thou art unworthy of all honour because no man justly deserves to be honoured but he that is vertuous and comtemns all honour and glory True nobility is never proud and he that is above others in dignity is also above them in modesty the chief glory of great men is when they humble themselves most 6. Consider the weaknes of thy condition measure thy body and thou wilt find many things whereof thou oughtest to be ashamed but nothing whereof to be proud Doe not contemn the opinion of Philosophers and Mathematicians it is true what they teach that the whole earth is but a point compared to the vast extent of the heavenly sphears What madnes what folly then to divide this point into soe many kingdomes so many Governments No man can be great in a little space This earth which thou treadest on now with so much pride will cover thee ere long and all that thou wilt possesse of it will be but just soe much as will cover thy cold body Goe now and build great and immortall pallaces upon this nothing Goe and exercise thy fury and insolency upon it Goe and increase here thy avarice extend thy ambition gather armies and make war against thy neighbors When thou hast bine mad and frantick long enough thou wilt see acknowledge at last the vanity and deceit of all these Titles and honours All that shineth in this world is but glasse it breaks at the same time that it casteth a lustre Great trees are many years in growing but are cut down in one hour 7. If thou canst be content to live private thou hast cut of a great inticement to pride No man lives in state and pompe to please his own eyes or the eyes of a few of his familiar friends but the reason of his living with great spendor is to be noted by the world Who would put on purple if he thought he should be seen by no man who cares when he eats in private to have his meat served in gold and silver who would expose his gallant Tapestries and other rich moveables under the shadow of an old tree where none but himself should look upon them Ambition desires to be seen as on a Theater and never strives to make a greater shew then when commended and applauded If the Bee hath made her honey if the horse hath run well if the Tree hath born good fruit they seek nothing else but man still desires praise to be taken notice of and to hear men cry There he is that is He. But if thou considerest well who they are by whom thou desirest to be praised thou wilt not find it such a hard matter to contemn the applause of the Vulgar and common sort The multitude is a vain and changeable rabble whom thou thyself often callest mad and who every moment accuse themselves of their own folly by disapproving and recalling so often what they had done said not long before The life as well of him that praiseth as of him that if praised is short and these praises too are only given a man in a small corner of the world which is all but a point and there too all doe not agree to it nor perhaps doth he that is praised beleeve all that is said of him But it is a brave thing to be spoken of in future ages and to be praised by those whom thou never sawest nor never shalt see Why dost thou not grieve also for not having bine praised and commended by those who lived before thou wert born But suppose that those who shall praise thee after thy death were immortall and also that thy memory should last for ever what will this avail thee being dead and what does it avail thee being yet alive to hear thou art praised Thou art often praised where thou art not present and at the same time thou art troubled or tormented where thou art The price of every thing is in the thing itself and it is not made better by being commended nor worse if not praised Can we say that the Sun looseth any thing of his light if no man looks upon it or admires it Can a fig loose its sweetnes a flowr its beauty a Iewell its lustre because they are not commended It is a great argument of a noble Soul and one that knows it hath its origine from above to contemn the praises of men and to find content in itself Thou loosest all praise if thou desirest it for what is there in thee which deserveth 〈◊〉 how great is thy frailty how great 〈…〉 misery how great is the incertitude 〈…〉 Salvation Thou art an unprofitable servâ—… to God although thou didst doe all which thou art obliged to doe But with what face wilt thou dare to say that thou hast done all thou wert obliged to doe Take heed therefore thou art not said to be that without which thou art not within and take heed thou art not praised by others for what thy own conscience tells thee thou art to blame in Render unto God what thou hast received from him to wit thy Being life and understanding then what will be left thee but thy sins Since therefore thou art nothing thou canst not boast of this nothing Thou will then begin to be something when thou shalt acknowledge thyself to be nothing CHAP. X. Of moderating our outward Senses How we must treat our Body and how to govern our Eyes Of the vanity of Apparell 1. OBserve well this commendable form of life that is to allow unto thy Body those things only which are necessary to preserve it in health Thou must use it hardly that it may not rebell against the Soul for the body is to obey the spirit and not the Spirit to obey the body Eat to satisfy hunger and drink to satisfy thirst let thy garments be such as to keep out the cold thy house such as to defend thee against the injuries of the Weather As for other things which have bine invented for vain ornament and pompe be afraid to use them for they are like so many snares to catch thee in He easily contemneth all that is honest who is too sollicitous for his body and loueth it too much Thou art born to greater things and not to make thy Soul a slave unto thy body upon which thou must look as the prison of thy mind the fetters of thy liberty The just and wise man hath a care of his body not for the love he bears unto it but because he cannot live without it The body is the instrument of the Soul and we should esteem that Artist but a bad work-man who insteed of working his Art should spend all his time in looking after the Tools of his Trade T is the sign of a dull spirit to be busyed and employed in nothing but what concerns the Body 2. In regard that Death commonly enters into the Soul through the windows of our Senses let it by thy care to change their
