then they are it makes her her own Idolater it raiseth her incensibly up to the height of impiety and by different steps mounts it even to the hatred of God for as the faithful man is perfect when he loves God even to the pitch of hating himself the sinner even hath the measure of his sin filled up when he loves himselfe even to the degree of hating God This passion reignes not much save in the souls of the damned one must be wholly possest by sin to conceive this designe and I know not whether there be any so sinful soule on Earth as can have so damnable a recentment Hell is the abode of these wicked ones and I firmly believe that as their hatred of God is the sow lest of there sins so is it the cruellest of their punishments yet can they not hate this Summum Bonum with there whole heart the foundation of their being is possest by the love of God they love him naturally whom they hate willingly they are divided between love and hatred there will is parted by these two contrary motions and for all they can do to stifle this naturall Inclination they cannot hinder their best part from languishing and sighing after God they afflict themselves that nature fights against there will and that her unalterable laws forceth them to love the author of their everlasting punishment But to reassume the threed of our discourse the last opposition of selfe love and charity is that the latter hath no more violent desire then to purchase lovers to God almighty to enlarge the bounds of his Empire and to disperce the holy flames of his Divine love into all hearts for a heart that is inflamed with this sacred fire knowing very well that it cannot love God according to his lovelinesse wisheth that all the parts of its body were changed into hearts and tongues to praise and love the only object of its love But as she sees her wishes are uselesse she endeavours to increase the number of Divine lovers to the end that making amends for her indigency they may love him with all their might whom she cannot sufficiently love Self love in opposition to this which obligeth man to make a god of himselfe inspires him with a desire to make himselfe be beloved of all the world Instructed by so good a master he imployeth all his cunning to rob himself of his liberties he discovers all his perfections to purchase lovers he proposeth himselfe unto himselfe as an Idoll to be adored and believeth that the truest and most legitimate happinesse on earth is to have slaves who are fairly forced to love him When Kings are arrived at this height of of injustice and Impiety men thinke them happy and the Politicks which labours to decypher a good Sovereigne is never better content then when she hath raised in them this violent desire of enjoyning their Subjects good will T is herein that she distinguisheth Kings from Tyrants and that she opposeth unjust Sovereignes to Legitimate Monarchies but we are taught by Christian Religion that blame may be incurred as well by making ones self be beloved as in making him be feared For though she honours Kings and condemnes Tyrants though she approve of Moderate Government and detests ruling by rigour yet doth she equally blame those who intrench upon Gods rights and who proposing themselves to their Subjects as their final end will possesse all their affections love appertaines aswell to God only as glory of all offerings he is best pleased with that of the heart and he loves much better to rule over men by the way of mildnesse then of rigour insomuch as Kings who would make themselves be beloved as Gods are not much lesse faulty then those who would make themselves be dreaded as Tyrants they are both of them guilty of Treason against the Diety and pretend to honours which are only reserved for God Lucifer never purposed to establish his greatnesse by violence he made more use of his beauty then of his power to Corrupt the inferiour Angels and if his Empire be terminated in rigour it began in clemency A legitimate Sovereigne straies as well from his duty in seeking after the love as after the fear of his Subjects and though one of these two ways be more innocent then the other in the sight of men it is not much lesse faulty in the sight of God it is not permitted in our Religion for a man to make himselfe be beloved t is a presumption to endeavour those liberties which pertain only to God to deboysh his subjects is to divide his Empire hee will have all his slaves to love him and according to Saint Austines maximes we owe all our love to God the Prince is bound to fasten his subjects to their Creator to make him reign in his kingdome and to receive no homage from his people save only for that he is the Image of God t is therefore the most dangerous impression that self-self-love can make in men when it perswades them that they deserve the love of the whole world and that they ought to imploy all their might to augment the number of their Lovers yet every one is possest with this passion and I see none who do not by severall ways aspire to this tyranny Men discover the perfection of their minds to make themselves admired women make the most they can of their bodily beauty to make them be adored but the one and the other of them will have their malady turn contagious and spread abroad the poyson of self-love which hath infected them into the souls of all those that come neer them The eighth Discourse That Concupiscence or Self-love divides it self into the love of Pleasure of Honour and of Knowledge MAns losse doth so sute with his greatnesse that to understand the one wel the other must necessarily be comprized and we must know what advantages he did possess in his Innocency that we may not be ignorant of such miseries as he undergoes by sin Originall righteousnesse which united him to God made him find innocent delights pure and certain knowledge and elevated honours of which ours are but the shadows in the Possession of the Summum Bonum when he lost Grace he therewith all lost all these glorious Privileges which were the dependances thereof his Pleasures were turned into Punishments his light into darkness and his glory into infamy the misery into which he saw himself faln did irritate his desire and the remembrance of his past felicity made him seek for that in the Creature which he had lost in his Creator Self-love which succeeded the love to God spread it self abroad into three as impure rivolets as was the spring head from whence they did derive the first was call'd the love of Pleasure the second the love of light or novelty and the third the love of greatnesse or of glory these three generall causes of all our disorders are the fatall
of the world grow weary of commanding they finde more content in a friend than in a slave and how brutish soever their nature be they are well content to have one to whom they may un-bosome themselves Tiberius loved Sejanus and had not this Favourite become his Rivall it may be he never had decreed his death Nero could not fence himselfe from friendship the sweetnesse of this vertue vanquisht that Monsters cruelty and whil'st he quencht the flames of Rome by the bloud of Christians he had some Confidents whom he called friends This Infidell Prince whose subjects were all slaves and in whose Empire the desire of liberty was a fault wanted not Favourites whom he loved he plays with those he ought to destroy he makes those the objects of his love who ought to be the objects of his fury a certain Captive had power over the Tyrant and under the assurance of friendship gave lawes to him who gave lawes to the greatest part of the world Though these reasons do mightily inhance the merit of Friendship yet must we conclude in Saint Austines Principles That the Friendship of Pagans is defective and doth not deserve the praises that are given it For if we take Aristotle for our Arbitratour friendship ought to be established upon selfe-love and to love his Neighbour well a man must love himselfe well He who prefers the pleasures of the body before those of the mind who hazards his honour to preserve his riches and who injures his conscience to encrease his reputation cannot be a good friend to others because he is his own Enemy and who wants vertue cannot have friendship Morall Philosophy with all her precepts cannot reforme a disorder which since the losse of originall righteousnesse makes up one part of our selves the unrighteousnesse thereof hath past into our nature and as we cannot without grace be upon good termes with our selfe neither can we without her be upon good termes with others We either give them too much or not enough we cannot keep that just measure which makes friendship reasonable we turne a vertue into a passion or to speak trulier we make an innocent action criminall and the same selfe-love which puts us on ill termes with our selves puts us upon the like with our Neighbours we love his errours whil'st we think to love his perfections we excuse his sins in stead of condemning them and we oft-times become guilty of his faults for having approved them Blosius confesseth he would have burnt Iupiters Temple if Gracchus had commanded him so to do he thought Justice ought to give place to friendship that his friend should be dearer to him than his God and that whatsoever he did through affection could not render him faulty It may be 't was for this cause that Aristotle blaming friendship whil'st he thought to praise her said that her perfection consisted in her excesse and that far differing from common vertues which do consist in mediocrity she was never more admirable than when most excessive That a man might give too much but not love too much that one might have too much courage but not too much love that a man might be too wise but not too loving yet this excesse is vitious and experience teacheth us that Common-wealths have no more dangerous Enemies than those who are ready to do or suffer any thing for their friends Therefore 't is that the same Philosopher prescribing bounds to friendship did publickly professe that truth was dearer to him than Plato that when he could not accord these two he forewent his friend to maintain his Mistresse Hence it is that Polititians calling in Religion to the succour of Morality have affirmed that affection ought to give way to Piety and that she ceased to be just when she prophaned altars Those notwithstanding that are of this opinion have not forborne to set a value upon faulty friendship and Antiquity doth hardly reverence any friends whose friendships hath not been prejudiciall either to the State or to Religion Pilades and Orestes were of intelligence onely to revenge themselves Theseus and Pirithoiis kept friendship onely to satisfie their unchaste desires Lentulus and Cethegus were faithfull to Catiline onely that they might be perfidious to their Countrey But what else could one expect than faults from those who had no piety what friendship could one hope from those who wanted the first of vertues how could they have bin faithfull to their friends since they were unfaithful to their Gods if they have loved any one even till death it hath been out of vain glory and if they loved them whil'st they were alive t' has been for Interest the sinner for the most part loves none but himselfe and though this irregulate love be both his fault and his punishment yet he therein findes his delight and his glory nothing can divert him from his own Interest when he thinks to free himselfe from himselfe he fasteneth himselfe closer to himselfe and if he love his friends 't is that he may love himselfe in more places than one and in more persons if he part with his heart 't is that he may receive it back again with the like of others his love is but usury wherein he hazards little to gain much 't is an invention of self-love which seeks to satisfie it selfe in others 't is a trick of humane pride which makes man abase himselfe onely that he may grow the greater which adviseth him to engage his liberty onely that he may bereave others of theirs and which makes him make friends onely that he may have slaves or such as love him What glorious name soever one attributes to friendship she hath no other designes than these when she is led on by self-love and whatsoever language the Infidels have held these have been their onely motives when they have lost either life or liberty for their friends if they were silent amidst tortures and if the cruelty thereof could not compell them to discover their associates 't was either for that they valued friendship more than life or that they thought treachery worse than death if they would not out-live their friends 't was to free themselves from sorrow and solitarinesse and if for their delivery they exposed themselves to Tyrants 't was for that their words bound them to it and that they thought they should be no losers in an occasion wherein though with losse of life they won honour And to say truth Aristotle hath well observed that he who dyes for his friend loves himself better then his friend and that in an Action which seems to violate Nature he doth nothing which self-love may not advise him to since that by suffering death he labours after glory and that by erecting a sacrifice unto his love he buildes a Trophy to his Memory The example of Damon and Pythias may confirm this Truth They had been brought up in Pythagoras his school the conformity of
