in all things to bear the seeming scepter Then seeing him dayly become more weak than himself to secure this state upon his own sons he makes the eldest to wit Phaselus Governour of Jerusalem and giveth to Herod his Unhappy Politician youngest the Tetratchie of Galilee Some time after having sucked down all the wind which his ambition presented to him and not knowing what more to do he drank a cup of poyson which in a banquet was offered to him by the slie cunning of Malicus his enemie Behold the current of humane things These Spirits enragedly mad after greatness which they pursue with all manner of toyl and sinister practises are as those little bubbles that rise on the water in time of a tempest they encrease and crack in a moment Antipater being dead his two sons Phaselus and Beginning of Herod Herod divide the succession each one holdeth firmly his share and striveth to possess the heart of Hircanus making him always personate his own part Herod as soon as he was in office even in the life of his father being as yet but fifteen years of age well discovered what he would be by his natural inclinations which proceeded from him as flashing streaks from a cloud to be instantly turned into lightening He had a malign spirit craftie ambitious even to furie and whose fingers perpetually itched after bloud and slaughter And verily he defiled his tender years and first beginning of principalitie with effusion of humane bloud falling not onely upon one called Ezechias reputed a Pirat but he also cut in pieces with him many Jews without either warrant or knowledge of the cause which involved many innocents in this ruin The mothers of those people massacred by young Herod went out of the Temple disconsolate with their hair disheveled requiring justice of Hircanus who was no other than a meer idol of principalitie Notwithstanding much importuned by the cries and lamentations of these weeping women and incited by the Peers of his Kingdom he ordained that Herod should appear before a tribunal of justice In this action the young man sufficiently shewed the boldness of his spirit and fierceness of his courage The other who were accused came to this Parliament of Judea altogether in mourning habit he thither went as to a feast or a Theater waited on with a flourishing retinue clothed in scarlet frisled perfumed and besides with the recommendations of the Romans who sent nothing but armed words commanding the Judges to pardon without any other process He then being but fifteen years old so amazed the Judges and Advocates with his very fashion and countenance that of all those who were prepared for long pleadings against him there was not one to be found that had the heart to mutter in his presence One of the Judges called Sameas an honest man more hardie than Liberty of a judge the rest cried out aloud to King Hircanus there present Sir I wonder not this young Lord commeth in such equipage to this barr every one doth what he can for his own safeguard But I admire that you and your Councel suffer him thus to proceed as if he came hither not to be adjudged but to murther the Judges you presently through favour will enfranchise him but he one day by Justice will assail yours And verily of the whole Senat no one escaped whom Herod being come to the full mannage of the Kingdom put not to death except him who delivered his opinion with such libertie It is reported of Sameas that when afterward there was question moved to receive Herod for King the rest constantly opposing it he freely said he gave his voice to Herod and some amazed thereat Let it not seem strange unto you saith he God in his indignation Grave speech will give unto you a bad King and a worse he cannot find than Herod He is the scourge you stand in need of to chastice your infidelitie Hircanus then seeing the Judges animated by Sameas more inclining to the ballance of justice than mercy caused him secretly to be shifted away For he embosomed him with love and so hatched the serpents egge in his breast Herod nothing inferiour to his father in policie pursuing his plots and examples inseparably united himself to the Romans gayning them with all manner of services and entertaining Hircanus to serve his turns as a shadow with all manner of complacence and flatterie The Kingdom of Judea seemed as yet not to behold him but at distance his brother Phaselus as the eldest held the best part Aristobulus whom you have seen led in fetters to Rome had also two sons the eldest of which was called Alexander father of this chaste Mariamne whose patience we decipher The other was Antigonus with whom Herod had much occasion Or both he discharged himself in Great revolution in the Kingdom of Judea process of time For the unfortunate Alexander successour to the unhappiness of his father Aristobulus putting himself into the field with such troops as he could amass together in the disaster of his fortune was in favour of Herod oppressed by the Romans Antigonus having escaped out of captivitie wherein he was held at Rome with Aristobulus his father gave Herod matter enough to work on For putting himself into the Parthians power he wrought so much with promises and hopes that they undertook to establish him in his Royal throne And thereupon they arm both by sea and land and handle the matter so by force and policie that they stir up Hircanus and Phaselus Herod with much difficultie saved himself and though he had a courage of steel was so astonished with this surprise that it was a great chance he had not ended his life upon his own sword Hircanus unworthily used by the commandment of his nephew Antigonus had both his ears cut off and thereby made for ever uncapable of the High-priestood Phaselus the brother of Herod enraged with the turn of fortune voluntarily knocked out his own brains against the side of a rock Herod who always cleaved to the fortune of the Romans as ivy to a wall seeing his affairs reduced to an extremitie imploreth their assistance representeth the outrages of Antigonus the hostilitie of the Parthians signifieth the services of his father Antipater promiseth on his part all the world and so handleth the matter that beyond his expectation he is declared King and at that instant Antigonus enemie of the people of Rome as a fugitive and ally of the Parthians Herod pursueth him with might and main ayded by the Roman forces The miserable Antigonus after a very long resistance was imprisoned becoming the very first of Kings who by commandment of Mark Anthony was executed with a punishment most unfit for his qualitie and condition and among the Romans not usual leaving his head upon a scaffold in the Citie of Antioch for no other cause but for the defence of the inheritance of his Ancestours But Strabo saith Mark
protest if it were to do again I had rather die in The life of Hugo a Monastery covered with leaprousie than with the scarlet robe of a Cardinal Yet notwithstanding this man had been so little idle that besides the Concordances of the Bible which he composed and the Commentaries he made upon the whole Corps of holy Scripture he so couragiously employed himself in the exercise of good works that being drawn out of the excellent Order of S. Dominick he retained all his former virtues which found no change in him but that they added to their native beauty the lustre of authority I speak this not to inform Prelates from whom I should receive instruction but to represent to so many of the young Nobility as we now daily behold advanced to Ecclesiastical charges the peril there is in Prelacies which are not guided by the paths of a good conscience It is a monstrous thing said holy S. Bernard to hold the highest place and have the lowest courage Bern. de consid lib. 1. cap. 7 the first Chair and the last life a tongue magnificent and a hand slothfull much noise about you and little fruit the countenance grave and actions light great authority and no more constancy than a weather-cock It were a better sight to behold an Ape on the house top and smoke in a candlestick than a man dignified without merit On the contrary part when science and virtue agree with Nobility to make up a good Church-man it is so glorious a spectacle that it may be said God to produce it on earth hath taken a pattern from himself in Heaven I wish no more faithfull witnesses than this Prelate which I shall present unto you in this first Treatise after I have made a brief Summary of precepts which I have purposely comprised in very few pages to render them the readier for the understanding well knowing there are store of books largely enough dilating on this subject the length of which I have avoided to attend the matter I wish it may have an effect in your hearts worthy of your courage that honouring your dignity for virtue virtue may enoble you with titles of true glorie THE HOLY COURT SECOND TOME THE PRELATE The first SECTION That it is convenient the Nobilitie should govern the Church I Begin by the Altar to measure the Aeternitas mundi ex obedientiâ ad intelligentiam motricem Apudi Matthiam de Viennâ qui liber impressus anno 1482. Temple of the Holy Court and set a Prelate before your eyes who bare Nobility into the house of God and there furnished himself with all the virtues which made him speak like an Oracle and live as a true image of the Divinity The Platonists say the whole order of the world dependeth on Intelligences which bear sway in the motion of the first Heaven and we in imitation of them may say all the good of Christendom proceeds from the examples of Ecclesiastical men to whom the Son of God hath consigned his authority on their brows his word in their mouths his bloud and Church into their hands For if bees engendred of the body of a bull carry in their entrails the very form of that bull from whence they are derived by a much more just title the people Vlysses Aldobran de apibus will bear the marks of those whom God hath given them for Doctours and Fathers whether it be by correspendence of nature through custom or by imitation which ever hold a very great predominance over spirits disposed to receive their impressions Behold the cause why a Prelate who liveth conform to his profession imprinteth the seal of the Son of God on all those souls he governeth and produceth himself in as many objects as he hath imitatours of his virtues As on the contrary part he who liveth ill in great Nobility and dignity is a Seraphin in appearance but a Seraphin without eyes without heart without hands which hath wings of a profane fire able to burn the Propitiatory if God afford not his helping hand And forasmuch as we at this day see the Nobility aspire to Ecclesiastical charges and many fathers to dispose their children thereunto sometimes with more fervour than consideration it hath caused me to undertake this Treatise for the Nobility which dedicate themselves to the Church as well to shew the purity of intention they ought to exercise therein as to give them a fair discovery of the goodly and glorious actions they ought to pursue in the practice thereof I here will first offer you a simple draught which I afterward intend to adorn with the greatness of S. Ambrose as with more lively colours Plato rejoyced to behold Princes and Governours of Common-wealths to become Philosophers and we have cause to praise God when we see the children of Noble houses to dispose themselves to Priesthood not by oblique and sinister ways but with all the conditions which their bloud requireth and sacred dignity exacteth in so noble a subject Why should we deny them Myters Crosiers and eminency in the Church So far is their birth from ministering any occasions of the contrary that it rather affordeth them favour both to undertake such charges with courage and discharge their conscience with all fidelity The reasons hereof are evident For first we must aver that by how much the more honourable the charges are so much the rather they are proper for such as make profession of honour provided always on the other side they have qualities suitable to those ministeries they pretend to exercise And are there any in the world more ambitious of honour than Noblemen Ostentation is the last shirt they put off and where can you find a more solid and eminent honour than that which is derived from the lawfull administration of Ecclesiastical functions Aristotle saith Truths which transmit themselves Arist lib. 1. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Xenophon l. 4. de factis dictis Socratis tribuit etiam Socrati Strabo Geograph l. 14. Aelian l. 14. c. 34. Var. Eus in ChroÌ Agathias histor l. 2 c. through the common sense of every man get into credit as it were by the decree of nature Now such hath been the esteem of all Nations that Kingdoms and Common-wealths being established upon Religion and temporal jurisdiction as on two columns Religion so much the more excelleth politick government as things divine transcendently surmount humane And for this cause favours priviledges and preheminences have ever been given to Priests in the greatest and most flourishing Monarchies and Common-wealths of the world as we may see in Histories and in the policie of the Aegyptians Assyrians Chaldeans Medes Persians Grecians Romans Gauls and other Nations The honour of Priesthood gained so much on the hearts of all people that the Monarchs of the earth seemed not to rule but with one arm if they made not in one and the same person the alliance of Priesthood and Royalty so that oftentimes
in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms of me Then he opened their understanding that they might understand the Scriptures And he said to them That so it is written and so it behoved Christ to suffer and to rise again from the dead the third day and penance to be preached in his Name and remission of sins unto all Nations Moralities 1. WE think sometimes that Jesus is far from us when he is in the midst of our heart he watches over us and stretches out his divine hands for our protection Let us live always as if we were actually in his presence before his eyes and in his bosom An ancient Tradition doth observe that after our Lords Ascension the Apostles did never eat together but they left the first napkin for their good Master conceiving that according to his promise he was always with them Let us accustom our selves to this exercise of Gods presence It is a happy necessity to make us do well to believe and apprehend that our Judge is always present If respect make him formidable love will teach us that he is the Father of all sweetness There can be no greater comfort in this world than to be present in heart and body with that which we love beast 2. Jesus is taken by his Apostles for a Spirit because after the Resurrection he pierced the walls and appeared suddenly as Spirits do S. Paul also saith in the second to the Corinthians that now we do no more know Christ according to the flesh that is to say by the passions of a mortal body as S. Epiphanius doth expound it We must make little use of our bodies to converse with our Jesus who hath taken upon him the rare qualities of a Spirit We must raise our selves above our senses when we go to the Father of light and the Creatour of sense He teaches us the life of Spirits and the commerce of Angels and makes assayes of our immortality by a body now immortal Why are we so tied to our sense and glued to the earth Must we suffer our selves to enter into a kingdom of death when we are told of the resurrection of him who is the Authour of all lives 3. Admire the condescending and bounties of our Lord to his dear Disciples He that was entered into the kingdom of spirits and immortal conversation suffers his feet and hands to be touched to prove in him the reality of a true body He eats in presence of his Apostles though he was not in more estate to digest meat than the Sun is to digest vapours He did no more nourish himself with our corruptible meats than the Stars do by the vapours of the earth And yet he took them to confirm our belief and to make us familiar with him It is the act of great and generous spirits to abase themselves and condescend to their inferiours So David being anointed King and inspired as a Prophet doth not shew his person terrible in the height of his great glory but still retained the mildness of a shepheard So Jesus the true Son of David by his condescending to us hath consecrated a certain degree whereby we may ascend to Heaven Are not we ashamed that we have so little humility or respect to our inferiours but are always so full of our selves since our Lord sitting in his Throne of glory and majesty doth yet abase himself to the actions of our mortal life Let it be seen by our hands whether we be resuscitated by doing good works and giving liberal alms Let it appear by our feet that they follow the paths of the most holy persons Let it be seen by our nourishment which should be most of honey that is of that celestial sweetness which is extracted from prayer And if we seem to refuse fish let us at least remain in the element of piety as fish is in water Aspirations THy love is most tender and thy cares most generous O mild Saviour Amongst all the torrents of thy Passion thou hast not tasted the waters of forgetfulness Thou returnest to thy children as a Nightingale to her little nest Thou dost comfort them with thy visits and makest them familiar with thy glorious life Thou eatest of a honey-comb by just right having first tasted the bitter gall of that unmercifull Cross It is thus that our sorrows should be turned into sweets Thou must always be most welcome to me in my troubles for I know well that thou onely canst pacifie and give them remedy I will govern my self toward thee as to the fire too much near familiarity will burn us and the want of it will let us freeze I will eat honey with thee in the blessed Sacrament I know that many there do chew but few receive thee worthily Make me O Lord I beseech thee capable of those which here on earth shall be the true Antepasts to our future glory The Gospel upon Low-Sunday S. John the 20. THerefore when it was late that day the first of the Sabbaths and the doors were shut where the Disciples were gathered together for fear of the Jews Jesus came and stood in the midst and saith to them Peace be to you And when he had said this he shewed them his hands and side The Disciples therefore were glad when they saw our Lord. He said therefore to them again Peace be to you As my Father hath sent me I also do send you When he had said this he breathed upon them and he said to them Receive ye the Holy Ghost Whose sins you shall forgive they are forgiven them and whose you shall retain they are retained But Thomas one of the twelve who is called Didymus was not with them when Jesus came the other Disciples therefore said to him We have seen our Lord. But he said to them Unless I see in his hands the print of the nails and put my finger into the place of the nails and put my hand into his side I will not believe And after eight days again his Disciples were within and Thomas with them Jesus cometh the doors being shut and stood in the midst and said Peace be to you Then he saith to Thomas Put in thy finger hither and see my hands and bring hither thy hand and put it into my side and be not incredulous but faithfull Thomas answered and said to him My Lord and my God Jesus saith to him Because thou hast seen me Thomas thou hast believed Blessed are they that have not seen and have believed Moralities 1. JEsus the Father of all blessed harmonies after so many combats makes a general peace in all nature He pacifieth Limbo taking the holy Fathers out of darkness to enjoy an eternal light and sending the damned to the bottom of hell He pacifieth the earth making it from thenceforth to breathe the air of his mercies He pacifieth his Apostles by delivering them from that profound sadness which they conceived by the imaginary loss of their dear Master
labours very advisedly to reconcile the son to His reconciliation by the means of Joab the father by the mediation of a very discreet woman of Tecoah which came with a counterfeit pretence and complained to the King that she being mother of two sons the one in a hot quarrel had slain his brother and that they would constrain her to deliver up the other to justice that processe might be maid against him to the end to extinguish all her race And therefore she entreated his Majesty to be gracious to save her son that remained and not wholly to deprive her of all comfort in the world The which David having agreed to she declared to him that he ought to practice the same towards his own son which he would have done for one of his subjects that we were all mortall and that we passe away here below as the current of a stream that we should imitate the goodnesse of God which loves our souls and would not that they should perish As this woman spoke with so much discretion David was in doubt that Joab had instructed her and made her under-hand to act this fine play the which she affirmed and so much gained the heart of David that he gave full permission to Joab to fetch back the banished to his house although it was for the space of two years without seeing him Absolon grew so melancholick by his being so far from the court without seeing the king his father that having oftentimes sent to Joab to put an end to his businesse seeing that he would not come to him for friendship he caused his corn to be set on fire to make him come for anger for the which he excused himself and entreated him to ask of David in his behalf either that he might dye or that he might have leave to see him This good father could no longer dissemble the movings Absolons revolt of nature but having sent for him he embraced him and gave the kisse of peace and re-establishes him in the court The spirit of this Prince was lofty tempestuous movable which could not contain it self any longer within the bounds of obedience For the space of the five years of his removall from the court he had leisure enough to bite the bridle and as it is credible he had projected already the design of reigning his ambition seemed to him sufficiently well founded Amnon his eldest brother was dead Celeab the son of Abigail the second of his brethren made no great noise he saw himself underpropt on his mothers side by the King of Gesher his grand-father This was a Prince well made upright pleasing courteous liberall secret courageous and capable of great undertakeings He saw his father upon the declining of his age who had lost very much of that vigour testified so many times in his battels Adonija was too much a fondling and Solomon yet a childe and not able to His designs oppose him He conceived that the Empire could not slipp out of his hands And indeed there was great hopes for him if he had had so much patience to stay for it as desire to command He made too soon to appear what was in his mind causing himself to be encompassed when he marched forth with souldiers and a guard which was a sign of Royalty Further also he ceased not to gain the hearts and secretly to get the good will of all his fathers subjects He was up betimes in the morning and set himself at the entrance of the Palace to take His ambition notice of all those that had any businesse to propound to the King One never saw Prince more prodigall in courtesies he call'd them to him he embraced them he kissed them he enquired of their countrey of their condition of their suit and of that their negotiation He did justice to all the world and said that there was no other mishap but that the King was old and tyred with businesses and had not a man to hear the complaints of his subjects and to render them justice and that if one day he had the charge which his birth deserved he would give full satisfaction to every one By this meanes he made himself conquerour of hearts and traced out great intelligence throughout the Provinces guiding himself by the counsels of Achitophel who was the most refined spirit the best dissembler and most pernicious that was in the whole Kingdome David did not sufficiently watch over the actions of his sonne and the secret workings of this evil Counsellour the evil increased and their party was already framed Absolon asketh leave of the King his father to go to Hebron under pretence of performing a vow but with an intent to proclaim himself King That which he desired was granted to him he marches under this coverture with a train and splendour carrying many people with him and Sacrifices to offer He gives order in the mean while to all his confederates that at the first sound of the Trumpet they should march forth into the field to go to meet him and to bring him all the Troops that they could gather together All this was readily performed and without further Absolon caused himself to be proclaimed King dissimulation he declared himself and caused himself to be crowned in Hebron the news came quickly to David which brought him word that his son Absolon was revolted against him and had got possession of Hebron and that all the forces of the Kingdome run to him Here one may see a great example of the judgement A great example of the weaknesse of mans spirit when it is left by God of God of the weaknesse of a man left to himself as also the beams of an high and profound humility To speak according to man all that David did in this encounter of affairs was low and feeble He might have taken the field with the Regiments which he had which amounted at least to six or seven thousand men and have unwoven this web of conspiracy at its springing forth And if he had not perceived himself strong enough he had sufficient means to maintein himself in Jerusalem to entrench and fortifie himself there and to tyre out those spirits of his Rebels He might have enterteined him with good hopes promises and treaties and have cooled this first heat by rallying by little and little the affections of his subjects to his own party And if he had conceived his affairs to be in ill plight he should have been the last that had taken notice of it after the manner of those great Captains which carry hope in their faces even then when they have despair in their heart to keep together their Troopes in their duty But this poor Prince at the newes of this rebellion talked of nothing but flying and leaving his chief City and saving himself in the by-paths of the wildernesses he is the first that goes forth without a horse to ride on on his bare
Colonell that lost the battell hazarded against the Arabian and this miserable King was in the way to have been deprived of all his Kingdomes if the Romans had not intervened who would not permit Arethas to make himself great in their vicinity Some while after happened the passion of our Saviour who as we know was presented to this Herod but by reason that there was no Herodias to urge him then to murther he contented himself with the mockeries and derisions of his person He thought from that time forward to enjoy a great quietnesse but the justice of God that punishes exemplarily the violences that are committed against his servants raised him up a strange Catastrophe His wife that spurred him incessantly with ambition perswaded him to take a journey to Rome to make himself great by the favour of the Romans and to bear openly in his Titles the name of King But he was much amazed that young Agrippa his Kinsman had supplanted him and found so much favour with the Emperour Claudius that he gave him the Kingdome of Herod Antipas with the other of Philip that was now deceased and sent him into Judea with the name of King and with good Patents to authorize his Election And forasmuch as concerns this murtherer of the Prophet having been accused of much insolencie and cowardise the Edict of the Prince banished him to Lyons so that he was like the Cammell in the fable that for having asked for horns of Jupiter lost his ears The Emperour let Herodias know that he intended not to comprehend her in the Edict but that he permitted her to stay in the Countrey Yet she was so constant in a wicked friendship that she answered That since she had been a companion of her husband in prosperity she would by no means abandon him in adversity and that she had rather be banished with him then have a Kingdome with another man that should not be according to her heart She was left to do after her own head and both of them set forth to go to exile accompanied with that little wanton which according to Nicephorus passing over a frozen River fell in before she was aware the Ice melting under her feet She hung a long time in this snare moving her self up and down as if she would have danced in such a sort as that her neck was cut off by a razour of Ice and her life stifled under the waters to make an honorable revenge to the holy forerunner of Jesus Christ Herod Antipas and his Herodias were overwhelmed with poverty with misery and with ignominy in a strange land offering up a long sacrifice of their pains to divine vengeance without ever recovering either liberty or safety Saint PAUL and SENECA In the COURT of NERO. BEhold here a theatre and a spectacle worthy of Saints of Philosophers and of Kings the meeting of Paul with Seneca in the Court of Cesar The Doctour of the Nations with the most knowing man in the Universe The wisdome of the Crosse with that of Philosophy The birth of the Roman Church in the Bloud and in the Flames of Martyrs The Gospel preached in a City which was the gulf of corruption and which is more admirable the Habitation of Christians in the Palace of Nero. To understand aright the greatnesse of our Christianity the force of the Gospel the combats of Saint Peter and Saint Paul the Triumphs and the Majesty of the Church It is needfull to represent unto you an Idaea of the estate of this chiefest City of the world and the wicked manners which those two great Apostles observed in it to root them out and to cause a people to be born anew regenerate in the Bloud of their Saviour It seemeth that S. Paul in his Epistle to the Romans hath undertaken to describe the inordinate life of Nero and of those in his Court who did conform themselves to his example to partake of his favours He The estate of Rome and the Court of Nero when Paul came to it speaketh of some men who were faln into a reprobate sense and who had changed the order of nature and their sex by most infamous lusts being filled with all Iniquity with Riot Covetousnesse Detraction Envy Murder Debate Deceit and Malice Whispering Despitefull Cursing Proud Arrogant Inventers of evil things Disobedient to their parents without Understanding without Order without Affection without Fidelity without Compassion And this most clearly is manifested in all the deportments of this most infamous Emperour who was the monster of men And we of necessity must affirm that it is the manifest choler of heaven and a scourge enough to exterminate mankind from the earth when a wicked and a licentious life is joyned with the heighth of Power which giveth as much force to wickednesse as it takes off from the strength and execution of the Laws It is not my design to stretch forth that in words which might be spoken of Nero but to make a short Collection of the manners of his own person and his Court that the Readers might observe on what stuffe Seneca and S. Paul did work and what were their proceedings and successe In the seven and thirtieth year of our Saviour this The birth and education of Nero Prince fatall to the ruine of the Empire was born on the fifth of December betwixt seven and eight of the clock in the morning he came into the world with his feet foremost contrary to the order of nature he took all the vices of his ancestours and did partake of none of all their virtues On the fathers side he was descended from the Domitians sirnamed Barbarossae whom the Romans vulgarly called Brasse-beards and it was one of his ancestours unto whom the Oratour in choler did reply That it was no marvel that he had a Beard of Brasse since Nature had given him a Mouth of Iron and a Heart of Lead His grandfather was a fiery man cruel and prodigall and so amorous of Playes that he caused the Ladies of Rome to ascend the Theatre and to act the Comedies themselves He gave also the combate of the Gladiatours performed with so much cruelty that Augustus Cesar was constrained to stop it by his Edicts His father Domitius was detestable over all his life insolent furious who with his own hand did stab one of his Free-men to death because he would not be drunk and in the pride of heart made his caroach to passe over a little child in the street and quarrelling with a Knight of Rome he caused one of his eyes to he pulled out Besides his cruelty he was a man without faith without probity without honesty who deceived all his creditours mocked all the world and secretly abused his own sister His wife was named Agrippina she was daughter to Germanicus of the Bloud of the Cesars but of an evil spirit and prostituted to all manner of vices And it is no marvel that Domitius father to Nero when much joy
profession 173 X. The Examples of great Prelates are very lively spurs to Virtue ibid. S. AMBROSE I. HIs Calling 175 II. A short Elogie of the life and manners of S. Ambrose 179 III. His Government ibid. IV. His Combats and first against Gentilism 182 Oration of Symmachus to Theodosius and Valentinian the Younger for the Altar of Victory Exercise of Pagan Religion and Revenue of Vestals ibid. V. Oration of S. Ambrose against Symmachus 184 VI. The triumph of S. Ambrose in the conversion of S. Augustine 188 VII Dispositions to the conversion of S. Augustine 191 VIII Agitations of Spirit in S. Augustine upon his conversion 194 IX Accidents which furthered this conversion 195 X. The Admirable change of S. Augustine 196 XI The Affairs of S. Ambrose with the Emperours Valentinian the Father and Gratian the son 199 XII The death of the Emperour Gratian and afflictions of S. Ambrose 202 XIII The Embassage of S. Ambrose 204 XIV The persecution of S. Ambrose raised by the Emperess Justina 206 XV. Maximus passeth into Italie 208 XVI Affliction of S. Ambrose upon the death of Valentinian 210 XVII The tyranny of Eugenius and not able liberty of S. Ambrose 211 XVIII The differences of S. Ambrose with the Emperour Theodosius his death 213 THE SOULDIER I. THe excellency of warlike virtue 217 II. He Enterance into the palace of Valour and the illusions of the Salmoneans and Rodomonts 218 III. The Temple of Valour and sage Precepts given by the Christian Souâdier to refute the manners of the times And first That Piety helpeth Valour 220 IV. Manifest proofs which declare that Piety and Valour are not things incompatible 222 V. Against Duels 224 VI. Against the ill mannage of arms 225 VII Against sensual Love Impurity 228 VIII Against the perfidiousnes of interests 230 IX Short and notable Instructions 231 CONSTANTINE I. THe providence of God over Constantine 233 II. The Nobility of Constantine 235 III. His Education and Qualities 237 IV. His entery into the Empire 238 V. His prowess against Maxentius 242 VI. The death of Diocletian and feats of Arms performed by Constantine against Lycinius 243 VII The vices and passions of Constantine before his Baptism with the death of Crispus and Fausta 245 VIII The calling of Constantine to christianity The progress of his conversion and Baptism 247 IX The acts of Constantine after his Baptism 248 X. The endeavour of good works with the virtues and laws of Constantine 249 XI The Zeal of Constantine in the proceedings in the Councel of Nice 251 XII The government of Constantine 254 XIII The death of Constantine 255 THE STATES-MAN I. THe excellency of politick virtue 263 II. He Table of Babylon drawn from sundry conceptions of the most singular wits of Antiquity 264 III. The destruction of Babylon and the government of the Divine Providence over the Estates of the world 266 IV. The Table of the Citie of God otherwise called The Citie of honest men drawn out of many excellent conceits of ancient Authours and things practised in some former Common-wealths 268 V. Sage Precepts drawn out of the Monuments of the divine Agathopolis 271 BOETIUS I. HIs great Nobility 276 II. The eminent Wisdom and Learning of Boetius 278 III. His enterance into government of state 280 IV. The enterance of Theodorick into Rome and his happy Government by the counsel of Boetius 282 V. The Honours of Boetius and alteration of Theodorick 287 VI. The imprisonment of Boetius 291 VII The death of Boetius 293 THE LADIE I. THat the HOLY COURT cannot subsist without the virtue of Ladies and of their piety in the advancement of christianity 297 II. That Women are capable of good Lights and solid Instructions 298 III. The ten Orders of women and the vicious qualities which Ladies ought especially to avoid 299 IV. The tenth Order of Women full of Wisdom and Virtue 302 V. A brief Table of the excellent Qualities of a Lady And first of true Devotion 302 VI. Modestie 303 VII Chastitie 304 VIII Discretion in the manage of affairs 305 IX Conjugal Love 306 X. The care of children 307 XI The conclusion of the Discourse ibid. CLOTILDA I. HEr Birth and Education 307 II. Clodovaeus requireth Clotilda in marriage 308 III. Embassage to the King of Burgundie for the marriage of Clotilda 310 IV. The arrival of Clotilda in France the life she led in the time of her Wedlock 312 V. The prudence which the Queen used in the conversion of her Husband 313 VI. The conversion of Clodovaeus 315 VII What Clodovaeus did by the perswasion of Clotilda after his Baptism 316 VIII The good success which God gave to Clodovaeus after he became a christian 317 IX The life of Clotilda in her widowhood Her afflictions and glorious death 319 INDEGONDIS X. ISsued from the bloud and house of Clotilda she transporteth the Catholick Faith into Spain 323 XI The persecutions of Indegondis 324 XII The Retreat of Hermingildus and his conversion 325 XIII The Reciprocal letters of the father and the son upon their separation 326 XIV The Treatie of peace between Levigildus and his son by the mediation of Indegondis 327 XV. Hermingildus is wickedly betrayed 328 XVI The letter of Hermingildus to Indegondis and his generous resolution 330 XVII The death of Hermingildus 331 A TABLE OF THE MAXIMS AND EXAMPLES Contained in the third Tome of the HOLY COURT The First Part of the Third Tome touching the Divinitie I. Maxim OF Religion page 339 I. Example OF the esteem we ought to make of faith and Religion 342 II. Maxim Of the Essence of God 343 II. Example The power of God over faithless souls 346 III. Maxim Of the excellency of God 348 The greatness of God compared to the abjectness of man 349 III. Example Of the weakness of man and inconstancy of humane things 352 IV. Maxim Of the providence of God 354 The foundation of truths of the providence of God 356 IV. Example Divers observations upon providence 358 V. Maxim Of Accidents 359 V. Example Of the providence of God over the estates and riches of the world 363 VI. Maxim Of praedestination 365 VI. Example Of the secret power of praedestination 368 VII Maxim Of the Divinity of Jesus 370 Of the revelation of the Word Incarnate and how all creatures bear witness of his divinity ibid. VII Example The triumph of Jesus over the enemies of Faith 373 VIII Maxim Of perfections of Jesus which make him to be beloved 375 Excellencies in the person of our Saviour 376 VIII Example Of the admirable change of worldly love into the love of Jesus Christ 379. The Second Part touching the Order of this present Life IX Maxim OF Devotion 381 IX Maxim OF dark Devotion 382 IX Maxim Affected Devotion 383 IX Maxim Transcendent Devotion 384 IX Maxim Solid Devotion 386 IX Example Of solid Devotion 387 X. Maxim Of interest 389 X. Example Of liberality and the unhappiness of such as seek
due to God ibid. 5 Of the Reverence which the Holy Humanity of our Lord did bear to his Eternall Father 84 THE TWELFTH TREATISE Of Anger 1 THe Origen of Anger its Nature Causes and Diversities 86 2 Three principall kinds of Anger 87 3 The Contemplation of the serenity of the diuine Spirit is the mistresse of meeknesse 88 4 That the example of our Saviour doth teach us the moderation of Anger ibid. 5 Politick Rimedies to appease such as are Angry 89 6 Morall Remedies against the same passion ibid. THE THIRTEENTH TREATISE Of Envie and Jealousie 1 THe Picture thereof 91 2 The Definition of Envie its severall kinds and first of Jealousie ibid. 3 Two other branches of this stock which are Indignation and malicious Envie with Calumny its Companion 93 4 Humane remedies of Envie 94 5 Divine remedies drawn from the benignity of God 95 6 The mercifull eye of Jesus serveth for an antidote against all sorts of Envie 96 7 A Detestation of Envie 97 THE FOURTEENTH TREATISE Of Mildnesse and Compassion 1 THe great misery of Man makes Compassion necessary in the world 98 2 The Essenc of Compassion and how it findeth place in hearts most generous 99 3 Moderate severity is necessary in Government but it ought to be free from Cruelty 100 4 The goodnesse of God beateth down the rigour of men ibid. 5 The Mercies of the incarnate word are able to soften the harshest hearts 101 HISTORICALL OBSERVATIONS Vpon the four Principall Passions which are as four Devils disturbers of the HOLY COURT OBSERVAT. Page 1 THe disasters of such as have yielded to the Passion of Love and the glory of souls which have surmounted it 107 2 Observations upon the Passion of Desire wherein we may behold the misery of Ambitious and turbulent spirits 112 3 Observations upon Anger and Revenge 117 4 Observations upon Envie which draweth with it Jealousie Hatred and Sadnesse 121 A TABLE Of the LIVES and ELOGIES of Illustrious Persons contained in the Fifth Tome MOnarchs 131 David 139 Solomon 151 Justinian 158 Charlemaign 172 S. Lewis King of France 177 Judith 181 Hester 187 Josuah 196 Judas Machabeus 197 Godfrey 207 George Castriot 209 Boucicaut 211 Bayard 214 Joseph 218 Moses 227 Samuel 235 Daniel 241 Eliah 248 Eyisha 265 Isaiah 260 Jeremiah 263 S. John Baptist 267 S. Paul and Seneca 271 Mary Stuart 291 Cardinall Pool 313 A Treatise of the Angel of Peace to all Christian Princes 1 THE HOLY COURT FIRST BOOK Of Reasons which should excite men of qualitie to Christian Perfection That the COURT and DEVOTION are not things incompatible The FOUNDATION of this TREATISE THe wise Hebrews have observed a matter worthy of consideration for the direction of Great-ones to wit that between the bed of the Kings of Judea The gloss upon Isaiah ch 38. observeth also Juxta parietem Templi Solomon extruxit palatium A notable observation of the Hebrews and the Altar of God there was but one single wall and they adde that David one of the most holy Monarchs had reserved for himself a secret postern through which he passed from his chamber to the house of God that is to say the Tabernacle which served as a sanctuarie for his afflictions and an arsenal for his battels They say likewise he left the key of this sacred postern to his Posteritie a key a thousand times more pretious than Fortune the golden Goddess of the Romans giving to it the imitation of his virtue as an everlasting inheritance Achaz was he who stopping up the gate of the Temple Parali 2. 28. clausit januas Templi shut against himself the gates of Gods mercie and thereby opened the passage to his own confusion This is to instruct Princes and all persons of quality that as the element of birds is the air and water of fishes so the element of great spirits if they will not betray their own nature nor bely their profession is piety Yet notwithstanding it is a wonder how the Court where the most noble spirits should reside hath in all Ages been cried down in matter of virtue You will say hearing those speak who make many fair and formal descriptions of the manners of Courtiers that the Court is nothing else but a den of darkness where the heavens and stars are not seen An admirable definition of the Court drawn out of divers ancient Authors but through a little crevis that it is a mil as the Ancients held it always skreaking with a perpetual clatter where men enchained as beasts of labour are condemned to turn the stones That it is a prison of slaves who are all tied in the golden guives of speciors servitude yet in this glitter suffer themselves to be gnawn by the vermine of passion That it is a list where the combatants are mad their arms nothing but furie their prize smoke their carreer glassie ice and utmost bounds but precipices That it is the house of Circes where reasonable creatures are transformed into savage beasts where Buls gore Lions roar Dogs worrie one another Vipers hiss and Basilisks carrie death in their looks That it is the house of winds a perpetual tempest on the firm land ship-wrack without water where vessels are split even in the haven of hope Briefly that it is a place where vice reigneth by nature misery by necessity and if virtue be found there it is but by miracle Such discourses are often maintained with more The Answer fervour of eloquence than colour of truth For to speak sincerely the Court is a fair school of virtue for those who know how to use it well In great seas great fishes are to be found and in ample fortunes goodly and heroick virtues This proposition which putteth an incompatibilitie of devotion and sanctitie into the life of men of eminencie seemeth to me very exorbitant for three reasons The first for that it is injurious to God the second prejudicial to humane societie and the third sheweth it to be false by the experience of all Ages To prove these three verities The Defence of the Court. is to ruin it in the foundations the proofs whereof are easie enough which we will begin to glance at that hereafter we may deduce them more at length For as concerning the first it cannot be denied to be a great injurie to almightie God to strike at his heavenly and paternal providence This is to touch him in the apple of his eye and in the thing which he esteemeth most pretious Now so it is this maâime which establisheth an impossibilitie of devotion the first wheel of virtue in the life of Great ones imputeth a great defect unto the government of God The divine providence is a skilful posie-maker who knoweth artificially how to mingle all sorts of flowers to make the Nosegay of the elect called in holy Scripture Fasciculus viventium It constituteth the different manners of lives different qualities and conditions It leadeth men by divers way
violence to love is natural not to love is monstrous Then here admire the charms of Divinity which hath placed all the perfection of man in the love of his Creatour and Saviour to love an infinite good which one cannot hate and not become a devil Chrys serm 94. Tenerae militiae delicati conflictus est amore solo de cunctis criminibus reportare victoriam The warfare of Christians delicate S. Peter Chrysologus crieth out A more delicate warfare never was seen than to conquer all by love Ask I pray of all Divines if charity be not the quintessence of perfection Ask of all Religious men where they pretend to place it in sack-cloth or hair-shirts They will answer you No. In the vows of poverty chastity obedience No. These are most undoubted wayes to perfection but they are not properly perfection In what then In the love of God which Cap. 63. Iren. lib. 4. Eminentissimum charismatum S. Irenaeus expresseth by a most elate epithete Eminentissimum charismatum the most eminent of all the gifts of God The Master of the Sentences and some other Divines The excellency of charity have placed charity so high in which we establish perfection that they have presumed to say it was the substance of the Holy Ghost united and as it were incorporated to mans soul adding that as light is called radical light in the Sun light infused in bodies transparent colour in bodies which we call coloured in like manner this charity as it is say they originally and radically in God is the holy Ghost as it is united to the substance of our soul it is grace as it maketh sallies out upon our neighbour it is charity This Doctrine is very subtile and really giveth a very high idea of the merit of Charity but if we Notable opinion of some Divines would wholly examine it according to the strict rigour of Schools and weigh it in S. Thomas his equal ballance we shall find Charity is not to speak properly the Holy Ghost but as it were the first ray of Divinity which bringeth with it self all perfections This beam if you will is as it were in your power God every day presenteth it unto you as freely as the Sun doth his light it onely behoveth to will it behoveth seriously once to resolve to love an object so amiable and then behold your selves perfect Notwithstanding if you lay your hand on the bottom of your conscience you shall ever find it in its proper interests in humane respects in intentions and affections nothing sincere in the love of creatures This is to coyn false money in matter of love this is to put God under the Altar and the love of himself above that it may have the better part of incense What think you of this indignitie See you not the obligation of being perfect still remaineth but the effect is ever pretermitted For the second reason I say the perfection of man Imitation of Jesus Christ abridgement of wisdom Matth. 5. Estote perfecti sicut Pater vester caelestis perfectus est Greg. Nyssen ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã In the book of the life of Moses Humanity of Jesus An excellent conceit of Origen Origen 2. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Indeclinabiliter eosdeÌ motus suscipieâat consisteth in the imitation of God Be ye perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect and very well S. Gregory Nyssen assureth us that this imitation is an abridgement of all wisdom Now who is able to mount by force of wing and flie into the bosom of the eternal Father thence to draw a pourtraict of his holinesses Certainly no creature can aspire thereto And what I pray hath God all goodness all wisdom done He hath imprinted all his perfections upon our Saviour the true figure of his substance as if one should impress a golden seal upon virgin-wax which made Origen say his most sacred humanity was as the foot-step and shadow of the Divinity and agreed with it as equal well-made dyals with the Sun whereupon the spirit of God calleth all Christians and saith to them Imitate couragiously behold your Prototype behold the model of your actions He saith not I have two Images of my substance I have two Sons I send them both upon the earth one shall be for men of eminencie the other for the multitude Behold one delicately One same Jesus for the Nobles and plebeyans curious crowned with roses for the nobility behold another crowned with thorns for the vulgar It is meer dotage to imagine it And see you not it is like sottishness since all Christians bear the same name the same livery participate of the same God the same Sacraments and pretend to the same Paradise to think perfection is not appointed but for a silly handful of men separated from secular life and that others are excluded Miserable creatures who to sooth their own remisness plant their own condemnation upon their foreheads Briefly to conclude the title and dignity of a Christian draweth with it great and just obligations which you cannot countervail but with an exact endeavour of perfection Do you think one requireth too much of you who have been nourished and trained up in the Church of God if you be demanded at the least to shew resolution and courage to resist a sin as some Heathens have done in their infidelity And to produce in gross three examples upon the three most ordinary temptations behold with S. Austine Polemon who telleth you I was an insidel a S. Augustine Epist 130. saith of this Non humano operi tribuerim sed divino Polimon praised by S. Augustine young man deprived of the knowledge of the true God resigned over to all sort of intemperance wine love play rashness were the Chariot which drew my youth to downfal I was no sooner entered into the school of a Heathen Philosopher as my self but behold I was wholly changed And thou O Christian dost thou think it will be lawful for thee amongst so many important and forcible instructions so many enlightenings so many inspirations to play the smiths old dog and lie sleeping under the anvile This man here upon the onely word of a man layeth down his flowery crowns which he bare on his head his drunkenness his unthrifty riots and where is there a worldly woman at this day who at the end of a Sermon enkindled with zeal dissolveth one piece of her gaudy dressings Behold on the other side Spurina who saith in Spurina S. Ambrose I was a Gentile bred in the corruption of an age where virtue was in declination and vice on the top of the wheel I was endowed with an exquisit beauty which by right of natural force gave me the key of hearts and I seeing it was too much affected and courted by wanton eyes and served for a stumbling-block to chastity I purposely made scars S. Ambrose in the exhortation to virginitie Deformitatem sanctitatis
there left the sting If he slept upon roses the shadows of dead men approached to his downie bed to require an account of their bloud He scoffed at religion and feared it one while he despised sacred things and at another time they made him tremble with horrour He sought out waters of expiation to wash his sins and never opened his eyes to those which S. Peter and S. Paul presented to him His soul was torn with pincers within it self as on a perpetual scaffold of exquisite torments when it would issue out of it self it was like a wild colt coursed and chased by men and beasts or as a bull stung with a gad-flie who fain would run for himself yet still findeth himself with himself Judge O Atheists what a life this is The second cause of Atheism is the sensual love Bruitish conscience Clemens Alex. pedag Plotin apud Philo. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Irrâverens infrunitus animus of favours pleasures ease and delights of the world which oftentimes degenerate into the meer bruitishness of a soul which sleepeth in fat and grease so intricated and confounded in earth that it looseth all knowledge of Heaven Clemens Alexandrinus saith that it happeneth to souls which are great lovers of sensual pleasures to engross and thicken themselves in such sort that as Plotinus very learnedly writeth they live not but as a plant These spirits are much enclined to Atheism for as the Wise-man observeth after the concupiscences of the belly cometh unbrideled irreverence which serveth Eccl. 23. 6. Lev. 1. 16. Vesiculam gutturis projicies in loco quo cineres effundi solent ââ 13. âaturati sunt âlevaverunt ââ suum oblââi sunt mei as a harbinger to impiety God desired not that in offering a bird as a sacrifice unto him the gorge should be presented which is the little magazin of the meat but commanded to cast it into the ashes which is to declare to us that carnal men are most uncapable of celestial things and very fit to be dragged to the dung-hil and ash-heap The more they are affected to things present so much the more yea even in deep draughts they drink down the forgetfulness of Heavenly things All those say with Esau To what use will this goodly prerogative Genes 25. Quid mihi prâderunt primogenita of primogeniture serve me this title of the children of God this happiness of future life If there be no sensual pleasures nor carnal contentments in Heaven I will have none They become the true disciples of Alcor Aazoara 2. Mahomet who in his Alcoran describing the Turks Paradise placeth there good water good fruits rings carcanets silken tapestrie hangings and such like All these things they would enjoy but the water which they willingly would change into wine What swine are these The third cause if not of formal Atheism at the âârious conscâence least of weakness and faintness in matter of faith is when a soul will proceed in matters of Religion by politick and humane ways and suffer it self greatly to be pleaâed with curiositie which incessantly moveth it to draw the curtain of holy mysteries to enlighten them with the torch of reason and to behold all that passeth there Such spirits are not so malign nor stupid as the first and second notwithstanding they are weak and very ignorant since they fail in the first rule of wisdom which discovereth to us that it is an absolute folly of a discomposed judgement to be desirous to measure things divine by the rule of sense and humane experience They turmoyl themselves and bate like a hawk upon the perch and often say in their heart that which the Apostle S. Peter observeth in the person of infidels Where are these promises Where is the Pet. 2. 3. Vbi est promissio ubi est aâventus ejus ex quo enim âermierunt patres omnia âerseverant ab initio creaturae coming of the Son of God See you not that times revolve men come and go all things have their ordinary course and we must expect no other miracle They imagine that all the counsels of Heaven should turn and roul according to the projects of their understanding and that if God had his eye open as it is said upon the oeconomie of the world both this and that would succeed as they have contrived in their feeble brain which is a great illusion Such kind of men would willingly speak with spirits to hear them tell tales of the other life they would know as S. John Chrysostom saith what habit what clothing the Son of man weareth covered under the species of the Sacrament how the Angels are formed of what colour the devils are nothing would please them better than to talk with one really possessed to know things future to divulge predictions to behold prodigies and miracles Briefly it seemeth they have no other purpose but to believe in God by the devil Such kind of proceedings are very exorbitant and unfortunate for the reasons which I will presently produce First O you wretched souls who betake your âeasons to settle a soul Impious curiositie pulls out both its eyes selves to this way see you not that by this means you pull out the two eyes which God hath placed within your souls which are as the Sun and Moon in the firmament to wit the eye of faith and that of natural prudence You seem to your selves sharp and clear-sighted and are more blind than moles For tell me for as much as concerneth the light of nature can there be found a folly more gross and absurd than to behold men who are born and bred in Christianity as in their proper element after a thousand and a thousand witnesses of the truth of their religion which even the very marbles do speak and stones proclaim to make themselves so wise and able as to seek out other proofs than those which have won worlds to the Gospel An unworthy way to treat with God You would have a God that should give you new signs tokens to confirm you in faith a God which servilely will be captivated to please the ticklings of your curiositie Senseless men as you are this were not to have a God but a lame Idol Are you not Insuspicabilis secreti reverendaeque majestatis cognitio est deum nosse nisi deum Tert. Apol. 28 very blockish to treat with God much more wickedly than one would do with a mean man If you had passed your word to two friends you would praise him with all freeness that should rest satisfied therewith and would condemn the other whom you should find fearful inconstant and ever upon mistrust yet would you that God should favour your infidelity by extraordinary ways What apparency is there for this All curiosity is damnable Curiositie dangerous Curiositas reum efficit non peritum S. Zeno. Serm. 2. de silii gener Chrys de fato ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã
it self with such apprehensions shall always live in fetters It is good to observe the causes and remedies thereof to draw consolation from thence You O Noblemen apprehend injuries obloquies Querelae sunt nauseantis animâ in quas fere âelicati foelâces incidunt From whence this niceness proceedeth and disgraces from whence suppose you do these apprehensions proceed Of too much felicity ill disgested You have a stomach of paper which can concoct nothing it is so inebriated with the tastful sweetness of some never-ceasing prosperities that with the least disgust it is overthrown and yet notwithstanding to live now a days in the world you must procure an Ostriches stomach who swalloweth even iron it self Secondly this proceedeth from a spirit proud and clate We observe that those who upon all occasions are ready to give affronts are most tender in receiving any They cut a large thong out of another mans leather but if you prick them never so little you even pull their skin over their ears It is the course which was noted in the monster of nature Caligula Caligula a great scoffer Fârendarum contumeliarum impatiens facienuarum Cupidissimus He had a tongue unbridled to scoff indifferently at all kind of objects If any man challenged him for it he was enragedly offended Thirdly these affronts oft-times are such as our fantasies make them if we help them not out with our opinions their arrow entereth not to make an affront We must believe it to be such otherwise all injuries are but as stones cast into the wind which have no force It is recounted that Cornelius a Senatour shed many tears in full Senate when Corbala called him bald Ostrich Seneca admireth that Senec. de Constan Struthiccamelus depilâtus such a man who in all things else had shewed himself most couragiously opposite against other injuries lost his constancy for one ridiculous saying which might have been smothered in laughter whence it first tooke birth because this blow was rather given him by his own imagination than by the tongue of his enemy Fourthly this niceness in the resentment of injuries Nimio otio ingenia natura infirma muliebria inopia verae injuriae lascivientia ordinarily taketh its being from a soft and effeminat spirit which knoweth not what an affront is and had great need to encounter some true and real thing that it may no more become haughty with vain shadows This is it which most judiciously that great Oracle of Latin Philosophy hath observed For remedie to this obstacle I will produce Remedies two very considerable things The first is that if a generous heart could once be perswaded that the most noble revenge which might be drawn from affronts were to scorn them and that such is the manner of all great spirits he would make unto himself a buckler of diamond The studie of great souls should be to doe good and suffer wrong against all these petty inferiour disturbances Now I affirm all the greatness of a fair soul fit to have heaven for a theater of its actions should resolve to do good and suffer ill to know not onely how to tolerate an ingratitude but how to fasten benefits S. Augustine upon the 93. Psalm proveth this verity August in Psal 93. Convitia fiunt stellis cum dicitur illa stella Mercurie est illa Saturni quid ille cum audiunt tanta convitia nunquid moventur numquid non exercent cursus sues Sic homo qui in natione perversa tortuosa habet verbum Dei sicut luminare est âulgens in caelo unto us by a fine induction which he draweth from the stars Injuries saith he are dayly done to the stars One saith behold the star of Mercury behold Saturn is it not then a great wrong to these beautiful stars enchaced by the hand of God in the azure vault of the heavens to put them into the possession of I know not what kind of petty pilferer or of an old dotard who is said to have devoured his own children These stars which are as it were the eyes of the Omnipotent to behold all that which passeth hcer below are they offended with the injuries which men doe them Have they ever turned out of the way for that Have they ever lost one sole step of their regular motion No assuredly So you O Noble men whom God hath placed in the sphere of greatness to enlighten men what importeth it you if a perverse and wayward people slander your reputation Never shall you be great if you know not the way of doing well and suffering ill Do like the Sun and stars shine and glitter in the firmament of sanctity and give detractious tongues leave in the mean time to lick up dust Saint Cyprian in the treatise which he composed Cypr de patientia Est nobis cum Deo virtus communis inde patientia incipit inde claritas ejus dignitas caput jumit Patience the nature of God of patience mounteth yet a little higher and after Tertullian pertinently declareth that patience in injuries is a ray of the Divinity and the true virtue of Nobility What patience it is in God so many Ages to have suffered Temples of Idols erected to the contempt of his name To make days and times still to circumvolve rivers to glide winds to blow autumn to put on a saffron robe grapes to ripen the elements to serve and hold total nature in breath for a thousand and a thousand sacrifices to hell To cast flowers from heaven with a bounteous hand upon contumacious heads who well deserve the stroak of the thunder-bolt What patience is it in the Saviour of the world to behold the Sun eclipsed all the stars to put on mourning weeds the whole frame of this vniverse to be troubled both above and beneath his Cross and he in the mean time to remain affixed in this chair of patience without motion This magnanimity in injuries is the true stamp Admirable remedie of David 2. Reg. 16. with which God for his imitation impresseth all Noble and great spirits See I pray you what remedy King David used against the malevolent tongue of Semei he fled from an unnatural son and in flying fell into the violence of an enraged tongue which darted against him shafts of fire and transfixed him even to the heart Behold his Captains ready to pull him down like mastives But David replied No I will that he live and what know you whether this be not now a powerful trial from the divine providence who hath sent this man for an exercise of virtue My God O that onely the odour of my Sacrifice might ascend even to thy Altars Saint Ambrose admireth so much Ambr. Apol. 1. de David c. 6. O altitudo prudentiae O altitudo patientiae O devorande contumeliae grande inventum Ecce verborum contumelia parriciaii levavit erumnam this greatness of courage that he crieth
