lie often and who think themselves happy enough if they can but perswade the Auditours to believe part of what they say An Antithesis is not so bold as an Hyperbole though more affected all it 's cunning is but a continuall play or Maigame it opposeth the subjects which it treats of 〈◊〉 because it knows not how to enlarge them it hopâ—s always because it can neither run nor walk softly it leanes upon all it meets withall because it cannot sustain it selfe and 't is seldome ingenious save onely for it's sterility sake In fine that may be said of all figures which Seneca saies of an Hyperbole they lead us to truth by falshood they cousen us to please us and to instruct us do seduce us If this cunning be blamelesse I know no couzenage which may not admit of excuse men will kill men to make them live will put out their eyes to clear their sight and will throw them into slavery to set them at liberty There have been some who would have had painting inhibited because it abuseth the senses and because by the rules of the Opticks it extends open Countries the end whereof we cannot arrive unto sinks valleys so as we cannot discover their bottome and raiseth up Mountains to the height whereof we cannot attain But eloquence being more deceitfull deserves a greater punishment and she should as well be forbidden comming within the barand Pulpit as painting was forbidden the Court of Arropagus Since she heightens mean things enlargeth what hath no substance and to make her power be admired makes Faustina a Lucretia Tiberius an Augustus and Fredigonda a Clotilda It must then be confest that eloquence is the workman-ship of sin that men have sought out these figures onely to disguise falshood and they began not to be eloquent till they began to be sinfull Innocencie would not peradventure have spoken this language and if we meet with some such like Oratory somtimes in the holy Scripture I imagine it is that the Scripture may accommodate it selfe to our custome and to imitate the goodnesse of God who puts on our passions when he will treat with us If truth complain of Rhetorick reason hath as much cause so to do and who shall consider what ill offices she hath received from her will finde that she should never implore her aid for though this Sovereign be not always at peace within her Territories and that her Subjects do somtimes despise her authority Eloquence is not sincere enough to re-invest her in her power and it oft-times falls out that whil'st she thinks to stifle disorder she augments it For Reason hath nothing to fear in her Empire but the errour of her understanding the obstinacy of the will the revolt of passions and the unfaithfulnesse of the senses let her prevent these disorders and she may be sure to raign peaceably For what concernes the understanding it needs no Rhetorick to perswade it itcareth not for ornaments truth is as pleasing to it in the mouth of a Philosopher as of an Oratour the lesse truth is expatiated the more force doth the understanding finde in her and the lesse she hath of Art the more doth it reverence her power As for the will it is so free as nothing can force it grace alone hath power to ravish 〈◊〉 and only God can sway it without using violence The passions must be calm'd by dexterity he is a wise Pilot who can saile long upon their Sea without suffering shipwrack And as for the senses they must be won by fair means and they must be loosened from objects to be submitted to reason Eloquence boasts that in this point she hath great advantage over Philosophers the Cadence of her periods smooths the senses she imitates musick and makes use of the voice of Oratours to inchant the ears the gesture of their bodies their studied actions and all those graces which accompany Pronunciation steal away the heart by the eyes and work wonders upon the will Figures raise passions draw tears encourageth Auditours to choler and put weapons into their hands to revenge themselves of their Enemies But I finde that all the means which Eloquence attempts are extreamly dangerous and that the remedies which she applies are worse than the malady which she would cure For thinking to flatter the senses she engageth them in voluptuousnesse whil'st she would divert them from she accustometh them to delight and though her designe be innocent yet ceaseth it not to produce ill effects For as oft as a pleasing Oratour defends an ill cause and that he imployes all his good parts in favour of injustice the senses which seek onely after content suffer themselves to be borne away by his cunning and making interressed reports to the understanding they engage it in their revolt Thus is a pleasing falshood better entertained than truth and vertue is lesse valued than vice if she appeare more austere Eloquence is not more fortunate in taming passions then in charming senses for though she be acquainted with the secret of kindling and allaying choller of setting love and hatred on fire of abusing hope and sweetning despair yet hath she this of misfortune that as she laies one passion asleep she awakens another and be it for want of dexterity or for her diffidence of her own strength she never sets upon vengeance unlesse she be assisted by ambition she meddles not with love without exciting hatred and quels not hope without raising fear Thus she hurts us to cure us and her remedies are worse than our diseases She imitates those bad Physicians who debauch the stomack to refresh the bowels and who undo one part to preserve another for not weighing the danger she oft-times awakens cruelty in a Tyrant to encourage him against an Enemy she excites ambition in a Conquerour to incline him to clemency and hazards a whole Kingdome to save a guilty person Men blamea Prince who to revenge himselfe of his Subjects puts weapons into the Rebels hands and and who under colour of stifling a commencing sedition strengthens a party which justles out his Authority yet this is the order observed by Eloquence in her Orations and expearience teacheth us that to overcome a passon which opposeth her designes she will not fear to awaken another which will entrench upon the publique Liberty Cicero flatters Cesars vain glory to obtain Marcellus his pardon he propounds glory to him to divert him from rigour yet sees not that to extinguish the fire of his choller he kindles the life of his ambition which was to set his Countrey on fire Who will not then confesse that eloquence is an enemy to reason that she dis-joynts an Empire in stead of setling it and that she addes to the number of passions under pretence of apeasing them Her other designes are not more just and she deals not more mildly with liberty than with reason for though she always vaunt to take her side and to
Evill p. 91 9 That the will to be able to doe good must be set free from the servitude of sin by the grace of Iesus Christ. p. 97 10 That evill habits bereave the will of her liberty by ingaging her in Evill p. 103 The third Treatise Of the corruption of the Vertues Discourse 1 APaneggrick of Morall Vertue p. 109 2 That Morall Vertue hath her faults p. 115 3 That vain glory is the soule of the Vertue of Infidels p 122 4 That the Vertue of Infidels cannot be true p 128 5 That Wisdome without Grace is blinde weak and malignant p. 134 6 That there is no true Temperance nor Iustice amongst the Pagans p. 140 7 That the Fortitude of the Pagans is but weaknes or vanity p. 149 8 That friendship without grace is alwayes interested p. 156 9 That the uncertainty and obscurity of Knowledge derives from siâ—ne p. â—65 10 That Eloquence is an enemy to Reason Truth and Religion p â—73 The fourth Treatise Of the corruption of Mans Body by sin Discourse 1 OF the Excellencies of Mans Body p. 182 2 Of the Miseries of the Body in generall p. 190 3 Of the Infidelity of the Senses p. 195 4 That the Passions are fickle or wilde p. 201 5 That the health of Man is prejudiced by sicknesse p. 207 6 〈◊〉 the Bodies beauty is become perishable and criminall p. 214 7 That the life of man is short and miserable p. 225 8 That Death is the punishment of sin p. 231 9 What advantages we may draw from Death by meanes of Grace p. 237 10 That Sleep is a punishment of sin as well as the Image of Death and that it bereaves us of Reason as Dreames doe of Rest. p. 243 The fifth Treatise Of the corruption of all exterior Goods called by the name of FORTUNE Discourse 1 THat we must feare what we desire and desire what we feare p. 249 2 That Honour is no longer the recâ—mpence of Vertue p. 255 3 That Greatnesse iâ— attended by Slaveâ—y and Vanity p. 261 4 That the Birth and Cruelty of Waâ—re derives from sin p. 270 5 That Riches render mâ—n poore and sinfull p. 278 6 That since the losse of Innocency poverty is glorious p. 284 7 That aparrell is a mark of sin p. 290 8 That the shame which 〈◊〉 Nakednesse is a punishment for our offence p. 296 9 That Buildâ—ngs are the work of necessity pleasure or vain glory 302 10 That the greatest part of our pasâ—mes are occasions of sin p. 3â— The sixth and last Treatise Of the Corruption of all Creatures Discourse 1 OF the beauty greatnesse and duration of the world p. 319 2 That all creatures have lost some of their perfections p. 328 3 That the Sunne hath lost much of his light and vertue through sin p. 335 4 That there is no creature which men have not adored p. 341 5 That all creatures do either tempt or persecute man p. 348 6 That it is more secure to sequester a mans self from the creatures than to make use of them p. 355 7 That Deluges and Earth-quakes are the punishments of the world become corrupted p. 361 8 That Thunder Plagues and Tempests are the effects of sin p. 368 9 That Monsters and poysons are the workmanship of sin p. 377 10 That God will consume the world corrupted by sin that he may make a new world p. Of the Corruption of Nature by SINNE The First Treatise Of Originall Sin and the Effects thereof The First Discourse That Faith acknowledgeth Originall Sin That Nature hath a feeling thereof and That Phylosophie suspects it THough mans misery witnesse his sin and that to believe he is guilty sufficeth to prove his misery yet is there no one Truth in Christian Religion more strongly withstood by prophanePhylosophers then is this shee cannot allow of a chastisement which punisheth the father in his children neither can shee conceive a sin which precedes our reason as well as our birth Shee appeals from so rigorous a decree and thinks to defend Gods cause in pleading ours Shee attributes all our disorders to our constitution she imputes our errours to our education and the greatest part of our irregularities to the bad employing of our time She opposeth experience by arguing and what ever misery shee makes tryall of shee will not acknowledge the cause shee thinks a man may herein defend himselfe by reason and that there being no sin which is naturall neither is there any which may not be amended by will alone shee makes use of the examples of Socrates Aristides and Cato shee opposeth these Sages to our Saints and pretends that the works of Nature yield not to those of Grace Briefly shee corrupteth the purity of our beliefe by the subtilty of her reasoning and whereas Christians ought to convert all Phylosophers some Christians are perverted by Phylosophers We confesse Originall sinne because we dare not deny it We avow that it hath bereft us of Grace but assure our selves that it hath left us an entire Liberty We confesse it hath robb'd us of our innocencie but maintain that we may recover our innocencie by the means of reason and that if we cannot merit heaven we may at least secure our selves from hell We admire the famous Actions of Infidels our eyes are dazl'd with the lustre they receive from the writings of Phylosophers we side at unawares with Nature against Grace and through an inconsiderate zeale We will have their delusive vertues rewarded with a true happinesse Yet notwithstanding to believe original sin is one of the prime Articles of our Faith if Adam were not guilty Jesus Christ was not necessary and if Humane nature be yet in her first purity it 's in vain that we seek a Saviour Hence it is that the great Apostle of the Gentiles doth so often in his Epistles oppose sin to grace servitude to freedome and Adam to Jesus Christ he is pleased to represent unto us the disorders of Nature to make us admire the effects of Grace and he glories in his Infirmities the more to heighthen the advantages of RedemptioÌ„ He teacheth us that we are conceived in sin and that at our first enterance into the world we are the objects of Gods wrath He shews us that Adams sin is shed abroad throughout mankind That his Malady is become a contagion and that all the Children that do descend from this unfortunate Father are Criminall and Miserable The Prophets agree with the Apostles and this truth is not much less Evident in the Old Testament then in the New The most patient most afflicted of al men coÌ„plaines of the misfortunes of his birth and makes such just imprecations against the moment wherin he was conceived as we may easily conceive he thought it not void of fault David confesseth he was conceived in sin and that though he were born in lawfull Matrimony his birth ceaseth not to be shamefully sinfull The Church confirmes this truth
