of all beholders Capoleon on a suddain left his Wife to watering the flowers with her tears to divert himself with this pleasing spectacle Vannoza though she said nothing thought never the less she durst neither follow him nor ask leave to do so knowing that to his suspicious brain this might bring some sinister ombrage of her fidelity and therefore sitting very pensively down in a close Arbour bathing her self in tears she discharged her self of part of her sorrows in exhaling these following regrets often interrupted with deep sighs To what has the rigorous influence of my unhappy stars reserved me must I thus dye before death's approach and like a criminal Vestal be buried alive Certainly when one has by a bad deportment merited punishment the rigour of the pain is somewhat moderated by the consideration of the justness of it but to suffer an unjust punishment is the rudest essay can be made upon humane patience and what patience so abused would not turn to fury Why should I bestow so much time on my complaints and none upon my revenge Dye then unfortunate Vannoza and by one generous death cut off a thousand daily renewing and languishing ones which every hour afflict thee The cold and pale-faced Moon cannot be more Icy than thy Husband nor the shades more horrible than his presence They deserve to live miserable that know not how to escape afflictions by a courageous death But must I dye then unrevenged since revenge to the heart of a Woman abused like me is a pleasure far sweeter than life Thus shall we set Furies upon our Cerberus who shall sufficiently torment him and make him experiment the extremities to which he hath reduced us She had farther pursued this furious discourse if the fear of being heard joined to the multitude of her sighs had not stopped the words that followed But this interruption of her discourse gave more liberty to her thoughts which came to nettle her spirit with the words which the Lacquey had spoke before her so much to Alcimus his advantage words which were oil to the flames of her desire It is an inclination incident to humane nature to desire that most earnestly which is most strictly forbidden And if this flame do seize so furiously on the green wood of man's spirit what destruction will it make among the dry In that of a Woman who is more fiercely agitated the more unable she is to resist She 's quite averse if you desire If you refuse she 's all on fire Thus said the Poet that best knew their disposition But if she desire a thing which she wants power to obtain then is it she strains the utmost of her subtilty to invent crafts and artifices to compass her designs and then God only knows what means she will not use to plain the way to her pretensions The effects of Lightning which we so much admire were never more subtile for as that will melt the money without touching the purse and the sword without prejudicing the scabbard so they will pass through bolted doors and scale the walls of the greatest obstacles by a most subtile sort of penetration Can any hope to fetter thus A crafty female Proteus The guards and bonds which her confine Will but help to aid her design And this indeed was sufficient to whet her appetite to call away Capoleon from her company to see the gallantries of Alcimus it did indeed prick forward her desire of taking her turn and leaving Capoleon's Company to enjoy the sight of Alcimus her self Thus she resolved to feed her eyes with this lovely object like the inconsiderate fly that rashly approaching the candle burns it self in it There was over the apartment whose walls bounded her liberty a Garret in which she pretended to be desirous of building a little Hermitage there to make a retreat for the better contemplating on heavenly matters like another Judith she considered that from thence she might pass to the main part of the House which fronted the street and was kept from her approach over the top of a Gallery which joined to her apartment through which Gallery her husband usually came to her His project succeeded to her design so that having made a Cabinet there of boards she made it be adorned and hung with Tapistry and Pictures so seeming to be very devout she used to shut her self in there to attend more carefully the office of the pious Mary though her heart bore the impressions of far worse actions than those of the busie Martha Being retired into this remote place she passed over the top of the Gallery we spoke of into the Garret of the main body of the house which fronted towards the street where through the window she might easily see there all that passed to and fro thus according to her desire she obtained the means of seeing the world Amongst others Alcimus failed not in the evening to come out to take the air richly habited nobly attended and compleatly mounted making his ordinary corvets and managery and as he bore innocency in his spirit so did he ingenuity in his looks and though he was not altogether clear of all faults