IV. Of Gluttony Its Evils Its Remedies The signs of its being conquered 1. THe first War thou art to wage is against the vice of Gluttony which furnishes matter to the rest Gluttony gave a beginning to the death both of our Bodies and Souls For our first Parents by eating the forbidden Apple slew all men before they begot them Now the Enemies of Souls make use of the same Bait that by weakning all our vigour they may worry us and trample on us Hence spring Stupidity Tepidity Tediousness hence Scurrility Loquacity Dissolution hence Vneleanness Brawls Contentions hence dulness of mind drowsiness of spirit destruction of all vertue hence profusion poverty a long chain of diseases and death it self hastned by an over-heavy burthen of undigested victuals There are few infirm persons whom Gluttony drave not to their diseases For if the Body abounds not with bad humours ingendred by the excess of meat and drink although it may be attempted by a sickness yet it cannot be subdued by it Gluttony kills more than the Sword 2. O the base servitude of the Belly O insatiable Cupidity Nature has given thee no great body and thou exceedest the greediness of the greatest and most gluttonous Animals A Bull is fed with the herbage of a few Acres one Wood nourishes many Elephants but the World seems little to thee whatsoever flyes in the Air whatsoever swims in the Sea whatsoever runs in the Forrests do not satisfie thy ravenous appetite Cast an eye into Noblemens Kitchens and contemplate the Cooks running busily up and down amongst those many fires look upon the sweating numbers of Men and Maid-servants consider the slaughters of the Fowl and the Sawces swimming in Wine observe with what industry they order the Plates with what art they marshal the Messes place the Dishes and execute their respective imployments You would scarcely believe it were to feed one only Family that the Wine of so many Consuls and Kingdoms is drawn out that the Table is furnished with so great magnificency I do not advise thee to withdraw nouriture from thy Belly It is froward it may not be contradicted it stands in need of daily sustenance But a subtle and deceitful snare of Concupiscence lyes here concealed which frequently fetters the Soul and upon pretence of Necessity provides Fewel to foment Pleasure Wilt thou know with how little Hunger is extinguished Count thy self measure thy body consult thy stomach Thou wilt find that not to be necessary which exceeds the measure A little suffices Nature nothing satisfies Luxury 3. Hunger is not ambitious but is content to leave off not caring wherein it ceases The momentary judgment of the Pallat being past the precious relishes no better than that which is common and good cheap If thou art hungry thou must eat if thirsty thou must drink but whether the Bread is made of ordinary Corn or of the finest Flower whether the Water is fetch'd from the next Fountain or refresh'd with cooling Snow Nature is not at all concern'd This one thing she commands that Hunger be appeased that Thirst be quenched Fishes caught in the upper and lower Sea sought in the Lakes and Rivers Birds brought down from Heaven Beasts surprized in the Woods and Forrests several sorts of Tast-pleasing Wines and all the curious seasonings of Apicius are the torments of unhappy Luxury Epicurus commends a sober Diet even for pleasures sake Nothing is so dainty which satiety renders not insipid nothing so unsavoury which hunger makes not delicious Wouldst thou be freed from all superfluous care of Meat and Drink Consider thy end Thou must shortly dye and this Body pamper'd with such variety of curiosities must serve for food to filthy Worms Ponder for what Guests thou preparest a Feast and so nurture thy Flesh as not to oppress thy Mind Make use of such meat as may easily be had and every where met withall without impoverishing thy Patrimony or prejudicing thy Health A mannerly and well-tutor'd Belly is a great part of Liberty We understood not how many things are superfluous till they began to be wanting The Body stands in need of nourishment not of Junkets or Dainties 4. But there 's no cause to praise thy self if thou only despisest superfluities Then thou art praise-worthy when thou contemnest necessaries when thou canst perswade thy self that brown Bread and Wine weakned with Water suffice for thy sustenance when thou hast learn'd that Herbs were not provided only for Beasts but for men also Then I admire thee when in taking thy Refection thou intendest the bare necessity of Nature the only reparation of thy Forces the sole glory of God when thou comest unwillingly to the Table and takest thy meat as sick persons take a Medicine when thou strivest to curb and moderate since thou canst not totally hinder the pleasure of thy Tast when 't is irksome to thee to admit any thing which is extraordinary by reason of thy infirmity when finally thou hast obtain'd perfect purity both of Mind and Body For the proof of Abstinence consists not in the attenuation of the