thou wert never to be called to Account therefore O sinner thou wilt find at thy death that 't is more easie to tremble at thy Account than to give it 4. Thou hast spent all thy life in sin and wickedness without any remembrance of the Glory to come what Idea therefore can thy Memory have of that Glory when thou comest to dye If it be tedious and wearisome to thee to confess a few daily sins how dost thou think thou shalt find Diligence and Patience enough when thou comest to dye to confess that infinite number thou hast committed from the time of thy birth Thou canst not or wilt not now in thy health lift a hundred weight and dost thou think thou shalt be able in thy sickness to lift a hundred thousand Dost thou reserve that weight to be laid upon thee in thy weakness which thou darest not venture to lift at in thy full strength What profit or advantage can thy Death bring thee when all thy care and trouble will be imployed about the losing of thy Life Thy Heart being glued to the Wealth and to the World which thou must leave How wilt thou be able to loosen it from thence and to join it to what thou hast never cared for The Chains of thy Passions tye thee fast to this transitory World How wilt thou be able to break them in an instant and to give thy self to that which is eternal 5. It cost me Tears and Groans Prayers and loud Cries to raise up Lazarus to Life again who had been dead but four days of a natural Death What will it cost to raise up thee from the spiritual Death in which thou hast lain dead perhaps these forty Years I raised up Lazarus without his doing any thing to help towards his own Resurrection but I will not revive thee unless thou dost something on thy part and how wilt thou be able O wretched Man to perform that under a double Death thy Soul in that of Sin and thy Body so near to that of Corruption Thy Spirit being conquered and having yielded it self a Slave to thine Appetite which has domineer'd powerfully all thy Life and forc't thy Soul to the Drudgery of Sin Dost thou believe that in breathing out thy last Gasp thou shalt be able to recover its liberty No thou wilt find that though it be freed from thy Body for a time it is going to suffer a much greater slavery in Hell and to be tormented by the Devil in Chains of Darkness till the Day of Judgment when thy Body indeed shall rise from the Grave as did that of Lazarus to be joined again with thy Soul yet not as his to Life but to die eternally and to be for ever banished from my sight 6. Thou hast used thy self all thy Life to follow thine own will and never to deny thy self in any thing and doest thou think thou shalt have power to do that in the end of it which has always been so contrary to thy Inclinations Or if thou hast endeavour'd to get Victories over thy self and hast fought without success that spiritual Combate is it probable thou shalt overcome thy self better in thy utmost weakness and when thou liest gasping for Breath If thou couldst not conquer that Enemy when thou hadst all thy strength if with the force of Reason quicken'd by frequent Admonitions called upon by many Exhortations and excited by several good Examples thou could'st not subdue thy sensual Appetite in so many Years how wilt thou conquer it when thy Reason and Understanding shall have forsaken thee and when the Ear of thy Body shall be as deaf to all other Motives as that of thy Soul has been till then Thinkest thou when thou liest fainting in thy Death-bed without strength to move a Hand rattling in the Throat and gasping for Breath to overcome that Enemy that potent Enemy insulting over thee in the Pride of so many repeated Victories That Enemy which the Apostles themselves and their Successors with so many other excellent Saints fought against all their Lives wilt thou conquer with the dregs of thine being without Memory without Understanding and even without Sense in that great disorder and confusion which Death uses to bring especially to those who have always suffer'd their Appetite to triumph over them 7. How long O Sinner wilt thou go on in this foolish Presumption I do not bid thee despair when thou diest but I bid thee work out thy Salvation with fear and trembling while thou livest I deny not but that I saved the good Thief He believed on me when my Disciples forsook me and fled and prayed to me even when I was nailed to the Cross to such an extraordinary Faith I shew'd an extraordinary Favour and though I promised he should be with me that day in Paradice thou mayest remember I suffered him that was crucified with me on the other hand to be condemned If he who died so near my side and looking upon that Blood which I shed for him was damned Wilt thou delay still and hope to escape at that last Hour I do not forbid thee to hope when thou comest to die but I bid thee to do good works in the mean while and serve me during thy Life without deferring it till Death for if thou despisest the warning I give thee now the time will come when thou shalt call and I will not hear and when thou shalt cry Lord Lord I will answer I know thee not thou worker of Iniquity Depart from me into everlasting Fire prepared for the Devil and his Angels The Fourth WEEK The Answer of a repenting Sinner and that we ought to prepare our selves for Death 1. AH let us all quake and tremble what shall we answer to these terrible Words of the Lord What shall we answer to these Arguments which are rather evident Conclusions What shall we answer to that eternal Wisdom to that eternal Light and Truth whose Sayings are undeniable and whose Accusings are clear Convictions Here is nothing to be done but to acknowledge our guilt to humble our selves and amend our Lives Here is nothing to be done but with Repentance Humility and Contrition to weep and sigh and earnestly beg for Mercy 2. Here is nothing to be done but with a most intimate Desire and Sorrow of the Soul to say Lord I have sinned against thee all my Life and I will bewail my offences during my Life that I may likewise bewail them at my Death If I be not willing to lament them now perhaps then I shall neither be willing nor able I sinned in the best of my time and so made it the worst and I desire to forsake my Sins in the best that remains before the last comes which is the worst indeed I desire O God to imploy the remainder of my days in thy Service since thou yet affordest me time to bewail that time which I so sinfully have lost I desire to lament my Sins with all
my Senses Powers and Faculties since I have abused them all in offending against thee my God nor will I defer my Tears till my Death since I did not defer my Sins till my Death 3. I desire O Lord that I may not be to seek for Oil in my Lamp when the Bridegroom calls but to have it ready prepar'd and lighted against his coming To get Oil after death is impossible grant that I may buy it and furnish my self before I fall asleep Life without thy Grace is not only Sleep but Death grant therefore O Lord that I may prepare for Death during Life by living well Grant O Lord my God that the Bridegroom at his coming may find me watching grant O Lord that when the Thief shall come to break into this House of my Body and rob me of my Soul I may not be found asleep in any customary Sin but awake upon my Guard and with my Lamp ready lighted and let me never hear from thee the Light eternal that terrible saying I know thee not 4. Grant that at thy second coming thou mayest find me with my Loins girt and my Light burning and able to give such an account of the Talents which thou hast given me that the Benefits of thy former coming may by thy Mercy be made effectual to my Soul What shall become of me O my God if I loose thee If once I loose thee O Light eternal when shall I be able ever to recover thee Deliver my Soul from the roaring Lion free my darling from the Power of the infernal Dragon if once I loose my self and thee Is it possible I should ever find thee again my Saviour Is there any passage from Hell to Glory Is there any Redemption in that place of Torment where all Mercies are utterly cut off Shall I expose my Soul to that hazard to that danger and to that loss at my Death for not repenting while I live Shall I trust that which is most precious and most important to the most unfit and the most uncertain time Shall I put off the loosing or enjoying thee eternally O my Jesus to a Conjuncture so full of anguish and confusion as scarce affords a possibility of knowing thee No Lord suffer me not I beseech thee to fall into so miserable a Condition rather let me die now instantly at this present moment in thy Grace than so foolishly to adventure the loss of both thy Grace and Glory 5. This is the Answer we should make to God these are the Thoughts we ought to feel these are the Requests we ought to make before the Agony of Death for then the Pains of the Body the Anguish of the Soul the Grief for leaving the Pleasures of this World and the Fear of going into the Torments of the next the Distraction of thy Thoughts and the Decay of thy Understanding will neither suffer thee to attend thy Prayers nor allow thee time to consider what to pray for O how ignorant how mad a Folly it is to delay our amendment till the Hour of Death What a mistake it is to believe that our dammage does not increase with that deceit and our deceit with that dammage What an Error to think I shall be better when I see and feel my self daily growing worse And that the end of my Life shall be good when the whole course of it from the beginning has been evil What a Cheat the Devil puts upon a Man to perswade him that when his Soul is torn out of his Body he shall be able to imploy himself in any thing else than to feel that strong Division between the Body and the Soul 6. This puts an end to the Sinner's Life this puts an end to his Delights this