Book and thou shalt see how thou hast lived even against God and contrary to right and reason Thou hast been Proud Arrogant ambitious spitefull at others prosperity a prolonger of time Wrathfull a Backbiter injurious Trayterous hatefull Covetous of Gold more than of God Gluttouous Wanton Shameless a stewes-hunter given to all vices and hast transgressed all the commandements of God leading a loathsome life denying God swearing and blaspheming his name an haynous effender a false Witness bearer a lyar a desirer of other Mens goods disobedient to Parents cursing them and wishing their death Furthermore thou hadst neisher Faith nor hope in God but rather in the force riches honour and friendship of thy kindred with their Authority I cannot reckon up the rest of thy Sins for they are uncountable Very little care hast thou had of Christs merits or of thy own souls health but alwayes yielding to Voluptuousness filthiness and iniquity When Conscience had thus accused me Sorow for Sin sell bitterly aweeping and oftentimes struck her breast Then Conscience shewed me what Torments I had deserved for following Voluptuous affections and for loving them better then God Thou oughtest said she to burn in Hell fire that never quencheth and to be nipped with Torments both of Body and Soul for evermore Thy laughing shall be turned to Weeping the Ioy to Sorrow thy Songs to Cries yea what pains can be named but thou art like perpetually to suffer them without hope of Redemption For this is the due reward of Worldly Felicity and following Folly Be think thee now and tell me if it be in thy power to rid thee from these grievances Hearing my Conscience thus speak me thought I saw Hell open to swallow me up and with sorrowfull sadness I fell to the ground before Gods grace speechless but she had Compassion on me and bade me arise the which I did though half in despair and to re-comfort me she opened the book which Remembrance held in her hand CAP. V. By the Commandements of Gods grace remembrance read to me the goodness of God with his promises made to repen tant sinners AFter Remembrance had opened her Book I perceived the Letters were Gold and Azure containing the great goodness and infinire mercy of God so repentant Sinners with fair promises annexed thereunto Then at the commandment of Gods grace remembrance read out of that book unto me in this manner Saint Paul Writing to the Romans saith Where Sin hath abounded grace hath more abounded He that mistrusteth the mercy of God mistrusteth God to be mercifull and in so doing he doth God great dishonour For he denyeth God to be Love and power wherein consisteth all the hope of poor Sinners For of his great love he sent his only Son to take Mans Nature upon him in this World that in the same he might suffer death upon the Cross for the remission of Sins Consequently he promised for the love of his Son Remission and Pardon to all Poor Sinners so often as they desired it in Faith with an heavy and sorrowfull Heart Now God is as true of his Promises as he is of Power able to perform them And as he is of Power so will he do whatsoever pleaseth him God will pardon Sinners their Sins who then can let him from doing it To whom God pleaseth or hath promised to pardon their Sins he forgiveth The truth hereof is Written in plain Words and shewed by examples in many places of the holy Scripture as well in the Old Testament as the New First Esay saith It is I my self It is I my self that doth blot out thine iniquities for mine own love sake and I will not have thy sins in remembrance For the love of me saith he and not for the love of thee meaning his goodness and mercy and not for the love of thy merits As if he had said to all sinners in this sort If thou thinkest that I pardon thy Sins for thy merits sake thou art deceived and Wallowest in despair no no but for my mercy and infinite goodness I remit and forgive Thou hast no cause to despair for the least part of my mercy exceedeth all thy Sins In another place he saith by the same Prophet Turn your selves unto me all the Earth and you shall be saved for I am God and there is none other besides me What is the meaning of these Words I am God any thing else but that God is good and mercifull If it be unpossible but he should be God it is unpossible but he should be good and mercifull The same Prophet speaketh unto every one of us saying Let the Infidell leave his wayes and the unjust Man his thoughts let them turn to the Lord and he will have pitty upon him for he is ready to forgive And by the Prophet Jeremy he saith to the People of Israel that he was wroth for their Idolatry and many other Sins nevertheless he said Turn Israel thou Rebell unto me thy Lord and I will not turn my face from thee or as the Hebrew Text saith I will not lay mine ire upon thee for I am saith the Lord holy and gentle and keep not mine anger for ever And by the Prophet Ezechiel he saith If the evill Man repent him of his Sins and keep my Commandements doing