flesh and bloud and tastes nothing but what flatters this Flesh and Bloud And therefore among sensual Pleasures there are permitted our Devout Person only those which are moderate The Senses love to receive strong impressions of Objects provided there be no wound in the case the imagination loves also to be powerfully moved But all these emotions make such mighty impressions upon the Soul as it hardly can come to it self again And therefore they ought carefully to be avoided But if we would have more sensible proofs that the heart the passions and the senses are not to be consulted about the choice of Pleasures let us hear experience and cast an eye upon the disorders of the world Such are the consequences of this blindness in men who follow their own heart and senses in the choice of Goods and Pleasures Why did the first Woman lay hold on the forbidden fruit because it was good and pleasant to the eye she hearkened to her Heart and Senses How did corruption arise to that high pitch in the World that it forced God's Justice to bring upon it a terrible Deiuge Because the Sons of God saw the Daughters of men that they were fair they stopt their Ears to the voice of God which call'd upon them they heark'ned to the sollicitations of their own sensual heart they took them Wives of all which they chose and corrupted themselves with them Did not David commit Adultery and Murder in a little time because he gave ear to his senses and heart and let his passions seduce him did not Solomon become an Idolater because his sinful love for Women having blinded his eyes separated him from God and stopt the Ears of his Soul so as his mind heard only the voice of his Passions and his Senses Lastly did not St. Peter deny his Lord and Master for that his heart his senses his imagination made him see present Death in an affrightful posture and he consulted neither God nor his own reason We seem here to blend and confound Innocence with Sin in speaking of our Heart and our Senses as common Sources of our errours Since that the Senses may seem rather to be unhappy and unfortunate than Criminal and Sinful True the Senses are subject to two unhappinesses The first is to be forced to receive Objects which are sinful and capable of transferring Images of corruption to the Heart such are evil Examples scandalous Actions and Words The other misfortune of the Senses is that they take in innocent Objects and sometimes in an innocent manner and these Images do spoyl and corrupt themselves in the Heart Nevertheless I think we ought not to separate the Senses from the Heart they make but one and the same thing This is a Match at the end of which lies a great heap of Gun-powder The Hear and the Imagination are the inward extremity of this Match they are the Magazine of Powder The Senses are the other end to which the Objects set fire This Fire slides or rather it flies along the Match It enkindles the Imagination and puts the Heart into a flame And therefore the holy Spirit puts for the same thing To walk in the ways of ones heart and in the sight of ones Eyes In short if we would be perfectly assured that our Heart and Senses are evil Counsellors in this affair hear what the holy Scripture saith it considers our Heart as the root of all our Evils Every imagination of the thoughts of Man's heart is only evil continually The Heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked who can know it Out of the Heart proceed evil Thoughts Murders Adulteries Fornications Thefts false Witness Blasphemies These are the things which defile a Man The holy Ghost represents the Heart to us as blind wrapt up in a thick Cloud and profound darkness it speaks of it as of a kind of Death it is of the Earth it is carnal How then canan Heart thus composed and fram'd judge of the true Goods and Pleasures How can there come any thing good from a poysoned Spring And thus we see that the Wife man puts this Maxime among the members of those we are to detest and abominate Walk in the ways of thine Heart and in the sight of thine Eyes I should end here were it unnecessary to take off one Scandal that may be taken at what we have said that sensual Pleasure is a Good and even a Good for the Soul For in a word if the Soul be that not only which perceives and which tastes Pleasure and if Pleasure be a Good 't is a Good of the Soul If it be a good then some will say we are to seek and love it It 's not sufficient to answer that this is a Good of the Body only that is not absolutly true 't is in some sort the good of the Soul because the Soul tastes it Further if this Good were only for the Body yet it does not follow it should therefore be of necessity unlawful since we are not always forbidden to seek the Good of the Body But we ought not only to consider a thing in its self to know whether it be good or bad we must consider it in its causes and its effects in what precedes it