to the Saviour of the world which is yet at this time to be seen hanging over the Altar of Saint Sophia So did Mauritius so Henrie the Emperour at Clunie who made offer to the Church of a World all over diversified with most exquisite precious stones This is the cause why the King sent this present Flodoardus Philippus Bergomensis Savaro p. 15. de pietate Regis Ludovici as the History expresly mentioneth to be hanged up before the chief Altar of Saint Peter at Rome in token of the offer he made to God of his person and estate as the eldest Son of the Church And he that would well consider the foundation of the History shall find this Diadem called the Kingdom or Realm was a kind of crown come from Constantinople For it is said that the Emperour Anastasius who sought support from the favour of the King of France against the Goths that swayed in Italie understanding the great feats of arms done by our Clodovaeus sent a solemn Embassage unto him to congratulate and offer him the title of an honourable Consul the purple robe and the Crown which the Grecians of this time called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Clodovaeus very gladly entertained this Embassage and shewed himself attired with those ornaments in the Church of S. Martin where he made a largess of gold and silver then acknowledging all these prosperities came to him from God after he was baptized he consecrated this rich jewel which had been presented to him by the Emperour in the chief Church of Christendom to serve as an eternal monument of his Religion Behold how this illustrious Monarch began at that time to manifest the marks of his zeal and to cement together the good intelligence which France afterwards had with the Pastor and spiritual Father of the whole world I am bound to touch this as I pass along with all sincerity being naturally an enemy of these questions which are many times moved with too much servour and inconsideration in the point of contestations of the jurisdiction of Sovereign authorities We are learned enough when we know that Jesus Christ who had the source of power in himself distributed it to Popes and Kings constituting the one for spiritual government the other for temporal It is his pleasure we honour the character of his authority both in the one and other and not to argue upon fantasies God hath set them over out heads to admire their lustes and not to controul their power Amongst the follies of Nero it is reported that one day beholding a space of land which separated two seas and held them in excellent order he had a desire to cut it that these two seas might encounter and himself see what countenance they would carry when they commixed together Take you good heed saith the Oracle unto him otherwise they will overflow to drown you Leave matters as God hath appointed and confound not the limits of nature It is true Ecclesiastical and civil power are two great seas God hath limited and divided them by the interposition of spiritual and temporal administration Both exercise their functions and live in fair peace God preserve us from those miseries which may dis-mantle the wall and cause them to intermingle together so that we may behold the world in a deluge of calamities To what purpose is all this The Sun doth not the work of the rain nor the rain of the Sun Constantine Communis Episcopus corum que extra exclesiam said the Bishops were Bishops in their Churches in that which concerneth Religion and God had appointed him for the government of his Empire in matters temporal Let us rest in these limits Give we to Caesar that which belongeth to Caesar to God what appertaineth to God We have better learned to live than dispute and our Ancestours have preserved a Monarchy so flourishing the space of twelve hundred years not with disputations and unprofitable wranglings but with the arms of wisdom obedience and courage We have always rendered to the Pope the honour 1 Pet. 2. Sub diti estote omni humanâ— creaturae propter Deum sive Regi quasi praecellenti sive â—ucibus tamquam ab co missis he deserveth as to the Sovereign Pastour of the Universal Church which is under Heaven We have confessed and do acknowledge the King true and absolute Monarch in the government of temporal things singularly honouring him and with most cordial affections loving him as an animated pourtraictute of the greatness of the Divine Majesty God thereupon maketh us to prosper and tast by experience that there is no science more noble than obedience nor any felicity but the accomplishment of the will of the sovereign Master On the contrary it is observed in the History of so many Ages that the wounds from Heaven have on all sides fallen upon those who have sought to cast the apple of discord into the house of God The wind blown from their moutheâ— returned on their heads since it is fit iniquity should first kill it self with its own poison The eighth SECTION The good success which God gave to Clodovaeus after he became a Christian CLodovaeus was no