Party To disintangle all these things we must know that when the soul lost her priviledges the body lost likewise its advantages for the same grace wâ— made the soul pleasing to God made the body subject to the soul the same innocencie which preserved the sovereign from sin warranted the slave from death But when once man became guilty he became unfortunate and when once he lost originall righteousnesse he therewith lost all the dependencies thereupon Errour and blindness slid into the understanding malice glided into the will and by a consequence which Divine Justice made necessary illusion crept into the senses sicknesse altered mans temper pain disquieted his rest and death sho tened his life These punishments are so irksome as each of them deserves a discourse and not to enter upon a subject which I should handle more at large it shall suffice me for the present to make it manifest that though the body be the Souls slave since sin it is become her Tyrant and that it neither tastes of contentment nor suffers sorrow wherein it shares not with her Pain is a sensible evill and were not the Soul ingaged in the body she without the least commotion would behold the most grievous punishments but nature having composed man of these two
to cure us without offending some of oursenses all her remedies are torments if she restore us to health we must undergoe pain ere we come by it she hurts us to cure us nor hath she yet found the receipt how to make her potions pleasing the sweetest things in her hands become either dead or bitter sugar and honey do distaste us when prepared by her and she is so unfortunate in all her designes as she weakens her remeâ—s when she thinks to make them appear pleasing Chyrurgerie which follows her as her handmaid out-bids her Mistresse for cruelty Tyrants are not so cruell as her officers she hath more instruments to afflict the sick withall than hang-men have to torment the guilty all her cures are effected by fire and iron she widens wounds to close them she cuts off some members to save the rest of the body she draws the stone out of the bladder with such torture as seems to equall that of the damned and she is either so cruell or so unfortunate as she cannot make men whole without making them Martyrs a life accompanied with so much pain cannot be very pleasing health so dearly bought cannot be much delightfull and a man must be stupid if he do not equally apprehend the malady and the cure We see nothing in the world which ought not to cause horrour in us The simples in our gardens call to minde our sicknesses the fairest of our flowers teach us that we either are sick or may be those drugs which we fetch from the furthest Indics are proofes of our infirmities our Ancestors world will not suffice to cure us we must seek for a new world to find new remedies in and if the desire of glory make the ambitious passe over unknown seas the desires of health make the sick discover forreign Countries Who will not confesse that man is sufficiently sinfull since there is no part of his body which is not threatned with sundry maladies and who will not confesse that he is very unfortunate since all his remedies are punishments and that he cannot buy his health but by the losse of pleasure 'T is true that if we more value Gods glory then our own interest we shall finde contentment in our pain for his justice is satisfied by our sicknesse his power appears in our infirmities and his mercies are seen in our recoveries He invents evills to punish the guilty he imployes our sicknesse to expiate our sins he makes as good use of a fever as of death to convert us he beats down the pride of Monarchs with punishments which taking their name from their weaknesse are called infirmities His power was admired in Egypt when he made use of little flies to overcome Pharaohs obstinacy men were astonished to see these small animalls set upon the souldiers of this great Prince that they wounded them deeply with weak weapons and that by their little Trunks more powerfull in the hand of God than those of Elephants they brought all that Monarches subjects to despair they were surprized when grashoppers made up a body of an Army in his State when they spread themselves overall his Provinces when they laid all his grounds waste eat up the eares of corn and left a fearfull so litarinesse which threatned the whole Kingdom with an universall Famine Men wondred when the frogs forsaking their marish grounds entred Towns and houses broke through the Corps du-Guards threw themselves into Pharaohs Palace and passing even to his private Closet whereunto he had withdrawn himself did in their croking voice upbraid unto him his pride and infidelity But this so mighty miracle comes short of that which Divine Justice shews in the sicknesses of the earthly Monarches grashoppers are not so dreadfull in his hands as are fevers and contagious diseases and if he appeared adorable when he revenged himself upon his enemies by flyes and frogs he is no lesse the same when he stings the nerves by the Gout When by a grain of sand he stops the uritaries or when by a vapour which assailes the brains he puts a period to the designes of the greatest Princes of the world Grashoppers are the works of his hands he imploys the beautifullest of all constellations to form them and he gives them meadows to walk in and disport themselves but sicknesses are the daughters of sin and mothers of death Being the spring of Rebellion they ought not render obedience to God and not being the workmanship of his Power they ought not to serve his justice yet he imployes them to punish the Rebels of his Kingdom he useth them as State Policies and not making use of fire or water he commands the Fever or the Goute to set upon Princes in their Pallaces to mow down their Subjects and to turn the most populous Towns into dreadfull desarts if these faithfull Officers doe sometime serve his Justice they are also sometimes serviceable to his mercy for sicknesses do losen us from the earth they bereave us of the use of pleasure and taking from us the power of doing ill they make us forgo the desire thereof they change the love we bear unto our body into a holy aversion they ruin sin whereof they are the effects and rendring obedience to Gods designs they cure the man by hurting the Malefactour The sixth Discourse That the bodies beauty is become perishable and criminall A Man must be blinde if he value not beauty her advantages are so visible as she is sure to have the better if her judges have eyes Beauty is the first perfection which is seen in any one and which steals away the heart of the beholders She doth so powerfull forestall the understanding as we cannot harbour an ill opinion of a handsome personage and since we are perswaded that the works of Nature are perfect we are apt to beleeve that she hath inclosed a fair Soul in a handsome body T is therefore that the Platonicks terme beauty the luster of Goodnesse and will have her to be the visible Image of an invisible perfection she hath such power over humane Judgement as good fortune cannot be expected where there is no handsomenesse Angels finde their contentment in beholding the beauty of God Devils think themselves onely unfortunate for having lost the hope of enjoying it and though it be the cause of their torments yet is the object of their desires This perfection ravisheth the will so readily as the sight of her is sufficient to make her be beloved she oft-times changeth hatred into love and to make her power appear she delights to make her Enemies her Lovers We have heard of a daughter that fell in love with him that murthered her Father the handsome comportment of this Prince blotted all hatred out of her heart and the beauty which appeared in his countenance forced her to love him whom by nature and reason she was bound to hate Barbarians bear respect unto her fair personageâ—
