point but litle honest he couered his face for very shame O Christian learne honestie of this Pagan you aboue all fathers and mothers Hitherto haue we spoken of sinne in generall mortall veniall sinnes of thought of the tongue As touching that which followes after of sinnes of worke to the end that this litle discourse do not enlarge it selfe too loÌ„ge I wil conteÌ„t my selfe to speake of capitail to wit of those which are the springe and fountaine of all Saue only before I come therto I wil insert this alone THE V. CHAPTER Of the sinnes of parents and their children LEt not fathers and mothers thinke it strange if I addresse my selfe more oft and more particularly to theÌ„ in this litle discourse and that I set before them particularly this litle chapter sith all the good or euill fortune of a common welth proceedeth from no other cause then from their good institution or negligence to frame their children as they ought and to bringe them vp in the feare of God See the last chap. of the 3. booke of the life of our B. Father Ignatius by Ribadeneira As God hath commanded children to honor loue and helpe their pareÌ„ts Exod. 20. 11. and to obey them in all that is reason so will he that parents loue their children Eccl. 7. 25. 26. nourishing them and bringing them vp according to their power and qualitie in all that which is needfull for them as well for body as for soule Et Ephes 6. 4. 1. Tim. 5. 8. S. Christ. to 6. ho. 27 §. 1. Of the negligence of parents to correct their children from their tendre youth and to instruct them in matters of faith and of good maners Can I conceale from Abraham the thinges that I will doe wheras he shall be into a nation great and very stronge and in him are to be blessed all the nations of the earth For I knowe that he wil coÌ„mand his children and his house after him that they keepe the way of the Lord and doe iudgement and iustice Gen. 18. 18. Forget not the wordes that thine eies haue seene and let them not fall out of thy hart all the dayes of thy lâ—fe thou shalt teach them thy sonnes and thy nephewes Deut. 4. 9. And in the 11. Chapter Teache your children my commandements when thou sittest in thy house and walkest on the way and lyest downe and risest vp that thy dayes may be multiplied and the dayes of thy children Deut. 11. 19. Hast thou children instruct them and â—ow them from their childhood Ecc. 7. 25. The notable negligence of parents to see that their children know and vnderstand the contents of the Creed the Pater Aue Commandements the vse of the holy Sacraments is mortall sinne saith Nauar. Man cap. 14. num 17. He that spareth the rod hateth his childe but that loueth him doth instantly nurture him Pro. 13. 24. The childe that is left to his owne will confoundeth his mother Pro. 29. 15. An vntamed borse becommeth stubburne and a dissolute childe wil become headdy Pamper thy sonne and he will make thee afraid play with him he will make thee sorrowfull Laugh not with him lest thou be sorrie and at the last thy teeth shal be on edge Giue him not power in his youth contemne not his cogitations Curbe his neck in youth and knock his sides whiles be is a childe lest peshaps he he hardned and beleeue thee not O beautifull sentence Eccl. 30. 8. He that loueth sonne or daughter aboue me is not worthie of me Mat 10. 37. If the childe by the conuiuencie or winking of the parents come to fall into any sinne his parents shall be answerable for his soule S. Clement successor to S. Peter const Apost l. 4. c. 20. S. Basil saith that children are like vnto soft wax wherein one printeth what he list and with the selfe same singars one formes an Angell or a deuill Reg. fus disp interrogat 7. Those parents saith Saint Chrisostome which care not to correct their children I tell them the truth and without passion are more wicked their paracides for these doe but seperat the bodie from the soule but such parents by their conuiuence send both the bodies and soules of their children to eternall flames and he that is kild as touching the body must of necessitie haue once died but these poore children might haue escaped the fire of hell if the negligence of their fathers and mothers had not sent them thither l. 3. aduers vituperat vitae monast This is that which the wiseman saith Withdraw not discipline from a childe thou shalt strike him with the rod and deliuer his soule from hell Pro. 23. 13. 14. EXAMPLES 1. Helie the high Priest albeit a Saint as S. Hierom writeth in c. 6. ad Ephes not hauing reprehended his children as he ought to haue done for their sinnes of Gluttonie and Lubricitie God called the prophet Samuell and said vnto him Behould I doe a thinge in Israel which whosoeuer shall heare both his eares shall tingle In that day will I raise vp against Helie all thinges which I haue spokeÌ„ touching his house I will begin and accomplish it for I haue foretold him that I would iudge his house for euer because of iniquitie for that he knew that his sonnes did wickedly and hath not corrected theÌ„ 1. Reg. 3 11. c. And what betided then vnto him 1. He became blinde 2. His soule melted 3. The life of his posterity was shortned 4. He lost the battaile against his enemies thirtie thousand of his foote men remayning slaine vpon the place 5. The Arke of God was taken and carried from them 6. His two sonnes Ophin and Phinees were likewise killed the same day 7. He hearing the newes fell backward and broke his neck 8. His daughter in law at the rehearsall of so strange a fortune was deliuered before her time and so died How many mischifes doth the conuiuence of a father trayle after it 2. You haue seene a litle before a childe of fiue yeares old borne away by the diuels forth of his fathers armes for his blasphemies c. 4. § 2. Ex. 3. what a hart breaking was it to this father to see his childe carried to hell from whence he might haue deliuered him with three or four ierkes of a rod 3. S. Augustine preaching to the religious of the desert tould them that that very day wherin he preached vnto theÌ„ the sonne of Cyrillus one of the most notable bourgesses of Hippo hauing bene alwaies ouer well beloued of his father yea more then God and therfore left to all kinde of libertie ether to say or to doe whatsoeuer he list after he had wasted all his wealth in dissolutenes cominge drunke in a doores had forced his mother great with childe and stroue to violate one of his sisters had kild his father and deaâ—ly wounded his two sisters Aug. ser 33. ad fratres in eremo Deare God what greater disaster