framed a method to acquire Vertue and proposing no other helps to their Disciples then Reason and Liberty they upheld them in their Vain glory and did not assist them in their Weaknesse These two Idols seemed powerfull enough to overcome all their Enemies and not knowing that Reason was Blind and Liberty a Captive they impudently affirmed that there were no Inclinations so Bad nor Habits so Obstinate as might not be overcome by this weak assistance they boasted that their felicity depended upon their Owne proper Power that they might be happy in Despight of Heaven and that though their happinesse were not of so long Durance yet was it of the same Tranquillity as that of God Amongst so many Impieties and Blasphemies which Pride extorted from out their mouthes they 〈◊〉 not sometime to betray their owne cause and publquely to acknowledge their owne Misery For Nature which cannot lye long made them find her disorders and forced them to confesse that Faults were learnt without Teachers that we are Borne out of Order and that wee have much Stronger inclinations to Vice then to Vertue Their Sect was borne down when the Pelagians raised up their heresie upon its ruines and when undertaking to defend Corrupted Nature they declared warre against the Grace of Iesus Christ they made all our Disorders to passe for Natural Effects they laught at Originall Sin and maintained that Man had no Other offâ—nces then what he committed by his Own proper Will they thought all our Bad inclinatâ—ons sufficiently recompenced by Liberty and confiding strangely in their Owne Strength they would not be beholden to Grace to withstand Vice nor to defend Vertue Though St. Austin by his Learning and Humility hath triumphed over this proud and learned heresie yet hath it out-lived that defeat and found partakers after his Death we run into the errours thereof at unawares we speak the Language of the Pelagians not having their Beliefe and attributing more to Liberty or Free-will then to Grace we will be Our Selves the Authors of our Salvation To remedy this evill which appears much more in our Actions then in our Words I thought it became me to represent the deplorable Condition whereinto Sinne had reduced Nature and to make it evident in this worke that there is no faculty of our Soules nor part of our Bodies which is not out of order The profit will not be small if we can tell how to husband it well for to bâ—ot that our Misery will cause confusion in us by reason of our Sinne and make us abborre it 't will lessen the haughty Confidence which we have in our Free-will and make us acknowledge the Need we have to be assisted by Crace the being sensible of our Malady will be a Disposition to our Cure and the weight of our Irons may serve to heighten our Saviours Merits The high opinion we have of our Owne strength is injurious to His Glory and those good inclinations of Nature which we call Seeds of Vertue doe not seem to lessen Adams sin save so farre as to set a greater value upon the Grace of Iesus Christ but the perfect knowledge of our Misery cannot but produce good effâ—cts and when we shall be fully perswaded that we can doe nothing that is pleasing to God without his Son's help we will endeavour to obtain that assistance by our Prayers and to procure it by our Teares Following this designe I shall then make it appeare that there is an Originall sinne which is the fruitfull Spring-head of all our Misfortunes and penetrating to within the Soule of Man I will shew that her principall faculties retaine no longer their first Purity nor their ancâ—ent Vigour and that all the Vertues which are the Workmanship thereof are accompanied with so many Defâ—cts as that they doe not deserve the glorious Name which they beare From thence I shall descend to mans Body the Constitution and Miseries whereof I will examine Then quitting Man I shall consider all the Obiects which doe environ him and which may cause Love or Hatred in him And concluding finally by the Disorders which are in the World I will shew that the Parts wherof it is Composed have been out of Order only since Sinne I 'le prove that Deluges and Devastations by Fire are punishments which Divine Iustice hath invented to punish Guilty man withall and will make it clearly appeare as I hope that there were no Monsters nor Poysons in the State of Innocency I have in all this my worke endeavour'd to mingle Eloquence with Doctrine and knowing that I was to be accountable tâ— All the World I have sometimes suffer'd my thoughts to flie a Lower pitch that they might be the more intelligible I have been of opinion that Descriptions did not injure Argumentations and in writing like a Christian Philosopher I might bâ— permittâ—ed to play the Oratour If any man shall thinke me too Copious I am of His opinion but to boot that this fault wants neither Example nor Excuse I have striven to use no manner of Enlargement but what would bring with it some New Light to the Vnderstanding and which might serve for Ornament to the Truth if not for her Defence A Table of the severall Treaties and Discourses handled in this Book The first Treatise Of Originall Sin and the effects thereof Discourse 1 THat Faith acknowledgeth Originall sin That Nature hath a feeling thereof and that Philosophy suspects it Page 1 2 What the state of Man was before sin p 8 3 Of what kind the first sin which Adam committed was p. 12 4 How Adam sin did communicate it selfe to those that are descended from him p. 16 5 Of the nature of Concupiscence p. 20 6 The pursute of the same subject and divers descriptions of Concupiscence p. 26 7 That Selfe-love is nothing else but Concupiscence p. 28 8 That Concupiscence or Selfe-love divides it selfe into the love of Pleasure of Honour and of Knowledge p. 33 9 Wherefore Concupiscence remaines iâ— Man after Baptisme p. 38 10 That Gods Iustice hath permitted that man should be divided within himselfe for the punâ—shment of his sin p. 42 The second Treatise Of the corruption of the Soule by Sin Discourse 1 OF the Souls Excellencâ— and of the miseries which she hath contracted by sin p. 47 2 That the sonle is become a slave unto the body by reason of sin p. 55 3 Of the weaknesse which humane understanding hath contracted by sinne p. 61 4 That there is no error into which human understanding hath not plunged it selfe since the state of sin p. 68 5 That Reason in Man is become blinde and a slave since sin p. 77 6 That Memory hath lost her vigor by the meanes of sin and that she agrees not very well with Iudgement p. 80 7 That Concupiscence is neither a good Iudge nor faithfull witnesse since sin p. 86 8 Of the unrulinesse of the will and of its inclination to
be freed from the Tyranny thereof The seventh Discourse That self-love is nothing else but Concupiscence Though Divines have given as many names to Concupiscence as she hath committed sins and that every one paints her out as he finds her in another or according to his own experience yet they all agree that her most celebrated name and that which best expresseth her nature is self-love For as Charity comprehends all vertues self-love comprehends all vices as Charity unites us to God and loseth us from our selves her Enemy self-love severs us from God and fasteneth us to our selves As Charity hath no greater a passion for any thing then to love God and make him be beloved by all others self-love produceth no more violent desire in man then to love himself and to obliege all other men to love him To comprehend these truths you must know that Charity according to S. Pauls words and S. Augustines Comment composeth all vertues to be perfect It sufficeth to be charitable one vertue is sufficient in Christs school to acquire all others she believeth all things saith that great Apostle and so hath the merit of Faith she waits for the accōplishment of Gods promises so possesseth the certainty of hope she suffers all injuries as well as Patience doth she withstands sorrow with as much courage as doth fortitude and this Famous Doctor of the Gentiles who perfectly knew the Inclinations of charity gives her all the Advantage which belongs to all the vertues so as according to his principles the loue of God is only Requisite to become highly vertuous Saint Augustine who learnt nothing but in S. Pauls school mixeth all vertues with Charity and as if he wold reduce al things to an unity he teacheth us that the only vertue on earth is to love him who is perfectly lovely For love hath several names according to his severall imployments he changeth qualities though not Nature and continuing stil the same presents himself unto us under divers forms and shapes Temperance is a faithful love which wholly gives herself over to what she loveth not permitting Voluptuousnesse to divide them Fortitude is a generous love which with delight overcomes all the difficulties which can be met withal for her well beloved sake Justice is an uncorrupt love which instructeth how to reign in obedience which submitting herself to God as to her sovereign commands over all creatures as over her slaves In fine wisdome is an illuminated love which happily discerning between the wayes which may estrange her from God and those which may fasten her to him chooseth the former and rejects the other or to expresse the same truth in other tearms Love is termed wisedome when he keeps himself from straying and hath right to what he loves he is called fortitude when he fights against such sorrows as would astonish him Temperance when he despiseth such pleasures as would corrupt him Justice when to consecrate his liberty to God he disdains to serue the Creature so may we say that self-love which is Charities mortall Enemy comprehends all vices and that it only changeth countenance when it appears under the form either of Pride Colour or Envy it is unjust in it's Ambition prepares for Combat when irritated for vengeance when offended when unjust it bereaves it's Neighbour of his goods and good name and when Intemperate it engageth it self in unlawfull delights The great Apostle when he numbers up all faults puts it in the first rank and teacheth us that there is no sin which is not a sort of self-love disguised And Saint Augustine who hath drawn all his Doctrine from Saint Pauls words instructeth the whole Church that the faults which wee detest are not so much the effects as the proprieties of self love In effect is not Avarice an unjust love of riches is not Pride an unjust love of Honours is not opiniatrecie a furious love to be always victorious is not colour a detestable love of revenge And to conclude all in a few words are not all sins as many different loves which changing rather countenance then humour agree all in a designe of fastning themselves to objects which they like and of keeping a loofe off from such as they like not There is also the second opposition of the love of God and the love of our selves for charity hath no nobler imployment then to free us from all things to unite us to God she endeavours to perswade us that to love our selves well we must hate our selves that to have a care of our selves we must forget our selves and if we would finde out our happinesse we must seek for it from without our selves men wonder that the law of God which commands us to love our Neighbour doth not command us to love our selves and that it only mentions the love we owe unto our selves when it recommends unto us the love which we owe unto our Neighbours but to boot that this love was imprinted in the foundation of our wills by the hands of Natures selfe and that it was more then needed to command us a thing to which we had so great an inclination man loved himselfe sufficiently in loving of God and God had sufficiently provided for mans happinesse in ordaining man to love him above all things The love of God is mans true happinesse we are rich when we possesse it and poore when we lose it let our designes be waited upon by whatsoever good successe let the world promise us what ever good event what ever favour Fortune affordeth us all riches which consists not in the possessions of the Summum bonum is but a meer reall poverty for as Augustine saith God is so good as all men that leave him are miserable and man is so noble as whatsoever is not God cannot render him happy t is charities chiefest designe to fasten man to God so straightly As that nothing may seperate him from God and to in lighten his soule with so much love as that she may exstinguish selfe love or turn it into a holy hatred of himselfe This Divine vertue can mount no higher so glorious a Metamorphosis is the utmost of her power and God can demand nothing more of those that love him when that they may love him perfectly they arrive at the height of hating themselves Self love takes a clean opposite way from that of charity and by direct contrary traces endeavours to estrange man from God and to fasten him to himselfe or to the Creature it effaceth as much as it is able the inclination which his soule hath for the Summum Bonum if it cannot stifle it it diverts it and seeing that the heart of man cannot be without imployment it lays before him the beauty of the Creatures to divert him from those of the Creatour being accompanied with blindnesse and pride it easily abuseth the soule which it possesseth and figuring out the perfections thereof more glorious
