which are so many just Apologies for my Vndertaking I am of the opinion that Religion and Good Manners are not to be taught just like a Science by Rules and Precepts or in a Scholastick dress but rather by Examples I never yet heard of any whom Aristotle ' s Ethicks converted This is the difference the one way is dead and without any Spirit liveless and unmoving but this is animated and full of vigor having a soul and life in it and powerfully affecting The Learned and the Ignorant are both alike moved hereby it is so cogent that 't is able to work upon the most judicious and the most wise and yet so plain that 't is apt to take with the most Rude and Vulgar fit for every one but chiefly for the Ingenious § 4. This was the antient Poetry before ever it was confin'd to Verse At length it was brought not onely into the Drama but also the Epick Poem whence of the last sort Homer and Hesiod Virgil and Ovid have two of them given us the most noble and the most adequate Images of Heroick Vertue and the other two not less delightful and instructive Figments Wherefore I cannot agree to those who make it as late as the irruption of the barbarous Nations into Italy It is true that then it grew into greatest credit with the Souldiers but I no-where learn that the wild Germans brought it along with them thither or that any besides the Italians themselves used it whence it is said to receive the name of Romanzo and Fabula Romana I have already exceeded the measure of that Discourse I intended and therefore cannot stay to give you an account of its progress from the Jews Egyptians Indians Persians Arabians Moors Spaniards The last I named were so addicted to this sort of Wit that one of them I mean the Author of Quichot hath in the same stile writ a Satyr against them Which in Spain growing so in vogue hath passed thence into most of the Nations of Europe though still made worse by transplantation and very much abused to wanton and mean Subjects And if we may take an estimate from the mischief it hath done now it is corrupted the good must certainly be very great which we are to expect when once it is reformed That which hath done the Devil such service will I hope if wrested from him do God as much and it will be a cunning artifice thus to wound him with his own Weapons § 5. The Reader has now seen the Motives and the Reason of my putting Pen to Parer Wherefore I call this a PILGRIMAGE is from the frequent comparison in the holy Scriptures of Gods Law to a Way which leads to everlasting Life This has been heretofore attempted by several tho they have not kept closely to the Metaphor There is extant the Scala Paradisi of an uncertain Author in the ninth Tome of S. Austin ' s Works and Robertus de Sorbona Penitentiary to Lewis the Ninth of France surnamed the Saint and Founder of the Sorbon Colledge in the Bibliotheca Patrum calls a little Tract of his Iter Paradisi Bonaventure has besides his Itinerarium the Seven Journeys of Eternity Bernardinus hath writ De Paradisi Acquirendi Viâ But herein they have proved unhappy and are not worth much The Itinerarium Paradisi of Giraldus in Italian which I have not seen I guess to be much after this manner onely more like a Journal or an exact Diary than this and like unto the Victory of Divine Love a short Romance written by the Sieur de Nerveze Secretary of the Chamber to Henry the Fourth of France wherein he handsomely draws the Loves of Polydore and Virgine under them two representing the Skirmishes of worldly Pleasure against Seraphical and divides into seven Days or Sections But truly nothing that I have yet met with in this kind is in the least able to compare with the Critick of Gracian or the Pilgrim of our Dean of Peterburgh But this last worthy Person limiting himself to the Needs of a private Friend is not of so general use as could be wish'd Perhaps there was never one better accomplisht for such a designe than the late B. Taylor whose extraordinary Eloquence and Sweetness must here needs have been very proper The last Lord Orrery had indeed a Genius fitted for this his handsome Stile Fancy and Piety are by as many as read those excellent Composures of his not unworthily applauded and had not Death prevented we might probably have seen such Productions from his noble Muse But our great disparity has not disencouraged me from setting about and laying this Foundation to a much bigger Superstructure In which my intent is to handle otherwise than by any Pen hath yet all the Vertues Moral and Divine their contrary Vices the Passions the rise of Errors the discovery of the Truth both the Pleasures of and the Instruments wereby to attain an Habitual Piety with all or most the Cases that can befal not onely a private Christian but the whole Catholick Church and every Order of Men within it The Reader therefore must not think strange if he meets with some Passages here and there which are little more than References to the following Parts § 6. Now if this finds not a too hard reception hereafter may be expected under the person of Theosophus the Character compleated of a holy and wise Prelate under the persons of Orthodoxus and Eubulus of an Apostolick and pious Clergie under Uranius of a Divine Poet Euistor of a Sacred Critick Ephorinus of a Contemplative Philosopher for a loyal Souldier Cratander for a worthy Statesman Nestorius for a just Judge Diceus for a good Physician Lucas and Spudeus and Philoponus for honest Plebeians The highest Love of God exemplified in Theophilus Humility in Chamalus Temperance in Sophron Chastity in Parthenius Vigilance in Nephalius Charity and Hospitality in Eleutherius an aged Piety in Eusebius and on early Piety in the Child Erastus Devout Widowhood in Priscilla Holy Virginity in Parthenia and Parental Care in Christina and so in the rest For it is a common truth the very sad experience of every day that we are sooner prevail'd upon by Examples than by never so excellent Precepts and Discourses And certainly our Saviour as a late ingenious Writer hath it could as well have given the moral common places of Vncharitableness and Humbleness as the divine Narration of Dives and Lazarus or of Disobedience and Mercy as that excellent Discourse of the lost Child and the gracious Father but that he knew the Estate of Dives burning in Hell and Lazarus in Abraham ' s bosome would more constantly inhabit both the Memory and Judgment As for me I can conceive nothing more moving than to have a Prodigal represented feeding upon the Husks and the Wash of Swine Nay methinks it should make every one that has run so far parallel with him as to waste their Estates with riotous living Luke c.