sooner become a Christian but that it seemed God had tied to his arms some secret virtue which made him triumph over his enemies and crown all his enterprizes with most glorious successes The first war he undertook after his Baptism was against Gombaut King of Burgundie of whom we have very amply spoken heretofore I much wonder at certain Authours who measuring the affections of Saints with the weaknesses of their own spirits and esteeming it a sweet glory to be revenged upon enemies from whom some notable injuries are received have said that Clotilda excited her husband to the ruin of her uncle to derive an account from him of the death of her father and mother This is too inferiour a conceit of a Lady who was arrived to so high a degree of perfection nay it was so much otherwise that she should enkindle the fire of this war that Gombaut being in the full possession of Clodovaeus to bereave him of life she withheld the fatal blow afterwards seeing he by his ill deportment had lost his Kingdom she did all that possibly she might to preserve a part thereof for Sigismund son of Gombaut her cousin-germane That which first of all ruined this unhappy King Paul Emil. of Burgundie was his heresie which drew upon him the vengeance of God for it being often preached unto him and he convinced by reasons offering himself in private to become a Catholick yet still retained Arianism in publick Behold the cause why he having divided his heart God divided his Kingdom The second cause of his ruin was his nature cruel and covetous which rendered him uncivil and an enemy of all order He sent his Neece as it were in anger to Clodovaeus giving her not any thing in marriage but many complements Whereupon the King making
pleasures Fortitude Fortitude is a virtue which confirms us against the pusillanimity that may hinder good actions It hath two arms one to undertake the other to suffer Aristotle assigneth it four parts that is confidence patience love of labour and valour Patience Patience is an honest suffering of evils incident to nature The points thereof are To bear the loss of goods sickness sorrows injuries and other accidents with courage neither to complain nor to groan but discreetly to conceal your grief to be afflicted in innocency for justice sake and sometimes even by those that are good to covet and embrace persecutions out of a generous desire to be conformable to the patience of the Saviour of the world Justice Justice is a virtue which giveth to every one that which is his due and all the acts of it are included in this sentence You must measure others by the same measure wherewith you desire to be measured your self Magnanimitie Magnanimitie according to Thomas Aquinas is a virtue which aimeth at great things by the direct means of reason The acts thereof are To frame your self to an honest confidence by purity of heart and manners to expose your self reasonably to difficult and dreadfull exploits for Gods honour neither to be bewitched with prosperitie nor dejected at adversitie not to yield to opposition not to make a stay at mean virtues to despise complacence and threats for love of virtue to have regard onely to God and for his sake to disesteem all frail and perishable things to keep your self from presumption which often ruins high spirits under colour of Magnanimitie Gratitude Gratitude is the acknowledgement and recompence as far as lies in our power of benefits received The acts thereof are To preserve the benefit in our memory to profess and publish it to return the like without any hope of requital Amitie Amitie is a mutual good will grounded upon virtue and communitie of goods The acts thereof are To choose friends by reason for virtues sake communicating of secrets bearing with imperfections consent of wills a life serviceable and officious protection in adversities observance of honesty in every thing care of spiritual profit accompanied with necessary advice in all love and respect Simplicitie Simplicitie is nothing but union of the outward man with inward The acts thereof are To be free from all false colour never to lie never to dissemble or counterfeit never to presume to shun equivocation and double speech to interpret all things to the best to perform business sincerely to forgo multiplicity of employments and enterprizes Perseverance Perseverance is a constancy in good works to the end through an affection to pursue goodness and virtue The acts thereof are firmness in good quietness in services offices and ordinary employments constancy in good undertakings flight from innovations to walk with God to fix your thoughts and desires upon him neither to give way to bitterness nor to sweetness that may divert us from our good purposes Charitie toward God and our neighbour Charitie the true Queen of virtues consisteth in love of God and our Neighbour the love of God appeareth much in the zeal we have of his Glory the acts thereof are to embrace mean and painfull things so they conduce to our Neighbours benefit To