find that in desarts which we want in cities and the bounds which they have prescribed to their desires renders them content in the midst of want the same tree may cloth and feed them the leaves thereof serve them for coverings and the fruit for nourishment Fortune can lay no hold upon their persons wheresoever they goe they carry all they have with them and Famine which doth depopulate whole towns cannot make the earth barren enough to infuse fear into them they are grown acquainted with hunger and cannot fear an enemy with whom they have so often fought Penitency hath lesse need of the creature then poverty hath she takes some pleasure in contemning them she rather loves to be persecuted then to be served by them and knowing that this world is but a banishment she despiseth whatsoever can retard her return into her deer country she incourageth penitents to fight against sin and sorrow to destroy the Father by his Daughters means and to procure Heaven by the losse of Earth Thus all the vertues teach us that all the creatures are corrupted that it is better to passe by them then to make use of them that it is safer to contemn them then to imploy them and that if Philosophy teach us the use of them Religion counselleth us their privation The seventh Discourse That Deluges and Earthquakes are the punishments of the World become corrupted WE must not wonder if Philosophers have argued so weakly upon the disorders of nature their not knowing the the true cause thereof being by reason of their ignorance of Adams sin they were of opinion that the evill was occasioned by the corruption of humours and raising themselves to no higher a consideration they took the punishment of our sin for a condition of Nature they thought that death was rather a law then a punishment and that the two parts whereof man is composed were severed when their chains were worn to peices through the long use of time or broken by the violence of sorrow they thought that the bodies rebellion was a necessary consequence of it's constitution and that the slave being of another nature then his Master it was not to be wondered at if he had other inclinations they were perswaded that the revolt of wild beasts was a meer effect of their fury and that man had no reason to complain thereof since he neither wanted Force to tame them nor Addresse to reclaime them Learning upon the same principle they thought that Earth-quakes and Deluges were onely accidents which found their causes in nature and which were as ordinary to the earth as heats and colds to those that are sick they thought that the wind or fire inclosed in the bowels of the Mother Earth caused the agitations thereof and that these two Elements endevouring their liberty did their utmost to break prison that those constellations which rule in chief over waters made the rivers swell and drawing the sea out of her bed covered the earth with her waves They prepared themselves for these accidents as for disorders which were inevitable and not troubling themselves with appeasing divine Justice which chastiseth men by these dreadfull punishments they remained opinionated in their Errours Ignorance would not suffer them to profit by these disorders and not knowing that they were Punishments they thought that Patience and Fortitude were the onely Remedies The common-people whose opinions were not so corrupted because they were lesse proud reverenced the heavens anger in her severe punishments and finding no means how to obviate so strange disasters they sought for safety in superstition and endevoured to appease the evill spirits with sacrifice but this new sin augmented the rage of heaven thinking to avoid it's Justice they provoked it's indignation and through a blind ignorance they incensed their Sovereign by fawning on their executioners Christians who are instructed in a better school confesse that these great disorders are the punishments of sin and that divine Justice made no use of them till we through our offences had despised his mercy indeed there was nothing but the hand of God alone which could overthrow his workmanship and loosen the earth from it's foundations to affrighten the guilty Were not the winds in-animated by his Justice they could not shake the center of the world the weight of this great frame would stop their fury and nature which loves to preserve her parts would not permit meer exhalations to commit such havock in her state she would open new passages to them to allay their violence and preventing these extraordinary convulsions she would either rend open her own bowels or else dissolve those vapours into rivers But God takes delight to agitate the world that he may intimidate men and that he may teach them by these Earth-quakes that the earth is not so much their abiding place as the place of their punishment Of all the animadversions which his Justice giveth them there is none more horrid or lesse evitable then this for what assurance can we hope for here below if the earth quake under our feet where can we think to escape danger if the most solid thing of all the world do shake and if that which susteins all things threaten us with sinking under our feet what Sanctuary shall we find to defend us from an evill which doth incompasse us round and whither can we withdraw if the gulfs which open themselves shut up our passages on all sides with what horrour are men struck when they hear the earth groan when her trembling succeeds her complaints when houses are loosened from their foundations when the roof falls upon their heads and the pavement sinks under their feet what hope is there to be had in so generall a disorder and what comfort can be given or received in so universall a disorder when fear cannot be fenced by flight Fortune is never so cruell but that she opens unto us some out let whereby to escape the evils which she sendeth us an enemy is beaten from the bulwark which he had possessed himself of earth-works are opposed to the thundering cannon winds which raise Tempests deliver us from them and after having a long time tost us too and fro they cast us upon the shore houses serve us for sanctuaries against the injuries of the air and shepheards cottages which are onely made of leaves and mosse save them from storms Firings which are so hideous follow not them that fly from them though fire be never so light it becomes slothfull when it betakes it self to a combustible matter and if man will resign his goods unto it he may secure his person Thunder hurts not those who hide themselves in caverns it 's boult doth onely grate upon the earth but doth not penetrate it it is stopt with the least resistance and some trees have the vertue to appease it's fury when the plague infects whole citties it may be shun'd by going into the countrey
HENRICUS Dom CARY Baro de LeppingtoÌ„ Com de MONMOVTH Prae nob Ord Baln EQVES W. Marshall fecit Man become Guilty OR THE CORRUPTION OF NATVRE BY SINNE According to St. AUGUSTINES sense Written originally in French By Iohn-Francis Senault And put into ENGLISH By the Right honble HENRY Earle of Monmouth LONDON Printed for William Leake and are to be sold at his Shop at the signe of the Crown in Fleetstreet betwixt the two Temple Gates 1650. TO THE RIGHT HONOVRABLE FRANCES Countesse of Rutland wife to IOHN Earle of RUTLAND Madam GIve me leave I beseech you to present you with this Copy of a Master-piece drawn in its Originall by as rare a hand as I have met withall the which I am the rather encouraged to doe for that I have experienced your Goodnesse to be such as may make me presume upon your Pardoning such Faults as your Iudicious eye shall observe therein especially since they are committed by so Profest and so Obliged a Servant of your Ladiships and further for that All that have the Honor to know you know you to have Piety enough to practice what is therein prescribed as allowed of and to shun the Contrary both which you will finde Rarely drawn to the life by the Authour though perhaps but Slubberd over by the Copyer in almost every Chapter of this book Loyaltie enough not to transgresse the boundaries therein praescribed to due Allegeance and to detest the severall Revolts you shall finde mentioned therein Iudgement enough to discern and I hope to approve of the Eloquence Philosophy History and Divinity which you shall see therein Handsomely and Methodically interwoven to which if you will adde Charity enough a vertue so Eminent in your Ladiship as it is not to be Doubted of to pardon the faults escaped in the Presse I shall thread it to the rest of my Obligations since though they cannot in a Direct line be imputed to Me yet by Reflection as not having had a sufficient Care to peruse the Proofes they may seem to have an Influence upon Me to which I must plead my not being in Town whilest the Presse went and that I have made an Amends by printing an Errata which I shall desire whosoever buyes this book to see bound up with it for his better satisfaction Madam When to this Goodnes Piety Loyalty Iudgement and Charity the Honour shall be added which you derive from that Noble Stock whence you are Immediately descended and that which you atcheive from that Antient Stock of Honour into which you are so happily Engrafted I hope that my Choise of Dedication will by all men be approved of and I shall think my Labour very well Bestowed and Highly Recompenced if your Ladiship shall please to peruse this Rough-hewn Coppy at such Leasure-houres as I pend it and if you shall find anything therein which may make you thinke your Time that meane while not Mis-spent or which may sometimes bring the Humblest of your Servants into your Thoughts He shall have obtained the Height of his Ambition who is Madam Whatsoever your Ladiship shall please to Create him MONMOUTH THE AUTHOURS PREFACE PRide hath made so powerfull an impression in the soule of man as that all the paines he suffers are not able to efface it He is proud amidst his Misfortunes and though he have lost all those Advantages which caused Vaine-glory in him yet ceaseth he not to be vaine-glorious amidst his Miseries He is still flattered in his Exile with those promises which the Devill made him in Paradise though he be slave to as many Masters as he hath Passions yet he aspires to the Worlds Soveraignty though his Doubts doe sufficiently prove his Ignorance yet doth he pretend to the Knowledge of Good and Evill and though all the Sicknesses which assaile him teach him that he is Mortall yet doth he promise to himselfe Immortality But that which is more insupportable and which renders his fault more insolent is that he hopes to arrive at all this happinesse by his Owne Strength he thinks nothing impossible to a creaure that is Free and Rationall that his Good depends upon his Will and that without any other help then what he drawes from Nature he may acquit himselfe of his Losses and Recover his Innocence This Errour