considering the evil which threatens them they take vain diversions these monsters making use of their imprudencie become so redoubted as they dare assail them no more The onely way to overcome them is to stifle them in their birth and not to fall oft into the same sin least an evil habit being formed in our soul we be inforced to live under the Tyranny thereof OF THE CORRUPTION OF THE VERTUES The Third Treatise The First Discourse A Panegyrick of Morall Vertues IF a man may use Civility in combating and if the Fury of War keep not men from treating their enemies with respect I think I may be permitted to handle the vertue of the Pagans with esteem and to make the Panegyrick thereof before I make it's processe for though I hold with Saint Augustine that their chiefest vertues have their defects I do notwithstanding find beauties in them which obligeth me to reverence them and though I am their enemy I cannot chuse but be their admirer For when I consider that these great men had no other light than that of Nature and that self-love which tyrannized over their wil was the soul of all their designs I cannot imagine how so fatall a cause could produce such gallant effects and I wonder that the desire of Glory hath been powerfull enough to make them overcome Pain and despise pleasure The Ambition of Command hath made almost as many Martyrs in the Romane Common Wealth as Charity hath done in the Christian Church and all those Glorious Saints whose lives we read with admiration have suffered no more for the defence of Religion than those first Romans did for the defence of their Liberty her Senators and Consuls were a long time Corruption-proof The Generals of their Armies did subdue their passions as well as their enemies the greatest danger could never abate their courage they were most famous when most miserable and Romes greatnesse never shone brighter than in adverse Fortune Worth was not confined to the most illustrious Subjects of that Common Wealth the people were obedient as long as the Senate was modest Particular Families preserved their Innocency whilst Publique persons preserved justice Wives were chast whilest their Husbands were valiant the Vestals kept their Virginity whilest the Priests kept their Religion all these actions which have so fair an appearance had no other Principle then Vertue and Vertue had no other Force then what she drew from Glory or Eloquence she was praised by the mouth of Orators Every Philosopher was her Panegyrick and hardly could you read their works without being passionate for her who was their onely Subject She is so well set forth in Seneca's writings as one could not see her there but they must reverence her And he being the man that speaks the most worthily of her I think I am bound to borrow his words to make her Panegyrick Listen then to what he writes of her in divers parts of his book Vertue hath this of advantage that she is Noble and easie her Noblenesse gives her value amongst men and her easinesse invites them to seek after her the desire of her is sufficient to acquire her and this Famous beauty doth not scorn any that love her shee bestows her self freely on all those that court her and be she never so chast she ceaseth not to be common you need not crosse the seas nor discover new worlds to find her out We have her Principles in our selves and if we be but a little carefull in the husbanding thereof we may turn every good Inclination into a Vertue she raiseth us above our Condition for though we be composed of Clay and dust by her Inter-position we may enter into allyance with God who loves those that are vertuously given who in his greatnesse disdains not any one and vertue is the onely disposition which he requires in those who would approach him He acknowledgeth them for his Children who vouch her for their Mother and Heaven is their Inheritance whom she adopts on earth This last recompence is that alone which doth in-animate her Lovers all other rewards are indifferent to them And knowing that happinesse and vertue never part asunder they hold for certain that a vertuous man cannot be miserable the delight which accompanieth their Mistris doth not inhaunce her merit they are so faithfull to her as when the servant forsakes her they increase their love and they are glad to love her in a Condition wherein she can onely promise thorns to those that take her part Let her put on what disguise she will she is always pleasing be it that she withstands vice that she melt into sweat or tears that dust and bloud ternish her Lustre that fasting and sufferance pull her cheeks down she hath still beauty enough to keep her Lovers the faithfullest whereof love her as well in open field as in Towns and the Lustre which she borroweth from Apparel or Palaces doth not heighten her merit Let fortune assail her never so oft she is still victorious that hood-winkt Sovereign which bears down the best establisht Thrones which reverses the best grounded States which takes delight to bruise Scepters in the greatest Monarchs hands comes off with shame when she assails her though Fortune arme Tyrants against her and employ all her slaves to undo her yet she is forced to yield the Field and to confesse that Vertue may loose her repute but never her courage nor Innocence Her Enemies reverence her and her merit wins so much upon them after having offended her they give her Honourable satisfaction and praise her publiquely if they hear her comliness spoken of they declare for her and foregoing her adversaries party they rank themselves under her colours When this Tyrant seeth that he is abandoned he hath no better way to reduce his slave under his Laws than to take upon him the Semblance of Vertue and to borrow his Enemies beauties to cover his own il-favour'dnesse This disguise is vertues highest praise 't is the greatest advantage she can have and though she be thereby sometimes prejudiced yet is it always glorious to her for she can easily disabuse the unwary Let her be but a little carefull to make her beauty appear she wins their heart and causeth so much love in them as it is easily discerned if they have not taken her part 't is because they knew not her worth he who could see her stark naked would never be disloyall to her and would she discover all her perfections all her enemies would become her friends T is in fine the greatest advantage that man can possesse All of good that Avarice or Ambition do promise him are but disguised evils Riches are but a little earth on which the Sun hath set a price by giving it a colour Glory which the Ambitious do so much Idolatrize is but a little smoake and the pleasure which the Voluptuous seek after is but the Felicity of Beasts but
hands thereof Politicians are surprized in their cunning that which happens well unto them in one affair falls out clean otherwise when heaven forsakes them This made the Pagans say that fortune laughs at wisdom and that to confound our presumption she had so ordered affairs as that happinesse and wisdom did not always keep Company she makes fools happy when she cannot make them wise and not being able to make wise men fools she makes them unfortunate whence it is that Politicians doubt whether good fortune or wisdom be the more requisite ingredient to the composure of a puissant Prince Wisdom is more honourable but good fortune is more certein wisdom furnisheth advice but good fortune gives the event Wisdom comes from earth but good fortune from Heaven therefore Sylla who understood this secret very well chose rather the name of fortunate than of great or wise and was of an opinion that an Empire favoured by fortune was better established than one governed by wisdom This confession makes all Polititians despair after having built Altars to their Idol they must erect Temples to providence and acknowledge that it is she which gives Scepters to shepheards which overthrows the Thrones of the wise which inspires the timerous with courage and infuseth fear into the heart of the most hardy which snatcheth Lawrell from out the hands of the victorious to crown the conquered therewithall To atribute good successe to humane wisdom is to offend Divine providence in all our enterprizes we must leave much to her guidance and in executions we must give all to her Glory she is jealous of this acknowledgement and who fails to give her this Honour never failes to be unfortunate 'T is said that a certein Grecian named Timothy recounted to the Athenians the victories which he had gotten over their enemies vaunted that his victories were wrought by his wisdom and not by fortune that they owed their obligation to his good guidance and not to his good luck Though those insolent speeches were onely uttered against an idol which could not resent them Divine providence forbore not to revenge her self upon this generall not suffering him to have any good successe in any thing that he undertook afterwards to let him know that his former good successes were not so much the effects of wisdom as of Fortune Though these two qualities which accompany wisdom are sufficient enough to tarnish her glory the third is much more injurious to her for ignorance and weaknesse bear their excuses with them and there are glorious vertues which have not much more power nor much more light but guile is odious and vertue turns to sin when it becomes deceitfull yet this is a quality which seldom forsakes humane wisdom all her cunning is criminall and being often interessed she is almost always g unjust couznage is so naturall to her as that all her counsels are there withall infected she approves of cheating when we may reap profit thereby and because by the Laws of War we are permitted to overcome our enemies either by stratagem or by force she thinks she may deal so with all men She disperseth her guile into all worldly commerce be it either that particular men end their difference by processe at Law be it that Marchants traffick with strangers be it that Princes treate by their Ambassadours wisdom fenceth her self onely by cunning and in all her imployments he who knows best how to coozen is the ablest man Thus is cheating mixt with wisdom and those who are not guided by charity cannot be wise unlesse they be deceivers Though Pagan vertues be oft disguised vices which under a counterfeit beauty hide reall uglines yet there is not any which hath a neerer allyance to vice than wisdom hath Exempt vain glory from temperance in the unbeleevers and Temperance shall be without blemish and separate force from ambition and ambition shall be praise worthy but wisdom is inter-mingled withall sins interest is her motive injustice her originall deceit her interpreter and dissimulation her Counsellour she hazards innocency to eâ—vade infamy she violates Nature to preserve a peece of Earth and to settle her own State she overturns that of strangers All her right consists in might under any colour of pretence which her cunning may pretend unto she takes up arms to defend it and thinks that all war is just whereby she may be aggrandised all her Maximes are blasphemies which give against Religion or society she frames Gods and Laws after her own Mode or fashion she esteems whatsoever withstands her interest to be weaknes of spirit and is firm of opinion that the Heavens must do miracles to make her tractable In fine in the State of corrupted Nature it is hard to be wise and not a Cheater T is therefore that the Son of God when he instructeth his Disciples never adviseth them to be wise as Serpents without obliging them to be Innocent as Doves because innocencie without wisdom would turn to folly and wisdom without innocencie convert to guile Tertullian descanting upon this passage says that were it in his choise he would prefer the innocencie of the Dove before the wisdom of the Serpent and that if he could not shun the two evils which accompany these two vertues he would rather fall into that of Folly than that of Guile Indeed the Scripture gives the preeminency to Innocency as by this comparison for the Dove is much more pleasing than is the Serpent she is the Emblem of Innocency and love she expresseth her selfe by sighes she was chosen by God in the beginning of the world for the Messenger of Peace and to advertise man of the Deluges decrease in the fulnesse of time she had the honour to denote Jesus Christ and to instruct the chiefest of all Prophets The Holy Ghost hath made it his mysticall Image and when he would become visible he took upon him the forme of a Dove but the Serpent creeps upon the earth hides himself in the grasse wraps himself in his own folds and never discovers but one part of himselfe he served for an Interpreter to the evill spirit to expresse himselfe by and for an officer to seduce man this was the first visible shape the Devill put on and we never see this Animal but we are touched with some secret horrour which teacheth us that the Devill is odious and wisdome dangerous This is also the vertue of self-love which endeavours to restore man to what he hath lost which withstands Gods purposes which gives against the lawes of his Providence and Justice and which under a pretence of freeing us from those miseries which afflict us endevours to make in each of us a proud Tyrant of a rebellious Slave The sixth Discourse That there is no true Temperance nor Iustice amongst the Pagans IT is not without reason that I joyn these two vertues in the same discourse and that I make one onely Panegyrick for Temperance
shun an ill step or two she falls into a precipice This misfortune may be observed upon a thousand occasions but particularly in what concerns the body of man for some seeing the unrulinesse thereof could not beleeve that it was the workmanship of God and falling insensibly into an Errour perswaded themselves that the Devil was the author thereof some others thinking to withstand this heresie fall into another and considering the beauties of the body thought that it still retained its first purity that the faults thereof were perfections and that all the motions thereof might be represt by free-will without grace The Catholick truth walks in the midst between these two errours condemning the Manichees she acknowledgeth that mans body is made by God enlivened by his breath and fastened to the soul by invisible chaines to make one and the same whole condemning the Pelagians she confesseth that mans body hath lost its innocencie that sin reigns in the members thereof that it infecteth the soul which inanimates it and that the well fare thereof which begins in Baptisme will not be accomplisht till the last generall resurrection Thus God is the Author thereof and 't is a marke of ' its Goodnesse Jesus Christ is the redeemer thereof and 't is a mark of it's corruption I therefore am obliged to part this subject into two discourses the first of which shall contain the bodyes plea the other its condemnation Though the body be the least part of man and that it be Common to him with beasts yet hath it advantages which make it sufficiently known that it is destin'd to be the organ of an immortall soul. For the members thereof are so artificially formed as we cannot judge whether they be more usefull or more pleasing their number causeth no confusion their difference augments their beauty and their proportion gives the last touch to the work which they all together make up All of them have their particular employments they mutually assist one another without intrenching one upon another they hold such intelligence as their good and bad is common the tongue serves for interpreter to the whole body the eyes serve it for a guide the hands for its servants the ears for informers and the leggs for supporters Some of them are in perpetuall motion and never rest Action is their life and rest their death whilest the eyes are lull'd asleep the ears closed up and whilest the feet and hands lie fallow the heart is always in action it seems that nature intended to make it her chief piece of workmanship and that she employ'd all her industry to render it admirable 'T is