what may be the consequence of it I mean that the Pleasure which comes to the Soul by the Body is a sort of Good considered in it self Look upon its Source and see to what it produces The Source is Sin is Impurity is Rebellion against the law of our Creator What it produces is a disunion between God and our Soul 't is a pawning our selves to Death 't is the pain of everlasting burnings How can we under the Idea of a Good conceive a thing which is incompast about by so many moral Impurities and such real Mischiefs If therefore bodily Pleasure can be called a Good with respect to the present sentiment of the Soul it 's an Evil in all other regards it 's an Evil to speak Absolutely and therefore the wifest men of all Ages have plac'd it among the false Goods for a true Good ought to be good on every side we view it The Soul then has no true Pleasure but what arises from its union with God And this union is fortified according to the measure that we loosen our selves from sensible things and are united to God by the knowledge of his Truth Not of those Verities which Philosophy seeks after and never finds with any certainty but of those Divine truths which Faith discovers to us of those wholsome Verities which are the Candle of the Soul Thy Word is a Lamp to my Feet and a light to my Paths It enlightens the Eyes and makes wise the simple The second Bond whereby we are united to God is Virtue the Practice of which renders us like to our Creator renews his Image in us and makes us to be the Copies of that Beauty whereof he 's the original the third cord is
tasts it's chief Pleasure And if we please we may call this chief Pleasure the chief Happiness of man But men are terribly chows'd herein They are persuaded that the Soul is not capable of any true Pleasure without it be what comes from the Body Among men generally a spiritual pleasure and a chimerical pleasure are all one All those who make their felicity to consist in Contemplation and in Actions intirely removed from those which make up carnal pleasure pass in the World for visionary wights this Errour springs from the Heart and Senses And therefore I say that in the Judgment we ought to have of pleasures and in the choice we ought to make thereof we are not to consult either our Senses or our Heart This mistake I say is caused by the Heart and Senses because they believe nothing agreeable but what is agreeable to them We judge things good or evil only according to the relation they have to the Faculties whereunto they raise either pleasure or Pain And therefore the Heart and Senses which are corporeal cannot be touch'd by spiritual things They judge these cannot be agreeable because they are sensible of no Pleasure in them Just as a blind man if he would judge according to the report of his Senses undoubtedly he would judge that there are no colours or if there were they could not make any Impression upon his Senses This is then an Imposture which we must lay open and disperse First of all we ought to remember that Man is made up of two parts the Soul and Body Each of these parts hath it's separate and distinct Goods The Goods of the Mind are spiritual and those of the Body necessarily corporeal Of these two parts the Soul is infinitely the more excellent From this Man is properly denominated and the Body is but a Retainer to him so that consequently the Goods and Pleasures which belong to the Soul by its self are infinitely greater than those which come by the interposition of the Body Lastly 't is very easie to comprehend why the Senses and the Heart indge otherwise These being bodily Faculties we need not wonder they hold clearly for bodily things As for the Senses this is without dispute they are corporeal both in their Organs and in their Operations they perceive only the Superficies of Bodies This is no less true of the Heart it is corporeal too for I understand by the Heart the seat of the Passions and the Imagination 't is very evident that both these Faculties are bodily Faculties For the Imagination is the feat wherein are represented those Images that come from the Senses and offer themselves to our Mind in the absence of Objects The Passions also are corporeal because they are formed by Mechanical Movements This is manifest by those Characters they impress upon the Body as the motion of the Blood quick slow or precipitate Paleness or Ruddiness of Complexion the Fire and languishing which they impress upon the eyes The Senses and Heart which are corporeal being the Gates whereat Objects do enter and accost the mind bring nothing to it but bodily Images and raise in it only sensual Pleasures and the Soul hereby gets an habit of believing there are no other Pleasures besides these since it does not endeavour to disingage it self from the Body and to taste others But can it be possible we should be such enemies to our selves and so irrational as to believe