perfection thou acquaint thy selfe with an other Booke entituled The Exercise of a Christian life or such other-like lest thou attempt to builde a great house with slender foundation and climing to the toppe of a high ladder without passing by the middle steppes at vnawares thou receiue a fall Vale. A SHORT RVLE OF GOD LIFE THE FIRST CHAPTER of the foundations of a Good life The first foundation THE first foundation of a good life is often and seriously to consider for what end and purpose I was created and what Gods designement was when he made mee of nothing and that not to haue a being only as a stone nor withall a bare kinde of life or growing as a plant or tree nor moreouer a power of sence or feeling only as a bruâ—t beast but a creature to his owne likenes indued with reason vnderstanding and freewil Also why he now preserueth me in this health state and calling Finally why he redemed me with his owne bloud bestowed so infinite benefites vppon me and still continueth his mercy towards me The end of man The end of my being thus made redeemed preserued and so much benefited by God is this and no other that I should in this life serue him with my whole body soule and substance and with what else soeuer is miâ—e and in the next life enioy â—im for euer in heauen Rules that follow of this foundation â— Was made of nothing by God and receiued body and soule from him and therfore am I only his not mine owne neither can I so binde or giue my selfe to â—â—y creature but that I ought â—ore to serue loue and obey God then any creature in this world Secondly I committe a â—â—â—de of theft and do God gâ—eat wrong so often as I â—â—ploy any part of my body 〈◊〉 soule to any other ende theÌ„ to his seruice for which only I was created Thirdly for this do I liue and for no other ende but for this doe all creatures serue me and when I turne the least thing whereof God hath giuen me the vse or possessing to any other ende then the seruice of God doe God wrong and abuse his creatures The second foundation Seeing I was made to serue God in this life and to enioye him in the next the seruice of God and the saluation of mine owne soule is the most weighty and important busines and the most necessary matter wherin I must employ my bodie minde time and labour and all other affaires are so farre foorth to be esteemed of me waighty or light as they more or lesse tend to the furtherance of this principall most earnest busines For what auaileth it a man to gaine the whole world and loose his owne soule Rules that follow of this foundation FIrst what diligence labour or cost I would emploie in any other temporall matter of credit liuing or life all that I am bound to employ in the seruice of God and the saluation of my soule and so much more as the weight or worth of my soule passeth al other things Secondly I ought to think the seruice of God and saluation of my soule my principall busines in this world and to make it my ordinary study and chiefe occupation and day and night to keepe my minde so fixed vpon it that in euery actioÌ„ I stil haue it before mine eies as the onely marke I shoote at the third foundation I Cannot serue God in this world nor go about to enioye him in the next but that Gods enemies and mine will repine and seeke-to hinder me which enemies are three the Worlde the Flesh and the Deuill Wherefore I must resolue my selfe and sett it downe as a thing vndouted that my whole life must be a continuall combate with these aduersaries whom I must assuredly perswade my selfe to lie hourely in waite for me to seeke their aduantage And that their malice is so vnplacable and their hatred against me so rooted in theÌ„ that I must neuer looke to haue one hower secure from their assaultes but that they will â—rom time to time so long as there is breath in my body still labour to make me forsake and offend God alure me to their seruice and drawe me to my damnation Rules following of this foundation I Must prepare my body and mind to all patience and thinke it no newes to be tempted but a point annexed necessarily to my profession and therfore neuer must I be wearied with the difficultie considering the malice and wickednesse of mine aduersaries and my professed enmitie with theÌ„ Secondly I must alway stand vpon my guarde and be very watchfull in euery action seeing that whatsoeuer I doe they wil seeke to peruert it and make it offensiue to God euen my very best indeuours Thirdly I must neuer looke to befree from some trouble or other but knowing my life to be a perpetuall warfare I must rather comefort my sâ—lfe with hope of a glorious crowne for my victories then of any long or assured peace with mine enemies The fourth foundation The thing which these enemies endeuour for to drawe me vnto is sinne and offence of God which is so odious hatefull and abhominable that God doth more detest and dislike it then he did the cruell vsage the woundes the tormentes and the death it selfe that for vs he suffered of the Iewes and it maketh our soules more vgly then the plague leprosy or any other moste filthy disease doth the body Rules following this foundation SO carefull as I woulde bee not to wounde torment or murther Christ so carefull must I bee not to commit any mortall sinne against him yea and much more