Conscience FIRST MAXIM Of making many Books there is no end Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter Fear God and keep his Commandmens this is the whole duty of Man Eccles 12. PARAPHARASE MUch is the Counsel that 's given and many are the Books that are written to help Man to become great and to render him perfect Wisdom has but one word thereupon and this word is the Compendium of all that wise Men have said the end of all that which its self said since the beginning of ages It hath never spoken nor ever writ but to make Men understand how to love God and obey his Will this is to be the whole duty of Man REFLECTION WHen the Creator formed the project of our nature and that he conceiv'd the Idaea of Man as he pretended that this was the chief and most excellent Piece he conceived not onely a Body and a Soul He saw well that as the Body separated from the Soul would be but rottenness even so the Soul seperated from God would be another deformity infinitely more frightfull and instead of the being chief of the work he contrived he should but make a monster Not to fail in his design at the same time that he joyned the Body with the Soul he judged that it was necessary to joyn the Soul with God by the means of Grace and he would that this Grace entred into his workmanship and that these three together were the whole Man Stop a moment and consider well the Wisdom of God when he proposed to himfelf the meeting of these three so different things and to form thereof the chief of his work How many marvels in Man when they are united How many misfortunes when they are seperated Grace repelled and withdrawn the Soul there 's reprobation and sin The Body separate from the Soul there 's death The Soul separated from the Body and from Grace there is Hell Three objects of horrour or of fear Rejoyn these and make but one they are three coelestial beauties and the three greatest miracles of divine power united together and that is Man Time Deum hoc est omnis Homo II. MAXIM Let thy glorying be in the fear of the Lord and all thy communication in the precepts of the most High Eccles 9. PARAPHRASE EStablish your Honour by fearing God and being faithful to him If you would that Men should look on you with respect and esteem and always see on your countenance that modesty and in your conduct that force and tranquility of spirit which raises a man above other men have always in your self some thought of the goodness of the Creator and his eternal perfections and accustome your heart not to relye but on him in all its designs and hopes REFLECTION DO not as the proud In timore Domini sit tibi gloriosio man who is ashamed to fear and to worship God because people fear and worship him and who establisheth his honour by making light of his duty Take you heed in forming your opinions and Maxims of taking for a man of nobility and greatness your being less wise then others And do not believe a folly that is particular to be more worth then Wisdom that 's common If because you are noble it 's painful to you to do what mean people do That which is good you ought to do better then they Do not imitate his devotion surpass it Do not follow him in the ways of falvation and in the exercise of righteousness and holiness have regard to your condition March first and serve as an example Keep your rank in the Churches permit not that any should be more devout nor more modest then you Since you are first in quality your place before the Altars and during the sacrifices is to be more near to God and the more raised by Prayer Remember that you have no surer means to put your self above this croud of little people then to abase your self more then they before this supream Majesty and to adore him more perfectly III. MAXIM Vanity of vanities all is vanity and vexation of spirit Eccles 1. PARAPHRASE YOu must love nothing but Universa vanitas God The true good and true pleasure is not to be found but in him alone The good which appears before our eyes deceives us it is nothing but illusion and vanity And this false and apparent good becomes a real evil as soon as it pleases us and that we begin to love it REFLECTION ALl the felicities of this life are vain and deceitful When they present themselves to us we take them for stable and immoveable things Our heart being drawn by this appearance stretcheth out its arms and blindly fastens its self unto them promising its self eternal pleasures in possessing them But it is to embrace running water from the hour that we begin to possess rhem they begin to run away from us During embracements and joys and amidst our mutual promises and hopes of an inseperable tye they escape from between our hands and continue their course we continue ours and we quit our selves we go each where our destiny calls us and where time leads us They to nothing we to death Time goes apace and the end is near it is not far between the pleasures of a moment and the tears of eternity These long years that we figure between the two are very often but a night Perhaps those who shall see us this evening settled in a high and powerful fortune will find us next morning buried in its ruines Today prosperity health riches and honours To morrow all these vanities in the air wind and smoak our Body in a Tomb our Soul in another World there to lament and to say eternally but too late Universa vanitas afflictio spiritus The justest