All which when Saint Anselm reflected upon he could not refrain from saying O my Soul when I consider and ponder well how much you are indebted to the Eternal God I blush at my former negligence in not performing my duty and great Obligation Tell me O Lord which way I am to turn my self and what I can do that will be acceptable to your Divine Majesty You have made and created me by your love therefore I owe you all and all that I am You have redeemed me in Love by your Sacred Death and Passion out of the perpetual slavery of Satan therefore I owe you all and all that I am You have promised me such eternal comforts and reward after my decease therefore I owe you all and all that I am In one word you did give your self wholly to me and for me therefore I owe you all and all that I am O Lord what satisfaction can Man give what recompence can he make for so many benefits already received and still to be received from your Hands and of your Bounty Quid retribuam Domino pro omnibus quae retribuit mihi said the Prophet David on the like occasion Psalm 115. 3. What shall I render to our Lord for all the good things that he hath rendered to me As if he had said I am full of confusion I am asham'd and troubled in mind what to do considering that he hath not only given and bestowed many great benefits upon me and mankind but hath also rendred good for evil mercy for ingratitude forgiveness for our sins and transgressions And we most unthankful have rendred to him evil for good for which cause reflecting upon what the truly penitent Sinner King David said in this case I resolve with all my heart and Soul to say the same with him Calicem Salutaris accipiam nomen Domini invocabo said he ubi supra v. 4. I will take the Chalice of Salvation say I and will invocate the name of our Lord that is to say Seeing that I am not able to render any thing worthy of Gods Favours to me I will do what I can I will gratefully acknowledge and accept his great benefits especially the sacred Cup of Christ which he was pleased to bless for the Salvation of Mankind and to drink of himself I will praise him and call upon his Holy Name SECTION VI. How to cure the pernicious Disease of Self-love Sect. 1. By with-drawing our love from all Corporal Objects 2. By humbling and undervaluing our selves 3. By overcoming our selves and sensual appetites Sect. 1. By with-drawing our love from all Corporal Objects To cure and totally to extirpate the pernicious disease of Self-love I must confess is no easie task it requires hard labour to overcome that inordinate Passion being a Vice so inveterate that nothing is more rooted in our hearts and so connatural that nothing is more pleasing to corrupt and unmortified nature so that to compass this end we must strive to our utmost and level all our actions intentions and wills so purely at Gods Honour and Pleasure as that we make him the only end we aim at and the sole object of our love for which purpose we cannot do better than to follow the example and counsel of the Seraphical Father Saint Francis saying daily in imitation of him Deus meus omnia Deus meus omnia O my sweet Jesus O my sweet Lord Thou art my God and all In the first place therefore great care is to be taken and exact diligence used for to with-draw our affections from all eternal objects whatsoever and to place and fix the same totally upon God for otherwise we run great hazard to fall short of our aim and that of the Evangelist will be found true in our selves Qui amat patrem aut matrem plus quam me non est ne dignus Matth. 10. v. 37. He that loveth Father and Mother more than God is not worthy of God that is deserves not to be accounted nor shall ever be accounted Gods true lover What love is more lawful or more recommended by God unto us than the love of Children to their Parents Wherefore seeing that even this kind of love to wit the love of Children to Parents and vice versa the love of Parents to Children c. can be no just excuse why we should not love God as we ought seeing that even this love when it is opposite to the love of God is forbidden us and we are commanded to cast it off there can be no reason to doubt but that all other loves of less nearness and concernment of less piety and vertue of less obligation in like occasion are likewise forbidden us and that we are commanded to with-draw our hearts from them and to give our selves wholly to the love of God above all things not to love any creature so much as we love God nor to be hindred by it from doing service The Evangelist Saint Luke seems to be yet more strict that we say not rigorous in the matter not only exacting to the full the accomplishment of what the Evangelist Saint Matthew mentions to wit that we should not love our Parents more than God or above and before God but requiring also that we should even hate our Parents if need requires it for Gods sake and renounce all affection love and Duty to them rather than to offend God or to forsake the least part of the love and Duty we owe to him for so we read Luc. 14. v. 26. Si quis venit ad me non odit patrem matrem c. adhuc autem animam suam non potest meus esse discipulus If any man cometh to me and hates not his Father Mother c. yea and his own life besides he cannot be my disciple It may seem an hard sentence but the meaning is easie This we are to do rather than hate God we must hate our Parents rather than do any thing which he will judge and esteem an hating of him we must renounce and cast off all love and duty to our Parents rather than to renounce or cast off our love and duty to God This expression therefore of the Evangelist obliges us to leap over all stumbling blocks that are laid in our way to hinder us in our going about Gods service We must renounce and reject whatsoever is most dear unto us yea our own selves and all the desires affections and inclinations of our Hearts how specious how morally good pious and honest soever they seem to be if they stand in our way and stop us from the supream love of God Fie upon all friendships must we say fie upon all affections that are attended with such mischiefs and do lead us into such dangers and fie upon all distracting and disquieting designs of the world which bend our imaginations wholly to the things unprofitable and impertinent thereby disturbing and separating us from the love of God
desire a greater conquest than to subdue the world and to trample all the deceitful glories and vanities thereof under your feet Can you think any victory more advantageous than that which of Captives makes you Kings for freedom and true liberty and of Slaves to Self-love and sin the Sons of God and Heirs with Christ of Eternal Glory A greater Conquest you cannot reasonably desire than to subdue all your enemies nor Dominion than to be master of your self and this is done by the way I have shewed you Happy therefore I say are those that conquer and overcome their passions yea much more happy are they than those that conquer Kingdoms and Countries but cannot conquer themselves Happy are those that can rule and govern their sensual love concupiscences and appetites so as not to transgress in them or by them Such a one is Lord of a great Empire Lord of this World and Heir of Heaven To be truly humble is a great Trophy and the right way to Jesus Christ is to subdue your own proper will to suffer injuries and other evils not seeking overmuch after any temporal interests or things concerning the Body Be content to suffer with Christ and for Christ and be sure that if you thus suffer you shall also reign with Christ For a little adversity you will enjoy a perpetuaâ— felicity therefore do not think iâ— a troublesome thing nor grieve thaâ— it is requir'd of you to fight with and to overcome your self for how bitter soever it may seem in the beginning the end of it will be sweet and God will fight for you and help you to get the victory only remembring this not to attribute the glory of â—he conquest to your own strength â—ut only to the Divine Majesty whose Grace gains you the Victory and â—et you must do your endeavour too â—or that Gods Grace helps none that â—ill not help themselves as well as â—hey can and you may observe that â—f those who only cry Lord Lord â—nd do nothing else it is said They â—hall not enter the Kingdom of Heaven None shall be crowned but â—hose that fight well and with couâ—age persevere to the end If two Men come to fight being both of â—qual strength courage and skill and â—oth alike arm'd naturally speaking â—t is certain that he that gets help or â— second to joyn with him will get â—he victory In the same manner it â—s between the Body and the Soul continually fighting supposing both equal and alike in strength if we favour and help the Body by idleness over much eating and drinking and will not deny it ought of its sensual desires be sure it will get the victory over the Soul and subdue her to its lure and appetite and so on the contrary if we favour and help the Soul by fervent Prayers to God if we support and uphold her by the practice of Vertues and arm her Cap-a-pe from Head to Foot with the whole Armour of Righteousness Faith Hope Charity Patience Zeal and other good Graces of the Spirit it is not to be doubted but she will have a glorious victory over the Body vanquish all the Vanities of the World and find a saving cure for all her languishings and distempers occasion'd by self-Self-love SECTION VII How to love God and our Neighbour Sect. 1. How we are to love God 2. How we are to love our Neighbour 3. How we are to love our Enemies 4. In what manner of love we are to love our Neighbour and our Enemies 5. How we may know our selves free from Self-love in loving God and our Neighbour Sect. 1. How we are to love God I must confess that all we have hitherto said or written serves in part to declare how we are to love God namely above all things with all our hearts with all our mind with all our soul and with all our strength This hath been often inculcated by us But such is the thing that whether we consider the difficulty and hardness or the utility and benefit of it it can never be insisted upon too much We cannot be too often called upon or too often put in mind of this duty and therefore I will in short speak a word or two more to that effect that if you desire to attain the Perfection of that Grace to wit of Divine Love I may by the mercy of God be a little helpful to you in order thereto Verily it standeth with great reason that we should love God in the manner above-said both Justice and Natural Reason dictating and commanding with all urgency that we should wholly give and dedicate our selves by love unto God and by lovinâ— him from whom we wholly possess and enjoy our selves to re-pay in some sort our Duty and Obligation Now for the better performance of this my advice is that you follow the counsel of the seraphical and subtle Doctor Scotus who says That we are to love God sweetly prudently and valiantly or with good courage Sweetly that you be not by any bitterness or amarulency that sometimes happens therein averted from loving him Prudently that you be not by the guil of your Ghostly enemy ensnared nor catch'd in any ambuscado of his Valiantly and with good courage that when you come to suffer injuries oppressions affronts for loving him you be not in any manner of wayes drawn or driven enticed or forced from his Divine Love either by the pomp and glory of the world together with the voluptuous Allurements of the Flesh or by the sterner violence of Persecution and Troubles threatned for loving him and being resolv'd for your part thus to proceed towards the Love of God there are Three Things more chiefly required of you The first is You must extirpate out of your heart all Sensual Love all Love that proceeds from Concupiscences all inordinate love of the World and purge your selves of all sorts of Self-love Inordinate Appetites and Passions and of all the sins that proceed from them It is the admonition of Saint Paul Ephe. 4. 22. Deponere vos secundum pristinam conversationem c. That you put off concerning the former conversation the Old Man which is totally corrupt through deceitful and erroneous lusts and be ye renewed in the spirit of your mind putting on the New Man which according to God is created in Justice and True Holiness And again Rom. 13. v. 12. Cast off saith he the works of darkness which are Self-love and Sin and putting on the armor of light which is the practice of Divine Love let us walk honestly as in the day not in Banquetting and Drunkenness not in Chamberings and Impudicities not in Strife and Emulation in a word nor in making any provision for the Flesh in Concupiscences or to satisfie the lusts thereof consonant unto which is that of Salomon Sap. 1. v. 4. In malevolam animam non introibit sapientia c. Divine Wisdom will not enter into a malicious soul nor dwell in a Body that is
subject to sin Wherefore it is very true and in this case necessary to be observ'd what Father Granada says Such as desire to love Almighty God should endeavour to sequester themselves and depart from the practice of all sins As to the second thing required you must know that before you can obtain the grace of loving God above all Creatures it is necessary that you be very serious in your thoughts and apprehensions of God and that you delight your self to consider and meditate in your mind both the truth of his Existence and also how important a thing it is for you and all men rightly to believe and conceive of him and worthily to serve him To which end it shall not be amiss to call to mind and reflect upon the Motives which I have already in part alledged in the Fifth Section Sect. 3. for the exciting and stirring up mens hearts to Divine Love that is to say some of those Attributes Perfections and Proper Excellencies which are to be contemplated in the Divine Nature and do worthily move us to a due esteem and love of him and particularly that we do often and devoutly think upon the Perfections and Excellencies of our Lord Jesus Christ who is God Incarnate or God made Man for us and to procure our salvation in whom the Fulness of the Divinity doth inhabit corporally and in whom are hidden all the hidden Treasures of the Wisdom and Knowledge of God Colos 2. 3. and in whom all the good Properties Perfections and Excellencies whether pertaining to the Divine Nature or Humane to God or Man that can merit Love Reverence Honour and Esteem from us are found to admiration and excess he is Splendor Gloriae figura Dei Patris The Brightness of his Fathers Glory and the express Image or Figure of Gods Substance as to this purpose the Apostle speaketh Heb. 1. v. 3. Cum in forma Dei esset c. saith the same Apostle again Phil. 2. v. 6. making or confessing him to be the Form that is the most true internal and perfect resemblance of his Fathers Nature The Vapour or Breath of the Power of God and a bright streaming or Emanation of Glory from the Almighty He is the Brightness of Eternal Light the Vnspotted Mirror or Glass of Divine Majesty and Image of his Goodness Sap. 7. 25 26. In fine he is God of God True God of true God and consequently perfect and absolute in all the Properties of Divine Majesty and Glory and the Fountain of Perfection and of all Good in his Creatures which thing well considered I cannot doubt but they will make us see how just and reasonable it is that he alone should be lov'd and honoured by us above all Creatures as containing in himself all the Causes Motives and Reasons of Love and Honour As to the third thing requisite for the obtaining of Divine Love it is to recal often to mind the Graces and Benefits the Gifts and Favors which we have received and do daily receive at Gods hand as well those receiv'd before Baptism as since the benefit of our Creation whereby we have our Being the benefit of his Providence whereby we are preserved in our being defended from all Evil and supplied with all necessary Good The benefit of our Redemption and the great kindness which God therein hath shewed towards his Creatures to wit in sending his only Son our Lord Jesus Christ to take humane Flesh upon him in the Womb of the most pure and immaculate Virgin his Mother and in the same Flesh to die and redeem us from the slavery of our Ghostly Enemy and from everlasting Damnation By which means being already in right of Creation and Providence our loving Father through the Mystery of Incarnation he became our Brother our Saviour and in a more special manner our Lord our King our God our Governour and our last end Yea by reason of this Union and Communion of Nature with us he becomes through Grace the Heavenly Spouse of every one of our Souls being married to him in Faith and Charity And therefore as our Spouse so loving so good so rich so great so beautiful so provident so tender-hearted he deserves to be requited and repayed by us with the same that is with a most intense most cordial most affectionate sincere and if it could be an infinite love and as he is our last end he is to be supreamly look'd at aim'd at regarded and intended by us in every thing of moment that we do or take in hind Considering therefore that we have such motives and reasons to love God above all and especially our Blessed Saviour God Incarnate let us use no delay let us shew no backwardness to return him love for love and to to render him our most humble and daily thanks for all his benefits and mercies remembring that of Solomon Sap. 16. v. 28. Quoniam oportet praevenire Solem ad Benedictionem tuam c. That we ought to prevent the Sun to give thanks to God and the Morning-light to adore and make prayers to him and that if we do it not but remain unthankful for his Benefits it shall befall us as is said in the same place v. 29. Ingrati spes tanquam hybernalis glacies tabescet c. The hope of the Vngrateful shall melt away as a Winter-Ice and shall perish as unprofitable Water Sect. 2. How we are to love our Neighbours None can be so ignorant as not to know that it is part of our Duty to God to love our Neighbour since that God himself doth so positively and precisely require it of us by the Evangelist Matth. 22. v. 39. Diliges proximum tuum sicut teipsum Thou shalt love thy Neighbour as thy self The same Commandment is repeated in diverse other places as namely Luc. 10. v. 27. Rom. 13. v. 9. Galat. 5. v. 14. Jam. 2. v. 8. Yea it was a Law in force unto the Jews as well as Christians according as we read Levitle 19. 18. The just and honest love of our Neighbour is so united annex't and as it were chained with the Love of God that for the same loves sake whereby we love God we are commanded to love our Neighbour yea Saint John the Evangelist argues that through want of loving our Neighbour we cannot love God and calls him Lyer that pretends the contrary to wit that we may love God truly and acceptably without loving our Neighbour Siquis dixerit c If a man saith he shall say I love God and hateth his Brother he is a lyer giving this reason For he that loveth not his Brother whom he hath seen how can he love God whom he hath not seen 1 Joan. 4. 20. and making his reason good with this final assertion viz. And this Commandment have we from God that he who loveth God loveth his Brother also These two loves proceed and come forth from the same Root and have the same Original Cause to wit