and onions of Aegypt May we not affirm that they lead no other life but of a mushrome Ought we not al the night before to make our hearts sparkle in good desires and jaculatory prayers when we go to the bed of our celestial bridegroom Endeavour then to awaken and cherish your desire with a thousand aspirations and elevations of heart and have always in your mouth some good words which may be the pledges and earnest-penies of your intentions Behold the first leaf of the lilie The second is called purity I speak not of that Second leaf of the lilie puritie which concerneth the purging of mortal sins by confession which is wholly necessary and cannot be omitted without sacriledge I speak of purity more subtile and fine which consisteth in faith affections and intentions You ought first to have a singular What ought to be the faith of a good communicants faith and a most worthy and serious understanding of the mysterie not onely in believing what the Church teacheth us of this Sacrament either of the reality of the precious body of our Saviour or of transubstantiation but to believe it sincerely clearly firmly without curiosity restriction or hesitation not as those who convinced and as it were confounded with reason do in some sort believe and upon the least occasion repent in their faithless heart what they have believed make to themselves a faith floating and racking up and down like clouds under the breath of the winds When you go to receive the Blessed Sacrament you must do as Abraham did in his Sacrifice hold the bond-men and ass which are your senses at the foot of the hill and let your will and understanding ascend lightened with the torch of faith even to the height to sink it self down into those resplendent nights of the wisdom of Heaven For purity of intention which is the character of Intention our actions I would have nothing side-ways nor bearing upon any byass I will not that you communicate for some humane respect some civil decencie or to please those whose favour you desire nor for some trifling vanity and sometimes hypocrisie or other ends and aims which are far estranged from the ways of God You must communicate with intention to unite your self to God your beginning to whiten and guild your self with his sights to enkindle your self the more in his love to retain the memory of that Sacrifice which he offered on mount Calvarie that is to say of his most venerable passion to appease the anger of God for as many sins as are committed to implore the assistance of Heaven for the necessities of the Church as well for the living as dead to obtain for your self and persons of whom mention is made some victory over temptations some new virtues some temporal grace in as much as shall concern the spiritual state Briefly for thanksgiving for the benefits which we receive from his Divine Majesty both in general and particular Purity of affections consisteth principally in two Purity of affection points To banish from your heart all animosities revenges quarrels punctillioes and readily to reconcile your self before you come to the Altar The other is to free your self not onely from affections dishonest and unlawful but also a little exorbitant which one may have to any creature whatsoever It is convenient your heart be then as a chrystal-vial filled with clear water wherein the least moat of uncleanness may be seen It is to put Adonis in the Adonis in the crib of Bethleem crib of Bethleem which heretofore the infidels did when we communicate still retaining impure passions with a deliberate purpose Germanus Patriarch of Constantinople in his Theory Germ. Patriarch in Theoriâ saith the pixe which is the vessel and resting-place where the Blessed Sacrament is put is called Ciborium as one would say the Ark of lights to teach us that at the onely sight of this Sacrament we must dispel all thoughts of darkness which have possessed our soul And for the better obtaining this purity it is good to practice some devotions in the eve of receiving as mortification of tongue by retirement and silence as abstinence or some other exercise of humility or work of mercy When the day cometh Exod. 5. What ought to be done on the day of Communion run to this heavenly Manna in the morning Amuze not your self too much in decking and accommodating your body nor in scattering and disordering your mind in vain cares and sollicitudes but keep the vessel of your heart as a well stopped pot to pour it out at the table of your spouse It is at the instant of receiving that you must imitate the Seraphins of Third and fourth leaf of the lilly Imitation of Seraphins Isaiah 6. the Prophet Isaiah to hold all your wings still but onely two which are humility and charity These are the two wings on which you ought to poyze your self at your pleasure First grounding all in reverence before the eyes of this ineffable Majesty abasing your self even to the center of your nothing treading under foot all presumptions vanities follies by a most perfect humility of spirit Secondly to Moving wings stir up lively and ardent affections with all the endeavour of your heart and if that suffice not offer all to God in the union of his onely Son and merits of the most Blessed Virgin Mary To cherish the affections of these holy virtues you must have your prayers meditations and considerations upon the Blessed Sacrament well prepared and digested with variety that you may still hold your devotion in breath as Exod. 3. Considerations for Communion Moses before the burning bush Solve calceamentum de pedibus tuis locus in quo stas terra sanctaest Reg. 44. The Hostess of Eâizeus I. To represent Moses in the bush burning seized with a holy fire who heard these words Put off thy shoes take away thy sensual affections the land here is holy yea it is the Holy of Holies This is the noble fire which enflameth Angels in heaven and pure souls on earth which is enchased within the species of the Sacrament What ought you then to do II. To represent unto your self that your soul is as the Hostess of the Prophet Elizeus the good Shunamite who prepareth her heart as a lodging for the King of Prophets thanksgiving as a table humility for a seat and charity for a candle lighted III. To represent to your self that it is a Ruth Ruth 2. 8 9. Vnde mihi hoc uâ invenirem gratiam ante oâulos tuos âosse me digâareris peregrinam mulieâem who accounted it a great favour to be esteemed by Booz and to have leave to glean in the fields after his harvest men and acknowledging with gratitude so small a benefit she said with her face prostrated on the earth From whence cometh this favour which I have gained in your presence From whence proceedeth that
first practice and most ordinary to hear Mass for those who understand the words there spoken is to follow them with application of spirit and to accompany the silence of the Priest with some meditations or vocal prayers The second is to stay ones self upon the signification of all the parts of the Mass As at the Confiteor to represent to your self man banished from Paradise miserable suppliant confessing deploring his sin At the Introite the enflamed desires of all mankind expecting the Messias At the Hymn of Angels Glory be to God on high the Nativity At the Prayers thanksgiving for such a benefit At the Epistle the preaching of the Praecursour S. John At the Gospel truth preached by the Saviour of the world and so of the rest The third is to divide the Mass into certain parcels and behold a very considerable manner Represent to your self five great things in the mystery of the Mass from whence you ought to draw so many fruits These five things are representation praise Sacrifice instruction nourishment Representation because the Mass is a perfect image Five notable things in the mystery of the Mass Radicati superaedificati in ipso Col. 2. c. of the life and passion of our Saviour and therefore the first fruit you ought to gather from thence is daily to imprint more lively in your heart the actions and passions of the Son of God to conform your self thereunto Praise So many words as are in the Mass aim at this purpose to give praise unto God for this ineffable mystery of our redemption and to conform your self to this action you ought to bend all the endeavour of your heart to praise God whether it be by vocal or mental prayer Sacrifice It is a most singular act of Religion by which we reverence and adore God for the infinite glory of his souereign Being And the Mass is a Mass a Sacrifice true Sacrifice by eminency where the life and bloud of beasts is not offered but the life of a Saviour which is more worth than the life of all Angels and men Cedrenus recounteth that the Emperour Justinian Cedren in Compen hist Wonder of Justinian caused an Altar to be made in the Church of Saint Sophia wherein he used all sorts of mettal of precious stones of the richest materials which might be chosen out amongst all the magazins of nature to incorporate all the beauties of the world in onesole master-piece And verily this Sacrifice is the prime work of God in which he hath as it were locked up all that which is great or holy in all the mysteries of our Religion It was the custom daily to proportion the Sacrifices to the benefits of God When in the old law he gave the fat of the earth they offered the first-fruits to him But now that he hath granted to us the dew of Heaven so long expected his onely Son we must render to him his Son again which is done in the Sacrifice of the Mass And the fruit you should derive from this consideration is at the elevation of the host to offer Jesus Christ to God his Father by the ministery of the Priest and to offer it First for a supream and incomparable honour of the Divine Majesty Secondly for thanksgiving for all benefits received and to be received Thirdly to obtain protection direction and prosperity in all your works Besides offer up all your powers faculties functions actions in the union of the merits of Jesus Instruction Those who understand the words of Instruction 4. of Mass the Mass may draw goodly instructions from reading the Epistle the Gospel the Collects All in general teach us the virtues of honour and reverence towards the Divine Majesty seeing this Sacrifice is celebrated with so many holy sacred and profoundly dutiful ceremonies Of gratitude since God being once offered in the bloudy Sacrifice of the Cross will also be daily presented to God his Father in the title of gratitude And that ought to awaken in us the memory of observing every benefit of God with some remarkable act of devotion Of Charity towards our common Saviour and towards our neighbour since we see a life of God spent for our redemption and all faithful people Nourishment The eye liveth by light and colours Nourishment 5. the Bee by dew the Phenix by the most thin and subtile vapours and the soul of the faithful by the nourishment which it receiveth in the Blessed Sacrament which is purely spiritual This nourishment is not onely derived from the Sacramental Communion Spiritual Communion by the real presence of the body of our Saviour but also by the spiritual Communion which is made when in the Sacrifice of the Mass at the time of the Priest his communicating the same dispositions apprehensions and affections are entertained as if really and actually one did receive For this purpose it is fit to do three things First to excite anew in your self the acts of self-dislike and contrition for your wretchedness and imperfections The second to take spiritually the carbuncle of the Altar not with the pincers of the Seraphin but with acts of a most lively faith a most resolved hope and a charitie most ardent to open boldly the mouth of your heart and pray our Saviour to enter in as truly by the communication of his graces and favours which are the rays of this Sun as by the real imparting of his body and bloud he gives himself to those that communicate The third to conclude all your actions with a most hearty thanksgiving The fourteenth SECTION Practice of Meditation OF four worlds which are the Architype Intelligible Celestial and Elementary prayer imitateth the most perfect being a true image of the oeconomy of the holy Trinitie which according to the maxims of Divines cannot pray to any having no Superiour yet affordeth a model for all prayers For prayer as saith Tertullian is composed of reason words and spirit Of reason as we may interpret by the relation it hath to the Father of words as it is referred to the Word of spirit by the the direction it hath to the third Person Now this principally agreeth with meditation For it is that divine silence delicious ravishment of the soul which uniteth man to God and finite essence to Infinite It is that plenitude and that tear spoken of in Exodus according to an ancient translation Plenitude Exod. 22. 29. because it replenisheth the soul with the splendour of consolations and sources which distil from the Paradise of God Tear yea tear of myrrhe because it distilleth under the eyes of God as doth the tree which beareth myrrhe under the rays of the Sun It is a wonderful thing to behold this little shrub which doth not perpetually expect to be cut with iron that it may drop forth its pleasing liquor but the Sun reflecting on the branches thereof becomes as it were a mid-wife and maketh it bring forth what is sought
light and Article 3 assistance of the holy Ghost that he would be pleased to direct this act to his glory and that you have framed to your self a lively thought of the presence of God and that actually you may meditate to select the points and articles proposed sweetly attentively affectionately and not to want matter for every point it is good to weigh the causes the effects the tenents and utmost limits of the mystery we meditate on As in the first point of the knowledge of your self Seven ways to dilate ones self in meditating in abundance upon sundry thoughts contained in this third article What man is according to nature A reasonable creature intelligent capable of the knowledge of God Who made it God himself He would that his Divine hands saith S. Basil should serve him as a womb What are the essential parts thereof A soul a body an understanding a memory a will What are the accidentals A general mass of so many little parcels as have their names and entertainments O the powerful hand which hath composed such a master-piece Where was it made In the earth and not in Heaven to teach him humility And to what end made To praise God and serve him and to save himself in praising and serving him Who hath concurred to its creation God Hath he made use of Angels No He would attribute the honour of such a work to himself And how did he make it He was not content with one single word as in the creation of the world but he put his hand thereto to shew it was a more supream effect of his power And when did he make him After other creatures to prepare the world for him as a cradle as a Temple as a Hall to banquet in and such like things You see these circumstances who what where what help wherefore when and how in every subject of what kind soever will lead you along The second manner to dilate your self when you meditate history is to represent the divers persons with their words actions and passions As in the mysterie of the Resurrection The souldiers shivering for fear the Person of our Saviour all enlightened with splendour saying Courage I have overcome all power is given to me in Heaven and earth I come to wipe away your tears to make your faces bright-shining to put you into possession of an eternal felicity and such like things On the other side Magdalene who seeketh her Master and not content to behold the Angels speaketh these words which Origen prompteth her All these goodly comforters Onerosi sunt mihi omnes consolatores quaero Creatorem ideò mihi gravis est ad videndum omnis creatura Ego non quaero Angelos sed etam qui secit me Angelos are burdensome to me I seek the Creatour and therefore I cannot see any creature without anxietie I seek not Angels but him who hath made both me and Angels The third to represent things to your self by certain images figures and similitudes as Hermas cited in the Bibliothec of the Fathers who meditating on the joy of worldlings imagined to himself a delicious meadow enameled all over with flowers where certain fat and plump sheep cropped the grasse and skipped to and fro with many jumps in the delights thereof And in an instant this meadow became vast plain drie lean parched and barren and the same sheep appeared starven scabbie and full of botches a rude surly shepherd driving them to feed among thorns and brambles Afterward he applied all that to the voluptuous and made to himself a perfect representation of their life to avoid their unhappiness The fourth to extend your self by comparing of one thing to another as did Saint Gregorie Nazianzen S. Gregory in his Hymns meditating upon the love of God Tell me confidently O my soul what thou desirest for I will please thee Thou wouldst perhaps have Gyges his enchanted ring to gain a kingdom Thou wouldst have all that which is in thy hand changed into gold the desire of the fabulous Mydas Thou wouldst covet palaces stuffed with gold and silver rich possessions curiosities boundless honours Poor distracted man dost thou not see thy God is all that and above all that and incomparably more than that Thy God is the true riches the true glory the true repose without him all thy blessings would be curses and with him all thy afflictions may be turned into felicities The fifth to make sometimes a dialogue God and the intellectual creatures sensible insensible enterchangeably speaking as did S. Aug. meditating upon Aug. Solil 31 Circuibam omnia quaerens te propter omnia derelinquens me Interrogavi terram si esset Deus dixit mihi quòd non Tu quis es unde hoc tale animal Domine Deus meus unde nisi ââu the perfections of God He went wheeling round about the world and asked in heaven in earth sea and depths addressing himself to every one in particular Are you God And these creatures answered No those have lyed who deified us And after he had run all over the world he entereth into himself and saith to himself Who art thou From whence cometh this creature my Lord and my God from whence but from thee By these ladder-steps he mounteth to the knowledge of his Creatour and plungeth himself in the abysses The sixth to make sometimes a gradation ascending from degree to degree as in meditating on these words of S. John God so loved the world that he Joann 3. Sic Deus dilexit mundum ut filium suum unigenitum daret gave his onely-begotten Son If God should onely appoint a bird to bring the news of thy salvation would it not seem to thee to deserve many thanks But what if a reasonable creature What if a man endowed with all manner of excellencies What if an Angel What if an Archangel a cherubin a Seraphin What if all the angels and all the blessed spirits But all these in comparison of his Son are but as a little drop of water to the vast Ocean And he hath given thee his Son O prodigie O superabundance of love The seventh easie and fruitfull is to ponder that which you meditate on with application to your self attentively considering the actions and words of our Saviour to form ours To examin carefully your deportments and see how oftentimes they wander from this rule of perfection to repeal them to square them to level them as much as you can according to the model which is set before your eyes After the discussion of every point the lights follow 4 Article of the manner of meditation in the fourth place which are maxims and conclusions drawn from the discourse we have made As if we have meditated upon the knowledge of our selves to derive this fruit from thence That we have nothing of our selves but ignorance weakness Lights vanity misery That we are wholly Gods That it is a
do you call breed them well Behold another vice Some offend through negligence others with too much indulgence You term well-breeding the child to cramme him up to the throat and let him have all he asketh Senseless creature see you not first you do a great injury to God He hath trusted a child in your hand to be bred like a man and you have made a lump of flesh of it a bears whelp and think there is nothing to be done but to lick it that it may grow Secondly it is a base thing to say the Sovereign Creatour having made you a Father Master Directour and Governour over this infant you should forget the character God hath engraven on your face and make your self a slave of a gluttenous belly and an irregular concupiscence Besides you put spurs to his vices to make him run headlong into the precipice you nooze haulters to strangle him you light torches to consume him For what good can be hoped nay what evil not expected from a child bred up in pride and effeminacy Hear Disentienda sunt deliciae quarum mollitie fluxu fidei virtus effeminari solet Tertul. de cultu foemin Tertullian speak Take away the curiosities and superfluities It is not the life of a Christian He hath renounced faith who breedeth his children in riot Is it not a goodly thing to see Hercules spin silk with those hands which were made to vanquish monsters Know God hath put us into the world to hew monsters more pernicious than hydraes or Cerberus and not to make coronets of roses You cannot breed your children in voluptuousness and not thereby render their souls soft and effeminate which quite extinguisheth the flame of a generous spirit and yet you complain that coming to the degrees of maturity they are fit for nothing but to live lazily and pick quarrels But it is no whit to be wondered at It is the tincture you gave them from their most tender years You have made them al their life time to dance to the tune of their own proper wills light fond and childish and now you would put the bridle over their necks and make them lead a serious life Know you not what happened to the horses of the Sybarites an effeminate kind of people who were so intoxicated and addicted to dances and balls that not so much as their horses but learnt to dance In the mean time their enemies awakened them and so closely pursued them that they were enforced to take arms for the defence of their lives They drew into the field a brave squadron of Cavalry the flower and strength of the Citie but a fidler seeing them approch mounted on these dancing horses promised their Adversaries to deliver them into their hands whilest they were dancing And instantly he began to strike up his violin and the horses to bestir themselves in dancing to break all their ranks and put the Army into disorder which shame fully made them become a prey to their enemies Behold O indulgent parents what happeneth to your children You have always bred them in sottishness sports and liberty the fatal plagues of youth when they must come to combate to undertake some brave affair some thing important for the good of their Countrey for the honour of your house for the advancement of themselves they stand eclipsed Nay perhaps it might be tollerable to behold them benummed stupified in worldly affairs but they are deaf blind and dumb in matters concerning God so that whilest you seek to make great and powerfull Lords of them you ere aware have drawn the malediction Genes 3. 14. Supra pectus tuum ventrem tuum gradieris ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã 70. Interpr of the serpent upon them and made them creep on their bellies as much as to say according to the interpretation of some Fathers to spend their thoughts study and affection upon the care and education of the body to the prejudice of the soul Yet you would have those creatures to be instructed in the law of God How can it be Do you not well know that Moses seeing the Israelites dance with full Exod. 32. Sciebat Dei sermonem non posse audire temulentos bellies about the golden calf brake the tables of the Law If you demand the reason S. Hierom will tell you he knew the Law of God was not for sporters dancers and drunkards and that in the Kingdom of intemperance an eclipse ensues not onely of the Divine law but of nature also I come to the second point which is instruction so much recommended in Scripture If you have Filii tibi sunt erudi illos cura illos à pueritiâ illorum Prov. 7. children saith the Wiseman instruct them and take great care of them from their childhood You must think your children be as Temples of God recommended unto you from the hand of God himself It is an intollerable thing to have good cooks good lacheys good grooms good horse-boys to serve the belly and stable and a father who sends his son to school many times ignorant whether the Master be black or white good or bad mild or harsh religious or wicked If kine or hogs are to be driven into the fields one is sought out who knows the business but to trayn up a child of a good family an idle fellow many times is trusted who hath in him no talent at all but malice and ignorance Fathers and Mothers fear you not God will say unto you My house is forsaken I freed it from evil spirits I withdrew it from the power of devils I purged decked and adorned it I put it into your protection I consigned it into your hands what have you done with it Why have you polluted it and why suffer you it still to lie drenched in ordure You have put the lamb into the wolfs keeping you have given the victim to the slaughter-man you are the cause of his unhappiness you have twisted the coard of his ruine so soon almost as the web of his life Fathers and mothers do well if they become as great Saints as are the Hermits of the desert but if they neglect their child they render themselves guiltie before God of one of the greatest injustices in the world The Scripture in praising the great Patriarch Noe Noë vir justus perfectus in generationibus suis doth not onely say he was a good man in his own person but in his whole race so far as his power extended As much honour and glory as it is to leave a good Citizen to the Common-wealth so much dishonour and infamy it is to afford it ungracious wretches to trouble its repose dis-unite peace and embroyl affairs They are such of whom the Scripture speaketh They shall be nayls in your eyes and launces in Erunt vobis clavi in oculis lânceae in lateribus adversabuntur vobis in terrâ habitationis vestrae Num. 31. your sides
the Roman People contrary to the command of Laws and honesty I declare him from this time forward unworthy both of the Common-wealth and my house The unfortunate son was so overwhelmed with melancholy upon this judgement given by his father that the next night he killed himself and the father esteeming him degenerate would not so much as honour his funerals with his presence Good God what severity what thunders what lightnings against the disobedience of sons among Pagans And you wicked sons in Christianity where the Law of love should oblige you to the duty which I prove unto you with an adamantine knot do you think all is permitted you And you fathers are not you most worthy of your unhappiness when you cherish by a negligent and soft indulgence the disobediences of your children which you should root up from their infancy and not suffer them to grow to the prejudice of your houses with so many bloudy tragedies as are daily seen in the mournful theater of the worlds Fili suscipe senium tam patris tui non contristes eum in vitâ illius si defecerint sensus veniam da non spernas eum in tuâ virtute Eccles 3. Qui timeâ Deum honorat pareâtes quasi Dominis serviet iis qui segenuerunt miseries Let us conclude upon the fourth duty of children which is succour Son receive the old age of thy father and mother in thy bosom Take heed thou do not contristate them in any kind Beware thou scornest them not if they chance to fall into any debility of spirit Assist them with all thy might It followeth The child which feareth God never fails either in the honour or ayd he should yield to his parents nay more be shall serve them as a servant his Master We need not here seek out examples in holy Scripture or where the Law of nature is handled the more our proofs are taken from Infidels who had nothing at all but the light of reason so much the more clour and weight they have I will not make mention here of a Roman daughter (a) (a) (a) Fulgos l. 5. c. 3. who fed her father from her own breasts condemned to dye of hunger between four wals you may sufficiently see that often recorded in writing Yea under Peter of Castle there lived a man that never ceased weeping until he were put to death instead of his father who was to be executed I speak nothing now at all of that but cannot omit an example recounted in Bibliotheck of the great with Photius who telleth on a time there happened in Sicily as it hath often been seen an eruption of Aetna now called mount Gibel It is a hydeous thing and the very image of hell to behold a mountain which murmurs burns belches up flames and throws out its fiery entrails making all the world fly from it It happened then that in this horrible and violent breach of flames every one flying and carrying away all they had most precious with them two sons the one called Anapias the other Amphinomus carefull of the wealth and goods in their houses reflected on their father and mother both very old who could not save themselves from the fire by flight and where shall we said they find a more precious treasure than those who begat us The one took his father on his shoulder the other his mother and so made passage through the flames It is an admirable thing that God in consideration of this piety though Pagan did a miracle for the monuments of all antiquity witness the devouring flames stayd at this spectacle and the fire roasting and broyling all round about them the way onely through which these two good sons passed was tapistred with fresh verdure and called afterward by posterity the holy field in memory of this accident What may we answer to this what can we say when the virtues eâen of Pagans dart lightening-flashes of honesty and duty into our eyes What brasen or adamantine brow can covetous and caytive sons have who being rich and abounding in means deny necessary things to those who brought them into the world yea have the heart to see them struggle with extream misery whilst they offer a sacrifice of abomination to their burning avarice Wicked son wreched daughter know you what you do when you commit such a crime You hold the soul bloud and life of your progenitours in your coffers you burn them with a soft fire you consume them with a lingring and shameful death you are accountable before God for what they suffer And for whom is remorse of conscience For whom infamy For whom necessity For whom punishments in the other life but for such as in this manner abuse a treasure so recommended by God Take heed O children take heed of breaking this triple cord of the Law divine natural and civil which indissolubly tie you to the exercise of that piety which you have abjured Take heed of irreverence disobedience and ingratitude towards your parents expect not onely in the other life the unavoydable punishments of Gods Justice against such contumacy but in this present life know you shall be measured with the same measure you afforded others You know the history of the miserable father dragged by the hair with the hand of his son unto the threshold of his door where seeing himself unworthily used Hold son saith he it is enough the justice of God hath given me my due I committed the like outrage heretofore against my father thy Grand-father which thou at this instant actest upon me I dragged him hither and behold me hither haled Go no further O Justice O terrour O dreadful spectacle Great eye of God which never sleepest over the crimes of mortals O divine hand which ever bearest arms of vengeance hanging over the heads of rebellious children How terrible thou art who can but fear thee who will not heareafter tremble at the apprehension of thy judgements Children be pious live in the duty you have vowed and resigned to your progenitours and to all your superiours Live full of honour and glory in this world live in expectation of palms and crowns which you shall enjoy in the other world And you likewise fathers and mothers embrace charity towards your good children with all affection and if any forget their duty and afterward stretch out hands humbly to your obedience receive them into favour exercise mercy towards them as you desire should be done to you by God our common father But if you still groan under the ingratitude of wicked children and the fear of future evils wipe away your tears sweeten your acerbities season your bitterness with the comfort of a good conscience When you have done all you can and all you ought to do leave the success to God and say unto him My God who hast seen the cause of my afflictions to proceed from my self accept my good desires for the works of this evil child
victorious and free from slander It is a very strange thing to pretend the most enormous of crimes against persons of our reputation and qualitie without saying wherefore or how Nothing is spoken of letters poysons complots conspiracies suborned servants it is onely affirmed we are parricides and proofs are pretermitted If this be sufficient you shall have in the world no more innocency but that which calumny shall disdain to fix her tooth in Our enemies who for many years have spun this web never could alledge any other thing but that we were old enough and of sufficient courage to do it and that we might perform it in revenge of the death of our mother Mariamne As for the first reason who seeth not how weak it is If nothing but age and valour be necessary to perpetrate a parricide it is to fill the whole world with bloud to put all fathers into jealousie and all sons into crime For the second which concerneth our dead mother she left us in an age wherein neither could we as yet bewail nor feel her misery After we came out of our child-hood we have not been willing to search into your counsels to sift out your resolutions the issue of them ought to make us not more audacious to undertake evil but more stayed and advised to do good We onely have afforded tears to her not to bemoan her death for such were unprofitable but to satisfie our passion seeing our enemies ceased not to disturb the ashes of her whose bloud they had shed Father if our tears which proceed from so just a resentment of nature be in your Court accounted criminal where shall we any more find safety but in your justice Never in the so sensible apprehensions hath any word of bitterness escaped us against you but rather against those who abuse your authority to the ruin of yours We have no cause at all to hate your life but to love it by so much the more as you have judged us capable above the rest of our brothers to succeed to your Crown You have set all the marks of regality upon us al the blessings we could hope for to ask more would be to require liberty to overthrow us To what end should we seek by parricide a Kingdom which is purchased for us by your favour that so heaven earth seas conspiring with Caesar might shut the gate against us for which we should have been desirous to make a key steeped in the bloud of our father Your majesty hath begot us perhaps more unfortunate than now would be expedient for your estate but never shall we be so sottish nor impious as to do a mischief irrecoverably to undo us Most honoured father suppress the suspition which you have conceived or if you be pleased stil to retain it we both will leave this life of which we are not so fondly affectionate that we would be willing to preserve it to the displeasure of him that gave it This Oration accompanied with the tears of this young Prince struck all the standers by with admiration and as they were both beheld with lowly looks expecting the Judges sentence every one was enkindled with desire to justifie them Caesar casteth his eye on Herod to see his countenance who shewed himself much moved with compassion and could have been content never to have thought of such an accusation for verily this action in the apprehension of those present much hurt him and caused his credulity to be condemned Augustus who would not confound them pronounced that undoubtedly his children had done ill to displease him but as for the pretended crime he should raze it out of his papers These young Princes were too well born and bred to proceed so far there remained for them hereafter to live in good correspondence and renew this holy knot of nature which could not be dissolved by so good a father nor children so futurely hopeful This said Herod embraced his sons one after another much weeping which drew tears even from those who were not interressed in this affair After all manner of complements were done behold them upon return with their father and brother Antipater who had caused all this goodly Tragedie to be played Notwithstanding this wicked creature overwhelmed them with courtesies and congratulations as if he would make bonfires of joy in his heart Thus dissimulation goeth along in Court till such time that God taketh away the mask Being returned to Jerusalem one year was scarcely spent but that calumnie set new snares to entrap the innocency of these poor Princes Pheroras resolved to excite Alexander with jealousie telling Horrible malice him in great secret Herod his father made too much of the beauteous Glaphyra his wife daughter of King Archelaus supposing it was a powerful means to turmoyl his spirit and enkindle it with fury against the King his father and this way to precipitate him into ruin These words upon the matter were most sensible to this generous heart and then he began with a jealous eye to prie into Herods actions who it is true familiarly conversed every day with this Princess endowed with incomparable beauty but in conclusion he observed no other thing in such conversation but loving entertainments of a father-in-law towards a sons wife worthy to bee cherished for many excellent parts Alexander notwithstanding after this advertisement of Pheroras turned this honey into poyson interpreting all in an ill sense and was so transported that one day entering into his fathers chamber he discovered the jealousie and suspition he had conceived with sighs and tears of rage Herod found himself much troubled with this accident and thinking it a thing unworthy his person to justifie himself to his son with many words to excuse that which was not he onely said My son who hath put this into thy head The other replieth he knew much of it himself and Pheroras had confirmed it Pheroras was instantly sent for and Herod who oft-times used him as a servant casting a furious glance of his eyes upon him Rake-hell saith he what hast thou said to this young Prince It is not a word thou hast put into his ear but a sword into his hand against his father for verily he would no more endure a companion of his bed than I in my Kingdom Ingratefull creature shouldst thou not rather tear out thy own heart than entertain such a thought of thy brother Such crimes as this never were in our house nor ever will be unless thou bring them hither Get hence and let me see thee no more I ordain tortures for other delinquents but for thee since thou art so wicked I leave thee to thy own conscience not being able to find a fitter executioner Pheroras who was not much astonished with this noise answereth he knew nothing but what Salome who was there present had told him as indeed this came from her But the subtile woman casting out at that instant a loud complaint and tearing
not the hope of her husbands libertie having at that time prepared a new battery to dispose her father in law to clemency heard the tidings of the death of Alexander and withal of her own widdow-hood She a good space remained in a trance then mute as a statue last of all a little recollecting her spirits and casting out a sigh from the bottom of her heart Wo is me saith she I thought not Herod would have proceeded thus far Tell him the sacrifice of his cruelty is not finished for behold one part of the Victim is yet alive Alexander my dear Alexander who for ever in my heart shall survive needs must you end your innocent life by this infamous punishment Must you have him for executioner whom nature allotted you for a father At the least I might have been called to receive the last groans of thy pensive soul to embosom thy final words and enchase them in my heart Then turning herself to two little children which she had by her sides Poor orphans what a father have they snatched from you Alas you are timely taught the trade of misery The poor Ladie night and day disconsolately afflicted herself and being no longer able to endure the Court of Judea no more than a Lyons den she was sent back into Cappadocia to the King her father Herod kept with him the two sons under colour of their education but in effect to establish himself fearing least their name should serve for a pretext of some revolt O the providence of God! It seemeth you much slacken to fall upon guilty heads These young Princes sons of so virtuous a mother so well bred so well educated accomplished with so many excellent parts declared lawfull successours to the Crown these Princes who had been seen not above five years before to return in triumph from Rome to Jerusalem like the two twin-stars who guilded all Palestine with their rays these Princes that promised so many Tropheys so many wonders behold them in the sweetness of their years in the flower of their hopes at the gate of the Temple of honour for a small liberty of speech unworthily massacred in stead of a Diadem on their heads a halter about their necks and caused to be strangled by two Sergeants that so they might breath out their Royal souls under the hand of a hangman Behold the brave apprentiship which Herod exercised three year together about the time of the birth of our Saviour to prepare himself for actions much more enormous It was said of Silla that if Mercy had come upon the earth in humane shape he had slain her But Herod did much worse There remained nothing for him after so many slaughters but to embrew himself in the bloud of fourteen thousand Innocents and attempt upon the Son of God himself which presently after happened and of which every one by relation of the Scripture taketh notice It is time to behold the recompence those wicked Antipater the son of Herod from the too of the wheel souls received for having dipped their fingers in so much bloud and so many tragedies to the end we therein may observe the proceedings of the Divine Providence which spareth not first sleightly to touch and assay by some visitation those which it afterwards reserveth for the eternal pains of hell The detestable Antipater who had directed all the passages of this wickedness seeing the two Heirs of the Kingdom removed quite away by his practises thought he had already a foot in the Throne He continueth his cunning and malice ever masking himself with the veyl of piety as if he had an unspeakable care of the life and state of his father while he in the mean time had no other aim but quickly to make himself absolute Master of all fearing lest the disposition of Herod which was very fleeting might alter and for this cause he went up and down daily practizing very great intelligences But he was hated by the people like a Tiger and the souldiers who saw him embrewed in the bloud of his brothers so beloved by all the Nobility could in no sort relish him Above all the people were extreamly touched with compassion when these little children of Alexander and Aristobulus were led through the streets who had been bred in Herods Court. All the world beheld these poor Orphans with a weeping eye and with sorrow remembred the disasters of their fathers Antipater well saw it was fit for him to withdraw himself and decline envy and not sindge his wings in the candle fearing his father in process of time who in such matters was subtile enough might discover his purposes Notwithstanding he was so secret that he avoided to ask leave of Herod to sequester himself for fear to minister matter of suspition to him But he caused letters closely to be written from Rome to his father by friends whom he had wrought for that purpose which imported all he desired to wit that it was necessary he should be sent to Rome to break the enterprizes which the Arabians plotted against the state of Judea Herod having received these letters instantly dispatched his son Antipater with a goodly train rich presents and above all the Will of Herod which declared him King after the death of his father Behold all he could desire in the world But as the eye of God never sleepeth and surprizeth the crafty in their own policies it happeneth the mischievous Pheroras who had acted his part as we have seen in this lamentable tragedy departed this life by a sudden death and poysoned as it is thought by the maid-servant whom he had married Herod being requested to come into the house of Conspiracy of Antipater discovered his brother to take examinations upon the fact unexpectedly learneth how his son Antipater had given poyson to the dead Pheroras at such time as he was out of favour to poyson the King his father whilest he was at Rome that he speedily might return into Palestine with a Crown on his head This was deposed even by the son of the Comptroller of Antipaters house and circumstanced with grounds and particulars so express that there was not any cause of doubt Herod demanded where this poyson was He answered it was in the hands of the widow of his brother Pheroras She being examined upon the fact goeth up into a higher chamber feigning to fetch it and being mounted to the top of the house she through despair fell down headlong with a purpose to kill herself But God suffered not the fall to be mortal they much heartned her and promised all impunity if she freely would deliver the truth She telleth that true it was her husband had received the poyson of Antipater and had some inclination to give the blow but that a little before his death he repented himself and detested such wickedness and with these words she drew out the poyson which afterwards was known in the death of delinquents to be very mortal At
circumstances of his crime Behold you not saith he a bruitish stupiditie to conspire against your father having as yet the bloud of your brothers before your eyes and all the assurances of the scepter in your hands Needs must you perpetrate a parricide to make your self possessour of a Crown which was acquired for you by so solemn and authentical a Testament Look you after nothing but the bloud of your father to set a seal upon it yea of a father whose life is so dear to all bonest men and of nature so indulgent to love his children that have never so little merit An ingratitude able to make Heaven blush and earth tremble under your feet An ingratitude worthy that all the elements should conspire to punish it This man ceased not to discharge against him words of fire with a masculine eloquence and the miserable Antipater prostrated himself on the ground and prayed God to do a miracle in favour of him to make manifest his innocency since he found himself so oppressed by the malice of men It is wonder saith the Historian that those who during their life have believed no God would yet acknowledge him at their death This man lived as if there were neither Heaven God nor Angels and now seeing himself in the horrours of death prayed the Divinity to excuse his crime Varus saith unto him My friend expect not extraordinarie signs from Heaven in your favour but if you have any good reasons boldly produce them The King your father desireth nothing more than your justification Thereupon he stood confounded like a lost man Varus taking the poison that had been before represented to the Councel caused it to be given to an offender already condemned who instantly died and all the assembly arose as it is said with manifest condemnation of Antipater His father esteeming him absolutely convicted required of him his complices he onely named Antiphilus who brought the poison saying this wicked man was cause of all his unhappiness It was a great chance Herod at that time had not caused the sentence of death to be executed upon him but according to his ordinary proceeding he resolveth to inform Caesar of all that had passed and to send him the whole process formally drawn to order all at his pleasure In the mean time Antipater is streightly imprisoned expecting hourly as a miserable victim the stroke of death Herod at that time was about seventy years of age Horrible state of Herod in his lattâr days and already felt through imbecillity of body the approach of the last hour It was a very hard morsel for him to digest Never man better loved this present life Very freely would he have forsaken his part of the next world eternally to enjoy this though he in effect was therein most unhappy Towards the end of his days he grew so harsh so wayward then so collerick and furious that his houshold servants knew not how to come about him they handled him in his Palace as an old Lion chained with the fetters of an incurable malady He perswaded himself he was hated of all the world and was therein no whit deceived as having given too great occasion thereof The people almost forgot their duty with impatience and could no longer endure him As soon as his sickness was bruited abroad Judas The golden Eagle thrown down and Matthias the principal Doctours of the Jewish Law who had the youth at command perswaded the most valiant of their sect to undergo a bold adventure which was that Herod having re-edified and adorned the Temple of Jerusalem and as he had always shewed himself for the accommodation of his own estate to be an Idolater of Caesars fortune to set upon the principal gate the Romane Eagle all glittering in gold This much offended the sight of the Jews who could not endure any should place portraictures of men or beasts or any other figures in their Temples so much they abhorred such monsters which their fathers had seen adored in Aegypt Behold why this Judas and Matthias who were the chief thinking the sickness of Herod would help them began earnestly to exhort the most valiant of the young men who every day frequented their houses to take in hand the quarrel of God according to the spirit of their Ancestours and to beat down this abomination which they had fixed upon their Temple That the peril was not now so great Herod having enough to do to wrastle with his own pain but if it should happen they lost their lives to die in so glorious an act was to be buried in the midst of palms and triumphs There needed no more to encourage the youth Behold a troup of the most adventurous came forth about the midst of the day armed with axes and hatchets who climbed to the top of the Temple and hewed in pieces the Eagles in the sight of the whole world Judas and Matthias being there present and serving for trumpets in this exploit The noise hereof instantly came to the Palace and the Captain of the Guard ran thither with the most resolute souldiers He much feared some further plot and that this defacing of the Eagle might prove a preamble to some greater sedition But at the first as he began to charge the people retired which the more encouraged him for pursuit Fourty young men of those who had done the feat were taken in the place Judas and Matthias who accompanied them deeming it a thing unworthy to flie away and that at the least they ought to follow them in peril whom they had brought into danger Being presented to Herod and demanded from whence this boldness proceeded they freely answered Their plot had been fully agreed upon among themselves and if it were to do again they would be in readiness to put it in execution in regard they were more bound to Moses than Herod Herod amazed at this resolution and fearing greater commotions caused them to be secretly conveyed to Jerico whither himself after though crazy was carried and assembling the principal spake to them out of his litter making a long narration of the good offices he had done in favour of the whole Nation of the Temple he had built for them of the ornaments with which he had enriched it adding he had done in few years what their Asmonean Kings could not perform in six-score And for recompence of his piety at noon day they had hewed down with notable boldness a holy gift which he had raised in the Temple wherein God was more interessed than himself for which he required a reason These now fearing any further to incense him declined the danger and put him upon their companions leaving them to the pleasure of the King At that time the High-priesthood is taken from Matthias and another Matthias who was held to have been the authour of the sedition burned alive that night with his companions at which time an eclipse of the moon was seen that made this spectacle
Wandals in sect an Arian reigning in dffrick to make a voyage into Italie which he did with a huge Army by means whereof he easily possessed himself of Rome where all was in disorder And as he thither came rather led by his unquencheable avarice than any motive of justice or piety he riffled all that which was rich and excellent even to the treasures of the Temple of Jerusalem whereof some had still been preserved at Rome ever since Vespasian Maximus after he had reigned two moneths is knocked down and rent like a sacrifice He who in all charges had well thrived with honesty when he began to practice treachery found that which a great Prelate had said Sidon Apol. lib. 3. Ep. 13. Vt scorpius ultimâ parte percutis in his history That great mens fortunes like sâorpions carry their venom in their tails The Empress Eudoxia who to satisfie her feminine passion had made all this goodly innovation in the sight of the great Pope S. Leo who was spectatour of all these calamities mended not her market for she with her two daughters were by this Barbarian carried into Africk one of which bare her name and was married to the son of Gensericus who afterward possessed the scepter and the other was Placidia sent in the end with her mother to Constantinople after the death of Martianus Behold terrible accidents Eudoxia our pilgrime after recital made to her of Conversion of Eudoxia all this tragedy be gan seriously to open her eyes and laying her hand just upon the wound acknowledged so many disasters had befallen her for that she had strayed from the true faith Thereupon to settle her wavering spirit she deputeth an Embassadour to holy Simeon Stilites near the Citie of Antioch This Simeon was a prodigie of man who lived in a Stilites body as if he had been but a spirit For figure to your self a pillar fourty foot high and on this pillar some little shroud fixed there as a birds nest open and exposed on all sides to the injuries of weather there this great man to raise his body to God as well as his heart placed his abode It was a strange lodging where he could neither lye nor sit in any fashion but ever stood bolt upright without roof without coverture his hairs being somewhat whitened with snow and his beard full of ysicles sometime roasted with the boiling heats of the Sun and in the midst of all this he passed his days and nights in contemplation eating but once a week and that very sparingly To this famous Hermit then who was the Oracle of Christendom Eudoxia sendeth Anastatius a trusty Bishop who in much secrecy laboured her conversion to consult with him upon doubts of faith Simeon answereth in these terms Poor Princess the malice of the evil spirit who saw the great treasures of thy rare virtues would needs winnow and sift thee Theodosius the false Monk a minister of Satan hath corrupted thy fair and glorious soul But courage my Daughter thou shalt die in the true faith consult no more with me thou seekest water far off having the fountain near at hand It he hoveth to address thee to Euthymius who will serve as thy directour in a happy way This answer being related to Eudoxia she caused this Euthymius to be sought out on all sides who should undertake this business He was a venerable Hermit having become hoary in the exercises of a long penance and one who was hard to be found out so much he avoided light and the conversation of men Notwithstanding God permitted him to be found and brought as it were by force to the place where the good Empress was She seeing this blessed old man prostrated herself at his feet saying Father I have lived long enough since I have the honour to behold you it is from your hand I expect the remedy of all my evils The holy man raising her with much sweetness Daughter saith he the evil spirit hath too much abused your credulity It is time you open your eyes to see the scourges of God All your ills have proceeded of nothing but infidelity And if now you desire to be cured there is but one word Stand no longer upon disputation but follow the Councels of Nice and Constantinople Behold the rule of your faith which you shall learn of John Bishop of Jerusalem Euthymius after he had thus spoken to her returneth to his Cell and she goeth directly to the Temple of Jerusalem attended by an infinite number of Religious lifting their hands to Heaven in thanksgiving for this conversion She abjureth the heresie of Eutyches between the hands of the Bishop and absolutely reconcileth herself to the Catholick Church with so much fervour and zeal that she ceased not all the rest of her days to extirpate impiety amplifie the church in all parts of the East where her power extended The good Empress then led a life wholly celestial Worthy life and glorious death of Eudoxia her soul being purged in the furnace of painful tribulation afterward purified more and more in the love of God held not of the body but by a slender thread Her heart was an incense daily dissolved into the flames of her charity sending to Heaven its fragrant exhalations Her two eies were the conduits by which penance with a powerfull expression distilled tears which are as the nectar of the love of God her hands like those of the Spouse true globes of gold replenished with an ocean of bounty poured through the cities and deserts of Palestine In every place nothing was to be seen but Churches and Hospitals but houses for the poor built at her cost so that an Authour named Cyrillus who lived in her time assureth it was a thing impossible to number them God being willing to dispose her passage out of this life by the exercise of so many good works And being upon the confines of her last year she went to visit a magnificent Church of S. Peter which she had founded and one day reposing near to a cestern where she laboured for the good of the said Church she began to cast her eyes upon a great number of Monasteries all near one to another which were in the charge of her good father Euthymius then fetching a deep affectionate sigh she spake these words of the 24. Numeri O Jacob Numb 24. Quam pulchra sunt tentoria tua O Jacob habitationes tuae O Israell how fair are thy pavillions O Israel how excellent thy tabernacles Then turning herself to a gentleman of her train Go saith she seek out Euthymius and intreat him to do me the honour that I once again may speak to him If he shall say he speaketh not with women tell him I no longer know what sex is and that I converse onely with Angels Euthymius in his cell had by revelation that this Saint should quickly pass to a better life and he came directly to bring
passed Ages edified the present enlightened the future and upheld great fortunes by a much greater sanctitie All these will tell you we have nothing immortal in us but the riches of the mind and all this exteriour lustre of the world which charmeth the eyes of men is but a cloud in painting a petty vapour of water a fable of time a dyal which we then onely behold when the sun of honour reflecteth on it and which must in the end be buried in an eternal night of oblivion Let us now see the great S. Ambrose whom we among thousands have selected to serve as a model for this first discourse You therein shall observe a man of a most noble extraction endowed with admirable parts and who by necessity of duty and considerations of charity was conversant in the Courts of Emperours and in the infinite perplexity of many affairs which he with all manner of prudence and courage handled shewing in his deportments a vigorous sanctity chosen by the Divine Providence to make as it were the whole State of Christendom most eminent E C DOCTORIS AMBROSII St. AMBROSE The first SECTION His Calling THe first mark of perfection which we require in a good Prelate to wit Divine calling is in great S. Ambrose so manifest that were it written with the rays of the Sun it could not be made more perspicuous We may in some sort speak of him what he said (a) (a) (a) Amb. l. 1. Comment in Lucam cap. 1. Vngebatur quasi bonus athleta exercebatur in utero matris amplissimo enim virtus certamini parabatur of S. John Baptist That it seemeth God began to prepare him from his mothers womb to exercise his virtue one day in main battels First it is a thing remarkeable that seeing resolution was taken in Heaven to make this Prelate one of the most couragious and eloquent men of the world he should be extracted from the Nobility which is ordinarily full of generosity being derived from a father honoured with one of the chief charges of the Empire which was the Lieutenancy over the Gauls Besides he came into the world first breathing French air which hath been esteemed according to S. Hierom (b) (b) (b) Hieron adversus Vigilantium Sola Gallia monstra non habuit sed viris semper fortissimis eloquentissimis abundavit the Countrey of the most noble and learned spirits of the earth and Sidonius (c) (c) (c) Sidonius Apol. carm 1. Invicti perstantanimisque supersunt Jam prope post animam another Prelate hath said the valour of a French-man extendeth further than his life for he liveth even then when the soul and body are divided Secondly as we have observed before God many times declared the calling of infants by sundry presages It was a great sign of the eloquence of Saint Ambrose to behold a swarm of bees (d) (d) (d) The cradle of S. Ambrose all together settle on his cradle which was at that time brought out into a court of his fathers Palace that the child might thereby take a little fresh air The nurse seeing these little honey-creatures buzze about him much nearer than she could have wished coming and going to his lips was affrighted and thought to drive them away but the father who walking in the same place with his wife and daughter beheld this pretty sport made a sign she should hold her hands lest by exasperating these little creatures she might provoke their stings In the end they peaceably forsook the place and soared away so high that they lost sight of them At that time Ambrose father of our great Prelate spake aloud as with the spirit of prophesie This infant shall be great And verily these bees much better alluded to S. Ambrose than to Plato who is said to have had the like hap in his infancy For we must affirm the eloquence of Plato had honey in it and no sting but this of S. Ambrose besides the exceeding sweetness thereof in peaceable arguments had when there was occasion of combate stings that pierced to the quick We may well say he was the most elaborate in his style of all the Doctours of the Church especially if we speak of the Latins For many as S. Hierom and S. Augustine oftentimes dictated with much vehemency of spirit what came to their mind but S. Ambrose did not so much accustom himself to dictate to a writer for he in composing ever had his pen in hand (e) (e) (e) Ambros Epist 65. ad Sabinum Nobis autem quibus curae est similem sermenem familiari usu ad unguem distinguere lento quedam figere gradu aptus videtur propriam manum nostro effigere stylo c. to polish his works at leisure and as we say lick his own bear Adde hereunto another sign of his vocation in the childish sports he exercised without consideration as did heretofore Saint Athanasius being then as he an infant which was to cause his sister and the children which attended her to kiss his hand as the hand of a Bishop he therein taking much pleasure It seemeth God sometimes sheweth children as with his finger the way they should pursue It is an admirable thing that therâ was in Paris found a young begger called Mauritius so far transported in his own fancy that he one day might become Bishop of Paris that many offers being jestingly made unto him in his infinite necessity to move him to renounce the right he pretended to the Bishoprick of this ample Citie it proved meerly impossible which a wealthy man perceiving he so furthered him in studie as in the end he came to the degree which to himself he had prefigured What shall we say God unlooseneth even the tongues of mothers to speak prophetically touching the state of their children Witness a most honourable Ladie named Ida mother of three sons Baldwin Godfrey Eustace who one day sporting with her and hiding themselves under her gown and many times shewing their heads with diverse pretty childish dalliances the father casually coming thither in the midst of their play as they were all covered with their mothers garment demanded Who have we there The Ladie readily answered not knowing what she should say It is a King a Duke and a Count. So it proved Baldwin was King of Jerusalem Godfrey succeeded in the Dutchy of Lorrain to his father the great Godfrey of Bouillon and Eustace was Earl of Boloigne God made use of this womans tongue as of the hand of a dyal which pointeth out the hours as the great wheel guids it leaving no memory where it touched Ambrose did the like at that time directed by the spirit of God He made himself Bishop in his own imagination but when he pursued the way of his proper reason and natural judgement he therein used all resistance not thinking he was called thereunto In the third place his calling was altogether extraordinary and miraculous in
