know that he was damned because all his life had been but hypocrifie For when they thought he fasted and did much penance he eat secretly when they saw him not and for this saith he am I now delivered over to a terrible and furious Beast whose tail hath wreathed it self about and tied my feet and his head is already entring now into my mouth to fetch out and carry away my soul with him for ever And with these words he expired to the great amazement of them all And now what was this miserable creature the better for having been reputed a Saint Saint Anthanasius compares proud men who go in search of honour to children to hunt butterflies Others compare them to spiders who destroy and defeat themselves in making their webs for the hunting of flies According to that of Isa They weave the spiders web Isa 59.5 For so the proud man ever disimbowels himself and casts up as it were his very maw that he may obtain a little humane praise We read in the life of a certain honorable Person that he ever both carried and shewed a most particular hatred and detestation against this opinion and estimation of the world for he said that it was the cause of great mischiefs and the impediment of many blessings And so they hear him cry thus out sometimes with much earnestnes and many sighs O opinion O opinion and estimation of the world how many mischiefs hast thou wrought already how many workest thou now and how many wilt thou continue to work CHAP. XIX Of other humane reasons which will help us to be humble SAint Chrisostome upon those words of St. Paul Not to think of himself more highly then he ought to think but to think soberly Rom. 12.3 goes proving very expresly that the proud and arrogant person is not only wicked and sinful but a stark fool withall To prove this he brings that of Isaiah The fool speak foolish things and by the follies which he utters you shall understand him indeed to be a fool Wel then let us observe the follies which are uttered by the arrogant and proud man and we shal quickly see what a fool he is What is that which the first proud creature uttered which was Lucifer I will mount up to heaven I will place and exalt my throne above the clouds and being there above the stars I will be like the most High What could be more foolishly and dis-jointedly conceived And in the tenth Chapter he sets down very arrogant and foolish words of Assur King of the Assirians vvherevvith he glorified himself in that vvith his povverful hand he had conquered and subdued all the Kings of the earth As vvhen a man takes the poor little Birds out of a nest vvhich are bred up by the elder Birds and as a man vvho goes to gather the eggs vvhich are not defended so have I saith he conquered all the earth vvith the same facility nor was there any one who durst so much as stir yea or so much as open his mouth against me either in earnest or in jest What greater folly can there be then this saith Saint Chrisostom And there he also brings in divers other speeches of proud men which discover very sufficiently what fools they are so that if you hear and mark their words you will not easily discern whether they be words of a proud man or of some other who is a meer sot so absurd and dis-jointed they are And so we daily see that as fools move us to laughter with what they say and do so do also proud men in their conversation by the arrogant words which they utter redouning to their own praise and by the gestures which they use and by the state and foolish gravity wherewith they walk and by the high account which forsooth they will needs have men make both of their persons and of all that which is theirs and by the estimation wherein they hold themselves And Saint Chrisostome adds that the stupidity or folly of proud men is worse and worthy of greater reproach and shame then that which is natural for this carries no fault or sin with it but the other doth From whence also follows another difference between these two follies that they who are natural fools cause pity and move all men to be sorry and compassionate of their misery Whereas the folly of proud men moves not others to compassion and pity but to laughter and scorn But in the mean time proud men are sots and so we must proceed with them as such For as we must condescend and seem to that which fools say that so we may have peace with them though indeed the thing be not so or at least though we understand it not after that manner but yet still we wil not contradict them because in fine they are fools just so do we proceed vvith proud men And indeed this humor and madnes raign so much in the World at this day that novv vve can hardly converse vvith men but vve must be fain to smooth them and to say that vvhich is not so no nor is so conceived by us For the other takes so much delight to understand that his stories give contentment and seem so vvell to others that there is no better way to oblige him to gain his good wil then by praising him And this saith the Wiseman is one of the vanities follies which he saw in the world namely That wicked men were praised as good because they were in high place I saw the wicked buried who while they lived were in the holy place and they were praised in the City so the vulgar Latine hath it as for righteous works this also is vanity What greater vanity and madnes can there be then to praise men when they think there is no cause for it yea and to do as many times is done when some praise others for that which they did ill or at least for what they thought was ill done And the jest is that they have already told others what they really think of you but yet with you because forsooth you must be kept contented they stick not for the most part to lye At other times they are fain to seek out by wayes that so they may be able without lying to speak well of that which indeed they do not like and the matter is because they must treat you and condescend to you as they would to some stupid for or fool The while that other conceives that you are of the same humor with him and that you are also glad when you are dealt with after the same manner and that the best morsel of the meat which he can be able to give yo after you have preached or performed some such thing is to tel you that you discharged it excellently wel and that all the World was highly pleased with you and he treats you thus to keep you in contentment or else to gain your good
