REFLECTIONS.

It must be confess'd, that the number of Books at this day is very great, and yet were they all good, there would not be many. It would conduce sufficiently to the Honour of Church and State, did every Age produce but five or six, by the Favour of Providence, that merited to be turned into all Languages, and had the Priviledge of the Books of Antiquity, to be known no less than the Sun, and to last no less than the World. ‘O Immortal Stars, said the Son of Syrach (speaking of the Psalms of David) Immortal Stars, created to illuminate future Ages, and to adorn them with your miraculous Lights, even to the end of the World!’ Ornavit tempora usque ad consummationem seculi.

My design is, not in this place to take notice of the ill fate of so many Books, as no sooner see the light, but are strait bu­ried in Oblivion; nor of those that may be termed the Burden of their Country, and the Crime of their Parents; neither of those [Page 3] other, that like the Lyon's Whelps of the Prophet Ezekiel, come into the World ar­med with Teeth and Claws, and which at the instant begin to bite, to tear Mens Reputations, and to suck their Blood. Leo factus est & didicit capere praedam, hominemque comedere.

I mean to speak of such Books as have the Benediction of Heaven, such as are penned by knowing and learned Authors helped by the Light of the Holy Ghost, and I shall only follow St. Chrysostom, my dear Reader, in making an Observation to you, which doubtless will prove useful at the Entrance into this little Work.

He says, That such Books as these are Man's fittest Companions during this mor­tal life, Companions that are faithful, fa­miliar, and respectful, taht are always near at hand, without being uneasie or trou­blesome; that are silenced when we please, without taking exceptions, and entertain us without tediousness, when we would have them speak again, that teach us, without flattery or dissembling, the Truths of God, and the Rigor of his Judgments, and in fine, shew us our Faults, and make [Page 4] us observe our Weakness and Imperfecti­ons, yet give us no offence or distaste.

So that we cannot but esteem these wonderful Books in the number of the most admirable productions of the Holy Ghost, and the most proper, to make us see the Defects of our Corrupt Nature.

True it is, that this should be the prin­cipal Care and Office of those that love us, and whom we love; but, Where is that Friend to be found, that will shew us the Wounds of our Soul, when only to see them gives so great offence? Where are they to be found, that will venture to put their Hand to this tender place, and en­deavour our Remedy by charitable Admo­nitions, when all the World knows, that but to touch it, is to make it worse? To what end serve any Remonstrances, tho' never so discreet and secret, and though applied with all the Civility and Sweet­ness imaginable, but to turn small Scratches into bleeding Sores and mortal Wounds? How many Thunders have been raised in a Family; how many Quarrels and scan­dalous Breaches, only from a word of true Friendship, that hath displeased too nice a Friend?

I say therefore, that on such occasions these Books are our most incomparable Friends: their Office and Intention is, to set our Faults before our Eyes; and this they do in so obliging a way (which is the Won­der) as that instead of being offended at these free Censurers, who are so well ac­quainted with our Faults, we rather do admire and esteem them; chiefly, in that they best know how to discover to us, and set down in Paper pathetically and clearly whatsoever lies the most hidden and black within us, and all that God Al­mighty sees, through the impenetrable Recesses of our guilty Conscience.

Another Wonder of these Books is, that tho' they lye open before the Eyes of all the World, yet they discover these Truths only to the Persons that seek and ought to know them, telling things in that admira­ble way, that the Guilty alone know it is they that are spoken to, and that the Writer himself knows nothing of this, no more than any other Man.

Such Sinners as read these Books find their Consciences touched to the quick, and yet perceive no Hand that comes near [Page 6] them, or any Eye that observes them. In a word, they have no reason to complain, but only of Themselves.

There was heretofore graved upon a Looking-glass this Motto, which equally suits to a good spiritual Book, Nemini parcit, neminem laedit; It spares none, and yet it hurts none. Indeed, it is evident, that the Glass shews to those that look in it, and mind it, all the badness and defor­mity of their Faces, and the good Book all the spots and foulness of their Conscien­ces: Both the one and the other shew this without hiding, without excusing or disguising any thing, and yet neither of them angers any Person, or gives him any just cause of Complaint; Nemini parcit, neminem laedit. It is the Property of an excellent good Book, not to spare in any sort the Sin, nor yet to offend in any sort the Sinner.

For it could be counted no less than a ridiculous Extravagance, what a young Lord did not long since, who hapning to come into the company of some Per­sons of Quality, that were reading a Book, in which his depraved Manners were re­presented [Page 7] to the Life, fell into a violent Passion, and would have snatched away the Book, to have torn it in pieces, but being hindred, he went away full of Threats, and such Designs as his foolish Rage put into his Head. The next day some Per­sons made a Painter draw a Looking-glass and just before it a Dragon, which seeing there his hideous shape, seem'd to fly away, yet turned his Eyes with Indigna­tion towards the innocent Glass, on the top of which were written these few words, as the Motto of the Looking-glass, (Se non me fugit; 'Tis not from me, but from himself he flies). It is the sight of his horrid Head, full of Poison and De­formity, that enrageth him, and puts him into this fright.

And this I take to be the fittest Answer can be made to those malicious Spirits, who out of their hatred to them are still ready to defame and play the Satyrists on good Books.

For my part, at least, if any one should take offence at the Truths which in this little Work accompany the Maxims of Solomon; all the Apology I should make [Page 8] should be summed up in these three words, Se non me: he accuseth his own Consci­ence, and not my Pen; his Quarrel is to Himself, and not to Me.

But it is time, my dear Reader, to make an end of this Preliminary Maxim, and to acknowledge to you, that this Work done by so weak a Hand, hath no Value in it but what it derives from the words of Solomon, dictated by the Holy Ghost, ac­quainting you with such Maxims as are proper to guide us in relation to our Temporal and Spiritual Good, which to­gether make up the Felicity of this Life; and that these two sorts of Good are set forth in the Texts of Solomon, put down in the Table at the end of this Book.

REFLECTIONS.

Men aim holily, at the Felicities of the Life to come, yet are not forbid to look after those of this present Life; Necessity often forces us to desire them, God some­times helps us to acquire them: There are even some of them that he has chosen to be the Lot of his Elect in this low Re­gion, and to be the Mark of their Electi­on and Perseverance in his Grace: amongst these there is not any one so desirable, as the Skill how to order our Actions with [Page 11] that Wisdom, as they may neither harm Others nor our Selves.

Wisdom is in effect no other thing, but the Felicity of Man, both in this and in the other World. It is a generalVenerunt mihi omnia Bona cum illa. Sap. 7. Good which contains all that infinite Variety of different Helps and Remedies, of which we stand in need during this Mortal Life. She sufficeth all alone to him that knows and does pos­sess her; whatsoever else is wanting to Man, when once he becomes Wise, he wants no more to make him Happy.

It may be said of her at least, that she is the Rendezvous of those Qualities which render a Man sovereignly perfect and tru­ly divine; who has her, has a modesty of Countenance, a serenity of Mind, a force and greatness of Wit, a sublimity of Know­ledge, and a reach into all the Secrets of Nature, an elevation up to the high Spring of Light, and a continual Familia­rity with God; in fine, an Immensity of Heart, always fixed upon Heaven, and yet always present to this Lower World, in the exercise of its Courage and Bounty to­wards those who depend on him: Can we [Page 12] then do less than own, that where these are, such a Man in a Country, altho' one of the least rich, and least befriended by Fortune, is in spight of her the most happy and most amiable of Men? All that she can give to Kings comes not into compa­rison with the value of what he possesses. Pretiosior est cunctis opibus, & omnia quae desiderari possunt non valent sapientiae com­parari.

It is not my design, O Christian Soul, to raise up your hopes to this high Pitch, so much above your Reach; measure your strength, and know your self. Wisdom has its different degrees, and do you aim at that station to which God and your Con­science calls you. All that I pretend here, is to tell you, That you that are not con­tent with your present condition, nor with that you have been in formerly, if you will be but as wise, as you may be, by the Help and Grace of Almighty God, which he offers you, you shall find, in what Sta­tion or Place soever you are, your Quiet in it; and your Happiness thus setled, shall never more be overthrown by any Misfortune.

I do not say, that Fortune shall then be­come favourable to you; or that she shall not Attempt to do you Mischief; I only say, it shall not be in her power to Afflict you.

There is no question, but that those Mi­series which over-run whole Kingdoms may enter into your Country, fall upon your Lands, and enter your very House, but never into your Self. That part of the Immortal Soul where God has graved his Image, and Wisdom stamped her Pri­viledge, must be exempt from all those Prophanations, to which the rest of Man is so much liable. Grief, Vexation, and Impatience come not at that place, but in the midst of Loss and Ruines: Quiet shall never perish there, no more than In­nocence.

Let them weep and lament who know, their Sins and the Imprudence of their Actions, have brought upon them these ill Accidents. Your Virtue, which has kept you from being one in the number of the Faulty, will keep you also from being one in the number of the Unhappy; whilst such as they make Outcries of Despair, [Page 14] and sink under the Storm, you shall possess a perfect calm of Heart, and will reckon it a better Condition, and more honoura­ble, to have had no share in the Faults which may have brought Misery amongst your Family, than to have a part in a good Fortune, that should befal it meerly by Ac­cident.

In a word, Non contristabit Justum quid­quid ei acciderit, says Solomon; No Acci­dent that befals the wise and the just man, can turn him from his right Byass, and the doing of his Duty, or so much as cause in him disorderly Motions. There may be Tumult and Noise round about him, but Peace shall never forsake him within. And whilst he finds his Soul serene and quiet, it will little concern him, though his Aims be crossed, or if he suffers in his Affairs: Non contristabit quidquid ei acci­derit.

But David says more, and goes yet fur­ther, let us not fear to fol­lowNon accedet ad te Malum & Flagellum non appropinquabit Tabernaculo tuo. him in saying, That if there be Wisdom in you, the Goodness of God will not permit the Strokes of his Anger to [Page 15] come at you, or so much as to threaten or approach your Habitation.

The greatest part of our Misfortunes, and almost all of them, befal us, by the want of foresight. That which happens to the Merchant, who having left the Harbour indiscreetly, and not foreseeing the Tempest, perishes upon the Sea, is common to almost all the afflicted, that lament either the Overthrow of their Law-suits, or their other Losses. They lay the Fault both upon Heaven and Earth, when the true cause is, that they were blind, and could not see the Disguises put on Truth by false-hearted Men, nor the secret Turns of Fortune, hid in the obscu­rity of the time to come. Quia non cognovisti tempus, saith the Gospel: Who­ever you be that relate your Mischances, complaining bitterly of the cruelty of your Enemies, of the deceit of your Flatterers, or injustice of your Judges, accuse not any thing but your own Ignorance, and the small reach of your Thoughts, which could not see beyond what appeared be­fore your Eyes: the discerning Thoughts of Wisdom go much further.

Observe, that though it be said of the generality of Men, that they are subject to Afflictions, yet it is rarely said of the Wise Man, who has a holy Modesty and Prudence. There is a kind of Instinct in us, which prompts us to believe, that to be wise and happy are not two distinct Qualities in such a Person: we are per­swaded, that he can never miss of Success, because he bears in his Looks the Chara­cter of a Mind, not to be deceived in the Events of what he Undertakes.

In Reality, according to the Motto which Solomon does bestow upon him, one of his Essential PropertiesOmnia impro­visa didici. is, to know to day what will be to morrow, and to prevent the Evil by his Care and Precaution, which are enlightned from above.

He does not limit his Sight to the Countenances of Men; he has a Light that goes further than the Eyes, and shews him what lies most dark and hidden in their Hearts. St. Peter says, (speaking of true Wisdom) It is a Light created by God to shine in dark places: Lucerna lucens in Caliginoso loco.

The Apostle means, that as there are two Lights in this World appointed to dis­cover to our mortal Eyes things material and visible, one the Sun, which shews them clearly by day; the other the Moon, which shews them also, but yet obscurely, in the absence of the Sun; so are there two other Lights appointed for our Souls, by which to see things spiritual and imma­terial; the first, that Sun of Paradice, ter­med the Light of Glory, which will mani­festly discover to us the infinite Greatness and Beauty of the King of kings, and all whatever that is wonderful and incompre­hensible in the Mysteries of the Trinity, and of the Incarnation of the Word: the second, (which is the lesser, luminare minus) the Light of Wisdom, which has its Rise and Spring from the Bosom of God, and is to enlighten us upon the Earth, and to shew us obscurely, yet certainly, those Truths which are invisible and impenetra­ble to the blind Skill of vain Politicians and Philosophers; Lucerna lucens in Caliginoso loco.

Enlightned by the Rays of this glorious and divine Star, the Sages of all times have [Page 18] penetrated thro' the Clouds of Ignorance, (with which all Men are involved) into the most profound Mysteries of the Go­spel, and into those of Grace and Nature.

By the help of the same Rays, when you become wise, you will discover, not by Revelation, or any miraculous Illuminati­on, but by Conjectures supernaturally gui­ded, the darkest Thoughts of Men Hearts, the Designs of Human Policy, the Snares laid by Ambition, Hypocrisie,Quaecum (que) sunt absconsa & im­provisa didici. Sap. 7. Envy, and Impiety, with all the Dangers hidden in the se­cret Paths of Treachery and Hatred. I shall see them, says Job, speak­ing to God, and shall walk in the midst of an undaunted confidence, when I shall be en­lightned by your light: Quando splendebit lucerna tua super caput meum & in tenebris ad lumen tuum Ambulabo.

To conclude, Be wise, and you shall see all the Accidents of Danger before they come; nor will you study, as others do, to give them a Repulse when present, but go and meet them afar off, to prevent them with little Pains: You will do, in relation to domestick Troubles, what Solomon did [Page 19] miraculously in relation to contagious and stormy blasts of Air; he knew the Art, how to go and find them in their Caves, and there to dispel them: He knew the Art, how to make Health, Happiness, and Abundance reign in his Provinces, when at the same time other Nations pined with Famine, or perished by Diseases.

REFLECTIONS.

It is the ordinary Custom of Men to apply themselves with great assiduity to useless and idle trifles, and to take no man­ner of care for things of the highest impor­tance.

You bestow a great expence in the Ha­bits you wear, and take a great deal of pains to dress your self handsomly, that you may appear pleasing in the Eye of the World, and never so much as think of hea­ling that horrid Canker, that eats into your Face, the loathsomness of which makes every one flee your company, and renders you hideous and insupportable to all that see or come near you.

To what end serves all this expensive Bravery? What good do these precious Movables of your Chamber, with this magnificence of your Bed, do you, if in the midst of all these Riches, and so much cost­ly Gaiety, designed for the sweetning of [Page 21] your Sleeps, you feel the Stone within you tearing with its sharp points your In­trails, and forcing you to cry out like to a Criminal on the Rack? I mean, if in the height of the Prosperity and Honours of your Family you feel the Sting of Mortal Sin that disappoints your rest; and if you must hear night and day the dreadful Crys of your wounded Conscience, which puts you in mind of the approach of Death, and of Eternal Misery. Dum ad speciosa tormen­ta alligatus: sub ingenti titulo Cruciaris.

No certainly, Sin is not an Evil of small importance, to be neglected or made sport withal.

There is not a Wise Man upon the Earth, that would not chuse to lose his Goods and Life, nor a Saint in Heaven that would not renounce his Paradise, to go and suffer eternally in Hell, rather than to commit a Mortal Sin.

It is said of the Seraphins, That they were grieved they ever had a Being, when they first saw Sin to grow amongst them; and that they became the Companions of Sinners.

What St. Paul said in the Transports of his Love, was no less seraphical nor admi­rable; That it would be more easie for him to perish himself, and be put in the number of the Reprobate, than to see those Sins in the Hearts of Christians, which they see in themselves, and suffer to remain there without remorse. He said this from the bottom of his Heart, because he under­stood the two essential Properties of Man's Sin, which are no less than to be the death of an immortal Soul, and the true Cause of the death of a God, a Paricide and a Dei­cide.

There have been some converted Sin­ners so divinely illuminated, and so clear sighted in the foulness of Sin, as that after having mingled with their Food Ashes and their Tears, and after having suffered the severest Austerities in their Bodies for se­veral years, not thinking they had yet sa­tisfied for their Sins, have wished to go and suffer the Torments of Hell, there to finish the time of their Penance. It would be a long Work to collect what the Fa­thers have writ, and to consider all they have observed hereupon; it will be suffi­cient [Page 23] for you to know his Mind, who is the Master of Saints, and what his Thoughts are of you and your Sins, and how he comes to know them; but then you must interrogate him thereupon, and he will an­swer.

To learn this well, your best way is, not to have recourse to the great Doctors, you will gain this Science sooner in Soli­tude than in the Schools: Whoever you are, that have spent several years in thin­king of other things than your Salvation, and matters of Eternity, do not deny your Conscience three or four days time, to hear what it will say to you from God on this mighty Subject, and to learn of it the ex­plication of these few words of St. Denis, Lux in se Notitiam Tenebrarum Habet; That Light contains in itself the knowledge of Obscurity, that in seeing and knowing itself, it knows what is Darkness.

St. Denis means, That God had the same thoughts of Man's Sins that the Sun would have of Night, could he but see and know himself; undoubtedly, though there be nothing of Darkness in the Sun, yet had he Eyes and Understanding, as he must see [Page 24] beyond any Person, that his Light is the most perfect of all visible Beauties, so he must needs see also beyond any, that there is no Deformity so dreadful, or such an Enemy to the Eyes, as the Night: Altho' he had never been acquainted with her, nor had ever seen her, his own perfect Bright­ness would suffice him, to know and mea­sure her truly by.

Nothing is so certain, as, That in God there is not any Spot or Sin, but that He is all Infinite Light and Brightness; and yet with this pure and impeccable Essence it is that He sees what Sin is beyond what all Men in their sinful and corrupt Nature ever did see.

I leave you here to your self, O Christian Soul, lift up your Eyes, and contemplate privately upon this Divine Truth, That God, by his own Holiness, knows your Sin­fulness, examines, considers, and compre­hends all the degrees of it. By this it is that he measures what you are at the time of your Disorders; and as He sees an infi­nite Beauty and Greatness in His Divine Perfections, so He beholds with an infinite Horror and Infamy your Guilty Actions: [Page 25] He measures your Station by his own, and finds, that as high as He is exalted in Great­ness and Glory, by the sublime elevation of his Wisdom and of his Love to his Eter­nal Word, so low, by forsaking Him, are you sunk and fallen into the deep Abyss of Darkness and Nothingness. He sees both the one and the other in the same Vision.

‘What do you mean, O Great God,’ crys out David, trembling with Apprehension, ‘Posuisti iniquitates Nostras in Conspectu tuo; Must it be by such a shining Light that you behold and consider the Foul­ness and Infamy of our Miserable Life, and must the Ages of our Ingratitude be amidst the Splendor of your Paradice, one of the Spectacles of your Eternity? Saeculum Nostrum in illuminatione vultus tui.’ In this manner God knows what passes within you, and thus He thinks of any of the least of your Sins.

But then, how many does He see of these! look into your self whilst He looks into you, and see in your Soul what He sees there, that innumerable company of Inveterate Sins, that heap of Old and New Corruption. All these Black Objects that [Page 26] God contemplates in you, contemplate them I say, in your self, and let nothing be hidden from you. He knows your Thoughts, do you know his, and consider what He intends; at least, see what hangs over your Head, at the time that I am speaking to you; His Justice, with Pen in Hand, that observes you, and writes; His Mercy, that is leaving you, and ready to deliver you up to Death: they, by their interiour Voices, both reproach you with what you are at present, and tell you what you shall be to morrow, or this night, or perhaps within an hour, unexpectedly, in the height of your Honours and your Plea­sures, Dead, Judged, Damned; in three minutes space this great Change will be made, and made for ever: Velut Somnium Avolans non invenieris & qui te Viderint dicent, ubi est.

It is God that speaks to you, weigh his Words, meditate and grant to your Con­science that Solitude and Privacy which it begs of you, to the end it may be heard upon this Subject, and that you may con­sult with it.

The Question is, Whether you will con­tinue, by a desperate Choice, in the deplo­rable state in which you are, or get the soonest you can out of it, by the means of doing Penance.

Perhaps neither the one nor the other will please you, and your Answer will be made only in Tears, like a Sick body that is given over, and lies on his Bed tossing from one side to the other, sending out Groans and Lamentations. Quo Ibo?

It may chance to come into your Head to do like that Sinner the Prophet speaks of, which is to learn whether there be any Corner of the World where God is not, and where you may neither be seen by him, or persecuted by the reach of his Voice: Quo Ibo à Spiritu tuo, & quo à fa­cie tua fugiam? Alas, Lord, says he, you that know all things, know you not what it is to be seen by a God, with all our Sins about us? what it is to be called to a Holy Life by so many strong and inviting Inspi­rations, whilst long Habits and Customs have chained us to the World, and whilst a cruel and invincible Passion has engag'd us in the love of the Creatures. Great [Page 28] God, continues he, have Pity on me; I de­sire but this Favour of you, that you will tell me, you that only know it, to what part of the Universe I may flye, to be hid from the Sight of your Eyes, and freed from hearing the Threats of your Justice, with Calls and Pursuits of your Love. Quo Ibo à Spiritu tuo?

