fame shall be perpetuated what will this avail thee when thou art dead what doth it avail thee now thou art alive One may often be praised where he is not and punished where he is The true value of each thing is in it self neither is it better if praised nor worse if it wants praise The Sun if it hath no beholders doth it therefore lose any part of its Light Is the Figg depriv'd of its sweetness the Flower of its beauty the Gemme of its brightness unless their perfections are praised and admired 'T is a great argument of a high and heroick mind to slight mens praises and to content himself with himself Thou losest thy praises if thou lookest for them for what in thee is praise-worthy How great is thy Frailty how much thy Misery how uncertain thy Salvation Shouldst thou persorm all that thou art obliged thou art still an unprofitable Servant but with what Face dar'st thou averr that thou hast done all to which thou wert obliged Fear therefore that thou art not within what thou art said to be without and reflect whether that is not praised in thee for which thou art displeasing to thy self Render to God what thou hast received from him to Be to Live to Vnderstand nothing will be left thee but Sin Since therefore thou art Nothing of Nothing thou canst not glory Thou wilt begin to be Something when thou shalt know thou art Nothing CHAP. X. Of the Government of the Body Of the Custody of the Senses How far the Body is to be indulged The liberty of the Eyes is to be curbed The excess in Apparel condemned 1. KEep close to this found and wholsome form of Life to give to thy Body so much as is enough to preserve thy Health It is to be harshly treated lest it should not well obey thy mind It is to be indulged not served Let Food asswage Hunger Drink quench Thirst Cloaths keep from Cold a House shelter from the injuries of the Weather as for other things which useless industry hath added as it were for ornament avoid and dread them for by them deceits are prepared against thy Soul Thou art Greater and designed for Greater matters than to be a base slave to thy Body which surely thou oughtest no otherwise to look upon than as a Prison of thy Mind and a Fetter of thy Liberty An honest and prudent man provides for it not as if he liv'd for it but because he cannot live without it The Body is the Instrument of the Soul And what Artist neglecting his Trade spends his time in whetting his Tools 'T is the property of a dull spirit to be imploy'd in the Bodies services 2. Since by the windows of the Senses Death enters into the Soul strive to lead them from the Earthly life to the Heavenly and wean them by little and little from an over-serious attention to the work they are upon that they may not too greedily immerse themselves in the delights of worldly Objects The Senses ought to serve not command The licence of the Eyes is in the first place to be chastised for they being very quick in their action and speedily transmitting the Images of many things to the Phantasie and from thence to the Mind will sow the feeds of grievous sins in the Appetite if they be not strongly barrocaded If the purity of the interiour Eye accompanies the rectitude of the exteriour thou wilt every where find the footsteps of God and when thou hast learned to worship God in his Creatures thou wilt sweetly raise up thy mind from them to the Contemplation of his Divine Majesty A trick'd-up Woman is an elaborate Luxury never fix thy sight upon her for thou wilt perish Frequent not Comedies Balls Dances Stage-plays for they dissipate the mind and so possess it with vain solicitudes that it cannot crect it self to Heaven When the Eye erres the Affection will be faulty 3. The Hearing is the sense of Discipline by which as by the Gate the notions of Truth and Wisdom enter into the Mind Hedge thy Ears therefore with a provident circumspection lest Falshoods instead of Truths and Folly instead of Wisdom should break into the Store-house of thy Heart Shut them against Slanders shut them against Murmurers shut them against Toys Idle talk and every thing which conduceth nothing to thy Souls profit As one who hath heard a Consort of Musick bears away with him that sweet Modulation in his Ears even after he is departed from the place where he heard it So a bad Discourse although it hurts not presently yet it leaves seeds in the Mind which stick longer and by intervals return Thou shalt by so much the more frequently hear God speaking in thy interiour by how much the less frequently thou hearest the talk of men All Odoriferous Perfumes made by Art belong to effeminate persons wherefore rejecting all sophisticated Odours endeavour by thy holy conversation to exhale the sweet fragrancy of Virtues Thou shalt check thy Tast by Abstinence and Sobriety Thy Touch by Hair-cloaths Disciplines uneasie Lodgings and other asperities 'T is better to afflict the Body and preserve it than by hurtful blandishments to destroy both Body and Soul eternally 4. Since the inward state of the Soul is most commonly manifested by the outward Dress and Cloathing of the Body remove far from thee such things as are the usual marks of a depraved and unsetled Mind Those Heathens who in old times were reputed Wise-men would not permit their Disciples to put forth so much