yet that of a little vanity was the chief and he never harboured those unclean and vile thoughts which now seized the breast of this bird that thus peeped at him through her cage If according to custome he attracted the eyes of every one he even ravisht and transported with admiration those of Vannoza Cephalus never appeared so lovely to Aurora Endymion to Diana nor Hippolytus to Phaedra To see and to desire was but the same To her whose soul did now so fiercely flame Alcimus whom she had so often before considered did never seem to have half so many attractions The Eastern regions have fewer pearls the Spring fewer flowers and the Sun fewer rays than she fancied him to have graces and accomplishments and certainly if Envy with her squint eyes were constrained to confess the advantages which shined in this Cavalier what must that of Love do that penetrating eye which will often forge imaginary beauties in objects where there are none How did she blame the inconsideration of her eyes which could formerly behold such perfections with such an indifferency and not give a true report to her heart of the rarities they now too late discovered But what have I to do to divine much less to trace upon this paper the divers thoughts and passions which swell'd her breast the secret discourses of her spirit the irresolute determinations proceeding from her words thoughts discourses and determinations which made a Chaos of confused desires and extravagant projects in her imagination With hope she fed her self in vain Of what she saw no means t' obtain These views and passages as innocent in the one as pernicious to the other continued some days these being drops of water which still made the Furnace flame more fiercely and oil thrown upon the fire daily consumed her It
fix her Eyes upon him this was to stir up a devouring flame within her self of which she could not make him feel the least spark not being able to contrive a way to make him the least sign for beside that he neither thought of her nor of any of her Sex much less could he fix his attention on a Woman who had her face all covered with a veil and besides she had those watchful Eyes about her who look't but for an opportunity of her moving her Veil never so little to make report of it to the jealous Ears of him in whom a second Error would be far worse than the first What troubles still destroy her peace How her perplexities encrease Her Soul 's wrackt with inquietudes And sorrows which do never cease How plagues assault sinners in multitudes We have said before that Alcimus his thoughts were not also set upon Vanities but that he had some left for Heaven that he frequented the Church and Sacraments and was very punctual in his Devotions in a neighbouring Monastery There was a certain Sunday in which an eminent Fraternity of the City caused a great Procession to be made the solemnity and Indulgences of which drew a great many people thither to be partakers Our feigned Saint who was very zealous for gaining Pardons failed not to be there with her Mother Alcimus whether by his good or evil Genius I know not was drawn thither It was in this occurrence that Vannoza invented a stratagem as horrible as the end it was designed for was wicked Alcimus in order to prepare himself for the holy Table intending to examine his Conscience and discharge himself of the faults he should find there went to make his confession at the feet of his ordinary Confessor who was a Religious Father and Brother of this Monastery and who then discharged the Office of Confessor in that Solemnity Vannoza whose head was filled with other designs then those that seemed to bring her thither considered attentively all his actions remarking the place where he went to receive the benefit of Absolution intending like a crafty venomous Spider there to pitch her net to trap this innocent fly She goes a little while after as if desirous of the like Medicine from the same holy Physician there accusing her self of some little feigned crimes which made her admired by this holy Personage who judging of the Bird by her note thought he had met a soul made up of purity and perfection Thus did she cast dust or rather seemingly divine rays in the eyes of this good man which dazled them so far as to take her for little less then a Saint and as there is nothing of equal consolation to those that work in God's Vineyard in this troublesome office which of Confessors makes them Martyrs as to meet amongst the thorns of a thousand iniquities with which their ears are daily pestered the roses of some beauteous souls moistned with the dew of grace and which render a sweet savour in Jesus Christ this good Father blessed God and all that was within him did praise his holy name that he had yet reserved to himself in the world such holy souls and faithful servants who instead of bending the knee to Baal and worshipping the calves of Bethel did endeavour to work out their salvation with fear and trembling This crafty