Behold here a strange Design, to ask of God himself what you must do, and whi­ther you must go, to flee away from him: But what outdoes this, is, that God does not refuse to give his Answer to such a Question, with Advice upon it.

The Answer which he gives, and which I address to you. O Christian Soul, is, That you must go to the place where Mer­cy dwells, upon Mount Calvary; and provided that you then say what is fit to be said to that Supream Mercy, and that you will let it work its Pleasure on your Heart, there you will find the Quiet and Security you seek.

REFLECTIONS.

It is not my Voice, O Christian Soul, nor the Voice of Man, but somewhat more powerful, and more worthy to be hearke­ned to, that calls you up to Mount Calvary, and expects you there, it being the only place where you can calm all the Motions [Page 30] of your Soul, and setle your self in the Happy Condition which you seek.

When you are there, spare not to utter quickly all that your Grief shall suggest to you to say, and proceed in complaining of that satal Impulse, as you count it, which carries you continually to the love of your Sins, notwithstanding you are continually in the Eye of your God, and persecuted by his Calls and Threats: Quo Ibo à Spiritu tuo, & quo à facie tua fugiam?

After this lift up your Eyes, and con­template upon him you see stretched on the Cross before you, you will discover in his opened Heart a Mercy which discerns Sinners, it is true, but beholds them to no other end, than to proportion the Pardon it designs them to the greatness of their Faults: You will find then, this God you flie, pursues you only, that He may make you capable of enjoying one day an Eternal Felicity, in the room of that Punishment you have deserv'd at his Hands, and which you can never escape, but by having re­course to his Cross.

Consider with your self, that the lowest and the vilest Condition a Man can be in [Page 31] is the state of great Sinfulness; and the highest Condition a God can be in, is that of great Mercifulness.

To these two Extreams were GOD and Man come, the one of heighth, the other of lowness, on the day of the Passion; Man, by spilling the Blood of his cruci­fied Saviour; and God the Father, by see­ing and suffering that precious Blood to flow. Here is matter for you to contem­plate and stay upon a while.

I have not much to say to you on my part, the Prophet David has included whatsoever can be or ought to be said on this Subject, in these few words, That there is in Man great Sin, and in GOD great Mercy.

Great Sins are such as are committed contrary to the most holy Laws of Na­ture, and which spring in the Heart in In­grateful Man after Baptism, during the heighth of the Favours and Benefits of his Redemption: They are such as are re­newed after Pardons received, and Promi­ses made of Repentance; such as are mul­tiplied by continual Relapses, as are forti­fied by Impunity, are hardned by Chastise­ments, [Page 32] and such as scandalousloy encrease under the weight of Sickness, Misfortune, and Malediction, mocking at the Autho­rity and Threats of Justice. In fine, great Sins are such as put a Man alive into the Beginning Flames of Hell, when sharp Sorrows and a despairing Remorse seize on the Heart of a Sinner, and that to get some Ease, he falls into that desperate Frenzy of imagining he is got out of the Reach of God Almighty's Hand, which makes him stand at defiance with Heaven, and abandon himself to all the wicked Ef­fects of Atheism and Brutality. Opprima­mus Justum nec Parcamus viduae: Implea­mus nos Vino: Nullum sit praetum quod non pertranseat luxuria nostra.

Great Mercy is that, which beholds this Spectacle with an Eye of Compassion, and efficaciously undertakes to afford a Reme­dy. To effect this, it assembles what is most strong and attractive in the Conque­ring Grace of the Holy Ghost,Quast anteluca­num illumino. of which it frames a Light like to the Morning Aurora. By the means of such a Light spread over the Face of the most stupified Sinners, this Di­vine [Page 33] Mercy gets into their Eyes without Violence or Trouble, and breaking the Fetters of their Dead Sleep, awakens and illuminates them, makes them in an in­stant see the Beauties of Virtue, and calls and draws them to it; then this Mercy it self entring into them with its divine At­tractives, and becoming Mistris of their Hearts, engages them, by an irrevocable resolution, to the performance of Acts of Penance and Sanctity. Corruscasti, & splen­duisti, & Rupisti Surditatem meam. S. Aug.

O Great and Adorable Mercy, which sets no Limits to the extent of its Benefits! which has not seen in Six thousand Years the Crime committed on the face of the Earth, that it was not ready to pardon, if the Sinner were ready to repent and accuse himself of it! which does not see any such in Hell amongst all the Blasphemies and execrable Impieties of that place, that it would not now be ready to forgive, if the Devils and the Damned would stoop from their Pride to ask that Grace, and draw from their Hearts an Act of Humility and Contrition! How many are the Sins, O Christian Soul, that your Life numbers [Page 34] since you were first a Sinner, and how ma­ny have the Favours of God been since that time! Has there a day passed in which this loving Father of his prodigal Chil­dren has not been watching fo ryou, and looking about to offer you his Hand, that He might draw you out of the Pit you were fallen into, from the Gates of Death and Hell, and out of the Bonds of the Devil?

In a word, There is great Sin and foul Ingratitude in Man, and in GOD great and high Mercy.

Consider then, if you think good, what you have to do in this Case, and which of the two Resolutions you ought to take; whether to flee as you purposed, so far from God that you might be out of the call of his Voice, running where Despair and Blindness will lead you; or, whether you will turn home to that Mercy which stretches out its Arms to you, and calls you to your Salvation. Consider, I say, and chuse.

Chuse! Alas, said St. Peter, Ad quem ibimus? verba vitae aeternae habes: Grace and Life, O Divine Saviour, are between [Page 35] your Lips, ready to be poured forth on miserable Man, my Heart longs for both: I am a Sinner, Death and Sin are in me, and stop my Breath: there remains for me but a moments space of Life, and then follow Pains to Eternity: Whither shall I go to seek for Remedy? Whither can I, unless I go to you? Verba vitae aeternae habes. Examine well these few words, and try to hear what is said to you there­upon from above: for my part, I have no­thing more to say, than what you have newly heard; you have great Sins upon you, and you stand in need of great Mer­cy; go up to Mount Calvary, there is no other place where it may be found, or where you ought to seek it.

True it is, that you are there accused of having shed the Blood of your Saviour, and of having been the Executioner that has crucified him: There you are shewn, on the top of a Tree, the most enormous Crime that ever was committed, and it is laid to your charge; but be not frighted, only be sure, as soon as you appear before the Crucifix, to let the Truth issue from your Heart, and out of your Mouth: con­fess, [Page 36] that you are the Guilty One against whom both Heaven and Earth call out for Vengeance, Iniquitatem meam Ego Cognosco; you will strait find there will come Mercy out of the Heart of God, to meet and em­brace you, and He will join his Grace on your Lips, to the Confession of your Faults, and the Truth of your Sorrow: Misericordia & veritas obviaverunt sibi.

Speak out then, own your Crime, and say with David, Peccatum meum Contra me est semper. True it is, O Lord, that my great Sin, which contains all the infi­nite multitude of my Offences, is present with you on the Cross, but then your great Mercy is with you there too: it is by that Standard you will measure the designs of your Heart towards me; and it is with it you will consult, to learn what Answer you shall return to my Tears: Miserer mei secundum magnam Misericordiam tuam. I implore not the Mercy of Angels or Saints, or of a God all Glorious in Heaven, my Need reaches to the want of the Grea­test and Supreme Mercy, and that is not to be had but from a God upon the Cross, whom I have put to death, He is the [Page 37] Only One that must renew my Life: Unite those innumerable Pardons and Fa­vours which you have granted to all Sin­ners since the beginning of the World; O unite them all at present into one, for me alone; Secundum multitudinem Miseratio­num tuarum: In me you behold all the Sin­ners that ever were; therefore I must seek in you for all that Goodness, and all that Love, that has converted them all even to this day: O my divine Saviour, glorifie your Omnipotence, and shew what a God can do for so lost a Creature, and how his Grace can raise a quite dejected Heart.

Entertain these kind of Thoughts in your Mind as much as you are able, and by the number of your Acts of Contrition, encourage the Divine Mercy, to showre on you its Numerous Benedictions.

REFLECTIONS.

See here the Method you are to observe whilst your Solitude gives you the leisure to hearken to your Conscience, and to mind what it will say to you: Tell often to your self the Story of your wretched Days, and let not so much as one of those dreadful occasions slip from you, which has engaged you in Wicked Company: call to mind each Fault, and over each weep and lament: Perform those Acts of Con­trition, [Page 39] that may make you worthy the Grace that has drawn you out of Hell, which the death of Christ has merited for you.

Say to him, That which afflicts me most, (O Lord) touching my enormous Crimes, is, that my Heart is weak, and has not strength enough to hate them. Alas, Lord, mine alone can be but poor in Sorrow, poor, tho' I had the Hearts of my Confessors to help me, who have known and lamented them to­gether with me: by my Goodwill I would have the Hearts of all Men and Angels, and out of this Multiplicity of Hearts would I collect and frame a hatred and detestati­on of my Ingratitude, that should be great enough to make them equal to my Grief and Misery: Cor mundum Crea in me Deus; Employ, O Lord, your Power and your Mer­cy; create a new Heart, and bestow it on me, with which I may stisfie you, and love you.

With this desire our Saviour will be pleased, as he was with that of David, St. Peter, and other Converted Sinners, who after having employ'd Years in la­menting and weeping, when their Tears [Page 40] were quite exhausted and spent, did seek to know, whether the World could not afford the Means to raise within their Souls a Spring of these bitter Waters, such as should never stop, but last to the very end of their days: Quis dabit Capiti meo Aquam, & Oculis meis fontem lachryma­rum?

Say you the same thing, contemplating on your crucified Lord, and say it with Sincerity, and from the bottom of your Heart; let Sighs of Love express it instead of Words; Quis dabit Capiti mei? How happy should I be, could I shed Torrents of Tears to joyn with the Torrent of my Saviour's Blood, such as should flow in every place where I have committed Faults, to shew, where-ever I have Sinned, that I have Sorrowed, and given lasting Marks of my Repentance. O all ye Peo­ple, who have heard of theAudite Populi & Videte dolo­rem meum. Scandals of my past Life, come and hear my mournful Cries, come and behold my Sorrows! be­hold them you, my God, and see how my Conscience suffers: in you I hope, even in the Condition I am fallen into, be you so [Page 41] good as to grant me your Love in the same measure; at least, look on me, thus as I am, and let that Virtue issue from your Eyes, which can give Grace and Life. Vide Domine & Considera.

This God, who sees and hears yo du­ring these holy moments in which your Griefs renew, and that you feel the Con­vulsions of your afflicted Conscience, will not fail to comfort you, by his repeating to you interiourly, what has been so often told you by his Prophets and Evangelists, that your Sins are blotted out, and forgi­ven, and that not one spot of them remains in your Soul.

Thus much I know, O my Divine Sa­viour, but still the memory of them is re­maining in your Mind.

Alas, Great God, how insufficient it is for my Comfort to be told I am forgiven! To make this perfect, you that can be ignorant of nothing, must find out some means to be ignorant of my Misdeeds, and to forget whatsoever has befallen me in the time of my wretched and scandalous days.

For how is it possible to live in the pre­sence of a God, who has seen my Trea­cheries, and bears them still in mind! how is it possible to be comforted, tho' I am daily told the News from him, that my Sins have been washed with his Blood! when at the same time my Reason informs me, that they appear yet before his Eyes, that they will ever appear, and that the Ages of my Ingratitude must, amidst the Glories of his Paradise, be one of the Ob­jects of his Eternity! Posuisti iniquitates Nostras in Conspectu tuo, soeculum Nostrum in illuminatione Vultus tui.

God, who with a Complacence observes these Fears and Disquiets within you, will give them a Remedy to make your Con­solation entire.

For whilst you are breathing out your Complaints in this familiar way, when he comes once to comfort you, He will do it certainly like a God, and stretch his Power miraculously so far, as even to forget all, and bury the whole Memory of your Sins in the Ocean, whence it shall never rise again: Disponet iniquitates Nostras & pro­jiciet [Page 43] in profunda Maris omnia peccata Nostra, quoniam Volens est misericordiam.

REFLECTIONS.

A principal Duty it should be in devout and holy persons, to add a Lustre and Glory to Sanctity; but there are many of them that do much otherwise, and who, we must confess, give by their Indiscretions too much Ground to Libertines, for their contempt of this Divine Virtue,

I cannot tell whether this proceeds from an innocent Ambition to imitate the Saints in those Actions wherein they are most inimitable, and miraculous; but this I can [Page 44] tell, that it brings no Honour to Sancti­ty, to be more Saint-likeNon plus sapere quam oportet, Sa­pere ad sobrietatem. than God approves. It fares with Holiness as it does with Wisdom: whosoever has too much of either, falls very short of having enough.

This too much is the thing, I may bold­ly say, that dishonours Christian Piety, and is the cause it meets with so little respect in all Companies in the World. The Mis­fortune comes not by the Devotion of such as are discreet and holy, but by the true Folly of such as are scrupulous, and the False Sanctity of such as are Hypocrites.

To be of an Humour not to be satisfied but by taking by-ways to go to Heaven, and building upon Rules which are Stran­gers to the Churches Morals, and to all Divinity; to be perswaded, that to break a day of Lent in the time of a dangerous Sickness, is a high and guilty Frailty; that it is not to dye like a Christian, or a Cho­sen One, unless Death comes by the Vio­lence of Mortifications, and unless a Man inflicts on himself as much as ever Tyrants did upon the Martyrs they have made. [Page 45] These sort of Principles, and others like them, preached up by the Montainists and Novatians, were never any Honour to Devotion or Devout Persons, though they might be so often to their Directors, who have judged them fit Cloaks to hide their growing Heresies, and who by shewing to us Devotees ruin'd in the Health both of Body and Mind, by their Watchings and Fasts, pretend to give us infallible Proofs of the Holy Lives of their Teachers, and Sanctity of their Doctrine.

Be devout: but in case you cannot be so, without rendring Devotion either false­ly commendable or truly ridiculous and contemptible, never pretend to it at all. Bring not into the Sanctuary, under the Title of a Mortified and Spiritual Man, such Defects as will make the Wise to laugh at you, as well as others, and Con­demn you against their Wills: it is a mat­ter of Shame, that happens almost every day, even in the most modest Conversati­ons, never to hear the Devout spoken of, but that it is with some Censure of their Carriage.

Make not one in the number of those that are the cause of this, as you will in­fallibly do, if you go about to square your Devotions to certain ways of living, such as the Tongues of Libertines have Right to make sport with, and the truly Pious are obliged in Conscience to condemn.

Of this number you will certainly be, if at your return from your long Contem­plations made at the Feet of the Altar you bring home with you the Uneasiness of your Melancholy and Fantastical Humour. One of the chief Rules of eminent San­ctity is, That we must live in our Family after the manner that an Angel would live there; if this be too hard for you, yet live in it like a Reasonable Man, at least, live not there like a Wild Beast, giving your Domesticks occasion to complain of you each hour of the day, and attribute to you, what was said of a great Devotee of old, That the more he Fasted and Prayed, the more insupportable he became.

Call to mind, that there is no other true Saint in the World, but he that understands true Charity and true Civility to be one and the same Virtue.

Beware, above all things, of what hap­pens frequently in the Carriage of some Spiritual Persons, that you do not rank your Disobedience and Opiniatrety in the number of your Virtues and Duties, and that you do not fix your Aim upon Super­stitious Ways and Courses.

Repel with vigor all Follies seizing on the Imagination, such as are Illusions, Anxieties, and Disquiets, caused by the Dreams of Fancy: Suffer not any empty Fear, or Vapour raised from the Earth, to mingle with your Thoughts, where God would see only what is Divine.

Fear Mortal Sin, and flye it more than you would do Death, but be not fright­ed with the Name and Shew of Sin. The Devil, to fright poor fearful Woman, makes use of the most innocent and harm­less things, and gives them often the Re­semblance of Mortal Sins: fear them not, nor make the Wise laugh at your De­ceit and Weakness, as you would do at a Child, who should be frighted at the sight of a Marble Serpent on a Fountain; for as there is nothing less venomous or dange­rous than these Dragons and Monsters of [Page 48] Brass and Marble, made to adorn the Pa­laces of Princes, so there is nothing less Sin and Impurity than those Visions and Ghosts of Sin, with which the Devil uses to haunt the Imaginations of the chastest Virgins; they sigh, and grieve, and are ready to de­spair at them, believing they are damned: the Indevout seeing this, mock at it; let it have your Compassion, but imitate them not: raise your Courage high enough to slight these interiour Goblins.

Freedom, Tranquility, Courage, and Wisdom are the Companions of true Devo­tion, and must enter along with it into your Soul: At least it is true what a Holy Father said excellently well; That to be­come devout, is to receive by the Benefit of Grace all that Vigour and those Good Qualities which Nature had denied us at our Birth. It would be a wonderful Mis­fortune to have the contrary befal you; and having been a Man of good Sense when you dealt in the Affairs of the World, you should now, after having se­riously resolved to give your self to God, begin the Exercises of a Good Life, by be­coming uncivil, shy, dreaming, and fanta­stical.

Where Grace is, there should not be wanting any one Beauty or Greatness that befits an Immortal Soul; and yet we see great Sinners, who shew, in the Face of the World, to have Honour and Courage, whilst Persons of devotion make it none of their Duty to correct the Defects of their timerous Nature.

The true Means to unite within us those Perfections I have named, and to ac­complish a Spiritual and Christian Life with Honour and Glory, is to observe well what this Text of Solomon teaches, being one of the choicest things he has written, and to make it our principal care and bu­siness to converse daily with God, and pra­ctise a familiarity in his Presence; Gene­rositatem illius glorificat Contubernium ha­bens Dei.

True it is, that God is your Lord and Master, and that the Rank you hold be­fore him should put you in the humblest place, under his Feet, and even below a Nothing, if that were possible: but yet notwithstanding, when you come to love him, and that with Mary Magdalen, during the conversation of one Heart with ano­ther, [Page 50] you possess the high Privileges near him that belong to a Lover; that Glori­ous Quality gives you a Right to behold Him as your Equal, and to say boldly to Him, Dilectus meus mihi & ego illi: My Beloved is mine, and I am his.

In the Church, and at the times of Sa­crifice and Adoration, let your Submission and Respects shew you to be a poor Sha­dow in his Sight; but in other places, and at times of liberty, accustom your self to treat with him as you do with those that love you, and whom you love; He is near you, as they are; tell Him the same things you would say to them; acquaint Him with your Affairs and Designs, your Hopes and your Fears, and all that relates to you; get to have the most intimate familiarity with Him, and the most secret communi­cation that is possible; say to Him what­soever the Transports of Love shall draw from your Heart, and fear nothing so much as to be daunted in the presence of this Spouse, since nothing more displeases Him in a Holy Soul, than the trembling Fits of Distrust, and the Disquiets of a Scrupulous Conscience.

True it is, that he is to be soveraignly respected; yet since it is His Will to love you, and that He will have you love him tenderly and divinely, all the Honour He expects from you, is to have you converse with Him, as you would do with one that loves you, and to tell him your Thoughts with all the Freedom of a true Affection and Confidence. Acquaint Him then with all the Passages that relate to you, altho' he knows them before. It is from your self that He would hear them. As much God as he is, it concerns him to know this from you, because He loves you, and that whatsoever touches you, becomes the Business and the Interest of his Love.

I maintain then, That it is this Conver­sation with God that glorifies Devotion in you, that makes the Force, the Beauty and Excellence of it appear, and compels even the proudest Sinners to honour and esteem it.

The reason of it is, That at the time of this interiour Converse God does speak to you, not by Dreams in the Night, as to Joseph, nor by a loud Voice, heard by ma­ny, as to St. Paul, but as to a beloved [Page 52] Spouse, by Words immediately issuing from his Heart, such as are formed out of the Sighs of him that does pronounce them; that is to say, by Breathings and impressi­ons altogether divine.

In a word, God observes towards us, in these Conversations, the same Method we use to a Friend, when we have a Secret to impart in the presence of Com­pany that should not hear it.

Taking him apart, and putting our Mouth close to his Ear, we whisper to him so softly, and so near, that our Breath enters with the Words into his Ear, and that at the same time he hears us, he receives in the warmth and other im­pressions of our Breath. Ducam eam in Solitudinem & loquar ad Cor ejus: I will lead her into Solitude, and will speak to her Heart.

Thus God deals when he would inform any Holy Soul how he should act on every occasion: He treats with her of all Mat­ters necessary for her to know, and upon each communicates His Secret Thoughts, but does it so softly, and so truly, by the way of one Heart's entertaining another, [Page 53] that He is not heard but of her self. It is not only, says the Prophet, a Voice that speaks, but withal, Quasi Sibulus aurae tenuis, it is, as it were, a Divine Breath of Air, that enters, and spreads it self deliciously over the Person's Heart, and which, besides the Light and Instructions it affords, brings also the Force and Ardour needful for Execution.

I say, it brings the Force, and other Celestial Qualities: for, as the Dis­courses of this Incomparable Lord and Master are properly but the Breathings of his Heart, and the Impressions of his Love, so they are also, properly speaking, but the Emanations of his Wisdom, Intelligence, and Goodness, which entring into us, at the times of this Glorious Union and Communication of Hearts, does pour in­to us, with his Orders, all the Vigour, Grace, and Sanctity that a God can be­stow.