as a Finger without some reason I enact not of thee so strict a rectitude but I wish and I here declare it that thou wouldst abstain from loud Laughter from Scurrility from dissolute Behaviour from gesticulations of Hands from an over-hasty gate to the end nothing may appear in thee which may give offence to the beholders not the sordidness of thy Garments not the wrinkles of thy Forehead not the incomposition of thy Manners not any signs of Contempt or of a Mind averse from the Company not any thing which may beget a loathsomness or distast Many things which may be honestly done may not honestly be seen 5. Man was created Naked and was not asham'd for his unknown nakedness could not make him blush But after he had sinned and cast off the Cloak of Innocency which sufficiently cover'd him an outward Garment was necessary to veil his shame What was then inflicted as a Punishment is now made use of as a Prerogative of Dignity Garments are fought after not to cover but to adorn and such as may please the Eyes and Lusts of others The Habit is the Index of the Mind To be over-curious in Cloaths and to compose the countenance out of a Box and by a Looking-glass is a Womanish Vice The outward dress will confound thee if thou wilt reflect what it covers He who hath within the ornaments of Virtues values not the external garnishments of his attire Virtue
wants convenient repose The makers of Laws appointed certain days in which the People should meet together in publick for their recreation to repair their forces Now there are divers actions which contribute to this Relaxation of Mind As walking in a pleasant and open Field where in the free Ayr the Mind may raise it self to Heaven and the Members get new vigour A Country Recess remote from the smoak and noise of Cities Hawking or Hunting and such Divertisments as misbecome not thy condition and Fishing which is more innocent Studies which are more calm and pleasant A consort of Musick and some honest Play Finally harmless Jests and facetiousness which must be evermore free from the least injury and undecency Some there are who are too severe who are men-haters and who sit brooding upon their own darkness never permitting a merry word to be wrested out of their Mouths Others addicted overmuch to Jesting seldom apply themselves to serious thoughts and never withdraw themselves from the people Now these extreams are to be interwoven and alternated for Solitude will beget a desire of Company and Frequency of thy self and so one will be a Remedy to the other Remission will cure the hatred of labour and labour the tediousness of Remission Sâ—â—â— also there are who not knowing how to dispence their own forces exercise an immoderate Empire over themselves The Mean is wanting to them They can neither tell when to remit their Studies nor when to retake them When they settle themselves to Labour the Days are joyn'd to the Nights nor do they desist till themselves are destroyed Again when they give way to Recreations they so ingulph themselves as that they can scarcely be brought back to their former Customs Wherefore an Interval is so to be afforded to the Mind that it may be remitted not Resolved To this end Eutrapely that is Festivity and civil Mirth is very necessary which is to prescribe certain Limits not to be transgressed without a crime The Best things become bad if the Mean is exceeded CHAP. XXXIV Of Humility Wherein it consists Of Self-knowledge The Character of a truly humble Man 1. FRom Christ comes Humility He promulgated it by his Word taught it by his Example This after the Theological and Intellectual Virtues hath the prime place amongst the rest for it removes Pride which is the Root of all Evil. This renders us amiable to God because with the Humble is his Discourse Without this which is the Foundation of Virtues whatsoever Superstructure is raised in the Spiritual Edifice will neither be solid nor stable Now although it 's very Name seems to betoken some base and mean thing yet it is the Virtue of the Magnanimous and of the Perfect and raises up the Mind to high matters It enterprises illustrious actions without danger of being puff'd up heroick actions without apprehension of difficulties continuing always stout couragious and unalterable Humility doth not as the Vulgar Imagin consist in a self-despisal and abjection but in that moderate appetition of Glory and Honour which both avoids Excess and recedes from Defect The Humble man desires Glory as the stipend of Virtue with a mind directly intent upon the Action not for Ostentation but for Virtue alone and as much as it demands Unlawful is all Honour which Virtue brings not forth But because an humble man being of a discerning Spirit is an impartial Judge of himself he is averse from almost all Honour both because he knows how little it is that he contributes of his own to the works of Virtue and also because he fears lest out of a desire of due Honour he may condescend to admit that which is not due 'T is most safe to despise Honour for the amplisies it who refuses it he encreases it who contemne it 2. Thou art therefore not Humble because thou know'st not thy self There 's no Country so remote of which thou wilt more easily believe a false Relation What is Man A weak and frail Body