and get their livings with their fingers that they may have wherewithal to relieve others in necessity Are not these holy and warrantable Labours by which a Husband provides for his Wife and Children Ti. This is a question which in my opinion may be resolv'd several ways First This Text had a particular regard to those times when the Apostles being dispersed far and wide for the Promulgation of the Gospel they were to cast themselves upon Providence for their support without being sollicitous for it themselves having neither leisure to get their living by their labour nor any thing to trust to for it beside Fishing But the World is now at another pass and we are all for Ease Another way of expounding it may be this Christ has not forbid Industry but Anxiety of thought such as commonly possesses those men that are hard put to 't for a Livelihood and set all other things apart only to attend this This is intimated by our Saviour himself when he says that one man cannot serve two Masters For he that wholly delivers himself up to any thing is a Servant to 't Now tho' the Propagation of the Gospel ought to be our Chief yet it is not our only Care. For he says First not Only seek the Kingdom of Heaven and these things shall be added unto you The word To morrow I take to be Hyperbolical and to signifie a time to come Uncertain it being the Custom of the World to be scraping and sollicitous for Posterity Eu. Your Interpretation we allow of But what is his meaning when he says Nè solliciti sitis Animae vestrae quid Edalis The Body is Cloath'd but the Soul does not Eat Ti. By Anima is meant Life which cannot subsist without Meat This does not hold in our Garments which are more for Modesty than Necessity For a Body may live without Cloaths but without Meat it is certain Death Eu. I do not well understand how to reconcile this Passage with that which follows Is not the Life more then Meat and the Body more then Raiment For if Life be so precious we should take the more Care of it Ti. This Argument does rather encrease our trouble then lessen it Eu. But this is none of our Saviours meaning Who by this Argument creates in us a stronger Confidence in the Father for if a bountiful Father hath given us gratis that which is more valuable he will by a stronger reason confer upon us that which is Cheaper He that has give us Life will certainly give us Food He that has given us Bodies will not deny us Cloaths So that upon the experience of his Divine Bounty there is no reason why we should afflict our selves with any Anxiety of Thought for things below What remains then but that using this World as if we used it not we transfer our whole study and application to the love of Heavenly things and rejecting the World and the Devil with all their Vanities and Impostures we chearfully serve God alone who will never forsake his Children But here 's no body takes any Fruit 'T is a Scripture Dinner you have had for there was little care beforehand to provide it Ti. We have sufficiently pamper'd our Carcasses Eu. I should be glad that ye had satisfi'd your Souls Ti. That 's done I assure ye in a larger measure Eu. Take away Boy and bring some Water Now if you please we 'll wash and conclude with a Hymn out of Chrysostome And Pray'e let me be your Chaplain Glory be to thee O God O Holy O King as thou hast given us Meat for our Bodies so replenish our Souls with Ioy and Gladness in thy Holy Spirit that we may be found acceptable in thy sight and not be confounded when thou shalt come to render unto every man according to his Works Boy Amen Ti. A Pious and a most pertinenent Hymn Eu. Of St. Chrysostoms Translation too Ti. Where is it to be found Eu. In his Fifty sixth Homily upon St. Matthew Ti. God willing I 'll read it before I sleep But tell me one thing why these three Atributes of Lord Holy and King Eu. Because all honour is due to our Master and principally in these three respects We call him Lord as the Redeemer of us from the Tyranny of the Devil with his Holy Blood and taking us to himself We stile him Holy as the Sanctifier of all men and not only forgiving us all our sins gratis but by the Holy Spirit cloathing us with his Righteousness that we might follow Holiness And then King as heirs to a Heavenly Kingdom from him who sits and reigns himself at the Right hand of God the Father And all this we owe to his gratuitous Bounty that we have Iesus Christ for our Lord and not Satan that we have Innocence and Sanctity instead of the Filth and Uncleanness of our Sins and for the Torments of Hell the Joys of Life everlasting Ti. 