These Breathings and Inspirations from the Holy Ghost, which, St. Ber­nard Inspiravit in faciem ejus spi­raculum Vitae. says, on the day Adam was formed, being convey'd in­to a Statue of Dirt, made an Immortal [Page 54] Soul rise there, and a lively Image of the Divnity, which being spread over the Face of Moses, on Mount Sinai, transfor­med him into the brightness of an Angel, Ex Consortio sermonis Dei, which being poured into the Breasts ofInsufflavit di­cens Accipite Spi­ritum Sanctum. the Apostles, made the Holy Ghost to enter into their Souls with the Power of forgiving Sins, and curing all Human Maladies. It will be these that during those precious Mo­ments you employ in the Bosom of your beloved Spouse, will quite drive out of your Heart all Weakness, Cowardice, Illu­sion, and Ignorance, and make such Perfe­ctions and Graces spring up in their room, as will cause you to be beloved of Men and Angels. Come into Company after this, you that have given the Worldlings occasion to contemn a Devout Life, and you will be sure to appear before them in such a Condition, and with those Quali­ties, as shall compel this blind World to open its Eyes, and confess, That a Devo­tion adorned with the Grace of Jesus Christ, embelishes our Nature, and that of all the Persons we love and admire, none [Page 55] deserve to be loved and admired like those that are truly devout. Generositatem illius Glorificat Contubernium habens Dei.

Observe withal, since we are upon the Subject of a happy Devotion, that the Pri­viledge I am speaking of, (whose Method is, to live familiarly with God) is so extra­ordinary, that it seldom meets with a Re­fusal of any thing you ask, either for your self, or such as have a Share in your Prayers.

I say no more than this of it, That it falls out with God as it doth with Kings. The only way to gain a Power in Courts (Experience teaches us) is to become fa­miliar there, and obtain the Priviledge of speaking our Minds with an entire Free­dom.

How often do we see there Persons of High Rank and Merit making the most respectful Addresses, and using the most moving Speeches, to gain their reasonable Requests, who yet come away without obtaining any thing; when at the same time a Sunamite, or a Hester, who has found the way to touch the Heart, and to become familiar, carries the Day, and ob­tains [Page 56] whatsoever she would have; nay, is courted to speak boldly, and name her Inclinations. Quid habes Ester & quae est petitio tua? What is it, my dear Hester, you desire? Etiamsi dimidiam partem regni mei petieris dabitur tibi.

I deny not, but that humble and fer­vent Prayers, accompanied by Fasts, by Tears, and other Devotions, such as People use in Churches, are very good and excellent, questionless they are so, and many times very efficacious; but the Secrets of God's Wisdom, and the Reasons of his Refusals, we are no ways able to dive into.

I say only, it would be an Excellent Means to make your Prayers become effi­cacious, if, whilst you enjoy the sweet of this tender and solitary Converse, resting in Spirit between the Arms of your Belo­ved, you should utter with Confidence your Heart, and sigh out your Wants up­on his Breast: I say, that these Sighs would perhaps prevail, before the long Prayers of others, and their Studied Fervors.

But take notice, that this is the State of a Soul that loves nothing but God alone: Delectate in Domino & dabit tibi petitiones Cordis tui: Let us not, says David, ap­proach to God, as Courtiers to their Princes, in expectation of their Bounties. Look not for any thing when you go to God, be­sides the Happiness of being near him; let His Pres [...]nce be your Hope, your Re­pose, your Life: when God shall look into your Heart, and find nothing loved there but Himself, it will suffice to make your Prayers prevail, if He but sees in the same Heart, or in your Memory, the Impression of those things which have been recommended to you.

REFLECTIONS.

As Knowledge is one part of our Perfe­ction, so it is also one part of our Felicity. Make your self then a Knowing person, so [Page 59] far at least as you are obliged to be such, by the Laws of Nature, and of Religion, and by those of Decence and Honour. Of what Age soever you are at this pre­sent, and let your Rank be what it will in the World, it is necessary, if you will hold the Rank of a Man of Worth, that you be not ignorant either in Philosophy or in Christian Divinity.

You may know enough of both with­out putting your self to any great Trou­ble or Pains, and without running after those Professors, who make a Trade of teaching these Noble Sciences. I do not advise you to go and study under them, or to haunt teir Schools, but I advise you to learn, what you are to think of Eterni­ty, and by what Means you may avoid a Misery of that duration.

The Masters that are fittest to teach you these things, have expected you, for this long time, at least there is no need of your going far to seek them, you may find them wheresoever you are your self, and near enough to you, to speak private­ly to your Heart; it is but entring with­in your self, and you may hear what they [Page 60] will say. Here follow some Reflections that will help you to know these Masters, and to profit by their Discourses.

Mind then, that you no sooner began to live, but that you were obliged, by the nature of your Birth, to begin to know three Truths; 1. That there is a God that gave you Life. 2. That there is a Nothing, from whence you came, and a Death, to which you are going. 3. That there is a Jesus Christ, who redeemed you, and must give you a Resurrection.

At your coming into the World you have met with three Masters, or three Voices ordained to teach you these three Lessons: The Voice of Nature, the Voice of Death, and the Voice of the Gospel and Grace. These are not three Discour­ses, but three Subjects for your Medita­tion, that I present you with.

In the first place, I say, That to make your self perfectly knowing in the Morals, it will behove you to become the Disciple and Scholar of Death, and to take Lessons from that Master.

Death does not speak, but it has a Si­lence in which is summed up all the Do­ctrine [Page 61] of the Prophets, and Apostles, and that contains all those admirable Instructi­ons they have left, to aid you in leading a Good Life, and to help you to solve well upon every occasion those Difficulties that shall be offer'd to you by your blin­ded Conscience. All the Counsels of the Holy Fathers are in the Mouth of Death; what makes the Wonder, is, that Death, without speaking a word, causes all those Counsels and Instructions to enter into your Heart, and does this in such a way, and with that Force and Energy, which those Holy Fathers could never arrive at. ‘Death does this, says Solomon, every time she presents her selfIn ea finis Cunctorum admo­netur hominum. before your Eyes, and as of­ten as she invites you to the House where she is, and shews you in the Face of a Dying Person the Sentence that Heaven has decreed against you, That you must dye, and be to morrow in the same Condition as you now behold this fick expiring Creature.’ Testamentum hujus Mundi morte Morieris.

Solomon means, that when Men dye, certain pale Characters appear to be traced [Page 62] upon their Lips, which every one can read, and where they find these two words, Hodie mihi, Cras tibi. The Prophet calls this their Will or Testament, which Death writes for them, and makes their Heirs with those others that encompass their Bed, to see, and be Witnesses to it. All read it, and all understand it: You, that are the Great Ones of the World, have often read it, and you have learned from thence, says St. Gregory, that the Inheritance which every one of your Ancestors has left you at the Moment of his Death, has been the News, that you must dye as he has done; and that you, and all the Riches, Honours and Greatness you now enjoy, must in a few days time return to what they have been heretofore, to Dust, to Ashes, and to Nothing. Pulvis es, & in pulve­rem Reverteris.

Of all the Forefathers you have had since the beginning of the World, there has not been one amongst them, that has missed the Signing of this Testament, and the leaving you this Inheritance.

‘Such a Testament, cries out Solomon, as a Young Man enriched by the Rapine’ [Page 63] and unjust dealings of his Father, needs but read with attention, to become the holy and happy Heir of a Dives and damned Person.

Read then, but observe that the great benefit of this Reading, and of this con­templation, does not consist in beholding what Death has shewn you, but in re­membring that you have seen it.

When She has shewn you, in the low bottom of a Sepulchre, whole Armies of Worms covering the Face you lately ado­red, and that She has made you confess, that this Rottenness was once your Idol; the few Sillables she would have you im­print in your Mind, which contain all her Instructions, are, Memento homo; Remem­ber, Young-man, what you have seen in this Tomb, and what you have learnt there.

In truth, to the learning of your Mo­rals perfectly, and how to live Wisely and Christianly, it will conduce but little, to look on dying and dead People: There is not that Person does not go to see his Re­lations and Friends upon their Death-bed, and who, at that time, does not think of the Affairs of another World, and propose [Page 64] to himself Designs of Conversion and Re­pentance: but then, by the next Morning we find all these Thoughts blotted out of our Minds, like Dreams, and we know no­thing of what we saw, and what we de­signed Yesterday. Indevotion, Liberti­nism, and Vanity, have the same station in our Hearts as before, and we begin again to live like Sinners, that had not heard or known that any in the World had ever died.

‘O ye Mortals, cries out Death, it is not only in the Church, whilst you are shedding Tears at the Funeral of your Brother, who died Yesterday suddenly, without one Word of Confession, after an Impenitence for several Years, that you are to study the Doctrine I teach, but it is by remembring this miserable Exit, Memento.’ Keep in your Mind the Thought of this Death, and cherish the Memory of it, whatsoever Change of For­tune may befal you, or in what part of the World soever you may be: carry the Remembrance about with you into all Companies, and converse with it interior­ly: whilst others are thinking only of [Page 65] laughing and diverting themselves, be you attentive to mind what it will tell you, and to let its Doctrine enter into your Heart.

Doubt not but it will enter; and be you never so ignorant at the present, within a short time you will have no more need of running after Casuists, to learn what are the obligations of a Christian Life, or to put Questions concerning the Duties of your Conscience; you will know every thing, and be able to answer all its Doubts your self: nor will you then have the least Thought of going to the Learned Doctor's with such Disguise, as may make them pro­nounce you safe from your just Fears, or endeavour to use such Means, as they may counsel you to carry your Sins with you into another World. The Fear of Death first introduced Physicians, and the Forget­fulness of Death Casuists.

In a word, during your Divertisements in the time of your Affairs, and in every occasion of your Life, be sure to keep what I have told you in your Eye: put your Questions to Death, and converse with her, she will make you more knowing in [Page 66] the Morals than all those Rigorous Tea­chers, who writ in their Books, and speak in their Sermons so many Rare Matters touching dying suddenly in an ill state, but who, being once out of the Pulpit, forget all they have said, and lead a Lawless Life in Disorder and Looseness. That would prove a fine Book of Morality for your Closet, which the Emperor Heradius kept in his, a Death's Head, with these three words on the Forehead, What I am now you will be to morrow. There is no Diffi­culty you can have in your Conscience, that this admirable Casuist will not answer in every Point.

REFLECTIONS.

I have said, That one part of your Hap­piness during this Mortal Life, is to be knowing; and that one part of the Know­ledge proper for your Calling, is Divinity.

Perhaps this may cause your wonder, but nevertheless it is a matter you have heard of long since, and have begun to practice and undertake many years ago: Have not the first Lessons you have been taught after your coming into the World, and the first Pains you have been put to in your Cradle, been to learn the Articles of the chief Mysteries of the Christian Faith?

In so much, as that to help you to ar­rive at that Happy Condition I have been speaking of, all that I shall add to the In­structions which were given you in those days, is but thus much: O Christian, who­soever you are, that which came out of your Mouth at your Prayers, when you [Page 68] were two years old, say now the same from your Heart, and believe perfectly that which you say: for, as all the Lessons of Death are included in the word Memen­to, in the like manner are all those of the Gospel included in the word Crede, Be­lieve.

Do not imagine, that to become a great and true Divine in the School of Jesus Christ, it will be necessary for you to know the Truths of his Doctrine by the Experi­ence of your Eyes, or the Speculation of your Wit, or by the Reasonings of those Masters who consecrate their Days to the penetrating into these impenetrable My­steries.

The most Able Masters know nothing certainly of this Supernatural Divinity, more than what they know by their Faith. And to the end that you may know as much of it as they do, the whole consists in acknowledging sincerely from the bot­tom of your Heart, and weighing in your Mind with devout Reflections, that which you learnt hereof in the time of your most tender years, and that which the first Wo­men came about you did believe for you, when they taught it you.

At the times of your daily Devotions, do you venerate with an humble submissi­on of your Thoughts, the Propositions which the Holy Scripture sets forth to you, of the Trinity of Persons, the Incarnation of the Word, the Resurrection of Man­kind, &c. And from that instant, when at the prospect of these unspeakable Mysteries prostrating your self before the Altar, (your Soul transported with Admiration and Love) you shall pronounce these words, Credo Domine adjuva incredulita­tem meam: I believe, O Lord; but yet, O Soveraign Disposer of my Life, support you my Weakness and Ignorance with the assi­stance of your Grace. I say, from that In­stant you shall become a greater Doctor in Divinity than all those learned and proud Professors, who speak like Angels touch­ing the Trinity, but believe what they say of it less than you do.

A firm Faith, with the Symbole of the Apostles imprinted in your Heart by the Finger of the Holy Ghost, raises you in a moment to that degree of Capacity, that the Angels would aim at, were they to live with us in this World below, and [Page 70] would they strive to please God, and be ranked in the number of his Elect. Their Principal Employment, in my opinion, would be the same that I invite you to, which is, to meditate on, and sign by con­tinual Acts of an obedient and blind Love the first words of the Testament of Jesus Christ; In Principio erat Verbum, & Verbum Caro factum est.

I say not this to blame the laudable and just Curiosity you may have to mind, when you are at Church, what is preached upon these Theological Mysteries, or what the Learned say of them in teir Assem­blies, or during their private Discourses.

On the contrary, I hold, be you of what Condition you will, That it must prove much to your Honour to understand them so well, as to be able to speak know­ingly of them upon occasion: and I say further, that the more advantage you have over the Common Sort, by your Birth and Parts, the greater aptitude you have to comprehend these high Verities, and the more Prevailing way of communica­ting them to others, and of setting them forth in Company.

It cannot be other than a very advan­tageous Sign in a Person of Quality, to find his Inclinations lead him to the con­templating the high Mysteries of our Re­ligion, and the endeavouring to find out what lies hidden in the Parables of the Gospel, and the dark Enigma's of the Pro­phets: Certainly there must be some­thing great and noble in that Soul, which is pleased with a Contemplation that makes the Delight of the Angels.

The famous Saying of Tertullian, That the Soul of Man is naturally a Christian, re­lates particularly to great Souls: if there be any such, they are those that come in­to the World with a secret impression of Veneration towards the Person of our Sa­viour, and with a holy Ambition to raise themselves yet to a higher Perfection, by the knowledge of the greatness of his Theology, and of the greatness of his Bene­fits to Mankind.

In Reality, we know that it is He alone that has ennobled our Nature, and that from the lowest station of the World, into which the Malice of the Serpent had cast us, even below the basest of Brutes, has [Page 72] infinitely raised us, not only above Beasts, and above the Devils, but above the An­gels themselves, and has given us the Rank of Honour before all Creatures both of this and the other World.

I say, infinitely above Beasts, in that, on the first day of our Fall, he did restore us to the use of Wisdom, Conscience, and Moral Goodness, with the other Privileges our Condition has above them, Privileges granted by Nature, and lost by Sin, which He has restored us by Grace, and purchased back for us with the price of the Blood of a God, the Mark of our Value ever since: O homo, Erige te, tanti Vales.

I say, infinitely above the Devils, in that He has compelled them to adore our Na­ture in his Person, and to become for all Eternity the Worshipers of a Man-God, to become the Captives of other Men, and even of little Children; since we have known so many Infant-Martyrs to have conquyered them, by the Victorious Grace of that Invincible Redeemer: Apparue­runt Humiles mei, Filii Puellarum Compun­xerunt eos.

In fine, infinitely above the Angels, in­asmuch as he has carried Human Nature up, where it sits in Triumph upon teir Throne, and has not given them in Hea­ven a Seraphim, or any other Spirit of the Prime Orders, but a Man to command them, and be eternally their Sovereign Lord; it being his Will besides, that other Men should enter into their Fellowship, and share with them in their Felicity.

We know also His Will to be such, that Men composed of Flesh and Blood, born amongst Beasts upon the Earth, and sub­ject, as they are, to Death and Rottenness: Men that have been dead and buried for many years, and become the Horror and Infection of the World, shall rise out of their Graves, and Mount up to Heaven in Triumph, crowned with the Splendor of Glory and Immortality, that they shall enter there with their Bodies, and that the Beauty of their Faces adorned with all Ma­jesty, by his Redemption, will prove one of the great Ornaments of Paradise; and that, in fine, they will make so admirable an appearance there, as the Angels shall [Page 74] think themselves honoured to pass their happy Eternity with them.

To know all this, and keep an Indif­ference, without a desire of knowing any further, how is it possible for any Man that has a sense and feeling in him?

It would be a very hard Law, to tye you up so, as that you should have only Acts of Faith in reference to the Person of Christ, and not have the liberty of enqui­ring of his Interpreters, touching the Wonders of his Incarnation, and the secret ways of his Conduct, which he will have communicated to the Humble, and hid from the Reprobate.

What is blamed in some Persons of Quality of both Sexes, and in others in­discreetly curious, is, to take upon them to be able to dispute in the favour of Here­sies, and become Judges and Censures of the Churches Doctrine.

What is most justly blamed besides, is the Rashness of some, who failing both in Wit and in their Endeavours to know and weigh any thing exactly, will nevertheless be so bold, as to talk confidently of all [Page 75] matters, to the scandal of the Angels, and those good People which happen to be in their company: These are a sort of Per­sons, who upon the first occasion offered them of venting their Opinions upon any point of the Gospel, mingle the Errors and Blasphemies of their Ignoranee and Vanity with the most Sacred Truths, and cause all this to enter together into the Minds of those simple People, that hearken to them and believe them.

Know all you can of the Mysteries of our Faith, let them be the Subject of your Reading, of your Meditation, and of your Study, if you think good: but as to mat­ter of Speaking of them, there is one thing necessarily required, that you be wise and humble, and have a high Respect for your Religion. If it be thus with you, you have your Freedom for the rest; for whilst you are in this Condition, you will be sure never to speak or hold your Peace, but very fitly.

Observe, that here are three different Lessons; that of Death, Memento, Remem­ber; that of the Gospel, Believe, Qui Crediderit salvus erit; and lastly, that of [Page 76] Nature, Behold and look about you; Peto, Nate, ut in Coelum & ad terram Aspi­cias.

This third Proposition will appear more clear from the words of Solomon, which follow, and yield more Light to it.

REFLECTIONS.

I have said, That the Voice of Nature is to be hearkened to as a Teacher; and you will find by Experience, that you will learn the rest of your Philosophy [Page 77] sooner from her, than you can from the Schools, with all their old and new Me­thods. She does but shew you the Hea­vens and the Earth, with the other Crea­tures, and by these means instructs you, that both you and they, with her self, are the Workmanship of an Infinite Power, teaching you to read in the Sun and the Stars the first words of God the Creator's Testament, In Principio Deus Creavit Coelum & teiram; In the Beginning God who was, created that which was not.

Whatever your Quality may be, and the Excuses you may draw from your Pride, Idleness, or Multiplicity of Affairs, do not neglect the study of this Philoso­phy; there is not any thing more honou­rable than to understand it, and discourse handsomly of it; or any thing more ea­sie than the learning of it: All that She calls upon you to do, is but to open your Eyes at your Idle Hours, and look upon the World; Peto, Nate, says she to you, ut in Coelum & ad terram aspicias & ad Omnia quoe in eis sunt, & intelligas, quia ex Nihilo fecit illa Deus.

O my Son, I ask but this one thing of you, that you will contemplate the Hea­vens and the Earth, and that you will let that Light enter into your Mind, which they will produce, and it will not fail to bring along with it Science, Devotion, and Humility.

Open your Eyes then, O Christian, and contemplate; and whilst do you contem­plate, be careful in three matters:

The First, To see your self with your own Eyes, or to learn by the Report of Credible Persons the Variety of Things which God has formed in every Element, and in every part of the Universe.

The Second, To consider with Wise Reflections what is Rare in the Quality and Property of each thing; what the Lands, Rivers, Fountains, Metals, Beasts, Plants, and the Productions of every Country yield, that is most singular and curious: in a word, whatever the Eye of Man sees here below, that is remarkable, to be careful to get a Knowledge of it, if you can possibly, and to lay it up as a Treasure in your Mind, making out of it an inexhaustible Spring of Natural Curiosi­ties, [Page 79] such as may cause the Company that hears you talk, to say of you what was said of a great King of old, Impletus est quasi flumen Sapientia; ‘That at times of Conversation there flowed out of his Lips Rivers of Science, and an Infinity of Ad­mirable Things, which ravish'd the Hea­rers without ceasing.’

The Third, To observe in this Variety of Wonders the differing Marks that are shewn of the Greatness and Beauty of God; and whilst you are observing, to let your Heart go after the sweet Attractives of his Grace, which are able to raise you up to him, and make you say with David, in Transports of Love and Admiration, O Lord, O God of gods, how admirable you are, how sublime and incomprehensible in your ways, how profound in your designs, and mighty in your actions; how magnificent you are, how amiable and adorable! Potentiam tuam, & Justitiam tuam us (que) in altissima: quoe foecisti magnalia: Deus quis similis tui?

