it for your Neighbor You will perform this by Praying for him by endeavoring to withdraw him from Vice and from ill Occasions when there are any either by your self or by others who can prevail with him by Advertising him mildly of his Duty or causing him to be Admonish'd by giving him good Counsel and good Example and by other Means which Charity will suggest to you Accustom your self to do all these things to them you have most occasion of as to your Friends your Companions your Domesticks your Servants and to those with whom you converse This is the true Love of our Neighbor to love him for his Salvation and Eternity There remains a Third thing necessary for the Love of our Neighbor To support his Defects which is charitably to support his Defects and excuse his Faults as much as Prudence will permit a Priusquam interroges ne vituperes quemquam cum interrogaveris corripe juste Eccl. 11. Not to be inclin'd to blame and reprehend either without Knowledge or with Bitterness or without any Necessity or Profit Now there is no Necessity or Profit when the Reprehension doth not avail for the Amendment of him who is Faulty nor for the Edification of others In fine Theotime the great Rule of the Love of our Neighbor consists in judging our Neighbor by our selves according to the Maxim of the Wiseman b Intellige quae proximi sunt ex teipso Eccl. 31. Judge of that which concerns your Neighbor by your self and in practising that great Maxim of the Scripture and which Nature her self teaches us c Quod ab alio oderis tibi fieri vide ne tu aliquando alteri facias Tob. 4. Omnia quaecunque vultis ut faciant vobis homines vos facite illis Mat. 7. Do nothing to another which you would not have done to your self And also do to others the Good which rationally and according to God you would have done to you in the like Occasion CHAP. XVIII Of Fraternal Correction or of the Obligation of hindering the Ill of another when one can THAT which we have said of the Obligation Charity imposes upon Christians of procuring the Salvation of our Neighbor when we can deserves a more particular Reflection it being a thing of high Importance and nevertheless infinitely neglected and for the most part absolutely unknown This Obligation is not understood what it is it is taken for a new Language and for a thing almost incredible Yet there is nothing more common in the Sacred Scripture which teaches us That a Mandavit unicuiqâ—e de proximo suo Eccl. 17. God hath given the Charge of his Neighbor to every one That b Aedificate alterutrum sicut sacitis 1 Thessal 5. Pleni estis dilectione ita ut possitis alterutrum monere Rom. 15. Nolite communicare operibus infructuosis tenebrarum magis autem redarguite Ephes 5. we should Edifie one another mutually Admonish one another Not to be partakers of the Works of Darkness that is of the Sins of another but reprehend him freely In fine to love God above all things and our Neighbor as our selves For how do we love our Neighbor as our selves if these greatest Necessities which are those of his Salvation move us so little that we abandon them for our least Interests which are frequently only in the Imagination and Fopperies And how do we love God above all things if we neglect to hinder him from being offended when some means is offer'd to effect it This Obligation is so great that it hath made St. John Chrisostom deliver an astonishing Expression S. Jo Chrisost adversus vituper vitae Monast lib. 5. viz. That God will require no less Account of us of the Salvation of our Neighbor than of our own And that when we shall have liv'd all our Life very piously if we have neglected the Salvation of others upon occasions the Sanctity of our Life shall be unprofitable it being certain that that Negligence is so criminal that it alone may be the cause of our Damnation He gives the Reason Because he who is wanting to assist his Neighbor in his corporal Necessities is rejected by God at the Day of Judgment notwithstanding the Good he hath otherwise perform'd Much more he who neglects to succor his Brother in a thing of far greater Consequence as is the Salvation of his Soul will deserve all manner of Punishments The Discharge of this great Obligation depends upon the practise of the Commandment of Fraternal Correction which our Lord hath given us and whereof he hath prescrib'd the Order in Chap. 18. of S. Matthew in these Words * Si peccaverit in te frater tuus vade corripe eum inter te ipsum solum Si te audierit lucratus es fratrem tuum si autem te non audierit adhibe tecum unum vel duos quod si non audierit eos dic Ecclesiae Mat. 18. If your Brother sin against you go and reprehend him secretly if he hear you you have gained him if he hear you not take one or two others with you if he will not hear them tell the Church That you may understand this Commandment Five things of Consequence to be observ'd in this Command so much unknown and so ill practis'd I shall observe here four or five things which will facilitate the Understanding and Practise of it The First is the End of this Commandment It s End. which is to remedy the Misfortune of our Neighbor that is to hinder that our Neighbor who hath sinn'd may not relapse into his Fault or that others do not offend by his Example or Inducement The Second is The Persons it obliges That this Commandment obliges not only Superiors but all sorts of Persons it being a Command of Charity which as S. Thomas saith every one is oblig'd to have The Third is The Circumstances wherein it obliges That this Obligation is understood only when these two Circumstances occur 1. When we know the Ill committed and the apparent danger that our Neighbor will relapse into it or cause others to fall therein 2. When we may hinder the Evil of another and bring some Remedy for it The Fourth is That this Power of stopping the Mischief is not only understood of what we our selves may do but also of what we may effect by anothers means This is what our Lord made evidently appear in saying If he hear not you take some other Person with you and if he still continue to persist tell the Church The Fifth Remark is That what he says of telling the Church that is the Superiors may be perform'd either privately or publickly and that when the First Way that is the secret suffices to hinder the Misfortune as ordinarily it doth we are not oblig'd to the Second Thus to collect all these Observations and joyn them together The Commandment of Fraternal Correction obliges every one
more capable of Labor which it could not be able to undergo if it were always employ'd So that Labor is the End and Motive of Sport and Recreation From thence three Conditions follow Three Conditions to be observ'd which must be observ'd in Play that it may be good and vertuous The First Moderation To keep therein a civil Moderation for if it be taken in excess it is no more a Recreation but rather an Employment it is not to Play to be made more fit for Labor which is the sole End Pastime ought to have but only for Pleasure which is a vicious End yea it is to make one unsit for Labor because excess of Play dissipates the Spirits enfeebles the Forces of the Body and oftentimes considerably prejudices the Health by the Distempers it causes The Second Condition is An orderly Affection Not to have a disorderly Affection to Play as it happens frequently to young Persons This Affection makes them fall into the Excess we spoke of lose much Time think continually of the Means to divert themselves It is the cause that they almost never apply themselves seriously to Labor and when their Body is at Study their Mind is at their Sport and Divertisement The Third Condition is Avoiding the Cames of Hazard To fly as much as possible the Plays of Hazard such Plays keep the Mind too much ty'd to them principally young Peoples They serve not to recreate the Spirits but to give them more disturbance It is hard to observe therein a Moderation one is so engag'd either by Loss or Gain They Play there only out of Covetousness The bad Effects of Play. and to gain which is a wicked End Add the ordinary Losses one suffers which leave after them Displeasure Vexation and Despair Joyn to these the Cheats unjust Gains Choler Swearing Quarrels of which these sorts of Plays are ordinarily full The excessive loss of Time the dissipation of Mind and Goods the wicked Habits of Anger of Impatience of Swearing of Lying of Covetousness and many others which Play produces The disorderly Inclination to Play which continues all their Life and frequently ruins their Possessions and Honor and reduces them to extream Miseries as we daily see but by too many Examples and in fine makes a Man incapable of any Good. Avoid these Sports Theotime Practice as absolutely contrary to your Salvation and Happiness and addict not your self but to honest Pastimes which serve for the Divertisement of the Mind or Exercise of the Body observing therein the Conditions we have spoken of and chiefly keeping your self from Excesses which * Relaxabantur etiam mihi ad ludendum habenae ultra temperamentum severitatis in dissolutionem affectionum variarum S. Aug. lib. 2. Confes S. Augustin in his Confessions acknowledg'd to be one of the Causes of the depravation of his Youth Now this Excess is understood not only of the Time employ'd therein which ought to be well regulated but also of the Mony you Play which ought always to be very little otherwise you will Play for Gain and not for Recreation and the Sport will be a Hell and Disquiet rather than a Divertisement Besides the Mony you lose at Play would be better employ'd amongst the Poor whose Necessities will cry one day to God for your Excesses and against those of all Gamesters CHAP. XXI Of Liberality against Covetousness ALtho' it may seem that Covetousness is not an ordinary Vice amongst young Persons Youth must be arm'd against Covetousness yet it is very necessary to arm them against this Passion which easily taking root in young Souls is insensibly augmented and causes vast Disorders in their Life There are two sorts of Covetousness Two sorts of Covetousness The one which makes us love Mony to heap it up to get Treasures and Purchases The other which makes us affect it to dispose and employ it for our proper Pleasures The First is very rare amongst young People but the Second is very ordinary with them and highly prejudicial Experience makes appear that it is ordinary with them How ordinary among young Persons for as they earnestly love their Pleasures they seek after all Means to satisfie them which cannot be effected without Mony From hence it comes that they apply all their Endeavors to get it From hence the Cheats and Tricks they make use of towards their Parents to get it from them From hence their Cozening in Play their Hard-heartedness to the Poor and sometimes Robberies and unjust Ways to procure it From hence the love of Riches which we see in young Spirits the desires of great Fortunes the imaginary Designs they lay to purchase them This Passion having thus taken its beginning in Youth easily increases How prejudicial and strengthening it self by Age becomes so strangely rooted that it can never be pull'd up all the remainder of their Life And it causes that so general a Disorder which is found amongst Christians and which the Prophet deplores when he says that a A minore usque ad majorem omnes avaritiae student Jer. 16.13 From the least to the greatest all are given to Covetousness that is to the irregular love of the things of the World which b Radix omnium malorum est cupiditas 1 Tim. 6. S. Paul says is The root of all Evils This Vice takes its origin from three Causes in Youth The First is Three Causes of Avarice in young Men. what we have now spoken of The Second is the common Example of the World which they see loves and esteems Mony above all things and runs after it with insatiable greediness The Third is the Fault of Parents who inspire this Love into their Children from their tender Years Discoursing of nothing but the Care to get their Livelihood if they be Mean or Poor or of advancing and aspiring to a higher Fortune if they be Rich teaching thus their Children that which S. Cyprian reproaches them for that is Filios tuos doces patrimonium magis amare quam Christum S. Cypr. lib. de oper Eleem. To love more their Riches than Jesus Christ and to labor in such a manner for the Goods of this mortal Life that they think little or nothing on the Eternal This Evil dear Theotime must be prevented in good time It must be prevented betimes and hindred from taking possession of your Heart it being certain that there is no Vice which increases more with Age than this and which becomes more incapable of remedy For this Effect take notice of what I counsel you 1. First Means Being as we have said that the greatest Cause of this Covetousness in young People springs from the love of Pleasures use all your Endeavors to moderate that Passion which may be said to be one of the greatest Mischiefs of Youth the Cause of all the Misfortunes it commits and the chiefest Obstacle of all the Good
State and from all the Disorders that are committed in the Celebration of the Nuptials as well by the Marry'd as by those who are invited For how can God give his Benediction to a Marriage wherein the Parties bring a Heart full of lewd Thoughts and unchast Desires where they make Expences of Garments and Feasts which offend Christian Modesty and frequently exceed their State and Ability and where all things pass in a licencious freedom of saying and doing any thing So that these Nuptials are rather the Triumph of impure Love and a Feast of the Devil than a Marriage of Christians which ought to be consecrated to Modesty and sanctifi'd by the Presence of Jesus Christ These are the the most ordinary Causes of bad Marriages and of all the Miseries and Misfortunes which arise from thence From whence it follows that the first Means to succeed well in so great and important an Enterprise is carefully to avoid all these so dreadful Causes To perform this with success this is what you shall do You must be convinc'd of three Truths which are certain and undoubted Maxims in this matter The First is That the greatest Happiness that can befall him who embraces a Marry'd Life is to succeed well in the choice of the Person he would Espouse as on the contrary there is no greater Misfortune than to prosper ill in this Occasion The Second is That this good success can only come from God. And the Third That God doth not ordinarily shew this Favor but to those who have liv'd well or have done Penance and have not fall'n into the Faults we have pointed at These three Truths are express'd by the Holy Ghost himself he teaches the First when he says by the Mouth of the Wiseman a Qui invenit mulierem bonam invenit bonum hauriet salutem à domino Prov. 18. Mulieris bonae beatus vir Eccl. 26. That he who hath found a good Wife hath found a great Blessing for a good Wife makes her Husband happy That it is a Blessing which surpasses all Blessings That there is nothing which can be compar'd to a vertuous Wife And on the contrary he saith That b Qui tenet mulierem nequam quasi qui apprehendit scorpionem he who hath met with a wicked Wife is like him who hath taken up a Scorpion in his Hand And that c Commorari leoni draconi placebit quam habitare cum muliere nequam Eccl. 25. the Company of a Lion or Serpent is more supportable than that of a bad Wife The Second Truth is express'd by these excellent Words That d Datum Dei est mulier sensata tacita non est immutatio eruditae animae Eccl. 26. a prudent and discreet Wife is the Gift of God to which there is nothing comparable And in the Proverbs That e Domus divitiae dantur à parentibus à Domino autem proprie uxor prudens Prov. 19. Parents may well give a House and Riches to their Children but it appertains only to God to give a discreet Wife The Third Truth is a consequence of the Second for if God gives this great Blessing it follows also that a Man must merit it from him as he himself hath declar'd by the same Wiseman who says f Pars bona mulier bona in parte timentium Deum dabitur viro pro factio bonis Eccl. 26. A Man is happy when he finds a good Wife and that it is the Portion of those who fear God and that God gives it to Man in recompence of his good Actions And the Angel Raphael says to the Father of young Sara that his Daughter was reserv'd for young Toby because he fear'd God and that the others had been unworthy of her by reason of their Sins Huic timenti Deum debetur conjux filia tua propterea alius non potuit habere eam The Second thing you shall have to do when you shall be fully convinc'd of these Truths is to concern your self to avoid the four Faults we mention'd which are the most ordinary Causes of bad Marriages and by avoiding them to practise the contrary Actions which are the necessary Dispositions for Marriage First then Live well during your Youth Be Chast and let not the love of Pleasures take possession of your Heart Follow not the Torrent of the bad Example of those of your Age who gape after nothing but Pleasures Be afraid lest God punish you by the same way by which you shall have sinn'd and that for the Pleasures you shall have taken during your Youth which are soon past he send you the anguish and trouble of a misfortunate Marriage which will continue all your Life Secondly When you shall be at the time of thinking of Marriage be careful to look upon it with a chast and pure Eye and have nothing but a holy Intention which seeks not Pleasure and Delight in so pious a thing but the vertuous End which a Christian ought to propose to himself The Angel Raphael hath declar'd it in a word to young Toby a Accipies virginem cum timore Domini amore filiorum magis quam libidine ductus Tob. 6. You shall Marry in the Fear of God with an intention of having Children and not thro' a love of Pleasures Call to mind the terrible Example of the seven Husbands of young Sara who were all stifled by the Devil on the Day of their Nuptials and learn from thence the Cause which the same Angel told to Toby b Audi me ostendam tibi qui sunt quibus praevalere potest daemonium Hi namque qui conjugium ita suscipiunt ut Deum à se à sua mente excludant suae libidini ita vacent sicut equus mulus quibus non est intellectus habet potestatem Daemonium super eos Ibid. Give ear to me says he to him and I shall tell you who those are over whom the Devil hath power For those who enter into Marriage not having God with them or thinking on him and who only seek wanton Pleasures as Beasts which have no Reason are they over whom the Devil hath power Imprint these words deeply in your Mind and know that if the Devil only kill'd those immediately who abus'd the Sanctity of Marriage he wants not other Means to exercise over them the power God hath given him whereof he discovers but too many Effects by all the Miseries with which he infests Marriage They who would not fall into them ought to avoid the Cause and have nothing but a chast Love in their Heart so that they may truly say to God those excellent words of young Toby * Et nunc Domine tu scis quia non luxuriae causa accipio sororem meam conjugem sed sola posteritatis dilectione in qua benedicatur nomen tuum in saecula saeculorum Tob. 8. Lord thou knowest that it is not the love of Pleasures which makes me
