so as to make them see the truest effects of the Love of God which are absolutely contrary to the effects of self-Self-love For why the effects of Divine Love are all of them good yea they are all the good that can or ever will be desired but contrariwise the effects of self-Self-love are all of them evil and are all the evils that men can possible think imagine or fear Since then there be two sorts of Love namely the Love of God and thâ— Love of our selves and that all trâ—â— good and happiness is to be attributed to the Love of God as on the contrary all wickedness and all evils to Self-love we are now to maâ—â— our choice we must go either to thâ— right hand or to the left we muâ—â— practice either what is Divine oâ— else Self-love Consider the mattâ—â— therefore well and proceed as yoâ— see cause by what hath been hitherto said you cannot but have observ'â— and know that all the actions of those that exercise self-Self-love tend wholly to their own praise and commendation and to exalt themselves and if at any time they applaud Vertue it is only to praise themselves the more upon a precarious and false supposition that they are such For though they applaud it they never practice it Their practice is only what the Poet Ovid describes Laudamus veteres sed nostris utimur annis â—n conclusion where Self-love reigns â—l Vertue all Justice all acts of â—harity all good Discipline are sent â—â—to exile are banished and on the â—ontrary Cruelties Commotions â—ars Lusts Adulteries Murthers â—esolations and Tumults Furies and â—yranny Persecutions and Robbeâ—es Pride and Ambition yea all â—ices without exception which can â—e named are in such vogue that â—othing can withstand them and in â—uch credit and practice that it is in â—ain to speak against them By Self-love every one is prejudiâ—ed By means of Self-love poor Orphans lose their right and poor Wiâ—ows sustain wrong none consideâ—ing their cause none regarding or giving ear to their just complaint Through Self-love the poor perish or live miserably few or none takeing pitty or having any compassioâ— of their hard condition In fine aâ— sorts of men suffer more or less â—â— some respects or other through thâ— prevalency of this passion Froâ— hence from this cursed root Treasons are contriv'd and spring Felonies are committed Perfidiousneâ—â— and Deceits practiced Churches aâ— robbed Matrons and Virgins defiled Religion and all Fear of God laid aside and forgotten insomuch that hereby the Proverb comes to be verified Mala etiam non quaerentibus obtiâ—gunt bona vix accedunt etiam quâ—rentibus Evils though not sought after will be found and take place but God though never so much sought after will scarce be found This was the answer of that famous Diogenes the Philosopher when one asked him what his Opinion was touching Mens Estate and Condition in this World And truly in my judgement the answer was to purpose for so much as generally speaking Vice is much more rife in the World than â—ertue and consequently men are â—ore apt and are better furnish't to â—rocure Evil than to procure Good â—oth to themselves and their neighâ—ours Sect. 3. By Self-love we seek all sorts of vanities therefore it is prejudical to our selves Having so largely declared in the â—wo precedent Paragraphs how Self-â—ove is most prejudical to God and our Neighbour tending to Gods dishonour and our Neighbours harm it hence of necessity follows that the same Self-love is also most prejudicial to our selves for if God be offended by our Self-love as we have plainly demonstrated that he is the very same transgression committed against him by Self-love doth wound our own poor Souls to a spiritual death and if withal our Neighbour be prejudiced or harm'd by it as 't is certain he is it doth also include that we our selves are prejudiced and receive hurt thereby no less than ouâ— Neighbour seeing we cannot unjustly harm our Neighbour but we offend God and by offending God we hurt our selves so that there needâ— not much to be spoken to prove this verity to wit that Self-love is prejudicial to our selves as well as to others nevertheless to keep a deceâ—um in our proceedings since I have not been sparing or restrain'd my self in shewing the evils and mischievous effects of Self-love in relation to God and our Neighbour it seems but requisite that something should more particularly be proposed to shew the like effects which it has upon our selves and how much we our selves are prejudic'd by indulging to the passion of Self-love First you are not ignorant that Self-love according to the Ancient Fathers doth blind the eyes of Mankind dulling the Spirits and weakning their Understanding insoâ—uch that being to make choice of â—y thing for the most part they â—use for the worse and more espeâ—â—ally when the matter concerns â—â—eir spiritual estate or good As for â—xample there is nothing in this â—orld that a man loveth better than â—is Life his Soul his Ease his proâ—er Will his Pleasures his Sensualiâ—â—es his Vanities and the like and â—et 't is certain and well donsidering â—e would easily see it that all these â—ven the best of them Life and Soul â— inordinately loved are extreamly â—ontrary and prejudicial to his true â—ood For in this sense according to â—he Evangelist Joan. 12. 25. Qâ—i â—mat animam suam perdet eam c. He that loveth his life shall lose it â—nd he that hates his life in this World that is loves it not nor makes any reckoning of it in compaâ—ison of his love and duty to God shall keep it to life everlasting The â—ame is to be said of the soul according to Saint Matth. ch 10. 39. As for the rest ease proper will pleasures c. they are meer Vanities not worth the wishing for aâ— witnesseth the wise Solomon in those words Eccles 1. v. 14. Vidi cuncta quae fiunt sub sole ecce Vniversâ— Vanitas I have seen saith he and considered all things that are done under the Sun and behold they are all vanity and affliction of Spirit which is to say they are things wherein no full satisfactinn of raind no perfect content is to be found and that therefore men do vainly and to their own prejudice to set their minds their love and affections so much upon them Yet will not men be perswaded their minds are still set upon the things under the Sun and not on those above it they still mind the world and worldly things worldly riches worldly honours worldly pleasures worldly power c. and with such an eagerness of appetite do they hunt after these things as if â—â—ey were the chiefest good and â—â—at all happiness consisted in them â—eglecting the care of their Souls for â—e love of them quite contrary to â—e advice and exhortation of the â—lessed Evangelist Saint John who â—howing the harm that comes to men â—y setting their minds and affections â— much upon worldly
as to wish and make Prayers to Almighty God that all Mankind may be converted and become one in Christ and if we cannot suffer death for the good of others I mean so great good and so greatly tending to Gods Honour as is the Conversion and Salvation of Sinners yet at least let us not be unwilling to suffer injuries at their hands and afflictions for their sakes and to edifie them what we can by the example of a true Christian Life both active and passive in doing well and suffering ill when occasion â—equires This is but the common Duty of all True Christians and â—urely he must be thought to have but â— weak and faint Love of Christ that cannot or will not do thus much for his Saviours sake who hath done and suffered so much for him and hath â—eft us his own Example expresly to that end namely to shew how much we are to condescend to others and deny our selves to procure their good in order to God Exemplum dedi vobis saith he I have given you an Example that as I have done to you so you should do also to others Sustain therefore patiently for unto this you are called because Christ hath suffered for us the just for the unjust leaving us an example that we should follow his steps 1 Pet 2. v. 21. Let us therefore follow our Saviour and Redeemer since they that follow him walk not in darkness but enjoy the light of life Sect. 5. How we may know our selves free from self-Self-love in loving God and our Neighbours Seeing that the Love of God must be predominant over all other Loves and reign over all our Passions Affections Lusts Desires c. as we have already declared it cannot but seem reasonable and a thing to be wish'd for by all such persons as do seriously concern themselves in things of the Spirit that we should at least in brief point at and shew them the means how by Gods Grace they may come to a pious and probable assurance that they do truly love God above all things and by consequence that their hearts are free from the pestilent and dangerous Vice of self-Self-love To satisfie whose desires I think it necessary to add a word or two further upon that Subject First In the general I say that to proceed securely in this matter it behoves us exactly and without all partiality to consider what the course of our lives hath been and is whither bend our affections inclinations desires what is the intent and design of all our actions for if these either wholly or at least principally tend unto and be directed to Gods Honour to the health of our Souls and to the gaining of a good Eternity all 's well we walk safely and may promise our selves good from God As on the contrary If we find our lives to be dissolute and careless and our mind more set upon Vanity and the things of the World than upon God we must fear the worst yea know for certain that as to our Spiritual Estate things go not well with us The predominant affections that are in us will easily shew what we are and to whom we belong Amongst Men of the World we see that for the most part in every one of them some passion or other one or more predominates over all the rest and makes such persons to be accordingly esteem'd some avaritious some ambitious some voluptuous and given wholly to pleasures others extravagant and humorous and as much over-born with fancy finally others too much re-senting and apt to revenge all which are so denominated and judged from their principal Love and the Affection which they do principally bear and shew either towards Riches or Honours Worldly Greatness Pleasures and the like the whole conduct of mens lives being as it were tinctur'd or rather tainted with that principal Affection which reigns in them This shews us our selves for in the same manner it is with us No man hath reason to think himself free from Self-love or that he loveth God above all things which is necessary to Salvation if examining his life his actions his employments desires and pretensions he do not find the principal bent frame and design of them to be towards God and that his Honour and our eternal good are the things chiefly look't at by us The love which we bare to God must be a Love not of bear Words not vain transitory Thoughts which perish and come to nothing but it must be a Love of Effects a Love that produceth good Actions and good Works It must not be an idle Love nor a talking nor a vaunting but a working Love a diligent and industrious Love a Love that loves to be doing to be always busie and imployed in the works of love And therefore we must take heed that we do not deceive our selves in taking the acts of our Understanding for the acts of Love or Divine Affection There is not a mortal man living that hath the use of reason whose understanding does not tell him that he ought to love God more than himself yea there is not a true man who hath not some inclination of Will though weak faint and uneffectual to love God more than himself and yet for all that want the true Grace of God for as much as we must know that the Love of God doth not consist in that act of the Understanding nor in those inclinations of Will but it consists altogether in putting the said acts or judgments of the Understanding and inclinations of Will in practice and by consequence if we want those things which are the proper effects and fruits of Divine Love and Friendship how can we think our selves to be Gods true Lovers or Friends and if the true Love of God dwells not in us 't is certain that Self-love and Self-interest doth By this therefore we may judge whether we have the true love of God or not or whether we be not still under the domiâ—ion of Self-love For the acts and proper effects of Divine Love as all Divines teach are to be united in our affections to God and in all things to look at him as our chief and only good If it be thus with us we love God if otherwise we love our selves This is one Rule and I think the principal whereby to know what our condition is in order to God and whether we be free from self-Self-love Yet I think it not amiss to mention some others that I observe to be re-commended by pious and learned Men. According to F. Cressy the property of true Divine Love is to unite all our affections to God and to make them all one in him as in our Chief and Soveraign Good and that out of this love we are to take joy in his Divine Perfections and Excellencies and that he is upon the account of them so adored and glorified in heaven by the Angels and by all Saints Besides this we are according to the same good Author
5. Thou shalt love the Lord thy God from thy whole heart with thy whole soul and with thy whole mind This is the greatest and the First Commandment and the second to it is Diliges proximum tuum sicut teipsum Matth. 22. 39. Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thy self From which precepts we may absolutely say That Love is the onely end of our salvation and that God doth therefore save us that we may be perfected in love Nevertheless give me leave to tell you that this love must be to the utmost regulated that is performed with all due exactness both towards God our Neighbour and our selves for fear least otherwise in stead of making us agreeable to God and being advantageous to us it prove much prejudicial to our souls and render us difforme to him Since then we are bound so strictly to use and exercise Love in a right manner it behoveth us to hear what â—s said of the same that we may proceed in it accordingly The Master of the Sentences lib. 3. Distinct 28. doth not only confirm that we ought to love God above all things without exception but saith also that we are to love our selves that is to say the health of our souls and our neighbours as for my part I take his meaning to be and must confess that I never yet observed that God doth any where positively or in express terms command that Man should love himself as being naturally inclin'd and fully enough affected to do that as well in what is good or pleasing to his nature as also iâ— what is evil and prejudicial to his soul Therefore to know how far we may lawfully love our selves and our neighbours without being intangled with that Vice which is properly called self-Self-love will be the whole subject and matter for us to enquire of in this present Treatise SECT 2. Three several sorts of Love To the end that every man may know and likewise have strength and courage to perform all things well in order to please Almighty God in returning love for his love as also the better to with-draw himself from all sorts of Self-love that are evil I would have him consider and observe the Saying of a most learned Divine to wit the R. F. Bernardin de Siena who in one of his Sermons De Amore proprio privato telleth us That there are three several sorts of Loves the first whereof is lawful the second to be rejected but the third totally to be abhorred as being cause of the general destruction and ruin of Mankind Wherefore that every one may discern the one from the other and discover which are the most pernicious and to be avoided I will in few words declare and speak of them one by one In the first place there is a Love which is natural and reasonable This is lawful to be observed by every one This love appeareth when a person seeketh and desireth only that which is lawful good profitable and meet for him without prejudice to any other For seeing according to reason no man should have in hatred his own nature substance or being it is therefore lawful for him to procure all such things as are good and convenient for him and to dispose of them to his best advantage for the good of his soul We are also to love our Neighbour because the Law of Nature obligeth and commandeth us to do unto others that which we would desire should be done to our selves in like case Yet nevertheless we are to be vigilant and consider well how we do love our Neighbour to the end we may love him well and so as may be both for hiâ— and for our spiritual profit and that our love to God suffer no prejudice by it Now to declare the love we owe unto God there are many things requisite and to be observed since we are to love him above all things with all our understanding that is without any error contrary to what he hath revealed for our Belief with all our will that is without any opposition or contradiction to what he requireth of us with all our mind and memory that is without any oblivion or forgetfulness of him or of our duty towards him lastly with all our endeavour and power that is without all sloth or negligence in performing his holy Service Commandements Divine Counsels and Inspirations The second sort of Love before-mentioned which is to berejected may be said to be Venial Sin to wit when as we have said before the passion of Love over-reacheth the Rule of Reason as also when the order to be observed in the exercise and performance of Love is not punctually exactly kept and fulfilled As for example according to reason and the great obligation we have to Almighty God we are to love him above all things and we are onely to love our selves and our neighbours purely for the love of him and not for any other respect Yet sometimes yea very often experience shews that self-Self-love and proper will such is our frailty and weakness do exceed their limits and become more or less extravagant being carried with a desire not so sutable to reason and our obligation as it ought to be And although considering Divine Clemency it may well enough be thought that such extravagant or inordinate desires affections actions do not alwayes come to such a height as to be mortal sin and consequently may remain though not perfectly with Charity yet for this reason that is because they do render our Charity or Love to God less perfect then it should be all the Ancient Fathers and Doctors of the Church do unanimously counsel and advise that all such Loves be rejected and totally avoided by all in general but more especially by those who tend to perfection and in order thereto have by Vow entred the state of a Religious Life And the reason hereof is because if men will voluntarily give way and suffer themselves to take pleasure in such inordinate desires affections loves of what kind soever they be they expose themselves and their souls to danger of falling most deeply and desperately into such spiritual Disease seeing the soul thereby grows every day more and more weak and faint in the love of God and inordinate Self-love grows so strong that in the end it becomes mortal and hardly capable of Cure As concerning the third and last sort of Love which we are to declare and speak of more at large in this present Treatise it is that which Divines call Mortal Self-love and Mortal Sin a thing even noisome and of the highest offence to God and more than all other evils whatsoever beside such as it self is hurtful and prejudicial to man For this Self-love is so immoderate and inordinate that it causeth men so to forget themselves that they undervalue even Almighty God and by consequence their own salvation Of this Self-love Saint Augustine telleth us that Satan hath built his great City of Babylon lib. 1.