seeing that he hateâ—h sinne more then death hauing voluntarily suffered the one and yet neuer committed the other Secondly when I am teÌ„pted with any sinne let me examine my selfe whether I would buy the fulfilling of mine appetite with being a leaper or full of the plague or with death presently to ensue after it if not then much lesse ought I to buy it with the leprosie losse and death of my soule which is of far more worth then my body The fift foundation Being Gods creature made to serue him in this life my body soule and goods and all things any way appertaining vnto me are but lent or onely let me for this end and I am only as bailiffe tenaunt or officer to demaine or goueâ—ne these thinges to his best seruice and therfore when the time of my stewardship is expired I shall be summoned by Death to appeare before my Land-lorde who with most rigorous iustice will demaunde account of euery thing and creature of his that hath beene to my vse yea of all that I haue receiued promised omitted committed lost and robbed and as I can then discharge this account so shall I be either crowned in eternall ioy or condemned to perpetuall damnation Rules following of this foundation FIrst I must vse all thinges in this life as an other bodies goods for which I
but the barke rhine of a man and our equality vppon the soule which is mans maine substaunce thinke it I pray you no dishonour to your person if with all humilitie I offer my aduise vnto you One man can not be perfect in all faculties neither is it a disgrace to the Goldsmith if hee be ignoraunt of the Millers trade Many are deepe Lawyers and yet shallowe Diuines many very deliuer in feates of the bodie and curious in externall complements yet little experimented in matters of their soule and farre to seek in religious actions I haue studied and practised these many yeeres spiritual phisick acquainting my selfe with the beating temper of euery pulse and traueling in the scrutiny of the maladies and medicines incident vnto soules If therfore I profer you the fruits of my long studies and make you a present of my profession I hope you will constre it rather as a duetifull part than anie point of presumption He may be a father to the soule that is a sonne to the body and requite the benefit of his temporall life by reuiuing his parent from a spirituall death And to this effect said Christ these words My mother and brethren are they that doe the wil of my father which is in heauen Vpon which place S. Iohn Climacus shewing to what kindred a Christian ought chiefly to rely draweth this discouâ—se Let him be thy father that both can and will lay his labour to disburden thee of thy packe of sinnes Let holy compuÌ„ction be thy mother to depure thee from thy ordure and filth Let him be thy brother that will be both thy partner and compeditor to passe and perfite thy race towardes heauen Take the memory of death for thy perpetual phere and vnseparable spouse Let thy childreÌ„ bee bitter sighs of a sorrowfull heart and possesse thy body as thy bondman Fasten thy friendshippe with the Angelicall powers with which if thou closest in familiar affiaunce they will be patrones vnto thee in thy finall passage This saieth he is the generation and kindred of those that seeke God Such a father as this Saint speaketh of may you haue of your owne sonn to enter you farther in the fore recited affinity Of which happily it was a significaÌ„t presage aboding the future euent that euen from my infancy you were wont in merriment to call me father R. which is the customary stile now allotted to my present estate Now therfore to ioine issue and to come to the principal drift of my discourse most humbly and earnestly I am to beseech you that both in respect of the honour of God your duety to his church the comfort of your children and the redresse of your owne soule you would seriously coÌ„sider the tearmes you stand in and weigh your selfe in a Christian ballance taking for your counterpose the iudgements of GOD. Take heede in time that the woord Thecel writteÌ„ of old against Baltazar interpreted by Daniel Dan. 5. be not verified in you whose expositioÌ„ was You haue been poised in the scale found of too light weight Remember that you are in the waining and the date of your pilgrimage is wel neer expired now it behooueth you to look towards your countrey Your force languisheth your senses impaire and your bodie droupeth and on euerie side the ruinous cottage of your faint and feeble flesh threatneth fal And hauing so many herbingers of death to premonish your end how caÌ„ you but prepare forso dreadful a straÌ„ger The young may die quickely but the old can not liue long The youÌ„g maÌ„s life by casualty may be abriâ—ged but the old mans by no phisicke can be long adiourned therfore if gâ—een yeares sometimes must think of the graue the thoughtes of sere age should continually dwel in the same The prerogatiue of infancie is innoceÌ„cy of childhood reuerence of manhood maturitie of age wisdom And seeing that the cheife properties of wisdome are to be mindfull of things passed careful of thinges present prouident of thinges to come vse now the priuiledg of natures taleÌ„t to the benefitte of your soule and procure hereafter to be wise in well doing and waâ—chsull in