not therfore absolutely blame à man for consulteing with diuerse for one cannot take councell enough in à thing of soe greate importance as saluation on which depends an Eternitie Nor the haueing diuerse Directors at one time as we haue in the Ecclesiastick and Politick state many Superiours ouer vs though subordinate one vnto the other and of an vnequall power for as I sayd before when à Director hath à greate height and eminencie much eleuated aboue the Confessor as well in the Theorique as the Practique there is neuer any debate because the greatest light obscures the lesser and in that respect there needes no deliberatioÌ„ which councell to followe But excepting this case I saye and think therin to speake according to the spirit of God who is life and veritie that this occurrence is daungerous vnto à Soule which findes it self sometimes betwixt two yrons and as it were wauernig in such sorte that it knowes not which way to tourne it selfe seeing euill euery where and good on no side though many tîmes it is not so nor can there be à more tedious torment then that of an erronious conscience CHAP. VI. The surlie Director THe person of Whom I speake was in this state for though her DIRECTOR made more noyse and was in more vogue by his preacheing I knowe not whether he yeelded more fruite then her CONFESSOR à man full of zeale in the seruice of soules who did many good workes without soundeing the trumpett serueing God with his substance and with couered dishes as our sauiour commaunds in the Gospell This I knowe and with assurance that he had farr more experience in the conduct of soules at the Tribunall of Penance then the DIRECTOR though he beleeud it not and that the DIRECTOR contrarywise esteemed himself much more fitt then he and endeuored like à Pedant vpon all occasions to gouerne both him and the penitent Soule with à browe farr more humbleing then humble and who had much more of the Pharisie then of the Publican When this good Preist gaue vnto this pious Soule some spirituall aduise which he conceiued profitable she presently related it vnto the DIRECTOR as vnto her touch-stone yf it pleased not this Preacher he declamed against it with full voyce and with such scornefull and despiseing tearmes no lesse vnbeseemeinge the mouth which vttered them then honorable vnto the modestie and patience of him vnto whom they were addressed How ofte had the austeere Empire of this sufficient DIRECTOR caused the Penitent person to forsake her CONEESSOR yf he had not bene affrayed to loose the absurd practise of his loftie Theorie and that the streames of this source should haue bene spent vpon other Meadowes then those of his owne house And then seeing himself to haue gotten the absolute dominion both ouer the spirit of the Penitent and the CONFESSOR it delighted him to ouerthrowe with the impetuous blast of his mouth all whatsoeuer the other had endeuored to buid vp solid and to pluck vp whatsoeuer he had planted before it had taken any deepe roote seldome giuing any other reasoÌ„ then the ignorant condition of this poore Confessor and of à man litle versed in these Anagogies for this word pleased him of the superessentiall supereminent life Hee treated him as one of à meane spirit litle illuminated and no wayes skillfull in the interiour and contemplatiue life not so much as vnderstandeing those fayre tearmes of the misticall Theologie which with their emphasie astoinsh the World and which are more like the laÌ„guage of Angells rather then of men so farr are they aboue the base and lowe stile of the Earth To conclude he made vse verie authentically of the priuiledge which the Apostle giues vnto the spirituall man which is to Iudge all others and not to be Iudged by any When I had discouered this whole misterie which certes was not of iniquity yet where I noted à manifest injustice I placed my self on that side which I esteemed the more lust according to the imitation of our sauiour who vpheld the penitent Mary against the censure of the Pharisie I took parte with the Confessor oppressed by this Rabby whose wine he dimolished aÌ„d dissipated sometimes like the boare sometimes like the fox to the greate trouble and damage of this Soule which was incomparably better counselled and directed by her owne prudent capable and charitable Confessor who cheerely vnderstood her whole interiour then by this imperious Director who onely beholding the superficiall parte and that which he could onely gather by à bare conference made himself growe into an Arte wherof he had no practise neither could he exercise it being restrained by his Institute I tooke then this creature off from this double torture and leaueing her in the ordinary question of the judiciary seate which God hath established in his Church I freed her from the extraordinary question of this vnexperienced Director wherof she found her selfe much eased as of à troublesome yoake or rather of an insupportable burthen à burthen which he himself who layd it on would not perchaunce haue so much as touched with the tip of his finger CHAP. VII Subiect of Murmure THis passed not without Murmure