the next place learn to doe and speak little for if thou cuttest of in thy words and actions all that is not necessary thou wilt have lesse trouble of mind Doe not say this is a thing of no great importance or concern Whatsoever is the beginning of vertue and perfection although it seem of little consequence is notwithstanding a matter of great concern 5. The originall and sinfull man which is derived from Adam if we consider him as bearing the ressemblance of a Tree hath for his root selflove for his trunk a propension unto evill for his boughs his disordered passions for his leaves vitious habits for his fruit thoughts words and deeds which are contrary to Gods law Wherefore that the boughs of evill affections may not bud forth into leaves and fruit put the Axe to the root and cut down all self-love When thou hast once taken away this thou hast cut of with one blow all the vicious ofspring of thy sensitive appetite The means to root it out is to contemn thyself to esteem thyself the least amongst men and that thou hast no preeminence before others either in learning vertue or other prerogatives not to be afraid to displease men and be contemned by them to be willing to want all comfort and temporall commodities Thou wild save thyself if thou canst hate thyself thou wilt damn thyself if thou hast too much love for thyself CHAP. XIII Of Love The nature Causes Effects of it Of the Remedies against it Of Hatred 1. LOve is a compleasance of Good or the first impression which is made upon our desires when the knowledge of Good begins to make us like it T is this which rules all the world which if once subdued and brought to obey it will be an easy matter to overcome all our other passions True love ever tends unto that from whence it had its beginning it still inclineth to Good because it is derived from the Soveraign Good Examine thy life and weigh thy hart in the balance of a strict consideration observe what sort of love prevaileth in it for that which weighs heaviest in the balance of love that is thy God that is the Idol which thou adorest God hath commanded thee to love him with all thy hart to this end that he might keep thy mind and affections employed because it is certain that that which thou louest with all thy hart is the thing which thou adorest as thy God 2. T is not only goodnes and beauty which makes us love any person but also a certain sympathy and proportion of mind and manners as also an exterior modesty industry noble birth learning quicknes of wit and such like other endowments of body and mind Love itself is the loadstone of love which if accompanied with any curtesy or civility he is now forced to return love who before would not begin to love In fine some have more naturall inclination to love then others For example those who are of a lively spirit a tender hart a delicate blood a sweet facile nature 3. The power of Love is very great it transformeth him that loveth into the thing loved Love is a kind of sally wandering out of ourselves a kind of voluntary death He that loveth is absent from himself thinks nothing of himself takes care of nothing does nothing and unles he is received by the person loved he seems to himself to be setled no where Oh how unhappy is that love which is not directed to God For he that loveth the objects of this world cannot dwell in them nor find any solid contentment in them because they are limited subject to vanity and death But he that loveth God is in God and ceasing to live in himself lives in him in whom all things live who is our center and immutable Souveraign Good Human love is violent and bitter divine love is alwaies humble and peaceable human love is tormented with jealousy but we need not fear any Rivall in divine love The one fears least another should love the same object the other wisheth all may love the same he loveth Wherefore if thou lovest thyself love God for this love profiteth thee not him Any human object may change or perish but God is never lost unles we wilfully dismisse him from our harts 4. That the love wherewith thou louest thy neighbor may be sincere be sure to exclude from it all human causes of wit compleasance and similitude and regard only those causes which consist in piety and vertue That sort of Love which is called Platonick and by which some fancy that the Soul is raised from the sight of a corporall beauty to contemplate the eternall beauty of God is very dangerous The sight of a beautifull face raiseth a desire of touching it and whatsoever it is that proceedeth from the eyes of a beautifull person whither it be a light or some subtile spirit or humor it bewitcheth a mans hart and is often the occasion of his ruine It is better and more safe that our feet should occasion our fall to the ground then our eyes be the occasion of our falling into sin But the remedies of love are very hard because whilst we seek to overcome it the more it torments us and unles we resist it in the beginning it so creepeth by little and little that we find ourselves much entangled in love before me thought of louing But if we resist it in the first beginning t is easy to be cured T is not amisse likewise to keep our mind employed in other things which bring some care with them and may blot out the memory of the object we love Then we ought to avoid all things that may bring it again into our mind as seeing and speaking of it for nothing is sooner renewed then love which if it once invade thee and take possession of thy hart it wil soe vexe thee that nothing but the slow remedy of time and absence will be able to cure thee of it to wit when tyred with long sufferings it will expire of itself Many have bine cured by shame to wit when they have perceived they were noted talkt of pointed at by all that knew them as also by considering the shamefulnes of it being a thing full of disgrace full of danger and subject to much sorrow in the end Others have found help by seeking into and considering attentively the defects and imperfections of the object they had loved for by this means the beauty and lovelynes of it is much lessened Lastly it is a good remedy to change our love into the love of God into the love of vertue and eternall rewards things which truly deserve to be loved that soe good love may drive out our bad love and our mind which was created for more noble objects blush to soil and defile itself with terrene objects Evill and dishonest loves cannot but infect good manners 5. Nature seems to have tyed all things together with
that the Pilot should call and give sign that all things were ready to set Sail which sign given thou wouldest presently make hast to the ship Soe thou art to doe in this life Fix thy mind alwaies on God and use the things of this world so as not to tye thy hart unto them nor to suffer them to withdraw thee from thy last End which is God All the riches and creatures of this world serve thee that thou maist serve God The neglect of this necessary care of thy salvavation is the cause that thou permittest thy thougts to wander after many unnecessary Objects so that t is true to say thou adorest as many Idols as thou louest Creatures with a disordinate love These are thy Gods unto whom thou offerest sacrifice not of an Oxe or Buck but thy self thy whole salvation It is not permitted in the law of divine Love to love any thing else besides God unles it be in him and for him There can be no greater misery then to abandon the soveraign Good to place our affection on creatures 4. That which the Prince of Phisitians sayes of sick bodies the same may be said of vicious souls to wit the more they are fed the worse they are For those who intend to passe from a bad life to a better ought first to vomit up all the Poyson of their past sins before they begin to receive the solid nourishments of vertue This purgation of thy soul must be done so as not only to expiate thy past sins but also to extirpate all affection unto them to root out all thy vicious habits to master all thy disordered appetites and make them subject unto reason to subdue thy body senses particularly that of the tongue and to avoid all that may hinder thee from arriuing to the state of perfection Why dost thou fear and imagine the way that leads to eternall Felicity to be hard and difficile It lies in