This is the Character of a true Philoso­phy, to terminate its Speculations by acts of Divine Love, and an encrease of San­ctity.

The Character of a false and corrupt Philosophy, is, to terminate its Enquiries by an encrease of Presumption and Igno­rance, and by making the Philosopher be­come prouder and blinder than he was be­fore his Studies.

Another Difference between these two so opposite Philosophies, is this; That which I invite you to learn, employs it self in contemplating and admiring what God shews us of his Works; the other busies it self in striving to see that which God will not have us see, but will have hidden from our Eyes.

Is it not a strange thing? The Divine Wisdom has sealed up in darkness certain Secrets touching its Productions, not at all material to be known by us, and yet the Philosophers of this other School will un­dertake to come to the knowledge of them: God therefore permits them, for their punishment, to pursue the Underta­king, and they painfully consume their Lives in hunting through a dark Labyrinth, after that which they shall never find.

They hunt and search indeed; all their Wits are employ'd in studying night and [Page 81] day to penetrate to the very Center of Beings, to dive into the bottom of Sub­stances, and to devine what those myste­rious Secrets are, which the Creator has so carefully buried in an everlasting Night; then to speak their Thoughts of them, and after to maintain with Arguments all they have said; and placing the World, as it were, in the middle of them, to strive in their Academical Combats to carry away the Honour one from another, of having best guess'd and known, in spight of God's Will, the Reasons of his Works, and the Mysteries of his Provi­dence.

It was in contemplation of these men, that Solomon pronounced the remarkable words of my Text, Mundum tradidit di­sputationi eorum; God, who ha [...] left it to the pleasure of Kings, to beset with their Armies of an Hundred thousand Men some Town, or Spot of fortified Ground, lets also these Assemblies of Doctors fall to work about a little Atome▪ and suffers them for these Three or Four thousand years, to be obstinately set upon, compre­hending the devisibility which he has hid­den [Page 82] in the Point of a Needle, or upon dis­covering what are the Springs from which the Sun receives his Motion, from whence the Sea derives its regular Agitation, or the Beasts their Quickness when they course and run; whether it be one vast Soul spread over the whole World, or whether it be a multitude of little indivisible Souls, which flye up and down blindly every where, and by their continual motions produce all Action, Noise, Light, Colours and Smells, and all manner of Figures that appear within the Universe, not ha­ving so much as the assistance of any Rea­son, Intelligence, Imagination, or Life, to further them in it. All this, cries out So­lomon, like the Labours of the Ambitious, and the Cares and Disquiets of the Cove­tous, is but Vanity of Vanities: It is the Sickness and Distemper of their Minds, who wilfully bind themselves over to the sway of their Passions, and the dreams of their Pride, spending their days to no end, but to convince other men that they have dream't aright.

It was a fine Saying of St. Augustin, That the Pythagoras's and the Democritus's [Page 83] shut themselves up alone in their Closets, and there each sets himself on work to shape and frame his particular Opinion and Folly; after which is done, they meet at publick Assemblies, and by their Disputes do as much as call one another Fools, in a learned way.

Dispute with these, if you will, upon their Positions, or rather exercise your Wit with them to divert your self, and ease your Mind of any weight.

It is not to be denied, but that a Wise Man, without diminishing any thing of his Wisdom, may encounter a Friend in this way, so that he pretend to no more than to divert himself, by putting his Friend to his shifts to defend his Opinion, or by forcing him to quit an ill Game; yet should you prove good at this Sport, you must not therefore take your self to be a great Philosopher; we shall never be that truly and perfectly, till such time as the Philosophy of the Angels above in Heaven be our Study here below, and the Philosophy of Men only our Entertain­ment and Pastime.

REFLECTIONS.

Curam habe de bono nomine, when you are well spoken of in Company, or amongst the generality of the People, and that you have got a Reputation in your Country, do not make much account of it, if it be owing to Fortune, and less still if you are beholden to the Contrivance and Partiality of your Friends for it, who go about, by their interested Praises and officious Lyes, to make you pass for an Extraordinary Person: but if this befals you through the Blessing of God, who disposes Men to observe the Merit of your Actions, and set a Value on you in their Hearts, cherish it with a particular Care, and be sensible, that it ought to be rank'd amongst the most precious things that be­long to you.

Preserve it tenderly, for it is a Duty in you to do so, but make it not on any terms the Aim and End of your Designs and Hopes.

You must consider, that this Reputati­on is as it were yor Shadow, and that it is impossible for you to turn your Eyes and Thoughts that way, and fix them there for one moment, without turning your self away from the true Sun, and lo­sing his Sight. Nothing sure renders a Man more glorious, whilst he walks in the Paths of Innocence and Justice, than to be waited on by the Peoples Praises, and the Voice of Fame: but it would be a shameful thing for you, should you run after these Shadows, and make them the Motives of your doing your Duty, and the Causes of setting your Heart on any Employment.

To speak clearly in one word, To have a care of your Reputation, is not to be bent upon seeking the Esteem and Praises of Men, but it is, to be bent on doing no other thing but what is pleasing to God, and truly de­serves the Approbation and Esteem of All. An indifferent thing it should be to you, whether Men or Angels value your Acti­ons, but you ought to take all the care in the World to order them so, that they may be worthy to be valued both in Hea­ven and Earth.

And certainly you may observe, that amongst all the great Princes and Prelates in the World, the most illustrious still have been those, that in their Undertakings never sought the Favour of Peoples Tongues, or the Applause of Nations, but those who have acted so well and glori­ously in all they have done, as that this World, which they had no design to please, could not but covet to know all they did, and give it their admiration: The diffe­rence between them and the others is, that the Ambitious, by their heroick acti­ons, seek the pleasure and satisfaction of being applauded and praised by Men; whereas these have the same Enjoyment, but look not out for it, their Aim is at some­thing incomparably more attractive, and honourable, and more worthy to be rest­ed in.

Do like them, you who are a conside­rable Person, and bear some high Office in your Countrey, Curam habe de bono Nomine. You would be unworthy to carry the Name of a Gentleman, should you fail in having a great Care of your Honour; this Care consists not in getting Men to praise [Page 88] you, nor in quarreling with those that will not honour you, or that do shew a contempt of you; it consists in being of­fended at your self, for having done contemptible things. The Subject of your Choller and your Trouble should not be to have the Disorders of your Life taken notice of and known, but that you have suf­fered them to fix upon you for so long a time, and that you still shew no dislike to them: call not those faulty, who observe and talk of them, their Liberty in this does not depend on your Complaints or Threats: Heaven, your Conscience, and the People are three Witnesses against you, which you will never have the power to blind or silence: it is you that are the faulty Person; it is your own Heart, which by its scandalous Crimes blackens you, both in the Face and in your Repu­tation: when you appear in this condition before the Eyes of these three dreadful Spectators, and that you blush to be thus seen, accuse not those that see you, blame your own blind Ambition, if it has put you upon getting a prime Dignity in the Church, only to make you appear (spot­ted [Page 89] as you are) with the more Shame and Infamy. Since you stand upon the point of Greatness and Honour, be effectually honourable, and imitate those that are so.

Imitate them, you that bear Offices, and sit upon your Tribunals, and consider, that to appear in those stations without Honour, nothing can be more infamous, nor nothing more ridiculous in such an one, than to go seek for Honour there: Never hunt after Reputation in these occa­sions, but do so well, as that you may find it in them: make these two Duties to agree.

To effect this, looks like a Task for an Angel, and yet however it is the most im­portant of your Affairs, and not the most difficult: all the Difficulties, as I have said, lies in this point, That whilst you exercise your Charge, you so well govern your Mind and Intentions, as to do no­thing purposely to make you honoured and esteem'd of Men, nor nothing but what will oblige them to honour you sin­cerely.

Whensoever you shall refuse to commit an Injustice; when you shall chuse rather [Page 90] to perish than to betray the Innocent, and give up their Right either to Favour or Power; do not say to your self as Cato did, What will Rome think of my Baseness, if I do thus? say with Judas Macchabeus, Should I stoop to Fear, what will God say, who forbids me to scandalize my Countrey, and stain the Glory of our miraculous Victo­ries by such an Infamy: Absit ut fugiamus abiis Moriamur in Virtute Nostra.

Cato dying to get an everlasting Name in Rome, became the Martyr of the Com­monwealth; become you in the like oc­casion the Martyr of the Living God, maintain your Honour with an invincible Force and Courage even to Death, but do it not for the sake of your Honour; do it because this is inseparably joined to the Glory of God, the Good of the Publick, the Edification of Man, and the Interest of Religion.

In a word the Point lies here, To do all that deserves to be liked by Man, but yet in pleasing Man, to do nothing but to the end of pleasing GOD.

Whosoever you be then, that live in the face of the World, looked upon by Heaven [Page 91] and Earth, you that are addressed to by Crowds of Suitors, who come begging to your Feet with Tears to do them Justice, be sure you keep your self free from en­deavouring by counterfeit Looks and vain or False-appearances to win their Appro­bation and Esteem, so to be noted for a Man of Honour and Integrity. Think never further, than how to act in your Employment according to the Laws of Conscience, and to acquit your self before God in all your Christian and Civil Du­ties; but do this with that winning Grace, as that the Benefit you may hope for in undertaking an Affair, comes short still of the Reputation, and that the Persons you deal with be fully satisfied with all your ways, by the handsom Marks you give of your Integrity.

Make a Prosit to your self, and with it a Gain of Love: God approves it. But whilst things prosper with you, fix your Mind still on Heaven. In every Action, at every good Success attending such a prudent and virtuous Carriage, aspire to God alone, and grace within your Heart this Motto, which Otho the Great had al­ways [Page 92] before is Eyes; The Shadow of my Happiness is, to be pleasing to Man; but by True Happiness is, to be pleasing to GOD.

It is this sort of Reputation, which truly makes a Man's Fortune, and that roots Honour in all those Families where we see it fixed.

Be you but a simple Tradesman, or a poor Country Labourer, with that little Stock of Goods you have, let your Credit at least equalize it, without minding what Men say of you, either good or bad, live after such a way as may oblige your Neighbours to speak well of you, and be edified by your Examples; you will find that your proudest Gentlemen and Masters will themselves be edified by you, and that soon or late they will be forced to confess you are a Man of Honour, and much above them, if they want your Conscience, and the Command you have over your Passi­ons. Gentility is often bought, but an Honourable Heart never, nor the Title of An Honest Man; this springs only from a Modesty of Countenance, a Sincerity of Words, and a Wise Judicious Carriage, ac­companied with an Inviolable Truth: [Page 93] Curam habe de bono Nomine, hoc enim tibi permanebit, quam mille thesauri pretiosi & Magni.

REFLECTIONS.

It is but an ill Project, in seeking the Means to become happy, to endeavour to bring matters to such a pass, as that you should not suffer any Inconveniency, but be wholly left to the enjoyment of the Good Things you possess.

Solomon undertook this, and brought it easily to pass, but he soon repented him; Omnia quae desideraverunt oculi mei non [Page 95] Negavi eis: I have not denied my self, says he, what Contentments my Heart desired, without the Exception of any one. Is it not a strange thing? from the very moment that he wanted nothing, he began to be unhappy; those Delicacies he had so much desired became themselves his Bitterness and dislike.

Imagine not, O Christian, that when you are arriv'd at what you have aspired to, for these many years, and that you have nothing left to wish, you will be without cause of Complaint, even then you will complain, and find it a great Evil to have no more to aim at or desire. Amongst the Wretched, none deserve Compassion so much as those whom For­tune has put into such a Condition, as they have nothing more to do, than to enjoy her past Favours, but are condemned to rest in one and the same flourishing way, without any opposition.

It seems really, in all appearance, that the Quiet of our Mind, during this mortal Life, does not consist in the possessing of the good things expected and hoped for by us, but in the acquiring of them, and [Page 96] seeing them come into our Hands. They are no sooner ours, but that we begin to disrelish them, in case they do not beget a new Desire. After having toiled for a long time, and thirsted, to arrive at some degree of Honour, our whole Joy is in getting to it, and not in resting there. In two days after the Success of a Design, our Passions thrust us upon new Attempts, and we must obey them, otherwise that which is most insupportable to Man's Na­ture, falls upon us, to find our selves ty'd up Night and Day to dull Rest, and wea­ried to death by the quiet and continual enjoyment of one and the same Happiness. This proves, that it is better to labour in giving a Repulse to some Evil which as­saults us, than to possess a Good we have acquired in Idleness.

So true it is what Seneca has said, ‘That there is a certain something within us, which is an Enemy to our Repose, and will have us continually give our selves new Troubles.’

The Question is, from whence this pro­ceeds: To accuse Destiny of it, or the capriciousness of our light and sickle Ima­gination, [Page 97] is an Error; the true Reason of it, according to the Holy Fathers, is, That these seeming Lightnesses, and these my­steriour Disgusts of every Felicity belong­ing to this Life, spring from a secret in­stinct stamped on our Souls, together with the Image of the Creator. Tam bonam fe­cit Deus hominis Naturam, ut male sit ei, non esse cum Deo. Our Soul, says St. Au­gustin, is so excellent and divine, and fra­med in such a manner to possess God, that as soon as he is absent, and separated from it by Sin, this Soul cannot but suffer by a dismal Solitude, and at the same time be quite exhausted, languishing with an insa­tiate Thirst: But, what would she have? she knows not her self; all that she knows is, that she is cruelly disgusted and nausea­ted with all the Presents the World makes her, and that this Disgust comes from the violent and extream desire she has to some one Good that is not offered her.

To content and satisfie her, you go and hunt after change of Remedies, and find out new Employments for her, and all manner of Divertisements proper to ease the restless Disquiets of this melancholy [Page 98] and wearied Soul: She tasts, and seems at first to find some Relish and Solace in these Novelties; but the Fits of her Di­stemper soon return; she begins on the sudden to complain anew, and you are put to begin again to look out fresh ways to ease her: you look them out, you take pains, you heap up a World of Riches, and load your House with them, then shew this great Abundance to your Soul, and you say to her what our Lord said, Behold and be at rest. Anima Mea, habes multa bona congregata in plurimos annos requiesce. ‘See, my Soul, we have got into our Hands all that can be desired in the World; be content, and comfort your self.’ This Soul, not be comforted, instead of opening a Heart to let in Joy and Hope, answers you only with Com­plaints; after having tasted and tryed these new Remedies, these new Employ­ments, and all your other precious Novel­ties, she thrusts them back with Scorn, and cries out to you, Cumeta Vanitas & affli­ctio spiritus: Ye Goods of the Earth, ye Riches and Honours, what are ye, but Va­nity of Vanities, Affliction and Despair?

Wonder not at this: an immortal Soul, that feels the Violence of its Desires, and finds, that besides the good things you shew her, she cannot be without an infinity of others, infinitely more desirable: When she comes to know, that she must rest quiet, and content her self with what she sees in your Hands, and that there is no­thing for her to pursue or hope for in Heaven, what must her Sufferings be? Can she take any other Resolution, than to abandon her self to Vexation and Sor­row, and to all the Miseries of a despai­ring Conscience?

No certainly, this does not arise from a capricious Melancholy bred within you, but from a hidden Insight born with you, which takes its time, at your hours of lei­sure, to put your Soul continually in mind, that when she is separated from God, all her spiritual and Divine Substance is not other thing than an extream Misery, and from that instant an infinite one, tho' not to be felt infinitely but in Hell.

Behold the interiour Peace that great Riches afford, but Wisdom tells us by the [Page 100] Pen of Solomon, we are to reckon other­wise of a Mediocrity.

REFLECTIONS.

It has been the Opinion of the World, from the beginning, and still continues so, That the Felicity of Man, during this Mortal Life, consists in his possessing of a great Abundance. Many seem, though at the hour of Death, to be of another mind, and speak of Riches like Persons that were become perfectly undeceived; but whatsoever they say, we see very few return from thence by the help of Reme­dies, who do not bring back with them their old Mistake.

The Rule, That the Richer a Man is, the more he is Happy, sticks as fast in our Hearts as our Life does there. We must be dead, St. Augustine says, before we can learn to despise what we worship here be­low. The Contempt of Riches is a Change of Mind, which does not befal us, but at our going out of the World, and entrance into Eternity.

Do you anticipate that Day, and learn to know those Truths at present, which ought to be no less known by Christians in the Church of Jesus Christ, than they are in Hell by the Damned and Devils.

It is his Judgment, inspired by God, who was the Wisest amongst Men, That to become Happy in this World, we must ever keep our selves in a certain middle way, wherein being not Rich or Poor, we may neither be in want of any thing, or have any thing superfluous: and where­in being freed from the Disquiets insepara­bly accompanying Want and Abundance, we may live peaceably here, by the Wis­dom of our Carriage, and bring it so to pass, that after many years of a calm and devout life, we may go to enjoy an Eter­nity in another Life, infinitely more de­sirable.

Order your Affairs to this end; Take the Pains to settle your self in this happy way, of having neither more nor less than is sufficient for one of your Condition: strive to have enough to make you pass your days with Honour, and in Peace, and to aid you in performing the indispensible [Page 103] Duties of Justice and Christian Prudence towards your self, and those that belong to you: have enough to satisfie this, but at the same time keep your self from having enough to satisfie Ambition and your other Passions.

The Passions are so many Furies within us, which are chained up and laid fast asleep by Virtue, but are soon awaked by the sound and ratling of Silver and Gold: They begin to cry out excessively, and to struggle with their Chains, at the first perceiving that we have in our Coffers the Means to humour them: the Money we tell over, and they see lodged in our Hands, sets them into a rage, and they are not to be quieted till we put our selves out of the capacity of contenting them. Reduce your self then low by your Alms, and let that glorious Incapacity be one of the Examples and Inheritances you leave to your Children. In a word, take this for one of your Maxims, Nec Mendicita­tem, nec Devitias; Neither too much, nor not enough. These are two Evils that equally lead to the last of Miseries, and that coming upon us, do mark us with as [Page 104] fatal a Character as Man can bear in his Forehead.

Do not stay to know the Miseries of a Prison by your own Experience; inform your self well about it, whilst you have your Liberty. It is sufficient, one would think, to have Eyes to look into the Lives of the Poor and Rich, to teach us to avoid the ever being like to either of them.

Consider with your self, that should you come to be suddenly enriched, and be one of those that wears the Title of a great Lord, all the advantage you would get above those of a middle Fortune, would be, to have night and morning a great Hurry and Trouble round you, to have more Flatterers at your Table, more Va­nity and Foolery in your Train, more Unnecessaries in your Furniture, more Noise in your House, and Disquiet in your Mind, more Sins in your Conscience, and more to repent of at your Death.

Have never so many Thousands, you are not able to purchase a second Body; and whilst you have but one, what need have you of two Houses, of three Tables, and much less of threescore Hands to serve you?

The greatness of this Trouble and Ex­pence, wherein is it useful, but to others, to those that you feed? So that you will find it very well said of the Wise Man, That they who labour most for Riches, labour least for Themselves.

To comprehend this the better, be you Judge of a Tryal that happened heretofore between a wretched Beggar and a mighty Rich man; Pauper & dives obviaverunt sibi: These met one day, as it fell out, be­fore a great Audience of People, and di­sputed about the Advantage of their two Conditions, which had never been ar­gued.

The Poor man maintained, that his de­served to be first preferred, and took upon him to bring the Rich man to confess and own so much himself: He asked him, which was the most easie Condition, the less shameful, and the freest from giving Pain and Trouble, whether to have the Care of getting Bread every day for one Person, or of getting it for threescore or an hundred Mouths.

Whether to receive nothing, but by the way of Alms, or to possess nothing, [Page 106] but by the way of Rapine and Couze­nage.

Whether to be bitten by Vermin, or eaten up by a Swarm of Servants, who have no other Business aboutQui me Come­dunt non dormi­unt. Job. you, but to devour you at your Table, and are ready, when there is nothing left, to cast your Bones out to the Crows, and give up your Interest to the Rage andServis obside­or, &c. Terent. Covetousness of those Ene­mies that overpower you.

Whether to be treated with the Name of Rogue, and accused of Laziness by a Citi­zen's gripple Wife, or to be treated with the Name of Oppresser and Robber, by a whole miserable Countrey, and be put to hear the Cries of the Blood and Tears of the People, which call to Heaven for Vengeance against you.

In conclusion, Which is most to be fea­red, to be damned for the Sins of Beasts, or for the Sins of Devils? And of the two Atheists, which would be the less severe­ly punish'd in Hell, he that did not know God in the time of his Afflictions, or he that knew him not in the height of his Ri­ches and Prosperity?

I cannot say how this Dispute was de­cided, but Solomon tells us, that both these Conditions are the most dangerous ones that belong to Human Life: And of two ways which lead to an Eternal Unhappi­ness, the fairer is to be no more valued than the other. One of his Interpreters says, That there is scarce any to be found in Hell, but such as have been either too poor or too rich.

That voluntary Poverty which is em­braced out of Devotion, and supported by Grace, is to be valued above all Treasures, and is certainly the most direct way to Heaven. In this Coelestial Path we see a number of our Religious Walk, and many other holy and exemplary Persons, who follow nearest the Steps of Jesus Christ.

Riches well and wisely governed, and employ'd with Justice and Christian Cha­rity, is another way, that leads far into Sanctity, but a way very hard to hit.