harder to be repaired than those which they commit upon the constitution whole mouthes are required to their reparation after p the fever hath left them the colour in the cheek is not so soon re-gained as health And women as if they did prefer pleasure before profit are sorry to see themselves sooner well than fair nothing can consolate them for the losse of a thing held so precious but the knowledge that it was natures pleasure it should not be permanent For her rarest workmanships are of least durance there is no beauty constant save that of the stars and yet they may complain that the cloudes darken them by night and the sun by day The rain-bow is the most beautifull of all Meteors it shames the Art of painting be it either for lustre or for the mixture of colours it 's figure is so perfect as the compasse cannot imitate it the greatnesse thereof is so vast as it incompasseth halfe the world the waters whereof it is composed nourish hope in the husbandman it causeth fruitfulnesse in fields and warns men to shun the storms which it threatens 'T is a pledge of the peace which heaven hath made with earth and though it presage rain to men in generall yet doth it assure the faithfull that the world shall never be drowned again yet so rare a marvaile lasts but a few moments One and the same hour sees the beginning and the end thereof the Sun seems to have made it only to please itselfe in the un-making thereof The rose amongst flowers is like the rain-bow amongst Meteors her vermillion out-vies all the beauty of the world Her odour naturally as it is disputes for precedency with the most pleasing perfumes that Art can compose the placing of her leaves puts painters who would imitate her to their wits ends yet too boot that she is environed with prickles and that she seems to share more in the curse of the earth than other flowers her life lasts but for a few days the Sun which gave her life gives her death and that fire which enlivens her purple is extinguished as soon as lighted Neither is the beauty of women of long durance that lustre which bewitcheth men is lost in a few years and they are unjust in wishing that men should be constant in their love since the object which gives it birth is so subject to alteration But this fault in beauty were excusable since it cures the malady which it caused were it not accompanied with another which can admit of no excuse neither deserves any pardon For beauty is become an enemy to chastity and since the soule and body are at ods these two qualities have much adoe to agree Fair women are seldome chaste nature since corrupted is turned hypocrite beauty is no longer a mark of goodnesse she forgoes the soule as soon as she appears upon the body and as if perfection were no longer to be found upon earth a woman ceaseth oft-times to be chaste when she begins to be lovely That Father in Ovid did witnesse this very well who being desired by his daughter that he would give her leave to consecrate her virginity to Diana reply'd that her beauty gain-said her designe that she was too fair to be chaste and that though she should have resolution enough to keep her vow she had too many lovers to preserve her chastity 't is very hard for a woman who delights in causing love in others not to share therein her selfe and that a woman of an excellent beauty should be ice since she gives fire to so many flames she cannot resolve to hate all those that love her she cannot be perswaded that those who honour her should undoe her what advise soever her directour gives her she cannot believe that those who are her slaves should be her enemies nor that those that praise her beauty would wound her honour She thinks that beauty of no power which hath no Martyrs she believes she cannot judge of her own charmes but by her servants sighes that she is ignorant of her own conquests if she learn them not from their mouthes and that there is yet somwhat wanting to her Triumph if those who have experience of her cruelty do not implore her mercy Flattered by these false perswasions she exposeth her selfe to danger and out of hope of obtaining new victories she engageth her selfe in fresh combates if she be not seduced by vanity she is misled by pitty and believes that those who behave themselves so handsomly in their complaints suffer reall pains compassion makes her throw open the doores to love and under pretence of easing anothers malady she forgets her duty and betrayes her honour If she preserves her chastity amidst so many rocks which threaten her shipwrack she runs great hazard of loosing her humility her lovers Panegyricks make her think better of her selfe and those praises which men rob God of to give her perswade her that she is somwhat of divine Those who cannot corrupt her by their idle discourse seduce her by their adorations not being able to make her unchaste they make her proud not being able to bereave her of her chastity they take from her her modesty and bring her into a sad condition wherein pride is as it were necessary to her for defence of her honesty She likes not of common homage she thinks her selfe injured if men use not blasphemy to heighten her beauty and unlesse upon cold bloud men say what enamour'd Poets use to do in raptures she thinks her selfe slighted her lovers extravagancies are her Panegyricks she thinks not that they love unlesse they lose their reason nor doth she judge their passion to be extream unlesse they commit a thousand follies She judges of her power by her injustice if she doth not engage those who serve her in hard and ridiculous enterprises she doubts of their fidelity and because love is a kind of madnesse she will have all her lovers to be either mad or out of their wits 'T is not enough for a man to lose his liberty in her service unlesse he lose his judgment also more cruell then Tyrants and more absolute then Kings she will have her slaves to be her Martyrs that they kisse their fetters love their sufferings and listen with respect to their doom of death Thus Pride springs from beauty fair women grow proud and their insolence grows to that height as to ravish men from God to commit that execrable attempt on earth which Lucifer did in Heaven and to make all creatures adore rhem The first Christian women who very well knew the misfortune which accompanied this advantage did gallantly despise it they were ashamed to be handsome they neglected what our women so much value they thought it a fault to heighten a perfection which produceth lewd desires the purest amongst them wisht that old age might free them of this domestick enemy the most zealous did set upon