being the Outmost of all our evils Religion labours only how to dis-abuse us therein and all her Commandements and Advices tend only to make us Sensible of our misfortune The Sacrifices teach us that we have deserved Death the Law teacheth us that we are Blind and the Difficulty we find in Keeping it doth prove our Want of Power Grace doth yet more strongly insinuate this truth unto us sh uâ—dertakes not to cure us till she hath perswaded us that we are Sick and the First thing which she makes us acknowledge is our Ignorance and Weaknesse Nature as proud as she is agrees in this point with Grace her Disorders are so many Instructions which will not suffer us to doubt of our Miseries the Vnfaithfulnesse of our Senses our Passions revolt and the Fighting of those Elements which environ us and whereof we are Composed are Proofes which will convince the most Opinionated It must also be confest that the Wisest Philosophers have acknowledged that there was a Hidden Cause of all these Disorders and being prest by their Consciences they have confest that since Nature deales more hardly with Vs than with her Other Children some secret fault must of necessity have been which hath incensed her against us The Platonists imagined that our soules were infused in o our Bodies only to Expiate those sins on Earth which they had committed in Heaven the Academicks did not differ much from their opinion and though in their complaints they did sometime lose that Respect which they ought to God yet did they confesse that our Faults did precede our Miseries and that the Heavens were too Iust to punâ—h the Innocent Only the Stoicks whose whole Philosophy is enlivened with Vain-glory did beleeve that if man were irregular 't was only because he Would be so and that as his Liberty had been the sole Cause of his Mischiefe it mâ—ght also be the sole Remedy thereof they imagined that if he would take Nature and Reason for his guides he might get againe into the path of Vertue from whence he had Strayed and that in so good a Schoole he might easily reforme his Disorders and recover his Innocence Peligianisme may be said to have had its Originall risâ— with this proud Sect and that diverse ages before Pelagius his birth Zeno and â—eneca had tane upon them the Defence of Corrupted Nature for they allotted all her disorders to mans Constitution and Education noâ— knowing any other sinnes save such as be meerly Voluntary they were ignorant of that sinne which we inheâ— from our Ancestors and which preceding our Birth makes us Criminâ—ll ere we be Rationall they taught precepts to shun Sin hâ—y
disobedient or unfaithfull to him whence proceeds this disorder if not from his sin whence proceeds so universall a rebellion if not from his disobedience and why should he have lost his authority in the world if he had not lost his innocency which was the foundation thereof I very well know that Phylosophers who knew not the state of sin endeavour to excuse this insurrection alledging it is naturall but who sees not the excusing of man is to blame God and that to leave innocency to the Creature is to bereave God of his Providence The Elements began not to prosecute man till he became criminall and God is so good and just as he would not have made him subject to these sufferings had he not found him guilty His Sovereignty never gives against his justice he makes such moderate use of his power as he never injures his Providence what ever power he may justly challenge over the Creature he condemns it not till it hath offended who will not then term this unruliness of the seasons a punishment who will not esteem the earths sterility the like who will not believe but that the Pestilences and Earth-quakes Deluges and Punishments by fire are the just rewards of sin more ancient then all these disorders we must also avow that the wisest Phylosophers have acknowledged that there was one cause of all these disorders and though they neither knew the wickednesse nor the name thereof they have known it by its effects Aristotle who may be termed the Genius of Nature who loved her so passionately took such pains to study her and so carefully considered her hath guest at the cause of all the disorders which he observed in her workmanship He wonders that man cannot tame his passions that being victorious every where else he is conquered by himself and that the soul hath not strength nor dexterity to triumph over her body he cannot comprehend how the noblest workmanship of Nature should be a Monster that the senses should be unfaithfull and passions disobedient and that reason which is her light should be obfuscated with so many darknesses he cannot conceive that man being free should be a slave to so many masters that being furnisht w th knowledg he should be ingaged in errours and that being assisted by so many vertues he should be withstood by so many vices had he durst have condemned the Diety he would have found fault with the workmanship thereof wavering between Religion and impiety he admires what he knows not he suspects what he cannot discover he guesses at what he cannot finde and amidst these doubts he confesseth that there is some hidden cause which hath produced these disorders what could a Phylosopher say more who had only been instructed â—n the School of Nature what could a man imagine who never having been enlighted by the beams of Faith was equally ignorant of Adams innocency and guilt if he be ignorant of the name of concupiscence doth not he acknowledge the nature thereof and if he know not the cause of originall sin hath he not observed the effects thereof Cicero who is no less a Phylosopher in his Academick discourses then Orator in his Orations complains that Nature is mans Stepdame that she hath bin negligent in the Master-piece of her workmanship and that as envying his happiness shee hath given him a body exposed to the injury of the Aire to the malice of Maladies and to the Insolencies of Fortune that shee hath lodged an unhappy soule over-born with pains abashed by fear faint in labour and unruly in her delights in so frail a body which hath made Saint Augustine confess that this great Phylosopher had the Cognizance of sin though he knew not its name and that he acknowledged the effects of a Cause which he could not discover Thus reason without faith seems to have found out originall sin And Phylosophy which makes Nature a Diety hath been enforced to accuse the disorderliness thereof and to impute unto her the faults whereof the first man was Author Seneca in whose person was united the pride of a Stoick and vain-glory of a Spaniard and who confesseth no weakness save such as he can neither excuse nor conceal after having pleaded in the behalf of Nature is obliged to forsake her he acknowledgeth in a thousand parts of his Writings that sin is naturall unto us and that Phylosophy is not sufficient to save us from a Monster which constitutes a part of ourselves I know that he varies in his opinions that Pride makes him revoke such Confessions as truth hath extorted from out of his mouth and pen that he complains that we live not as we were born that we do not preserve those advantages that Nature hath given us and that seduced by errour or corrupted by example We commmit errours which she detests but he quickly alters his minde and being prest by his own conscience hee avows that vertue is a stranger vice naturall to us hee confesseth that the first men were not more innocent then we save only in that they were more ignorant that they had not as yet opened the bowels of the earth to enrich themselves with her spoyls nor kill'd beasts to satisfie their appetites but that they even then had the principles of all these crimes in their souls and that there is great difference between a man who hath not the knowledge of evill and him who hath not a desire thereunto Had this Phylosopher read our Histories and had hee learnt from Moses what past in the beginning of the World he had plainly seen that vice comes not by degrees as doth vertue and that corrupted Nature is a Mistris good enough to teach us what is ill in giving us life Murther was Cain's Aprentisage and the Impieties which wee detest have dishonoured the first ages as well as they do ours since man was irregular he became capable of all vice and since hee lost Originall Justice hee is faln into all sort of disorders We polish sins we invent them not we commit them with more pompe not with more wickedness we only add ornament thereunto And in a word wee are not more faulty then our fore-fathers but more industrious In fine if it be lawfull to make use of Fables to strengthen Truth and to beat down lies by Poets who are the Authors thereof I see not a better draught of a man born in sin then that which is represented to us by the Tragoedian in his Thebais For Oedipus recounting the Story of his Misfortunes complains that his death preceded his birth that his sin preceded his reason that nature feared him before she had brought him into the world that by a strange prodigie he had committed sins before he knew what sin was that the Heavens whose decrees are so just had declared him criminall before he was indued with reason and that his father being a servant to divine justice had punisht him as soon as
such as would not be subjects to a Prince became his enemies Though we have as many proofes of the corruption of our nature as we have inclinations in our soule yet we must confesse there is none more strong then that which an extream desire to wage war doth furnish us withall for fury hath perswaded us that it was the most glorious employment that might be we hear Conquerors spoken of with respect we read their fights w th admiration we tearm their Injustice Heroick actions Eloquence cannot find out expressions noble enough to honour their Ambition Historians think themselves happy when they write a Prince his life who hath drowned the fields with humane bloud and who like thunder hath born down what ever withstood his violence We give the title of grand to those who have unpeopled the world we propound unto our Kings the example of such who have ruined their subjects to overcome their neighbours we foment their ambition by the praise we give usurpers we insensibly perswade them that Justice is but the vertue of private men and that Sovereigns who have no law but their will ought to seek for no other right or title than Violence There is nothing more horrible then war sin is the cause thereof and this wicked Father produceth nothing which more resembles him than this Monster Injustice and ambition are the officers which do guide it Fury and Cruelty the Serjeants which do accompany it and it's exployts are plunder murther violence and burning it carries terrour and dread into all parts where it comes changeth fields into desarts towns into solitary places and Kingdomes into Tyrannies it mingles childrens tears with their