What is CHRSIT This is a Mistery well known to many But which ought not to be unknown to any because 't is the foundation of Christianity And the Source of our salvation And it oonsistes in this that as in us there are two parts the one interiour invisible and Spiritual which is the soule The other exteriour visible and material which is the body body and soul so knit togeather that thay make but one thing which is man So in our Saviour there are two Natures one increated eternal and infinite to wit the Divinity the other created temporal and finite to wit the Humanity that is to say a body and a reasonoble soul which Divinity and Humanity are so united and ioyned togeather that they make but one Personne which is true God and true Man whom the Apostles signify by these names IESUS-CHRIST SON OF GOD and OUR LORD 2. First they call him IESUS which signifys a Saviour And it was imposed with great reason For if Joseph in the Egiptian tongue was Called Saviour because he kept the people from Gen. 41. Numb 13. famine by his providence if Osee the Son of Num the Successor of Moyses had the same name becaus he led the people into the land of Promise after they had fought many battells And if the Son of Iosadech had also the same name for contributing 1. Esdras 3. to the delivery of the people out of the captivity of Babylon with much more reason our Saviour received this name since He does not only deliver some particular people out of certain calamities as they did but moreover all mankind from sin damnation and eternal misery 3. He also apply's himself to our Salvation with so much tenderness and affection with so much fervour and zeal that more than most deservingly He may take from this also his Name They that love passionatly write in a ring with their own name that of their beloved The Son of God hath written our salvation not with his Name but in his Name He cannot thinke of his own Name without remembring our Salvation When you will express an ardent desire of any thing you say I would give for it a part of my blood IESUS sayd it not but He hath don it and He gave not a part only but all his precious Blood for our Salvation IESUS makes so much account of our soules that having bought them with his Blood He pleases himself in the bargaine and shal we sell them to the Devill for a little money or for a brutal pleasure He begins to suffer for us from the time He begins to live and shal we serve him but when we decay or begin to die He thinks not on his Name without remembring us and shal we hear or pronounce this holy Name without calling to minde the benefit of our Redemption without thanking and honouring the Personne named Let us have him in our thoughts frequently in the day thanking him and offering our selves to him In our words speaking often of him and of what He hath done to be our IESUS In our prayers demanding of him and by him the graces and vertues which are necessary for us In our hearts loving him and reioycing in him 4. In the second place the Apostles call him CHRIST which signifys annointed And this name was given to Priests Kings Exod. 29 1. kings 10. 3. kings 19 and Prophets because they were annointed with oyle which signifys grace in figure of IESUS CHRIST But IESUS is not a Priest only but the sovereign Priest of Priestes not King only but the King of Kings not Prophet only but Prophet of all the Prophets Priest King Prophet Annointed not by men but by God not with oyle but with the fullness of his graces 5. In the third place they call him Son of the Omnipotent Father SON not by adoption or grace only but by nature For He is begotten from all eternity not according to his humanity or according to his Soul and Body but according to his divine Person Begotten I say not carnally corporeally but spiritually divinely and incomprehensibly by the understanding of the Father or by the knowledg the eternal Father hath of himself And by the property of his birth He receives three names which are to him particular notional and personal which appertaine to him and not to the other Persons of the BB. Trinity He is a WORD an JMAGE a SON He is a WORD Verbum erat apud Deum the WORD was with God S. Iohn 1. Collos 8. He is an IMAGE Ipse est Imago Dei invisibilis He is the JMAGE of the invisible God He is a SON misit Deus filium suum God sent his Son He is a WORD because produced by the Vnderstanding a WORD for the science knowledge and doctrine of the Father is most simple and uncompounded 't is but one only WORD but which represents all says all and does all He is an Image for He is the actual knowledg which God hath of himself the Expression of his Essence He represents it then perfectly otherwise the Science of God would be imperfect He is then the natural image lively representation and perfect character of Gods substance He is a SON for He is produced by the Vnderstanding by a natural Power by a natural and vital action and through inclination the Eternal Father hath to produce his like not only by resemblance but in identity of Nature He is then the true Son of God his production is true generation and He is not only equal to the Father but the same God with him 6. They Say only Son And He is so the only one that 't is impossible there should be another because the eternal Father begets him most necessarily and continually and his generative Power tho' infinite is wholy entirely and eternally employd in producing him 7 In fine the Apostles most justly call him Our Lord. For so He is by many Titles Other Lords and Sovereigns have generally but one Title one only right to their Dominions and that sometimes pretended usurped and uniustly acquired or at the best a very slight one JESUS is our Lord by all sorts of Rights by all the Titles that can give authority and jurisdiction He is our Lord because He created us the Workman is naturally Master of his worke ' the Father of his child and the Potter of his earthen vessel He is our Lord because He conserves nourishes and hinders us from returning to the nothing out of which He drew us He is our Lord because He directs governs and commands us and by other prerogatives of Nature 8. And becaus that all these Titles of Sovereignity give him Empire and Dominion over other creatures as well as over mankind He would be our Lord by Titles that give him particular and special authority over us We appertain to him by the right of Conquest by the right of Emption or purchas and Redemption This right God alleadged often to
the Iews for to oblige them to be faithfull in his service and obedient to his Laws I am the Lord thy God who have brought thee out of the land of Egipt I am your Lord and Sovereign you are my Vassalls and Slaves ' not only as other people by reason of the benefit of creation but by a new right and a special obligation becaus I made wâ—â—r against Pharao for you and you are my Captives and prisoners of warr JESUS hath much more reason to make the like plea to us and to oblige us to his service for he hath fought in his own person for us He hath been wounded in the combat He hath delivered us from the deplorable servitude of Sin freed us from the most cruel tyranny of Satan and drawn us from his oppression are we not then his slaves Add to this that He hath bought us 1. Cor. 6. 20. with his blood you are bought with a great price Says the Apostle You are then no more your own your Being your soul your body and your actions are not yours if you employ them then for your selves you are usurpers of anothers goods since IESUS hath bought you you belong more to him than a slave unto is Lord than a horse unto his Master 9. Nevertheless what is most uniust and most deplorable Many acknowledge not JESUS-CHRIST to be their Lord He receives no homage from them For what honor what service and what obedience do they render him If they are in a chamber of an earthly King or Lord t is with great respect with a profound silence and with fear to commit the least incivility But if they are in a church in the house of God in his presence they commit irreverences insolences and insupportable impudences What service do they render him In the morning as soon as they are up they fall upon their employments or upon fooleries or trifles and pastimes if they go to Church they give to God their lipps and their hearts to their affaires to vanities and often to worse in the Evening they pray in bed or half a sleep or with so little respect that they would not speak in that manner to a Civil man In the rest of the day they think not of him they speak of him no more than if there were no God unless perhaps pronouncing his holy name or calling upon him irreverently and offending him 10. What Obedience do they yield to his divine laws What little King is there in the world or Lord of a Village that they would disoblige as they do this great Lord If He were a King of cards they would not transgress his commandements with greater impudence than they do If He were a God of straw they would hardly offend him with more temerity and lesse regard to Him They sweare by his holy Name transgress his Commandements commit sins which displeas him infinitely and after this they laugh play and sleep as boldly as if they had done nothing 11. No He is not their Lord they say with the Iews we will not have this man reign over us they deny by their works what they profess by these words I believe in JESUS-CHRIST Luke 19. â—4 our Lord. Who is then their Master to whom do they appertain to whom do they homage and service To the most barbarous Cruel and infamous tyrants imaginable thô they know by serving such Masters they gain but hell that they have not one day of true repose not one hour of solide content that they are tortured by the furies of their conscience by apprehension of death by fear of damnation and by the sight of the inconstancy and mortality of Creatures which they love The world cries I fail you in time of need the flesh cries I defile and cover you with ordures the Devill cries I deceive them that trust in me and many goe after these Masters JESUS our Lord cries come to me all and I will refresh you I will discharg you of the heavy burden of the world I will deliver you from the Tyrannie of your passions I Matt. 11. 