month should receiue the B. Sacrament 4. That none should be so bould as to speake any blasphemy othes or dishonest wordes And if any one were fallen in to ether of these thinges he made them to sit vpon the ground whilst the others dined not giuing him ought for his dinner but bread and water 5. He would not suffer that anie should play at dice in his house or at other forbidden game 6. He was carefull that all agreed well together and if he perceiâ—ed any quarrell to be moued amongst them he endeuored that they should forthwith be reconciled 7. After dinner or towards the euening he made them in his presence to speake of spirituall thinges Sur. 27. of Sept. c. 18. vpon his life 8. The mother of S. Marie of Ognies appeared vnto her vpon a day as she prayed for her in the time of Masse and said vnto her that she was damned for that she was careles of that which was done in her house against God by those of her famillie Iacobus de Vitr Card. in the life of S. Marie of Ognies lib. 3. c. 11. Thomas à Cantip. lib. 2. ep c. 54. p. 18. O that God would be pleased to giue to famillies a great many of CeÌ„turions and Elzears and preserue them from such mothers or fathers of families as this wretched womaÌ„ was What great good would ensue thereof not only to famillies but to the whole common welth THE VI. CHAPTER Of the Seauen capitall sinnes THe sinnes of Pride Couetousnes Lecherie Enuie Gluttonie Anger Slouth are called capitall because they are as the heades and fountaines from whence as from a corrupted roote doe proceede the pestiferous fruites of all sortes of sinnes and vices Canis Hic §. 1. Of Pride and Superbitie Pride a is a disordinate appetite of ones proper excellence and is as the b mother and Queene of all vices Her principall daughters c are disobedieÌ„ce boasting hipocrisy debates pertinacitie discord and curiositie a Chrisostome hom 43. ad pop Bernard de grad humil Greg. 34. mor. c. 17. seq l. 23. c. 7. Isidor de sum bo l. 2 c. 38. b Greg. l. 13. mor. c. 31. Prosper l. 3. de contemplat c. 2. August ep 56. Bern. ser 3. ex paruis ser 4. de Aduent c Deut. 17. Sap. 5. Mat. 23. Pro. 13. Gen. 49. Pro. 6. 1. Tim. 5. 5. Tob. 4. Neuer permit pride to rule in thy word for in it all perdition tooke its begininge Tob. 4. 6. God resisteth the proud and giueth grace to the humble Iac. 4. 6. 1. Pet. 5. 5. He that exalteth him selfe shal be humbled and he that humbleth him selfe shall be exalted Mat. 23. 12. Pride is odious before God and men Eccl. 10 7. S. Bonauenture compareth the proud man to the winde for that euen as the winde putteth out the light drieth vp the dew and sturres vp the duste euen so the proud man putteth out the light of wisdome drieth vp the dew of grace and stirreth vp the dust of vanitie 2. He compares it next vnto the smoke for as much as the smoke the more it ariseth the more it vanisheth and scattereth it selfe 3. To the spider for that as the spider emptieth out his owne bowells weauing his cloth to catch a flie euen so the proud man looseth all the good he hath in his soule to catch a litle honor and humain praise Isay 59. 4. To the henne who as soone as she hath laid an egge she makes it knowen to all the house by her cackling which is the cause her egge is taken away as S. Chrisostome saith And so doth the proud man for as soone as he hath done any good thinge he makes it knowen and publisheth it abroad desiring that euery one should know it S. Bon. in dieta salut tit 1. c. 5. And of such persons our Lord saith that they haue receiued their reward in earth and that therfore they shall haue none in heauen Mat. 6. 2. EXAMPLES 1. Lucifer the noblest and fairest amongst the Angels for his pride hath lost heauen and hath encurred an eternitie of paines Isay 14. 12. seq 2. Pharo kinge of Egipt after diuers most horrible chasticements was swallowed vp with all his troope chariots and baggage within the waters of the sea Exod. 14. 3. Chore Dathan and Abiron were swallowed vpp aliue of the earth which gaue way vnto them to lett them sinke downe in to hel Num. 16. 4. Kinge Senacherib was slaine of his owne children 4. Reg. 19. 37. 5. Nabuchodonoser became like a beast and for such liued for the space of seauen yeares of nothinge else but of grasse and hey Dan. 4. 30. 6. Holofernes had his head câ—t off with his owne sword by the hande of a woman Iudith 13. 10. 7. A man was hanged vpon the same gallous which he had caused to be made for humble Mardocheus and he exalted to honor in his place Esther 7. 10. 8. Kinge Antiochus hauing first endured a worlde of dolors was at the last eaâ—en vp of lice 2. Mach. 9. 9. Kinge Herod dyed of the same death Act 12. 23. 10. Iesabell was cast downe head-long from a windoe and eaten of dogges 4. Reg. 9. 33. 37. Of all which that may be verefied which Dauid said of all the proud I haue seene the impious highly exalted and aduanced as the Cedars of Libanus and I passed by and behould he was not and I sought him and his place was not founde psal 36. 35. 11. About the yeare of our Lord 1570. in a certaine conuent after Complin appeared in the refectorie at all the tables certaine religious which being coniured by the Prior of the Conuent in virtu of the most holy Sacrament which he helde in his handes to tell who they were He that seemed to be chiefe of the rest answered that they were all religious of the same ordre and the greater part of them Doctors Bachelors Priors Subpriors Readers and al of them daÌ„ned for theire pride and ambition Which hauing said they opened all their robes and appeared all in fire Anno 1599. Brother Tiberius a holy man entring into the same refectorie saw and vnderstood the same This fearful history is recounted by brother Anthonie of Sienna in the Chronicles of the brothers preachers anno 1570. Loe here the end of the smoke of worldly honors to vanish sodainly away and not to leaue to him who was addicted to them but teares in his eyes teares I say eternall confusion §. 2. Of Couetousnes Couetousnes is a disordinate appetite of hauing See touchinge this vice S. Basil in ditesc auar hom 6. 7. S. Prosper l. 2. de vita contemplat c. 1â— c. 16. Isid de summo bono l. 2. c. 41. S. Aug. l. 3. de lib. arb c. 17. serm 196. de temp S. Amb. l. de Nabuthe Iesaraelita Her daughters are treason fraude deceit periurie vnquietnes violence want of mercie or inhumanitie and hardnes of hart S. Greg. l. 31. mor.