'T is a very Godly discourse Eu. This is your first Visit Gentlemen and I must not dismiss ye without Presents but plain ones and suitable to your Entertainment Bring 'em out here Boy These are all of a Price that is to say they are of no value 'T is all one to me now whether you will draw Lots or chuse You will not find it Heliogabulus's Lottery for one to draw 100 Horses and another as many Flies Here are four little Books two Clocks a Lamp and a Standish which I suppose you will like better then either Balsoms Dentifrices or Looking-glasses Ti. They are all so good that there 's no place for a Preference but rather distribute them your self They 'll come the welcomer where they fall Eu. In this little Book are the Proverbs of Solomon in Parchment It teaches Wisdom and the Gilding is a Symbold of it This must be yours Timotheus that according to the Doctrine of the Gospel to him that has Wisdom shall Wisdom be given Ti. I will make it my study to stand in less need of it Eu. This Clock must be yours Sophronius for I know you count your hours and husband your time It came out of the farther part of Dalmatia and that 's all the Commendation I 'll give it Soph. 'T is a good way of advising a Sluggard to be diligent Eu. You have in this Book the Gospel of St. Matthew I would recommend it to be set with Diamonds if a sincere and candid Breast were not more precious Lay it up there Theophilus and be still more and more suitable to your name Th. I will endeavour to make such use of it that you may not think it ill bestow'd Eu. St. Paul's Epistles your constant Companions Eulalius are in this Book You have them often in your mouth which would not be if they were not also in your heart Hereafter keep 'em in your hand and in your eye Eu. This is a Gift with good Counsel over and above which is of all Gifts the most
out the Charge of Contention But the Body says he is not for Fornication but for the Lord and the Lord is for the Body But this may be Salv'd too because a little before in the Catalogue of Sins there was mention made of Idolatry Be not deceived neither Fornicators Idolaters nor Adulterers and then the Eating of things offer'd to Idols is a spice of Idolatry Wherefore he follows it with this expression Meat is for the Belly and the Belly for Meat â— Intimating that in Case of Necessity and for a Season a man may Eat any thing as far as Charity will permit but that uncleanness is in all persons and at all times to be detested It is matter of Necessity that we Eat But that Necessity shall be taken away at the last day If we be lustful it is voluntary and malicious There is yet another scruple which I cannot either dissolve or reconcile to that passage but I will not be brought under the Power of any For he says that he has the Power of all things and yet he will not be brought under any ones Power If he may be said to be in another mans Power that abstains for fear of offending it is no more then what in the ninth Chapter he speaks of himself For tho' I be free from all men yet have I made my self Servant unto all that I might gain the more St. Ambrose stumbling as I suppose at this scruple takes this to be the Genuine sense of the Apostle for the better understanding of him in another Place where he claims to himself the Power of doing as the rest of the Apostles either true or false the Liberty of receiving Maintenance from those to whom he Preached the Gospel But yet he forbore this tho' he might have done it as a thing expedient among the Corinthians whom he charg'd with so many and so Enormous Iniquities And moreover he that receives is in some degree in the Power of him that gives and suffers some kind of Abatement in his Authority For he that takes cannot so freely reprove his Benefactor and he that gives will not easily take a reprehension from him that he has oblig'd Therefore did St. Paul abstain from many things that were Lawful for the Crdit of his Apostolical Liberty which he chose rather to support at the height that he might maintain the Dignity of his Commission for the Reprehension of their Sins This Explication of St. Ambrose I am well enough pleas'd with and yet if any body had rather apply this passage to Meats St. Pauls saying but I will not be brought under the Power of any may in my opinion bear this Explanation Although I may some time abstain from Meats offer'd to Idols or forbidden by the Mosaical Law out of a Tenderness to the scruples of a weak Brother my mind is never the less Free Well knowing that Necessity makes all Meats Lawful But there were some false Apostles that would persuade the World that some Meats were in themselves impure and that not only upon Occasion but in all Extremities they were to be forborn as Adultery or Murther Now those that were thus misled fell from their Gospel-Liberty under a foreign Power Only Theophilact as I remember has an Opinion by himself It is Lawful says he to Eat of all Meats but it is not expedient to eat to Excess for from Luxury comes Lust. There 's