28. will free you from the servitude of the Devill And yet few do go to him Ah! few of them also who cry out to him Lord Lord and do seem to honour him for many of these desire to goe but stand still they cannot abide to take paines in the way they will not labour to practise the vertues which He commands tho' He hath given so excellent and heroycal Example of obedience having made himself obedient to death and to the death of the Cross and tho' they know that since He hath redeemed us by his Obedience to the Commandements of his Father He will apply to us the fruit of his Redemption by our Obedience to his Commandements He is made says the Apo-stle the cause of eternal salvation to all them that doe obey him 12. Let us say then with S. Austin Command what you will Heb. 5. 9. give what you Command you may Command what so ever you please for you are Lord You cannot command any thing that is not just for you are a most equitable Iudge You command nothing but what is sweet profitable and facile with your grace for you are our Father Give what you Command There is much repugnance in our corrupted nature much opposition to the observance of your divine Laws But you are Omnipotent and can easily overcome it by your Grace You promised by your Prophets that you would write your Commandements in our hearts they are as hard as stones But you wrote them upon stones Engrave them then we beseech you in the center of our hearts that you comming to Judge may not find transgressions to be punished But good works which are your gifts to be rewarded in the happy Eternity Amen DISCOURS V. OF THE THIRD ARTICLE Who was conceived by the holy Ghost born of the Virgin Marie SPirituall and devout soules who meditate upon the Misteries of this Article are transported with joy and admiration at the sight of the great wonders divinely wrought in the wombe of the B. Virgin in the Conception of JESUS-CHRIST For if in this Conception there is one thing natural there are many that surpass all nature That our Redeemers Body was formed of the Blood of a woman is a natural thing But that it was formed not by mans operation but by the operation of the holy Ghost That his Body was made in an instant without the imperfections in which ours are made That in this instant it receives a reasonable soule without the ignoâ—ance where in we are conceived without the stayne of original sin which Adam put upon us But on the contrary with perfect knowledg of all things and with plenitude of Grace That this Body and soul are united to the second Person of the B. Trinity That that which arises by this Vnion is perfect God and perfect man That He was such in a womans wombe That she remaining
having taught Christs Victorious Resurrection teach us in this Article his tryumphant Ascension By his Nativity He went forth into the field to fight by his Passion and death He fought the battle By his Resurrection He overcame his enemies and by his Ascension He tryumphs His tryumphant chariot was a thousand thousand of celestial spirits Psal 67. 18. and according to the translation of S. Hierom innumerable thousands He tryumphed not only over enemies of flesh and blood but also over devills sin and death The spoils He carried with him were not flocks of sheep and troops of other beasts but innumerable multitudes of souls which He redeem'd out of Prison and rescued out of the jawes of Hell Thou art ascended high thou hast taken Captivity says the Rayal Prophet to him Psal 67. 10. With all this glorious traine He ascended not carried in a chariot as Elias nor by Angells as Abacuc the Prophet and S. Philip nor did He ascend only by the force and agility He recived in his resurrection but moreover by the power and vertue He had as God 2. He Ascended into heaven There are three Heavens according to the scripture Airy Statry and Emperial and He mounted above all heavens as his Apostle says so passing the Air Sun and all â—phes 4. the heavens He mounted to the most high and sublime place of the world 3. He sits at the right hand of God the Father God is a spirit a pure and incorporeal Being who hath neither side nor hand noâ— part How does He sit then at his right hand And if He sits in a seat or Throne of what matter is it made is it of wood marble gold silver or Diamant I know well 't is answered the Apostles accommodate themselves to our low manner of understanding and of speaking and that by this session at the right hand of the Father they express the equality and consubstantiality of the Father and the Son When we see one speak to the king on knee we conclude he is a Vassall But if we see one sit upon a throne neer the king and at his right hand we say he is a Prince or Sovereign The Apostles say JESUS sits at the right hand of the Father this is to say He is Sovereign Omnipotent and infinite as the Father equal coessential and coeternal with the Father 4. Yes But JESUS as man is not consubstantial nor coeternal with the Father and yet He is at the right hand of the Father not only as God but also as man as S. Leo expresly teaches in his first sermon of the Ascension You will say the humane nature of JESUS is in the Throne of God and at the right hand of the Father becaus being as it were ingraffted and inserted in the Being of God in the subsistance of the Word and making but one Person with him 't is served and reverenced as God 5. You say true but this solues not the difficulty For this holy Humanity is united to the Word and subsisting in his Personality from the first instant of Christs Conception and nevertheless to speak properly it is not but since the day of his Ascension that the Humanity is elevated to the glory of the Father and seated at his right hand as the church says in the Canon of the Mass that day 6. For to clear then these difficulties we must remember that in the Mistery of the incarnation the Son of God communicating his subsistance to the holy Humanity should have made it at the same time participant of all the perfections and Attributes of which a created Nature may be capable For if in a perfect marriage the Woman espouses not only the Person of her husband but also his nobility prerogatives and Honours shal not the sacred Humanity which is married much more perfectly and inseparebly to the Word receive from him the Perfections that are communicable to It A Vegetative soul penetrating the stock of a little tree makes it live with a Vegetative life A sensitive soul informing the body of a Lamb makes it live with a sensitive life An intellectual soul animating the body of a man makes it live with a reasonable life and the divine Word actuating filling and possessing the holy Humanity shal He not make it live with a divine life Ought He not to communicate to it his proprieties and his Attributes since He is united to it more strictly perfectly and nobly than any soul is to her Body or form to its matter 7. Nevettheless the divine Word to procure our salvation and to accomplish the work of our Redempion suspended in his Incarnation the communication of divers of his perfections For if JESUS had been immortall how should he have dyed for us If He had been impassible how would He have suffered for us If He had been independent and sovereign how would have he given us an example of obedience subjecting himself to his holy Mother But in the day of his Ascension He made an entire effusion of himself and of all his excellencies and perfections that were communicable to Humanity 8 This is that which He asked of his Father in the Vigil of his death when He sayd Now glorify me o Father with thy self with the glory which I had with thee before all ages Vpon which S. Iohn 17. 5. Lib. 11. in Io. C. 17. Colloss 2. 9. S. Cyrill of Alexandria says The Saviour asks to be glorifyd not with an accidental glory but with a natural glory and a little after The glory which He always had as God He asks now as man This is moreover that which S. Paul teaches us when he says the plenitude or fullness of the Divinity inhabits corporally in him that is in his Humanity says the same S. Cyrill And this is that wich ought to rejoyce us in this Mistery This is that which renders this Mistery dear and precious to JESUS to the Virgin and to all the Church 'T is in the Ascension properly that JESUS Man God sits at the right hand of the Omnipotent 't is in the Ascension that He was receiv'd into the Throne of God and that He entred into the Glory of his Father 9. He sits that is to say He is no more subject to labours tributary to wearines lyable to humane miseries and infirmities 10. He is at the right hand of the Omnipotent that is He hath the superintendence and the administration of Heaven and earth of men and Angells of spiritualls and temporalls What honor what happiness for us to know and to be assured that a persone of the same nature with us hath the keyes of life and death of Heaven and hell that He governs all and does whatsoever He sees good 11. He is in the Throne of God that is He entred into the real actual and eternal enjoyance of his Empire 12. He is in Glory of the Father that is He is received into a full entire and perfect possession of all the
for a scepter and thorns upon his head for a crown as if He were a king of the Theater To be decry'd and condemn'd as a blasphemer as a seducer as ambitious as sedicious as an Imposter What confusion greater then to be dragd through the streets of Hierusalem with hues and cries as a fool and as an extravagant person from Caiphas to Pilate from Pilate to Herod from Herod to the Pretory To be less esteem'd then Barrabbas a seditious person and a murtherer to be esteem'd more wicked more unworthy to live and more worthy of the cross then he What indignity more intollerable than to receive foule and fiâ—thy matters in token of vility and baseness not upon his garments or hands only but upon his most venerable and adorable face this indignity was so ignominious in Israel that if a child receiv'd it from his father he was to bear the confusion Numb 12. 14. of it at least seven daies To be short What greater contempt than to die not the death of Nobles nor with honourable persons not in private and in prison not in the night by torch light but the death of slaves with infamous persons in a high and publick place at mid-day in the sight of more than two hundred thousand persons 7. What shal I say of the punishments receiv'd in his sacred Body He suffered more horrible harsh and bitter torments than were ever suffer'd by any creature upon earth The Prophet Isaiah calls him by excellence the man of Paines Abel was murthered c. 33. 