as well as others and mutual Charity in this kind is requisite on both sides Verily it is no easie matter to converse with men I mean those of worldly and common conversation without transgressing or giving offence For which reason it behoveth us prudently to comply with every one for the Love of God and as much as is possible to have a quiet and settled patience in their infirmities being always more ready to pardon pass by and over-see what happens to be amiss so far as just reason and charity permits then to check or reprove it unseasonably and with offence What the Apostle says Galat. 6. v. 2. is good counsel for us all Alter alterius onera portate Bear ye one anothers burthens and so you shall fulfil the Law of Christ And truly with great reason it is required of us that seeing we all desire to have our own defects and frailties covered our own infirmities supported our ignorances excus'd and our offences forgiven we should do the same unto others supporting one another and pardoning one another but above all things having the true Charity of God one towards another which where it rules is the bond of Perfection Colos 3. v. 14. The fifth sort of Love or Affection which the good Author Saint Vincentius suggests to us is to have an humble and reverent regard towards all men according to their dignity and quality esteeming them all as they are for our betters yielding them place and submitting our selves with all our hearts to them as justice and charity requires giving them willingly all the honour respect and reverence which their qualities dignities states and conditions do merit If they be our equals and no more it suffices that with candour and all sincerity of good will we treat them and carry our selves to them as we in like case would be treated and convers'd with by others Thus doing we shall in good manner correspond not only with that general and most equal precept of the Gospel Luc. 6. v. 31. Prout vult is â—â—t faciant vobis homines c. As ye would that men should do unto you do ye also to them but also to that more special Counsel of the Apostle 1 Pet. 2. v. 13. Subjecti estote omni Humanae Creaturae propter Deum Be subject therefore to every Humane Creature for Gods sake whether it be to the King as most Excellent or to Rulers as sent by him as likewise to what Saint Paul saith Rom. 13. v. 1. in confirmation of this Truth Omnis anima potestatibus sublimioribus subdita sit c. Let every Soul saith he be subject to the higher powers for there is no power but of God the powers that be now in the world are ordained of God Obey therefore at a word and be ready to every good work that shall be commanded you Be not litigious but modest shewing all mildness and equanimity towards all men Titus 3. 2. Where yet I would have it remembred that as in the exercise of Chastity or Divine Love so in the exercise of Obedience there is an order to be observed which the Spirit of God and Christian Prudence will not fail to dictate to every one that truly loves God and desires nothing but to perform his duty An order there is I say to be observ'd in the exercise of Obedience Where Powers or Commandments clash we must obey God rather than Man and be more careful to fulfil the Divine Laws whether of God or the Catholique Church which is a Spiritual Power than the Laws of any Temporal or Earthly Power commanding contrary thereunto that is contrary to our duty to God and to the true Confession of Cathoâ—ique Faith in which case such Laws and Comandments are not to be obeyed As to the Holy Saint Vincentius his sixth sort of Love and Affection it obliges us to be at perfect agreement with all Men and to live in Concord and Amity with all so much as it is in our power to do and so far forth as our Concord and Amity with others may not displease God or tend to his dishonour for if it does such Amities are to be broken off There is no Concord betwixt Christ and Belial 2. Cor. 6. 15. We must say the self same thing with other Christians so long as they confess the Catholique Faith but if they will depart from it either in whole or in part we are not then to say as they say but to say Anathema to them and to all their wicked errours We are to agree with men in good not in evil in the Truth and in the sound Doctrine of Christian Catholique Faith not in Devillish errour The Prophet David took very much pleasure in such kind of love and in such agreement as this witness that of the Psalm 132. v. 1. where he saith O quam bonum quam jucundam habitare fratres in unum Behold how good and how pleasant a thing it is for Brethren to dwell together in Vnity And truly that Concord and Unity are both good pleasant and profitable things needs no other proof than to consider and take notice of the fruit it has produced in every well govern'd Community more especially those in the Church of God which the Apostle might seem to foresee when he said with such a passion of Holy Charity Philip. 2. v. 2. Siqua ergo consolatio in Christo c. implete gaudium meum c. If there be any Consolation in Christ if any comfort of Love if any fellowship of the Spirit if any howels of Compassion fulfil ye my joy that ye be all of one mind having all the same charity being all of one accord thinking the same thing doing nothing by Contention neither by Vain-glory but in humility each one accounting other better than themselves The like pathetique exhortation to the same end he makes Rom. 15. 5. Deus autem patientiae solatii c. The God of Patience and Comfort grant you to be of one mind of one love and affection one towards another according to Jesus Christ that of one mind and with one mouth ye may glorifie God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ The seventh and last sort of Love is that which we are chiefly to look at and regard in the Example of our Saviour Christ to wit that we have a ready mind and will to sacrifice our selves for the good of others that is to say This Love requires that we be prepared to bestow our lives for the Salvation of all Men eveâ— our Enemies occasion requiring iâ— This is a high degree of Love anâ— so commended by our Saviour him self that he saith of it Joan. 15 13. Majorem Charitatem nemo habet ut animam suam ponat quis prâ—amicis suis Greater Charity none can have than to expose or lay down his Life for his Friends And this Perfection of Love if we have not yet at least we must have so much Charity for all Mankind
5. Thou shalt love the Lord thy God from thy whole heart with thy whole soul and with thy whole mind This is the greatest and the First Commandment and the second to it is Diliges proximum tuum sicut teipsum Matth. 22. 39. Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thy self From which precepts we may absolutely say That Love is the onely end of our salvation and that God doth therefore save us that we may be perfected in love Nevertheless give me leave to tell you that this love must be to the utmost regulated that is performed with all due exactness both towards God our Neighbour and our selves for fear least otherwise in stead of making us agreeable to God and being advantageous to us it prove much prejudicial to our souls and render us difforme to him Since then we are bound so strictly to use and exercise Love in a right manner it behoveth us to hear what â—s said of the same that we may proceed in it accordingly The Master of the Sentences lib. 3. Distinct 28. doth not only confirm that we ought to love God above all things without exception but saith also that we are to love our selves that is to say the health of our souls and our neighbours as for my part I take his meaning to be and must confess that I never yet observed that God doth any where positively or in express terms command that Man should love himself as being naturally inclin'd and fully enough affected to do that as well in what is good or pleasing to his nature as also iâ— what is evil and prejudicial to his soul Therefore to know how far we may lawfully love our selves and our neighbours without being intangled with that Vice which is properly called self-Self-love will be the whole subject and matter for us to enquire of in this present Treatise SECT 2. Three several sorts of Love To the end that every man may know and likewise have strength and courage to perform all things well in order to please Almighty God in returning love for his love as also the better to with-draw himself from all sorts of Self-love that are evil I would have him consider and observe the Saying of a most learned Divine to wit the R. F. Bernardin de Siena who in one of his Sermons De Amore proprio privato telleth us That there are three several sorts of Loves the first whereof is lawful the second to be rejected but the third totally to be abhorred as being cause of the general destruction and ruin of Mankind Wherefore that every one may discern the one from the other and discover which are the most pernicious and to be avoided I will in few words declare and speak of them one by one In the first place there is a Love which is natural and reasonable This is lawful to be observed by every one This love appeareth when a person seeketh and desireth only that which is lawful good profitable and meet for him without prejudice to any other For seeing according to reason no man should have in hatred his own nature substance or being it is therefore lawful for him to procure all such things as are good and convenient for him and to dispose of them to his best advantage for the good of his soul We are also to love our Neighbour because the Law of Nature obligeth and commandeth us to do unto others that which we would desire should be done to our selves in like case Yet nevertheless we are to be vigilant and consider well how we do love our Neighbour to the end we may love him well and so as may be both for hiâ— and for our spiritual profit and that our love to God suffer no prejudice by it Now to declare the love we owe unto God there are many things requisite and to be observed since we are to love him above all things with all our understanding that is without any error contrary to what he hath revealed for our Belief with all our will that is without any opposition or contradiction to what he requireth of us with all our mind and memory that is without any oblivion or forgetfulness of him or of our duty towards him lastly with all our endeavour and power that is without all sloth or negligence in performing his holy Service Commandements Divine Counsels and Inspirations The second sort of Love before-mentioned which is to berejected may be said to be Venial Sin to wit when as we have said before the passion of Love over-reacheth the Rule of Reason as also when the order to be observed in the exercise and performance of Love is not punctually exactly kept and fulfilled As for example according to reason and the great obligation we have to Almighty God we are to love him above all things and we are onely to love our selves and our neighbours purely for the love of him and not for any other respect Yet sometimes yea very often experience shews that Self-love and proper will such is our frailty and weakness do exceed their limits and become more or less extravagant being carried with a desire not so sutable to reason and our obligation as it ought to be And although considering Divine Clemency it may well enough be thought that such extravagant or inordinate desires affections actions do not alwayes come to such a height as to be mortal sin and consequently may remain though not perfectly with Charity yet for this reason that is because they do render our Charity or Love to God less perfect then it should be all the Ancient Fathers and Doctors of the Church do unanimously counsel and advise that all such Loves be rejected and totally avoided by all in general but more especially by those who tend to perfection and in order thereto have by Vow entred the state of a Religious Life And the reason hereof is because if men will voluntarily give way and suffer themselves to take pleasure in such inordinate desires affections loves of what kind soever they be they expose themselves and their souls to danger of falling most deeply and desperately into such spiritual Disease seeing the soul thereby grows every day more and more weak and faint in the love of God and inordinate Self-love grows so strong that in the end it becomes mortal and hardly capable of Cure As concerning the third and last sort of Love which we are to declare and speak of more at large in this present Treatise it is that which Divines call Mortal Self-love and Mortal Sin a thing even noisome and of the highest offence to God and more than all other evils whatsoever beside such as it self is hurtful and prejudicial to man For this Self-love is so immoderate and inordinate that it causeth men so to forget themselves that they undervalue even Almighty God and by consequence their own salvation Of this Self-love Saint Augustine telleth us that Satan hath built his great City of Babylon lib. 1.
10. daily dying as to this world in all our inordinate passions and affectations of humane praise honour favour and contrariwise chusing and desiring rather to be undervalued by all to the intent that for the present the power of self-Self-love may be broken and abated in us and that afterward for this undervaluing and dispising our selves we may be honoured and exalted by our Lord Jesus Christ according to his promise Luc. 18. 14. Qui se humiliat exaltibitur Who so humbleth himself shall be exalted He that undervalues himself easily undervalues all other things and if you will possess all the only way is to forsake all But alas How far short are we of Perfection in this kind How few are there amongst us that forsake either the world or themselves as they ought Few there are that go by this narrow way Many are called many are exhorted and incited to it but few elected or chosen to walk and finish their lives in it Few there are that love to be vilified or desire to be humbled for Christ and yet it is that we must submit unto we must come to that perfection or miss and fall short of our reward eternal happiness If we would desire this Perfection from our heart we should obtain it seeing our Saviour hath promised us that whatsoever we shall ask in his name that shall be for his honour and our good it shall be granted Joan. 14. v. 13 14. And therefore if God do not send us afflictions and adversities requisite to this purpose viz. to humble us and mortifie our corrupt passions it is by reason he sees us unfit for them We are not strong enough nor so well mortified in mind and spirit as to bear them God on his part is always ready to do us good and to treat us so as may be best for us both as to this life and that to come and consequently to send tribulations crosses and afflictions to those that are truly mortified and so resign'd to his Divine Will as that he sees they will receive good and not harm by them that they will be humbled by them and patient under them and consequently encrease their own merits upon that account if not unto temporal yet at least which is far better unto eternal reward Observe from hence that all the things which men desire or can wish for if they tend not to the true abnegation to the true submission and humiliation of our selves for the love of God they are tainted with corrupt nature Interest and Self-love and though men sometimes are apt to think that they have clearly avoided and freed themselves from this paspassion yet it is only in appearance and they have driven it from them as it were on the one side but it returns slily and secretly upon them some other way and sticks fast on their Souls which appears by this that men seldome or never wish for or desire any great adversity any sharp afflictions tribulations or crosses nor desire much that any thing should go contrary to their mind and yet only these and such like things can shew how they are humbled how mortified and free of Self-love The reason hereof is no other but that vertue is imperfect in us We are yet faint-hearted and ready to fail in small matters Men are not as yet come to a true undervaluing of themselves they love themselves esteem themselves and still seek themselves too much almost in every thing Self-love is a subtile and deceitful vice it deceives others it deceives our selves using much dissimulation with every one Happy is the man that is free of it that is dead to himself that is to say who is dead in all his sensual passions and appetites and in all inordinate affections towards visible objects and dead in his own Self-love desiring to be vilified and undervalued of all according to the example of Jesus Christ who in his own person gave us a marvellous instance of most perfect mortification when being upon the Cross he cryed out in these words Matth. 27. v. 46. Deus meus Deus meus ut quid dereliquisti me My God my God why hast thou forsaken me Why am I thus left destitute to the will of my enemies without any aid or comfort from you God our Saviour and Redeemer hanging thus on the Cross was for certain deprived of all spiritual and sensible consolation yet did he suffer most willingly and not in the least lose his courage Ah he did it for our example it was to let us know that when God deprives us at any time of our wonted Consolations whether Spiritual or Temporal and brings adversity and affliction upon us it is that we should suffer them patiently and willingly for his loves sake and that we should with a perfect resignation submit our selves to his Divine Will Perfection does not consist so much in the gifts of a sensible Love and sensible Consolations but in that which may be more real and essential though less sensible to wit in a well-ordered and well-grounded affection of resolution of mind for God and for the performonce of his Holy Will and Commandments in all things The servant of Christ should not seek nor place Perfection in any sensible things whatsoever whether Corporal or Spiritual not in any sensible Devotion in time of Prayer nor in the frequency of Internal Consolations but in perfect Conformity to the Will and Commandments of God in perfect mortification of all sinful lusts and appetites and in perfect abnegation of our selves as to every thing that is offensive to him and contrary to our duty Perfection consists in being throughly clear of all affection to sin and constantly inclin'd and well disposed to whatsoever is good Happy is he who is so humble as to acknowledge himself a great sinner and with the Publican to confess that he is not worthy to lift up his eyes to Heaven for the great multitude of his sins Happy is he who is so well disposed and mortified as to be ready to endure all pains yea even those of Hell it self if it could be for the love of God though being himself in the state of Grace Happy is he who is as well prepared and as well pleased in being deprived of all sensible graces devotions love as to have or receive such gifts from God Happy is he who is so well inflamed with the Essential love of God as to desire at all times of his life to be freed from corporal love to any Creature Happy is he who desireth to imitate or be like unto Jesus Christ upon the Cross abandoned of all good spiritual and corporal rejected and vilified by men forsaken by God and left destitute to all want pain and misery But alas How few are there of this perfect disposition where is the man that is thus mortified in his passions humbled in his mind resigned in his will Where is the man to be found who being depriv'd of his wonted Consolations
