brought to shore so expoâ—â—d to poverty and miseries that conâ—â—dering the matter well we may â—nclude and say that through Self-â—â—ve many chast Wedlocks are disturbâ—d many Poysons mingled producâ—â—g wicked effects that many Halâ—ers are put about the Necks of Self-â—â—vers many Swords drawn and â—any sad Tragedies begun in the night â—hat are ended at high-noon-day upon a Scaffold Oh how happy are thoâ— Souls which through the grace oâ— God are exempt and free from thâ— Vice of Self-lave which produceth sucâ— mischiefs and disasters in the world Let us therefore follow and use aâ— our endeavour to put in practice thâ— Wise Counsel of Solomon in thâ— Book of Ecclesiasticus Chap. 21. â— 2. As from the Face of a Serpent â—â— from sin fly from Self-love becausâ— as a Serpent comes slily upon us anâ— stingeth the Body so all sin anâ— consequently Self-love steals upon anâ— hurts the Soul SECT 4. The beginning and continuance of this pernicious Disease Saint Paul in his Epistle to the Romans giveth a true account of thiâ— old inveterate malady of our Souls saying Rom. 5. v. 12. Sicut per â—num hominem peccatum in hunc mundum intravit et per peccatum mors â—ta in omnes homines mors pertranâ—it in quo omnes peccaverunt As â—â— the Doctor of the Gentiles would â—ave said That sin which proceeds â—â—om Self-love as we have before â—emonstrated entred into this world â—rom the beginning and from the â—reation of the same by that sin of â—elf-love death passed unto all men â—n which they have all sinned for eâ—en in the Law of Nature sin was in â—he World from old and death did â—eign until Moses even on them that â—ad not actually sinn ed which is â—s much as to say that from Adam â—n the time of the Law of Nature â—here was sin in the world and â—hough in a manner they knew it not â—et this Spiritual Disease we speak of â—eigned even then as likewise in the â—ime of Moses when the Commandâ—ents or Law of God taught the conâ—rary to wit that God was displeasâ—d therewith and therefore men â—ught to avoid the same But by reason that all mankind were maculate with original sin they had no strengâ—â— of themselves-nor grace to be frâ—â— from Self-love So that thereupon sin did reign â—ver men and also death and damnaâ—tion by reason of Self-love Infant that did never actually offend beinâ— conceived and born in original sin were nevertheless lyable to death anâ— subject to all Spiritual Diseases anâ— to all the Maladies and Corruptions oâ— the Soul having their Nature defileâ— and destitute of Original Justice being averted from God by means of Adams transgression Christ only excepted who was conceived by thâ— Holy Ghost without the Seed of Man and his blessed Mother the Virgiâ— Mary who was preserved from contracting the guilt of original sin by special grace and the extraordinary perfection of God as many godly men judge but as for all the rest â—â— mankind they were born in a weak and sickly condition of Soul by reason of that sin ever since men were â—â—eated having been holden and torâ—ented by all sorts of Spiritual Diâ—â—empers even the most dangerous â—ost pestilent most violent and â—â—ntinual insomuch that by the â—â—me they were all subject to Satan â—â—d lyable to eternal sorrows they â—ere all made the Children of wrath â—e slaves of sin and every way most â—â—serable Yea these infectious â—â—seases came to such a height upon â—â—e whole race of mankind that â—â—e few only excepted they were â— swept away and perished in the â—â—neral Floud as is to be seen in â—enesis Chap. 7. v. 1 2. c. These most violent fits of sin and â—â—traordinary punishments for the â—â—me were not so soon passed over â—t many great pains and labours folâ—â—wed upon men and that for the â—ace of four hundred years together â—â—der the slavery of King Pharaoh â— the Land of Egypt after which â—â—ing delivered and freed from that cruel bondage they were soon afteâ— visited and afflicted with other grievous calamities and miseries for the space of more than Threescore Yeaâ— together to wit in the Babyloniâ— Captivity where the Royal Propheâ—â— David by the Spirit of Prophecy describes them lamenting and be moaning themselves Psalm 136. â— 1. Super flumina Babylonis illiâ— sedimus flevimus c. Vpoâ— the Rivers of Babylon there it wâ— that we sale and bewailed the aâ—flicted estate of Sion They could noâ— refrain to mourn remembring thâ— great calamities which for their siâ— God had brought even upon his owâ— Sanctuary How many other Feaverâ— sometimes continual sometimes intermitting how many heats of burning torments and pain how manâ— cold fits of desolation and want have men at several times been subject unto and made to undergo upoâ— this account Have we not heard â—â— those surprizes of sudden destructioâ— which came upon the people of Sodom â—nd Gomorrah and all the adjacent â—ountries when they were wholly â—onsumed by Fire as it is described â—en 19 v. 24. Do we not read also â—ow in the time of Elias the Prophet â—â—d at his Prayers Fire came down â—om Heaven and consumed those unâ—â—dly wretches that were sent to apâ—â—ehend him 4 Reg. 1. v. 10. How â—any cold and comfortless long fits of â—mine Pestilence and Mortality â—ere others exercised and plagued â—ith for their sinnes the Heavens â—ing so shut that it rained not for â—any years together and the earth â— parched with drought that it yieldâ—â— no water and people forced thereâ—â— in a languishing and perishing â—â—ndition to wander up and down â—â—king water to drink and finding â—e as we read Hierem. 14. 1 2 3. â— and in many other places of holy â—ipture In the sacred Gospel of Saint John â—hap 5. v. 5. we read of a man that had been diseased in body thâ— space of Thirty Eight Years in Hierusalem and had for a long time waâ—â—ed the stirring of the water there bâ— which an Angel from Heaven curâ— those which first came into the watâ—â— after the stirring of whatsoever â—â—sease they had This poor man hâ—â— lain there expecting his cure eigâ—â— and thirty years together being â—â— reason of his great weakness continâ—ally prevented by some other boâ—â— that stepped into the water befoâ—â— him and therefore deserved at lengâ—â— to be pittied by our Lord Jesus Chriâ—â— and cured by his Almighty Word aâ— Command But alass How muâ—â— more was the whole universal woâ—â— all mankind to be mourned for aâ— compassionated which had lain lâ—guishing not only the space of Thiâ— Eight Years but ever since the Crâ—â—tion of Adam that is by the accoâ—â—â— of some more than Five Thousâ—â—â— Six Hundred and Twenty Years â—â—ing all that time infected and contiâ—â—â—ly vexed with the feavor of original â—â— which lay upon all and every one â—â—d with a Thousand other actual diâ—â—empers maladies and diseases of the â—â—ul which held and afflicted parâ—â—cular persons some in one kind â—â—me
and final impenitence which is concluded with eternal damnation Behold here the several steps and degrees by which the Ghostly Enemy advances in his wicked practices upon poor Souls who have not had the care to keep themselves out of his snare Behold here the sad issue which Concupiscence having conceived as the Apostle Saint James speaks Jac. 1. v. 15. that is being impregnated by the Devil and her own unadvised Consent brings forth in time In fine behold here explicitely and particularly set forth what is implicitely contain'd and involved in that Text of the Apostle now alledged Concupiscence when it hath conceived brings forth sin and sin when it is consummate ingendreth Death Yet observe here if you please I do not say that Concupiscence precisely of it self alone or as it signifies meerly a natural motion and inclination stirr'd up in the phansie to such or such a thing is damnable or so much as sin properly speaking though some teach it to be so whom we are not bound much to regard It is then only sin when it is consented unto that is when after perfect advertency and taking notice of evil Thoughts and Phantasies to be stirred up in us we do voluntarily and of our own accord either rest and continue in the said Thoughts and take pleasure and delight in the things they represent to us or which is a farther degree and step in sin do actually consent in heart and will to commit the sin or sins that we think upon if opportunity were given us So that it is not Concupiscence alone but our voluntary free and deliberate yielding to it that brings forth sin or makes us guilty of sin before God SCECTION IV. Carnal Concupiscence causeth continual trouble SECT 1. It is the most troublesome sin of any 2. The troubles and usual proceedings of fond and lewd Women 3. The troubles and usual proceedings of foolish and lewd Men. Sect. 1. Carnal Concupiscence the most troublesome sin of any THat Wise Gentle Socrates verifies our assertion to wit that Carnal Concupiscence is a most troublesome sin by this Expression of his The Lascivious Man is of all others the most miserable being in a condition of perpetual disquiet and sufferance Poor Creature he never thinks upon any thing that is truly good and upon what concerns the good of his Soul least of all being wholly taken up and imploying all his Study