and are lift up so high This Drunkenness causes them to make a thousand Trips and false Steps their Footings are ever awry and oblique like those of drunken Men they have a great Conceit of their own Wisdom Prudence and Strength all this fails 'em sometimes they reel stagger and at last fall for Pride comes before Ruin Examine thy self O my Soul see if thou hast not a tincture of this Evil and if thou be not inebriated with the Thought of thy own Righteousness and thy own Merit Alas if thou denyest it thou knowest thy self ill This is a great Pride the belief of having none for it is to believe thou art worth as much as thou esteemest thy self but there is no Man but esteems himself more than he is really worth Thou wilt say to me perhaps thou hast an ill Opinion of thy self but be assured O my Soul thou dost not contemn thy self so much as thou art contemptible If thou contemn thy self thou makest a Merit of that Contempt so as there is Pride affix'd to the Contempt thou hast of thy self The other Vice which is the Gluttony of the Soul is no less dangerous View those Men that devour that are continually laying violent hands on the Prey and never say It is enough those ambitious and covetous Persons who suck up the Substance of the Poor who eat up Gods People like bread or who at least labour with an unconceivable desire to enrich and aggrandize themselves who go to seek the utmost bounds of the World and yet put no end to their desires who can mount up to the highest pinacle of greatness yet cannot fill the abyss of their Ambition Have a care O my Soul of running into these excesses for he who hungers after Silver will never be satisfied with Silver Quench the fire of thy Avarice for if thou furnish it with food thou wilt nourish it it will devour thy entrails and peradventure cause such a Flame as will consume both thee and thy Neighbours I must not then neglect corporal fasting but the principal one is Humility that will guard me from the Drunkenness of Pride and a contentment of Mind that will make me despise superfluous things so as I shall be content with those which are necessary This is the true Sobriety of the Soul these two vertues walk hand in hand together Be thou humble O my Soul and thou wilt be content with thy Fortune know how little thou art worth and thou wilt be persuaded thou hast more than thou deservest Prayer O Lord make me to know my self that I am nothing It is certain that I am nothing but yet I cannot confess it My mouth says it yet my heart doth not agree thereto and I always feel within me the Devil of Pride that sollicites me and says to me in a low Voice senseless as thou art why speakest thou of thy self with so much scorn If thou dost not esteem thy self who shall esteem thee Are men oblig'd to have a better Opinion of thee than thou hast of thy self since thou must needs know thy self better than they can know thee if I humble my self before thee O Lord it is because I look upon this as of no consequence by reason of the enormous disproportion there is betwixt thee and me But with men I keep to great measures I try to deceive them and to give them a vast Opinion of my self I strive to keep up my rank to be valued and I can suffer no slight or contempt O mercifull Jesus who didst humble thy self even to death inspire thy Humility into me and recover me from being overwhelmed with my Pride so that being persuaded I deserve nothing I may be evermore content with all thou bestowest upon me that Godliness and content of mind may be my great gain so I have as much food and cloathing as is sufficient CHAP. XI Of the rash Judgment which is made of Devout People I HAVE done with the Directions I thought necessary to help Devotion but before I conclude I believe there is some Consolation due to truly Devout Persons of whom so bad a Judgment is made in the World Some put them all into the rank of Hypocrites These are our false Devoto's say the profane who observe forms so exactly who are careful to be at all pious Ordinances who lend so great an attention to a Sermon who pray and communicate with so many visible marks of Devotion we are never the less good Christians for our little Affectation we have what 's solid in piety and they the appearance only It must be confest Hypocrisie doth a great deal of harm to Devotion I do not deny there are falsely devout People there 's hardly any veil wherewith evil Consciences cover themselves more ordinarily than with this of Godliness But because some Hypocrites there be is it necessary there are none others Because we find counterfeit Diamonds can none find true and effective ones because there are false and foolish fires is there then no true light Some indeed believe they have found out a good remedy against this mischief they affect an apparent Indevotion for having some zeal at the bottom they imagine 't is necessary to affect a Way and an Air of indifference