puts an end to his Acquaintance His Friends his Riches his Honour his Power all these must be left this is the thing that disquiets and afflicts him thither his Mind runs then where he had placed his contentment thither his sorrow his torture and confusion where he had rivetted his Heart His thought his care and his attention being taken up with what he loses and which is worse with what he fears he is in too great a Distraction to discourse of that which he should and which imports him most 7. And therefore if thou wilt live eternally die before thou diest Think of that now which thou meanest to think of hereafter Let not Death go out of thy Memory and so thou shalt amend thy Life Live and do all things as a Person that must die and thou shalt die to live for ever Thy Death shall be but a Passage not a Death and a passage to eternal Life not a dying to eternal Death MARCH The First WEEK Of the particular Account that each Man is to give immediately after his Death 1. NOW give ear and I will tell another thing more dreadful and terrible more quick and speedy and of more hazard and danger Anger than Death it self And that is the account thou art instantly to give with the Judgment and Sentence that shall be passed upon thee in particular at the Moment of thy Death What so soon Yes so soon scarce dead when already judged and Sentence past either to absolve or to condemn thee The Body is not yet quite cold upon its Bed And is the Soul judged already They are yet holding a Looking-glass to my Mouth to try whether I have any Breath left in me and is my Cause already dispatched concluded and sentenced The Body is not yet put into a Winding-sheet and is the Soul already judged and which is more the Sentence executed upon it Shall there not be a little delay Will they not allow me a little space to think how I may satisfie by some excuse the Charge that is brought against me Will they pluck me away and precipitate me so suddenly without having any thing to lay hold on when I am driven out of the Body without any thing to lay hold on when I am snatched to Judgment without any thing to lay hold on when I am hurried to execution without finding one moment of delay ere I receive the Sentence Is it possible that there is no place of refuge No retreat where I may stop a little though it were but at the foot of that very Judgment-seat where I am to be sentenced or at the Threshold of that Dungeon where I am to he imprisoned May not the Execution be suspended for a little while Is there no Chappel as I pass where a condemned Person may linger a while and pray between the Judgment-seat and the dismal place of Torment Is it possible that there is no other way either on the Right-hand or on the Left from Death to this account to this Judgment and to this Sentence whereby I may escape and hide my self Can I not turn back again Is it absolutely necessary I must be thrown headlong Must I needs swallow that bitter draught and be forc't to make that
Heavenly Paradice but Lucifer who from a glorious Angel was become a Devil having been thrown out of Heaven for aspiring to be equal to God envied that Man should enjoy the Happiness which he had lost and knowing by woful Experience that Heaven could not contain a proud Person he thought himself sure to prevent Man's being admitted there if he could but make him guilty of the same Sin Pride Hereupon he subtilly first began to tempt the weaker Vessel Eve by shewing her the beautiful Fruit of the forbidden Tree telling her that by tasting it she might become like unto God himself and when by his perswasion he had deceived the Woman he made use of her as he still does to deceive the Man Thus Sin like a cunning Thief crept in at the Window of his Eye which he unwarily had set open to behold the Beauty of that Fruit and soon opened also the Doors of his Ears to admit the Enticement of his Wife conspiring with his treacherous Appetite to let in Death at the Gate of his Mouth by his disobedience in eating the Apple which was presented to him by her Then that blessed Union was broken and a Separation made not only between his Body and his Soul by a temporal Death the Sentence whereof instantly pass'd upon him though the Execution was deferr'd but also between his Soul and his God by an eternal Death to which he also became thereby liable and as a Fore-runner of both he and his Wife were driven out of Paradice from the Presence of their gracious Creator Now as the Departure of the Soul from the Body is Death so the Departure of God from the Soul can be no less than Hell for as in his presence there is fulness of Joy so in his absence there must be extremity of Sorrow and as at his Right-hand there be Pleasures for evermore so on his Left there must needs be everlasting Pains and what can the feeling of them be but Hell To this miserable Condition Sin brought our first Parents and from them all we their wretched Posterity became tainted with an original Corruption the Seeds whereof growing up into innumerable actual Transgressions afford no other Fruit but Death in this World and eternal Damnation in that which is to come but God being infinitely merciful would not abandon them to perish for ever in this sad Estate but out of the Bowels of his tender Compassion did with incomprehensible Wisdom find out a way for the Satisfaction of his own Justice and for the Salvation of Mankind It had been utterly impossible for all of them together to have done any thing in the least degree towards the Salvation of so much as one Man for it cost more to redeem a Soul so that they must have let that alone for ever But God contriv'd it by an Union much more admirable than that already mentioned and that was between the Divine and Humane Natures And Adam had no sooner broken the first Covenant of unsinning Obedience which God made with him in Paradice but he graciously made a Second with him and his Posterity in the second Adam the promised Messiah This he afterwards perform'd by sending his only begotten Son Jesus Christ equal to his Father as touching his Godhead into the World for the Redemption of Mankind who being conceiv'd by the Holy Ghost in the chast Womb of the Blessed Virgin Mary became also perfect Man of a reasonable Soul and humane Flesh subsisting to the end that as Man he might be capable to suffer and as God to satifie for the sins of the whole World This was a Benefit so high and so transcendent that neither the Understanding of Man no nor that of Angels is able to comprehend it Here all consideration is confounded and humbles itself with astonishment to see that the Son of God to the end that he might cloath thee with his Grace cloathed himself with our Nature which is a poor torn wretched Garment full of beggery and misery and yet that Soveraign Eternal and Divine Majesty put it on for our sake and though this was exceeding much yet he did a great deal more for us since besides this Humanity which Christ the Divine Word took upon him he underwent so many Sufferings for Mankind and wove this seamless Coat of Grace which he gives us in Baptism with such unmeasurable griefs and torments as never have been suffer'd in all the World but by himself nor ever shall be Nay he did yet more for he not only wove this Coat of Grace with these unspeakable pains but even with his holy death and would end his Life in that very employment of weaving and finishing it to the end he might give that seamless Robe its utmost Beauty and Perfection Here all our thoughts ought to be Silence Amazement Terror Reverence and Admiration with Tears of Love and Contrition That the Eternal Son of God to cloath me with his Grace should cloath himself with my humble Nature and presently load himself with the burden of my sins and then take upon him their Punishment upon the Cross and die upon it for them That the cleansing of me should make him be defil'd with the spittings of blasphemous mouths That the giving me the Life of Grace should make him die the Death of Nature and that in such cruel Torments That for the washing of my Soul he should shed all his Precious Blood And that he should devest himself of all Humane Comfort only to give me Comfort Remedy and even Heaven itself This is a business more proper for our Love than our Meditation more to make us active in his Service than contemplative in our Thoughts and to be expressed more by our Wonder than our Words Yet it is good to meditate upon it that we may love him to consider it that we may serve him and to speak of it that by finding we cannot speak enough we may admire and adore him A Man that does me a kindness has my Thanks and if by his pains and danger he draw me out of any Trouble I shew my Gratitude by acknowledging it There be Laws that order Recompences for a Subject that saves the Life of his King in War or in Peace appointing him to be rewarded with Wealth and crowned with Ensigns of Honour Mordecai only for giving Notice to Ahasuerus that some of his Treacherous Servants meant to kill him was by the Command of that Heathen King cloathed with his own Royal Robe and his most beloved Favourite was made to lead the Horse upon which that Loyal Subject rode about the Streets of the City This was an high Honour easily attain'd so notable a demonstration of Favour so Royal and Majestick a Recompence but for a bare Advertisment Consider now if so much were due to a Vassal who by the discovery of a Traytor had sav'd the Life of a King what shall a Vassal owe to his King who not only hath sav'd him from Death but