through the Grace of God so wrought with him that he was forthwith converted both to the Catholique Faith and to a most holy continent and chaste life Oh that we could follow his good example and retire our selves out of the Life of this World to a Life Holy and Spiritual that we could give our selves up wholly to Gods service renouncing all vanities and vain divertisements fopperies and all the sensualities of the world and of the flesh and avoiding all the deceitful works of the Devil as things that are most prejudicial to our Bodies and Souls Oh that we could resolve from this present time to say with the Prophet Osee Ducam animam meam in solitudinem Oseae 2. v. 13. I will lead or with-draw my Soul into solitude I will make a divorce a perpetual seperation from all sorts of Vanities Concupiscences Pleasures and Sensualities I will henceforth with St. Paul 2 Cor. 4. v. 10. say Semper mortificationem Jesu in corpore nostro circumferam I will always bear about in my Body the Mortification of Jesus Christ that by means thereof through his Divine help and aid I I may avoid and qe free from Self-love SECTION V. How to conquer and overcome Self-love Sect. 1. Man cannot attain that Grace without the help of God 2. The first means to overcome Self-love is by the knowledge of our selves of our own Nothing Unprofitableness Vileness Miseries and Afflictions 3. The second means to overcome Self-love is by the knowledge of the Excellencies and Perfections of God 4. The third means to overcome Self-love is by the knowledge of the Benefits we have received and are to receive Sect. 1. Man cannot attain that Grace without the help of God The duty of our present state is and the chief employment of our whole life ought to be constantly and fervently to co-operate with Divine Grace and to grow in Vertues endeavouring always and in every thing to get the victory over our selves that is over inordinate Self-love and Self-interests that would debauch us from our duty and carry us into wrong ways The reason hereof is because God being a Nature or Essence superlatively excellent and infinitely above our and all other created natures requires as a tribute most worthy of him and of justice belonging to him that we totally abstract our love from all objects whatsoever and place it in him not loving any thing but God and what he commands and allows us to love for his sake This I confess is impossible for us to do by any meer natural ability or strength according as the most Reverend Father Nicolaus a Sancta Cruce a person who has been twice Provincial in the Order of Saint Francis and is famous as well for his Learning and Piety as his connual labour and pains-taking in the Mission of England confirms in his Cynosura Chap. the first page 5th upon the Miserere Psalm in these words When man looks into himself he finds a check seeing he cannot so much as dispose himself for his happiness without a supernatural aid For though it be true that humane nature by its own strength knows that God is worthy of all love yet our knowledge in Morality is much more apt for comprehension that is for understanding than for practice It is not enough to have wings to flie if they be so hamper'd as they cannot be display'd So this natural faculty in man of loving God above all things by means of Original Sin and a million of other obstacles is so weakened that we find the inclination of doing it far less vigorous and effectual than the Dictamens of our Reason to have it done And no wonder since St. Thomas affirms That our Will by Original Sin is much more damnified and impaired than our Understanding Whence Self-love grows powerful in use so that if it hath not a counter-prize of supernatural succours we yield and suffer our selves to be violently hurried on to the pursuit of fading and sensual objects for which cause the miseries of our humane nature are very much to be pittied and deplored being so wounded and made impotent unto good as that of her self alone she is not able to pay the least part of what she owes to the most lawful object of all hearts whose just homages are not only sighs groans or throws of spirit good wishes good desires c. but effective that is actual and real service done actual performance of what he commands exact observance of all his holy Precepts Laws c. together with a careful wary diligent aversion from whatsoever we know to be offensive to him and apt to put a seperation between God and our Souls Such are the excess of sensual pleasures and the immoderate affectation of worldly greatness honours riches and the like Our love and duty to God likewise requires that we resist temptations and in many encounters to suffer afflictions miseries and all manner of calamities incident to mans life yea sometimes to lose and lay down our lives rather then to fall into any transgression or sin opposite to Divine Love Now all these are difficulties hard things to be done and do far exceed humane strength which deserves indeed to be called rather weakness than strength so that it behoves us to have recourse to Divine Aid and to implore the Majesty of God for the gift of his special Grace which may enable us to perform what is required of us knowing this that should we be freed from all sins and imperfections yet could we not attain to such a degree of divine love and perfect holiness as to love him as much as he deserves to be loved how much more is this impossible for us to do in this our present condition in which beside our natural and original weakness we are through evil custom and long practice of actual sin become most averse and disinclined to it being on the contrary wholly possess'd fill'd and taken up with Self-love and the fruits thereof to wit pursuing our private interests concerns proprieties ambitious and worldly designs However some means I shall not omit to produce in this place for the helping us with more ease to vanquish this Vice of Self-love and to get a perfect victory over the same which we are not to despair of being prompted with divine help and assistance but to say confidently with S. Paul Phil. 4. 13. Omnia possum in eo c. I shall be able to do all things requisite to my Salvation through Christ who strengthens me These motives or means must be fundamentally grounded in a true and right knowledge of God and our selves and first of all in the perfect knowledge of our own selves of our nothing of our own unprofitableness vileness afflictions miseries In the second place it must be grounded in true knowledge of the Universal Sufficiency Being Power Wisdom and other the infinite perfections beauties and goodness of God who by reason of them is to be the only object of
you Chap. 7. v. 5. Induta est caro mea putredine sordibus pulveris My flesh saith he is cloathed with rottenness and filth of dust my skin is dried and shrunk up What is Man according to his Soul Alas if he be destitute of Grace and true Charity he is Gods enemy he is the heir of Hell and of eternal damnation he is a friend to all sorts of vanities a worker of Iniquity Gods Dishonour apt and ready to all Evil but slow to all that is good Infine he is a poor creature beset on all sides with evil blind in Counsel extravagant in his passions and proceedings vain-glorious and boasting in his words and in his deeds deficient and falling short of the good he pretends to in his appetites dishonest and in all things little save only in his own applause and esteem wherein he is beyond measure great for all which upon due consideration he ought rather to have a great aversion and dislike of himself than to be puffed up and swelled with Self-love so much to Gods dishonour and his own prejudice Sect. 3. The second means to over-come Self-love is by the knowledge of the Excellencies and Perfections of God It cannot be denied but there are several causes which do oblige us greatly to overcome Self-love as also induce us towards a perfect and true love of Almighty God who is the Creator of all both Heaven and Earth and all things therein contained Genes 1. v. 1. who is our Maker having made us of nothing to his own Image and Likeness according as we read Ecclus 17. v. 1. who is our redeemer having given himself a redemption for all as the Apostle witnesseth 1 Tim. 2. v. 6. who is our Heavenly Father so witnesseth Christ himself Matth. 6. 32. Your Father that is in Heaven knoweth that ye have need of these things And Joan. 20. 17. I ascend to your Father and to my Father to your God and to my God These are all of them just reasons and titles of right which God hath to our love these are all prerogatives and properties of such high perfection that in consideration of them we ought to suppress all motions of Self-love and Self-esteem and to entertain no thoughts of our proper excellency dignity merit c. But besides these there are divers other very well deserving to be taken notice of by us of which we must therefore speak I shall reduce them under two general heads To wit Those which concerns the intrinsecal perfections and unparalled excellencies of Gods Nature in himself and those which concern his outward works towards us that is to say the many and great benefits which we daily receive in this world from his infinite goodness and mercy and which we expect to receive in the world to come As concerning the first sort we are to know that whatsoever is amiable of it self or beloved it deserves to be so loved according to reason or for some reason or motive of love that is seen in it As for example when we love any reasonable or humane creature if the love be as the object is reasonable and not meerly passionate we love it upon the account of some particular quality or perfection that we see in it and according to the measure or degree of that lovely quality in the object which we apprehend and are affected with all is our love more or less great towards the subject wherein it is After this manner is all reasonable and vertuous love begotten â— it arises always from the consideration of something in the party loved that justly deserves love and where there is no such thing seen or lookt at in our loving there is no reasonable or honest love Now upon this account what and how great reason have we to love God above all Creatures seeing that in him not only one or some few but all the reasons of Love all the Perfections all the good Qualities or Properties that are fit to deserve and gain Love are found All Goodness all Vertue all Wisdom all Power all Beauty all Majesty all Glory They are in him and superabundantly flow issue and proceed from him as from an eternal fountain of Good All the little rayes and resemblances of God which are seen in Creatures are darted from the Sun he imparts them all He makes Men wise vertuous good he furnishes them with all due feature of body and gifts of mind according as the Apostle S. James assures us saying Jac. 1. v. 17. Omne datum optimum omne donum perfectum de sur sum est Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above and cometh down from the Father of Lights If therefore we love any person for his wisdom God is infinitely more wise or for his nobility power wealth God is infinitely more noble mighty rich In fine whatsoever quality or perfection can be observ'd in Creatures as a Motive or reason of love the same with infinite advantages is to be found in God How much more therefore are we to love God than Creatures God I say who surpasseth all Creatures not only in the perfections already mention'd but in all others whatsoever without any exception As for his wisdom S. Paul telleth us that the depth of it is unsearchable and past finding out Rom. 11 33. O altitudo divitiarum Sapientiae Scientiae Dei c. O the height O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how in comprehensible are his judgments and his ways investigable There is none like unto him Quis poterit scrutari sapientiam ejus saith Elihu in Job Chap. 36. v. 23. Who can or will ever be able to search and know his wisdom As for his Nobility and the Titles of his due honour he surpasseth all Nabuchodonosor though his Enemy at that time and a wicked King yet acknowledged this to the Prophet Daniel saying Dan. 2. v. 47. Vere Deus vester Deus Deorum est c. In very deed your God is the God of all Gods and the Supream Lord of all Kings He is according to S. John Apoc. 19. v. 16. Rex Regum Dominus Dominantium King of Kings and Lord of Lords As for his Power Authority and Might he shall reign for ever and ever Luc. 1. v. 33. Et Regni ejus non erit finis Of his Kingdom there shall be no end Yea his power is such that nothing can be done without him by reason whereof it is said Rom. 11. 36. that of him and through him and to him are all things and Colos 1. v. 17. that by him all things consist As for his Beauty his comely and excellent features fair complexion take it which way you will whether of body or mind they are unparallell'd So the Espouse professeth Cant. 1. v. 16. Ecce tu pulcher es dilecte mi Ecce tu pulcher es decorus Behold you are fair my beloved behold you are fair and comely
