of hatred or iâ—l will 't is out of love or xeal of justice his strokes are favours and his wounds are antidotes He is angry as a dove with out gaule or malice our anger is of a contrary quality 't is the anger of a viper with interiour venime and black bile when we are angry we are full of aversion and bitterness and the malignity also of this viper is so great that often it vomits out its poyson against the goodness of God himself 7. What remedy for a passion so unreasonable maligne and prejudicial First we must remove the cause in our own selves must pull out the root which is an inordinate affection to temporal goods or to our selves or to some other creature An Ancient named Cottis broke many Vessells which his friends had presented him fearing he should be angry when his servants broke them I counsell you not to destroy or to quit wholy all that is or may be the occasion of your anger but to moderate your affection to them and to love them rather out of obedience to the Will of God than by inclination so having no tye of irregular affection to them you will not be in danger to be much moved when you shal be depriv'd of them 9. Consider in the second place from whence the accidents and Crosses com which are wont to move your anger Know that all that happens in this world I say all except sin does com from God and therefore ought to be well receiv'd both in regard of the divine source whence they proceed and the beneficial effects they are sent to produce in us The holy Ghost sayes in Ecclesiasticus that good things and evill life and death poverty Ecclus. 11. Aug. in Psal 48. and riches com from God And hence S. Austin assures us that whatsoever happens in this world against our wills coms not but by the will of God by his Providence and order though we know not the reason of it Whosoever considers well this Providence of God his goodness and his Wisdom hath a true and sweet prevention of his passions he cannot thinke the Crosses are design'd for ill to him because they are disposed by an Infinite Goodness who intends and projects his good He will not Gyant like set up his will against the will of God and with a foolish rashness kick against the spurr but submit to all that hath been decreed in his counsells receive all patiently and thankfully as comming from so good a hand and happily rejoyce also in so good a hope 10. By these means well practised you may prevent your anger so that it will not easily surprize you And to extinguish it or moderate it when it is inflam'd your companions may by the grace of God do much if they imitate him in a like occasion you see sometimes a thick cloud that covers the skie darkens the Sun and makes as it were night at midday you hear a thunderbolt that runs in it lightens thunders and astonishes the world you will say that all goes to rack and the end of the world is com What does our good God to dissipate this tempest Educit ventos de the sauris suis He brings out of his treasures a gentle west wind a little wind that dissipates these clouds calms this tempest and makes the Sun to shine again this tempest is resolv'd into refreshing showers which water the earth and brings a thousand commodities When your neigbor is in passion he is like this cloud is in a tempest and in a rage the Sun of his reason is ecclipsed and hath with in him a darke night he murmures storms and makes a noise like a clap of thunder gives looks that resemble lightinings threatens rants and tears and makes appearance of overthrowing all If you are well disposed you will dissipate all this easily you need not but to let out of your heart which ought to be the treasure of God a mild word as a gentle wind you must not disavow any thing that he says at that time you must not resist him nor retort a fault upon him but excuse him and demand pardon though you have not committed any fault to morrow when this violent heat of passion is cooled and his spirit quieted he will return to himself will admire your patience acknowledg his fault repent himself of his folly and love you better than before 11. But the souveraign remedy of anger and other passions is the grace of God We commit great faults not making fervent and frequent recours to it Our Saviour had no need to pray and yet to give us example being neer his passion sayd to his Father My soul is troubled my fother save me from this houre Do Iohn 12. 27. as He when you percieve any temptation in your heart cast your selves at the feet of the Son of God beg help say with the Apostles Lord save us we perish And when you are not Matth. 8. 25. in temptation court him pray him practice vertues that please him to the end he assist you when you shal be assaulted And ruminate sometimes these words of S. Paul Patience is necessary Heb. 10. 