the first part of man that lives and the last that dies it is so little as 't will not suffice to give a Kite a meal and yet so great as the whole world cannot satisfie it nothing but his immensity that made it can fill the infinite capacity thereof All passions derive from it as from their spring-head 't is this that causeth love and hatred 't is this that shuns what it hates for fear and draws neer to what it loves through desire 'T is lodged like a King in the midst of its subjects it gives its orders without departing from its Throne its motions are the rules of our health and assoon as it is assailed we are sick it s least hurts are mortall Nature which knows the worth and the weaknesse thereof hath endued all its subjects with a secret inclination to expose themselves for its defence the hands put by the blows that are made at it and knowing that their welfare consists in the preservation thereof they hazard themselves to save it from danger To reward this their service this Sovereigne is so vigilant as he never takes rest he labours alwayes for the weal-publick and whilest the senses are asleep he is busied in moving the Arteries in forming the Spirits and in distributing them about all the parts of the Body The Braines finish this work and giving it its last perfection dispose it to the noblest operations of the soul. This work ceaseth not though men sleep though the Soul take some refreshment these two parts of the Body are always in action and when they cease to move they cease to live All these live in so full a peace as the difference of their temper is not able to disturbe it Cold accords there with heat moystnesse is there no longer an enemy to drynesse and the elements which cannot tolerate one another in the World conspire together in man for his bodies preservation If any disorder happen it is occasioned by forreign heat the naturall Subjects never trouble the States tranquility they are so straightly joyn'd by their Interests as nothing can befall the one which the other doth not resent the pain of one part is the sicknesse of the whole body and if the foot be hurt the tongue complains the heart sighes the eyes weep the head bowes to consider the evill and the armes extend themselves to apply remedy If their love be so rare their obedience is no lesse remarkable for they force their own inclinations to observe the orders of the will and their fidelity is so ready as the command is no sooner impos'd then obey'd at their Soveraigns bare motion the hands strive to be acting the tongue explains his intentions the eyes expresse his thoughts and the eares execute his designs The will findes out so much submission in the faculties of the soule as in the parts of the body she is oft-times divided by her desires and opposed by her own inclinations sheis a rebell to her selfe cannot comprehend how one and the same object can cause horrour and love in her at the same time but she never commands her body without being obey'd and unlesse passions make a mutiny in it or that it be disorder'd by sicknesse it fulfils her orders with as much readinesse as faithfulnesse She likewise undertakes nothing without the assistance of this faithfull companion she stands in need of his aid in her noblest operations and though she be a meer spirit she can neither discourse nor reason but by the interposition of the body if she will forme thoughts she must consult with the imagination and if she will explain them she is forced to make use either of tongue or hand she hath no strong agitations which appear not in the eyes and when she is disquieted by any violent passion 't is soon seen in the face A man must be very vigilant to hinder the commerce between the body and the soule the rules of discretion and all art of policy which re-commends dissimulation to Soveraigns cannot keep their countenances from discovering their designes nor their eyes from betraying their wills the soule conceales nothing from this her faithfull confident he that could well study the changes which appear in the face might infallibly know the alterations of the minde and without needing to wish as that
what she hath received by the eare and as she is rich onely by means of the senses so is she by them onely liberall She observes the different qualities of objects by the eyes she judgeth of the diversity of sounds by the eares she comprehends mens intentions by their discourse she makes hers known by the tongue and this miraculous part of the body frames words which draw her thoughts unto the life If those who are absent cannot understand her she hath recourse to the hand which draws her dictates upon paper and which makes that appear to the eyes which the tongue could not make the eares comprehend Thus the soule acts onely by the body and all Sciences by which we are either instructed or perswaded are as well the work of the senses as of the soule Vertue it selfe owes her birth to the meanest part of man and were he not made of flesh and bloud he could offer no sacrifice to God neither could he satisfie divine Justice by his repentance The purity which equals him with Angls is not wholly spirituall if be borne in heaven 't is bred upon earth and if it begin in the soul it ends in the body Fasting and silence keep the flesh under to purifie the soule and if man had not a tongue and mouth he could neither praise God in silence nor honour him by self-affliction Martyrdom which is the utmost of charity and the highest degree of perfection is consummated onely in the flesh meer spirits cannot be a prey to wilde beasts and a soule which hath put off her body cannot overcome Tyrants nor triumph over Executioners Mortallity is requisite to Martyrdom and if the Angels be somwhat more than we men because they cannot die they are in some sort lesse because they cannot suffer death is the triall of our love and as oft as we lose our lives in Christs quarrell we strike terrour into devils and fill Angels with admiration In fine the honour which God receives on earth proceeds from the body 'T is the body which is his Priest and Victime 't is the body which bears his imprinted characters in it's face 't is the body which commands on earth and which playing the part of Gods Lieutenant findes obedience amongst the Elements and mildnesse amongst savage beasts 'T is the body which fights for the Glory of the Son of God and which defends his Interest to the face of Tyrants and which sings his praises amidst the Flames 'T is the body which being made by his hands and in-livened by his breath hath the honour to be his workmanship and his Temple 'T is the body which is the object of his love and of his care which seeth the Sun surround the world to lighten it fruits bud to nourish it flowers spring up to recreate it and whole nature labours for it's pleasure or service In fine 't is the body which is offered up upon Altars which fights in persecutions which praiseth God in prosperity which blesseth him in afflictions which honours him in death which in the Grave expects his promises which will rise again at the end of the World and which will reign for ever in Heaven The second Discourse Of the miseries of the Body in Generall THe evils which we receive from the body are so great as that al Philosophy is nothing but an invective against this enemy of our repose If we beleeve the Platonists t is a prison wherein the Soul is inclosed to expiate the sins which she hath committed in Heaven If we will listen to the Academicks t is a grave wherein the Soul is buried and where being more dead than alive she cannot make use of all those perfections which she hath received from Nature If we trust the Stoicks t is a disobedient slave which opposeth it self to all the souls desires and which being born to obey hath no so great passion as to command t is a subject which aspires to Tyranny and which forceth its legitimate sovereign to forgo both honour and vertue and to embrace voluptuousnesse If we will give ear to the Peripateticks who come neerest the truth t is the least part of Man which being given him to serve the soul crosseth all her designs and hinders the execution of her noblest enterprises Hence it is that all Philosophers do what in them lieth to have no commerce with the body and wish for death or old age to the end that the one may weaken this Domestick enemy and that the other may free them from it Christian Religion which marcheth in the midst of errours with assurance confesseth that the body is as well the workmanship of God as the soul is and though it be not altogether so noble it ceaseth not to be destined to the same happinesse But as slaves are punisht for their masters and as children sometimes bear the punishment of their fathers sins the body hath been punisht for the soul and from the time it became confederate in her crime it partook in her punishment Though the soul be the more guilty the body is the more unfortunate and of the two parts which go to the composure of man the most innocent seems to be the most miserable For to boote that it is subject to pain by reason of the elements bad intelligence that it undergoes sicknesses whereby the health thereof is prejudiced that it cannot be cured but by troublesome remedies that the fear of death be a punishment which lasts as long as its life it is notwithstanding occasion of the most sins whereof the soul is guilty and this Sovereign thinketh she should be innocent if she were not fastened to so guilty a Party To disintangle all these things we must know that when the soul lost her priviledges the body lost likewise its advantages for the same grace wâ— made the soul pleasing to God made the body subject to the soul the same innocencie which preserved the sovereign from sin warranted the slave from death But when once man became guilty he became unfortunate and when once he lost originall righteousnesse he therewith lost all the dependencies thereupon Errour and blindness slid into the understanding malice glided into the will and by a consequence which Divine Justice made necessary illusion crept into the senses sicknesse altered mans temper pain disquieted his rest and death sho tened his life These punishments are so irksome as each of them deserves a discourse and not to enter upon a subject which I should handle more at large it shall suffice me for the present to make it manifest that though the body be the Souls slave since sin it is become her Tyrant and that it neither tastes of contentment nor suffers sorrow wherein it shares not with her Pain is a sensible evill and were not the Soul ingaged in the body she without the least commotion would behold the most grievous punishments but nature having composed man of these two
and where women should have dominion over their husbands yet corrupted nature is engaged in this disorder and since our first Fathers sin the senses are the souls Counsellours and this faint-hearted Sovereign renouncing her lawfull authority receives orders from her slaves Their tyranny hath occasioned another more cruell and more dangerous for as they are subject to the devills illusions they fight under his colours and become accessary to all his wicked designes he hath wonall our senses over to him since sin the noblest are most trusty to him and he hath so corrupted them as one must either be very wise or very fortunate to defend himselfe from them He hath put slandering in the tongue uncleannesse in the eyes errour in the eares revenge in the heart and pride in the head He hath disperst disobedience amongst the passions revolt amongst the members and infidelity amongst all the senses If we speak he sollicits us to speak wrongfully if we hear he engageth us in errour if we look he strikes us in love if we think upon our injuries he incites us to revenge and if we consider our advantages he makes us vain glorious Thus are our senses the Executours of his fury the parts of our body are confederate in his faultinesse and the members which nature hath given us to defend our selves are the weapons which he makes use of to fight against us But lest I may be accused of adding to our mis fortune to excuse our sin I will consider the senses in particular and after having observed their advantages I will consider their defects If the eye be not the Noblest t is at least the most beautifull of all our senses and if it be not most usefull t is at least the most delightfull Nature imployes nine Moneths in forming it it is one of the parts of the Body she begins the soonest and ends the last t is a Master peece of workmanship wherein her power and her dexterity are equally to be admired She mingles conrraries so warily there as waters are there observed to agree with flames they are the rises of fire and of tears which cause deluges inflammations All passions are there seen in their glory sorrow and joy make it their chiefest Theatre and when the heart burns with love or with hatred it darteth out Thunder and lightning by the eyes their greatnesse is rather a prodigie than a wonder for they inclose the Heavens with all the stars therein the sea with all her rocks and earth with all its mountains the severall species of all these objects lodge there without confusion and Nature is amazed to see her whole Image in so small a looking glasse All their parts are of so nice a composition as they are undiscernable the nerves which convey the sight are smaller than the hairs of the head the thin filmes which covereth them are more transparent then Christall and the waters which are inclosed in their receptacles are so calm as no storm can trouble them Nature which governs her love according to the merit of her works hath given them so many guards as their excellencie is easily judged by her care in preserving them For to boote that the hairs on the eye-lids are as many bristled points which defend them that the eye-brows are arches which cover them that the eye-lids are vails which hide them the hands are imployed to save them and their Chief exercise when in the dark is to guard these sons which guide us in the day time They are so sudden in their operation as it holds of the Nature of lightning they raise themselves up to the heavens and descend to the depths in a moment they finde out things furthest of without