can they produce so much as one Catholique Person in England that had his hand in any of those Bloudy Actions but many may be produced who suffered all that men could suffer in this World to prevent and hinder them to the Praise of God and their Conscience Protestants therefore may see that We Catholiques have greater reason to have their Persons in Contempt and Hatred upon the account of Treason than they ours if that were justifiable but we think it is not and therefore proceed Sect. 7. Contempts between Nations and Nations In the same manner are to be apprehended all those that take pleasure and make it their sport to speak contemptuously and slightingly of whole Nations Countries Kingdoms Peoples An evil Disease this is under the Sun and the symptome of a very bad Humor arguing a great want both of Charity and Prudence What can be worse than to be continually censuring and undervaluing the Common and Publique behaviour or Manners of People the Customs of Places in which perhaps they never were to be Ey-witness of any thing It may be that some Countries Nations Provinces Kingdoms are addicted to some particular Things which are displeasant unto us yea perhaps not so agreeable to Reason or Vertue What if they be are we altogether free of the like Are there no evil Conditions no evil Customs no ill Manners to be observ'd amongst us that may be as justly displeasing to them If we censure them for some particular things perhaps we our selves are more guilty in others We take notice of the Vice of Nations and People but we over see their Vertues which for ought is certain to the contrary they may excel us For this we know that as to Persons so to Nations God distributeth his particular Gifts according to his good pleasure which Gifts we are not to contemn but should endeavour to obtain our business should not be to spy and to take notice of other Mens Faults and Imperfections but to amend our own studying to be more perfect and vertuous our selves It is well known that the Greeks are generally speaking more Eloquent than others Brasilians more Chaste Spaniards more Ingenious Italians more fix'd and constant in their Judgments Germans more Sincere the French more Nimble and Active Polonians are more Hospitable to Strangers and Pilgrims the English more Civil one towards another the Scotch more Frugal and those of the Low Countries more Industrious and willing to Labour All which Vertues and particular Endowments we should rather acknowledge and commend in them as the Gifts of God than take upon us impertinently to censure them or have the whole Nation in Contempt because we forsooth do not fancy their manners a thing conttary to all Reason Justice Charity and the Law of God which commands us to love and esteem our Neighbours as we love and esteem our Selves SECTION IV. Of Gods Indignation towards Contemners SECT 1. Malediction upon Contemners either of God or their Neighbour 2. Malediction upon Contemners of Parents and Relations 3. Malediction upon those that contemn their Kings and Princes 4. Malediction upon those that contemn their Neighbours 5. Remedy against the contemning of others 6. A Reflection upon the whole Matter fore-going Sect. 1. Malediction upon Contemners either of God or their Neighbours THe wise Solomon in his Proverbs by the Spirit of God speaks thus Chap. 1. v. 24. Quia vocavi renuistis c. For as much as I have called and ye refused to come I have stretched out my hand and there was none that would regard But you have despised all my counsel and would none of my reproof Therefore shall a sudden Calamity fall upon you and Destruction as a tempest shall seize you c. Against whom is this threatned but such as despise God neglect and fear not to transgress his holy Commandements contemn and slight his Word his Counsels his Exhortations Admonitions threatnings that are unthankful for Mercies and Favours received and being gently scourged and corrected by him do not amend their Lives Against these and the like Divine Wisdom by the Pen and by the Mouth of this Wise King denounceth this Woe and not in vain for that such Vengeance hath followed Obstinate and Impudent Sinners Holy Scriptures do abundantly declare Witness in the first place Pharaoh King of Egypt who for his contemning of God and hardening his heart against the People of Israel contrary to the Commandment of God after innumerable Plagues sent upon Him and His People was finally himself and His mighty Army drowned in the Sea which while they pursued the People of Israel returned upon them and overwhelmed them all without exception so that they sunk â—ike Stones into the bottom thereof Exod. 14. v. 27 28. Esau Jacob's Brother is another like Example who for contemning Gods Benefits â—amely his Birth-right which was not only a Perogative and Priviledge of Humane Right but also an assured Token and Pledge of Divine Benediction to all that liv'd well and were worthy of it was justly deprived of both that is of his Birth-right and of the Blessing which his Father Isaac out of his private Affection intended him How he undervalued his Birth-right we read Gen. 25. 