heauen with riuers of teares and said Thou art witnes my Lord Iesus Christ thou who searchest the reynes and hart that I will not deny the adulterie for feare to die but that I will not lie for feare of offending thee But thou o wretch quoth she turning her selfe to the younge man who for feare of the torments had tould a lie if thou doe hasten thee for to perish yet why wilt thou kill two innocents I am ready to die but not as an adultres I will carry myne innocencie together with me To conclude she was condemned with the young man to haue her head cut off At the first stroke that the hangman gaue to the young man his head was deuided from his body but to her seauen blowes were giuen and yet the sword did her no hurt which the Emperor seeinge he knew the innocencie of the woman and therupon set her at libertie See you how lyinge was the cause of the young mans death and how maintayning of the truth gaue life vnto this good woman This historie is related by S. Hierom ep 45. ad Innocent S. Anthimus Bishop of Nicomedia during the persecution of the Emperor Maximian was sought for by the Seargeants He seing that they sought for him receiued them and treated them right curteously making them a good dinner and in the end said vnto them that he was he whom they sought for They not able sufficiently to admire his charitie said that they would make report to the Emperor that they could not finde him No quoth the B. Saint it is not lawfull for Christians to lie to saue the life of whom soeuer and this being saide put him selfe into their handes and after diuers great torments endured death Surius 27. of Aprill out of Metaphrast O great Saint who had rather that his body should be kild by the handes of the hangman then conseruing his body to kill his soule by a lye §. 7. Of songes and of dishonest wordes Fornication and all vncleanes let it not so much as be named amongst you as it becometh Saintes or filthines or foolish talke or scurrillitie Ephes 5. 3. 4. Theodoret infers from this prohibition of the Apostle how execrable fornication is sith he will not that it be so much as spoken of nor that it be at all remembred Be not seduced euill communications corrupt good maners 1. Cor. 15. 34. And S. Clement Pope forbids the same amongst Christians l. 5 const Apost Dishonest talke saith S. Isidore hath oftimes more force to gayne harts and to perswade them to vice then the sight then euill example and then all other deceits and allurements Euen as a stone saith S. Basill cast into the water of a Cesterne doth not only stir that parte of the water which it toucheth but also doth stir vp circles which continually multiplied arriue at the last to the edge and brimme euen so lasciuious talke falling into a chast hart and soule as it were within a pure water doe excite diuers dishonest thoughtes which multiplying them selues make the soule to be all to tossed with the waues of voluptuousnes and carnall thoughtes lib. de vera virginitate The philosophers say that the worde is the shadowe of the action and deed Now when one seeth some shadow approache him he may well iudge that the body is not far off euen so maist thou say that from whence dishonest wordes proceede the worke of the flesh is not far Plutarch in the treatise how children are to be nourished If a dishonest worde hath so much force of it selfe to spoyle a soule what will it haue then sunge and pronounced with a sweet inchantment of the voice The sweetnes of the voice saith S. Basil renders the soule wholie enclining to lubricitie It is better saith S. Cyprian to heare the venemous whistle of a Basiliske then to heare the wanton and lasciuious voice of a woman EXAMPLES 1. The sister of B. Petrus Damianus Cardinall was in purgatorie fifteene dayes for hauinge conceiued pleasure in hearing certaine maides to sing as they were a dancing Flor. Harlemus Carthus Institut Christiana l. 2. c. 25. S. Bernard being yet but a younge youth in the worlde as soone as he heard any filthie word to be pronounced he felt the same in such sort that for very shame al his face was set a fire as if had receiued some box on the eare Which his play fellowes perceiuinge as soone as euer they saw him come they said one vnto another Le ts hould our peace loe where Bernard comes Ribad and Surius the 20. of May. The like is read of B. Lewis of Gonzaga of the societie of Iesus S. Edmund Archbishop of Canterburie studying at Paris and walking on a day in the Clarkes medow with his companions who sunge there a number of songes he went aside from them not able to suffer them Then our Lord appeared vnto him in the forme of a faire childe such as the espouse doth paint him in the Canticles White and ruddy chosen amongst thousands and said vnto him with a smyling countenance I salute thee my wel beloued S. Edmond was astonished at the first and waxt ashamed at those wordes But our Lord said vnto him Doost thou not know me I set hard by thee euery day in the schole and then made him both to see to reade that which was written in his fore-head and he perceiued written in letters of gold Iesus of Nazareth kinge of the Iewes Surius tom 6. Ribad 6. Nou. 4. S. Vallery Abbot returninge vpon a day into his Abby in the winter time entred with his people into a Priests house to warme him selfe as he approached to the fire the Priest and the Mayor of the place began to vtter great store of dishonest wordes from which they not desistinge for ought the Saint could say vnto them he went forth of the place shakinge off against them the dust of his shoes And behould at the same instant the Priest became blinde and the Mayor was stricken with a shamfull disease They perceiuing that this was in punishment of their euill tongues ran after the Saint and besought him to returne againe but he refused Thus the Priest remained blinde his whole life and all the members of the other rotted by litle and litle and in the end dyed most miserably Surius vpon the life of S. Vallery 1. of Aprill Durannus of an Abbot made a Bishop was diuers daies in purgatory for hauing somtimes tould tales to excite and make others to laugh and could not get thence till first seauen religious persons had kept silence for him for the space of seauen dayes Vincent Bellouac spec hist l. 26. c. 5. Now if one goe to purgatory for light wordes and only of laughter what punishment then doe dishonest wordes deserue 5. The very Pagans are ashamed to speake of dishonest thinges for Agellius a Roman historian writeth of Socrates that finding him selfe enforced to mixe amidst his discourse some one
