Selected quad for the lemma: scripture_n
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A40047
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Essays suppos'd to be written by Monsieur Fouquet being reflections upon such maxims of Solomon as are most proper to guide us to the felicity of both the present and the future life / translated out of French.
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Fouquet, Nicolas, 1615-1680.; Gage, E.
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1694
(1694)
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Wing F1650; ESTC R36469
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80,413
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228
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soever you may be carry the Remembrance about with you into all Companies and converse with it interiorly whilst others are thinking only of laughing and diverting themselves be you attentive to mind what it will tell you and to let its Doctrine enter into your Heart Doubt not but it will enter and be you never so ignorant at the present within a short time you will have no more need of running after Casuists to learn what are the obligations of a Christian Life or to put Questions concerning the Duties of your Conscience you will know every thing and be able to answer all its Doubts your self nor will you then have the least Thought of going to the Learned Doctor 's with such Disguise as may make them pronounce you safe from your just Fears or endeavour to use such Means as they may counsel you to carry your Sins with you into another World The Fear of Death first introduced Physicians and the Forgetfulness of Death Casuists In a word during your Divertisements in the time of your Affairs and in every occasion of your Life be sure to keep what I have told you in your Eye put your Questions to Death and converse with her she will make you more knowing in the Morals than all those Rigorous Teachers who writ in their Books and speak in their Sermons so many Rare Matters touching dying suddenly in an ill state but who being once out of the Pulpit forget all they have said and lead a Lawless Life in Disorder and Looseness That would prove a fine Book of Morality for your Closet which the Emperor Heradius kept in his a Death's Head with these three words on the Forehead What I am now you will be to morrow There is no Difficulty you can have in your Conscience that this admirable Casuist will not answer in every Point MAXIM VII Dedit illi Sapientiam Sanctorum honestavit illum in laboribus Sap. x. PARAPHRASE God has conferred on the Wise Man the Science of the Saints and has employed him gloriously in such occasions as have placed him by the help of that Divine Science in the Rank of Extraordinary Men. REFLECTIONS I have said That one part of your Happiness during this Mortal Life is to be knowing and that one part of the Knowledge proper for your Calling is Divinity Perhaps this may cause your wonder but nevertheless it is a matter you have heard of long since and have begun to practice and undertake many years ago Have not the first Lessons you have been taught after your coming into the World and the first Pains you have been put to in your Cradle been to learn the Articles of the chief Mysteries of the Christian Faith In so much as that to help you to arrive at that Happy Condition I have been speaking of all that I shall add to the Instructions which were given you in those days is but thus much O Christian whosoever you are that which came out of your Mouth at your Prayers when you were two years old say now the same from your Heart and believe perfectly that which you say for as all the Lessons of Death are included in the word Memento in the like manner are all those of the Gospel included in the word Crede Believe Do not imagine that to become a great and true Divine in the School of Jesus Christ it will be necessary for you to know the Truths of his Doctrine by the Experience of your Eyes or the Speculation of your Wit or by the Reasonings of those Masters who consecrate their Days to the penetrating into these impenetrable Mysteries The most Able Masters know nothing certainly of this Supernatural Divinity more than what they know by their Faith And to the end that you may know as much of it as they do the whole consists in acknowledging sincerely from the bottom of your Heart and weighing in your Mind with devout Reflections that which you learnt hereof in the time of your most tender years and that which the first Women came about you did believe for you when they taught it you At the times of your daily Devotions do you venerate with an humble submission of your Thoughts the Propositions which the Holy Scripture sets forth to you of the Trinity of Persons the Incarnation of the Word the Resurrection of Mankind c. And from that instant when at the prospect of these unspeakable Mysteries prostrating your self before the Altar your Soul transported with Admiration and Love you shall pronounce these words Credo Domine adjuva incredulitatem meam I believe O Lord but yet O Soveraign Disposer of my Life support you my Weakness and Ignorance with the assistance of your Grace I say from that Instant you shall become a greater Doctor in Divinity than all those learned and proud Professors who speak like Angels touching the Trinity but believe what they say of it less than you do A firm Faith with the Symbole of the Apostles imprinted in your Heart by the Finger of the Holy Ghost raises you in a moment to that degree of Capacity that the Angels would aim at were they to live with us in this World below and would they strive to please God and be ranked in the number of his Elect. Their Principal Employment in my opinion would be the same that I invite you to which is to meditate on and sign by continual Acts of an obedient and blind Love the first words of the Testament of Jesus Christ In Principio erat Verbum Verbum Caro factum est I say not this to blame the laudable and just Curiosity you may have to mind when you are at Church what is preached upon these Theological Mysteries or what the Learned say of them in teir Assemblies or during their private Discourses On the contrary I hold be you of what Condition you will That it must prove much to your Honour to understand them so well as to be able to speak knowingly of them upon occasion and I say further that the more advantage you have over the Common Sort by your Birth and Parts the greater aptitude you have to comprehend these high Verities and the more Prevailing way of communicating them to others and of setting them forth in Company It cannot be other than a very advantageous Sign in a Person of Quality to find his Inclinations lead him to the contemplating the high Mysteries of our Religion and the endeavouring to find out what lies hidden in the Parables of the Gospel and the dark Enigma's of the Prophets Certainly there must be something great and noble in that Soul which is pleased with a Contemplation that makes the Delight of the Angels The famous Saying of Tertullian That the Soul of Man is naturally a Christian relates particularly to great Souls if there be any such they are those that come into the World with a secret impression of Veneration towards the Person of our Saviour and with a holy
