of the Testament was taken by the Enemies And all the rest of the Prediction was fulfill'd a little after The Third Example is of Amnon 2 Reg. 13. the eldest Son of David The Scripture recounts but one wicked Action of his yet one so black and detestable that it necessarily supposes many others it being certain that a Man never ascends on a suddain to the height of Impiety and that great Crimes are the Effect of a Soul abandon'd by God for her precedent Sins This young Prince having permitted his Heart to be overcome with unchast Love lets himself be carry'd away in such a manner that this brutish Passion which ordinarily moves to heinous Extremities and enormous Crimes making him lose the most inviolable Laws of Nature excited him to love unchastly his own Sister whereupon when he could not obtain her Consent to such an abominable Proposal he adds Force to Passion committing in one only Action two most enormous Crimes Violence and Incest But the Divine Justice did not wait long before it made appear what a Horror it had for the Crimes and wicked Life of this young Prince For two Years after he was kill'd by his own Brother Absolom who had conceal'd this Revenge in his Heart all that time O God how terrible are thy Judgments The Fourth which is of Absolom 2 Reg. 13 14. the Third Son of David who was no better than his Brother Amnon He had a proud dissembling revengeful and highly ambitious Mind having a mighty Esteem for himself and his own Beauty which by report of Scripture was extraordinary The first wicked Action which the Scripture relates of him but which must needs have been preceded by many others is the Murther of his Brother Amnon which was an abominable Crime For this Action he was cast out of his Father's Favour and banish'd from him for the space of five Years after which he was recall'd and admitted to his Favour again He was scarce return'd to his Father's Court when he begins to devise a famous Rebellion against him And having by his Addresses gain'd the Affection of the People he departs to a little Village where he causes himself to be Proclaim'd King. After this he takes up Arms against his Father constrains him to fly from the City of Jerusalem and pursues him with a strong Army which he had rais'd to deprive him of his Crown What will the Divine Justice do here Will it be insensible of the Wrongs of such a degenerate Child Hearken Theotime to what the Sacred Scripture relates David seeing himself brought to such Straits by his Son was oblig'd to make Head against him and oppose him He sets in order the small Forces he had with him sends them to Fight gives him Battel Absolom's Men tho' far more in number are Defeated In this Discomfiture O the Divine Judgments it happens that Absolom endeavouring to save himself by Flight was carry'd under a great Oak and as he wore his Locks very long his Hair by a strange Accident and particular Permission of God was so strongly entangl'd in the Branches of the Tree that the Mule he rode on could not carry him away but continuing his Course left him hanging by the Head without being able to disengage himself David's Soldiers seeing him in this Condition came and ran him thro' with a Lance and kill'd him immediately altho' David by an incredible Bounty sending them to the Battel had expresly forbidden them to offer any hurt to his Person O Divine Justice Thou shewest most clearly that Thou dost not wink at the Iniquities of wicked Children and altho' Thou deferrest for a time the Chastisement they deserve to give them leisure to Repent Thou afterwards punishest most severely their Obstinacy in Sin and the Affront they offer to Thy Goodness with which Thou expectest their Repentance Behold Four Examples out of the Sacred Scripture which evidently manifest how God hath an Aversion for vicious young People The same Scripture might furnish us with many others Ancient Histories are all full and daily Experience produces but too many Examples in these Times Take notice of one thing worthy of Consideration An important Remark That in the Four precedent Examples are contain'd Three forts of Sins which render young People particularly odious to God and which are the most ordinary Causes of their Ruine In the First and Third the Sin of Impurity In the Second the Contempt of Religion and Holy Things to which may be referr'd the Abuse of Ecclesiastical Benefices by young Incumbents who many times draw upon themselves and their Families the Divine Malediction In the Fourth the Contempt of Parents and Rebellion against Fatherly Authority CHAP. VII That Salvation ordinarily depends on the Time of Youth WHAT we have said in the Four last Chapters Seventh most important Motive which obliges young People to Vertue hath discover'd unto you the Obligation you have to Serve God in your Youth by the Respect you owe to the Desire he hath thereof and for the Love he bears you A Respect