good deeds because they make ill use thereof As it happens in the case of corporal food which though in it self it be healthfull and good yet if a man eat of it without rule or measure it will make him sick And so on the other side if the very poison of vipers be taken with a certain composition and proportion it will become a treacle and give him health When therefore they shall bring the good things which you have done to your memory to the end that you may esteem and value your self Saint Gregory advises you to oppose your ill deeds against them and to call your former sins to mind So did Saint Paul to the end that his great virtues might not blow him up as also his having been rapt into the third Heaven and made capable of those high revelations which were imparted to him Alas saith he I have been a blasphemer and a persecutor of the servants of God and of the name of Christ alas I am not worthy to be called an Apostle because I have persecuted the Church of God This is a very good counterpoise and a very good countermine against this temptation Upon those words which the Archangel Gabriel spake to the prophet Daniel O son of man observe what I intend to say to thee S. Jerom saith that those holy prophets Daniel Ezekiel and Zacharias through the high and continual revelations which they had seemed already as it were to converse amongst the Quires of Angels and to the end that they might not exalt themselves above themselves and grow idle headed proud upon that occasion as conceiving that they were grown to be of a kind of Superior and Angelical nature the Angel lets them know on the part of God that they must remember their humane nature and frailty and he cals them sons of men that so they might understand themselves to be frail men and miserable creatures like the rest and that so they might be humble and esteem themselves but as they were And we have many examples in histories both ecclesiastical and prophane both of Saints and other illustrious persons Kings Emperors and Prelates who used this means and ever kept som about them who might bring them to remembrance from time to time that they were but men so to conserve them in humilitie and to keep them from growing vain and proud It is recounted of Franciscui Borgia that whilst he was yet Duke of Gandia an holy man gave him this counsel that if he had a mind to profit much in the service of God no day might pass wherein he would not think seriously of somwhat which might put him to confusion and a mean opinion of himself And he took this counsel so much to heart that from the time that he used the exercise of mental prayer he imployed every day the two first hours thereof upon this knowledge and contempt of himself And besides whatsoever he heard and read and saw it all served him towards this abasing and confusion Let us therefore observe this counsel and practise it Let no one day pass wherein we spend not som time of prayer and consider not somwhat which may tend to our confusion and contempt and let us not grow weary nor give over this exercise til we find that our soul hath even drunk up a profound and cordial desire to be disesteemed and despised and til we may feel our selves to be greatly ashamed to appear with so much baseness and misery as ours is before the high presence and majesty of almighty God We have very much need of all this for our pride and inclination to be honored and esteemed is so great that if we walk not continually in this exercise we shall find our selves every hour to be listed up above our selves as cork swimming upon the water for no cork is so light and vain as we We must ever be repressing and beating down that swelling and pride which heaves us up and we must look towards the feet of our deformity and basenes that so the wheel of our vanity and pride may be broken in peeces Let us remember the parable of the Fig-tree which is mentioned in the holy Gospel and which the owner thereof hath a mind to pluck up by the roots because in three years it had born no fruit but the gardener moved that it might be suffered to grow a year longer and said that he would dig about it and that if then it gave no fruit it might afterwards be rooted up Dig you in like manner about the dry and barrain Fig-tree of your souls and let the dung and miseries of your sins be cast round about it since you have such store thereof and so you shall be also fertile and bear fruit To the end that we may be the more animated to use this exercise and that no man take occasion to give it over through any vain apprehensions We are to understand two things The first that no man must think this exercise belongs onely to beginners because it also concerns Proficients and most perfect men since we see that they and even St. Paul himself did use it In the second place it is fit for us to understand that this exercise is no afflictive or melancholy kind of thing nor causes trouble or disquiet but rather brings with it great peace and rest yea and great contentment and joy for any man to consider and know himself how many defects or faults soever he commit and how perfectly soever he understand that because he is so wicked he deserves that al men should despise and hate him For when this knowledge of our selves grows from true Humility that pain comes accompanied with such a kind of swavity and contentment that a man would be sorry to be without it Other pains and troubles which some feel when they consider their faults and imperfections are temptations of the divel who on the one side procures by this means to make us think that we are truly humble and on the other would be content to make us distrust the goodnes of God and to be disheartned and dismayed in his service Indeed if we were still to pause upon the knowledge of our own misery and weaknes we should have occasion enough to be afflicted and sad yea and to be discouraged and dismayed but we must not stay there but passe on to the consideration of the goodnes and mercy and liberality of God and how much he loves us and what he suffered for us and in this are we to place all our hope And so that which would be an occasion of dismay and sorrow by looking upon our selves serves to animate and incourage us and is an occasion of greater comfort and joy when we lift up our eyes towards God A man beholds himself and sees nothing but cause of grief but looking up to God he confides in his goodnes without fear of being forsaken notwithstanding the many faults and imperfections and miseries