of it self unarm'd wanting the help of others and cast out to all the injuries of times A lump of Dirt a filthy animal prone to all Evil and of so perverted and depraved a disposition that it preferrs earthly things before the Heavenly transistory before the eternal Every living Man is an universal Vanity No Animal hath a Life more frail a Madness more fierce a Fear more confused a Lust more violent Whence then this Pride O thou Miserable Creature and of others the most unhappy Look upon thy own wretehedness and if there remains any spark of Reason in thee reflect upon thy own baseness and unworthiness Then thou wilt be perfectly Humble when thou hast perfectly learn'd Self-knowledg 3. A truly Humble man totally despises himself nor is he willing to be reputed Humble but of no account he referr's to God all the honour which is due to himself and distrusts himself in all things He rejoyces in being contemned in this onely prov'd that he Sleights humane praises He considers himself according to what he hath of himself and others according to what they have of God and so comparing himself with them he judges himself the very worst of all for this is the Genius of Humility to compare ones own Evils with the Goods of others from whence even he who is most Perfect may without a Lye esteem himself more Imperfect then others Furthermore a truly Humble Man subjects himself with all Obedience to his Superiours performs not his own desires discovers freely his defects sustains patiently all injuries embraces joyfully the meanest things avoids carefully all singularity abstains always from much talking desires still to lye concealed and unknown places all things beneath himself and himself beneath all and shuts up himself within his own Nothing He is shame-fac'd and circumspect He speakes not but when necessity urges him and then modestly being willing rather to weep then to Laugh He shews the Humility of his Heart in his Body in his Eyes six'd on the ground in his grave and composed gate in his cast-down Countenance like a guilty person ready to be summoned before Gods dreadful Tribunal Conscious of the Crimes he hath committed uncertain of Grace and fearful of his Salvation and therefore not daring to lift up his Eyes to Heaven he stands aloof off with the Publican imploring with fervent Prayer pardon for his Offences Finally he dreads all his own doings he despises all earthly things he tramples upon all worldly Pomps and Vanities For he thinks the whole world to be Nothing who believes himself to be Nothing CHAP. XXXV Of the state of the Perfect The Image of a Perfect man The End of a Perfect Life it Vnion with God 1. HE is faid to be Perfect to whom nothing is wanting And what can be wanting to him who being purg'd from Sin cleans'd from Vices and adorned with Virtues intimately adheres to his God and becomes one Spirit with him for evermore This is the top
of Christian Perfection the last End to which thou art to aspire For whereas every thing is then judg'd to be perfect when 't is joyned to its End and God is thy End thou art then necessarily perfected when perfectly adhering to God thou returnest to him from whom thou hadst thy beginning But no one is thus perfect without Gods special Help And because there are few found amongst Mortals who dispose the superiour part of their Mind to receive Gods singular illapses and inlocutions therefore there are so few Perfect Each Age hath produced few of them 2. Thou mayst call him a Perfect man whom thou seest undaunted in Dangers untouch'd with Cupidities happy in Adversity content in Disgraces quiet amidst Tempests Laughing at whatsoever others Fear and Desire passing by all things as Little shining with no good but his own evermore free alwayes constant to himself still like himself erected elevated empty of himself and full of God from whom no Violence can force his Goods who turns Evil into Good who is frustrated of nothing who is hurt by no Accident who puts a value upon things not from mens Opinion but the things of Nature who being eminent above all casts himself into the whole World and extends his contemplation into all its proceedings himself remaining peaceable and unshaken who for the major part of him dwells perpetually there from whence he descended As the Sun-beams although they touch the Earth yet are there from whence they are darted So a Perfect man converses indeed with us but he is absent in his better part and adheres alwayes to his End His mind is such as the state of the World is above the Moon there 's a perpetual Calm He is ignorant of any defect of things he knows not what a various Mind is all ages serve him he views all things round about equally as the Sun doth and rejecting all multiplicity he quietly reposes in the most simple Unity He desires nothing he seeks for nothing out of himself having no need to call in that Felicity from a far off which he bears about him inclosed within his own Heart He works for God alone he lives to God alone being alwayes ready to depart Apply this Line and Level to thy Life and thou wilt understand how far thou art from Perfection 3. This is a greater and higher matter than thou canst reach unless he draws thee upward who said without me you can do nothing And moreover there are precedent