too long to insert here concluding with some observations on Spiritual Joy told him that by the vertue of this heavenly Balsam if he hindred not its working he trusted before the following day should go down to see him perfectly cured Adding that if on the morrow the nauseousness of his Stomach all impure Qualms that is all remanent affections to sin had left him he might then after a due and holy preparation feed on the miraculous and medicinal Bread of Life CHAP. VIII The Mystical Feast unto which Theosophus carries his Charge THe next day therefore being the great Christian Festival of Easter the young man arose betimes to welcome the Morning Sun of Righteousness that now began to dawn upon his Soul and to dart in thither his beams of Life He fancied himself new risen from the death of Sin freed from the corruption of the Grave and the eternal prisons of the nethermost Pit Of the Miracle of this day he had so great an Instance upon himself that ever after he used to commemorate it as the Festival both of his Lords and by the vertue thereof of his own Resurrection He was not long up before the careful Theosophus came to give him his customary Visit who perceiving in his smiling countenance the calmness and the serenity of his mind and from the evenness of his pulse the moderation and sedateness of his passions guessing at the regular reparation of his Health cannot now any longer forbear to congratulate this his so miraculous a Recovery You see my dear Youth says he stretching out his hands to Heaven in an holy amazedness the power of that Soveraign Balsam you know who made it and who has been at the expence of a Miracle for your sake and that also no ordinary one even the God of Nature he has you see condescended to form you anew and reinstate you in Grace by giving you another and a much better life Be thankful therefore good Son and pay your Vows this day at his Altar run forth I advise you and meet now the King of Glory the Prince of Salem the Emperor of the Holy Land If you do this he will pardon all your Misdeeds will cure all your Diseases and will enter you into the Bedrol of his Pilgrims Now he is preparing to feast you at his Table he expects to find you there that he may number you among his Saints and Followers the redeemed ones of Israel Methinks I see you dear Friend my Patient I will call you no longer prepared to entertain him within your heart and am glad to see that you need not my invitation Wherefore I shall reserve what I had to say to you for them that lack it more So he left him unto his private Meditations and Prayers When not long after having invested himself in an holy but penitential dress he was led by his reverend Guide to a very fair and beautiful Temple not far off in the midst of a gloomy religious Wood commodiously enough seated for the devout retirement of the persecuted Followers of JESUS It was elevated upon a small rising decently built and for the convenience thereof a long while resorted unto by Pilgrims of all Ranks and Conditions But since the Roads to Jerusalem began to be unfrequented this also was scarce ever visited unless now and then by a few old decrepit Beggars Hither they came and having entred this holy place they fell down prostrate upon their faces worshipping towards the East They had not lain long upon the cold Pavement breathing out their Souls after JESUS and the Delights which are at his right hand before their ears were touched with the Sighs and soft Ejaculations of some religious Devotes When casting their eyes off the ground they among the rest spied their dear Eubulus Very glad you cannot but guess they were and very glad was Eubulus to find the Youth whom he loved so affectionately and had so long sought after in such a place with such a Friend and to receive them both in safety whom he heard the wild Foragers of the Voisinage thereabouts had torn and devoured Nor was their Joy any whit allayed through the reverence of the place which hindred them from so much as speaking to each other but rather increased by their mutual assistance and servency of Devotion with all the increases that a religious Joy is capable of The first Solemnities were done and the Morning-Sacrifice offered up when Theosophus made so powerful and divine an Exhortation highly valuable for its Eloquence Solidity and Piety to usher in the Feast that nothing but the length could tempt me to omit One passage however I cannot forget for having excellently discoursed upon the Author and Dignity of that heavenly Treat he tells those few who were present That it was not meant to pamper their Lusts or make them proud or lazy in the way but to be their Viaticum and spiritual Repast in their Journey to Heaven whence the Israelites leaving the Brick-kils and slavery of Egypt to pass through the Wilderness unto the Land flowing with Milk and Honey received it in the posture of travelling with their Loyns girt Sandals on their feet and a Palmers Staff in their hands Exod. c. 12. v. 12. After which with what humble deportment and veneration did they approach the holy Altar With what ravishments of joy did they come to this Coelestial Banquet With what a steddy and firm resolution did they purpose to follow their prime Leader JESUS through all Difficulties and Hazards unto the happy Land of Promise But as soon as the blessed JESUS the glorious and peaceable Prince of Jerusalem descended with Myriads of Angels attending on him how did their hearts burn within them with what transcendency of Love and vehemency of Desire did they address him But here I am struck dumb with reverence and amazement unable to describe this sacred Mystery which the Angels do with awful admiration delight to look into CHAP. IX The Penitents Regeneration NEver was its effect more visible upon any than upon this young happy Convert Through the mysterious efficacy hereof he was wonderfully chang'd into another man It drove away his tyrannick Lusts and pleasant Torturers making them lose their hold made his curst Executioners flee frightened from him his vain Desires with every cruel Vice and Murtherer of his Soul disappear His Senses were released his Brain disenchanted all his filthy and hellish Inmates exorcised not so much as one left behind but all driven out by the Priests sacred Charm The Body of our Lord Jesus Christ those sweet those all-powerful words Thus set at liberty he became free to give himself unto him who had freed him And thus washed and cleansed in the bloud of the holy Lamb he presented his Body to be from thenceforth a pure and hallowed Temple and his Soul a chast devoted Sanctuary unto the divine Spirit the Spirit of Purity and Holiness Fresh and holy thoughts began forthwith
