Ennuch of Candace was presently baptized by St. Philip you now speedily restore to him that Grace of which he had deprived himself by his bad designs The Passion with which Alcimus has hitherto been custamed is such that if violence be not used to pluck it from his Soul he will continue in his sin I in pain and my Husband in his evil humour You say very well Daughter said the good Simplicius for since the hour of death is so uncertain why should he delay converting himself to God who hath promis'd him as saith the glorious Father St. Angustine to receive him to mercy every moment but has not assured him to allow him space till death to cry him mercy It being but just that that sinner should forget himself in death who hath never thought of God through all the course of his life What think you of this continued he my Son Alcimus the Grace of God hates delays and he that presents it you to day has not promised to do so to morrow if you put your self amongst the foolish Virgins you must expect to hear that sad Sentence in the Day of Judgment Depart from me I know you not Will you by the impenitent perseverance of a wicked heart treasure up wrath against the day of wrath Will you be silent when you ought to speak and be deaf to the Voice of God who calls on you by me the Voice of the Turtle which summons you to a forsaking of your disordinate and irregular Passions Woe unto you if you keep silence There is a time to be silent and a time to speak It is a Malignant Devil which makes us deaf to the Remonstrances and dumb to the Confession of our sins from which I beseech God to deliver you I perceive you are in danger to defer your repentance a while during which time the Devil will return with greater fury to recover the prey which grace has almost snatcht out of his clutches and if he make himself once stronger and better armed in the fortress of your heart it is to be feared he will guard it so strongly as to keep out the holy Spirit and so your last errour will be worse than the first Consider that it is humane frailty to fall but diabolical madness to persevere Is it fit to consult hang backwards or deliberate when you are summoned to render your self to God and to quit the creature for the Creator to whom none is like than whom none is stronger whom none can resist nor any enter into comparison with â—iâ— Almighty Majesty Vannoza hearing this Discourse backed by the vehemence of that charity which animated this good Father who wrought upon his stoney heart as if he had been exercising one possest and fearing that the efficatious strength of this word Which converteth Souls uttered with such a vehemency of spirit should shake those yet but feeble roots which she had planted in the heart of this Neophite to obstruct his spiritual resurrection Alas said she Father in this new springing of his fault you must not press too hard upon his heart least you oppress it The gentle West-wind that makes the Flowers spring is sweet and fragrant but the impetuosity of the North pincheth and destroys them The first condescention which I found in him makes me not doubt of a second but to this end time must give assistance unto reason Your Maximes doubtless are good and prevalent but be the Medicines never so wholsome and well compounded yet are they not alwaies efficatious if there be not a fit disposition in the patient that receves them It is to be thought that Alcimus his Apostume is not yet ripe because it is still unbroken the time will come when like a good Tree planted by the streams of Grace he will bring forth Fruit in due season I know he now perceives at last The folly of his Errours past And in short time I hope see His Flames to Ice will changed he I conceive with submission to your better counsel it is fit to give him respite as to a bad pay-Master that if his levity should bring him to return unto his vomit it may take from him all excuse of having had too short a time to resolve and to pluck up by reason and the force of arguments a passion which has so long rooted in his breast Simplicius easie to work on as a true Monastick who thought that all the World like him proceeded in their actions with charity and sincerity gave his hand to this female-councel which he thought fit to be sometimes followed and sometimes not and that Adam and Pilate were equally guilty the one for following and the other for rejecting the the Counsel of a Woman Thus was Alcimus ballanced on the one side with Divine Love and with Humane on the other and at last suffered himself to be weighed down by the later directly towards Hell and Destruction I will not trouble my self nor the Reader with a Discovery of the progress and success of the artifices used in this unfortunate infection I would say affection but have spoken more properly then I intended nor declare in what manner these two impious Lovers abused the innocence of this good man to maintain an intelligence betwixt them Sometimes Alcimus making him believe that he could not or at least not so soon rid himself of this passion sometimes Vannoza continuing her false complaints and feigned fears whereby they made this holy Father their Shuttle-cock and through their joynt and deceitful propositions be entred into such real apprehensions of the loss either of the Soul or Body of Alcimus that it robbed him of his rest and his trouble brought him to a pining leanness In this Spiritual Cure he resembled those Physitians who not well understanding a Distemper take care of one part of it whilest the other part destroyes the Patient And as those Corporal Physitians know not the Disposition of the Interiour parts but from the relation of the Patient so these Spiritual ones know them not but by the report of the penitent which made the Philosopher say to a young man Speak that I may see thee and as the eye being single the whole body is thereby conducted by the aid of an amiable light so contrarily he walks in darkness whose eyes are clouded and how should our Spiritual Guides conduct us rightly through a holy discipline if we do not truly and sincerely discover our selves to them without disguising and deceit for which cause the wise man declareth that the Heart is deceitful above all things and a double Tongue is an abomination before God I will not here make register of the execrable subtleties of these fire-brands of Hell of explaining themselves to one another by an innocent Interpreter of whom one may say as David did of the Patriarch Joseph That he heard a Language which he had no understanding of but is the fault in the Sword if one commit Murther with it or of a