righteously he shall live and not dye neither will I have his former offences any more in remembrance Do you think saith the Lord that I delight in the death of a Sinner nay rather that he should turn from his Wickedness and live Repent you then and you shall live The Prophet David said That from morning till night Israel hoped in the Lord what doth this signifie but that the faithfull from their Nativity and Birth untill their very Death have hope in the Lord There is mercy in the Lord and great Redemption attendeth upon him In Joel it is Written Turn your selves unto the Lord with all your heart in Fasting Praying Weeping Sorrow tearing your hearts and not your Garments so shall you be turned unto the Lord your God for he is full of Clemency Mercy and Grace slow to ire and ready to forgive or as the Hebrew Text saith such a one as repents him of evill that is to say is leath to execute the punishment upon Sinners which he hath denounced and threatned Micheas the Prophet saith What God is there like unto thee which takest away iniquities and forgivest Sins for the rest of thine Heritage sake He keepeth not his ire for ever but of his compassion and mercy will have pitty upon us He will put out our iniquities and throw all our Sins into the bottom of the Sea What Sinner is there that hearing these words hath so heavy a heart as to despair seeing that God is more ready to forgive than the Sinner is to ask forgiveness Now let us come to the New Testament to try if there be not Testimenies to the same effect The Son of God which is
good Hermit wherefore I was desirous to know his Name the which I asked Lady Memory who told me that it was good Understanding Then I received the holy Communion which being ended and Thanks given to God I meant to salute gratisie him But before we went to receive the holy Sacrament of the body and blood of our Lord and Saviour Iesus Christ I remembred the great love of our Lord which humbly took upon him our fraile and weak nature for our sakes became accursed and suffered most bitter death upon the Cross to deliver us out of the bandage of Sin Hell and Eternal death and to bring us to everlasting life I remembred also that love which he shewed unto me in drawing me out of the sink of sin wherein I was plunged over head and ears so that I was not only drawn from my unspeakable sins but also made a Communicant of the mystery of his Divine Majesty by faith And to the end it might please him to give me grace to receive it aright I prayed unto him on this wise O Sweet Jesus and loving Redeemer I yield thee thanks for thy unspeakable love by which thou hast purged me from the filth of sin and pluckt me by thy grace out of the dark dungeon of death Behold I reconcile my self unto thee most heartily beseeching thee that thou wouldest vouchsafe amongst the great number of thy benefits of thy great liberality to give me grace to be a faithfull partaker of thy precious body and blood represented unto me under the visible form of Bread and Wine O immortal King I am not worthy I confess of so great a benefit yet I beseech thee as thou dost make the unworthy worthy and the sinners just so make me worthy to receive this holy blessed and Heavenly Sacrament to my Souls Health Feed my Soul O Lord with thy spiritual Body and let thy blood revive and quicken my Spirit O make me by thy grace daily encreasing in me a member of thy mysticall body that I may be included within the Covenant and blessing which thou madest with thy Saints and Apostles in thy last Supper communicating unto them the holy Sacrament of thy body and Blood and consequently that I may be of the number of them which according to the Vow and Promise made in Baptism do live in Faith and by thy grace are received into the company of Saints Amen This prayer being ended with all Reverence and Devotion I received the holy Sacrament and that being ended we went from the Chappel into a great Hall where I met the good Hermit Understanding whom when I had saluted and he me I thanked him for his good sermon Then as we were talking Gods Grace said unto me Sir Knight I give thee for thy Governour this good Hermit Understanding believe his Counsel and do what he commands Then I remembred my old Governess Folly whom I left in the bog amongst Serpents and Toads so I was very glad of my Governour and give thanks to Gods Grace who from the Table gave me drugs to eat and repeated unto me a place written in the 80 Psalme of David Open thy mouth wide and I will fill it Then having swallowed that which she gave me I forgat the World and made no reckoning of any thing therein For all my desire was in haste to see the Palace of true Felicity I desired death to be with Christ in Heaven Dinner being done the Gates of Repentance were opened which were narrow contrariwise as it appeareth in the first Book that the entrance into the Palace of Voluptuousness was wide large and great but the end thereof was desperation and destruction as on the other