out but what hand hath ever drawn a false opinion out of the brain of one presumptuous but that of God All seemeth green saith A istotle to those who look on the water and all is just and specious to such as behold themselves in proper love Better it were according to the counsels of the ancient fathers of the desert to have one foot in hell with docibilitie of spirit than an arm in Paradise with your own judgement Augustine not to acknowledge his fault would August I. deduabus animabus contra Manachaeos ever maintain it and thought it was to make a truth of an errour opinionatively to defend it He had that which Tertullian saith is familiar among hereticks swellings and ostentation of knowledge and his design was then to dispute not to live Himself confesseth two things long time made him to tumble in the snare the first whereof was a certain complacence of humour which easily adhered to vicious companies and the other an opinion he should ever have the upper hand in disputation He was as a little Marlin without hood or leashes catching all sorts of men with his sophisms and when he had overcome some simple Catholick who knew not the subtilities of Philosophie he thought he had raised a great trophey over our Religion In all things this Genius sought for supereminence for even in game where hazards stood not fair for him he freely made use of shifts and were he surprized he would be augry making them still believe he had gained as a certain wrestler who being overthrown undertook by force of eloquence to prove he was not fallen This appeared more in dispute than game For having now flattered himself upon the advantages of his wit he was apprehensive in this point of the least interest of his reputation and had rather violate the law of God than commit a barbarism in speaking thereby to break the law of Grammer to the prejudice of the opinion was had of him It was a crime to speak of virtue with a solecism and a virtue to reckon up vices in fair language When he was publickly to enterprize some action of importance the apprehension of success put him into a fever so that walking one day through the Citie of Milan with a long Oration in his head and meeting a rogue in the street who confidently flouted him he fetched a great sigh and said Behold this varlet hath gone beyond me in matter of happiness See he is satisfied and content whilest I drag an uneasie burden through the bryers and all to please a silly estimation The ardent desire he had to excel in all encounters alienated him very far from truth which wils that we sacrifice to its Altars all the interests of honour we may pretend unto and besides it was the cause that the wisest Catholicks feared to be engaged in battel with so polished a tongue and such unguided youth Witness this good Bishop whom holy S. Monica so earnestly solicited to enter into the list with her son to convert him for he prudently excused himself saying the better to content her That a son of such tears could never perish Besides the curiositie and presumption of Augustine 3. Impediment The passion of love the passion of love surprized him also to make up his miserie and to frame great oppositions in matter of his salvation But because this noble spirit hath been set by God as the mast of a ship broken on the edge of a rock to shew others his ship-wrack I think it a matter very behovefull to consider here the tyranny of an unfortunate passion which long time enthraled so great a soul to derive profit from his experience The fault of Augustine proceeded not simply from love but from ill managing it affoarding that to creatures which was made for the Creatour Love in it self is not a vice but the soul of all virtues when it is tied to its object which is the sovereign good and never shall a soul act any thing great if it contain not some fire in the veins The Philosopher Hegesippus said that all the great and goodliest natures are known by three things light heat and love The more light precious stones have the more lusture they reflect Heat raiseth eagles above serpents yea among Palms those are the noblest which have the most love and inclination to their fellows These three qualities were eminent in our Augustine His understanding was lightning his will fire and heart affection If all this had happily taken the right way to God it had been a miracle infinitely accomplished but the clock which is out of frame in the first wheel doth easily miscarry in all its motions and he who was already much unjoynted in the prime piece which makes up a man viz. judgement and knowledge suffered all his actions to slide into exorbitancy As there are two sorts of love whereof the one is most felt in the spirit the other predominateth in the flesh Augustine tried them both in several encounters First he was excessively passionate even in chast amities witness a school-fellow of his whom he so passionately affected He was a second Pylades that had always been bred and trained up with him in a mervellous correspondence of age humour spirit will life and condition which had so enkindled friendship in either part that it was transcendent and though it were in the lists of perfect honesty yet being as it was too sensual God who chastiseth those that are estranged from his love as fugitive slaves weaned his Augustine first touching this friend with a sharp fever in which he received baptism after which he was somewhat lightened Whereupon Augustine grew very glad as if he were now out of danger He visited him and forbare not to scoff at his baptism still pursuing the motions of his profane spirit but the other beholding him with an angry eye cut off his speech with an admirable and present liberty wishing him he would abstain from such discourse unless he meant to renounce all correspondence He seemed already in this change to feel the approaches of the other world for verily his malady augmenting quickly separated the soul from the body Augustine was much troubled at this loss insomuch that all he beheld from heaven to earth seemed to him filled with images of death The country was to him a place of darkness and gyddy fancies the house of his father a sepulcher the memory of his passed pleasures a hell All was distast being deprived of him for whom heloved all things It seemed to him all men he beheld were unworthy of life and that death would quickly carry away all the world since it took him away whom he prized above all the world These words escaped him which he afterwards retracted to wit That the soul of his companion and his were expreslie but one and the same surviving in two bodies and therefore he abhorred life because he was no more than halfe a man yet
was your enemie you were his but he never yours For hostilitie comes from an usurper and defence from a lawfull Prince You do well to justifie your self upon this attempt but there is not a man will believe your justifications Who sees not you hated his life whose burial you hinder Paulinus addeth that for conclusion he dealt with him as one excommunicate and seriously adviseth him to expiate the bloud he had shed by a sharp penance This liberty of our admirable Prelate amazed all the Councel and Maximus who never thought that a Priest in the heart of his State in the midst of his Legions in the presence of his Court could have the courage to tell him that which he would never endure to hear in his Cabinet commanded him speedily to depart from the Court All those who were friends of the holy man advised him to be watchfull upon the ambushes and treason of Maximus who found himself much galled but he full of confidence in God put himself on the way and wished Valentinian to treat no otherwise with Maximus but as with a covert enemy which did afterward appear most true But Justina the Empress thinking S. Ambrose had been over-violent sent upon a third Embassage Domnin one of her Counsellours who desirous to smooth the affairs with servile sweetness thrust them upon despair of remedie The fourteenth SECTION The persecution of S. Ambrose raised by the Empress Justina WE may well say there is some Furie which bewitcheth the spirits of men in these lamentable innovations of pretended Religions since we behold effects to arise which pass into humane passions not by an ordinary way Scarcely could Justina the Empress freely breath air being as she thought delivered from the sword of Maximus which hung over her head tyed to a silken threed when forthwith she despoiled her self furiously to persecute the authour of her liberty O God what a dangerous beast is the spirit of a woman when it is unfurnished of reason and armed with power It is able to create as many monsters in essence as fantasie can form in painting Momus desired the savage bull should have eyes over his horns and not borns over his eyes but Justina at that time had brazen horns to goar a Prelate having eyes neither above nor beneath to consider whom she struck Authority served as a Sergeant to her passion and the sword of Monarchs was employed to satisfie the desperate humours of a woman surprized with errour and inebriated with vengeance Saint Ambrose like a sun darted rays on her and she as the Atlantes who draw their bowe against this bright star the heart of the world shot back again arrows of obloquie As women well instructed and zealous in matter Herod lib. 4. Solem orientem execrantur of Religion are powerfull to advance the Christian cause so when they once have sucked in any pestilent doctrine they are caprichious to preserve their own chymeraes The mistresses of Solomon after they had caused their beauties to be adored made their idols to be worshipped so Justina when she had gained credit as the mother of the Emperour and Regent in his minority endeavoured to countenance the Arian Sect wherein she was passionate that the sword Sect of Ariant of division might pass through the sides of her own son into the heart of the Empire The Arians had in the Eastern parts been ill intreated under the Empire of Theodosius and many of them were fled to Milan under the conduct of a false Bishop a Scythian by Nation and named Auxentius as their head but who for the hatred the people of Milan bore to this name of Auxentius caused himself to be called Mercurinus He was a crafty and confident man who having insinuated himself into the opinion of the Empress failed not to procure by all possible means the advancement of his Sect and did among other things very impudently demand a Church in the Citie of Milan for the exercise of Arianism Justina who in her own hands held the soul of Justina an Arian demandeth a Church in Milan her son Valentinian as a soft piece of wax gave it such figure as best pleased her and being very cunning there was not any thing so unreasonable which she did not ever colour with some fair pretext to dazle the eyes of a child She declared unto him that the place she possessed near his persoÌ wel deserved to have a Church in Milan wherein she might serve God according to the Religion which she had professed from her younger days and that it was the good of his State peacefully to entertain every one in the Religion he should chose since it was the proceeding of his father Valentinian which she by experience knew had well succeeded with him To this she added the blandishments of a mother which ever have much power over a young spirit so that the Emperour perswaded by this Syren sent to seek S. Ambrose and declared unto him that for the good of his State and peace of his people it was in agitation to accommodate his thrice-honoured mother and those of her Sect with a Church in Milan At this word S. Ambrose roared like a Lion which made it appear he never would yield to the execution of such requests The people of Milan who honoured their Prelate as the lively image of the worlds Saviour when they once perceived that Valentinian had suddenly called him and that some ill affair was in hand they left their houses and came thundering from all parts to the Palace whereat Justina was somewhat astonished fearing there was some plot in it and so instantly commanded the Captain of the Guard to go out and disperse the rude multitude which he did and presenting himself with the most resolute souldiers he found no armed hands to resist him but huge troups of people which stretched out their necks and cried aloud They would die for the defence of their faith and Pastour These out-cries proceeding as from men affrighted terrified the young Emperour and seeing the Captain of his Guards could use no other remedie he besought S. Ambrose to shew himself to the people to mollifie them and promise that for the business now treated which was to allow a Church to the Hereticks never had those conclusions been decreed nor would he ever permit them S. Ambrose appeared and as soon as he began to open his mouth the people were appeased as if they had been charmed with his words whereupon the Empress grew very jealous seeing with the arms of sanctity doctrine and eloquence he predominated over this multitude as the winds over the waves of the sea A while after to lessen the great reputation of S. Ambrose Strange conference pretended by the Empress she determined to oppose her Auxentius against him in a publick reputation and though she in her own conscience wel understood that he in knowledge was much inferiour to S. Ambrose notwithstanding she reputed him impudent
goods of the Church they were sacred pledges which the Emperour had no right to require nor he to give Then for the Church demanded It was the house of God which his Predecessours Dionysius Eustorgius Myrocles and others had couragiously defended conserved not to be profaned by Arians but reverenced by Catholicks Moreover for that which concerned his banishment it was a thing now incompatible with his life for he more feared God who had given him this charge thaÌ the Emperor who would take it away and that if Valentinian were ready to do that which an exorbitant power permitted Ambrose was bent on his part to suffer whatsoever a good Pastour ought to endure for his flock yea should his body be torn piece-meal under the rack of persecution yet his spirit should remain fast fixed to the Altar The history of the vine of Naboth was then read in the Church and one part of it where there passed in figure was here expressed in verity The denial of Saint Ambrose being reported in the Palace the souldiers had commandement to invade the Church on every side like a Town besieged Never was a Strange spectacle spectacle beheld more intermingled with terrour and piety The Church of Milan was then as a Tabernacle of the Lord of hosts which marched between the battalions under the conduct of the burning Pillar There was nothing without but souldiers lances pikes and swords within but prayers sermons hymns and canzonets One while this admirable Prelate offered Sacrifice at the Altar with great effusion of tears then he mounted into the Chair to encourage and consolate the people presently he introduced the symphony of Psalms anon he gave answers to the Emperours Deputies He travelled indefatigably and appeared as another Judas Machabaeus sometimes in the head sometimes in the rere and sometimes in the midst of the Army He was in his Church like the Patriarch Noe in his Ark confident in perils peaceable in tempests immoveable in all violences conspired to his ruin The people by his example in the tumult of the whole Citie and deluge of roaring waters were in this Tabernacle of peace as if they had enjoyed the antipasts of Heaven All were divided by companies to pray and watch as in Heaven the Quires of Angels The good mother of S. Augustine was then by chance in Milan very far engaged in the business for she was a Mary sister of Moses who served as an example to all other women At that time it was when God more and more to comfort his faithfull creatures discovered to S. Ambrose the sacred bodies of S. Gervasius and Protasius who heretofore had been martyred for the faith When the holy Reliques were seen to be drawn out of vaults still bloudy every one was enflamed with an incredible zeal for defence of Religion much like the Elephants in the book of Machabees who were stirred up at the sight of the juice of grapes There was nothing but lights musical consorts exultations and triumphs The miserable Empress who caused all things that passed to be hourly related unto her was now come to the condition of rage Nothing was heard in the Citie but prohibitions menaces penalties chains and imprisonments In the end the Provost was sent to Saint Ambrose to perswade him that he at the least would allow a Church in the suburbs to satisfie Justina and appease the sedition The people prevented his answer and cried out aloud that could not be done S. Ambrosâ stretched out his hands and shewed his neck signifying he was ready to receive fetters and swords yea to be sacrificed on the Altar rather than deliver up the Altar They went to take the Church in the suburbs by force the people ran thither to stand upon the defence thereof The Emperial Ensigns thereon already fixed in sign of possession were abused even by little children It is a strange thing that Heaven earth and all the elements men and women great and small noble and ignoble ranged themselves on Saint Ambrose side Yea the souldiers themselves who were sent to take possession of the Church where the holy man was entered therein which at the beginning gave occasion of much terrour to the most timorous but they lifting up their peaceable hands cried out aloud They were come to pray with the Catholicks and not exercise violence on any man letting also the Emperour know that the Church belonged to him as to a Catholick Emperour there he should pray there receive favours from above there be in the Communion of true Christians If it appertained to Hereticks it would no longer be a place where the Emperour should feed on the Lamb which is never eaten but in the true Church His wicked mother ceased not to bewitch his mind and breath in his ears that Ambrose aimed at his State for which cause a Commissary was dispatched to the Bishop who roundly told him he onely desired to know one thing of him Whether he would usurp the Empire to the end he might hereafter be treated withal as with a Tyrant S. Ambrose made answer That his tyranny was infirmity and his arms prayers and tears which made him powerfull before God That heretofore Priests had given Kingdoms but not usurped them That there were some Emperours who had desired Priesthood but that Bishops never had aspired to Crowns That Priests had often felt the sword of Tyrants but Tyrants themselves had not at any time seen the sword of Priests un-sheathed against them Let Maximus be asked whether he were a Tyrant for he was very well able to make relation of strange things His tyranny was to serve the Emperour at the Altar and to be sacrificed if God suffer in serving him It well appeared this was to run his head against a rock to think of such an affair The Emperour fearing to engage his authority any further by the advise of some good Councellers gently struck sayl leaving all matters whole and entire S. Ambrose who then in the Church explicated the history of Jonas much wondered how the tempest being ceased he in an instant came out of the whales belly The fifteenth SECTION Maximus passeth into Italie YOu need but to cast a little earth abroad to scatter an army of Ants to break their Oeconomy and sport making them rather to think upon flight than the pleasure of their pillage so whilest Justina with the Arians was still employed in riots and practises how to be revenged on S. Ambrose making use of the innocent spirit of her son and authority of the Empire to satisfie her revenge God raised an accident which made her think of other matters Domnin her goodly Embassadour who departed from Maximus loaden with presents and fair words little thinking thereof was presently waited on by an army of the Tyrant who had in him as much fervour as fire and more infidelity than ice So suddenly fell he upon Italie that it was a great chance he had not taken the mother and her
the Greek word ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã whereupon this man sought to reprehend him alledging some passages of scripture maliciously interpreted of which he made use to establish the unhappy heresie which denied that the Son was the same essence of God his Father and took away from Jesus Christ the diadem of the Eternal Divinity by making him a meer creature Alexander who was not a man of mean account but such an one as to his sanctity of life added solid doctrine defended himself couragiously against the impostures of this malign spirit very well justifying his belief touching the Divinity of our Saviour which having been throughly proved in the Assembly of an hundred Bishops who were first of all called together for this purpose under Hosius Legat of Pope Sylvester he pronounced the sentence of excommunication against Arius and his complices This wicked man who burst with anger to see this condemnation passed against him by those whom he reputed to be infinitely under him in ability put himself into the field with very much ostent the differences he lately had with these Prelates making him understand his Divinity was odious if he therein used not some colour to disguise the malice thereof He also practised so many wiles that he dazeled the eyes even of those who were men very eapable for after he had deduced his reasons with a great facility of words and large quantity of specious passages and that he thereunto added a cold countenance counterfeiting himself a modest man persecuted for the truth he trained spirits not vulgar to the love of his novelties All the very same proceedings have been seen with the Herericks of this time and if so many corrupt souls had not wholly enclined to their own ruin God gave them sufficient examples in elder evils to avoid the new We Proceeding of Arians may well say when we behold these schisms and heresies to arise that there is some comet of the kingdom of darkness which insensibly throweth plague and poison into hearts It is a strange thing that a little sparkle let fall in Alexandria caused instantly so many fires that having invaded Aegypt Lybia Thebais and Palestine they in the end involved almost the whole world No man at that time cared how to live but every one was ready to dispute Bishops bandying against Bishops drew the people distracted with opinions The Churches houses and Theaters ecchoed in the sharpness of contentious disputations and the Cities forgetting all other miseries rent one another for the interpretation of a word Arius to gain support instantly seeketh for favour from the Court. And knowing that Eusebius Bishop of Nicomedia was of great credit he used all the flatteries of which this man was capable enough to gain him to his side This Eusebius was eminently furnished with all those dispositions and industries which the most subtile Hereticks have at any time exercised to trouble the Church of God He was verily one of the worst men then in the Empire since he had sold his soul to ambition so much the more pernicious as it was covered with a veil of Religion It is true which the Hebrews say that Vineger is an ill son of a good father for it is commonly made of the best wine so there is nothing more sincere than an Ecclesiastick who liveth in the duty of his profession but when corruption falleth thereinto and that he hath once degenerated there is not a worse sharpness nor a more dangerous malice Religion served this wicked man as a buskin for all feet for it had no other bounds but that of his own interests and he ever like weather-cocks on the top of steeples turned his face on what side soever the wind blew In the persecutions of Christendom he made himself an Idolater in the garboyls of Lycinius he leaned much to his side and when he saw Constantine absolute in the Empire never was man more plyable to flatter him Doubtless he had all the qualities we have seen in Luther Calvin and so many other new Sects who have still sought favour from Great-ones by wyles and most perillous charms So wanted he not excellent parts and great eminencies for he had a spirit very subtile speech cunning a face which spake before his tongue and as for his extraction he soared so high as to make himself the kins-man of Caesars The air he desired to breath was the Court and his Bishoprick when he was absent seemed to him a banishment Behold the cause why he drew near to the center of the Empire as much as he could in such sort that being first Bishop of Berytus he put himself forward to the chair of Nicomedia afterward took the heart of the Kingdom and in the end setled himself in the Royal Constantinople This alteration of chairs had in this time a very ill savour and this life of Court so passionately affected by an Ecclesiastick not called thereunto could not in any sort find approbation among good men Great personages are sometimes very lawfully in Court for the service of Kings and publick necessities but they are thereas the birds of Baruch upon Baruch 6. 70. Job 26. white thorns as the Gyants of holy Job which mourned under the waters as those sweet fountains found in the salt Sea An ambitious man who heweth down mountains to arrive thither and liveth not exemplary deserveth to be regarded therein as a fish out of his element or the pyde bird whereof Jeremie speaketh whom all the rest assailed with Jer. 12. 2. beak and talon Eusebius notwithstanding little regarded the reputation of a good Prelate so that he might arrive to the height of his enterprizes To insinuate himself the more into the good liking of the Emperour he gained Constantia sister of Constantine and widow of Lycinius as Calvin did afterward the sister of Francis the first The good Lady who being despoiled of Empire by the death of her husband and had no longer so much employment to number the pearls of her Diadem would needs then intermedle with curious devotion and dispute on the mysteries of the holy Trinity Constantine after the death of S. Helena his mother held her at his Court with much respect that she might the more easily digest the acerbities she had conceived in the loss of her husband and much easier was it to entertain her in the affairs of the Church than in those of Empires Besides he found it not amiss that she might busie her self in the doubtfull questions of Bishops So pursuing the Genius of her curious spirit she passed so far that she became an Arian by the practises of this Eusebius who having already gotten credit with her spake to her of Arius as of a worthy man persecuted by his own side for his great abilities and explicating to her his doctrine in popular terms which said there was no apparence how a son could be made as old as his father and that poor Arius had been banished
tomb with her eyes in every billow of this faithless element is delivered from peril by the very bloud of Pharaoh to turn the Diadem of Pharaoh into dust and bury him all enflamed in a gulf of the Red-sea Behold Jeroboam who revolting against Domus Jeroboam eversa esi deleta de superficie terrae 3 Reg. 15. his Prince raised a State by ambition and a Religion out of fantasie having seen the Altars crack with the horrour of his crime yet his heart still remaining more obdurate than stone in the end he is so chastised by the hand of God that there was not left so much as one handfull of dust of his house upon the face of the earth Behold Absalom who thought the means to mount up to a Throne was to make a foot-stool by force of Arms of the crowned head of his father yet see him entangled in a tree transfixed with three spears and thrown into a deep pit which left nothing of him alive but the memory of his misery Behold Saul who makes shew punctually to obey the law of God under the direction of Samuel he afterwards learns to become cunning plotting designs and seeking in all points his own petty interests but in the end David whose life he judged incompatible with his own estate dismounted him using no other Policie but by making himself an honest man Behold the Monarchies of the world so much disputed on behold Scepters hanging on a silken thread the Empires and lives of Otho Vitellins Galba Piso Balbinus Florianus Basilius Silvianus Tacitus Quintilius Maximus Michael Colophates Behold the fall of Parmââio under Alexander Sejanus under Tyberius Cleander under Commodus Ablavius under Constantine Eutropius under Arcadius Vignius under Frederick Brocas under Philip Cabreca under Peter and so many of the like kind Either you shall make your self wholly insensible or must affirm that to raise a State and build a fortune you are to proceed securely therein with a very great tie upon the maxims of faith religion and honesty unless you will expect in the course of an uncertain life a most certain ruin And yet you still doubt to enter into the Citie of good Policie Oh had you once tasted those delights you would become wholly enamoured of them but I see it is fit I make a piece of painting for you to oppose that wicked Policie The fourth SECTION The Table of the Citie of God otherwise called The Citie of honest men drawn out of many excellent conceits of ancient Authours and things practised in some former Common-wealths I Will tell you than thet I have seen in the idaeaes of Plato this Divine Agathopolis and that my mind is still much pleased with the rememberance of this spectacle Expect not I should describe unto you the Countrey nor Citie with curiositie of language for I leave that to Poets and Oratours who have more leisure than I. Onely I intreat you to believe that all which delicate pens of antiquitie have written of Elisian fields and the fortunate Islands are in it to be found with many advantages which we may much better conceive than express The Heavens are there smiling the air wholesom the waters good the seasons temperate the winds calm the ground fertile the abode delightfull the hills and valleys watered with goodly fountains shadowed with many trees covered with vines enamelled with flowers tapistred with meadows bristled with ears of corn on what side soever you turn it seemeth the Providence of God hath taken much pleasure to embellish this territory with his own hands I will not speak to you at all of the walls Towwers Bulwarks Bastions Theaters Amphitheaters Colossesses Edifices and other the like for herein this fortunate Citie hath not grounded its greatness although there were to be seen buildings as admirable as if the Angels of Heaven were come down on earth to undertake the direction thereof I took it for a good presage when I saw at the enterance of the Citie a great number of minds modest stout and resolved who went to the fountains to draw water and bare the pitcher on their shoulders as that ancient Rebecca of whom it is spoken in Scripture labouring like bees in a bright summers day I saw over the gate of the Citie a great statue of the Sun in the sign of Libra which made me suppose that all was mannaged within it as are the days and the nights in the Equinoctial I was not deceived in the judgement I made upon it for there were not so much as clocks out of order in such sort that they struck all together and mutually met at every hour of the day It was a contentment to me to walk on a pavement even and smooth and to behold streets very fair where there was neither stench dirt channels coach-man caroch nor lash of whips smoak of roasts criers much tattle running up and down sinks perfumes of Carpet-knights waggish tricks of lackeys nor sleights of cut-purses proud gates of Rodomonts nor leaders of Bears nor Mountebanks nor pettyfoggers quarrelers drunkards ale-houses nor any of those which draw tribute from humane flesh The whole world there was busied and there was not an idle boy onely you might see children very yong who played at a most innocent game and bare in their childish faces the goodness of fathers and mothers imprinted with an excellent character I learned the principal scope of their great felicity was a most genuine simplicity which reigned amongst all the inhabitants not that they were stupid or witless for accosting them I soon perceived they had spirits clear-sighted and well purified but all their study was to make a harmony between their heart and tongue and to proceed in all things they undertook with marvellous freedom they were infinitely amazed when it was told them there were in other Countreys counterfeit men who spake contrary to their knowledge and thinking one thing in their hearts affirmed the contrary with their tongues They thought it impossible and used comparisons of their clocks where the wheel and the hand went ever a like pace And when I insisted and grounded my self upon experience of what I had seen and heard they concluded it may well then be said those men there are spiritual Centaurs composed of two natures And it being told them there were Ladies and Gentlewomen in other Provinces which wore sumptuous apparel plaited bumbasted slashed loaden with precious stones and chains which had the spoils of the dead upon their heads draw-bridges tyed to their feet and that they bestowed a quarter of their lives in combing and plaistering their faces the women of this Countrey had much compassion hereof and spake with tears in their eyes Alas poor creatures we may well say they have committed enormous sins to carry themselves thus And when it was answered the greatest ambition which these Ladies had in the world was to use this custom they made many signs of the Cross asking whether they were innocents they
understanding this defeat became so furious that he caused the head of his prisoner to be cut off with his wife and children by his second marriage commanding through extremitie of cruelty to throw the body into a ditch which was executed Nor content with this he re-entereth into Burgundie boyling with choller with intention to recover all to his obedience but he found himself assaulted by the Burgundians in a battel who slew him and knowing him by his long hair they cut off his head and fixed it on the point of a launce to serve for a sad spectacle to the French This accident afflicted the heart of the mother who bewailed her son with inconsolable tears as well because he was the first whom she had bred with all tender affection as for that she seeing him dead in the pursuit of so many bloudy acts was full of anxiety in the matter of salvation of his soul The poor Queen fortified her self as much as she might against the violences of sorrow and armed her self against other accidents which she foresaw might grow from the evil dispositions of her children Clodomer left three sons very young whom the holy woman bred up in her house and near her person into whom the most excellent Maxims of all wisdom and piety were distilled These little children very well bred and gently trained by the very good precepts of their grand-mother promised something excellent in time to come and served as a most sweet lenitive to this disconsolate turtle to sweeten the acerbities she had conceived upon the death of their father when behold a horrible frenzie crept into the souls of Childebert and Clotharius her two sons which is read in all our histories the brows whereof do blush to leave a blemish of execration on the wicked exorbitancy of ambition It were much fitter for the great men of the earth to have gnawing vultures and sharp rasors in their entrails than to nourish such a passion which being onely puffed up with a smoke violateth all it hath therein of right or humanity to fatten it self with bloud and never as it were openeth its eyes but in the flames of the damned Childebert and Clotharius sons of the great Clodovaeus and the holy Clotilda despoyling themselves of all respect sweetness and humanity conceived a mortal jealousie against their little Nephews imagining their mother would breed them up to their prejudice and so not taking counsel of ought but their own bruitish passion they resolved to be rid of them The poor children were perpetually under the wing of their good grand-mother Clotilda who could never suffer them out of her sight such fear had she of ill habits which are easily made to slide into the hearts of children by the corruption of evil companie These infamous Uncles besought their mother to let their little Nephews come to visit them to have thereby some harmless recreation promising to restore them again speedily into her hands The holy woman who could not imagine the execrable malice which was hatched in the hearts of these unnatural sons consented these little ones should go fearing lest the denial she might make would further exasperate the suspition of the suppliants Yet did she even then quake for fear and bidding them farewel kissed them with redoubled embracements raptures and affections not being able to contain her passion nor the presage of her unhappiness The little innocents went to the slaughter with a smiling countenance as children who have walks of recreation and play in their heads When they had them in their full power they dispatched a messenger to their mother to bear unto her most unwelcome news For he was commanded to shew her a poynard and a cyzars requiring her she would make choice which of these she should judge fittest for her grand-children either to pass them by the dint of sword or forcibly to shave them and make them Monks Clotilda extreamly astonished at this impudence answered As well dead as Monks which some very inconsiderately have interpreted thinking this answer proceeded from an ambition she had that her grand-children might reign but the admirable Princess would say that we ought not to apply any to the service of God but voluntaries and that she had rather see her children well dead than to behold them in a religious profession by constraint and force This wretched messenger made to the humour of his Masters in stead of sweetening the matter made a very harsh relation of his message which precipated the evil already beginning to fall into extremity Clotharius possessed with a diabolical spirit took Thibault the eldest of these children and striking him down to the ground thrust his sword quite through his body The little Guntharus who was the second besprinkled with the bloud of his brother whom he saw distended on the pavement grasped the knees of his uncle Childebert with lamentable out-cries saying O Uncle save my life wherein have I offended you He so quaked in all the parts of his body and so transfixed him with his sighs that the other though he purposed this mischief was seized with much compassion and prayed his brother to pass no further But Clotharius enraged and more ravenous than a Tyger of Armenia What saith he you have been of the Councel and yet now hinder me in the execution I will run you both through with my sword Childebert amazed threw the poor victim from his knees and delivered him to the executioner who in that very place cut his throat As they were upon these contestations the third son of Clodomer named Clodoaldus was taken away by a friend of the father and secretly bred up in Ecclesiastical condition wherein he arrived to so perfect a sanctity that forsaking the shadow of Diadems and Scepters which deceiveth the credulity of the most passionate by its illusions he hath merited Altars on earth and a Crown of glory in Heaven For this is that S. Cloud which we reverence near unto Paris What imagination is sufficiently powerfull to figure to its self the ardent dolours which seized on the spirit of poor Clotilda when she heard all that passed by the practise of her unnatural sons What might this soul think so free and purified from the contagions of the earth which apprehended the shadow of the least sins when she beheld her house polluted with so horrible sacriledges Yet still she guided the helm of reason in so tempestuous a storm of passions and in so dead a night of misery she adored a ray of the Providence of God which she considered in the depth of her sorrows she her self no whit affrighted took up the mangled bodies of these innocent creatures and gathered together the scattered members as well as she could saying Poor Children I bewail not your death although it cannot be too much bemoaned You are dead like little Abels like little Innocents forsaking the earth profaned with the crimes of your Uncles to hasten to possess a place in
of this repose news came unto her very hastily that she must return to Court to appease the discord between her children who were ready to encounter one another and to embroil the Kingdom in the desperate desolations of Civil war The good woman did not as those who hold retirement from the vanities of the world as a punishment nor ever are with themselves unless necessity make them take the way which they cannot elect by reason So soon as she understood these importunities which called her back to the affairs of the world she hastened to prostrate her self at the sepulcher of S. Martin shedding forth bitter tears and saying My God you know my heart and that it is neither for fear of pain nor want of courage that I retired from the Court of my children but that seeing their deportments and affairs in such a condition that I could not think my self any ways able to profit them by my counsels I made choice of the means which I thought most likely to help them which are prayers And behold me here now humbled at the tomb of one of your great servants to beg of you by his merits and ashes to pacifie the differences of these unfortunate children and to behold with the eye of your accustomed mercies this poor people and Kingdom of France to which you have consigned and given so many pledges of your faithfull love My God if you think my presence may serve to sweeten the sharpness of these spirits I will neither have consideration of my age nor health but shall sacrifice my self in this voyage for the publick but if I may be of no other use but to stand as an unprofitable burden as I with much reason perswade my self I conjure you for your own goodness sake to receive my humble prayers and accommodate their affairs and ever to preserve unto me the honour which I have to serve you in this retirement A most miraculous thing it is observed that at the same time when the holy woman prayed at the tomb the Arms of the brothers now ready to encounter to pour forth a deluge of bloud suddenly stopped and these two Kings not knowing by what spirit they were moved mutually sent to each other an Embassage of peace which was concluded in the place to the admiration and contentment of the whole world Thus much confirmed Clotilda in her holy resolution wherein she lived to great decrepitness of age And in the end having had revelation of the day of her death she sent for her two sons Childebert and Clotharius whereof this who was the most harsh was in some sort become humble having undergone certain penances appointed him by Pope Agapetus to expiate many exorbitances which he had committed for such is the most common opinion These two Kings being come the mother spake to them in these terms I was as it were resolved to pass out of the world without seeing you not for the hatred of your persons which cannot fall into a soul such as mine but for the horrour of your deportments that cannot be justified but by repentance God knows I having beheld you so many times to abandon the respect you ow to my age and the authoritie which nature gave me over your breeding never have endeavoured to put off the heart of a mother towards you which I yet retain upon the brink of my tomb I begged you of God before your birth with desires which then seemed unto me reasonable but which perhaps were too vehement and if ever mother were passionate in the love of her children I most sensibly felt those stings yielding my soul as a prey to all cares and my bodie to travels to breed and bring you up with pains which are not so ordinarie with Queen-mothers I expected from your nature some correspondence to my charitable affections when you should arrive to the age of discretion I imagined after the death of your father my most honoured Lord that my age which began to decline should find some comfort in your pietie But you have done that which I will pass under silence For it seemed to me your spirits have as much horrour of it as mine which yet bleedeth at it nor do I know when time will stench the bloud of a wound so bydeous Out alas my children you perswaded your selves it was a goodly matter to unpeople the world to enlarge your power and to violate nature to establish your thrones with the bloud of your allies which is a most execrable frenzie For I protest at this hour wherein I go to render an account of mine actions before the living God that I should rather wish to have brought you into the world to be the vassals of peasants than to see the Scepter in your hands if it served you to no other use but to authorize your crimes Blind as you are who behold not that the diamonds of a Royal Crown sweat with horrour upon a head poisoned with ambition When you shall arrive to that period wherein I am now what will it help you to have worn purple if having defiled it with your ordures you must make an exchange with a habit of flames which shall no more wear out than eternitie Return my children to the fair way you have forsaken you might have seen by what paths the Providence of God led the King your father to the throne of his Monarchie you might have also observed the disasters of Kings our near allies for that they wandered from true pietie That little shadow which you yet retain of holy Religion hath suspended the hand of God and withheld the fatal blow which he would otherwise have let fall upon your state If you persist in evil you will provoke his justice by the contempt of his mercie Above all be united with a band of constant peace for by dividing your hearts you disunite your Kingdoms and desiring to build up your fortunes by your dissentions you will make desolate your houses Do justice to your poor people who lived under the reign of your father with so much tranquilitie and which your divisions have now covered all over with acerbities Is it not time to forget what is past and to begin to live then when you must begin to die My children I give you the last farewel and pray you to remember my poor soul and to lodge my bodie in the sepulcher of the King your father as I have ever desired The Saint speaking this saw that these children who had before been so obdurate were wholly dissolved into tears and kneeling about her bed kissed her hands having their speech so interrupted with sobs they could not answer one word Thereupon she drew the curtain over all worldly affairs to be onely entertained with God And her maladie daily encreasing she pronounced aloud the profession of the Catholick faith wherein she died then required the Sacraments of the Eucharist and extream Unction which were administred unto her and by her
side and gaineth by force of money many mercenaries who well discovered they had no other faith but that which their fortune would give them The fourteenth SECTION The Treaty of peace between Levigildus and his son by the mediation of Indegondis THe war was yet like to continue very long had it not been that the Princess weary to behold these calamities that took beginning from an affront which she had endeavoured to dissemble with so much prudence besought her husband with great tenderness of tears to reconcile himself to his father He touched at that instant with a quite other spirit than he had hitherto felt prostrated himself before the Altar and protested before God that he abandoned all the justice of his cause for the onely considerations of piety and would rather die than prosecute those dissentions any further to the prejudice of charity He went out wholly changed upon this her motion and coming to his wife said unto her Madame behold me resolved to seek out the King my father since you so desire it But I must needs tell you that having forgotten my self in this resolution I cannot neglect you The unworthie usage which you have received at Court requireth you return not thither but in triumph Never will I admit that you undergo hazard by exposing you to the mercie of a woman which perhaps hath none either for you or me You know the affairs of France are at this time in so great confusion that you cannot hope there for any retrait to asswage your griefs We have here a Prince the Emperour Tyberius who is our allie in whose protection I advise you to put your self to pass into Africa and from thence to Constantinople if it happen that I be otherwise entreated than your hopes import At these words the poor Indegondis selt her self seized with a great trembling and wept bitterly not being able to answer one word The Prince seeing he had proceeded too far in afflicting her so faithfull heart sweetened his discourse and said Dear heart why do you trouble your self at my departure I hope the affairs will run in a way so prosperous that in two or three days we shall see one another at Court but that which I have spoken is said taking all accidents at the worst to provide the better for your safetie They had during their abode here a little son which yet hung at the breast the father taking it in his arms said Madame Behold a most precious pledge of our marriage which I recommend unto you Let God dispose of it as shall best please him but you must breed it up as a King The mother beholding the infant redoubled her sighs and the poor Hermingildus not knowing what would follow felt himself surprized with a heavy and stupid dolour which made him break off his discourse yet notwithstanding he failed not to treat with the Emperours Lieutenant to put all that which was most dear unto him into safeguard But when the fatal day of separation came these two hearts so united felt such violent convulsions of grief as if they then had foreseen the events which afterward succeeded and that this farewel should be their last Indegondis at her parting cried out Sir whatsoever happen loose not the treasure of your faith My good Mistress replied the Prince assure your self you have gained a disciple who shall never dishonour you be you merry I will expect you at Court Alas what is our life and the affairs of man That which is past is nothing the present a fantasie and the future an abyss where even those who stand on the brink see not anything These two great souls which it seemed were worthy to live an Age to manure their faithfull loves and possess Empires as perpetual inheritances of their merits go about to be divided for ever with a separation which would be judged hydeous and pitifull were it not that she hath brought forth a Kingdom to Religion Some time after that Indegondis was retired Levigildus understanding his son disposed himself to some composition conceived much joy thereat for he feared lest he might be enforced to give battel wherein he had perhaps found what a man may do thrust into despair So soon as he saw some overture of peace he dispatched his son Recaredus who was in the Army with him to gain his elder brother well knowing they were both of humours very consonant When the younger entred into Hermingildus camp and had espied him hestopped suddenly and cried out Oh my brother before I embrace I desire to know whether I come to a friend or an enemie But the good brother without making him any other answer set forward and most lovingly embraced him in the sight of the whole Army The other sighing Ah brother saith be most dear brother whither have the counsels of those transported you who desire the ruin of our house Behold your self here environed with armies and Legions and behold on the other part my father who besiegeth you with all his army Miserable that I am What shall I do but make between you both a wall of my body to hinder your designs Ah how brother are you upon the point to give my father battel Oh how unhappy would the Sun be which shineth over our heads if this day before the setting he should see his face defiled with the stains of our bloud Brother it is our Countrey against which you arm that stretcheth out to your obedience the same hands it lifted up to Altars for your safety Brother it is your father and mine against whom you march what honour can you get to tear out of his body by violeÌce a soul which he is ready to render up to nature to throw it out yet alive into the flaming ruins of his Kingdom Have you no other objects to give testimony of your valor I beseech you both by the Religion you have embraced and the bloud common to us both stay your arms or if you persist in your purpose kill me rather at your feet and take me as a victim to purge both the armies Behold the King who lovingly expecteth you and who reckoneth up the moments of my Embassage I bring you the word of full assurance upon my life and honour You must come instantly if you dare believe me for you cannot procrastinate nor retard this affair but you must slacken your own happiness These words were powerfull enough to transport a man who was already resolved Hermingildus having assured him of the good affection he had ever born both to the King his father and himself went to the Court Recaredus flieth with the desire he had to inform his father of the success of his Commission and being arrived he bare the news of the coming of his brother wherewith he was infinitely pleased The Prince followed quickly after and prostrated himself at the feet of the King his father saying Sir And my most dear father behold here your poor
Hermingildus who will perpetually be yours what over happen Those who have armed your clemency to the ruin of your bloud have chased me from your Court and Palace but not been able to separate me from your love I have lived hitherto like a poor exile and as it were a dead man among the living If my enemies be not satisfied with my miseries behold Sir I stretch my hands wholly disarmed to the power which nature hath given you over me ready to live or die at your feet The King whether he dissembled his passion or whether he truly were touched with such a spectacle of piety embraced him with much tenderness saying Ah my son evil same hath depainted you much other than you are I assure you this confidence which you have witnessed unto me hath now set you free from all suspition You are very welcome most dear son where have you left the Princess your wife The Prince replied She should speedily be at Court Goizintha faileth not to be there present and to shew to her son-in-law all possible courtesies which so confirmed the mind of Hermingildus that he instantly discharged himself from all distrust and prepared to send suddenly for Indegondis to come to the Court A friend notwithstanding whispered him in the ear that it was not necessary for him to hasten so much and that he must ever fear a still sea an old man amorous and a step-mother too courteous The fifteenth SECTION Hermingildus wickedly betrayed THis speech was but too true for the pernicious Goizintha foreseeing if Hermingildus were once again fully possessed of the heart of his father whereof there was some probability he would not fail to revenge himself on her for the affront done to his wife and if it were not with diligence prevented he might discover her sleights and disturb all her faction She therefore called a fatal Councel wherein she resolved to overthrow this poor Prince She gained unto her infamous men who poured into the ears of King Levigildus whatsoever they thought good she suborneth witnesses she causeth letters to be produced and frameth a gross calumny giving her husband to understand that this reconciliation of his son was but a matter of disguise the better to arrive at the scope of his intentions that he hath sworn the ruin of his father and that his spirit is become so arrogant he cannot endure him as a companion in the Empire that it is a thing undoubted that all the Romans desire to lift him to the throne That he hath practised alliance with the Emperour of Constantinople whereof express letters might be produced and to shew this is a business already concluded he hath delegated his wife a cunning and turbulent spirit into Africa to pass from thence to Constantinople and to bring with her all the forces of the Empire to fall upon Spain that there was no other remedy but with all speed to prevent his design and to make him feel the power of despised clemency She spake so much both of truth and falshood and her Commissioners were so well practised to forge many suspitions and represent a thousand accidents in affairs which seemed to confirm this conspiracy that in the end Levigildus entered into a frenzy more gross than had possessed him before and having declared his son guilty of treason he caused him to be suddenly taken and shut up in a strait prison It was a pitifull thing to behold this Prince a man wholly innocent seized on in the middest of all the pleasing triumphs of the Court which they had prepared to honour his arrival betrayed even at that time when he least thought thereon and used with so much cruelty A matter very natural to heresie where after they had clothed him with sackcloth he was so loaden with chains that he became crooked not being able at all to lift up his head He then well knew his hour was come so that renouncing all the pleasures of this life he began couragiously to prepare himself for death The King accompanied with some Commissioners whom he had given in charge to draw his process would needs see him and beholding him suffered himself instantly to be transported with great disturbances of choller calling him ungratefull parricide and wicked wretch The Prince mildly answered Sir could I foretel I should know what I had done and wherefore I am accused but since I have no such spirit I will die in silence The father replied his ill conscience suggested thereof enough unto him and that he knew but too much what designs he had upon the State and the life of his father that he would have him speak freely and that if he could justifie himself in these points he would gladly hear him Hermingildus at that time made the Apologie which I have else where expressed in Latin approching as near as I might to his own intentions and phrase and am here ready to render it in our language that I may not frustrate my Reader of it Sir said the Prince the proof of my innocencie is as easie as the defence thereof is difficult I reposed next after God all my confidence in your Majestie to choak the flame of cruel envie wherewith you see me assailed and as it were still smoking I attended to implore your name to challenge your power and to have you for witness of my fidelitie unworthily treated by slander and now I have you for an ardent accuser and a most severe Judge nay which is more an incensed father You have caused me to be taken as it were from the table of a feast by you prepared for congratulation of my return you have made me to be despoiled of purple to be bound and fettered like a galley-slave I fear lest the justification of my actions may not be the condemnation of yours and that in seeking to defend mine own innocencie I be not enforced to accuse the errour of my father which is to me one of the greatest punishments I can suffer Notwithstanding since you command I should speak not that in the condition whereunto affairs are arrived I may hope of any thing either by my discourse or silence but hap what may I will pour into your ears the last voice of my bloud For did my accusers demand no other thing than my life I would willingly give it them without reply but seeing they go about to fasten infamie on mine ashes I beseech your Majestie to hear the few words I have to say The business here is not a new crime it is a very long time since the Queen your wife and our step-mother Goizintha began to weave this web against my brother and me to deprive your scepter of its lawfull heirs and give your Crown as a prey to her ambition Would to God I might now call out of the other world the blessed sould of my dead mother to be present at this judgement She would speak and I might be silent she would remember your Majestie how
being in the agonies of that fatal hour which took from us this great Queen she embraced my brother and me beseeching you by your chast loves and inviolable faith of marriage to be unto us both father and mother We were then of an age wherein we could not as yet either feel or bemoan our losses Notwithstanding seeing you bowed over the bodie which yielded up the ghost with weeping eyes we gave our infant-tears to her memorie as a just tribute of Nature but you taking your little orphans into your bosom forbade them to mourn which you could hardly do and wiping away their tears promised you hereafter would become to us a father for protection and a mother for indulgence I then grew up under your eyes spinning out the course of my innocent years and am come to an age capable to bear some share in your hopes Had you any thing at that time in the world more dear unto you than your Hermingildus Dignities were for him for him Empires wars were made by him and peace concluded in his name Hermingildus was the object of your thoughts the entertainment of your discourse the contentment of your heart Your Majestie then resolved to marrie me although very young you found out for me a wife daughter of a King sister of a King neece of a King but such an one as by her virtues surpassed all titles of Kingdoms Ah poor maid who would have said then that thou wast reserved to be the subject of so lamentable a Tragedie I was reputed the most happie man of the world since for me were born so many singular virtues and perfections admired by all men I must confess I loved this Princess not so much by the ways of an ordinarie love as a certain admiration of her virtues For I have received the faith by her pietie her example and her doctrine holding in her soul the rank of a husband a disciple and as it were of her own son Thereupon Goizintha began to possess your heart and to gain superemtnence in your affairs so changing your will by her ordinarie practises that she hath turned all your ancient favours into disdain your confidence into suspition your resolution into disturbance and your mud temper into command This woman hath so persecuted me that in your Court I neither enjoyed watchings rest recreation nor affairs without danger But I have willingly passed under silence all that which touched mine own person until she fell upon an action so barbarous which were sufficient to justifie the Scythians and Tartars I have no words to speak it having so much sorrow to feel it Enough is said when there hath been seen a daughter of so many Kings trampled under the foot of a woman whose birth I will not reproch because indeed I well know it not a Princess most innocent beaten even to bloud by a mother-in-law a Ladie replenished with honour disarayed of her garments by unworthie servants and plunged by little and little into a pool in a cold season to consummate a Martyrdom such as the ancient Tyrants never invented more cruel for women contenting themselves to impose oftentimes onely nakedness for a punishment Had I revenged my self of such inhumanitie with sword and fire no man could have thought my proceeding unjust nor my thoughts unreasonable notwithstanding I have still endeavoured to cure my self by the remedie most ordinarie with me which was patience I in silence retired unto a Citie which your Majestie gave me for lively-hood resolved there peaceably to pass my days with my wife whilest we beheld the face of this Court so adverse to our hopes But your Goizintha as if we had committed a great sin in not enduring her to thrust a sword through our throats hath sounded an alarm in your Palace and afterward in all the Province declaring me an enemie to the countrey an usurper of the Crown of my father a Parricide a creature excommunicate and adding thereunto words much more injurious against me and my wife For my part Sir I wish you had rather hearkened to our innocencie than served her passion all then had succeeded better But after strange Levies were made you came thundering upon Sevil to besiege me with a huge Armie so that you seemed to stir all the elements against me I confess it I then followed the instinct which God giveth creatures even the most bruitish to defend their own family and fortune I took arms not to offend you but to safeguard my self and my wife against the furies of a step-mother who makes use of all arrows for our rain Yet seeing my armies reduced to that point that I had no means to escape without giving battel which must necessarily be fatal to both parts I renounced for your sake the laws of nature and am come to render my self up to your discretion I call to witness the Altars holy fire and the Angel-guardians which have seen me prostrated before them of the sinceritie of my intentions and of the tears I have shed for you having not leisure then to bemoan my self Afterward your Majestie sent my brother unto me to give me assurance of your love you called me forth I am come I have suppliantly intreated you have received me I prostrated my self at your feet you have raised me with so many favours and so many tokens of good will that I could require no more for my safetie I ask who hath changed your affection who hath tarnished our joys and withered the olives of peace but she who being not able to ruin me with weapon in hand seeks to have my bloud by form of justice Behold my accusation and crime behold all that which hath made me to be clothed with sackcloth and chained with fetters ordained for Galley-salves The father who was of an ardent spirit interrupteth him hereupon and demandeth where his wife was whether he had not sent her into Africk to pass from thence to Constandinople The Prince answered He had onely projected this in his mind not for any other purpose but to advise upon the safetie of her person not knowing as then how matters would stand and that accidents had taught him he was wise enough in his counsels but less happie than he imagined The King insisteth and interrogateth whether he had not treated alliance with the Emperour Tiberius He thereunto replied that he had never practised any other correspondence but to draw from him some Troups for the defence of his life and that so soon as he saw some overture of peace he had dismissed them resolving to make no further use of them He then was pressed upon divers questions to which he made most pertinent answers shewing very evidently to the miserable father the colours and pretexts which they made use of to ruin him unless passion should cast a film over his eyes In the end seeing he could not convince his son to have practised any thing since the accord was made between them both he made a