offer the cares of your mind and the prayers of your heart unto God for him To make no exceptions against any in exercise of your charge to make your virtues a pattern for others To give you what you have and what you are for the good of souls and the glory of God to bear incommodities and disturbances which happen in the execution of your dutie with patience Not to be discouraged in successless labours To pray fervently for the salvation of souls to assist them to your power both in spiritual and temporal things to root out vice and to plant virtue and good manners in all who have dependence on you Charitie in Conversation Charitie in the ordinary course of life consisteth in taking the opinions words and actions of our equals in good part To speak ill of no man to despise none to honour every one according to his degree to be affable to all to be helpfull to compassionate the afflicted to share in the good success of the prosperous to bear the hearts of others in your own breast to glory in good deeds rather than specious complements to addict your self diligently to works of mercy Degrees of Virtues Bonaventure deciphers unto us certain degrees of Virtue very considerable for practise his words are these It is a high degree in the virtue of Religion continually to extirpate some imperfection a higher than that to encrease always in Faith and highest of all to be insatiable for matter of good works and to think you have never done any thing In the virtue of Truth it is a high degree to be true in all your words a higher to defend Truth stoutly and highest to defend it to the prejudice of those things which are dearest to you in the world In the virtue of Prudence it is a high degree to know God by his creatures a higher to know him by the Scriptures but highest of all to behold him with the eye of Faith It is a high degree to know your self well a higher to govern your self well and to be able to make good choice in all enterprizes and the highest to order readily the salvation of your soul In the virtue of Humilitie it is a high degree to acknowledge your faults freely a higher to bow with the weight like a tree laden with fruit the highest to seek out couragiously humiliations and abasements thereby to conform your self to our Saviours life It is a high degree according to the old Aâ—iom to despise the world a higher to despise no man yet a higher to despise our selves but highest of all to despise despisal In these four words you have the full extent of Humility In Povertie it is a high degree to forsake temporal goods a higher to forsake sensual amities and highest to be divorced from your self In Chastitie restraint of the tongue is a high degree guard of all the senses a higher undefiledness of body a higher than that puritie of heart yet a higher and banishment of pride and anger which have some affinity with uncleanness the highest In Obedience it is a high degree to obey the Law of God a higher to subject your self to the commands of a man for the honour you bear your Sovereign Lord yet a higher to submit your self with an entire resignation of your opinion judgement affection will but highest of all to obey in difficult matters gladly couragiously and constantly even to death In Patience it is a high degree to suffer willingly in your goods in your friends in your good name in your person a higher to bear being innocent the exasperations of an enemy or an ungratefull man a higher yet to suffer much and repine at nothing but
was at first a Prince good enough and very obedient to the voyce of the Prophets for when he had enterprised a mighty warre with the Idumeans he raised two armies one of his own people and the other of the unbelieving Israelites which he had invited to his aid but when the Prophet told him that he did not well to make use of the Arms of Israel that was impious and separated from the true God he discharged them freely although he had already paid an hundred thousand men and contenting himself with his own troops gave them battel which he gained with great advantages But it is a strange thing that by taking the Idumeans he took also their Gods to worship them in Jerusalem and made himself an arm of hay with the prop of these imaginary Deities that had in nothing profited their adorers A man of God that prophesied in those times rebuked him sharply for it but he demanded who made him the Kings Counsellour and threatned to slay him if he did not learn to hold his peace The other without being afraid denounced against him that he should come to some ill end and left him by flying from the Court. After which this miserable Prince fell into a reprobate sense was taken in war by his enemy the King of Israel his capitall city was laid waste the Temple and his palace pillaged there was no more that remained to him but a shamefull and miserable life which his own subjects tare from him by a wicked conspiracy Vzziah his son and Isaiah's cousin-german was set on his fathers Throne at sixteen years of age