leaning towards sin yet are there certain acquired Habits or Customes which augment this naturall disorder and which adde new faults to that which we do inherit from our first Father for as excesses do compleat the irregularitie of our will and makes our conversion the harder the mischief which we bring with us from our birth may be cured in the same sort as it was acquired being got unwittingly it may be lost when we think not on it the conception thereof hath made us criminall and Baptisme acquits us of that Crime Adams sin is become our Punishment and the Grace of Jesus Christ is become our remedy but the malady which we our selves contract is much harder to be driven away for as it is our own handy-work and hath not crept into our soul without our own consent it cannot be expell'd but by an Act of the will and as Baptisme doth cancell Originall sin and leaves Concupiscence so Contrition or repentance doth wash away actuall sins and leaves an ill Habit which we have reason to term an acquired Concupiscence which is more dangerous then that which is Naturall because t is more Malignant and the cure thereof is more rare because more hard we shall see all these truths in the pursuit of this discourse T is a great misfortune to be born in sin and to have received bad Inclinations before we knew them t is a deplorable condition to be the Object of Gods Anger before we have provoked him and to be born away to mischief before we were able to make resistance but this misfortune is much the greater when man joys Custom to Nature when to those bad Inclinations which he inherits from his Parents he adds many actuall sins which forms an Imperious Habit which ingageth him in evill For as Saint Augustine observes there are two things which solicite us to sin Nature and Custome the first is an effect of Originall sin the second of actuall we contract the one in being born in sin we acquire the other by living in sin and these two joyned together strengthen Concupiscence establish the Tyranny thereof and bereaves us of hope of destroying it For if the will be not strong enough to oppose the unrulinesse of Nature how can she suppresse the disorders of a bad habit and if the assistance of Grace be absolutely necessary for her to free her self from naturall miseries what kind of assistance stands she in need of to acquit her self of her acquired miseries T is the difficulty which makes sinners despair t is upon this occasion that they find that irregular Inclinations do never more rebell against their will then when they have borrowed new force from a bad Custome and the best advice that can be given them is by their diligence to prevent so opinionated an Evill and to set upon their passions in their birth lest being assisted by Habit they grow to head-strong as to be unsuppressible When love is not as yet perfectly shaped that he is rather in the eyes then heart that he deserves rather the name of complacency then of Inclination that his Flames have more of Lustre then of Heat he is easily stifled and an ordinary vertue is sufficient to rid man of so weak an Adversary but when with time he is grown greater when he hath powred his poyson into the heart and hath made himself Master of all the Faculties of the soul many a battle must be given before so strong an Enemy be overcome and unlesse the will call in indignation anger and grief to her aid t is very hard for her to drive out a Tyrant whose power is strengthened by Custome In the second Place corrupt Nature presupposeth but one sin though it were a great one yet was it but one and though it gave against al the perfections of God yet was it committed in a moment Repentance came quickly in the Place thereof and when once Adam felt the Punishment of his sin he was sorry for it his Tears appeased Divine Justice the sentence of his death was deferred and he had time granted him to people the world to instruct his Children and to bewail his sins the disorders which we find in our soul and in our body are only the effects of this fault and when we are first born we are only capable of of this offence Incensed Heaven can impute nothing to us but our first Fathers disobedience and whatsoever Punishment it inflicteth upon us we have always this excuse that we are more unfortunate then faulty but an ill Habit is a bastard Daughter which hath diverse Fathers and which owes her birth to the malice of almost an infinite number of sins vice and vertue are learn't successively a man is not wicked all at once he must make tryalls before he can become a Master in sin he cannot arrive at that condition without having committed many faults he must be accomplisht in wickednesse to get a habit thereof and let us flatter our selves with what reasons we please a man must have basely foregone vertues part if he be totally possest by sin which when it commands so absolutely in a soul as it hath changed it's power into Tyranny is grown stronger by time hath changed inclination into custome and that it hath as many protectours as parents Heaven must do miracles to free us from so dreadfull an Enemy In the third place nature is somewhat ashamed of sin this unlucky Guest hath not so throughly corrupted all her inclinations but that some shamefastnes remains which may serve her for a bridle in her licentousnesse and which obligeth her to seek out solitary places wherein to conceal her debaucheries if she be wicked enough to scoffe at the remorse of conscience she is not sufficiently affronted to bear with her neighbours reproaches if she despise punishment she apprehends confusion and if she fear not the losse of life she fears the losse of Honour But bad habit is insolent it bereaves us aswell of shame as of innocence it glories in its crimes and by a horrible sort of corruptions makes the sin the greater by making it glorious it disarms vertue and takes from her the only means she had to defeate her Enemy Hence it is that shameles people glory in their loves that lost women number up their gallants that affronted men cal their debaucheries good fortunes Glorious names are invented to honour sin Thrones and altars are erected to it and solicited by this evil habit which rules in the soul such honours are given thereunto as belong only to vertue By all this discourse 't is easie to Judge that a vitious habit is a fearfull monster which adds new discorders to the irregularities of Nature which fortifies bad Inclinations which presupposes many sins which presages a greater Number which renders vertue infamous and vice glorious and which to crown all mischief hurries us into such a fatall necessity of sinning as can onely be
be freed from the Tyranny thereof The seventh Discourse That self-love is nothing else but Concupiscence Though Divines have given as many names to Concupiscence as she hath committed sins and that every one paints her out as he finds her in another or according to his own experience yet they all agree that her most celebrated name and that which best expresseth her nature is self-self-love For as Charity comprehends all vertues self-self-love comprehends all vices as Charity unites us to God and loseth us from our selves her Enemy self-self-love severs us from God and fasteneth us to our selves As Charity hath no greater a passion for any thing then to love God and make him be beloved by all others self-love produceth no more violent desire in man then to love himself and to obliege all other men to love him To comprehend these truths you must know that Charity according to S. Pauls words and S. Augustines Comment composeth all vertues to be perfect It sufficeth to be charitable one vertue is sufficient in Christs school to acquire all others she believeth all things saith that great Apostle and so hath the merit of Faith she waits for the accōplishment of Gods promises so possesseth the certainty of hope she suffers all injuries as well as Patience doth she withstands sorrow with as much courage as doth fortitude and this Famous Doctor of the Gentiles who perfectly knew the Inclinations of charity gives her all the Advantage which belongs to all the vertues so as according to his principles the loue of God is only Requisite to become highly vertuous Saint Augustine who learnt nothing but in S. Pauls school mixeth all vertues with Charity and as if he wold reduce al things to an unity he teacheth us that the only vertue on earth is to love him who is perfectly lovely For love hath several names according to his severall imployments he changeth qualities though not Nature and continuing stil the same presents himself unto us under divers forms and shapes Temperance is a faithful love which wholly gives herself over to what she loveth not permitting Voluptuousnesse to divide them Fortitude is a generous love which with delight overcomes all the difficulties which can be met withal for her well beloved sake Justice is an uncorrupt love which instructeth how to reign in obedience which submitting herself to God as to her sovereign commands over all creatures as over her slaves In fine wisdome is an illuminated love which happily discerning between the wayes which may estrange