Those that can keep in it without wan­dering, are such of the Elect as are raised to do great Actions through so victorious and extraordinary a Grace from Jesus Christ.

Out of what you have, tho' it should prove not to be overmuch, after having distributed as befits to your Children and Family, remember you have Friends that have served you at your need; remember the Poor, who come to you from God, and those Guardian Angels that ask a small Proportion of you for the Church; make them out little Shares, if it be not in your power to do more; it matters not, you may become thus as great a Saint as any of those Lords or Ladies, that bestow their Charities never so magnificently; these little Parcels, small as they are, will ap­pear before God of equal Value to the most Considerable Alms; and these dif­fering Liberalities will be rewarded alike in Heaven.

REFLECTIONS.

If it be your Destiny to be born of Rich Parents, and a high Family, and if Providence has disposed of you to live in Splendor and Greatness, live after that sort, but do not damn your Self by it.

Many are the Lessons that Books afford to teach how to understand this Conditi­on, and to govern your self wisely in it; what I advise is, only to keep still in your Mind these words of Solomon, Vanitas Va­nitatum; there are a great many ways of expounding them, the matter rests in hit­ting the right sence; if there be a Diffi­culty to find it out, there may be however some advantage made by the searching into it. Employ your Thoughts a while to this Intent, and withdraw from Com­pany sometimes, to hearken to what your Heart will say to you on this Subject; it may inspire you perhaps with Considera­tions of more worth than all that you can find written: what I can say of it to you, is but a word or two, which I desire you will mind.

Vanitas Vanitatum: I believe Solomon's Meaning is, That you are the Mistake and Vanity of the World, and the World your Mistake and Vanity: you deceive the World, and it cheats you: you are proud of its Submissions, its Respects, and the Pains it takes to do you Ho­nour; the World glories in your favou­rable [Page 111] Looks, and in the hopes of the Pro­tection you promise it.

Both you and it have learned the fatal Secret, how to hinder each from knowing the others Treachery, till it be too late to remedy, and that you are just come to perishing: when you behold the World lying at your Feet, and that you observe its Adorations, with all the ceremonious Protestations it makes you to be constant­ly and ever yours: you imagine to meet with a Fidelity and Friendship out-lasting Time: but within three or four days, if Fortune grows to be weary of you and your Courtships, and that she comes to send you the Decree of her Disgrace, you will see these Adorers flye over to your Enemies to adore them, and court the new Favourites of this Fickle Fortune to your Destruction.

In the like manner the World, when it beholds you at the present, seated in your Palace, amidst a throng of Persons, who strive to have the honour to speak to you, and say something that is pleasing, and when it observes the glance only of a favourable Eye from you, makes the [Page 112] Joy of all those that are about you, it ima­gines to behold a Power able to support a Man's Family, and make his Posterity happy for ever, and nothing is thought too dear with which to merit and pur­chase your Favour, not even Goods or Life. How blind is this Man? in three months time he finds you laid in a Tomb, and full of Shame, questions himself, if it were on that heap of Rottenness and Dust, that he had built his Hopes and Happiness, and if this were the Idol he adored, at the cost of so much Sacrifice.

In short, since according to the Testi­mony of your own Conscience, you are made up of no other things but a company of false Promises, of false Oaths, false Ci­vilities, false Friendships, and false Devo­tions; and that the World, on the other side, according to your daily Complaints of it, is nothing else but a Cheat, that deceives you. Is it not true, that accor­ding to the Dictates of the Holy Ghost, the right Title of this World is the Cheat of Cheats, the Traytor of Traytors, the Seducer above all Hypocrites, the Lie, the Error, and the Vanity of Vanities, to those [Page 113] that are the wrong way wise: Vanitas Vanitatum & afflictio Spiritus.

Whosoever you are that have Riches by you, and have, like the Palaces and Houses of Great Persons, your glorious Apartments adorned with precious Mova­bles, which you have not a handsom Li­berty to part with; consider them with such Thoughts as become a clear discern­ing and noble Soul: act after such a way, as that God, who sees your Furniture and Riches, may not see any thing in you, when you have your Eyes and Mind up­on them, that fastens you to the love of Creatures, but that which ties you faster still to him, and engages you to own, that he ought to be eternally and infinitely loved; Tibi dixit Cor meum exquisivit te facies mea: ‘You know, O Divine Lord of my Life, that these Curiosities and costly Adornments are here only out of an Obedience to your Will; the World gives them the Name of Necessaries and Decencies; the Saints call them Vanities and Hinderances; I call them at this present Shadows of your Greatness, and Presents from your Bounty.’

In fine, at the sight of these Ornaments which appear in your Chamber, be care­ful to make these two following Reflecti­ons: the First, That you behold the Gate which is to let you into your Tomb.

That it is in this very Bed that is so richly embroidered Death will come to take you, and carry you into another Bed, where the crawling of Worms upon your Body will make a very different sort of Works about you.

The other, That out of your Tomb you will pass into a Paradise, of which all that you possess here the most precious is but a poor and dark Resemblance.

It is a very sweet thing to aspire to Heaven from the lowness of Poverty, be­cause we are sure that is the nearest way thither; but it is no less sweet to aspire to it from the height of Prosperity and Riches, if the Goodness of God makes you find, that amongst so many Dangers in which most of the Reprobate have pe­rished, he preserves you in Holiness by his unmeasurable Grace; such as is a cer­tain Token of the Perseverance of his Pro­tection, and of the Eternity of his Love.

Think, that you see what a holy Spouse saw heretofore, that upon all the Presents God makes you, and all the Goods which come into your House, is written, He that sends you all this, expects you in Heaven: Surge, propera amica mea. Yea are thought of in Paradise, make haste, and come away to him that loves you: Quicken the time by your Longings and your Tears.

This multitude of good things must needs forward you besides, in the acknow­ledging your Obligations to the Divine Providence; when you see a poor wretch lying in the Straw, full of Ulcers and Stench, dying with Cold and Hunger, what do you see but a Glass representing to you that, which you would or might have been your self, had not God had a particular Favour for you.

REFLECTIONS.

When you see Persons of mean birth, without Wit or Merit, raised to a degree, to which it was your Right to pretend, be not angry with Heaven, nor do you accuse Providence: bear in your Mind, that no­thing can befit the greatness of your Heart so much, as to have the Power and the [Page 117] Honour to suppress those Motions in you, which Anger and Envy usually beget on such occasions.

I own, that these are smarting Strokes, and so much the worse, in that they com­monly happen contrary to expectation: but what appears the most bitter in them, is your being forced to pay an Obedience to these People, who by Right ought to lye at your Feet, and to whom the very Beasts, had they Reason, would be asham'd to subject themselves.

All this I know very well, and yet I maintain you are in the wrong, if you make this your Complaint. These Disor­ders have lasted for this Six thousand years; Why do you wonder at them? These are the false Steps of blind Chance, let us endure them quietly, and without murmuring: Greater Persons than we are, have endured them in other Ages, and do still at the present; and if the Fel­lowship of the Miserable be a Consolation to those that are so, there is not a Misfor­tune in the World, that can afford more Comforters than this.

How often in a day do we see in the Streets of Paris, what Solomon saw in those of Jerusalem, Servos in equis, & principes super terrum? How often do we see on the Backs of stately Horses, or seated in splendid Coaches, certain Creatures, whose Due it would be rather to carry or draw those Persons of Honour, they meet in their way walking on foot? How many are there amongst the Supplicants, who come before the Courts of Justice to beg Redress, that would deserve to sit in the place of those Robes they worship? In the Temples of our Religion, how many learned and holy Priests do give the In­cense to some ignorant and faulty Church­man, seated under a State? How many great men in every station are left to shift in the dark, without Employment, Credit, or Reputation?

You may perhaps be one of these, whom cross Fate will not suffer to be minded, or so much as to be taken notice of to live: What does it concern you, though if you be known in Heaven, where more honou­rable matters are designed you, than all that your Desires have ever aimed at with­out Success?

In such Occasions as these, never go to make Complaints amongst your Friends, but go and apply your self to God, and communicate every thing to this Adora­ble Comforter; He will teach you to un­derstand, that you are not lessened by the exaltation of those Men, but would be most shamefully debased by your self, in suffering the Disquiets and Vexations of Envy to enter into your Heart; for these interiour Pains would be your Confession, that their Prosperity outweighed your Virtue, and that they were happier in the Esteem of Fools that sought to them, than you are in your Approach to God, who comforts you, and knows your Merit. Have a care, at the time of this sweet and glorious Commerce, you shew not any Belief, that what is bestowed on unworthy Persons and Sinners can deserve to be am­bitioned by a Man of True Honour.

Learn to understand, that this is a mat­ter fitter for your derision, than to become your Affliction and Trouble: Think what passes in China, when their Pagan Priests go to a Carver's Shop to chuse an Idol.

If they meet with a Majestick Statue, and so curious a Figure as may deserve to be put in the Rank of one of their gods, they contemn it, and leave it there; but if they find one that is ill cut, and is ridi­culous, deformed, and monstrous, they give any Money for such a one, and set it up in their Temples for a Divinity. See if this be not the same that the World does, and then consider whether the Con­tempt of such blind Worshippers be worth your trouble.

In short, when you perceive the first assault of Sadness on such occasions, go and apply your self to Wisdom it self, and strive to do it in such a manner, as that you may deserve to be both informed and comforted by it.

It will tell you, that whilst Sinners grow in Power and Wealth, you lose not any jot of that degree, which your noble Mind and just Actions give you above them, in spight of all their Advantages; it will tell you, that the Stars, which seem to be under Mens Feet in the Day-time are in that station infinitely higher placed than Men, being they are nearer Heaven, [Page 121] and that they are far superiour to all that is great and beautiful in the World, since at the time of their lowness they remain still fixed to their Firmament.

You will be told further, That it hurts not Gold to lye hidden in the Mine, whilst Vanes of Brass are on the tops of Palaces: That Gold remaining in the lowest Caverns of the Earth fails not to be the King of Metals: That a Holy and Knowing Man, hid in a Cave, and left within a Desart, ceases not to be Lord over these poor, proud, and contemptible Spirits, that are worshiped in a Country, through Faction and Hypocrisie.

REFLECTIONS.

Have you a mind to be a Happy and a Great Man? Be then, when you delibe­rate about the Condition you are to settle in, clear sighted enough, if it be possible to find out that, which is most proper for you, and suits best with your Genius.

Be sure you chuse well: mind and look deep into your self; penetrate into that which is most singular in your Person; examine your inward Motions, your In­clinations, the most secret Intimations of your Heart: strive to know which way your Instinct would guide you, and to [Page 123] what Heaven and Nature calls you. In a word, understand well what you are, and let not your Talent of a Man born for great Actions, be buried under the quality of a Tradesman or Merchant, a thing which happens too often amongst People of all Nations. There is not a Country in which Men of great value have not been suffered to live and dye, without any notice being taken of their Worth, and without so much as their own knowing any thing of it, because they have been put to those Professions, where their Merit and Genius could not be shewn.

The loss of great Men happens in all parts; and that which appears the worst in it, is, that no Person is concerned at it, because they do not know that they have lost, or ever had such.

Observe, that God is not only the In­stituter and Inventer, but also the Distribu­ter of our Employments and Professions; at least, it is his Providence takes care to chuse out, in every Country, Persons that are capable to perform them: His Choice is effected, by conferring from their Birth, such parts upon them, as are proper to [Page 124] make them succeed, and become excellent in their ways. Observe further, that there is not a Man amongst us, who can do Ser­vice and Honour to the Commonwealth in any great measure, but such a one as Chance, or the Judicious Choice of Parents has fixed in those Employments, for which the Divine Wisdom had marked him out.

It is not to be doubted, but that there is in every City, and in all other parts of the World, numberless Talents and emi­nent Gifts bestowed by Nature on many young Men, which destine them to be­come one day great Captains, Prelates, Magistrates, Doctors, Architects, or Pain­ters, every one fit to become admirable in his way, and to purchase Honour to his Country.

But as it falls out unluckily, either for want of opportunity or by the folly of young People, or the blindness of those that should be the Guides of Youth, every one pitches upon a Condition that does not belong to him. He takes a Sword into his Hand, who was born to be a Painter; the other, who was made to be an Architect, [Page 125] following his Father's Steps, turns Mer­chant; a third becomes a Prelate, who would have made a great General in the Field. It falls out also in Countries where Providence had moulded in its Hands, and fitted many Men with such excellent Qua­lities, as would promise high things, that there appears nothing so rare to be seen as a Man of Parts, or a Master-piece of Knowledge amongst them. The greatest part of our Palaces and curious Closets are made rich only by the Works of An­tiquity; the little that remains to be ad­mired in these times, are but the Leavings of our Ancestors, and they seem to be fal­len into our Hands only to reproach us with the Sterility and Poverty of our Age.

There are Great Men at this present, but the Greatness of many of them does not appear: There are such Presents from Heaven, and such precious Plants, but as Misfortune would have it, they have sprung up in the Woods, and have been left to grow wild under Oakes, and amongst the Shrubs, so that they can bear only harsh and bitter Fruit. Our Age is [Page 126] not to be accused of Barrenness for this, nor the Ages of the Augustus's and the Alexander's to be preferred before it: what Shame there is in this Point, is to be attributed top the Negligence or Blindness of such as ought to have discovered them.

But some will ask me, where there is an Achilles, a Virgil, a Cicero, a Cato, an Aristotle, a Raphael, a Michael Angelo in our days; my Answer is, That these Ar­chitects, these Orators, these Poets, Philo­sophers, Heroes, and all these new Won­ders of the World that you ask for, are at the present where were heretofore the great Princes and Popes, Martianus, Justin, Agathocles, Benedict XI, Sixtus V, before they were raised to the Throne; they are in our Shops, or else in our Villages, poor Shepherds, keeping of Sheep, but we know them not, nor do they know them­selves.

It looks as if only Chance could disco­ver and find out these Rareties; yet Man's Industry, heightned with a Zeal for the Publick Good, would certainly go a great way in it: Would Statesmen apply them­selves [Page 127] to find out the means, that none of these Men of great Parts, provided by Nature for us, should be lost there, would, without question, be made no little disco­very, of them: and, What could prove a greater Service to the Commonwealth?

The way was known heretofore to find out the most valiant and fam'd Souldier of the old times, when he was clothed like a Girl, and that he knew not himself to be other than such, but thought to live ever as a Woman. The ways were found to discover, under the Habits of poor Shepherds, the famous Paris, the Grand Cyrus, and the most admirable King of Judea; had they lived still in that way, what would they have been? We admire them now, after Two or Three thousands years are passed, because they were em­poly'd in their Calling, and that they reigned; if every one should be put to do what is truly his Vocation, how happy would the World be, and how many Ex­cellent Men, and what Master pieces of Art would there appear in it!

In conclusion, Ʋnusquisque in arte sua, sapiens est: No Man will become suffi­cient and able, but in the Profession that belongs to him. When Agathocles in his young days followed his Father's Trade of making Earthen Pots, he was a meer Rogue, good for nothing, an insupportable Brute, able to ruin his Father by his want of Skill in that Calling, and want of In­clination to it. Agathocles was born to reign; a strange Change! no sooner had Fortune raised him to the Throne, but that he proved one of the greatest and the wisest Kings that ever ruled in Si­cily.

Another King, ill versed in the Art of Reigning, whose Grandfather had been a Shoemaker, passing by the Shop of one of that Trade, where a young Man of Birth and Wit was forced to work for a Livelihood, and perceiving that he did not handle his Tools well, did laugh at him, and said he would undo his Master with the spoil of Leather; It is very true, said the young Gentleman Shoemaker, if eve­ry one were at his right Trade, I shoult not [Page 129] be the loss of Leather, nor you the loss of Cities, and the ruin of your Country.

I own, That Nature does commonly produce great and noble Souls, endowed with Excelling Qualities, in Persons of High birth, but she does not always tye her self to this. On the other side there rarely appears in Persons of Quality any great Talent for the making them emi­nent in the Arts: all that I can assure, is, That the Man who follows his true Cal­ling never fails to be wise; and that one of the choice Sayings of Solomon is, Ʋnus­quisque in arte sua, Sapiens est.

REFLECTIONS.

The enjoyment of a number of Friends is one of our Felicities, and ought to be placed in the first Rank of them: the Wise fix their Hearts on this Blessing, and che­rish it equally with their Lives. With­out Friendship even our Immortal Life would be but a Shadow of Living, or but a beginning of a Death, that would never come to an end: Amicus fidelis medicamen­tum vitae, & immortalitatis; A faithful Friend is a Medicine of Life and Immorta­lity, says Solomon.

Have Friends, find them out, but do not purchase them; a bought Friend is com­monly one only in outward shew.

The way to get Friends, is, not to make them continual visits, and seek to them with importunity; do not you run after them; stay for them. The same may [Page 131] be said of Friendship, which I have said before of Honour and Reputation; These are Shadows, not to be stopped by a Man's pursuit and endeavours to seize on them.

The Skill lies in attracting them; car­ry your self in such sort at your times of Conversation, that your Soul may disco­ver many Excellencies in it, fit to please Almighty God, but not the least Vanity, or Care to be pleasing to Man.

The sole Counsel that Wisdom gives you in this occasion, is to live in your own House and every where else, like a Man of Honour and Conscience, and to edifie Company by your way of conversing with them; a Way that may show you all commendable, and fill the Hearts of those that know you, with Desire to me­rit your Friendship. Look up to Heaven, seek after God, and aim in your Desires to please him: True Friends will soon come and seek after you; and they will teach you to know, that Virtue, which links together the Hearts of worthy Men, is a Chain Destiny cannot break, nor Time, nor Death, no, nor Eternity.

Do a I tell you; love, and make your self fit to be beloved: have the fewest Flatterers, and the most Friends that you can possibly; I say, the most: your Glo­ry and Advantage in this Point lies not in engaging by your Civilities and Presents two or three Persons to love you: there is not a Thief, or any Wicked Man, that has not two or three Friends of this na­ture. It is by the great numbers of those that love and esteem us, that we are to be distinguish'd from the Baser sort.

True it is, to have a great many Confi­dents is dangerous: Consiliarius it tibi unus, de mille; Have but one, says Solo­mon, to have two goes far. But as for true Friends, their number cannot be too great, nor scarce sufficient. There is not a Man of Worth, that does not merit and desire to have more than he has. Aim to arrive at that degree to which Joseph's Virtue carried him; this lovely Person was in the center of the Court, amongst Princes, Statesmen, Philosophers, and the Prime Men of the World, the same he was in Prison, amongst Thieves and Mur­derers; he was every where the Beloved [Page 133] of all that saw him. Act so well by the Perfection of your Wit and Nature, and shew a Heart so obliging and magnani­mous, as that of all those that know you, although many be not trusted with your Secrets, yet none may want an Inclinati­on to serve you, but count themselves happy to meet with the occasion.

You must not think such Persons unne­cessary to you, because you abound in Wealth, or that they therefore may be spared: deceive not your selves, ye great ones of the World; the higher and more powerful you are, the more need have you of such Seconds to support your Power, and support your Spirit, which must droop and sink when it is left alone. It is true, according to Plato's Opinion, that our Soul is immortal independently of other Souls, but not impassible nor in­vulnerable.

Man's Soul, though divine, and come from Heaven, finds it self entangled in strange occasions, during the days of its mortal life; a Traveller lost in the Night in a Desart, without a Guide; a Prisoner in the Dungeon, without Comforter, Cre­dit, [Page 134] or Counsel; a Sick-man in the Straw, without Physician; a Dying one on the Ground, without Priest or Sacrament; a dead Corps on the Dunghill, abandoned, unburied, and deprived of the Due of be­ing covered with a little Earth, and of the Tribute of a few Tears.

Illamentatus atque insepultus quasi Ca­daver putridum. All this is the Image of out Spirit, when it is left to it self alone; so that it may say with Job, Strangers persecute me, Servants fly from me, my Bro­thers know me not, and I can see no Friend that I have left, the Best looks on me with horrow. Et quem maxime diligebam, aver­satus est à me.

In a word, it concerns you to make your self be beloved; the Helps you may expect from those that love you, are little less in number than the days you have to live: ‘Of these days, says the Wise-man, some will be painful, and some will be days of rest:’ Some will be days of Fears, of Dangers, Misfortunes, and Despairs, others will bring Hope, Prosperity, and Success; but all these days, without distin­ction, will be days of Affliction, if you be [Page 135] left alone; whereas if you enjoy your Friends, they will be days of Happiness and Comfort.

What had happened to our Forefathers, and happens yet every day, will befal you. At times of Adversity we feel not half our Pain, when others share in the sense of it, and are afflicted with us: at times of Prosperity our Joy is never perfect, un­til it be communicated, and that we see it conveyed into the Looks and Hearts of those that love us. It is even more satis­fying to noble Minds, to weep in a time of mourning, whilst Friends mingle their Tears with ours, than to rejoice at a hap­py Success, when we have no body to im­part it to, that can be touched with the same sense, and be unfeignedly pleased with what we tell them.