side the entring into the Palace of Repentance is streight and narrow but the end thereof is eternal Life For Repentance as Saint Paul saith leadeth the Repentant to everlasting Salvation When the gates were open I mounted up into a Chariot of Ivory having golden wheels and two white Horses with wings drawing the same Gods Grace gat up first and with her hand helped me up then followed the good Hermit Understanding then Memory Conscience and Repentance but Gods Grace governed all who touching the Horses with her Rod they mounted up over the Mountains which are above the Earth So we passed through the Region of the Air where inhabiteth all the wicked spirits which watch to annoy such as would mount up to Heaven And though I was greatly agast hereat yet my trust was in Gods Grace under whose Wings I hid my self I trusted not in my Conscience although it was at peace nor to Repentance nor to Understanding but to Gods Grace only who safely throwded me under her Wings as the Hen doth her Chickens against the coming of the Kite Then she commanded the wicked Enemies to get them hence and they forthwith sled away crying aloud Now have we lost our Knight lo he is mounted up to the Palace of Vertue in despight of us all Now he is escaped under the Wings of Gods grace Being past this brunt I heartily thanked Gods grace of her goodness and on the sudden I saw upon the top of a Mountain a goodly Palace Now for that love ingendreth tamiliarity and familiarity breeds boldness I asked Gods grace what place it was and she told me it was the Palace of Vertue It was so high that it reached even to Heaven and about it were seven sair Towers of Alablaster In the first dwelt Faith in the second Hope in the third Charity in the fourth Wisdome in the fifth Justice in the sixth Fortitude and in the seventh Temperance In the first Tower Gods grace shewed me Faith which waited for our coming near unto whom I might perceive the Palace of true Felicity With that I desired Lady Memory to put me in mind in the morning of seeing that gallant City Whiles we talked thus our Chariot arrived at the Court where Lady Vertue with her Daughters Faith Hope Charity Wisdome Justice and Temperance dwelt At the first sight I knew it was the same Lady Vertue which afore-time had so well admonished me to whom I gave no ear Then reverently upon my knees lamenting I cryed her mercy for contemning her Counsell and following Voluptuousness Wherewith she made me arise and in token that she took in good part my recantation she sweetly kissed me and bade me Welcome So with great joy accompanied with Gods grace true Understanding quiet Conscience and unfained Repentance I entred into the Palace of Lady Vertue Thus much for the second part of the Wandring Knights Voyage THE VOYAGE OF The Wandring Knight The Third Part. CHAP. I. The Knight declareth the great good the solace and the pleasure which he found in the Palace of Lady Vertue IF I had a thousand tongues to tell the truth of all the good and pleasures which I found in the Palace of Vertue and if I live a thousand years to report this matter all were too little in every
THE VOYAGE of the Wandring KNIGHT SHEWING The whole Course of Man's Life how apt he is to follow Vanity and how hard it is for him to attain to VERTUE Devised by John Cartheny a French man and Translated out of French into English by W. G. of Southampton Merchant A Work worthy the Reading AND Dedicated to the Right Worshipfull Sir Francis Drake Knight LONDON Printed by John Cadwell for Andrew Crooke at the Signe of the Green-Dragon in S. Paul's Church-yard 1661. To the Right Worshipful Sir Francis Drake Knight happy success in all his Attempts and due Reward for the same THE common course of mans life most ventrous and no less Worshipful Knight and their daily dealings doe manifestly declare how variable they be how wandring how wavering how uncertain and unconstant if Fortune or rather God to speak Christian-like by blessing them as abundantly so extraordinarily and raising them tanquam è pulvere luto advance them to promotion And no marvel though this be incident to the manners of men seeing that Nature her self in this point offendeth For what is he unless he be mortified that is not naturally of an aspiring minde Imitating herein the property of the Ivie which never ceaseth climbing by degrees Donec ipsam summitatem attigerit till it be come to the very top This fault being general and hateful in the judgement specially of the wise might seem so much the more tollerable if that men placed in preheminence and sitting like Hills over-looking the Valleys below with their high calling and stately authority had agreeable hearts But some notwithstanding their state be singular and indeed such as that they may sit down take their ease and say Hic terminus esto do carry so base a mind as that if I should compare them to Aesops Cock preferring a Barley Corn before a precious Pearl I should not do amiss There is none but by diligent