then they are it makes her her own Idolater it raiseth her incensibly up to the height of impiety and by different steps mounts it even to the hatred of God for as the faithful man is perfect when he loves God even to the pitch of hating himself the sinner even hath the measure of his sin filled up when he loves himselfe even to the degree of hating God This passion reignes not much save in the souls of the damned one must be wholly possest by sin to conceive this designe and I know not whether there be any so sinful soule on Earth as can have so damnable a recentment Hell is the abode of these wicked ones and I firmly believe that as their hatred of God is the sow lest of there sins so is it the cruellest of their punishments yet can they not hate this Summum Bonum with there whole heart the foundation of their being is possest by the love of God they love him naturally whom they hate willingly they are divided between love and hatred there will is parted by these two contrary motions and for all they can do to stifle this naturall Inclination they cannot hinder their best part from languishing and sighing after God they afflict themselves that nature fights against there will and that her unalterable laws forceth them to love the author of their everlasting punishment But to reassume the threed of our discourse the last opposition of selfe love and charity is that the latter hath no more violent desire then to purchase lovers to God almighty to enlarge the bounds of his Empire and to disperce the holy flames of his Divine love into all hearts for a heart that is inflamed with this sacred fire knowing very well that it cannot love God according to his lovelinesse wisheth that all the parts of its body were changed into hearts and tongues to praise and love the only object of its love But as she sees her wishes are uselesse she endeavours to increase the number of Divine lovers to the end that making amends for her indigency they may love him with all their might whom she cannot sufficiently love Self love in opposition to this which obligeth man to make a god of himselfe inspires him with a desire to make himselfe be beloved of all the world Instructed by so good a master he imployeth all his cunning to rob himself of his liberties he discovers all his perfections to purchase lovers he proposeth himselfe unto himselfe as an Idoll to be adored and believeth that the truest and most legitimate happinesse on earth is to have slaves who are fairly forced to love him When Kings are arrived at this height of of injustice and Impiety men thinke them happy and the Politicks which labours to decypher a good Sovereigne is never better content then when she hath raised in them this violent desire of enjoyning their Subjects good will T is herein that she distinguisheth Kings from Tyrants and that she opposeth unjust Sovereignes to Legitimate Monarchies but we are taught by Christian Religion that blame may be incurred as well by making ones self be beloved as in making him be feared For though she honours Kings and condemnes Tyrants though she approve of Moderate Government and detests ruling by rigour yet doth she equally blame those who intrench upon Gods rights and who proposing themselves to their Subjects as their final end will possesse all their affections love appertaines aswell to God only as glory of all offerings he is best pleased with that of the heart and he loves much better to rule over men by the way of mildnesse then of rigour insomuch as Kings who would make themselves be beloved as Gods are not much lesse faulty then those who would make themselves be dreaded as Tyrants they are both of them guilty of Treason against the Diety and pretend to honours which are only reserved for God Lucifer never purposed to establish his greatnesse by violence he made more use of his beauty then of his power to Corrupt the inferiour Angels and if his Empire be terminated in rigour it began in clemency A legitimate Sovereigne straies as well from his duty in seeking after the love as after the fear of his Subjects and though one of these two ways be more innocent then the other in the sight of men it is not much lesse faulty in the sight of God it is not permitted in our Religion for a man to make himselfe be beloved t is a presumption to endeavour those liberties which pertain only to God to deboysh his subjects is to divide his Empire hee will have all his slaves to love him and according to Saint Austines maximes we owe all our love to God the Prince is bound to fasten his subjects to their Creator to make him reign in his kingdome and to receive no homage from his people save only for that he is the Image of God t is therefore the most dangerous impression that self-love can make in men when it perswades them that they deserve the love of the whole world and that they ought to imploy all their might to augment the number of their Lovers yet every one is possest with this passion and I see none who do not by severall ways aspire to this tyranny