and endeavour to find the means to fulfil his untam'd desire of pleasures and of lust to the utmost Saint Ambrose consents hereunto Carnal Concupiscence saith he is without question the most fierce froward and troublesome of all other sin how pleasing and agreeable so ever it may seem to those that consider not things well and causes the greatest unquietness to the Soul besides other mischief especially where it is much entertain'd and prosecuted Do but reflect upon the course of their lives and you will easily see in what a continual unquietness and disturbance they remain As for example If they go to Bed desiring to take their rest they are assaulted with innumerable temptations suggestions and representations of the Ghostly Enemy so that they cannot take rest If they chance to slumber their sleep is presently broken with Lascivious Dreams and Objects which their Unchaste and Lustful Phantasie presents to them so that all night long they are in trouble When the day appears their pain increaseth for then their Cares their Studies and Endeavours return upon them to think how they shall satisfie their Lusts which they cannot rest till they have satisfied what difficulties soever lie in the way and what hazards and perils soever they run their Lust must be satisfied whatsoever it costs Their spare hours most commonly passing away in or about matters of Poetry Love-letters singing unchaste and dishonest Songs studying Compliments and fine Courting Expressions which serve them with more ease to enveigle and overcome some poor silly Woman No good Actions proceed from them To pray is the most tedious thing in the World to read Spiritual Books dulls their Spirits too much to attend to Sermons or any Pious Discourse a cold and but frivolous Entertainment to Fast is too too troublesome and a kind of killing themselves In conclusion nothing pleases them nothing is delectable or agreeable to their mind but that which tends to Mirth and Wantonness in pursuance whereof and for the satisfying of their Sensual Appetites they easily suffer themselves to be drawn from all occasions of doing good and from attending to their callings charges and other honest and necessary imployments and wastefully to spend their estates and time altogether careless and neglecting their Vocation So that in fine being themselves devoid of all reason and unable through the prevalency of blinding lust to take or follow good Counsel they run with all unhappy speed and precipitancy to their own confusion both as to Body and Soul not only troubling themselves but inticing others to their Sensual Inclinations which bad and most blameable disposition of mind as I have partly observ'd before being once rooted in a Lascivious Heart according to Saint Ambrose It rejecteth all Counsel and good Advice disturbs and disquiets those that give it Entertainment though never so little and destroys those that are given up to it proclaiming Wars to those that are Chaste and constantly resist it but inflaming those thaâ— yield to it and finally consuming such as will not withdraw from it To which end it is usually attended also with a train of many other Evils and Vices that wait upon it and contribute what they can to the perfecting its wicked work as namely Flatteries Dissimulation Lying Deceits innumerable Feigning Counterfeiting and the like none of which and many other evil Arts shall be wanting when occasion requires for the Conquest of some one poor silly Woman whom Saint Paul calls the Weaker Vessel Sect. 2. The troubles and usual proceedings of fond and lewd Women Granatensis that worthy Guid and Director of Christian Souls pondering in his mind the usual proceedings of vain Women especially of those that are wantonly and lewdly inclin'd and the various Arts they practice to attract and allure Men mov'd with a passionate zeal for their Salvation he could not forbear to check their Exorbitant Vanity and Lustfulness in these words Oh saith he what Devillish Art and Cunning cannot Women invent to intice Mâ—n to their wanton Desires and yet for all their Craft and Cunning in conclusion deceive themselves and plunge their Souls into Eternal Perdition To what other thing for the most part tends all their Care Studies Employment but to be look'd upon and to intice Men wherein do they exercise their wits spend their time but in making themselves fit and ready for that work To relate particularities in this kind would be an endless work being they are numberless and not to be reckoned up in a short time However for your satisfaction I shall instance in some few In
glory and boast theâ— selves in sin are absolutely uncapâ—ble of doing any good work pleasâ—â—â— to God or meritorious of eternal â—ward The reason is because theâ— take pleasure they delight and spoâ— themselves in sin then which nâ—thing can be more sinful No maâ— can make himself sport with thâ— which he really hates If thereforâ— we can play with sin whether â—â— our selves or others 't is certain wâ— do not hate it as we ought I adâ— moreover that though we shoulâ— grant that some good in order tâ— God might be done by these Self-lovers Self-praisers and Self-pleasers yet certain it is little or none would be done for the reason above-mentioned to wit because they place their chiefest pleasure in wickâ—d actions and all their endeavours â—re so bent and fixed upon their Vaniâ—ies and in taking complacency in â—heir own doings be they good or â—ad that oft times they do violence â—o themselves meerly for the augâ—enting the follies of their wickedâ—ess that is in striving to be more â—oolish and wicked Sect. 4. How Self-love is prejudicial to God and Men. Sect. 1. Self-love causeth Blasphemy Vndervaluing of God therefore prejudicial to him 2. Self-love looks always at his own interests in treating with neighbours therefore prejudicial to them 3. By Self-love we Seek all sorts of Vanities therefore prejudicial to our selves Sect. 1. Self-love causeth Blasphemy and an Undervaluing â—â— God therefore prejudicial â—â— him SInce it is the Divine Precept Tâ—â—â— we should love Almighty Goâ— above all things with all oâ— hearts that is to say by all oâ— Understanding without any erroâ— contrary to Faith and with all oâ— Soul that is to say with all our Wiâ— without any opposition or contraâ—â—ction to the Will of God with all oâ— Mind that is to say with our Mâ—mory not yielding to any oblivioâ—â— or voluntary forgetfulness of him and finally with all our Strengtâ— that is to say with all our endeavours and power not using aâ— slightiness or negligence in doinâ— his Service seeing I say thâ— we ought thus to love God it foâ—lows of necessity that if we do noâ— but the contrary being found negâ—igent in the performance of any the â—ore-mentioned particularities we â—o prejudice God and rob him of his â—ues and Rights For man cannot â—e cornival with God so as to give â—im no more than heâ— thinks meet â—ut must give all that is required and â—o all that is commanded and in such 〈◊〉 as it is commanded nor may â—e yield to any other love which iâ—â—ot in order to the supreme love of â—od And with most just reason it is that â—od doth thus claim all to himself â—ll Love all Service all Honour â—nd acounts himself in jur'd when aâ—y Love Honour or Service but â—hat he allows is performed to any â—hings else for he made all he 〈◊〉 â—â—d all Creatures even the whole â—niverse He gave us all the Being â—â—at we have all our Powers Faâ—ulties Parts We have nothing â—ut of his Gift and could do noâ—â—â—ing but for his help Therefore it is most due to him that we should love him as above-said with alâ— our Hearts with all our Souls with all our Mind and Strength This is Gods due by that great and universal Title of Creation to which that more Special Title of Redemption adds much right Bâ—â— alas how little sensible are we â—â— either how often do we trangâ—gress and leap over the limits of oâ— bound duty and how much negleâ—â— our oblâ—gation through the vehemeâ—cy of Self-love and the affection wâ— bear to our selves the world anâ— the things contained in it the richeâ— the honours the pleasures and vâ—nities of the world not to speak oâ— divers more unlawful objects thâ—â— to be found and too frequently stumbled upon which cause much disâ—â—nour to God and great prejudice â—â— our Souls through the innumerabâ—â— disorders and distempers which happen in Chistianity by occasion oâ— them blinding the understandingâ— and shutting up the eyes as it were of all Mankind through the preâ—alency of their mischievous efâ—ects One of the chiefest and greatest whereof is pride and ambition of which intending to speak more at â—arge in an other Treatise for the â—resent I will only say and desire it may be observed that through this â—xcessive pride and ambition God is â—ighly dishonoured and the rights of his absolute and sole Sovereignty â—resumptuously trampled upon and â—espised no less than by open Blaspheâ—y while through the pride of their â—earts men refuse to acknowlege him â—he only God the Creator of all â—hings and that his providence ruâ—eth the world and while out of the â—ame affection of pride disdaining to â—e under his power or command â—hey forbear not to speak evil of his Deity and either to deny or dispute â—is Supream Authority Divine Omnipotency c. Verities ever acknowledged from the beginning of the world continued in all the ancient Law and renued in the Gospel at the very birth of Christ and by the Publick Confession of all Chrians preserved to his present So that there seems nothing to be added to the pride of too many now adays but with Domitian the Emperor having thrust God out of his Throne to place themselves in it as if you please to consult ancient Histories you will find that Emperor to have done who through the exorbitancy of many other precedent Vices arrived at last to such a stupendious height of Pride Self-estimation and sottish Ambition as to require to be called and proclaimed God not enduring to hear of any other and as Eusebius Caesariensis relates of him Lib. 3. Hist Eccles cap. 19. 