which you cannot resist without offering him a most heinous Injury and incurring his Aversion and Displeasure Now I would make you know the same Obligation by the Interest of your Salvation and shew you clearly that your Salvation hath an extreme and almost entire dependance on the Life you lead during your Youth I would to God Theotime you and all those of your Age would comprehend well and never forget this Truth which is unknown to the greatest part of Men the ignorance whereof causes the Ruine and Damnation of many I wish all Men understood that the immense Eternity of Happiness or Misery which expects them after this Life depends upon this first Time which all the World despises and which the most part employs wickedly To convince you of this Verity I shall produce the Sentiment of the Sacred Scripture that is of the Holy Ghost himself who brings such express Testimonies that it is impossible to doubt of it For why doth it in so many places advertise young People to think of their Salvation betimes and to apply themselves to Vertue in their Youth except it were to shew that that Time is a Time of great Importance for their Salvation Why doth it say in Ecclesiastes a Memento Creatoris tui in diebus juventutis tuae antequam veniat tempus afflictionis Eccles 12. Remember your Creator in the days of your Youth before the Time of Afflictions comâ— and the sad and discomfortable Years approach From whence comes it that it assures us in the Proverbs That the b Adolescens juxta viam suam etiam senuerit non recedet ab ea Prov. 12. young Man shall continue even until his old Age in the Way he has once enter'd that is the manner of Life which he has begun Wherefore doth it say by the Prophet Jeremy That it is c Bonum est homini cum portaverit jugum
ab adolescentia sua Thren 3. good for a Man to carry his Yoke from his Youth that is to addict himself to Vertue and to bear the pleasing Yoke of Gods Commandments Why in Ecclesiasticus doth it exhort young People so powerfully to Vertue by those excellent Words able to win the most insensible Hearts Son d Fili à juventute tua accipe doctrinam usque ad canos invenies sapientiam quasi is qui arat seminat accede ad eam sustine bonos fructus illius in opere enim illius paululum laborabis cito edes de generationibus illius Quam aspera est nimium sapientiae indoctis hominibus non permanebit in illa excors Quibus autem cognita est permanet usque ad conspectum Dei. Eccl. 6. receive Instructions from your Youth and you shall find Wisdom even to the end of your Life Approach unto it as he who would Cultivate the Earth that is with Care and Labour and expect the pleasing Fruit which it will bring you You will labour a little to obtain it but soon after you will tast of its admirable Fruits 'T is true Vertue is hard and difficult but it is only to those who are insensible and vicious But those who have once known it well find it pleasing and never part with it any more and it will continue with them even to the last accomplishment of their Salvation in Eternal Glory And all the rest of that Chapter is but a continual Exhortation to young People to become Vertuous Wherefore in the Twenty fifth Chapter doth it say Quae in juventute tua non congregasti quomodo in senectute tua invenies Eccl. 25. That it is impossible to find in old Age what was not laid up in Youth And Lastly Amongst the Books of Sacred Scripture why was there one expresly made for the Instruction of Youth which is that of Proverbs Doth not all this manifestly discover that the Holy Ghost would give Men to understand that the Time of Youth is of extream Consequence and the greatest Part esteem it not And that all Happiness and Misfortune of Men whether in this Life or in the next depends ordinarily on that Time well or ill bestow'd It being commonly most certain that those obtain their Salvation who in their Youth are bred up in the Fear of God and Observation of his Commandments And that those who have not been Educated in that Fear of God or who cast it from before their Eyes to follow Sin with more Liberty do misfortunately Perish All this Truth is rais'd from those Two Foundations whereof the First is That those who have follow'd Vertue in their Youth continue easily therein all the remainder of their Life And the Second That on the contrary those who have given themselves over to Sin at that time do very hardly correct themselves and most frequently are never withdrawn We shall discover these two Truths more amply in the following Chapters CHAP. VIII That those who have follow'd Vertue in their Youth conserve it easily all the remainder of their Life EXperience makes this Proposition so evident Eighth Motive that it is accounted a thing most certain in the Sentiment of the Sacred Scripture and understanding Men. To make you more sensible of it I shall discover unto you the Reasons thereof relying upon both those