hurtfull to it shall we not haue the same of our soule What permutation shall a man giue for his soule Matt. 16. 26. Marc. 8. §. 2. Of the mindfulnes of the presence of God This also is a most singular remedy for who is he I pray you vnles he be quite out of his wittes that dares and would offende when he calls to minde that God that almightie and redoubted iudge seeth euen to the very bottome of his hart In all thy waies thinke on him and he will direct thee in thy steppes Pro. 3. 6. I will shew thee o man what is good what our Lord requireth of thee verely to doe iudgment and to loue mercie and to walke solicitous with thy God Mich. 6. 8. He hath said in his hart God hath forgotten he hath turned away his face not to see foreuer psal 10. 11. Remember God thou shalt neuer sinne saith S. Ignatius Martyr epist. 6. Behould the whole meanes neuer to sinne if one suppose God to be alwaies nere vnto him Clem. Alex. 1. 3. pedag c. 5. The remembrance of God shuts the gate to all sinne S. Hierom. l. 7. c. 22. Euen as at the arriuing of the Prouost theeues withdraw them selues from their commō hauntes euen so at the remembrance of the presence of God the infamous passions of the soule are chased away and it becometh the temple and habitation of the Holie Ghost But where the memorie of God is not there doth darknes dominiere with stench and all kinde of wickednes is there exercised S. Ephrem l. de virtute tom 2. c. 10. Thinkest thou that thou art alone when thou committest fornication And rememberest not that the eyes of God doe behould the whole worlde All the holy Trinitie is hard by thee the Angells his ministers the Cherubins and Seraphins which continuallie cry Holy holy holy all the earth is full of thy maiestie Thinkest thou that in the brothel house Iesus Christ doth not behould thee he who saw thee enter into the same Thinkest thou that he seeth thee not committing adulterie he that seeth the adulterie which thou conceiuest in thy soule S. Amb. in psl. 118. Serm. 1. O carelesse Christians o mortall men how then liue you You offend God as if God saw you not What God that great God doth he not see you He that is aboue you beneath you round about you yea euen within you GOD IS EVERY WHERE What doost thou then forgetfull of thy God what doost thou Hearken in what place soeuer you be Shall a man be hid in secrets and shall not I see him saith our Lord Ierem. 23. 24. Heare this tremble for feare for GOD SEETH ALL. What saist thou thou who art forgetfull of God What doost thou say What he that planted the eare shall he not heare psl. 93. 9. I liue saith our Lord according as you haue spoken I hearing it so will I doe to you Num. 24. 28. Take heede then what you say for GOD VNDERSTANDETH ALL Alas what thinke you in your hart What doe you thinke What knowe you not then that at that great day he wil visit and examin Hierusalem with torches Sophon 1. Deceiue not your selues it is a point most assured that GOD KNOWETH ALL. Yea euen the most secret thoughtes What dare you then offend God in his owne presence No Christian let vs say now let vs say for euer rather die then be dāned rather die then be defiled rather die then to offende before the face of so great and so good a God Dan. 13 28. EXAMPLES 1. The holie scripture speaking of the old men who coueted carnally the chast Susanna saith And they subuerted their sence and declined their eyes that they would not see heauen nor remember iust iudgments Dan. 13. 9. And a litle after Perplexities are to me on euery fide for if I shall doe this it is death to me and if I doe it not I shall not escape your handes But it is better for me without the act to fall into your handes then to sinne in the sight of our Lord. v. 22. O right worthie and generous resolution 2. S. Dorotheus Abbot writeth that at the begining whē Dosithus his disciple tooke the habit of religion he gaue this sentence worthy to be written in letters of gould Let God be neuer out of thy hart thinke alwaies that God is present with thee and that thou art before his face Which Dosithus imprinted so deeply in his hart that he neuer forgot it no not in his greatest sicknes And by this exercise of the presence of God he profited so well that of a knight and soldiar of the worlde of one debauched and vtterly addicted vnto vanities he became a most perfect and a most holy religious person and was seene after his death of diuers holy personages most glorious and triumphant in heauen amongst the holy Anchorets S. Doroth. in his life 3. Saint Catharine of Sienna to keepe her selfe alwayes recollected amiddest the distractions and occupations which her mother prescribed her made according as her heauēly spouse had taught her an oratory of her hart in the midst wherof she placed her God O most goodlie and wholsome practise Raymond in her life 4. Palladius affirmeth to haue learned of a certaine religious man called Diocles that a deuout person as soone as he leaueth the remembrance of the presence of God becomes a beast or else a diuell In hist lausia c. 93. 