loosing soul Empire and salvation to pursue a phantasm He roared like thunder in the clouds on the theater of humane things and then past away leaving nothing behind but storms dirt and morter at which time thy good servant Boetius walking in the ways which thou prescribedst him is mounted to the glory of the elect leaving here behind him the precious memory of his name to all posterity THE LADIE TO LADIES LADIES I Should do an injury to sanctity even in the HOLY COURT if having undertaken to speak of piety of Great-ones in these Treatises I should pass Ladies under silence who in all times have contributed to the glory of Christianity so much force beyond their sex as virtues above nature God hath employed them in the great affairs of all Ages since the Word which from all eternity acknowledged but one Father in Heaven hath been pleased to acknowledge in later times one mother upon earth and that he who is able to cloath the meadows with the enamel of flowers and Heaven with the beauty of lights took flesh and bloud of a Virgin to make himself a garment and frame to himself a body And as the chaste womb of a woman served him for a lodging at his first enterance into the world so when he would issue out amongst so many horrours punishments and images of death when stones were rent asunder for grief under his feet and Heaven distended it self with sorrow over his head women were also found near to the Cross as witnesses of his last words and survivers of his bloud Here O Ladies are eternal alliances which you have contracted with devotion and he who would bereave you the sweetness of its repose should banish you from your own houses So many men as stir up quarrels seem now adays to have no other profession but to kill and die upon credit Those who are conversant with books waste themselves in the pleasing tortures of the mind Others who are involved in the turmoils of publick affairs oftentimes gain nought else but smoak and noise But when I behold you under the title of the Devout Sex which is given you by the Church I find your blessing is in the dew of Heaven and that you resemble Bees which are born in honey or rather those birds of the fortunate Islands nourished with perfumes Believe me those of your sex who have not true piety had they a world of greatness and beauties and were it that all the riches of this world had rendered it self tributary to their intemperance would be no more esteemed before God than the flower of grass or scum of earth But such as take the way of holy and solid virtues enter into a life wholly Angelical which forgetting sex and natural imperfections furnisheth it self with the most perfect idaeaes of the Divinity Behold hereof a model which I present unto you in this Treatise where after I have observed rather by speculation than practice some blemishes which might varnish the lustre of so many celestial beauties I reduce the piety of Ladies into such bright splendour of day-light that it were to have no eyes not to admire the merit thereof I have been willing to make this service suitable to my habit and not unworthy of your considerations thereunto invited by Ladies who have happily allied virtue to the most eminent qualities of the Kingdom and who might serve me for a model were they in a much better Age than my self If God who hath inspired me with these contemplations grant your performance I shall have the Crown of my vows and you that of your perfections THE LADIE The first SECTION That the HOLY COURT cannot subsist without the virtue of Ladies and of their Pietie in the advancement of Christianitie BEhold where I purpose to shut up this Work of the HOLY COURT which I have brought thus far with labour enough And since God after those great Works of the Creation reposed so soon as he had made woman he thereby shews me an example to give some rest to my pen when I shall have represented unto you the perfections of a Lady such as I would wish her to serve as an ornament for Christianity and a model of virtue Yet Reader I must needs tell you I feared this haven whereunto I saw my self arrive of necessity as well for that I learned of the great Martyr S. Justin Justin ad Zenam SerenuÌ„ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that a singular discretion must be had to treat with women and that he doth very much who can love their virtues without danger besides being naturally disposed to brevity I somewhat doubted lest they might insensibly communicate by my discourse some touches of those great delays which they use in attiring themselves and verily I see there are many things may be said both of the one side and other But as it is an act somewhat uncivil to run inconsiderately into invectives against the sex so it is an unworthy servitude of mind to be too obsequious to them and tender vices incorrigible by a false presumption of virtues I am much bound to my profession that it sequestereth me from these two rocks where so many vessels suffer shipwrack If I must blame you I will do as he who slew the serpent not touching the body of his son twined up in his folds I will strike vice without Aâ—on of Creet slandering the sex and if they must be praised I look on them as the idaeaes of Plato which have nothing in them common with matter I begin to verifie my first proposition and say the good life of women is a piece so necessary for Christianity that it cannot be cut off without introducing a notable disorder and this I say because there are many uncollected spirits in the world who make it their glory to act all against the hair to oppose the most sound opinions to give the lie to nature and do that in the world which Momus did in fables Sometimes they set themselves to censure the State and find somewhat to say of military matters treasures laws and offices sometimes they frame Common-wealths of Plato in their emptie brains and constitute new forms of government which never will have being but in their chymaeraes When they have touched upon the Purple and Diadem they busie themselves to controle God upon the master-pieces of nature and among other things that he hath done ill to create a woman Cato the Censor said in his time That if the world Si mundus absque mulieribus esset conversatio nostra non esset absque Diis were without women the conversation of men would not be exempt from the company of Gods And a Doctor of the Jews yielding a reason why the Eternal Word had so long time deferred its Incarnation said nothing else but that the world was then replenished with bad women and that four thousand years were not able to furnish out one good one to serve as an instrument
to the same port It is that which maketh Kings to reign 1. Reg. 25. 29. and giveth them officers as members of their state and by this means frameth the Court of Great-ones But if after it hath so made and composed them as of the flower and choise of men it should abandon them in the tempest without pole-star without rudder without Pilot were not this with notable deformitie to fail in one of the prime pieces of its work-manship Judge your self For the second reason it is most evident that to further this impossibilitie of devotion in the course of Courtiers lives is to cast them through despair of all virtues which cannot subsist without piety into the libertie of all vices which they will hold not as extravagant fallies of frailtie but as the form of a necessary portion of their profession And as the rank they hold maketh them transcend other men who willingly tie themselves to the manners and affections of those on whom they see their fortunes depend that would be as it were by a necessary law to precipitate mankind into the gulf of corruption To conclude for the third reason this proposition is manifestly contradicted by an infinit number of examples of so many Kings and Princes of so many worthy Lords and Ladies who living in the Ocean of the world as the mother pearls by the dew of heaven have preserved and do yet still preserve themselves for ever in admirable puritie and in such heroick virtues that they cannot gain so much wonder on earth but they shall find in heaven much more recompence This is it which I intend to produce in this Treatise of the Holy Court after I have informed the mind with good and lively reasons which as I hope by the grace of the holy Spirit of God shall make all persons of quality to behold they do infinit wrong to take the splendour of their condition for a veil of their impieties and imperfections Virtue is a marvellous work woman who can make Mercury of any wood yea should the difficultie be great the victorie would be more glorious but all the easieness thereof is in their own hands and the obligations they have to tend to perfection are no less important than those of Hermits as I intend shall appear in the process of this discourse The first MOTIVE Of the obligation which secular men and especially persons of qualitie have to perfection grounded upon the name of Christian. A Great abuse is crept into the minds of secular persons who hold vice in predominance and virtue under controle It is in that they esteem Christian perfection as a bird out of their reach and a qualitie dis-proportionable to their estate As for my self saith one of these I have made provision of virtue according to my quality I pretend not to be a S. Francis nor to be rapt as a S. Paul to the third heaven I find there is no life but with the living and to hold time by the fore-lock while I can Let our pleasures take that scope which nature presenteth to them were we as wicked as Judas if we have the faith of S. Peter the mercy of God pardoneth all An impertinent discourse as I will hereafter declare On the other side there are women who chatter and say I will not be a S. Teresa it is not my intention to be canonized I love better to see my diamonds in my life glitter on my fingers than to carrie themafter my death on my statues I better love a little perfume whilst I yet breath air than all the Arabian odours after my death I will have no extasies nor raptures It is enough for me to wallow in the world I may as well go to Paradise by land as by water Such words are very impure in the mouth of a Christian nay so prejudicial to eternal salvation that through the liberty of speaking too much they take away all hope of doing well For pursuing the tender effeminacy of that spirit they take the measure of virtue very short and disproportionable their intentions being infirm the works are likewise the more feeble not squarely answering the model of knowledge from whence proceedeth a general corruption I affirm not all Christians ought to embrace the perfection of S. Francis and of S. Teresa No. There are some whom the Divine providence will direct by other aims But I say that every Christian is obliged to level at perfection and if he hath any other intention he is in danger to loose himself eternally A bold saying but it is the sentence of S. Austine You should always be displeased with your Aug. Serm. 11 of the Apostle Semper tibi displiceat quod es si viâ— pervenire ad id quod non es Si dixeris sufficit periisti A notable speech of S. Augustine self for that which you are if you desire to attain to that which you are not and if you chance to say it is enough you are undone And who are you that dare limit the gifts of God And who are you that say I will have but such or such degree of graces I satisfie my self with such a sanctity I have proceeded far enough in a spiritual life let us set up our staff here What wickedness is this Is not this to imitate that barbarous and senseless King who cast chains into the sea to tie the Ocean in fetters God hath given us a Xerxes heart of a larger latitude than the heavens which he will replenish with himself and you will straiten it like a snail to lodge him in narrow bounds whom the whole world cannot comprehend Judge if this proceeding be not very unreasonable and if you yet doubt weight two or three reasons which you shall find very forcible and by them you will conclude with me you have no less obligation to be perfect than the most retired Hermit that ever lived in the most horrid wilderness of Egypt The first reason I propose to underprop this assertion is drawn from the nature and essence of perfection At what mark think you should one aim to arrive to this scope If I should say will you be perfect bury your self alive in a sack put a halter about your neck go roast your self in the scorching beams of the Sun go roal your self in snow and thorns this would make you admire your hair stand an end and bloud congeal in your veins But if one tell you God Perfection engrafted upon love hath as it were engrafted perfection with his own hands upon the sweetest stock in the world what cause have you of refusal Now so it is as I say There is nothing so easie as to love the whole nature of the world is powred and dissolved into love there is nothing so worthy to be beloved as an object which incloseth in the extent thereof all beauties and bounties imaginable which are the strongest attractives of amity yea it forceth our affections with a sweet
the comfort of posterity marriage is constituted for that end It is not enough to assist a mortal body in its infirmities but so much as one may mutually to manure a soul immortal you must between you share all your prosperities and adversities I say prosperities to moderate them and adversities to honour them you must mutually strive to lend a shoulder and if your burdens be weighty by the yoke of necessity sanctifie them by your patience You must think it is a blessing even from God to be chosen out to preserve a husband or a sick wife since this infirm creature is the Image of God and your proper flesh to whom you render duties which perhaps at this time seem thorns unto you but shall one day be crowns if you know how to make virtues of your necessities Be not discouraged through pusillanimity but do like the Dolphin who raiseth himself with much alacrity against the sea-waves during the tempest Understand you not the Holocaust must burn from evening till morning Burn in this fire of love and tribulation expecting to see glory in the day-break to crown your perseverance Though God allot you no issue yet no whit the less love your comfort God oftentimes suffereth barrenness of body to afford fruitfulness of virtues The thirty seventh SECTION Instructions for Widdows PErfect widdows are in the Church as the horizon of Marriage and Religion they participate of both conditions when they be in the world for the example of the world for the government of their children and family but they also have a share in the life of the Religious when they wholly dispose their hearts to God We sometimes see a bank of earth which keepeth two seas from intermixing but being taken away those two waters will pass along together and engulf themselves one within another O how often said you during the knot of marriage that if God once took away your husband you would wholly be for him Conjugal obligation and affairs of the world was your bank and your obstacle but now God hath taken it away dissolve your heart into his This is the passage where you are expected Here it is where proof shall be made of your constancy When you have deplored the death of your husband as a wife you must learn to bear it like a Saint It is a wretched virtue not to know what else to do than bewail the dead and be desirous to derive glory from the peevishness of your sorrow If we could draw aside the curtain of Heaven to see the state of souls already passed out of mortal bodies to the promised recompence of the faithful how much we should be ashamed and confounded at the weakness of our tears we should see this great Eternity seated in a chair of diamond all sparkling with stars and brightness holding a flaming mirrour in its hand at which time it would let us behold a goodly harmony of all the beatitudes these glorious souls now enjoy separated from the contagion of our mortality then wiping away the tears from our eyes it would say to us with a voice replenished with sweetness and majesty Why bewail you these kinred and friends who live better than ever in my bosom absorpt in a torrent of eternal felicities An hundred and an hundred-fold happy are the dead who depart in the favour of God! Behold them for the time to come discharged from labours Behold them freed of a thousand and a thousand cares fears pains passions maladies wants ignominies and all those evils which divide our miserable life Behold them folded within the arms of the Sovereign where they reap the good works they sowed on earth You are much troubled O widdow that this your spouse is at this present of the houshold of God an inhabitant of his mansion and a possessour of his glory Have you so many tears to lament miseries that you waste them in felicities as if it were a great unhappiness to pass from the servitude of the slave of the world to the liberty and joy of the children of God This is admirably well expressed in the 21. Chapter of Exodus where God at the going forth of Aegypt shewed himself to Moses Aaron Nabal Abiud and all the most eminent of this Nation having saphires for his foot-stool which are stones of a celestial colour whereupon a learned Commentary drawn from the Hebrew Interpreters most divinely answereth that God would say unto them You have laboured in Aegypt with much patience about morter and tyles and behold all your tyles turned into saphires into heavenly stones to build of them the foot-stool of your glory This is it which the most Blessed Eternity saith to us concerning the dead whom we deplore It is not fit any longer to take pains with tyles and morter businesses cares troublesom affairs of the present life are past there is not any thing but repose peace glory and felicitie Behold that which comforteth all solid and generous souls with lively fruitful and eternal consolations Will you have a singular resignation in the death of your kinred which may daily happen and fall out of necessity Behold Saint Lewis when news was brought him of the death of his mother Queen Blauncb he soon perceived by the countenance of the messengers who were the Archbishop of Tyre and his Confessour they were ready to tell him somewhat able to afflict the heart of man before they could open their mouthes Let us go saith he into my Oratory for it was the magazin where this great King took up arms to combate against worldly disasters and when they came thither speak now what have you to say Sir God who had a long time lent you your mother for the good of your person and Kingdom hath taken her out of the world for her own repose At these words S. Lewis fell upon his knees before the Altar and lifting up his hands to heaven said O my God I give thee thanks thou â—â—st afforded me my dear mother whilest it was thy will and that now according to thy good pleasure thou hast taken her to thee It is true I loved her above all the creatures of the world and she well deserved it but since thou hast bereaved me of her thy Name be for ever blessed Conclude your tears as he did but never the resolution of your widdow-hood It were to be wished a good vow might fix it with a nail of adamant but that should be done with discretion for all in woman being frail her tears can have no constancy You may have read in the history of the unhappy Politician the sorrow of Glaphyra the wife of Alexander son of Herod whom his father most cruelly put to death to satisfie his chimaeraes and suspitions Never woman more passionately resented the death of her husband her lamentations were yellings her tears torrents her words furies her countenance despair and life a little hell There was no light to be seen after the eclipse of
coloured pretext Notwithstanding it cast most strong apprehensions into the soul of his Lady who too well knew the deportments of this Prince But considering this precious pledge of her husband held for an undoubted earnest-penny of his command she goeth and consecrateth all the difficulties which she conceived to the obedience towards her Lord. The poor Lady was no sooner arrived but was ravished and violated to satisfie the bruitish lust of a man more drunk with love than wine The Palace of a Christian Emperour which should be a Sanctuary for the chastity of Ladies is by an act black and villanous defiled The chaste turtle who would not survive her honour as soon as she returneth to her lodging exclaimeth against her husband with outragious words thinking he had consented to this disaster Go saith she to him ingratefull and unnatural man as thou are to prostitute the honour of thy wife to the bruitishness of a Prince abandoned by God and men dost thou not yet feel the executioners of thy conscience which reproach thee with thy crime Maximus much amazed at such words What is the matter or where have you been foolish woman saith he She shewing the ring Dost not thou yet acknowledge thy disloyaltie silly and perfidious man behold that which will accuse thee before God He as she began to unfold herself too soon found his own shame enjoyneth her to silence and dissimulation and hath no vein in him which tendeth not to vengeance Valentinian had a brave and valiant Captain who supported the whole Empire this was Aetius very lately adorned with the spoils of Attila whom he in a pitcht battel had vanquished Maximus thought he must ruinate this pillar to make the whole house to fall and therein was not deceived But being a man full of craft so dissembleth what was past concerning his wife as if it had never come to his knowledge onely he endeavoureth to gain the good opinion of a powerfull Eunuch named Heraclius who was the Emperours instrument and having already gotten him at his devotion suggesteth to him in great secret he had learned from a good hand that Aetius Lieutenant General of the Emperour was much puffed up with the victory he obtained against Attila and that he on all sides practised confederacies both within and without the Kingdom to make himself absolute Master of all that under the shadow of entertaining the French and Gothes in good correspondence with the Empire he purchased them for his own service with the Emperours revenues and that nothing remained for him but to set the Diadem upon his own head which quickly he would do were he not with all speed prevented Heraclius faileth not roundly to relate all this to his Master who was already stirred with jealousie towards Aetius seeing his fortune took so high a flight that it seemed to mount above wind and tempest Valentinian a hair-braind Prince perpetually drunk with lust and choller without any further inquisition sendeth for Aetius to the Palace and with enraged passion How saith he Traytour is it thou who undertakest to bereave me of the Crown and saying that taketh out a poinyard which he had in his bosom and killed him with his own hand An act both bold and barbarous The poor Aetius who had born the brunt of an Army of seven hundred thousand men who first confronted a man that shoke the pillars of all Empires who returned from the Gaules amply loaden with victorious Palms one of the most glorious Captains that ever was at that time shewed at Rome as a prodigy of valour fell dead as a sacrifice at the feet of his Master receiving by the just judgement of God that entertainment he before had given to Bonifacius the great Governour of Affrick Valentinian as if he had acted a Master-piece went presently to one of his wisest Counsellours to boast thereof asking of him if he had not well played his prize The other replieth Sacred Majesty if you had taken a hatchet with your right hand and cut off your left arm in stead of giving this accursed blow you had not done so ill And I believe you too soon will feel the loss you have received These words were not without effect for the death of Aetius being presently after divulged it put the souldiers into fury who loved him as a brave and valiant Captain under whose standard they had given so ample testimonies of their worth Two of the most hardy of them Ostias and Transtilas after they had massacred the Eunuch Heraclius assailed the person of the Emperour who was at that time in the field of Mars and desperately murdered him it being impossible to free himself from their hands God permitting this in revenge of the murder lately committed and so many adulteries wherewith this miserable Prince degenerating from the bloud of Theodosius was polluted Maximus who cast the stone and afterward withdrew his arm causing all this tragedy to be acted to his own advantage after the death of Valentinian as being most eminent obtained the Empire with little resistance and his wife during these enterprizes being dead perhaps through discontent for her own disaster seeketh the marriage of the Empress Eudoxia wife of Valentinian and daughter of our Athenais The poor Princess drenched in a deluge of sorrow for the death of the Emperour her husband shewed in the beginning to be deaf in this motion of marriage but as the spirits of women are mutable and soothed with glory in few days forgetting death she resolveth to live among the living and for accommodation of her affairs weddeth Maximus Behold him in a short time in the Throne and bed of his Master revenging himself of one wickedness by another much more execrable But vice in greatness hath ever a staggering foot Maximus was no sooner entred into the Palace but his head aked and the remorse of conscience distracted him His most trusty friends heard him sighing say he esteemed that ancient Damocles happy who was a King but the space of a dinner-while so much already was he disquieted with the Empire as if he had soreseen his own catastrophe It chanced one day this unhappy man familiarly discoursing with his new spouse let a word escape him which cost him his life for to give her a great token of his affection he confessed himself to have intermedled in the design of Valentinian his death not so much for the desire of the Empire as of her beauty Eudoxia was strucken with strange horrour at these words not supposing her first husband had been deprived of life and scepter by his practices and therefore resolving to be revenged she covereth her plot with dissimulation and bendeth all her powers to content his humour She saw how her mother had been used at Constantinople so that from thence probably she could expect no succour The fury of revenge transported her to an Wicked revenge of a woman act very hazardous which was to call Gensericus King of the
the resentment of injuries Necessitie of salvation since prayer and sacrifice essential parts of our salvation cannot subsist without the pardon of our neighbour And pursuing this precept we have a tradition from the Hebrews which saith He who being entreated to pardon after warning given before competent witnesses if he shewed himself inexorable was surnamed as with a title of infamy the Sinner and held as one excommunicate as a rotten member and cut off from the society of the faithfull I likewise say necessity of salvation since according to S. Augustine without this virtue all devotion is but August super Joan. homil 10. Quid prodest quia credis blasphemas Adoras illum in capite blasphemas in corpore c. hypocrisie all religion blasphemy all faith infidelity To what purpose is it saith this Prelate to believe and blaspheme to adore God in his head and blaspheme him in his members God loveth his body which is his Church if you dissever your self from his body he will not for all that forsake his own members Hear you not the head which speaketh to you from heaven saying O Man it is in vain thou honourest me hating thy neighbour If any one whilst he is giving thee low obeysance with his head tread on thy foot thou wouldst in midst of all his complement cry out Sir you hurt me What is there either more powerfull or persuasive The horrour and confusion of revenge than these reasons Yet notwithstanding among so many lightnings and thunders which encompass us on every side there are to be found infinite many black souls in the world which practise hatred some in secret some in publick make vaunts to eternize their revenge in the everlastingness of their punishments What a horrour is it to see a man who besought and entreated with all earnestness to pardon a brother who hath offended him answereth with disdain furious and intolerable he will never agree nor hold correspondence with him no more than with a Turk or Moor Ah Barbarian Shut up that mouth unhappy creature and never open it at least never open it before the wounds of Christ which bleed against thee Thou wilt embrace no other friendship with thy brother but such as may be found between Turks and Moors Lyer that thou art seek yet out words more out-ragious to express the gall of thy passion For if thou knowest it not Turks and Moors retain the amities and sense of man whereof thou art despoiled Turks even in the general desolation of Moors entertained them into their Countreys and afforded them helps which thou hast denied thy flesh and bloud If that seem worthy of thee take a turbant and become a Turk But when thou hast put it on yet shalt thou find laws which will oblige thee to love a man The Turks have their Behiram a feast wherein they pardon all injuries and wilt thou turn Turk to retain an injury Out of God's Church out of the society of men out of nature bloudy monster as thou art Where wilt thou any longer find place in the world when thou once hast pulled down the Altars of clemency That also which is spoken in choller and hasty precipitation might seem pardonable in repentance were it not there are some who in cold bloud foster suits and immortal pertinacities and which is worst many times in publick shewing a fair face in secret they transfix the heart of a poor man like unto witches they rip up the bowels of wife and children to satisfie a revenge Barbarous man eat rather eat the miserable heart than pierce it perpetually with thy infernal bodkins I would in the rest be silent if there were not women who being infirm in all things get diabolical strength for revenge What may we say of a creature of this sex who being very slightly offended by another of the same sex whilst she advised by her Confessour disposed her self to all duties of satisfaction the other looked on her with a Gorgons eye and foaming with anger spitefully reviled her with bloudy words so that nothing now remained but to take her by the hair and drag her on the floar which violence reproved by other she repeated the burden of the old ballad That she wished her not ill but would never see her again Inhumane and furious creature a Maegera not a woman what mouth will you hereafter bring to the Altars which you seem to honour Have you any other than that by you polluted with this poisonous choller What heart remains in you for God Is there any part of it not steeped in gall What expect you at the hower of death and in the instant of your souls separation but that God repeat unto you your own words I wish thee no ill I will not put thee upon the wheel nor the rack I have neither rasors nor flames to torment thee but thou never shalt see my face Wilt thou then cherish quarrels maintain sides spread rumours either true or false secretly undermine the fortune of men and make thy self as inexorable to reconciliation as thou art inflexible to reason Lord have mercy on us Semper jurgia quaerit malus Angelus autem crudelis mittetur contra eum Proverb 6. a cruel Angel will be sent against thee an ill suit commenced a ruinous business a tedious sickness a loss of goods a confusion of understanding and then shalt thou see whether fire being in the four corners of thy house thou still retainest the itch of revenge But you generous souls march on by union to the chief of unities and think the onely revenge is well to be revenged on your self If as I have shewed pardon be possible glorious and necessarie why foment we our curiosities to enflame our feavours Let us take away these silly humane respects this slender pride which often broodeth under silken devotions and which is the cause that God is daily beheld and adored upon both the knees by those who will not see nor speak to any that have committed some slight indiscretion whilst feigning to honour God the Master with lips the servant within the heart is strangled Say O Christian say to thy self Am I more powerfull Goodly considerations to pacific the mind in my small family than God in the universe He daily endureth so many injuries not threatening mortals with his thunders what am I who have ears so tender Many have forgiven their deaths and I cannot pardon a cold countenance a silly word a slender negligence Is it a child is it a young man hath offended age excuseth him is it a woman sex a stranger liberty a friend familiarity He hath offended he hath displeased Vid. de I thee once and how many other times hath he done thee good offices But this is not the first time so much the better shall we bear what we already have suffered Custome of injuries is a good Mistress of patience He is a friend he did what he would
with so much profusion that she could not endure to lodge but in chambers full of delicious perfumes of the East she would not wash her self but in the dew of Heaven which must be preserved for her with much skill Her garments were so pompous that nothing remainned but to seek for new stuffs in Heaven for she had exhausted the treasures of earth Her viands so dainty that all the mouthes of Kings tasted none so exquisite nor would she touch her meat but with golden forks and precious stones God to punish this cursed superfluity cast her on a bed and assailed her with a maladie so hydeous so stinking and frightfull that all her nearest kin were enforced to abandon her none staying about her but a poor old woman already throughly accustomed to stench and death yet could not this proud creature part with her infamous body but with sorrow She was of those souls that Plato calleth Phylosemates which tie themselves to flesh as much as they can and after death would gladly still walk round about their flesh to find a passage into it again Know you what is to be done to die well Cut off in good time the three chains which straightly bind foolish and sensual souls For the first passage that The way how to be well provided for death concerneth earthly goods seasonably dispose of your temporal Entangle not your hands for so short a time as you are to live in great affairs perilous and uncertain which will perplex you all your life and throw you down to death Do not like evil travellers who stay to reckon and contend with their hostess when it is already fair day-light and that the guid wrangles and sweareth at them Digest your little business that you may leave no trouble in your family after death Make a Will clear and perspicuous which draweth not suits after it Preserve your self carefully from imitating that wicked man who caused all his gold and silver to be melted into one mass to set his heirs together by the ears who killed one another sprinkling the apple of discord and the object of their avarice with their bloud Say to your self I brought nothing into the world nor will carry any thing away no not the desire of it Behold one part of my goods which must be restored to such and such these are true debts that must necessarily be discharged Behold another for pious legacies Another for alms to persons needy and indigent another for my servants male and female and my poor friends who have faithfully served me They have wasted their bodies and lives to contribute all they might to my will there is no reason I should forget them Nay I desire mine enemies have some part in my will As for my children and heirs the main shall go to them they will be rich enough if they be virtuous enough Behold how the temporal should be disposed And for so much as concerneth kinred give the benediction of God to your children and all your family leave worthy examples of contempt of the world of humility of patience of charity procure a full reconciliation with your enemies entertain your friends with sage discourses which may shew you gladly accept Gods visitations that you die full of resolutions to prepare them a place and that you expect from their charity prayers and satisfactions for your negligence and remisness If needs some small tribute must be paid to nature in two or three drops of tears it is tolerable But take away these whyning countenances these petty furies these mercenary weepers who weep not knowing why nor for what they mourn As for that which toucheth the state of your body it would be a goodly thing for you to be wail it after you have had so many troubles in it Go out of it like a Tennant from a ruinous house go from it as from a prison of earth and morter Go out of it as on the sea from a rotten leaky ship to leap on the shore and care not much what will become of it after death so it be on holy land Souls well mortified speak not of flesh considering the state of sin but with horrour Yea we find in the bequests of one of the sons of S. Lewis Count of Alencon these words I will Modesty of a son of S. Lewis the Tomb that shall cover my stinking flesh exceed not the charge of fiftie livres and that which encloseth my evil heart pass not thirty livres Behold how the son of one of the greatest Kings in the world speaketh of his body and would you idolatrize yours Lastly for the third condition of a good death it The third quality of a good death must have union with God whereof our Lady giveth us a perfect example For it being well verified by Theologie that there are three unions supernatural and as it were wholly ineffable the first whereof is the sacred knot of the most holy Trinitie which tieth three persons in one same Essence the second is the tie of the Word with humane nature which subsisteth by the hypostasis of the same Word and the third the intimate conjunction of a Son-God with a Mother-Virgin I affirm the Virgin being a pure creature cannot equal either the union of the Trinity or the hypostatical union yet notwithstanding hath the highest place of all created unions as she who was united to God when she lived in the world in the most sublime and sacred manner the spirits of the most exalted Seraphins might imagine which was most divinely expressed by S. Bernard She entered into a deep abyss of divine Profundissimam divinae sapientiae penetravit abyssum quantum sine personali unione creatur◠conditio patitur luci illi inaccesibili videatur immersa D. Bernard serm in signum magnum Mater mea quà m appellatis foelicem inde foelix quia verbum Dei custodit non quia in illa Verbum caro factum est c. Aug. tract 10 in Joan. wisdom so that she was united to light inaccessible so much as a creature might be permitted not arriving to the personal union of God But saying this I not onely speak of the union she had in quality of the Mother of God being one same flesh and one same substance with her Son but of the union of contemplation devotion and submission to the will of God which alone was the center of her felicity as witnesseth S. Augustine My Mother whom you call happie hath all her happiness not so much because the Word was made man in her as for that she kept the word of God who made her and who afterward allied himself to humane nature in her womb as he would say Our Lady was more happy to have conceived God in her heart and continually kept spiritual union with him than to have once brought him forth according to flesh We cannot arrive at this sublime union of the Mother of God but howsoever at least in the last
learning of Jesus who was never taught 502 Upon S. John the 9. Of the blind man cured by clay and spittle 503 Upon S. Luke the 7. Of the widows son raised from death to life at Naim by our Saviour 504 Upon S. John the 11. Of the raising up Lazarus from death 505 Upon S. John the 8. Of our Saviours words I am the Light of the world ibid. Upon S. John the 8. Of these words Who can accuse me of sin 506 Upon S. John the 7. Jesus said to the Pharisees You shall seek and not find me and he that is thirsty let him come to me 507 Upon S. John the 7. Jesus went not into Jury because the Jews had a purpose to take away his life  Upon S. John the 10. The Jews said If thou be the Messias tell us plainly ibid. Upon S. John the 7. Of S. Mary Magdalen's washing our Saviours feet in the Pharisees house 509 Upon S. Mary Magdalen's great repentance 510 Upon S. John the 11. The Jews said What shall we do for this man doth many miracles ibid. Upon S. John the 12. The Chief Priests thought to kill Lazarus because the miracle upon him made many follow Jesus 511 Upon S. Matthew the 21. Our Saviour came in triumph to Jerusalem a little before his passion 512 Upon S. John the 12. Mary Magdalen anointed our Saviours feet with precious ointment at which Judas repined 513 Upon S. John the 13. Of our Saviours washing the feet of his Apostles ibid. Moralities upon the garden of Mount Olivet 514 Moralities of the apprehension of Jesus 515 Aspiration upon S. Peter's passionate tears ibid. Moralities upon the Pretorian or Judgement-Hall 516 Moralities for Good Friday upon the death of Jesus Christ ibid. The Gospel for Easter day S. Mark the 16. 518 The Gospel for Easter Munday S. Luke 24. 519 The Gospel on Tuesday S. Luke 24. 520 The Gospel on Low-Sunday John 20. 521 A TABLE Of the Treatises and Sections contained in this fourth Tome OF THE HOLY COURT The First TREATISE Of the necessity of Love SECTION Page 1 AGainst the Philosophers who teach Indifferency saying We must not Love any thing 1 2 Of Love in generall 3 3 Of Amity 5 4 Of Amity between persons of different sexes 7 5 Of the entertainment of Amities 11 6 Of Sensuall Love its Essence and Source 14 7 The effects of Sensuall Love 17 8 Remedies of evil Love by precaution 18 9 Other Remedies which nearer hand oppose this Passion 19 10 Of Celestiall Amities 22 11 Of the Nature of Divine Love Its Essence Qualities Effects and Degrees 25 12 The practise of Divine Love 27 13 A notable Example of Worldly Love changed into Divine Charity 29 The Second TREATISE Of Hatred 1 ITs Essence Degrees and Differencies 32 2 That the consideration of the goodnesse of the heart of God should dry up the root of the Hatred of a neighbour 33 3 That Jesus grounded all the greatest Mysteries of our Religion upon union to cure Hatred 34 4 Of three notable sources of Hatred and of politick remedies proper for its cure 35 5 Naturall and Morall Remedies against this passion 37 6 Of the profit may be drawn from Hatred and the course we must hold to be freed from the danger of being Hated ibid. The Third TREATISE Of Desire 1 WHether we should desire any thing in the world the Nature the Diversitie and Description of Desire 39 2 The Disorders which spring from inordinate Desires and namely from Curiosity and Inconstancy 40 3 The foure sources out of which are ill rectified Desires 42 4 That the tranquility of Divine Essence for which we are created ought to rule the unquietnesse of our Desires ibid. 5 That we should desire by the imitation of Jesus Christ 43 6 The Condemnation of the evil Desires of the World and the means how to divert them 44 THE FOURTH TREATISE Of Aversion SECTION Page 1 THe Nature and Qualities thereof 44 2 The Sweetnesses and Harmonies of the heart of God shew us the way how to cure our Aversions ibid. 3 The consideration of the indulgent favours of Jesus Christ towards humane nature is a powerfull remedy against the humour of disdain 47 4 The Conclusion against disdain ibid. THE FIFTH TREATISE Of Delectation 1 THat Delectation is the scope of Nature It s Essence Objects and differences 48 2 The basenesse and giddinesse of Sensuall voluptuousnesse 49 3 The Sublimity Beauty and Sweetnesse of heavenly delights ibid. 4 The Paradise and Joyes of our Lord when he was on earth 50 5 Against the stupidity and cruelty of worldly pleasures 51 6 The Art of Joy and the means how to live contented in this world ibid. THE SIXTH TREATISE Of Sadnesse 1 ITs Description Qualities and the diversity of those who are turmoiled with this Passion 54 2 Humane Remedies of Sadnesse and how that is to be cured which proceedeth from Melancholy and Pusillanimitie 55 3 The remedie of Sadnesses which proceeds from divers accidents of humane life 56 4 That the Contemplation of the Divine patience and tranquility serve for remedie for our temptations 58 5 That the great temper of our Saviours soul in most horrible sufferings is a powerfull lenitive against our dolours 59 6 Advise to impatient soules 60 THE SEVENTH TREATISE Of Hope 1 THe Description Essence and appurtenances thereof 61 2 That one cannot live in the world without Hope and what course is to be held for the well ordering of it ibid 3 That God not being capable of Hope serveth as an Eternall Basis to all good Hopes 63 THE EIGHTH TREATISE Of Despair 1 ITs Nature Composition and effects 65 2 The causes of Despair and the condition of those who are most subject to this Passion 66 3 Humane Remedies of Despair 67 4 Divine Remedies 68 5 The Examples which Jesus Christ gave us in the abysse of his sufferings are most efficacious against pusillanimity 69 6 Encouragement to good Hopes ibid. THE NINTH TREATISE Of Fear 1 THe Definition the Description the Causes and effects thereof 70 2 Of the vexations of Fear Its differences and Remedies 71 3 Against the Fear of the accidents of humane life 72 4 That the Contemplation of the power and the Bounty of God ought to take away all our Fears 73 5 That the Example of a God-man ought to instruct and assure us against affrightments of this life 74 THE TENTH TREATISE Of Boldnesse SECTION Page 2 THe Picture and Essence of it 76 2 The diversitie of Boldnesse ibid 3 Of laudable Boldnesse 77 4 That true Boldnesse is inspired by God and that we must wholly depend on him to become Bold 78 5 That Jesus hath given us many pledges of a sublime confidence to strengthen our Courage 79 THE ELEVENTH TREATISE Of Shamefactnesse 1 THe decencie of Shamefac'tnesse It s nature and definition 81 2 Divers kinds of Shamefac'tnesse ibid. 3 The Excellency of Shamefac'tnesse and the uglinesse of Impudency 83 4 Of Reverence
vagabonds and loytering rogues furnitures for a gibbet then judge you if it be not a madness to say you desire in all things to separate your selves far from the multitude to enworthy and distinguish your Nobilitie and yet in this one action alone you lessen and vilifie your courage even to the condition of the most captive and abominable creatures of the earth You will say That is true but a man cannot refuse a duel when he is urged Why Because shame Great want of generositie in duels and ignominie always attend say you on these denials See you not by this answer you give arms against your self and freely confess that a duel is not an action of courage For to lay apart the ordinances of the Church take but the laws of Aristotle Ethic. c. 8. a worldly man as your self and more than you doth not he most pertinently demonstrate in his Ethicks that it is not an action of valour when a souldier is valiant while his Captain hath set the enemie on one side and a river on the other to enforce him to fight or because a Sergeant of a band is ready to transfix the veins of his back with a halbard if he retire Virtue which is not virtue but for avoidance of dishonour is true pusillanimitie under the veil of false courage I then demand of you who more tyrannically assaulteth a man either the Sergeant of a band who thrusteth a sword into his reins or the point of honour which possesseth his brains Without all doubt you will agree with me that there is no tyrannie comparable to that of this mad duel which is called Point of honour And in the mean space because forsooth this goodly Sergeant of a band enforceth you and beareth you forward upon the hips with the helve of a halbard you must hasten to a duel you must go to precipitate your self into the throat of hell whereas otherwise were it not for the shame of the world you would not stir a foot Behold a brave act of courage What then shall we answer to those who provoke you That which conscience permitteth and Doctour Bannes adviseth that you seek not dens nor caverns that you go into every place with your head erected and if they shall be so temerarious as to assault you they may find you upon that defence which the law of nature permitteth Behold a good answer for a Doctour but the world is not paid in such coyn Answer them as the wisest among worldlings Augustus Caesar to Mark Anthony who challenging him in single combat he caused in plain terms to be said unto him that when the dispair of the success of his affairs should reduce him to the furious rage of hating his life yet he would find out other ways to die much more honest than by this butcherly frenzie Yea but this is an answer of a coward This coward in the mean time established the prime Empire of the world struggling by strength of arm against a torrent both of arms and opinions which hindered his passage constraining the whole world to yield obedience to his valour and he that challenged him with all his magnanimitie and courage died in the arms of a woman rage and effeminacie sharing the rest of his life as well as the triumph of his death Behold you not a goodly courage Howsoever the matter stands in refusing of a duel the dishonour of the world cannot be eschewed What is the world A mass of mad men If you have sworn to please them by sacrificing your bloud your life with the damnation of your soul are you not then the most miserable slave that ever was fettered in the guives of a rigorous servitude Are you not a soul prodigiously servile so far off are you from having one sole point of courage We then must go out of the world Leave it if you cannot live without the damnation of your soul be gone break the chains immediately But I am too much bound it is fit the goat brouse where he is fastened What counsel shall one give you You can neither go nor stay Resolve then to live in the world trampling under your feet the opinion of the world subjecting the laws of the earth to the Empire of Heaven and then fear not but you shall have courage enough The eighth REASON Proceeding from education ONe of the greatest benefits which man can receive Force of education at Gods hands is the favourable blessing of good education It is it which pollisheth and purifieth nature as one would do a precious stone wholly defiled with earth and filthy ordure it is it which maketh men become Angels and without it the goodliest and best natures would perpetually dwell in brutishness The Historie of A wolf-child Germanie telleth us that heretofore a child was taken in the forrests which was presented to Henrie Landgrave of Hassia From four years old he had been bred among wolves the wolves taught him to go on four feet as a bruit beast he went a forraging with the wolves he divided the prey with the wolves he slept amongst the wolves to be the more warm to conclude he wholly became wolf When he came to be made tractable and tame they were enforced to tie his hands to staves to teach him to go as men do yet did he break all to return to the condition of a wolf so powerful is the force and tyrannie of education Another sucking the milk of a sow took a singular pleasure to wallow in the dirt and lambs nourished with goats milk retain the roughness of hair Hereupon judge O you Noblemen what obligation you have to the Divine Majesty and what motive to tread the paths of perfection since ordinarily as I intend here to prove you meet with all those things which may conduce to the happiness of good education How many spirits think you are there in Defect in education the world that for want of education remain as diamonds buried in a dung-hill which if once you unearth and free from rust and putrefaction will set the sun before your eyes Behold an infant blessed with a beautiful bodie a fair spirit but yet born with a yoak on his neck the yoak of povertie and servitude Misery of want The condition of his birth hath shut him in a cage what means then I pray hath he to work wonders As soon as ever he beginneth to open his eyes he beholdeth himself to be born in a house hanged round about with cobwebs he beholdeth his father and mother to groan under the burden of a needy life his brothers and sisters to roul the same stone There is no question made of civil education instruction or knowledge bread must be sought for so much sollicitude must be had onely to live as bruit beasts that no leisure will be found to think how to live like a man and admit it were thought on there are no books in this poor cottage but rotten
the times than themselves Judge then upon all this which I have here discoursed whether one ought to fortifie himself so much the more with virtue and courage by how much he beholdeth himself exposed to great and perpetual occasions either of sin or misery Whether the Courtier have less obligation to virtue than the Religious since he seeth himself at all turns in greater and more evident perils Judge if this be a favour of Almighty God to have a subject of penance and a fair field to exercise patience how Courtiers herein are made happy and how many palms they might reap if they would adde the application of spirit sincerity of intention and spiritual direction to the exercises of their profession Through the want of these virtues thinking to gain all they loose all merit escapes them and all their life the bad thiefs cross abideth with them And that which is most deplorable is that they adore their punishments and like the tribe of Zabulon of whom scripture speaketh Deut. 31. Inundationem maris quasi lac sugent they suck in the water of the sea as milk and all bitterness seems sweet as sugar to their depraved tastes The tenth REASON Which dependeth on acknowledgement or gratitude HAd Noblemen and worldly Great-ones no other spur to incite them to perfection but the acknowledgement of so many benefits which they have received from the liberal hand of God it were always a potent motive to a heart truly generous who feareth ingratitude more than death It is not without mysterie that God in the beginning of the world's creation of twelve names attributed unto him he taketh that of Elohim derived God named Obliging in the beginning of the world from an Hebrew word signifying to tie and oblige making himself at the very first known to man even in the worlds infancy under the title of obliging to teach him that he is born among benefits the acknowledgement of which should become natural to him That great man Philo the Jew in A notable discourse of Philo. the book he entituled Noes Plant figureth unto us a certain tradition of the Sages of his Nation to wit that God the Creatour after he had framed the world as a Scutcheon of his Nobilitie a contracted table of his titles a mirrour of his greatness and wisdom demanded of the Prophets or the Angels then in glory what they thought of this work and that one among them after he had highly commended the architecture of this goodly universe said freely that he also therein yet required one perfection to see a seal upon so many brave and rich inventions What is it saith the Eternal Father I would desire replied he a strong voice powerful harmonious which born upon the wings of the winds and clouds upon the Chariot of the air might replenish all the part of the world and incessantly eccho forth night and day in praises and thanksgiving for your incomparable benefits Verily a goodly invention and worthy of an Angelical spirit yet notwithstanding God hath sufficiently provided for this defect For framing the world as a large clock he hath proportionably given to man the place which this celestial spirit seemed to require And that it might not be otherwise than so the first wheel of this great clock of the world is the primam mobile the continual motion The world a Clock and how the secret influences of Antipathies and Sympathies which are as it were hidden in the bowels of nature The hand thereof is this goodly and beautiful embowed frettizing of the heavenly orbes which we behold with our eyes The twelve signs are as it were the distinctions of the twelve hours of the day The Sun exerciseth the office of the steel and gnomon to point out time and in its absence the Moon The lights and stars contribute thereto their lustrous brightness The sea the azure of his waves for ornament The earth serves for counterpoize The stony quarries the mettals and the plants for an Emblem to ezercise the wisest in the knowledge of this great work-man The living creatures are the small chimes and man is the great clock which is to strike the hours and render thanks to the Creatour This acknowledgement of course is due to God from all men and the failing herein is greatly punishable for two reasons The first is That God hath with his finger engraven it in the nature of the world The second That he extraordinarily recommended it in the new and old Law As concerning what toucheth the law of nature benefits are the wings of love more swift than tempests they Natural graitude excellent proofs of it Aelian l. c. 22. Plin. l. 10. c. 5. Aelian l. 8. c. 3. overtake birds in their flight We behold in history where on one side a Stork cometh to cast a precious stone into the bosom of a maid which had healed her of a wound and on the other side an Eagle that seeing the bodie of a young man burned which had fed and cherished her cast herself with alacritie into the flames of her enkindled pile Good turns are golden nets which catch the swiftest gliding fishes we find the proof hereof when the Dolphins assembled with troups upon the Sea-shore where they celebrated the obsequies of one called Ceranus who had before freed them from the snares of the fisher-men Benefits are sharp-pointed arrows which throughly penetrate the heart of Tygers and Lions We find it in the historie of Androdus who because Interroga juments docebunt te volatilia agri indicabunt tibi Agnovis bos possessorem suum asmus praesepe domini sui Israel autem non me cognovit Isaiah 2. Gratitude in the law of God he had pulled a thorn out of a Lions foot made a beast of service of him and led him through all the Citie of Rome gentle and meek as a lamb O how strong bird-lime is a benefit all generous birds are taken with it there is none but some certain ill-conditioned Owls which escape from it Noblemen will you think you do too much if you should acknowledge the benefits of your Creatour since beasts the most savage recompence good turns received from slaves and forgetting their nature cannot but remember a benefit though small As for the written law what virtue is more often recommended than gratitude and thankful acknowledgement God giveth not any benefits without preparing monuments If he deliver his people out of Aegypt a lamb of Passe-over under the title of gratitude is to be offered for ever if he give Manna a pot thereof is reserved in the Tabernacle if he work wonders with Moses rod it is preserved for an eternal memory Gratitude is the key of the land flowing with milk and hony ingratitude is a channel from whence all the plagues of heaven pour down upon rebellious and contumacious heads Is it not very remarkeable that the Israelites were more Excellent observations upon this
government of the Church III. Throughly to retain the summary of the Christian doctrine to inform your self of the explication of every Article not for curiosity but duty To read repeat meditate ruminate them very often To teach them to the ignorant in time of need But above all to give direction to your family that they may be instructed in those things which belong to the knowledge of their salvation It is an insupportable abuse to see so many who drag silk at their heels and have Linx's eyes in petty affairs to be many times stupid and bruitish in matter of Religion and in the knowledge of God IV. To abhor all innovation and liberty of speech which in any the least degree striketh at the ancient practices of the Church V. And therefore it is necessary as our Father Judicious notes of S. Ignatius concerning sincere faith S. Ignatius hath observed to praise and approve Confession which is made to a Priest and the frequent * * * Haec Authoris 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 notanda non probanda Communion of the faithful interpreting the devotion of others in a good sense VI. To recommend the Sacrifice of the Mass to love practice perswade others to the laudable custom of being present thereat as much as may be To esteem Church-musick prayers Canonical hours Supplications Processions and such like VII To praise the Orders of Religion the vows of poverty chastity obedience works of supererrogation and evangelical perfection ever generally preferring virginity and continency in discourse before marriage VIII To esteem of Reliques to recommend the veneration and invocation of Saints to be much affected to the service of the most blessed Mother of God to approve of pilgrimages which are orderly performed Indulgences and Jubilies which the glorious King S. Lewis recommended to Philip his son in his last words IX To have a religious opinion of the abstinences and fasts instituted by the Church and of the manner of penances and mortifications which religious and other devout persons piously practice X. To maintain the commandments of the Church and ordinances of Superiours both by word and example and though their lives should not be conformed to their doctrine yet not to detract nor murmure at their actions in publick or private thereby to alter in the peoples belief the reverence and respect to their dignity but as much as shall be expedient privately to admonish them of their defective carriage in their charges XI Highly to esteem the doctrine of sacred Theologie which is taught in schools and to make account of the great Doctours whom the Divine providence hath raised in this latter Age valourously to oppose heresies XII Not to insist in ordinary discourses upon exaggerations comparing men who live in this Age with the Apostles Doctours and Saints of antiquity XIII To fix our selves upon the resolutions of the Church that what our own peculiar reason would judge to be white we to esteem it black when the decrees of the Church it self shall be so always preferring the judgement of the Church before our private opinion knowing that humane reason especially in matters of faith may easily be deceived but the Church guided by the promised Spirit of truth cannot erre XIV Not in considerately to be embroyled in the thorny controversies of predestination Highly to commend grace and faith but warily without prejudice of free-will and good works XV. Not so to speak of the love and mercy of God that one may seem thereby to exclude the thoughts and considerations of fear and divine justice Behold the ordinary rules to preserve your self in faith If you now desire to know how this virtue is purified and refined in mans heart and in what consisteth the excellency of its acts behold them here You must carefully take heed of having onely a dead faith without charity or good works which S. Augustine calleth the faith of the devil It is a night-glimmer obscure and melancholy but lively faith is a true beam of the Sun The acts of a strong and lively faith are I. To have great and noble thoughts of God as Heroick acts of faith Matth. 8. that brave Centurion of whom it is spoken in S. Matthew who supposed the malady health death life of his servant absolutely depended upon one sole word of our Saviour and thought himself unworthy he should enter into his house Cassius Longinus a Pagan Cassius Longinus libro 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so learned that he was called the Living Librarie one day reading Genesis could not sufficiently admire the sublime speculations which Moses had of the Divinity when he wrote of the worlds creation that God at the sound of one sole word made the great master-pieces of this universe to rise out of nothing as heaven earth water the Sun and Moon II. To believe with great simplicity removed from all manner of curiosity and nice inquisition God Si levaveris cultrum tuum super eo polluetur Exod. 20. would not the point of the knife should be lifted up on his Altar to cut it So likewise the point of humane spirit must not be raised on the Altar of faith nor the curtain drawn to enlightē the mysteries with the torch of reason S. Lewis was most perfect in this degree who would not stir a foot to behold a miracle in confirmation of his belief III. To believe with great fervour esteeming nothing impossible to your faith as did that simple shoemaker who under a King of the Tartars removed Paulus Veneus l. 1. c. 18. de reb orient a mountain in the sight of the whole world by the fervour and simplicity of his faith IV. Not to stagger nor be afflicted when you ask any thing of God in your prayers holding it undoubted that it will be granted if it be for the greater glory of the Sovereign Master and your more advantageable profit You must always hold your hands lifted up in some kind as Moses did even to the Exod. 17. setting of the Sun to vanquish our Amalekites V. To have a generous heart and full of confidence in adversity not to admit distrust during the storm but with firm footing to expect the consolation of heaven even when we shall be in the shades of death as said the Prophet VI. Little to prize temporal goods in comparison of eternal To be ready to dispoil ones self from all the pleasures and commodities of the world if there be any danger of faith as that brave Courtier Hebr. 11. Moses who forsook the contentments of Pharaohs Court to be afflicted with his own people VII To give alms liberally with a firm belief that the hand of the poor is the treasury of God VIII To employ even life it self as so many Martyrs have done and to seal your faith with your own bloud This is the most heroical act but yet it ought to be guided by discretion Now to make easie the acts of faith I.