3. Zachary was stoned Isaiah sawed Lazarus covered with ulcers and not one of them is called the man of Paines We have heard of men to whom their vertues or their vices their birth or their condition have given honourable or shamefull Names But we have not heard but of IESUS-CHRIST only to whom Paine hath given a name He is the Man of Pains because He did bear all our paines He is the man of Paines becaus He suffered in all his members and He is the man of Pains becaus He was pierced through with Pains exposed Sacrificed and given wholy over to sufferances and Pains 8. But the sufferances in his soul will make appear yet better the Greatness of his Paine He sayd in the Garden my soul is sorrowfull to death It would seperate my soul and Body if I shoul not hinder it for to endure yet more To whatsoever part He casts his sight He sees objects of the greatest sorrow His soul is nail'd to a most hard Cross before his Body is Crucifyd and the Cross of his Soul is much more harsh and insupportable then that of his Body The three nails of this interiour cross are the injuries don to his Father the Commpassion of his Mother and the damnation of his brothers Philosophy teaches us that a paine is more sharp and bitter when 't is received in a power more pure and immaterial IESUS was pierced with paine not only in the inferior part of his soul but also in the superior which is wholy spiritual in the part in which He was blessed and his Beatitude also contributed to the increas of paine says S. Laurence Justinian He de tryumphali Christi Agone saw by the light of glory God face to face He knew clearly the Greatness of his Majesty the outrage and the injury that sin does him he loved him with a most ardent and excessive love and therefore He could not be but excessively afflicted seeing the Ocean of sins committed against that most high adorable and amiable Majesty The wounds of his Body were made by hands of Torterers hands indeed most cruell and inhumane Yet their activity had stil limits But the wounds of his heart were inflicted by the hand of love by the love which He had for his Father a love ineffable and incomprehensible If a soule that loved God well could have as much contrition as she would desire ô how would she pierce herself with sorow How willingly would she bathe herself in her tears ô how would she calcinate her poor heart JESUS had as much of sorrow as He desired and He desired as much of it as He had love for his Father his sorrow was equal with his love If He had seen but one only mortal sin committed against him whom He so loved He would have grieved infinitely ô how then was He afflicted when He saw so many so different and so enormous 9. The love which he had for his Mother was another nail that pierced his heart and which fastned him to this interior Cross He sees her present at all the Misteries of his bitter Passion He sees all the wonds of his Body united in her heart and we may say that his compassion was another Passion 10. He looks below His soul is sorrowfull He sees the torments of hell wherein so many shal be plunged notwithstanding his sufferances for them He sees that their wounds are incurable that they abuse his Blood death and merits and that after so many remedies they damne themselves for trifles and what He indured for them would serve but as oyle and sulphur to inflame the divine Justice to punish their ingratitude more rigorously 11. S. Austin wholy astonished at the sight of CHRISTS sufferance cry's out ô Son of God whither hath your humility descended whither hath your charity been inflamed whither hath your piety extended it self The Wiseman sayd that you have don every thing in number weight and measure But in this work of your Love You have observ'd neither number nor weight nor measure You have exceeded all hopes and desires You have made an excess that could not be imagined The Angells were astonished considering this wonder a God whipt a God cover'd with spittle the King of kings crown'd with thorns a God crucifyed for slaves a God pierced with sorrows for worms of the earth of whom He had no need and knowing that they would be ungratfull for so great a Benefit What transport what excess and if He were not God I might say with Pagans what folly of Love Gentibus stultitia 12. After a love so cordial undeserv'd and so excessive shal we not love him If the least slave had don the same for us He would be Master of our hearts and seeing a God hath don it shal He not be Qui non diligit Dominum Iesum Anathema sit 1. cor 16. 22. says S. Paul since JESUS suffer'd for us if any one love him not let him be Anathema Curs'd excommunicated and abhorred of all creatures But if any one should not love him and moreover be so ungratfull as to offend him what punishment would You wish him holy Apostle He adds it not nor can one wish him a pain so great as he deserves there should be a new hell to revenge an ingratitude so monstrous and enormous 13. For as S. Bernard sayd if Moses speaking to the Iews who had but a gross and imperfect Law who had
detestable and unnatural to reign so long in the whole world You have so much zeal for the salvation of men how permit you that so many souls fall into perdition I confess to you that you are terribly magnifyd You will magnify you will manifest the necessity and the excellencie of the grace of JESUS your Son you will shew how Excellent and precious it is since it was to be expected desired demanded by so many prayers of the Patriarks groanes of the Prophets teares and sighs of vertuous people how necessary it is since the light of nature the exquisite precepts of Philosophers the rich discourses of Orators the sharp invectives of Prophets the terrible threats of your Scriptures the exemplar chastisements of sinners joyn'd with the interiour grace you gave to men drew so few from Sin You will make known how freely it is given since you gave it in a time in which men did demerit it by so many crimes in a time in which the world was prostituted to sins so black enormous and excessive that they provoked vengeance instead of inviting your mercy T is S. Paul in the Epistle to the Romans and to the Galatians and after him S. Austin in divers places who Aug lib. 1. de Gratiae Christi Cap. 8. inculcate to us this verity that God lest so long the Gentills in their ignorance and the Iews in the weakness of their concupiscence for to oblige us to acknowledg confess and magnify the necessity of his grace 5. When we consider this I wonder we cry not out continually at least jn the bottom of our hearts Grace Grace with out it I know nothing I can do nothing I am nothing I marvell how we can be proud in any good work whatsoever that we cast not our selves into the center of our nothing and say with S. Paul By the grace of God I am what I am We are not sufficient to think any thing of our selves as of our selves If we will be aided by this grace without which we are in disgrace with God and miserable for ever we must do our duty before it coms when it coms and after it is come 6. Before it coms we must acknowledg and confess the need we have of it That which the Wiseman sayd of a particular Wisdom 8. 21. grace we must say of all knowing that I could not have the grace of continency if God did not give it to me I went to him and demanded it of Him with my whole heart and this very thing is Wisdom to know that t is a gift of God We must do the like We know or ought to know that we cannot practise any vertous action by which we advance towards heaven without the grace of God we must then ask it of him humbly fervently and with all our heart and this not once or twice but very often for since it is wholy necessary to the practise of Vertue and also to every good and meritorious work in particular ad singulos actus as the Councells Speake what shal we do and what will becom of us if we are not continually prevented by it 7. We cannot of our selves prevent and merit it But we can demerit it and render our selves unworthy of it by many great and enormous sins as the jews did Let us not do as Ezechiel 9. 9. they let us not hinder or retard the happy comming of his grace 8. And when it coms we must carefully not its genious and motions for fear of a mistake and of following the inclinations and the instincts of nature instead of the conduct and designes of grace for though they are wholy opposite they are in appearance very like and it imports very much not to be herein deceiv'd for they that are led by nature are children of the old man and they that are guided by grace are children of the new man JESUS CHRIST or as the Apostle says they are the Sons of God 9. Nature hates all captivity will not subjection nor humiliation loves to governe and command Grace loves subjection desires Thomas a Kempis de Imitatione Christi lib. 3. cap. 54. humiliation and will not govern or command if not obligd to it 10. Nature loves praise and glory to make it self seen and known to many to employ and dissipate it self in exteriour affaires Grace loves to be hidden and unknown to the world it seeks recollection and retyrement peace and communication with God 11. Nature flys all that gives difficulty or paine either to soul or body it seeks what is proper and particular loves its own ease and commodity and referrs all to it self and to its interest Grace requires that which is laborious which mortifys and is incommodious to the flesh which is serviceable and profitable to many which conduces to the glory of God When then you have thoughts and desires of the first sort beware such thoughts mistrust such inclinations what ever faire pretence appearance and hopes you may have to do good by following them for there is danger it is to be fear'd that they are not but the inclinations of Nature and the productions of self love But when you have thoughts and affections of the other sort suspect them not for they are ordinarily the instinctâ— and motions of Grace 12. When you have receiv'd it be very carefull not to be ungratefull Ingratitude says S. Bernard is a murtherer an opposer of S. Ber ser 3. de sept panib S. Ber. contrapessimum vitium Ingrat Grace an enemy to salvation I think nothing displeases God so much as ingratitude it shuts the door against grace which hath no entrance where this Vice is found There is nothing but ingratitude that hinders your advancement the Benefactor reputing the graces lost which he gave to the ungratefull shuts his hands and gives them to him no more Happy he who returns thanks for every benefit receiv'd from God who is the Source of all grace for when we are gratefull for favours receiv'â— we deserve to receive greater 13. When Grace hath produced in you or by you any good beware to say that Our high hand and not our Lord hath don these things Beware to attribute to your selves the glory of them say always as S. Paul by the grace of God I am what I am If I have not yielded to temptation t is by the mercy of God If I have receiv'd any grace from him t is by his mercy if I have consented to it and laboured with it t is by his mercy If I am exempted from many sins which are committed in the world 1. Cor. 4. 7. 't is by his mercy Who distinguishes you from others Have you any thing that you have not receiv'd and if you have receiv'd it why glorify you your self as if you had it of your self What difference is there between me and the most execrable Criminal in the world the mercy of God what difference and distinction between my soul