Value those Persons infinitely, who feel your Sorrows and your Joys, who interest themselves, as much as you do in all your Affairs, and in all your Dangers; value them, for the World affords not any thing so rare; common it is enough to have Friends, each man has a quantity of them, but for what are they good? will they not [Page 136] prove, in the day of Battel, a company of Deserters and Fugitives, and be like a flock of Pigeons? At the least noise of Affli­ction coming upon you, where is that faithful and inseparable one, that will stick fast by you? where is the Eagle that dreads no Thunder?

In such Conjunctures a Man may be said, to forsake even himself; you are a great and an able Man, you have much insight into the Affairs and Dangers of the State, and into those of your Neighbours, yet are you blind in Matters that touch your self: no sooner are you left alone in what nearly concerns you, and that you have no person to consult with, except your self, but your Understanding is quite at a loss, all your Reasonings prove Errors and Mistakes, and like a sick Physician, what you do for your Cure helps you on­ly to perish the sooner. In a word, Multi Amici sint tibi, & consiliarius sit tibi, unus de mille: Have a thousand Friends, says the Wise-man, and out of them one Confi­dent.

REFLECTIONS.

Although my Conscience gives me no great Reproaches, say you, I have not yet that Peace you speak of; my Fears are in [Page 138] the same measure they were before, when I lived in disorder; all my Devotions, Au­sterities, and Alms change not the Decree of God Almighty's Justice, nor the Purpo­ses of his Providence: How can I tell, but that I am one in the number of the Repro­bate? It would be requisite, to make me enjoy a perfect Quiet, you could bring me the News, That my Name is written in the Book of Life, and an Eternal Place marked out for me, amongst the Blessed. In a word, Shall I go to Heaven? God knows this already, I would fain know it too; I wish some one might tell it me cer­tainly, by the appointment of Him, whose Mercy and Justice have written all these Truths in his Mind before the Creation of the World.

The Answer I can give you to this, is only the same that the great St. Gregory gave to a Lady very eminent in quality and devotion: this Lady, disquieted with Care, that ordinarily befals Holy Souls, writ to that illustrious Prelate, who was her Director, and desired to know of him, Whether her Sins were forgiven her, and whether she might be at quiet touching her Salvation.

What St. Gregory answer'd her with great Respect and Sincerity, was this; Quod vero Duicedo- tua suis in Epistolis sub­junxit, se mihi importuam fore, &c. You threaten me, Madam, said he, that you will never leave writing to me, till such time as God shall have revealed to me, that you Sins are pardoned, and that the Divine Mercy has pronounced the Decree of your Predestination: the Trouble you should give your self in writing to this end, would prove altogether ineffectual: to prevent it, and give you Comfort, I am ready to send you a present Answer. There are two Truths re­lating to your Question, of which I can give you my assurance▪ they are these; the first, That I am too great a Sinner to be one of those to whom God lays open the Books of his Eternal Science, or to whom he sends his Angels and Prophets with Orders to declare the Secrets of his Providence. The second, That the Account which you would have of the Certainty of your Salvation, must con­duce more to your Harm than to your Com­fort. Perpende, quaeso ducissima filia: Consider, I pray, my dear Daughter, that Security is the Mother of Negligence, and [Page 140] that you run the danger of having your Fer­vour abate, and to grow cold in the Exer­cises of a Devout Life, when you become too sure of your Recompence: Mater è negli­gentiae solet esse securitas.

St. Gregory, you will tell me, said very well; but that desirable Favour I would pretend to, say you, if I durst, were to have God, at the same time he lets me know I am marked out for Paradise, be­stow the Gift upon me out of his Good­ness, that I should never abuse this Know­ledge.

This would be an extraordinary Favor, say you, but not without Example. It was granted to Abraham, as I have read, to whom God formally declared, That he was in the first Rank of the Elect: Abra­ham, said he to him, I know thee, because thou dost belong to me, and that thou shalt everlastingly belong to me. Something to this effect he said also to Isaac, to Jacob, to Moses upon the Mountain, and to the Prophet Jeremiah in his Mothers Womb; that happy Infant knew he was elected be­fore he was born; all the Apostles besides knew certainly, that they were of this [Page 141] number: Rejoice ye, said our Saviour to them, for your names are written in Hea­ven. Our Blessed Lady, St. Mary Mag­dalen, St. John the Evangelist, St. Paul, and many others in times following, have learnt, from his own Mouth, or by the means of his Angels, that they were ex­pected in Heaven, and that their Crowns were there ready prepared for them. St. Theresia, after having seen the place was destin'd for her in Hell, had she not been drawn out of the World by the most powerful Grace of the Holy Ghost, had the Comfort and Happiness to see the place she was to possess in Paradise. What a Joy, what a Blessing is this! and which way, say you further, can a Man be at a moments quiet in the time of this Mortal Life, unless we could know from God, by some miraculous means, that he, to whom we have consecrated our selves, and who possesses us now, as the Purchase of his Blood, and the Inheritance of his Love, will not suffer any Power of the World, or Hell, to ravish us out of his Hands, to our Eternal Misery.

You are in a Mistake, O Christian, we may receive this Heavenly Comfort and Joy without the help of Revelation or any miraculous Apparition: it is not at all re­quisite, that God should speak or appear to you, it will be sufficient if you can love him as the Saints have done before you: This Love will produce an interiour Voice within you, or a supernatural Instinct: St. Paul calls it a Testimony of the Holy Ghost imprinted on our Hearts; St. Au­gustin, a Ray of the Glory of Paradise, which breaks forth in elected Souls, du­ring the height and transports of their Fervor. Give it what name you please, I say, it is a Divine Help, which disperses and drives away all the black Clouds, all the Fears and monstrous Disquiets of your Imagination, and like the dawning of a bright day, brings a Serenity, and begets in you a Certitude of your Salvation, in­dependent of any Revelation or Pro­phecy.

True it is, that you will not say formal­ly what the Hereticks do, and what cannot be said without the highest Pride and Bla­sphemy; My Name, I am certain, is writ­ten [Page 143] and set down amongst the names of the Saints. But you may say that which true Love made St. Paul, and other blessed Per­sons, say, who loved in perfection, My Certainty is, that neither Death nor Life, Poverty nor Riches, nor the Torments and Cruelties of Tyrants, the Promises and Flatteries of the World, nor, in fine, all the force of Hell, shall ever separate me from the Charity of Jesus Christ: Certus sum; I am certain of it, and am not more assured that I am alive at this present, than I am assured, by the help of Grace, to continue faithful to my God, as long as ever my Heart can breath. Donec superest halitus in me, & Spiritus Dei in Naribus meis.

It is a most horrible and sinful Presum­ption, which makes the proudly-conceited of their Piety say, ‘I know certainly, that God has been pleased to write me down in the number of his Elect, and that I cannot fail to go to Heaven.’ But it is a holy love that speaks when you say, ‘I will love my God even to Death; Death, Time, nor Eternity shall not part me from him:’ Etiam si me occiderit, Sperabo in eum▪

What Pride utters, in a most horrid Boldness and Blasphemy, since it under­takes to tell that which lies the most hid­den in the Breast of God. To be able to say, without the help of Revelation, whose Names He has written secretly and eter­nally in his Heart by a gratuite Election, is to be no less than God. The Saying of Love is a holy Truth, and an humble Ado­ration of the Mercy and Grace of Jesus Christ, inasmuch as this speaks only of the Vow you have made to love God, and of the perpetual and irrevocable Resolutions and Decrees of Holiness, which your self has written within your Conscience.

Look altogether upon these Vows which your Love has created, and do not amuse your self in reasoning upon Circumstances, as those do who first begin to love, and who, by making comparisons and scru­pulous Reflections, entertain such Disquiets as drive them into a dark Labyrinth, out of which they can find no issue.

When you are arrived at the degree of a fervent Love, you will be far from exa­mining what the Success of that Love may be, and from hearkening to the Fears [Page 145] and Anxieties of your blind and timerous Fancy.

Being in this state, you will know the News of your Happiness, without your saying, I know it: you will not answer for any thing, but your Constancy and Perseverance in making good the Promi­ses, of which Grace and Humility have been the inspiring Authors, and not Pre­sumption. You will rejoice holily with­in, without questioning or informing your self which way you come to know you shall be constant: and although in reality no Voice shall tell you this, yet you will be as secure, and as much at ease in the midst of all the dangers that shall surround you, as if Prophets and Angels had told it you.

You will not hear any Voice that will declare this to you, but you will become sensible, that the Instinct or secret Testi­mony, of which St. Paul speaks, is a kind of thing more certain than Visions, clea­rer than Revelations and Prophecies, swee­ter than the Consolations and Assurances you can receive from your spiritual Dire­ctors, [Page 146] and, in fine, more strong and power­ful than all your Fears.

Amongst all the Examples you see of such as fall from their Virtue, and in the heighth of the Reports of so many repro­bated Persons, as are sounded in your Ears from all parts, able to make the Boldest tremble, you shall enjoy the Peace of the Elect.

Your Solicitude will not be to question or make Doubts, whether you shall go to Heaven, or not, but will grow from the tediousness and length of years, and the delays that put off the happy day in which you are to see your Beloved. You will not beg of the Angels, to let you know, whether you shall bear them company one day in the Heavenly Jerusalem, and whether there be a place appointed for you there; but to let you know when you shall come thither, on what day, at which hour. O blessed Spirits! when will this be? Ye possess already him whom I seek, and whom you love; O Angels, I love as well as you, and cannot live without my God, yet all this while I see him not: Ad­juro [Page 147] vos filiae Jerusalem; I conjure you, O Daughters of Jernsalem, to take pity on my Love, and tell me when I shall enter into the Glorious Palace of my Spouse, into the very place of that admirable Ta­bernacle, into the very Arms and Bosom of him who is the Object of my Sighs and Tears.

You will look upon Heaven as an Inhe­ritance that belongs to you, and will say with David, Laetatus sum in his quae dicta sunt mihi. ‘I have heard a Divine Voice whisper to my Heart, which has left these few words imprinted in it, That we shall go into the House of God, and that after a moment or two of Labour and Affli­ction we shall get out of this Valley of Tears, and Region of Death, to be tran­sported to the Habitation of Life and Immortality, where our Bliss and Enjoy­ment wil be no less eternal than He is whom we love.’

Here you see what has been said and thoug [...] by such persons as have been in your condition, and by what means they have raised themselves above the power of Hell, and above all the Fears and Disquiets [Page 148] that torment the Weak and Pusilanimous. In a word, if you be assured that you have a Good Will, shut not that Peace out of your Heart, which has been promised you from Heaven by these words; Pax homi­nibus bonae voluntatis.

REFLECTIONS.

It is not to be doubted, but that amongst the Felicities of this Life, one of the most desirable to Man, is to have Plenty, Or­der, and Peace setled in his Family.

The Duty of effecting this Settlement belongs particularly to the Wife, the Ho­nour and the Obligation of the Husband dispose of him wholly to the service of the Common-wealth, to whose Benefit he de­dicates his Time and Pains, and by his ex­cellent Qualities comes to merit one of the principal Places in the government of it.

These two Employments have been as­signed by Providence to the Master and Mistress of that Family of which Solomon speaks in the last of his Proverbs: both the one and the other carry themselves [Page 150] after such a manner, as make the Angels admire at the Grace which enlightens and enables them; and Men are at a loss to reckon which of the Pair deserves the best Preference.

It is certainly an admirable Sight to be­hold this august Peer aw­ingNobilis in pertis vir ejus quando Se­derit eam Senatori­bus terrae. the People into their Duty, or to see him pre­side in an Assembly of Se­nators at a time, when the Frame of the State is shaken, and in disorder; and yet such as consider the Carriage of the Wife at home in her Palace, see those things which make a no less glorious appearance in their Eyes: they are not to be distin­guish'd one from another. The Character which they receive from the general Voice, says, That their Examples regulate all the Actions of their fellow-Citizens, and that they equally share, by their Merit, in all the Praises and Admiration of their Coun­try.

See here the first Lines of their Figures, which the Wise-man has drawn to present to future times, and to confute the Com­plaints and Tears of such as lay to [Page 151] Heaven the ill Success of their Mar­riage.

This Woman, who is all Obedience to her Husband, reigns in her House at the same time he governs in the Senate; she exercises there a Sovereign Rule, but does it without noise or violence. Her power in this place is mighty, because it comes from Heaven: she does not seek, as other Ladies use, to raise up her Authority by the magnificency of her Attire, and yet she wears the richest Purple,Byssius & pur­pura Indumen­tum ejus. and follows all the Rules of Decency and Custom in dres­sing her self, though she has no need of any Help to make her be respected and ho­noured by her Domesticks; God has be­stowed such a Garment on her, as we should all have worn, had our first Father but proved wise. Fortitudo & decus indu­mentum ejus. Solomon means, that there issues an Ayr of Greatness and Majesty from the Eyes of this Princess, which spreads it self over her like a Garment, and gives a certain lustre to her Face, her Words and Motions, such as cannot be expressed further, than that it ravishes all [Page 152] Hearts, and that it makes them happy who serve her, when her Commands give them the honour of obeying her, and the occasion to shew, by their promptness and transport of Joy, the depth of their Re­spects.

This is it which keeps the whole House in order, and puts every person, at each hour of the day, in the Place and Em­ployment where he should be: the re­spectful Fears that fix them to their Duty, is not as in other Families, a Fear of being catch'd in their Faults and punished; all the Fear of this place is, the Fear of being faulty.

She is not the Mistress only of her Do­mesticks, but the Mother too: amongst the chief Rules of her Government, the first is, to look that they be not failing in any part of their Duties; the second, to see that nothing be wanting to them which Reason and Justice can claim for their support and comfort. Her constant Care is, to avoid giving them any just cause of complaint, yielding them still new occasi­sions of loving her, and of believing they are loved? her Goodness reaches to make [Page 153] them see, that she both approves of their Service, and considers their Persons.

This frank and obliging Goodness ex­tends it self to All without exception; it is but an ill Principle in a Master and Mistress, to chuse out one in a Family where there is a number of Servants, and to repose their whole Trust on his shew of Fidelity, discarding in a manner all the rest, for then his idle and rash Reports must needs make them commit a thou­sand faults, and cause more noise in a House in one day than there would be in a year, would they endeavour to make themselves beloved of all. To win Hearts, there lies the true and perfect Secret of Oeconomy in a Family, of Policy in a State, and of Hierarchy in the Sanctuary: whatsoever Government you may have, to make it happy, you must be taking and amiable; go not about to seek a more ingenious and uncommon method, GOD himself uses no other in his Eternal Em­pire: Ʋbi regnat aeternus Amor & aeterna Pulchritudo.

This Lady we speak of neglects not to employ her self in Works befitting her Sex, [Page 154] performing curious things with her Nee­dle; and though she has no farther Skill than what Nature put into her Fingers in her Childhood, yet she proves knowing enough to set Patterns, and give Directi­ons to the most skilful Work-women, ma­king her self admired of all the Ladies that spend the time of their Visits in seeing her work, and in learning of her, but they come too late to her acquaintance to be capable of imitating her. Quaesivit la­nam & linum, & operata est consilio manuum suarum.

These little Employments set not, says Solomon, the bounds to her Virtue, Capacity, and Industry. Manum suam misit ad fortia: She that knows how to employ her Fin­gers so well, knows also how to employ her Arm, and when Necessity requires it, can shew that Heroick Courage, which gives her the Title of the strong Woman. Is she to resist any violent Assaults of her Neighbours, to withdraw ill-gotten Goods out of an Injust Possession, to maintain the Rights of Innocence against the Power and Subtilties of the Law, and relieve her op­pressed Dependents? or, Is she to buy [Page 155] and sell, or to conquer such Obstacles as hinder her Designs, to encrease the limits of her Lordships, by some advantagious acquisition, and to get a Victory over all the Policies of Envy and Treachery? This matchless Lady undertakes it, pur­sues it, and brings it to effect. Roboravit fortitudine brachium suum.

Beyond all this, says the Prophet, her miraculous Genius has taught her the Art of trafficking; she knows how to tran­sport the Grain and Profits arising from her Lands, as far as the Indies, and bring back in the same Ships the Riches of Ophir and Tharsus, with all the Gold and Silver and other things, of which her Family or her Country can stand in need. Facta est quasi navis institoris, de longe portans pa­nem. A fine Conceit it is of Solomon, That her Ships are the figures of her two Hands, wonderfully skilful, and wonderfully suc­cessful, both in giving out and receiving in; insomuch, as that God blessing these at home, blesses those when they are on the Sea, and the very Storms yielding an Obedience to the Benediction of God, pay [Page 156] them a Respect, and even help to bring them home to their Port.

But in all this the Miracle of her Parts, which is the most charming, and best de­serves to be published, is, that she has made her Husband the Richest of Men, without impoverishing or hurting any Person, and without giving occasion either to Heaven or Earth to complain of her: Confidit in ea Cor Viri sui, & spoliis non indigebit.

There remains yet a Miracle in her Person, which in my opinion should make her admired by Posterity above all the rest, and that is, That in all this bustle of Traffick, and of the manage of her House­hold Affairs, she makes not the least shew of any such matter, but in occasions where Decency engages her to be in the compa­ny of Knowing Men, ravishes them with the manner of her Conversation.

Her delight and merit in these Conver­sations lies not in talking her self, nor in mixing her Opinions and Reasonings with their Arguments; she holds, that the Rules of Wisdom and Modesty forbid her to appear before them, but in the quality of a Disciple, and that she ought to rank [Page 157] her self as Mary Magdalen did, at the Feet of our Saviour: Sedens secus pedes domini, audiebat verbum illius.

True it is, that she has not studied, and would therefore be much in the wrong to reason with them upon high Mysteries: but, what is not to be found in other Wo­men, she possesses three Sciences in perfe­ction, which ravish these Masters of Lear­ning.

The first is, That she knows how to put Questions that are the most pertinent, and to offer the finest Subjects, on which they can exercise their Parts. The second is, That she knows how to conceive clearly, and without difficulty, the An­swers which they make. The third, That she knows how to value them, and to show this value, by excellent and sincere Ex­pressions; the truth of which appears in her Looks.

The soveraign Pleasure of those Men who know great things, is not to vent them in the Schools: one of the chief and them in the Schools: one of the chief and most ancient Laws of the Schools is, That whatsoever is said there is to be contra­dicted, [Page 158] so that the Schools are as their Field of Battel, and the Standers-by as Witnesses of their Triumph.

At least, it appears to me to be very well said of a solid Writer of our Times, That in those Conversations where the Unlearned have a great deal of Wit and Modesty, and the Learned a great deal of Wisdom and Eloquence, the Delight and Honour of both is not unequally matched.

The great Character of this strong Wo­man is comprised in these words: Fallax gratia & vana est pulchritudo Mulier ti­mens dominum ipsa laudabitur.

REFLECTIONS.

Life and Health are two of God's Pre­sents, which deserve to be cherish'd and tenderly preserved.

The Wise man fails not in this Care concerning Health, and it really is one of the most considerable Rules of Wisdom, never to do what may hurt it, but still to govern it with discretion.

The true method that is to be observed in relation to Health, is to tend it, as we would do a young Child of quality, ta­king the care neither to spoil him by too fond humourings and compliances, nor by unreasonable constraints and severities.

To effect this, it is evident, that we must both allow and deny our selves ma­ny things; but, What are those things? and, at what times? These are two Diffi­culties, which are the ground of many Disputes, such as are not well determined, because we do not apply our selves to the right and sole Mistress, who can justly do it.

Some People consult their Physicians, many take Advice of their Sensual Appe­tite, [Page 161] and blindly do what it counsels them; others, which are the clearest sighted, ap­ply themselves to Nature, and consult with her alone.

Indeed, the Physician often undertakes the matter, but it may be he exceeds in this the limits of his Title and Profession. Physick was instituted by God for the re­covery of Health, it may be questioned whether it were intended for the preserva­tion of it. At least, we may conclude thus far, That Physicians are of no use to such as find themselves well, and all no­thing. Add to this, That Experience teaches us, that those who consult their Physician in time of health, to learn how to preserve it, and live a long time, learn only by his Remedies how to become sick and destroy themselves.

Such Persons as hearken to their Sen­suality soon learn the way to dye, and flye to the Tomb before the time; though the Truth is, the Cordials it prescribes are excellent, as Mirth, Wine, Good Cheer, Sleep, Play, and Ease, but it makes us take too much of them: and as the ex­cess of good things makes the most mortal [Page 162] Poison, so this kills more Men by its Baits than dye in the Field by the Sword, or are destroy'd in a Sedition by Violence and Injustice. Assuredly those are but ill Ad­vices for our Health, which come from our blind Appetite, and very dangerous Instincts are its interiour Perswasions and Impulses.

Nature, in this point, is the sole and true Mistress to whom we are to hearken; she knows what is requisite for a Man, the quantity of Nourishment, and the qua­lity; how much time he is to allow for Labour, how much for his Diversion, how much for Sleep, what is to be the measure of each thing: She knows all this, and what is to be most admired; she has in­ward motions and certain ways of infor­ming us in evry matter, which are mar­velously intelligible; at least, the Man that is wise understands them very well, and seldom deceives himself in them: it may be said, that it is one of his principal and choicest Knowledges to distinguish thee Calls of Reason and Necessity from those of the Passions; and that amongst his Principles, the most holy and best ob­served [Page 163] one by him is, not to grant any thing to the latter, nor refuse any thing to the former.

