that the Pilot should call and give sign that all things were ready to set Sail which sign given thou wouldest presently make hast to the ship Soe thou art to doe in this life Fix thy mind alwaies on God and use the things of this world so as not to tye thy hart unto them nor to suffer them to withdraw thee from thy last End which is God All the riches and creatures of this world serve thee that thou maist serve God The neglect of this necessary care of thy salvavation is the cause that thou permittest thy thougts to wander after many unnecessary Objects so that t is true to say thou adorest as many Idols as thou louest Creatures with a disordinate love These are thy Gods unto whom thou offerest sacrifice not of an Oxe or Buck but thy self thy whole salvation It is not permitted in the law of divine Love to love any thing else besides God unles it be in him and for him There can be no greater misery then to abandon the soveraign Good to place our affection on creatures 4. That which the Prince of Phisitians sayes of sick bodies the same may be said of vicious souls to wit the more they are fed the worse they are For those who intend to passe from a bad life to a better ought first to vomit up all the Poyson of their past sins before they begin to receive the solid nourishments of vertue This purgation of thy soul must be done so as not only to expiate thy past sins but also to extirpate all affection unto them to root out all thy vicious habits to master all thy disordered appetites and make them subject unto reason to subdue thy body senses particularly that of the tongue and to avoid all that may hinder thee from arriuing to the state of perfection Why dost thou fear and imagine the way that leads to eternall Felicity to be hard and difficile It lies in thy own power to make thyself happy assisted with his grace who is the beginning end of all things But thou must first goe out of thyself before thou canst come unto him and the more thou leavest thyself the nigher thou wilt come unto him 5. Wherefore thou shouldest first consider with thyself what thou desirest to enjoy and whither thou art going then examine the means thou art to use for arriving to that happy state Which done thou will easily perceive what progresse thou dost make every day Be very carefull in examining thy Conscience and taking a serious view of thyself consider what thou oughtest to be whilst thou hast time to amend It will be too late to discover the deceit when thou canst not avoid it Learn how to moderate the violence of thy passions and desires how to appease the frights and fears of thy mind Learn to contemn all earthly things and willingly forsake those things which cannot remain long in thy power Leave all things before they leave thee that soe when Death comes it may find nothing to rob thee of Let thy cheifest care be to provide for thy soul for considering it is first in dignity it is not fit it should be the last in thy care What will it avail a man to have gained the whole world if he looseth his soul in the end we cannot esteem it any profit if the soul perisheth CHAP. II. That he who desires to live well must choose a good Spirituall Directour The qualities of such a Directour and the duties of such as desire to learn Vertue 1. NOthing is more necessary for one that begins to serve God then to permit himself to be guided and instructed by a good Maister And indeed what wise man would undertake to perform a long Journey where he knows not the way without a sure Guide who would goe about to learn any difficile Art without a Teacher We shall find but very few who have advanced in perfection rendered themselves vertuous without the help of others It is an easy matter to instruct in generall terms those who are absent and also to leave in writing for those that shall come after us what is to be done But no man at a distance can tell of persuade when and how this to be done We must be present in time place to deliberate aright of that A Physitian can never prescribe by letter the just time of taking some Medicine or dyet he must be present and feel the pulse of the sick person Soe in curing the maladies of the Soul there are some things which cannot be so well expressed and declared without being present S. Paul whom God had designed to be the Apostle of the Gentils after he had bine converted by Christ himself was sent to Ananias that he might learn of him the way of Salvation Thou hast a hard task to overcome the corruptnes of thy Nature to wrestle with the euill Spirits thy invisible Enemyes and to arrive to the height of Perfection amidst so many obstacles and Impediments Wherefore thou hast need to call for help and that from one who will lend thee his hand who will shew thee the dangers and discover unto thee all the Ambushes of Satan and in fine who will teach thee how to come of with victory in all thy spirituall combats But thou wilt tell me whom shall I call to help me I answer It must be a wise and trusty man who shal be able and willing to doe all for thy spirituall Good one that shall strike respect and not fear into thee when thou meetest him one that is more ready to teach thee how to rise and amend after thy fall