which is more hath given him Eternal Life freeing him from everlasting Damnation and not at so cheap a rate as words but by sweating Blood suffering Torments and giving up himself to Death even the death of the Cross Can this Benefit this Love this excess of Kindness find any in the World that can be compar'd to it And if we should be ungrateful for it or forgetful of it which in some sort is worse than to be ungrateful could there possibly be a greater wickedness O Lord suffer not me I beseech thee to be guilty of so great an Error of so great a Folly and of so great a Wickedness for such a strange want of Love and such an abominable Ingratitude cannot be thought of by any good Person without horror JVNE The First WEEK Of Baptism and Confirmation COnsider now what God hath done for thee in particular towards making thee a partaker of this high Benefit of Redemption for though Christ by his death paid a sufficient Price for the Souls of all Mankind yet thou no more than many others couldst have had no share in it hadst thou not been made a Member of his Body and how high soever the Benefit of Creation be it had been much better for thee never to have been born than not to have been made a Christian But what couldst thou a poor helpless Infant do towards the attaining so great a Benefit when thou didst not so much as know thy want of it Yet the Mercy of thy most Gracious God prevented thy desires and in his eternal purpose he determined thee to be one of that happy number that should be born of Christian Parents in that part of the World where the Gospel is most purely profess'd and where thou wert early consecrated to him in Baptism Thou wert brought to that Laver of Regeneration where the stains of thy Original Corruption were washed away in the Blood of Christ represented by the outward and visible sign of Water wherewith thou wert sprinkled to signifie thy death unto Sin and thy new birth unto Righteousness Thou wert baptized in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost according to thy Saviour's Appointment By the Gate of that Holy Sacrament thou wert admitted into the Church and made a Member of Christ a Child of God and an Heir of the Kingdom of Heaven being by Nature born in sin thou wert thereby made a Child of Grace Thus the second Covenant made with Mankind in Christ Jesus was sealed between God and thee which cannot fail on his part to be faithfully performed if thou be but careful on thine to do the best thou canst and to serve him with sincere if not with perfect Obedience Men use to envy those that are born of Noble Parents whose Care Power and Greatness may support and succour the naked weak and innocent Infants but O! what a Noble Birth is that of Faith What rich Mantles and Swadling-cloaths are the Coelestial Vertues That this little Creature shall no sooner be born but that at the same instant he comes into the care not of a weak frail Mother who lies unable to help her self by reason of the Pangs and Throws she suffer'd for the bringing of a Child into the World but of an Holy Perfect and Spiritual Mother which is the Catholick Church that cloaths him with the Robe of Grace an admirable Pledge of a safe and an eternal Inheritance in Glory That the Child should scarcely be born when already the Son of God as an invisible Minister doth by the visible hand of his Minister baptize and at the same time wash away sin from that Soul and fill it with Graces Gifts and Vertues This is an Honour which is indeed deservedly to be valued and a Benefit which can never be sufficiently admir'd From the time that the Water of Baptism washed off the filthy rags of Adam and cloathed thee with Grace in the Blood of the Lamb sin which had wounded thee before became wounded it self and whereas before it gave death from that time it suffered death In Natural Sicknesses the Remedies seldome reach to the Diseases and the Body when it is recovered hardly gets so great strength as what it lost by Sickness but in the Spiritual Sickness and in the Hurts and Diseases of the Soul it uses to be much otherwise for the wounded party recovers more strength and vigour when he is gotten up again than what he lost by falling into them The Devil ruined us but God is more powerful in good than he is in evil Sin destroy'd us and Grace renew'd us but Grace is more effectual to renew us than Sin to destroy us Our weak and ruined Nature was indebted Ten Thousand Talents but the Eternal Son of God hath satisfied the Debt not with Ten Thousand nor with an Hundred Thousand but with his Blood a Price of inestimable value Dost thou think that any thing can be more powerful than God Hath he not received thee into his Church by Baptism And hath not he on his part promised to protect to free and to assist thee Hast thou not passed through those Waters flying from the Enemy that pursued thee Did not that Red Sea of thy Saviour's blood open to give thee passage And did it not shut again to drown the Egyptian I mean Original Sin Then what hast thou to be afraid of Sing the Victory with Miriam and the Daughters of Israel which the Son of a better and a more glorious Myriam hath obtained for thee Is not God thy succour and thy hope Whom hast thou to fear Is not he thy defence and thy protection What dost thou dread When a man is once cloathed with the Grace of God in Baptism all his Enemies are but few By the Infusions of Grace thou oughtest to count Sin and Nature to be already conquer'd What signifies the Signing thee with the Sign of the Cross in thy Forehead but the marking thee out for a Souldier of Jesus Christ Be not therefore asham'd to confess the Faith of Christ crucified Thou art not only his Souldier but art furnished with Arms of his Magazine The Old Man is put away and thou art cloathed with the New and that New Man is Jesus Christ who enters into thy Soul to cloath it with himself and with his Graces for he enters to arm to defend to favour to protect and to assist thee The Field in which thou fightest is thine own for he strengthens and encourages thee in all encounters Thou fightest in the Militant Church whereof thou art a Member against which that Enemy with whom thou fightest can never prevail Great part of the Victory consists in the Advantage of Ground but all is favourable to thee from the time thou art entred into the Church That Entry by Baptism was the first Victory for the entrance it self was a Victory and that Victory a Triumph From that day Hell trembles at thee only because thou art a
different proceeding of God and the World is highly observable Every man sets forth good Wine at first and then the worst but God not only turns the Water into Wine but into such Wine that still the last draught is most pleasant The World presents us with fair Language promising Hopes convenient Fortunes pompous Honours and these are the outsides of the Bole but when it is swallowed these dissolve in the instant and there remains nothing but bitterness and corruption Every sin smiles in the first Address but when we have well drunk then comes that which is worse Fears and Terrors of Conscience and Shame and Displeasure and diffidence in the day of Death But when after the manner of the purifying of the Christians we fill our Water-pots with Water watering our Couch with our Tears and moistening our Cheeks with the perpetual distillations of Repentance then Christ turns our Water into Wine first Penitents and then Communicants first Waters of Sorrow and then the Wine of the Chalice first the Justifications of Correction and then the Sanctifications of the Sacrament and the Effects of the Divine Power Joy and Peace and Serenity hopes full of Confidence and Confidence without Shame and Boldness without Presumption for Jesus keeps the best Wine till the last not only because of the reservations of the highest Joys till the nearer approaches of Glory but also because our relishes are higher after a long enjoyment than at the first Essays such being the Nature of Grace that it encreases in Relish as it does in Enjoyment every part of Grace being a new Duty and new Reward Next let us contemplate those most apparent and indubitable effects of a Power truly Divine and All-sufficient that our Saviour wrought in raising the Dead and recalling Life and Breath into them which is a Work that baffles all the Powers of Nature and is too difficult to be compassed by a limited Vertue See how he comforts Jairus one of the Rulers of the Synagogue when certain Messengers came and declared to him the departure of his Daughter whom having left at home at the point of Death he came to Jesus to beg a Cure for her and desired him to trouble the Master no further Be not afraid says he only believe As if he had said Trouble not thy self at this doleful Message neither be grieved for thy Daughter for I am as able to restore her to Life now she is Dead as I was to heal her when she was Sick had I had a timely notice of her illness Only have Faith in me and believe that I am able to accomplish this great Action and it shall presently be accomplished And according as he believed so was the event for entring in where the Damsel was lying he took her by the Hand and said unto her Talitha cumi that is Damsel arise and immediately she arose and walked to the great Astonishment and Joy of those that were mourning and weeping for her Decease In like manner our Lord beholding another Object of Pity namely the Widow of Nain bewailing and lamenting the Death of her only Son who was now carrying to be Buried had compassion on her and bad her forbear weeping for that her Son should be restored to her again and by the Voice of his Mouth which commands the whole Creation and awakens the Dead recover Sense and Motion which was soon effected for he did but call Young man I say unto thee arise and forthwith he that was dead sate up and began to speak whereupon there came a fear on all And being struck with amazement at the sight of so marvellous an Action they glorified God saying A great Prophet is risen up among us and God hath visited his People At another time he exercised this Supernatural and Divine Vertue