Body but in the perfection of Chastity CHAP. V. Of Luxury How foul a vice it is How easie is the Relapse into it and how it may be avoided The Pleasure of the Mind which is solid is to be sought after 1. NO Vice is filthier then this nor of which we may be more ashamed The very Name of it is not without ignominy as the Apostle intimated when he commanded that such matters should not so much as be named amongst us Hence proceeds that shamefac'dness which seizes upon ingenuous and modest persons if they suspect that having committed any such crime of Vncleanness it is come to the knowledge of others Hence it is that some conceal the slippery Errors of their Youth from the Minister of Christ in the Tribunal of Penance chusing rather to undergo eternal torments with eternal disgrace after their Death than the imaginary infamy of this Vice in their Life-time He that is mir'd in this Puddle scarcely gets loose from it His Salvation is desperate who is infected with this disease For what can hurmane forces here do No one can be Continent unless God gives it 2. The first Remedy therefore of this Malady is fervent Prayer to the Divine Majesty that he who only hath the power will please to purisie and preserve thee Then thou art to repress all impure imaginations in their very first access with such speed as thou wouldst shake off a burning Coal from thy Garment The Castle is ready to be deliver'd up when the Governour gives way to discourse with the Enemy All occasion of Evil is also to be cut off proceeding from Idleness from Gluttony from all impure Objects from the Society and Conversation of bad people nor is there any thing to be neglected in this wrestling conflict There are certain Reliques of this Vice remaining even in Just men which must be entirely rooted out There lyes
fame shall be perpetuated what will this avail thee when thou art dead what doth it avail thee now thou art alive One may often be praised where he is not and punished where he is The true value of each thing is in it self neither is it better if praised nor worse if it wants praise The Sun if it hath no beholders doth it therefore lose any part of its Light Is the Figg depriv'd of its sweetness the Flower of its beauty the Gemme of its brightness unless their perfections are praised and admired 'T is a great argument of a high and heroick mind to slight mens praises and to content himself with himself Thou losest thy praises if thou lookest for them for what in thee is praise-worthy How great is thy Frailty how much thy Misery how uncertain thy Salvation Shouldst thou persorm all that thou art obliged thou art still an unprofitable Servant but with what Face dar'st thou averr that thou hast done all to which thou wert obliged Fear therefore that thou art not within what thou art said to be without and reflect whether that is not praised in thee for which thou art displeasing to thy self Render to God what thou hast received from him to Be to Live to Vnderstand nothing will be left thee but Sin Since therefore thou art Nothing of Nothing thou canst not glory Thou wilt begin to be Something when thou shalt know thou art Nothing CHAP. X. Of the Government of the Body Of the Custody of the Senses How far the Body is to be indulged The liberty of the Eyes is to be curbed The excess in Apparel condemned 1. KEep close to this found and wholsome form of Life to give to thy Body so much as is enough to preserve thy Health It is to be harshly treated lest it should not well obey thy mind It is to be indulged not served Let Food asswage Hunger Drink quench Thirst Cloaths keep from Cold a House shelter from the injuries of the Weather as for other things which useless industry hath added as it were for ornament avoid and dread them for by them deceits are prepared against thy Soul Thou art Greater and designed for Greater matters than to be a base slave to thy Body which surely thou oughtest no otherwise to look upon than as a Prison of thy Mind and a Fetter of thy Liberty An honest and prudent man provides for it not as if he liv'd for it but because he cannot live without it The Body is the Instrument of the Soul And what Artist neglecting his Trade spends his time in whetting his Tools 'T is the property of a dull spirit to be imploy'd in the Bodies services 2. Since by the windows of the Senses Death enters into the Soul strive to lead them from the Earthly life to the Heavenly and wean them by little and little from an over-serious attention to the work they are upon that they may not too greedily immerse themselves in the delights of worldly Objects The Senses ought to serve not command The licence of the Eyes is in the first place to be chastised for they being very quick in their action and speedily transmitting the Images of many things to the Phantasie and from thence to the Mind will sow the feeds of grievous sins in the Appetite if they be not strongly barrocaded If the purity of the interiour Eye accompanies the rectitude of the exteriour thou wilt every where