then to cry out against thee when thou fallest one who gives more Edification by his vertuous life then by his eloquent words He is little fit to govern who commands others to doe well but doth no good himself 2. Choose such a Helper or Director who flatters no body who doth not haunt much company who doth not goe to great banquets nor intrude himself into the houses of great persons choose one if possible who hath the spirit of discretion and can discern betwixt vertue and vice betwixt good and bad as a skillfull Goldsmith discerneth betwixt true and false money who like a shilfull Phisitian can judge of all thy spirituall diseases prescribe fit remedies to every one of them Choose one that shall be free from all interest and seeketh nothing but thy spirituall profit One that shall instruct thee in the spirit of mildnes and charity one that shall tell thee of thy faults one that shall be able to discover and teach thee how to ouercome all the subtileties stratagems of thy spirituall enemy the Devill one in whom thou maist have a particular confidence unto whom thou maist have no difficulty to reveal thy most hidden thoughts If thou canst find such an one thou are happy is this world 3. Speak frequently unto him of thy spirituall affairs let him
shut so as it is easily opened again to the same vices when occasion presents Thou tellest me that thy former life displeaseth thee I beleeve it for who is not ashamed of himself when he seriously considers the disorders of his life past Even wicked men both hate and love their own vices at the same time nay even then when they commit them they detest and abhorr them But what avayls it to abhorr sin in words and not to abhor the acting and comitting of it There is no man so wicked who doth not some time or other loath his own sins but such Converts are soon reconciled again to their old sins But he that is truly converted unto God puts the Axe to the root and cuts away all even to the least sprout he can find And then living in a continuall memory and apprehension of his own frailty he carefully avoids all occasions of sin trembles at the very sight of any evill and dangerous object 3. Why dost thou alledge vain excuses insist so much upon the frailty of thy nature when God commands thee to exterminate thy vices who can better know the measure and strength of thy forces then he who gave them why then art thou backward in obeying when the thing does not so much redound to any profit in him that commands it as it concerns thy good oh blind and wicked rashnes How darest thou be so bold as to reproch unto thy master with a servile impudence that his precepts are hard and impossible as if he had designed to seek not so much thy Salvation as thy punishment Such is the perversenes of mans nature not only to offend God but also to pretend great difficulties in what he commands But if thou wilt try thy own forces thou wilt find that thou art able to doe much more then thou thinkest T is not the difficulty of the things in themselves that makes thee not dare to practise them but because thou dost not practise them the things seem difficile Many things which we thought very hard to doe become very easy and of no burden with a little use Begin once for all and have a better opinion of thy own force and power God doth not forsake his souldiers he will give thee as much strength as thou desirest 4. Thou wilt easily overcome all vice if thou representest to thyself every day to be as the last of all thy life What is it that eyes thee to this world Beause thou never thinkest that thou art to goe soon out of it Thou seest every day dead bodyes carried to the grave which should put thee in mind that thou art also mortall And yet in the midst of all these dead thou thinkest o nothing lesse then Death thou seest nothing more often yet thou forgettest nothing soe soon The day will come notwithstanding that must carry thee also away to wit when thy Soul shall be delivered out of her dark loathsom prison of the body Thou wilt then clearly see that thou hast lived in darknes all thy life in this world Produce if thou canst amongst so many years of a bad life but one day well spent in the exercise of vertue which hath not bine defiled with some vice Thy infancy is past away in childish bables thy youth is spent in foolery and idlenes thy riper ago in debaucheries disorders Of all those years which thou hast spent from thy cradle untill thy old age nothing remains but greif and the evill fruits of iniquity Alas what a case wilt thou be in when forced to be ashamed of what is past and afraid of what is to come what will thy riches avail thee in that hour which thou hast alwaies sought with so much care and trouble what will all thy shamefull pleasures help thee at that time what canst thou then expect from all thy dignities and honours Oh! if it were possible that thou mightest begin again from the cradle how carefull thou wouldst be to lead another life but alas such wishes will be altogether useles in this hour If thou intendest to make good use of Time begin from this present moment resolve from this instant to forsake those things which thou wouldst then wish to have forsaken T is no great matter