figure a great Master whom I know of necessitie to be endowed with a most stable science and a most excellent will And for this cause I conclude be cannot be ignorant of the things be hath produced seeing this ignorance falleth not even upon beasts most stupid and I say that he knowing them governeth them without pain Omnipotent though he be there being no greatness nor multitude of burdens which can weaken the forces and vigour of this infinite Spirit As there is not any thing too great for his capacity so is there nothing too little for his bounty Nothing escapeth his Paternal Providence nor doth he think it a matter unworthy of his care to govern a butter-flie since he esteemed it a thing consonant to his bounty to create a butter-flie Now for us to think that he knowing able and willing to govern the world is diverted from it through pleasures and contentments he taketh for his own delights is a most gross imagination for why should we attribute to God apprehensions and assertions which we would be ashamed to give to men if they made not profession to be of the number of the altogether idle Behold how this singular wit discourseth and verily it is to be wholly ignorant of God to have any conceit of him less than infinite Independent Sovereigntie cannot admit a companion and the inexhaustible force of a Creatour who made all sufficeth to govern all An Angel cost him no more in the making than a silk-worm and a silk-wom cost him no less to produce it than an Angel Why do you not judge that which is to be made by it which is already made When you entered into the world the Divine Providence as a harbinger prepared your lodging for you it was not in your power to make your self then either rich or poor Master or servant King or subject your affairs were dispatched and your counsel not asked God also in silence draweth out the web of your life if you desire to be happy you have nothing to do but to contribute your free-will to his work But if you have set up your rest to become a Politician contrary to the decrees of Providence and to bend the byass to your pretended interests is it not to do the same thing which a frog should if she sought to swim against the current of Rhodanus or Danubius Would not it be as ridiculous as if a flie should seek to soar up to heaven and fix her little feet to stay the course of the Primum Mobile You say I press you and if you Against the ancient saying touched by Tertullian Non licet Deos nosse gratis Diogen Laer. lib. 4. can prosper well in the affairs of the world by these ways of piety and honesty which are ever annexed to a firm belief of a divine Providence you would rather take this same than any other To it I answer that which Laertius speaketh of the Philosopher Byon who having before been an atheâ—st afterward by chance disposing himself to invoke the false gods became most superstitious in their service under hope of some temporal commodities which he thought to gain O Aug. Enar. 2. in Psal 25. Dicis Deo Haec est justitia tua ut mali floreant boni laborent Deus tibi respondet Haec est fides tua Hoccine tibi promisi ad hoc Christianus factus es ut in spculo storâ—res great fool saith this Authour who could not propose gods to himself unless he made them mercenary and would needs have the belief of a Divinitie depend on the successes of his person and house God saith S. dugustine engageth not his promise to make us happy according to the world so soon as we become honest men If you say unto him O God where is your justice to suffer the wicked so to flourish good men to be afflicted He will answer Where is your faith where is that promise I have made you Have you made your self a Christian to be happy in the world This were to make a virtue beggerly wanton and interessed which must ever be payed with prosperities we may well say it resigned it self to God for good morsels and not for honesty It is much to be feared lest the pleasures of the present may make it loose the tast of the recompence promised in Heaven as it is said the dogs which hunted among the flowers of Mount Gibel lost heretofore the tracks of the hare If following good Policie we should be unhappy towards the world we might ever comfort the captivity of our body by the liberty of our mind and guild our chains of glory with our virtues We should enter into the community of great spirits who have done all good to endure all evil we should much more rejoyce to be in the bottom of the prison with S. Paul than in the heaven on earth which Cosroes the Persian King caused to be built But God is not so harsh to a good conscience that he desireth to hold it still in the incommodities of present life but much otherwise if you will well discourse there will be found an infinite number of good Princes excellent Magistrates and all sorts of persons qualified who pursuing the way of honesty have been most prosperous in the mannage of affairs And if you consider your Politicians who make profession to refine all the world either you have seen but the first station of their plaistered felicity or have ever found great labyrinths horrible confusions fortunes little lasting dejection in their posterity hatred and the execration of Ages I think I have fully illustrated these truths in the histories which I have written of Herod Theodosius Maximus Eugenius Constantine Dioclesian Constans Jalian and divers others And if you yet desire to behold with a ready eye how there is no policie powerfull against God and how he surprizeth the most subtile making snares of their greatest cunning to captive them behold Joseph sold by his wicked brothers for fear he should be honoured and yet see him honoured because he was sold Behold Haman who practised the ruin of the Hebrews to raise himself and see him raised on a gibbet of fifty cubits high to humble him Behold Jonas who would also be a Politician contrary to the counsels of his Master yet tempests pursued him the lot served him for an arrest the sea for a Mistress of constancy the belly of a Whale which should be his sepulcher for a Palace He came to the haven by ship-wrack much more safe in the entrails of a fish than in a ship Behold Pharaoh who becomes crafty and thinketh by ruinating the Israelites his Scepter is throughly established God surprizeth him in subtility and makes him know the oppression of this poor people is the instrument of his ruin A little child which lieth floating on the waters of Nilus in a cradle of bulrushes as a worm hidden in straw and whose afflicted mother measureth his
instructions to those that are in office and government whereof in part I present you here with the quintessence and marrow desiring you to tast of it He gives his Seraphin six wings The first is Zeal of Gods honour which you shall exercise in observing four things that is 1. Neither to do nor shew to those under you the least shadow of evil or sin 2. Not to give way to it in any kind notwithstanding allurements on one side and importunities on the other 3. Never to be pleased that an evil act be done though without your knowledge for that were to betray your own conscience 4. To correct and take away disorders as much as possibly you can The second wing which you must have is The spirit of compassion to help the sick the aged the weak the faint-hearted the afflicted for these are poor Porcupines laden with prickles and a cerbities to whom you must be a Sanctuary and Rock of refuge Petra refugium Herinaceis The third Patience in the many labours and cares as are in a manner inseparable from offices and governments Patience in ill success of business which doth not always answer our endeavours and wishes Patience in bearing with the ungratefull who often throw stones at those that give them honey like the Atlantes who shot arrows at the Sun Patience in occasions of speech and dealing with such as easily take distast and are galled with their own harness It is a great virtue to soften them with a peacefull still and charitable sweetness as if we cast oyl into the raging sea It was said long since He that can bear an injury is worthy an Empire His very silence will disarm the passionate man and lay him prostrate at his feet who seemed to thunder over his head The Fourth wing is Example which is observed in three things 1. In putting in practice the good counsel and precepts which we give others 2. In managing your dignity in such a way as is neither harsh imperious nor arrogant but mild affable and communicative 3. In retaining withall a decent and moderate gravity that the stamp which God sets on those he calleth to offices and commands may not be debased The Fifth and principal Wing is called Discretion without which all virtues become vices For the honour of great actions lies not so much in doing good as in doing well This Discretion consisteth in four things To govern the good with good judgement To correct the bad To administer well the temporal affairs of your charge To uphold and preserve your self amidst these encumbrances like fresh water in the salt sea The ordering of good is maintained in Three principal Acts. The first to cause those under us to observe strictly such things as are necessary and cannot be omitted without disorder or scandal The second To invite and sweetly attract every one according to his condition capacity and judgement to works of most perfection whereunto they have no formal obligation The third To dispose charges and burthens with a good Oeconomy according to their inclinations and strength of mind whom you are to govern For correction Either they are sleight faults of well conditioned persons which you are to correct such are to be handled very gently Or they are hidden vices of some evil conscience which you neither must nor can make known and there you must use much industry patience and wisdom to dislodge vice and to draw the crooked serpent out of his cave obstetricante manu as the Scripture speaketh Job 26. 