and other reprehensible manner Secondly what invalidities and nullities of confession may happen now by the defect of the Priest who perhaps hath not sufficient jurisdiction sometime through your own indisposition who neither will have sorrow nor good purpose of amendment and sometime for other circumstances Thirdly who It s utility seeth not that the foundation of a life truly Christian is humility And we know not how better to attain this virtue than by representing to our selves no longer by piece-meal but wholly in gross the youth follies the slackness negligences infidelities and impurities of our passed life All that coming to pour it self upon our consideration like a great squadron necessarily stirreth in us a great confusion and dolour for our ingratitude In the fourth place we ordinarily see those who duely make this act unfolded and delivered in all its particulars do come as it were out of the furnace sparkling with radiant brightness to form a life absolutely new You therein observe a conscience most â—urious intentions better rectified actions more purified a promptness better awakened for the service of God a modesty more regular in prosperity a heart more elevated in adversity a more generous contempt of the world Briefly although one should reap but this onely good which is the peace and tranquility of conscience it would always be a matter marvellously recommendable And we know by experience many consciences tormented with divers remorses and scruples have after a general confession found themselves wholly pacified and have begun to breath a more benign air of the mercies of God To proceed therein it is good well to sound your heart afore-hand The manner and to cescend into the knowledge of your self which is a work of no small importance The tenth SECTION The Practice of Confession THe heart of man is a little abyss which seemeth Heart of man Pravian cor hominis inscrutabile Hier. 17. neither to have bounds bottom nor shore It is malicious and inscrutable said the Prophet The Hebrew readeth in the same place that it is a supplanter who escapeth from us like an eel when we think to hold it and oftentimes it overthroweth us The great S. Macarius assureth us it is Macar hom 43. a little vessel but full of caverns labyrinths precipices lyons serpents and other venemous beasts Moreover self-love which oftentimes like a wicked Knowledge of ones self very hard watch-man placeth himself at the gate of our heart will not suffer truth to approach It maketh him think it is too crude drie austere old wrinckled to be presented to such a Prince In the mean time it relateth all things to the heart to its own advantage Self-love and entertaineth it with a thousand curiosities of conceits It maketh all vices to be beheld therein in full proportion and virtue in eclipse This admitted necessarily the assistance of God is to be implored in a very particular manner to obtain the knowledge of our selves and to labour therein couragiously and stoutly without flattering our selves God threateneth in the Prophet he will lay a heavy correction upon us leaving us to our selves Psal 49. Arguam te statuam contra faciem tuam It seemeth we now have our heads turned backward never to know what passeth in our hearts But God in the day of judgement will turn it before and if we take not very good heed to our confusion S. Augustine triumpheth upon this passage August in Psal 49. Quae post dorsum posuisti ante faciem ponam videbis foeditatem tuam non ut corrigas sedut erubescae Tolle te à tergo tuo constitue te ante te That which thou hast put behind thee I will place before thine eyes Thou shalt see thy impurities not to correct them but to confound thee Turn thy face go behind thy self and set thy self before thy self The manner will be after an humble and serious invocation of the Holy Ghost to call to mind all your life according to the course and progress of ages remembring your self of the places where you have made abode the persons with whom you have conversed the affairs which you have handled the sins to which you have been most inclined and which most afflict your conscience Observing also if it be possible the number of those which are most heinous which if it cannot be done do not search them out with pensiveness and anxiety The order which ought to be observed is to run Multa D. Th. opusc 64. de medo confitendi puritate conscientiae through the law or the ten Commandments of God and those of the Church taking every one in his place As upon the first Commandment to examine the sins of infidelity of contempt of holy things of impiety forceries divinations magick dreams superstitions distrusts of the mercy of God presumptions of ones own ability languishment coldness hypocrisies impurities sacriledges in the service of God speaking distinctly upon every word wherein and how I by what motive and to what purpose II. Upon the second unnecessary oaths false oaths blasphemies execrations profanation of things sacred and words of Scripture III. Upon the third the exercise of labour traffick of civil and criminal justice and other works forbidden on Sundays The irreverence committed on this great day in neglecting to hear the whole Mass or some notable part thereof and employing all your time in excess of tongue dances masks follies sensualities IV. Upon the fourth contempt hatred distast ingratitude irreuerence disobedience towards father and mother kindred and Superiours Neglect towards your subjects vassals and houshold-servants V. Upon the fifth the clamours enmities quarrels violences faithlesness injustices oppressions poisonings abortions slaughters malice outrages cruelties committed against your neighbour The ill usage of your own person by perplexity despair or impatient desire of death VI. Upon the sixth fornications adulteries incests whoredoms ravishments secret marriages sacriledges self-softnesses pollutions ill use of marriage and other infamous luxuries which Tertullian termeth monsters Adde all that which attendeth on wantonness as dishonest thoughts unchaste words lascivious glancings kisses touches books pictures comedies love-letters dancings masks too free conversations with evident danger of sin and sometime charms love-potions or other attractives characters and witch-crafts VII Upon the seventh thefts pilferies robberies connivence with thieves falsification of instruments of letters seals wills contracts scedules obligations false purchases false buyings false sales false coyns deceits defraudations surprizes usurpations of the goods of the Church simonies usuries delays of reasonable payments injustices litigious wranglings excessive expences foul play in game cruelties toward the poor and such like things VIII Upon the eighth false witnesses and sollicitations thereof calumnies diffamatory libels lies impostures hypocrisies dissimulations flatteries treasons confusion of your neighbour IX Upon the ninth enterprizes and designs contrary to marriage by seducing the parties with words signs gestures letters gifts attractions with
our ingratitude or disability II. To be thankfull not onely in the presence of the benefactour by some little vain ostentation of acknowledgement but to publish it to others in time and place and to retain it as it were engraven in a respective memorie III. To recompence him according to power not onely in proportion but superabundantly which that it may be the better effected to consider what is given to us from whom when and how A benefit is ever best accepted from a friendly frank and free hand and many times from whom it is least expected in a pressing necessitie A benefit from a harsh man given as it were frowardly is a stonie loaf of bread which necessitie enforceth us to take not free-will It is no gift when that is given which can no longer be withheld as Emanuel the Emperour who Sordid liberalitie of Emanuel Conunus seeing his full coffers in the hands of the Persians said to his soldiers Go take them I give them to you It is a negligent and remiss giving when the extream want of a poor man is expected As the fountain of Narni which never distilled its streams Leander in umbrià but on the eve of a famin A small courtesie seasonably done deserveth much and that was the cause why King Agrippa made a poor servitour named Joseph lib. 18. antiq Thou mastus the second man in a kingdom for having given a glass of water Thaumastus the second person of his kingdom for that he had given him a glass of fair water in his great necessitie when under Tyberius he was tied to a tree before the Palace of the Emperour and endured a most ardent thirst IV. As it is not good to suffer a benefit to wax old so it is not always expedient to recompence it so readily as if we bear our obligation with impatience and that we had an opinion this benefit came to us from a hand besmeared with bird-lime with intention to grasp another The best way is to let your observances creep into credit in time and place with so much the more precaution as they ought to have the less of ostentation The thirtieth SECTION Practice of Charitie SAaint Ireneus as we have said calleth charitie a Eminentissimum charismatum S. Iren. l. 4. c. 63 S. Maximus Occonem cent 1. 38. Reg. 4. c. 2. Plenitudo legis Charita Aug. tract in epist Joan. Derothem 5. Bibliothec. PP Doct. 6. most excellent present from heaven the top and zenith of all virtues gifts and favours of God Saint Maximus saith it is the gate of the Sanctuarie which leadeth us aright to the vision of the holy Trinitie It is the double spirit which Elizeus required wherewith to love God and our neighbour Behold the whole law behold all perfection You are not much to afflict your self saith S. Augustine to become perfect Love God and then do what you will For if you desire to know whether your love towards God be real and not counterfeit mark how you love your neighbour By how much the lines draw nearer one to another so much the more they approch to the center By how much the nearer you approch to your neighbour in love by so much the nearer you are to God The Actions of this Royal virtue are Acts of Charitie I. To have an affectionate delight in God for that he is God all-wise all-good all-powerfull all-amiable all-just all mercifull the original fountain of all wisdom goodness power beautie justice mercie Most heartily to rejoyce that he sitteth in the throne of glorie as in an abyss of splendour adored without intermission by all the celestial powers by all the Saints by all the exalted Spirits To desire that all the creatures in the world might adore and serve him that all understandings were replenished with the knowledge of him all memories with his benefits all wills with his love Such was the affection of that good Fryer Giles companion to Saint Francis who was much moved in beholding the beauties of God and afterwards wept bitterly because as he said love was not beloved enough Amor non amatur II. To be sensibly sorrowfull for the impieties heresies infidelities errours sins dissolutions which have covered the face of the earth To resent the injuries done to God as one would the rebukes of a good father of a loving brother or of some person most tenderly affectionate as the apple of your eye It is an admirable thing to see in Scripture a poor Mervelous zeal of a Lady Princess daughter in law of Heli falling in travail upon the news brought her of the taking of the Ark of covenant and death of her husband and neighbours for her neither to think of father brother husband no nor the pains of her child-bearing nor to complain of any thing but of the surprisal of the Ark and to have dying these words on her lips Farewel the glory of Israel since the Ark of God is taken 2. Reg. 4. Translata est gloria de Israel quia capta est Arca Dei away what zeal is this in a woman And now adays one cannot loose a greyhound a curtal jade a bird but all the house is filled with noice and outcries whilest for injuries done to God the hearts of men are very insensible III. To love all mortal men as creatures made to the image of God but above all the faithfull in the qualitie of persons destined to the sovereign beatitude to wish them true blessings as justification grace virtues spiritual progression glory Moreover to desire they may be fortunate in riches honour credit good success in their affairs if such comforts may conduce to procure them beatitude IV. Never to despise never to judge rashly never to interpret other mens actions in an ill sense but to compassionate their infirmities bear their burdens excuse their weaknesses make up and consolidate the breaches of charitie happened by their fault to hate imperfections and ever to love men yea even your enemies Therein the touch-stone of true charitie is known The means to preserve one from his enemies is to pardon enemies said S. Augustine One Disce diligere inimicum si vis cavâ—re inimicum Aug. in Ps 99 of the goodlyest spectacles able to attract Angels to to the gates of heaven to behold it is neither Theaters Amphitheaters Pyramids nor Obelisks but a man who knoweth how to do well and hear ill and to vindicate himself from ill by doing well Cardinal Petrus Damianus relateth how he being a student at Faenza one told him of an Act of charitie happened as I believe in his time at the same place of which he made more account than of all the wonders of the world It was a man whose An excellent passage of charitie eyes another most trayterously had pulled out and this accident had confined him in a Monasterie where he lived a pure and unspotted life yielding all offices of charitie according
away but with a rod of silver so much this mischievous avarice this feaver of the heart this voluntarily frenzie hath prevailed upon the spirits of these times And were the maids in this case such as they should be seeing the covetousness of men they would rather resolve to take God for a husband in the state of virginity than yield their bodies and riches up to a husband who seeks after nothing less than themselves S. Hierom relateth an excellent passage of Martia daughter of the great Cato who said that among so many Gallants as made love to her there was not any fit for a husband Say the like maidens avaunt mercenary husbands who have the fever of money marry them to the mines of Peru and not to virtuous maids The second evil I observe is riot which now adays wasteth body and goods and becomes more insatiable than hell It is asked why avarice swayeth in marriages and wherefore husbands are so greedy of portion because indeed they stand in need of it to entertain the bravery and vanity of their wives apparel It is a prodigious thing to what height this folly is mounted Lawyers are much troubled to reckon up all the attires and trinkets of women what pain shall then the husband suffer to buy them O woman what makes thee so passionately to desire these gauderies Thy first mother whose garments were cut out by the hands of God was contented to be clothed with skins and now seas must be sailed over and the bounds of elements broken to seek out dressings for thee Miserable that thou art who inordinately deckest thy self and for an ill purpose Kowest thou not thy garment is to thy body as the plaister to the wound or any ivy leaf to stop a cautery S. Isodore said before sin Adam and Eve were clothed with light O precious attire The Sun will have no other mantle than his own rays nor the rose any other robe than her scarlet because nature hath sufficiently adorned them So man had he continued within the limits of original justice would not have wished any garment but innocency Sin is come which hath by reflection impressed an ugly scarre both on soul and body and needs must gold and silk be sought out to involve it A man in former Ages was seen who having feet of wood shod them with golden pantofles O miserable and ridiculous vanity Woman doth the like to cover her wretched body which one of these days must putrifie and which hath received the wound of sin and death All the most exquisite beauties of nature must be drawn together yea marry if it could afford any comfort and ease to the body but you shall many times behold a young gentle-woman groan as at a torture under the weight of her garments yet she for all this will have and adore her own punishment The great Chancellour of England and glorious Martyr Thomas Moore was he not pleasantly disposed when he said to one who complained of heat Ah silly creature what wonder is it thou carriest upon thee meadows vine-yards mills mansions and Islands in the value of Jewels how canst thou possibly be cool This was the cause why Tertullian complained Tertul. de habitu muliebri Brevissimis loculis patrimonium grande praefertur uno lino sâ—stertium inseritur saltus insulas tenera cervix fert graciles aurium cutes ealendarium expendunt before him A little Cabinet makes shew of a large patrimony Twenty three thousand Crowns are disbursed for one rope of pearls A womans neck puts on woods and Islands and her ears which are so curious waste ample revenues But the matter most to be lamented is that it often happens the servile and unfortunate husband buys all this bravery at the charge of the poor and if any perhaps wring these gorgeous garments there will be some danger the bloud of the poor may distil from it The third disorder is the discord which proceedeth from the ill government of men from the obstinacy of women and jealousie of both And verily we may affirm the sleight vanities of wives are much more tollerable than the disorders of men It is no ordinary folly but rather a rage and madness to see a poor woman full of children groan under the heavy burden of a houshold charge upon her hand daily fading and withering away like a plant without juice or moysture to live on gall and tears and in the mean time a disloyal husband to consume in excess of diet and game the instruments of Satan that substance God gave him for the entertainment of his family O ungratefull and unnatural wretch who to give way to thy passion tramplest under-foot the commandments of God and honour of marriage This money which thy cruel hand so profusely scatters in game if thou wouldst well understand is the bloud of this poor creature which was so charily to thee recommended It is the sweat of her parents labours they are her proper entrails which thou piece-meal tearest in this fatal dicing-house I do not say thou art a homicide there is some difference between thee and a murderer The murderer in an instant taketh away life and bodily pain both together but thou who livest in perpetual riots thou drawest the vital parts from this afflicted turtle one after another which thou oughtest to love as thy self Thou cuttest the throat of thy family of thy poor and unhappy children who are thine own bloud which thou shouldest fervently affect hadst thou not renounced nature and entertained the heart of a bruit beast for that of a man what say I a beasts heart the Lamiaes Lamiae nudaverunt mammas lactaverunt catulos fuos filia populi mei crudelis sicut struthio in desertâ— Hier. Thren Si quis suorum maximè domesticorum curam non habet fidem negavit est infideli deterior 1 Tim. 5. have bared their breasts they have given suck to their young and there is not any but the daughter of my people who is cruel as the Ostrich of the desert Knowest thou to whom S. Paul compares such a man to a Cannibal to a Barbarian No he tells thee he is worse than an Infidel If any one neglect his own and namely his domesticks he hath renounced faith and is become worse than a Pagan On the other side the obstinacy of woman is a horse hard in the mouth head-strong untractable and I can no longer wonder said one that she was made of a bone since many times her head is so hard which brings infinite trouble on a family The Ancients dressing up the statues of the Moon in humane shape set on her shoulders the head of the Sun to shew a virtuous wife should have no other will nor other intentions nor glory than the will intentions and glory of her husband if they be reasonable It is the doctrine of S. Paul to the Ephesians Mulieres â—iris suis subdite sint sicut Domino quoniam vir caput
much as businesses of that nature would permit But her mother Alexandra touched to the quick to behold her self amongst so many spies she who was ever desirous to converse and live with all royall liberty resolved to play at double or quit to break the guyves of specious servitude or yield her neck to Herods sword if it should come to pass her calamity transported her into such extremity What doth she Cleopatra that Queen who had filled the world with her fame was then in Aegypt and naturally hated Herod as well for his barbarous disposition as for particular interests of her own person For she knew he much had entermedled in her affairs and given Mark Anthony counsel to forsake her yea to kill her This Tyrant was so accustomed to say Kill that he easily advised others to use the same medicine which was with him to his own maladies frequent It is a strange thing that Cleopatra one day passing through Judea he resolved to send her into the other world thinking therewith to gratifie Mark Anthony but was disswaded by his friends saying it was too audacious to attempt and able for ever to ruin his fortune The design was never published But Cleopatra had cause enough besides to hate Herod which much emboldened Alexandra to write to her in such like terms ALEXANDRA to the Queen CLEOPATRA Health Madame SInce God hath given you leave to be born the most Letter of Alexandra to Cleopatra accomplished Queen in all qualities it is fit your Greatness serve as a sanctuary for the innocent and an Altar for the miserable The wretched Alexandra who hath much innocency void of support and too many calamities without comfort casteth her self into the arms of your Majesty not to give her a scepter but to secure the life of her and her son the most precious pledge which remaineth of heavens benignity Your Majesty is not ignorant that fortune having made me the daughter and mother of a King Herod hath reduced me to the condition of a servant I am not ambitious to recount my sufferings which I had rather dissemble but whatsoever a slave can endure in a gally I bear in a Kingdom through the violence of a son in law who having stoln the diadem from my children would also deprive them of life We are perpetually among spies sharp knives and black apprehensions of death which would less hurt us if it were more sudden Stretch out a hand of assistance to the afflicted and afford us some petty nook in your Kingdom till the storm be over-blown and that we may see some sparkles of hope to glimmer in your affairs Glory thereby shall abide with you and with us everlasting gratitude Cleopatra having received these letters made a ready answer and invited her to hasten speedily into Aegypt with her son protesting she should esteem it an unspeakable glory to serve as a sanctuary and refuge for the affliction of such a Princess Resolution of departure is taken but the execution is a hard task The poor Io knows not how to withdraw Enterprise of Alexandra her self from this many-eyed Argus In the end as the wit of woman is inventive especially in matters that concern their proper interests she without discovering ought to any one no not to her daughter Mariamne fearing least her nature too mild should advise her rarher to rest in the lists of patience than to attempt ways so perilous she I say onely advising with her own passion in this business caused two beers to be made a matter of ill presage to put her self and son into thinking by this means to elude the diligence of the Guard and so to be carried to the sea where a ship attended her and by this way save her life in the power of death But by ill hap a servant of hers named Aesop who was one of those that were appointed to carry the beers going to visit one called Sabbion a friend to the house of Alexandra let some words fall of the intention of his Mistress as thinking to to have spoken to a faithful and secret friend of hers The perfidious Sabbion had no sooner wrung the worm out of this servants nose but he hasteth to open all to Herod supposing it was a very fit opportunity to work his reconciliation he having a long time been suspected and accounted to be of Alexandras faction Herod after he heard this news wanted not spies and centinels The poor Lady with her son is surprised upon the beers drawn out of the sepulcher of the dead to return to the living ashamed and disgraced that her Comedy was no better acted little considering that after her personated part had failed she could nothing at all pretend to life Herod notwithstanding whether he feared the great credit Cleopatra had or whether he would not wholy affright Alexandra thereby with the more facility to oppress her contained himself in the ordinary dissimulation of his own nature without speaking one sole word unto her Although very well in the face of this painted hypocrisie was seen that the clouds were gathered together to make a loud Thunder-crack raise an unresistable tempest The caytive after he had given so many deaths Pitiful death of young Aristobulus in the horrour and affrightment of arms would inflict one even as it were in sport upon a fair sommers day Being at dinner at the house of the miserable Alexandra feigning to have buried in deep oblivion all what was past saith that in favour of youth he this day would play the young man and invite the High-Priest Aristobulus his brother in law to play at tennis with him or some other like exercise The sides were made the elumination was enkindled The young Prince hot and eager played not long but he became all on a water as at that time happened to many other Lords and Gentlemen Behold they all run to the rivers which were near this place of pleasure where they dined Herod who knew the custom of Aristobulus and well foresaw he would not fail to cast himself into these cold baths suborneth base villains who under the shew of pastime should force him to drink more than he would All succeeded as this traiterous wretch had premeditated Aristobulus seeing the other in the water uncloathed himself quickly and bare them company There was no cause why he should swim sport and dally upon this element ever dangerous although less faithless than Herod The poor sacrifice skipped up and down not knowing the unhappiness which attended him But the accursed executioners remembred it well For spying their time in this fatal sport they smothered the poor High-priest under the waters in the eighteenth year of his age and the first of his High-priesthood This bright Sun which rose with such splendour and applause did set in the waves never to appear again but with horrid wanness of death on his discoloured visage Humane hopes where are you True dreams of Vanity and
fashion and indeed somewhat too bitter according to her custom Joseph who was desirous to entertain the Queen in the good favour of his Master were it out of folly or drunkenness said Madame your mother Alexandra may tell you what pleaseth her But to give you a clear and ample testimony of King Herod your husband his love know that in case he happen to be put to death he hath commanded me to kill you not being able to abide in the other world without your company At these words the poor Ladies looked pale with horrour Out alas the frantick man said Alexandra in her heart what will he do living if after death he intend to destroy those who are yet alive In the mean time many bruits the dreams of the credulous were spred through Jerusalem that Herod was dead that Mark Anthony had caused him to be executed he being convicted of the murder of Aristobulus whether these rumours were divulged by Herods enemies or whether himself caused them to be secretly buzzed to try the face and disposition of the times The wise Mariamne seemed to believe nothing Alexandra grew passionate and bated like a hawk on the pearch entreating Joseph with all possible supplications he would remove them from Court and conduct them to the Court of Guard of the Roman Legions disposing them into the hands of Colonel Julius from thence to pass to Mark Anthony for she vehemently desired this Prince might see her daughter perswading herself that so soon as he should behold her he would be taken with her beauty and doe any thing in her favour These intentions being oblique were unhappy in the success and all Alexandras pursuits served her for no other purpose but to vent her passion In the end Herod returneth victorious with authenticke Return of Herod testimonies of his justification and Anthonies amity notwithstanding the endeavours of Cleopatra God reserving this parricide for a life like Cain attended with a death most dreadful His mother and sister fayled not presently upon his arrival to serve him up a dish of their own dressing and to tell him the design which Alexandra had to put herself into the power of the Romans Salome envious against Mariamne even to fury steeping her serpentine tongue in the gall of black slander accused her of some secret familiarity with Joseph whereupon Herod who was extreamly jealous thought in that very instant to ruin her and so drawing Mariamne aside he demanded of her from whence this correspondence grew which she had contracted with Joseph The most chaste Queen who never went out of the lists of patience shewed her self both with eye visage countenance word to be so penetrated with this cursed calumny that well the trayterous wretch perceived how far she was alienated from such thoughts and verily being ashamed to have uttered such words he asked pardon of her bemoaning with scalding tears his credulity giving her many thanks for her fidelity and making a thousand protestations of an everlasting affection The good Ladie who was displeased to behold such hypocrisie said covertly to him That truly it was an argument of love to his wife to desire her company in the other world He who understood by half a word presently perceived what she would say and entered into such desperate fury that he seemed as a mad man tearing his beard and hair of his head and crying out Joseph had betrayed him and that it was apparent he had great correspondence with Mariamne otherwise so enormous bruitishness would never have escaped any man as to reveal such a secret Thereupon he commandeth Joseph should be killed in the place to serve as a victim at his return not consenting to see him nor hear one sole word of his justification It was a great chance he had not at that time finished the sacrifice of his intemperate cruelty and that to satisfie his chymerical humour he had not put Mariamne to death But the irrefragable proofs of her innocency and the impatient ardours of his love withheld the stroke onely to make the sparkles of his choller flie further off he discharged it upon Alexandra shutting her up for a time keeping her a part from the Queen her daughter and doubtlesly resolving with himself it was in her shop where all these counsels plotted for his ruin were forged and fyled Certain time after Herod saw himself embarqued Troublesom affairs of Hâ—rod in another business which he thought to be at least as perillous as the former Mark Anthony who always had lent his shoulders to underprop him after he had for a long time stroven against the fortune of Augustus Caesar fell to the ground in the Actiack battel ending his hopes and life with a most mournfull catastrophe This accident struck the Tyrant more than one would think seeing his support ruined his affairs which he supposed to have been so well established in one night dissolved and that he had him for an enemy who was in a fair way to become Emperour of the world His friends and enemies judged him as a lost man He who already had escaped so many ship-wracks despaireth not at all in this extremity but resolves to seek out Caesar who was then at Rhodes and prostrate himself at his feet But before he set a step forward he did an act wholly barbarous and inhumane Hircanus the true and lawful King who by his Most lamentable death of Hircanus sweetness and facility had first raised Antipater and afterward saved Herod's life seating him in the Regal throne to the prejudice of his own allies was as yet alive worn even with decrepitness for he now was past eightie years of age The Tyrant fearing lest he being the onely remainder of the bloud Royal should again be re-established in the throne by the suppliant request of the people who much affected his innocency seeing him already upon the brink of his grave threw him head-long into it tearing out his soul with bruitish violence which he was ready to yield up to nature Some held this was meer crueltie without any colour of justice wherewith this diabolical Prince was wont to palliate his actions Others write that Hircanus days were shortened upon this occasion Alexandra being not able to put off her ambition Ambition of Alexandra causeth the death of her father but with her skin seeing Herod gone upon a voyage from which it was likely he should never return sollicites her father Hircanus shews him the time is come wherein God will yet again make his venerable age flourish in Royal purple The Tyrant is involved in snares from which he can never free himself Fortune knocketh at the gate of Hircanus to restore the Diadem which is due to him by birth-right and taken away by tyranny It onely remaineth that he a little help himself and his good hap will accomplish the rest Hircanus answereth her Daughter the time is come wherein I should rather think of my grave than a Regal
throne You know what opinion I had of greatness in an age and condition wherein rightfully I might cherish it I voluntarily forsook it preferring repose before all the crowns of the world Now that I am in the haven would you recall me into the storm Daughter leave such words I have seen too many miseries speak to me of my grave not of scepters Alexandra replied that although in his own person he not at all pretended to life nor to the fortune of the living he notwithstanding ought not to neglect his bloud but permit justice to be done and meddle with nothing but by writing a word or two to Malichus the Lieutenant of Arabia who would aid him with money and forces as much as should be needfull In conclusion he was bound to save both his daughter and grand-child from the ravening teeth of this Tyger She deafened his ears with so many reasons that in the end he yielded and treateth with Malichus who should safe conduct him with a good troup of horse The letters are put into the hands of one called Dositheus a cousin of Joseph whom Herod lately had caused to be massacred to be with all safety delivered But the perfidious wretch betraying the bloud of his allye and the fortune of Hircanus in stead of carrying the letter faithfully to Malichus delivered it into Herod's hands who commandeth to require an answer and bring it to him thereby to discover the practice thereof and understand the Arabian's purpose He faileth not to promise Hircanus all assistance inviting him with much earnestness to be with him as soon as possible Herod having discovered the whole plot sends for Hircanus and asked if he received not some letters from Malichus Yes answered he but they contain nothing but complement The other demanded Had you not some present with those letters He confesseth that verily Malichus had presented him with four horses to draw his coach Thereupon without any other form of process the Tyrant made this venerable old man to be murdered embrewing the hoary hairs in the bloud of him who had been a sosterer a father a protectour of him yea all Then after he had imprisoned Alexandra and Mariamne in a strong fort under the custody of Joseph his treasurer and Sohemus the Iturean he goes directly to Rhodes leaving the absolute charge of his Kingdom to his brother Pheroras The history telleth not the sorrow of the Queen Alâ—xandra and Mariamne priâ—onâ—rs and her mother for the death of Hircanus It is probable all was a long time concealed as from such who were held in a straight prison and had conversation with no man Alexandra gnawed her bridle of impatience Mariamne resisted the dull languishments of this captivity with a generous constancy and endeavoured to sweeten the discontents of her mother All her comfort was in God For how could she speak or think of any thing else My God said she you steep all creatures for me in wormwood If I heretofore have loved them and sucked some sweetness from the world for an ounce of honey you have given me a pound of gall From the time I began to bear a Diadem on my head I have felt nothing but thorns and Royalty hath been nothing to me but a specious slavery My God how long shall it continue Shall we not behold that bright day to shine over our heads which is perpetually in its Eastern rising which may drie up our tears and breaking the bands of our captivity place us in Abraham's bosom the liberty of the elect These poor Ladies stayed there perpetually pent up between horrid walls beholding nothing but rocks and savage wildernesses which to their sorrow seemed to resound compassion They knew not in what state the world was much less the affairs of Court. At every season the Goaler came to visit them they expected nothing but news of their death The Guard in the beginning shewed themselves severe in their countenances and reserved in their words all was full of horrour affrightment and melancholy silence In the end for there is no Mariamne conferreth with Sohemus iron but will be softened in the fire Sohemus visiting them more oft according to the commission he had felt fiery arrows flie from the eyes of Mariamne so sharp that they transfixed his heart with compassion judging it a hard thing to hold a Queen in captivity who was able to enthral all hearts with so many supereminent excellencies as Heaven had conferred upon her He began to shew her a pleasing countenance and Mariamne seeing him one day in a good humour took confidence thereby to know some news of the other world Sohemus said this Ladie to him you now behold us in a most wofull state and much unworthy our qualities but the day perhaps will come the storm may blow over Mischief and misery knock not always at one and the same gate You know who I am and that in obliging me you engage not an unable creature much less an ungratefull Tell us in a word to what end doth King Herod hold us here and of what condition are the affairs of the times Sohemus at these words felt his heart assaulted with most violent counterbuffs on the one side he represented to himself the avengement of Herod freshly exemplified in Joseph on the other side he was so touched with compassion of those words this noble Ladie spake to him that the ice of his heart dissolved and began already to evaporate through his eyes Mariamne finding him waver spake boldly Sohemus it is a word which can no whit prejudice you being stored up in deep silence and which may much advantage us for the security of our affairs Sohemus supposing either that Herod never would return again in the quality of a King or that he being under the protection of Mariamne might easily work his reconciliation openeth his heart unto her and saith Madame I put my secrets and life into your hands yea I desire to die before ever I undertake to execute this harbarous command which Herod hath imposed upon me in case the affairs he negotiateth at this time with Caesar succeed not according to his wish And what is it saith Mariamne to him Madame I tremble onely to think of it It is a matter which concerneth your life My friend replieth the good Queen it is his ordinary guise he enjoyned his uncle Joseph as much upon his first voyage But is there no means to deliver us from this Sohemus answereth that Pheroras brother of Herod had charge of the Kingdom and he being a man extreamly distrustfull ever had his eye upon sudden surprizals Well then said this poor Princess we must die on what side soever he turn me I behold nothing but the image of death with which I am already grown acquainted Sohemus comforted her with his best endeavour But she then shutting up her ears from all earthly comfort opened her heart to celestial contemplations daily more and more purifying her soul
house he used her not in the quality of a Queen nor a wife but of a poor sacrifice which he caused to be shut up commanding to murder her as often he he fell into any danger of his own life for fear some other should enjoy her after his death shall find the Ladie had most just cause to make him this answer Herod notwithstanding who would not afford such liberty was so moved with these words as it was a great chance he had not laid violent hands upon her shewing by his eyes sparkling with anger his shrill voice and hands lifted up he would proceed to force And as he stamped up and down transported with rage acting his anger like a fencer without Mariamne's reply to any one word the perfidious Salome thought it was now high time to strike her stroke She sent a trusty servant Strange mischief whom she a long time had suborned to cause him to depose a calumny as wicked as ridiculous to wit that Mariamne having a purpose to give Herod a love-drink had addressed her self to him who was cup-bearer to the King to corrupt him with many promises to which he never had given ear For the rest he had such instruction given him that if perhaps Herod should ask what this potion was he should answer without further difficulty it was the Queens invention and that herein she onely required the service of his hand This wicked fellow entered into the chamber in cold bloud and very seriously makes oath hereof whereupon Herod who was already enkindled becoming more enflamed than ever thought within himself he must no longer wonder from whence these his impatiences in love proceeded At that instant he caused an Eunuch to be laid hold on one of the Queens most trusty servants supposing nothing was done without his knowledge He putteth him to the torture causing him to be most cruelly tormented of purpose that his body very feeble not being able to endure the violence of tortures and on the other side having nothing to say against his good Ladie in whose conversation he had never perceived any thing but honour and virtue should for a long time remain in very great perplexities In the end he let a word fall saying he had seen Sohemus talk a long while in secret with Queen Mariamne as framing some relation to her and that after this very time he well perceived she was troubled Herod had no sooner heard this word It is enough said he take him from the torture and let Sohemus be called Sohemus knew nothing what had passed and lived in great contentment having very lately obtained a good government by the Queens recommendations He was wholly amazed they laid hold upon him and would enforce him to confess the discourse which he had with Mariamne during this specious imprisonment But he persisting in denial is massacred in the place Herod retired into his cabbinet Death of Sohemus drinking in deep draughts the gall and poyson of his deadly choller and contriving in his heart the fury which he soon after was to shew in publick For without giving any truce to his spirit he assembled his Prive-Counsel and sendeth for the Queen who expected nothing less than such proceeding This monster who always endeavoured to give colour of justice to his most exorbitant actions beginneth a long speech which he had prepared at leisure and while every one was in horrour and silence not knowing what would be the catastrophe of the Tragedy except the couragious Mariamne who was armed with an invincible constancy against all exigents he speaketh unto them in such like words SIRS It seemeth God will counterpoize the prosperities Oration of Herod against his wife of my state by the misfortunes of my house I have found safety in winds and tempests in so many painfull voyages as I have undertaken so many thorny affairs which I have ended to find a storm in my own Palace You are not ignorant how I have cherished the whole family of Hircanus within my bosom in a lamentable time when it was in decay and confusion for recompence whereof as if I had hatched the egs of a serpent I have got nothing but hisses and poyson God knoweth how often I have dissembled and how often I haue cured my self by patience Notwithstanding I cannot so harden my heart but that it may be softened and ever become penetrable to a new wound Behold the Queen my wife who following the steps of her mother is always ready to disquiet my repose As soon as I was returned from the voyage so full of danger as you know I brought her news of the happy success of my affairs She shewing the little account she made both of my state and person at that time heard me with so great disdain that what endeavour of courtesie soever I used never could I extort from her pride one good word And afterward not contenting herself therewith she proceeded to very bloudy injuries which I love better to conceal for the honour of yours ears and come to deeds Behold one of my faithful servants who testifieth she would have suborned him to give me a love-potion to wit a poyson of purpose to turn my brain or take away the life which God reserveth for me to acknowledge the many good offices which you all in general and each one in particular have afforded me Thus you see how I am returned my head crowned with lawrel honoured and courted by the prime men of the world to serve as a sport for the malice and a mark for the treachery of a woman whom I cannot reclaim by the force of love nor benefits no more than if she were a Lyoness Consider what you ought to do I deliver her into the bands of your justice not willing to direct my self herein by my own advise to the end posterity may know that my proper interests are ever seated beneath the truth Herod speaking these words would seem less passionate putting all tortures upon his natural disposition plyable enough But he notwithstanding so vehemently fretted that all the Counsel knew well he was in heat of choller and that his purpose was no other but to ruin the poor Queen She is summoned to answer at that instant without an Advocate The glorious Amazon Grand-child of the Machabees Admirable modesty of the poor Queen and Inheritrix of their patience being presented before this wicked tribunal 28. years before the coming of the Son of God did then what he afterward taught us most remarkably by his example Never from her mouth was heard one syllable of impatience never did she use one sole word of recrimination and being able to declare to the Counsel a thousand and a thousand outrages received by herself and the persons of her nearest allies she swalloweth all these bitternesses with a patience more than humane Onely saith she that as concerning the essential Article of this accusation to wit The love-potion which was objected against
not the hope of her husbands libertie having at that time prepared a new battery to dispose her father in law to clemency heard the tidings of the death of Alexander and withal of her own widdow-hood She a good space remained in a trance then mute as a statue last of all a little recollecting her spirits and casting out a sigh from the bottom of her heart Wo is me saith she I thought not Herod would have proceeded thus far Tell him the sacrifice of his cruelty is not finished for behold one part of the Victim is yet alive Alexander my dear Alexander who for ever in my heart shall survive needs must you end your innocent life by this infamous punishment Must you have him for executioner whom nature allotted you for a father At the least I might have been called to receive the last groans of thy pensive soul to embosom thy final words and enchase them in my heart Then turning herself to two little children which she had by her sides Poor orphans what a father have they snatched from you Alas you are timely taught the trade of misery The poor Ladie night and day disconsolately afflicted herself and being no longer able to endure the Court of Judea no more than a Lyons den she was sent back into Cappadocia to the King her father Herod kept with him the two sons under colour of their education but in effect to establish himself fearing least their name should serve for a pretext of some revolt O the providence of God! It seemeth you much slacken to fall upon guilty heads These young Princes sons of so virtuous a mother so well bred so well educated accomplished with so many excellent parts declared lawfull successours to the Crown these Princes who had been seen not above five years before to return in triumph from Rome to Jerusalem like the two twin-stars who guilded all Palestine with their rays these Princes that promised so many Tropheys so many wonders behold them in the sweetness of their years in the flower of their hopes at the gate of the Temple of honour for a small liberty of speech unworthily massacred in stead of a Diadem on their heads a halter about their necks and caused to be strangled by two Sergeants that so they might breath out their Royal souls under the hand of a hangman Behold the brave apprentiship which Herod exercised three year together about the time of the birth of our Saviour to prepare himself for actions much more enormous It was said of Silla that if Mercy had come upon the earth in humane shape he had slain her But Herod did much worse There remained nothing for him after so many slaughters but to embrew himself in the bloud of fourteen thousand Innocents and attempt upon the Son of God himself which presently after happened and of which every one by relation of the Scripture taketh notice It is time to behold the recompence those wicked Antipater the son of Herod from the too of the wheel souls received for having dipped their fingers in so much bloud and so many tragedies to the end we therein may observe the proceedings of the Divine Providence which spareth not first sleightly to touch and assay by some visitation those which it afterwards reserveth for the eternal pains of hell The detestable Antipater who had directed all the passages of this wickedness seeing the two Heirs of the Kingdom removed quite away by his practises thought he had already a foot in the Throne He continueth his cunning and malice ever masking himself with the veyl of piety as if he had an unspeakable care of the life and state of his father while he in the mean time had no other aim but quickly to make himself absolute Master of all fearing lest the disposition of Herod which was very fleeting might alter and for this cause he went up and down daily practizing very great intelligences But he was hated by the people like a Tiger and the souldiers who saw him embrewed in the bloud of his brothers so beloved by all the Nobility could in no sort relish him Above all the people were extreamly touched with compassion when these little children of Alexander and Aristobulus were led through the streets who had been bred in Herods Court. All the world beheld these poor Orphans with a weeping eye and with sorrow remembred the disasters of their fathers Antipater well saw it was fit for him to withdraw himself and decline envy and not sindge his wings in the candle fearing his father in process of time who in such matters was subtile enough might discover his purposes Notwithstanding he was so secret that he avoided to ask leave of Herod to sequester himself for fear to minister matter of suspition to him But he caused letters closely to be written from Rome to his father by friends whom he had wrought for that purpose which imported all he desired to wit that it was necessary he should be sent to Rome to break the enterprizes which the Arabians plotted against the state of Judea Herod having received these letters instantly dispatched his son Antipater with a goodly train rich presents and above all the Will of Herod which declared him King after the death of his father Behold all he could desire in the world But as the eye of God never sleepeth and surprizeth the crafty in their own policies it happeneth the mischievous Pheroras who had acted his part as we have seen in this lamentable tragedy departed this life by a sudden death and poysoned as it is thought by the maid-servant whom he had married Herod being requested to come into the house of Conspiracy of Antipater discovered his brother to take examinations upon the fact unexpectedly learneth how his son Antipater had given poyson to the dead Pheroras at such time as he was out of favour to poyson the King his father whilest he was at Rome that he speedily might return into Palestine with a Crown on his head This was deposed even by the son of the Comptroller of Antipaters house and circumstanced with grounds and particulars so express that there was not any cause of doubt Herod demanded where this poyson was He answered it was in the hands of the widow of his brother Pheroras She being examined upon the fact goeth up into a higher chamber feigning to fetch it and being mounted to the top of the house she through despair fell down headlong with a purpose to kill herself But God suffered not the fall to be mortal they much heartned her and promised all impunity if she freely would deliver the truth She telleth that true it was her husband had received the poyson of Antipater and had some inclination to give the blow but that a little before his death he repented himself and detested such wickedness and with these words she drew out the poyson which afterwards was known in the death of delinquents to be very mortal At
the same time Bathyllus set at liberty by Antipater was taken coming from Rome to Judea to advise Pheroras to hasten the business and bearing with him a new poyson if the first were not of force In the mean time Antipater wrote to the King his father that he laboured earnestly at Rome to dissolve obloquies and accommodate his affairs with clearness that he hoped to come to a period in them and quickly return into Judea Herod was desirous to lay hold upon him sendeth him this letter My son the frailtie of my age and debilitie of my bodie daily instructeth me that I am mortal One thing comforteth me that having made choice of your person to succeed me in my estate I shall behold the decrepitness of my age flourish again in your youth and as it were burie my death in your life since I shall live in one part of my self to me most precious I wish you presently were with me not so much for the assistance I expect from your pietie as for the prejudice your absence may impose on my fortune Fail not with the good leave of Caesar to return hither as soon as you can delays nothing advance our affairs This bayt was too tempting to defend him from Subtilty against subtilty the hook upon this news he would as it were flie to Jerusalem he dispatcheth his affairs takes leave of Augustus and hastily posteth to obey his fathers commandments It was an admirable thing that in the way he never had any notice of that which passed so hated he was both of God and men Yet so it was that being in Cilicia he learned his mother was disgraced which much astonished him so that he resolved to retire back again but one of his counsel perhaps wrought by Herod shewed unto him that if nothing were plotted against him he ought not to fear and if any calumny were forged he rather should hasten to strangle it otherwise his absence would thrust him further into suspition This counsel he believed and notwithstanding the remorse of his conscience he took the way to Judea When he was arrived in the port of Sebaste he began Woful event of Antipater to enter into greater apprehensions of his own unhappiness than ever For upon the same haven where he before had beheld so great confluence of people which made many loud acclamations at his departure not for the love they bare him but for obedience to Herod who so would have it he perceived the chance of the dye to be now changed he was entertained with respectless countenances and that some beholding him scornfully muttered between their teeth as cursing him for shedding the bloud of his brothers He was too far engaged to retire back and the vengeance of God already had scored him out his lodging He goeth directly from Sebaste to Jerusalem and hasteneth to the Palace magnificently attired and well attended The Guard suffered him to enter commanding all those who accompanied him in the Kings name to withdraw He was much amazed to see himself taken like a bird in a snare notwithstanding he went forward and entereth into the Hall where his father expected him accompanied by Quintilius Varus newly sent from Rome as Governour of Syria After he had made an humble obeysance according to the custom he came to kiss his father but at that instant he heard the roaring of the Lion For Herod retiring back said unto him Avant thou murderer of brothers and father the kiss of a father was not instituted for thee Behold Quintilius thy Judge Advise with thy self what thou art to morrow to answer upon crimes whereof thou art accused He strucken with this word as with a thunder-clap withdrew bearing terrour in his face and the image of his crime in his thoughts He in the next chamber found his mother and. wife weeping with many laments already preparing his funerals amazement so seized him he had not language to comfort them nor so much as tears to bemoan his own mishap He spent the whole night in great afflictions finding by experience it was much more easie to commit a crime than excuse it The next morning he is sent for by the Councel where he found the King his father with Quintilius Varus and many Counsellours of State Yea letters were then intercepted Antipater accused before his father very lately written by his mother which signified all was discovered and that he should carefully beware not to return and put himself into the hands of his father if willingly he would avoid the throat of the Lion This was represented unto him at the entrance to the Councel he expected nothing but the instant of strangling so much his conscience tormented him Behold the cause why casting himself on his knees he besought his father not to condemn him before he was heard Herod replieth Impious villain what hast thou to say Hath God then preserved thee to be the last scourge of my old age Thou knowest I have extracted thee from the dregs to place thee over thy brothers above and beyond all hope I have given thee my money my revenues my authoritie my favour my secrets my heart and Crown into thy hands in a Will signed with my own hand and thou canst not a little stay till thy fathers eye is closed by natural death to enjoy it It was thither thy purpose aimed when with such heat thou didst pursue the death of thy brothers nothing have I done in their inditements but by thy information and advise Wicked creature I fear lest thou hast stained me with their bloud thy crime now makes their innocencie appear At these words he bitterly wept the memory of Mariamne and his unfortunate children coming into his mind He was so oppressed at his heart that he was enforced to intreat Nicholas Damascen who was as his Chancellour to pursue the rest Antipater preventeth him and speaketh in his own defence That he was much wronged in giving credit to slaves and silly women to his prejudice that he had received letters from Caesar whom a man could deceive no more than God himself which gave a most ample testimonie of all his demeanours and of the satisfaction he had given to Rome That he never had failed in duty towards his father and that it were a passage of extream folly to put himself into an uncertain hazard for a Crown which he had as it were already in his hands Briefly without any further discourse be offered himself to be used like a slave and to be put to the torture for proof of his innocency And therewithal he dreadfully tormented himself in such sort that he began to move all the company Nicholas Damascen who was a rough garnster taketh the word out of his mouth he confronteth the witnesses he interrogateth urgeth involveth and puts him into confusion and thundereth a very bloudy invective against him which at large is couched in Josephus history where like an Oratour he exaggerateth all the
she had seen in his picture which commonly was painted with the horns of a bull on his fore-head it was not in my opinion his fair eyes nor goodly nose which made him sought after for he was one of the most deformed creatures of the world Yet he notwithstanding was reputed a great Captain and a puissant King This blind Princess so breathed the air of ambition that though he were wholly Pagan and hydeous she no whit was affrighted for verily her passion was so much enkindled that she secretly dispatched one of her Eunuches with express letters beseeching Attila he would demand her in marriage of the Emperour her brother and she should account it a great honour to be his wife This Scythian entered into a much greater estimation of his own worth than ever beholding himself sued unto by a Romane Ladie of noble extraction and thereupon grew so eager that he immediately addresseth an Embassadour to the Emperour Valentinian to require his sister of him in marriage and the moity of his Kingdom otherwise he was not gone back so far but he would return with his Army to enforce his obedience All the world was now strucken with terrour when by good chance he saw himself for some pressing occasions engaged to return into his Countrey where all these lightenings were quickly turned into a shower of bloud After he had sweat under harness like another Hannibal who in the end of his conquests was bruitishly besotted in the bosom of a Capuan Ladie this haughty King of Hunnes as soon as he came into his Countrey wholly engulphed himself in wine and love Besides a great rabble of creatures which he had to satisfie his lust he became in his old days passionately enamoured of a gentlewoman named Hildecon whom he married with sports feasts and excessive alacrity That evening after he had freely drunk according to his custom he retired into his nuptial chamber with his new spouse and the next morning was found dead in his bed floating in a river of bloud who had drawn bloud from all the veins of the world Some said it was an eruption of bloud which Death of Attila choaked him but others thought Hildecon lead thereunto one knoweth not by what spirit nor by whom sollicited handled her pretended husband as Judith did Holofernes Behold how God punisheth the proud A despicable dwarf who commanded over 700000. men who forraged every where environed as with a brazen wall who boasted in the lightenings of his puissant arms who razed Cities all smoking in bloud and flames who wasted Provinces who destroyed Empires who would not tread but on Crowns and Scepters behold him the very night of his nuptials full of drink massacred by a woman having not so much as the honour to die by the hand of a man The same night that Attila yielded up the ghost in his own bloud our Saviour appeared in a dream to the good Emperour Martianus and shewing him a great bowe all shivered in pieces saith Martianus behold the bowe of Attila which I have broken thou hast no further cause to fear thy Empire Thus you see how God fighteth for the pious even while they sleep This scourge being so fortunately diverted Martianus and Pulcheria attended with all their power to the consolation and ornament of the universal Church under the direction of the great Pope Saint Leo whom their Majesties most punctually obeyed At that time were seen the reliques to march in triumph into Constantinople of the good Patriarch Flavianus massacred by the practices of hereticks at that time the exiled Bishops were with honour re-established in their seats At that time the Councel of Chalcedon was celebrated where the Emperour Martianus though wholly a souldier made an Oration first in Latin for the honour of the Romane Church then in Greek his natural language At that time heresie was fully condemned and impudence surcharged with confusion At that time an infinite number of goodly Canons were confirmed by the Councel and strongly maintained by the authority of the Emperour At that time justice was fixed in the height of perfection Briefly at that time the whole world was infinitely comforted by the good order and liberalities of this holy Court It was an admirable Empire and a happy marriage and nothing could be desired more in this match but immortality But the holy Virgin Pulcheria being about fifty years of age not so much loaden with years as merits wearied out with continual travel and care which she had endured almost fourty years in the mannage of affairs found her repose in exchange of the Court of Constantinople for that of Paradise She died in a most pure virginity which she carefully had preserved all her life time leaving the poor for her heirs who were her delight after she had built in her own life time five Churches and among the rest one to the honour of the most Blessed Virgin Marie which surpasseth all the other in magnificence besides many hospitals and sepulchres for pilgrimes Torches made of aromatick wood cast out their odoriferous exhalations when they are almost wasted and the virtuous Pulcheria made all the good odours of her life evaporate in the last instant of her death She who had lived as the Bee in the tastfull sweetness of purity died as the Phenix in the Palms not of Arabia but of conquests which she had obtained over the enemies of our nature We have here annexed her Picture and Elogie AVGVSTA AEL PVLCHERIA PULCHERIA FLA. THEODOSII JUNIORIS SOROR AUGUSTA VIRGO ET CONJUX AUGUSTORUM FILIA SOROR NEPTIS UXOR PROPUGNATRIX PONTIFICUM MAGISTRA IMPERATORVM CVSTOS FIDEI MVNIMEN ORTHODOXORVM ECCLESIAE ET IMPERII DECVS NOVA HELENA NOVVM ORBIS MIRACVLVM ANNO CHRISTI CLIII AETATIS LV. IMPERII XXXIX AD COELESTEM AVLAM PROFICISCITVR Upon the picture of PULCHERIA A Golden Virgin in an iron Age Who trampled under foot infernal rage A barren wife a fruitfull maid unstain'd That all the world within her heart contain'd Mother of people Mistress over Kings brings And who 'twixt Church and Law firm union She in herself bright Scepters did behold Joyn'd to the Cross Altars to Crowns of gold The married life unto virginitie And glorious greatness to humilitie If virtue were a substance to be seen Well might we here suppose this happy Queen Should lend her body that it outward may Resplendent lustre to the world display GReat-ones may here behold the shortest way to the Temple of Honour is to pass by that of Virtue Never woman was more honoured in her life never woman more glorious in her death That great Pope S. Leo S. Cyril and all the excellent men both of the East and West have employed their pens in her honour So magnificent and noble acclamations were made to her in Councels that nothing would be wished more glorious A little before her death in the Councel of Chalcedon they cried out Long live the Empress most Sacred Long live