what a Self-lover â—s alwayes ready to say and do beâ—ng altogether for himself and scarce â—or any body else But alas the time â—s coming when they must repent of â—his their inordinate Love if not in â—his world yet assuredly in the next â—or all eternity SECTION II. Self-love the original spring of all Spiritual Diseases SECT 1. All the Spiritual Diseases of Christians from Self-love 2. Self-love it self a most daâ—gerous Disease 3. A Description of the same 4. The beginning and continuance of that pernicious Disease 5. How that pernicious Disease corrupteth all Vertues anâ— good Actions SECT 1. All Spiritual Diseases of Christianâ— from self-Self-love FOr the most part as soon as â— man findeth himself weak and sickly he presently doth his endeavour to know the original cause of â—â—at his corporal Disease and infirmiâ—â— consulting with Physicians that â—y their means and prescriptions a â—resent and fit remedy may be apâ—lied for the ease of his pain I say â—e same of the Spiritual Diseases of â—hristians If any of them would now from whence the Languishing â—nfirmities of their Souls which hold â—nd torment them daily do proceed Divines will unanimously tell them â—â— is a continual Feaver of Self-love â—â—at troubles them which according â—â— Saint Augustin is the root of all â—â—ns and consequently of all the Spiâ—â—tual Diseases Distempers Sickâ—esses and Infirmities which afflict â—â—em being the source and spring of â—ll evil and the plague of humane â—â—â—fe in so much as it may be said to â—â—e that Trojan Horse bearing fire â—nd swords saccage and rapin in its â—owels This Self-love may be well â—ompared to a Malignant Feaver of which as there be several sorts and all of them for the most part mortaâ— and deadly so are there several sort of Self-love all in their kind pernicious and dangerous consisting somâ— in pride some in ambition some iâ— vanity and presumption there aâ—â— Self-esteemings Self-admirings Self-complacencies and pleasings Self-delights Self-praisings Self-interests Self-wills with innumerable otherâ— of like nature which apparently spring from the main root of Self-love Saint Ambrose one of the chiefesâ— and greatest Physicians of Souls â— writing upon Saint Lukes Gospel Lukâ— 4. 38. speaketh of Seven sorts of these Pestilential Feavers which are mosâ— dangerous to Christians The firsâ— riseth from pride ambition and hypocrisie c. The Second from covetousness the unsatiable desire oâ— money or worldly things The Thirdâ—â— from sensuality and prodigality iâ— meat and drink The Fourth from the concupiscence of the flesh wantonness in unlawful desires and pleasures The Fifth from troublesome humours â—nd bad conditions as anger and oâ—her disorderly passions The Sixth â—â—om a great negligence in good works â—nd carelessness in the performances â—f good purposes and resolutions The Seventh and last from envy â—nd displeasure taken at others properties happiness good c. All which properties are fully contained â—â— self-Self-love for from thence proceed â—mbitions rebellions sacriledges â—reacheries rapines in a word all â—hat which is most horrid in Nature For it being the root of all sin â—here must of necessity grow up from â—â— as from their Tree and Stock â—he Boughs and Branches of all â—orts of Iniquity and Vice of which â—lso the Apostle Saint John takes noâ—ice in his Epistle namely 1 Joan. â—â— 16. where he mentions the concuâ—iscence of the flesh that is all bodiâ—y and carnal pleasures the concupiâ—cence of the eyes by which may be â—nderstood the inordinate desire of understanding knowledge c. anâ— pride of life which may also be caâ—led the concupiscence of the Will â— breaking out into all inordinate actâ—ons So that under these three coâ—cupiscences are contain'd and coâ—prehended the whole sinful state â—â— Mankind and by the Catholiqâ—â— Church and all Divines of the samâ— are commonly sorted or divided inâ—â— Seven branches namely Pride Câ—vetousness Lechery Anger Envy Gluttony and Sloth All which is fuâ—ly agreeable to the saying of the Sâ—raphical Doctor Saint Bonaventurâ— who speaking of Self-love useth theâ— expressions It must be confessed saitâ— he that Self-love is the original caâ—â—â— of all evil and wickedness and thâ—â— by means thereof all sinful actioâ—â— come forth or shew themselves witâ— all the Languishing Infirmities thaâ— attend our Spiritual Estate As for Example Doth not priâ—â— and ambition proceed from Self-love Have they any other original fountaiâ— or spring are they any thing else but an inordinate Love of our own proper excellencies and a desire to be commended in all our actions above and before others Doth not envy rise up from the same root Is it any thing but the inordinate Love of our selves that makes us grieve and be displeased at others felicity good parts vertue c. when we compare our selves with them and to grudge that others should be equal to us or to proceed in dignities before us Whence comes sloath negigence and remissness in Gods service but from hence namely that out of inordinate Love to the pleasures and delights of the Palate we pamper our selves and our carcasses so much that we become idle thereupon unapt and unwilling to take any pains care or diligence in things that concern the good of our souls and our spiritual interests Doth not anger come from hence Is it for any other reason then that of self-Self-love and inordinate esteem of our selves that we are so full of wrath and passion so easie to be provok'd and sâ— ready to take revenge upon very frivolous accounts and that with every one Whence comes lechery oâ— the intemperate pursuing of sensualâ— or carnal pleasures It is an effect oâ— Self-love though one of the ignoblest and least worthy of man that we are transported so far beyond measure with those wanton concupiscences of the flesh The same I musâ— say of gluttony it is from an inordinate and no due love of our selves that we exceed so much in our appetite and affections towards meat and drink From this disorderly love it is that we affect so much to feed on delicacies and dainties even to the making a God of our Belly Lastly As concerning covetousness it proceeds most apparently from hence and from the inordinate love of our selves it comes that we are so unsatiably greedy and desirous of Riches Wealth money and all other worldâ—â— possessions so that for conclusion â—ith infalible truth it may be said â—â—at this Self-love is a Mother vice â—nd that from thence all the vices â—â—nnes evils and spiritual maladies â—hat so unhappily infest Mens Souls â—ave their original and do spring â—s Branches do from their proper Tree â—nd Stock and as Rivers flow from â—heir Springs and Fountains SECT 2. Self-love it self a most dangerous Disease It is not without just cause and reaâ—on that these Seven Branches of â—elf-love are commonly called and â—ear the Title of Mortal or Deadly â—eeing all the vicious and corrupt inâ—erests and practices of men are reâ—uced to some one or other of them â—s we have already declared
and if â—â— happens that the objects of any of these branches or several kinds of inordinate Self-love be very predominant and prevailing in our affections it must of necessity be because the Love of God is proportionably weak and at a very low ebb in us and consequently it either puts us into or shews us to be in a most dangerous and sickly condition of soul even in the state of habitual mortal sin being withal deprived of Gods Grace for so long time as we remain in such estate so that we do not only languish but perish being destitute both of the Remedy and Physicians and although peradventure many notwithstanding their being in this bad condition through habitual Self-love do either by reason of their natural inclination or through the power of some other worldly interest forbear to commit those gross and palpable sins which Self-love and vicious affections do usually draw other men unto yet this will not excuse them nor put them in a good state towards so long as they â—re guilty and their hearts infectâ—d with self-Self-love But what shall we say now of â—hose who are so much subject and â—iven up to this vice that they set â—heir thoughts and endeavours wholâ— upon honours vanities pleasures â—â— as feasting and gaming or otherwise â—ngage themselves in Contentions or â—â— its at Law or siding with Factions â—n State so as that they seem to place â—heir whole delight in such things â—or although the particular actions of â—hese men considered singly may â—eem only to be venial yet let me â—ell them the whole number with â—nnumerable other aggravating cirâ—umstances renders them damnable â—nd that with great reason because â—t shews that through the vehemency â—f Self-love their affections are placed â—nd fixed in those objects as in their â—ast end which is to transgress the Hoâ—y Commandments of God in the highâ—st and most grievous manner besides the scandal they give We judge of their inward affections by their outward actions Wherefore if these worldly objects of Honours Vanities Pleasures and the like take up their whole employment or the greatest part of their time 't is evident that they are predominant over their affections and that God is not so much the object of their minds and thoughtâ— as he should be namely to reign iâ— them by Holy Love and to be the principal and chiefest end they aim at So that being destitute of Gods Grace and giving so great scandal by their life and manners they must needs be in a dangerous condition Certainly they do grosly deceive themselves in imagining that they love God above all things or that the Love of him is the most cordial of all their loves when as reflecting well upon themselves they would find that all their Love-actions and all the designs of their heart were so wholly bent and set upon worldly things that the service of God and salvation of their Souls were the least â—n all their thoughts least spoken of and least attended unto For the love by which they are bound to prefer God above themselves doth not consist in discourse and meerly talking of â—t but in doing what we are commanded and in doing it with real â—nd hearty affection therefore if they â—ntend to be cured of this dangerous Disease this languishing and Soul-â—estroying distemper of Self-love it must be as the Christian Doctrine â—oth teach and advise us to do nameâ—y that our Love of God be the most absolute the most affectionate â—nd cordial the most general and â—redominant of all other loves and â—hat it reign in us above and more â—han all other passions We must love God more then our own selves and â—ur own lives we must love him generally and in all things without â—xception that he commands us to â—ove desiring to please him more than to please our selves And besidâ— this we must be truly and sincere disposed to lose all things even thoâ— which are most dear unto us and â— suffer the greatest indignities if â—â—casion require rather than to forsaâ—â— him or lose his grace and favour aâ— consequently we must be ready â— embrace all persecutions sufferance yea death it self rather than to coâ—mit one mortal sin And this degâ—â—â— of Divine Love is the only cure the Languishing Disease and Disteâ—per of Self-love and is absolutely â—â—quisite for the Salvation of our Soâ—â— SECT 3. A Description of the same The Wise Hippocrates accordiâ—â— as 't is reported of him deplored his time very much the evil effects â—â— Avarice saying The Life of Mâ—â— is rendred miserable by the same â— may say the like with Father Caussâ—â— of Self-love since it is the most fatal plague amongst all the passions It is not a simple malady but a complex a malady composed of all the evils in the World it hath the shivering and heats of Feavors the ach and prickings of the Meagrim the rage of Tooth-ache the stupefaction of a Vertigo the furies of Phrenzy or Madness the black vapours of the Hypochondry the disturbances of the Waking and Fits of the Falling-sickness it hath the stupidities of the Lethargy the heaviness of Hearts-greif the pangs of the Collick the infections of the Leprosie the venome of Ulcers the malignity of the Plague the putrefaction of the Gangreen and whatsoever else is horrible in Nature Since therefore Self-love is such a strange and pestilent Disease in Morality that there is none like it in Nature nor more hurtful to Mankind I will dilate my self more at large with the same Father upon the Disasters that are daily in the sight â—â— the World caused by it Alas theâ—â— are millions of Men who would bâ— most fortunate and flourishing if the knew how to avoid the mischievoâ—â— power of this passion but using â—â— consideration nor endeavour to thâ— end they abandon their Bodies â—â— dishonour their Reputation to infâ—my their Estates to waste and miâ— spending and their whole lives to aâ— infinity of disturbances and torment For from hence it comes as we daâ—ly see the experience that Virgins â—â— Noble Blood and Families are stoln â—way Families dishonoured and dâ—solated and grieved parents precipitated into untimely Tombs by ingrateful Children From the same it follows that sâ— many Young Widows make shipwracâ— of their Honour in the World anâ— suffer themselves to be corrupted by incontinency that so many miserable Creatures that otherwise with the grace of God might have lived and died honourably after they have serâ—ed for a matter of talk to a City for time by reason of their evil and â—â—fortunate courses very often at last â—e in an Hospital Hence also it â—â—mes that so many Innocents are â—ade away by a death which preâ—ented their birth and many of them â—urthered and destroyed after their â—rth as it appears more or less at â—l Assizes and Sessions to the great â—ame of Christianity Besides all these how many poor â—fants are brought into this Life as â—recks at Sea are thrown upon the â—ocks or
in another As for Example â—ow many distempers of wilful igâ—â—rance and errour in the mind How â—any ulcers of envy and malice in â—e will How many fallings and ofâ—â—nces happened through frailty of conâ—â—piscences It would be endless to â—â—ckon all the Infirmities and Lanâ—â—ishings of Soul that lay upon and â—pressed mankind in such a manner â— was even incurable before the comâ—â—g of Christ and till he came to â—ply his Grace and the Merits of â—s Death and Passion for their Cure â—aving after him the Balsome of the â—â—craments to that end as namely â—e Water of Holy Baptism for the â—ashing away that foul stain of Oriâ—â—nal sin in every one and of all aâ—â—ual sin committed before Baptism in such as were rightly Baptized aâ—â— the other Sacraments especially thâ— Holy Eucharist and Pennance for thâ— healing of all actual wounds maâ— in the Soul by sin committed aftâ—â— Baptism Insomuch that before tâ—â— coming of Christ and also since â—â— all those that are through sin deprivâ— of the merits of his passion and â—â— those two Sacramental Antidotes â—bove-mentioned it may be rightâ— said even now at this present whâ— the Prophet Isaias of old said of tâ—â— Israelites Omne caput languiduâ— et omne cor moerens a planta peâ— usque ad verticem non est in eo sanitâ— Isa 5. v. 5. Every Head is sâ—â— and every Heart in heaviness frâ—â— the Sole of the Foot even to the Croâ— of the Head there is no Health â—â— Soundness All their Kings all thâ— Princes all their Priests Prophâ—â— and People were Soul-sick all â— them from the highest to the loweâ— languished through ingratitude aâ— other innumerable iniquities commâ—â—â—ed against God there was none of â—hem of what condition soever but â—ad defiled themselves by sin had corrupted their wayes and were subject to many spiritual imperfections and that which rendred their condition most deplorable and despeâ—ate was as it follows in the Prophet Ibid. because that Vulnus liâ—vor plaga tumens c. their Wounds and Bruises and Putrified Swelling Sores which sin had bred in them were not bound up by the Care and Skill of any Spiritual Physician They would not repent of their sins they would do no Pennance they would hearken to no good Counsel the Holy Oyl which should have mollified their hard hearts and brought health unto them infine they would make no use of any of those Remedies which were prescribed for recovery of their Spiritual Health and for the staying of further judgments whence the Prophet adds in the same place v. 7 9. Therefore is your Land still desolate your Cities burâ— with Fire Et nisi dominus exercâ— tuum reliquisset nobis semen c. Vâ—less the Lord of Hosts had left us â— Seed we should have been ere now â— Sodom and been like unto Gomorrah â— but blessed be God who of his infâ—nite mercy doth still preserve somâ— good and holy people in the World that his Church may never fail SECT 5. How this pernicious Disease of self-Selâ—-love corrupeth also all Vertuâ— and good Actions The Exercise and practice of Vertues is observed and done diversâ— wayes and therefore Plotinus thâ— Philosopher distinguishes the rational Vertues of the Soul in two generâ—â— kinds making some meerly morâ— or civil to wit such as polish anâ— adorn the manners and outward conversation others he make purgativâ— of the Minde Spirit and Understandâ—â—g of Men from errours perverse â—udgments and opinions Those of the â—â—rst sort are not so absolute Vertues â—s those of the second are by which â—e are after a sort made to the likeâ—ess of God All the Vertues that are â—ertues indeed are purgative Oâ—â—ers distinguish the same Vertues inâ—â— imperfect and perfect supposing â—â—at such division serves better for the â—eclaration of their several natures â—ut it comes much to one and the â—â—me For under those which they â—le imperfect they include all those â—hich others call moral or civil and â—arce any other for those which â—â—ey call natural and humane are â—ally moral vertues and pertain to â—e polishing of the civil life not â—â—rightly indeed stiled and accounted â—â—perfect seeing that if they do not â—â—oceed from Self-love as very ofâ—â—n they do yet they are alwayes â—â—nsistent with it and tend only to â—â—me worldly object Others they call perfect because they perfect us iâ— order to God having God for theâ— principal object and end and makinâ— us pure and holy after our propâ—â— measure and degree in his sight which are all by another name righâ—ly called purgative because they purgâ— and cleanse our Souls of those Vices which bar our sight of God and maâ—â— us seem unpleasing to him In furthâ—â— Confirmation of what has been saiâ— we are to know it is the general opâ—nion of Divines That Vertues of tâ—â— first sort to wit those we call Nâ—tural Civil and Moral considerâ—â— in themselves alone or in their owâ— Nature are of no effect nor esteeâ— with God as being imperfect aâ— practiced by a certain instinct aâ— inclination of nature whereto â—â— the most part Self-love and private iâ—terest or at the best humane râ—â—son and prudence that is world wisdom carries us As for Exampâ—â— How exactly do many men yea â— wise and well grounded persons oâ—serve the Civil and Temporal Laws â— the Land The cause is they â—ar to do otherwise reflecting upon â—e penalties and punishments inflictâ— upon transgressors How many â—omen live chast and contain themâ—â—lves in the bounds of Wedlock not â— much minding to fulfil Gods Comâ—andment or to be chast continent â—r Gods sake but meerly for the â—ame and ignominy which they apâ—rehend would follow and happen to â—â—em should they abandon themâ—â—lves to sin and to an unlawful liâ—erty in that kind How many exâ—rcise patience not for the Love of â—ertue but for fear either to disturb â—hemselves to little purpose or to disâ—lease the party that gives the occaâ—â—on Morover How many are there to â—e found in the world that seem to â—ove their Friends their Kindred and â—elations that seem most dutiful and â—bservant to their Parents as in duâ—y all are obliged to be and yet how often is it likewise found that all â—â— most of these observances dutifulness complacency proceed meetly from Self-love and not out of thâ— Love of God or from any principle â—â— true Piety Love Duty c. Wâ— fear that if we should not seem loving dutiful kind c. we shoulâ— lose the good-will of others wâ— should be deprived of some great estate great fortune or great hopes anâ— thus it is for interest only and for oâ—â— own ends for the most part that wâ— are dutiful and observant towards Pâ—rents As much may be said of mâ—ny that make great shew of affectâ—on and of great Love to those of an â—ther Sex it may be feared such kinâ—nesses and courtships carry with theâ— much abuse and corruption and thâ— if the chief object or end be not lust â—â— some