23. Or they are known sins of desperate people who offend without hope of amendment infecting a multitude and here you must set your self with all your strength to take away both the fault and the faulty For temporal affairs manage them as we have already shewed and take heed of entangling your mind in them like a fish in a net depriving your self of the liberty of Gods children to serve the earth But above all continually look into your self as the first piece of your government Let your conscience be pure firm and peaceable speaking and doing every thing with much consideration and never despising the counsel of those who are able to advise you Lastly your sixth wing is Devotion which is divided into three kinds the common the singular the continual The common consisteth in performing exactly those duties of piety which are within the bounds of your profession and to do them by way of imitation of that celestial Militia which is always employed in praising God and by way of edification of those to whom you ow this good example Singular devotion obligeth you to seek your principal refuge in the tabernacle following Moses steps for the necessities of your charge Continual devotion ties you to a most fervent exercise of Gods presence which you testifie by a desire to please him in all places occasions and actions by dedicating all your works to him before you begin them and when you end them always to set upon them the seal of thanksgiving due to his Divine Majesty Engrave deeply in your heart this saying of S. Bernard in his first book of Consideration Chap. 5. Cum omnes te habeant esto etiam tu ex habentibus unus Quid solus fraudaris munere tui Usquequò vadens spiritus non rediens If you are one full of business and that all the world share in you take a part as well as others in your self Deprive not your self of a good so justly yours and be not one of those that are ever travelling yet never return home THE FOURTH PART OF THE CHRISTIAN DIARY The first SECTION RECREATION how necessary AS concerning Recreation used in company at meals in lawfull games in taking the air in good conversation it is necessary to divert the mind and refresh the strength Cassian in his 24. Collation chap. 21. relates how an Archer finding S. John the Evangelist playing with a Partridge wondered that so renowned a man could pass the time with so slight a recreation The Saint looking towards the bow in his hand asked him why he did not always carry it bent who answering it would spoil it the Apostle replied so it is with the mind of man which must sometimes be unbent that it may shoot the better The second SECTION Of the Pleasures of the Taste MArk that our minds must onely be unbent not unstrung Avoid those excesses which make men now adays as gluttonous in the eye as the belly It is a strange vanity to affect the repute of a good taste to set the whole mind to serve that part of the body which hath least of the mind and to nourish an esteem which is fed onely with the steam of the kitchin Treat not your belly as Caligula did his horse for he allow'd a Beast for whom nature intended nothing but oats and hay Princely delicacies and attendance And you do the like if you bestow so much cost and pains to feed your most
much onely as would load two mules to build an Altar to the true God with holy ground and not profaned by Idolatry expressing by this request that he desired to worship the true God in spirit and in truth though he received not Circumcision nor the other Ceremonies of the Jews He aded to his former suit the permission to accompany his master to the Temple of the Idols through a pure civility without rendring any inward adoration to the Gods of Syria which the Prophet granted him and sent him away in peace all full of blessing But Gehazi Elisha's servant was like to spoil all by a wicked cozenage for he ran after Naaman who seeing him come alighted out of his chariot and received him with much honour asking what he desired of him The other feigned that two children of the Prophets were come to see his master and that he desired to gratifie them with a talent of silver and to give to each of them a change of raiment Naaman thought himself obliged by this request and instead of one talent gave him two with two handsome suits of clothes causing all of it to be carried by two of his servants by reason that a talent of silver was a good load for one man Gehazi thought that he had succeeded bravely in his cheat but when he presented himself to his master he told him that he had been present in spirit at all that had passed and that he was not ignorant that he had at present silver from Naaman enough to become a great Lord and to buy lands and servants but for punishment of his crime the leprosie of Naaman should stay on him and should passe as an inheritance to all his race and at that instant he was stricken with the leprosie and retired himself leaving an horrible example to all those that betray their conscience to satiate their covetousnesse It happens that these bad servants extremely black the reputation of their masters that have not alwayes their eyes on their shouldiers as Elisha had to see that which passes behind them but when they imagine that they live very innocently and that they discharge their consciences in their charges one may find that a crafty wife or a corrupted Committee sell them by a thousand practices and devour the marrow and the bloud of men under the favour of their name Sigismond the Emperour made one of his officers named Pithon that had betrayed his affairs through covetousnesse of money drink up a glasse of melted gold 'T was but a bad potion but sutable for the chastisement of an overflowing avarice that hath no longer eyes for heaven having already given all her heart to the earth It is credible that Naaman was advertised of the untrustinesse of Gehazi and that this nothing blemished the high reputation of Elisha that was spread through all Syria After the cure of this Naaman Benhadad that was his Master and his King fell into a mortall sicknesse and when he had learnt that the Prophet Elisha was come as farre as his city of Damascus he dispatched Hazael one of the prime men of his Kingdome with fourty camels laden with great riches to consult with him about the hope that he might have of his recovery and to desire his help The Prophet was not like Hyppocrates that would cure none but Greeks and refused to go into Persia though he was invited thither by letters and by the offers of that great and magnificent King Artaxerxes But quite contrary the man of God thought that one ought not to limit the gifts of heaven and that he that opens the treasures of nature to all the Nations of the earth would not have one detain the marks of his power without communicating them to those that bear in any fashion his Image He cleansed the leprosie of Naaman but yet for all that cured not Benhadad because it was a decree of Providence that he should die of that sicknesse The Scripture tells us not expresly what became of those great presents but it leaves us to think that Elisha refused them as he had done those of Naaman and did nothing that belyed his generosity Although one may also believe that he accepted them as well to diminish the levies of the enemies of his people as to spread them amongst the poor of his own countrey He spake onely to this Hazael the Kings Embassadours a very short speech which was that he should die of that sicknesse and should never rise out of his bed again and yet in appearance he commands him to tell him that he should escape it and recover again his health Which causes here a question to arise thorny enough touching the permission of a lie and which hath made Cassian and other antient Divines say that there are some profitable lies which one ought to make use of as one uses serpents to make treacle But this opinion is no way followed but is found condemned by S. Augustine and the most renowned Doctours So that when Elisha said to Prince Hazael touching his King He shall die but tell him he shall escape we ought to take it as a command that authorizes a lie but as a prophecy of that which should be done For the Prophet foresaw these two things with one and the same sight both that Benhadad should die and that Hazael to flatter him should promise him health and life And therefore he addes Tell him that he shall escape which in a Prophets terms is as much as a future and means that although I declare to you his death yet I know you well and am certain that according to your politick Maxims you will not fail to promise him a cure It is just as God commaaded the evil spirit to lie and to deceive Ahab foretelling what he would do and not commanding that which ought not to be done according to the laws of a good conscience As Elisha was foretelling of that Kings death he felt an extasie of spirit and changed countenance notably and began to weep whereat Hazael was much astonished and had a curiosity to know the reason of a change so sudden But the Prophet continuing in the trans-ports of his spirit said unto him I weep and I sigh bitterly for I know the evils that thou wilt make my poor people one day suffer Thou wilt burn down the fair cities thou wilt make the young men passe by the edge of the sword thou wilt dash out the brains of the little infants thou wilt inhumanely rip up women great with child thou wilt sack my dear countrey for which I now pour out my tears by way of advance The Embassadour was amazed at a discourse so strange and said Why What am I should do all these outrages God forbid that I should ever ever proceed so farre I have in all this no more belief then hath my dog But Elisha insisting told him I know by divine Revelation that thou shalt be King of Syria and that which I