find the footsteps of God and when thou hast learned to worship God in his Creatures thou wilt sweetly raise up thy mind from them to the Contemplation of his Divine Majesty A trick'd-up Woman is an elaborate Luxury never fix thy sight upon her for thou wilt perish Frequent not Comedies Balls Dances Stage-plays for they dissipate the mind and so possess it with vain solicitudes that it cannot crect it self to Heaven When the Eye erres the Affection will be faulty 3. The Hearing is the sense of Discipline by which as by the Gate the notions of Truth and Wisdom enter into the Mind Hedge thy Ears therefore with a provident circumspection lest Falshoods instead of Truths and Folly instead of Wisdom should break into the Store-house of thy Heart Shut them against Slanders shut them against Murmurers shut them against Toys Idle talk and every thing which conduceth nothing to thy Souls profit As one who hath heard a Consort of Musick bears away with him that sweet Modulation in his Ears even after he is departed from the place where he heard it So a bad Discourse although it hurts not presently yet it leaves seeds in the Mind which stick longer and by intervals return Thou shalt by so much the more frequently hear God speaking in thy interiour by how much the less frequently thou hearest the talk of men All Odoriferous Perfumes made by Art belong to effeminate persons wherefore rejecting all sophisticated Odours endeavour by thy holy conversation to exhale the sweet fragrancy of Virtues Thou shalt check thy Tast by Abstinence and Sobriety Thy Touch by Hair-cloaths Disciplines uneasie Lodgings and other asperities 'T is better to afflict the Body and preserve it than by hurtful blandishments to destroy both Body and Soul eternally 4. Since the inward state of the Soul is most commonly manifested by the outward Dress and Cloathing of the Body remove far from thee such things as are the usual marks of a depraved and unsetled Mind Those Heathens who in old times were reputed Wise-men would not permit their Disciples to put forth so much as a Finger without some reason I enact not of thee so strict a rectitude but I wish and I here declare it that thou wouldst abstain from loud Laughter from Scurrility from dissolute Behaviour from gesticulations of Hands from an over-hasty gate to the end nothing may appear in thee which may give offence to the beholders not the sordidness of thy Garments not the wrinkles of thy Forehead not the incomposition of thy Manners not any signs of Contempt or of a Mind averse from the Company not any thing which may beget a loathsomness or distast Many things which may be honestly done may not honestly be seen 5. Man was created Naked and was not asham'd for his unknown nakedness could not make him blush But after he had sinned and cast off the Cloak of Innocency which sufficiently cover'd him an outward Garment was necessary to veil his shame What was then inflicted as a Punishment is now made use of as a Prerogative of Dignity Garments are fought after not to cover but to adorn and such as may please the Eyes and Lusts of others The Habit is the Index of the Mind To be over-curious in Cloaths and to compose the countenance out of a Box and by a Looking-glass is a Womanish Vice The outward dress will confound thee if thou wilt reflect what it covers He who hath within the ornaments of Virtues values not the external garnishments of his attire Virtue
things as are not within the reach of thy own power 'T is a misery to have that wanting to the Will which is hoped for 2. The Mind is frequently to be admonished to look upon all things which are without thee and about thee as perishable and hanging by a slender Thread Why forgettest thou thy own Condition Thou art born Mortal Nothing is promised thee of this Day nothing of this Hour Death stands at thy back whatsoever thou hast is but borrowed the use of it is thine so long as it pleases the supreme Arbiter of all things When he calls all is to be rendred up without complaint 'T is the part of a perverse Debtor to injure his Creditor There 's nothing therefore under the Sun which thou oughtest to hope for That only is a true Hope which is rightly conceiv'd of the true and chief Good 3. Despair is caused by Sloathfulness Dejection of mind an over-great apprehension of Difficulties a faulty Diffidence of ones self and of the defect of his own Forces and Industry 'T is conquered by exciting the Mind to imitate their Example who being in far greater anguishes generously overcame all Obstacles Begin and drive on thy self for God helps them who do what they can and thou wilt find that most easie which seem'd most hard if the false Opinion concerning it is deposed Whatsoever happens to thee that all was designed from Eternity Now that either falls out as thou by Nature art disposed to endure it or otherwise if the first despair not but bear it if otherwise yet do not despair for whatsoever it is it will soon have an end and make an end of thee That 's light which thou