in his Body as if it were lodged in a Tomb all the Life he has is but the Life of a Beast and only a Shadow of Human Life To be Ignorant according to the Opinion of the Wise Man is to be a sort of Creature that spends a great deal of Time in passing on from his Birth to his Death without making a Step into Life Perierint quasi non fuerinty Nati quasi non Nati REFLECTIONS As Knowledge is one part of our Perfection so it is also one part of our Felicity Make your self then a Knowing person so far at least as you are obliged to be such by the Laws of Nature and of Religion and by those of Decence and Honour Of what Age soever you are at this present and let your Rank be what it will in the World it is necessary if you will hold the Rank of a Man of Worth that you be not ignorant either in Philosophy or in Christian Divinity You may know enough of both without putting your self to any great Trouble or Pains and without running after those Professors who make a Trade of teaching these Noble Sciences I do not advise you to go and study under them or to haunt teir Schools but I advise you to learn what you are to think of Eternity and by what Means you may avoid a Misery of that duration The Masters that are fittest to teach you these things have expected you for this long time at least there is no need of your going far to seek them you may find them wheresoever you are your self and near enough to you to speak privately to your Heart it is but entring within your self and you may hear what they will say Here follow some Reflections that will help you to know these Masters and to profit by their Discourses Mind then that you no sooner began to live but that you were obliged by the nature of your Birth to begin to know three Truths 1. That there is a God that gave you Life 2. That there is a Nothing from whence you came and a Death to which you are going 3. That there is a Jesus Christ who redeemed you and must give you a Resurrection At your coming into the World you have met with three Masters or three Voices ordained to teach you these three Lessons The Voice of Nature the Voice of Death and the Voice of the Gospel and Grace These are not three Discourses but three Subjects for your Meditation that I present you with In the first place I say That to make your self perfectly knowing in the Morals it will behove you to become the Disciple and Scholar of Death and to take Lessons from that Master Death does not speak but it has a Silence in which is summed up all the Doctrine of the Prophets and Apostles and that contains all those admirable Instructions they have left to aid you in leading a Good Life and to help you to solve well upon every occasion those Difficulties that shall be offer'd to you by your blinded Conscience All the Counsels of the Holy Fathers are in the Mouth of Death what makes the Wonder is that Death without speaking a word causes all those Counsels and Instructions to enter into your Heart and does this in such a way and with that Force and Energy which those Holy Fathers could never arrive at Death does this says Solomon every time she presents her self In ea finis Cunctorum admonetur hominum before your Eyes and as often as she invites you to the House where she is and shews you in the Face of a Dying Person the Sentence that Heaven has decreed against you That you must dye and be to morrow in the same Condition as you now behold this fick expiring Creature Testamentum hujus Mundi morte Morieris Solomon means that when Men dye certain pale Characters appear to be traced upon their Lips which every one can read and where they find these two words Hodie mihi Cras tibi The Prophet calls this their Will or Testament which Death writes for them and makes their Heirs with those others that encompass their Bed to see and be Witnesses to it All read it and all understand it You that are the Great Ones of the World have often read it and you have learned from thence says St. Gregory that the Inheritance which every one of your Ancestors has left you at the Moment of his Death has been the News that you must dye as he has done and that you and all the Riches Honours and Greatness you now enjoy must in a few days time return to what they have been heretofore to Dust to Ashes and to Nothing Pulvis es in pulverem Reverteris Of all the Forefathers you have had since the beginning of the World there has not been one amongst them that has missed the Signing of this Testament and the leaving you this Inheritance Such a Testament cries out Solomon as a Young Man enriched by the Rapine and unjust dealings of his Father needs but read with attention to become the holy and happy Heir of a Dives and damned Person Read then but observe that the great benefit of this Reading and of this contemplation does not consist in beholding what Death has shewn you but in remembring that you have seen it When She has shewn you in the low bottom of a Sepulchre whole Armies of Worms covering the Face you lately adored and that She has made you confess that this Rottenness was once your Idol the few Sillables she would have you imprint in your Mind which contain all her Instructions are Memento homo Remember Young-man what you have seen in this Tomb and what you have learnt there In truth to the learning of your Morals perfectly and how to live Wisely and Christianly it will conduce but little to look on dying and dead People There is not that Person does not go to see his Relations and Friends upon their Death-bed and who at that time does not think of the Affairs of another World and propose to himself Designs of Conversion and Repentance but then by the next Morning we find all these Thoughts blotted out of our Minds like Dreams and we know nothing of what we saw and what we designed Yesterday Indevotion Libertinism and Vanity have the same station in our Hearts as before and we begin again to live like Sinners that had not heard or known that any in the World had ever died O ye Mortals cries out Death it is not only in the Church whilst you are shedding Tears at the Funeral of your Brother who died Yesterday suddenly without one Word of Confession after an Impenitence for several Years that you are to study the Doctrine I teach but it is by remembring this miserable Exit Memento Keep in your Mind the Thought of this Death and cherish the Memory of it whatsoever Change of Fortune may befal you or in what part of the World
