I get ouer and aboue what is necessarie I giue it to the poore Loe how I passe ouer this life caring litle if I be in the state of perfection or no so that I correct my selfe of the imperfections which are vnworthie of my estate litle curious of those titles which the Cenobiticall friars do attribute to themselues to be the Coadiutours of the Bishops Specious titles vvhich the Regulars giue to themselues to be Apostolicall men to leade the Apostolicall life to be men sent by the sea Apostolike to supplie the defects of the ordinarie Pastours to be troupes of succour to be the props of the Church to be the pillars and firme colomnes of her which is herselfe the colome and fundation of truthe knowing that all these qualities are annexed to Priesthoode sith that Prelats ordering Priests do call them their cooperators fellow workers the supporters of their Pastorall Order and many other very honorable names The condition of a Monke is truely very venerable so is that of Conuentuall friars of Religious men let them call them as they will and as they please or in one word that of Regulars or of Friars albeit the Regular Clerkes do apprehend as much to be called this last name as they would to handle a burning cole without tongs But for my part I beleeue that all men of good vnderstanding will alwaies esteeme as much The condition of a Priest is to be estimed as much or more as any other state in the Church and more the condition of a Priest as any of those Notwithstanding to shun the obstinat contention which the Apostle doth so expresly forbid it is better leaue them in the arbitrable possession of the state of perfectiō seing that by their tongues as by the tongue of Hercules Gaulois the Destinies do spinne the reputation of men nothing being well done according the Castilian prouerb but that which proceedeth out of a Monke or friars head THE RESPECT and honour vvhich is due to the Order dignitie of Priesthood declared and proued by the authoritie both of holy Scripture and of the ancient Fathers of the Church YOV haue seene gentle Reader in the precedent Discours how the Regulars to extoll themselues are not content by their rigorous censures to giue a sentence of exclusion against Hermites and Secular Priests as they terme them from the state of perfection in which they place the meanest of themselues in vertue of their three vowes of pouertie obedience and chastitie but also proclaime them to be base and of no consideration And that you may iudge whether that be conformable to the holy Scripture to the Doctrine of the ancient Fathers of the primatiue Church I thought good to produce here a few authorities of the one of the other prouing the dignitie and authoritie of Priests God instructing the children of Israël how to decide all controuersies that should arise amongst them said Thou shalt come to the Priests of the Leuiticall stock and to the iudge that Deut. 17. shall be at that time and thou shalt aske of them vvho shall shew thee the truth The high Priests chiefe iudge of all controuersies of the iudgment And thou shalt do vvhatsoeuer they that are presidentes of the place vvhich our Lord shall choose shall say and teach thee according to his lavv and thou shalt follovv their sentence neither shalt thou decline to the right hand nor to the left hand But he that shall be proude refusing to obey the commandement of the Priest vvhich at that time ministreth to our Lord thy God the decree of the iudge that man shall die What could be said more to shew the dignitie and authoritie of Priests then whosoeuer would not obey them nor stand to their iudgment should die but that is not all The Prophet Malachias speaking of the couenant which God made with the tribe of Leui saith to the same purpose The lipps of the Priest Mala. 2 shall keepe knowledge and the law they shall require of his mouth because he is the Angell of God The Ecclesiasticus teaching à man how to carrie himself first tovvards God after towards the Priests saith Eccles 7. thus In all thy soule feare our Lord sāctifie his Priests And after Honour God withall thy soule honour the Priests Saint Peter vvho vvas a Priest himself speakes thus to Priests You are an elect generation a kingly Priesthood Pet. 2. a holy Nation a people of purchasse Was it not to Priests that our Sauiour himself said Whatsoeuer you Matt. 18. v. 18. shall binde vpon earth shall be bound also in heauen and vvhatsoeuer you shall loose vpon earth shall be loosed also in heauen Many other passages might be produced out of holy Scripture to proue the dignitie of Priests the respect which is due to them but these shall fuffice at this time so you consider them well for you see that to Priests God gaue power to iudge and decide all controuersies and that he gaue sentence of death vpon any that would not obey them You see moreouer that they are called the Angells of God that all men were commanded to honour and respect them that they are called an elect generation a holy nation and that their Priesthood is a Royall dignitie And which is more then all that you see how CHRIST gaue them the power to loose and bind vpon earth and that their act therin is ratified in heauen Now rests to shew what the ancient Fathers of the primitiue Church do say of Priesthood and in what esteeme Priests were in their time in which there was no speech neither of Benedictins which are the Anciētest in our Latin Church and began the yeere 529. nor of Dominicans nor Franciscans which began the yeere 1209. nor yet of Augustins nor Carmelites as they are approued by the Church no nor of Bernardins much lesse of the rest which now flourish in the Church vnder seuerall names but all was ruled and gouerned by Priests Sainct Ignatius Martyr and the third Bishop of Antiochia after S. Peter commaunding all lay persons to be subiect vnto and reuerence Epist ad Smyrn Priests and Diacons saieth thus Diaconos reuereamini vt ex Dei praecepto ministrantes Honour yea the Deacons as ministring by the precept of God Epist. ad Ephes And after Enitimini charissimi subiecti esse Episcopo Presbyteris Diaconis Qui enim his obedit obedit Christo. My dearest doe your best to be subiect to the Bishop and Priests and Deacons for he that obeyeth these obeyeth CHRIST Sainct Policarp disciple to saint Iohn the Apostle saieth Subiectiestote Epist ad Philip. Presbyteris Diaconis sicut Deo CHRISTO Be yea subiect vnto the Priests and Deacons as to God and CHRIST Sainct Clement disciple to saint Peter saith Presbyteris si assiduè in studio Const Apost l. 2. c. 8. docendi verbum Dei