no Impiety now in this sense but I take it to be forc'd I have now shew'd you my soruples and it will become your Charity to set me at Ease Eu. Your Discourse is certainly answerable to your Name And the Questions you have propounded cannot be better resolv'd then by your self For your manner of Doubting has put me out of all doubt Altho' St. Paul proposing to do many things together passes so often from one thing to another repeating what he had intermitted and going over with the same thing again in the same Epistle that it is a hard matter to disentangle in Chrysoglottus If I were not afraid of talking ye out of your Dinners and if I did not make a Conscience of mingling thingâ— profane with sacred there is something that I would venture to propound to you I read it this day with singular delight Eu. Whatsoever is pious and conducing to good Manners should not be called profane The first place must be granted to the Authority of the Holy Scriptures and yet after That I find among the Ancients nay the Ethniques and which is yet more among the Poets certain Precepts and Sentences so clean so sincere so divine that I cannot perswade my self but they wrote them by Holy Inspiration And perhaps the Spirit of Christ diffuses it self further then we imagine There are more Saints then we find in our Catalogue To confess my self now among my Friends I cannot read Tully Of old Age of Friendship his Offices or his Tuscâ—lane Questions without kissing the Book without a Veneration for the Soul of that Divine Heathen and then on the contrary when I read some of our Modern Authors their Politiques Oâ—conomies and Ethiques Good God! how Jejune and Cold they are And so insensible compar'd with the other that I had rather lose all Scotus and twenty more such as he then one Cicero or Plutarch Not that I am wholly against them neither but from the reading of the One I find my self to become Honester and Better whereas I rise from the other extremely dull and indifferent in the point of Virtue but most violently bent upon Cavil and Contention Wherefore never fear to make your Proposition whatever it is Ch. Tho' all Tully ' s Philosophy carries upon it the stamp of something that is Divine yet that Treatise of Old Age which in his Old Age he wrote that Piece I say do I look upon according to the Greek Proverb to be the Song of the dying Swan I read it this day and these words I remember in it that pleas'd me above the rest Should God now put it into my Power to begin my life again from my very Cradle and once more to run the course over of the years I have liv'd I should not upon any Terms agree to 't For what 's the Benefit of Life or rather how great is the Pain Or if there were none of this there would be yet undoubtedly in it Society and Trouble There are many I know and Learned men that have taken up the humour of deploring their past Lives This is a thing which I can never Consent to or to be troubled that my Life is spent because I have so liv'd as to persuade my self that I was not born in vain And when I leave this Body 't is but as an Inn not as a place of Abode For Nature has given us our Bodies only to Lodge in not to dwell in Oh! How glorious will That day be when I shall leave the Rabble and the Trash of this World behind me
look as if they had not been so long laid 'T is very right Sir says he and what do you think said I of those Cross Beams and Rafters they cannot be near so old He confest they were not At last when I had questioned him to every part of this poor Cottage How do you know said I that this is the House that was brought so far in the Air so many Ages ago Me. Prithee how did he come off there Og. Without any more to do he shew'd us an old Bear-skin that was tackt there to a piece of Timber and almost laught at us to our very teeth as people under an invincible Ignorance Upon seeming better satisfy'd and excusing our heaviness of appâ—ehension we came then to the Virgins Milk. Me. It is with the Virgins Milk as with her Sons Bloud they have both of them 〈◊〉 more behind them than ever they had in their Bodies Og. And so they tell us of the Cross which is shew'd up and down both in publick and in private in so many Reliques that if all the Fragments were laid together they would load an East-India-ship and yet our Saviour carry'd the whole Cross upon his Shoulders Me. And is not this a wonderful thing too Og. It is extraordinary I must confess but nothing is wonderful to an Almighty Power that can encrease every thing according to his own pleasure Me. 