5. An vnmannerly woman who dwelt hard by the house where S. Ephrem was one day lodged in Edessa came and solicited him to lubricitie The Saint asked her if she were content to come vnto the open market and that there he would satisfie her demand What quoth she dare we doe this before men If we dare not doe this before men replied the Saint how dare we to doe it before God who vnderstandeth all thinges euen the most secret and is to iudge vs of all our workes These wordes touched the woman so exceeding deeply that detesting this enterprise and all her fore-passed life from that very houre she gaue the farwell to the flesh and the worlde retyring her selfe according to the councell of the Saint into a monastery where she liued and died most holily Blessed Lord what change doth thy remembrance make within a hart Giue it vs we beseeche thee continually to the end that this euill neuer arriue vs as to sinne in thy presēce §. 3. Of the remembrance of the most dolorous passion of our Lord. O Christian canst thou offende thy God and thy Redeemer when thou remembrest that he was wounded for our iniquities and that he was broken for our sinnes I say 53. 5. Canst thou well commit any kinde of sinne when thou remembrest those lamentable cries of thy Sauiour all peirced and wounded vpon a Crosse O all yee that passe by the way attend and see if there be sorrow like to my sorrow Thren 1. 12. If in the greene wood they doe
vvordes I am a ChristiaÌ„ so many times she felt her selfe streÌ„ghtned anevv reioyced And vvhat shall I say of S. Greg. Nazianzen Who speaking of him selfe and of S. Basil saith in the funeral ortion of S. Basil Nobis magna res c. that is to say We esteemed it for a great thinge and held it for a great and noble name indeed to be and to be called Christians wherof we glorie more then euer Gigas did of the change of the stone of his ring if notvvithstanding it were not fabulous by the which he possest himselfe of al Lidia Thou shalt further see in the first chapter of this booke that which the great Kinge Lewis of France also iudged of this name Consider then the excellencie of this booke sith it beareth a name so loftie and so honorable But yet behould rather ô Christian the glorious name which thou doest beare if the life ought to answere to the excellencie of the name hast thou not cause to make account of this booke vvhich teacheth thee in a few leaues how to liue ChristiaÌ„ly that is to say conforme to the life of Iesus Christ whose name thou bearest Christianismus est imitatio diuinae naturae c saith S. Gre. Naz. tra denomine professione Christiani Christianitie is the imitation of the diuine nature If then thou be a Christian imitate Iesus Christ thy God Beware thou beare not a name emptie and vaine but complete Employ then the measure of so great a name vpon workes worthie of the name For this it is that thou art Christian saith S. Iohn Chrisostome orat 5. in Iud. that thou hast receiued this name to the end that thou imitate Iesus-Christ and fulfill by worke his coÌ„mandements Briefly Nemo Christianus verè dicitur c. saith S. Cyprian No maÌ„ is rightly called a Christian who endeuoureth not to become like vnto Iesus Christ by his Christian workes Now to imitate Iesus Christ one must doe two thinges The first is to roote vp all the sinnes and vices that are in his soule The second to plant virtues in their places for our Lord is not come into this worlde but to destroy sinne 1. Ioan. 3. and to teache vs by examples 1. Pet. 2. 21. Ioan. 13. 15. Heb. 10. 20. and wordes the exercise of virtues and of good workes Behould here the summe and abridgement of all Christian iustice saith S. Prosper with S. Aug. in sent 98. ex Aug. to fly from euill and to doe good And to this it is that also Isay Dauid and the Apostle doth exhorte vs. Isay 1. 1â— Psal 33. 15. Rom. 12. 9. Colos 3. 9. Ephes 4. 22. 