sinful complacency as most commonly it is yet Self-love and Vanitâ— is for certain the principal motive aâ— cause of such pretensions to wit because the party is exteriourly fair amiable delightsome discreet â—â—vise affable and of good humour â—s they call it good company a â—ood disposition or that some other â—ke quality commends her to our fanâ—y all which are but the repasts of self-Self-love and do render all the Acts â—f Humane or seeming Moral Vertue â—xercised upon such occasions meer Vanities and Imperfections in no sort meritorious because they have not God but Self-love for their aim and object Whence it follows That be the Actions or Works which we do never so good in their own Nature never so Just never so Chast Temperate and never so commendable in the sight of the World yet proceeding or beâ—ng done only upon the account of self-Self-love Self-interest Self-complacency and not for the Love of God more than all instead of being valued or accounted perfect Vertue Meritorious Works c. they will rather be discommended and condemn'd for sin as the holy Scripture shews clearly in the Example of those Hypocrites who fasting for exteriour shew only exterminant vultus suos disfigure their Faces that they may appear to the World for to fast For what saith our Saviour of them Amen dico vobis quia receperunt mercedem suam Matth. 6. v. 16. Of a truth I say unto you they have received their reward As much is to be said of those that give Alms to the Poor as many of the Pharisees used to do in their Synagogues and in the Streets Markets and open Places having a Trumpet blown before them to shew what they were going to do they doing all this to be seen of men and that they might be honoured of men for their Charity Holiness and good Works all that they did was nothing worth Their doom is the same with the other Receperunt mercedem suam They sought their reward in self-Self-love in Vain Glory and Proper Will and therein they shall find it The condition therefore which such Men do expose themselves unto cannot â—ut be very dangerous which I shall â—onfirm by one further Example Supâ—ose one be really a covetous Man â—hat is inordinately greedy and desiâ—ous of worldly wealth and to heap â—p Riches yet for fear of the Temâ—oral Laws or being unwilling to lose his reputation by being a known noâ—ed Usurer or for some worldly respects he forbears that particular sin he does not put out his Money to use nor rob his neighbour in that particuâ—ar way and kind of robbery but yet his heart is as much set upon Riches and his mind as wholly occupied and taken up in getting and gathering worldly wealth he is as pinching sparing and close-handed towards the poor gives as little Almes as he that is a professed Usurer Will it serve this Mans turn think you will it save him from the Snares of his Ghostly Enemy that he does not put out his Money to use No verily If he hoards up without measure or end if he refuses to lend freely and to give liberally when just occasion and the necessity of his poor neighbour requires it of him being able he sins and it s much to be feared will be found one day in the number of those whom Saint Paul Ephes 5. 5. declares to be excluded the Kingdom of Heaven For though he doth not commit usury nor rob outwardly yet he is covetous in heart and that 's enough to work his ruine witness those words of the Apostle Neque fures neque avari c. Neither Thieves nor Covetous Persons shall inherit the Kingdom of God SECTION III. Of the fatal Ruin of Mankind by Self-love SECT 1. By taking more Pleasure and putting more Confidence in Worldly things than in God 2. By taking Delight in all manner of Sensualities of the Flesh 3. By their Glorying and Boasting themselves in Malice and Iniquities SECT 1. By taking more Pleasure and putting more Confidence in Worldly things than in God SAint Paul the Apostle and Doctor of the Gentiles writing to Timothy saith That the time will come That Men shall be Lovers of them selves and having said that subjoynes a List of innumerable sinnes to wit of Covetousness Pride Blasphemy against God Disobedienâ— to Parents Ingratitudes Incontinency Impieties and what not all issuinâ— from the root of Self-love he foâ—gets not to put into this Black Roâ—â— that Saint-seeming Vice or deadâ— sin of Hypocrisy telling us thâ— notwithstanding Men should be reallâ— guilty of so many and great Vices yet they will make much professioâ— of Vertue though there be no trâ—â— fear of God in their Hearts yet thâ— will pretend to Piety having a Foâ— of Godliness but denying the Powâ—â— thereof 2 Tim. 3. 2 3 4 5 c. â— if he had said they are so maâ— Wolves in Lamb-skins they will seeâ— outwardly Holy and Vertuous bâ— in their interiour are meer Hypocritâ— and great enemies of Vertue whâ— it will stand with their private Inâ—â—rests and Self-love to be so inâ—â—much that I cannot but remember â—here what our Saviour saith in the Gospel Joan. 12. v. 25. Qui amat â—animam suam perdet eam qui oâ—dit animam suam in hoc mundo in vitam aeternam custodit eam He that loveth his Soul shall lose it and he that loseth or hateth his Soul in this world doth keep it to life eternal His meaning is that whosoever loveth his Soul inordinately and otherwise then he should and not in due order to God shall surely lose it to all eternity Take heed therefore how you Love your selves and blame not me for telling you plainly the truth which is that the eternal Ruine of Mankind consists and is caused chiefly through these disorderly affections that is because we do neither place our Love where we ought nor exercise it as we ought which for the most part happens to us three manner of wayes The First is When a man does as â—t were Cast and drown himself in the Delights and Pleasures of the World and puts more confidence in his Riches and Worldly Pelf then he does iâ— God The Second is When he ruâ— head-long into all manner of Carnâ—â— Concupiscences permitting himseâ—â— to sink in the deepest abyss of sin iâ— that kind The Third is When Meâ— Glory and Boast of their Sinnes aâ— Iniquities As to the first of these to wit that a Man exposes himseâ—â— to great danger and commits a grievous oversight in suffering himself â—â— be so carried away with the vaâ—â— things of this World whetheâ— Riches Honours Pleasures and Fruition of them nay so much as to foâ—get himself and his own condition â— his own nature and excellency reâ—dring himself thereby like unto thâ— Bruit Beasts who have no reason and exercise no Understanding Diâ—cretion Prudence in the pursuit â—â— what they love and finally in having more confidence in Creature than in God the onely Creator Anâ— that which
glory and boast theâ— selves in sin are absolutely uncapâ—ble of doing any good work pleasâ—â—â— to God or meritorious of eternal â—ward The reason is because theâ— take pleasure they delight and spoâ— themselves in sin then which nâ—thing can be more sinful No maâ— can make himself sport with thâ— which he really hates If thereforâ— we can play with sin whether â—â— our selves or others 't is certain wâ— do not hate it as we ought I adâ— moreover that though we shoulâ— grant that some good in order tâ— God might be done by these Self-lovers Self-praisers and Self-pleasers yet certain it is little or none would be done for the reason above-mentioned to wit because they place their chiefest pleasure in wickâ—d actions and all their endeavours â—re so bent and fixed upon their Vaniâ—ies and in taking complacency in â—heir own doings be they good or â—ad that oft times they do violence â—o themselves meerly for the augâ—enting the follies of their wickedâ—ess that is in striving to be more â—oolish and wicked Sect. 4. How self-Self-love is prejudicial to God and Men. Sect. 1. Self-love causeth Blasphemy Vndervaluing of God therefore prejudicial to him 2. Self-love looks always at his own interests in treating with neighbours therefore prejudicial to them 3. By Self-love we Seek all sorts of Vanities therefore prejudicial to our selves Sect. 1. Self-love causeth Blasphemy and an Undervaluing â—â— God therefore prejudicial â—â— him SInce it is the Divine Precept Tâ—â—â— we should love Almighty Goâ— above all things with all oâ— hearts that is to say by all oâ— Understanding without any erroâ— contrary to Faith and with all oâ— Soul that is to say with all our Wiâ— without any opposition or contraâ—â—ction to the Will of God with all oâ— Mind that is to say with our Mâ—mory not yielding to any oblivioâ—â— or voluntary forgetfulness of him and finally with all our Strengtâ— that is to say with all our endeavours and power not using aâ— slightiness or negligence in doinâ— his Service seeing I say thâ— we ought thus to love God it foâ—lows of necessity that if we do noâ— but the contrary being found negâ—igent in the performance of any the â—ore-mentioned particularities we â—o prejudice God and rob him of his â—ues and Rights For man cannot â—e cornival with God so as to give â—im no more than heâ— thinks meet â—ut must give all that is required and â—o all that is commanded and in such 〈◊〉 as it is commanded nor may â—e yield to any other love which iâ—â—ot in order to the supreme love of â—od And with most just reason it is that â—od doth thus claim all to himself â—ll Love all Service all Honour â—nd acounts himself in jur'd when aâ—y Love Honour or Service but â—hat he allows is performed to any â—hings else for he made all he 〈◊〉 â—â—d all Creatures even the whole â—niverse He gave us all the Being â—â—at we have all our Powers Faâ—ulties Parts We have nothing â—ut of his Gift and could do noâ—â—â—ing but for his help Therefore it is most due to him that we should love him as above-said with alâ— our Hearts with all our Souls with all our Mind and Strength This is Gods due by that great and universal Title of Creation to which that more Special Title of Redemption adds much right Bâ—â— alas how little sensible are we â—â— either how often do we trangâ—gress and leap over the limits of oâ— bound duty and how much negleâ—â— our oblâ—gation through the vehemeâ—cy of Self-love and the affection wâ— bear to our selves the world anâ— the things contained in it the richeâ— the honours the pleasures and vâ—nities of the world not to speak oâ— divers more unlawful objects thâ—â— to be found and too frequently stumbled upon which cause much disâ—â—nour to God and great prejudice â—â— our Souls through the innumerabâ—â— disorders and distempers which happen in Chistianity by occasion oâ— them blinding the understandingâ— and shutting up the eyes as it were of all Mankind through the preâ—alency of their mischievous efâ—ects One of the chiefest and greatest whereof is pride and ambition of which intending to speak more at â—arge in an other Treatise for the â—resent I will only say and desire it may be observed that through this â—xcessive pride and ambition God is â—ighly dishonoured and the rights of his absolute and sole Sovereignty â—resumptuously trampled upon and â—espised no less than by open Blaspheâ—y while through the pride of their â—earts men refuse to acknowlege him â—he only God the Creator of all â—hings and that his providence ruâ—eth the world and while out of the â—ame affection of pride disdaining to â—e under his power or command â—hey forbear not to speak evil of his Deity and either to deny or dispute â—is Supream Authority Divine Omnipotency c. Verities ever acknowledged from the beginning of the world continued in all the ancient Law and renued in the Gospel at the very birth of Christ and by the Publick Confession of all Chrians preserved to his present So that there seems nothing to be added to the pride of too many now adays but with Domitian the Emperor having thrust God out of his Throne to place themselves in it as if you please to consult ancient Histories you will find that Emperor to have done who through the exorbitancy of many other precedent Vices arrived at last to such a stupendious height of Pride Self-estimation and sottish Ambition as to require to be called and proclaimed God not enduring to hear of any other and as Eusebius Caesariensis relates of him Lib. 3. Hist Eccles cap. 19. 20. putting to death all those of the Tribe of David among the Jews that himself might be acknowledg'd the onely King and God of the whole World as Jesus Christ the son of David was by Christans confessed to be A great excess of pride and Self-love this was certainly in a mortal man to affect the honour and esteem of being accounted God yet it was no greater than what some others had attempted before him as for example Nabuchodonosor of whom according as holy Scripture reports Judith 6. v. 3. his servants were wont to speak thus Ostendam â—ibi quia non est Deus nisi Nabucodonosor I will shew you that there â—s no other God but Nabucodonosor and of Herod Acts 12. 22. who accepted of the Title of God though to his cost given him by the publick acclamation of the people And as these through pride think themselves to be Gods and require others to have the like opinion of them So there are that altogether deny God and either through pride or some other distemper of mind think there is no God at all to be acknowledged of whom the Prophet David coâ—plains Psal 13. v. 1. calling theâ— Fools though none think themselveâ— wiser men Dixit insipiens in corâ—â— suo Non est Deus The Fool haâ— said in his heart there is no God Câ—â—rupt they are and become
so as to make them see the truest effects of the Love of God which are absolutely contrary to the effects of Self-love For why the effects of Divine Love are all of them good yea they are all the good that can or ever will be desired but contrariwise the effects of self-Self-love are all of them evil and are all the evils that men can possible think imagine or fear Since then there be two sorts of Love namely the Love of God and thâ— Love of our selves and that all trâ—â— good and happiness is to be attributed to the Love of God as on the contrary all wickedness and all evils to Self-love we are now to maâ—â— our choice we must go either to thâ— right hand or to the left we muâ—â— practice either what is Divine oâ— else Self-love Consider the mattâ—â— therefore well and proceed as yoâ— see cause by what hath been hitherto said you cannot but have observ'â— and know that all the actions of those that exercise Self-love tend wholly to their own praise and commendation and to exalt themselves and if at any time they applaud Vertue it is only to praise themselves the more upon a precarious and false supposition that they are such For though they applaud it they never practice it Their practice is only what the Poet Ovid describes Laudamus veteres sed nostris utimur annis â—n conclusion where Self-love reigns â—l Vertue all Justice all acts of â—harity all good Discipline are sent â—â—to exile are banished and on the â—ontrary Cruelties Commotions â—ars Lusts Adulteries Murthers â—esolations and Tumults Furies and â—yranny Persecutions and Robbeâ—es Pride and Ambition yea all â—ices without exception which can â—e named are in such vogue that â—othing can withstand them and in â—uch credit and practice that it is in â—ain to speak against them By Self-love every one is prejudiâ—ed By means of Self-love poor Orphans lose their right and poor Wiâ—ows sustain wrong none consideâ—ing their cause none regarding or giving ear to their just complaint Through Self-love the poor perish or live miserably few or none takeing pitty or having any compassioâ— of their hard condition In fine aâ— sorts of men suffer more or less â—â— some respects or other through thâ— prevalency of this passion Froâ— hence from this cursed root Treasons are contriv'd and spring Felonies are committed Perfidiousneâ—â— and Deceits practiced Churches aâ— robbed Matrons and Virgins defiled Religion and all Fear of God laid aside and forgotten insomuch that hereby the Proverb comes to be verified Mala etiam non quaerentibus obtiâ—gunt bona vix accedunt etiam quâ—rentibus Evils though not sought after will be found and take place but God though never so much sought after will scarce be found This was the answer of that famous Diogenes the Philosopher when one asked him what his Opinion was touching Mens Estate and Condition in this World And truly in my judgement the answer was to purpose for so much as generally speaking Vice is much more rife in the World than â—ertue and consequently men are â—ore apt and are better furnish't to â—rocure Evil than to procure Good â—oth to themselves and their neighâ—ours Sect. 3. By self-Self-love we seek all sorts of vanities therefore it is prejudical to our selves Having so largely declared in the â—wo precedent Paragraphs how Self-â—ove is most prejudical to God and our Neighbour tending to Gods dishonour and our Neighbours harm it hence of necessity follows that the same Self-love is also most prejudicial to our selves for if God be offended by our Self-love as we have plainly demonstrated that he is the very same transgression committed against him by Self-love doth wound our own poor Souls to a spiritual death and if withal our Neighbour be prejudiced or harm'd by it as 't is certain he is it doth also include that we our selves are prejudiced and receive hurt thereby no less than ouâ— Neighbour seeing we cannot unjustly harm our Neighbour but we offend God and by offending God we hurt our selves so that there needâ— not much to be spoken to prove this verity to wit that Self-love is prejudicial to our selves as well as to others nevertheless to keep a deceâ—um in our proceedings since I have not been sparing or restrain'd my self in shewing the evils and mischievous effects of Self-love in relation to God and our Neighbour it seems but requisite that something should more particularly be proposed to shew the like effects which it has upon our selves and how much we our selves are prejudic'd by indulging to the passion of Self-love First you are not ignorant that Self-love according to the Ancient Fathers doth blind the eyes of Mankind dulling the Spirits and weakning their Understanding insoâ—uch that being to make choice of â—y thing for the most part they â—use for the worse and more espeâ—â—ally when the matter concerns â—â—eir spiritual estate or good As for â—xample there is nothing in this â—orld that a man loveth better than â—is Life his Soul his Ease his proâ—er Will his Pleasures his Sensualiâ—â—es his Vanities and the like and â—et 't is certain and well donsidering â—e would easily see it that all these â—ven the best of them Life and Soul â— inordinately loved are extreamly â—ontrary and prejudicial to his true â—ood For in this sense according to â—he Evangelist Joan. 12. 25. Qâ—i â—mat animam suam perdet eam c. He that loveth his life shall lose it â—nd he that hates his life in this World that is loves it not nor makes any reckoning of it in compaâ—ison of his love and duty to God shall keep it to life everlasting The â—ame is to be said of the soul according to Saint Matth. ch 10. 39. As for the rest ease proper will pleasures c. they are meer Vanities not worth the wishing for aâ— witnesseth the wise Solomon in those words Eccles 1. v. 14. Vidi cuncta quae fiunt sub sole ecce Vniversâ— Vanitas I have seen saith he and considered all things that are done under the Sun and behold they are all vanity and affliction of Spirit which is to say they are things wherein no full satisfactinn of raind no perfect content is to be found and that therefore men do vainly and to their own prejudice to set their minds their love and affections so much upon them Yet will not men be perswaded their minds are still set upon the things under the Sun and not on those above it they still mind the world and worldly things worldly riches worldly honours worldly pleasures worldly power c. and with such an eagerness of appetite do they hunt after these things as if â—â—ey were the chiefest good and â—â—at all happiness consisted in them â—eglecting the care of their Souls for â—e love of them quite contrary to â—e advice and exhortation of the â—lessed Evangelist Saint John who â—howing the harm that comes to men â—y setting their minds and affections â— much upon worldly