fine earth is the place of desert and heaven the abode of recompence God hath reserved unto himself the care of dispensing glory to those that serve him 't is he who will make the Saints Panygericks and who will crown their vertues let us not intrench upon his rights let us give all glory to him since he is the fountain thereof and let us confesse that man would never have been ambitious if he had always continued innocent The third Discourse That greatnesse is attended by flavery and vanity THough sin hath corrupted mans nature though it have bereft him of those glorious advantages which made him walk hand in hand with Angels and hath reduced him to a condition wherein he is equally grieved with shame and misery yet hath it not been able to blot out of his soul the memory of his greatnesse For though the world be a place of banishment though all Creatures war against him and that the seasons are become irregular onely to make him suffer he notwithstanding seeks for Paradice upon the earth and amidst all his mischiefs he continues a desire of happinesse Though ignorance be the punishment of his sin though his blindnesse continue all his life time and that the darknesse which clouds his understanding suffers him not to discern between vice vertues yet he thirsts after truth he seeks her amidst falshood and oft-times fights to find her out though since the losse of his innocency he be become slave to his passions and that to obey such insolent Masters he be enforced to forego his liberty he ceaseth not to love command and to pretend to the Empire of the whole world he endevours to recover by injustice what he hath lost by Vanity and not able to come by royalty he with open face aspires to Tyranny The Devil who cannot efface his desires which are as the remainder of innocency is content to corrupt them and to propose unto him false objects to divert him from true ones To say truth man takes no longer pleasure in any thing save in criminall delights the inclination which he hath for the Summum Bonum serves onely to keep the further from it and for not taking his aim aright he strays from his end whilest he thinks to draw neer it the love which he bears to knowledge is but a meer curiosity he loves truth like a whore not like a legitimate wife he seeks her out onely to passe away his time as oft as she blames his disorders he turns his love into hatred and becomes her persecutor whose servant he was His passion for Sovereignty is not more lawfull though he desire a Good which he hath possessed 't is upon such conditions as make his desire unjust He wisheth for an independant Crown whith may hold of no body he will be absolute in his estate and since he is become the Devils slave he will be no longer Gods subject his ambition will not suffer him to acknowledge his legitimate Sovereign and his basenesse forceth him to tolerate a Tyrant he would think he should injure his liberty should he assubject it to the will of his Creator and thinks not that he wrongs his nobility when he submits himself to an usurper he feeds himself with vain authority and false greatnesse he thinks himself not forced because he follows his own inclinations and because his Master keeps him tied up with Chains of Gold he cannot think he is a slave This errour slides the easilyer into the souls of Kings for that seeing so many subjects obey them they cannot perswade themselves that servitude can meet with so many marks of liberty These crowned heads can hardly believe that their will which is the living law of their Empire is made a Captive that they who are their subjects destiny should hold of an invisible Tyrant and that they who passe for the Gods of the world should be the Devils slaves the submission which they finde in their Dominions makes them believe they are absolute the blinde respect which is rendred to their degree makes them forget the miseries of their birth flattery insinuates her selfe easily into them unlesse they be armed with reason to withstand her and these pleasing falshoods banish away truth In so high a pitch of fortune where nothing is wanting to compleat the felicity of their senses their soule is weakned and being charmed by false praises they believe what they desire They imagine that death dares not assaile a Monarch which the world stands in awe of and whom fortune reverenceth They make a God-head of their greatnesse they despise such honours as are not divine and though sicknesses which advertise them of their weaknesse assure them of their deaths they hope for an un-exampled miracle and perswade themselves that immortality is a favour wherewith heaven will honour their merit The guards which watch about their Palaces might easily cure them of this errour did not flattery which makes them as stupid as insolent bereave them both of their judgement and modesty the conspiracies which are made against their persons the parties which are packt in their Territories the cunning which is used to corrupt their subjects loyalty are reasons good enough to abate their pride and to destroy that foolish confidence which feeds their vanity But without going so far for remedies for their evils their onely greatnesse is able to cure them when if they would consider the condition whereinto sin hath reduced Monarchs they would confesse that the power which waites upon them is but weak and dangerous full of anxiety and mixt with servitude Though God will suffer us to share with him in his perfections though he permit that our vertues be a shadow of his divine attributes that our condition be such as we may imitate them and though a man be not rationall unlesse he endeavour to expresse in his soule an image of divinity yet amongst that number of perfections which we adore in God some seem to be advantagious to us other some prejudiciall It is lawfull for all men to aspire to holinesse and let us give what ever reins we please to this passion it can never be criminall Every one may safely imitate mercy when according to Gods example our benefits extend unto the good and to the evill to Turks and Christians and when without making any distinction of persons we do equally oblige the innocent and the faulty a vertue is not to be blamed which hath God for it's example in the religion which we professe a man cannot have too much charity the perfection whereof consists in excesse and he who is most charitable is undoubtedly the most perfect Christian. But there are some other attributes in God which one nor can nor ought to imitate save with an humble reservednesse it is dangerous to wish for knowledge and as our first father lost himselfe onely out of a desire of being too knowing the desire thereof is oft-times sinfull
and the seeking after it always dangerous Beauty is one of the excellentest perfections which religion acknowledgeth in God 't is the chiefe object of our beatitude and were not God as beautifull as he is good he would not be the desire and the happinesse of all rationall creatures yet we cannot seek after the possession of this advantage without danger in women pride accompanies beauty chastity and she are not upon good tearms and 't is a kinde of prodigy when a woman is as chaste as fair Greatnesse and power are two of Gods Attributes which merit equall honour each of them inspires fear into the soule of the creature if they be ravisht with his goodnesse his Majesty astonisheth them and if his beauty oblige them to love him his power enforceth them to reverence him Thus dividing themselves between respect and love they love him as their Father and adore him as their Sovereign yet this perfection which preserves the honour of God amongst men cannot without danger be wished for who prescribes not bounds to the desire thereof falls easily into errour and he who pretends to his greatnesse who hath no equall cannot avoid his just anger Lucifers undoing was for that he would reign in heaven if pride was his sin greatnesse was the object thereof and if that glorious Angell be now a devill 't is because his ambition made him wish himselfe a God The cause of his disaster is oft-times the cause of ours that which drove him from heaven banisht Adam out of Paradise this children of the unfortunate father mistaking his fault bear his punishment and finde by experience that of all worldly