her from God and those which may fasten her to him chooseth the former and rejects the other or to expresse the same truth in other tearms Love is termed wisedome when he keeps himself from straying and hath right to what he loves he is called fortitude when he fights against such sorrows as would astonish him Temperance when he despiseth such pleasures as would corrupt him Justice when to consecrate his liberty to God he disdains to serue the Creature so may we say that self-love which is Charities mortall Enemy comprehends all vices and that it only changeth countenance when it appears under the form either of Pride Colour or Envy it is unjust in it's Ambition prepares for Combat when irritated for vengeance when offended when unjust it bereaves it's Neighbour of his goods and good name and when Intemperate it engageth it self in unlawfull delights The great Apostle when he numbers up all faults puts it in the first rank and teacheth us that there is no sin which is not a sort of self-love disguised And Saint Augustine who hath drawn all his Doctrine from Saint Pauls words instructeth the whole Church that the faults which wee detest are not so much the effects as the proprieties of self love In effect is not Avarice an unjust love of riches is not Pride an unjust love of Honours is not opiniatrecie a furious love to be always victorious is not colour a detestable love of revenge And to conclude all in a few words are not all sins as many different loves which changing rather countenance then humour agree all in a designe of fastning themselves to objects which they like and of keeping a loofe off from such as they like not There is also the second opposition of the love of God and the love of our selves for charity hath no nobler imployment then to free us from all things to unite us to God she endeavours to perswade us that to love our selves well we must hate our selves that to have a care of our selves we must forget our selves and if we would finde out our happinesse we must seek for it from without our selves men wonder that the law of God which commands us to love our Neighbour doth not command us to love our selves and that it only mentions the love we owe unto our selves when it recommends unto us the love which we owe unto our Neighbours but to boot that this love was imprinted in the foundation of our wills by the hands of Natures selfe and that it was more then needed to command us a thing to which we had so great an inclination man loved himselfe sufficiently in loving of God and God had sufficiently provided for mans happinesse in ordaining man to love him above all things The love of God is mans true happinesse we are rich when we possesse it and poore when we lose it let our designes be waited upon by whatsoever good successe let the world promise us what ever good event what ever favour Fortune affordeth us all riches which consists not in the possessions of the Summum bonum is but a meer reall poverty for as Augustine saith God is so good as all men that leave him are miserable and man is so noble as whatsoever is not God cannot render him happy t is charities chiefest designe to fasten man to God so straightly As that nothing may seperate him from God and to in lighten his soule with so much love as that she may exstinguish selfe love or turn it into a holy hatred of himselfe This Divine vertue can mount no higher so glorious a Metamorphosis is the utmost of her power and God can demand nothing more of those that love him when that they may love him perfectly they arrive at the height of hating themselves Self love takes a clean opposite way from that of charity and by direct contrary traces endeavours to estrange man from God and to fasten him to himselfe or to the Creature it effaceth as much as it is able the inclination which his soule hath for the Summum Bonum if it cannot stifle it it diverts it and seeing that the heart of man cannot be without imployment it lays before him the beauty of the Creatures to divert him from those of the Creatour being accompanied with blindnesse and pride it easily abuseth the soule which it possesseth and figuring out the perfections thereof more glorious
rather from Infirmity then malice if her subjects forget their duty they are never the first Authors of disorder the tongues diligence in expressing her thoughts exceedeth belief the eyes makes prodigious hast to bring her news and the ears as lazie as they are are wonderfully faithfull in informing her of what they understand the hands invent a thousand means to content her the five branches whereof they are Composed are the mothers of all Arts and they are so affectionate to their Sovereign as she hath no sooner design'd any thing but these industrious officers do forth-with faithfully execute it Nature would be jealous of their labours did she not know that their Power is boūded and that for all they can do to imitate her they can neither give life nor motion to their workmanship in fine the soul which governs them so dexterously and which seems to foregoe all the other parts of the body to inanimate them loseth half her Power when she hath no hands and this high and mighty Sovereign seems to execute her greatest designs by the means of these faithfull confederates As she is absolute in her servitude she is immortall in her grave and all the atteints which sicknesse gives her cannot trouble her rest if she apprehend Pain t is because the body that she inanimates resents it if she fear death t is because it destroys her Mansion and if she seem to be moved or affraid t is because she loves the slave that would foregoe her the knowledge she hath of her own Immortality makes her rest quiet she takes delight in entertaining her self with thought of the life which must succeed this life she sees far into ages that are to come she ordains things which must not be accomplished till after her departure she is very jealous of her honour and knowing very well that death which will destroy her body shall not ruine her she endeavours to do Actions for which she shall suffer no reproach in the other world her cares which extend themselves beyond the precincts of time are proofs of her Immortality and the Paision she hath for Glory witnesseth that she is not ignorant of the happinesse which is prepared for her in Heaven when the moment wherein she is to make her entrance thereinto approacheth and that she is ready to be divorced from her body she operates with a new strength she sees things with more light all her words are Oracles it seems that freeing her self from Materia she becomes a pure spirit and that having no further Commerce with men she treats invisibly with Angels her last endevours are usually the greatest she gathers strength out of her bodies weaknesse and death destroys her Prison only to set her at liberty she beginsto tast the sweet of Heaven and she looks upon parting from the earth as upon the end of her servitude I should be too tedious if I would perticularize in all the souls advantages the rest of this discourse must be imployed in shewing what out rages she receiveth from sin for as soon as she took up her lodging she became slave to the body she lost her Power when she lost her Innocence when she ceased to obey she ceased to command and as if obedience had been the foundation of all her greatnesse rebellion was the cause of her miseries of all the cognizances whichwere together with Grace infused into her none remain'd in her but doubts and jealousies which makes her as oft embrace fals-hood as truth though she know God she adores the workmanship of his hands her enlightnings detein her not from engaging her self in errour and the great Inclination which she hath for the Summum Bonum doth not estrange her from the love of perishable things she is the Image of God and ceaseth to resemble him she expresseth his greatnesse and doth no longer imitate his vertues she conserves the Trinity of her power in the unity of her essence yet cannot conceive one God in three Persons she makes and Idol unto her self of every Creature all that pleaseth her seem Gods unto her her Interest is the soul of her Religion her love ariseth from fear she adores whatsoever she fears and unlesse the God which she serveth had thunders wherewithall to punish her she would have no victimes to load his Altars withall Her Punishment is the Picture of her offence she meets with rebellion in her slave the conspiracy of all the parts of her body is generall her senses do seduce her Her Passions do torment her her Imagination troubles her and her subjects do despise her she sees her self obliged to encourage their disorders to give life to Rebels which justle her Authority to nourish up monsters which rend her in peices and to arme souldiers which plunder her estate but nothing ads more unto her Pain then the love which she bears her enemy for though he prosecute her she cannot resolve to hate him dares not make War against him without assistance from heaven this Traitor is so full of cunning as he makes himself be beloved by her whom he abuseth she is sensible of all the evils that he endures and as if her pain