birth under your favour It is the third Part of a Court absolutely holy which not unlike the Citie S. John saw in his profound comtemplations cannot ascend from our manners to Heaven unless it descend from Heaven into our manners I likewise endeavour to fashion it in Books by the model of things celestial to imprint it on lives and I now undertake the defence of truth which constituting your salvation and composing your happiness well deserve to be the most serious employments of your mind It is true Sir all Maxims of State that depend not on the Maxims of God are effects of carnal prudence which end in flesh and all fortunes that rest not on him who with three fingers supporteth the globe of the earth rather pursue the way of precipices than the path of exaltation The wisdom of the world loves nothing so much as that whereof it is most ignorant it runs after honour not knowing what honour is ever hungry and still needy nor having any other aim but to make it self a Mistress over giddie spirits to become the slave of all passions Which maketh me say there are none but the blind who seek after it the miserable who find it the sottish who serve it and the forlorn who tie themselves to its principles But the wisdom of Heaven which I in these Maxims present you is so transcendently sublime above all humane inventions as the light of stars surpasseth the petty sparklings and slitting fires of the earth It is that which leisurely marcheth by holy paths to the sources of day-light and as being present before the throne of God beholdeth glory and felicitie unfolded in his hands It is the element of great souls such as yours and when they once are throughly settled therein they find tastfulness which turneth into nutriment and nutriment which passeth to immortalitie Your prudence may read in your own experience what I express in my Treatises nor need you go any further than your own life to meet with the proofs of these excellent verities You know Sir how the Divine Providence in the first flower of your age drew you from ill ways and snatched you out of the hands of infidelity as a Constantine from the palace of Diocletian to serve as a Buckler for the Church whereof impietie would have made you a persecutour This Providence knew so well how to separate bloud from manners that it caused you to demolish what your Ancestours had raised and preserving their dignity without touching their errours to make of the unhappiness of their judgement the beginning of your felicity From thence you see with what success the hand of God hath conducted you to the height of this most eminent glory wherein France at this present beholds you as a Prince accomplished in the experience of affairs and times the Father of good counsels the undertaker of great actions endowed with a spirit which seems an eternal fire and to be parallel'd by nothing but the goodness of your own heart You live peaceable as in the right sphere of true greatness where you perpetually reflect on two Poles God and the King You seek for the one in the other and you walk to the God of life by the most lively of his Images His Arms are beheld to prosper in your hands as well as his Edicts in your mouth You have born thunder and Olives throughout France under your protection awfull at one time and amiable at another but ever prosperous in both Yea fully to crown your happiness the Divine goodness hath afforded you a house flourishing in riches and honours which comprehendeth in its latitude two Princes of the bloud to serve as pillars for the State It gave you a wife who hath made of her fruitfulness the trophey of her virtues and entered by love into an eclipse to become the Mother of lights and bring forth children to bear the hope of Flower-de-luces The eldest Son whom your Excellency hath committed as a sacred pledge to our Colledge at Bourges would trouble us to tell you from whence he hath taken such and so many splendours and sparkling flames of wit which dazle the eyes of those who have the honour to be near him were not you his Father He is a Pearl who maketh it appear by the equality of his Orient that if Nature have equalled his birth to the greatest on earth he will equal his virtues to his extraction SIR I speak this ingeniously that you may both behold in your own Person what I treat in my books as also understand that true piety soweth the seeds of the most solid greatness But besides the relation this Design seems to have to the pleasure of God over you I find much obligation to offer it you as a slender testimony of a singular gratitude in our Superiours and our whole Societie which would willingly suffer their affections to pass through my pen if it had as much eloquence as the main body tenders respect and zeal to your service You have been pleased to make it known by your good purposes to love it by election defend it by justice honour it with your opinion encrease it with your liberalities and if your benefits be ornaments unto it your judgement serve for Apologies I received a notable portion in your favours whilest you resided in Bourges where your Excellency called me to deliver the Word of God and to confess your virtues in my discourses as I must acknowledge my discourses to proceed from your virtues It was by your conversation I perceived that as there is nothing too high for your understanding so there is not any thing too low for your bounty God hath bestowed on you the gift which the Scripture attributeth to the Patriarch Joseph to oblige hearts with sweetness not unlike the Engines of Archimedes which made water mount in descending so yours causeth not your humility to descend but to make it re-ascend to the source of the prime sublimity Which done not presuming any thing in regard of your Excellency but daring all through your courtesie I present these MAXIMS of the Holy Court of which many will make their reading others their precepts but you will I hope frame your virtues of them on earth to make them your Crowns in Heaven So wisheth SIR Your most humble and most obsequious servant in our Lord N. CAUSSIN S. J. The Design and Order of the BOOK I Find Courteous Reader my Works do insensibly encrease under the savour of thy good opinion as plants sprout under the aspect of the most benign stars I had confined my self to that which concerneth the Historie of Courts and still rest in the same resolution But saw a piece verie necessarie in these times wanting in my Work which was the Treatise of MAXIMS and majestie of our Religion I almost durst not undertake it so much the subject seemed to require judgement preparation and abilitie But God having inspired me with a strong conceit I might be
making use of a riding-rod which he had in his hand drew a circle about Antiochus and enclosed him within it saying There is but one word to be used Before you come out from thence you must necessarily resilve either on peace with your sister or wars against the Senate and people of Rome He seeing himself so strongly charged gave way to their demands and wrote to the Senate That he esteemed the Masked complement Peace which came from their motion more glorious than all his victories and heard their Embassadours as if the Gods had spoken out of heaven to him Therein imitating the most supple Courtiers who in stead of shewing their discontent against power give thanks for a beating Howsoever becoming enraged with rancour Horrible persecution of the Hebrews to see so rich a prey escaped out of his hands he discharged all his choller upon the Jews as those who make their servants suffer for the losses they had in game He had a spleen against this religious Nation both through the motive of his own impiety and reason of State suspecting them more to encline to King Ptolemee's faction Behold why he entered into Jerusalem Anno Antiochi 7. like an enraged Lion with huge troups in the beginning pillaging the Citie and Temple sparing neither the prophane nor sacred swallowed excessive riches and plunged the fiery flames of his anger in the bloud and tears of four-score thousand people some killed divers sold and many fettered unable to satisfie his cruelty For presently after came out those wicked and Anno ejus 9. bloudy Edicts which made God a party with a violent hatred and let loose the rains of impiety even to the desire of utter defacing the marks of Religion The streets of Sion mourned Priests were banished or massacred the Altars demollished Temples polluted with ordures and uncleanness by abominable monsters who renewed sacrifices to Bâelphegor and Bacchus in the Sanctuary heretofore impenetrable to mortal eyes The abomination of desolation foretold by the Prophet Daniel which was a statue of olympick Jupiter was seen to be raised in the holy place in sight of all the world The books of the law were sought out through all the houses and committed to flames the festivals changed into Bacchanals all exercise of piety interdicted with whips wheels fires so far that two poor mothers being found administering Circumcision to two little in fants were drawn through the Citie having their lamentable offipring hanged about their necks and in that posture thrown into a ditch The whole Citie was nought else but a spectacle of gibbets and slaughters the Pagans by some false brothers conspiring with much fervour to put the Kings Edicts in execution Then was the time Eleazars combat with the seven young Machabees appeared Combat of Eleazar which is excellently described in the Scripture in Josephus and the Fathers of the Church that it were a thing superfluous to endeavour enlargement upon it with a more ample discourse I onely say that if God permitted upon one side to be seen the unbridled soul of a man professed an enemy of all piety on the other an admirable spectacle was beheld of fear and reverence rendered to his Name by the faithfull What a prodigie to see an aged man four-score and ten years old of one of the prime families of his Nation learned in the Law of an Angelical aspect to go smiling to punishment And he cracking even their hearts with compassion who sate as Magistrates upon his execution some perswaded him onely but to make a shew to eat hogs flesh for the Kings satisfaction But he reflecting on the true point of honour The hoariness saith he of this venerable hair wherewith my head is covered having waxed old in the exercises of Religion sufficiently teacheth me my dutie It is not fit for Eleazar to counterfeit impietie but profess virtue God forbid I should forget the law of my God dishonour the school and doctrine in which I was bred or become a scandal to these young men to whom God is now pleased to make a Theater of my Constancie The honour of my passed life shall enter into the ashes of my Tomb and my soul shall flie out of this bodie truly innocent and not bear infidelitie into the bosom of my Ancestours Then they tormenting him under the lashes of whips and fervour of flames he added My All-knowing God thou art not ignorant that it being in my power to free my self from death not to fail in thy fear I faint in my life I make thee the depositorie of my soul which issueth out of these torn members choosing rather to die tortured on all sides than to live one silly moment unfaithfull After Eleazar went the glorious mother of the The mother of the Macchabees Machabees along having the spirit of a man in a feminine body She entered first of all into the combat although she were the last that arrived to the crown bringing seven sons with her to death as to the true source of immortality This blessed creature stood between two flames the one of natural love the other of charity towards God Both combatted but there was but one prevailed that she might transcend all things under God As she lived in seven souls so she was sacrificed in seven bodies She saw the tongue torn out from one the toes and fingers of feet and hands cut off from another the skin pulled away all bloudy from the head of this that thrown into a boyling cauldron finally she beheld them all equal in punishment as she parallel'd them in love Some while she delivered one to the executioners another while she received the bloud upon her garments presently the mangled members in her arms she fought in all and for all having no other fear but of their deliverance But she infinitely fearfull for the youngest of her sons shewed him Heaven then her breasts the one to have bred him the other to glorifie him When she saw him dead then was the time she thought him born and then with most courage she waited on his execution O incomparable mother saith S. Augustine who August serm 109. c. 6. knew what it was to possess children since she feared not to loose them Mother of Martyrs and eight times a Martyr who equailed her triumphs to her childrens and her glory to eternitie In the end Antiochus after all this butchery retiring Punishment of the wicked Antiochus the living God who pursued the tracks of this impious man and who in his eyes bare the lightenings of his justice raised Mattathias and his children who with a silly handfull of men restored sanctification to the Temple and liberty to the Citizens having in four encounters defeated four Royal Armies This wretched creature and who had no religion in him though in apparence he made shew of that of the Grecians went to Elymas to invade a Temple of Diana where great treasures were kept but was
of sundry mutations But God being from all eternity a most pure Act as he hath not any thing but himself can have no difference with himself He hath nothing Non sui aliquia optimum hibet unun optimum totââ S. Bernard l 5. de consider in himself better than himself He hath no part eminent one above another For he is without parts and all that agreeth to him under this title I am what I am 5. If you are not yet satisfied enough concerning the greatness of this sovereign Being and demand something more particular the Word will tell you in S. John what he learned in the bosom of his Father God is spirit All substance in the world or Deus spiritus est Joan. 4. Beauty of spirit above the world is spirit or body but as the body is base and abject so beauty strength power abideth in the power and jurisdiction of spirit It is the spirit which doeth all which animateth which acteth which quickeneth which governeth all the instruments of nature which worketh great miracles in little bodies and hath nothing so admirable as it self The better part in us is spirit and God is nothing Totus spiritus ennoia totus ratio totus lumen Iren. l. 2. c. 16. but spirit all spirit all intelligence all reason all light said S. Irenaeus But what spirit but God the Father and Creatour of spirits who is as much exalted above the highest Intelligences as spirits are above bodies Our spirits resemble the fire of this inferiour region a gross and material fire which cannot here live unless you put it to wood cole grease or such like But the spirit of God is like the fire near to the celestial globes which Philosophers hold to be tenfold more subtile than air and not to stand in need of any nourishment in its sphere but from its self If we consider the four perfections which give us Perfections of God Magnitudinis ejus non est futis Psal 145. Excesâuâ iâmensus Baruc. 4. Intra omnia sed non inclusus extra omnia sed non exclusus Isodor de summo bono c. 2. a full Idaea of the divine Essence to wit infinity immensity immutability eternity this great Spirit possesseth them by title of essence Strive not to comprehend him for he is infinite Infinite not in a certain manner not by comparison of one thing with another not in possibility but absolutely actually infinite as an ample and most glorious treasure of all essences and perfections Assign him no limits for he is immeasurable extended through all measures without measure not by a local extent but an indivisibility of presence He is high and immense He is in the whole universe without confinement He is out of all the universe without any exclusion from it Represent him not to your self under many forms if you desire to figure him in his Nature for he is immutable Enquire not of his age for it exceedeth Non peragitur in to bodiernus dies tamen peragitur quia in co sunt ists omnia August 1. Confess c. 6. eternity such as you may imagine it The present day passeth not with him and yet he is in it since all things are in him But if we regard the three excellencies which in your opinion more concern divine manners to wit Wisdom Goodness and Sanctity I not onely affirm he is wise but I say he is the abyss which swalloweth all wisdoms I do not onely say he is good but the Sanctimonia magnificentis in sanctifiratione ejus Psal 95. 6. source of goodness nature bounty a source never emptied but into it self which continually streameth out of it self I do not onely say he is holy but the root the object the example form of all sanctities Finally if we behold the eminencies which illustrate him in repsect of the eye he hath over exteriour things as are power jurisdiction providence justice and mercy this Spirit is so powerful that he can all but impotency so predominate that there is not any thing from heaven to hell which boweth not under his Laws so provident that he hath a care of the least butterfly in the ayr as well as of the highest Cherubin of the Empyreal Heaven so just that his ballance propendeth neither to one side nor other so merciful that he pardoneth all O great God! Great Spirit How terrible art thou to our understandings and how amiable to our wils Thou commandest by words thou ordainest by reason thou accomplishest by virtue all which is and giving birth to all things onely reservest to thy self Eternity Let it not then be strange if strucken with those rays which dazeled the eyes of Seraphins we yield to thy greatness and rather choose to enter by love into thy knowledge than by knowledge into thy love 6. Let us also in conclusion reflect on this munificent Spirit who replenisheth all the world with his bounty spreading it over all creatures with incomparable sweetness Do you not think you behold the An excellent similitude of God with the Ocean great OceaÌ which incessantly furnisheth the air with vapours and waters for all the earth dividing himself to so many objects yet perpetually entire in his greatness and ever regular in the measure of his eternal passages He is singular in essence but very divers in his titles and effects and making his circuit round about the world every one gives him names after his own manner Some call him Indian others Persian some Arabick some Aethiopian and some Britanick others surname him with epithets quite different every one deviseth what he list and in the mean time he ceaseth not perpetually to pass on his way and not content to encompass the whole earth as with a girdle he cleaveth the mountains of Calpe from Arbyla those famous pillers of Hercules to enter thereinto and bedew the world with his pleasing streams He runs a long way he makes a great circuit he advanceth delivious Islands in the midst of his bosom one while he swelleth upon one side presently retireth back from another He is angry he is pacified He bears and swalâoweth vessels He engulphs earth he killeth flames he sometimes by long wandering passages goeth under the world and purifying his waters distilled through those large sources maketh fountains and rivers to moisten mortals And that nothing may be wanting to his greatness he mounts up to heaven there to beget clouds and entertain store-houses of waters as in Cobweb lawn to give afterward the spirit of life to trees to plants and all the productions of nature Oh how admirable is he Yet is all this but a silly drop of dew in coÌparison of the divine Essence God who is all in all things being not able to be sufficiently known by us in the simplicity of his Essence is called by many names signified by an infinite number of figures represented in divers attributes and
was that putting him on the discourse of his education he said his father did all he could to win him to Christianity but that he ever stuck to his mothers side not enduring the impertinencies of a Religion which professeth a son as old as his father a mother without a husband a child-birth joyned to virginity a God crucified a Cross divinized and such other extravagancies whereat he set himself a jeering with so much tattle that he gained the Emperours heart Scoffs have this proper in them that they penetrate Scoffing dangerous very far into jocund minds and though they proceed from a soft spirit they often make more impression than iron The Emperour so well liked his humour that he gave him a charge in the Citie of Alexandria with two Companies to forrage round about and cleanse the Countrey from the sect of Christians The mother conceived much joy thereat and the son who seemed already to touch Heaven with a finger put himself into action for accomplishment of his Commission But O the bottomless depth of Gods judgements Admirable Conversion Behold he going about to surprize is surprized and of a Lion is become a Lamb and of one victorious a victim He being near the Citie of Apamea in Syria the earth shook under his feet the air was enflamed with lightening and thunders roared in the clouds a voice came from Heaven which said unto him Neanias whither goest thou and to what purpose is this equipage He although much astonished answered it was for the Christians The voice replied Is it then to me you go But he having the hardness to ask it who are you saw a Cross in the air and heard these words I am Jesus the Crucified Son of the living God and you shall hereafter be a vessel of election for me This vision beat him down to raise him like S. Paul and of a persecutour in a moment made him a Confessour He secretly sent for a Gold-smith and causing him to make a rich Cross he embraced it he kissed it and carried it hanging about his neck to engrave it in his heart In stead of persecuting the Christians he turned his arms against a race of Sarazâns who over-ran the Countrey and ravished maids to satisfie their bruitishness which filled houses with terrour and tears The Cross gave great success to his arms and in short time having chased away this pernicious faction he went to the Citie of Antioch being already fully instructed in the points of his religion The mother who knew not what had passed in Inter-view between Procopius and his mother this maatter entertains him with much joy not satisfying her self either with his sight or in congratulating his triumphs But he who no longer cared for any thing under God said I have obtained other victories which you know not And what replied the mother Madam I have vanquished my self by the grace of God and departing hence a Pagan am returned a Christian desiring nothing more in the world of you but since you gave me birth you will take example from me How my son sayes the mother you are disposed to be merry No replies he and drawing out his Cross behold said he the marks of the Religion I profess She much amazed drew him aside into her closet and asked him who had recommended this abomination to him and whether he were become a fool There are none but fools said he who with reverence look after deaf and dumb gods the time is come these feeble Deities must be abjured and all the works of darkness and speaking this he ransacked his mothers closet which was very sumptuous breaking and throwing down the golden and silver idols and withal saying these silly entertainments were onely good to make money of to distribute among the poor Theodosia was so offended at this act that without Revenge of Theodosia any regard of bloud and nature she went to the Emperour and related all had passed resolving rather to deliver her sole son to executioners than to loose the satisfaction of her revenge Diocletian as much surprized with astonishment as enflamed with anger having praised the mother for her zeal wrote to Justus Governour of Palestine and commanded him to seize on the person of Neanias and to seek by all means to reduce him to obedience and in case of refusal to take away his sword and proceed against him with all the rigour of punishments ordained for Christians The Governour having received the Emperours Mandate went with his Guards to the house of Neanias and signified the tenour of his Commission withal delivering into his hand the Emperours Letters wherein perceiving some blasphemies against our Saviour he tare them in pieces and said to Justus Constancy of Procopius Execute your Commission I have a bodie to suffer but not a soul to betray my Religion The other conjured him by all the ways of friendship to take pitie of his age and not become an enemy to his own life and fortune adding timorarious counsels are sources of irrecoverable evils But the valorous Champion drawing out his sword threw it at the Judge's feet professing he was wholly gained to Jesus Christ whereupon he fettered him and led him to Caesarea In few days he was brought to the Palace to answer His sufferings for Religion upon accusations objected which he most freely averred persisting in the confession of his faith with admirable constancy which was the cause the Judge proceeding according to ordinary forms exercised against the faithfull made him cruelly to be beaten with rods in sight of all the world Diocletian thought by these shamefull and barbarous ways to stifle Christianity but these outrages practised upon men of quality enkindled the courage of Christians and sowed seeds of Martyrs Many Pagans were seen who deplored this punishment beholding a young Lord whom they had lately seen triumphant in courtesie in arms and valour delivered into the hands of hangmen to be used like a thief The Martyr perceiving the peoples tears said Fathers and Brethren bewail not my sufferings lament your own errours my pains will pass away but the torment of infidelitie shall be everlasting Then lifting his eyes to Heaven he servently besought God to fortifie him in his combats to whom he resigned the total glory Justus seeing him more couragious than he wished sent him back unto the prison where he was comforted with the sight of Angels and it is said our Saviour himself appearing baptized him with his own hands and gave him the name of Procopius and heartened him bravely to finish his combats The next day he came forth of prison like the Sun out of clouds his body reflecting lustre and majesty when they thought him spent with excess of torments The whole Citie was filled with rumour and many souldiers secretly coming to the Bishop Leontius were converted to faith whereof the Governour advertised made them presently to be beheaded fearing to exasperate the Bands if he
Heirs of this Royal Line to death to satisfie his ambition and content his tyranny Who dictated to the Prophet Daniel (a) (a) (a) Dan. 9. 26. that after the Edict of King Artaxerxes granted in favour of the re-establishment of the Temple there should be seventy weeks to the birth of Christ that is to say the space of 490. years which was found true by calculation of the best Historians Who made the Prophet Aggeus speak with this thundering majesty Agg. 2. and worthy the lips of the God of Hosts WITHIN A SHORT TIME I WILL MOVE HEAVEN EARTH AND SEA THE DESIRED BY AL NATIONS OF THE WORLD SHAL COME AND I WIL REPLENISH THIS HOUSE WITH GLORY Was it not the same Spirit which afterward wrought those great mysteries we see who then shewed them to his faithfull servants It is he who guided the pen of Isaiah when he proclaimed the Messias should Isaiah 7. be born of a Virgin he who revealed to the Prophet Micah this birth should happen in Bethlehem Micah 5. he who opened the eyes of Zacharie to see him in the Zach. 9. triumph he afterwards made in Jerusalem he who deciphered to David all the particularities of his passion Psal 2. in the second Psalm This great consent of Prophets without design or art astonished the Jews who had the Scriptures in their hands and could reckon up all the versicles of their Bible They well saw it was the uncontroulable voice of Prophets but their vanity had so blinded them that they rather wished to have no Messias than to acknowledge him poor according to the world although his very poverty had been reckoned by the Prophets in the number of his greatnesses 3. Perhaps it will appear to be less strange that the Strange testimony of Gentilism Hebrews who were a chosen people had so many revelations touching the Word of God But who will not be rapt with admiration to consider the words which the wisest the greatest and most glorious of Gentilism left to posterity concerning this mystery I speak not of Trismegistus of Pythagoras of Numenius nor of others whose writings may be called in question I speak of Plato Aristotle Cicero How came that into Plato's mind which he so eloquently afterward couched in the fourth book of his laws to wit (a) (a) (a) ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Plato l. 4. de legibus That God should be to men the rule and measure of all things and principally if it were so or ought to be so in any part of the world that there were a Man-God From whence think you came it that Aristotle who proceeded so advisedly in all his Maxims let this word fall (b) (b) (b) Non esse Diis immortalibus indecorum hominis induere naturam quo ab erroribus sevocentur mortales Caelius refert l. 17. c. 34. That it was no unbeseeming thing for the Gods immortal to revest themselves with humane nature to destroy the errours which were crept into the world Who suggested to Cicero one of the wisest Politicians that ever was amongst men what he wrote in his Book of a Common-wealth (c) (c) (c) Cicer. l. 3. de Rep. Nec erit alia lex Romae alia Athenis alia nunc alia posthac sed apud omnes gentes omni tempore una lex Deus ille legis hujus inventor disceptator lator c. Jam nova progenies coelo dimittitur alâc Te duce siqua manent sceleris vestigia nostri irrita perpetua solvent formidine terras Virgil. That the time would come there should be no other law at Rome than at Athens but that amongst all Nations and in all times there should be one same eternal and immutable law one common Master and Emperour over all which should be God himself the inventour teacher and introducer of this law and that he who obeyed him not should flie from himself as a despiser of his own nature But in this alone that he would not obey he were grievously chastised although he might escape all other punishment It were a thing superfluous to alledge here the verses of the Sybils which it is known were so express that many of the principal of the Gentiles were converted to Christianity by reading the testimonies these divine women rendered of the Word Incarnate We all likewise know God to make this argument the more visible permitted a little before the Nativity of our Saviour that Virgil the most eminent of all Poets composed that his excellent work where he expresseth in Latin verse the conceptions of Sybilla Cumaea and speaketh plainly of a child which should be sent from Heaven to pardon the sins of men and fill the earth with blessings And to shew this was not alone in the minds of particulars we read that towards the reign of Augustus Julius Marathus foretold Nature should bring forth a King for the worlds Empire Which so amazed the Senate according to the relation of Suetonius (d) (d) (d) Sueton. in Aug. 54. the Historian that they forbade to breed up children which should be born within the time this South-sayer had prefixed Doth not Josephus (e) (e) (e) Joseph l. 7. c. 11. de bello Judaico also make mention of the prediction which said Nations come from Judea should become Masters of the universe The Romans understood not this language but applied it some to Augustus others to Vespasian until such time as truth drew aside the curtain and made the accomplishment of these predictions perspicuously appear in the Person of our Saviour Nay not so much as Porphirie yea Mahomet and Porphyrius ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã devils but give some Elogie of honour to Jesus Porphirie in the Treatise he made of the blessings of Philosophie saith It is a great matter that devils themselves have spoken in favour of Jesus confessing him to be endowed with singular pietie for which cause he entered into possession of most happie immortalitie And Mahomet Alcoran Azoar 1. 4. 11. 13. That the spirit of God bare record to Christ the Son of Mary that the soul of God was given him that he is the Messenger Spirit and Word of God that his doctrine is perfect and enlighteneth the Old Testament O God of the universe how powerfull is verity to derive testimonies in favour of his Word from the very lips of the most prophane 4. Let us adde also some divine reasons in this brevitie Reasons of seemliness whereunto we have voluntarily confined our selves Who sees not that humane understanding constrained by the consideration of mysteries doth homage also to the Incarnation of the Son of God Where is that darkness which can hinder the bright day of faith What can Infidels say That this mystery is impossible Impossible how Either on Gods part or mans or from the repugnance of humane understanding with such like propositions because by their saying they involve contractions How would it
not be possible to God he being Omnipotent Immense Infinite How according to the confession of ancient Philosophers can he replenish all the world with his Divnity and is not able to accommodate himself with enough of it to divinize his holy Humanity Is it because we say it is united to the Word in this mystery in a quite other fashion than the Spirit of God is with the world I admit it For the union of it is truely personal But must it not be confessed the Word in this divine Essence as under title of efficient cause it hath an influence infinite over all the effects of the world and as under title of final cause it hath a capacity to limit and measure all the inclinations of creatures so under title of substantial bound it may confine and accomplish by its personality all possible Essence Why shall we tie the hands of Divine bounty in its communications since it binds not our understanding in its conceptions Is it not a shamefull thing that man will estimate and set a value upon the Divine Essence If God please not man he shall not be God Should we say man is incapable of this communication And how is it that the holy Humanity resisted the Omnipotency of God to the prejudice of his own exaltation since it is found as soon in the union of the Word as in the possession of Essence See we not in nature that the rays of the Sun draw up vapours from the earth and incorporated with them do create Meteors in the air not any one making resistance to his exaltation What contradiction can there be in our understanding against such a maxim seeing it appears the most famous Philosopher said This union of God with man might be very fit and Plutarch also Plutarch in Numa ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã speaking of the communication of the Creatour with the creature pronounced these words That God was not a lover of birds nor other living creatures but a lover of men and that it is a very reasonable matter that be communicate himself to his loves and delights But this would seem to abase the Divinity Hear what Volusianus said I wonder that he to whom this whole Volusianus Miror si intra corpus vagientis infantiae latetâ cui parva putatur universilas c. universe is so small can be shut up within the bodie of a little child having a mouth open to crie as others What uncomeliness is there if God be united to a little body Have not Plinie (a) (a) (a) Plin. Natura nusquam magis quà m in minimis tota est and Seneca (b) (b) (b) Servitus magnitudinis non posse fieri minorem Senec. Homo quippe ad Deum accessit Deus à se non decessit August said That nature was ever so admirable as in little bodies and that it was a slavery in Great-ones to be unable to be little I wonder the Sovereign Lord of all things is so long absent from Heaven and that all the government of the world is transferred to so little a creature From whence proceedeth this amazement but from the baseness of our thoughts If we said God being made man ceased to be God and were despoiled of his Empire Greatness Essence there would be somewhat wherewith to question this Mystery but when we say God came to Man by inclination of a Sovereign bounty and mercy not leaving himself when we say humane nature is received into the Word as a small source into a huge river and not loosing its Essence is fixed upon the personality of the Word it self is it not to honour the power majesty and wisdom of God 5. In what were the Divinity abased Can it be in doing a work so noble so singular so divine that it deserveth to entertain the thoughts of men and Angels through times and eternity What is more specious and more sweet than to represent to ones self the Person of our Saviour who in himself makes an alliance of all was most eminent in spiritual and corporal nature to wit of God and man verily say I one composed of an unheard-of composition to render the majesty of his father palbable and visible to the hands and eyes of mortals What dignity to behold in the world a Man-God become a part of the world to possess the Spirit of God from all eternity who proposed this person as the end of his communications the bound of his power the first-born of all creatures who held all Ages in breath for him all hearts in desires all minds in expectation all creatures in prophesies The Book of God hath written me In copite libri scriptum est de me Psal 39. 8. in the beginning of its first page said the Word with the Psalmist All creatures of this great universe all predictions and conceptions of these two great books the world and the Bible tended to the accomplishment and revelation of this God-Man who should set a golden head upon all nature intelligent sensitive and vegetative All creatures were but leaves and flowers that promised the great fruit which the Prophet calleth The fruit of earth sublime Isaiah 4. 20. We must religiously speak what deserveth to be heard Religiose dicendum reverentér audiendum est quis propter hunc hominon gloris honâre coronandum Deus omnis creavit Rupert l. 13. de glor Trinit proces Spi. Sancti with reverence It is for this incomparable man that God created the world and all creatures are but as silly rays from the Diadem of glory which covereth his head What a spectacle to see them all wound up as the strings of a harp to praise and declare unto men the Name of God to behold the nine Quires of Angels enter into this consort and every one of them to honour this first Essence by so many distinct perfections notwithstanding all to confess their ability cannot reach that degree which the Divine greatness meriteth And thereupon behold here the Word Incarnate which passing through all the spheres of nature grace and glory enter into the new sphere of the hypostatical union where it appears as a rainbow imprinted with all the beauties of the father he manifesteth them to men and making himself an adoring God a loving God an honouring God he adoreth he loveth he honoureth God so much as he is adorable amiable and honourable through all Ages for evermore Let us unfold our hearts in the knowledge and love of the Word revealed Let us adore this great sign this eternal character of the living God for whom all signs are Let us make a firm purpose not to pass over a day of our life wherein we afford him not three things due to him by titles so lawfull Homage Love Imitation Homage by adoring him and offering him some small service directed according to times in acknowledgement of the dependence we have of him by an entire comformity of our wils to his Love
by loving all he loves and hating all he hates Imitation by ever bearing some mark of him upon our flesh according to the Apostles precept who said Glorifie and bear God upon your bodie And to conclude let us often say Feed O Lord thy poor begger with continual influences Blosiâ of this Divinitie I ask and desire with all my heart thy love may penetrate replenish and transform me wholly into thee The seventh EXAMPLE upon the seventh MAXIM The triumph of JESUS over the Enemies of Faith JULIAN the Apostate ALl those who forsake the Word of God are Recedentes a te in terra scribentur Hier. 17. wretched men blotted out of Heaven to be written on earth and whose names the earth it self being unable to preserve abandoneth to forgetfulness or contempt and very often to execration This is manifested by many sensible proofs in the examples of the Emperour Julian who betraying his Religion and dishonouring the character of Christianity made himself one of the most miserable Princes that ever was under Heaven leaving his soul as a prey for devils his enterprizes to ill success his life to a most bloudy death his person to the scorn and hatred of men and his memory to the detestation of all Ages Notwithstanding he wanted no eminent qualities Qualities of Julian which shew that without true Religion all is unprofitable which might have raised him had he not forsaken the source of height and glory Birth gave him Constantius brother of great Constantine for father Besilina a most noble Princess for mother an Emperour for uncle three for cousin-germains Constantinople for his native soil and to serve for a Theater of great actions He had a good wit strong body tongue eloquent conversation pleasing and courage masculine There was not any science in the world whereof he had not some tincture he most prosperously mingled arms with letters and appeared as couragious in the front of Armies as in learned Schools He very little esteemed his body so much was his soul divorced from his flesh worldly riches were nothing at all in his hands nor did he value them but to give them He said It was for those who had no spirit to beg praise from the body that he was ever handsom enough who was chaste and that if Painters made fair faces chastity beautifull lives His counsel was to avoid love as an enraged Master according to the saying of Sophocles to live in the command over proper passions and free enjoying of himself The Gentlemen of his chamber and all domesticks who most nearly looked into his life gave assurance never was any thing more chast He slept little fed very soberly continually afflicted his body accustomed it to travel in such manner that he was seen in the snows of Germanie and broyling ardours of Persia perpetually in the same state After indefatigable toyls of the day he betook himself by candle-light to studies of the night He almost never lay but on the bare boards and waked at an hour prefixed not needing any one to give him notice He expected so little service about his person that being at Paris which he called His well-beloved Citie in the time of a sharp winter when the Seine was frozen scarcely would he suffer a fire to be made in his chamber so discourteously he used himself He hated riot superfluities Bals and Comedies and if needs he must sometime permit them it was more to reprove than behold them He afforded good and speedy justice his heart was patient and temperate towards the people whom he freed what he could from tributes making his impositions accord with the ability of particulars and saying He would leave his treasures to be kept by his good friends which were his subjects Is it not a lamentable case that so great a man was so miserably lost with so many excellent parts For want of preserving the best which is piety It is true that almost all our Historians have written of him with much rigour dissembling what was good in him to render him the more odious but for my part I am of opinion the greatness of Christianity more appeared therein if having shewed the ornaments of nature which this Prince had we make you plainly see all that very ill succeeded with him and that we cannot find any other source of his misery but his infidelity The judicious Readers shall here observe the cause The causes of his corruption of his ruin and consider the first education of children is an impression very tender which being not well mannaged in the beginning filleth the whole life with disorders Tutours are the fathers of spirits said Tutours are fathers of spirits S. Irenaeus as having more influence over the resemblance of souls than carnal fathers over bodies Ill luck would have it that little Julian being left young in the guardianship of his uncle Constantine was recommended to Eusebius of Nicomedia to be instructed in faith Now this Eusebius was a wolf in a lambskin who counterfeiting to be very Catholick ceated not by his credit to advance Arianism so that this young Prince fashioned at first by so ill a hand could not entertain belief and reverence towards the Person of our Saviour Heresie is the key of Atheism and when a soul is disposed to contempt of its gracious Mother on earth it easily learns no longer to acknowledge a Father in heaven He being so ill grounded in the elements of faith Ecebolus an hypocrite was put under the discipline of a Rhetorician named Ecebolus who turned with all winds and admitted Religion according to the times For when he saw Christian Emperours reign he for ceremony seemed a Christian If Pagans swayed there was none more insolent than he If Empire returned again to Christians he placed himself in Church-porches beseeching every one to tread on him as a thing contemptible He above all hearkened to and honoured Libanius one of the greatest Sophisters of his time but a Pagan till death He had a spirit mild and very indifferent upon articles of Religion he equally received Christians and Pagans into his school and permitted S. Basil himself to preach to his schollars but omitted not silently to contrive the means how to re-establish the Altars and Temples of the Gods He reflected on Julian as the Palladion of Gentilism and bound him fast to his own person by the charms of his eloquence to apply him to his counsels All the little piety which Julian might have learned School of Julian from a man who had none began to wither away in a school where all was known but God Apollo there possessed the name of Jesus Diana of Mary Aristotle Plato were the Prophets Isocrates the Preacher and the names of Tritons were there better understood than of S. Peter and S. Andrew the fisher-men This new disciple took such a tast of eloquence that it made him forget devotion he would have given a whole Province
quality of a good death is the ready and constant adieu given to the world as did the Blessed Virgin who was so disengaged from it towards death that she touched not earth at all but with the soles of her feet Philo saith God gave Moses leave to live very long perpetually in glorious actions in contemplations in lights so that his body was worn wasted and almost wholly vapoured out into the substance of his spirit By a much stronger reason may one say the like of the Mother of God For it is certain her life was nothing else but a divorce from the world But as Physitians observe that the breath of storks is purified and made sweet in the proportion as they increase in age in such sort that becoming old they yield forth most odoriferous exhalations So the life of this holy Mother which was ever hanging about the heart of her Son ever in the contemplation of the great mysteries of our salvation perpetually in the furnace of love wholly transformed it self into her well-beloved as one wax melted into another as a drop of water poured into a great vessel of wine as incense wasted into flames O what sweetness of breath what odour of virtues in her old age Her body seemed to be exhaled and to vapour out Harph. c. 49. libri de mystic Theol. all in soul the soul which is the knot of life and which possesseth in us the most inferiour part of spirituality dissolved wholly into spirit which is in the middle and the spirit melted entirely into the understanding which hath the highest rank in the soul and which bears the image of the most holy Trinitie Her memory in a silent repose was freed from all rememberances of the world her will resided in languishing fervours and her understanding was wholly engulfed in great abysses of lights there was not one small threed of imagination which tied her to earth O what an adieu to the world It is very well declared in the Canticles by these Cantic 1. 6. Quae est ista quae ascendit per desertum sicut virgula fumi ex aromatibus myrrhae thuris universâ pulveris pigmentarii The three ties of the world Genes 12. Egredere de terra tua de cognationetua de domo patris tui words Who is it that ascendeth through the desert like a thin vapour composed of odours myrrb incense and all the most curious perfumes Which saith in a word the holy Virgin was wholly spiritualized wholly vapour all perfume all spirit and had as it were nothing of body massiness or earth O how many unreasonably fail in this second condition When death comes to sound his trumpet in our ears and saith to us Let us go thou must dislodge from thy lands inheritances never to return again from thy kinred from the house thy father gave thee to wit thy bodie how harsh that is to ill mortified spirits and which hold of the world by roots as deep as hell and as big as arms Go out of thy land O how hard is this first step to go out of the land to forsake the land not at all to pretend to the land to the gold to the silver to those jewels that inheritance to all that glorious glitter of fortune See the first torment of worldly spirits Such there have been who Desperate desire of worldly goods Joannes Nider seeing themselves in the last approaches of inevitable death have swallowed their gold like pills other to eternize themselves on earth have caused formidable sepulchers to be built wherein they put all their wealths as the Aegyptian King Cheopes who prostituted even his own daughter to raise unto himself a Pyramid for burial so enormous that it seemed the earth was too weak to bear it and Heaven too low to be freed from its importunity Besides he caused to be engraven upon it that the manufactures alone of this sepulcher had cost six millions of gold in coleworts and turneps Others caused to be buried with them dogs horses slaves apparrel dishes to serve them in the other world Yea it is not long ago since there was found in Anno 1544. Belforest Goodly monument of the Emperess Marie Rome a coffin of marble eight foot long and in it a robe embroidered with Gold-smiths work which yielded six and thirty pounds of gold besides fourty rings a cluster of emeralds a little mouse made of another precious stone and amongst all these precious magnificencies two leg-bones of a dead corps known by the inscription of the tomb to be the bones of the Emperess Marie daughter of Stilicon and wife of the Emperour Honorius who died before consummation of marriage About twelve hundred years were passed after she was buried with all these goodly toys which no doubt gave much ease to her soul My God how are we tied to earth Tell me not the like is not done now adays for it is worse since they were buried after death with their riches and you O mortals alive as you are build your sepulchers thereon We see men who having already one foot in the grave if you speak to them of the affairs of their consciences all the spirit yet remaining is perhaps for two or three hours besieged by an infinite number of thoughts of worldly wealth Death crieth out aloud in their ears saying Go from thy land and you pull it to you as with iron hooks After that cometh kinred allies table-frends friends for game buffons amourists and all the delights of former companies Some weep others make shew of tears the rest under a veil of sorrow make bones-fires in their hearts they seem all to appear about the bed and to sing this sad song of S. Augustine Aug. Confes 6. 11. Dimittis ne nos a momento illo non erimus tecum ultra in aeternum Et a momento isto non licebit hoc illud ultra in aeternum Alas do you leave us and shall we hereafter meet no more together Farewel pleasing amities Adieu feasts adieu sports adieu loves This nor that will any longer be permitted from this moment for ever Behold another very slipperie and dangerous step notwithstanding you must leave it Death hasteneth and says Go from thy kinred In the last the body and flesh is presented which seems to say Ah my soul whither goest thou My dear hostess whither goest thou Thou hast hitherto so tenderly pampered me so pompously clothed me so wantonly cherished me I was thy Idol thy Paradise thy little Goddess and where will you put me into a grave with serpents and worms what shall I do there and what will become of me Behold a hard task principally for such of both sexes as have dearly loved their bodies like the Dutchess of Venice Damian opusc in instit ad Blanch. c. 11. The prodigality of a Venetian Ladie and her punishnent of whom Cardinal Petrus Damianus speaketh who was plunged into sensuality
a harder matter for him to preserve souls he created than to derive them from nothing He will because he engageth his Eternal word to give us this assurance yea he will because it is manifested to us by the light of nature One cannot believe a God unless he believe him just and it is impossible to think him just without the belief of an immortal soul as S. Clement reasoneth after Clemens 3. Recogn his Master the great S. Peter For what a stupdity is it to imagine this father of spirits who accommodated the most silly creatures with all the conveniencies of nature hath neglected man so far as to afford him a most lively knowledge and a most ardent thirst of immortality which principally appeareth in the most holy and worthy souls to hold a heart in torment never affording it any means to be satisfied since in all nature he never grants any inclination to any creature whatsoever but that he provideth for its accomplishment But which is more into what mind of a Tartarian can this imagination fall that a sovereign Cause most intelligent very good and Omnipotent should be pleased to burn virtue here with a slow fire to tear it among thorns to tie it on wheels afterward to equal the soul of the most virtuous man of the earth with that of murderers Sardanapaluses and Cyclopes Never should these base thoughts take possession of the heart of man if he had not villified his reason with great sins and drowned his soul in the confusion of bodie Put these prophane spirits a little upon the proof of their opinion and let them consider the reasons of Plinie of Lucretius of Panecus and Soranus they are not men who speak but hogs that grunt They tell you the soul is not seen at its passage out of the body as if the corporal eye were made to see a soul spiritual Doth one see the air the winds odours and the sphere of fire which our soul incomparably surpasseth in subtilitie They ask what doth this soul separated Plin. l. 7. c. 55. Vbi cogitatiâ illi Quomodo visus auditus aut qued sine his bonum Quae deinde sedes Quae malum ista dementia iterari vitam worte where is its sight its hearing pleasure tast touching and what good can it have without the help of sense Spirits dulled with matter which never gave themselves leisure to find out the curious operations of the soul in the understanding and love whereupon it lives of its own wealth They curiously enquire where so many souls may abide as if hell were not big enough to contain all the Atheists Lastly they adde it is to tyrannize over a soul to make it survive after death Who sees not it is the fear they have of God's judgement causeth them to speak in this manner And are not they well worthy of all unhappiness since they so readily become the enemies of an eternal happiness Let us cut off the stream of so many other reasons and say at this present This should teach us to treat with the dead by way of much respect and most tender charity as with the living It should teach us to use our soul as an eternal substance What would it avail us to gain all the world and The care to be had of the soul loose that which God deigned to redeem by his death Let us forsake all these inferiour and frivolous thoughts which nail us to the earth and so basely fasten us to the inordinate care for our bodies Let us manure our soul let us trim it up as a plot fit to receive impressions of the divinity Let us prepare it for the great day of God which must make the separation of a part so divine from these mortal members Let all that die which may yield to death Let the contexture of humours and elements dissolve as weak works of nature But let us regard this victorious spirit which hath escaped the chains of time and laws of death Let us contemn the remainders of an age already so much tainted by corruption Let us enter into this universality of times and into the possession of Diet iste quem tanquam extremum reformidas aeterni natalis est Sen. ep 102. of eternity This day which we apprehend as the last of our life is the first of our felicities It is the birth of another eternal day which must draw aside the curtain and discover to us the secrets of nature It is the day that must produce us to these great and divine lights which we behold with the eye of faith in this vale of tears and miseries It is the day which must put us between the arms of the father after the course of a profuse life turmoyled with such storms and so many disturbances Let us daily dispose us to this passage as to the entrance into our happiness Let us not betray its honour Let us not wither up its glory Let us not deface the character which God hath given it We are at this present in the world as in the belly of nature little infants destitute of air and light which look towards and contemplate the blessed souls What a pleasure is it to go out of a dungeon so dark a prison so streight from such ordures and miseries to enter into those spacious Temples of eternal splendours where our being never shall have end our knowledge admit ignorance nor love suffer change The sixteenth EXAMPLE upon the sixteenth MAXIM Of the return of Souls GOd who boundeth Heaven and limiteth earth ordaineth also its place to each creature suitable to the nature and qualities thereof The body after death is committed to the earth from whence it came and the soul goes to the place appointed it according to its merit or demerit And as it is not lawful for the dead body to forsake the tomb to converse with the living so the soul is not permitted to go out of the lists Gods justice ordained for it to entermeddle in worldly affairs Notwithstanding as the divine power often causeth the resurrection of the dead for the confirmation of our faith so it appointeth sometimes the return of souls for proof of their immortality I would not any wise in this point favour all the shallow imaginations which entitle sottish apprehensions of the mind with the name of visions but it is undoubted there is no Country in the world nor time throughout Ages which hath not afforded some great example of apparition of spirits by known witnesses and the judgements of most eminent Mitte quoque advivus aliquââ ex mortuit Scriptura lestatur De cura pro mortuis c. 15. c. c. 10. Luc 14. personages S. Augustine holds it is a doctrine grounded on Scripture experience and reason which cannot be gain-said without some note of impudence although he much deny that all the dreams we have of the dead are ever their souls which return again Such was the belief of
the Apostles in S. Luke it not being corrected by our Saviour who was the rule of their faith Such the truth of the apparition of the soul of Moses upon Mount Thabor I insist not now upon proof Math. 17 but example contenting my self to produce one or two out of a great multitude recounted by Authours As for the first I hold the apparition of the soul Apparition of the soul of Samuel 1. Reg. 28. of Samuel is most formal in Scripture for any one who will consider the whole progress of the narration The history telleth us that King Saul after the death of Samuel was upon the point of giving battel to the Philistines and that having first addressed himself to God by ordinarie means to learn the way he should observe therein seeing he had no answer either by dream or the lively voice of Prophets he did what infidels and men desperate do who seek to get that from the devil they cannot obtain of God He commanded his servants to seek him out a forceress although himself had banished them by his Edicts out of his Kingdom The servants ever ready to observe their Masters in ill offices when their own interest concurreth found a famous Magician whom the Hebrews affirm to have been a woman of good place but out of a detestable curiosity had put her self into this profession Saul to cover his purpose and not to amaze her went thither by night in a disguized habit onely accompanied with two gentlemen where having saluted her he demanded the exercise of her profession But she being crafty and careful to keep her self from surprizes answered Sir go you about to undo me your self also Know you not the Edicts of King Saul Saul replied he knew all had passed but she might confidently proceed assuring her of his warranty and whereas she proposed punishments to her self she should meet with rewards But she still doubting and sticking on distrust usual in all mischiefs he engaged his word with great oaths protesting no ill should befal her for any thing might pass at that time between them Thereupon resolved to give him satisfaction she asked if it were not his desire to speak to the soul of a dead man as also whose it was It was very ordinary with these Negromancers to raise illusions and fantasms instead of true spirits of the dead S Apollonius made Achilles to be seen Philostr in Apoll. Zonaras Eunapius Sardianus appearing on his tomb as a giant of twelve cubits high so Santaberemus shewed to the Emperour Basilius the soul of his son Constantine so Jamblicus made to appear in certain baths of Syria two figures of little children like Cupids All this to speak properly had nothing real in it and it is no wonder if those who thought Samuel had been raised by a sorceress believed it was a specter But he who well will weigh the phrase of Scripture and consider that this spirit of Samuel suddenly appeared before the sorceress had used her ordinary spells plainly shewing he came meerly by the commandment of God and not by the charms of the Magician will easily change opinion Verily the Sorceress was much astonished seeing the dead came contrary to the manner of other and cried out aloud as one distracted Sir you have deceived me you are Saul much doubting it was to him Samuel came The miserable King who endeavoured by all means to assure her fear not saith he I will keep my promise what have you seen She answered DEOSVIDIASCENDENTES DE TERRA as who should say according to the Hebrews phrase she had seen a venerable person like an Angel or a God raised out of the earth In what shape replies the King It is an venerable old man saith she covered with the mantle of a Prophet Then Saul with much reverence prostrated on the ground and made a low obeysance to Samuel who spake to him and said QUARE ME INQUIETASTI UT SUSCITARER Why hast thou disquieted me to make me return into the world Necessitie hath constrained me answereth Saul I am plunged in a perplexity of affairs and cannot get any answer from heaven O man abandoned by God why doest thou ask of me that which I have foretold shall happen Thy army shall be defeated by the Philistins and thou with thy children shalt be to morrow with me that is to say among the dead as I am now which so fell out Now the Eccl. 46. Scripture upon this praiseth Samuel to have prophetized after his death if it were not the true Samuel but a specter who sees not it were to tell a lie and to applaud the work of the divel But to the end you may see this belief was held by Nations as by a decree of nature Josephus in the seventeenth book of his Judaical antiquities relateth the apparition of the spirit of Alexander son of the great Herod and Mariamne who was seen to his wife Glapphyra when she re-married again to the King of Mauritania to reproch her ingratitude and forgetfulness of her first husband which having amply deduced in the first Tome of the holy Court in the tenth edition upon an Instruction directed to widdows I forbear here to repeat it Philostratus in the eigth book of the life of Apollonius maketh likewise mention of a young man much troubled in mind concerning the state of souls in the other life and saith Apollonius appeared unto ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã him assuring him the soul was immortal and he need not to be troubled at all since it was rather the work of the Divine providence than of it I willingly passe over many other examples to tell you that Phlegon a good Authour who flourished about an hundred years after the nativity of our Saviour and was not of our religion to favour our opinions although honourably cited by Origen Eusebius and S. Hierom writeth a strange historie witnessed by the testimonie of a whole Citie wherein he then governed He saith that at Trayls a Citie ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã in Phrygia there was a young maid named Philenion daughter of Democrates and Chariton who as her storie well declareth was an amorous piece became court-like loved bravery delighted in too free conversation and followed the foolish pleasures of the world true gardens of Adonis which in the beginning make shew of silly flowers and in conclusion afford nought but thorns God who followeth the voluptuous by the track even into the shades of death sent her a sickness which having cropped the flower of her beauty left her almost nothing but a living carcass to deliver her over as a prey to death The miserable maid suffered the boiling fervours of the feaver through all her bodie not loosing the flames of love which she cherished in her heart She burnt with two fires not being able either to quench the one or other and having but a little breath of life left on her lips she gave to love what already was