'T is well done however to make the best on 't but I 'm afraid that we have many a Trick put upon us under the Masque of Piety and Religion Og. I cannot think that God himself would suffer such Mockeries to pass unpunisht Me. And yet what 's more common than for the Sacrilegious themselves such is the Tenderness of God to scape in this World without so much as the least Check for their Impieties Og. This is all true but hear me on The Milk that I was speaking of is kept upon the High Altar Christ in the Middle and his Mother for respects sake at his Right hand The Milk you must know represents his Mother Me. Can you see it then Og. Yes for 't is preserv'd in a Chrystal Glass Me. And is it liquid too Og. What do you talk to me of Liquid when 't was drawn above Fifteen hundred year ago It is now come to a Concretion and looks just like pounded Chalk with the White of an Egg. Me. But will they not let a man see it open Og. Not upon any terms Men would be kissing of it and profane it Me. You say very well for all Lips are not fit to approach it Og. So soon as the Officer sees us he runs presently and puts on his Surplice and a Stole about his Neck falls down and Worships and by and by gives us the Holy Milk to kiss and we prostrated our selves too in the first place bowing to Christ and then applying to the Virgin in the following prayer which I had in readiness for this purpose VIrgin Mother That hast deservedly given suck to the Lord of Heaven and Earth thy Son Jesus at thy Virgins Breasts We pray thee that we being purified by his Bloud may our selves arrive at the Happy Infant State of the Simplicity and Innocence of Doves and that being Void of Malice Fraud and Deceit we may daily thirst after the Milk of Evangelical Doctrine until it grows up to be perfect Man and to the Measure of the Fulness of Christ whose blessed Society thou shalt enjoy for ever and ever with the Father and the Holy Ghost Amen Me. Truly a very devout Prayer but what Return Og. If my eyes did not deceive me they were both pleased for the Holy Milk seem'd to leap and sparkle and the Eucharist of a sudden lookt brighter than usual In the mean while the Verger came to us and without a word speaking held out such a kind of Table as they use in Germany upon their Bridges when they take Toll Me. I remember those Tables very well and have curst them many a time in my Travels that way Og. We laid down some pieces of Mony which he presented to the Virgin. After this by our Interpreter one Robert Aldridge as I remember a well spoken young man and a great Master of the English Tongue I askt as civilly as I could what assurance they had that this was the Milk of the Virgin which I did with a pious intention that I might stop the Mouths of all Scoffers and Gainsayers The Officer at first contracted his Brow without a word speaking and thereupon I prest the Interpreter to put the same question to him again but in the fairest manner imaginable which he did in so obliging a fashion that if the Address had been to the Mother her self when she had been newly laid it could not have been taken amiss But the Officer as if he had been inspir'd with some Enthusiasm expressing in his Countenance the horrour and detestation he had for so blasphemous a question What need is there says he of these Enquiries when you have so Authentick a Record for the truth of the matter And we had undoubtedly been turn'd out for Heretiques if we had not sweetn'd the angry Man with a few Pence Me. But how did you behave your selves in the interim Og. Just as if we had been stunded with a Cudgel or struck with Thunder We did most humbly beg his Pardon as in holy matters a man ought to do and so went our way from thence to the little Chappel which is the peculiar Receptacle of the Holy Virgin. In our way thither comes one of the under Officers to us staring us in the face as if he knew us and after him a second and a third all gaping upon us after the same manner Me. Who knows but they might have a mind to draw your Picture Og. But my thoughts lookt quite another way Me. Why what did you imagine then Og. That some body had robbed the Virgins Chappel and that I had been suspected for the Sacrilege and therefore I enter'd the Holy place with this Prayer to the Virgin-Mother in my Mouth OH Thou alone who among Women art a Mother and a Virgin the Happiest of Mothers and the Purest of Virgins We that are impure do now present our selves before thee that art Pure humbly saluting and paying reverence unto thee with our small Offerings such as they are O that thy Son would enable us to imitate thy most holy Life and that we might deserve by the Grace of the Holy Spirit spiritually to conceive the Lord Jesus in our Souls and having once received him never to lose him Amen And so I kist the Altar laid down my Offring and departed Me. What did the Virgin here Did she give you no token that your Prayer was heard Og. It was as I told you but an uncertain Light and she stood in the dark upon the Right hand of the Altar but in fine my courage was so taken down by the Cheque the former