canst bear short which thou canst not But remember that it is in thy own Power to render many things tollerable if thou wilt apprehend them as profitable and convenient Calamity is the occasion of Virtue CHAP. XVII Of Fear How Vain it is and how to be Vanquished Boldness to be avoided Something again of Anger 1. MAny there are who when there is no present Evil nor any assuredly to come do nevertheless rage and run about and either feign a Misfortune to themselves or increase it Humane cruelty hath not invented so many torments as a Mind endures which is ever anxious of the future which is over-solicitous to preserve his present Goods and over-apprehensive of future dangers Many things which would not be Evils are so because we fear them What profits it thee to be troubled before the time and by a vain providence to meet thy own Miseries Must thou needs be now miserable because thou mayst be so hereafter 'T is the part of a Fool to give up his reason to other mens relations and when no apparent signs foretell the Mischief to be terrified with false imaginations Oftentimes thou being deceiv'd with a sinister conjecture wrestest a Word of doubtful signification to the worst sence Sometimes thou conceivest the offence of a Nobleman to be greater than indeed it is and thinkest not how far forth he is angry but what he may do being angry But these Fears are vain and therefore trouble more because vain For true things have their measure but what comes from uncertainty is left to the conjecture and liberty of the timerous Mind It little differs whether thou endurest adverse fortune or expectest it but only there is a measure of grieving none of fearing Thou grievest for as much as thou knowst has hapned thou fearest for as much as may happen 2. If thou wilt put off all Fears propose that whatsoever thou dreadest lest it should come will certainly come then measure that Evil with thy self and tax thy Fear thou wilt soon perceive that the thing thou fearest is not in it self great but in thy Opinion Can any harsher misfortune befall thee than to be thrust into Banishment cast into Prison Can thy Body dread any thing more than to be burnt to death Discuss these particulars and reduce them to thy true Fear thou wilt find many even Infidels who contemned all these things Stephen amongst the Stones prayed to God with 〈…〉 Mind Lawrence triumphs in the Flames and insults over the Tyrant The Virgin Apollonia casts her self into the prepared Fire Anaxarchus smiles in the Mortar being beaten to pieces with Iron Malls Socrates chearfully drinks a health to Critias out of his poysoned Cup. Why dreadest thou Flames and Fires and the frowning looks of the Executioners who encompass thee Under all that pomp which affrights Fools Death lies hid which so many Boys and Girls have with joyful minds embraced Take away tumults from things put off their vizards restore to every thing it s own Countenance thou wilt see nothing terrible in them besides the terror it self That happens to us greater Children which does to little ones They if they see them whom they love with whom they live with whom they play personated and disguised are affrighted But thou more silly than Children art arriv'd at that height of Folly as not only to be vext at grief but with the Panick Fear of it 3. Lead thy Mind from the private to the Common Cause Think thou hast a frail and mortal Body subject to many Diseases and at last to Death And say to thy self I knew long since that many adverse verse Accidents hung over my Head What therefore do I now dread I shall be Sick The Sickness of my Body will conduce to the Health of my Soul I shall be reduc'd to Poverty My Life will be safer and more quiet I shall lose my Riches And with them many Cares and perpetual Danger I shall suffer Disgrace If the cause is just I will execrate it if unjust I will comfort my self with my own Conscience I shall be frustrated in my expectation of the thing I hoped for Neither do Kings obtain all they desire I shall be sent into Banishment I will go of my own accord and make it a Pilgrimage I shall become Blind The occasions of many Cupidities will be cut off Men will speak ill of me They will do what I deserve and what they are wont I shall Dye Upon this Condition I entred to go forth But I shall Dye in a Foreign Nation No Land is Foreign to him who hath here no permanent City I shall Dye before my time None but a Mad-man complains to be freed from his Fetters before the time and to be releas'd out of Prison Death Exile Grief are not punishments to be dreaded for they are but the tributes of our Mortality 'T is a Folly to fear the things thou canst not avoid 4. Beware of over-much Boldness and do not rashly set upon any thing above thy strength for none are sooner oppress'd than they who presume too much of themselves Small are our Forces without Gods help from whom proceeds all our sufficiency Boldness springs from the great value we put upon our own Virtue from a contempt of our Adversaries from a