Fathers bloud bereaves women of their honour and their husbands of their Liberties raiseth it's Trophies upon the ruine of Cities or upon mounteins of dead men it grounds it's Triumphs upon the undoing of kingdoms and draws it's praises from the cries and complaints of Captives Yet sin obligeth us to value it and though we do experiment the rigour thereof we cannot chuse but approve of it's disorders We number the victories which we have wonne over our enemies we look upon the number of the dead and prisoners with delight the pillaging of towns and taking of places satisfies our vanity and as if passion had made us lose all humane resentments we never think that our victory is our brethrens undoing that our rejoycing draws tears from the eyes of Orphans and widows whose Fathers and husbands we have slain that hell is filled with souldiers whilest the world is unpeopled of Christians and that these advantages which make us insolent cost innocents their lives make free men prisoners and wealthie men miserable Those who see the disasters caused by war imagine the cause thereof ought to be very considerable and that Princes break not with their neighbours or allies uninforced by powerfull reasons yet are the motives thereof oft times ridiculous what causeth a suite at law between two private men begets a quarrell between two Princes what puts a division between two families puts a difference between two states and that which is the undoing of two parties who go to law together doth oft-times ruine two Nations which wage war together an apple was the chief cause of the burning of Troy the ravishing of Helen was but the occasion Poets who hide Truths underfables would have the famousest siege in all the world should be undertaken to revenge the Jealousie of two women and that the greatest Empire of Asia should be ruined to punish a shepheards judgment Ambition which delights in greatnesse hath no juster nor no more worthy motions Greece complained no longer of Persia when Alexander set upon her nothing can make this Conqueror carry fire and and sword into his neighbours country save a vain desire to reign and who should have asked him the motive of so unjust and rash a design must have found it to have been his vain glory The Commonwealth of Rome was at the height of her prosperity when Casâ— resolved to change her into a Monarchy Pompeys greatnesse served him onely for a pretence to execute his enterprize for though his sonne in laws exploits had caused no Jealousies in him and that he had not been incouraged to that design by the examples of Marius and Scilla his ambition was of it self sufficient to cause this desire in him his insolent mind could endure no equals his citizens if they will be his friends must be his slaves all whatsoever greatnesse must bow to him lest they cause his indignation and the people must receive a shamefull peace if they will not suffer a direfull war I am further of opinion that this Monster nurst up in butchery and bloud would have made enemies if he had found none that after having vext the Romanes he would have persecuted the Parthians and that passing from one Country to another he would have dispeopled all Kingdoms ruined all Kings The wars of our Ancestours have had no juster pretences those which our Histories ring most of have had but weak motives the jealousie of two Families have oft-times endangered the Kingdom two Favourites have oft-times used their Masters Militia to end their own differences hundred thousand men have interessed themselves in the fight not knowing the occasion thereof But certainly it must be confest if wars have small causes they produce strange effects and that those which we tearm civill exceed all others in cruelty for men make profession to violate all the laws of nature and as if every souldier were of his Generals humour he believes that his nearest kindred are his greatest enemies he dips his hands in his own bloud to assure his Captain of his fidelity his ambition makes him lose all sense of humanity he would think he should betray his duty if he spared his friends and esteem himselfe not worthy the name of a souldier if he could forget the names of father and mother He who sacrificed himselfe upon his brothers body whom he had heedlesly killed in the heat of the battell was yet but an Apprentice in war and more experienced than he would have presented his brothers head unto the Generall to have had some recompence for it Civill Wars stifle all the relations of nature those who fight in the same Kingdom under differing Ensignes have nothing of man but the face they cease to love or know one another after once they begin to fall a siding and when the heart of their Countrey is the Theater of their Battels their cruelty cannot be mitigated by any Alliance History or else Fiction tells us of two brothers whom their mothers tears was never able to reconcile they fought hand to hand in the head of their Armies to spare their souldiers bloud they through their own wounds poured forth their Fathers bloud death which they both received at the same moment could not appease their quarrell hatred appeared in their countenances when it
Evill p. 91 9 That the will to be able to doe good must be set free from the servitude of sin by the grace of Iesus Christ. p. 97 10 That evill habits bereave the will of her liberty by ingaging her in Evill p. 103 The third Treatise Of the corruption of the Vertues Discourse 1 APaneggrick of Morall Vertue p. 109 2 That Morall Vertue hath her faults p. 115 3 That vain glory is the soule of the Vertue of Infidels p 122 4 That the Vertue of Infidels cannot be true p 128 5 That Wisdome without Grace is blinde weak and malignant p. 134 6 That there is no true Temperance nor Iustice amongst the Pagans p. 140 7 That the Fortitude of the Pagans is but weaknes or vanity p. 149 8 That friendship without grace is alwayes interested p. 156 9 That the uncertainty and obscurity of Knowledge derives from siâ—ne p. â—65 10 That Eloquence is an enemy to Reason Truth and Religion p â—73 The fourth Treatise Of the corruption of Mans Body by sin Discourse 1 OF the Excellencies of Mans Body p. 182 2 Of the Miseries of the Body in generall p. 190 3 Of the Infidelity of the Senses p. 195 4 That the Passions are fickle or wilde p. 201 5 That the health of Man is prejudiced by sicknesse p. 207 6 〈◊〉 the Bodies beauty is become perishable and criminall p. 214 7 That the life of man is short and miserable p. 225 8 That Death is the punishment of sin p. 231 9 What advantages we may draw from Death by meanes of Grace p. 237 10 That Sleep is a punishment of sin as well as the Image of Death and that it bereaves us of Reason as Dreames doe of Rest. p. 243 The fifth Treatise Of the corruption of all exterior Goods called by the name of FORTUNE Discourse 1 THat we must feare what we desire and desire what we feare p. 249 2 That Honour is no longer the recâ—mpence of Vertue p. 255 3 That Greatnesse iâ— attended by Slaveâ—y and Vanity p. 261 4 That the Birth and Cruelty of Waâ—re derives from sin p. 270 5 That Riches render mâ—n poore and sinfull p. 278 6 That since the losse of Innocency poverty is glorious p. 284 7 That aparrell is a mark of sin p. 290 8 That the shame which 〈◊〉 Nakednesse is a punishment for our offence p. 296 9 That Buildâ—ngs are the work of necessity pleasure or vain glory 302 10 That the greatest part of our pasâ—mes are occasions of sin p. 3â— The sixth and last Treatise Of the Corruption of all Creatures Discourse 1 OF the beauty greatnesse and duration of the world p. 319 2 That all creatures have lost some of their perfections p. 328 3 That the Sunne hath lost much of his light and vertue through sin p. 335 4 That there is no creature which men have not adored p. 341 5 That all creatures do either tempt or persecute man p. 348 6 That it is more secure to sequester a mans self from the creatures than to make use of them p. 355 7 That Deluges and Earth-quakes are the punishments of the world become corrupted p. 361 8 That Thunder Plagues and Tempests are the effects of sin p. 368 9 That Monsters and poysons are the workmanship of sin p. 377 10 That God will consume the world corrupted by sin that he may make a new world p. Of the Corruption of Nature by SINNE The First Treatise Of Originall Sin and the Effects thereof The First Discourse That Faith acknowledgeth Originall Sin That Nature hath a feeling thereof and That Phylosophie suspects it THough mans misery witnesse his sin and that to believe he is guilty sufficeth to prove his misery yet is there no one Truth in Christian Religion more strongly withstood by prophanePhylosophers then is this shee cannot allow of a chastisement which punisheth the father in his children neither can shee conceive a sin which precedes our reason as well as our birth Shee appeals from so rigorous a decree and thinks to defend Gods cause in pleading ours Shee attributes all our disorders to our constitution she imputes our errours to our education and the greatest part of our irregularities to the bad employing of our time She opposeth experience by arguing and what ever misery shee makes tryall of shee will not acknowledge the cause shee thinks a man may herein defend himselfe by reason and that there being no sin which is naturall neither is there any which may not be amended by will alone shee makes use of the examples of Socrates Aristides and Cato shee opposeth these Sages to our Saints and pretends that the works of Nature yield not to those of Grace Briefly shee corrupteth the purity of our beliefe by the subtilty of her reasoning and whereas Christians ought to convert all Phylosophers some Christians are perverted by Phylosophers We confesse Originall sinne because we dare not deny it We avow that it hath bereft us of Grace but assure our selves that it hath left us an entire Liberty We confesse it hath robb'd us of our innocencie but maintain that we may recover our innocencie by the means of reason and that if we cannot merit heaven we may at least secure our selves from hell We admire the famous Actions of Infidels our eyes are dazl'd with the lustre they receive from the writings of Phylosophers we side at unawares with Nature against Grace and through an inconsiderate zeale We will have their delusive vertues rewarded with a true happinesse Yet notwithstanding to believe original sin is one of the prime Articles of our Faith if Adam were not guilty Jesus Christ was not necessary and if Humane nature be yet in her first purity it 's in vain that we seek a Saviour Hence it is that the great Apostle of the Gentiles doth so often in his Epistles oppose sin to grace servitude to freedome and Adam to Jesus Christ he is pleased to represent unto us the disorders of Nature to make us admire the effects of Grace and he glories in his Infirmities the more to heighthen the advantages of RedemptioÌ„ He teacheth us that we are conceived in sin and that at our first enterance into the world we are the objects of Gods wrath He shews us that Adams sin is shed abroad throughout mankind That his Malady is become a contagion and that all the Children that do descend from this unfortunate Father are Criminall and Miserable The Prophets agree with the Apostles and this truth is not much less Evident in the Old Testament then in the New The most patient most afflicted of al men coÌ„plaines of the misfortunes of his birth and makes such just imprecations against the moment wherin he was conceived as we may easily conceive he thought it not void of fault David confesseth he was conceived in sin and that though he were born in lawfull Matrimony his birth ceaseth not to be shamefully sinfull The Church confirmes this truth