is conquer'd Pag. 263. Artic. 8. Considerable Examples to teach us how we must encounter with Temptations Pag. 264. Chap. 10. Particular Obstacles to rich young Persons Pag. 269. Chap. 11. Particular Obstacles to Noble Persons Pag. 274. Chap. 12. Particular Obstacles of young Incumbents or such as have Benefices without Cure. Pag. 279. Chap. 13. Advice to Parents upon the same Subject Pag. 284. PART IV. OF the Vertues necessary for young Persons Pag. 289. Chap. 1. That young People ought to propose to themselves the Imitation of our Lord Jesus in his Youth Pag. 290. Chap. 2. Of the Fear of God. Pag. 294. Chap. 3. Of the Love of God. Pag. 296. Chap. 4. Of the Love of Parents Pag. 300. Chap. 5. Of other Persons whom young Men ought to honor Pag. 305. Chap. 6. Of Tractableness Pag. 307. Cap. 7. Of Obedience Pag. 308. Chap. 8. Of Chastity Pag. 309. Chap. 9. Of Shamefac'dness Pag. 312. Chap. 10. Of Modesty Pag. 315. Chap. 11. Of Modesty in Words Pag. 320. Chap. 12. Of other Vices of the Tongue and particularly of Swearing Pag. 322. Of Detraction Pag. 326. Of Injuries and Reproaches Pag. 327. Of Sowers of Discord Pag. 329. Of Lying Pag. 330. Chap. 13. Of Sobriety Pag. 333 Chap. 14. Of Meekness and Anger Pag. 337. Remedies against Anger Pag. 341. Chap. 15. Of Peace with our Neighbor against Quarrels and Enmities Pag. 344. Chap. 16. Of Pardon of Injuries against Revenge Pag. 348. Chap. 17. Of the Love of our Neighbor Pag. 353. Chap. 18. Of Fraternal Correction or of the Obligation of hindering the Ill of another when one can Pag. 357. Chap. 19. Of Friendships Pag. 365. Chap. 20. Of Sports and Recreations Pag. 369. Chap. 21. Of Liberality against Covetousness Pag. 372. Chap. 22. Of Humility Pag. 377. PART V. OF the Choice of a State of Life Pag. 384. Chap. 1. How important it is to make a good Choice of a State of Life Pag. 385. Chap. 2. Of the Faults that are ordinarily committed in this Choice Pag. 388. Chap. 3. Of the Means to chuse well a State of Life And First That a good Life during Youth is a Means highly necessary to succeed in this Choice Pag. 392. Chap. 4. That to succeed well in the Choice of a State of Life it is most important to think of it before one be in the Time of Choosing Pag. 397. Chap. 5. Of the Means which must be employ'd when one deliberates on the Choice of a State of Life Pag. 399. Chap. 6. What is to be done when a Man is upon the point of chusing his State. Pag. 401. Chap. 7. Of the Qualities those ought to have of whom Counsel is to be taken for the Choice of a State of Life Pag. 406. Chap. 8. Whether Parents are to be hearkned to in this Choice Pag. 408. Chap. 9. Of the different States of Life and first of the Ecclesiastical State. Pag. 411. Artic. 1. Of the greatness of the Obligations and Dangers of an Ecclesiastical State. Pag. 412. Artic. 2. Of the Vocation to an Ecclesiastical State. Pag. 417. Artic. 3. Of the Preparation necessary for an Ecclesiastical State. Pag. 420. Artic. 4. The Conclusion of the precedent Chapter Pag. 424. Chap. 10. Of a Religious State. Pag. 429. Artic. 1. What a Religious State is What its Obligations its Advantages and Dangers are Pag. 430. Artic. 2. What is to be done to know whether one be call'd to Religion Pag. 433. Artic. 3. That a Man must take time to know whether he be call'd to Religion Pag. 437. Chap. 11. Of the divers States of a Secular Life Pag. 440. Artic. 1. Of the Condition of the Great and of those who Govern others Pag. 441. Artic. 2. Of the Offices of Justice and Magistracy Pag. 451. Artic. 3. Of a Court Life Pag. 456. Artic. 4. Of the Profession of Arms. Pag. 459. Artic. 5. Of other Conditions of a Secular Life Pag. 467. Chap. 12. Of the State of Marriage Pag. 470. Artic. 1. What we must know of a Marry'd Life Pag. 471. Artic. 2. The necessary Dispositions for a Marry'd State. Pag. 474. Artic. 3. The Conclusion of the foregoing Chapter Pag. 483. Chap. 13. Of a Single Life Pag. 486. Chap. 14. Most important Advices for young Persons who begin to enter into the World. Pag. 492. Advice 1. That the time of issuing out of Youth and entring into the World is the most dangerous of all the Life and many are shipwreckt therein Pag. 494. Adv. 2. That the chief care of young Men who enter into the World ought to be to conserve the Sentiments and Practices of Piety which they have observ'd in their Youth Pag. 497. Adv. 3. That young Men must fly carefully wicked Company and particularly that of young vicious Persons of their Profession Pag. 499. Adv. 4. That they must apply themselves quickly to some Labor which may employ their Time and make them avoid Idleness which is then most dangerous and more than at any other time Pag. 500. Adv. 5. That young People ought to have a care of avoiding three ordinary Causes of their Ruin at that time Play Wine and Impurity Pag. 502. Adv. 6. That they must avoid at that time Irresolution concerning the State they ought to chuse and after the Choice not easily nor without great reason change Pag. 503. Adv. 7. That young Men ought to foresee the Dangers and Obligations of their Profession and firmly purpose to avoid those Dangers and acquit themselves of their Obligations and live in their Profession like vertuous Men and according to God. Pag. 505. Adv. 8. That they must accustom themselves betimes not to be asham'd of Vertue nor of performing the Actions thereof Pag. 506. Adv. 9. That they must have a care to embrace a solid and real Vertue and not an apparent and deceitful Piety Pag. 507. Adv. 10. That young Persons ought to fix themselves more and more in the solid Sentiments of Faith and Religion Pag. 511. Adv. 11. That they must be strongly setled in the Christian Maxims opposite to those of the World. Pag. 514. Chap. 15. Christian Maxims Pag. 516. Maxim 1. That we are not created for this present Life but for Heaven ibid. Max. 2. That the most important Affair which we have in this Life is our Salvation ib. Max. 3. That Salvation is not obtain'd without Pains and Labor Pag. 517. Max. 4. That our chiefest care in this Life must be to please God and live in his Grace ib. Max. 5. That we cannot be in the Grace of God without having a constant Resolution never to offend him upon any score Pag. 518. Max. 6. That Sin is the greatest Evil which can befall a Man. ib. Max. 7. That the worst of all Misfortunes is to die in Mortal Sin. Pag. 519. Max. 8. That this Misfortune happens to many and to those who think not of it ib. Max. 9. That we must think frequently on Death Judgment and Eternity Pag. 520. Max. 10. That we must
God from his Youth and kept his Commandments he complain'd not against God for the Affliction of Blindness which he sent him but continu'd immoveable in the Fear of God giving him Thanks all the Days of his Life O how admirable is the Effect of a Vertue which hath always increas'd with Age b Sexagenarius lumen recepit reliquum vero vitae in gaudio fuit cum bono profactu timoris Dei porrexit in pace Tob. 14. He was deliver'd from that Affliction Four Years after and liv'd to the Age of 110 when he dy'd in peace after he had made as the Scripture takes notice a continual Progress in the Fear and Service of God. Thus Theotime do they Live thus do they Die who have spent their Life vertuously in their Youth I cannot finish this Chapter Third Example of Eleazar which is already too long without bringing a Third Example in the Person of that great Martyr of the Old Testament Eleazar 2 Machab. 6. He was an ancient Man very Venerable for the number of his Years but yet more for his Vertue wherein he had liv'd from his Infancy When King Antiochus Persecuted the Jews to make them Renounce their Religion and the Adoration of the true God this holy Man was Apprehended to be constrain'd thereto by force of Torments which could never make his ancient Piety to stagger And when some of the Standers by exhorted him to obey the Persecutor at least in exterior shew and appearance to free himself from the Torture The Scripture saith that he took into Consideration the Dignity of his Age At ille cogitare caepit aetatis ac senectutis suae eminentiam dignam ingenitae nobilitatis canitiem atque à puero optimae conversationis actus which was grown gray in Vertue not having committed any thing yet unworthy of his Extraction and of a true Son of Abraham and the Religious Life he had led from his Infancy and having reflected on these things he immediately Answer'd with an invincible Courage That he would rather Die than consent to such a criminal Action And presently his Torments were redoubled and he suffer'd Death with an incredible Patience Learn dear Theotime from this Example and the precedent what a Vertue acquir'd in Youth is able to do when setled by a continual Exercise of good Actions and labour to be such now as you would wish to be all the remainder of your Life CHAP. X. That those who have been addicted to Vice in their Youth are very difficultly Corrected and it often happens that they never Amend but miserably Damn themselves O Theotime Ninth Motive the great Importance of Living well during Youth that I had a Pen that were able to Engrave this important Truth more deeply in your Heart than in Brass or Marble and make you perfectly comprehend the great and dreadful Difficulty with which he Corrects himself who hath led a wicked Life in his Youth A Difficulty so great that it is almost impossible sufficiently to express it and on the other side so general that we cannot consider it attentively without being touch'd with a lively Sorrow seeing so vast a number of Christians and principally of young People who grone under the tyranny of a vicious Habit which being contracted in their Youth and increas'd with Age leads them to Perdition from whence if it chance they recover it is with incredible Pains and Combats and by a manifest Miracle of Divine Grace Learn O dear Theotime to avoid this Danger and endeavour to comprehend the greatness either entirely to prevent it or quickly to withdraw your self if you be already engag'd therein This so great a Difficulty springs from three Causes The First is the incredible Power and Force of a wicked Habit which being once rooted in the Soul cannot be pluckt up but with great trouble All Habits have commonly this Quality that they continue a long time and are very hardly destroy'd But amongst others wicked Habits are such as adhere more strongly and are not so easily chang'd Because it is far more difficult to corrupt Nature to raise it self to Good than to do Evil. Hence it comes that the Scripture says Perversi 〈◊〉 cilè corrigeâ—tur 〈◊〉 rum infinitus est numerus Eccles 1. That the Wicked are hardly Corrected which makes the number of Fools that is of Sinners to be infinite But amongst wicked Habits those which are contracted in Youth are the strongest and with most difficulty overcome For the Passions which are the Instruments of Vice not being moderated in that Time by Vertue encrease with Age and encreasing augment and fortifie Vice giving it daily new Forces which render it at length unconquerable For this Reason the same Scripture having a Mind to express the force of a vicious Habit contracted in younger Years delivers a Sentence which young People ought to have frequently before their Eyes Job 20. Ossa ejus implebuntur vitiis adolescentiae ejus cum eo in pulvere dormient The Wicked shall be fill'd with Vices from his Youth and they will follow him to his Grave That is the Vices and ill Inclinations of Youth become so deeply and strongly rooted in the Soul that all the remainder of his Life is sensible of them and opprest with them and they continue even until Death as we daily see And the Cause thereof is very evident for Vice which has once gotten possession of a Soul encreases and strengthens the Passions the Passions corrupt the Judgment and make it conceive that Good which is Evil esteem Evil that which is Good The Judgment perverted corrupts the Will which is carry'd blindly to Sin and from thence proceeds all the remainder of Wickedness because as S. Augustin says a Ex voluntate perversa facta est libido dum servitur libidini facta est consuetudo dum consuetudini non refistitur facta est necessitas Aug. lib. 8. Confes cap. 3. The Will deprav'd settles its Affection and takes Pleasure in Ill. Pleasure produceth a Custom and a Custom not resisted becomes a Necessity And when a Soul is arriv'd at this Point she is out of hopes of Amendment because as another Author adds b Actio consuetudinem parit consuetudo necessitatem necessitas mortem S. Isid Necessity is the Mother of Death The Second Cause of this great Difficulty is the Diminution of the Divine Grace For as God augments his Favours to those that humbly receive them and make use of them for their Salvation so he diminisheth them to those who abuse and contemn them Now if he treat Men in this manner it seems that he more ordinarily deals so with young Men on whom as he bestows many Favours when they worthily dispose themselves as we have said above so he withdraws his Kindnesses from them when they abuse them as we have made appear by the Experience of those who having been favour'd with particular Obligations from
non fatageret idem pater qualis crescerem tibi aut quam castus essem dummodo essem disertus Ibid. Volebat enim illa secreto memini ut monuerit cum solicitudine ingenti ne fornicarer Qui mihi monitus muliebres videbantur quibus obtemperare erubescerem Ibid. The little Care his Father took for his Salvation and Manners concerning himself little that his Son should be Vertuous so that he became Learned and Eloquent as it happens to many Fathers Thirdly The Contempt of the Admonitions of his Mother who knowing her Sons Mind exhorted him continually not to permit himself to be carry'd away by the Excesses of Impurity but to no Effect Fourthly Quid dignum vituperio nisi vitium ego ne vituperarer vitiosior fiebam ubi non suberat quo admisso aequarer perditis fingebam me fecisse quod non feceram ne viderer abjectior quo eram innocentior ne vilior haberer quo eram castior Ibid. The wicked Examples of those of his Age so much prevail'd upon his Mind that he endeavour'd to be more Impious to the end he might be more like unto them and when he saw himself surpass'd by them in Wickedness he feign'd some Naughtiness which he had never committed fearing to be contemn'd by how much he appear'd less Vicious than others Fifthly Relaxabantur etiam mihi ad ludendum habenae ultra temperamentum severitatis in dissolutionem affectionum variarum Et in omnibus erat caligo intercludens mihi Deus meus serenitatem veritatis tuae prodibat tanquam ex adipe iniquitas mea Ibid. Cap. 5. The great Liberty his Parents gave him for Play and Recreations as he himself also takes notice These Causes cast him into Vice and cherish'd him in his Disorders the space of Three Years after which he began to open his Eyes and acknowledge his Misery It is here Theotime where you shall know the great Difficulty with which one withdraws himself from the Vices of his Youth Being Nineteen Years of Age he conceiv'd very effectual thoughts of his Salvation which God rais'd in him by reading * Ille vero Liber mutavit affectum meum ad teipsum Domine mutavit preces meas ac vota ac desideria mea fecit alia a Book of Cicero whose Title is Hortensius containing an Exhortation to Wisdom The reading of this Book as he himself saith chang'd presently his Mind and Inclinations and made him convert his Thoughts upon God and alter his Desires Viluit mihi repentè omnis vana spes immortalitatem sapientiae concupiscebam aestu cordis incredibili Et surgere jam caeperam ut ad te redirem Quomodo ardebam revelare à terrenis ad te Lib. 3. cap. 4. He began to contemn temporal and perishable Goods and Pleasures and to aspire with an incredible Longing after the Beauty of Wisdom which never perisheth And from that Time he began to depart from Vice and to return to God with a most ardent Desire Who would not have believ'd but that these good Motions would have been soon follow'd by a perfect Conversion But alas Theotime what is not a wicked Habit contracted in Youth able to do Vice and wicked Inclinations had so seis'd upon his Heart that altho' these Thoughts of his Conversion were very strong and that he us'd all his Endeavours to recover himself from that Puddle of Dirt wherein he was plung'd yet he continu'd therein not only a Day a Month a Year but from the Nineteenth to the Thirtieth Year of his Age And the Vices contracted in Three Years of his Youth kept him in Slavery Twelve whole Years During which Time he not only remain'd in his former Disorders but fell into others yet greater For as Immodesty leads to Error and Blindness he lapsed into the Heresie of Manichaeus wherein he continu'd Nine Years joyning to his Heresie the continual keeping of a Concubine in which State he liv'd from his first Corruption until the Time of his Conversion Being about Thirty Years of Age he thinks more seriously of his Conversion than formerly as he describes it in the Sixth Book Chap. 11. But hearken Theotime with what trouble he purchas'd his Design After that first Thought Cum haec dicebant alternabant hi venti impellebant huc atque illuc cor meum transibant tempora tardabam converti ad Dominum Deum deferebam de die in diem vivere in te non deferebam quotidie in meipso mori he remain'd yet above Two Years in his wicked Life deferring daily as he saith himself to be Converted unto God and to seek in him the Life of Grace not reflecting on the Death he caus'd in himself by his deprav'd Life He ought to have employ'd much Time in curing his Understanding and rooting out the Errors and Ignorances which yet remain'd of his Life past as he describes them in the Seventh Book and convincing himself of the necessity of his Conversion His Understanding being overcome Et non erat jam ulla excusatio qua videri mihi solebam propterea me nondum contempto saeculo servire tibi quia incerta mihi esset perceptio veritatis jam enim ipsa certa erat ego autem adhuc terra obligatus militare tibi recusabam impedimentis omnibus sic timebam expediri quemadmodum impediri temendum est Lib. 8. cap. 5. Et ego ad me quae non in me dixi quibus sententiarum verberibus non flagellavi animam meam ut sequeretur me conantem post te ire renitebatur Recusabat non se excusabat Consumpta erant convicta argumenta omnia Remanserat muta trepidatio quasi mortem reformidabat restringi à fluxu consuetudinis quo tabescebat mortem Cap. 7. and his Will not yet submitting the vicious Habits did in such a manner possess his Heart that they made him fear his Amendment more than his Life as he himself testifies He should have rooted out the Vices one after another Ambition Covetousness Impurity Ambition and Covetousness were soon banisht out of his Soul but that misfortunate Impurity kept yet a firm possession He was so enslav'd therewith Mihi displicebat quod agebam in saeculo oneri mihi valde erat non jam inflammantibus cupiditatiâ—us ut solebant spe honoris pecuniae ad tolerandam illam servitutem tam gravem Sed adhuc tenaciter colligabar ex femina Lib. 5. cap. 1. Putabam me miserum fore si feminae privarer amplexibus Lib. 6. cap. 11. that he thought he should never have been able to have got his Liberty accounting it an extreme Misery to be depriv'd of those ignominious Pleasures which are the source of all Misfortunes And Lastly The difficulty of his Conversion was so great that after many Combats which he underwent in his Soul during the space of Fourteen or Fifteen Years after the Solicitude Prayers and Tears