wholly acquired to death sighing after a young Gentleman then absent and not daring fully to manifest her passion In the end death took away the spoils of her life with her pretences The father and mother bewailed her with inconsolable tears furnishing out very honourable obsequies And whereas she most ardently affected her dressings and little cabinet they buried with her all whatsoever she held most precious Six moneths were now past since her burial when the Gentleman she loved named Machates arriving at Trayls came to lodge in the house of his friend her father The spirit of the maid which was of the condition of those whom Plato called body-lovers retaining still the affections with which she went out of her bodie appeared one evening to this Machates with words of affection embraces and dalliances which plainly discovered it was a damned spirit and an instrument of the divel that tormented the one to burn the other The young man at the first was much affrighted with these proceedings notwithstanding becoming tractable by little and little he soon made this specter very familiar It happened during this time that an old servant sent by her Mistress to see what their guest did found Philenion sitting neer unto him with the same countenance and the same garments she ware in her life time whereat much amazed she ran to the father and the mother to tell them their daughter was alive They sharply reprehended her for a distracted and wicked woman as going about again to open their wound which still bled The servant justified her self and answered she had not lost her wits nor spake ought but truth Hereupon she so enkindled the curiositie of her Mistress that she secretly conveyed her self by night into the chamber yet perceived nothing at all able to resolve her The next day being vehemently excited with the curiositie of knowing what to believe of this apparition she threw her self at the feet of Machates and conjured him to tell her the name of the young maid who conversed with him The Gentleman in the beginning was much surprized and sought evasions to divert her but in conclusion either through compassion of the mother whom he saw in the posture of a suppliant or by vanity of his passion which easily unloosned his tongue he confessed he was married to Philenion that it was a business accomplished by the will of the Gods wherein nothing must be altered and speaking this he drew forth a little casket wherein he shewed her a gold ring her daughter had given him with a piece of linnen she ware about her neck protesting she was his wife so much was he seduced by the subtile practizes of the evil spirit The mother having acknowledged the tokens of the deceased fell down with astonishment and coming again to her self she a thousand times kissed one while the ring another while the linnen moistning them with her tears and moving the whole family to sorrow which ran to see this spectacle Then again embracing Machates she signified it would be an infinite favour from heaven to have him for a son in law but that she entreated as a courtesie one comfort he could not deny an afflicted mother which was once again to see her daughter whom she accounted dead The other promised to give her all satisfaction and as Phelenion came secretly according to custom to converse with him he closely sent his lackey to the mother who advertised her husband of it and both of them came into Machates his chamber where they surprized their daughter at which they were so rapt that being not able to utter a word they cast themselves about her neck straightly embracing and with tears bedewing her which fell from their eyes But the daughter with a sad and dejected countenance fetching a deep sigh out of her breast Alas saith she loving father and mother your curiosity will cost you dear for you will lament me the second time Thereupon she fell down dead leaving a horrible stinck in the chamber which filled the whole house with terrour groans and out-cries in such sort that the neighbours came in upon the noise and consequently the whole Citie ran thither to behold the corps The magistrates wondering at an accident so frightfull deputed some Cittizens neerest of kin to open the tomb where the body of Philenion could not be found but a cup a ring she had received from this Gentleman The carrion lying in the fathers chamber was by decree of the Senate thrown on the dunghil the Citie purged and as for Machates he was so overwhelmed with shame and confusion that he slew himself with his own hands Behold what an Authour recounteth onely illuminated by the light of nature who wrote this historie after he had been a spectatour of it of purpose to send a man immediately to the Emperour Hadrian to make a recital thereof unto him as he saith in a letter he directed to a friend of his I might have many things to say upon all circumstances which are not repugnant to that which Ecclesiastical Authours relate concerning other apparitions of the damned But I will not exceed the laws of Historians and it is enough for me here to let you see the belief of the Ancients and the punishment of God upon souls resigned to sin XVIII MAXIM Of Purgatorie THE PROPHANE COURT THE HOLY COURT That death is the remedy of all evils and that the soul separated from the body hath no more to suffer That the soul which hath not in this Ne dogmata de Pârâatorio pro saââ ecclesiae doctrinâ nobis obtrudant Pontificii cavendum est world satisfied Gods justice must pass in the other life through Purgatorie HAve you well considered in Genesis an Genes 2. Angel of fire who with a flaming sword keepeth the gate of terrestrial Paradise placed as an usher of the enterance into the delicious hall which prepared by God to entertain the first man of the world after it had been the theater of his glorie became the scaffold of his punishments Procopius Purgatorie compared to the Cherubins fiery sword observeth that poor Adam at the time of his banishment was placed just over against this Cherubin and that this centinel of the God of hosts no sooner lifted up his curtelaxe but he made a terrour and icie horrour creep into his bones and in that proportion the sparkles flew from the sword of justice fears and affrightments invaded the heart of this offender who being a murderer of his race before he was a progenitour had brought forth a thousand deaths by the sole bite of an apple Alas if the miserable Adam was so astonished at the steel of the Cherubin which dazled his eyes what ought our representments to be what our apprehensions when we think on the flames of purgatory enkindled by the breath of the love and wrath of God So many souls lie there now plunged having heretofore conversed amongst us in mortal abode and we
whereof the poor have too much been frustrated to establish thy vanities and fatten thee in pleasures Where is thy liberality Where are thy alms toward miserable creatures who die in affliction in the streets Observe justice and take example by my disasters Husband it is thy wife so beloved that speaks to thee saying Ah my dearest friends where is the faith plighted in the face of the Church Where are the faithful loves which should have no limit but eternity Death no sooner absented me from thy eyes but forgetfulness drew me out of thy heart I complain not thou livest happy and fortunate in thy new affections for I am in a condition wherein I can neither envy nor malice any but I complain that not onely after my death the children which are pledges of our love were distastful to thee but thou hast wholly lost the memory of one who was so precious to thee and whom thou as a Christian oughrest to love beyond a tomb Open yet once unto her the bowels of thy charity and comfort by thy alms and good works a soul which must expect that help from thee or some other The seventeenth EXAMPLE upon the seventeenth MAXIM Apparition of Souls in Purgatorie HIstories tell us the apparation of souls in Purgatory are so frequent that he who would keep an account may as soon number the stars in the sky or leaves on the trees But as it is not fit to be too credulous in all may be said thereupon so a man must be very impudent to deny all is spoken of it and to oppose as well the authority of so many great personages as the memory of all Ages He who believes nothing above nature will not believe a God of nature How many extraordinary things are there the experience whereof teacheth us the effects and of which God hideth the reasons from us The Philosopher Democritus disputing with Solinus Polyhistor the Sages of his time concerning the secret power of nature held commonly in his hand the stone called cathocita which insensibly sticketh to such as touch it and they being unable to give a reason of it he inferred there were many secrets which are rather to humble our spirits than to satisfie our curiosity Who Jul. Scal. A Porta Caâeraâ can tell why the theamede which is a kind of adamant draweth iron on one side and repelleth it on the other Why do the forked branches of the nut-tree turn towards mines of gold and silver Why do bees often die in the hives after the death of the Master of the family unless they be else-where transported Why doth a dead body cast forth bloud in the presence of the murderer Why do certain fountains in the current of their waters and in their colour carry presages of seasons as that of Blomuza which waxeth red when the countrey is menaced with war Why have so many noble families Diââarus Petrus Albinus certain signs which never fail to happen when some one of the family is to die The commerce of the living with spirits of the dead is a matter very extraordinarie but not impossible to the Father of spirits who holdeth total nature between his hands Peter of Clugny surnamed the Venerable and esteemed in his time as the oracle of France was a man who proceeded in these affairs with much consideration not countenancing any thing either frivolous or light Behold the cause wherefore I willingly make use of his authority He telleth that in a village of Spain named the Star there was a man of quality called Peter of Engelbert much esteemed in the world for his excellent parts and abundant riches Notwithstanding the spirit of God having made him understand the vanity of all humane things being now far stepped into years he went into a Monastery of the Order of Clugny there the more piously to pass the remnant of his dayes as it is said the best incense cometh from old trees He often spake amongst the holy Fryers of a vision which he saw when he as yet was in the world and which he acknowledged to be no small motive to work his conversion This bruit came to the ears of Venerable Peter who was his General and who for the affairs of his Order was then gone into Spain Behold the cause why he never admitting any discourses to be entertained if they were not well verified took the pains to go into a little Monastery of Nazare where Engelbert was to question him upon it in the presence of the Bishops of Oleron and Osma conjuring him in the virtue of holy obedience to tell him punctually the truth touching the vision he had seen whilest he led a secular life This man being very grave and very circumspect in all he said spake the words which the Authour of the historie hath couched in his proper terms In the time that Alphonsus the younger heir of the great Alphonsus warred in Castile against certain factious dis-united from his obedience he made an Edict that every family in his Kingdom should be bound to furnish him with a souldier which was the cause that for obedience to the Kings commands I sent into his army one of my houshold-servants named Sancius The wars being ended and the troups discharged he returned to my house where having some time so journed he was seized by a sickness which in few dayes took him away into the other world We performed the obsequies usually observed towards the dead and four moneths were already past we hearing nought at all of the state of his soul when behold upon a winters night being in my bed throughly awake I perceived a man who stirring up the ashes of my hearth opened the burning coals which made him the more easily to be seen Although I found my self much terrified with the sight of this ghost God gave me courage to ask him who he was and for what purpose he came thither to lay my hearth abroad But he in a very low voice answered Master fear nothing I am your poor servant Sancius I go into Castile in the company of many souldiers to expiate my sins in the same place where I committed them I stoutly replied If the commandment of God call you thither to what purpose come you hither Sir saith he take it not amiss for it is not without the Divine permission I am in a state not desperate and wherein I may be helped by you if you bear any good will towards me Hereupon I required what his necessity was and what succour he expected from me You know Master said he that a little before my death you sent me into a place where ordinarily men are not sanctified Liberty ill example youth and temerity all conspire against the soul of a poor souldier who hath no government I committed many out-rages during the late war robbing and pillaging even to the goods of the Church for which I am at this present grievously tormented But good Master if you loved me
highest of all to go to meet crosses and afflictions and to embrace them as liveries of Jesus Christ In Mercy it is a high degree to give away temporal things a higher to forgive injuries the highest to oblige them who persecute us It is a high degree to pitie all bodily afflictions a higher to be zealous for souls and highest to compassionate the torments of our Saviour in remembering his Passion In the virtue of Fortitude it is a high degree to overcome the world a higher to subdue the flesh the highest to vanquish your self In Temperance it is a high degree to moderate your eating drinking sleeping watching gaming recreation your tongue words and all gestures of your body a higher to regulate your affections and highest to purifie throughly your thoughts and imaginations In Justice it is a high degree to give unto your Neighbour that which belongeth to him a higher to exact an account of your self and highest to offer up to God all satisfaction which is his due In the virtue of Faith it is a high degree to be well instructed in all that you are to believe a higher to make profession of it in your good works and highest to ratifie when there is necessitie with the loss of goods and life In the virtue of Hope it is a high degree to have good apprehensions of Gods power a higher to repose all your affairs upon his holy providence a higher than that to pray to him and serve him incessantly with fervour and purity but highest of all to trust in him in our most desperate affairs Lastly for the virtue of Charitie which is the accomplishment of all the other you must know there are three kinds of it The first the beginning Charitie The second the proficient The third the perfect Beginning Charitie hath five degrees 1. Dislike of offences past 2. Good resolution of amendment 3. Relish of Gods Word 4. Readiness to good works 5. Compassion of the ill and joy at the prosperity of others Proficient Charity hath five degrees more 1 An extraordinary puritie of Conscience which is cleansed by very frequent examination 2. Weakness of concupiscence 3. Vigorous exercise of the faculties of the inward man For as good operations of the exteriour senses are signs of bodily health so holy occupations of the understanding memory and will are signs of a spiritual life 4. Ready observance of Gods law 5. Relishing knowledge of Heavenly Truth and Maxims Perfect Charity reckoneth also five other degrees 1. To love your enemies 2. To receive contentedly and to suffer all adversities couragiously 3. Not to have any worldly ends but to measure all things by the fear of God 4. To be dis-entangled from all love to creatures 5. To resign your own life to save your neighbours The fifth SECTION Of four Orders of those who aspire to Perfection NOw consider what virtues and in what degree you would practise for there are four sorts of those who aspire to perfection The first are very innocent but little valiant in exercise of virtues The second have besides innocency courage enough to employ themselves in worldly actions but they are very sparing towards God and do measure their perfections by a certain Ell which they will upon no terms exceed like the ox of Susis that drew his usual number of buckets of water out of the Well very willingly but could by no means be brought to go beyond his ordinary proportion The third order is of the Fervent who are innocent couragious and virtuous without restriction but they will not take charge of others supposing they are troubled enough with their own bodies wherein they may be often deceived The fourth rank comprehends those who having with much care profited themselves do charitably refresh the necessities of their neighbour when they are called to his aid thinking that to be good onely to ones self is to be in some sort evil Observe what God requires of you and emulate the most abundant graces But if the multiplicity of these degrees of virtue perplex your mind I will shew you a shorter and easier way to perfection The sixth SECTION A short way to Perfection used by the Ancients THe Ancients were accustomed to reduce all virtue to certain heads and some addicted themselves with so much fervour and perfection to the exercise of one single virtue as possessing that in a supream degree by one link onely they drew insensibly the whole chain of great actions One dedicated all his lifes study to government of the tongue another to abstinence another to meekness another to obedience So that at the death of a holy man named Orus as Pelagius relates it was found he had never lied never sworn never slandered never but upon necessity spoken So Phasius in Cassian said upon his death-bed that the Sun had never seen him take his refection for he fasted every day until sun set So John the Abbot professeth that the Sun had never seen him angry that he had never done his own will nor ever had taught others any thing which he had not first practised himself To arrive at this requires much fortitude of spirit If you desire things more imitable be assured you shall lead a good life if you endeavour continually to practise these three words To abstain To suffer To go forward in well doing as S. Luke saith in the Acts of the Apostles of the Son of God To abstain 1. By refraining from all unlawful things and sometimes even from lawful pleasures through virtue 2. By mortifying concupiscence anger desire of esteem and wealth 3. By well ordering your senses your will your judgement and obtaining always some victory over your self by the mastery of your passions To suffer 1. By enduring the burdens of life with patience esteeming your self happy to partake of our Saviours sufferings which are the noblest marks of your Christianity 2. By endeavouring to use a singular meekness in bearing with the oppressions and imperfections of others 3. By undergoing with advice some bodily austerities 4. By keeping your foot firm in the good you have already begun For as old Marcus the Hermit said The wolf and sheep never couple together nor did change and dislike ever make up a good virtue To go forward in well-doing By becoming serviceable and obliging to all the world every one according to his degree but above all having a catalogue of the works of mercy as well spiritual as temporal continually before your eye as a lesson wherein you must be seriously examined either for life or death eternal And for this purpose some Saints had these words in stead of all books in their Libraries Visito Poto Cibo Redimo Tego Colligo Condo Consule Castiga Solare Remitte Fer Ora. To Visit Quench thirst Feed Redeem Cloath Lodge Bury To Teach Counsel Correct Comfort Pardon Suffer Pray Mans best knowledge is how to oblige man the time will come when death shall strip us to the very bones and
to obey thy Commandments and also that by thee we being defended from the fear of our enemies may pass our time in rest and quietness through the merits of Jesus Christ our Saviour In the time of Plague LEt thy anger cease O Lod and be appeased for the iniquity of thy people as thou hast sworn by thy self O holy God holy and strong holy and immortal have mercy upon us For the Clergy ALmighty and everlasting God who by thy Spirit dost sanctifie and govern the whole body of the Church graciously hear our prayers for all those whom thou hast ordained and called to the publick service of thy Sanctuary that by the help of thy grace they may faithfully serve thee in their several degrees through Jesus Christ our Lord. For a Citie COmpass this Citie O Lord with thy protection and let thy holy Angels guard the walls thereof O Lord mercifully hear thy people For the sick O God the onely refuge of our infirmities by thy mighty power relieve thy sick servants that they with thy gracious assistance may be able to give thanks unto thee in thy holy Church through Jesus Christ For grace LOrd from whom all good things do come grant unto us thy humble servants that by thy holy inspiration we may think those things that be good and by thy merciful guiding may perform the same through our Lord Jesus Christ For the afflicted O Almighty God the afflicted soul the troubled spirit crieth unto thee Hear O Lord and have mercy for thou art a merciful God For friends I Beseech thee O Lord for all those to whom I am indebted for my birth education instruction promotion their necessities are known unto thee thou art rich in all things reward them for these benefits with blessings both temporal and eternal For enemies O God the lover and preserver of peace and charity give unto all our enemies thy true peace and love and remission of sins and mightily deliver us from their snares through Jesus Christ our Lord. For travellers ASsist us mercifully O Lord in our supplications and prayers and dispose the way of thy servants towards the attainment of everlasting salvation that among all the changes and chances of this mortal life they may ever be defended by thy most gracious and ready help through Christ our Lord. For a Family ALmighty and everlasting God send down thy holy Angel from heaven to visit protect and defend all that dwell in this house through Jesus Christ our Lord. For the dying FAther of spirits and God of all flesh receive the souls which thou hast redeemed with thy bloud returning unto thee For the fruits of the earth O God in whom we live and move and have our being open thy treasure in the due season and give a blessing to the works of thy hands For women in travel O Lord of thy goodness help thy servants who are in pains of child-birth that being delivered out of their present danger they may glorifie thy holy name blessed for ever Against temptation ALmighty God which dost see that we have no power of our selves to help our selves keep thou us both outwardly in our bodies and inwardly in our souls that we may be defended from all adversities which may happen to the body and from all evil thoughts which may assault and hurt the soul through Jesus Christ For misbelievers and sinners ALmighty and everliving God who desirest not the death of a sinner mercifully look upon all that are deceived by the subtility of Satan that all evil prejudice laid aside they may return to the unity of thy truth and love For Prisoners O God who didst deliver S. Peter from his chains and restoredst him to liberty have pitie upon thy servants in captivity release their bonds and grant them freedom and safety for his merits who liveth and reigneth with thee and the holy Ghost ever one God world without end For temporal necessaries REplenish those O Lord we beseech thee with temporal nourishment whom thou hast refreshed with thy blessed Sacraments Against tempests DRive spiritual wickedness from thy house O Lord and preserve it from the malignity of tempestuous weather A Prayer of Thomas Aquinas before study O Unspeakable Creatour who out of the treasure of thy wisdom hast ordained Hierarchies of Angels and hast placed them above the highest heaven in a wonderfull order and disposed them sweetly for all parts of the world Thou the true fountain and incomprehensible principle of light and wisdom vouchsafe to illuminate the darkness of my understanding with a beam of thy light remove the darkness wherein I was born sin and ignorance Thou who makest the tongues of infants eloquent loosen my tongue and pour forth the grace of thy spirit upon my lips give me acuteness to apprehend capacity to retain subtility to interpret aptness to learn readiness to speak direct my beginning further my progression and perfect my conclusion THE PENITENT OR ENTERTAINMENTS for LENT And for the first day upon the Consideration of Ashes THou art Dust and to Dust thou shalt return Genes 3. 1. It is an excellent way to begin Lent with the consideration of Dust whereby Nature gives us beginning and by the same Death shall put an end to all our worldly vanities There is no better way to abate and humble the proudest of all Creatures than to represent his beginning and his end The middle part of our life like a kind of Proteus takes upon it several shapes not understood by others but the first and last part of it deceive no man for they do both begin and end in Dust It is a strange thing that Man knowing well what he hath been and what he must be is not confounded in himself by observing the pride of his own life and the great disorder of his passions The end of all other creatures is less deformed than that of man Plants in their death retain some pleasing smell of their bodies The little rose buries it self in her natural sweetness and carnation colour Many Creatures at their death leave us their teeth horns feathers skins of which we make great use Others after death are served up in silver and golden dishes to feed the greatest persons of the world Onely mans dead carcase is good for nothing but to feed worms and yet he often retains the presumptuous pride of a Giant by the exorbitancie of his heart and the cruel nature of a murderer by the furious rage of his revenge Surely that man must either be stupid by nature or most wicked by his own election who will not correct and amend himself having still before his eyes Ashes for his Glass and Death for his Mistress 2. This consideration of Dust is an excellent remedy to cure vices and an assured Rampire against all temptations S. Paulinus saith excellently well That holy Job was free from all temptations when he was placed upon the smoke and dust of his humility He that lies upon the ground can
Come O my adored Master walk upon this tempestuous Sea of my heart ascend into this poor vessel say unto me Take courage It is I. Be not conceited that I will take thee for an illusion for I know thee too well by thy powers and bounties to be so mistaken The least thought of my heart will quiet it self to adore thy steps Thou shalt reign within me thou shalt disperse my cares thou shalt recover my decayed senses thou shalt lighten my understanding thou shalt inflame my will thou shalt cure all my infirmities And to conclude thou onely shalt work in me and I will be wholly thine The Gospel for the first Sunday in Lent S. Matthew 4. Of our SAVIOUR's being tempted in the Desart THen Jesus was led of the Spirit into the Desart to be tempted of the Devil and when he had fasted fourty days and fourty nights afterward he was hungry And the Tempter approched and said to him If thou be the Son of God command that these stones he made bread Who answered and said It is written not in bread alone doth man live but in every world that proceedeth from the mouth of God Then the Devil took him up into the holy Citie and set him upon the pinacle of the Temple and said to him If thou be the Son of God cast thy self down for it is written That he will give his Angels charge of thee and in their hands shall they hold thee up lest perhaps thou knock thy foot against a stone Jesus said to him again It is written thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God Again the Devil took him up into a very high mountain and he shewed him all the Kingdoms of the world and the glory of them and said to him all these will I give thee if falling down thou wilt adore me Then Jesus saith to him Avant Satan for it is written the Lord thy God shalt thou adore and him onely shalt thou serve Then the Devil left him and behold Angels came and ministered to him Moralities 1. JESUS suffered himself to be tempted saith Saint Augustine to the end he might serve for a Mediatour for an example and for a remedy to work our victory over all temptations We must fight on his side Our life is a continual warfare and our days are Champions which enter into the lists There is no greater temptation than to have none at all Sleeping water doth nourish poison Motion is the worlds soul fighting against temptations is the soul of virtues and glory doth spring and bud out of tribulations Virtue hinders not temptation but surmounts it Jesuâ fasted saith the ordinary gloss that he might be tempted and is tempted because he did fast He fasted fourty days and then was hungry he did eat with his Disciples the space of fourty days after his resurrection without any more necessity of meat than the Sun hath of the earths vapours to make us thereby know that it onely appertained to him to teach that great secret how to mannage want and abundance by which S. Paul was glorified 2. The first victory over a Temptation is to know that which tempts us Some temptations are gay and smiling at their beginning as those of love and pleasure which end in terrible and bitter storms Others are troublesom and irksom Others doubtfull and intricate Others rapide and sudden which seize upon their prey like an Eagle Others are close and catching These are the snares of Satan who fomes like a Bore roars like a Lion and hisseth like a Serpent We should always have an eye ready to mark from whence the Temptation comes whither it tends what is the root of it what the course what the progress and what power it may have over our spirit 3. Solitude of heart fasting prayer the word of God are weapons of an excellent temper which the Word Incarnate teacheth us to use in this conflict These things are to be used with discretion by the counsel of a good directour to whom a man must declare all his most secret thoughts and bear a breast of chrystal toward him with a firm purpose to let him see all the inward motions of his heart It is also good to note here that our Lord would expresly be tempted in that Desarr which is between Jerusalem and Jericho where the Samaritane mentioned in the Parable did pour wine and oyl into the sores of the poor wounded man to teach us that by his combat he came to cure the wounds of Adam and all his race in the very place where they were received 4. Sin is killed by flying the occasions of it Absence resistance coldness silence labour diversion have overcome many assaults of the enemy Sometimes a Spiders web is strong enough to preserve chastity and at other times the thick walls of Semiramis are not sufficient God governs all and a good will to concur with him is a strong assurance in all perils and it will keep us untoucht amidst the flames of lust 5. Since it imports us so much to fight valiantly let us bring the hearts of Lions Where is our Christianity if we do not give testimony of it to God both by our fidelity and courage How many Martyrs have been rosted and broiled because they would not speak one ill word What honour can you expect by yielding at the first enterance to a temptation Look not upon the violence of it but contemplate the Crown which you should gain by conquering it think at your enterance how you will come off and know for certain that he who truly considers the consequence of a wicked action will never begin it 6. Lent is the Spring-time for sanctified resolutions it mortifies the body that the spirit may triumph it is a time of grace which tends to salvation and mercy It imports extreamly to commend all to God at the beginning to sanctifie this fasting which is part of our devotion we must abstain from flesh and be content with one meal at seasonable hours without making over large collations except age infirmity or weakness labour or necessity of other functions shall dispence with our diet for those who are unable to fast suffer more by their disability than others do by fasting It is good to follow the counsel of Athanasius who adviseth to eat late and little and at a table where there is but one sort of meat We must also fast by abstinence from vice For to weaken our body and yet nourish our naughty passions is to fast as the devils do who eat nothing and yet devour the world by the rage of their malice Sobriety is a stream which waters all virtues Our soul and body are as the scales of a ballance if you pull down the one you raise up the other and if you tame your flesh it makes the Spirit reign and govern Aspirations O Most mercifull Lord Father and Protectour of all my life how great are the temptations and snares whereunto I am subject when
greatest of all conquerours Charity drew her from home to seek health for her daughter because like a good mother she loved her not with a luxurious love but in her affliction feeling all her dolours by their passionate reflection upon her heart Her faith was planted upon so firm a rock that amongst all the apparances of despair her hope remained constant Humility did effect that the name of Dog was given her for a title of glory she making profit of injuries and converting into honour the greatest contempt of her person Her words were low and humble but her faith was wonderous high since in a moment she chased away the devil saved her daughter and changed the word Dog into the name of a Sheep of Christs flock as Sedulius writes Perseverance was the last of her virtues in the Combat but it was the first which gained her Crown If you will imitate her in these four virtues Love Faith Humility and Perseverance they are the principal materials of which the body of your perfection must be compounded Aspirations O Jesus Christ Son of David I remember well that thy forefather did by his harp chase away the devil from Saul And wilt not thou who art the Father of all blessed harmonies drive away from me so many little spirits of Affections of Appetites and Passions which trouble and discompose my heart This poor soul which is the breath of thy mouth and daughter of thine infinite bounties is like the Sun under a cloud possessed with many wicked spirits but it hath none worse than that of self-love Look upon me O Lord with thine eyes of mercy and send me not away with silence since thou art the Word Rather call me Dog so that I may be suffered to gather up the crums which fall from thy table Whatsoever proceeds from thy mouth is sacred and must be taken by me as a relique If thou say I shall obtain my desire I say I will have no other than what thou inspirest and I can be contented with nothing but what shall be thy blessed will and pleasure The Gospel upon Friday the first week in Lent S. John 15. Of the Probatick Pond AFter these things there was a festival day of the Jews and Jesus went up to Jerusalem and there is at Jerusalem upon Probatica a Pond which in Hebrew is named Bethsaida having five porches In these lay a great multitude of sick persons of blind lame withered expecting the stirring of the water And an Angel of our Lord descended at a certain time into the Pond and the water was stirred And he that had gone down first into the Pond after the stirring of the water was made whole of whatsoever infirmity he was holden And there was a certain man there that had been eight and thirty years in his infirmity Him when Jesus had seen lying and knew that he had now a long time he saith to him Wilt thou be made whole The sick man answered him Lord I have no man when the water is troubled to put me into the Pond for whiles I come another goeth down before me Jesus saith to him Arise take up thy bed and walk And forthwith he was made whole and he took up his bed and walked And it was the Sabbath that day The Jews therefore said to him that was healed it is the Sabbath thou mayest not take up thy bed He answered them He that made me whole he said to me Take up thy bed and walk They asked him therefore What is that man that said to thee Take up thy bed and walk But he that was made whole knew not who it was For Jesus shrunk aside from the multitude standing in the place Afterward Jesus findeth him in the Temple and said to him Behold thou art made whole sin no more lest some worse thing chance to thee That man went his way and told the Jews that it was Jesus that made him whole Moralities 1. ALl the world is but one great Hospital wherein so many persons languish expecting the moving of the water and the time of their good fortune The Angels of earth which govern our fortunes go not so fast as our desires But Jesus who is the great Angel of Counsel is always ready to cure our maladies to support our weakness and make perfect our virtues We need onely to follow his motions and inspirations to meet with everlasting rest It is a lamentable thing that some can patiently expect the barren favours of men twenty or thirty years together and yet will not continue three days in prayer to seek the inestimable graces of God 2. The first step we must make toward our salvation is to desire it That man is worthy to be eternally sick who fears nothing else but the loss of his bodily health Men generally do all what they can possibly to cure their corporal infirmities they abide a thousand vexations which are but too certain to recover a health which is most uncertain And as for the passions of the mind some love the Feavers of their own love and their worldly ambition above their own life They suck the head of a venemous aspick and are killed by the tongue of a viper They will not part with that which kills them and if you take from them the worm which makes them itch or the executioner who doth indeed torment them they believe you take away the chiefest of their felicity Happy is that soul which holds nothing so dear in this world but will forsake it willingly to find God and will spare nothing to gain Paradise 3. There is nothing more common nor so rare as man The world is full of vicious and unprofitable men But to find one very compleat in all good things is to find a direct Phenix There are more businesses without men than men without businesses For how many charitable employments might many lazy and idle persons find out So many poor mens affairs continue at a stand so many miserable creatures languish so many desolate persons long to find some man who with little trouble to himself would take some small care of their affairs and make up some little piece of their fortunes Jesus is the man of God desired of all Ages to him we must apply our selves since he is both life and truth By him we may come to all happiness by him we may live in the fountains and streams of life and in him we may contemplate the chiefest of all truths Aspirations WHat patience have I in committing sins and how impatient am I in my sufferings for them I am ever most ready to execute vice and unwilling to abide the punishment O good God there are many years in which I have retained an inclination to this disorder to that sin My soul is bound as it were with iron chains in this unhappy bed will there be no Angel to move the water for me But art not thou the Lord and Prince of Angels Then I most humbly
woman answered and said I have no husband Jesus saith to her Thou hast said vvell that I have no husband for thou hast had five husbands and he vvhom thou now hast is not thy husband This thou hast said truely The vvoman saith to him Lord I perceive that thou art a Prophet Our father 's adored in this mountain and you say that Jerusalem is the place vvhere men must adore Jesus saith to her woman believe me that the hour shall come vvhen you shall neither in this mountain nor in Jerusalem adore the Father You adore that you know not vve adore that vve know for salvation is of the Jews but the hour cometh and now is when the true adorers shall adore the Father in spirit and verity For the Father also seeketh such to adore him God is a spirit and they that adore him must adore in spirit and verity The vvoman saith to him I know that Messias cometh which is called Christ therefore vvhen he cometh he vvill shew us all things Jesus saith to her I am he that speak vvith thee And incontinent his Disciples came and they marvelled that he talked vvith a vvoman No man for all that said what seekest thou or vvhy talkest thou vvith her The vvoman therefore lest her vvater-pot and she went into the Citie and saith to those men Come and see a man that hath told me all things vvhatsoever I have done Is not he Christ They went forth therefore out of the Citie and came to him In the mean time the Disciples desired him saying Rabbi eat But he said to them I have meat to eat vvhich you know not The Disciples therefore said one to another hath any man brought him for to eat Jesus saith to them My meat is to do the will of him that sent me to perfect his vvork Do not you say that yet there are four moneths and harvest cometh Behold I say to you lift up your eyes and see the Countries that they are white already to harvest And he that reapeth receiveth hire and gathereth fruit unto life everlasting that both he that soweth and he that reapeth may rejoyce together For in this is the saying true that it is one man that soweth and it is another that reapeth I have sent you to reap that for which you laboured not others have laboured and you have entered into their labours And of that Citie many believed in him of the Samaritanes for the vvord of the vvoman giving testimonie that he told me all things vvhatsoever I have done Therefore vvhen the Samaritanes vvere come to him they desired him that he vvould tarrie there And he tarried there two dayes And many moe believed for his own vvord and they said to the vvoman That now not for thy saying do vve believe for our selves have heard and do know that this is the Saviour of the vvorld indeed Moralities 1 THe God of all power is weary the main sea desires a drop of salt water the King of Angels becomes a suppliant for a little part of all that which is his own This Gospel shews us clearly the love of God toward humane nature and the infinite zeal which he hath to the salvation of souls Is it not a thing which should load us with confusion to see that he who is filled with all felicities hath onely one thirst which is that we should thirst after him and that we should make chief account of that living water which he carrieth within his breast which indeed properly is grace the onely way to glory 2. Behold the difference between Jacobs Well and the Well of Jesus between contentments of the world and the pleasures of God The Well of Jacob is common to men and beasts to shew unto us that a man which glorifieth himself of his sensual delights makes a Trophee of his own baseness and and a Triumph of his fault It is just âs if Nâbucadnezzar forsaking his Crown and Throne to transform himself into a beast should brag that he had gotten a hansom stable and very good hay But the fountain of Jesus holds in it the water of graces a wholesom water pure and Christalline which brings us to the society of Angels The water of Jacob though it be but a water for beasts yet it is hard to obtain There are many which run mad after riches honours and contentments of this world and can never come to possess them They live in a mill and gain nothing out of it but the noise and dust They turn round about upon the wheel of disquiet and never rest But if good fortune sometime cast them a bone there are a hundred dogs which strive to catch it All their life is nothing but expectation and their end onely despair Whereas the Well of Jesus is open to all the world he seeketh he asketh he calleth he giveth gratis he requireth nothing of us but our selves and would have us for no other reason but onely to make us happie The Well of Jacob begetteth thirst but doth not quench it Do not you consider that the Samaritan woman left her pot there and did not drink After so many fantasms and illusions which do amuse worldlings they must part from the world with great thirst But the fountains of our Saviour free us from the desire of all creatures and do establish within mans spirit an object of which the heart can never lose the delight O happy Samaritan saith Saint Ambrose which left her pot empty that she might return full of Jesus Christ She did no wrong to her fellow Citizens for if she brought no water to the Town yet she made the fountain it self come thither 3. Is it not a shamefull thing that God should seek us amongst the heats of his love and sufferings desireth nothing but us is contented with the possession of our heart and yet we cannot be content with him Shall not we forsake all the disorders of a sensual life which hinder the effect of Gods grace Shall not we forsake and leave behind us our pitcher bidding farewell to all those occasions which lead us to sin to avoid that fire whereof we have reason to fear the smoke Aspirations O Unexhaustible fountain of all beauties that my soul hath been long alienated from thee I have so many times run after the salt waters of worldly pleasures and contentments which have not ceased to kindle a wicked thirst within my veins in such a violent proportion that I could not quench it But now O sweet Saviour my soul being weary and distasted with all the fading delights of this transitory world doth languish incessantly after thee Whether the break of day begin to gild the mountains with his brightness whether the Sun be advanced high in his course or whether the night do cast a dark vail over all mortall things I seek and desire thy entertainments which are the onely sweet Idea's of my soul I plunge my self within the contemplation of thy greatness I
that God doth no miracles for his own profit he doth not change stones into bread in the Desart to nourish himself after that long fast which he did there make but for his faithfull servants he alters the course of nature and being austere to himself he becomes indulgent to us to teach us that we should despoil our selves of self-love which ties us to our own flesh and makes us so negligent to our neighbour 2. What precious thing is to be gotten by following the world that we should forsake Jesus in the Desart and run after vain hopes at Court and great mens houses where we pretend to make some fortune How many injuries must a man dissemble How many affronts must he swallow How many deadly sweats must he endure to obtain some reasonable condition How many times must he sacrifice his children engage his own conscience and offer violences to others to advance the affairs of great men And after many years service if any foreaird or ruinous business committed to his charge in the pursuit whereof he must walk upon thorns shall chance to miscarry all the fault must be laid upon a good officer and if he prove unlucky he shall ever be made culpable and in the turning of a hand all his good services forgotten and lost and for a final recompence he must be loaden with infinite disgraces It is quite contrary in the service of God for he encourages our virtues he supplies our defects governs our spiritual and yet neglects not our temporal occasions He that clothes the flowers of the Meadows more gorgeously than Monarchs who lodges so many little Fishes in golden and azure shels he who doth but open his hand and replenishes all nature with blessings if we be faithfull in keeping his Commandments will never forsake us at our need But yet we find all the difficulties of the world to put our trust in him we vilifie our cares of eternity and by seeking after worldly things whereby to live we torment our selves and in the end lose our own lives A man that must die needs very few wordly things a very little Cabbin will suffice nature but whole Kingdoms will not satisfie covetousness 3. Jesus flies from Scepters and runs to the Cross he would have no worldly Kingdoms because their Thrones are made of Ice and their Crowns of Glass He valued the Kingdom of God above all things that he might make us partakers of his precious conquest and infinite rich prize But now it seems that heaven is not a sufficient Kingdom for us men run after land and itch after the ambition of fading greatness and sometimes all their life passeth away in great sins and as great troubles to get a poor title of three letters upon their Tomb. Alas do we know better than God in what honour consists that we must seek after that which he did avoid and not imitate that which he followed Let us follow God and believe that where he is there can be no desart or solitude for us They shall never taste the delights of virtue that feed upon the joys of vanity All worldly pleasures are Comets made fat with the smokes and vapours of the earth and in stead of giving light and brightness they bring forth murders and contagions but the following of God is always sweet and he which suffers thereby changes his very tears into nourishment Aspiration O My God! Shall I always run after that which flies from me and never follow Jesus who follows me by incomparable paths and loves me even while I am ungratefull I will no more run after the shadows of worldly honour I will no more have my own will which both is and hath proved so unfaithfull I will put my self into the happy course of Gods disposition for all which shall happen unto me either in time or eternity his carefull eye watches over me it is for me that his hands have treasures and the very Desarts possess abundance O crucified love the most pure of all beauties it is for thee that so many generous Champions have peopled the Desarts and passed the streams of bitterness and sorrow bearing their crosses after thee and thereupon have felt the sweetness of thy visits amongst their cruel rigours God forbid that I should give the lie to so great and so generous a company I go to thee and will follow thee amongst the desarts I run not after bread I run after thy divine person I will make much of thy wounds I honour thy torments I will conform my self to thee that I may find joy amongst thy dolours and life it self amongst thine infinite sufferings The Gospel upon Munday the fourth week in Lent S. John 2. Of the whipping buyers and sellers out of the Temple ANd the Pasch of the Jews was at hand and Jesus went up to Jerusalem and he found in the Temple them that sold Oxen and Sheep and Doves and the Bankers sitting And when he had made as it were a whip of little cords he cast them all out of the Temple the sheep also and the oxen and the money of the Bankers he poured out and the tables be overthrew And to them that sold Doves he said Take away these things hence and make not the house of my Father a house of merchandise And his Disciples remembered that it is written The zeal of thy house hath eaten me The Jews therefore answered and said to him What sign doest thou shew us that thou doest these things Jesus answered and said to them Dissolve this Temple and in three dayes I will raise it The Jews therefore said in fourty and six years was this Temple built and wilt thou raise it in three dayes But he spake of the Temple of his body Therefore when he was risen again from the dead his Disciples remembered that he said this and they believed the Scripture and the word that Jesus did say And when he was at Jerusalem in the Pasche upon the festival day many believed in his name seeing his signs which he did But Jesus did not commit himself unto them for that he knew all and because it was not needfull for him that any should give testimony of man for be knew what was in man Moralities 1. PIety is a silver chain hanged up aloft which ties heaven and earth spiritual and temporal God and man together Devotion is a virtue derived to us from the Father of all light who gives us thereby means to hold a traffick or commerce with Angels All which is here below sinks by its proper weight and leans downward toward natural corruption Our spirit though it be immortal would follow the weight of our bodies if it were not indued with the knowledge of God which works the same effect in it as the Adamant doth with iron for it pierceth and gives it life together with a secret and powerful spirit from which all great actions take their beginning You shall never do any great act if the
Death 24 Its Attendants 66 Meditation of Death 67 Death of the Just is sweet 415 Quality of a good Death is the indifferency of time and manner 416 Worldly irresolutions of Death 417 The way how to be well provided for Death 418 A good Death must have Union with God 419 A notable Aenigma of Death 436 Devotion defined 467 That the great number of Devout men should settle men in Devotion 82 The adhering to creatures doth marre all in Devotion ib. Pretext of Devotion dangerous illustrated by the Fowler 203 Devotion subject to many illusions and the reason why 381 Gross and afflicting Devotion 382 Three blemishes of anxious Devotion ibid. Quaint Devotion 383 The pomp and practises of this Devotion ibid. Reasons of the nullity of this Devotion 284 Transcendent Devotion ibid. Illusions of this Transcendent Devotion 385 S. Lewis the true Table of Solid Devotion 387 State of the Church under Diocletian 234 His conditions ibid. He forsaketh the Empire 235 Dissimulation reigneth every where 394 Dissimulation doth ruin humane faith 395 Dissimulation shamefull to the Authour of it ibid. Dissimulation doth debase a man ibid. The horrours and hatred of Dissimulation 396 The troubles and miseries of Dissimulation ibid. The dreadfull Events of Dissemblers ibid. The power of the Divinity over Infidels 346 Different opinion of the Divinity 348 It is a sacriledge to make Divinity of proper Interest 390 How abominable vicious Domesticks are 17 Duels unlawfull 14 A Duel is no act of Courage ibid. Who anciently entered into Duels ibid. There is want of Generosity in Duels ibid. Authors of Duels 224 Courage of Duellers like to that of the possessed 22â Dydimus his bold attempt 86 E EDucation its force 15 Defects of Education ibid. Moses educated in the Court. 16 Education of Children recommended by excellent passages of the holy Fathers 17 Eleazar his Combat 347 The Isle of Amber the felicity of Epicurus 40â The Philosophie of Epicurus doth bear sway in the world 404 The foundation of Episcopal life 180 Eponina a rare example of Conjugal Piety 306 Errours of the Time 341 Eternity of nothing first humilation of man 349 Eucharist the foundation of Paradise 72 Greatness of the Eucharist ibid. Eusebius the Patron of Hereticks 252 Eustatius his Oration at the opening of the Councel 253 Evils generally proceed from ignorance and from the want of the knowledge of God 62 Evil alwayes beareth sorrow behind it but not true pennance 66 Eudoxia mother of Theodosius 138 Her humour ibid Bishops treat with her ibid. Her Zeal ibid. She goeth into Palestine 147 Her return is laboured by Chrysaphius ibid. She lived in the Holy Land in the Eutychian heresie 153 Her Conversion 155 Her worthy life and glorious death ibid. Remedies and reasons against Excess 52 Indignity of Excess in apparel ibid. Necessity of Examen 71 Six things in the Examen to employ the most perfect ibid. Ill Example the work of Antichrist 22 Exemplar crimes deserve Exemplar punishments 23 An Observation upon the Chariot of Ezechiel 451 F FAith what it is and the dignity thereof 62 Its Object and the manner of its working ibid. Touch-stone to know whether we have Faith 63 Heroick acts of Faith ibid. How acts of Faith may be made easie 64 What ought to be the Faith of good Communicants 72 To be Faithfull to the King one must be loyal to God 236 To be Faithfull is to be conformable to reason 340 The great Providence of God in the establishment of Faith ibid. The repose which our Faith promiseth 341 Constancy of Faith 417 Fathers and Mothers compared to Ostriches 16 Fantasies to gain honours 25 Conclusions against Fatalitie 36 Maxims of Fatalitie 365 Favorinus his excellent Observations 10 Excellency of Fidelity 395 Flattery punished 349 Flattery inebriateth Great-men from the Cradle 46 Great Spirits enemies to the Flesh 405 Immoderate love of health doth make a man become suppliant and servile to the Flesh 406 Plotinus a great enemy to his own Flesh 405 Instance upon the weakness and miserie of the Flesh ibid. Hierom his Observation upon the Flower of Box. 406 A notable Fable of the Flie and Silk-worm 43 Fortitude defined 486 Fantasies of Ancients upon the Names of Fortune 360 Fortune is in the power of Providence ibid. A Conclusion against those who curse Fortune 362 Manners are changed with Fortune 364 G GAramant the Fountain 301 GOd's hands a golden bowl full of the Sea 9 God named Obliging in the beginning of the World 19 God a great Thesis 22 God is better known to us than our selves 344 God most easie to be known ibid. All things contribute to the knowledge of God 345 God in this life handleth the wicked as the damned 348 God is who he is 349 Excellency of the Simplicity and Universality of God in comparison of the World 350 Perfections of God 351 God his Goodness 355 367 An excellent similitude of God with the Ocean 351 The God of Hosts besiegeth a Citie 217 Diversity of Gods 349 Gods pastime what it is 42 Why God admitted not the Ostrich and Swan into the number of Victims ibid. Knowledge of the Goodness Justice and Power of God 356 357 God governeth the world with two hands 430 God will replenish us with himself 437 Desperate desire of worldly Goods 418 Gratian the son of Valentinian 200 His excellent qualities 201 Affectionate words of S. Ambrose unto him ibid. His zeal and virtue by the direction of S. Ambrose ibid. His admirable Charity 202 Maximus rebellâth against him ibid. His pitifull death 204 Gratitude in the Law of God 20 Excellent proofs of natural Gratitude 19 Gratitude defined 488 The acts of Gratitude 90 Gratitude of the Hebrews ibid. Practise of S. Augustine to encourage himself to Gratitude 20 Greatness of God 437 Greatness of an honest man 48 Lives of Great-ones enlightened 6 The great virtue of Great-ones 7 Authority of Great-ones to strengthen Devotion 8 Great-ones heretofore have perverted the world 21 Great-ones that are vicious draw on themselves horrible execrations of God 23 Great-ones strangely punished 24 Three sorts of Great ones do make Fortune 25 True Devotion in Great-ones 60 Humility of Great-ones 92 A good Document for Great-ones 139 Plague of Great-ones 140 Great-ones are the flatterers of Gods 349 H HEart of man what it is 69 HEbrews horribly persecuted 347 Heliogabalus his wheel 57 Hell defined 432 How the fire of Hell burneth 430 Helena the Beauty and grace of her time 236 She is married to Constantius ibid. Her exceeding virtue ibid. Exceeding love of Constantius and Helena ibid. Effects of Heresie 35 Herod depresseth the Royal Stock 117 His deep Hypocrisie and Dissimulation 120 He is accused for the death of Aristobulus ibid. His Apologie for himself full of craft 121 His Oration against his Wife 125 His fury after the death of Mariamne 127 He advanceth Antipater his son whom he had by Doris 128 His horrible condition in his latter days 134 Herod's
of Riot 461 Rispeliones 265 Rodomonts 93 A condemnation of Rodomonts and Duels 224 Roman Empire full of strange disorders 154 S SAcriledge of fair souls 13 To Sacrifice the Calf without flower 78 Sanctity the character of Nobility 5 Sanctity an irrefragable argument of Faith 29 Sadness the snare of Satan 83 Immortification one cause of Sadness 84 Sadness a plant of our own growing ibid. Prayer the best remedy against Sadness ibid. Unworthiness of Sadness 85 Two great Obstacles of Salvation 43 To handle the affairs of Salvation is a matter of no small importance 31 Sameas his grave and free Speech concerning Herod 116 Same 's a Martyr of poverty 89 Scoffing the harbinger of Atheism 46 Danger of Scoffing 47 368 Self-love hard to be repressed 400 Semblances the children of opinion and lying 37 Sesostris his Chariot applied to the rich 9 Simplicity defined 468 Simplicity the chief virtue of Saints 41 What it is to be Simple ibid. Simplicianus a holy man 96 Sins committed for want of witnesses 6 Sin of the flesh a mark of Reprobation and injurious to the incarnation of the Son of God 50 Sincerity preserved in the light of Nature 396 Slander the wound of Frogs 46 Greatness of the Soul 64 Souls of men different in qualities 4 Excellencies of the Soul remarkable 11 The Soul clothed with royal purple 12 What the Soul is and wherefore it is a Spirit ibid. The care that is to be had of the Soul 423 Piety the first virtue and the Soul of Military virtue 220 The belief of the immortality of the Soul invincible 420 The operations of the Soul are admirable 421 Sentence of God upon the immortality of the Soul ibid. Piety and Valour of a French Souldier 222 Notable Devotion of a Souldier 223 Military virtues of a French Souldier 226 A great indignity of the abuse of the Spirit 12 Apparition of the Soul of Samuel 423 Spurina 3 Stratonica her ridiculous pride 93 Supereminency of person ibid. Suemâs persecuted 342 His admirable constancy ibid. Three Suns shine at one time 370 Symmachus magnifieth the Vestals 182 Shamefull Law of the Sybarites 87 Synagogue of the Jews burned 213 T TEmperance the first tribute of Sanctity 86 Emptations remora's of the Soul 79 Temptation is a Christians trade ibid. What is the cause that many yield in Temptation ibid. It is not good to tempt Temptations 80 The sweetness of victory over Temptation ibid. Tertullian his parable of the Ass to the Hereticks of his time 33 An excellent conceit of Tertullian 19 Tertullian his saying is repugned 267 Thaumastus made the second man in the Kingdom for having given a glass of water 91 Theodosius his birth and extraction foretold 137 His Baptism 139 His Education 140 Sanctity of his Court. 143 The Discourse between him and a Hermite 144 Theodosius destroyeth Marna 139 He maketh the Court holy 212 His remarkable Piety 261 His death 148 Theodosia her revenge 368 Theodorick's practice which he gave to Cassiodorus 274 Theodorick slew Odoacer at a Banquet 281 Strange act of Theodorick 90 A crafty and witty conceit of Theodora 397 Theophilus a bloudy Emperour 402 The admirable Justice of Theodorick 285 Time not onely precious but onely necessary 43 Time compared to a River 44 Time irrevocable ibid. The Tongue compared to the Almond-Tree 45 The Tongue a feathered Bell. ibid. The Tongue the incensory of the Divinity 47 Trajan his notable Act. 90 Travel of worldlings 79 Triumph of Asmodeus with a description of his Chariot wheels horses coach-man and Court 49 The power of Truth 395 As bad contesting against Truth as against the master of the Bowe ibid. Tutours are Fathers over the Spirits 373 V VAlentinian father to Gratian his death 200 Erity a Sea 45 Virgins give an Altar of Gold to the Church of S. Sophia 140 Ungratefull men punished 23 Diversity of Unions 437 Union of glory what it is ibid. Unworthiness of being ashamed of well-doing 82 W WAnt a great misery 15 Excellent discipline in War 226 The name of Sun given to Warriours 172 Tragical events of the Wicked 257 Equity of the Senate of Rome to support Widows 340 William of Paris his notable Doctrine 360 Weakness of humane Wisdom 362 Good Wives of bad husbands 388 Wisdom requisite in Prelates 169 All Wisdom reduced to one Word 88 Over-much Wit troubleth 37 Modesty of Great Wits 450 Women stout to do good 39 Women without Devotion as a Bee without a sting 302 Therare qualities which are given to them in Scripture ibid. Houshold affairs recommended to Women 305 Words are the Chariot of the Soul 70 Word of God altered in Chairs by the extravagant opinions of hearers 385 The World a Clock and how 18 Worldlings condition 24 The World an Island of Dreams 16 The vanity of the World and misery thereof 119 The vanity and inconstancy of the World 146 Practise of Worldly men 389 Baseness of the World 414 Tertullian his Conceit concerning the World ibid. Three Ties of the World 417 Discordant acts of the World 442 The World is full of Craft 397 A Wonderfull Spectacle of the affairs of the World 238 Z ZEal of a Ladie towards God 90 Eal ought to be had towards Religion 341 The End of the Table of the first Three TOMES THE HOLY COURT THE COMMAND OF REASON OVER THE PASSIONS VVritten in French by F. N. CAUSSIN AND Translated into English by Sir T. H. WITH HISTORICALL OBSERVATIONS UPON IT Printed M.DC.L TO THE EXCELLENT PRINCESSE THE DUTCHESSE OF BUCKINGHAM Excellent Princesse THis Translation of the Holy Court as it had it's first life breathed into it by the animating spirit of her sacred Majesties Royall acceptance so in this last and concluding piece it infinitely desires such your favourable enterteinment Nor verily can I where so bright and resplendent a Star from a Sphear of Greatnesse hath already lighted up a flame to direct others in their approbation but with much confidence hope the like propitious rayes may benignly reflect from your so near a confining Influence Here shall your Grace behold the powerfull predominance of Reason over passions not taught in Epictetus or Senecas Prophane School but dictated from the Truth-teaching sacred Oracles of Christian Piety Here the soul is informed and judgement rectified to hate vice and flie it to love virtue and practise it not in exteriour garbs and petty slight formalities which onely serve to amuse vulgar spirits but by the interiour Habits and serious embracement of the most solid virtues The pretious memory Excellent Princesse of your thrice-noble Father whose living Image and second-self you representatively are together with your known love of pious Books and daily practise in your life of the wholesome precepts couched in This hath encouraged my present addresse to serve for the enterteinment of your vacant hours which thus silently spent and maturely digested will have the force and efficacy of the most serious employment and may Exemplarily invite other eminent Spirits to