are employed to figure chymeras and monsters in their own sensual wills What oyl burneth and incense smoketh before the devils altar when Abuse of an idolatrous spirit Si quis Christianus â—leâ—m â—ulerit ad Sacra gentilium vel Synagogam Judâ—â—rum festiâ— ipsorum diâ—bus aut lucerâ—â— accenderit de societate pellatur Canon Apost 70. Hel of science so many talents so many perfections are unprofitably wasted in vice and vanity In the mean time the 70. Canon of the Apostles excommunicateth those who onely bear oyl to the Jews Synagogue or the Paynims Temples And in what account shall we hold the Christians who make a perpetual sacrifice of all the faculties of their souls to the corrupt vices and follies of the world Wise men affirm that beside the fire which shall devour the bodies and souls of the damned for ever there is a hell of science and conscience which shall particularly torment those who have been endowed with a generous spirit and have ill employed it When Adam opened his eyes to see his nakedness his spirit and knowledge served him for a keen knife to transfix his soul his ignorance in that kind was a great part of his felicitie What disastrous misery shall then befal those unhappy spirits of the damned when they shall know their abilities all the good things they might have done and all the ill they have done Although all the flames and tortures should surcease they would find their hell in the eye of their own knowledge and in their own understanding No eye to a man is more troublesom than Bern. l. 3. de consider Nullus â—â—lestior oculus enique suo non est aspectus quem tenebresa conscientia suffâ—gere magis volit minus possit his own It is that which the cloudie conscience desireth most to avoid and can least do it saith S. Bernard speaking of the eye Ponder hereon O Noblemen whether this motive meriteth not to be seriously considered Hell vomiteth up brave spirits who after they have served for instruments of vice are now become the food of flames Augment not the number The knowledge of God of ones self and the studie of virtue is a fair employment of a Noble spirit wherein man cannot be too seriously busied nor more fruitfully The seventh REASON Proceeding from Courage OF all these reasons before alledged which serve as a spur to the Nobilitie seriously to imbrace perfection I see not any comparable to Courage which is a force of spirit consisting in two principal points as Aristotle and S. Thomas Aristot 3. Eth. 22. q. 125 observe to wit to undertake and suffer great things with judgement and by the excitement of honesty This courage among all the excellencies of the spirit Courage compared to the river Tygris by S. Ambrose Ambros in haec verba Gen. 2. Nomen fluminis tertii Tygris Quodam cursis rapido resistentia quaequâ— transverberat noque aliquibus cursus ejus impedimentorum harâ—â— obstaculis Greatness of Courage is powerful elate stirring and astonishing and very well S. Ambrose compareth it to the river Tygris which among all streams hath its current most swift and violent so as with an unresistable impetuositie it combatteth and surmounteth all obstacles opposed against it Thus saith he Courage flieth through perils breaketh throngs and works it self a passage through a world of contrarieties This courage is an Eagle which confronteth storms a Lion which opposeth all violences a Diamond which never is broken a Rock which scorneth waves an Anvile which resisteth all the strokes of the hammer It is a thing which with admiration ravisheth heaven and earth to behold in the flesh of a frail and feeble man a spirit to make trial of all accidents which is amazed at nothing which surmounteth all difficulties and which would rather cast it self into the gates of hell with undoubted loss of bodie than into the least suspition of remisness This striketh the spirit with admiration and be it either in military actions or civil Courage is highly valued though success always answer not good enterprises and enemies most cruel are enforced to admire a valour and vigour of spirit that never bowed under an evil which it was not able to vanquish The Historie of Herodotus relateth that one called Herodot Suid. in voci Death of Callimachus Calimachus in the battel of Marathon being found by the Persians stuck all over with arrows like a hedge-hog standing boult upright amongst a heap of dead bodies as if he had been under-propped by the counterpoize of the same arrows they were so astonished with the dauntless valour of this dead man that they held himas immortal Never did Seneca Senec. de constantia sapiâ—nt so demonstratively shew the strength of his eloquence as in praising the courage of Cato This man saith he hath not opposed nor fought with savage beasts it is for hunters He hath not pursued monsters with fire and sword he lived not in an Age in which it was believed that a man supported Heaven with his shoulders Behold why he was not esteemed A notable praise of strength of Courage as a Hercules nor as an Atlas who notwithstanding fought with greater monsters than Hercules He carried another manner of burden than did the fabulous Atlas He alone combated against ambition a monster of many heads against the vices of a degenerate Citie and which daily like an old house was sinking with the excess of weight This incomparable Stâ—â—iâ— sâ—lus â—â—dentem Râ—â—publicam quaÌ„tum modo una retrahi manu poterat retinuit donec vel abreptus vel abstractus comitem se ruinâ— diâ— sustentatâ— dedit A singular commendation of Cato man supported the Roman Common-wealth as long as he could yea even when it fell into the abyss of a thousand lamentable confusions he yet held it up with a hand prompt always upon the brink of the precipice and not being able longer to under-prop it over-born as he was by the violence of mischiefs he chose his tomb in the sepulchre of his Countrey What greatness what Majesty Undoubtedly courage hath so much lustre and glitter that obstinacy it self which is a vice in all things else very hard and rude being clothed with the mantle of courage findeth much reputation amongst men Now this generositie of which we speak is a faithful and an inseparable companion of true Nobilitie All great men ordinarily have a courage A lance graven on the skin Dion Chrys Orat. 4. very high and even as certain brave Lacedemonians were born from their mothers womb with a lance pourtrayed and characterized upon their skin so all Noblemen seem to bring magnanimitie into the world from the day of their birth This might be a marvellous motive to lead them in a straight and direct line to great and valiant actions were it not that the evil spirit instantly spreadeth a film over their eyes and makes them feel impressions of meer sluggishness
of our impatience the guardian of temperance the seal of virginitie the advocate of offenders the consolation of the afflicted the sepulture of the dying For the just are buried in prayer as the Phenix Praise of prayer in perfumes Prayer doth all A Christian without prayer is a Bee without sting who will neither make honey nor wax It is to little purpose to propose unto you the mysteries of faith and the maxims of Christian wisdom if you use not meditation to ruminate them It is as meat cast into a stomack without digestion which will do more hurt than good not of its own nature but by your indisposition which is bad From hence proceed the desolations of the earth From hence are derived so many fals so many miseries for that men apply not themselves to tast the things of God in prayer That which ought to incite us to this exercise is Necessitie of prayer first the necessitie which is so great that in matter of spiritual life it is as requisite to pray as in the animal to breath We are choaked with flesh and fat Oâ— meum aperui attraxi spiritum and the flames of concupiscence unless we upon all occasions open our mouthes to take the gentle air of God Secondly the pleasures we therein take in process of time is verily that which the prophet Isaiah calleth Sabbatum delicatum the delicate Sabbath As Isaiah 58. Sabbatum delicatum Pleasure Sola prima ac luminosissima veritas cibus est nostri intellectus Sola prima inundantissimáque bonitas cibus nostri nobilis ac sublimis affectus Perfection of the soul Albert. de virtut c. 37. much as to say the delicious repose of the soul The corporal eye as saith the learned Prelate William of Paris maketh its repast upon the beauty of the fields the flowers the heavens the stars and on all the objects which are found in this universe But the eye of contemplation by the means of prayer nourisheth it self with the excellencie of God and the perfections of Jesus Thirdly the puritie and perfection of the soul which is derived from this exercise ought to serve us as a special spur There it is saith Albertus Magnus where we carrie our mouthes even to the source and wel-spring of virtue There it is where God is known and knowing him that we love him and in loving him we search him in searching him we take pains and in taking pains we find him In the fourth place we have the example of our Pernoctans in oratione Dei Luc. 6. 12. Saviour who for our instruction spent the nights in prayer the example of the Apostles and all Saints who have practiced and recommended this exercise to us The ninth SECTION The necessitie of Confession MEn resemble snails every one carrieth his own house with him a house wholy replenished with darkness although it ever seem lightsom A house which hath neither door nor window though therein be a thousand witnesses which see all that passeth with as many eyes as heaven hath stars A house composed of labyrinths yet cannot the Host hide himself in it A house whereinto the sun peepeth not and yet may even the very least atoms be seen A house wherein there are perpetual pleadings yet never any issue of process but with issue of life Finally a house which hath two faces altogether different the one called hell the other Paradise In a word this house whereof I speak is the conscience It is full of darkness for the thoughts Nullus molestior oculus cuique suo Bern. l. â—5 de confiderat of men are involved in such a cloud of obscuritie that neither the devils nor Angels themselves see any thing therein yet is it lightsom for ever the eye of proper conscience reflecteth thereon There is no door nor window for all is very close shut up yet do a thousand witnesses fix their eyes thereon for the conscience alone is called a thousand-witnesses It is composed of labyrinths for there are all flexibilities and subtil mazes in this labyrinth the host Putásne Deus è vicino ego sum non Deus de longe Hierem. 