36. for you that doing the will of God you may receive the promise If you be patient the promise of God will be fulfilled in you first in this world He sayed the meek and gentle shal possess the earth Matth. 5. 4. moderate patient and well tempered spirits dispatch affaires with more conduct and better success than hasty turbulent and violent Fabius Maximus did more by his Patience against the Carthaginians than Scipio with his Armies Promise for the other life He sayd In your patience you shal Luke 21. 19. possess your soules you will avoyd an ocean of sins which would put you in danger of losing your soul you will diminish the paines due to your crimes so many injuries so many affronts so many displeasures which you endure for the love of God are so many penances and satisfactions for your offences By patience you practise humility charity towards your neigbbor resignation to the will of God and other vertues which will increase in you the grace of God and make you merit Glory Amen DISCOVRS XXXV OF THE FIFTH COMMANDEMENT Thou shalt not kill AS the reasonable soul is incomparably more noble than the body So the Spirituall murther is much more pernicious and damnable than the corporall That which I call Spiritual murther is Scandal for S. Paul speaking to a corinthian who scandalized his neighbor 1. Cor. 8. sayd to him You are the cause that your christian Brother for whome Christ hath dyed does perish This word of that great Apostle is enough to oblige us to speake all our words and to do all our actions with great circumspection that we may never give ill example nor scandalize so many who have their eyes upon us and who more usually and willingly do imitate our evill than our good By
not been redeem'd by IESUS-CHRIST sayd to them Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart with all thy foul and with all thy forces what ought Christians to do after the Incarnation Redemption and Passion of our Saviour Ought they not to burn with love should they not if it were possible love JESUS above all their forces thoughts and activity of their hearts If I owe my self wholy to him for making me what shal I add now for repairing me and repairing me in such a manner 14. Let us love him then since He so loved us let 's not love him only in words and compliments let us not content our selves to say I honour much my Saviour I love him with all my heart But let us love him in worke and Verity in doing in giving and in suffering for him for so He loved us And since his goodness is so infinite and his love to us so excessive that He preferred us not only before Angells but also before himself it would be a horrible blindeness to preferr any other good before him it would be a strange folly to offend him to disoblige his goodness to lose his amity and his favour for honour pleasure profit or satisfaction of a Passion Do not so if you be wise Say rather with S. Austin all abundance all honour all felicity that is not you my God is but poverty vanity and misery say as S. Francis did my God You are my All Love him with all your heart since He his all your good love him with a sovereign love since He is sovereignly good love adore bless prayse glorify him now and ever Amen DISCOURS VII OF THE FIFTH ARTICLE He descended into Hell the third day He rose again from the dead IESUS appli'd himself so earnestly to our Salvation that whilst He was on earth He let not a moment pass without labouring for it And for this effect whilst his Body lay'd in grave He descended into Hell This world Hell signify's an inferiour and low place And therefore the holy Church makes use of it in divers occasions to signify divers inferiour places By this word she most often understands the place of everlasting damnation And so our Saviour called it in 1. Luke 36. S. Luk. where speaking of the unfortunate rich man says he was buried in hell Other times she uses this terme to signify Purgatory where they are who died in the grace of God but having not fully satisfyed the divine Iustice are further to be punished so in the Mass of the dead she prayes free ô Lord the souls of the faithfull departed from the paines of hell She makes use of it also to signify the place whither the souls of holy and just persons who were not subject to purgation or had duely satisfyd for their offences went before the death of the Saviour of the world expecting He should open them the gates of Heaven by his Passion 2. He descended not only by effect into these two last places making his power and goodness to appear by delivering the soules in them detained But in substance He descended into them his soul was really in those places and He honoured the soules that were in them and made them happy by his presence The third day he rose again from the dead He rose no sooner for to testify that He was truly dead and to fulfill the figure of Matt. 12. 