reason we ought Vanitas vanitatum to contemne these runagate felicities for consists in this word Vanitas God alone is the true Good created goods are the productions and shadows of this essential and Infinite Good Consider and open your eyes You are rich but if God withdraws himself from your heart what remains and of what do you boast To be heir and master of the shadow of an house without having any right to the house and without being able to go into it what Patrimony and what sort of inheritance is this for a man To be Master of a Treasure or a Revenue Master of a Kingdom an Empire a part of the World the whole World all the appearances of good Possess all the shadows of God all his works all his gifts but without possessing of himself What a possession is this for a Soul who breaths after the true Good and who cannot be filled or satisfied but by him alone The worst of it is that these shadows of the Creator these Riches and Magnificences which are about us are not in us Gold and Silver enter into the Houses Pleasures enter into your eyes and senses
orders of reason In the state of wisdome and of Christian holyness the same passions rayse not themselves but under reason but in a state of licentiousness they raise themselves above it These tempestuous darknesses cover thâ— whole man and spread trouble and obscurity even to the highest region The passions are strong so are you much stronger then they I can say at least of the wise man of all great men that they have in their persons three powerfull helps against these domestic enemies three benefits of the Orator Sanctified by Grace Good nature Courage and wisdome III. MAXIM I had a good spirit came into a body undefiled Wisd 8. PARAPHRASE I have found in me saith Solomon from my youth all the bounties of an excellent nature They are not the fruits of my pains nor the gifts of fortune God who governs the accidents of our birth and life hath given them me t is the work of his hands and a present of his love more ancient then my selfe REFLECTION AN excellent and fine nature is no other Sortitâ—s sum animam bonam veâ—i ad corpuâ— coinquinatum thing then the excellency and the beauty of a noble soul communicated to the Passions As souls of that rank possess their nobility and greatness from the birth when they enter into the body they have the power to help nature to compose their temperaments and these are they who by Tabernaâ—ulum pro habitu suo fingunt the impression of their force and sweetness do form the imagination give the Character to the organs They shed out of themselves their qualities and all they can of their divine fire and heavenly inclinations to mingle it among the bloud and the corrupted passions and by this happy medley they weaken the poyson of the corruption and the mortal violence of the malady that it finds there Thâ—se pure starrs have influences which insinuate themselves secretly among the flames of lust and there tempers that which is most burning in their fury and most unruly in their motions One sees in many persons a moderation and a purity which makes one think that there remaines not any spot of the sin of Adam in them There appears nothing but what is handsom in their passions nor any thing which seems not to agree with the spirit and to have spiritual inclinations That comes here from that this spirit sublime by priviledge common to all perfect Beings hath a secret power of which that of the Loadstone is a shaddow to draw from the earth all that it toucheth and to draw it unto its Pole The passions touched by the vertue of a noble soul turn themselves towards Heaven and aspire not but to laudable and honest ends Vir sapiens fortis est The spirit of Man is wise and strong because that there is nothing in his person which opposeth it self unto its elevation and which refuseth to follow them IV. MAXIM He that is slow to anger is better then the mighty and he that ruleth his spirit then he that taketh a City Prov. 16. PARAPHRASE COurage and the love of true honour is enough to render a man Master of his lusts and desires Courage contains two vertues force and patience And these are as the two parts which compose it and distinguisheth it from the other perfections of our nature By force we resist Men and our enemies that are strangers by patience our passions and domestick enemies Conquerors of Men are admired and crowned upon earth Conquerors of themselves are so in Heaven Violenti capiunt illud and it is for them that all the triumphs and immortal Crowns are there prepared The vigour of those is worth much and it deserves the reputation that it hath in the World The Patience of these although the World prize it less is much more worth it is the most necessary and ought to be most honoured The one and the other have been always put in the first rank of the moral vertues and they are those that have given the name of Great to the Constantines and the Charlemâ—ins and which have made the Heroes of old adored But if you cannot aspire but to one of the two chuse that which wise Men have preferred and mark that amongst your Maxims the words that one has seen written upon some Princes Standards and that all great Souls find graven in themselves as a device of natures chusing Melior est patiens viro forti qui dominatur animo suâ— expugnatore urbium REFLECTION ONe demands what this Courage is Every body answers It is easy to deceive