THE TRVE CHRISTIAN CATHOLIQVE OR THE MANER HOW TO LIVE CHRISTIANLY GATHERED Forth of the holie Scriptures and ancient Fathers confirmed and explained by sundrie Reasons apt◠Similitudes and Examples By the Reuerend Father F. PHILLIP DOVLTREMAN of the Societie of Iesus And turnd out of Frenche into Englishe By IOHN HEIGHAM AT S. OMERS With permission of Superiors Anno 1622. TO THE RIGHT WORTHY LADY THE LADY ELIZABETH WILLOVGHBY DAVGHTER to I. Thornbrough Lord Bishopp of Worcester MADAM The Sonne of God the supreame wisdome of the Father setting vp his diuine conclusions and daring as it were the greatest wittes of all the worlde to enter in dispute against them saith Doe men gather grapes of Thornes or Figges of thistles What shall we say to this demande Must it needes be granted and can it no way be denied Surely yes me thinkes it may First therfore I say with my Lord and masters leaue that he himselfe being perfect man doth gather from many sinful men sonnes and daughters of whom he maketh glorious Saints but this is to gather grapes of Thornes ergo Secondly who may better helpe me to maintaine this assertion Madam then your selfe For from whence hath he gathered your selfe so worthie a grape but of a Thorne A grape so rare albeit gathered of a very Thorne that hauing bene pressed by him in his sacred presse hath yelded such store plentie of pretious liquor as hath not only filled his house with the odor therof but hath further kindled and enflamed yea plainly inebriated the harts of many cold ones in his burning loue The presse wherin this Lord doth presse such pretious grapes as your selfe what other is it then the pressor of persecution The pretious iuyce which is pressed out of these excellent grapes are those most pretious and excellent Christian virtues which manifest thē selues amidst persecutions The glorious Apostle S. Paul desirous to giue vnto vs a proofe and tast of that pretious liquor which was pressed out of him selfe after his conuersion to the faith of Christ saith Vntill this houre we doe both hungar and thirst and are naked are beaten with buffets and are wanderers and labor working with our ovvne handes And which is there of all these that you may not truly say as well as he Verely it seemeth to me that God would in some sort paragonize you Ladyshipp with this glorious Apostle and make you a spectacle or rather patterne to women as he was to men in eache of these probations and persecutions First therfore in hungar and thirst as well as he hauing bene reduced to that extremitie as to be forced to send to the Spanish and Venetian Embassadors to beg your bread and on Fridayes and Saturdayes to be taxed to the allowance of three pence a day for the maintenance of your selfe your man your maide In nakednes as well as he as being not only despoiled of your plate ie wells and rich apparell but also to be stript so nere euen of necessaries as to be forced to set in your chamber in your naked sleeues not able to goe out of doores for lack of clothes In being beaten with buffets as well as he pittifully swollen with black and blue yea trailed by the haire of the head and trodden vnder foote treatment truly fitter for a dog then for a Christian Lady which yet for the loue you still beare to your abuser I ommit to enlarge In wandring as well as he who haue bene forced to trauell many miles not in the day time and in your Coache as your custome was and your ranck requireth but on foot in the dead of the night and to fli◠from place to place thorough vncoth and vnknowen wayes and last of all to flie the lande to liue in a strange and forrein contrie In labor and working with your own handes to get your liuing wherof many gentlemen of worth can yet beare witnes who coming to visit you in that poore estate found you labouring with your handes to get your liuinge But to say in a word with what incredible patience and inward confort you sustained and suffered the pressures aforsaid let this remaine for an euerlasting memory that to as many of your acquaintance as you met with all with great pleasure and contentment you said that you could tell them great good newes to wit that you were now no more a Protestant but were become a Roman Catholique Which you vttered to all with such alacritie of minde that many who heard you deemed you mad for making that answer like as the Apostles for their enflamed feruor in the faith of Christ were esteemed drunke But o happie foode which causeth such a happie frensie And o happie drinke which so makes drunke I neede not Madam the premisses considered frame any apologie for my selfe in this place why I made choise of your Lady-ship to protect and patronize this present treatise intituled The true Christian Catholique for eache one may easily iudge that a booke of this title meriteth to be dedicated to none other then to such a true and virtuous Christian Catholique as your haue manifested your selfe to be by so euident triall assuring my selfe that of all the bookes which euer you saw you neuer met with anie of so smale a bulke which doth expresse with more liuelye examples the virtues meete for a true Christian Catholique nor yet set forth with more fearful presidents the punishments inflicted by God vpon such as are vicious Receiue the same then I doe beseeche you into the armes of your protection and I shall neuer cease to pray that you may become peereles in the practise of the virtues and be perpetually preserued from the vices and finally of a Thorne in this life you may become an euerlastinge Lillie in the life to come Amen Your Ladyships euer humble seruant in our Lord and Sauiour Iesus IOHN HEIGHAM THE PREFACE THis Title of a True Christiā Catholique is not of so base of so smale a reckning as perhaps my friendly Reader thou doost account it for I finde that the greatest and renowned of the world haue glorified more therof then of all their other titles of honor and nobilitie Non principis non terrenae c. We are not honored saith Saint Chrisostome Hom. 8. in Ioan. circa finem with the name of Prince or of some earthly power not of Angell not of Archangell but with the name of the Kinge of the whole worlde That valerous martyred Deacon called Sanctus as Eusebius writeth l. 5. hist Eccl. c. 1. being asked of the tyrant vvhat his name vvas ansvvered I am a Christian Of vvhat familie art thou I am a Christian quoth he Of vvhat quallitie free or a bondman To all the demandes vvhich vvere made him he returned no other ansvvere but I am a Christian The same author vvriteth that S. Blandinas martyr in her confession of faith and in the midst of all her torments as often times as she pronoūced these
could possibly befall vnto a familie 4. A certaine woman damned for hauing taught her daughter all sortes of mondanitie appeared to S. Bridgit as coming forth of some darksome lake with her hart torne forth of her bellie hir lippes cut off her nose all eaten her eyes puld out of her head hanging downe vpon her cheekes her breast couered with great wormes and with most fearfull and lamentable cries and lamentations complaining of her daughter and saying as if she had spoken to her Vnderstand my daughter and venimous Newte accursed be I that euer I was thy mother for as often as thou doost imitate and follow the workes of my wicked customes that is to say the sinnes which my selfe haue taught thee so oft my paine is renewed S. Bridgit in her reuelations l. 6. cap. 52. 5. A certaine person saw vpon a day hell open and in the midst of the flames the father and the sonne which bitterly cursed one another the father said Cursed be thou my sonne who art cause of my damnation for to enriche thee I haue done a thousand iniustices The sonne on the contrary said It is thou cursed father who art the cause of my damnatioÌ„ because for feare to displease thee I haue remayned in the worlde Dionis Carth. l. de 4. nouis art 42. towards the end Loe here a goodly looking glasse for those which hinder their children to enter into religion principally when one seeth that God doth call them 6. A certaine crack-rope led to the galloes cald for his father and making as if he would tel him somewhat in secret approached with his mouth vnto his eare and then tore it off with his teeth saying Auantwretch if thou hadst whipt me in my youth I had not now bene where I am S. Bernardinus ser 17. de euang aeterno 7. Another called Lucretius being likewise led vnto the galloes and hauing called for his father to bid him farwel tore off his nose with his teeth saying vnto him as the other did Boetius de disciplin scholarium Ioan. Hieroso serm 16. 8. Pretextat a Roman Lady by the commandement of Hymettius her husband ouncle to the virgin Eustochium for hauing changed the habit and dresse of this mayden and renewed her head-geare after the model of such as were secular contrary to the minde both of the virgin and the desire of her mother Paula saw the same night in her sleepe her Angell addresse him selfe vnto her threatning her with a terrible voice Darest thou to touche the heade of the virgin of God with thy prophane and sacriledgious handes the which shall wither from this very houre and fiue monthes hence thou shalt be carried into hell and if thou perseuer in thy sinne thou shalt be depriued both of thy husband anâ— thy children altogether The succes wherof ensued in ordre for sodaine death made euident the late repentance of this wretched womaÌ„ S. Hier. l. 2. ep 15. All these examples proue they not apparantly that the negligence and conuiuence of the parents is both heir owne and their childrens ruine Thus the Ape making ouermuch of her litle ones doth stifele them §. 2. Of the sinnes of Children towards their parents The first commandement of the second table is Honor thy father and thy mother that thou mayest be long liued vpon the earth Exod. 20. 