Authorities The First is That Habits gotten in Youth are conserv'd a long time and are not easily lost This is clear in the Holy Scripture Prov. 22. The young Man will not leave in his old Age the manner of Living he hath once begun that is very rarely It is incredible how powerful the first Impressions are and how deeply the first Habits are rooted in young Souls The first Impressions of young Minds saith S. Jerom are very hardly defaced S. Jero Epist ad Laet. Difficulter eraditur quod rudes animi perbiberunt lanarum conchylia quis in pristinum candorem revocet recens testa diu saporem retinet odorem quo primum imbuta est Wooll which hath once taken its first Tincture doth not easily lose it to return to its former Candor And an Earthen Vessel keeps long the Smell and Tast of that Liquor wherewith it was first Season'd For this Reason the Scripture says a Thren 3. That it is good that is to say very important for a Man to addict himself to Vertue in his Youth Because having acquir'd it in that Time it is easily conserv'd the remainder of ones Life As it says in that other place b Eccl. 6. Receive Instruction in your Youth and you shall find Wisdom even unto the end of your Life S. Bernard says S. Bern. lib. De ordi vitae Multi senes diu viventes nihil proficientes quia nullas sibi in opportuno tempore divitias congregarunt That we need not seek any other Causes why we see so many old Men full of Vices and destitute of all sorts of Vertues but because they acquir'd them not in their Youth which is the proper Time for it * Senectus eorum qui adolescentiam suam honestis artibus instrukerunt in lege Domini meditati sunt aetate fit doctior usu certior processu temporis sapientior veterum studiorum dulâ—issimos fructus metit Jerom. Epist ad Nepot And S. Jerom describing the excellent Qualities of the old Age of those who apply'd themselves to Vertue in their Youth saith That they become more Knowing by their Age more Assur'd by Experience more Discreet by the Process of Time and gather the agreeable Fruits of the ancient Labours of their Youth The Second Reason is because Youth is the Time of most violent Temptations which being overcome we easily surmount all others The Temptations of Pleasure are without question the most violent Inter omnia Christianorum certamina duriora sunt praelia castitatis ubi quotidiana pugna rara victoria S. Aug. Serm. 250. de temp Quem tormenta non vicerant superabat voluptas Jer. in vit Paulin. they sometimes conquer those whom Torments could not overcome Now altho' these Temptations are common to all Ages yet nevertheless it is most certain that they are ordinarily more strong and frequent in Youth which as * Adolescentia multa corporis bella sustinet inter incentiva vitiorum carnis titillationes quasi ignis in lignis viridibus suffocatur S. Jerom. Epist ad Nepot S. Jerom says is a continual Combat of Chastity and being environ'd with the Occasions of Sin and urg'd by the Provocations of the Flesh it suffers very much to conserve its Purity like Fire that is almost choak'd with green Wood heap'd upon it But when by the Succours of Divine Grace which as we have shewn above are greater and more abundant in Youth as the Temptations are more frequent and impetuous one has gain'd the Victory in these first Encounters it happens
and obstinate Spirits who are not mov'd to their Duty by Reason and Love as for you Theotime who have a Design to serve God with all your Heart these Menaces are not necessary and to perswade you to render to your Parents all the Respect you owe them it suffices to tell you that that is reasonable which God desires These are the two Motives by which the Apostle S. Paul convinc'd Children of this great Obligation a Filii obedite parentibus vestris in Domino hoc enim justum est Ephes 3. Children said he obey your Parents because it is just b Filii obedite parentibus per omnia hoc enim placitum est Domino Coloss 3. Children obey your Parents in all things because it pleaseth God. Render then to your Parents Theotime the Honor you owe them considering 1. That it is just and reasonable 2. That God will have it so God I say whose Will ought to be the Rule of our Actions and whose good Pleasure is the most powerful Motive to a generous Soul. Now the Honor you ought to give to your Parents comprehends Four principal things which you owe them viz. Children owe Four things to their Parents Respect Love Obedience and Assistance First Bear them a great Respect 1. Respect considering them as those from whom next to God you have receiv'd your Being Have a great care of ever despising them for any Reason whatsoever neither interiorly by any thought of Contempt nor exteriorly by any Words or disesteeming Actions Receive with respect their Instructions Admonitions and Reprehensions * Audi fili disciplinam patris tui ne dimittas legem matris tuae Prov. 1. Stultus irridet disciplinam patris