wearinesse and by an ordinary miracle they joyn themselves to them without disjoyning themselves from the body They serve for an Interpreter to those that cannot speak they expresse thoughts which the understanding dares not trust the tongue withall they are so happy in their expressions as savadge men understand them and they are so powerfull in their perswasions as they oft-times obtain more by their looks then the mouth can do by words But assuredly it must be confest that their bad exceeds their good and their defaults their advantages For the greatest sins commence by the sight love hath no force with those that are blinde though he be blinde-folded his looks make his greatest Conquest and the arrows which he shoots proceed rather from his eyes then from his quiver The subtilty of this sense serves onely to make it the more guilty it commits faults where it is not and being more subtil then thunder it scorcheth People without touching them it meditates adulteries before the heart conceiveth them and in all unchaste sins it is alwaies first faulty most men would be innocent if they were blinde and without seeking so many remedies against love want of sight would serve the turn The Soul having a more Noble residence in the eyes then in the other senses she shapes no wishes which she expresses not by them nor conceives she any designe wherein they are not Complices Every part of the body is capable of some crime and since our losse of innocency we have no part in us which is not able to irritate Gods justice But yet we have this of comfort in our misfortune that their mischiefe is bounded and that by a fortunate disability they can commit but one sort of sin The hand is onely guilty of Murders and Theft the tongue of blasphemy and calumnie the ear of hearing errour and falshood and the mouth of excesse in eating and drinking but the eye is guilty of all crimes it sees no object wherewith it is not tempted and all sins which can kill our Souls can seduce our light pride seems to have establisht its Throne there lying is not more naturall to the tongue then vain-glory to the eyes As they have the art of speaking they have also the cunning of mis-speaking their very looks without the help of worâ—s sufficiently witnesse their despisal Slothfulnesse reignes there no lesse then obloquie though they be so active they cease not to be slothfull drowsinesse assails them to make us sleep they are sooner shut then the ears and experience teacheth us that we hear words when we see no objects Anger is seen to break forth there in fury Lightnings and Thunders burst forth from thence as messengers of revenge and this violent passion makes not much more havock in the heart than in the eyes Like avarice they are insatiable that which hath been pleasing to them causeth their pain and their punishments arise from whence their desires did first derive Envie sins more by the eyes than by the hands though she be made to passe for blinde she looks upon her neighbours happinesse with repining and should she have lost use of sight she would have found a remedy for the greatest part of her
pass amongst them as deities and the lovers of beauty were the first Idolaters The command which she exerciseth over men is so powerfull and so pleasing as they are pleased with the losse of their liberty and contrary to the humour of slaves they love their Irons and cherish their prisons could Kings use this art to make themselues be obeyed they should never know what revolts were and all their subjects being their well-wishers they would be absolute without violence rich without imposts and saâ—e without Citadels Thus when the Sonne of God would reign amongst men he wonne their hearts rather by his comlinesse then by his power and he used clemency oftner then justice to reduce his Enemies to their duty consecrated beauty in his person when he took our Nature upon him though he assumed the pain of sin he would not assume the uglinesse thereof and as there was no ignorance in his soul so was there no deformity in his body There was but one Heretique who mis-interpreting the words of a Prophet imagined that Jesus Christ was deformed but tradition upheld by reason teacheth us that he was beautifull without art that the Holy Ghost who formed his body in the Virgins womb would have it adorned with comlinesse and that nothing might be wanting to his workmanship he exceeded men in this advantage as well as in all others His very Types in the old testament were all comely Solomon and David the one of which represented his victories the other his Triumphs were both of them famous for their beauty Nature seemed as if she would picture forth in them the Messias to satisfie the just desires of those who could not see him The Angels took upon them his visage when they treated with the Prophets whilest they spoke in his name they would appeare in his form Abraham saw him in that Glory wherein he appeared on Mount Tabor and numbred this vision amongst the chiefest favours he had received from Heaven Iacob had the honour to see him in the person of that Angell which wrestled with him before the break of day the three Children which were thrown into the fiery furnace saw him amidst the flames his presence freed them from fear they found paradise in the picture of Hell and that Angell which bore the visage of Jesus Christ broke their Irons in pieces preserved their vestures and punished their Enemies In fine Jesus Christ lost not his lovelinesse till he lost his life the Luster of his countenance was not effaced till by buffetting his face grew not pale till by stripes and he lost not that Majesty which infused respect into his Enemies till the bloud which distild from his wounds had made him an object of compassion and horrour In fine beauty is so amiable as her enemy is odious all the Monsters whereby the world receives dishonour are composed of uglinesse 'T is an effect of sin which corrupts the workmanship of God had there been no l sinner there had been no deformed Creature Grace and beauty were inseparable in the estate of originall righteousnesse Nothing was seen in the Terrestiall paradise which offended the eies all things were pleasing there because all things there were innocent There was no deformity known in the world till after sin Il-favourednesse is the daughter and the picture of sin and 't is a piece of injustice to hate the copy and to love the originall Albeit these reasons oblige us to reverence beauty where accompanied with Innocency yet have we as much and as just cause to fear her since she is mingled with impurity For sin hath left nothing in nature uncorrupted this Monster is pleased in setting upon the most Glorious works of nature and knowing that their chiefest ornament lay in their beauty hath pickt out her more perticularly to discharge it's fury upon There are none of nature works now which have not some notable defaults Did not love make men blind he could never make them in love did he not hide from them their imperfections whom they love he should not see so many souldiers fight under his colours and had he not taught women the secret how to imbellish themselves Impurity would have long since been banisht from off the earth The famousest beauties have their blemishes those who are not blind observe their defects had Helen of Greece lived in these our dayes the Poet who put such an esteem upon her would be found to be a lyer and a blind man but say that Nature should make a Master-piece indeed and that Paridoras fable should prove a true story her beauty would notwithstanding be contemptible since she could not grow old and keep it this advantage is so frail as it cannot long continue it is so soon gone as it rather seems a dream then a truth let women take what care they please to preserve it it will vanish from of their faces and when they shall see themselves in a glasse they will have much ado to perswade themselves that ever they were handsome All accidents have some power over beauty Time is as well her murtherer as her producer it effaceth all her glory tarnisheth her roses and Lillies and doth so alter the Godliest workmanship of nature as it maketh horrour and compassion arise in the same hearts which it had struck with love and envy 'T is not death but old age which triumphs over this perfection in women if they grow old they are sure to grow ugly the prolongation of their life diminisheth their beauty and they cannot live long but they must see that die which they loved dearer than their lives In the state of innocency old age would not have injured beauty the food which repaired nature maintained the good liking thereof men lived long and grew not old as death did not put a period to life neither did oldage weaken it the body was as strong at a hundred year old as at forty Beauty was then somwhat durable time bore respect to this quality and divine Justice which found no faults to punish did not punish women with the fear of old age or hard-favourednesse But now this fear is part of their punishment they are compelled to wish to die young if they will not dye ugly and thus divided in their apprehensions they desire to live yet fear to grow old Time is not beauties onely enemy the injuries which accompany it wage war against her and all the evils which we suffer through sin assaile this fraile perfection The mil-dew causeth defluxions which are prejudiciall to her the unseasonablenesse of seasons are averse unto her cold chils her and keeping back the bloud defaceth the vivacity of her complexion heat doth sun-burn her and that constellation which makes lillies white darkens the countenances of women Sicknesses do not so soon alter the temper as they do the tincture and the out-rages which they commit upon the welfare or good liking of the body are
them she inthrals the heart by the ears and whosoever doth not use Ulysses his harmles cunning indangers the losse of liberty Her hair is a net wherein Lyons and Tygers are taken her strength like that of Sampson lies in her weaknesse she imployes onely these weak arms to overcome the couragious and makes use onely of these small threads to stop the course of the most unconstant The lillies when on her face lose their purity and the innocent rose becomes guilty upon her cheeks and as the spider makes her poyson of the best things she composeth the venome wherewith she infects souls of the fairest flowers Modesty and Majesty which else where defend vertue do corrupt it in the person of a handsome woman and these two advantages which makes her beauty the more powerfull make it also the more dangerous her very gate is not without affectation and fault her studied steps have a certain becomingness which is fatall to those that behold them each pace steals a heart from some of her servants and doing nothing without design she either wounds or kils those indiscreet ones which approach her In fine beauty is so pernicious as God himself who extracts Grace from sin makes use thereof onely to punish his Enemies it is more dreadfull in his hands then thunder and he hath tane more vengeance by womens allurements then by the arms of souldiers He ruin'd Hamans fortunes by Hesters countenance the gracefull demeanor which he indued her withall made Ahasuerus condemn his Favorite and the death of this insolent enemy of the Iews is not so much an effect of Mordecais wisedom as of his Nieces beauty God chose out a widow to slay Holofernes he obteined two victories over this Conqueror by the means of one onely woman he took his heart from him by her eyes and his head by her hands he made first use of her beauty then of her courage and would have the Assyrians defeat to begin by love and end by murther Thus are handsome women the Ministers of Gods fury he imploys Hesters and Iudeths as souldiers to revenge his quarrels and beauty which causeth impurity doth oft-times punish it We see no faults in the creature from whence God draws not some advantage our weaknesse is the cause of our penitency if we cannot alter we cannot repent and if we had the constancy of Angels we might have the opiniatricy of Devils Our offences serve to humble us and the proudest spirits cannot think upon their sins without confusion Concupiscence which is one of the originals of our disorders is one of the foundations of Grace Adams sin fastens us to Jesus Christ and the miseries which we suffer under make us have recourse to divine Mercy But beauty seems onely proper to seduce sinners if she be not serviceable to Gods justice she is serviceable to the Devils malice and causeth Murthers when she cannot produce Adulteries Of all the perfections of man this is the onely one which Jesus Christ would not imploy to save souls He imployed the eloquence of Orators to perswade Infidels he made use of the doctrine of Philosophers to convince the ignorant he useth the power of Kings to reduce rebels and he imployes the wisedome of Politicians to govern states but he rejects beauty and judging her to hold Intelligence with his enemy he never makes use thereof but to undo sinners The beauty of those Virgins which were consecrated to him converted no Infidels the innocent allurements of the Lucia's and Agneses were of no use to the establishment of our Religion there modest countenances forbore not to kindle impure flames and if their executioners were toucht to see their constancy their beauty set Tyrants hearts on fire Gods beauty is then that which can onely securely beloved t is that that we ought to sigh all other desires are unjust Whosoever betakes himself to the beauty of Creatures revives idolatry erecting an Altar in his heart he offers Sacrifice to the chief Diety which he adores where he himself is both the Priest and Sacrifice The beauty of the creature ought not to be looked upon otherwise then as that of a picture which we value either for the persons sake whom it represents or for the painters hand that drew it He who exceeds these bounds Commits ungodlinesse and who doth not elevate his love to the first and chiefest beauty of which all others are but weak copies is either ignorant or impious If the beauty of the first Angel have made Apostates and if the love which it occasioned in the hearts of those pure spirits made them idolators