arose from her love she never ceased to suffer since she began to love him she apprehends her slaves miseries more then her own she fears death more then sin she is more affraid of ruine then of falshood and as if this inclination had changed her Nature she desires no other good nor dreads no other evill then what is sensible Musick charms her discontents Pictures serve her for a diversion she is pleased with smels and the greatest part of her delights consists in what contents her senses by a sequell as shamefull as necessary she is burnt by Feavers pained by the Gout weakened by sicknesse and whatsoever hurteth her body abaseth her courage After the Injuries which she hath received from this domestick enemy It is hard to judge which of the two hath juster cause of complaint for each of them seem to be equally guilty and that the one and the other of them are the mutuall cause of their displeafures In Adam sin arose from the soul but in his Children it draws it's birth from the flesh and in the most part of their errours t is the senses which seduce them Pleasures which corrupt them sorrows which keep them love and passions which tyrannize over them Thus our misfortunes drive equally from these two and if the soul made our first father guilty It is the body which makes his Children unfortunate yet must we avow that the soul is the greater Delinquent in us as well as in him for if she have no freedom to defend her self against Originall sin and if necessity may excuse a misfortune which is not voluntary she is more guilty then the body because she commits so many faults with delight stays not for being solicitated by the senses and that by a blind Impetuosity
consists in the difficulty which accompanieth her she would not be beautifull were she not difficult and seeing that humane mindes betake themselves onely to what is painfull she endeavours to heighten her desert by Labour she decks her self with thornes in stead of flowers covers her self with dust in stead of sweet powders drops sweat and bloud in stead of perfumes and promiseth such as court her nothing but disasters and ill luck she is lodged upon a hill which is smooth slippery and steep on all sides where a man cannot come at her without danger of falling into a precipice though she promise honour to such as love her she suffers them oft times to be confounded and judgeth onely of their love by misprising glory or pleasure Shee invites them by her discourse but endues them not with strength she perswades their understandings but doth not raise up their wills and like the Law of Moses she may well have some light but no heat This is the cause why her pertakers have faln into despair and after having a long time served this rigorous Mistris they have been forced to accuse her of ingratitude and to blame her cruelty but what could they hope for from an idol which being the workmanship of their mindes had no other perfections than what it had borrowed from their praises which was onely vigorous in their writings only beautiful in their Panegyricks and which was not generous save in their actions Thus had Cato recourse to despaire finding no relief in vertue and Brutus acknowledged when he died that she could not assist such as served her that she dazled mens eyes by a false light and that she was but a vain idol which forsook her followers at a pinch not being able to warrant them from the outrages of Fortune We may truly affirm there have been two sorts of idolaters in the world the one worshipped the workmanship of their own hands and by an Immense folly put their hope in images which they themselves were Authors off though they cannot understand them they serve them with respect though they cannot defend them they fly to them for protection and dread their anger The other adore the workmanship of their minds and form unto themselves Noble Ideas which they fall in love with the more beautifull the idols were the greater impression did they make upon their wils and the more eloquent they were in describing them the more superstitious were they in honouring of them This errour blinded all Philosophers vertue which is but a habit which we acquire that we may do Good was the only Divinity which these hood winckt people worshipped and not considering that there is nothing in the soul of man which merits a Supreme Honour they bore respect to the good inclinations thereof when they were governed by the rules of morality this superstition cost the Apostles much more pain than the superstition of the people they had more ado to convert Philosophers than Tyrants and experience taught them that reason was more opinionated than force Two ages were sufficient to overthrow all idols of brasse and marble and though their adorers used cruelty to defend them martyrs through their patience triumphed over them But all the Reign of Jesus Christ hath not sufficed to destroy the idols of the minde The Doctors of the Church have in their writings set upon them but have not been able to bear them down and there be yet some libertines amongst the Children of the Church that do adore them They are not so much attracted by the grace of the Son of God as by the vertue of the Pagans good Nature appears more considerable to them than godlinesse and they more esteem Seneca's or Aristotles morals than those of Saint Paul or of Saint Austine his disciple yet the Vertue which these Philosophers taught in their Schooles had her esteem heightened onely by reason of her difficulty and was admired by her partakers onely through a vain beauty which did dazle them But Christian vertue is at once both beautifull easie you need but love her to acquire her to possess her cost us nothing but desires and the Holy Ghost who sheds her in our souls endues us with strength to overcome the difficulties which accompany her therefore is it that vertue in Christians did oft times fore-run reason they were wise before the years of wisdom and the Agnesses who had Jesus Christ onely for their Master were vertuous before rationall Grace fupplyed their weaknesse torments excited their courage they were constant not having read the death of Socrates the life of their spouse made up all their morality and his maximes confirmed by his examples inspired them with more of Constancie than was requisit to triumph over the cruelty of Tyrants and to confound the vertue of Philosophers But truly I do not wonder that the vertue of Pagans was so weak since they were divided and that reason which did guide them could never reconcile them for though they be said to have one the same father and that they are so straitely united together that a man cannot possesse one of them without possessing all the rest yet experience teacheth us that they have differences which Philosophy hath not yet been able to terminate Though they conspire together to make a man happy they trouble his quiet by their division and make so cruel war one upon another as to have peace in his soul he is obliged to drive out one of the parties from thence Mercy and Justice cannot lodge together in one Heart their Interests are so different as they are not to be accorded A man must renounce mildnes if he will be severe and severity if he will be mercifull Morality hath not yet found out a secret to reconcile these two vertues nor to unite them together thereby to make an accomplish't Prince Wisdom and simplicity hold no better intelligence the one is always diffident that she may be secure she oft-times hastens her misfortune whilest she thinks to avoide it she had rather do ill than suffer ill and her humour is so given to guile as the best part of her being is made up of dissimulations simplicity walks in a clean other track for she findes her assurance in her goodnesse she fears no outrage because she beleeves no injustice she had rather be unfortunate than blamefull and she is of so good an inclination as she resolves rather to receive an injury than to do one If wisdom be not upon good termes with simplicity she is not upon much better terms with valour Nature must do a miracle to make them both meete in one Subject they require different tempers and the aversion is such as morality cannot accord them wise and cautious men are always fearfull and valiant men are alwayes rash wisdom is of a cold constitution and doth not ingage her self in any perill till she see a wicket whereby to get out Valour is hot and firie