purity suffered some change thereby to revenge the outrages done to God amidst somany disorders nothing so much afflicted man as his domestick evills he defended himself frō wild beasts by force he gain'd the rest by wiles he saved himself from the Injuries of the Aire by Cloaths and houses He by his labour overcame the sterility of the earth he opposed dikes to the fury of the sea and if he could not calme the waves thereof he found means to overcome her stormes and to triumph over her tempests he invented Arts to allay the miseries of his life after having fenced himself from necessity he sought out pleasure he would occasion his happinesse from his losse as it were thereby to upbraid Gods Justice he changed one part of his paines into pleasures but he could not reform the disorders neither of soul nor body for all he could doe he could find no salve for the sicknesse of his soul and though his haughtines made him hope for help from Phylosophy he could never reconcile himself either to God or himself After having lost the knowledge of the true God he framed Idols to himself weary of having adored the workmanship of his hands he adored the workmanship of his fancy after having offered Incense to all Creatures he became his own Idolater and forgetting the shame of his birth the miseries of his life and the rigour of death he would have Temples and Altars When his madnesse would allow of any intermissions he acknowledged the the danger of his disease and forct thereunto by pain and shame he sought for remedies but self-love wherwith he was blinded rendered all his cares uselesse through a capricheousnesse which cannot be conceived he cherished the evils which afflicted him and preserving the desires which he had in his Innocency he would find the accomplishment thereof in his guiltinesse he was perswaded that he should find in himself what he had lost in God and that assisted by a vain Phylosophy he should make himself fortunate in the midst of his misfortunes Nothing did more crosse his Cure then this insolent belief and nothing did more offend the Grace of Jesus Christ then his confiding in his own reason and Liberty God permitted him to lament a long time to the end that he might be sensible at leasure of his maladie and Divine goodness deferr'd his deliverance only to make him confesse his faultiness he in vain laboured all that he could before he would be brought to cōfess his misery he sought for help from Nature before he would implore ayd from Grace he sought out all the means he thought fitting to Cure himself of so vexatious a Malady and had it not been for despair he had never found out the way to health but when he saw that Conquerors for all their power could not deliver him that Phylosophers could not by all their reasons Comfort him and that Orators could not lessen his evills by their words he betooke himself to God and the misery he indured made him know that nothing but the hand that had hurt him could heal him The third Discourse Of what kinde the first Sinne which ADAM committed was THe two first sins of the World are the most unknown and Divines which agree in so many differing subjects have not as yet been able to agree in this They know that the Angels and man are become Criminall but they know not what the nature of their fault is They know that both of them have violated the laws of God and that over-weaning their own perfections they have not sufficiently prized the perfections of their Creator they very well know that neither of them have preserved their Innocency and that weaknesse which is inseparable from the Creature hath been the cause of their Fall but they know not what name to give to this sinne nor under what degree to rank this crime which hath caused so much Mischeife Some think that the offence Committed by the Angel was so Generall as in the extent thereof it includes all other offences that he flew from God by all the wayes it was possible for him to estrange himself from him that using the utmost ofhis power he grew guilty ofall the wickednesse which so enlightned a spirit was capable of whence it is that the holy Scriptures to teach us the truth thereof terms his fault somtimes Murther sometimes Adultery sometimes Rebellion though man be not so Active as the Angel and that his soul confined within his body be slower in her operations yet there have been some Divines who hath given the same Judgment of both their sins and who have perswaded themselves that Adam by one only offence became guilty of all sins that the law which was proposed unto him conteining in it an Abridgment of all Laws he could not violate it without violating all the rest that his disobedience under one only name Comprehended all sins and that by one only attempt he Committed Adultery by failing in his fidelity to God Theft by taking a fruit which did not belong unto him Sacrilege by abusing his wil which was cōsecrated to God Paracide by occasioning death unto his soul and unto the souls of all his Children Though this be a strange opinion yet the worthinesse of the Author makes me put a valuation upon it for it is S. Augustine yet in the rigour of reason it is hard to conceive that manssoul had so much of sight as that in one sole action it committed so many sins These sins which are imputed to man are rather the effects then parts of his disobedience and if I may be permitted to speak my sense after the Chiefe of all Divines I should conceive that S Augustines design was rather to satisfie his eloquence then the truth and that making use of a figure which is so frequent amongst Orators he would aggravate Adams sin to make us detest it Some others have been of opinion that Pride was the sin of the Angel and of man that these two Noble Creatures puft up with their own perfections aspired after Divinity and that vain glory which is alwayes accompanied by blindnes had perswaded them that being already immortall they might easily make themselves Gods But I cannot think that such a thought could fall into the mind either of the Angell or of man they were induced with too much knowledge not to know that the Creature cannot equall the Creator in Majestie that the degrees of their separation are infinite and that wishes are never made for things absolutely impossible how could that desire of making himself God ever enter into the imagination of an Angell Since Theologie confesseth that they could never suspect the Mystery of the Incarnation and that without being enlightned by Glory or by Faith they never could have thought that God could make himself man or man become God other Divines have therefore rather chosen to believe that the Mysterie of the Incarnation was the occasion of
mean expression of his truth and but a false beame of his beauty To know him perfectly we must raise our selves above his workmanship to conceive his greatnesse we must rather oppose it to the creature then cōpare it there with all but concupiscence is the Lively Image of sin we see all the Linaments of the father in the Daughters face and she doth nothing wherein a man may not discerne the motions of the father I know that all our punishments are the pictures of our sins and God would have our Chastizement to be the Image of our offences but to take it aright every punishment expresseth but one only quality of sin the Heat which accompanieth fears represents only it 's immoderate heat to us blindness discovers only it's Ignorance The palsie which takes from us the use of our members figures onely out unto us it 's incapabilty of doing good deafness declares only it's obstinacy unto us and death it self which is sins most rigorous punishment represents to us only the death of the soul and the losse of Grace But Concupiscence is a finisht picture which hath all the Colours and Linaments of sin she hath all its wicked Inclinations is Capable of all its Impressions accomplisheth all it's Designes and this unfortutunate Father can undertake nothing which his daughter is not ready to Execute But one only name not being sufficient to expresse all the wickednesse thereof the Fathers have been fain to invent divers names to decypher out unto us the different effects of a Cause which is as fruitfull as fatall Saint Augustine according to Saint Paul terms her the Law and Counsellor of sin Reason was mans Counsellor and in the state of innocency he undertooke nothing but by her advice when sin had weakned Reason and that the darknesse thereof had Clouded the the luster of it's Eternall light God gave him the written Law for a Counsellor and Ingraved those truths in Marble which he had formerly ingraven in his heart Great men formed no designe before they had Consulted with this visible Law and David with all his illuminations protests that the law of God was the best part of his Councell it was the morall Phylosophers wherin the learn'd vertue it was his Politicks and were he either to Conduct his subjects or to fight his enemies he learnt the knowledge both of peace and war in the mysteries of the Law but the sinner hath no other law then Concupiscence he is advised by one that is blind and unfaithfull he executes nothing without her orders he is brought to this extremity That his Counsellor is Pensioner to his Enemies Reasons self is a slave to this perfidious Officer she sees only through her eys and after having well debated a businesse she forsakes better advice to follow the pernicious Counsell of one that is blind who is absolutely the Devils Purchase and who holds Continuall Intelligence with sin When he is weary of perswading us he Chides us when we have received his advice he signifies his Commands unto us and having deceived us as a perfidious Counsellor he torments us as a merciless Tyrant Counsellours never work upon us but by their Reasons they never make use of violence to oblige us to receive their advice and they oftentimes foregoe their own opinions to receive ours if they think them better but Concupiscence is a furious Officer who makes use of Force when Perswasion will not prevail This Tyrant is more insuportable then those who formerly comanded in Greece whō the Orators of that Country have charg'd with so many just opprobries For these Enemies to mankind exercised their cruelty only upon the body and assubjected to their power only the leastpart of man Whosoever valued not theirown lives might make himself Master of theirs and who feared not death might deride their violence but this Tyrant whereof I speak exerciseth his fury upon the spirits he blots out the remembrance of all vertue from out his memory he darkens the understandingwith his mysts oppresseth the will by his violence and leaveth only a languishing liberty in the souls which he possesseth This Monster which had only the faces of men were not alwaies in the Company of their subjects their absence was a truce of servitude some private Closets were to be found where one might tast the sweet of liberty A man might meet with a freind before whom he might lay his heart open and though freindship had been banished from off the heart Compassion would have made it revive for his Consolation T was in these private Conferences that the death of Tyrants was Conspired the parties safety joyned to the desire of liberty caused the Conception of the designes and the desires of glory put it in execution But Concupiscence never parts from sinners this Tyrant keeps his Court in the midst of their wills he hath raised a throne in their hearts He finds so much of obedience and weaknesse in his slaves as he knows they cannot shake of the yoke of his Tyranny without forreign Ayd these publike plagues could not make themselves be beloved in their states though they left some shadows of Liberty they could not win their subjects Hearts there faults were always repaid with publike Hatred and the Necessity they had to make themselves feared was not the least punishment of their Injustice they grew weary of being the Horror of their people and if they could have made themselves be beloved they would have ceased making themselves feared but their subjects were so Incenst against them as to keep them in respect t was necessary to keep them in awe and since they could not purchase their love to resolve to merit their Hatred but though Concupiscence be the cruellest of all Tyrants yet hath she found the secret of making her self be beloved all her subjects reserues their Loyalty even in persecution they are pleased with the pains they undergoe Torments are not able to make them wish for liberty let them be neuer so ill dealt with all by their unjust Sovereign they never blame his cruelty And though they be the most unfortunate slaves of all the world they cease not to be the faithfullest lovers In fine to put an end to this discourse These Tyrants do not allways vex their subjects with angersome Commands all there decrees are not unjust their polluted mouthes have sometimes pronounced Oracles and the Graecian Phylosophers have registred their words who had bereft them of their liberty the Dionsii made laws which the Politicians reverenced their Ordinances were able to instruct legitimate Princes and they have uttered maximes which may serve us for instructions But all the commands made by Concupiscence are unjust all her orders are sin one cannot obey her without blame and to speak in Saint Augustines language a man cannot follow the motions of Concupiscence without contesting against the motions of grace nor can a man live at full liberty unlesse he
