God not to kill one another much more are we commanded not to kill our selues since true it is that a Homicide who depriueth another man of his lyfe is most hatefull in the sight of God how execrable then is he in Gods Eye who becommeth his owne butcher But many such persons there are said he who through entring into a most strict seuere order of a votary lyfe do often by their great fastings little sleepe immoderate disciplines and by other vnaccustomed rigidnes if not immediatly kill yet at least shorten their owne dayes and draw the period of their life to a far narrower compasse and number of yeares then God otherwise hath ordained to them Thus good Syr you see that it may be auerred at least with some shew of probability that a Religious lyfe so much aduanced by you and entertayned by my Sister may seeme to be prohibited forbidden by Gods owne hand-wryting Confessarius O how wanton and bold is Mans Nature to wrest and misconster Gods holy word for the impugning of that course of life which God himselfe first instituted For how can it be that the ten Commandements giuen by God to the Iewes should forbid that state of life which God after ordayned among the Iewes But here I must make bold to charge your Father with want of reading For it seemes he is ignorant that among the Iewes Gods chosen people there were certaine Religious men called Essenes of whom Iosephus the learned Iew thus discourseth q The righteousnes of the Essenes is meruaylous They enioy their riches in common and in this course aboue foure thousand men do liue hauing neither wyues nor seruants And further of them in another place They are Iewes by Nature r and do obserue Continency auoyde Mariage are Comemners of riches With whom accordeth the learned Philo. a Iew s who speaks much of the same Essenes of their Monasteries and of their wonderfull fasting from Meate saying of them Vix semel triduo cibi recordantur They scarce tast once of meate in the compasse of three dayes But to answere this your Fathers Reason more particularly First I say that worldly people who are not reprehended for so doing do vndertake as great or greater seuerities euen for temporall respects as religious women do for the gayning of Heauen How many Tradesmen are there who watch most part of the night in labour and spare dyet for getting of meanes to maintaine themselues their charge with poore meate and meane cloathes How many Saylers seamen beaten with cold thunder and stormes spend fewer howers in sleepe then Religious persons do and all for a little drosse and gaine Briefly how many Lawyers are there in England who liuing far from London do consume a good part of the yeare only in traueling vp and downe from their owne houses to the Terme not regarding like to ordinary Carries any weather or foulenes of the way whatsoeuer And when they come to the Terme all the forenoone they bestow in going to Westminster pleading it is to be feared sometymes an vniust cause and all the afternoone they do shut themselues vp in a little closet for their Clyents to resort vnto them which sitting course for so many howers would be most paynefull to other men and all this vassallage they vndergoe for scraping together a little gold and siluer Yf then temporall men forbeare not such infinite drudgery which in a common eye may seeme to shorten their dayes and yet they are not to be charged for hastening of their death why then shall Religious women for vndertaking lesser austerities for Gods sake desire of gayning of Heauen be reputed Killers of themselues or guilty of their death In this last place I say that it is experimentally most certaine that worldly men who liue in all affluency and aboundance of riches and pleasures do commonly liue fewer yeares then Religious persons do For such temporall men through Epicurisme and delicacy of fare or through intemperance in the sinnes of the flesh do fill their bodies with crudities raw humors diuers diseases attending the same whereby their liues are sometimes shortned Whereas Religious persons through their spare dyet moderate labour and daily meditation of Heauenly matters haue produced their liues to many yeares According hereto to insist in two or three particulars we read that S. Antony the Hermit liued a hundred and fiue yeares S. Ierome who spent much of his tyme in the wildernes liued a hundred yeares and S. Romualdus also arriued to more then to a hundred yeares So litle Reason there is to charge a Religious course with shortening the lyues of its Professours Abbesse I pray you Father Confossarius and you Cosmophila giue me leaue to vrge one reason as more fitting to be deliuered by a woman to proue that religious women are lesse subiect to shorten their liues then other women who liue in the world and this is Childbirth How many women are there in the world though otherwise of most strong and healthfull constitution of Body who haue in the compasse of a day or two in the deliuerance of their children lost their liues This point is so cuident and daily