what may we expect from a beauty which being engaged in the flesh and in sin produceth onely wicked desires Those who have fallen into this disorder must repent themselves with Saint Austin To repair their outrages done to th beauty of God by their infidelity they must afflict themselves for having so late known him And to make amends for their losse of time and losse of love they must labour to love him with more fervencie and to serve him with more constancie The seventh Discourse That the life of man is short and miserable T Is strange yet true that man having changed his condition hath not changed his desires and that he wisheth the same thing in his state of sin as he did in his innocency For that strong passion which he had for glory is but the remainder of that just desire which he had to command over all creatures his indeavouring to enlarge the bounds of his Empire tends onely to recover what he possessed before his revolt the pleasure which he seeks after in all his pastimes is grounded upon the remembrance of his former felicity Those riches which he accumulates with so much labour and preserves with so much care witnesse his sorrow for being fallen from his aboundance and the extream desire which he hath to prolong his life is a testimony that he as yet aspires after immortallity Yet hath not life those Charms which made it so amiable the longest is but short the sweetest but full of troubles and the most assured uncertain and doubtfull For since the soul ceased to be upon good tearms with God the body ceased to correspond fairly with the Soul Though they go to the composure of the same Integrall they cannot indure one another their love is mixt with hatred and these two lovers have alwayes somewhat of 〈◊〉 which makes them not agree The cords wherewith they are joyned together are so weakened as the least accident is sufficient to break them that whereof man is composed may destroy him the very things without the which he cannot live make him die rest and labour are equally prejudiciall to him his temper is altered by watching and by sleep when either are immoderate the nourishment which susteines him suffocates him and he fears abundance as much as want his soul seems as if she were borrowed and that she is onely
of desiring to do so She rejects honour and seeks out shame she shuns delight and nourisheth her self in sorrow she forsakes riches and embraceth poverty Being instructed in the school of Mount Calvary she turns the punishments of her sin into remedies she makes vertues of her chastizements and shuns those advantages which man possessed in paradise least following Adams example she might fall upon his disaster To say truth all our pleasures are irregular we cannot labour after honour without hazarding our humility and we cannot possesse riches without becomming insolent the malady rests not onely in our desires it is past into these objects which give it birth and there is a certain malignity found in the use of Riches which makes us lose our innocency they are specious torments and pleasing punishments which promise us to allay an evill which they do irritate Poverty stands in need of something but avarice which is almost inseparable from Riches needs all things she wonders that the enemy which she shuns never fore-goes her that Poverty should pursue her amidst abundance and that gold which she adores should fill her cofers yet not her heart This metall not being to be divided without diminution it kindles war amongst men makes them severally minded divides their wils and causeth all those differences which justice endevours to decide In the state of innocency men possest all things in common avarice had not as yet found out bounders to sever fields Kings had not yet drawn lines to divide the sea as Light is an universall good so was the earth a common heritage and this charitable mother was fruitfull enough to nourish all her children The poorest man that was was a King of the whole world Ambition had not yet form'd states nor built strong holds upon their Frontiers all things were possest in common without any jealousie self-love had not as yet perswaded any one that to be master of a thing all other men must be deprived of it There was no such thing known as propriety every one was content with the riches of nature and the earth forestalling mens desire by her happy faecundity men did with pleasure gather in her fruits without taking pains to husband her a man would have thought he should have been become poor if he had heaped up riches and he who would have thought that by appropriating any grounds â—o himself he should have renounced the worlds Sovereignty as men do not divide the air nor the light so neither did they then divide the sea nor land and the seasons not being irregular the whole world was but a stately palace whereof the heavens were the sieling and the earth the floor Meadows served for gardens rivers for channels forrests were unwalled parks and the open fields furnisht endlesse walks large lakes served for fish-pools and all mens delights were innocent because purely naturall Art had not as yet corrupted Nature under colour of imbellishing her every thing held that place in the world which it deserved gold s was not yet got out of the bowels of the earth pearls lay quiet in the depth of the sea and diamonds in rocks not causing any confusion in the world Marble was trampled under foot vain glory had not yet found any use for it and in a condition wherein neither heat nor cold did incommodate him man had not yet thought of building houses nor making himself apparell Stuffs were unknown because uselesse colours appeared not in Lustre save in pinks and roses and necessity which is not the mother of invention but as it is the daughter of sin had not obliged man to seek for remedies for miseries which he did not as yet suffer but as soon as he would be rich he became poor as soon as he heaped together imaginary goods he lost such as were reall and when he tilled the ground to make it more fruitfull the earth punished his avarice by a universall sterility she who together with fruites bore flowers bears now no roses without prickles the spring which mingled her beauties with Autumns fertility was divided from thence by summers scorching heat and winters benumming cold These two vexatious seasons did disaray the trees and had not the Angels taught sinfull man how to sow the ground with seed famine had prevented the deluge When he saw the world changed into a hideous sollitude he was forced to build houses to fence himselfe against the fury of the Element he was on all sides so prest upon by poverty as he was necessitated to seek out riches barrennesse which threatned him with famine made him till the ground and the fear lest his neighbours might reap the fruit of his labours constrained him to make inclosures he invented money to entertain commerce with strangers and seeking out a metall the rarity whereof put a valuation upon it he found out gold which nature had hid within her bowels he thought she had lodged it next her heart witnesse the love she bare unto it the pain he had to draw it thence added to his esteem thereof and being dazled by it's colour and charmed by the advantage he made thereby he made thereof his first Idoll The Israelites could not defend themselves against this mischievous contagion their getting out of Egypt their passing through the red sea the raining of Manna in the Desart were not miracles powerfull enough to divert them from so senselesse an Idolatry They perswaded themselves that gold was the God which had delivered them they were blinded by it's beauty and though Aaron the High Priest had made it into the shape of a Calf to make it appear the more ridiculous it 's being made of that mettall was sufficient to make them worship it Iron by divine providence had it's birth together with gold for God knowing that murther could not be severed from avarice he coupled these two mettals together to the end that the one might be the price of our fraud and the other the instrument of our fury Adultery followed murther and chastity which had defended her selfe against what man could say to undermine her could not defend her selfe against riches Presents prevailed more than humble submissions and this fraile sex which affords so many advantages against it selfe shew'd it selfe to be more avaritious than proud In fine Poets were not much out of the way when they feigned that all evils had their birth together with riches and that man became sinfull as soon as he grew rich children attempted their fathers lives wives poisoned their husbands brother conspired against brother and every one made use of iron to come by gold Justice was busied about nothing else but in composing quarrels occasioned by this mettall Gallouses were erected to punish murtherers and men knew that gold which he had found out to supply his necessities was the cause of all his disasters But say that gold should not set men together by the ears and that peace should not be
their handcherchiefs in great assemblies 't is uncivill to be vailed at a mask or a play and they are ashamed to appear modest where men use all their art to make them unchast Thus great meetings are nothing but publick prostitutions innocency is there destroyed by bringing nakednesse in fashion and men lend weapons to the Devil to undo the subjects of Jesus Christ. The ninth Discourse That Buildings are the work of Necessity Pleasure or Vainglory THough we do not know all mans advantages in the state of innocency and that that happy condition be not much lamented because 't is not much known yet we very well know it was exempt from pain as well as from sin and that man saw nothing neither in his person nor in his state which caused either pain or shame in him The body was subject to the soul and the senses which so often break loose that they may fix themselves to objects without reasons permission did nothing but by her order and this Sovereign was so absolute as her subjects had no other inclinations but what were hers The world was as much at quiet as man was and the elements w th by their contesting molest him held so good intelligence as the one never intrencht upon the rights of the other men neither feared the overflowings of rivers earthquakes nor fires the earth was a temple and a palace Religion did so well agree with nature as the same place served man to do his homage to God in and to disport himself in he saw his Creator in every Creature they were images which painted forth unto him the perfection of him that made them when he beheld them for his pastime his pleasure was not to be parted from his piety and contenting his curiosity he satisfied his duty This Temple was also his palace he could wish for nothing neither for pastime nor yet for profit which was not in this stately habitation The heavens served him for a canopie and the irregularity of the seasons had not yet obliged him to deprive himself by buildings of the sight of the most beautifull part of the world the Sun was his torch and when this glorious constellation withdrew himself to give light to the other half of the earth the stars stepping into his place afforded light enough not to leave men in darknesse grasse mingled with flowers served him for his bed Trees lent him their shade and holes which nature had hollowed in rocks served him for Chambers and Closets Gates were needlesse when there was no fear of theeves and windows would have been uselesse when people apprehended neither winde nor rain Nature had so well provided for all things as arts were superfluous and her workmanship was so exact as mans industry could adde nothing thereunto all the fields were gardens all Forrests Parks all dens Palaces and though the floud hath changed the face of the world it's out-rages could not efface the beauty thereof There be Forrests yet thick enough to shelter us Champions of extent enough to weary our eyes Vallies delightfull enough for diversion to them and Cavernes rich enough to satisfie them the pillars which sustain these forrests are the models of our Columnes the brooks which water these Champions have furnisht us with the invention of water-pipes the concavity of Trees hung in the aire hath taught our Architechts to vault buildings their proportions have caused Symmetry and the Caverns in mountains are the originall of our houses 'T is true that where sin had corrupted man and disordered nature we were forced to raise buildings to save our selves from the injury of weather and not being secure in a condition where we saw so many subjects revolted we were necessitated to build Citadels to keep us from being surprized by them But necessiy not being so ingenious as self-love she was contented with providing remedies for the most pressing evils and did not seek so much for accommodation as for preservation The first houses were but one story high the earth afforded the materials and Thatch was the covering man finding nothing delightfull in so sad an abode wisht for an earthly Paradise and never thought of his former condition without being sorry for his disobedience which had banished him from thence he never betook himselfe to this prison but either when the nights obscurity or the weather made him seek for Covert he looked upon it as upon his grave and living in so unpleasing an abode he did by degrees prepare himselfe for death but when self-self-love grew weary of suffering the punishment of it's sin and when justling divine Justice it would finde out a Paradise in this world it inuented Architecture and taught man how to change his prison into a Palace under the conduct of so good a Master he raised stately Palaces he sought for stone in the bowels of the earth he polisht them with tools he ranked them with Symmetry and placing one of them on the top of another he made his exile glorious and his prison pleasing Those who will excuse this disorder say that 't is a work worthy the wisdom of man that he is not forbidden to defend himselfe from natures out-rages that it is to imitate God and that every building is an image of the world and an Epitome of the Universe that time is requisite to bring things to perfection that the first men were not lesse vain but lesse industrious that if Adam had been a good Architectour he would not have left his children so long in Dens and Cabins that houses were the beginning of Towns that men were never civilized till they lived within the circuit of wals and that whil'st they lay in Forrests their lives were rather bestiall then rationall But let vanity make what excuses she pleaseth it is not to be denied but that buildings as well as apparell do prove our guilt and that the excesse and pomp which are used therein are marks of our ambition for houses are built either out of Necessity Pleasure or Vain-glory and men seek for nothing therein but the preservation of their life the satisfaction of their senses or the honour of their name Our first fathers built only to shun the persecution of the Elements they were contented with a house which saved them from storms and provided that it would afford them shade against the Sun and covering against the cold they were well apayed Architecture was not yet become an art every man was his own Architect after having cut out his clothes he made himselfe a house and seeking only how to fence himselfe against the incommodities of life he sought for neither delight nor vain-glory in buildings two Trees joyned together did oft-times make a house the entrance into a rock would with small cost lodge a whole family and the thickets which now serve for a retreat for wilde beasts served to lodge men in Nature was indulgent to these innocent malefactours seeing they bare