23. cannot hide himself for it is ever day-pierced by the eye of God before whom neither the abyss nor hell it self hath darkness enough to hide it The sun peepeth not in there for in effect its light which displayeth all the objects of the world before our eyes cannot discover the simplest of our thoughts yet may the very least atoms be seen for there is not any thing so subtil which can free it self from the eyes of God They perpetually plead there for every moment Aula Sathanae hortus deliciarum aureum reclinatorium Bernard de interiori domo Ambr. in illud rerela Domino viam tuam the conscience chalengeth us even upon the least sins and the issue of the process concludeth not but with the end of life because at that very hour the decisive sentence of our eternitie is given In fine this house hath two faces whereof the one is called hell to wit the evil conscience and the other Paradise that is the good and innocent which we cannot throughly settle in this great corruption of the heart of man but by a good confession Too much shade hurteth seeds which begin to Idem grow darkness duls them and the eye of the sun serves them as a father Assure your self the buds of virtue hold the same course there must be day to bring them into the light and he who will hide his life shall loose all the fruit he may hope thereof Bernard de interiori domo cap. 37. Confession is the price of our immortalitie the citie of refuge given us by God but if it be once ill managed it is not a confession but a double confusion for feigned miserie excludeth true mercie nor did ever presumption well accord with pitie Among the most especial exercises of devotion are confession communion meditation spiritual lection and the fruit we derive from the word of God Concerning the practise of confession we will onely speak with much brevitie thereof for at this present there are great store of books which teach this method Hear a true observation made by Saint August tract 12. in Joan. Augustine That the beginning of our good works is the accusation of our evil If you desire utterly to forsake the animal life to submit to the spiritual put in the fore-front a good general confession Gulielm Paris de Sacrament Poenitent l. 12. Matth. 17. Confession saith S. Ambrose is the price of our immortality It is the tribute of Heaven signified by the piece of coyn which S. Peter found in the mouth of a fish Necessity seems to require it for the reasons which General confession the beginning of spiritual life follow First how many sins are left by the way how many by culpable ignorance sometimes through fear and shame
Sun stood still in the time of Josuah the Moon and all the Stars made the like pause Governours and Masters have this proper to themselves that in all they do they pour forth their spirits into such of their subjects who are for the most part neither good nor bad but by the relation they have to the life of those on whom their fortunes depend The second is not to suffer an evil since as said Peceare non cohibere peccantes juxta aestima Dostheus l. Italicorum Agapetus to the Emperour Justinian to commit and permit crimes when one hath full power to hinder them is as it were one and the same thing There are no flatteries so charming nor importunities so forcible which should ever make a well composed spirit to bend to the permission of a sin which he knoweth to be against the honour of God and the tranquilitie of his conscience Fabricianus a Roman Captain in ruining a Fortress of the Samnites kept their Venus which he sent to Rome for the beauty of the workmanship and it is thought the aspect of this statue was the first occasion of making his wife an adulteress and caused him afterward to serve as a victim to the loves of this unchaste woman by horrible massacre It happeneth oftentimes that Masters of families who seem very innocent in their persons retain scandals in their houses through a certain pusillanimity and dissimulation which draw upon them the chastisements of God and disasters very extraordinary The Scripture saith the High Priest Eli was the lamp of God before 1 Reg. 33. juxta 70. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he was extinguished by a wicked toleration of the excesses of his children which rent his house and buried him in publick ruins Take good heed there be not some houshold servant raised by your indulgence who rendereth your favours odious and liberalities criminal by abuse of the power which you have put into his hands Alkabicius the Astrologer observeth there are stars of their own nature benign and which would ever behold us favourably were it not the neighbour-hood of some others malign altered their sweet inclinations And there are many Masters and Mistresses to be found in the world endued with a humour exceedingly good if the near approaches which bad servants make to their persons did not destroy this temper That man Qualities of an Officer is truly stout and happy who findeth or maketh men of honour well disposed faithfully affected industrious vigilant laborious indefatigable sober in speech prompt in execution patient and able in their charges for good souldiers make glorious Captains and good Officers great States-men The third condition of the zeal of justice is that you never be pleased an ill act be done under the shadow that you were not of counsel thereunto or that it never came to your knowledge You may very well rejoyce not to have at all contributed to evil yea not to the birth of evil for this were otherwise to betray your conscience which ought to have the same capacity to abhor all vices and embrace all virtues as faith inclineth to believe all verities revealed unto it I leave you to think what conscience Sextus Pompeius of elder time had to whom as he entertained Augustus and Mark Anthonie in his ship and being in the heat of his feast a servant came to tell him if so he pleased he quickly would put these two Princes into his power thereby to make him Monarch of the world He a little while thinking on this matter said to him who brought the news Thou shouldst have done it and never told me of it This well shewed he bare some respect to fidelity but was very far from that perfection which hateth evil yea even that which is out of the compass of ones own knowledge The fourth is that you must correct disorders as much as you possibly may declaring you have a natural horrour against all sins which resist laws both divine and humane and that the love of honesty hath made you to pass it as it were into your nature I do not see where the virtue of a great States-man may shew it self with more lustre than in the exercise of justice S. Gregorie the Great saith A Greg. in Job 29. Justitiâ— firmatur â—â—lium Prov. 16. mixture of oyl and wine must be made to heal the wounds of men in such sort that minds may not be ulcered with too much severity nor grow remiss by an excess of indulgence The rod must be used to touch and the staff to support love should not soften nor rigour transport matters into despair Moses the first States-man burned inwardly with the fire of charity and was outwardly wholly enkindled with the flames of the zeal of justice As a loving father he offered his soul to God even to the wish to be blotted out of the book of life to save his people as a Judge he took the sword and bathed it in the bloud of Idolaters He was in all kinds both a couragious Embassadour and an admirable mediatour pleading before God the cause of his people with prayers and before his people the cause of God with the sword It is to do all to execute good justice God Evectâ—s in exâ—â—lsum iâ—â—e magis â—itis despice Cassiod hath set you on high for no other cause but to behold vices beneath if you exalt them they will trample you under-foot you shall perpetually drink the greatest part of the poison you mingled for others and when you shall break down the hedge the snake as the Scripture threateneth will sting you Eccles 10. 8. the first When a good conscience hath accommodated you with this condition so that you have no other intention but to advance goodness in your own person and in those who belong to you you are not a little advanced in the perfections of a great Statesman yet it is fit Conscience Science and Capacity be had for the discharge of great employments and especially by him who makes profession to govern men sometimes as untractable as Hydra's of many heads Campanus Bishop of Terni of whom we have some Campanus Interamneâ—us Episcop Works in the Bibliotheca Patrum in the book which he composed of magistracy requireth four conditions in him A wit vigorous a carriage neither dejected nor unpleasing a prudence full of maturity when there is occasion to consult upon an affair and a promptness to take time in the instant to execute that which hath once been well resolved on He saith a vigorous wit for it is very fit the soul should be full of lights and flames which is to serve others for a guide and as there is no wit so great which hath not many defects so it is very necessary it be polished by good letters which unite and incorporate in one sole man the faculties of many others and by the conference of the wise which taketh away all that which excellent natures