to forsake momentary things that thou maist purchase eternall felicity 5. Ask any dying man what he thinks of his life past and thou will scarce find one perhaps who hath not at that hour a quite different opinion of the riches honours vanities of the world then he had when he lived in perfect health Then all things are weighed in a more even balance we judge of them as they are He that is wise only in the end of his life beginneth to be wise very late but thou maist be wise in good time if thou learnest to be so from the follies and examples of others Since then it is in thy power to sayl in present safety why dost thou expect a Tempest Thou maist if thou wilt avoid prevent thy own misery Why then dost thou expose thyself to future dangers T is a late prevention to think to avoid shipwrack when thou art just sinking t is too late to use prudence when thou art wholly ruined and undone We read of many great and holy men who after having renounced unto their own will and all they had in this world spent all the remainder of their life to learn how to live and dye well yet many at their death have confessed they had not yet learned that lesson so hard it is to learn this Art Notwithstanding thou art so backward as to defer thy Conversion untill thou art old but t is a great folly to hope to begin then to liue well when thou canst live no more 6. Unhappy man to what danger dost thou expose thyself is this thy belief is this thy manner of living Thy life passeth away like a shadow lasteth but a moment Thou art no sooner born but thou beginnest to dye Stop if thou canst but one day of thy life hinder or prolong one hour one moment of it from flying away But such a labour would be in vain Time wil stil hurl thee away wil never cease running untill it hath brought thee and all mortall things unto their last generall end to wit Death And yet thou darest prefer this moment unto Eternity which will haue no end Oh blindnes oh folly Thou are alwaies labouring to provide all that is necessary for thy Body which is mortall but as for thy Soul which is immortall thou hast as little care to purchase eternall rest and felicity for it as if it did not at all belong unto thee When thy body is sick thou art willing to undergoe any thing to have 〈◊〉 cured but thy Soul is sick and thou wholly neglectest it and dost not feel it Did thy Phisitian ever tell thee it was necessary for thy health to goe to see and
is contrary to our inclinations is good for our spirit Things which afflict us teach us wisedome Death banishment poverty confusion labour sicknes and the like which are not in thy power are neither bad in themselves nor doe they belong unto thee Wherefore it is not necessary thou shouldest fly or hate them but only change the opinion thou hadst of them Socrates wittily termed all these things Masks or vizards for as children are frightned with vizards although there is nothing dreadfull in them but the outward shape soe it happens with thee who art often afraid of things not as they are but as they seem What is death A bugbear Consider how sweet it hath bine esteemed not only by Saints and holy men but also by Socrates and many others of the wiser Heathens What then is there terrible in death Opinion T is the fear of death that is dreadfull and not death itself Thou wilt find the same in other things which thou art wont to abominate and fear Correct thy opinion of things and thou wilt find that nothing is to be feared nothing to be abominated but Sin CHAP. XV. Of Ioy and Sadnes How a vertuous man is to rejoyce He that foresees all things is never sad Severall Remedies against Sorrow and sadnes 1. REjoyce after such a manner as not to loose modesty in thy joy and let not thy mind be so transported with joy but that if need be thou maist easily change thy mirth into mourning Our B. Saviour who could best judge of things doth not call those blessed who laugh but those who weep For it is much unbecoming a Christian that pretends to eternal felicity amidst soe many dangers of body and Soul to laugh and rejoyce after the manner of fools when he is in greatest perill All wordly pleasure passeth away that which we call joy is often times the beginning of Sadnes True joy is never found but in a good conscience and the practise of vertue as justice fortitude temperance c. That thou maist never want true joy rejoyce in what is thy own and within thyself All other joyes are vain and cannot give thee true content and he hath not alwaies cause to rejoyce that is outwardly merry True joy is ever mixt with gravity proceedeth from a good conscience honest designs good works contempt of pleasures and a quiet innocent life According to the rules of vertue thou must accustome thyself first to much sorrow before thou canst have true joy 2. Sadnes is caused by a certain horrour or apprehension of some present evill joyned with a certain perturbation and disquiet of mind We are often tormented not soe much with the things themselves as with the opinion of them Doe not concern thyself soe much with the nature and quality of things for example the services of others thy lands thy money thy employments but rather consider what opinion thou hast of them