in raising up his beloved Friend Lazarus from the Grave who had been buried four Days and had seen Corruption His Sisters Martha and Mary in his Sickness sent to Jesus saying Behold he whom thou lovest is sick Jesus permitted him to taste of Death that the Glory of God might be manifested in his return to Life He determined to get him Glory by his Resurrection and therefore when he knew of his Death he said to his Disciples Our friend Lazarus sleepeth but I go that I may awake him out of sleep As he went he was met by Martha who received him with this mournful Lamentation Lord if thou hadst been here my brother had not died the same words wherewith Mary received him afterwards when she came to him but however taking comfort by Faith I know said she That even now whatsoever thou wilt ask of God God will give it thee Jesus answered her Thy brother shall rise again and that not only at the last day as she understood him but instantly Wherefore he demanded where they had laid him and coming to the place he bad them take away the stone from the cave which being done He cried with a loud voice Lazarus come forth at the sound of which words the slumbring Carcass was awakened all its parts revived and his Soul re-united to his Body So readily do all Creatures obey when God commands These Instances our Lord designed as Types of our rising again at the final Consummation of the World to an immortal State When our corruptible shall put on incorruption and our mortal immortality As they were raised again to a Temporal Being so shall we to an Eternal in Joy or Misery How greatly then does it import us so to frame our lives in this World that we may be counted worthy to rise again to eternal Life and not to Eternal Death Can we truly and heartily believe that our Souls and Bodies shall be re-united at the last Day and be called before Christs Tribunal to be judged and sentenced according to their Deeds here and yet live in a careless security without ever regarding to set right our Accounts before we appear at that Judgment-seat Can any thing be more absurd than to entertain this Faith and yet to live as if we utterly disown'd it If we were really perswaded and convinced of this grand Truth and Article of Christianity and would often meditate upon it we should not fail to guard ourselves against the assaults of Sin and enchantments of Pleasure to live Soberly Righteously and Godly and to apply our whole Endeavours to prepare our Souls and Bodies for a glorious and â—appy Re-union Finally to name no more of our Lord's Miracles let us come to that Sign which was given to the Jews and Pharisees to cure if possible their obstinate Incredulity that greatest of Miracles which could have no suspicion of Imposture no Instance or Precedent or Imitation and that is Jesus his own lying in the Grave three Days and three Nights and then his raising up himself again and appearing unto many and conversing for forty Days together giving probation of his rising and of the verity of his Body and making a
nor ask Pardon what can we hope for from a Just and an Almighty Lord being offended and provoked Let us cast away and forsake our Evil and then be certain that in God we shall find nothing but Goodness and Pity Let us throw down our Arms and cast away those Weapons wherewith we have fought against him let us fall prostrate at his Feet and not be so foolish as to fight against an Omnipotent God and if we cease to sin against him Repenting and bewailing our former evil ways God who is strict severe and rigorous to the Wicked will be found gracious sweet and merciful to the Penitent It cannot be certainly known in this Life what will become of a Soul in the other but we may well conjecture and I would have thee govern thy Life by that which may probably be conjectured and not weary and distract thy self in seeking after certain Proofs of that which cannot possibly be known If I see a Man that fears God that loves and serves him that frequents the Sacrament that is constant in Prayer that often recollects himself to think of Eternity that is kind to the Poor and forward to relieve them that hears the Word of God with Humility and Delight and who if through frailty he falls sometimes presently seeks to God for Pardon with Penitent Tears humbling himself confessing his sins and flying from the occasions of them I dare be bold to conjecture and to hope nay to be well assured in the Divine Goodness that the Soul of that Man will not fail to be saved But if on the other side I see one forgetful of Eternity regardless of Heavenly things much given to the Pleasures and Honours and Riches of this World full of Vices and Passions without any remembrance of Death or Judgment Heaven or Hell making it his only business to delight and to entertain himself to eat and drink with Curiosity and Excess and that does no right to others nor will suffer any the least wrong done to himself I cannot but fear upon these grounds that he will not escape Damnation and I neither hold that to be Presumption nor this rash Judgment for that is an Holy Hope which we ought to have in the Divine Goodness and Mercy and this a Pious Doubt and Fear which is due to the Divine Justice This manner of Conjecture is taught us by the Holy Scripture and therefore it cannot be an evil thing for I see that Lazarus a poor humble Beggar that bore his Miseries with Patience was sav'd and I see the rich hard-hearted Glutton who fared deliciously and wallowed in his Vices was condemned Now how should I frame my Conjecture but by the Experience of what I have seen I see Judas despairing of God's Mercy after his Fall was condemned and St. Peter after his by weeping and repenting was saved and must I not needs gather from thence that he who distrusts God's Mercy will be condemned and he that begs it and trusts in it will be sav'd I see Saul who made no reckoning of his sins was condemned and I see David who lamented and forsook his was saved Must I not needs collect from hence that he who regards not and is not concerned for an evil Life will most probably have an evil Death and that he will have a good one who turns from his evil ways and amends them during his Life I see Covetous Cain condemned because he was Covetous and repented not himself of his Covetousness and I see Liberal Abel saved because he frankly offered to God of the Fruits of his Flock From hence I must necessarily think that he who denies or grudges to bestow part of those Goods in the Service of God which he received from him is going in the broad Path of Destruction but he that gives chearfully and bountifully to the Poor and by returning that part acknowledges that he has received all from a more Liberal Hand is going in the right and certain way to Heaven where he shall receive an hundred fold and be eternally Crowned In short I see nothing else in the Scripture but Examples of the good that are saved and of the wicked that are damned and that the Gift of final Perseverance is given by God to those at their Death who by their constant Prayers and Good Works have made it their endeavour to obtain it during the course of their Life That Prodigy of the World the good Thief who escap'd from Shipwrack at his Death upon the Plank of the Cross was an instance of the extraordinary Power of Grace and one of those strange Wonders that concurred at the Crucifying of our Saviour It was like the tremblings of the Earth and the cleavings of the Rocks like the tearing of the Vail of the Temple and the Dead breaking out of their Sepulchres to return to life like the darkning of the Sun and the disturbance of the whole Frame of Nature Amongst these and other Prodigies that great Wonder may justly be reckoned that he should die a Saint who had been a Thief during the whole course of his Life till that moment And observe that though there were many Graves that opened and many that arose from the Dead many Rocks that were cleft many Lights that were darkened and many Signs that manifested the Power and Efficacy of the Death of Christ there was but one of a Conversion at the last gasp And though the Lord Jesus had another Thief as near him to whom he might have shewed the same Mercy yet he suffered him to die in his Impenitency and to go to the Devil The very words which Jesus spake when he saved the good Thief do contain a warning that no Man may venture to delay his Repentance till his Death for he said Verily Verily I say unto thee this day shalt thou be with me in Paradise All which words seem to be full of Limitations Verily Verily I say unto thee is as it were a kind of Oath for a thing so admirable as the saving of a Man at his Death who had all his Life-time been a Thief and a wicked Person seemed to stand in need of an Oath for to make it be believed I say unto thee is added as who should say Do not believe others if they should say it is easie for those to be sav'd who delay their Repentance till their Death No that is no easie matter but I will now at this time make that easie for thee which else doth seem impossible as if he had limited that Grace then unto that Soul because it departed from his Body in the sight of his dying Saviour I say unto thee now for as for others I shall see hereafter how I shall deal with them This day that is this day of so great Mercy this day a day of so many Prodigies this day when I desire to shew how far my Grace and Mercy can extend for other days I shall refer them to my Justice and to