other vices Alcimus and Vannoza earnest of an unconstrained reciprocal enjoyment were come to a resolution of ridding themselves of the Old Man either by Sword to Poison to plain their way to a future Marriage This Journey was laid hold on by Vannoza as a sit occasion to perpetrate the Murther by Bravo's so they call the Italian Assassins in some Wood or narrow passage under colour of Robbery This Counsel broached first by Vannoza was readily embraced by her Adonis who for Money failed not of Men who undertook to execute this Bloody Enterprize Vannoza had divers times attempted the courage of her Maid to slip some poyson into Capoleon's Meat or Wine but Lisarda loth to envelope her self in so desperate a design Adriana however more seemingly compliant presently gave her Master warning to avoid this intended mischief But now this Assassinate being projected broke off the other more dangerous design of poysoning but as if secrecy were incompatible to that Sex Vannoza reveal'd it to Adriana praising it for an Heroick Action and singing Songs of Triumph before the Victory Capoleon making preparation for his pretended Journey Adriana amazedly came running to disswade him from it revealing the Conspiracy that was made against him to whom the crafty Old Man to dissipate her Fears answered her That he would countermine them and by taking the takers marr all their Plots Encouraging her to be faithful to him and so thanking her for her advice he dismist her He had already caused all the Keys of his house to be counterfeited to enter at what times he pleased to take the Criminals in the act Whereupon he set forwards in good equipage and well attended having under-hand given order that all his Wifes actions should be diligently watched leaving one in trust to learn of Adriana the news of her deportments He had so long given Vannoza her swing that he now seemed to be no longer jealous His Journey was so well coloured that there was no subject left to suspect it He was followed three or four miles by a Servant of Alcimus to see what way he took At the place where he Dined he remained until night and returned to the Town very late where being retired to a private house he heard from Adriana that his back was hardly turned when Alcimus came to supply his place in the habit of a Jeweller The Night was in the middle of its course and darkness more then Cimmerian had over-spread the surface of the Earth and the sweetness of rest and heaviness of sleep had rendred the Condition of most in the City little different in appearance from that of the dead when Capoleon whose many designs and thoughts had bereaved him of repose covered with a Coat of Male and Head-piece and armed with Pistols Poniards and Sword accompanied by six men some of them 〈◊〉 Servants and others Bravo's compleatly armed and resolved to execute Capoleon's vengeance with so much the more boldness by how much it seemed more just and reasonable and therefore they less subject to the fear of scandal or of punishment came to the house with the false Keys we lately mentioned arriving without noise to Vannoza's Bed-Chamber who had admitted Alcimus into her Husband's Bed where they lay soundly sleeping in the close embraces of one another The door being bolted on the in side he knocked at it like a Master and as one resolved to enter by fair means or foul and that speedily being then unable to suppress the movements of his Passion to counterfeit his voice or moderate his Anger What case Vannoza was in when thus suddainly awaked I leave it to the Reader to imagine hearing the eager and angry sound of her Husband's voice who thus surprized her betwixt the Arms of a man who together with her had not only robb'd him of his Honour but conspired against his life A thousand terrours seiz'd her in a moment the fears of death and danger of Hell environed her so that it bereaved her of all usage of Reason or discourse as those whom a Wolfe had got the first sight of The two Maids which slept in the Wardrobe being awaked with the noise Lisarda was almost dead with fear but that of Adriana was only counterfeit because she kept intelligence with that party though the thoughts of the succeeding Execution could not but make her tremble She rose and softly ask'd her Mistress What she did intend to do Who being with fear almost as much stupified as she that was turned into a Pillar of Salt for looking back upon her flaming City answered her not a word What say'st thou Alcimus in this pressing necessity or to whom wilt thou betake thy self O how true is the Saying of an Ancient Roman Historian That when the hand of Destiny layes hold on a man's Collar he becomes even stupified his Senses taken from him and as if he were fetter'd with invisible Chains he has neither Courage to attacque his Enemy nor to defend himself nor feet to flye At least ye defiled Souls since you are deprived of all hope of escaping a Temporal death think of preserving your selves from an Eternal one Now think of