less but greater far and nobler if any Comparison can be made betwixt a Coelestial Substance and an Earthly one Thus his stony and obdurate heart which the Thunders of the Law could not shiver is now softned with the Bloud of the Passover He who but a little while afore matter'd not the Threats and Terrors of Mount Sinai is now touched and moved with the sweet Gospel-Messages of Love and Peace Whence ever after he related great things of this Evangelical Feast how it was the Seal of his Pardon the Christian Pasport of his Heavenly Pilgrimage and the beginning of his Vnion with God And how it gave him all things even by removing him from them and making him desire nothing but JESUS and to be with him in PARADISE CHAP. X. An Eucharistical Meditation AS soon therefore as he was returned back again with the Eremit into his Cell and shut himself up in a close apartment thereof his Soul by rapturous flights of Joy strove to ascend upward and exert her self in these following Acts of devout Acknowledgment I. I am well pleased that the Lord hath thus heard the § 1. An Act of Thanksgiving and Adoration voice of my Prayer Blessed is he that now cometh in the Name of the Lord Hosanna in the highest Blessed is he that cometh in the Name of the Lord Hosanna here below Thrice hail most triumphant Prince of Heaven Hail holy wonderful eternal King great Deliverer successful Combatant the Redemption of the Captives and the Oppressed and upon this day the First-Fruits and Hopes to those that sleep of a glorious Resurrection Hallelujah Salvation and Glory and Honour and Power be to the Lord our God Blessed is he that cometh in the Name of the Lord Hallelujah I adore thee I worship thee I love thee I magnifie thee O thou Conqueror of Hell and Death victorious Champion over the Infernal Forces I will magnifie thee as much as I am able and will still strive to magnifie thee more All hail welcome sweetest Saviour Jesus welcome Lamb of God the Life-giving Sacrifice the spiritual Refection the holy and accepted Peace-Offering the Deliverance and Comfort of all faithful Souls Welcome victorious Lamb all the mighty Hosts of Heaven fall down before thee and with everlasting Praises delight to celebrate the glories and triumphs of so strange a Love And here below under their feet I would do the same Thou art the powerful and wise the Lord of Hosts the King of Loves thou art called and thy Conquests are spread abroad as far as the ends of the World When the terrours of Death encompassed me round when the nethermost Hell threatned to devour me quick and Satan was ready to grasp my polluted Soul then found I deliverance then saw I my returning Victor laden with their spoils and having trampled on and crushed their power bidding me live Behold even he whom I fought against has obtained for me the victory and has overcome me with his love and with his love has made me overcome The great God the mighty Saviour of Nations hath pitied a poor perishing wretch he hath snatched my life from out the paws of the devouring Lion and the sulphurous stench and horrors of yonder black Abyss II. But who can tell me how all this came to pass what § 2. An Act of Contrition or Humility was there in me that I should be thus highly honoured or my life worth that it should be ransomed at so dear a rate as the death of my God Why should God the Father whom I had offended send his Son to die for me Why should God the Son whom I had so sinned against bear the load and punishment of that sin Tell me what could the Creator see worthy of so great savour in such an abominable and filthy Creature or the Lord of all things in his proud presumptuous Vassal the Holiest in a sinner wallowing in his Lusts How came Vnworthiness and Pride Rebellion and Sin perverse Dust and Ashes to find thus instead of the heaviest curse and dreadfullest execution of a just and fiery Indignation so extraordinary a Blessing so far not onely above my merit but my comprehension This is all Prodigie of Mercy Shall the careless and disobedient the refractory and murmuring Servant be rewarded be feasted with his Master Shall the wilful and obstinate offender be pardoned the despicable and haughty Villain be pitied Who can believe there is so great Charity for an Enemy or such Honours as these for the vilest of the children of men This was indeed too great for me to expect or wish for will take up all the wonder of Men and Angels Ah! have have not my Crimes crucified him my Passions made him bleed and could he yet do and suffer so much for me Has not my Pride alas stript him naked my Intemperance and Luxury forced him to fast And did not my Covetousness make him poor my Ambition a slave But he hath covered my Nakedness and Folly he hath feasted me with his holy ones he hath filled me with the Riches of his Grace and hath freed me from the slavery of sin The bitterness of my Spirit hath been worse to him than the very Gall he tasted my Peevishness and Malice than the Vinacre he drank my Honours have wreath'd him a Crown of Thorns The rude Souldier pierced but his side when I pierced his very heart with sorrows My Jollity was that anguish which made his Virginal Body to be drained all over bloudy droops of Sweat My Scoffs at Religion have been far more intolerable have entred deeper into his Soul than the Contempt and Mockeries of the Pretorian Band. Nay my very Devotion and Piety has murthered him my Addresses have been criminal and traiterous and with Judas have I studied to betray him with a kiss O Prodigie of Villany But neither is this all Ah me I can scarce utter that which is still more black Oft would my Wickednesses have offered Violence even to his glorified Body and ripped up his Wounds afresh Thus have I open'd his side by violating those mysterious Sacraments which proceeded thence my best works put him to shame Nor indeed could I any otherwise have claimed his infinite Mercy but that I am infinitely vile and infinitely sinful III. Dearest Jesu how admirable are the effects of thy § 3. An Act of Wonder Goodness How glorious and condescending is thy Love that could do all this for me and how disproportionate are the Returns of thy soveraign Bounty to the deserts of a perfidious disloyal wretch I came not unto thee of my self but thou hast drawn me with Cords though I refused yet found I protection My Guilt was thy Condemnation yet through thee am I saved Thou hast reached forth to me the Scepter with the same hand which my Vanity had mocked with a Reed Could I ever expect to receive life from him whom mine Iniquities bruised and even robbed of his a Cure through his