good Conuent which should be well rented or being of a begging order that should be situated in a good cittie where they eate the sinnes of the people where all men labour for you while you pray for all men where they find the bread ready baked the wine all pure the meat ready dressed where they haue no care of any thing nor think of tomorrow practising simplie in good earnest these words of the Scripture Aske and thou shalt Matth. 7. vers 7. haue seeke and thou shalt find But without that to renounce my owne it is a thing that all the eloquence of men and of the Angels may not perswade me to do for I do see but too much euery day how sottish and ridiculous it is to be a poore priest So it is without doubt according It is a glorious thing before God to be a poore priest the world said the Hermite but before God it is a glorious thing yea before that great God who makes but follie of the wisdome of the world of the follie of the crosse wisdome and who doth confound the fast and pompe of richesse by humble pouertie before him that came to euangelize the poore who doth heare their prayers who calls himself their father and tutour who doth extoll them in his iudgment as much as they are vilipended and held abiect in the iudgments of worldlings But those that are instructed in the schoole of the crosse which is follie to the Gentils and scandall to the Iewes but the vertue and sapience of God to the faithfull are of an other beliefe they hold the poore to be very happie according the sentence pronounced by the proper mouth of the sonne of God but the children of the word do not vnderstand that probleme of strong Samson because they do not glorie but in the multitude of their richesse I must for all that graunt vnto you Monasticall pouertie very easie that the pouertie of Monasticall persons hath this aduantage of the pouertie of Hermites and secular priests as they call them that it is well shrouded from all pressing necessities within a well gouerned cōmonaltie You know I speake of begging orders for to speake of Conuentuall friars which liue by their reuenewes they are not poore but in particular in common they are riche and they are poore inough in as much as they haue no proprietie of any thing in this fashion then may they be said to be poore in the middest of their richesse and riche in the middest of their pouertie But the others albeit they be poore not only in particular but also in common yet their pouertie is alwaies supported succoured and applauded or at leastwise honored and esteemed in sort that their sufferances are regarded and their wants glorious they are riche in honnour yea in the middest of their sufferances In steade that a poore Hermite is despised by euery body his complaintes are reiected his wants vnknowne his necessities do not appeere to any but to God He is all alone he is foresaken and abandoned hauing no body to comfort him nor to take cōpassion of his miseries none to cast him into the pond wherin he might fish some reliefe The same I say of a priest that is in necessitie euery body doth laugh at him and in steade of succouring him they vpbraid and floud him they chardge him with false reprochesse and calumnies so that he may well say with the Psalmist O lord the reprochesse of those that Disdayne your deare Vertue of pouertie with which you haue beene borne you liued and died making your self needie and poore to replenish vs with the inestimable richesse and treasures of your merits these reprochesse ô Lord are fallen vpon me and confusion hath couered my face I am Psal 68. made a stranger to my ovvne brothers and a vacabond to the children of my owne mother Father quoth Tristan that is the thing which I find least supportable of the infinit euells which accōpanie pouertie for honour of all the goods which doth inuirō vs being most pretious I would sooner suffer that they should touch the ball of myne eye then ingage me in that point And. I do graunt vnto you that I am not yet come to that point of mortification that I may suffer and indure iests and contumelies no more then did the Prophet Eliseus much more holy and more patient then I am that could not indure the litle children to reproach vnto him that he was bald an imperfection very light and naturall and which as it should seeme he should acknowledg and mocke the weaknesse of those litle soules rather then destroie them by the imprecation and curses wihich he fulminated against them My sonne quoth Nicephorus you take this example by a bad bias handle the brone where it burnes The Prophet did not regard the outrage which those children did vnto him as an iniurie done to his owne personne he was too humble to take it in that sort but he did it to magnifie his office for he would be esteemed of men as the Minister of God and the dispencer of his Mysteries and because he carried the ambassade of God and that an affront or disgrace done to an Ambassadour doth hurt the honour of his Maister and returne to the preiudice of his glorie that sent him according that which is written He that heares you heares me and he that despiseth you despiseth Luca 10. v. 16. me For this reason the Prophet prayed God that he would chastise those insolent boyes with exemplar punishment to teach great men what the fire of Gods choler would do being once kindled in drie wood if it did consume the greene wood with so great ardour and what do you know but the corporall euell which he procured to them boyes was cause of their spirituall good and of the Saluation of their soules making them to tast of death in an age more capable of innocencie then of malice and consequentlie more susceptible of Gods grace then of his wrathe in stead that had they in an age more reepe filled vp the measure of their sinnes and gone forward in their vice they might perchance acquire their damnation In this sort did S. Paule deliuer to Sathan the body of that fornicatour who made the liuing temple of God the members of a lecher to saue his soule from euerlasting damnation O my child how yong thou art yet in the warfare of the crosse which in it self is no more dolorous then ignominious shamefull yea execrable according that saying Cursed is euery one that hāgeth on a tree How farr you straie from the standard of him who for vs was Gal. 3. loaden with reprochesse who did not turne his face from those that spett vpon it nor his cheekes from those that did buffet them nor his chinne-from those that pulled of his beard how farr I say you goe from him who was made a spectacle before his eternall father