your Salvation at this point of extremity this precious moment manage with a hearty desire and unfeigned repentance your reconciliation with the Father of Mercies who hath promised graciously to receive sinners at what hour soever they heartily repent But O Lord how just art thou and how much equity accompanies thy Judgments And how true is that saying of one of thy Saints That it is reasonable he should forget himself in dying who living never had any remembrance of thee During this mute consultation and fix'd resolution they beat still more rudely at the Door calling swearing cursing and threatning to break it down which so daunted the spirit of Vannoza ever till then so sharp and subtile that seeing her self discover'd and betray'd and without other hope of safety than what she could gather from the deepest desperation knowing the impossibility of her Husband 's pardoning this outrage she took the first counsel that her despair suggested and which was infused into her Soul by the Evil spirit who like a Crow croaking after carrion watched for nothing but his prey for seeing Adriana going to open the Door she leap'd out of the Bed and opening a Window which look'd into the Garden she cast her self violently down where lighting upon a graven Effigies of stone she broke her Skull in divers pieces and her Brains were scattered all about her Body almost battered to pieces made passages enough for her adulterous sacrilegious and desperate Soul to go to the place design'd for it but where I am too charitable to speak my thoughts Alcimus having entred the house in the habit of a Jeweller had neither Sword nor Stick to defend himself all that he could do seeing the door a opening was to leap out of his Bed and exchange it for a Closet where he entred and shut the
Capoleon who being rich and well descended had been married at a season so young as was enough to dispence with the most hasty from joyning themselves so soon in the yoke of marriage and that by the disposal of his Parents who to agree a suit in which a great part of their estate lay at stake had Sollicited this marriage with a maid much older then himself who had as great redundancy of years lack of Beauty having features less apt to breed love than hatred This Cup though finely gilded was very bitter to Capoleon's tast but the ascendant that his friends had over his affections the fear of ruining his fortune leading a miserable life under the afflictions of Poverty his Parents displeasure made him do like those who shut their eyes swallow a loathsom potion having more regard to the sweetness of Health than the bitterness of the Medicine the loathsomeness of which begun to appear still worse when he was come to the age to distinguish Beauty from Deformity then did the hook begin to pierce deep which he had swallowed under so gilded a bait but it was not enough that this Leah was blear-ey'd but for a Crown to her other imperfections she was Ill-natured Churlish Melancholy and Proud and would carry her self more like a Mother to a Son then a Wife to a Husband which redoubled Capoleon's vexation who seeing himself from a Master become a Slave finding as little kindness from her as she deserved love from him turned his regard from so disagreeable an Object to others more pleasing a folly scarce taken notice of in a Country where it is so frequent This haughty ill tempered woman finding her self in this manner slighted by her Husband was transported with such extremities of rage and jealousie that her words were not able to express her resentments What did she leave unsaid or undone agitated by this frantick passion she both said and did so much as essaying too far the patience of his young courage she stirred up a passion in him which proved little advantageous to her shoulders this brought her to all the desperatest vows and menaces imaginable to take a severe Revenge either by Force or Treachery So that in one word never was a more distracted Family or unhappy marriage since the first Sacred Institution of it the Parents on both sides endeavoured a reconciliation but they were Natives of a Country where as quarrel is like a malignant Ulcer which may be healed outwardly but will still have matter within to destroy the former endeavours of the Chirurgion or though throughly healed will leave a scarre which time can never efface Capoleon did not so much fear her cruell fury as her feigned affection knowing that this Sex has some resemblance with those Creatures who Flatter when they intend to bite or of those which kick when one least distrust them both stood upon their Guards which often bred a mis-construction of what was never meant amiss it being impossible for them to draw evenly in that Yoke which was composed of such inequalities Capoleon amongst the women past for a bad Husband though all men had just occasion to take his part against a wicked Wife indeed both of them had been wronged by a marriage without espousals I mean by the conjunction of two Body's whose Souls were so divided and humours so dis-joynted for those marriages which are founded only upon interest seldome come to a happy building and now who could expect any Children from so notorious an Antipathy and so rare a Commerce Finally after having continued some time in this Hell for how can I better term this Fire-brand of division it pleased Heaven to throw down his Gantlet of death to part the Combat she first leaving the World who first entred into it not without suspition of some indigestible Morcel with which it was judged that Capoleon transferred the War into the Country of the Enemy who so loudly threatned an invasion But this suspition proved like a little misty vapour which is no sooner exhaled but dissipated for justice could discover nothing to Capoleon's prejudice and the