thy own power to make thyself happy assisted with his grace who is the beginning end of all things But thou must first goe out of thyself before thou canst come unto him and the more thou leavest thyself the nigher thou wilt come unto him 5. Wherefore thou shouldest first consider with thyself what thou desirest to enjoy and whither thou art going then examine the means thou art to use for arriving to that happy state Which done thou will easily perceive what progresse thou dost make every day Be very carefull in examining thy Conscience and taking a serious view of thyself consider what thou oughtest to be whilst thou hast time to amend It will be too late to discover the deceit when thou canst not avoid it Learn how to moderate the violence of thy passions and desires how to appease the frights and fears of thy mind Learn to contemn all earthly things and willingly forsake those things which cannot remain long in thy power Leave all things before they leave thee that soe when Death comes it may find nothing to rob thee of Let thy cheifest care be to provide for thy soul for considering it is first in dignity it is not fit it should be the last in thy care What will it avail a man to have gained the whole world if he looseth his soul in the end we cannot esteem it any profit if the soul perisheth CHAP. II. That he who desires to live well must choose a good Spirituall Directour The qualities of such a Directour and the duties of such as desire to learn Vertue 1. NOthing is more necessary for one that begins to serve God then to permit himself to be guided and instructed by a good Maister And indeed what wise man would undertake to perform a long Journey where he knows not the way without a sure Guide who would goe about to learn any difficile Art without a Teacher We shall find but very few who have advanced in perfection rendered themselves vertuous without the help of others It is an easy matter to instruct in generall terms those who are absent and also to leave in writing for those that shall come after us what is to be done But no man at a distance can tell of persuade when and how this to be done We must be present in time place to deliberate aright of that A Physitian can never prescribe by letter the just time of taking some Medicine or dyet he must be present and feel the pulse of the sick person Soe in curing the maladies of the Soul there are some things which cannot be so well expressed and declared without being present S. Paul whom God had designed to be the Apostle of the Gentils after he had bine converted by Christ himself was sent to Ananias that he might learn of him the way of Salvation Thou hast a hard task to overcome the corruptnes of thy Nature to wrestle with the euill Spirits thy invisible Enemyes and to arrive to the height of Perfection amidst so many obstacles and Impediments Wherefore thou hast need to call for help and that from one who will lend thee his hand who will shew thee the dangers and discover unto thee all the Ambushes of Satan and in fine who will teach thee how to come of with victory in all thy spirituall combats But thou wilt tell me whom shall I call to help me I answer It must be a wise and trusty man who shal be able and willing to doe all for thy spirituall Good one that shall strike respect and not fear into thee when thou meetest him one that is more ready to teach thee how to rise and amend after thy fall then to cry out against thee when thou fallest one who gives more Edification by his vertuous life then by his eloquent words He is little fit to govern who commands others to doe well but doth no good himself 2. Choose such a Helper or Director who flatters no body who doth not haunt much company who doth not goe to great banquets nor intrude himself into the houses of great persons choose one if possible who hath the spirit of discretion and can discern betwixt vertue and vice betwixt good and bad as a skillfull Goldsmith discerneth betwixt true and false money who like a shilfull Phisitian can judge of all thy spirituall diseases prescribe fit remedies to every one of them Choose one that shall be free from all interest and seeketh nothing but thy spirituall profit One that shall instruct thee in the spirit of mildnes and charity one that shall tell thee of thy faults one that shall be able to discover and teach thee how to ouercome all the subtileties stratagems of thy spirituall enemy the Devill one in whom thou maist have a particular confidence unto whom thou maist have no difficulty to reveal thy most hidden thoughts If thou canst find such an one thou are happy is this world 3. Speak frequently unto him of thy spirituall affairs let him
shut so as it is easily opened again to the same vices when occasion presents Thou tellest me that thy former life displeaseth thee I beleeve it for who is not ashamed of himself when he seriously considers the disorders of his life past Even wicked men both hate and love their own vices at the same time nay even then when they commit them they detest and abhorr them But what avayls it to abhorr sin in words and not to abhor the acting and comitting of it There is no man so wicked who doth not some time or other loath his own sins but such Converts are soon reconciled again to their old sins But he that is truly converted unto God puts the Axe to the root and cuts away all even to the least sprout he can find And then living in a continuall memory and apprehension of his own frailty he carefully avoids all occasions of sin trembles at the very sight of any evill and dangerous object 3. Why dost thou alledge vain excuses insist so much upon the frailty of thy nature when God commands thee to exterminate thy vices who can better know the measure and strength of thy forces then he who gave them why then art thou backward in obeying when the thing does not so much redound to any profit in him that commands it as it concerns thy good oh blind and wicked rashnes How darest thou be so bold as to reproch unto thy master with a servile impudence that his precepts are hard and impossible as if he had designed to seek not so much thy Salvation as thy punishment Such is the perversenes of mans nature not only to offend God but also to pretend great difficulties in what he commands But if thou wilt try thy own forces thou wilt find that thou art able to doe much more then thou thinkest T is not the difficulty of the things in themselves that makes thee not dare to practise them but because thou dost not practise them the things seem difficile Many things which we thought very hard to doe become very easy and of no burden with a little use Begin once for all and have a better opinion of thy own force and power God doth not forsake his souldiers he will give thee as much strength as thou desirest 4. Thou wilt easily overcome all vice if thou representest to thyself every day to be as the last of all thy life What is it that eyes thee to this world Beause thou never thinkest that thou art to goe soon out of it Thou seest every day dead bodyes carried to the grave which should put thee in mind that thou art also mortall And yet in the midst of all these dead thou thinkest o nothing lesse then Death thou seest nothing more often yet thou forgettest nothing soe soon The day will come notwithstanding that must carry thee also away