midst of Light and now unless he get assistance of the light of Grace by Prayer what will become of him And how shall he keep himself standing in the midst of so much darkness and so many confusions as he has been subject to ever since he was banished thence 3. What is our Nature but a Vessel of Passions and Miseries a seed-plot of Sins and of Misfortunes Consider Man in his Generation and thou shalt find him to be nothing but Corruption Behold him in the darkness of his Mother's womb and thou shalt find him a little lump of living filth Behold him taken Captive before ever he was at liberty and a Prisoner before he hath committed any Crime His Body scarcely formed and yet already shut up in a most obscure Dungeon Thus was he acquainted with darkness before he saw any light and came headlong crying into the World as an Omen of his precipitate Passions and future Miseries Yet alas that Captivity which his Body suffers in his Mother's Womb is less to be lamented than the other which his Soul suffers in his Body 4. Behold that is a Captive not only to corruption and filth as the Body for that were tolerable but also to the loathsomness of sin created to an Original Servitude and condemned to Troubles without number or measure To begin to be and to begin to be in Servitude is in Man one and the same thing We are all born Slaves of the common Enemy what have we then to be proud of Only one Man exempted himself from this hard Servitude for he was God All the rest fell all the rest are Tributaries without remedy 5. Man is born to suffer and to weep he forces out his way by the strait passages of Afflictions Pangs and Throws causing them to his Mother and sometimes even her very Death What kind of Creature is this that cannot come to life without hazarding to give or to receive death And who at the same time begins to live and to lament being accustom'd to Tears before he comes acquainted with Laughter But it is no wonder he should weep at his Mother's feet for being born seeing the miseries that expect him in the World The Body hath cause enough to bewail its innumerable pains and the Soul its innumerable sins Finally Man is born the most feeble and helpless of all Creatures being destitute of every thing and needing the succour of every body He is kept alive by the Alms Care and Compassion of his Parents being utterly unable to help himself and utterly useless to all others 6. In this sad condition God's mercy steps in and makes him His by the Water of Baptism He takes from him the â—…gs of the Old Adam and cloaths him with the Robe of Grace making him the Adopted Son of God by the blood of the Eternal Son of God O! happy he if his Fortune ended here and if in this Holiness and Innocency of Childhood he might pass from Grace to Glory But no alas he is not so happy for he grows up either to a greater Reward or to harder Sufferings The light of Reason no sooner begins to glimmer in him but presently his Appetite rushes forth to oppose it and that being commonly strong and powerful drags the other after it because it is weaken'd by the first fall unless it be assisted by God's Grace His Affections take birth with his Understanding and with them his Passions gather strength these grow and daily darken his Reason he lives a painful and vexatious life in a continual conflict sometimes falling sometimes getting up again and very often totally overcome and willingly yielding up the Victory His Life whilst an Infant is meer impotence whilst a Child ignorance whilst a Youth danger whilst a Man care when Old weakness pain and sorrow and his passage through all these Ages is frailty sin and folly In short he lives such a life that Death uses sometimes to be his Wish often his Refuge and always the great Remedy of his Miseries This is the external Man therefore do thou use thy endeavours to become an internal Man Conquer Nature by the help of Grace thy Appetite by that of Reason the Delights of the Flesh by Mortification the Deceits of the World by Prayer and even Death it self by a Religious Life The Second WEEK Of the Frailty of Man and of the Miseries of his Body THis is the Nature of Man in general Look now in particular upon the Body that gross and visible part of our frailty Job saith not that man's Body hath some miseries and troubles but that he is of few days and full of troubles Would'st thou see it They are so many that they commonly break forth because they cannot be contained within him and ever and anon that which afflicts him inwardly discovers it self outwardly in boyls and blisters in swellings and discolourings of the skin The Year hath fewer days than there be ways of dying suddenly and can any body live in so stupid a Lethargy as not so much as to dream of an Eternal Life The Year and even our Life hath fewer hours than there be Mortal Diseases in the Body as Naturalists affirm and can any one live forgetful of his Soul We may wonder how life can continue in the Body having so many Gates and Windows to get out at How is it possible that the four Humours which are Enemies to one another should agree and last together in so strait so narrow and so obscure a place as is man's Body Yet they do not agree but with a most obstinate strife and contest they do disorder and discompose our life What is the Body but a false and seeming Friend to the Soul yet in truth its certain and deadly Enemy What is the Body but a Vessel of Poyson which to day is not perceived yet kills to morrow What is the Body but a heap of loathsomness and corruption What is it but a living deceit which yet continually undeceives us if we would be undeceived and a security in appearance but a constant infelicity Whilst it is in Health it cheats us and never speaks truth but in Sickness so long as it lives it is a lye and never tells truth till it be dead 2. Our life is nothing but death in a disguise and when it has made an end of acting its part the Mask is pull'd off The most beautiful Body carries that within it which were sufficient to make it eternally fly from it self if it were possible so to do It is full of filth and corruption so loathsome and so nauseous that it is a scandal but to name them It is a source of Uncleanness and the wretched dwelling of Impurities which are so numerous that it was necessary to make many Common Sewers for them to run out at because there was not room enough for them within The Body is so frail that every thing hath a powerful Jurisdiction over it a little dust choaks it a little
it Is there no remedy against this Evil nor defence against this Danger 2. The Evil is not in being judged but in going unprepar'd to Judgment This imminent danger hath an easy plain and safe remedy by the Grace of God And that is for a Man to judge himself often times before God judge him once for all Wouldst thou not be afraid of the Judgment nor of that dreadful Sentence Judge thy self before hand examine thy self before thou comest to be examin'd call thy self frequently to a strict account humble thy self amend thy Life and at the sight of thy Sins pray and weep and thou shalt go willingly to Judgment and come off safe with thy account Serve thy Judge love thy Judge and obey him in all things before he come to judge thee and thou shalt go contentedly to his Judgment and find thy Judge to be thy Friend 3. Consider that many Saints have desir'd that their Life might be shorten'd that their Death might be hasten'd and that they might come to Judgment thereby to enjoy God They desir'd to be dissolved and to leave this mortal Tabernacle They desir'd this knot of Life might be untied and to be free from the Prison of this miserable and corruptible Body to see their God their Creator and Redeemer whom they loved served and ador'd while they lived in this World They esteem'd Death as Life because it freed them from a dying Life which delay'd their enjoyment of an eternal Life 4. They could not pass to the beatifical Vision of their God without going by the way of the Judgment and Sentence They did as it were die with an eager desire of dying and joyfully embrac'd that Death which brought them to behold the kind the cheerful and beautiful Countenance of their loving Judge They knew they were to be judged by their Father their God their Creator and Redeemer their faithful Friend and their most gracious Lord. They loved him in their Life they sought him by their Death they ador'd him in the Judgment and with an humble confidence in his infinite Pity they hoped for Mercy in the Sentence They knew their offences were many but they had bewailed them they knew though they were Sinners they had lived desirous to please him diligent to serve him and with care not to offend him They knew they could not put their cause into better hands and that the same Person was to judge them who had shed his Blood for them and given his Life upon the Cross for their Redemption They went to offer their Works their Tears and their Repentance unto God yet without trusting any thing in their Works they relied wholly upon the Goodness of God and the Merits of their Saviour 5. For though it be just that the Judgments of the Lord should be fear'd yet it is as just that they should be loved My Father says the holy Soul is to judge me what am I then afraid of My Lord and my God is my Judge How can I choose but hope and trust in my Lord and my God though he be my Judge If he have a kindness for me and I have a reverence for him What can I look for in the Sentence but Mercy and Compassion What Son is afraid to be judged by his own Father if he hath not lived and acted as an Enemy to his Father or if he hath bewailed the time that he was his Enemy What Wife is afraid to be judged by her tenderly affectionate Husband if she hath not been an Adulteress or hath heartily lamented that Injury and penitently begged pardon of her dearly loving Husband What Friend is afraid to be judged by his Friend if he hath been faithful to him or hath shewed a real grief for the breach of his Fidelity Though I be afraid and wretched says a sick Soul I have been desirous to serve thee O my God thy Precepts have been my Direction and thy Counsels have been my Rule if not in the execution