out but what hand hath ever drawn a false opinion out of the brain of one presumptuous but that of God All seemeth green saith A istotle to those who look on the water and all is just and specious to such as behold themselves in proper love Better it were according to the counsels of the ancient fathers of the desert to have one foot in hell with docibilitie of spirit than an arm in Paradise with your own judgement Augustine not to acknowledge his fault would August I. deduabus animabus contra Manachaeos ever maintain it and thought it was to make a truth of an errour opinionatively to defend it He had that which Tertullian saith is familiar among hereticks swellings and ostentation of knowledge and his design was then to dispute not to live Himself confesseth two things long time made him to tumble in the snare the first whereof was a certain complacence of humour which easily adhered to vicious companies and the other an opinion he should ever have the upper hand in disputation He was as a little Marlin without hood or leashes catching all sorts of men with his sophisms and when he had overcome some simple Catholick who knew not the subtilities of Philosophie he thought he had raised a great trophey over our Religion In all things this Genius sought for supereminence for even in game where hazards stood not fair for him he freely made use of shifts and were he surprized he would be augry making them still believe he had gained as a certain wrestler who being overthrown undertook by force of eloquence to prove he was not fallen This appeared more in dispute than game For having now flattered himself upon the advantages of his wit he was apprehensive in this point of the least interest of his reputation and had rather violate the law of God than commit a barbarism in speaking thereby to break the law of Grammer to the prejudice of the opinion was had of him It was a crime to speak of virtue with a solecism and a virtue to reckon up vices in fair language When he was publickly to enterprize some action of importance the apprehension of success put him into a fever so that walking one day through the Citie of Milan with a long Oration in his head and meeting a rogue in the street who confidently flouted him he fetched a great sigh and said Behold this varlet hath gone beyond me in matter of happiness See he is satisfied and content whilest I drag an uneasie burden through the bryers and all to please a silly estimation The ardent desire he had to excel in all encounters alienated him very far from truth which wils that we sacrifice to its Altars all the interests of honour we may pretend unto and besides it was the cause that the wisest Catholicks feared to be engaged in battel with so polished a tongue and such unguided youth Witness this good Bishop whom holy S. Monica so earnestly solicited to enter into the list with her son to convert him for he prudently excused himself saying the better to content her That a son of such tears could never perish Besides the curiositie and presumption of Augustine 3. Impediment The passion of love the passion of love surprized him also to make up his miserie and to frame great oppositions in matter of his salvation But because this noble spirit hath been set by God as the mast of a ship broken on the edge of a rock to shew others his ship-wrack I think it a matter very behovefull to consider here the tyranny of an unfortunate passion which long time enthraled so great a soul to derive profit from his experience The fault of Augustine proceeded not simply from love but from ill managing it affoarding that to creatures which was made for the Creatour Love in it self is not a vice but the soul of all virtues when it is tied to its object which is the sovereign good and never shall a soul act any thing great if it contain not some fire in the veins The Philosopher Hegesippus said that all the great and goodliest natures are known by three things light heat and love The more light precious stones have the more lusture they reflect Heat raiseth eagles above serpents yea among Palms those are the noblest which have the most love and inclination to their fellows These three qualities were eminent in our Augustine His understanding was lightning his will fire and heart affection If all this had happily taken the right way to God it had been a miracle infinitely accomplished but the clock which is out of frame in the first wheel doth easily miscarry in all its motions and he who was already much unjoynted in the prime piece which makes up a man viz. judgement and knowledge suffered all his actions to slide into exorbitancy As there are two sorts of love whereof the one is most felt in the spirit the other predominateth in the flesh Augustine tried them both in several encounters First he was excessively passionate even in chast amities witness a school-fellow of his whom he so passionately affected He was a second Pylades that had always been bred and trained up with him in a mervellous correspondence of age humour spirit will life and condition which had so enkindled friendship in either part that it was transcendent and though it were in the lists of perfect honesty yet being as it was too sensual God who chastiseth those that are estranged from his love as fugitive slaves weaned his Augustine first touching this friend with a sharp fever in which he received baptism after which he was somewhat lightened Whereupon Augustine grew very glad as if he were now out of danger He visited him and forbare not to scoff at his baptism still pursuing the motions of his profane spirit but the other beholding him with an angry eye cut off his speech with an admirable and present liberty wishing him he would abstain from such discourse unless he meant to renounce all correspondence He seemed already in this change to feel the approaches of the other world for verily his malady augmenting quickly separated the soul from the body Augustine was much troubled at this loss insomuch that all he beheld from heaven to earth seemed to him filled with images of death The country was to him a place of darkness and gyddy fancies the house of his father a sepulcher the memory of his passed pleasures a hell All was distast being deprived of him for whom heloved all things It seemed to him all men he beheld were unworthy of life and that death would quickly carry away all the world since it took him away whom he prized above all the world These words escaped him which he afterwards retracted to wit That the soul of his companion and his were expreslie but one and the same surviving in two bodies and therefore he abhorred life because he was no more than halfe a man yet
the deluge which after it had born the whole world in the bowels thereof amongst so many storms and fatal convulsions of universal nature reposed on the mountains of Armenia So S. Monica when she so long time had carried in her entrails and heart a spirit as great as this universe among so many tears and dolours so soon as she was delivered of this painful burden went to take her rest on the mountains of Sion A little before her death beholding Heaven from a high window which opened on a garden she seemed there already to mark out her lodging so much she witnessed resentment and extasie towards her son Augustine who at that time made this admirable colloquie with her couched by him afterward in his Confessions The conclusion was that she said unto him My son I have now no more obligations to the world you have discharged all the promises of Heaven to me and I have consummated all the hopes I might have on earth seeing you a Catholick and which is more resolved to perfection of the life you have embraced When it shall please God to call me I am like fruit ripe and falling that holdeth on nothing Soon after she betook her to her bed being surprized with a feaver which she presently felt to be the messenger of her last hour Behold the cause why she being fortified with arms and assistances necessary for this combat took leave of Augustine and his brother there present affectionately entreating them to remember her soul at the Altar onely meditating on Heaven and neglecting the thought of the land of Africa which she had seemed at other times to desire for the sepulcher of her body And as her other son said unto her Madame my mother we as yet are not there we hope to close your eyes in our own countrey and burie you in the tomb of your husband this holy woman seeing this man would still tie her to the present life and divert her from cogitation of death which to her was most sweet beheld him with a severe eye and then turning her self towards her son Augustine Hearken saith she what he saith as if we absent from Africa must needs be further from God She often cast her dying eyes towards this son who was her precious conquest and who in her sickness served her with most particular assistances affirming that Augustine had ever been a good son towards her and though he had cost her many sorrows he never had forgotten the respect due to a mother Verily there was a great sympathie between the soul of such a mother and such a son which was infinitely augmented after this happy conversion and therefore we must give to nature that which belongs to it The child Adeodatus seeing his Grand-mother in the last agony as possessing the affections of his father threw out pitifull out-cries in which he could not be pacified And S. Augustine who endeavoured to comfort them all upon so happy a death withheld his tears for a time by violence but needs must he in the end give passage to plaints so reasonable The Saint died as a Phenix among Palms and they having rendered the last duties to her pursued the way begun directly for Africk Behold how the conversion of S. Augustine passed and though many cooperated therein yet next unto God S. Ambrose hath ever been reputed the principal Agent and for that cause his great disciple said of him (b) (b) (b) Aug. contra Julianum Pelagianum l. 1. c. 6. Excellens Dei dispensator quâ—m veneror ut patrem in Christo enim Jesu per Evangelium ipse me genuit eo Christi ministerio lavacrum Regenerationis accepi Ambrose is the excellent steward of the great father of the family whom I reverence as my true father for he hath begotten me in Jesus Christ by the virtue of the Gospel and God hath been pleased to make use of his service to regenerate me by Baptism Whilest stars and elements shall continue it will be an immortal glory to the Bishop Ambrose to have given the Church a S. Augustine of whom Volusianus spake one word worth a thousand (c) (c) (c) Volusian Epist 2. Vir est totius gloriae capax Augustinus In aliis sacerdotibus absque detrimento cultus divini toleratur inscitia at cum ad Antistitem Augustinum venitur Legi deest quicquid ab eo contigerit ignorari Augustine is a man capable of all the glorie of the world There is much difference between him and other Bishops The ignorance of one Church-man alone prejudiceth not Religion but when we come to Bishop Augustine if he be ignorant of any thing it is not he but the law which is defective because this man is as knowing as the law it self The eleventh SECTION The affairs of S. Ambrose with the Empeperours Valentinian the father and Gratian the son LEt us leave the particulars of the life of S. Ambrose to pursue our principal design which is to represent it in the great and couragious actions he enterprized with the Monarchs of the world Let us not behold this Eagle beating his wings in the lower region of the ayr but consider him among lightenings tempests and whirl-winds how he plays with thunder-claps and ever hath his eye where the day breaketh The state of Christianitie stood then in need of a The state of Christendom brave Prelate to establish it in the Court of Great-ones The memory of Jâ—lian the Apostata who endeavoured with all his power to restore Idols was yet very fresh it being not above ten years past since he died and yet lived in the minds of many Pagans of eminent quality who had strong desires to pursue his purpose On the other side the Arians who saw themselves so mightily supported by the Emperour Constans made a great party and incessantly embroyled the affairs of Religion Jovinian a most Catholick Emperour who succeeded Julian passed away as a lightening in a reign of seven moneths After him Valentinian swayed the Empire who had in truth good relishes of Religion but withal a warlick spirit and who to entertain himself in so great a diversitie of humours and sects whereon he saw this Empire to be built much propended to petty accommodations which for some time appeased the evil but took not away the root He made associate of the Empire his brother Valens who being a very good Catholick in the beginning of his reign suffered himself to be deceived by an Arian woman and did afterward exercise black cruelties against the faithfull till such time as defeated by the Goths and wounded in an encounter he was burnt alive by his enemies in a shepherds cottage whereunto he was retired so rendering up his soul in the bloud and flames where with he had filled the Church of God The association of this wicked brother caused much disorder in the affairs of Christendom and often slackened the good resolutions of Valentinian by coldness and
young-ones upon the nest All which the Empress Justina could do was speedily to save her self with her sons and daughters to set sayl on the sea and pass to Thessalonica a Citie of Greece much renowned were it but in S. Pauls Epistles Maximus finding no resistance flowed like a torrent over the fair fields of Italie and made furious havock though to take away the blemish of the bloud of the Emperour Gratian and to gain the reputation of a good Prince he shewed in the end some moderation It is verily a miracle of God that he having been treated with by S. Ambrose with so much liberty as we have said before holding still the bloudy sword in the ruins of Italie in a time when he might have done any thing which his passion dictated he so bridled himself that he not onely abstained from wronging the holy Prelate but for his sake used the whole Territory of Milan with the more humanity It seemed the Citie of Milan under the influences of its Pastour had the virtue of those sacred forrests which tamed wolves It tied up the throat of a ravenous wolf and made him court his prey Yet though she were without peril she was not void of fear seeing so many armed troups round about her and smelling the smoak of those fires which wasted her neighbours Then was the time when the admirable Bishop acted things likewise worthy of his person For all the Citizens wavering and almost ready to leave the Citie desolate to save their lives he by his eloquence and authority held them back so well that he seemed to have enchained them This scourge saith he proceedeth Ambros serm 99. Prudence and Charity of S. Ambrose from our disorders let us cease to sin and God will give over to afflict us It is a folly to flie from your countrey If you desire to be safe flie from your sins The arms of Maximus will have no power over bulwarks of sanctity Besides as it is said he is bad who is good for none but himself the charitable Prelate not content to consolate and confirm his own but seeing that all Italie was filled with extream miseries not onely spent all the means which he had to comfort them but employed therein the very gold and silver vessels of the Church for which cause the Arians sought occasion to calumniate him disposing themselves to condemn virtues since they could find no vice to lay hold on The holy man answered that which he afterward couched in his offices It is the effect of a most ardent Offic. lib. 1. cap. 18. charity to compassionate the miseries of our neighbours and to aid them according to our power yea above our power I rather choose herein to be accused of prodigality than inhumanity there is no fault more pardonable than that of bounty It is a strange thing to find men so cruel as to be troubled when they see a man redeemed from death an honest woman delivered from the violence of Barbarians which is worse than death or poor forsaken infants drawn from the contagion of Idols which they are forced to adore with menaces of death Let our enemies murmure as long as they please but I more affect to keep souls for God than to treasure up gold Whilest all this passed in Italie Theodosius came to Enterview of Theodosius Justina visit Justina and her children at Thessalonica who failed not to present all their complaints and solicite him to undertake the war against Maximus But he therein at first shewed himself very cold insomuch that not to disguise the truth partly touched in Zosimus although Theodosius was a very great Captain as one who arrived to the Empire by his own merit notwithstanding seeing his fortune now at the height he was pleased to tast the repose and delights of the Court under the shadow of his own palms and not contest again with any man fearing the hazard of wars and the slippery foot of felicitie Moreover Maximus who defied the force of all the world played the fawning dog before him and sent express Embassadours to draw him to some agreement This so wrought that when the offended Empress sounded an alarm Theodosius endeavoured to pacifie her with fair promises and good hopes saying Nothing must be precipitated that Maximus would become dutifull that it was better to give him some bone to gnaw on peaceably than enkindle a war which would never be extinguished but with rivers of humane bloud But the Ladie infinitely vexed pursued this affair with all extremity and was much displeased to see that he who held all his advancement from her husband her self and her children shewed some remisness in so urgent a necessity She bethought her self of an excellent stratagem which was to enflame the war with the fire of love The Emperour Theodosius had lost his wife Placilla and was much enclined to a second marriage Justina who heretofore had enjoyed the short tyranny of beauty making two Emperours Maxentius and Valentinian the Elder tributary thereunto was no longer in season to afford that which might very easily win Theodosius but she had a daughter named Galla then in the flower of her age and a perfect image of the mother she determined to pierce this man by the arrow of the eye of this Princess which was most easily done for she took her along with her to dissolve this heart of ice and casting her self at his feet humbly besought him by the service he heretofore had vowed to the house of great Valentinian by the ruin of her orphans and by the bloud of poor deceased Gratian whom he had associated in Empire to take the matter in hand In the same proportion as she uttered those words with great fervour the daughter composed her self to weep with a good grace and even as tears in such persons have a strong spur in them Theodosius beholding her felt the wound of Turnus when he beheld Lavinia in the like case He quickly took the Empress and her daughter up promising all assistance and from that time plainly discovering that he was powerfully touched He also failed not in few days to require Galla in marriage which the mother promised him as soon as she had irrevocably engaged him in the war she pretended The marriage was hastily enough solemnized and from the festival hall they passed into the field of Mars Maximus who saw Theodosius entertained his Embassadours with words not giving them any absolute answer much doubted the affair and bent his whole force upon defence He did all which humane prudence may that hath not the eyes of God He set his Goodman the furtherer of all his treacheries to sea commanding him to guard the Archi-pelagus with a great fleet On the other part he gave commission to his brother Marcellinus to keep passage of the Alps with a strong Army He himself with the most resolved troups descended into Sclavonia to prevent his enemy Theodosius advertised of all
more than an ordinary souldier This seemed commendable in him but he was so desperately proud and cholerick that he would have all things carried according to his own counsels much offended with the least contradiction and accounting himself so necessary that nothing could be done without him On the other side the young Emperour who was jealous of his authority seeing that through his presumption he took too much upon him he in all occasion sought to depress him which the other ill digested but he continuing in this arrogant and harsh disposition Valentinian violently moved did resolve to be rid of him Behold why one day as Arbogastus approched to his Throne to do him reverence he looked awry on him and gave him a ticket by which he declared him a man disgraced and deprived of his charge He furious as a dog who byteth the stone thrown at him after he had read the ticket tore it in pieces in the presence of the Emperour through extream impudency and cried out aloud You gave me not the charge which I hold nor is it in your power to take it from me This he spake presuming of support from the souldiers whom he had ever esteemed From this day forward he ceased not to make his distasts appear and to bend his spirit to a mischievous revenge There was by misfortune at that time in the Court one named Eugenius who was accounted a wittie man but cold and timorous that heretofore had professed Rhetorick and acquired a good talent in speaking Arbogastus supposed his own boldness would make an excellent temper with the coldness of this man and having along time much confided in him he made him an overture to seize on the Empire which he at first refused But the other having promised him the death of Valentinian and his sword for defence gave consent to a most enormous assassinate All men were amazed that the poor Emperour in a fatal morning was found strangled by the conspiracy of Eugenius and Arbogastus aided by the Gentils who desired nothing but the liberty of Paganism This news brought a most sensible affliction upon Saint Ambrose for the Emperour was assured that the Bishop came to Vienna expresly to entreat his return into Italie which having understood he reckoned up the days and expected his arrival with unspeakable impatience But S. Ambrose who would not by importunity thrust himself into unnecessary affairs as he through charity was unwilling to be wanting in necessary having understood that the Emperour was daily upon his return deferred this voyage which had been most requisite to hinder Arbogastus over whom he had a great power Valentinian advertised of this delay wrote to him and earnestly pressed him to come adding he meant to receive Baptism at his hands for he was as yet but a Catechumen The good Prelate having received the Emperours letters speedily undertook the journey using all expedition when at his coming to the Alps he heard the deplorable death of the poor Prince which made him return back again and wash as he saith his own steps in his proper tears most bitterly every moment bemoaning the death of his dearest pupil The Providence of God was very manifest in his Manners of Valentinian Ambrosius de obitu Valent. death for Valentinian was drawn from Empires of the world in a time when he seemed now fully ripe for Heaven It is an admirable thing how the direction of S. Ambrose whom in his latter days he onely affected had metamorphosed him into another man In the beginning he was thought to be over-much delighted in tourneys and horse-races he so took away this opinion of him that he would hardly permit these sports in the great festival entertainments of the Empire The Gentiles who made observations on all his life had nothing to reproach in him but that he excessively delighted in the slaughter of savage beasts whom he caused to be taken and fed for his pleasure saying it diverted him from cares of the Empire He to satisfie all the world caused instantly all those creatures to be killed and disposed himself to attend the affairs of his Councel with so good judgement and so great resolution that he seemed a Daniel in the midst of the Assembly of Elders These envious people having watched him so far as to observe him at the table objected he anticipated the hour of his repast yet he so addicted himself to abstinence that he was seen in feasts rather seemingly than effectually to eat for sometimes in entertaining others he fasted tempering devotion and charity with a singular discretion Finally to give testimony of his infinite chastity it was told him there was in Rome a female Comedian endowed with a singular beauty having attractives which ravished all the Nobilitie This understood he deputeth one expresly to bring her to the Court but they being passionately in love with her corrupted the messenger so that he returned without doing any thing The Emperour rechargeth and commandeth that she with all expedition should be brought It was so done but she coming to the Court the most chaste Emperour would not so much as onely see her but instantly sent her back again saying That if he being in a condition which gave him the means to satisfie all his pleasures and in an Age which ordinarily useth to be very slippery in matter of vice and which is more not married abstained from unlawfull loves his subjects might well do somewhat by his example Never servant saith S. Ambrose was more in the power of his Master than the body of this Prince was under command of the soul nor ever Censor more diligently examined the actions of others than he his own Though all these dispositions infinitely much comforted the holy Prelate and namely the desire he expressed to receive Baptism two days before his death asking every instant if Bishop Ambrose were come notwithstanding his heart was transfixed to see him taken away in a time when he went about to make himself most necessary for all the world His death was generally bemoaned by all men and there was not any nay not his enemies which for him poured not out their tears It is said that Galla his sister wife of the Emperour Theodosius at the news of his death filled the Court with inconsolable lamentations and died in child-bed which came by excess of grief for which Theodosius was pitifully afflicted The other sisters of the Prince who were at Milan ceased not to dissolve into tears before the eyes of S. Ambrose who had no word more effectual to comfort them than the assurance that his faith and zeal had purified him and the demand he made of Baptism had consecrated him to the end they should no longer be in pain with the ease of his soul The good Bishop took a most particular care of his obsequies and burial where he made a Funeral Oration found yet among his Works In the end remembering his two pupils Go saith he O you most
can ought avail me Ruffinus notwithstanding insisted protesting he would instantly perswade the Bishop what ever he pleased He failed not to find out the Bishop but the Saint gave him a very sharp reprehension advising him rather to dress his own wounds than intercede for others for he partly understood that he had a hand in this fatal counsel Ruffinus notwithstanding plyed it all he could and endeavoured to charm this man with fair words saying finally for conclusion he would immediately accompany the Emperour to the Church S Ambrose who was ever very serious answered If he come thither as a Tyrant I will stretch out my neek but if in quality of a Christian Emperour I am resolved to forbid him entrance Ruffinus well saw the Bishop was inflexible and went in haste to advise the Emperour not yet on this day to hazard his approach to the Church He found him on his way as a man distracted that had the arrow in his heart and hastened for remedy and he saying he had dealt with the Bishop It is no matter saith Theodosius let him do with me what he please but I am resolved to reconcile my self to the Church S. Ambrose advertised that Theodosius came went Aedicula jaculatoria out and expected him at the door of a little Cell seperated from the body of the Church where ordinarily salutations were made Then perceiving him environed with his Captains Come you oh Emperour saith he to force us No saith Theodosius I come in the quality of a most humble servant and beseech you that imitating the mercy of the Master whom you serve you would unloose my fetters otherwise my life will fail What penance replieth the holy man have you done for the expiation of so great a sin It is answereth Theodosius for you to appoint it and me to perform it Then was the time when to correct the precipitation of the Edict made against the Thessalonians he commanded him to suspend the execution of the sentence of death for the space of thirty days after which having brought him into the Church the faithfull Emperour prayed not standing on his feet nor kneeling but prostrated all along on the pavement which he watered with his tears tearing his Psal 118. Adhaesit pavimento anima mea vivisica me secundùm verbum tuum hair and pitifully pronouncing this versicle of David My soul is fastened to the pavement quicken me according to thy word When the time of Oblation was come he modestly lifted up himself having his eyes still bathed with tears and so went to present his offering then stayed within those rayls which seperated the Priests from the Laity attending in the same place to hear the rest of Mass Saint Ambrose asked him who set him there and whether he wanted any thing The Emperour answered He attended the holy Communion of which the sage Prelate being advertised he sent one of his chief Deacons which served at the Altar to let him understand that the Quire was the place of Priests and not of the Laicks that he instantly should go out to rank himself in his order adding the Purple might well make Emperours not Priests Theodosius obeyed and answered that what he had done was not on purpose but that such was the custom of the Church of Constantinople Yea it is also remarkable that returning afterward into the East and hearing Mass at Constantinople on a very solemn festival day after he had presented his offering he went out of the Quire whereat the Patriarch Nectarius amazed asked him why his Majesty retired in that manner He sighing answered I in the end have learned to my cost the difference between an Emperour and a Bishop To conclude I have found a Master of truth and to tell you mine opinion I do acknowledge amongst Bishops but one Ambrose worthy of that title Behold an incomparable authority which was as the rays of his great virtue and sanctity from whence distilled all that force and vigour which he had in treating with all men I imagine I hitherto have exposed the principal actions of S. Ambrose to the bright splendour of the day and so to have ordered them that all sorts of conditions may therein find matter of instruction It hath not been my intention to distend them by way of Annals but historical discourses proper to perswade virtue So likewise have I not been willing to charge this paper with other particular narrations which may be read in Paulinus Sozomen Ruffinus and which have exactly been sought out by Cardinal Baronius suitable to his purpose I conclude after I have told you that Paulinus his Secretary witnesseth he writing by him a little before his death saw a globe of fire which encompassed his head and in the end entered into his mouth making an admirable brightness reflect on his face which held him so rapt that whilest this vision continued it was impossible for him to write one word of those which Saint Ambrose dictated As for the rest having attained the threescore and Death of S. Ambrose fourth year of his age he was accounted as the Oracle of the world for they came from the utmost bounds of the earth to hear his wisdom as unto Solomon and after the death of Theodosius Stilicon who governed all held the presence of Saint Ambrose so necessary that he esteemed all the glory of the Roman Empire was tied to the life of this holy Prelate In effect when on the day of holy Saturday after his receiving the Communion he had sweetly rendered up his soul as Moses by the mouth of God a huge deluge of evils overflowed Italie which seemed not to be stayed but by the prayers of this Saint Let us I beseech you pass over his death in the manner of the Scripture which speaketh but one word of the end of so many great personages and let us never talk of death in a subject wholly replenished with immortality Oh what a life what a death to have born bees in his first birth on his lips and at his death globes of light in his mouth What a life to be framed from his tender age as a Samuel for the Tabernacle not knowing he was designed for the Tabernacle What a life to preserve himself in the corruption of the world in a most undefiled chastity as a fountain of fresh water in midst of the sea What a life to arrive to honour and dignities in flying them and to have enobled all his charges by the intefrity of his manners What a life not to have taught any virtue before he practised it and to become first learned in examples before he shewed himself eloquent in words What a life so to have governed a Church that it seemed a copy of Heaven and an eternal pattern of virtues What a life to have born on his shoulders the glory of Christendom and all the moveables of the house of God! What a life to have so many times trampled the head of
Dragons under-foot and rendered himself the Oracle of the world and the Doctour of Monarchs And what a death to die as in a field with palms planted by his hand manured by his industrie and watched with sweats What a death to have built himself before his death a tomb stuffed with precious stones of so many goodly virtues What a death which hath made it known that S. Ambrose was born for all the world and could not die without the tears of all the world since as every one had his interests in the life of this Prelate so he found in his death the subject of his sorrow What a death to die with these words in his mouth I am neither ashamed to have lived nor fear to die because we have a good Master What a death to return to Heaven as the dove of the deluge to his Ark bearing words of peace as an olive-branch in his mouth What a death to see vice trodden under his feet Heaven all in crowns over his head men in admiration the Angels in joy the Arms of God laden with recompences for his merits Prelates who please your selves with Myters and Croziers would to God this incomparable man as he is the ornament of your Order might be ever the model of your actions And if your dignities make you be as Mountains of Sinai wholly in lights flames and thunder-strokes let the innocency of your life render you by his imitation Mountains of Libanus to bear the whiteness of snow in the puritie of your conversation the odour of incense in your sacrifices and devotions and fountains in the doctrines and charities you shall distribute to the whole world THE SOVLDIER TO SOULDIERS O Brave and couragious Nobility whose Ancestours have fixed the Standards of the Cross upon the land of Infidels and cemented Monarchies with their bloud to you it is I address these lines for you it is my pen laboureth excited with a generous design in hath to honour your profession Here it is where I present the true figures of valour Here I display the palms and crowns which environed the head of your Fathers Here I do restore the value of fair and glorious actions reserved for your imitation Enter with a firm footing and a confident courage into this Temple of glory perswading your selves that there is nothing so great in the world as to tread false greatness under foot and deifie virtues Worldly honour is the feast of Gods said an Ancient where the ambitious are not invited but in quality of IXIONS and TANTALUSSES to serve there as buffons but that which consisteth in valour joyned to integrity of manners ought to be the object of your affections the recompence of your labours and trophey of your memorie Reflect onely with a favourable eye on this poor endeavour which I consecrate to your benefit and afford by your virtues effect to my prayers and accomplishment to my writings THE SOULDIER The first SECTION The excellency of Warlick Virtue IF the profession of arms were as well managed as it is excellent and necessary in civil life we could not have eyes enough to behold it nor tongues sufficient to praise it and although our spirit should arrive to the highest top of admiration it would ever find wonders in this subject not to be attained We seem to hear the Scripture speak that God God of hosts himself affecteth the glory of arms when he causeth himself to be surnamed the God of hosts and when the Prophets represent him unto us in a fiery Chariot all environed with burning Legions at which time the pillars of Heaven tremble under his feet the rocks are rent abysses frown and all the creatures of the universe shake under the insupportable splendour of his Majesty In effect this great Monarch of Town belieged by God Heaven and earth ceaseth not to make war and if we will consider his proceedings we shall find it is more than fifty Ages since he hath laid siege to a rebellious Citie which hath for ditches abysses of iniquity for walls and rampires obstinacy for towers and bulwarks mountains of pride for arms resistance against divine inspirations for artillery tumult and insolency for houses dens of hypocrisie for Palaces labyrinths of dissimulation for tribunal and bar impiety for Temple proper-will for Idol self-love for Captain blindness for souldiers exorbitant passions for counsel folly and for constancy perverse opinion This Citie in a word is the heart of man against The hurt of man which God daily wageth war to give us libertie by our captivitie advancement by our fall greatness by our abasing and life by death which maketh us die to all dead things to live for immortality God would that we fight by his example not onely with spiritual arms but sometimes with material and it is a thing very considerable that Abraham the first Father of all the faithfull was a warriour since S. Ambrose Ambros Offic. lib. 1. cap. 24. Fide primus justitiâ precipuus in praelio strenuus in victoriâ non avarus domi hospitalis uxori sedulus reckoning up all his titles according to the Scripture sheweth he was a good Religious man a good Justice a good Captain a good hoast and a good husband Yea also it is a passage much more admirable to say what Clemens Alexandrinus hath observed that the first Army of the faithfull which ever was marched not thinking thereon under the figure of the Cross and the name of Saviour although it were about two thousand years before the birth of the Messias The fourteenth Chapter of Genesis teacheth us that nine Kings came into the field with their troups to fight four against five Those of Sodom and Gomorrha were there in person who like effeminate Princes turned their back at the first encounter and in flying fell into pits of sulphure Their defeat gave leisure to the enemy to pillage all the Countrey where poor Lot the nephew of Abraham was taken having by mishap chosen his habitation in a Territory fertile in wealth and iniquities The news coming to the ears of Abraham he speedily armed his houshold-servants who were to the number of three hundred and eighten and with shepheards assaulted Kings whom he valorously vanquished bringing back his kinsman and all the booty which his enemies had taken Behold the first battel renowned in Scripture where this brave Doctour of Alexandria before alledged very well subtilizeth and saith that the number of Abrahamâ—s souldiers is represented by three Greek letters T. J. H whereof the first signifieth the Cross and the other two the name of Saviour God being desirous so to consecrate the first arms of believers by the Mysteries of his Greatness to declare that the warfare which is well managed is his work and glory Likewise we do not find that the name of Sun hath been given Warriours suns in holy Writ to a living man with so much lustre and applause as to a souldier and
impatience She to appease him excused herself upon the necessity of the accident happened but this notable Astrologer hearing speech of the birth of a child forsooke the pot and glass which he dearly loved and endeavoured to set the Horoscope of this Ablavius newly come into the world And thereupon said to the hostess Go tell your neighbour she hath brought forth a son to day who shall be all and have all but the dignity of an Emperour I think with Eunapius that such tales are rather made after events to give credit to judicial Astrology than to say they have any foundation upon truth It is not known by what means he was advanced but he came into so great an esteem that he governed the whole Empire under Constantine who freely made use of him as of a man discreet and vigilant in affairs though much displeased to see him too eager in his proper interests And it is said that walking one day with him he took a stick in his hand and drew the length of five or six foot on the earth then turning towards his creature Ablavius why so much sweat and travel In the end of all neither I nor thou shall have more than this nay thou dost not know whether thou shalt have it or no. He was the cause by his factions that Constantine almost caused one day three innocent Captains to be punished with death being ill inform'd had it not been that S. Nicholas then living appeared in a dream the same night to Constantine and Ablavius threatning if they proceeded any further God would chastise them which made them stay execution Ablavius notwithstanding was so tyed to the earth that the words and examples of his Master had small power over his soul in such sort that he had an unhappy end ordinary with those who abuse the favours of God For after the death of Constantine Constantius who succeeded in the Empire of his father taking this man as it were for a Pedagogue so much authority had he assumed unto himself and thinking he could not free himself of his minority but by the death of Ablavius caused him miserably to be butchered sending two for executours of this commission men suborned who saluted him with great submissions and knees bended to the earth in manner of Emperour He who before had married one of the daughters of the Emperour Constans brother of Constantius thinking they would raise him to the dignity of Caesar asked where the purple was They answered they had no commission to give it him but that those who should present it were at his chamber dore He commandeth them to be speedily brought in These were armed men who approaching near unto him instead of the purple inflicted a purple death transfixing him with their swords and renting him as a Sacrifice If the poor man following his Masters example had been willing to set limits upon his fortune and taken shelter at least in the storm to meditate upon the affairs of his conscience he would the less have been blamed but natural desires have this proper that they are bounded by nature which made them The fantasies of ambition which grew from our opinions have no end no more than opinion subsistence For what bounds will you give to the falsehood and lying of a miserable vanity which filleth the spirit with illusion and the conscience with crimes When one goeth the right way he findeth an end but when he wandereth a-cross the fields he makes steps without number errours without measure and miseries without remedy The thirteenth SECTION The death of Constantine IT seemeth great men who have lived so well should never die and that it were very fit they still did what they once have done so happily But as they entred not into life by any other way than that of birth as men so must they issue out from this ordinary residence of mortals as other men Constantine had already reigned thirty and one years and was in the threescore and third of his age living otherwise in a prosperous old age and having a body exceedingly well disposed to the functions of life for he incessantly travelled in the duty of his charge without any inconvenience ordering military matters in his mind instituting laws hearing embassages reading writing discoursing to the admiration of all the world This good Prince earnestly desired the conversion of all the great-ones of his Court. Behold why not satisfied with giving them example of a perfect life he inflamed them to good with powerful words which were to souls as thunder-claps to Hinds not for the delivery of a beast but the production of salvation A little before his death he pronounced in his Palace to those of his Court a very elegant Oration of the immortality of the soul of the success of good and evil of the providence of God in the recompence of pure souls of the terrour of his justice upon the incredulous and reprobate This divine man handled these discourses with so much fervour and devotion that he seemed to have his ear already in heaven to understand mysteries and enjoy an antipast of Paradise A while after he felt some little inequality of temperature in his body which was with him very extraordinary so sound and well composed he was Thereupon he was taken with a fever somewhat violent and causing himself to be carried to the baths he remained not long there for little regarding the health of his body in comparison of the contentment of his soul he was possessed with a great desire to go to Drepanum in Bythinia a Citie which he surnamed of his good mother where was the bodie of S. Lucian the Martyr to which he had a particular devotion He being transported into this desired place felt in this heart an alacrity wholly celestial and for a long time remained in the Church notwithstanding the indisposition of his body fervently praying for his own salvation and the universal repose of his Empire From thence he went directly to a Palace which he had in the suburbs of Nichomedia where feeling the approaches of death he disposed himself for his last hour with the marks of a piety truly Christian His Princes and Captains who heard him speak of death being desirous to divert his mind from this thought said He was become too necessary for all the world and that the prayers of all men would prolong his life But he Of what do you speak to me as if it were not true life to die to so many dead things to live with my Saviour No this heer is not a death but a passage to immortality If you love me hinder not my way one cannot go too soon to God This spoken he disposed of his last Will with a constant judgement and couragious resolution declaring in his Testament the estate of affairs he would establish even in the least particulars and very well remembring all his good servants for whom he ordained pensions and rewards for every one
Empire and affections of Leo his father-in-law much esteemed this young man who arrived to maturity of age served him most couragiously in brave expeditions of war against the Gepides and Bulgarians sworn enemies of the Empire This occasion whereof we speak being offered Theodorick flyeth like a Merlin to his prey and leaving the Court of Constantinople came into Italy attended by gallant troups to decide the matter of Empire and life with Odoacer He being full of fire handled his adversary very roughly and defeated him in three battails making him forsake the field and inforcing him to immure himself in Ravenna where he besieged him for the space of three years resolved either to loose his head in Italy or encircle it with a Crown at Rome The father Theodomire being already deceased his mother the fair Aureliana who had reigned in affections entertained an insatiable desire to command over the most important part of the world and being then in the field she spared not to excite the souldiers and advance a spur of fire very far into the heart of her son whereupon it is recounted that Odoacer after so long a siege being reduced to an extream scarcity of victuals and seeing he could not any longer subsist resolved to seek in the hazard of arms the remedy which he could not find in his languishment He espied a time when the assailants tired out with so long a resistance seemed now to relent so that by the benefit of a fair night he made a sally with his whole army composed of people hungry as wolfs and resolved to conquer or die in this last battel Their sally was so furious and unexpected that Theodorick who was otherwise a great Captain seeing the astonishment and disorder of his souldiers betook himself timely to flight when this Aureliana his mother moved with an ardent ambition which gave her courage above her sex came before him and taking him by the hand had confidence to say My Son whither go you You must of two things do one either fight or return into the womb of your mother You have as far as I can perceive the enemy at your back and fear on your forehead turn your head against the one and you shall chase away the other If you persist in this flight I will rather make a wall of my body to stay you than render my self a confederate of such an obloquie It is a strange thing that the words of a woman were stronger than the sound of trumpets arms flight and the black apprehensions of death This young Prince changing his fear into a generous shame speedily rallyeth the troups that were best resolved and hasteneth to fall upon his enemy with such violence that his souldiers seemed so many flying Dragons who handled their matter so well that the valiant Odoacer notwithstanding his best endeavour was constrained to retire into Ravenna Some time after seeing his enemy was invincible he caused him to be sought unto for peace on such condition that they should between them divide the Kingdom of Italy to which Theodorick whether that he was wearied out with so long a war or that he hoped the more easily to joyn the skin of the fox to that of the Lion willingly consented to this counterfeit peace The agreement signed he entered into Ravenna and these Princes who were both very brave souldiers embraced before the face of two armies mutually preventing each other with all manner of courtesie But oh good God! what cement was ever found able enough to entertain ambition and amity in one constant state and what world hath at any time been wide enough to lodge too ambitious men without a quarrel Their conversation too frequent first sowed contempts and insolencies among souldiers of different Nations afterward jealousie crept into the hearts of the Captains and distrust into the souls of the Sovereigns who beheld and observed one another as expecting who should first begin Theodorick whether he sought for some pretext which ever is soon enough found out to colour the greatest mischiefs or whether he understood of a design intended on the part of his enemy imagined the earth was not large enough to give elbow-room to his ambition whilest Odoacer shared the Throne with him that there was but one sun necessary in heaven and one King in a Countrey that he could not endure a Crown made crescent-wise but that it was very fit he should furnish out the roundness of its circle and for the rest that man would soonest be King who first prevented his adversary Hereupon he resolved on a horrible assassinate for feigning all friendship and affection he invited Odoacer to a magnificent feast which he had prepared for him to be the last of his life It is a great matter that there must be a bait always to surprize men and birds and that the greatest disasters ordinarily happen in the sports and banquets when sensuality predominateth and reason is eclypsed This miserable Procopius saith that Theodorick took pretext and treacherously slew him at a banquet King of the Heruli made it well appear by his over-much confidence that he had not so much mischief in him as was afterward imputed to his ashes for he very joyfully went to this banquet accompanied with his son and all the principal of his Kingdom and walked along with great alacrity having no other intention but to make war against dishes and nothing less than at that time to entertain purposes of bloud and murder The resolution notwithstanding is taken to make them all pass by the dint of swords in a place the most delightful where pleasures seem to make men as it were newly born They entered into a great Sigonius l 5. Occidentali de Imperio in fine hall most magnificently furnished and sat down at the table there was no speech in the beginning but of mirth the spirit disbanded thinketh on nothing but objects of pleasure when instantly the signal was given and the Goths threw swords purposely out to offend the most sober patience of the Heruli They answered again what choller and wine suggested Theodorick stood up and taking his sword So an ancient manuscript observeth it found in a Library at Rome slew Odoacer with his own hand the rest fell upon his son and the Princes of the Kingdom Never was there seen banquet of Centaures and Lapithes more unfortunately expressed Tables and men were overwhelmed wine ran mixt with bloud the dreadful cries of the dying made those tremble who were far enough out of danger and gave matter of pity even to hang-men yet for all this not a man was spared the bodies mangled and bloudy were cast one upon another and the poor souls issued forth in the midst of massacres and surfets to yeild an account in the Court-hall of Heaven What horrours of the abyss and furies of Divels see you here I would know whether there be any beast in the world that had heaped together in one
of the bosom thereof as a man treacherous and put into the hands of the Guard to lead him to Pavia the place of his imprisonment He was not suffered to speak with his father-in-law Symmachus for all those who were honoured with his friendship are sequestred scarcely had he the means to give the last adieu to his wife Rusticiana who seeing her husband suddenly fallen from so eminent a dignitie into such disaster could not contain from saying unto him with scalding tears Syr is this then it which your innocencie hath deserved If the King be resolved to put you to death why suffereth he still a piece of your self to live which hath ever been so dear unto you I have courage enough to follow you either in exile imprisonment or death But Boetius replied again in few words that he might not any further increase her grief Madam the hour is not yet come trouble not your self to see me suffer for justice It is a title of honour which God hath reserved for his children The education which you have derived from your good father and the instructions you have received from me give me occasion to hope you will bear this accident with a Christian resolution My daughter it is not fit that our tears which fall from so much a higher place as we have been bred in greatness may shew any dejection in the estimation of men Support your self a little under your burthen and open your heart to the consolations of heaven since those of earth are mingled with so much acerbities Then turning to his children all dissolved into tears My children saith he God hereafter will become your father Make provision of great virtues which have ever been the inheritance of our house for all other blessings are but dust and wind This is the lesson which God giveth you in the change of my fortune Comfort your good mother by the dutie of faithfull obedience and live in hope Perhaps you shall see me again if it please God sooner than you imagine These words were arrows that pierced these faithfull hearts with most just resentments of nature which could not quickly end notwithstanding all the lenitives that might be applied The sixth SECTION The imprisonment of Boetius THe great changes of fortune which suddenly happen have this property in them that they strike our souls as waves not foreseen and give us the blow before we have leisure to understand our selves The poor Boetius seeing himself between four walls sequestered from the Citie which had served as a theater of glory for all his house taken away from the love of his own bereft of his library and all the most precious accommodations of life shut up as a victim destined for a bloudy sacrifice found himself in the beginning surprized with an over-whelming sadness as he hath left expressed in writing He bewailed with broken sighs his innocency unworthily handled he traced in his thoughts the marks of his former fortune he cast his eyes upon his forsaken family which seemed to him in the Lions throat he called into memory the unworthiness of his accusers who had been heard against him the ingratitude of the Senate that had condemned him for being faithfull unto them the cruelty with which this sentence was executed the wrack of his means the loss of his reputation and all the black horrours which a man declared criminal of treason figureth to himself In this abyss of disturbances he was displeased as Eâ—eu cur durs miseros a verteriâ— Ã â—e Et stentes oculis claudere saeâ—â— negas Lib. 1. Metr 1. it were with death which layeth hold on so many young men that desire nothing but to live and deigned not so much as to shut up his eyes which he perpetually moistened with his tears Hereupon we may see that the most couragious spirits in these accidents so strange and unexpected ever pay some tribute to the natural passions of men But likewise on the other side we shall observe the power which a well rectified judgement hath over it self when we behold it to dissipate all the troubles and agitations of the heart by the vivacity of reason and use of precepts of wisdom which he most exactly practised in this his captivity We have also the book of his Consolation composed in this prison which is verily in the judgement of learned men one of the most excellent pieces of work that may be framed on this subject where he introduceth Philosophie who visiting and awakening him from this dead sleep of sadness What Boetius saith she are you be then whom I have fed with my milk whom I have cherished with so good nutriments and bred up until you arrived to the strength of mans estate Verily I have given you arms which would strengthen you against all the strokes of fortune were it not that you have forsaken them Know you me no longer From whence proceedeth this silence Tell me is it out of shame or stupidity I had rather it were derived from a just bashfulness but as far as I can perceive you are become wholly senseless Will you say nothing to me Ah poor man he is not absolutely lost but so near as I can guess he hath a Lethargie a common disease with those who suffer themselves to be transported with illusions of the mind He hath forgot himself but he will recover when he shall know me Let us onely wipe his eyes surcharged with terrestrial humours and covered with a thick cloud of the world This done Boetius came to himself and framed an admirable Dialogue with this Queen of spirits to which I remit the Reader contenting my self to observe here the principal arguments which served him for his Consolation to the end we may learn with him in our afflictions to fix our resolution on the will of God and suck honey from the rock as the Scripture speaketh The first reason proposed to him by this Wisdom Lib. 1. pros 6. Maximus somes salutis vera de mundi gubernatione sententia descended from Heaven was to ask of him what opinion he had of the Providence of God and whether he thought the world moved by chance or were governed by reason God forbid saith Boetius that Iever come to this degree of folly as to think that all here below is casually done I know God ruleth in the world as in an house built by his own hands and that nothing happeneth in the affairs of men but either by his command or permission Thereupon Philosophie crieth out Just God! it is verily marvellous that a man who hath such an understanding of the Divine Providence can be sick of the disease wherewith I see you surprized My friend you entered into the world as into a list or circle whereof this Providence hath made the circuit with his own hands It is fit you Lib. 1. pros 1. alibi patiently suffer all that which happeneth to you within these limits as an ordinance