before the Angels and before men who was exposed to be a mocking stock to those that sawe him nayled vpon the crosse to be iested by them to nodd and shake their heads on him How badd a disciple wouldest thou be to those great Apostles those high montaignes whereon is laid the fundation of the cittie of God who departed frolike and ioyfull from the great assemblies where they were flouted and contumeliously handled for the publicatiō of the sacred name and holy doctrine of IESVS CHRIST Verely you must chāge your stile and language and also your thoughts and maximes if you perseuere in that holy desire of a religious life especiallie that which regard the mortification of honour for as I haue alreadie told you the Conuentuall pouertie is respected and reuerenced but our pouertie is mocked and flouted So I beleeue quoth Tristan that you Hermites are not poore but of necessitie and not of free will by reason of which your pouertie may not haue the glorie of the voluntarie which the Euangelicall pouertie doth deserue This is the cause why men putt you not in the ranke of regular but of secular beggers who are reduced to necessitie by the desaster of fortune which if they support with patience I beleeue they shall haue honour befote God who sees their hearts but not before men And that I do not lye vnto you I would not esteeme it an act of prudence of him that hath à patrimonie and makes himself an Hermite to renounce to that which he doth possesse to make himself afterwards by begging odious and importune to the cōmon wealth perswading my self that a man should drinck of the water of his owne cesterne and draw the last drop of it before he would goe to the well or fontaine of his neighbour being that it is reasonable that euery man liue of the goods which God gaue him or at leastwise that he eate his bread by the sweat of his browes Deare sir quoth the Hermite the holy Apostle doth say that being a litle one he spoake according his age but comming to be more great he had thoughts and discourses of a higher kind I know well by your song that you are yet in a spirituall infancie but when you shall be more aduanced in it you will change those humaine maximes into Euangelicall axiomes which are of a higher note and of a more excellent accent if thou haddest beene a Religious man thou wouldest learne to speake according the precepts of Religion which consist in the practise of the Euangelicall counsells That is good quoth Tristan for those Religious men which oblige themselues by vowes but not for you Hermites who do nothing but what you please who liue after your owne fancie and who are your owne maisters I will replie vnto you quoth the Hermite that which an ancient painture said to a great lord who The saying of an anciēt painteur tooke vpon himself within his shopp to discours of the art of painting as many words as you speake are so many solecismes against my art hold your peace or els my apprentices will mock your ignorance It is true that your ignorance is pardonable considering that being a soildiour for Tristan had a swerd at his side you speake of Religious affaires euen as a Churchman would speake of matters of warrs But if thou wilt inrolle thy self in the holy and spirituall warfare of Religion you will discours more netely and more correctly of these things Father quoth Tristan I told you already that I desire much to be an Hermite but not a Religious man And I quoth Nicephorus do answere vnto you that that is as if you would say I would faine be a reasonable creature but not a man or otherwise I would faine be a Monke and no Religious man or thus I would be a Religious man and no Monke considering that a Monke a Religious A Monke a Religious man is the same thing man is the same thing as is a man and a reasonable creature But many saith Tristan do not vnderstand it so for I haue seene many Religious men which would take it for an iniurie for a kind of disgrace to be called Monks and such as confesse themselues to be Monks and are so named in their rules are glad to be called Religious men so much this holy mame of Monke so venerable The name Monke novv out of request in ancient time is become disagreable to the eares of this our age and that without doubt through the fault of those that did profane and dishonour it by their badd liues You say true quoth the Hermite and this imaginarie distinction hath beene inuented of late yeeres and that only in France because of the heresie which defamed that holy name of Monke as she did open her vnpure mouthe against the church corrupting that which shee knew and blaspeming that which shee knew not or was ignorant of and lancing out quippes tants in which she putts all the force of her arguments against the most sacred mysteries of our holy faith And when I say that this distinction of a Monke and a Religious man is of a new impression and came lately out of the braines of some which ground themselues vpon imaginations distilled I know not how I do not say it of any contempt of their subtilitie but to maintaine the truthe of which I haue for witnesses all those that are beyond the Alps the Perinean montaignes as the Italians and Spaniards The vvord religious is not vsed in Spaine nor in Iralie among which the word Religious is not knowne albeit those Countries do abound more with Monks then doth our Countrie of France The Italians do call Religious men 1. Monachi or 1. Fratti the Spaniards call then Los Monyes or los Frayles which is as much to say as the Monks or Friars of such an order As for the name Father which the vulgar sort do giue to the Regulars who are honored with the Sacerdotall character and with the dignitie of priesthood it was not attributed in the begining of Monasticall institution but to the Superiours of euery Monasterie who as such were called Abbotts which is as much to say as father and all the rest that were their children and subiects were called brothers And to speake as I think if those that are married folke haue not the qualitie or title of Fathers and mothers but when they haue issue and that the heauens do fauour them with the benediction to haue children so this appellation of spirituall Fathers doth Pastours only are to be called Fathers not seeme to appertaine but to Pastours only be they Prelats or inferiour priests who haue chardge of soules and watch ouer them as being bound to render an account of them to God who is the Prince of Pastours the Bishop of our soules and the grand Maister of the vinuersall flock of the world Which appellation of Father if it