to wit when thy Soul shall be delivered out of her dark loathsom prison of the body Thou wilt then clearly see that thou hast lived in darknes all thy life in this world Produce if thou canst amongst so many years of a bad life but one day well spent in the exercise of vertue which hath not bine defiled with some vice Thy infancy is past away in childish bables thy youth is spent in foolery and idlenes thy riper ago in debaucheries disorders Of all those years which thou hast spent from thy cradle untill thy old age nothing remains but greif and the evill fruits of iniquity Alas what a case wilt thou be in when forced to be ashamed of what is past and afraid of what is to come what will thy riches avail thee in that hour which thou hast alwaies sought with so much care and trouble what will all thy shamefull pleasures help thee at that time what canst thou then expect from all thy dignities and honours Oh! if it were possible that thou mightest begin again from the cradle how carefull thou wouldst be to lead another life but alas such wishes will be altogether useles in this hour If thou intendest to make good use of Time begin from this present moment resolve from this instant to forsake those things which thou wouldst then wish to have forsaken T is no great matter to forsake momentary things that thou maist purchase eternall felicity 5. Ask any dying man what he thinks of his life past and thou will scarce find one perhaps who hath not at that hour a quite different opinion of the riches honours vanities of the world then he had when he lived in perfect health Then all things are weighed in a more even balance we judge of them as they are He that is wise only in the end of his life beginneth to be wise very late but thou maist be wise in good time if thou learnest to be so from the follies and examples of others Since then it is in thy power to sayl in present safety why dost thou expect a Tempest Thou maist if thou wilt avoid prevent thy own misery Why then dost thou expose thyself to future dangers T is a late prevention to think to avoid shipwrack when thou art just sinking t is too late to use prudence when thou art wholly ruined and undone We read of many great and holy men who after having renounced unto their own will and all they had in this world spent all the remainder of their life to learn how to live and dye well yet many at their death have confessed they had not yet learned that lesson so hard it is to learn this Art Notwithstanding thou art so backward as to defer thy Conversion untill thou art old but t is a great folly to hope to begin then to liue well when thou canst live no more 6. Unhappy man to what danger dost thou expose thyself is this thy belief is this thy manner of living Thy life passeth away like a shadow lasteth but a moment Thou art no sooner born but thou beginnest to dye Stop if thou canst but one day of thy life hinder or prolong one hour one moment of it from flying away But such a labour would be in vain Time wil stil hurl thee away wil never cease running untill it hath brought thee and all mortall things unto their last generall end to wit Death And yet thou darest prefer this moment unto Eternity which will haue no end Oh blindnes oh folly Thou are alwaies labouring to provide all that is necessary for thy Body which is mortall but as for thy Soul which is immortall thou hast as little care to purchase eternall rest and felicity for it as if it did not at all belong unto thee When thy body is sick thou art willing to undergoe any thing to have 〈◊〉 cured but thy Soul is sick and thou wholly neglectest it and dost not feel it Did thy Phisitian ever tell thee it was necessary for thy health to goe to see and
that body which thou feedest with so much care and pamperest with so many delicacies will be left to be a food to the worms in thy grave Ponder then with thyself for what banquet thou feedest thy body and resolve henceforth to feed it so that it may not oppresse thy spirit Use common meats and such as are easily found which are neither chargeable to buy nor hurtfull to thy health A great part of our liberty dependeth on a sober dyet and temperate feeding We cannot easily see what is superfluous untill we begin to be without it Our body hath need of sufficient nourishment but not of many delicacies 4. But doe not think thou deservest such great praises for contemning superfluities When thou canst also contemn necessaries thou maist challenge praise that is when thou art content with common bread for thy food with weak wine or such as is well mingled with water for thy drink when thou shalt be persuaded that hearbs and roots doe not only grow for beasts but also for men I shall admire thee when thou seekest only the necessity of nature the reparation of thy strength and the glory of God in thy meat when thou canst contemn the full tables of great men when thou comest unwillingly to thy ordinary repast as a sick man to a bitter potion of Phisick when thou shalt study at least to moderate and overcome the pleasure of Tasting since it cannot be wholly hindred when thou art unwilling to eat any thing that is delicate even in thy sicknes when in fine thou hast attained to a true purity of body and mind For it is certain that the proof of true Abstinence doth not consist in attenuating the body but in purifying the soul from all inordinate desires CHAP. V. Of Luxury the shamefulnes of it how easy it is to fall into it and how it is to be avoided by seeking spiritual delights and the solid pleasures of the mind 1. NO vice is more filthy or shamefull then Luxury The Apostle commandeth we should not so much as name any sin of that kind Hence it is that honest pious men are so much ashamed of themselves if they suspect that others know them guilty of the least immodesty or uncleanlynes Hence it is that many in the tribunall of holy Confession hide the lubricity of their youth from the ministers of Christ choosing rather to undergoe everlasting torments with eternall shame after death then here in this life to undergoe she imaginary infamy of this vice Adde that those who are faln into a habit of this sin doe not easily get out and they are in much danger of their salvation that are infected with it Human forces are too weak to overcome it For no man can live chast unles it be by a speciall gift of God 2. Wherefore the first remedy against this sin is fervent prayer offered unto God to the end that he who alone can doe it will be pleased to cure thee of this dangerous sicknes Next thou must have a care to resist unchast thoughts in the very beginning to doe it with as much hast as thou wouldest shake of burning coals from â—hy garments Woe be unto thee if thou once beginnest to deliberate the least in such temptations That castle is nigh surrendring whose Governour once begins to parley with the Enemy That thou maist avoid all occasions leading unto it fly idlenes intemperance unchast imaginations evill company dangerous conversation in a word nothing is to be neglected in this point Even those that are just are not wholly free from the danger of this sin they may also have some hidden reliques of it some secret hissings of the old Serpent as for example certain little affections which although they are not bad in themselves notwithstanding they are as preludes tending to