Men discover the perfection of their minds to make themselves admired women make the most they can of their bodily beauty to make them be adored but the one and the other of them will have their malady turn contagious and spread abroad the poyson of self-love which hath infected them into the souls of all those that come neer them The eighth Discourse That Concupiscence or Self-love divides it self into the love of Pleasure of Honour and of Knowledge MAns losse doth so sute with his greatnesse that to understand the one wel the other must necessarily be comprized and we must know what advantages he did possess in his Innocency that we may not be ignorant of such miseries as he undergoes by sin Originall righteousnesse which united him to God made him find innocent delights pure and certain knowledge and elevated honours of which ours are but the shadows in the Possession of the Summum Bonum when he lost Grace he therewith all lost all these glorious Privileges which were the dependances thereof his Pleasures were turned into Punishments his light into darkness and his glory into infamy the misery into which he saw himself faln did irritate his desire and the remembrance of his past felicity made him seek for that in the Creature which he had lost in his Creator Self-love which succeeded the love to God spread it self abroad into three as impure rivolets as was the spring head from whence they did derive the first was call'd the love of Pleasure the second the love of light or novelty and the third the love of greatnesse or of glory these three generall causes of all our disorders are the fatall
HENRICUS Dom CARY Baro de LeppingtoÌ„ Com de MONMOVTH Prae nob Ord Baln EQVES W. Marshall fecit Man become Guilty OR THE CORRUPTION OF NATVRE BY SINNE According to St. AUGUSTINES sense Written originally in French By Iohn-Francis Senault And put into ENGLISH By the Right honble HENRY Earle of Monmouth LONDON Printed for William Leake and are to be sold at his Shop at the signe of the Crown in Fleetstreet betwixt the two Temple Gates 1650. TO THE RIGHT HONOVRABLE FRANCES Countesse of Rutland wife to IOHN Earle of RUTLAND Madam GIve me leave I beseech you to present you with this Copy of a Master-piece drawn in its Originall by as rare a hand as I have met withall the which I am the rather encouraged to doe for that I have experienced your Goodnesse to be such as may make me presume upon your Pardoning such Faults as your Iudicious eye shall observe therein especially since they are committed by so Profest and so Obliged a Servant of your Ladiships and further for that All that have the Honor to know you know you to have Piety enough to practice what is therein prescribed as allowed of and to shun the Contrary both which you will finde Rarely drawn to the life by the Authour though perhaps but Slubberd over by the Copyer in almost every Chapter of this book Loyaltie enough not to transgresse the boundaries therein praescribed to due Allegeance and to detest the severall Revolts you shall finde mentioned therein Iudgement enough to discern and I hope to approve of the Eloquence Philosophy History and Divinity which you shall see therein Handsomely and Methodically interwoven to which if you will adde Charity enough a vertue so Eminent in your Ladiship as it is not to be Doubted of to pardon the faults escaped in the Presse I shall thread it to the rest of my Obligations since though they cannot in a Direct line be imputed to Me yet by Reflection as not having had a sufficient Care to peruse the Proofes they may seem to have an Influence upon Me to which I must plead my not being in Town whilest the Presse went and that I have made an Amends by printing an Errata which I shall desire whosoever buyes this book to see bound up with it for his better satisfaction Madam When to this Goodnes Piety Loyalty Iudgement and Charity the Honour shall be added which you derive from that Noble Stock whence you are Immediately descended and that which you atcheive from that Antient Stock of Honour into which you are so happily Engrafted I hope that my Choise of Dedication will by all men be approved of and I shall think my Labour very well Bestowed and Highly Recompenced if your Ladiship shall please to peruse this Rough-hewn Coppy at such Leasure-houres as I pend it and if you shall find anything therein which may make you thinke your Time that meane while not Mis-spent or which may sometimes bring the Humblest of your Servants into your Thoughts He shall have obtained the Height of his Ambition who is Madam Whatsoever your Ladiship shall please to Create him MONMOUTH THE AUTHOURS PREFACE PRide hath made so powerfull an impression in the soule of man as that all the paines he suffers are not able to efface it He is proud amidst his Misfortunes and though he have lost all those Advantages which caused Vaine-glory in him yet ceaseth he not to be vaine-glorious amidst his Miseries He is still flattered in his Exile with those promises which the Devill made him in Paradise