to avoid the Accusation of Hypocrisie but this is to avoid one evil by a greater and being reduc'd to the necessity either of committing a Crime or of being the occasion of one we are to determine on the latter We are commanded to make the light of our good Works to shine before men and to edifie our â—eighbours by our good Examples Unhappiness thereâ—ore attends them who put their Candle under a bushel â—ut to speak the truth I believe those that so strenuâ—usly endeavour to hide their Devotion do not hide my great thing from us they have little enough within When a Chamber is fill'd with fire the light appears thorough the Windows Piety is a fire that casts its flame through all our vertues tho never so much care be â—aken to conceal it If the heart be full of godly zeal it will appear upon the Tongue in the Hands and even in the Eyes True no affectation is to be us'd God hates those pompous and vain-glorious Pieties which expose ' emselves at the corners of Streets and which wholly consist in the liftings up of the hands the â—ouling of the Eyes and a wan and deadish Visage Devotions the more secret they are the better But how easie is it to distinguish Sincerity from affectation If these prophane Judges did but know themselves a little they would not confound a modest Piety and sage Devotion which shines only thorough the veil of a profound Humility with a Devotion made up of Grimaces The Life Conversation and Manners are the best touch-stone to know the Sincerity of Devotion If the devout Person is Covetous Ambitious one that grows rich at the expence of the Poor or that is vindicative I agree we may put
neglects the other Life as if it were never to come I believe O my God but help thou my unbeleif Make me to see the Truth and Excellency of Eternal Life that I may flight the present Life that I may make me such Friends as may receive me into everlasting Habitations that I may acquire such Riches as I may carry along with me and that I may make choice of that good Part which shall not be taken away from me CHAP. VI. The Custom of letting the mind ramble 〈◊〉 different Objects A sixth Source of Indevotion I Believe that this is also another Source of 〈◊〉 Indevotion and especially of our Distraction During Prayer we know not how to fire oâ—â— Heart our mind wanders and our attention iâ— lost Whence proceeds this but from a pernicious custom we have of giving a soaring vaunt to our Imagination It is in man what Quick-Silver is in Mertals It rouls it runs glibly up and down A little fire makes it evaporate and as it were to vanish into Smoak it becomes so subtle We suffer it to 〈◊〉 what ever it pleases When 't is upon the Wing sometimes it flyes from East to West from South to North from Heaven to Earth and as if the limits of the Universe were too narrow for it it over-passes them and loses its self in the innumerable Whirle-pooâ— of Des-Cartes And no more can it contain it self within the bounds of Time it flyes to Eternity and asks what it is It would know what was when there was Nothing If it keeps its self within this World amidst this great space it curvets over all Beings it swims over all Matter and the compounds of it differently modified and yet penetrates none of them And as if the prodigioâ— Mass of Creatures did not furnish Imployment enough to its Actions it labours in the production or rather creation of Beings of its own forming It imagine Chimeras Phantomes it makes Mountains of Gold Worlds in the Moon Centaurs and Hippogryphicks And these motions for the most part are of such quick â—ispatch that in a quarter of an hours rambling we find â—ur selves so far off that the greatest Parted man in â—â—e World could never ghess by our last thought what was the first And after this shall we ask from whence â—ome those aberrations of our heart in the duties and exercises of Piety can we expect that a Soul accustomed to wander can fix and arrest it self all at once It is an Horse that has not as yet received the Bitt it does nothing night or day but kick and skip up and down in the Meadows When one would put the Saddle upon the back or the Rein in the mouth it flyes out and struggles it throws down him that gets up and returns from whence it came When we would gather our selves together it dissipates its self like a Flame it abandons us it breaks the Rein of Piety and before that we espy the first ways it took we find it plunged in the diversity of its vain thoughts St. Augustine â—acknowledges that this is the cause of our Distractions When our mind is fill'd with these Phantasins savs he and that incessantly it carries along with it an infinite number of vain thoughts thence it comes to pass that our Prayers are oftentimes troubled and interrupted thereby and that when being in thy presence O God we indeavour to make thee hear the voice of our heart An action of such importance is frequently traversed by frivolous Imaginations which come from I know not whence to break into the crowd in our minds If we did well comprize the nature of Evil we might easily conceive the Remedy Evils ought to be cured by their contraries So that let us learn to give bounds to our imagination and not permit it to go so far that we may have the less trouble to bring it back again That is to say For the disposing our heart to Devotion we ought to accustom our mind to think a little of things and of good things 't is a Mercury that must fix it self in being applied to Silver or Gold 't is a lively faculty whereto we must give the Bridle and the Rein. 