penitent finding by the good man's pious praises of heaven for the divine graces which he thought lodged in her Soul that her dissembled holiness was rooted in his belief having humbled her self the best she could with the most artificial words she could invent like bladders puft full of wind which bound the higher the more forcibly they are thrown against the ground so she continuing still a more zealous discourse and painting her self with the colours of a Woman most desirous to please God and preserve her honour sent out a flood of Crocodile-tears mixt with a sigh which seemed to proceed from the bottom of her breast which were followed with these following words Alas Father said she may I without offending God discover to you some of the imperfections of my Neighbour God knows that it is for no ill will I bear him for I desire him as much happiness as my self it is only for the avoiding a grand disastre which hangs over his head and which threatens no less then the loss of his life and the ruine of my honour Daughter answered the Confessor you are not ignorant of the seal of Confession the same thing you think in your mind you may as safely reveal here for whatsoever is buried in the ears of Confessors does never come to a resurrection Nor can I imagine you can think me so ignorant of the grand importance of these holy secrets which cannot be revealed without my losing both life and honour nor so wicked as to outrage my conscience so infinitely by so unworthy an action upon which accounts you may assuredly confide in my fidelity and freely commit this secret to my trust not distrusting the faithfulness to which all Laws both Divine and Humane oblige me I am to the Soul what the Midwife is to the Body aiding it in the discharge of that weight which presseth it down with an insupportable burthen It belongs only to you to judge in what my interposition may be serviceable to your consolation and fear not but you have met in me a true Paternal affection Thus spoke this good old Father whose Dove-like innocency well suited his name which was Simplicius comforting a soul whom he thought to have great need of his assistance Finally this crafty female having thus by her artifices prepossest his spirit spoke with a great earnestness to give the better colour to her dissimulation as followeth Holy Father it is not my distrust of your sufficiency piety or fidelity which causes me to speak these words which I would more willingly have buried in a profound silence the cause of it is the violence I must do to my self to reveal the inconsideration and imprudence I had almost said the impudence of another Notwithstanding which I will discover it since you assure me there is no evil in laying open another's faults provided it be not out of malice or an intention to defame him And moreover necessity constrains me to it a necessity exempt from rules and laws of Ceremony Though Father you are dead to the World and have few Concerns in Secular Companies and Conversations yet do so much of them come under your knowledg by the practice of your Office that you cannot but have heard of the name of Alcimus which has so much advantage in fame above those of other Gentlemen of this City and that you may the better remarque him I am informed that he lives not far from your Monastestery and to point him out plainly with my finger it is the young Gentleman who came not long before me to discharge alas I know not whether as he ought his
Judgments incomprehensible and his ways inscrutable How many malefactors have we seen dragged to punishment for crimes which they never acted and yet had other-ways merited death for more black and wicked Villanies which had been hid till revealed by their own discoveryâ— Sure God is just and his Judgment is right and he knows both how and why he punisheth Who can the Sun of darkness blame Or who ' gainst God complaints can frame Or say his Judgments are not right Who 's of Justice made up as t'other is of light The Sun had scarce restored his face all crowned with Rayes to our Horizon when Alcimus who had never closed his eye-lids but tormented with divers fancres leapt from his bed whose Feathers were more pungent than so many Thorns not able to find rest till he had reduced his Soul to its Centre that is to God who is it's true place and his Grace the Tabernacle of the God of Jacob he went streight-away to Father Simplicius to be cleared of all these Aenigma's which had overwhelmed him with so many inquietudes Simplicius suffered himself to be long press'd and intreated before he would grant him audience but the double force of obedience and condescention render'd exorable the charity which animated him Alcimus having declared to him the torment in which he had left him and the inquietudes which had robb'd him of that nights sleep I question it not reply'd Simplicus for a bad Conscience is an executioner to him that has not quite lost the sence of his Crime It is a good sign when one awakes from a