Moralities.
1. JESUS suffered himself to be tempted (saith Saint Augustine) to the end he might serve for a Mediatour, for an example, and for a re∣medy to work our victory over all temptations. We must fight on his side: Our life is a continual war∣fare, and our days are Champions which enter into the lists. There is no greater temptation, than to have none at all: Sleeping water doth nourish poi∣son. Motion is the worlds soul; fighting against temptations, is the soul of virtues, and glory doth spring and bud out of tribulations. Virtue hinders not temptation, but surmounts it. Jesu•• fasted (saith the ordinary gloss) that he might be tempted, and is tempted because he did fast. He fasted fourty days, and then was hungry; he did eat with his Disciples the space of fourty days after his resurrection, with∣out any more necessity of meat, than the Sun hath of the earths vapours: to make us thereby know, that it onely appertained to him, to teach that great secret how to mannage want and abundance, by which S. Paul was glorified.
2. The first victory over a Temptation, is, to know that which tempts us: Some temptations are gay and smiling at their beginning, as those of love and pleasure, which end in terrible and bitter storms: Others are troublesom and irksom: Others doubt∣full and intricate: Others rapide and sudden, which seize upon their prey like an Eagle: Others are close and catching. These are the snares of Satan, who fomes like a Bore, roars like a Lion, and hisseth like a Serpent. We should always have an eye rea∣dy, to mark from whence the Temptation comes, whither it tends, what is the root of it, what the course, what the progress, and what power it may have over our spirit.
3. Solitude of heart, fasting, prayer, the word of God, are weapons of an excellent temper, which the Word Incarnate teacheth us to use in this con∣flict. These things are to be used with discretion, by the counsel of a good directour, to whom a man must declare all his most secret thoughts, and bear a breast of chrystal toward him, with a firm purpose to let him see all the inward motions of his heart. It is also good to note here, that our Lord would expresly be tempted in that Desarr, which is between Jerusalem and Jericho, where the Samaritane (men∣tioned in the Parable) did pour wine and oyl into the sores of the poor wounded man; to teach us, that by his combat, he came to cure the wounds of A∣dam, and all his race, in the very place where they were received.
4. Sin is killed by flying the occasions of it. Ab∣sence, resistance, coldness, silence, labour, diversion, have overcome many assaults of the enemy. Some∣times a Spiders web is strong enough to preserve cha∣stity, and at other times the thick walls of Semiramis are not sufficient. God governs all, and a good will to concur with him, is a strong assurance in all perils, and it will keep us untoucht amidst the flames of lust.
5. Since it imports us so much to fight valiantly, let us bring the hearts of Lions. Where is our Chri∣stianity, if we do not give testimony of it to God, both by our fidelity and courage? How many Mar∣tyrs have been rosted and broiled, because they would not speak one ill word? What honour can you ex∣pect by yielding at the first enterance, to a temptati∣on? Look not upon the violence of it, but contemplate the Crown, which you should gain by conquering it; think at your enterance how you will come off, and know for certain, that he who truly considers the consequence of a wicked action, will never begin it.
6. Lent is the Spring-time for sanctified resolu∣tions, it mortifies the body, that the spirit may tri∣umph, it is a time of grace which tends to salvation and mercy. It imports extreamly to commend all to God at the beginning, to sanctifie this fasting, which is part of our devotion: we must abstain from flesh, and be content with one meal at seasonable hours, without making over large collations; except age, infirmity, or weakness, labour, or necessity of o∣ther functions, shall dispence with our diet: for those who are unable to fast suffer more by their disability, than others do by fasting. It is good to follow the counsel of Athanasius, who adviseth to eat late, and little, and at a table where there is but one sort of meat. We must also fast by abstinence from vice. For to weaken our body, and yet nourish our naughty passions, is to fast as the devils do, who eat nothing, and yet devour the world by the rage of their malice. Sobriety is a stream which waters all virtues. Our soul and body are as the scales of a ballance; if you pull down the one, you raise up the other; and if you tame your flesh, it makes the Spirit reign and govern.