the servant and the Sovereign upon the same Throne Is not Plato a pleasant Dreamer who tasts more of the Poet then of the Phylosopher we reverence his Disciples only because they endevour to heighten themselves by straying out of the way if we put a valuation upon them t is because they have taken a more obstruce path then others and that quitting reason and judgment which are mens guides they would raise themselves up even unto the height of Celestiall intelligences but into what errours have they head-long fallen what Fables have they mingled with their superstititions what reasons have they invented to excuse unchâ—st lâ—ve what cunning have they made use of to establish it's Empire and with what impiety have they gone about to perswade us that God lay hidden in his Creatures and that whosoever loved beauty in women or goodnesse in men loved the Images and shadows of the Diety The Academicks appeared to be a little more rationall the best Ancient wits have sided with them or been their Disciples Cicero and Virgil the râ—rest Ornaments of the Romane Republique followed their Maximes they were not so proud as the Stoicks nor so poorly minded as the Epicurians yet they held Paradoxes which justled Truth as well as reason they allowed of sin under the name of vertue and when they wanted Patience or strength to keep back grief or sorrow they betook themselves to despair In fine all these Phylosophers pertook of of the sins of the people they were not lesse Idolaters though they had greater Lights and making policy of Religion they worshipped the Gods of their Wives and Children they in their writings made Panygericks to the Divine Essence and in their Towns they erected Temples to evill spirits they were Christians in their speeches but Infidels in their Actions they had good conceptions but committed bad deeds they knew God because they could not be ignorant of him and they offended him because they had not the courage to serve him My last proof wherewithall to confound the pride of humane understanding and to make it confesse that it is guilty since ignorant I will borrow from Religion the Scripture and Divinity teacheth us that man bears the Character of God being formed after his Image he cannot see himself without discerning his Author this first glimpse of light cannot be defaced all the darknesse of errour cannot obscure it and when man consults with his conscience or reason he is by them instructed that there can be but one God Without the help of Phylosophers or Instructers he knows this Truth and when he suffers Nature to speak through his mouth upon this subject she pronounceth Oracles and utters no falshoods thus when the Pagans were surprized with any danger and that instinct did in them prevene reasoning they implor'd the succour of the true God they spake the language of Christians not thinking of it and condemned the worshipping of Images of which the soul of their Religion was Composed The first Fathers of the Church opposed them with this reason Tertullian delights to let them see that they were only Idolaters then when they use violence to Nature and that they stifled her resentments to follow those of superstition but when they suffered themselves to be led on by opinion or example there was no Errour which they did not embrace nor no so infamous creature to which they did not with their mouthes make vows and offer Incense with their hands The Egyptians who vaunted themselves to be the Fathers of all Sciences worshipped Onions good store of Gods grew in gardens Labourers might boast that in manuring of the Earth they gave their Princes Gods and that their Canonizing did not so much depend upon the Peoples consent as upon husbandry and Labour The Romans whom time ought to have polished and Phylosophy civilized made Gods of all things War and Peace had Temples in their Republique all the passions were there adored the most infamous ones were there sacrificed unto and these People ow'd all their glory to their valour forbore not to offer sacrifices to Fear and shame the ignorance of Physitians and the weaknesse of those that were sick procured the like honour to Agues the fits whereof redoubled fits and intermissions were the mysteries which made it be adored In fine their Canonizing became so common as the wiser sort did despise it and seeing that Insecta had their Altars they thought it to be more honourable to be man then God These reasons may suffice to beat down the Pride of humane understanding and to make it confesse that Errour is very naturall unto it since that not being able to comprehend the unity of God it could not know the most glorious Truth of all others The fifth Discourse That reason in Man is become blinde and a slave since sinne PHylosophy being the Daughter of reason we must not wonder if she defend her mothers interest and if she employ all her cunning in excusing her faults who gave her life for presently after our losse reason invented Phylosophy and built this stately Edifice upon the ruines of innocency she drew her chiefe advantages from the light which God had infused into the soul of Adam she did imbellish it with the most precious remainders of originall righteousnesse and taught her all those gallant Maximes which she had learnt from Angels in the earthly Paradise In fine Reason did deck Phylosophy in so becomming an array as she became In-amâ—r'd of her beauty she made thereof a false Diety and whilst the blind people offered Incense to the workmanship of their own hands the haughty Phylosophers adored the workmanship of their own heads and raised Phylosophy above Religion This daughter was not ungratefull and to acknowledge the favours which she had received from her Mother she gave her all the praises which her vanity could not aspire unto she made her to be mans Summum Bonum the guide of his life the Mistrâ—s of all the vertues and Queen of passions she intrencht upon the rights of Grace and Faith to make her more Illustrioâ—s and endevoured to perswade her Disciples that to be rationall was sufficient to be happy All Phylosophers have used this Language their writings are Panygericks of reason and to heâ—r them speak you would think this Idoll were the only Diety that is to be adored Senâ—ca is never lesse rationall then when he defends reasons side the justice of his cause makes him insolent to preâ—erve his parties advantages he assâ—ils Religion and to heighten mans dignity he abusetâ— Gods Majesty he will have his wise man to be as content as his Iupiter that their happiness is equall though their condition be different and that nothing in the world can addâ—â—nto their facility T is true that these Blasphemies are intermingled with some rationall Praises for he is not deceived when he says that reason is mans proper good that all these are
win Credit by their dangerous leaps memory amuseth her self in reteining things which have no coÌ„nexion and to repeat things in order which have no order in themselves and astonisheth simple people by these vanities which they term her Master-Pieces When all this is done that ancient Writer had reason to say that memory was only usefull to three sorts of people to those who did negotiate who to the end they may not be surprized are obliged to have always all their affairs present to those who speak much for it is memory that furnisheth them with acceptable things which serve for recreation to the Company and to those that use to lye for that to shan the shame which accompanieth that sin they must remember their falshoods on the contrary the default of memory may be of use to us and as wee profit by our losses wee may draw from thence three advantages The first is not to lye lest we be surprized in that sin The second not to speak much but to keep silence out of a happy necessity The third to love our enemies and to practise the excellentest vertue of Christianity by a noble forgetfulnesse of injuries The seventh Discourse That Conscience is neither a good Iudge nor faithfull witnesse since sin THose who pretend that nature is not corrupted by sin and that she remains still in her prrimitive purity have no better proof thereof then what conscience doth furnish them withall for conscience takes alwayes Gods part and never absolveth the guilty 〈◊〉 she is so just as that she condemns her self in her own cause no reasons can justifie us before her Tribunall and let us use what art we please it is impossible to make her approve of our Misdemeanors Phylosophers have also acknowledged that she was both our witnesse Judge and executioner and that such secret sins as are left unpunished by mans justice receive their whole payment from conscience she her self is worth a thousand witnesses Nothing can be hid from her eyes which are never shut she is an ever-waking Dragon and hath such qualities as will not suffer her either to be abased or surprized Witnesses that they may not be accepted against ought to have three conditions The first to be well informed therefore those who have seen are to be prefer'd before those that have heard for the eye is more certain then the eare The second that they speak truth and that they say nothing which they do not think The third that they be rationall and do so calm their passions that neither hatred nor love nor hope nor feare may ever make them disguise the truth Conscience hath all these three qualities for she is well instructed of the fact and nothing passeth in our hearts which she hath not perfect knowledge of she knoweth our most secret thoughts she seeâ—h the end of our intentions and not stopping at our words knoweth the secret motions of our souls It is easiy to cozen men who ground their judgments only upon the change of our countenances they are abused by dissimulation and he that can but counterfeit may easily cozen them but Conscience is our best Counsell nothing is done whereof she is not aware she assists in all our Resolutions and this Sun which never sets doth by her light dissipate all the darknesse of our hearts Hence it is that she is true in all her depositions for she speaks things as she sees them she cannot be deceived nor can she lye disguises are so contrary to her Nature as she ceaseth to be her self when she bâ—gins to feign Her Essence consists of Truth and though she may fall into errour the cannot fall into a lye In fine she is so rationall as she is not to be troubled or seduced by passion she is a derivative of that primitive reason which we adore in God a copy of that Divine Originall a beam of that Sun which is never Eclipsed and they are so streightly joyned together as Saint Augustine doth mix their lights and makes but one Deposition of the Testimony of God and of conscience How miserable are they who set at naught so faithfull a witnesse for what satisfaction can those men have who want the Peace of Conscience to what purpose doth Publique applause serve when secret approach gives it the lye what advantage can they pretend too from the peoples approbation if they condemn themselves And what Happiness can they enjoy if whilst others praise their false Vertues they be inforced to blame their reall sins This Faithfull witnesse is a severe Judge which can neither be bribed by presents nor frightned by threats and who being allwayes Innocent never spare the guilty All his decrees are just and though the guilty be his Allyes he forbears not to condemn them Whatsoever favour they may obtein from other Judges they can never be absolved by this and whilst their Mouth pleads for them their consciences condemns them And truly we ought to thank Divine Providence for having given us this uncorruptible Judge to keep sinners within the bounds of duty for there are faults which escape the rigour of the Law and which being unknown are unpunished there are sins which being glorious ones are rewarded there be some who being Authorized despise correction so as our condition had been very deplorable if Conscience had not tane the place of Laws and if she had not condemned that which men dare not blame nor cannot Punish In fine this Judge becomes an executioner and after having denounced judgment he himself doth execute it he believes that if it be glorious to condemn sin it s no dishonour to punish it whatsoever tends to the defence of vertue and pulling down of vice seems glorious unto him and the names of Judge and Executioner are equally honourable to him True it is that he useth not this rigour till he imploy'd his harmlesse cunning to frighten the faulty For Conscience is a bridle which holds men within their duty before sin but when once they began to despise her Counsell she became their Punishment and being no longer able to keep back sin she endeavours to punishit T is a revengefull fury which never suffers the wicked to rest in quiet she assails them in towns and in deserts she declares war unto them in the midst of their palaces where danger can get no entrance thither she sends fear into whatsoever Sanctuary sinners retire themselves she makes them feel the smart of their offences when they see any punishments they apprehend what they themselves have deserved as oft as they feel the earth-quake under their feet or the thunder roar above their heads they imagine justice is armed to punish them In fine all their sweets are mingled with some sowres they can take delight in nothing remorse of conscience troubles their contentments they tremble amidst their Armies they are afflicted in publick rejoycings they languish in their best health are poor amidst