calumnies were buried soon after the body But the most favourable opinion was That her hard usage had abridged her Life and that the vexation to see her self despised by him whom she thought to be so obliged to her for the fortune she brought him had been the chief weight that had prest her into her Coffin And we must confess that Jealousie infuses a Poison into the heart which is not so easily cured by the remedy of reason as by that of death so that it may justly be applyed to this passion which the Poet appropriates to that of love If time nor absence quench the heat Cold Death alone can do the feat Capoleon was Master of a joy at the breaking of this marriage knot which he could never hope for at the tying of it his present happiness equalling his former misfortune So that his present ravishing contentments having escaped so Fatal a shipwrack extracted from him a thousand protestations never to engage himself again upon a Sea where he was so subject to the secret Treasons of the Rocks and the open Hostilities of Storms and Tempests but his Manners were so far from amending with his Fortune that his freedome made him a perfect Libertine and he led such a course of life in his present opulency which he injoyed by the death of her who had left him in the double possession of himself and her fortune that might justly be said of him which the Holy Scripture said of an execrable City That his Iniquity proceeded from his abundance and that the extremity of his bitterness which is that of his vices was the product of is quietness and ease he now went like a Son of Belial with his head erected being subject to no Yoke if he may be said to be free from the Yoke who is Slave to his Passions and inordinate desires It was far more easie to number the faults he was free from than those into which he daily precipitated himself for his Soul was a Sea a receptacle for all the Rivers of sensual pleasures or rather a stinking Lake receptive of all sorts of filth and impurity and though his Sins merited a severe chastisement from Heaven yet the indulgence of the Soveraign bounty of him who is long-suffering and of great mercy was such towards him that it might well be said that he indured not the troubles of other men nor was subject to the scourges of impious sinners contrarily all things succeeded prosperously to him the gale of good fortune filled his Sail with a thousand delicious blasts and the success of his Affairs did far surpass both his hopes and desires but his wicked inclinations and impenitent heart despising the Treasures of Divine bounty heaped up to him a Treasure of wrath against the day of vengeance and the last retribution But the wheels of Gods anger
Lacquey who were so many Spies and Sentinels kept in Pay by her Husband to keep a strict watch on all her Actions And now what was she able to do being alone confined revengeful and amorous She must use some means to escape from this perplexity either through the window of Despair or the door of Artifice A religious Artifice that was the door of the Temple which she thought to be specious but was very fallacious wherefore she resolved To try all wayes that Wit or Art could yield Before she to despair would quit the field One day as she was Cajoling her aged Tithon according to the Custome of Women when they mean to deceive redoubling her toyings and caresses she protested to him That Imprisonment in his company was the highest happiness she coveted on Earth and so she enjoyed but the sight of him all others in the World were indifferent to her so she might but enjoy this shadow of liberty to go to the Churches in the Company and Conduct of her Mother to procure Indulgences to frequent the Sacraments and Confessions and to hear Sermons That all other Exercises besides these and her domestique ones were as contrary to her temper as fire to water she being no more concerned for the companies and conversations of the World than if she had never seen nor known it She knew so well to colour this just request with sweet and plausible words and to accompany her dissimulation with such real tears that Capoleon's heart was not so steely but to be softened by them or had it been of stone the falling of these streams had been enough to wear it He took her inside to be as lovely as her out and that both ways though clothed with flesh she was altogether Spiritual and that though yet on Earth she breathed nothing but what was Angelical He thought that so holy a request could not be rejected without impiety And that he could not without meriting some severe Judgment from Heaven resist the motions of the holy Spirit and stop the progress of Grace in this holy Soul The Proverb saith That it is hard to find a trick to catch the old one since their long experience has armed them against all devices Yet this young Wit refined by a Passion which inspires the most simple with subtlety needed not to go to School to the most ancient Crafts-Masters Capoleon falls into the snare and opening the door to a seeming Piety he lets in the blackest mischiefs Wine taken after Hemlock is a good Antidote against its poyson because its gentle heat refreshing the heart tempers the mortal coldness of the other but when they are both swallowed together there remains no further remedy for the one opening the pectoral veins makes the deadly venom of the other a more easie entrance and renders it so penetrating and active that the vital heat is suddainly extinguish't In like manner the most puissant remedy after the poison of sin is the supernatural heat of grace Grace which is the true enlivener of the spirits which does temper the natural frigidity of the Soul the Sacraments and other Divine Mysteries are the Conduit-Pipes that convey this Divine Mercy from the Fountain of Salvation but