body The spiritual is the union of grace with the soul And the civil is the union of a man with his neighbors and a good repute amongst them Now the detractor sometimes takes away the first life often the second and very frequently the third The first sometimes either by creating mortal enemies against the poor absent person or by representing him as dishonest and unfaithfull whereby he loses those employments without which he cannot nourish himself nor his The second often for soon or late the detracted person heares of the Detractor he conceives a hatred of him and resolves upon reveng ah he sometimes dyes in this disposition and with the Devills is damn'd for ever The third frequently for generally speaking detraction takes effect and deprives the detracted of the good opinion others have of him which is the cement of the commerce that is between them so the detractor takes away his civil life and obliges himself to restitutions and reparations both of the honor and good name and of all the expences dammages and interects caused by his detraction which will be very hardly made 8 To avoyd a vice so pernicious both to you and others follow the counsell of the holy Ghost Weigh your words in a just Eccl. 28. 29. ballance before you utter them Remembet that in the judgment of God they shall be all exactly weighed examined judged punished or recompenced we must render an account in judgment of a word which hurts not how much more of those which blacken our neighbor rob him of his honour and are the caus of so many enmities and dissentions Remember when you are in passion and quarelling with your neighbor That you utter not the Prov. 25. 8. things which your eyes have seen lest afterward you cannot amend it when you have dishonoured him says the sacred text And in effect a detractive word is soon let forth but not so soon recalled words have not handells to be pulled back again when they have eschaped but they have wings which makes them fly away irrevocably if you would repair the honor of your neighbor whither will you go to seek all those to whom you have spoken and all those who have spoken of it after you and if you find them how will you raze out of their minds the bad opinion of their neighbor which you have imprinted in them And yet 't is a thing absolutely necessary unless you go to the person whom you detracted and pray him to pardon you and to free you from the obligation of restoring But if he does not 't is a verity avowed by all Doctors that you stand oblig'd to repair his honor in defect whereof the Pope himself cannot absolve you Calumniate not nor detract then any person but have charity which as the Apostle says Covers a multitude of sins so you will enjoy quiet in your self and peace with others you will obtain the grace and favour of God in this world and glory in the other Amen DISCOURS XL. OF THE SACRAMENTS IN GENERAL AS Creation is attributed to the Father Redemption to the Son So sanctifieation of souls is attributed to the holy Ghost becaus 't is an effect of particular love and goodness The more usuall way He takes for this work is the administration of Sacraments which are the instrumental causes of his graces chanells and conduits of his benedictions Before we speak of each one in particular 't is good to treat of them in general and to consider what is common to all the Sacraments of the Law of Grace Wherefore I will put before your eyes their causes the nature and effects of them 1. Tâ—e Efficient Caus who instituted the Sacraments is IESVS lib. 4. c. 4. de SacrameÌ„t Trid. ss 7. can 1. CHRIST Who is the Authour of the Sacraments but IESVS our Lord these Sacraments came from heaven says S. Ambrose And the holy Ghost by the mouth of his Spouse assembled in the Councel of Trent If any one shal say that all the Sacraments of the new Law were not instituted by CHRIST our Lord let him be anathema IESVS hath given his Apostles and his Church commission to institute Feasts Fasts and the Ceremonies of the Office but the institution of Sacraments He reserv'd to himself 't is He alone that bâ—queathed them to the faithfull as the magasins of his merits chanells of his graces and authentick proofs of his Divinity Yes of his Divinity 2. For in the institution and administration of Sacraments IESUS shews that he is God since He exercises and makes appear divine perfections His Power Wisdom Goodness Mercy Iustice and Providence 3. His Power They say usually in Philosophy that no creature however noble and eminent it may be can serve the Creator as an instrument to draw out of nothing another creature that a Seraphin cannot create no not instrumentally a drop of water or one only grain of sand Let them change now their tone and praise the power of IESVS CHRIST who makes use of common creatures to produce so excellent of material to to produce Spiritual of dead and inanimate creatures to create a divine life who makes use elements which are in the lowest order of nature to produce that which is most high and more excellent than all that is in nature who makes use of a little water to produce grace which is a participation of the life of God himself 4. He shews in this his Wisdom disposing of all things sweetly leading his creatures to their last End by means convenient and fitted to their nature If you had not bodys if you were as Angells S. Chryhom 60. ad Pop. Antioch separated from all corporeall matter God would give you his gifts purely spiritually and invisibly but becaus your souls are cloathed with terrestrial and materiall bodys God gives you his graces in material elements and in sensible signes 5. He exercises his Goodness for by the malediction thundred against the first man and his posterity corporeal creatures are Wisdom 4. becom to us temptations stumblingblocks and snares But by the Benediction of IESUS they are the matter of Sacraments conduits of his graces organs of our sanctification and instruments of our salvation 6. And whereas He is both mercifull and just in shewing us mercy he exercises his justice for man being by sin unjustly elevated against God who is infinitely above him he is justly punished and humbled seeing himself oblig'd to receive his salvation by corporal creatures which are so much below him 7. His Providence in sine herein does shine He foresaw that men are naturally inclin'd to an exterior worship and He provided Sacraments and Sacrifice which consist in exterior actions lest they should employ themselves in superstitions He sees that Vnity is necessary amongst his faithfull and to make them uniform in the exercise of Piety and divine service to unite them togeather in thâ— same Religion and the same Church He institutes exteriour actions
common to all Christians by which they may pay to God their Duties and receive from him his favours 8. But IESUS is not only the Authour and Institutor of Sacraments He is moreover the Dispencer of them who vouchsafes to confer and administer them to you to confer them I say not only as an universall and general caus but also as a special and particular 9. The Nature and the Essence of a Sacrament is to be a visible and effective signe of divine and invisible grace And they have very great resemblance with the Authour of grace with the subject of grace and with the effect of grace The Authour of grace is IESUS CHRIST Man God and the Sacraments represent him very naturally For as IESUS CHRIST if one may speak so is but a holy and wonderfull Compositum of the divine Word and humane nature so a Sacrament is but a compositum of the word of the Priest and of the material Element The subject of grace is the person that receives it he is composed of body and soul And the matter of the Sacrament is applyed to his body and the form which consists in words teaches excites and animates the faith and the devotion of his soul The effects of grace are different and very well represented by the exteriour signes or Sacraments The effect of Baptismal grace is to cleanse the soul from original sin and to temper the ardours of concupiscence and what is more proper to represent these effects than water The effect of Eucharistical grace is to feed nourish and cherish our souls and what is more proper to signify this nourishment than the species of bread we may say the same of the other Saments as we shal see God ayding when we treat of each one In particular let us content our selves at present to see that the Sacraments are practical and effective signes of the grace they signify of which only it now remains to speak 10. This word Grace in the Scripture and in the language of the Faithfull is taken in divers senses First it is taken sometimes for all favours that God does us also in the order of nature other times for free gifts of God term'd graces gratis given becaus they are not given for the deserts not for the benefit of the Receiver but for the good of the Church as the gifts of prophecie preaching and working miracles 11. 'T is not in any of these senses that 't is taken treating of the Sacraments 'T is taken for habitual and sanctifying grace which is a most excellent quality that Sanctifys us and renders us holy and just before God that makes us children of the eternal Father Brothers and Coheires with IESUS CHRIST living Temples of the holy Ghost Kings of heaven and Partakers of the Divine nature says S. Peter 2. Ep. 1. ss 7. can 6. 13. 