sui qui autem custodit increpationes astutior fiet Prov. 15. Hearken my Son says the Wiseman to the Instructions of your Father and depart not from the Law of your Mother For as he says afterwards it is the part of a Fool to mock at the Correction of his Father he who makes his advantage of it will become more wise Secondly 2. Love. You ought to love them with a singular Love. * Honora patrem tuum gemitus matris tuae ne obliviscaris memento quoniam nisi per illos natus non fuisses retribue illis quomodo illi tibi Eccl. 7. Remember says the Wiseman that you receiv'd from them your Birth and render your Thanks for it Now you cannot perform this any other way but by loving them Yet take notice that this Love must not only be a natural and sensible Love it must also be a rational Love and according to God. To love them according to God you must love them because God commands it and as he commands it that is in such a manner that you love principally their Spiritual Good and Salvation and endeavor to procure it by your Prayers and all other Means which lies in your power Thirdly 3. Obedience Obey their Commands and be ready to perform their Will but obey as S. Paul prescribes In Domino In God that is because God will have it casting your Eye chiefly upon God who commands you by them for it is God who commands you to obey them and when you obey them you obey God as on the contrary not o-obeying them you disobey God except they command you something against the Honor of God or your Good for in these two Cases you owe them not your Obedience Nevertheless you must be very discreet in this Occasion and take Advice of able Persons that you may not be deceiv'd Fourthly Fili suscipe senectam patris tui non contristes eum in vita illius etsi defecerit sensus veniam da ne spernas eum in virtute tua Eccl. 3. You must assist them in their Necessities as in their Distempers in their Poverty in their old Age and generally in all their Temporal and Spiritual Necessities To leave them in these Occasions is a very great Crime which cries to God for Vengeance I fine Theotime to keep you laways within the Bounds of your Duty towards your Parents set often before your Eyes two very contrary Examples Two contrary Examples Look upon the misfortunate Absolon who having violated in all manner of ways the Duty of a Child towards his Father found at the End the just Chastisement of his Crime in the dreadful and miserable Death which we have recounted above Part 1. Ch. 6. And on the other side consider often the admirable Example not of a Man but of the Son of God himself who being Incarnate and made Man for our Salvation would be subject and obedient to his most holy Mother and St. Joseph Erat subditus illis Luc. 2. until the Age of Thirty Years He who was the Sovereign Master of all things would be subject to teach by his Example all Children the Honor they ought to render to their Parents CHAP. V. Of other Persons whom young Men ought to honor NExt to your Parents there are other Persons you ought particularly to honor 1. You must honor those who represent them as Tutors and those who have a Charge of your Person 2. Your Masters whether Particular or Publick from whom you receive Instruction for Vertue and Learning You ought to honor them by so much more as they represent and supply the Place of Fathers and that the Goods you receive from them which are the Goods of the Mind that is Vertue and Science surpass all worldly Riches And as you ow to your Parents Respect Love Obedience and Assistance you ow also to your Masters Respect Love Obedience and Acknowledgment 3. Obedite Praepositis vestris subjacete eis Ipsi enim pervigilant quasi rationem pro animabus vestris reddituri Heb. 13. You ought to honor very particularly your Spiritual Fathers as your Pastors and all those who Instruct you in the Way of Salvation and chiefly your Ghostly Father you ought to respect him much regarding him as an Officer of God love him as the Minister of your Salvation obey him and follow his Councils in which young People are very much defective 4. Honora Deum ex tota anima tua honorifica sacerdotes Eccl. 7. Coram cano capite assurge honora personam senis Lev. 19. Adolescentes subditi estote senioribus 1 Pet. 3. Time Dominum fili mi Regem Prov. 24. Deum timete Regem honorificate 1 Pet. 2. Omnis anima potestatibus sublimioribus subdita sit non est enim potestas nisi à Deo. Rom. 13. Honor all the Persons that are Venerable either for Dignity as Priests whom the Scripture commands you to honor Or for their Age as old Men to whom young People should shew much Respect Or for their Vertue for if you honor God you will also honor them who serve him And finally Men Constituted in Publick Authority as the King and Magistrates whom God commands you