foresight of future harmes To serue the world you are now vnable and though you were able you haue litle cause to be willing seeing that it neuer gaue you but an vnhappy welcom a hurtful entertainment now doth abandon you with an vnfortunat farwel You haue long sowed in a field of flint which could bring you nothing forth but a crop of cares and affliction of spirit rewarding your labours with remorse and affording for your gaine eternall domages It is now more then a seasonable time to alter the course of so vnthriuing a husbandry and to enter into the filde of Gods Church in which sowing the seeds of repeÌ„tant sorow watering them with the teares of humble contrition you may reape a more beneficiall haruest and gather the fruites of euerlasting comforte Remember I pray you that your spring is spent and your summer ouerpast you are now ariued to the fall of the leafe yea and winter colours haue alreadie stained your hoarie head Be not carelesse saieth S. Austen though our louing Lord bear long with offenders for the longer he staieth not finding amendement the sorer wil he scourge when hee comes to iudgement and his patieÌ„ce in so long expecting is onely to lend vs respite to repent not any way to enlarge vs leisure to sinne He that is tossed with variety of stormes and cannot come to his desired port maketh not much way but is much turmoiled so hee that hath passed many yeeres and purchased litle profite hath had a long beeing but a short life for life is more to bee measured by merites than by nuÌ„ber of daies seeing 〈◊〉 most men by many daies doe but procure many deathes and others in a short space attaine the life of infinit ages What is the body without the soule but a corâ—upt carcase what the soule without God but a sepulchre of sinne If God bee the way the life and the trueth he that goeth without him strayeth hee that liueth without him dieth and hee that is not taught by him erreth Well saieth saint Austen that God is our true and chiefest life from whom the reuolting is falling to whome the returning is rising in whom the staying is sure standing God is he from whom to depart is to die to whom to repaire is to reuiue in whom to dwel is to liue Be not you therefore of those that beginne not to lâ—ue vntill they bee ready to die and then after a â—oes desert come to craue of God a frends entertainment Some thinke to snatch heauen in a moment which the best scarce atteined in the mountenance of many yeeres and when they haue glutted theÌ„ selues with worldly dâ— lites they would iumpe from Diues his diet to Lazarus croune and from the seruice of Satan to the solace of a Saint
must keepe my custome of receiuing at the lest euery eight daies though I must not think that I am then bound to so much preparation or praier as when my body was in good health If I see my disease dangerous and haue cause to feare deathe I must procure to haue some good body with me too put me ofteÌ„ in mind of God of the Passion of Christ and seeke to haue my viaticum and other Sacraments and preparations of Gods Church It is good also to haue my will ready before I fall to any extremity and a certaine order sette downe for all temporall matters that I be not cumbred with then when it standeth me most vpon to looke to my souâ—e Of the care of Seruants THE EIGHT Chapter I Must see that they lie not out in the nights but that I knowe what becometh of them I must not keepe such as are great swearers or giuen to any great or notorious vice vnles there be great likelyhood certaine hope of their amendment I must procure by what meane conuenieÌ„tly I may that they may haue necessary instructioÌ„ in matters apertaining to the saluation of their soules I must take special heed of any secret meetings messages or more then ordinary liking betwixt the men and the women of my family I must see that the men haue no haunte of womeÌ„ to their chambers least lewdnesse bee cloaked vnder some other pretence I must haue great regard that my chiefest officiers and meÌ„ of most account be trusty persons of good life and example because the rest will follow as they shal lead theÌ„ I must seeke as much as may be that my seruants be not idle nor suffered to vse any great gaming sor by the one they shal fall into lewed life by the other into swearing vnthriâ—tines robbing and such vices I must see that they haue their wages at due times least for want they fall into bad courses When they doe not thâ—ir dueties I must rebuke them agreablie to the quality of their fault and not winke at great matters lest they wax carelesse and bould to do the like again yet must my rebukes be â—eÌ„pered with grauity and mildnes Of the care of my children THE NINTH Chapter I Must thinke that my children so longe as they are vnder age and in my power or custody ought to be kept as my selfe I hauinge in this time to answere for them I must take heed they come not amongest such seruantes as are like to teach them to sweare or any other vice and I must giue speciall warning that none doe it I must set honest sound persons to gouerne theÌ„ that may also teach them vertue and goodnes yet not trusting too much to my seruants care but that I my self haue a speciall eie ouer them and take an account what they doe I must vse them to deuâ—tion by little and