the vse wherof is no lesse frequeÌ„t amongst those of the other world then that of the Windes and the Waues on the sea according to the testimonie of S. Bernard But what imports it if men blaspheme vs or speake euill of vs so that God giue vs his blessing Whether by reproch or by good fame so as his diuine goodnes be serued therin we haue our onely end The cause of Quipps was not so much the zeale of the Soule as the bitter and contentious zeale about the priuation of certaine commodities which proceeded from this precioús Direction For there is this difference betweene zealous persons that some are eaten vp with the zeale of the spirituall good of their Neighbour but the zeale of the others consumes their Neighbours goods Shall I say prouided I breake not the bond of concord nor yet the chayne of Perfection I loue certes Plato and Socrates but I loue much more the truth so that it be charitable and respectfull because it is à testimony that the same proceedes from à Charitie which is true and full of respect I will say then that this person of whom I speake was aged without children in state of Widow hoode and which is the pointe well accommodated with the goods of fortune And who by à liberalitie truely magnificent distributed à greate parte therof to the needy so that one might say of this person as doth the Psalmist happie is the man who mercifully giues Almes for thereby prepares he the way to receaue in the day of judgement à fauâ—urable sentence because the mercifull shall obteine mercy And the eternall sentence Come ye blessed of my father shal be giuen in the examination of the works of Charitie Thus goes on the Psalmist sayeing he who distributeth and largely giueth
their Institution being the last in the date of time were the first in the practise of mendicitie which vntill that time had not bene in the Ecclesiasticall Order This noueltie stirred vp certaine spirits transported with à bitter zeale without discretion and I might also say without science but they had too much of it not of that of Saints grounded in charitie which edifieth but of that which puffeth vp and which causeth such as possesse it to sinne and makes them to receaue condemnation by their owne iudgement These wrote venomous inuectiues full of coller boldnes against these holie Institutes against whom S. Thomas composed those diuine treatises which serue for sworde and buckleâ— I would say as offeÌ„siue and defensiue armes for all the Mendicants The authoritie learning and pietie of this great Saint who was indeede rather an Angell then à man rendred the names of the Authours of these Satyrs infamous Who had done like the Giants of the Poets burying themselues vnder the mountaines which they themselues had raised For he tourned their dolour and iniquitie vpon their owne heads with so much efficacie as he cut off without recouery the heads of this hydra for euer stopping the mouth of all detracters by his thirteeÌ„th opuscule and the two following out of which he afterwards drewe those excellent resolutions which he brings touching the Cenobiticall Mendicitie and the labour of hands in the 186. question secundâ— 2. Farr be it then from me to touch vpon this Cenobiticall Mendicitie and this exemption from the labour of hands so well defended and by so many reasons and authorities as if I should be so ill minded as in this point from which God preserue me to iustle or reprehend them I were not able and if I might truely I would not for all the world hurt or giue à shocke vnto fraternall charitie But reprehending the bad vse of a good whence arise these vniust complaints of some Cenobiticall Directors I thinke not to offend à condition altogether holy and which is not culpable of the faults of some particulars who make ill vse of the happynes which they enioy to be therin placed complaining to ill pourpose of suffering some incommodities inseparable to the Mendicant pouertie which by à modest silence would tourne vnto their merit before God and their glory before men CHAP. III. The obiection touching strong Mendicants refuted NOw in these excellent workes of S. Thomas by me cited I haue made an obseruation wherof I will speake here à worde in passing He often enough refuteth cheifly in the fifteenth Opuscule the obiection drawen from that lawe of the Code which is made against the sturdy beggers A knot which this great and incomparable spirit could cut à sunder with à backe blowe as the Gardian was by Alexander and yet neuerthelesse he seemes to be so moued pressed therewith as if it were no small difficulty vnto him to vntie it He makes à retraction in the Question of his summe which I haue cited in the fift article wherin he shewes himselfe to be as euery where else à better Philosopher and Diuine then à Ciuilian For this lawe speaking onely of these Quâ—ymans lazie sluggards who being strong vigourous and very healthy loue rather to gaine their liuing by begging then by working their lazines causing them to wipe away all shame and to preferr à fatt idlenes before an honest labour who sees not that the publique Iustice hath risseÌ„ to chastisâ— these