and reigned a very long time with a reign peaceable enough He built some cities and fortified others set in order an Arcenall stored with good arms enterprised wars against the Philistims which he ended happily enough He defeated also the Ammonites and the Arabians which made incursions upon his territories and renowned himself by famous victories He embraced also willingly his rest in season and addicted himself in the time of peace to husbandry The conversation of his dear cousin that began to prophesie the seventeenth year of his Reign contributed many good effects to his government But as he saw himself enjoy a long Reign with abundance of favours from heaven he became very absolute in his will and would joyn the high-Priest-hood to the Royalty For he took the censer entred into the Temple presented himself at the Altar of Perfumes to burn Incense after the manner of the Priests and although the high Priest Azarias opposed him stoutly he desisted not from that attempt till such time as by a manifest punishment from heaven he found himself on a sudden touched with a leprosie which appeared on his face and rendred him hideous and out of knowledge which made the Priests animated by the judgement of God that had intervened thereon chase him from the Temple and he was constrained to retire himself unto an house out of Jerusalem having left the administration of his Kingdome to his son This change was very sensible to the Prophet that had loved him tenderly and supported the interests of his house but on the other side it was a comfort to him to see that he had a sense of his fault and had reduced himself voluntarily unto the obscurity of that life for the chastisement of his sin His example ought to serve for a terrour to the Secular Powers that will encroach upon the Ministery of the Priests and break the barriers that Providence hath established for the differencing of the Spirituall and Temporal Authority There is need sometimes but of a little tongue of Earth to separate two seas and to keep them in good intelligence but if one should go and cut it off they would mix themselves and make a great deluge So may we say that the wisdome of God hath put certain bounds between the Priests and the Kings which keep the affairs of the Church and of the State in a good temper but when certain young Abiram's interpose themselves to confound these Powers they overflow the banks and make wastes prejudiciall to mankind After the death of Vzziah Jotham who was already fitted for businesse took the government with title of a King and making a strong reflexion upon the deportments of his grandfather and of his father extracted from thence a most excellent lesson ruling his subjects with great moderation so that the Prophet Isaiah had nothing to do with him But he left an abominable son named Ahaz that quitted the God of his fathers renewed the Idolatries of the most corrupted of his Predecessours took the false Religion of the Kings of Israel caused statues to be planted on the mountains and on the hills offered Incense to them made his children passe through the fire and consecrated them to Idols which drew the wrath of heaven upon him and upon his people which was beaten with a thousand scourges and most great calamities The Prophet Isaiah saw all these storms falling down upon the miserable Judea and ceased not to forewarn them and to arm himself with a mouth of fire against the disorders of that wicked Prince but it was without much effect he being so much corrupted Who would ever have thought that of so bad a father should have been born so excellent a son as Hezekiah who was instructed by Isaiah and followed totally the course of his will and counsels so Divine so wholesome and wiped out the blot that his father had imprinted upon the Altars of the living God and made the true Religion flourish again which seemed altogether extinguished in the confusions of an abandoned age He brake down all the Idols that that unhappy Ahaz had erected He dissipated the profane Groves planted on the mountains for the exercise of his abominations He did not pardon so much as the brazen Serpent that Moses had caused to be set up to a good end although the Idolaters had afterwards abused it He commanded that the Temple should be purified and cleansed by the Levits together with the Tabernacle and sacred Vessels polluted by his predecessour He renewed the order of the Sacrifices and the Quoires of Singers dedicated to the praises of God he rallied all the faithfull people to celebrate the Passeover and the other solemne Feasts amongst the Jews This Reign was a golden Age and a true school of Wisdome when the Prophet and the King conspired with a wonderfull accord in the service of their great Master Isaiah ceased not to produce sound thoughts and that which was wholesomely thought on by that holy man was stoutly executed by the courageous piety of this good King He laboured in all things for the honour of him on whom do depend all Crowns and God also laboured powerfully for him doing more businesse in one night then the arms of iron and steel could have done in ten years Every one knows how Sennacherib the King of the Assyrians came to lay siege before Jerusalem