though he be slave to as many Masters as he hath Passions yet he aspires to the Worlds Soveraignty though his Doubts doe sufficiently prove his Ignorance yet doth he pretend to the Knowledge of Good and Evill and though all the Sicknesses which assaile him teach him that he is Mortall yet doth he promise to himselfe Immortality But that which is more insupportable and which renders his fault more insolent is that he hopes to arrive at all this happinesse by his Owne Strength he thinks nothing impossible to a creaure that is Free and Rationall that his Good depends upon his Will and that without any other help then what he drawes from Nature he may acquit himselfe of his Losses and Recover his Innocence This Errour being the Outmost of all our evils Religion labours only how to dis-abuse us therein and all her Commandements and Advices tend only to make us Sensible of our misfortune The Sacrifices teach us that we have deserved Death the Law teacheth us that we are Blind and the Difficulty we find in Keeping it doth prove our Want of Power Grace doth yet more strongly insinuate this truth unto us sh uâ—dertakes not to cure us till she hath perswaded us that we are Sick and the First thing which she makes us acknowledge is our Ignorance and Weaknesse Nature as proud as she is agrees in this point with Grace her Disorders are so many Instructions which will not suffer us to doubt of our Miseries the Vnfaithfulnesse of our Senses our Passions revolt and the Fighting of those Elements which environ us and whereof we are Composed are Proofes which will convince the most Opinionated It must also be confest that the Wisest Philosophers have acknowledged that there was a Hidden Cause of all these Disorders and being prest by their Consciences they have confest that since Nature deales more hardly with Vs than with her Other Children some secret fault must of necessity have been which hath incensed her against us The Platonists imagined that our soules were infused in o our Bodies only to Expiate those sins on Earth which they had committed in Heaven the Academicks did not differ much from their opinion and though in their complaints they did sometime lose that Respect which they ought to God yet did they confesse that our Faults did precede our Miseries and that the Heavens were too Iust to punâ—h the Innocent Only the Stoicks whose whole Philosophy is enlivened with Vain-glory did beleeve that if man were irregular 't was only because he Would be so and that as his Liberty had been the sole Cause of his Mischiefe it mâ—ght also be the sole Remedy thereof they imagined that if he would take Nature and Reason for his guides he might get againe into the path of Vertue from whence he had Strayed and that in so good a Schoole he might easily reforme his Disorders and recover his Innocence Peligianisme may be said to have had its Originall risâ— with this proud Sect and that diverse ages before Pelagius his birth Zeno and â—eneca had tane upon them the Defence of Corrupted Nature for they allotted all her disorders to mans Constitution and Education noâ— knowing any other sinnes save such as be meerly Voluntary they were ignorant of that sinne which we inheâ— from our Ancestors and which preceding our Birth makes us Criminâ—ll ere we be Rationall they taught precepts to shun Sin hâ—y
heart unto the Devill he indiscreetly suffered the immoderate desire of knowing all things to enter there Pride or the Ambition of Command is the last and most dangerous effect of Concupisceuce Flattery whose cheife imployment is to praise sin confounds this Passion with vertue and makes all glorious faults lawful to Conquerors She builds the glory of the Alexanders upon the sin of Maligne spirits and she will perswade Princes of the world that the furious desire which changed Angels into Devils can turn men into Gods but our Religion teacheth us that there is no more insolent Passion then this and that all other sins are the ushers in of Pride In effect if other sins do busie the mind this possesseth it if others fly from God to shun his justice this draws neer unto him to set upon his greatnesse if others leave us when we grow old this accompanieth us even unto death and if the rest chance sometimes to be the sin of the Elect this is almost always the Reprobates fault it will supply Gods place whatsoever name is given to the Impiety thereof it 's design in making it self be either loved or feared is to govern over men either by force or fair means and to commit a rape upon that Glory which belongs only to him who is the beginning and end of all things this Passion dies not with men they preserve the sense thereof after death and their care of having their Prayers recorded in History their Statutes erected in publique Places and stately Monuments in Churches are assured proofs that their Ambition ends not with their lives this disorder can only proceed from the first man who not being able to permit that even God should be his Sovereign unjustly pretended to Independency