thou must speedily repair to the Vessel Even so thou must behave thy self in thy Life Having thy Mind evermore fix'd upon God thou art to use external things in such sort as never to let them touch thy heart nor divert thy attendency to thy proposed End They serve thee that thou mayst serve God Otherwise falling from the Divine Vnity thou art scatter'd abroad amongst many not necessary things and worshippest as many Idols as there are creatures which thou adherest to with a disordered affection These are thy Gods to whom by a foul Sacriledge thou sacrificest not an Oxe not a Goat but thy self and thy Salvation The law of Love permits not any thing to be belov'd with God but only in God and for God 'T is the highest dammage to deflect from the chiefest Good and adhere to the Creatures 4. That which the Prince of Physicians pronounces of impure Bodies By how much the more they are nourished by so much the more they are endamaged is to be said also of Souls For they who begin to pass from a bad custom to a better condition must first vomit up the Venome of their wicked life and then ingest into their purified Minds the solid Aliments of Virtues And this Purgation is thus to be performed All committed sins are to be expiated all affections towards them are to be banished all vitious Customs are to be eradicated all evil Propensions and immoderate Appetites are to be subjected to the Empire of Reason The Flesh is to be chastised Corporal Necessities are to be reduc'd to a just moderation The Tongue and Senses are to be bridled whatsoever may put a stop or delay to the speedy ascending to the mountain top of Virtue must be totally exterminated What dreadest thou and why dost thou fancy the way shew'd thee to Felicity to be so full of difficulties Thou mayst make thy self happy he supplying thee with strength who is thy Beginning and thy End But thou must go forth of thy self that thou mayst get to him Thou wilt be to him so much the nearer by how much thou art from thy self more remote 5. The first thing thou art to propose to thy self is What thou desirest and Whither thou tendest Then the way is to be considered by which thou mayst obtain that chief Good and in thy journey thou wilt understand what progress thou daily makest Take a serious survey of thy Conscience and opening thy dim eyes see impartially what thou art and what thou oughtest to be 'T will be too late to discover the deceit when thou canst not avoid it Learn by what Remedy the madness of Cupidities is tamed with what Bridle the cruelty of Fear is curbed Practise the contempt of earthly things and depart freely from what thou canst not long possess Leave all before thou art left by all that when death shall come it may find nothing in thee which it can destroy But be sure to imploy thy chief care upon thy Soul and let not that which is first in excellency be the last in thy solicitude What avails it for a man to gain the whole world and suffer shipwrack of his Soul There 's no Gain where there is a loss of Salvation CHAP. II. Who so desires to live well must make choice of an Instructer What manner of man this ought to be The Duties of a Disciple 1. NOthing is more necessary to one beginning to serve God than to permit himself to be governed and directed by a discreet Master For who adventures upon an unknown Journey without a Guide Who can learn a difficult Trade without a Teacher Thou shalt find very few who without any ones help have rais'd up themselves to the height of Virtue What ought generally to be done by all may be communicated to persons who are absent and transmitted to posterity by Writings but when and how each particular thing is to be practised cannot be directed at a distance deliberation must be made with the things themselves A Physician cannot by Letter prescribe to his Patient the just measure of his Diet and time of taking his Potion the Vein must be touch'd and the Pulse felt So also in curing the Souls maladies there are certain Symptoms which cannot be perceived but by one present St. Paul the designed Doctor of the Gentiles after he was converted by Christ was directed to Ananias that he might learn from him the way of life Thou hast undertaken a hard and laborious task to conquer the perversity of Nature to wrestle with Spiritual wickednesses and to bring thy self to Virtue amidst so many impeding obstacles it therefore behoves thee to call in some charitable Neighbour to thy aid who may lend thee his helping hand who may shew thee the dangers who may discover the deceits and in the doubtful day of battel instruct thee how to gain the victory But whom sayst thou must I call in to my help Surely a man both Faithful and Prudent one who is both willing and able to assist thee one whose presence thou reverencest not dreadest one who will not chastise thy failings but redress them one whose life is more approv'd on by the Eyes than by the Ears He commands ill who commands and acts not 2. Make choice of him for thy Helper who will not flatter thee