sacriledge to live for our selves That we cannot have a worse Master than our own liberty and scope and such like things In the fifth place come the affections which are Article 5 flaming transportations of the will bent to pursue Affections and embrace the good it acknowledgeth as when S. Augustine having meditated upon the knowledge Aug. Solil 11. Serò te amavi pulchritudo tam antiqua tam nova Serò te amavi tu intus eras ego foris ibi te quaerebam in istâ forniosa quae fecisti ego deformis irruebam of God brake forth into these words Alas I have begun very late to love thee a beauty ever ancient a a beauty ever new Too late have I begun Thou wert within and I sought for thee without and have cast my self with such violence upon these created beauties without knowledge of the Creatour to defile and deform my self daily more and more To this it much availeth to have by heart many versicles of the most pathetical Psalms which serve as jaculatory prayers and as it were enflamed arrows to aim directly at the proposed mark For conclusion you have colloquies which are reverent Article 6 and amorous discourses with God by which Colloquies we ask of him to flie the evil or follow the good discovered in the meditation And of all that which I say discussion light affection a colloquie may be made upon every point but more particularly at the end of the prayer And note in every prayer especially in colloquies you must make acts of the praise of God in adoring him with all the Heavenly host and highly advancing his greatness and excellencies Of thanksgiving in thanking him for all benefits in general but particularly for these most eminent in the subject we meditate Of petition in asking some grace or favour Of obsecration in begging it by the force of holy things and agreeable to the Divine Majesty Of oblation in offering your soul body works words affections and intentions afterward shutting all up with the Pater Noster Behold briefly the practice of meditation If you Another manner of meditation more plain profitable yet desire one more plain more facile and greatly profitable often practice this same As the true meditation of a good man is according to the Prophet the law of God and the knowledge of ones self meditate the summary of your belief as sometimes the Creed of the Apostles sometimes the Pater noster sometimes the Commandments of God sometimes the deadly sins sometimes upon the powers of your soul and sometimes your five natural senses The manner shall be thus After you have chosen a place and time proper and a little sounded the retreat in your heart from temporal affairs First invoke the grace of God to obtain light and knowledge upon the subject you are to meditate Secondly if it be the Creed run over every Article briefly one after another considering three things what you ought to believe of this Article what you ought to hope what you ought to love How you hitherto have believed it hoped it loved it How you ought more firmly to believe it hereafter to hope for it more confidently to love it more ardently It if be the Pater Noster meditate upon every petition what you ask of God the manner how you ask it and the disposition you afford to obtain it If the Commandments of God what every Commandment meaneth how you have kept them and the course you will presently hold the better to observe them If the powers of your soul and five senses the great gift of God which is to have a good understanding a good will a happy memory to have the organs of eyes ears and all the senses well disposed for their several functions How you have hitherto employed all these endowments and how you will use them in time to come Thirdly you shall make oblation of all that you are to God and shall conclude with the Pater Noster and Ave Maria. Another manner very sweet for Another way those who are much affected to holy Scripture is mixed prayer consisting in three things The first to make prayer to obtain of God grace and direction in this action as it hath been said above The second to take the words of holy Scripture as a Psalm a text of S. John S. Paul and such like things to pronounce it affectionately pondering and ruminating the signification of each word and resting thereon with sweetness while our spirit furnisheth us with variety of considerations The third to make some resolution upon all these good considerations to practice them in such and such actions of virtue Lastly to end the meditation with some vocal prayer The fifteenth SECTION Practice of vocal prayer spiritual lection and the word of God THe practice of vocal prayer consisteth in Practice of vocal prayer three ways three things to observe whom we should pray unto what we ought to pray for and how to pray For the first we know what the Church teacheth us how next unto