they likewise who leave serious exercises to use such onely as are of no use and who think they live in a world onely to please themselves and not to take pains Some others say that it is better to play then to deprave that lesse evill is committed in Academies then in company keeping and that those who are busied about play trouble themselves not with their neighbours faults That in this corrupted age wherein the severest vertue becomes the subject of Calumny it were to be wished that all the world would be silent that men were dumb and women deaf to the end that detraction and idle talk were banisht from off the earth That gaming is fortunate in producingthese two effects and that it doth so powerfully possesse those who practise it that they have no use of their tongue to talk idlely or deprave nor yet of their ears to listen to such things That of two necessary evils a man must shun the most dangerous and that recreation be it of never so little use will always be innocent enough if it can hinder revile and unchastity They must be but weak men that are satisfied with this bad excuse For 't is not permitted in our religion to cure one evil by another Morall Philosophy and Physick do differ in their cures the latter hurts to heal and imploys instruments and fire to dry up an Ulcer but the other doth not allow that a man commit one fault to forego another and knowing them all to be averse to vertue whose party she mainteins she equally condemns them Saint Paul never advised us to use play so to keep men from slandering and this great Apostle who loved chastity so well never thought that an excesse in recreation might serve him for an excuse Though Idlenesse do cause love all exercises do not extinguish it this passion hath her imployments as well as others after having cōsumed it self away in sighs it is wel pleased to take some recreation of as many pastimes as it chuseth there are not many wherein it delighteth more then in play it makes use as of an occasion thereof to see entertain what it loveth It useth such freedom as that pastime affordeth it It teacheth slaves to act two parts at once and to hazard their money and their liberty upon the same chance or card that Poet who was so justly banisht to Pontus Euximus for having taught the Romane Ladies how to make love recommends play unto them as a pastime which serves to their design he will have all maidens know how to play and that by a double traffick they win their Lovers hearts and money The Privatives which accompany this pastime are fitter to kindle flames of love then to extinguish them This passion is entertained by the presence of such objects as do arise she expresseth her self by looks and sighs she furnisheth Lovers with a thousand ways to seduce those who will listen to them growing learned in so good a school they quit their losses and oft-time of servants become Masters But if all these sufficient reasons cannot disabuse those women who love play and if they think it be a buckler for their chastity we wil give them leave to play provided they will give us leave to believe that this exercise is a cure for their incontinency that the use thereof is permitted them onely to free them from love and that knowing their frailty they are allowed this pastime to secure their reputation which would be in hazard of shipwrack if they should be idle or solitary Yet if they will listen to our religion this wise tutouresse wil furnish them with better means how to assist chastity when it is assailed Her enemy dares not pursue her in prison those places of dread infuse horrour into him and being guilty she fears all places where guilty people are punished she apprehends hospitals and her delicate disposition cannot endure those houses where the eyes see nothing but objects of pitty where the eares hear nothing but complaints where the nose smels nothing but evill odours and where all the senses find nothing but subjects of mortification Penance is a better cure for love then play and if women who seek to succour their weaknesse by this diversion had kept their bodies under by fasting and penance they would confesse that suffering is a friend to chastity and that the fire which doth consume them is the just punishment of their infamous delights The earth is an abode of penance wee should not seek for pastimes since we were driven out of paradise guilty men dream of nothing but death after once they are condemned The sorrow for their fault and the apprehension of their punishment will not permit them to take any pastime he would redouble their pain who should propose pastimes unto them the most ingenious Tyrants never inhibited complaints to such as were to be punished Yet it seems the Devil deals so rigorously with us as he bindes us to recreate our selves after condemnation and engageth us in debaucheries to take from us the occasion of bewailing our sins If we take any recreation let us not forget our misfortune let us mingle tears with our delights let us take our pastimes as sick men take potions let necessity which ought to be the rule thereof be our excuse and let us not allow our selves longer relaxation then is necessary to support the miseries of our life Let us wish for that glorious condition where Saints find their recreation in their duties where the same object which doth ravish them doth recreate them and where by an admirable encounter all the faculties of the soul are always imployed yet are never weary nor weakened OF THE CORRUPTION OF ALL CREATVRES The Sixth and last Treatise The First Discourse Of the Beauty Greatnesse and Duration of the WORLD THough the world lost it's first purity when man lost his innocence there remains yet therein enough of beauty to oblige such as do consider it to make it's Panegyricks sin could not so much efface all it's perfections but that those which it yet hath caused admiration in Philosophers and force Infidels to adore his hand who made it It resembles their famous beauties to which age or sicknesse have yet left features enough to make their beholders judg that 't was not without reason that they were adored in their youth Thoug it be disordered in some of it's parts though the elements whereof it is composed do divide it though the seasons which maintain the variety thereof cause it's confusion though Monsters which heighten the works thereof dishonour it and though beasts which have antidotes in them have also poysons yet is it easie to observe the worlds advantages amidst it's defaults and to acknowledge that if Divine Justice have put it out of order to punish us Providence had ordeined it for our habitation and had placed nothing in so vast a palace which was not sufficient to ravish
Interest be the Rule of Superstition there is nothing in Nature more usefull for us then the Stars they are placed in the highest and most beautifull part of the world they seem to rule over us and that their favourable or maligne influences goes to the making of us fortunate or unfortunate We hardly partake of making any sensible favour but by their interposition and prophane men call them the arbitratours of chance and the dispensors of good and evil Though we be free they pretend to a certain power over our wils by the means of our inclinations a man must withstand stifly to resist their impressions and as most men act more by instinct then by reason we must not wonder if forming our temper and our humours they govern our designes and guide our motions Hence it is that all men have reverenced them that this hath been the commonest Superstition that the best wits who would not bow to men have prostrated themselves before the Stars and that the Sun hath passed amongst very Philosophers for the visible God of the world To say truth we owe all things to his heat and light his course governs our seasons his influences distribute forth fruitfulnesse through all the parts of the Universe Nature would be barren were it not for his beams and should this glorious constellation cease looking on her she would neither conceive nor produce his Eclipses though but of a small durance put her in disorder and the earth cannot want his heat without witnessing her sorrow by sterility if he be a long time hidden from us by clouds the yeares are unfruitfull and the Labourers pains are uselesse if he do not favour them by his aspect It must be granted that he who should consult with nothing but his own sense would acknowledge no other divinity but the Sun his very beauty parted from his advantage seems to exact some respect from all men his worth is not sufficiently known if he be valued onely for his effects Though he were barren he would not cease to be wonderfull and if the ripening of fruits and government of the seasons did not depend upon his heat and course his very light would suffice Seneca to adore him but God being jealous of his glory and not desirous that the supremest honours should be rendered to his works he hath revenged himself upon them for our sins he hath disordered them to punish us he hath tane from them their advantages to disabuse us and he hath order'd that the noblest creatures should have their blemishes to the end that their beauty might not make us Idolaters he took from them a part of their perfections when sin bereft us of our innocency and foreseeing that we should through blindnesse fall into errour he would not that their Lustre should serve us either for occasion or excuse he mingled death with life in the Suns beams he parted his light from his heat and did not permit them to joyn always together in acting equally the lightsomest places are not the hottest and those Countries wherein the Sun makes the longest days enjoy not the most pleasing Summers He for our punishment doth corrupt what for our service he had produced and as his influences do cause our health so do they our sicknesse likewise if he dissolve vapours into rain he makes them break forth in thunder if he ripen fruit he dries up flowers if he form meteors he sets Comets on fire if he make the dew fall so doth he also the Sercine or Mildew and if he deserve praise for the good he bringeth us he merits also blame for the evil which he sendeth us The fifth Discourse That all Creatures do either tempt or persecute us SInce Tyranny in Princes causeth rebellion in their subjects we must not wonder if the creatures do disobey man who treateth them with so much rigour and violating the laws of Justice imployes them in his offences against their common Sovereign For there is nothing in the world which hath escaped his fury the most innocent creatures in his hands are become criminall he makes them serve his unjust designes and not considering that he hath received them from Gods liberality he abuseth them contrary to his Glory Whatsoever presents it self before his eyes doth either flatter his ambition or his avarice that which in the state of innocency would have excited devotion in his soul causeth impiety therein now he turns all things to his advantage or to his honour and seeks for nothing in the use of nature but his pleasure or his profit He corrupts his Judges with gold he tames his enemies with the sword he kindles his concupiscence with wine and this furious Tyrant abuseth all things to undo himself his malice reacheth even to the most innocent Creatures making them confederates in his crime by an ingenious cruelty for he finds out the means how to make the chastest serve his unchastity he assubjects the noblest to his Ambition and imploys the holiest in his Impiety There is nothing that appears to be more cleeer then Chrystall if we will believe Philosophers 't is a water congeal'd by cold light is so inamor'd thereof as it cannot see it without penetration their imbraces are so chast as that their purity is not therein concerned their union is so streight as it is hard to say whether the Chrystall be changed into light or the light into Chrystall Chrystall becomes lightfull without softning it's hardnesse Light becomes solid without losse of Lustre or brightnesse their qualities are confounded without alteration of their nature and their marriage is so exact that they possesse in common all the advantages which nature hath given them in particular yet impurity makes chrystall serve it's infamous designes in looking glasses a woman growes in love with herselfe by seeing of her face she turns the fable of Narcissus into a truth she consumes in desires before her Idoll and after being sufficiently in love with her selfe she perswades her selfe she is able to make all men in love with her upon this assurance she undertakes the conquests of all hearts she joynes art to beauty to purchase her selfe lovers and she hazards her honour to encrease her Empire Who would have believed that impurity could have corrupted so pure a thing that the flames of love should be kindled in ice that chrystall intermixt with light should carry both smoak and flame into the heart of one and the same woman Looking Glasses were at first invented to the end that men seeing their defaults might amend them many advantages were made of this innocent art this faithfull Councellour gave good advice his dumb answers were speaking oracles and whosoever would listen unto them could not chuse but put on good resolutions A handsome woman learnt by her looking glasse that she was to shun dishonour that to become accomplisht she was to joyn vertue to beauty and not to be an hypocrite she was to be