purity suffered some change thereby to revenge the outrages done to God amidst somany disorders nothing so much afflicted man as his domestick evills he defended himself frō wild beasts by force he gain'd the rest by wiles he saved himself from the Injuries of the Aire by Cloaths and houses He by his labour overcame the sterility of the earth he opposed dikes to the fury of the sea and if he could not calme the waves thereof he found means to overcome her stormes and to triumph over her tempests he invented Arts to allay the miseries of his life after having fenced himself from necessity he sought out pleasure he would occasion his happinesse from his losse as it were thereby to upbraid Gods Justice he changed one part of his paines into pleasures but he could not reform the disorders neither of soul nor body for all he could doe he could find no salve for the sicknesse of his soul and though his haughtines made him hope for help from Phylosophy he could never reconcile himself either to God or himself After having lost the knowledge of the true God he framed Idols to himself weary of having adored the workmanship of his hands he adored the workmanship of his fancy after having offered Incense to all Creatures he became his own Idolater and forgetting the shame of his birth the miseries of his life and the rigour of death he would have Temples and Altars When his madnesse would allow of any intermissions he acknowledged the the danger of his disease and forct thereunto by pain and shame he sought for remedies but self-love wherwith he was blinded rendered all his cares uselesse through a capricheousnesse which cannot be conceived he cherished the evils which afflicted him and preserving the desires which he had in his Innocency he would find the accomplishment thereof in his guiltinesse he was perswaded that he should find in himself what he had lost in God and that assisted by a vain Phylosophy he should make himself fortunate in the midst of his misfortunes Nothing did more crosse his Cure then this insolent belief and nothing did more offend the Grace of Jesus Christ then his confiding in his own reason and Liberty God permitted him to lament a long time to the end that he might be sensible at leasure of his maladie and Divine goodness deferr'd his deliverance only to make him confesse his faultiness he in vain laboured all that he could before he would be brought to cōfess his misery he sought for help from Nature before he would implore ayd from Grace he sought out all the means he thought fitting to Cure himself of so vexatious a Malady and had it not been for despair he had never found out the way to health but when he saw that Conquerors for all their power could not deliver him that Phylosophers could not by all their reasons Comfort him and that Orators could not lessen his evills by their words he betooke himself to God and the misery he indured made him know that nothing but the hand that had hurt him could heal him The third Discourse Of what kinde the first Sinne which ADAM committed was THe two first sins of the World are the most unknown and Divines which agree in so many differing subjects have not as yet been able to agree in this They know that the Angels and man are become Criminall but they know not what the nature of their fault is They know that both of them have violated the laws of God and that over-weaning their own perfections they have not sufficiently prized the perfections of their Creator they very well know that neither of them have preserved their Innocency and that weaknesse which is inseparable from the Creature hath been the cause of their Fall but they know not what name to give to this sinne nor under what degree to rank this crime which hath caused so much Mischeife Some think that the offence Committed by the Angel was so Generall as in the extent thereof it includes all other offences that he flew from God by all the wayes it was possible for him to estrange himself from him that using the utmost ofhis power he grew guilty ofall the wickednesse which so enlightned a spirit was capable of whence it is that the holy Scriptures to teach us the truth thereof terms his fault somtimes Murther sometimes Adultery sometimes Rebellion though man be not so Active as the Angel and that his soul confined within his body be slower in her operations yet there have been some Divines who hath given the same Judgment of both their sins and who have perswaded themselves that Adam by one only offence became guilty of all sins that the law which was proposed unto him conteining in it an Abridgment of all Laws he could not violate it without violating all the rest that his disobedience under one only name Comprehended all sins and that by one only attempt he Committed Adultery by failing in his fidelity to God Theft by taking a fruit which did not belong unto him Sacrilege by abusing his wil which was cōsecrated to God Paracide by occasioning death unto his soul and unto the souls of all his Children Though this be a strange opinion yet the worthinesse of the Author makes me put a valuation upon it for it is S. Augustine yet in the rigour of reason it is hard to conceive that manssoul had so much of sight as that in one sole action it committed so many sins These sins which are imputed to man are rather the effects then parts of his disobedience and if I may be permitted to speak my sense after the Chiefe of all Divines I should conceive that S Augustines design was rather to satisfie his eloquence then the truth and that making use of a figure which is so frequent amongst Orators he would aggravate Adams sin to make us detest it Some others have been of opinion that Pride was the sin of the Angel and of man that these two Noble Creatures puft up with their own perfections aspired after Divinity and that vain glory which is alwayes accompanied by blindnes had perswaded them that being already immortall they might easily make themselves Gods But I cannot think that such a thought could fall into the mind either of the Angell or of man they were induced with too much knowledge not to know that the Creature cannot equall the Creator in Majestie that the degrees of their separation are infinite and that wishes are never made for things absolutely impossible how could that desire of making himself God ever enter into the imagination of an Angell Since Theologie confesseth that they could never suspect the Mystery of the Incarnation and that without being enlightned by Glory or by Faith they never could have thought that God could make himself man or man become God other Divines have therefore rather chosen to believe that the Mysterie of the Incarnation was the occasion of
mean expression of his truth and but a false beame of his beauty To know him perfectly we must raise our selves above his workmanship to conceive his greatnesse we must rather oppose it to the creature then cōpare it there with all but concupiscence is the Lively Image of sin we see all the Linaments of the father in the Daughters face and she doth nothing wherein a man may not discerne the motions of the father I know that all our punishments are the pictures of our sins and God would have our Chastizement to be the Image of our offences but to take it aright every punishment expresseth but one only quality of sin the Heat which accompanieth fears represents only it 's immoderate heat to us blindness discovers only it's Ignorance The palsie which takes from us the use of our members figures onely out unto us it 's incapabilty of doing good deafness declares only it's obstinacy unto us and death it self which is sins most rigorous punishment represents to us only the death of the soul and the losse of Grace But Concupiscence is a finisht picture which hath all the Colours and Linaments of sin she hath all its wicked Inclinations is Capable of all its Impressions accomplisheth all it's Designes and this unfortutunate Father can undertake nothing which his daughter is not ready to Execute But one only name not being sufficient to expresse all the wickednesse thereof the Fathers have been fain to invent divers names to decypher out unto us the different effects of a Cause which is as fruitfull as fatall Saint Augustine according to Saint Paul terms her the Law and Counsellor of sin Reason was mans Counsellor and in the state of innocency he undertooke nothing but by her advice when sin had weakned Reason and that the darknesse thereof had Clouded the the luster of it's Eternall light God gave him the written Law for a Counsellor and Ingraved those truths in Marble which he had formerly ingraven in his heart Great men formed no designe before they had Consulted with this visible Law and David with all his illuminations protests that the law of God was the best part of his Councell it was the morall Phylosophers wherin the learn'd vertue it was his Politicks and were he either to Conduct his subjects or to fight his enemies he learnt the knowledge both of peace and war in the mysteries of the Law but the sinner hath no other law then Concupiscence he is advised by one that is blind and unfaithfull he executes nothing without her orders he is brought to this extremity That his Counsellor is Pensioner to his Enemies Reasons self is a slave to this perfidious Officer she sees only through her eys and after having well debated a businesse she forsakes better advice to follow the pernicious Counsell of one that is blind who is absolutely the Devils Purchase and who holds Continuall Intelligence with sin When he is weary of perswading us he Chides us when we have received his advice he signifies his Commands unto us and having deceived us as a perfidious Counsellor he torments us as a merciless Tyrant Counsellours never work upon us but by their Reasons they never make use of violence to oblige us to receive their advice and they oftentimes foregoe their own opinions to receive ours if they think them better but Concupiscence is a furious Officer who makes use of Force when Perswasion will not prevail This Tyrant is more insuportable then those who formerly comanded in Greece whō