conditions the most glorious is most dangerous and the most absolute is most faulty It is more safe to obey than to command and let Kings be never so godly in their Thrones they run more hazard in their welfare then their subjects do the higher they be raised up by greatnesse the more are they threatened by vanity that which draws them neerer God keeps them the farther from him and the same Majesty which makes them his images makes them oft-times his enemies This condition placeth Kings upon the brink of a precipice the higher it is the more dangerous is it and like the highest mountains is always exposed to storms so great is the danger which doth accompany it as it may be doubted whether a Scepter be not aswell the punishment of Gods justice as the favour of his mercy The first King of Israel was a reprobate his election which was somewhat miraculous freed him not from sin neither could the prayers of a Prophet appease Gods anger his fault at first was but impatience and in the progresse thereof but a slight enterprize upon the priestly office The presence of his enemies whereby he was obliged to fight might serve him for an excuse and the laws of war which will have a man make use of advantages was a reason of state which might have sheltred him in the opinion of Polititians Yet this fault which had so fair an appearance was punished by the routing of his army he found death when he sought for glory and the same mountain which was the pitcht field wherein he set upon his enemies was the scaffold whereon he was punished by Divine Justice Poets who never read our scripture judged aright that Crowns were not always set upon the most innocent heads and that kingdoms were oftner the punishment of sin than the reward of vertue Iocasta made use of this reason to divert Polinices from the war which he undertook against Eteocles she assured him that without troubling himself with fighting he should be sufficiently revenged of a reigning brother for that a kingdome was a severe punishment and that of all his ancestors there was not any Sovereign who had not been unfortunate Though this Maxime be not always true in Christianity and that there have been Kings whose Thrones have served them for steps to mount up to heaven by 't is alwaies very dangerous to be raised to a condition which permits them to doe what they please and with not bereaving them of their passions unrulinesse affords them means of satisfying them For in this supream authority which hath no arbitrator nor censurer they can do what they will their power meets with no resistance all their councellors are their slaves and either flatttery or fear makes all men praise their injustice or bear with their violence if they be unchast 't is not safe to be chast in their dominions All women are not couragious enough to expose their lives to save their honour those who have worth enough to resist the vain discourses of men have not strength sufficient to withstand a Princes promises and there are but very few who will not hazard their chastity to triumph over the liberty of a Monarch If they be greedy they will find a thousand pretences to enrich themselves at their subjects costs and to fill their cofers with the spoyles of Orphans and Widows If they be cruell they will find fitting Ministers for their fury glorious names are given unto their faults all their revenges passe for acts of justice they are termed the Fathers of the people when they wash their hands in their subjects bloud their anger is animated by servile praise and their cruelty incouraged by approbation so as Kings have no greater enemies to their welfare then this uncurbed licentiousnesse which accompanieth their greatnesse and that absolute power which furnisheth them with means to execute all their designs But say they were lesse irregular and grant that reason assisted by Grace should keep them from abusing their Sovereign Authority they would not be exempt from fears and dangers For as they are the heads of their People they are answerable for their faults they commit all the evil which they do not hinder those publike disorders wherewith all the world is scandalized are the particular sins of Sovereigns When they examine their conscience they are bound to renew their state to consider whether justice be exercised in all their hightribunals whether the governors of Provinces do not abuse their power whether the nobility in the Countrey do not trample upon the poor sort of countrey people and whether the Judges suffer themselves not to be terrified by threats or corrupted by promises they ought to accuse themselves of all such faults as grow insolent thorow impunity and make their kingdomes disorders the chief article of their confession How great is this obligation how dangerous is this condition and what hazard is there in making good a dignity wherein Innocency becomes guilty where though exempt from sin one is not exempt from fear and where to acquit himself of his duty a man must to the quality of an honest upright man adde the quality of a good Sovereign In the state of innocency the world had had no kings or kings would have had no trouble for passion
we bring to this disorder have not yet been able to reform it our most harmlesse recreations may become faulty and we find by experience that whilst we think to divert our mind we ingage it in the creature which doth estrange it from the Creator Our disports have no longer either measure or bounds they are either uselesse or dangerous if there be no excesse in them there is vanity if they do not ravish our hearts they steal away our time and if they do not altogether thwart Gods will they hinder us from following it There are some men whose eyes are only busied in beholding the beauty of Tulips they make an Art of this pleasure and a serious occupation of this uselesse recreation they traffique in onions as Merchants do in stuffs The price of these flowers is inhanced by their fantasticalnesse an extravagancy in nature passeth with them for a miracle they therein admire the mixture of colours they are not therein pleased with purity and to use Tertullians words if they meet with no adultery or incest there they are not pleased their passion hath found out a new language to expresse the difference of Tulips 't is a piece of incongruity to use an ordinary term a man must speak according to the rules of Art if he will be admitted into their Academy All the secrets of husbandry are requisite to cultivate these flowers which do satisfie but one of our senses they must be taken out of the earth and put in again in their due seasons and a man must labour all the whole year to reap some delight in the Spring The love of painting is yet of lesse â—e then is that of flowers for let painters do what they can they cannot equall nature their pieces will never be so well finished as are her productions nor can their pensils how excellent Masters soever they be represent the roses and lillies which grow in the fields yet we see men of good condition who fill their Closets with pictures who extract vanity from whence the painters have extracted profit who spend their lives in observing the Pieces made by Bassaâ— or Caravaggio who study to know a copy from an originall and who spend a good part of their estate in buying of pictures which do not content their eyes till they have wounded their imaginations This exercise is termed an honest recreation men never blame themselves for having spent all their time their estaâ— and their affection in this uselesse occupation nor do they think themselves too blame though they make an Idoll