the Majesty of the most Blessed Trinitie incomparably raised above all creatures * * * Praemonitus praemunitus To whom to pray we pray to the Angels and Saints who are as it were the rays of this great and incomprehensible Sun from whom all glory reflecteth Above all creatures we reverence the most holy Mother of Praise of the Blessed Virgin God who hath been as a burning mirrour in the which all the beams of the Divinity are united Origen calleth her the treasure of the Trinitie Methodius the living Altar Saint Ignatius a Celestial prodigie Saint Cyril the Founderess of the Church Saint Fulgentius the Repairer of mankind Proclus of Cyzike the Paradise of the second Adam the shop of the great Union of two natures Saint Bernard the Firmament above all firmaments Andrew of Crete the image of the first Architype and the Epitome of the incomprehensible excellencies of God All that may be said redoundeth to the glory of the workman who made her and advanced her with so many preeminences yea that alone affordeth us a singular confidence in her protection The devotion towards this common Advocate of mankind is so sweet so sensible so full of consolation that a man must have no soul not to relish it Next we Angels honour those Angelical spirits who enamel Heaven with their beauty and shine as burning lamps before the Altar of this great God of hosts We have a particular obligation to our holy Angel Guardian whom God hath deputed to our conservation as a Celestial Centinel that perpetually watcheth for us We behold in Heaven with the eyes of faith an infinite number of chosen souls who read our necessities in the bosom of God written with the pen of his will and enlightened with the rays of their proper glory who apply this knowledge to their beatified understanding Behold the objects of our
understanding these propositions went to find out the noble Bayard in his lodging and made a long discourse to him of the evil disposition of Pope Julius and the enterprises he had both on his life and of the Frenchmen of purpose to enkindle him for revenge Then he pursued his opportunitie and made overture to him of the treason of this wicked Gerlo Bayard beheld him and said How Sir I could never have imagined that a Prince so generous as you would consent to such a mischief and had you done it I swear by my soul before night I would have given the Pope notice of it How answered the Duke he would have done as much either to you or me It is no matter replieth Bayard this treacherie displeaseth me The Duke shrugged up his shoulders and spitting on the ground Mounsieur Bayard saith he I would I had killed all mine enemies in this sort but since you dislike it the matter shall rest and you and I both may have cause to repent it We shall not if it please God replyeth the good souldier but I pray you put this gallant into my hands that would do this goodly piece of service and if I do not cause him to be hanged in an hour let me supply his place The other excused it saying he had given him assurance of his person Behold you not a brave spirit See you not a man of a Royal conscience and of an honestie in all things like to it self Where are these pettie spirits of the abyss more black than specters and infernal furies who have neither loyaltie for their Prince nor Common-wealth but as it may concern their own interests who swallow treasons as big as cammels to gain a flie They would make truth it self to lie were not their issues ever tragical abominable and hideous The ninth SECTION Short and notable Instructions MY souldier follow the precepes which the great S. Augustine gave to Captain Boniface August ep 80. Observe faith and virtue in Arms which never will be prosperous on earth if they be not fortified with blessings from Heaven Beg of God with David to deliver you from your necessities which are your passions he doth nothing to overcome visible enemies that have power over bodies who surmounteth not the invisible bandied against the health of our souls Make use of the world as a thing borrowed do good with its goods and become not bad They are goods since they come from God who extendeth his power over all things both celestial and temporal They are goods since God gives them to good men but they are not also great goods since he affords them to the wicked He takes them away from the virtuous to trie their virtue and from the perverse to chastise their crimes It is true strength health victorie honour wealth are indifferently the portion of all men but conquest over passions virtues salvation of soul immortalitie of bodie glorie honour beatitude are the proper inheritance of Saints Love these goods desire them seek them with all your endeavour do alms-deeds to get them fast as much as your forces will permit all here below passeth away but good works Think when you go to the wars that the strength of your bodie is a gift of God that it is not fit to arm against your sovereign Masters proper benefits Keep promise even with your enemies make peace