tumultuously compast round by the Giddy Rabble who cried up his Nonsence for Gospel and those Doctrines in which was Death yea though in never so plain legible Characters there was written on them the Curse Thou shalt die the Death for Soul-saving ones Amongst these was a poor paltry Fellow who had somewhat in him I know not what it was which he named Conscience for Conscience it was not that could unhinge Governments overthrow States and tumble down Scepters and Crowns that so all being turn'd topsie-turvy the first last and the last first he might be advanc'd to the top With him joyn'd such as were of Levelling Principles and such as were any whit discontented setting up the Standart of Reformation A little further I met with a quaint Controvertist in the Rear of these RELIGIONS who bandied all this about and even raised Objections by his answering them As also a slie Favorite who had learnt from him how to make his Praises to be Accusations and by putting off Doubts to bring Doubts into ones head I had the company afterwards of a rich old Chuf who having read that the Glod of the Land of Havilah was good came this way to seek out Paradise Having travelled thus far such was the effect of the Air and of our Travel that now every one became light-headed Also the Ways which before did seem curiously laid with Tarras and the rich sorts of Cement now appeared to be paved with dead mens Sculls And though we now began to view the blazes of the Fire yet one would have perswaded us that it was onely a glimpse of the Coelestial Light and that we were not far from the bright Mansions of the East from oâ—… delightful Eden placed near the Sun-rising Some of us were willing to believe 〈◊〉 and some to believe that all things were made and govern'd by Chance which Supposition being hard to maintain others holding a fatal Necessity said they did not go but were carried The Presumptuous thought he continued on as fast or faster than any of us still cried God was merciful and he should at last arrive at Paradise But the Desperate leaping into the Gulf of Flames which we now plainly saw said it was impossible for him to do otherwise or to avoid the same by running back No Tongue can express the Horrours and the Pangs that I already endur'd Whereupon I stepped a little out of the Road to ease my Grief But being unable to move far I fell down expecting there I should die I could discern that they were Baboons and Monsters in the shape of Men with whom I had all this while conversed could see the Devils preparing their Torments and ready to fetch away my Soul Then first opening a Book which I had hitherto kept that was given me by my forgotten Friend Theosophus I began to read but Despair and dreadful Dismayedness of Mind closed up mine Eyes in an horrible affrighting Sleep CHAP. XIV The VISION of Tophet I Remember to have somewhere read a very remarkable Story of a melancholy Pilgrim in the first Ages of this Institution who having seen HELL but in a Dream said he would rather chuse to suffer a thousand Deaths than see the same again or for one half hour more the short turn of a Glass feel what he had felt And such effects had this saith the Historian upon him that of a debauched lewd Liver he became the greatest Saint the most resolute Professor of Christ and immediately separated from the World putting on such Weeds as this poor well-meaning Tract would fain cloth its Pilgrim-Reader in I do most heartily wish O that Wishes were not vain that what the brave Timotheus in the same case hath seen may as on him it did so which he prayed for all the days of his Pilgrimage with unutterable Groans on all those to whom the Relation thereof ever cometh work the like effect O that hereby I could frighten the stupid out of his Lethargy of Sin and rouse him up into a sense of his Condition O that if such an one shall turn over these leaves he would sit down and consider a while to what place he is travelling ask himself whether he can dwell with Everlasting Burnings That he would do so much if not out of Religion yet out of Prudence lest he come to feel the same at long run not in Vision but Reality greater too perhaps than this and far beyond all Hyperboles of Pain My Sleep was such said the noble and truly pious Convert as I verily believed it to be Death and a Devil I thought taking me up with his Claws carried me toward the Burning Lake Which as I drew near appeared to me to be bounded with seven high Banks of solid and unconsumed Fire and on a spatious sevenfold Gate of rocky and impenetrable Adamant which open'd to us of its own accord I read with a sorrowful cast of mine Eyes these words TOPHET IS ORDAINED OF OLD YEA FOR THE WICKED IT IS PREPARED HE HATH MADE IT LARGE AND DEEP THE PILE THEREOF IS MVCH FIRE AND MVCH FVEL THE BREATH OF THE LORD LIKE A STREAM OF BRIMSTONE DOTH ENKINDLE IT Isai c. 30. v. 33. As soon as I was entred I heard a Voice like the Voice of Thunder and the Voice of many Waters saying KEEP THESE SOVLS BOVND IN CHAINS OF DARKNESS VNTIL THE GREAT AVDIT OF THE LORD and another LET HOT BVRNING COALS FALL VPON THEM LET THEM BE CAST INTO THE FIRE AND INTO THE PIT THAT THEY NEVER RISE VP AGAIN And looking back I saw great Multitudes behind me rushing in at the Gate who were bound presently and cast into the Lake A wild Wast methought it was of inextinguishable Sulphur and Naphtha whereon as far as ever I could ken lay rowling hopeless Peoples and Nations that striving to blow it out made it burn the more and kept it burning Whence intolerable Smoak with gloomy Flakes of unlightsome flame were scattered upwards and darkened round the wide Coast There are perhaps some subtile Wits who will say 't is impossible for Flame not to be light but let them subtilize as they please before they know the nature of this Flame they are not very competent Judges It was I remember every where so black and dismal a Night as plagu'd Egypt sure felt not such a Night as could not be brooded even on the face of Chaos an obscure a smart a boundless and a never-ending I concluded Night palpable almost to the Touch. But how vain am I that I strive to describe it For it was greater far than I can express to you nay certainly than any one can dread or Poetick Phant'sie imagine Which yet was render'd more terrible if any thing possibly could adde to such Terror by flashes of Lightning breaking it and horrid Shapes that continually passed through the thick substantial Darkness By those dreadful gleams of Light I could discern sooty deformed Ghosts every moment flying by me and sundry black