could possibly befall vnto a familie 4. A certaine woman damned for hauing taught her daughter all sortes of mondanitie appeared to S. Bridgit as coming forth of some darksome lake with her hart torne forth of her bellie hir lippes cut off her nose all eaten her eyes puld out of her head hanging downe vpon her cheekes her breast couered with great wormes and with most fearfull and lamentable cries and lamentations complaining of her daughter and saying as if she had spoken to her Vnderstand my daughter and venimous Newte accursed be I that euer I was thy mother for as often as thou doost imitate and follow the workes of my wicked customes that is to say the sinnes which my selfe haue taught thee so oft my paine is renewed S. Bridgit in her reuelations l. 6. cap. 52. 5. A certaine person saw vpon a day hell open and in the midst of the flames the father and the sonne which bitterly cursed one another the father said Cursed be thou my sonne who art cause of my damnation for to enriche thee I haue done a thousand iniustices The sonne on the contrary said It is thou cursed father who art the cause of my damnatioÌ„ because for feare to displease thee I haue remayned in the worlde Dionis Carth. l. de 4. nouis art 42. towards the end Loe here a goodly looking glasse for those which hinder their children to enter into religion principally when one seeth that God doth call them 6. A certaine crack-rope led to the galloes cald for his father and making as if he would tel him somewhat in secret approached with his mouth vnto his eare and then tore it off with his teeth saying Auantwretch if thou hadst whipt me in my youth I had not now bene where I am S. Bernardinus ser 17. de euang aeterno 7. Another called Lucretius being likewise led vnto the galloes and hauing called for his father to bid him farwel tore off his nose with his teeth saying vnto him as the other did Boetius de disciplin scholarium Ioan. Hieroso serm 16. 8. Pretextat a Roman Lady by the commandement of Hymettius her husband ouncle to the virgin Eustochium for hauing changed the habit and dresse of this mayden and renewed her head-geare after the model of such as were secular contrary to the minde both of the virgin and the desire of her mother Paula saw the same night in her sleepe her Angell addresse him selfe vnto her threatning her with a terrible voice Darest thou to touche the heade of the virgin of God with thy prophane and sacriledgious handes the which shall wither from this very houre and fiue monthes hence thou shalt be carried into hell and if thou perseuer in thy sinne thou shalt be depriued both of thy husband anâ— thy children altogether The succes wherof ensued in ordre for sodaine death made euident the late repentance of this wretched womaÌ„ S. Hier. l. 2. ep 15. All these examples proue they not apparantly that the negligence and conuiuence of the parents is both heir owne and their childrens ruine Thus the Ape making ouermuch of her litle ones doth stifele them §. 2. Of the sinnes of Children towards their parents The first commandement of the second table is Honor thy father and thy mother that thou mayest be long liued vpon the earth Exod. 20. 12. Three obligations are comprised in this commandement The first to loue honor and reuerence our parents The second to obey them in that which is reason The third to asist and succour them in their necessities S. Tho. 2. 2. q. 101. a. 2. Cursed be he that honoreth not his father and mother Deut 27. 16. If a man beget a stubburne and froward sonne that will not heare the commandments of his father and mother and being chastned contemneth to be obedient they shall take him and bringe him to the ancients of his cittie and to the gate of iudgment and shall say to him This our sonne is froward and stubburne be contemneth to heare our admonitions he giueth him selfe to commessation and to ryot and banquetinges The people of the cittie shall stone him and he shall die that you may take away the euill out of the midest of you and all Israel hearing it may be afraid Deut. 21. 18. He that curseth his father and mother his lampe shall be extinguished in the middest of darknes Pro. 20. 20. He that curseth his father and mother dying let hâ—m dâ—e Exod. 21. 17. The eye that scorneth his father and that despiseth the trauaile of his mother in bearing him let the Rauens of the torrent pick it out and the younge of the Eagle eate it Pro 30. 17. It is most certaine that whosoeuer curseth father or mother or vttereth against them iniurious threatninges or smiteth them or wisheth them dead or pronouÌ„ceth wordes which of them selues may greatly put them into choler or being in honor despiseth his father or his mother that are poore or shall accuse them before a Iudge or shall not obey them in a point of importance touching the gouerment of their famillie especiallie if it be done by contempt or selfe opinion or doth not asist them in their great necessitie offendeth God mortallie Toletus l. 5. Instruct c. 1. S. Tho. 22. q. 101. art 4. ad 4. Siluest verbo filius Nauar. c. 14. n. 11. EXAMPLES 1. Cain was cursed and all his posteritie because he mockt his father Noe. Gen. 19. nor would receiue the instructioÌ„s which he gaue him to serue God Lactantius 2. Esau for takinge a wife against the will of father and mother Gen. 26. 34. 3. Ruben fell from his birth-right for hauinge wrought shame to his father Iacob Gen. 49. 3. 4. 4. Absalon was hanged in a chaine made of his owne haire and perced with three strokes of a speare because he had taken armes against his father Dauid 2. Reg. 18. 9. 14. 5. The yeare of our Lord 873. and the first yeare of Iohn the 8. Pope in the assemblie of Bishops and Lords which was made in Francfort by the commandement of Lewis kinge of Germany Charles his younger sonne was thorough the iust iudgment of God posest of the diuell for that he had conspired against his father as he him selfe confest being deliuered saying That as oft as he consented to this deliberation so oft was he seased on by the diuell Taken out of the Annales of France by Pitheus and of Amonius l. 5. c. 30. and of Card. Baron the yeare abousaid 6. A boy of eighteene yeares old being hanged at the same instant a beard grew forth of his chinne al gray and his haire also became white God manifesting by this miracle till what age he should haue liued if he had not bene disobedient to father and mother S. Bernardinus to 2. dom 40. ser 17. 7. A Young maried man seing his father cominge hid a rosted Goose which he had made to be set on the table to the end he should haue none