'T is an article of Faith declar'd by the councell of Trent that all sacraments of the christian Church give Sanctifying grace to all that receive them worthyly If there were a Confessor so rich and liberal that he would give five or six Guinnies to all that should com and confess to him and as often as they should com who would not go would he not be opprest with people We are not Christians if we believe not firmly that as often as we confess or receive other sacrament as we ought we acquire a greater treasure than if one should give us a thousand guinnys yes in the ballance of Gods judgment and in the esteem of wisemen one only degree of grace is more precious and more worth than all the riches of the Indies becaus grace is of a superior order to all the goods of nature 14. But by the sacraments you receive not only one degree of grace but many In Isaiah it is sayd You shal draw waters in joy out of the Saviours fountaines 'T is not sayd you shal receive they shal be given you But you shal draw t is not sayd out of cisterns But out of fountaines if it were sayd you shal receive grace you might think that you should receive but as much as one would give you But since t is sayd that you may draw and also out of fountaines which cannot be drain'd you may take as much of it as you will The measure of the greater or lesser quantity of water that you draw out of a fountaine is not in the fountaine it self but in the greatness or littleness of the vessell wherein you draw it so the measure of the greater or lesser grace you receive in sacraments is not in the sacraments themselves but in the greater or lesser disposition which you bring it you com to them with much of faith attention contrition humility devotion fervour and love of God you will receive in them much grace if you go to them with little disposition you will receive but little and consequently 't is more profitable to confess and to communicate one only time with-great devotion than 5. or 6 times with little disposition 14. Moreover the sacraments give not only habitual and sanctifying grace but also actual and auxiliary graces which ayd us to obtain the end for which each Sacrament was instituted I explicate my self when you receive holy Orders in a good state and with the disposition that you ought in the sanctifying grace which you receive is included a promise which God makes you to give you actual graces to perform well the divine office to instruct the people to administer the Sacraments and to do other ecclesiastical functions to which you are apply'd and consecrated by holy Orders If you marry in a good state and as a christian in the sanctifying grace which you receive is containd a promise that God makes you to give you in occasions actual and auxiliary graces to live peaceably with your husband to breed up well your children to resist temptations against conjugal chastity and to practise other vertues to which marriage obliges you By which you see the great prejudice you do your selves when either you neglect or receive unworthily the Sacraments you deprive your selves of innumerable graces which God would oblige himself to give you in the rest of your life as the appurtenances and attendants of the grace which you should have receiv'd 16. This will render you extreamly culpable in the judgment of God and you will dye with great regret seeing you had so souveraigne remedies and helps and that you neglected so much to profit by them know that the Sacraments are talents of inestimable value but which are given us with an obligatioâ— to gain by them In S. Matthew IESUS compares himself to a Lord who gave Talents to his servants and finding that he who had receiv'd Mat. 25. but one had not gaind with it sayd cast the unprofitable servant out into exteriout darkness there shal be weeping and gnashing of teeth What then would He have don to him if he had lost his talent what
in effect you are not more holy nor more learned nor wiser than S. Austin And hear what he sayd to a Pelagian Heretick That which the Fathers believed I belive what lib. 1 contra Iul. c. 2. circâ— med they taught I teach what they preached I preach Follow the example of this great and holy Doctor if you be wise and carefull of your salvation follow always Antiquity and Vniversality in your beliefe say with the whole Colledge of the Apostles I believe the holy and Vniversall Church And to all the reasons of humane Philosophy that Dissenters oppose Answer that S. Paul hath sayd Our faith ought not to be in the wisdome of men 1. Cor. 2. 5. but in the Power of God Amen DISCOURS XLV Of the Production Reception and Operation of the Eucharist S Peter having in the first chapter of his first epistle taught us that we are born again by the seed of the word of God bids us in the second to desire as new born children reasonable milk that we may grow unto salvation by which words he does not only invite us to suck yet more the milk of saving Doctrine but moreover to the participation of the holy Eucharist which here he also signifys by milk And in effect there are three great conformities and resemblances between the milk which a mother gives her child and the adorable Sacrament of the Altar Conformitie in the manner of their production conformitie in the manner of their reception Confirmitie in the manner of their operation 2. S. Austin in his frst sermon upon the Title of 33 Psalme brings this pat comparison Imagin that you enter into the house of a mother of many children Some of fifteen or Sixteen years of age other but four or five monthes old if you ask her what will you do with that bread T is she will say for the nourishment of my children And of what children of these great and little ones What for the nourishment of these little ones they have no teeth how will they eate that bread Yes that bread is for the nourishment of all my children both great and little but in divers manners the great shal eate it in the form you see it and becaus the little ones cannot eate it so I will concoct it in my stomake and change it into my blood and becaus they would have horrour to take my blood in its own form I will concoct it a second time by the heat of my heart in the limbick of my breast where it will becom white as snow sweet as sugar and liquid as wine The Son of God in his Divinity is living bread enlivening bread the bread of Angells The Celestial Spirits do not live are not nourished saciated and happy but by seeing loving possessing enioying God men also ought to be nourished with the same food but in this mortall life they are uncapable to enjoy God in his proper form they cannot see him openly and face to face what hath the Son of God don who compares himself in Scripture to a loving Mother He incarnated this bread this divine Word incorporated himself and took the form of flesh and blood And becaus men would have had fear and horrour to eate his flesh and drink his blood in the form He was He concocted this Bread a second time in the breast of this Sacrament by the heat of his heart by an ardent love He again transform'd this Word and cloathed himself with the species of bread and wine which are common and usuall with us to be the milk and nourishment of men who are his little children And as a mother giving her breast to an infant exposeth herself to many importunities incommodities and pinches which he gives her So our Saviour shut his Eyes to many considerations of his glory and of his interest which might have hindred Him from instituting this Sacrament He exposed himself to a thousand affronts which He receives and will receive to the end of the world from Hereticks bad Catholicks and vicious Priests that communicate in the state of sin and â—hough He be the Sovereign Purity the essentiall Sanctity who abhorrs sin infinitely yet is content to suffer all these injuries rather than deprive his well beloved children of the happiness of this breast 3. Jn the second place this Sacrament is compared to milk in the manner 't is to be receiv'd It must be taken as children take the brest with faith hunger and familiarity 4. An infant takes the breast with shut eyes he examins nothing but sucks the breast trusting to his mother a Dissenrer proposes questions as the Capharnaits how can this man gives us his flesh Psal 130. to eate How can so great a body be contained in so little a Host If I am not humble and if I exalt my Soul I shal be like to an infant that is weaned from the brest sayd the royal Prophet This happens to a Dissenter he exalts his Soul thinking that he hath much of knowledg and understanding he examins the power of the Omnipotent and will find that to be impossible which our Saviour sayd and he is weaned from this sacred brest Catholicks as humble simple docible children trust the Church their Mother who neither can nor would if she could deceive them they silence senses and shut the eyes of fallible reason to open only those of infallible Faith 5. They that have a lively faith of that which is contained in this Sacrament have a great appetite to it an earnest desire of it and therefore they reape incredible fruits from it The Virgin sayd in her canticle God fills the hungry with good things Such as approach to him with a Spiritual greediness and avidity see says S. Chrysostome with what readiness a little infant takes the teat with what force he joyns himself to the brest you would thinke that Hom 60. ad pop he would thrust himself into the brest of his mother or that he would suck out the heart and soul of his nource and if he be one only day without this refection he is wholy unquiet troublesome and insupportable Do the same says this holy Doctor go to the Body of IESUS amorously ardently and greedily as if you would lodg your self in the sacred side of JESUS unite your self to Him heart to heart soul to soul essence to essence and transform your self wholy unto Him and when by your fault you are depriv'd of this divine refection be sorry and troubled as having suffered a great loss 6. And after you have had the happiness to receive make good use of it This Sacrament hath a permanent Being and remaines as long as the species in the stomack that IESUS may have leasure to convers with us and we with Him We ought then to keep him company to court and entertain him by acts of adoration gratitude love oblation of our selves with resolution to serve Him well we must believe He coms to us full of