An ancient Writer has truly said, That one of the most important Affairs of Wis­dom lodged in the Mind of Man, is to well distinguish between those Voices or Calls which are within Man, they have been reckoned to be six or seven, Reason, In­stinct, Humour, Appetite, Temptation, In­spiration, and Grace; each one of these Domesticks lodged within us has his Call, or Impulse, by which he puts us upon Actions pleasing to him, and makes us to will as he does.

Their Ends are infinitely differing and opposite, but the great difficulty, and the original from whence arise all our Misfor­tunes, is, that their Voices are much alike, and that it is easie to be deceived in them.

Sensual Appetite counterfeits in its Call the Voice of Reason and Necessity; Hu­mour, that of Instinct and Nature: Tem­ptation, that of Inspiration and Grace. Now, to take one for the other, to resist [Page 164] this, and comply with that, is no less than to perish.

Happy are the Wise! It is Wisdom on­ly that is able to distinguish amongst this Confusion of Voices; at every Call of our Heart, and every Impulse we feel, she in­forms us to whom the Voice belongs.

From this admirable Intelligence of the Wise it comes that they are able to chuse the ways of preserving their Health, by following the Orders of the Physician that is within them, and understands their Interiour; whereas the Misfortune of the other Physician is, that they cannot pene­trate so far with their Sight; they see but the outside of the Sick Person, and must devine for all the rest.

REFLECTIONS.

Man's Body, so long as it is supported by an Immortal Soul, is the most upright and the most beautiful of all Bodies, but when it comes to be separated from this, of all Carcasses it is the most hideous and frightful; there is not that Corruption which is so horrid to behold, nor a Stench that is more insupportable.

In like manner the Action of eating and drinking, when it is dead, and is not ani­mated by some spiritual aim or intention to please God, is undoubtedly one of the most shameful Actions, and most unbe­seeming a Man, and such as the Angels behold with the greatest aversion.

But when it is accompanied and helped by that supernatural Intention, it is both honourable and holy, and we have few things without us, by which we can more handsomly show our Dignity and Diffe­rence [Page 168] from Beasts, than by this, although it seems to put us into the same rank and equality with them.

The manner of Eating for Beasts is, to eat at all hours, to eat souly and greedily. to eat by themselves, and hardly to en­dure the company of another Beast: the way of Eating for Man should carry Marks of the Superiority and Soveraignty that belongs to him: Decency, Neatness, Order, and Magnificency, with other royal Properties, should adorn his Table, who is the Master of Beasts, to shew the distance there is between him and his Slaves.

He ought to be regular, as to the hours of Eating, a thing not impracticable by the poorer sort; to be neat and clean in what belongs to it, which is not hard to be compassed by such as are the least rich, and to have his Table handsom, and of free accesS to his Friends, which is not to be dispensed with in Persons of great qua­lity, and is ordinary enough with those of a small fortune, who have large Hearts, such as esteem nothing their own, in which a Friend has not a share.

The very Angels, in the opinion of the holy Bishop of Geneva, could not dispense with this, were they transformed to Men, and to come and converse with us in the World, they would live like Angels to their very Table. Here lies the Honour of a Spiritual Nature, to be able to descend to the resemblance of Beasts, by Actions, in which it resembles them less than ever; and where it appears more clearly than in any other occasion, how infinitely far our Nature is raised above them!

REFLECTIONS.

Sleep is duly reckoned amongst the Blessings and the Eases which God had been pleased to mix with the Bitterness and Troubles of this miserable Life.

We cannot term it better, than to call it a Present, which is sent us each day from the Creator, and which enters into our Veins, as a prevention to Diseases, and a help to repair our Strength, interrupting for seven or eight hours all the Toils and Displeasures of the Day.

St. Augustine calls it a Contrivance of the Supreme Goodness, which like a Mo­ther who tends the Cradle of her beloved Child, comes softly to us a nights, to rock us asleep, and drive from about us what­soever may disappoint the good Rest it de­signs us.

Thus this Goodness keeps from us Cares, Fears, Disquiets, and all Thoughts of Business, of Law-Suits, Projects, and Designs: this it is that stops them in their way, and hinders their access into our Mind, by sudden Vapours drawn out of [Page 171] its stock of Love, which quite forbid their entrance.

This it is also which can keep our Mind from being a Disquiet to it self, and hin­der it from spending the hours of night in toiling and employing it self indiscreetly: this Goodness ties up its Hands, if I may so express it; I mean, that it finds out certain Chains, by which it fastens all the Faculties of our Soul to thier repose, and keeps them in a state of stilness and in­action, but does all this so sweetly, and with such a care of hurting us, that in the height of this fettering and violence we feel nothing but Content and Pleasure: Dormeis & suavis erit somnus tuus.

In a word, if according to the holy Fa­ther's interpretation of these words, Laza­rus Dormit, it signifies to be dead, to be in that condition we may learn in laying our selves to sleep, that there is nothing more easie than to dye.

I say then, that Sleep in us is one of the Wonders of God's Providence, and that it is an allusion, what some People hold, who say, it is a shameful Spectacle to the Angels to see a Wise Man drowned in Sleep: the [Page 172] Angels have come down to behold a God sleeping in his Cradle, and they have ado­red him with as great respect there, as they adore him in Paradise.

Sleep is so far from being an Infamy to us, that many learned Doctors have been bold to say, it is one of the most honou­rable Conditions belonging to our Nature, and the least contrary to Grace.

Devout Persons are continually com­plaining, that there scarce passes an hour in the day in which they fall not into some light Faults, and become displeasing to God by unavoidable Weaknesses and Lap­ses. This Misfortune does not befal them a nights; the time of Sleep is the only time, in which they perfectly keep their Innocence: the same Grace and Virtue they have at the hour they go to sleep, the same is found in them entire at the moment they awake: their happy Soul, surrounded with the Vapours I have spo­ken of, is like the Sun hidden by a black Gloud; as much as it is obscured by that hideous Darkness, it still retains notwith­standing all its Lustre, and comes forth as bright and beautiful as it ever was before.

I say further, and I say this after the holy Fathers, who have experienced it, and other of the Learned who have writ it, That what never befel the Sun, which is to become more glorious and bright, being beset with Rain and Clouds, than it was in clear weather, has hapned to great Saints at the times they have been seized with sleep. Such was the time which God chose to visit the chief of the Apostles in, the beloved Disciples, the Magdalens, the Catherines, and Theresia's, and other illustrious Saints, who have been then ele­vated even into the Rank of Seraphims, by the most sublime Acts of Love and Sanctity: Ego dormio & Cor meum vigilat. But this is not the proper place for ex­pounding these words, since I should step too far from my Subject; to the Point.

It cannot but be owned, that Sleep may be abused and turned into a shameful Bru­tishness: A Misfortune, says St. Chrysostom, that ought never to be seen; but it is seen too often, and never fails to happen when we lay our selves to rest, forgetting to fol­low those Rules which Wisdom and Provi­dence have prescribed to us, to the end we may not sleep like Beasts.

In truth, it must be confessed, to behold a Man risen from Table, where he has car­ried himself like an Atheist, and plunged both Body and Soul in the Filth of a scan­dalous Drunkenness, to see him throw himself on the Ground, and sleep in the face of Heaven; can there be a more shameful Spectacle! Let him be an Holo­fernes, attended and worshipped by an Army of an Hundred thousand Men, all this Attendance hinders him not in that condition from being a Horror to the An­gels, and being a Womans Victim, who cuts off his Head, and carries it safe away, whilst Devils seize the Remains of that drunken Carcass. Quasi Cadaver putri­dum, illamentatus atque insepultus, descen­des in profundum laci.

This way of sleeping is certainly the most dismal thing that can happen to Man. The King Sedecias having known that he was made the Sport of the Court of Baby­lon, whilst he slept after this manner, died through the displeasure he took at it. Alexander, Socrates, Cato, and other of those old Worthies, have blushed at their being in such a condition before they came [Page 175] to be quite awake, so much sense remain­ing with them in the midst of their Fol­ly: and they have wept, in having hid it from the Eyes of the World, to find they could not hide it from themselves.

I own besides, that it is not a proper means to cause quiet and good Sleeps, to have our Bed and Chamber too richly and voluptuously adorned; what Rest can there be taken in the view of so great Debts, or Couzenages, or Pride? How many dreadful Cries, says Salvian, are heard all night within the Conscience of that Man, whose wretched Sleep costs so much Money, and so many Sins? Can he spend the hours any other way, than in sadly thinking and in saying to himself, Menses va­cuos & Noctes laboriosas Enumeravi mihi. For these twenty years I have done nothing towards my Salvation, my days have been days of Debauch, of Impieties, of Wrongs to the Poor; my nights have been nights of Disquiet, Torment, and Despair; Menses Vacuos & Noctes laboriosas.

Think, when you go to take your rest on this rich Bed of State, that such was the Bed from which a Balthasar beheld the [Page 176] Hand of God writing on the Wall the Sentence of his Death, and his Damnati­on signed in Heaven.

That the rich Glutton, whilst he took the pleasure of seeing himself thus magni­ficently lodged, heard a Voice whisper in his Ear, telling him, he was expected in another World, and that he must dye with­in an hour; Et haec quae Parasti, Cujus erunt?

That an Antiochus, instead of meeting here with that sweet Rest you seek, found burning Flames kindled within his Bowels, with Cholicks and Convulsions, which have made him roar like one in Hell, tur­ning his stately Bed into a Scaffold, where his interiour Executioners have torn him for several months, till Death has come and pulled him out of their Hands to put him into infernal ones. Mortuus est & sepultus in inferno.

But I go beyond my Argument: what I maintained, is true, That Sleep taking possession of you, according to the Rules of Providence, puts you into a condition that is not only necessary, but honoura­ble.

The Rules of this Providence are fitted to your Conveniency and Needs, do you conform your self therefore exactly to them, and accustom your self to follow as near as you can all its Commands and Counsels.

You desire that your Sleep may be sweet and peaceable, Providence would have it so too, and has chosen for it the night time; do not you change this for the day, and go not to Bed at Five a Clock in the morning, when the Sun does rise.

It would not have you spend above se­ven or eight hours in sleeping, do not employ ten or eleven in it, but mind what the Physicians say, That a Man who lies in Bed ten or eleven hours, comes out of it ever less healthful; and what the Ca­suists add, Ever less innocent and pure than he went into it.

The Eye of God, says St. Gregory, abhors the sight of a Man in Bed at Noon: And if ever you be found there so late, he will send Solomon's Ghost to your Bed-side, which pulling you by the Arm, will repeat those words inspired long since into him, on purpose to be said to the Sluggards of all [Page 178] times; Ʋsque quo Piger dormies? quando Consurges a Somno tua? Paululum dormies paululum dormitabis paululum Conseres Ma­nus ut dormias: & veniet tibi quasi Viator Egestas, & pauperies quasi vir Armatus. Till when, O Sloathful, will you sleep? have you not rubbed your Eyes, and stretched your Arms sufficiently? has not your Head been more than once raised and let fall again upon the Pillow, asking a lit­tle time, and yet a little longer, and for a third about, still a little longer time, until that God's Malediction enters within your Walls, follow'd by Disorder, Libertinism, and Poverty, which will spare your Fa­mily as little as it has done such as have been richer than yours? Pauperies quasi Vir Armatus.

This is not all; what the same Provi­dence recommends particularly to you, to make your Sleeps sound and quiet, is, that you employ your self in the day time, taking so much Pains about your Affairs, as that you may find at night, when the time comes of your going to Bed, some­thing of Weariness in your Body, but in your Mind no manner of Disquiet, no [Page 179] Sin in your Conscience, nor any Distur­bance from your Passions, to hinder the rest prepared for you by the Divine Good­ness. Act so well, as that your Designs, your Undertakings, Hopes, and even your Joys as well as Griefs, may be laid to sleep with you, and lodge that quiet Silence in your Soul, as may make it not be troubled by it self, or any thing about it, so that you may have cause to say, at the time of shutting your Eyes, In pace in idipsum dormiam, & requiescam; quoniam tu do­mine Singulariter in spe Constituisti me.

The last and most important Rule is, That your last Action before you sleep, and the first after you wake, must be to pray. Be sure you fail not to begin and end this way, each day you have to live, and take often into your Mind this true Saying of the Holy Fathers, That Sleep is the Figure of our Death, and Waking the Figure of our Resurrection. The last words of a dying Man, are, to recommend his Soul to God, In Manus tuas, Domine, com­mendo animam meam; the first when he ri­ses again, will be to pay his Adoration to God, when stretching out his Arms to­wards [Page 180] his Maker, he shall raise himself up to him, by Acts of a perfect Love and Holiness, Dormivi & Somnum cepi & exurrexi, & adhuc sum tecum. This is the true method of the Devotion of Christians for each day of their Life.

Remember what I have said in another place, That all times are proper for the exercising Acts of Holy Love, since the God you love is near you at all times: When the Sun goes away he is not gone, says Solomon; God is at your Beds head in the silent beginning of the Night, discoursing with your Mind by private Inspirations, and helping you to rest holily, through the sweetness of this interiour Conversa­tion.

In the Morning he is also with you, expecting to meet with an Expression from you of the Trust you repose in him, such as may shew you deposite with him all your Cares of every day: and whereas he fails not to be present before you at the moment of your waking, fail not on your part to raise your Eyes and stretch your Arms out to him, Anima mea desider avit te in Nocte sed & Spiritu meo, in praecordiis [Page 181] meis de mane vigilabo ad te. ‘O my Belo­ved, said a holy Soul, how innumerable have my Thoughts been of you this Night, how many Sighs, how many Tears have you cost me! I ran after you through Desart places, where it was all darkness. De Mane Vigilabo ad te. Question not, my Beloved, but that I love you, since the first motion of my wa­king Heart tends to enquire, whether I be so happy as to be beloved by you still this day, and to learn, that you are nea­rer me than I imagined by my Fears.’

REFLECTIONS.

Amongst all the Entertainments Nature has provided for us, to give ease to the tediousness our Banishment, during this mortal Life, there is not any so decent and so pleasing as the meeting of Company to converse one with another.

This Inclination of mutually commu­nicating our Thoughts, was born in us with our immortal Soul; they both de­rive themselves from the same origin, that is, they come from the Bosom of God; the one and the other is framed according to the Pattern of what passes eternally amongst the three Persons of the Trinity, Persons adorable and infinitely happy, be­cause their Society and Communication is eternal.

To converse with his Likeness is the Eternity of God, the Life of an Angel, [Page 183] and as for Man, it is the cure of the Cares and Pains of his Mortality, whilst he so­journs here below amongst Beasts: One of our Priviledges and most glorious Ele­vations above them is, that they cannot partake of this Benefit.

It is a sad thing nevertheless, that amongst all the Customs divinely institu­ted, this, which both Nature and Grace has setled amongst us, should be blacken'd with the greatest Faults, and be the most shamefully abused of any.

No Man but knows how things go in this kind, how numerous the Sins are that grow from unchaste and detracting Tongues, and how many Tears these dai­ly cause: All our Misfortunes, in a manner, spring from this Fountain head.

You would know which way this may be remedied, the Remedy has been asked and fought for during these many years, but no one can boast of having found it out as yet, and there is cause to fear it ne­ver will be found; indeed, we may well doubt it, but yet we need not doubt with­al, but that each particular Person may acquit himself of all the Duties belonging [Page 184] to a Civil Life, and frequent company, when it ought to be done, without injuring his Fidelity to God, or the Obligation he lies under, not to expose himself to the manifest danger of mortal Sin.

The Means which the Holy Scriptures and our Spiritual Guides propose for this, are several; I here present you with a short Collection of their Counsels and Instru­ctions relating to this Subject.

1. ‘When you are invited, says Solo­mon, to go into such Company as will present you with Poison hid in the bot­tom of the most delicious Liquors, and where you are sure to meet with the blackest Crimes, mixed with the most inviting Pleasures, that is, when they go about to draw you into one of those Hou­ses, from whence you never fa [...]l to re­turn, but more faulty, and a greater Sin­ner than you went in; whatsoever Rea­sons may be urged, or Entreaties made, or Violence used to you, take heed you never yield; resist, and be constant in your resistance; go not to seek for Plea­sure and Sin, where you must meet with Death and Hell:’ Viae domus ejus, pene­trantes [Page 185] in interiora Montis, Prov. vii.

2. ‘When you happen to be making other Visits, in which you have been harmlesly engaged, without the foresight of any hurt or danger, if nevertheless there appears such, says St. John the Evange­list, as soon as any signs of it be shewn, as soon as you hear any bold Blasphemy pronounced, or words of high Impudence, which scandalize you, and terrifie your Conscience; flye away without delibera­tion, and suffer not the Health of your Soul to be longer exposed to so bad an Air, in a place where amongst all that are about you, laughing without con­troul, there is not one perhaps but has the Plague and Sin lodged in his Heart:’ Exite de illa populus meus, ut ne participes sitis delictorum ejus, & de plagis eis non ac­cipiatis. Apoc. xviii.

3. ‘But if matters stand in that way, as will not allow you to take your flight, at least take the liberty to speak and declare your Mind boldly, do like the Prophet Isaiah, arm your Looks with the Zeal and Anger of a Seraphim; put on a Forehead of Brass, not to be daunted nor [Page 186] made ashamed, and let your Temper shew a Courage without Pity.’ In this posture present your self before these Libertines, who neither regard God's Presence, nor yours, and by some generous Remon­strance, that may set before their Eyes the Infamy of their Brutishness, make them hide their Heads and Faces for shame; Ʋt Videant, & sentiant, & urantur. This was the way of the ancient Prophets, and is still the way of such as are true Saints in the Church of the Son of God.

4. But then, in case you should find your Courage and Parts not sufficient for this Undertaking, and that you should fear, instead of confounding the Sinners, they might scandalize the Company, by turning Devotion into Ridicule: Keep your Tongue silent, says the Prophet, but let your Eyes speak.

‘You must, says he, make these Atheists see in your Eyes and Looks a dreadful Sadness and Horror, when they begin to open their Mouths, and vomit up in the presence of Persons of Honour the Filth and Corruption that lies within their Souls:’ Per tristitiam vultus, corrigitur [Page 187] animus delinquentis. Say not a word, but be sad; this way has had Success in the correcting of Sinners, whom Noise and Dispute could never soften.

Imitate that generous Nun of St. Clare's Order, who having heard some obscene Complements that were made her by a company of Debauchees, shewed first in her Cheeks a sudden Fire of Anger, which presently after turned into a dying Pale­ness and inconsolable Sadness, both accom­panied with so many moving Tears, as touched at the very instant the Hearts of these Wretches, making them retire away in confusion, and putting them upon be­ginning a Penance in the Church two or three days after, which lasted with them to the end of their Lives. Per tristitiam vultus, Corrigitur animus delinquentis.

After all, the greatest Masterpiece of Human Wit in such occasions, is shewn when a Man of great Parts and rare Ex­pression, without saying any word of Of­fence to these ill persons, as soon as he per­ceives them ready to take the liberty of mocking at the Mysteries of Religion, knows how with Address, at the first word [Page 188] of Impiety, to break off the Discourse, and introduce in its room another, so taking and agreeable, as may draw the attention of the whole Company, and give that sa­tisfaction even to the Libertines them­selves, as may make them ashamed of the brutish things they were going to utter, when they compare them with his noble Thoughts and way of Conversation.

This was the Artifice practised by Solo­mon, when those unbelieving Princes ap­peared before his Throne, who were ready to reason indiscreetly against the Truths of his Religion: without shewing any Signs that he would contradict them, or make them see their Ignorance, he began to en­tertain them with Discourses of the Great­ness of the God whom he adored, speak­ing so divinely on this Subject, as raised their admiration so high by the things he said, as that hours passed away with them in pleasure, witout minding how the time went; and all this while they laid their Fingers upon their Lips, lest some Word or Noise should come out, that might interrupt him: Sermonicante me, plura, manus ori suo imponent.

This is, I say, an admirable way to di­vert ill Discourses, but such as I must in­geniously confess is somewhat too high to be proposed as an Example.

It is easie to admire a Man who discour­ses at this rate, but where lies the Means to imitate him? The undertaking of it, by one less wise, would have but a sad effect.

For, as nothing is more divine and ra­vishing than the Eloquence of a Solomon, who is able to speak before all Companies to the Dignity of the Matter on any Sub­ject, though never so unforeseen, and to entertain them for many hours, without any stop of their Admiration; so there is nothing more distastful than to light into the conversation of such Persons as are al­ways talking, and never talk to the pur­pose, yet will not suffer one to interrupt them.

Those are not the Persons nevertheless most to be apprehended; such as these you must take the greatest care to avoid.