evill and the mind being bewitched by little and little with such charms wil soon be caught unles thou suddenly breakst of with them Thou wilt never arrive to great perfection if thou neglectest these small things Great things have their beginning from lesser ones 3. Take heed above all things thou art not deceived by too much confidence in thyself He that fears nothing is half fallen How many great and learned men after having obtained great victories over themselves and their spirituall enemyes after having done many wonders have notwithstanding fallen into great sins at last by inconsiderate looks cast upon women T is needles here to repeat the sad examples which thou hast often heared and read of Sampson David and Salomon We have too many examples of the same kind in our own dayes And without seeking forreign examples thou hast enough perhaps in thy own brest whereof to be ashamed and which should give thee occasion to humble thyself be alwaies in fear Is it not great madnes and folly after so many examples in all ages and countreyes to put thyself in danger by presuming too much on thy own forces Yet such is the ordinary credulity of human obstinacy that we never believe others to have fallen untill we also fall ourselves Woman was created to help man but by the malice of the devill she is become his greatest enemy There is nothing in a woman which doth not wound burn and kill No Hyena to be compared to her voice no Basilisk to be compared to her eyes Ah! whoever thou art then if thou desirest to save thy Soul fly as much as thou canst the sight and conversation of women They still keep their ancient and first custome which is to be the occasion of banishing man out of Paradise 4. Many excuses are commonly alledged in this busines Many pretenses of necessity custome and a good intention Notwithstanding all this great mischeifs often lye hid under the colour of good Hence proceed dangerous familiarities indiscreet over-free discourses light gestures a neglect of modesty frequent letters and presents from one to another and a certain mirth which by little and little overcometh all shame untill at length all modesty is lost These things are practised by degrees and he that at first did use to blush at the sight and approach of a woman now is not afraid to behold wanton looks and a naked breast which striking into his hart a sweet and secret poyson he is undone before he perceives his own danger Thus the eye of our reason first becomes dim at last is struck quite blind Thus a rationall Soul which was born for heaven is tyed to the world forgetting both God herself untill at length the flames of concupiscence deliver her up to eternall flames Oh miserable men whose impure momentany pleasures must have such a sad end One would think they had all eaten of the Sardonian hearb since they laugh at the same time that they are dying 5 Ah! foolish man who art void of all wisedome thyself wilt not hear the counsell of others what dost thou seek If pleasures God hath prepared
sensuall into a spirituall life and to withdraw them by degrees from too much application to externall Objects least they should be engaged too far in them and consent to unlawfull pleasures The Senses are to obey and not to command And in the first place thou oughtest to be carefull to contain thy eyes for the eyes being of a quick nature and suddenly catching the severall species of things are apt to convey all these images first to the fancy or imaginative part and next to the understanding where by moving the Appetite they often prove the cause of many sins if we have not a great care to prevent it And if unto this guard and custody of thy Eyes thou canst also joyn a purity of intention in thy Interiour thou wilt find God in all things and when thou hast once learnt to adore God in his creatures thou wilt easily be able to raise up thy mind from contemplating the Creatures to contemplate the majesty of God himself Beware of casting thy eyes on a woman that paints and dresses herself to please men she is the true picture of Incontinency and thou art in danger to perish in looking on her Be not curious in going to Comedies Balls dances and such like Recreations For such things distract the mind fill it with vain Imaginations and hinder it from raising itself to heavenly Meditations Where the eyes wander the affections and heart also wander 3. Hearing is the Sense of Learning through which the knowledge of Truth and Wisedome enters into the understanding Thou must therefore be very prudent in governing thy hearing least thy ears should admit falsehood in lieu of Truth folly insteed of wisedome Shut thy ears against all detraction calumnies backbitings idle rumors and unprofitable discourses in a word against all that doth not conduce in some manner to the good of thy Soul For as one that hath heard good Musick still retains the sweetnes of it in his ears even after he is retired from the place where he heard it so euill speech although it doth not alwaies hurt just when we hear it yet often-time it sticks for a long while in our memory and our mind often ruminates upon it By how much the more seldome thou hearknest unto men so much the oftner shalt thou perceive God speaking interiorly unto thy Soul The use of sweet perfumes is the mark of effeminate persons and such as have a bad name Wherefore I counsell thee to reject this sort of vanity and to render thy life exemplar by the sweet odour and perfume of thy Vertues As for thy Tast thou maist if thou wilt mortify it by abstinence and sobriety but as for the sense of Touching it is to be overcome by using hair-cloaths disciplines and such other like austerities It is better to afflict thy body in this world and by that means to save it then to damn it and thy Soul too by consenting to all sort of unlawfull pleasures 4. Whereas we may sometimes judge of the inward state of Soâ—l by the outward habit and dresse of the body have thou a speciall care to banish all outward marks in thy apparell of a corrupt mind Those who were esteemed the wise men amongst the antient Heathens would have an honest man to live so as not to move a finger without some reason for it I doe not exact from thee such a strict behaviour but I could wish thou didst observe it I mention this because I would have thee abstain from all dissolute laughter scurrilous discourse too much freedome uncivill gestures and all other rude behaviour that so thou maist have nothing in thy carriage which may give offence unto others either by the undecency of thy cloaths stern looks unbeseeming gestures contempt of others shewing a dislike of their company or any thing else which may give them a horrour and aversion from thy person Remember also that many things may be done with honesty which are not honest to be seen 5. Man was created naked and was not ashamed of his nakednes because he had no knowledge of it But after he had sinned and cast of the robes of Innocency which untill then was a sufficient mantle outward garments became afterwards necessary to hide his shame And yet such is the pride and vanity of men that what was at first enjoyned as a kind of punishment is now esteemed a prerogative of dignity We now seek cloaths not so much to cover as to adorn our bodies and to please the sight of others The quality of cloaths often discovers