Religious Free-booters The whole Earth appears unto him blasted with a Curse empoysoned with the Devastations Venom of the Serpent overgrown with hurtful Weeds with bad Manners and evil Dispositions Whithersoever he looked he saw the Lands foraged and ransacked defiled with Bloud nought but a frightful Landscap of Desolation and Ruine a Golgotha of dead mens Sculls A destroying Pestilence took its range through the Territories of profest Christians which carried all before it and scarce one cared to avoid the Infection The Fields were torn and rifled of their Beauty the Air clamorously ringing with Mutinies and Tumults the loud roaring of Cannons the doleful shrieks of departing Ghosts still pierced his ears Here were two Princes fighting for a little spot of Ground and there an ambitious Monarch devoting no less Ambition than thirty or forty thousand lives to the satisfying one single Lust Here a proud Conqueror reeking in Sweat and Wounds exchangeth his Laurel for a Wreath of Cypress descends down into the Pit to converse with those he had afore sent thither and he whose desires but some short while agon could not be confined within the borders of a Kingdom is now sufficed with a few feet to cover a vile putrified Carcass These were they who could alter Empires do what they pleased and turn the World topsie-turvie But they who erewhile thought themselves unconquerable now are crushed into the Grave and thrown aside by their Friends and their Adorers into the place of Forgetfulness there to impart their Conquests with the Worms they go from the Palaces of the Sun and of the Day of Mirth and Light into the black dismal Chambers of Death to inhabit with Toads and Serpents Stench and Corruption leave behind all their joys and their good things for them that come after and turn from the spoils of their Enemies to be preyed on by every as despicable and proud a Worm or as foul an Insect as themselves This did he see and wept for them he saw havock by such hot-spirited men as these universally made and waited therefore till he saw their unhappy falls But these were not a near so formidable Monsters or so destructive as the Religions Makers and the Disturbers Hell-inspired Founders and Innovators of Religion Now he came to have the greatest need of his Telescope to discern these the Exhalations being so very thick Through which he could see the broad Road to Perdition thronged by full Caravans of silly men decoy'd in by the over-hot Zeal or officious Cheats of either blind or malicious Guides Unto his sad consideration there appears a third part of the World lamentably deceived by an Impostor a vile Epileptick person bewitched to the most ridiculous absurdities that ever Imagination could invent or the blackest Melancholy give credit to Another third part and more under Idolatry walking in thick darkness and the shadow of Death the Worshippers of the cruel King of Darkness And that which of it remains not of one Religion but divided into above a thousand different Sects besides a Vagabond Nation retaining their antiquated Rites hated by all because they had most barbarously murthered their Prince the great Messiah and those also who professed to be and those who lived as if they were not of any Where could he cast his eye if upon the Country that alas was vitiated Universal Wickedness with sordidness and narrowness of mind base and mean Vices if upon the Cities they too with fraudulent dealing and deceit in Wares with pride and discontent the Court with ambition and faithlesness cogging Parasites and false Friends the Bench with injustice and wrong bribery and subornation private Families with dissimulation and eye-service strife worldliness and grudgings either an Epicure or a Churl or an effeminate wanton the Master thereof publick Societies with Self-interest and Fraud the Schools with contention Houses of Prayer made Dens of Thieves converted into Stables and polluted with all manner of profaneness and extemporary extravagancies These Territories were wasted by foreign Incursions the other by distractions at home and intestine Wars far more miserably depopulated Tyranny lorded it in this place Confusion in that And so Desolation and Sin not content with one took their range thorough every Quarter Nor was the Land onely but the very Sea enriched with the Wrecks and the The Sea Spoils of wretched Mortals There was a Ship split against a Rock another struck on a Quick-sand or a Syrtis and a third sunk in the very Haven There might he see the Hull of a rich Carrack broken by the violence of a Tempest and there a Merchant-man carelesly coasting whilst the Winds whistle sweetly upon its Sails and the curled Waves seem to sport with the Vessel overtaken by another which boards it kills the men or if so cruelly merciful as to spare them 't is perhaps for a more insupportable slavery either to tug at the Oar or labour in the Mine Next moved huge floating Islands built onely for destruction for as if the Sea the Storms and fury of meeting Winds Hurricanes Travadoes Swallows Whirlpools Rocks Quick-sands Banks Washes Oaz Leaks and all Mischances with Pyrates both Mahometan and Christian were not enough bloudy Battles must be fought even there lives perish which the guiltless Element consents not unto and all sorts of death made to combine with mans wickedness fire it self to rage upon the Waters for no other end but that more Bloud may be so shed than the very Ocean can purge away Yet notwithstanding all this he could descry whole Fleets Indian Navigation farther off contemning such-like dangers as these and seeking the utmost corners of the Earth to lade themselves with clods of * Hab. c. 2. v. 6. thick Clay a little yellowish and a little whitish Earth silver or gold sun burnt in the bowels of the Eastern Mountains and dryed up into the hardness of a metallick substance so much baser than common Mould as it hath more of Care and more of Vice in it He saw that which was but just now a Disease in the Shell-fish made a Pearl in this Ladies Ear and Stones that sparkle Pearls like a Glow-worm or a piece of rotten Wood rated at the Mortgage of a whole Mannor He saw stately Palaces and rich Villa's built by that great man Vanity in Building empty uninhabited by any whereof he was not so much Possessor thought the good Contemplator as the Rats and Mice were Another there was who The Covetous buried his Soul with his Treasure as if he meant to descend alive into Hell the gripling Usurer and the cold decrepit Hoarder dug their way down thither apace But another wiser he thinks than his cramp-finger'd and slovenly Father now gone to receive his doom The Spendthrift just come of age throweth away his Inheritance upon Taverns and the houses of Impiety and Looseness and by and by is poor and old forsaken despised thrust out from