to honor as representing his Place and whom he hath Establish'd for his Ministers in the Temporal Government of Men and to whom every one ows Respect Love Obedience and Fidelity CHAP. VI. Of Tractableness THIS is one of the first Tractableness necessary and chiefest Vertue of Youth which being blind subject to many Faults and not able to conduct it self hath an absolute necessity of being guided by others more knowing and submitting it self to their Conduct and this Submission is call'd Tractableness It is a Vertue which makes us love What it is willingly receive search after and put in practice the Instructions Counsels Reprehensions and Exhortations to Good. O what an excellent Vertue Theotime Its Commendations is this which we may call the Ornament of Youth the Instrument of good Education the Mother of all Vertues in young Persons the Source of all Good the Cause of their Salvation A tractable Mind is capable of all Good as an untractable Mind is subject to all Wickedness We have spoken sufficiently of this Vertue and the opposite Vice in Part 1. Chap. 3. Read attentively and often what we have said and labor to obtain this Vertue as that on which your Happiness depends CHAP. VII Of Obedience OBedience is the Daughter of Tractableness Obedience necessary A tractable Mind renders it self obedient to the Will of others who have any Authority over it It is a Vertue necessary for Youth a Fundamental Vertue and without which one can never arrive at any solid Piety which made the Wiseman say Mens justi meditabitur obedientiam Prov. 15.28 that The Mind of the Just will meditate Obedience because it is a most necessary and effectual Means to acquire Vertue to which it aspires It is not only necessary for Youth but also so convenient for that Age that it is always proper and as it were natural A disobedient Child is a Species of a Monster And an ancient Author numbring up the Disorders which are found in the World St. Cyprian puts in the third rank a disobedient Child which he says is a Disorder which brings many others after it Love then Practice Theotime this Vertue so agreeable to your Age and besides so necessary and so powerful to make you really vertuous all the rest your Life Obey humbly and willingly your Parents your Masters and all those who have Authority over you I say obey humbly and willingly because it is not enough to obey but you must obey well A constrain'd Obedience yielded unwillingly by fear or force is a slavish Obedience which hath no Merit nor any shadow of Vertue True Obedience proceeds from the acknowledgment of ones Duty and a desire to please God in performing it well The First makes it humble the Second makes it voluntary prompt and facil You must obey thus if you desire your Obedience should be vertuous and agreeable to God. And by obeying thus you learn in good time not to do your own proper Will but that of others Proper Will which is ordinarily the cause of the Destruction of Men and chiefly of young Persons is an ill Guide which leads them into Precipices and makes them fall into many Misfortunes O Theotime the Wiseman says Vir obediens loquetur victorias Prov. 21.28 that The obedient Man will recount his Victories If you obey well in your tender Age you will recount one day the Victories you have gain'd over your most dangerous Enemy with your own proper Will you will know how much this Vertue was useful and praise God for it all your Life CHAP. VIII Of Chastity TRactableness and Obedience hinder the Disorders of the Mind and Chastity those of the Body It is a Vertue which entirely flies the Pleasures of the Flesh What Chastity is and studies to stifle the Thoughts Desires and Feelings of unclean Delight because they displease God. It is necessary for all Men How necessary but particularly for young Persons who being more susceptible of immodest Pleasures have a most particular need of this Vertue as we have shewn in Part 3. But as there is no Age for which it is more necessary than for Youth How convenient so there is none to which it is more convenient and advantagious I would to God Theotime you and all those of your Age could comprehend the Beauty of this Vertue with the Ornament and Profit it brings you If Chastity renders Men like Angels It makes them like Angels according to the Judgment of the holy Fathers cited above in Part 2. because it makes them imitate the Purity of the Angels in a frail Body It is chiefly in young Persons where this Effect is found true because their Age being less corrupted by Sin their Chastity approaches nearer to the Purity of those celestial Spirits If Chastity doth partake something of the Glory of Martyrdom And Martyrs according to the Sense of S. Jerom Habet pudicitia servata Martyrium saum S. Hier. Epist ad Demâ—â—r by reason of the rude Combats it sustains which sometimes are no less than those of Torments It is chiefly to the Chastity of young Persons to whom that Glory doth appertain Quem tormenta non vicerant volaptas superabat Idem in vita B. Hilarion Adolescentia