his captivity that his spirit was in declination his body being worn with the torments he endured by the rigour of a King of the Goths Death in the end came to unloose his fetters by an act very barbarous exercised by Theodorick on this admirable man He seeing Pope John had done nothing in his favour at Constantinople but in stead of causing the Temples of the Arians to be restored had purified and changed them into Catholick Churches he entered into a fury more exorbitant than ever and kept this good Pope in prison at Ravenna until he was wasted with diseases yielding up his most blessed soul in fetters to hasten to enjoy the liberty of the elect Cyprian and Basilius accusers of Boetius failed not to kindle the fire with all their power to ruin him whom they already had wounded There was sent unto him a Commissary who was Governour of Pavia to interrogate him upon matters wherewith he had been charged The King promising him by this instrument a reasonable usage if he would confess all the process of this imaginary conspiracy Boetius having heard what his commission imported replieth Tell the King your Master that my conscience and age have reduced me to those terms wherein neither menaces nor allurements can work any thing upon me to the prejudice of reason To require the proceeding of my conspiracie is to demand a chymera which hath never been nor ever shall Is the distrust of his witnesses so great that needs he must exact from my mouth the articles of my condemnation Verily he hath as much cause to doubt my accusers as I matter of glorie to be accused by mouthes so impure that they would as it were justifie the greatest delinquents by their depositions One Basilius chased from the Court and charged with debt hath been bought to sell my bloud and having lost credit in all things finds more than enough for my ruin Opilion and Gaudentius condemned to banishment for an infinite number of wicked promises they being fled to Altars the King redoubleth an Edict by which be ordained if they instantly went not out of Ravenna they should be branded in the forehead with an hot iron What may be added to such an infamie Yet notwithstanding the same day they were received and heard against me Arrows are made of all wood to transfix me and the most criminal are freed in my accusation Some being not ashamed to employ against the life of a Senatour those who would scarcely have been set to confront very slaves This makes me say my condemnation is premeditated and my death already vowed and that this search is made for petty formalities to disguise an injustice King Theodorick playeth too much the Politician for a man who hath full liberty to do ill What need is there to use so many tricks Tell him boldly from me that I submit to his condemnation I was willing to save the Senate though little gratefull for the sinceritie of my affections I wished the repose of the Catholick Church I have sought the liberty of the Roman people Here is all that I can say As I am not in condition to tell a lie so am I not on terms to conceal a truth Had I known the means to reduce the Empire into better order he should never have understood it Finally if he be resolved to put me to death thereupon let him hasten his blow It is long since I have had death in desire and life in patience The Commissary much amazed at this constancy made his relation to the King in very sharp words which put oyl afresh into the flame to thrust affairs into extremities The poor Rusticiana wife of Boetius knowing the point whereunto the safety of her husband was reduced made use of all the attractives she could to mitigate the fury of the Prince and observing Amalazunta the daughter of Theodorick to be an honourable Ladie and endowed with a singular bounty she recommended her petitions and tears to her This Ladie gave her access to the King to whom she with her children presented her self in a most deplorable State able to soften obdurate rocks Alas Sir said she if you once more deign to behold from the throne of your glorie the dust of the earth cast your eyes upon a poor afflicted creature which is but the shadow of what she hath been I no longer am Rusticiana who saw palms and honours grow in her house as flowers in medows Disaster having taken him from me by whom I subsisted hath left me nothing but the image of my former fortune the sorrows of the passed the grief of the present and horrour of the time to come I would swear upon Altars that my husband hath never failed in the dutie which he oweth to your Majestie but calumnie hath depainted his innocency unto you with a coal to inflame you with choler against a man who ever held your interests as dear unto him as his own I know what he hath so many times said to me thereof and how he hath bred his children whom your Majestie now beholdeth at your feet If we no longer shall take benefit of justice Sir I implore your mercie Look on a woman worthie of compassion tossed in the storm and who beholdeth in the haven the Olives of peace which you always have desired to equal with your laurels Suffer me I may embrace them The world already hath cause enough to dread your power give us cause to love it proportionably to your bountie Alas Sir on whom will you bestow it Fire which consumeth all burneth not ashes and behold us here covered with ashes before your eyes what more desire you of us A miserable creature is a sacred thing the God of the afflicted taketh it into his protection and will no more have it touched than his Altars If my unhappiness have set me in that rank and my sex made me a just object of your pitie Sir render that to me which I in this world do hold most precious and think not we ever will retain any resentment of what is past when we shall see our selves re-established in our former fortune It is in you to command and for us to obey your ordinances and even to kiss the thunder-bolt that striketh us It is to much purpose to present musick to the ears of Tygers it hath no other effect but to enrage them the more The cruel Tyrant presently commanded the Ladie to withdraw adding he would do her justice And they ceasing not still to multiply suspitions with him upon this pretended conspiracy as if Boetius had now been presently with sword in hand with the Emperour Justine at the gates of Rome or Ravenna he fell into such fear gall and choller that without any other formal proceeding of justice he dispatched the afore-mentioned Commissary with a Tribune to put him to death whose life was so precious to the Roman Empire Boetius who had a long time been prepared both by prayers and
the Sacraments of the Church for this last hour knowing the cause wherefore they came beheld them with a confident countenance and said Perform your Commission boldly It is long since I knew that death alone must open the gates of this prison for me And having spoken this he contained himself some while in a deep silence recommending to God this last act of his life and consigning to him his soul which during this imprisonment he had so often whitened with his tears and purified as in a precious limbeck of eternal charities wherein all great souls are deified This done he went forward with a settled pace to the place of execution which the King would have very secret not to excite the people where seeing himself Behold here saith he the Theater which I have long desired I protest before the face of the living God and his holy Saints that I have ever had most sincere intentions for the good of the State nor am I culpable of any of these crimes objected against me If my innocencie be now opprest there shall come a better posteritie which shall draw aside the curtain and entertain the rays of truth O Rome O Rome would to God thou mightest â—e purified by my bloud and I to be the last victim sacrificed for publick safetie I will not now accuse him who condemned me desiring God rather may open his eyes to see the justice of my cause and the plots practised upon his own soul Behold the recompence I gain for becoming hoarie in his service but God is the faithful witness of all my actions and in his bosom is it now where I lay down my life my bodie my soul and all my interests There was but one poor gentle-man waiter that accompanied him in this passage who as he poured out tears near unto him Boetius earnestly beholding him said Where is your resolution leave these tears for the miserable and tell my father-in-law my wife and children that I have done nothing here unworthie of their honour and that they act nothing unworthie of me by bewailing me with plaints which would be little honourable for the condition of my death but that they rather take this accident as a gift from Heaven They well know I have ever told them it is not here where we should expect repose but in the place where I hope to prepare them a room These words spoken they proceeded to execution by the barbarous commandment given by Theodorick I have read in a very ancient manuscript from whence I have drawn some particulars couched therein that a cruel torture was inflicted on this holy man long time streyning a coard about his fore-head in such sort that his eyes started out of his head and that in the end they knocked him down with a leaver which I cannot think to be probable seeing all other constantly affirm his head was cut off by the hand of a hangman and Martianus who most eloquently wrote his life addeth that by miracle he some space of time held his head in his own hands like another S. Denys until he gave up the ghost before the Altar of a Chappel very near to the place of his execution His bodie was interred in the Church of Saint Augustine to whom he had a particular devotion and his name put among the Martyrs as Baronius observeth because he died partly for the defence of the Catholick Church against the Arians The place of his imprisonment hath been preserved as a great monument of piety his tomb honoured with verses such as that time could afford where among other things this title is given him BOETIUS IN COELO MAGNUS ET OMNI PERSPECTUS MUNDO The King stayed not a whit after this to put Symmachus his father-in-law to death and to confiscate all the goods both of the one and other which was a very lamentable thing yet notwithstanding the couragious Rusticiana bare the death of her father and husband with so great constancy that she deserved to draw all succeeding Ages into admiration for she spake most freely to the King reproching him with his disloyalty and honoured these two eminent souls as Saints much offended with her self if at any time nature won tears from her eyes as judging them too base to be sacrificed to so flourishing a memory The vengeance of God slackened not long to fall Procop. lib. 4. upon the guiltie head of Theodorick for few days after this act as he continually lived in the representations of his crime his imagination was so troubled that being at the table when they came to serve up the great head of a fish he figured to himself it was the head of Symmachus the last of all butchered and although much endeavour was used to remove this fantasie from him it was impossible to give remedy but he rose from the table like a man affrighted crying out murder and felt instantly such a quaking over all his body and besides such convulsions in all his members that he must needs presently be carried to his bed where he was visited by his Phisitian to whom he complained with much horrour that he had shed bloud which would perpetually bleed against him The feaver and frenzie carried him hence into the other world where he had a marvellous account to make of whom we know no more particulars yet Saint Gregorie witnesseth that he learned from the mouth of a man Greg. l. 4. 30 worthy of credit that the same day he died at Rome certain honourable persons being at Lipari a little Island of Sicilie in the Cell of an Hermit who lived in the reputation of great sanctitie he said unto them Know ye that King Theodorick is no more They replying Nay not so we left him alive and in health Notwithstanding saith he I can well assure you he died to day in Rome and which is more is judged condemned and thrown into the store-houses of subterranean fire which we here call the Cauldron of Vulcan And it was a Olla Vulcani strange thing that they being returned to Rome understood the death of this wretched King to have been at that very time told by the Hermit which was held for a most manifest judgement of God and made all those to tremble who heard the relation thereof Athalaricus his grand-child by his daughter although an infant succeeded to his estates under the regency of his mother Amalazunta who restored all the goods had been confiseated to the widow that lived afterward until Justinian got the Empire from the Goths by the means of Bellasartus at which time she made all the images and statues of Theodorick to be broken causing also another process to be framed against him after his death Alas great God who governest the state of this Universe and makest the pillars of Heaven to shake under thy foot-steps what is man who will practise wiles in a matter of policie contrary to thy eternal Maxims How hath this wretch ended
received with infinite devotion From thence forward she for some time onely lived on extasies of her soul turning that little breath which remained on her lips to the praises of God and in the end rendered up her happy Ghost the third day of June on the first hour of the night pronouncing in the instant of death these words Ad te Domine levavi animam meam Deus meus in te confido non erubescam The History telleth that the chamber where she died at the instant when her soul departed out of her body appeared very lightsom and that her sacred members yielded forth a most sweet savour which left to all there present a great estimation of her sanctity Her body was enterred as she desired at the feet of S. Gevovefue for she was so humble that she accounted her self most happy to submit her diadem to the ashes of a poor shepherdess Her memory hath been so honourable throughout all France that she is yet reverenced under the name of S. Clothe which is the vulgar word O woman truly worthy to bear a Crown of stars gold silver and precious stones are too base for you If statues should be erected suitable to your desert Diamonds Emeraulds and Topases which have been employed on the pourtraicts of the Queens of Aegypt would be of too mean a value in respect of your praises Oh Queens oh Princesses nay oh Ladies and Gentle-women why do not you at the least in your houses that which she performed in an ample Kingdom What a glory What an Empire and what a triumph to issue from the house of a King of Burgundie as an innocent lamb a poor orphan married for despight and to enter into a Court full of idolatries which seemed then a forrest of ravenous beasts yet knew so well how to charm them with invincible spells of her piety as to convert a King warlike haughty a Pagan and in converting him to change the whole face of a great Monarchy All that which we retain of Religion piety and happiness under God we ow to this holy Queen O France France my dear Countrey how art thou bound to her memory to her name to her virtue and how much oughtest thou to preserve the precious treasure of faith which she hath so happily recommended unto thee by her example I speak not at all now of the particular favours thou hast received from Heaven I say nothing of thy flower-de-luces of thy holy Viol of thy Standard of thy cure of the Kings Evil and other such like I onely mention that which thou mayest boast before the face of all Nations nor ever shalt thou loose the glory which S. Gregorie the Great an incomparable Greg. ep 6. l. 5. quae est 106. man who flourished above a thousand years since gave thee in his books when he called thee the lamp of the whole world and saith thy Monarchs as much surpassed all other sovereign Princes as Kings transcend the people I pronounce that which thou mayest publish as Baron tom 10. anno Christi 960. Constant Octavi 49. a priviledge very extraordinary that Constantine the Great made heretofore a decree which was afterward engraven upon the Altar of S. Sophia in the prime Church of Constantinople by which he expresly forbade all his posterity to make any alliances or marriages with forreigners wheresoever under Heaven except the French Nation as if this Religious Monarch had foreseen that they were the Kings of France who should second him in the zeal he bare to the support of the Church See and consider the favours God hath done thee herein Behold thy neighbours behold the powers and sovereignties of the earth behold the Empires and Kingdoms where is it that one alone may be found from the memory of men which hath received Catholick Religion with more favour which hath defended it with more courage which hath preserved it with more constancy Behold the Roman Empire and thou shalt see presently after Constantine his sons to be Hereticks and his son-in-law an Apostata Behold Italie and thou shalt see it sheltered under the protection of thy Kings Behold Spain and thou shalt see it over-run with Goths Vandals and Sarazens and the Scepter in the hands of Arian Kings Behold England and thou shalt see that it did not seriously receive the faith till six hundred years were fully expired after the publication of the Gospel Poland accounteth but six hundred and two and fifty years since it was Christian Muscovia six hundred and two and twenty Thou O France alone art it to whom Jesus Christ being in the agony of his dolorous passion when he recommended his mother to S. John and his soul to his father designed and miraculously deputed a Pastour to wit the glorious S. Denys who received the first rays of the knowledge of God in this eclipse which happened at the death of our Saviour to diffuse his divine lights afterward with his bloud upon the mountains where thy Virgins do as yet lead a life wholly Angelical O France wherefore hast thou enlightened all the parts of the world with thy conquests Wherefore thy Kings having communicated themselves with so much sweetness and facility have they augmented their Majesty by familiarity with the people which usually dissolveth it Why have they appeared as Amathists which shine so much the more as they are often worn Why hast thou been a Seminary of all great spirits Why hast thou in all times held predominance in learning and sciences like unto the Altar of the Sun from whence light is borrowed to illuminate all other lamps Why dost thou astonish all histories with the continuance of thy Monarchy to which there is none to be found comparable in the world Why hath God so many times enriched thee by thy losses enobled thee by thy disasters raised thee by thy ruins and precipices Fecitque cadendo Ne caderes Is it not for having preserved this precious jewel of Clotilda this faith this Religion which he hath consigned to thy Kings and to thy people Oh blind if thou knowest it not Oh insensible if thou neglectest it Oh unfortunate if thou loosest it Go yet and see the ashes of this good Princess which are in thy capital Citie ashes worthy to be kissed of Queens honoured by Kings and reverenced by all people So long as there shall be Sacrifices and Altars Angels and men the name of holy Clotilda shall live and spread it self with a sweet odour through all the Provinces of Christendom and my pen which taketh its flight much further than my design intended shall be the messenger of her greatness with so much the more fidelity as it hath confidence in her protection I will also to crown this work represent unto you a Lady issued of her bloud a grand-child of one of her sons who hath done in Spain that which this in France converting her husband to the faith and by consequence gained the Nation The tenth SECTION
away by the hand of a hang-man the life which he gave him Had his condition been capable of tears even Tygers themselves would have deplored him seeing so much piety such faith so much goodness such worth eclipsed in a bloud so precious in an Age so flourishing in a fortune so replenished with hope The news of his death hastened to find out Indegondis who was yet in Africa where she also received the last Letter which her husband wrote to her out of prison The servants that were about her person began to make hydeous lamentations as if they themselves had been condemned to death But the couragious Indegondis kissing the letter of her dear husband then opening it with singular reverence and reading the last words which he as it were had steeped in his bloud she cried out Alas Generous and faithfull heart you have done all that which a good man might you have manfully fought you are happily arrived at the Crown Nothing can be desired in you but the imitation of your constancy Servants Why do you weep This is the very day wherein I am a Queen and when I esteem my self the most triumphant woman in the world having my husband a Martyr in Heaven Give me roses and flower-de-luces that I may crown his Image and honour at the least with these testimonies a soul which hath left unto us such sweet odours of virtue She had with her her little Hermingildus almost dead with the wearisomness of travel on the way which indeed had been somewhat easie for the tenderness of his age The mother beholding him Go my son saith she follow your good father God hath given you a favour in your cradle that he doth not to all children which is to be banished for the faith and to take part in the Martyrdom of him who begot you Go little innocent and rejoyce with others before the Altar of the Lamb your mother shall not long stay behind you The child died shortly after and the good Princess Others say he was sent prisoner to the Emperour Mauritius but without ground having for a long time combatted in a brave manner against the apprehensions of nature poured forth on a sudden thick sobs and a main tyde of tears which distilled from her eyes against her will whereupon she mildly said Alas my tears what fitness can you find to bemoan a Martyr My God it is done the father and the son are alreadie at rest there remaineth nothing but to take the mother Behold two parts of the world Europe and Africk which I have filled with my miseries If you will that I yet pass into Asia your will be done But if I no longer be ought but an unprofitable burden to the earth what do I here I have spun out all the web which you gave me I have ended all the hopes of the world why stay you O my God to receive my soul which I bear on my lips She was heard For in few days being all wasted with love travel and desires after an exemplar death she found her tomb in Africk What shall I say here and what shall I do to shut up this discourse We have all certain natural softnesses in the bottom of our souls and some humane apprehensions which alter the force of our judgement My pen cannot almost pass over this history and not commix the waters of mine eyes with mine ink and perhaps also you my Reader cannot peruse it without compassion It seemeth unto you these chaste loves of Hermingildus and Indegondis are too unhappy that such virtues are cruelly handled that such noble courages have met with a fortune sinister hydeous and persecutive even to the tomb You would gladly see these brave spirits after so many tempests such thunder-claps and whirle-winds arrive at a Port of some large temporal felicity You would behold them with Crowns on their heads with Scepters in their hands with Provinces flourishing in revenues with prosperities perpetually smiling in their house with loves free from disturbance desires void oâ— denials affairs without trouble greatness without change pleasures without acerbities and a long posterity fully laden with honours It grieves you that this poor Prince hath passed away as a pearl parched up with lightening in its growth or as an eagle strangled in the shell You bewail this Princess that being born in France she died in Africk separated by the sword from a husband who loved her so tenderly deprived of a son who gave so many good hopes abandoned by all her allies but some poor waiting-women that buried her with sorrow so full of pitie that it was of power to move the monsters of Africk to commiseration Ah ignorant that we are of the works of God perpetually fixed to the earth and deprived of those sparkles of fire and light which burn under the most generous breasts Let us a little draw aside the curtain and see through so many clouds one sole ray of the Sanctuary What injury hath the Divine Providence done to Prince Hermingildus if for a Crown which is the weather-cock of winds if for a Scepter which is the reed of the times if for a life which is the harbinger of death it afford him virtues delights and glories which out-strip the flight of our thoughts which drie up our mouthes which out-run our desires which surmount all our imaginations What injury if it make a Saint of him whose name is couched in Martyrologes whose memory liveth in writing whose praise flourisheth in mouthes whose words are nought but honour and works but blessings whilest his step-mother Goizintha dies like a dog and is buried in the opprobrie of her name What injury if it have so handled the matter that his father touched with a lively repentance hath justified him as an innocent deplored him as a son invoked as a Martyr If it hath sanctified his setters consecrated the tower of his prison raised up his ashes above all the Crowns of the Kings of Spain If it hath given him Altars on earth and a Diadem of beatitudes in Heaven Is it to have despised his virtue neglected his sufferings disobliged his constancy and frustrated his travels What would you have God to have made the virtuous Indegondis A Queen delicate ambitious covetuous haughty which had not spit but in gold walked but on roses flown over the heads of men and putrified in delights How many such like are there who have defiled their names with reproach wearied the earth with their importunities astonished posterity with their deportments and peopled hell with their crimes But this Ladie having been purified with the burning coals of tribulation issued from the hands of God as a vessel of glory to make her lustre resplendent in the sight of all Ages Ah Ladies who read this piece and who many times flatter your selves with the title of virtue in some petty tracks of devotion which have nothing but outward semblance what example of piety see you here What
can any longer be a husband That she married him to live and to give life to others by love not to cut her own throat and her childrens through wickedness That a man who renounceth honour can no more pretend to nature To conclude that it is wealth which maketh men and that it was no dishonour to marrie a servant who is the favourite of a mightie King We came not into the world to be masters of fortune but to yield to its Empire What content can there be to walk up and down Towns and Cities like a beggers following a husband the object of the worlds laughter and reserve all is left of his miserable bodie to swords and flames So much were her ears beaten with such like discourses She yieldoth that through a most unspeakable cowardice she forsook her religion and husband to marry this servant who seemed noble enough since he had the golden fleece The King seeing she had yielded added for full accomplishment of inhumanity that Suenes should remain in his own house as a slave to his wise and servant Behold here the extremity of all worldly miseries Yield thy self up said one poor Suenes Admirable constancie sâ—est thou not that of so many palaces and such treasures there is not left for thee so much as a house covered with stubble of so many children none to call thee father Is it not time to forsake thy faith since she who slept by thy sides hath left thee Wert thou amongst the chains of Lestrigons and Tartars thou mightst breath a more wholesom air But to behold thy self a slave to thy servant in thine own house and to have perpetually before thee the infidelity of a disloyal wife for object how is it possible but to overthrow the most stable constancie in the world But Suenes assembling together all the forces of his heart said O faithless and perfidious discourses All is taken from me but they cannot take away Jesus Christ I follow him in libertie and bondage in prosperitie and adversitie in life and death whilest one small threed of life remains in my heart one silly spark of breath upon my lips I will combat against the gates of hell and all the laws of impietie O the power of the spirit of God! O divorce from flesh and bloud O spectacle worthy to be beheld by angels over the gates of heaven with admiration A man to die in so many indignities such punishments such deaths without dying without complaint growing wan or speaking any one word unworthy the lips of a Christian What is it to be a puissant but to brave all the powers of earth and hell What is it to be rich but to place all your treasures in the heart of God II. MAXIM Of the Essence of GOD. THE PROPHANE COURT THE HOLY COURT That it is fit to obey Nature all other Divinitie being most unknown That nothing is so known as God although not acknowledged through our ingratitude ACynick Philospher heretofore sought for a man with a candle at noon-day and now adays the wicked seek God in a clear and full light and when they have found him become blind by their own lights in that they see not him who is not to be known but in the quality of a Judge punishing their offences Out alas what is man without God Tertullian speaking of the countrey about the Euxine Tertul. advers Marcion l. 1. cap. 1. Excellent description of Tertullian sea saith It is a Region separated from the commerce of men as well by the providence of Nature as the reproach of its bruitishness It is peopled by most savage Nations which inhabit if we may say so a wandering cart that serves them for house a habitation which though perpetually in motion is less inconstant than their manners Their abode is uncertain their life wholly savage their luxury promiscuous and indifferent for all sorts of objects They make no scruple to serve in the flesh of their parents in a feast with beeff and mutton and think the death of such cursed who die when they no longer are fit to be eaten Sex softeneth not women in this countrey for they sear off their dugs being young and make a distaff serve for a launce being otherwise so fervent in battel that they had much rather fight than marry The Climate and elements are as rigid as their manners The day is never bright the sun never smileth nor is the skie any thing but a continued cloud The whole year is a winter and the wind ever North. Ice robs them of rivers and if they have liquor the fire affords it The mountains are still covered with ice and snow All is cold in this countrey but vice which ever burneth Yet I must tell you saith he there is not any thing amongst these wonders more prodigious than wicked Marcion For where shall we find a monster more odious or a man in nature more senseless than him who did not acknowledge the Divinitie and will have the causes and sublime reasons given him of the Essence of God which never were nor shall be for then there would be somewhat above God The Emperour Tiberius having conceived some Humano arbitratu divinitâ—s pensitatur nisi homini Deus placuerit Deus non erit Tertul. Apol. c. 5. Nec quicquam refert Deum neges an asseras Arno. l. 1. good opinion of Divinitie in the Person of our Saviour was willing to rank him in the number of other gods but it was not executed because it must pass by decree of the Senate and God who is all that which he is by nature regarded not the judgement of men to authorize his Divinitie You were as good deny God saith Arnobius as to make the truth of his Essence depend upon the weakness of humane reason 1. I ask of you whether there be any thing in the world more present with us and more familiarly known than our self our substance our life our being It seemeth say you it is the most certain of our knowledges Now if I shew the science we have of God is better known to us than our selves God is far stronger more undoubted and invincible than the knowledge we have of our self I necessarily convince the ignorance of the Divinitie is stupid ungratefull and punishable with all the rigours of eternal justice I pray tell me what so certain knowledge can you have of your self Have you it by the knowledge of History which is a reasonable knowledge by revelation which is extraordinary by prophesie which is mysterious by faith which is infallible I do not see you alledge any of these for confirmation of your own being You have no proofs say you more certain than your senses which you know notwithstanding to be bruitish deceivers and deceived in so many objects You hear your self speak you smell your self you touch your self and for that you affirm you are although you have not any knowledge of the better part of
August serm 19. de verbis Apost Inhonestos amatores â—stendite Siquis amore foeminae lasciviens vestis se aliter quà m amatae placet illi dixerit nalo te habere tale birrhum non habebit si per hyemem illi dicet in lacinia te amo eliget tremere quà m displicere Numquid illa tamen damnatura est Numquid adhibitura tortores Nunquid in carcerem missura Hoc solum ibi timetur non te videbo faciem meam non videbis of our love towards God pertinently maketh use of the practise of prophane loves Behold saith he these foolish and dishonest Amourists of the world I demand whether any one surprized with the love of a woman attyreth himself any otherwise than to the liking of his Mistress If she say I would not have you wear such a cloke he puls it off I command you in the midst of winter to take a sommer garment he had rather shiver with cold than displease a miserable creature But yet what will she do if he obey not Will she condemn him to death Will she send him executioners Will she thrust him into a dungeon Nothing less she will onely say if you do not this I will never see you more This word alone is able to make a man tear himself in pieces in the endeavour of complacence and service O foul confusion of our life and prostitution of spirit A God who makes a Paradise of his aspects and a hell in his separation from us promiseth never to behold us with a good eye unless we keep his commandements nor can his menaces but be most effectual since he hath sovereign authority in his hands He deserves to be served above all things service done to him is not onely most pleasing but after this life gaineth recompence In the mean time we rather choose to live the slaves of creatures and dwell under the tyranny of our passions than to embrace the yoke of God Were it not fit we hereafter order the small service we do to God as well in our prayers as actions in such sort that there be neither work word nor thought from morning till night which hath not all its accommodations and is not squared within the rule God desireth of us with intentions most purified and indefatigable fervours Finally the last character of love is to suffer for 3. To suffer Satiabor cum apparuit gloria tua Psal 16. Satiabor cum affâ—ictuâ— fuero ad similitudinem tuam Jesus the father of sufferings and King of the afflicted The Kingly Prophet said I shall be satisfied when thy glory shall appear to me Another translation importeth I shall be well pleased when I shall behold my self marked with the characters of thy sufferings Jesus Christ in the great sacrifice of patience made in the beginning of Ages supplyes the person of a great Bishop putting on flesh wholly imprinted with dolours a heart drenched in acerbities a tongue steeped in gall Round about him are all the most elevated and couragious souls who all wear his livery and both constantly and gloriously dispose themselves to this great model of dolours Would we at the sight of so many brave Champions lead a life lazy languishing and corrupt Know we not all creatures of the world groan and bring forth that all elements are in travel and in a ceaseless agitation The air it self say Philosophers is perpetually strucken with the motion of heaven as with a hammer or whip that this benummed mass may not hatch any poyson Rivers are cleansed and purified by the streaming current of their waters The earth is never in repose and the nature of great things is generously to suffer evils The clock goeth on by the help of its counterpoise and Christian life never proceedeth in virtue but by counter-ballance of its crosses Our souls are engaged by Oath to this warfare Animas nostrâ—s authorati in has pugnas accessimus Tertul. ad Scap. so soon as first we enter into Christianity said the noble Tertullian Suffering is our trade our vow our profession Love which cannot suffer is not love and if it cease to love when it should bear it never was what it professed A lover said in Olympius that when he was onely Olympius Te sine vâ— misero mihi lilis nigra videntur Pallentesque rosae c. some little moment absented from the creature he most loved in the world all the best seasons were irkesome all discourses troublesome and the greatest delights turned into bitterness Flower de-luces seemed cole-black in the meadow when he beheld them in his pensive solitude roses the most vermillion grew pale gilli-flowers lost their lustre the very bay-trees which resist winters cold could not withstand the sadness caused by this absence but in a moment they all appeared quite withered to him Viands with him had no rellish wine tast nor sleep repose But so soon as this creature returned all was animated by her presence Flower-deluces became white again roses resumed their vermillion gilli-flowers their beauty lawrels their verdure wine and viands their tastfulness and sleep its contentment But if there happened any harsh and painful accidents which he must bear for her sake they seemed a Paradise All worldly loves speak the same yet are we unwilling to say or do any thing for this excellent Word of God which is endowed with a beauty incomparable exalted above all the beauties of the sons of men This Jesus who maketh a Paradise spring from his eyes This Jesus who distilleth honey from lips of roses for the comfort of his elect This Jesus who causeth Nations to tremble under the force of his word as under flaming arrows and is attired with the conquest and tropheys of souls Behold him on the bright empyreal Heaven crowned with a diadem of honour and revested with celestial purple who regardeth us who beholdeth us and never ceaseth to draw us unto him So many brave spirits have followed him amongst torrents thorns and flames which they found replenished with a sweetness that charmed their pain in the sight of their best beloved It is this sweetness turned the stones of S. Stephen into flower-de-luces and changed the burning coles of S. Lawrence into roses For it S. Bartholomew despoiled himself of his skin as freely as of a garment and S. Catharine hastened to the wheel armed with keen rasors S. Tecla to Lyons S. Agnes to the wood-pile S. Cicely to the sharp sword and S. Appollonia suffered her teeth to be torn out with as much ease as the tree suffers his leaves to fall away from him O the sweetness of Jesus who makes all the valiant and knoweth how to turn doves into eagles of fire Shall we never understand what it is to love him towards whom all generous hearts sigh and for whom all charities are crowned with immortal garlands The eighth EXAMPLE upon the eighth MAXIM Of the admirable change of worldly love Drawn from the Ecclesiastical history
bodies of his servants and Nilus overflowing with the bloud of his French himself surprized and taken by his enemies and led into the Sultan's Tent among clamours out-cries infernal countenāces of Sarazens and all the images of death able to overwhelm a soul of the strongest temper notwithstanding though his heart were steeped as a sponge in a sea of dolours and compassion ever making use of reason he entered into the Barbarians pavillion not at all changing colour and as if he had returned from his walk in the garden of his palace he asked his pages for his book of prayers and taking it disposed himself to pay the usual tribute of his oraisons in a profound tranquility of mind which I conceive to be very rare since there needeth oftentimes but the loss of a trifle to stay devotion which is not yet arrived to the point of solidity But if you therein seek for a perfect humility consider what passed in the Councel of Lyons and see how he laboured to depose the Emperour Frederick the second who was ruined in reputation in the opinion of almost all the world Other Princes who have not always their hands so innocent but that they readily invade the goods of others when some religious pretext is offered them would have been very ambitious to be enstalled in his place whom they meant to despoil but the universal consent of great men judged this throne could not be worthily supplied but by this great King yet he notwithstanding declined it as a wise Pilot would a rock and thought better to choose the extremity of all evils of the world among Sarazens than to mount to the Empire by such ways But that which is most considerable in the matter we handle may be observed in his valour never weakened by his great devotion for he was one of the most couragious Princes in a cold temperature with reason that was then under Heaven It was courage which taking him from the sweet tranquility of a life wholly religious caused him to leave a Kingdom replenished with peace contentment and delights to go to a land of Sarazens live in all incommodities imaginable to nature It was courage which caused him so many times to expose his royal and valiant person not onely to the toyls of a desperate voyage but to the strokes also of most hazardous battels witness when at his arrival in Aegypt the coast being all beset with Sarazens very resolute to hinder the passage of his ship he threw himself first of all from the ship into the water where he was plunged up to the shoulders with his target about his neck and sword in hand as a true spectacle of magnanimity to all his Army which encouraged by the example came to the land as the King had commanded The greatness of the sun is measured by a small shadow on the earth and there many times needeth but very few words to illustrate a great virtue So many excellent pens have written upon his brave acts and made them so well known to all the world that it were to bring light into day to go about to mention them If some say He is to be a pattern for Kings and Divers Ladies excellent in piety Lords Ladies who should manure devotion as an inheritance for their sex shall never want great lights and worthy instructions if they will consider those who being more near to our Age should make the more impression upon their manners If we speak of the endeavour of prayer look upon See the reverend Father Hilarion of Costa Barbe Zopoly Queen of Polonia who continuing days and nights in prayer all covered over with fackcloth affixed good success to the standards of the King her husband and for him gained battels If account be made of the chastity of maidens and sequestration from worldly conversation reflect on Beatrix du Bois who being one of the most beautifull creatures of her time and seeing the innocent flames of her eyes too easily enkindled love in the hearts of those who had access to her put her self upon so rough a pennance for others sin that she was fourty years without being seen or to have seen any man in the face If you speak of modesty let wanton Courtiers behold Antonietta de Bourbon wife of Claudius first Duke of Guize who after the death of her husband was clothed in serge and went continually amongst the poor with her waiting-women to teach them the practise of alms If charity be magnified toward persons necessitous cast your eye upon Anne of Austria Queen of Poland who accustoming to serve twelve poor people every munday the very same day she yielded her soul up to God when she had scarcely so much left as a little breath on her lips asked she might once more wait on the poor at dinner and that death might close her eyes when she opened her hands to charity If the instruction of children be much esteemed fix your thoughts upon Anne of Hungarie mother of eleven daughters and admire her in the midst of her little company as the old Hen-Nightingale giving tunes and proportions of the harmony of all virtues and so breeding these young creatures that they all prospered well with excellent and worthy parts If you delight in the government of a family which is one of the chiefest praises of married women take direction from Margaret Dutchess of Alencon who governed the whole family with so much wisdom that order which is the beauty of the world found there all its measures and that if the domestick servants of other Lords and Ladies are known by their liveries she caused hers to be known by their modestie If you desire austerities look with reverence on the hair-cloth and nails of Charlotte de Bourbon the Kings great Grand-mother and behold with admiration Frances de Batarnay who during a widow-hood of three-score years was twenty of them without ever coming into bed If you praise chast widows who can pass without an Elogie Elizabeth widow of Charls the ninth who in a flourishing youth being much courted by all the great Monarchs of the world answered That having been the widow of a Charls of France she had concluded all worldly magnificencies and that nothing more remained for her but to have Jesus Christ for a spouse And verily she spent the rest of her days in a conversation wholly Angelical amongst religious women whom she had founded If constancy in the death of kinred have place let the lesson be hearkened unto which Magdalen wife of Gaston de Foix gave who having seen the death of a husband whom she loved above all the world and afterward of an onely son remaining the total support of her house made her courage to be as much admired among the dead as her love was esteemed among the living And what stile would not be tired in so great a multitude of holy and solid devotions and who can but think the choise becometh hard by
shamefull they always carry along with them the confusion misery and ruin of those who embrace them Who diggeth a pit saith the Wise-man Qui sodit foveam incidet in eam qui voloit lapidem revolvetur â—d eum Prov. 26. 27. shall fall into it and the stone shall return back on his head who threw it The reputation of honesty is so necessary in the mannage of affairs that such as lost integrity of manners sought to retain the bark to cherish a renown amongst men swoln up with smoke and imposture A deceiver fears nothing so much as to be discovered and to lay open the face of designs which he closely worketh for the ruin of others Judge now how hard a matter it is to practise at this present in the world with such proceedings in an Age most vigilant and where little children are almost grown wise What a trouble is it to hide Troubles miseries of dissimulation your jugling in a Court where are so many Argus eyes who perpetually watch upon all actions If one be surprized before the act he must expect to be flouted even by foot-boys and used like one who cannot hit upon it to be wicked although this trade be very easie and who having sold his conscience to devils knows not how to evict payment unless he plead it in hell But if a man some one time come to the point of what he projected which he can hardly keep from breaking through the ears of others they who are deceived seldom wanting eloquence either in themselves or their own ashes were they dead to decrie treachery yet must he hereafter for one trick of craft loose reputation and credit two pillars of discretion All the world will avoid you as a rock or a monster what ever you do you have but one heart and one tongue to invent and tell lies but you shall raise a thousand against you by it For all those who know you practise this trade and that you make it your endeavour to deceive will bend all their sinews and strength to entrap you in the same snares you laid for other in such sort that you shall become a prey aimed at if it were possible by all the world Where have we ever seen a deceiver to prosper in Dreadfull events of deceivers all his enterprizes to the very end You may as well number the waves of the sea and leaves of trees as recount the lamentable and tragical events of all these common cheaters who never had the power to avoid God's vengeance The pernicious Machiavel who taught the art to deceive produceth the example of an infamous Prince whose impostures succeeded so ill that by mistaking he drank the poison prepared by himself for another in a banquet and ended his detestable life Is not this man abandoned by religion wit and reason to seek to perswade treachery with so weak examples If he will work this way let us oppose both against him and the like experience of passed Ages to set as it is said the Sun in full splendour before their eyes The eleventh EXAMPLE upon the eleventh MAXIM Of Craft VIce many times hath a shop near unto Virtue as said Origen and deceives Merchants under colour of selling good commodities Craft readily counterfeiteth wisdom and some there are also who make the wise to pass for subtile But there is so much difference between them as between glass and diamond Craft is a false prudence which maketh use of subtilities against right and justice but true wisdom though it be subtile is never crafty For it pretends nothing at all against equity and good conscience If you desire to know wary wisdom and to distinguish The wittie conceit of Theodora Zonaras in Theophilo it from craft look upon what the Emperess Theodora did one of the worthiest women of her Age. She was married to the Emperour Theophilus an Heretick and a capital enemy to the honour of Images which he forbade to be kept or esteemed upon pain of death Notwithstanding this pious Princess who maintained Religion in the Empire what she might and sweetened with much wisdom the wild humours of her husband spared not to have in private pictures and holy Images affording them singular veneration It happened one day that Dender the Emperour's fool who played this part at Court rather through natural blockishness than dissimulation came as he was roaming up and down into the Emperesse's chamber and found her reverencing those Images He failed not in dinner-while to give the Emperour notice of it at which time he used to entertain him with a thousand merriments saying aloud He found Manna so he called the Emperess with her babies and that she was suddenly surprized with it Theophilus presently doubted it was Images his wife honoured and at the rising from the Table he sought her out all foaming with anger and asked where those puppets were she adored in the presence of Dender Truly we must consess devout women have sometimes a marvellous dexterity to excuse a business for she suddenly hit upon a handsom evasion which freed her from the importunity of her husband For in stead of seeming troubled and overtaken she smiled very sweetly having therein an excellent grace Behold Sir saith she verily one of the prettiest knacks happened in your Court of a long time This fool Dender who still doth somewhat worthy his name came into my chamber as I stood before my looking-glass with my women and confusedly saw our faces represented in the glass he thought they were images so subtile wittied he is Is not this an excellent jest Then causing the fool to be taken by the arm they set him before the looking-glass saying How now Dender are not these thy habits The Emperour was so surprized with the wittie conceit of a discreet Princess that he believed she had reason and all the matter was instantly turned into laughter I term not this example a piece of craft but a prudence Stratagem of Chares Polyenus l. 2. as the stratagem of a Captain called Chares who enjoyning his souldiers some labour upon his fortifications and seeing they undertook it coldly because they feared to marre their garments which were handsome enough he presently commanded every one should uncloth and take the apparrel of his fellow That done and all the souldiers being perswaded their cassocks would not be spared by those who put them on they wrought in good earnest and very quickly performed the task imposed upon them This ought to be stiled with the name of wisdom rather than any other title But if we observe what passeth in the world we shall find there are two sorts of crafts Some are politick addresses and subtilities which proceed not fully to injustice but which notwithstanding aim at interest at reputation and glory by ways not sincere So there are men who resemble those houses which Baro. de astutiâ Craft of the world have goodly gates and most magnificent stair-cases
not if an enemy he hath done according to the world what he ought If he were wise he hath not done it without reason if simple he deserves compassion Who ever bit a dogg because he was bitten by a dogg Or who ever entered into a combat of kicking with a Mule If he did it in anger let us give him leisure to come to himself and he will correct himself without our trouble to give assistance If it be a superiour or man of eminent quality let us suffer that which God hath set over us if a person of base condition why by striving against him shall we make him our equal What pleasure hath a woman whose hands are so delicate to seek to foul them with crushing flies and catterpillars Let us reflect on the carriage of humane things we are all faulty and live among errours There is no wise man whom some indiscretions escape not We shall never live content if we learn not to excuse in another what our selves are Are we not ashamed to exercise in a life so short eternal enmities Be hold death comes to separate us although we forcibly hold one another by the throat let us give a little truce to our reason light to our understanding and rest to our ashes JESUS in his last words recommended forgiveness to us moistned with his tears and bloud Go we about to tear his Testament that we afterward may pull his Images in pieces The bloud of Just Abel still bubleth on the earth and is unrevenged shall we then seek to revenge it O my God we utterly renounce it with all our hearts and are ready to seal peace with our bloud that by thy bloud thou maist sign our mercy The twelfth EXAMPLE upon the twelfth MAXIM Of Reconciliation CONSTANTIA THere is nothing more certain than that he who seeks revenge shall find the God of revenge It followeth those who pursue it and when they think to exercise it on others they feel it falling on their own heads It is onely proper to base and infamous spirits to endeavour to glut themselves with bloud and to delight in the miseries of mortals but souls the most noble are ever beautified with the rays of clemency Theophilus one of the most bloudy Emperours that Zonar Theophilus a bloudy Emperour ever ware the diadem an enemy both of heaven and earth of Saints and men as he had lived on gall would end in bloud He felt his soul on his lips flying from him and saw death near at hand which he could not escape It was time he should now yield up life to others when it appeared he could no more take it from them But this wicked man holding at that time Thephobus one of his prime Captaines imprisoned in his own Palace upon certain jealousies conceiv'd he was too able a man and well worthy of Empire commanded a little before his death to have his head cut off and causing it to be brought to his bed side he took it by the hair held it a long time in his hands so much was he pleased with this massacre then seriously beholding it he cried out It is true I shall no langer be Theophilus nor art thou any more Theophobus And many times repeating these words he yielded up his damned ghost like a ravenous wolf which passed from bloud to infernal flames although certain revelations spake of his deliverance Behold how having taken in his youth evil habits of cruelty and revenge he persevered in them to his death being besides most unfortunate and infamous in all his enterprises But contrariwise it is observed all great-ones disposed to clemency have been very glorious and most happy before God and men I could here reherse very many yet pursuing our design I rest contented with relation of a notable pardon given by a Queen to a Prince on a Friday in memory of our Saviours Passion It cannot be said but so much the greater and more outragious injuries are so much the more difficult is their pardon especially when one hath full power of revenge in his hands Now the injury whereof we Conradinus speak was the death of poor Conradinus which well considered in all its circumstances rendereth this clemency whereof I intend to speak much more admirable Know then this Prince son of the Emperour Conradus went into Italy with a huge army to defend the inheritance of his Ancestours pretending it to be unjustly usurped by the wily practises of Charls of Anjou He stood at that time in the midst of his armies sparkling like a star full of fire courage when Pope Clement the fourth seeing him pass along with so much Nobility said Alas what goodly victims are led to the Altar His valour in the tenderness of his age was as yet more innocent than wary and he had to do with a Captain whom warlike experience had made more subtile in this profession Charls being ready to give him battel resolved it He gave battle to Charls of Anjou was best to weary out this young vigour to afford him the bait of some success in appearance the more easily to draw him into his snare He gave the leading of one part of his army to a Captain of his called Alardus commanding him to bear all the royal ensings as if he had been Charls of Anjou's person Conradinus thinking he had nothing to do but to conquer what he saw before his eyes for decision of the difference advanced his troups which falling like a tempest upon the enemies quickly dispatched Alardus who was slain in the battel as some histories record carrying from all this ostent of regallity a fatal glory into a tomb This young Mars supposing the war ended by the death of his Adversary presently proclaimed victory at which time Charls of Anjou who lay hidden in a trench with the activest troups as yet very fresh came suddenly upon him He did all that for his defence which a brave spirit might in an evil fortune But his army being cut in pieces he was enforced to save himself after the loss of twelve thousand dead in the place His calamity caused him to change the habit of a King into that of a horse-keeper for his greater security so much he feared to be known by those who would decide the dint of war by his bloud He embarked His taking with his cousin Frederick of Austria to pass unto Pisa committing himself in this disguised habit to a Pilot who much importuned him for his hire He had not then about him either bread or money so that he was constrained to pull off a ring and leave it in pledge to the Pilot to assure the debt He seeing these young men of a graceful garbe and considering this jewel was not a wealth suitable to their habit doubted some trick and gave notice to the Governour a crafty man who complying with the times laid hold of the Princes and put them into the hands of the Conquerour
Charls of Anjou much fearing this young Lion forgat His sentence and death all generosity to serve his own turn and did a most base act detested by all understandings that have any humanity which is that having kept Conradinus a whole year in a straight prison he assembled certain wicked Lawyers to decide the cause of one of the noblest spirits at that time under heaven who to second the passion of their Master rendered the laws criminal and served themselves with written right to kill a Prince contrary to the law of nature judging him worthy of death in that said they he disturbed the peace of the Church and aspired to Empire A scaffold was prepared in a publick place all hanged with red where Conradinus is brought with other Lords A Protonotary clothed after the ancient fashion mounteth into a chair set there for the purpose and aloud pronounceth the wicked sentence After which Conradinus raising himself casting an eye ful of fervour and flames on the Judge said Base and cruel slave as thou art to open thy mouth to condemn thy Sovereign It was a lamentable thing to see this great Prince on a scaffold in so tender years wise as an Apollo beautiful as an Amazon and valiant as an Achilles to leave his head under the sword of an Executioner in the place where he hoped to crown it â—e called heaven earth to bear witness of Charls his cruelty who unseen beheld this goodly spectacle froÌ„ an high turret He complained that his goods being taken from him they robbed him of his life as a thief that the blossom of his age was cut off by the hand of a hang-man taking away his head to bereave him of the Crown lastly throwing down his glove demanded an account of this inhumanity Then seeing his Cousin Frederick's head to fall before him he took it kissed it and laid it to his bosom asking pardon of it as if he had been the cause of his disaster in having been the companion of his valour This great heart wanting tears to deplore it self wept over a friend and finishing his sorrows with his life stretched out his neck to the Minister of justice Behold how Charls who had been treated with all humanity in the prisons of Sarazens used a Christian Prince so true it proves that ambition seemeth to blot out the character of Christianity to put in the place of it some thing worse than the Turbant This death lamented through all the world yea which maketh Theaters still mourn sensibly struck the heart of Queen Constantia his Aunt wife of Peter of Arragon She bewailed the poor Prince with tears which could never be dried up as one whom she dearly loved and then again representing to her self so many virtues and delights drowned in such generous bloud and so unworthily shed her heart dissolved into sorrow But as she was drenched in tears so her husband thundred in arms to revenge his death He rigged out a fleet of ships the charge whereof he Collenutius histor Neapol l. 5. c. 4. 5. recommended to Roger de Loria to assail Charls the second Prince of Salerno the onely son of Charls of Anjou who commanded in the absence of his father The admiral of the Arragonian failed not to encounter The son of Charls of Anjou taken him and sought so furiously with him that having sunck many of his ships he took him prisoner and brought him into Sicily where Queen Constantia was expecting the event of this battle She failed not to cause the heads of many Gentlemen to be cut off in revenge of Conradinus so to moisten his ashes with the bloud of his enemies Charls the Kings onely son was set apart with nine principal Lords of the Army and left to the discretion of Constantia Her wound was still all bloudy and the greatest of the Kingdom counselled her speedily to put to death the son of her capital enemy yea the people mutined for this execution which was the cause the Queen having taken order for his arraignment and he thereupon condemned to death she on a Friday morning sent him word it was now time to dispose himself for his last hour The Prince nephew to S. Lewis and who had some sense of his uncles piety very couragiously received these tidings saying That besides other courtesies he had received from the Queen in prison she did him a singular favour to appoint the day of his death on a Friday and that it was good reason he should die culpable on the day whereon Christ died innocent This speech was related to Queen Constantia who was therewith much moved and having some space bethought her self she replyed Tell Prince Charls if he take contentment to suffer An excellent passage of clemency death on a Friday I will likewise find out mine own satisfaction to forgive him on the same day that Jesus signed the pardon of his Executioners with his proper bloud God forbid I shed the bloud of a man on the day my Master poured out his for me Although time surprize me in the dolour of my wounds I will not rest upon the bitterness of revenge I freely pardon him and it shall not be my fault that he is not at this instant in full liberty This magnanimous heart caused the execution to be staied yet fearing if she left him to himself the people might tear him in pieces she sent him to the King her husband entreating by all which was most pretious unto him to save his life and send him back to his Father Peter of Arragon who sought his own accommodation in so good a prize freed him from danger of death yet enlarged him not suddenly For his deliverance must come from a hand wholly celestial Sylvester Pruere writes that lying long imprisoned in the City of Barcellon the day of S. Mary Magdalen aproaching who was his great Patroness he disposed himself to a singular devotion fasting confessing his sins communicating begging of her with tears to deliver him from this captivity Heaven was not deaf to his prayers Behold on the day of the feast he perceived a Lady full of Majesty who commanded him to follow her at which words he felt as it were a diffusion of extraordinary joy spread over his heart He followed her step by step as a man rapt and seeing all the gates flie open before her without resistance and finding himself so cheerful that his body seemed to have put on the nature of a spirit he well perceived heaven wrought wonders for him The Lady looking on him after she had gone some part of the way asked him where he thought he was to which he replied that he imagined himself to be yet in the Territory of Barcellon Charls you are deceived said she you are in the County of Provence a league from Narbon and thereupon she vanished Charls not at all doubting the miracle nor the protection of S. Mary Magdalen prostrated himself on the earth adoring