blood suckers who by their deuices drawe to themselues the almes which should be better applied for the comfort of those that are truly poore and in à pressing necessitie What comparison then can one make vnles it be by à blacke and iniurious malice of these rascalls who are as the ratts and vermine of common wealths with the Sainctity of those whose voluntarily vowed and MendicaÌ„t pouertie the Church approueth in consideration of the great seruices which they render vnto Pastours in instructing and directing by way of ayde and assistance the soules of the faythfull What à mockery were it to call him sluggard who cooperats in the arte of artes which is the feeding of soules an arte as it is more difficult so the more laborious and perilous of all others Now as the pride of those who hate the true good still ascendeth so nether was it simply with the lay-brothers nor those of the Quire those defaming aduersaries of the Mendicants grappled but they fell more by furie then reason vpon the Preachers and Confessors of these holie Orders therin Coadjutours of the ordinary Pastours delegated for that end by the Sea Apostolicke Was not this to imitate the dogge who biteth the stone and not the caster addressing themselues to those that are sent and not vnto him who sends them whose eminency is too much exalted to become subiect vnto the reach of so base persons and who were in the obscurities amongst the dead of the worlde And that which is more considerable is that these excellent and most vsefull Institutes were then in their birth and as young shootes which had not as yet gathered mosse All such as were admitted therin hauing as the first Christians but one hart and onâ— soule and the selfe same pretention ioyned with à sufficiency to serue soules and helpe the Pastours in their charges when the burthen would haue bene dreadfull vpon the shoulders of Angells How then could they haue filled their lungs and cried alowde if they had not seene that which is since come to passe the fleets of brother seruants and of Chorists mingled amongst so few Preachers and Confessours as one may say that in these armies the baggage and the followers which the Latines call by the name of impediments infinitly surpasse the champions CHAP. IIII. Two passages of S. Austen and à notable example HOw strongly would they haue resounded these passages of S. Austen in his booke of the workes of Monks whervpon S. Thomas as well in his 15. Opuscule as in his Summa in the Quest cited article 5. makes so excellent interpretations the first wherof is in the 22. Where this Eagle of Doctors speakes thus Many of an abiect and seruile condition in the world imbrace this holie profession of seruing God hee speakes of Monachisme abandoning the rusticke and clownist life or shopps of tradsmen and the mecanicall labours where it is not euident whether they came with à good purpose to serue God or els to flie à poore painfull and laborious life and to be cloathed and feed without doing any thing and besides honoured of those by whoÌ„ they were before despised and trodden vnder foote Can such iustly excuse themselues from the labour of hands being conuinced therof by their first life which they gained by the sweate of their browes And in the 25. Chapter if they will not worke let them not eate For pietie ought not to be the cause that rich men humble themselues to the end the poore growe
passenger dureing the storme will guide the sterne or performe other offices wherin the Pilots are wanting where courage by the vehemency of apprehension is abated But we doe not here cōpare vertuous persons with the defectiues we will speake onely of the duty which the truly vertuous performe in these occurrences and when I saie duty I meane that of the charge and obligation of the office When the Cenobites shall retire themselues vnder the lee who can saie vnto them why doe you so Why flie you why doe you abandon the sterne dureing the tempest since that their condition doth no waies tye nor oblige them therunto But the Pastour cannot without an ignominious and shamfull decay of his reputation strike saile nor auoyde the combat and since there are certaine sallies of courage and valiancy nowise coming from true valour which ought to proceede from à mature iudgement from à setled deliberation and from à temper of à constant and couragious minde in the place of danger These impetuous passions which coller and rage stirr vp in duells these sallies which push-on so many soldiers into battailes assaults are seldome animated but by the bruite of the example of others of the out cryes of the multitude of the clattering of armes of the sounde of drumms of fistles and trumpets of the thounder of cannon and musket shotts such à one heated and headlong runns into it who would neuer haue thrust himselfe forward in colde blood and vpon consideration Euen Interests themselues whether glorious or profitable are sometimes the principall motiues of this valour Vertue which consists in à temperate mediocritie hath none of these sudden motions Its fyre is equall its light is like that of the sunne by sweete successiue