the inclinations of the mind and to be over curious in dressing and composing ourselves before a looking-glasse shews an effeminate nature Thou wilt soon be ashamed of these outward ornaments if thou considerest what they cover He that is rich with the ornaments of vertue doth not need these outward ornaments of the body Vertue makes the best shew when it appears without disguise whatsoever we adde to it to make it seem greater is still lesse then vertue itself T is a meer vanity and mistake to make a fair shew without by being richly clad and within to cover nothing but Vice Men wilfully load themselves with chains but because they are of gold they doe not apprehend the infamy of Servitude Some again are not content to be fettererd with gold but they will also pierce their very flesh with it to wit when they bore their ears to hang gold rings and pendants in them which are worth sometimes the revenue of their whole Estate making that which was once a name of punishment now to become a term of ambition Many again spend much time with their comb and a looking-glasse and are more sollicitous for the neatnes of their hair then for the salvation of their Soul Such is the force of foolish opinion amongst wordly people that they think themselves much adorned with those things which they ought rather to throw away tread under feet Let thy cloaths therefore be without Vanity and made not for pompe but necessity keep a decent medium not too uncomely but fitted to thy state and condition Although thou wert all drest with gold and pretious stones yet without Christ and the ornaments of his grace thou art still deformed and ugly in the sight of God These are the ornaments which are lasting which cover and adorn not a dying body but the soul which is immortall It is a meer folly to cover a dunghill with gold CHAP. XI Of the Tongue the importance and difficulty of governing it What is to be observed and what to be avoided in speech and lastly how to endure the evill tongues of others 1. THe government of our Tongue is a thing of as great importance as the preservation of the apple of our eye because life and death are both in the power of the Tongue He that is not able to rule his Tongue is compared to an open Town without Walls notwithstanding it cannot be tamed
is contrary to our inclinations is good for our spirit Things which afflict us teach us wisedome Death banishment poverty confusion labour sicknes and the like which are not in thy power are neither bad in themselves nor doe they belong unto thee Wherefore it is not necessary thou shouldest fly or hate them but only change the opinion thou hadst of them Socrates wittily termed all these things Masks or vizards for as children are frightned with vizards although there is nothing dreadfull in them but the outward shape soe it happens with thee who art often afraid of things not as they are but as they seem What is death A bugbear Consider how sweet it hath bine esteemed not only by Saints and holy men but also by Socrates and many others of the wiser Heathens What then is there terrible in death Opinion T is the fear of death that is dreadfull and not death itself Thou wilt find the same in other things which thou art wont to abominate and fear Correct thy opinion of things and thou wilt find that nothing is to be feared nothing to be abominated but Sin CHAP. XV. Of Ioy and Sadnes How a vertuous man is to rejoyce He that foresees all things is never sad Severall Remedies against Sorrow and sadnes 1. REjoyce after such a manner as not to loose modesty in thy joy and let not thy mind be so transported with joy but that if need be thou maist easily change thy mirth into mourning Our B. Saviour who could best judge of things doth not call those blessed who laugh but those who weep For it is much unbecoming a Christian that pretends to eternal felicity amidst soe many dangers of body and Soul to laugh and rejoyce after the manner of fools when he is in greatest perill All wordly pleasure passeth away that which we call joy is often times the beginning of Sadnes True joy is never found but in a good conscience and the practise of vertue as justice fortitude temperance c. That thou maist never want true joy rejoyce in what is thy own and within thyself All other joyes are vain and cannot give thee true content and he hath not alwaies cause to rejoyce that is outwardly merry True joy is ever mixt with gravity proceedeth from a good conscience honest designs good works contempt of pleasures and a quiet innocent life According to the rules of vertue thou must accustome thyself first to much sorrow before thou canst have true joy 2. Sadnes is caused by a certain horrour or apprehension of some present evill joyned with a certain perturbation and disquiet of mind We are often tormented not soe much with the things themselves as with the opinion of them Doe not concern thyself soe much with the nature and quality of things for example the services of others thy lands thy money thy employments but rather consider what opinion thou hast of them If thou art fallen into disgrace if thou art robbed of thy money if thou art beaten or the like these are things which are not in thy power but it is in thy power to have a good opinion of them to bear them patiently and receive them from the hand of God as means to work thy Salvation Thou wilt never be sad if recalling thy mind from the thoughts of thy present afflictions thou turnest thyself to consider the joyes of heaven No evill or misfortune can happen to a vertuous man not because he is insensible to the blows of fortune but because he overcometh all He looks upon every adversity as an occasion to exercise his patience as an instrument of Gods grace as the way leading unto eternall glory A good man may be thought or termed miserable by others but he can never be soe in his own thoughts 3. Look upon all things which may happen as if they really were to befall thee By this means thou wilt diminish the force of all miseries which never come unexpected unto those who are prepared to receive them Afflictions seem intolerable only unto those who expect nothing but prosperity What if fortune should deprive thee of half thy estate what if thou shouldst loose all what if thy house should fall thy corn be burnt thy friends forsake thee what if thou art in danger of loosing thy credit and by some false accusation art deposed from thy office or dignity Sicknes captivity ruine fire nothing of all these things come suddenly and unexpected to a wise man He premeditates all future misery and what to others seems lesse only by long patience to him is lessened by long meditation That which happens to one man may happen to any man What riches are there which may not change into hunger and poverty what dignities which may not fall into misery and disgrace what kingdome which must not at last come to a period Have we not seen in this our age a Kings head struck of by the hand of a hang-man and that by the command of his own rebell subjects There is no such great distance as we imagine betwixt riches and poverty betwixt a Princes court and a shephards cottage betwixt a Throne and an Axe Know then that all conditions are variable and all that thou seest happen to another the same may befall thee He will easily bear a crosse fortune that alwaies expects