10. daily dying as to this world in all our inordinate passions and affectations of humane praise honour favour and contrariwise chusing and desiring rather to be undervalued by all to the intent that for the present the power of Self-love may be broken and abated in us and that afterward for this undervaluing and dispising our selves we may be honoured and exalted by our Lord Jesus Christ according to his promise Luc. 18. 14. Qui se humiliat exaltibitur Who so humbleth himself shall be exalted He that undervalues himself easily undervalues all other things and if you will possess all the only way is to forsake all But alas How far short are we of Perfection in this kind How few are there amongst us that forsake either the world or themselves as they ought Few there are that go by this narrow way Many are called many are exhorted and incited to it but few elected or chosen to walk and finish their lives in it Few there are that love to be vilified or desire to be humbled for Christ and yet it is that we must submit unto we must come to that perfection or miss and fall short of our reward eternal happiness If we would desire this Perfection from our heart we should obtain it seeing our Saviour hath promised us that whatsoever we shall ask in his name that shall be for his honour and our good it shall be granted Joan. 14. v. 13 14. And therefore if God do not send us afflictions and adversities requisite to this purpose viz. to humble us and mortifie our corrupt passions it is by reason he sees us unfit for them We are not strong enough nor so well mortified in mind and spirit as to bear them God on his part is always ready to do us good and to treat us so as may be best for us both as to this life and that to come and consequently to send tribulations crosses and afflictions to those that are truly mortified and so resign'd to his Divine Will as that he sees they will receive good and not harm by them that they will be humbled by them and patient under them and consequently encrease their own merits upon that account if not unto temporal yet at least which is far better unto eternal reward Observe from hence that all the things which men desire or can wish for if they tend not to the true abnegation to the true submission and humiliation of our selves for the love of God they are tainted with corrupt nature Interest and self-Self-love and though men sometimes are apt to think that they have clearly avoided and freed themselves from this paspassion yet it is only in appearance and they have driven it from them as it were on the one side but it returns slily and secretly upon them some other way and sticks fast on their Souls which appears by this that men seldome or never wish for or desire any great adversity any sharp afflictions tribulations or crosses nor desire much that any thing should go contrary to their mind and yet only these and such like things can shew how they are humbled how mortified and free of Self-love The reason hereof is no other but that vertue is imperfect in us We are yet faint-hearted and ready to fail in small matters Men are not as yet come to a true undervaluing of themselves they love themselves esteem themselves and still seek themselves too much almost in every thing Self-love is a subtile and deceitful vice it deceives others it deceives our selves using much dissimulation with every one Happy is the man that is free of it that is dead to himself that is to say who is dead in all his sensual passions and appetites and in all inordinate affections towards visible objects and dead in his own Self-love desiring to be vilified and undervalued of all according to the example of Jesus Christ who in his own person gave us a marvellous instance of most perfect mortification when being upon the Cross he cryed out in these words Matth. 27. v. 46. Deus meus Deus meus ut quid dereliquisti me My God my God why hast thou forsaken me Why am I thus left destitute to the will of my enemies without any aid or comfort from you God our Saviour and Redeemer hanging thus on the Cross was for certain deprived of all spiritual and sensible consolation yet did he suffer most willingly and not in the least lose his courage Ah he did it for our example it was to let us know that when God deprives us at any time of our wonted Consolations whether Spiritual or Temporal and brings adversity and affliction upon us it is that we should suffer them patiently and willingly for his loves sake and that we should with a perfect resignation submit our selves to his Divine Will Perfection does not consist so much in the gifts of a sensible Love and sensible Consolations but in that which may be more real and essential though less sensible to wit in a well-ordered and well-grounded affection of resolution of mind for God and for the performonce of his Holy Will and Commandments in all things The servant of Christ should not seek nor place Perfection in any sensible things whatsoever whether Corporal or Spiritual not in any sensible Devotion in time of Prayer nor in the frequency of Internal Consolations but in perfect Conformity to the Will and Commandments of God in perfect mortification of all sinful lusts and appetites and in perfect abnegation of our selves as to every thing that is offensive to him and contrary to our duty Perfection consists in being throughly clear of all affection to sin and constantly inclin'd and well disposed to whatsoever is good Happy is he who is so humble as to acknowledge himself a great sinner and with the Publican to confess that he is not worthy to lift up his eyes to Heaven for the great multitude of his sins Happy is he who is so well disposed and mortified as to be ready to endure all pains yea even those of Hell it self if it could be for the love of God though being himself in the state of Grace Happy is he who is as well prepared and as well pleased in being deprived of all sensible graces devotions love as to have or receive such gifts from God Happy is he who is so well inflamed with the Essential love of God as to desire at all times of his life to be freed from corporal love to any Creature Happy is he who desireth to imitate or be like unto Jesus Christ upon the Cross abandoned of all good spiritual and corporal rejected and vilified by men forsaken by God and left destitute to all want pain and misery But alas How few are there of this perfect disposition where is the man that is thus mortified in his passions humbled in his mind resigned in his will Where is the man to be found who being depriv'd of his wonted Consolations
44. in these words Ego autem dico vobis c. But I say unto you love your enemies do good to them that hate you and pray for them that persecute you and that slander or falsly accuse you that you may be the children of your Father which is in Heaven who maketh his Sun to rise upon the good and the bad and causeth it to rain upon the just and unjust What can be more express and clear For it might possibly be objected by some concerning the Old Law that there was nothing expresly declared or written that we should love our Enemies but only that we should help him in his necessity that we should not revenge our selves nor rejoyce in his ruine or adversity But in the New Testâ—ment it is positively and expresly said Love your Enemies as is above-mentioned out of S. Matthew which the Evangelist S. Luke also confirms Chap. 6. v. 27. in the like words Love saith he your enemies do good to them that hate you bless them that curse you and pray for them that calumniate you Nay more than this The Gospel or New Law requires so great equanimity patience and good affection of mind towards those that hate us and treat us injuriously and that we be so far from revenging our selves that it requires us when we are stricken on the one Cheek to offer also the other For so this Evangelist S. Luke writeth Chap. 6. v. 29. Et qui te percutit in maxillam praehe alteram When one strikes you on one Cheek give him the other also to strike In fine for the accomplishment or full performance of this Precept we must know that as in relation to our Neighbour we are to love him corde ore opere in heart in word and in deed so must we also do towards our enemy We must in heart wish him as much happiness as to our selves we must in our actions do them as much good as we would have done to our selves in like case we must not defame slander injure or do them any harm in our words but in all our expressions and speech of them tender their good and their just concerns as our own So that although our enemies hate us yet we in charity are to love them and though they curse us we are to bless them though they persecute and trouble us we must forgive them and pray for them if they be wicked that hinders not us to be good if they be our enemies yet the holy Commandment obliges us to be their friends These things I doubt not will seem to many extream hard to be perform'd such is humane wâ—â—â—ness yet perform them we 〈◊〉 and that for Gods sake for so is Gods Commandment We must be not only content but willing with the Prophet David to say Psal 16. v. 14. Propter verba labiorum tuorum ego custo divi vias duras For the words of thy lips I have kept hard ways that is to say by reason of thy Commandment I have overcome my self and kept the narrow way of vertue how hard and difficult soever I found it to Flesh and Bloud Because thou hast commanded it I have loved and will still persist to love even mine Enemies and to pursue them with kindnesses as much as they persecute me with words and deeds of hatred all this I will do to fulfil your Divine Pleasure and to gain the more interest in your love Nor will any good Christian think it much or a hard thing to love his Enemies that well considers the matter and sets before his eyes the example of Christ upon the Cross None had greater Enemies than he no Innocent person was ever persecuted so maliciously so causlesly none ever suffered more contrary to all justice right gratitude at the hands of his Enemies and yet even upon the Cross while he lay under the greatest pain misery and shame that their hatred and ill will could possibly bring upon him and was breathing out his Soul with the extremity of it yet even then he loved them and did the best offices he could for them to his Father namely praying for them and excusing in some part the wickedness of their sin in these words Luke 23. v. 34. Pater dimitte illis non enim sciunt quid faciunt Father forgive them for they know not what they do Thus did the Saviour of the World requite the hatred of his Enemies thus did he repay all their revilings cursings injuries all their cruel barbarous and despiteful usage to wit by the greatest charity and good will shewed on their behalf his love contending and gloriously triumphing over their hatred I do not doubt but having such an object of Charity before our eyes and excited by such an example we will desire above all things to imitate and be like unto him his most perfect goodness duly considered will work in us the like affection so as it shall not be grievous unto us to follow his steps per vias duas in any kind of vertue though never so hard to flesh and bloud and particularly not in this of loving for the future those that we have at present in aversion Our Saviours most perfect and unparallell'd example alone might serve for this But we have several others besides this in the holy Scriptures not unworthy to be taken notice of in order to the good effect of loving and carrying our selves well to those who deserve not very well of us as namely that of the holy Patriarch Joseph who being well beloved of his Father was for that reason so hated of the rest of his Brethren that as the holy Text speaketh of them Non poterant ei quicquam pacifice loqui They were not able to speak a good or peaceable word to him Gen. 37. 4. but were perpetually quarrelling and contending with him till at length their aversion grew to such a height that they conspired his death v. 19 20. casting him first in order to that end into a Cistern or certain dry Pit in the Wilderness and afterwards sold him to the Ishmaelites to be their Bond-slave Viginti argenteis for Twenty pieces of Silver v. 28. yet Joseph took all these doings well meditated not revenge though it was in his power to have done it but when his Brethren were fall'n into distress by reason of the Famine he provided for them and their Families all manner of Food and when his Brethren did not know Joseph their Brother he made himself known to them in this kind manner excusing their iniquity towards him Accedite ad me nolite pavere Ego sum Joseph Frater vester c. Gen. 45. v. 3 4 5. Come near unto me I pray you be not troubled I am Joseph your Brother whom ye sold into Egypt Is my Father yet alive and let it not seem grievous to you that you sold me for God sent me hither before you to preserve you alive Non vestro consilio sed Dei voluntate
De Civit. Dei and in Psal 74. For as the True and Divine Love which reigneth in the Citizens of Hierusalem that is in the Servants of God takes its original spring from the Charity of God and makes them humble and to undervalue themselves for the honour and praise of God so in the same manner the Self-love of the Citizens of Babylon takes its original spring from their proper will and they raise themselves so high by reason of it that they come to undervalue and despise even God himself their own salvation and eternal interest We see in men divers sorts of affections divers sorts of judgements oâ—inions wills in so much that they â—re not more different in feature and â—n the frame and fashion of their Boâ—ies and natural Humors then they â—re in their proper Wills and Self-love â—nd the reason hereof is because they â—o not regard to conform themselves â—or to adjust their proper loves to the True Divine Love This is the source â—rom whence so much Self-love proâ—eeds men do not their endeavour to perform the will of God as they ought put follow too much every one their proper sensualities and private wills Oh would to God the onely true and perfect Love were well rooted and engraven in the hearts of men how would it make them true Followers and Imitators of those that live now â—n the Coelestial Hierusalem â— Without question they would then be all of one mind as the Apostles and Disciples of Christ were who so conformed themselves that as the Holy Text saith of them Acts 4. 32. they werâ— Cor unum anima una all one souâ— and one heart SECT 3. Self-Love contrary to the Love oâ— God Egredere de terratua de cognatione tua de domo patris tui Gen. 12. 1. Go forth of thy Countrey from thy kindred and thy Fathers house said Almighty God unto us all in the person of the Patriarch Abraham ouâ— Father insinuating hereby that you must all go forth and give over the love of worldly Creatures if you mean to love Coelestial you must pluck out of your selves all the weeds of Self-love and so root them out of your hearts that they may never grow up again Self-love is displeasing to God and altogether contrary to his love Self-love is the cause of all evils it perverteth the judgement overthrows and disturbs the mind stops and perverts reason dulls â—he understanding empoisons the will and shuts up the way to Eternal â—alvation He that loves not well doth not know God injures his neighbour â—orsaketh Vertue and seeks after honour riches and such like things â—oves the world and himself but not God Take heed therefore since it â—s this self-Self-love that destroys all commands and leads by it self all sinners â—o eternal damnation Why do you love Honour Riches â—nd other Corporal Objects of the World so much Why do you seek why do you hunt after them with so much greediness It is only because you love your selves inordinately Yet are you to leave all and forsake all even your selves and your own â—ife for the Love of God if you preâ—end to be everlastingly happy And â—he reason is because if the Love of God be not the first and chief in your affections sensual desires will usurp the prerogatives of Reason and get thâ— chief place which is due to God alone and so by consequence you forsake God for the love of your self and for the enjoying of your own propeâ— will and fancy you rob God of thâ— honour which is due onely to him aâ— the Creator and Maker of all Creatures To mortifie and subdue Self-love and our proper wills is not onely the Counsel but was also the Practice oâ— all the Ancient Fathers who used all their endeavors to weed and pluck out Self-love from themselves and to with-draw it also from the hearts of others especially of those who pretend to the perfection of Christian Vertue and Piety and have the state of a Religious Life in honour and esteem Now our proper will in this place signifies that absolute Self-love which men use and whereby they alwayes take complacency in themselves and ordain and refer all things to the satisfaction of themselves and