12. Three obligations are comprised in this commandement The first to loue honor and reuerence our parents The second to obey them in that which is reason The third to asist and succour them in their necessities S. Tho. 2. 2. q. 101. a. 2. Cursed be he that honoreth not his father and mother Deut 27. 16. If a man beget a stubburne and froward sonne that will not heare the commandments of his father and mother and being chastned contemneth to be obedient they shall take him and bringe him to the ancients of his cittie and to the gate of iudgment and shall say to him This our sonne is froward and stubburne be contemneth to heare our admonitions he giueth him selfe to commessation and to ryot and banquetinges The people of the cittie shall stone him and he shall die that you may take away the euill out of the midest of you and all Israel hearing it may be afraid Deut. 21. 18. He that curseth his father and mother his lampe shall be extinguished in the middest of darknes Pro. 20. 20. He that curseth his father and mother dying let hâ—m dâ—e Exod. 21. 17. The eye that scorneth his father and that despiseth the trauaile of his mother in bearing him let the Rauens of the torrent pick it out and the younge of the Eagle eate it Pro 30. 17. It is most certaine that whosoeuer curseth father or mother or vttereth against them iniurious threatninges or smiteth them or wisheth them dead or pronouÌ„ceth wordes which of them selues may greatly put them into choler or being in honor despiseth his father or his mother that are poore or shall accuse them before a Iudge or shall not obey them in a point of importance touching the gouerment of their famillie especiallie if it be done by contempt or selfe opinion or doth not asist them in their great necessitie offendeth God mortallie Toletus l. 5. Instruct c. 1. S. Tho. 22. q. 101. art 4. ad 4. Siluest verbo filius Nauar. c. 14. n. 11. EXAMPLES 1. Cain was cursed and all his posteritie because he mockt his father Noe. Gen. 19. nor would receiue the instructioÌ„s which he gaue him to serue God Lactantius 2. Esau for takinge a wife against the will of father and mother Gen. 26. 34. 3. Ruben fell from his birth-right for hauinge wrought shame to his father Iacob Gen. 49. 3. 4. 4. Absalon was hanged in a chaine made of his owne haire and perced with three strokes of a speare because he had taken armes against his father Dauid 2. Reg. 18. 9. 14. 5. The yeare of our Lord 873. and the first yeare of Iohn the 8. Pope in the assemblie of Bishops and Lords which was made in Francfort by the commandement of Lewis kinge of Germany Charles his younger sonne was thorough the iust iudgment of God posest of the diuell for that he had conspired against his father as he him selfe confest being deliuered saying That as oft as he consented to this deliberation so oft was he seased on by the diuell Taken out of the Annales of France by Pitheus and of Amonius l. 5. c. 30. and of Card. Baron the yeare abousaid 6. A boy of eighteene yeares old being hanged at the same instant a beard grew forth of his chinne al gray and his haire also became white God manifesting by this miracle till what age he should haue liued if he had not bene disobedient to father and mother S. Bernardinus to 2. dom 40. ser 17. 7. A Young maried man seing his father cominge hid a rosted Goose which he had made to be set on the table to the end he should haue none
v. 4. Our Lord said vnto his Apostles Going therfore teache yee all nations bap tising them in the name of the Father and of the Sonne and of the holy Ghost Mat. 28. 19. Tertullian who liued in the yeare of our Lord 198. saith that the true Christian is accustomed in entring in going forth in putting on his clothes at his vprising at his letting downe at the table when candles are lighted when he goes to bed and when he sets him downe to rest him in all his conuersation and in all his exercises to make the signe of the Crosse vpon his forehead If one aske you quoth he what the origine is of such like thinges Answere tradition hath left them custome hath confirmed them and faith hath practised them lib. de corona milit c. 3. S. Cyrill catechisinge a Christian saith as followeth Be not ashamed to confes the Crucifix engraue with thy fingars confidently the signe of the Crosse vpon thy fore-head on euery other thinge vpon thy bread vpon thy drinke at thy going out at thy coming in c. Cyrill Hier. Cat. 13. The same S. Amb. saith of Isaac and the soule c. 8. S. Basill in his booke of the holy Ghost c. 27. S. Hier. ad Eustoch de custod virg S. Aug. de Cat. rud c. 20. Seest thou then o Christian that it is not a new thinge to vse this signe EXAMPLES 1. S. Gregorie the great writeth in his dialogues that a certaine religious woman was posessed of the diuell in earing the leafe of a lettice for not making theron before hande the signe of the Crosse L. 1. dialog c. 4. 2. Ioannes Niderus of the order of the Preachers writeth to haue vnderstood from the mouth of a Doctor in diuinitie and inquisitor of his order as an eye witnes that a religious man of the couent of Boisleduc was possessed also of the diuell tasting but the leafe of a cabbedge ommitting to make theron the signe of the Crosse l. 3. formicarij c. 1. 3. S. Bennet hauing made the signe of the Crosse vpon a pot wherin some illwillers of his had put poison and presented it to him the pot broke in peeces and all the liquor was sted a grounde as if the signe of the Crosse had bene vnto it the blowe of a stone S. Greg. l. 2. Dtal 6. 3. 4. A gentleman of Arras in the low contries hauing prepared in his house a most sumptuous banquet for Kinge Cloitarus and for S. Vaast Bishop of the said cittie as the Saint had set his foote within the place where the banquet was he made the signe of the Crosse and behould instantly all the potts cuppes glasses and vessells broke and crackt all in peeces The Kinge and the asistants astonished therat S. Vaast said vnto them that these vessells polluted with panims superstitions could not suffer the signe of the Crosse which he had made vpon them in entring in Doctor du Val in in the life of S. Vaast 6. of Feb. Is not this a maruellous virtu of this signe 5. Ribadeneira in the life of S. Iohn the Euangelist writeth that a certaine Christiā finding him selfe pressed by his creditors not hauing wherwith to cōtent pay them all in despaire resolued for to kill him selfe for this purpose had bought of a Iew a poisoned drinke But yet before he dranke it he made theron the signe of the holy Crosse and behould it did him no maner of harme He returned to the Iew and made his complaint he astonished thereat gaue him another yet more stronger But hauing takē it in the selfe same fashion as he had the former he receiued no kinde of domage therby The Iew gaue therof in his presence to a dog and the dog died instantly Then he enquired of the Christian what he had done before he dranke it Who answered that he had done no other thinge saue only made vpon it the signe of the Crosse accordinge to the custome of all good Christiās The Iew admiring the virtu of the Christiā ceremonies went and sought out S. Iohn Euangelist recounted vnto him the fact aforsaid and caused him selfe to be baptised Afterwards S. Iohn made the Christian that was thus in despaire to come vnto him bearing a litle bundle of hearbes and hauing made theron the signe of the Crosse conuerted it into perfect golde where with the miserable man contented his creditors Good God what an Antidote and what a treasure is this holy signe §. 2. That this signe is a preseruatiue against all danger and particularly against the tentations of the diuel S. Cyrill saith Make the Crosse vpon thy fore head that so the deuils perceiuing the caractar of the kinge all affrighted may take their flight Catec 4. And in another place he saith This signe is the protection of the faithfull and the terror of the diuells Catech. 13. The same doth S. Basil also say lib. de Spiritu Sanc. S. Efrem de poenit c. 3. de armat spirit c. 2. Origen hom 6. in c. 5. Exod. S. Aug. ad Catech. c. 2. de Simbolo S. Paulinnatal 8. S. Felicit S. Antonie was wont to say that the signe of the Crosse was an vnexpugnable rampart against the diuels Arme your selues said he to his disciples both your selues your houses with this signe and the diuells shall vanish away immediatly EXAMPLES 1. S. Gregorie writeth that a Iew was conuerted to the faith for hauing being preserued by night from the diuells within the ruines of an olde temple of Apollo by the signe of the Crosse which he had made vpon him selfe according to the imitation of the Christians the diuells crying An emptie but a signed vessel l. 3. dial c 7. Now if the signe of the Crosse made by a Iew had so much force what shall it haue being made by a true Christian Catholique 2. Palladius writeth that a good old man hauing espied in the bottome of a well an ouglie serpent made the signe of the Crosse vpon the welle drew of the water drāk therof with out receiuing any detriment Lausiac c. 2. 3. Theodoret in the life of Iulian and S. Martian martyrs writeth that these Saintes only by the signe of the Crosse slew sundry great and horrible Dragons The same also did S. George as Metaphrastes writeth in his life 4. Certaine Persians being sent to Constantinople to the Emper or Mauritius by the kinge Cosroas were demāded by the said Emperor why they bore the signe of the Crosse imprinted grauen vpon their foreheads seeing that according to their owne law they did no kinde of honor to it Who answered that this they did to recall to their minde the benefit receiued by that signe saying that according to the instructions which they had learned of the Christiās in arming thē selues with this signe they had bene deliuered frō the plague Niceph. Calist. in his historie 5. S. Aug. writeth that in Carthage one of the chiefest matrons of the citty called