〈◊〉 let us not imagine that the secret to cure this Malaâ—â— of the Soul consists in retaining our mind in a privatâ—â—â— of all thought this is not profitable to Nature nor useâ—â—â— to Grace The imagination of man is too active 't is iâ—possible to hold it from doing nothing 't is to bring 〈◊〉 Death upon it to leave it without imployment sincâ— it lives no longer than it acts God hath not given 〈◊〉 such noble faculties to bury them in an inglorious aâ—â— shameful Idleness In short a mind that is habituatâ—â— to think on nothing would nevertheless find it as muâ—â— trouble to fix it self upon the works of Piety as oâ—â— would to withdraw it from its ramblings and course that it formerly used From all which I conclude that the imployment of letter'd and knowing men are perhaps the most destructive to Devotion as any that are in the World The Eye is scarce ever weary with seeing nor the Eaâ— with hearing and we are so far from counting this among Defects that we reckon it a great Vertue Undeâ— favour to those Great Names of Sciences of fine knowledges of curious Researches of Sublime Speculations of miraculous Discoveries there is established in the World a method to mince the Soul and almost infinitely to subdivide it without Remedy would to God experience did not give us proofs of the Truth But it 's very certain and very well known that Atheists are not to be found in the croud of the common People The Epicures the Protagoras's and Diagoras's were knowing men of great Wit The thing is past into a Proverb And they say that they who by reason of the Art whereof they make profession are obliged to study Nature and the second Causes very much do â—ix themselves so strongly thereto that they forget to ascend to the first Cause These men so well read in Antiquity and that make so great a noise in the Common-wealth of Learning for their knowledge make none at â—ll in the Church for their great Devotion The study only of heavenly things can inspire an habit of Piety we also see enow great Divines continue bad Christians because they refer not their Labours to God nor to his Glory all their industry is for themselves and they are the end of all their own watchings I would never â—herefore advise him that has a mind to be very devout â—o imbrace so many things nor to fill his head with conjectures and his memory with these May-bees whereof those rare Sciences so called are composed besides that this Acquisition brings in a habit of self-conceited Pride and surly Scorn a great enemy to the Spirit of Devotion and it puts the Virtuosos up with Pyrrhonism and Doubt which from Philosophy passes into Divinity And whereas some find nothing
come near the number of thy Offences The moments wherein God hath made me to enjoy most of his Blessings have been those wherein I have render'd my self the most sinful by the abuse of my Prosperity And the least sin I commited in one of those moments deserves pains of an infinite duration Prayer ALmighty God who makest all things with a profound Wisdom I find nothing to say against thy Works All that thou hast made is good But I mourn for my Iniquity and bewail my Corruption Good is in the neighbourhood of Evil and the things which are permitted me are so near to those that are forbidden me that if I forget innocent Pleasures but a little I straight pass into sinful ones At all passages the Devil lies in Ambush and my Concupiscence lays snares for me every where Narrow is the way and borders on precipices I know Lord that thy goodness is infinite and thou dost not exact from me that I should be evermore in Grief thou allowest some grains to the Fesh as rebellious as 't is against thee But how difficult and dargerous is it to mark out precisely the Bounds that distinguish permitted from forbidden Pleasures If I give ear to my Concupiscence it will stretch the limits far beyond all Reason it will endeavour to persuade me that whatsoever is agreeable cannot be bad whether I eat or drink am asleep or awake am idle or at work I am always in the Temptation and Danger of falling into Excess Thy Providence willeth that I pass through all these Dangers Thou alone art able to conduct me safely through this difficult Path Let thy Spirit lead me as in an even Plain Let me turn neither to the right nor to the left Here are two Extremities to fly thou hatest carnal Pleasures but it may be thou dost not love excessive Austerities Bodily Exercise profiteth little but Godliness has the promises of this Life and of that which is to come I know O my God that 't is much more dangerous to fall into one Excess than into the other All thou say'st of bodily Exercise is That it is profitable but to a few things but as to the other excess to wit of Pleasures it hurts and incommodes all things it makes havock of the Conscience it corrupts the Heart ruines the Body grieves the Holy Spirit and it separates the Soul from thee O Lord. 