when one swallows them down mixed with the venome of Sin then surely this iniquity is deplorable which turns the Haven to a Whirl-pool the Potion to a Poison Death into Sinners entring at this Gate Hurries them headlong to a damned state And this mischievous invention of Vannoza was sufficient to hurry her to the brink of Perdition for she thus obtained this favour of her husband who thought this as great an act of prudence as of condescention hereby stopping the mouths that were daily open to blame his former unreasonable Severity and so thought he might safely put his honour under the conduct of the Conscience of so devout a Wife Vannoza's Parents advertised of this good resolution came to visit and thank Capoleon for it and to congratulate with their Daughter thereupon She knew so well how to win her Mother's affection who had for her a heart truly Maternal that instead of being conducted by her she brought her to accord to all that she desired See here our Israelite under the rod of a Mothers direction delivered from the Aegypt of her Prison and the Captivity of her Pharaoh to go feed upon the Manna of absolution and the Word of God in the desarts of Penitence But her intention was to pass that way into a Land of Promise that flowed with Milk and Honey far from Coelestial To render her Stratagem more Compleat she clothed her self the meanliest that was possible and promised her husband to veil her face so diligently that none but a Lynx his eyes should perceive it all which he believed as Oracles Her Mother astonisht to see her in this equipage became sorrowful for her fixing upon so strict a devotion fearing it would end in a destructive Melancholy Her Maids that followed her fancied that they had an invisible Mistriss and that she rather seemed a moving shadow than a real substance Capoleon who according to the custome of the Jealous watch'd her with Argus eyes could espy nothing but most devout and modest and as he loved nothing more then the sight of her when she was at home he now cherisht the thoughts of her whil'st she was abroad Thus did she dazzle the Eyes of all Men and was so diligent a manager of her time that in a few days she had learnt all the Jubiliees the Stations Fraternities Feasts and Sermons that were in the whole City and had all the Kalender by heart She was seen to go from one Church to another and from Monastery to Monastery still at her Mothers heels as if she had still continued an obedient young Daughter which was a sight commended by all the beholders Mean while her designs were so secret That the most Curious Imagination would not in the least have suspected the smallest part of them All thought it was the Mother that conducted the Daughter when indeed it was the Daughter was the Shepherdess who though she came behind drove her Leader whither she pleased so desirous was this good Woman of the Spiritual Consolation of her beloved Daughter One would have thought she had gone with violence and fervour to the Conquest of Heaven when her Enterprizes were all fixed upon Earth like Eagles who when they tour aloft in the Air have their thoughts still fix'd below to fall upon the first prey they can espy Her veil concealed her from the sight of others but hindered her not from the sight of divers objects which presented themselves to her sight which above all desired to satiate its self with the sight of Alcimus This was the Butt of her pretensions her Indulgence and her Jubilee Alas She could see him sometimes in Churches but he passed out as swift from her sight as lightning or if he stood long enough for her to
Conscience before you Hereupon Simplicius told her That he had not more particular knowledge of nor intimate acquaintance with any one in the City than with him that he was a great Benefactor to their Convent that he was one of the fairest most judicious and pious Souls that ever came under his acquaintance nor did he ever know one of his Age more virtuous Ah! Father said this false Penitent how easie it is to lye to men but how hard to deceive God! and in this like Caiphas she spoke truer than she intended Surely if his wickedness could increase so high as thus to impose upon you I take his case to be most deplorable and it is impossible but that he must thereby draw upon himself some grand disastre What is it you tell me Daughter said the amazed Simplicius Can this man possibly be so like the Swan as under an appearance of innocent whiteness to conceal the black feet of so horrid an impiety loosely abusing the Sacraments for a Cloak to his wickedness I come not here reply'd Vannoza to search into the secrets of his Conscience but only to discharge my own by advising him by you that he break off his search of a Woman who being loyal and faithful to her Husband cannot without breach of both be enjoyed by him What! said Simplicius Alcimus covet another man's Wife O execrable Sacriledge O mighty God! where is thy Thunder I have long governed the spirit of this man but have never either perceived or heard such a thing of him but trust this to me and if he come not to see me speedily I will go seek and find him out and endeavour to wash his Soul with so scouring a Sope as with God's assistance shall lick away this odious spot I feel zeal enough to dare to attempt and hope I have influence enough upon him to perfect the plucking up so pernicious a root from his heart And if you permit me to remark the particulars to him it will be from you by me or rather from God by us both that he will obtain the salvation of his Soul for it is written That he that retrieves his Brothers soul from the path of ruine 't is delivering his Soul from death does at the same time save his own and is it not an excellent way of working ones own salvation in that of another and this properly