those that are chast and modest They fill them selues as those who remember that they are to pray vnto God in the night They talke together as those that know that God doth heare them After meate they washe their mouth and handes and after discourse turne by turne vpon some point of holy scripture and by this meanes it is one knowes how much they haue drunke They arise from the table not to enter into debates and quarrells not to talke of lasciuiousnes and knauerie but of that which is both honest and modest vt qui non tam caenam coenauerint quam disciplinam as those who had not so much fed of a supper as of discipline so that a man would iudge that they rather came from some lesson then from the table Tertul c. 39. Apologet. O admirable sobrietie of these first Christians from which how far off are we at this present §. 6. Of the virtu of Patience Patience is a virtu wherby we endure voluntarily and with tranquillitie the euils which doe happen to vs sent from God from the diuell or from men as sicknesses losse of goodes of children of parents iniuries sadnesses scruples and other afflictions of spirit and this for the hope we haue of better goodes There are six degrees of patience 1. To receiue the iniurie or the euill without any resistance 2. Not to reuenge it 3. To beare no hatred to the partie from whome the euill doth proceede 4. To loue him 5. To doe good vnto him 6. To pray to God for him All that shall be applied to thee receiue and in sorrow sustaine and in thy humiliation haue patience saith the wiseman for gold and siluer are tried in the fire but acceptable men in the fornace of humiliation And v. 16. Woe be to them that haue lost patience He that is patient is gouerned with much wisdome but he that is impatient exalteth his follie Pro. 14. 29. My sonne cast not away the discipline of our Lord nether doe thou faint when thou art chasticed of him for whom our Lord loueth he chasticeth and as a father in the sonne he pleaseth him selfe Pro. 3. 11. The same doth the Apostle say Heb. 12. 17. and S. Iohn in the Apoc. 3. 19. The most effectuall motiues which one can giue to excite and aduance him selfe to this holy virtu are 1. To consider the patience of God the Creator who giues so many good thinges vnto sinners and indures so gently all their iniuries who maketh his sunne to rise vpon good and bad and rayneth vpon iust and iniust as our Lord saith in S. Mat. 5. 45. Which point Tertullian deduceth elegantly lib. de patientia and S. Cyprian lib. de bono patientiae 2. To consider the patience which our Lord Iesus Christ had during his whole life in whom God as Tertullian speaketh hath placed his spirit with all patience who when he was reuiled did not reuile when he suffered he threatned not not but deliuered him selfe to him that iudged him vniustly 1. Pet. 2. 25. 3. To consider all the Saintes of the old Testament as Abell Abraham Isaac Iacob Ioseph Moyses Dauid Tobie Iob what is it they haue no◠endured Now if in that rude worlde before the doctrine and examples of Iesus Christ all these holy Saintes haue bene so patient in their aduersities what ought we to be saith Tertullian in the light of the gospell in the schoole of Iesus Christ in this abundance of grace amongst the infinit examples of the Saintes of the new testament 4. To consider the great vtilities of this virtu 1. It satisfieth for sinnes redeeming by a litle paine the most horrible torments of the other life It is easie to suffer the losse of ten crownes when one knowes that by this meanes one redeemeth the confiscation of then thousand 2. It aideth confirmeth and perfecteth all virtues Esteeme it my bretheren al ioy when you shall fall into diuers tentations saith S. Iames knowing that the probation of your faith worketh patience and let patience haue a perfect worke Iac. 1. 2. 3. It maketh vs also to merit euerlasting life 2. Cor. 4. 17. And our Lord saith Blessed are they that suffer persecution for iustice for theirs is the kingdome of heauen Blessed are you when they shall reuile you and persecute you and speake all that naught is against you vntruly for my sake be glad and reioyce for your reward is verie great in heauen Mat. 5. 10. EXAMPLES 1. Iob one of the greatest Princes of all the east being spoiled by the deuill of all his goodes afflicted with al sorts of diseases that might befall vnto a man and this thoroughout all the members of his body and for the space of many yeares despiced of all men yea euen assaulted by his owne wife who prouoked him to deny God hauing no other lodging then a dunghil and for all sortes of moueables an ilfauored piece of a broken pot to scrape his soares and to cleanse the filth that issued out of them not withstanding all these afflictions he neuer changed nor lost his courage no not so much as of speeche or of visage but singing cherefully these wordes so full of resignation to the will of God As it hath pleased our Lord so is it done Iob. 1. 22. 2. Tobias falling a sleepe against a wall a Swallow let fall her dunge vpon his eyes which made him blinde at the same instant God permitted this affliction to happen to him saith the holy scripture that an example might be giuen to posteritie of his patiēce as also of holie Iob. For wheras he feared God alwayes from his infancie and kept his commandements he grudged not against God for that the plague of blindnes had chanced to him but continued immoueable in the feare of God giuing thankes to God all the dayes of his life Iob. 2. 12. And after the Angel Raphael had healed him he said vnto him Because thou wast acceptable to God it was necessary that tentation should proue thee Tob. 12. 13. 3. S. Serulus a beggar lying paralitique his whole life at a gate of Rome at eache new accesse of dolor alwaies rendred thankes and praise to almightie God for which cause he deserued at his death to be visited and recreated with the musick of Angells S. Greg. Pope writeth it in his Dialogues l. 4. c. 14. Hom. 15. in Euang. 4. S. Galle daughter to Simachus Consull of Rome being left a widdow in the flower of her age had all her body couered ouer with an infamous scale and the Phisitians assuring her that she should soone die yea that a beard would growe out at her chinne like to a man vnles she married her selfe againe she chose rather to endure both the sicknes and death then to marry againe the second time At last as she drewe by litle and litle vnto her death hauinge one of her breastes all full of soares and that S. Peter appeared vnto her she asked not of him
giue thee then all the sorrowes and paines which I haue suffered In the booke aforsaid cap. 10. Length of time can nether be yrksome nor tedious vpon this subiect there being nothinge more profitable and necessarie for vs as S. Paul saith Heb. 10. 36. §. 7. Of spirituall diligence That which I haue alleadged heretofore against Slouth and Idlenes sufficeth to excite vs to the loue of this virtu yet to the end to say somwhat more directly and particularly We must consider that this life is giuen vs for no other end but to negociat our saluation for which cause it is that our Lord compareth vs to labourers sent to the vyniard there to worke who are to receiue our wages answerable to our labour Mat. 20. 8. 16. 27. The Sonne of man shall come in the glorie of his Father with his Angells and then will hee render to euerie man according to his workes The same also S. Paul saith 1. Cor. 3. 8. Euery one shall receiue his owne reward according to his owne labor And S. Iohn in the last of the Apocalips 12. and in the Galat. 6. 9. Doing good let vs not faile for in due time we shall reape not fayling therfore while we haue time let vs worke We shall haue no more glorie in heauen then we haue acquried merits in our life If the Saints could be sorrie nothing would so much peirce their hart as to haue let the time to passe so vnprofitably which was giuen them for the gayning of their glorie Our Lord compareth him selfe vnto a maister who going to trauell into a far contrie gaue to eache one of his seruants certaine tallents to trasique with all who at his returne was to call them to account for the diligence or negligence losse or gayne which they had made in their trasique and accordingly to giue them recompence What ioy hath a Christian at the houre of his death who hauinge carried him selfe like a good seruant may truly say Lord thou didst deliuer me two talents behould I haue gayned other two And to heare his Master say Well fare thee good and faithfull seruant because thou hast bene faithfull ouer a few thinges I will place thee ouer many thinges enter in to the ioy of thy Lord. Mat. 25. 22. How much more courageous oughtest thou to be in the field of God saith S. Aug. sith thou hast the promise of the truth which can nether fayle nor deceiue And what is it which is promised to thee Gold or siluer which men doe loue so excessiuelye Or enheritances for which men doe melt gold Or gardens houses or heardes of beastes No this is not the recōpence for which God doth encourage vs for to trauaile What is it then Life eternall Aug. tract 3. in ep Ioan. S. Gregorie of Nazianzen compares our life to a faire or market the day wherof being expired one findes no more to sell of that which he desired In sentent Behould the industrie of sundrie tradesmen who moyle and toile from the breake of day vnto midnight and this with ioy and songes of myrthe only to gaine a litle bread and thou o Christian to gaine the bread of Angells heauen it selfe and life eternall wilt thou refuse the labor and diligence of a few daies EXAMPLES 1. In the monasterie of Arnsberge of the order of the Premonstrenses a certaine English monke called Richard to fly idlenes spent the time which he had free to write forth the bookes of the monasterie hoping that for this paine diligence God would one day recompence him Twentie yeares after his death his graue being opened his whole body was turnd to ashes excepting only his right hande which was still as fresh and as whole as if at that instant it had bene cut or pluckt from the liuing body This arme is yet kept vnto this day in the same monasterie Caesarius l. 12. c. 47. 