eyes in a bason full of glew having observed a huntsman who washed his with fair water and he who being desirous to bathe a little infant in imitation of its nurse hastened to plunge it in a boyling cauldron How many do we daily see in the seemings of affected piety who so well act all countenances as if with such merchandize Paradise were to be purchased And in the mean space they are altogether devoid of true virtues so that he who could penetrate into their hearts should find they were like to those pearls which in stead of a solid body have nothing but the husk Some take devotion as a slight pastime others as a light complement others bend that way for complacence to the humours of another others for glory and although they have consciences as rude as those of the Countrey they would willingly draw Seraphins out of Heaven to govern them to the end that although they cannot have devotion they may at the least gain the reputation to seek after the perfectest others are thereto transported for some slender cloak of liberty and certain accommodations of their own proper interest I do not say but that there are a great number who have intentions most pure and proceed very piously but we must affirm that the defects whereof we speak may craftily slide into the infirmity of our sex For what may we say of a creature to whom ten years of devotion twelve hundred communions and a thousand exhortations have not yet taken off one hair of vanity What may we think of her who eateth the immortal Lamb twice or thrice a week and daily on all occasions becometh a Lioness in her house What may we judge of her who so many times layeth the holy Eucharist on her tongue as a seal of the Spouse not being able to bridle or restrain it so far as to forbear so many indiscreet and evil words what may one presume of her who makes a scruple to drink cool in sommer and to behold a flower with delight yet feeleth no remorse of conscience to have spoken more slanders in one dinner than she hath eaten morsels Verily we betray devotion which is of it self fair and glorious when we use it in such sort and we give matter to exorbitant souls how to justifie their sins by our deportments to which they ever have but too much inclination and think that in depainting us with a coal they make themselves as white as snow There are others who desire devotions extatike and ravishing disguised in strange words in fashions never heard of in ceremonies not accustomed All that which is just prudent and moderate tasteth too much of common other paths must be found to Paradise new habits must be cut out for God under the mould of their fancy to make him known I am not ignorant that there are in Religious Orders souls purified from the dregs of the world which have apprehensions of God most elate nor would I for any thing condemn such blessings But when in ordinary life they speak to me of fashions so extraordinary I ever go along with a leaden pace so much do I feare lest for a strong piety I find a body of smoke I add also others who make to themselves a devotion hydeous pensive melancholy which amazeth those who behold it with the onely sight thereof they voluntarily resigning themselves to as it were perpetual tortures of the mind This virtue hath but too much slander in the world we have nothing else to do but to hide its beauty and to give it a mask of terrour to affright those who have business enough to free themselves from their sensuality I esteem the devotion most proper for our sex is that which hath least of affectation most of effect Every one will be able to direct the prayers she ought to make Confessions Communions according to her own capacity profession and leisure using therein the counsel of some that govern her conscience but let her assure her self she shall never tast devotion at the fountain head but in the practise of virtues and the constancie of good resolutions The sixth SECTION Modestie AFter the interiour is directed by the motions of piety followeth the virtue of Modestie which proclaimeth us exteriourly It is the needle of the dyal which sheweth how our souls circumvolveth times and the hours of the day it which witnesseth the power we have over our passions it which formeth us after the model of great souls it which causeth us to appear in conversation in a manner not onely regular but sweet honest and examplar It is the virtue which S. Peter the Apostle required In incorruptibilitate quieti modesti spiritus 1 Pet. 3 4. of our sex when he advised us to hold the inward man in the incorruptibility of a spirit peaceable and modest This is seen in the carriage gestures and countenances but especially in speech and habits We cannot believe how wise we are in simplicity and how powerfull in mildness It is the strongest armour we have from nature When we mannage a spirit and govern an affair by these sweet and peaceable waies we astonish the most confident we disarm the stoutest and triumph over conquerours We have nothing to do but to hold our peace and our silence speaketh by us But when divesting us of this spirit of sweetness modesty and docibility we put on a fashion haughty scornfull turbulent we are onely able in loud noises which render us contemptible to those who are more powerfull than we troublesome to our equals intolerable to our inferiours and hatefull to all the world With this mild temper of spirit Hester changed King Ahasuerus into a lamb with the same Abigail was much stronger than the arms of David and Jesabel with her natural cruelty having slain Innocents ruined Cities disturbed States was thrown out of a high window on the pavement to be trampled all bloudy under the feet of horses But as concerning Modesty which regardeth the comliness of body attire it is a strange thing how many complaints are made against us upon this point We have already served for the space of so many Ages as a common place to Preachers matter of censure for Edicts a fable for Cities and laughter to our selves In the mean time this love of bravery is so throughly engrafted in our spirits that we will not despoil us of it but with our skin It is an original sin which all women carry with them from their mothers womb for which there is no Baptism to be found he that should go about to wash us from this stain we would have an action against him Yea were this onely usual among great Ladies for whom earth rivers and seas seem to produce wherewith to satisfie their curiosity it would appear less strange but all women are born with this passion they so heartily hug it that there will be almost no distinction made in orders since there is
alive as one of yours forget me not after death I ask no part of your great riches but onely your prayers and some alms for my sake which will much assist to mitigate my pains My Mistress oweth me about eight franks upon a reckoning between her and me let her bestow it not for my body which hath no need of it but the comfort of my soul which expecteth it from your charities I know not how I found my self emboldened by these speeches but I had more desire to enterain it than fear of the apparition I demanded whether it could tell me news of one of my countrey-men named Peter Dejaca who died a while since To which he made answer I need not trouble my self with it for he was already in the number of the blessed since the great alms he gave in the last famine had purchased heaven for him From thence I fell upon another question and was curious to know what had happened to a certain Judge whom I very well knew and who lately passed into the other life To which he replied Sir speak not of that miserable man for hell possesseth him through the corruption of justice which he by damnable practice exercised having an honour and soul saleable to the prejudice of his conscience My curiosity carried me higher to enquire what became of King Alphonsus the Great at which time I heard another voice that came from a window behind me saying very distinctly It is not of Sancius you must demand that because he as yet can say nothing to the state of that Prince but I may have more experience thereof than he I deceasing five years ago and being present in an accident which gave me some light of it I was much surprized unexpectedly hearing this other voice and turning saw by the help of the Moons brightness which reflected into my chamber a man leaning on my window whom I intreated to tell me where then King Alphonsus was Whereto he replied he well knew that passing out of this life he had been much tormented and that the prayers of good religious men much helped him but he could not at this present say in what state he was Having spoken thus much he turned towards Sancius sitting neer the fire and said Let us go it is time we depart At which Sancius making no other answer speedily rose up and redoubled his complaints with a lamentable voice saying Sir I intreat you once again remember me and that my Mistress perform the request I made you The next day Engelbert understood from his wife what the spirit told him and with all observation disposed himself speedily and charitably to satisfie all was required What may we infer upon this but S. Augustine's conclusion which he left in a book of care for the dead fifteenth Chapter Holy Scriptures witness that the dead are sometimes sent to living men as on the contrarie S. Paul amongst the living was lifted up to heaven As we ordinarily know not what becomes of the persons of the dead so we must confess the dead know not all is done in the world at the time it is done but they afterwards learn it from those who pass out of this life into the other and converse with them Yet they understand not all sorts of affairs but those which may be told them and such as are permitted to remain in their memories that recount them to souls who must know them Angels who are present to actions here beneath may also discover to the dead what the Sovereign Arbiter to whom all things are subjected