consists in the difficulty which accompanieth her she would not be beautifull were she not difficult and seeing that humane mindes betake themselves onely to what is painfull she endeavours to heighten her desert by Labour she decks her self with thornes in stead of flowers covers her self with dust in stead of sweet powders drops sweat and bloud in stead of perfumes and promiseth such as court her nothing but disasters and ill luck she is lodged upon a hill which is smooth slippery and steep on all sides where a man cannot come at her without danger of falling into a precipice though she promise honour to such as love her she suffers them oft times to be confounded and judgeth onely of their love by misprising glory or pleasure Shee invites them by her discourse but endues them not with strength she perswades their understandings but doth not raise up their wills and like the Law of Moses she may well have some light but no heat This is the cause why her pertakers have faln into despair and after having a long time served this rigorous Mistris they have been forced to accuse her of ingratitude and to blame her cruelty but what could they hope for from an idol which being the workmanship of their mindes had no other perfections than what it had borrowed from their praises which was onely vigorous in their writings only beautiful in their Panegyricks and which was not generous save in their actions Thus had Cato recourse to despaire finding no relief in vertue and Brutus acknowledged when he died that she could not assist such as served her that she dazled mens eyes by a false light and that she was but a vain idol which forsook her followers at a pinch not being able to warrant them from the outrages of Fortune We may truly affirm there have been two sorts of idolaters in the world the one worshipped the workmanship of their own hands and by an Immense folly put their hope in images which they themselves were Authors off though they cannot understand them they serve them with respect though they cannot defend them they fly to them for protection and dread their anger The other adore the workmanship of their minds and form unto themselves Noble Ideas which they fall in love with the more beautifull the idols were the greater impression did they make upon their wils and the more eloquent they were in describing them the more superstitious were they in honouring of them This errour blinded all Philosophers vertue which is but a habit which we acquire that we may do Good was the only Divinity which these hood winckt people worshipped and not considering that there is nothing in the soul of man which merits a Supreme Honour they bore respect to the good inclinations thereof when they were governed by the rules of morality this superstition cost the Apostles much more pain than the superstition of the people they had more ado to convert Philosophers than Tyrants and experience taught them that reason was more opinionated than force Two ages were sufficient to overthrow all idols of brasse and marble and though their adorers used cruelty to defend them martyrs through their patience triumphed over them But all the Reign of Jesus Christ hath not sufficed to destroy the idols of the minde The Doctors of the Church have in their writings set upon them but have not been able to bear them down and there be yet some libertines amongst the Children of the Church that do adore them They are not so much attracted by the grace of the Son of God as by the vertue of the Pagans good Nature appears more considerable to them than godlinesse and they more esteem Seneca's or Aristotles morals than those of Saint Paul or of Saint Austine his disciple yet the Vertue which these Philosophers taught in their Schooles had her esteem heightened onely by reason of her difficulty and was admired by her partakers onely through a vain beauty which did dazle them But Christian vertue is at once both beautifull easie you need but love her to acquire her to possess her cost us nothing but desires and the Holy Ghost who sheds her in our souls endues us with strength to overcome the difficulties which accompany her therefore is it that vertue in Christians did oft times fore-run reason they were wise before the years of wisdom and the Agnesses who had Jesus Christ onely for their Master were vertuous before rationall Grace fupplyed their weaknesse torments excited their courage they were constant not having read the death of Socrates the life of their spouse made up all their morality and his maximes confirmed by his examples inspired them with more of Constancie than was requisit to triumph over the cruelty of Tyrants and to confound the vertue of Philosophers But truly I do not wonder that the vertue of Pagans was so weak since they were divided and that reason which did guide them could never reconcile them for though they be said to have one the same father and that they are so straitely united together that a man cannot possesse one of them without possessing all the rest yet experience teacheth us that they have differences which Philosophy hath not yet been able to terminate Though they conspire together to make a man happy they trouble his quiet by their division and make so cruel war one upon another as to have peace in his soul he is obliged to drive out one of the parties from thence Mercy and Justice cannot lodge together in one Heart their Interests are so different as they are not to be accorded A man must renounce mildnes if he will be severe and severity if he will be mercifull Morality hath not yet found out a secret to reconcile these two vertues nor to unite them together thereby to make an accomplish't Prince Wisdom and simplicity hold no better intelligence the one is always diffident that she may be secure she oft-times hastens her misfortune whilest she thinks to avoide it she had rather do ill than suffer ill and her humour is so given to guile as the best part of her being is made up of dissimulations simplicity walks in a clean other track for she findes her assurance in her goodnesse she fears no outrage because she beleeves no injustice she had rather be unfortunate than blamefull and she is of so good an inclination as she resolves rather to receive an injury than to do one If wisdom be not upon good termes with simplicity she is not upon much better terms with valour Nature must do a miracle to make them both meete in one Subject they require different tempers and the aversion is such as morality cannot accord them wise and cautious men are always fearfull and valiant men are alwayes rash wisdom is of a cold constitution and doth not ingage her self in any perill till she see a wicket whereby to get out Valour is hot and firie
to suppresse one Passion by another and to oppose hope to fear choller to remissnesse and sorrow to joy This remedy proved worse than the disease it increased the number of the Rebels whom it would have lessened weakened reasons authority whichit would have established All these different means unprofitably employed are sufficient proofs of our passions Malignity and after all the means used by Philosophy it must be confest that the motions of our Soul are disordered by sin that to make vertues of them their nature must be almost totally altered and that unassisted by Grace they are more dangerous mischiefs than either Pestilence or Famine One of them is sufficient to destroy a whole Province a Monarchs anger is the ruin of a State and that which causeth suites at Law between particular men kindles War between Princes Ambition hath changed the face of the world a hundred times the Deluge hath not made such waste therein as hath the pride and vain glory of Conquerors the marks of their gâ—eatnes are for the most part fatall they build Towns upon the ruines of such as they have beaten down their conquests do oft times begin with violence and injustice vertue hath seldom been the reward of their victory he who hath been most fool-hardy hath oft-times been most fortunate the whole world dreaded Alexanders ambition one only man hath or caused fear in all men The desire of glory made him swim in his Enemies blood this passion was augmented by good successe victory ingaged him in new Battails the more fortunate he was the more was he insolent had not death stopt the course of his conquests he would have made all Nature groan Asia Europe and Affrica would have had but one and the same Tyrant and his Subjects ruine would have been the onely proof of his authority Adams fault never appeared more than in Alexander we should not beleeve that our father aspired to make himself God if this his Son had not imitated him and we should hardly beleeve that man in the state of innocency had any proud desires had not this Prince had insolent thoughts in the state of sin The world seemed too little to his ambition his Vanity thought Usurpation lawfull and he was so blinded with passion as that he thought it no the every to plunder a kingdom or Murther to Defeate an Army By all this discourse t is easie to inferre that the passions are rebels which are partiall in their siding with sin and which are never so much assubjected to the Soul but that they are alwaies ready to obviate her Power and ruine her authority They are like the Praetorian Souldiers who made merry with their Princes heads who made and unmade their Sovereignes onely in reference to their own interest who gave the Empire to those who offered most for it and who made no election which began not with murther for these heady giddy Subjects have no other motion than either their own pleasure or proffit they obey not reason save onely when they like her commands and to reap any profit by them they must be won either by threates or promises they help us onely in hurting us they do rather occasion the exercising our vertue then assist the practice thereof and as if they were of the devils humour they advance our wellfare only in labouring our losse their assistance is almost alwayes pernitious they must be used as the Poets say Aeolus used the windes threates must be used with the orders which we give them They are like those horses in the chariot of the sun in Ovid they must be be roughly dealt withall before they reduced and their Nature must be changed ere their violence be overcome Anger turnes to fury when not moderated desire and hope go astray when not regulated Audacity grows rash when not held in and sorrow turns to despaire when not sweetened so as all passions instruct us that Nature is corrupted by sin and that to assubject them to reason a Man must guide himself by the motions of Grace The fifth Discourse That the health of Man is prejudiced by sicknesse AMongst a thousand differences which distinguish Christian Grace from originall righteousnesse one of the chiefest is that the former sanctifies the Souls onely and the other did sanctifie the whole man and wrought admirable effects in his body For in the profession of Christianity the senses are yet Subject to the Illusions of the Devil objects do yet move the passions and reason is oft surprised by their motions The Sacraments do not warrant us from death and the remedies which Jesus Christ hath left unto his Church do not cure our sicknesses But in the state of innocency originall righteousnes was a plentifull spring-head which dispersed abroad its rivulets into both the parts which go to the composure of man For it brought fidelity to the senses obedience to the passions and peace to the Elements hence it was that man preserving his advantages was exempt from sicknesse and death The seasons not being yet irregular nothing could alter his temper and his humours being uncorrupted nothing could have prejudiced his health But with the losse of his innocency he lost all his priviledges and he was no sooner sinfull but he began to be sick This is so constant a truth as that mans life is nothing but a long sicknesse which never ends but in death he is born in sorrow aswell as in sin his entrance into the world is no lesse painfull then shamefull if this monster like the viper rip up the bowells of his Mother he himself feels a part of the pain which he makes her suffer and he runs as much danger as she who brings him into the world Therefore t is that Saint Austin sayes handsomly that to be born is to begin to suffer and that to live in the body is to begin to be sick The disorder of seasons is sufficient to corrupt the best constitutions and the Alterations which happen in the world make such impressions in the Body as trouble the temper thereof Though Nature be a wise Mother that she prepare us for the Summers heat by the moderate warmth of the spring and that she fits us for the winters cold by the moistnesse of Autumn yet is the body of man so weak as notwithstanding all these precautions she cannot free it from incommodity Physicians themselves observe that every season brings with it its maladie and that ruling over such humours as accord with them they never suffer us to enjoy perfect health The Elements agree not better than do the seasons there is alwayes some one of them which predominates to the prejudice of the rest they commit outrages each upon other and as bloud and choller discharge themselves when over heated flegme and Melancholly do the like when they are corrupted their good intelligence is fatall to man this calm threatens him with a terrible storm and he is never nearer sicknesse