are not far from the Marque Th. If there be any thing that 's Good let your Friend take part with ye Ans. And welcome too for I have been wishing a good while for some Body that would be Merry with me for Company Th. Let 's have it then Ans. I was told e'en now the pleasantest Story and if I did not know the Place the Persons and every Circumstance as well as I know you I shall Swear 't were a Sham Th. You have set me a longing to hear it Ans. Do not you know Pool Fawn's Son-in-Law Th. Perfectly well Ans. He 's both the Contriver of it and the Chief Actor in the Play. Th. I am apt enough to believe that for he 's a Man to do any Part to the Life Ans. 'T is Right Do you not know a Farm that he has a little way from London Th. Oh! Very well He and I have crackt many a Bottle together there Ans. There 's a way you know betwixt two streight Rows of Trees Th. A matter of Two Flight shot from the House upon the left Hand Ans. That 's it One side of the way has a dry Ditch that 's over-grown with Brambles and then there 's a little Bridge that leads into an open Field Th. I remember it Ans. There went a Report among the Country People of a Spirit that walkt there and of hideous Howlings that were heard about that Bridge which made them conclude it to be the Soul of some Body that was miserably Termented Th. Who was 't that rais'd this Report Ans. Who but Pool that made this the Prologue to his Comedy Th. What put it in his Head I wonder to invent such a Flam Ans. I know nothing more than the Humour of the Man for he loves to make himself Sport with silly People I 'll tell you a late Whimsy of his of the same kind We were a good many of us Riding to Richmond and some in the Company that you would allow to be no Fools The Day was so Clear that there was not a Cloud to be seen Pool looking wishly up into the Air fell on the sudden to Crossing of himself and with a strange Amazement in his Countenance Lord says he to himself what do I see They that rod next him asking him what it was that he 〈◊〉 he Cross'd himself more and more In Mercy says he deliver us from this Prodigy They still pressing him more earnestly to say what was the matter Then Pool fixing his Eyes and pointing toward such a Quarter of the Heaven That Monstrous Dragon says he with Fiery Horns Don't you see him and look how his Tail is turn'd up into a kind of a Circle Upon their denial that they saw any thing and his urging them to look steadily just where he pointed one of them at last for the Credit of his Eyes yielded that he saw it too and so one after another they all saw it for they were asham'd not to see any thing that was so plain to be seen In short the Rumour of this Portentous Apparition was in three days all over England and it is wonderful how they had amplifi'd the Story and some were making Expositions upon the meaning of this horrid Portent But in the mean time the Inventor of it had the Satisfaction of seeing the Success of his Project Th. I know the humour of the Man to a hair But to the Ghost again Ans. While that Story was a foot there comes very opportunely to Pool one Fawn a Priest one of those which they call in Latin Regulars a Parish-Priest of a Village there in the Neighbourhood This Man took upon him to understand more than his Fellows in Holy Matters Th. Oh! I guess where abouts ye are Pool has found out one now to bear a part in the Play. Ans. They were a Talking at Supper of this Report of the Spectrum at the Table and when Pool found that Fawn had not only heard of it but believed it he fell to entreating the Man that as he was a Holy and a Learned Person he would do his best toward the Relieving of a poor Soul out of that terrible Affliction And if you make any doubt of the Truth on 't says he sift out the Matter and do but walk about Ten a Clock towards that little Bridge and there you shall hear such Cries and Groanings as would grieve your Heart but I would advise ye however for your own Security to take some Company that you like along with you Th. Well and what then Ans. After Supper out goes Pool a Hunting or about his usual Sports and when it grew Duskish out went Fawn and was at last a Witness of those grievous Lamentations Pool had hid himself thereabouts in a Bramble-Bush and perform'd his part incomparably well His Instrument was an Earthen Pot that through the Hollow of it gave a most mournful Sound Th. This Story for ought I see out-does Menanders Phasma Ans. You 'll say more when you have heard it out Away goes Fawn home in great Impatience to tell what he heard while Pool by a shorter Cut gets home before him There does Fawn tell Pool all that past with something of his own too to make the matter more wonderful Th. Well but could Pool hold his Countenance all this while Ans. He