it 4. Vertue doth not flourish when our life passeth in all prosperity T is then we see how great is is when patience sheweth what it can suffer We are made a spectacle unto God Angels and men saith the Apostle Behold a spectacle worthy of God himself to wit when a vertuous man in the midst of Adversity triumpheth over himself and the affliction too A skilfull Pilot cannot shew his art in a calm sea and favourable wind He that is never tempted knows nothing Ah! how unhappy a man am I will some one say that am forced to suffer these misfortunes But I tell thee thou art happy because thou hast an occasion to try thy vertue Such a thing might have hapned to any one else but every one else perhaps could bear such afflictions without complaining Doe not therefore fall under the weight of Adversity but stand up firmly against it and endeavor to bear all patiently that is laid upon thee If thou canst but break the first shock thou wilt find nothing hard in it but opinion Naturall sufferances are equally hard unto all sort of men but as for poverty ignominy contumelies and such like things which are commonly esteemed Evills many bear them all with great patience seem in a manner insensible in them wherefore if we are grieved sad and impatient in them this doth not proceed from the nature of the things but from the bad opinion we have conceived of them Why wilt thou deceive thyself with a false persuasion It is in thy own power to make all calamity easy by bearing it patiently No sorrow can be great unles opinion adde something unto
better news canst thou desire then to renew thyself Learn that Art thou moved to reprehend other mens faults why dost thou not rather correct thy own dost thou take pleasure in reading Histories and to know the actions of others There is no hurt in this provided in the mean time thou dost not forget what thou art to doe thyself Dost thou delight in composing the differences of other men why dost thou not rather compose and reconcile thy own passions If thou didst not seek after superfluous things thou wouldest easily find enough to doe in what is necessary That science only is necessary which makes thee rather good then learned 3. To what purpose dost thou spend thy time and break thy head in studying Questions which thou shouldest rather contemn then strive to understand Why dost thou labour to learn those things which if known thou shouldest desire to forget but as in all other things we are intemperate also in our studies There is no end of Books How many are there who buy great Libraryes more for a shew and ornament then for any use or reading Though thou shouldest live many years yet thou wilt scarce have time to read all the Titles only of all the books which have bine written Of these many treat of evill subjects many again are unworthy to be read many are vain and foolish which when thou hast read thou wilt be nothing the wiser for them I doe not mis-approuve that thou shouldest read and passe over sleightly many books least that thou shouldest think some great and excellent matter is hidden in them but I would have thee fixe thy study upon few and those well chosen We doe not need many books or much learning to lead a good life or to frame a vertuous mind 4. Oh the vanity of human thoughts we spend all our dayes in studying books and exercise our wits in all sort of arts and sciences as if we were to live many ages but we neglect the care of our salvation which is purchased not by learning but by vertue What doth it avail thee to know all the actions of forreign Kings to compose whole volumes of the wars troubles and enterprises of other nations It were much better thou wouldest seek a remedy to thy own misfortunes then write what others have suffered Thou learnest by Geometry how to measure Lands how much better would it be that thou wouldest learn to measure and know what is enough for thee Arithmetick teaches thee how to cast accounts and how to apply thy fingers to Avarice why dost thou not rather learn to contemn and to be willing to loose those riches which are gathered with soe much care Musick teaches thee how to accord different voyces why dost thou not rather learn how to accord thy own thoughts soe that thy Reason and thy senses may not disagree or give a different sound Thou art taught how to distinguish merry and dolefull Tunes learn rather how to comport thyself in prosperity without pride and how to suffer Adversity with patience resignation I doe not blame the study and knowledge of those Arts but that thou maist make thy profit of all such things first learn to know thyself and thy last ends Although thou knewest all things yet if thou knowest not thyself thou knowest nothing 5. T is a shamefull vice to be alwaies observing the actions of others to be alwaies searching into their manners and rashly to interpret all things in an ill sense For Who art thou that judgest another mans servant To his his own master he standeth or falleth It is he that judges all men and hath reserved all judgment to himself With what boldnes darest thou attempt to judge in Gods tribunall Look to thyself and search into thy own conscience See the evills which reign there within thee see the good which is wanting and doe not turn thy eyes to behold the life of others Thou wilt find imperfections enough in thyself which deserve thy censure There is scarce any thing which by a malitious spirit may not be interpreted to a bad sense Hereticks abuse the very Gospell itself the Jews calumniate the actions of our B Saviour Even as melancholy bodyes and such as are of a bad temper convert all their nourishment into evill humors soe a soul that is full of evill dispositions whatsoever it sees whatsoever it hears it still interprets all to a bad sense A good or bad intention often maketh mens actions good or bad but this intention is known only unto God who sees the harts of men But if the actions of other men cannot be excused from being bad what is this to thee why art thou not ashamed to discover the fowl and hidden sins of others to make them known to all the world why dost thou not observe thyself who art worse then others Exercise thy censuring Tongue upon thyself blame thy own actions within thyself accuse thy own malice and perversenes and judge thyself For if thou dost fist judge thy self thou wilt be secure from the rigorous judgments of God 6. As we are alwaies ready to censure carp at the actions of others seeking by this means to be esteemed wise and discreet Soe we are apt to suspect that others think or speak ill of us and that they hate and contemn us That thou maist overcome this vice endeavor first to moderate in thyself the desire of pleasing and to be well esteemed of by others In the next place thou must endeavor to remove out of thy mind the thought of desiring to know what others think or speak of thee whereas it often happens that those whom thou supposest to speak ill of thee to mark thy actions doe not soe much as think of thee Say with S. Paul If I should please men I should not be the Servant of Jesus-Christ Whatever others speak of thee doe thou still say with the same Apostle To me it is a thing of least account to be judged of men Such as thou art in the sight of God such thou art in thyself What others think and speak of thee cannot make thee better or worse It is better to be good then only seem to be soe 7. Nothing can happen contrary to thy will if thou canst wholly renounce thy own will and seek nothing but to conform thyself to the will of God Soe thou wilt enjoy solid peace and true quiet of mind Thou maist live as thou wilt if thou first learnest what thou art to desire But thou must remember thou art to desire nothing but what God willeth The only felicity we can have in this life is to desire to doe all our actions according to Gods will and not according to our own God leads thee to thy Soveraign end for which he had decreed thee from all Eternity through sorrow and joy through adversity prosperity Submit thyself to his divine providence and cheerfully obey his will for although thou resistest his will yet