lethargick slumber this gives some appearance of recovery but when one continues sleeping in the Regions of the shadow of death 't is a sign that the enemy of our Salvation prevails against Grace God be praised who by the healing Eye-salve of my Remonstrance hath restored you your sight and made you see the deplorable and dangerous state in which you before did sleep so supinely Be of good courage you shall not die but live to sing eternally the marvellous operations of divine Mercy My dear Father reply'd Alcimus I am now blinder than ever and more ignorant of what as I am your spiritual Son I suppose you ought to tell me more plainly ' cause that I may see as the blind man said to our Saviour for certainly however it be you ought more plainly to lay open to me the particulars of this report that if it be true I may say as David did to Nathan I have sinned or if it be otherwise with Joseph falsely accused and unjustly imprisoned I am innocent of what is laid to my charge Seigneur Alcimus said Simplicius pray speak no more of your innocence being so notoriously convinced otherwise you will make me believe you are one of those whom Solomon speaks of who think themselves clean and pure and yet are filled with filth and iniquity If the Infant but one day old is not exempt from sin as the Scripture tell us one of your age accomplishments and liberty that is free and dis-intangled from all sorts of love both lawful and unlawful may well be accounted A Bird as rare As black Swans are But think not to feed me now as yesterday you did with aery words for I have more serious affairs to look after and which do more justly merit the time which we imploy here in cajolleries and vain contestations I have have said enough to you therefore as Joshuah said to Achan Give glory to God in confessing your fault and reconciling your self by a true Repentance to him whom you have so grievously offended I know how unserviceable I am to you in any Function but this and you may find Companions enough in the World amongst whom to ease your itch of talking without troubling the repose and silence of a Cloister with the same Father replied Alcimus the giving glory to God by a true Confession is the sole scope of my intention for I see well the little credit which my words can obtain if not supported by this prop of Penitence and mixed with a Sacrament the profaning of which by a Lye merits no less the eternal Damnation for which cause I am more firmly resolved than ever to disburthen my Soul to you in a sincere and hearty Confession Simplicius knowing that there are twelve hours in the day and that the Sinner ought to be seiz'd on in the critical minute without further delay accepted this condition thinking this the only means to withdraw this Soul from the jaws of the infernal Wolf and from the open Gates of eternal perdition At this Sacred Tribunal from whence Lyes are banish'd under so severe Penalties the innocent Alcimus discovered the secrets of his heart to his Ghostly Father who yet took all this for nought but artifices wherefore after many menaces of the wrath of God if he remained obstinate in his will and after having pressed home to him this Sentence of Tertullian If thou hidest thy self in Confession here thou shalt be hid in the eternal Dungeons hereafter Alcimus answered Holy Father if the gaping jaws of Hell were now ready to receive me and all its dismal Inhabitants fitted to receive me I am able to say no more than I have done I only desire this favour which those that like you do mannage and direct our Consciences ought not to deny to the most miserable that you would please to endeavour to supply by your Interrogatories what you think wanting in my Confession David could not have forgot his Murther and Adultery yet he remain'd a whole year without consideration or discovery of it till the Prophet laying his hand upon the sore presently made him feel the smart and look out for a remedy Certainly reply'd Simplicius I may answer you as St. Ambrose did Theodosius who alledged this Example That you that have followed him in his sin if not in effect yet at least in intention which is the same Crime in the sight of God should likewise answer him in repentance And you Father answered Alcimus be pleas'd to follow Nathan 's steps in drawing this thorn gently out of my heart Simplicius thinking at this word that he had won the Town without losing time and designing to accommodate himself to this tender spirit which he thought to be sick of the most dangerous of all Feavers which is that of Love after having by many circumlocutions imitated the Chyrurgion who seeming only to anoint with Cotton dipt in Oyl the aposthumed breast of a delicate Lady does dextrously open it with a hidden Lancet so he by degrees at last brought Alcimus upon the point of his evening airings and motions on Horseback all which Alcimus confessed exaggerating like a true Penitent the excess and superfluity of his Habits and Attendance the pleasure he took in hearing the praises and applauses of those that beheld him and the extreme vanity with which his Soul was this way swelled Thence Simplicius proceeded to the street