vp in France are almost all Frenchmen powre out a sweet odoure of sainctitie and vertue throught all the French Church begins to extend it branches like a vigne planted neere the Oliues of grace to forraine Countries Is it possible quoth Tristan that there are so many sorts of Regular Clearks wheras there are but foure sorts of begging Orders I told you that I obserued seuen seuerall institutions of them while I was in Italie and I know not but since there is some other new fashion sprong vp If my memorie doth not faile me I beleeue I shall name them well yet The Theatins are the first for the date of the time instituted by the right Reuerend Father in God Iohn Peeter Carraffe Bishop of Thiette who renounced his Bishoprick to lead a kind of life truely Apostolicall with some priests which did associate themselues to him renouncing all things as well in common as in particular adding this point to the strict pouertie of begging Orders that albeit they liue onely by almes yet do they neuer begg A strange institutiō of the Theatins neither by themselues nor by any interposed persons casting all their thoughts vpon the paternall care of the prouidence of God concerning their maintenance and putting in practise according the litterall sens this Euangelicall Counsell not to think of to morrow nor of that which is necessarie for foode or cloathing imitating therin the Lyllis of the fields and the birds of the aire which God doth cloathe and feede without that they spinne or labour themselues for it This Bishop institutour of this holy Congregation after hauing illuminated seasoned all the Court of Rome with the light and salt of his Doctrine and of his good life was eleuated from the preambular dignitie of Cardinall to that of the soueraigne Bishop possessing the Sea Apostolique vnder the name of Paul the third The vulgar sort named these Regular Clerkes Theatins in steed of calling them Thietins as who would say the Clerkes of the Institution of the Bishop of Thiette They haue many houses in Italie and I know not if they extēd themselues elswhere this much I know that as yet wee haue not seene of them in France where it is to be thought they should be ill addressed if they would not aske or begg cōsidering that such as do begg do often find their almes very short such is the humour of our Nation which haue their hands open for vaine expenses and prodigalities and shutt vp to iust and holy liberalities by which doth appeere that the end of the world will come by that way seing charitie is growen so cold in it Which is not in Italy where men beleeue more firmely then we do that sinne is redeemed by almesdeeds and that by this lauor or font all their filth ordure are clensed The second institution of Regular Clearkes is that of the priests of the societie of IESVS of which as that ancient writer said of the magnificēce of Rome it is better say nothing then say litle being sufficiēt that this holy societie is praised by the mouthe of the holy Counsell of Trent which is that of the holy Ghost saying that their institution is praise worthie The Barnabites doth make the third institution this Order tooke it origine in Millan the ordinarie residēce of their Generall and they are so called because that the first Church where they did assemble together was called of sainct Barnabe euen as the Friars Preachers of the Order of sainct Dominick are called Iacobins in Paris because of a Chappell of S. Iake otherwise Iames where they first loadged The Clerkes Mineurs which are of the institution of Pope Sixtus V. who was of the Order of the Friars Mineurs do make the fourthe sort The fift is of the Sommasques a name somewhat strange to such as do not know the origine of it which is that this Congregation of Regular Clearkes was instituted by a gentilman of Venise in the marche of Treuisane in a bourg called Sommascha So that as the Chartreux or Carthusians were so called of the place called Chartreuse where they made their first aboade and where is the Capitall house of their Order as the Cluniacenses were called of the towne Clugny the Cistercienses of Cisteaux Camaldulenses of Camaldoli euen so did the Sommasques receiue their nomination from the place where they were first established These do extend thēselues in Italy in France vnder the title of Fathers of the Christian Doctrine whose houses are renowned in Prouance Languedoc and Guenne The Sixt institution is of Regular Clearks surnamed the Infirmes because their chardg is to serue the sick be it within the publick Hospitalls or in priuat houses also to succour such as are most miserable and forsaken The seuenth is that of the Regular Clerks of the mother of God called the Congregation of the priests of Lucques wherof Father Franciotti who wrote so deuotely hath beene one of the principall pillars And that which is admirable in this varietie of institutions is that they are all particular rules which leuell at some particular marke the Theatins do applie themselues to study and to leade a retired life the Iesuits to instruict youthe the Barnabites to the Quire and to heare Confessions the Clearks Mineurs to the rigour and austeritie of mortifications the Sōmasques to keepe S. and maintaine forsaken Children Orphans and to teache the Christiā Doctrine The Clearks of the infirme to looke to the sick and the Clearkes of the mother of God to direct deuote people to spirituall things This notwithstanding they haue all but the self same habit which is that wee see the Iesuits carrie All of them make professiō of a certaine rule with the solemne vowes and call themselues Religious men differing in this from the Conuentuall Friars that these vnder different habits do make but the self same thing and the other do make differēt functions vnder a like habit In sort that the one and the other coming to the succour of the Pastours do exercise All those Regular Orders came to succour the Pastours Clericall functions which heretofore was not affected or ordayned but for the priests of the Ecclesiasticall Cleargie some of them may be called Religious Clearks others Clearks Religious and all of them are comprehended vnder the Name of Regulars Besids all the Chanons which liue vnder the rule of sainct Augustin who are very many do call themselues Clearkes Regulars as those of the Order of sainct Anthonie of sainct Ruf of Val de Choux of Val des Escoliers the Trinitarians the Friars de la Mercy the Hieromites the Dominicans and so many other Militarie Orders which haue this rule for the line of their direction and obseruance Why do you put the Dominicans saith Tristan among the Chanons or Regular Clearks wheras they are one of the foure begging Orders If you number quoth the Hermit the begging Orders according their rules there are