strength her wisdome is full of errour her strength is mingled with weaknesse if she have any cognizance of vertue 't is in so confused a manner as she cannot discern it from sin and if she do any good 't is so faintly as she cannot shun evill let her turn on what side she please she is always out of the way and till she be guided by faith she hardly steps a step without stumbling If man in this unhappy condition expose himselfe to the fire for Truths sake if he fight for his Countrey if he suffer â—or Justice he dyes a Martyr to vain glory as he had no other end than Glory he can look for no other recompence and having had no other motive than his own Interests he cannot shun the punishment which his injustice deserves when the intentions are bad the actions cannot be good and when man proposeth an unlawfull end unto himselfe the means he useth to come thereby may be specious but can never be innocent To succour a mans Countrey when 't is in oppression to assist ones Parents or friends when they are in danger to hazard life for the defence of Liberty and to lose liberty to preserve Innocence are Actions which cannot be blamed at the first looking upon and which draw praises from all mens mouthes when they onely consider them as they appear But when a man shall penetrate into their intentions and shall see that self-love is the motive therof that Honour is their end and vain glory their Originall we are bound according to Saint Austines Doctrine to condemne them and to say that vertue and vice differ not so much in their actions as in their designes the Prodigall gives almes as well as he who is liberall despair throwes us into danger as well as valour Pride defends â—her selfe better from unchastity than doth continence her selfe and as rare exploits are wrought by vain glory as by vertue yet all men will confesse that these are bad actions that their intention tarnisheth their beauty and that their end makes them criminall Let Catiline overcome voluptuousnesse let him despise riches out of the love of honour let him assist his friends couragiously let him be as constant as Cato let him lead on his designs happily let him order his Troops as wisely as did Scipio and fight more valiantly than Pompey All these gallant actions will be sallied by his bad intentions and you shall have reason enough to condemne him when you shall know that he plots the losse of his Countrey and imployes all the advantages which nature hath bestowed upon him to change the Republique into a Tyranny by the same reasons we must conclude that whatsoever the Infidels have done deserves not the name of virtue since the motive thereof was unjust and the end unlawfull Let Scipio undertake the defence of his Countrey because in duty he is bound to do so let him being egg'd on with glory or touch'd by compassion passe into Affrica let him beâ— Caâ— to deliver Italy and let him defeat Hâ—ll to revenge the losse of Cannas all these glorious considerations cannot excuse him if vain glory the peoples applause or selfe-complacency have been his end therein Man is guilty as oft as he stops at the Creature he goes 〈◊〉 when he goes not to God and he makes an Idoll of goodnesse or vertue when he works onely through their motions Man is so noble as he can have no finall end but God into whatsoever condition sin hath reduced him he is always bound to look upon him though it be not in his power to unite himselfe of himselfe to him yet is he bound to aspire thereunto His Impotency doth not dispence with his duty and though he knows not God yet he is bound to love him Thus were the Pagans guilty when they sought after nothing but glory and pleasure those amongst them were the more innocent or the lesse guilty upon consulting with reason desired onely vertue and who despising honour sought onely how to acquit themselves of their duty This Truth may seem a Paradox and there is none who will not condemne Saint Austine of too much rigour if he do not very well conceive mans greatnesse in the state of innocency and the corruption of nature in the state of sin To understand it well we must know that our disobedience hath not altered Gods Designe His Commands are of force after our rebellion and though we have lost grace we are not freed from our obligations we ought to love God above all things Though we have lost originall righteousnesse we ought to shun sin though we have not the liberty that Adam had we ought to aspire after Heaven though the Gates be shut upon us and we ought to have no other end upon earth than what we had in Paradise though we have lost the means Thus are Infidels bound to despise glory and pleasure that they may seek out the finall end and they faile of theâ— duties as oft as they adore verâ—ue and neglect the Divine Essence All the Stoicks would be great Sâ—ints if a man could loâ—e vertue and not an Idolater Elyseaâ— Fields must be made to receive them after their death if Integrity could 〈◊〉 make Philosophers innocent All their Actions would 〈◊〉 recompence if the Instructions of Morality were infallible and thâ— Grace of Jesus Christ would be of no use if reason could promise any felicity such as Zenâ— and Sâ—crates would reign in Paradise set a pâ—t where Vertue should be theâ— Idoll where 〈◊〉 should be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 where without the Grace of believers or the Glory of the 〈◊〉 they should live exempt from pain with a heapâ—d up 〈◊〉 contentment The Church acknowledgeth b◠〈◊〉 Hell neithr doth she acknowledge more than one Paradise and as in the former none but true faults 〈◊〉 punished so in the laâ— none but reall vertues are recompensâ—d who hath not had Grate fâ— his originall shall not have Glory for his deseâ— and who hath not had God for his end shall not have him for his happinesse All these Actions which we so unjustly value had no other rise but self-love the Stoicks and Epicâ—raans agreed in this point and though the one considered vertue the other pleasurâ— they both loved man and by severall ways endeavoured the same end For as saith S. Austine the Epicuraans were ingaged in the body and believing there was no other happinesse than what consisted in the sense the Pleasures of the soul seemed Illusions to them they thought all that was not sensible imaginary knowing no other life than the present they expected no other happines The Stoicks were more haughty and estranging themselves from their body that they might ement themselves the more strongly to their souls they despised pleasure that they might value vertue their chains were not the weaker for being the more finely wrought their Irons were not the lesse for being gilded
vertue being solovely steals away the hearts of her Enemies and makes her self be admired even by those that persecute her the lascivious praise her whil'st they make war against her they wish that such women as they have corrupted were chast and that such as commit Adultery with them would be true unto them We must not therefore wonder if the Romans were ravished with her beauty that they have praised her and that there hath been some Commanders who amidst the licenciousness of war have supprest their Passions that they might purchase the glorious Title of Temperate they thought that to overcome pain they must overcome pleasure that before they fight for their Country they must fight for reason that it was not to be hoped for that he who could not resist a womans beauty could defend himself against a souldiers valour They perswaded themselves that temperance was the first step to fortitude and that one judged of the victory which a Commander might get over his Enemy by what he had won over his sensuality Thus great men did study this vertue early she was their first Apprentisage and when the bloud which boiles in the veines kindled in them unclean desires they quenched the fire thereof by the help of temperance One of the Scipioes won more glory by vanquishing his love than by quelling the pride of Carthage he purchased more credit in Spain by his Continency then by his valour and the quitting of a famous beauty and free gift of her to her sweet-heart got him a whole Province he won many Battels by defending himself from a Maide And his enemies were perswaded that their Souldiers could not overcome him whom their Yeomen could not corrupt this combat is heightened above his victories his valour is never spoken of without mention made of his continencie and as oft as men talk of the taking of Carthage they adde thereunto the restitution of this Princesse All the Circumstances of this action are so remarkable as they are not to be omitted without injury to this gallant man He commanded a victorious army to which the laws of war made all things lawfull which were not by them forbidden he had tane a Town by assault the resistance whereof had stirr'd up his anger 't was thought that to astonish all Spain he would have made it a cruell example and that the bloud of the inhabitants should have been that wherewith he would have quenched the flames which devoured their houses that he would have made victimes of all the Prisoners and that if the Womens lives were preserved it should onely be to bereave them of their Honours In this belief they present him with a glorious beauty whose misfortune it was to be immured within that fatall Town she was unfortunate enough to move pitty but too fair not to provoke love The Souldiers were perswaded that their General would suffer himself to be vanquished in his victory and that he would become his captives captive they expected to have seen him once overcome whom they had alwaies seen victorious Though they had his continencie in great esteem they did think it was not proof good enough against so exquisite a beauty and they could not imagine that a man who was yet in the prime of his youth should have power to withstand the Allurements of so fair a