shall appoint to come to the knowledge of the one or other XVIII MAXIM Of Eternal unhappiness THE PROPHANE COURT THE HOLY COURT That we cannot be miserable when we are no more That the wicked being no more for this present life are everlasting for the pains of the damned THat there is an inevitable judgement of Belief of a judgement most general God for the damned fire darkness eternal prisons O Libertine and prophane soul is not a proposition needs to be proved by many reasons and arguments It is the subject of all books the discourse of all tongues the confession of all people the great voice of nature which forgetfulness cannot obliterate Naturâ pleraque suggeruntur quasi de publico sensu Tertul. de animâ impiety extinguish nor an evil conscience take away The Hebrews Grecians Latins Chaldeans Persians Arabians Abissines Affricans Indians and not speaking of others all Nations most remote from our region most savage in manners most strange in customs have believed proclaimed protested do believe proclaim and protest this through all Ages and although different in condition all notwithstanding agree in the faith of a living God who knoweth seeth judgeth of the good and bad deeds of this life ordaineth rewards for virtue and punishments for vice It is the order of God who governeth the world The order of God with two hands which are justice and mercie If you take away one of them you maim him It is the condition of humane and Divine things where contraries are ever counter-ballanced by contraries say Notable speech of S. Thomas S. Thom. opus 63. Non est infernus peior coelo Sicut coelum syderibus sic infernus damnatis ornabitur The opinion of Philosophers 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Trismegist in Pimandro Cle. Alex. strom 5. Philosophers If there be a Paradise for virtues there must be a hell for crimes No less doth hell contribute to publish Gods omnipotencie than Paradise As heaven is furnished with stars hell shall be with the damned and the justice of the Sovereign will no less appear in the condemnation of the culpable than in the defence of innocents I knew not what made Doctour Tostatus say that Plato placed hell in the sphere of Mars since he very well mentions it in the concave of abysses in his Phedon Trismegistus in Pymander omitted not to speak of avenging flames due to impiety The Stoicks treat among their secrets of the general fiering of the world as witnesseth Clemens Alexandrinus in his stromata And other Philosophers according to Tertullian speak of secret fire which must serve as an instrument of Gods vengeance The most stupid have seen it the most insolent have frownd at it and the most forlorn are astonished with it And verily it is a hydeous thing to behold onely on paper what the Authour of the cardinal works of Jesus Christ writeth To burn in flames which wast not Inconsumptibilibus flammis corpus allambentibus ardere in proprio adipe frixâ—s libidines bullire c. How the fire of hell burneth nor shall ever be consumed to be scorched through the whole body with remediless fires to be broiled alive in his own grease and broiled with stains of his impurities not to be taken off To see nothing but pits of fire and flaming furnaces without ease relaxation remedy change or diminution of sentence Notwithstanding O
wisdom and authority of S. Boniface the Martyr who converted Germany sent thither by Gregory the second and who flourished about nine hundred years ago This great Apostle of the Northern parts left goodly writings to posterity being most learned and we have to this day some Epistles of his taken out of good libraries In the one and twentieth of his letters written to S. Bonifacius ep 21. Aldeburgus he makes mention of a man who was raised again to life in his time the miracle much known and verified before all the world for to prove he proceeded very fair into knowledges of the other life he advertised many men of note of most secret sins never opened to any living man and exhorted them for Gods sake to true pennance He likewise foretold the death of Ceelredus King of Mercia who reigned with much tyranny and rapine whereof he received the reward This great Prelate S. Boniface then in Germany sought to inform himself particularly of this wonder and afterward couched in the forementioned Epistle the discourse he had with this late raised man How he asked many questions concerning events happened to him in this so dangerous passage he tels the storie and relates it with tears in his eyes Alas how much other are our knowledges at the separation of the soul from the bodie than they are in this present life We here onely see through two little holes which are our two eyes the bark of objects a very little distance but the instant of death discovers unto us much other truths Represent unto your self said he a blind man who never saw any thing if some one come and take away the film giving him sight he would then behold things spoken of in a much other manner than he imagined The like happened to me for my soul leaving my body about midnight I instantly saw the whole world with the extension of its lands and seas that water it as if it had been abbreviated in a table although to say truth it was not the universe which was abbridged but the sight of the spirit dilated by disengagement from the bodie The world was all encompassed with fire which seemed to me of an excessive greatness and ready to swallow all the elements if its impetuous course had not been stayed by the measures of Gods hand At the same time I perceived our Saviour in the quality of a Judge environed with an infinite number of Angels indued with marvellous brightness and excellent beautie on the other side devils in dreadfull shapes which I cannot now well describe since my soul is returned to my body At the same instant souls newly unloosened from all parts in so prodigious numbers that I could never believe there had been so many creatures in the world Then was a rigorous examen made of crimes committed in the life past And I saw very few souls who had holily lived whilest they were as yet in this mortal flesh to fly unto heaven with palms and Crowns Others were reserved to be purged as gold in the furnace and to follow the steps of those happie warriours who had gone before them As for those who went from this life out of the state of grace and were in mortal sin it was a horrible thing to see the tyrannie with which the devils used them For I perceived in places under the earth pits which vomited fire and flames on the brinks whereof I saw those souls in such manner as we shall see some fatal birds who bewailed lamented their disasters with dreadful complaints able to rent rocks and marbles asunder Then they were thrown into precipices of fire bidding a long adieu to all pleasures without hope ever to behold the face of God nor pleasing light of the Sun or to have fruition of any other reflection but the flames of their torments I who saw these strange passages leave you to think with what terrour I expected the last sentence of my judge The evil spirits began to accuse me with all violence you would have said they had reckoned all the steps of my life so rigorously they mustered up all the slightest actions But nothing at that time was so insupportable to me as mine own conscience For the sins which I heretofore imagined to be light were presented unto me in spirit as horrid phantasms which seemed to reproch me with mine ingratitude towards God and to say I am the pleasure thou hast obeyed I am the ambition whose slave thou wast I am the avarice which was the aim of all thy actions Behold so many sins which are thy children Thou begatest them Thou so much didst love them as to prefer them before thy Saviour It is an admirable thing that I likewise saw the specter of a man whom I had heretofore wounded though yet alive He seemed to be present at this Judgement and to require of me an account of his bloud All these horrours had already engulphed me into an inconsolable sadness expecting nought at all but the stroke of thunder and sentence of my Judge at which time my good Angel disposed himself to produce some good works I had heretofore done One cannot say nor believe the comfort a soul then feels in the rememberance of virtues it exercised in the bodie Happy a thousand-fold the hands which sow alms on earth to reap them in heaven It seemed to me I saw so many stars of a favourable influence when I beheld this little good I had done with Gods grace Lastly sentence was pronounced that for instruction of many I should again return into life I must confess unto you that amongst so many troubles of mind so many fears and frights which I suffered before the decision of my affairs except devils and hell nothing so much struck me with horrour as to see my bodie for which a burial was prepared Is it possible said I to my self that to serve this carrion I so often have forsaken my God! Is it possible that to fatten this dunghil I dispised my soul That I so adored my prison and fetters as to ballance them with the Cross and nails of my Saviour Jesus For this cause I had some repugnance to reenter into this bodie which seemed to me a little hell But my soul coming back into it I remained the space of seven dayes quite stupid and so lastly strove with my self till bloud gushed from mine eyes as not having tears sufficient to bemoan my sins Behold me ready to declare and witness to all mortals by an authentike example the words of the Wiseman who saith MEMORARE NOVISSIMA TUA ET IN Eccl. 3. AETERNUM NON PECCABIS REMEMBER ALL VVILL PASSE AT THE LAST HOUR AND THOU SHALT NEVER OFFEND I beseech the Reader who peruseth these lines to put the affairs of his conscience in order and if he love any thing in the world to love it for life eternal XIX MAXIM Of Sovereign Happiness THE PROPHANE COURT THE HOLY COURT It is a