he guards their precious relicks in the bosome of the earth the waters cannot corrupt them nor the flames devour them being innocent he will not deal with them as guilty death spares their body after having separated it from their soul they seem to rest in their graves to repose themselves after their labour and to expect with joy that dreadfull day which all the guilty do apprehend Death then is the punishment of our sin it is the workmanship thereof we have procured it unto our selves by our disobedience God hath ordeined it by his justice and Jesus Christ who draws good out of our evil hath made a sacrifice of it for our salvation The ninth Discourse What advantages we may draw from death by the means of Grace THough death be the first production of sin and that the malice and deformed lothsomnesse of the Father appear in Sons visage some Philosophers have gone about to make apologies for death and after having made use of their reason in the defence thereof they have imployed their cunning in praising it Being ignorant of the first mans fault they would have death to be a law and not a punishment they have excused his rigour by his necessity and have gone about to perswade us that he was pleasing because necessary All things in nature perish this mother hath brought forth nothing which she hath not sentenced to die nothing is immortall and few things durable fountains grow dry and their spring-heads are either lost orstrayed out of the channel the mountaines give way to the violence of floods the sea advances and wins upon the earth whole isles have sunke into the earth we see lakes now where our Ancestours have seen Towns and husbandmen plough up fields where Pilots have steerd their ships The Change which preserves Nature is a kinde of death nature subsists onely by alteration were it not for change she would utterly perish kingdomes which apprehend nothing like vicissitude cannot shun it as oft as they lose their Princes they hazard the losse of their liberty they grow jealous of all their neighbours and ambition is so perfidious as their allyes may become their enemies all those great Colossuses which past for miracles in their age their subsistance depends now only upon paper Time hath made them know that all the workmanship of man is perishable and that frail hands can build nothing which is eternall In fine the world it self is not exempt from death the deluge wherewith it was drown'd and the fire wherewith it shall be consumed teach us that it may perish the Stars which never are at a stay are threatned one day to lose their influences and their light the same hand which hath seated them in the firmament will one day pull them from thence and though Aristotle imagines the heavens to be incorruptible Jesus Christ assures us that they shall perish together with the world Wherefore then do we complain of death since he spares not the Stars and wherefore do we wish that our houses may never have an end since the world cannot escape the fall which threatens it Death is not so cruell as men imagine the fear which we have thereof is rather an effect of opinion then of Nature if we were lesse wise we should be more couragious we augment our evil by thinking too oft of it the weapons wherewith we indeavour to withstand this enemy serve only to make him the more redoubted a Philosopher apprehends him more then doth an ignorant person and all the constancie of the stoicks cannot equall the stupidity of a country clown These silly people are easily comforted they look after no priviledges which their Ancestours have not enjoyed they prepare for death when they see their friends die and having no plots which may fasten them to the world they are not troubled to be interrupted therein by their death All men seem to conspire to be cause of astonishment to themselves and that it fares with them as in the route of an Army where those that ran away cause fear in those that fight Every particular man frames unto himself an Idea of death and he who can make it appear the most hideous passeth for the ablest man Sciences which ought to incourage us do intimidate us and there is not any one who doth not adde somwhat to the image of this Monster to increase his uglinesse and our apprehension Painters represent him as a ghastly skeleton bearing a coffin upon his shoulders and a sithe in his hands to mow down the whole earth Poets whose fictions are more pleasing then those of painters do give him arrowes each of which being shot doth wound a heart physicians decipher him as the enemy of nature and to no end seek for remedies against his wounds Philosophers who boast that they know him that they may withstand him do astonish their disciples by the number of their reasons and perswade them that the Monster which they assail is very terrible since so many preparations are required to overcome him Yet experience teacheth us that he takes upon himselfe pleasing formes to reclaim us that he glides so pleasingly into the heart as those whom he wounds feele him not he set upon Plato sleeping and it was hard to discern sleep from death in this Philosopher one of the Crassuses died laughing and the Romans ceased to fear death seeing it so amiable upon his face Chilon was choked with joy his sons victory was as fatall to him as to the enemies of the State and whil'st men sought for Laurell to crown the Conquerour others sought for Capres to put upon his fathers head Clydemus died not lesse pleasingly since the praises which Greece gave him were the cause of his death and that he lost his life amidst his Triumph He also since the corruption of our nature makes up a part of our selves He is as well an effect of our temper as of a fever and as the agreement of the Elements makes us live their disagreement makes us die We carry the principles of death about us and from once that originall righteousnesse ceased to appease the differences between those parts whereof we are composed we began to die It is not necessary that the world disorder it selfe to bereave us of our lives though the seasons should not be put out of their pace we should not cease to perish And if death be to be feared we must resolve to fear life There are some people who apprehend any thing that happens of disorder in the world and who grow pale as often as they see rivers over-flow their banks as often as they hear thunder or see earth-quakes They think that every clap of thunder comes in pursuit of them and that the sea exceeds not her bounds but to drown them on the earth but the causes of our death are much lesse violent and more naturall For the earth should still stand stable under our feet though the
violent are more respectfull than is Sleep their first motions are only dangerous who can shun being surprized by them may fence himselfe against their fury they are as easily calmed as raised and knowing that reason is their sovereign they reserve some respect unto her even in their revolt But Sleep contemneth her authority it obligeth this Queen to withdraw her selfe into the center of her State and forceth her to abandon the extreamities It mingles force with sweetnesse to corrupt men steals so pleasingly upon a man as it hath got entrance before one be aware and reignes so absolutely that unlesse it withdraw itselfe it cannot be repulsed it 's violence is pleasing because sweet it 's Tyranny supportable because necessary and it 's authority is so absolute as it calmes those passions which reason cannot allay it takes from Conquerours the desire of glory quencheth the flames of unchaste love charmes the violence of choller draws displeasure in it's vapours and if it take not from desperate men the designe of making themselves away it doth happily bereave them of the means of doing it But he sels his good turnes at a deer rate since to cure our passions he bereaves us of our reason and puts us in a condition wherein we cannot exercise our vertues for though he cannot deface the habits thereof yet he interdicts us the use and brings us into the condition of wars under age who being born rich have not the liberty to dispose of their goods we have reason yet are not rationall Philosophers have high conceptions yet cannot discourse Princes conceive great designes yet cannot execute them Saints have good desires but cannot accomplish them and the faithfull have vertues and cannot practise them Dreams which may be termed the productions of sleep are not lesse injurious to man than is their father for they appear to men be the extravagancies of a drowsie imagination and the follies of a wise man there is no Philosopher which hath not some ravings in his sleep nor so well a govern'd mind which is not debaucht in dreaming the soule hath liberty onely left her to forme Chimaeraes and be it either that the vapours which arise from the bowels trouble her presented forms be it that the senses being drowsie make but confused reports unto her or be it lastly that the organs of our bodies being bound up hinder her operations she acts in such confusion and disorder as all her thoughts are but ravings and her discourses but extravagancies if she light rightly 't is by hazard and if in this bad condition she take a good resolution she is more obliged to fortune than to wisdome A man must either be superstitious or out of his wits to be guided by dreams and who takes their ravings for revelations is in great danger running mad if he be not so already We do not live in those days wherein God made his will known by dreams he treats no more with men a sleep but doth rather dispence his favours to those who are awake Since Truths have succeeded figures God doth not often declare his oracles by dreams and we learn his designs rather by prayer than by Sleep It is true that as his mercy makes us reap advantage by our misfortunes and turns our losse to our souls health so doth it make use of Sleep and dreams for our good the first sweetens our Pains drowns our displeasures and levels our conditions takes the crowns from off the heads of Kings Lawrels from Conquerors and Miters from Bishops breaks the bolts of Slaves opens the prison doors and if he do not restore liberty to captives he at least makes them forget their servitude The Prince hath no advantage over his subjects when they are both asleep though his bed be more stately his rest is no sweeter and if any remembrance of his greatnesse remain in him when asleep it causeth most commonly but disquiet and suspition All men are alike when asleep and sleep as well as death levels all conditions a Philosopher is not more able then an ignorant person when he sleeps the poor man is as happy as the rich when both of them have forgot their condition and pleasure and pain cause no difference in men when their senses are stupefied with sleep He who doth so many acts of justice do's some also of mercy for he prepares us for death reclaims us thereunto and being more prevalent than all the discourses of Philosophers perswades us that a man may die without pain since he sleeps every day with delight In effect sleep is a short death and death is nothing else but a long sleep the bed is a grave for one night and the grave a bed for many ages we expect to waken from our beds and we hope to rise again from our sepulchres thus one and the same thing teacheth us two differing Truths and sleep which fits us for death animates us to beleive the resurrection the dreams which he shapes whilest we rest and those pleasing illusions wherewith he diverts our soul when the senses refuse to serve her are either proofs or presumptions of our Immortality and we easily imagine that our soul may very well escape death since she is not wholly engaged in sleep which is deaths picture In fine dreams becomes often oracles our spirit being losened from the senses presages either good or bad fortune when it is retired to within it self it doth act more easily then when it is dissipated by objects Great Personages receive advertisement from Heaven sleeping and Angels treat with them whilest they cannot treat with men God chose the time of sleep to declare his designs unto his servants and in the old Testament the dreams of Saints were oracles and prophesies Ioseph wonne his credit in Egypt by interpreting Pharohs dreams and superstition which glories to imitate religion did always believe that her Gods declared their wils whil'st men slept But this advantage is as reproach full one to us and when the heavens deal thus with us it is doubtlesly to teach us that if we will be informed what their designs are we must forego our callings and that to purchase Faith we must renounce reason so as it is apparent enough that sleep and dreams upbraid us with our weaknesse and are punishments of our sin OF THE CORRUPTION OF All exteriour Goods called by the name of FORTVNE The Fifth Treatise The First Discourse That we must fear what we desire and desire what we feare T' Is with much reason that originall sin is by Saint Austine tearmed the universall corruption of nature since there is nothing left in man uncorrupted his understanding is so clouded with darknesse as he cannot discern truth from falshood his memory is so weakened as it is painfull for him to learn and naturall to forget his will is depraved as it loves nothing but what is pleasing to the senses His very aids are pernitious and the