of the handy work of a Carver or Painter Though clocks are usefull and that the houres which they shâ—w forth put us in mind of the shortnesse of our life yet cannot I approve of too inordinate affection thereunto For what likelihood is there that our watches should measure our time of which we are so prodigall That we should take so much pain to make them go aright and that we should not labour to accord our passions that we should be carefull to govern them by the Sun and should never think of governing our selves by Jesus Christ yet this is one of the pastimes of the age where we may see men who carry the rule of their life in their pockets who accommodate themselves unto their watches who think not that they go astray because they measure their moments and enjoyning themselves to as much pain as did Charls the Fift think there goes no lesse art to make many watches go just together then to make divers people joyn in the same designe Learned men despise these recreations and yet take others which bear not more reason with them the knowledge of Medals which was formerly only an help to History is now the occupation of Criticks They neglect the lives of Princes to study their pictures they ground their science upon the Caprichio of an Ingraver such monies as were currant in the reign of the Emperours are placed in the best parts of their Cabinets They treasure up brasse and latten out of a foolish curiosity they change weighty gold for rusty medals and 〈◊〉 if antiquity set a valuation upon all things they more esteem the picture of Antonius or Marcus Aurelius upon copper then that of Henry the Great or Lewis the Just upon gold they vex themselves about worn out characters they ask advice of all Authours to explain these Enigmaes and as if they were ingenious to their prejudice they seek in sepulchres the cause of their punishments These Sanctuaries of the dead to which avarice bears respect have not been able to defend themselves against these men who do violate religion to content curiosity Nature complains of their searches and all the World wonders that the pictures of the dead which have nothing of pleasing in them can serve for a diversion to the living But if all these pastimes be the effects of sin it must be confest that gaming is one of the most unjust and sinfull ones it is authorized by custome and because 't is common 't is thought to be harmelesse halfe the world have no other imployment but this exercise 'T is is the trade of all such as have no trade and the occupation of all uselesse men 't is the ruine of the greatest families and it alone sends more poor to the Hospitall then hunting love and war do joyned altogether yet hath it so powerfull Charms as it makes it selfe be beloved of all those that it disobligeth it's Martyrs are so faithfull to it as when they have no more to lose they notwithstanding languish after it it 's inconstancy makes them love it they hope that after having dealt ill with them it will make them amends and being far from imitating those discreet lovers who cease to pursue an ungratefull Mistresse who paies their service with dis-respect they endeavour to overcome it's inconstancy by their fidelity when this Tyrant hath made himselfe master of their affection 't is almost impossible to get them out of his clutches the losse of their estate sets them not at liberty after having lost wherewithall to play they continue to love it and the will growing obdurate against what resists it they never have so great a passion for this pastime as when they are not in a condition of taking it Though I hope not to cure an evill which all the world holds incurable I will not forbear to make the nature of it known to the end those who are not yet infected therewithall may defend themselves against it and that growing weary by other mens harms they may fortunately eschew the danger It 's first disorder is that it awakens all the passions which discompose the heart of man it excites all those motions which molest his reason it raiseth those overflowings which morall philosophy endevours to calme it irritates such Tempests as the other striveth to allay causeth more storms in a moment then all
as good as fair Shee to whom nature had not been so liberall of her favours learnt by this true friend that she was to amend the faults of her face by the perfections of her soul and that she ought to strive for the advantages of men since she wanted those of women A young Prince who observed in this true glasse that he was in the Flower of his age found himself obliged to undertake such glorious actions as render men famous an old man who saw his wrinkles and gray haires in this chrystall resolved to do nothing unworthy of his condition and seeing by his colour that he had not long to live prepared to die with courage Thus was the use of looking glasses a serious study men learnt vertue by beholding themselves and every one seeing his conscience in his face put on a generous resolution to acquit himselfe of his duty but incontinency hath prophaned this innocent art in this corrupted age if men see their faces in a glasse 't is that they may endeavour to surprize chastity and women look therein only to entertain their vanities Ambition gives not place to impurity and if the latter be ingenious in corrupting the purest things the other knows how to assubject the most noble In effect she teacheth Lions obedience she fastens them to the Chariots of Triumphers and having tamed men she tames wilde beasts She engages Elephants in a fight she encourageth these huge Lumps against her Enemies she loads them with Towers upon their backs she makes use of their Trunck and teacheth them to war that she may win battels at their cost she makes the ground to groan under the weight of her Engines the mountains to quake at the noise of her Cannons she sends death by their bullets into Towns and imprisoning the noblest of Elements in Mines she forceth it to blow up bastions to recover it's liberty she tames the Seas haughtinesse she forceth this Monster to bear her ships to assist her in her Conquests to open the way unto her to lead her into the farthest distant Countries and to serve her for a Theater to fight upon and bear away victory Thus man instructed by this bad Mistresse assubjects all the Elements to his Tyranny he forceth the inclinations of the noblest subjects he makes them guilty of his offences and strangely abusing his liberty he makes them mutiny against their Common Sovereign Taking the same freedom he prophanes sacred things makes the worlds most holiest parts serve his impiety For though heaven be the Temple wherein God resides though the Sun be the Throne wherein he makes himselfe visible though the Stars be open eyes through which he observes our faults yet the Libertine abuses all these excellent creatures in his unjust designes he disposeth of heaven as of the earth he promiseth it unto himselfe after his death and imagines he ought to reign amongst Angels after having commanded amongst men he perswades himselfe that the Sun riseth onely to afford him light that the Stars finish their courses onely to serve him that the Planets meet not but to observe his adventures and to presage his victories and being strangely hoodwinkt hee believes that Nature is onely busied to finde him pastimâ— or for his honour He raiseth up devills by the help of Magick he extends his Empire even unto hell not knowing that he purchaseth his power by the losse of his liberty that he becomes their slave who obey him and that he procures unto himselfe as many Tyrants after death as he imployes