Maide who had nothing but her tears to defend her self withall The truth is his eyes thought to have betrayed his heart and he found how difficult a thing it is to behold a rare beauty and not love it his passion would have perswaded him that without injuring his greatness he might become his captives captive he had examples enough to excuse his fault flattery would have authorized it and if he would have listned to his Domesticks he had neer triumphed over his love Amidst this his trouble he endeavoured to comfort her who caused his pain and would give security to her who intrench upon his liberty He understood by her that though her fortune had made her a Prisoner she was by birth a Princesse that her Parents had promised her to a young Prince and that her Fate had cast her into the hands of her enemies the knowledge of these particulars and that his Prisoner was of so high a rank was enough to make Scipio resolve to give her her Liberty he made her Father and her husband be sought for who came upon his word into Carthage every one looked for an event answerable to the passion which gave it life some think he will demand her in marriage others that he will inquire into her birth and see whether without offending the Glory of the Scipioes he may take his prisoner to be his wife some fear least he will begin his Marriage by Murther and secure his sute by his rivalls death few believe that he will betray his love and by one and the same act of Justice restore a daughter to her Father and a Mistris to her servant this mean while when he knew that this Princesse was no lesse Nobly born then beautifull that her Father was Governour of a Province and that her servant did Command an Army he presently delivered her into their hands and would no longer suffer his eyes to behold a beauty which might invite him to do an unjust act and to Crown this Noble Action he gave her the money which was brought him for her ransom as part of her portion to the end that all Spain might know that Scipio knew aswell how to Triumph over Avarice as over Love I foresee I cannot condemn this Action without under-going the jealousie of such as favour the party of the Infidels that I shall draw either publique envie or publique hatred upon me if I shall question whether so glorious a victory deserve the name of vertue or no and that men will think my love to Saint Austine hath made me forgoe the love of truth yet according to his principles we must confesse that this vertue is a sin that not deriving from charity it proceeded from self love that Scipio did but â—ence himself from one by an other and that his keeping himself from Incontinencie proceeded from vain glory Infidels are slaves to the Devil their will is in his hands and as long as this cruell Tyrant doth possesse them he permits them not to do any one good Action out of a good motive he may suffer them to resist the violence of Love or the fury of Avarice but he corrupts their intentions and never with draws them from one evil but he ingageth them in another they shun an ill step to fall into a precipice and their will is so subject unto his as after long deliberation they alwaies put on the worst resolution This unjust Sovereign fits himself to their inclinations that he may undo them he adviseth them onely to such things as he knows doth please them and when he gives any counsel he alwaies
of the world grow weary of commanding they finde more content in a friend than in a slave and how brutish soever their nature be they are well content to have one to whom they may un-bosome themselves Tiberius loved Sejanus and had not this Favourite become his Rivall it may be he never had decreed his death Nero could not fence himselfe from friendship the sweetnesse of this vertue vanquisht that Monsters cruelty and whil'st he quencht the flames of Rome by the bloud of Christians he had some Confidents whom he called friends This Infidell Prince whose subjects were all slaves and in whose Empire the desire of liberty was a fault wanted not Favourites whom he loved he plays with those he ought to destroy he makes those the objects of his love who ought to be the objects of his fury a certain Captive had power over the Tyrant and under the assurance of friendship gave lawes to him who gave lawes to the greatest part of the world Though these reasons do mightily inhance the merit of Friendship yet must we conclude in Saint Austines Principles That the Friendship of Pagans is defective and doth not deserve the praises that are given it For if we take Aristotle for our Arbitratour friendship ought to be established upon selfe-love and to love his Neighbour well a man must love himselfe well He who prefers the pleasures of the body before those of the mind who hazards his honour to preserve his riches and who injures his conscience to encrease his reputation cannot be a good friend to others because he is his own Enemy and who wants vertue cannot have friendship Morall Philosophy with all her precepts cannot reforme a disorder which since the losse of originall righteousnesse makes up one part of our selves the unrighteousnesse thereof hath past into our nature and as we cannot without grace be upon good termes with our selfe neither can we without her be upon good termes with others We either give them too much or not enough we cannot keep that just measure which makes friendship reasonable we turne a vertue into a passion or to speak trulier we make an innocent action criminall and the same selfe-love which puts us on ill termes with our selves puts us upon the like with our Neighbours we love his errours whil'st we think to love his perfections we excuse his sins in stead of condemning them and we oft-times become guilty of his faults for having approved them Blosius confesseth he would have burnt Iupiters Temple if Gracchus had commanded him so to do he thought Justice ought to give place to friendship that his friend should be dearer to him than his God and that whatsoever he did through affection could not render him faulty It may be 't was for this cause that Aristotle blaming friendship whil'st he thought to praise her said that her perfection consisted in her excesse and that far differing from common vertues which do consist in mediocrity she was never more admirable than when most excessive That a man might give too much but not love too much that one might have too much courage but not too much love that a man might be too wise but not too loving yet this excesse is vitious and experience teacheth us that Common-wealths have no more dangerous Enemies than those who are ready to do or suffer any thing for their friends Therefore 't is that the same Philosopher prescribing bounds to friendship did publickly professe that truth was dearer to him than Plato that when he could not accord these two he forewent his friend to maintain his Mistresse Hence it is that Polititians calling in Religion to the succour of Morality have affirmed that affection ought to give way to Piety and that she ceased to be just when she prophaned altars Those notwithstanding that are of this opinion have not forborne to set a value upon faulty friendship and Antiquity doth hardly reverence any friends whose friendships hath not been prejudiciall either to the State or to Religion Pilades and Orestes were of intelligence onely to revenge themselves Theseus and Pirithoiis kept friendship onely to satisfie their unchaste desires Lentulus and Cethegus were faithfull to Catiline onely that they might be perfidious to their Countrey But what else could one expect than faults from those who had no piety what friendship could one hope from those who wanted the first of vertues how could they have bin faithfull to their friends since they were unfaithful to their Gods if they have loved any one even till death it hath been out of vain glory and if they loved them whil'st they were alive t' has been for Interest the sinner for the most part loves none but himselfe and though this irregulate love be both his fault and his punishment yet he therein findes his delight and his glory nothing can divert him from his own Interest when he thinks to free himselfe from himselfe he fasteneth himselfe closer to himselfe and if he love his friends 't is that he may love himselfe in more places than one and in more persons if he part with his heart 't is that he may receive it back again with the like of others his love is but usury wherein he hazards little to gain much 't is an invention of self-self-love which seeks to satisfie it selfe in others 't is a trick of humane pride which makes man abase himselfe onely that he may grow the greater which adviseth him to engage his liberty onely that he may bereave others of theirs and which makes him make friends onely that he may have slaves or such as love him What glorious name soever one attributes to friendship she hath no other designes than these when she is led on by self-love and whatsoever language the Infidels have held these have been their onely motives when they have lost either life or liberty for their friends if they were silent amidst tortures and if the cruelty thereof could not compell them to discover their associates 't was either for that they valued friendship more than life or that they thought treachery worse than death if they would not out-live their friends 't was to free themselves from sorrow and solitarinesse and if for their delivery they exposed themselves to Tyrants 't was for that their words bound them to it and that they thought they should be no losers in an occasion wherein though with losse of life they won honour And to say truth Aristotle hath well observed that he who dyes for his friend loves himself better then his friend and that in an Action which seems to violate Nature he doth nothing which self-love may not advise him to since that by suffering death he labours after glory and that by erecting a sacrifice unto his love he buildes a Trophy to his Memory The example of Damon and Pythias may confirm this Truth They had been brought up in Pythagoras his school the conformity of