I say O God how little is the world Is it for this we deceive we swear and make a divorce between God and us But admit we were not interessed in this action must we not rest on the law of God who maketh life and ordaineth death by the juridical power of his wisdom ever to be adored by our wills though little penetrable to understanding Will you I pronounce an excellent saying of Tertullian The world is the Vterus naturae An excellent coÌ„ceit drawn from the words of Tertullian belly of Nature and men are in it as children in the mothers womb the birth of men are the world 's child-bearings death its lying in and deliveries Would you not die to hinder the world from bringing forth and unburdening it self by the way the Sovereign Master hath appointed it We have seen Tyrants of all sorts some invented exquisite torments and tryals others forbade eating and drinking some to weep some caused children to be taken from the teat to strangle them and cut their throats as Pharaoh and Herod But never was there any amongst them who forbade women with child to be delivered The world hath for a long space been big with you and would not you have it to be delivered at the time God's counsels have ordained Were it a handsom thing think you to see an infant presently to have teeth and articulate speech and yet if it might be would stay in the mothers womb using no other reason but that there is warm being Judge now and take the even ballance if the world be the belly of nature if this good mother bare us the time Gods providence appointed if she now seek her deliverie that we may be born in the land of the living in a quite other climate another life another light are not we very simple to withstand it as little infants who crie when they issue out of bloud and ordure at the sight of day-light yet would not return thither from whence they came 4. Behold the Providence of God in that which Providence in the death of the vicious Boet. l. 4. de consol Cum supplicis carent inesâ— illis aliquid alteriuâ— mali ipsâ— impunitâ—s S. Eucher in paraenesi concerneth death in the generality of all men Let us see in this second point the like providence towards the wicked the vicious rich and proud Great-ones who spit against Heaven We must first establish a most undoubted maxim that there is nothing so unhappy as impunity of men abandoned to vice which is the cause the paternal providence of God arresteth them by the means of death dictating unto them an excellent lesson of their equality with other men Mortals circumvolve in life and death as Heaven on the pole artick and antartick from east to west the same day which lengtheneth our life in the morning shorteneth it in the evening and all Ages walk that way not any one being permitted to return back again Our fore-fathers passed on we pass and our posteritie follows us in the like course you may say they are waves of the sea where one wave drives another and in the end all come to break against a rock What a rock is death There are above five thousand years that it never ceaseth to crush the heads of so many mortals and yet we know it not I remember to this purpose a notable tradition of the Hebrews related by Masius upon Josuah to wit Masius in Josuah Notable action of Noah that Noah in the universal deluge which opened the flood-gates of Heaven to shake the columns of the world and bury the earth in waters in stead of gold silver and all sort of treasure carried the bones of Adam into the Ark and distributing them among his sons said Take children behold the most precious inheritance your father can leave you you shall share lands and seas as God shall appoint but suffer not your selves to be intangled in these vanities which are more brittle than glass more light than smoke and much swifter than the winds My children all glideth away here below and there is nothing which eternally subsisteth Time it self which made us devours and consumeth us Learn this lesson from these dumb Doctours the relicks of your grand-father which will serve you for a refuge in your adversities a bridle in your prosperities and a mirrour at all times Moreover I affirm death serves for a perfect lesson of justice to the wicked which they were never willing throughly to understand for it putteth into equality all that which hazard passion and iniquity had so ill divided into so many objects Birth maketh men equal since they receive nought else from their mothers womb but ignorance sin debility and nakedness but after they come out of the hands of the midwife some are put into purple and gold others into rags and russets some enter upon huge patrimonies where they stand in money up to the throat practise almost nothing else throughout their whole life but to get by rapine with one hand and profusely spend with the other Some live basely and miserably necessitous A brave spirit able to govern a large Common-wealth is set to cart by the condition of his poverty Another becomes a servant to a coxcomb who hath not the hundreth part of his capacity It is the great Comedie of the world played in sundry fashions for most secret reasons known to Divine Providence would you have it last to eternity See you not Comedians having played Kings and beggars on the stage return to their own habit unless they day and night desire to persist in the same sport And what disproportion is there if after every one have played his part in the world according to the measure of time prescribed him by Providence he resume his own habit I also adde it is a kind of happiness for the wicked to die quickly because it is unfit to act that long which is very ill done And since they so desperately use life it is expedient not being good it be short that shortness of time may render the malice of it less hurtfull If examples of their like who soon die make them apprehensive of the same way and how seasonably to prepare for death it is a singular blessing for them But if persisting in contempt they be punished it is God's goodness his justice be understood and that it commandeth even in hell 5. But if at this present you reflect on the death of the Just which you should desire I say God's Providence there brightly appeareth in three principal things which are cessation from travels and worldly miseries the sweet tranquility of departure and fruition of crowns and rewards promised First you must imagine what holy Job said That The sweetnes of the death of the just Iob 3. Qui expectant mortem quasi effodientes thesaurum Tert. de pallio Homo pellitus orbi quasi metallo datur this life is to the just as
a myne wherein poor slaves are made to labour that they may hit upon the veins of gold and silver And Tertullian had the like conceit when he said The first man was clothed with skins by the hand of God to teach him he entered into the world as a slave into a myne Now as these hirelings who cease not to turn up the earth with sweat on their brows tears in their eyes and sighs in their hearts no sooner have they met with the hoped vein but they rejoyce and embrace one another for the contentment they take to see their travels crowned with some good event So after such combates such rough temptations so many calumnies so many litigious wranglings such persecutions such vexations and toils which chosen souls have undergone in the thraldom of this body when the day comes wherein they by a Isaiah 38. In laetitia egrediemini in pace deducemini montes colles cantabunâ— coram vobis laudem Apoc. 21. Absterget Deus omnem laehrymam ab oculis eorum mors ultra non erit neque luctus neque clamor neque dolor erit ultra quia prima abierunt ecce nova faciâ— omnia most happy death meet the veins of the inexhaustible treasure whereof they are to take possession they conceive most inexplicable comfort Then is the time they hear these words of honey Go confidently faithfull souls go out of those bodies go out with alacritie go out in full peace and safetie the Eternal Mountains to wit the Heavens and all the goodly companie of Angels and most blessed spirits which inhabit them will receive you with hymns of triumph Go confidently on behold God who is readie to wipe away your tears with his own fingers There shall be no more death no more tears no more clamours no more sorrows behold a state wholly new what repose what cessation of arms what peace Do you not sometimes represent unto your self these poor Christians of whom it is spoken in the acts of S. Clement men of good place banished for Acta Clement the faith who laboured in the quarreys of Chersonesus with a most extream want of water and great inconveniencies when God willing to comfort their travels caused on the top of a mountain a lamb marvellously white to appear who struck with his foot and instantly made fountains of lively water to distil What comfort what refreshment for the drowthie Psal 35. Quoniam apud tefons vitae in lumine tuo videbimus lucem multitude But what is it in comparison when a brave and faithful Christian who hath passed this life in noble and glorious actions great toyls and patience beholds the Lamb of God Omnipotent which calleth him to the eternal sources of life What a spectacle to see S. Lewis die after he had twice with a huge army passed so many seas tempests monsters arms battels for the glory of his Master What a spectacle to see S. Paul the Hermit die after he had laboured an hundred years under the habit of Religion The second condition of this death is great tranquility for there is nothing at that time in all the world able to afflict or by acts unresigned to shake a soul firmly united to its God But what say you Just men if they be rich do they not bear in this last agonie some affection to their riches and possessions Nay so far is it otherwise that they with alacrity go out of all worldly wealth as a little bird from a silver cage to soar in the fields at the first breath of the spring-tide I pray tell me that I may pronounce before you an excellent conceit of S. Clement the Roman Clemens Rom. Recognit in the third of his Recognitions If a little chicken were shut up in an egg the shell whereof were guilded and set out with curious and delicate paintings and had reason and choice given it either to remain in this precious prison or enjoy day-light with all other living creatures under Heavens vault think you it would abide in a golden shell to the prejudice of its liberty And imagine with your self what are all the brave fortunes which have so much lustre in the world they are guilded shells no way comparable to the liberty of Gods children A good rich man dieth as Abraham who says in Origen My Dives fui sed pauperi extorris patria domus nescius ipse omnium fui domus patria sciens me non incubatorem sed dispensatorem divinae largitatis God if I have been wealthy it was for the poor I went out of my house to become a house for those who stood in need of it and am perswaded that thou hast made me a Steward of thy goods to distribute them and not to brood them as the hen her eggs But if the Just man die poor he is by so much the better pleased to forsake wretched lodgings of straw and morter to go into an eternal Palace But doth it not trouble him to leave a wife children and allies He leaves all that under the royal mantle of the eternal Providence and firmly believes that he who hath care of the flowers in the field birds bees and ants will not forsake reasonable creatures so they rest in their duty But if they must suffer in this world he will make of their tribulations ladders and footstools of their glory What shall we say of the body Doth not the soul ill to leave it The body is to the soul as the shadow of the earth in the eclipse of the Moon See you not how this bright star which illuminateth our nights seemeth to be unwillingly captived in the dark but sparkleth to get aloft and free it self from earthly impressions So the faithfull soul readily untwineth it 2 Cor. 5. Scimus quoniam si terrestris domus nostra hujus habitstionis dissolvatur quod aedificationem ex Deo habemus domum non manufactam sed aeternam in caelis Job 29. 18. In nidulo meo moriar sicut Phoenix multiplicabo dies self from the body well knowing it hath a much better house in the inheritance of God which is not a manufacture of men but a monument of the hands of the great Workman Represent unto your self Job on the dung-hill a great anatomy of bones covered with a bloudy skin a body which falleth in pieces and a soul on the lips ready to issue forth as a lessee from a ruinous dwelling Think you he is troubled to leave his body Nay rather he dieth as a Phenix on the mountain of the Sun in the odours of his heroick virtues But that which maketh this death more sweet and honourable than any thing is the hope of beatitude whereof I will speak in the nineteenth Maxim Note that worldlings die here some like unto swallows others as spiders the evil rich pass away as swallows who leave no memory of them but a nest of morter and straw for such are
all the fair riches of the earth The ambitious perish as spiders who present wretched threeds and some little flies in them such are also the snares pursuits and businesses of the world But the Just forsake us like the silk-worm For this little creature had it understanding would be well pleased issuing forth of her prison to become a butterflie to see the goodly halle of great men Churches and Altars to smile under her works What a contentment to the conscience of a just man in death to consider the Churches adorned Altars covered poor fed sins resisted virtues crowned like so many pieces of tapistry by the work of his hands Hath he not cause to say I entered into the list I valiantly 1 Tim. 4. Bonum certamen certavâ— cursum consummavi in reliquo reposita est mihi corona justitiae Exhortation to such nice people as fear death fought I have well ended my race there remains nothing more for me but to wear the Crown of Justice which God keeps for me as a pledge 6. I yet come again to thee worldly man who so much fearest this last hour Learn from this discourse to fortifie thy self against these vain apprehensions of death which have more disturbance for thee than the Sea surges Is it not a goodly thing to see thee tremble at thy enterance into so beaten a path wherein so many millions have passed along before thee and the most timorous of the earth have finished their course as well as the rest without any contradiction All that which seemeth most uneasie in this passage is much sweetened by two considerations the first whereof is That God made it so common that there is no living creature exempt and the other That to dispose us to a great death we every night find in our sleep a little death Wilt thou then still doubt to set thy foot-steps firmly in the paths which the worlds Saviour with his holy Mother imprinted with their tracks After thou hast slept so many years and so long passed through the pettie miseries of death shalt thou never come to the great Why art thou so apprehensive of death Sickness and miseries of the world will one day perhaps make thee desire that which thou now most fearest Were it not better to do by election what must be suffered by necessity Hast thou so little profited in the world that thou hast not yet some friend some one dearly beloved who passed into the other life Needs must thou have very little affection in store for him if thou fearest the day which should draw thee near to his company What is it maketh all these apprehensions arise in thy mind Is it so ill with thee to forsake a world so treacherous so miserable so corrupt If thou hast been therin perpetually happy which is very rare couragiously set a seal upon thy felicity and be not weary of thy good hap which may easily be changed into a great misfortune Many have lived too long by one year others by one day which made them see what they feared more than death But if thou be afflicted and persecuted in this life why art thou not ashamed when God calleth thee to go out faintly from a place where thou canst not stay without calamitie Deplorest thou thy gold silver costly attire houses and riches Thou goest into a Countrey where thou no longer shalt need any of that They were remedies given thee for the necessities of life now that thy wounds shall be cured wouldest thou still wear the plaisters Bewailest thou loss of friends There are some who expect thee above which are better than the worldly more wise more assured and who will never afford thee ought but comfort Thou perhaps laments the habit of body and pangs of this passage It is not death then which makes thee wax pale but life thou so dearly lovedst It hath been told thee in the last agonies of death the body feeleth great disturbances that it turns here and there that one rubs the bed-cloths with his hands hath convulsions shuts fast the teeth choaketh words hath a trembling lower lip pale visage sharp nose troubled memory speech fumbling cold sweat the white of the eye sunk and the aspect totally changed What need we fear all that which perhaps will never happen to us How many are there who die very sweetly and almost not thinking of it You would say they are not there when it happens Caesar the Pretour died putting on his shoes Lucius Lepidius striking with his foot against a gate the Rhodian Embassadour having made an Oration before the Senate of Rome Anacreon drinking Torquatus eating a cake Cardinal Colonna tasting figs Xeuxes the Painter laughing at the Picture of an old woman he was to finish and lastly Augustus the Monarch performing a complement But if something must be endured think you the hand of God is stretched out to torment you above your force or shortened to comfort you He will give you a winter according to your wool as it is said sufferings according to the strength of your body and a crown for your patience You fear nothing say you of all that I mention but you dread Judgement Who can better order that than your self Had you been the most desperate sinner in the world if you take a strong resolution to make hereafter an exact and effectual conversion the arms of God are open to receive you He will provide for your passage doubt it not as he took care for your birth He will accompany you with his Angels he will hold you under the veil of his face under the shadow of his protection if he must purge you by justice he will crown you by his mercy The fifteenth EXAMPLE upon the fifteenth MAXIM The manner of dying well drawn from the Model of our LADIE ONe of the most important mysteries in the world is to die well It is never done but once and if one fail to perform it well he is lost without recovery It is the last lineament of the table of our life the last blaze of the torch extinguished the last lustre of the setting Sun the end of the race which gives a period to the course the great seal which signeth all our actions One may in death correct all the defects of an ill life and all the virtues of a good are defaced and polluted by an evil death The art of dying well being of so great consequence it seems God permitted the death of his Mother to teach us what ours ought to be The death of the Virgin Mary is the death of a Phenix which hath three conditions resolution disengagement and union I begin with resolution of conformity to the will 1. Quality of good death is the indifferency of time and manner of God which is the first quality should be had to die well That is to hold life in your hands as a loan borrowed from Heaven ever ready to restore it at the least
another nature and return into elements but I who have no matter subsist by necessity absolutely entire and wholly incorruptible without suffering these changes Ask likewise thy understanding and it will repeat Radix intellectualitatis est immaterialitas Avicenna apud Caprâ—ol Modus operandi sequitur modum essendi The operations of the soul are admirable the philosophical Axiom The workman is known by the work by the operation of every thing its nature is discovered from whence ensueth that if the manner which thy soul useth in its functions and operations be wholly spiritual we may truly say it is all spirit all indivisible and wholly incorruptible Now where is it that it worketh not with a tenderness and admirable spirituality First in the separations it maketh of universal natures in numbers relations proportions orders correspondencies harmonies in things eternal and divine Secondly in judgements discourses disputations comparisons applications which it maketh on every thing Thirdly in the considerations and reflections it hath on it self yea over all its actions almost in infinitum If it did not work spiritually how could it harbour in the memory so many seas rivers mountains valleys cities and castles How could it put so many places into one place not holding any place If it operated not spiritually and indivisibly how could it be whole in each of its actions The body because it is body and quantitative and divisible what it doth with one part it doth not necessarily with another what it toucheth with the hand it doth not necessarily touch with the foot but the soul is all in its action If the soul understand all the soul understandeth If the soul will all the soul willeth If the soul suffer all the soul suffereth For it is in an indivisible That August l. de spiritu anima c. 19. Anima in quibuscumque suis motibus tota est Manilius l. 4. Astron I am nusquam natura latet pervidimus omnem was it which S. Augustine judiciously spake The soul is all in each of its motions Mortal things can do nothing immortal But our soul to teach us its immortality doth wonderfull works which fear not the sithe of time the wheel of inconstancy nor power of death it our-lives stones mettals Aegyptian Pyramids and the worlds seven wonders It is a strange thing to see a humane spirit which taketh away the veil from nature and looketh into the bottom and penetrateth into the very marrow It entereth into these great labyrinths of essences it defineth divideth distinguisheth severeth it appropriateth maketh marvellous dissections mounteth above the tracts of the Sun and time scoreth out the course of the Heavens the periods of the Stars It deciphereth eclipses to an instant and foregoeth by understanding those great celestial bodies whose motions are more swift than wind or thunder From thence it expatiateth into the air there to hear the winds blow rain pour down tempests roar lightnings to flash rain-bowes and crowns arise It descendeth into the deep caverns of the earth there to meditate on the mettals It floateth on the sea it reckoneth the veins of the abyss it keeps a register of so many birds and fishes so many terrestrial creatures so many worms and serpents so many hearbs and plants All this great frame of nature passeth through its consideration from the cedars of Lybanus to the hyssop It createth sciences it inventeth arts it findeth out an infinite number of devices It governeth the great bodies of Kingdoms and Common-wealths with passages of incomparable prudence Arms and laws cures of maladies commerce navigations industries of mechanicks and finally a million of rarities are produced from the sources of the wit of man who cannot yet understand his own worth Besides what is more spiritual more independent on matter than the action of the will than free-will which beareth the beginning of its motion and elevation within it self not borrowing it from any What is more divine than to see a heart more capable than abysses which cannot be satiated with all the things in the world The plant is contented with a little dew the horse with a few oats and hay because animal and vegetative nature is limited to certain small quantities But the immaterial soul as it is in some sort infinite bendeth to infinitie (a) (a) (a) Omnibus fere ingenita est fame post mortem expido Et unde anima affectaret aliquid quod velit post mortem si ribil de postero sciret Tertul. de testim animae It speaketh of Heaven as of its mansion and of God as of the object of its felicity It desireth to live ever it taketh incomparable care for posteritie it interesseth it self in the future which it would never do were it not its hereditary possession Sleep which tameth Lions cannot overcome it It learns its immortality even in the image of death there it is where it incessantly worketh travelleth by sea and land negotiateth converseth sporteth rejoyceth suffereth hunteth after a thousand objects both good and bad and knoweth says Eusebius that having no end in its motion it hath none in its life And to conclude in a word what is there more admirable for the proof of our immortality than this synderesis this conscience which is in the body contrary to the body and a perpetual enemy of senfual nature which pleadeth which questioneth which strikes us with remorse upon the rememberance of sin What is there less corporal than a soul which can see its body burned flesh pulled off with pincers and members torn piece-meal one after another to maintain and preserve a belief which it judgeth to be true as did the Martyrs Never should we behold such a combat between the soul body were they not two pieces quite different the one whereof is sublime spiritual immortal the other low frail and mortal We likewise daily see how the soul wholly retired within it self as it happeneth in apprehensive speculations and raptures is more strong and knowing than ever being touched by some ray from commerce with Intelligencies to which it hath so much relation We find by experience that upon the declining Eaâ— decrescente corpore augeri maxime videmus Aenesius Illa sine hoc vinit melius hoc sine ista nee pejus Claudius Marcus l. 3. de statu animae c. 3. Manifest conviction age when the body shrinketh it hath much more vigour in counsels and judgements which giveth us assurance it cannot any way participate of the corruption of the flesh Who will consider the effects of the soul in three principal things which are Intelligence Sanctitie and Courage shall find all therein is divine And if the wicked smothering these gifts of God will put themselves willingly into the rank of bruit beasts do they not well deserve the place of devils 6. Finally we say we have a soul immortal because God both can and will make it such He can for he is Omnipotent and it is not
or other act of charity do it stoutly in such manner and disposition that were you eternal on earth you would eternally renounce evil and embrace good So do all the Just and so do they eternize all good and laudable actions But sinners Vellent sine fine vivere ut possint sine fine peccare Discretus autem judex corda pensaâ— affectus non facta who pass out of this life in mortal sin are so framed that might you enter into their hearts you there should find such marks of malice such characters of sin imprinted as with a hot iron that they wish to live eternally to sin everlastingly Their life is mortal but the affections they have towards sin are immortal for which cause Gods justice requires they never be without torment who would never live witout sin And say not to me behold that miserable sinner Admagnam justitiam judicantis pertinet ut nunquam carcanâ— supplicio qui in hac vita nunquam carere volunt peccato seized on by the Divine Justice in the heat of his crime it is not likely he would still persist in his enormous transgression the boyling of his passion would vapour away and his spirit be restored to the calm and reason to its throne Nay much otherwise a sinner who dieth in sin hath the root of affections which is the heart so envenomed that all the sprouts are nought but abomination And although he were to live an hundred thousand years should not some servile fear stop the torrent of his corruption he would spend them in these exorbitancies 3. The second reason is drawn from S. Thomas 2. Reason S. Thom. 1. 2. q. 87. who saith the nature of mortal sin is a privation of spiritual life as death is a privation of corporal Behold a tree which was heretofore thick spread with boughs and flourishing is now parched and drie without force and life Let it be in this state so will it remain still never returning to its first vigour Behold a man likewise who hath killed charity in his heart which is the root of spiritual life by some most grievous sin to die in this state It is the impossibility of impossibilities that in the other world not capable of merit or demerit he may change himself Death Semper puniri potest nunquam potest expiari S. Bernard de consid l. 5. An excellent conceit of Picus Mirandula Tui ipsius quasi arbitrarius honorariusque plastes sictor quam malueris tu tibi formam effinge poteris in inferiora quae sunt bruta degenerare poteris in superiora quae sunt divina ex animi tui sententiâ regenerari Picus Mirand de dignitate hom â— 208. ever reigns there where is trespass and trespass still reigning there deserves to be punished without intermission It is alwayes chastised and never expiated saith S. Bernard And that you may well understand this represent unto your self an excellent conceit of one of the greatest wits which ever flourished Picus Mirandula in the book he composed of the dignity of man We are in this world as in the shop of a Sculptour who laboureth on statues of mettal Behold the burning furnace behold the mettal all boiling behold many moulds ready at hand Say you unto him Sir make us some curious piece worthy of you make us a generous Lion make an Eagle make a triumphant King it is now in your power But if the workman through malice or incivility should say I will make nothing of it I am about to make of all this melted mettal vessels of ignominy and so he doth had not you cause to say unto him what hast thou done all is marr'd there is no time given for you to repent it the mettal is cast I say the like after this great man Behold us in this world as in the house of a plummer or graver our understanding is the enginer who laboureth upon the search of a thousand inventions our will is the Mistress who keeps the mettal still boyling and the mettal is our life and our soul indeterminate God saith unto us up friend be couragious thou may'st make thy self a little God perfectly framed to my likeness Behold take the mould cast it confidently I will make nothing of it saith the sinner I am about to make a hog an owl a serpent a hydeous monster and behold in effect all so made at the hour of death The mettall is cast repentance is unprofitable since hell vomiteth up good desires and affordeth no felicities thou hast made a monster and thou shalt remain a monster whilest thou art in this estate which is immoveable fire likewise shall be annexed to thee to gnaw thee which is the worm in the rotten wood Adde for a third instance that God who is wholly 3. Reason drawn from the right of God and from the nature of sin infinite hath right in him to oblige us to the keeping of the law under an infinite penalty considering the greatness of his perfection and benefits The continuance of the pain is not measured by the lasting of actions A man is hanged who still so remaineth for a theft done in a moment If this be done daily for the reparation of the honour and goods of another man who is offended although he be a captive and a miserable creature what shall we think of offences committed against the Divinity Must we not confess that sin of its own nature and by the onely consideration of its proper malice deserveth infinite punishment since it hath mischief in it respectively infinite And as it needed the Incarnation death and passion of a Word infinite to wash it on earth so it must have an eternal punishment to expiate it under earth What can you find strange in this proceeding I say it is not hell that should put these quaking Puniri non est malum sed fieri poenâ dignum Peccatum non potest residere ad perpetuum nisi in inferno Dionys c. 4. de divin nom Solidissâ—â—i quasi are fusi sunt Job 37. The grievousness of sin Num. 16. and icie fear into our bones It is not pain should be strange unto us but sin It is not an evil to be punished but to be worthy of punishment You complain sin is lodged in hell where would you place it In heaven Is it a fit thing I pray you to carry dirt into a Kings Palace The heavens according to Job are stronger than iron or brass and yet you see these celestial bodies able to carry all the glory of God cannot bear one single sinner so heavy so insupportable he is So soon as the rebellious Angels conceived a sin of pride heaven cried out murder and could not endure them behold them fall from the Palace of glory more thick than flakes of snow or hail on a winters day Where would you lodge this mortal sin On the earth See you not in the book of Numbers how after the
the General in this siege that she disposed his heart to what she pleased In such sort that going forth in the fear and confusion of all the people she returned with peace and assurance of quiet which made them all to come out to receive her at the Citie gates with loud acclamations some throwing flowers other Crowns and all rendering thanks to her as their Sovereign Preserveress She apprehended so much joy therewith that in the very instant she expired in her honours at the Citie gate and in stead of being carried to the throne was brought to her tomb with the infinite sorrow of all her countrey I leave you to think if humane comforts have such force what will the great joy of God be for these unheard-of spectacles these continual triumphs and inexhaustible sources Must we not say we should there every moment leave our souls in the height of pleasure were not the happiness of it conjoyned to immortality XX. MAXIM Of RESURRECTION THE PROPHANE COURT THE HOLY COURT That we must not deny our bodies the benefit of time since they must perish That we must use our bodies as the Temples of God since they must rise again WE may truly say there is not any mysterie The resurrection proved more than any other mysterie in all our faith which God hath pleased to teach and prove unto us more effectually than the resurrection For it being sufficiently averred that our salvation consisteth in the knowledge of three principal Articles which are that of the Trinity of the incarnation with its extension made to the Sacrament of the Altar and of the Resurrection although they be all of like necessity yet it seems God disposing himself more to our ends than his own hath more abundantly explaned himself in this last mysterie which most concerneth our peculiar profit It is very true that for the doctrine of the Trinity the Incarnation and the Sacrament of the Altar he was contented to give us some figures of them in the old Testament not fully shewing the effects but for the Resurrection he was pleased to establish it even before his coming into the world really and actually by raising many dead by the merits of Elias and Elizeus as we learn in the history of Kings It is well enough known that having afforded to the Ancients very obscure knowledges of the Trinity and Incarnation for the Resurrection alone he made the law of nature the Mosaical the order of the world the form of Common-wealths and the Evangelical law to speak so intelligibly that he could speak nothing more perspicuously In the law of nature I understand the chief Secretary Scio quod Redemptor meus vivit in novissimâ— die de terra resurrecturus sum c. Job 19. of the world Job who crieth out on the dunghil I know my Redeemer liveth and that at the last day of the world I must rise again from the earth and shall see God in mine own flesh that I shall see my self in person and that my eyes shall behold him and no other this hope I keep as a pledge in my bosom A man who lived about three thousand years ago before all books all Doctours and all schools to speak in so clear terms so pressing so peremptory is it not a prodigie In the Mosaical law besides formal passages in the Ecce ego aperiam tumulos vestros educam vos de sepulchris vestris Ezech. 33. Macch. 2. Math. 22. D. Tho. art 1. ad 2. supplem q. 75. prophet Ezechiel I will open your tombs and will take you from your sepulchers besides the generous confession of the Macchabees we have in the Pentateuch a passage alledged for proof of the resurrection by the Son of God himself which for this purpose ought to be held as an argument necessary and invincible It is so many times said The God of Abraham Isaac and Jacob Now he is not the God of the dead but of the living and therefore needs must these Patriarchs beliving not onely in the immortality of their souls for the soul makes not a man entire but in future resurrection In the order of the world we have the new birth Tertul. l. de Resur c. 12. and 13. Greg. Mag. 14. mor. c. 10. Cyril Catech. 18. Macar hom 5. de Resur Nil Ora. 2. de Pasca Theod. serm de Provid of stars dayes seasons planets of birds who make a perpetual image of the Resurrection in the world on which the holy Fathers enlarge with much eloquence In the form of Common-wealths and policie of the universe we observe the great care all Nations the most barbarous have had of the burial of bodies not to have been but through an instinct and estimation of the resurrection Which the chiefmen in Gentilism have publickly and notably professed And although they had very weak knowledge of other mysteries of our faith and spake of it with much obscurity in the point of resurrection they unfolded themselves most distinctly and expresly Mercurius Trismegistus in the first chapter of Pymander assureth us of the resurrection of bodies as a thing infallible The great Athenagoras sheweth it was the doctrine of Pythagoras and Plato the two first lights of Philosophy And verily we have also the writings of Plato which witness the wicked shall be judged and condemned to hell in bodie and soul a passage alledged by S. Justine in the tenth of his Common-wealth and which is more this singular man to win us to this belief hath couched a very notable axiom in his Phedon where he saith that all 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Plato in Phaedon Plin. l. 7. c. 55. which is living in the world comes from some thing dead Democritus who was as Hippocrates affirmeth one of the wisest men in the world wished the bodies of the dead should be honourably used in respect of resurrection which Pliny could not dissemble Phocyllides said the same in verses written as with the rayes of the Sun Nay if we would consult with the tombs of the dead we shall find there hath not been any but some wicked and irregular spirits who have renounced the blessings of the other life as by publick profession causing it to be engraven on their tombs So did Sardanapalus the most infamous of men whose epitaph Aristotle having read said It was more fit for a hog than a King So did that wretched woman of Bress whose monument is yet to be seen in antiquities causing to be set over her ashes That after the death of her husband Vixi ultra â—â—tam nihil credidi Nihil unquam pâ—ccavit nisi quod mortua â—st Brisson formul she had been neither widdow nor wife and that her house served onely for a snare to loves Otherwise that during life she never believed any thing but life So did one Julia who caused also to be inscribed over her bones That she had lived seven and twenty years without committing any
eat them soon enough as if all this should say unto us What do we so long in the world since all things that must serve our use last so little Gold and silver continue long but last very little in our hands and though one keep them as well as he can they keep not ever one Master If there be creatures which live much longer they flie from us as Harts Crows and Swans you might say they are ashamed to participate in our frailty Great-ones of the earth have in all times done what they could with a purpose to prolong their days so naturally are we desirous of the state of Resurrection but they have many times abridged them seeking to lengthen them Garcias telleth us that a King of Zeilam having learned the adamant had the virtue to preserve life would neither eat nor drink but in a dish which he caused to be made of adamant through a strange giddiness of spirit but he failed not to find death in these imaginary vessels of immortality We make a great matter of it to see men very old they are beheld with admiration But if some desire to come to their age there is not any would have the miseries and troubles of it This Phlegon of whom we now speak who had been one of the most curious Authours of his Age made a book of long liv'd men wherein he confesseth he hath exactly looked into the Registers of the Roman Empire there to find old men and women of an hundred years and scarcely could he meet with a sufficient number of them to fill up a whole leaf of paper But if he would take the number of such as died before fifty which the Ancients called the exterminating death he had filled many huge volumes Pompey took pleasure at the dedication of Bâ—ro in historia vitae mortis his Theater to see a Comedianess act named Galeria Capiola who reckoned ninety nine years since her first enterance into a Theater It was a goodly play of life in a woman who danced on the brink of her grave But how many such like have there been people go into the tomb as drops of water into the sea not thinking on it Nay do but observe all which is Sovereign you will find among all the Emperours which were through so many ages there is not one to be found who attained to the age of a hundred years and four alone arrived to four-score or much thereabouts Gordian the elder came to this point but scarcely had he tasted of Empire but was over whelmed with a violent death Valerian at the age of seventy six years was taken by Sapor King of Persia and lived seven years in a shamefull captivity his enemy making use of his back as a foot-stool when he would mount on horse-back He was at first much greater in the estimation of men than he deserved and every one would have thought him worthy of Empire had he not been Emperour Anastasius a man of little worth and less courage who had more superstition than religion arrived to the age of four-score and eight years when he was blasted with lightening from heaven Justinim reckoned four-score and three which made him wax white in a vehement desire of glorie although being some-what contemptible in his person he was fortunate in Captains They speak of a King called Arganthon who heretofore reigned in Spain the space of four-score years and lived an hundred and fourty But this is rather in fables than authentical histories Of so many Popes as have been since S. Peter not any one hath possessed the See twenty five years scarcely find you four or five four-score years of age John the two and twentieth an unquiet and treasure-heaping spirit was about ninety years when death took off his triple Crown So many had Gregory the twelfth who was created before the schism but his papacy was as short as his life was long Paul the third attained to one above four-scor and was otherwise a man as peaceable of spirit as prudent in counsel Paul the fourth severe imperious and eloquent came to four-score and three Gregory the thirteenth lived as many a Prelate wise courteous prudent liberal who lived too little a while for the Churches good for which he could not end but too soon If we speak of the blessed S. John S. Luke S. Polycarp S. Denys S. Paul the Hermit S. Anthony S. Romuald so many other religious men they lived long And it seems there are many things in religion which further long life as contemplation of things Divine joys not sensual noble hopes wholesome fears sweet sadness repose sobriety and regularity in the order of all actions But all this is little in comparison of the Divine state wherein bodies shall not onely never end but live eternally impassible as Angels subtile as rayes of light quick as thought and bright as stars Conclusion of the MAXIMS by an advice against Libertinism where all men are exhorted to zeal of true Religion and the love of things eternal Of the obscurity and persecution of TRUTH INcredulity is an immortal disease which hath reigned from the beginning of the world and which will never end but with the worlds dissolution Dreams and lies are many times believed because they insinuate themselves into the heart by charms but truth which will never bely her self hath much ado to make her self understood and if she be once known she is beloved when she smiles and feared when she frowneth There are four things have ever been much unknown Four things much unknown in the world time wind terrestrial Paradise and truth Time is a marvellous creature which perpetually passeth over our heads which numbereth all our steps which measureth all our actions which inseparably runs along with our life and we have much business to know it as well in its nature as progression It is a very strange thing that there are such as promise themselves to reckon up the years of the world as of an old man of three-score and yet we know by the experience of so many ages it is a great labyrinth wherein we still begin never to end It was for this cause the Ancients placed the figures Hadrianus Junius of Trytons on high Towrs with tails crookedly winding to represent unto us the intrication of the foulds and compasses of time And for this also Isa 6. Hieron in Isa in the Prophet Esai the Seraphins covered the face and feet of God with their wings to teach us faith S. Hierome that we are very ignorant in things done before the world and in those which shall happen to Non est vestrum nosse tempora momenta quae Pater posuit in sua potestate Actor 1. the end of it If we on the other side consider the wind we cannot but sufficiently understand the commodities and discommodities of it which have made the wise to doubt whether it were expedient there should be
world the benefits that God hath conferred upon their families is it not most fitting that we endeavour to acknowledge in some manner the liberality of the Divine Majesty This act consisteth in three things First in the Memory which represents to the Understanding the benefit received and this Understanding considers the hand that gives them and to whom and how and wherefore and by what ways and in what measure Thereupon an affectionate acknowledgement is framed in the Will which not able to continue idle spreads it self into outward acts to witness the fervour of its affection To practise this well it is requisite to make a catalogue of the benefits of God which are contained in three kinds of goodness and mercy The first is that whereby he drew this great Universe out of the Chaos and darkness of nothing to the light of being and life for our sakes creating a world of such greatness beauty profit measure order vicissitude continuance and preserving it as it wereby the continual breathing of his spirit affording to every thing its rank form propriety appetite inclination scituation limits and accomplishment But above all making man as a little miracle of Nature with the adornments of so many pieces so well set to bear in his aspect the beams of his own Majestie The second bounty is that whereby he hath decreed to raise in man all that is natural to a supernatural estate The third that whereby he hath raised the nature of man being fallen into sin into miserie into the shadow of death to innocence bliss light and eternal life This is the incomprehensible mystery of the Incarnation of the Word which comprehends six other benefits that is the benefit of the doctrine and wisdom of Heaven conferred on us the benefit of our Saviors good examples the benefit of Redemption the benefit of Adoption into the number of Gods children the benefit of the treasure of the merits of Jesus Christ the benefit of the blessed Eucharist Besides those benefits which are in the generality of Christianity we are to represent in all humility often to our selves the particular favours received from God in our birth nourishment education instruction in gifts of soul and body in means and conveniences in friends allies kinred in vocation estate and profession of life in continued protection in deliverance out of so many dangers in vicissitude of adversities and prospeâ—ity in guidance through the degrees of age wherein every one in his own particular may acknowledge infinite passages of the Divine Providence All this pouring it self upon the soul with consideration of the circumstances of each benefit at last draws from the Will this act of acknowledgement which maketh it to say with the Prophet David Who am I O Lord God and what is my house that thou hast brought me bitherto 2 Sam 7. 18. The seventh SECTION A Pattern of Thanksgiving HEreupon you shall give thanks for all benefits in general and particularly for those you have received at present which at that time you are to set before you that may season this action with some new relish The Church furnisheth us with an excellent form of Thanksgiving to God in the hymn Te Deum or else say with the blessed spirits O God power and riches and wisdom and strength and honour and blessing be unto thee for ever and ever O God glory be to thee on high and on earth peace good will towards men I bless thee I worship thee I give thanks to thee for thy great glory and thy benefits O Lord God heavenly King God the Father Almighty and thou also O Lord Jesus Christ my Saviour onely Son of the Heavenly Father perfect God and perfect man Thou that takest away the sins of the world and sittest at the right hand of God the Father And thou O Holy Gbost consubstantial with the Father and the Son most blessed Trinitie receive my prayers in giving thanks The eighth SECTION Of Offering or Oblation The third Act of Devotion REligion and Sacrifice had their beginning in the worlds infancy and ever since have been linked together by an indissoluble tie God who giveth all will have us give to him meaning we should take out of his store that which our Nothing cannot afford Observe here a thing remarkeable That as in the Law of Moses there were three kinds of Sacrifice that is Immolations Libations and Victims Immolations which were made of the fruits of the earth Libations of liquours as oyl and wine Victims of living creatures so likewise God requires that we give him our actions for fruits our affections for liquours and our selves for victims This is done by the act of Oblation or Offering which is a way of sacrifice by which we offer our selves and all that belongeth to us at the Altar of the Divine Majesty To perform this act well we must have first a pure apprehension of the power and dominion which God hath over us secondly an intimate knowledge of our own dependence upon him considering that we not onely have received being and all things annexed to being from his goodness but that we are also sustained perpetually by his hand as a stone in the air and that if he should let go never so little we should be dissolved into that Nothing out of which we are extracted From thence will arise an act of Justice in the will ready to give to God that which is his and as the Holocaust where the hoast was quite consumed in honour to the Divine Majestie was heretofore the noblest of all Sacrifices so will we imitate this excellent act of Religion by consecrating not onely our actions and affections but all that we are unto God wishing to be dissolved and annihilated for his sake if it might be for the glory of his Divine Majestie But if this annihilation cannot be real we must at the least form it to our mind in an extraordinary manner acquiring to our selves as much as is possible twelve dis-engagements wherein the perfection of the Holocaust consisteth The first is a divesting our selves of all affection to temporal things so that we no longer love any thing but for God of God and to God The second a dis-entangling from our own interest in all our actions The third an absolute mortifying of sensuality The fourth a separation from friendships sensual tural and acquired that they have no longer hold on our heart to the prejudice of virtue The fifth a banishing of worldly imaginations in such a manner that the meer representation of them may beget aversion and horrour in us The sixth a discharge from worldly cares not necessary to salvation The seventh a deliverance from bitterness of heart and discontents which ordinarily arise from eâ—cessive love to creatures The eighth a valiant flight from all kind of vanity of spirit The ninth a contempt of sensible consolations when God would have us to be weaned from them The tenth a renouncing of scruples of mind
As soon as you have received the Sacrament say this prayer of S. Bernard in his Meditations upon the Passion O Heavenly Father look down from thy Sanctuary from the Throne of thy glory upon the blessed sacrifice which our High Priest Jesus thy most innocent and sacred Son doth offer unto thee for the sins of his Brethren Pardon the multitude of our offences and have compassion upon our miseries Hearken to the voice of the bloud of that immaculate Lamb which crieth out to thee and he himself standeth before thee at the right hand of thy Majestie crowned with honour and glory Behold O Lord the face of thy Messias who hath been obedient to thee even unto death and put not his blessed wounds out of thy sight nor the satisfaction he made for our sins out of thy rememberance O let every tongue praise and bless thee in commemoration of thy infinite goodness who didst deliver thy onely Son over to death upon Earth to make him our most prevalent Advocate in Heaven For Petition Immediately after you have recited the Lords Prayer say these words of the aforesaid Liturgie O God be mindfull of all Pastours and faithfull people dwelling in all parts of the habitable world in the union of the Catholick Faith and preserve them in thy holy peace O God bless our most gracious King and his whole Kingdom hear the prayers which we offer up at thy Altar O God remember all those that travel by sea or land and are exposed to so many dreadfull dangers Remember the many poor prisoners and exiles who groan under the miseries of the world O God remember the sick and all such as are in any discomfort of mind Remember the many poor souls opprest with bitterness who implore thy succour Remember also the conversion of so many Hereticks Infidels and sinners whom thou hast created after thine own image O God remember our Friends and Benefactours Accept this sacrifice for us sinners and let us all feel the effects of thy Mercy drive away scandal war and heresie and grant us thy peace and love And at the end of the Communion O God pour down thy graces upon us direct our steps in thy ways strengthen us in thy fear confirm us in thy love and give us at last the inheritance of thy children It is very expedient also to have our devotions ordered for every day of the week The seventeenth SECTION Devotion ordered for the days of the Week WE may derive an excellent practise of Devotion for every day of the Week from the Hymn of S. Ambrose used by the Church For therein we learn to give God thanks for every work of the Creation and to make the greater world correspond with the lesser Sunday which is the day wherein the light was created we should render thanks to God for having produced this temporal light which is the smile of Heaven and joy of the world spreading it like cloth of gold over the face of the air and earth and lighting it as a torch by which we might behold his works Then penetrating further we will give him thanks for having afforded us his Son called by the Fathers The Day-bringer to communicate unto us the great light of faith which is as saith S. Bernard a Copy of Eternity we will humbly beseech him that this light may never be eclipsed in our understandings but may replenish us every day more and more with the knowledge of his blessed will And for this purpose we must hear the word of God and be present at Divine Service with all fervour and purity Take great heed that you stain not this day which God hath set apart for himself with any disorder nor give the first fruits of the week to Dagon which you should offer up at the feet of the Ark of the Covenant Munday which is the day wherein the Firmanent was created to separate the celestial waters from the inferiour and terrestrial we will represent unto our selves that God hath given us Reason as a Firmament to separate divine cogitations from animal and we will pray unto him to mortifie anger and concupiscence in us and to grant us absolute sway over all passions which resist the eternal Law Thesday the day wherein the waters which before covered the whole element of Earth were ranked in their place and the earth appeared to become the dwelling nurse and grave of man we will figure unto our selves the great work of the justification of the world done by the Incarnate Word who took away a great heap of obstacâ—es as well of ignorance as of sin that covered the face of the whole world and made a Church which like a holy Land appears laden with fruit and beauties to raise us up in Faith and to bury us in the hope of the Resurrection We will beseech him to take away all hinderances to our soul so many ignorances sins imperfections fears sorrows cares which detain it as in an abyss and to replenish us with the fruits of justice Wednesday wherein the Sun Moon and Stars were created we will propose unto our selves for object the Beauty and Excellency of the Church of God adorned with the presence of the Saviour of the world as with a Sun and with so many Saints as with Stars of the Firmament and we will humbly beseech God to embellish our soul with light and virtue suitable to its condition Especially to give us the six qualities of the Sun Greatness Beauty Measure Feâ—vour Readiness and Fruitfulness Greatness in the elevation of our mind above all created things and in a capacity of heart which can never be filled with any thing but God Beauty in gifts of grace Measure to limit our passions Fervour in the exercise of charity Readiness in the obedience we ow to his Law Fruitfulness in bringing forth good works Toursday the day wherein God as S. Ambrose saith drew the birds and fishes out of the waters the birds to flie in the air and the fishes to dwell in this lower Element We will imagine the great separation which shall be made at the day of Gods judgement when so vast a number of men extracted from one and the same mass some shall be raised on high to people Heaven and enjoy the sight of God others shall be made a prey to hell and everlasting torments And in this great abyss and horrour of thought we will beseech God to hold us in the number of his elect and to be pleased to mark out our predestination in our good and commendable actions Friday wherein the other creatures were brought forth and man created who was then appointed to them for a King and Governour we will set before us the greatness excellency and beauty of this Man in the Talents which God hath given him as well of grace as of nature How much it cost to make him the hands of the Creatour being employed in his production Hands saith S. Basil which were to him as a
highest of all to go to meet crosses and afflictions and to embrace them as liveries of Jesus Christ In Mercy it is a high degree to give away temporal things a higher to forgive injuries the highest to oblige them who persecute us It is a high degree to pitie all bodily afflictions a higher to be zealous for souls and highest to compassionate the torments of our Saviour in remembering his Passion In the virtue of Fortitude it is a high degree to overcome the world a higher to subdue the flesh the highest to vanquish your self In Temperance it is a high degree to moderate your eating drinking sleeping watching gaming recreation your tongue words and all gestures of your body a higher to regulate your affections and highest to purifie throughly your thoughts and imaginations In Justice it is a high degree to give unto your Neighbour that which belongeth to him a higher to exact an account of your self and highest to offer up to God all satisfaction which is his due In the virtue of Faith it is a high degree to be well instructed in all that you are to believe a higher to make profession of it in your good works and highest to ratifie when there is necessitie with the loss of goods and life In the virtue of Hope it is a high degree to have good apprehensions of Gods power a higher to repose all your affairs upon his holy providence a higher than that to pray to him and serve him incessantly with fervour and purity but highest of all to trust in him in our most desperate affairs Lastly for the virtue of Charitie which is the accomplishment of all the other you must know there are three kinds of it The first the beginning Charitie The second the proficient The third the perfect Beginning Charitie hath five degrees 1. Dislike of offences past 2. Good resolution of amendment 3. Relish of Gods Word 4. Readiness to good works 5. Compassion of the ill and joy at the prosperity of others Proficient Charity hath five degrees more 1 An extraordinary puritie of Conscience which is cleansed by very frequent examination 2. Weakness of concupiscence 3. Vigorous exercise of the faculties of the inward man For as good operations of the exteriour senses are signs of bodily health so holy occupations of the understanding memory and will are signs of a spiritual life 4. Ready observance of Gods law 5. Relishing knowledge of Heavenly Truth and Maxims Perfect Charity reckoneth also five other degrees 1. To love your enemies 2. To receive contentedly and to suffer all adversities couragiously 3. Not to have any worldly ends but to measure all things by the fear of God 4. To be dis-entangled from all love to creatures 5. To resign your own life to save your neighbours The fifth SECTION Of four Orders of those who aspire to Perfection NOw consider what virtues and in what degree you would practise for there are four sorts of those who aspire to perfection The first are very innocent but little valiant in exercise of virtues The second have besides innocency courage enough to employ themselves in worldly actions but they are very sparing towards God and do measure their perfections by a certain Ell which they will upon no terms exceed like the ox of Susis that drew his usual number of buckets of water out of the Well very willingly but could by no means be brought to go beyond his ordinary proportion The third order is of the Fervent who are innocent couragious and virtuous without restriction but they will not take charge of others supposing they are troubled enough with their own bodies wherein they may be often deceived The fourth rank comprehends those who having with much care profited themselves do charitably refresh the necessities of their neighbour when they are called to his aid thinking that to be good onely to ones self is to be in some sort evil Observe what God requires of you and emulate the most abundant graces But if the multiplicity of these degrees of virtue perplex your mind I will shew you a shorter and easier way to perfection The sixth SECTION A short way to Perfection used by the Ancients THe Ancients were accustomed to reduce all virtue to certain heads and some addicted themselves with so much fervour and perfection to the exercise of one single virtue as possessing that in a supream degree by one link onely they drew insensibly the whole chain of great actions One dedicated all his lifes study to government of the tongue another to abstinence another to meekness another to obedience So that at the death of a holy man named Orus as Pelagius relates it was found he had never lied never sworn never slandered never but upon necessity spoken So Phasius in Cassian said upon his death-bed that the Sun had never seen him take his refection for he fasted every day until sun set So John the Abbot professeth that the Sun had never seen him angry that he had never done his own will nor ever had taught others any thing which he had not first practised himself To arrive at this requires much fortitude of spirit If you desire things more imitable be assured you shall lead a good life if you endeavour continually to practise these three words To abstain To suffer To go forward in well doing as S. Luke saith in the Acts of the Apostles of the Son of God To abstain 1. By refraining from all unlawful things and sometimes even from lawful pleasures through virtue 2. By mortifying concupiscence anger desire of esteem and wealth 3. By well ordering your senses your will your judgement and obtaining always some victory over your self by the mastery of your passions To suffer 1. By enduring the burdens of life with patience esteeming your self happy to partake of our Saviours sufferings which are the noblest marks of your Christianity 2. By endeavouring to use a singular meekness in bearing with the oppressions and imperfections of others 3. By undergoing with advice some bodily austerities 4. By keeping your foot firm in the good you have already begun For as old Marcus the Hermit said The wolf and sheep never couple together nor did change and dislike ever make up a good virtue To go forward in well-doing By becoming serviceable and obliging to all the world every one according to his degree but above all having a catalogue of the works of mercy as well spiritual as temporal continually before your eye as a lesson wherein you must be seriously examined either for life or death eternal And for this purpose some Saints had these words in stead of all books in their Libraries Visito Poto Cibo Redimo Tego Colligo Condo Consule Castiga Solare Remitte Fer Ora. To Visit Quench thirst Feed Redeem Cloath Lodge Bury To Teach Counsel Correct Comfort Pardon Suffer Pray Mans best knowledge is how to oblige man the time will come when death shall strip us to the very bones and