of their own mind whereas on the â—ontrary true and perfect Christians â—enounce whatsoever is contrary to God and give themselves totally to Divine Love and to the performance â—f Gods Will and Commandments â—rdaining all to God and in a manâ—er denying all to themselves Seeing then that these two Loves â—re so contrary and opposite the one â—gainst the other it follows that such â—ikewise must be all the affections and â—he operations that proceed from â—hem that is opposite and quite conâ—rary one to another in so much that â—t is impossible these two Loves should ever reign at once or together at the â—ame time in one and the same heart â—eeing they are altogether incompatiâ—le You will never find the Love of God agree with the love of the world â—he love of Earthly Things with the â—ove of Coelestial the Carnal with the Spiritual And as it is impossible for Truth and Falsity to agree or Morâ—ality with Immortality Sweetness with Bitterness in a high degree oâ— Peace with War so in the same manner impossible it is to reconcile Self-love with the Love of God We cannot with one and the same eye aâ— the same instant look up to Heaveâ— and down to Earth so neither is it iâ— our power at the same time to lovâ— God and this world Therefore to humble and get thâ— Victory over Self-love we are firâ—â— to overcome our selves and shake oâ— the yoke and tyrannizing power oâ— our proper will which is the spring of all evil to us We must absolutely reject that if ever we mean to embrace Vertue as we ought and submit our selves wholly unto God beinâ— mindful of all the graces and benefitâ— we have received and do still everyday receive from him following herein the good counsel of Saint Augustin great Pillar and Doctor of thâ— Church Recordare quomodo creaviâ— te non existentem redemit te c Remember saith he how God createâ— thee of nothing how he redeemed â—ee with his own blood how he did â—ee thee being captive how he proâ—â—cted thee in thy infirmity how he â—riched thee being poor and naked â—nd how he will happily reward and â—own thee if thou remainest a true â—ver to him SECT 4. How Self-love opposeth the Love of God Upon the apprehension you might â—â—t perhaps be satisfied with me in â—â—ving onely declar'd That Self-love contrary to the Love of God but â—ould willingly know some particuâ—â—rities how and in what manner this self-â—â—lf-love repugns and opposes that â—hich is divine to comply in some â—easure with your desires and inâ—â—nations I say in the first place â—hat as Divine Love doth afford â—â—d cause to mankind all manner of â—â—iritual comforts consolations and â— kind of happiness so on the contrary
Self-love being a Self-seeker â—â— all things never rests never cease troubling and intaingling it self anâ— others in all sorts of inconvenienceâ— dangers and evils being the Oâ— man which reigneth in mankind and causeth so great disorders anâ— confusions amongst men and so mâ—ny spiritual diseases in Christianity that even St. Paul himself Doctor â—â— the Gentiles could not restrain froâ— crying out desiring to be freed froâ— it Infaelix Ego homo quis me liberâ— bit de corpore mortis hujus Rom. 7. â—â— Vnhappy man that I am who shâ—â—â— deliver me from the body of this deaâ—â— This Self-love therefore may be saâ—â— to be as a wioked Monster in us thâ— totally ruins and destroys mankind in another place I shall further declaâ—â— and at present though it be impâ—sible to unfold and discover the wiâ—â—edness of this pernicious Monster â—â— the full I will endeavour in part â—â— make it appear how horrid and frigâ—â—ful he is by the opposition which â—â— hath against the Charity or Love of God Saint Paul doth much encourage â—e to this design having so incomâ—arably well demonstrated and declaâ—ed the excellencies of Charity or Divine Love so lively so fair so loveâ—y and so agreeable that nothing â—an be desir'd nor wish'd more perâ—ect and accomplish'd in these expresâ—ions Charitas patiens est benigna â—st Charitas non aemulatur c. 1 Cor. â— 3. 4. Charity or the Love of God â—s patient is benigne gentle kind Charity envieth not dealeth not perâ—â—ersly is not puffed up is not ambiâ—ious seeketh not her own provokâ—th not to anger thinketh no evil â—ejoyceth not in iniquity but rejoycâ—th in the truth Charity suffereth all â—hings believeth all things and â—eareth all things In a word Chaâ—ity abideth all wayes free constant â—ively simple or sincere without â—ny doubleness or disguizement causâ—ng no deceit nor using any dissimulation for having God only for hâ— last end in that respect she totalâ—â— resteth and sweetly reposeth in him But Self-love proveth quite contrâ—ry both within and without beiâ—â— alwayes deceitful and disguized â—â— all her proceedings blaming thâ—â— which should be praised and praisiâ—â— that which deserves blame esteeâ—ing her self better than all others yâ—â— sometimes feignedly undervaluinâ— and speaking meanly of her self â—â— the intent she may be the more praiâ—ed and exalted by others If sâ—â— speaks well of her neighbour 't is only â—â— bring him upon discourse or make hiâ— talkt of that afterwards she may fiâ—â— occasion to traduce and slander him â— for Self-love is subtle and seldom â—â— at any time wants ground true â—â— false to maintain or excuse to paâ—liate or hide the naughtiness of heâ— proceedings being like to a Squinâ—ey'd man who being bidden to looâ— on one side looks on the other â—â— wicked and deceitful Self-love tâ— whom it must be said what the Proâ—het Ahias said to the Wife of Jeroâ—oam that came to see him disguized â—xor Jeroboam curte aliam esse siâ—ulas 3 Reg. 14. 8. Jeroboams â—ife why doest feign thy self to be â—nother woman Secondly Charity or the Love of â—od makes a man value nothing â—or esteem any thing in this world â—ut vertue for which reason he lovâ—th all perfections and vertues in â—eneral but in a singular manner the â—ertue of Humility by which he alâ—ayes submitteth despiseth and unâ—ervalueth himself suffereth injuries â—pprobrious and abusive speeches conâ—â—sions and beareth all mortificatiâ—ns for Jesus Christs sake patiently â—nd meekly without commotion or â—esentment attributes no good actiâ—ns to himself but to God alone and â—nstead of praising commending â—nd thinking better of himself for doâ—ng well he humbleth himself flies â—onour declines and refuses the praises and applaudings of men whaâ— possible he can not seeking riches nor worldly pleasures or perferments but desiring rather to be commanded than to command or to have any power authority or dominion over others and in sine so contentâ— himself to live in all due submissioâ— under God and men that for ouâ— Lords sake he is alwayes ready to obey every humane creature that haâ— authority to command But on the contrary Self-love by wayes quite opposite to these causes a man to affect greatness honourâ— riches and plenty of all things to glorify himself in his Extraction Nobility Friends Estate Power anâ— Dominion over others to delighâ— much in the society and acquaintancâ— of great men and to take his pleasurâ— in all sensual vanities so as verâ— often to offend God through frailty anâ— undue complacence with the world Self-love causeth men to be proud so that they love to be praised considered honoured and respected makes â—hem desire to be imployed in great Offices and in things of great concern â—t makes one to equalize himself to great Persons and oft times to prefer himself before his Superiours and Betters and to despise all he thinks under him or inferiour to him This makes him glory in what he possesses and of what he can do but sad and dejected and full of melancholly when he falls into any want or necessity This makes us angry and full of fury when our conceits and discourses are not well taken or not approved and finally through Self-love it is that we are so easily and so much troubled in mind at every small thing that happens contrary to our desire and expectation Thirdly Charity or the Love of God causeth a man not to regard so much his proper utility and conveniencies as those that concern the common and publique good or are profitable to many for which cause he doth not take so much pains and labour for his own interest as he will do for others he is in a sorâ— common to all and upon that accounâ— loveth a common life abhoring alâ— singularities at all times being contented with little and giving willingly of what he has But on the contrary Self-love causeth men to be chiefly solicitous in what they undertake that it may be for their own conveniency interest and proper utility makes them unwilling and slow to do any thing gratis or for nothing They will be rewarded to the full and whether it be in praise favour or goods they alwayes pretend to a full value of recompence Those who are led by Self-love love to be praised in all their actions be they either good or bad such men love Singularities and desire in all things to be treated better then others and applauded above the rest envying their equals above measure more especially if honour place employments or charges be given to â—â—em for then they grow discontentâ—d grudge murmur and complain â—retending that themselves had been â—ore fit for such a great place and â—ore deserved to have had such a â—reat Office Honour or Dignity conâ—erred on them yea sometimes pleadâ—â—g not only their greater Merits greatâ—r Parts and Sufficiency but rather then â—il even greater need and want â—f it then others Behold here but â—ne of the least parcels of the evil â—ffects which proceed from Self-love â—ehold a glimpse of
all our loves And in the third and last place it must be founded in the knowledge and due consideration of the benefits we have receiv'd in this world and do daily still receive from God as also of the reward of eternal joy and felicity prepared for the faithful in the next Sect. 2. The first means to overcome Self-love is by the knowledge of our selves of our own nothing unprofitableness vileness miseries and affliction The Royal Prophet David one of the greatest Monarchs of the World in his time had so deep and serious a reflexion of this matter with himself to wit of his spiritual nihileity or being nothing in comparison of God of his unprofitableness vileness miseries that he could not but sadly lament his condition and freely acknowledge that he was but a worm and not a man vermis non homo Psalm 21. 7. the reproach or scorn of men and the out-cast of the people And again Psalm 72. v. 22. Ad nihilum redactus sum c. I am brought to nothing saith he and knew it not If this great King had such humble and mean conceits of himself when he thought upon the Greatness and Majesty of God how much more should we be moved to make the same and if it were possible how much more lowly reflexions of mind when we have the like occasion how should we humble and abase our selves in the presence of God when we consider our natural vileness baseness sad condition and continual miseries The better to induce us to this let us think upon the life of all our Predecessors and Progenitors what were they all but dust what was the first man Adam made of but of the clay of the Earth that was our first and common extraction Look upon your particular Generations and Conceptions Behold you were conceived in iniquity saith David Psalm 50. v. 7. you were born in Original Sin the links whereof concupiscence and weakness do still remain in you and should give you cause to lament Job having such a reflexion in his mind did no less for while he lay upon the Dunghill perplexed inwardly and afflicted outwardly he addressed himself to God and made his prayer to be cleansed from all the filthiness of his Conception saying Job 14. v. 4. Quis potest facere mundum de immundo conceptum semine nonne tu qui solus es Who can make clean him that is conceiv'd of unclean seed who but thou alone O Lord Homer lib. 17. hath a saying That amongst all the living Creatures which are upon the face of the Earth there are none so unhappy as man the truth whereof may be seen daily by experience in the birth of all Children When man is first born and cometh forth into the world there is nothing can be imagined a more rueful and despicable object than he nothing more imperfect nothing more weak nothing more indigent of all things naked uncomely not to say deformed and attended with filth and nastiness than man is Alas he is one that Nature it self would not allow to have a cleanly and neat coming into the world but on the contrary sent him in all covered with blood and more resembling a lump of impure flesh than a Creature indued with a reasonable Soul Insomuch that none will readily touch him or take him up from the ground on which he falls in similiter factam decidi terram c. Sap. 7. 3. none will cherish him none imbrace him but those that undertake the office for hire or the Mother who by force of natural inclination cannot but love her own Child Shall we speak of his nourishment in the Womb or what happens to him presently after whiles unborn it is known that he has no other nutriment than the impure Flowers and Menstrual of the Mother being close covered with a garment of the same which so soon as the poor Infant is unvested of is burnt or buried and not suffered to be seen Wherefore it is no wonder that as soon as man is born he naturally begins to cry thereby presaging and proclaiming so much as he can his future miseries and sad condition Ah that man would but consider this well how little reason would he then see to be so high-minded so proud and to love himself so much he would see more cause to have an aversion or loathing of himself than otherwise As to your condition after birth you were no sooner come to the use of reason but you understood that you were to labour hard for your living it being the Sentence or Judgment of God pronounced upon 〈…〉 first transgression which our 〈…〉 Adam and Eve committed 〈…〉 In the sweat of thy 〈…〉 shalt eat bread saith God to 〈…〉 Genes 3. v. 19. till thou 〈…〉 the ground from whence thou 〈…〉 taken for dust thou art and 〈…〉 dust thou shalt return Add unto this that so long as he lives he is subject unto and very frequently visited with calamities afflictions miseries and the like So that recalling to mind what is abovesaid and well considering the troubles both of body and mind which he endures with the uncertainty and shortness of his life I am confident it will more or less humble his thoughts and in consequence through the grace of God abate the vehemency of self-Self-love and better dispose him to the loving of God alone and above all other things In brief if you would take a true Model of your self think upon the dead Let your mind seriously reflect upon some Friend Neighbour or other Acquaintance deceased think what he is now become nothing but dust nothing but earth ashes rottenness and corruption so must you be how rich soever how powerful soever how elevated and high soever you be either in your own conceits or in the honours and dignities of this present world The time is coming when all these things will signifie nothing to you though to your self you seem to be in good health strong lusty and in the flower of your Age and think to live a long time alas these are deceitful thoughts vain immaginations a sudden Feaver or some other unexpected sickness disease or mischance easily changes the face of your affairs and puts an end to your ungrounded hopes though you look well and find your self every way well disposed for the present yet take my Counsel do not rely upon a staff so apt to break fix your mind and meditations rather upon death have a Skeleton always before your eyes which will teach you more truly what you are and what you must come to than all the painted images of the worlds good There you will see the Origin of your Nobility and the end of your Glory The dead was what you are at present and your lot will be what they are now Verily if you would but look seriously upon your self you would find but little matter or reason to cherish and love your self so much What is Man according to his Body Job will tell