and endeavouring Sovereignty by Rebellion reaped thereby nothing but a shamefull servitude all these irregularities which derive from self-love as from their spring-head and all our fins which burst out from thence like rivers the Devil who very wel knows how to tēpt man makes no use of any other means then these to seduce him he beats us with our own weapons and he loseth the hope of overcomming man when man keeps himself from delight Curiosity and Ambition he raised all these batteries against the first man and judging of their Power by their good success he made use thereof against Jesus Christ in the Desert but seeing that his soul was sufficient proof against all his on-set she resolved to set upon him by sorrow and gr◠whom he could not seduce by delights The ninth Discourse Wherefore Concupiscence remains in Man after Baptisme WE are taught by Divinity that nothing but the Power of God can make all things out of nothing nothing but his Providence can draw good out of evill and make a mans fault to amend his life Naturall Phylosophy cannot comprehend the former of these wonders and morall Phylosopy cannot comprehend the second Nature worketh nothing without materials her workmanships are rather alterations then productions shee may well change one thing into another but she cannot make a new thing and there is so little proportion between nothing and subsistancy as Aristotle chose rather to believe that the World was eternall then that God created it of Nothing This great Genjus found it lesse inconvenient to acknowledge numberless causes then to confess one only the power thereof was unlimited and morall Phylosophy which is not greatly more enlightned then naturall Phylophy findes such opposition between good and evill as shee would rather think to draw light out of darkness and beauty out of deformity then Vertue out of Vice but Religion which adores in God Almighty a Power which hath no bounds and an unclouded Providence confesseth also that the one may have framed the World out of nothing and that the other may have extracted Grace out of sin in effect the work of our Redemption is the sequell of ou◠loss And if Adams sin be not the cause it is at least the occasion of our salvation the same sin which hath drawn reproches from forth our mouth hath return'd prayses for it And the Church calleth that sin fortunate which hath merited so excellent a Redeemer Concupiscence being the daughter of sin we must not wonder if divine Providence hath made it serviceable to her designes and if she employ her Enemy to execute her will for though this guilty habit be past as it were into nature and that it makes sin so hard to be overcome yet did God leave it in the souls of his faithfull Ones to exercise their vertue to allay their Pride and to make them have their Remembrance of their misfortune always before them During the happy estate of their Innocencie Vertue was so naturall to man as it met with no Resistance Man took delight in doing what was good and the greatness of Merit was not measured by the difficulty of the work his passions were obedient to reason his senses were faithfull to his soule and his body had no other motions then those of the soule the practise of Piety was not as yet become a Combate Continencie and Fortitude were not enforced to give battaile to bear away the victory and these two Noble Habits were given man rather for his ornament then for his defence so we must confess that if he had more quiet then we hee had less glory and that if he tasted more delight he could not hope for so great reward for all our life is spent in Exercise and fighting all our vertues are austeer they are always environed with Enemies they cannot go out of their ordinary tracks without falling into a Precepice and they are Reduced to the Necessity of Continuall fighting unlesse they will be defeated but of all the Enemies that sets upon them they are most vext with Concupiscence and yet win most glory thereby for she is so opinionated as 〈◊〉 cannot be overcome Grace which triumphs over all our Evill complains of being resisted by this although it lose it's vigour it loseth not it's courage and though the Saints do still weaken it yet they cannot stifle it they must dye to defeat it and it must cost them their life to get the full victory yet is this the field wherein they purchase all their Bayes t is the matter of their fights and Triumphs and their vertues would languish in Idleness did not this domestick Enemy keep them in breath To say truth they run much danger but gain much Glory the same subject which causeth their Pain heighthens their courage and increaseth their merit If Concupiscence be of use to vertue she is no lesse fatall to sin for though she be her Daughter she is likewise oft her Murtherer and of all the remedies which Grace hath ordained to cure us of Pride there is none more safe then that of this disorder We are naturally Proud and Miserable and it is hard to say whether Pride or misery makes the greater