the Orators of that Country have charg'd with so many just opprobries For these Enemies to mankind exercised their cruelty only upon the body and assubjected to their power only the leastpart of man Whosoever valued not theirown lives might make himself Master of theirs and who feared not death might deride their violence but this Tyrant whereof I speak exerciseth his fury upon the spirits he blots out the remembrance of all vertue from out his memory he darkens the understandingwith his mysts oppresseth the will by his violence and leaveth only a languishing liberty in the souls which he possesseth This Monster which had only the faces of men were not alwaies in the Company of their subjects their absence was a truce of servitude some private Closets were to be found where one might tast the sweet of liberty A man might meet with a freind before whom he might lay his heart open and though freindship had been banished from off the heart Compassion would have made it revive for his Consolation T was in these private Conferences that the death of Tyrants was Conspired the parties safety joyned to the desire of liberty caused the Conception of the designes and the desires of glory put it in execution But Concupiscence never parts from sinners this Tyrant keeps his Court in the midst of their wills he hath raised a throne in their hearts He finds so much of obedience and weaknesse in his slaves as he knows they cannot shake of the yoke of his Tyranny without forreign Ayd these publike plagues could not make themselves be beloved in their states though they left some shadows of Liberty they could not win their subjects Hearts there faults were always repaid with publike Hatred and the Necessity they had to make themselves feared was not the least punishment of their Injustice they grew weary of being the Horror of their people and if they could have made themselves be beloved they would have ceased making themselves feared but their subjects were so Incenst against them as to keep them in respect t was necessary to keep them in awe and since they could not purchase their love to resolve to merit their Hatred but though Concupiscence be the cruellest of all Tyrants yet hath she found the secret of making her self be beloved all her subjects reserues their Loyalty even in persecution they are pleased with the pains they undergoe Torments are not able to make them wish for liberty let them be neuer so ill dealt with all by their unjust Sovereign they never blame his cruelty And though they be the most unfortunate slaves of all the world they cease not to be the faithfullest lovers In fine to put an end to this discourse These Tyrants do not allways vex their subjects with angersome Commands all there decrees are not unjust their polluted mouthes have sometimes pronounced Oracles and the Graecian Phylosophers have registred their words who had bereft them of their liberty the Dionsii made laws which the Politicians reverenced their Ordinances were able to instruct legitimate Princes and they have uttered maximes which may serve us for instructions But all the commands made by Concupiscence are unjust all her orders are sin one cannot obey her without blame and to speak in Saint Augustines language a man cannot follow the motions of Concupiscence without contesting against the motions of grace nor can a man live at full liberty unlesse he
David murmured inwardly seeing the prosperity of sinners Iob complain'd that the good fortune of the wicked was so constant as it accompanied them even to death and Saint Augustine who seems to have sought into all the secrets of Divine justice confesseth that it is no lesse difficult to accord the Power of Grace with mans Liberty then Divine justice with the Prosperity of the wicked This is the scandall of silly souls the wicked mans despair and the rock whereon all those run ship wrack who are not soundly grounded in the Faith of Jesus Christ yet this great Doctor avoucheth two or three maximes which may pacifie the mind of man and which prove cleerly enough that there is no sinner who is not miserable To understand his Doctrine we must know that Punishment and reward go to the making up of one part of the worlds beauty and that as Vertue deserves some Pay sin likewise deserves some Punishment It would be unreasonable if the just man should not be recompenced and Irregular if the guilty should not be punished Divine justice is answerable to these two sorts of men and as the great Tertullian says she is no lesse obliged to Erect Heaven for the good then to make Hell for the wicked that Divine perfection which maintains the order of the world never overthrows this Vertue receiveth always her reward and vice is never exempt from Punishment they do not only follow but accompany one another and as the Epicurians did not believe that delight could be seperated from vertue Saint Augustine did not believe that Punishment could be parted from sin This effect is always found with it's cause and man can no sooner Commit an offence but he presently becomes sensible of the Punishment There is an Eternall law which will have good men happy and the wicked miserable it neither defers reward nor Punishment and without putting off the Punishment to Hell or the reward to Heaven it confers them both on earrh God hath made some laws which alters with the times though he be in himself always the same yet he accommodates himself somtimes to his handy-worke and oft times repeals the Decrees which he hath pronounced but the law which regards vertue and vice is immutable and the ugliness of an offence never goeth without the beauty of Punishment nor doth sin ever enter into a soul but it brings it's reward with it Though this maxime may appear strange yet hath it been approved of by prophane Phylosophy and Seneca acknowledged that man who had sinned could not keep unpunished that his Crime was his Torment and that without having recourse to the revengfull furies he bore about with him his hangman and his sin They therefore deceive themselves who believe that there be any guilty unpunished because they are honoured for though men through base flattery confound vice with vertue though they put a value upon what they ought to dis-esteeme though they raise Altars to those that merit the Gallows though the Heavens seem to favour their designs that Fortune fore-running their desires mounts them upon Thrones and put Crowns upon their Heads yet are they unhappy if wicked and amongst this imaginarie felicity which provokes our Envy they suffer Pains which would move our Compassion if they were as evident as true for if they should suffer no other Torment then to be upon ill Tearms with God are they not sufficiently Miserable and say they should undergo no other losse then that of his Grace should they not be rigorously enough punisht banisht People will admit of no Consolation because they are far distant from their Country though they enjoy their estate though they live under a Temperate Climate though they converse with fair conditioned men they think themselves unhappy in that they breath not the Air of their own Countrey Favourites will not out-live their Masters favours the Magnificence of their Palaces the number of their meniall servants the greatnesse of their offices cannot charme their sorrow they are pleased with nothing because their Prince is offended all their contentments cannot countervail the losse of his Favour and his wrath is a Punishment which all the reasons of Phylosophy cannot sweeten if experience teacheth us that banishment and losse of Favour are Punishments shall we doubt whether he that is not upon good Terms with God be upon bad terms with himselfe or no and can we think him happy who through his own default hath lost the well spring of true Happinesse the sinner then is miserable and if men esteeme them happy amongst so many sufferings It is for that they do not know wherein happinesse consists I looked upon the prosperity of the wicked saith Saint Augustine with indignation I could not tollerate that good luck should accompany them in their ways I could have wished that Divine Justice would have made an example of them and that it would have abased their Pride thereby to appease the murmuring of the Innocent but I did unjustly accuse Divine Providence for it never leaves sinners unpunished and if such as are blind think wicked men happy t is because they know not what happinesse is As mans wickednesse draws on Gods justice and as we conclude he is miserable because sinfull we ought also to argue that he is sinfull because miserable for God is not severe without reason our faults do always precede his Punishments and he took not upon him to be a revenger before we became faulty It is our offences that provoke his justice and he had never let his thunder have fallen on our heads if we had not neglected his Commandements T is one of Saint Augustines Arguments which convinceth the most opinioned and obligeth them to confess that since there is no Injustice in God man must needs be Criminall because miserable for God afflicteh nothing that is Innocent nor ruines not his workmanship without a cause he should injure his own goodnes should his justice punish a man that were not guilty Phylosophers agree in this truth the light of reason hath made us know that Punishment presupposeth sin the Ignorance of our Miseries hath perswaded them that man was punisht on earth for sins that he had committed in heaven that his body was his souls prison and that she was deteined there to expiate the faults which she only had committed Though these be not so pure truths but that they have an intermixture of Errour yet they teach us that sin precedes Punishment and that mans misery doth assuredly witness his offence For what likely-hood is there that Divine Providence would have condemned man to so much misery without a fault wherefore should the body rebell against the soul whereunto it is united Wherefore should man be composed of Parts which cannot agree and why should the workmanship of God be out of order were it not corrupred by the sin of man We must have offended this judge before he have condemned us