40. him As Ionas was three days and three nights in the belly of a whale so shal be the Son of man in the bowells of the earth He would be three days subject to the law of death to teach us mystically that by his death and Passion He had satisfyd the three Persons of the B. Trinity for the sins committed in the three states of the world in the Law of nature in the Law of Moses and in the Law of grace And to shew us that his Passion was the cause of the delivery of the ancient Fathers out of hell of the Redemption of men on earth and of the reparation of the Angelical thrones in Heaven He rose again By which words the Apostles teach us that He S. Iohn 10. return'd to life by his own power He sayd also in the Gospell I have power to lay down my life and to take it up againe and in another place I will raise up my Body in three daies after death 3. I know well that S. Peter and S. Paul teach in many places that his Father raised Him up to life because this miracle S. Pater is an effâ—ct of the omnipotency of God which thô common Ast. c. 3. 26. and c. 5. 30. S. Paul in the 4. 8. and 10. to the Rom. Phil. 28. and 9. to all the 3. Persons of the B. Trinity yet is attributed commonly to the Father 'T is true then that He rose up by his own Power and 't is true also that the eternal Father raised him to the end He might shew his goodness both ro him and us 4. First to him that his Body might receive the Glory which He merited by his labors humiliations and sufferances For He humhled himself says the Apostle being obedient unto death for the which thing God hath exalted him Note exalted him for his Resurrection was not a simple return from death to life but an entrance into a glorious life That Body which He layd down passible and mortall He receives impassible and immortal that which was inglorious now is glorious which was infirm now is powerfull which was a natural Body now is becom a spiritual These are the excellent qualities which S. Paul attributes to every 1. cor 15. matt 13 43. glorifyd Body But that of Glory or clarity delights me most for the body of every saint shal shine by it as the sun fulgebunt justi sicut sol and nevertheless one shal differ from another in this Quality as much as he exceeded him here in good works or as S. Paul says as one starr differs in glory from another What glory then what admirable splendor what ravishing beauty was given to the adorable Body of JSUS in recompence of his merits And what satisfaction and felicity will it be to see it when our eyes shal be able to behold it as hereafter they shall be by their impassibility These four qualities belong to the Body of the Son of God as a body glorifyd But as a Body Deifyd as subsisting in the Divinity it hath yet a farr other Glory Jt hath a supereminent ineffable and incomprehensible Glory as we may see in the next Discours 5. Wherfore the Son of God thanks his Father for that He brought his soul out of hell and his Body out of the sepulcher and that He raised him up again Exaltabo te Domine quoniam suscepisti psal 29. me Eduxisti ab inferno animam meam And He esteems so much this favour that He exhorts us to thanke God to praise and glorify
the same Word also we may learn that scandal is not a word or action which gives occasion of dishonour infamy or confusion that to scandalize another is not to discover his Vice to publish and make it known to the world this is not to scandalize him properly speaking 't is to diffame and dishonour him Scandal is a word or an action that is not so right as it should be which gives occasion to our neihgbor to commit a sin So S. Thomas and after him all the school Dictum vel factum minus rectum praebens alicui occasionem ruinae To have a perfect knowledg of this Definition we must weigh all the words of it the defect whereof makes men to be deceived often and to remain in ignorance 2. Dictum scandal is sometimes a word for the body is poysoned by the mouth and the soul by the eares sayd Plato and S. Paul who cites but seldom profane Authours alledges to this purpose the saying of the greek Poet corrumpunt bonos 1. Cor. 15 33. Psal 118 more 's colloquia prava evill discourses corrupt good manners David seem'd to fear the contagion of them when he prayed Lord deliver my soul from vniust lipps and from the deceitfull tongue and we have greater reason to do the like you will find many who will not speak openly against the faith lest they should be accounted impious or Atheists But they will say one might object such a thing against our beliefe or Infidells propose to us this argument Deceitfull tongue They move not manifestly their neighbour to dissention but slyly and secretly I wonder say they how you endure that you are too patient he will tread upon you one sayd such a thing of you Deceitfull tongue They speake not words openly impure but