apparencies O my God my Jesus make me keep the Law of thy love and nothing else It is a yoke which brings with it more honour than burden It is a yoke which hath wings but no heaviness Make me serve thee O my Master since thou beholdest the services of all the Angels under thy feet Make me imitate thee O my Redeemer since thou art the original of all perfections make me suffer for thee O King of the afflicted and that I may not know what it is to suffer by knowing what it is to love The Gospel upon Thursday the third week in Lent S. Luke 4. Jesus cured the Feaver of Simons Mother in Law ANd Jesus rising up out of the Synagogue entered into Simons house and Simons wives mother was holden with a great Feaver and they besought him for her And standing over her he commanded the Feaver and it left her And incontinent rising she ministred to them And when the Sun was down all that had diseased of sundry maladies brought them to him But he imposing hands upon every one cured them And Devils went out from many crying and saying that thou art the Son of God And rebuking them he suffered them not to speak that they knew he was Christ And when it was day going forth he went into a desart place and the multitudes sought him and came even unto him and they held him that he should not depart from them To whom he said That to other Cities also must I Evangelize the Kingdom of God because therefore I was sent And he was preaching in the Synagogues of Galilee Moralities 1. A Soul within a sick body is a Princess that dwels in a ruinous house Health is the best of all temporal goods without which all honours are as the beams of an eclipsed sun Riches are unpleasing and all pleasures are languishing All joy of the heart subsists naturally in the health of the body But yet it is true that the most healthfull persons are not always the most holy What profit is there in that health which serves for a provocation to sin for an inticement to worldly pleasure and a gate to death The best souls are never better nor stronger than when their bodies are sick their diseases are too hard for their mortal bodies but their courage is invincible It is a great knowledge to understand our own infirmities Prosperity keeps us from the view of them but adversity shews them to us We should hardly know what death is if so many diseases did not teach us every day that we are mortal Semiramis the proudest of all Queens had made a law whereby she was to be adored in stead of all the gods but being humbled by a great sickness she acknowledged her self to be but a woman 2. All the Apostles pray for this holy woman which was sick but she herself asked nothing nor did complain of any thing She leaves all to God who is onely Master of life and death She knew that he which gives his benefits with such bounty hath the wisdom to chuse those which are most fit for us How do we know whether we desiring to be delivered from a sickness do not ask of God to take away a gift which is very necessary to our salvation That malady or affliction which makes us distaste worldly pleasures gives us a disposition to taste the joyes of heaven 3. How many sick persons in the heat of a Feaver promise much and when they are well again perform nothing That body which carried all the marks of death in the face is no sooner grown strong by health which rejoyceth the heart and fils the veins with bloud but it becomes a slave to sin The gifts of God being abused serve for nothing but to make it wicked and so the soul is killed by recovery of the flesh But this pious woman is no sooner on foot but she serves the Authour of life and employes all those limbs which Jesus cured of the Feaver to prepare some provisions to refresh him He that will not use the treasures of heaven with acknowledgement deserveth never to keep them When a man is recovered from a great sickness as his body is renewed by health so on the other side he should renew his spirit by virtue The body saith Saint Maximus is the bed of the soul where it sleeps too easily in continual health and forgets it self in many things But a good round sickness doth not onely move but turn over this bed which maketh the soul awake to think on her salvation and make a total conversion Aspirations O Word Incarnate all Feavours and Devils flie before the beams of thy redoubted face Must nothing but the heat of thy passions always resist thy powers and bounties To what maladies and indispositions am I subject I have more diseases in my soul then limbs in my body My weakness bends under thy scourges and yet my sins continue still unmoveable Stay O benign Lord stay thy self near me Cast upon my dull and heavy eyes one beam from those thine eyes which make all storms clear and all disasters happie Command that my weakness leave me and that I may arise to perform my services due to thy greatness as I will for ever ow my salvation to thine infinite power and bounty The Gospel upon Friday the third week in Lent S. John 4. Of the Samatitan woman at Jacobs Well neer Sichar HE cometh therefore into a Citie of Samaria which is called Sichar beside the Mannor that Jacob gave to Joseph his son And there was there the fountain of Jacob. Jesus therefore wearied of his journey sate so upon the fountain It was about the sixth hour There cometh a woman of Samaria to draw water Jesus saith to her Give me to drink for his Disciples were gone into the Citie to buy meats therefore that Samaritan woman saith to him How dost thou being a Jew ask of me to drink which am a Samaritan woman for the Jews do not communicate with the Samaritanes Jesus answered and said to her If thou didst know the gift of God and vvho he is that saith unto thee Give me to drink thou perhâ—ps wouldst have asked of him and he would have given thee living vvater The woman saith to him Sir neither hast thou wherein to draw and the well is deep whence hast thou the living vvater Art thou greater than our father Jacob vvho gave us the well anâ— himself drank of it and his children and his cattel Jesus answered and said to her Every one that drinketh of this vvater shall thirst again but he that shall drink of the vvater that I will give him shall not thirst for ever but the vvater that I will give him shall become unto him a fountain of vvater springing up unto life everlasting The vvoman saith to him Lord give me this vvater that I may not thirst nor come hither to draw Jesus said to her Go call thy husband and come hither The
tears come from any other than the place of all delight since they issued from a brain and from eyes which were united to the divinity And how should they not water Paradise since for so many ages they have flowed over the Church for producing the fruits of justice The balm of Egypt could not grow without water of that Well which was commonly called the fountain of Jesus because the blessed Virgin had there washed the clothes of her dear Son And we have no Odour of virtue nor good conversation which is not directly barren except it be endued with the merit of our Saviours tears Aspirations O Eyes of my Saviour from whence the sun receives his clearest light fair eyes which onely deserve eternal joyes and delights Why should you this day be moistened with tears Thou dost give me O onely love of my heart the bloud of thy soul before thou shedst that of thy body There are so many things to make me weep and I feel them so little that if they tears do not weep for me I shall always be miserable Water then O my sweet Master the barrenness of my soul from that fountain of blessing which I have opened within thine eyes and heart I have opened it by my sins and let it I beseech thee bless me by thine infinite mercies The Gospel upon Saturday the fourth week in Lent S. John 8. Upon our Saviours words I am the light of the world AGain therefore Jesus spake to them saying I am the light of the vvorld he that followeth me vvalketh not in darkness but shall have the light of life The Pharisees therefore said to him Thou givest testimonie of thy self thy testimonie is not true Jesus answered and said to them although I do give testimonie of my self my testimonie is true because I know vvhence I came and vvhither I go but you know not vvhence I came or vvhither I go You judge according to the flesh I do not judge any man And if I do judge my judgement is true because I am not alone but I and he that sent me the Father And in your law it is vvritten that the testimonie of two men is true I am he that give testimonie of my self and he that sent me the Father giveth testimonie of me They said therefore to him Where is thy Father Jesus answered Neither me do you know nor my Father if you did know me perhaps you might know my Father also These vvords Jesus spake in the Treasurie teaching in the Temple and no man apprehended him because his hour vvas not yet come Moralities 1. THere is in the blessed Trinity a communicating light to which nothing is communicated another light which is communicative and communicated and a third light which is communicated but not communicating The first is the heavenly Father who gives but takes nothing The second is that of the Son who takes from his Father and gives to the holy Ghost all that can be given The third is the holy Ghost which receives equally from the Father and the Son and doth produce nothing in the Trinity But Jesus illuminating from all eternity this state for ever to be adored did vouchsafe to descend into the countrey of our darkness to scatter it by his brightness It is he that hath thrown down the Crocodiles and Bats from prophane Altars who hath broken so many idols who hath overthrown so many Temples of the adulterers and murdering gods to plant the honours of his heavenly Father He hath invested the world during so many ages with the shining of his face He doth not cease to give light nor to kindle in our hearts many inspirations which are like so many stars to conduct us to the fountain of all our happiness You are very blind if you do not see this and much more miserable if you despise it 2. It is most dangerous to do as the Jews did to speak every day to the light and yet love their own darkness Screech-owls find holes and nights to keep themselves from day which they cannot abide But he that flies from the face of God where can he find darkness enough to hide himself When he shall be within the gulf of sin his own conscience will light up a thousand torches to see his punishments It is the worst of all mischiefs to pay for the contempt of the fountain of light by suffering eternal darkness 3. Let us behold the conversation of Jesus Christ as a sea mark stickt all over with lights his life gives Testimony of his Sanctity his miracles publish his power his law declares his infinite wisdâ—m his Sanctity gives us an example to imitate his power gives the strength of Authority to make him the more readily obeyed and from his wisdom faith is given us to regulate and govern our belief Aspirations O My Lord Jesus the spirit of all beauties and the most visible of all lights what do the eyes of my soul if they be not always busied in the contemplation of thy brightness When I find thou art departed from me me thinks I am buried within my self and that my soul is nothing else but a Sepulchre of terrours phantasms and deaths But when thou returnest by thy visits and consolations I am chearfully revived and my heart leaps in thy presence as a child rejoyceth at sight of his dear nurse O Light of lights which dost illuminate man coming into this world I will contemplate thee at the sun-rising above all creatures I will follow thee with mine eyes all the day long and I will not leave thee at sun-setting for there is nothing can be in value near like thee It belongs onely to thee O Sun of my Soul to arise at all hours and to give light at Mid-night as well as at Noon-day The Gospel upon Passion Sunday S. John the 8. upon these words Who can accuse me of sin WHich of you shall argue me of sin If I say the verity why do you not believe me He that is of God heareth the words of God therefore you hear not because you are not of God The Jews therefore answered and said to him Do not we say well that thou art a Samaritan and hast a Devil Jesus answered I have no Devil but I do honour my Father and you have dishonoured me But I seek not mine own glorie There is that seeketh and judgeth Amen Amen I say to you if any man keep my word he shall not see death for ever The Jews therefore said now we have known that thou hast a Devil Abraham is dead and the Prophets and thou sayest if any man keep my word he shall not taste death for ever Why art thou greater than our Father Abraham who is dead and the Prophets are dead Whom doest thou make thy self Jesus answered if I do glorifie my self my glorie is nothing It is my Father that glorifieth me whom you say that he is your God and you have not known him but I know him
and to execute all the decrees of his divine Providence as our chiefest helps to obtain perfection Aspirations OBeauteous garden of Olives which from henceforth shalt be the most delicious object of my heart I will lose my self in thy walks I will be lost with God that I may never be lost I will breathe onely thy air since it is made noble by the sighs of my dear Master I will gather thy flowers since Jesus hath marked them with his bloud I will wash my self in those fountains since they are sanctified by the sweat of my Jesus I will have no other joy but the sorrow of the Son of God nor any other will but his O my sweet Saviour Master and teacher of all humane kind wilt thou be abridged of thine own will which was so reasonable and pure to give me an example of mortifying my passions and shall I before thy face retain any wicked or disordinate appetites Is it possible I should desire to be Lord of my self who am so bad a Master when I see the Authour of all goodness separate himself from himself onely to make me and all mankind partakers of his merits Of the apprehension of JESUS IN that obscure and dolorous night wherein our Saviour was apprehended three sorts of darkness were cast upon the Jews upon Judas and upon Saint Peter A darkness of obduration upon the hearts of the Jews a darkness of ingratefull malignity upon Judas and a darkness of infirmity upon Saint Peter Was there ever any blindness like that of the Jews who sought for the shining Sun with lighted torches without knowing him by so many beams of power which shined from him They are strucken down with the voice of the Son of God as with lightening and they rise again upon the earth to arm themselves against Heaven They bind his hands to take away the use of his forces but they could not stop the course of his bounties To shew that he is totally good he is good and charitable even amongst his merciless executioners and he lost all he had saving his Godhead onely to gain patience When S. Peter stroke the high Priests servant the patience of our Lord Jesus received the blow and had no patience till he was healed If goodness did shew forth any one beam in the garden modesty sent forth another in the house of Anuas when his face was strucken by a servile hand his mouth opened it self as a Temple from whence nothing came but sweetness and light The God of Truth speaketh to Caiaphas and they spit upon his brightness and cover that face which must discover Heaven for us The mirrour of Angels is tarnisht with the spittle of infernal mouthes and wounded by most sacrilegious hands without any disturbance of his constancy That was invincible by his virtue as the willfulness of the Jews stood immoveable by their obduration There are souls which after they have filled the earth with crimes expect no cure of their diseases but by the hell of the reprobate 2. The second darkness appeareth by the black passion of Judas who falls down into hell with his eyes open and after he had sold his soul sold Jesus and both all he had and all he was to buy an infamous halter to hang himself A soul become passionate with wanton love with ambition or avarice is banished into it self as into a direct hell and delivered to her own passions as to the Furies The Poet Hydra had but seven heads but the spirit of Avarice S. Iohn Climacus saith hath ten thousand The conversation of Jesus which was so full of infinite attractions could never win the spirit of Iudas when it was once bewitched with covetousness The tinkling of silver kept him from rightly understanding Iesus He makes use of the most holy things to betray Holiness it self He employes the kiss of peace to begin war He carries poison in his heart and honey in his mouth he puts on the spirit of Iesus to betray him This shews us plainly that covetous and traiterous persons are farthest from God and nearest to the devils 3. The third power of darkness appeared in the infirmity of S. Peter who after so many protestations of fidelity for fear of death renounced the Authour of life One of the Ancients said The greatest frailty of Humanity was that the wisest men were not infallibly wise at all times And all men are astonished to see that the greatest spirits being left to themselves become barren and suffer eclipses which give examples to the wisest and terrour to all the world God hath suffered the fall of S. Peter to make us have in horrour all presumption of our own forces and to teach us that over-great assurance is oftentimes mother of an approching danger Besides it seemeth he would by this example consecrate the virtue of repentance in this fault of him whom he chose to be head of his Church to make us see that there is no dignity so high nor holiness so eminent which doth not ow Tribute to the mercy of God Aspirations Upon S. Peters tears IT is most true saith S. Peter that a proud felicity hath alwayes reeling feet Thou which didst defie the gates of hell hast yielded thy self to the voice of a simple woman All those conquests which thou didst promise to thy self are become the tropheys of so weak a hand Return to the combat and since she hath triumphed over thee do thou at least triumph over thy self Alas I am afraid even to behold the place of my fall and the weak snares of a simple woman appear to me as boisterous chains Yet what can he fear who is resolute to die If thou find death amongst these massacres thou shouldst rather embrace than decline it For what can it do but make thee companion of life it self Our soul is yet too foul to be a sacrifice for God let us first wash it with tears I fell down before the fire and I will rise by water I have walked upon the sea to come to Jesus and I will now return to him by the way of my tears I will speak now onely by my tears since I have lately talked so wickedly with my mouth Since that which should open to speak Oracles for the Church hath been employed to commit foul treason since we have nothing left free to us but sighs and groans let us make use of the last liberty which is left us and when all is spent return to the mercy of Jesus which all the sins of the world can never evacuate I will from henceforth be a perpetual example to the Church by my fall and rising again from death for the comfort of sinners and the fault of one night shall be lamented by me alll the days of my life Moralities upon the Pretorian or Judgement-Hall 1. IN the passion of our Saviour all things are divine and it seemeth they go as high as they could be raised by that Sovereign power joyned with
extream love Jesus the most supream and redoubted Judge who will come in his great Majesty to judge the world fire and lightening streaming from his face and all things trembling under his feet was pleased at this time to be judged as a criminal person Every thing is most admirable in this judgement The Accusers speak nothing of those things which they had resolved in their counsels but all spake against their consciences As soon as they are heard they are condemned justice forsaketh them and they are wholly possest with rage Pilate before he gave judgement upon Jesus pronounced it against himself for after he had so many times declared him innocēt he could not give judgement without protesting himself to be unjust The silence of Jesus is more admired by this infidel than the eloquence of all the world and Truth without speaking one word triumpheth over falshood A Pagan Lady the wife of Pilate is more knowing than all the Laws more religious than the Priests more zealous than the Apostles more couragious than the men of Arms when she sleepeth Jesus is in her sleep when she talketh Jesus is upon her tongue if she write Jesus is under her pen her letter defended him at the Judgement-Hall when all the world condemned him she calleth him holy when they used him like a thief She maketh her husband wash his hands before he touched that bloud the high price of which she proclaimed She was a Roman Lady by Nation called Claudia Procula and it was very fit she should defend this Jesus who was to plant the Seat of his Church in Rome All this while Jesus doth good amongst so many evils He had caused a place to be bought newly for the burial of Pilgrims at the price of his bloud he reconciles Herod and Pilate by the loss of his life He sets Barrabas at liberty by the loss of his honour he speaks not one word to him that had killed S. John the Baptist who was the voice And the other to revenge himself without thinking what he did shewed him as a King He appears before Pilate as the king of dolours that he might become for us the King of glories But what a horrour is it to consider that in this judgement he was used like a slave like a sorcerer like an accursed sacrifice Slavery made him subject to be whipped the crown of thorns was given onely to Enchanters and that made him appear as a Sorcerer And so many curses pronounced against him made him as the dismissive Goat mentioned in Leviticus which was a miserable beast upon which they cast all their execrations before they sent it to die in the desart He that bindeth the showers in clouds to make them water the earth is bound and drawn like a criminal person He that holds the vast seas in his fist and ballanceth Heaven with his fingers is strucken by servile hands He that enamels the bosom of the earth with a rare and pleasing diversity of flowers is most ignominiously crowned with a crown of thorns O hydeous prodigies which took away from us the light of the Sun and covered the Moon with a sorrowfull darkness Behold what a garland of flowers he hath taken upon his head to expiate the sins of both Sexes It was made of briars and thorns which the earth of our flesh had sowed for us and which the virtue of his Cross took away All the pricks of death were thrust upon this prodigious patience which planted her throne upon the head of our Lord. Consider how the Son of God would be used for our sins while we live in delicacies and one little offensive word goeth to our hearts to which though he that spake it gave the swiftness of wings yet we keep it so shut up in our hearts that it getteth leaden heels which make it continue there fixed Aspirations ALas what do I see here A crown of thorns grafted upon a man of thorns A man of dolours who burns between two fires the one of love the other of tribulation both which do inflame and devour him equally and yet never can consume him O thou the most pure of all beauties where have my sins placed thee Thou art no more a man but a bloudy skin taken from the teeth of Tigers and Leopards Alas what a spectacle is this to despoil this silk * * * Ego sum vermis non home Psalm 21. worm which at this day attires our Churches and Altars How could they make those men who looked upon thy chaste body strike and disfigure it O white Alabaster how hast thou been so changed into scarlet Every stroke hath made a wound and every wound a fountain of bloud And yet so many fountains of thy so precious bloud cannot draw from me one tear But O sacred Nightingale of the Cross who hath put thee within these thorns to make so great harmonies onely by thy silence O holy thorns I do not ask you where are your Roses I know well they are the bloud of Jesus and I am not ignorant that all roses would be thorns if they had any feeling of that which you have Jesus carried them upon his head but I will bear them at my heart and thou O Jesus shalt be the object of my present dolours that thou mayest after be the Fountain of my everlasting joys Moralities for Good Friday upon the death of JESUS CHRIST MOunt Calvarie is a marvellous scaffold where the chiefest Monarch of all the world loseth his life to restore our salvation which was lost and where he makes the Sun to be eclipsed over his head and stones to be cloven under his feet to teach us by insensible creatures the feeling which we should have of his sufferings This is the school where Jesus teacheth that great Lesson which is the way to do well And we cannot better learn it than by his examples since he was pleased to make himself passible and mortal to overcome our passions and to be the Authour of our immortality The qualities of a good death may be reduced to three points of which the first is to have a right conformity to the will of God for the manner the hour and circumstances of our death The second is to forsake as well the affections as the presence of all creatures of this base world The third is to unite our selves to God by the practise of great virtues which will serve as steps to glory Now these three conditions are to be seen in the death of the Prince of Glory upon Mount Calvarie which we will take as the purest Idea's whereby to regulate our passage out of this world 1. COnsider in the first place that every man living hath a natural inclination to life because it hath some kind of divinity in it We love it when it smileth upon us as if it were our Paradise and if it be troublesom yet we strive to retain it though it be accompanied with very great miseries
And if we must needs forsake this miserable body we then desire to leave it by some gentle and easie death This maketh us plainly see the generosity of our Saviour who being Master of life and death and having it in his power to chuse that manner of death which would be least hydeous being of it self full enough of horrour yet nevertheless to conform himself to the will of his heavenly Father and to confound our delicacies he would needs leave his life by the most dolorous and ignominious which was to be found among all the deaths of the whole world The Cross among the Gentiles was a punishment for slaves and the most desperate persons of the whole world The Cross amongst the Hebrews was accursed It was the ordinary curse which the most uncapable and most malicious mouthes did pronounce against their greatest enemies The death of a crucified man was the most continual languishing and tearing of a soul from the body with most excessive violence and agony And yet the Eternal Wisdom chose this kind of punishment and drank all the sorrows of a cup so bitter He should have died upon some Trophey and breathed out his last amongst flowers and left his soul in a moment and if he must needs have felt death to have had the least sense of it that might be But he would trie the rigour of all greatest sufferings he would fall to the very bottom of dishonour and having ever spared from himself all the pleasures of this life to make his death compleat he would spare none of those infinite dolours The devout Simon of Cassia asketh our Saviour going toward Mount Calvarie saying O Lord whither go you with the extream weight of this dry and barren piece of wood Whither do you carry it and why Where do you mean to set it Upon mount Calvary That place is most wild stony how will you plant it Who shall water it Jesus answers I bear upon my shoulders a piece of wood which must conquer him who must make a far greater conquest by the same piece of wood I carry it to mount Calvarie to plant it by my death and water it with my bloud This wood which I bear must bear me to bear the salvation of all the world and to draw all after me And then O faithfull soul wilt not thou suffer some confusion at thine own delicacies to be so fearfull of death by an ordinary disease in a doun-bed amongst such necessary services such favourable helps consolations and kindnesses of friends so sensible of thy condition We bemoan and complain our selves of heat cold distaste of disquiet of grief Let us allow some of this to Nature yet must it be confest that we lament our selves very much because we have never known how we should lament a Jesus Christ crucified Let us die as it shall please the Divine Providence If death come when we are old it is a haven If in youth it is a direct benefit antedated If by sickness it is the nature of our bodies If by external violence it is yet always the decree of Heaven It is no matter how many deaths there are we are sure there can be but one for us 2. Consider further the second condition of a good death which consists in the forsaking of all creatures and you shall find it most punctually observed by our Saviour at the time of his death Ferrara a great Divine who hath written a book of the hidden Word toucheth twelve things abandoned by our Saviour 1. His apparrel leaving himself naked 2. The marks of his dignitie 3. The Colledge of his Apostles 4. The sweetness of all comfort 5. His own proper will 6. The authority of virtues 7. The power of Angels 8. The perfect joys of his soul 9. The proper clarity of his body 10. The honors due to him 11. His own skin 12. All his bloud Now do but consider his abandoning the principal of those things how bitter it was First the abandoning of nearest and most faithfull friends is able to afflict any heart Behold him forsaken by all his so well-beloved Disciples of whom he had made choice amongst all mortal men to be the depositaries of his doctrine of his life of his bloud If Judas be at the mystery of his Passion it is to betray him If S. Peter be there assisting it is to deny him If his sorrowfull mother stand at the foot of the Cross it is to increase the grief of her Son and after he had been so ill handled by his cruel executioners to crucifie him again by the hands of Love The couragious Mother to triumph over her self by a magnanimous constancy was present at the execution of her dear Son She fixed her eyes upon all his wounds to engrave them deep in her heart She opened her soul wide to receive that sharp piercing sword with which she was threatened by that venerable old Simeon at her Purification And Jesus who saw her so afflicted for his sake felt himself doubly crucified upon the wood of the Cross and the heart of his dear Mother We know it by experience that when we love one tenderly his afflictions and disgraces will trouble us more than our own because he living in us by an affectionate life we live in him by a life of reason and election Jesus lived and reposed in the heart of his blessed Mother as upon a Throne of love and as within a Paradise of his most holy delights This heart was before as a bed covered with flowers But this same heart on the day of his Passion became like a scaffold hanged with mourning whereupon our Saviour entered to be tormented and crucified upon the cross of love which was the Cross of his Mother This admirable Merchant who descended from Heaven to accomplish the business of all Ages who took upon him our miseries to give us felicities was plunged within a sea of bloud and in this so precious shipwrack there remained one onely inestimable pearl which was his divine Mother and yet he abandons her and gives her into the hand of his Disciple After he had forsaken those nearest to him see what he does with his body Jesus did so abandon it a little before his death that not being content onely to deliver it as a prey to sorrow but he suffered it to be exposed naked to the view of the world And amongst his sharpest dolours after he had been refused the drink which they gave to malefactours to strengthen them in their torments he took for himself vinegar and gall O what a spectacle was it to see a body torn in pieces which rested it self upon its own wounds which was dying every moment but could not die because that life distilled by drops What Martyr did ever endure in a body so sensible and delicate having an imagination so lively and in such piercing dolours mixt with so few comforts And what Martyr did suffer for all the sins of the
He pacifieth Heaven by sweetening the sharpness of his Heavenly Father quenching by his wounds the fire which was kindled of his just anger Every thing smileth upon this great Peace-maker Nature leaveth her mourning and putteth on robes of chearfulness to congratulate with him his great and admirable conquests It is in him that the Heavenly Father by a singular delight hath poured out the fullness of all Graces to make us an eternal dwelling and to reconcile all in him and by him pacifying by his bloud from the Cross all that is upon earth and in Heaven This is our Joshua of whom the Scripture speaketh that he clears all differences and appeaseth all battels No stroke of any hammer or other iron was heard at the building of Solomon's Temple and behold the Church which is the Temple of the living God doth edifie souls with a marvellous tranquilitie 2. The Sun is not so well set forth by his beams as our Saviour is magnificently adorned with his wounds Those are the characters which he hath engraved upon his flesh alter a hundred ingenious fashions The Ladies count their pearls and diamonds but our Saviour keeps his wounds in the highest attire of his Magnificences It is from thence that the beauty of his body taketh a new state of glory and our faith in the resurrection is confirmed that the good fill themselves with hope miscreants with terrour and Martyrs find wherewith to enflame their courage These divine wounds open themselves as so many mouthes to plead our cause before the Celestial Father Our Saviour Jesus never spake better for us than by the voice of his precious Bloud Great inquiry hath been made for those mountains of myrrh and frankincense which Solomon promiseth in the Canticles but now we have found them in the wounds of Jesus It is from thence that there cometh forth a million of sanctified exhalations of sweetness of peace and propitiation as from an eternal Sanctuary A man may say they are like the Carbuncle which melteth the wax upon which it is imprinted for they melt our hearts by a most profitable impression At this sight the Eternal Father calms his countenance and the sword of his Justice returneth into the sheath Shall not we be worthy of all miseries if we do not arm these wounds against us which are so effectual in our behalf And if this bloud of our Abel after it hath reconciled his cruel executioners should find just matter to condemn us for our ingratitudes John the Second King of Portugal had made a sacred vow never to refuse any thing which should be asked of him in the virtue of our Saviour's wounds which made him give all his silver vessel to a poor gentleman that had found out the word And why should not we give our selves to God who both buyeth and requireth us by the wounds of Jesus 3. Jesus inspireth the sacred breath of his mouth upon the Apostles as upon the first fruits of Christianity to repair the first breath and respiration of lives which the Authour of our race did so miserably lose If we can obtain a part of this we shall be like the wheels of Ezechiels mysterious chariot which are filled with the spirit of life That great Divine called Matthias Vienna said That light was the substance of colours and the spirit of Jesus is the same of all our virtues If we live of his flesh there is great reason we should be animated by his Spirit Happy a thousand times are they who are possessed with the the Spirit of Jesus which is to their spirit as the apple of the eye S. Thomas was deprived of this amorous communication by reason of his incredulitie He would see with his eyes and feel with his hands that which should rather be comprehended by faith which is an eye blessedly blind which knoweth all within its own blindness and is also a hand which remaining on earth goeth to find God in Heaven Aspirations GReat Peace-maker of the world who by the effusion of thy precious bloud hast pacified the wars of fourty ages which went before thy death This word of peace hath cost thee many battels many sweats and labours to cement this agreement of Heaven and earth of sence and reason of God and man Behold thou art at this present like the Dove of Noah's Ark thou hast escaped a great deluge of passions and many torrents of dolours thrown head-long one upon another Thou bringest us the green Olive branch to be the mark of thy eternal alliances What Shall my soul be so audacious and disordered as to talk to thee of war when thou speakest to her of peace To offer thee a weapon when thou offerest her the Articles of her reconciliation signed with thy precious bloud Oh what earth could open wide enough her bosom to swallow me if I should live like a little Abiram with a hand armed against Heaven which pours out for me nothing but flowers and roses Reign O my sweet Saviour within all the conquered powers of my soul and within my heart as a conquest which thou hast gotten by so many titles I will swear upon thy wounds which after they have been the monuments of thy fidelity shall be the adored Altars of my vows and sacrifices I will promise thereupon an inviolable fidelity to thy service I will live no more but for thee since thou hast killed my death in thy life and makest my life flourish within thy triumphant Resurrection FINIS AN ALPHABETICAL TABLE Setting down the most observable Matters contained in the first three TOMES of the HOLY COURT A Aâ—dâ—rites Fol 38 Abdâ—lâ—â—in 7 Abraham the Hermit 86 Abstinence defined 468 The Aâ—â—rons of men must be directed to one assured Butt 67 Apprehension of Affronts 47 Retreat into the Conscience in Affronts is a good remedy against them 58 Aglae a noble Dame 379 She is a worldly Widow ibid. She is in love ibid. Her admirable Conversion 380 Her devotion in enquiry after Martyrs ibid. Her speech to Boniface her Steward ibid. Agrippa Grand-child of Herod 3â—2 His flatterie ibid. Alexander son of Mariamne imprisoned 130 Alms the works of God 9 Ambition an itch 56 It is a forreign vice ibid. It is the life of a slave 57 The Ambitious are miserable ibid. Extream disaster of an Ambitions man ib. Ambitious men travel for Rachel and find 〈◊〉 58 Ambition was the God of Antiochus 347 Sr. Ambrose 175 His Calling ib. His Election 176 His rare endowments 179 His government ib. He cherisheth the Religious 181 He took away superstitions and excesses ib. His puritie of invention ib. His Oration against Symmachus 184 He refuteth Symmachus his strongest arguments ib. His answer concerning the dearth 186 His greatness in the Conversion of Sr. Augustine 188 He speaketh unto the two souls of his Pupils 211 His brave speech to Theodorick 214 The majestie of Sr. Ambrose 205 His prudence and charitie 209 He is persecuted by Justice 206 Resolution of Sr.
Velocitas cogitationum animi celeritas ingeniâ— varictas multiformes illis notaâ— imprimâ—t Plin. l. 7 cap. 12. thoughts divers inflexions of the heart tastes distastes which thrust on one another as the waves of the sea They likewise thereunto adde that they very easily are turmoiled with suspicions jealousies and distrusts the least matters offend them and many once displeased are irreconcileable And which is more that the most part of them have narrow hearts and hands nor open enough to help their good friends at a need they being ordinarily much tyed to the interest of their family so that there are many who love not so much for love as for gain Reasons for the modest love of women Amor magis lentitur cum prodit eum indigentia August l. 10. de Trin. c. 12 S. Thom. 1. 2 q 25. This may well happen in certain humours but there are some grievous spirits who do not so easily receive the impressions of these ill qualities and who persevere till death in an unshaken constancy of affection And verily it seemeth that contrary to what hath been spoken nature more favoureth them therein because Love as saith S. Thomas after S. Augustine appears best in indigence and those love most fervently and powerfully who besides other attractives see themselves bound unto it by some kind of necessity Now the inclination which a woman hath towards man is as it were necessary For it is more easie for a man to be without a woman having regard to spirituall and temporall assistances as Sacraments and Physick then for a woman to be without a man Adam was for a while all alone in Paradise in a vaste world but God permitted not that Eve should be there alone one moment for this solitude would have gone hard with her to see so many living creatures and in so divers kinds and not meet with one to bear her resemblance This being so one may with reason say that as we love things necessary with more endeavour and stability so women are tyed with the more indissoluble chains in virtuous inclinations But not to speak of this motive which proceeding from a meer motion of nature cannot be the most generous we find men who rest upon Indifferency and seek nothing but to content their own senses and to idolatrize themselves but women very rarely stay upon neutrality needs they must love or hate there is no third condition for them and since according to the Philosopher it is fit to judge of Contraries by proportion we will truly say that if they be susceptible of the impressions of hatred above all may be said so are they likewise capable of noble Amities They think themselves more engaged in honour to entertain them when they have begun fearing to be disparaged by the multitude of wandring and flitting affections Adde also to this that they are more tender then men and that softnesse of temperature is to love as the air to the ray of the Sun seeing the affections more easily penetrate where they find dispositions which have already prepared a way for them Lastly as they commonly are more devout and religious then men so they observe virtuous Amities with respect and entertain them out of conscience and especially such as are grounded on piety which is the thing that most powerfully predominateth over their heart I speak this in respect of those who are very virtuous but as we find few rare virtues and strong amities accompanied with all necessary circumstances are not so frequent in their sex It seemeth also that the Examples we derive as well from Nature as Civil life insensibly lead us to the proof of that which we propose Among living creatures the Females are the more Bodin Theatri natur l. 3. sect 6. sharp and ardent as well in their affection as in their anger the cuttle-fish takes revenge on that which striketh her male but the male flyeth if his female catch a blow as Aristotle hath observed in the ninth book of his living Creatures I well remember the Antients studiously reckoned up the pairs of friends which they had observed throughout all Ages and that Lucian Luc. Toxatis in his Toxaris hath strange examples of amity between men as of him who left his whole family in a fire to carry out his dearest friend on his shoulders and of another who gave his own eyes for the ransome of him whom he most tenderly affected But who likewise would in particular decipher the notable acts of love which many wives have witnessed to their husbands should find wherewith to be moved to admiration and to settle his constancy If we talk of preserving a widdow-hood inaccessible to second wedlocks Rare amitieâ— of women Valer. Max. l. 4 c. 6. how many may we find of them even in Gentilisme who after the death of their dear husbands have said what the antient Valeria did My husband is dead to others but not to me If we speak of suffering great toils of body Queen Hipsicrates followed King Mithridates her husband as one of his bravest Captains gallautly corvetting a horse and galloping through snows and wildernesses not to be separated from him If we discourse of banishment and ignominies Sulpitia brake up doors and locks to run Idem lib. 6. cap. 7. maugre her mother after her exiled husband among the proscripts of the Triumvirat If imprisonments be Lipsii exem politica put into the list of account Eponia was nine years shut up with her husband in the hollow cavern of a Tomb. If you regard maladies a daughter of Spain daily Rhod. Santius histor Hispan p. 1. cap. 4. Scard lib. 3. hist Paravinae with her tongue licked the envenomed wound of King Edward of England her dear husband If you look on the terrible of terribles death Blaunch the Italian Lady scorning the flatteries of the Tyrant Actolin who passionately woed her captive though she were escaping out of the hands of souldiers she went to breathe out her life upon the tomb of him to whom she first of all had given her heart and affections Yea I much more admire those who willingly have deprived themselves of all riches greatnesse yea even of the presence of their husbands whom they dearly loved to procure them liberty wealth and honour Cedrenus Cedren in Epirom hist p. 596. observeth in his history that Constantine the ninth exercising tyranny as well in matter of love as within his Empire caused the Roman Argyropylus to be sought out and commanded him to repudiate his wife whom he had lawfully married to take his daughter on condition that he would make him Cesar and associate him with himself in his dignity but if he condescended not to his will he threatned to pull out his eyes and to make him all the dayes of his life miserable The Excellent loyalty of a Lady Lady who was present seeing her husband involved in all the perplexities that might be and
of his own accord and wholly melts himself as Incense in the fire in such sort that S. Gregory very well saith That he is the Amber of the Prophet Ezekiel enrobed with the heat of flames But better saith Origen who calleth him the Perfume which is annihilated Origen in Cant. unguentum exinanitum for us comparing the will of the Son of God to a viol filled with an aromatick liquor which one hath turned up-side down to empty it to the last drop so the desires and affections of Jesus are poured forth in the bosome of his heavenly Father But most espeally Hab. 3. Qui ascendis super equos tuos quadrigae tuae salvatio on the day of his Passion for then was the time when the Prophecy of Habakuk was accomplished It is thon who mountest upon the light-horses and who bearest salvation in thy mysterious chariot I now leave those who interpret this passage of the chariot of God triumphing in those ugly darknesses of Egypt I leave those who referre it to the second coming I follow the Interpretation which S. Ambrose Ambros in Luc. Patibulum triumphale 〈…〉 presenteth unto me who calleth the Crosse a gibbet of Triumph and others who term it the true chariot of the glory of the God of hostes I consequently say that the light-horses of our Saviour are his winged and flaming desires which bare him more gloriously then Elias unto the throne of Honour where he hath made a full consummation of himself by the separation of his bloud and soul in that great Sacrifice which put Heaven to mourning the Sunne into eclipse the Earth into quakings and men the most stupid into affrightment O with what obedience with what resignation did that dying Swan then appear when all the starres as Dydimus relateth about three of the clock afternoon were seen in the heavens to enlighten his death O with what union of his will to Gods will he spake these words O my God O my Father behold me on the Pile to be sacrificed to thy Divine Majesty My God I have desired it from the first moment of my conception Deus mens volvi le gem tuam in medio cordis mei I have had the law of Obedience engraven in my heart with a chizzel of fire and an eternall character and at this time O my celestiall Father I wish it I would it and will protest it whilst my soul shall be on my lip to have but one onely desire in the world which is to annihilate my self in accomplishing thy will § 6. The condemnation of the evil Desires of the world and the means how to divert them ANd yet thou O disloyall soul wilt in thy heart entertain a masse of Desires thou wilt Against evil desires rather live among feavers and burning coals then tie thy self to the will of God! Rebel thou hast In omni colle sublimi in omni ligno frondo so tu prosternebaris meretrix Jer. 2. 21. prostituted thy self on high and below upon the mountains and under trees under cedars and on the hysop so many great and little Desires have possessed thy heart Thou miserable man to have affection in store for a deceiving creature who hath put the sword of division into thy marriage to cut asunder a knot tied before the face of Angels and men Thou unfortunate maid unlucky victime to fill all the sails of thy Desires for a man more light then the wind and more faithlesse then ice whose words are but promises promises but perjuries perjuries but forsakings and forsakings but diastres and to have neither heart nor thought for God a Father so benigne a Saviour so affectionate a Lover so loyall Thou to burn alive with black and shamefull flames of ravenous avarice and to have no feeling for him who hath the beauty of fields the enamel of meadows the extent of seas the riches of metals and all the magazines of the Universe in his bosome Thou to run at randome after transitory honour which glisters like a worm in a piece of rotten wood and which pricketh like a thorn and not to hold sympathy with him who crowneth the heads of his Elect with eternall garlands Thou to live daily in fits of fire and ice for a slight toy for a gorget for a chopino for a little dog a parichito for all that which I neither can nor dare to expresse O what a shame is it that all creatures serve for snares and prisons to hearts moistned with the bloud of Jesus and they not to be softned by this venerable shower able to break rocks asunder and dissolve anvils You will ask me what you should do to be delivered from this tyranny First accustome your self to cut away all superfluities whether of apparel Desideria tua parvo redime hoc enim tantum curare debes ut desinant Sence diet vain company or other delights which fight against the law of God Reduce your appetites to a small cost and take more care how to end them then to cherish them Resolve with your self to lop off all your superfluities and to be contented with little holding it for a thing most assured that by how much the lesse you shall depend on your greedy desires which are most forward mistresses to whom you have prostituted your Christian liberty so much shall you be the more near to God Secondly if you feel in your heart some seeds of desires to sprout and disquiet you seasonably prevent them one while diverting them by some laudable employment another while by pulling them up with main strength in their first tendernesse and never to Non obtinebis ut desinat si incipere permiseris Sen. ep 116. let them get strength to your prejudice It is much more easie to defend ones self in the beginning from a passion then to moderate the violence of the exorbitancy when it is lodged in your heart Thirdly follow Aristotle's counsel and look Voluptates abeuntes specta fessas poenitentiâ plenas quò minus cupidè repetantur on all the objects of pleasure not such as they are when they at first soothe Sensuality but such as they be when they turn their backs to forsake us Lastly exercise your self continually in the desire of joyes eternall Behold all those things which environ you all those honours those riches those pomps as deceitfull and momentary things Behold them as a flitting company Each day undo a knot of your slavery Put your self into the liberty of Gods Children Place your self in such a nakednesse of spirit that you may say One and no more Blind soul how canst thou live one sole moment with so many desires which are as so many daughters to marry what a care must be had well to bestow them what a fear to bestow them ill what a grief that they are ill bestowed Stupid soul canst thou rest with so many bloud-suckers fastned to the marrow of thy bones
places under the ground such as that which we now adayes call Sybilla's Grot and it is thought the Sun never reflected into their caves but it is not so in the visits of the holy Ghost The great S. Dionys de Hierarch coelesti sea of Divine Lights is ever at hand and abundantly overfloweth in favour of such evils as will participate therein I am not ignorant that certain Divines have said that some sinners arrive many times to such exorbitancy of crimes and ingratitudes that they in the end are totally abandoned by God and have not all the rest of their time one sole good thought But the Bellarm. l. 2 de Gratia most moderate say that this happeneth for certain time and certain moments albeit one cannot generally S. Thom. 3. 4. 86. Dicere quod peccatum sit in hac vita de quo quis poenltere non possit erroneum est Misericordiae Dei nec mensuram possumus ponere nec tempora definire S. Leo. ep 89 Admirabile conversions of such as seemed desperate say that a man may come to an estate so desperate as to be wholly impenetrable to the graces of God It is an errour to say that a crime so detestable may happen in the world of which one cannot have remission We cannot set limits nor bound time in the infinite mercies of God Moses the Ethiopian who was so black of body so stained in conscience so wicked of life that he was accounted a devil incarnate was so changed by the Grace of God that he became an Angel of heaven An infamous thief having obtained his pardon of the Emperour Mauricius was put into the Hospitall of S. Samson where he so plentifully bewailed his sins in the last agonies of death that the Physician who took care of him coming to see him found him unexpectedly dead and over his face a handkerchief bathed with his tears and soon after he had a certain revelation of his Beatitude To this purpose Pope Celestine said That a true Conversion made at the Coelest 1. ep 2. c. 2. Vera ad Deum conversio in ultimis positorum mente potius est existimanda quam tempere last end of life is to be measured by the mind not by the time God caused a thief to mount from the gallows to Glory to teach us that as there is nothing impossible to his Power so there is not any thing limitted in his Mercy It is onely fit for him to Despair who can be as wicked as God is good § 5 The Examples which Jesus Christ gave us in the abysse of his suffering are most efficacious against pusillanimity BEhold the consolations we may derive fâ—om our first model but if we will consider the second The sight of our Saviour teacheth us to persevere in our good hopes and not to despair we shall find that our Lord who did all for our instruction witnessed strong hopes in the great abysse of dolours wherewith he was all covered over on the Crosse to encourage us to hope well in the most sensible afflictions That you may well understand this point so important you must consider what then was the state of the body and soul of Jesus Christ the body was so full of wounds that they who could not be satisfied with his pains did more in him torment his wounds then his members He had almost no part about him entire whereof he on the Crosse could make use but his eyes and his tongue His eyes not being pulled out as Samson's and Zedekiah's there was nothing left for him but to set before his view the Martyrdome of his good Mother who was fastned on the Crosse by love and who imprinted in her soul by a most amorous reflexion all the torments which the King of the afflicted bare on his body His Tongue which he had reserved free to be the organ of heavenly harmonies in those fervent prayers he sent to his celestiall Father was wholly drenched in gall But all this was nothing in comparison of the dolours of his Soul For he was destitute for a time of all divine Consolations abandoned to himself delivered over as a prey to all the outrageous sadnesse which may grow in our minds It was a horrible blasphemy in Calvin to say that our Lord descended into Hell Calvin l. 2. Instit c. 16. there to endure the pains of the damned without the suffering of which he was not in a state to be able to redeem the world This spoken in the manner as this abominable Novelist hath dared to write woundeth and offendeth the most obdurate ears But if we Suaâ—ez in 3. q. 46. Fieri potuit ut intensivè esset major an ità de facto fuerit non potest constare will speak with the most eminent Divines we may say that it is very likely that the Agonies of our Saviours Soul might in some sort enter into Comparison with the sadnesse of the damned not by reason of their condition but of their excesse And certainly some have thought that our Saviour stirring up in his blessed Soul a Contrition for all the sin of the world in The excesse of the contrition and dolour of our Lord. generall and of every one in particular was wounded with so piercing a sorrow that it in some sort exceeded that of devils and the damned For all the sadnesse which may be imagined in hell consisteth in acts which are produced from Principles that surpasse not the force of Humane or Angelicall Nature but the pain which our Saviour endured for the expiation of our Ingratitude was derived from the heart of God according to the whole latitude of the Grace and Charity of the word Incarnrte For which cause it is conformable to reason to say The three sadnesses of our Saviour by Allegory that this blessed Soul entred into three kinds of sacred and honourable flames and of pains wholly Divine The first was in the garden of Olivet when he said His soul was sad to death The Maâ— 16. second when he pronounced on the Crosse My God my God why hast thou forsaken me Complaining Mat. 17. not of the separation of the Word as some antient Writers have understood it little conform to true Vox recedentis verbi Dei contestata dissidium Hil. can 33. Athan. lib. de Incarn Aug. ract 47. in Joan. Theology but of recesse from protection as S. Athanasius doth explicate it in his Book of the Incarnation and S. Augustine in his 47. Tract upon S. John The third was at the going forth of the incomparable soul of Jesus when there was not so small a filament of a vein in his body which resented not the absence of this divine Sunne Notwithstanding among all these great convulsions which put heaven into mourning and earth into quakings under his feet he stood firm and with an eye bathed in bloud beheld the raies of Glory which were to crown him
these Motives and the felicity of others who have gloriously surmounted them And to add a pleasing variety to this last piece I will conclude with many short and remarkable Examples suited to those four mentioned Passions THE DISASTERS OF SUCH As have yielded to the Passion OF LOVE AND The Glory of Souls which have overcome it 1. LEt us begin with that Passion which is the Source of the rest and which in all times hath caused trouble among men to give a ground to our discourse The children of great Clodoveus became not so soon tractable to the severity of Christian manners but suffered themselves very often to be transported with very violent exorbitancies and particularly with unlawful loves which caused ill example in their house and great disorder throughout their Kingdome Gregory of Tours l. 4. Gregory of Tours observeth fordid and shamefull affections in the person of King Caribert grand-child of Clodoveus which cast an Eclipse upon the lights of the Diademe of this great King and could never be rooted out but by patience by prayers and by the effects of the puissant hand of God Queen Ingobergua who knew the humours of her The plot of Queen Ingobergna to cure her husbands passion succeedeth ill out of too much affectation husband to be addicted to inconsiderate love and who was jealous enough of her bed took not among her attendant Ladies those nymphs of the Court which are full of attractives and deserve admiration but purposely chose out base and despicable wayters thinking it was a singular remedy against the Kings malady She had at that time in her Court and service two daughters of a Clothworker the eldest of which was called Marcovessa and the youngest Mirefleur Caribert whose love was more lustfull then ambitious became desperately in love and courted them to the prejudice of his honour and wedlock which wounded the soul of the Queen with a very sensible arrow seeing the havock this passion made in the mind of this Monarch Jealousie suggesteth her a trick which seemed sufficient to divert him from his infamous servitude if this passion might be cured by another and that a jealous woman did not irritate the wounds of love by its proper remedies She calleth the Father of her two servants commanded him secretly to practise his trade in some corner of the Court whither she very cunningly brought his Majesty to make him see the base extraction of his Mistresses and to throw shame confusion upon him But he who at distance saw this wile coming towards him and the solemn preparation of it was displeased saying that if nothing were wanting but nobility to render these maids worthy of his love he would sufficiently ennoble them by his person and that it onely belonged to him to raise inferiour things by loving them and as great ones will rather be flattered in their passions then censured instantly he made a shamefull divorce with the Queen contrary to laws both divine and humane to take to wife the younger of these sisters which was Mirefleur But love which being of its nature a slave faiâ—eth not to be disdainfull quickly put a distaste of her unto him to make him look after the elder who seemed the more modest and wear a religious habit whether desirous to enflame love by this pretext which ordinarily is eagre to pursue all it can least obtein or whether she did it to give lesse advantage and suspicion to the jealous spirit of Queen Ingobergua The fire of Concupiscence which spareth not to enflame Linsey-wolsey as well as Satin continually blowed by the wind of ambition which promised this creature a giddy Fancy of a Crown burnt so strongly that this spirit which had more cunning then beauty caused so much madnesse to creep into the heart of this miserable king that he resolved to marry her which he did qualifying a prodigious whoredome with the title of wedlock The Queen was ready to dy and addresseth her complaints to God and men The Bishops who were assembled in the Councell of Tours in favour of her made Canons against incestuous marriages but the Canons at that time were not strong enough against the arrows of love S. German Bishop of Paris sent forth thunders of excommunication but passion armed with authority made no more account of them then of flying fires which are quenched in their birth God thereto put his hand by the prayers of the Church and took away this religious woman by a horrible and sudden death which affrighted the King and he in the end conceived shame and sorrow for his fault deriving his salvation out of necessity since he could not gain it from the glory of his refistance That which remained him of life was short and miserable and his passion having rendred him contemptible to his own subjects he quickly left Crown and Scepter to pay a tribute to his Tombe 2. Another kind of sottish love appeared in the government Gregory of Tours l. 5. of young Meraveus which I will here relate as being able to minister matter of terrour to youth which takes liberty in clandestine marriages King Chilperic his father happened to bear away the bloody spoil of his brother Sigebert who had been traiterously murthered by the subtile practises of Fredegond when he was come to the Eve of his triumph The famous Brunhault widow of the deceased King as yet very young was become a party of this miserable booty and saw her pretious liberty enthralled in the hands of her brother in law and sister who was born for vengeance and exercised in massacres Her fortune represented nothing unto her but a thousand images of terrour and the cruelty of her adversaries made her apprehend all that which notable mischievous wickednesse can do when it hath the sword of power in hand Yet her bloud was spared to consume her with languors sentence of her Captivity was pronounced by giving her the City of Roan for prison A trusty man A notable example of Merouevs to dievrt youth from licentious mariages was sought for to execute this Commission and the King cast his eye on his son Meroveus a young Prince of a nature sweet and facile endowed wiht excellent parts which made him to be beloved and beheld as a rising star by all the eyes of France This was to put fire too near to stubble not considering that the calme of such natures is ordinarily the most turmoiled with storms of love So soon as Brunhault who according to the relation of S. Gregory of Torus was a very beautyfull and well spoken Princesse began to unciel her eyes which had hitherto been drenched in a deluge of tears she appeared to Meroveus as a blushing Morn which raiseth the more fair after a shower and the arrow of love sharpned by compassion made such flames to sparkle in his heart that he was enforced to quench them with his bloud He saw himself the captive of his fair prisoner