2. S. Bernard seing vpon a day one of the bretheren of his couent labouring in the field with great feruor and aboue his forces said vnto him in the presence of all the other religious who laboured as well as he Follow on my brother I assure thee that thou shalt haue no other purgatorie after this life Thom. à Cantipr lib. 2. ap cap. 5. 3. S. Marcian Anchoret meeting with a hunter was demanded of him what he did in that desert But the Saint demanded likewise of him what he did there The hunter answered that he hunted there after Hares and Deeres And I said S. Marcian hunt here after my God nor will neuer giue ouer this goodly chace vntill I take him and embrace him Theodor. in Philotheo Blessed is he who emploies his time and labour in such a chase See more vpon this matter c. 6. the Examples of the 7. § THE V. CHAPTER Of the holy sacrifice of the Masse THe Masse is a sacrifice a wherin the body and blood of Iesus-Christ is consecrated and offered vp to God with sundrie ceremonies prayers and sacred wordes instituted by our Lord him selfe as touching the substance in his last supper b and as concerning the rest by the B. Apostles and principallie by Saint Peter Saint Iames and by their successors c a Iustin. in dial cum Tryph. Basil ser 2. de baptis c. 2. Tertullian de orat Aug. ep 23. lib. 20. cont Faust. c. 21. b Luc. 22. Iren. l. 4. c. 32. Cypr. ep 63. Aug. l. 10. de ciuit c. 20. alibi sepe Conc. Trident. sess 2. c. 1. c Conc. Trid. ibid. cap. 5. §. 1. Of the fruites and vtilities of the Masse By meanes of this Sacrifice we rēdre thankes vnto God for all the benefits we haue receiued of his infinit boūtie as we are infinitly bound obliged vnto him so is there nothing by the which we can better satisfie him then to offer vnto him the immaculat hoste of his B. Sonne which of it selfe is of infinit value and merit Nether are they Priests only which may make this offringe but all those likewise who asist at Masse Moreouer by meanes of this sacrifice there is obtained and applied vnto vs all that which our Lord hath purchased for vs by his death and passion a And what other thinge is the holy Masse but the selfe same representation of the passion of our Lord b a Greg. Naz. orat 1. in Iulian. Greg. mag Hom 37. in euang b Luc. 22. Chrisost Hom. 17. in ep ad Heb. Aug. ser 4. de Innoc. See the Catechisme of Bellarmin There are yet many more vtilities 1. By the sacrifice of the masse we satisfie for our sinnes and venial sinnes are forgiuen vs. Cyp. Basil Chrisost Ambros citati a Canisio Hic 2. We receiue grace to resolue to confesse our mortall sinnes how enorme or in how great number soeuer they be and not to fall againe into them 3. We receiue sundry graces and helpes to resist the malignant spirit and to surmount the difficulties of this life Aug. l.
point but litle honest he couered his face for very shame O Christian learne honestie of this Pagan you aboue all fathers and mothers Hitherto haue we spoken of sinne in generall mortall veniall sinnes of thought of the tongue As touching that which followes after of sinnes of worke to the end that this litle discourse do not enlarge it selfe too loÌ„ge I wil conteÌ„t my selfe to speake of capitail to wit of those which are the springe and fountaine of all Saue only before I come therto I wil insert this alone THE V. CHAPTER Of the sinnes of parents and their children LEt not fathers and mothers thinke it strange if I addresse my selfe more oft and more particularly to theÌ„ in this litle discourse and that I set before them particularly this litle chapter sith all the good or euill fortune of a common welth proceedeth from no other cause then from their good institution or negligence to frame their children as they ought and to bringe them vp in the feare of God See the last chap. of the 3. booke of the life of our B. Father Ignatius by Ribadeneira As God hath commanded children to honor loue and helpe their pareÌ„ts Exod. 20. 11. and to obey them in all that is reason so will he that parents loue their children Eccl. 7. 25. 26. nourishing them and bringing them vp according to their power and qualitie in all that which is needfull for them as well for body as for soule Et Ephes 6. 4. 1. Tim. 5. 8. S. Christ. to 6. ho. 27 §. 1. Of the negligence of parents to correct their children from their tendre youth and to instruct them in matters of faith and of good maners Can I conceale from Abraham the thinges that I will doe wheras he shall be into a nation great and very stronge and in him are to be blessed all the nations of the earth For I knowe that he wil coÌ„mand his children and his house after him that they keepe the way of the Lord and doe iudgement and iustice Gen. 18. 18. Forget not the wordes that thine eies haue seene and let them not fall out of thy hart all the dayes of thy lâ—fe thou shalt teach them thy sonnes and thy nephewes Deut. 4. 9. And in the 11. Chapter Teache your children my commandements when thou sittest in thy house and walkest on the way and lyest downe and risest vp that thy dayes may be multiplied and the dayes of thy children Deut. 11. 19. Hast thou children instruct them and â—ow them from their childhood Ecc. 7. 25. The notable negligence of parents to see that their children know and vnderstand the contents of the Creed the Pater Aue Commandements the vse of the holy Sacraments is mortall sinne saith Nauar. Man cap. 14. num 17. He that spareth the rod hateth his childe but that loueth him doth instantly nurture him Pro. 13. 24. The childe that is left to his owne will confoundeth his mother Pro. 29. 15. An vntamed borse becommeth stubburne and a dissolute childe wil become headdy Pamper thy sonne and he will make thee afraid play with him he will make thee sorrowfull Laugh not with him lest thou be sorrie and at the last thy teeth shal be on edge Giue him not power in his youth contemne not his cogitations Curbe his neck in youth and knock his sides whiles be is a childe lest peshaps he he hardned and beleeue thee not O beautifull sentence Eccl. 30. 8. He that loueth sonne or daughter aboue me is not worthie of me Mat 10. 37. If the childe by the conuiuencie or winking of the parents come to fall into any sinne his parents shall be answerable for his soule S. Clement successor to S. Peter const Apost l. 4. c. 20. S. Basil saith that children are like vnto soft wax wherein one printeth what he list and with the selfe same singars one formes an Angell or a deuill Reg. fus disp interrogat 7. Those parents saith Saint Chrisostome which care not to correct their children I tell them the truth and without passion are more wicked their paracides for these doe but seperat the bodie from the soule but such parents by their conuiuence send both the bodies and soules of their children to eternall flames and he that is kild as touching the body must of necessitie haue once died but these poore children might haue escaped the fire of hell if the negligence of their fathers and mothers had not sent them thither l. 3. aduers vituperat vitae monast This is that which the wiseman saith Withdraw not discipline from a childe thou shalt strike him with the rod and deliuer his soule from hell Pro. 23. 13. 14. EXAMPLES 1. Helie the high Priest albeit a Saint as S. Hierom writeth in c. 6. ad Ephes not hauing reprehended his children as he ought to haue done for their sinnes of Gluttonie and Lubricitie God called the prophet Samuell and said vnto him Behould I doe a thinge in Israel which whosoeuer shall heare both his eares shall tingle In that day will I raise vp against Helie all thinges which I haue spokeÌ„ touching his house I will begin and accomplish it for I haue foretold him that I would iudge his house for euer because of iniquitie for that he knew that his sonnes did wickedly and hath not corrected theÌ„ 1. Reg. 3 11. c. And what betided then vnto him 1. He became blinde 2. His soule melted 3. The life of his posterity was shortned 4. He lost the battaile against his enemies thirtie thousand of his foote men remayning slaine vpon the place 5. The Arke of God was taken and carried from them 6. His two sonnes Ophin and Phinees were likewise killed the same day 7. He hearing the newes fell backward and broke his neck 8. His daughter in law at the rehearsall of so strange a fortune was deliuered before her time and so died How many mischifes doth the conuiuence of a father trayle after it 2. You haue seene a litle before a childe of fiue yeares old borne away by the diuels forth of his fathers armes for his blasphemies c. 4. § 2. Ex. 3. what a hart breaking was it to this father to see his childe carried to hell from whence he might haue deliuered him with three or four ierkes of a rod 3. S. Augustine preaching to the religious of the desert tould them that that very day wherin he preached vnto theÌ„ the sonne of Cyrillus one of the most notable bourgesses of Hippo hauing bene alwaies ouer well beloued of his father yea more then God and therfore left to all kinde of libertie ether to say or to doe whatsoeuer he list after he had wasted all his wealth in dissolutenes cominge drunke in a doores had forced his mother great with childe and stroue to violate one of his sisters had kild his father and deaâ—ly wounded his two sisters Aug. ser 33. ad fratres in eremo Deare God what greater disaster