observation may see this to be undoubted truth In the taxing of which English and Out-landish fault for it is as common as the World is wide I should shew my self no cunning Archer to over-shoot the mark of your deserved commendation For although you have had Fortune holding the Bason whilst you washed your hands and cast the best chance of the Dice yet for all that such is your contentment you hoyst not up the lofty sail of self-love to swell with the wind of vain-glory as vanting of any exploit which you have atchieved Per tot Cyclopia saxa per mundi scopulos Scyllam vastamque Charibdim But as you went out so are you come home familiar with your friends courteous to your acquaintance remembring all forgetting none still of one mind will and affection the prosperous event of your dangerous Voyage notwithstanding Some one having passed a Sea of six dayes sayling or lesse if less might be supposed is so far in love with himself and so indiscreetly doteth over his own doings at his return that he maketh his Travel ordinary Table-talk aggravating the matter so monstrously as if he had endured the very Labours of old Hercules Another Et terris jactatus alto having seen the mighty Works of the Lord and his Wonders in the Deep and as it were measured with a pair of Compasses be it spoken without offence the globe of the World post multa discrimina rerum arriving to his native Soil marvellously blessed from above yet discovereth not the multitude of dangers or rather death wherewith he hath encountred Which of these judge you deserveth the Trumpets plausible sound I cannot therefore sufficiently wonder at the equality of your Worships mind which notwithstanding so many tempests of perturbations and sharp surges of inward motions continueth calm And it doth me not a little good first to see you so fortunate secondly though that were enough to make you insolent and disdainful the credit which you have gotten deserving no doubt even with the very best that yet you contemn not the company the acquaintance the familiarity and conference even of such as by many degrees are your inferiours This among other considerations of your courteous disposition and friendly nature being a mirrour in a Gentleman in this our proud arrogant Age like a right Load-stone drew me an Iron lump having in my hands a notable Work entituled The Voyage of the Wandring Knight to over-run the same according to my superficial skill and slender knowledge to polish and burnish it to restore and make it perfect in some such limbs whereon it seemed to halt that it might with so much the more grace Proripere in publicum in hominum manus involare for their large delight and indeed to procure the printing and publishing thereof that well-disposed people might thereby reap some benefit Which Work so perfected and brought into a reasonable good form as my little learning and less leisure gave me leave I am bold upon request of the Translator being absent to make Dedicatory unto your Worship and have added this Epistle of mine own as a testimony of the unfained affection and hearty good will which I bear you without presumption be it spoken not doubting how it shall be received seeing the former presentation thereof was so well liked Beseeching God to bless you and the good Lady your Wife and all yours one with another to prosper your proceedings to further all your affairs and that as hitherto you have had Vertue your â—ore-runner and Fortune your follower so you may have them still even to your lives end Vt magis atque magis tua gloria crescat and that after you have sayled even to the very Straits of Death which no mortal man can avoid you may arrive in the Port of peace I mean Abrahams Bosom even the Kingdom of Heaven the appointed Haven for all the true Christian Navigatours Your Worships most humble to command N. R. The Contents of the first part of the Voyage of the Wandring Knight THe Wandring Knight declareth his intent and foolish Enterprise wishing and supposing in this World to find true Felicity Chap. 1. The Wandring Knight declareth unto Dame Folly his Governess what is his intent chap. 2. Folly and Evil will provide the Knight Apparel Armour and Horse chap. 3. Folly apparelleth and armeth the Wandring Knight chap. 4. Folly upon the way sheweth the Knight many of her antient proceedings and how many great and notable Personages she had governed chap. 5. The Wandring Knight finding two wayes and doubtful whether of them to take there chanced to come to him Vertue and Voluptuousness either of them offering to conduct and guide the Wandring Knight on the way chap. 6. The Wandring Knight by the counsel of Folly left Lady Vertue and followed Voluptuousness which led him to the Palace of worldly Felicity chap. 7. How the Wandring Knight was received and welcomed to the Palace of wordly Felicity chap. 8. Voluptuousness sheweth the Wandring Knight some part of the Palace and after brought
