§ 6. The condemnation of the evil Desires of the world, and the means how to divert them.
ANd yet thou (O disloyall soul) wilt in thy heart entertain a masse of Desires, thou wilt * 1.1 rather live among feavers and burning coals, then tie thy self to the will of God! Rebel, thou hast * 1.2 prostituted thy self on high and below, upon the mountains and under trees, under cedars and on the hysop; so many great and little Desires have pos∣sessed thy heart. Thou miserable man, to have af∣fection in store for a deceiving creature, who hath put the sword of division into thy marriage, to cut asunder a knot tied before the face of Angels and men! Thou unfortunate maid, unlucky victime, to fill all the sails of thy Desires for a man more light then the wind, and more faithlesse then ice; whose words are but promises, promises but per∣juries, perjuries but forsakings, and forsakings but diastres; and to have neither heart nor thought for God, a Father so benigne, a Saviour so affection∣ate, a Lover so loyall! Thou, to burn alive with black and shamefull flames of ravenous avarice; and to have no feeling for him, who hath the beauty of fields, the enamel of meadows, the extent of seas, the riches of metals, and all the magazines of the Universe in his bosome! Thou, to run at randome after transitory honour, which glisters like a worm in a piece of rotten wood, and which pricketh like a thorn; and not to hold sympathy with him who crowneth the heads of his Elect with eternall garlands! Thou, to live daily in fits of fire and ice for a slight toy, for a gorget, for a chopino, for a little dog, a parichito, for all that which I nei∣ther can nor dare to expresse! O what a shame is it, that all creatures serve for snares and prisons to hearts moistned with the bloud of Jesus; and they not to be softned by this venerable shower, able to break rocks asunder, and dissolve anvils!
You will ask me what you should do to be de∣livered from this tyranny? First, accustome your self to cut away all superfluities, whether of appa∣rel; * 1.3 diet, vain company, or other delights which fight against the law of God. Reduce your appetites to a small cost, and take more care how to end them, then to cherish them. Resolve with your self to lop off all your superfluities, and to be contented with little, holding it for a thing most assured, that by how much the lesse you shall depend on your greedy desires (which are most forward mistresses, to whom you have prostituted your Christian liberty) so much shall you be the more near to God.
Secondly, if you feel in your heart some seeds of desires to sprout and disquiet you; seasonably prevent them, one while diverting them by some laudable employment, another while by pulling them up with main strength in their first tendernesse, and never to * 1.4 let them get strength to your prejudice. It is much more easie to defend ones self in the beginning from a passion, then to moderate the violence of the exorbitancy when it is lodged in your heart.
Thirdly, follow Aristotle's counsel, and look * 1.5 on all the objects of pleasure, not such as they are, when they at first soothe Sensuality, but such as they be when they turn their backs to forsake us. Lastly, exercise your self continually in the desire of joyes eternall.
Behold all those things which environ you, all those honours, those riches, those pomps, as deceitfull and momentary things; Behold them as a flitting company; Each day undo a knot of your slavery; Put your self into the liberty of Gods Children; Place your self in such a nakednesse of spirit that you may say, One, and no more. Blind soul, how canst thou live one sole mo∣ment with so many desires, which are as so many daugh∣ters to marry? what a care must be had well to bestow them? what a fear to bestow them ill? what a grief that they are ill bestowed? Stupid soul, canst thou rest with so many bloud-suckers fastned to the marrow of thy bones, which draw thence all thy vitall humour, and make thee have a life which hath nothing lesse then life in it? Temerarious soul, who hast dared to think, that forsaking thy Creatour, thou elsewhere shouldst find a better match! Go, and see the obstacles which daily meet with those who hunt after honours, favours, and worldly wealth. Go, go, behold, and thou shalt see a thousand fishes swim in a pond after a rotten worm. How many battails must thou wage, how ma∣ny sweats of death must thou sweat, how many iron∣gates must thou break through, to content one onely of thy desires? O how often will the Heavens and the Elements conspire against thy affections, which thou so unworthily, so disastrously hast placed?
O what bloudy sorrows at thy death, when God shall draw aside the curtain of the city of peace, and shall shew thee an infinite number of souls in the bo∣some of Beatitude, for having well disposed their De∣sires; and on the other side, burning coals to expiate affections ill managed!
O what horrour, what terrour, and what despair, if the Angels come and say with a voyce of thunder, Foris * 1.6 Canes, and that we must wander up and down in affe∣ction with a hunger everlastingly enraged after a good we so many times have despised! O Jesus, the desire of Eternall mountains, draw to thee all my desires, since thou art the Adamant. Jesus, the love of all faithfull souls, take all my affections, since thou art the Centre of all hearts. Jesus, the Joy and Crown of all the Elect, stay my floating hopes: since thou art the haven of hearts, stretch out an assisting hand to so many er∣rours, and set me in a place where I may desire nothing: but let it be such a place, wherein I may love that which is infinitely amiable.