subiect to our hearing that it were-lost labour to spend more words therein Now Religious women who euer remaine shut vp in their Monasteries from the sight of men are thereby exempted from this danger by the which Lay-women do oftentimes come to a sudden and vnexpected death and it may be perhaps your fortune Cosmophila after your marriage to shorten your lyfe by this meanes wheras it is impossible that your Sister Caelia continuing in her present Resolution should thereby abbridge her dayes But you may proceed Cosmophila in your other difficulties and pretences against Religious women Cosmophila I partly acknowledg the weakenes of this my obiected Reason for I discouer it for such through the seuerall answeres aboue giuen thereto But to prosecute my Fathers discourse of the former Subiect He more then once would say that one by imbracing a votary or Monasticall life doth thereupon euen shake hands with the world giuing it its last Adieu since he depriueth himself of all the pleasures which the world affords And thus such a man or woman ceaseth to be themselues forbearing the ends for which in some sort they were created For they disclayme from all Riches Honours Marriage corporall pleasures and other consolations and comforts whatsoeuer which the world daily affoardeth to others And this indeed I hould to be the greatest hinderance of all others for entring into that retired course of life whereunto you Reuerend Syr do so much persuade Confessarius I am of your mynd Cosmophila that this is the maynest obstacle of all others in this kind yet I thinke it may be remoued taken away with as much facility or more then any other of your obiected Reasons And first I discouer the weakenes thereof by laying downe the frequent Testimonies of
the other both in mind and outward worke We may adde hereto what S. Ierome speaketh to wit x Not only the shedding of bloud is to be accounted Martyrdome but the vnspotted behauiour of a deuout mynd is a daily Martyrdome So far S. Ierome Now to compare a Religious life with Martyrdome of the body It is then to be obserued that as in many things Martyrdome surmounteth a Religious life so also a Religious life in some some things euen excelleth Martyrdome To instance this Martyrdome of the body surpasseth a Religious life in that it vndergoeth far greater paines and torments yet the greater the torments are they must therein be the shorter and sooner bring the tormented party to Heauen But in Religion though the paines be not so violent yet they are of greater and longer endurance Againe Martyrdome is to be preferred in that by meanes thereof a man layeth downe his owne life which is the dearest pledge that one can performe for another Religion though wanting this glory yet it hath the continuance of a most holy life and store of merits this for many yeares which doth aduance a man very highly in the fauour of the diuine Maiesty and reward him with many degrees of glory and eternall happines in the Heauenly Ierusalem And according hereto we may safely affirme that many yeares spent in holy conuersation and retirednes of life wil be attended with a greater increase of Reward then the loosing of ones life by only one short Act of Martyrdome shall procure Now this Aduantage Religion hath aboue Martyrdome To wit that a Religious Course is a more safe way to gayne Heauen then the expectation thereof by Martyrdome And the reason hereof is in that many Christians at the tyme when they should suffer Martyrdome for the profession of their Religion haue shamefully falne from their fayth for the auoyding of their torments And this is euident out of the writings of S. Cyprian y who relateth the miserable falles of seuerall hundreds who as he sayth were ouercome before the battaile and ouerthrowne before the encounter Now Religion lyeth not open to this danger since a Religious life more sorreth to a mans disposition then Martyrdome doth and there be many things in it which as aboue is shewed asswage the hardnes of that Course Another priuiledge which a true Religious life hath aboue Martyrdome is that where as Religion is euer at hand and ready to be imbraced at all tymes Martyrdome seldome happeneth since Martyrdome is not in our power for neither ought we to kill our selues nor to prouoke others to kill vs for either of these were an Act of great presumption and most displeasing to God Now I will conclude the resemblance betweene Martyrdome and a Religious life with this ensuing obseruation That as without death there is no Martyrdome of the body so a Religious life may be said to suffer a certaine kind of death For seeing death depriueth vs of our wealth of our friends and of all manner of things in this world we in like manner find that a Religious Cause doth depriue a man of all the same things and this so wholy that a Religious man can no more enioy these things then if he were truly really dead Yet here is a disparity which maketh in behalfe of Religion which is that when by Martyrdome we dye our bodily death it is an