in receiving Honours And this which seems to be a very hard Law is so sweet an one that though St. Paul contents himself here with an Equality yet some Saints as we see in the Examples that have been given pass on further and express more Joy in Sufferings than in Comforts though these come from God and those from the hands of Men. As we may believe that the Divine Goodness of our Lord took more delight in Redeeming Mankind upon the Cross than in the Glories of his Transfiguration upon Mount Tabor though upon Mount Tabor those Favours came from the hands of his Father and upon Mount Calvary his Sufferings came from the hands of Men. So likewise those who suffer for God the Holy Apostles and all those that now follow or have followed them rejoyce more in Pains and Tribulations which God sends them by the hands of Men than in those Favours and Comforts which they receive immediately from God himself Therefore our Saviour said to his Disciples at his going to his last Supper when he was beginning to enter upon his Holy Passion With a great desire have I desir'd to eat this Passover with you but he said no such thing to them when he went to the Glories of Mount Tabor In imitation of this we read of one that for a favour begged of Christ to be crowned with Thorns another to bear the marks of his Wounds with a lively feeling of his dolorous Passion One Devout Soul begs Lord if I may obtain my desire grant that I may be despised for thy sake Another meditating on Christ crucified Lord I desire nothing but thy self and to be crucified with thee This in my Opinion was an high and wise Petition because he asked to suffer with Christ in this life as Christ in this life had suffered for him and then presently to have Christ himself for a Reward in the Life Eternal for he that begs for Christ crucified to be made his it is clear he does not beg for a Glorious Christ but wounded bloody and in the anguish of his Passion and so he asked not the Crown of Thorns alone nor the five Wounds alone but also what he suffer'd in the scourgings at the Pillar Not only the Mockeries the Buffetings and the pains of his Passion but the Slanders Affronts and Persecutions which he suffered before it And not those alone but whatsoever he suffered from his Blessed Mother's Womb and the Manger till he expir'd upon the Cross This we ought to ask and imitate in this life and to advance thereby in Grace and Patience and thereby thou shalt see how certain it is that such Holy Devout Persons not only do possess that equality of Patience wherewith St. Paul Arms his Spiritual Man in receiving Affronts and Crosses with as chearful a Countenance as the Pleasures of this World but that their Delight is greater and their Patience more chearful in suffering than their Joy is in rejoycing The Second WEEK Of the Ninth and Tenth Fruits of the Holy Spirit Goodness and Meekness THese two Fruits of the Spirit which God gives to those that are exercised in the Spiritual Life are as the Cause and the Effect for in truth Goodness is the Mother of Meekness And as some Fruits by reason of their great fecundity grow one within another and as an Ear of Corn produces many Grains so Goodness produces Gentleness Meekness and Affability repeated again and again in all its words and actions And we must take notice that this Goodness which St. Paul names here for a Fruit of the Spirit is not barely that Vertue which is the first cause of Grace that is to say a disposition to receive and to hold it by the Soul 's being free from the guilt of any great sin for that is a Fruit of the Divine Goodness and Mercy which gave the Soul light and strength to cast out sin rather than a Fruit of the Spirit But the Goodness here meant is in my Opinion an high Gift of Grace and Favour which God grants to holy Souls after they have serv'd him long in the Spiritual Life whereby the Soul is cleansed and purified not only from greater sins but even from lesser nay even the least Passions and by taking away those Barks as it were and inward Rinds of our Nature lays it bare and naked from those folds and doublings of imperfect Habits leaving the Soul in so great a purity truth and sincerity that St. Paul calls it perfect Goodness It is as if God should make an Old Man to become a New Man or as if an old decayed and broken House should by his Power not only be repaired and strengthened and made up again in the same proportion grace and Beauty it had at first but also be brought to a greater perfection and enriched with more costly Ornaments And though it still leaves in him the incitement and provocation to sin for that never ceases nor does Grace take it away yet it is as much weakened and disabled as Reason was in it before This Goodness and Sincerity the Lord found in holy Job and to give him an high Praise indeed he said He was single and upright God by his Grace had taken from him all those folds and doublings which we have in our Souls those corners and