the same be said to him selfe 6. To suffer him selfe to be treated contemptibly 7. To take contentment pleasure in it De similitud c. 10. ad 18. EXAMPLES 1. The Sonne of God is the true miroir and patterne of al humilitie for which cause he said learne of me for I am humble For who saw or euer shall see the like humilitie as that of God incarnate God a litle infant God in a stable in a manger betwixt an Asse and an Oxe Who was euer more abased then God circumcised God baptised God amongst sinners seruing them washing their feete wiping them and kissing them God subiect and obedient vnto a poore carpenter and to the base hangmen God nourishing his seruants with his flesh and giuing them his blood to drinke God bound howted mocked bespitted cudgelled buffeted trampled vnder feete whipped crowned with thornes bearing his crosse nayled hunge and dying on a gibbet betwixt two theeues Behould the humilitie of the Sonne of God who as the Apostle saith humâ—led him selfe made obedient vnto death â—uen the death of the crosse for the which thinge God hath also exalted him and hath giuen him a name which is aboue all names that in the name of Iesus euery knee â—ow of the celestialls terrestrialls and infernalls Phil. 2. 8. Behould Christian and imitate this goodly example 2. The first in humilitie after the Sonne of God is his most holy and immaculat mother who albeit endued with all the graces which a pure creature could possibly haue yet was troubled at the praises of the Angell called her selfe the handmaide of God and hauing conceiued the Sonne of God went instantly to serue her cosin Elizabeth What humble patience had she in her humiliations not finding an Inne to lodge in when she was at the point of her lying downe constrained to withdraw her into a stable and to bring forth at midnight in winter time both her creature and her Creator and to lay him vpon a litle straw in a maunger betwixt beastes Moreouer what patience to beare him in haste into Egipt amongst Idolaters To see him taken bound whipt hunge and dying on the Crosse It is no maruell then if casting our eyes vpon these two so beautifull mirors so many Saints of all ages sexes and conditions haue humbled them selues If one S. Gregorie Pope a and S. Lewis b kinge of France esteemed them selues honored to serue the poore If a S. Helen Empresse c tooke some time so great contentment to giue water to poore virgins when they went to dinner if she serued in the platters filed forth drinke and set her on her knees before them If one S. Heduuige d Dutches of Polonia besides the seruices aboue said kissed when no body was aware therof the very printes and steppes where the poore had passed B. Father Ignatius e being generall of the companie of Iesus exercised him selfe with so great contentment in the most humble and basest offices euen to the playing the scullian to wipe the pots rub the stoue-house scoure the platters carrie wood kindle fire draw water serue in meate and other like seruices If infinite others notwithstandinge their estate and greatnes haue abased them selues in all sortes of humiliation they knew full well that the honor and glorie of good soldiars is to follow their captaine as nere as they can a Ioan. Diac. in eius vita b. Ribad 25. of Aug. c Rufin li. c. 8. Socrates l. 1. c. 13. Theod. l. 1. c. 18. Sozom. l. 2. c. 1. Baron anno 31. 6. d Surius tom 5. 16. Octob. e Ribad l. 3. of his life §. 2. Of Liberallitie Liberallitie is a virtu which moderateth the loue of riches and maketh a man facile and prompt to employ them and spend them when reason iudgeth it expedient S. Tho. 2. q. 117. art 1. 2. 3. ex Arist. l. 4. Ethic. l. 1. Liberalitie is a great virtu saith S. Hierom and a royall way from hence he declineth on the right hande who so is scarce nether giuing to others nor yet to him selfe that which is necessarie and on the left hande he who eateth and consumeth his meanes amongst strumpets and saith Let vs eate and drinke for to morrow we must dye lib. 16. in Isay Heare how Saint Iohn Chrisostome speaketh Euen as the daughters of such as are riche and noble are wont to weare some iewell about their neck for an ornament without euer putting it off because it is a signe of their nobilitie euen so must we clothe and adorne our selues in all times with bountifulnes to declare that we are the children of him who is mercifull and causeth his sunne to shine vpon the good bad Chrisost Hom. 1. vel in praefat in ep ad Phillip See hereafter of this virtu Chap. 7 § 2. 3. 4. §. 3. Of Chastitie Chastitie is a virtu necessarie to euery Christian that preteneth to come to heauen which doth repugne to the sinne of Luxurie giues a bridle to concupiscence The Apostle calls it sanctification 1. Thes 4. 3. and holines without which no man shall see God Heb. 12. 14. Now there are three sortes of chaâ—tities The first is of virgins The second of widowes The third of married folkes Isidor Pelusian compareth virginall chastitie to the sunne that of widdowes to the Moone that of married folkes to the starres epist. 391. S. Ierom expounding the parable of the seede Mat. 13. attributeth the hundred-fould fruit to virginitie the â—xtie fould to viduitie and the thirtie fould to mariage The same S. Aug saith de virgin c. 44. venerable Bede I would all men to be as my selfe saith the Apostle 1. Cor. 7. 7. but euery onâ— hath a proper gift of God one so and an other so But I say to the vnmarried and to widdowes it is good for them if they so abide as I also but if they doe not conteine them selues let them marrie for it is better to marry then to be burnt And a litle lower v. 25. And as concerning virgins a commandement of our Lord I haue not but councell I giue as hauinge obtained mercie of our Lord to be faithfull I thinke therfore that this is good for the present necessity Art thou tied to a wife Seeke not to be loosed Art thou loose froÌ„ a wife Seeke not a wife And v. 32. He that is without a wife is carefull for the thinges that pertaine to our Lord how he may please God but he that is with a wife is carefull for the thinges that pertaine to the worlde how he may please his wife and he is deuided And the woman vnmarried and the virgin thinketh on the thinges that pertaine to our Lord that she may be holy both in body and in spirit but she that is maried thinketh on the thinges that pertaine to the worlde how she may please her husband And he concludeth in the end v. 38. He that ioyneth his virgin in matrimonie doth well and he that ioyneth not doth better A