multa corporis bella sustinet Idem Acrior pugna juvenum S. Aug. Ser. 23. de verbis Domini Martyrium sine sanguine triplex est Parcitas in ubertate quam habuit David Job Largitas in paupertate quam exercuit Tobias vidua Castitas in juventute qua usus est Joseph in Aegypto S. Bern. in Sententiis because the Combats they suffer are ordinarily more violent and more frequent than those of others which made S. Bernard say that besides the Martyrdom which is undergone by the Effusion of Blood there are yet Three others that is Frugality practis'd in Plenty whereof David and Job shew'd a Pattern Liberality in Poverty exercis'd by Tobias and the Widow in the Gospel and Chastity in Youth preserv'd by Joseph in Egypt Lastly Theotime those excellent Commendations Pudicitia flos morum honor corporum decor sexuum fundamentum sanctitatis praesagium omnis bonae mentis S. Cyp. de bono pudicitiae In malevolam animam non introibit sapientia nec habitabit in corpore subdito peccatis Sap. 1. which the Fathers give to Chastity which they call the Flower and Ornament of Manners The Honor of the Body The Groundwork of Sanctity The Presage of all sort of Vertues chiefly belong to young Men For it is true that Chastity in young Persons is a great Foundation for Vertue and all manner of Good may be expected from a chast Youth Because as the Spirit of God cannot dwell in impure Hearts so it takes delight to inhabit in chast Souls and to heap upon them all sorts of Favors Ruffin recounts to this purpose that St. Gregory of Nazianzen being yet young had a Vision
here also find others have a care to encounter them in good time that you may shun them and clear your self from them demanding daily of God for this effect the assistance of his Grace Exiguo enim conceditur misericordia potentes autem potenter tormenta patientur Sap. 6. Remember that the Justice of God will be severe towards the Great and Noble and their Sins will be punish'd more rigorously than those of others as it is said in the Book of Wisdom 5. Fifth Advice Make your Nobility advance Vertue You will say How can this be See how If being Noble you be Vertuous Minimè quidem Deus est acceptor personarum nescio tamen quo pacto virtus in nobili plus placet S. Bern. Epist ad Sophi first your Vertue will be in some manner more agreeable to God according to the Judgment of St. Bernard Besides your Example will move others to Vertue your Discourse will have more authority to persuade them to Good They will give credit to you when you mildly reprehend their Faults You will have Means to comfort the Afflicted Credit to relieve the Oppressed You may often take up Quarrels and reconcile Enemies Practise your self in all these things and God will give a Blessing to your Nobility and you will be Noble both before God and Men. See yet many things which concern Nobility in Part 5. Chap. 11. Article 1.3 4. CHAP. XII Particular Obstacles of young Incumbents or such as have Benefices without Cure. I Shall not Discourse to you here of all the Obstacles which Benefices may bring to the Salvation of Incumbents but only of those you may meet with during your Youth reserving to speak of the others at the End of this Work. Here I shall only take notice of Four amongst others The First consists in this First Obstacle That being an Incumbent from your Youth the Benefice designs you to an Ecclesiastical State before you be capable to make choice of it and perhaps you are not fit for it nor call'd by God and perhaps as it often happens you have an aversion and repugnance to it This Obstacle is of great Consequence and deserves to be well consider'd For those who enter thus into an Ecclesiastical State put themselves in danger of committing great Faults therein and of never obtaining their Salvation because that State bringing with it vast Obligations and requiring a greater Stock of Vertues and Perfections than others requires a more advis'd Deliberation and chiefly a Vocation from God. I shall appoint a Remedy for this Obstacle hereafter The Second Obstacle springs from the more particular Obligation which the Benefice brings of living holily Second Obstacle All Christians are oblig'd to Vertue but the Clergy and Incumbents by reason of the Sanctity of their State have a stricter Obligation to it This Obligation renders their Sins more heinous and them more criminal in the sight of God and is the cause that when they are vicious they draw upon their Heads the Divine Anger and his forsaking them From whence it happens that they become more wicked than others more obstinate in Vice and more incapable of Correction and Amendment Third Obstacle The Third Obstacle comes from the Obligation they have to recite the Divine Office of which young Incumbents discharge themselves very badly altho' they be oblig'd to it under mortal Sin and omitting to say it are oblig'd to the restitution of the Fruits of their Benefice