yet at least in my intention and earnest desire I hope for mercy from that eternal goodness of God my Creator and Redeemer who dyed upon a Cross for my Salvation He that was so gracious and so loving in Redeeming me cannot but be a sweet and tender Father in Judging me 6. These are the breathings of a Holy Soul Thus said St. Paul and many others when they desir'd to be dissolved that they might come to the presence of God and for the obtaining of that did not fear to put their Cause and Sentence into his hand They feared his Power and they adored his Power They were afraid by reason of their sins and yet they hoped knowing his mercy and loving-kindness Their love conquered their fear because their hearts were inflam'd with that perfect Charity which casts out fear And thus if thou doest desire to have a holy and assured hope humbly resign'd and yet chearful in the Judgment and in the Sentence do that which the Saints have done and thou shalt hope as they have hoped 7. Make account in thy life-time of that Account thou art to give hereafter I repeat it to thee once again keep a Judgment-seat within thy self every day till thou comest to thy last Judge thy self ten thousand times and consider in what steps thou treadest for according to what thou doest in this World thou shalt be judged in the other Strictly observe thy very thoughts and mend what thou shalt find amiss For by this means thou shalt increase that love which casts out fear Do thou judge thine own Actions before God judges them beg light of him to see and know them and tears to bewail them and so with a holy resignation and with an humble confidence thou mayest appear in the presence of God Take good heed to thy Words Thoughts and Actions and square them by the Rule of the Divine Law and of the Will of that Lord who is to Judge thee and strive in this Life to obtain Mercy and Pardon for thy Sins and Miseries 8. Be careful to purifie thy Understanding and to purge it from evil fill it with honest and spiritual Considerations cleanse thy will from corrupt Desires and fill it with the love of thy Creator Let thy Memory be the Store-house of Holy Meditations and then hope and trust love and adore the Judgment of the Lord. His goodness does more desire to Pardon thee than thou dost to be pardoned He is more desirous of thy Salvation than thou art to be saved He is more desirous to deliver thee from that Infernal Dragon than thou art to be delivered Be careful I warn thee once again on what hand thou livest in this life for on that hand thou shalt find thy self when Death carries thee from hence 9. Fear the Judgment of the Lord for it is very just so to do fear humble thy self and tremble but yet hope and be more afraid of the sins wherewith thou offendest him than thou art of his righteous Judgment
torment till it be put into its right place again and so the Man and Wife being at variance with God till they be set right there there will be nothing but disorder and quarrelling between them but that difference being compos'd their Conjugal state will be a state of Comfort and Happiness and in every respect a great and High Blessing Of Civil Society and Government Mankind being propagated and multiplyed by the means of that Divine Institution from hence arise in the first place Families which as Aristotle observes in his Politicks are the first Societies in Nature the Ground and Original the Nurseries and Seminaries of all the rest and from them larger Societies and Bodies Politick And from this mutual Combination and Fellowship who does not see the great good and benefit accruing to Mankind in general What inestimable Advantages spring from such an Union and Association 'T is certain by Nature we are all dependent and cannot live without the mutual Assistance of our fellow-creatures we must be beholding to others for things necessary without which our very Being cannot be preserved and therefore to supply those defects and imperfections which are in us living singly and solely by our selves we are even naturally induced to seek communion and fellowship with others And the Benefit of a Sociable Life sufficiently appears in that Nature has implanted in all Men a strong desire of it which shews it to be in all respects advantageous and profitable for otherwise such a desire had never been so universally engrafted in the Constitutions of Men. Civil Society does more content the Nature of Man than any kind of private solitary living because in Society the good of mutual participation is so much larger than otherwise Nor indeed are we satisfied with a Society bounded within the narrow limits of our Native Country but we covet to have a kind of Fellowship if possible with all Mankind Which thing Socrates intending to signifie professed himself a Citizen not of this or that Common-wealth but of the World And an effect of that desire in us to have universal Fellowship with all Men appears by the wonderful delight men have some to visit Foreign Countries some to discover Nations not heard of in former Ages and all of us to know the Affairs and Dealings of other People yea to be in League and Amity with them And does not Reason tell us that by this means Traffick is promoted and when many are confederated each may make other the more strong Is it not evident that by such Confederations and Compacts the general Good is advanced and the publick Tranquillity secured How is it possible for the Interest and Welfare of Mankind to be provided for without men's being link'd and united in such settled Societies where each Individual is obliged to study and to consult the Common Advantage and every Member to be serviceable to the good of the whole Body And therefore the confounding of Languages was rightly accounted a Curse to the Old World because thereby men were rendred incapable of mutual Commerce and debar'd the great Priviledges resulting from thence They became Barbarians to each other and lost the sweet Benefit of Society and Converse without which all Delights are insipid all Order is disturb'd and all Safety banish'd And as the Benefit and Necessity of such Communions and Politick Societies is great so consequently Laws for the maintenance of them must be equally necessary and beneficial the just power of making which Laws belongs properly to the same entire Societies which having gained a Publick Approbation do afterwards obtain an obliging force and become binding to every particular Member And without this Government and Discipline it is not conceivable how any Societies can consist for if when there was but one Family in the World no means of Instruction either Humane or Divine without positive Laws could prevent the effusion of Blood how is it possible now when Families are so multiplyed and increased on the Earth but that without Laws Envy Strife Contention and Violence must grow amongst them There is no impossibility indeed in Nature Man retaining his original Integrity but that Men might have liv'd without any publick Government but presupposing the Corruption and Sinfulness of Man and of his Off-spring it cannot be denied but that the Law of Nature doth now require of necessity some kind of Government so that to bring things to the first course they were in and utterly to take away all kind of publick Government in the World were apparently to overturn the whole World It must be acknowledged that Government is the effect of Sin but yet that does not in the least detract from its necessity or usefulness to Men. Those Laws of right Reason which in a State of Innocency had been sufficient to direct each particular Person in all his Affairs and Duties are not now sufficient nor able to serve since the Corruption of our Nature when Mens iniquity is so difficultly restrained within any tolerable bounds but do require the Addition of other Laws to which it has always been found needful to annex Rewards to allure unto Good and Punishments to deter from Evil. These are the Instruments which uphold the World in Order and keep it from running into a State of Confusion and Violence These are the Bridles which restrain the Exorbitant Passions of Men and contain them within due bounds and these alone secure us in the Possession of our just Rights which otherwise we might be depriv'd of by an unjust force without a possibility of Redress In a word without this Bulwark and Defence there would be nothing but grievances and wrongs injuries and endless discord The World would not be able to subsist nor we to live in it without daily Fears and Jealousies for whither would not the impetuous and turbulent Passions of Men drive them if they were at liberty to take their full career without controul or restraint What would not the Wickedness of Men attempt if all things might be committed with impunity 'T is therefore to Government that we owe the Possession of whatever is dear to us and for that reason we may deservedly account it a most unvaluable Blessing deriving it self from God the Author of all good Gifts without which we can have no secure enjoyment of any thing that is valuable but must be in continual fears of being dispossess'd of it by violent Aggressors who being more powerful will not dispute the Right or Equity of the Matter If the Irregularities and Vices of Men can hardly be curb'd by the most severe Sanctions and Penalties what would they not dare to enterprize if they were exempted from those Penalties and were wholly left to themselves to act as they please without fear of punishment What dismal consequences would this produce And therefore we can never sufficiently extol the inexpressible Benefits of publick Government and Laws nor yet that God who has graciously enabled us to find out and