32 33 34. where being hungry he sold it to his Brother Jacob for a Mess of Pottage En morior Behold I die saith he and what will this Birth-right avail me And that he lost Gods Blessing thereby that is by so slighting and making light of that which was a Sacred Thing appears by the Apostle Heb. 12. 16 17. who calls him a Profane Person for so doing and says that he found no place of Repentance that is so as to recover his Birth-right and that Blessing belonging to it though he sought it with tears Sect. 2. Malediction upon the Contemners of Parents and Relations As concerning those that have their Parents in Contempt nothing can be less doubted but they are all of them under Divine Malediction The Commandment it self concerning the Duty of Children to their Parents implying so much for in being commanded to honour our Parents that our days may be long upon earth which is a principal Blessing we are at the same time admonished that if we do not honour them as we ought our days shall be few and short upon Earth which is to want and fall short of the Blessing But Deut. 27. 16. it is more expresly denounced in these words Maledictus qui non honorat c. Cursed be he that seteth light by his Father or Mother and Prov. 30. 17. it is said The Eye that mocketh at his Father and despiseth to obey his Mother the Ravens of the Valley shall pick it out and the Young Eagles shall eat it Rebellious Absalon was such a despiser and therefore a like Judgment met him and took him away He so far despised his Father King David that he endeavour'd to deprive him of his Kingdom and make himself King pretending to have more knowledge
ignorant with what exorbitancy this Vice did both reign and rage for many years together of late times the very lowest and meanest sort of People Coblers Brewers and other Mechanicks taking the liberty to dispise even the Highest Powers and most Sacred Dignities of the Nation having the King and all his Nobility in Scorn the Laws in Contempt and utterly rejecting whatsoever Commands His most Sacred Majesty thought fit to give for the good and security of His Kingdom and not only so but seizing at length upon His Sacred Person and by Injustice and Violence not to be parallelled in any History or Example save that of the Saviour of the World Pronouncing and Executing the Sentence of Death upon him as a Criminal who was most Innocent in the view of the World and using the same hard measure to many of his Chiefest and most Loyal Subjects Sect. 2. Contempts between Man and Wife The Extent and Dominion of this raging Vice being so large as it is and holding in subjection in a manner all Mankind tainted therewith no Place no Condition or Quality of Persons free it will not I hope seem inexpedient to take a short view of those several sorts of People wherein it principally resides and hath its most quotidian and constant effects These are first the State of Marriage or the Contempts which happen between Men and their Wives The second is of the Contempts that happen between Children and their Parents The third of that which happens between Servants and Masters The fourth of those between the Poor and the Rich and lastly those which fall out between the Wicked and the Just These or most of these several Contempts the Holy Scripture mention and first that which happens in the Married Estate In the Book of Esther you will find how the Queen Vasthi having by the seven Chief Eunuchs and Officers of the Kingdom received a special Command from the King Assuerus her Husband to appear before him Crowned and in her Royal Attire she would not obey his Command though she were both his Subject and Wife but refused to come contemning at once both his Royal Command and Loving Request But what came of her Contempt Verily that which Justice required The King being highly incensed at her undutifulness and to give an exemplary Caution or Warning to all other Women not to despise their Husbands nor to have their Persons and Commands in Contempt put her away from being any longer his Queen or Wife and chose another in her stead namely Queen Esther of the Race of the Jews See Esther Chap. 1. v. 21 22 2. 17. Sect. 3. Contempts between Children and Parents The Holy Scripture also taketh notice of the great Contempts which Children sometimes much contrary to their Duty shew towards their Parents giving also a great and strict charge to have all such Contempts speedily and severely punished for the example and terror of others There is a remarkable passage to this purpose in the Book of Deuteronomy Chap. 21. v. 18. where we read thus Si genuerit homo filium contumacem protervum c. If a Man beget a Son that is Stubborn and Rebellious not obeying the Voice of his Father nor the Voice of his Mother and being chastized by them will not regard it his Father and Mother shall lay hold on him and bring him out to the Ancients of the City and to the place of Judgment and shall say this our Son is Stubborn and Rebellious and dispiseth to hear our Counsels and all the Men of that City shall Stone him with Stones that he die So shall you put away evil from you and all Israel shall hear and fear This was the Law against a Son that despised and contemned his Parents he was to be Stoned to Death by all the People every Mans Hand was to be against him and chiefly