ones self therein and to take appearance for truth Many do ill to put it in the number of feavers and the heats of their corrupted nature and to believe that it is no other thing then an inflammation of choler which unexpectedly kindles it selfe at the meeting of soâ—e object of Anger and which heating the imagination and troubling the humours of the body pusheth the man inconsiderately into dangers Courage is not of the number of the passions it is their Master nature keeps it in the middle of them not as a Criminal amongst its Accomplices but a Conquerour amongst his Slaves to keep them in duty and subject them to labour Their fires are different from his but they are fit to serve him Some perswade themselves that this which we call true Courage is a Military Angel who during combats enters into the soules of the Heroes and there produceth the Marvels that we admire Others That t is only the inspiration or the breath of this Angel which pusheth on the hearts of souldiers and gives motion to armies The most wise have very wisely said that it is a spiritual flame kindled by the Creator in the highest part of our Soul as a starr in the highest part of the Firmament A peaceful and regular flame sublime incorruptible ardent pure and fruitfull alwayes fastned to Heaven and busy on earth by an inexhaustible emanation of influences necessary for the conservation of the repose and life of the people But whatsoever Courage may be do not you believe that to be couragious you are obliged to take arms and go seâ—k enemies in far Countreys Abide where you aâ—e and make warr against your passions you shal do saith Solomon more than those who wear the sword When that you pardon injuries and by a generous patience you suffer slanders and calumnies you are better then the souldiâ—r that revengeth them And it is more honourable to you to stop in you any transport of anger or to repell in you any thoughts which flatter you and draw you to sin then to destroy an Army and to take Cities Your greatness and your glory is not to abase others before you but to be great in your selfe and to have above those an elevation independent on their fall or misery When you overcome your irregular impatience and you resist the motions that carry you to loose actions that are prohibited
deceive it is no less to be deceived by lyars Freedom or openheartedness and sincerity are vertues of great price Possess them but to have them don't sell prudence 'T is a light as necessary as your eyes keep it well and consider that you live in the night Treacheries praecipices and darkness are on the Earth Tread not thereon without being inlightned and seeing where you are and what is about you You see there abundance of giddy fires and lighted exhalations take heed you take them not for torches and mark that among your Maxims That the misfortune or affront most to be feared of humane Wit is to follow counter feit lights and to be made the sports of cheats and Hypocrites Know those men who treat with you or who approach you have the skill to read in their heart when they speak to you and by things they tell you to understand those which the dissemble Distinguish true modesty Quando submiserit vocem ne credideris ei quoniam septem nequiâ—iae sunt in corde illius Prov. 26. from the false and do not suffer your self to be surprised saith Solomon by a sort of people who under their modest looks and their sweet and devout voices carry in their Souls seven sorts of Poisons to shed into yours Know what a prudent man in business ought to know and all that he ought to know to keep at each meeting and in each company the rank of a Man of honour incapable to deceive or be deceived At least be not ignorant of the four most necessary things though ordinarily the most unknown and the most hidden Your own defects the thoughts of Men the secrets of Nature and Truths of God We have within us by the benefit of Providence and Grace Torches to help us easily to know and discover those things We know our defects and miseries by the Light of Conscience The thoughts and intentions of Men by Experience and Judgement The secrets and wonders of Nature by the Light of Philosophy In fine The greatness of God and the Mysteries of Religion by the Light of Faith But the happiness to which you ought to aspire is that Wisdom should be the fifth and Soveraign For as these Torches may somtimes go out the employment Non extinguitur in nocte lucerna ejus Prov. 31. of Wisdom is to keep them always lightned and to have a care that the day be never wanting to us during this night and these dangers I say too much if you will meditate you shall find all in these two words Veritatem emâ— noli vendere Sapientiam II. MAXIM Be not Wise in thine own eyes Fear the Lord and depart from evil Proverb 3. PARAPHRASE BE not wise in such sort as can make none believe that you are wise but your self and do not make to your self a Wisdom of which you would be the Author and that you would draw from your own Wit Remember that there is no other but the ancient and true which is to fear God and to do nothing contrary to the Laws of Conscience and Reason REFLECTION LEt it never enter into Ne sis sapiens apud temet ipsum your mind that you are a man of merit Be you the only person who neither knows nor speaks of your own worth Whoever knows that he 's wise shall not be so long and assoon as he says he is he is so no