you Chap. 7. v. 5. Induta est caro mea putredine sordibus pulveris My flesh saith he is cloathed with rottenness and filth of dust my skin is dried and shrunk up What is Man according to his Soul Alas if he be destitute of Grace and true Charity he is Gods enemy he is the heir of Hell and of eternal damnation he is a friend to all sorts of vanities a worker of Iniquity Gods Dishonour apt and ready to all Evil but slow to all that is good Infine he is a poor creature beset on all sides with evil blind in Counsel extravagant in his passions and proceedings vain-glorious and boasting in his words and in his deeds deficient and falling short of the good he pretends to in his appetites dishonest and in all things little save only in his own applause and esteem wherein he is beyond measure great for all which upon due consideration he ought rather to have a great aversion and dislike of himself than to be puffed up and swelled with Self-love so much to Gods dishonour and his own prejudice Sect. 3. The second means to over-come Self-love is by the knowledge of the Excellencies and Perfections of God It cannot be denied but there are several causes which do oblige us greatly to overcome Self-love as also induce us towards a perfect and true love of Almighty God who is the Creator of all both Heaven and Earth and all things therein contained Genes 1. v. 1. who is our Maker having made us of nothing to his own Image and Likeness according as we read Ecclus 17. v. 1. who is our redeemer having given himself a redemption for all as the Apostle witnesseth 1 Tim. 2. v. 6. who is our Heavenly Father so witnesseth Christ himself Matth. 6. 32. Your Father that is in Heaven knoweth that ye have need of these things And Joan. 20. 17. I ascend to your Father and to my Father to your God and to my God These are all of them just reasons and titles of right which God hath to our love these are all prerogatives and properties of such high perfection that in consideration of them we ought to suppress all motions of Self-love and Self-esteem and to entertain no thoughts of our proper excellency dignity merit c. But besides these there are divers other very well deserving to be taken notice of by us of which we must therefore speak I shall reduce them under two general heads To wit Those which concerns the intrinsecal perfections and unparalled excellencies of Gods Nature in himself and those which concern his outward works towards us that is to say the many and great benefits which we daily receive in this world from his infinite goodness and mercy and which we expect to receive in the world to come As concerning the first sort we are to know that whatsoever is amiable of it self or beloved it deserves to be so loved according to reason or for some reason or motive of love that is seen in it As for example when we love any reasonable or humane creature if the love be as the object is reasonable and not meerly passionate we love it upon the account of some particular quality or perfection that we see in it and according to the measure or degree of that lovely quality in the object which we apprehend and are affected with all is our love more or less great towards the subject wherein it is After this manner is all reasonable and vertuous love begotten â— it arises always from the consideration of something in the party loved that justly deserves love and where there is no such thing seen or lookt at in our loving there is no reasonable or honest love Now upon this account what and how great reason have we to love God above all Creatures seeing that in him not only one or some few but all the reasons of Love all the Perfections all the good Qualities or Properties that are fit to deserve and gain Love are found All Goodness all Vertue all Wisdom all Power all Beauty all Majesty all Glory They are in him and superabundantly flow issue and proceed from him as from an eternal fountain of Good All the little rayes and resemblances of God which are seen in Creatures are darted from the Sun he imparts them all He makes Men wise vertuous good he furnishes them with all due feature of body and gifts of mind according as the Apostle S. James assures us saying Jac. 1. v. 17. Omne datum optimum omne donum perfectum de sur sum est Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above and cometh down from the Father of Lights If therefore we love any person for his wisdom God is infinitely more wise or for his nobility power wealth God is infinitely more noble mighty rich In fine whatsoever quality or perfection can be observ'd in Creatures as a Motive or reason of love the same with infinite advantages is to be found in God How much more therefore are we to love God than Creatures God I say who surpasseth all Creatures not only in the perfections already mention'd but in all others whatsoever without any exception As for his wisdom S. Paul telleth us that the depth of it is unsearchable and past finding out Rom. 11 33. O altitudo divitiarum Sapientiae Scientiae Dei c. O the height O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how in comprehensible are his judgments and his ways investigable There is none like unto him Quis poterit scrutari sapientiam ejus saith Elihu in Job Chap. 36. v. 23. Who can or will ever be able to search and know his wisdom As for his Nobility and the Titles of his due honour he surpasseth all Nabuchodonosor though his Enemy at that time and a wicked King yet acknowledged this to the Prophet Daniel saying Dan. 2. v. 47. Vere Deus vester Deus Deorum est c. In very deed your God is the God of all Gods and the Supream Lord of all Kings He is according to S. John Apoc. 19. v. 16. Rex Regum Dominus Dominantium King of Kings and Lord of Lords As for his Power Authority and Might he shall reign for ever and ever Luc. 1. v. 33. Et Regni ejus non erit finis Of his Kingdom there shall be no end Yea his power is such that nothing can be done without him by reason whereof it is said Rom. 11. 36. that of him and through him and to him are all things and Colos 1. v. 17. that by him all things consist As for his Beauty his comely and excellent features fair complexion take it which way you will whether of body or mind they are unparallell'd So the Espouse professeth Cant. 1. v. 16. Ecce tu pulcher es dilecte mi Ecce tu pulcher es decorus Behold you are fair my beloved behold you are fair and comely
And Chap. 5. 10. Dilectus meus candidus rubicundus c. My beloved is white and ruddy the choisest amongst ten thousand and according to the Royal Prophet Psalm 44. v. 3. Speciosus forma prae filiis hominum among the Sons of men none so goodly none so beautiful as he being most perfectly accomplisht and excelling in all internal and external endowments As for his great Goodness it likewise excels infinitely beyond all comparison the goodness of all men and of all creatures for according to the testimony of the Evangelist Luc. 18. v. 19. Nemo bonus nisi solus Deus None is good but God alone Tast ye therefore the sweetness of his exceeding goodness and say with the Prophet David Psalm 85. v. 5. Quoniam tu Domine suavis mitis c. Thou O God art good sweet and gentle and of much mercy to all those that call upon thee God of his own nature is good and benign ready to bestow benefits meek to remit offences and merciful to mitigate the punishments of those that love him No doubt therefore can be made but that as God is our Father most good most noble most wise most pleasant and agreeable most beautiful and fair most powerful mighty able and ready to help so he is more worthy of our love than any thing can be imagined in Mankind or in the whole race and order of Creatures Nunquid Deo potest comparari homo Job 22. v. 2. is there any thing in man that shall be compared to God no sure Divine Excellencies and Divine Perfections are such that man cannot reach the least shadow of them His goodness and mercy is such that he readily forgives all injuries all offences committed against him by sinners upon their true repentance how greatly soever and how often soever he be offended Si impius egerit poenitentiam c. saith the Prophet Ezechiel in Gods name If the impious will but do penance for his sins which be hath wrought and observe my Commandments to do them living he shall live and shall not die In conclusion he is as the Espouse in the Canticles speaks him Cant. 5. v. 16. Totus desiderabilis wholly and in all respects to be desired and to be loved There is nothing in him but what commands love in all that rightly look upon him David said of Jonathan that he was amabilis super amorem mulierum lovely beyond all the amiableness of Women How much more true is this of God the least of whose Beauties duly considered is able to ravish all hearts with the purer flames of Divine Charity Who would therefore having a perfect knowledge of these Divine Excellencies but subdue his heart to the love of them Who would not use all means and all endeavours in his power to conquer his own passion of Self-love and withdrawing his sensual affections from all worldly Creatures to fix a pure holy and perfect love on God alone and on his Neighbour for Gods sake Sect. 4. The third means and motive to overcome Self-love is by knowledge of the benefits we have received and are to receive from God As to the third motive which obligeth and induceth us to love God above our selves and all other Creatures it is grounded not only upon the benefits he confers upon us every moment which are infinite and continual according to the Sacred Text Acts 17. v. 28. In ipso vivimus movemur sumus in him we live move and have our being but also upon those that are still expected from him Either of these benefits are a sufficient motive to oblige us to love God above all and our selves only for his sake If we consider those of the first sort what greater reason of love can be imagined than to reflect that of our selves alone without his consent and permission yea without his special favour and assistance in the best things and those of greatest concernment to us we can do nothing without his leave and concurring help we are not able to lift up our foot from the ground or move a hand By his Creation we had our Being first given us and by his Conservation and continual Protection it is preserved to us with all our Powers and Faculties In him we live and without him we cannot live in him we move act and do such things as are agreeable or profitable to us but without him we neither move nor stir any more than a dead Corps so that it is of his mercy and free goodness that we do not every moment sink into our first and Primitive nothing as we should infallibly do if he were not pleased by the hand of his Providence and good will continually to hold us up This thing alone being well considered not to speak or mention as yet our Redemption or Salvation will make it more than sufficiently to appear that God is more worthy to be loved than we or the whole race of mankind are able to love For to say the truth neither the Angels nor the Archangels neither Cherubins nor Seraphins nor all the Holy Spirits of the Celestial Court of Paradice are able to do this their most united and unanimous affections in this kind their greatest and purest slames of love could not reach or come up to the merit or worthiness that is in God to be beloved Wherefore in this he condescends to our infirmity and requires us to love him above all other Objects not so much as he deserves to be loved but as we are able to love laying no other obligation upon us It behoves us therefore in all reason seeing God is so easily satisfied and requires of us no service but what is most reasonable that we give him our whole love and our whole hearts and serve worship and adore him with all our might and with all the power and vertue and strength of good will that possibly we can use This we may do if we will and it is all that he requires of us to do Fili praebi mihi cor tuum saith the spirit of God in the Proverbs Chap. 23. v. 26. My Son give me thy heart Shall we not give it him when he asks it so kindly of us Ah! if we be Sons if we be Loving Dutiful and Obedient Children and not stubborn Rebels we will give it him we will bestow it wholly upon him forsaking not only our selves but all other creatures to adhere closely unto him loving him with all our Hearts with all our Understanding with all our Will and in a word with all our Soul and our Spirit not suffering any thing to rest or have possession in our hearts that is contrary to his love nor minding ought but what may further us in his service never forgetting the merits of his great goodness towards us never tainting nor growing slothful in doing of his Commandments We will love him above all things as our Creator and Maker as our Saviour and Redeemer as our Everlasting Joy and Happiness
When we have done this and that the love of God begins to be well rooted in our hearts we are in the next place to do our endeavour that the same may increase and grow in us daily more and more which is best done by the continual practice and exercise of vertue and all manner of good works incident to our state and calling together with fervent prayers and observing such Rules of good life as by the Providence of God and the labours of pious men the Christian World as to that part is plentifully supplied with Let us have made never so great advancement in the love of God yet we are still to go on and not to make a stand in our Progress much less to think or perswade our selves that we have already attained such a perfect measure of loving God with all our hearts and all our souls as that we need not to add any more to it by Piety and Holy Living For such a degree of Divine Love is not to be pretended unto in this life until we come into the Heavenly Court of Paradise So long therefore as we live in this state of Mortality we are to go constantly forward in the exercises of Piety and Vertue For in this case it is rightly said Non progredi est regredi Not to go forward in the study and endeavour of Christian Perfection is to go backward and not to advance in the love of God is to fall back and come short more or less in point of duty and love to him and so they would find by experience in a short time whosoever should indulge to such a pernicious fancy to wit as to think they had done enough and that they loved God so well as that they needed not take any care of loving him better or with a more intense diligent exact and affectionate love Whereas the only measure of loving God is as S. Bernard often and excellently teacheth to love him without measure and never to think that we love him enough In consequence to what has been said it follows that all our endeavour must be imployed towards this end viz. of growing still more and more in the love of God and less and less in the love of this world of our selves and of all things that hinder or withdraw us from God whereto as Father Cressy rightly teacheth We must be guided by a divine light and assisted by divine grace The first for the removing such impediments as either corrupt nature or the Ghostly Enemy lays in our way to deceive us and make us give over the pursuit of vertues The second to help us forward in our journey and to bring us more near unto God till at length we be joyned to him by an immediate Union to which we ought to aspire as the end of our Creation and the ultimate perfection of our nature We must renounce as we have said before and fly from our selves that we may draw nigh unto God we must destroy Self-love in our souls that so the Divine Love may be raised up and increased in us we must give our selves to the exercise and practice of all vertues as well those which regard our selves and our Neighbour as those which concern God always remembring that those which concern our selves and our Neighbour usually called Moral Vertues are then only to be esteemed worthy of that name or to be stiled Vertues when they are exercised for the love of God and do effectually help to the mortification of our natural or corrupt passions affections lusts Those which properly and immediately concern God are called Theological Vertues and being these three to wit Faith Hope and Charity are conveniently put in practice all of them in the one exercise or duty of Prayer which includes all duties directly pertaining to God as namely of loving him with all our hearts and souls of trusting or putting confidence in him of believing his holy Word adoring his Divine Majesty obeying his Commandments submitting and resigning our selves to his Divine Will and Pleasure Follow therefore herein the good counsel of Father Grenadus who bids us not to suffer our minds to be intangled with over-much love of corporal objects or visible and worldly things whether they be Honours Lands Riches or other goods of this world Children Kinsfolks Parents Friends c. Forasmuch as this kind of love is a great occasion of all sorts of sins of cares vexations vain phantasies passions temptations and all kind of evil disturbance unquiet and disorder that is to be found in the world This Love according to S. Augustin is the poyse of the Soul and which way soever this Love draweth that way the Soul inclineth So that if this Love de set for Heaven then the Soul is drawn towards Heaven but if this Love be set upon Earth then is the Soul also bent towards Earthly things This being so it concerns us to walk warily never suffering our heart to fix upon or to cleave unto the love of visible things but rather to esteem them as things of small account as frail and uncertain and such as pass away in a moment Remove therefore your hearts from them and fix them wholly upon that which is their chiefest and most proper object viz. true felicity Sect. 2. By humbling and undervaluing our selves Deponentes omne pondus circumstans nos peccatum saith S. Paul Hebr. 12. v. 1. Laying aside all weight and sin that besets us as it were and incompasses us round about let us run with patience the Race that is set before us looking unto the Author and Finisher of our Faith Jesus who for the joy that was set before him indured the Cross despising the shame and is set down at the right hand of God The reason of his Exhortation is by the example of Christ humbling himself for us unto death yea the painful and shameful death of the Cross to move us to humility and patience for his sake who endured so much in our behalf both living and dying Christ disdained not for our sakes being God to descend from his high Throne of Majesty in Heaven and to be made Man taking our humane and vile Nature upon him yea and to be vilified contemned and undervalued by men and that in such a measure of inhumanity and malice as is beyond all expression and therefore if we will be his true Disciples and live after his example we must not disdain to humble our selves as he did nor to be ill treated by men as he was The Servant must not expect to be above his Master nor the Disciple above his Teacher If Christ were so humbled for us we ought to humble our selves for him and where his honour and service requires it not to think much to be undervalued abused despised and persecuted even to death If we will be worthy followers of Christ we ought with S. Paul continually to bear about with us the mortifications of our Lord Jesus 2 Cor. 4.