ridiculous Pagan did one might read in the forehead the hearts most secret thoughts If Physiognomie be a Science she hath no certainty but what she draws from the connexion which nature hath placed between the soule and the body all her observations are grounded upon the noblest part of the body if all be true that is said of her as soon as she sees the face she knows the humour and without or Charmes or Magick she knows their intentions whose Lineaments she observes Though I dare not acknowledge all this and that I have much a do to believe that a Physiognomist can discover the designes of a wise Minister of State by looking him in the face and that without racking a malefactour he may read his fault in his eyes it sufficeth me to know that this Science is grounded upon the commerce between the soule and the body and that she draws her conjectures from the straight union that is between them As the Soule doth not forme any designe wherein the body is not a complice so doth she taste no contentment wherein the body doth not share a part if she enjoy the beauties of nature 't is by the Senses if she see the Azure of the Skie the light of the stars if she discover the extent of Fields the fertility of vallies if she hear the fall of Rivers the musick of Birds if she judge of the Glosse or Sent of Lillies or Roses 't is by the benefit either of the sight hearing or smelling It seems the world was made for the bodies diversion and that all those pleasing parts which go to the composure thereof have onely been made to delight the senses the Sun is of no use to the glorified Spirits and all the brightnesse of that goodly Constellation cannot light the Angels those noble Intelligences have a spirituall world wherewith they are possest and ravisht they finde their happinesse in God and all that we wonder at in the world affords them no delight Materia is requisite to tasting the pleasures of sensible nature such contentments presuppose a low condition and it is common with Beasts to partake of such diversions 'T is notwithstanding one of the bodies least advantages that the world should be made for it's use and that this chiefe piece of Gods workmanship is destined either for it's service or it's delight Jesus Christ followed his Fathers steps and when he came upon earth he would have the body to be the object of his mercy and of his power though he laboured for the conversion of sinners his greatest miracles were wrought for the healing of the sick and the body being mans weakest part he thought he was to treat it with most mildnesse and to furnish it with as many remedies as sin hath procured it maladies Somtimes he clensed it of the leprosie and restored to it 's former purity somtimes he freed it from blindnesse and restored unto it the noblest of it's senses somtimes cured it of the Palsey and restored it to the use of it's Members somtimes he withdrew it from the Grave and re-united it to it's soule contrary to the hope of nature somtimes he freed it from the Tyranny of Devils and re-establisht it in it's former freedoms Neither did he neglect it in the institution of the Sacraments for though they were chiefly ordained for the soules sanctification and that these admirable Channels poure grace into the soule yet are they applied upon the body before they produce their effects in the will and they respect joyntly the two parts which go to mans composure The body is washt in water to the end that the soule may be purified the body is marked with the Figure of the Crosse to the end that the soule may be fortified the body receives the unction to the end that the soule may be consecrated the body receives the imposition of hands to the end that the soule may receive Grace and the body eates the flesh and bloud of Christ Jesus to the end that the soule may be thereby nourished Thus doth not religion destroy nature and in her highest mysteries the provides for the soules safety by means of the body This maxime is so true as that all Divinity confesseth that the soule can no longer merit when she is once parted from the body whil'st they are together in company their grace may be augmented and whatsoever vertues they have acquired they may yet acquire more but when once death hath divided them and that the body losing 't's lustre is reduced either to ashes or to wormes the soule can no longer increase her merit and in that condition she is onely capable of punishment or of reward Having so many obligations to her body she cannot forget them nay even in the state of Glory where all her designes ought to be satisfied she wisheth to be re-united to her body as that wherein her intire felicity consisteth For though she reign with Angels that she behold the divine Essence and that she enjoy a happinesse to which even wishes cannot adde yet hath hath she a passion for her body and all the good she doth possesse cannot take from her the desire nor memory thereof though she hath made triall of it's revolts though this friendly enemy hath oft-times persecuted her and that she hath desired death to be freed from the Tyranny thereof yet doth she languish after it and contrary to their humour who have recovered liberty yet she longs for that which did engage her in servitude Though the body be reduced to dust though it cause pity in it's Enemies and though it cause horrour in those to whom it was so lovely she forbeares not to desire it and to expect the resurrection with Impatience that her body may partake of the blisse which she enjoyes And 't is not without much justice that she beares so much love to her body since she owes the greatest part of her advantages unto it and that she hath hardly any vertue or light which she hath not acquired by the assistance of the senses The soule is ignorant when first infused into the body the knowledge which the Platonists attribute unto her is but a meer capacity of apprehending If she will be intrusted she must be advised either by her eyes or by her eares she must consult with these Masters if she will free her selfe from ignorance How noble soever she be by birth she hath but weak conjectures of truth if these faithfull officers should faile her and should she be ingaged in a body which should have no use of senses she would be plunged in eternall darknesse Sight and hearing are the Organs destined to knowledge and he who is borne deafe and blinde is destined to live and die ignorant As the soule receives these advantages by the body so doth she distribute them by the bodies assistance and doth not expresse her thoughts but by the mouth of her Interpreter she gives with the tongue
and where women should have dominion over their husbands yet corrupted nature is engaged in this disorder and since our first Fathers sin the senses are the souls Counsellours and this faint-hearted Sovereign renouncing her lawfull authority receives orders from her slaves Their tyranny hath occasioned another more cruell and more dangerous for as they are subject to the devills illusions they fight under his colours and become accessary to all his wicked designes he hath wonall our senses over to him since sin the noblest are most trusty to him and he hath so corrupted them as one must either be very wise or very fortunate to defend himselfe from them He hath put slandering in the tongue uncleannesse in the eyes errour in the eares revenge in the heart and pride in the head He hath disperst disobedience amongst the passions revolt amongst the members and infidelity amongst all the senses If we speak he sollicits us to speak wrongfully if we hear he engageth us in errour if we look he strikes us in love if we think upon our injuries he incites us to revenge and if we consider our advantages he makes us vain glorious Thus are our senses the Executours of his fury the parts of our body are confederate in his faultinesse and the members which nature hath given us to defend our selves are the weapons which he makes use of to fight against us But lest I may be accused of adding to our mis fortune to excuse our sin I will consider the senses in particular and after having observed their advantages I will consider their defects If the eye be not the Noblest t is