If thou art fallen into disgrace if thou art robbed of thy money if thou art beaten or the like these are things which are not in thy power but it is in thy power to have a good opinion of them to bear them patiently and receive them from the hand of God as means to work thy Salvation Thou wilt never be sad if recalling thy mind from the thoughts of thy present afflictions thou turnest thyself to consider the joyes of heaven No evill or misfortune can happen to a vertuous man not because he is insensible to the blows of fortune but because he overcometh all He looks upon every adversity as an occasion to exercise his patience as an instrument of Gods grace as the way leading unto eternall glory A good man may be thought or termed miserable by others but he can never be soe in his own thoughts 3. Look upon all things which may happen as if they really were to befall thee By this means thou wilt diminish the force of all miseries which never come unexpected unto those who are prepared to receive them Afflictions seem intolerable only unto those who expect nothing but prosperity What if fortune should deprive thee of half thy estate what if thou shouldst loose all what if thy house should fall thy corn be burnt thy friends forsake thee what if thou art in danger of loosing thy credit and by some false accusation art deposed from thy office or dignity Sicknes captivity ruine fire nothing of all these things come suddenly and unexpected to a wise man He premeditates all future misery and what to others seems lesse only by long patience to him is lessened by long meditation That which happens to one man may happen to any man What riches are there which may not change into hunger and poverty what dignities which may not fall into misery and disgrace what kingdome which must not at last come to a period Have we not seen in this our age a Kings head struck of by the hand of a hang-man and that by the command of his own rebell subjects There is no such great distance as we imagine betwixt riches and poverty betwixt a Princes court and a shephards cottage betwixt a Throne and an Axe Know then that all conditions are variable and all that thou seest happen to another the same may befall thee He will easily bear a crosse fortune that alwaies expects it 4. Vertue doth not flourish when our life passeth in all prosperity T is then we see how great is is when patience sheweth what it can suffer We are made a spectacle unto God Angels and men saith the Apostle Behold a spectacle worthy of God himself to wit when a vertuous man in the midst of Adversity triumpheth over himself and the affliction too A skilfull Pilot cannot shew his art in a calm sea and favourable wind He that is never tempted knows nothing Ah! how unhappy a man am I will some one say that am forced to suffer these misfortunes But I tell thee thou art happy because thou hast an occasion to try thy vertue Such a thing might have hapned to any one else but every one else perhaps could bear such afflictions without complaining Doe not therefore fall under the weight of Adversity but stand up firmly against it and endeavor to bear all patiently that is laid upon thee If thou canst but break the first shock thou wilt find nothing hard in it but opinion Naturall sufferances are equally hard unto all sort of men but as for poverty ignominy contumelies and such like things which are commonly esteemed Evills many bear them all with great patience seem in a manner insensible in them wherefore if we are grieved sad and impatient in them this doth not proceed from the nature of the things but from the bad opinion we have conceived of them Why wilt thou deceive thyself with a false persuasion It is in thy own power to make all calamity easy by bearing it patiently No sorrow can be great unles opinion adde something unto
sensuall into a spirituall life and to withdraw them by degrees from too much application to externall Objects least they should be engaged too far in them and consent to unlawfull pleasures The Senses are to obey and not to command And in the first place thou oughtest to be carefull to contain thy eyes for the eyes being of a quick nature and suddenly catching the severall species of things are apt to convey all these images first to the fancy or imaginative part and next to the understanding where by moving the Appetite they often prove the cause of many sins if we have not a great care to prevent it And if unto this guard and custody of thy Eyes thou canst also joyn a purity of intention in thy Interiour thou wilt find God in all things and when thou hast once learnt to adore God in his creatures thou wilt easily be able to raise up thy mind from contemplating the Creatures to contemplate the majesty of God himself Beware of casting thy eyes on a woman that paints and dresses herself to please men she is the true picture of Incontinency and thou art in danger to perish in looking on her Be not curious in going to Comedies Balls dances and such like Recreations For such things distract the mind fill it with vain Imaginations and hinder it from raising itself to heavenly Meditations Where the eyes wander the affections and heart also wander 3. Hearing is