longer and perhaps never shall be more Man ought to be ignorant of his perfections at least he ought not to consider them Since that we are of a spiritual nature it is necessary that our actions of esteem and friendship should regard some body besides our selves Let us be affraid of pleasing our selves for fear we please none but our selves and if we would be loved have a care of being suspected to believe that we ought to be so In fine our eye and our tongue are no more for us then our heart To speak of our selves is no less folly then to speak to our selves To look on a mans self is scarce more worth then to love a mans self and perhaps it is as dangerous for one to know that he hath somwhat good in him as to be ignorant of what he has that's evil It is of the vertues and beauties of our Soul as the deformities and nakedness of our Body we ought to hide them from our eyes It is not a thing less criminal to fix the sight on the one then the other All these aspects make immodest looks Bashfulness and honesty turn away from it and nature equally blushes at them III. MAXIM Seek not out the things that are too hard for thee neither search the things that are above thy strength Eccles 3. PARAPHRASE ENdeavour not to attain to that which is above you nor to comprehend misteries which are above your understanding Content your self to know what God commands you and is necessary for your salvation And touching his works natural look on and contemplate what he exposeth thereof to your eyes But undertake not to discover what he would should be unknown REFLECTION THe excellency and the skill of a fine Wit when it contemplates this World consists not in knowing and seeing better then others which cannot be either seen or known But better to know and better to admire what he doth see and what Providence hath discovered When an excellent Artist considers a piece of Painting publickly exposed he does not glory in seeing there what was to others invisible The simplest and most ignorant see all the fine strokes in the workmanship asmuch as he but they see them not as he sees them His advantage above them is That in seeing he remarks them and by his reflections he knows and sees that in his mind which those see not by the eyes of the body and that which enters not into their blind understanding When a wise Philosopher contemplates the Sun and the Stars and that in these incorruptible Lights he sees some glimpses or shadows of the beauty of the Creator he sees nothing but what the Profane and Atheists see clearly and what they behold aswell as he But to behold and to look is a small matter the Eagles do it That of importance is to observe and remark it is this that ungodly Men do no more then beasts do These shadows of Divinity and other marvels which enter into their outward senses go no further Their brutish and ignorant Soul knows nothing thereof The part of a wise Man is to discover to his understanding all that nature discovers to his eyes He sees nothing that he minds not And it is in that that consists his difference from other people and all the glory of his knowing and sublime Wit It consists not as I have said to see or know things impenetrable That which providence hath been willing to cover and to keep hidden is equally so for all men Philosophers who seek it are neither learned Men nor Artists but
all sorts of persons False Maxims and evil Councils enter easily and sweetly into the spirit Fear them and leave not your self to be lead by men who go out of the common way There are paths in the spiritual life which appear fair one sees therein many things that make men believe that they are shortest to arrive to holiness but it is dangerous to follow them and they are ordinarily those which lead soonest and most certainly unto death REFLECTION ONe ought not to be astonished at finding here below such paths as these since one finds there proud Men and Hypocrites The unavoidable blindness and common â—o all proud men is to perswade themselves â—hat they see spots in the Sun errours in the Doctrine of the Church and abuses in its Conduct And that which is yet worse is That driven by the zeal that the illusion inspires â—hem with they undertake to wipe out these spots and to correct those errours Nothing which the hand of God has made seem to them finisht but when they have changed somthing or that they have given the last stroaks thereto 'T is thence that all the changes in the exercise of Devotion comes that we so often complain of and from thence all these particular ways of repentance and salvation where each one runs drawn by the splendor of novelty and where each seeks to wander and to perish There doth not appear presently in those ways but of footsteps holy and right seemingly marked by the rules of the Gospel and by the actions of the Apostles But Novissima ducunt ad mortem Novelty is a way that leads to the eldest sin thâ—t is Apostasy and to the last of evilâ— which is impenitence and despair The cause why so many fine people arâ— seen in this way so fatal is that the Devil haâ— always gone there first All Devil as he is he hath I know not what which pleases the Woman when he counterfeits the devout one although Heaveâ— and Earth could tell her she must run aftâ—â— him And when the Woman is seduced she hâ— I don't know what that bewitches the maâ— Each man does what Adam did The wise run after her And when wise