hollow places where Malice uses to dwell He had cast out all Imperfections from thence and had filled it with his Lights and Vertues making him a Mirrour of his high Perfections This Goodness and Sincerity is that which Christ desir'd to find in his Disciples when they were contending who should be the greatest and he Discoursing upon it took a Child and laying his Holy Hands upon the Head of that little Angel said unto them Unless ye become as this little Child ye cannot enter into the Kingdom of God Some Authors say this Child was St. Ignatius afterwards Bishop of Antioch and Martyr who was one of the most Holy Disciples that the Apostles had and from that touch of Christ's hand he became so much in love with him that he took for his Motto Amor meus crucifixus est For his only Love was Christ crucified and at his Martyrdom this holy Man defied the Lions that were to tear him in pieces and said to them I am the Wheat of Christ and I shall be ground by your teeth that I may be worthy to be made the Bread of that Lord. This Digression I have made to quicken the Faith of Clergy-men for if Christ but by touching him made him to become so holy how holy ought we to be who not only touch the Bread of the Lord but the Bread which is the Lord and do so often Consecrate and Receive it Two things God requir'd of the Apostles in imitation of that Child first Humility for since they were proudly striving who should have the highest place he could not set before them a fitter Example than that Age and that Humility Do ye
beastly Passion common to Bruits that are not able to Discourse The Proud the Ambitious and the Covetous have something of Reason in them In those Vices something of Discourse is requisite and that Natural elation and vanity of the Mind speaks Superiority but the Base Lascivious and Sensual Person is very short and sottish in his Discoursing being totally sensual and bestial and agrees so much the more with Beasts by how much the more he is Brutish and Animal in his unbridled Passions Who is able to number the Ruins this Vice hath caused It is easier to lament than to reckon them See what it brought upon David It made that Heavenly Man become an Adulterer a Murtherer Treacherous Faithless and Cruel to a worthy and valiant Subject From the ill Example of the Father it pass'd on to the Incestuous Son and made Amnon to force his Sister Thamar Next it dispos'd Absalom to take Revenge by killing his Brother Amnon Thence proceeded the contempt of David's Reign when his Subjects saw themselves commanded by an Adulterous Murthering and Treacherous King Thence came a general Scandal and thence the Kingdom rebelled and the poor despised and persecuted King was fain to fly from his own Son bewailing the Sin he had committed the lives of an innumerable company of his Subjects being paid for one Sensual Delight Now if we have often imitated David in sinning let us imitate him also in repenting Let our Tears remedy that Mischief and let our Grief and Contrition help to make amends for our follies of Lasciviousness and let our Eyes bewail the Offence which by lustful looking upon Beauty they have committed Let Sorrow cure the heart that is wounded by that Passion and let the warning of such Examples make him Wise Chast and Wary who has been made Foolish Sensual and inconsiderate by the pleasure of a moment What Ruines and Misfortunes what Miseries and Desolations does not the Kingdom of Spain owe to this Sensual Vice It was above nine hundred Years under the Chain of an hard Captivity purging away the guilt of one sin hastily committed but long and sharply punished Look upon the Sensuality of the last King of the Goths how it made an end of his Empire threw down his Power to the ground drew Barbarians into Spain banished the Faith out of it filled it with Infidelity and quite rooted out the Valour and Goodness of the Gothish Nation Finally one momentany Delight cost the loss of an innumerable company of Lives and Souls This Example is of a Neighbour-Nation but the like Causes will probably produce the like Effects in other places many Instances whereof may be found in the Histories of all Countries to the end that great Persons chiefly may take warning because their evil deeds are of more dangerous consequence in the influence they have upon the Guilt and Punishment of others in this World but as to the other World even the meanest are as nearly concerned to fly this Vice for the consequence of it to them will be the rottenness of their Bodies and the damnation of their Souls which is bad enough unless God give them the Grace to Repent and forsake so ruinous a Vice Consider what the mischiefs of this sin must be in its Roots which produces such innumerable mischiefs in its Fruit What it must needs be in its beginning that has so dismal and lamentable an end what it must be in its original which gives birth to so many miseries and misfortunes O who could have believed that this Vice had been