not the principal Motive and Reason of their love They love him only with a natural love Thus Parents love their Children and Children their Parents Kindred love their Kindred or Relations Friends love their Friends and others love their Acquaintance Familiars Companions c. which Love although generally speaking it be not discommendable but lawful and honest in the eye of the world yet it is not that true love whereof we now speak being not grounded upon God nor exercised principally for his sake but upon natural grounds to wit upon the particular properties qualities and perfections Natural or Moral that are found in things and exercised meerly upon our own account for the good the pleasure the benefit content and profit that we receive by the persons we love by all which kind of love though we do not transgress any Divine Precept nor sin properly speaking yet neither do we deserve any reward for it at Gods hand because as the same holy Doctor says such Lovers amorem suum non spiritualiter sed naturaliter impendunt exercise love not after a spiritual but a natural and as it were carnal manner Such love may be commendable and honest but meritorious it is not We must therefore learn to be True Lovers by exactly observing and following the Commandment of Christ who when he first gave this Precept to the Apostles propounded himself as an example thereof to them Hoc est praeceptum meum ut diligatis invicem sicut dilexi vos Joan. 15. v. 12. This is my Commandment that you love one another as I have loved you Our Saviour loves us in God and for our Eternal Good so in the same manner are we to love our Neighbour This great Doctor moreover observes and mentions it as a matter whereat some wondered others disputed and enquired solicitously how it could stand that God should require us so strictly to love our Neighbours since elsewhere and at other times he requires us not only to have them in aversion but also to hate them and not only our common Neighbours and such as may be accounted as well Strangers as Neighbours but even those of the nearest and dearest relation to us that is to say even our Parents Brothers Sisters Wives and Children As for example by Saint Paul he commands in very earnest and expressive terms that Men love their Wives saying Ephes 5. 26. Viri diligite uxores vestras c. Husbands love your Wives as Christ loved his Church and gave himself for it and yet by the Evangelist he sayes Qui Vxorem non odit non potest meus esse Discipulus Luc. 14. v. 26. Vnless Men hate their Wives they cannot be his Disciples Is Christ contrary to himself Does he command that by one Apostle which he forbids by another Nothing less For we ought to reflect and consider that the substance and effect of both Precepts is by discretion and a right understanding easily kept and observed and that in different respects and for divers reasons we may both love them and hate them We may love them for Gods sake as being our Parents Friends Wives and Neighbours whom God commands us to love We may hate them when they prove obstacles and hinderances to our chiefest good when they become stumbling blocks unto us in the way of our Eternal Salvation when the loving of them will not stand with our Love and Duty to God we may hate them For so it is written in the Exposition of this great Doctor above-mentioned There is no Creature saith he so dear unto us which we must not hate and forsake if it hinder us from Christ or from his Church or from Salvation And the reason is because no earthly Thing no Duty to Parents no Love to Wife or Children Countrey or to a mans own body and life can be any just excuse or plea for him against God or for the doing of any thing that may offend or displease God in the least Sect. 3. How we are to love our enemies Having thus declared That we are to love God and our Neighbour we are to make some enquiry about loving our Enemies a thing very much against the natural bent of our minds We do not at all times find it easie for us to love our Neighbors who either love us or at least do not hate us or wish our harm Much more difficult then it will be for us to love our enemies of whom we have apprehension that they do both that is both hate us and wish and practice harm to us But how difficult soever it is and what reluctancy soever we find in Nature against it we must conclude for the Affirmative That we are to love even our enemies and to exercise all the good Offices of love to them that we can saving the due Order of Charity according unto and admitting for good the reason of Marchantius We must love our Enemies saith he by vertue of this Precept which bids us to love our Neighbors Quia nomine proximi non solum intelligitur Amicus sed quilibet homo vivens Under the Name of our Neighbour is understood not only our Neighbour that dwelleth by us but every Man living and by consequence our Enemies are to be reckoned in that sense for our Neighbors and accordingly loved This Divine Precept is not only expressed or given in the Law of Grace but was in force under the Mosaical and Prophetical Laws In the Mosaical Law it is said Exodus chap. 23. to 4. Si occurreris bovi inimici tui aut asino erranti c. If thou meet thine enemies Oxe or Ass going astray bring it back to him Under a particular cause or occasion he expresseth a general Duty namely that where we have opportunity to do our enemy a good office we fail not to do it out of our love and good will to him In the Prophetical Law it is said Prov. 25. v. 21. Si esurierit inimicus tuus ciba illum c. If thine enemy hunger give him meat if he thirst give him water to drink for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head and our Lord will reward thee Not that we should intend evil to our enemy in doing him good but to shew that our doing him good shall be a better revenge than if we had heap'd coals of fire on his head For we both please God and may expect our reward for what we do and he if he repents not and ceases to be our enemy upon so just occasion given him must expect the effects of Gods displeasure first or last to fall upon him So likewise in another place it is said Cum ceciderit inimicus tuus ne gaudeas c. If thine enemy fall be not glad thereat and in his ruine let not thy heart rejoyce least perhaps our Lord see it and it displease him But in the Evangelical or New Law our Lord Jesus Christ doth more ratifie and confirm it Matth. 5. v.
44. in these words Ego autem dico vobis c. But I say unto you love your enemies do good to them that hate you and pray for them that persecute you and that slander or falsly accuse you that you may be the children of your Father which is in Heaven who maketh his Sun to rise upon the good and the bad and causeth it to rain upon the just and unjust What can be more express and clear For it might possibly be objected by some concerning the Old Law that there was nothing expresly declared or written that we should love our Enemies but only that we should help him in his necessity that we should not revenge our selves nor rejoyce in his ruine or adversity But in the New Testâ—ment it is positively and expresly said Love your Enemies as is above-mentioned out of S. Matthew which the Evangelist S. Luke also confirms Chap. 6. v. 27. in the like words Love saith he your enemies do good to them that hate you bless them that curse you and pray for them that calumniate you Nay more than this The Gospel or New Law requires so great equanimity patience and good affection of mind towards those that hate us and treat us injuriously and that we be so far from revenging our selves that it requires us when we are stricken on the one Cheek to offer also the other For so this Evangelist S. Luke writeth Chap. 6. v. 29. Et qui te percutit in maxillam praehe alteram When one strikes you on one Cheek give him the other also to strike In fine for the accomplishment or full performance of this Precept we must know that as in relation to our Neighbour we are to love him corde ore opere in heart in word and in deed so must we also do towards our enemy We must in heart wish him as much happiness as to our selves we must in our actions do them as much good as we would have done to our selves in like case we must not defame slander injure or do them any harm in our words but in all our expressions and speech of them tender their good and their just concerns as our own So that although our enemies hate us yet we in charity are to love them and though they curse us we are to bless them though they persecute and trouble us we must forgive them and pray for them if they be wicked that hinders not us to be good if they be our enemies yet the holy Commandment obliges us to be their friends These things I doubt not will seem to many extream hard to be perform'd such is humane wâ—â—â—ness yet perform them we 〈◊〉 and that for Gods sake for so is Gods Commandment We must be not only content but willing with the Prophet David to say Psal 16. v. 14. Propter verba labiorum tuorum ego custo divi vias duras For the words of thy lips I have kept hard ways that is to say by reason of thy Commandment I have overcome my self and kept the narrow way of vertue how hard and difficult soever I found it to Flesh and Bloud Because thou hast commanded it I have loved and will still persist to love even mine Enemies and to pursue them with kindnesses as much as they persecute me with words and deeds of hatred all this I will do to fulfil your Divine Pleasure and to gain the more interest in your love Nor will any good Christian think it much or a hard thing to love his Enemies that well considers the matter and sets before his eyes the example of Christ upon the Cross None had greater Enemies than he no Innocent person was ever persecuted so maliciously so causlesly none ever suffered more contrary to all justice right gratitude at the hands of his Enemies and yet even upon the Cross while he lay under the greatest pain misery and shame that their hatred and ill will could possibly bring upon him and was breathing out his Soul with the extremity of it yet even then he loved them and did the best offices he could for them to his Father namely praying for them and excusing in some part the wickedness of their sin in these words Luke 23. v. 34. Pater dimitte illis non enim sciunt quid faciunt Father forgive them for they know not what they do Thus did the Saviour of the World requite the hatred of his Enemies thus did he repay all their revilings cursings injuries all their cruel barbarous and despiteful usage to wit by the greatest charity and good will shewed on their behalf his love contending and gloriously triumphing over their hatred I do not doubt but having such an object of Charity before our eyes and excited by such an example we will desire above all things to imitate and be like unto him his most perfect goodness duly considered will work in us the like affection so as it shall not be grievous unto us to follow his steps per vias duas in any kind of vertue though never so hard to flesh and bloud and particularly not in this of loving for the future those that we have at present in aversion Our Saviours most perfect and unparallell'd example alone might serve for this But we have several others besides this in the holy Scriptures not unworthy to be taken notice of in order to the good effect of loving and carrying our selves well to those who deserve not very well of us as namely that of the holy Patriarch Joseph who being well beloved of his Father was for that reason so hated of the rest of his Brethren that as the holy Text speaketh of them Non poterant ei quicquam pacifice loqui They were not able to speak a good or peaceable word to him Gen. 37. 4. but were perpetually quarrelling and contending with him till at length their aversion grew to such a height that they conspired his death v. 19 20. casting him first in order to that end into a Cistern or certain dry Pit in the Wilderness and afterwards sold him to the Ishmaelites to be their Bond-slave Viginti argenteis for Twenty pieces of Silver v. 28. yet Joseph took all these doings well meditated not revenge though it was in his power to have done it but when his Brethren were fall'n into distress by reason of the Famine he provided for them and their Families all manner of Food and when his Brethren did not know Joseph their Brother he made himself known to them in this kind manner excusing their iniquity towards him Accedite ad me nolite pavere Ego sum Joseph Frater vester c. Gen. 45. v. 3 4 5. Come near unto me I pray you be not troubled I am Joseph your Brother whom ye sold into Egypt Is my Father yet alive and let it not seem grievous to you that you sold me for God sent me hither before you to preserve you alive Non vestro consilio sed Dei voluntate
c. It was not so much by your design as by the will of God that I was sent hither Therefore Load your Beasts and go up to my Father into the Land of Canaan and bring him and all your Kindred from thence and I will give you of all the good things in Egypt and you shall eat the marrow of the Land Thus did the good Joseph requite the unkind wickedness and ill-will of his Brethren with love But what shall we say of the Royal Prophet King David how much was he hated by Saul and how often persecuted by him to so great extremity that he was in imminent danger of his life thereby yet he never hated Saul upon that account but did him all the good Offices he could saving him several times when he was in his power and that David might at once have ridded himself of a cruel Enemy and gained both Crown Scepter and Kingdom to which he had right sufficient being by Gods special appointment anointed King over Israel to succeed after Saul The good King found his Enemy fast asleep his Spear fixed in the ground at his head and Abner with all the rest of his people sleeping about him yet would he not hurt him And when Abisai one of the Captains of King David offer'd himself to dispatch Saul at one blow alledging some shew of reason for it Because God had now deliver'd his Enemy into his hands and he ought not to neglect the opportunity which Providence gave him of securing himself David would by no means listen to the motion but forbad him doing any such thing in these express words 1 Reg. 26. 9 10 11. Kill him not For who can extend his hand against the anointed of our Lord and be innocent Vivit Dominus quia nisi Dominus percusserit eum c. As our Lord liveth unless God shall strike him he shall not be stricken by me or that his day come to die or that descending into a Battle he perish so God be merciful to me I will not lift up my hand against our Lords Anointed The New Testament wants not innumerable other Examples of this kind namely the Examples of all the holy Martyrs both of ancient and late Times who following the Example of Christ our Saviour have ever prayed for their Enemies and Persecutors with such fervent Devotion and ardent Charity that very often their Enemies and Persecutors have been converted by that means and become great Saints and Martyrs themselves Look but into the Acts of the Apostles there you presently meet with the Blessed Martyr Saint Stephen in the midst of his Sufferings praying for his Enemies in these words Acts 7. v. 60. Domine ne statuas illis hoc peccatum Lord lay not this sin to their charge The effect of which Prayer was besides other not mentioned the present Conversion of Saint Paul one of his greatest Persecutors For behold while he was in his greatest fury against Christians and posting in all haste to Damascus with Commission and Design to make havock of the poor Church there as we read Acts 9. 4 17. Christ appeared to him saying Saul Saul why persecutest thou me As if he had said I should have lost thee standing so much against me and my name But my Servant and Martyr Stephen praying for thee for his sake you are a chosen Vessel unto me and shall bear my name before the Gentiles and Kings and Children of Israel In the same manner and for like reason it is reported by Saint Chrysostom of Saint James the Apostle that he who lead him to the Execution of his Martyrdom was so much moved with the great zeal and constancy of this holy Apostle that he ask'd him forgiveness for what he was to have done which the blessed Apostle most willingly gave him embracing him and saying to him Pax tibi sit Frater Peace be with thee my Broter At which Salutation the poor man was so animated and encouraged that he forthwith publickly professed himself to be a Christian and was upon that Confession made a Martyr having his head likewise cut off Let these few Examples suffise to give you strength and courage to do the same whensoever occasion shall require it of you At all times let us be prompt and willing to forgive our enemies seeing God is so ready at all times to forgive us having penitent recourse unto him Be not of the number of those who when duty requires of them to follow the example of Christ and to forgive and love their enemies make their excuse and say Christ was God and most Divinely perfect and consummate in all goodness but they are weak men and cannot reach so high perfection as to forgive and love enemies persecutors c. But in vain it is for them to use such speech it will not serve their turn it will be no just apology for them at the latter day And verily it is to be admired how such persons can say their Pater Noster or how they can address themselves to God to be forgiven in the terms they do For they say Dimitte nobis debita nostra sicut nos dimittâ—mus debitoribus nostris Forgive us our debts as we forgive our Debtors As we forgive others so let us be forgiven What iâ— this but to pronounce Sentence againsâ— our selves if we do not forgive others Delay not therefore to make good your promise and to discharge your obligation Forgive your enemies as you would be forgiven of God Love your enemies as you desire that God should love you For otherwise I do let you all know that who so hates his Neighbour or Enemy it matters not which all 's one in this case renders himself uncapable of begging forgiveness from God he is so far from obtaining his request that he cannot without most grievous sin and entangling his Soul with further guilt make such a request unless we do first lay aside all hatred by loving pardoning and forgiving our enemies in heart 't is in vain for us to expect any mercy from God It is against all reason that God should love him who is not in true Charity with all Those that wish harm to others and will not forgive injuries received it is evident they do not love they are not â—n true Charity and consequently not in God according to the Doctrine of the holy Apostle 1 Joan. 4. v. 8. He that loveth not knoweth not God for God is love Sect. 4. In what manner of Love we are to love our Neighbors and our Enemies According to what we have said in the two precedent Paragaphs we must not only love our Neighbors and our Enemies but we must also forgive them yea though they should be obstinate and not repent for what they have offended us but should rather continue and encrease their enmity towards us than seem to desire reconciliation For we are not to reflect upon their obstinacy or disaffections but to perform what is requir'd on our