long time For in the Ninth Year of his Reign the City of Jerusalem was Besieg'd by Nabuchadonosor King of Babylon and after Two Years Siege it was Taken Sackt and put to Fire and Sword the Temple Ransackt and Burnt those of the People who had escap'd the fury of the Sword or Famine were sent into Captivity And he flying with his Children was taken and brought before the proud King who after having receiv'd him with Expressions of Fury and Indignation caused his Childrens Throats to be cut before his Face and afterwards pull'd out his Eyes and made him be sent Captive into Babylon where he dy'd miserably undergoing the just Punishment of his Iniquities We must add to these Examples those which we have recounted in the Sixth Chapter being that all those of whom we spoke in that place are dead in their Sins and by Sins begun in their Youth These Examples are very common in Sacred Scripture the contrary are there very rare and as I have said we shall find but one only in the Old Testament who was truly Converted after he had liv'd wickedly in his Youth viz. Manasses and that by so strange a Means that it manifests more clear than Day the dreadful Difficulty with which one Corrects the wicked Inclinations of his younger Years This Prince having lost his Father Ezechias 4 Reg. 21. one of the most pious Kings of Juda at the Age of Twelve Years was Inheritor of his Crown but not of his Vertues For blotting out of his Mind presently the holy Examples and wise Documents he had receiv'd from him he addicts himself to all sorts of Vices and Impieties such as the Scripture recounts His Iniquities went on encreasing until the Fifteenth or according to others till the Two and twentieth Year of his Reign wherein God sent him an extreme Affliction He was taken by the Assyrians in the City of Jerusalem sent Captive into Babylon loaden with Irons and Chains cast into a frightful Prison where he was daily afflicted with a vast number of Miseries and Persecutions Being reduc'd to this extremity of Misery he began to open his Eyes and call upon him in his Afflictions whom he had forgotten in his Prosperity He acknowledg'd his Iniquities and begg'd Pardon for them with a truly contrite Heart and by the force of Tears and Prayers obtain'd from God his Deliverance After which he did Penance for his Sins and liv'd in Holiness all the remainder of his Life even to the Age of Sixty seven when he dy'd St. Jerom adds to this History a very remarkable Particularity which he took out of the Tradition of the Hebrews For Explicating what the Scripture says in general Terms * Qui posteaquam coangustatus est oravit Dominum Deum suum Hieron in ques Heb. in Paral. That Manasses being opprest with Affliction had recourse to God he saith that it was in the Extremity of a frightful Death to which he was expos'd He should have been put to Death in a great brazen Vessel pierc'd with many Holes set upon a hot Fire which heating the Vessel and penetrating it on every side should consume that miserable Prince by its Flames by so much the more cruel as it was tedious in duration He was shut up in this Vessel and the Fire kindled under him In this dreadful Representation of Death this misfortunate Prince apply'd not himself to God but first to the Idols which he had ador'd so strangely was he blinded with his former Sins But when he perceiv'd that it was to no end to invoke their Assistance he call'd to mind a Sentence of the Sacred Scripture which he had often heard from his Father in his Youth by which God promis'd his Succours * Dum quaesi eris Dominum Deum tuum invenies eum si tamen tâ—â—o corde quae ieris tota tribulatione animae tuae Deut. 4. to those who had recourse to him in their Tribulations and converted themselves to him with all their Heart and had a great Sorrow for their Sins He presently raises his Heart to God with Sighs and Lamentations and begs of him his Deliverance with such a Contrition for his Sins that God shew'd him Mercy and not only deliver'd him from that frightful Death but from his Slavery and made him return to Jerusalem where he spent the rest of his Life after the manner I have already touch'd See here Theotime a Conversion after a wicked Life of Youth but a Conversion purchas'd at a dear Rate CHAP. XIII Of the great Evils which spring from the wicked Life of Youth THE greatest of Evils is that whereof we speak Tenth Motive which obliges young People to Vertue viz. The loss of Salvation and Eternal Ruine which befalls many by the Sins of their Youth it being certain that Sins committed in that Age are the original Cause of Damnation to many But besides that there are many others issuing from the same Fountain which are necessary to be known dear Theotime to the end that knowing them you may conceive a greater horror of the Cause which produces them ARTICLE I. The first Evil viz. Death which the Sins of Youth hasten to very many I put in the first place Death hasten'd which happens to many young Persons in punishment of their Sins I do not mean that all those who die in the Flower of their Age die in punishment of the Sins they have committed nor also that all those who follow Vice in their Youth should be punish'd with an untimely Death I know very well that the Pious sometimes depart in the prime of their Youth and that this Death is a Recompence of their Vertue and an Effect of the Love God bears them according to that Testimony of the Sacred Scripture in the Book of Wisdom If the Just says the Wiseman Justus si morte praeoccupatus fuerit in refrigerio erit placens Deo factus dilectus vivens inter peccatores transsatus est Raptus est ne malitia mutaret intellectum ejus ne fictio deciperet animam illius facinatio enim nugacitatis obscurat bona inconstantia concupiscentiae transvertit sensum sine malitia consummatus in brevi explevit tempora multa placita enimerat Deo anima illius propter hoc properavit Dominus educere illum de medio iniquitatum Sap. 4. be prevented by Death he will find therein Repose and Salvation his Vertue having render'd him agreeable to God made him purchase his Love and merit to be taken out of this World where he liv'd amongst Sinners God withdrew him betimes lest Corruption should slip into his Mind and his Soul be deceiv'd with the false appearance of the Vanity and Pleasures of the World which delude Men and make them love those things which are most opposite to their Salvation I know also very well that there are many Sinners who live a long time and who grow old in the Vices they had contracted in their Youth
ordinarily some Prayer to her more by Custom than Vertue and on the otherside do not care horribly to displease her by a Life replenish'd with mortal Sins which they commit without any scruple O God! what Devotion is this to desire to please the Mother and daily crucifie the Son trample his Blood under their Feet and contemn his Grace and Friendship Is not this to be an Enemy both to Son and Mother O dear Theotime your Devotion to the Blessed Virgin must not be like that True Devotion to the Blessed Virgin. it must be more generous and more holy and to speak plainly if you will be a true Child and a sincere Servant of the Blessed Virgin you must have a care to perform Four things 1. Have a great apprehension of displeasing her by mortal Sin and of afflicting her Motherly Heart by Dishonoring her Son and destroying your Soul and if you chance to fall into that Misfortune have recourse readily to her * Non aspernatur affectum praedulcem ingens desiderium inundationem lacrymarum assiduitatem precum quorumlibet etiam peccatorum Si tamen laverint à malitia cor S. Ber. Serm. 1. Super Salve Regina that she may be your Mediatrix to reconcile you to her Son extremely provoked by you She is the refuge of Sinners as well as of the Just on Condition they have recourse to her with a true desire of converting themselves as S. Bernard says 2. Love and imitate her Vertues and principally her Humility and Chastity These two Vertues amongst others have render'd her entirely pleasing to God * Agnoscit certe diligit diligentes se prope est in veritate invocantibus se praesertim his quos videt sibi conformes factos in castitate humilitate Ibid. She loves them singularly in her Children and is delighted to assist with her Favors those whom she finds to be particularly inclin'd to those Vertues according to the same Saint 3. Have recourse to her for things needful for your Salvation and for that end offer to her daily some particular Prayers say your Beads or the little Office sometimes in the Week perform something in her Honor on every Saturday whether Prayer Abstinence or Alms Honor particularly her Feasts with Confession and Communion 4. Be mindful to Invoke her in Temptations and in the Dangers you find your self in of offending God. You cannot shew your respect for her better than by applying your self to her in these urgent Necessities and you can find no Succor more prompt and favorable than hers It is the Counsel of St. Bernard * Si insurgant venti tentationum si incurras scopulos tribulationum respice stellam voca Mariam In periculis in angustiis in rebus dubiis Mariam cogita Mariam invoca Non recedat ab ore non recedat à corde Et ut imperves orationis ejus suffragium non deseras conversation is exemplum S. Bern. Eom 2. Super missus est If the Winds of Temptations be rais'd against you if you run upon the Rocks of Adversity lift up your Eyes towards that Star Invoke the Blessed Virgin. In Dangers in Extremities in doubtful Affairs think upon the Blessed Virgin call upon the Blessed Virgin let her not depart from your Mouth nor from your Heart And that you may obtain the assistance of her Intercession be sure to follow the Example of her Conversation If you perform this you will have a true Devotion to the Blessed Virgin you will be of the number of her real Children and she will be your Mother under whose Protection you shall never perish Keep well in memory that excellent Sentence of S. Anselm who presum'd to say That as it is necessary he must needs perish who hath no Affection to the Blessed Virgin Mary and who forsakes her So it is impossible he should perish who hath recourse to her and whom she regards with the Eyes of Mercy I shall make an end with an excellent Example which I shall produce for a Proof of this Verity A Remarkable Example Revelation c. 13. S. Brigit had a Son who follow'd the Profession of a Souldier and was bred up in the Wars and dy'd therein she having heard the News of his Death was much concern'd for the Salvation of her Son dead in so dangerous a Condition and as she was often savour'd by God with Revelations of which alone she hath Compos'd a Book she was assur'd of the Salvation of her Son by ensuing Revelations In the first the Blessed Virgin reveal'd to her that she had assisted her Son with a particular Protection at the Hour of his Death having strengthned him against Temptations and obtain'd all necessary Favors for him to make a holy and happy End. In the following she declar'd the Cause of that singular Assistance she gave her Son and said it was in Recompence of his great and sincere Devotion he had testifi'd to her during his Life wherein he had lov'd her with a very ardent Affection and had endeavour'd to please her in all things This is Theotime what a real Devotion to the Blessed Virgin did merit for this young Man and for many others She will be as prevalent for you if you have a Devotion for her if you love and honor the Blessed Virgin as she ought to be lov'd and honor'd in the manner we have spoken of But in speaking of the Devotion of the Blessed Virgin Mary The Devotion to S. Joseph very profitable to young Persons I cannot pass by that of her dear Spouse the glorious S. Joseph This great Saint having had the singular Happiness to be chosen to have the Care and Guardianship of the Son of God in his Infancy and Youth it must needs follow that he will be favorable to young Persons and cherish them tenderly in that Age which he saw sanctifi'd by the Son of God. He hath Serv'd him in all the Necessities of his Life to which he was pleas'd to submit himself for our Love He freed him from the Persecutions of his Enemies he bred him up in his Infancy govern'd him in his Youth He saw him submit himself to his Commands He was a domestick Witness and Admirer of the Graces and Vertues he made appear from Day to Day in his tender Years as the Sun discovers his Light according to the proportion he rises higher Ought we not to believe that this Saint who hath had so much Familiarity with Jesus Christ when a little Child affects with a singular tenderness the Children of Jesus Christ and particularly those who endeavor to conform themselves to that Divine Youth by the imitation of his Vertues and that he should be their Protector and Intercessor to him Fix your Affection Theotime upon this good Saint and honor him with a particular Respect Take him for your Patron and for the Protector of your Purity Pray to him daily with much confidence and above all in your Necessities and
the Fault of Parents who are wanting in this great Obligation God hath impos'd upon them of Educating them in his Fear and disposing them to Vertue Now there are four Defects which Parents may be guilty of in this Obligation which most frequently are the Cause of the Corruption and Ruin of Children Four Faults Parents may commit in the Instruction of their Children 1. When they neglect to Instruct them in the knowledge of Vertue and their Salvation 2. When they are too Indulgent in their Place giving too much Liberty and not Correcting them when they do ill 3. When they give them bad Example by their Actions 4. When they suborn them in things contrary to Piety We have spoken above of the First Defect As to the Second it is not to be imagin'd how common this Fault is amongst Parents and how it daily destroys Children appears by Experience The greatest part of fathers and Masters affect their Children with a foolish and blind Love which regards nothing but the present and sensible Good of their Children and are afraid to give them the least trouble by keeping them within the Bounds of Vertue by a discreet Admonition or by a reasonable Correction they choose rather to leave them in their wicked Inclinations which for want of Correction encreasing with Age make them wicked and vicious for all the remainder of this Life and miserable after this Life for all Eternity Misfortunate Parents who by this sort of Mildness precipitate themselves with their Children into the deep Pit of Wickedness like those foolish Animals which kill their young ones by the vehemence of embracing them Blind Fathers who see not that this Mercy you shew to your Children is the greatest Cruelty you can exercise in your Condition and you would not be so cruel if you took away their Life with your own Hands it being certain that by this Inhumanity you would but destroy their Bodies whereas by your Mildness you cause the ruin of their Souls and the eternal loss of their Salvation The time will come wherein your Children will lay their Curses on you will require of God revenge against you and will accuse you as the Authors of their Misfortune witness he who being Condemn'd to Death cry'd out aloud It is not the Judge but my Mother who is the Cause of my Punishment Your culpable Meekness will one day draw upon you the Curse of God and also upon your Children Upon your selves because you have neither Instructed nor Corrected them when they stood in need Upon your Children because they made use of your Indulgence to give themselves over to vice and Disorder See the Example of the High Priest Heli recounted above and learn from that terrible Punishment God laid upon him what you ought to expect For all the Miseries which besel as well him as his Children and his whole House and for their first and principal Source the great Indulgence he had towards his Children not Correcting them for their Sins This is the Testimony God himself gives thereof I will judge says he the House of Heli Praedixi quod judicaturus essem domum ejus propter iniquitatem eo quod noverat indignè agere filios non corripuerit eos 1 Reg. 3. by reason of his Iniquity because having knowledge of the wicked Life of his Children he hath neither reprehended nor corrected them I cannot sufficiently exaggerate this Fault of Parents Theotime to raise in you so great a horror as it deserves Practice It is to admonish you if God hath bestow'd upon you wise and vertuous Parents who have had a great care to Instruct you in Vertue to Reprehend you when you were faulty that you acknowledge the Obligation you owe to God and make good use of this high Favor by rendring your self pliable and easie to be Instructed by their Admonitions But on the contrary if your Parents forgetful of their own Duty and your Salvation fail to reprehend you when you commit any Misdemeanor have a great care lest you be ruin'd by their misfortunate Indulgence Beg of God very earnestly that he would change their Disposition and give you Masters who would supply their Defect and take notice of your Actions to redress them when you shall wander never so little out of the Path of Vertue I say the same if your Parents be not only negligent in reprehending you but what is yet worse if they give you ill Example teaching you as it often happens by their Actions to love the Pleasures of this Life to desire Riches without measure to affect Vanity to be Proud Ambitious Cholerick seeking Revenge not suffering the least Injury Immodest in Words addicted to Feasting to Drunkenness to Impurity and other like things And yet more if they be so miserable as to teach you by their Discourses one or many Vices approve or praise them when you have committed them O God dear Child stand in fear of all these Occasions you cannot be in a greater danger of your Salvation and having recourse to God beseech him that he would illuminate you to discern Good from Evil that he would strengthen your Mind against the bad Impressions you shall receive and not be destroy'd by their Fault who ought to be the first who should contribute to your Salvation CHAP. III. The Third Obstacle of the Salvation of Youth the Vntractableness of young Persons SAint Jerom says excellently well Saepe magister peccat saepe discipulus nonnunquam patris vitium est nonnunquam filii ut male erudiatur S. Hier. in cap. 6. Michaeae That altho' the depravation of Children springs often from the Parents and Masters Pault yet it very frequently proceeds also from the Childrens Wickedness who will not receive Instruction and this Fault is call'd Vntractableness This Untractableness is a want of submission to the Conduct of others or a secret Presumption of ones self by which one will not be inform'd of the Truth he ought to know nor receive Advice in those things he ought to do nor be Reprov'd and Corrected when he has err'd nor Exhorted to Good when he has done amiss This Vice is one of the worst Qualities a Mind can be infected with A very bad Quality of the Mind For if we regard its Causes it proceeds from Pride Its Causes which makes them contemn all that comes from another or from Obstinacy or Confidence in their own Judgment or from a too great Lightness of Mind which considers nothing and which makes them despise the most important things If we consider its Effects Its Effects it infallibly causes the Corruption and Ruin of those who are infected with it being it takes away all Means of Correction or Amendment for how should one do Good if he will not know it How correct his Faults if he will not be rebuked The Sick who will acknowledg his Distemper and rejects the Remedies for it is out of hope of any