who intrudes not into vulgar conversation who frequents not the Rich mens Feasts nor the Princes Courts who hath in his Life and Manners some such thing as the Goldsmith hath in his moneys so that he can say shew me any Coyn I can discern it bring before me any Affection I will judge and censure it who like a well-experienc'd Physician can discover internal discases and apply proper Remedies to redress all the Souls distempers Let him be such a one as can by a subtle scrutiny discern the secrets of all Spirits distinguish between Virtues and Vices accommodate himself to every ones manners dive into all the Recesses of thy Interiour is free from all depraved affection aiming only at thy Spiritual advancement One I say who in the Spirit of Meekness knows how to instruct and allure how to detect and elude all the Devils crafts and stratagems and finally one to whom thou needst not be asham'd to lay open all the secrets of thy heart and soul 'T is a great part of thy Happiness to find out such a Friend 3. With him discourse willingly and commit to his prudent examination and discussion whatsoever thou hast within thee of perverse propension and not only whatsoever thou dost amiss but also whatsoever good thou performest and whatsoever thou conceitest to be communicated unto thee from Heaven Intreat him earnestly that if he observes in thee any turbulent affection he will vouchsafe to shew it unto thee and that he will please to do it frequently and freely not dissembling thy Vices out of shamefac'dness or fear of reproving thee But if he denies to see in thee any thing worthy his severer censure beware lest
thou imaginedst Not because the contest is difficult thou darest not but because thou darest not the contest seems difficult Many things which before seem'd terrible have by use been made easie and familiar Begin and do not undervalue thy self God deserts not his Souldiers Thou shalt have as much strength as thou desirest 4. Thou wilt easily vanquish all Vices if thou believest every Day to be the last of thy Life What is it that fastens thee to this world 't is that thou seldom considerest how soon thou must leave it Dead Carkasses pass daily to the Graves before thy eyes which force thee who forgettest thy Mortality to look upon Death And yet thou amidst these frequent Funerals thinkest of nothing less than thine own departure Thou beholdest nothing more commonly and forgettest nothing more easily But the day will come which will separate thee from the fellowship of thy stinking Belly This cloud will then be dispersed and thou wilt then perceive thou livedst in darkness when thou beholdest the light Produce if thou canst of so many elapsed years one only day to witness thy sincere Virtue which was not blemished with some defect Thy Younger Age was spent amongst Play-games Nutts and Nifles thy Youthfull dayes amongst Lusts and Fopperies thy Manly time amongst greater crimes and wickednesses and after all the Years which have flow'd from thy Cradle to thy gray Hairs nothing now remains but the sad fruits of Iniquity Ah! what straits wilt thou be in when what is past will shame thee and what is to come will affright thee What will thy Riches then profit thee got with such sweat kept with such solicitude What fleshly and filthy Pleasures what the vain and empty Names of Honours and Dignities what Purple Robes Scepters and Crowns O were it permitted to return to thy Childish Innocence and to begin the spinning of a new Thread how much better wouldst thou behave thy self But these vows and wishes are unseasonable in that fatal moment If thou wilt make use of time begin even now and forsake such things as thou wilt then wish thou hadst forsaken 'T is a small matter to renounce momentary trifles for the obtaining of eternal Treasures 5. Ask if thou pleasest of a dying person what he thinks of his past life thou shalt hardly find one who hath not then a far different opinion of Riches Dignities and Worldly Vanities then he had whilst he was healthy At that time all things are weighed in a more equal Ballance and are judg'd of as they truly are Thus their over-late wisdom may turn to thy great profit if thou wilt learn by other mens Errors to correct thy own Thou mayst now sail safely why stayest thou till the weather grows tempestuous Thou mayst during the calm withdraw thy self from calamity why dost thou reserve thy self for extreme danger Precaution is too late when thou art drowned and Prudence is to no purpose when thou art already perished The greatest and holiest Men having put away all impediments and bid adiew to themselves and to the whole world made it their only study during the remainder of their Earthly Pilgrimage to learn how to live and how to dye and yet many of them professing their ignorance departed this life so difficult a matter it is to understand this Art And wilt thou delay till Old Age the laying hold of wholesome Counsels and there begin thy life where few have produced theirs 'T is a great Folly to begin