to be healed but only if her sinnes were forgiuen her and vnderstanding that they were she died with most exceeding consolation S. Greg. l. 4. dial c. 13. 5. The Emperor Mauritius hauing bene the cause of the massacre of sundry of his captiue subiects which he might haue set free for a smale matter besought of God to haue his punishment in this life and wrote to all the Patriarkes and Monkes of the easte to the end they should offer vp to God their praiers for this effect God granted him his demand for he saw all his children put to death before his eyes he saying no other thinge saue only that verse of the psalme 118. Thou art iust o Lord and thy iudgment is right and within a while after he him selfe had his head cut off Niceph. l. 18. hist. c. 38. and Card. Baron anno 602. 6. S. Liduuine natiue of Holland from the age of fifteene yeares to fifty three was neuer without sicknesses and diseases And first hauing an Apostume broken within her body was afterwards smitten with the palsie and fire of S. Anthonie had al her members rotten and full of holes Out of her breasts wormes issued by whole hundreds which eate and gnawed all her body She had her head afflicted with most sharp paines her fore-head open her chinne cleft one eye out and the other not able to behould the light cast commonly blood out at her mouth eyes nose and eares had the squinzie in her throate the tooth-ache agues single double triple quadruple and the dropsie and besides all these euills she was accused of witcherie Now what feeling could she haue amongst so many and such afflictions notwithstanding she said no other thinge but. O my sweete Lord augment my paines Wretch that I am alas what is it that I endure Alas how litle is it in comparison of that which thou endurest for me Surius to 7. 14. of Aprill See the example of Saint Frauncis here before lib. 1. c. 7. § 7. example 1. 7. S. Nichola or Colecta hauing craued of our Lord to make her partaker of his paines for the space of fiftie yeares was neuer without sicknesses and most greeuous dolours which allwayes redoubled vpon solemne feastes And as they that looked vnto her wept at the very sight of her torments she in smyling wise said vnto them Wherfore weepe yee my good sisters that which I suffer deserues not so much as to be thought of If God haue sent it me alas should I be so perfidious as to quarrell against the bountie of my sweet Lord who hath so great a care of his poore seruāt And as she ommitted not for all her paine to come and goe to doe some seruice vnto God some saying vnto her You will die by the way So that quoth she we die betwixt the armes of good Iesus what forces it my poore sisters whither we die in the fieldes or in the cittie vpon the pauement or vpon a matteras We cannot fall amisse falling betwixt the handes of God Surius 6. of March ex Stephano Iuliaco See Binet in ses consolations des malades c. 7. § 4. 8. S. Spiridion being called by the Emperor Constance as he entred the pallace a courtiar seeing him poorely apparelled gaue him a box vpon the eare the Saint presented him the other Which touched in such sort the hart of this arrogant person that he cast him selfe before his feete and asked him forgiuenes Surius 24. of December 9. S. Romuald of the house of the Dukes of Rauenna being often strucken with a pole by Marinus the Hermit when he hapned to misse in saying his psaulter replied not a word vntill such time as after certaine daies seeing that by this meanes he lost the hearing of one eare he said vnto him that if he thought good he should frō thence forth strike him vpon the right side because he had lost the hearing of the left by reason of the blowes that he had giuen him Marinus was extreamly amazed at this patience and was the cause that he euer afterwards respected him so much the more The B. Card. Damian in his life Ribad 7. of Feb. 10. Our Lord said vpon a day to the B. mother Teresa of Iesus Beleeue my daughter that he that is most beloued of my Father is he to whom he giueth the greatest troubles Behould and consider my woundes neuer will thy euills be equall to my paines This so encouraged her that she had no other desire but to suffer so that being buffeted spit on and trode vnder foote she fell a laughing being calumniated in all that possible might be said she set not by it Yea she prayed to God that she might neuer be without paines as she was not And after she had bene once tormented for the space of fiue houres by the deuill with great dolors and interior and exterior troubles so that she thought that she was able to endure no more she notwithstanding ceased not to craue patience of our Lord offring her selfe according to her custome that if he would make vse therof that then this paine might last her till the day of iudgment and this was her ordinarie prayer My Lord be it to dye or to endure I for my selfe aske naught else of thee 11. Blessed Father Zauerius endured much in the Indies but it was nothing in regard of that which he desiered to endure for amidst his greatest paines he praied to God to giue him greater And when vpon a day our Lord had shewed him the crosse and torments by the which he was to passe he began to cry Yet more yet more o Lord yet more Ribad in the abridgment of his life 12. S. Iohn Gualbertus hauing pardoned from his hart the murdering of his brother as he praied a while after before a crucifix our Lord. who was nayled theron enclined his head downe vnto him Blas Mediolan general ord val vmbrosae circa annum 1040. Baron tom 11. anno 1051. 13. An English gentilman hauing likewise pardoned him who had kild his father as he praid before a Crucifix the Kinge who was present perceiued that at eache genuflexion which he made the Crucifix bowed its head vnto him Math. Paris hist. Anglic. anno 1090. Thou confirmest o Lord by this miracle the truth of thy doctrine vttered so many ages past Forgiue and it shall be forgiuen you Luc. 6. Mat. 6. 14. Our Lord said vpon a time vnto S. Gertrude that euen as the ringe which is giuen at a making sure is a signe of the faith which the parties promise one to another euen so patience in corporall and spiritual aduersities endured for the loue of God is a signe of diuine election and of the mariage of the soule with almightie God Blos l. de consol pusillam He said the same to the B. Mother Teresa Thou knowest full wel quoth he vnto her the mariage there is betwixt thee and me and that by this meanes all that I haue is thyne I