the Soul yern after the Infants of the Spirit you might be capable to judge of that ardour which made those words boyl over from the mouths of Moses and St. Paul when they desired to be accursed for the good of their dear Children and Brethren in righteousness the day will come when you will know this verity and look upon that in me with a good eye which perhaps does now appear otherwise to you Your heart dear Father answer'd Alcimus is too right towards me to do or say any thing amiss what ever comes from you to me can never be received otherwise than well but withal I once more intreat you not to condemn me without hearing for judgment without preindication and prejudice without judgment is the high way to errour it is easie to impeach but not to convince to say not to produce witnesses to declare but not to prove if accusing will suffice who can be innocent what shelter for the good if the storms of the wicked be Oracles And Father since God injâ—â—â— it to obey him I am willing to walk iâ— an unpleasant path and shall gladly look â—â—on Capoleon as my friend and dear Christian Brother and I am so far from wishing him any evil that I desire him all sorts of good but since distrust is the Mother of security you must allow me to beware of my self and that not only of my life but of my Honour which every noble mind will esteem more than life In this temper of mind and having disburthened my Soul to you of all that laid upon it I hope you will not deny me the benefit of absolution Here Simplicius found himself surprized having to deal with a Souldier who knew as well how to feign with his Tongue as Sword one thing only he required of him in the Name of the Lord which was To shun all rash attempts in his just hate And make his wrath way to evaporate And principally for some days to avoid his accustommed passages in that street and at last by much conjuring and intreaty he extorted this Promise rather violently from his mouth than voluntarily from his heart this was not the first and free droppings of the Myrrhe but rather the second gathering extracted from the Tree by scratching it with Iron Instruments Alcimus left Simplicius more satisfied with his having disabused him than with his simplicity in so slightly believing the report and troubled withal that he could not learn from him whence he had had this advice for he would rather have suspected any person in the world than Vannoza whom he held for dead amongst its obscurities In what darkness and ignorance do we spin out the thread of a frail life Mean while Vannoza who sleeps little and the Devil much less are hatching mischiefs on all hands for whilst the one as subtle as invinsible blows wrath and malice into the ears of Alcimus the other as dangerous as visible presents her self to those of Simplicius to know the success of her false report for it was her principal design like another Eve to open the eyes of Alcimus by tasting the forbidden Fruit and to procure him to look diligently in his passage towards every part of her house from whence he was otherwise regarded than she pretended he suspected or Simplicius believed that she might thereby find means to make signs to him as Vessels stuck fast upon a Shelve or in other distress do for help to those Ships that pass by But she was infinitely astonish'd when she found by Father Simplicius his recital that she had ruined her own project and wounded her self by her own Weapon and by an ill-temper'd Plaister brought her Sore from an Ulcer to a Gangrene and further when she learnt that Alcimus had not the least thought or affection for her this consideration made her despair of success but to those who are irremediably overthrown it is a kind of comfort that they can fear no further mischief She took new vigour when she understood from Simplicius the indifferency he had for all her Sex judging that the purity and whiteness of this Paper would easily be susceptible of the first impression and that this green Wood once lighted would burn most fiercely Love being a Mystery in which the Apprentices are Masters She begun to project new Designes how to bring down that untamed Courage which was yet proof against all Loves Assaults and to recal this wild and untaught Hawk to the Lure At present she only told Simplicius that his Monastick life and Relious innocence rendred him less subtle in searching into the secrets of the heart and the spiritual wickedness of worldly thoughts and of those who under pretence of affection make it their glory to deceive believing that Heaven laughs at their Perjuries and Oaths which are only writ on running waters who hold for a Maxime That Love Wine and Secrets are worth nothing when they have taken the Air and that it seemed in our Age men had effaced this practice from the number of sins it being not