officers in his life time The creatures to revenge themselves for so many out-rages conspire his undoing and declare war against him he sees no one part in all his Dominions wherein he findes not either Rebels or Enemies whatsoever he undertakes he meets with resistance and his subjects through despair resolve to free themselves from their unjust Sovereign though by their own undoing Of the so many ways which they finde to revenge themselves or punish him the two most remarkable are violence or cunning The first is more sensible the second more dangerous For no man is so resolute but that he trembles when he sees all creatures armed against him and that wheresoever he turns his eye he either findes factions or revolts in his state Every Element threatens him with a thousand torments he findes no sanctuary amidst so many dangers and let him be how carefull he can to defend himself he knows he cannot shun a violent death for to understand it aright no death is naturall and if we give it somtimes that Title 't is either to sweeten the rigour thereof or to confound nature with sin This war which appears so cruell is not the most dangerous for to boot that we know how to defend our selves from it and that self-self-love hath found out remedies for all our evils it loosens us from off the earth it makes us abhor our exile and love our dear Countrey it raiseth us up gently into heaven and we may say that if this persecution makes not Martyrs it doth at least make Penitents But the other is so much more dangerous as it is more pleasing it deceives us so much the more easily by how much it flatters us more cunningly for the creatures are in the devils hands to seduce us they are full of snaâ—es and nets to surprize us we can hardly make use of them without hazarding our welfare This Tyrant who got the Sovereignty of them when he lost it in Paradise makes such cunning use of them as it is almost impossible to avoid his snares To preserve our innocence we ought to interdict our selves the use of the world and not to fall under the slavery of devils it seems we ought to have no commerce with his creatâ—res They were formerly faithfull Guides which led us to God and now they draw us far from him formerly they taught us our mysteries and to know the beauty of God a man was only to consider his works now they engage us in errour the Prince of darknesse imployes them either to abuse Philosophers or to deceive the mis-believers formerly they served us for pastime wherein pleasure was mingled with innocency they charmed our eyes without distracting our mindes religion and study were not as yet separated the one and the other of them had their sweets without bitternesse and made men learned and godly without labour but now the creatures serve us for pastime only to undo us the sports which they furnish us withall are almost always accompanied with sin if we exceed necessity we fall into intemperance and if we use them profusely we cannot shun injustice Every creature bears about it's dangers with it a man must stand upon his guard when he intends to make use of them and who sailes upon this sea without very much caution is in danger of shipwrack We ought most to suspect such things as are most necessary for us
and makes the fields barren he shakes the foundations of the earth he over-whelms men under the ruines of their houses and immolates victimes to his fury when he cannot win slaves to his ambition so as be it in prosperity or in adversity we are bound to confesse that by the good will of God the elements hold of the Devil and that the Creatures are corrupted by sin since they serve as Instruments to our enemy to sooth us into our concupiscence and to abase our courage The sixth Discourse That it is more secure to sequester a mans self from the Creatures then to make use of them A Man must be ignorant of all the Maximes of christianity if he know not that he is forbidden the love of the creature and that we cannot love them without betraying our dignities or forgetting our duty for nothing but God can lay lawfull claim to our affections he is the center of all love he is bereft of that love which is not given him and he is injured in the chiefest of all his qualities if one propose any other end unto himself then God himself we are born onely to serve and love him no other object is able to satisfie us and our heart is too great to be filled with a good which is not infinite We molest the order which God hath established in the world when by an unjust going lesse we raise the creatures above our selves He who abaseth himself through the meannesse of his spirit is not lesse guilty then he who through his ambition raiseth himself up and he gives against Gods Providence as well who obeys those creatures which are inferiour to him as he who would command over those which are his equals or Superiours Man hath received an unrepealable law which obligeth him to submit himself to God because he is his Sovereign and to raise himself above the other creatures because they are his Servants he treats upon equall terms with other men because they are his equals he bears respect unto the Angels without adoring them because they are his companions do in the difference of their natures aspire with man to one and the same end and seek out the same happinesse Whatsoever is not rationall is subject to the Empire of man and he is not vain glorious when he thinks the earth is fruitfull onely to afford him nourishment that the Sun rises onely to light him and that the flowers do display themselves onely for his recreation when he loves them out of an inclination or out of necessity he disturbs the order of God he submits himself to that which is below him he degenerates from his nobility and becomes a slave to his subjects for if he love a creature he must obey it he cānot give his love to it preserve his liberty Love is an imperious passion it assubjects all those souls which it possesseth it makes as many slaves as lovers and reduceth them to a condition wherein having no longer any will they are not Masters of their desires they look pale when in the presence of those that they adore they tremble when they come neer them and the Stars have not so much power over their bodies as those whom they love have absolute command over their souls the object of their love is the cause of all their motions if it be absent they consume away in desire and languish in vain hopes if it be threatened with any danger they quake for fear if it be set upon they pluck up their courage if it go far off without hopes of being soon seen again they fall into despair and if it be lost without hope of recovery they give themselves over to grief and sorrow Thus these slaves take upon them their Masters livery these Camelions change colour as oft as that which they love changes condition and betraying their own greatnesse they assubject themselves to creatures which ought to obey them I know very well that lovers indevour to throw of this yoke that they strive to free themselves from this Tyranny and that being weary of obeying they fain would command their turn about but all they can do is to no purpose and the unalterable laws of love force them fairly to submit to those subjects which are Masters of their liberty The ambitious man would fain be the Sovereign of honour but let him do what he can he still remains the slave thereof and whilst he leads on Troops and commands Armies he is shamefully enforced to obey ambition which tyrannizeth over him The Avaritious man would fain be Master of his riches what ever pleasure he takes in keeping them he