cover'd equivocal and of a double meaning Deceitfull tongue such words are usually more hurtfull than the other these are sharp arrows which enter more deeply into the mark and the wit and subtility which is in these cover'd words makes them enter more easily into the imagination and to remain there longer These are the burning coales which desolate and ruine the purity charity and simplicity of Christian soules 3. Dictum vel factum Scandal is a word or worke and action which may be the cause of sin and workes or actions are more scandalous than words these move indeed but those draw 't is enough to draw another to what is naught if others do it if it be the mode if but one only considerable persone do it if it be the custome so inclin'd are men to what is naught they are like goates or Sheep if one pass a place the rest follow not regarding the danger of it What do I say follow Men do not only follow others in what is naught but they will with tooth and naile endeavour to justify the following of them They say we must accommodate our selves to the place in which we are and live according to the world since we are in the world To which I oppose this of the S. Paul Be ye not conform'd to this wordl and this of S. Iohn Love not the world nor the things which are in the world and this of the Rom. 12. 2. 1. Iohd 2. 15. S. Iohn 17. Rom. 1. 7. Thess 1. 4. And 7. S. Pet. 1. 3. And 9. Acts. 10 15. 1. Cor. 6. 2. Son of God speaking of his disciples to his Father they are in the world but they are not of the world Christians Disciples of Christ have been sanctifyd in Baptisme and in the other Sacraments they are oblig'd to be holy 't is their vocation and profession they are called to be Saints says S. Paul to the Romans and to the Thessaâ—onians God hath called us into Sanctification And S. Peter But you are an elect Generation a holy people To be holy and to be common are two opposite Termes what God hath Sanctifyd do not thou call common Christians shal judg the world says S. Paul in his 1. Epistle to the Corinthians they must nor then be Complices or Companions in the actions customs and proceedings of the world Reason it self forbids us to follow them We know that there is nothing so erroneous as the opinion of the world nothing so corrupted and perverted as the judgement of men there are but few that know in what true vertue does consist and amongst those that know it there are but few that live according to this knowledg because their Passions oversway their judgments and corrupt their actions and therefore a wise man ought to steere a quite contrary cours But ought we not to avoyd singularity yes that which you affect of your own head and by the spirit of Vanity but not that which you accept from the will of God and by the spirit of sanctity Are not the high and common wayes the more sure yes to go to a place on earth but not to go to heaven our Saviour tells us so in express termes Enter by the narrow gate becaus broad is the gate and large is the way that leads to perdition and many there bes that enter by it How narrow is the gate and strait is the way that lead Matt. 7. 13. to life and few there are that find it But if I leave the usuall way of men what will they say I shal pass for a scrupulous a melancholy person or a hypocrite and they will laugh at me And who will laugh at you Libertines Impious and Atheists but God Angells and vertuous Persons will esteem and praise you Will it not be much honor to you to be blam'd by those that are worthy of blame and to be esteem'd by those who merit to be esteem'd The conscience also of Libertines themselves will be forced to admire what their mouth condemnes for vertue sends forth such bright rayes that they strike a holy terrour into the soules of her greatest enemies and she receives praises from those who at the first sight of her did burden her with reproaches But suppose that you are really laught at and derided What vertuous Person hath not passed this tryal Tobias and Iob were they not mocked as Idiots and simple men S. Charles did he not pass amongst worldly souleâ— for a man too stiff and obstinate in his way S. Chrysostome for too austere Granado and Avila for scrupulous and what is most considerable the Saint of Saints IESVS-CHRIST hath he not passed for a foole or madman for a friend of good cheer for a hlasphemer and for a magitian We must then have the courage sayes great S. Francis Sales to make the world know by our manner of living that we are not of this world but the servants of God that the lights of the Gospell and not the maximes and the customs of the world are the rules of our life so we shal tye the tongues of the impudent and draw many to the same manner of living by the examples of our vertues Let