the Sense of Learning through which the knowledge of Truth and Wisedome enters into the understanding Thou must therefore be very prudent in governing thy hearing least thy ears should admit falsehood in lieu of Truth folly insteed of wisedome Shut thy ears against all detraction calumnies backbitings idle rumors and unprofitable discourses in a word against all that doth not conduce in some manner to the good of thy Soul For as one that hath heard good Musick still retains the sweetnes of it in his ears even after he is retired from the place where he heard it so euill speech although it doth not alwaies hurt just when we hear it yet often-time it sticks for a long while in our memory and our mind often ruminates upon it By how much the more seldome thou hearknest unto men so much the oftner shalt thou perceive God speaking interiorly unto thy Soul The use of sweet perfumes is the mark of effeminate persons and such as have a bad name Wherefore I counsell thee to reject this sort of vanity and to render thy life exemplar by the sweet odour and perfume of thy Vertues As for thy Tast thou maist if thou wilt mortify it by abstinence and sobriety but as for the sense of Touching it is to be overcome by using hair-cloaths disciplines and such other like austerities It is better to afflict thy body in this world and by that means to save it then to damn it and thy Soul too by consenting to all sort of unlawfull pleasures 4. Whereas we may sometimes judge of the inward state of Soâ—l by the outward habit and dresse of the body have thou a speciall care to banish all outward marks in thy apparell of a corrupt mind Those who were esteemed the wise men amongst the antient Heathens would have an honest man to live so as not to move a finger without some reason for it I doe not exact from thee such a strict behaviour but I could wish thou didst observe it I mention this because I would have thee abstain from all dissolute laughter scurrilous discourse too much freedome uncivill gestures and all other rude behaviour that so thou maist have nothing in thy carriage which may give offence unto others either by the undecency of thy cloaths stern looks unbeseeming gestures contempt of others shewing a dislike of their company or any thing else which may give them a horrour and aversion from thy person Remember also that many things may be done with honesty which are not honest to be seen 5. Man was created naked and was not ashamed of his nakednes because he had no knowledge of it But after he had sinned and cast of the robes of Innocency which untill then was a sufficient mantle outward garments became afterwards necessary to hide his shame And yet such is the pride and vanity of men that what was at first enjoyned as a kind of punishment is now esteemed a prerogative of dignity We now seek cloaths not so much to cover as to adorn our bodies and to please the sight of others The quality of cloaths often discovers the inclinations of the mind and to be over curious in dressing and composing ourselves before a looking-glasse shews an effeminate nature Thou wilt soon be ashamed of these outward ornaments if thou considerest what they cover He that is rich with the ornaments of vertue doth not need these outward ornaments of the body Vertue makes the best shew when it appears without disguise whatsoever we adde to it to make it seem greater is still lesse then vertue itself T is a meer vanity and mistake to make a fair shew without by being richly clad and within to cover nothing but Vice Men wilfully load themselves with chains but because they are of gold they doe not apprehend the infamy of Servitude Some again are not content to be fettererd with gold but they will also pierce their very flesh with it to wit when they bore their ears to hang gold rings and pendants in them which are worth sometimes the revenue of their whole Estate making that which was once a name of punishment now to become a term of ambition Many again spend much time with their comb and a looking-glasse and are more sollicitous for the neatnes of their hair then for the salvation of their Soul Such is the force of foolish opinion amongst wordly people that they think themselves much adorned with those things which they ought rather to throw away tread under feet Let thy cloaths therefore be without Vanity and made not for pompe but necessity keep a decent medium not too uncomely but fitted to thy state and condition Although thou wert all drest with gold and pretious stones yet without Christ and the ornaments of his grace thou art still deformed and ugly in the sight of God These are the ornaments which are lasting which cover and adorn not a dying body but the soul which is immortall It is a meer folly to cover a dunghill with gold CHAP. XI Of the Tongue the importance and difficulty of governing it What is to be observed and what to be avoided in speech and lastly how to endure the evill tongues of others 1. THe government of our Tongue is a thing of as great importance as the preservation of the apple of our eye because life and death are both in the power of the Tongue He that is not able to rule his Tongue is compared to an open Town without Walls notwithstanding it cannot be tamed