little not cloying them with too much at once but rather seeking to make them take a delight in it I must teach them their Pater nosteâ— Aue and Creed and other good praiers and make them perfecte in the tenne Commaundementes and those of the church and the points of faith especially those that heretikes denie I muâ—t keepe them alwaies occupied in some profitable thing allotting them according to their age more or lesse time to play I must often speak to them of the Passion of Christ and of the liues of Saintes I muste on the one side breake them from their wils and punishe them as they deserue yet remembring also that they are young and not keeping them in too much subiection which may breed in them base and seruile mindes and make their loue lesse towardes me and I neuer ought to beate any childe in mine anger I must procure that they bee taught such exercises and qualities as are fit for those of their degree and yet haue a chiefe care that good and honest persons be about them I must not vse them to vaine dresses and costlie appaâ—ell but rather often shew them the vanity thereof yet must they not bee kept too straite in that or any other thing that they are afterwarde to haue lest they being too much bard from it make them too eager of it when they come to enioy it at their owne will I must vse them to giue almes to make much of the poore and to vse reuerence to aged persons and spirituall men and praise often the true religion and vertu of their parentes and auncestours in their hearing that it may moue them to imitate their good workes I must tell them often of the Abbies and the vertue of the olde Monkes and Friers and other Priestes and religious men and women and of the truth and honesty of the old time the iniquity of ours I must vse them to read good bookes that are fittest for their capacity and see them kept from vaine bookes of loue heresy and such like I must harten them often as they grow in yeares to suffer aduersity and to digest grief especially in Gods cause a good quarel telling them the examples of others and how good a thing patience and constancie is When they are fit to goe to schoole I must procure that they haue discreete and calme teachers and such as are not cholericke hasty or curst lest they take dislike and tediousnes in learning they must be rather wonne vnto it by praise and emulation of others then by beating and stripes I must see that they be taught such ciuility curtesy complementes as their degreeâ— and the time requireth frame them as much as may be to be geÌ„tle humble affable eueÌ„ to the meanest rebuking them for angrie and sharp wordes or disdainful behauiour euen to their inferiours I must be times as age will permitte them inure them in confession and often vse of the SacrameÌ„tes the onely remedy for their vnstaied and greene wittes I muste not let the boies and girles be much together especially out of sight after eighte and nine yeares age least they fal to vnhappines Likewise my daughters must not be much amongest the men nor my sonnes amoÌ„gest the women When they come to such age as they must of force bee in many companies I must procure some sounde and honest persons to bee for the most part with them to informe me of their courses I must make them in any wise to beware of lewd conuersation which is the ouerthrowe of youth and therfore cause this pointe to bee beaten into them by good zealous men I must neuer assure or marry them vntill they bee of sufficient age to make their choice and frame their likeinge neither force them to any match least they curse me all their liues after as it often happeneth Of Temptation THE TENTH Chapter FIrst I must learne to know when I am tempted for if I can find my temptaâ—ion I may reckon it halfe ouercome For if I haue feare of God or care of my soule I
But be you well assured that God is not so penuâ—ious of â—rendes as to hold him selfe his kingdome salable for the refuse and reuersion of their liues who haue sacrificed the principall therof to his enimies and their owne bruâ—ishe appetites then onely ceasing â—o offend when habilitie oâ— offending it taken from them True it is that a theefe may be saued vpon the crosse and mercy found at the laste gaspe But well saieth S. Augustine that though it be possible yet is it scarce credible that his death should find fauour whose whole life hath earned wrath and that his repentance should be accepted that more for feare of heil and loue of him selfe then for loue of God or lothsomnes of sinn crieth for mercy Wherefore good Sir make no longer delaies but being so neere the breaking vp of your mortal house take time before extremitie to satisfie Gods Iustice. Though you suffered the bud to the blasted and the flower to fade though you permitted the fruit to perish and the leaues to drie vp yea though you let the boughes wither and the body of your tree growe to decaie yet alas keepe life in the roote for feare least the whole become fuell for hell fire For surely where soeuer the tree falleth there shall it be whether it be to south or north heauen or hell and such sap as it bringeth such fruite shal it euer beare Death hath already filed from you the better part of your naturall fores and hath left you now to the lees and remissailes of your wearish