part by reason it is otherwise with men than with God Men may not be then oâ—n revengers and therefore whatsoeveâ— Men do to us we must do to theâ— no more than what God allows uâ— to do Revenge belongs to God â—lone and his Divine Justice doe oblige him first or last sooner or later to punish all offenders which repent not and doth never forgive save onely where men repent Now as concerning Man God hath giveâ— him an express Charge to leave alâ— revenge to him alone he thereforâ— is obliged to pardon his enemies whether they repent or not Sâ— that knowing our Obligation it iâ— most requisite that we also know what manner of love we ought tâ— have and to bear towards them or how and in what manner to exercise that love To which purpose the renowned Saint Vincentius according to the relation of the R. F. Granada in his Fourth Treatise chap. 3. Sect. 3. hath an ample and large Discourse to this effect He that will perfectly love his Neighbours and Enemies ought to have seven special affections towards â—hem In the first place he ought to have an inward hearty compassion of â—heir miseries and to be grieved as if they were his own In the second â—e ought to have charitable gladness â—f mind wherewith to rejoyce at the â—rosperities and felicities of others as much as he would do in case they were his own These two first affections are commendable and do agree to the full with that which Marchantius deâ—ivers saying That we ought to have a joyful affection and conâ—ratulation in the prosperities of our Neighbours as also a pious comâ—assion in their adversities as much â—s if they were our great concerns Therefore let our Charity rejoyce at other mens good when it tends to â—heir salvation for otherwise it is â—ot indeed to be accounted their good â—f it tends to their destruction and ruin of their Soul Let us also participate and have our share in their sadness and afflictions and so fulfil the Apostles Precept bidding us Rom. 12. v. 15. Rejoyce with them that rejoyce and weep with them that weep and in so-doing we shall shew our selves to be lively members of Christs Mystical Body For as Saint Paul saith of the Natural Body of Man that if one member suffer any thing to wit of pain and infirmity all the members suffer with it in some measure as likewise if one member rejoyce or be honoured all the rest of the members rejoyce with it in their kinds So is it true of the Body Mystical of Christ which is his Church all the members thereof ought in a special manner to sympathize with each other and for each other and to be like-minded one towards another rejoycing for the Consolations which each one receiveth from God and mourning or being sad for the afflictions which he suffers There must be no Schism or Discension in Christs body but the members must have the same care one for another as being one Body in Christ and members of each other in particular as the Apostle teacheth 1 Cor. 12. 26 27. As to the Third Affection proposed by Saint Vincentius men ought to have a quiet and setled patience willingly contenting themselves to suffer all vexations troubles and injuries that shall be done to them being alwayes ready to forgive them of which kind of affections or love I have in part already spoken somewhat in the fore-going Paragraphs as namely that we should love our enemies do good to them that hate us pray for them that persecute and calumniate us forget and with all our heart forgive injuries and the like I have only this one thing to adde further in this place that concerning the point of loving our enemies and doing good to them thatthis affection may be found true real and meritorious of Divine reward it must be operative and effectual it must not rest or contain it self only in well-wishing but must extend to well-doing also Remember you not what hath been often said to wit that we must love others our Neighbours our Enemies as we love our selves Now in loving our selves we do not think it enough meerly to wish good or pray for good to ones self but we are diligent and careful to use our best endeavours to help our selves what we can and to desire that all others that can would also help us In the same manner the duty of true Charity obligeth us not only to wish good but to do good to our Neighbours to our Enemies and to all others that want the good we can do them For if we only wish and do nothing we trifle our wishes serving for nothing but to bring us under the censure and reproof of Saint James the Apostle which he useth against such like people in these words Jac. 2. v. 15. Si autem frater aut soror nudi sint c. If a brother or sister be naked and lack daily food and one of you say to them Go in peace be warmed be fill'd with meat but you give them not the things that are necessary for the Body what shall it profit It will not satisfie the Belly to say Eat where nothing is given to eat nor keep off the Cold to say Be warm be cloathed to one that hath no Cloaths to put on In like manner neither can we merit any thing with God only by wishing good to another and not doing him the good that is in our power to do Therefore we are not only to wish good but to do good so far as we are able to our Neighbous Enemies and all men living and not only to pray for them but also to assist and help them in their necessities as God shall enable us The third Affection or Love mention'd by Saint Vincentius requires that we use gentle and benign behaviour and affability towards all men as reason requires demeaning our selves in conversation amongst men as becometh Christians with courtesie respect mildness not giving any sign of anger or offence of mind nor of contempt and disrespect to any but wishing well in our hearts to all to afford all convenient testimony and demonstration thereof both in our words and deeds for so the Blessed Apostle requires 1 Joan. 3. 18. Fratres non diligamus verbo neque lingua sed opere veritate Brethren let us love not so much in word and tongue as in work and in truth He doth not forbid us to make profession of our love and good will to others by words and by our tongue but to take heed that our love lies not wholly in our Tongue that it be not only a feigned love of outward profession and not in deed and truth This affection is likewise congruously exercised in judging of other mens actions in the better sense in concealing and keeping secret their faults and imperfections supporting their infirmities c. considering that we our selves are infirm and weak frailties and imperfections are to be found in our selves
as to wish and make Prayers to Almighty God that all Mankind may be converted and become one in Christ and if we cannot suffer death for the good of others I mean so great good and so greatly tending to Gods Honour as is the Conversion and Salvation of Sinners yet at least let us not be unwilling to suffer injuries at their hands and afflictions for their sakes and to edifie them what we can by the example of a true Christian Life both active and passive in doing well and suffering ill when occasion â—equires This is but the common Duty of all True Christians and â—urely he must be thought to have but â— weak and faint Love of Christ that cannot or will not do thus much for his Saviours sake who hath done and suffered so much for him and hath â—eft us his own Example expresly to that end namely to shew how much we are to condescend to others and deny our selves to procure their good in order to God Exemplum dedi vobis saith he I have given you an Example that as I have done to you so you should do also to others Sustain therefore patiently for unto this you are called because Christ hath suffered for us the just for the unjust leaving us an example that we should follow his steps 1 Pet 2. v. 21. Let us therefore follow our Saviour and Redeemer since they that follow him walk not in darkness but enjoy the light of life Sect. 5. How we may know our selves free from Self-love in loving God and our Neighbours Seeing that the Love of God must be predominant over all other Loves and reign over all our Passions Affections Lusts Desires c. as we have already declared it cannot but seem reasonable and a thing to be wish'd for by all such persons as do seriously concern themselves in things of the Spirit that we should at least in brief point at and shew them the means how by Gods Grace they may come to a pious and probable assurance that they do truly love God above all things and by consequence that their hearts are free from the pestilent and dangerous Vice of Self-love To satisfie whose desires I think it necessary to add a word or two further upon that Subject First In the general I say that to proceed securely in this matter it behoves us exactly and without all partiality to consider what the course of our lives hath been and is whither bend our affections inclinations desires what is the intent and design of all our actions for if these either wholly or at least principally tend unto and be directed to Gods Honour to the health of our Souls and to the gaining of a good Eternity all 's well we walk safely and may promise our selves good from God As on the contrary If we find our lives to be dissolute and careless and our mind more set upon Vanity and the things of the World than upon God we must fear the worst yea know for certain that as to our Spiritual Estate things go not well with us The predominant affections that are in us will easily shew what we are and to whom we belong Amongst Men of the World we see that for the most part in every one of them some passion or other one or more predominates over all the rest and makes such persons to be accordingly esteem'd some avaritious some ambitious some voluptuous and given wholly to pleasures others extravagant and humorous and as much over-born with fancy finally others too much re-senting and apt to revenge all which are so denominated and judged from their principal Love and the Affection which they do principally bear and shew either towards Riches or Honours Worldly Greatness Pleasures and the like the whole conduct of mens lives being as it were tinctur'd or rather tainted with that principal Affection which reigns in them This shews us our selves for in the same manner it is with us No man hath reason to think himself free from Self-love or that he loveth God above all things which is necessary to Salvation if examining his life his actions his employments desires and pretensions he do not find the principal bent frame and design of them to be towards God and that his Honour and our eternal good are the things chiefly look't at by us The love which we bare to God must be a Love not of bear Words not vain transitory Thoughts which perish and come to nothing but it must be a Love of Effects a Love that produceth good Actions and good Works It must not be an idle Love nor a talking nor a vaunting but a working Love a diligent and industrious Love a Love that loves to be doing to be always busie and imployed in the works of love And therefore we must take heed that we do not deceive our selves in taking the acts of our Understanding for the acts of Love or Divine Affection There is not a mortal man living that hath the use of reason whose understanding does not tell him that he ought to love God more than himself yea there is not a true man who hath not some inclination of Will though weak faint and uneffectual to love God more than himself and yet for all that want the true Grace of God for as much as we must know that the Love of God doth not consist in that act of the Understanding nor in those inclinations of Will but it consists altogether in putting the said acts or judgments of the Understanding and inclinations of Will in practice and by consequence if we want those things which are the proper effects and fruits of Divine Love and Friendship how can we think our selves to be Gods true Lovers or Friends and if the true Love of God dwells not in us 't is certain that Self-love and Self-interest doth By this therefore we may judge whether we have the true love of God or not or whether we be not still under the domiâ—ion of Self-love For the acts and proper effects of Divine Love as all Divines teach are to be united in our affections to God and in all things to look at him as our chief and only good If it be thus with us we love God if otherwise we love our selves This is one Rule and I think the principal whereby to know what our condition is in order to God and whether we be free from self-Self-love Yet I think it not amiss to mention some others that I observe to be re-commended by pious and learned Men. According to F. Cressy the property of true Divine Love is to unite all our affections to God and to make them all one in him as in our Chief and Soveraign Good and that out of this love we are to take joy in his Divine Perfections and Excellencies and that he is upon the account of them so adored and glorified in heaven by the Angels and by all Saints Besides this we are according to the same good Author
to desire and occasion being given to endeavour so much as in us lies that all Creatures acording to their several capacities may serve love and adore him That the Infidels Heretiques and all Sinners may be converted to him and truly repent of their disobedience and rebellion against him that so by love he may reign in all hearts and all hearts be sad for the offences of their own or others committed against him In pure love to him we are to determine faithfully to serve him and to take joy in all things that please him Moreover with indifferency we are to accept all things from his hands and to take them in good part as well things displeasing and offensive to Nature as pleasing It is required of us all to be heartily sorry for all things that are done or happen contrary to his Divine Will and Pleasure to love all things that are grateful to him and pertaining to his Honour his Service and his Glory and that meerly for his sake we should love all men yea even our Enemies and Persecutors doing our endeavour also where we judge it convenient to express some effects of love to them more than to others as being special Instruments to procure us greater good from God than those Friends who do all they can to please us and to foment and flatter us in vain things It is expected from us that we do all the honour we can to Almighty God and all the service and good offices in our power to our Neighbour for his Sake in nothing seeking our own commodities further then his Goodness allows but in all things his good pleasure We must imitate and follow his holy Examples in all kind of Vertues and Perfections to our utmost possibility and particularly it should be our Design to love others with the like Freeness of love wherewith he loved us without looking to our own profit or interest in loving He loved us meerly for our good not for his own so should we love our Neighbour pretending nothing but to do him good by our love and not our selves We must resolve never to accept any contentment but in him nor other happiness but in himself alone We must not set bounds to the measure of our love but still endeavour to love him more and better We are to be resigned and willing to suffer for him in this State of Mortality being contented for the present only with the hope of Fruition afterward that is in Heaven We are to hate our selves our corrupt and vicious Nature our bad Inclinations our Unsensibleness of his great Mercy and Goodness towards us c. with a most perfect hatred never being weary of persecuting and mortifying our selves We are bound to love him equally in his Commandements as his Rewards and to rejoyce or take contentment in any act of Temporal Severity exercised by him upon us We are never to cease praying that God would shew us the defectousness of our love and that he would daily give us his grace more and more to encrease both in the degrees of Fervour and Purity These are the Marks the Signs the Fruits and real Effects of the True Love of God and by them we may perceive when and whether or no we be free from the pest of Self-love Self-esteem Self-seeking and Self-pleasing This little which hath been said will serve to shew our state if we consider it well But alass where shall we find a Soul that can shew all these or the most part of these Rules exactly observ'd and practised by her However our duty is to aspire to all Perfection and to the Practice of all these good Rules and Helps thereto as much as may be yet as to the measure of our Perfection submitting our selves and being resigned therein to the Will of God of whose grace it is that we attain to any measure or degree of perfection For so is his holy pleasure The End of the First Part. THE SECOND PART OF THE Languishing Diseases OF CHRISTIANS Proceeding from SELF-PRIDE DRUNKENNESS And CARNAL CONCUPISCENCE CURED 4 ESDR 8. 31. We and our Fathers languish with such Diseases but thou for Sinners shalt be called Merciful LONDON Printed 1677. The First Treatise OF THE SECOND PART OF THE LANGUISHING DISEASES OF CHRISTIANS Proceeding from Self-Pride SECTION 1. Pride a General Disease amongst Christians SECT 1. Heaven and Earth was infected with it 2. Self-Pride of the Nobility and Gentry 3. Self-Pride of great Ladies 4. Self-Pride of other Women Sect. 1. How Heaven and Earth was infected by Pride THE Pestilent Fevor of Self-Love as Saint Ambrose very well observeth is usually attended with Two Symptoms or ill Signs as bad as it self which are Pride and Ambition Febris enim nostra ambitio est c. saith that Father The Feavor that troubles and agitates our Souls not suffering them to rest in any thing tha 's good is Ambition which according as Saint Augustine Saint Bonaventure Isidore Hugo and many others have described it is the inordinate love and appâ—tite of our own commendation and a desire to excel or to be thought to excel others in our actions which if they be publick and concerning the Common-wealth is then most properly termed Ambition but if the actions be private and concern only our Domestick Conversation and Behaviour it is called Pride being but one and the same feavorish Distemper of Self-love more or less extending and shewing it self A Feavor or Spirituall Distemper this is so malignant that it causeth many other Diseases and Dangerous Symptoms of Soul to Mankind as for example many Vain-gloryings many and much Vain-boasting and Vaunting of ons Self much Flattering of others much Wantonness much Hypocricy and Dissembling innumerable Impertinencies and Curiosities of like nature frequent Ingratiudes frequent Disobediencies to those in lawful Authority frequent Seditions and Commotions publique frequent Contentions and Contests more private frequent Disrespects to Superiours and Despisings of Equals and those beneath us together with many other such like Distempers and Disorders under which and by means whereof not only private persons but Kingdomes and Common-wealths languish daily and endure all the mischiefs of Devastation and Misery not to be ended but with utter ruin unless care be taken to apply fit remedy in due time and season not to menton the harm that is done to the Soul by means of them The first that ever was troubled with these Distempers to wit of Pride and Ambition was Lucifer that reprobate Angel together with all his wicked Crew who through the excess of Pride and the inordinate Love and conceit of his own excellency extolled himself to such a height as to pretend to be equal to God according to the relation which is given of him by the Prophet Isaias Chap. 14. v. 14. where the wicked Angel saith thus in his heart In Coelum conscendam super astra Dei exaltabo solium meum c. I will climb up into Heaven above the Stars of