him to Dinner chap. 9. Dinner being done Voluptuousness sheweth the Wandring Knight the rest of the Palace of worldly Felicity with the superscription of the Towers thereof and by the Author is declared the evil fruit of certain notorious sins chap. 10. The scituation or standing of the Palace of worldly Felicity chap. 11. The Author declareth how the Wandring Knight and such like voluptuous livers in the World transgress the Commandements of Almighty God chap. 12. The Knight going for to recreate himself and to view the Warrens and Forrests which were about the Palace of Worldly Felicity anon he saw it sink suddenly into the Earth and perceived himself in the mire up to the Saddle skirts chap. 13. The Author cryeth out bitterly against Worldlings and their Felicity chap. 14. The Second part of the Voyage of the Wandring Knight GOds Grace draweth the Knight out of the filth of sin wherein he stuck fast chap. 1 Gods grace sheweth Hell unto the Knight with all the Voluptuous company that he saw in the Palace of Worldly Felicity chap. 2. The Knight declareth how he entred into the School of Repentance and of his entertainment there chap. 3. How true Repentance begins in us and how the Knights Conscience accused him with the pains he had deserved chap. 4. By the Commandement of Gods Grace Remembrance read to him the goodness of God with the promises made to the repentant Sinner chap. 5. A Sermon which Vnderstanding the good Hermit made unto the Knight upon the History of Mary Magdalen chap. 6. The Knight having received the holy Communion heard the Sermon and Dinner ended mounted into a Chariot of Triumph and was by Gods Grace carryed to the Palace of Vertue chap. 7. The third part of the Voyage of the Wandring Knight THe Knight declareth the great good solace and pleasure which he found in the Palace of Lady Vertue chap. 1. The description of Vertue chap. 2. The description of Faith and how we ought to believe in God for our Salvation chap. 3. The description of Hope and how we ought to hope in Almighty God chap. 4. The description of Love and Charity and how we ought to love God and our Neighbour chap. 5. The effects and praises of Love and charity chap. 6. The description of the four moral Vertues Prudence Justice Fortitude and Temperance chap. 7. How Faith from the top of the Tower sheweth unto the Knight the City of Heaven chap. 8. The desires that the Knight had to come to Heaven and how Gods Grace brought perseverance chap. 9. Good Vnderstanding sheweth the Knight how to keep perseverance alwayes with him chap. 10. The Protestation that good Vnderstanding taught the Knight to make every day to avoid temptation that he ought to humble himself before God and what he should ask in his prayers chap. 11. The Authors Peroration or Conclusion to the devout Readers or Hearers chap. 12. THE VOYAGE OF The Wandring Knight The First Part. CHAP. I. The Wandring Knight declareth his intent and foolish Enterprise supposing in this World to find true Felicity MAny Historiographers both Poets and Orators as well Prophane as Divine have by Writing notified divers persons with their Voyages and Adventures First Justin and Diodore of Sicilie have made mention of the Argonautes Voyage by Sea that is to say of Jason and his Allies Castor Pollux Hercules and other Peers to the I le of Cholcos to winne the Golden Fleece which a great Dragon kept Also Homer a Greek Poet writ in Verse the wandring and Sea Voyage of Ulysses and his Companions at their return from the Trojan Wars After him Virgil a most eloquent Latine Poet set down in Verse the Voyage of Aeneas into Italy with his fortunes after the subversion of Troy Now if we come to the sacred Histories we shall find first how Moses wrote of the Children of Israel their going out of Aegypt into the Land of Promise and of the two and forty Mansions that they made in the Desarts for the space of forty yeers And how the four Evangelists likewise most faithfully have written of the holy peregrination of the Blessed Son of God our Lord and Saviour Iesus Christ who took upon him our fraile and humane nature The self same Saviour hath set down the Parable of the boluptuous Voyage of the prodigal Child and his returne S. Luke very notably and sincerely hath delivered in writing the painful and holy perigrination of that great bessed of Election Saint Paul together with the great travel he took to preach the Gospel and the Faith of Iesus Christ to all the Gentiles And now by Gods grace I mean to declare mine own Voyage and Adventures much like to that of the Prodigall Child who left his Fathers house and ranged into strange Countries wasting all his goods living licentiously but after he knew his lewdnesse he returned back to his Father of whom he was very lovingly received So I by great Folly counselled in absenting my self farre away not only in body but also in mind from God my Father and Creator have wasted and consumed all the goods which the same my God and Father had bountifully bestowed upon me in following bain pleasures of this