those of his wronged and grieved Parents Alas what would it be if this Law were now to be reviv'd or put in execution I tremble to think how many Parents it would leave Childless amongst Christians How many Children are there now-a-days to be seen that have their Parents in scorn How many are there that will be ashamed to acknowledge their Father and Mother yea how many are there that not only despise and contemn their Parents and are so far from honouring and loving them as they ought that they fear not to curse them with Heart and Tongue and to wish evil to them to wish they were dead as being weary of them and greedily looking to have what they leave Sect. 4. Contempt between Servants and Masters But what shall we say of Servants that contemn their Masters and Mistrisses upon pretence that they are miserable and hard to them or too harsh and severe shall they upon this account be allowed to contemn their Persons or to neglect their affairs or to refuse to do what they are Commanded Shall we give Servants leave to have their Masters in scorn and derision for these Reasons or to murmur complain and speak evil of them when they are reprov'd or corrected for their faults By no means But on the contrary We must cause them to know what their Duty what Christianity requires of them the sum whereof is thus set down by Saint Paul Ephes 6. 5. 6. 7. Servi obedite dominis carnalibus cum timore c. Servants saith he be obedient to them that are your Masters according to the Flesh with fear and trembling in singleness of heart as unto Christ with good will doing service as unto our Lord and not to Men c. and by Saint Peter 1 Pet. 2. 18. who requires Servants to be subject to their Masters with all fear and that not only to the good and gentle sed etiam dyscolis but even to the froward and ungentle So that there is no excuse no plea for the Servants contemning his Master or making light of his Person Authority Words and they that will do otherwise wo unto them I say wo unto them for so that Wise Master King Solomon hath pronounced long since Viâ—o qui corripientem dura cervice contemnit repentinus ei superveniet interitus c. The Man that despiseth to hear reproof especially having for his offence deserv'd to hear it a sudden destruction shall overtake him health shall be far from him Sect. 5. Contempts between the Poor and Rich. Others are to be found that have the Poor too much in Contempt and attribute all their necessities to negligence and carelessness on the Poors part but very unjustly the poor for a great part of them being innocent of that charge and to their power diligent and careful But it is crime enough to be poor If you be poor you are sure enough to be slighted and contemned be your innocency and your case what it will for though as the Wise Man saith Ecclus 10. 23. it be not expedient to despise the Poor Man that hath understanding it is
All which when Saint Anselm reflected upon he could not refrain from saying O my Soul when I consider and ponder well how much you are indebted to the Eternal God I blush at my former negligence in not performing my duty and great Obligation Tell me O Lord which way I am to turn my self and what I can do that will be acceptable to your Divine Majesty You have made and created me by your love therefore I owe you all and all that I am You have redeemed me in Love by your Sacred Death and Passion out of the perpetual slavery of Satan therefore I owe you all and all that I am You have promised me such eternal comforts and reward after my decease therefore I owe you all and all that I am In one word you did give your self wholly to me and for me therefore I owe you all and all that I am O Lord what satisfaction can Man give what recompence can he make for so many benefits already received and still to be received from your Hands and of your Bounty Quid retribuam Domino pro omnibus quae retribuit mihi said the Prophet David on the like occasion Psalm 115. 3. What shall I render to our Lord for all the good things that he hath rendered to me As if he had said I am full of confusion I am asham'd and troubled in mind what to do considering that he hath not only given and bestowed many great benefits upon me and mankind but hath also rendred good for evil mercy for ingratitude forgiveness for our sins and transgressions And we most unthankful have rendred to him evil for good for which cause reflecting upon what the truly penitent Sinner King David said in this case I resolve with all my heart and Soul to say the same with him Calicem Salutaris accipiam nomen Domini invocabo said he ubi supra v. 4. I will take the Chalice of Salvation say I and will invocate the name of our Lord that is to say Seeing that I am not able to render any thing worthy of Gods Favours to me I will do what I can I will gratefully acknowledge and accept his great benefits especially the sacred Cup of Christ which he was pleased to bless for the Salvation of Mankind and to drink of himself I will praise him and call upon his Holy Name SECTION VI. How to cure the pernicious Disease of Self-love Sect. 1. By with-drawing our love from all Corporal Objects 2. By humbling and undervaluing our selves 3. By overcoming our selves and