your Beds head in the silent beginning of the Night discoursing with your Mind by private Inspirations and helping you to rest holily through the sweetness of this interiour Conversation In the Morning he is also with you expecting to meet with an Expression from you of the Trust you repose in him such as may shew you deposite with him all your Cares of every day and whereas he fails not to be present before you at the moment of your waking fail not on your part to raise your Eyes and stretch your Arms out to him Anima mea desider avit te in Nocte sed Spiritu meo in praecordiis meis de mane vigilabo ad te O my Beloved said a holy Soul how innumerable have my Thoughts been of you this Night how many Sighs how many Tears have you cost me I ran after you through Desart places where it was all darkness De Mane Vigilabo ad te Question not my Beloved but that I love you since the first motion of my waking Heart tends to enquire whether I be so happy as to be beloved by you still this day and to learn that you are nearer me than I imagined by my Fears MAXIM XXI Non habet amaritudinem Conversatio illius nec taedium Convictus illius Sap. viii PARAPHRASE Such as converse familiarly with GOD learn how to converse well with Men their Hearts are free from peevishness and gall and their discourse in company proves neither tiresom nor offensive To become acceptable to Men it our daily Conversation we must follow the Rules that are to be observed for preventing our being displeasing to God in the interiour Discourses of our Thoughts REFLECTIONS Amongst all the Entertainments Nature has provided for us to give ease to the tediousness our Banishment during this mortal Life there is not any so decent and so pleasing as the meeting of Company to converse one with another This Inclination of mutually communicating our Thoughts was born in us with our immortal Soul they both derive themselves from the same origin that is they come from the Bosom of God the one and the other is framed according to the Pattern of what passes eternally amongst the three Persons of the Trinity Persons adorable and infinitely happy because their Society and Communication is eternal To converse with his Likeness is the Eternity of God the Life of an Angel and as for Man it is the cure of the Cares and Pains of his Mortality whilst he sojourns here below amongst Beasts One of our Priviledges and most glorious Elevations above them is that they cannot partake of this Benefit It is a sad thing nevertheless that amongst all the Customs divinely instituted this which both Nature and Grace has setled amongst us should be blacken'd with the greatest Faults and be the most shamefully abused of any No Man but knows how things go in this kind how numerous the Sins are that grow from unchaste and detracting Tongues and how many Tears these daily cause All our Misfortunes in a manner spring from this Fountain head You would know which way this may be remedied the Remedy has been asked and fought for during these many years but no one can boast of having found it out as yet and there is cause to fear it never will be found indeed we may well doubt it but yet we need not doubt withal but that each particular Person may acquit himself of all the Duties belonging to a Civil Life and frequent company when it ought to be done without injuring his Fidelity to God or the Obligation he lies under not to expose himself to the manifest danger of mortal Sin The Means which the Holy Scriptures and our Spiritual Guides propose for this are several I here present you with a short Collection of their Counsels and Instructions relating to this Subject 1. When you are invited says Solomon to go into such Company as will present you with Poison hid in the bottom of the most delicious Liquors and where you are sure to meet with the blackest Crimes mixed with the most inviting Pleasures that is when they go about to draw you into one of those Houses from whence you never faâ—l to return but more faulty and a greater Sinner than you went in whatsoever Reasons may be urged or Entreaties made or Violence used to you take heed you never yield resist and be constant in your resistance go not to seek for Pleasure and Sin where you must meet with Death and Hell Viae domus ejus penetrantes in interiora Montis Prov. vii 2. When you happen to be making other Visits in which you have been harmlesly engaged without the foresight of any hurt or danger if nevertheless there appears such says St. John the Evangelist as soon as any signs of it be shewn as soon as you hear any bold Blasphemy pronounced or words of high Impudence which scandalize you and terrifie your Conscience flye away without deliberation and suffer not the Health of your Soul to be longer exposed to so bad an Air in a place where amongst all that are about you laughing without controul there is not one perhaps but has the Plague and Sin lodged in his Heart Exite de illa populus meus ut ne participes sitis delictorum ejus de plagis eis non accipiatis Apoc. xviii 3. But if matters stand in that way as will not allow you to take your flight at least take the liberty to speak and declare your Mind boldly do like the Prophet Isaiah arm your Looks with the Zeal and Anger of a Seraphim put on a Forehead of Brass not to be daunted nor made ashamed and let your Temper shew a Courage without Pity In this posture present your self before these Libertines who neither regard God's Presence nor yours and by some generous Remonstrance that may set before their Eyes the Infamy of their Brutishness make them hide their Heads and Faces for shame Vt Videant sentiant urantur This was the way of the ancient Prophets and is still the way of such as are true Saints in the Church of the Son of God 4. But then in case you should find your Courage and Parts not sufficient for this Undertaking and that you should fear instead of confounding the Sinners they might scandalize the Company by turning Devotion into Ridicule Keep your Tongue silent says the Prophet but let your Eyes speak You must says he make these Atheists see in your Eyes and Looks a dreadful Sadness and Horror when they begin to open their Mouths and vomit up in the presence of Persons of Honour the Filth and Corruption that lies within their Souls Per tristitiam vultus corrigitur animus delinquentis Say not a word but be sad this way has had Success in the correcting of Sinners whom Noise and Dispute could never soften Imitate that generous Nun of St. Clare's Order who having heard some obscene Complements that were