torments Uncleannesse lights her Torches at the eyes to consume the heart she would be weak were she not assisted by these faithfull officers she undertakes nothing but by their looks and before she imployes the hand to write or the mouth to speak she hath already made use of the eyes to expresse her designes In fine the eye is so guilty as the wise Man findes nothing more pernitious he wisheth to be blinde that he might purchase innocencie and he leaves in dispute whether Pestilence and War or the sight be cause of greater Mischief As hearing contends with it for worth so may it do for wickednesse and it must be granted that the good and bad which we receive thereby are equally considerabâ—e t is the sense which is most peculiar to the understanding and which Nature and Religion seems to have addicted to the knowledge of the Highest Truthes Nature makes use thereof to learn sciences she knows generall things onely by the ears and those who are deaf remain Ignorant much longer than those that are blinde Religion makes use of it to insinuate faith into the soul of all our senses t is the only one which is faithfull to her all the rest withstand faith and meet with difficulties which offend them Hearing is more credulous and more rationall its affinity with the understanding makes it capable of the wonders of Christianity and the great Apostle confesseth that Faith enters the Soul by the ears Passions themselves are obedient to it and these unruly Subjects which countenance the Empire of reason obey the Empire of the care t is by it that Commanders incourage their Souldiers to Battle t is by it that Orators oppease incensed people t is by it that Philosophers perswade their Disciples t is by it that Polititians instruct Princes and make Conquerours undertake gallant actions eloquence which works such wonders in the world owes all her might to hearing she languisheth upon paper when by the eyes she glides into the Soul she looseth half her force but she bereaves us of our liberty where she insinuates her self by the ears and a man must be either stupid or opinionated if he resist reasons which are pleasingly conveyed into the understanding by handsome discourse For all the praises are given to a sense so requisite to science and Religion it ceaseth not to have it's faults and to bear the characters of sin It is a slave to superstition and errour it makes hereticks as well as true believers and 't is the part by which the Serpents perswasions entred our first mothers soule The poison which is poured in by the eare is much more dangerous than that which is taken in by the mouth and the soule is more easily corrupted by hearing than by seeing All vertues are endangered when set upon in this place and there is not one of them which is not extreamly threatned when the vice which is it's enemy will make it come forth by the part by which it entred 't is by it that idle discourse undertakes chastity 't is by it that errour triumphs over truth 't is by it that calumny oppresseth innocency 't is by it that blasphemy doth spread abroad it's contagion 't is in fine by it that the devill drives out Jesus Christ and possesseth himselfe of the Throne which he had raised up in our hearts So as 't is not without good reason that the wise man counselleth us to hedge in our eares with thornes and carefully to lock up a gate by which falshood heresie and impiety do confusedly get into our soules And 't is not without cause that we declare that if the whole body be infected by sin the eare is the part most dangerously corrupted The fourth Discourse That the Passions are fickle or wilde IF man were a meer spirit he should have no passions nor should his rest be ever troubled by these motions of the sensible soule Angels which have no commerce with flesh and bloud have one of these changes if they desire any thing that is good they languish not for it if they punish a fault they are not transported with choler and if they assist us in our misery they are not touched with compassion whence I conclude that passions proceed from the soules marriage with the body and that it is as naturall for a man to hope and feare to love and hate to rejoyce and to be sorry as to eate and drink or to wake and sleep Since nature doth nothing without a reason man reapes some advantage by his passions and meets with a thousand occasions wherein he may make good use of them Desire is the soules course and she seems to command this nimble heeled passion to put her in possession of what she loves Hope comes in to the succour of desire and promiseth her such good successe as she resolves to make her way through all difficulties which oppose her designes If hope meet with more opposition then she imagined she calls in courage to her aid which by her valour purchaseth her the enjoyment of what she had long wished for Such passions as are opposite to these serves the soule to keep aloofe from what she apprehends Fear is her flight she doth her utmost to keep her enemy off though she be timerous she mingleth