our Senses touching a thing of so great Importance The Senses are unable to know the thousandth part of Bodies As soon as ever a Body ceases to have a considerable Extension we cease to see and feel it and would we make these very Senses to be judges of things absolutely Spiritual Certainly the Soul is very unhappy and very much a Slave if it cannot taste that Pleasure which is its sovereign Felicity but it must be beholden to the Body for it If Matter be the Spring of true Pleasure what do those Souls do I wonder that are separated from Matter what must be the Beatitude of Angels that have no Body Is it not true that their Pleasures ought to be as far above ours as Minds are above Matter Assuredly spiritual Pleasures spring from the knowledge of Truth from the practise of Virtue from our union with God by the tyes of Love and from that Action whereby God unites himself immediately to our Soul All this is intirely above the Senses they are not acquainted with Truth for their Office is to report the Appearances of Bodies They cannot judge of Virtue it is not under their Jurisdiction much less can they judge of that Union betwixt God and the Soul And yet although they make no report to us about any of these things we are not nevertheless to doubt of the real Impressions they make upon our Souls But from whence comes it say some that spiritual Pleasures are not so touching and make not such strong Impressions upon the Soul as bodily ones doe For you see not say they your devout People in those Transports of Joy and Pleasure as we see men have in the injoyment of Sensual Pleasures Is not this a proof that those intellectual pleasures are merely imaginary or at least that they are very weak and languishing This difficulty arises from that men know not how to distinguish the Soul from the body they believe it is concern'd in proportion to the greatness of the agitations of the Bodily Organs They are persuaded that it cannot receive an impression of Joy but by the interposal of these great corporeal motions But the thing is far otherwise 't is certain that in the great Pleasures which the Soul receives from the Body the great corporeal Agitations re'ncounter one another and it receives not those pleasures but by favour of these agitations and because the Bloud and Spirits are in a great heat and ferment But the Pleasures of holy Persons which are lock'd up in the Soul it self and which exert no external Characters do not fail to make very powerful Impression These Pleasures are so great and so touching that they carry the Soul out of the World And the Joy which springs from the possession of God from the Knowledge of his Truth and the imitation of his Vertues and Attributes must needs infinitely transcend all the pleasures of the Body Since that for these spiritual pleasures we not only renounce bodily ones but also expose our selves to all even the most sensible pains True it is the more the Soul is accustomed to let its self be moved by the Agitations which do cause corporeal Pleasures and Passions the more is it uncapable of tasting Internal joys and spiritual Pleasures And this is one of the greatest mischiefs that spring from the continual use of sensuality the Soul waxeth fat as the holy Ghost speaketh the heart of the Wicked is fat as grease he hath prophaned the Rock of his Salvation It covers its self as it were with
are methinks the movements that compose Devotion but we must observe that in all People they are not evermore in the same degree Always some one of them does Reign sometimes Joy bears sway another while Grief oftentimes Alacrity other times the Desires And hence it comes to pass that if we consult the Devout upon the nature of Devotion they will answer us very differently because every one will say that he feels within himself and that every one feels within himself things very different from those of other men It happens also that one and the same Soul feels a different Devotion at divers times the Motions whereof we have spoken ruling by Turns To day a faithful Person shall be fill'd with hope in the view of a blessing to come and to morrow with joy in the possession of the present good One time by reason of his Sins Sadness shall domineer another time the Desires shall reign and this alteration proceeds from the diversity of Estates wherein the Conscience finds it self and the variety of Prospects which Meditations presents it withall in considering God some times with respect had to his Love and Mercy other times to his Severity and Justice Frequently too he will eye his Conscience both in its strongest and in its weakest parts and this may change some things in the Agitations of his Devotion Chearfulness likewise which seems to be the very Essence and Soul of this Virtue is not inseparable from it and sometimes the most heav'nly Souls find themselves under a gloomy and sad weight But when this