those that are adorned with it a holy and Royall people if they make the state of it inferiour to the state of a simple girle who hath commaund to hold her peace and no right to speake within the Church or to some porter or gardener of the Conuent Those that approche to the Altar to whose words God doth make himself obedient who haue the kees of the kingdome The function and povver of a Priest orderly laid dovvne of heauen who doe bind and loose who are the Magistrats of the Church who sitt vpon the seate of iudgment in the house of Dauid and iudge the twelue tribs of Israël that is to say all the world whose sentences giuen vpon earth are confirmed and ratified in heauen whose hands blessed and consecrated doe handle the most dreadfull mysteries of our Religion and who do that thing which the Angells do adore who haue power ouer the Diuels who dispence the Sacraments and confer the grace of God to all mortall men those Diuine men which S. Francis preferred S. Francis prefered Priests to the very Angels to the Angels because that one only man of them doth make euery day that which all the Angels in heauen cannot doe For to whom of the Angels was it euer said consecrate my body and what thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heauen those men that are almost to be adored that the Angells do reuerence and call their fellow seruants to God shall they be the vnderlings of those which doe not merit in consideration of their dignitie to loose the lachets of their shooes Ah! Regulars pardon me it is the zeale of the house of God which doth gnaw me it is the desire of his glorie and of his beautie which I see dried vp in his principall members which doth transport me to tell you that you vse very discourteously your elders the Ecclesiasticall Cleargie whom forsooth you call Seculars notwithstanding that by their Clericall habit they haue deposed Secular is no fitt Epitetho for a priest the ignominie of the secular habit that by the reception of their holy Orders they haue renounced to the desires of the world and to all that is profane in it It seemes that you would imitate Iacob and supplant them as if they were all Esaüs but know that if you be Hebrewes so are they if you be Israëlites so are they if you be the seede of Abraham so are they and I will say more for them that they are both more ancient in the Church and of a greater ranke witnesse the processions of a higher dignitie of more eminēt functions I will say so much for it The Church may be vvithout Monks but not vvithout Pastours is no time for a man to hold himself vp when he is shaked and falling downe that their imployments are more vtile and more necessarie then yours for the Church hath beene may be without Mōks but it cannot be without Pastours without Vicars without Priests without Doctours without Preachers for if the salt be moltē with what shall men salt if the candle be quinched how shall men haue light Perchance you will say that you doe the same actiōs which It doth not properly belong to Regulars to administer the Sacraments the Pastours doe but in you it is but in way of accessarie in them principally in you it is pleasure in them paine in you it is of free will in them of necessitie in you by way of recreation and as passingers in them it is of dutie and office in you it is without chardge of soules in them with chardge which make them to be answerable for the soules and so farr answerable that they shall giue soule for soule and bloud for bloud in you it is but in some things in them in all things in thē at all times in you when you please that your commoditie doth permit it in you so that the seruice of your commonaltie doth marche before that of the neighbour in thē there is no exception in you it is at certaine houres in them at all moments you fight as voluntaries they as necessaries you marche but in the wings of the battle they make the body of the armie they carrie the waight of the heate of the day and the cold of the dew of the night in summer and in winter in spring time and in haruest without rule in their dyet without assurance in their sleepe Of seuen Sacraments you administer but two and the one of them which is the Eucharist but at your ease within your houses without carrying it to the sick in the heate of the sunne in frost in snow in raine and in Th life and exercise of poore Pastour exactly described tempest at all houres of the day of the night and all dayes of the yeere through the dirt incōbrāces of the cities and townes through the woods and the meere through the mountaines and the vallees through the stones and the moores of the fields And the other Sacrament which is that of pennance you administer when you are prayed particularly called vpon and as pleaseth your Superiours who haue as great care of the conseruation of their owne subiects as they haue of the sick for whom they are not answerable But the Pastours by obligation ought to keepe still neere the sick to presse them to enter in fauour with God by the Sacrament of recōciliation to preache vnto them in season and out of season to the end to make them think of their saluation which is part of their owne saluation as being bound to giue account to the Prince of Pastours the Bishop of our soules IESVS CHRIST of his sheepe committed to their Vigilance As for Marriage Baptisme Extreme-Vnction they are things which you do not medle with all they are for the gleaners no more then you medle with Confirmatiō and Order which you leaue for the Bishops This you shew your prudēce declare that you haue eatē both butter and honny which make you reiect the least and choose the Isaia 7. v. 15. best that you know how to make vse hansomely of the fanne which separate the corne from the chaffe and pretious things from vile and base things You doe not snuff your lamps but with golden snuffers you doe not take the coales as the Seraphim of the Prophet but with gilt tongs The rodd of Moyses doth not please you because sometimes it is turned to a serpent and deuoure or doth worke dreadfull and rude effects The rodd of Aaron fitts you best because it ingenders nothing but flowres fruict Euen so you know Friars take the profit leaue the paine for the priests how to pull the rose without touching the thornes to gather the hony without feeling the sting of the bee to eate the kernell of the nutt cast away the shell to doe as children doe when they gett bread