belongs to the Religious who to Monastique Functions do joyn the Priestly I do not only allow but intreat you to do so holy Father said Vannoza for to this sole end have I revealed it to you and that you may see with what truth and sincerity I proceed in this Affair know that I am the Wife of Seigneur Capoleon a Gentleman well known in this Town I tell you this because the obscurity of this place the Veil I have upon my face and your Religious Order hinders me from being otherwise known to you than by word I am the unhappy Woman in whose face this rash inconsiderate young man hath found that which pleaseth him more than it ought or I desire But there is no fire that is not accompanied with some smoke and he does not only cast out some sparks but so visible a flame as is known and taken notice of by all the Neighbourhood Now you must know Father that Jealousie is almost an inseparable Companion of old men married to young wives has so possest my Husbands heart that excepting my walks to the Churches places of Devotion which yet is done in company of my Mother which is the ancient Lady which you see here so near your Confessional I am the rest of my time prisoner in a remote Apartment of the House which only looks into the Garden where I have no other entertainment but that of Images Books of Devotion and my solitary thoughts sufficiently happy in this retreat in which I have the happiness of pleasing my Husband and conversing with God if I did not fear that so many follies which Alcimus commits before all the world and particularly in the sight of my Husband Capoleon may force him to the extremity of laying an ambush for him and take away his life in so unprovided a condition as may render the hopes of his Salvation desperate for to die in the unchaste pursuit of another's Wife is but a crooked way to the eternity of Glory I have already discovered some of my Husbands menaces and perceiv'd him to plot with his Servants and some Bravo's against this young Gentleman which cannot be executed without a probability of bringing Capoleon to destruction Alcimus to Hell and me into the slanderous mouths of detracters whose throat is an open sepulchre where I should see my Honour unjustly buried Judge then Father if I have not reason to advertise you of this mischief which hangs over the head of Alcimus that he may get into Harbour to avoid this Tempest and slip from the shot of this bended Bowe and that by sorsaking so unjust a Passion he may save himself from so eminent a destruction In truth Daughter reply'd Simplicius you include many vertuous acts in one for besides the testimony of your honesty and your inviolable fidelity to your Spouse you use a grand and signal prudence to prevent the many slanders which might succeed so pernicious a design and principally you manifest an extream charity towards this wretched offender who does justly merit to perish in his iniquity But we ought still to hope well of Divine mercy and a sinner's Conversion above all when the iniquity is but in its Infancy whiles the young man is yet within the gate or Jairus his Tabitha within the house without attending Lazarus his four days corruption till an inveterate habit have rendred him incurable But yet continued he may I not yet be further instructed that I may more clearly carry my self in this affair of some particulars of the unhappy search of this young insolent I question not but that against the constancy of your honesty his sighs and tears are but winds and waves spent upon a rock but how far has his vanity proceeded has your Husband yet perceived it or is he yet come to open words threats and bravadoes or only to small suspicions I thank God said she he is not yet come to the extremities you first specified but he is upon the essay you last mentioned for Alcimus his pursuits are so evident that none except blind but must needs remark him for every evening under pretences of taking the Air and managing his Horse in which and in his Attendance he has an extream vanity he has pickt out our Street which is fair and spacious for the Theatre of his Exercises shall I say or Follies and this to endeavour to draw me to the window as many other inconsiderate young ones there to see my face from the Ice and coldness of which towards him he hath raised such a flame as rages with so much more puissance as
to my Parents I think I hold them by no such unjust Title add to this the many consolations I have received from you when I have revealed to you the causes of my Scruples and yet I am ready at the disposition of those from whom I hold what I have to do any thing that shall be adjudged fitting by any sober and grave Persons Simplicius thinking that Alcimus would dextrously thus have warded the blow and changed his purpose to avoid answering to that which he thought he had plainly enough proposed No no said he Seigneur Alcimus you must not thus think to escape me I have fig-leaves in my hands to prevent the glidings of the Snake I should be very indiscreet to speak in this extravagant manner of that which we have so often discoursed of before and which puts me to as much trouble as your self since the Confessor and Penitent are both fastened with the same Chain there is another far different Mystery a Mystery of Iniquity which you have not yet discovered and which is come to my knowledge by a way which you would scarce ever divine and assure your self it will be to your good to make a right use of my Remonstrance and to the discharge of my Soul if you reject it what I say may serve you for correction if you take it as you ought and for advertisement though you have no desire to profit by it Now you must know there is a grand difference betwixt the Laws positive and common and those that are Divine for as men have made the Laws positive