forgiving no man Yet when thou art forced through justice to punish Criminels be not wholly unmindfull of mildnes and Clemency When thou punishest the guilty doe it as if thou wert forced to it against thy will and inclination and carry thyself towards those who offend the Laws as God beareth with thee As he beareth with thee in hope of making thee better soe thou oughtest to bear sometimes with others that they may grow better Thou hast no confidence in the Phisitian when thou despairest of the sick mans recovery But we ought to have more hope of his recovery by how much the Phisitian is more skillfull and obliging A man that is mild appears as a Rock above all the waves and storms of Anger and breaks all the force of the Tempest He is more contented to see the sinner repent then punished Our B. Saviour cryes unto all human kind Come all and learn of me not how to cure the sick and give health to Leapers not how to restore sight to the blind or raise up the dead But what Learn saith he of me because I am mild He seems to have included all the Treasures of wisedome and science in this one point to wit that we are to learn of him how to be mild Such is the excellency of this Vertue 2. As mildnes is a vertue that moderates Anger so clemency is a vertue which moderates the severity of punishment The first belongs unto all men the second unto Princes only and Superiours The nature and property of it is to inflict a lesser punishment then the Laws require not out of fear interest friendship or other motive but through a pure motive of mildnes He that is armed with this vertue will have no need to build castles fortresses upon steep Rocks a Prince that is clement is secure without all fortifications Clemency is the only invincible strength which secureth Governments An evill Prince is hated because he is feared and he desires nothing more then to be feared because he knows he is hated All subjects hate those whom they fear consequently wish the death of such as they hate He that contemns his own life is said to be master of his Princes life T is in vain for a King to think to secure himself by his power if he wants the good will of his people It is as great a disgrace for a Prince to punish many as it is for a Phisitian to be the cause of many funerals If a King is slow in making use of his power to revenge if he contemns thinks himself above all injuries and affronts if he sacrifices some offenders to the anger of others and none to his own he shews himself a true King It is the nature and property of a gallant spirit to be ever mild and quiet CHAP. XXXIII Of Modesty The properties of studiosity Of the rule use of Eutrapelia 1. MOdesty is a geat ornament to all other vertues and good qualities It is the true form of honesty and bridle of vice Although thou speakest nothing yet thy habit and gestures shew what thou art We may judge of vertue by small signs We often see what a man is by his countenance laughing gate and turning of his eyes Live soe that all may know thou belongest to the society of Angels Observe a constant decorum in all the motions of thy body in all thy gestures speech and looks that thou maist not seem rude or effeminate in any thing True modesty doth not only reside in the mind but appears also in an outward gravity of the body as if the soul took pleasure in seeing the exteriour conform itself to the interiour A modest man is a living picture of the Deity for his only sight is enough to strike gravity into those who behold him And who can expresse what an excellent thing it is to doe good unto our neighbours by being seen only It belongs also unto modesty not to exceed thy state and condition in thy cloaths household-stuffe and multitude of Servants These are impediments of thy mind which doe not adorn thee but the things that are without thee Why therefore dost thou rejoyce in thy unhappines Why dost thou admire vain things and makest glory in things which doe thee more hurt then good This great Trayn of servants which are alwaies about thee may be rather called a troop of Enemies whom thou canst never fear enough They are still more ready to observe what thou dost then to hear what thou commandest Nothing is more humble then their entrance into thy service nothing more insolent then their progresse or comportment in it and nothing more full of hatred then their going from thee 2. Studiosity hath two properties the one is to know how to govern and moderate the desire of knowing which most commonly is greater then it should be the other is to shake of all idlenes and to stir up out industry to learn those things which are necessary Nature hath given man a wit naturally enclined to Curiosity and conscious of her own beauty skill hath made us spectatours of all her excellent works and would esteem all her labour lost if so many great and excellent things lay hid and were seen by none but herself But we abuse the goodnes of nature searching with too much curiosity into those things which were better unknown He is not to be counted wise or learned who knows much but who knows what is to the purpose We should first learn those things which concern our Salvation But I doe not dissuade thee from reading other things provided thou referrest all things to good manners and to make thyself better Take heed that too much reading of too many books doth not discover a fickle unconstant spirit Thou must fixe thy study upon a certain number of good and choyce books if thou desirest to learn any thing that may remain in thy mind There is more pleasure in reading severall sorts of books but more profit in reading few choyce ones 3. It is necessary to let our mind rest sometimes and to recreate it after much labour for no study can last long without some intermission The antient Law-givers designed certain dayes wherein the people might meet together to be merry and recreate their spirits There are severall sorts of actions which may divert and recreate the mind As for example to walk in some open and pleasant place where the mind may be free to contemplate and the body grow more vigorous with enjoying fresh ayr to goe and passe some time in the countrey free from all the tumults of the City Thou maist also divert thyself in hawking hunting fishing and the like innocent recreations supposing they are not misbecoming thy state and condition thou maist likewise apply thyself to some mild and recreative Study hear or play upon some Musicall Instrument use some innocent play converse merrily and jeast with thy friends but with this caution that thou dost not