23. This also is the vvhole subiect of these tvvo bookes vvherin as in a most cleare miroir thou shalt finde these tvvo pointers taught vnto thee by the holy Scriptures and holie Fathers vvith sundry notable reasons rare similitudes and examples And note that I haue serued my selfe of examples because I see that the Sonne of God him selfe serued him selfe thereof as also the holy Fathers did especial lie S. Aug. and S. Greg. vvho in one of his homilies saith 38. in Euang vvherin he bringeth sundry examples that it hapneth oftentimes that the hartes of the hearers are more conuerted and moued by the examples of the faithfull then by the vvordes of the preachers Nonnunquam mentes audentium plus exempla fidelium quam docentium verba conuertunt Which sith it is so I assure my selfe that this litle booke vvill bringe vnto thee both profit and contentment if vvith a serious and attentiue lecture thou ioynest together the practise and good vvorkes God grant that both thou and I may so vvell practise these profitable Documents that after vve haue by the meanes hereof led a life Trulie Christian and Catholique vve may one day haue the recompence promised to all good Christians life and glorie euerlasting Amen Of the true Christian Catholique or The maner how to liue Christianly THE I. BOOKE Of the flight from sinne THE I. CHAPTER Of the name Christian. 1. THIS word Christian comes of Christ and signifies him who beinge Baptised doth beleeue in Iesus-Christ and maketh profession of the true and wholsome doctrine taught in his Church Canis c. 1. de fide simb q. 1. Or else it is like a soldiour who hauing left the diuels banner 2. Tim. 2. hath willingly enrolled him selfe by Baptisme vnder the standart banner of Iesus Christ making profession to follow him whersoeuer with his weapons in his hande and to fight inceâ—santly against the worlde the flesh and the diuell vntill such time as hauing gott the victorie he enter triumphantly into heauen there to receiue an immortall crowne of glorie and of eternall contentment 1. Cor. 9. What honor will it be to be enrolled vnder such a captaine how happie an houre to arriue at such a triumphe and at such a crowne You are they which expect and hope for all these thinges whosoeuer carry by good and true tokens the name of Christians But what shame and confusion shall it be to him who belying a name so honorable and despising a recompence of so incomparable a price addicteth him selfe to none but to thinges vile and vnworthie of a man nor occupieth him selfe but only about that which is of earth of flesh and blood nether thinketh nor dreameth but of eating and drinking and to stuffe top full like a beast his brutall appetites depriuing him selfe by this meanes of this crowne of glorie and opening to him selfe by the same meanes the way and path to a lamentable confusion of paines and torments which are eternall 2. S. Paul 2. Tim. 3. 34. saith Labour thou as a good soldiar of Christ Iesus no man being a soldiar to God intangleth him selfe with secular businesses vnderstand by secular the assembly of the wicked and then he addeth No soldiour that striueth for the masteriâ— is crowned vnles he striue lawfully that is to say vnles he haue exactly obserued all the lawes of the combat And in the 4. chapter 7. 8. I haue fought a good fight I haue consumate my course Concerninge the rest there is laid vp for me a crowne of iustice which our Lord will rendar to me in that day a iust iudge and not only to me but to them also that loue his cominge And 1. Cor 9. 25. Euerie one that striueth for the mastrie refraineth him selfe from all thinges and they certes that they may receiue a corruptible crowne but we Christians an incorruptible I therfore so runne not as it were at an vncertaine thinge so I fight not as it were beating the ayre but I chastice my bodie and bringe it into seruitude S. Peter 1. cap. 4. 15. Let none of you suffer as a murderer or a theefe but if as a Christian let him not be ashamed but let him glorifie God in this name 3. Sainct Augustin explicating the name of a Christian saieth He who maketh him selfe a Christian only to escape
is at their beds feete who the same night is to let fly his dart and arrowe at them and to sende them from their bed to hell and from their soft boulster to a burning furnace of fire and of eternall flames Hapned it not so to Holofernes c Sisara d the rich glutton e to the slouthfull seruant in the gospell f â—o a thousand others who laying theÌ„ downe like vnto these and falling a â—leepe in perfect health haue bene found stone dead on the morrow morninge a Malach. 1. 6. Mat. 5. 6. 23. Rom. 8. 15. 16. b l. 1. c. 1. c Iudith 13. d Iudg. 4. e Luc. 16. f Luc. 12. Watch yee therfore saith our Lord that is to say stande vpon your garde put your selues in good estate for you know not when the Lord of the house cometh at euening or at midnight or at the cock crowing lest coming vpon a sodaine be finde you sleepinge that is to say in sinne without care without solicitude for the saluation of your soule and that which I say to you I say to all watch Marc. 13. 