with all the world voluntarily and war for necessity to acquire the good of peace Be peacefull even in Arms for such men are called the children of God If it be necessarie to kill an enemie in fight let mercy be always exercised in the latter end of the combat principally when there is no further fear of rebellion Adorn your manners with conjugal chastitie sobrietie and modestie It is a ridiculous thing to conquer men and be vanquished by vices to escape the sword and be overthrown by wine If you want means seek it not on earth by wicked practices but secure rather in Heaven that little you have by the exercise of good works Flee these rocks of Nobilitie which we have hitherto spoken against and above all bridle presumption choller the tongue and sensuallitie They are slaves who cannot keep in the mean between servitude and Empire where either chains must be had to master them or a Throne erected to honour them Pesumption if you afford it enterance will make you of a man a baloon filled with wind a scare-crow of honour a temerarious thing void of courage an undertaker without successe a phantastick without shame which in the end shall become burdensome to it self and odious to all the world Choller and folly are two sisters which have in all things the same qualities or if there be any difference it is that the one with more furie maketh havock in an instant and the other produceth her effects with more leisure and cheerfulness whilest you are subject to this passion no man can confide in you in matter of judgement no more than to weather-cocks in the point of stabilitie you will have all other vices in-seed and perpetually live in the sorrow of time past disturbance of the present and uncertaintie of the future As for the tongue it is that which containeth all the good or evil of man It is the needle of the great dial of the soul that must shew all the hours It is the truche-man of our thoughts the image of our actions the interpreter of our wills and the principal key of conversation He that will now adays live in the world saith the famous S. Nazianzen must have a veil over his Nazianz. in Iamb eys a key on his ear a compass on his lips A veil over his eyes not to see or in seeing to dissemble many things a key on his ears to shut them up against so many follies and ordures which proceed from bad mouthes and a compass on the lips to measure and square out all his words with discretion So many secrets unnecessarily discovered so many infamous slanders so many inconsiderate tales so many frivolous promises so many impudent lyes such perjuries and execrable blasphemies so many disasters which oft happen for a sleight speech daily teach us that words have no handles to hold them by and better it is to trip with the foot than the tongue Sensualitie if you powerfully resist it not from the first reflections which reason may present will make you a thing of nothing The three spirits wine love and game will fetter you with a prodigious slavery You will become a living sepulchre a tomb of surphets and slaughters a gulf of calumnies a meer hobgoblin without repose which shall continually handle cards and dice to bereave you of your purse and understanding so to make a spoil of your goods a frencie of your reason and a perpetual feaver of your life Your condition ought not to make you pretend power over men if you seasonably enterprise it not over your own passions
eternal seed of so many sundry books as were hitherto published and which will encrease to the consummation of the world And although the most able Philosophers had they been persecuted by Tyrants would not willingly have lost a tooth for defence of their Maxims yet the wisdom of our Saviour is such that having possessed the heart and hands of those who profess it causeth them to pour out all the bloud of their veins and to use so much courage for preservation thereof as it afforded them lights in its establishment 5. From thence consider it is his absolute power over His power Data est mihi â—â—nis potestas in coelo in terrd Matth. 28. 18. all things and note if you please that it is manifested principally in three Articles First the facility of prodigies and miracles which appeared in Jesus Christ For this large house of nature which we call the world had no other motion but from his will and he therein commanded so universally that he seemed to hold the Heavens and elements under hire to be instruments of his wonders He lighted new stars at his birth he eclipsed the ancient Sun at his death he walked on waters as on marble pavements he caused the earth to cast up the dead four days after We find many of Pharaoh's Magicians have done false miracles but it was saith Saint Augustine by speedily applying active natural things to passive We find Saints have done true miracles but in the quality of Ministers It onely appertaineth to Jesus Christ to do them with an original power which hath its source in his bosom with an absolute command which receiveth not any modification