hold his Countenance Why he carries his Heart in his Hand and you would have sworn that the whole Action had been in earnest In the End Fawn upon the pressing Importunity of Pool resolv'd to venture upon an Exorcism and Slept not one wink that Night his Thoughts were so taken up with the Consideration of his own Safety for he was most wretchedly afraid In the first place he got together the most powerful Exorcisms that he could find to which he added some new ones as by the Bowels of such a Saint the Bones of St. Winnifrede and after this he makes choice of a Place in the Fieâ—d near the Thicket of Bushes whence the Noise came He draws ye a Circle a very large one with several Crosses in it and a phantastical Variety of Characters and all this was perform'd in a set Form of Words He had there also a great Vessel full of Holy Water and the Holy Stole as they call it about his Neck upon which hung the beginning of the Gospel of St. Iohn He had in his Pockets a little Piece of Wax which the Bishop of Rome us'd to Consecrate once a Year commonly call'd an Agnus Die. With these Arms in time past they defended themselves against Evil Spirits till the Cowl of St. Francis was found to be more Formidable All these things were provided for fear the Fiend should fall foul upon the Exorcist And all this was not enough neither to make him trust himself alone in the Circle but he concluded to take some other Priest along with him to keep him Company This gave Pool an Apprehension that by the joyning of some Cunning Fellow
with him the whole Plot might come to be discovered So that he took a Parish-Priest thereabouts whom he acquainted before-hand with the whole Design and it behoved him so to do Besides that he was as fit as any Man for such an Adventure The next day when every thing was ready and in order about Ten a Clock Fawn and the Parish-Priest enter the Circle Pool that was gone before Yels and Howls in the Brambles Fawn gives a God-speed to the Exorcism In the mean time Pool steals away in the Dark to the next Village and from thence brings another Person to Act his Part for there went a great many of them to the Play. Th. Well and what are they to do Ans. They mount themselves upon Black Horses and privately carry Fire along with them When they came near they shew'd the Fire to fright Fawn out of the Circle Th. Pool took a great deal of Pains I see to carry on the Work. Ans. His Phancy lies that way but there fell out an accident that had like to have spoil'd the Jest. Th. How so Ans. The sudden Flashing of the Fire so startled the Horses that the Riders could hardly keep the Jades upon their Legs or themselves in the Saddle And here 's an end of the first Act. Upon Fawns Return Pool askt him very Innocently what he had done as knowing nothing at all of the Matter and then Fawn up with his Story and tells him of two dreadful Cacodemons that appear'd to him upon Black Horses their Eyes Sparkling with Fire and Flames coming out of their Nostrils and what attempts they made to pass the Circle but that by the Power and Efficacy of his Words they were driven away with a Vengeance This Encounter put Fawn into Courage so that the next day with great Solemnity he returned to his Circle And when he had a long time with much Vehemence provok'd the Spirit Pool with his Companion shew'd himself again upon their Black Horses and prest on with a most Outragious Outcry as if they were fully determin'd to Storm the Circle Th. Had they no Fire Ans. None at all for that did not succeed well But you shall now hear of another Device They had a long Rope which they drew gently over the Ground and then hurrying from one place to another as if they had been frighted away by Fawn's Exorcisms up went the Heels by and by of both the Priests and down come they upon the Ground with a great Vessel of Holy Water the Priests and their Holy Water both together Th. And this was t'other Priests Reward for playing of his Part. Ans. It was so and yet he would have endur'd a great deal more rather than quit the Design After this Encounter Fawn upon his Return makes a mighty Business to Pool of the Danger he had been in and how valiantly he had defeated both the Devils with his Charms And he was by this time absolutely perswaded that all the Devils in Hell had not the Power to force his Circle or the Confidence so much as to attempt it Th. This same Fawn I perceive is next door to a Fool. Ans. Oh! you have heard nothing yet to speak of When the Comedy was thus far advanc'd in very good time came Pool's Son in Law. He 's a pleasant Droll ye know the Young-man that married Pool's Eldest Daughter Th. I know him very well and no man fitter for such an Exploit Ans. Fitter saist thou Why I will undertake he shall leave his Dinner at any time for such a Comedy