his Company pitied by none but forced to beg a crust of Bread at that mans door and is denied This Son beds his Fathers Concubine and that new Mother-in-law playing Lust with the Babies in her Son's Eyes teacheth him to sin who first begins to love her as a Mother and then to court her as a Mistriss A lustful Rival stabbed by his Fellow lay weltring in his fresh-spilt gore but the Murtherer dropped down soon after at his feet And such was the unlucky end of both those mad men There might he see a Cloyster'd Frier making his forbidden loves to a Veiled Sister or else more filthily waited on by his Boy Hylus In that stately Serail he discerned a Prince lockt up in the arms of his Olympia who privily stealing away his Heart flung it into the fire which so much the rather still doted on her until at last having long enough played with her Princely Lover and fooled him out of both his Sense and Empire she delivers him up bound unto his Enemy Then lookt he down upon those Draughts of sin the impure Sheds of the Summenium Brothel-houses where he could espy Shione and Helis and Lesbia shamelesly plying the next unhappy Comers selling their Bodies for a small piece of Coyn and delighting to entrap the unexperienc'd freshness of a raw puny sinner But hence proceeded so noysome a Stench infecting round the Air enough to stifle any not used to such filthy places that forced him strait to turn away his glutted eyes from these loathsome and hellish receptacles of Devils the pestilential stinking Jakes of Lust By which means he had the beastly The Drunken Club. sight of a drunken revelling Match and the rude Disorders before him of a swearing healthing damning Club which some hours after broke up in Quarrels Fightings and Murthers Some also were touring themselves over a Love-Sonnet with which they intended to present their Mistrisses Love-Poetry and presently meet with Death in those Embraces which they so much courted rottenness and poyson in the Lap of a sweet Enchantress Some vile degenerate Souls plumed themselves over the noble deeds of their fam'd Progenitors An odde Nobility kind of Confession that in themselves they could find no worth they laid claim to the good actions of their Ancestors as if they were like their Estate theirs by Inheritance Others would venture all they had yea their very Lives for a little Air Fame the breath of the People which having sucked down they swell big and burst asunder Some too were seen to pride themselves in that they were cloathed with the Excrements Silks of a Worm and thought themselves very fine and despised all that were not clad so finely as themselves There one forsooth very cunning and shie in whatsoever he did having sent away a Secret Sins Friend or a Servant from him that he might with greater retiredness act those sins he was ashamed of thought also with bars and doors to shut out the Omnipresence of the All-seeing God but as he guessed himself most unobserved behind him stood a dreadfully grinning Devil taking notes thereof in a Book which he kept to produce against him at the last great Terrible Day Then next he observed by moving the Telescope before his eyes a little back to seek out again where he Blindness and Error had beheld the Scene of Religious Madness several Companies of unlucky Passengers travelling by mis-led out of the way bewilder'd by ignes fatui by false Lights and treacherous Leaders And amongst them he could not but sadly lament the froward and unweildy Zeal of his own Country-men set on fire by the dishonesty and imposture of their Guides Some he saw with their bloudy fingers tearing out their own Eyes crushing the little lightsome Balls into a cruel disorder that they might not behold those evils which their fanciful imagination prompted them to fear so strongly imaginative as thereby alone to call down those Plagues which nothing else could ever have done These were they who unchristian-like racked themselves with future Contingencies but others again were so stupid so unperceiving as not to be moved at the dreadfullest Calamities that befal a sinning Nation And these not concerned at any thing sate themselves down upon the next green Turf to be merry with their Friends and then folded up their arms in sleep letting whole days and years pass without taking notice Some out of their profound prudence made themselves blind purposely that they might avoid those Precipices they were in danger of and thought they should see better with anothers Eyes than with their own they could before and that the way to shun the Blocks of stumbling which were lain so thick in the Road was to be uncapable of seeing them Others did the same that they might the more securely erre and through an affected ignorance of their duty plead not guilty to its omission just as if a Malefactor should think to save his Neck in refusing to learn what the Law makes death But what was yet more sadly amazing to our good Contemplator others who could see would nevertheless go along for company with the blind and though they knew well enough whither they were all travelling yet would not return back again or leave the Wrong for the Right way The folly of these was miserable but more miserable was if Comparison can express the folly of those who used the most approved Collyries the choicest Ocular Medicines to quicken and better the sight to drive the Film from their Eyes and preserve them against the Dust that was raised by Travellers read Controversies on all sides enquired diligently after the Truth and busied themselves in learning out the true way and all this for no other end than that they might decline it persecute the Truth defend their own side and see the better to pull out the Eyes of their Friends Such absurd unmanlike Vices as these such Unreasonableness and mean Descents Bruitishness and Folly did he everywhere observe Men in every place he saw and Brutishness of Vice that more than in Fable metamorphosed into Beasts having discarded and changed their very Selves their own Natures put off all Humanity and Reason and foolishly degraded themselves O piteous Sight as low or lower than the very state of Brute Animals the Covetous of a Mole and the Lascivious of a Goat Here Gryllus grunteth charmed into a Swine whom the Eloquence and Perswasion of an Vlysses is not able to make reassume his old Shape and be a Man the Night-walker into an Owl nay some transformed into Stocks and Stones some into ugly loathsome Toads poysonous Creatures the Outragious into mad Dogs Parasites into Flies ingrateful Children into a brood of Vipers busie foul-mouth'd Praters into croaking Frogs many also that spent their whole lives in weaving the Spiders Web and not a few Asses who covered with Lions Skins would strut and look terrible and roar to frighten