it condemns him to Death though disswaded by his Wife upon her Dream from having any thing to do with that Just Person and delivers him to them to be crucified since all that was easier for such a mean complying Judge to consent to than to trouble and hazard himself in the further Defence of Innocency Yet that he might remain clear and spotless and honoured in the Opinion of the World in Condemning our Saviour he declares himself not guilty of his Blood and so he washes his hands and satisfies himself with laying the Crime upon others But what greater Infamy can a Judge be guilty of than to suffer the Accusers themselves to write and to sign the Sentence This being done our Blessed Saviour carries his Cross alone for a great part of the way to Mount Calvary and because they thought the time long of his getting thither they make Simon the Cyrenian help him to bear it that he might be there so much the sooner for it was not out of pity that they gave him that Assistance but it was an effect of their Cruelty nor did they intend it for any ease to his Life but for the hastening of his Death In his way to Calvary he is bewailed by the Daughters of Jerusalem leaving this Glory to the Women that they alone wept at the Passion of their Lord their Master and their Redeemer They strip his Body for the cloathing of our Souls and at the same time both Heaven and Earth were cloathed with Grief and Darkness to mourn for the Sufferings of their Creator They with rough hard Nails fasten the Eternal Son of God unto the Cross the Ingratitude of the Jews making him that requital for all his Divine Benefits Those blessed Feet that travelled up and down so many weary steps to seek Sinners that he might save and pardon them Those liberal Hands full of Charity and Beneficence are bored through and nailed by those very Persons whom he came to succour Not to acknowledge a good turn is Ingratitude and Wickedness what shall it then be to pierce both the Hands and Feet of ones Benefactor Then they raise up the Blessed Jesus upon the Cross and allow him the Superiority over two Thieves as fit Subjects for the King of that Royal Throne and by the same action they raise and exalt Man's Nature and advance it in a manner to be Divine When the Son of Man shall be raised up said his Divine Majesty he will draw all along with him It is clear he did so since by his most precious Blood he washed and redeemed them and with his most ardent Love he called and enflamed them O my dearest Lord God who wert wounded and despised crucified and crowned with Thorns and for my sins didst suffer so many torments upon the Cross I beseech thee by the Merits of them all O sweetest Jesus to pardon all my grievous Offences Since thou hast drawn up all draw me up also O most Gracious Saviour Do not suffer that most precious Blood to leave unwashed this Soul which confesses thee and acknowledges thee to be God Thy ardent Charity interceded to thy Father for those very Enemies that crucified thee How much rather then wilt thou be the Mediator and Redeemer of a poor Christian who confesses and adores thy Sovereign Majesty Behold admire and adore thy Suffering Saviour and bewail thy sins the cause of all his Sufferings Behold all Creatures in amazement to see their Creator in so woful a condition Behold the Heavens obscur'd at that Eclipse of his Heavenly Beauties Behold the Earth and all the Elements confounded at the awfulness of his Pains and Torments Behold how the Sun withdraws its Light not to see so horrid a Wickedness and so terrible an Ingratitude Behold even the very Rocks so softened as to cleave asunder in compassion What kind of hearts then are those that remain unsensible Lord suffer not mine to be one of them but let it melt with Love and Contrition to think of thy heavy Torments and of my hainous Offences The Vail of the Temple was rent in twain and shall my Heart be whole Shall not my Breast and all my Bowels open themselves to receive the Blood which thou sheddest for my Redemption Behold the Holy Virgin at the Foot of her Son's Cross who recommends her to the care of his beloved Disciple Behold how one drop of his Blood falling upon the good Thief was to him the Baptism of Life and eternal Condemnation to the Bad who knew not how to make his advantage of it He there made the Divine Nature propitious to the Human that it might be pardoned and by the last of those seven Words which he spake upon the Cross declar'd that by his Blood and Death he had finished the Work of our Redemption Then after having hung three Hours alive upon the Cross He that was the Life of Souls gave them Life by his Death and a Life eternal which Triumphs over Death for ever When he was dead the Souldier with a Spear pierced his most holy Side out of which came Water and Blood representing the two Sacraments and making a wide Door for holy Souls to enter and after other three Hours the Piety of his Friends takes him down from the Cross laying his precious Body in a new Sepulchre which was bestowed on him by the Charity of Joseph of Arimathea So he who during his Life had not a House to rest his Head in was so poor likewise at his Death that he had not so much as a Grave of his own to put his Body in There they sadly lament his loss and burying him in their Hearts as they had done in that Tomb they leave him there embalmed with Spices that as it was Prophesied of him he might be as the Rich in his Death and though there they leave him yet they carry him away with them in their remembrance that we by their example never may forget him After his sad and bloody Passion succeeded his Powerful Resurrection when he had conquered Hell as well as Death and then the Glorious Triumph of his Ascension to the end that Human Nature might not only be Redeemed but also Honoured and Crowned yet before he went up into Heaven he comforted his Mother and the Apostles to whom he several times appeared after his Resurrection to the end that their Joy for it might recompense the Sadness they had felt at his dolorous Passion He examined St. Peter thrice concerning his Love that by three Confessions he might purge away the Shame of his three Denials bidding him as often to feed his Lambs He signified to him by what death he should Glorifie God commanding them all to Preach the Gospel and assuring them that he would be with them to the end of the World Within few days after he made good his promise in sending them another Comforter for at Pentecost the Holy Ghost descended upon the Apostles in fiery Tongues to the end
to voluntary occasions if he may be called Spiritual that does so is in greater danger of falling than a loose and debauched man for the loose man incurs less danger because he incurs more and the cautious person probably incurs more because he incurs less How is this you 'l say I do not understand it Then I will explain it to thee The Lascivious man by custom in that Vice sometimes looses his Appetite or at least abates it and with that the Temptation but it encreases with the cautious man and becomes more ardent by his forbearance and therefore the Tempter is more sollicitous vigilant and vehement to overcome him The Delights wherewith the Devil entices a Spiritual Man are in the imagination and have nothing of act whereby he may become undeceived but those of the Vicious Man are filthy in his practise of them and that very filthiness and foulness tires him enlightens him and undeceives him for this reason Spiritual Persons ought to be more watchful and wary than those that are Sensual and if not they will do as the Galatians who ended in the Flesh having begun in the Spirit In Conclusion would'st thou be chast careful and wary Would'st thou conquer this Vice Then fly from it Other sins are conquer'd by fighting this by flying This flight is both the Combat the Victory and the Triumph but withal use Abstinence and other acts of Mortification to overcome and subdue so powerful a Passion There is a sort of Devils saith our Saviour that cannot be cast out without Fasting and Prayer To eat much and to drink much and neither to think of God nor call upon him in Prayer is not the way to conquer that strong contagious and dangerous Passion It is frail and needs strong Remedies It is incontinent and needs continent Remedies It is unruly and unbridled and therefore needs Remedies that may restrain and tame it By Abstinence thou mayest also conquer Gluttony the foul ugly Mother of many sins The ancient Philosophers though they had but the Light of their Candle which is Natural Reason yet said very excellently That a Vertuous Life consisted wholly in two words Sustine Abstine Bear and Forbear or be patient and abstemious If a Heathen could say so by the Light of his Candle What shall a Spiritual Man say being enlightened by the Sun of Christian Verities and by the Rays of Eternal and Celestial Light Abstinence is an Universal Vertue which comprehends innumerable Vertues and so this Vertue alone is a general Antidote against the Maladies of a Spiritual Life Would'st thou not sin Why then abstain from offending God by the breach of his holy Commandments Would'st thou grow in the Internal Life Why then abstain from rejecting his holy Counsels Would'st thou have the Vertues come and lodge within thee Why then abstain from running into Vice Would'st thou be perfect in all things Why then fast inwardly as well as outwardly Would'st thou subdue thy Vices Encompass thy self with the Vertues for that is the Girdle which our Saviour tells us is the Scourge of Vice What good doth it to begirt the Body with a Cord and make it lean with fasting if in the mean while the Soul grow big and swell up with Self-will What good does the yellow meager Countenance which speaks abstinence from Meat and Drink if in the mean while wrath and hatred give a worse Complexion to the Soul because they feed it with a worse Nourishment In the midst of your Fast says God your own Will reigns