feet praying him to forget what was past yet he caused his processe to be made in Parliament upon accusations which did more manifest the Passion of the King then any crime in the life of the Count. Notwithstanding the close practise was so great that he was condemned to death and although Lewis terrified by his own Conscience and the generall opinion would not have it to proceed any further yet he confined him to the Bastile where he had spent the rest of his dayes if he had not found means to save himself But whom would he spare who put away and deprived of Office his best servants for having hindered him during his sicknesse to come near unto a Window out of the care they had of his health This passion was a Devil in the heart of this Prince which made him odious to many and filled his whole life with disturbance and acerbity 10. A revengefull spirit spares nothing to please it Aymonius l. 5. c. 39. self and oft-times openeth precipices to fill them with death and ruine It is a strange thing that one sole Wicked revenge of an Abbot and of John Prochytas against the French Abbot of Saint German de Prez named Gaulin had almost ruined the whole Kingdome of France for having been bereaved of an Abbacy He many years revolved his revenge and after the death of Lewis le Begue under whom he had received the injury which he proposed to himself he went to Lewis the German whom he enflamed with so much cunning to the conquest of the Kingdome of France that he set a huge army on foot to surprize the heir of the Crown in the Confusion of his Affairs and the trouble was so great that needs must Lorraigne be cut off from the Kingdome of France to give it to this Conquerour So did John Prochytas the Sicilian who having been deprived of his estate by Charles of Anjou conceived a mortall enmity against the French which made him contrive that bloudy Tragedy of Sicilian Vespres This unfortunate man disguising himself in the habit of a Franciscan went to Peter of Arragon to shew him the means how to invade Sicily and seeing that he and his wife Queen Constance bent all their endeavour thereto he ceased not to stir up the Countrey where he had much credit and used so many engines that in the end he caused one of the most horrible massactes which was ever projected On an Easter-day in the time of Vespres the French had all their throats cut throughout the Island of Sicily No age sex condition nobility nor religious were spared The black spirit of the Abysle drew men from the Altar to runne to the sword which they indifferently thrust into the bosome of their guests nor were so many cryes and lamentations nor such images of death flying before their eyes able to wound their hearts with one sole touch of compassion which useth to move the most unnaturall Rage blown by the breath of the most cruell furies of Hell made them to open the bellies of women and to dig into their entrails to tear thence little Infants conceived of French bloud It caused the most secret sanctuaries of nature to be violated to put those to death who had not as yet the first taste of life Shall we not then say that the passion of revenge which hath taken root in a soul half damned is the most fatall instrument that Hell can invent to overthrow the Empire of Christianity 11. All these accidents well considered are sufficient to moderate the passions which make so much noyse among mankind But let us consider before we go off this stage that Anger and Revenge are not creatures invincible to Courtiers who yet retein som Character of Christianity Robert one of the greatest Kings that ever ware the Crown of France saw his two sonnes bandied against Glaber him when provoked by the practises of the Queen Great moderation in Saint King Robert their mother who ceased not to insult over them they ran to the field with some tumultuary troops and began to exercise acts of hostility which made them very guilty The father incensed by their rebellion and forcibly urged by the sting of the mothers revenge speedily prepares an army and entreth into Burgundy to surprise and chastise them Thereupon William Abbot of S. Benigne of Dion goeth to him and shews that these disorders were an effect of the divine Providence which we should rather appease by penance then irritate by anger that if his Majesty would call to mind he should find that his youth was not exempt from errours committed by the inconsideration of age and the practise of evil counsels that he ought not to revenge with sword and fire that which he had suffered in his own person and that as he would not any should enterprise upon his hereditary possession so it was fit not to meddle with that which was Gods who had reserved vengeance to himself This speech had such power that the good King was instantly appeased caused his children to come embraced them with paternall affection and received them into favour tying their reconciliation with an indissoluble knot What can one answer to the mildnesse of a King accompanied with so much power and wisdome but confesse that pardon is not a thing impossible since this great Prince upon the words of a religious man layes down arms and dissipateth all his anger as waves break at the foot of rocks 12. We must confesse that Regality was never Helgandus in vita Roberti Regis seen allyed to a spirit more mild and peaceable and that his actions should rather be matter of admiration then example He pardoned twelve murtherers who had a purpose to attempt upon his life after he had caused them to confesse and communicate saying it was not reasonable to condemn those whom the Church had absolved and to afflict death upon such as had received the bread of life But what would not he have done who surprising a rogue which had cut away half of his cloke furred with Ermins said mildely to him Save thy self and leave the rest for another who may have need of it 13. This mildnesse is very like to that of Henry the First afterward King of England who seeing his Fathers body to be stayed in open street upon the instant of his obsequies and this by a mean Citizen who complained the soil of the land where the dead which was William the Conquerour was to be interred was his Ancestours inheritance he was nothing at all moved but presently commanded his Treasurer to satisfie the Creditour and to prosecute the pomp of his Funerals 14. Lewis the Eleventh did a King-like act towards Generous act of Lewis the Eleventh the ashes of the fair Agnes who had possessed the heart of his father Charls the Seventh and had persecuted him the son in her life-time At her death she gave threescore thousand crowns for a foundation to
awaken their former aversions Time slideth away very quietly with them untill the arrivall of a very unexpected accident Childeric after the departure of S. Leger useth the greatnesse of his power licentiously and soileth both his Name and Dignity with inconsiderate actions which quickly made this great Minister of State to be deplored and all the Envy to be cast upon the King for having so easily dismissed him The contempt of his person began so to creep into the minds of his subjects that defamatory Libels went abroad upon his Passions and Government which seemed to have no other aim but the weakning of his Authority He thought to quench a coal with flames and entreth into outrageous anger against those whom he suspected to raise any question upon his actions He causeth a gentleman named Bodil to be taken and having caused him to be tyed to a post he commandeth him to be ignominiously whipped contrary to the manner of ordinary punishments which occasioned so much acerbity in the Nobility that all in an instant rebelled against him Bodil transported by the fury of his Passion and encouraged by the number of his Complices out of a horrible attempt kills Childeric whilst he was a hunting and passing on to the Palace extendeth his revenge like a devil fleshed in massacres to the person of the Queen great with child whom he murdered The Court is drenched in deep desolation the pillars of the State totter there is need of able men to free them from this danger The friends of Ebroin and S. Leger who sought their own ends in the employment of these two invited them with urgent reasons covered with the good of the State to return to the world assuring them that all France went to ruine if they supported it not Ebroin to whom South-sayers promised wonders and who under hope he had to forsake the Monks Coul had already suffered his hair to grow to be the better disposed for all occasions shewed himself nothing hard to be perswaded S. Leger therein used more resistance but in the end suffered himself to be overcome leaving the sweetnesse of Solitude to enter again into the troubles of the world which never passeth unpunished but in such as do it by the Laws of pure Obedience He is received into his Bishoprick as an Angel and his friends do all they can to bring him to the Court and to gain him a good esteem in the Kings mind who seemed to stand in need of such a servant to purchase the more authority among the people who with much satisfaction had tasted the sweetnesse of his Government Ebroin on the other side seeing Thierry Childeric's brother had taken possession of the Kingdome was very confident of his return having formerly been of the faction of the young King But he being neglected Leudegesillus an antient favourite of Thierry 's had undertaken the government of affairs The furious Monk storms like a mad-man for the dignity of Master of the Palace which he had possessed and being unable to creep into it by mildnesse he entreth thereinto by open violence He rallieth together all his antient friends in this new change of State he gathereth a tumultuary army and flyeth into the field with so much speed that he almost surprized the King with his Favourite to use them at his discretion Necessity enforceth to offer candles and incense to this devil he is sought unto for peace great recompences are proposed to his crimes his ambition takes no satisfaction but in the object of his design He draweth Leudegesillus to a Conference under shew of accommodation and being a man without Faith or Soul he killeth him emptying his place by a murder to replenish it by a Treachery Notwithstanding he lets Thierry know his arms were not taken but for his service and that he had no other purpose but to reduce all powers under his Sceptre The other was in a condition of inability to defend himself which made him resolve rather to take him for a servant then to have him for a master In the end this horrible fury hidden under the habit of a Monk never ceased until it carried him to the nearest place of a Royall Throne So soon as he was possessed of his former dignity he bent all his powers to vengeance and thought upon nothing but of ridding his hands of such as had crossed his fortune S. Leger was the very first he aimed at in his wicked plots he dispatcheth troops to make havock about the city of Autun and gives commands to murderers executioners of his revenge to lay hold of his person The good Prelate who heard the lamentable cryes of the people afflicted by the detestation of these hostilities went forth and presents himself before these barbarians as a victime of expiation to deliver himself over to death and to stay the stream of the miseries which overflowed his diocesse He was prepared to make an Oration but they as Tygres which had no commerce with musick presently fell upon him and having taken him they pulled out his eyes to lead him in triumph to Ebroin He had already poisoned the ear of the young King having set forth this sage Bishop as the most execrable man on earth and the most capitall enemy he had in the world There remained nothing but to produce him in this state fully to accomplish the contentment his bruitishnesse did aim at He at the same time caused Guerin S. Legers brother to be taken doubly to torment him in that he most loved and having presented them both before the King he beginneth to charge them with injuries and scorns the Saints eclipsed eyes and faces covered all over with bloud nothing mollifyed the heart of this Polyphemus Captivity tyed not the tongues of the two brothers nor excesse of miseries dejected their courages They spake with all liberty what might be expected from their constancy rendering thanks to God that he in this world had chastised them with temporall punishments as true children and menacing Ebroin with an eternity of torments which the anger of God reserved for the exorbitancy of his wickednesse This cruel creature who expected some more pliantnesse in so great a misery was immeasurably offended and instantly commanded them to be separated and Guerin to be speedily put to death He received the sentence of death with great fortitude embracing his blind brother with all unexpressible tendernesse and encouraging him to the last conflict with words full of the spirit of God After this he is bound to a pillar and knocked down with stones Ebroin who would relish his revenge by long draughts found out in his heart inventions of a hangman to torment Saint Leger causing him to walk on stones as sharp as razours and appointing his face to be disfigured by cutting out his tongue his nose and lips to send him from thence a prisoner to the Monastery of Fecan All this was executed yet the patience of this incomparable man by so hideous
and that which is exacted to husband it for their benefit to employ the customes with the greatest fidelity as the bloud of men redeemed by the blood of Jesus Christ This is to take order for the Education of Youth to honour the Church and persons of desert to Authorize good Magistrates to have a particular care of acknowledging the good services of men at Arms which do sacrifice themselves in a thousand occasions for the Common-weal It is to have great compassion on the poor especially Widows and Orphans to hear willingly the Petitions of those that are afflicted and oppressed to take thought for all watch for all to do that in his Realm that the soul infused doth in the Body It is too much power to say that which Nero said by Royalty a mervellous profession the tongue of Seneca Among so many mortals I am the onely one chosen in heaven to performe the office of God upon earth I am the Arbitratour both of life and death I am the distributer of fortunes the favours that come from above are not bestowed but by my mouth I cause the rejoycings of cities and countreys nothing flourisheth but by my favour If I speak but a word I make a million of swords to come forth of the scabberd and if I command I cause them to be put up again It is I that give and take away liberty which make and unmake Kings which remove nations which lay waste rebellious towns which hold the happinesse or unhappinesse of men in mine hands What other thing is this that he vaunts and so proudly boasts himself of but onely to confesse himself responsible to God for so great an account whereof this miserable Emperour acquitted himself so ill that having lived like a beast he dyed like a mad-man There is no man worthy to reign but he that can tremble at the very shadow of Royalty Great Princes are not made by the suffrages of men Great Princes the workmanship of God alone but by the finger of God they are born in Heaven by the Divine Decrees before they appear upon earth by humane birth To speak the truth there are wonderfull qualities required to make a well-accomplished King and this is a thing more hard to Very rare find then the Phenix nest When the children of Israel had this conceit that Moses was lost they repair to his brother Aaron and intreat him to make them a God to sit in the place of their Conductour as if they meant to say after Moses no lesse will serve them then a Deity Neverthelesse God hath never suffered that there should be a perfect Monarch in the World in whom nothing hath been wanting for there would have been a hazard lest he should have been taken for a God and thereby have caused a perpetuall Idolatry The Heathens have made Gods of some Emperours vicious enough what would they not have made of perfect ones seeing that men naturally do bear a certain reverence towards virtue Look a little narrowly into the life of the greatest Monarchs of the World as of David Cyrus Alexander Julius Cesar Augustus Constantine Charlemagne and you shall find that all those beauties which have so dazled the eyes of the World have had their spots and the most part of the rest have inherited a Renown but little commendable that is To be none of the worst amongst many bad ones Whatsoever excellency the most famous of them had proceeded from the especiall gift of God and whatsoever meannesse was in them proceeded from themselves who alwayes mingled somewhat of Man with the work of the great Work-master Neverthelesse good Instructions are very usefull for Princes to rouse up and make active the endowments they have from above yet it is not in those Panegyricks so well composed that they learn their duty for there they may sooner learn to forget it when being puft up by those flatteries they think themselves to be in deed that which they are there but in flourish It is not my intent here to discourse at large how Princes ought to govern themselves but to contract in a few words that which is necessary for their direction and I am perswaded that the Scripture Saint Lewis in his Testament and Lewis the eleventh in that Treatise which he composed himself for the instruction of the King his sonne have said hereto sufficient and that the rules of reigning well cannot be drawn better from any then those that have been of the same profession The perfection of a Prince may be comprehended within these five Qualities Piety Wisdome Justice Goodnesse and Valour Piety fits him for God Wisdome for himself Justice for the Law Valour for Arms and Goodnesse for the whole World Piety or to speak more properly with Saint Thomas Religion is a virtue that appropriates Man to God and makes him to render that honour that is due to him as first Originall and chief Lord of the whole frame of Nature Synesius in that excellent Treatise that he made for the Emperour Arcadius concerning goverment sayes That this is the foundation on the which all firmnesse subsists This is that spirit of life which Kings do breathe from heaven which fills their understanding with enlightning their heart with Divine love and confidence their Palace with holinesse and their Kingdome with a Blessing It belongs to a King above all to be Pious and Devout towards God even by the Title of Royalty it self Who should honour that highest Majesty more then his Vicegerent here on Earth Who should represent his virtues more then his image here below Who should render greatest thanks for his favours more then he that receives them in the mostabundance besides the obligement that binds the Prince unto this virtue he finds the chiefest interest there Prosperity for the most part is found on their side which honour the Deity saith Titus Livius in his History And Aristotle who proceeds by way of Policy onely counsels a Monarch to be exceedingly religious for that thereby he will be more beloved and reverenced by his subjects which expect lesse evil and more good from a Prince which is joyned to God by Religion This also procures him an assurance in his affairs and makes his prosperity the sweeter and adversities the lesse afflicting God who is the Master and Teacher of Princes doth so strictly recommend this virtue to those Kings that were made more especially by his own election that he commands them to receive from the Priests a copy of the Law of God or else to transcribe it with their own hand to carry it alwayes with them and to reade it all the dayes of their life to learn thereby to fear the highest King and to keep his instructions Now the Piety of a Prince ought not to be ordinary but it ought to excell in three things chiefly in an inward sence of the Deity in his worship and zealous affection An Antient said That he which believes the Gods
all the miserable betook themselves unto him unto the number of 400. men which entrenched themselves in a fortresse going forth every day for to rob to maintain themselves thereby In the midst of all these misfortunes the good Prince kept alwayes in his heart a true love of his countrey and knowing that the Philistims had laid siege before Keilah he failed not to go to help it and to deliver it although this ungratefull city was intened to deliver him to Saul if he had enclosed himself therein the which he would not do having consulted with the Oracle of God but retired himself to the desert of Ziph whither Jonathan that The visit of Jonathan secret and and very profitable to David burned with a great desire to see him came to find him secretly and they were for some time together with unspeakable expansions of heart This good friend comforted him and assured him that he should be King after his father and for himself he would be content to be his second which sufficiently witnessed the wonderfull modesty of this Prince and the incomparable love that he bore to David But the Ziphims men for the time that would provide for their own safety sent their deputies to Saul to advertise him that David was retired into their quarters and if it pleased him to follow him they would deliver him into his hands At the which Saul was exceeding joyful and entred the chase to entrap him compassing him on every side and hunting him like a poor deer chased by men and dogs with great out cries The danger was very manifest and David in great hazard to be taken had it not been for a happy message it may be procured by Jonathan that advertised Saul that the Philistims had taken the field and made great waste upon his lands at which he returned to bring remedy thereto deferring his former design till another occasion In the mean while David ran from desert to desert The rudenesse of Nabal towards David with his troops and was hardly able to live which made him have recourse to Nabal a rich man and that had great means entreating him for some courtesie for to maintain his people which had used him with very great respect defending his house his flocks and all his family against the spoilings of robbers This Nabal that was clownish and covetous answered the deputies of David that he knew not the son of Jesse but that he was not ignorant that there were evil servants enough which were fled from their masters and that he was not in case to take the bread from his hired servants for to give it to high-way men This word being told to David incensed him so much that he was going to set upon his house for to rob and sack it But Abagail the The wisdome of Abigail his wife wife of Nabal better behaved and wiser without busying her self to discourse with her husband that was a fool and drunk caused presently mules to be loaden with provision necessary for the men of war and went to meet David to whom she spake with so great wisdome comelinesse and humility that she turned away the tempest and stayed the swords already drawn out of the scabbards for to make a great slaughter in her house David admiring the wisdom and goodnesse of this spirit of the woman married her after the death of her husband It is so true that a good deed bestowed on a high A good deed done to a great one afflicted is of much value person in time of his affliction and when he hath most leasure to consider it is a seed-sowing which in its time brings forth and bears fruits of blessednesse After that Saul had driven back the Philistims he returns to the pursuit of David accompanied with three thousand men with a purpose to take him although he should hide himself under ground or should fly through the air And indeed he crept up rocks unaccessible David furiously pursued by Saul which were not frequented by any but by wild goats and as he passed that way he entred into a cave for some naturall necessity where David was hid with a small number of his faithfullest servants which failed not to tell him that this was the hand of God which had this day delivered his deadly enemy into his hands and that he should not now lose time but to cut him off quickly whilst that he gave him so fair play and this would be the means to end all those bitternesses wherewith his life was filled by the rage of this barbarous Persecutour This was a strong temptation to a man so violently His generousnesse in pardoning his enemy very admirable persecuted and whose life was sought by so many outrages Neverthelesse David stopping all those motions of revenge resolved in his heart by a strong inspiration of God never to lay his hands upon him which was consecrated King and contenting himself with cutting off the skirts of his coat he went out of the cave after Saul and crying with a loud voice he worshipped him prostrate on the earth holding in his hand the piece of his casock and saying to him Behold my Lord my Father and my King the innocence of my hands and do not believe them any more which filled you with suspicions of poor David you cannot be ignorant at this time that God hath put you into my power and that I could have handled you ill by taking away your life have saved mine own But God hath kept me by his holy grace from this thought and hath preserved you from all evil I never yet had any intent to hurt your Majesty having alwayes reverenced and served it as your most humble servant and subject whiles that you cease not to pesecute me and to torment my poor life with a thousand afflictions Alas my Lord what is it that you desire Against whom are you come forth with so great furniture of Arms and Horses against a poor dead Dog a miserable little beast I beseech the living God to judge between us two and to make you to know the goodnesse of my cause One may avouch that great and glorious actions The greatnesse and benefit of clemency of Clemency do never hurt Princes but that often they do place or keep the Crown upon their heads God and Men concurring to favour that goodnesse that approches so near to the highest Saul was so amazed with this action that he ran to him and embraced him weeping and said to him This is a sure sign O David which I acknowledge at the present and whereby I know for certain that you must reign after me so great a goodnesse not being able to be rewarded but by an Empire I do pray and conjure you onely to have pity on my poor children after my death and not to revenge your injuries upon them hereupon he swore to him to deal with him afterwards peaceably But as this spirit was unequall
their Colours and that it was enough if they did but shew themselves to conquer The Rebels tormented with the affrightments of their conscience and which had not such entertainment as they were promised first were put into disorder after to flight and then to a rout It seemed that on the one part there were men that came to kill and on the other sheep that came to be slain As soon as they were mingled the one amongst the other the sword on the one side made great Massacres on the other the falls and tumblings headlong carried them away in such manner that there remained twenty thousand upon the place Absolon taken with a great astonishment is left by all the world and betaking himself to flight gets The death of Absolon up upon a Mule It hapned that passing through a Forrest his head was catched and wreathed within the branches of a Tree insomuch that his carryer having left him he remained hanging between heaven and earth where he made a very fitting amends both to the justice of God and the goodnesse of his Father Joab had notice thereof who neverthelesse although David had forbidden it stroke him through with three Darts and when as yet he seemed to have life ten young souldiers of the Troups of Joab ran to make an end of him he feared so much that if he should return into favour and authority lest he should take vengeance upon him because he would not follow his party The body was interred in a pit under a great heap of stones for to convince the vanity of him which had caused a stately monument to be built for himself which he called Absolons hand Behold an horrible end of an evil sonne and a rebellious subject which is sufficient to make posterity afraid throughout the revolution of all ages While all this was doing David inclosed in a little Town expected the event of the battell and when as the Posts brought him the news of the Victory he shewed not so much rejoycing as fear asking every moment in what estate his sonne Absolon was which caused that divers durst not bring him the news of his death seeing the trouble of his mind At last Cushi uttered the word and said That they should desire Absolon's end to all the Kings enemies He understood well what he would say and was pierced with so violent a grief that he could not be comforted losing all courage and crying every moment Absolon my sonne my sonne Absolon Oh that this favour had been done for me that I might have dyed for thee Every one cast down his eyes for pitty and the whole victory was turned into sorrow the Palms and Laurels were changed into Cypresse Joab alwayes bold and insolent towards his Master Joabs insolency instead of receiving reproches for his fault casts them upon David and thinks that the means to justifie himself was to speak the more stoutly He enters into the Chamber of his King and reproves him sharply saying to him That he would put to confusion all his good servants that had that day saved his life his house and all his estate That he was of a strange nature and seemed to have been made for nothing but to hate those that loved him and to love those that hated him That it was very clear that he bore no good affection to his Captains and good Souldiers and if they all had perished to save the life of one rebellious sonne he would have been very well satisfied Further he swore to him by the living God that if he did not rise and go forth to see and entertein those that returned from the battell that there should not remain one man onely with him before the morning which would prove a greater displeasure to him then ever he received in all his life He pressed him so vehemently that the King without daring to answer him one word rose up and did all that he would have him This great grief diminished by little and little and the rejoycings of those that came on every side to carry him back to Jerusalem in Triumph gave him no leasure to think upon his losse He endeavoured to draw to him again all those that had separated themselves pardoning all the world with an unspeakable meeknesse being ready even to give Joabs place to Davids mildenesse very great Amasa that was chief Captain for Absolon But Joab quickly hindred this and kild with his own hand him that they had purposed for his successour After that he began to pursue one Sheba a Captain of the Rebels who was retyred into Abela with some remainder of the mutinous and as he was about to besiege it and destroy the City for to take him a woman of discretion and great in credit amongst her people which had made composition with Joab caused him to be slain and threw his head over the walls to put an end to this whole bloodie warre After this re-establishment of his Estate David The last acts of Davids life reigned about eleven years in full peace in continuall exercises of Piety of Devotion of Justice and caused a generall Assembly of the States of his Realme where he made his sonne Solomon which he had chosen to be confirmed and encouraged him to build that great Temple which should be the marvell of the World whereof he shewed him the plat-form the beautifying and the orders in the Idea Two things do a little astonish those which do seek an exact sanctity in this Prince the first that he dyed having unto the last hour a maid of rare beauty by him and the other that he recommended to his son Solomon punishments and deaths by his Testament But there are that answer to those that may be offended with these actions That God hath permitted this to make us the better to relish and admire the perfections of his Evangelicall law whereof the Word Incarnate was made the Law-giver and bringet above all the excellencies of the presents and virtues of the Mosaicall law And that one ought not to expect from David the chastity of a Saint Lewis nor of a Casimire but that one ought to measure things according to the manner of the time according to the law and custome Neverthelesse I should rather say that the plurality of women was not an offence seeing that it was approved of God so that it caused not a weakning of the vigour of the spirits and mortifying their divine functions by too much commerce with the flesh David sinned not in causing the Shunamite to lye besides him seeing that she was in the place of a spouse and approched unto him not for the pleasure which his great age had totally extinguished but for the entertainment of his Royall person Lastly there are other actions that do set forth his virtue besides this which is more worthy of excuse then blame And forasmuch as he ordained by his testament the death of Joab and of Shimei this doth something
offered himself to that wicked Antonina desiring to be introduced into the favour of the Empresse promising that he would do nothing in the exercise of his charge but by her orders that he would put Anthimus again into his Chair and besides all this would make a present to Theodora and to Antinina of a good summe of money The Lady past all respect of Conscience or Honour causes his offers to be accepted and urges her husband as much as she could to the execution of that attempt Vigilius keeps the businesse warm as much as possible and produces two witnesses the one a Lawyer and the other a Souldier that accuse Sylverius of having endeavoured to betray the city of Rome and to deliver a gate to the Gothes Belizarius was very doubtfull that there was some calumny in all those Proceedings neverthelesse fearing that if he should uphold the lawfull Pope he might be involved in a crime of State as having been a favourer of the party of the Gothes he sends for him to his palace to hear him with promise to send him back unto his house which was performed after he had been pleased with his Defence But he was called for the second time and brought into the chamber of Antonina who was seated on her Pallat and Belizarius at her feet The proud woman using this holy man as a groom sayes to him with a disdain and the guise of a Prostitute Ha Sylverius what have we done that we should be sold to the enemy It is time that you should be punished for your treason Thereupon she makes him passe into another chamber where she commands that he should be stript of his habit and cloathed with a Monks gown and sent to the East from whence he was banished to Patura The Bishop of the place knowing the innocence of this Pope went out to meet him and received him with all the submissions due to his dignity furthermore being lamed with a great zeal he had the boldnesse to transport himself to Constantinople and stoutly to tell the Emperour of the oppression of the Head of the Church which would pull down the vengeance of God upon him if he did not remedy it Justinian was much astonished at this discourse and gave command that the Pope should be carried back again to Italy and preserved in his dignity with this reservation that if he should be convicted of having intelligence with the Gothes he should not live in Rome but should chuse some other dwelling which sufficiently testified the moderation of the Emperour in that businesse when he acted according to the justice of his own thought But Theodora who would not stop there knowing that the Pope was re-conducted into the West writes to her confident that he should not do a businesse by halfs On the other side Vigilius ardently solicites saying that he could not perform his promise if he did not mount up to S. Peters Throne He presses so violently that the Pope was delivered into his hands whom he instantly caused to be carried away into the Isle of Palmes which was an Augury of his Martyrdome This sacred high Priest had so much vigour in the extremity of miseries that having assembled as many Bishops that lived thereabout as he could get together he excommunicated Vigilius and all his adherents He having a mind to revenge himself upon him and to make sure his Chair made an end of him with hunger with vexations and with torments in that desert Island where he quickly gave up his victorious spirit to God gaining the Crown of Martyrdome Vigilius his persecutour who had entred into S. Peters Chair like a Lion transformed himself into a Lamb changing totally his wicked manners so that he was confirmed by the Romans and held for lawfull Pope God that would not destroy him gave him for a punishment the accomplishment of his desires and caused that all that he had most passionately sought for was the source of all his torments Theodora the Empresse failed not to challenge him of his promise for the re-establishment of the false Patriarch Anthimus but he answered that he had committed a sinne in promising and that he should commit two if he should perform what he had promised This furious woman provoked with that answer declares him an usurper of the Apostolick See and follows the Law against him accusing him of the murther of Sylverius whereupon she causes him to be seized on by the violences of one Anthimus and to be brought in chains to Constantinople where she presses again very earnestly the restitution of Anthimus Vigilius was so generous and constant that he protested that he would rather suffer a thousand deaths then do it and when he was violated with injurious words and armed commands he spake aloud I thought I had been come to Justinian's Court but I well perceive that I am in Dioclesian's That speech cost him full dear for Theodora's Ministers who held him not for lawfull Pope beat him so cruelly that he was almost dead upon the place yet he scaped out of their hands and saved himself in S. Euphemia's Church from whence he was suddenly plucked out and led through the streets of Constantinople with an halter about his neck as a thief then put in prison and entertained with bread and water forsaken of all his Clergy some of which were banished and others constrained to labour in the mines All this was done by a just judgement of God to expiate the stain of Sylverius his bloud but yet the Empresse that ordained these violences in part to content her passion should have clearly informed her self upon the point of his character before she should have proceeded to such indignities The Romans that at his departure from their city when he was carried away prisoner loaded him with injuries so farre as even to throw stones and sticks at him were touched with repentance after they had heard of all the usage that he had at Constantinople with the admirable patience that he expressed in his pains sought for him again avowing him for the true Pastour of the Universall Church which coming to the knowledge of Justinian he suddenly commanded that he should be delivered and the spirit of Theodora her self was appeased and reconciled with him All the Priests and Deacons that had followed him were rallied together and so he was sent back to Italy with honour But the poor Pope after he had surmounted a million of torments and inconveniences dyed of the stone in Sicily before he arrived at Rome O phantasmes of Honour how painfull are ye to those that sue for you How traitorous are ye to those that possesse you and dolorous to those that leave you Unhappy are those that prize you through errour that court you through vain glory and obtain you by iniquity It were better to put ones hand in flames then to lay it upon Tiara's or on Crowns covered with Injustice and with bloud Theodora dyed about the same time
servant for she had some good work in her heart for the safety of her Countrey and intreated that it might be recommended to the prayers of the whole Assembly without curiously inquiring what it was that God would do by her means Ozias answered her that she might go in peace and that he prayed that her action might succeed to the good of the universall people Here perhaps may some men be astonished that a woman should take the boldnesse to go and advise the Magistrates and the Priests and the severer sort of censurers will say that by right Judith should have been sent home to her distaffe They will alledge that the Jews give every day thanks to God in their Prayers for that he had not made them be born Women Antiently they were placed in the Churches on the North side from whence the Scripture makes all the evil of the world to come Chrysologus hath also said that woman was the Way of Death the Title of the Sepulchre and the Gate of Hell But this ought to be understood of those that follow the steps of the first of Women and not the wayes of the chief of Virgins Those who abandon themselves to luxury to vanity and to dissolute pleasures are no way fit for great affairs being too delicate for labour and too ambitious of honour But many others that have taken pains in the regulating of their passions have rendred great services to Kingdomes and Common-wealths Rome had never been Rome without the Sabine women The people of the North by the report of Tacitus have been governed in their Warres and in their Polities by women professing that they perceived in them a certain prophetick and divine spirit Plato in his Common-wealth hath judged them capable of Offices their souls being of the same species or kind as men's Wherefore then should we think it strange that God made use of a virtuous woman to counsel men and to deliver her countrey Before she undertook that great work she was a long time prostrated before God in her Oratory with sackcloth upon her back and ashes upon her head saying with an amorous heart My God the God of my Fathers to whom nothing is impossible look down now upon the camp of the Assyrians with that eye of lightnings and of thunders that thou heretofore didst cast upon the army of Egyptians when they were buried in the bottom of the Sea Let the same happen to those here that trust in their chariots of warre in their spears and in their swords and know not that thou art the God of heaven that breakest in pieces the mighty Powers of the earth with one sole look of thine eyes lift up that same arm that hath made it self renown'd from all antiquity by so many wonders and tread under-foot all their strength by thine for ever dreadfull forces Suffer them not to violate thy Temple and to sack the House where thy Name is from all time invoked Cause this barbarous Collonel who promises himself our spoils to be taken by me through the snares of his eyes that his own Coutel-ax may divide his soul and body Strike him with the grace that thy blessing shall make to flow upon my lips and with the cloquence that it shall give to my speeches animate my heart and stiffen my arm to make that great blow that shall be thine and carry away an eternall honour for having pulled down that Colossus by a woman's hand Thy strength is not in the multitude of souldiers nor in the valour of Cavaliers It is not those proud warriours that ought to expect the succour of thy arm but it is the Prayer of the humble that gains thy heart and draws thy forces to their protection God of the heavens creatour of the waters and the God of all nature hear thy poor servant that presumes nothing but from thy mercy Remember thy Covenant give counsel to my heart words to my mouth and strength to my hands for the defence of thy House and that all the Nations of the habitable world may know that there is not any other God but thee Such were the Arms and Engines of this excellent woman such was the confidence she had in the God of hosts After this Prayer she rises from her Oratory comes down from her chamber and calls her maid to dresse her She puts off the sackcloth she washes her self she perfumes her self and quitting the mourning habit which she wore in her widow-hood she puts on her gayest cloathing The tresses of her long hairs are combed out with a delicate hand and her head covered with a stately tyre her handsome body appeared a little taller by the favour of her patins she hangs on her pendants at her ears she puts on her bracelets her chain of pearls her rings certain jewels made in form of flower-de-Lis's and all her richest ornaments It seemed that God took a pleasure that day to render her fairer then ever she had been and that all the graces smiled in her countenance because she had adorned her self through virtue and not through wantonnesse She caused her meat and drink to be carried by her maid fearing to pollute her body with the viands of the Infidels and instantly she went out of her house and betook her self to the city gate where she found Ozias the Prince together with the Priests that were ravished with the lustre of her heavenly beauty Yet no body curiously enquired whither she was going but were contented to wish that God would make her designs succesfull that she might be one day the honour of Jerusalem and that her name might be put in the rank of those great and holy souls that had rendred to God most renowned services She departs out of the city calling again upon the name of God and reciting some prayers with her servant As she went down the mountain upon the break of day the souldiers having perceived her failed not to run to her and seeing her so excellently beautifull were at first dazled in their eyes more by the splendour of her visage then by the first rayes of the day that then was upon its birth They inform themselves of her countrey of her journey and of her intentions whereto she answered that she was of Bethulia and that she had that day forsaken that miserable city that was obstinate in its misery and that for having resisted the triumphant legions of the Assyrians deserved to be destroyed by the thunder-bolts of heaven and earth That she would have no share in their crime no more then in their disastres and that her desire was to present her self to Holophernes to reveal to him the secrets of the city and to teach him the means how to take it without losing any of his men These men were ravished at the hearing of these discourses and assured her that she had taken an excellent course to live in quiet and in honour and that she would be very welcome to their master of whom
whatsoever Honour had stuffed in so many Trophies I see in Castriot a certain object greater then Leonidas and Themistocles I see Pyrrhus I see Alexander and if his Enemies have been more stout then the Macedonians his Valour ought not for that to seem the lesse He was a Souldier as soon as he was born a Man Nature pleased to engrave a Sword upon his Body at the same time as she inspired Courage into his Heart That Stature so proper that Countenance so filled with Majesty those Limbs so strong and so Robustuous those Eyes that mingle the Rainbow with the Lightning those hands that seem to have been made for nothing but to bear the Thunder those Feet that move not one onely step that savours not of a King have told betimes that which fame hath afterward related to all ages Little Eaglet that begannest in thy most innocent years to play with Lightning thou oughtest not to have been so valiant or thou oughtest to have had a more happy Father Shall we say that fortune was unjust in that it prepared chains for this young virtue when she should have planted Laurels Let us rather say that Providence was very wise in that she found out matter for this great Heart that would have consumed it self in its own flames if it had not met with some obstacles to resist it It was meet that this Hercules should beginne to strangle Serpents from his Cradle It was meet that he should be bred in the middle of his enemies to Combate from his Infancy with that which he was to abate in his riper age His Father John Castriot who had little strength and much misery was constrained to give him for an Hostage to Amurath the Turk to be brought up at his Gate Moses now is in Pharohs house and Constantine in Dioclesians but the Path is here more dangerous because it leadeth to the ruine of Salvation and of Honour His proud Master that loves him with a Love worse then all the Hatred in the world would fit him for himself and for his infamous pleasures He aims at the one by the Circumcision that is imprinted on his flesh by an unhappy violence he pursues the other by shamefull courtings which are to the Gallant child farre bitterer then Death He had as 't is reported courage enough to take the sword in hand against him that Pursued him with nothing but with flowers He drew blood from him when nothing could be expected of him but Tears and put himself in danger of experimenting the horriblest Torments that the Cruelty of those inhumane people could invent rather then to deliver voluntarily his Soul to sinne and his Body to dishonour His cruell friend was astonished at so brave a Resolution and turned the furies that he had prepared for his Innocence into the admiration of his Valour The Seraglio Imposes on him the name of Scanderbeg that is the same as Alexander which he took by a good omen to fill up therewith the whole capacity of his brave exploits He was educated in all the exercises of Warre in the Academy of the Turks where he succeded with so much force Art Liking and Approbation that every one carried him in his eyes every one looked on him as a singular prop of Mahomets Empire But he bore alwayes Jesus in his heart he alwayes thought on the means that he might find to break his chain he felt in the bottome of his most generous soul flames that burned him incessantly with the zeal he had to raise again the levelled Altars of the Christians and to destroy the estate of the Ottomans Amurath saw some sparkles of it flying in his conversation although he endeavoured to cover his design with a great prudence The Master began to fear the Slave and was affraid to nourish in his Court a Lyon that might be able to shew him one day his Teeth He endeavoured to destroy him in various encountres making the Excesse of his courage contribute to the Hazard of his Person A resolute Scythian came to Amurath's Court challenging the boldest to fight all Naked with a Poniard in the inclosure of a perillous Circle where of necessity one must Dye or Conquer That man had carryed away already many bloody Palms and put so much confidence in his strength that they were according to his speech but the sacrifices of Death that dared to attend the Thunder of his Arm. Every one trembled for fear when as the valiant Castriot undertook him and putting his Thrust aside with one hand killed him with the other with the acclamations of joy of all those that envy hindred not from applauding Valour This Combat having not succeeded well for Amurath he raises at another time a Persian Cavalier that kept a stirre to fight on Horse-back with a Lance. He was a man accomplished in that Trade who with much chearfulnesse of heart transported himself into Cities and Provinces where he promised himself that he should find Adversaries to exercise his Arms and increase his Reputation He curvetted up and down in the List proudly Plum'd and his flaming Arms made him appear that day as the great Constellation of Orion amidst the lesser Starres A David was needfull for this Goliah our young Alexander assaults him falls upon him as an Eagle handles him very roughly and at length laid him on the sand where he vomited out his soul and bloud doing a sad homage to valour by a just punishment of his rashnesse But Amurath that played the part of Saul failed not to find out some new occasions to Exercise his David He gave him all the most hazardous Employments of the warre wherein he had still so good successe that he changed all the Subjects of his Ruine into Trophies and returned Crowned with Laurels even out of the Bottome of Abysses and out of the throat of Lyons The perfidious Sultan entertained him with good words but handled him with bad deeds He promised him to restore him his estates after his Father's Death but John Castriot's last hour made it appear that if his words were full of artifice his promises were but wind Scanderbeg impatient to stay for that which should never come payes himself by his own hands and seizes himself of his Kingdome of Albania playing the crafty fellow by a Countre-Craft The Alarm of it is in the Court and all Amuraths Passions tend to nothing but Revenge Haly Bassa is sent with an Army of Fourty thousand men to dispatch the Businesse But all his Troops are cut in pieces and he had nothing more honourable in his Expedition then that he was conquered by the brave Castriot Feria and Mustapha pursue the same design with new Forces that experiment the same fortune What shall we say more of Scanderbeg's Greatnesse Amurath besecches the Turban is humbled that visage of the Tyrant that was the same as that of Cruelty it self is mollified and takes the Lineaments of a supplyant after it had born during his whole
crowned with Chastity It was the Trophey of Cyrus to whom for this cause God gave all the treasures of Asia It was the Triumph of Alexander who in recompence thereof had the conquest of the Persians And the Emperour Julian who made profession herein to imitate him although he had apostatized and renounced all other sacred tyes would never forsake Chastity but wittily said This Virtue made beautifull lives as Painters fair faces But not to search so farre into the dust and rubbish of Antiquity I will draw one line more upon our Bayard in this Point whereon his History dignifies him with a passage admirable and unparallel'd Some there were had advised to convey into his chamber a maid which was one of the fairest creatures in the world and indeed she was endowed with an angelically gracefull aspect save that at that instant her eyes were swoln above their ordinary orbs with an extremity of tears and that too bespake rather the commendable virtue of her modesty then the blemish of her beauty Whom when the Captain had well surveyed How now fair maid saith he unto her What sayest thou Why comest thou hither The amazed damosel falling on her knees with that utterance her sighings would afford her she thus answers him Ah! Sir My mother hath commanded me I should do what you would have me yet Sir I am a Virgin and never truly had I any disposition to do ill however a necessity enforced me hither for my mother and my self are so poor that we are nigh perishing through hunger but I wish to God I might see death thereby to be dissolved from the number of unhappy maidens rather then to fully my soul with the least unworthy and ignoble act Which words of hers pierced so this generous Lords soul to the quick that they caused tears in his eyes associated with this reply Verily pretty soul I will not be so wicked as to take that from thee which thou so charily hast kept for the society of purest Angels Thereupon he caused her to be veiled lest she should be taken notice of and that she might not be exposed unto the rigid dealings of a rude hand not transferring the charge of her person to anothers care he with a lighted torch in his own hand conducts her to her safe repose in the house of a virtuous kinswoman of his where he for that night leaves her The day following he sent for her mother and said unto her Are not you a wicked woman to betray the honour of your daughter which ought to be more dear unto you then your life Certainly for thus doing you deserve a punishment so much the more rigorous as that I understand you are a Lady and by a course so sinister you wrong Nobility The Lady hereat wholly confounded knew not what else to answer but that they were as poor as might be Is there yet saith he no man that for her birth beauty and virtues sake who requireth her in holy Marriage Yes truly saith she an honest man a neighbour of mine had she as he with her demands six hundred florens which I am in no capacity to raise or to procure Then the brave Bayard drew out his purse and said Here are two hundred crowns which are of more value then six hundred florens of this countrey to marry your daughter withall which my will is you dispatch within three dayes and farther to enable you the better thereto I also adde one hundred crowns more to adorn her with decent change of apparel and I give your self an hundred Crowns which well housewived may serve to stave you off from future unbecoming shifts and poverty All which was done accordingly to the unspeakable joy both of the mother and of the daughter who thenceforth lived in an honourable and comfortable condition O Nobility I present not here an Hermit but a Captain who was a French Souldier who was moulded of no other flesh bloud nor bones then are ye your selves yet he performeth an act of a Religious man the most mortified he exerciseth the liberality of a King he equalleth therein yea surmounted the heroicall deeds of the greatest Saints True it is Saint Nicholas saved the honour of Virgins contributing thereto his gold and silver as true it is that in so doing he generously triumphed over the covetousnesse of temporall goods yet he served not in this action as a Triumph to himself which is verily the choicest piece of eminent virtues But behold a Cavalier who vanquisheth both Avarice and Lust the two most dangerous rocks of the world Bayard commandeth his purse in a fortune not the best accommodated and that meriteth no small applause But Bayard in the high flourish of his age of a body vigorous commands the passions of his soul and conquers them even at the temptations of an object so amiable as hath been represented here unto you I beseech you therefore let it be no longer said that Chastity is onely to be found amongst the truly most mortified retirers into Cloisters for it is every where where the fear of the omnipresent God and where generosity or reall virtue is What then can so many wretches answer to this who fill the world with sins the Nobility with disgraces their bodies with diseases their name with infamy and load so many poor abused creatures with miseries and despair What can our spruce gallants devise for passable excuse who brave it through the streets in their ridiculous ostents of borrowed feathers and in habits remaining indebted to the mercer for the stuffe and to the poor taylour for the fashion paying yet neither the one or other True jack-daws of Aesop who deserve that all other birds should assemble to pull their plumes off which they have thus no better then stoln to catch and to be caught with vanity What will here so many gluttons and gamesters say who rent up and eat the entrails of men by their bloudy riots You see 't was possible that this gallant souldier by unravenous hands had four hundred crowns a sum in those dayes held a huge one yet all this he gives in one onely alms but those whom I thus have taken to task who in a bravery talk of nothing lesse then pistolets not mind any thing else but their sordid voluptuousnesse have not a denier to throw to a poor body Pursuing this course He did an act at the taking of Bressia a city in Italy indeed for ever memorable which was thus That being set in the front of the Perdues he first entred and passed the Rampart whence he received a hurt in the top of his thigh so dangerous that the top of a pike wherewith he was thrust stuck in the wound he nothing terrified hereat said to one Captain Molard I am slain but it is no matter let your men march on confidently the town 's our own Then two of his souldiers bare him out of the throng who seeing his wound streamed forth much bloud they
Darius the Mede who knowing the Prophecy of Daniel and the freedome with which he had spoken to the King esteemed him for it and retain'd him at the Court in the quality which his Predecessour had given him a night before his death When he saw himself established in favour again he forgat not God his heart being alwayes animated with a zeal to his Religion and when he saw his King inclining to the Superstition of the Countrey his heart was much grieved at it and he endeavours to cleanse him from his errours seeing him to be of a disposition too simple and credulous to the prejudice of the truth Amongst these false Deities Bel was adored with an exquisite and sumptuous worship in as much as there were offered to him every day out of the Kings house twelve baskets of meal forty sheep and six great measures of wine and it was believed that that Idol did eat up all the offerings The King that loved Daniel so much as to make him dine sometimes at his own table desired that he would accommodate himself to the Laws of the Countrey and that he would expresse some affection to the service of that great Bell that was adored universally by all the Nation But this wise Courtier answered him freely that he would never worship any but the true living God Darius replyed That there was nothing required to be adored but to live Bel was truly the living God because he did cat and drink well and cost much to feed him Daniel smiling answered that it was a great simplicity to think that that Idol did eat up all that was offered him every day Whereupon the King was moved with a curiosity to know how all this went and having caused the ordinary viands to be offered at Bels altar carefully saw all the doors of the Temple shut and put Guards before them that no body might enter in Daniel before he went out thence with the King caused abundance of Ashes to be sown there hoping by this means to discover the Imposture The morrow after the King caused the doors to be opened that had remained fast shut with his own seal and when as he entred in he saw that all the victuals had been taken away he cryed out that Bel was a great God and that it must needs be acknowledged that he did eat excellently well seeing nothing of all those offerings was remaining But Daniel instantly made him see upon the ashes the steps of those that had entered whereat he was astonished and called for all the Priests of that Idol to whom he shewed their cheat and pressed them so eagerly that they discovered certain little doors under the Altar through which they entred to the number of threescore and ten besides women and little children to devour the sacrifice The King was ashamed at the simplicity of his belief this shame passed into wrath and wrath proceeded as far as bloud causing him to put to death all the Impostours Furthermore in the same place there was a Dragon which was yet worshiped by that superstitious people which Daniel after he had obteined the permission of the King killed by making a masse composed of pitch of grease and of hair which he made him swallow and with it choake himself This made a great commotion amongst the people that said that the King was become a Jew causing his Priests to be murthered and killing the Dragon that there was now nothing remaining but to strangle all the sense of the Antient Religion In such a manner that behold a great tempest is raised against Daniel which in the opinion of all the world threatned him with an inevitable death The Grandees of the realm endeavour to ruine him by all ways and considering that he was exact and irreprochable in his office they resolve to ensnare him in matter of Religion Under colour of gratifying the King they beseech him to make an edict That whosoever should desire any thing of the Gods or of men for the space of thirty dayes except of the King should be cast into the Lions-den which the King granted them not knowing what their malice plotted against the innocence of his Prophet and Officer of State He was watched on all sides and retired himself from the King to diminish the jealousie that men had of him for the favours he received from him All his consolation was in Prayer and in those amiable discourses which he had with God and therefore he was afflicted as much as can be expressed seeing that the King his Master let himself be perswaded to make an edict so outrageous against the honour of God as to forbid to pray unto him Yet this hindered not him from continuing his oraisons lifting up thrice a day his weeping eyes on that side whereon the Temple of Jerusalem was built and sighing in the presence of his great Master with the ardours of an heart that evaporated it self â—ll in Love The Nobles that were every day at his door falled not to surprise him and to accuse him that he had transgressed the Edict which he acknowledged freely Complaints of it were suddenly made to his Majesty whose heart was wounded for the affection that he bare to Daniel and he laboured even till the Sun set to save him neverthelesse seeing himself pressed violently by his Edict and the vehemence which the Nobles used that it should be observed he abandoned the innocent to their fury against his will This defiles the conscience of many great men who are evil-doers of their disposition and yet for all that commit great evils through the complacency that they give to the violent humours of those that are about them He had some hope that Daniel would escape and that the God which he adored would save him and therefore he made no resistance by arms but delivered him into their hands to be cast into that horrible den of the Lions that had been kept hungry on purpose that he might be the sooner devoured But O God of wonders what Prodigie is here The Lions worship their prey Daniel is visited in that Cave by a Prophet come in an instant from Judea by the Ministry of an Angel that brought him his dinner The beasts change their Nature and Nature forces her Laws for the respect of a servant of God The King that had lain down without his supper and had not slept all night for the fear that he had for his poor Daniel runs early in the morning to the Lions-den which he had caused to be shut up with a great stone put upon the mouth of it and stampt with his own Seal and there cryes out with a lamentable voyce asking of Daniel whether he were yet alive who made him see how the God that he adored had delivered him and preserved him from all evill Whereat he was so ravished that he began to look upon him as an heavenly man caused his accusers to be apprehended to be exposed to the same Lions