according to the number of the Days they have omitted it This Impediment of the Salvation of Incumbents is very great For the contempt of their Duty and these mortal Sins thus neglected and repeated rendring them more unworthy of the Grace of God are the Causes why they fall into many other Sins and into extream Disorders as we daily see The Fourth Obstacle arises from the Obligation they have of exterior Modesty Fourth Obstacle and an Ecclesiastical Habit because as the Council of Trent says admirably well Etsi habitus non faciat Monachum oportet tamen Clericos vestes proprio congruentes ordini semper deferre Ut per decentiam habitus extrinseci morum honestatem intrinsecam ostendant Conc. Trid. Sess 14. c. 5. Altho' the Habit makes not a Monk yet nevertheless the Clergy ought always to wear a Habit conformable to their State that by the modesty of their exterior Habit they may discover the interior Goodness of their Manners But now adays Incumbents and particularly young ones know nothing of this Obligation For we see them Cloath'd like others Abuses of this Obligation always in short Garments sometimes in undecent Colours cover'd with Laces and other worldly Ornaments like Lay-men in long Hair and often Curl'd and Powder'd like Courtiers This is an intolerable Abuse which causes many Disorders amongst Incumbents who not being distinguish'd from the Laity in their Habit do not believe their Duty to consist in their Life and Manners It is a Disobedience to the Church which in all her Councils complains of this Disorder and commands Incumbents to wear an Ecclesiastical Habit. It is a Contempt of Religion and of the Ecclesiastical State as the Council of Trent calls it It is a considerable Injustice for is it not an unjust Action to desire to live on the Patrimony of the Church and not be content to bear her Mark Let every one take care of this that will but Incumbents who live thus and will not change are not in the State of Grace neither can they receive Absolution if they have not a full purpose to wear an Ecclesiastical Habit. Now if not they but their Parents enjoy it as it often happens they are oblig'd to admonish them and the Parents are not in a good State of Conscience but sin grievously if they hinder them from wearing a Habit agreeable to their State. For the remedy of these Obstacles see what you are to do As for the First First Remedy consider whether you have a repugnance to an Ecclesiastical Life and whether you be not determin'd to undertake that State for in that case you cannot with a safe Conscience keep your Benefice you are oblig'd to quit it and advertise your Parents or those on whom you depend that you have no intention of being an Ecclesiastic If you be only unresolv'd not having as yet an absolute Will to be or not to be of that Condition you should endeavor to resolve the soonest you can Now if you have no repugnance but rather an Inclination to an Ecclesiastical Life think not that your Benefice ought to be a sufficient Mark of your Vocation for perhaps you are not fit for it Wherefore never desist from begging daily of God to know the State which is most proper for his Service and your own Salvation and performing all that you ought to make a good Choice of your Condition as we shall shew you hereafter For a remedy of the three other
quaerit ascensum Apta namque aedificationibus e sylvis ligna succiduntur nec tamen adhuc viridibus aedificii pondus imponitur nisi eorum viriditatem multorum dierum mora siccaverit apta ad necessarium usum effecerit Quae observantia si forte negligatur citius superposita mole franguntur gignit ruinam ad auxilium res provisa S. Greg. l. 7. Epist. 112. That we must ascend unto Orders by Order for he seeks a Ruin and Precipice who desiring to mount up to a high Place leaves the ordinary Degrees to ascend by rough and craggy Ways And he adds an excellent Comparison For as Timber is not proper to be employ'd in Building when it is yet green and newly come out of the Forest except it be dry'd and season'd a long time otherwise it rather serves to ruin the Building than support it Thus they ought not to be advanc'd to Sacred Orders who have lately been engag'd in Sin except all their wicked Habits have been corrected by a long and serious Penance St. Jerom speaking of an Ecclesiastical State Vae homini illi qui non habens vestem nuptialem ingreditur ad coenam nil superest nisi ut audiat Amice quomodo huc intrasti c. Probet se unusquisque sic accedat Non facit Ecclesiastica dignitas Christianum S. Hier. Epist 1. says Wo be to him who enters therein without the Nuptial Robe of Sanctity He further adds Let every one Examin and Prove himself and not approach before that Trial. Ecclesiastical Dignity doth not make a Christian nor a vertuous Man such an one as an Ecclesiastic ought to be S. Bernard in many places of his Works Vae filiis irae qui nec dum reconciliati