the heart by the Garb the Humour the smiles the speech the silence the courage the discretion of a man layes a plot with her passion to betray her reason The poison of love by little and little spreads it self throughout all the veins the presence of the object begins to cause blushing palenesse unquietnesse disturbance of the mind so that she cannot tell what she desireth nor what she would have Absence awakeneth the Imagination which makes an Eccho of all the discourses of all the actions that past in presence This man is presented unto her in a thousand shapes there is not a lineament a word a gesture but is expressed The understanding quickly creates to it self too many ill lights the will too much fire and the soul wholly propendeth to the thing beloved Yet the fire of God awakeneth her and suffers her to have good respites which makes her ashamed to tell her own thoughts to her proper heart Conscience and Honour make some resistance and glimmering flashes and if there be found some good directour who may help them in this first battell they many times get the victory But if a soul be deprived of good counsel abandoned to it self and which is worse soothed in its malady by some soft and complying spirit it is an unhappinesse which cannot sufficiently be deplored Reason is weakned shamefac'tnesse flies away passion prevaileth there is nothing left but wandering of the soul a feaver a perpetuall Frenzy a neglect of works of affairs of functions sadnesse languour Impatience Confidence and affrightment Shall she say so shall she do so God forbids it the law menaceth it and honour cries vengeance The pleasure of a dream and beyond it nothing but Abysses Love notwithstanding urgeth and strikes at all considerations they impute to starres to destiny to Necessity what is nothing but folly They think businesse is done when it is but thought on that they must be audacious and that there are crimes which are sanctified in the worlds opinion by the good hap of their succestes They come Prosperum ac foelix seclus viâtus vocatur Senec. Diversities of Love to that passe that they no longer sinne by method but through exorbitancy In some Love is sharp and violent in others dull and impetuous in others toyish and wanton in others turbulent and cloudy in others brutish and unnaturall in others mute and shamefac't in others perplexed and captious in others light and tradsitory in others fast and retentive in others fantastick and inconstant in others weak and foppish in others stupid astonished in others distempted in some furious and desperate It enflameth the bloud it weakens the body it wanneth Moechia affinis Idololatriae Tertul. de pudicitia the colour it halloweth the eyes it overthrows the mind it hath somewhat of being possessed and witchcraft something of Idolatry For you behold in those who are entred farre into this passion flouds and Ebbs of thoughts Fits and Countenances of one possessed and it is in all of them to deifie the creature of whom they are so passionately enamoured and would willingly set it in the place where the Sun and starres are yea upon Altars All which proceeds from it is sacred chains and wounds are honourable with them if they come from this beloved-hand They would die a hundred times for it so it throw but so much as a handfull of flowers or distill but a poor tear on their Tombe It is to deceive to say that love excludeth all other passions it awakeneth them and garboileth them and makes them all wait on it it causeth Aversion Hatred Jealousie envie hope sadnesse despair anger mirth tears scorn grief songs and sighs and as it is thought that evil spirits shuffle in storms to stirre up lightning flasks and make the thunder-stroke the more terrible and pernicious So is it likewise true that the Evil Angels intermeddle in the great tempests of love angell of darknesse involveth himself in these great tempests of love many times making use of the abominable minestery of Magicians and acteth Treasons furies fierings poysonings murders and ransackings And how should it spare its enemie since it Cruelty of love on the persons of lovers is cruell to it self It maketh some to sink in the twinkling of an eye drinking their bloud and insensibly devouring their members It confineth others into regions of Hobgoblins and darknesse It kils and murdereth those who have the most constantly served it It sharpned the sword which transfixed Amnon It shaved and blinded Samson It gave a Halter to Phyllis A downfoll to Timagoras A gulph to Caleazo and caused Hemon to kill himself on the tomb of Antigone Volumes would not be sufficient for him who should write all the Tragedies which daily arise from this passion all pens would be weak words be dryed up and wits lost therein § 8. Remedies of evil Love by precaution I Leave you now dear Reader to argue within your self whether one who hath never so little humane judgement for his comportment and quiet ought not to bend all his endeavours to banish the fury which plungeth his whole life in so great acerbities and such horrible Distrust ofones self recourse to God calamities But if you desire to know the way the first thing I advise you while you are yet in perfect health is seriously to consider that one cannot be chaste but by a most singular gift from God as the wise-man saith and therefore it is necessary to have a particular recourse to the most blessed Trinity which according to S. Gregory Nazianxen is the first of virgins humbly beseeching it by the intercession of the most pure among creatures and by the mediation of your Angel-guardian to deliver you from the reproches of the spirit of impurity in such sort that you may passe Love is sometimes the punishment of pride Climachus de castitate your life innocently and it may become inaccessible to the pollutions of flesh If you feel your self free from this vice yet enter not into any vain complacence of your self as if it proceeded from your own forces and not from heavens benignity Above all take heed of pride for the most illuminated Fathers have observed that God oft-times permitteth arrogant spirits to fall into carnall sinnes to abate the fiercenesse of their courage by the sensible ignominy of the stains of luxury and this is so proper to quail the exorbitance of humane arrogance that God had not a better Counterpoise to make S. Paul humble in such heighth of revelations then the sting of the flesh Pardon not your Et ne magnitudo revelationis extollat me datus est mihi stimulus earnis meae Angeâus Satanae qui me colaphizet Cor. 2. 12. self any thing no not so much as the shadow of this sin but onely excuse such as fall through some notable surprisall or pitifull frailty Think if you have not experienced the like falls you are beholding to
the Divinity Our soul which is the blast of his mouth the image of his bounty the representation of his power as it beareth so lively characters of his Majesty hath as it were also not heeding it a generous passion towards him unlesse it be infected by the breath of the serpent and obstructed by vapours of sensualty it seeks for him it speaks to him in all creatures It beholdeth him through so many veils which nature hath spread before it in so divers objects But it often falleth out that charmed with present pleasures it is so much delighted with beautifull workmanships that it forgetteth the work-man It embraceth momentary beauties for eternall verities It takes the shadow for the body It creates to it self an Empire in banishment and a haven in shipwrack This carnall piece which is ravished with the contemplation of this goodly face will not stay upon flesh It feeleth there is some invisible hand which shoots arrows at it amidst the vermilion of roses and the whitenesse of lillies it well knoweth not what transports it what entranceth it what worketh these transanimations in it It is not the body which must rot but it is the shadow of the first-fair upholds it self in the frailty of dying things and incessantly causeth returns to the first origen in souls which know how to profit by theri wounds O how attractive is the Beautie O should it on a sudden take away the veil from all mortall eyes who court it the world in an instant would dissolve under its much to be adored rayes souls would fly out of bodies and totall nature would impetuously affect its delights It is so naturally imprinted on the heart of man that Hell it self cannot forget it since the evil rich man laid on the coals of so unfortunate a lodging did for his first act lift up his eyes to heaven as desirous to look for the lovely face which he had eternally lost Secondly I will deliver an excellent reason which I Aug. l. 2. conf c 6. An excellent reason of S. Augustine to shew the inclination we have to love God draw out of S. Augustine to convince us that there is some very forcible inclination which insensibly moveth us to the love of God which is the cause that even our vices and exorbitancies not reflecting thereon love some perfection of the Divinity although not regulated nor limited in the bounds wherewith it ought to be beloved Pride contends for heighth and what is higher then God who sits upon Thrones predominateth over Dominations who governeth Principalities and makes Heaven bow even to the Abysse under the shadow of his Majesty Ambition passionately seeketh after honours and who hath more honour then God who seeth glory to be hatched in his own bosome for whome so many Altars smoke for whom so many sacrifices burn under whom so many Diadems bow to whow so many Sceptres obey before whom so many States Kingdomes and Empires are but a drop of dew Power will make it self great and who is more formidable then this great Judge for whom Thunders roar Lightnings fly Thunder-stones shiver lofty rocks for whom elements fight and nature dresseth up its scaffolds to prosecute offenders even in hell there being neither Place Time Heighth or Power which hath ability to deliver it self out of his hands Flattery and Complacence will make it self to be beloved and what is more lovely then the sweetnesse of the charity of this good Father which distilleth like unto a celestiall Manna upon all the creatures of the Universe Curiosity affecteth the study of wisdome And what is wiser then God who seeth all within himself who hath Abysses of knowledges in his heart riches of eternall sapience in his bosome for whom Time hath no prescription nature no veil Heighth no heighth and abysses no depth Who is the Father of Sciences Creatour of thoughts Treasure of Eloquence who dazeleth all humane Ability who taketh his Sages from among Ideots and out of the dumb raiseth his Oratours Lazynesse seeks out a life soft and peacefull continually fixed upon its repose and the contentments of the flesh and spirit and where shall we find the repose out of God since it is he who is perpetually ingulphed in the delights of a pure tranquillity Luxury ardently desireth pleasures and will satisfie all the desires of its heart And God is he not the plenitude of joy an abundance which never fails a sweetnesse incorruptible a feast which consumeth not a perpetuall Theatre of comsorts a Flood of most pure contentments which floweth overall Paradise Avarice will possesse much it stretcheth out the hands of a Harpy over the goods of another It garboileth the world it disquieteth the earth It would willingly delve into hell it pleadeth it wrangleth it assails it defendeth to satiate its covetousnesse yet still is hungry For what is he that possesseth all but the prime of the rich who is the beauty of fields the lustre of flowers the fecundity of fruits the wealth of minerals and the fertility of totall nature Envie is troubled about supereminency and will have the highest place accounting him an enemy who precedeth And is it not the eternall Father who is King of Glory who seeth all to be much lower then himself and seeth nothing beyond what he is Choler will revenge for it it striketh at heaven it troubleth the earth it causeth lightning and tempests which raise so many Tragedies in the world And who better knowes how to avenge sins then the soveraign Monarch of the Universe for whom exterminating Angels carry the sword of Justice for whom hell reserveth treasures of flames eternall Now I demand of you if it be true that even our Tantus est ille ut qui non amant eum injustâ quidem non nisi quoddam ejus amare possint S. Eucherius Objection about the invisibâlity of God Mercur. Trism ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã That God renders himself infinitely amiable in totall nature Synesius Hymn 4. Naturam universam lyram aeâerni Patris vocat diversis fidibus intentam ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Ubi alludit ad chordas cytharae hypatem mesen neten The sun the image of God ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Orpheo Boni conspicuus filius conspicuum in templo mundi Dei simula chrumâ Platonicis Proclus thronum justitiae in medio sole collocat vices are in love with some perfections which are in God how can our virtues but bear a singular affection towards him why should they not be enamoured of his beauties why not sigh after his attractives since they are his reall daughters Some one will say it were but reasonable if God to make himself beloved would become visible to men but he is a secret so hidden that our poor spirit seeking for him finds more confusion then light Verily I like Mercury Trismegistus for he stopping his mouth who complained of the invisibility of God Hold thy peace thou profane fellow saith he and if thou hast
this fire I see lightning flashes to issue forth This is the fire of the love of God and these lightnings are the eruptions he made by communicating himself to man Consider O soul redeemed with the bloud of the sonne of God that thou canst not live without love on what side soever thou turnest thou necessarily must love and God foreseeing this necessity would that thou lovest like him that thou take the object of his love for the object of thine own his manner of loving for thine his scope and contentment for thine And where thinkest thou hath God the heavenly Father placed his love from all eternity but in himself Because he alone is worthy to be originally beloved as the source and fountain-head of all beauties and bounties which are the two baits of affections excessively as he who hath neither end nor beginning He loves himself by his holy Spirit which is his own substance and he loves himself necessarily because love is his Essence O soul if thou couldest a little lift up thine eyes surcharged with so many terrestriall humours and behold in the bosome of the heavenly Father the eternall Fire-brand which he gives for a rule of thy love what secrets and what mysteries of love wouldst thou learn there mightest thou observe the four conditions which constitute all the excellency of love to wit Purity Simplicity Fervour and Communication First thou must learn to purifie thy love this love being most pure and excellent for it is God himself produced in the bosome of God it is the first of Sanctities holy by origin by object by example and by form It is the holy Ghost burning in the heart of the eternall Father S. Thomas teacheth us a very singular piece of Theology in the Treatise he wrote of charity S. Thom. opusc 61. De Dilectione omne receptum est in recipiente per modum recipientis where he saith every thing placed in another is measured and adapted to that which receiveth it as water which is round in a round vessell and square in a square vessell For if the thing received be lesser then that which received it it by this reception gets a state of excellency and a Title of worth above its Nature so saith he the visible species are ennobled in our eyes and the Intelligible in our understanding This admitted I say that if we onely consider the love of God in that manner as we do in men as drawn from exteriour objects yet would it be a matter of a marvellous value to be received into the heart of God and to be conform to the Diviniây but when Divinity telleth us that this love produced of God is the substance of God received in God hinself and inseparable from his essence what greatnesse and what purity must we conceive in this love of God and if he will that this same love which is all his should be not onely the object but the efficient cause of ours by the infusions Charitas Dei dâffusa est in cordibus nostris per spiritum sanâtum Rom. 5. 8. he worketh in our hearts O how much shame ought we to have so to defile our love with contaminations and impurities of the earth Secondly you must know this love is most simple and totally as well in this unity as in the Essence of God and although he love creatures as the tokens and footsteps of his bounty which are in kinds so manifold in multitude so innumerable yet is he not devided nor severed because he gathers all those creatures together in his bosome where their beginning and end is and therein uniteth them as rayes of his benignity contracted and drawn together into one Centre in a burning-glasse Monas genuis monadem in se suum reflexit amorem it a explicat S. Thom 1. part 9. 23. Fornacem custodiens in operibus ardoris Eccl. 43. 3. Thereupon thou shouldst be sorry to see thy heart torn and divided by so many objects which divert thy affections and hinder thee from simply giving them to God for whom they are made Thirdly thou must understand this love is most ardent since the bosome of the eternall father is as a great Fornace which with its flames enkindleth all the chaste loves that burn whether they be in heaven in the heart of Angels or whether on earth in the souls of the elect Ah! how much oughtst thou to blush and to be ashamed considering how in stead of enkindling thy love with the sacred fires of this eternall fornace thou hast sought to beg a profane fire from the eyes of a wretched woman which hath burnt thee to the bones thou hast gone door after door to all sorts of creatures opening thy heart to forraign flames whereby thou hast gone about to burn even the sacrifice of the living God Ah? Thou insensible creature knowest thou not that Nadab and Abihu for putting ordinary Levit 10. fire into their Incensories when they came to the Altar of the synagogue were devoured as unfortunate victimes with the proper coles of their own sacrifices and dost thou think it will be lawfull for thee to approach the Altar of the eternall Testament with this forraign love which thou lodgest in thy heart Art not thou afraid to hear those thundring words This Sacrifice shall be a punishment to thee since thou hast Crysol serm 26. sums de sacrificio pânam quia feciââ de propitistione peccatum made a sinne of thy propitiation Lastly faithfull soul thou shouldst know the love of God is most communicative for it is streamed forth in his eternall productions by two emanations of understanding and will as by two Conduit-pipes of Glories and beauties And not content with this this eternall communication being involved in a profound obscurity unknown to all creatures he hath cleft the cloud in five places and is come to communicate himself to the world by five admirable wayes of his magnificence which are Creation Conservation the Incarnation of the word Justification and Exaltation of the soul to beatitude O! how thou shouldest be confounded hereupon to see thy heart so narrow and streightned in the exercise of good works Look back again upon thy second modell and attentively The love of Jesus towards his heavenly Father consider how Jesus the pattern of all chaste amities loved his eternall Father and on earth rendered him that honourable tribute of love which could not well have been payed to a God so justly loved but by a loving God and who did with so much perfection love Jesus alone passed with an incomparable eminency those nine degrees whereof we spake before which are as nine spheres of love This most blessed foul which had an exact knowledge of all the excellencies of increated beauty loved him according to its science equalling his fervours to its lights It first of all entred into the solitude of love which made a little fortunate Island of the heart wherein there was
he fell into an extasie of holy comfort to have found a man so conform to his humour and both of them wept so much out of love over this fountain that they seemed to go about to raise those streams by their tears If he wrote a letter he imagined love gave him the pen and that he dipped it in his tears and that the paper was all over filled with instruments of the passion and that he sent his thoughts and sighs as Courtiers to seek out the well-beloved of his heart When he saw an Epistle or a letter wherein the name of Jesus was not premised it sensibly tormented him saying Sarazins had more devotion for Mahomet a man of sin setting his name in the front of all their letters then Christians had for their Redeemer A holy occasion one day drew him to a Church to hear excellent musick but he perceiving the words were of God and the tune according to the world he could not forbear to cry out aloud Cease profane men Cease to cast pearls into mire Impure airs are not fit for the King of virgins Some took delight to ask him many questions and he answered them nothing but the word love which he had perpetually in his mouth To whom belongest thou To love whence comest thou from love whither goest thou To love who begat thee Love Of what dost thou live upon love where dwellest thou In love He accounted them unworthy to live who died of any other death then of love and beholding a sick-man in an agony who shewed no feeling of joy to go unto God but onely complained of his pain he lamented him as a man most miserable At his entrance into a great Citie he asked who were the friends of God and a poor man being shewed him who continually wept for the love of heaven and heavenly things he instantly ranne to him and embracing him they mingled their tears together with unspeakable joy God often visited him by many lights and most sweet consolations as it happened at that time when he thought he saw a huge cloud between his Beloved and him which hindred and much troubled him but presently it seemed to him that love put it self between them both and gilded the cloud with great and admirable splendours in such sort that through this radiant beauty he saw a ray of the face of his well-beloved and for a long space spake to him with profusions of heart and admirations not to be expressed From this obsequious love he passed to obliging love and made a strong resolution to become profitable to all the world For which purpose feeling every moment to be replenished with sublime and divine thoughts which God had communicated to him and that he had no insight in Grammer nor other slight school-notions he resolved to learn the Latine tongue being now full fourty years old He hit upon a teacher one Master Thomas who taught him words conjugations and concords but he rendred him back again elate conceptions unheard of discourses and harmonies wholly celestiall so much honouring his Master that he dedicated the most part of his books to him wherein for the dead letter he offered unto him the spirit of life Not satisfied with this he added the Arabick tongue of purpose to convert the Mahumetans and for this end he bought a slave for whom having no other employment but to teach him it and he having therein already well profited and endeavouring to convert this wretched servant who had been his teacher the other found him so knowing and eloquent that he had an apprehension that through this industry he was able to confound the Mahumetan-law which was the cause that the Traitour espying his opportunity took a knife and sought to kill his Master but he stopt the blow and onely received a wound which proved not mortall All the house ran at the noise and there was not any one who would not have knocked down the ungratefull creature but he hindered it with all his might and heartily pardoned him in the greatest sharpnesse of his dolours Instantly the officers seized on this compassion and put him into prison where he was strangled repenting himself of nothing but that he had not finished his mischief which caused extreme sorrow in Raymond who bewailed him with many tender tears of compassion After this he undertook divers journies into France Spain Italy Greece and Africk wandring continually over the world and not ceasing to preach write and teach to advance the salvation of his neighbours Paris many times received him with all courtesie in such sort that the Chancellour Bertand who was infinitely affected to knowledges permitted him to reade them publickly in his hall The reverend Charter-house Monks whose houses have so often been sanctuaries for Learning and Devotion were his hoasts and so much he confided in their integrtty and sincerity that he with them deposed all which he had most precious The love of God which is as lightning in a cloud still striving to break forth suffered him not to rest but disposed him to undertake somewhat for the glory of God It is true he had first of all that purpose which afterwards our father S. Ignatius so gloriously accomplished for he was desirous to make Seminaries of learned and courageous spirits who should spread themselves throughout the world to preach the Gospel and to sacrifice themselves for the propagation of Faith For this cause he multiplied his voyages to Rome to Lions to Paris to Avignon incessantly solliciting Popes and Kings to so excellent a work without successe He used fervour and zeal therein but our father thereunto contributed more order and prudence The one undertook it in a crosse time during the passage of the holy See from Rome to Avignon where the Popes more thought upon their own preservation then tha conquests of Christianity The other knew how to take occasion by the fore-lock and he interessed Rome and the Popes thereof in his design The one made his first triall under Pope Boniface the Eighth who having dispossessed a Hermite of S. Peters Chair held those for suspected who were of the same profession fearing they a second time might make a head of the Church The other happened upon Paul the Third who was a benign Pope and he gained his good opinion by his ready services and submissions which tended to nothing but the humility of Jesus Christ The one embroiled himself too much in Sciences even unto curiosity and made them walk like Ladies and Mistresses the other held them as faithfull servants of the Crosse subjected to holy Humility The one stood too much upon his own wit and needs would beat out wayes not hitherto printed with any foot-steps nor conferred enough with the Doctours of his times in matters of Opinion and Concord the other passed through the surges of Universities and followed an ordinary trackt in the progression of his studies The one was of a humour very haughty the other of a spirit
to feast his guests in his own house Forget not in the time of fair weather to prevent the stonn of humane accidents and dayly think how you may put your self under covert within your self but which is more into the bosome of God When Gyges his ring was turned towards the world it made him visible to all there present but when he drew it back towards himself he became invisible and impregnable against such as wished him ill If your quality cause you to look towards the world and pompously to propose you to the eyes of beholders remember you must have a Retreat and innocent invisibilities to vindicate your self from the throng of importunacies When you shall have well-grounded the matter of your contentments then neglect not the form and fashion of them Imitate not those who on a sudden drench and drown themselves in pleasure with a voluntary drunkennesse which presently deprives them of all pleasure Distill your joyes like unto a heavenly dew moisten your heart but overflow it not otherwise it is to be feared in such as are of a very soft temper lest the approch of excessive joy may cause a great evaporation of spirit and leave the heart destitute of heat and vigour which caused Zouxes the painter to die laughing as he beheld the rough draught of an old woman which he was a finishing and the Poet Philemon by seeing an Asse that came to eat figs on his Table Howsoever it be distaste sticks to the extremes of the greatest pleasures as Cantharides on the fairest Roses Resemble not those who overflow in their favours who publish their own prosperities and tell them to all the world which raiseth them many envious and maligue spirits who stirre up tempests in their imaginary tranquillity Rejoyce said an antient in your bosome do all the good you practise from morning till night with pleasure and when any misadventure befalleth you ever think it is a great favour from God it went no further and that the divine providence is satisfied with a little hurt Call sometimes to your memory the ill daies and dangers you have escaped by the goodnesse of God that you with the more gust may taste your repose If you be fortunate hold you there and be not like the dog in the Fable who let go his piece of flesh to catch a shadow The foolish Idolaters of Egypt after they had Courted their god Apis in so many studied fashions after they had found him with so much satisfaction after they had received him with so much applause killed him to put another in his place That is it which all senselesse worldly spirits do they disturb their own pleasures and themselves to live to become the conquest of a Chymera of honour or of some pleasing thing which keeps them in a perpetuall famine You are permitted to love the gifts of God to derive a little tribute of contentment out of all creatures to restore it to the Authour to avoid discontented humour spirits troublesome and complaining to please your self with good Company But if you desire to know the mystery of mystenes in pleasure understand you shall never find it but when you shall learn to rejoyce in tribulations out of a desire you have to conform your self to Jesus Christ That is the joy which all the Saints have studied with pain have found with delight and have tasted with glory That is it which Saint Peter calleth The ineffable and the glorified That which S. Jrmes said contained the Exultabitis laetitiâ inenarrabili glorificatâ 1 Pet 1. 8 Omâe gaudium Jac. 1. 2. consummation of all comforts That which Saint Paul found in Caverns S. Laurence on the Gridiron S. Katharine on the wheel S. Apolonia in flames Lastly That which cometh from the throne of the Lamb and which with its eternall streams watereth all the plants of Paradise The sixth Treatise Of SADNESSE § 1. It s Description Qualities and the Diversity of those who are turmoiled with this Passion A Wise man said that man entreth into life as The Essence and Image of Sadnesse Cujus initium caecitas obtinet progressum labor dolor exitum error omnia Petrarch de remediis into a Career where in the beginning blindnesse putteth a scarf over his eyes then delivers him over to labour which giveth him a heavie stone to roll all the length of the life labour placeth him in the hands of sorrow and Sadnesse sorrow which properly is a dislike had against objects contrary to its inclination exerciseth him principally in the body Sadnesse which is a passion of the reasonable Appetite that filleth the heart with acerbity by the privation of amiable objects and by the representation of things grievous and opposite to Nature works upon the soul which it incessantly afflicteth Some are slowly wasted by perpetuall languours others are many times seised on with so much violence that they suddenly dye of it as it happened to a son of Gilbert Duke of Montpensier who yielded up the ghost on the Tomb of his father This passion hath for nurse softnesse of spirit seeing a soft soul is ordinarily eaten by anxiety and gnawn by perplexity as iron is consumed by Rust It is seated in Melancholy for the Melancholick are they who most feel the burdens of life the spirit being deprived of alacrity which useth to season things the most bitter Faintnesse and discouragement are ever by its sides to torment it because they are the two passions which dry up the Humidum radicale quench the heate drain the source of spirits and constitute the whole state of its mischief Round about it fly cares discontentments and annoyes since these are its companions and most ordinary enterteinments The heart of it is filled with an infinite number of desires being our discontentments do multiply according to the measure of our desires and that he who desireth nothing quarrels at no body nor is impatient at the burdens which the providence of God layeth on his shoulders It liveth on gall as being nourished by continuall acerbities It looketh back farre off after contentment which flieth from it insomuch as its onely torments consisteth in desiring and not enjoying It beholdeth it self in a pond of standing water because such are the objects of sadnesse which the impatient set before their eyes to stirre up in them many troubled and uncollected fantasies Lastly it is one while little crouching and loutish with a countenance of lead and weeping eyes another while also it is furious enflamed and fietfull to signifie unto us two sorts of impatient men whereof the one silently bites the bridle having no means to come to the end of their pretentions and the other breaks out into extraordinary fury with intention to tear asunder the obstacles which oppose their designs Behold the picture of sadneste drawn out of Philosophy and reason Now I may well adde following the conceits of the wise that I see infinite many in this picture who have
helps of grace by the contemptation contemptations of things Divinie the example of the Divinity take instruction how to demean our selves Let us look on our first model and consider a strange thing able to make our impatiencies was red not with anger but with shame to say that God all impassible as he is of his own nature not obnoxious to the sword fire sicknesse or any other exteriour violence would in all times suffer men more violent then the sword more ardent then fire more irksome then sicknesse and many times more cruel then salvage beasts It is said there were heretofore made very goodly mirrours of saphyr which were for Princes and Monarchs let us not covet those which cannot much avail us but let us contemplate the admirable saphyr enchased in the Throne of the living God in the Prophet Ezek. 1. 26. Quasi aspectus lapidis sapphiri similirudo Throni Ezekiel and let us therein see and compare our impatiencies with the mildnesse of the Creatour It seemes that by how much the more a dignity is sovereign by so much the lesse ought it to be exposed to injuries because the fear which is had of its power should stamp in hearts rhat respect which love weak cannot imprint yet God a sovereign Majesty a supream Greatnesse an absolute Justice hath endured and doth daily endure so many contradictions of men that it seems Plures idcirco Dominum non credunt quia seculo iratum ram diu nesciunt Tert de patient ãâã that to give credit to his mercy he occasioneth some prejudice to the terrour of his Divinity Many men saith Tertullian believe not in God because they cannot perswade themselves he is angry with the world since they see it in so peacefull a state What is there more important for God and men then the knowledge of his Divine nature then the fear of his Justice then the much to be adored reverence of his sovereignty Notwithstanding as if he preferred the glory of his patience before his own Being he rather chose patiently to suffer so many faithlesse so many wicked ones so many sinners and that the lips of Blasphemers might dare to say there is no God then that taking revenge in the heat of crimes by punishing every sin it should be said of him Verily there is a God but he is perpetually armed with lightning and terrours ever inaccessible to the prayers of men as those mountains which throw forth their enflamed bowels Nay much otherwise he would be simamed the God of mercy and the Father of goodnesse whereupon Saint Gregory hath judiciously said that his patience walks Pater misericordiarum Dominator Dominus Deus misericors clemens patiens muleâ miserationis c. Deut. 5. Quantum lata mens fuerit per amorem rantum erit patiens Ionganimitatem Totius geniturae tributa dignis indignis patitur simul occurtere Tertul. de patient c. 2 still hand in hand with his charity Wherefote as the love of God towards men is incomparable so his patience to indure the faults and infirmities of sinners admits no comparison How wany Pirates are there daily for whom God openeth seas How many Idolaters for whom he causeth stars to shine fountains to stream plants to sprout harvests to wax yealow and vines to ripen as well as for the faithfull How many ungratefull and rebellious children are there who every day receiving so many benefits from him take them as Hogs do Acorns still grunting towards the ground and never casting an eye towards heaven How many spirits enemies of truth and light disturbers of publick repose transgressours of laws both Divine and Humane do daily frame obstacles against the will of their sovereign Master and yet he fuffers them as if he had no other businesse in the world but patiently to bare and vanquish by benefits the malice and ingratitude of men Hierusalem is the stone of burthen said the Prophet which layeth a burthen upon God himself What will this Oracle of God say but the same conceits which Saint Hierom suggesteth unto us Hierusalem lapis on eris Zachar. 12. upon this passage when he writes that there were seen in places where the Antient wrastlers did exercise huge stones or certain bowls of Iron or Copper with which they made tryall of their strength and he witnesseth that he in a list saw one of those bowls which was so heavie that he could not lift it up from the ground although others robustuous of body and eminent in those exercises could easily carry it Now mark my conceit and say that as those champions of antiquity God is busied about the world as his stone of burden had for object of their strength those weighty bulks on which they daily exercised themselves So likewise God that strong Gyant and great Wrastler as if he stood in need of exercise takes the sphere of this great Universe which he beareth lifterh it up with all facility He takes the Masse of so many mortals whom heaven covers and the earth beareth and there he findeth much resistance he takes his people which he hath chosen and sanctified above all the nations of the world and hence oft-times very many sensible displeasures come A true stone of burden is that Christian that Ecclesiastick that Priest that Religious who belyes his profession who throws disorder and scandall among the people by his ill example yet God tolerateth him God protecteth him God continually obligeth him and if needs he must draw the sword of Justice out of the scabbard it is with delayes consideration and excessive Clemency O infinite Goodnesse And who is that man now that will not bear with a man and who is he that seeing God of nature impassible busie in the world as about his stone of burden from the beginning of Ages cannot bear a small burden whereto he finds himself tyed by duty by condition and by nature § 5. That the great temper of our Saviours soul in most horrible sufferings is a powerfull lenitive against our Dolours AS for the second Modell which is the Word Incarnate the true mirrour of Patience and onely reward of the Patient It is a very strange thing that all nature being so bent upon its conservation as to suffer nothing Jesus Christ did miracles incomprehensible to the spirit of Angels onely of purpose to suffer for man For how could dolour have laid hold on a God of his own nature impassible if it had not passed through all the heavens to take the divine word in the sanctuary of the Trinity which otherwise was meerly impossible but the son of God considering this Impossibility and being fixed in the desire to sustein for us took the body of man to suffer all that which the most cruell could invent and all whatsoever the most miserable might undergo Verily it is an effect of so prodigious a love that it found no belief in senses perswasion in minds example in manners nor
suum bonum erubescendum est Tertul. de Velandis Virginibus cap. 3. Virgins should blush even at the good they possessed meaning that albeit their virginall body bear nothing upon it but the characters of honour yet ought they not to permit the view of their beauty as a pillage to curious eyes fearing lest any glance might steal away some tender blossome of amiable Virginity There are some who easily blush at the approach of another sex and at words too freely spoken not that they feel themselves guilty of any thing but of a naturall Shamefac'tnesse which cannot suffer the least thought of things reproachfull and many times also out of the fear they have to be suspected in matters of which they in conscience have no remorse This is a sign of a good soul and it is necessary for such an one as will preserve a Chastity inviolable to avoid the least approaches and all which may prejudice Decorum Libanius an excellent Oratour observeth that a Painter one day An excellent observation of Libanius desirous to paint Apollo upon a board of Laurel the colours seemed to be rejected and could not be laid thereon Out of which this curious wit invented an excellent rarity saying That the chaste Daphne who according to the fiction of Poets was turned into a Laurel-tree flying from Apollo who would dishonour her could not endure him yea even in painting although she now was nought else but a piece of insensible wood Whereupon we may inferre that chaste bodies fear the least images and resemblances of impurity and do even beyond a Tomb preserve some sense of Integrity It is read in the life of S. Ephiphanius Simeon Constantin in Epiphan that he gave a kick with his foot after his death at a curious man who looked too near upon him And we also see many who expresly by their will forbid themselves to be opened and to have their entrails pried into by dissections which somewhat savours of inhumanity We must not be too curious in these matters when we make no profession of them For sometimes many maids are more knowing before marriage then is requisite for Chastity Marcia daughter of Fulgosus l. 6 Varro who was one of the rarest wits of her time was skilfull in all arts yea even in Painting but never would she paint naked men lest she might offend modesty Is it not a brave sight to behold a Christian whose bloud flyeth up into his face when he heareth blasphemies vomited forth against God as a good son would blush when the Ashes of his father were defamed What a goodly thing is it to see a vice rejected which a dissolute brazen-face or a confident corrupt spirit suggesteth to a young tender soul of an Angelicall Shamefac'tnesse that draweth bloud from the face and makes use of this vermillion as of mysterious ink to write down the comdemnation of dishonour The second kind of Shamefac'tnesse is much more Humane interessed shamefac'tnesse humane and more interessed which is daily observed in a thousand occasions in the world when one blusheth out of an apprehension of incurring some blemish of a good reputation in what concerneth Extraction Body Wit Profession Integrity Virtue Condition and Estate Some are much vexed at their own birth and when they see themselves raised to some degree of honour they are ashamed that their enemies reproach them with the basenesse of their beginning but they should remember that Birth is a businesse whereunto they are not called that it is no more in our power then are the stars and the winds and that many great personages have boasted they have mounted higher by Virtue then their ancestours had descended by the obscurity of their Extraction Porus the Monarch of the Indies was the son of a Obscurity of birth in great personages Barber Bradyllus Prince of the Sclavonians of a Collier Ortagoras Duke of the Sicyonians of a Cook Agathocles King of Sicily of a Potter and yet they gloried to have made a large way to greatnesse for themselves from the recommendation of their valour Primislaus come from the condition of a peasant to principality caused his old homely rags to be kept that he might sometimes look on them The Archbishop Villegesius son of a Carter commanded wheels to be painted all over his Scutcheons of Arms. There are none but inferiour hearts which are offended with Gods counsels who is the distributour of Glory Others are confounded for deformities of body as he Senec. de constantia sapienâis of whom Chrysippus speaketh who was extremely discontented that he was called Sea-Ram and Cornelius who wept in full Senate for being compared to a bald Shame of scoffing Ostritch but this tendernesse of apprehension proceeded from over-much prizing the body which is but a dunghill even in those who are most resplendent in beauty We should prevent such a scoffe upon so slight occasions and to take the word out of their mouth as Vatinius a man much mishapen who mocked so long at his own throat and legs that he in conclusion left nothing for Cicero to declaim against Others love not to have their age talked of as if that which is to be desired were a crime Others must not be seen in a mean habit as if they were much greater then Adam and Eve who in the beginning of the world were cloathed onely with leaves and skinnes Others are infinitely apprehensive to seem poor not confidering that by hiding poverty they reproch themselves and condemne Jesus Christ who spread it over the Crib as on a Throne of Honour Others are dejected with deep melancholy to see themselves despised in parts of Wit Judgement Understanding Capacity Industry and Dexterity in matters whereof they make profession and wherein they think to excell namely when this contempt is offered in company before men of reputation whose good opinion they affect before their competitours their corrivalls their enemies who take a direfull comfort in their confusion Then is the time when one sinketh into the bottome of dishonour and when shamefac'tnesse The strange shame of contempt Laertius covers all the face over Cronus was so abashed that he was not able to solve a Sophisme at King Ptolomy's Table that he died with discontent A Polonian Prince strangled himself upon an oppression of Cromerus lib. 6. Ignominy seeing Bolestaus the Third who was his King had sent him a Hares-skin with a distaffe to upbraid him with his Cowardise in a battel against the Muscovites But we must say truly that all this proceedeth from an enraged desire of punctilio's of Honour which ought never to such extremity take root in the soul of a Christian Lastly there be who are touched with some shame for vices not those which they know do displease God but for such as are accounted ignominious in the opinion of men as to be a Villain a Miser a Liar a Traitour a Falsifier an Impostour a Thief Unjust
cause that continuing a widow in a flourishing age there were Princes in her kingdome who durst promise themselves that she would reflect on them for a second marriage Among others the Count of Champaign proposed this good hap to himself more then was to be believed and ceased not to play the Courtier even to the fitting his gallery with verses and Emblems of the Queen This prudent widow who had to do with Great ones in the beginning of her authority of Regent engaged not her self to any nor did she likevvise reject their suits but so soon as some of them perceived she had no purpose for them they presently took arms to disturb the Kingdome and lessen the authority of the young King The Count of Champaign saw himself by necessity embarked in the faction but he had much ado to defend himself from the affection vvhich possessed him for this exquisite beauty For vvhich cause he pleaded like a lover and betrayed his faction discovering the things most important vvhich gave Queen Blanch a great light to guard her self from the vvicked enterprises of her enemies and dissipate all factions Observations upon the Passion of DESIRE Wherein we may behold the misery of ambitious and turbulent Spirits THe wind which is an invisible power and Marvellous effects of the passion of Desire which appears before our eyes no more then nothing maketh tall ships to move pulleth up trees by the roots overthroweth houses exercising on land and sea powers too-too visible Desires and hopes likewise which to say truely are but imaginations almost unperceivable vex empires embroil states desolate Cities and Provinces and make havock such as we cannot in thought conceive nor can our eyes ever sufficiently deplore It is a strange thing that from a little fountain-head which onely distilleth drops of vvater great rivers grovv and from a desire vvhich invisibly hatcheth in the heart of man lofty ambitions burning avarices and enraged covetousnesse proceed which destroy mankind Our first desires respect body and life which is the foundation of all the blessings we can hope in this world and here it is wherein those who flourish in Empires and eminent fortunes shew passions and cares able to make them immortall if humane nature might reach to such a state We all know that Lewis the eleventh was a Monarch Strange desire of life in Lewis the eleventh who by the greatnesse of his wit and power darkned all the Kings of his Time but we likewise cannot be ignorant that he had most ardent Passions which gave him infinite disturbances the consideration whereof may serve Great ones for the establishment of their repose Never any man more loved life nor more feared death then this mighty Prince who seeing himself laden with infirmities and assailed by old age a disease incurable employed the whole power of an ample Kingdome to hold together a poor thread of life There was not any remedy in the world which he tried not there was no secret in physick which he opened not his profusion caused him to give a Physician ten thousand crowns a moneth and although this Monarch were one of the most eminent of his time and that he sought nothing but to climb over the heads of Princes yet he made himself a slave to Hippocrates his disciples to idolatrize health It is to be thought if Medea had in his dayes returned into the world he would have put himself into her hands of purpose to wax young again like another Peleus So soon as he heard speech of a man who cured maladies by certain extraordinary wayes needs must he come from the utmost limits of the earth and for this cause he called S. Francis de Paula who drave away feavers and plagues from humane bodies with so much ease yet could he not prolong the Kings dayes whom God would punish by the privation of that he most loved He also took the holy viol of Rhemes to keep it in his chamber and therein to find treasures of life which was bootlesse to teach us there is no greater a Hang-man of our hearts then inordinate ill rectified desire The desire of life transported him to extraordinary actions For having been all his life time very plain in apparell towards his latter dayes when he went out of his chamber he sumptuously clothed himself he shuffled his officers and changed them out of a certain desire of novelty that it might be known he was yet alive he cared not to be cursed so that men believ'd him to be living Yet if he had done all this to lead the life of a man and of a King with some reasonable contentment his cares might have been the more excusable But all this great endeavour was but to drag along a miserable life among the distrusts of his nearest allies among jealousies of his own sonne among woodden and Iron cages wherein he kept a Bishop of Verdun for the space of fourteen years among chains and clogges of Iron which he called his threads among disconsolate sadnesses which they sought by all means to sweeten one while making clowns to sport before him another while furnishing out a musick of Hogs ranged under a pavillon of velvet which they pricked through the ears with bodkins to make them chant forth their goodly warblings What inventions doth a passionate man find out to prolong his punishments Next unto life the most ardent desires are for wealth and honour which make turbulent and busie spirits to disturb the whole world vvithout enjoying one hour of repose One might as soon number the starres and the sands of the sea as reckon up the souls of this kind vvith vvhich the Histories of all nations are stuffed For in matters that concern particular ends you on every occasion see children bandied against their parents and kinred in mutiny one against another vvho bely their bloud betray nature and devour lands bloudy and smoking for imaginary pretensions in the matter of their inheritance 2. But it vvould be very hard to find a spirit more covetous more factious and more tempestuous to encrease his estate then vvas that of Lotharius the sonne of Lewis the Courteous Hence it was that he shamefully degraded shaved and shut the King his Father in Prodigious victory which in the end Lotharius gained over himself after a great storm of passions in becoming Religious a Cloister Hence that he contrived so many matches and ploted so many conspiracies Hence that he levied so many armies and gave so many battells Hence that he ransack'd so many Churches put the Clergy to ransome threw down Justice and exhausted the nobility Hence it was that he had alwayes an eye towards the field and an armed hand to ruine the inheritance of his brothers Lastly hence proceeded that bloudy battel of Fontenay where a hundred thousand men of account died in the place so many rivers and seas of bloud must an outrageous ambition swim in which is wedded to particular ends and covetousnesse
takes her Abbesse who is dragged by the hair used with all hideous extremities and confined to a prison She caused all the religious women to come who had opposed her she torments them with sundry tortures layes hold of the charters seizeth on all the papers maketh her self Abbesse and bearing a barbarous soul in the heart of a woman exerciseth rigours and cruelties which struck horrour into all the world The Bishops had no other defence but the Thunders of Excommunication of which these creatures abandoned by God made very little account Macon Governour of Poictiers was entreated to use a strong hand but he excused himself saying he would not contend with the daughter of a King without commission But it was not fit matters should so continue and honest men unable any longer to see the Church groan under an unheard of Tyranny implore by most humble supplications the aid of three Kings Clotharius Gontran and Childebert who being sensibly touched with these disorders gave large Commissions power and commandment to Governours to assist the Bishops of Tours Colen and Poictiers who were appointed to determine this difference Order is at this time well observed Justice is there supported by force the gallants who had adhered to the faction of the nunnes scatter under the terrour of arms and Royall authority This Empresse of Rebels is taken and carried to the Councell to give an account of her deportments She comes thither in an audacious manner retaining still something of her arrogancy and insupportable haughtinesse even in her depression and after she had employed arms she skirmisheth what she could with her tongue which was by falling on the life and manners of her Abbesse whom she accused of many trifling things reproching her among other points to have made a garment for her niece of a Cope taken out of the Treasury of the Church which was false to have caused secular persons to eat at her Table to have a bath in the Monastery and to play at Chesse For this required to have her deposed that she might be put into her place wherein it plainly appeareth that ambition is not onely furious but blind in its fury She who swallowed Camells maketh an anatomy of a fly she who was defiled with the crimes of Tyrants reprehendeth slight recreations which had been permitted under the government of S. Radegonde The Abbesse replied very modestly to all her objections and made her innocency appear as bright as the rayes of the sunne whereupon she was reestablished with honour and applause in her dignity and the other condemned to ask her pardon and to submit to her commands To which she stoutly answered she would never do it and that they should rather advise upon the means of putting the Abbesse to death then to use her in such sort But she persisting in this obduratenesse is again deprived of the communion of the Church separated from all her complices who are placed in diverse Monasteries there to do penance yet she still finding her self to be supported by some by reason of her noble extraction on a time stole her self from the just punishment of evil carriage and fled with her Cousin to Childeberts Court where being not able any longer to raise storms she was constrained to be quiet rather for want of force then through the defect of courage One may by this proceeding see the Tempests which arise from ill rectified desires when they are underpropped by some manner of power and that there is nothing so sovereign as in their root to mortifie them 5. But they never are so insolent as when they Ambitions which bud in hearts of base extraction are most infelent The example of a Chirurgion of S. Lewis wisely repressed and chastised by the prudence and justice of Philip the 3. King of France bud in the hearts of people of base extraction who behold themselves unexpecteoly raised to some extraordinary favour S. Lewis had taken into his friendship his Chirurgion named Peter La Brosse because besides the experience he had in his profession he had made himself praise-worthy for the goodnesse of his wit and great loyalty This favour mounted much higher under Philip the Third successour of S. Lewis for he not content to honour this man with a particular affection bestowed benefits upon him with such an inestimable profusion that he raised him to the dignity of Chamberlain and conferred honours and largesses upon all his kindred This fellow seeing the young King had not the moderation of the father to proportion his affections to his reputation and the good of his state usurped upon his spirit entred into all his secrets and needs would intermeddle in State-affairs from which his birth and the much limited capacity of his wit ought to have deterred him The King had in a second wedlock married a most virtuous Princesse Mary of Brabant who held in his heart that place which the Law of God and the Sacrament of Marriage gave her It is a wonder how this child of the Earth entreth hereby into jealousies and thought the tender affections of the King towards his dearest spouse might lessen the good favours of his Master whom he was desirous to possesse in the title of a Sovereign He sought to cast the apple of discord into so happy a marriage and seeing this knot could not be broken but with much labour having a soul sold to Iniquity it is thought he found means to poyson Lewis eldest son of Philip and of Isabel his first wife This young Prince is by a sudden death taken away to the infinite grief of all the Court Physicians being consulted with upon it judge his life was shortned by poyson not knowing the authour of so detestable a crime The wicked man in the mean time gives close counter-blows and under-hand fixeth this suspicion upon the innocent Queen And albeit her behaviour which did print innocency on the mild aspect of her face sufficiently freed her before all good men yet the interest which commonly step-mothers have in the death of their husbands children and the subtil slights of this devil who coloured the matter with zeal of publick good began to blemish a life which was as free from stains as the brightest stars The King is already half wavering but loth to precipitate any thing in an affair of such importance he resolved to consult with the Oracles of that time and to have recourse to the lights of heaven since they on earth were eclipsed There was in those dayes a religious woman in Flanders who was thought to be endowed with the spirit of Prophesie and to tell the most hidden things to whom he resolved to send the Abbot of S. Denis to satisfie him in the truth of the fact La Brosse who expected a more speedying dispatch upon his informations began to be troubled and fearing this Prophetesse might marre all so wrought that the Bishop of Bayeux his kinsman agreed with the Abbot to undertake the journey
jealousie of Saul which torments him a thousand wayes for to adorn him with as many Crowns An Antient A great secret of life said very well That the greatest secret of ones life was to undergo destiny and endure patiently the ordinance of God concerning our lives and estates for by learning Patience we learn to forget our misery but by Antholog ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã bearing the Divine appointment with Impatience we row all our life against a torrent which swallows us up David was at the heart of God but he was not at the heart of Saul God had made him for to command and Saul would not allow any wayes that he should be obeyed He sought his life when as God had appointed his Crown for him He desired his death and procured for him immortality God and man did strive who should exalt or depresse this man but the counsels of the one were immoveable and the endeavours of the other were violent in their on-sets and feeble in their effects Assoon as David was seen one might see some Divine The qualities of David thing a little body well made enlivened with a great spirit a comelinesse which could not be learned at school but which was a gift from above a mildnesse without weakenesse a behaviour without affectation a valiantnesse without ostentation a gallantnesse without vanity a virtue that was made to be admired by all and imitated but by few All flowers have their being from the earth by their Men of God roots but they have influences from heaven much different Men also are all of Adams clay but the gifts of God do manifest themselves in some so visibly that it is wisdome to give them place and but headinesse to fight against them This little boy neglected which fed the sheep and whom the father would not so much as reckon amongst the number of his sonnes this is He whom Samuel chose for King by Gods direction who commands not to measure Kings any more by their stature but by their endowments from heaven He comes first to the Court under the quality of a Divids entrance into the Court. player on instruments there he makes himself known for a good Souldier admired as Commander of an Army and crowned as a Conquerour Saul was tormented with an evil spirit which was maintained by his melancholick Humour and nourished by his passion They seek out for him a fair young man which withall was skilfull in playing on the Harp for to make him merry One of his servants said that David the sonne of Jesse would be very fit for that employment he is sent for in the Kings Name he comes he pleaseth while he played on the instruments but he displeases while he handled his weapons when as Envy Envy never sleepeth begins to cause his valour to be reputed for a fault Such kind of enraged asps never sleep at the sound of Musick his Devil is offended at this comelinesse is incensed by those gallant actions and even vomits its poison against those which cast flowers at it Saul knew not that God prepared him this little Musician for to be his heir if hee had known that which heaven intended to do with this child that would have sufficed to have troubled all the Musick He was at that time happy in his blindnesse and his first mischance was to have eyes which could not endure the lustre of anothers virtues This young shepherd which in his apprenticeship had learned to fight with Lions and Bears would go to the warres as well as his brethren who do blame that his curiosity and despise his person There must alwayes be some famous exploit for to put a man at first in great credit at the Court all that which is humane goes on very slowly and an ability is not gotten but by long experience But when God will put to his hand he gives to a man in one happy moment that which thirty years pains could not obtain The combate with Goliah Goliah was that that raised David Heaven had prepared this giant for to serve for a triall of his valour and for an ornament of his prowesse One man alone which had affrighted a whole army nine foot high and armed with five hundred pound weight of iron continues for the space of fourty dayes his stately bravado's challenging the stoutest of the Israelites to combate All their hearts are frozen at the sound of his terrible voyce there is not his like in the world which dares come forth against him The King propounds great riches and his daughter in mariage to him which would take away this blemish from the people of God printed on the face of the whole army by this Philistim David hereupon presents himself and goes forth to fight with him not with the guilded Arms of Saul but with a Sling The Giant scoffs at him and finding him sufficiently armed to defend himself from dogs but not for to set upon men he looks now upon this little body as a fit prey for some bird of rapine But this Champion of the Lord of Hosts reads a lesson first to him of Religion before he shews him his skill in fencing Thou comest to me saith he with a spear a sword and a buckler but I come to thee in the name of the God of armies of the God of the hosts of Israel at which thou this day hast scoffed with so great insolence It is written in heaven that this great God will deliver thee into mine hands and that I shall take away thy head from off thy shoulders and that I shall make a great feast for all beasts of prey with the flesh of this monstrous body and this shall be the means for thee to learn that there is a God in Israel He saith it he doth it he strikes his adversary with a blow of the sling in the midst of his fore-head and makes this mighty tower of flesh to fall in a moment this terrible giant cutting off his head with his own sword which put the whole army of the Philistims to confusion and lifted up the glory of the chosen people to an incomparable heighth Behold the fountain of all great evils that David suffered afterwards all the laurels that he gathered in the field of the battel carried an evil tincture of Sauls envy The great ones admire him the people applaud him he is the subject of the Songs of the daughters of Jerusalem which set him above Saul It is this musick that enraged his evil spirit and would The horrible Envy of Saul not give him any rest Goliah overcome in the opinion of all the world is still upon his legs to torment him here is the cause of his rage as it was before of his fear David must be destroyed because he hath saved the Nation he must be put to death because he hath restored the people to life he must be dishonoured for having upheld the honour of the