frequent and it puts a very great Impediment to your Salvation Some young Spirits are found tractable and pliable to receive Instructions Counsels and Admonitions but there are few who are firm and constant to observe them well They have a Spirit subject to change which adheres to all sorts of Objects lets it self be carry'd away by all its first Motions be tossed by divers Passions which permit it not to continue long in the same course They are scarce able to make one solid Resolution chiefly in that which concerns Vertue much less form or Exercise it when it is made the first Occasion carries them away and makes them forget all their good Designs If Inconstancy be not corrected in good time it puts a great Obstacle to the Salvation of young People and absolutely hinders them from learning Vertue Seed cannot take root in a moving Sand nor Vertue in a light Mind which changes upon all Occasions For this reason the Wiseman gives you that admirable Advertisement Theotime Non ventiles in omnem ventum non eas in omnem viam Esto firmus in via Domini Eccles 5. Turn not at every wind go not into every way be firm in the way of our Lord. This Inconstancy in God springs principally from three Causes 1. From a Levity natural to that Age Three Causes of Inconstancy which renders young Persons inconstant in all their Actions They are changeable in all their Inclinations in their Thoughts in their Designs and in their Resolutions hence it comes that they are so inconstant in Good. 2. It springs from this that they are not solidly convinc'd of the Importance of their Salvation and of the necessity they have of addicting themselves to Vertue in their Youth 3. It comes from the want of Conduct and from this that they not being capable to Conduct themselves take not the Counsel of others for the guidance of their Life or if they take it it is but for a short time they soon reject it abandon themselves to the Motions of their inconstant Mind For the cure of this Inconstancy there is to be apply'd a Remedy to these three Causes First then It s Remedy Theotime endeavor to correct in your self as much as you can that natural Levity of your Age which makes you subject to mutation in the greatest part of your Actions Be constant in all that you perform change not easily your Resolutions your Enterprises nor your Employments except with Reason and Counsel In a word govern your self by Reason and not by Fancy and Caprichio Secondly Labor to fix your Mind in Piety by good Thoughts and frequent Reflections on your Salvation and on the necessity you have to live vertuously in your Youth the reading of the First Part of this Book will serve for that end Thirdly An important Advice Submit your self to the Conduct of a wise Confessor Follow his Counsels and the Rule of Life he shall prescribe to you Give him an Account of your Actions from time to time that he may set you in a good Way when you are out of it Perform nothing of how little consequence soever without his Counsel or that of some other prudent Person But above all beg of God frequently that he will bestow upon you a Mind constant in its good Resolutions and fix you in Piety by the Conduct of his Grace a Perfice gressus meos in semitis tuis ut non moveantur vestigia mea Psal 16. God direct my Steps that is my Actions in the Path of thy Commandments that I may never wander out of it Have often before your Eyes that excellent Sentence of the Wiseman b Homo sanctus in sapientia manet sicut sol stultus ut Luna mutatur Eccl. 27. A religions or pious Man continues fix'd in Vertue like the Sun which never loses his Light but the Fool that is a Sinner changes like the Moon which is not constantly in the same State. CHAP. V. The Fifth Obstacle A Shame to do Good. AMongst the Means the Devil hath invented to pervert Souls there is none which he makes a greater advantage of to keep them securely in Vice than a Shame to do Good a Shame by which he deplorably seduces Mens Minds and principally young Persons who being by the tenderness of their Age more apt to receive the Impressions of Fear and Shame give Occasion to that miserable Spirit Omne malum aut pudore aut timore natura suffudit Tertul. in Apol. maliciously to abuse their Facility and natural Shamesac'dness to make them conceive that Shame and Confusion in respect of Piety and Vertue which was only made for Sin. For this effect he puts into their mind these false and vain Imaginations viz. The Means the Devil uses to raise Shame in young Persons That Vertue is contemn'd amongst Men That they are little esteem'd who follow it That if they should apply themselves to do well they should be despis'd yea even mockt at He actually represents unto their thoughts the Contempt and Scoffs of others and by these Artifices he withdraws them from the Way of Vertue stopping and stifling in them by this foolish Shame all the good Thoughts and Desires they had conceiv'd concerning their Salvation And sometimes this misfortunate Shame gets such powerful possession over their Minds that they not only blush to do Good and appear Vertuous but even glory in their Vices and have a kind of Confusion not to be as Wicked as the most Vicious as it happen'd to S. Augustin who deplores his Misfortune and Blindness in this Point in the Second Book of his Confessions Chap. 3. We shall relate his Words in the following Chapter If this pernicious Shame hath taken possession of your Mind you must account it for one of the greatest Obstacles of your Salvation and if you labor not in good time to over come it it will infallibly destroy you Now to conquer it arm your self against it with these Reflections 1. Remedy Why do you blush Are you asham'd of Vertue and the Service of God Dilectio Dei honorabilis sapientia Eccl. 1. than which there is nothing more Honorable in the World You account it a Glory to Serve a Prince upon Earth and will you blush at the Service of the King of Heaven your Sovereign Lord to whom you owe all that you are What strange Blindness is this But take notice that one never blushes except it be for some thing which is either Wicked or Indecent or too abject or unworthy of ones Self So that if you are asham'd of Vertue you put it into the rank of one of these What an Indignity is this 2. Before whom do you blush Before the Wicked whose Judgment is absolutely perverted who judge that to be wicked which is good and that good which is wicked having no other Rule for their Opinion than their deprav'd Inclinations If they contemn you it is because they
instituit ut laboret S. Bern. in Declam Consider that all Men are born for Labor God hath oblig'd them thereto by a solemn Sentence which he pronounc'd at the beginning of the World. If then you would be exempt leading an Idle Life you resist the Will of God and break the Order he hath so solemnly Establish'd 2. If Men be oblig'd to Labor all their Life-time they have yet a stricter Obligation to it during their Youth because if that Age be not Exercis'd in vertuous Undertakings it heaps up many Vices and wicked Habits which continue all the rest of their Life 3. Chiefly young Men. Because Youth is the proper time to cultivate the Mind and form it for Good and wherein only they may make themselves capable of an Employment where they may busie all the succeeding time of their Life If this Time be once lost it can never be repair'd Time lost in any Age never returns but there is this difference that Time lost in other Ages may sometimes be recover'd but Time lost in Youth is irreparable 4. The Sorrow for loss of Time in Youth Consider attentively the Grief you will one day have for losing the Time of your Youth when you shall find your self unfit for pious Employments and uncapable of any Good as it happens to many You believe it not at present but one day you will be sensible of it when it is too late 5. The Account that must be given If this Grief at present move you not the exact Account you shall give to God of the ill-spent Time of your Youth will at his Judgment make you tremble In that dreadful Judgment all your Life shall be set before your Eyes in order one Part after another and the first Article of the Account which shall be Examin'd will be that of the Employment you have follow'd in your Youth What will you answer to this Demand There you will distinctly discover all the Disorders which have sprung from that first Fault the Ignorances it hath caus'd in you the Sins it hath made you commit the Vices wherein you have been involv'd all the Goods you have been render'd incapable of What have you to answer to all these things 6. Many damned for the ill spending of their Touth How many others are there now in Hell who acknowledg the origin of their Damnation to arise from the ill spending the Time of their Youth If they could but hope for one sole Moment of Time which you have now in your power O God what would they not do to obtain it and bestow it profitably Is it possible that their Misery doth not move you and that you will not grow wise at other Mens Expence learning by their Example to avoid that irreparable Misfortune into which they are faln by their Idleness O dear Child for the love you ought to have for your Salvation fly absolutely this Vice I beseech you which is one of the greatest Impediments you could put And that you may remember to avoid it remember to perform two things The First is Two Practices against Idleness To apply your self to some modest Exercise which may keep you busi'd for the Time of your Youth and that you may perform it as you ought see what we have spoken of it above in Part 2. Chap. 12. The Second is That you take care as much as you can never to be Idle any more without doing something use constantly some Action whether of Labor wherein you are engag'd or Reading or Divertisement Let your Recreations be accompany'd with Actions either of Body or Mind The Devil seeks no better opportunity than to find you Idle that he may tempt and suprise you For this reason practise diligently that excellent Precept of S. Jerom * Facito aliquid operis ut te semper diabolus inveniat occupatum Hieron Epist ad Rust Be doing always something that the Devil may always find you employ'd CHAP. VIII The Eighth Obstacle Impurity WE are now come to the greatest most powerful and most universal of all the Obstacles of the Salvation of Youth viz. the Sin of Impurity At the Entrance whereof I cannot refrain from uttering that Expression of the Prophet Jeremy * Quis dabit capiti meo aquam oculis meis fontem lachrymarum plorabo die nocte interfectos filiae populi mei Jerem. 5. O that my Head were full of Water and my Eyes had a Fountain of Tears that I might weep Day and Night for the Desolation of my People For who can attentively consider the infinit number of young People which this Sin keeps miserably enslav'd the havock it makes of their Souls the innumerable Offences it causes them to commit the Disorders it brings to them the Misfortunes into which it daily precipitates them and chiefly the height of Misery viz. the ruin of their Soul and Eternal Damnation Who can consider these things I say without having his Heart pierc'd with Sorrow and without being mov'd with Compassion to advertise them of the Danger and afford them Assistance to withdraw them from the Misfortune into which they blindly run For this reason Theotime I beseech you six here your Thoughts and read attentively some Points of which I am to Discourse with you concerning this Sin that I may raise in your Mind the horror and apprehension you ought to have of it as of the greatest Enemy of your Salvation and of the certain cause of your Destruction ARTICLE I. That the Sin of Impurity is the greatest Enemy of Youth and Damns more than all other Vices together I would to God this Proposition were rather a Dream than a Truth and that there were as much reason to question the certainty as to hold it for infallible But it is made too clear and visible by daily Experience which evidently discovers two things 1. That a great part of Youth is addicted to this miserable Sin. 2. That amongst those who are inclin'd to it there are many who are no less subject to other Sins than that First Youth much given to the Sins of Impurity Is it not a most deplorable thing to see the innocentest Age of Life so corrupted by that infamous Sin and the most flourishing Portion of Gods Church dishonor'd in such a manner by that detestable Vice They are no sooner capable of Reason but this Vice attacks and gains upon them it creeps into their Mind it possesses their Desires it seises on their Thoughts it inflames their Hearts with a love of dishonest Pleasures which daily encreasing with Age becomes so strong that it is almost impossible to extinguish it This arises partly from the Corruption of Nature Three Causes of Impurity Sensus cogitatio humani cordis in malum prona sunt ab adolescentia sua Gen. 8.3 which as the Sacred Scripture takes notice is inclin'd to Evil from its Youth partly from the Temper and Constitution of that Age which the
tenderness of the Body and heat of Blood makes more susceptible of the Impression of Sensual Pleasures and partly also from the malice of the Devil which assaults Man in his Youth on the weakest side making use of the frailty of the Flesh to take possession of the Spirit and as * Adversum juvenes puellas aetates ardore hostis noster ahutitur in flammat rotam nativitatis nostrae Haec sunt ignita diaboli jacula quae simul vulnerant inflammant à Rege Babilonio tribus pueris praeparantur S. Hieron Epist. ad Demetriad S. Jerom judiciously observes takes advantage of the Heat of Youth by which he raises in their Heart the Fire of unchast Love enkindling in them a more burning and cruel Furnace than that which the King of Babylon caus'd to be prepar'd for the three innocent Children of Israel because that could but consume their Bodies but this scorches their Souls and prepares them by that impure Flame for another Fire which shall never be consum'd O Theotime they who attentively consider the Corruption of Manners which is found in Youth can never be sufficiently sorry for them But that which deserves most to be lamented is that it frequently falls out that there is nothing but this Sin which is the cause of it it being certain that there are many who are not subject to any other considerable Vices or if they be they are the Effects of this and if they were freed from this they would lead a perfectly pure and innocent Life Whereas on the contrary Haec adversus adolescentiam prima sunt arma daemonum non sic avaritia quatit inflat superbia delectat ambitio S. Jer. Epist ad Eustechium permitting themselves to be overcome by this unclean Passion they live a Life full of Iniquities and heaping up daily new Sins and perverse Habits cast themselves into so deplorable a State that they are often out of hopes of Amendment and Salvation O misfortunate Sin must thou thus destroy Men when they begin to work for their Salvation must thou forcibly take away from God so many beauteous Souls which without thee would live in innocence to sacrifice them to Pleasures and by Pleasures to the Devil and everlasting Flames Cursed Incontinence who is there that can hate thee as thou deservest To apprehend it more clearly Theotime read attentively that which follows and judge of the Cause by its Effects ARTICLE II. Of the sad Effects of the Sin of Impurity The Author of the Book De bono pudicitiae attributed to St. Cyprian describes briefly a great number of the misfortunate Effects of this Sin For he says that * Impudicitia semper est detestanda obscoenum ludibrium reddens ministris suis nec corporibus parcens nec animis debellatis propriis moribus totum hominem suum sub triumphum libidinis mittit blanda prius ut plus noceat dum placet Ea hauriens rem cum pudore cupiditatum infesta tabies incendium conscientiae bonae mater impoenitentiae ruina melioris aetatis Auth. de bon Pud Immodesty is a detestable Passion which spares neither Souls nor Bodies which renders Men absolutely Slaves of dishonest Love flattering them at the beginning that it might more effectually destroy them When it hath gotten possession of their Hearts it drains their Goods together with their Shamefac'dness It excites Passions even to excess it destroys a good Conscience it is the Mother of Impenitence the loss and ruin of the best part of Age that is of Youth Omitting the Damage that Sin causes to the Body Honor and Possessions I shall insist only upon the dreadful Effects it produces in the Soul which I reduce to Five or Six The First is First Effect the destruction of the Fear of God. the destruction of the Fear of God which it works in the Soul and the ruin of all good Inclinations Experience shews this Effect so common that we need not seek any other Proof we see many young People well Educated who have very good Inclinations in their Youth an aversion from Evil a great affection to Piety the Fear of God strongly imprinted in their Souls Now all these good Qualities remain if the Sin of Impurity doth not take possession of their Heart but when that hath once enter'd into their Mind it entirely subverts them It creeps in first by immodest Thoughts the Thoughts produce the desire of wanton Pleasures the Desire moves to unchast Actions these Sins repeated and multiply'd ruin all the good Inclinations things now appear far otherwise than before the Sin now seems no more so great it becomes more familiar to them and such an one who before had a great apprehension of one sole mortal Sin when he is once overcome by this brutish Passion is not dismay'd to commit them by hundreds and thousands O God what a Change what a subversion is this of a Conscience The Second Effect of this Sin Second Effect A Disrelish of Vertue is a Disrelishing and even an Aversion to Vertue and to all pious and wholsom Things It is not to be conceiv'd how those who are infected with this Vice have an aversion to Divine Things and Salvation Prayer is tedious to them and Sacraments contemptible the Word of God moves them not reading of pious Books is insupportable This is too manifest by Experience and no wonder Theotime he who is Distemper'd with a Fever takes no delight in the most delicious Meats on the contrary they seem to him bitter because his Tast is deprav'd with some bitter Quality Thus he who is once seis'd by this burning Fever of Impurity finds a wonderful loathing and dislike of all the most pious and wholsome Things by reason he hath his Heart infected with carnal and impure Affections which permit him not to relish the sweetness of holy Things a Animalis homo non percipit ea quae Dei sunt The natural man says S. Paul that is who follows the Motions of the Animal or Sensible part tasts not the things which are of God. And b Qui secundum carnem sunt quae carnis sunt sapiunt Rom. 5. those who live according to flesh relish only the things of the flesh The Third Effect is a Blindness of Mind which this Sin produces in the Soul Third Effect Blindness of Mind which hinders her from discerning Good from Bad and judging of things as she ought It is impossible that a Mind once possess'd by that Passion should not have its Judgment perverted and should not determin of things of Salvation quite contrary to Truth The Tie and Inclination it hath to that Sin makes it not account it so great an Evil for we ordinarily judg according to our Inclinations and that it can withdraw it self when it pleases it hinders it from seeing the wicked Consequences and Misfortunes this Vice brings after it It takes away the remembrance of the Divine Judgments and