20. putting to death all those of the Tribe of David among the Jews that himself might be acknowledg'd the onely King and God of the whole World as Jesus Christ the son of David was by Christans confessed to be A great excess of pride and Self-love this was certainly in a mortal man to affect the honour and esteem of being accounted God yet it was no greater than what some others had attempted before him as for example Nabuchodonosor of whom according as holy Scripture reports Judith 6. v. 3. his servants were wont to speak thus Ostendam â—ibi quia non est Deus nisi Nabucodonosor I will shew you that there â—s no other God but Nabucodonosor and of Herod Acts 12. 22. who accepted of the Title of God though to his cost given him by the publick acclamation of the people And as these through pride think themselves to be Gods and require others to have the like opinion of them So there are that altogether deny God and either through pride or some other distemper of mind think there is no God at all to be acknowledged of whom the Prophet David coâ—plains Psal 13. v. 1. calling theâ— Fools though none think themselveâ— wiser men Dixit insipiens in corâ—â— suo Non est Deus The Fool haâ— said in his heart there is no God Câ—â—rupt they are and become
all our loves And in the third and last place it must be founded in the knowledge and due consideration of the benefits we have receiv'd in this world and do daily still receive from God as also of the reward of eternal joy and felicity prepared for the faithful in the next Sect. 2. The first means to overcome Self-love is by the knowledge of our selves of our own nothing unprofitableness vileness miseries and affliction The Royal Prophet David one of the greatest Monarchs of the World in his time had so deep and serious a reflexion of this matter with himself to wit of his spiritual nihileity or being nothing in comparison of God of his unprofitableness vileness miseries that he could not but sadly lament his condition and freely acknowledge that he was but a worm and not a man vermis non homo Psalm 21. 7. the reproach or scorn of men and the out-cast of the people And again Psalm 72. v. 22. Ad nihilum redactus sum c. I am brought to nothing saith he and knew it not If this great King had such humble and mean conceits of himself when he thought upon the Greatness and Majesty of God how much more should we be moved to make the same and if it were possible how much more lowly reflexions of mind when we have the like occasion how should we humble and abase our selves in the presence of God when we consider our natural vileness baseness sad condition and continual miseries The better to induce us to this let us think upon the life of all our Predecessors and Progenitors what were they all but dust what was the first man Adam made of but of the clay of the Earth that was our first and common extraction Look upon your particular Generations and Conceptions Behold you were conceived in iniquity saith David Psalm 50. v. 7. you were born in Original Sin the links whereof concupiscence and weakness do still remain in you and should give you cause to lament Job having such a reflexion in his mind did no less for while he lay upon the Dunghill perplexed inwardly and afflicted outwardly he addressed himself to God and made his prayer to be cleansed from all the filthiness of his Conception saying Job 14. v. 4. Quis potest facere mundum de immundo conceptum semine nonne tu qui solus es Who can make clean him that is conceiv'd of unclean seed who but thou alone O Lord Homer lib. 17. hath a saying That amongst all the living Creatures which are upon the face of the Earth there are none so unhappy as man the truth whereof may be seen daily by experience in the birth of all Children When man is first born and cometh forth into the world there is nothing can be imagined a more rueful and despicable object than he nothing more imperfect nothing more weak nothing more indigent of all things naked uncomely not to say deformed and attended with filth and nastiness than man is Alas he is one that Nature it self would not allow to have a cleanly and neat coming into the world but on the contrary sent him in all covered with blood and more resembling a lump of impure flesh than a Creature indued with a reasonable Soul Insomuch that none will readily touch him or take him up from the ground on which he falls in similiter factam decidi terram c. Sap. 7. 3. none will cherish him none imbrace him but those that undertake the office for hire or the Mother who by force of natural inclination cannot but love her own Child Shall we speak of his nourishment in the Womb or what happens to him presently after whiles unborn it is known that he has no other nutriment than the impure Flowers and Menstrual of the Mother being close covered with a garment of the same which so soon as the poor Infant is unvested of is burnt or buried and not suffered to be seen Wherefore it is no wonder that as soon as man is born he naturally begins to cry thereby presaging and proclaiming so much as he can his future miseries and sad condition Ah that man would but consider this well how little reason would he then see to be so high-minded so proud and to love himself so much he would see more cause to have an aversion or loathing of himself than otherwise As to your condition after birth you were no sooner come to the use of reason but you understood that you were to labour hard for your living it being the Sentence or Judgment of God pronounced upon 〈…〉 first transgression which our 〈…〉 Adam and Eve committed 〈…〉 In the sweat of thy 〈…〉 shalt eat bread saith God to 〈…〉 Genes 3. v. 19. till thou 〈…〉 the ground from whence thou 〈…〉 taken for dust thou art and 〈…〉 dust thou shalt return Add unto this that so long as he lives he is subject unto and very frequently visited with calamities afflictions miseries and the like So that recalling to mind what is abovesaid and well considering the troubles both of body and mind which he endures with the uncertainty and shortness of his life I am confident it will more or less humble his thoughts and in consequence through the grace of God abate the vehemency of Self-love and better dispose him to the loving of God alone and above all other things In brief if you would take a true Model of your self think upon the dead Let your mind seriously reflect upon some Friend Neighbour or other Acquaintance deceased think what he is now become nothing but dust nothing but earth ashes rottenness and corruption so must you be how rich soever how powerful soever how elevated and high soever you be either in your own conceits or in the honours and dignities of this present world The time is coming when all these things will signifie nothing to you though to your self you seem to be in good health strong lusty and in the flower of your Age and think to live a long time alas these are deceitful thoughts vain immaginations a sudden Feaver or some other unexpected sickness disease or mischance easily changes the face of your affairs and puts an end to your ungrounded hopes though you look well and find your self every way well disposed for the present yet take my Counsel do not rely upon a staff so apt to break fix your mind and meditations rather upon death have a Skeleton always before your eyes which will teach you more truly what you are and what you must come to than all the painted images of the worlds good There you will see the Origin of your Nobility and the end of your Glory The dead was what you are at present and your lot will be what they are now Verily if you would but look seriously upon your self you would find but little matter or reason to cherish and love your self so much What is Man according to his Body Job will tell