35 §. 1. Of the examen of our conscience The examen of our conscience consisteth in three pointes 1. To thanke God for all benefitâ— receiued and particularly of that day 2. To search and seeke forth diligently all the thoughtes wordes and workes of that day in the selfe same maner as if one should confes himself 3. To excite an act of Contrition with a firme purpose of amendment and to be confest with the first occasion See the act of Contrition pag. 265. Next to recommend him selfe to the good protection of almighty God of our B. Ladie his Angell gardian and of his patrons This practise is maruellous profitable for by an act of true contrition all sinnes are forgiuen albeit we remaine obliged to confes them to the priest in so much that if a person hauinge committed a great number of mortall sinnes after he shall haue excited in him such an act of contrition should come to die sodainly not hauing the meanes for to confes them he should be assured of his saluation as contrariwise not hauing made this act he should be damned infallibly See you the importance Marke now what the holy scripture and holy fathers say In the 4. psal 5. The thinges that you say in your hartes be yee sorry for that is to say for euill thoughtes and with much more reason for euill workes in your chambers That is to say aske God forgiuenes in going to bed Which S. Chrisostome explicating saith What meaneth this The thinges that you say in your hartes c. that is to say after supper when you goe to bed being alone in peace and silence iudge your conscience and demand an account of your selfe seeke forth all the bad actions of the day and hauing set â—hem before you take vengance of them and put them to death by a holy compunction And in the 76. Psal v. 6. I thought vpon old dayes and the eternall yeares I had in minde and I meditated in the night with my hart and I was exercised and swept my spirit that is to say examining my conscience and cleansing iâ— by a holy sorrow as S. Aug. expoundeth it And the same that holy Dauid did the same did kinge Ezechias as is to be found in Isay 38. 15. S. Anthonie was wont to recommend it seriously to his Disciples Athanas in his life as also S. Cyprian ser de pass Christi S. Basil ser commonit admonach ser de Ascen ser dâ— instit monach The marchants of the worlde saith S. Efrem are accustomed to calculate euery day the gayne or losse betyded to them in their traffique and you euery euening consider in what termes your traffique standeâ—h examine what you haue done that day and in the morninge that which you haue done during the night Ser. Ascet de vita relig See S. Chrisost Hom. 43. in Mat. S. Greg. Hom 4. in Ezech 35. moral in Iob. c. 6. 7. S. Iohn Climach grad 4. S. Doroth. de vita recte piè instit c. 11. S. Bernard ad fratres de monte Dei. S. Benet c. 4. of his rule instru 48. according to the explication of Trithemius l. 1. comment in hanc reg S. Bon. in opusc de purit cons c. 12. alibi Tho. a Kemp l. 1. de Imit Christic 19. l. 2. de discipl claust c. 9. discipl mon. c. 11. The Act of Contrition put in practise An excellent praier which euery Christian ought to haue by hart MY Lord Iesus Christ true God and true man who art my Creator and my Redeemer I am sorry from my very hart for that I haue offended thee and this for that thou art my God and for that I loue thee aboue all thinges And I purpose firmely neuer more to offend thee and to withdraw my selfe far off from all occasions of sinne I purpose also to confes me and to fulfill the pennance which shall be imposed me Moreouer I offer vnto thee in satisfaction of all my sinnes my life my labours and all the good workes which I shall euer doe And as I humbly aske pardon of my sinnes so I hope in thy goodnes and infinite mercy that thou wilt forgeue them all thorough the merits of thy most pretious blood death and passion and giue me the grace for to amend me and to perseuer in good estate vnto the end Amen EXAMPLES OF CONtrition 1. Thomas of Cantimpre somtimes Suffragan to the Archbishop of Cambray writeth that a wicked man after he had violated his owne daughter came to the reuerend Archbishop of Sens to confes him selfe vnto him of his sinne and hauinge declared it with many teares and true remorce of soule he demanded if he might hope for pardon at Gods handes Yes quoth the Archbishop if you be ready to fulfill the pennance which I shall giue you All whatsoeuer your Lordship shal please answered the penitent although I should endure a thousand deathes I enioyne you only quoth the Archbishop seauen yeares of pennance What is that replied the penitent Albeit I should doe pennance vntill