at least the most beautifull of all our senses and if it be not most usefull t is at least the most delightfull Nature imployes nine Moneths in forming it it is one of the parts of the Body she begins the soonest and ends the last t is a Master peece of workmanship wherein her power and her dexterity are equally to be admired She mingles conrraries so warily there as waters are there observed to agree with flames they are the rises of fire and of tears which cause deluges inflammations All passions are there seen in their glory sorrow and joy make it their chiefest Theatre and when the heart burns with love or with hatred it darteth out Thunder and lightning by the eyes their greatnesse is rather a prodigie than a wonder for they inclose the Heavens with all the stars therein the sea with all her rocks and earth with all its mountains the severall species of all these objects lodge there without confusion and Nature is amazed to see her whole Image in so small a looking glasse All their parts are of so nice a composition as they are undiscernable the nerves which convey the sight are smaller than the hairs of the head the thin filmes which covereth them are more transparent then Christall and the waters which are inclosed in their receptacles are so calm as no storm can trouble them Nature which governs her love according to the merit of her works hath given them so many guards as their excellencie is easily judged by her care in preserving them For to boote that the hairs on the eye-lids are as many bristled points which defend them that the eye-brows are arches which cover them that the eye-lids are vails which hide them the hands are imployed to save them and their Chief exercise when in the dark is to guard these sons which guide us in the day time They are so sudden in their operation as it holds of the Nature of lightning they raise themselves up to the heavens and descend to the depths in a moment they finde out things furthest of without wearinesse and by an ordinary miracle they joyn themselves to them without disjoyning themselves from the body They serve for an Interpreter to those that cannot speak they expresse thoughts which the understanding dares not trust the tongue withall they are so happy in their expressions as savadge men understand them and they are so powerfull in their perswasions as they oft-times obtain more by their looks then the mouth can do by words But assuredly it must be confest that their bad exceeds their good and their defaults their advantages For the greatest sins commence by the sight love hath no force with those that are blinde though he be blinde-folded his looks make his greatest Conquest and the arrows which he shoots proceed rather from his eyes then from his quiver The subtilty of this sense serves onely to make it the more guilty it commits faults where it is not and being more subtil then thunder it scorcheth People without touching them it meditates adulteries before the heart conceiveth them and in all unchaste sins it is alwaies first faulty most men would be innocent if they were blinde and without seeking so many remedies against love want of sight would serve the turn The Soul having a more Noble residence in the eyes then in the other senses she shapes no wishes which she expresses not by them nor conceives she any designe wherein they are not Complices Every part of the body is capable of some crime and since our losse of innocency we have no part in us which is not able to irritate Gods justice But yet we have this of comfort in our misfortune that their mischiefe is bounded and that by a fortunate disability they can commit but one sort of sin The hand is onely guilty of Murders and Theft the tongue of blasphemy and calumnie the ear of hearing errour and falshood and the mouth of excesse in eating and drinking but the eye is guilty of all crimes it sees no object wherewith it is not tempted and all sins which can kill our Souls can seduce our light pride seems to have establisht its Throne there lying is not more naturall to the tongue then vain-glory to the eyes As they have the art of speaking they have also the cunning of mis-speaking their very looks without the help of worâ—s sufficiently witnesse their despisal Slothfulnesse reignes there no lesse then obloquie though they be so active they cease not to be slothfull drowsinesse assails them to make us sleep they are sooner shut then the ears and experience teacheth us that we hear words when we see no objects Anger is seen to break forth there in fury Lightnings and Thunders burst forth from thence as messengers of revenge and this violent passion makes not much more havock in the heart than in the eyes Like avarice they are insatiable that which hath been pleasing to them causeth their pain and their punishments arise from whence their desires did first derive Envie sins more by the eyes than by the hands though she be made to passe for blinde she looks upon her neighbours happinesse with repining and should she have lost use of sight she would have found a remedy for the greatest part of her
harder to be repaired than those which they commit upon the constitution whole mouthes are required to their reparation after p the fever hath left them the colour in the cheek is not so soon re-gained as health And women as if they did prefer pleasure before profit are sorry to see themselves sooner well than fair nothing can consolate them for the losse of a thing held so precious but the knowledge that it was natures pleasure it should not be permanent For her rarest workmanships are of least durance there is no beauty constant save that of the stars and yet they may complain that the cloudes darken them by night and the sun by day The rain-bow is the most beautifull of all Meteors it shames the Art of painting be it either for lustre or for the mixture of colours it 's figure is so perfect as the compasse cannot imitate it the greatnesse thereof is so vast as it incompasseth halfe the world the waters whereof it is composed nourish hope in the husbandman it causeth fruitfulnesse in fields and warns men to shun the storms which it threatens 'T is a pledge of the peace which heaven hath made with earth and though it presage rain to men in generall yet doth it assure the faithfull that the world shall never be drowned again yet so rare a marvaile lasts but a few moments One and the same hour sees the beginning and the end thereof the Sun seems to have made it only to please itselfe in the un-making thereof The rose amongst flowers is like the rain-bow amongst Meteors her vermillion out-vies all the beauty of the world Her odour naturally as it is disputes for precedency with the most pleasing perfumes that Art can compose the placing of her leaves puts painters who would imitate her to their wits ends yet too boot that she is environed with prickles and that she seems to share more in the curse of the earth than other flowers her life lasts but for a few days the Sun which gave her life gives her death and that fire which enlivens her purple is extinguished as soon as lighted Neither is the beauty of women of long durance that lustre which bewitcheth men is lost in a few years and they are unjust in wishing that men should be constant in their love since the object which gives it birth is so subject to alteration But this fault in beauty were excusable since it cures the malady which it caused were it not accompanied with another which can admit of no excuse neither deserves any pardon For beauty is become an enemy to chastity and since the soule and body are at ods these two qualities have much adoe to agree Fair women are seldome chaste nature since corrupted is turned hypocrite beauty is no longer a mark of goodnesse she forgoes the soule as soon as she appears upon the body and as if perfection were no longer to be found upon earth a woman ceaseth oft-times to be chaste when she begins to be lovely That Father in Ovid did witnesse this very well who being desired by his daughter that he would give her leave to consecrate her virginity to Diana reply'd that her beauty gain-said her designe that she was too fair to be chaste and that though she should have resolution enough to keep her vow she had too many lovers to preserve her chastity 't is very hard for a woman who delights in causing love in others not to share therein her selfe and that a woman of an excellent beauty should be ice since she gives fire to so many flames she cannot resolve to hate all those that love her she cannot be perswaded that those who honour her should undoe her what advise soever her directour gives her she cannot believe that those who are her slaves should be her enemies nor that those that praise her beauty would wound her honour She thinks that beauty of no power which hath no Martyrs she believes she cannot judge of her own charmes but by her servants sighes that she is ignorant of her own conquests if she learn them not from their mouthes and that there is yet somwhat wanting to her Triumph if those who have experience of her cruelty do not implore her mercy Flattered by these false perswasions she exposeth her