sensual appetites Sect. 1. By with-drawing our love from all Corporal Objects To cure and totally to extirpate the pernicious disease of Self-love I must confess is no easie task it requires hard labour to overcome that inordinate Passion being a Vice so inveterate that nothing is more rooted in our hearts and so connatural that nothing is more pleasing to corrupt and unmortified nature so that to compass this end we must strive to our utmost and level all our actions intentions and wills so purely at Gods Honour and Pleasure as that we make him the only end we aim at and the sole object of our love for which purpose we cannot do better than to follow the example and counsel of the Seraphical Father Saint Francis saying daily in imitation of him Deus meus omnia Deus meus omnia O my sweet Jesus O my sweet Lord Thou art my God and all In the first place therefore great care is to be taken and exact diligence used for to with-draw our affections from all eternal objects whatsoever and to place and fix the same totally upon God for otherwise we run great hazard to fall short of our aim and that of the Evangelist will be found true in our selves Qui amat patrem aut matrem plus quam me non est ne dignus Matth. 10. v. 37. He that loveth Father and Mother more than God is not worthy of God that is deserves not to be accounted nor shall ever be accounted Gods true lover What love is more lawful or more recommended by God unto us than the love of Children to their Parents Wherefore seeing that even this kind of love to wit the love of Children to Parents and vice versa the love of Parents to Children c. can be no just excuse why we should not love God as we ought seeing that even this love when it is opposite to the love of God is forbidden us and we are commanded to cast it off there can be no reason to doubt but that all other loves of less nearness and concernment of less piety and vertue of less obligation in like occasion are likewise forbidden us and that we are commanded to with-draw our hearts from them and to give our selves wholly to the love of God above all things not to love any creature so much as we love God nor to be hindred by it from doing service The Evangelist Saint Luke seems to be yet more strict that we say not rigorous in the matter not only exacting to the full the accomplishment of what the Evangelist Saint Matthew mentions to wit that we should not love our Parents more than God or above and before God but requiring also that we should even hate our Parents if need requires it for Gods sake and renounce all affection love and Duty to them rather than to offend God or to forsake the least part of the love and Duty we owe to him for so we read Luc. 14. v. 26. Si quis venit ad me non odit patrem matrem c. adhuc autem animam suam non potest meus esse discipulus If any man cometh to me and hates not his Father Mother c. yea and his own life besides he cannot be my disciple It may seem an hard sentence but the meaning is easie This we are to do rather than hate God we must hate our Parents rather than do any thing which he will judge and esteem an hating of him we must renounce and cast off all love and duty to our Parents rather than to renounce or cast off our love and duty to God This expression therefore of the Evangelist obliges us to leap over all stumbling blocks that are laid in our way to hinder us in our going about Gods service We must renounce and reject whatsoever is most dear unto us yea our own selves and all the desires affections and inclinations of our Hearts how specious how morally good pious and honest soever they seem to be if they stand in our way and stop us from the supream love of God Fie upon all friendships must we say fie upon all affections that are attended with such mischiefs and do lead us into such dangers and fie upon all distracting and disquieting designs of the world which bend our imaginations wholly to the things unprofitable and impertinent thereby disturbing and separating us from the love of God
not the principal Motive and Reason of their love They love him only with a natural love Thus Parents love their Children and Children their Parents Kindred love their Kindred or Relations Friends love their Friends and others love their Acquaintance Familiars Companions c. which Love although generally speaking it be not discommendable but lawful and honest in the eye of the world yet it is not that true love whereof we now speak being not grounded upon God nor exercised principally for his sake but upon natural grounds to wit upon the particular properties qualities and perfections Natural or Moral that are found in things and exercised meerly upon our own account for the good the pleasure the benefit content and profit that we receive by the persons we love by all which kind of love though we do not transgress any Divine Precept nor sin properly speaking yet neither do we deserve any reward for it at Gods hand because as the same holy Doctor says such Lovers amorem suum non spiritualiter sed naturaliter impendunt exercise love not after a spiritual but a natural and as it were carnal manner Such love may be commendable and honest but meritorious it is not We must therefore learn