had some particular favours from heaven to authorize their actions and to make men believe they had somewhat above man So Moses Joshuah Deborah Gedeon Samson David Solomon and so many others sent by God for the government of his people came with certain characters of his Divinity which gave them an admirable confidence and framed in their souls notable perswasions of their own abilities And it is a thing very remarkable that such as were not in the way of true Religion and who consequently could not have those assistances and singular protections from heaven sought at the least to fortifie themselves with some semblances All which filled Alexander with Boldnesse was that they had perswaded him he was of Divine extraction and that this belief had seized on the souls of the credulous people which was the cause that he was looked on as a man wholly celestiall destinated to the Empire of the world It is thought that Pyrrhus A notable observation of Pyrrhus who imitated him shewed his teeth in great secret to his friends on the upper row whereof the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 was engraven and on the lower 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as much as to say He was a King as generous as a lion but that which most made this Elogy good was that these letters were thought to be formed by a Divine hand to give a testimony from heaven of the greatnesse of this Monarch And this being spread among the people it made them to expect prodigious things from him Augustus Cesar who changed the face of the Common-wealth into Empire mounted on the Throne of the Universe by the same means For it is said Adolphus Occo that his father Octavius whilst he sacrificed in a wood having shed a little wine on the Altar there came a flame from it which flew up to heaven whereon the Augur foretold him he should have a son who should Suetonius 9 be Emperour of the world It is added that this Prince being yet very young in his child-hood played Presages of the generosity of Cesar with Eagles and made frogs to cease their croaking by a silly command and that as he entred into Rome after the death of Julius Cesar the Sunne was Dio Ziphilinus in Augusto encompassed with a Rainbowe as a presage of the great Peace he should produce in the Roman Empire Vespatian had never dared to aspire to the Empire Cornel. Tac. histor l. 2. without the favour of presages and namely of that which happened to him on Mount Carmel when sacrificing in the same place and being in a great perplexity of mind what resolution he should make in this affair the Priest bad him to be of good courage and the secret hopes of his heart should have very good successe The world hath not been content to afford Elogies of the City of Rome these favours to men alone but it hath also given it to famous places Rome for good lucks sake was termed among other titles Valence by the name of Valour Solinus l. 1. Gergyrhius and Cephale as much as to say Head to shew it Ammianus l. 15. c. 6. should be the Head of the world Presently also it was flattered with the opinion of its Eternity so that many termed it the Eternall City which was the cause that the Romans in their greatest desolations would never forsake the place It appears out of all this that men having not the power to be ignorant of their own weaknesses never think themselves strong enough if they have not some I know not what of Divinity wherefore we must conclude that the true means to have a generous and solid boldnesse is to be well with God and to tie ones The most bold are such as have a clear conscience self to this most pure spirit by purity of heart for if a little opinion of Divine favour so much encouraged Kings and People what will not the testimony of a good Conscience do The Egyptians amidst so many plagues from heaven Sap. 17. Ipsi ergò sibi tenebris graviores eraut and that dreadfull night which took away their first-born children were dejected and couched low on the earth without any spark of courage because their evill Conscience was more weighty upon them then all their miseries as the Book of Wisdome observeth What assurance can one have in perils when after Carnifiâ—c occulto in authorem sceleris tormenta deserviunt Peleg ad Demetr S. Basil in Isa 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he hath committed some crime he feeleth a little Executioner in his heart with pincers and hooks of iron Contrariwise a good Conscience is well compared by S. Basil to that little Kell which environeth the heart and which continually refresheth it with its wholesome waters to signifie unto us that the heart of a good man abides in perpetuall solace which among dangers preserveth it from disturbances I ask you with what assurance stood the good Malchus Hieron in Malcho with his holy wife at the entrance of the lions den when of one side the glittering sword was presented them and on the other they heard those savage beasts to roar and they notwithstanding remained immoveable With what arms but with those which S. Hierome gives them when he saith They were encompassed as Pudicitiae conscientiâ quasi muro septi with a strong wall which they found in the testimony of their innocency whereof they were most certain With what confidence went S. Macarius to lie in the sepulchres of Pagans and wholly fearlesse himself to strike terrour into the spirits of the damned was it not the assurance of his holy life which furnished his heart with all this resolution And shall we then doubt but that the true means to be replenished with a holy Courage is to set the Conscience in good order and to make entire Confession of sinnes to preserve ones self afterward in all possible purity from our infirmities § 5. That Jesus hath given us many Pledges of a sublime Confidence to strengthen our Courage LEt us next contemplate our second Model and consider a thing very remarkable which is that Jesus Christ acquired us Boldnesse by his 〈◊〉 Jesus Christ who putteth us into a holy dread by the consideration of his greatnesse hath acquired us boldnesse by his proper fear These are the words of great S. Leo I have borrowed fear from thee and I S. Leo hom de Pass have furnished thee with my confidence He expresly would admit the agony of Mount Olivet in his sacred Humanity to encourage our pusillanimity that we in mildnesse being Lambs might become Lions by courage and this is the course he hath observed in all his actions in this great contexture of pains and dolours of Christus venit suscipere infirmitates nostras suas nobis conferre virtutes humana quaerere praestare divina accipere injâ—â—ias reddere dignitates quia medicus qui
to tell the Governour of Egypt that they had yet another brother Whereupon they informed him that he himself had inquired particularly about the state of all the family and that they had no list to lye not being able to Divine that he would demand that child The necessitie of food and the love of a father combated at the same time in that afflicted heart and he knew not what to resolve on His sons seeing him a little stagger urge him eagerly as one does those that are slow and fearfull when one would wrest any thing from them Reuben offers him his two little sonnes in hostage and would have him kill them if he brings not back to him his Benjamin Judah engages himself for him upon his head and life The battery was too strong for him not to yield he orders them therefore to take some of the best fruits of their Land to make presents to that great Lord of Egypt and to carry their money double to restore that which had been put into their sacks lest it should have happened by an over sight and also to take their little brother seeing that such was the necessity When they came to a departure he felt great convulsions and said to them go then in an happy hour I pray my God the God Almighty which hath never yet forsaken me that he would render that great Governour of Egypt favourable to you and that you may quickly bring back that poor prisoner and my little Benjamin which I put now into your hands upon the promises which you have made to which I call heaven to witnesse Know furthermore that I am deprived of all my children and that I shall be as in the Grave till such time as the happy news of your return shall give me a Refurrection This being said they put themselves on the way arrive at Egypt and present themselves suddenly to their brother who perceived that Benjamin was there whereat he was wonderfully pleased and commanded his Steward to make ready a dinner because he would eat with those strangers They are brought into the house with much courtesie yet as an evil conscience is ever fearfull they perswade themselves that it is to put them in Prison and to keep them in servitude by reason of that money which they had found in their sacks They addresse themselves to the Cash-keeper of the house very much scared and beseech him to hear them they relate to him with great sincerity all that had happened to them protesting that that came not by their fault and offering all that they thought they were indebted to him The other made answer with great affability that he had received of them good money that he held himself satisfied and that if they had found any in their sacks it was their good luck and the God of their fathers that had a mind to gratifie them He gave them notice that they were to dine that day with their Lord who would suddenly return from his affairs to set himself at Table They order in the mean time their present and their brother Simeon is released who embraces them with a joy which was as the fore-runner of a greater They are made to wash and repose themselves and meat is also given to their Mules And when all this was dispatched Joseph enters to go to dinner they prostrate themselves before him with a profound reverence and offer him their presents He receives them with great courtesie and asks of them at first sight how their good Father