His Father in Law acquaints him with the whole Business and who but he to Act a Ghost He undertakes his Part has every thing provided and wraps up himself in a Sheet like a Corps with a live Coal in a Shell that shew'd through the Linnen as if something were a burning About Night he goes to the Place where the Scene of the Story lay There were heard most doleful Mones and Fawn in the mean time le ts fly all his Exorcisms By and by a good way off in the Bushes appears the Ghost shewing Fire by Fits and Groaning most rufully While Fawn was beseeching him to say who he was immediately out leaps Pool in his Devils Habit from the Thicket and Roaring and Raging This Soul says he is mine and you have no Power over it and with that he runs up presently to the very Edge of the Circle as if he were about to fall violently upon the Exorcist After which he loses Ground and Retreats as if he had been either beaten off by the Words of the Exorcism or by the Virtue of the Holy Water which was thrown upon him in great abundance At last when the Spirit 's Protector was driven away Fawn enters into a Dialogue with the Ghost which after much Intreaty and Importunity confest it self to be the Soul of a Christian and being askt the Name my Name says the Ghost is Fawn Why then says Fawn we are both of a Name and the very Thought of delivering his Namesake made him lay the Matter more to heart Fawn put so many Questions that the Ghost began to fear that a longer Discourse might make some Discovery and so withdrew himself upon Pretence that his Hour was come that he was not permitted to Talk any longer and that he was now compell'd to go away whither it pleased the Devil to carry him but yet promis'd to return again the next day at some lawful Hour They meet again at Pool's House who was the Master of the Shew and there the Exorcist talks of his Atchievement and tho in many ny things he help'd the Matter he believ'd himself yet in all he said so heartily was he affected to the Business in hand It was now manifest that it was the Soul of a Christian that was faln under the Power of some unmerciful Devil and in the most cruel Torments so that their Endeavour is now wholly bent that way There happen'd one pleasant kind of a Ridiculous Passage in this Exorcism Th. I prethee what was that Ans. When Fawn had call'd up the Ghost Pool that acted the Devil leap'd directly at him as if without any more ado he would break into the Circle Fawn fought with him a great while with Exorcisms and whole Tubs of Holy Water and at last the Devil cry'd out He did not value all that any more than the Dirt under his Feet You Sirrah says he have had to do with a Wench and you are my own Many a true Word has been spoken in jeast For so it proved for the Exorcist finding himself touch'd with that Word retir'd presently to the very Centre of the Circle and mumbled something I know not what in the other Priests ' Ear. Pool finding that withdrew that he might not hear more than did belong to him Th. A very Modest and Religious Devil Ans. Very right Now the Action you know might have been blam'd if he had not observ'd a
to joyn in Counsel and Society with those Illustrious Spirits that are gone before Thus far Cato What could a Christian have said more The Dialogue of this Aged Pagan with the Youth of his times will rise up in Judgment against many of our Monks with their Holy Virgins Eu. It will be objected that this Colloquy of Tully's was but a Fiction Ch. 'T is all one to me whether the honour be Cato's for the sense and expression of this Rapture or Cicero's for the Divinity of the Contemplation and the Excellency of representing his thoughts in words answerable to the Matter Tho' I 'm apt to think that although these very Syllables were not Cato's yet that his familiar Conversations were not far from this purpose Neither had Tully the Confidence to draw a Cato fairer then he was especially in a time when his Character was yet fresh in the Memories of all men Beside that such an Unlikeness in a Dialogue would have been a great indecorum and enough to have blasted the Credit of the Discourse Th. That which you say is very likely but let me tell you what came into my head upon your Recital I have often wonder'd with my self considering that long Life is the Wish and Death the Terrour of all Mortals that there is scarce any man so happy I do not speak of Old but of middle-ag'd-men but if it should be offer'd him to be young again if he would upon Condition of running the same Fortune over again of Good and Ill he would make the same Answer that Cato did especially passing a true reflection upon the mixture of his past Life For the remembrance even of the pleasantest part of it is commonly attended with shame and sting of Conscience insomuch that the Memory of past