the ending of the worlde yet shall I not satisfie sufficientlie Goe said the Archbishop I will that thou fast only three daies with bread and water Here the poore man began to weepe beseeching him to impose vpon him a pennance answerable to his crime The Archbishop seeing him so truly contrite said vnto him finally Iâ— ordaine that thou only say one Pater â—oster assuring thee that thy sinne is forgiuen thee Which the peniteÌ„t hearing he entred in to so great compunction that hauinge cast forth a deepe sighe he fell downe starke dead vpon the place The Archbishop assured since in his sermon that this man by reason of his great contrition went straight to heauen without passinge thorough Purgatorie Tract de vniuerso lib. 2. c. 51. p. 7. 2. Iacobus of Vitry Cardinall writeth the like of a
the enflamed wordes of the holie fathers and examples Thou seest then o Christian by what hath bene said how pernicious and horrible sinne is and consequently what reason thou hast to detest and fly it as much as thou maist But yet perhaps thou wouldest willingly haue some remedies to preserue thy selfe from this accursed monster Besides the feare and loue of God the â—istrust of ones selfe the due frequentinge of the Sacraments of Penance and of the Eucharist spirituall lecture daylie examen of conscience and holy prayer wherof we will treate by Gods asistance in the booke ensuing behould here seauen singular remedies most effectuall 1. To fly the occasions as are dangerous places and euill companies The memorie 2. Of the presence of God 3. Of the passioÌ„ of our Lord. 4. Of death 5. Of iudgment 6. Of hell and of the eternitie of the damned 7. Of heauen and of the eternitie of the saued §. 1. Of flying the occasions of sinne The Prouerbe saith that the occasion causeth the thiefe The Flies and Gnattes houering about the candle fall at the last into the flame He must not walke nere the water who will not be drowned If thou then o Christian wilt keepe thy selfe so as not to fall into sinne flie the occasions such as are euill companies the dangerous places of tauernes and other houses of dissolute women in the euening and time of night For a maide for example doth put her selfe in great hasard of offending God and of her owne honor who vndertakes to talke with a younge man alone in a place apart in the darke or in the night You shall rendar account fathers and mothers who giue such libertie vnto your daughters See l. 2. c. 3. § 4. examp 3. He that loueth danger shall perish in it Eccl. 3. 27. Can a man hide fire in his bosome that his garments burne not Or walke vpon heate coales that his soales be not burnt Pro. 6. 27. My sonne if sinners shall entise thee condescend not to them If they shall say come with vs c. walke not with them stay thy foote from their pathes Pro. 1. 10. Depart from the wicked and euill shall fayle from thee Eccl. 7. 2. He that toucheth pitche shall be defiled with it he that communicateth with the proude shall put on pride Eccl. 13. 1. With the holie thou shalt be holie and with the innocent man thou shalt be innocent psl. 17. 26. If thy right eye scandalise thee pluck it out and cast it from thee for it is expedient for thee that one of thy limmes perish rather then thy whole body be cast into hell Mat. 5. 30. By the eye that scandaliseth is to be vnderstood all occasion of scandall and of offence The master then must quit him selfe of his maide if she giue him occasion to offende God and if it be the master which inciteth the maide to commit euill then must she leaue him and so of others There is no assurance saith S. Hierom to sleepe nere vnto a serpent it may be that he will not bite me but it may be also that he will bite me l. cont Vigilant And writing to Furia touching her widdowhood he saith Fly the companie of younge youthes let not your house admit these young courters of girles which weare their perewigges who haue their haire fâ—…sled their habits spruce and their lookes lasciuious admit not likewise neere vnto you singers and players c. but insteed of these holie widdowes Epist. 10. S. Aug. bewayling the stealth of apples which he had committed in his youth saith If I had bene alone I had neuer done it it was wicked company that caused me to doe it O frindship too too iniust seduction of spirit when one saith Let vs goe let vs doe it and one is ashamed not to be without shame l. 3. Conf. c. 8. 9. EXAMPLES The children of Seth were good before they were married but as soone as they were allied with the daughters of Caine they became so wicked that God was constrained to drowne them all by the deluge Gen. 4. 6. 7. 