more secure to go by the way of Innocencie than by the way penance to everlasting life Amen DISCOURS XLII of the Oblgations we contract in Baptisme I Will poure out upon you clean water and you shal be cleansed from all your contaminations I will give you a new heart and a new spirit sayd God by Ezechiel Which words the holy Fathers and the Interpreters of Scripure understand unanimously of Baptismal water He had reason to make this promise with so great pomp and majestie of words for if we cosider attentively we shal see that after the Incarnation of the Son of God and the Redemption of manking He never more oblig'd humane nature than by the institution of the Sacrament of Baptism which purges us from all sin makes us adoptive children of God members of IESUS CHRIST coheires of Heaven and Temples of the holy Ghost What honor what dignity and what admirable prerogatives They that are members of IESUS CHRIST and the children of God ought they not to lead a life conformable to this dignity thy that receiv'd the Spirit of God in Baptisme should they not act and speak according to this divine Spirit T is is that to which all Christians are oblig'd by Baptism It obliges them to die a morall and vertuous death and to lead a new life conformable to rhe excellencie of this birth as shal be shewn in this Discours 1. Before I proceed to the proofs of these important Points I explicate my self By the sin of the first man and by our own crimes we deserve to die effectually the death of soul and body and to be bâ—ried in hell eternally But the Son of God out of his infinite mercy to the end we might live and merit the crowns of heaven changes by Baptisme that horrible and eternall death into a morall and vertuous one He will that we die to sin to the world and to our selves To sin that is to all sorts of vices To rhe world and its pomps that is you must not set your heart upon the pride riches and passtimes thereof you must reject superfluities and content your self with necessaries and not according to the rules of the world but according to christian frugalitie modestie and humilitie To our selves this is that we call dying to the old Adam that is you must die to ill humours irregular passions vicious inclinations to the love of your own selves which we contracted by our carnal birth and extraction from the first man for by his sin our nature hath been so corrupted that if we follow it we have no other object of our thoughts words actions and affections than our selves and our own interests To all the aforesayd things we are oblig'd to die and see here the proofs of it 2. For when S. Paul says in the 6th chapter of his Epistle to the Romans that we are dead and buried with IESVS CHRIST Rom. 6. by Baptisme It is to prove what he would perswade us in the whole Chapter that we are oblig'd to kill in our selves sin with all its appurtenances and for ever so he says since we are dead to sin how shal we live therein We know that by Baptisme our old Rom. 6 man hath been crucifyd with IESUS CHRIST that the body of sin and the mass of evill inclinations may be destroyed And to the Galatians they that pertain to Christ have crucified their flesh with its vices and Gal. 5. concupiscences Can we be good Christians and not appertain to IESUS Nevertheless the Apostle of JESUS says that we appertain not to him if we crucify not our flesh He says not they that appertain to him in the quality of Religious or Priests But all they that appertain to IESUS CHRIST Crucify their flesh And S. Chrisostome Baptisme is to us that which the Cross and Sepulcher was to IESUS 24. hom 10. in ep Rom. C. 6. it ought to have in us the same effects it ought to crucify us to make us die and to hide us from the world 3. It imports much to note what is the Grace of each Sacrament and what charg it puts upon us for each sacrament conferrs a special grace and to this grace some charg is annexed to which we oblige our selves T is a Talent given us with a strict obligation to employ it The grace of Confirmation is a spirit of Fortitude which obliges us to make profession of the Faith in Presence of Tyrants also with perill of our lives The grace of Confession is a spirit of Penance which obliges us to satisfactory workes to fasts alms prayers and other actions which S. Iohn Baptist terms Fruits worthy of penance the grace of Baptime is a spirit of the Cross and death which obliges us to die to sin to the world and to our selves if then we have any voluntary affection to the Pomps of the world to the delights of the flesh to the satisfaction of unruly passions if we are wedded to our own conduct to our proper judgment and not to that of our Superiours we are wanting to the grace of this Sacrament for we are baptized to be made Christians that is Disciples of Christ and He says to us expresly He that renounces Matth. 16. Luke 9. 