the enflamed wordes of the holie fathers and examples Thou seest then o Christian by what hath bene said how pernicious and horrible sinne is and consequently what reason thou hast to detest and fly it as much as thou maist But yet perhaps thou wouldest willingly haue some remedies to preserue thy selfe from this accursed monster Besides the feare and loue of God the â—istrust of ones selfe the due frequentinge of the Sacraments of Penance and of the Eucharist spirituall lecture daylie examen of conscience and holy prayer wherof we will treate by Gods asistance in the booke ensuing behould here seauen singular remedies most effectuall 1. To fly the occasions as are dangerous places and euill companies The memorie 2. Of the presence of God 3. Of the passioÌ„ of our Lord. 4. Of death 5. Of iudgment 6. Of hell and of the eternitie of the damned 7. Of heauen and of the eternitie of the saued §. 1. Of flying the occasions of sinne The Prouerbe saith that the occasion causeth the thiefe The Flies and Gnattes houering about the candle fall at the last into the flame He must not walke nere the water who will not be drowned If thou then o Christian wilt keepe thy selfe so as not to fall into sinne flie the occasions such as are euill companies the dangerous places of tauernes and other houses of dissolute women in the euening and time of night For a maide for example doth put her selfe in great hasard of offending God and of her owne honor who vndertakes to talke with a younge man alone in a place apart in the darke or in the night You shall rendar account fathers and mothers who giue such libertie vnto your daughters See l. 2. c. 3. § 4. examp 3. He that loueth danger shall perish in it Eccl. 3. 27. Can a man hide fire in his bosome that his garments burne not Or walke vpon heate coales that his soales be not burnt Pro. 6. 27. My sonne if sinners shall entise thee condescend not to them If they shall say come with vs c. walke not with them stay thy foote from their pathes Pro. 1. 10. Depart from the wicked and euill shall fayle from thee Eccl. 7. 2. He that toucheth pitche shall be defiled with it he that communicateth with the proude shall put on pride Eccl. 13. 1. With the holie thou shalt be holie and with the innocent man thou shalt be innocent psl. 17. 26. If thy right eye scandalise thee pluck it out and cast it from thee for it is expedient for thee that one of thy limmes perish rather then thy whole body be cast into hell Mat. 5. 30. By the eye that scandaliseth is to be vnderstood all occasion of scandall and of offence The master then must quit him selfe of his maide if she giue him occasion to offende God and if it be the master which inciteth the maide to commit euill then must she leaue him and so of others There is no assurance saith S. Hierom to sleepe nere vnto a serpent it may be that he will not bite me but it may be also that he will bite me l. cont Vigilant And writing to Furia touching her widdowhood he saith Fly the companie of younge youthes let not your house admit these young courters of girles which weare their perewigges who haue their haire fâ—…sled their habits spruce and their lookes lasciuious admit not likewise neere vnto you singers and players c. but insteed of these holie widdowes Epist. 10. S. Aug. bewayling the stealth of apples which he had committed in his youth saith If I had bene alone I had neuer done it it was wicked company that caused me to doe it O frindship too too iniust seduction of spirit when one saith Let vs goe let vs doe it and one is ashamed not to be without shame l. 3. Conf. c. 8. 9. EXAMPLES The children of Seth were good before they were married but as soone as they were allied with the daughters of Caine they became so wicked that God was constrained to drowne them all by the deluge Gen. 4. 6. 7. 2. Loth being retired from the holy company of Abraham was taken by the Infidells all his goods were burned in Sodome he made himselfe drunke and being drunke violated his two daughters Gen. 14. 19. 3. SalomoÌ„ coÌ„uersing with the EgiptiaÌ„ Ladies became an Idolater 3. Reg. 11. 4. 4. S. Peter leauing the companie of our Ladie and the Apostles and rancking him selfe amongst the wicked denied thrice his Lord and Master Mat. 26. 70. 5. Gordiana aunt to S. Gregorie delighting ouer-much to be in company of certaine secular maydes forgot the vow she had made to serue God and by litle and litle turned all worldly after the death of her two sisters Tharsilla Emiliana which weÌ„t to heauen she plunged her selfe entirely in vanities with the finall perdition of her soule S. Greg. 4. Dial. c. 14. Hom. 38. in Euang. 6. A younge scholler studying in the dioces of Mastrick finding him self vpon a day in the company of some younge and dissolute libertines was conducted into a certaine house where it wanted litle that together with the puritie of his hart he lost not the flower of his virginitie Seing him selfe therfore assaulted with an impudent woman he forsooke his companions and departing forth of that debauched lodging it being now night he went towards his owne dwelling and as he went he began to thinke not without great astonishment vpon the euident perill which he had passed to make an irreparable losse of the pretious treasure of his chastitie As he entertayned him selfe in this thought behould a young man of a most maruellous beautie appeared vnto him and gaue vnto him a box on the eare that so fierce and soundly set on that he feld him flat vpon the ground saying vnto him Learne then learne thou for another time to flie euill company and so disappeared sodainly The schollar all shaking and trembling for very feare got him selfe vp some while after and waighing more seriously what had passed knew more clearly that this younge man was his Angell gardien which had deliuered him that day from so great danger and had admonished him so charitably of the fault which he had committed for which cause he gaue thankes vnto God and to his good Angell makinge a firme purpose to fly for the time to come more carefully then euer before all kinde of euill company And the better to assure that it was not a dreame the cheeke wheron the Angell smote remayned sweld sundry dayes after P. Francis Albertin in his treatise of our Angell Gardien c. 7. ex speculo ex dist 10 ex 9. See also another as remarkable in the treatise aforsaid c. 19. and here before c. 4. § 7. examp 3. of S. Edmond in the 2. booke c. 3. § 4. exampl 3. If we haue so great care to conserue our body from euill ayres and from all that which may be
these thinges that is to say to him who was euen iustice it selfe in the drie what shall be done Luc. â—3 31. Who is he so irreligious saith S. Bernard that remembringe himselfe of the passâ—on of his Sauiour is not touched with compunction Who so proude that is not humbled Who so cholericke that is not appeased Who so voluptuous that is not cooled Who so wicked that is not restrained Who so malicious that doth not pennance And this with great reason sith the passion of our Lord hath moued euen the earth it selfe brused the stones and opened the monuments In serm seria 4. heb poenosae Acknowledge saith the same Saint in another place how greuous the woundes are for the which it behoued that the SoÌ„ne of God should be wounded if they had not bene deadly and to death eternall neuer had the Sonne of God died for their remedy Ser. 3. de natiuit Greater loue then this no man hath that a man yield his life for his friends Ioan 15. 13. And if loue be not requiâ—ed but by loue art thou not more cruell more in human theÌ„ the Tygers that remembring thee of this exceeding charity of the SoÌ„ne of God who gaue his dearest life for thee thou wilt offende him and crucifie him againe anew Heb. 6. 6. EXAMPLES 1. Zenophon writeth that Cyrus kinge of Persia hauinge vpon a day caused Tigranes kinge of Armenia whom together with his wife he helde captiue to come vnto his table demanded of him how much he would giue to ransome his wife I should be content replied Tygranes to giue for her all that kingdome which thou by force hast taken from me and yet more all my blood and my life Cyrus admiring so great affection restored them their realme and their libertie A while after Tygranes being in his pallace demanded of her what she thought of the beautie of Cyrus In sooth quoth she I doe not know what you would say nor what Cyrus is for all the time of our capâ—iuitie I neuer cast mine eye vpon other then vpon him who was ready to giue his blood and his life for the loue of me O Christian admire and imitate this pagan princesse Thou hast before thine eyes the Sonne of God who was not only content to giue his life his blood for thee but de facto hath giuen it wouldest thou theÌ„ leaue him to loue a vile and catife creature 2. Our Lord said vpon a day vnto S. Gertrude that a man casting his eyes vpon the crucifix ought to imagin that our Lord who is nayled thereon saith vnto him Thou seest what I haue endured for thee to suffer my selfe to be hanged all naked vpon a Grosse c. and yet notwithstandinge I loue thee â—o much that if it were expedient for thy saluation I would endure for thee alone all that which I haue endured for the whole worlde Lud. Blos Moâ—il spirit c. 1. He somtime said the selfe same vnto S. Carpus as S. Denis of Areopagita reporteth Ep. 2. ad Demophil Baron â—…m 1. anno 59. 