paines and asked him how he found himselfe Ah quoth he you haue deceiued me for you promised me that I should be but three daies in Purgatorie and behould I haue already bene here many yeares No replyed the Angell I haue not deceiued you but it is the greuousnes of the paines that doe deceiue you for you haue not as yet bene here but only an houre Alas bringe to passe then quoth hee that I may returne to life againe and I am readie to endure my sicknes not two yeares only but euen as long as euer it shall please God which was granted him and neuer after did he complaine of his paines S. Antoninus 4. p. Sum. tit 14. cap. 10. § 4. Ribad l. 1. de tribulat c. 7. The greuousnes of these paines may be further proued by all the reuelations which venerable Bede alleadgeth in the 3. and 5. booke of his historie 〈…〉 Bridgit §. 8. Of prayers or suffrages for the departed It is a holie and healthfull cogitation to pray for the dead that they may be loosed from sinnes 2. Mac. 12. 46. It is holie because it commeth from a holy begining which is charitie It is healthfull first to the departed for it deliuereth them from their paines 2. To him who doth it for as much as he by this meanes encreaseth his owne merits and consequently his glorie and maketh him selfe as many friends and intercessors with God as he asisteth soules Againe that which is said of praier may be also vnderstood of fastinge almes pilgrimages and whatsoeuer good worke offered to God to this intent but aboue all the holy sacrifice of the Masse I am of the minde saith S. Ambrose speaking to Faustinus of his sister deceased that we should not so much weepe for her as asist her with prayers and recommend her soule vnto God lib. 2. ep 8. S. Aug. saith We must not dout that the dead are holpen by the prayers of the Church sacrifices almes c. Ser. 32. de verb. Apost Saint Chrisostom saith Let vs asist the dead not with teares but with prayers and almes Homil. 41. in 1. Cor. An Angel in the historie of venerable Bede came to tell in the behalfe of God to a holy personage that the prayers of the liuing almes fastinges and principally the sacrifice of the Masse did succour sundry faithfull soules departed to the end they might be deliuered before the day of iudgment lib. 5. hist. Aug. cap. 13. Who seeth not then that it is the duty of a good Christian in the morning at his arising and in the euening before his sleeping hearing or saying Masse to pray for the soules detayned in this fire which we haue seene in the precedent paragraph to be so terrible but aboue all for those of our parents to whom for sundrie respects we may be obliged and somtimes also in the day time to asist thē by some good worke If in this life we saw some one of our friendes amidst a fire from whence he could not deliuer him selfe and yet that we might doe it easily could we be so cruell to him as not to asist him With such measure saith our Lord as you shall haue measured vnto others it shall be measured to you againe Mat. 7. 2. Marc. 4. 24. EXAMPLES 1. A certaine religious of S. Francis albeit of a holie life appeared the yeare 1541. vnto a nouice who prayed for him saying that he was in Purgatorie for hauing bene negligent to pray for the departed Franc. Gonzaga de orig Seraph relig part 4. in prouincia Canariae conu 7. 2. Brother Bertrand prouinciall of the Dominicans said Masse euery day for the expiation of his sinnes but very seldome for the dead And when vpon a day he was asked the reason he answered that the soules that were in Purgatorie were assured of their saluation and therfore had not so great neede of prayers as the liuing had The night following one that was dead appeared vnto him ten seuerall times beating with his hande vpon his coffin as it were in threatning of him whence he conceiued so great a feare that the day did no sooner appeare but he went and said Masse for the dead and all the rest of his life after he employed him selfe to asist the deceased Lib. 1. Chron. frat Praedic c. 27. Theod. de Apoldia lib. 3. vitae S. Dominici cap. 8. 3. S. Christine natiue of S. Trou in Hasbaye being dead her soule was led by Angells into a place which by reason of the horrible torments which they there endured supposed her selfe to be in hell but one of the Angels tould her that it was Purgatorie Frō thence they led her to heauen before the throane of the most holy Trinity who put it to her choice ether to remayne in heauen for all eternitie or to returne to her body to deliuer by good workes all those soules which she had seene in Purgatorie and afterwards to come to heauen loaden with the more merits She accepted this last condition and immediatlie entred againe into her body whilst Masse was said the body being set in the midst of the Church Afterwards vntill her death she suffered so many and so horrible torments that she merited the name of Christine the admirable Thomas à Cantipr in her life and Surius tom 3. c. 23. of Iune 4. S. Leibertus Bishop of Cambray praying vpon a day in the churchyard of S. Nicholas of the same cittie for the soules of those whole bodies were buried in that place saying Animae omnium fidelium defunctorum requiescant in pace The soules of all the faithfull departed rest in peace this voice was heard in the ayre most intelligibly Amen In the Martyrologe 23. of Iune See the life of S. Lidwine and the discourse of the commemoration of the faithfull departed in the flowers of the liues of Saintes by Ribad 2. of Nouember THE VII CHAPTER Of satisfactorie workes Fasting Almes and Prayers THe Archangell Raphaell in the 12. of Tobie teaching young Tobias the practise of of good workes said vnto him That prayer accompanied with fasting and almes was very healthfull and profitable Yea all the satisfactorie workes which we are able to doe in this life are referred to these three for which cause S. Aug. saith Behould all the iustice of man in this life fastinge almes and prayer Will you that your prayer flie vp to heauen Giue it two winges fastinge and almes S. Aug. in psal 42. §. 1. Of Fasting The Church commands vs to fast the Lent the four Ember daies and certaine vigills that is to say not to eate then but one meale a day and to abstaine also from flesh and in Lent from flesh and egges which hath bene practised euen from the Apostles times 68. canon Ap. S. Hier. ep 54. ad Marcellam She also commandeth that the Fridayes and Saturdayes and the Rogation dayes we abstaine from flesh She declareth the vtilities of Fastinge in the preface of the Masse