ignorant with what exorbitancy this Vice did both reign and rage for many years together of late times the very lowest and meanest sort of People Coblers Brewers and other Mechanicks taking the liberty to dispise even the Highest Powers and most Sacred Dignities of the Nation having the King and all his Nobility in Scorn the Laws in Contempt and utterly rejecting whatsoever Commands His most Sacred Majesty thought fit to give for the good and security of His Kingdom and not only so but seizing at length upon His Sacred Person and by Injustice and Violence not to be parallelled in any History or Example save that of the Saviour of the World Pronouncing and Executing the Sentence of Death upon him as a Criminal who was most Innocent in the view of the World and using the same hard measure to many of his Chiefest and most Loyal Subjects Sect. 2. Contempts between Man and Wife The Extent and Dominion of this raging Vice being so large as it is and holding in subjection in a manner all Mankind tainted therewith no Place no Condition or Quality of Persons free it will not I hope seem inexpedient to take a short view of those several sorts of People wherein it principally resides and hath its most quotidian and constant effects These are first the State of Marriage or the Contempts which happen between Men and their Wives The second is of the Contempts that happen between Children and their Parents The third of that which happens between Servants and Masters The fourth of those between the Poor and the Rich and lastly those which fall out between the Wicked and the Just These or most of these several Contempts the Holy Scripture mention and first that which happens in the Married Estate In the Book of Esther you will find how the Queen Vasthi having by the seven Chief Eunuchs and Officers of the Kingdom received a special Command from the King Assuerus her Husband to appear before him Crowned and in her Royal Attire she would not obey his Command though she were both his Subject and Wife but refused to come contemning at once both his Royal Command and Loving Request But what came of her Contempt Verily that which Justice required The King being highly incensed at her undutifulness and to give an exemplary Caution or Warning to all other Women not to despise their Husbands nor to have their Persons and Commands in Contempt put her away from being any longer his Queen or Wife and chose another in her stead namely Queen Esther of the Race of the Jews See Esther Chap. 1. v. 21 22 2. 17. Sect. 3. Contempts between Children and Parents The Holy Scripture also taketh notice of the great Contempts which Children sometimes much contrary to their Duty shew towards their Parents giving also a great and strict charge to have all such Contempts speedily and severely punished for the example and terror of others There is a remarkable passage to this purpose in the Book of Deuteronomy Chap. 21. v. 18. where we read thus Si genuerit homo filium contumacem protervum c. If a Man beget a Son that is Stubborn and Rebellious not obeying the Voice of his Father nor the Voice of his Mother and being chastized by them will not regard it his Father and Mother shall lay hold on him and bring him out to the Ancients of the City and to the place of Judgment and shall say this our Son is Stubborn and Rebellious and dispiseth to hear our Counsels and all the Men of that City shall Stone him with Stones that he die So shall you put away evil from you and all Israel shall hear and fear This was the Law against a Son that despised and contemned his Parents he was to be Stoned to Death by all the People every Mans Hand was to be against him and chiefly those of his wronged and grieved Parents Alas what would it be if this Law were now to be reviv'd or put in execution I tremble to think how many Parents it would leave Childless amongst Christians How many Children are there now-a-days to be seen that have their Parents in scorn How many are there that will be ashamed to acknowledge their Father and Mother yea how many are there that not only despise and contemn their Parents and are so far from honouring and loving them as they ought that they fear not to curse them with Heart and Tongue and to wish evil to them to wish they were dead as being weary of them and greedily looking to have what they leave Sect. 4. Contempt between Servants and Masters But what shall we say of Servants that contemn their Masters and Mistrisses upon pretence that they are miserable and hard to them or too harsh and severe shall they upon this account be allowed to contemn their Persons or to neglect their affairs or to refuse to do what they are Commanded Shall we give Servants leave to have their Masters in scorn and derision for these Reasons or to murmur complain and speak evil of them when they are reprov'd or corrected for their faults By no means But on the contrary We must cause them to know what their Duty what Christianity requires of them the sum whereof is thus set down by Saint Paul Ephes 6. 5. 6. 7. Servi obedite dominis carnalibus cum timore c. Servants saith he be obedient to them that are your Masters according to the Flesh with fear and trembling in singleness of heart as unto Christ with good will doing service as unto our Lord and not to Men c. and by Saint Peter 1 Pet. 2. 18. who requires Servants to be subject to their Masters with all fear and that not only to the good and gentle sed etiam dyscolis but even to the froward and ungentle So that there is no excuse no plea for the Servants contemning his Master or making light of his Person Authority Words and they that will do otherwise wo unto them I say wo unto them for so that Wise Master King Solomon hath pronounced long since Viâ—o qui corripientem dura cervice contemnit repentinus ei superveniet interitus c. The Man that despiseth to hear reproof especially having for his offence deserv'd to hear it a sudden destruction shall overtake him health shall be far from him Sect. 5. Contempts between the Poor and Rich. Others are to be found that have the Poor too much in Contempt and attribute all their necessities to negligence and carelessness on the Poors part but very unjustly the poor for a great part of them being innocent of that charge and to their power diligent and careful But it is crime enough to be poor If you be poor you are sure enough to be slighted and contemned be your innocency and your case what it will for though as the Wise Man saith Ecclus 10. 23. it be not expedient to despise the Poor Man that hath understanding it is
When we have done this and that the love of God begins to be well rooted in our hearts we are in the next place to do our endeavour that the same may increase and grow in us daily more and more which is best done by the continual practice and exercise of vertue and all manner of good works incident to our state and calling together with fervent prayers and observing such Rules of good life as by the Providence of God and the labours of pious men the Christian World as to that part is plentifully supplied with Let us have made never so great advancement in the love of God yet we are still to go on and not to make a stand in our Progress much less to think or perswade our selves that we have already attained such a perfect measure of loving God with all our hearts and all our souls as that we need not to add any more to it by Piety and Holy Living For such a degree of Divine Love is not to be pretended unto in this life until we come into the Heavenly Court of Paradise So long therefore as we live in this state of Mortality we are to go constantly forward in the exercises of Piety and Vertue For in this case it is rightly said Non progredi est regredi Not to go forward in the study and endeavour of Christian Perfection is to go backward and not to advance in the love of God is to fall back and come short more or less in point of duty and love to him and so they would find by experience in a short time whosoever should indulge to such a pernicious fancy to wit as to think they had done enough and that they loved God so well as that they needed not take any care of loving him better or with a more intense diligent exact and affectionate love Whereas the only measure of loving God is as S. Bernard often and excellently teacheth to love him without measure and never to think that we love him enough In consequence to what has been said it follows that all our endeavour must be imployed towards this end viz. of growing still more and more in the love of God and less and less in the love of this world of our selves and of all things that hinder or withdraw us from God whereto as Father Cressy rightly teacheth We must be guided by a divine light and assisted by divine grace The first for the removing such impediments as either corrupt nature or the Ghostly Enemy lays in our way to deceive us and make us give over the pursuit of vertues The second to help us forward in our journey and to bring us more near unto God till at length we be joyned to him by an immediate Union to which we ought to aspire as the end of our Creation and the ultimate perfection of our nature We must renounce as we have said before and fly from our selves that we may draw nigh unto God we must destroy Self-love in our souls that so the Divine Love may be raised up and increased in us we must give our selves to the exercise and practice of all vertues as well those which regard our selves and our Neighbour as those which concern God always remembring that those which concern our selves and our Neighbour usually called Moral Vertues are then only to be