23. not himself note himself his unbridled passions bad humours his own judgment and self love and carrys not his Cross daily cannot be my disciple 4. But this death is like to that of the Phenix which dies not but to acquire a new life 'T is as that of IESUS who was spoyled of a mortal and fading life to resume a glorious and immortal We die not to sin to the world and to our selves but to live to God and to his grace we are not crucifyd with IESUS CHRIST but to rise again to a new life we devest not our selves of the old man but to put on the new For we are buried by baptisme with IESUS to die to sin that as the Son of God is risen by the glory of his Father So also we may Rom. 6. Ephes. 4. 24. walk in newness of life says S. Paul to the Romans And to the Ephesians Put ye on the new man which according to God is created in justice and sanctity When the Apostle commends to us a new life he demands of us a great change and an admirable metamorphosis says S. Chrysostom Then he adds I have great S Chrysost hom 10. in ep ad Rom. 6. Gal. 5. 3. caus to groan and weep abundantly considering on the one side the great obligations we have contracted in Baptisme and seeing on the other our great negligence For as S. Paul in the Epistle to the Galatians says every man that circumcises himself engages himself to observe all the law of Moyses So whosoever receives Baptisme obliges himself to keep the law of Christ Now since Christian Religion is a profession of penance mortification sanctity and perfection these things are not indifferent to them that
arme and fortify us against his enemies 3. That there hath been always in the Church a particular Sacrament to make us soldiers of IESUS CHRIST appears in the Acts Acts. 8. 17. where S. Peter and S. Iohn gave the holy Ghost by imposing Episcopal hands upon the Samarians whom Philip the deacon had converted and baptized The same S. Paul did to the disciples of Acts. 19. 5. and 6. Tertull de Prescrip c. 40. S. Iohn at Ephesus It apears also in Terâ—ullian who says that Satan Ape of the Divinitie and ambitious of the honor we give to God in our Mysteries incited the Idolaters to counterfeit in their superstitious ceremonies the Sacraments of the Church He proves it by induction in the first Sâ—craments Satan says he Counterfeits our Baptisme he baptizes those that belive in him our Confirmation he markes in the forehead those who are his souldiers and our Eucharist he makes an oblation of bread Oâ—her Fathers say that this Sacrament is Pentecost for us that is to say the holy Ghost is given to us in it with abundance of his grace and for the same end for which He was sent to the Apostles in the day of Pentecost IESUS ascending into heaven commanded them not to preach the Gospell not to appear abroad till they had received him He knew their frailty He knew that without his aide they would be overcom Behold S. Peter he had been baptized he came from communion and becaus he was not strengthned with this vertue he trembles and shrinks at the voice of a poor maid but after Penâ—ecost he is so couragious that he speaks undauntedly in a full Consistory he says to the Iudges and high Priests We must rather obey God than men You see then that this Sacrament makes souldiers of IESUS CHRIST and gives us force to fight for him wherefore it imprints a Character and it belongs to a Bishop only to conferr it He administers it with the thumb with Unction of sacred Chrisme composed of oyle and balme he makes the signe of the Cross upon the forehead and gives a little stroke upon the cheek 4. It imprints a character in our soul for characters are imprinted in us by some Sacraments to mark and distinguish us from other men and to designe us paticularly to the service of God by Baptisme we are made his subjects by holy Order Officers and Ministers of his Church and by Confirmation we are made his Soldiers 5. I know well that by Baptisme we are also made spiritual soldiers and for this we use unction in it But this is only to fight in our own quarrell against the Devill and other particular Enemies As the Burgesses of a Town though they are not by profession soldiers faile not to have arms and to fight in need in defence of their persones or their countrey 6. But by Confirmation we are made soldiers to fight not in our particular quarrells but in those of IESUS-CHRIST soldiers by office and profession to the end we fight for him against Tyrants against the World and against the Enemies of his Religion 7. And hence it proceeds that every one may Baptize in necessity and that a Bishop only may Confirm for to make a subject of a king we need not but to cause a child to be born in his kingdom But to raise and enrole soldiers belongs not but to Captaines so to make us Vassalls of IESUS on needs not but to make us to be borne in the Church his kingdom which is don by Baptisme