in all nature with a simple will which needeth no other instruments It onely belongeth to him to do them for the full mannage of the worlds government and to transmit them into the person of Saints to the consummation of Ages In the second place I say this power marvellously shineth in the great Empire of the Church which his Heavenly Father hath put into his hands to build it raise it cement it with his bloud illuminate it with his lights nourish it with his substance to make laws in it establish Sacraments eternize sacrifices create Pastours and Priests and invisibly to rule in it by a visible head a power not to be shaken even unto the gates of hell to exercise a jurisdiction over souls to bind them to unloose them pardon sins change hearts ordain their predestination according to his will Finally this great power appears in that he first of all opened Paradise his soul being exalted from the first day of his creation to the vision of Gods Essence and afterward passing through all the Heavens to place himself at the right hand of his Father and put his Elect into the possession of the Kingdom he had purchased by his bloud Have not we cause to crie out thereupon and say O happy he Beatus quem elegisti assumpsisli habitabit in atriis tuis replebitur in bonis domus tuae â—ancium est templum tuum mirabile in aequitate Psal 64. Temple of Justinian whom you have chosen to raise him to the Hypostatical union He shall dwell in the Palace of the Divinity and we shall be filled with the blessings of thy house Thy Temple which is his sacred Hamanitie is infinitely holy It is said Justinian having finished the magnificent Church of S. Sophie which he built with so much industry and charge such numbers and such a general contribution of endeavour of riches and power of the whole Empire placed therein a statue of Solomon who seemed to be astonished and to hide himself through shame and confusion to see his Temple surpassed by that of the Emperour It was a vanity of a worldly Prince But we in verity would we represent what passeth here should paint both Moses and all the Prophets absorpt in a profound reverence in the consideration of the Temple of the Church and the wonders of Jesus Christ 6. Let us for conclusion of this discourse adore that which we cannot sufficiently comprehend and endeavour to bear an incomparable love to the Person of our Saviour for the excellencies we have expressed But if you require the practise of this I say Practise of the love of Jesus reduced to 3. heads 1. To adhere Conglutinata est anima 〈◊〉 cum ed. Gen. 34. 3. it is reduced to three heads which are to adhere to serve and suffer The first note of faithfull affection appears in a strong adherence to the thing beloved so as the Scripture speaking of love says it causeth one soul to clasp unto another If you begin heartily to love Jesus Christ you will find you shall think upon him almost insensibly every moment and as saith S. Gregorie every time you fetch your breath there will come a pleasing idea of God to fill your soul with splendours and affection You will feel a distast and unsavouriness of heart against all earthly things so that it will seem to you that the most pleasing objects of the world are mingled with gall and wormwood You will seek for your Jesus in all creatures you wil languish after him all which beareth his name Numquid quem diligit anima mea vidistis Cantic and memory will be delightsome to you you will speak of him in all companies you will have an earnest desire to see him honoured esteemed acknowledged by all the world And if you perceive any contempt of his Person which is so estimable you will think the apple of your eye is touched Your solitude will Suspiret ac â—eties se a summo bono anima nostra sentiaâ— recessisse quoties se ab illo intuitu deprehenderit separatim fornicationem judicans vel momentaneum a Christi contemplatione discessum be in Jesus your discourse of Jesus Jesus will be in your watchings and in your sleep in your affairs in your recreations and you will account it a kind of infidelity to loose sight of him but an hour Love is a great secret very well understood by Abbot Moses in Cassianus Let our soul saith he sigh and think it self sequestred from the sovereign goodness so soon as it looseth never so little sight of the divine presence accounting it a spiritual fornication to be separated one sole moment from beholding Jesus For the second degree as it is not enough in Siquis diligit me sermonem meum servabit Ioan. 14. worldly amities to have affections languors and curious lip-complements but you must necessarily come to some good effects and considerable offices which are the marks and cement of true affection so you must not think the love of Jesus consisteth in slight affectations of idle devotion He must serve who will love his will must be wedded his command entertained and executed his liveries put on and we wholly transformed into him by imitation of his examples S. Augustine to confound the weakness