good will for us that He desires nothing more than to fill us with goods to embrace us and to unite himself to us for ever we must cast our selves into his armes as an infant into his mothers put into his hand with great confidence our affaires afflictions salvation and our family ô God! I trust in you you are infinitely good you give your self to me you will give surely that which is much less 7. The third conformitie of the Eucharist with milk is in the manner of their operation First this is proper to milk amongst other nourishments that it is the whole feast and the entire refection of the infant it Satisfys hunger and thirst and serves him for meat and drink And this is also proper to the Eucharist that in one only Species of it is contain'd the whole refection of the Soul you are as well communicated and spiritually fed in taking the Host alone as in receiving both Host and Chalice 8. Here Dissenters think that they have a great advantage of us declaming against our communion in one kind But I see not how they can except against it For whatsoever the protestant people do in receiving of this Sacrament Catholicks do or may do too and what more ought to be don the Catholick Church does it and the Protestants do it not must one feed upon Christ Crucified by Faith Catholicks do it must the Eucharist be taken in remembrance of Him and his Death and Passion they do it must the people drink wine out of a Cup Catholick people do the like and over and above this they communicate the very Body of their Redeemer animated with his Soul full of blood and hypostatically united to his Deity this ought to be don to the end we may have life in us and Dissenters do it not But since they desist not to cry out and say that we deprive our people of the necessary means which Christ hath left them for their Salvation I must make you see that the holy Scripture the Fathers and Antiquity do authorize our practise 9. What pretend you in communicating Is it not to have eternall life you will acquire right to it in receiving but the Host for IESUS CHRIST sayd in most clear words He that eates Iohn 6. 51. and 58. Aug. tr 27. in Ioan of this bread shal live for ever And before the murmuration of the Capharnaits He spoke not of drinking his Blood but of eating his Body only He spoke not then of drinking his Blood but to answer to the gross thought of the Capharnaits and to tell them that they were not to eate his flesh separated from his blood dead cut and mangled as S. Austin says they thought but to eate his living Body full of blood Nor did He command all men to drink of the chalice or cup when He sayd in S. Matthew Drink ye all of this For these words were not spoken to all men nor to all the Faithfull But to all the Apostles and to them all only which is manifest out of the text it self for what S. Matthew says was commanded to all S. Marke relates to have been answerably perform'd by all they drank all thereof the second all is restrain'd to all the Apostles to whom only He spoke these words as also the other before and after and who were then made Priests what reason then is there to extend the former words farther then the Apostles Christ himself gave most S. Luke 24. probably the Eucharist under one only species to the Disciples that went to Emaus for He vanished says S. Luke as soone as they knew Him in breaking of the bread which S. Hierome S. Austin 5. Hier. in Fp. Paulae ad Eusto S. Aug. lib. 3. de consen Evang. c. 25. Et Ep. 59. ad Paulinum S. Paulinus V. Bede and other Doctors do understand and also prove to have been the holy Eucharist And 't is evident in S. Ambrose in Eusebius in S. Cyprian and in Tertullian that the primitive Church which would do nothing against the express command of Christ did give it often to the faithfull did carry it in journeys did send it to the absent and to the sick in one only kind or species and therefore they also held it to be as milk a whole and entire refection 9. Milk is given to an infant to nourish and make him grow and the Eucharist was instituted to make the children of the Church to increase and thrive in Christian perfection and therefore t is institituted under the species of bread which nourishes fortifys and causes groweth S. Ambr. orat de fratre suo Satyro Euseb lib. 6. c. 36. S. Cyprian de lapsis Tertull. lib. 2. ad uxor 10. Milk hath this property that it communicates often to infants the humours and the complexion of the Nource when the Poets describe a cruel man they are not content to say a rock hath brought him forth but they add that Tygars have given him suck And the holy Canons counsell mothers to nourse their own Children as much as may be for fear that giving them to vicious persons they suck with milk the ill humours of the nources The Son of God is not content to bring us forth in Baptisme He himself gives the brest He nourishes us with his own flesh that He may communicate his own inclinations to us He after communion sayd to his Disciples That the world may know I love my Father rise let us go to suffer for his glory So after communion we must examin our selves what service can I render to God what can I do that may conduce to his honor what is that in me or mine that displeases him and which I may correct if we use so this precious milk it will make us grow in perfection it will make us like to Him who nourishes us with his own substance it will give us his complexion and resemblance and if we resemble Him on earth in the life of grace we shal resemble Him in heaven in the life of glory Amen DISCOURS XLVI Of the Eucharist as a Sacrifice SAcrifice is a worship so noble and so proper to the Almighty as none either in heaven or in earth may partake with him in it So due to him and so necessary for men that every Law and Religion hath been stil anexed with a correspondent Sacrifice and Christians have all the reasons to honour God by it the Iews and those of the Law of nature ever had We are an externe and visible Congregation as they were We have the passion of the Messias to be represented before our eyes now with us past as with them it was to come we have the same God with the same worship to be honoured for received benefits to be praised for our sins to be appeased for favours to be invocated 2. Wherefore God promised us a Sacrifice by his Prophet Malachias Malac. 1. 10. where rejecting the ancient Sacrifices and
objection which the Catholicks de Ieiunio C. 1. 3. 13. cont Psychicos made against him who would have had them to keep three Lents the Apostles sayd they imposed no other Lent common to all then that in the time when CHRIST was taken from the Church his spouse by his death and Passion S. Hierome in Europe speaking of the Novelty of the Montanists says they observ'd three lents as if three Saviours had suffered but we observe but one of them according to the Tradition of the Apostles And the same holy Father writing to Marcella tels her the Ember dayes as well as the Lent were instituted by the Apostles In Asia S. Gregory of Nazianzen reprehending a Perfect named Epist 74 Celusius sayd to him you dispensing with your self from fasting do injury to the Lawes how will you keep humane lawes since you contemne divine 4. You wiâ—l not thinke the precept of fasting too severe if you consider the reasons which moved the Apostles to institute the Lent It was first to commemorate and honor the retreat and the penance of our Saviour in the desert to honor it I Rom. 8. 26. say by imitation according to our power For S. Paul says his servants must follow and imitate him to be one day with him In what must they follow and imitate him Not in preaching and in working miracles but in fasting or suffering for the love of him his Apostle declares it in these express words Let us shew that we are the Ministers or servants of God by our fasts our watchings our labors and other practises of 2. Cor. 6. 6. vertue Note in Fasts not in fasting once or twice a year as many do when they form some designe but many dayes as our Saviour hath given us example In the second place the Lent was instituted for the conversion of souls to purify our consciences from the ordure of sin by the practise of penance and by this sanctification to dispose us to receive worthily the Eucharist For the Prophet Ioel says fasting conduces much to a true conversion that it is one of the parts of penance convert your selves to me in fasting Ioel. 2. 14. The Lent is moreover fasted to make the anniversary funerall of our Saviours death But sorrow and funeralls are incompatible with good cheer for the holy Ghost distinguishes and opposes them to one another It is better says He to go to the house of mourning then to the house of banqueting 4. S. Paul tels us that many have their Belly for their God for this reason they are very eloquent and zealous to plead its cause they fight for their God with many arguments With some they would shew fasting to be superfluous or superstitious with others hurtfull or pernicious If you are predestinated will you not be saved say they without your fasting do you thinke God did expect your fasting to predestinate you Answer God did not expect our fasts but He foresaw them and other good workes for which He predestinated us to glory or this He did predestinate and this He does decree that by these means we shal obtaine that end not otherwise CHRIST fasted for you to deliver uou from this labor Why do you then afflict your selves in vain by fasting as if Christs fast did not suffice for your salvation without your little fasts Answer CHRIST also would be baptised and indeed for us not for himself and yet it follows not that I ought not to be baptized so though He fasted for me yet I ought to fast by his Example He suffered for us says S. Peter leaving us an example S. Peter 1. 2. Rom. 8. 17. that we may follow his footsteps and S. Paul if we suffer with Him we shal be also glorifyd with him Since you are resolv'd to fast why do you not chose rather to fast voluntarily than necessarily Have you not read in the Psalmist I will Sacrifice to you voluntarily Answer a fast commanded by the Church is better than that we take up by our own election for this proceeds out of one vertue to wit Temperance that from two Temperance and Obedience And if a commanded fast should proceed from obedience obly yet it would be so much better and more Excellent than the other how much the vertue of obedience is better than that of Temperance Obedience is I. Kings 15. 