When we have done this and that the love of God begins to be well rooted in our hearts we are in the next place to do our endeavour that the same may increase and grow in us daily more and more which is best done by the continual practice and exercise of vertue and all manner of good works incident to our state and calling together with fervent prayers and observing such Rules of good life as by the Providence of God and the labours of pious men the Christian World as to that part is plentifully supplied with Let us have made never so great advancement in the love of God yet we are still to go on and not to make a stand in our Progress much less to think or perswade our selves that we have already attained such a perfect measure of loving God with all our hearts and all our souls as that we need not to add any more to it by Piety and Holy Living For such a degree of Divine Love is not to be pretended unto in this life until we come into the Heavenly Court of Paradise So long therefore as we live in this state of Mortality we are to go constantly forward in the exercises of Piety and Vertue For in this case it is rightly said Non progredi est regredi Not to go forward in the study and endeavour of Christian Perfection is to go backward and not to advance in the love of God is to fall back and come short more or less in point of duty and love to him and so they would find by experience in a short time whosoever should indulge to such a pernicious fancy to wit as to think they had done enough and that they loved God so well as that they needed not take any care of loving him better or with a more intense diligent exact and affectionate love Whereas the only measure of loving God is as S. Bernard often and excellently teacheth to love him without measure and never to think that we love him enough In consequence to what has been said it follows that all our endeavour must be imployed towards this end viz. of growing still more and more in the love of God and less and less in the love of this world of our selves and of all things that hinder or withdraw us from God whereto as Father Cressy rightly teacheth We must be guided by a divine light and assisted by divine grace The first for the removing such impediments as either corrupt nature or the Ghostly Enemy lays in our way to deceive us and make us give over the pursuit of vertues The second to help us forward in our journey and to bring us more near unto God till at length we be joyned to him by an immediate Union to which we ought to aspire as the end of our Creation and the ultimate perfection of our nature We must renounce as we have said before and fly from our selves that we may draw nigh unto God we must destroy Self-love in our souls that so the Divine Love may be raised up and increased in us we must give our selves to the exercise and practice of all vertues as well those which regard our selves and our Neighbour as those which concern God always remembring that those which concern our selves and our Neighbour usually called Moral Vertues are then only to be esteemed worthy of that name or to be stiled Vertues when they are exercised for the love of God and do effectually help to the mortification of our natural or corrupt passions affections lusts Those which properly and immediately concern God are called Theological Vertues and being these three to wit Faith Hope and Charity are conveniently put in practice all of them in the one exercise or duty of Prayer which includes all duties directly pertaining to God as namely of loving him with all our hearts and souls of trusting or putting confidence in him of believing his holy Word adoring his Divine Majesty obeying his Commandments submitting and resigning our selves to his Divine Will and Pleasure Follow therefore herein the good counsel of Father Grenadus who bids us not to suffer our minds to be intangled with over-much love of corporal objects or visible and worldly things whether they be Honours Lands Riches or other goods of this world Children Kinsfolks Parents Friends c. Forasmuch as this kind of love is a great occasion of all sorts of sins of cares vexations vain phantasies passions temptations and all kind of evil disturbance unquiet and disorder that is to be found in the world This Love according to S. Augustin is the poyse of the Soul and which way soever this Love draweth that way the Soul inclineth So that if this Love de set for Heaven then the Soul is drawn towards Heaven but if this Love be set upon Earth then is the Soul also bent towards Earthly things This being so it concerns us to walk warily never suffering our heart to fix upon or to cleave unto the love of visible things but rather to esteem them as things of small account as frail and uncertain and such as pass away in a moment Remove therefore your hearts from them and fix them wholly upon that which is their chiefest and most proper object viz. true felicity Sect. 2. By humbling and undervaluing our selves Deponentes omne pondus circumstans nos peccatum saith S. Paul Hebr. 12. v. 1. Laying aside all weight and sin that besets us as it were and incompasses us round about let us run with patience the Race that is set before us looking unto the Author and Finisher of our Faith Jesus who for the joy that was set before him indured the Cross despising the shame and is set down at the right hand of God The reason of his Exhortation is by the example of Christ humbling himself for us unto death yea the painful and shameful death of the Cross to move us to humility and patience for his sake who endured so much in our behalf both living and dying Christ disdained not for our sakes being God to descend from his high Throne of Majesty in Heaven and to be made Man taking our humane and vile Nature upon him yea and to be vilified contemned and undervalued by men and that in such a measure of inhumanity and malice as is beyond all expression and therefore if we will be his true Disciples and live after his example we must not disdain to humble our selves as he did nor to be ill treated by men as he was The Servant must not expect to be above his Master nor the Disciple above his Teacher If Christ were so humbled for us we ought to humble our selves for him and where his honour and service requires it not to think much to be undervalued abused despised and persecuted even to death If we will be worthy followers of Christ we ought with S. Paul continually to bear about with us the mortifications of our Lord Jesus 2 Cor. 4.
desire a greater conquest than to subdue the world and to trample all the deceitful glories and vanities thereof under your feet Can you think any victory more advantageous than that which of Captives makes you Kings for freedom and true liberty and of Slaves to Self-love and sin the Sons of God and Heirs with Christ of Eternal Glory A greater Conquest you cannot reasonably desire than to subdue all your enemies nor Dominion than to be master of your self and this is done by the way I have shewed you Happy therefore I say are those that conquer and overcome their passions yea much more happy are they than those that conquer Kingdoms and Countries but cannot conquer themselves Happy are those that can rule and govern their sensual love concupiscences and appetites so as not to transgress in them or by them Such a one is Lord of a great Empire Lord of this World and Heir of Heaven To be truly humble is a great Trophy and the right way to Jesus Christ is to subdue your own proper will to suffer injuries and other evils not seeking overmuch after any temporal interests or things concerning the Body Be content to suffer with Christ and for Christ and be sure that if you thus suffer you shall also reign with Christ For a little adversity you will enjoy a perpetuaâ— felicity therefore do not think iâ— a troublesome thing nor grieve thaâ— it is requir'd of you to fight with and to overcome your self for how bitter soever it may seem in the beginning the end of it will be sweet and God will fight for you and help you to get the victory only remembring this not to attribute the glory of â—he conquest to your own strength â—ut only to the Divine Majesty whose Grace gains you the Victory and â—et you must do your endeavour too â—or that Gods Grace helps none that â—ill not help themselves as well as â—hey can and you may observe that â—f those who only cry Lord Lord â—nd do nothing else it is said They â—hall not enter the Kingdom of Heaven None shall be crowned but â—hose that fight well and with couâ—age persevere to the end If two Men come to fight being both of â—qual strength courage and skill and â—oth alike arm'd naturally speaking â—t is certain that he that gets help or â— second to joyn with him will get â—he victory In the same manner it â—s between the Body and the Soul continually fighting supposing both equal and alike in strength if we favour and help the Body by idleness over much eating and drinking and will not deny it ought of its sensual desires be sure it will get the victory over the Soul and subdue her to its lure and appetite and so on the contrary if we favour and help the Soul by fervent Prayers to God if we support and uphold her by the practice of Vertues and arm her Cap-a-pe from Head to Foot with the whole Armour of Righteousness Faith Hope Charity Patience Zeal and other good Graces of the Spirit it is not to be doubted but she will have a glorious victory over the Body vanquish all the Vanities of the World and find a saving cure for all her languishings and distempers occasion'd by Self-love SECTION VII How to love God and our Neighbour Sect. 1. How we are to love God 2. How we are to love our Neighbour 3. How we are to love our Enemies 4. In what manner of love we are to love our Neighbour and our Enemies 5. How we may know our selves free from self-Self-love in loving God and our Neighbour Sect. 1. How we are to love God I must confess that all we have hitherto said or written serves in part to declare how we are to love God namely above all things with all our hearts with all our mind with all our soul and with all our strength This hath been often inculcated by us But such is the thing that whether we consider the difficulty and hardness or the utility and benefit of it it can never be insisted upon too much We cannot be too often called upon or too often put in mind of this duty and therefore I will in short speak a word or two more to that effect that if you desire to attain the Perfection of that Grace to wit of Divine Love I may by the mercy of God be a little helpful to you in order thereto Verily it standeth with great reason that we should love God in the manner above-said both Justice and Natural Reason dictating and commanding with all urgency that we should wholly give and dedicate our selves by love unto God and by lovinâ— him from whom we wholly possess and enjoy our selves to re-pay in some sort our Duty and Obligation Now for the better performance of this my advice is that you follow the counsel of the seraphical and subtle Doctor Scotus who says That we are to love God sweetly prudently and valiantly or with good courage Sweetly that you be not by any bitterness or amarulency that sometimes happens therein averted from loving him Prudently that you be not by the guil of your Ghostly enemy ensnared nor catch'd in any ambuscado of his Valiantly and with good courage that when you come to suffer injuries oppressions affronts for loving him you be not in any manner of wayes drawn or driven enticed or forced from his Divine Love either by the pomp and glory of the world together with the voluptuous Allurements of the Flesh or by the sterner violence of Persecution and Troubles threatned for loving him and being resolv'd for your part thus to proceed towards the Love of God there are Three Things more chiefly required of you The first is You must extirpate out of your heart all Sensual Love all Love that proceeds from Concupiscences all inordinate love of the World and purge your selves of all sorts of Self-love Inordinate Appetites and Passions and of all the sins that proceed from them It is the admonition of Saint Paul Ephe. 4. 22. Deponere vos secundum pristinam conversationem c. That you put off concerning the former conversation the Old Man which is totally corrupt through deceitful and erroneous lusts and be ye renewed in the spirit of your mind putting on the New Man which according to God is created in Justice and True Holiness And again Rom. 13. v. 12. Cast off saith he the works of darkness which are Self-love and Sin and putting on the armor of light which is the practice of Divine Love let us walk honestly as in the day not in Banquetting and Drunkenness not in Chamberings and Impudicities not in Strife and Emulation in a word nor in making any provision for the Flesh in Concupiscences or to satisfie the lusts thereof consonant unto which is that of Salomon Sap. 1. v. 4. In malevolam animam non introibit sapientia c. Divine Wisdom will not enter into a malicious soul nor dwell in a Body that is