Men begin to wander and to loose themselves there is then neither blind nor fool that follows them not and that believes not that it is Wisdom to imitate them and to perish with them One sees people run from far to enter into this dangerous way and to go where example and hypocrisy draws them Our Souls are tyed to one another by certain invisible chains and it is thereby That the poison of the Serpent without being able to be seen or stopt spreads it self in the hearts and that it carries throughout corruption and death All the new fashions of saving ones self are the inventions of him who would that the Saints should be damn'd Est via quae videtur homini recta novissima autem ejus ducunt ad mortem VII MAXIME Inquisition shall be made into the Councils of the ungodly Wisd 1. PARAPHRASE AS the ungodly fear Men although they fear not God When they have any doubts to propose on the mysteries of Religion they propose them to themselves they ask secretly their spirit from whence he knows that the World has been made by a Creator and that after Death there is a Judgement a future Life an Hell an Eternity c. REFLECTION THe little questions of worldly Philosophy are not far from great It is by these that one suddenly learns to render himself a Master in Impiety and to propose to his heart and to his disciples boldly doubts scandalous and against eternal truths The Maniche who askt his friend If it is God who made the Flyes is very near asking if it is God who hath made Man One Frederick who asks of the Societies and Philosophers of his Court if the Birds are living will quickly ask himself if the Angels are so and if there are immortal Souls It is fine in an assembly of the curious to do towards the souls of Bulls and Elephants what they do about stones when they bursâ— them and to shew that under the false appearance of the Unity they are but multitudeâ— of grains of sand and of heaps of dust Buâ— at the rebound of these academic conversations it is that the Democritus's and Metrodorus's have in their solitudes proposed their Conscience other prouder questions and to maintain to it That all the great things of the Earth and even those of Heaven dreaded so much by people are not great Bodies nor great Spirits nor great Divinities but great assemblies of little Nothings and that there are not in the universe three things truly united as those of Atoms and Nothings arrived to the last estate of an indivisible smallness Have a care dangers are pleasant to youth and folly Be Wise and follow not Masters who to go establish their School on the brink of praecipices Withdraw your self as far from thence as you can and although this brink seems firm remember there are none but blind men who will stay on a place where there needs but one puff of wind to drive them to the bottom of an abyss It is true that those who lead others into these dangers when they explain themselves publickly have expressions and terms which are like choice colours and proper to paint innocence and truth on the gate of a House where they are not But their Philosophy is no better To be wise and bold Philosophers or for us not to be Criminals is very little less then to speak correctly and not to speak any thing â—hat one can accuse the point is to do in â—uch sort as that our innocent and unreprovable propositions may not give cause to believe that our thoughts are worth nothing It is of Sciences as it is of words The most dangerous are the chastest and the most modest when that under the vail of their modesty they find themselves the properest to convey corruption into the heart and to make them understand that they may think well of things of which the Teacher durst not speak Have not the curiosity to know the way of your ruine and go not to School to learn to perish nor to learn there to forget what you have learnt and known from the Cradle Have the happiness to bear the evident mark of a Soul well made and of a Wit well brought up which is not to be pleased with any Doctrine but that which serves you to know God and helps you to love him VIII MAXIM The way of a Fool is right in his own eyes but he that hearkeneth to Council is wise Prov. 12. PARAPHRASE THe senseless Man believes that his Conduct is good and he will have no other Judge than himself The wise Man distrusts his own judgment As he learns what he ought to believe from the sentiments of the Church so he learns what he ought to do on each occasion by the council of
loved be less perfect and less precious it is nevertheless properest for you and best made to your humour The sweetnesses of friendship come not from the Nobility of a Man nor his knowledge nor the beauty of his mind but from the conformity of his heart to yours You cannot be more ill clad then by a gaudy and rich suit too big for you and that sits not well neither can you be more ill beloved then by a man that nature has not made for you Moreover there is no new Garment that does not incommode the body nor new acquaintance that does not torment and wound the spirit The reserves and ceremonies continue a long time and these are the grand affairs at the beginnings of friendship In a word whosoever can cease to love a first Friend is unworthy to have a second and whosoever can let a good and a true friendship die shall never have another which may be immortal XI MAXIM Do good to thy Friend before thou die Eccl. 14. PARAPHRASE DO