life But in the End I being inspired with Divine grace acknowledged mine effences and leaking the dark Region of sin and vanity through the aid and conduction of Divine grace am returned to mine Eternall Father humbly requiring pardon and mercy who of his unspeakable mercy hath lovingly received me But how all this hath been done I will declare unto you praying you patiently to give me the hearing and attentively consider my talk and well to note the whole from the beginning to the End When I had passed in all Folly and Lastiviousnesse three weeks of the years of mine age that is to say My infancy Child age and Youth which make together one and twenty years I entred into the age of a young man which is the fourth week of my age which is between two and twenty and four and twenty years At five and twenty I was minded to make a Voyage by my foolish industry to seek where in this World I might stud true Felicity and Happinesse which seemed to my sortish sense an easse matter being Young Strong wild Hardy and Couragiously disposed Me thought in my mind to live in the world without Felicity was a Life worse than Death But alas being plunged in deep darkness of Agnorance I considered not that true Felicity was the Gift of God from above and cannot be attained without his help Being robbed of Reason I thought it might come easily of my self without the help of others so that then I sought true Felicity where she is not was not nor ever shall be as in Riches worldly Pleasure strength Honour and Delights of the flesh But I was in so thinking as very a Fool as he who hopeth with Angling Lines to catch Fishes in the Air or with Hounds to
thee before night if thou wilt follow me There be some Enemies of mine that nick-name me and spightfully mis-call me by false and counterfeit terms saying that I am named Malice Vanity Vice and Voluptuousness But give thou no ear unto them for they speak upon envy hatred and evill-will Then approached the other Lady which after salutation done uttered these words unto me Reason required that I should have spoken first but this painted Peacock named Wicked Voluptuousness puts forth her self for to speak before me alwayes and to take the Tale out of my mouth Take heed of her for doubtless her Communication corrupteth and infecteth even the very best livers with the poyson of her errour Now I see thou art of good Inclination and ready to weigh thy pathes in the vallance willing to walk as well the good way as the bad And seeing thy minde wavoureth apply thy self unto Vertue continually shorten the sorrow of thy Soul water thee well with wisdome adventure not thy present precious age to be boldned in Ambition and Vain-glory Detest the danger of unsatiable Covetausness let not thy liking be laid upon licentious love avoid and shake off Idleness by using thy self to honest exercises flie Worldly Felicity arm thy self against the dart of Cupid lest at length he overcame thee open thine ears of understanding and follow my Counsell I am not the vile villanous vain mischievous subtill deceitfull and lying Lady Voluptuousness but I am the assured and sefe way that leadeth to perfect Felicity And though I am narrow and painfull to pass yet if thou wilt follow me I will make thee merry and guide thee in the very way which God hath ordained to lead unto true Blessedness For my Son thou must understand this that Almighty God doth not bestow on Men perfect joy and Soveraign goodness unless they labour to archieve it If therefore thou think alwayes to pass thy time in pleasure and followest thine affection doing all whatsoever seemeth delectable to thy foolish fantaste and supposest that way to find Felicity thou art farr wide and greatly abused for He that will have honey must make much of Bees If thou desire Felicity so lead thy Life that God of his goodness may bouchsafe to give it thee Cleanse thy heart and empty it of evill thoughts be firm in Faith establish thy Soul with soundness and sincerity be not deceived with damnable Doctrine nor led astray by wrong Opinions This that I tell thee cannot be done without labour neither can any profitable or good thing be obtained without pains-taking Thou seest how Shepheards Sea-men and all Artificers if they grow in wealth it is by labour and travell Were the Husbandman any better than a Fool if he should hope in Harvest to reap Corn eff his Ground where he hath sown no Seed when Season served Even so is that man marvellously mis-informed that thinking to atchieve perfect Felicity or to reap true Blessednesse having not first sowed his Field with Vertue good Deeds Faith Hope and Charity which is the high-way to Heaven The Husbandman dungeth his Ground soweth his Seed grafteth his Trees tarreth his Sheep and leadeth his life in Labour hoping to enjoy the Fruit the Graffe the Grain the Wool and generally all the Profit the expectation and full account whereof maketh him to take pains with pleasure Even so if thou wilt be concent painfully to walk