would take more in spending them but he is as it were bound to adore them and to dedicate all his care and watching to the Devil which doth possesse him The lustfull man wisheth that he were his Mistresses Master and that he might prescribe laws to that proud beauty which domineers over him but his excesse of passion keeps him a servant still and the nature of love forceth him with content to renounce his liberty his slavery is a just punishment of his ambition and Heaven permits that he remain a slave to the Creature because he would have made himself Master thereof by unlawfull means This is the cause why he will not acknowledge any thing to be amisse in what he loves why he doth admire the perfections thereof and why he doth mingle his vices and vertues together for to give right judgment of any thing a superiority is required in the judgment giver Some advantage must be had over that whose weaknesses would be known and lovers being slaves to those they love their blindnesse lasts as long as doth their slavery by a no lesse necessary then unfortunate consequence they assume the qualities of that object which causeth their love they transform themselves into what they love and change nature as well as condition but that which is most unjust in this change is that these wretched creatures take unto themselves the worst of the qualities of what they love and cannot take the best and having a capability of becomming easily imperfect they can never become accomplisht a deformed man loseth not his deformity though he love an exquisite beauty an ignorant body grows not learned though he love a Philosopher an ambitious man mounts not the throne though he love a Sovereign and covetous men grow not rich though they court wealth but by a deplorable misfortune lovers share in the faults of that subject whence they derive their love they put on all the evill qualities thereof and having no design to imitate it they resemble it in loving it Ambitious men become as vain as the honour which they idolatrize greedy men are no lesse obdurate then is the metall which they adore and the lascivious are as base as is the pleasure which they so much cherish Love is the mixture of Lovers he mingleth their wils
in joyning them together he confounds their qualities in uniting their minds but when he grows irrationall he brings his punishment along with him and that he may punish those whom he hath ingaged in an unlawfull affection he permits them to communicate their defaults and forbids them to communicate their advantages Thus man cannot love the creatures unlesse losing the priviledges which nature hath given him he renounce his Greatnesse in loving his Slaves and as the Scripture sayes he become abominable in worshipping of Idols From this just punishment another doth derive which is not much lesse rigorous for Divine Justice which cannot let a fault passe unpunisht permits that men find their punishment in their love and that the object which ought to cause their good fortune cause their torment for though love boast of allaying pains and of making the wildest things that are loving yet doth he attribute unto himself a power which onely belongs to charity his deeds are not answerable to his words and when lovers abused by his promises have ingaged themselves on his side they find by experience that that which ought to cause their happpinesse is the originall of their punishment And that they cannot love the creature without becoming miserable There goes more care to the preserving of riches then to the getting of them t is more painfull to be rich then to become rich and that metall which seems to be the reward of the avaritious mans labour is onely the increase and the redoubling thereof he hath past the seas to find them out he hath dug into the bowels of the earth to seek for them he hath ingaged his freedome to become Master thereof yet is the keeping of them more vexatious then the acquiring he is more troubled in hiding them then in heaping of them together and he confesseth that riches threaten more mischief to him then poverty doth he runs more hazard in his own house then on the sea he fears Partners more then Pirats and is not so terrified with Tempests as with Suits at law The ambitious man findes his punishment in glory and honour this vain Idoll which occasioned his desires occasioneth his complaints he repents his having courted so ungratefull a Mistresse and knowing that she hath nothing wherewithall to reward those that serve her but wind and smoak he never esteems himself more unfortunate then when most honoured Thus it fares with whatsoever else we love Divine Justice doth minglegall with honey in them to wean us from them makes use of our delights to increase our annoyes the house which we have built for our diversion wil prove our anxiety yea even though it suit in all things with our desire 't wil cease to give content when it ceaseth to be new we will wonder that not having changed aspect it shall have lost what was pleasing in it and that contrary to our expectation it should become our punishment when it ought to be our delight Those pictures which we send for out of the warehouses of Italy which we have bought at so dear a rate which we have with such impatiency looked for and been so well pleased when they came cease to ravish our senses when they are once seated in the places appropriated for them they lose their value together with their novelty it must be the admi ration of those that never saw them that must make us esteem them and we must look upon them through other mens eyes if we will value them they serve us onely to incense us against a servant who hath not been carefull enough of them or to make us curse time which hath effaced their colours The pain which all these things cause in us and the undervaluation we have of them is not able to make us forbear loving them we are fastned to them without our knowledge we love them whilst we think not on it and because we forego the further desire of them when we are once possest thereof we think we cease to be kin thereunto An avaritious man who sees his cofers full who receives his rents duly every quarter and who never knew what belonged to being bankrout or unfortunate cannot believe that he loveth his riches so excessively the sorrow he feels by their losses must make him know the contentment he had in their possession he must judge of his ingagement by his grief love is better known by privation then by enjoyment and the irregularity of affection is not better discerned then by the absence of the object which did entertain it We are not troubled with the u losse of what we were not pleased with the possession we judge of the excesse of our love by the like of our sorrow and we are never so sensible of the love we bear to perishable things as by the sorrow we conceive for their losse we are sensible of our captivity after being set at liberty we consider the weight of our Irons when we are freed from them and we know we were miserable when we think our selves to be most happie To find a remedy for these evils Saint Augustine teacheth us that we must make use of the creatures without loving them and we must be very carefull lest whilst we touch them with our hands they corrupt our hearts He will have us to look upon them as slaves which ought to obey us not command us he will have us to love them as they are the pictures of God and as Lovers love their Mistresses pictures he will have us to esteem of them as the favours of our God and that considering his beauty in his images and his goodnesse in what representeth him we