dying daies the remainder whereof as it cannot be long so doth it warne you speedilie to ransome your former losses For what is age but the calendes of death what importeth your present weaknes but an earnest of your aproaching dissolution You are now impathed in your finall voiage and not far of from the stint and period of your course therfore be not dispurueied of such appartenances as are behoofull in so perplexed perillous a iorney Death in it selfe is very fearefull but much more terrible in regard of the iudgement that it soÌ„moneth vs vnto If you were laied on your departing bed burdened with the heauy loade of your former trespasses goared with the sting and pricke of a frestred conscience If you felt the cramp of death wresting your hart stringes and ready to make the rufull diuorce betwene body soule If you lay panting for breath and suiming in a colde and fatall sweate wearied with strugling against your deadly panges O how much would you giue for an hower of repentance at what rate would you valew a daies contrition Then worldes would be worthles in respecte of a litle respitte A shorte truce would seeme more pretious then the treasures of Empires nothing would be so much esteemed as a trice of time which now by monthes yeeres is lauishly mispent O how deeply would it wound your hart when lookinge backe into your life you considered 〈◊〉 faults committed and 〈◊〉 confessed manie good workes omitted and not recouered your seruice to God promised and not performed How inconsolable were your case â—our frends being fled your senses frighted your thoughts amazed your memory decaied your whole minde agast and no part able to performe that it should but onely your guilty conscience pestred with sinne that would continually vpbraid you with most bitter accusations What would you thinke when stripped out of you mortall weede and turned both out of the seruice and how 's roome of this world you were forced to enter into vncouth and strange pathes and with vnknowen and vgly companâ— to be conuented before a most seuere iudge carying in your owne conscience your inditement written and a perfit register of all your misdeeds When you should see him prepared 〈◊〉 the seÌ„tence vpon you against whoÌ„ you had transgressed and the same to be your vmpier whom by so many offences you had made your enimie When not onely the diuels but euen the Angels should pleade against you and your selfe maugre your will be your sharpest appeacher What would you do in these dreadful exigents when you saw that gastly dungeon and huge gulfe of hell breaking out with most fearfull flames When you saw the weping gnashing ofteeth the rage of those hellish moÌ„sters the horrour of the place the rigour of the paine the terrour of the company the eternity of all these punishments Wâ—uld you theÌ„ think them wise that would delay in so weighty matters and idly play away the time allotted to preueÌ„t these Intollerable calamities Would you then account it secure to nurse in your bosom so many sâ—rpeÌ„ts as sinnes or to foster in your soule so manie malicious accuser as mortall faults Would you not then thinke one life too litle to doe penance for so many iniquities euery one wherof were enough to cast you into those euerlasting vnspeakeable torments Why then do you not at the least deuote that small remnant and surplusage of these your latter daies procuring to make an attonement with God and to free your conscience from such corruption as by your schisme and fall hath crept into it Those verie eyes that read this discourse and that veâ—y vnderstanding that conceiueth it shal be cited and certaine wiâ—nesses of the rehearsed things In your owne body shall you experience those deadly agonie and in your soule shal you feelingly find those terrible feares yea and your present estate is in danger of the deepest harmes if you doe not the sooner recouer your selfe into the fold and family of Gods Church What haue you gotten by being so loÌ„g customer to the world but false ware sutable to the shoppe of such a marchant whose trafick is toile whose welth trash and whose gaine miserie What interest haue you reaped that may equall your detrements in grace and vertew or what could you finde in a vale of teares parageable to the fauour of God with the losse whereof you were contented to buy it You cannot be now inueigled with the passions of youth which making a partiall estimate of things sette no distance betweene counterfeit and currant For they ar now worne out of force by tract of time or fallen in reproofe by triall of their follie It cannot be feare that leadeth you amisse seeing it were too vnfitting a thing that the crauant cowardice of fleshe and blood should daunte the prowesse of an intelligent person who by his wisdome cannot but discerne how much more cause there is to feare God then man and to stand in more awe of perpetuall then temporal penalties If it be an vngâ—ouÌ„ded presuÌ„ption of the mercy of God and the hope of his assistance at the last plunge the ordinary lure of the Deuell to reclaime sinners from the pursuite of vertue it is to palpable a collusioÌ„ to misleade a sound sensed man howsoeuer it preuaile with sicke affected iudgements Who would rely eteâ—nal affaires vpon the gliding slipperines and running