Briskness is absent its place is possest by a stinging Displeasure for its Absence Meditation ALas my Soul how ignorant art thou in things Divine The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God for they are foolishness to him These are profound Abysses which thou canst not sound Thy light is nothing but darkness But yet astonishing it is not that thou knowest not heavenly things which God has reserv'd to himself and lockt up in his own Breast 'T is more strange thou knowest not what God does in this and art ignorant of those Divine things which are in thy Heart Vain and haughty as thou art with the advantages which Nature has given thee above the visible Creatures thou saiest thou art an incarnate Angel say rather that thou art an Angel imprisoned in a dark and dismal mansion who knowest but in part and see'st but in part obscurely and as in a Glass through the thick veil of Flesh and Blood Prayer O My God thou Father of Lights from whom cometh every good and perfect gift open mine eyes that I may see the wondrous things of thy Law I am a Stranger upon Earth and a Sojourner Oh! hide not from me thy Commandments I am inquiring into the Nature of Devotion I shall not be able to know it without thee In vain shall I search for it in the works of another unless I find it in mine own Heart I do not find what I seek for there where then shall I find it Even in thee my God who art the Source of what I look for Raise therefore in my Heart those flames of Zeal and Piety that being filled therewith my Soul may not need but to study it self to attain this knowledge and after the attainment may be able to love it and make others do so too Let it sparkle and shine in all my Words and Actions like a Torch that lights my Neighbours and let it kindle in them the holy flames of Devotion CHAP. II. Of the Effects of Devotion IN speaking of the nature of Devotion in the precedent Chapter we insinuated all its Effects but it will not be amiss nor unprofitable to unfold them a little more for these Effects well understood will lead us to the knowledge of the Cause and serve us for a Touch-stone whereby pious Souls may try both the purity and the progress of their Devotion The first of these effects is a vehement Passion to converse with God and pour forth our grief into his Bosom to hear his Word and to receive the Gages of his Love in his Sacraments You see this Disposition in David who sighs after the House of God and finds nothing in his Exile more insupportable than his Banishment from the Court of the Lord's House Jealous he is of the Condition of the Swallows that build their Nests there He would be a Door-keeper in this house and never stir from thence My Soul hath a desire to enter into thy Courts says he I have asked one thing of the Lord that I may dwell in his house all the days of my life He avows that the hopes of seeing God again in his house do sustain him and keep him from falling into Despair I had fainted unless I had believed to see the Goodness of the Lord in the Land of the Living The faithful Soul has no less Passion for the Solitude of its Closet than David had for the Temple of his God It looks upon those hours as lost which 't is obliged to throw away upon the World and as soon as it can withdraw it self from the hurry and bustle of Affairs it runs to the Bosom of its God as the Hart to the Water-brooks as a covetous Person to the search of Riches as a Courtier watches for the Hour and Place to see his Prince and to be seen and receive from him considerable Favours A second Effect is a Joy which we may call inconceivable when the Devout in their Devotions feel their Heart display'd and the Holy Ghost appears with all the Riches of his Grace and all the Treasures of his Consolations If any one should inquire of such a Soul why it is so satisfied perhaps it would be an hard matter for it to tell him but the true cause of this Joy is That God does exert in it his comfortable and wholsom Rays which are ever accompanied with a plenary Happiness The Pleasure which an avaricious man takes in counting his Money which the ambitious taste in hoping for new Grandeurs which the Epicurean finds in his Feasts and Debauches all this I say is unsavoury and of a bad taste in comparison of that Joy which the pious Soul perceives in communicating with its God This is an Ocean which overwhelms and drowns all the Perplexities and Troubles of the Flesh The Persecuted find here their Sanctuary the Poor Riches the Sick-man Health the Contemptible Glory the Humble Grandeur and the Miserable a general Oblivion of all his Calamities This is that wherein a Soul tired with the World finds that heavenly Repose which makes it with Indignation and yet with Pity look upon the cruel Agitations of worldly men that are tied to the racking Wheels and Stones of Ixions and Sisyphus's that is to say to Labours that always return and never have an end Hence springs another effect of Devotion namely To forget this World When the Devout Person shuts the door