22. better than Victimes sayd Samuel to Saul And obedient Souls fast not as you suppose unvoluntarily with regret and sorrow but voluntarily with alacrity and gladness 5. The Epicurians and the Advocats of self love urge as they imagin yet more forcibly and to justify themselves make this remonstrance We must love our bodys as well as our souls for God created both and loves both and wills that we do love them But fasting and other austerities hinder sleep punish the body and weaken it prejudice health and shorten life and consequently by fasts and other austerities we act against the will of God the law of nature and are injurious to our selves Answer a fool according to his folly lest he seem to himself wise God Would have us to love our Body True but He wills us to love it truly and to love it truly is to procure it by the means of fasting prayer and other exercises of vertue true perfect and everlasting health What does it profit the flesh that You nourish it delicately if you nourish it for hell If you feed it so that it becoms the fuel of eternal fire would you not love it better if you curb it and afflict it here a little with hunger and with thirst to have it sound and glorious for all Eternity This is that which our Saviour says Qui amat animam suam perdet eam et qui odit in hoc mundo animam suam in vitam Eternam 1. Iohn 12. custodit eam He that loves this temporal life and therefore permits not his flesh to be molested nor afflicts it with fasting watching and other vertuous labors does not keep it to everlasting life Fasting hinders sleep I believe it and it was also instituted to hinder too much sleep that so you may have more time for prayer spiritual reading and other exercises of a Christian Fasting punishes and afflicts the body I doubt not of it if well practised And do you thinke it was instituted for other purpose than to punish it you will not then go to heaven if the way be not easy and pleasing to the flesh if it be not strew'd with flowers and sweet herbs And where then is the law of christianisme which is a law of mortification and of the Cross And what will becom of these words of our Saviour Strive to enter by the narrow gate You say fasting does prejudice health and shorten life The Church the Canon law good Phisitians and experience Quicqd Etc. legimus de Consecra dist 5. say quite the contrary the Church in the Collect of
to drunkenness or to gluttony S. Paul says to us that our belly is our God if we are avaricious he declares to us that Philip. 3. 19. Colloss 3. 5. Ephes 5. gold and silver are our Idolls if we are unchast we adore an Idoll of flesh If it be our designe to greaten our selves and to make our fortune at what rate soever our idolls are the world and its vanities or our children If we cloath our selves excessively our Idolls are our bodys in a word all that weighs most in the ballance of our affections is our God says S. Austin Banish then all such inordinate affections honor and adore the true God only give your selves to him without reserve love him bless him fear him serve him with all your heart refer to him all that you do all that you say all that you are He only is your treasure your refreshment your life and your glory He alone is your honour prosperity and felicity in soul and body in time and in eternity upon earth and in Heaven where He will satiate and make you perfectly happy by the enjoyment of his eternal glory Amen DISCOURS XXIX OF THE FIRST COMMANDEMENT Thou shalt not have strange Gods before me c. AS by this commandement God excludes vnjust worship and adoration of fals Gods So by the same He demands just honor and homage which we owe to the only true God It is by the Vertue of Religion that we acquit our selves of this obligation For this vertue moves us to give to God the honour worship and adoration due to him by reason of the infinite Excellence of his nature and sovereignity over althings It teaches us to honor him by our Vnderstanding and our Will with our Body and ouâ— goods and moreover to honour althings that are specially referr'd to him And this is that which is exacted of us by this Commandement and which we shal shew in this Discours 1. The Vertue of Religion hath this Excellency amongst other moral Vertues that we may practise it in all occasions and in all times We have always the object of it great reason and Power to do it The object God is always near us we are in his presence He is always great and worthy of honor Great reason He obliges us incessantly we receive from him continually Being Preservation Motion we should think of him as often as we breath if we could and He did require it of us we have always Power to exercise this Vertue for there is no need of riches strength of body fine words It is practised by the motion of the heart by the affection of the soul by the acts of the understanding and the Will 2. By the understanding we must conceive a high and great esteem of his Greatness and Excellence of his Power Wisdom Goodness Iustice and other Perfections apprhend lively believe firmly profess humbly that He is infinitely Powerfull Wise Good that whatsoever He does He does it most wisely justly holily that all that we can think all that the Angells can conceive of his Greatness is nothing to that He is We must acknowledg before God that he is our Creator Beginning last End soveraign Good true Treasure only Beatitude that He is our legal Lord soveraign King that He can dispose of us more justly and absolutely then a King of his Vassal then a Master of his slave then a Potter of his earthen Vessel that if He should take our Children from us our goods honor life without having given Him any occasion of offence He would not do us injury would use his right would be in so doing most just amiable and adorable By our will we must resolve to do promptly all that we know conduces to the service of God and to the advancement of his glory and to avoyd all things which displeas Him To desire and beg frequently the things that are convenient to be asked of him that so we may honour and reverence Him by submitting our selves to him and by acknowledging that we have need of him and totally rely on him To adore him often professing subjection to his divine Will in acknowledgment of his excellency and infinite Majesty and our subjection and dependance on Him 3. And becaus we are composed of soulw and body and receive them and all other goods from him we owe him not only the interiour but also the exteriour acts of Religion such is Sacrifice by which we honour him as our God and Soveraign professing his supream Dominion and a dependency of all things on him we thanke him for Benefits satisfy his justice and implore succour of our necessities such is the use of Sacraments by which we tacitely protest that God is the Sanctifier and the Authour of grace which subjects to him more and more our Souls Such are genuflections prostrations to testify by these signes the high esteem we have of his Greatness and our submission to him Such in fine are thankes Vocal prayers prayses and other like tributes of honor and homage which we pay to him We ought more over to employ our labour and to use our goods for the service of him Yea to contemne our honor and sacrifice our lives in a just occasion 4. And since all that is in God is God and consequently amiable honourable and adorable we ought also to honor and adore all his divine Attributes and Perfections cheifly in occasions when it pleases him to practise them When he sends prosperities to vertuous people or to their children adore his fidelity who promised to favour the vertuous when He gives goods to ill men adore his Goodness who does good to his Enemies when He calls a just man out of this life who seem'd necessary in this world adore his Independence who hath not need of his creatures when He preserves in life the Vicious adore his Patience and Longanimitie When He sends afflictions adore his justice 5. In fine the Vertue of Religion obliges us to reverence God not only in himself and in his divine Perfections But also in his Friends and Servants in the Times and Places which are particularly consecrated to his service and in all that hath a special respect and relation to his Majesty It was by this disposition that Iosuah 5. Gen. 48. 16. Psal 138. Or. 139. Apoc. 1. 4. Iosuah honoured the Angel that appeared to him That Iacob prayed an Angel to bless his Children That David honoured very much the friends of God And that S. Iohn Evangelist implores the assistance of Angells to obtain grace and peace from God It was by the same Vertue that great S. Antony honoured Priests as Ministers of Christs Inheritance Officers of his Crown and Dispensers of his treasures and that meeting even the least of them he fell upon his knees and demanded his Benediction By this Vertue S. Charles the Great entred into Rome and visited a foote the Churches of it embrased and kissed with devotion the Pillars of them By
this Vertue another Saint Charles the Cardinal Boromeus honoured so much the holy scripture that also studying it he read it always kneeling and uncover'd The seraphical Saint Francis commanded that papers which had the name of God written in them should not be Prophan'd but plac'd in decent and convenient places S. Lewis forbid painting and graving of the Cross upon the pavement for fear the people should tread upon it On Festivalls and Vigills in honor of the Saint celebrated or of the Mistery solemnized he gave dinner to two hundred Poore and serv'd them at the table He fasted all fridays of the yeare and in those of Advent and Lent he eate neither fish nor fruit becaus these two Times are consecrated to God 6. If these great Saints were now on earth what would they say what would they do seeing the comportment of men What thinke they now in heaven seeing the irreligion of those who will not allow them any honor though God does honor them and honor be a due salary of their Vertue who count it superstition Luke 15. 6. Luke 16. Apoc. 5. 8. and 8. 4. Matth. 18. 10 to implore their intercession though they have credit and favour in the sight of God do hear our prayers do know our necessities have experienced our miseries and have Charity and affection for us as the scriptures tell us What thinke they seeing the indevotion of others who rise in the morning and go to bed at night as beasts who sit down to table at noon as Epicurians and pass over the day as if there were no God who even fear to assist often at the Sacrifice to frequent the Sacraments to adore God and pray him as they ought lest men laugh at them and call them devotes or hypocrites though they are not ashamed to do ill in open street What do they think in fine seeing such irreverences of men towards holy things They employ the time of holy days in playing in visits and drunkenness if they discours for pleasure and recreation it seems not well seasoned if it clash not upon Priests or Religious Persons if they com to the Church it is not to appease God but to offend him to see and to be seen They prophane the holy scripture and use it in their jests meriments and Scurrilities 7. Si Ego Pater ubi est honor meus If I am the Father where is my honour He might have sayd if I am King If I am Iudg. If nature teaches the most barbarous to honour their father who is more worthy of honor than He from whom we have received not Body only but also Soul and All 8. If we honor the King and also the Courtiers for his sake should we not honor the King of kings so great powerfull and Soveraign that all the Kings of the world are his Uassalls and are but wormes in respect of Him 9. If we honor Iudges becaus they have some Power in this world ought we not to honor him who is infinitely powerfull and from whom all power is dereiv'd And give also an inferiour honour to the Saints whom God does so much honor that He makes them our Iudges You shal sit says our great Iudg upon S. Matth 19. 