this way without regard either of Rocks or Mountains doubt not to finde true Felicity Having heard this long and wise admonition and marking the Lady well I could not be in quiet till I knew her name Wherefore I said Madam without offence be it spoken I pray you what is your name she answered saying My Son I am great with God I am acquainted with the Saints I am all in all with Angels I am much esteemed of good men without me nothing is done in Heaven and without me no good thing can be done on Earth I am commonly called Felicity Wisdom and Vertue I govern good Kings Princes and People good Prelates and Eccleffastical Persons I stop the mouth of false Prophets and erroneous Teachers I hinder their Herestes and flay their wicked proceedings I govern Housholders and their Families in good order I am a Companion with the lovers of Learning I am a Husband to all chaste Wives Widows and vertuous Virgins I reward my Friends in prosperity with holinesse and in adversity with kinde consolation I minister unto them Food Raiment Lodging Strength Patience and all things necessary and whether it he little or much they take it in good part Contrariwise the friends of Voluptuousnesse are never satisfied although they have too much My Friends had rather sing Psalms than vain Songs they had rather fast than be drunk they had rather pray than curse they rise early and go to bed late they have care of the Common-wealth Faith counselleth them Hope assisteth them Charity inflameth them Wisdom governeth them Justice guideth them and I do and will enrich and encourage them that all the World shall have them in admiration honour and reverence Yea though their bodies die yet their Fame shall live for others Example and their souls shall remain immortal like unto the estate of Angels Contrariwise he that leadeth his lise in Voluptuousness Ambition Filthiness Uncleanness or Evil Conversation if he be not sorry for his sinfulnesse and repent him of his time lewdly spent that mand death is damnable and his shameful report shall never die no more than that of Sardanapalus Nero Heliogabalus Herod Pilat Annas Caiaphas and such like therefore my Son leave Voluptuousness if thou meanest to finde true Felicity and perfect Blessednesse CHAP. VII The Wandring Knight by the counsell of Folly left Lady Vertue and followed Voluptuousnesse which led him to the Palace of worldly Felicity WHen I had heard both these Ladies tell their Tales I was more amazed than ever I was before insomuch that I wist not which to take for my Guide But alas poor perplexed Pilgrim if I had had but the wit of a Woodcock and not wavered in minde I had followed Vertue and left Voluptuousnesse But being amidst mine amaze I requested my Governesse Folly to teach me quickly which of these two Ladies I were best to follow for the finding of true Felicity No sooner had I spoken the word but suddenly she cast out this Language saying that Vertue was an Hypocrite and that her way was painfull to passe But said she if you follow Voluptuousnesse thou seest her way is fair sweet green and pleasant If thou follow Vertue thou submittest thy self to cold heat hunger thirst travell pain and wearinesse thou must rise early and go to bed late stand in fear weep take care live in forrow and yet be in doubt to have Felicity at last If thou offend her never so little in word or Deed she will leave thee for she is too severe even in small trifling matters Whatsoever she said
point to decipher it for it consisteth not in Angelical knowledge much less in mans wit wholly to comprehend so noble a mystery none knows it but he who hath proved it you may be sure that there are not as in the Palace of Worldly pleasure chambers hanged with Silk Tapestry and every corner sumptuously and superfluously adorned No no but there were Histories of the Old and New Testament to view and mark I found not their Coffers full of Gold and Silver Cup-boards of Plate Presses of Silks all manner of Mercery-ware neither dainty Dishes delicate Drinks bawdy Songs wanton Musick the Lady of Love her Son Cupid nor any thing that Worldlings imbrace but I found a thing far supassing all that is in the World This good this joyfull this comfortable this unspeakable this incomprehensible-thing cannot be named worthily enough but of good and bad he is called God even he who is the only Soveraign good above all things reasonable and unreasonable Peradventure you will say this is stoange news that you Sir Knight should see God in the Palace of Vertue How is it strange seeing he is every where not only in Heaven but also in Earth and in Hell Truly I confess that God is every where but I deny him to dwell every where and yet I know that by his power and invincible presence he is every where though not every where by the fulness of his greatness and his gifts it followes then that he dwelleth every where I pray you what profiteth it the damned that he is in hell by his power Iustice and Vengeance Truly by such presence of