then to live when we must necessarily cease to live 6. Whither dost thou throw thy self unwary man Dost thou believe thus and dost thou thus live Thy time is the passing-by of a shadow thy life is a Point and can any thing be less than a Point Scarcely born thou ceasest to be Stop one only day forbid one only hour from flowing command time to make only a short stay Vain is thy endeavour for it will sooner snatch thee along with it then cease to run most swiftly to the destruction of thee and all other things whasoever And dost thou preferr this moment before Eternity which hath no period O Folly O Phrensey thou omittest not to get for thy Body which is quickly to perish what appertains to it and there is no end of thy acquisition but for thy Soul which never dyes thou makest no provision for the future as if it were none of thine Thy Body languishes and thou art ready to undergo any danger to cure it Thy Soul languishes and thou neglectest it and art insensible of its sickness When was it told thee Hoise thy sails lest thou perish and thou delayedst to do it Take this bitter Physick and thou refusedst God enjoyns easie things that thou mayst live for ever and wilt thou not obey Hadst thou a Law-suit all thy thoughts all thy discourses would be imployed about it nor wouldst thou omit any means whereby the Judge might be moved to give sentence on thy side and the last Judgment drawing near upon which an Eternity depends dost thou laugh dost thou trifle dost thou sin being to perish eternally Ah! leave at last to be mad and getting forth of the Puddle of thy impieties put thy self daily in such a posture as if thou wert arrived at the last end of thy life This is true Philosophy to lead this soul out of the body with all possible security 7. Let this be thy business this thy Cessation this thy Labour this thy Rest to withdraw thy self from Time and drown thy self in Eternity That stands alwayes fix'd and unmovable which is asserted into the rights of Eternity The covetous Glutton after so many Ages demands still a drop of water and he shall vainly ask it with a perpetual bellowing Eternity is an evermore present duration never to be named without a sigh and horror 'T is a Wheel alwayes turning 'T is a continued unterminated and still commencing Beginning The serious thought of it mixes Wormwood with the Worlds delights and dejects astonish'd and as it were Planet-strucken men with deadly sorrow This tames the stubborn Soul and from the vain cares in which it lies slumbring rowses it up to Virtue This seasons hunger and thirst makes all labour seem easie all sorrow sweet all punishment pleasant and all difficulties of short durance Let the vast spaces of Heaven as they are every where immensely extended be fill'd with Numerical Notes who besides God himself will be found able to express this almost Infinite series of Numbers Yet these innumerable Numbers are not so much as the Beginning of Eternity Let so many Years so many Ages slide away as there are Unites in all those Numbers nothing yet is cut off from Eternity Those most unfortunate Mortals who lye perpetually frying in Hell-fire are not yet arrived at the beginning of this astonishing Eternity If thou tremblest not at this Consideration if thou fallest not upon a ferious amendment of thy life thou surely out-viest the hardest Flint in obduracy CHAP.
invade the Divine Tribunal Look to thy self and search into the secrets of thy own Conscience See what evils are there what good is there wanting and turn not thy Eyes upon other mens lives and actions Thou wilt find a sufficient plenty of bad weeds to be pull'd out of thy own ground Faults which thou mayst boldly fall upon with a severe censure There 's scarcely any thing so justly done but that a depraved spirit may wrest it to an ill sence Hereticks abuse the very Gospels The Jews calumniated Christ's actions As Bodies of a melancholick and malevolent humour turn all the food they eat into Choler so an ill-dispos'd Soul mis-interprets all it sees all it hears A good or bad Intention makes things oftentimes good or bad but this is known to him alone who searches the reins and the heart If another persons doings can by no means be defended what 's that to thee Art thou not asham'd to bring filthy things out of corners and expose them to publick view Why dost thou not observe thy self who art worse than others Practise thy Slanderous tongue against thy self detract thy self to thy self accuse thy own crimes judge them condemn them Thou wilt avoid Gods Judgment if thou art a severe Self-censurer 6. As we are commonly very ingenious in observing the actions of others seeking thereby to be esteemed prudent so we easily suspect that others in like sort think and speak ill of us and that we are to them odious and despicable That thou mayst quell this cut off in the first place all desire of pleasing Men and of being by them highly esteemed then endeavour to cast away the very thought of knowing what others think or speak of thee especially