subject to sin Wherefore it is very true and in this case necessary to be observ'd what Father Granada says Such as desire to love Almighty God should endeavour to sequester themselves and depart from the practice of all sins As to the second thing required you must know that before you can obtain the grace of loving God above all Creatures it is necessary that you be very serious in your thoughts and apprehensions of God and that you delight your self to consider and meditate in your mind both the truth of his Existence and also how important a thing it is for you and all men rightly to believe and conceive of him and worthily to serve him To which end it shall not be amiss to call to mind and reflect upon the Motives which I have already in part alledged in the Fifth Section Sect. 3. for the exciting and stirring up mens hearts to Divine Love that is to say some of those Attributes Perfections and Proper Excellencies which are to be contemplated in the Divine Nature and do worthily move us to a due esteem and love of him and particularly that we do often and devoutly think upon the Perfections and Excellencies of our Lord Jesus Christ who is God Incarnate or God made Man for us and to procure our salvation in whom the Fulness of the Divinity doth inhabit corporally and in whom are hidden all the hidden Treasures of the Wisdom and Knowledge of God Colos 2. 3. and in whom all the good Properties Perfections and Excellencies whether pertaining to the Divine Nature or Humane to God or Man that can merit Love Reverence Honour and Esteem from us are found to admiration and excess he is Splendor Gloriae figura Dei Patris The Brightness of his Fathers Glory and the express Image or Figure of Gods Substance as to this purpose the Apostle speaketh Heb. 1. v. 3. Cum in forma Dei esset c. saith the same Apostle again Phil. 2. v. 6. making or confessing him to be the Form that is the most true internal and perfect resemblance of his Fathers Nature The Vapour or Breath of the Power of God and a bright streaming or Emanation of Glory from the Almighty He is the Brightness of Eternal Light the Vnspotted Mirror or Glass of Divine Majesty and Image of his Goodness Sap. 7. 25 26. In fine he is God of God True God of true God and consequently perfect and absolute in all the Properties of Divine Majesty and Glory and the Fountain of Perfection and of all Good in his Creatures which thing well considered I cannot doubt but they will make us see how just and reasonable it is that he alone should be lov'd and honoured by us above all Creatures as containing in himself all the Causes Motives and Reasons of Love and Honour As to the third thing requisite for the obtaining of Divine Love it is to recal often to mind the Graces and Benefits the Gifts and Favors which we have received and do daily receive at Gods hand as well those receiv'd before Baptism as since the benefit of our Creation whereby we have our Being the benefit of his Providence whereby we are preserved in our being defended from all Evil and supplied with all necessary Good The benefit of our Redemption and the great kindness which God therein hath shewed towards his Creatures to wit in sending his only Son our Lord Jesus Christ to take humane Flesh upon him in the Womb of the most pure and immaculate Virgin his Mother and in the same Flesh to die and redeem us from the slavery of our Ghostly Enemy and from everlasting Damnation By which means being already in right of Creation and Providence our loving Father through the Mystery of Incarnation he became our Brother our Saviour and in a more special manner our Lord our King our God our Governour and our last end Yea by reason of this Union and Communion of Nature with us he becomes through Grace the Heavenly Spouse of every one of our Souls being married to him in Faith and Charity And therefore as our Spouse so loving so good so rich so great so beautiful so provident so tender-hearted he deserves to be requited and repayed by us with the same that is with a most intense most cordial most affectionate sincere and if it could be an infinite love and as he is our last end he is to be supreamly look'd at aim'd at regarded and intended by us in every thing of moment that we do or take in hind Considering therefore that we have such motives and reasons to love God above all and especially our Blessed Saviour God Incarnate let us use no delay let us shew no backwardness to return him love for love and to to render him our most humble and daily thanks for all his benefits and mercies remembring that of Solomon Sap. 16. v. 28. Quoniam oportet praevenire Solem ad Benedictionem tuam c. That we ought to prevent the Sun to give thanks to God and the Morning-light to adore and make prayers to him and that if we do it not but remain unthankful for his Benefits it shall befall us as is said in the same place v. 29. Ingrati spes tanquam hybernalis glacies tabescet c. The hope of the Vngrateful shall melt away as a Winter-Ice and shall perish as unprofitable Water Sect. 2. How we are to love our Neighbours None can be so ignorant as not to know that it is part of our Duty to God to love our Neighbour since that God himself doth so positively and precisely require it of us by the Evangelist Matth. 22. v. 39. Diliges proximum tuum sicut teipsum Thou shalt love thy Neighbour as thy self The same Commandment is repeated in diverse other places as namely Luc. 10. v. 27. Rom. 13. v. 9. Galat. 5. v. 14. Jam. 2. v. 8. Yea it was a Law in force unto the Jews as well as Christians according as we read Levitle 19. 18. The just and honest love of our Neighbour is so united annex't and as it were chained with the Love of God that for the same loves sake whereby we love God we are commanded to love our Neighbour yea Saint John the Evangelist argues that through want of loving our Neighbour we cannot love God and calls him Lyer that pretends the contrary to wit that we may love God truly and acceptably without loving our Neighbour Siquis dixerit c If a man saith he shall say I love God and hateth his Brother he is a lyer giving this reason For he that loveth not his Brother whom he hath seen how can he love God whom he hath not seen 1 Joan. 4. 20. and making his reason good with this final assertion viz. And this Commandment have we from God that he who loveth God loveth his Brother also These two loves proceed and come forth from the same Root and have the same Original Cause to wit
c. It was not so much by your design as by the will of God that I was sent hither Therefore Load your Beasts and go up to my Father into the Land of Canaan and bring him and all your Kindred from thence and I will give you of all the good things in Egypt and you shall eat the marrow of the Land Thus did the good Joseph requite the unkind wickedness and ill-will of his Brethren with love But what shall we say of the Royal Prophet King David how much was he hated by Saul and how often persecuted by him to so great extremity that he was in imminent danger of his life thereby yet he never hated Saul upon that account but did him all the good Offices he could saving him several times when he was in his power and that David might at once have ridded himself of a cruel Enemy and gained both Crown Scepter and Kingdom to which he had right sufficient being by Gods special appointment anointed King over Israel to succeed after Saul The good King found his Enemy fast asleep his Spear fixed in the ground at his head and Abner with all the rest of his people sleeping about him yet would he not hurt him And when Abisai one of the Captains of King David offer'd himself to dispatch Saul at one blow alledging some shew of reason for it Because God had now deliver'd his Enemy into his hands and he ought not to neglect the opportunity which Providence gave him of securing himself David would by no means listen to the motion but forbad him doing any such thing in these express words 1 Reg. 26. 9 10 11. Kill him not For who can extend his hand against the anointed of our Lord and be innocent Vivit Dominus quia nisi Dominus percusserit eum c. As our Lord liveth unless God shall strike him he shall not be stricken by me or that his day come to die or that descending into a Battle he perish so God be merciful to me I will not lift up my hand against our Lords Anointed The New Testament wants not innumerable other Examples of this kind namely the Examples of all the holy Martyrs both of ancient and late Times who following the Example of Christ our Saviour have ever prayed for their Enemies and Persecutors with such fervent Devotion and ardent Charity that very often their Enemies and Persecutors have been converted by that means and become great Saints and Martyrs themselves Look but into the Acts of the Apostles there you presently meet with the Blessed Martyr Saint Stephen in the midst of his Sufferings praying for his Enemies in these words Acts 7. v. 60. Domine ne statuas illis hoc peccatum Lord lay not this sin to their charge The effect of which Prayer was besides other not mentioned the present Conversion of Saint Paul one of his greatest Persecutors For behold while he was in his greatest fury against Christians and posting in all haste to Damascus with Commission and Design to make havock of the poor Church there as we read Acts 9. 4 17. Christ appeared to him saying Saul Saul why persecutest thou me As if he had said I should have lost thee standing so much against me and my name But my Servant and Martyr Stephen praying for thee for his sake you are a chosen Vessel unto me and shall bear my name before the Gentiles and Kings and Children of Israel In the same manner and for like reason it is reported by Saint Chrysostom of Saint James the Apostle that he who lead him to the Execution of his Martyrdom was so much moved with the great zeal and constancy of this holy Apostle that he ask'd him forgiveness for what he was to have done which the blessed Apostle most willingly gave him embracing him and saying to him Pax tibi sit Frater Peace be with thee my Broter At which Salutation the poor man was so animated and encouraged that he forthwith publickly professed himself to be a Christian and was upon that Confession made a Martyr having his head likewise cut off Let these few Examples suffise to give you strength and courage to do the same whensoever occasion shall require it of you At all times let us be prompt and willing to forgive our enemies seeing God is so ready at all times to forgive us having penitent recourse unto him Be not of the number of those who when duty requires of them to follow the example of Christ and to forgive and love their enemies make their excuse and say Christ was God and most Divinely perfect and consummate in all goodness but they are weak men and cannot reach so high perfection as to forgive and love enemies persecutors c. But in vain it is for them to use such speech it will not serve their turn it will be no just apology for them at the latter day And verily it is to be admired how such persons can say their Pater Noster or how they can address themselves to God to be forgiven in the terms they do For they say Dimitte nobis debita nostra sicut nos dimittâ—mus debitoribus nostris Forgive us our debts as we forgive our Debtors As we forgive others so let us be forgiven What iâ— this but to pronounce Sentence againsâ— our selves if we do not forgive others Delay not therefore to make good your promise and to discharge your obligation Forgive your enemies as you would be forgiven of God Love your enemies as you desire that God should love you For otherwise I do let you all know that who so hates his Neighbour or Enemy it matters not which all 's one in this case renders himself uncapable of begging forgiveness from God he is so far from obtaining his request that he cannot without most grievous sin and entangling his Soul with further guilt make such a request unless we do first lay aside all hatred by loving pardoning and forgiving our enemies in heart 't is in vain for us to expect any mercy from God It is against all reason that God should love him who is not in true Charity with all Those that wish harm to others and will not forgive injuries received it is evident they do not love they are not â—n true Charity and consequently not in God according to the Doctrine of the holy Apostle 1 Joan. 4. v. 8. He that loveth not knoweth not God for God is love Sect. 4. In what manner of Love we are to love our Neighbors and our Enemies According to what we have said in the two precedent Paragaphs we must not only love our Neighbors and our Enemies but we must also forgive them yea though they should be obstinate and not repent for what they have offended us but should rather continue and encrease their enmity towards us than seem to desire reconciliation For we are not to reflect upon their obstinacy or disaffections but to perform what is requir'd on our
part by reason it is otherwise with men than with God Men may not be then oâ—n revengers and therefore whatsoeveâ— Men do to us we must do to theâ— no more than what God allows uâ— to do Revenge belongs to God â—lone and his Divine Justice doe oblige him first or last sooner or later to punish all offenders which repent not and doth never forgive save onely where men repent Now as concerning Man God hath giveâ— him an express Charge to leave alâ— revenge to him alone he thereforâ— is obliged to pardon his enemies whether they repent or not Sâ— that knowing our Obligation it iâ— most requisite that we also know what manner of love we ought tâ— have and to bear towards them or how and in what manner to exercise that love To which purpose the renowned Saint Vincentius according to the relation of the R. F. Granada in his Fourth Treatise chap. 3. Sect. 3. hath an ample and large Discourse to this effect He that will perfectly love his Neighbours and Enemies ought to have seven special affections towards â—hem In the first place he ought to have an inward hearty compassion of â—heir miseries and to be grieved as if they were his own In the second â—e ought to have charitable gladness â—f mind wherewith to rejoyce at the â—rosperities and felicities of others as much as he would do in case they were his own These two first affections are commendable and do agree to the full with that which Marchantius deâ—ivers saying That we ought to have a joyful affection and conâ—ratulation in the prosperities of our Neighbours as also a pious comâ—assion in their adversities as much â—s if they were our great concerns Therefore let our Charity rejoyce at other mens good when it tends to â—heir salvation for otherwise it is â—ot indeed to be accounted their good â—f it tends to their destruction and ruin of their Soul Let us also participate and have our share in their sadness and afflictions and so fulfil the Apostles Precept bidding us Rom. 12. v. 15. Rejoyce with them that rejoyce and weep with them that weep and in so-doing we shall shew our selves to be lively members of Christs Mystical Body For as Saint Paul saith of the Natural Body of Man that if one member suffer any thing to wit of pain and infirmity all the members suffer with it in some measure as likewise if one member rejoyce or be honoured all the rest of the members rejoyce with it in their kinds So is it true of the Body Mystical of Christ which is his Church all the members thereof ought in a special manner to sympathize with each other and for each other and to be like-minded one towards another rejoycing for the Consolations which each one receiveth from God and mourning or being sad for the afflictions which he suffers There must be no Schism or Discension in Christs body but the members must have the same care one for another as being one Body in Christ and members of each other in particular as the Apostle teacheth 1 Cor. 12. 