and the seeking after it always dangerous Beauty is one of the excellentest perfections which religion acknowledgeth in God 't is the chiefe object of our beatitude and were not God as beautifull as he is good he would not be the desire and the happinesse of all rationall creatures yet we cannot seek after the possession of this advantage without danger in women pride accompanies beauty chastity and she are not upon good tearms and 't is a kinde of prodigy when a woman is as chaste as fair Greatnesse and power are two of Gods Attributes which merit equall honour each of them inspires fear into the soule of the creature if they be ravisht with his goodnesse his Majesty astonisheth them and if his beauty oblige them to love him his power enforceth them to reverence him Thus dividing themselves between respect and love they love him as their Father and adore him as their Sovereign yet this perfection which preserves the honour of God amongst men cannot without danger be wished for who prescribes not bounds to the desire thereof falls easily into errour and he who pretends to his greatnesse who hath no equall cannot avoid his just anger Lucifers undoing was for that he would reign in heaven if pride was his sin greatnesse was the object thereof and if that glorious Angell be now a devill 't is because his ambition made him wish himselfe a God The cause of his disaster is oft-times the cause of ours that which drove him from heaven banisht Adam out of Paradise this children of the unfortunate father mistaking his fault bear his punishment and finde by experience that of all worldly conditions the most glorious is most dangerous and the most absolute is most faulty It is more safe to obey than to command and let Kings be never so godly in their Thrones they run more hazard in their welfare then their subjects do the higher they be raised up by greatnesse the more are they threatened by vanity that which draws them neerer God keeps them the farther from him and the same Majesty which makes them his images makes them oft-times his enemies This condition placeth Kings upon the brink of a precipice the higher it is the more dangerous is it and like the highest mountains is always exposed to storms so great is the danger which doth accompany it as it may be doubted whether a Scepter be not aswell the punishment of Gods justice as the favour of his mercy The first King of Israel was a reprobate his election which was somewhat miraculous freed him not from sin neither could the prayers of a Prophet appease Gods anger his fault at first was but impatience and in the progresse thereof but a slight enterprize upon the priestly office The presence of his enemies whereby he was obliged to fight might serve him for an excuse and the laws of war which will have a man make use of advantages was a reason of state which might have sheltred him in the opinion of Polititians Yet this fault which had so fair an appearance was punished by the routing of his army he found death when he sought for glory and the same mountain which was the pitcht field wherein he set upon his enemies was the scaffold whereon he was punished by Divine Justice Poets who never read our scripture judged aright that Crowns were not always set upon the most innocent heads and that kingdoms were oftner the punishment of sin than the reward of vertue Iocasta made use of this reason to divert Polinices from the war which he undertook against Eteocles she assured him that without troubling himself with fighting he should be sufficiently revenged of a reigning brother for that a kingdome was a severe punishment and that of all his ancestors there was not any Sovereign who had not been unfortunate Though this Maxime be not always true in Christianity and that there have been Kings whose Thrones have served them for steps to mount up to heaven by 't is alwaies very dangerous to be raised to a condition which permits them to doe what they please and with not bereaving them of their passions unrulinesse affords them means of satisfying them For in this supream authority which hath no arbitrator nor censurer they can do what they will their power meets with no resistance all their councellors are their slaves and either flatttery or fear makes all men praise their injustice or bear with their violence if they be unchast 't is not safe to be chast in their dominions All women are not couragious enough to expose their lives to save their honour those who have worth enough to resist the vain discourses of men have not strength sufficient to withstand a Princes promises and there are but very few who will not hazard their chastity to triumph over the liberty of a Monarch If they be greedy they will find a thousand pretences to enrich themselves at their subjects costs and to fill their cofers with the spoyles of Orphans and Widows If they be cruell they will find fitting Ministers for their fury glorious names are given unto their faults all their revenges passe for acts of justice they are termed the Fathers of the people when they wash their hands in their subjects bloud their anger is animated by servile praise and their cruelty incouraged by approbation so as Kings have no greater enemies to their welfare then this uncurbed licentiousnesse which accompanieth their greatnesse and that absolute power which furnisheth them with means to execute all their designs But say they were lesse irregular and grant that reason assisted by Grace should keep them from abusing their Sovereign Authority they would not be exempt from fears and dangers For as they are the heads of their People they are answerable for their faults they commit all the evil which they do not hinder those publike disorders wherewith all the world is scandalized are the particular sins of Sovereigns When they examine their conscience they are bound to renew their state to consider whether justice be exercised in all their hightribunals whether the governors of Provinces do not abuse their power whether the nobility in the Countrey do not trample upon the poor sort of countrey people and whether the Judges suffer themselves not to be terrified by threats or corrupted by promises they ought to accuse themselves of all such faults as grow insolent thorow impunity and make their kingdomes disorders the chief article of their confession How great is this obligation how dangerous is this condition and what hazard is there in making good a dignity wherein Innocency becomes guilty where though exempt from sin one is not exempt from fear and where to acquit himself of his duty a man must to the quality of an honest upright man adde the quality of a good Sovereign In the state of innocency the world had had no kings or kings would have had no trouble for passion
troubled with the insatiable desire of riches yet would it be always prejudiciall to a sinner and he must wish to be poor if he would recover his innocency For all his desires are out of order all his wishes unjust and sin which doth possesse him engageth him continually in pernitious designes he owes all his innocency to his weaknesse and if he do not perpetrate all the evill which he projects 't is because Nature hath disabled him But riches deprive him of this advantage by affording him means to do what he desires and make a guilty man absolute by bereaving him of the happy disability whereinto poverty had brought him For if he be ambitious he opens the gate which leads to honour with a golden key if unchast he corrupts womens chastity by presents if angry he finds enough basely conditioned men who have courage enough to work his revenge and if he love good cheer he ransacks both sea and land to please his palat and satisfie his belly Thus is gold the instrument of all evill it attempts chastity corrupts justice sets upon innocency and oppresseth poverty When heaven is offended with a sinner it needs but onely make him rich to undo him and make him wealthie to make him wretched 't is equivalent to putting a good sword into a mad mans hands to the preserving of poyson in a christall glasse to one that is frantick and to the setting of a blind man upon the top of a precipice tapistred with Jessemine and Lillies On the contrary poverty is the sanctuary of innocency there are fewer faults where lesse of abundance Those who live by hunting and by fishing know not how to mingle poyson with their drink if they kill their enemies 't is with arrows and all their combats have lesse of art and more of generosity in them then ours have luxury governs not amongst men who go naked those families are not ruined with making stately structures who can shelter themselves under trees excesse in eating causeth no disasters in those who eat nothing but the fruits of the earth and the steem of wine bereaves not them of reason who drink nothing but spring water These innocent people value iron more then gold and prizing things according to their utility they prefer what is most commodious before what is most pleasing they make use of iron to arive their arrows with and to build their cabins the same metall serves them both for peace and war that which serves them for defence serves them for ornament and they place their riches where they find most commodiousnesse they barter gold with us for Iron they think they gain by an exchange wherein to obtein what they desire they hazard not their liberty nor do forego their countries they wonder that we crosse so many seas and run so many hazards for a metall which is but earth before it be refined which loseth his name in the fire which finds it beauty in it's torments which draws it's Lustre from the crusible and which becomes not gold before it hath wearied the patience of the workmen Pearls seem not more pretious to them if they fish for them in the sea 't is that they may sell them to us before our avarice had won them credit children who made them their play-games gave them to our merchants for cockle-shels they look upon these stones which we esteem pretious as the meer excrements of the fishes that produce them they blame the esteem we put upon them and being more rationall then we they conclude that we do worship the things onely by reason of their rarity Aboundance is always accompanied with contempt if gold were more common 't would be despised that which grows in our climate must passe into another to purchase reputation and as there are some fruits which are not good till transplanted so are there a thousand things in the world which are not prized till after they have changed their countrey Barbarians did prophane gold before they knew the price thereof because it was common amongst them they made use thereof in infamous things the chains of prisoners were made of this metall those who were most guilty were the most richly adorned that which is here the ornament of Princes was there the offenders punishment thus this people had found out a harmles way how to make this metall odious By all this discourse 't is easily gathered that riches are evils which though they be pleasing cease not to be dangerous that man is too much out of order to make good use thereof that they are serviceable but to one vertue yet of use to all sins Christians dispose of them by the way of alms and Philosophers by way of liberality But in the one and the other of them avarice doth unjustly accumulate them prodigality doth profusely dissipate them pride makes use of them to heighten her self vain glory to adorn her self and choller for revenge they are onely usefull when they are given away with delight and lost without sorrow Their losse is a kind of traffick he is wise who can acquit himself of them and he is happy who can live without them Jesus Christ despised them in his birth rejected them whilest he lived and condemned them in his death he who will be his Disciple must follow his example and who believes that they facilitate our salvation knows not that our Nature is corrupted by sin The sixth Discourse That since the losse of innocency Poverty is glorious The two loves that establish those two cities the one of which had Jesus Christ for it's King the other the Devil for it's Tyrant could never be reconciled together their designs are as opposite as their inclinations and though they oft-times march by the same track they always tend to rather contrary then differing ends This truth appears by the use which they make of the miseries of corrupted nature for self-love extracts sins from thence divine love vertues the one augments our evils whilest she would diminish them the other diminisheth them whilst she would augment them From the scorn whereinto we are fallen since our rebelllion self-love hath formed a design of raising her self up and giving against Gods Justice of finding her greatnesse in her abasement Divine love hath extracted humility from thence and with an innocent piece of cunning she leads us to glory by contempt Self-loue raiseth despair from death which is sins chiefest punishment and divine love raiseth from thence a sacrifice which expiats our offences and gives honour to Gods justice from the creatures revolt which doth revenge our outrages done to heaven self-love argues riot in apparel magnificence in buildings and all those other means which we have invented to defend our selves from the injuries of seasons and divine love which always prefers the glory of heaven before her own interest argues repentance from thence which teacheth us to undergo this persecution with humility In fine from the