2. Loth being retired from the holy company of Abraham was taken by the Infidells all his goods were burned in Sodome he made himselfe drunke and being drunke violated his two daughters Gen. 14. 19. 3. SalomoÌ„ coÌ„uersing with the EgiptiaÌ„ Ladies became an Idolater 3. Reg. 11. 4. 4. S. Peter leauing the companie of our Ladie and the Apostles and rancking him selfe amongst the wicked denied thrice his Lord and Master Mat. 26. 70. 5. Gordiana aunt to S. Gregorie delighting ouer-much to be in company of certaine secular maydes forgot the vow she had made to serue God and by litle and litle turned all worldly after the death of her two sisters Tharsilla Emiliana which weÌ„t to heauen she plunged her selfe entirely in vanities with the finall perdition of her soule S. Greg. 4. Dial. c. 14. Hom. 38. in Euang. 6. A younge scholler studying in the dioces of Mastrick finding him self vpon a day in the company of some younge and dissolute libertines was conducted into a certaine house where it wanted litle that together with the puritie of his hart he lost not the flower of his virginitie Seing him selfe therfore assaulted with an impudent woman he forsooke his companions and departing forth of that debauched lodging it being now night he went towards his owne dwelling and as he went he began to thinke not without great astonishment vpon the euident perill which he had passed to make an irreparable losse of the pretious treasure of his chastitie As he entertayned him selfe in this thought behould a young man of a most maruellous beautie appeared vnto him and gaue vnto him a box on the eare that so fierce and soundly set on that he feld him flat vpon the ground saying vnto him Learne then learne thou for another time to flie euill company and so disappeared sodainly The schollar all shaking and trembling for very feare got him selfe vp some while after and waighing more seriously what had passed knew more clearly that this younge man was his Angell gardien which had deliuered him that day from so great danger and had admonished him so charitably of the fault which he had committed for which cause he gaue thankes vnto God and to his good Angell makinge a firme purpose to fly for the time to come more carefully then euer before all kinde of euill company And the better to assure that it was not a dreame the cheeke wheron the Angell smote remayned sweld sundry dayes after P. Francis Albertin in his treatise of our Angell Gardien c. 7. ex speculo ex dist 10 ex 9. See also another as remarkable in the treatise aforsaid c. 19. and here before c. 4. § 7. examp 3. of S. Edmond in the 2. booke c. 3. § 4. exampl 3. If we haue so great care to conserue our body from euill ayres and from all that which may be
Eugen. My father worketh vntill now and I doe worke said our Sauiour Ioan. 5. 18. The Angels are they not all occupied in their ministrie saith the Apostle Heb. 1. 14. Behould the Sunne saith S. Aug. the Moone the Starres the beastes and all creatures doe they not al employ them selues to doe that for which God the Creator hath created them And thou a man wilt thou remayne alone doing nothinge Ser. 16. ad fratres in eremo How much is the litle Spider busied to catch a fly How dilligent the Cat to catch a Mouse How longe are maydens and women tampering to trick vp and adorne them selues to gayne the fauor of a poore and silly mortall man And wilt thou doe nothinge to gayne heauen and the grace and fauor of almightie God See the 6. examp of this paragraphe EXAMPLES 1. Idlenes caused the Israelites to fall into the sinne of Idolatrie Exod. 32. 6. 2. Those of Zodome and Gomorrha into the sinne of Sodomy Ezech. 16. 49. 3. Dauid thorough idlenes fel into the sinnes both of murder and adultrie 2. Reg. 11. 4. As longe as Sampson exercised him selfe to set vpon his enimies he could not be taken but as soone as he laid him downe and slept vpon a womans lap he was both taken made blinde Iudg. 16. 21. 5. Whilst Salomon employed him selfe about the building of the Temple he was not assaulted with the sinne of Leacherie Doth he cease Behould him sodainly set on fire by his concupiscence courtes strange women and becomes an idolater 3. Reg. 11. 