26 27. As to the Third Affection proposed by Saint Vincentius men ought to have a quiet and setled patience willingly contenting themselves to suffer all vexations troubles and injuries that shall be done to them being alwayes ready to forgive them of which kind of affections or love I have in part already spoken somewhat in the fore-going Paragraphs as namely that we should love our enemies do good to them that hate us pray for them that persecute and calumniate us forget and with all our heart forgive injuries and the like I have only this one thing to adde further in this place that concerning the point of loving our enemies and doing good to them thatthis affection may be found true real and meritorious of Divine reward it must be operative and effectual it must not rest or contain it self only in well-wishing but must extend to well-doing also Remember you not what hath been often said to wit that we must love others our Neighbours our Enemies as we love our selves Now in loving our selves we do not think it enough meerly to wish good or pray for good to ones self but we are diligent and careful to use our best endeavours to help our selves what we can and to desire that all others that can would also help us In the same manner the duty of true Charity obligeth us not only to wish good but to do good to our Neighbours to our Enemies and to all others that want the good we can do them For if we only wish and do nothing we trifle our wishes serving for nothing but to bring us under the censure and reproof of Saint James the Apostle which he useth against such like people in these words Jac. 2. v. 15. Si autem frater aut soror nudi sint c. If a brother or sister be naked and lack daily food and one of you say to them Go in peace be warmed be fill'd with meat but you give them not the things that are necessary for the Body what shall it profit It will not satisfie the Belly to say Eat where nothing is given to eat nor keep off the Cold to say Be warm be cloathed to one that hath no Cloaths to put on In like manner neither can we merit any thing with God only by wishing good to another and not doing him the good that is in our power to do Therefore we are not only to wish good but to do good so far as we are able to our Neighbous Enemies and all men living and not only to pray for them but also to assist and help them in their necessities as God shall enable us The third Affection or Love mention'd by Saint Vincentius requires that we use gentle and benign behaviour and affability towards all men as reason requires demeaning our selves in conversation amongst men as becometh Christians with courtesie respect mildness not giving any sign of anger or offence of mind nor of contempt and disrespect to any but wishing well in our hearts to all to afford all convenient testimony and demonstration thereof both in our words and deeds for so the Blessed Apostle requires 1 Joan. 3. 18. Fratres non diligamus verbo neque lingua sed opere veritate Brethren let us love not so much in word and tongue as in work and in truth He doth not forbid us to make profession of our love and good will to others by words and by our tongue but to take heed that our love lies not wholly in our Tongue that it be not only a feigned love of outward profession and not in deed and truth This affection is likewise congruously exercised in judging of other mens actions in the better sense in concealing and keeping secret their faults and imperfections supporting their infirmities c. considering that we our selves are infirm and weak frailties and imperfections are to be found in our selves
as well as others and mutual Charity in this kind is requisite on both sides Verily it is no easie matter to converse with men I mean those of worldly and common conversation without transgressing or giving offence For which reason it behoveth us prudently to comply with every one for the Love of God and as much as is possible to have a quiet and settled patience in their infirmities being always more ready to pardon pass by and over-see what happens to be amiss so far as just reason and charity permits then to check or reprove it unseasonably and with offence What the Apostle says Galat. 6. v. 2. is good counsel for us all Alter alterius onera portate Bear ye one anothers burthens and so you shall fulfil the Law of Christ And truly with great reason it is required of us that seeing we all desire to have our own defects and frailties covered our own infirmities supported our ignorances excus'd and our offences forgiven we should do the same unto others supporting one another and pardoning one another but above all things having the true Charity of God one towards another which where it rules is the bond of Perfection Colos 3. v. 14. The fifth sort of Love or Affection which the good Author Saint Vincentius suggests to us is to have an humble and reverent regard towards all men according to their dignity and quality esteeming them all as they are for our betters yielding them place and submitting our selves with all our hearts to them as justice and charity requires giving them willingly all the honour respect and reverence which their qualities dignities states and conditions do merit If they be our equals and no more it suffices that with candour and all sincerity of good will we treat them and carry our selves to them as we in like case would be treated and convers'd with by others Thus doing we shall in good manner correspond not only with that general and most equal precept of the Gospel Luc. 6. v. 31. Prout vult is â—â—t faciant vobis homines c. As ye would that men should do unto you do ye also to them but also to that more special Counsel of the Apostle 1 Pet. 2. v. 13. Subjecti estote omni Humanae Creaturae propter Deum Be subject therefore to every Humane Creature for Gods sake whether it be to the King as most Excellent or to Rulers as sent by him as likewise to what Saint Paul saith Rom. 13. v. 1. in confirmation of this Truth Omnis anima potestatibus sublimioribus subdita sit c. Let every Soul saith he be subject to the higher powers for there is no power but of God the powers that be now in the world are ordained of God Obey therefore at a word and be ready to every good work that shall be commanded you Be not litigious but modest shewing all mildness and equanimity towards all men Titus 3. 2. Where yet I would have it remembred that as in the exercise of Chastity or Divine Love so in the exercise of Obedience there is an order to be observed which the Spirit of God and Christian Prudence will not fail to dictate to every one that truly loves God and desires nothing but to perform his duty An order there is I say to be observ'd in the exercise of Obedience Where Powers or Commandments clash we must obey God rather than Man and be more careful to fulfil the Divine Laws whether of God or the Catholique Church which is a Spiritual Power than the Laws of any Temporal or Earthly Power commanding contrary thereunto that is contrary to our duty to God and to the true Confession of Cathoâ—ique Faith in which case such Laws and Comandments are not to be obeyed As to the Holy Saint Vincentius his sixth sort of Love and Affection it obliges us to be at perfect agreement with all Men and to live in Concord and Amity with all so much as it is in our power to do and so far forth as our Concord and Amity with others may not displease God or tend to his dishonour for if it does such Amities are to be broken off There is no Concord betwixt Christ and Belial 2. Cor. 6. 15. We must say the self same thing with other Christians so long as they confess the Catholique Faith but if they will depart from it either in whole or in part we are not then to say as they say but to say Anathema to them and to all their wicked errours We are to agree with men in good not in evil in the Truth and in the sound Doctrine of Christian Catholique Faith not in Devillish errour The Prophet David took very much pleasure in such kind of love and in such agreement as this witness that of the Psalm 132. v. 1. where he saith O quam bonum quam jucundam habitare fratres in unum Behold how good and how pleasant a thing it is for Brethren to dwell together in Vnity And truly that Concord and Unity are both good pleasant and profitable things needs no other proof than to consider and take notice of the fruit it has produced in every well govern'd Community more especially those in the Church of God which the Apostle might seem to foresee when he said with such a passion of Holy Charity Philip. 2. v. 2. Siqua ergo consolatio in Christo c. implete gaudium meum c. If there be any Consolation in Christ if any comfort of Love if any fellowship of the Spirit if any howels of Compassion fulfil ye my joy that ye be all of one mind having all the same charity being all of one accord thinking the same thing doing nothing by Contention neither by Vain-glory but in humility each one accounting other better than themselves The like pathetique exhortation to the same end he makes Rom. 15. 5. Deus autem patientiae solatii c. The God of Patience and Comfort grant you to be of one mind of one love and affection one towards another according to Jesus Christ that of one mind and with one mouth ye may glorifie God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ The seventh and last sort of Love is that which we are chiefly to look at and regard in the Example of our Saviour Christ to wit that we have a ready mind and will to sacrifice our selves for the good of others that is to say This Love requires that we be prepared to bestow our lives for the Salvation of all Men eveâ— our Enemies occasion requiring iâ— This is a high degree of Love anâ— so commended by our Saviour him self that he saith of it Joan. 15 13. Majorem Charitatem nemo habet ut animam suam ponat quis prâ—amicis suis Greater Charity none can have than to expose or lay down his Life for his Friends And this Perfection of Love if we have not yet at least we must have so much Charity for all Mankind
to desire and occasion being given to endeavour so much as in us lies that all Creatures acording to their several capacities may serve love and adore him That the Infidels Heretiques and all Sinners may be converted to him and truly repent of their disobedience and rebellion against him that so by love he may reign in all hearts and all hearts be sad for the offences of their own or others committed against him In pure love to him we are to determine faithfully to serve him and to take joy in all things that please him Moreover with indifferency we are to accept all things from his hands and to take them in good part as well things displeasing and offensive to Nature as pleasing It is required of us all to be heartily sorry for all things that are done or happen contrary to his Divine Will and Pleasure to love all things that are grateful to him and pertaining to his Honour his Service and his Glory and that meerly for his sake we should love all men yea even our Enemies and Persecutors doing our endeavour also where we judge it convenient to express some effects of love to them more than to others as being special Instruments to procure us greater good from God than those Friends who do all they can to please us and to foment and flatter us in vain things It is expected from us that we do all the honour we can to Almighty God and all the service and good offices in our power to our Neighbour for his Sake in nothing seeking our own commodities further then his Goodness allows but in all things his good pleasure We must imitate and follow his holy Examples in all kind of Vertues and Perfections to our utmost possibility and particularly it should be our Design to love others with the like Freeness of love wherewith he loved us without looking to our own profit or interest in loving He loved us meerly for our good not for his own so should we love our Neighbour pretending nothing but to do him good by our love and not our selves We must resolve never to accept any contentment but in him nor other happiness but in himself alone We must not set bounds to the measure of our love but still endeavour to love him more and better We are to be resigned and willing to suffer for him in this State of Mortality being contented for the present only with the hope of Fruition afterward that is in Heaven We are to hate our selves our corrupt and vicious Nature our bad Inclinations our Unsensibleness of his great Mercy and Goodness towards us c. with a most perfect hatred never being weary of persecuting and mortifying our selves We are bound to love him equally in his Commandements as his Rewards and to rejoyce or take contentment in any act of Temporal Severity exercised by him upon us We are never to cease praying that God would shew us the defectousness of our love and that he would daily give us his grace more and more to encrease both in the degrees of Fervour and Purity These are the Marks the Signs the Fruits and real Effects of the True Love of God and by them we may perceive when and whether or no we be free from the pest of Self-love Self-esteem Self-seeking and Self-pleasing This little which hath been said will serve to shew our state if we consider it well But alass where shall we find a Soul that can shew all these or the most part of these Rules exactly observ'd and practised by her However our duty is to aspire to all Perfection and to the Practice of all these good Rules and Helps thereto as much as may be yet as to the measure of our Perfection submitting our selves and being resigned therein to the Will of God of whose grace it is that we attain to any measure or degree of perfection For so is his holy pleasure The End of the First Part. THE SECOND PART OF THE Languishing Diseases OF CHRISTIANS Proceeding from SELF-PRIDE DRUNKENNESS And CARNAL CONCUPISCENCE CURED 4 ESDR 8. 31. We and our Fathers languish with such Diseases but thou for Sinners shalt be called Merciful LONDON Printed 1677. The First Treatise OF THE SECOND PART OF THE LANGUISHING DISEASES OF CHRISTIANS Proceeding from Self-Pride SECTION 1. Pride a General Disease amongst Christians SECT 1. Heaven and Earth was infected with it 2. Self-Pride of the Nobility and Gentry 3. Self-Pride of great Ladies 4. Self-Pride of other Women Sect. 1. How Heaven and Earth was infected by Pride THE Pestilent Fevor of Self-Love as Saint Ambrose very well observeth is usually attended with Two Symptoms or ill Signs as bad as it self which are Pride and Ambition Febris enim nostra ambitio est c. saith that Father The Feavor that troubles and agitates our Souls not suffering them to rest in any thing tha 's good is Ambition which according as Saint Augustine Saint Bonaventure Isidore Hugo and many others have described it is the inordinate love and appâ—tite of our own commendation and a desire to excel or to be thought to excel others in our actions which if they be publick and concerning the Common-wealth is then most properly termed Ambition but if the actions be private and concern only our Domestick Conversation and Behaviour it is called Pride being but one and the same feavorish Distemper of Self-love more or less extending and shewing it self A Feavor or Spirituall Distemper this is so malignant that it causeth many other Diseases and Dangerous Symptoms of Soul to Mankind as for example many Vain-gloryings many and much Vain-boasting and Vaunting of ons Self much Flattering of others much Wantonness much Hypocricy and Dissembling innumerable Impertinencies and Curiosities of like nature frequent Ingratiudes frequent Disobediencies to those in lawful Authority frequent Seditions and Commotions publique frequent Contentions and Contests more private frequent Disrespects to Superiours and Despisings of Equals and those beneath us together with many other such like Distempers and Disorders under which and by means whereof not only private persons but Kingdomes and Common-wealths languish daily and endure all the mischiefs of Devastation and Misery not to be ended but with utter ruin unless care be taken to apply fit remedy in due time and season not to menton the harm that is done to the Soul by means of them The first that ever was troubled with these Distempers to wit of Pride and Ambition was Lucifer that reprobate Angel together with all his wicked Crew who through the excess of Pride and the inordinate Love and conceit of his own excellency extolled himself to such a height as to pretend to be equal to God according to the relation which is given of him by the Prophet Isaias Chap. 14. v. 14. where the wicked Angel saith thus in his heart In Coelum conscendam super astra Dei exaltabo solium meum c. I will climb up into Heaven above the Stars of