dispositions which are necessary The End of a perfect Life is an intimate Vnion with God And since he dwells in an unaccessible Light thou wilt never get to him unless thou drivest away from thee the darkness of the Creatures Man cannot be made partaker of the Divine Nature except he transcends himself and all created things in Mind and Affection Every Adhesion even the least to any thing whatsoever is like to the little Fish Remera which if it bites the Keel of the Ship stops it and detains it in the middle of its course It happens no otherwise to many Souls which like Ships fraught with Heavenly Riches would happily sail to the Haven of blessed Union were they not detained by some Vitious Affection God is one and most Simple A Soul can never be fit for Vnion unless it becomes One and most Simple FINIS THE INDEX A Preface to the Reader Chap. 1. Of Mans last End What an Evil it is to swerve from it The Means and Method to come to it Pag. 1. Chap. 2. Who so desires to live well must make choice of an Instructor What manner of man this ought to be The Duties of a Disciple Pag. 7 Chap. 3. Of Purgation from Sin All Affection to Sin is to be laid aside and Vice rooted out No Remedy is more efficacious against Vice than the consideration of Death and Eternity Pag. 13 Chap. 4. Of Gluttony Its Evils Its Remedies The Signs of its being conquered Pag. 22 Chap. 5. Of Luxury How foul a Vice it is How ensie the Relapse into it and how to be avoided Pag. 27 Chap. 6. Of Avarice It s Malice is sharply reproved The Comparison between a Poor and a Rich man The deceit and vanity of Riches Pag. 33 Chap. 7. Of Anger The Character of an Angry person The Effects Gauses Remedies of Anger Pag. 40 Chap. 8. Of Envy and Sloath. The Description and Cure of Both. Pag. 53 Chap. 9. Of Pride Ambition and Vain-glory The Image of a Proud man The Vanity of Dignities and their Dangers The Evils of Hautiness and the Cure of it Pag. 57 Chap. 10. Of the Government of the Body Of the Custody of the Senses How far the Body is to be Indillged c. Pag. 67 Chap. 11. Of the Custody of the Tongue Of how great moment it is and how difficile What is to be observed in Speaking what to be avoided How the bad Tongues of others are to be endured Pag. 73 Chap. 12. Of the Internal Senses The Vse of Opinions The Mind is to be stered with good Thoughts Of restraining the Sensitive Appetite and of its depraved Affections Several Precepts to that purpose Pag. 80 Chap. 13. Of Love Its Nature Causes Effects Remedies Something added of Hatred Pag. 85 Chap. 14. Of Desire and of Flight What is to be desired what to be fled from Pag. 91 Chap. 15. Of Joy and of Sadness How a good man ought to rejoyce He who foresees all things is not contristated Several Antidotes against Grief Pag. 96 Chap. 16. Of Hope and Despair How we are to mederate them both Pag. 102 Chap. 17. Of Fear How vain it is and how to be vanquished Boldness to be awided Something again of Anger Pag. 105 Chap. 18. Of the Powers of the Rational Soul The Vnderstanding is to be restrained from Curiosity To what Study one should chiefly apply himself How bad a thing it is to enquire into other mens Manners The Judgments of others are to be contemned Of the denial of our Will Pag. 111 Chap. 19. Of the State of Proficients Several Helps to Proficiency The value and use of Time The Presence of God Necessary Pag. 118 Chap. 20. Of the good of Solitude Evil Seciety to be shun'd What and how many the Worlds Vices are The study of a Preficient is the acquisition of Virtues Certain Signs of Virtue 's being obtained Pag. 124 Chap. 21. Of the Theological Virtues Faith is to be approved by Works Confidence is to be placed in God alone Motives to love God The love of our Neighbour is manifested by Benefits An Exhortation to Alms-deeds Pag. 132 Chap. 22. Of Prudence It s Necessity and Difficulty The Duty of a Prudent man Pag. 137 Chap. 23. Of Justice and of Religion The Acts of both What Penance is and wherein it consists Pag. 141 Chap. 24. Of Piety and Observance Obedience is commended and also Gratitude How a Benefit is to be Received and Repayed Pag. 146 Chap. 25. Of Truth and the Vse of it Simplicity is praised Acts of Fidelity Pag. 150 Chap. 26. Of Friendship With what Offices it is to be entertained Certain Precepts appertaining to mutual Conversation Pag. 154 Chap. 27. Of Liberality What it is and how to be exercised Wherein it differs from Magnificency Pag. 160 Chap. 28. Of Fortitude Its Offices That Death is to be contemned by a Valiant man Pag. 164 Chap. 29. Of Magnanimity The Description of a Magnanimous Man Pag. 169 Chap. 30. Of Patience The Occasions and Effects of it The signs of perfect Patience An Admonition and Instruction to Endure all Adversities The Necessity of Perseverance Pag. 172 Chap. 31. Of Temperance How much shamefac'dness conduceth to it Of Abstinece and of Chastity Pag. 182 Chap. 32. Of Meekness and Clemency The Offices and Excellency of them both Pag. 185 Chap. 33. Of Modesty The double Office of Studiosity What Rule is to be observed in Mirth Pag. 188 Chap. 34. Of Humility Wherein it consists Of Self-knowledge The Character of a truly Humble man Pag. 193 Chap. 35. Of the state of the Perfect The Image of a Perfect man The End of a Perfect Life is Vnion with God Pag. 198