it brings after it Regard not the Pain and Difficulty of resistance but the Joy Consolation and Benefit you will receive from thence If you act thus you will find that the Temptation will in a small time vanish The Second Deceit by which the Devil seduces young People Second Artifice is to propose unto them in the Temptation the easiness of getting Pardon and perswade them that they will do Penance and Confess themselves of it Alas Theotime how frequently doth it fall out and too often that in the Combat of Temptation the Conscience resisting on her side by the good Motions God gives her this misfortunate Thought comes into the Mind I will Confess my self of it I will do Penance for it And with this Thought one miserably resolves to commit this Sin. What then If you imagin'd that God presently after the Sin would cast you into the Pit of Hell you would not attempt to offend him And because you hope he will pardon you do not you scruple to displease him O what Impiety is this O Wickedness Will you be Impious because God is Good Do you offend him because he will pardon you What greater Affront can be offer'd to God O Theotime if ever this Thought come into your Mind reject it as a Blasphemy and as a Wile of the Devil by which he would cast you into the abyss of Sin. The Third Deceit of the Devil towards young Persons is Third Artifice that after he hath made them sometimes yield to his Temptations by the former Artifices he puts into their Mind this false and wicked Opinion That it is impossible to resist Temptations and to abstain from Sin to the end that being possess'd with this Persuasion they may make no Endeavors to resist them and give themselves over to Evil without any restraint The falseness of this Persuasion A detestable Persuasion a diabolical Invention which is so much more deplorable as being most false and pernicious it is nevertheless most common amongst young People O insensati Galatae Quis vos fascinavit non obedire veritati persuasio haec non est ex eo qui vocat vos Gal. 3. Poor insensible Creatures what is it that dazles you thus so that you cannot see the Truth more clear than day Do you not see how this Thought is injurious to the Mercy of your Saviour who hath shed his Blood to merit for you Grace to resist in these Occasions and who stretches out his Arms to succor you This Persuasion comes not from him who calls you to him to save you but from the Devil who seeks to destroy you without recovery O dear Child The Remedies permit not your self ever to be seduced by this execrable Thought but in the midst of the most violent Temptations call to mind the Mercy of your Saviour who never abandons those who hope in him * Circumdederunt me undique non erat qui adjuvaret memoratus sum misericordiae tuae Domine cooperationis tuae quae à sa culo sunt quoniam eruis sustinentes te Domine liberasti me de perditione Eccl. 5. Tribulations says the Wiseman have environ'd me on every side and there was no one that would assist me I call'd to mind thy Mercy O God knowing that thou succorest those who trust in thee and thou hast deliver'd me from my destruction These are the three most ordinary Artifices the Devil makes use of against young Persons in their Temptations and all three are pursu'd in order For first he hides from them the Evil and makes them believe it is not so great as in reality it is Next he persuades them that they may easily discharge themselve of it And in fine when he hath them deeply engag'd he makes the Difficulty to abstain vast and prodigious in appearance that they may not attempt to acquit themselves of it Reflect well upon these three Artifices and have a care not to be deluded by them ARTICLE VI. Of two considerable Faults which ordinarily happen to young Persons in Temptations Besides the Fault they commit who permit themselves to be deceiv'd by the three former Artifices they fall into two others which cause great Difficulties in them and which you must observe that you may carefully avoid them The First is that when they see themselves attacked by frequent Temptations First Fault they presently become impatient and after having resisted for a while lose courage and yield to the Enemy believing that they cannot resist him This Error is very ordinary amongst young People and it gives a great advantage to the Enemy of their Salvation over them Heretofore the City of Bethulia in Juda being Besieg'd by Holofernes the principal People of the Town with all the Commonalty betook themselves to their Prayers to obtain of God their Deliverance And seeing God did not hear them so soon as they expected they resolv'd to deliver themselves if Succor did not come in Five Days The couragious Judith being advertis'd of this Resolution disapprov'd it much and highly reprehended them saying * Qui estis vos qui tentatis Dominum non est iste sermo qui misericordiam provocat sed potius qui iram excitet surorem accendat Posuistis vos tempus miserationi Domini in arbitrium vestrum constituistis ei Sed quia patiens est Dominus in hoc ipso poeniteamus indulgentiam ejus fusis lacrymis postulemus Expectemus humiles consolationem ejus Judith 8. Who are you that thus tempt our Lord This Design is not to attract the Divine Bounty to you but to provoke his Fury and Revenge What have you limited a Time for the Mercy of God and appointed a Day to succor you We must not proceed in this manner Let us do Penance let us demand Pardon with many Tears and with all humility expect his Comfort I say the same to you dear Theotime when you vex your self in Temptations and despairing to be able to resist them you take a Resolution at length to deliver your self over to your Enemy you offer a great Injury to God for this is to distrust his Grace and dispose of it as you please This is not the Means to obtain it but on the contrary to make you fall more dangerously into the Temptations and Sin. No no we must not act thus we must have patience in Temptations and humbly expect the Divine Grace Deus enim nisi ipsi illius gratiae defuerint sicutopus bonum coepit ita perficiet operans velle perficere Con. Tr. Ses 6. cap. 13. which will never fail you except you be wanting to it first If you persevere couragiously to resist he will either deliver you from the Temptations or give you Grace to overcome them Remember that the greatest Saints have been tempted like you and much more Call to mind the Apostle S. Paul who having demanded of God to be deliver'd from great Temptations
Ne magnitudo revelationum extollat me datus est mihi stimulus carnis meae Angelus Sathanae qui me colaphizet propter quod ter Dominum rogavi ut discederet à me dixit mihi Sufficit tibi gratia mea nam virtus in infirmitate perficitur 2 Cor. 21. receiv'd this Answer from him My Grace is sufficient for thee for virtue is perfected in weakness The Second Fault young Persons commit in Temptations is Second Fault that when they once chance to yield unto the Enemy they lose Courage cast away their Arms and permit themselves to be overcome by all other Temptations without any resistance O God! what a strange Blindness is this for being once conquer'd to submit entirely to the Enemy After having receiv'd some Wounds to be content to receive many more After having lost the Grace of God to continue to provoke more and more his Fury instead of readily appeasing it by Penance The Israelites being assembled to Fight against the Tribe of Benjamin to revenge a most enormous Crime committed by some of that Tribe altho' they were far stronger in the number of Men they were defeated in the first and second Battel Quamobrem omnes filii Israel venerunt in domum Dei sedentes flebant coram Domino jejunaruntque die illo usque ad vesperam obtulerunt ei holocausta atque pacificas victimas super statu suo interrogaverunt Judic 20. These two Overthrows highly astonish'd them yet nevertheless they lost not Courage they came before the Tabernacle of God and there they set themselves to Weep to Fast to make their Supplications and offer Sacrifices to appease the Divine Anger This being done they took their Arms again and went couragiously to the Combat where they gain'd the Victory and entirely defeated their Enemies This Theotime is exactly the Example of what you must do in the Combat of Temptations you must not be discourag'd for being once conquer'd but chearfully Encounter again You must have recourse to God lament your Misery beg Pardon of him pacifie his Fury implore the assistance of his Grace and after having done Penance for your Sins reassume your Arms in the Name of God and give Battel more couragiously than before The Sorrow for being vanquish'd must excite you to resist your Enemy more resolutely and your Lapse make you stand better upon your Guard for the future ARTICLE VII What is to be done after the Temptation is conquer'd We ordinarily commit two Faults after we are deliver'd from a Temptation Two Faults after the Temptation is overcome The First is We give not Thanks to God for the Victory we have gain'd by the assistance of his Grace The Second We make no preparation to resist the following Temptations These two Defects are the cause why we easily relapse into other Temptations and are at length overcome by them The First because God would have us acknowledge his Favors and particularly great ones such as is that of a Victory over a Temptation The Second because he who doth not stand upon his Guard is soon surpris'd by his Enemy 1. It is therefore most important First Remedy Theotime when you have surmounted a Temptation that you have a care to give God Thanks for it either sometime after the Temptation or at least at the end of the Day in your Evening Prayers Render him Thanks with all your Heart for this Victory acknowledge that it comes from him alone and not from you and that without him you had a thousand times been vanquish'd 2. Second Remedy Prepare your self to resist Temptations for the future 1. Making a firm Protestation to God to resist them with all your power 2. Humbly demanding the continuation of his assistance 3. Resolving to make use of such and such Means which you know will happily succeed If it chance that you remain some time without any Temptation confide not too much in this Peace and Tranquillity Saepe antiquas hostis postquam menti nostrae tentationis certamen inflixerit ab ipso suo certamine ad rempus recedit non ut illatae malitiae finem praebeat sed ut in corda quae per quierem secura reddiderit repente rediens facilius inopinatus erumpat S. Greg. 3. Moral 16. For it frequently happens as S. Gregory observes that the Enemy permits those whom he hath much tempted to continue some time in quiet that not having a care he may soon after surprise them more easily when they think least of him and that he may make them fall into Sin by a sudden and violent Temptation For this reason stand always upon your Guard demanding daily of God Grace to resist the Assaults of Temptations Be careful to divert quickly from your Mind all the first Thoughts that may move you to Sin. ARTICLE VIII Considerable Examples to teach us how we must Encounter with Temptations An ancient Author says very well That the way to learn by Precept is very long Longum iter per praecepta breve efficax per exempla Seneca Epill 6. hut that by Example is shorter and most efficacious Wherefore it will be much to the purpose to set here before your Eyes some of those who have couragiously combated against Temptations that their Example may stir up your Courage and teach you how to manage the Arms with which they have very fortunately overcome Amongst many others I might bring I have chosen out the great S. Jerom whom I would propose to you for a Model and Example He was young as you are at the time of these Temptations he was more tempted than ever you will be and perhaps amongst all the Servants of God his Youth was most try'd by Temptations and encounter'd them with an admirable Perseverance I shall give you a Relation of what he himself recounts read it attentively and mark well all the Circumstances This Saint being yet young after he had spent some time in a worldly Life was mov'd with a Desire to serve God and labor to effect his Salvation by a true Conversion He takes a Resolution to leave the World and to retire into some Wilderness to do Penance and apply himself entirely to Vertue He went first to Jerusalem to visit the Holy Places and from thence he retir'd into the Desert He continu'd in that Place four whole Years during which time notwithstanding the incredible Austerities he underwent he was tossed with continual Temptations and so great that they move Compassion in those who read them Behold what he says writing to his devout Eustochium O how often in this vast Solitude Quoties in eremo constitutus in illa vasta solitudine quae exusta solis ardoribus horridum monachis praebebat habitaculum putavi me Romanis interesse deliciis sedebam solus quia amaritudine repletus eram horrebant sacco membra deformia quotidie lacrymae quotidie gemitus si quando repugnantem somnus imminens oppressisset nuda humo
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
Obstacles Remedy for the three other Obstacles labor to acquit your self of three Obligations of your Benefice which I even now hinted to you Live Vertuously endeavoring to render your Youth pleasing to God Recite your Office exactly and devoutly Be Cloth'd like an Incumbent that is not being in Holy Orders in a black Habit without Ornaments your Hair very modest wear a long Garment as much as you can upon Sundays and Feasts and always when you partake of the Sacraments of Confession and Communion If you do thus Theotime it will befall you as it did the Prophet Samuel who was Dedicated by his Parents in his Childhood to Serve in the Tabernacle of God This young Child behav'd himself so faithfully in that Place Puer autem Samuel proficiebat at que crescebat placebat tam Deo quam hominibus Crevit autem Samuel erat Dominus cum eo Et cognovit universus Israel quod fidelis Samuel Propheta esset Domini 1 Reg. 2. that he became agreeable to God according to the proportion he increas'd in Age and as the Scripture says God was with him and the Services he did in the Tabernacle during his Youth were so pleasing to him that he chose him for his Prophet and manifested to all his People the choice he had made Thus Theotime if you serve God faithfully in an Ecclesiastical State to which by your Benefice you are Dedicated in your Youth God will give a Blessing to the Entrance you have made and will do you the Favor one day to employ you to serve him in that holy State and procure thereby your own Glory and the Salvation of Souls CHAP. XIII Advice to Parents upon the same Subject AS the Parents are the first Causes of all the Obstacles which Benefices bring to the Salvation of their Children it is necessary to give them here a very important Advice that they may afford a convenient Remedy They are the Persons who with an insatiable Greediness seek Benefices for their Children They make them take the 〈…〉 â—â—â—â—cal State before they know what it is They inconsiderately charge them with Benefices who Present themselves without being concern'd to know whether they be fit or Call'd by God or whether they will discharge the great Obligations of that Calling All their Care aims at finding Benefices and sometimes by ill and dangerous Ways at advancing the Revenue receiving and disposing of it as they please against the Intention of the Founders and of the Church her self making their Children learn a little Latin neglecting in the mean time all the rest which is most necessary viz. the Care of making their Children acquit themselves of the Obligations of their State say their Office wear an Ecclesiastical Habit live conformable to their Profession and of causing them to be bred up in an Ecclesiastical Spirit and instructed in the knowledge of their Duty O wicked Parents who for a little Temporal Wealth charge themselves with all the Sins of their Children and with their Children engage themselves in an inevitable Damnation And yet more misfortunate the Uncles and other Relations of Incumbents who have no less disordinate Affection for their Nephews and Cousins whom they blindly charge with Benefices and themselves with all the Ill they cause in the Church as we daily see * Huic parvulo forsitan nondum nato Ecclesiastica jam Beneficia provida parentum solicitudo parabat Illum Praepositus aut Decanus ut sibi succederet plusquam Materno educabit affectu in deliciis enutriens delictis Ille dignus Archidiaconatu quia filius principis magis autem si sit Episcopi consobrinus in quo nimirum tota videtur Episcopatus progenies S. Bern. in Declamationibus This was a Disorder which St. Bernard deplor'd in his Time whose Words I shall put in the Margin The Remedy of this Evil is in the Hands of the Parents themselves it belongs to them to moderate that great Greediness they have for Benefices to make more account of the Salvation of their Children than of their Temporal Possessions and prefer the Quiet of their Conscience before the Advancement of their Families which Benefices instead of raising as they think frequently ruin For this effect they ought to have a care not to bestow Benefices upon their Children without having seriously consider'd their Spirit their Inclinations and the Dispositions they have to an Ecclesiastical Calling And that they may perform it with more certainty they should not be Judges thereof themselves but make the Inclinations of their Children be Examin'd by able Persons to whom the Children may freely declare their repugnance if they have any to that Dignity as it frequently happens who might judge religiously of their Dispositions for the same State without Interest without Complacence and declare sincerely to the Fathers the Judgment they make of them whether they think the Children fit for an Ecclesiastical Calling as much as they may guess in that Age. The Fathers may follow their Judgment with the ensuing Precautions viz. To take a great care of the Education of the Children they design for the Church Make them be brought up in the Fear of God in an Ecclesiastical Spirit in the Knowledge of their State and its Obligations and not in the Vanity and Spirit of the World as they often do For this end commit them to Persons of Piety of Prudence of Learning who have the Zeal of an Ecclesiastical Spirit Have a care that they acquit themselves of the Obligation of their Office That they wear the Habit of Clergy-men at least as we have said in the precedent Chapter That they live holily as Children destin'd to the Church Dispose well of the Revenues of the Benefices employing it to discharge their Duty in an honest and moderate Maintenance of an Incumbent and the rest in pious Works And in fine they ought to observe the Manners and Inclinations of their Children informing themselves by their Masters to whom they are committed and whether they know they be inclin'd to an Ecclesiastical State or have not convenient Dispositions for it for then they are oblig'd to dispose of their Children in some other Employ If they do otherwise than what we have said they render themselves culpable of a vast number of Sins which their Children commit in an Ecclesiastical Calling which is a horrible thing to reflect on and for the Temporal Goods they have too much affected they will incur their Eternal Damnation and that of their Children Now to the end they may be more convinc'd of their Obligation concerning this Subject let them take the pains to read the former Chapter and also Chap. 9. of Part 5. The End of the Third Part. THE INSTRUCTION OF YOUTH IN Christian Piety PART IV. Of the Vertues necessary for young Persons THIS Theotime is the chiefest part of your Instruction to which the three former relate as the Means to their End for after the Proposal of the