the In the primitiue Church all Christiās vvere called brothers first Christiās in the primitiue Church gaue to themselues that for calling themselues Religious they do not hold other men to be irreligious impious that for being inrolled in particular Orders they do not hold that other children of the Church doe liue in disorder but that their vowes putting them in a state which doth oblige them to tend to a higher perfection then that of the common sort they haue reason to think that they are in the state of perfectiō To which I answere that the state of perfection is that which approche neerest to the imitation of the sonne of God of his most holy mother of the holy Apostles and that this imitation cōsisting rather in the practise of the Euangelicall Counsells then in the vowes of them that such as are most aduaunced in those vertues are most perfect in a more perfect estate then those that only make vowes of them and not practise them And if they will say that a vow doth oblige him that makes it to imbrace also the practise of it to run in that sort as the Apostle saith that he may arriue to the butt of perfection I will replie that oftentimes it had beene better not to haue vowed then after vowing to performe so ill their promise as many doe for they may not mock God but in the end they shall be punished for it and the punishmēt which he takes is so much the more seuere that it comes but slow But they will say that a vow added to the practise of the Counsells hath the same aduantage that faire apparrell and pretious stones haue being added to an excellent beautie which is neuer so excessiue in it owne nature but the art of garments doth alwaies bring it more luster so a vow besids the grace which it giues to a man giues him also a certaine stablenesse firmenesse when he sees himselfe ingaged by these holy bōds to the seruice of God from which he may not withdraw himselfe without incurring or as S. Paule saith without acquiring his damnation And I confesse so much that a vow is a most holy and Religious action that it is a strong motiue and a pressing sting to make a man run the race of perfection but for a man to Many did practise the Euangelicall vertues as vvell vvithout vovves as vvith vovves denie also that many men did as perfectlie practise these vertues without vowes it would be to draw vpon his owne back the examples which we haue already produced of our Sauiour of his holy mother of the Apostles Patriarches Prophets and of the first Christians who were so perfect without that vow being before the fundation of Monachisme and Conuentuall life Witnesse that ancient Monke who hauing consumed many yeeres to perfect himselfe in the exercise of the Euangelicall Counsells had reuelation that the Emperour Theodosius was equall to Theodosius perfect vvithout vovv him in merit albeit according the Rule of Regulars he was not in the state of their perfection but he was a good Prince in the perfection of his owne estat and whosoeuer is so according my simple iudgment may be said to be in the state of perfection And that which doth fortifie me in this thought is that I do not find that the Scripture doth attribute perfection but to the practise of pouertie where it saith If thou vvilt Matt. 19. v. 21. be perfect goe sell the things that thou hast giue to the poore and come follovv me And S. Peter saying to our Sauiour that he had executed the counsell which he gaue to him and to his Condisciples doth not speake of any vow but of the effect of it by these words Behold vve haue left all tbings and haue follovved thee vvhat therefore shall vve haue To whom for reward our Sauiour did promis a hundred fold in this world euerlasting glorie in the other I know well that a vow doth oblige a man to the practise of it and also that it doth depriue a man of all proprietie leauing him nothing but the simple vse of things necessarie according the saying of the Apostle Hauing foode and vvhervvith to be 1. Tim. 6. couered vvith these vve are content And also I graunt that practise made in vertue of a vow is like vnto trees graffed whose fruict are more sweet sauorous then that of other trees but I know also that as he that vow and effect it shall be much rewarded so he that doth not execute what he promiseth shall be doublie punished for hauing ingaged himselfe in a combat which did not succeede with him or to speake with the Apostle for hauing broken his word And he that followes the Counselles without obligation if he be but simplie rewarded he is not at all punished when he failes in sort that it is written Let him take it that can he that imbraceth it doth vvell he that doth not doth not ill in which consisteth the difference betweene Counselles and precepts And meditating with my self vpon this subiect I did often admeere how it hapned that perfection was attributed in expresse termes to pouertie and not to chastitie nor to obedience considering that these two last vertues seeme to be so much the more excellent by how much their subiect and obiect doth excell that of pouertie for there is no doubt among men of iudgment but that corporall goods which are the pleasures to which men renounce by chastitie and the goods of the soule to which men bidd farewell by renouncing themselues and their proper wills are of farr greater esteemation and worth then are the goods of fortune wherof men depriue themselues by pouertie for who will denie that the soule is more pretious then meate and the body more worth then it apparrell without he contradict not only the Scripture but also common sens But if perfection consist in following our Sauiour doth not he say He that vvill fallo vv me let him renounce Luca 9. v. 23. himself take vp his crosse and follo vv me And who is he that would not easier quitt what he doth possesse then himself toothe for toothe and eye for eye saith Iob will man giue in counterchange of his soule whose Sacrifice is made by obedience obedience which is better then all the Sacrifices of body and goods That the practise of chastitie is a most perfect thing it is very euident by that which the wisman saith That there is no price vvhich can equalla chaste Sap. 4. and continent soule O vvhat a faire excellent thing is a generation full of puritie And he that is more then Salomon speaking of those voluntarie Eunuches who gelded themselues that they might the easier aspire to heauen doth not he say That fevv Matth. 19 v. 11. doth vnderstand and fevver doth exercise this vvord shewing by the raritie of the practise the excellence of this vertue In