A TREATISE OF HUMILITIE Published by E. D. Parson sequestred 1 PET. 5. ver 5. Be clothed with Humility for God resisteth the proud and giveth grace to the humble LONDON Printed for Thomas Johnson at the Golden Key in S. Pauls Church-yard 1654. To the Reader IN every age and nation the sins that provoke God to wrath are many and the Seers or Remembrancers so are Gods Ministers call'd and so they are do sigh and mourn for them yea and forewarn and cry out against them as in Ezek. 9.4 The sins of this our age and nation which have provoked the Lord our God to poure out the vialls of his wrath upon us though not easily numbred or named yet that one onely sin of Pride is so high so presumptuous and so generall that even for this sin alone all the judgements which we have already felt or do hereafter feare are most due and just Blessed be the Lord our God who hath hitherto in mercy as a father chastised us for our amendment and not in fury as a Judge utterly consumed us And as we acknowledge his justice and mercy in punishing us so we take notice of his wisdome in choosing such instruments to punish us men of mean and low rank and of common parts and abilities By these he doth admonish all the honourable valiant learned and wise men of this nation as it were write our sin in the character of our punishment and in the low condition of these instruments of his anger and displeasure the rod of his wrath he would abate and punish our great pride As Remembrancers we have a double office on which we attend The one to call and cry unto God night and day with humble prayers and teares to be mercifull to his people and to spare those which he hath redeemed with his precious bloud and not to be angry with them for ever The other to call and cry unto the whole nation the proud and bold punishers with their vizours or formes of godlinesse as well as the punished to humble themselves to repent to fast weep and mourn for our many and great wickednesses especially for our Pride It may please God that by his blessing this little book may prove as a sovereigne poultise or medicine to asswage the swelling tumor of pride in the hearts of all them that will humble themselves so farre as to read it Davids stone and sling which slew proud Goliah and by that meanes overthrew the pride and gallantry of a great army gives some encouragement to me that even the pride of the Army of the City of the whole nation may be in some measure lessened and abated by this small book wherein the reader will find all the kindes and degrees of our pride plainly described sadly lamented sharply reproved thereby the necessity and excellency of the heavenly grace and sweet vertue of Humility affectionately perswaded unto and commended The God of power wisdome and mercy vouchsafe to give his blessing to this weak meanes as prayeth Thine in Christ Jesus W. B. The Contents Chap. I. OF the excellency of the vertue of Humility and of the need we have thereof page 1 Chap. II. That Humility is the foundation of all vertue page 6 Chap. III. Wherein it is declared more particularly how Humility is the foundation of all vertues and this is done by discoursing of the chief of them page 10 Chap. IIII. Of the particular necessity which they have of this vertue who professe to procure the salvation of their neighbours souls page 17 Chap. V. Of the first degree of Humility which is for a man to think meanly of himself page 32 Chap. VI. Of the knowledge of a mans self which is the root and the necessary and only means for the obtaining of Humility page 36 Chap. VII Of a most principall means for a mans knowing himself and obteining Humility which is the consideration of his sins page 41 Chap. VIII How we are to exercise our selves in the knowledge of what we are that so we may not be dejected or dismayed page 46 Chap. IX Of the great benefit and profit which grows by this exercise of a mans knowing himself page 52 Chap. X. That the knowledge of ones self doth not cause dismay but rather gives courage and strength page 58 Chap. XI Of other great benefits and advantages which grow by the exercise of a mans knowledge of himself page 62 Chap. XII How much it concerneth us to be exercised in the knowledge of our selves page 65 Chap. XIII Of the second degree of Humility and here it is declared wherein this degree consists page 74 Chap. XIV Of some degrees and steps whereby a man may rise to the perfection of this second degree of Humility page 82 Chap. XV. Of the fourth step which is to desire to be disesteemed and despised and to be glad thereof page 89 Chap. XVI That the perfection of Humility and of all other vertues consists in performing the acts thereof with delight and chearfulness and how much this imports towards our perseverance in vertue page 93 Chap. XVII Of some means for the obtaining of this second degree of Humility and particularly of the example of Christ our Lord. page 98 Chap. XVIII Of some humane considerations reasons whereby we are to help our selves for being humble page 104 Chap. XIX Of other humane reasons which will help us to be humble page 109 Chap. XX. That the certain way for a man to be valued and esteemed even by men is to give himself to vertue and humility page 116 Chap. XXI That Humility is the means to obtain inward peace of mind and that without it this cannot be had page 123 Chap. XXII Of another kind of means more efficacious for the obtaining the vertue of Humility which is the exercise thereof page 132 Chap. XXIII That we must take heed of speaking any such words as may redound to our own praise page 141 Chap. XXIV In what manner we are to make a particular examination of our consciences concerning the vertue of Humility page 146 Chap. XXV How it may be compatible with Humility to be willing to be accounted of and esteemed by men page 157 Chap. XXVI Of the third degree of Humility page 166 Chap. XXVII It is declared wherein the third degree of Humility consists page 174 Chap. XXVIII The foresaid truth is more declared page 179 Chap. XXIX The third degree of Humility is further declared and how it grows from thence that the true humble man esteems himself to be the least and worst of all page 184 Chap. XXX How good and holy men may with truth esteem themselves lesse then others yea and affirm themselvs to be the greatest sinners of the world page 192 Chap. XXXI That this third degree of Humility is a good means to overcome all temptations and to obtain the perfection of all the vertues page 202 Chap. XXXII That Humility is not contrary to Magnanimity but rather