esteemed worthy of that name or to be stiled Vertues when they are exercised for the love of God and do effectually help to the mortification of our natural or corrupt passions affections lusts Those which properly and immediately concern God are called Theological Vertues and being these three to wit Faith Hope and Charity are conveniently put in practice all of them in the one exercise or duty of Prayer which includes all duties directly pertaining to God as namely of loving him with all our hearts and souls of trusting or putting confidence in him of believing his holy Word adoring his Divine Majesty obeying his Commandments submitting and resigning our selves to his Divine Will and Pleasure Follow therefore herein the good counsel of Father Grenadus who bids us not to suffer our minds to be intangled with over-much love of corporal objects or visible and worldly things whether they be Honours Lands Riches or other goods of this world Children Kinsfolks Parents Friends c. Forasmuch as this kind of love is a great occasion of all sorts of sins of cares vexations vain phantasies passions temptations and all kind of evil disturbance unquiet and disorder that is to be found in the world This Love according to S. Augustin is the poyse of the Soul and which way soever this Love draweth that way the Soul inclineth So that if this Love de set for Heaven then the Soul is drawn towards Heaven but if this Love be set upon Earth then is the Soul also bent towards Earthly things This being so it concerns us to walk warily never suffering our heart to fix upon or to cleave unto the love of visible things but rather to esteem them as things of small account as frail and uncertain and such as pass away in a moment Remove therefore your hearts from them and fix them wholly upon that which is their chiefest and most proper object viz. true felicity Sect. 2. By humbling and undervaluing our selves Deponentes omne pondus circumstans nos peccatum saith S. Paul Hebr. 12. v. 1. Laying aside all weight and sin that besets us as it were and incompasses us round about let us run with patience the Race that is set before us looking unto the Author and Finisher of our Faith Jesus who for the joy that was set before him indured the Cross despising the shame and is set down at the right hand of God The reason of his Exhortation is by the example of Christ humbling himself for us unto death yea the painful and shameful death of the Cross to move us to humility and patience for his sake who endured so much in our behalf both living and dying Christ disdained not for our sakes being God to descend from his high Throne of Majesty in Heaven and to be made Man taking our humane and vile Nature upon him yea and to be vilified contemned and undervalued by men and that in such a measure of inhumanity and malice as is beyond all expression and therefore if we will be his true Disciples and live after his example we must not disdain to humble our selves as he did nor to be ill treated by men as he was The Servant must not expect to be above his Master nor the Disciple above his Teacher If Christ were so humbled for us we ought to humble our selves for him and where his honour and service requires it not to think much to be undervalued abused despised and persecuted even to death If we will be worthy followers of Christ we ought with S. Paul continually to bear about with us the mortifications of our Lord Jesus 2 Cor. 4.
10. daily dying as to this world in all our inordinate passions and affectations of humane praise honour favour and contrariwise chusing and desiring rather to be undervalued by all to the intent that for the present the power of Self-love may be broken and abated in us and that afterward for this undervaluing and dispising our selves we may be honoured and exalted by our Lord Jesus Christ according to his promise Luc. 18. 14. Qui se humiliat exaltibitur Who so humbleth himself shall be exalted He that undervalues himself easily undervalues all other things and if you will possess all the only way is to forsake all But alas How far short are we of Perfection in this kind How few are there amongst us that forsake either the world or themselves as they ought Few there are that go by this narrow way Many are called many are exhorted and incited to it but few elected or chosen to walk and finish their lives in it Few there are that love to be vilified or desire to be humbled for Christ and yet it is that we must submit unto we must come to that perfection or miss and fall short of our reward eternal happiness If we would desire this Perfection from our heart we should obtain it seeing our Saviour hath promised us that whatsoever we shall ask in his name that shall be for his honour and our good it shall be granted Joan. 14. v. 13 14. And therefore if God do not send us afflictions and adversities requisite to this purpose viz. to humble us and mortifie our corrupt passions it is by reason he sees us unfit for them We are not strong enough nor so well mortified in mind and spirit as to bear them God on his part is always ready to do us good and to treat us so as may be best for us both as to this life and that to come and consequently to send tribulations crosses and afflictions to those that are truly mortified and so resign'd to his Divine Will as that he sees they will receive good and not harm by them that they will be humbled by them and patient under them and consequently encrease their own merits upon that account if not unto temporal yet at least which is far better unto eternal reward Observe from hence that all the things which men desire or can wish for if they tend not to the true abnegation to the true submission and humiliation of our selves for the love of God they are tainted with corrupt nature Interest and Self-love and though men sometimes are apt to think that they have clearly avoided and freed themselves from this paspassion yet it is only in appearance and they have driven it from them as it were on the one side but it returns slily and secretly upon them some other way and sticks fast on their Souls which appears by this that men seldome or never wish for or desire any great adversity any sharp afflictions tribulations or crosses nor desire much that any thing should go contrary to their mind and yet only these and such like things can shew how they are humbled how mortified and free of Self-love The reason hereof is no other but that vertue is imperfect in us We are yet faint-hearted and ready to fail in small matters Men are not as yet come to a true undervaluing of themselves they love themselves esteem themselves and still seek themselves too much almost in every thing Self-love is a subtile and deceitful vice it deceives others it deceives our selves using much dissimulation with every one Happy is the man that is free of it that is dead to himself that is to say who is dead in all his sensual passions and appetites and in all inordinate affections towards visible objects and dead in his own Self-love desiring to be vilified and undervalued of all according to the example of Jesus Christ who in his own person gave us a marvellous instance of most perfect mortification when being upon the Cross he cryed out in these words Matth. 27. v. 46. Deus meus Deus meus ut quid dereliquisti me My God my God why hast thou forsaken me Why am I thus left destitute to the will of my enemies without any aid or comfort from you God our Saviour and Redeemer hanging thus on the Cross was for certain deprived of all spiritual and sensible consolation yet did he suffer most willingly and not in the least lose his courage Ah he did it for our example it was to let us know that when God deprives us at any time of our wonted Consolations whether Spiritual or Temporal and brings adversity and affliction upon us it is that we should suffer them patiently and willingly for his loves sake and that we should with a perfect resignation submit our selves to his Divine Will Perfection does not consist so much in the gifts of a sensible Love and sensible Consolations but in that which may be more real and essential though less sensible to wit in a well-ordered and well-grounded affection of resolution of mind for God and for the performonce of his Holy Will and Commandments in all things The servant of Christ should not seek nor place Perfection in any sensible things whatsoever whether Corporal or Spiritual not in any sensible Devotion in time of Prayer nor in the frequency of Internal Consolations but in perfect Conformity to the Will and Commandments of God in perfect mortification of all sinful lusts and appetites and in perfect abnegation of our selves as to every thing that is offensive to him and contrary to our duty Perfection consists in being throughly clear of all affection to sin and constantly inclin'd and well disposed to whatsoever is good Happy is he who is so humble as to acknowledge himself a great sinner and with the Publican to confess that he is not worthy to lift up his eyes to Heaven for the great multitude of his sins Happy is he who is so well disposed and mortified as to be ready to endure all pains yea even those of Hell it self if it could be for the love of God though being himself in the state of Grace Happy is he who is as well prepared and as well pleased in being deprived of all sensible graces devotions love as to have or receive such gifts from God Happy is he who is so well inflamed with the Essential love of God as to desire at all times of his life to be freed from corporal love to any Creature Happy is he who desireth to imitate or be like unto Jesus Christ upon the Cross abandoned of all good spiritual and corporal rejected and vilified by men forsaken by God and left destitute to all want pain and misery But alas How few are there of this perfect disposition where is the man that is thus mortified in his passions humbled in his mind resigned in his will Where is the man to be found who being depriv'd of his wonted Consolations