which they make of such as present themselues to them they should not receiue any but such as should haue the talents necessarie for the functions of the mixt life which they say as the most perfect to be conformable to their institutiō and to their state of perfection In this manner the commonwealth should be more solaged by their labours then by their clamours for to tell no lye it seemeth as said great S. Charles of his owne time that as the Church of this our age tormented by Libertins and Hereticks hath more neede of good Pastours then of good Religious The church hath more neede of good Pastours then of good Religious men men so hath shee more neede amōg Religious men of those that are people of action then of singers contemplatiues and of Champions then of Choristers for albeit Marie choosed the best part for her it is not for all that the best alwaies for the neighbour albeit it is the most eminent part yet is it not the most profitable And if they should alleage Moyses praying and Iosüé with so many thousands Israëlites fighting the obiection will carrie it owne answere with it self seing that for one that lift vp his hands praying thousands of others do exercise their hāds against the enemies Which is contrarie with the Regulars who for a hundred that sing in the Quire haue not two that take paines to descend to the succour of the neighbour and of the church forsaking the mountaine of prayer a fatt mountaine a mountaine of creame a mountaine all of honny where it pleaseth them to remaine with God in peace rather then in warr among the incombrances which are found in the Regulars vvould not take the paines that Pastours do tabernacles of seculars and Pastours Euen so some sinners who cannot draw themselues from their badd habitudes and who deferr their conuersion till the time of their death do make a badd buckler of the exāple of the good theefe who conuerted himself vpon the crosse and the very same day entred into Paradis according the promis of our Sauiour because that for that one man that was saued in that point thousands and thousands are lost and damned it being very reasonable saith S. Austin that he doth forget himself dying who lyuing did not remēber to returne to God Euen so the Spaniards in their Solemnities because that Dauid danced once before the Arke by an excesse of pietie and by an extraordinarie motion of the holy Ghost would not think to make a good procession if there were not dancers in it That is the same thing quoth Tristan which some Religious men said to me to whom I did communicat the dessigne which I had to retire my self to an Hermitage that Monks were not good but for themselues but Religious men are necessarie for the Christian common wealth which is the church To which Nicephorus replied if by Monks they vnderstād the Hermites which applie themselues soly simplie to contemplation and of which men call Anacorites they haue some apparance of reason but if to preach to catechise to visit the sick to attend to the conuersion of the strayed to administer the Sacraments of pennance and the Eucharist to do all things according the commaund of the Ordinarie and vnder the imploy of the Pastours do make a Religious man many Hermites will be found which will be no more Monks but Religious men and many Conuentuall Friars which do nothing of all these things shall be no Religious men but Mōks And to shew vnto you that it is not in that point that this blessed distinction of a Monke a Religious man doth consist But in I know not what imagination which I conceiue as litle as I do the Ideas of Plato and the atomes of Dimocrites The Benedictins the Bernardins the Celestins the Fueillantins and those of the Order of S. Basile to whom they giue the name of Monks as being attributed to them by their rules do not they liue in Conuents do not they preach do not they teach the Christian doctrine do not they administer the Sacraments in vertue of so many indults and so many immunities and Bulls as they haue from the Sea Apostolique in sort as I do not see neither in their liues nor in their Monks do not differ from Conuentuall Friars functions in what they differ from the Conuentuall Friars who call thēselues Religious men The difference is not in mendicitie for there are Conuentuall Friars which call themselues Religious men who are not beggers it is not in abstinence from meate for in that the Minimes are more austere then the Benedictins or Celestins yea or the Carthusiās themselues it is not in mendicitie abstinence together for in that the Reformed Dominicans and the bare The Reformed Dominicās differ much frō the Mitigate footed Carmelits are admirable in abstayning frō the vse of flesche they liuing but by almes And to say what I think I see so litle difference betweene those whom they call Monks aboue named and the Conuentuall Friars be they beggers or not beggers shodd or not shodd that I think men may call Monks Religious men by as iust a title as they call Religious men Monks and I must graunt vnto you that I am not so subtile nor so penetratiue as he that found seuenteene essentiall differences betweene the habit of the Capucins and that of the Tertiarians which men call Regular Penitens of the third order Seuētin◠essentiall differences found betvveene the habit of the Capucins that of the Tiertiarians of S. Francis of strict Obseruance To say that the differēce doth consist in the vowes I see no apparance of it because the three essentiall vowes of Religion which are the three Euangelicall consells are common to all orders as well Monks as Religious men In this sort I do not see that the name Monke may be properly attributed to any but to the Carthusians to the Friars of the Cōgregation of Camaldoli and to some shutt vp Anacoretes because of their silence of their inclosure and of their solitarinesse which interdicting them the commerce of men doth also take from them all Clericall functions for which the Conuentuall Friars called themselues Religious men And for the word Regular it is certaine that as many as make profession of any rule do assume it to thēselues as do these new Congregations of Clearkes which are called Regulars to the imitation of the Chanon Regulars which liue vnder the rule of S. Austin Wherof I remember being in Rome which is the nurcerie of all these Orders as being the matrice of the Church to haue obserued seuen sortes without counting the priests of the Oratorie Seuēsorts of Clekes Regulars called of our ladie of the white-well or of Vallicelles instituted by sainct Philip Nerio Florentin and the Oblats of S. Ambrose founded by S. Charles and the priests of the Oratorie of IESVS whose Congregation sprong