heart into a good condition to hope a good success of its worship Tho never so much prepared it cannot be too good for him to whom we ought to present it It will be an acceptable thing to be receiv'd in this Estate And what on the contrary can we expect in presenting to him an indevout Soul but a shameful and sad refusal God does not hear our prayers unless the Heart be disposed to make them Seek and ye shall find saith our Lord but seek with zeal otherwise ye shall not find God said once I was found of them that sought me not But this does not happen every day this is but one of those singular events whereby general Rules are not established But the Law in common bears Ask and it shall be given Lay hold on the Kingdom of Heaven and thou shalt obtain it To what is not Devotion useful It is of use in all Places all times and all things as well in the Closet as the Church thereby we hear the Word pronounced by men as if it were truly the word of God and receive it as the dry and chapped Earth does the rain Hereby the Consecration of the Divine benefits touches us the thought of God's love inflames us his promises comfort us his threatnings terrifie us and his Consolations have their Efficacy upon us Without this the word which ought to be a two-edged Sword recoyls and turns its edge on the hardness of our hearts and without this we joyn the Sin of Insensibility to that of Impenitence By this we look upon every thing in the Church with veneration the Preacher as the Embassador of the Gospel his Word as the voice of Heaven The Faithful as the Children of God and as it were a Troop of Angels that always rejoyce in his presence the Sacraments as precious vessels the appearance whereof is contemptible but which do contain the Treasures of his Grace and Mercy It 's Devotion that makes our Closets to become little Churches whether the Divinity descends and upon which it extends its Wings like the Cherubims over the Mercy-seat where God speaks to our heart as we speak to his ears where he makes us understand his Oracles and taste his Consolations where he says to us in a still small voice My Son or my Daughter Be of good chear arise thy Sins are forgiven thee Oh! how blessed is the faithful Soul that God honours with such sacred Entertainments Now he does never do this but when call'd upon if not forced by an ardent Devotion These desires of Devotion may be the Eyes of the Spouse whereof it is said Turn away thine Eyes from me for they have overcome me Far be from hence those prophane Wretches that know not the use of Devotion They say that Valour is the Rampart of Estates and the Tutelary Angel of the Publick and of Privates that Liberality sweetens the misfortunes of the miserable that Justice is the nurse of Peace and the ligament of Society that Temperance causes tranquillity of mind and health of Body But say they Devotion 't is alone that is good for nothing but to render the mind weak and effeminate and to depress the Spirits Do not call so universal a Vertue unprofitable without which all the rest are meer shadows for he that having not a habit of Devotion does not refer all his vertues to the Glory of God is a bad good man Do not call that an useless Virtue which appeases the wrath of God and turns away the Tempests flying over States a Virtue which had drawn Sodom out of the Fire had there been found there but ten devout Persons like Abraham who would have Devoutly with him interceded for it a Virtue which saves the Church so often from ship-wrack a Virtue which in the Conscience raises up and establishes a profound Peace and a Divine Light Do not fay that it softens the Mind seeing it confirms the Courage makes men run to death as to a Feast makes 'em to despise Perils and in its occasions mannages nothing wherein the Glory of God is not concerned Meditation SEE one of the causes of my luke-warmness and one of the reasons why my Soul is little devout The necessity of Devotion it comprehends not whereas it knows that Food is necessary for the conservation of its bodily Life It desires nourishment with a great ardour and searches after it with a marvellous diligence But negligent it is in all those things which serve to nourish Piety and the flames of Devotion since it does not beleive that 't is of any great use Thou see'st O my Soul some who save themselves with a languishing Piety and go to Heaven at a very slow pace Thou persuadest thy self that God will not be more rigorous to thee and that there will not be more exacted from thee than from others But alas what an errour and fallacy is there in this reasoning Such an one as thou believest to be in the way to Heaven is a marching towards Hell There is such a way that seems right to man the end of which nevertheless is Death These chill Devotions