to be True Lovers by exactly observing and following the Commandment of Christ who when he first gave this Precept to the Apostles propounded himself as an example thereof to them Hoc est praeceptum meum ut diligatis invicem sicut dilexi vos Joan. 15. v. 12. This is my Commandment that you love one another as I have loved you Our Saviour loves us in God and for our Eternal Good so in the same manner are we to love our Neighbour This great Doctor moreover observes and mentions it as a matter whereat some wondered others disputed and enquired solicitously how it could stand that God should require us so strictly to love our Neighbours since elsewhere and at other times he requires us not only to have them in aversion but also to hate them and not only our common Neighbours and such as may be accounted as well Strangers as Neighbours but even those of the nearest and dearest relation to us that is to say even our Parents Brothers Sisters Wives and Children As for example by Saint Paul he commands in very earnest and expressive terms that Men love their Wives saying Ephes 5. 26. Viri diligite uxores vestras c. Husbands love your Wives as Christ loved his Church and gave himself for it and yet by the Evangelist he sayes Qui Vxorem non odit non potest meus esse Discipulus Luc. 14. v. 26. Vnless Men hate their Wives they cannot be his Disciples Is Christ contrary to himself Does he command that by one Apostle which he forbids by another Nothing less For we ought to reflect and consider that the substance and effect of both Precepts is by discretion and a right understanding easily kept and observed and that in different respects and for divers reasons we may both love them and hate them We may love them for Gods sake as being our Parents Friends Wives and Neighbours whom God commands us to love We may hate them when they prove obstacles and hinderances to our chiefest good when they become stumbling blocks unto us in the way of our Eternal Salvation when the loving of them will not stand with our Love and Duty to God we may hate them For so it is written in the Exposition of this great Doctor above-mentioned There is no Creature saith he so dear unto us which we must not hate and forsake if it hinder us from Christ or from his Church or from Salvation And the reason is because no earthly Thing no Duty to Parents no Love to Wife or Children Countrey or to a mans own body and life can be any just excuse or plea for him against God or for the doing of any thing that may offend or displease God in the least Sect. 3. How we are to love our enemies Having thus declared That we are to love God and our Neighbour we are to make some enquiry about loving our Enemies a thing very much against the natural bent of our minds We do not at all times find it easie for us to love our Neighbors who either love us or at least do not hate us or wish our harm Much more difficult then it will be for us to love our enemies of whom we have apprehension that they do both that is both hate us and wish and practice harm to us But how difficult soever it is and what reluctancy soever we find in Nature against it we must conclude for the Affirmative That we are to love even our enemies and to exercise all the good Offices of love to them that we can saving the due Order of Charity according unto and admitting for good the reason of Marchantius We must love our Enemies saith he by vertue of this Precept which bids us to love our Neighbors Quia nomine proximi non solum intelligitur Amicus sed quilibet homo vivens Under the Name of our Neighbour is understood not only our Neighbour that dwelleth by us but every Man living and by consequence our Enemies are to be reckoned in that sense for our Neighbors and accordingly loved This Divine Precept is not only expressed or given in the Law of Grace but was in force under the Mosaical and Prophetical Laws In the Mosaical Law it is said Exodus chap. 23. to 4. Si occurreris bovi inimici tui aut asino erranti c. If thou meet thine enemies Oxe or Ass going astray bring it back to him Under a particular cause or occasion he expresseth a general Duty namely that where we have opportunity to do our enemy a good office we fail not to do it out of our love and good will to him In the Prophetical Law it is said Prov. 25. v. 21. Si esurierit inimicus tuus ciba illum c. If thine enemy hunger give him meat if he thirst give him water to drink for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head and our Lord will reward thee Not that we should intend evil to our enemy in doing him good but to shew that our doing him good shall be a better revenge than if we had heap'd coals of fire on his head For we both please God and may expect our reward for what we do and he if he repents not and ceases to be our enemy upon so just occasion given him must expect the effects of Gods displeasure first or last to fall upon him So likewise in another place it is said Cum ceciderit inimicus tuus ne gaudeas c. If thine enemy fall be not glad thereat and in his ruine let not thy heart rejoyce least perhaps our Lord see it and it displease him But in the Evangelical or New Law our Lord Jesus Christ doth more ratifie and confirm it Matth. 5. v.