highest and his arrowes in the hand of the Omnipotent which flee out with impetuositie This is the estate which is called the supreme amongst men in the militant Church which correspond to that of the Seraphins in the They correspōd to the Seraphins in the Hierarchie first Hierarchie of the Angelles In sort that as the rodd of Moyses did swallow vp the rodd of the Magitiās euen so in the estate of Prelatship Pontificat are contayned all the perfections of all the Regular Orders in the same manner that Priesthood doth containe in it self the inferiour Orders But my difficultie is to know in what doth consist this distinction betweene perfection acquired and perfection to be acquired for I beleeue that the greatest part of the world are in the last and but very few in the other For to say a perfect man is to say a man without sinne and he that saith he hath no sinne is a lyer and hath no truth in him according the holy Scripture Vvho thinks to be vvithout sinne doth seduce himself for vvee are all conceiued in iniquitie To say also with that Bishop of the Apocalyps lo I am full of grace and haue no neede of any thing is to say I am in the topp of perfection and consequently to get this reproche Thou art naked poore miserable foolishlie you esteeme your self riche For I hold that man to be very imperfect that thinks himself to be perfect it is in a manner to say as said the father of the proud I Will lift vp my throne of the North side and I shall be like to the highest Behold so much for the perfection acquired for the perfection to be acquired it is a condition wherin are those that are most imperfect seeing that at the most it suffiseth them to haue the will to arriue some time to it when they shall be purged of their faults and for men to vant themselues to be riche either by the goods which they desire to haue or pretend to gather is expresse vanitie And by this estate to think to draw themselues from all paritie and to be separated Friars in their ovvne estimatiō are not like other men from the rest of the lay or secular people it is in some sort to sing that song blamed in te Ghospell I am not like other men Sir quoth the Hermite I see well that neither you nor my self are too well versed in these scholasticall subtilities this is a wrangling point which is not good but to intertaine disputations vpon the stooles it is properly according the prouerb to contest with the Bishop for his crosiers staffe But as I heard say heretofore they put great difference betwene the state of perfection acquired or to be acquired perfection it selfe be it acquired or to be acquired I know that this distinction will astonish you at the first sight as it did terrifie me the first time that it sounded in my eares but our maisters the Doctours haue farr more subtile distinctions which would deuide the very atomes They say that he may be in perfection or perfect that is not in the state of perfection and that some are in the state of perfection which are farr from being in perfection or perfect And that it is so wee see but too many Monks Religious men Pastours of very scandalous and badd liues who are neuerthelesse in the state of perfection and many lay men of very holy conuersation and most compleat in their owne profession as it were perfect in their oeconomie who are not for all that in the state of perfection yet our Doctours after many debats do conclude that it is farr better to be in perfection without the state then in the state without perfection Which do much comfort the simpler sort who goe more round to worke and preferr their saluation to their reputation in sort that it is much better at all aduentures to be in the perfection of his estate then in the state of perfectiō hauing nothing more sure in all that matter then to searche his perfection in his owne profession and to liue in peace according the Counsell of the Apostle This makes me think of those Polititians who seing themselues balanced betwixt reasons of state and the consideratiōs of Religion as it were betweene the tree and the barke do leaue sometimes to support Religiō run to succour the state or els they let the state perish to conserue Religion whenas they should maintaine Pollicie Religion are the tvvo poles of all vvell gouerned common vvealthes the one and the other if it were possible as being the two poles the two hinges of all well ordered common wealthes giuing to Cesar what belongs to Cesar and to God what belongs to God Euen so amōg these cōtestations sometimes a man doth quit the perfection of his estate to run to the state of perfectiō sometimes he doth not care for the state of perfection to aspire to the perfection of his estate but it happens often to such bad Polititians desiring to conserue the state at the cost chardges of Religion that they loose the one the other as it doth happen to vnskilfull Pilotes vvho to preserue their shipp and marchandise do make shipwrake of both together those that omitt to perfect themselues in a laicall state thinking to aduaunce themselues more in spirituall things in a Religious state dissipating their attētions do not prosper in the one nor in the other like Romain Senatour vnto that Romain Senatour who being a very good man in his chardge of Senatour did beleeue that in making himself à Monke he would become an Angell but he had such bad successe in the Monasticall exercises that his Abbot one day said vnto him My frend you left of to be a good Senatour Many that are good in the vvorld may be badd in Religion to make a badd Monke An example which makes me remember an other very remarkable which is rehearsed in the life of sainct Philipp Nerio fundator of the Oratorians of Rome he brought vp a yong Polonian Priest called Francis Bassus who remayning for certaine yeeres vnder his discipline became a great preacher and full of rare qualities at length a temptation surprised his thought perswading him that being but of the Oratorie which is a Congregation of reformed Priests who haue no other vowes but such as the Church annexed to Priesthoode that he was not in a state of so great perfection as if he had made himself a Monke in one of the begging Orders Notwithstanding any exhortation that S. Philipp made vnto him he yealded so much to this impression that he neuer ceased to pursue his pourpose till such time as he was admitted to the Dominicans Sainct Philipp did assist at his reception at his profession albeit the Friars did think to haue purchased a great deale of honour to their Order by the organe of a subiect which