wherewith People believe God is well paid are oftentimes very fruitless They may think it fine one day to say we have prayed to thee we have invok'd thy Name we have served thee The Lord will not fail to answer I do not know who ye are go far from me ye that are neither cold nor hot I will cast you up out of my mouth Prayer MY God conduct my Soul in the surest path I know not how to sound thy Mercy nor do I know how far the severity of thy Juctice will carry it self and no further I know not whether thou wilt pardon so many People that serve thee with so little Zeal and so much indevotion That which I know is that they are unworthy of thy clemency anâ— that they cannot be saved unless they sincerâ—ly repent of having served thee with so much indifference Let the Candle of my Soul thâ— holy Spirit which has inlightened thy Church in all ages and the faithful at all times inspire me with such frankincense of Devotion as with which I know that one may be saved and without which I know not if one caâ— be saved Kindle my heart that it may be an Altar where an eternal Fire may burn in which all my sacrifices may be consumed and which may make all my prayers as thâ— Perfumes of incense to mount up in thy Presence CHAP. IV. That Devotion is extremely rare and neglected HERE is an Exception to the general Rule that things rare are esteemed nothing in the World more rare than Devotion and nothing more neglected Herein men do not sin through Ignorance they know very well what we have said in the precedent Chapter that without these devout dispositions or Prayers they cannot please God Nevertheless one cannot Express the horrible negligence with which they perform this pious Duty as well as all others
Heart of mine is made I think of Marble and Ice How is' t possible it should continue insensible amidst so many Objects which are capable to move it How can it be ungrateful when it is invironed with so many Favours from Heaven How is it possible it should not tremble before him whose Presence makes the Angels to tremble Why does not my Soul that is changed and destitute of all Good run with ardour to a Source so pure and so refreshing One Tear I cannot draw from my Eyes nor one Sigh from my Heart Every day I present my self before my God with dry Eyes with an humble Body but with a proud Soul and frequently with so great an Air of Negligence that the Tone of my Voice the Posture of my Members and generally all that is seen and heard in me speaks my Indevotion When have I insulted over my own Heart how often have I said to my self thou wicked Soul why dost thou not quake and shiver within me why dost thou not fear him whom none can fear enough and why dost thou not love him infinitely who has infinitely loved thee If thou lov'dst and fear'dst this God as thou oughtest this God soveraignly adorable whom the Angels love and fear thou cou'dst not be cold in his Service nor adore him in so languishing a manner Prayer ALas my God! thou seest how I groan under the burthen of my Corruption anâ— of my Indevotion Help me then to rid my self of 'em so that those motions of Piety and Zeaâ— which thou lovest so much may henceforth be as frequent in my Soul as they have been rareby till this preseâ—â— that the movements of my Devotion may not resemble those Sparks which flye up from a great company of Embers and then grow cold and are extinguished but be of those pure slames which burn perpetually even in the midst of Water and resist the Stormâ— and Tempests of Temptation Corruption and bad Examples And that being far from suffering my self to be carried away by the Torrent of Corruption and Indevotion which obtains even in the Sanctuary I may cause my Righteousness to shine like a Candle in the midst of Darkness CHAP. V. That Indevotion is a far greater crime than it is commonly thought TOuching the indevotion of the Profane I do no speak but of those that would be called thâ—t children of God I speak of all those neglects and coldnesses of all those distractions and vain and carnal thoughts which traverse the excercises of Piety The principal reason of the commonness of this crime is the opinion which people have that it is a very small fault There is nothing which they do not say and imagine to flatter themselves in this Vice One says 't is the nature of the Soul to be active and boyling we cannot fix it upon one only object it takes fire and evaporates even when we believe we can holdit It is say they a Malady of the Soul of which it self is not culpable Ah! certainly if it were an evil intirely unvoluntary it would very well deserve we should deplore the misery of the Soul 'T is a sign of a strange Irregularity and a proof that Sin is caused within by great disorders If you see a man in the midst of a discourse of good sense wander all on a sudden and speak a thousand impertinences and extravagant things will not you say he has a Desultory