to good if thou still keepest thy patience and standest firm against all events It is a great evill not to be able to suffer evill 6. Thou maist sometimes dissemble thy constancy in the afflictions of others but never in thy own Let thy sorrow and mourning be common with those that mourn but not the cause of it Comply a little with those who are afflicted shew thyself concerned in their miseries that by this means thou maist be a comfort to them No man can help another that is fallen to rise unles he bows himself to lend him his hand But because all things may be taken two wayes whereof the one is tolerable the other intolerable if any one hath done thee an injury doe not thou regard him in that respect because that is the intolerable side But consider that he hath bine redeemed with the same blood of Jesus Christ and is ordained for the same glory as thou art and this way thou wilt take him on the tolerable side And whereas friendship doth not easily break forth into words of reprehension endeavor still to hear the Truth from thy Aduersary For he is alwaies very vigilant to observe all thy actions thy vices are better known unto him then unto thyself He shall speak of thee in all places and in all companies and in his anger he will not fayl to discover thy most hidden faults and all those imperfections which thou neglectest to mend Doe thou make thy profit of this still have a care of thy salvation Whosoever shall remember that he hath an Adversary who still censures him in all things takes more care to govern himself 7. Perseverance is the Crown and compleatment of all vertues A reward is promised to Beginners but is given only unto those who persever Wherefore above all things endeavor to be constant and firm in thy resolutions Nothing is soe profitable because it doth thee good when it is past Thou goest back if thou dost not advance if thou beginnest to stand thou fallest down Resolve with thyself what thou art to doe and persever in that resolution to the end He must be of a very unconstant mind who is alwaies taking new exercises and is alwaies changing from place to place It is more to thy purpose to strive to be another man then in another place A plant or Tree that is often transplanted withers at last and variety of medicines hinders and spoyls the health If S. Paul who is termed in Scripture a vessell of Election not regarding what he had done but what he was to doe thought he was not yet perfect enough what must thou doe who hast reason to wish that thy end may be foe good as his beginning The desire of knowledge is endles the love of riches is insatiable and the ambition of men hath no limits There is no end of hunting after things which must soon have an end but if thou hadst once had a tast of the divine wisedome thou wouldst soon find satisfaction and have enough He invites thee to Perfection after another manner who said Be yee perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect This is the mark which is set before thee that thou maist know thou canst never be soe perfect but that thou maist still attain unto a higher degree of perfection CHAP. XXXI Of Temperance How much Modesty conduceth unto it Of Abstinence and Chastity 1. TEmperance is a vertue which refraineth those pleasures which proceed from Tasting and Touching it hateth refuseth all superfluous delicacies and is content with that which is necessary in as much as reason permitteth It hath this for an infallible Rule to prescribe no other measure but necessity in things which belong to the body never makes use of pleasure for the pleasure itself This is the vertue that must keep thee from making thyself a beast A naturall modesty helps much unto it in regard it is the curb of all evill motions the cheif mark of a good nature the Guardian of Chastity a testimony of Innocency If thy mind is endowed with this it will teach thee how to fear all dishonesty to abstain from unlawfull actions to keep thyself alwaies in the presence of God to carry a respect to thyself in all time and place and alwaies to love that spirituall beauty which appeareth most in the works of Temperance Moreover Thou maist then esteem thyself modest when the very name of immodesty is displeasing to thee when thou shalt consider that thy walls inclose thee but doe not hide thee from the sight of God although most men think their walls doe not soe much contribute to their living more safely as to their sinning more privately But what doth it avail thee to hide thyself from the eyes of the world and to be out of their hearing God is alwaies with thee and sees thee every where thy own conscience too is alwaies with thee which accuseth thee in all places 2. Abstinence and sobriety moderate the use of eating and drinking Chastity governs the sense of Touching It is a hard matter not to exceed the bounds of necessity in our dyet The belly obeyes no law it is still asking calling for and exacting a dayly Tribute But few consider how little will content nature We force nature make hunger and thirst to be slaves to our vices and whereas we might easily content them with naturall remedies we provoke them with variety of delicate meats and