But to make us his soldiers by Confirmation one must be a Bishop or Prelate of the Church 8. In making us soldiers He gives us arms and force by the grace of this Sacrament And hence it is that the Bishop gives it with his thumb the strongest of all the fingers He gives it by unction to signify the interiour Vnction and force by which we are fitted to appear in the field Balm is thereto added becaus we must fight publickly for IESUS and if we do well we are a good odour to the son of God and to his Church Christi bonus odor sumus in omni loco 9. This unction is made in the form of a Cross becaus the Cross is the standard and the ensigne of the warfare in which we enrole our selves 10. This Cross is made in the forehead the seat of bashfulness to teach us that thenceforth we must not be asham'd of the Cross of IESUS that we ought to embrace with a holy boldness the reproaches confusions humiliations and the mortifications which occurre in the practise of Christian vertues and to make us know that we must be ready to receive and endure affronts and ignominies for the defence of Iesus He gives us a little blow 11 It was not in vain nor without much reason that IESUS instituted a particular Sacrament so great a Sacrament a Sacrament which imprints a character which a Bishop only can conferr which gives such plenitude of the holy Ghost to arme and fortify us not only against Tyrants but also against the Persecutors of christian piety and devotion For christian Religion which is almost freed from the persecution of pagans is at present tyranized by the babble raillery and derision of wordly souls Wherefore S. Bernard sayd the Church may truly say In pace amaritudo mea amarissima my affliction is most bitter in the time of Isay 38. 17. peace It was bitter in the death that Tyrants made the Martyrs to endure more hitter in the infidelity of Hereticks But 't is most bitter in the ill life of Christians who mock and laugh at the piety of devout Souls For this is much more hurtfull than that of Tyrants In the persecution of Tyrants Christians dared not to pray nor to exercise devotion in publick they sought caves grotes and private houses but they served God freely at least in these places the persecution of worldlings is the caus that many dare not serve God as they ought in particular houses for fear to be called devotes they dare not frequent the Sacraments or be assiduous at divine service becaus they call them hypocrites they dare not be conscientious and restrain'd from unhandsom words and insolent actions becaus they call them scrupulous a sin detestable and wholy unnatural to persecute christianity in chrichristianity it self to have sworn fidelity to IESUS in the Sacrament of Baptisme and laugh at those who are faithfull to him not to serve God themselves and to deride those that serve him a sin not of frailty nor of ignorance but of malice and contempt which drawes from them the grace of God indurates and disposes them to impenitence and reprobation The children of Hely who averted the people from devotion 1. Kings 3. 14. committed an abominable crime in the sight of God which could not be expiated by victimes says the holy Scripture 12. This temptation is so dangerous also to devout souls that they who stand invincible
and suffers those torments voluntarily she knows how disagreable she is to the Sanctity and Purity of God that she is a debtour to his justice and that she deserves those torments she desires the justice of God should have its cours and as she loves God more than her own self she is glad the injury don to his Majesty is revenged also at her own cost she will remaine in that prison untill her debt be entirely payd either by her own sufferances or by the satisfactions and suffrages of others 4. For we may ayde those poor afflicted soules they are in communion of spiritual goods with us they are members of the same mystical Body children of the same Church Citizens of the same City and there is such an union such a simpathy and communication betwixt members of the same Body children of the same family inhabitants of the same City that we cauterize a member that is well to cure that which is ill that the labour of a child of a family profits his brother who labours not that one citizen ss 25. in Decret de purg can pay debts and satisfy for another We can then help these souls especially in three manners First by Prayers as the Councel of Trent declares For a good and devout praier is not only meritorious to him that makes it but also impetratory and satisfactory for others Secondly by the Sacrifice of Mass for this is the most See Dis XLVI n. 9. Tobie 4. 