young man take it up With that Theosophus delivers to him the little Box which had caused such a Commotion in him when on the shore of Thamus his melancholy stream he lay a while agone so low dejected This as he designed it should surprized Eubulus very strangely Who with great signs of wonder taking it into his hands and kissing it desired to know by what Providence he came by it In answer whereunto Theosophus gave him the Story in as few words as he could of what had passed since their departure and of his meeting with the two Youths Parthenius and Theophilus So rising from Supper satisfied with the good things that Providence had prepared and refresht with such pious and profitable Relations they ended it with this Paschal Hymn Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us therefore let us keep the Feast 1 Cor. c. 5. v. 7 c. These three Friends while they sate at Table were much more delighted with the sweets of Temperance and innocent Mirth than others are usually with all the abundance of a luxurious Feast and when they rose were not rendred unapt to praise him who had fed them Eubulus would have put off what remained to another opportunity but that Theosophus was willing to hear it out and the young Convert was very uneasie till he knew what befel him after they two were separated Well said Eubulus I will proceed We were as I have told you speaking to Theosophus by the diligent working of that Calodulus a most faithful Servant you know unto the Loyal Philanax that but lately was so judicially and yet so barbarously butcher'd soon set at liberty You may remember also that I told you by what Art of his Theomachus was prevailed with to release Orthodoxus who was in danger to tarry behind us Thus we who expected none other delivery but that of Death were by the gracious appointment of Heaven after a very short stay delivered Orthodoxus thereupon I think meant to leave the Island Vranius as a Shepherd returned to the charge of his Flock and I lastly went in search after this Youth who sits by me purposing never to see your face until I should have found out either him or some other bewilder'd Pilgrim and brought him hither to be set and directed by you into the Way of Truth Whom I found indeed heedlesly roving in the Paths of Death At this the abashed Youth modestly casting down his looks upon the ground with Tears and Blushes softly said unto himself I remember my Folly But in which I shall ever rejoyce I gained him over Several times afore dear Sir he had refused but now contrary to his custom he thanked me for my Charity and with an honest freeness consented to follow me We were not far from your Lodge unto which the good old Eusebius had directed us when the Tragedy first began But you both know I am no Tragical Relator and always love to pass such things by Besides this Youth can tell it better than I can After that you my dear Youth was torn from me by those Lictors of Conscience we met with in the Fields I for some while heard your pitiful cries and shrieks but not any ways able to deliver you out of their bloudy hands I walked up and down in the Woods sorrowing and quite despairing then ever to see you again While I was thus sorrowfully walking alone this same Prayer which I can yet remember struck mine ears Most merciful most holy A Prayer for the Church in time of Persecution and Tumults Father how is thy Name profaned thy Truth slighted thy Temples polluted how are we driven up and down like Sheep without a Shepherd Though we are the Sheep of thy Hand and part of thy Possession yet are we scattered Why do the People rage and imagine thus a vain thing against the Lord and against his Christ Behold O Lord and have mercy O let not the Gates of Hell prevail against thy Church Thou hast promised that they shall not prevail Be merciful be merciful for thy Names sake have mercy on us lest we faint and die in this Wilderness and enter not into the Land of thy Promises into the Regions of Peace and Charity there to be blessed to all eternity with the fruition of thy Glory Do thou O God who art the Author of Peace and the Lover of Concord in knowledge of whom standeth our eternal Life whose service is perfect freedom the most absolute liberty defend us thy humble Servants thy poor Pilgrims from all the Assaults either open or secret from within us or without us of our and thine Enemies that we surely trusting in thy Defence may not fear the Power of any Adversaries Spiritual or Temporal through the Might of Jesus Christ the Prince of Peace our Lord and our Protector Amen As I was considering whence it should come a Lad running unto me courteously entreated me to step into the next Cave for that he said several Pilgrims were hidden therein to avoid the heat of the Persecution who against the approaching Solemnities of Easter desir'd to ease themselves by humble Confession I followed him and having enter'd the Cave found there Eusebius that pious aged Pilgrim I told you of the humble Chamalus the abstemious Sophron the weeping Anselmus the incomparably devout Maria the chast and matchless Parthenia and the little lovely Child Erastus all sitting together in a knot entertaining each other in their turns with discourses of Piety and Religion I heard them striving to celebrate that wonderful that unknown Sorrow of their Lord which was then by Holy Church commemorated it being the Passion-week but finding no Words were able to express it they tried whether Tears could and seemed I think to speak it best in the flittingness of their Eyes and the burstingness of their Hearts With beholding this goodly Spectacle I was highly pleased And through fear lest I should disorder it I stopped my self together with the Lad whose name is Areteus as soon as we were entred But spying us they came forthwith to the Caves mouth carried me in and shewed far greater respect toward me truly than I either deserve or can with modesty relate From thence after that week of Sorrow was over I brought them to the Temple the place of our happy unexpected meeting Then turning to the young Convert embracing him he said Now my dearest Son for so I love still to call you never were my grey hairs delighted with any thing more than with this your Return into the Bosom of our afflicted Church afflicted and despised indeed like her Lord and Master crucified betwixt both the extreams of Superstition and Profaneness Your Friend Theophilus hath ever since I told him of your Rambling sought after you sorrowing and now concludes that you are dead How glad will he be when we shall surprize him with this News Eubulus was here call'd away in haste by a Shepherds Boy whereupon taking his
