flesh and bloud and tastes nothing but what flatters this Flesh and Bloud And therefore among sensual Pleasures there are permitted our Devout Person only those which are moderate The Senses love to receive strong impressions of Objects provided there be no wound in the case the imagination loves also to be powerfully moved But all these emotions make such mighty impressions upon the Soul as it hardly can come to it self again And therefore they ought carefully to be avoided But if we would have more sensible proofs that the heart the passions and the senses are not to be consulted about the choice of Pleasures let us hear experience and cast an eye upon the disorders of the world Such are the consequences of this blindness in men who follow their own heart and senses in the choice of Goods and Pleasures Why did the first Woman lay hold on the forbidden fruit because it was good and pleasant to the eye she hearkened to her Heart and Senses How did corruption arise to that high pitch in the World that it forced God's Justice to bring upon it a terrible Deiuge Because the Sons of God saw the Daughters of men that they were fair they stopt their Ears to the voice of God which call'd upon them they heark'ned to the sollicitations of their own sensual heart they took them Wives of all which they chose and corrupted themselves with them Did not David commit Adultery and Murder in a little time because he gave ear to his senses and heart and let his passions seduce him did not Solomon become an Idolater because his sinful love for Women having blinded his eyes separated him from God and stopt the Ears of his Soul so as his mind heard only the voice of his Passions and his Senses Lastly did not St. Peter deny his Lord and Master for that his heart his senses his imagination made him see present Death in an affrightful posture and he consulted neither God nor his own reason We seem here to blend and confound Innocence with Sin in speaking of our Heart and our Senses as common Sources of our errours Since that the Senses may seem rather to be unhappy and unfortunate than Criminal and Sinful True the Senses are subject to two unhappinesses The first is to be forced to receive Objects which are sinful and capable of transferring Images of corruption to the Heart such are evil Examples scandalous Actions and Words The other misfortune of the Senses is that they take in innocent Objects and sometimes in an innocent manner and these Images do spoyl and corrupt themselves in the Heart Nevertheless I think we ought not to separate the Senses from the Heart they make but one and the same thing This is a Match at the end of which lies a great heap of Gun-powder The Hear and the Imagination are the inward extremity of this Match they are the Magazine of Powder The Senses are the other end to which the Objects set fire This Fire slides or rather it flies along the Match It enkindles the Imagination and puts the Heart into a flame And therefore the holy Spirit puts for the same thing To walk in the ways of ones heart and in the sight of ones Eyes In short if we would be perfectly assured that our Heart and Senses are evil Counsellors in this affair hear what the holy Scripture saith it considers our Heart as the root of all our Evils Every imagination of the thoughts of Man's heart is only evil continually The Heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked who can know it Out of the Heart proceed evil Thoughts Murders Adulteries Fornications Thefts false Witness Blasphemies These are the things which defile a Man The holy Ghost represents the Heart to us as blind wrapt up in a thick Cloud and profound darkness it speaks of it as of a kind of Death it is of the Earth it is carnal How then canan Heart thus composed and fram'd judge of the true Goods and Pleasures How can there come any thing good from a poysoned Spring And thus we see that the Wife man puts this Maxime among the members of those we are to detest and abominate Walk in the ways of thine Heart and in the sight of thine Eyes I should end here were it unnecessary to take off one Scandal that may be taken at what we have said that sensual Pleasure is a Good and even a Good for the Soul For in a word if the Soul be that not only which perceives and which tastes Pleasure and if Pleasure be a Good 't is a Good of the Soul If it be a good then some will say we are to seek and love it It 's not sufficient to answer that this is a Good of the Body only that is not absolutly true 't is in some sort the good of the Soul because the Soul tastes it Further if this Good were only for the Body yet it does not follow it should therefore be of necessity unlawful since we are not always forbidden to seek the Good of the Body But we ought not only to consider a thing in its self to know whether it be good or bad we must consider it in its causes and its effects in