Those dispensations which raise men to an absolute power which give them authority over the beasts or Elements are the reward of voluntary poverty If the chief of the Apostles did miracles 't is because he fore-went his goods if by his words he cured maladies 't is because he had forsaken all his riches if his shadow cure the sick 't is because his heart was never wounded with avarice and if nature bear a respect to his commandments 't is because he had vowed poverty When he healed the legs of the man that was born lame he began by a confession of his poverty he thought the first dressing which he was to apply to this evill was the contempt of riches Gold nor silver have I none saith he to this infir ne man but that which I have give I thee in the Name of Iesus Christ arise and walk Weaknesse bare respect to poverty nature violated her laws to obey the words of the poor and the heavens will was that he who could give no alms should do miracles In fine Paradise is the poors inheritance and after having commanded upon earth they shall reign with Jesus Christ in glory That which is promised to other vertues is performed to poverty in the acknowledgement of merit and the distribution of Crowns the poor are dealt withall as advantagiously as are Martyrs and these two conditions are equally rewarded in the Gospell to teach us that poverty is a kind of Martyrdom To say truth if men do miracles when they overcome pain when they tire their Torturers when they triumph over Tyrants and vanquish the Elements and wild beasts do not they do wonders when they preserve poverty amidst riches sobriety amongst Festivals when they go naked amidst the pomp of apparell when they are humble amidst honours and when they persevere to refuse the Goods which the devill promiseth them which the world offers them and which the flesh propounds unto them ought not they to be crowned who overcome the world with all it's promises who contemne the devill with all his illusions and who tame the flesh with the concupiscence thereof But in the advantages of poverty we ought to observe the unrulinesse of our nature which is reduced into such a condition as she cannot without danger make use of what she hath of good she cannot without injustice pretend to her ancient riches neither can she acquire new wealth without avarice we must look upon the things of this world without desiring them we must live upon the earth as in a place of exile and to be happy and innocent we must be poor or imitate those that are so The possession of riches is always accompanied with somwhat of Agglutination which is never without impurity we are slaves unto our wealth they possesse us when we think to possesse them we take pains in heaping them up are carefull in keeping them and sorrowfull in their losse 't is as troublesome to keep them as to lose them and the pain of purchasing them doth always exceed the pleasure of squandring them away To free a mans selfe from these misfortunes he must grow familiar with poverty he must sweeten his pain by suffering it patiently and look upon all the things of the world as upon goods which we had lost before were born We are ruined in the person of our first father our defeat as well as our default preceded our use of reason and the same fault which took from us our innocency bereft us of our riches If we make use of the blessings of the earth 't is out of mercy if the Sun light us the earth support us and the fruits thereof do nourish us 't is an obligation which we owe unto our God when once he pronounced the decree of our death our goods were confiscated to him the power of making use of them is a priviledge which we hold of his goodnesse and he deals with us as we do with those malefactors which we suffer to live in prison after their sentence of death is past if they dispose of their goods 't is by their Prince his favour and if they leave them to their children 't is by his permission Thus we ought to think that nothing belongs to us in this world that God gives us all which he takes not from us and that he makes use of his own rights when he re-demands that which he had but lent us When Famine doth dispeople the earth when all our labour cannot overcome her sterility and when the seed we sow answers not our expectation we ought to adore Gods justice which having sentenced us to death hath reserved unto himself the kind of our punishment If souldiers plunder our houses if they do what they please abroad if they burn what they cannot carry away and if they in a moment destroy what we have been gathering many years we must think that poverty is the punishment of our disobedience that we have no more right to our goods than to our lives and that he may well ruine us who can when it pleaseth him make us die If our families be undone by law if Judges be corrupted by the credit of a powerfull man if those who ought to defend us do oppresse us and if an unjust decree bring us to beggery let us remember that the decree pronounced against us in Paradise was more rigorous and more just that succession or industry is no prescription against Gods Justice that how soever our goods be gotten they are always forfeited to him and that processe at law is as lawfull a way to bereave us of them as fire or shipwrack In fine whatsoever losse befals us let us find our consolation in our offence let us make our punishment our remedie and whilst we consider that we are guilty let us not complain of being poor The seventh Discourse That Apparell is a mark of sin IF whole man be but meer vanity if Nature be out of order by his disobedience if his soul which hath the honour to be the image of God and which boasts of her innocency ceaseth not to find death in his sin if the will which joyned with Grace is the beginning of merit be more inclined to vice then vertue if his understanding which enlightens all the faculties of the soul be more capable of errour then of truth if all his knowledge be but meer ignorance if his most perspicuous vertues want not their faults and if his body be his souls prison we must not wonder that the necessity of apparel be a punishment of his fault as well as riot therein is a mark of his vain glory But as it often fals out that we are most taken with things of least consideration we find by experience that there are women in the world who would rather have their souls sullied then their cloths who would rather have the state be out of order then their head attire and who would be
Interest be the Rule of Superstition there is nothing in Nature more usefull for us then the Stars they are placed in the highest and most beautifull part of the world they seem to rule over us and that their favourable or maligne influences goes to the making of us fortunate or unfortunate We hardly partake of making any sensible favour but by their interposition and prophane men call them the arbitratours of chance and the dispensors of good and evil Though we be free they pretend to a certain power over our wils by the means of our inclinations a man must withstand stifly to resist their impressions and as most men act more by instinct then by reason we must not wonder if forming our temper and our humours they govern our designes and guide our motions Hence it is that all men have reverenced them that this hath been the commonest Superstition that the best wits who would not bow to men have prostrated themselves before the Stars and that the Sun hath passed amongst very Philosophers for the visible God of the world To say truth we owe all things to his heat and light his course governs our seasons his influences distribute forth fruitfulnesse through all the parts of the Universe Nature would be barren were it not for his beams and should this glorious constellation cease looking on her she would neither conceive nor produce his Eclipses though but of a small durance put her in disorder and the earth cannot want his heat without witnessing her sorrow by sterility if he be a long time hidden from us by clouds the yeares are unfruitfull and the Labourers pains are uselesse if he do not favour them by his aspect It must be granted that he who should consult with nothing but his own sense would acknowledge no other divinity but the Sun his very beauty parted from his advantage seems to exact some respect from all men his worth is not sufficiently known if he be valued onely for his effects Though he were barren he would not cease to be wonderfull and if the ripening of fruits and government of the seasons did not depend upon his heat and course his very light would suffice Seneca to adore him but God being jealous of his glory and not desirous that the supremest honours should be rendered to his works he hath revenged himself upon them for our sins he hath disordered them to punish us he hath tane from them their advantages to disabuse us and he hath order'd that the noblest creatures should have their blemishes to the end that their beauty might not make us Idolaters he took from them a part of their perfections when sin bereft us of our innocency and foreseeing that we should through blindnesse fall into errour he would not that their Lustre should serve us either for occasion or excuse he mingled death with life in the Suns beams he parted his light from his heat and did not permit them to joyn always together in acting equally the lightsomest places are not the hottest and those Countries wherein the Sun makes the longest days enjoy not the most pleasing Summers He for our punishment doth corrupt what for our service he had produced and as his influences do cause our health so do they our sicknesse likewise if he dissolve vapours into rain he makes them break forth in thunder if he ripen fruit he dries up flowers if he form meteors he sets Comets on fire if he make the dew fall so doth he also the Sercine or Mildew and if he deserve praise for the good he bringeth us he merits also blame for the evil which he sendeth us The fifth Discourse That all Creatures do either tempt or persecute us SInce Tyranny in Princes causeth rebellion in their subjects we must not wonder if the creatures do disobey man who treateth them with so much rigour and violating the laws of Justice imployes them in his offences against their common Sovereign For there is nothing in the world which hath escaped his fury the most innocent creatures in his hands are become criminall he makes them serve his unjust designes and not considering that he hath received them from Gods liberality he abuseth them contrary to his Glory Whatsoever presents it self before his eyes doth either flatter his ambition or his avarice that which in the state of innocency would have excited devotion in his soul causeth impiety therein now he turns all things to his advantage or to his honour and seeks for nothing in the use of nature but his pleasure or his profit He corrupts his Judges with gold he tames his enemies with the sword he kindles his concupiscence with wine and this furious Tyrant abuseth all things to undo himself his malice reacheth even to the most innocent Creatures making them confederates in his crime by an ingenious cruelty for he finds out the means how to make the chastest serve his unchastity he assubjects the noblest to his Ambition and imploys the holiest in his Impiety There is nothing that appears to be more cleeer then Chrystall if we will believe Philosophers 't is a water congeal'd by cold light is so inamor'd thereof as it cannot see it without penetration their imbraces are so chast as that their purity is not therein concerned their union is so streight as it is hard to say whether the Chrystall be changed into light or the light into Chrystall Chrystall becomes lightfull without softning it's hardnesse Light becomes solid without losse of Lustre or brightnesse their qualities are confounded without alteration of their nature and their marriage is so exact that they possesse in common all the advantages which nature hath given them in particular yet impurity makes chrystall serve it's infamous designes in looking glasses a woman growes in love with herselfe by seeing of her face she turns the fable of Narcissus into a truth she consumes in desires before her Idoll and after being sufficiently in love with her selfe she perswades her selfe she is able to make all men in love with her upon this assurance she undertakes the conquests of all hearts she joynes art to beauty to purchase her selfe lovers and she hazards her honour to encrease her Empire Who would have believed that impurity could have corrupted so pure a thing that the flames of love should be kindled in ice that chrystall intermixt with light should carry both smoak and flame into the heart of one and the same woman Looking Glasses were at first invented to the end that men seeing their defaults might amend them many advantages were made of this innocent art this faithfull Councellour gave good advice his dumb answers were speaking oracles and whosoever would listen unto them could not chuse but put on good resolutions A handsome woman learnt by her looking glasse that she was to shun dishonour that to become accomplisht she was to joyn vertue to beauty and not to be an hypocrite she was to be