exquisite drinks Chastity also is very hard amongst soe many objects that lead unto Impurity unles they are prevented overcome with the fear of God by avoiding the occasions with keeping watch over our senses and by having a respect to our own souls He that hath no respect for himself will have none before others Dost thou desire to be chast keep watch over thy eyes least that thou shouldst love against thy will some object which thou hast beheld with an unwary look Why dost thou admire the transitory and false beauty of a creature Stay a little and it will vanish away Thou wilt see after a while those pleasing faces filled with uncomely wrinckles those sparkling eyes overshadowed with a cloud of sadnes those Ivory Teeth covered with a black filthy scumm Fly also all evill company idle hours Tame thy body with frequent fasting and never use it with too much tendernes He is undone who beareth to much love to his owne epulcher CHAP. XXXII Of Mildnes and Clemency The duties and Excellency of both 1. MIldnes is a vertue which breaketh the violence of Anger and keeps us within the limits of patience Anger is a weapon which thou maist lawfully use when thou art obliged by thy office to correct and punish vice and when prudence dictates that thou art obliged to repell an injury from thyself or thy neighbour least that the wicked take occasion from thy unreasonable patience to encrease their malice There is as much cruelty in forgiving all as in
wants nothing of what he should have And what can he want who purged of all sin and imperfection and adorned with all vertues adhereth interiorly unto God and becomes as it were one spirit with him for all eternity This is the height of Christian perfection this is thy last end unto which thou art bound to aspire For since every thing is then esteemed perfect when it is united to its end and God is thy end it follows that thou canst never be perfect untill adhering perfectly unto God thou returnest unto him from whom thou hadst thy beginning But no man can be truly perfect without the speciall grace of God And because few dispose their Souls to receive this interiour help of God this is the reason that few arrive unto perfection In a whole age we see but very few that become perfect or Saints 2. Thou maist count him a perfect man whom thou seest undaunted in the midst of dangers free from all covetousnes and evill desires happy in adversity content when he is calumniated quiet and peaceable in the midst of storms who is still merry and the same whatsoever others fear or hope who esteems himself above all things who trusteth nothing but his own vertue who is alwaies free alwaies constant alwaies like himself firm high full of God and esteeming himself nothing whom no power can rob of his own riches who turns bad to good who is never frustrated of his expectation who is never moved or offended with any chance who esteemeth things not according to the opinion of the world but as they are in themselâ—… who standing as it were above all the world considers and contemplates all that is done in it but is still quiet and unshaken in himself whose better part alwaies dwells in God from whom it had its beginning As the rayes of the sun although they touch the Earth yet are really in the sun from which they proceed soe a perfect man converseth with the world but his better part is absent from the world and alwaies adhereth to its soveraign end His mind is like the regions which are above the moon alwaies serene and untroubled He knows no imperfection in his actions and is never unconstant all Times are alike unto him and like the sun he looks upon all things with an equall regard and flying all multiplicity of objects he â—…eth content in one simple contemplation of God alone He wisheth for nothing he seeks nothing out of himself having no need to seek felicity far from himself because he hath it included in his own hart He doth all his actions for God he lives only for God and is alwaies ready to dye when it shall please his divine will Examine thyself in all particulars according to this Rule and thou wilt easily see how far thou art from perfection 3. Perfection is a thing which is far above thy reach and thou canst never attain unto it unles he helps thee who said without me you can doe nothing Many dispositions are required unto it The end of a perfect life is an intimate union with God because he dwelleth in inaccessible light thou canst never arrive unto an union with him unles thou first disengagest thyself from the darknes of creatures No man can be made partaker of the divine nature unles he raiseth himself above himself and above all created things The least adhering to any earthly objects is like the fish called Remora which if it doth but stick to the keel of a ship it presently stops it in the midst of its course soe that it can sayl no further Soe it happens to many souls which like ships laden with havenly riches would happily arrive to the Port of a blessed union with God if they were not hindred and detained by some evill affection God is one and simple and consequently a Soul can never be fit for a happy union with him unles it also becometh 〈◊〉 and simple like him FINIS