what precedes it what may be the consequence of it I mean that the Pleasure which comes to the Soul by the Body is a sort of Good considered in it self Look upon its Source and see to what it produces The Source is Sin is Impurity is Rebellion against the law of our Creator What it produces is a disunion between God and our Soul 't is a pawning our selves to Death 't is the pain of everlasting burnings How can we under the Idea of a Good conceive a thing which is incompast about by so many moral Impurities and such real Mischiefs If therefore bodily Pleasure can be called a Good with respect to the present sentiment of the Soul it 's an Evil in all other regards it 's an Evil to speak Absolutely and therefore the wifest men of all Ages have plac'd it among the false Goods for a true Good ought to be good on every side we view it The Soul then has no true Pleasure but what arises from its union with God And this union is fortified according to the measure that we loosen our selves from sensible things and are united to God by the knowledge of his Truth Not of those Verities which Philosophy seeks after and never finds with any certainty but of those Divine truths which Faith discovers to us of those wholsome Verities which are the Candle of the Soul Thy Word is a Lamp to my Feet and a light to my Paths It enlightens the Eyes and makes wise the simple The second Bond whereby we are united to God is Virtue the Practice of which renders us like to our Creator renews his Image in us and makes us to be the Copies of that Beauty whereof he 's the original the third cord is
neglects the other Life as if it were never to come I believe O my God but help thou my unbeleif Make me to see the Truth and Excellency of Eternal Life that I may flight the present Life that I may make me such Friends as may receive me into everlasting Habitations that I may acquire such Riches as I may carry along with me and that I may make choice of that good Part which shall not be taken away from me CHAP. VI. The Custom of letting the mind ramble 〈◊〉 different Objects A sixth Source of Indevotion I Believe that this is also another Source of 〈◊〉 Indevotion and especially of our Distraction During Prayer we know not how to fire oâ—â— Heart our mind wanders and our attention iâ— lost Whence proceeds this but from a pernicious custom we have of giving a soaring vaunt to our Imagination It is in man what Quick-Silver is in Mertals It rouls it runs glibly up and down A little fire makes it evaporate and as it were to vanish into Smoak it becomes so subtle We suffer it to 〈◊〉 what ever it pleases When 't is upon the Wing sometimes it flyes from East to West from South to North from Heaven to Earth and as if the limits of the Universe were too narrow for it it over-passes them and loses its self in the innumerable Whirle-pooâ— of Des-Cartes And no more can it contain it self within the bounds of Time it flyes to Eternity and asks what it is It would know what was when there was Nothing If it keeps its self within this World amidst this great space it curvets over all Beings it swims over all Matter and the compounds of it differently modified and yet penetrates none of them And as if the prodigioâ— Mass of Creatures did not furnish Imployment enough to its Actions it labours in the production or rather creation of Beings of its own forming It imagine Chimeras Phantomes it makes Mountains of Gold Worlds in the Moon Centaurs and Hippogryphicks And these motions for the most part are of such quick â—ispatch that in a quarter of an hours rambling we find â—ur selves so far off that the greatest Parted man in â—â—e World could never ghess by our last thought what was the first And after this shall we ask from whence â—ome those aberrations of our heart in the duties and exercises of Piety can we expect that a Soul accustomed to wander can fix and arrest it self all at once It is an Horse that has not as yet received the Bitt it does nothing night or day but kick and skip up and down in the Meadows When one would put the Saddle upon the back or the Rein in the mouth it flyes out and struggles it throws down him that gets up and returns from whence it came When we would gather our selves together it dissipates its self like a Flame it abandons us it breaks the Rein of Piety and before that we espy the first ways it took we find it plunged in the diversity of its vain thoughts St. Augustine â—acknowledges that this is the cause of our Distractions When our mind is fill'd with these Phantasins savs he and that incessantly it carries along with it an infinite number of vain thoughts thence it comes to pass that our Prayers are oftentimes troubled and interrupted thereby and that when being in thy presence O God we indeavour to make thee hear the voice of our heart An action of such importance is frequently traversed by frivolous Imaginations which come from I know not whence to break into the crowd in our minds If we did well comprize the nature of Evil we might easily conceive the Remedy Evils ought to be cured by their contraries So that let us learn to give bounds to our imagination and not permit it to go so far that we may have the less trouble to bring it back again That is to say For the disposing our heart to Devotion we ought to accustom our mind to think a little of things and of good things 't is a Mercury that must fix it self in being applied to Silver or Gold 't is a lively faculty whereto we must give the Bridle and the Rein. 