her selfe with hope to effect her designes and imployes boldnesse to overcome such dangers as threaten her if her strength be too weak she falls insensibly into despair and giving way to griefe doth of necessity become unhappy Somtimes she assumes courage in her disasters sollicited by hatred animated by desire and incouraged by despair she gets the better of the enemy which possesseth her and findes by experience that somtimes to be happy a man must have been miserable These passions have so much affinity with vertue as let but never so little care be taken in husbanding them they may become vertuous Fear is serviceable to wisdome wise men are always timerous good successe always their apprehension and prosperity which makes others insolent makes Polititians modest The Tragedian makes Agamemnon from the ruine of Troy apprehend the like of Sparta his victory causeth his diffidency and the Poet who will make this Prince a perfect Polititian seems to have grafted his wisdome onely upon fear Audacity is a naturall fortitude a man must be couragious to be valiant this vertue is no lesse a work of nature than of morality and unlesse a mans constitution contribute towards his generosity Philosophy with all her counsell will hardly make him seek out an honourable death That which is said of Poets ought to be affirmed of all vertuous men as these cannot be famous in their profession unlesse they be borne of that heat which is the soule of Poesy these cannot be valiant unlesse they be born with that generous heat which desplseth dangers and which boasteth in the losse of life when glory is won thereby Anger doth somwhat
fine earth is the place of desert and heaven the abode of recompence God hath reserved unto himself the care of dispensing glory to those that serve him 't is he who will make the Saints Panygericks and who will crown their vertues let us not intrench upon his rights let us give all glory to him since he is the fountain thereof and let us confesse that man would never have been ambitious if he had always continued innocent The third Discourse That greatnesse is attended by flavery and vanity THough sin hath corrupted mans nature though it have bereft him of those glorious advantages which made him walk hand in hand with Angels and hath reduced him to a condition wherein he is equally grieved with shame and misery yet hath it not been able to blot out of his soul the memory of his greatnesse For though the world be a place of banishment though all Creatures war against him and that the seasons are become irregular onely to make him suffer he notwithstanding seeks for Paradice upon the earth and amidst all his mischiefs he continues a desire of happinesse Though ignorance be the punishment of his sin though his blindnesse continue all his life time and that the darknesse which clouds his understanding suffers him not to discern between vice vertues yet he thirsts after truth he seeks her amidst falshood and oft-times fights to find her out though since the losse of his innocency he be become slave to his passions and that to obey such insolent Masters he be enforced to forego his liberty he ceaseth not to love command and to pretend to the Empire of the whole world he endevours to recover by injustice what he hath lost by Vanity and not able to come by royalty he with open face aspires to Tyranny The Devil who cannot efface his desires which are as the remainder of innocency is content to corrupt them and to propose unto him false objects to divert him from true ones To say truth man takes no longer pleasure in any thing save in criminall delights the inclination which he hath for the Summum Bonum serves onely to keep the further from it and for not taking his aim aright he strays from his end whilest he thinks to draw neer it the love which he bears to knowledge is but a meer curiosity he loves truth like a whore not like a legitimate wife he seeks her out onely to passe away his time as oft as she blames his disorders he turns his love into hatred and becomes her persecutor whose servant he was His passion for Sovereignty is not more lawfull though he desire a Good which he hath possessed 't is upon such conditions as make his desire unjust He wisheth for an independant Crown whith may hold of no body he will be absolute in his estate and since he is become the Devils slave he will be no longer Gods subject his ambition will not suffer him to acknowledge his legitimate Sovereign and his basenesse forceth him to tolerate a Tyrant he would think he should injure his liberty should he assubject it to the will of his Creator and thinks not that he wrongs his nobility when he submits himself to an usurper he feeds himself with vain authority and false greatnesse he thinks himself not forced because he follows his own inclinations and because his Master keeps him tied up with Chains of Gold he cannot think he is a slave This errour slides the easilyer into the souls of Kings for that seeing so many subjects obey them they cannot perswade