of the Emperor Theodosius the Great That he was so much in inclin'd to Meekness that he esteem'd himself oblig'd very much when one ask'd him Pardon and when he was most angry he pardon'd easiest so that one desir'd in him what was fear'd in others viz. that he should be in Choler O what an excellent Example is this and which deserves to be well consider'd 5. When you shall be put into Passion impose some Punishment upon your self as some Prayers Alms or other things express a trouble for it to those who see you 6. There is scarce any Person but says or do's something in his Anger of which he repents himself after When therefore you shall be in Choler restrain your self as much as you can from saying or doing any thing which Passion suggests Never believe your self when you are in Passion expect till it be past to judge whether a thing be ill spoken or done and you will often find that it was not 7. Entertain not your Thoughts with the Subject of your Displeasure to persuade your self that you have just cause to be angry this is but to cherish your Passion there is none but thinks he has a great deal of Reason when he is in Choler On the contrary convince your self that you may be deceiv'd and divert your Mind to another thing 8. If you desire to have an aversion for Anger consider another attentively when he is in Passion you will see nothing in him and his Actions but what will displease you The same happens to you in respect of others when you are angry And if you should see your self in a Looking-glass you would be vexed at your self and would not endure your self in that Condition 9. Fly the Conversation of impatient and cholerick Men Noli esse amicus homini iracundo ne forte discas semitas ejus Prov. 29. according to that rare Precept of the Wiseman Contract not Friendship with a cholerick Man lest you learn his Humor In sine accustom your self to be affable and benign toward others to excuse their Faults to forget Injuries to pardon easily not to be so delicate and sensible in the things which concern you to speak mildly to all And learn in good time Theotime the practise of that adorable Sentence of Jesus Christ * Discite à me quia mitis sum humilis corde Mat. 11. Learn of me for I am meek and humble of heart CHAP. XV. Of Peace with our Neighbor against Quarrels and Enmities ANger produces Quarrels Young People are much subject to Quarrels Enmities and other bad Effects which we have spoken of Now it is important that you should he well Instructed concerning these had Effects of this wicked Cause being that young Men are much subject to these Disorders The Heat of their Age makes them impatient to suffer the least Injuries indiscreet and inconsiderate to be able to repress them any other ways than by those of Passion which carries them to Dissentions Enmities and Revenge From hence arise a vast number of Mischiefs and amongst other the ruin of Vertue in these young Souls for where there is no Peace there can be no Charity nor consequently Vertue And as the Apostle St. James says * Ubi zelus contentio ibi inconstantia omne opus pravum Jac. 3. Where there are Emulation and Contention Inconstancy and all sort of wicked Actions are there also It is a Rock which with all possible care you must seek to avoid learning in good time to hate Quarrels and Enmities Pacem habete Deus pacis dilectionis erit vobiscum 2 Cor. 11. and to love Peace and Concord For if you have not a peaceable Spirit the God of Peace will not be with you To acquire and preserve this peaceable Spirit Means to acquire a peaceable Mind you must have a care of Three things 1. Not to quarrel with any Person 2. Not to give occasion to others to offer any to you 3. To behave your self discreetly when any one hath a Difference with you 1. Raise no Quarrels Raise not therefore any Quarrels with others upon whatsoever occasion There are some Spirits naturally quarrelsom who are always at Debate with others Impatient Spirits which can suffer nothing rash and inconsiderate always guided by a fantastical Humor and not by Reason It is a wicked and pernicious Quality which is the Mark of a sottish and impertinent Spirit For as the Wiseman says a Labia stulti miscent se rixis os ejus jurgia provocat Prov. 18. The Vnwise thrusts himself into Quarrels and his Mouth provokes Dissentions Be not you such an one Theotime b Honor est homini qui separat se à contentionibus omnes autem miscentur contumeliis Prov. 20. It is an Honor says the Wiseman to be separated from Debates they are only ill-bred Spirits who engage themselves therein Where I speak not of another sort of quarrelsom Spirits who through Malice and a very wicked Inclination seek Quarrels and take a pleasure in raising them and making themselves Enemies These are ungracious Spirits who seek their own Misfortune and find it at length according to that Verity of the Scripture * Semper jurgia quaerit malus angelus autem crudelis mittetur contra eum Prov. 13. The Wicked seeks always Quarrels but a cruel Angel shall be sent out against them that is the Devil will bring him some Disaster which will destroy him 2. It is not sufficient to abstain from stirring up a Debate with any one you must have a care not to give occasion to others to cause a Difference with you Give no occasion of Quarrels Sometimes occasion is given upon Design and deliberate Purpose which is proper to turbulent malicious Spirits Lovers of Disturbance and Enemies of peace Sometimes and most frequently Offence is given by Imprudence for want of taking care of the things which might provoke our Neighbor This is what you must be solicitous to avoid Ejice derisorem exibit cum eo jurgium Prov. 22. Endeavor therefore to abstain from every thing that may disgust your Neighbor as too great Contradictions Detractions indiscreet Reports Contempts Sâ—offs Injuries and a thousand other like things 3. Carry your self Wisely if you be quarrell'd with Now if it chance that any one quarwith you even when you gave no occasion on your part endeavor to comport your self discreetly not permitting your self to be carry'd away with the Passion of Anger or at least returning presently to your self Above all suffer not your self to go so far as to offer an Injury or Reproach as we have already said strive to appease your Neighbor with sweet Words shewing modestly that you have done him no wrong Responsio mollis frangit iram sermo durus suscit furorem Prov. 19. or excuse your self mildly if you have offer'd him any If he be not pacifi'd for that withdraw your self from
to the greatest Saints THE INSTRUCTION OF YOUTH IN Christian Piety PART V. Of the Choice of a State of Life THIS Instruction would be imperfect and destitute of one of the best and most necessary Parts if after having shew'd how we must live during Youth it should not direct how to make a good Choice of the Condition or State wherein one ought to pass the remainder of his Life This Choice is a Subject whose Knowledge is by so much more necessary to young Persons as its Importance is unknown to the greatest part of Men and the Faults that are there committed are most commonly irreparable or if sometimes they be repair'd it is with very great pains and difficulty Besides they are not light or of small consequence because the issues of them are extended to all the Life of a Man and pass even to his Eternal Salvation of which they often draw the ruin after them For this reason Theotime I beseech you read attentively this last Part whether before you enter upon this Deliberation or when you shall be at the Point of making your Choice and also after you have made it for you will find therein whereby to profit at each of those Times CHAP. I. How important it is to make a good Choice of a State of Life THIS Importance is built upon two Truths Two Fundamental Truths in this matter which are to be supposed here as Fundamental in this matter The First is That altho' all States may be good yet all States are not good for every one and that such a State is profitable for one Man which will be hurtful for another all not having the same Inclinations nor the same Capacities nor the same Favors of God. The Second is That God who hath Establish'd by his Providence the diversity of States and Employments of the Life of Man distributes them differently by his Wisdom designing some for one Employment others for another As a Father of a Family divides amongst his Domesticks the Offices of his House according as he finds them fit For this reason he gives to Men different Inclinations divers natural Abilities as well Corporal as Spiritual and also distributes amongst them his Favors diversly according to the several Necessities of different States to which he calls them These two Truths thus presuppos'd evidently manifest how important it is to choose well ones State and Condition For if all States are not good for all it is then most important to choose advisedly that we may not fall into a State which may be contrary to us And if God call each Man to one State more particularly than another it follows that we must proceed therein with a great Circumspection to choose what is most conformable to his Will and for which he hath given us most Capacity and prepar'd most Favors This choice is of such consequence How important the Choice of a State is that on it depends all the Good of a Man both for this Life and for Eternal Salvation Be attentive Theotime to comprehend the Mischiefs into which all ill Choice of a Condition casts Men and into which it will cast you if you be defective therein First 1. For the present Life for the present Life What Good what Contentment can he have who is enter'd into a State which he hath ill chosen and for which he is not proper There is no Condition more miserable The Displeasure of seeing himself engag'd against his Inclination joyn'd with the Difficulties he undergoes to acquit himself of his Duty casts him into a Disquiet and Melancholy which incessantly gnaws him makes him insupportable to others and himself and find in his Condition a more horrid Prison than that of Criminals and Chains more unmerciful than those of Gally-slaves As for Salvation 2. For Salvation what can a Man do in that State For besides that Melancholy casts him into a continual Idleness and that Idleness into Vice and Perdition With what trouble must he effect his Salvation in a State wherein he hath neither Ability nor Vocation from God The want of these two things are the Causes why he will commit an infinit number of sins which he would not have done in another State. The defect of Capacity makes him find continual Difficulties in satisfying his Duty and the particular Obligation of his State. The defect of Vocation is the Cause why he wants many Favors he should have receiv'd in another Calling and of which he is made unworthy being enter'd rashly into this Condition without consulting God without demanding of him his Will. And certainly if we search into the Cause of the Disorders we see in each State Ecclesiastical Religious and Secular wherein many discharge themselves of their Duty very badly we shall find the greatest part of the Mischiefs spring from this Source that is from an ill Entrance into a State of Life and that the greatest part enter upon slight Grounds without Examining whether they are proper for it and call'd by God. For a Conclusion of this Importance A profitable Advice I exhort all those who deliberate about the Choice of their State attentively to reflect upon these three things 1. Upon the Displeasure and Sadness they will feel all their Life for having made an ill Choice of their Calling 2. The great number of Sins they will commit in a State they had lightly chosen and which they would not have committed in another Condition 3. The Danger to which they expose their Salvation in choosing after this manner They who will attentively consider these three things will take care not to be defective in an Affair of this Importance CHAP. II. Of the Faults that are ordinarily committed in this Choice I Find four sorts of Faults which young Men are accustom'd to fall into Four ordinary Faults in this Choice in this so important a Choice which are the Causes why they succeed therein so very badly First 1. They deliberate not They deliberate not at all upon this Choice and instead of choosing a State according to the Rules of Reason and after a long and serious Deliberation they engage themselves in a Calling sometimes by a sudden Passion and Fancy sometimes by Occasion and frequently by the sole Inclination they feel to one Condition rather than another without Examining whether they are proper for it whether it be for their Good and whether they shall effect therein their Salvation Secondly When they deliberate 2. They deliberate ill they propose things naughtily that is upon ill Grounds and regard other Ends than such as they ought to have before their Eyes in this Deliberation Some look upon the Sweetness of Life in the State they would embrace Others upon Riches and Preferment Others upon Honor and Reputation And in a word all regard Temporal Goods and the present Life but few propose Vertue and Eternal Salvation which chiefly and before all things ought to be consider'd One says This
is proper to promote me in the World and advance my Fortune but he doth not say it is fit to promote me in Vertue and effect my Salvation or else it is not sutable to me because I foresee I shall offend God in many Occurrences I see therein Obligations I cannot satisfie many Occasions and Dangers of ruining me This Fault is great and against all Reason for to deliberate wisely of the State wherein we must spend our Life we must cast our Eye upon the End for which our Life is given us This End is the Service of God and the Salvation of our Souls We must then refer the Calling we choose to that to do otherwise is to stray out of the Way at the beginning and suffer Shipwreck in the Port. The Third Fault is 3. Without Counsel That in deliberating on the Condition they ought to embrace they only consult with themselves without communicating or asking Counsel of any one This Fault is very common amongst young People and besides one of the greatest they can commit in this Choice For what appearance is there of deliberating well of the most important Affair of our Life in an Age wherein we have as yet neither Judgment nor Experience of any thing without taking Counsel of wise and discreet Persons This cannot but be the effect of an insupportable Rashness or certainly of a great Ignorance which deserves so much more compassion as it is the cause of many Mischiefs If the Wiseman recommend so much to young People * Ne innitaris prudentiae tuae Prov. 3. Fili sine consilio nihil facias post factum non poenitebit Eccl. 32. Not to trust to their own Judgment to do nothing without Counsel is it not in this so important Affair more than in any other where they ought to follow the Advice of the Holy Ghost himself Observe well this Fault for the Devil oft makes use of it to deceive young Persons in the Choice of their Calling We shall tell you hereafter with what kind of Persons you should consult in this Concern There is a Fourth Fault yet more dangerous 4. They consult not God. which is That in this Deliberation they consult not him who ought to be consulted with above all others viz. God himself They have no recourse to him by Prayer humbly to demand of him his holy Inspirations and Grace to know his Will altho' it be by him alone that we can succeed well in this Choice He is the Father of Lights he is the Author of good Counsels Besides it belongs to him to give us our Calling and the Employment wherein he would have us serve him in this Life we must receive it from his Hands He hath a mind that we should have recourse to him and to advise with him in important Affairs he accounts himself offended when we are defective therein and frequently he gives us not his Blessing See a convincing Example The Israelites desirous to sly the Persecution of their Enemies took a Resolution to return into Egypt out of their own Heads without consulting God to know what they should do He reproach'd them exceedingly by his Prophet and threatned them that their Design should not succeed but have a dreadful issue as in effect it had * Vae filii deserteres ut faceretis confilium non ex me ordiremini telam non per spiritum meum ut adderetis peccatum super peccatum qui ambulatis ut descendatis in Aegyptum os meum non interrogastis erit vobis fortitudo Pharaonis in confusionem fiducia umbrae Aegyptiae in ignominiam Isai 30. Wo says he be to you fugitive Children who abandon me to enter upon a Design without consulting me and to begin an Enterprise without expecting my Will adding to your former Sins a new one of taking your Resolution without my Counsel Your Design shall turn to your Misfortune and Confusion I would to God all those who deliberate of the Choice of their State had frequently these Words in their Memory CHAP. III. Of the Means to choose well a State of Life And First That a good Life during Youth is a Means highly necessary to succeed in this Choice AFter having shew'd you the Faults which are accustom'd to be committed in the Choice of a Condition I come to the Means you must employ to succeed therein The First I assign you is a Means on which few Persons reflect altho' it be most important in this Affair viz. A good Life during the time of Youth I promote this Means The Sins of Youth the cause of an ill Choice Theotime to teach you betimes a Truth which the greatest part of Men are ignorant of or learn it too late which is That there is no greater Obstacle to the Choice of a happy Calling than the Sins of Youth and that the most ordinary Cause of the bad Election many make of their Condition is a disorder'd Life and full of Sins which they lead whilst they are young It is not hard to manifest this Truth The Proof which many experience daily too much God in punishment of their Sins not affording them the Favor to know the Calling proper for them abandons them in this Choice of so great Importance as they have deserted his Service He denies them high Light as they have refus'd him their Obedience and Love. They have given their first Years to the Devil and God permits also that the Devil should deceive them in this Election making them undertake a State contrary to their Good. And as they would not hearken to the Voice of his Commandments and holy Inspirations he also gives not ear unto them when they have need of his Assistance * In vocabunt me non exaudiam mane consurgent non invenient me eo quod exosam habuerint disciplinam timorem Domini non susceperint Prov. 3. They shall call upon me says he and I will not hear them they shall seek after me and shall not find me because they have hated Instruction and have not receiv'd the Fear of God. The Scripture is also full of the like Menaces by which God assures us he will deny his Light to those who have made themselves unworthy by their Sins Those Threats which were utter'd by the Mouth of the Prophet Ezechiel are astonishing Many Persons of Quality being come to this Prophet to consult God by his Mediation God speaks to the Prophet and tells him * Fili hominis viri isti posuerunt immunditias suas in cordibus suis nunquid interrogatus respondebo eis Homo homo de domo Israel qui posuerit immunditias suas in corde suo Et venerit ad Prophetam interrogans per eum me Ego Dominus respondebo ei in multitudine immunditiarum suarum Ezech. 14. That he would not answer them that is he would not let them know his Will because they were wicked and still kept their