SECT 1. The Sobriety of the Patriarchs and Prophets 2. The Sobriety of the Apostles and other Religious Christians 3. The Sobriety of divers great Kings and Eminent Philosophers 4. The Sobriety of some Pagans Ethnicks and Infidels Sect. 1. The Sobriety of the Patriarchs and Prophets HAving in the precedent Discourses represented to you in some measure the Excesses which are daily committed by several sorts of people in Meat and Drink and the great Inconveniencies and Mischiefs which follow upon them both to Body and Soul it behoves us now to offer you such Motives and Considerations as we judge may be most effectual to with-draw you from the said Excesses and to work in you a love of Temperance and Sobriety not forgetting also to mention some remedies against the above said Vices all to the intent that good Christians may avoid the same and God be more honoured by their Vertuous Lives and Conversations The First Motive which I now think of and shall propound against Gluttony is that we attentively consider and reflect with our selves upon the strict Abstinence and Sobriety which the Prophets and all those ancient Fathers of the Old Law did use Good Examples are apt to work upon Good minds Now truly so many Prophets so many great Observers there were and Practisers of Sobriety being therein the Avantguards as it were and Forerunners to those Armies of Ascetiques which were to succeed them under the Law of Grace Amongst those of the Old Law was Moses the Law-giver a great President and Example of Sobriety of whom it is said in the Book of Exodus Chap. 24. v. 18. Ingressus medium nebulae Moses ascendit in Montem fuit ibi quadraginta diebus quadraginta noctibus c. That Moses entring into the midst of the Cloud went up to the Mount to wit Mount Horeb whither God calleâ— him and remained there Forty Dayes and Forty Nights without any manner of Food neitheâ— eating Bread nor drinking Water as himself testifies Deut. 9. v. 9. after which Abstinence and Sobriety he merited the Society Presence and Familiarity of God and to be made the great Law-giver of Israel â— God Almighty speaking unto him and informing him of what both he and all the Children of Israel were to do and perform pertaining to Divine Service and Worship Who was more Sober and Abstemious than Elias the Prophet who in obedience to Gods Will and Commandement went into the Desart and dwelt by the Brook Cherith over against Jordan during which time he had nothing to eat but what the Ravens by the special appointment of God brought him morning and evening his Drink being the water of the Brook 3 Reg. 17. 3 4 5 c. After some time of his abode here the Brook dried up for want of rain and then necessity compelled him to change his habitation So by the inspiration of God he cometh first to Sarephta and is there maintain'd by a poor Widow whose whole sustance was a handful of meal in a barrel and a little oyle in a cruise upon which through Divine Benediction both he she and her Son lived the space of some years v. 15. after this flying the persecution of Queen Jesabel and resting himself under a Juniper Tree in the Wilderness an Angel of God comes to him being asleep and bids him Rise and eat for he had a great journey to go Thus we read of him 3 Reg. 19. v. 6 7 8. c. so he arose and finding at his head a Cake baked on the coals with a pot of water he did both eat and drink and went his way with such courage and alacrity that in the strength of that meal only he continued his Journey for the space of forty dayes anâ— forty nights together without any nourishment till he came to Horeb the Mount of God Observe here â— pray you how expresly the Scripture mentions that the Angel of God brought Elias Bread and Water for his refection a Cake of bread and a cruise of water and nothing else If your curiosity moves you to know the reason seeing the Angel could as easily have brought him other meat to eat and some other liquor to drink more delicious and more pleasing to the palate yea and entertain'd him with varity too if he had pleas'd the only reason of this without question was Because Bread and Water were the usual Meat and Drink of the Prophets they liv'd not upon delicacies and dainties they drunk not much Wine but used such a repast as became Men that professed Temperance and Sobriety What shall I say of the wonderful Abstinence and Sobriety of the Prophet Daniel and his three Companions who though they liv'd in the Court of that great King the King of Babilon and were so favoured that they might have freely tasted and taken their fill of all the Dainâ—ies and Varieties of Meats and Drinks which that Court afforded â—et neither this holy Prophet nor any of his three Brethren would receive the least portion of them but contented themselves with Pulse and Water For so we read Dan. 1. v. 8 9 12 c. Proposuit Daniel in corde suo ne pollueretur de mensa regis de vino ejus c. Daniel had proposed with himself that he would not be polluted with the Portion of the Kings Meat nor with the Wine which he drank and to that end made it his earnest request to the Governour of the Eunuchs with whom he was in favour that he might have the priviledge to abstain from the Meat that came from the Kings Table fearing as the Annotations rightly observe in the first place least otherwise he should happen to eat that which had been offered to Idols Secondly for fear he should eat Meat forbidden by the Law of Moses Thirdly for fear that by such delicate Diet as came from the Kings Table he might be provok't to Gluttony or to any other Sins The Prophet Ezechiel may likewise rightly be put in the rank of these Temperate and Abstemious Prophets since he not only loved and practized the same but exhorted others thereto as may be seen in the Scripture For what concerns his own Practice and Observation thereof we may take notice what is said to him by God Ezek. 4. v. 9. Sume tibi frumentum hordeum fabam lentem c. Take thee Wheat and Barley Beans and Lentils Millet and Fitches and put them in one Vessel and make thee Loaves or Bread thereof according to the days of thy Captivity for three hundred and ninety days shalt thou eat of the same and by measure shalt thou eat from time to time What shall I say of the Sobriety of the Rechabites mentioned by the Prophet Hieremy Chap. 35. v. 6 7 8 c. who to observe the Command of Jonadab the Son of Rechab their Father drank no Wine nor planted Vineyard all their days they nor their Wives their Sons nor their Daughters Finally what shall I say of all the
sorrowful Outcries of their unfortunate Wives and Children will manifestly convince the contrary and shew that their poverty proceds only from their excessive Drinking Idleness and ill expence of their Money upon such occasions For of such People is verified that of the Prophet Aggeus Chap. 1. 6. Mercedes congregant mittunt eas in sacculum pertusum They gather wages but put their Money into a broken Bag. These Mechanique Drunkards if you will observe oft-times for the whole Week or on Working-days are industrious and ply their Business but when Sunday or an Holy-day comes all or most of what they have is seen to be put into a broken Bag They spend it idlely their unsatiable Appetite of Drinking devours so much of it that their poor Families Wife and Children live in perpetual need wanting necessaries and are forced very often by extream necessity to sell or pawn the Cloaths off their Backs to supply their urgent occasions and not seldom such is their unhappy condition to take unlawful courses Sect. 4. A sad Example upon that Account Father John Benedict a very Learned Divine of the Seraphical Order of Saint Francis verifieth what we have said above by a lamentable Example that happened in his days A certain Person saith he given to Drunkenness had consumed and wasted all that he had with excessive Drinking and being through Poverty forced to live by his Labour and Industry he would take morâ— pâ—ins and care to get Money to Drink than to provide Maintenance for his Wife and Children so that they starv'd at home for want of Victuals whilst he lay drinking at the Ale-house Vrgent necessity at length overcomes the patience of the desolate Wife who having used all the means possible at home and in private to perswade her Husband to better courses and to with-draw from his idle and extravagant Expences and not being able to prevail with him she went one day to the Ale-house where she knew he was Drinking and there openly declar'd the woful necessitous Condition that she and her poor Children were in being in likely-hood to perish for Hunger with all entreating her Husband by all Love with Tears and by all means possible perswadeing him to take compassion of his poor Children and Family ready to starve for want of Bread But this wicked wretch instead of giving ear to her Complaints and Perswasions and instead of following her Counsel falls into Rage and Passion thereupon and most inhumanely beats her insomuch that for a while she was left for dead But at length the poor Woman with much ado gets up and going homewards two of her Children came to meet her crying for Victuals and pulling her on either side by the Clothes Saying to her Da panem Mater fame perimus Mother give us some Bread we are ready to die for Hunger it is two days past since we eat any think To which lamentable cry of her Children the poor Mother replies Ha my poor Babes what remedy from whence should I procure you Bread your Father spends faster than we can get what shall we do 'T is better to die once than to languish a long time and to perish at last for Hunger as we do We had better by one short Death redeem a thousand lingring Deaths Having uttered this doleful Speech and become half out of her Wits in a desperate manner she takes a Knife and cuts the Throat of her Children which done and intending to prosecute the same Bloody Resolution towards her Husband she expects his coming home which according to his custom was about Midnight The Man deep in Drink takes notice of nothing but goes to Bed little dreaming what was to follow The unfortunate Woman waited not long before she found him fast asleep whereupon taking the Knife with which she had kill'd her two Children she cuts his Throat with the same saying Die thou wretch thy wicked Life hath procured thy ruin and mine and the ruin of thy Children The Murther was no sooner done but discovered and the Woman being apprehended and brought before the Justice she openly declared the Fact and was condemned to die for it which she did not much refuse but contrariwise went couragiously and most willingly to the place of Execution where having given warning to all bad Husbands how they spend their Money which should be for the just Maintenance of their Wife and Children in base Ale-houses with the loss of their Souls she was Executed and suffered Death Sect. 5. Remedies against Gluttony and Drunkenness Seeing that for the most part both the Soul and Bodies of Christians are through intemperance and immoderate Eating and Drinking so ulcerated and corrupted that many of them do not only languish and pine away under manifold Diseases but utterly Perish through want of the true and proper Balsam which might heal their putrified Sores I shall here willingly bestow my slender Skill to declare unto them the Vertue and Property of several Ointments which in order to this effect viz. of Curing Souls I observe to be approv'd and recommended generally speaking by all Learned Divines so that if Patients will be pleas'd but to make tryal and use them and be careful to apply them to their Languishing Infirmities in such manner as they shall be prescribed I dare promise them a pefect Cure of all their Maladies The First Antidote against Gluttony and Drunkenness is that which both Scripture and Ancient Fathers mention to wit Sobriety and Abstinence As for Scripture the Wise Solomon saith Ecclus 31. 32. Aqua Vita hominibus Vinum in sobrietate c. Sobriety in Drink makes a Mans Life happy or to pass on in an even and equal State unmolested either with Grief or Anxiety whereas on the contrary according to the same Wise Man when 't is Drunk to Excess it is Amaritudo animae Bitter or Bitterness to the Soul It provokes Wrath and Anger and causes many Inconveniences and Harms both to Soul and Body As for the Fathers Saint Prosper not without cause gives a high Commendation of Sobriety Saying It is of such force as to change the Mind and Spirit of Man from Evil to Good and to make him Temperate and Abstemious who was before Intemperate and would observe no mean and to love a spare Diet who before was a Glutton and Slave to his Belly It makes him Honest Chaste Serious Bashful and Modest who before was given to all Dishonesty and Lewdness Unchaste Foolish and Shameless both in his Words and Actions and that when Sobriety and Abstinence do together take possession of a Soul and reside in her they bridle all Excess of Eating and Drinking they repress Sensuality and Carnal Lust they put and keep in good Order all the motions and dispositions of the Mind multiplying Good and Holy Thoughts Desires Affections and extinguishing the contrary Sobriety Chastizes and Corrects all Vices or Ill-habits of the Mind helps all Imperfections rectifies all Disorder and Confusion that happens in Mans