so heinous and so terrible One might have thought it indeed to be weak foul and ugly but not that it had power to produce such unspeakable mischiefs O! yes it works great ones and such as are truly unspeakable not only to each individual Person but also to the Publick Sensuality enervates the strength of Nations embases the Majesty of Princes blinds the Understanding weakens the Courage of their Souldiers besots the knowledge of their Wise men and fills the most Prudent with Ignorance and Folly Sensuality makes young men base and feeble old men blind and doting it dulls the reason of the wise darkens their knowledge in counsel and makes their Government rash heedless and inconsiderate It banishes Providence and casts out care and watchfulness from Kings and Kingdoms Of Remedies against Sensuality But what Remedy is there against such terrible Mischiefs God and the serious thought of him is the principal Remedy Prayer and begging earnestly of God to cleanse us and give us Chastity This is the only remedy since it is certain that no man can be chast without the gift of God Nemo enim continens esse poterit nisi Deus dederit Pray therefore continually that God would defend thy Soul from this Vice and give thee an hatred of it But together with this which is the principal Remedy there are others which God applies to free us from that inbred and Domestick Evil. And the first is the Protection and Intercession of Christ with his holy Example and thy endeavour to imitate the Purity of his Life for if thou prayest and actest contrary to thy Prayers thou provokest him to anger that should grant thy request and if thou wilt have the chast and holy Jesus to be thy Master thou must shew thy self to be his Disciple by striving to follow him in holiness and chastity Next this Remedy and even in this Remedy avoid the occasions of loosing thy Chastity Trust not in thy self nor presume upon thine own strength but believe thou shalt no longer be sav'd from falling than thou keepest thy self from the occasion of falling Think how is it possible to have live Coals upon thy Breast and not be burnt Think how is it possible that fire and tow should touch one another without being enflamed Think how is it possible to dawb thy self with Pitch and not be defiled Consider I say that there is as little possibility to escape safe from a voluntary and very near occasion If thou hast escap'd to day it is in a manner a Miracle and it is ten thousand to one that thou shalt fall miserably to morrow if thou presume to venture upon it again and shalt fall so much more fouly and irrecoverably by how much the more thou art confident that thou shalt not Let not thy Passion nor thy foolish Presumption deceive thee thou art not holier than David nor wiser than Solomon nor stronger than Sampson and yet all these fell by not avoiding the occasions and these were publick warnings which God hath left to the World to the end we may open our Eyes and be more wary Art thou a Spiritual Person and dost not avoid the occasions of sin Why then thou art not a Spiritual Person Thinkest thou because thou livest upon thy guard thou shalt not fall If thou trustest to that thou art fallen already unless thou also livest retired Sometimes nay often a Spiritual Person that exposes himself
never depart out of my mind Amen APRIL The First WEEK Of the Torments of Hell 1. OH what terrible things are these Death Judgment Account and Sentence without any Remedy Yet there are things more terrible than all these and they are viz. To be damned and to suffer the Torments of Hell to all Eternity Death is Life Judgment is Joy the Account is Pleasure and the Sentence is Delight in comparison of what it is to depart from thence condemned to be thrown eternally into Hell and Damnation and to suffer there those intolerable pains which a sinner hath deserved here This is that which makes Death terrible Judgment formidable the Account insupportable and the Sentence dreadful Actions are measur'd by their Successes and Causes by their Effects 2. If they had condemned me to lye for many years in some strait place and some narrow Dungeon and always in obscure darkness where mine eyes should never see the Light that were a great Evil but in Hell the darkness is far more horrible without the least hope of light 3. If they had condemned me for ever to suffer extremity of Torment though but in one Hand in one Foot or in any one particular Member that were a great Evil But in Hell the whole Body and Soul suffer together without having one part or Member free to comfort another and all of them suffering for ever and ever 4. If they had condemned me to some moderate pain of sense and such as might have been endur'd leaving my Thought and Understanding free yet that pain being for ever would be a very great Evil but that in Hell is far greater for the pains that are suffered there are unmeasurably sharper both in their intension and extension 5. If they had condemned