reveals to me nor speak any more in his name but then I selt a fire boiling in my heart that was shut up in the marrow of my bones and I fell into a swoon and could not endure the violence of my thoughts without unloading my self by the tongue and publishing that which you inspired into me And for this behold me reduced to irons And have I not good cause to say that which miserable men use to say That the day of my nativity in regard of originall sin and so many calamities that spring from that source is lamentable and cursed and that it were to be wished that the womb of my mother that bare me had been my sepulchre Wherefore did I come out of the bowels of a woman to be a spectatour of so many sorrows and so much confusion The Saints speak sometimes like men according to the sense of the inferiour part of the soul especially when they see themselves overwhelmed with great evils but God raises them up immediately and makes them resume the tongue of heaven As the Prophet was deploring his miseries in that dark prison God gave lights and remorses to his persecutour that came the next day to deliver him either through some compassion or because he had attempted that beyond the limits of his authority The prisoner instead of expressing some kind of weaknesse spake more boldly then before fore-telling even to Pashur that he should be led captive into Babylon and that he should die there the other not daring to enterprise any thing against him After that very time Jeremy betook himself to the Palace to speak with the King and with the Queen his wife to advertise them of the utmost misery that menaced their Crown if they did not make an entire conversion to God to give an example to their Subjects Besides this he gave some State-counsel and told the King that since God had permitted that he should be subdued by the Arms of the King of Babylon that had put him on the Throne and to whom he had promised Faith Homage and Tribute he should do well to keep his promises inviolable rather then to adhere to the King of Egypt and expect the assistance of his Arms. This was the most important point of State that concerned the safety of all the kingdome Neverthelesse King Zedekiah whose spirit was a little soft hearkned to the advice and took sometimes fire but it was but for a little time he being no way constant in his good resolves When he saw himself menaced with a siege by the King of the Babylonians he was affrighted and inclined a little to his side but assoon as he perceived that he diverted his arms another way he brake his promised faith being weary of the rigour of the Tributes that the other exacted of him Thereupon Jeremy ceased not to publish that it was an errour to expect that the army of Pharaoh King of Egypt which was reported to be upon its march to help Jerusalem should do any good that it should return upon its own steps without enterprising any thing that Nebuchadonozor was not so farre off but that in a small time he would render himself before the city to besiege and win it That it was a decree of God and although the Army of the Chaldeans should be defeated yet those that remained though wounded and sick should be sufficient to take Jerusalem abandoned of the Divine protection When he had spoken this publickly he resolved to retire himself for a time and to go into the countrey but he was taken at the gate of the city by Irijah that accused him falsly and said that he was going to render himself to the army of the Chaldeans whereupon he carried him under a good guard to the Magistates who having beaten and ill used him sent him to prison where he remained many dayes without consolation At last the King having heard of what had happen'd to him caused him to come secretly to him and spake to him to conjure him to tell the truth whether those Predictions that he ceased not to sow in the ears of all the world were Revelations from God whereof the Prophet assured him again and gave him some good incitement to incline to the most wholesome counsels Poor Jeremy seeing this Prince use him kindly said unto him Alas Sir what have I done and in what have I offended your Majesty to be used as a rogue by those that usurp your authority What crime have I committed by telling you the truth Where are your false Prophets that said that there was no need to fear the coming of Nebuchadonozor and that he had other businesse to dispatch is he not at length come to verifie my Prophecies Since you do me the honour at present to hear me My Lord and my Master hearken to my most humble request and grant me a courtesie that I desire of you in the Name of God which is that I may no more return into the prison out of which your Majesty hath caused me to be drawn for the continuation of the evils that I have suffered there is able suddenly to tear my soul from my body and it will be but a grief to you to deliver me to death for having given you counsels of life and safety The King was softned by the words of the Prophet but he was so timorous that he durst not take the boldnesse to cause a prisoner to be delivered by his absolute authority fearing the reproaches and out-cryes of those that would have the upper end in all affairs He caused onely the goaler to be bid to use him a little kindlier taking him out of the black dungeon to give him a place more reasonable and to have a care that in that great famine of the city he should not want bread This was executed and he staid some time at the entrance of the prison with a little more liberty during which he spake again to those that visited him and said freely That there was no way to escape the sacking of the city but by rendring themselves to the Chaldeans This made Pashur and his complices incensed again with a great wrath and speak insolently to the King that Jeremy might be delivered to them publishing that he was worthy of death that he was a seditious fellow that did nothing but make the people mutiny and separate them from their obedience to him The miserable Zedekiah that had let these men take too high an ascendent upon his person had not strength of spirit enough to resist them but against his conscience abandoned his poor Prophet to them although it was with some regret These wicked men having taken him let him down with cords into a deep pit of the prison which was full of mire and filth where he expired the remainder of his deplorable life and had dyed there of miseries if God had not raised him up a protectour of whom he never so much as dreamed There was in
dinner of Locusts and wild Honey retired in his Cabben then at the fight of the pomps and pleasures of the King of Galilee But God that is the Master of Kings and the Directour of Hermites hath thus disposed of him and willed that he should dye at Court after he had so long a time lived in the wildernesse It is not certainly known what occasion drove him to it whether he went thither by zeal or whether he was sent for by design or whether he was forced by violence Some think that the miseries of his countrey afflicted under the government of a dissolute Prince affecting him with a great Compassion He went out of the desert of his own accord to admonish the king of his duty Since that all those that came neer him and that were obliged to speak to him were mute partly by a servitude fatall to all those that are tyed to the hopes of the world and partly also being seized with fear by reason of the power and cruelty of a womans spirit that possessed Herod Others as Josephus have written that the Prince hearing every day of the great concourse of all sorts of people that went to the wildernesse to see Saint John was afraid lest under colour of piety this might make some change of State Tyrants love not men endowed with an extraordinary virtue and that have not learnt the trade of flattering their voyce is the Cock that frights those cruell Lyons their life is a flash of Lightning that dazles their Eyes their actions are as many Convictions of their Iniquity And therefore this Authour saith that without other form of processe Herod caused him to be apprehended to prevent him and break off those assemblies that were made about him Yet it is probable and more consonant to the Scripture which assures us that this Prince bare some respect to John and heard him and did many things according to his advice that he proceeded not against him at first with so much violence But the cunning Fox as he was according to the judgement that the Eternall Truth made of him seeing that Saint John was in an high esteem for holinesse and in great credit amongst the people strived to winne him and to draw him to him to make himself be reputed for a good Prince that cherished honest men and to maintain by this means his authority that was already rottering and little rooted in the true Maximes of a good Government It was thus that Dionysius the Tyrant made use of the Philosophers not for any affection that he bare them but to appropriate them to the bad intentions that he had in State and to give them some colour by the expresse or interpreted approbation of those personages that were in reputation for their wisdome But Herod did ill choose his man this was not a Court-flatterer a Tool for all Trades a Shoe for all Feet but a stiffe and austere man to whom a whole World would not have given the least temptation to do any thing against his conscience It would be a superfluous thing to enlarge ones self at length upon the rare qualities of Saint John who having been many times highly commended by the Creatour of Virtues and the Distributour of true praises who hath preferred him above the greatest of the world seems to have dryed up by his abundance the Elogies of the most eloquent Let us content our selves to say that there are abundance of excellencies in him enough to make all chaires speak and all pens write even to the end of the world He was born of the blood of Aaron the brother of Moses the first ornament of the Priesthood and the great Conductour of the People He came out of a barren Womb which he rendered fruitfull above all fecundities of the earth His birth was declared miraculously by the voyce of an Archangell He was sanctified almost as soon as conceived and virtue appropriated him to her self before that nature had brought him to the Light He was a worshipper of the word when he was yet in the bowels of his mother and received the first rayes of the everlasting day before that his eye was open to the brightnesse of the Sun Reason was advanced to him by a wonder altogether extraordinary He hath had this honour to know first after the Virgin Mary the news of that high mystery of the Incarnation and of the Redemption of the world Of all the Nativities of so many children of Adam the Church celebrates none but that of John who hath this common with our Saviour and his most holy Mother who by a speciall priviledge honoured his birth by her actuall presence So that he saw his first day under the aspect of the Mother of the Universe His name was given him by an Archangell a name of grace and favour that shewed he was placed in the ranke of the dearest delights of Heaven and the tongue of his dumb Father tyed by an heavenly virtue was loosed by its power that it might pronounce that fair name He was exempted from grievous sins and as many Divines hold even from veniall He consecrated his retirement in the Desert almost as soon as he entered into the world Farthermore he was a Prophet and more then a Prophet a Virgin a Doctour a forerunner of the Son of God the Trumpet of Repentance the Authour of a Baptisme that ushered in that which regenerates us all whereof Jesus was pleased to receive the sprinckling In fine he was the Horizon of the Gospel and the Law and the first that shewed with the finger the Lamb of God and the Kingdome of Heaven But let us make no reckoning of what I have alleaged but let us say onely that which the word hath said of him That he was not a Reed to bow at every wind nor a man that could be allured by the delicacies of the Court He spake there as a Prophet he conversed there as an Angell and at last dyed there as a Martyr The time furnished him with an occasion about which he could not speak without making much noyse and he could not hold his peace without betraying his Conscience That Herod Antipas which we are to speak of here was the sonne of the great Herod the Murtherer of the Innocents and of a Samaritan woman who after the death of his Father forasmuch as the Legitimate issue of Mariamne had been unworthily murthered to make way for unjust heirs had for his part of the Kingdome of Judea Galilee which he held in quality of a Tetrarch He was a Prince of a small courage addicted to his pleasures lascivious and loose that endeavoured to preserve himself by poor shifts having nothing stout nor warlike in his person He had a brother named Philip which held another parcell of that Kingdome of Judea dismembred and little enough considerable the Romans having possessed themselves of the best part of it after they had deposed Archelaus that had reigned as Successour of his
Princes ears with such like words and to breed a distrust in him of Saint John in such a manner as that he consented that he should be apprehended and put in prison under colour as Josephus saith that he went about to change the peoples minds and to embroil the State This detaining of a man so holy and so renowned made a great noyse through all Judea but the wicked woman had this maxime That one ought to take ones pleasure to content nature and little to trouble ones self at the opinions of the world below nor at the complaints of honest men judging that all mouthes ought to be stopped by the rigour of punishments and that she should be innocent when no body durst any more find fault with her actions She slept not one good sleep with her Herod as long as Saint John was yet alive but fearing alwayes either that her pretended husband whom she thought light enough might be softned with compassion to release him or that the people that held him for a Saint might break open the prisons to take him thence she resolved to see the end of him to give all liberty to her unbridled passions She watches the opportunity of Herods birth-day on which he was accustomed to make feasts and to intertein the principall Officers of his Kingdome This crafty woman tampered with all the wills of those that had any power over his spirit for this design and seeing that her daughter was a powerfull instrument to move that effeminate Prince and that he was extraordinarily pleased to see her dance conjured her to employ all her genius and all her industry all the baits allurements and gentilesses that she had in dancing to gain the Kings heart and that if she saw him very freely merry and on terms to gratifie her with some great advantage she should take heed of asking any thing but the head of John and that he was necessarily to fall if she would not see her mother perish and all her fortunes overthrown The daughter obeyed and fits her self even to perfection to please the Princes eyes she enters into the banqueting house richly deck'd and makes use of a dance not vulgar whereat he was ravished and all the Guests that were perhaps hired by Herodias to commend her made a wonderfull recitall of her perfections There was nothing now remaining but to give her the recompence of her pains This daughter of iniquity and not of nature sayes Chrysologus seeing that every one applauded her and that the King that was no longer his own man would honour her with some great present which he would remit to her own choyse even as far as to give her the moity of his Kingdome if she would have desired it made a bloudy request following the instructions of her wicked mother and required that instantly S. Johns head should be given her in a plate Herod felt his heart pricked with a repentance piercing enough but because he had sworn in presence of the Nobles of his Kingdomes to deny nothing that she should ask would not discontent her but gives command to the Master of his House to go to the prison and to cut off S. Johns head to put it in the hands of this wanton wench As soon as the word was pronounced her mother was not quiet till she saw the execution of it to Prison they run every one thought that it had been for some grace since that it was upon the nick of the feast of the Nativity of the King but they quickly saw an effect quite contrary to that thought when S. John was called for and told that he must resolve to dye What think we did this divine forerunner do at this last moment that remained to him of so innocent a life but render thanks to God that made him dye a Martyr for the truth after he had inlightned his eyes with the visible presence of the Incarnate Word which permitted him not to have any thing left in this world to be desired He exhorted his disciples to range themselves about our Saviour who was the Way the Life and the Truth He prayed for his persecutours and for the easing of the miseries of his poor people afterward having a relish of the first contentments of his felicity by the tranquility of his spirit he yielded his neck to the hangman His body was honourably buried by his disciples and his head brought in a plate to that cruell feast put into the hands of that danceresse who presented it to her mother and the mother according to S. Jerome made a play-game of it pricking the tongue with the needle of her hair All that one can speak is below the horrour of its spectacle sayes S. Ambrose The head of S. John of the Prime man of the world that had shut up the Law that had opened the Gospel the head of a Prophet of an Angell is outrageously taken off and delivered for the salary of a danceresse The soberest of men is massacreed in a feast of drunkards and the chastest by the artifice of a prostitute He is condemned on an occasion and on a time in which he would not even have been absolved as abhorring all that proceeded from intemperance O how dangerous is it then to offend a woman that hath renounced her honour Herod gave her an homicide for a kisse The hangmen wash their hands when they are ready to sit down at table but these unhappy women pollute theirs in the banquet with a Prophets bloud The righteous slain by adulterers the innocent by the guilty the true judge by criminall souls This banquet that should have been the source of life brings an edict of death Cruelty is mingled with delights and pleasure with funerals This horrible plate is carried through all the table for the satiating of those unhumane eyes and the bloud that drops yet from his veins falls upon the pavement to be licked up with the ordures of that infamous supper Look upon it Herod look upon a deed that was worthy of none but thy Cruelty stretch out thine hand put thy fingers in the wound that thou hast made that they may be again bedewed with a bloud so sacred Drink cruell man drink that river which thou seest glide to quench thy thirst Look upon those dead eyes that accuse thy wickednesse and which thou dost wound again with the aspect of thy filthy pleasures Alas they are shut not so much by the necessity of death as by the horrour of thy luxury The vengeance of God delayed not long to fall upon those perverse souls that had committed so enourmous a crime Arethas King of the Arabians resenting the affront that had been given to his daughter by those Adulterers enters in arms upon the lands of Herod who bestirrs himself but weakly to resist him Pleasures held him so fast chained that he had not the boldnesse to go to his frontiers in person to oppose his adversary but contented himself with sending a
Acroceraunia beholding her self in that danger cryed out that she was the mother of the Emperour and that they should make haste to preserve her which was the occasion of her death for immediately on those words she was killed with the blows of the poles and oars Agrippina beholding this goodly pageant and being most assured that it was a design of her sonnes had yet such a command over her passion that she spake not one word and was saved by the swimming of one of those who were not of the Conspiracy The Frigots made haste to receive her and to convey her to her own house which was not farre off The amazement of the accident did not so abate her spirits but she sent to Nero to acquaint him That the Gods and the good Fortune of her Sonne had delivered her from a great danger but she desired him not to take the pains to visit her nor to send any of his servants to her because she desired to take her rest The dismall Prince who every moment attended The amazement of Nero. the issue of this most execrable enterprise was much amazed to understand that she had escaped the danger and counterfeited that the messenger whom his mother had sent was an Assassinate imployed to murder him He awaked Seneca and Burrus to demand their counsel and did remonstrate to them the danger in which he was if he should not throughly accomplish what he had so ill begun These two great personages did look on one another being unwilling to disswade him without effect or to consent unto it by reason of the horrour of it Seneca to whom the fluencies of Language were never before wanting held his eyes fixed on Burrus Captain of the Life-guard as if without speaking to him he would ask him if he had not souldiers enough of his company to execute that which should be conceived to be expedient but Burrus did prevent him and told the Emperour that the men under his command were too much affectionated to the Bloud of the Cesars to undertake so hardy an enterprise They both had a desire to divert him from so bad a deed for the want of an undertaker But the detestable Anicetas Admirall of the Fleet The death of Agrippina did again present himself to put the last hand unto the massacre He immediately with some souldiers did transport himself to Agrippina's castle he broke open the gates and found her in bed forsaken of all the world Assoon as she beheld three frightfull faces to enter her chamber she spake courageously to them and told them if they came to give her a complement that she had no need of it and if they had any other design she believed her son was not so wicked as to command her murder These villains without answering one word did begin the assassinate one struct her with a truncheon another had his sword at her bleeding breast to whom she cryed out and onely said The Belly Souldier the Belly that did bear the monster after which she gave up the ghost her body being hacked with many wounds Her corps was burned that very night and one of her servants killed her self before the funerall pile either for fear of the sonne or for grief of the mother Howsoever Nero caused a Declaration to be published in which not without horrour to the Readers he laid all the fault upon his Mother and after this he had never any rest for he dreamed almost every night that he saw his mother calling him down to hell and beheld unnumbred Furies tormenting him in the flames thereof For all this he desisted not from the nature of a Nero continueth his cruelties Tygre but to the massacre of his mother he added the murder of his wife Octavia the most innocent Princesse on earth The cause of it was one Otho a companion of his deboistnesse had taken from Crispus a man of quality his wife Poppea and in a fury such as Nero's himself had espoused her He told Nero so many wonders of the pleasures of his marriage that he gave him a desire to taste them thinking it would be a means to raise him to a higher dignity but the event was that the Lady perceiving her self to be beloved of the Emperour did totally devote her self unto him and did advise him to send her husband into Portugall under the colour of Ambassadour This cunning woman had a commanding beauty He salls in love with poppea and estrangeth himself from his wise Octavia a sweet and pleasing voyce and incomparable attractions and allurements She did leade Nero as a child and observing him so violently inamoured of her she would be his Mistresse without a Paramour and would not permit his own wife to partake of his bed For which purpose she contrived a detestable plot and caused the virtuous Empresse to be accused for prostituting her self to a player on the Flute who by his birth was an Alexandrian an accusation which could not be spoken without the absolute dislike of all good men nor believed by any but ignorant and depraved persons Neverthelesse Tigillinus the most intimate with Nero who was a great stickler in the marriage with Poppea caused the men and maid-servants of the Princesse to be examined some of whom being torn upon the rack did in the extremity of the torment let fall some untruths to deliver themselves from the intollerable pain others continued constant and there was a maid-servant of that courage that being in the midst of all her torments she said to infamous Tigellinus Know Executioner that there is not one part in all the body of my Mistresse but is more chaste then thy mouth There being not proofs sufficient to destroy her Nero was content to send her away into one of his houses and to be divorced from her under the pretence of barrennesse Not long after she was removed thence and kept under guard and was afterwards called back to Rome to appease the trouble which the absence of so illustrious and so virtuous a Lady had caused She was received with great applause of all the City which so alarm'd the spirit of Poppea that she threw her self at Nero's feet and did remonstrate to him That he should take no more care for his loves but for his life and that this return did tend to nothing else but to ruine him with her self and to make them both fall under the fury of the people That this was not it which she had deserved of his friendship and if he had rather advance in his palace the child of a player on the Flute then to have from her a legitimate heir that would give her leave to depart in a good hour and that she would look out her husband Otho in whatsoever place of the world she could find him She used such and so many attractions so many A hottible calumny counterfeit tears such sweetnesses and such rigours of love that she prevailed with detestable
did frequent her house Seneca was named amongst the foremost Calumny against Julia and Seneca and by calumny invelopped in the same accusation whether it was suspected that he had treated of love with her or whether it was thought that he was an accomplice in her excesses and had flattered her in her passion without giving her advice It is true that our Seneca was then in the flower of his age and was none of those fullen and stern Stoicks that had put the world into a fright He had a gentle spirit discreet and agreeable to women but he was too advised to let his passions flie so high as to commit any loose act in the house of the Cesars Dion his greatest enemy doth justifie him in this businesse and doth confesse that all this accusation was most unjustly grounded and that Messalina was so depraved and so corrupted with the inordinatenesse of filthy lusts that no credit was to be given to her Neverthelesse she ceased not to bear down the innocent with the weight of her power she condemned the Princesse to banishment and afterwards to death as Dion and Suetonius do affirm It did much afflict her that Seneca was alive who by divers sentences in the Senate was allotted to death but the good Emperour Claudius was most unwilling to extinguish in that Spirit the Glory of Eloquence and of the Empire desired his life of the Senate and was contented that he should be banished into the Isle of Corsica where at the beginning he was touched with a melancholy amazement to find himself separated from the pleasures of the Court to live amongst the rocks and people as ungentle as the rocks but he imployed all his Philosophy to comfort himself and to temper the eagernesse of his fortune with the tranquility of his mind Here his spirit being delivered from the noise and the tumults of Rome and the servitudes of the Court did altogether reflect upon it self and found there those Lights and those Treasures which before lay undiscovered to him Tribulation is to men as a spurre to incite them to the production of brave works and of generous actions and this appeared in Seneca who in this Seneca benished to Corsica where he composed excellent works place of banishment did write most excellent Treatises neither did his conversation with those rude inhabitants alter the graces or the beauty of his language He treated there with the Intelligences and dived into the Contemplation of the World He took off the vail from Nature that she might the better be seen in her majesty Howsoever in that solitary place he had sometimes his hours of affection beholding himself severed from his mother whom he tenderly loved and whom in that affliction he comforted w th a letter which might pass for a good book He passionately desired the company of his brothers and some personages of Honour who loved him with as much sincerity as profession There was some that think it strange in Seneca that he should desire and endeavour his return and that in his consolatory letter to Polybius he did write the praises of the Emperour Claudius who did banish Seneca did well to desire and procure his liberty him But have not they somthing to do who exact more perfection in Seneca a man at that time of the world then is required in a Prophet where is the bird that doth not sometimes beat his bill against the cage to find out the door to his liberty Jeremy was exceeding patient and yet he humbly besought K. Zedekiah to draw him out of prison where he had suffered much and much feared that he should be committed again unto it Doth not S. Paul say that liberty is better then slavery that one is to be supported by necessity and the other to be procured by reason What fault hath Seneca done that in his exile he wrote unto Polybius a great favourite a letter consolatory on the death of his brother and inserted in it a few good words to appease the Emperour Should he have spared a period or two to deliver himself from a banishment where he had continued for the space of eight years I should no way approve him for bestowing flatteries on a wicked man which should be an act unworthy of a Philosopher for a generous spirit had better to endure the extremity of evil then praise a tyrant and give applauses to his person You may observe how carefull he is in that Tract to give not so much as one Complement to Messalina who was a very bad woman although she had the command of all he onely praised an Emperour who in that time wherein he wrote his Consolation to Polybius was in good reputation and made the face of the Empire look farre otherwise then it did in the Reign of Caligula his predecessour He is so discreet that all the praises he doth give him are no more then wishes Let the Powers of Heaven preserve him long on The excellent Complement of Seneca earth Let him surmount the years and the acts of Augustus and as long as he shall be mortall let there not any die in his house Let him give us a long sonne to be Master of the Roman Empire having approved him by his long fidelity And let him have him rather for his Colleague then for his Successour Afterwards he addresseth himself to Fortune speaketh unto her Take heed O Fortune how thou makest thy approaches to him Let not thy power be seen in his person but by thy bounties Let him redresse the calamities of mankind and re-establish all that which the fury of his Predecessour hath ruined and made desolate Let that fair Starre which is risen when the world was falling into the Abysmes continue alwayes to illuminate the Universe Let him pacifie Germany and let him open England Let him gain and surmount the Triumphs of his Father His Clemency which is the first of his Virtues doth promise that I shall not be a Spectatour onely and that he hath not cast me down to raise me up no more But why say I cast down he hath upheld me from the hour that I fell into my misfortune when they would have thrown me headlong down he interposed and by the moderation of his divine hands he laid me gently on the earth He hath entreated the Senate for me and not content himself to give me life he hath desired it of others that I might enjoy the Grant with more assurance Let him deal with me as he pleaseth I assure my self that his Justice will find my cause to be good or his Clemency will make it so It is all one to me whether I am judged not guilty by his Equity or whether I am made innocent by his Bounty In the mean time I rejoyce in my miseries with a sensible consolation to see the course of his Mercy which goes through the Universe and which every day doth call forth the Banished from this
whether in reverence to the man or for fear to precipitate the death of such a Minister of the State by too hasty an execution demanded counsel of Fannius his Captain what in this case he ought to do who did advise him to execute the command of the Emperour and this was done by a sloth fatall to all of the Conspiracy some Ladies onely excepted who shewed themselves more courageous then the Senatours and the Cavalliers Howsoever he having not the heart to carry these heavy tidings did deliver his Commission to a Centurion who informed him with the last of all necessities Seneca without troubling himself desired so much liberty as to make his Will which was refused him On which he turned to his friends and said That since it was not permitted to him to acknowledge their merit that he would leave unto them the very best of all he had which was the Image of his Life in which if they would please to call to mind how he had passed it in so many commendable Exercises they should enjoy for their recompence the reputation of a faithfull and a constant friendship And this he spake not out of arrogance but as it were by the authotity of a Father when he bids his last Farewell unto his Children recommending to them to imitate him in what he had done well and so said S. Paul to his Disciples Be you imitatours of me as I am of Jesus Christ This made their hearts to melt and they began all to weep but he did endeavour to wipe away their tears mingling sweetnesse with reproaches What do you mean he said where are the Precepts of Philosophy where is that Reason so long prepared against all the chances of humane Life who is he that can be ignorant of the cruelty of Nero and who did not see that after the death of his mother and his brother there nothing remained but to adde unto it the murder of his Master and Governour After this Discourse which served for them all he embraced his wife gave her his last farewell and having fortified her against the terrours of the present dangers he did intreat and conjure her to moderate her grief and to sweeten the sorrows of her dear husband by the consideration of his life which was without reproach He loved most tenderly that virtuous Lady and did not cherish his own life but for her sake saying sometimes That he would spare himself a little the more becausâ— in an old man there lived a young woman who deserved that he should take care for her and being not able to obtain from his dear Paulina that she should love him more fervently her love being in the highest degree of perfection she should obtain from him that he should use himself for her sake with the more indulgence This fair Lady observing all that had passed said That there was no longer life for her after the death of him whom she loved above all things in the world and that she would keep him company in the other world On that word he stood a little in a pause and would not contradict her as well for the glory of the action as for the love which he did bear her and for the fear he had to leave so dear a person to the affronts of an enemy be therefore said unto her My dear Love I have shewed you the sweetnesse and the allurements of life but I see you preferre unto it the honour of a generous death I will not envy the example of your Virtue and although the constancy in our death shall be equall in us both yet yours shall be alwayes more glorious then mine for you contribute unto it a courage which is above your sex Having said this they caused their veins to be opened by one hand in the presence one of the other and because the body of her husband was attenuated by great abstinence and the bloud did issue but slowly from him he gave order that there should be a new incision made in the veins of his legs and of his feet The poor old man did endeavour to put himself all into bloud and indured cruel dolours but more in the body of his dear wife then in his own which was the reason that he caused her to be conveighed into another chamber to mitigate a little the sorrows which one had for the other in beholding themselves to die with so much violence It is a wonderfull thing that this great man had so untroubled and so ready a spirit in so fatall an act He called his Secretary to whom he did dictate his last Thoughts which were full of a generous constancy In the mean time Nero having no particular hatred against Paulina and considering that the death of so innocent a Lady would but render himself and his cruelty more abhorred did command that her veins should be stopped and the bloud stanched which it appeared that she suffered to her greater grief both by the short time that she out-lived her husband and by the inviolable faith which she did bear unto his ashes and she looked ever after as she were some prodigy such abundance of bloud and so much spirits she had lost Seneca was yet remaining in the tedious pangs of death when upon advice he demanded poyson of his Physicians which had no operation at all his members being already cold and his body shut up against all the forces of the poyson He caused himself therefore to be carried to a Bath and taking some of the warm water he sprinkled his servants with it that stood about him saying according to Cornelius Tacitus That he offered that water to Jove the deliverer after which words he entred into the stove and was stifled with the vapour that did arise from it Many grave Personages have conceived that he died a Christian and though it is no easie matter to perswade those to this opinion who are possessed with another and who speak but with little consideration on this subject yet there are not wanting grounds to prove the truth thereof Flavius Dexter a most antient Historian who hath composed a small Chronicle from the Nativity of our Saviour unto the fourth Age affirmeth in expresse terms that in the sixty fourth year Seneca entertained good thoughts of Christianity and that he died a Christian although not a declared one S. Hierome in the Book of Ecclesiasticall Authours doth put him in the number of Saints that is to say of those who acknowledge and confesse Jesus Christ Tertullian a most grave Authour saith that he was one although not openly S. Augustine in the City of God alledgeth many excellent passages of a Book which Seneca undoubtedly did write against the Superstition of the Pagans in which he overthrows all the Heathenish Religion of Rome although he doth not vigorously perswade them to change it for fear of troubling the Estate This Book was afterwards condemned and burned by the Enemies of our Religion The holy Doctor doth
commandment Wealth and Honour were always on her side Delight and Joy seemed onely to be ordained for her Whatsoever she undertook did thrive all her thoughts were prosperous the earth and the sea did obey her the winds and the tempests did follow her Standards Some would affirm that this is no marvel at all but onely the effect of a cunning and politick Councel composed of the sons of darkness who are more proper to inherit the felicities of this world than the children of the light But we must consider that this is the common condition both of the good and the evil to find out the cause in which the Understanding of man doth lose it self David curiously endeavouring to discover the reason in the beginning did conceive himself to be a Philosopher but in the end acknowledged that the consideration thereof did make him to become a Beast The Astrologers do affirm that Elizabeth came into the world under the Sign of Virgo which doth promise Empires and Honours and that the Queen of Scotland was born under Sagitarius which doth threaten women with affliction and a bloudy Death The Machivilians do maintain that she should accommodate her self to the Religion of her Countrey and that in the opposing of that torrent she ruined her affairs The Politicians do impute it to the easiness of her gentle Nature Others do blame the counsel which she entertained to marry her own Subjects And some have looked upon her as Jobs false friends did look on him and reported him to lye on the dung-hill for his sions But having thoroughly considered on it I do observe that in these two Queens God would represent the two Cities of Sion and Babylon the two wayes of the just and the unjust and the estate of this present world and of the world to come He hath given to Elizabeth the bread of dogs to reserve for Mary the Manna of Angels In one he hath recompensed some moral virtues with temporal blessings to make the other to enter into the possession of eternal happiness Elizabeth did reign why so did Athalia Elizabeth did presecute the Prophets why so did Jezabel Elizabeth hath obtained Victories why so did Thomyris the Queen of the Scythians She hath lived in honour and delight and so did Semiramis She died a natural death being full of years so died the Herods and Tyberius but following the track that she did walk in what shall we collect of her end but as of that which Job speaketh concerning the Tomb of the wicked They pass away their life in delights and descend in a moment unto hell Now God being pleased to raise Marie above all the greatness of this earth and to renew in her the fruits of his Cross did permit that in the Age wherein she lived there should be the most outragious and bloudy persecution that was ever raised against the Church He was pleased by the secret counsel of his The great secret of the Divine Providence Providence that there should be persons of all sorts which should extol the Effects of his Passion And there being already entered so many Prelates Doctours Confessours Judges Merchants Labourers and Artisans he would now have Kings and Queens to enter also Her Husband Francis the Second although a most just and innocent Prince had already took part in this conflict of suffering Souls His life being shortened as it is thought by the fury of the Hugonots who did not cease to persecute him It was now requisite that his dear Spouse should undertake the mystery of the Cross also And as she had a most couragious soul so God did put her in the front of the most violent persecutions to suffer the greatest torments and to obtain the richest Crowns The Prophet saith That man is made as a piece of Elizabeth's hatred to the Queen of Scotland Imbroidery which doth not manifest it self in the lives of the just for God doth use them as the Imbroiderer doth his stuffs of Velvet and of Satin he takes them in pieces to make habilements for the beautifiing of his Temple 12. Elizabeth being now transported into Vengeance and carried away by violent Counsels is resolved to put Mary to death It is most certain that she passionately desired the death of this Queen well understanding that her life was most apposite to her most delicate interests She could not be ignorant that Mary Stuart had right to the Crown of England and that she usurped it she could not be ignorant that in a General Assembly of the States of England she was declared to be a Bastard as being derived from a marriage made consummated against all laws both Divine and humane She observed that her Throne did not subsit but by the Faction of Heresie and as her Crown was first established by disorder so according to her policie it must be cemented by bloud She could not deny but that the Queen of Scotland had a Title to the Crown which insensibly might fall on the head of the Prisoner and then that in a moment she might change the whole face of the State She observed her to be a Queen of a vast spirit of an unshaken faith and of an excellent virtue who had received the Unction of the Realm of Scotland and who was Queen Dowager of the Kingdom of France supported by the Pope reverenced throughout all Christendom and regarded by the Catholicks as a sacred stock from which new branches of Religion should spring which no Ax of persecution could cut down The Hereticks in England who feared her as one that would punish their offences and destroy their Fortunes which they had builded on the ruins of Religion had not a more earnest desire than to see her out of the world All things conspired to overthrow this poor Princess and nothing remained but to give a colour to so bold a murder It so fell out that in the last years of her afflicting imprisonment a conspiracy was plotted against the Estate and the life of Elizabeth as Cambden doth recite it Ballard an English Priest who had more zeal to his Religion than discretion to mannage his enterprize considered with himself how this woman had usurped a Scepter which did not appertain unto her How she had overthrown all the principles of the ancient Religion How she had kept in prison an innocent Queen for the space of twenty years using her with all manner of indignity how she continually practised new butcheries by the effusion of the bloud of the Catholicks he conceived it would be a work of Justice to procure her death who held our purses in her hand and our liberty in a chain But I will not approve of those bloudy Counsels which do provide a Remedy far worse than the disease and infinitely do trouble the Estate of Christendom Nevertheless he drew unto him many that were of his opinion who did offer and devote themselves to give this fatal blow The chiefest amongst them was
against me In the third place I require that my servants who have attended on me with great fidelitie during so many afflictions may have free leave to retire where they please and enjoy those small Legacies which in my last Will my povertie hath bequeathed to them I conjure You Madam by the Bloud of Jesus Christ by the nearness of our consanguinitie by the Memorie of Henrie the Seventh our common Father and by the title of a Queen which I carrie to my Grave not to denie me these reasonable Demands but by one word under Your hand to grant me an assurance of them and I shall die as I have lived Your most affectionate Sister and Prisoner QUEEN MARY It is uncertain whether this Letter came to the hands of Elizabeth because no Answer can be found unto it whether it were that those next unto her did conceal it from her or whether through the hardness of her heart she did dissemble it In the mean time King James employed himself for The vain endeavour to delay her death the Deliverance of his Mother the Ambassadours from France Monsieur de la Mote Aigron and Monsieur del Aubispene were commanded thither upon that and other occasions and Monsieur de Belieurs did there also carry himself with great wisdom courage and fidelity as may appear by his grave Remonstrance which is to be read in the History of France Howsoever the Arrest of Death was suspended for there moneths until such time that the clamours of the Lutherans and Puritans did cause the Thunder to fall down upon that hand which desired nothing more than to strike home the blow The more advised did remonstrate unto her That it was without example to commit a Ladie the Queen of France and Scotland and the nearest Kinswoman she had in the world into the hands of a Hang-man A Queen which was not her prisoner of War but her Guest whom she had called and invited into her Kingdom and sent unto her assurances of her fidelitie That she ought to consider that what was done proceeded from her Secretaries and not from her And if that after twenty years imprisonment she should have consented to be taken from it by force it did not deserve to be punished with Death That if she should cause her to die it would open a wound from whence there would issue such abundance of bloud that many Ages could not stanch it That Italie France and Spain and all the Christian Kingdoms of the world would be offended at it and that she should bring upon her Kingdom the Arms of Christendom who would be glad of that pretence to invade her Kingdom That it would be a most remarkable affront to her Son James and all his Race who could not but be mindfull of it That it would incense the Spirits of her Kingdom and render them unreconcileable to her And in the end that it was to be feared that Heaven would arm it self against so bloudy a Design That she should use the miserable and especially a Queen who came into her Countrey for protection with more Reverence That she should hazard much in her death but could lose nothing by her life seeing she had so many Guards Prisons Bars and Walls to secure her if she had an intent to enterprize against the State But the insolent Ministers did incessantly crie out That she must put an end to her Imprisonment by putting an end unto her Life That the Queen ought to remember that she had usurped her Titles and her Name and sometimes caused her self to be proclaimed Queen of England and of Scotland and that Sovereigns never pardoned those who did so far intrench upon their Authority That the life of Elizabeth and Mary were incompatible That the onely means to take away all pretences from the Catholicks was to cut off this Root which would make all their hopes to perish That King James was instructed in their Religion and would rather look after the advancement of his own State than take vengeance for the Death of his Mother That forreign Princes were too much perplexed with the difficulties of their own Affairs and took care rather to defend their own than to invade her Kingdom That her Cousin the Duke of Guise was in a bad condition in France and that Henrie the Third would be very carefull how he did espouse her quarrels And if other Princes were so hardy to undertake it they were to understand that England had a deep ditch about it That Queen Elizabeth was mortal and if she should die there was not that calamitie to be conceived which both Religion and the State would not suffer under the reign of Marie in the revenge of her Imprisonment and other injuries she had received That she could not but remember that great personages did write things well done on the sand but did engrave their Discontents in brass The Preachers made it to be a work of Religion with their absurd Allegations out of the Bible which they did corrupt to their bloudy meaning And the Lawyers as ignorant as the Ministers were absurd did produce some Histories for the punishment of Kings which were altogether impertinent But there needed not so much labour to perswade a Woman who had in her so much vanity as once in her life to make a Princess head to fly upon a Scaffold and who did not remember that in the Reign of Queen Mary being her self accused of offending the Estate and expecting her sentence of death she did so much fear the Axes of the Hang-men in England that she was resolved to petition to her Sister to send for an Executioner to France to cut off her head Now was the Commandment given for her death and it was signified to the poor Victim who for a long time was prepared for this Sacrifice Some passionate writers do indeavour to divert this Crime from the reputation of Elizabeth taking their ground on a Letter which she wrote to the Queen of Scotland in which by a shamefull perfidiousness she doth write That her spirit was tormented with an incomparable Sorrow by reason of the lamentable Event which was arrived against her will and that she had not a soul so base as either by terrour to fear to do what was just or by cowardice to denie it after it was done But who doth not see that this is to mock and to Elizabeth entirely culpable of the death of Queen Mary traduce the Story and the belief of mankind Davison her Secretary who mannaged this sad affair as the true instrument of her malice doth express in his Attestation reported in the most faithfull Memorials of England by Cambden that after the departure of the French Ambassadour sent to prevent the Execution she commanded him to shew the Instrument for putting the Queen of Scotland to death which being done she most readily signed it with her own hand and commanded him to see it sealed with the Great Seal and
smiling she added some few words that she blamed Paulet and Deurey who guarded the Prisoner for not delivering her from that pain It is true that in the morning she sent one named Killigrew to Davison to forbid to put that command in Execution whether it were that her Remorse of Conscience had put her into some frights her sleeps being ordinarily disturbed with horrible Dreams which did represent unto her the images of her Crimes or whether it were an artifice to procure her the reputation of being mercifull in killing with so much treachery The Secretary came to her in the field and declared to her that the Order for the Queen of Scotland's death was now finished and sealed on which she put on the countenance of displeasure and told him that by the Counsel of wise men one might find out other expedients by which it is believed that she intended poison Nevertheless she now was commanded that the Execution should be delayed And as Davison presented himself to her three dayes afterward demanding of her if her Majesty had changed her advice she answered No and was angry with Paulet for not enterprising boldly enough the last of the Crimes And said moreover That she would find others who would do it for the love they did bear unto her On which the other did remonstrate that she must think well of him for otherwise she would ruin Men of great Merit with their posterity She still persisted and on the very same day of the Execution she did chide the Secretary for being so slow in advancing her Commands who as soon as he had discovered the affair the evil Counsellours did pursue the expedition with incredible heat for they sent Beal a Capital Enemy of the Catholicks with letters directed to certain Lords in which power was given them to proceed unto the Massacre who immediately repairing to the Castle of Fotheringhey where the Queen was prisoner they caused her to rise from her bed where the Indisposition of her body had laid her and having read unto her their Commission they did advertise her that she must die on the morning following 16. She received this without changing of her countenance and said That she did not think that the Queen her Sister Her death and miraculous constancy would have brought it to that extremity But since such was her pleasure death was most agreeable to her and that a Soul was not worthy of celestial and eternal joys whose body could not endure the stroke of the Hang-man For the rest she appealed to Heaven and Earth who were the witnesses of her Innocence adding that the onely Consolation which she received in a spectacle so ignominious was that she died for the Religion of her Fathers she beseeched God to increase her constancy to the measure of her afflictions and to welcome the death she was to suffer for the expiation of her sins After she spake these words she besought the Commissioners to permit her to conser with her Confessor which by a barbarous cruelty was refused a cruelty which is not exercised on the worst of all offendours and in the place for a Director of her conscience they gave her for her comforters the Bishop and the Dean of Peterborough whom with horrour she rejected saying That God should be her Comforter The Earl of Kent who was one of the Commissioners and most hot in the persecution of her told her Your life will he the death and your death will be the life of our Religion Declaring in that sufficiently the cause of her death whereupon she gave thanks to God that she was judged by her Enemies themselves to be judged an instrument capable to restore the ancient Religion in England In this particular she desired that the Protestants had rather blamed her effects than her designs After the Lords were retired she began to provide for her last day as if she had deliberated on some voyage and this she did with so much devotion prudence and courage that a Religious man who hath had all his Meditations on death for thirty years together could not have performed it with greater Justice And in the first place she commanded that supper should be dispatched to advise of her affairs and according to her custom supping very soberly she entertained her self on a good discourse with a marvellous tranquillity of mind And amongst other things turning her self to Burgon her Physitian she demanded of him if he did not observe how great was the power of the Truth seeing the sentence of her death did import that she was condemned for having conspired against Elizabeth and the Earl of Kent did signifie that she died for the apprehension which they had that she should be the death of the false Religion which would be rather her glory than a punishment At the end of supper she drank to all her Servants with a grave and modest chearfulness on which they all kneeled down and mingled so many tears with their wine that it was lamentable to behold As soon as their sobs had given liberty to their words they asked her pardon for not performing those services which her Majesty did merit and she although she was the best Mistress that ever was under heaven desired all the world to pardon her defects She comforted them with an invincible courage and commanded them to wipe away their tears and to rejoyce because she should now depart from an abyss of misery and assured them that she never would forget them neither before God nor men After supper she wrote three letters one to the King of France one to the Duke of Guise and the third unto her Confessor Behold the letter in its own terms which she wrote unto King Henry the Third SIR GOD as with all humility I am bound to believe A Letter unto Henry the Third having permitted that for the expiation of my sins I should cast my self into the Arms of this Queen my Cousin having endured for above twenty years the afflictions of imprisonment I am in the end by her and her Estates condemned unto death I have demanded that they should restore the papers which they have taken from me the better to perfect my last Will and Testament and that according to my desire my body should be transported into your Kingdom where I have had the Honour to be a Queen your Sister and ancient Allie but as my sufferings are without comfort so my requests are without answer This day after dinner they signified unto me the sentence to be executed on the next day about seven of the clock in the morning as the most guilty offendor in the world I cannot give you the discourse at large of what is passed It shall please your Majesty to believe my Physitian and my servants whom I conceive to be worthy of credence I am wholly disposed unto death which in this Innocence I shall receive with as much misprision as I have attended it with patience The
the day of its own brightness to consider how Providence guarding her dear Pool as the apple of her eye did reserve him for a time which made him the true Peace-maker of that nation For this effect it came to pass that Henry the Eighth The Estate of England having reigned eighteen years in schism leading a life profuse in luxury ravenous in avarice impious in Sacriledge cruel in massacres covered over with ordures bloud and Infamy did fall sick of a languishing disease which gave him the leisure to have some thoughts on the other world It is true that the affrighting images of his Crimes The death of Henry the Eighth and the shades of the dead which seemed to besiege his bed and perpetually to trouble his repose did bring many pangs and remorses to him Insomuch that having called some Bishops to his assistance he testified a desire to reconcile himself unto the Church and sought after the means thereof But they who before were terrified with the fury of his actions which were more than barbarous fearing that he spoke not that but onely to sound them and that he would not seal to their Counsels which they should suggest unto him peradventure with the effusion of their bloud did gently advise him without shewing him the indeavours and the effects of true repentance and without declaring to him the satisfactions which he ought to God and to his Neighbours for the enormities of so many Crimes He was content to erect the Church of the Cardeleirs and commanded that Mass should there be publickly celebrated which was performed to the great joy of the Catholicks which yet remained in that horrible Havock To this Church he annexed an Hospital and some other appurtenances and left for all a thousand Crowns of yearly Revenue As he perceived that his life began to abandon him he demanded the Communion which he received making a show as if he would rise himself but the Bishop told him that his weakness did excuse him from that Ceremony he made answer That if he should prostrate himself on the Earth to receive so Divine a Majesty he should not humble himself according to his duty He by his Will ordained that his Son Edward who was born of Jane Seimer should succeed him and in the case of death that Marie the Daughter of Queen Katharine should be the inheritress of the Crown and if that she should fail that his Daughter Elizabeth although a Bastard should fill her place and possess the Kingdom On the approches of death he called for wine and those who were next unto his bed did conceive that he oftentimes did repeat the word Monks and that he said as in despair I have lost all This is that which most truly can be affirmed of him for it is a very bad sign to behold a man to die in the honour of his Royal dignity and by a peaceable death who had torn in pieces JESUS CHRIST who had divided the Church into schisms who of the six Queens that he espoused had killed four of them who had massacred two Cardinals three Archbishops eighteen Bishops twelve great Earls Priests and Religious Men without number and of his people without end who had robbed all the Churches of his Kingdom destroyed the Divine worship oppressed a million of innocents and in one word who had assasinated mercy it self Howsoever he wanted not flatterers who presumed to say and write that his wisdom had given a good order to his affairs and that he happily departed this world not considering what S. dustine doth affirm That all the penitencies of those who have lived in great disorders and who onely do convert themselves at the end of their life being pressed to it by the extreamity of their disease ought to be extreamly suspected because they do not forsake their sins but their sins do forsake them It was observed indeed that at his death this King did testifie a repentance of his savage and inordinate life but we cannot observe the great and exemplary satisfactions which were due to the expiation of so many abominable sins King Antiochus made submissions of another nature and ordered notable restitutions to recompense the dammages which he had caused to the people of the Jews nevertheless he was rejected of God by reason of his bloudy life and the Gates of the Temple of mercy were shut against him for all eternity The foundation of a small Hospital which Henry caused at his death was not sufficient to recompense the injuries of so many Churches which he had pillaged nor of so much goods of his Subjects as he had forced from them seeing we know by the words of the wise man That to make a benefit Eccles 34. of the substance of the poor is to sacrifice a Son before the eyes of his Father He had by his Testament ordained many tutors to The Reign of Edward His Uncle Seimer spoileth all his Son who were able to have made as many Tyrants but Seimer Uncle by the mothers side to the deceased King gaining the favour of the principal of the Lords of the realm whom he had corrupted with mony and great presents did cause himself to be proclaimed Protector and Regent He took a great possession on little Edward the Son of Henry heir to the Crown whom he brought up in schism and Heresie against the intentions of his Father This furious man immediately began his Regency with so much insolence that he almost made the reign of Henry the Eight to be forgotten he fomented the poison which he had conceived under him he did use the Catholicks most unworthily and did cut off the head of his own Brother by a jealousy of women But as he had made himself insupportable so it came to pass that the affairs of war which he had enterprized against the French did fall out unfortunately for him Dudley one of the chiefest of the Lords drawing a party to him did accuse him of Treason and caused his head to be cut off on the same Scaffold where before he had taken off the head of his own Brother This death was followed with great fears and horrible commotions for the Regency which presently after was extinguished by the death of the young King Edward This poor Prince was rather plucked with pincers The Qualities and death of King Edward from his mothers womb than born and he could not come into the world without giving death to her who conceived him He was said to have none of the comeliest bodies He spake seven languages at fifteen years of age and in his discourse did testifie a rare knowledge of all those sciences which were most worthy of a King It seemeth that death did advance it self to ravish his spirit from his body which did awake too early and was too foreward for his age for he died in his sixteen year having not had the time throughly to understand himself and to see by what course