themselves that servitude can meet with so many marks of liberty These crowned heads can hardly believe that their will which is the living law of their Empire is made a Captive that they who are their subjects destiny should hold of an invisible Tyrant and that they who passe for the Gods of the world should be the Devils slaves the submission which they finde in their Dominions makes them believe they are absolute the blinde respect which is rendred to their degree makes them forget the miseries of their birth flattery insinuates her selfe easily into them unlesse they be armed with reason to withstand her and these pleasing falshoods banish away truth In so high a pitch of fortune where nothing is wanting to compleat the felicity of their senses their soule is weakned and being charmed by false praises they believe what they desire They imagine that death dares not assaile a Monarch which the world stands in awe of and whom fortune reverenceth They make a God-head of their greatnesse they despise such honours as are not divine and though sicknesses which advertise them of their weaknesse assure them of their deaths they hope for an un-exampled miracle and perswade themselves that immortality is a favour wherewith heaven will honour their merit The guards which watch about their Palaces might easily cure them of this errour did not flattery which makes them as stupid as insolent bereave them both of their judgement and modesty the conspiracies which are made against their persons the parties which are packt in their Territories the cunning which is used to corrupt their subjects loyalty are reasons good enough to abate their pride and to destroy that foolish confidence which feeds their vanity But without going so far for remedies for their evils their onely greatnesse is able to cure them when if they would consider the condition whereinto sin hath reduced Monarchs they would confesse that the power which waites upon them is but weak and dangerous full of anxiety and mixt with servitude Though God will suffer us to share with him in his perfections though he permit that our vertues be a shadow of his divine attributes that our condition be such as we may imitate them and though a man be not rationall unlesse he endeavour to expresse in his soule an image of divinity yet amongst that number of perfections which we adore in God some seem to be advantagious to us other some prejudiciall It is lawfull for all men to aspire to holinesse and let us give what ever reins we please to this passion it can never be criminall Every one may safely imitate mercy when according to Gods example our benefits extend unto the good and to the evill to Turks and Christians and when without making any distinction of persons we do equally oblige the innocent and the faulty a vertue is not to be blamed which hath God for it's example in the religion which we professe a man cannot have too much charity the perfection whereof consists in excesse and he who is most charitable is undoubtedly the most perfect Christian. But there are some other attributes in God which one nor can nor ought to imitate save with an humble reservednesse it is dangerous to wish for knowledge and as our first father lost himselfe onely out of a desire of being too knowing the desire thereof is oft-times sinfull
their handcherchiefs in great assemblies 't is uncivill to be vailed at a mask or a play and they are ashamed to appear modest where men use all their art to make them unchast Thus great meetings are nothing but publick prostitutions innocency is there destroyed by bringing nakednesse in fashion and men lend weapons to the Devil to undo the subjects of Jesus Christ. The ninth Discourse That Buildings are the work of Necessity Pleasure or Vainglory THough we do not know all mans advantages in the state of innocency and that that happy condition be not much lamented because 't is not much known yet we very well know it was exempt from pain as well as from sin and that man saw nothing neither in his person nor in his state which caused either pain or shame in him The body was subject to the soul and the senses which so often break loose that they may fix themselves to objects without reasons permission did nothing but by her order and this Sovereign was so absolute as her subjects had no other inclinations but what were hers The world was as much at quiet as man was and the elements w th by their contesting molest him held so good intelligence as the one never intrencht upon the rights of the other men neither feared the overflowings of rivers earthquakes nor fires the earth was a temple and a palace Religion did so well agree with nature as the same place served man to do his homage to God in and to disport himself in he saw his Creator in every Creature they were images which painted forth unto him the perfection of him that made them when he beheld them for his pastime his pleasure was not to be parted from his piety and contenting his curiosity he satisfied his duty This Temple