Light to others They are design'd for that End the Son of God said particularly to them c Vos estis lux mundi sic luceat lux vestra coram hominibus ut videant opera vestra bona glorificent patrem vestrum qui in coelis est Mat. 5. You are the Light of the World let your Light shine so amongst Men that they may see your good Works and glorifie your Celestial Father And the Council of Trent says Divinely d Nihil est quod alios magis ad pietatem Dei cultum assidue instruat quam eorum vita exemplum qui se divino ministerio dedicarunt Quapropter sic decet omnino Clericos in sortem Domini vocatos vitam moresque suos omnes componere ut habitu gestu incessu sermone aliisque omnibus nihil nisi grave moderatum religionis plenum prae se ferant levia etiam delicta quae in ipsis maxima essent effugiant ut eorum actiones cunctis afferant venerationem Conc. Tâ—id Sess 21. c. 1. That there is nothing more instructs others in Piety and the Service of God than the Life and Example of those who are Consecrated to the Divine Ministry And for this reason it behoveth the Clergy who are call'd to the Lot of our Lord so to regulate their Life and Manners that in their Habit Gesture Walking Discourses and other things there appear nothing but what may relish of Gravity Modesty and Religion And avoid light Faults which would be heinous in their Persons that their Actions may cause Veneration in all Men. The other Obligation of Ecclesiastics is to cooperate to the Salvation of Souls they are Establish'd for that End and without a Crime they cannot dispence with it It is an Abuse to believe that only Curats are charg'd with that Obligation All Incumbents and all Ecclesiastics are oblig'd to this Labor St. Paul says That a Nos autem servos vestros per Jesum 2 Cor. 4. they are Servants of the Faithful The Oblations are given to them by the Faithful for that intent And St. Gregory says b Pensemus cujus damnationis sit â—ine labore hic recipere mercedem laboris Ecce ex obla tione fidelium vivimus sed nunquid pro animabus fidelium laboramus S. Greg. Hom. 1. in Evangel Cant. Laetemur ad ascensum sed timeamus ad lapsum c. Neque enim solum pro nostris delictis reddemus rationem sed pro omnium quorum abutimur bonis nequaquam sumus de eorum salute solliciti S. Hieron in cap. 44. Ezech. they ought to consider how criminal and punishable a thing it is to receive the Fruit of Labor without Labor S. Jerom says That Priests shall not only render an Account of their own Sins but of the Sins of all those whose Goods they abuse living on their Goods and not taking aeny care of their Salvation S. Bernard adds a dreadful thing Venient venient ante tribunal Christi audietur populorum querela gravis accusatio dura quorum vixere stipendiis nec diluere peccata quibus facti sunt duces caeci fraudulenti mediatores S. Ber. in Decl. That at the Universal Judgment we shall hear the Complaints and Lamentations of People who shall rigorously accuse the Ecclesiastics before the Tribunal of God as Deceivers for having liv'd on their Goods without applying themselves to the Expiation of their Sins for having been blind Guides and unfaithful Mediators of their Salvation for having cast them into a Precipice instead of conducting them to Eternal Life O Theotime read attentively and weigh well the Sentiments of these great Saints touching this Obligation of Ecclesiastics to engrave them deeply in your Heart and advantage your self by them when you shall be enter'd into an Ecclesiastical State. From these two so strict obligations spring two extream Dangers of this State. The Dangers of an Ecclesiastical State. The one is of not being endow'd with the Sanctity it requires but corrupted by the Spirit and Maxims of the World and much more by the Contagion of Ecclesiastics the greatest part whereof lead a Life far remov'd from the Perfection of their State. The other Danger is Multam malitiam docuit otiositas of falling into that Idleness common to Ecclesiastics which making them neglect the Labor to which their Calling obliges them renders them most culpable in the sight of God and moreover casts them into many Disorders and Vices whereof it is ordinarily the Mother To these two Dangers must be added two others which arise from Benefices Two other Dangers Plurality of Benefices and bad use of Ecclesiastical Goods The First is to possess many Benefices when one is sufficient for an honest and moderate Maintenance for that is against the Law of God and of his Church and against all Reason It is the constant Opinion of Divines That that cannot be done without a mortal Sin except it be by a particular Dispensation built upon good and real Causes which ought to spring from the Necessity of the Church or from her greater Advantage I know very well that the Covetousness of Incumbents finds sufficient Means to Disguise themselves on this Occasion under the Pretences of Necessity Congruity and even of Piety but when these Pretences shall be Examin'd at the Divine Judgment they will appear what they are that is a pure disguising of real Avarice which will be found most criminal in the sight of God and cause the Damnation of many who will be sorry too late for having follow'd the disorderly Motions of their insatiable Covetousness The other Danger consists in the Management of their Revenues which cannot without a mortal Sin be employ'd in wicked or even in superfluous Expences as in Delicacies in good Chear in Vanities in Excesses of Feasts of Garments of Movables and other like things Not to enrich their Relations or heap up Treasures which often draw the visible Curse of God upon those who hoard them up Incumbents are forbidden all these things And it is an absolutely certain Truth that they cannot receive from their Benefices more than their sufficient and modest Maintenance and the rest ought to be employ'd in Alms and pious Works Many Divines hold they are bound to Restitution when they dispose of it otherwise and the generality condemns them at least of a mortal Sin. ARTICLE II. Of the Vocation to an Ecclesiastical State. The Ecclesiastical State being so high and elevated There must be a Vocation to an Ecclesiastical State. must certainly require a Vocation from God. This is the great Maxim of the Apostle * Nec quisquam sumat sibi honorem sed qui vocatur à Deo tanquam Aaron Heb. 5. Let no Man take this Honor to himself but he who is call'd by God as Aaron A Maxim which he confirms by the adorable Example of Jesus Christ who being by himself and by his Dignity of the Son of God a Priest
Clericus esse merearis ut adolescentiam tuam nulla sorde commacules ut ad altare Christi quasi de thalamo virgo procedas S. Hier. Ep. ad Rustic Live so holily in your Monastery says he to him that you may deserve to be of the Clergy and not defiling your Youth by Sin you may approach to the Altar of Jesus Christ in a perfect Purity Meditate well upon this Advice Theotime consider it often and conceive it spoken to your self and certainly with much more Reason for if a young Religious living in the observance of a Monastical Rule must have a care of himself to make himself worthy of an Ecclesiastical State by a holy Life how much more care and pains ought you to take who live in the World where you have not the Advantages of a Regular Life Secondly 2. By the Study of Sciences necessary for an Ecclesiastic When you prepare your self for an Ecclesiastical State by a vertuous Life remember to joyn with the Exercises of Piety diligent Labor and continual Study to make your self capable to serve God in that Calling This Labor is no less necessary for an Ecclesiastical State than that of Sanctity You are oblig'd to it in Conscience and if you apply not your self carefully to it you render your self unworthy of that Calling * Quia tu repulisti scientiam repellam te ne sacerdotio fungaris mihi Oseae 4. For God will reject from his Priesthood him who hath rejected Science And moreover you make your self guilty in the sight of God of all the Mischiefs which happen thro' your Ignorance The Ignorance of Priests is the greatest Evil that can be found in the Church The great Evils which spring from the Ignorance of Priests it being the chiefest Cause of the Corruption of the People and Loss of Souls It is impossible but that an ignorant Ecclesiastic should be Slothful and Idle not being able to apply himself to his Studies and that Idleness should cast him into Vice as we daily see Now altho' he should not be vicious Idleness alone is criminal in a Priest Add the Mischiefs which the Ignorance of Ecclesiastics causes in respect of the People For it either hinders them from laboring for the Salvation of Souls from whence the People suffer much losing the Assistance they ought to receive from them for their Eternal Salvation or else renders them incapable of sufficiently acquitting themselves of that labor and is the Cause that many Souls are Damn'd by their Incapacity which bars them from Instructing them in those things they ought to know and in a word from directing them in the Way of Salvation which the greatest part know not It is not to be conceiv'd how many Souls are lost by the Ignorance of Priests * Quid enim periculi sit ubi non invenit Pastor pascua dux ignorat itineris viam servus nescit Domini voluntatem Ecclesia quotidie multipliciter miserabiliter experitur S. Bern. in Declamat The Church saith St. Bernard hath daily a great and lamentable Experience of the Danger Souls are expos'd unto when the Pastor wants wherewith to feed his Sheep when the Guide knows not the Way by which he should conduct them to Salvation nor the Servant the Will of his Master which he ought to declare to others O my dear Theotime reflect well upon these things and be afraid lest by your Ignorance you make your self the Cause of the ruin of Souls redeem'd by the Blood of Jesus Christ Addict your self seriously to the Study necessary for an Ecclesiastic and assign for the Mark at which you aim the making your self the most capable you can of serving God in the State to which he hath call'd you In fine An important Advice Whether in Deliberating on this Condition or Preparing your self for it set frequently before your Eyes those excellent Words of S. Augustin writing to a Friend of his who demanded of him Counsel concerning an Ecclesiastical State. * Ante omnia peto ut cogitet religiosa prudentia tua nihil esse in hac vita maxime hoc tempore facilius levius hominibus acceptabilius Episcopi Presbyteri Diaconi Officio si persunctorie adulatorie res agatur sed nihil apud Deum miserabilius tristius damnabilius Item nihil esse in hac vita maxime hoc tempore difficilius laboriosius periculosius Episcopi Presbyteri aut Diaconi Officio sed apud Deum nihil beatius si eo modo militetur quo noster Imperator jubet S. Aug. Epist 184. I entreat you says he before all things that by your Vertuous Wisdom you will consider well that there is nothing in this Life and principally at this Time more easie more light and more acceptable to Men than the Charge of a Bishop of a Priest or of a Deacon if negligently or flatteringly it be discharged yet there is nothing more miserable more dreadful and more damnable in the sight of God. Besides there is nothing in this Life and at this Time more difficult more painful and more dangerous than the Office of a Bishop Priest or Deacon if they acquit themselves of it as they ought and according to the Will of our Master as also there is nothing more happy in the sight of God. CHAP. X. Of a Religious State. AFTER the Ecclesiastical State I come to the Religious the Choice whereof is of no less Consequence than that of the former nor subject to less Faults It is an excellent thing that a Religious who having once forsaken all things should have no other care than to please God by the practice of Penance and Humility living in the exact observance of his Rule and keeping himself retir'd from the Commerce of the World that he may addict himself entirely to the Study of real and solid Perfection But on the contrary it is a sad and deplorable thing that a Religious who is only religious in Habit and making a particular Profession of Perfection is farther from it than the most imperfect Layman loving the World and worldly things subject even to the most gross Vices or having overcome corporal Vices as Impurity Gluttony and the like permits himself to be carry'd away by spiritual Sins as Anger Ambition Envy Discord Enmity and other like which are by so much more dangerous as they are less sensible I omit to speak of those who being enter'd too easily into Religion and without a Vocation from God repent themselves afterwards for being too lightly engag'd in a Business of such Imtance A Repentance which frequently casts them into great Disorders and sometimes carries them even to Apostacy To make a good Choice of this State Two things to be consider'd in a Religious Life two things are necessary 1. To know it well that is to say to understand what it is its Obligations its Advantages and its Dangers 2. To be Instructed well in in the Means he
different from what they had begun in Religion For all these Reasons I continue to say that a Man must Examin the Vocation before he enters into Religion and for this intent take all the time that shall be necessary to be morally assur'd of it Act so then Theotime if you perceive your self mov'd to Religion and be not afraid of losing your Vocation if you put it not suddenly in Execution for if you practise faithfully what we have said with a sincere Intention to know the Will of God you will not fail in the Resolution you shall take God will conduct you in that Deliberation to the State he hath prepar'd for you and if he call you to Religion he will confirm you in that Desire by the Perseverance he will give you and perfect in you the good Work he shall have begun according to that Expression of S. Paul Qui caepit in vos opus bonum perficiet confirmabit solidabitque After all when you resolve to embrace a Religious Life remember to prefer amongst the Religious those where a Regular Life is most exactly observ'd and where they solidly labor to gain Piety and as much as you can where there is least Communication with the World. CHAP. XI Of the divers States of a Secular Life AS the Life of Ecclesiastics and Religigious has its Dangers the Secular Life hath also its Perils which are not small he who deliberates on it ought necessarily to foresee them And these Dangers are different according to the divers States of that Life Wherefore I Treat here of the principal Callings of a Secular Life to the end every one may Examin that which he will embrace and may know well its Obligations ARTICLE I. Of the Condition of the Great and of those who Govern others If there be a difficult and dangerous Condition in the World Maxims to be observ'd by those who Govern others it is the Office of those who are call'd to Govern others as Kings and Princes who have Sovereign Authority Lords of particular Places who have an inferior Authority Magistrates and Publick Officers who have an assign'd Authority committed to them by the Prince If then by your Condition or for any other Cause you see your self design'd for a State of Government you ought to arm your self against the great Difficulties and innumerable Dangers of that State with wholsom Christian Maxims whereof these are the principal which I beseech you read attentively 1. Have a care of giving access to the thoughts of Pride or Presumption for seeing your self rais'd above others Remember that by how much higher you are rais'd by so much more have you reason to fear according to that Maxim of the Scripture a Quanto major es humilia te in omnibus Eccl. 3. By how much you are greater humble your self in all things b Rectorem posuerunt te noli extolli Eccl. 30. Is Authority conferr'd upon you be not puffed up 2. Consider not your State as a Happiness but as a weighty Charge nor as a thing given you for your good but for the benefit of others Know that those whom you Command are not made for you but you for them They ow Respect and Obedience to you and you ow to them things that are far more difficult that is Care Assistance Conservation and Justice 3. Believe firmly that how great Power soever you have you hold it from God and that you are his Minister and his Servant for the Government of Men and by consequence that you ought to Govern according to his Will and shall give him an exact Account of your Conduct 4. Place frequently before your Eyes that dreadful Truth of the Sacred Scripture a Judicium durissimum his qui praesunt fiet Potentes potenter tormenta patientur Sap. 6.6 7. A rigorous Judgment shall they have who Rule The Powerful shall be powerfully tormented Now there are two things you ought to have a care of in your Condition Governors ought to have a care of two things the First to Live well the Second to Govern well As for the First 1. To Live well you must live like a vertuous Man governing your Passions having the Law of God for the Rule of your Actions considering that it is a shameful thing to Govern others and to be ignorant of governing ones self to Command Men and to be a Servant and Slave to his own Passions and the Devil You are oblig'd to it by the Rank you bear for you hold the place of God you ought to imitate his Sanctity as you represent his Person in Power and Authority You are also oblig'd to it for the benefit of your Inferiors who cannot but be miserable when they are Govern'd by a wicked Man. a In multiplicatione justorum laetabitur vulgus cum impii sumpserint principatum gemet populus Prov. 29. The People shall rejoyce says the Wiseman in the multiplication of the Just but will lament when the Wicked hold the Government For this reason in the ancient Law God had commanded that the King and it ought to be understood of all those who Command should always have with him the Book of the Law and should read it daily b Ut discat timere Dominum Deum suum custodire verba ceremonias ejus quae in lege praecepta sunt Deut. 17. To the end says he he may learn to fear the Lord his God and observe his Words and the Ceremonies which are there commanded Moreover your Example will much influence your Superiors if you be good they will imitate your Vertue if you be vicious they will take all liberty to be wicked according to the Maxim of the Wiseman c Secundum judicem populi sic ministri ejus Qualis rector est civitatis sic habitantes in ea Eccl. 10. As the Judge of the People is himself so are his Officers The Inhabitants of a City conform themselves to him who Governs them By your Example you will cause many Blessings or much Mischief and you will be guilty in the sight of God of all the Sins others shall commit by your Imitation Call to mind the History of Jeroboam King of Israel A remarkable Example This Man being rais'd to the Government of the Ten Tribes of Israel had no sooner the Authority in his Hand but he misfortunately abus'd it abandoning the Service of the true God to adore Idols His Example had so great a force that he not only drew to his Imitation all that great People he Commanded who became Idolaters like him but also made that Sin of Idolatry hold on its Course in all his Successors during the space of Two hundred Years and more and the Sacred Scripture had such a horror for the Mischief this misfortunate Prince caus'd by his Example that almost every time it speaks of him it says a Tradet Dominus Israel propter peccata Jeroboam qui peccavit fecit