18. profitable suffrage that can be offered to God for the help of the dead as not only the aforesayd Councel but also the Fathers of the primitive Church declare Thirdly by Alms. Venerable Toby sayd to his son Put your bread and wine upon the Tomb of the just becaus in that time the Poor assembled in Cemeterys or Churchyards and alms of bread and wine were given them for the souls departed He sais upon the Tomb of the just becaus alms gâ—ven for souls that are in hell avail them not but those that departed out of this world in the state of grace they profit much wherefore S. Austin reproved the avaricious who excused themselves from such alms by the great Aug. lib de decem cordis c. 12. number of their children when we sayd he reprehend you for your auarice you say that if you give not so much as you desire 't is becaus you have many children It is a fals pretence wherewith you maske your avarice For if one of your children dye are you more charitable than you were if you keep your goods for them you would send a part to him he hath now more need of it then ever But if you have not means to give alms for the poor souls succour them by other workes 5. All vertuous actions don in the state of grace and especially the painfull if Offered for the dead give them great refreshment But those confort them most of which they are the Cause either by their instructions or by their good examples For Divinity â—eaches us that if we are the cause of any good as often as 't is don after our death our accidentall glory in heaven is increased and if we are in purgatory our torments are diminished as on the contrary our paines there are augmented if any sin be committed by our bad example 6. Let us give eare then to the dolefull lamentations of those poor souls who implore our help Meseremini mei Miseremini mei Saltem vos amici mei Have pity on me have pity on me at least you who are my friends she says twice Have pity on me Have pity on me Lest you increas my paines Have pity on me to ease me in my sufferances Have pity Be touched with compassion of so great miseries For judgment without mercy shal be don to him who shal not S. Iames 2. 13. have don mercy But on what will you exercise mercy but on misery and what greater misery then that of a poor creature who owes very much and is pursued and pressed by a rigorous Iustice and hath not wherewith to pay What greater misery then that of a poor soul upon whom the revenging hand of the Omnipotent is layed then of a poor soul in torments so Excessive that if a dog should be so tormented it would move you to compassion Of me a soul created to the image of God redeemed by the precious blood of IESUS marked with his character embellished with his graces designed to his glory He will say in iudgment I have been thirsty and you have given me drink I have been Matt 25 35. in prison and you have visited me I have been naked and you have clothed me I have been a stranger and you have received me into your house You do all these good workes of charity if you deliver a poor Soul out of Purgatory you are the caus that she is satiated with a torrent of pleasute you redeem her out of a very obscure and painfull prison you cloth her with the stole of glory and you make her to be received and lodg'd in heaven At least you who are the caus or occasion that this soul is in pain have pity on her you have made her to offend God by your impure words by your bad examples or by your sollicitations having so great part in the debt will you not contribute to the satifaction At least you friends what is becom of the affection you testifyd to your friend where are the offers of service where are the protestations so often made that you would never abandon her forget you her becaus she is seperated from you and turne you your back to her when she hath the greatest need of Succour It appears now that you were a friend of fortune only and the afliction of your friend is the touchstone which shews the falness of your friendship At least you my friends your Ancestours have made themselves debtours to the justice God by the sins which they committed to leave you goods will you be so ungratefull and so cruell as to refuse them a little part of them you swimme in delights and they are in torments you rest in feathers and they lie in flames You complain not of a large refection you give to J know not whom and you refuse your afflicted mother a little dinner which you might send her by the poore In fine if you be so mercenary as to seek your interest in all your actions remember that these poot Souls are in the gtace of God must go to heaven and you must one day succeed in their present place and if you shal deliver them they will not be ungratefull Blessed are the mercifull for they shal obtaine mercy If you give an amls for a soul in Purgatory you do at once two workes of mercy corporal mercy to the poor in want and Spiritual to the soul in paines you make the poor man your friend and the poor soul your debtour when you