soever you may be carry the Remembrance about with you into all Companies and converse with it interiorly whilst others are thinking only of laughing and diverting themselves be you attentive to mind what it will tell you and to let its Doctrine enter into your Heart Doubt not but it will enter and be you never so ignorant at the present within a short time you will have no more need of running after Casuists to learn what are the obligations of a Christian Life or to put Questions concerning the Duties of your Conscience you will know every thing and be able to answer all its Doubts your self nor will you then have the least Thought of going to the Learned Doctor 's with such Disguise as may make them pronounce you safe from your just Fears or endeavour to use such Means as they may counsel you to carry your Sins with you into another World The Fear of Death first introduced Physicians and the Forgetfulness of Death Casuists In a word during your Divertisements in the time of your Affairs and in every occasion of your Life be sure to keep what I have told you in your Eye put your Questions to Death and converse with her she will make you more knowing in the Morals than all those Rigorous Teachers who writ in their Books and speak in their Sermons so many Rare Matters touching dying suddenly in an ill state but who being once out of the Pulpit forget all they have said and lead a Lawless Life in Disorder and Looseness That would prove a fine Book of Morality for your Closet which the Emperor Heradius kept in his a Death's Head with these three words on the Forehead What I am now you will be to morrow There is no Difficulty you can have in your Conscience that this admirable Casuist will not answer in every Point MAXIM VII Dedit illi Sapientiam Sanctorum honestavit illum in laboribus Sap. x. PARAPHRASE God has conferred on the Wise Man the Science of the Saints and has employed him gloriously in such occasions as have placed him by the help of that Divine Science in the Rank of Extraordinary Men. REFLECTIONS I have said That one part of your Happiness during this Mortal Life is to be knowing and that one part of the Knowledge proper for your Calling is Divinity Perhaps this may cause your wonder but nevertheless it is a matter you have heard of long since and have begun to practice and undertake many years ago Have not the first Lessons you have been taught after your coming into the World and the first Pains you have been put to in your Cradle been to learn the Articles of the chief Mysteries of the Christian Faith In so much as that to help you to arrive at that Happy Condition I have been speaking of all that I shall add to the Instructions which were given you in those days is but thus much O Christian whosoever you are that which came out of your Mouth at your Prayers when you were two years old say now the same from your Heart and believe perfectly that which you say for as all the Lessons of Death are included in the word Memento in the like manner are all those of the Gospel included in the word Crede Believe Do not imagine that to become a great and true Divine in the School of Jesus Christ it will be necessary for you to know the Truths of his Doctrine by the Experience of your Eyes or the Speculation of your Wit or by the Reasonings of those Masters who consecrate their Days to the penetrating into these impenetrable Mysteries The most Able Masters know nothing certainly of this Supernatural Divinity more than what they know by their Faith And to the end that you may know as much of it as they do the whole consists in acknowledging sincerely from the bottom of your Heart and weighing in your Mind with devout Reflections that which you learnt hereof in the time of your most tender years and that which the first Women came about you did believe for you when they taught it you At the times of your daily Devotions do you venerate with an humble submission of your Thoughts the Propositions which the Holy Scripture sets forth to you of the Trinity of Persons the Incarnation of the Word the Resurrection of Mankind c. And from that instant when at the prospect of these unspeakable Mysteries prostrating your self before the Altar your Soul transported with Admiration and Love you shall pronounce these words Credo Domine adjuva incredulitatem meam I believe O Lord but yet O Soveraign Disposer of my Life support you my Weakness and Ignorance with the assistance of your Grace I say from that Instant you shall become a greater Doctor in Divinity than all those learned and proud Professors who speak like Angels touching the Trinity but believe what they say of it less than you do A firm Faith with the Symbole of the Apostles imprinted in your Heart by the Finger of the Holy Ghost raises you in a moment to that degree of Capacity that the Angels would aim at were they to live with us in this World below and would they strive to please God and be ranked in the number of his Elect. Their Principal Employment in my opinion would be the same that I invite you to which is to meditate on and sign by continual Acts of an obedient and blind Love the first words of the Testament of Jesus Christ In Principio erat Verbum Verbum Caro factum est I say not this to blame the laudable and just Curiosity you may have to mind when you are at Church what is preached upon these Theological Mysteries or what the Learned say of them in teir Assemblies or during their private Discourses On the contrary I hold be you of what Condition you will That it must prove much to your Honour to understand them so well as to be able to speak knowingly of them upon occasion and I say further that the more advantage you have over the Common Sort by your Birth and Parts the greater aptitude you have to comprehend these high Verities and the more Prevailing way of communicating them to others and of setting them forth in Company It cannot be other than a very advantageous Sign in a Person of Quality to find his Inclinations lead him to the contemplating the high Mysteries of our Religion and the endeavouring to find out what lies hidden in the Parables of the Gospel and the dark Enigma's of the Prophets Certainly there must be something great and noble in that Soul which is pleased with a Contemplation that makes the Delight of the Angels The famous Saying of Tertullian That the Soul of Man is naturally a Christian relates particularly to great Souls if there be any such they are those that come into the World with a secret impression of Veneration towards the Person of our Saviour and with a holy