28. 1. Kings 2. 30. seats judging the twelue Tribes of Israel Let us remember then what God says to Samuel whosoever shal glorify me I will glorify him and they that contemne me shal be base If we neglect the service of God if we respect not his friends and althings that specially appertain to him sooner or later we shal be contemn'd coâ—â—r'd with shame dishonour and infamy But if we honour him as we ought we shal be replenished with glory either in this world by the good odour of our reputation or in the other by the crown of justice which God reserves for us in Heaven Amen DISCOURS XXX OF THE SECOND COMMANDEMENT Thou shalt not take the Name of the Lord thy God in Vaine For the Lord will not hold him innocent that shal take the name of the Lord his God in Vaine Exod. 20. THe royal Prophet representing to us the name of God as holy represents it at the same time as terrible and dreadfull Holy and terrible is his name Let us confess to thy great name becaus it is terrible and holy And he joy ns Majesty and power with Sanctity to imprint in our hearts reverence and to stricke terrour into us lest we should at any Psal 110 Psal 98. time dishonour him And God assures us in this Commendement that he will punish us for it that we may not pretend ignorance to be any caus of it The Lord will not hold him Innocent that shal take the name of the Lord his God in vaine In other sins the mercy of God pleads in favour of sinners demands pardon strives S. Iames. 2. 13. with justice and sometimes overcoms it and mercy exalteth it self above iudgment says S. Iames But in this sin the Verity of God joyns it self to justice and obliges God to punish the prophaner lest his word do fail Is it not then a misery which de serves to be deplor'd with teares of blood to see that there is nothing so licenciously and frequently prophan'd and abus'd by Christians as the name of God by pronouncing his holy name irreverently violating Vowes unworthily swearing falsly or prophanely Cursing or blaspheming detestably 2. But some will say Oathes are they essentially naught Is it not permitted to swear sometimes Yes 't is lawfull since the Scripture permits and approves it Saints have practised it and God himself vouchsafes to sweare The Prophet Hieremy permits us Hierem 4. 2. Psal 62. 12. Apoc. 10. 6. Gen. 14. 22. 3. kings 17. 1. Rom. 19. 2. Cor. 1. 23. Gal. 1. 20 Gen. 22. 16. Hier. 22. 24. Luke 1. 73. Psal 109 to sweare in the name of God provided it be with all necessary circumstances David praises those that sweare by the true God not by fals Deities as Pagans did Angells Patriarks Prophets and Apostles have sometimes sworn An Angel in the Apocalyps lifts up his hand to heaven and sweares by him that lives for ever and ever that after judgment there will be no more time In the book of Genesis the Patriarke Abraham says to the King of Sodom I lift up my hand to the most high Majesty of God who possesses heaven and Earth In the third book of kings the Prophet Elias sayd by the living God in whose sight I stand S. Paul in his Epistle to the Romans God is my witness that without intermission I make a memory of you In the second to the Corinthians I call God to witness upon my soul that sparing you I came not any more to Corinth And in the Epistle to the Galatians Behold before God that I ly not God himself whose least word is more firm then heaven and earth having nothing greater then himself vouchsafes to sweare by himself and by
46. 16. and should burn in Sacrifice all the beasts that feed on it in acknowledgment of Gods Benefits all that would not be enough He sayd true but he sayd not all for we may add if we should make a fire with all the fewell in the world and all men and Angells should be therein consum'd for the honor of God all that would not suffice to acknowledg worthily the favours He hath don us But when we offer to God the precious Body of his Son we render him that which doth counterpoise all Benefits He hath don not only to poor sinners upon Earth but moreover to Saints in Heaven 8. This Host of praise being presented to God in thanksgiving for favours obtaines other If you shal aske says our Saviour any Iohn 16 23. thing of my Father in my name He will give it you We cannot better ask of God any favour in the name of IESUS then having Him with us upon our Altars in our hands and within us The Clemency of God will have regard to the love He hath for Him to the sacred Oblation you present to him and harken to the petitions you make by him Have you much offended God deserv'd his justice and his anger Do you fear the effects of his vengeance Dare you not appear in his presence by reason of the enormity of your crimes Take into your company the Heire of heaven the beloved of the eternal Father assist at Mass devoutly offer to the Father the precious Body which is there Sacrificed the blood which there is poured forth the Passion which there is represented and you will appease his anger and He will harken to your requests For it was for this chiefly that Christ instituted this Sacrifice to be the sacred Victime which appeases the wrath of God as he declares in Saint Luke when you are in the state of sin if mass be sayd S. Luke 22. 20. for you or if you assist at it this obtaines of God actuall graces lights and good motions to enter into your selves to quit the sin and to convert your selves to God if you resist not the Summons of his graces when you are in the state of grace Part of the merits sufferances and satisfactions of IESUS CHRIST are applyed to you to acquit your debts and to deminish the pains due to your sins 9 But suppose you are not indebred to the Iustice of God the poor souls in Puâ—gatory are and you may help them much by making a mass to be sayd or by hearing one for them For 't is not in vaine says S. Chrysostome that the Apostles ordain'd that in the dreadfull Misteries we make a memory of the dead for they knew that by it arriv'd to them great benefit And S. Cyrill of Hierusalem S. Chry. tom 3 in Ep ad Philip. S. Cyrill Catech. Mystag 5 Paulo ante medium Aug. lib. 9. Confes C 35. we beseech God for the dead believing the obsecration of that holy and dreadfull sacrifice which is put upon the Altar to be a great kelp to the soules for which 't is offered Wherefore S. Augustine in his Confessions prayes God to inspite the Bishops and the Priests of his acquaintance to remember his Father and Mother at the Altar 10 Having then seen how acceptable and glorious this Sacrifice is to God how beneficial both to the living and the dead fail not to assist at as many masses as you may hear them as devoutly as you can Offer them in the first place to God to do homage to your Soveraign to render him your respects and humble submissions to pay him the tribute of honour and service which you owe him Secondly to thanke him for an infinity of most great and inestimable benefits you have received from him benefits in soul benefits in body benefits of nature grace spiritual and temporal Thirdly to appease Him and to ask pardon of Him for jnnumerable sins you have committed and to gaine his favour represent to Him the love which his Son had for Him the zeal which He had for his glory the service He hath don Him offer and lay before Him the Mysteries of his Incarnation Nativity Circumcision his life labors and Passion this is that which S. Paul calls obsecrations Fourthy beg light and guidance in your actions succour and assistance in temptations love and grace to keep his commandements and all that is necessary as well for the spiritual as the temporal and you should do all these dutyes not only for your family but also for others If you assist at mass so you will not receive only the many and great advantages of it in this life but moreover reap the fruits of the Mysteries which the Mass represents to you and which glory discovers to the Blessed in the other Amen DISCOURS XLVII OF THE THREE PARTS OF PENANCE 1. AMongst many expressions which the holy Ghost vses in the scripture to make us conceive the maligne and monstrous nature of sin one of the most natural is the comparison of an impostume An impostume is a corruption of flesh and blood in our bodys which makes a stinking smell sin is a corruption of reason and of vertue in our souls which cause a stink unsupportable to God and his Angells They are corrupted and made abominable says the Royal Prophet All Surgeons will tell you and daily experience Psal 13. 1. shews it that to cuâ—e an impostume three things are necessary First it must be cut with a lancet secondly the corruption must be forced out in the third place it must be bound up oyls and unguents being applyed to it Such like are the three parts of penance so often repeated and so ill practised Contrition is the cut of the lancet Confession is that which brings out the corruption Satisfaction is the application of the unguents and binders These are the 3. Acts necessary to cure the spiritual but horrible impostume of sin of which I shal treat in this Discours In which omitting the Questions of Scholasticks I propose only Verities drawn out of Scripture and Councills of the Church 2. First then it is certain that 't is absolutely necessary to repent after sin that without repentance there is no pardon no grace of God no hope of salvation whatsoever Confession or Satisfaction you do make whatever absolution is given you Whatsoever indulgence or Iubily is granted you If you want this repentance also without your fault though also you think you have it if you have it not in effect there is no Sacrament nor absolution profitable And certainly Absolution is not more efficacious and requires not less disposition than Baptisme But to receive profitably Baptisme if we be in mortal sin we must have sorrow for it for in the second and third chapter of the Acts S. Peter having made a powerfull predication and his Auditours being moved inquired of him what ought we to do to obtain pardon of our sins He answered do Penance and