not a thing that ought to be yet as to matter of fact he confesseth that so it is The Poor Mans Wisdom is contemned and his Words slighted Ecclus 9. 26. let him speak never so wisely his words have no place they say of him what Fellow is this Ecclus. 13. 22 23. which made the Holy Job also to complain Job 12. v. 4. in his time and case Deridetur justi simplicitas The just upright man is laughed to scorn But take heed ye that thus despise the poor For though God suffer the poor and his simple true-meaning to be despised and contemn'd for a time yet it shall not be always so There is a time coming when the wicked their despisers shall be compelled to acknowledge to their great confusion that those whom they so much scorn'd and despis'd in the time of this World are worthily in Honour before God The words in which they make their fruitless Repentance and Confess their errour to no purpose are set down by Solomon Sap. 5. v. 4 c. Nos insensati c. These are they whom we had sometime in derision and for a parable of reproach We fools and senseless esteemed their life madness and that their end should be without honour Behold how they are now accounted among the Children of God and their lot among the Saints Sect. 6. Contempt of Persons for their Infirmities only and of many for the faults of some few justly blameable There is yet one sort of Contempt to be observed which I may call rather indiscreet than malicious For as it pretends to contemn something that is evil so far I think it may be exempt from malice but as it fixes or falls upon persons more than it should or when upon their actions and vices does not well distinguish between matters of enormity and matters of infirmity between great transgressions and lighter sins but hates and despises all alike in this respect I think it wants Discretion and therefore reckon it amongst those Defects which are only blamed for want of prudence For as to the first though I do willingly confess the wickedness of sinners deserves to be abhorred of all good Christians yet I cannot but withal aver that it may be blameable in us to have the persons of the Transgressors too much in contempt or too much in hatred Because according to the rule of Christianity and Charity we ought rather to pitty and have compassion for their persons imputing things as much as may be to humane frailty and praying for their conversion which if we neglect to do I know not but in many cases we may offend God as much by hating and despising their persons upon the account of sinne as they do by committing the sinne Adde hereunto the just fear that we ought to have least we our selves fall into the same errours which is possible enough if we be presumptuous according to that Caveat of the Apostle 1 Cor. 10. 12. Qui se existimat stare videat ne cadiat He that thinks he standeth let him take heed least he fall and Saint Gregory saith What we are to day we know but what we shall be in few daies after we are uncertain Likewise those whom we have in contempt upon pretence of their evil actions may repent and become good who though they begin late yet proceeding with greater fervour and diligence they may with Gods help soon come to oustrip their Despisers in the way of piety and perfection and be found at the day of Judgment better Christians than we our selves Things being so let us contemn none but have pitty and compassion of all as occasion requires for fear least we fall into sin our selves and become worse then they But that which is worst of all is that some cannot be satisfied to have in contempt particular persons upon pretence of some faults they see or think they see in them but they lash out and exercise their Despising humours against many meerly for some relation they may have to the said few or particular persons without any community or participation of guilt with them For example if one that is Master of a Family happen to do some thing that is amiss and which he ought to have refrain'd from doing 't is often seen that his whole Family Relations and Kindred come thereupon to be contemn'd or ill thought of by some and more especially those that converse familiarly with him will incurre suspicion and be held guilty by the many of rash Judgers Hence also it comes to pass that when some one that is a Catholique commits a fault through Humane frailty and transgresseth either against the Law of God or of the Kingdom though Religion and the Faith he professeth be most pure and innocent of that Crime yea expresly requires commands teaches the contrary yet for this one Mans sake all other Catholiques how innocent soever are brought under Censure and Obloquy yea often do suffer with him as guilty though it be a proceeding horrible unjust and detestable both in the sight of God and Man and wherein those uncharitable and indiscreet Censurers and Haâ—ers of others are many times notoriously known to be far worse and in no sort to be compar'd for Vertue and Honesty with those whom they traduce This publique practice of this Nation makes good what I say Who does not hear all sorts of Sectaries here in England Protestants Puritans and the rest talking much and objecting daily to Catholiques the Gun-powder-treason as they call it With this slaunder their Pulpits and all Places ring insomuch that unto this day all English Catholiques are accounted by Uncatholique People little better than Traitors upon that account to wit because whoever contriv'd it there were some Four or Five Catholique Gentlemen engaged in it who have long since suffered for their fault And though King James himself who then reigned did publiquely in Parlament acquit the generality of Catholiques from having any hand in that Conspiracy yet such is the infense-hatred and ill-will of most English Protestants towards us we are still persecuted with ill Language ill Suspicions and hard usage upon that score They might do much better to reflect plentifully upon their own Wicked and Barbarous Fact in Murthering their own King and so many of His Loyal Subjects in several parts of the Kingdom who by and through their violence lost their Lives and Estates for no other Crime but their Loyalty This was not done by four or five private Persons rashly unadvisedly desperately nor yet by twenty or an hundred of them Protestants but by the generality or far Major part of this Protestant Nation the Reverend Bishops only excepted and many of the Episcopal party all of them some very few only excepted either immediately or mediately either actively or passively either by consent or sufferance concurring and being accessary to the Kings Death and the Death of so many Thousands of their fellow Subjects as perished in the late War Neither
can they produce so much as one Catholique Person in England that had his hand in any of those Bloudy Actions but many may be produced who suffered all that men could suffer in this World to prevent and hinder them to the Praise of God and their Conscience Protestants therefore may see that We Catholiques have greater reason to have their Persons in Contempt and Hatred upon the account of Treason than they ours if that were justifiable but we think it is not and therefore proceed Sect. 7. Contempts between Nations and Nations In the same manner are to be apprehended all those that take pleasure and make it their sport to speak contemptuously and slightingly of whole Nations Countries Kingdoms Peoples An evil Disease this is under the Sun and the symptome of a very bad Humor arguing a great want both of Charity and Prudence What can be worse than to be continually censuring and undervaluing the Common and Publique behaviour or Manners of People the Customs of Places in which perhaps they never were to be Ey-witness of any thing It may be that some Countries Nations Provinces Kingdoms are addicted to some particular Things which are displeasant unto us yea perhaps not so agreeable to Reason or Vertue What if they be are we altogether free of the like Are there no evil Conditions no evil Customs no ill Manners to be observ'd amongst us that may be as justly displeasing to them If we censure them for some particular things perhaps we our selves are more guilty in others We take notice of the Vice of Nations and People but we over see their Vertues which for ought is certain to the contrary