only common but commendable finally that it was the shuttle-cock of Courts but the ruinous Arrow of hearts she only wisht him to beware of a surprize and since he had drawn from Alcimus a promise not to pass through that quarter of a good while that he should take care that he found a firm performance and long continuance See here how this subtile crafty Female spoke what was as far from her desire as intention In the mean time having painted her face with a lively joy she returned home rather dead than living with sadness so deeply rooted in her Soul or rather her Soul so deeply plunged in sorrow that she knew not whether it were fittest to reckon herself amongst the dead or living She had now lost the sight of her North-Star her days were now become but nights and the very sight of the Sun was disagreeable overwhelm'd with sadness sorrow and melancholy she did nothing else but sigh and groan like the solitary widowed Turtle bewailing nothing but the loss of the sight of her amiable Alcimus Was not I said she sufficiently miserable without adding more to my misfortunes To what new mischief do the Heavens reserve me having thus condemned me to perpetual darkness O thou Light of my Eyes how art thou clouded those short and little glances of thee which I once enjoyed did give me some sort of consolation but this sad Eclipse is insupportable which for ever deprives me of so dear an Object and which to me does seem the pleasantest in the World But come what will I must once more have a sight of my dearest Alcimus and I will never leave any way unattempted though never so dangerous before I resolve to perish Mean time the days slipt away and this Star never appeared O Nights far longer than those of Norway She oft stood Sentinel like another Hero but never could set eye on her Leander The confusion of her thoughts
and inconsiderate to submit my self to the captivity of the charms of unlawful love you would then think me stupid and insensible if before such a fire I should endure without heat or flame but be pleased to consider that our affections principally those that are grown inveterate are not put off so easily as a garment Would God we could as easily quit our habitudes as our habits as the primitive Christians cast all they had even to their garments at the Apostle's feet so I had presently deposited at yours all the passion that I had for this Lady But I pray consider which you know better than I how hard it is for the Aethiopian to change his colour or the Leopard his spots but still more for a sinner so suddainly to rid himself of that which is so deeply ingraved in his soul I hope nevertheless by the grace of God and the assistance of your Prayers and good Conduct to draw this thorn out of my heart which I once took for a most pretious and fragrant rose the impressions of which will hardly yet be effaced from my spirit though I feel sufficiently the pungency of it so that I now find how rational that saying was I see what 's good but my malignant will Bends me to love and follow what is ill Though this will be the very separation of my soul from my body by so violent an effort yet when it shall please God to break these fatal bonds of iniquity which environ me I will sacrifice to him an hecatomb of praises and every where publish the glory of his name All I can at present do is to protest that for the future I will do my best endeavour to efface out of my memory the Idea of so many graces and perfections that have enchanted it and essay to shut the gate against those thoughts which nourish my passions and finally to take that resolution which is incident to the most irresolute to hope no further where the evil is incurable I say not this because mine is so but I see by the firmness of this Lady that she is no less chast than fair and if she have attractions which make her be beloved she has no less severity to make her be feared and all attempts are fruitless upon one so firmly bent upon the conservation of her honour I will henceforth endeavour to extinguish my unlawful fire with the tears of penitence and seeing the waxed wings of my designs melted by so audacious an approach I will like Icarus drown them in that Sea of repentance It is fit I banish from my spirit those Idaea's which flattered my passion and withal seemed so delicious for instead of the contentment which I promised my self from their success I now see nothing attend me but sorrow and regrets Upon sound advice I find my self obliged rather to commend her vertuous resolution than to blame unjustly her holy rigour which now has proved the onely eye-water to restore the sight I have been so long deprived of And since she cannot be pitiful to me but by being cruel to her self nor satisfie my humour but at the expence of her Honour I shall shew far more judgment in making my retreat than I did in beginning my enterprize And I heartily bless God that having fallen it is into such hands hers and yours by whose assistance I cannot fear