in it's greatest storms not to out-passe it's bounds it takes nothing in one place which it repayes not in another it restores to Swethland what it hath taken from Holland and foregoes our coasts when it intrencheth upon our neighbours if the ebbing flowing thereof be sometimes irregular they never move to such a height as to threaten the whole world it's inroads are rather for pastime then mischief and should it have tane that liberty in the state of innocency man who very well knew the nature thereof would neither have been surprised nor astonished thereat But if it now spread it self over the fields if it cover the highest steeples with it's waves if it turn populous towns into lakes or ponds if it bear it's Empire beyond it's bounds and if breaking the banks which are made to oppose it's fury it threaten us again with an universall Deluge it follows rather the motions of Divine Justice then it 's own and this prodigie is rather an effect of Gods anger then of Nature Thus ought we to argue of that generall inundation which destroyed the whole world two thousand years after it was first made the cause came from heaven the decree was pronounced by Gods own mouth the execution thereof was given to the evil spirits the Elements received a new commission to obey their new order The earth furnisht part of the vapours which were to drown her the vapours distil'd down in rain rivers being swoln with such fall of rain broke their banks the sea not able to contain so many flouds forewent its bounds Towns were changed into ponds their streets were turned into rivolets their inhabitants quitted their houses the wals whereof were undermined by waters and equally fearing two contrary evils they know not whether they were to perish by the fall or by the drowning of their houses Torrents were seen every where which charged with booty did at the same time carry down the seilings of palaces and trees out of gardens all rivers lost their names and channels the Rhine was confounded with Rome Euphrates and Ganges were mingled together all those great rivers which had won fame by reason of the towns which they watered found their losse in their greatnesse and ruined themselves that they might ruine the whole world the tops of mountains made Islands in this wast Ocean which being by little and little quite effaced left the world at last drowned in waters there was then but one onely Element seen Whole Nature became a Sea in the which the winds guided a vessell which carried in it the worlds onely hope and which preserved eight people amidst this deluge which were to re-people the world It is very likely that so great a spoil was not made without Thunder and that to make this punishment the more dreadfull the Sun hid his face that the day gave place to night that the world was covered with darknesse and the Lightening was the torches which did attend the funerall pomp whilst any mountains were yet uncovered with water the remainders of man-kind were fixed there in this extremity no comfort but astonishment remained fear was changed into stupidity and the wonder which they conceived at this so hideous an accident did so possesse their spirits as they saw the sea without fear had not feeling of the mischief and perished without complaining Who will not confesse that so strange an accident could be no naturall effect who will not judge by the greatnesse thereof that it was a miracle of divine Justice who will not confesse that these disorders which tend to the ruine of man-kind are the punishments of sin and that nature would never have conceived so much indignation against her own children had she not believed to revenge their father by their death and to repair his honour by their punishment The eighth Discourse That Thunder Plagues and Tempest are the effects of Sinne. WHen I consider the worlds condition since sin me thinks I see a combat between self-love and divine Justice and that these two parties do with equall courage endevour to win the victory Divine Justice disorders the seasons to punish sinfull man altereth the nature of the elements robs the earth of flowers and covers it over with thorns makes the winters longer and Summers shorter and mingling the saddest of our seasons with all the other makes snow be seen in the spring and thick fogs in Autumn arms savage beasts with new fury draws them out of their forrests to set on sinners in towns destroyes her own workmanship ruines the beauties of the world to take revenge of the Lord thereof and raiseth up as many enemies against him since his sin as he had Subjects during his innocency Self-love imploys all it's industry to to repair these disorders and by tricks which seem to augment it's sin withstands all the designs of Divine Justice it cultivates the earth and by it's labour makes her fruitfull it ingrafts roses upon thorns and indevours to make the place of it's exile a stately palace it hath had such good successe in it's enterprizes as the sinfull world comes not far short of the world when innocent did our first father live again and partake of our contentments he would not so much lament the losse of the earthly paradise but blaming the tears which his banishment drew from him he would passe his time merrily away with his children in so pleasing an abodâ— In effect all things are refined by time solitary places are inhabited forrests which infused horrour into those who saw them furnish hunters with pastime the barren sands are sowed upon vines are planted upon rocks Marish grounds are dried that they may be plough'd up and provinces are now fuller of palaces then formerly they were of cottages Islands are no longer un-inhabited and those famous rocks which made the Pylots tremble now bear high Towers for Land-marks unto them and Towns to receive them all the parts of the world are peopled nor are there any desarts which have not some Inhabitants and houses But let self-love use all the cunning that it can there are some mischiefs which wee cannot shâ— and there are some disorders in the world which will oblige us to confesse that the wisedome of man cannot defend it self against Gods anger Thunder is of this sort and one must have lost his reason not to fear a cause which produceth such strange effects All Poets have armed the hands of God therewithall and nature which is the Mistresse of Infidels hath taught them that he makes use thereof to punish offenders the lightenings which fore-run it the noyse which doth accompany it and the prodigies which follow after are undeniable proofs of this truth Let Philosophy defend her self against it by her vain reasons let her oppose her pride to our feaâ— let her destroy religion by her libertinisme she cannot keep reasonable men from redoubting thun-Thunder and from confessing by the fear
her self after the pains which those wonders have occasioned her which she hath continued since the beginning of the world she goes astray for sports sake and for her pastime commits faults yea her disorders are oft-times usefull to us she produceth Monsters to fore-shew things to come and goes out of her ordinary course to advertize us of Gods anger Thus we may observe that in all ages the birth of Monsters have been followed with some disasters and the worlds irregularity hath presaged the like in kingdomes All the predictions of Pagans were grounded upon these prodigies they studied the guidance of Empires in that of nature and judged of the ones disorder by the others debaucheries When Caesar and Pompey fought in the Pharsalian fields and that the Romane Common wealth was upon the point of being changed into a Monarchie beasts were the interpretors of nature the Elements violated their qualities it rained bloud and a generall confusion did foretell the alteration of that state As famous Princes have had new constellations which have discovered them Tyrants have had Monsters to proclaim them and the Births of the one and of the other have had these Fortunate or Unfortunate Predictions Poysons are not so mischievous but that some good use may be made of them when they are prepared by physick good medicines are made of them there are some sicknesses which cannot be cured but by corrected poyson the greatest part of those drugs which we make use of to assist nature when she is weakened by sicknesse partake more of poison then of nourishment and onely help the naturall heat by provoking it and by contesting with it If they be contrary to our constitutions they are good for and do preserve some creatures and if they be averse to man they are favourable to the asp and viper their venom is not to be taken from them without taking away their lives the Antidotes which preserve us kill them and as if they imprinted their qualities in us when they sting us their stingings are not to be cured but by their poison Who knows not the vertue of venomous plants is ignorant of the half of Nature she subsists by contrariety and as she indues her works with differing qualities she must preserve them by contrary remedies that which is hurtfull for some is good for other some and amongst the infinite number of creatures whose Constitutions are so different there is nothing which is absolutely bad or unusefull These are the usuall reasons which Philosophy makes use of to defend her errour in maintaining Natures part but being prest by truth she must confesse that these Monsters are the products of sin and that the earth never bore them till since it was covered with Thorns the motions thereof were too regulaâ— in the state of innocency to commit any faults the heavens were too favourable to it in their aspects to corrupt it's workmanship this charitable Mother would rather have been barren then fruitfull in Monsters and all her children were so beautifull as she was not bound to make any ilfavoured to set the others off she hath placed variety enough in her productions without being forced to transgress that she might vary them though she be not always serious she had never been debauched and before she was corrupted she would not have found her diversion in her disorder Who knows not that Monsters are the errours of Nature that she had no design in making them that she is sorry she hath produced them that she treats them as illegitimate children that she shortens their life to efface her own shame that repenting her of her fault she speedily corrects it and re-assumes her ordinary Tract which she went not out of but only for want of heed or being surprized 'T is chance and sin that produceth Monsters they are not born but by unlawfull coupling they are always barren to the end they may have no posterity their Species is never preserved and let men who delight in Natures debaucheries use their utmost skill they could never perpetuate Monsters nor make them generate We behold them with horrour the delight which they cause in us is mingled with aversion if their novelty do delight us their strange shape doth displease us and after having for a while admired them we are scandalized and nauseated with them These just resentments are infallible proofs that sin is the father of all Monsters and that as we detest the father so do we his children But that which confirms our belief therein the more is the rarity of them amongst beasts and their frequency amongst men for these innocent creatures being only so far guilty of our sins as they are subject to our power they do not stray so often as we in their productions there is but one part in the world where they commit these faults and set aside Affrica where Monsters are common Europe and Asia do scarce produce two in one age but men are irregular in all places the greatest part of their productions are monstruous all their children bear the marks of their debauchery and the punishment of their sin we see the mothers wishes stampt on their childrens faces some tokens of their parents incontinency are seen in the bodies of these Innocents and generation is so corrupted amongst men as they cause either horrour or pity in Natures self some of them cannot stand upright by reason of the weaknesse of their legs and are enforced to seek for help for their infirmities unlesse they will make their house their perpetuall prison some carry mountains on their backs and makes some that see them doubt whether not having the shape of men they be endued with the judgement and reason or no some are so deformed in their faces as one would rather take them for Munkeys than for the Images of God others speak with such confusion and with so much difficulty as Parrots may teach them our language some are born blinde and are condemned to darknesse all their life time others cannot explain themselves and their tongues not being able to speak cannot be the Interpreters of their thoughts others cannot understand those pleasing discourses which fill the souls of those that listen thereunto with the light of truth they rather guesse at our intentions then understand them to make them capable of them we must speak unto them with our hands and make them understand that by the eyes which cannot be infused into them by the eares In fine the greatest part of men are Monsters Nature mistakes her selfe oftner in them then in beasts and be it that their intemperance causeth these disorders be it that these irregularities are produced by the imagination which is more quick in them be it that their Temper which is more refined is more easily altered we see that most children inherit their Parents defects as well as their sins and that they are not born monstrous till they be born