they may excel us For this we know that as to Persons so to Nations God distributeth his particular Gifts according to his good pleasure which Gifts we are not to contemn but should endeavour to obtain our business should not be to spy and to take notice of other Mens Faults and Imperfections but to amend our own studying to be more perfect and vertuous our selves It is well known that the Greeks are generally speaking more Eloquent than others Brasilians more Chaste Spaniards more Ingenious Italians more fix'd and constant in their Judgments Germans more Sincere the French more Nimble and Active Polonians are more Hospitable to Strangers and Pilgrims the English more Civil one towards another the Scotch more Frugal and those of the Low Countries more Industrious and willing to Labour All which Vertues and particular Endowments we should rather acknowledge and commend in them as the Gifts of God than take upon us impertinently to censure them or have the whole Nation in Contempt because we forsooth do not fancy their manners a thing conttary to all Reason Justice Charity and the Law of God which commands us to love and esteem our Neighbours as we love and esteem our Selves SECTION IV. Of Gods Indignation towards Contemners SECT 1. Malediction upon Contemners either of God or their Neighbour 2. Malediction upon Contemners of Parents and Relations 3. Malediction upon those that contemn their Kings and Princes 4. Malediction upon those that contemn their Neighbours 5. Remedy against the contemning of others 6. A Reflection upon the whole Matter fore-going Sect. 1. Malediction upon Contemners either of God or their Neighbours THe wise Solomon in his Proverbs by the Spirit of God speaks thus Chap. 1. v. 24. Quia vocavi renuistis c. For as much as I have called and ye refused to come I have stretched out my hand and there was none that would regard But you have despised all my counsel and would none of my reproof Therefore shall a sudden Calamity fall upon you and Destruction as a tempest shall seize you c. Against whom is this threatned but such as despise God neglect and fear not to transgress his holy Commandements contemn and slight his Word his Counsels his Exhortations Admonitions threatnings that are unthankful for Mercies and Favours received and being gently scourged and corrected by him do not amend their Lives Against these and the like Divine Wisdom by the Pen and by the Mouth of this Wise King denounceth this Woe and not in vain for that such Vengeance hath followed Obstinate and Impudent Sinners Holy Scriptures do abundantly declare Witness in the first place Pharaoh King of Egypt who for his contemning of God and hardening his heart against the People of Israel contrary to the Commandment of God after innumerable Plagues sent upon Him and His People was finally himself and His mighty Army drowned in the Sea which while they pursued the People of Israel returned upon them and overwhelmed them all without exception so that they sunk â—ike Stones into the bottom thereof Exod. 14. v. 27 28. Esau Jacob's Brother is another like Example who for contemning Gods Benefits â—amely his Birth-right which was not only a Perogative and Priviledge of Humane Right but also an assured Token and Pledge of Divine Benediction to all that liv'd well and were worthy of it was justly deprived of both that is of his Birth-right and of the Blessing which his Father Isaac out of his private Affection intended him How he undervalued his Birth-right we read Gen. 25. 32 33 34. where being hungry he sold it to his Brother Jacob for a Mess of Pottage En morior Behold I die saith he and what will this Birth-right avail me And that he lost Gods Blessing thereby that is by so slighting and making light of that which was a Sacred Thing appears by the Apostle Heb. 12. 16 17. who calls him a Profane Person for so doing and says that he found no place of Repentance that is so as to recover his Birth-right and that Blessing belonging to it though he sought it with tears Sect. 2. Malediction upon the Contemners of Parents and Relations As concerning those that have their Parents in Contempt nothing can be less doubted but they are all of them under Divine Malediction The Commandment it self concerning the Duty of Children to their Parents implying so much for in being commanded to honour our Parents that our days may be long upon earth which is a principal Blessing we are at the same time admonished that if we do not honour them as we ought our days shall be few and short upon Earth which is to want and fall short of the Blessing But Deut. 27. 16. it is more expresly denounced in these words Maledictus qui non honorat c. Cursed be he that seteth light by his Father or Mother and Prov. 30. 17. it is said The Eye that mocketh at his Father and despiseth to obey his Mother the Ravens of the Valley shall pick it out and the Young Eagles shall eat it Rebellious Absalon was such a despiser and therefore a like Judgment met him and took him away He so far despised his Father King David that he endeavour'd to deprive him of his Kingdom and make himself King pretending to have more knowledge
is most true what the Apostle teaches 1 Cor. 6. 19 viz. That the Adulterer Fornicator and all such like Sinners do violate Gods Temple which is their own Body because by defiling it with Lust they make it of the Temple of God wherein the sweet Odour and Incense of Vertue and Good Works ought to be continually offered and ascending before the Divine Majesty a very Sty of Satan wherein nothing can be perceived but the filthy Steam and Ill-sent of Sin and Uncleanness Add to all this That by Carnal Concupiscence Men are entangled and tyed fast in their Inordinate Affections towards Women for which reason the Wise Man saith Ecclus 7. 27. Laqeuus Venatorum Sagena cor Mulieris c. The Lewd Women is as a Hunters-snare to Men the Devil is that Hunter hunting and pursuing poor Souls to Death by this means her Heart as Nets and-her Hands Bands In which words they that observe the Passage more curiously seem to observe three several ways or methods by which Women through Concupiscence entangle Men that is to say by Snares by Nets and by Bands and according to this they likewise observe three several sorts of Men that are more especially subject to be entangled and caught by each of those ways or methods respectively Snares are proper to catch Birds that flie in the Air and by them they understand Vain Proud High-minded and Light-minded People Nets are commonly used to catch Fishes that swim in the Water understanding by them the Glutton and Drunkard and all such as give themselves over-much to the pleasures of their Palate always by their good-will swiming in their Delicacies and Varieties of Meats and Drinks Bands are for the catching of wild and stronger Creatures by which they intend the multitude of Covetous Unjust and Worldly-minded People who offend commonly by some way of Violence Oppression Rapine Injustice Fraud c. So that in fine all sorts of People are taken one way or other by them none or at least very few escaping the consideration whereof extorted from the good Father Saint Hierome this pathetique Exclamation Oh Hell-fire saith he O those Everlasting Burnings of which Gluttony and Drunkenness are the Fewel Pride and Ambition the Flame Lewd and Filthy Speech the Spaâ—kles Infamy and Shame the Sâ—inking Smoak Impudicity and Vncleanness the Ashes and the effect Eternal Misery and Torment Sect. 4. Remedies against Carnal Concupiscence To the Soul that remembers her self and desirous to live Chaste would know what Remedies may be found against the poisonous force and infection of Carnal Concupiscence I shall in the first place with Father Causin give this Advice to wit That so long as she lives in this sinful World where Temptations to Vice are so many and great how well soever things at present seem to go with her yet that she always judges it most impossible for her to persevere to the end in that state but by the singular Gift Favour and Grace of Almighty God according to that Confession of the Wise Man beginning his Prayer to God Sap 8. v. 21. Scivi quoniam aliter non possem esse continens c. I know saith he full well that I cannot otherwise be continent unless God give me the Gift and a point of Wisdom it is to know whose Gift the Grace of Chastity and Continency is It is therefore absolute necessary that for the Gift we have particular recourse to God even to the most Holy and Vndivided Trinity begging it of him who according to Saint Gregory Nazianzen is the first of Virgins that is God our Saviour and in the second place that we address our Prayers to like purpose unto the Blessed Mother of God the Virgin Mary to our good Angel and to such other of the Blessed Saints and Angels in Heaven as we have chosen or that our Faith and Devotion have made to be our Patrons in Heaven begging their Mediation and Prayers for us that we may be always delivered from the reproaches of Belial the Spirit of Impurity and that we may pass over our Life Innocently and Holily in this present evil World possessing our Vessels that is these Bodies of ours as the Apostle speaks 1 Thes 4. v. 4. in Sanctification and Honour not in the Lust of Concupiscence and finally that through the mercies of God and the help of his Grace we may come to enjoy those Crowns and Garlands of Heavenly Glory which shall be given to those who in this Fight betwixt the Spirit and the Flesh overcome the wicked one and continue Faithful unto their Captain and General Christ Jesus unto the Death Wherefore my Advice and Counsel to all is that of the Apostle 1 Cor. 10. 