easy matter to want all these worldly things because we then going to a better lyfe shall haue no need of them whereas seeing in this life we haue need of them we forbeare the fruition and enioying of them with greater difficulty and resistance of Nature Therefore impasse no further in this subiect I conclude in respect of all that aboue said that by Martyrdō a man dyet to his Body by Religion he dyeth to himselfe Heere now Cosmophila you may behold the splendour and worth of a Religious life which as it is surpassed in some respects by Martyrdome so in others it exceedeth it I say it exceeds Martyrdome the suffering whereof euen our Sauiour himselfe so much celebrateth in these words Greater z love then this no man hath that a man yealdeth his life for his friends Caelia O good Father You much strengthen my resolution with the sweetnes of these your discourses But now it comes to my mind that you one day in discoursing to our Religious Sisters of the dignity of a Religious state did call it a Sacrifice to God your meaning therein I did not I confesse nor yet do perfectly vnderstand I would desire your Reuerence to expresse your selfe more plainly that so my sister Cosmophila and my selfe may be the better instructed therein Confessarius Well then to come to that point I did then say nothing but what I will proue at this present And first in warrant of that my Assertion that Religious persons are a continuall Sacrifice to God in respect of the oblation which they make of themselues to God I do produce S. Austin thus teaching a A man consecrated vowed to the Honour of God is a Sacrifice in regard that he dyeth to the world that he may liue to God When we chastice our body by temperance if we do it for God as we ought to do to the end not to yeald our members weapons of Iniquity but weapons of Iustice to God it is a sacrifice Yf therefore our body which is but as it were a seruant and instrument of our soule be a sacrifice if the good and pious vse thereof he directed to God How much more then shall a soule be a Sacrifice when it deuoteth it selfe to God to the end that being inflamed with the fyre of his loue it may destroy in it selfe the forme and impression of all worldly Concupiscence and be reformed according to his vnchangeable likenes subiect vnto him and this Sacrifice shall be so much the more gratefull by how much it partaketh of his beauty Thus far doth S. Austin discourse of this point With whom agreeth S. Gregory thus speaking b We offer our selfes in Sacrifice to God when we dedicate our lyfe to his diuine Seruice Thus these Fathers to whom I could alledge the like authorities of many other of them And now from hence I may infer That if it be a Sacrifice for vs to offer any thing vp to God then doubtlesly to offer vp our selues to God is truly a Sacrifice the true Nature and essence whereof cōsisteth in the absolute oblation of our selues I meane of our bodies and soules and of all the powers of our Soules and particularly in offering vp the power of our will especially in such an oblation as being once offered vp it is not in our power to recall Now how most acceptable the sacrifizing of our Soule body is to God is proued by this reason following Yf the Sacrifices of the Old Testament consisting in offering vp to God a Heiffer of three yeare old or a
same is being performed in a Lay person and this by vertue of a Religious state That those who are truly Religious people do euer the Will of God That a Religious life as aboue is partly shewed cutteth off and preuenteth all occasion of sinne That by a Religious state we she the world and all the dangers thereof All these particular points I say I will pretermit to enlarge my selfe vpon and I will close this longe Passage touching the Fruits and benefits of a Religious life by heere shewing That one maine or chief Fruite thereof is that it promiseth a safe quiet and happy death The greatnes of which benefit what tongue can expresse or vnderstanding conceaue since Gods sacred writ assureth vs q Blessed are they that dye in our Lord Now for the better more full apprehension of this so inexplicable a benefit we are to call to mind that at the hower of our death three things are accustomed to afflict vs The 〈◊〉 Death it selfe the remembrance where of in regard that thereby we are to leaue the world and all its temporall pleasures begetteth euen a horrour in Mans Nature and therfore it is most truly said by the Wiseman that the remembrance * of Death is bitter The second reason making death so vnpleasing is that that is the tyme when the Deuill is most accustomed to tempt a Soule with his wicked suggestions The third and most dreadfull is the astonishing feare of the last Sentence oâ— doome of a Soule which instantly followeth after death Now the discontents and terrour of all these three things are much more mitigated sweetned and lessned in Religion then they are or commonly can be in the death of Lay persons To begin with the first This griefe in the Laity proceedeth that by