wit and an ill-biass'd Spirit Is it not a proof of a great Disorder in the heart to perceive ones self in the midst of ones devout thoughts to evaporate to go and take a leap from ones self and the Subject to fall into a thousand Chimerical imaginations But further I say there is as much of a crime as of misery in this Evil. It 's sufficient to know that Sin is the cause of this disorder to be assured there is sin in it The Product of a criminal cause cannot be Innocent and I fancy that the inferiour part of the Soul being corrupted by Sin is like to marrish and fenny places from whence Vapours are continually elevated to Heaven which oftentimes obscures the Sun Our passions 't is true do raise up the Clouds of vain and evil thoughts that rob our hearts of the Suns sight but what of this does it not follow that this is not a great evil do not all crimes come from this Source and are they therefore the less to be condemned We imagine that the mind of man cannot be fixt which is false and a thousand Experiments can shew us the contrary Were you to appear before a great Prince to defend your Life you would think so eagerly and earnestly upon the business that no other thing would be allowed admittance into the thoughts in speaking to him you wou'd not suffer the least Distraction The Niggard that counts his Treasures does not hear when any one comes to knock at the Door of his Cabinet A man that is upon an important Affair and gives up his mind to it never finds these wandrings of Imagination It 's true then that it is possible to hinder this Levity of mind whereof we complain as of an incurable evil Thus in the vice of Indevotion there 's a sort of Pride of being unwilling to humble our selves worthily before God in whose presence all Nature trembles I would fain know whether a King would take it well that in doing him Reverence one should turn his back upon him or that one should do him Homage with an air of disdain and this is what we do to God We give him not the very Moity of our heart To slight and despise him whom the Angels adore can it be call'd a Peccadillo The Lord reigneth let the Earth be moved are very rare words in our mouth And seeing that God does not immediately avenge himself on the great contemners of his Majesty without fear we take up an habit of defying him Unquestionably if there were nothing else in Indevotion besides the crime of Disobedience 't would be enough to render us worthy of all the most severe punishments We know mighty well that God commands us Ardour and Zeal and we cannot be ignorant how he calls us to take the Kingdom of Heaven by Violence We hear it said every day that he casts up the Luke-warm out of his mouth We read every where that the way of the Faithful ought to be in a swift Course and not a slow walk And in short we know very well that he would have us be eaten up with the Zeal of his House Maugre all these Commands and Orders still cold we are and languishing Who then shall be obey'd if God be not He who maketh his Angels Spirits and his Ministers a flaming fire he who hath so many means to revenge himself upon Rebels and to reward the Obedient he lastly whose commands are ever just and ever holy Let no one tell me then that this is a light fault since 't is a
come near the number of thy Offences The moments wherein God hath made me to enjoy most of his Blessings have been those wherein I have render'd my self the most sinful by the abuse of my Prosperity And the least sin I commited in one of those moments deserves pains of an infinite duration Prayer ALmighty God who makest all things with a profound Wisdom I find nothing to say against thy Works All that thou hast made is good But I mourn for my Iniquity and bewail my Corruption Good is in the neighbourhood of Evil and the things which are permitted me are so near to those that are forbidden me that if I forget innocent Pleasures but a little I straight pass into sinful ones At all passages the Devil lies in Ambush and my Concupiscence lays snares for me every where Narrow is the way and borders on precipices I know Lord that thy goodness is infinite and thou dost not exact from me that I should be evermore in Grief thou allowest some grains to the Fesh as rebellious as 't is against thee But how difficult and dargerous is it to mark out precisely the Bounds that distinguish permitted from forbidden Pleasures If I give ear to my Concupiscence it will stretch the limits far beyond all Reason it will endeavour to persuade me that whatsoever is agreeable cannot be bad whether I eat or drink am asleep or awake am idle or at work I am always in the Temptation and Danger of falling into Excess Thy Providence willeth that I pass through all these Dangers Thou alone art able to conduct me safely through this difficult Path Let thy Spirit lead me as in an even Plain Let me turn neither to the right nor to the left Here are two Extremities to fly thou hatest carnal Pleasures but it may be thou dost not love excessive Austerities Bodily Exercise profiteth little but Godliness has the promises of this Life and of that which is to come I know O my God that 't is much more dangerous to fall into one Excess than into the other All thou say'st of bodily Exercise is That it is profitable but to a few things but as to the other excess to wit of Pleasures it hurts and incommodes all things it makes havock of the Conscience it corrupts the Heart ruines the Body grieves the Holy Spirit and it separates the Soul from thee O Lord. 