12. He that thinks he standeth let him take heed least he fall If at present you feel your selves at peace and unmolested with the suggestions and bad inclinations which others lie under and combate with daily more or less give thanks to God for his Mercy and beg the continuance of his Grace to you but enter not into any vain Complacence and Opinion of your self as if it were the effect of your own Forces it is the effect of Heavens Benignity towards you and if you presume to think otherwise it is to be fear'd you will find your errour in the sad experiment of some unhappy fall Therefore walk humbly before God trusting to his Grace not to your selves and be sure as much as you can to avoid all occasions of sin Sect. 5. Advice and Exhortation to all sorts of Persons to overcome the Vice of Carnal Concupiscence I find nothing more proper for this purpose viz. of subduing and extinguishing the motions of Carnal Concupiscence than what I have extracted for your use out of the Holy Court 1. Treatise of Love Sect. 1. S. 9. where the Pious and Learned Author Father Causin delivers himself thus Give your selves a little leisure to recollect your thoughts together and with the Eye of attentive Consideration to behold the many Disasters which wait on the experiencing of Carnal Sensualities If you be a Virgin stain not the Honour of your State vilifie not in your Flesh on Earth a Virtue to which Angels afford such Glory in Heaven Beware of that damnable curiosity which makes you desire to know what cannot be known by you but by becoming criminal If you understand what this sin is profit by your experience and betray not an eternity of Blessedness for a Pleasure so short If you be a Master of a Family or a Person of Quality mark what Saint Gregory Nazianzen says A Man saith he by means of this sin totally ruins Body and Soul Estate and Reputation He is terrible at home to his own Honshold and shameless abroad serving as an Executioner to his chaste Wife whom his unkindness and ill-carriage vexes to Death every day He is a Tyrant even to his own Children a reproach to his Friends a scourge to all his Domestiques a dishonour to his Kindred and
a blemish to his own good Name a shipwrack to his Fortune and a Fable or Talking-stock to all the World If you be a Maid ever fear how you become a Woman and cast not the Garland of your Virginity under the Feet of Swine give not a Hair of your Head to them who promise you Mountains of Gold and when they desire you in quest of Marriage then is the time that you must be least inclined to Marriage-pleasures all what you grant to their importunity in this kind contrary to Chastity before Marriage will be the subject of your disgrace and misfortune after it for when they shall have wedded you they will be continually imagining you liberal to others of that whereof you were prodigal to them it will be a source of jealous thoughts and surmizing concerning you as long as you live together If you be a Married Woman and and as charity commands us to think chaste innocent and of good reputation what colour or pretence can you have in reason to ingage your self in a Crime for which Husbands have such furious Passions and Aversion the Laws thundering out threats against it Judges ready to pass Sentence and Gibbets and Scaffolds prepar'd for the punishment thereof not to speak of the many poor creatures which have by occasion of this sin ended their unhappy Lives in an untimely manner being surpriz'd in the Fact and in the heat of their sin made to exchange their Lustful Flames for the Fire which shall never be quenched If you be a Man of the Sword know it is given you to defend the Honour of Chastity and not to violate it either in your self or others and that the Man who suffers himself to be led and overcome by Women what Rhodomantadoes soever he speaks or talks where just occasion requires valour he is often times found a Coward If you be a Judge or Magistrate or raised up into an Eminent Place degrade not your self of the Honour which God hath imprinted on your Forehead mount not up to the Throne of Judicature to condemn there what you practice at home and never think that the Purple which will not be died but by the Virgins Hands ought to be worn on any other but a chaste Body If you be an Ecclesiastick and which is more engaged to Religion or advanc'd in Prelacy will you be so unnatural as ever to consent to a sin which in your person cannot be less than Sacriledge What a madness is it that for the poor satisfaction which an infamous Act of Bruitish Lust gives you you will become either an Excomunicate or a Persecutor of Jesus Christ Excommunicate I say if of your self and out of the consciousness of your self you do abstain from coming to the Altar and a Persecutor of Jesus Christ if you do come to consecrate or receive the Blessed Sacrament in the guilt of this horrible sin you strike a Nail into his Hand you peirce his side with a Launce you are a Wolf that devoureth the Flock of Christ and destroyeth so much as in you lies his Brethren by your ill example It is the observation of Epictetus That Carnal Lust or Concupiscence is an odious thing and unbeseeming in what Person soever it is found In a Maid it is a shame and a thing the thought whereof is to be blush'd at In a Woman 't is a Rage and argues a furious Commotion and Disorder of those Passions which in her ought to be more calm'd and better ordered In a Man 't is Lewdness In Youth a Folly deserving great blame and in Old Age a disgrace worthy of all scorn Sect. 6. The main and chief Remedy of Concupiscence is to avoid the occasions thereof Flight from the occasions of Carnal Sensuality is a most assured Bulwark for the defence and security of Chastity and he that constantly makes use of this stratagem is sure to overcome in this so perillous warfare Let the great Conquerours of the World Fight out their Battles by dint of Sword the Christian Souldier gains his point better that is more safely and no less honourably by flying them than by sighting No man doubts but to retreat and gain the Victory is more honourable than to fight and lose it They that know any thing in this affair cannot be ignorant that this cursed Evil the sin of Carnal Concupiscence proceeds for the most part and is occasion'd by overmuch Familiarity and private Conversation with Women of which the greater part are either apt to tempt or easie to be tempted to sin and therefore all such acquaintance or being alone together of unmarried persons of different Sex is absolutely to be avoided by all that desire to live chaste 'T is as possible to carry Fire-Coals in your Bosome and not be burnt as to converse familiarly with a Woman in private and not be touch'd with some Sparks of Lustful passion such is the frailty of Humane Nature which if indulg'd unto will soon break out into a greater flame which is the reason why we are so often and so earnestly call'd upon in the Holy Scriptures to beware of all such evil and unnecessary conversing with Women Vse not their company saith the Wise Man Ecclus 9. 4. Look not on them v. 5. Turn away thine eye from their Beauty v. 8. least thou fall by it Sit not with them especially not at the Wine v. 9. Keep from them decline them shun their Company Prov. 5. 8. 6. 14. and the like according to which the Ancient Fathers and all good Preachers of the Catholique Church disswade us what they can and give us all good Counsel and Admonition to avoid all unnecessary Familiarity and Converse with those of the other Sex and more especially when there is probable occasion of sin fear'd or suspected To conclude finding the whole Ninth Chapter almost of the Sacred Book Ecclesiasticus to contain instructions so very opposite and proper to the Subject we have in hand I could not think it amiss to set it down here verbatim or word for word in English as the Epilogue of this my small work and to recommend it together with some few other Additaments of like nature to the most serious Reflection and Consideration of my Pious Reader Thus therefore it begins Ecclus 9. v. 2 3 4 c. Ne des mulieri potestatem animae tuae c. Give not saith this Wise Man power over thy Soul to a Woman least she enter or set her Foot upon that which is thy strength or substance and thou be put to shame for it Look not upon a Woman whose mind goeth after many things least perhaps thou fall into her Snares With her that is a Dancer be not daily conversant that thou perish not by her procurement Gaze not upon a Virgin least thou be scandalized or stumble at her Beauty Give not thy Soul to Harlots in any sort least thou destroy thy self and thine Inheritance thereby Turn away thy Face from a Trimmed Woman