〈◊〉 let us not imagine that the secret to cure this Malaâ—â— of the Soul consists in retaining our mind in a privatâ—â—â— of all thought this is not profitable to Nature nor useâ—â—â— to Grace The imagination of man is too active 't is iâ—possible to hold it from doing nothing 't is to bring 〈◊〉 Death upon it to leave it without imployment sincâ— it lives no longer than it acts God hath not given 〈◊〉 such noble faculties to bury them in an inglorious aâ—â— shameful Idleness In short a mind that is habituatâ—â— to think on nothing would nevertheless find it as muâ—â— trouble to fix it self upon the works of Piety as oâ—â— would to withdraw it from its ramblings and course that it formerly used From all which I conclude that the imployment of letter'd and knowing men are perhaps the most destructive to Devotion as any that are in the World The Eye is scarce ever weary with seeing nor the Eaâ— with hearing and we are so far from counting this among Defects that we reckon it a great Vertue Undeâ— favour to those Great Names of Sciences of fine knowledges of curious Researches of Sublime Speculations of miraculous Discoveries there is established in the World a method to mince the Soul and almost infinitely to subdivide it without Remedy would to God experience did not give us proofs of the Truth But it 's very certain and very well known that Atheists are not to be found in the croud of the common People The Epicures the Protagoras's and Diagoras's were knowing men of great Wit The thing is past into a Proverb And they say that they who by reason of the Art whereof they make profession are obliged to study Nature and the second Causes very much do â—ix themselves so strongly thereto that they forget to ascend to the first Cause These men so well read in Antiquity and that make so great a noise in the Common-wealth of Learning for their knowledge make none at â—ll in the Church for their great Devotion The study only of heavenly things can inspire an habit of Piety we also see enow great Divines continue bad Christians because they refer not their Labours to God nor to his Glory all their industry is for themselves and they are the end of all their own watchings I would never â—herefore advise him that has a mind to be very devout â—o imbrace so many things nor to fill his head with conjectures and his memory with these May-bees whereof those rare Sciences so called are composed besides that this Acquisition brings in a habit of self-conceited Pride and surly Scorn a great enemy to the Spirit of Devotion and it puts the Virtuosos up with Pyrrhonism and Doubt which from Philosophy passes into Divinity And whereas some find nothing
know not to what their Duty tyes them And now I return to the Pleasures of Imagination wherof I began to speak Among these pleasures of the Imagination some we find innocent A man for example may without sin take a great pleasure in the cultivating a little land His house is to him the most stately Palace and Garden as good as the finest in the World He will divert himself perfectly in framing and setting right his little Parterres his Palisado's his hedge-rows of Fruit and his dwarfish Trees He will gather the fruit with more acknowledgment to God's goodness than Monarchs would have in taking Tributes from all the Earth A Father of a Family rejoyces at the good conduct of his House a Woman at her work an Artificer at the success of his labour Is there not real happiness in all this These are pleasures of Imagination but not of a foolish one which feeds its self with Impostures but one that is conducted by reason clarified by Grace and judges that we ought to esteem more what we have than all which we have not These pleasures and these innocent errours if I may call them so are not altogether enemies to the Spirit of Devotion Lastly there are pleasures of the mind amongst which it is easier to find Innocence honest and civil Conversations reading of good Books eloquent Discourses the study of good Sciences and works of Wit may afford these Pleasures But many cautions are to be us'd herein First we must take care lest we confound the Wit with its impurity Oftentimes we think we find Pleasure in a Piece because it has Wit and this is only because it has Impurity There are certain Poductions