whereas the resigning it up to my Will ought to be the Crown and Honour of your Fast. This is another kind of Abstinence than that which is contrary to Gluttony but I will now say something of that Of Gluttony Gluttony is an infamous Vice that pollutes and destroys both Body and Soul no less than Sensuality dulling and abasing the Senses of the one and the Powers of the other It is a loathsome Vice and filthy both in its Cause and in its Effects for in its cause it fills a man with foul Humours and Diseases with Painfulness and Misery and in its Effects because by wakening and feeding the Appetite it breeds as many Mortal Distempers in the Soul as Diseases in the Body The Scripture tells us The People sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play As if it had said They sate long at Meat whereas they should have eaten but as it were in passing They did eat as if their utmost end had been eating and that they had been born for nothing else and not considering that they were born to live after another manner as soon as they had done eating they played away their Life their Fortune and their Honour God commanded that the Paschal Lamb should be eaten standing with their Loins Girt and their Staves in their hands What is this but to teach us that as our Lives pass quick away our Meals should do so too Let us eat and drink said some deluded men for to morrow we shall die See what a madness Observe what a foolish Consequence these Epicures draw when Gluttony is the Antecedent Because they are to die to morrow they eat excessively to day But Wretches if you must die to morrow and vomit up your Meat giving a strict account of what ye shall eat and drink Why do you cram your selves like Beasts to day Death uses to terrifie and undeceive every Body else but it hardens these and deceives them more and that which affrights others from sin invites these stupid men to sin See how Gluttony dulls and stupifies the Understanding since it fills it with such ignorant and sensless Discourses and Arguments O heavenly Abstinence and Moderation which givest a pure a long and a righteous Life Long because thou correctest those foul gross humours that choak and drown it Pure because thou dost quite banish them and Righteous because thou cuttest off Passions by taking away the nourishment of Vices whereof Gluttony is a fruitful Mother O heavenly Abstinence thou art the Forerunner of great Blessings By having prepared themselves with Abstinence and Fasting Moses received from God the Tables of the Law Elias received Nourishment from an Angel and the Saviour of Souls obtained innumerable Victories O holy Abstinence which dost sweeten adorn and sanctifie Repentance For by thee Vertue is cherished Vice is put to flight and holy Desires and Perfections become active vigorous and permanent The Second WEEK Of Patience THou wilt think perhaps that by being humble liberal abstinent and chast thou hast perfected the Spiritual Life but thou hast not done all yet thou must have Patience also for without that thou can'st scarce be said to have begun Those other Vertues look to what thou oughtest to do within thy self and to what thou oughtest to do to others This teacheth thee how thou oughtest to suffer from others when they oppress and injure thee The Vertue of Patience is an inward fortitude of the
Peace This Charity which the Apostle here offers as the highest Gift and Fruit of the Divine Spirit is reduc'd into two kinds First that which the Soul bears towards God not only when it begins to be in Grace for that may be with many imperfections and fastnings to worldly things but an excellent perfect and inflamed Charity which with its fire burns up and with its flame consumes all the Dross Imperfections and Miseries which our wretched Nature sends up as in smoke to the Region of the Spirit This excellent and superiour Charity which neither suffers nor allows so much as a consent to the smallest sins nor admits voluntary imperfections and adhaesions to earthly things how little soever they be and which if they come does not entertain them but presently casts them out and bewails them is a great Gift of the Holy Spirit the highest of all its Fruits for this strips the Soul of all that is imperfect and cloaths it with all that is holy perfect and heroical This Fruit of the Spirit is the Source and Original of whatsoever good our weakness is capable of it takes off those Skins that covered the old Adam and adorns us with the Garment of Grace of the new Adam Jesus Christ our Lord. Those Skins are our Passions and Imperfections and this Garment is made up of our Saviour's Vertue This Heroick Charity not only begets but defends the new Man in us it roots out our old customs of sin pulls up those habits of sensual delight and throws out those formerly beloved Vices and Miseries wherewith it hath been choaked up so that the Lord's Inheritance becomes clean and fitly tilled to receive the spiritual Seed namely those Gifts and Graces which God is pleased to communicate to Souls Where God bestows the Fruit of this ardent Charity I count that Soul to be safely got into Port as having by the Grace of our Lord overcome those strong Billows and broken through those contrary Winds that would have hindred its passage because God affords therewith a constancy and firmness in holy Exercises a continual desire and longing to prosecute and to finish its Course and to die in Christ with Christ and for Christ for all things else it neither values them nor loves them nor fears them He that has gotten to receive from God this high degree of Charity is governed in all things by his Hand and punctually follows his Directions for he loves the Name of God and that Love moves and guides informs counsels and accompanies him from Life to Death This Love is that which the Church asks of God for her faithful Children when she says O Lord who never failest to help and govern them whom thou dost bring up in thy stedfast fear and love keep us we beseech thee under the protection of thy good Providence and make us to have a perpetual fear and love of thy Holy Name through Jesus Christ our Lord Amen St. Paul had this Fruit of Charity when he said Who shall separate me from the love of Christ Who Neither Tribulation nor Sword nor Persecution nor Death no nor Hell itself which is as if God having cloathed and armed that Saint with this Charity had made him capable to defie all Creatures and all things contrary to the love of his Creator This Charity and Fruit of the Holy Ghost he had when he said That he desir'd to be dissolved and to be with Christ for that his Soul filled and enflamed with Charity which is the ripe and seasonable Fruit of the Holy Ghost waited to be gathered by the hand of the Master of that Garden who planted it in him and had not the Earth for its Centre which corrupts and rots the Fruits that fall upon it but Heaven where he was to be laid up and preserved for ever This Charity and Divine Fruit of the Spirit that Saint had who said I live but not in my self and I so earnestly long after so high a life that I even die because I do not die as St. Paul also said I live yet not I but Christ who liveth in me his Death was Life and his Life Death as he likewise spoke Who shall deliver me from this body of death or from the death of this Body as holding the life of this Body to be no better than death and very death it self to be as life because it was to be a sweet passage to him to Eternal Life All the Saints have held the same for God communicates this high Fruit of Charity either more or less to them all and all of them have suffered this amorous Impatiency which is that the Spouse in the Canticles expresses when she says Encompass me with flowers for I die for love O sweet Death O glorious Life O healthful Sickness O Coelestial Fire which kindlest and enflamest which enlightenest and enamourest burning with delight and by thy consolations changing Earth into Heaven O eternal Jesus O sweet O glorious O loving and powerful Lord grant that I may die of this Wound Grant I may be enflam'd by this Heavenly Fire Grant I may see by this Light and be consumed by this Heat O that I might be turned into ashes in the burnings of this amorous Fire and that I may cease to be in this life to the end that I may be with thee eternally in the other Ah! when a Soul once comes to know and to understand this Love how little does it regard the loves of this World I mean not only those that are light and vain but those also that are allowable if they be worldly for God cleanses and purifies the Soul in such manner from all Propriety although it be of those Affections which are tolerable yet imperfect through their excess that he possesses the Soul totally with his love and from the most inward to the uttermost extent of the heart and from the superiour to the most inferiour parts of it fills it wholly with himself so that if such an one loves his Parents whether Natural or Spiritual he does it in God and for God and if he loves his Brethren whether those of Nature or those of Grace he loves them also in God and for God who orders and governs all his Love This the holy Soul says in the Canticles when amongst other Favours her Spouse had done her she acknowledges that he had ordered and governed her Affections As if she had said though there were Charity in me yet it was inordinate for I loved some more than I ought to have loved them others when I ought not to have loved them and others after another manner than I ought to have loved them I loved more than I ought to have loved because that Affection which I gave inordinately unto a Creature although a Father I stole from the Creator who is my true Father I loved them for that which I ought not to have loved them for that is for mine own Delight for mine own Interest and