win Credit by their dangerous leaps memory amuseth her self in reteining things which have no coÌ„nexion and to repeat things in order which have no order in themselves and astonisheth simple people by these vanities which they term her Master-Pieces When all this is done that ancient Writer had reason to say that memory was only usefull to three sorts of people to those who did negotiate who to the end they may not be surprized are obliged to have always all their affairs present to those who speak much for it is memory that furnisheth them with acceptable things which serve for recreation to the Company and to those that use to lye for that to shan the shame which accompanieth that sin they must remember their falshoods on the contrary the default of memory may be of use to us and as wee profit by our losses wee may draw from thence three advantages The first is not to lye lest we be surprized in that sin The second not to speak much but to keep silence out of a happy necessity The third to love our enemies and to practise the excellentest vertue of Christianity by a noble forgetfulnesse of injuries The seventh Discourse That Conscience is neither a good Iudge nor faithfull witnesse since sin THose who pretend that nature is not corrupted by sin and that she remains still in her prrimitive purity have no better proof thereof then what conscience doth furnish them withall for conscience takes alwayes Gods part and never absolveth the guilty 〈◊〉 she is so just as that she condemns her self in her own cause no reasons can justifie us before her Tribunall and let us use what art we please it is impossible to make her approve of our Misdemeanors Phylosophers have also acknowledged that she was both our witnesse Judge and executioner and that such secret sins as are left unpunished by mans justice receive their whole payment from conscience she her self is worth a thousand witnesses Nothing can be hid from her eyes which are never shut she is an ever-waking Dragon and hath such qualities as will not suffer her either to be abased or surprized Witnesses that they may not be accepted against ought to have three conditions The first to be well informed therefore those who have seen are to be prefer'd before those that have heard for the eye is more certain then the eare The second that they speak truth and that they say nothing which they do not think The third that they be rationall and do so calm their passions that neither hatred nor love nor hope nor feare may ever make them disguise the truth Conscience hath all these three qualities for she is well instructed of the fact and nothing passeth in our hearts which she hath not perfect knowledge of she knoweth our most secret thoughts she seeâ—h the end of our intentions and not stopping at our words knoweth the secret motions of our souls It is easiy to cozen men who ground their judgments only upon the change of our countenances they are abused by dissimulation and he that can but counterfeit may easily cozen them but Conscience is our best Counsell nothing is done whereof she is not aware she assists in all our Resolutions and this Sun which never sets doth by her light dissipate all the darknesse of our hearts Hence it is that she is true in all her depositions for she speaks things as she sees them she cannot be deceived nor can she lye disguises are so contrary to her Nature as she ceaseth to be her self when she bâ—gins to feign Her Essence consists of Truth and though she may fall into errour the cannot fall into a lye In fine she is so rationall as she is not to be troubled or seduced by passion she is a derivative of that primitive reason which we adore in God a copy of that Divine Originall a beam of that Sun which is never Eclipsed and they are so streightly joyned together as Saint Augustine doth mix their lights and makes but one Deposition of the Testimony of God and of conscience How miserable are they who set at naught so faithfull a witnesse for what satisfaction can those men have who want the Peace of Conscience to what purpose doth Publique applause serve when secret approach gives it the lye what advantage can they pretend too from the peoples approbation if they condemn themselves And what Happiness can they enjoy if whilst others praise their false Vertues they be inforced to blame their reall sins This Faithfull witnesse is a severe Judge which can neither be bribed by presents nor frightned by threats and who being allwayes Innocent never spare the guilty All his decrees are just and though the guilty be his Allyes he forbears not to condemn them Whatsoever favour they may obtein from other Judges they can never be absolved by this and whilst their Mouth pleads for them their consciences condemns them And truly we ought to thank Divine Providence for having given us this uncorruptible Judge to keep sinners within the bounds of duty for there are faults which escape the rigour of the Law and which being unknown are unpunished there are sins which being glorious ones are rewarded there be some who being Authorized despise correction so as our condition had been very deplorable if Conscience had not tane the place of Laws and if she had not condemned that which men dare not blame nor cannot Punish In fine this Judge becomes an executioner and after having denounced judgment he himself doth execute it he believes that if it be glorious to condemn sin it s no dishonour to punish it whatsoever tends to the defence of vertue and pulling down of vice seems glorious unto him and the names of Judge and Executioner are equally honourable to him True it is that he useth not this rigour till he imploy'd his harmlesse cunning to frighten the faulty For Conscience is a bridle which holds men within their duty before sin but when once they began to despise her Counsell she became their Punishment and being no longer able to keep back sin she endeavours to punishit T is a revengefull fury which never suffers the wicked to rest in quiet she assails them in towns and in deserts she declares war unto them in the midst of their palaces where danger can get no entrance thither she sends fear into whatsoever Sanctuary sinners retire themselves she makes them feel the smart of their offences when they see any punishments they apprehend what they themselves have deserved as oft as they feel the earth-quake under their feet or the thunder roar above their heads they imagine justice is armed to punish them In fine all their sweets are mingled with some sowres they can take delight in nothing remorse of conscience troubles their contentments they tremble amidst their Armies they are afflicted in publick rejoycings they languish in their best health are poor amidst
consists in the difficulty which accompanieth her she would not be beautifull were she not difficult and seeing that humane mindes betake themselves onely to what is painfull she endeavours to heighten her desert by Labour she decks her self with thornes in stead of flowers covers her self with dust in stead of sweet powders drops sweat and bloud in stead of perfumes and promiseth such as court her nothing but disasters and ill luck she is lodged upon a hill which is smooth slippery and steep on all sides where a man cannot come at her without danger of falling into a precipice though she promise honour to such as love her she suffers them oft times to be confounded and judgeth onely of their love by misprising glory or pleasure Shee invites them by her discourse but endues them not with strength she perswades their understandings but doth not raise up their wills and like the Law of Moses she may well have some light but no heat This is the cause why her pertakers have faln into despair and after having a long time served this rigorous Mistris they have been forced to accuse her of ingratitude and to blame her cruelty but what could they hope for from an idol which being the workmanship of their mindes had no other perfections than what it had borrowed from their praises which was onely vigorous in their writings only beautiful in their Panegyricks and which was not generous save in their actions Thus had Cato recourse to despaire finding no relief in vertue and Brutus acknowledged when he died that she could not assist such as served her that she dazled mens eyes by a false light and that she was but a vain idol which forsook her followers at a pinch not being able to warrant them from the outrages of Fortune We may truly affirm there have been two sorts of idolaters in the world the one worshipped the workmanship of their own hands and by an Immense folly put their hope in images which they themselves were Authors off though they cannot understand them they serve them with respect though they cannot defend them they fly to them for protection and dread their anger The other adore the workmanship of their minds and form unto themselves Noble Ideas which they fall in love with the more beautifull the idols were the greater impression did they make upon their wils and the more eloquent they were in describing them the more superstitious were they in honouring of them This errour blinded all Philosophers vertue which is but a habit which we acquire that we may do Good was the only Divinity which these hood winckt people worshipped and not considering that there is nothing in the soul of man which merits a Supreme Honour they bore respect to the good inclinations thereof when they were governed by the rules of morality this superstition cost the Apostles much more pain than the superstition of the people they had more ado to convert Philosophers than Tyrants and experience taught them that reason was more opinionated than force Two ages were sufficient to overthrow all idols of brasse and marble and though their adorers used cruelty to defend them martyrs through their patience triumphed over them But all the Reign of Jesus Christ hath not sufficed to destroy the idols of the minde The Doctors of the Church have in their writings set upon them but have not been able to bear them down and there be yet some libertines amongst the Children of the Church that do adore them They are not so much attracted by the grace of the Son of God as by the vertue of the Pagans good Nature appears more considerable to them than godlinesse and they more esteem Seneca's or Aristotles morals than those of Saint Paul or of Saint Austine his disciple yet the Vertue which these Philosophers taught in their Schooles had her esteem heightened onely by reason of her difficulty and was admired by her partakers onely through a vain beauty which did dazle them But Christian vertue is at once both beautifull easie you need but love her to acquire her to possess her cost us nothing but desires and the Holy Ghost who sheds her in our souls endues us with strength to overcome the difficulties which accompany her therefore is it that vertue in Christians did oft times fore-run reason they were wise before the years of wisdom and the Agnesses who had Jesus Christ onely for their Master were vertuous before rationall Grace fupplyed their weaknesse torments excited their courage they were constant not having read the death of Socrates the life of their spouse made up all their morality and his maximes confirmed by his examples inspired them with more of Constancie than was requisit to triumph over the cruelty of Tyrants and to confound the vertue of Philosophers But truly I do not wonder that the vertue of Pagans was so weak since they were divided and that reason which did guide them could never reconcile them for though they be said to have one the same father and that they are so straitely united