of Wit that flatter our Passions Of this nature are the Composures of the Theatre the sables of Romances and that which they call gallant Prose and Verse We admire there the delicacy of Expression the Beauty of Thought and the Strength of Imagination Look a little nearer and you will see that the heart is incomparably more touch'd than the Mind These Productions we love because they have a secret Alliance with the Corruption of our Hearts and a conformity to the Impressions of our vitiated Imagination The Pleasure that we find therein comes chiefly from the impurity which is so nicely and delicately displayed There are some objects whose Turpitude is so great as at the first blush we dread them When they are shewn us all naked we cannot endure the sight nevertheless we are willing enough to take a view of them if they be cover'd with a thin Veil which hides their Uncleanness from the Senses and yet lets it be wholly seen by the Imagination which applies it's self to these Objects with an extream Delight This is the Character of those Works whereof we speak We are to take care also that among the innocent Pleasures we do not taste that which Springs from sinful curious and visibly vain Sciences of no more manner of use and that only serve to fill up the Mind's Capacity and an Emptiness of all good things In a word if it be permitted to taste Pleasure in the study of good Sciences and useful and innocent Knowledges at least we ought to have a care we be not wholly taken up by them Nothing can be innocent that becomes to us an obstacle of Piety This is sufficient me thinks to shew that Devotion has not declared War to Pleasure and Joy In making a wise and prudent choice of such Pleasures we may find them sufficient to sweeten the bitterness of Life so as there will be no need of burying our selves alive and keeping the Soul constantly mourning and wailing and cloathing it in a black and dismal melancholy Meditation HOw much indebted am I to my God What shall I render unto him for his loving kindness who hath made me to be placed in the midst of so many good things and left me the Enjoyment of them I should have had no cause to complain if he had torn me out of this World to throw me into Hell Was it not in his free-will also to make even this World here to become an Hell to me that I might be saved in the other World I could not blame his Wisdom nor his Justice though he had put me here to continual torments Tho he had lockt up from me all the sources of these Pleasures though he made all my good Days so many darksome Nights He might have left me Eyes only to pour forth Tears Ears to hear only the sound of Thunder and the Voice of his Judgment Taste only for the bitterness of Gall and Worm-wood Touching only to feel the weight of his Blows He might have mingled Gall in all my repasts empoisoned all objects and that I may so speak invested them with Thorns to pierce me as they came near me If he had done this I must have said He is Just and I am a Sinner it is reasonable that this World being sullied by my Sins should be the Theatre of my Punishments and that the Object of my Senses upon which my Corruption hath display'd it's self become the Avengers of my Crimes But all on the other side God who commands me to be sober wise temperate moderate to renounce the vain Pleasures of the Flesh and World leaves me still for all this more Pleasures than I deserve He leaves me enough to temper and to render the sad consequences of sin supportable True it is he smites me sometimes and makes me to see his angry Countenance I am subject to maladies I may become weak and feeble I may lose what he has given me of good things my honours may be taken away from me I may be persecuted But when I reckon my ill and compare them with my good dayes I find that these are in a greater number than them My Pleasures do infinitely surmount my Pains If I recollect my sicknesses and my hours of trouble perhaps they may arise to some Months or almost to some years But how many years of Prosperity hath my God granted me Wretched and ungrateful as I am A little pain in my Finger hinders me from being sensible of the whole body's health one hour of perplexity envenoms my whole life and makes me forget all my Prosperities and all the Obligations I have to my God But though my misfortunes were very long and pursuing they would not be still so long as my life and by consequence not have so long duration as my sins and therefore I should have no reason to complain to but rather to bless and praise my God For if I am unhappy a few years I am a sinner from the very first moment of my Life So that if the moments of my Afflictions were to pass in account before God and to satisfie his Justice for so many moments mark't by my sins Alas my Soul how much would'st thou still owe to the Divine Justice since the number of thy Calamities does not