eare at the cry of the poore him selfe shall also cry and shall not be heard Pro. 21. 13. nor they who cry or pray for him Ioan. Duegnius Hisp in speculo tristium §. 5. Of Prayer How excellent profitable and necessarie it is Prayer accordinge to S. Greg. of Nice is a discourse and colloquy of the soule with almightie God touchinge that which concernes its health and perfection lib. de orat Dom. cap. 1. It is an eleuation of the soule into God saith S. Iohn Damascen to enter into amorous discourse with him lib. 3. de fide cap. 14. It is the key of heauen saith S. Aug. serm 226. de temp It is the best posession that one can haue in this human life saith Saint Ephrem tract de orat How happie is a soule which may in euery houre as oftē as it listeth open heauen and haue free accesse to the secret cabinet of God him selfe and there discourse familiarly with him O if the fauorits of the worlde could doe the like with their Prince how happie would they repute them selues to be For which cause also all the Saints haue made so great account therof as we shall hereafter see The profits thereof will appeare by the effects Amen Amen I say to you if you aske the Father any thinge in my name he will giue it you said our Sauiour to his Apostles Ioan. 16. 23. And in another place Aske and it shall be giuen you Luc. 11. 9. The necessitie thereof is the same that ayre and breath is for the body The body can not liue without ayre and breathing nor the soule without praying For which reason it is that our Sauiour said It behoueth to pray alwaies without ceasing Luc. 18. Be not hindred to pray alwaies saith the wiseman Pro. 18. 22. The Apostle recommendeth the same in sundry places Phil. 4. 6. Colos 4. 2. 2. Thes 5. 16. And S. Peter in his 1. ep c. 4. 7. Prayer is also as necessarie for man saith S. Iohn Chrisostom as water the fishe lib. 2. de orando Deum EXAMPLES 1. Will you haue a proofe of its excellencie efficacie As long as Moyses praied and stretched vp his armes to heauen his people had the vpper hande of their enemies and cut them quite in peeces Exod. 17. How many times hath he held the armes of God when he was angrie by his prayer Exod. 32. psal 105. 2. The Prophet Ieremie praying for the Isralites God said vnto him Pray not for them and hinder me not Ierem. 7. 3. Iosua by his prayer staid the Sunne and the Moone vntill such time as he had ouercome his enimies Iosua 10. 4. Isay made the Sunne goe back to the point where it had bene ten houres before in fauor of the Kinge Ezechias And this Kinge by his praier draue away death which was about to giue him his last blow and lenghtned his life fifteene yeares 4. Reg. 20. 5. S. Dominick confest to a certaine Prior of Cisteau neuer to haue asked ought of God which was denied him And when the Prior said vnto him Why then doe you not demand of him Doctor Conrade It is a thinge hard to obtaine replied the Saint but if I shall aske it him I doe not dout but to obtaine it He prayed all the night ensuinge and a thinge most admirable in the morning Conrade came vnto the Church and cast him selfe at the Saintes feete asked the habit of religion and obtayned it Ribadeneira vpon his life Is it any maruel thē that praier being so excellēt so profitable so effectual all the Saints haue loued it so much 6. Reade the life of S. Anthonie and of S. Arsenius you shall see them passe the whole nightes without stirring from off their knees and to complaine of the Sunne beating vpon their eyes that it tooke from them the repose and sweetnes of their soule Ribad ex Athanas Cassiano 7. S. Simeon Stillites praied cōtinually both day and night one while standing vpright another while prostrate and praying vpright made so many reuerences that one of the seruants of Theodoret hauing vndertaken to nūber them counted in one day to the number of twelue hūdred fortie four then was wearie of counting more From the Euensonge of the principall feastes vntill the morrow morning he stood vpright with his handes lifted vp to heauen without being wearie nor suffering him selfe to be opprest with sleepe Theodoret Cyri. epist. lib. 9. cap. 27. 8. S. Apollonius Abbot of two hundred monkes in The baidis prayed a hundred times a day and a hundred times a night Ruffinus lib. 2. cap. 7. Pallud cap. 52. Abdias writeth as much of S. Bartholomew Apostle S. Antoninus of S. Martha Palladius of S. Macarius and what shall I say of S. Iames the Apostle who by the vse of praying had his knees as hard as a Camels skin 9. A certaine Cobler named Zacharie was wonte night by night to goe and salute the most B. Sacrament in the church of S. Sophie in Constantinople and there to make his praiers A holy man named Iohn who also passed the nightes in prayer at the portalls of the Churches praying on a night at the portall of S. Sophie saw a light to come which ouertooke him and the better to consider what this man came to doe he hid him selfe aside in a corner Zacharie being come to the church doore he there made a short prayer and then the signe of the Crosse vpon the dore and at the same instant it opened to him and the same hapned to two other dores Being entred into the church he went before the high Altar and after that he had ended his prayer he returning home to his house all the Dores shut them after him of their selues Raderus in his Rowe of Saintes taken forth of the Greeke Calendar §. 6. Of the conditions required to pray protfiably You aske and receiue not because you aske amisse saith S. Iames. cap. 4. 3. To aske aright we must obserue four pointes 1. To be in good estate If our hart doe not reprehend vs we haue confidence towards God saith S. Iohn and whatsoeuer we shall aske we shall receiue of him 1. Iohn 3. 22. And our Lord said to his Apostles If you abide in me and my wordes abide in you you shall aske what thinge soeuer you will and it shall be done to you Iohn 15. 10. Offer sacrifice no more in vaine quoth God by his prophet incense is abhomination to me when you shall stretch forth your hādes I wil turne away mine eyes frō you for your handes are full of blood Wash you be cleane take away the euill of your cogitations from your hartes Isay 1. 13. 2. The second point is to consider the greatnes of the Maiestie of almightie God to whom we speake What meanes is there saith S. Basil to pray without distraction And he answereth If we remember that we are before the maiestie of God lib. 1. Hexam in reg breu 201.