'T is incomparably more safe to renounce all Pleasures in general than to choose some and expose ones self to the danger of taking those that are unlawful O thou who holdest in thine hands the Heart of Men as the Rivers of Water turn mine into the safest way wherein I am certain not to offend thee and that is the privation of all sensual Pleasures Take from me that taste of all Voluptuousness wherewith I am inchanted Cast off from the Demon of Pleasure that Mask which covers him and that fading Beauty which charms me that I may see all his Vgliness and Deformity and detest and fly it Since the Body which thou obligest me to hale after me to nourish and conserve binds me to do Actions conjoyn'd with Pleasure give me the Grace to do those Actions to satisfie Necessity and not to serve Sensuality Discover to me the Snares that Lust lays for me under the Cloak of Necessity Let me not by an ill habit make that necessary which is superfluous according to the Laws of Nature and Reason that my Soul under thy guidance may keep its Body under as a Slave and not serve it as its Master CHAP. V. That we are not to consult our Heart and Senses in the choice of Pleasures That Devotion leads us to true Pleasure 'T IS observ'd that for the obtaining any thing we must ask much more than we have a mind to get and that to bring men to just Sentiments in withdrawing them from their Errours it is good to carry them a little into the other Extremity that in their return they may abide at least in a reasonable middle This perhaps has made so many Christian Authors and Preachers to imitate the style of the Stoicks upon the Nature of Pleasure and Pain These People say that Pain is no evil and Pleasure is not a Good We can say they be perfectly happy in the burning Bull of Phalar is and perfectly unhappy in tasting the greatest Pleasures This method is not it may be so good as we imagine We soyle and dishearten mens Minds by requiring too much of them and nothing is persuasive when Truth is invested with Paradoxes which awaketh curiosity but distemper the Mind After all we can never persuade men to the contrary to what they feel Cicero tells us of one of these Philosophers who had bin blinded by the pompous reasonings of his Sect But a great Rheum falling upon his Eyes which put him to horrible Tortures prevailed over the Illusions of his Philosophy and made him abandon it When we see one of these Sages cruelly tormented upon his Bed with the Gout or Stone and hear him say Thou mayst do as thou wilt O Pain but thou shalt never make me confess thou art an evil we cannot keep our selves from looking upon this as a Comedy and profound Hypocrisie Reason can do nought against Experience nor against a Sense so lively as that of pain The Martyrs I conceive might be happy amidst their punishments because they did not feel all their Pains For I hold that their Soul by the help of Grace was so strongly taken up with the Glory and Crown they were about to receive that hardly any Room remain'd to them for other Sentiments The Patience of the Faithful in their Calamities arises in my Opinion from no other cause than that their Souls being fixt wholly upon God and his Heaven the Object of their Hope do partly unite ' emselves from the Body and give less Heed or Attention to it's Annoyances Impatience on the other side is a motion of the Soul which turns it self wholly to the Body to be abandon'd to pain and to feel all its racks So that I conclude Pain is an Evil Which is to confess bodily Pleasure is a good 'T was my belief I owed this Confession to them whom we would prevail withall to renounce sensual and fleshly Pleasures that by this sincerity and plain dealing we may render them more attentive to our Reasons We do not entreat them to renounce bodily Pleasure as an evil in its self but as a petty and small good that brings along after it in its train an incredible Multitude of mischiefs and as a good which is unworthy of Man born for the most noble Pleasures and destin'd to the possession of the greatest Goods What ever we do we can never rivit out of the Mind of man this Opinion that Happiness consists in Pleasure I will not oppose this Maxime The chiefest beatitude consists without doubt in the Possession of the chiefest Good and in this Possession the Soul