4. Watch then my brethren saith S. Aug. for you are not more holy then Dauid stronger then Sampson nor wiser then Salomon Ser. 16. supra 6. Pelagia a courtlie lady of Antioche passing vpon a day before certaine Bishops mounted vpon a goodlie Mule all bespangled with golde and pretious stones followed and attended vpon with a great noÌ„ber of youthfull pages and damoselles most daintilie attired and her selfe so faire that she rauished the harts of all her behoulders as soone as the Bishops had espied her they turned away their faces from her only Monnus Bishop of Edessa looked vpon her fixedlie and that for a pretty space of time and after asked of the others what they supposed And seeing that they said not a worde he bowed him downewards hid his face with his handkercher weeping with most bitter teares Which hauing done he errected him selfe and said that he had bene greatly recreated by looking vpon this dissolute woman for quoth he I considered how many houres she spent to spunge and beautifie her selfe to gayne the grace and fauor of men and I wretch that I am who ought to please the great God of heauen who promiseth me goods and pleasures which are infinit am yet so negligent and slouthfull to adorne my soule This said he drew his Deacon by the arme and being retyred into his chamber he cast him selfe vpon the ground lamenting before the face of God his tepiditie and his slouth She was after this conuerted to the faith and to a better sort of life by a sermon which she heard of this holy Bishop and retyring her selfe into the mount of Oliuet disguised in the habit of a man passed the rest of her life most holilie and is now placed in the catalogue of the Saints of the Church Surius and Ribad 8. of October 7. S. Antoninus Archbishop of Florence passing his way vpon a day thorough the streete Ambrosienne of the same cittie saw Angels vpon the top of a litle house wherat astonished he entred in and found there a good widdow with her three daughters who all tottered and bare-foote spunne with their spindell and moued with compassion gaue vnto them a good somme of mony He past by there againe within a while after and saw there diuells insteed of Angells He went into the house and asked if they had not committed some kind of sinne since he had visited them and vnderstood that they spunne no more but spent their time in doing of nothinge amusing theÌ„ selues about naught else saue only to pranck and adorne them selues to please men Vincent Mainardus in vita S. Antonini Sur. 2. of May. O the singular good to be allwayes exercised in things that are good O the great euill that proceedeth of iolenes An aduertisement touching this vice for such as are Magistrates and fathers of families 8. At Florence in Toscanie according to the lawes customes of the coÌ„try the magistrates haue a very great especiall care that there be not found in the cittie any vagrant or idle persons and if they find any such they examin them whereon they liue whence they got their garments and if they answer not pertinently they are presently punished and expeld the cittie as pernicious to the common welthe Sabellius l. 6. c. 3. 9. The Egiptians according to their lawes anciently punished by death al those who could not proue by what arte they got their liuing Diod. Sicul. And Solon the law giuer of the Greekes made an ordonance that the father should not be nourished of his owne childe to whom he had not taught some occupation Laert. l. 6. O yee Magistrats who ether reade or heare this be wise after their example and see that youth be not nourished and entertained in idlenes in your townes And you fathers and mothers who must rendar a most strict account to God of your children for Gods sake suffer not that they be idle and vagabonds Employ them betimes and from their youth in some honest exercise according to your calling and their capacitie Send them assoone as they are fiue or six yeares old vnto the schooles there to learne to write reade Why should you grudge them a groate a monthe for a thinge so necessary and proâ—itable to them who grudge not to giue vnto your bellie and your guttes after dinner all the gettinges of a whole weeke After they know how to write and reade put them to some honest exercise ether of learning or of some art and occupation and take great heede of retaining them by you doing of nothinge for else you lose the bridle to them to runne headlong to all kinde of malice and mischiefe perhaps also vnto the gallouse I know a man who for this only reason saw two of his children hanged before his owne doore O what a hart-breaking was this accident to him It is not the Iudge quoth a young stripling carried vpon a day for to be hanged that leadeth me vnto the gallouse but it is mine owne mother Iansen in Pro. 23. See touching this matter chap. 5. § 1. examp 6. 7. THE VII CHAPTER Of certaine remedies and meanes wherby not to fall into sinne HItherto we haue alleadged that which maketh for the detestation of the principall sinnes and vices which sufficeth in myne opinion to moue a hart were it of stone or hardest marble for what is there more efficacious or more energicall then the holy scripture then