discover themselves to any Person they fly from those who may keep them in the good Path or set them right when they are gone astray which is the cause why they remove themselves so so far from them and often never or too late return to them Act not in this manner Theotime call to mind that St. Augustin attributes to this Cause the Disorder he fell into at the end of his Studies because he had no one to take care to root out the Vices which then grew in his Soul. Forget not also what the Scripture recounts of King Joas That he was vertuous as long as he was instructed by the High Priest Joiada Fecit Joas rectum coram Domino cunctis diebus quibus docuit cum Joiada sacerdos 4 Reg. 3. he had no sooner lost the Conduct of that holy Man but he became wicked and was misfortunately ruin'd ADVICE III. That young Men must fly carefully wicked Company and particularly that of young vicious Persons of their Profession The first Snare the Devil sets at that time for the Salvation of young People See Part 3. Chap. 9. is the meeting with wicked Company We have spoken above how hurtful it is principally at that time where it is dangerous beyond imagination The reason is because the World is full of them and it is impossible but that they should fall amongst them Besides they have not as yet sufficient Judgment to discern them nor sufficient Conduct to avoid them nor force of Mind to resist them The Wicked besiege them continually to draw them to their Disorders as it is said in the Proverbs * Fili mi si te lactaverint peccatores ne acquiescas eis Si dixerint veni nobiscum c. ne ambules cum eis Prov. 1. They tell them they must do as others do Complacence moves them and Shame hinders them from contradicting Thus they find themselves overcome and perverted in a small time O God Theotime who will deliver you from this so great and so present a Danger Stand mightily in fear of this Precipice if you desire your Salvation you can never sufficiently apprehend the Danger Beseech God daily that he would deliver you Stand upon your guard to avoid them or retire from them when you shall fall amongst them Amongst wicked Company have a care chiefly of those of your own Profession you will meet with them more frequently you will have more trouble to resist them we easilier permit our selves to be won by those that are like us a Postquam autem obiit Joiada ingressi sunt principes Juda adoraverunt Regem Qui delinitus obsequiis eorum acquievit eis Et dereliquerunt templum domini Dei patrum suorum Paral. 24. King Joas who had liv'd so holily during his Youth under the Conduct of the High Priest Joiada was preverted by his Courtiers so as by their solicitation to fall into Idolatry Stand upon your guard I say that at least you may not be corrupted by them altho ' you cannot absolutely avoid the meeting with such Company For this reason fly their Conversation as much as you can when you cannot avoid them stay not long with them find some Means to break off fairly from them O Theotime how happy would you be if after this so dangerous a time of Youth you might truly say as King David b Funes peccatorum circumplexi sunt me legem tuam non sum oblitus Psal 117. Protexisti me à conventu malignantium à multitudine operantium iniquitatem Psal 65. The Snares of Sinners have environ'd me thou hast preserv'd me O God from the Assembly of the Wicked and from the multitude of those who work Iniquity ADVICE IV. That they must apply themselves quickly to some Labor which may employ their Time and make them avoid Idleness which is then most dangerous and more than at any other time Idleness is the greatest cause of the Dissoluteness of young Men when they have finish'd their Studies It is the Mother of Vices and very hard to be avoided at that time Nature of her self is inclin'd to it and most of all in Youth after Labor and a Labor perform'd with some Restraint such as is that of Study or other Employments of young Men. For this reason when they begin to enjoy Liberty and to be Masters of themselves they give reins to Idleness with so much less Restraint as they have a long time sighed after it and know not the necessity of Labor at that time nor the great Damages Idleness will bring to them In this slothfulness Vice and ill Habits grow up in a short time as it happen'd to S. Augustin They think of nothing but Play and Pastimes following all their Pleasures seeking after Companions and all the Occasions of destroying themselves To avoid this Disorder Theotime I advise you to have a great care to fly at that time this so pernicious an Idleness Apply your self betimes to a regular Labor and chiefly to that which is necessary for you to make you capable and expert in the Profession you embrace you are oblig'd to it in Conscience and in the sight of God. Add thereto the Studies proper to improve your Mind as that of History as well Sacred as Profane Chronology Geography proper Language good Authors and other like Studies which are both honest profitable and pleasing If you will take pains you will find Means enough to employ your time well and besides the Profit of your Labor you will find therein most perfect Pleasures and Satisfaction of Mind Read Part 3. Chap. 7. to which all the Contentments of the World are not comparable ADVICE V. That young People ought to have a care of avoiding three ordinary Causes of their Ruin at that time Play Wine and Impurity These are the three great Rocks on which at this time young People split and to which Idleness and Company bring them and cause their Shipwreck Some are lost by the irregular love of Gaming which occasions an excessive loss of Time prodigality of their Means Vexation and Despair and casts them frequently into Extremities Others by the excess of Wine and good Cheer which they seek then as their chiefest Happiness and which besides the ruin of their Health and Fortunes is frequently the cause of sad Mischiefs Others and the greatest part by the detestable Sin of Impurity which so universally possesses young People and principally at that time and often by all these together I beseech you dear Theotime in the Name of God to observe attentively these three Evils as the three Precipices you are to avoid at that time See what we have said above of each of these in Part 3. Chap. 8. and in Part 4. Chap. 20. Use all possible Endeavors to fly them and be confident that upon this Flight depends all your Good and Salvation ADVICE VI. That they must avoid at that time Irresolution concerning the State they ought to choose
God upon themselves for God is pleas'd to favor the Humble and those who fear him as on the contrary he rejects the Proud and those who trust in their own Power and glory in the multitude of their Riches I say this Theotime to the end I may admonish you that if God hath order'd you to be born in a good and rich Condion you take a care that your Riches serve not for your Damnation as they do daily to many like you Quam difficice qui pecunias habent in regnum Dei intrabunt Lucae 18. the multitude whereof makes but too evident that Truth deliver'd by the Mouth of Jesus Christ who says How difficult is it for the Rich to be saved Wherefore you have need to perform Three things 1. Three Remedies Be fully persuaded as it is most certain that your Riches may much prejudice your Salvation if you have not a great care to preserve your self from the Impediments they cause and employ them usefully 2. Understand what these Obstacles are that you may diligently avoid them There are many in them but those which are most particular are these viz. Pride Untractableness Idleness Love of Pleasures Vicious Company and Flatteries of Men Have a care of all these things Be Humble in your Riches Nihilest quod sic generent divitiae quomodo superbiam omne pomum omne lignum habet vermem suum vermis divitiarum superbia est Aug. Ser. 5. de ver Domini Quid prodest stulto habere divitias cum sapientiam emere non possit Pro. 17. considering on one side the danger they daily put you in of offending God and ruining your self and on the other side the exact Account you must render to God of the good use you have made of them Wherefore do you glory in the Riches you possess which God can take away in a moment and with which as the Wise man says you know not how to obtain the true Riches of the Mind that is Wisdom and Vertue Riches which if you possess them not you with all your Goods are but like a Horse richly Trapped which with all his Ornaments is but a Beast without Reason Render your self easie to be taught and Tractable be ready to learn and willing to be reprehended and be persuaded that by how much you are Nobler and Richer by so much ought you to be better instructed because you have so much more occasion of failing and your Faults are of greater consequence than others Fly Idleness so natural to the Rich. In labore hominum non sunt cum hominibus non flagellabuntur Ps 72. Peccare volunt sed non flagellari cum hominibus unde timendum est ne flagellentur cum daemonibus S. Bern. Serm. ad Pastores Remember that the Rich as the Scripture says are not in trouble as other Men and not subject to the Afflictions of others But S. Bernard adds That there is great reason to fear lest they should be afflicted with the Devils Preserve your self carefully from Dainties which are the Baits of Pleasures Remember that Chastity is in the midst of Dangers and Precipices when surrounded with Riches where daintiness of Nourishment of Garments of Lying and a thousand other Occasions expose it to a continual hazard of Ruin if not resisted with incredible Diligence Vae qui opulenti estis in Sion c. qui dormitis in lectis eburneis lascivitis in stratis vestris qui comeditis agnum de grege c. bibentes vinum in phialis c. Amos 6. Vae vobis divitibus quia habetis consolationem vestram Lue. 6. Wo be to the Rich says the Prophet who sleep in curious Beds who seek Pleasure in their delicious Couches who Feast taking all Delight whilst the Poor is in Misery without shewing any Compassion towards him And the Son of God says Wo be to the Rich because they have their Consolation in this World. Withdraw your self from wicked Company which your Riches will easily attract as a Prey invites Birds See what we have said above Chap. 6. Permit not your self to be surpris'd by Flattery Adulatorum quoque assentationes noxia blandimenta fallaciae velut quasdam pestes animae fuge nihil est quod tam facile corrumpat mentes hominum S. Hier. Epist ad Celan which always accompanies the Rich and which ordinarily perverts their Mind and principally young Persons Give not credit to any thing they shall say in your Commendation for either they commend you for Things that deserve not Praise as your Condition your Wealth your good Behaviour or other like things or for things you have not as Science Wisdom Vertue or if you have them they come not from you There remains the Third thing you are to perform that is to make good use of your Riches I shall appoint you no other than that which S. Paul order'd Timothy to prescribe to the Rich consider what he says and comprehend it well a Divitibus hujus saeculi praecipe non sublime sapere neque sperare in incerto divitiarum sed in Deo vivo qui praestat nobis omnia ad sruendum bene agere divites fieri in bonis operibus facile tribuere communicare Thesaurare sibi fundamentum bonum in futurum ut apprehendant veram vitam Tim. 6. Command the Rich of the World that they be not high-minded that they put not their confidence in the uncertainty of Riches but in the living God who giveth us abundantly all things to enjoy that they apply themselves to Vertue and be rich in good Works that they give Alms freely and communicate their Goods to those that want that they lay up store for the time to come and to obtain Eternal Life This Theotime is the use of Riches which the Holy Ghost prescribes to the Wealthy and which you ought exactly to practise if you will take care that you be not destroy'd by your Possessions After all this keep in your Mind that great Truth S. Cyprian teaches you which is b Tentatio est Patrimonium grande nisi ad usus bonos census operetur ut Patrimonio suo unusquisque locupletior magis redimere debeat quam augere delicta S. Cypr. lib. de Habit. Virgi That a great Patrimony is a Temptation if the Revenue one possesses be not employ'd in pious Vses and by how much any one abounds in Wealth by so much more ought he to make use of it to redeem his Sins and not to multiply them CHAP. XI Particular Obstacles to Noble Persons TO put Nobility amongst the Obstacles of Vertue were to offer an Injury to it but we shall do no wrong to Truth if we say that the ill use which Persons in Dignity make of it is a great Impediment to their Salvation and frequently the cause of their Ruin and Damnation To see this Truth and clearly understand that there is no State ordinarily more corrupt nor fill'd with Vice than that of
the Nobility we need only make a little Reflection upon the Life of Great Men. We see a prodigious Pride reign in them which makes them contemn all the World and esteem all others infinitly below them Ambition and a desire of growing Great perpetually possesses them They are extravagantly addicted to all their Pleasures Lovers of Delights Bold and Shameless to publish their Sins and glory in them Envious in the highest degree Ty'd to their Interest Affecting none but themselves Unjust Violent Harsh and often Cruel towards others especially their Inferiors Impatient and Cholerick Given to Swearing and Blasphemies Revengeful even to excess not being able to suffer or dissemble the least Injury which frequently is grounded only in their Imagination and even make open profession never to endure or dissemble any O God! what a Life is this for Men who make profession of Christian Religion And that which accomplishes the Misfortune of this Condition is The detestable Passion for Duels that detestable Passion for Duels with which they are so continually possest that there is scarce a moment in their Life wherein they have not a Resolution to expose themselves to Fight upon the first Injury or at least at the first Challenge A Resolution which keeps them in a continual mortal Sin and hinders them from ever being in the Grace of God. Not to mention the Contempt of Religion Sensuality and Impiety which usually reign in that State and especially now adays where there are found so many who say unto God Qui dixerunt Deo recede a nobis scientam viarum tuarum nolumus Quis est omnipotens ut serviamus ei Et quid nobis prodest si oraverimus illum Job 21. as the Impious said in the Scripture Depart from us we will not have the knowledge of thy ways Who is the all-powerful who says that we must serve him What doth it profit us to Pray unto him Is not this a thing much to be deplor'd to see in the midst of Christianity the fairest part of Christian States to be most corrupted And that Nobility which is given as a Recompence of Vertue and to excite others thereto should become the Source of Vice and the Fountain of the Corruption of Noble Persons So that it is a Mark of Reprobation to many and it were more desirable for the greatest part of Noble-men that they had never been born For what advantage is it to be Great before Men and to be wretched and contemptible in the sight of God a Quid prodest quod liber est in natura qui servus est in conscientia Euseb Emiss Hom. 3. de Pascate To be honor'd by Men and hated by God To Command others and to be a Slave to Vice and his own Passions And in a word To be happy in this World and damn'd for ever being of the number of those who eternally cry out b Quid nobis profuit superbia aut divitiarum jactantia quid contulit nobis Tansierunt ista omnia tanquam umbra Ergo erravimus à via veritatis Sap. 5. What did our Pride profit us What advantage hath the pomp of Riches brought to us All those things are passed away like a Shadow Wherefore we have err'd from the Way of Truth O my dear Theotime if you be Noble I beseech you to make here a serious Reflection upon your self and upon the Danger your Nobility exposes your Salvation to Distrust your State and be afraid lest it should ruin you By how much more you are rais'd in Condition by so much more have you an Obligation to Vertue and are in greater hazard of Destruction Remedies against the Obstacle of Nobility Labor earnestly for your Salvation and use all possible diligence that your Nobility be not a cause of you Damnation as it is to many For this Effect practise the following Advices 1. First Advice Understand perfectly what true Nobility is Nobility is inseparable from Vertue it takes its origin from thence and is only conserv'd by it It hath been bestow'd upon your Ancestors in recompence of their worthy Actions if you imitate them in their Vertue you will merit the Title of Noble if you imitate them not you have but a false and imaginary Nobility 2. Know Second Advice that besides this Nobility Instituted by Men there is a Divine Nobility infinitely rais'd above this which is that which is acquir'd by Grace Videte qualem charitatem dedit nobis Pater ut filii Dei nominemur simus 1 Joh. 3. Intellige tibi esse genus de coelo age vivendo sancto respondeas patri Dei silium ut se probat qui vitiis non obscuratur humanis qui divinis virtutibus elucescit Chrysolog Serm. 6 7. For if Nobility consists in being born of Illustrious Parents and of those that are considerable in the World what Nobility will it be to be made the Child of God Coheir of Jesus Christ predestinated to possess the the Kingdom of Heaven This Theotime is the great the prime and the true Nobility if you possess this you are really Noble and if you have it not how Noble soever you may be before Men you are most Infamous and Abominable in the sight of God. 3. This being so Third Advice permit not your self to be puft up with Pride and Arrogancy for your Nobility Mala nobilitas quae se per superbiam apud Deum reddit ignobilem Aug. Serm. 27. That is a wicked Nobility says St. Augustin which makes you contemptible in the sight of God by its Pride On the contrary by so much more Humble as you are more Noble according to the Precept of the Wiseman a Quanto magnus es humilia te in omnibus apud Deum invenies gratiam Eccl. 3. By how much greater you are says he by so much humble your self more in all things and by this means you will render your self agreeable to God. It is an excellent Advice like that which S. Jerom gives to Noblemen b Nulli te unquam de generis nobilitate praeponas nec inseriores quasque aut humili loco natas te inferiores putes Nescit religio nostra personas accipere nec conditiones hominum sed animos inspicit singulorum servum nobilem de moribus pronunciat c. S. Jerom. Epist ad Celant Prefer not your self before others by reason of your Nobility and contemn not those who are not Noble Our Religion hath no respect to Persons it regards not the Condition of Men but their Minds it judgeth of Nobility by their Manners There is no Nobility in the sight of God but not to serve Sin. The height of Nobility is to be Illustrious in Vertues O what an excellent and necessary Advice is this for Noblemen 4. Fourth Advice Endeavor to observe well the ordinary Vices of the Nobility that you may carefully avoid them we have hinted at some of them you will