not stay till the hour of death to do good to your Friend Love makes companions not heirs It does not offer what it looseth and what it is constrained to leave but it renders that common which it possesseth The time of its liberality is the time of its life 'T is avarice or necessity that gives at death and which makes Testaments In doing well do not make reproaches and when In bonis non des querelam in omni dato non des tristitiam verbi mali Eccl. 18. you oblige a Friend by any favour let your countenance and your words oblige yet more The sadness of the giver offends him who receives and changeth the good done into displeasure Denial oftentimes ought to be excused because it may come from inability But â— sad consent and trouble cannot but be very odious because it can come from nothing but covetousness or want of affection When you have occasion to help your Friends have always three things open your Hands your Countenance and your Heart To do a kindness with speed is to do it twice But to do it in a civil and courteous manner is to do it more then an hundred times In like manner let that Ne dicas amico tuo Vade reverte cras dabo tibi Prov. 3. never happen as to say to a Friend Come again to morrow and I will give it you A favour delay'd is scarce more worth then denial and it is not given from the day that one can give it one gives but at halves It seems as if by this delay you did seek time to find means to do nothing at least you demonstrate that you do not oblige with pleasure Joy is ready and every thing that pleaseth it is suddenly done XII MAXIM Change not a Friend for any good by no means Eccl. 7. PARAPHRASE MOlest not your Friend who defers the payment of what he owes you It is better to have your money a little too late then loose so dear a friendship too soon To lend by affection is to employ your money well but to loose a Friend to recover it is to loose more then that 's worth REFLECTION SInce you are in haste to be paid conceive that he is more strained to perform it and know that it is not so painful to an honest man to want money as 't is to owe it Be content that he 's afflicted and disturbed don 't render him shamefull by speaking to him of that affair Those who have a little true friendship blush at the calling to mind the debt of a Friend Since you have much courage and much love do you your self blush at the remembrance thereof To hold ones peace thereupon is not to be generous enough perfect kindnes is quite to forget it XIII MAXIM Loose thy money for thy Brother and thy Friend and let it not rust under a stone to be lost Eccl. 29. PARAPHRASE HAzard your money by lending it tâ— your Brother or your Friend Anâ— know that it is always more honourable anâ— more safe then it would be in a hidden Treasure and shut up under stones REFLECTION YOu ought to believe it lost assoon as it is useless to your Friends When they come to ask a favour of you be you ready to offer it fear no other danger but that of deliberating too long and have no other displeasure then for not having prevented them and for not being happy enough to guess that they had need of you Have herein the Maxim of that ancient Hero who being advised by his Treasurer that there was no more left and that his liberalities had exhausted it made him this heroic answer You deceive your selfe said he There remains to me all that I have given it is mine more then ever since 't is in the hands of my Friends Hoc habeo quodcunque dedi XIV MAXIM Who so discovereth secrets looseth his credit and shall never find a Friend to his mind Eccl. 27. PARAPHRASE TO reveal the secrets of one Friend is to loose many An unfaithful man shall never be loved of any body and those who have made him tell it shall be first that shall fear and hate him REFLECTION IN affairs of friendship aswell as in those of State the least and lightest indiscretions of the Tongue are irremissible crimes Their Secret is a Religious order who have no pardon for faults nor pity for ponitents They punish those faults after the most terrible manner and most to be feared of a man who hath any thing of sentiment or an heart Which is That they never give him any more the occasion to fall again XV. MAXIM If thou hast opened thy mouth against thy friend fear not for there may be a Reconciliation Eccl. 22. PARAPHRASE IF being in an ill humour you have happen'd to say ought to your Friend in cross terms or have inconsiderately injured him but that signifies nothing fear not for reconciliation is not difficult In like manner if during a flâ—sh of anger you draw a Ad amicum si produxeris gladium non desperes sword against him despair not of re-establishing your friendship Man is indulgent toward the passions of his Brother when they are blind and carry away the reason There needs but one word of regret or one tear to wash away the memory of a bloudy quarrel That which is dangerous Excepto convitio improperio superbia Mysterii revelatione plaga dolosa in omnibus effugiet amicus and renders anger for ever irreconcilable is to cast in the teeth of a Friend any thing that reflects on the honour of his House or to upbraid him with the services you have done him or of any pleasure that he shall have received or to testify any contempt of him or to appear proud in his presence or in fine to declare his secrets or to betray him in any business where he puts confidence in you All that makes him