since it often happens that they do not so much as once think of thee whom thou fanciest to speak ill of thee and observe thee Say to thy self with the Apostle If I pleased men I were not Christs Servant Say to others 'T is little to me that I am judg'd by you or by the day of man Thou art truly such as thou art with God The Opinion and Talk of men adds nothing to thy goodness takes nothing from thy malice 'T is better to be Good then so esteemed 7. Nothing will fall out contrary to thy Will if thou totally denyest it and transformest it into the Divine Will Thus thou wilt enjoy a solid Peace of Mind thus thou wilt attain to a true tranquility Thou wilt live as thou pleasest if thou wilt learn to will what thou oughtest And thou oughtest to will what God will This is the only felicity of this Life to will that whatsoever is done may be so done as God will and not as we our selves will God leads thee on to the End whereto thou wert eternally designed by sweetnesses and bitternesses by prosperities and adversities Obey the Divine Providence and follow with Alacrity for shouldst thou resist yet thou must follow and thou wouldst be wicked God leads the Willing draws the Unwilling CHAP. XIX Of the state of Proficients Several helps to Proficiency The value and use of Time The Presence of God Necessary 1. IF thou desirest to be Good first believe that thou art Bad. Thou wilt never profit if thou leavest off the desire to profit To have no will to go onwards is to go backwards Persevere therefore as thou hast begun and make what haste thou canst to the end thou mayst quickly enjoy a quiet and composed Mind 'T is an argument of a Mind chang'd into a better Condition if thou seest thy Crimes which before thou knewest not So we are wont to congratulate sick persons when they are sensible that they are sick Do not easily give credit to thy self but discuss and observe thy self and take a tryal of thy Proficiency from the firmness of thy Mind and the diminution of thy Cupidities Thou mayst esteem thy self to be in the Form of Proficients when thou shalt have obtain'd an absolute power over thy self 'T is an inestimable good to possess ones self and to be one A good man is alwayes the same a bad man alwayes another 2. Thou mayst if thou wilt in one day climb to the top of Sanctity if averting thy whole Heart from Creatures thou convertest it to thy Creator Now whether thou leadest a life inwardly with God thou wilt know by these signs If transitory things displease thee if solitude delights thee if thou aimest at what is most perfect if thou valuest not mens Judgments and Opinions Moreover the continual Meditation of Christ's Life and Passion will afford thee a great help to attain to all Virtue He is the Book of Life in which alone as in a rich and well stored Library thou wilt find whatsoever appertains to Salvation although all other Books with their Authors perished But it sufficeth not to know and meditate Christ unless thou also imitatest him and so livest as he taught by his Word and Example Crooked things cannot be corrected but by the Rule 3. One said excellently well That they who will profit ought so to live as if they were perpetually under cure For many things are continually to be observed which put a stop to one hastning to the Cittadel of Perfection as when thou lovest thy self or any creature inordinately when thou standest so affected to external things as that thou wouldst be troubled at their being lost or taken away from thee when thou too much seekest thy own ease and content in Meat Drink Talk wandring abroad when thou embusiest thy self more then is necessary in temporal affairs when thou pertinaciously adherest to thy own judgment and opinion when thou observest not Gods inward motions and refusest to listen to him speaking in thy interiour by his secret Inspirations These are the chief Impediments which detain thee in thy journey which thou art to remove with all vigilancy and diligence and set thy self manfully to thy work Let Virtue animate thee in all thou undertakest let the most perfect End encourage thee to proceed with promptitude and alacrity let a pure Intention comfort thee in thy progress and so apply thy self to the work as that it may fully equal the prenotion thou hast of its perfection Proficiency consists not in the multitude of Exercises but in doing those perfectly which thou daily performest For praise is not so much due to the deed as to the manner of doing it 4. The Dayes fly Time hastens and what is past no man can recall and give it back to thee Thou dost not live but thou art to live for thy life looks alwayes on the Morrow So thy Life slides away whilst thou art studying to prepare instruments to preserve it and in the mean while Old age steals upon thee Death seizes on thee and finds thee unprepared As men journeying together and deceiving the time with mutual Colloquies arrive at their journeys end before they apprehended themselves near it even so the continued journey of this Life