3. But he said yet more vnto Saint Bridgit I loue men said he vnto her â—t this present euen as much as I did when I died for them yea if it were â—ossible I would be ready to dye for â—uery one in particular and as many â—imes as there are damned soules in â—ell Ibid. 4. S. Collecta reformer of the orâ—er of S. Clare praying to our Lady â—…the behalfe of sinners our B. Lady appeared vnto her with a platter full of peeces of flesh as of an infant newly slaine and shewing her the same said vnto her How wilt thou that I pray for them who by their sinnes as much as lyeth in their power cut and dismember my Sonne into more peeces â—hen heere thou seest Surius tom 7. ex Stephano Iuliaco S. Coletae contemporaneo 5. S. Elzear Count of Arie in Prouence being asked by his wife Delphina whence it was that he neuer troubled nor vexed him selfe answered that he set before him the iniuries done vnto our B. Lord and that at the selfe instant his choler ceased Surius 27. of Sept. c. 23. See thou now o Christian the singular efficacie of this remedie §. 4. Of the memorie of death Who is he that would offend God that doth reflect vpon his death Who pondereth that peraduenture he is already arriued to the last degree and step of his life and now at the point to make the last leape vnto happie or vnhappie eternitie It is appointed to men to die once saith S. Paul vnto the Heb. 9. 27. I know that thou wilt deliuer me to death quoth holy Iob where a house is appointed for euery one that liueth Iob. 30. â—2 And yet nether know we when nor how Watch yee therfore saith our Lord because you know not the day nor the houre Mat. 25. 13. Whether at eueninge or at midnight or at the cock crowinge or in the moringe lest cominge vpon a sodaine he finde you sleepinge and that which I say to you I say to all watch Marc. 13. 35. In all thy workes remember thy latter ende and thou wilt not sinne for euer Eccl 7. 40. Thou art afraid to die ill and art not afraid to liue ill Correct thine euil life for he can neuer dye ill who hath liued well S. Aug. l. de disciplina christiana c. 2. There is nothing which doth more withhould a man from sinne then the memorie of death Ibid. l. 2. de Gen. cont Maniche ser 3. de Innoc. Cassian c. 6. col 10. He who hath promised pardon vnto the penitent hath not promised to the sinner the day of to morrow We must then feare continually this latter day which we can neuer foresee S. Greg. Hom. 10. in euang Fleres si scires vnum tua tempora mensem Rides cum non sit forsitan vna dies If one monthes certaintie thou hadst to liue And couldst not haue thy death deferd no longer Thy eyes would poure forth teares thy hart would greiue For that thou hadst not fallen to penance sooner Yet now vncertaine of the shortest day Thou spendst thy time in dalliance sport and play It is a thinge of great moment wheron eternitie doth depend Eternitie dependeth vpon death death vpon life life vpon an instant Choose whither thou wilt if once thou be lost it is for all eternitie EXAMPLES OF SODAINE death 1. The children of Iob feasting together were sodainly ouer-whelmed with the fall of a house Iob. 1. Isboseth a Sisara b Holofernes c lost they not their liues in the dead of their sleepe a 2. Reg. 4. b Iudg. 4. c Iudith Balthasar making great cheere receiued the sentence of his death Dan. Manlius Torquatus in eating a cake P. Quintus Scapulus in supping Decimus Sauferus in dyning Apeius Saufeius in supping off an egge Fabius Maximus eating of milke swallowed downe a haire and died Plin. hist l. 7. c. 53. The poet Anacreon swallowinge downe the stone of
better life then I haue liued and if thou be wise quoth he thou will goe render thy selfe religious nere S. Melanius which being said he disappeared returning to his accursed centre there to burne in all eternitie The other for feare lest one day he should follow him turned back from the way of hell which he had taken vntill that time and impathed him selfe in the good and happie way of heauen making him selfe a religious man Vincent spec hist l. 25. c. 89 Math. Paris in hist. Ang. in the yeare 1072. in the time of William kinge of England What will it profit thee o mortall man to haue two or three daies weekes monthes or yeares of contentment if thou must be afterwardes tormented and tortured for all Eternitie That is momentary which delighteth that eternall which tormenteth §. 7. Of the memorie of heauen and of the eternitie of the blessed O Israel how great is the house of God and how great is the place of his posession It is great and hath no end high and vnmeasurable Baruch 3. 24. And he shewed me the holie cittie of Hierusalem Apoc. 21. 10. The building of the wall thereof was of Iaspar v. 18. the gates of Saphire and Emraulds Tob. 13.19 and the streete of the cittie pure gold Apoc. 21.21 There are nether the coldes of winter nor the heates of sommer but an euerlastinge spring-time nothinge is heard thoroughout all this cittie but a perpetuall Allelâ—ia Tob. 13. 20. Farwell teares from all those that are there for they shall neuer weepe more for God shall wipâ— away all teares from their eyes and death shall be no more nor mourning nor crying Apoc. 21. 4. They all follow the Lambe who leadeth them to the liuing waters and to the fountaines of the water of life ibid where they drinke their full draughts of that Angellicall Nectar which contayneth in it all the pleasures and contentments that can be wished Will you knowe how great this contentment is Eye hath not seene noâ— care hath heard nether hath it ascendâ—… into the hart of man what thinges Goâ— hath prepared for them that loue him Isay 64. 4. 1. Cor. 2. 9. The passions of this time are not condigne to the glorie to come that shall be reuealed in vs. Rom. 8. 18. For that our tribulation which presently is momentary and light worketh aboue measure exceedingly an eternall waight of glorie in vs. 2. Cor. 4. 17. S. Peter said vpon a day vnto our Lord. Behould we haue left all thinges and haue followed thee what therfore shall we haue And Iesus said to them Amen I say to you that you which haue followed me in the regeneration when the Sonne of man shall sit in the seate of his maiestie you also shall sit vpon twelue seates iudging the twelue tribes of Israell And euery one that hath left house or brethren or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or landes for my names sake shall receiue an hundred fold and shall posesse life euerlasting Mat. 19. 27. c. Come yee blessed of my father posesse you the kingdome prepared for you from the foundation of the worlde for I was an hungred and you gaue me to eate I was a thirst and you gaue me to drinke Mat. 25. 34. For this soueraigne good it was that all the Saintes haue suffered so much choosing rather to be afflicted yea rather to loose their liues after a thousand torments then to enioy for a litle while the delights of sinne for they looked vnto the remuneration Heb. 11. 26. I haue fought a good fight saith the same Apostle I haue consummate my course I haue kept the saith Concerninge the rest there is laid vp for me a crowne of iustice which our Lord will render to me in that day a iust iudge and not only to me but to them also that loue his cominge 2. Tim. 4. 7. S. Augustine by the pleasures of this life coniectured the contentments of the life eternall If thou doost vs so much good Lord quoth he in this prison what wilt thou doe vs in thy pallace If there be so much contentment in this day of teares what wilt thou giue vs in the day of mariage Silloq c. 21. These are certaine testimonies drawen forth of the booke of God touching the pleasures of heauen and of the life eternall Now so longe as thou art the friend and childe of God by grace thou art inheritor of all these goods If sonnes heires also heires truly of God and coheires of Christ. Rom. 8. 17. Wouldest thou then expose and aduenture at a cast at dice or a momentarie pleasure all the right thou hast to an enheritance so riche and so delightfull If thou offend God mortallie thou loosest in an instant all this right Who shall ascend into the mount of our Lord who shall stande in his holie place the innocent of handes that is in his workes and of cleane hart psal 23. 3. There shall not enter into it any polluâ—ed thinge Apoc. 21. 27. Labour the more that by good workes you may make sure your vocation and election c. for so there shall be ministred vnto you aboundantly an entrance into the euerlasting kingdome of our Lord and Sauiour Iesus 2. Pet. 1. 10. What lamentations reade we of the miserable damned at the consideration of so great a good as they haue exchanged and forgone for a fading pleasure Sap. 5. EXAMPLES 1. S. Francis being one day extreamlie afflicted with the head-ache gaue thankes to God and asked strength of him to suffer the same and behould he heard a voice which said vnto him Francis if all the earth were conuerted into gold the sea the riuers and the fountaines into baulme the rockes and stones into pretious pearles and further that thou hadst found a treasure as much more pretious then all this as gold is more estimable then the earth baulme then water pretious pearles then common stones and that it were giuen thee for this infirmitie shouldst thou not haue matter to reioyce thee Alas Lord said Saint Francis I am not worthy of such a treasure The voice replied vnto him Know notwithstading that this treasure is the life eternall which I prepare thee and this head-ache which thou endurest is the earnest Tom. 2. Chron. frat minor l. 1. c. 51. The glory which I expect would he somtimes say is so great that all paine all sicknes all humiliation all persecution all mortification doth reioyce me 2. S. Thomas being asked of his sister to whom he appeared what the glory of heaueÌ„ was vntil the time that you haue tried it quoth he no man is euer able for to tell you Rib. in his life 3. S. Adrian being as yet a soldiar of the age of eight and twentie yeares behoulding the coÌ„stancy of the martirs amidst the sharpest of their torments asked of them what good they hoped to haue by those torments who made him answer We hope for those goods which nether