brought in to drink the Health of Friends Kindred and Relations as also perchance of the King Queen and Royal Progeny with more Ceremony and Solemnity But Alas for the folly of such Men to think that any true Love Friendship or Loyalty can consist in Drunkenness or that Men should so much disorder the health of their Bodies and Souls only to wish them health in a Drunken Frollique If they would see their folly and learn how they are to Love how to shew their Good-will and how to prove themselves to be Friends good Subjects and Loyal to their Princes Saint Paul will teach them 1 Tim. 2. v. 1 c. Obsecro igitur primum omnium c. I desire saith he above all things that Supplications Prayers Intercessions and Thanksgiving be made for all Men for Kings and for all that are in Authority that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life not in Drinking and Fudling but in all Piety Sobriety and Chastity Thus ought we to shew our Love to our Friends and above all to our greatest and best Friend the King our Soveraign Lord. Sect. 4. Drunkenness of the Poorer sort of People This beastly Vice Drunkenness oppresseth all sorts of Men but none more generally and frequently than the poor amongst which there are a great many that by their good wills would scarce ever be seen sober had they Money to satisfie their insatiable desire of Drinking they would be always tipled you should never meet them but more than half drunk Amongst Tradesmen and such as converse much in the World by occasion of Buying and Selling there 's no Bargain made nothing of any considerable nature Bought or Sold without a Cup of good Liquor over which they consult and agree about the Price and without it scarce ever conclude any thing Yea some are so accustomed thereto that they spare not to profess they can make no good Bargain but in Drink and that things never succeed better to them than when their Brains are well warm'd with the Spirits of good Liquor so that they are oft-times seen to trapan and lie upon the catch with each other upon this score to wit the Buyer with the Seller and the Seller with the Buyer each pretending in their private Thoughts to deceive or over-reach the other by the help of good Ale Labourers and Journey-men will undertake nothing willingly without a certain sum of Money for to Drink cast into the Bargain which being freely allowed they will do anything So that it is plain nothing is to be done nothing Bought or Sold but good Drink Seals up the Bargain and that Ale-houses are the chiefest Markets and Fairs for these Poorer sort of People as Taverns are for the Rich where they dispatch all matters of Bargain and Buy and Sell all sorts of Merchandize and Commodities Verily it is a thing to be pittied in this poorer sort of People to see how diligently and industriously they take all opportunities and occasions they can to meet with to Drink which if it chance to be of free cost they run to it with such greediness as if they were but so many Bruit Beasts in the shape of Men and so overload their Stomachs with it that in fine they seem and do worse than Beasts being forc'd to vomit and cast up what they have so much beyond measure and so intemperately taken in and having a little eas'd themselves O the shameful insatiableness of a wicked Appetite they fall to their Drink again and again to their Vomit Add hereunto that when they are thus elevated as they call it and overcome with Drink if they be capable to speak nothing comes out of their Mouth but what is seconded with Oaths one upon another or with some other cursed filthy and blasphemous Speech without end singing and roaring in such manner as if they were already in Hell making up an horrid Consort with the Damned Souls who roar day and night as these also do through the extremity and misery of their perpetual Torments Sect. 5. The Drunkenness of Youth What shall we say of the Debauch and ill-manners of the Youth of this present age Verily we must say it is corrupted in the highest degree almost that can be expressed and that if God ever had just occasion to drown all Mankind for the Sin of Carnal Concupisence he hath it now in such manner and to such a height of provocation as it is to be admir'd how his merciful goodness can forbear a second deluge the Youth of this present age being not only deeep-sunk in the filthy mire of Concupiscence and wallowing in all manner of carnal Lusts but extreamly also over-gone with this horrid sinful Vice of Debauch and Drunkenness The great want of good Education contributes much to this evil which is such that youth have no sooner attained the use of Reason and Discretion but they are ready to follow the Broad-way of Sensuality and Sin falling into lewd company and from them learning the practice and getting the ill custom of Intemperate Drinking How prone this age of Man viz. Youth is to sins of intemperance appears sufficiently in the Parable of the Prodigal Son mention'd in Saint Luk's Gospel Chap. 15. v. 12. This young Sot wanting wherewithal to satisfy his Carnal Sensuality in Drinking and Whoring 't is the case of too many in this our unhappy age becomes discontent therewith and impatient of delay never leaves importtuning his too indulgent Father that he would forthwith give him his portion and let him use it as himself thought good The Father consents to his desire and divides betwixt him and his Elder Brother his whole Substance The young Prodigal over-joyed at this and little fore-seeing the sad miseries that were to befal him nor those Quagmires of Dangers and Distress which his Sins and his Folly would ere long bring him into makes no delay but taking his whole portion with him leaves his Fathers House and departs into a far Countrey where being at full liberty to unbridle his Carnal Appetite he falls into all manner of Excess and Wickedness so that in a short time he had spent and wasted all his Substance with riotous living Upon which there being also a great Famine in that Land he presently fell into want and was forced to make himself Servant to a certain man of that Country who set him to keep his Swine In which condition his hunger was so great and his misery so extream that he would fain have filled his belly with the husks which the Swine did eat but could not Behold here in this Young Prodigal the sad issue which riot and intemperance brings young men unto Behold I say and Beware Hitherto we have seen his misery What the final event was and what succeeded to him when he came to himself and saw his errour we shall have some fitter occasion to shew hereafter SECTION II. The Motives to with-draw all Christians from the Excesses of Meat and Drink
Life strengthens that which is weak in the order of Good and very much disposes the Soul to receive and entertain the motions of the Holy Spirit This great and excellent Vertue extinguishes the heats of Concupiscences quenches the flames of Lust supports and upholds the Mind in all the Tempests and Storms of Temptations which Satan raises against her According to Saint Augustin the chief Parts and Powers of the Soul viz. The Understanding Will Memory yea even in the Senses throughout all the Parts and Members of the Body are sustained by it and kept in their due State and inabled the better to exercise their proper Functions It is saith he the safeguard of the Body the strong Fortress of Chastity the defence of Modesty and good Behaviour it preserves Love with every one and procures respect from all that are Vertuously Minded inseparably united with Honesty the continuance and establishment of Peace making all Vice and Wickedness to retire and hide their Heads for Shame What can be said of this so necessary Vertue Saint Ambrose adds that Sobriety and Abstinence conduce much to Capacity of Learning making Men fit to Study Meditate and Conceive aright of Things it is the Rule of Discipline which brings all to Perfection and the best Teacher of all Arts. He will have the same to be the Stability and Constancy of all Right Wits or Sound Judgments the unseparable Wisdom of the Memory a Remembrance of all Spiritual Good the Keeper of Secrets In a Word this great Saint will have Sobriety and Abstinence to be of that Nature as never to stand still in Idleness but to be always going forward in the Progress of Vertues coveting Fame and good Reputation not for Vanity but for Vertues sake disposing all Things with Truth and Reason and always finding Place and a good Rank with those that are most pleasing to God What can be thought more fit or more prevalent to overthrow the Vices of Gluttony and Drunkenness than the Vertues of Abstinence and Sobriety Therefore let us resolve and say with Saint Bernard If Gluttony sins alone let Abstinence alone be her Pennance if there go no other Sins along with Gluttony Abstinence alone shall suffice to Cure it For the Transgressour that is Sober and Abstinent will soon reflect upon the Transgression he hath committed he will soon repent of his Folly and be ready to detest the same with Tears and sorrows of True Contrition Sect. 6. Reflection upon the foregoing Matter The Spiritual Balsam of Sobriety and Abstinence being of such a Soveraign Vertue and Operation for the Cure of this Brutish and Beastly Disease of Gluttony and Drunkenness it behoves us and all that make profession of Christianity to have a perfect Knowledge how to apply the same in the right way and manner to our ulcerated Wounds that is how to use Abstinence and Sobriety so as they may effectually Cure our Spiritual Maladies for to be Sober and Abstemious only in point of Meat and Drink and to refrain only from Excesses in that kind will availus nothing if we refrain not also from Sin and abstain so much as in us lies from all other Vices and vicious Imperfections whatsoever For though Abstinence alone may perhaps profit the Health of our Bodies yet it will never aâ—one do good to the Languishing â—tate of our Soul Therefore if you will have perfect Cure of both that â—s of your Spiritual as well as Corâ—oral Distempers and receive the â—ull Benefit of this Holy Ointment of Sobriety and Abstinence you must follow the Counsel of David which he gives Psal 36. v. 27. in â—hese words Declina a malo â—ac bonum c. Decline in the first place from all Evil and after that do good that is you must refrain and abstain from all sin whatsoever from all Vice whatsoever from all Excesses whatsoeever that are sinful and blameable as well as from the excesses of Meat and Drink otherwise the good effects of Sobriety and Abstinence will not appear or be found in you Now to the end that they may appear take for your Director in the business Jesus Christ and let his Sobriety and Abstinence be your Example and Pattern to imitate who of his infinite goodness was pleased to take Humane Nature upon him for the Salvation of all Mankind and to make satisfaction for our Sins and particularly for our Sins of Gluttony and Drunkenness by which most commonly all other Sins find Admittanre amongst Christians and for which he satisfied by enduring Hunger and Thirst and by exercising Sobriety and Abstinence all his Life long at his Birth and in his Death In his Birth his Abstinence was such that he appear'd destitute even of all manner of necessary Provision being rejected from the Company of all Humane Creatures and reduced to the necessity of being Born in a Stable among Bruit Beasts In his Life through the whole course of it he was most Abstemious though the Pharisees falsly and wickedly slaundered him for a Glutton and Wine-bibber recommending unto us the Vertue of Abstinence by a miraculous Fast of Forty days and Forty Nights after which he suffered Hunger and in his Death Thirst in the highest degree and could find no Ease or Refreshment for it but the cruel spiteful kindness of a Spoonful of Vinegar and Gall. Calling therefore to mind the Sobriety and Abstinence of this our Chief Leader and Captain Jesus Christ let us follow his Example according to Davids Counsel Declinemus a malo Let us abhor and detest this filthy sin of Gluttony and Drunkenness and with the help of his Grace endeavour to overcome all other wicked Desires and disorderly Appetites proceeding from or leading to those Sins which of necessity we must conquer and subdue by the Vertue of Sobriety for otherwise if we yield to Gluttony and give way to Drunkenness we shall our selves be overthrown and easily made Slaves to innumerable other Vices and Sins Wherefore Declina a malo fac bonum c. Eschew Evil and do Good refrain from Vice and be Sober remembring the Gall and Vinegar which Christ was contented to taste in your behalf and for your sakes before his Death that he might redeem you from all Evil and make reparation for the Sin of Gluttony and all other Sensualities of Mankind The Third Treatise OF THE LANGUISHING DISEASES Among CHRISTIANS Proceeding from Carnal Concupiscence LONDON Printed 1677. SECTION I. Carnal Concupiscence a great Disease to Christianity SECT 1. It causeth several Corporal Diseases to Mankind 2. It infecteth all the whole World 3. Is detestable to God therefore to be avoided 4. It includeth several other Sins Sect. 1. Carnal Concupisence causeth several Corporal Diseases to Mankind THere are several sorts of Carnal or Sensual Concupiscences Since â—a large and general sense all Conâ—upiscenses or inordinate Desires whatsoever may be stiled Carnal or Sensual as being the Motions and Inclinations of Corrupt Nature and deprived Sense according
A SOVEREIGN BALSOM TO CURE THE LANGUISHING DISEASES OF THIS Corrupt Age. By C. PORA a Well-wisher to all Persons We and our Fathers languish with such Diseases but thou for sinners shalt be called Merciful 4 Esdras 8. v. 31. PERMISSU SUPERIORUM 1678. TO His Truly and Ever Honoured PATRON MILES STAPELTON Knight and Baronet c. Of Carleton in the County of York AND To his Right Honourable Lady ELIZABETH STAPELTON Alias BARTU Daughter to the Earl of LINDSY c. Peace Health and Happiness MOST HONOURED SIR IF King David one of the greatest Monarchs â—hat ever was in the World sound himself so much obliâ—ed to Abigail for a few Victuals it is no mervail if I be â—â—r more obliged to You â—aving received so many favours innumerable benefits â—nd civilities from your Noâ—â—e Person while I had thâ—â—onour of being one of youâ— Renowned Family Thereâ—â—re do not think me preâ—â—mptuous if I offer to yoâ—â—â—ese Fruits of my Labours which I have judged fit anâ— pâ—oper for the Cure of thâ— Lâ—nguishing Diseases of thâ—â— Corrupted Age. I hope it will not seem strange to You nor to any others â—hat I make so happy choicâ— in presenting this my poor Industry to your Worthy Person to whom in all reâ—pects the right of it belongs having sprung and been partly conceived during â—he time of my abode in â—our Family Receive â—herefore Most Noble and Worthy Patron this my Offer not as a thing worâ—hy of your Deserts but as a small token of my love and affection to You. I do not doubt though my Work be not much polished with Eloquence nor replenished with Courtly Expressions but You will reap some spiritual benefiâ— by it Although You be most Vertuous yet sure I am You do not conceive your self exempt or altogether free from all the Spiritual Diseases and Languishing Distempers of thiâ— present Age. For according to that of our Blessed Saviour in the Evangelist Nemo bonus nisi solus Deus Luc. 18. v. 19. There is none absolutely good save God alone It is not therefore my intention here to extend my self in your praises or to make any long Rehearsal of your known Heroical Vertues and Pious Actions which surpass my slender capacity to express as they deserve I must pass over in silence the manifold Perfections and Graces with which the Holy Ghost hath adorned You. And especially with a great Charity which you extend and practise daily to the Poor in several effects both for their Bodies and Souls And oâ— the great Zeal and constanâ— Practice of your Faith and Religion which neitheâ— Glory nor Persecutionâ— could ever shake in the least Neither dare I be so bold as to honour my Pen with the Relation of your Affinities and near Relations who were most Loyal Subjects and Chief Officers in the Service of their King adventuring both their Estates and Lives in adhering to Him It is in vain for me to declare How they behaved themselves in the last unhappy War how often and how valiantly they fought against those Rebels losing their lives for the just Cause and Quarrel of their Sovereign how often they were taken and re-taken Prisoners your and their Houses plundered themselves wounded and left among the dead Souldiers All these I will leave in silence with many other Valourous Acts done by them knowing your humility to be such that it abhorreth to be praised and other your Allies exalted in your behalf Therefore I will and that most willingly condescend to your humble inclination craving pardon for this boldness in offering so small a Token to your great Deserts And thus with your leave I will cease to write though I will not cease to wish That all Prosperity and Happiness may never cease to You and Yours and with this desire I remain Most honoured Patron Your most humble Servant CHARLES PORA TO THE READER HAving written these Treatises of the Chief Languishing Diseases of this Corrupted Age upon no other account than for my own satisfaction with the sole intention to improve my self as well in the English Tongue as to apply readily the Antidote of all Spiritual Diseases and Languishing Distempers to my poor corrupted disposition Not thinking in the least to let it pass any further in the view of the World yet the earnest intreaties of my friends who accidentally perused the same prevailed so far that I could not but condescend to their desires in the publishing of it Accept therefore Courteous Reader my good will and hearty desire to do something that might tend to the perfect cure of those Spiritual Infirmities that chiefly corrupt this present Age. I confess and you will easily perceive by reading that neither the Stile nor the Conceits are set out to the full yet my hope is that you will never find the language so barren and fruitless but you may find likewise a Balsom for prevention or at the least to give ease to your Languishing Infirmities Expect not Mellifluous Eloquencies Vain Opinions nor Worldly Expressions but the plain Conceits of a well-meaning Mind suitable to the Subject which tends onely for your spiritual good and interest Neither do I pretend to entertain you with Novelties I shall alledge nothing that I can so properly term my own as to exclude all others from any Title to it Know therefore Good Reader that I have selected the substance of these Treatises out of the Sacred Scripture â—ith the confirmation both of the Anâ—â—ent Fathers and of other Learned â—ivines Wherefore if you find any â—â—ing amiss or superfluous as unpoâ—â—shed Phrases hard or harsh Senâ—â—nces any false Orthographics or â—ot true English impute the same to â—â—y own Errors and excuse me as not â—â—â—ing perfect in the English Expressiâ—â—s Thus wishing you the absolute â—â—re of all those Languishing Diseases â—nd Distempers both of Mind and â—pirit here spoken of I do not doubt â—ut by Gods assistance you will find it â—â— the reading of these Treatises or â—â— least some help as well to prevent â—â— to heal the same Adieu The First Treatise OF THE LANGUISHING DISEASES OF CHRISTIANS Proceeding from Self-Love We and our Fathers languish under such Diseases but thou for sinners shalt be called Merciful 4 Esdr 8. 31. SECTION I. Of Self-Love SECT 1. The Introduction to Self-Love 2. Three several sorts of Love 3. Self-Love contrary to the Love of God 4. How Self-Love opposeth the Love of God SECT 1. Introduction to Self-Love IT is not without cause most beloved Reader nor reason thaâ— the Wise Solomon did exalt in his Canticles so highly that which Almighty God did ordain namely Love of which I will say that if the Rules of it be not exactly kept and observed without question it will cause infinite confusion even to the total ruin of Mankind Love in the highest degree and perfection is due to God alone as being that which he absolutely commands us Diliges Dominum Deum tuâ—m ex toto corde tuo c. Deut. 6. v.