King he is sufficiently faulty because he is too virtuous They say that Love and Tears are learned without Envy is easily learned at the Court. any master and I may say that there is no great need of studying at the Court to learn Envy and Revenge It is a strange thing that Saul of a simple countrey-fellow should become so malicious and subtil a Courtier as to practise the most refined dissimulations of the Court He had resolved to destroy David and yet conceived that this duel with Goliah had set him in too high an esteem in the opinion of the people and that if he should openly attempt against his life he should bring his own into danger He thought best to bestow on him a chief place in the Army under pretence of honour which might be most subject to the violence of the Philistims believing that his courage would carry him into dangers and that the Philistims being incensed by the death of their countrey-man would no wayes spare him and that by this means his death would be imputed to his Destiny and not to the Envy of Saul But after that he saw that he returned from the manifest dangers with a crowned head with the applause of the people and that he behaved himself within the Kingdom with very great wisdome he began to suspect him more then before he took heed of bestowing great riches on him and married his eldest daughter which he had promised to him to another using him by this means injuriously Nevertheless for that his honour was engaged therein and that one might justly complain of his faithlessnesse he took advice to marry him to his younger which was Michol with very harsh and dangerous conditions making him to buy a thing that was due to him by the death of 200. Philistims conceiving that by so great a number of men and so many fights re-iterated he might be entangled in some mischance or if he should escape that the best that could hap was onely to gain a woman of a costy humour which would be to him but for a reproach and much discontent Behold how mans reasoning doth propound but Humane wisdome overthrown by the power of heaven God which catches the subtil in their devices and overthrows the designs of the malicious to establish his own counsels upon their ruines caused the victories and the marriage of David to succeed to his good content together with the good will and admiration of all the Court Jonathan the eldest son of Saul was so astonished The love of David and Jonathan with his valiant exploits his rare virtues and his incomparable brave carriage that he loved him as his own heart and bereft himself of the most precious things that he had to adorn him withall David likewise swears unto him reciprocally an immortal friendship These two souls to speak according to the phrase of the Scripture were united together with an indissoluble affection Their hearts were two fornaces which continually breathed forth flames of sacred love and might sooner be found without any thoughts then to be without thinking one of the other Their separations were as so many dyings and their meetings again did prevent their paradise The longest dayes were but as a small moment while they lovingly conversed together then they never perceived that the time ran away and they were departed from each other but with promise to visit again as soon as may be Each of them in their absence seemed to it self a wandring soul without habitation and without a body their spirits made wonderful transpirations for to joyn themselves together and talk to each other as in an Idea when Saul hindred their visits Poor Jonathan which was of an incomparable mildnesse The good offices of Jonathan declared to his father as much as he could the Innocency of David and the great services that he had done for the Crown and when he saw his spirit moved against him he was almost ready to die therefore he ceased not to represent to him with horrour of mind the monstrous impiety that it would be to sacrifice such a personage as he which had so often devoted himself for the safety of his Countrey the out-cry of the people and the vengeance of God At other times he dealt with him with sweet and persvvasive language causing him as it were to touch with his fingers the brave carriage and excellencies of David and assuring him that there was not a man in his whole Kingdome which was of a more harmlesse and pleasing a conversation and that it was the joy of his heart and his onely safety to have him alwayes at his side Saul suffered himself to be overcome with these his discourses whether it were indeed that he was perswaded Saul cleared for a while again returns to his evil spirit or whether he feigned himself to be appeased and suffered David whom he had driven farre of to return again near his person But this mad-man upon a day when he played on the Harp in his presence took his launce and endeavoured to strike him through therewith which he dad done if David by his nimblenesse had not avoided that evil blovv and lest that any should charge him vvith this perfidiousnesse he excused it by the distemper of his spirit Jonathan endeavoured yet another time this reconciliation but having been repelled by Saul by pricking words and vvith threatnings to kill him if he did not give over this his frienship with David he saw clearly that there was no more safety for his friend and gave him the counsel which was for himself the sharpest of all causing him to retire David goes from the Court and makes a sad departure from his friend for to avoid the unmercifull fury of his father These two dear souls on the day of this sad departure were pierced with a thousand darts of grief and were a thousand times upon their eyes and lips for to fly from thence and to mingle themselves one with the other The time past caused them to remember that which they had lost the present that which they were to lose and that to come was unto them a bottomlesse pit of terrour and affrightment They apprehended the one for the other as many dangers as there are upon the earth and sea and they could not promise themselves any thing but dayes without comforts and nights full of terrible dreams and torments They poured out so many tears and fetched so many sighs having no other eloquence but that of their hearts mutually wounded in their lodging that it was a thing vvorthy of compassion even of Saul himself This mad-man seeing that he vvas escaped out of David is pursued and escapes his bloudy hands vvould have caused him to be taken and sent forth souldiers for to bring him back But his vvife Michol having descryed the evil intent of her father advertised her husband of it and made him depart suddenly in the deep silence of
of their flying arrows overthrown scattered torn into a thousand pieces by the enterprise of a Jewesse Judith gives not her self the praise of this work it was God that acted in her who was the direction of her hand the strength of her arm the spirit of her prudence the ardour of her courage and the soul of her soul O how great is this God of gods O how terrible is this Lord of hosts and who is there that fears not God but he that hath none at all What Colossus's of pride have faln and shall yet fall under his hands What giants beaten down and plunged even into hell for kindling fiery coals of concupiscence shall smoak in flames by an eternall sacrifice which their pains shall render to the Divine Justice HESTER THe holy Scripture sets before our eyes in this History Greatnesse falling into an eclipse and the lownesse of the earth elevated to the Starres Humility on the Throne and Ambition on the Gallows Might overthrown by Beauty Love sanctified and Revenge strangled by its own hands It teaches Kings to govern and People to obey great Ones not to relie on a fortune of ice Ladies to cherish Piety and Honour the Happy to fear every thing and the Miserable to despair of nothing All that we have to discourse of here happened in the Kingdome of Persia during the Captivity of the Jews in Babylon about four hundred and sixty years before the Nativity of our Lord and under the Reign of Ahasuerus But it is a great Riddle to divine who this Prince was to whom Hester was married and which is called here by a name that is not found in the History of the Persian Kings and which indeed may agree to all those high Monarchs signifying no other thing but The great Lord. Mercator sayes that it was Astyages grandfather of Cyrus and Cedrenus that it was Darius the Mede Genebrand is for Cambyses Scaliger for Xerxes Serrarius for Ochus Josephus and Saillan for Artaxerxes with the long hand The wise Hester that was so much in love with Chastity is found to have had fourteen husbands by the contestation of Authours every one would give her one of his own making she is married to all the Kings of Persia she is coursed up and down through all the Empire and her Espousals made to last above two hundred years But as it is easie enough to confute the Opinions of all those that speak of her so is it very hard to settle the truth of the Chronology amidst so great obscurities The Scripture sayes that Mordecai with Hester was carried away out of Judea into Babylon under the Reign of Nebuchadonozor and if we are of the opinion that marries her to Artaxerxes if we reckon well all the years that were between those two Kings we shall find that this young and ravishing beauty of Hester which caught so great a Monarch by the eyes was already an hundred and fifty years old which is an age too ripe for a maid that one would give for a wife to a King It is impossible to get out of this labyrinth if we do not say that Mordecai and Hester were not transported in their own but in the persons of their ancestours and that that passage means nothing else but that they issued from the race of those that were lead captives with King Jechonias destroyed by Nebuchadonozor so we will take Artaxerxes and not divide that amiable concord of Authours united in this point Represent then to your selves that from the time that the Jews were dispersed into Babylon into Persia into Medea and through all the States of those great Kings they ceased not to multiply in Captivity and that servitude which is wont to stifle great spirits produced sometimes amongst them gallant men Amongst others appeared upon the Theatre the excellent Mordecai a man of a good understanding and of a great courage who by his dexterity and valour delivered all his Nation from death and total ruine He then dwelt in Shushan the capitall city of all the Kingdome and bred up in his house a little Niece the daughter of his brother an orphan both by father and mother which was named in her first child-hood Edisla and after called Hester Now as those great spirits that are particularly governed by God have some tincture of Prophecie he had a wonderfull Dream and saw in his sleep a great tempest with thunderings and lightnings and an earthquake which was followed with a combate of two dragons who were fighting one against the other and sent forth horrible hissings whiles divers Nations assembled together stood and looked upon them expecting the issue of the combate thereupon he perceived a little fountain which became suddenly a great river which was changed into a Light and of a Light transformed it self into a Sun that both watcred and illuminated the earth He knew not what his Dream did mean but he learned the Interpretation of it in the great combates he had with Haman and in the exaltation of his little Niece that was promoted to so high a splendour as to give both evidence and refreshment to all the people of her Nation This Mordecai being a man of good behaviour and quality found means to advance himself to Court and to make his beginnings there in some inferiour office expecting some good occasion to make himself be known He had an eye alwayes open to discover all that passed without any bragging of it He considered the approaches of divers Nations that lived in that Court the humours the capacities the businesses the obligations the intricacies the credit the industry of every one omitting nothing of all that might advance the benefit of his Countrey-men He quickly discovered the spirit of Haman who was at that time a mean Cavalier of fortune but ambitious close crafty revengefull bloudy and capable to embroil a State He had an aversation from him although he had not yet been offended by him and began to distrust him fearing lest he be one day fatall to his people Neverthelesse Haman with the times took an high ascendant and Mordecai feared his greatnesse as one would do the apparition of a Comet It happened that two perfidious Subjects Thares and Bagathan ushers of the door made an abominable conspiracy against King Artaxerxes which Mordecai who was not a drowsie spirit soon perceived and began carefully to watch them observing their goings out and comings in their words and their countenances their plottings and their practices He gave notice of it very opportunely so that being taken arrested and put to the rack they acknowledged the crime and were led away to punishment The King gave hearty thanks to Mordecai commanded him to live in his Palace in a certain office which he bestowed upon him and caused the day to be set down in writing wherein he had been preserved from the conspiracy of those unhappy servants to recompence as opportunity should be offered the good services of his Deliverer
Queen in Vashti's place putting the Crown upon her head Mordecai was ravished at this choice and walked every day from the first beginning that she was brought to Court before the Seraglio to hear news of her having recommended her to a certain Eunuch his confident that had of her a very particular care He sent her very opportunely necessary advice to teach her how to behave her self and above all he was so wise as to recommend to her not to declare the Nation whereof she was and to make no discovery that she had any relation to him which he judged to be to the purpose for fear lest Haman who was in so great favour and who hated naturally the Jews should ruine her before she had taken rooting in the Kings heart Behold a wonderfull sport of Providence which tooke a little stone with an intention to beat down a great Colossus and makes in one instant of an earthen pot a vessel of gold Men stand now amazed to think what wind drove this poor Jewesse to the crown of the chief Monarchy that was at that time in the whole world They think that sure it was a great chance but God knew that it was a great counsel digested from all eternity in his thoughts For if command is due according to Aristotle to persons that are most accomplished there was some foundation in the excellent qualities of Hester on which to set a Crown for beside the beauty of her body and the ingeniousnesse of her mind she had great gifts of virtues that rendred her lovely to all the world and might serve for models to all Ladies She was not a lump of flesh or a body without a soul nor a worldly woman that had no other Idol but her Beauty nor other Deities but Pleasure and Ambition as it happens ordinarily to most women who seeing themselves elevated to the top of the grandeurs of the age strangely corrupt their manners and dishonour their condition Hesters chief and principall virtue that made a most pure source of pleasures flow into the rest of her life was That she was devout and that being young of age frail of sex high of condition in a Court of an Infidel King amongst so many other Pagan women she never forgat God but observed punctually as farre as it was lawfull and possible for her the exercise of her Religion making her prayers with an incredible ardour and retaining a faith inviolable in the midst of the Empire of impiety She brought the King her husband to the worship of God and to the love of her people as farre as she could perceive any disposition in him She erected a Temple in her heart having not yet the power to build one in her Kingdome and directed all her Devotions to the sacrificing of her self She was also greatly to be commended for the little care she had of her Body against the nature of that sex which often preferres their flesh before God and all Paradise This appeared evidently at that season when she was to present her self to the King the second time since that in an occasion so important wherein all other women would have had an infinite care of their habit and attire she contented her self with so small a thing and yet in her naturall grace just as a rose adorned with its own leaves she obscured all other beauties even the most tricked and pranked Her art was to have no art at all to take what nature had given her and to render all to God Furthermore she brought to Court a great Humility and a perfect submission which she never quitted being as obedient to her uncle when she had the Crown upon her head as in her lowest age she hearkned to his advice she put it in execution she despised no body but her own self The habit of a Queen was to her a burden almost insupportable and she never found more joy then in her solitude There are few women that are born without self-wilfulnesse and without opinions that augment themselves with age and increase excessively in high conditions which makes us admire this woman in contemplating nearer her deportments and seeing how little she relied upon her own self but although she was endowed with a rare wit yet she hearkned to reason and without much ado yielded to good counsel which rendred her demeanour very happy and all her negotiations most advantageous Besides all this as God had chosen her for great things so he gave her the prudence of the Saints accompanied with a good judgement with docility with providence with discretion with circumspection and with expeditnesse in the execution of affairs To this prudence was joyned a courage and an incomparable generosity even to enterprise by a motive of virtue actions so dangerous that she could expect nothing from them that was lesse then death And for to crown all these virtues she possessed farther an illustrious patience taking every thing from the hand of God and suiting her self to his will in all the successes and events of the businesses of the world Behold the principall qualities that adomed this Princesse and that may be seen in those women that God hath gratified with his favours In the sequel of this story he makes us see the brave employment that he gave her in that Court of Ahasuerus to bruise the head of a great Serpent and to deliver her Nation from a gulf of great and horrible calamities Princes and great men would be happy if without dying by procuration they might live in person They are born often enough with most excellent qualities they are calm seas and killed with riches that might do good to all the world if the winds would but let them runne according to their own nature But as the Beauties of women are courted by many Lovers so high conditions have their flatterers that under a shadow of themselves Adorers make themselves Masters and under colour of Service exercise an Empire even over those that think they command the whole Universe Their name by this means serves for a Passeport to all mischeifs their Authority for a sanctuary to crimes their Taxes for tinder to concupiscense their Power for an instrument to revenge and for a scourge to mankind This may be manifestly seen in the sequele of this History where it is said That Ahasuerus exalted Haman above all the Princes and Nobles of his Kingdome and took the wickedst man of the earth to make of him the most puissant that Crimes might have as much assistance as this Monarch had power and riches His goodnesse was seduced in this point and his too easie spirit was gained by great appearances that stole him from himself and left him nothing but a meer apparition of Dignity This Haman which he thought at first to be a Persian an honest man an able and affectionate to his service was partly an Amalekite and partly also a Macedonian a sonne of the earth that had neither God nor conscience
and pierced it with his sword but finding himself cooped in by the multitude of men that were about and over him he could not make a retreat soon enough but was as S. Ambrose said buried in his triumph Yet Judas having perceived the puissant forces of the King saw well that the party was not tenable and made an honourable retreat into Jerusalem Lysias failed not to follow and to besiege him in his trenches with abundance of engines of stone and fire The other defended himself very courageously resolving rather to bury himself in that place then to yield it up by any sort of basenesse The besieged after some time were reduced to some extremity being combated by arms and hunger in a year of rest wherein the Jews according to their custome had sowed nothing and were no more in hopes to gather any fruits There was every where a very great desolation but as the favours of heaven happen often to good men in the bottome of their miseries behold an unexpected accident that provided farre other businesse for Lysias and his pupill Philip took his time and seeing his Rivall busied in that Jewish warre was resolved to ruine him and to make Eupator a companion of his misery seeing he had rendred himself the instrument of his will The deceased King had a brother named Demetrius who was at that time at Rome given in hostage having not the liberty to return unto his Kingdome Philip pricked with jealousie against Lysias failed not to solicite that young Prince to seize upon the Empire businesses being not yet well settled in the Nonage of King Eupator It was an injustice and perfidiousnesse against the sovereign but forasmuch as Antiochus the last dead father of Eupator had hereunto supplanted his Nephew by the same artifices Demetrius left not to hearken to it In those fair hopes of the Crown and in his captivity he was as a bird that torments himself in his cage upon the arrivall of a spring and burned with a strong passion to have his dismission from the Roman Senate to put in order as he said the affairs of the Kingdome and to assist the King his nephew after his fathers death But the Romans that took pity on the pupil by reason of Justice and that feared lest this man would embroil the State denyed him the liberty that he desired Philip failed not to possesse himself of the city of Antioch the Metropolis of the Kingdome and to tread out the way for Demetrius to his Nephew's throne There were men suborned that ceased not to sow amongst the souldiers and people That it was not a fundamentall Law in the Kingdome of the Seleucides that the Nephew should precede the uncle and although men had a mind to introduce it that the father of the pretended King had abrogated it usurping the Sceptre upon his Nephew that one should do his race no injury to render it the same usage that there was no reason to refuse a Prince of four and twenty years of age well made full of spirit of courage and authority to take a child that had neither strength nor counsel nor industry and which was born for nothing but to ruine all To this was added that it was not the bloud of the Seleucides that was upon the Throne but that Lysias Reigned and went about to render himself usurper of the Crown of Asia which was the uttermost of reproaches that so generous a Nation could endure to see a man of nothing insolent savage to make himself master of the most considerable part of the world and to exercise a tyranny upon men of honour and merit that oppose his pernicious designs These complaints often redoubled ceased not to stirre up spirits and to procure the change of State that followed Lysias saw well that it was not now a time to be obstinate on the ruine of the Jews nor to busie himself about the siege of one place when the whole Realm was a tottering He thought on nothing but on getting speedily out of that warre with some little honour thinking it not convenient to provoke a people mutinous enough in that commotion He caused the young King to look upon them with a quite other countenance and told him that it was best to let them live in peace without disturbing them in the matter of Religion assuring him that in all other cases they would contain themselves within their duty and that good services enough might be drawn from them Yet that he might not discover any lightnesse in this change he laid all the fault upon Menelaus that was an Apostate Jew and an enemy of his Nation who he said had been the cause of all the confusion by his railing speeches and therefore he made him serve for a sacrifice to that treaty of Peace in which he singularly obliged the Jews and washed away the blot that the favour expressed by him to this wicked villain had printed upon his face He shewed by this action the counsel that Politicians give their Sovereigns to abandon those to the publick hatred that have carried them to reproachable excesses to disburden themselves of the envy and if he had practised this example towards him that then made himself the teacher of it his Sceptre had been more secured and his life most lasting Lysias before he raised the siege of Jerusalem made an Oration publickly before the Principals of the Army and all the souldiery alledging fair pretenses for that resolution but taking great heed not to discover the chief cause for fear lest that news should wave the minds of those that inclined enough already to the side of novelty and sedition He used a wonderfull diligence to render himself before the city of Antioch into which he entred and Philip who found not himself yet strong enough to hold out a long siege quitted to him the place and fled away to Egypt This first successe puffed up the heart of Lysias who became exceeding haughty and considered so little the Romans in that high puissance that made the earth to tremble that he permitted an Embassadour sent to him by the Senate to be assassinated without shewing any reason In the mean time one Diodorus that had bred up Demetrius in his infancy transported himself from Syria to Rome and animated him by a great vigour of words and reasons to render himself an usurper of the Crown He certified him that his Nephew Eupator which was a child but nine years old was not any whit considered that Lysias was the object of the publick execration that he had confidence in no body nor any one in him that all the souldiery and people sought a new Master and that he was assured that if he did onely shew himself though he should be followed but with one servant onely all the world would run to him to carry him to the throne He kindled so strongly the ambition of that young Prince that he secretly stole away from Rome and made account
end to the miseries of his life Eternal Wisdome said Tertullian you cut your children's throats and use them as sacrifices as if you could not crown them but by their torments as if you could not honour them but by their punishments But why do we complain said a learned Father of the Church Joseph is free in this captivity if his body groans under the irons his spirit walks with God philosophizes with God and thinks that the recompence of a good action is to have done it Behold the exact method that Providence keeps in the conduct of her chosen ones One deep must call upon another deep the deep of afflictions calls for that of glories and the heighths of honour are prepared according to the measure of tribulations It is the gold that according to Job's speech comes from the Ab quilone aurum venit flante Deo concrescit gâiâ Job 37. North it is that divine crystall that is congealed under the breath of God it is those burning arrows of the Lord of hosts that cause those combatants to let fly their colours and that make wounds by communicating lights Joseph's prison was a school of wisdome where God spake and his servant hearkned to him having his ear in heaven and his heart in that of his Master A certain Grace that proceeding from the interiour of his soul spread it self upon his visage and made it self be heard in every one of his words gained him the heart of his goaler that used him kindly having already an high esteem of his innocence and of his virtue There are some men so happy that they find Empires every where which was the cause that this holy Patriarch obtained by merit the charge of all the prisoners that were companions of his misery and made himself by love the governour even of him that held him in captivity It happens in this accident that two of the King's officers his Butler and his Baker were brought into the same prison and given in ward to Joseph to administer to them things necessary for life He comforted them in their adversity and entertained them with good discourses and as he saw them one day very melancholy he inquired after the cause of their sadnesse and perceived that they disquieted themselves about their Dreams The Butler had dream'd that he saw a Vine with three branches which at one time was adorned with leaves with buds with blossomes and with ripe grapes and that after he had gathered of its fruit he squeezed it into Pharaoh's cup which he held in his hand and presented it unto him Whereupon Joseph foretold him that within three dayes he should be re-established in his office The other had seen himself in his Dream carrying three paniers of meal upon his head and it seemed to him that in that which was the highest of all there was abundance of the delicacies of his trade which the birds of prey came and snatched away which made his Prophet denounce to him an ignominious death The effect was answerable to the predictions in the limited time and the one died upon the gallows and the other was re-invested in his place But that being very true which S. Thomas hath observed that there be four sorts of people that easily forget a courtesie Proud men to whom one does some small displeasure though they have been at other times greatly obliged in divers accidents Base and mean persons that are unexpectedly raised to some degree of honour Children that are become men and Prisoners that are set at liberty The Butler was so ravished with his change of fortune that he was no longer mindfull of his friend the enjoyment of a present good making him lose the remembrance of the Prophecy concerning the time to come Yet Providence that would exalt Joseph to the highest top of honour at the time at which she had destined it sent Dreams to Pharaoh about the state of his Kingdome which caused great troubles in his mind there being no body that he could find able to resolve his doubts It was then that the Butler spake not being ignorant that this news would be most pleasing to the King and told him the Dreams that had happened both to him and to his companion when they were in prison adding the interpretation given upon them by a young slave an Hebrew by Nation kept in the same goal and the effect that had followed the Oracles of his mouth Whereat the King being much joyed commanded that he should be instantly fetched out of prison and be brought to be seen and heard by his Majesty which was readily performed for after they had trimmed his hair and cloathed him with a befitting habit he was presented to the Kings eyes who received him with much courtesie and having related to him his Dreams which were of seven kine fat and wonderfull fair that had been followed and devoured by other lean ones and as much as could be out of flesh as also of seven ears of corn extremely well filled that had been eaten up by other empty and barren ones he desired him to give him the Resolution of them Whereupon Joseph shewed a singular modesty telling the King that the true explications of Dreams and all certain and infallible Prophecies came from God which is the father of lights and at length opening his opinion said That Egypt should have seven years such as never were for abundance and fruitfulnesse that should be followed with seven others over which should reign such a barrennesse and famine through all the land that it should deface the memory of all that great fertility that had gone before And therefore he would counsel his Majesty to find out a prudent and active man to give him the superintendency of all the land of Egypt which should have Commissaries under him through all the Provinces that should cause diligently the fifth part of the fruits and the revenues of corn that should proceed every year out of that fecundity to be laid up and kept in the Kings granaries and magazines that should be distributed in divers Provinces for that purpose and that this would be a most secure means to remedy the great famine that should follow that long prosperity The interpretation of Pharaoh's Dream was admired and the advice judged exceeding good which caused the King thinking that there was no man in all his Realm more capable of that design then he that had given the invention of it to establish from that time Joseph in that Charge so important to the whole Nation It is a marvellous thing to consider the honours that this Prince did him and the high titles wherewith he qualified him God being pleased to shew in this that he multiplies the consolations of his faithfull servants above all the measure of the displeasures that they can have received for he did not content himself to give him the silk robe the collar of the order the ring of his finger to procure him a rich marriage
businesse fill'd them with such an amazement that their ranks being in disorder they killed one another without knowing their own party The people of Israel having received intelligence of that rout take heart again and get them out of the caves into which they had retired themselves to range themselves about Saul's person who was thereby transported with such an ardour that he conjur'd all his Army to follow the Philistims without drinking or eating till they were all destroyed This was a precipitation of his unequall spirit and a true Chimaera yet desiring to make that passe for Zeal which was a pure Passion he would needs cause his son Jonathan to be put to death for having sucked a little honey at the end of his rod but the people rescued him out of his hands and desisted to pursue the Philistims being not in a condition to fight with them Some time after Samuel exhorted him to enterprise a puissant Warre against the Amalekites sworn enemies of the people of God and conjur'd him to make every thing passe through the edge of the sword without sparing any body and above all to reserve nothing of the booty that should be made upon them that should not be consumed with fire To this Saul seem'd to be inclin'd with vigour and raised an Army of more then two hundred thousand men so great was the weight of the Authority when Samuel put himself into party He fell suddenly upon the Amalekites and defeated them with a generall rout so farre as to take their King prisoner but he contented himself with destroying and burning all that was caytiffe and unprofitable reserving Agag the King with the best flocks and herds and choicest moveables In the mean while he was so much puft up with this victory that he caused an Arch of Triumph to be erected to himself and spread himself in the vanities of his spirit while God was thinking of rejecting him and giving orders to Samuel to tell him his unhappinesse Yet Saul blind in his sin received the man of God into his Camp with an extraordinary joy vaunting himself for having efficaciously fulfilled the commandment of God and while he was speaking it the voyce of the Flocks that he had put aside was heard whereupon Samuel said What means this Cattle that strikes my ears with its bleatings To which he answered That he had reserved them expresly for an offering to the living God But Samuel replyed That there was no Sacrifice so pleasing to God as Obedience and that Sin which was contrary to him was a kind of Idolatry and that since he had despised the Word of God he should be cast off and deprived of the Kingdome whereat he being astonished confessed that he had offended hearkning more to the voyce of the People then to that of God and beseeched Samuel to excuse his sinne to bear with his infirmities and to go with him to the sacrifice to adore God in sign of reconciliation Whereto Samuel replyed that he would have no more any thing common with a man whom God had abandon'd and saying this steps forward and turns his back to him the other layes hold on the fringe of his robe which remained in his hands which when the Prophet saw Behold said he how your Kingdome shall be divided and given to a better then your self The Triumpher of Israel the true God of hosts is not as a man to change his purposes and repent him of his counsels The King humbled himself again acknowledging his fault and beseeching Samuel earnestly not to leave him but to render him the ordinary respect before the Princes of the people and to come and worship God with him Samuel fearing the disorder of the Army consented for that time but afterward never saw Saul any more to the day of his death He ceased not to weep bitterly for him considering that he that had been chosen by his hand had come to so little good and had carried himself with so much contempt of the commandments of God This wounded his heart and would not let him put an end to his mournings till his great Master comforted him and suggested David to him who should fill up worthily the place that Samuel was about to lose by his iniquity And indeed he performed then a bold enterprise going to Bethleem under colour of a Sacrifice and Anointing David King in Saul's life time although that design was secret that it might be managed with more successe After that time Saul was left visibly by God possessed with an evil spirit and gnawed perpetually with jealousies of State which the person of David caused in him by reason of his valour and great virtues as I shall declare in the following Elogy In the mean while Samuel lived retired from Court without meddling with Sate-affairs and Saul by his departure changed the sins of Vanity and of Fearfulnesse into Sacrilegies and Massacres letting loose the bridle to his fury to retain the phantasme of an Empire that flew out of his hands Good Samuel ceased not in his solitude to bewail two King that he had made looking upon one as an homicide and the other as a sacrifice of death He was afflicted inconsolably to hear of the deportments of that furious Saul that made of one wickednesse a degree to passe unto another inventing every day new butcheries to cement his Throne with the bloud of his brethren He melted himself with compassion for his poor David seeing Saul's sword hang but by a little thread alwayes ready to fall upon his innocent head He deplored the miseries of the poor people which he could not any longer remedy and passing over again in his remembrance all the vicissitudes of mans life and the treacheries of the Court he had an ardent thirst to depart out of this world to go to find Innocence in the bosome of his Fathers God heard him and drew him to himself by a peaceable death the seventy and seventh year of his age the eight and thirtieth of his Government and the seventh after his retreat from Court He was mourned and lamented for by all the people as the Father of his Countrey and magnificent Funeralls were made for him to render him a testimony at his death of the commendable actions of his holy and generous life Saul remained yet two years upon the Throne after him and the Even before his great overthrow the Soul of Samuel returned from Limbus not by the work of the Pythonesse but by the will of God and spake to him and told him of his disastre as I have said in the Maxim of the Immortality of Souls DANIEL DAniel entred into the Court by Captivity stayed there by Mortification made himself known by Prophecy and there also rendred himself renowned by great Virtues To comprehend this it is necessary to know that the little Kingdome of Judea was ordinarily very much exposed to the Armies of the Assyrians which God had chosen to be scourges and the
sufficiently in the favour of the King endeavoured to destroy him in that occasion He would not suddenly forsake the Court as one scar'd but assuring himself of Gods protection he presented himself to the Captain of the Guard praying him to make some surcease upon that rigorous Edict and not to dip his hands in bloud by the death of so many men but to permit him onely to present himself to the King and he hoped to give him all content In this he shewed himself very prudent there being nothing better in troublesome affairs and very sudden then to bring some retardment whilst the spirit may give it self leasure to come to it self again and to find expediments to get out of an ill way He spake to the King expressing much compassion even for them that bore him envy and desired some delay which was very reasonable to resolve so crabbed a Question Now when he saw well that it passed the capacity of any created spirit he had recourse to the Creatour by most humble and most fervent prayers which he recommended also to his dear companions that all conspiring to the same design they might the more easily obtain the mercy and the illumination of God in so great and so profound a secret It is thus that good men proceed in all businesses of importance distrusting all their own managery if it be not directed from on high Their prayers redoubled day and night one upon the other forced heaven with a pious violence and the Dream with its Interpretation was revealed to Daniel in the midst of his most ardent Devotions He felt his spirit touched with a glimpse of the first light and saw as in a mirrour all that had passed in Nebuchadonozor's mind with such a certainty as permitted him not to doubt of it Then he was not like Archimedes who having found some secret of the Mathematicks as he was in a Bath leapt out all naked by a strange transport crying through the streets I have found it I have found it This is ordinary to spirits that have nothing in their head but vanity but holy Daniel cryes out thereon Let the name of God be blessed for ever for to him belongeth wisdome and strength It is he that distributeth wisdome to the true Sages and that bestows knowledge on those that range themselves under his Discipline It is he that reveals things hidden in the most deep abysses and knows that which is buried in the most thick darknesse and light dwells perpetually with him I praise thee and I confesse thee from the bottome of my heart the God of my fathers that hast given this strength of spirit and this understanding to penetrate the Kings secret He spake many such like words and rising from his prayer he went to seek the Captain of the Guard whom he besought to save the Sages of Babylon and to cause no more to die because he had found out the secret that was searched after by the Prince which the other received with much joy and failed not immediately to carry news of it to the King who caused Daniel to be called of whom he demanded the performance of his promise Then the Prophet using a great prudence and a singular modesty excused all the Sages of Chaldea that could not find out the Kings secret thoughts and vanted not himself to know them by his own sufficiency but by the inspiration of the God whom he adored In which he expressed a great wisdome and a generous humility not giving any praise to himself but transferring all the glory to the living God that he might work in the King an high esteem of the true Religion S. Gregory saith That those that seek their own glory in the Commission they have from God are like those that espousing in quality of proxies a wife by order of their Master would play the Husbands not contenting themselves to be simple Commissioners Daniel abhorred such proceedings because he was a Starre that would shew his Sun and would not be seen himself but by his favour He made then a large discourse to the King his master and told him his Dream which was touching that famous Statue that had an head of Gold a breast and arms of Silver a belly and thighs of Copper legs of Iron and feet partly of Iron and partly of Earth and added that whilst the King beheld it in his Dream he saw a little stone come from a great mountain that strook the feet of the Statue and tumbled it down immediately scattering the Gold the Silver the Copper the Iron and the Earth as small chaffe dissipated by a whirlewind and that that little Stone changed it self in an justant into a huge Mountain and filled the whole earth After he had so subtilly touched the Vision of the Prince making him remember all that his imagination had framed he descended to the particularities of the Interpretation and said That he was the Golden Head of that Statue God having made him a King of kings and having given him Strength Rule and Glory with a Power over the Earth inhabited by men over the birds of the air and the beasts of the field Then he advertised that after him should come a Kingdome lesse then his that should be as Silver in comparison of Gold And after that second should arise a third resembling Brasse that should command over the whole earth And after that a fourth which as Iron should subdue and break in pieces all that it should meet with And as for that that he had seen the Feet of the Statue composed of Iron and Clay it meant that there should be a great inequality and disproportion in that last Empire by reason of the mixture of very differing parts that could not be fitted well together In fine that God would raise up a Kingdome of Heaven signified by that little Stone that should crush the other Kingdomes and should remain stable to all Eternity The King was so transported with Daniel's discourse that he rose suddenly from his Throne and bending with his face to the earth worshipped him commanding that Sacrifices and Incense should be offered to him and publishing highly that his God was the God of gods and the Lord of kings to whom alone it belonged to reveal Mysteries since he could penetrate into such a secret Wisdome was never upon so high a Throne as to see the proudest of Monarchs at her feet Yet Daniel well knew how to moderate the transports of his spirit and by shewing him the nothing of the creature to draw him to the worship and honour of the Creatour which was the master of Knowledge and source of all pure Light These are the wonders of the Sovereign Monarch to consider that a young man that came to that Court as a slave should find there suddenly in the esteem of his Prince the quality of a God he was shut up continually in his chamber and his spirit walked through the whole Universe he was a
hour of the day to remain shut up in the enclosure of a palace walls as old owls and to have no other pleasure but to make fire and bloud rain upon the heads of men What contentment to wax pale at every flash of lightning to tremble at every assault of the least disease to prepare poisons and haltars for every change of fortune to live for nothing but to make men die and to die for nothing but to make the devils a spectacle of their pains Is this it that deserves the name of felicity and the admiration of the world After that Josiah had drawn tears from the eyes of all the Kingdome the people honouring his memory set his son Jehoahaz upon the Throne who reigned but three moneths because that Nechoh puft up with his victory that would not suffer them to think of making a King without his consent came and fell upon Jerusalem and carried him away prisoner into Egypt where he died of displeasure and bad usage He took his brother Eliakim or Jehoiakim to put him in his place and to make him reign under his authority But Nebuchadonozor who esteemed himself the God of Kings could not endure that the Egyptian should intermeddle with giving Crowns came to besiege Jerusalem with great forces and having won it carried away the miserable Jehoiakim captive into Babylon with the flower of the city and the sacred vessels of the Temple when he reckoned yet but the third year of his reign It was a pitifull thing to see this infortunate King in chains after a dignity so short and so unhappy but this so lamentable a change moved his adversary to compassion who released him upon condition of a great annuall tribute He discharged it for the space of three years by constraint his heart and inclinations leaning alwayes towards Egypt and never ceasing tacitely to contrive new plots Besides he so forsook the service of God and abandon'd himself to the impiety of the Idolaters that the admonitions and menaces of the Prophet Jeremy that had foretold him of a most tragicall issue had no power upon his spirit And therefore Nebuchadonozor returned the eleventh year of the reign of this unhappy King and having conquered him again caused him to be assassinated and his body to be cast on the dunghill for a punishment of his rebellion He permitted his son Jehoiachin otherwise Jechonias to succeed him but scarce had this disastrous Prince reigned three moneths before this terrible Conquerour transported him with his mother his wives and servants and made him feel in Babylon the rigours of Captivity after he had robbed him of all his treasures and drawn out of Jerusalem ten thousand prisoners of the principall men of all Judea so that this deplorable Realm was then between Egypt and Babylon as a straw between two impetuous winds incessantly tossed hither and thither without finding any place of consistence Nebuchadonozor made a King after his own fancy and chose Zedekiah the uncle of Jehoiachin who was at last the most miserable of all the rest Here it it that Jeremy received a good share of the sufferings of his dear countrey and found himself intangled in very thorny businesses in which he gave most excellent counsels that were little followed so resolute were the King and Nobles to their own calamity He had been very much troubled under the Reign of Jehoiakim for as he was prophecying one day aloud of the ruine of the city of Jerusalem and the entire desolation of the Temple the Priests seized upon his person and caused the people to mutiny against him out of a design to make him be torn in pieces But it chanced by good hap that some Lords of the Court ran to appease that tumult before whom Jeremy justified himself and protested that it was the Spirit of God that moved to fore-tell those sad disastres for the correction of the sins of Jerusalem and that the onely means to shelter themselves from the wrath of heaven was seriously to embrace repentance and told them that it was in their hands to do him Justice and that if they used him otherwise they would shed innocent bloud that would rebound against them and the whole city Those Courtiers judged that there was nothing in him worthy of death and delivered him from the hands of those wicked Priests that were ready to assassinate him there being no persecution in the world like to that which comes from sacred persons when they abuse their dignity to the execution of their revenge After this shaking command is given him again to hold his peace and to remain shut up in a certain place without preaching or speaking in publick which was the cause that he dictated from his mouth his thoughts and conceptions to Baruch his Secretary commanding him to read them in a full assembly of the people which he did without sparing the great and principall men to whom he communicated them so that this passed even to the ears of King Jehojakim who would needs see the book and when he had read three or four pages of it he cut it with a penknife and cast it into the fire commanding that Jeremy and his Secretary Baruch should be apprehended But God made them escape ordaining that that deplorable King that had despised his Word and the admonitions of his Prophet should fall into that gulf of miseries that had been fore-told him The same abominations ceased not under the Reign of Zedekiah and Jeremy resumed also new forces to fight against them and to publish the desolations that should suddenly bury that miserable Nation then Pashur one of the principall and of the most violent Priests caused the Prophet to be brought before him to reprehend him for that he ceased not to fore-tell evils and to torment all the world by his predictions Whereupon he entred into so great a wrath against the innocent that without having any regard to the decency of his dignity he stroke him and not content with that caused him to be clapt in prison and chains to be put upon him This Divine personage seeing himself reduced to that captivity for having brought the Word of God and being left as it were to himself to do and suffer according to nature and humane passions was seized with a great melancholy and made complaints to God which parted not but from the abundance of love that he bare to him Ha! what said he my God have you then deceived me And who doubts but that you are stronger then I Who am I to resist you You have made me carry your word and to speak boldly your adorable truths to Kings and Peoples and for this I am handled as an Imposture and as the dreg of nature and the reproach of the world Behold what I have gained by serving you with so much obedience and fidelity Often have I said by my self I will obey the Magistrates I will hold my peace and remember no more the thoughts that God
Father in quality of a King Philip was married to Herodias the daughter of his brother Aristobulus and by consequence his Niece those Marriages being ordinary enough in the Court of Herod The Husband was a sweet and moderate spirit that kept his small Government very peaceable and pleased himself with rendering Justice to his people with so much ardour that he often stayed his Chariot by the way and heard the differences of the meanest people to reconcile them But the Wife quite cantrary was an Haughty Ambitious Turbulent Immodest spirit that was not content with what God had given her but tryed by all means to become Queen It happened that Herod Antipas under colour of a progresse or recreation went to visit his brother Philip who received him in his Palace with all curtesiâ and sincerity He amused himself in the abode that he made there to cajoll that Herââas his sister iâ Law that needed not much courting to be brought iâ Love so fickle was her disposition and so desirous still of Novelties They found that Antipas was not pleased with his Wife nor Herodias with her Husband they make an audacious and irregular complot which was to seperate themselves from their Mates under colour of a divorce and to marry themselves together Herod promised her that he would go to Rome and make her Queen which she could never hope for of her Husband who he told her was a man without heart and born onely to converse with inferiour people He made himself a brave man at his Sword Rich Valiant Happy Magnificent and his body was not ill made so that this false marriage is concluded between the parties and it is not known whether it began then by a clandestine adultery Their privacies were but too remarkable so that Herod's wife that was the daughter of Arethas King of Arabia had an inkling of them and dissembling her thoughts wrote to the King her father that she could no longer live with a dissolute husband that had no affection to her and that violating the faith plighted in marriage had made a promise to an adulteresse to espouse her Her Father was greatly exasperated at this affront expressing that he was ready to receive her to his Court and counselled her to steal away warily from her Husband which she did prudently enough asking leave of him to take a little journey to the Castle of Macheron which was upon the frontier to recreate her self This was very freely granted her and in the mean while she orders her fathers men to carry her away into Arabia Yet shee needed not to have studied her flight and to have made a mystery of it since her husband had no great mind to runne after her but had given her much annoyance out of a design to weary her and to make her escape from him of her own accord to have an excuse to the King her father when he should complain of him This departure of the Arabian suddain and meditated came to the ears of Herod and Herodias who made Bonfires of joy at it in their hearts and believed that it was an overture that Heaven had given them to the accomplishment of their design The wicked woman quits Philip her Husband and comes into Galilee to lodge in the Palace of her brother bringing with her a shamelesse daughter whom the deportments of the mother made men believe not to have appertained by good right to her husband Josephus out of whom we have in part taken this History doth not tell us whether the good Philip was much troubled for his wife but her insolent spirit makes us believe that he had no great reason to lament her This coming was coloured at first with the pretence of a visit that she gave her brother in Law but at last the businesse came to light and to cover the scandall of it a divorce was to be protested and a marriage feigned Herod had no want of flatterers and servile spirits at his Court that found out reasons to colour so great a crime He would have much desired that Saint John would have approved it or that staying near him without speaking a word his silence would have made the people believe that he was not upon tearms of disapproving it But this was to judge too basely of so high a virtue The holy man resolutely tells him that it was not permitted him to marry his brothers wife that it was an Adultery and an odious incest in the sight of God and scandalous to all his Subjects He advertised him of the obligations of the Law whereof he made profession of the examples of the good Kings that had preceded him of the chastisements of the wicked that had falt the weight of Divine justice He laid before his eyes how States passed from one hand to another by Injustice Iniquity Impiety and the filthinesse of those that Governed ill He put also into his admonition the contempt of God that was dreadfull above all things the interests of his brother the ill example that he would give his family the speeches of his people the judgements even of stranger Kings and as it is credible forgat nothing of all the considerations that were worthy to be represented to him The spirit of Herod was not altogether bad nor as yet forsaken of God He heard Saint John and conceived sometimes a remorse of his fault But as soon as he had seen Herodias he remembred no more any of those advertisements and durst not expresse that he had so much as any scruple of his marriage So imperiously did this cunning woman carry him She knew at last what the man of God had spoken and was transported with a fury that suffered her not to breathe any other thing but revenge and menaces She laid hold of an opportunity to her advantage and seeing this Prince besotted with her Love and in a condition to deny nothing to her inticements informed him as far as one may guesse that John was very dangerous to the welfare of the State and that that great deluge of people that he drew after him spake nothing good and that if he were a crafty man as he seemed to be he would be able to raise a sedition for the interest of his ambition and if he were but simple which she did not imagine there would enough be found with him every day that would abuse that simplicity that it was a great arrogance in him to find fault with the alliances of his marriage and to disallow of that which so many others as good men as he had approved of that she saw plainly that this tended to his ruine and that if Saint John could bring about what he aimed at she should be good for nothing but to be cast to Doggs and that that was not the recompence that she expected of her love and faithfulnesse towards him after she had despised every thing for the price and esteem of his contentment She ceased not to beat upon the
was wished him on the birth of his son did make answer that there needed not such acclamations for nothing could be born from him and Agrippina but what should be pernicious to the Empire Not long after this unfortunate man did die consumed with diseases that attended his filthy life and left behind him his son three years of age who saw his mother banished and being destitute of means was brought up in the house of his Aunt Lepida under the discipline of a dancer and a barber who did corrupt his spirit with the first impressions of vice which from his birth he was too much disposed to receive The times changing his mother returned into favour and by her charms prevailed upon the spirit of the Emperour Claudius the successour of Caligula a simple and The perfidiousnesse of his mother a stupid man who espoused this dangerous woman who afterwards poisoned him by a potion and so placed her own son on the Throne of the Cesars And although the Astrologians had fore-told her that he should be Emperour and withall the murderer of his mother she made nothing of it and thought it no hard bargain to buy the Empire with her own bloud saying Let him reign and let him kill me By the artifice of this wicked woman Nero was saluted Emperour in the seventeenth year of his age with a marvellous applause and in the publick acclamations honoured with all great Names and specious Titles all which he received saving onely that of Father of his Countrey saying He was too young to have so many children He was very tractable in his youth upright gentle discreet well-spoken and demean'd himself for the first five years very worthily under the conduct of Seneca But when he approached to the one and twentieth year of his age the ingredients of vice which with his birth he brought into the world the base education in his infancy the heat of his youth the delights of the Court and which is the greatest of all temptations the Power to do all did weigh down the Philosophy and the Instructions of Seneca who proved by experience That there is nothing more difficult then to perswade those to virtue whom too much Power had put in the possession of all vices His deboistnesse began by the ill examples which he learned in his infancy which were altogether unbeseeming his person he became a Tumbler a Puppet-player a Comedian a Waggoner a Songster and a Minstrel not for Recreation but to make a publick Profession of it to dispute with the Masters of those Faculties and to abandon all the affairs of Peace and Warre to be vacant to those exercises insomuch that he made it more to out-act a Comedian on the stage then to gain a Battle in the field He was also a night-walker and gave and sometimes received many sore blows which did not permit him to passe unknown From hence he laid himself open to most extravagant profusenesse insomuch that he gave to Tumblers the patrimonies of Consuls and made the funeralls of some inconsiderable men to equall the Magnificence of the Obsequies of Kings he never did wear the most gorgeous garments longer then one day He did build his Palaces with so much cost as if he would dispend on them onely all the wealth of Rome When he travelled he would be followed with a thousand caroaches and his mules were all shod with silver He made his halls after the form of the firmament where the vault being of gold intermingled with azure and illuminated with counterfeit starres did roul continually over his head and rained on him showers of flowers and waters of a most exquisite smell There would he dine from noon till midnight in the riot of execrable services He had a touch in his tender age of the vices of wantonnesse luxury avarice and cruelty but being in the beginning it was with some shame concealed in private But in the end he took off that mask by an open and inordinate dissolutenesse which knew no restraint He was of belief that there was not one chaste person in the world and took great pleasures in those who did repeat their filthinesse to him There was never man more abandoned to all manner of uncleannesse without distinction of kindred sex time place or man-hood There was not one part in all his body that was not sacrificed to dishonesty his polluted spirit made him invent those abominations which are not to be indured by chaste ears and with which I will not defile my paper The excesse of his insolencies did at last render him odious to those who were most near unto him and when they gently told him of his extravagancies he would leap into a fury and made a crime of their virtue who did best advise him He filled up the apprenticeship of his enormities with the death of Britannicus a young Prince the sonne of the Emperour His cruelty towards Britannicus Claudius and brother to his wife Octavia in which he imployed the most famous Sorceresse of Rome named Locusta who prepared the poyson and made an assay of it before him on a sucking pig who died immediately now finding it for his turn caused it to be served to his brother as he dined at the table with him The malignity of the poyson was so piercing that in an hour after he fell dead at the feet of his mother and his sister who were both present at this tragick spectacle Nero to excuse himself said That it was the effect of a great sicknesse to which he had been subject from his cradle and that they ought to be of comfort But the Princesses concealing their imagination for fear of provoking his rage did manifestly perceive that he sowed those seeds of his murder which he would afterwards continue in his Family It is almost impossible to believe the tender affection The love to his mother degenerated to misprision with which he prosecuted his mother Agrippina He sometimes did give to the souldiers that did guard his body for their word The good Mother He could not live without her He did put into her hands the most delicate interests of all his Affairs and desired that all things should stoop to her Authority The mother also did indeavour by all possible artifices to tie her self unto his person even unto the using of Charms for it is most certain that she gave him the skin of a serpent inclosed in a bracelet of gold which he carried ordinarily about him and afterwards in despite did lay it by and did look for it not long before his death but could not find it The endearments of this Agrippina were too fond and her kisses more hot then belonged to a mother Seneca was amazed at the horrour of it and to Seneca by a lesse evil diverts a greater avoid a greater evil he procured a young maiden named Acta who otherwise was a slave that came from Asia but very beautifull to serve as a