3. Gabr. Inchino chanon Reg. Lateran 3. An other concealing in confession a sinne of the flesh seemed to cast out to take in toades at his mouth and after his death appeared to his confessar horribly tormented saying that he was daÌ„ned for that he had concealed his sinne Adding that people went to hell by all sortes of sinnes but women principally by four by the sinne of the flesh by vaine ornaments by witchcraft and by shame for to confes them Iâ— Iunior in scala coeli Gulielmus Pepin 1. sup Confiteor c. 13. 4. At Itate a cittie of the orientall Indies the yeare 1590. a christian maiden called Catharin giueing and abandoning her selfe secretly to the filthines of the flesh neuer confest her selfe at all Falling sick a father of the Societie went to see her and endeuored to induce her to a good confession She confest her selfe nine times but allwaies coÌ„cealing her sinnes of the flesh And as the other seruants of the house fell a talking with her she said vnto them that euery time her ghostly father was nere vnto her a Black a More appeared vnto her by her beds side who said vnto her that she should take good heede not to confes all her sinnes saying that they were but petty faults and that on the other side S. Mary Magdalen exhorted her to confes them The seruants hearing these her speeches called back the father but he profited nothing so that she dyed in that estate After her death she appeared to one of the seruants all in fire saying that she was damned for hauing confessed none but litle sinnes and concealed the great adding that she was forced to tell them this for their example An Angel appeared also at the same time who willed the seruant to harkne vnto her and to related the whole vnto the rest Taken forth of the historie of the Indes written by F. Iacques Samâ—tiego superior of the mission of the Itatins anno 1590. P. Thyreus de loco infest p. 1. c. 1 fusâ— narrat pat Delrio in suis disq mag 5. At Arone in Lombardie the yeare 1595. and litle maide but six yeares old dyed crying out that certaine Black a Mores went about to throw her into a boyling cauldron and finally she said Deuil cary me away deuill carry me away and in saying this she gaue vp her soule vnto the diuels Her parents knew by her no other thinge but that she was of a quick spirit had bene seene to play too liberally with litle youthes and that she neuer had bene at holie confession Taken out of the historie of the Societie anno 1595. §. 3. Of frequent Confession and how daÌ„gerous it is for to delay it If thou hadst swallowed poison that thou knewest it wouldst thou tarry to seeke after phisick and after the phisitian til the poison were dispersed thoroughout all thy body If thou wert taken of the enimie mightest instaÌ„tly be deliuered wouldst thou tarrie till some one had tyed thee with more chaines put thee into a deeper dungeon As long as a man is in mortall sinne he meriteth nothing by his good workes he doth not participat of the merits of our Lord nor of his Church he is depriued of the particular asistances of almightie God and of his Angell Gardien And that which yet is worst of all he is hunge by a thrid ouer the welle of the infernall pit and who knowes whither this thrid shall not perhaps be cut a sunder before to morrow Why then in an affaire of such importance and wherein is treated of thine eternall saluation doost thou defer the time vntill to morrow wherof thou art vncertaine to doe that which thou maist now doe assuredly Slack not to be conuerted to our Lord and differ not froÌ„ day to day for his wrath shall come sodainly Eccl 5. 8. Sonne hast thou sinned doe so no more but for the old also pray that they may be forgiuen thee Eccl. 21. 1. Doost thou contemne the riches of his goodnes and patience and long animitie not knowing that the benignitie of God bringeth thee to pennance But according to thy hardnes and impenitent hart thou heapest to thy selfe wrath in the day of wrath Rom. 2. 4. He that hath promised the penitent pardon hath not promised the sinner the day of to morrow S. Greg. Hom. 10. in Euang. He that doth penance and reconcileth him selfe at the end of his life that he departs this life with assurance I am not assured I say not that such an one is damned nor yet say I that he shall be saued Wilt thou be deliuered from this dout Wilt thou auoide that which is vncertaine Doe penance whilst yet thou art in perfect health whilst thou canst as yet sinne for if thou wilt doe penance when thou caÌ„st sinne no more sinne leaueth thee but thou hast not left sinne S. Aug. lib. â—… Homil. EXAMPLES 1. Chrysaurius a riche man hauing passed all his life in pleasures seeing him selfe reduced to the point of death and compassed about with diuells ready to carry him to hell turned him towards heauen crying out Inductas vel vsque mane inducias vel vsque mane Truce only till to morrow truce only til to morrow with these wordes gaue vp the ghost S. Gre. Hom. 12. in Euang. l. 4. dial c. 38. 2. A Courtiar of Coenredus kinge of England admonished by the kinge himselfe to be confessed in his sicknes refused to doe it saying that he would not be confessed then but when he was well recouered and able to goe broad saw being nere his death the diuells who shewed him all his sinnes written in a huge booke and the Angells who gaue place vnto them he saying that two deuils were entred into his bodie the one by his head the other by his feete to deuoure his soule and so dyed at the same time Venerable Bede lib. 5. hist Aug. c. 14. anno 704. 3. An other deferring his repentance after the like maner saw a litle before his death his place in hell neere vnto Caiphas The same author cap. 15. 4. At Squira a cittie of the Philippine isles an Indian woman feeling her selfe moued of God to make a Confession of her whole life and that for many dayes together she imparted the same vnto her parents who gaue her councell to defer it A litle after she fell sick a Priest was called but he could not heare her for he found her dumbe to euery thinge saue in these wordes which she repeted oftentimes stretching forth her handes towardes her parents Take hence these Caâ—…s what make they here Ah wretch that I am behould the blackmores who will carry me away They prayd for her but all in vaine for she sunge no other songe and hauing cryed that they burnd her she gaue vp the ghost After her death God declared that she spoke into these thinges thorough idle rauing for as they went about to winde her vp and to burie her her body
which he said S. Paulinus in his life §. 1. Of the efficacie of the worde of God Why are not my wordes as fire saith our Lord and as a hammer breaking a rocke Ierem. 23. 29. They are also called Trumpets Isay 58. Iosue 6. By the trumpets which the priests caused to be sounded the walles of Hiericho were ouerthroweÌ„ a most assured presage that at the voice and sound of the preachers the true trumpets of the church the walles and ramparts of our vices should be ouerthrowen EXAMPLES 1. A certaine woman that had poisoned her husband hearing S. Hughe bishop of Grenoble preache felt so greiuous a sorrow in her hart for hauing committed so great a sinne that without regarding where she was she confest it aloud and publiquely Ribad in the life of S. Hughe 2. S. Vincent Ferrier being about to preache he perceiued two wicked persons which were a leading to the gallouse he made them to be brought vnto him and a cloth to be put before their face Then he preached of the malice and deformitie of sinne and of the paines of hell and that with such feruour and efficacie that these two theeues touched with repentance for their sinnes began to sweate and to smoake or reake as if they had bene burnt and their faces being discouered they were seene become as black as coales Platus de bono stat relig l. 2. c. 32. O what reformation would there be both in townes and villages if sinners would frequent sermons and catechismes But al as it is to be feared lest that which our Lord said to his Apostles arriue not to sundry Christians Whosoeuer shall not receiue you nor heare your wordes amen I say to you it shall be more tollerable for the lande of the Sodomites and Gomorrheans in the day of iudgment then for that cittie Mat. 10. 14. THE X. CHAPTER Of the singular deuotion which the good Christian ought to haue to our B. Lady ALl the holy Saintes haue bene so affected to the mother of God haue thought so highly of the desire which God hath of her honor and her seruice that they haue bene bould to assure that who so shall be truly deuoâ—t vnto her shall be neuer damned but that she will obtaine him of her Sonne all that which shall be necessary for him to be saued They proue the same by the wordes of the wise man Prou. 8. 34. saying Blessed is the man that heareth me he that shall finde me shall finde life and shall draw saluation of our Lord. For this cause S. Epiphanius calleth the holie virgin the roote and seede of glorie orat de Annunt And in Eccles 24. 