reconciliationis alienae negotia quasi homines qui justitiam fecerint apprehendunt S. Bern. de Conversi ad Clericos cap. 10. do's nothing but make Complaints and Invectives against those who enter thus into Orders without bringing with them the Preparation of a holy Life experienc'd in Vertue He says it is an insupportable Affront of those who do it and that it is the Source of all the Disorders of Ecclesiastics St. Thomas establisheth this Difference between Sacred Orders and a Religious State Religionem ingredi non solum expedit his qui sunt exercitati in praeceptis ut ad majorem perfectionem perveniant sed etiam his qui non sunt exercitati ut facilius peccata vitent perfectionem assequantur Ad dicendum quod ordines sacri praeexigunt sanctitatem sed Status Religionis est exercitium quoddam ad sanctitatem assequendam Unde pondus ordinum imponendum est parietibus jam per sanctitatem desiccatis sed pondus religionis desiccat parietes id est homines ab humore vitiorum S. Thom. 2.2 Quaest 180. Art. 1. Vtrum qui non sunt exercitati in praeceptis debeant ingredi religionem That to enter into Religion it is not necessary to be Exercis'd beforehand in Vertue but to enter into Orders it is requir'd And he brings this Reason Because says he Sacred Orders require a precedent Sanctity which the State of Religion do's not which is an Exercise instituted to attain unto Sanctity All these Authorities are clear and admit of no Reply Give ear to that of the whole Church speaking in the Council of Trent The Sacred Council after it had determin'd the Age wherein one might receive Holy Orders adds That a Sciant tamen Epifcopi non singulos in ea aetate constitutos debere ad hos ordines assumi sed dignos duntaxat quorum probata vita senectus sit Concil Trid. Sess 25. c. 12. all those are not capable of Orders who have attain'd to that Age but only those who are worthy of it and whose experienc'd Life is a certain old Age That is they should recompence their Age by the Wisdom of their Life and Sanctity of their Manners according to that Maxim of the Wiseman which says That b Cani sunt sensus hominum aetas senectutis vita immaculata Sap. 4. the gray Hairs of a Man consists in Wisdom and in a holy and immaculate Life After all these Authorities there is no reason to doubt of the necessity of this Preparation to an Ecclesiastical State but rather to be both astonish'd and sorry to see it so ill observ'd ARTICLE IV. The Conclusion of the Precedent Chapter These are the principal things which he who aspires to an Ecclesiastical State ought attentively to consider If then you deliberate of this Calling What is to be done about deliberating on an Ecclesiastical Life see what you have to do Practise all that we have said in the Sixth Chapter take a reasonable time to perform this Deliberation and during that time 1. Pray much Confess and Communicate often 2. Read and Meditate attentively what we have said concerning the Ecclesiastical State Weigh well the Greatness and Holiness of that Calling to conceive a high Esteem of it its Obligations to see whether you can acquit your self of them and its Dangers to avoid them Examin diligently and without flattering your self what Motive you bring to this State what Fitness you have for it and whether you have nothing in you which may be contrary to it 3. Confer often with some wise and vertuous Ecclesiastic who shall perfectly know how to inform you of all you ought to consider in that Calling and discover to you whether you have requisite Dispositions for it If after a long Deliberation you believe you ought to embrace that State What is to be done after the Resolution resolve to dispose your self for it as you ought that is by a holy and vertuous Life and by a serious Study of the Knowledge of those things which shall be necessary for you And as soon as you are fixt upon your Resolution apply your self seriously to these two things First 1. He must prepare himself by a holy Life Addict your self entirely to Piety fly Sin labor to mortifie your Passions to correct your irregular Inclinations to attain to Christian Vertues Chastity Humility Modesty Simplicity and the Contempt of the World Fly the Spirit of the World and worldly Conversation frequent the Sacraments read pious Books and above all the New Testament and Books which treat of the Obligations of an Ecclesiastical State which the holy Fathers have left us as the Offices of S. Ambrose the Epistle of S. Jerom to Nepotian of the Life of Clergymen the Pastoral of S. Gregory the Declamations of S. Bernard alias De contemptu mundi ad Clericos his Books De Conversione ad Clericos his Books De Consideratione and other Works of this Subject as well ancient as modern Authors A remarkable Advice Have frequently before your Eyes that remarkable Advice which S. Jerom gave to Rusticus a Monk who aspir'd to an Ecclesiastical State * Ita age vive in Monasterio ut