but to obtain a recovery and making profit of my misfortune have cause to say it was good for me to have this fall after which I hope to stand faster than before Judge now by this Discourse whether the Children of Darkness be not more in their perverse generation than those of the light and whether they be not more witty prudent and discreet and wsthal more accomplishâ—d for the bringing about their wicked designs Was not this cajollery able to pass not only upon the innocency of the well-meaning Simplicius but even upon the craâ—tiest in the world This good Father reply'd My Son 't is a good step towards health to be cured though you come somewhat late to repentance yet all is soon enough if well enough I told you before that all that smoke could not be without some fire and that your Mine would at last be discovered though never so secretly wrought But now God be praised who has melted the Ice of your obstinacy by the Sun of truth and that the acknowledgment of your fore-past fault promiseth us a future amendment and that which does most rejoyce me is to see you hope in the Divine Mercy which is an Abyss without bounds or bottom and will not let us want that which it would have extended even unto Judas had he not prevented it by despair to which the extremity of his grief reduced him He who begg'd pardon for his Crucifiers will surely do the same for those who with a sincere heart do now invoke his bounty whilst he is in the Throne of Glory performing the Office of our Advocate And after turning towards Vannoza which heard all this Mystery with that attentation and joy which you may well magine possest her to see her designs succeed so happily You see Madam said he our Criminal convinced by his own Confession What now rests but to condemn him not to punishment but amendment It is true we are here in a Tribunal where a free Confession serves for an excuse and where excusing aggravates the Crime A Tribunal where Mercy has predominance over Judgment and where there needs only a sound Confession of a fault to obtain remission since here we hold the place of him who hath said At what time soever a sinner returneth towards me my arms shall be open to receive him for I am the living God who would not the death of a sinner but rather that he should turn from his iniquity and live If Wine Women and Truth are asunder judged in Scripture to be the three strongest things in the world what must they needs be when united in one Subject We have here the Wine of Charity and Divine Love washing away the filthy putrefaction of this prophane Passion You Madam are that strong Woman which Solomon desireth whose price is above Rubies or the precious things the world can yield and have by your fortitude reduced to Reason this wandring Soul by repelling all his assaults But above all the Strength of Truth is greatest for you see that Alcimus confounded by the first Ray that it darted in his face To this Vannoza replied in the Apostle's Phrase for she wanted neither wit nor words to express it had she but had Grace to apply it better Not I Father but the Grace of God in me the Grace of God which often makes use of the weakest things to confound the strongest of a Rod to tame the pride of the Aegyptians and of the hand of a woman to behead the great Assyrian Captain But Father to strike now whilst the Iron 's hot what hinders but that as the
Ennuch of Candace was presently baptized by St. Philip you now speedily restore to him that Grace of which he had deprived himself by his bad designs The Passion with which Alcimus has hitherto been custamed is such that if violence be not used to pluck it from his Soul he will continue in his sin I in pain and my Husband in his evil humour You say very well Daughter said the good Simplicius for since the hour of death is so uncertain why should he delay converting himself to God who hath promis'd him as saith the glorious Father St. Angustine to receive him to mercy every moment but has not assured him to allow him space till death to cry him mercy It being but just that that sinner should forget himself in death who hath never thought of God through all the course of his life What think you of this continued he my Son Alcimus the Grace of God hates delays and he that presents it you to day has not promised to do so to morrow if you put your self amongst the foolish Virgins you must expect to hear that sad Sentence in the Day of Judgment Depart from me I know you not Will you by the impenitent perseverance of a wicked heart treasure up wrath against the day of wrath Will you be silent when you ought to speak and be deaf to the Voice of God who calls on you by me the Voice of the Turtle which summons you to a forsaking of your disordinate and irregular Passions Woe unto you if you keep silence There is a time to be silent and a time to speak It is a Malignant Devil which makes us deaf to the Remonstrances and dumb to the Confession of our sins from which I beseech God to deliver you I perceive