God they have no joy no consolation no benefit or selicity for that all are cursed in whom God dwelleth not by his grace whatsoever they be be they Kings Princes or Popes who have all other riches and delights in the World But all they that have the grace of God are happy or at least wise in hope though they live even in a loathsome prison and are poorer than Lazarus which desired to be refreshed with the crums that fell from the evil rich Mans Table Now when we pray to God we say Our Father which art in Heaven for that is the place where God gives the enjoying and possession of himself to his elect and that is their dwelling prepared by the grace of God That is that God speaks of by the Prophet Esay saying Heaven is my seat and the Earth is my foot-stoole For asmuch saith God as I dwell in mine Elect by Grace I will tumble at my feet those that love Voluptuousness rather then their Maker In the book of Wisdom it is written That the seat of wisdom is in the soul of the just God is wisdom and the just soul his seat God is in every place where he dwelleth but he dwelleth not in every place where he is This is most true though marvellous for the evil are alwayes where God is but yet God dwelleth not in them Wheresoever the wicked are they cannot hide themselves from God and yet they are not dwellers with God nor God a dweller with them They are where God is as the blind man in the Light of the Sun the Light is not in him because he hath not the use of it But the good are alwayes with God and God dwelleth in them as in his Temple Saint Paul saith That the temple of God is holy And therefore is ye live well as he commands you you are his Temple And God himself saith I will be in them I will walk amongst them I will be their God and they shall be my people Now therefore you see that although God be every where in his power yet he dwelleth no where but where he is by grace It is plain that where Vertue is there God inhabiteth by grace which is the only consolation of all reasonable Creatures Is it possible that any Man can find in Heaven or in Earth such Soveraign good as is in God who is the most excellentest and chiefest good and the true joy of all reasonable Creatures Now can that body fail in any goodness which hath God by his Grace resting in his Heart who is the only Authour of all goodness and the giver of all true Ioy and persect Felicity But some will say that they see good People in the World oftentimes suffer misery deprived of their goods and put by the pleasures of this world which appeareth in the sadness of their countenance for they seem to be conceived with sorrow and as it were to labour and travel in heaviness as a Woman in Child birth I confess it to be so but yet if you say that they are not surnished with all good and true joy and Felicity you err greatly For the Soveraign good which is God dwels in the just soul for evermore although foolish Worldings say in their Hearts and thoughts Can it be that those miserable men which are afflicted with poverty or imprisonment have more possession of true Felicity than we that wallow in Wealth and are without want of any Worldly pleasures But they consider not that true Ioy consisteth in the Soul But be you sure that as the Soul is the most precious part of the body so ought the goodness of the Soul to be greater than the goodness of the body The Ioy of the Iust and Righteous is more inward than outward for all his goodness is in the soul as the joy of wanton Worldlings is outwardly in the body This just Man suffereth outward extremities but yet inwardly he hath more joy than the Voluptuous Man And though the just man being alwayes afflicted maketh shew of sadness all his life time yet at the hour of death their joy and consolation appeareth with hope of eternal life whereas contrariwise the Wordling goeth his way with grudging and despair The just man esteems Gold and Silver to be coloured Earth worldly wealth and Voluptuous seeding to be Famine and Filth Honour Dignity and Delight to be smoak which the Air consumeth suddenly to be short he maketh all the World no better than an exile and although his body be detained here for a season yet all his thoughts cares desires and meditations are conversant among the Orders of holy Angels and the happy Assembly of Saints in Heaven singing Psalms and Prayses incessantly So that whatsoever we esteem evill in this World God turns it to good For he makes us rejoyce in Tribulations taking them for medicines to purge our corruptions and not accounting our Persecutors as our Enemies but rather as Helpers to salvation The just Man esteems simple fare sufficing nature better than abundance of delicate or excessive Drunkenness or Gluttony They take more pleasure in kneeling praying and fasting then worldlings do in dancing and singing wanton Songs Finally that they do or suffer God turns it to good And therefore Saint Paul saith that all things turn to the good of those that love God The eye never seeth the