selfe to danger and out of hope of obtaining new victories she engageth her selfe in fresh combates if she be not seduced by vanity she is misled by pitty and believes that those who behave themselves so handsomly in their complaints suffer reall pains compassion makes her throw open the doores to love and under pretence of easing anothers malady she forgets her duty and betrayes her honour If she preserves her chastity amidst so many rocks which threaten her shipwrack she runs great hazard of loosing her humility her lovers Panegyricks make her think better of her selfe and those praises which men rob God of to give her perswade her that she is somwhat of divine Those who cannot corrupt her by their idle discourse seduce her by their adorations not being able to make her unchaste they make her proud not being able to bereave her of her chastity they take from her her modesty and bring her into a sad condition wherein pride is as it were necessary to her for defence of her honesty She likes not of common homage she thinks her selfe injured if men use not blasphemy to heighten her beauty and unlesse upon cold bloud men say what enamour'd Poets use to do in raptures she thinks her selfe slighted her lovers extravagancies are her Panegyricks she thinks not that they love unlesse they lose their reason nor doth she judge their passion to be extream unlesse they commit a thousand follies She judges of her power by her injustice if she doth not engage those who serve her in hard and ridiculous enterprises she doubts of their fidelity and because love is a kind of madnesse she will have all her lovers to be either mad or out of their wits 'T is not enough for a man to lose his liberty in her service unlesse he lose his judgment also more cruell then Tyrants and more absolute then Kings she will have her slaves to be her Martyrs that they kisse their fetters love their sufferings and listen with respect to their doom of death Thus Pride springs from beauty fair women grow proud and their insolence grows to that height as to ravish men from God to commit that execrable attempt on earth which Lucifer did in Heaven and to make all creatures adore rhem The first Christian women who very well knew the misfortune which accompanied this advantage did gallantly despise it they were ashamed to be handsome they neglected what our women so much value they thought it a fault to heighten a perfection which produceth lewd desires the purest amongst them wisht that old age might free them of this domestick enemy the most zealous did set upon
and makes the fields barren he shakes the foundations of the earth he over-whelms men under the ruines of their houses and immolates victimes to his fury when he cannot win slaves to his ambition so as be it in prosperity or in adversity we are bound to confesse that by the good will of God the elements hold of the Devil and that the Creatures are corrupted by sin since they serve as Instruments to our enemy to sooth us into our concupiscence and to abase our courage The sixth Discourse That it is more secure to sequester a mans self from the Creatures then to make use of them A Man must be ignorant of all the Maximes of christianity if he know not that he is forbidden the love of the creature and that we cannot love them without betraying our dignities or forgetting our duty for nothing but God can lay lawfull claim to our affections he is the center of all love he is bereft of that love which is not given him and he is injured in the chiefest of all his qualities if one propose any other end unto himself then God himself we are born onely to serve and love him no other object is able to satisfie us and our heart is too great to be filled with a good which is not infinite We molest the order which God hath established in the world when by an unjust going lesse we raise the creatures above our selves He who abaseth himself through the meannesse of his spirit is not lesse guilty then he who through his ambition raiseth himself up and he gives against Gods Providence as well who obeys those creatures which are inferiour to him as he who would command over those which are his equals or Superiours Man hath received an unrepealable law which obligeth him to submit himself to God because he is his Sovereign and to raise himself above the other creatures because they are his Servants he treats upon equall terms with other men because they are his equals he bears respect unto the Angels without adoring them because they are his companions do in the difference of their natures aspire with man to one and the same end and seek out the same happinesse Whatsoever is not rationall is subject to the Empire of man and he is not vain glorious when he thinks the earth is fruitfull onely to afford him nourishment that the Sun rises onely to light him and that the flowers do display themselves onely for his recreation when he loves them out of an inclination or out of necessity he disturbs the order of God he submits himself to that which is below him he degenerates from his nobility and becomes a slave to his subjects for if he love a creature he must obey it he cānot give his love to it preserve his liberty Love is an imperious passion it assubjects all those souls which it possesseth it makes as many slaves as lovers and reduceth them to a condition wherein having no longer any will they are not Masters of their desires they look pale when in the presence of those that they adore they tremble when they come neer them and the Stars have not so much power over their bodies as those whom they love have absolute command over their souls the object of their love is the cause of all their motions if it be absent they consume away in desire and languish in vain hopes if it be threatened with any danger they quake for fear if it be set upon they pluck up their courage if it go far off without hopes of being soon seen again they fall into despair and if it be lost without hope of recovery they give themselves over to grief and sorrow Thus these slaves take upon them their Masters livery these Camelions change colour as oft as that which they love changes condition and betraying their own greatnesse they assubject themselves to creatures which ought to obey them I know very well that lovers indevour to throw of this yoke that they strive to free themselves from this Tyranny and that being weary of obeying they fain would command their turn about but all they can do is to no purpose and the unalterable laws of love force them fairly to submit to those subjects which are Masters of their liberty The ambitious man would fain be the Sovereign of honour but let him do what he can he still remains the slave thereof and whilst he leads on Troops and commands Armies he is shamefully enforced to obey ambition which tyrannizeth over him The Avaritious man would fain be Master of his riches what ever pleasure he takes in keeping them he would take more in spending them but he is as it were bound to adore them and to dedicate all his care and watching to the Devil which doth possesse him The lustfull man wisheth that he were his Mistresses Master and that he might prescribe laws to that proud beauty which domineers over him but his excesse of passion keeps him a servant still and the nature of love forceth him with content to renounce his liberty his slavery is a just punishment of his ambition and Heaven permits that he remain a slave to the Creature because he would have made himself Master thereof by unlawfull means This is the cause why he will not acknowledge any thing to be amisse in what he loves why he doth admire the perfections thereof and why he doth mingle his vices and vertues together for to give right judgment of any thing a superiority is required in the judgment giver Some advantage must be had over that whose weaknesses would be known and lovers being slaves to those they love their blindnesse lasts as long as doth their slavery by a no lesse necessary then unfortunate consequence they assume the qualities of that object which causeth their love they transform themselves into what they love and change nature as well as condition but that which is most unjust in this change is that these wretched creatures take unto themselves the worst of the qualities of what they love and cannot take the best and having a capability of becomming easily imperfect they can never become accomplisht a deformed man loseth not his deformity though he love an exquisite beauty an ignorant body grows not learned though he love a Philosopher an ambitious man mounts not the throne though he love a Sovereign and covetous men grow not rich though they court wealth but by a deplorable misfortune lovers share in the faults of that subject whence they derive their love they put on all the evill qualities thereof and having no design to imitate it they resemble it in loving it Ambitious men become as vain as the honour which they idolatrize greedy men are no lesse obdurate then is the metall which they adore and the lascivious are as base as is the pleasure which they so much cherish Love is the mixture of Lovers he mingleth their wils