together that a man cannot possesse one of them without possessing all the rest yet experience teacheth us that they have differences which Philosophy hath not yet been able to terminate Though they conspire together to make a man happy they trouble his quiet by their division and make so cruel war one upon another as to have peace in his soul he is obliged to drive out one of the parties from thence Mercy and Justice cannot lodge together in one Heart their Interests are so different as they are not to be accorded A man must renounce mildnes if he will be severe and severity if he will be mercifull Morality hath not yet found out a secret to reconcile these two vertues nor to unite them together thereby to make an accomplish't Prince Wisdom and simplicity hold no better intelligence the one is always diffident that she may be secure she oft-times hastens her misfortune whilest she thinks to avoide it she had rather do ill than suffer ill and her humour is so given to guile as the best part of her being is made up of dissimulations simplicity walks in a clean other track for she findes her assurance in her goodnesse she fears no outrage because she beleeves no injustice she had rather be unfortunate than blamefull and she is of so good an inclination as she resolves rather to receive an injury than to do one If wisdom be not upon good termes with simplicity she is not upon much better terms with valour Nature must do a miracle to make them both meete in one Subject they require different tempers and the aversion is such as morality cannot accord them wise and cautious men are always fearfull and valiant men are alwayes rash wisdom is of a cold constitution and doth not ingage her self in any perill till she see a wicket whereby to get out Valour is hot and firie
resemble justice the one and the other of them will punish faults and if the former be not better regulated in the revenge which she takes for injuries 't is because she is blinde and that self-love whereby she is guided makes her commit excesse Sorrow and griefe are happy servants to repentance they mixt their tears together to bewaile one and the same sin and the contrition of a guilty person is the joynt work of nature and grace As to be faithfull a man must be rationall so to be penitent a man must be afflicted and God will have passion to conspire with reason in repentance to the end that the two parts whereof man is composed may satisfie justice In fine all the motions of the sensitive soule seem so addicted to good as some of them cannot forgoe it's party pitty is always praise-worthy and the compassion of anothers evill which she imprints in the heart is so just that the very Barbarians cannot condemne it the indignation which we conceive for the misery of the good and for the prosperity of the wicked is a naturall justice which hath not yet met with a censure rigid enough to blame it The shame which makes us blush at our advantages or our defaults doth look so like modesty as their Interests are inseparable she serves for an ornament to vertue and for an expiation to sin be it that her Father be infamous or her mother glorious the daughter is always equally honourable and if a man be too blame in having committed sin he is to be praised in witnessing his shame for having committed it But let Philosophers be as carefull as she pleaseth in praising of our passions they have lost their innocency since nature hath lost her purity The justest of them are irregular and those which seem to side with vertue are slaves to sin their first motions are out of our power let us take what care we can to reduce them to their duty they get on wing without our leave they are subjects to whom rebellion is naturall wilde beasts which are never tamed and faithlesse souldiers which fight oftner in the behalf of vice than of vertue The Saints think themselves happy when after much ado they can overcome one of these domestick Enemies their life is not long enough to assubject them totally and when they think to have overcome them they finde that like Anteus in the Fable they draw strength from their weaknesse and courage from their defeats there is no passion in man which doth not set upon some vertues oft-times they conspire together to fight against them They reconcile their own differences that they may ruine them and as the Elements use violence upon their qualities to preserve nature these force their inclinations to destroy her Their peace is more fatall to us than war we know not that whether they be more to be dreaded when they adopt themselves to our humours or when they oppose our desires The best of them the state considered wherein they are put by sin are almost always irregular the most innocent of them seem to be somwhat criminall and those which men mix with the vertues have always some affinity with vice the greatest part of their motions are violent unlesse they be reformed to grace and whatsoever advantage morality may promise unto her selfe by them she findes by her experience that it is never good sporting with a wilde beast though it appear never so tame Naturall pity is almost always unjust she considereth the pain but not the offence she would break open prison to let murtherers loose and guilty men cease to be odious to her if once they become miserable Indignation is not much more just than pity she complaines of the prosperity of the wicked and of the good mans adversity onely because she knows not that riches and honours are not the true rewards of vertue and that shame and poverty are not the true punishments of sin She is onely severe because she is blinde she would not condemne the secrets of Gods providence if she were conversant with the laws of justice and mercy Shame is alwayes mixt with sin if sin be not the cause thereof it is the occasion And of as many guilty people as seem shamefull there are but few which do not more fear the dishonour than the offence It is very hard in the condition whereunto sin hath reduced us for the passions to be serviceable to us without grace since nature is become our punishment they are become our executioners they serve for Ministers to Gods Justice to revenge his goodnesse upon our offences they must be subject to charity if we will reap any profit by them and if the greatest part of mens vertues be sins without faith the greatest part of their passions are disorders without grace they are not to be safely guided by morality without Religion their unrulinesse surpasseth her addresse and as there are certain storms which passe the Pilots skill there are revolts in man which exceed reason They say that Bees have some shadow of Policie in their Government they chuse a King whose wil they reverence they fight for his Glory and shew as much courage in War as industry in Peace They suck the juyce of flowers without tarnishing their Colours they rob Gardens without disaraying them and with the same sting wherewith they fight against their enemies they make their hives and gather their hony This handsome order endures no longer then doth their Kings life for as soon as he is dead they give over working betake themselves to parties conspire one against another having no King to keep them within their bounds they divide their state Whilest innocencie made reason rul'd in Man the passions were peaceable all their motions were regular anger committed no injustice all its Decrees were equitable and the measure of the offence was alwaies the rule of punishment hatred set onely upon sin and love betook himself wholly to vertue every passion plotted the publike good but since originall righteousnesse hath forsaken Reason and that man being but half himself hath ceased to be the perfect Image of God his passions have despised his Empire his Subjects have revolted and losing the respect which he ought to God he hath lost the authority which he had in his own person Profane Philosophy which saw the effects of a cause whereof she was ignorant sought for a remedie though without successe She laughed at those who would destroy the passions as knowing that they were naturall to men she invented some vertues to guide them forming unto her self a Continencie to moderate pleasures a fortitude to withstand sorrow a wisdom to regulate accidents and a Justice to decide the differentes between the Body and the Soul she thought to have quieted all their disorder and to have revived innocency in the world but when she saw how weak these vertues were despaire made her arm mutineeres
banks did not the hand of God prescibe limits to it's fury All the art of man hath not as yet been able to calme the fiercenesse thereof the most expert Pilots tremble as oft as it is incensed and knowing that no force can withstand it's rage they betake themselves to vowes to appease it The aire seems to hold intelligence with it to make war upon us it gives free scope to the North windes which march furiously through her Champians and bring tempests and shipwracks with them After having revenged themselves on men at sea they set upon them on land and sowing cotagions in Countries they change the best peopled Cities into dreadfull Desarts thus the purest of all Elements assumes impurity mens bodies are infected by the corruption thereof it poysoneth whatsoever it doth penetrate and the lungs which draw it in corrupt the heart and brain The fire being much more active then the air commits more havock if it's consuming flames be not universall as are contagions their fury is more suddain and the evils caused thereby find lesse remedie It mixeth with Thunder to punish us it descends contrary to it's nature to pursue us it flashes out in lightening to affrighten us and changeth it self into a thousand severall shapes to undo us It shuts it self up in the bowels of the earth that it may break forth with the greater violence it strives not so much within this prison to recover it's liberty as to punish our offences it makes it's way through the tops of mountains and shoures down Sulphur and Flames upon the plains from off those high places It seems it knows very well that divine Justice hath chose it to be the Minister of her vengeance and that the spoyles it commits on earth serve onely to shew us what Rigour it will inflict upon the Guilty in Hell Thus all things are changed in the world the Elements have neither the same use nor the same inclinations that which was serviceable to man in innocency persecutes him being become guilty Whole Nature is a scaffold where the Creatures act the part of executioners and revenge themselves on man for the injuries he hath done them For to boot that they are forced to share in his faults they know very well that they are fallen from their first nobility that they have not all those advantages which they had in the state of innocency and that they have lost some of their naturall qualities The Sun gives not so much light as he did before the sin