did and whether he was yet alive To which they answered that God of his goodnesse had preserved to them that which they held most dear and that he was in a very good condition Then he fixt his eyes upon his brother Benjamin and said unto them Is this then your little brother of whom you have made mention to me To which they answer that they had brought him with them to obey his commands and to justifie the sincerity of their proceedings His heart was ravished at him and turning himself towards him My child sayes he to him I pray God to give your his holy Graces and to keep you in his protection Upon this speech he felt his heart very much moved and ran into his Closet not being able any longer to hold his tears and wept in secret so great an impression had bloud and nature and perhaps the remembrance of his Mother who had born them both made upon his Spirit When he had wiped his face he returns with a merry countenance he commands his men to wait He dined apart a little separated from his brethren and from another company of the Egyptians who were also at the Feast and had no communication with the Jews He gives charge above all that they use well the youngest of those eleven brothers which say that they are all the sons of one and the same father and that they should spare nothing on them After all he ordered that they should fill their sacks with Corn and that they should put again the money also in them as they had done at their first journey and spake to his Steward giving him charge to take the Cup in which he drank and to put it in the sack of little Benjamin which he did and after they had well dined they passed the rest of the day in all tranquility expecting the morrow to put themselves upon their way and to return to their father When the day began to dawn after they had bid their Adieus and given their thanks they depared from the City very joyfull for that they had had so happy Accidents But they were not very far before they see a man coming from Joseph that seems exceedingly to chase stops them and sayes to them that some body had stoln away his Masters Cup with which he serves himself to drink in and to Divine things hidden that this could not happen but from them and that they were very injurious after they had been enterteined in the house of the Governour of Egypt with so much courtesie to render him evil for good and to fly away after they had committed a Theft so base and so outrageous The brothers extreamly astonished answer that this cannot be and that they should be the wickedest men upon the earth if they had as much as dreamt of such an attempt That there was no likelihood that they that had brought back faithfully the money that had been put into their sacks would steal in the house of so high a Potentate Furthermore that there was no need of words but that he should come to proof and search every where and that if any one of them was culpable of that sacriledge they were content to deliver him up to death and to render themselves all the Governours slaves for reparation of that fault The condition is accepted with moderation that the faulty should be punished and that the innocent should go free They are all searched in order
one Babington who was descended of an Honourable family of a great spirit and of a knowledge above his age and very zealous on the Catholick Religion His example made many others to imbark themselves in that same dangerous design Some propounded to themselves the hopes of a great reward others were carried on by glory and some were transported to it by a hate to evil doers It is no way to be believed as I shall make it appear that the Queen of Scotland had any hand in the design For besides the tendernes of her conscience she had a wisdom exercised by long experience which made her easily to apprehend the weakness of that party who were young men heady and inconsiderable who had not learned to conceal a secret which is the first knot that confirmeth great affairs They carried their hearts on their lips and being not content to make a noise of their design in Taverns they caused it to be painted in a Table with devises to it as the Authours of liberty and in foolish vanity did show it to one another Babington could not contain himself from writing to the Queen in prison And the letter being brought to the hands of her Secretaries Nau and Curles they did not communicate it to their Mistress well knowing that the witness of her unblemished spirit would never sympathize with such violent Counsels But when they perceived that Babington in the said letter had given information of the conference he had with Ballard and that six Gentlemen were chosen to put the Tragical design in Execution and that one hundred more were to release the Queen from her imprisonment they thought they would not neglect the occasion and therefore they wrote an answer to the letter making use of the Queens name she having no knowledge of it In this letter they praised Babington for his zeal to the Catholick religion and to the sacred person of their Lady who was the supportress of it They did advertise him to take consideration with him in this enterprise and to make a strong association amongst them who were to be the Actours and the Authours and to attempt nothing before they had assurance of aid from forreign parts and withall to stir up some new troubles in Ireland before they gave this blow in England They advised him to draw unto his party the Earl of Arundel and his Brothers and others named in the letter they did also prescribe a means for the deliverance of the Queen either by overturning one of her Caroaches at the gate or by setting on fire some Rooms belonging to her Querries in the Castle or to take her away when she took horse to refresh her self in the conclusion they did exhort him to promise great rewards to the six Gentlemen and to all the rest Babington presuming it was the Queen who by this letter treated with him became most vainly glorious he incouraged his Companions shewing the letter to the most apparent of them and was inflamed with a desire to execute the design They were so transported with the vanity of it that though they did shut their eyes against the danger yet they did open their mouths to discover the secret which was communicated to so many of their accomplices that the multitude of the conspiratours did make abortive the conspiracy They declared it to one Gifford a pernicious and a luxurious man who being charged with a Commission to keep safe their letters did carry them all to Walsingham the Secretary to the Queen of England who opened them and founding the whole progress of their designs did with much dexterity make them fast again The last written by Babington with the answer of the Secretaries in the name of Queen Mary was carried to Elizabeth and to her Counsel who shewed an exceeding joy for the discovery She caused the conspiratours to be apprehended and Babington amongst the foremost who being demanded the Question did immediatly confess that he had treated with the Queen of Scotland on that subject in which he spoke truly as he thought though he did not speak the truth After they were all examined and condemned they were executed with most cruel punishments the extremity whereof did strike a horrour into those who did condemn them 13. It was so decreed that a passage must be made The Process against the Queen of Scotland through the entrails of many bodies to come unto Queen Maries bloud She that knew of nothing what was done did continue very quiet in the languishment of her captivity when behold she suddenly found her self confined to a close imprisonment her Guards doubled her Secretaries apprehended her papers taken away and her Coyn confiscated with a labouring expectation she did attend to know the reason of it when behold a letter from the Queen of England which imparted that she had given a Commission to her Counsellers of Estate to hear her in judgement upon Fact with which she was accused Having read it with a Majestick countenance and a spirit full of the height of understanding she spake to those that gave it her I Am much afflicted that my most dear Sister the Queen hath been so ill informed of me and that having been so many years most strictly guarded and withall nummed in my limbs the many fair conditions which I have offered for my liberty have been always neglected and my self abandoned I have sufficiently advertised her of diverse dangers and yet she never would believe me but hath always undervalued me although I am most near unto her in bloud I have too truly foreseen that any accident that did arrive either within or without this Kingdom would be interpreted to proceed from me and that I should be made guilty enough because I am so miserable As for his letter I do look upon it as a strange thing that any Queen should command me as her Subject to appear in judgement I am of my self an absolute Queen and will do nothing to the prejudice of Royal Majesty my courage is not yet abated nor will I ever stoop unworthily under my calamity Her answer was drawn up in writing which in these terms she had pronounced and the same day the Chancellour and the Treasurer came to her and declared what power they had given them in their Commission and desired her gently to hear the Facts with which she was charged otherwise they both could and would proceed against her for contempt To which she made answer That she was no Subject and that she had rather die a thousand times than by such an acknowledgement to bring a prejudice to Royal Majesty She admonished them if after having condemned her before hand they came now unto her to make a semblance of observing some formality in Justice to consult with their own consciences and to remember that the Theater of the world is of a larger extent than England The Commissioners did not cease to insist and represent unto her the Tenour of their