to Heaven or not but will grow from the tediousness and length of years and the delays that put off the happy day in which you are to see your Beloved You will not beg of the Angels to let you know whether you shall bear them company one day in the Heavenly Jerusalem and whether there be a place appointed for you there but to let you know when you shall come thither on what day at which hour O blessed Spirits when will this be Ye possess already him whom I seek and whom you love O Angels I love as well as you and cannot live without my God yet all this while I see him not Adjuro vos filiae Jerusalem I conjure you O Daughters of Jernsalem to take pity on my Love and tell me when I shall enter into the Glorious Palace of my Spouse into the very place of that admirable Tabernacle into the very Arms and Bosom of him who is the Object of my Sighs and Tears You will look upon Heaven as an Inheritance that belongs to you and will say with David Laetatus sum in his quae dicta sunt mihi I have heard a Divine Voice whisper to my Heart which has left these few words imprinted in it That we shall go into the House of God and that after a moment or two of Labour and Affliction we shall get out of this Valley of Tears and Region of Death to be transported to the Habitation of Life and Immortality where our Bliss and Enjoyment wil be no less eternal than He is whom we love Here you see what has been said and thougâ—â— by such persons as have been in your condition and by what means they have raised themselves above the power of Hell and above all the Fears and Disquiets that torment the Weak and Pusilanimous In a word if you be assured that you have a Good Will shut not that Peace out of your Heart which has been promised you from Heaven by these words Pax hominibus bonae voluntatis MAXIM XVII Mulierem fortem quis inveniet procul de ultimis finibus terrae pretium ejus Prov. xxxi PARAPHRASE It is not meant here that there is not a strong Woman in the World but that there is not the Man who is wise and happy enough to find her out so hard it is to distinguish her from other Women that disguise themselves and deceive the Eyes of such as are the clearest sighted If there be those notwithstanding that will attempt the search of her see here her Figure which I present them with as a help to know her They will judge by it in my opinion that if they were to go as far as the Indies to learn News of this Lady she would deserve the Pains and to have the Voyage undertaken for her alone rather than for that number of things fetched from thence infinitely less rare and precious REFLECTIONS It is not to be doubted but that amongst the Felicities of this Life one of the most desirable to Man is to have Plenty Order and Peace setled in his Family The Duty of effecting this Settlement belongs particularly to the Wife the Honour and the Obligation of the Husband dispose of him wholly to the service of the Common-wealth to whose Benefit he dedicates his Time and Pains and by his excellent Qualities comes to merit one of the principal Places in the government of it These two Employments have been assigned by Providence to the Master and Mistress of that Family of which Solomon speaks in the last of his Proverbs both the one and the other carry themselves after such a manner as make the Angels admire at the Grace which enlightens and enables them and Men are at a loss to reckon which of the Pair deserves the best Preference It is certainly an admirable Sight to behold this august Peer awing Nobilis in pertis vir ejus quando Sederit eam Senatoribus terrae the People into their Duty or to see him preside in an Assembly of Senators at a time when the Frame of the State is shaken and in disorder and yet such as consider the Carriage of the Wife at home in her Palace see those things which make a no less glorious appearance in their Eyes they are not to be distinguish'd one from another The Character which they receive from the general Voice says That their Examples regulate all the Actions of their fellow-Citizens and that they equally share by their Merit in all the Praises and Admiration of their Country See here the first Lines of their Figures which the Wise-man has drawn to present to future times and to confute the Complaints and Tears of such as lay to Heaven the ill Success of their Marriage This Woman who is all Obedience to her Husband reigns in her House at the same time he governs in the Senate she exercises there a Sovereign Rule but does it without noise or violence Her power in this place is mighty because it comes from Heaven she does not seek as other Ladies use to raise up her Authority by the magnificency of her Attire and yet she wears the richest Purple Byssius purpura Indumentum ejus and follows all the Rules of Decency and Custom in dressing her self though she has no need of any Help to make her be respected and honoured by her Domesticks God has bestowed such a Garment on her as we should all have worn had our first Father but proved wise Fortitudo decus indumentum ejus Solomon means that there issues an Ayr of Greatness and Majesty from the Eyes of this Princess which spreads it self over her like a Garment and gives a certain lustre to her Face her Words and Motions such as cannot be expressed further than that it ravishes all Hearts and that it makes them happy who serve her when her Commands give them the honour of obeying her and the occasion to shew by their promptness and transport of Joy the depth of their Respects This is it which keeps the whole House in order and puts every person at each hour of the day in the Place and Employment where he should be the respectful Fears that fix them to their Duty is not as in other Families a Fear of being catch'd in their Faults and punished all the Fear of this place is the Fear of being faulty She is not the Mistress only of her Domesticks but the Mother too amongst the chief Rules of her Government the first is to look that they be not failing in any part of their Duties the second to see that nothing be wanting to them which Reason and Justice can claim for their support and comfort Her constant Care is to avoid giving them any just cause of complaint yielding them still new occasisions of loving her and of believing they are loved her Goodness reaches to make them see that she both approves of their Service and considers their Persons This frank and obliging Goodness extends