was also his palace he could wish for nothing neither for pastime nor yet for profit which was not in this stately habitation The heavens served him for a canopie and the irregularity of the seasons had not yet obliged him to deprive himself by buildings of the sight of the most beautifull part of the world the Sun was his torch and when this glorious constellation withdrew himself to give light to the other half of the earth the stars stepping into his place afforded light enough not to leave men in darknesse grasse mingled with flowers served him for his bed Trees lent him their shade and holes which nature had hollowed in rocks served him for Chambers and Closets Gates were needlesse when there was no fear of theeves and windows would have been uselesse when people apprehended neither winde nor rain Nature had so well provided for all things as arts were superfluous and her workmanship was so exact as mans industry could adde nothing thereunto all the fields were gardens all Forrests Parks all dens Palaces and though the floud hath changed the face of the world it's out-rages could not efface the beauty thereof There be Forrests yet thick enough to shelter us Champions of extent enough to weary our eyes Vallies delightfull enough for diversion to them and Cavernes rich enough to satisfie them the pillars which sustain these forrests are the models of our Columnes the brooks which water these Champions have furnisht us with the invention of water-pipes the concavity of Trees hung in the aire hath taught our Architechts to vault buildings their proportions have caused Symmetry and the Caverns in mountains are the originall of our houses 'T is true that where sin had corrupted man and disordered nature we were forced to raise buildings to save our selves from the injury of weather and not being secure in a condition where we saw so many subjects revolted we were necessitated to build Citadels to keep us from being surprized by them But necessiy not being so ingenious as self-love she was contented with providing remedies for the most pressing evils and did not seek so much for accommodation as for preservation The first houses were but one story high the earth afforded the materials and Thatch was the covering man finding nothing delightfull in so sad an abode wisht for an earthly Paradise and never thought of his former condition without being sorry for his disobedience which had banished him from thence he never betook himselfe to this prison but either when the nights obscurity or the weather made him seek for Covert he looked upon it as upon his grave and living in so unpleasing an abode he did by degrees prepare himselfe for death but when self-love grew weary of suffering the punishment of it's sin and when justling divine Justice it would finde out a Paradise in this world it inuented Architecture and taught man how to change his prison into a Palace under the conduct of so good a Master he raised stately Palaces he sought for stone in the bowels of the earth he polisht them with tools he ranked them with Symmetry and placing one of them on the top of another he made his exile glorious and his prison pleasing Those who will excuse this disorder say that 't is a work worthy the wisdom of man that he is not forbidden to defend himselfe from natures out-rages that it is to imitate God and that every building is an image of the world and an Epitome of the Universe that time is requisite to bring things to perfection that the first men were not lesse vain but lesse industrious that if Adam had been a good Architectour he would not have left his children so long in Dens and Cabins that houses were the beginning of Towns that men were never civilized till they lived within the circuit of wals and that whil'st they lay in Forrests their lives were rather bestiall then rationall But let vanity make what excuses she pleaseth it is not to be denied but that buildings as well as apparell do prove our guilt and that the excesse and pomp which are used therein are marks of our ambition for houses are built either out of Necessity Pleasure or Vain-glory and men seek for nothing therein but the preservation of their life the satisfaction of their senses or the honour of their name Our first fathers built only to shun the persecution of the Elements they were contented with a house which saved them from storms and provided that it would afford them shade against the Sun and covering against the cold they were well apayed Architecture was not yet become an art every man was his own Architect after having cut out his clothes he made himselfe a house and seeking only how to fence himselfe against the incommodities of life he sought for neither delight nor vain-glory in buildings two Trees joyned together did oft-times make a house the entrance into a rock would with small cost lodge a whole family and the thickets which now serve for a retreat for wilde beasts served to lodge men in Nature was indulgent to these innocent malefactours seeing they bare