of Adam his influences are neither so pure nor yet so puissant he who did dispense nothing but heat and light wonders to see himself send forth sicknesses and death The Stars have no longer those favourable aspects which made fruits and flowers to grow in all seasons of the year their efficacy is weakened and the vigour which appeared in all their effects now languisheth But the earth being a neerer neighbour to man then the Heavens it is more changed all the parts thereof are barren if they be not manured the curse which it received by reason of our sin hath made it lose it's fruitfulnesse it is all brisled with thorns or covered with Thistles it refuseth to feed it's children since they are become sinfull and by an innocent parricide it attempts their lives who have lost originall righteousnesse The fruits which it bears proceed rather from our industry then it 's fertility if it assist us at our need 't is with an ill will and it 's being bound to serve the sinful is a part of it's misery if this be not true I know what that great Apostle mean't when by an admirable Prosopopeia he makes whole Nature to speak and groan when affording words unto her sorrow he makes her wish our change and her deliverance for when he says the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the Sons of God doth he not witnesse that they hope for some advantage by our felicity and when he says that the creature was made subject to vanity not willingly doth he not insinuate that they are corrupted by sin when he adds that the creature it self shall also be delivered from the bondage of corruption doth he not make it evident that Jesus Christ will satisfie their desires and that he will restore unto them what we have unjustly bereft them off I am not ignorant that some Interpreters not sufficiently weighing the intention nor words of Saint Paul do wrest this text and understand it to be meant of man but the Apostles ensuing discourse makes it appear that he speaks of all creatures and that the corruption which they complain of is not that which they have received from nature but that which they have attracted from our sin The corn cannot complain of it's putrifaction because it is the cause of it's increase but it hath some reason to complain that it's vigour is diminished and that abusing the Labourers hope it doth not repay his pains with usury The earth doth not complain of it's being placed in the nethermost story of the earth that it serves for basis to all the other elements but it complains with reason that it hath lost it's fertility and that it is adjudg'd to bring up thorns in stead of roses The Air complains not of being subject to these changes which make up a part of it's nature but it complains and that justly that for the punishment of our offence it hath lost it's purity that it is the seat of storms the abode of thunder and that fatall place wherein Famine and Contagions are formed and to passe from the elements into the heavens The Sun doth not complain of his being in a perpetuall motion that he carries light to all the parts of the world and that he doth differently disperse his heat throughout all the climates of the earth but he hath cause to complain that he hath lost his former Lustre that his influences are mortall that his aspects are maligne and that his presence wherein mans happinesse did consist doth now cause fears and sicknesses in him To this misfortune from whence the creatures just complaints proceed we may adde the Devils Tyranny which doth torment them for after once this proud Fiend had overcome our first father he enter'd upon his rights he got a power over the elements and he had permission to make use of them to solicit men to sin from hence proceeds that Praise worthy custome of the faithfull of blessing the fruits of the earth to free them from the fury of wicked spirits and hence doth the use of exorcisme proceed which makes it appear that all creatures are slaves to those who have been our undoing But it is harder to explain this corruption then to prove it and the manner how it is made is as hard to conceive as anger some to tolerate Yet me thinks a man may say that divine Justice hath changed the
consume the World corrupted by Sinne that he may make a new World THough Sinne hath wrought such havock in man as it hath brought darknesse into his understanding and malice into his will that it hath effaced out of his soul those inclinations which she had to vertue and that corrupting his nature it seems to have destroyed Gods goodliest workmanship yet do some glimmerings of light remain in the bottome of his soul which sin could never darken Idolatry which hath so long raigned in the world hath not been able to blot out the belief of the unity of God the Pagans have preserved this opinion amidst the worship of their Idols words have escaped from them which have given their actions the lie and when they followed the meer motions of Nature they spake the same language as christians do Though Poets made Hell to passe for a fable and that their pleasing fictions made a prison be despised whence Orpheus had escaped by musick and Pyrithous by force the people ceased not to apprehend eternall pains after death they had already cognizance of Devils under the name of revengfull furies they knew that the fire wherewith the sinfull were burnt could not be quenched that it was preserved without nourishment and as serviceable to the power of God it had operation upon the soul. Though the Devil to introduce licentiousnesse amongst men made them hope for impunity for their faults and that r Minos and Rhadamantus had not credit enough to terrifie Monarchs Nature more powerfull then fiction had imprinted in all men an apprehension of an universall Judgment there was no guilty person who did not fear it nor none miserable who did not hope it every one in the belief of this truth found either punishment for his fault or consolation in his misery when the oppressed innocents could not defend themselves against their Enemies they implored aid from that rigorous Judge which punisheth all sins and rewardeth all vertues In fine though the earths solidity might have made men confident though the water which doth inviron it might have freed them from the fear of a generall consuming by fire though so great a disaster had no certain proofs nor assured predictions yet they believed that the world should be consumed by fire that the seas should not be able to extinguish the flames thereof and that nature which had been cleansed by water should be purified by fire but they knew not the cause of this prodigie and the vanity wherewith they were blinded would not permit them to believe that this disorder should be the punishment of their sin yet the holy Scripture gives no other reason for it nor did it threaten us with the worlds ruine till it had acquainted us with the story of our misfortune As Adam had never lost his life had he never lost his innocency the world had never lost its adornment had it not lost it's purity As death is the punishment of sinfull man water and fire are the punishments of the corrupted world for though insensible creatures commit no sins and that guiltinesse presupposeth rationality yet do they contract some impurity by our offences the Sun is sullied by giving light unto the sinfull the light which shines as bright upon a dirty puddle as upon the cleerest river and which is not more undefiled in Chrystall then in mire is endamaged by our sins and ceaseth to be innocent when it gives light unto the guilty the air is infected by our blasphemies the earth cannot be the Theater of our vanity without sharing in our offences whatsoever is serviceable to our misdemeanors is polluted though the creatures are scandalized to see themselves inthral'd to our insolency yet do they incurre heavens displeasure and deserve punishment for having been imployed in our offences hence doth the sterility of the earth proceed hence was occasioned that deluge which did bury it in it's waters and from hence shall arise that universall fire which shall consume it in it's flames For Divine Justice seems to deal with sinners as humane Justice deals with the greatest offenders the latter is not contented to punish the guilty party in his own person but vents it's anger upon his Children and servants it believeth that whatsoever toucheth him is defiled that those who converse with him are either his Copartners or confederates and that to be allied to him is sufficient to share in his sin it mingleth the bloud of the children with that of the father it wraps up the innocent and the guilty in the same punishment and to make the fault appear more odious it punisheth whatsoever doth appertain unto the offender it spareth not even unsensible things it sets upon the dead after having punisht the living for it puls down the houses and demolisheth the castles of the enemy it makes rocks and Marble feel it's anger burns what it cannot throw down and as if the party offending did live in every thing that was his it thinks to kill him as oft as it beats down his buildings or cuts down his forrests it endevours to rob him of his reputation after it hath bereft him of his life and not to leave any token that may renew the memory of his person or of his crime Thus doth Divine Justice deal with sinfull man and Adam must confesse that heaven hath used this rigour in punishing his sin For after having past the sentence of death upon him it will have his grave to serve him for a funerall pile that time consume what the flames could not devour and that nothing remain of that body which was the prime piece of it's workmanship then either worms or dust it condemns all that come of him to the same punishment their whole guilt consists in their birth it is enough to make them guilty that Adam was their father God waits not till they have broken his Commandements to punish them he forestals the use of their reason and makes them miserable before their time to the end that they may be known to be guilty before they be born by an ingenious yet just rigour after having punisht this father in his children he punisheth him in his estate he makes his subjects revolt and because they are somtimes serviceable to him in their rebellion he bereaves them of their excellentest qualities and makes them together with their miserable Sovereign unfortunate he takes from the Sunne part of his light he takes the Government of Nature from the Stars he makes the earth barren and moveable he hides rocks in the sea and troubles the calm thereof by storms he formes maligne rain in the middle region of the air and corrupts the purity thereof to infect the whole earth he makes use of fire in Thunder and ordains it to punish offenders he inforceth this noble Element to descend contrary to it's inclination and fastning it to the matter which serves for nourishment to his anger he makes it the