death we are tâ— leaue all worldly Riches states honours yeâ— wife and children Finally that the soule 〈◊〉 leaue the body they two hauing liued so lonâ— as most deare friends Now most of this griefâ— is taken away in one dying in the state of Religious life And the reason hereof is tâ— cause when a Religious man or Woman by their professed state haue once forsaken the world they haue giuen then aforehand their last farewell to all Riches Honours neereneâ— of kindred and the like and then seeing theâ— haue parted with all these allurements afore aâ— their first entering into Religion it cannot 〈◊〉 any great griefe the second tyme to part with them to wit at the tyme of their death Now touching the second point which the Assaults and temptations with which 〈◊〉 Enemy of Mans Soule is accustomed to trouble ech one at his death we dare say That if there be any kind of men that are not troubled at that tyme or but very little with his wicked suggestions the Religious Man is that man And this is thus proued First in that the goodnes of God will not suffer himselfe to â—eaue and forsake that person in that last point of a most dangerous state vpon which person God hath in his lyfe tyme heaped so many spirituall graces and fauours as are necessarily concurring for ones entring into a Religious state Secondly I maintayne that it is most sorâ—ing and agreeable euen to the Iustice of God to protect and defend in that dangerous hower that person who with all sincerity and simplicity of hart hath vowed himselfe I meane both his Body Soule and all the powers thereof to a most strict seuere and Religious Course of seruing his diuine Maiesty Wherefore no good Religious person hath iust Reason to feare but that God at the hower of his death will couer him vnder the wings of his protection and will strengthen his Soule with internall comfort To the lessening or breaking of the forces of the former temptations of the Deuill at the tyme of a Religious Mans death we may add the comfort and consolation which euery Religious man at that hower receaueth of his Brethren euery Religious Woman of her Sisters This I meane by the assistance of their Brethren and Sisters which assistance consisteth in their exhortations Counsell and continuall prayers which allwayes but especially at the instant of death are very powerfull to animate vs in hope and to repell the fierce attempts of the Enemy Concerning the third last point which maketh death most terrible which is the learâ— of the dreadfull doome which immediatly followeth the separation of the body from the soule The feare of which doome is much diminished by the hope of Saluation which iâ— Religious man may more securely promise to himselfe then any Lay person for the moâ—â— part can And this Hope is grounded principally vpon two points First that it is presumed that a Religious Man is not guilty to himselfe of any mortall and grieuous sinne Secondly his Hope is confirmed with the remembrance of the aboundance of his good works during his lyfe tyme neither of which can be wanting in a Religious Course And hereupon we read S. Ierome exhorting Iuliaâ— to a Religious life thus to write to him r Happy is that man and worthy of all blessednes whom old age ouertaketh seruing Christ whom the last day shall fynd fighting vnder our Sauiour or to whom iâ— shall be said Thou hast receaued ill things in thy life but now shalt reioyce Hitherto worthy Cosmophila I haue laboured both for your owne and your Sister Caelia her spirituall good in discoursing of a Religious state And briefly to recall to our memory what hath passed in our former words thereof euen from the beginning of our speach First you may remember that I did discoueâ—â— the weakenes and insufficiency of all those Reasons and Obiections insisted vpon by â—ou with which your Father so much laboâ—ed to impugne at least to disesteeme and disâ—alew a Votary and Monasticall lyfe After that shewed the worth of that kind of life by seting downe the three Essentiall Vowes I meane of Chastity Pouerty and Obedience wherupon a Religious life is grounded or seated That done I did spend diuers passages of â—each in laying open the Excellency Antiquity â—onour Splendour and Dignity of the same kind â— life And now in this last place I haue ranâ—ed togeather diuers of the chiefest and most â—rincipall Fruits and benefits euer necessarily â—â—tending vpon a Religious state So as now I how not what more can needfully be said â—uching this subiect That your Sister Caelia hath by these my words strengthened and fortifyed her pious resolution for imbracing this course of lyfe I â—â—st fully assured Now what operation my â—eaches haue found in you Cosmophila will â—est appeare by your owne relation Only I â—ould be glad as through some words by â—ou aboue vttered I partly hope if so by force these my speaches your Iudgment might fully induced only to haue a true and worâ—â—y conceite of a Religious life Cosmophila Only to haue a true and worthy conceite of a Religious life O God if so I