rayes not like that of starrs which produce not or if one may so say bring not forth their 's but by sparklings For example who sees not that à continuall sobrietie and exactly obserued and à moderate fast according to the lawes of the Church is more commendable then those excesses of abstinences which some violently vse though seldome enough sometimes fasting two or three dayes together eating but once a day à litle bread and drinking onely à litle water sometimes absteyning out-of ceremony from all meate which had life sometimes all concocted nourishment sometimes eating onely when the starrs appeare and when these dayes are past from whence they are drawen by force as men vse to doe from bad wayes nothing but discorders are to be seene in their dyet whether for qualitie or quantitie and was it not for this cause that God said by à Prophet that he liked not the abstinence of some Iewes because in the dayes of their fasts he founde them filled with their proper wills For the same reason he reiected their Sabothes and their feasts God willeth that euery plant produce fruite according to its kinde and in due seasons and that its leaues fall not away I doe not speake this any wayes to diminish the value and lustre of the great actions and enterprises which sometimes Cenobites performe for the seruice of soules and of the Church be it in missions amongst hereticks and infidells be it to extend the faith and to powre it out into the harts of Barbarians and Sauages to the farthest parts of the earth the which Hierom Platus most amplie sheweth in the 12. booke of the happines of the Cenobiticall state But I say that the continuall and vninterrupted seruice of good and vigilant Pastours though of lesse noise is not of lesse fruite since that to preserue their goods already acquired is no lesse vertue then to get new The Comets are more apparent then the starrs yet no man dares to compare them to the starrs of heauen no more then the fires of the earth to the elementary which is aboue the region of the ayer albeit the effects of the same which is with vs especially that of thunder astonisheth vs much more And it was for that cause that the Precursour of the Messias leading à Sauage and retired life from the commerce of men was of greater esteeme amongst the Iewes then our Sauiour himselfe whence they did not accknowledge him though he were daily in the middest of them And if besides this ordinary and continuall dutie which the good Pastours render vnto their sheepe hauing alwayes an eye vpon their flocks as heauen hath his vpon the earth because they must render an accompte vnto God of the soules to them committed and if they keepe the fire of sacred dilection perpetually lighted vpon the Altar of their harts saying with the Apostle and with the same feeling that they are burnt with the scandalized infirme with the sicke touched with greife for the afflicted euen willing to become Anathema for their brethren if I saie vnto this vninterrupted care in time of peace and of prosperity they add the great effect of perfect charity which is freely to expose themselues to death for the seruice saluation of others I knowe not what thing the most austere Cenobites might desire or euen practise of more perfection CHAP. IX That charity of obligation and Pastorall excelleth Cenobiticall vowes TO desire or to thinke onely to compare the way of pouertie such as is practised in à communitie be it founded or mendicant with the highest top of Charity Queene of vertues to will in hazarding ones life by state for the good of soules were to make himselfe rediculous rather then worthy of answeare For concerning the two other vowes of Chastity and obedience no man doubtes but that Preists as Preists performe them more solemly in regard they are tied and annexed vnto the Sacrament of Order then the Cenobites as simple Cenobites And besides for that of pouertie we haue already declared how much its aduantage is balanced by the eminent qualities of the singular and secular pouertie Peraduēture some will reply according to the new diuinitie beyond-sea the last censure of the Prelats of the Gallicane Church and the Sorbon sufficiently noteing that wherof I speake that Cenobites seruing soules without obligation which is true and without Interest which is the thing in question render more pure seruice then the Pastours who are obliged thervnto by office by state and by duty of iustice and that this purity extreamly exaltes their charity But to retort this argument which seemes plausible on the face of those that propose it I saie first that though charity be without cōtrouersie the greatest of all vertues the scripture declaring it in expres tearmes such à case may neuertheles happen that Iustice ought to be preferred before it for exāple some one owes much and he is inspired to giue great almes is not the same man obliged to preferre iustice before Charitie and to pay his debtes before he distributes his liberalities to the poore the very Order of Charity so requiring it I saie in the second place that this purity of Charity as some take it is rather an impurity