me to lye among Gally-Slaves Traytors and Murderers the vilest and basest of Wretches men of abominable Life and worse Manners this were a great Evil to be tyed to such ill Company But they condemn me to be amongst utter Enemies who not only abhor but would fain destroy one another and themselves too to hear nothing else but Yellings and Blasphemies to see none but Tormentors executing their Rage and their Revenge upon the damned by a death that knows no death and an end that is still beginning and which keeps it duration even in the midst of Torment 6. If they had condemned me to some limited time though it were for a hundred years to suffer such sharp and terrible pains that were a great Evil since we see that one year of acute pain is insufferable how much more then for millions of millions of years But for ever for ever for ever to suffer innumerable and remediless Miseries and Torments which have no end nor limitation but must last eternally who can be able to suffer and undergo them 7. If they had condemned me to all these Sufferings in my Body alone leaving my Soul free that I might feel no more Affliction than what is caused by the Punishment of my Body that were an intolerable Evil but the torment which is felt within is greater than that without and more insufferable is that excess of grief and anguish which the never dying Worm of Conscience gives unto the Soul than all the pains and torments which are laid upon the Body These are as it were the body of Hell but the soul of it is the torment of the Soul far more intolerable and disconsolate Yet this is but a slightdraught a very remote and faint description of Hell in general consider it now in particular The Second WEEK Of the Place of Hell 1. COnsider now the Place of Hell the Habitation of Devils the horrible dwelling of the Damned A dwelling that is no dwelling a habitation that is no habitation a place that is no place but horror darkness fire torment and confusion There is nothing in those unhappy Prisons that speaks order there is nothing that speaks distinction all is disorder all is contrariety all flame and yet all obscurity All that is seen there is fire and flame which do torment but not enlighten The Place where those miserable wretches are condemned is Sorrow their Rest is Affliction their Food is burning and their walk a passing from one terrible pain to another more intolerable 2. The Lodgings of that horrible Palace are Racks and Tortures the Halls and Galleries are fire and its continuance the Chambers and Closets are vexation and anguish the Windows are darkness and the Light is to see nothing but miseries and woes Think what they shall do and suffer there who here imploy all their care and spend all that Money which they owe to the Poor in sumptuous Buildings in stately Appartments in costly Furniture in curious Pieces and in rich Accomodations 3. Nature does require ease comfort joy light and cheerfulness but the Damned shall there find pain affliction grief sadness and obscurity How much does a Man suffer lying in a dark Dungeon Nay how tedious it is to suffer an easie Bed if a Man be kept there but two or three Years nay but two or three Days by any sharp infirmity his weariness makes it a severe and a heavy Punishment How much does a Man suffer being fastened to the Bank of a Gally a Chain at his Foot an Oar in both his Hands and his Shoulders exposed to cruel Lashes But alas how spacious and lightsome are Dungeons How pleasant is a sick Bed and how delightful are Gallies and the sharpest Pains of this mortal Life in comparison of those unutterable Sufferings of the Damned in Hell 4. Man's Nature desires fair Houses large and cheerful Appartments but that is a place strait close and narrow for the pain of it and only great wide and spacious in the lasting of that pain Nature requires room and liberty to walk to dilate the Heart and cheer the Senses but that is a place where the Limbs have no Motion the Heart no Enlargement and where the Senses on all sides meet howlings tortures griefs stenches fire and confusion Nature requires a place to delight and recreate it self But that place is all misery and discomfort torments and more torments Losses Sorrows and Sufferings without end without measure and without remedy 5. Finally the place of Hell is a place of calamities even beyond all imagination and of extremity of tortures for an eternal Duration It s limit is to repeat eternity it ceasing to be is a new beginning and a continual repetition of torment 6. Now all this being so is there any one that believes it who would not suffer here to the end he may not suffer hereafter Woe be to thee and me if we do not consider here and endeavour to prevent what is prepared and what expects us there Woe be to thee and me if we do not examine weigh and bewail the times wherein we have offended that eternal Judge who condemns the most part of Mankind to that infernal abode for not considering these things