I have observed, that Indiscreet Persons are amongst Company just the same thing as those we call Heedless and Blockheads [Page 190] are amongst Wares in a Store-house; where these come, there is always some­thing thrown down, broken, or spoiled, and Matter ever made for Complaint and Chiding The like happens by our Con­versation in the Visits we make one-ano­ther; for, whereas great store of Compa­ny meets in these occasions, and that Dis­course must therefore fall upon variety of Subjects, some unlucky Matter still hap­pens, for want of Care to prevent it: when People meet thus, they usually strive to divert themselves by harmless Raileries, entring into some little War of mutual Re­proaches and Repartees, very pleasing to Persons of Wit; but when there happens to be such there as want Discretion and Judgment, and know not the Rules of Civility or Common Sence, it is a Misfor­tune to be one of the Company: There ever happens then, in these Sportings and Wrestlings of Good Humour, some Blow to be given that goes beyond Play, and fetches Blood; there is ever some Mind wounded, some considerable Secret disclo­sed, some Confidence betrayed; there is some Person of Worth that repents him of [Page 191] having come amongst Fools, that treat him ill, taking his Civilities for Injuries; there is ever some one of a jealous and nice Temper, that goes away with a blee­ding Heart.

Non habet amaritudinem Conversatio illius, nec taedium Convictus illius: It is the Property of Wisdom to make our Con­versation become like that of the Angels, yielding us all the Joys of Mind that a familiarity of Souls can produce amongst Persons who perfectly love one-another.

A Wise Man, whilst he converses, has ways of letting loose his Heart to his Friends, ways of jesting, and making him­self merry with them to the full scope of Friendship, without ceasing nevertheless to continue all this while admirably wise, and without breaking one Law of Decen­cy or Respect: he can likewise, at times of magnificent Entertainments, and upon occasion of publick Rejoicings, where Hea­ven would have him edifie good Company, by conforming himself to their Example, according to the Rules of Honour and Fit­ness; he can, I say, add a Liveliness and Lustre to the Serenity of his Words and [Page 192] Countenance, not only able to ravish with Pleasure those he entertains, but to infuse a Piety into them, much sooner than the unbecoming and constrained Devotions which the Scrupulous are seen to practice in Churches.

You will ask me perhaps in what Book Wisdom has put down the Rules of such an extraordinary Conduct; I answer you, In None: Wisdom sends Men into Com­pany, and about their Affairs, without saying a word to them; Mitte Sapientem & nil dicas illi: but when they come there, it inspires them secretly with the Words they are to say, and the Actions they are to do.

I conclude this Subject with two words of Advice; the first, Make your Self wise: the second, When you are so, go boldly into Company, and do as you please.

REFLECTIONS.

I said, that these Noises were frequent, and I may say withal, that they are uni­versal.

There are many Storms and Agitations in the Air we breath, many upon the Earth where we dwell, which we count so firm, many, and more than any where else, are in the immortal Soul, by which we live. There scarce passes an hour wherein our Thoughts are not tossed several ways, and our Reason does not fall at odds with our Passions.

In like manner Cities, Provinces, and other Assemblies of Men, are but so many Seas, where it is a rare thing to meet with a calm day: we sail all of us upon these Tempestuous Billows, but yet it does not necessarily follow, that our Minds should be shaken by them. Man's Soul depends not on the Vessel that wafts it, much less [Page 195] on the tempestuous Noises resounding round about him. or the strange Revolu­tions, that amaze so many Persons; give an Ear you may to them, but have no­thing to do there, more than to behold the busie Medlers in the midst of those Whirl­winds, going this way, and that way, as they are carried and driven.

How sweet a thing it is to observe with a calm Spirit the Tempest of a Mind where Passion reigns without controul.

Whensoever the Winds begin to rise, let us make haste to get into the Haven, let us flye to God as long as the Storm lasts, let us remain close to this dear Spouse, conversing with Him, and asking His Counsels: Then whilst we enjoy the sweet of this Divine Familiarity, supported be­tween His Arms, let us from thence behold the strange Agitations of the World, and tell Him what our Thoughts are of them.

Treat with God in these conjunctures as you use to do with the Persons you love: When there happens some unex­pected Change in the Publick Affairs, or that there starts up some News of high [Page 196] importance, it is a Pleasure to us to tell it one-another, and to communicate our Opi­nions and Conjectures thereupon. Take the same Pleasure with God, and shew him what you think of it, and all you have been told: True it is, All this is known to him before it was ever spoken of, but it is no less true, that he loves you, and that he would learn from your self not only what passes in your own House and pri­vate Closet, but in the Common wealth also, and amongst the People. As soon as you shall hear of any Matter hapning strangely and unexpectedly, and that makes a great noise and disturbance, go and discourse with him about it, who ex­pects you to this end; say to him with David, That the Waters haveElevaverunt flumina vocem suam. raised their Voices; That there are great Tempests upon the Sea, and great Tumults in the World; That Chance has alter'd the Af­fairs of the Earth, and made strange Chan­ges in the Stations of Men, by setting up and pulling down beyond belief, although our Eyes behold it: Mirabiles Elationes Mar [...]. But, my God, you may say to [Page 197] that which is most to be wonder'd at in these Downfals, is, to see the Man who rises upon another's Ruine imagine he is seated at that heighth for ever. These little Insects carried up by the Waves to the Clouds, look upon themselves with as much Pride in this Elevation, as if they were seated upon firm Rocks, and forget that their Station depends wholly upon the Winds: all these Waves which For­tune has stirred up, and raised so high, will make but a moments appearance; at the same time they are risen from their lowness, they are returning back to it again.

The Ambitious, who mount thus high and get at such a distance from their for­mer littleness, rise to this pitch, only to make the greater noise in the World by their Fall, and these very Mountains of their Greatness turn to their ruine, by fal­ling back upon them, where they misera­bly perish, and lye buried in this Rub­bish.

But the Reports of these Changes amongst Creatures are of small impor­tance; the News that pleases and concerns [Page 198] me most, and which my Heart is conti­nually repeating, as the Angels are still telling it over and over to one another without cease, is, that he whom we love does never change: Mirabiles elationes Maris Mirabilis in altis dominus: You, my God, are the same this day that you ever were, and will eternally be the same: the immovable perpetuity of your Power, and of your Word, makes the Glory and Hap­piness of those that serve you, Idem ipse es & anni tui non deficient, yet give me leave to say, that what appears the most to be admired, and most pleases me, is, that at the same time when your infinite Goodness gives me the News of the Per­severance of your Grace and Protection on my behalf, I can return you the News of the Eternity of my Love. The Hea­vens and Earth will change; my Goods, my House, my Friends, my Health, my Body, my Fortune, and my Life, must also change; they are changing at this instant, and at every hour they change, but my Love shall never alter: I will love you as long as I shall live, as often as I shall draw my Breath, as lastingly as you will [Page 199] be my God. Deus Cordis mei, & pars mea Deus in aeternum.

REFLECTIONS.

There are usually lodged in our Hearts certain Designs upon which our whole Fa­culties are bent, such as our Imagination works upon night and day, to find out the Means may make them succeed, in spight of the Difficulties and Hindrances in their way: if your Mind be taken up with any of this nature, instead of applying your self unprofitably to Men, who either can­not or will not assist and comfort you, go and talk with God, tell him all the secret Thoughts of your Heart on this occasion: Exurge in occursum meum & vide, tu do­mine Deus Virtutum. I confess, O my Lord, that the Undertaking which you see disquiets me, when I look on it on each side, shews me nothing but ill Presages and Dangers of Ruine: would you please to look into it, you will own, that it stands in a sad condition, and that I am to be pitied.

I neither can nor ought to forsake it; I have begun it in the view of Men and Angels, and both my Reputation and my Conscience are concerned in it; the Ho­nour of your Name, to which I have con­secrated my Blood and Life, the Good of my Neighbour, the Fidelity I owe to ma­ny Persons of worth, who have built their Hopes upon my Word, would call for Vengeance against me, should I desist. All the indispensable Laws of Necessity bind me to a Perseverance, and to stand up with Courage against all Obstacles: but my best Helps fail me, my Money, my Credit, and Favour: those other Advan­tages, of which I had a prospect formerly, have also disappear'd of late; and such as I may expect will come, approach with a very slow pace; the worst of it is, that in the mean while Time runs speedily on, so that through the Delays which Accidents cause, Death draws near and tells me, tho' all the rest should not be wanting, yet Time must fail me: I hear, methinks, its Voice every moment, like that of an Ene­my at hand, threatning to destroy with my self all my Designs and Hopes, and lay [Page 202] us together in one Grave: What can I do in this Condition?

You that Rule in Hearts, O my God, you that infuse into them whatsoever you please, whose Hands hold the Keys of eve­ry Treasure, and have Strength to stop the Current of Time, notwithstanding its violence, give me leave, O my Lord, to lift up my Eyes, and lay open my Sorrows to you; you cannot but see my Tears, but then you see my Sins withal, and yet your Mercy is not the less for that; if I be an Ingrateful Wretch, you are a GOD: it is none of my intent to demand Miracles of you, I only dare presume to pour out my Tears at your Feet, and tell you with trembling, poor Nothing as I am, that your Pity asks of you great matters for me, and that your powerful Hand can do all things.

True it is, my dearest Lord, as you in­wardly tell me, that perhaps the succee­ding of this Enterprize may less conduce to the Good of my Neighbour, and the Ho­nour of your Name, than my Patience and Resignation would do, whilst you suffer Misfortune and Death to overthrow all [Page 203] my Designs, and me to perish under the ruines of my Labours; or else should I live, and bear quietly the weight of my Ruine, perhaps it would prove more plea­sing to you, than if I should pass my days in Happiness and Honour, by the lucky ac­complishment of what you put into my Mind.

It belongs to you, O my God, to deter­mine which will please you best, who know how I shall appear before your Eyes in either Condition: but give me leave to say, that you who like to see this humble Resignation in the Souls you cherish and have chosen; do not condemn in them however the ardent Desires of effecting such Designs as they may hope will bring Glory to your Name.

You are pleased when they say amo­rously and sincerely; I am ready for all, do your Will with me; my Religion and my Life are bent to adore the Decrees of your Wisdom; I adore them, and offer my self a Sacrifice to them, but, my God, view my Heart, and do not refuse to your Love the knowing my Inclinations, and the hearkening after my Sighs.

Well, my Divine Master, I look with­out Terror upon the Destruction you pro­pose of my Designs and me; my whole Being adores your Providence, and an­swers, Non sicut ego Volo, sed sicut tu; but yet you forbid me not the Freedom, no more than you did to Daniel, to discover my Desires to you, and to send out my Sighs in your presence. I am a Nothing, and less yet than so, but nevertheless, amidst this Nothingness, wherein it is my due to place my self: I have a Voice and Tears able to reach to the Sublimity where you are; I call then, and I weep, trusting that you cannot behold the Tears which flow from my Eyes, whichout having the Will to know their Meaning; Shall I tell it you, my God, I weep to obtain Comfort from you, for the weakest of all your Creatures, to obtain that your Power may be glorified by granting me the Helps ne­cessary for the accomplishment of that Work on which your Inspiration and Grace have put me: I speak after the Example of Judith, whose Resignation and Humi­lity hinder'd her not from expressing her Desires to you. Confirma me domine, & [Page 205] respice ad opera manuum mearum, ut hoc, quod Credens Cogitavi per te fieri posse perficiam.

In short, the thing that would bring me an infinite deal of Comfort, were, That the Angels, after having seen my Hearts sub­mission to your Orders, and been Witnes­ses that I am ready, like Abraham, to sacri­fice to you what is most dear to me in the World, and give up to your Will all my Desires, though never so just and pleasing, might have Right to say the same of me, which they said to you heretofore, speak­ing of David, Desiderium animoe ejus tri­buisti ei, & voluntate labiorum ejus non frau­dasti eum.

I must confess, O my God, that you have no need of me to honour you either on Earth or in Heaven, since you are able by a word speaking to produce millions of Angels and Seraphims, and millions of new Worlds, whereby you may receive more honour in one day than you can have from me during Eternity. I do own it, O Infinite Greatness, and yet you that know all things, O Adored Origin of all my Enterprizes, and Eternal Center of my [Page 206] Peace and Affections, you must needs know, that amongst the accidental Joys of the Future Life, the greatest, and those which will touch us the nearest, will be to see how our little Designs of this World here below, undertaken and happily ac­complished through your Benediction, will prove an inexhaustible Spring, from whence you will derive all the Glory that we are oblig'd to wish you.

Allow me then, O my God, to aspire after this Happiness, and to beg that you will crown my weak Endeavours with that Success, by which I may hope you will be eternally honoured: for, what is Time to me, or Eternity itself, unless I be some­thing to you in it?

REFLECTIONS.

When a Man is placed on the great Theatre of this World, by holding some honourable Employment in the Affairs of State, or in those of Justice, it is doubtless a Condition that affords some happy Mo­ments, tho' often but sad Days, and never fails to give occasions of vexation.

After a Man has been sitting in some Court, toiled with a Business that has lasted seven or eight hours, his Body and his Mind quite spent with Weariness, when he returns home in hope of getting a little Quiet, what a thing it is for him to find waiting at his Gate a number of Suppli­cants, who follow him into his Hall, up to his Chamber, into his very Closet, begging a moments audience, whilst at the same time his Heart begs of him a little Respite to breath in, and cannot ob­tain it? What a kind of Life is this? Is it not for a Man to be banished from him­self in his own House, and to be divorced from all that is dear to him in the World?

Observe, that besides our selves there are three sorts of Persons which are no less dear to us, and stick as close to our Hearts as does our Life, I mean our Family, our intimate and faithful Friends, and above all, our God and Maker.

To pass whole days then, far from these precious Shares of us; to see from mor­ning to night only Strangers, Men trou­blesome, and whose Business it is to perse­cute and torment us; I say once more, [Page 209] what is it but a Real Banishment?

And what Help is there for these Trou­bles? what Means is there to breath in quiet, at least for some little time, unless it be to take our flight, as Nature and Heaven has taught us to do, and to carry with us into some Country Solitude those inseparable Persons, whom our Heart is still calling for at every moments absence? Veni dilecte mi, says the Wife to her Hus­band, the Son to his Father, says one true Friend to another, says the Understanding Man to himself, says the Devout Soul to its God; Veni dilecte mi, egrediamur in agrum Commorremur in Villis.

It is in this Solitude where you truly enjoy your Family, and your Family en­joys you, where you have nothing to do more than to mind it, by which you give your self the Satisfaction you owe to your excellent good Nature: here it is where you find a renewing of your Life, with the possession of these beloved Per­sons, a Life that was lost before in a la­byrinth of publick affairs, where one meets with all manner of ways, except that of getting out of it, and with all manner of [Page 210] Persons, except those we care for: Ʋbi omnia nisi tu, sed quid omnia sine te?

You will own, in this agreeable Retire­ment, the Truth of what a great Person of our Country said, who lived in this latter Age, ‘That a Man whom Heaven has well allotted in Wife and Children, is in his own House, by the possession of them at the highest pitch of Honour that Ambi­tion can aim at, and that no Employ­ment can be more glorious and pleasing to him, than to rule there in sweet Peace, where he duly and perfectly loves, and is beloved.’

In this same Solitude it is, that you also truly enjoy your Friend; here his Time, his Life, and his Mind will be yours, as much as his own; here walking together in some solitary Grove, communicating your Thoughts, and entertaining one-ano­ther upon several Subjects, either of Mo­rality, History, or Policy, when you find that your Conceptions make a pleasing Impression in your Friend, and that his Answers bring you a suitable Return, you will have cause to make to one-another the noted Complement of those ancient [Page 211] Friends: Alter alteri, Theatrum sumus; I am your Theatre, and you are mine. To have your attention to what I say, and re­ceive your sincere and undissembled Ap­probation, is an Honour more charming to me, than it would be to have the applause of Kings and Courts, or to be famed to after times by the Pens of the most cele­brated Writers: Alter alteri, Theatrum sumus.

The Delight you take in this kind is perfectly compleated, when in conclusion of Serious Discourses you come to enjoy the Freedom of diverting one another by an easie communication proper for this purpose; then you let loose your Soul to all that is charming in Merriment and Jesting, and take the whole Pleasure that a familiarity of Hearts does usually beget.

At such a time as this you will be rea­dy to think of that fine Expression of Ci­cero used to his dearest Friend, Ʋnam te­cum apricationem in Lucretino tuo sole ma­lim, quam ista omnia Regna: I vow, my dear Atticus, that I would chuse to possess one little Chamber near you, in your Country House, rather than all those Kingdoms, to [Page 212] which the great Leader of our Armies does aspire.

In fine, O Christian, in this same Soli­tude it is, where you have the Pleasure perfectly to enjoy your self, such a Plea­sure as you are continually sighing after, during the Troubles and Toils of the Em­ployments you are in; but be mindful, that the surest way to be right with your self, is to be perfectly so with God: Veni dilecte mi, egrediamur in agrum, Commor­remur in Villis.

REFLECTIONS.

It will signifie little to have Riches in your Family, if you want Peace in it: How many mighty and wealthy Houses do we see become the Horror and the Scan­dal both of Heaven and Earth, by their domestick Discords!

Two unruly Horses put into a Boat, where there is a Company of Passengers. that fight and drown with themselves all these Persons, who go about to part them, is the true Figure of that Man and his Wife who are daily renewing of old Quar­rels and Disputes, and flying to their Kin­dred [Page 214] and Friends with their Complaints; their Children dissatisfied both with Father and Mother, joyn in a Scandalous Faction, and do all they can to defame and ruine them; their Servants, ill exampled, carry abroad all the Reproaches they make one to another, and divulge them far and near, with the Disorders of their Master's and Mistresses Life, whether true or false: In fine, the Curses and Blasphemies which their Fury begets ringing continually in the Ears of their Neighbours, to show the deplorable Condition of their Temper and Affairs, are to be reckoned as so many Tempests, that come from Heaven with its Malediction, ready to make the Earth open under their Feet, and swallow them up with their Unhappy Family, in which, according to St. Gregory, the Fire of Hell is already kindled, for a beginning of their Damnation, which is to end in everlasting Despairs.

Get you Peace within your Doors; to effect which, follow the Counsel of that old Philosopher, who seeing a Man transpor­ted with Fury, asked him, what it was gave him that high Displeasure, and at [Page 215] whom he was so angry: At my Shadow, answer'd this furious Man, I run after it as fast as I can, to stop it; I call, and threaten it with Oaths, and with my Sword, and use all ways to bring it to my Will, but to no purpose, which makes me mad. What would you have with it? I would have it, says he, stand still, and not move. Stand you still your self, replied the Philosopher, and make no manner of motion, do not you stir, and you will see it will obey you pre­sently, and keep it self in the posture you would have it. What would you be at, ad­ded he? You call to your Shadow to be wise, and at the same time you play the Fool, and forget that this Shadow is not to be ru­led by your Words, but your Example.

Do as I have said; get Peace into your Family, seek to lodge it there from the be­ginning, by taking a due Authority upon you, which is not to be done by entring into it with Heats and Fury, so to show that your Temper will exempt no Body from its Severity; this would be to de­clare, that you would have your Shadow, that is, the People under your Obedience, be as mad as your self, and to make the [Page 216] turbulency of your Spirit shake the whole Frame of your House, and turn every thing in it the wrong side upwards: where a Mad-man governs, there will not be any thing seen but Folly and Madness in that Family.

‘To take a true possession of your Au­thority, says St. Gregory, you must make it appear by your Words, and by the Temper of your Mind, which you set before the Eyes of your Domesticks, that you love your own Duty, and that you would have those that live under you like their Duty also after your Example, and apply themselves to it, not by chiding and noises, but as their pleasures and con­tent.’

To succeed in this, the whole Point lies, according to the Opinion of that holy Doctor, in making your self to be both feared and loved by your Family: Make your self, says he, to be feared, without bringing forth one word of heat and inconsi­derate rashness: make your self to be loved, without using any unfitting Compliances and Familiarities, and least of all such Fondnes­ses, as will sooner gain you Contempt than [Page 217] win you Hearts: In the presence of your Servants and Children there should not be too great a freedom of Words, rather a Re­serve, but let the Ayre of your Face shew all the Sweetness and Humanity imaginable, accompanied with a certain Gracefulness able to beget in those you govern a high opinion of your Virtue, and a respectful and true love for your Person, joyned to an earnest desire to please you.

Follow herein the Rules of Wisdom, and not the Example of some Masters, who in­deed use not any words, but yet by their angry Silence and curst suspicious Looks do accuse the first they meet with, and distaste every one that comes near them, causing this way more noise and disorder in a Family, than others do by letting loose the Reins to the violence of their Choler.

The most beneficial matter that I can propose here to you, is to place often be­fore your Thoughts the Picture of that happy Family, which the Prophet David has drawn, ranked about a Table at the time of their Repast, with a Decency, that the Angels seem to invite one another to behold and admire: This Family is com­posed [Page 218] posed of a Master who has no other design in his governing, but to please God; of a Mistress that has no other aim in this low World, but to be pleasing to her Husband, and to see her Children grow up in Grace and Wisdom; of Children, that have in a manner but one Heart, Nature and Educa­tion having begot this conformity amongst them, which does happily encrease with their Age. In this Piece is seen besides Peace, Piety, Prosperity, and Abundance crowning this Family in this Life, and God beholding it, with expectation to receive it into another Life infinitely more happy, which he has prepared for it. Donum & Pax est electis ejus. Ecce sic benedicitur homo qui timet Dominum.