so may they dispense with them but for Divine Ordinances they are indispensable and whoever seeks excuses to palliate iniquity doubles the Crime and is doubly culpable For Example as to the use of Ecclesiastical goods the Holy Father who is Supreme and Sovereign Disposer of them may favour those with them whom he judges fit and deserving but there is no earthly Authority that can dispense with these Divine Commandments Thou shalt not kill Thou shalt not steal Thou shalt not commit adultery This the good man spake confusedly that he might not suddenly touch the sore of him whom he thought wounded To this Alcimus reply'd Father If I were as innocent upon the Hypothesis which you have made touching the positive Right as upon the three last Articles of the Divine which you mentioned my Soul would enjoy a profound peace and I should have but little cause to doubt of Divine Grace For as for Murther my hands are very clear from blood and I desire not the death of any man As for other Men's Goods I am so far from having my hands sullied with them or my desires therewith touched that those which I already possess lie some-somewhat too heavy on me And as for the Wife of another God preserve me from desiring her since I never cast my eyes upon any lawful Subject which I would be willing to take to my self and this is the only point of difference that ever happens betwixt me and my Parents who desire nothing so much as to see me married nor is there any thing I fly from more being more desirous of the benefit of the Field than the confinement of the Cage And my Soul being thus estranged even from honest and lawful affections what is it from unjust and unlawful ones For besides my aversion from all Women in general I have a particular abhorrency against the worser sort of them and as for those that are engaged in Marriage I cannot have the confidence so much as to look on them for fear not only of the secret adultery of a wanton look but of violating so holy a Sacrament which is the most Sacred Bond of Humane Society O Adam where art thou cryed Simplicius thinking that these fair words were only designed as a Looking-Glass moved against the Sun to cast the Rayes in his eyes What Seigneur Alcimus think you thus to lead an old Man by the Nose who though he may come short of you in quick wit and fancy is as much beyond you in Experience Once more Where art thou Adam Do you think thus to hide your nakedness from my sight with Fig-leaves I may justly threaten you if you persevere in this course to shew your impiety to the people and cast your shame in your own face conceal not your self so vainly therefore O Infant of my Soul Prevaricator of the Laws of God Look back into your own heart and retake your former Virtue fall again to your former good Works and by a sound Repentance regain your lost Robe of Innocence Return O Shunamite return Come back thou Prodigal to thy Fathers house whilst his arms are yet open to receive thee and the acceptable day of Salvation is yet in the dawning O fly and meet the beauteous Orient of the Sun of Mercy which if once declined can never be regained and then it will be too late to cast off the works of darkness when the whole Armour of Light is got beyond your reach Alcimus more astonisht then before knew not what to answer to this discourse so full of obscurity the words of which were as so many Aenigma's Good Father reply'd he speak more plainly that I may understand and answer you for how long will you hold me in suspence tell me but my offence and I am ready for the chastisement and may all the arrows of heaven's vengeance make a butt of my head if I know my self guilty of more then I have already confest to you Have I committed murther theft or adultery I speak not of either of the two first replyed Simplicius nor of the effects of the third but who knows not that as in good deeds God accepts the will for the deed so evils but designed by a determined resolution are as much as executed before him since we have to do with a God who searcheth the hearts and tryeth the reins before whom all things are open and nothing hid who seeth our thoughts afar off and understandeth our designs before they be disclosed he will not hold him innocent who performs not an evil if he have but once designed it for his own mouth hath declared that he who looks upon his neighbour's wife with a lustful eye hath committed Adultery with her in his heart already And to what serve all your serenades your prancings carreers turns and returns it being the property of evil to have a circular motion your amorous looks and glances and other such like actions which are daily remarkable in your deportment the eye of the world which you think bleared is far more piercing then you imagine yet we have it from good authority how malicious it is withall Our sinful Parents did us breed We them in wickedness exceed Our children will more Vices love And theirs will worse then Vipers prove Thus Ages change thus the World worse does grow Till he that made both both doth overthrow The world has as much advantage