you are in danger to defer your repentance a while during which time the Devil will return with greater fury to recover the prey which grace has almost snatcht out of his clutches and if he make himself once stronger and better armed in the fortress of your heart it is to be feared he will guard it so strongly as to keep out the holy Spirit and so your last errour will be worse than the first Consider that it is humane frailty to fall but diabolical madness to persevere Is it fit to consult hang backwards or deliberate when you are summoned to render your self to God and to quit the creature for the Creator to whom none is like than whom none is stronger whom none can resist nor any enter into comparison with â—iâ— Almighty Majesty Vannoza hearing this Discourse backed by the vehemence of that charity which animated this good Father who wrought upon his stoney heart as if he had been exercising one possest and fearing that the efficatious strength of this word Which converteth Souls uttered with such a vehemency of spirit should shake those yet but feeble roots which she had planted in the heart of this Neophite to obstruct his spiritual resurrection Alas said she Father in this new springing of his fault you must not press too hard upon his heart least you oppress it The gentle West-wind that makes the Flowers spring is sweet and fragrant but the impetuosity of the North pincheth and destroys them The first condescention which I found in him makes me not doubt of a second but to this end time must give assistance unto reason Your Maximes doubtless are good and prevalent but be the Medicines never so wholsome and well compounded yet are they not alwaies efficatious if there be not a fit disposition in the patient that receves them It is to be thought that Alcimus his Apostume is not yet ripe because it is still unbroken the time will come when like a good Tree planted by the streams of Grace he will bring forth Fruit in due season I know he now perceives at last The folly of his Errours past And in short time I hope see His Flames to Ice will changed he I conceive with submission to your better counsel it is fit to give him respite as to a bad pay-Master that if his levity should bring him to return unto his vomit it may take from him all excuse of having had too short a time to resolve and to pluck up by reason and the force of arguments a passion which has so long rooted in his breast Simplicius easie to work on as a true Monastick who thought that all the World like him proceeded in their actions with charity and sincerity gave his hand to this female-councel which he thought fit to be sometimes followed and sometimes not and that Adam and Pilate were equally guilty the one for following and the other for rejecting the the Counsel of a Woman Thus was Alcimus ballanced on the one side with Divine Love and with Humane on the other and at last suffered himself to be weighed down by the later directly towards Hell and Destruction I will not trouble my self nor the Reader with a Discovery of the progress and success of the artifices used in this unfortunate infection I would say affection but have spoken more properly then I intended nor declare in what manner these two impious Lovers abused the innocence of this good man to maintain an intelligence betwixt them Sometimes Alcimus making him believe that he could not or at least not so soon rid himself of this passion sometimes Vannoza continuing her false complaints and feigned fears whereby they made this holy Father their Shuttle-cock and through their joynt and deceitful propositions be entred into such real apprehensions of the loss either of the Soul or Body of Alcimus that it robbed him of his rest and his trouble brought him to a pining leanness In this Spiritual Cure he resembled those Physitians who not well understanding a Distemper take care of one part of it whilest the other part destroyes the Patient And as those Corporal Physitians know not the Disposition of the Interiour parts but from the relation of the Patient so these Spiritual ones know them not but by the report of the penitent which made the Philosopher say to a young man Speak that I may see thee and as the eye being single the whole body is thereby conducted by the aid of an amiable light so contrarily he walks in darkness whose eyes are clouded and how should our Spiritual Guides conduct us rightly through a holy discipline if we do not truly and sincerely discover our selves to them without disguising and deceit for which cause the wise man declareth that the Heart is deceitful above all things and a double Tongue is an abomination before God I will not here make register of the execrable subtleties of these fire-brands of Hell of explaining themselves to one another by an innocent Interpreter of whom one may say as David did of the Patriarch Joseph That he heard a Language which he had no understanding of but is the fault in the Sword if one commit Murther with it or of a