delights is more painful to us then that of past misfortunes Wherefore it was wisely done of the Antient Poets in the Fable of Lethe to make the Dead drink the Water of Forgetfulness before their Souls were affected with any desire of the Bodies they had left behind ' em Vr. It is a thing that I my self have observ'd in some Cases and well worthy of our Admiration But That in Cato which takes me the most is his Declaration that he did not repent himself of his past Life Where 's the Christian that lives to his Age and can say as much 'T is a common thing for men that have scrap'd Estates together by hook or by crcok to value themselves at their death upon the Industry and Success of their Lives But Cato's saying that he had not liv'd in vain was grounded upon the Conscience of having discharg'd all the Parts of an honest and a resolute Citizen and Patriot and untainted Magistrate and that he should transmit to Posterity the Monuments of his Integrity and Virtue I depart says he as out of a Lodging not a dwelling Place What could be more Divine I am here upon sufferance till the Master of the house says â—e gone A man will not easily be forc'd from his own Home but the fall of a Chimney the spark of a Coal and a thousand petty Accidents drive us out of this World or at the best the Structure of our Bodies falls to pieces with Old Age and moulders to Dust every moment admonishing us that we are to change our Quarters Nephalius That expression of Socrates in Plato is rather methinks the more significant of the Two. The Soul of a man says he is in the Body as in a Garison There 's no quitting of it without the leave of the Captain nor any longer staying in 't then during the pleasure of him that plac'd it there The Allusion of a Garison is much more Emphatical than that of a House For in the One is only imply'd an Abode and that perhaps an Idle one too whereas in the Other we are put upon Duty by our Governor And much to this purpose it is that the Life of Mâ—n in Holy Writ is one while called a Warfare and another while a Race Vr. But Cato's Speech methinks has some affinity with that of St. Paul 2 Cor. chap. 5. where he calls that Heavenly station which we look for after this Life in one place a House in another a Mansion and the Body he calls 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or a Tabernacle For we also says he in this Tabernacle groan being burthened Neph So St. Peter 2. 1. And I think it meet says he as long as I am in this Tabernacle to stir ye up by putting you in mind being assured that I shall shortly put off this my Tabernaâ—le And what says Christ himself Mat. 24. Mar. 13. and Luke 21. That we should so live and Watch as if we were presently to Die and so apply our selves to honest things as if we were to live for ever Now who can hear these words of Cato Oh that glorious Day without thinking of St. Paul's I desire to be dissolved and to be with Christ Ch. How happy are they that wait for Death in in such a state of mind But yet in Cato's Speech tho' it be great there is more boldness and Arrogance in it methinks then would become a Christian No certainly never any Ethnique came nearer up to us then Socrates to Crito before he took his Poyson Whether I shall be approved or not in the sight of God I câ—â—not tell but this I am certain of that I have most affectionately en leavour'd to please him And I am in good hope that he will accept the Will for the Deed. This great mans diffidence in himself was yet so comforted by the Conscience of Pious Inclinations and an absolute Resignation of himself to the Divine Will that he deliver'd up himself in a dependence upon Gods Mercy and Goodness even for the Honesty of his Intentions Neph What a wonderful Elevation of Mind was this in a man that only Acted by the light of Nature I can hardly read the Story of this Worthy without a Sancte Socrates Ora pro nobis Saint Socrates pray for us and I have as much ado sometime to keep my self from wishing well to the Souls of Virgil and Horace But how distracted and fearful have I seen many Christians upon the last Extremity Some put their Trust in things not to be Confided in others breath out their Souls in desperation either out of a Conscience of their lewd Lives or some scruples perhaps injected into their thoughts by medling with indiscreet men at their dying hours Ch. And 't is no wonder to find those disorder'd at their Deaths who have spent their whole Lives in the Formality of Philosophizing about Ceremonies Neph What do you mean by Ceremonies Ch. I 'll tell ye but with this Protestation over and over before hand that I am so far from Condemning the Sacraments and Rites of the Church that I have them in high Veneration But there are a wicked and superstitious sort of People or in good Manners I