should neither love the one nor the other but meerly for his sake Did I not doubt lest men might think me too severe I would add that all these precautions were not sufficient and that the Son of God not content to have taught us that perishable things cannot beloved without danger he would tell us that they may be despised without vain glory for although his Commandements do onely forbid us any excesse in the use thereof his counsels do permit us to wean our selves from them and all christian vertues are so many holy pieces of cunning which teach us how to set by the creatures Fasting inâ—erdicts us the use of meats it raiseth man to the condition of Angels by cutting of such things as are necessary for the preservation of life it contents it self with bread and water nay there have been some Penitentiaries and Anchorets who have passed over whole weeks without eating any thing lest whilst they would feed their naturall heat they might increase the heat of their concupiscence Poverty is a generall foregoing of all worldly things those who make greatest profession thereof live in the world as in a desart whatsoever self-love judgeth necessary seems useles or superfluous to them the arts are not troubled with dressing nor with nourishing them they
372 l 28 for his r. this 374 l 35 for which r with p 376 for then r there p 382 l 7 for whom 〈◊〉 who in Printed or sold by William Leake at the Crown in Fleetstreet between the two Temple Gates these Books following YOrks Heraldry Folio Orlando Furioso The Spanish Mandevile 4o. Pareus Chyrurgery Fol. Callis learned readings on the Statute 23 of Hen. the 8th Cap. 5 of Sewers 4o. Perkins on the laws of England in Eng. 8o. The Parsons Law 8o. Topicks in the laws of England 8o. Wilkinsons Office of Sheriffs with Court Leet and Baron 8o. Vade mecum of a Justice of Peace 12. Sken de significatione verborum 4o. The Book of Fees 8o. The Mirrour of Justice 8o. Mathematicall Recreations 8o. Delamans use of the Horizontall Quadrant 4o. Malthus artificiall fire-works 8o. Nyes Gunnery and fire-works 8o. The History of Lazarillo de Tormes 8o. Wilbyes second Set of Musick 3 4 5 and 6 parts 4o. Garden of Naturall contemplations by Dr. Fulk 8o. Cato Major with Annotations by William Austine of Lincolns Inne Esquire 12. Mell Helliconium by Alexander Rosse 8o. Cordelius gramatically translated by John Brinsley 8o. The Fort Royall of the Scriptures or a vade mecum concordance presenting unto the world a 100 heads of Scripture most of them common placed for publique use 8o. by I H. Noscere Ipsum by St John Davies 8o. Animadversions on Lilly 8o. Excercitatio Scholastica 8o. By Beamont and Fletcher Philaster or love lies a bleeding Maids Tragedy 4o. King and no King The strange discovery by Jo. Gough 4o. The gratefull Servant 4o. The Hollander a play 4o. Hero and Leander by Christopher Marlow and George Chapman 4o. Alcillia or Philotas loving folly 4o. Epigrams divine and morall by St Tho. Urchard Vult homo imitari Deum sed perversè non esse sub illius potestate sed habere contra illum potestatem Aug. in Psal. 60. Neque enim sub Deo justo â—iser esse 〈◊〉 potest 〈◊〉 merâ—tur â—g L. oper 〈◊〉 Poenam iâ—am esse quis dubitet omnis autem poena si justa est peccati poena est supplicium nominatur D Aug. lib. 3. de Arbitr cap. 18. Bonum hominis animus ratio in animo perfecta quid autem ab illo exigis rem facillimum secundùm Naturam vivere Senec. Epist. 41. Est aliqu id quo sapiens antecedat Deum ecce res magna habere imbecillitatem hominis securitatem Dei Senec. Epist. 44. Oblivione◠〈◊〉 non â—bjacere pecâ—ato quoâ—am â—on secunâ—ùm â—oluntatem sed secundum necessitatem eveniunt Dogma suit Pelagij Item victoriam nostram non esse ex Dei adjutorio sed ex libero arbitrio Vicinior est â—mmortalitati sanitas dâ—lentis quà m stupor non sentientis Aâ—g in Psal. 55. Lacrymae non 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sed merentur Greg. Mag. Est enim proprium Orato 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 q◠〈◊〉 Lib. 〈◊〉 de Officiis a Errasti si existimas nobiscum vitianasci supervenerunt ingesta sunt Sen. Epist. 94. b In causa duorum hominum quorum per unuro venum detisumus sub peccato per â—lterum redimimur à peccatis proprie fides Christiana Consistit Aug. lib de peccato Origin cap. 24 c Pereat dies in quâ natuâ— sum nox in quâ dictum est conceptus est homo Job 3. d Princeps Domina carnis naturaliter anima est quae domare carnem debet regere August contra Julian lib. 2. cap. 8. e Etiam sine magistro viâ—ia discâ— Seneca lib. 3. quaest c. 30. f Conitâ—ntia tam concupiscentiae testis est quam host is August g Itaque foeliciter homo natus jacet manibus pedibusque devinctis flens animal caeteris imperaturum à suppliciis vitam vispicatur unam tantum ob culpam quia natum est Plin. lib. 6. proem h Omnis creatura pugnabit contra insensatos 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 poena 〈◊〉 â—sta est peâ— poena est supplicium nominatur Porro quia de omnipotentia Dei justitia dubitare dementis est justa haec poena est pro peccato aliqup ponditur Aug lib 2. de lib. arbit c. 18. k Exhum 〈◊〉 vâ—tae erroribus aerumnis fit ut verum sit illud quod est apud Aristotelem sic nostros animos cum corporibus copulatos ut vivos cum mortuis esse conjunctos Cicer. in Horâ—s l Hominem â—on ut à matre sed ut à noverea natura editum in vitam corpore nudo fragili infirmo animo antem anxio ad molestiam humili ad timoâ—es molli ad labores prono ad libidies Rem vidit Cicero causam nescivit lib. 4. contra Jul. c. 12 m Nulli râ—s vitio natura conciliat nos illa integros ac liberos genuit Sen. Epist. 94. n Cito nequitia subrepit virtus diffi iliâ— inventus est Lib. 3. quaest natural cap. 3. o Quid ergo ignâ—atia reâ— innocenntes erant Multum autem interest utrum peccare aliquis nolit an nesciat Sâ—n. Epist 90. sub finem p Infanti quoque decreta mors est fata quis tam tristia sortitus unquam videram nondum diem jam tenebar Mors me antecessit aliquis intra viscera materna lethum precocis sati â—lit sed numquid peccavit Thebaid Senec. q Adam sactus est homo potuit esse aliud quam factus est â—ctus est enim justus potuit esse injust us Aug. in Seâ—m contra dictnm Maxim in append r Adam Deo suo à quo erat conditus rectus nullo prorsuâ— virio depravatus adsâ—abat Lib. 1. imperf contra Jul. num 46. s Hac pralia numquam numquam essâ—nt si Natura nostra sicut recta creata est permaneret Aug. lib. 22. de Civit cap. 23. t Hae igitur partes ira atque libido in paradiso ante peccatum vitiosae non eranâ— non 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ad 〈◊〉 â—de neâ— esse 〈◊〉 â—as raâ— tâ—mquam â—renis re◠〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quod nun◠〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 eâ—t uâ—que 〈◊〉 â—x natuâ— sed 〈◊〉 â—x 〈◊〉 Aâ—g 〈◊〉 14 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 cap. â—9 u Ille vero priâ— Adam nulla â—li 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 aâ—â—sus sâ— sâ—m tentatus illo beâ—udmis lâ—o suâ— secum â—ace â—uebatur August lib. de coâ— upt gratia cap 11. x Sicut in paradiso nullus aestus aut â—rigus sic in â—jus habitatore nul la ex â—piditate vel tiâ—e bonae voluntatis ofâ—nsio Aug. lib. 14 de Civit. cap. 16. y Deâ—rat me Adam inâ—e 〈◊〉 s◠〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quâ—a â—il potâ— sin◠〈◊〉 Aug. 〈◊〉 11. dâ— vâ—ro 〈◊〉 Hâ— autem bellum nomquam ullum esset si Natura humana â—er liberum arbitrium in rectitudine in qua facta est perstiâ—isset Aug lib. 21. de Civit. cap. 15. a Nam superbia illio est quia homini in sua potius esse quam in Dei potestate dilâ—xit sacrilegium quâ— Deo non