24. I am the mother of beautifull loue and feare and of knowledge and of holie hope in me is all grace of way and truth they that explicate me shall haue life euerlastinge S. Anselme and S. Bonauenture lib. 1. phar cap. 5. say Sicut o beatissima c. Euen as o blessed virgin all auerted from thee and despiced of thee must needes perish euen so all conuerted to thee and respected of thee it is impossible they should perish Heare S. Bernard God hath placed the whole plenitude of all good thinges in Marie that we should know that if there be any hope in vs any grace of heauen any hope of saluation all this comes from God by the handes of Marie Ser. de nat virg Mariae And in another place She is called the Qâ—eene and mother of mercie because we beleeue that she openeth the bottomles depth of diuine mercie to whom she will when she will and aâ—ter what maner and fashion she will in so much that euen the most enormous sinner caÌ„ not perish if this Saint of Saints honor him with her intercession asâ—…tance Serm. 1. in Salue regina Who hath euer saith a certaine holie personage reclaymed thy most powerfull fauour with a faithfull hart and hath bene reiected Neuer neuer hath one bene heard of Eutichianus in vita Theoph. anno 600. The same Saint Bernard saith in the sermon vpon the Assumpâ—…on EXAMPLES 1. My mother aske said king Salomon to Bersabee for it behoueth not that I turne away thy face 3 Reg. 20. Salomon was a figure of the Sonne of God and Bersabee of our B. Lady 2. When Iesus therfore had seene his mother from the Crosse wheron he was nayled and the Disciple standinge whom he loued he saith to his mother Woman behould thy Sonne And after that he saith to the Disciple behould thy mother Ioan. 19. 26. From which houre S. Iohn tooke her for his mother Our Lord recommended vs also then vnto his mother in the person of S. Iohn Haue we not then iust occasion to hould her for our mother as well as hee 3. S. Thomas of Aquin assured before his death neuer to haue asked ought of our Lord by the meanes of our B. Lady which he obtained not Ribad 7. of Marche The same is reade also of S. Dominick Ibid. 4. of August 4. Theophilus hauing giuen his soule vnto the diuell and signed the gift with his owne hande had recourse vnto our Lady and praied vnto her so feruently and so efficatiously that the diuel was forced to bring him back againe his bill Metaphrast 4. of Fâ—b and. S. Antoninus Which the B. Cardinall Damian admiring saith What may be denied thee o most holy virgin to whom was not denied to pluck Theophilus out of the very throat of hell Certainly nothing is impossible for hee sith thou canst from the very bottom of the bottomles depthe raise vp the despaired to lift them vp into the bosome of glorie 5. See such other like examples in the historie of Loretto by Horatius Turselinus lib. cap. 4. cap. 33. In Cesarias lib. 6. mirac cap. 26. 27. In Delrio disq magic lib. 6. cap. 2. S. 3. q. 3. 6. A certaine Hermit vpon a day saw our Lady sitting vpon a sumptuous throane and at her feete S. Wadrus and S. Aldegundus who besought her to doe iustice vpon Theodoric Count of Auesne who vniustlie vsurped the goods of the Church Our Lady answered them that his wife helde her handes for as much as euery day she offred for him sixtie Aue Maries In the 3. volume of the annales of Hainnaâ— cap. 19. 7. Lewis kinge of France and Emperor sonne of Chaâ—lemaine bore alwaies the picture of our Lady hanging at his neck as did also S. Heduuige Dutchesse of Polâ—gnia Sur tom 5. and if he were ether wearie of huntinge or stayed amongst the thickets he fastned this picture vpon some tree and offered vp his praiers vpon both his knees In the historie of France Canis l. 5. cap. 2â— Crautz 7. Andronicus Emperor of the caste being reduced by a sodaine acciâ—ent to the point of death and seeing that he could not receiue the most pretious body of our Lord for his voyage foode he put within his mouth a golden image of the most holy virgin which he alwaies bore about
his neck and so meltinge into teares dyed He beleeued that the B. mother would make his excuse towards her Sonne and that he should not be excluded heauen presenting at the gate thereof the picture of her who was the Queene of heauen and hauing his harâ— all grauen with the markes of her deuotion Binet in his treatise of deuotion to our Lady 8. The B. mother of Teresa of Iesus being appointed prioresse of the Incarnation at Auila before she began any thinge touching her office placed in the Prioresses chaire an image of wood of our B. Lady and offered vp vnto her the whole house and the keyes therof This act was so aggreable to our B. Lady that within a few daies after as she her selfe hath left in writâ—inge she saw at the beginning of the Salue the mother of God come downe from heauen into the same chaire with a great multitude of Angells who said vnto her that she had done rightwell to set her in her place and that for this fact she would present their prayers and praises vnto her Sonne Fâ—b l. 3. cap. 1. of her life 9. A certaine religious man of the order of S. Francis had a custome neuer to take his refection if first he had not said his Beades once to our B. Lady One day being set at the table he called to minde that he had not discharged that day that pious dutie Hauing then obtained leaue of the Gardian to goe forth he went and said his Bedes in the Church and as he staied somwhat longe another went for to call him Who as he entred into the Church he saw our Ladie accompanied with a multitude of Angels who gathered from the mouth of this religious as he said his Beades most faire Roses the which they placed about our Ladies head and at euery time that he pronounced in the Aue Marie the name of Iesus our Lady and the Angells bowed downe their heades Extracted out of the Chronicles of the Friar Minors Part. 3. l. 1. c. 36. 3â— 10. A Sodaliste of our B. Lady in the yeare 1586. confest aâ— his death that he had bene presented before the iudgment of God and in great danger of being saued had he not bene sodainly asisted by our B. Lady Franciscus Bencius in the annales of the Societie anno 1586. and Ioannes Bonifacius in the historie of the virgin l. 4. c. 18. 12. Martin Guttrich an heretique hauing heard in the sermon of Doctor Frederick Fornerus preacher of Bamberge that none could die ill who deuoutly serued our B. Lady and dailie offered vnto her sonne Aue Maries he began from that very time to say vnto her euery day seauen in the morning and as many at night which he continued for three whole yeares at the end whereof being fallen sick our B. Lady appeared vnto him warning him to be confest and to receiue the B. Sacrament tellinge him that she had obtained of her Sonne that he should not die in his wicked heresie in requit all of the seruice that he had done her and that she would come and fetche him at the same instant that she was deliuered of her Sonne as it came to passe for he deceased on Christmas night betwixt twelue and one a clock the yeare of our Lord 1607. This historie was written more at large by the preacher aforsaid as an eye witnes in a letter sent to a certaine friend of his at Monich the 4. of Ianuarie 1608. If an heretique hath merited so much fauour of the moâ—her of God for some few Aue Maries which he recited during his heresie what oughâ—est thou to hope for true Christian Catholique if being in the state of grace thou rendrest vnto her euery day some pious seruice recitinge the Rosarie or the Bedes or at the least a litle Coronne of twelue Aues interposing three Paters in honor of the crowne of twelue Starres or fauours wherwith the most holy Trinitie hath crowned her soule And how much more if rancking thy selfe in some Sodalitie of hers thou resoluest to be particularly and singularly deuout vnto her Wilt thou be assured more and more one day to rendar and giue vp thy soule betwixt her armes Put thy selfe in the companye of those who pray one for another to this purpose reading the Litanies of Loretto with some other prayers vnto S. Ioseph Loe here that which I had to impart vnto thee touching the maner to liue Christianly that is to say to liue in such sort that thou mayest as a true soldiar of Iesus Christ hauing driuen away sinne from thy soule trampled vpon the diuell the world and the fleshe thy mortall enimies hauing gotten many merits and virtues by the exercise of good workes thou maist one day at the last ascend vpon a chariot of honor and triumphantly enter into euerlastinge glorie and felicitie Amen To the greater glorie of God and of his glorious mother the Virgin Marie APPROBATIO Ego infrascriptus testor me perlegisse libellum intitulatum The Christian 〈◊〉 Per R P Philippum Doultreman Societatis Iesu SacerdoteÌ„ Gallicè compositum in linguam Anglicaâ—…am per Ioannem Heigham traductum nihilque in eo contra fidem CatholicaÌ„ aut bonos morâ—…s deprehendisse sed magnam potiù vtilâ—…atem consolationem Catholicis Angliaeâ—… aturum fore Quare securè imprimi potest Datum Audâ—…mari in Collegio Anglorum Soc. Iesu die 18. Aug 1622. Hugo Buccleus Soc. Iesu Sac. A Summarie of the Chapters and Paragraphes contayned in these two bookes THE I. BOOKE Of the flight from sinne THE I. CHAPTER Of the name Christian pag 18. THE II. CHAPTER Of mortall and veniall sinne pag. 25. § 1. What mortall sinne is and what detriments it bringeth to the soule p 27. § 2. How much mortal sinne is detestable horrible and stinking pag 33. § 3. By mortall sinne we crucifie againe Iesus-Christ pag. 37. § 4. Of veniall sinne pag. 40 THE III. CHAPTER Of sinnes of will only of thought pag. 45. THE IV. CHAPTER Of the sinnes of the Tongue pag 50. § 1 Of Swearing pag. 52. § 2. Of Blasphemie pag 64. § 3 Of Malediction and of wicked Imprecation pag 69. § 4. Of contumelious wordes pag. 73. § 5 Of Dâ—traction pag. 76. § 6 Of Lying pag. 81. § 7. Of songes and of dishonest wordes pag. 86. THE V. CHAPTER Of the sinnes of parents and their children pag. 92. § 1. Of the negligence of parents to correct their children from their tendre youth and to instruct them in matters of faith and of good maners pag 93 § 2. Of the sinnes of Children towards their parents pag 102. § 3. Other considerations for the fathers of families touching the gouuernment of their houshold and particularly towards their men and women seruants pag. 110. THE VI CHAPTER Of the Seauen capitall sinnes pag. 115. § 1. Of Pride and Superbitie pag 116. § 2. Of Couetousnes pag 121. § 3. Of the sinne of Luxurie pag. 129. § 4 Particular Considerations