Acroceraunia beholding her self in that danger cryed out that she was the mother of the Emperour and that they should make haste to preserve her which was the occasion of her death for immediately on those words she was killed with the blows of the poles and oars Agrippina beholding this goodly pageant and being most assured that it was a design of her sonnes had yet such a command over her passion that she spake not one word and was saved by the swimming of one of those who were not of the Conspiracy The Frigots made haste to receive her and to convey her to her own house which was not farre off The amazement of the accident did not so abate her spirits but she sent to Nero to acquaint him That the Gods and the good Fortune of her Sonne had delivered her from a great danger but she desired him not to take the pains to visit her nor to send any of his servants to her because she desired to take her rest The dismall Prince who every moment attended The amazement of Nero. the issue of this most execrable enterprise was much amazed to understand that she had escaped the danger and counterfeited that the messenger whom his mother had sent was an Assassinate imployed to murder him He awaked Seneca and Burrus to demand their counsel and did remonstrate to them the danger in which he was if he should not throughly accomplish what he had so ill begun These two great personages did look on one another being unwilling to disswade him without effect or to consent unto it by reason of the horrour of it Seneca to whom the fluencies of Language were never before wanting held his eyes fixed on Burrus Captain of the Life-guard as if without speaking to him he would ask him if he had not souldiers enough of his company to execute that which should be conceived to be expedient but Burrus did prevent him and told the Emperour that the men under his command were too much affectionated to the Bloud of the Cesars to undertake so hardy an enterprise They both had a desire to divert him from so bad a deed for the want of an undertaker But the detestable Anicetas Admirall of the Fleet The death of Agrippina did again present himself to put the last hand unto the massacre He immediately with some souldiers did transport himself to Agrippina's castle he broke open the gates and found her in bed forsaken of all the world Assoon as she beheld three frightfull faces to enter her chamber she spake courageously to them and told them if they came to give her a complement that she had no need of it and if they had any other design she believed her son was not so wicked as to command her murder These villains without answering one word did begin the assassinate one struct her with a truncheon another had his sword at her bleeding breast to whom she cryed out and onely said The Belly Souldier the Belly that did bear the monster after which she gave up the ghost her body being hacked with many wounds Her corps was burned that very night and one of her servants killed her self before the funerall pile either for fear of the sonne or for grief of the mother Howsoever Nero caused a Declaration to be published in which not without horrour to the Readers he laid all the fault upon his Mother and after this he had never any rest for he dreamed almost every night that he saw his mother calling him down to hell and beheld unnumbred Furies tormenting him in the flames thereof For all this he desisted not from the nature of a Nero continueth his cruelties Tygre but to the massacre of his mother he added the murder of his wife Octavia the most innocent Princesse on earth The cause of it was one Otho a companion of his deboistnesse had taken from Crispus a man of quality his wife Poppea and in a fury such as Nero's himself had espoused her He told Nero so many wonders of the pleasures of his marriage that he gave him a desire to taste them thinking it would be a means to raise him to a higher dignity but the event was that the Lady perceiving her self to be beloved of the Emperour did totally devote her self unto him and did advise him to send her husband into Portugall under the colour of Ambassadour This cunning woman had a commanding beauty He salls in love with poppea and estrangeth himself from his wise Octavia a sweet and pleasing voyce and incomparable attractions and allurements She did leade Nero as a child and observing him so violently inamoured of her she would be his Mistresse without a Paramour and would not permit his own wife to partake of his bed For which purpose she contrived a detestable plot and caused the virtuous Empresse to be accused for prostituting her self to a player on the Flute who by his birth was an Alexandrian an accusation which could not be spoken without the absolute dislike of all good men nor believed by any but ignorant and depraved persons Neverthelesse Tigillinus the most intimate with Nero who was a great stickler in the marriage with Poppea caused the men and maid-servants of the Princesse to be examined some of whom being torn upon the rack did in the extremity of the torment let fall some untruths to deliver themselves from the intollerable pain others continued constant and there was a maid-servant of that courage that being in the midst of all her torments she said to infamous Tigellinus Know Executioner that there is not one part in all the body of my Mistresse but is more chaste then thy mouth There being not proofs sufficient to destroy her Nero was content to send her away into one of his houses and to be divorced from her under the pretence of barrennesse Not long after she was removed thence and kept under guard and was afterwards called back to Rome to appease the trouble which the absence of so illustrious and so virtuous a Lady had caused She was received with great applause of all the City which so alarm'd the spirit of Poppea that she threw her self at Nero's feet and did remonstrate to him That he should take no more care for his loves but for his life and that this return did tend to nothing else but to ruine him with her self and to make them both fall under the fury of the people That this was not it which she had deserved of his friendship and if he had rather advance in his palace the child of a player on the Flute then to have from her a legitimate heir that would give her leave to depart in a good hour and that she would look out her husband Otho in whatsoever place of the world she could find him She used such and so many attractions so many A hottible calumny counterfeit tears such sweetnesses and such rigours of love that she prevailed with detestable
Nero who by Anicetus the same man who before killed his mother did raise a horrible calumny against the honour of his wife and caused this instrument of the devil to affirm that he had played with the Empresse on which he caused her to be banished and poor Octavia as a guilty person did suffer under that wicked sentence and was banished into the Isle of Pandaluria and because Poppea could not sleep in quiet with Nero as long as Octavia was alive he filled up his cruelty and by a most unworthy death he sacrificed her to the appetite of that most bold woman whom afterwards he killed with a spum of his foot on the end of his life and of his Empire My pen is weary to describe so many horrours and doth go over them as on so many burning coals but my Reader it is to represent unto you that this pernicious caitiste causing the poyson of his evill actions to diffuse it self into the veins of all the city of Rome The world was in its heighth of iniquity when S. Paul and Seneca meeting together at one time did endeavour to cure the maladies of this wicked Court the one by Philosophy the other by the Gospel Behold here the manners learning abilities and the successe both of the one and of the other Who hath not Seneca in veneration a good Authour Johannes Sarisburiensis saith hath not the understanding of a reasonable man He is known by all knowing men in his Writings and mis-known by some in his Manners and his Life Suillius a Roman Advocate accused for corruption and banished by the counsell of Seneca at what time he was imployed in the government of Affairs did write a defaming Book against that great From whence proceeded the calumnies against Seneca personage which two Greek Historians but men of small judgement Dion and Xiphiline have followed and in many things have blamed him with as much passion as impertinence This Opinion hath infected divers spirits who either for want of capacity or application do discourse unto us of Seneca as of a man quite contrary to his Books which hath made me diligently to examine his Life to take away the abuse and to give you an Idaea of that puissant Genius with as much clearnesse as sincerity Know then that he was a Roman by his Extract His birth and Bloud He was born at Corduba a city in Spain which was then under the Empire of Rome and full of Italians who being born almost in all the parts of the world were yet born within the Circle of their Empire His father was of an ordinary family a Gentleman of no great account removed from the observation of the world and as farre from command as from ambition addicted above all things to the study of Eloquence reasonably learned but of an admirable memory for having but once heard them he would readily rehearse two thousand names and two hundred verses His mother was named Helvia one of the most beautifull women in the Empire full of understanding and judgement of a high virtue and a rare modesty she had some knowledge in letters and an extraordinary capacity to increase that knowledge if time and custome had given her leave to take an advantage of it His elder brother was called Novatus or Gallion and had a great command in the Empire His younger brother was named Mela a man farre from ambition who lived in the house and studied Eloquence with his Father who in that regard did preferre him in his own judgement above his brothers But Seneca was nourished and advanced in Rome His Education and Spirit in the time of Augustus Cesar he received his first elements of learning under the Discipline of his father and afterwards studied Philosophy under Attalus and Socion In his first years he made the vigour of his Spirit the force of Eloquence and the abundance of Learning to appear so fully in him that he was admired by the most knowing men But that great spirit did by degrees consume his body which was lean and thin and troubled with defluxions and the ptisick which would have brought him to his grave if the cruelty of Nero had not prevented it He was obliged to make an Oration in publick before The fury of Caligula against him Caligula the Emperour concerning which that monster in nature who could not endure any thing that was great and praisefull and by a malignity of manners envied all professours of Learning did pronounce aloud that he had too much spirit and that they must kill him which had presently been put in execution if one of the Mistresses of the Emperour who knew Seneca and favoured him for his Eloquence had not perswaded him that he was not worth killing a lean poor fellow and one whom death would suddenly of it self take away from the world Howbeit he lived many years afterwards and increased in knowledge as in age and as much in Eloquence as in them both attending a more favourable time to make a manifestation of it Claudius succeeded the Emperour Caligula who was not a man for Seneca and though he was indued with extraordinary qualities for a Courtier yet the favour of the times did not much smile upon them His clear spirit and his brave works made him to be known in the house of Germanicus a Prince of the Bloud who was poysoned in the flower of his age and left behind him children of great consideration namely two Princesses who made themselves diversly talked of in Rome the one was Julia the other Agrippina the mother of Nero. This Julia took an affection to Seneca being much pleased with the beauty Dion doth distinguish them in his 9. Book and Suetonius chap. 29. of his spirit and the grace of his discourse He daily frequented the house of Germanicus being no lesse in discretion then in favour and wisely judged that these two high-born Princesses might one day contribute to the making of his fortunes But the Court is an uncertain sea where sometime a tempest doth arise when a calm is expected The favour of Julia in the stead of advancing Seneca did suppresse him and did almost overwhelm him without any hope of rising again although in the end it was in effect the cause of all his reputation It came to passe that Messalina the wife to the Emperour Claudius the most insatiable woman in her lusts that Nature ever produced did conceive an enraged hatred against the house of Germanicus and especially against the Princesse Julia because she was highly esteemed for her rare beauty and the high spirit of Messalina could not endure that any Lady should be praised at Court for her beauty but her self Besides she perceived that her husband whom she absolutely governed did make very much of that young Princesse she therefore caused her to be falsly accused for prostituting her honour and procured her to be banished the Court. An inquiry was made after those who
Prince what sinne hath he committed to espouse the most honest Lady in Rome called Paulina and to have lived with her in the condition of a good husband and in a perfect intelligence But he made love to the mother of the Emperour This slander never came into the thought neither of Tacitus nor Suetotius nor any other Historian who was a man of judgement It was onely the invention of an Impostor infected with poyson that dreamed of any such thing Agrippina had other manner of gallants and servants then Sececa in her Court she sought not after bodies made thin with abstinence and manners quite removed from such commerce In a Court so clear-sighted there could never be discovered any familiarities which might give the least impression of such a thought and which would have removed both the one and the other no Seneca did rather encline too much unto severity then to give any allurements to Agrippina The Glosser yet goes further and saith That he was His falling off from Agrippinaâ ungratefull to her What ingratitude he alwayes endeavoured to tie the spirits of the mother to the son in a perfect friendship and did not cease to redresse all breaches that might give occasion of offence But when he observed that Agrippina did mount upon the Throne of her son did give audience to the Ambassadours of the Nations did visit the Armies and when he heard her vaunt that the Empire came unto him by her means and that she would take it away from him when she thought good he could not digest it He preserved himself in that fidelity which he had sworn unto the Emperour but he never counselled him either to remove Agrippina or to displease her When Nero very warmly called him and Burrhus together and in a great fright told them that his mother had conspired against his life and that he was but a dead man if he did not prevent it Seneca remained so lost in amazement that in all his life he was never dumb but at that instant And Cornelius Tacitus makes no mention of the least word he did let fall that might witnesse his consent to so horrible a deed It is true that he composed the Declaration of Nero after his mothers He is excusable for making the Declaration death but it was by a rigorous necessity He found himself betwixt two desperate extremities either to leave the whole Empire at randome to forsake the Helm and the Vessel in the tempest and tender his neck to Nero or to find some lenitive to ease the calamities so full of virulence Some there are that do thus excuse him for it and say It was no marvel that he did deport himself in this fashion because he was near to Princes and that those who even make a profession of virtue do study their own preservation and oftentimes conceal those affairs which they cannot redresse For my own part I am of judgement that great men being in a place where they are obliged to speak if they should wilfully or timerously hold their peace do grievously offend God by their silence and that Seneca should rather have died then have adhered to Nero polluted with his mothers bloud and execrable to all the world He had before demanded leave to be gone from Court wisely foreseeing the tempests that follow but he could not obtain it nor resist Nero without putting himself in danger of his life You see there may be a time when an honest man should rather venter his life then give a scandall unto Virtue But his dissimulation could not help him from being made at last a sacrifice to his most cruel Scholar as we anon shall declare unto you But for the present let us demand and examine the Why Seneca having so many gallant qualities did perform so little in the reâormation of Manners cause why Seneca with so much Power Authority Eloquence Philosophy and humane Wisdome did effect so little for the reformation of manners in the Court of Nero and in the City of Rome It is without all doubt that the wisdome of Books was too low for so high a design We must make use of the grace of Redemption and the Bloud and the Gospel of Jesus to redresse such lamentable confusions Let us then behold S. Paul who at the same time did come to plant the Faith in Rome and talked with Seneca and made him to behold more excellent Light in the purity of his Life and Doctrine It is not my intention in this place to write at large Serrar Baran Cornel. the life of S. Paul which is already sufficiently known but particularly to touch on those things which he did at Rome when Seneca was in the government of the Affairs of the Empire Neverthelesse it is expedient to make a short recapitulation of the Times and the Voyages of this great Apostle to understand the occasion that did bring him to Rome and what he there did practise for the advancement of the Faith S. Paul being born in the second or third year of S. Paul came to Rome our Saviour was miraculously converted to the Christian Religion in the three and thirtieth year of his age By his Extraction he was a Jew born in the city of Tarsus in the Province of Cilicia where was a flourishing University from which came Antipater Archidemus Artemidorus Diogenes and Diodorus But S. Paul although he took his birth in the air of the Philosophers and had some tincture of their Principles did not amuse himself on the Philosophy of the Gentiles but retiring to Jerusalem he studied at the feet of Gamaliel a great Doctour of the Mosaick Law The zeal which he had for his Religion made him furiously to persecute Christianity from his birth unto the time that he was subdued by the Spirit of God and of a ravening wolf was made a lamb of the Fold Saul fell saith S. Augustine and Paul did rise the Interpretation of which name according to Hesychius is admirable to shew unto us that all things are marvellous in him even his name it self After his Conversion he preached in Arabia and in S. Paul falsly accused Damascus for the space of three years and did powerfully convince the Jews on the verities of our Faith who to divert the course of his Ministery in the imbroilments which then were raised between the King of the Arabians and the Romans did accuse him for having moved in the favour of Rome against the Arabians and their King Aretas who at that time held the city of Damascus and had placed in it a Governour of his own faction This Barbarian made an exact inquisition and would have apprehended S. Paul Baron Christi Anno 39 Cornel. in 2. apud Corin. cap. 11. who was then in the same city But his brethren the Christians were very carefull to deliver the Innocent from the hands of the guilty and shewing themselves neither slothful nor fearful in a busines of
Nature The Christians followed them melting into tears calling them their Fathers and their Pastours and besought them not to abandon their Flock But they with countenances as clear as are the smiles of the fairest morning did comfort them and did promise not to forget them in the other life They did exhort them to shew themselves courageous in Persecutions assuring them that they were the places of Pleasure where even the Thorns should grow into Crowns They both looked back upon Rome and beheld it as the field of their dearest Conquest And God did discover to them the effects of their Bloud how that Infidelity was subdued the Church was established in the capitall City of the Universe the Crosse was planted on the root of the Capitoll where they died as amongst palms and the odour of their Sacrifice did ascend to heaven As long as there shall be Intelligences and Stars above as long as there shall be Ages and Men below these two Apostles shall be beheld as the two Eyes of the Christian world The Fathers and the Doctours of Mankind the Gates of Heaven and Triumphers over unbelieving Rome which they have now converted into Rome the Holy At their Palmes all the Laurels of the Conquerours shall fade and the instruments of their Punishments shall obscure their Trophies The tongues of men can pronounce nothing more pleasing then their Name The Church hath nothing more precious then their Virtues nor more powerfull then their Examples nor more honourable then the Veneration of them The detestable Nero the year after these Martyrs suffered finding himself tormented with Furies invested with infernall Shades torn in his conscience by Vultures and wounded with sharp Razors being abandoned both by God and men understanding that Vindex from France and Galba was marching against him from Spain to revenge his Sacriledges he did fly away and killed himself it being impossible for him to die by a more polluted or a more execrable hand Queens and Ladies MARY STUART The most excellent Princesse Mary Queene of Scotland and Dowager of France IN the last place I will produce the History of the incomparable Queen Mary Stuart where in the height of its lustre I will represent unto you Innocence persecuted as much by the jealousies of love as State and that by a general combat of all passions on which she hath raised a Trophey by the invincible constancy at her death I have taken delight to peruse many Authours on this Subject and to draw out the truth from a confused Chaos where the malice of many passionate Historians had extreamly perplexed the Story and I have done it the more willingly because it is a service which I render to the first Truth which I adore To France which nourished and advanced that great Spirit To the King of Great Brittain who is honoured for his Bloud and Royal Virtues To Scotland who brought her forth and to England it self the sounder part whereof have alwayes detested the attempt which was committed on her person I must intreat the Reader to believe that there was never History more disguised by a knot of Hereticks never wickedness did carry more artifice nor calumny more fables or fables more colours or impiety more strength to crie down a poor Princess And this hath made so bold a noise that some Catholicks either too ignorant or too negligent not taking the pains to read and examine the reasons alledged were betrayed themselves to an indifferent belief of the defaming Libels of the Enemies of our Religion as if they would believe the History of Jesus Christ compiled on the reports of the Scribes and Pharisees A Calvinist of late the Authour of a Spanish History hath thrust into his Book many outragious reports against the Memory of Mary Queen of Scotland by a Digression stale enough which doth eclipse the light of the History and the Day of her passion If that man had any modesty he would have acknowledged his small abilities to be seen in print If he had any reverence he would have spared the person of a Queen If his heart had been touched with any piety he would have pardoned the Dead If he had in his soul any sence of honour being in the service of the King of England he would never have printed such insolent things to the disadvantage of his Majesty he would never have barked at the ashes of so great a Ladie Reader to make you the better to understand with what equity I will proceed in this Narration I will not alledge unto you either Sanders or Bosy or Florimond of Raymen or Father Hilarius of the Order of the right reverend Fathers of the Minims who have all wrote very worthily concerning this Subject I will derive the principal truths I shall produce from Cambden a Hugenot Historiographer of the Queen of England who hath wrote this Story not in Pamphlets running without authority but in authentick Memorials It hath pleased God that this person having a generous ambition to speak the truth should search into the Records and produce papers that had been buried which sufficiently do make appear the artifices of Elizabeth the innocence of the Queen of Scotland Reader Behold whither the abundance and the force of Right and Truth doth carry us that we take even our enemies for our Judges and Witnesses in this cause MARY STUART the onely Daughter of The Birth Education of this Queen Mary Stuart James the Fifth King of Scotland and Mary de Lorain Grand-child to the thrice virtuous Antonietta of Bourbon was a Queen who in my judgement hath equalled the excess of her disasters with the height of her glory and it seems her whole life was no other than a Theater hung round with blacks and covered with bloud where the revolution of humane affairs did act unheard-of Tragedies Never did Nature produce more beauties nor Grace more wonders in a personage of that high condition Never did Fortune deal more rigorously with a head which Heaven had made to support three great Crowns She was born in Scotland she lost her Father eight In the year 1542. on the ãâã Deâember on S. Lucies Day dayes after her birth she was brought into France at the age of five yeares and was nourished in the Court of Henrie the Second and Katharine de Medicis who did love her most entirely She was yet but as the Bud of a Rose which within her first infancy did preserve her Graces undisclosed But as she began to lay them more open by the increase of age we might then behold a Princess descended from the bloud of a hundred Kings who had a body formed and fashioned by the hand of Beauty a fine and a clear spirit a deep and a sound judgement a high Virtue and an incomparable Grace in her expressions All which made Henrie the Second resolve to give Her marriage and widowhood her in marriage to his son Francis to whom she was espoused about the
way capable to appease the troubles prevent the ambuscadoes or sustain the great charges of the Realm Therefore she ought to receive him for her husband and the Companion of her Fortunes and designs having both power will and courage to defend her in all conditions and that he would never suffer her to be in quiet but onely by the consummation of this Marriage This wicked man by this Counsel did promise to himself either to reign with him being his familiar friend or by this action to crie down the Queen and overthrow her Authority as afterwards it came to pass The Marriage is now to be accomplished and the Importunities of the Earl prevailed on Maries heart who married him in the face of the Church with all the ceremonies requisite to it Some have written that this virtuous Lady by reason of her beauties was strongly persecuted by diverse with daily motions concerning marriage And that the easiness of her nature which could not resist the great importunities and continual battels which love stirred up against her did bring upon her a deluge of misfortunes likewise her neighbour Princes who knew not the Artifice of her enemies did in the beginning blame her for having so easily adhered to a man who was so dangerously suspected concerning that she ought to clear her reputation from the least shadows of suspition wherewith Envy began to cloud it But who shall well consider a young widow of seventeen years of age placed in the furthest part of all the world where Heresie had over-turned all order and let loose the blackest furies of Hell for the dissolution of the State Who shall contemplate her alone as the morning Star in the midst of so many clouds without assistance without forces without Counsel persecuted by her brother outraged by the Hereticks betrayed by the Queen of England under the colour of good will sought for in marriage by force of Arms by the Princes of her own Realm he shall find that she hath done nothing improvidently in chusing those by friendship which necessity did give her by force and whether that there are times and revolutions of affairs so dangerous and remediles in which we have no other power left us but onely to destroy our selves 7. In the mean time the Lutherans and the Calvinists The persecution of the Queen of Scots by the Protestants did not cease to cry out and to bray against their Princess and having begun by in famous libels they prevailed so much by their Trumpets of Sedition that they kindled a war under the pretence of revenging the Kings death whom they had caused to be pourtrayed dead in a bloudy Standard with his little Son at his feet who demanded vengeance Bothuel who as yet was drunk with the sweetnesses of affection which he received from his new spouse was altogether amazed when he saw an Army marching in the field against him And that the clamour of the people did charge him aloud with the death of the King The Queen was struck into such a horrour at the report of the Crime that forthwith she commanded him to withdraw himself and never to see her more and although she was ignorant that his Courage and Valour were able to secure her from the tempest which was falling on her yet she chose rather to abandon her self as a prey to all the fury of her Enemies than to keep but one hour that person near her which she then onely knew to have had some ill designs on the person of the King He fled from Scotland into Denmark where after ten years tedious imprisonment he living and dying did protest that Queen Mary did never know of the conspiracy against her husband that those who gave the blow having demanded some Warrant from the Queen for their discharge she made answer that it was sacriledge to think of it so innocent a Soul she had This protestation which he made at his death before the Bishop and other Lords of the Realm was afterwards sent to diverse Princes of Europe and to Elizabeth her self who did dissemble it In the mean time the Rage of the Infidels did seize on Mary and did constrain her with execrable violence and treasons plotted under hand by the Agents of the Queen of England to resign the Kingdom to her son whom The fury and infidelity of Ambition these seditious people caused to be Crowned at one year of age to put all the Authority into the hands of Murray in the quality of Regent Not content with this they surprized her in a morning as she was putting on her cloathes and taking from her all ornaments worthy of her quality they cloathed her in a sordid habite and having mounted her upon a horse which by chance passed through a Meadow they brought her into a place out of the way and confined her to a Castle scituate on the lake of Lenox under the guard of the Earl of Douglas Brother by the mothers side to the Vice-Roy using her as a lost creature and with horrible boldness accusing her for the death of her husband and a design to invade his Kingdom In this captivity she was charged with contumacies by the Concubine of her Father a most insolent woman to whom the keeping of her was committed and by a disrobed Prior who did visite her and tendered her some Remonstrances to assist her as her Father Confessor And at that time some black and butcherly spirits did take a resolution to strangle her and to publish to the world that she had done it of her self being overcome by dispair What an indignity was this and what a confusion in nature and the laws of the world to behold that excellent Lady to whom grace and nature had given chains to captivate the hearts of the most barbarous That great Princess whom the sun did see almost as soon to be a Queen as a living creature She that was born to Empires as all Empires seemed to be made for her to be deprived of her sweet liberty to see herself severed from all commerce with mankind to be banished in a desart where nothing but rocks were the witnesses of her sufferings Nay which is more she is now become the captive of her own subjects and a servant to her slaves The poor Turtle ceased not to groan and often through the grate would look on the lake wherein every wave she conceived she beheld the waving image of her change of fortunes Not long after she entered into a deep melancholy when the evil spirit that fisheth in troubled waters did tempt her into thoughts of despair representing to her that since the air and the earth were shut from her she should make choice of the water into the which she should throw her self and end the langushment of her captivity by burying her self in a moment with her afflictions But as her pious soul was fastened unto GOD by chains not to be dissolved she fervently besought the Divine
eyes enlightened with the Beams of the face of God Consider the waves of the Ocean which cease not to carry the Memory of your Deeds unto the ends of the earth pardon your Subjects and wash away the stain which the effusion of that generous bloud hath made since you had rather be a Messenger of Reconciliation than to be the Bearer of Vengeance O great and illustrious Brittanie Is it possible that this bloud hath yet wrought nothing on the hardness of thy heart and that thou dost still delight by force of Arms to fight against Heaven to oppose thy own safety and to shut the gate against thy own happiness Where is that glory of thy Christianism which heretofore did make thee to be lookt upon as on a land of Benediction which opened her liberal breasts to give so many Doctours to Europe so many Lights of learning to the Church so many Examples of piety to all Christendom and so many Confessors unto Paradise Thy Kings by a pious violence have forced their way to Heaven and their people have followed their foot-steps There was nothing spoken of thee but obedience to the Church of Rome of Saints of Reliques of Piety of Combats of Virtue and of Crowns And since the devil of lust and rebellion raised from the most black Abyss hath seized on the soul of a miserable King thou hast sullied thy perfection thou hast destroyed thy Sanctuary the lamentable Reliques whereof are now spread over all the world and the sacred stones of thy Temples groaning amongst the Nations do attend the day of the Justice of God and the Re-union of the hearts of thy people in the performance of his service What hast thou done with the cradle of Constantine and of S. Helena who were born with thee to give Laws unto all Christendom What hast thou done with those precious stones which composed that Diadem the beams whereof did sparkle with admiration in the eyes of all the people in the world Return O Sbunamite return Return fair Island to thy first beginning the hand of God is not shortned his arms all day are stretched forth to receive thee If the insolent hands of Heresie have made them bars which have been planted for so many years do not think but the hands of true piety will tear away the disorders which protect themselves in the night of so corrupted an Age. Feign not to thy self imaginary horrours and overthrowings of Estates by the Inquisitions and Thunders of Rome The beams of the Sun will make the Manna to melt which no Power can destroy The bloud of this immortal Queen shall break the Diamond in pieces and one day work those great effects which we our selves cannot believe nor our Posterity sufficiently admire It is in your veins most mighty Monarch of Great Brittain where still her bloud doth run That cruel Axe which made three Crowns to fall with one head hath not yet poured it all out it doth preserve it self in your body and in the body of your Posterity animated with the Spirit of Marie and imprinted with the image of her goodness It is she who hath given you so temperate a spirit such attractive inclinations such royal Virtues and so triumphant a Majesty It is she who uniteth you with the Queen your dear Spouse with a will so cordial and with a love so perfect and makes your marâiage as a continual Sacrifice of the Ancients whose offerings that were presented had no gall at all in them The Queen of Scotland your Grand-mother was given unto France and France hath rendered you a Princess according to the heart of God and according to your own-heart a Blossom of our Lilies the Daughter of a King the Sister of a King the Wife of a King Royal in her bloud Royal in her Religion Royal in her Piety in her Prudence and Royal in her Courage She enters into your cares she partakes of your troubles She conspires with your Designs her spirit turneth unto yours and yours continually is ready to meet with hers They are two clocks excellently ordered which at every hour of the Day do answer one another Great Majesties of Brittanie carry the same yoke in the service of God and the piety of your Ancestours and as you have but one heart maintain also but one Religion Establish that which your Grand-mother of everlasting memory hath practised by her Virtues demonstrated by her Examples honoured by her Constancy and sealed with her Bloud CARDINAL POOL LE CARDINAL POLVS NExt unto Boëtius I will insert Cardinal Pool one of the most excellent Men of the Age before us who being chief of the Councel in the Realm of England under Queen Marie did know so well to marry the Interests of the State to the Interests of God that rendering himself the Restorer of Religion he repaired the Ruins of the Kingdom which were fallen into a horrible desolation His Birth most high and illustrious made him a His birth and Education near Kinsman to the King of Great Brittain as well by the Fathers side as by the Mothers His spirit did equal his Nobility but his Virtue did exceed them both and proved him to be the wisest and the most moderate person in all the Clergy The care of his good Mother did with great advantage improve his more innocent and tender years and omitted nothing that might either enlighten his understanding in the knowledge of learning or inflame his heart with a generous heaâ after gallant actions In his most tender age he testified a Divine Attraction His love of solitude which made him to eschewall commerce of company and secretly did inspire him with the love of Solitude He did delight in the Countrey life where the pureness of the Air the aspect of the Stars the ennammel of the Meadows the covert of the Woods the veins of the Waters and other objects did prepare him as many Degrees to mount up to God as he did there behold Beauties in the discovered breasts of Nature It was for this that he made his first studies near unto the House of the reverend Fathers of the Charters whose conversation he loved more than all the pleasures in the world which occasioned a certain tincture of Devotion and of probitie to pass into his manners which continued with him all his life From thence he removed to the Universities in England where he gave most admirable proofs of his Capacity On the approach of the twentieth year of his age His Travels he travelled into Italie where he beheld the wonders of Rome and had a tast of the rarest spirits in that Age some whereof did afterwards live with him and did much conduce to fill his spirit with the height of learning which made him to be admired by all and the rather because it no way diminished the holy heats of his Devotion Having travelled into forreign Countreys for the space of five years he returned into England where he was lookt
by our glorious Father S. Gregory the Great it is that which our Fathers have embraced it is that which they have defended by their Words their Arms and their Bloud which they have shed for the Honour of it Nothing is left for those to hope for who are separated from it but the tempests of darkness and the everlasting chains of hell It is well known that the change of Faith proceeds from an infectious passion which having possessed the heart of a poor Prince hath caused these reprocheable furies and the inundations of bloud which hath covered the face of England He hath at his death condemned that which before he approved He by his last Testament destroyed that which before he had chosen wherefore those who have followed him in his Errour may also follow him in his Repentance The Peace the Safety the Abundance the Felicity of the Kingdom are ready to re-enter with the true Faith which if you refuse I see the choller of God and a thousand calamities that do threaten you Return therefore O Shunamite Return O fair Island to thy first beginning feign not to thy self imaginary penalties terrours and punishments which are not prepared but for the obstinate The Sovereign Father of Christendom doth continually stretch forth his arms to thy obedience and hath delegated me as the Dove out of the Ark to bring unto thee the Olive Bough to pronounce Peace and Reconciliation to thee This is the acceptable Hour this is the Day of thy salvation The Night which hitherto hath covered thee is at the end of her Course and the Sun of Justice is risen to bring light unto thee It is time to lay down the works of darkness and to take up the Armour of Light to the end that all the earth inhabited may take notice that thou abborrest what is past embracest what is present and dost totally put thy self into the hands of God for the time to come This Oration was attended with a wonderful approbation of all the assembly and the Cardinal being departed from the Councel the King and Queen commanded that they should debate on this Proposition which was presently taken into consideration and it was resolved That the ancient religion should be established The Chancellour made this resolution known unto the people and did powerfully exhort them to follow the examples which were conformable to the advice of the King and Queen and the most eminent personages in the Kingdom This discourse was revived with a general applause for the advancement of the Catholick faith In the end he demanded that they would testifie their resolution in a Petition to the King and Queen and mediate for a reconciliation to the Cardinal Legate of the holy See which incontenently was done the paper was presented and openly read their Majesties did confirm it both by their authorities and their prayers and humbled themselves on their knees with their Grandees and all the people demanding mercy whereupon an authentick absolution was given by the Legate the bels did ring in all the Churches Te Deum was sung All places were filled with the cries of joyes as people infranchised and coming out of the gates of hell After this King Philip was obliged to go into Flanders by reason of the retreat of the Emperour his father Pool was left chief of the Councellours with Queen Mary who did wonders for the good of Religion of the State It is true that Cranmer and other turbulent and seditious spirits were punished but so great a moderation was used that the Benefices and the Reveneues of the Church did continue in the hands of those who did hold them of the King without disturbing them on that innovation all things were continued that might any way be suffered not so much as changing any thing in marriages because they would not ensnare their spirits The heart of the Queen and of her ministers did think on nothing more than to establish Religion to entertain the holy See to render justice to comfort the people to procure peace and rest to multiply the abundance of the Kingdom They did begin again the golden age when after the reign of five years and odde moneths they were both in one day taken out of the world by sickness which did oppress with grief all honest men and did bury with them in one Tomb the happiness and safety of that Kingdom O providencelnot to be dived into by humane reason what vail hast thou cast on our Councels and our works What might we have not hoped from such beginnings What wisdom would not have concluded That felicity had crowned for ever the enterprizes of this Cardinal An affair so well conducted a negotiation so happy a business of State and the greatest that was ever in any Kingdom whatsoever ought it not to carry his progress unto eternity Where are the fine plots of policy Where are the Arms that in so small a time have ever wrought so great an effect The Chariots of the Romans which covered with Lawrels did march on the heads of Kings did not make their wayes remarkable but by stormings of Towns by Flames and Massacres But behold here many millions of men struck down and raised again with one onely speech so many legions of souls converted with a soft sweetness the face of a kingdom totally changed in one Moment and made the happiest that any Ages have seen And after all this to find the inexoarble Trenchant of Death to sap in one day the two great pillars of Estate and ruinate the house of God which should have reached to the imperial heaven O how true is it that there are the strokes of Fate that is to say an order of the secret purpose of God which is as concealed as inevitable nothing can divert nothing can delay it The counsels of the wise are here blinded their addresses are lost their activity troubled their patience tried and all their reasons confounded Poor Brittain God gave thee these two Great Lights not to enjoy them but as they passed by to behold them Thou art soiled with sacriledges and impieties thou art red with the bloud of the Martyrs The sins of Henrie are not yet expiated and the ignominious passions of his life are punished by the permission of the Errour The Powers of darkness have their times determined by God they will abate nothing of their periods if the invincible hand of the Sovereign Judge doth not stop their courses by his absolute Authority It pertaineth to God onely to know and appoint the times of punishment and Mercy and there is nothing more expedient for man than to submit to his Laws to obey his Decrees to reverence his Chastisements and to adore the Hand that strikes him FINIS THE ANGEL OF PEACE TO ALL CHRISTIAN PRINCES Written in French by N. CAUSSIN S. J. And now translated into English Printed in the Year of our Lord MDCL The Angel of Peace to all Christian Princes IF it be
when the Sun obtained the middle part of Virgo or Astraea for he was to govern the world with the moderation of Laws He ascended with Lyra being to make a harmony and consort of publick tranquillity And if Scorpio did at the same time shew forth his sting he threatned the Sarazens and promised the Idumean Palms to him that should be born so often dignified by the Valour of his Ancestours The heavenly habitations rejoyced at his birth and the whole world welcomed the new-born Babe with joy Now no man thought himself miserable at this happy birth now no man thought himself happy whom that birth did not make so Upon that day France wiped away all the foot of Warre and shined clearly with refulgent ensignes of Peace We had that day as many prosperities as bone-fires and as many bone-fires as there are starres O Lewis beloved of God whom he seemeth to have regenerated in his sonne that very moneth wherein he was born O Anne late indeed the mother of a sonne yet alwayes a fortunate mother in bringing forth a sonne not onely to her self nor so much to her self as to all France He hath much of his Father and much of his Mother and by this very confusion he maketh the image of them both more gratefull and more amiable This new Isaac will make thee laugh O France and whom thou canst scarce hear speaking hereafter thou shalt see comforting How many chains will those tender hands burst asunder How many prisons will they open How many obscurities will those little eyes enlighten How many monsters will the feet of this Infant subdue and trample on Be silent ye waves be silent ye tempests and rages of the sea at the beck of such a gentle Prince and restore unto the world that serenrty whereof you have deprived it Ye heavenly Powers lend him long unto the earth and whom you have made so healthfull to the Nation make him also lasting Ye Fates keep off your hands and touch not this child but to assist him Let him transcend the years and actions of his Ancestours and being born mortall may he apprehend nothing but what is immortall May he love and desire to be beloved ever fearing to be feared Let the oppressed find him a deliverer may the unjust feel him an avenger may his enemies know him to be of a warlike spirit and may his Subjects attest him to be of a peaceable mind This Nativity ravisheth all my senses which I foretell shall be the beginning of an eternall Peace unto us Look down from above O Lewis upon such a sonne Look upon him all ye Christian Kings as your little Nephew give rest to wearied things let arms be silent at the command of so great a Prince so potent an Oratour nor let the tumults of Warre rock this royall cradle To you again Great Princes I wholly turn my self by whatsoever is dear I ask by whatsoever is holy I beseech you give peace to them that beg it or must beg without it give tranquillity to the world sighing under so many feverish miseries Make it appear unto us that you chose rather to be the Pacificatours of the world then the Subverters of your own Kingdomes There is a story how in that fatall War between the English and the French continued with lasting contentions and horrible slaughters a pious Anachoret instigated thereunto by God came unto the Courts of the two Princes that he might compose these ferall discords between them But being slighted in the English Court and negligently repulsed this despised but not despicable Augur pronounced many direfull accidents that should befall that Nation But travelling to Charles of France and finding him to be a prince of a gentle wit and inclined to conditions of Peace he foretold that the Kingdome being recovered he should have the Dolphin to be his successour who as he was the child of many hearty desires so he should prove the instrument of many joyfull enterprises The prophecy is inpartpart fulfilled with a prosperous event so tenderly God loves the sons of Peace accumulated with affluence of all good things Whoe're he be let him beware that shall resist and strive against the peaceable wishes of all men some grievous hand will fall upon him and his from heaven he shall meet with unhappy events in all his undertakings his life shall be cer-tainly troublesome his death doubtfull Best and greatest Princes consider and think with your selves that what losse soever can be pretended to happen by this league of Peace whatsoever can detract from your Honour or your Empire is recompenced unto you in the most fortunate advantages of the whole Chri-stian world This is rich indeed this is magnificent this truly Royal and to be propagated to the memory of all Ages Remember that you are Christians and govern Christians be you propitious like Gods unto men if you desire that God should be propitious unto you Whatsoever you enjoy of life is slippery and uncertain and your Dignities are full of frailty it is your Justice that hath reference to your Felicity and it is your Virtue that links you to Eternity There is a great and conspicuous Tribunall that expects you there sits a Judge cloathed with purestlight to summon you unto whom the most secret things are revealed whom the most involved and disguised actions cannot deceive no can he be overcome by perversities Before him must appear the souls of Kings devested of body fortunes Empires and be they just or unjust they must be examined by a most clear light There you shall hear the Edicts of the supreme Deity and the King of kings thundering in your ears the groans of the oppressed shall cry against you the tears of the poor shall speak against you the tutelary Gods will plead for their Altars which you have broken down and all the heavenly Militia will rise together against the contumacious Endeavour ye pious and alwayes invincible Princes that those things which have been committed in prejudice of your wills by the uncontroulable licence of War may be corrected by your Equity that they may leave no aspersion upon your Reignes no stain upon Reputations no blot upon your Persons Bring to passe that Justice and Peace may meet in mutuall embracements let them be carried with triumphall pomp thorow your Kingdomes and thorow your Cities let them be born upon the shoulders of the whole world unto fixed and eternall seat that it perpetually may be lawfull for us to worship and reverence them at the monuments of your goodnesse and the pledges of our felicity Pax super Israel Dei. FINIS AN ALPHABETICALL TABLE Setting down the most observable Matters contained in the two last TOMES of the HOLY COURT ABiathar the high Priest deprived of his dignities by a violent action 152 The wisdome of Abigail 142 The insolence of Abner 144 He treateth with David 145 His death ibid. Absolon out of favour 147 His reconciliation by means of Joab ibid. Absolons
famine 249 The qualities of the sufferings of our Saviour 60 Our Saviour hath suffered in all the persons of the just and Martyrs ibid. An excellent observation upon the terming our Saviour a Lamb. 88 The prudence of Saul 63 He found a Kingdome seeking his Fathers Asses 238 The excellency and defects that were in Saul 239 The resolute valour of Saul in relieving the men of Jabish ib. Saul being in great perplexity consulteth with the soul of Samuel 143 Saul cleared for a while again returns to his evil spirit 141 Saul marcheth against the Philistims and is overthrown in battell ibid. Sauls end ib. The shame of scoffing 82 The danger of Scoffing 118 The scoffs of certain rebellious Flemings severely punished by the generosity of Philip de Valois ib. Seneca by a lesse evil diverts a greater 272 From whence proceed the calumnies of Seneca 274 His birth ib. His education and spirit ib. He is banished to Corsica where he composed excellent works 275 His excellent complement ibid. He is in great repute 276 His manners ibid. He made a Libel against Claudius 277 His judgement on Nero. ibid. He is made minister of State ibid. He put the State in good order ib. His Maxims ibid. His opinion of the Soveraign good 278 His falling off from Agrippina ibid. Why Seneca having so many brave qualities did perform so little in reformation of manners 283 His constant and famous death 284 Sin corrupteth the goodnesse of Essence in intellectuall creatures 45 A civill shame doth hinder good designs 297 Shamefac'tness a reasonable passion 81 Its sources honour and conscience ibid. Three kinds of Shamefac'tness ib. The esteem the antients had of Shamefac'tness 83 The Queen of Sheba 154 Her quality ibid. The picture of Slander 94 There would be no Slander if it were not made Slander by thinking thereon ibid. Solomons entry into the Realm full of trouble 151 He is declared King ib. The bloudy entrance of Solomon after the death of David 152 Solomons rigour ibid. He cannot well be justified for the bloud of his brother ibid. The just punishment of God upon Solomon ibid. A wonderfull dream of Solomon 153 His knowledge ibid. The judgement of Solomon in the contention of the two women 154 Solomon his zeal to the building of the Temple ib. The fall of Solomon 155 The beginning of his debauchednesse ibid. Solomon is perverted in Religion 156 The estate of Solomon in the other world ibid. The prodigious course of some Stars 74 The evil opinion of the Stoicks to trust altogether to themselves without acknowledging the grace and assistance of God 283 The birth and education of Queen Mary Stuart 291 Her return into Scotland ibid. The death of Henry Stuart 294 Persecution of the Queen Mary Stuart by the Protestants 295 She comforts her self in prison and hopeth against hope 296 She escaped out of prison ibid. Her languishment in her imprisonment in England 301 Elizabeths hatred to her 304 The Processe against the Queen of Scotland ibid. Her invincible Apology 305 The unjust judgement given against her 307 The vain endeavour to delay her death 308 Queen Elizabeth chiefly to be charged for her death ibid. Her death and miraculous constancy 309 The Sunne is an hundred and fourty times bigger then the earth and in twenty four hours goeth more then twelve millions of leagues 74 T TWenty two thousand Bullocks and one hundred and twenty thousand sheep sacrificed for the dedication of Solomons Temple 3 Reg. 8. 63 Mervelsous Temples where Lions are tractable 46 The generosity of Theodora wife of Justinian 161 Procopius speaketh shamefully of Theodora but undeservingly 167 Her death 169 Theodat honoured by Amalazunta 162 His perfidiousness ib. He causeth Amalazunta to be strangled in a Bath ib. Theodat is put to death and Vitiges is chosen in his stead 163 Time stealeth away from us the sense of Evils 58 Timidity its causes and Symptomes 71 Remedies for Timidity in declaiming 72 Timidity sometimes turneth into insolency ibid. Remedies against accidentall fear or Timidity 64 Totilas is chosen king of the Goths 163 The carriage of Truth doth cost dear at Court 146 V VAlour of Charles the simple 117 Vagoa Chamberlain to Holophernes 185 Vashââ wise of Ahashuerus doth make a banquet for the women answerable to the King her husband 188 She is degraded and divorced ibid. The burning of Vesuvius in the year 1631. 73 Vigilius shamefully used 169 The slights of Vigilius to get the Popedome from Sylverius 168 He is again received into favour and afterwards dyed of the stone in Sicily ibid. The death of Uriah 146 W THe greatnesse of Wisdome 133 Humane Wisdome overthrown by the power of Heaven 140 Reasons for the modest love of women 7 Rare Amities of Women ibid. Modest amitie with women should alwayes be handled with much precaution 8 Observation of Jamblicus applyed to the amity of Women ibid. The opinion of Fathers concerning the Amity of Women 9 Shipwracks happening by the love of Women ibid. The love of Women dangerous 16 Hatred of Women 38 Humour of Women 45 Women among the Sabeans command over men 154 The artifice of Women 156 It s very dangerous to be observant to wicked Womenâ humours 167 What hindereth the production of admirable works 68 The attractives of the world are not very urgent 18 Z A notable speech of Zaleuchus 58 FINIS
from Alexandria for that he would not sign this proposition this drew compassion from her The spirit of Constantia tainted with this doctrine began already to cast an evil odour upon the Emperour her brother and Eusebius coming thereupon to make recital of that which passed in Alexandria between Alexander and Arius set such a face upon the whole business that he made as it is said the Sun with a cole figuring out the good Prelate Alexander as a passionate man who could not endure an excel-cellent spirit in his Bishoprick 'T is a pitifull thing that great men see not the truth but through the passions of those that serve them This poor Alexander who was a holy old man and grown white in the exercises of Religion was then presented to the Emperour by the information of Eusebius as a fool who under a grizled head had extravagancies of youth in such sort that Constantine Constantine deceived vouchsafing to write unto him taxed him as the authour of this tumult in that he put a frivolous question into consultation and gave occasion of dispute which could never have proceeded but from abundance of idleness And as for Arius he said of him that he gave too much scope to his spirit upon a subject which might much better have been concealed And for the rest they should be both reconciled mutually pardoning each other and hereafter hindering all manner of disputations upon the like occasion Alexander who had done nothing but by the Councel of an hundred Bishops seeing himself treated in a worse condition than Arius was in the Emperours letters and considering the blasphemy which this Heretick had vomited against the Divinity of the Word was reputed as a trifle thought verily they had endeavoured to envenom the spirit of Constantine to the prejudice of the truth For this cause he informed the other Bishops and namely Pope Sylvester of the justice of his cause answering very pertinently to the calumnies objected against him On Eusebius a true patron of hereticks the other side Eusebius who beheld the integrity of this holy Bishop with an ill eye and who had very far engaged himself to maintain Arius embroiled the affairs at Court as much as his credit might permit In the end the disputation was so enkindled through the Christian world that needs must a general Councel be held to determine it Three hundred and eighteen Bishops are assembled Councel of Nice at Nice a Citie of Bithynia by the approbation of Pope Sylvester at the request of the Emperour Constantine who invited the most eminent by express letters and gave very singular direction as wel for their journey as their reception Never was there seen a goodlier company It was a Crown not of pearls nor diamonds but of the rarest men of the world who came from all parts like bees bearing as saith S. Augustine honey in their mouths and wax in their hands There you might behold Venetians Arahians Aegyptians Scythians Thracians Africans Persians not speaking of Western Bishops who were there already in no small number It was a most magnificent spectacle to behold on one side venerable old men white as swans who still bare upon their bodies the scars of iron and persecution which were invincible testimonies of their constancy on the other men who had the gift of miracles so much as to force the power of death and tear from him the dead out of their tombs on the other part men accomplished in Theologie and eloquence who in opening their mouthes seemed to unfold the gate of a Temple full of wonders and beauties There was to be found that great S. James of Nisibis Paphnutius and Potamion There was Hosius S. Nicholas the first Gregorie the father of our Nazianzen Spiridion and so many other worthymen The good Pope S. Sylvester could not be present therat by reason of the decrepitness of his age but sent thither three Legats Hosius Vitus and Vincentius The Emperour received them all most lovingly kissing the scars of some and admiring the sanctity of others never satisfying himself with the modesty and good discourse of all both in particular and general Among these children of God were likewise some Satans adherents to Arius who discovered in their eyes and countenances the passions of their hearts These turbulent spirits fearing the aspect of this awfull assembly softly suggested divers calumnies to surprize the spirit of the Emperour which very naturally retained much goodness And for this purpose they presented to him many requests and many papers charged with complaints and accusations upon pretended domages Verily these proceedings were sufficient to divert this Prince from the love he bare to our Religion were it not that through the grace of God he had already taken very deep root in the faith In the end to do an act worthy of his Majesty beholding himself to be daily burdened with writings wherein these passionate Bishops spake of nothing but their own interests he advised them to set down all their grievances and all the satisfactions which they pretended to draw from those who had offended them and present them on a day designed They failed not to confound him with libels and supplications but this grave Monarch putting them into his bosom said openly Behold a large Zozom l. 1. cap. 16. proportion of Accusations all which must be transferred to the judgement of God who will judge them in the latter day As for my self I am a man nor is it my profession to take notice of such causes where those that accuse and such as be accused are Bishops Let us I pray you for this time leave these affairs and treat we the points for which this Councel is here assembled onely let every one following therein the Divine clemencie pardon all that is past and make an absolute reconciliation for the time to come When he had spoken this he took all the civil requests presented unto him and caused them to be cast into the fire which was much applauded by all those who had their judgements discharged from partialities In the mean space the Bishops before they entered into the Councel took time to examine the propositions that were to be handled and leisurably to inform themselves of the pretensions of Arius who was there present and who already felt the vehemency of the vigour of S. Athanasius though he was yet but a Deacon in the Church of Alexandria The day of the Councel being come the Bishops assembled in the great Hall of the Palace where many benches were set both on the one side and other Every one taketh his place according to his rank Baronius thinketh the Legats of the Pope were seated on the left hand as in the most honourable seats which he very pertinently proveth In the first place on the right hand sat the venerable Bishop Eustatius who was to begin the prayer and carry relations to the Emperour The Bishops remained silent for a Constantius in the