change of air is a remedy for incurable evils and when Physicians cannot cure a stubborn sicknesse either by diet or letting blood they cure it by waters or by travelling There is no disaster so generall as doth assail the whole world at once Thunder frightens more then it hurts the plague whose mischiefs are so great may well dispeople towns but doth not throw down the houses though tempests do shatter ships yet some do escape their fury but the earth quake doth inclose whatsoever it overthroweth it openeth the earth wide as it swalloweth down whole towns it wageth not war with some few houses onely but with whole provinces it leaveth nothing behind it which can inform posterity of it's outrages more insolent then fire which spares rocks more cruell then the Conquerour who spares wals more greedy then the sea which vomiteth up shipwracks it swalloweth and devoureth whatsoever it overturneth Whatever stedfastnesse the places have wherein we live we cannot say they are exempt from this so dreadfull accident what hath befaln some parts of the earth may befall all the rest those which never were yet agitated are not unmoveable their condition is not better though they have been preserved from this disorder they ought to apprehend it because they have escaped it and those parts which have undergone it ought to fear it the lesse because nature hath consumed the forces thereof in shaking them self-Self-love doth abuse us if we perswade our selves that there are some parts of the world which are exempt from this mischief they are subject to the same laws nature cannot defend her workmanship against the justice of her Sovereign what happens not at one time may happen at another as in great towns one house fals after another so in the world doth earth-quakes succeed and France will one day suffer what Italie hath suffered the bravest parts of the world have not been able to secure themselves from it those which have been most populous and most abounding in fruit have been most subject thereunto and Asia whose beauty may make Europe jealous hath often been the Theater of famous Earth-quakes she lost twelve towns in one day Achaia and Macedonia have been sensible of this disorder and the most delightfull parts of Italie have seen their wals thrown down and their houses swallowed up amidst their greatest felicity Destiny seems to make the circuit of the world it sets upon those parts which it hath a long time spared and teacheth all sorts of people that no force can resist it's fury The Sea is subject to it's Empire and Marriners confesse that those storms are most dangerous which are occasioned by earth-quakes the Ocean is astonished when the element which serves it for it's basis will forego it it grows incensed and breaks it's bounds when the earth sinks under it's waters and goes to seck out another bed when that which nature hath given it appears willing to be it's Sepulchre In fine this misfortune is common to all kingdomes since man became criminall all parts of the earth are become moveable the parts thereof do dis-unite themselves since the division of the body from the soul and stedfastnesse must no longer be looked for in the world since innocency is banished thence by injustice This disorder is the punishment of our sin and reason together with faith doth sufficiently perswade us that the universe would never have been agitated with these furious accidents during the estate of originall righteousnesse Wherefore should Gods anger have armed the elements against his faithfull subjects wherefore should it have overthrown all his works to destroy innocent men why should it have overwhelm'd the inhabitants of the earth with the ruines thereof if they had not been sinfull why should it have buried those in the bowels of the earth who were not to die Let us then conclude that Earth-quakes are the effects of sinne and let us also make it appear that Deluges are also the just Rewards thereof We are bound by the holy Scripture to believe that that dreadfull disorder was not so much the effect of Nature as of Divine Justice that it was to punish mans insolency that the floâ—ds forsook their channels and that the world would never have been drowned had it not been infected with mans sin Nature could not have furnished waters enough to cover the mountains had not Gods anger imprinted in her a new fertility she could not have wrought so powerfully towards her own ruine unlesse he whose motions make her inclinations encourage her against her self all the Seas put together could not have covered the face of the whole world though their banks should have been broken down and that they should have been set at Liberty by the hand which holds them in they would not have had waves enough to have overflowed all the earth if those rains which made the waters swell came not from out the bosome of the clouds a Sovereign power formed the vapours which did produce them The same Justice which shall burn the world did drown it and let Philosophers say what they list that prodigious accident was not a meer effect of nature Nature is not powerfull enough to destroy what she hath not made that hand onely by which she is guided can disorder her those great disorders which draw along with them her generall ruine could have no other cause but the will of God Philosophy hath not been able to find out a cause for it she speaks of the deluge as of a fable and hath rather chosen to give all antiquity the lye then to betray her own ratiocination To say truth he that knows not sin cannot comprehend this disorder of nature to the belief thereof a presupposition is requisite that man is guilty that God is angry with him and that he will make use of his absolute power to punish him All other reason is too weak to prove so strange an accident though the world subsist by change and that the elements whereof it is composed are onely preserved by their opposing one another yet do not their combats tend to the ruine of nature the peace of the Universe is entertained by their divisions they sacrifice themselves for the publique good and violate their particular inclinations to prevent a generall disorder Fire descends to assist nature when she is set upon water mounts aloft to supply the place of vacuum which is the common enemy to all elements the earth opens her bowels and loosens her self from her foundations to suppresse the disorders which sin hath caused in the world but it is not to be comprehended how all the parts of the world should conspire natures ruine nor by what secret veins the sea could issue forth so much water as could drown her the sea even when incensed useth violence upon her self not to overflow the earth it remembers what order it received from God in the beginning it useth violence upon it self
in it's greatest storms not to out-passe it's bounds it takes nothing in one place which it repayes not in another it restores to Swethland what it hath taken from Holland and foregoes our coasts when it intrencheth upon our neighbours if the ebbing flowing thereof be sometimes irregular they never move to such a height as to threaten the whole world it's inroads are rather for pastime then mischief and should it have tane that liberty in the state of innocency man who very well knew the nature thereof would neither have been surprised nor astonished thereat But if it now spread it self over the fields if it cover the highest steeples with it's waves if it turn populous towns into lakes or ponds if it bear it's Empire beyond it's bounds and if breaking the banks which are made to oppose it's fury it threaten us again with an universall Deluge it follows rather the motions of Divine Justice then it 's own and this prodigie is rather an effect of Gods anger then of Nature Thus ought we to argue of that generall inundation which destroyed the whole world two thousand years after it was first made the cause came from heaven the decree was pronounced by Gods own mouth the execution thereof was given to the evil spirits the Elements received a new commission to obey their new order The earth furnisht part of the vapours which were to drown her the vapours distil'd down in rain rivers being swoln with such fall of rain broke their banks the sea not able to contain so many flouds forewent its bounds Towns were changed into ponds their streets were turned into rivolets their inhabitants quitted their houses the wals whereof were undermined by waters and equally fearing two contrary evils they know not whether they were to perish by the fall or by the drowning of their houses Torrents were seen every where which charged with booty did at the same time carry down the seilings of palaces and trees out of gardens all rivers lost their names and channels the Rhine was confounded with Rome Euphrates and Ganges were mingled together all those great rivers which had won fame by reason of the towns which they watered found their losse in their greatnesse and ruined themselves that they might ruine the whole world the tops of mountains made Islands in this wast Ocean which being by little and little quite effaced left the world at last drowned in waters there was then but one onely Element seen Whole Nature became a Sea in the which the winds guided a vessell which carried in it the worlds onely hope and which preserved eight people amidst this deluge which were to re-people the world It is very likely that so great a spoil was not made without Thunder and that to make this punishment the more dreadfull the Sun hid his face that the day gave place to night that the world was covered with darknesse and the Lightening was the torches which did attend the funerall pomp whilst any mountains were yet uncovered with water the remainders of man-kind were fixed there in this extremity no comfort but astonishment remained fear was changed into stupidity and the wonder which they conceived at this so hideous an accident did so possesse their spirits as they saw the sea without fear had not feeling of the mischief and perished without complaining Who will not confesse that so strange an accident could be no naturall effect who will not judge by the greatnesse thereof that it was a miracle of divine Justice who will not confesse that these disorders which tend to the ruine of man-kind are the punishments of sin and that nature would never have conceived so much indignation against her own children had she not believed to revenge their father by their death and to repair his honour by their punishment The eighth Discourse That Thunder Plagues and Tempest are the effects of Sinne. WHen I consider the worlds condition since sin me thinks I see a combat between self-love and divine Justice and that these two parties do with equall courage endevour to win the victory Divine Justice disorders the seasons to punish sinfull man altereth the nature of the elements robs the earth of flowers and covers it over with thorns makes the winters longer and Summers shorter and mingling the saddest of our seasons with all the other makes snow be seen in the spring and thick fogs in Autumn arms savage beasts with new fury draws them out of their forrests to set on sinners in towns destroyes her own workmanship ruines the beauties of the world to take revenge of the Lord thereof and raiseth up as many enemies against him since his sin as he had Subjects during his innocency Self-love imploys all it's industry to to repair these disorders and by tricks which seem to augment it's sin withstands all the designs of Divine Justice it cultivates the earth and by it's labour makes her fruitfull it ingrafts roses upon thorns and indevours to make the place of it's exile a stately palace it hath had such good successe in it's enterprizes as the sinfull world comes not far short of the world when innocent did our first father live again and partake of our contentments he would not so much lament the losse of the earthly paradise but blaming the tears which his banishment drew from him he would passe his time merrily away with his children in so pleasing an abodâ— In effect all things are refined by time solitary places are inhabited forrests which infused horrour into those who saw them furnish hunters with pastime the barren sands are sowed upon vines are planted upon rocks Marish grounds are dried that they may be plough'd up and provinces are now fuller of palaces then formerly they were of cottages Islands are no longer un-inhabited and those famous rocks which made the Pylots tremble now bear high Towers for Land-marks unto them and Towns to receive them all the parts of the world are peopled nor are there any desarts which have not some Inhabitants and houses But let self-self-love use all the cunning that it can there are some mischiefs which wee cannot shâ— and there are some disorders in the world which will oblige us to confesse that the wisedome of man cannot defend it self against Gods anger Thunder is of this sort and one must have lost his reason not to fear a cause which produceth such strange effects All Poets have armed the hands of God therewithall and nature which is the Mistresse of Infidels hath taught them that he makes use thereof to punish offenders the lightenings which fore-run it the noyse which doth accompany it and the prodigies which follow after are undeniable proofs of this truth Let Philosophy defend her self against it by her vain reasons let her oppose her pride to our feaâ— let her destroy religion by her libertinisme she cannot keep reasonable men from redoubting thun-Thunder and from confessing by the fear