Self-Conflict, Frontispiece – To the reader
SELF-CONFLICT repreſented in a Diſpute between IOSEPH and POTIPHARS WIFE A DIVINE POEM
SELF-CONFLICT: OR, The powerful Motions between THE Fleſh & Spirit.
REPRESENTED In the Perſon and upon the occaſion OF JOSEPH, WHEN By POTIPHAR's Wife He was enticed to Adultery.
A DIVINE POEM, Written originally in Low-Dutch, by JACOB CATTS, ſometime Lord Penſioner of Holland; and from thence Tranſlated.
LONDON: Printed for Robert Sollers, at the Kings-Arms and Bible in St. Pauls Church-yard. 1680.
TO THE READER.
THou haſt here the fruits of ſome Lucubrations and vacant hours, which to me have paid the pains in Tranſlating; and I dare …ay they will thine in Reading, if thou …aſt not more Itching Ears after loftier …trains than without doubt I can ren…er, than Sanctified Deſires after whole…ome and profitable Matter rendered …nto thee. Indeed elſe it were a pity Gold ſhould be rejected, becauſe pre…nted unto thee in a Homely Veſſel; … Soveraign Counſel, becauſe not ſung to thee by a Cowley, or a Milton; the very footſteps of either of which, thou art not like here to find.
My hopes ſhall be, however, to meet with ſome few, who will not daſh their advantages in pieces, by carping a… me, who am herein no more than the Friendly Bearer; and to theſe I would intimate what remains to be ſaid of the Work itſelf, for their further ſatisfaction.
It's Subject then is a Chriſtians Warfare; or, to come up to its Title, His Conflict with himſelf. If thou art a Chriſtian indeed, thou art a Souldier, and muſt fight continually; not Senſually with Earthly Powers, but Spiritually with all the Powers of Darkneſs where thou wilt find the moſt puiſſan… and dangerous Enemy thou haſt to grapple with, thine own ſelf: and with theſe, as thou muſt fight continually▪ ſo over theſe all thou muſt be ſure to be victorious, or they will triumph over thee, which will be in thy inevitable Deſtruction. Skill therefore in this ſo myrious a Warfare, will be of greateſt importance to thee, which, ſaith my Author, doth conſiſt, In knowing thine own Weakneſs, the Strength of thine Adverſaries, and the Remedy againſt both. To whoſe following Diſcourſes then, for excellent Directions herein, it falls in now aptly for me onelyonly to refer thee.
And yet this induceth me to ſay thus much more before I leave thee here, that by reading thou mayſt perceive thy glozing Corruptions uſing, in the perſon of Joſephs Miſtriſs, the moſt cogent Expreſſions to charm thee into conſent to their Exuberous Deſires: And by proceeding immediately to thoſe Replies, carried on in the perſon of Joſeph, thou haſt the application of more Soveraign Antidotes to kill or enervate ſuch (elſe irreſiſtible) Charms, either in the birth or riper growth, within thee.
Yet here, leſt the tender Conſcience might check at the Libidinous and Prophane Language neceſſarily made uſe of by my Author; he clears that Scruple from the like practice in David, who uſeth Wicked Expreſſions, but in the Perſons of the Wicked; and in Solomon, who writes Lewdly, but in the Perſons of Lewd Women, &c. Where likewiſe, among others, he ſatisfies his honeſt-minded Reader with this redundant and ſignificant Similitude, That the Roſe receives advantage in it fragrancy, by being planted near Garlick.
The Stile is Verſe, that ſo no Advantage may be denyed the Fleſh in this her publick Tryal; or, as my Author would have it, that the Scope may with the more inevitable force penetrate the Heart, as the ſonorous harmony of a Trumpet doth, through the narrow paſſage of its body, the Ear; and then I may add, that the young Reader may through a happy kind of guile, be caught with pleaſure to his own Souls advantage.
The Variations, Amplifications, and Additions made uſe of in this Tranſlation, will I hope eaſily be excuſed, if not judged neceſſary; eſpecially where the difference between Tranſlating and Conſtruing, and the unconſtrained freedome of Verſe is conſidered.
And now having given thee what I hope may ſatisfie thee, as to the Work it ſelf; I would now onelyonly ſuperadde a brief Account of the Author, and of the particular ſucceſs of this excellent Piece of his, both at home and abroad: And this ſhall be all I ſhall at this time ſay of both.
As to the Author, Holland (whoſe Lord Penſioner he was) could not detain him long in that *It is remarkable, that among the latter Penſioners in Holland, the Heer Catts onelyonly dyed in Peace upon his Bed.Fatal Dignity, which he happily reſigned at a ſeaſonable time, for a Retired Life at his beloved Zorgfliet; where giving more ample liberty to his incomparable Mind, he lets it all flow to his Countrey-men in Caſtalian Numbers, untill at length, (he living to a good old age) they together compleated a very Large Volume; which he hath left filled with the profitableſt variety of delight, both Moral and Divine, that in that kind (there) had ever been extant.
And now as to the ſucceſs of this ſmall part of his Studies, (eſteemed by the moſt, one of the moſt worthy) it hath met with ſuch kind and general acceptation at Home, that there it hath been often Printed in all ſorts of Volumes; nor hath it found leſs abroad, where in Germany it was by different hands, almoſt at one and the ſame time, Tranſlated and Printed.
Herewithall I will now leave thee, and refer thee to the Work it ſelf, in the peruſal of which, I heartily wiſh thy benefit and delight.
Farewel.