within them the Impurities of a Brothel-house and the Covetousness of Usurers come let us go teaz and make sport at them Instead of being daunted I was mightily pleased to discover what they were and began to be bold and confident not afraid that I was in the wrong way Seeing them wear the Image and the Livery of God every one hated them and laughed at them just as we should at Asses in Lions or Wolves in Sheep skins or as we should at Jackpuddings in the Garb of Senators We all detested their painted Sanctity thought them Devils transformed into Angels of Light but we detested them not as Devils but as disguised as them who were ashamed of bare-faced Vice A little farther several I saw climing up a steep Precipice on the top whereof was the Idol of Honour So ungrateful were these as to throw down whom they had made the means of their Rising but on a sudden by a cross Wind they were also tumbled head-long down A few were singular and would go in those Paths which none ever before had trodden Fawning Murtherers there were likewlse that hung upon and morose Timons Manhaters that separated from us Many a Narcissus enamoured with himself and many a biting Mome vomiting up nothing but Gall and Bitterness We had also with us a poor Fellow who freely consented to go to HELL if so be any of us would but bear his Charges upon the Road Another brave Fool I knew who would venture his Estate and his Soul at the Cast of a Dye Before us trotted very scurvily one of the Devils Pack-horses an old Fellow who had broke his back with carrying a great heavy Chest of Money and yet notwithstanding this would not rest till he came to his Journeys end He was followed at least by half a dozen Asses braying at him O my good Father you have given me too hard a Task I think I shall never get through this Scene of Follies There was one whom I extremely laughed at that betwixt Hopes and Fears was with Lazarillo de Tormes tost in a Blanket One I saw build and then pull down what he had built and then build again and so on never pleased but striving to out-vie even Time in Mutability out-do the Inconstancy and Changeableness of whatsoever is most inconstant and most changeable I should have wondred more at him but that I had seen him afore prettily represented in a Draught of Zeuxis by a naked man snipping into shreds a piece of Cloth afraid therewith to apparel himself because he knows not the Fashion Another whose Face was clouded with Sorrow I and my Camrades did all we could to comfort but for this giving us a very unfriendly look he turned away His muttering and odde Demeanor taught us that he was faln out with the Times was an uncontented Admirer of the past and Hater of the present not because bad but present His bloted Tongue knew not how to speak well of any body was ever inur'd to Invectives and sinister passionate Reflections all those that were either great or good or but seemed so he was not able to abide he cursed both his and their Fortunes Happy he could not be as he wished and therefore he would in Spight be Miserable Next went the Malicious destroying and pillaging one another And after these several others Now all these could shew me each others Mistake the Covetous Father preached excellently against Prodigality and Laxury the Prodigal Son against Covetousness the Sot ran out into an Harangue against the Stews and those who frequented them had as much to say against his Mopish Drunkenness Nor was there any Vice but which was thought blame-worthy by the Vicious themselves But as for Virtue my good Father that was so amiable as even against our Wills we had a love for it nay some as I have told you counterfeited it and none I ever knew so far gone but had with reluctancy a certain reverence for virtuous persons So true is it that Virtue desires but to appeal to the Bar of her Accusers and to be judged by her greatest Enemies whilst Vice shuns the Verdict of her chiefest Adorers Every one knew the other was in the wrong though he himself was not in the right could refute the gross Follies of the rest though he the while was as grosly fooled as any I observed many more whom I cannot now call to mind but none I observed so much and that too all the way I came as a cunning Mimick that could shape himself into all forms and vary as often as his Company could comply with every mans humour accommodate himself unto every Time and Place He would speak fair yea words smoother than Oyl unto this man but unto another that was his Enemy he would speak words of him piercing him through sharper than a two-edg'd Sword He could lye cog wheedle cajole every Party insinuate himself into every Breast with these he could swear and with them he could pray here none was more profane nor there more devout none was a better Pot-companion and none more a Trencher-Friend swilling with some and rioting with others He could feast with the Luxurious fast with the Religious Was brisk or grave merry or sad according as he pleased Knew how to tickle the Ambitious to pimp for the Incontinent to rally with the Jocose Sometimes would act a Prince othertimes a Beggar or a Clown and at several times personate both a Devil and a Saint Insomuch that being extraordinarily delighted with the variableness of his Humours his wicked cunning and civil Address I was always if it were possible in his company thereby at length acquiring such a Familiarity as upon the account of sin can be acquired Now being equally of all and equally scoffing all Religions for our diversion he would needs one day carry us over into the Religious Quarters By this time the day grew hot and Theosophus perceiving that he was now about to enter on a fresh Discourse told him he might leave off a little while till they had refreshed their Senses and recruited their Bodies So they turned back into the Lodge In their return homeward there happened a pretty odde Accident which was thus Hearing a Cry I will be the death of her again and again repeated they saw a Lady presently who appeared very beautiful ride by them upon a fair Palfrey carrying before her a man bound hand and feet Timotheus straight knew the man to be the effeminate Philogynus whom Parthenius was gone to seek after He therefore step'd to him that he might unbind and set him free But as soon as he was taken from the Lady and unbound he was highly displeased and bound himself again It was in vain either for Timotheus or the old Father to disswade him for they found that he was deaf and could not hear any thing they said but had he been onely so the very sight of Timotheus would have been enough to work upon him