and inconsiderate to submit my self to the captivity of the charms of unlawful love you would then think me stupid and insensible if before such a fire I should endure without heat or flame but be pleased to consider that our affections principally those that are grown inveterate are not put off so easily as a garment Would God we could as easily quit our habitudes as our habits as the primitive Christians cast all they had even to their garments at the Apostle's feet so I had presently deposited at yours all the passion that I had for this Lady But I pray consider which you know better than I how hard it is for the Aethiopian to change his colour or the Leopard his spots but still more for a sinner so suddainly to rid himself of that which is so deeply ingraved in his soul I hope nevertheless by the grace of God and the assistance of your Prayers and good Conduct to draw this thorn out of my heart which I once took for a most pretious and fragrant rose the impressions of which will hardly yet be effaced from my spirit though I feel sufficiently the pungency of it so that I now find how rational that saying was I see what 's good but my malignant will Bends me to love and follow what is ill Though this will be the very separation of my soul from my body by so violent an effort yet when it shall please God to break these fatal bonds of iniquity which environ me I will sacrifice to him an hecatomb of praises and every where publish the glory of his name All I can at present do is to protest that for the future I will do my best endeavour to efface out of my memory the Idea of so many graces and perfections that have enchanted it and essay to shut the gate against those thoughts which nourish my passions and finally to take that resolution which is incident to the most irresolute to hope no further where the evil is incurable I say not this because mine is so but I see by the firmness of this Lady that she is no less chast than fair and if she have attractions which make her be beloved she has no less severity to make her be feared and all attempts are fruitless upon one so firmly bent upon the conservation of her honour I will henceforth endeavour to extinguish my unlawful fire with the tears of penitence and seeing the waxed wings of my designs melted by so audacious an approach I will like Icarus drown them in that Sea of repentance It is fit I banish from my spirit those Idaea's which flattered my passion and withal seemed so delicious for instead of the contentment which I promised my self from their success I now see nothing attend me but sorrow and regrets Upon sound advice I find my self obliged rather to commend her vertuous resolution than to blame unjustly her holy rigour which now has proved the onely eye-water to restore the sight I have been so long deprived of And since she cannot be pitiful to me but by being cruel to her self nor satisfie my humour but at the expence of her Honour I shall shew far more judgment in making my retreat than I did in beginning my enterprize And I heartily bless God that having fallen it is into such hands hers and yours by whose assistance I cannot fear but to obtain a recovery and making profit of my misfortune have cause to say it was good for me to have this fall after which I hope to stand faster than before Judge now by this Discourse whether the Children of Darkness be not more in their perverse generation than those of the light and whether they be not more witty prudent and discreet and wsthal more accomplishâ—d for the bringing about their wicked designs Was not this cajollery able to pass not only upon the innocency of the well-meaning Simplicius but even upon the craâ—tiest in the world This good Father reply'd My Son 't is a good step towards health to be cured though you come somewhat late to repentance yet all is soon enough if well enough I told you before that all that smoke could not be without some fire and that your Mine would at last be discovered though never so secretly wrought But now God be praised who has melted the Ice of your obstinacy by the Sun of truth and that the acknowledgment of your fore-past fault promiseth us a future amendment and that which does most rejoyce me is to see you hope in the Divine Mercy which is an Abyss without bounds or bottom and will not let us want that which it would have extended even unto Judas had he not prevented it by despair to which the extremity of his grief reduced him He who begg'd pardon for his Crucifiers will surely do the same for those who with a sincere heart do now invoke his bounty whilst he is in the Throne of Glory performing the Office of our Advocate And after turning towards Vannoza which heard all this Mystery with that attentation and joy which you may well magine possest her to see her designs succeed so happily You see Madam said he our Criminal convinced by his own Confession What now rests but to condemn him not to punishment but amendment It is true we are here in a Tribunal where a free Confession serves for an excuse and where excusing aggravates the Crime A Tribunal where Mercy has predominance over Judgment and where there needs only a sound Confession of a fault to obtain remission since here we hold the place of him who hath said At what time soever a sinner returneth towards me my arms shall be open to receive him for I am the living God who would not the death of a sinner but rather that he should turn from his iniquity and live If Wine Women and Truth are asunder judged in Scripture to be the three strongest things in the world what must they needs be when united in one Subject We have here the Wine of Charity and Divine Love washing away the filthy putrefaction of this prophane Passion You Madam are that strong Woman which Solomon desireth whose price is above Rubies or the precious things the world can yield and have by your fortitude reduced to Reason this wandring Soul by repelling all his assaults But above all the Strength of Truth is greatest for you see that Alcimus confounded by the first Ray that it darted in his face To this Vannoza replied in the Apostle's Phrase for she wanted neither wit nor words to express it had she but had Grace to apply it better Not I Father but the Grace of God in me the Grace of God which often makes use of the weakest things to confound the strongest of a Rod to tame the pride of the Aegyptians and of the hand of a woman to behead the great Assyrian Captain But Father to strike now whilst the Iron 's hot what hinders but that as the