'T is incomparably more safe to renounce all Pleasures in general than to choose some and expose ones self to the danger of taking those that are unlawful O thou who holdest in thine hands the Heart of Men as the Rivers of Water turn mine into the safest way wherein I am certain not to offend thee and that is the privation of all sensual Pleasures Take from me that taste of all Voluptuousness wherewith I am inchanted Cast off from the Demon of Pleasure that Mask which covers him and that fading Beauty which charms me that I may see all his Vgliness and Deformity and detest and fly it Since the Body which thou obligest me to hale after me to nourish and conserve binds me to do Actions conjoyn'd with Pleasure give me the Grace to do those Actions to satisfie Necessity and not to serve Sensuality Discover to me the Snares that Lust lays for me under the Cloak of Necessity Let me not by an ill habit make that necessary which is superfluous according to the Laws of Nature and Reason that my Soul under thy guidance may keep its Body under as a Slave and not serve it as its Master CHAP. V. That we are not to consult our Heart and Senses in the choice of Pleasures That Devotion leads us to true Pleasure 'T IS observ'd that for the obtaining any thing we must ask much more than we have a mind to get and that to bring men to just Sentiments in withdrawing them from their Errours it is good to carry them a little into the other Extremity that in their return they may abide at least in a reasonable middle This perhaps has made so many Christian Authors and Preachers to imitate the style of the Stoicks upon the Nature of Pleasure and Pain These People say that Pain is no evil and Pleasure is not a Good We can say they be perfectly happy in the burning Bull of Phalar is and perfectly unhappy in tasting the greatest Pleasures This method is not it may be so good as we imagine We soyle and dishearten mens Minds by requiring too much of them and nothing is persuasive when Truth is invested with Paradoxes which awaketh curiosity but distemper the Mind After all we can never persuade men to the contrary to what they feel Cicero tells us of one of these Philosophers who had bin blinded by the pompous reasonings of his Sect But a great Rheum falling upon his Eyes which put him to horrible Tortures prevailed over the Illusions of his Philosophy and made him abandon it When we see one of these Sages cruelly tormented upon his Bed with the Gout or Stone and hear him say Thou mayst do as thou wilt O Pain but thou shalt never make me confess thou art an evil we cannot keep our selves from looking upon this as a Comedy and profound Hypocrisie Reason can do nought against Experience nor against a Sense so lively as that of pain The Martyrs I conceive might be happy amidst their punishments because they did not feel all their Pains For I hold that their Soul by the help of Grace was so strongly taken up with the Glory and Crown they were about to receive that hardly any Room remain'd to them for other Sentiments The Patience of the Faithful in their Calamities arises in my Opinion from no other cause than that their Souls being fixt wholly upon God and his Heaven the Object of their Hope do partly unite ' emselves from the Body and give less Heed or Attention to it's Annoyances Impatience on the other side is a motion of the Soul which turns it self wholly to the Body to be abandon'd to pain and to feel all its racks So that I conclude Pain is an Evil Which is to confess bodily Pleasure is a good 'T was my belief I owed this Confession to them whom we would prevail withall to renounce sensual and fleshly Pleasures that by this sincerity and plain dealing we may render them more attentive to our Reasons We do not entreat them to renounce bodily Pleasure as an evil in its self but as a petty and small good that brings along after it in its train an incredible Multitude of mischiefs and as a good which is unworthy of Man born for the most noble Pleasures and destin'd to the possession of the greatest Goods What ever we do we can never rivit out of the Mind of man this Opinion that Happiness consists in Pleasure I will not oppose this Maxime The chiefest beatitude consists without doubt in the Possession of the chiefest Good and in this Possession the Soul