since all the right will be on God's side and all the wrong on ours IESUS will take his Fathers part and espouse his quarrell will do him justice for the injuries He received and judg us without favour or acceptance of persons â—phes 6. 9. 5. He will rejoyce exceedingly to satisfy his Father becaus his interests are dear and precious to him Impious and Idiots censure the Providence of God becaus they know not the reasons and the end of it they murmure that the just are humbled the poor afflicted the bad honoured and glutted with riches and delights they are astonished that the child of a devout woman dies without Baptisme and is reproov'd the child of a dishonest woman is predestinated and dies after Baptisme our Savior will justify his Father He will make clearly seen the Wisdom of his conduct the uprightness of his judgments the equity of his decrees and the admirable Economie of his Providence This rejoyces souls that love our Saviour this nourishes their hope and is the object of their devotion Let us elevate then our selves to God and say with the Psalmist make jubilation in the sight of the king our Lord becaus He coms to judg the earth Psal 97. 6. In the second place it is convenient there should be another Judgment besides that which is made in the hour of our death becaus in this the soul is judged only and the body ought to be judged also For The body contributs much to the merit and demerit of the soul it cooperats vsually to the good and to the evill which she practises it is the cause that a reprobate soul offends God by intemperance drunkennesse luxury idleness vain ornaments it is rhe cause that an elect soul pleases God in fasting whatching wearing hair cloath kneeling travelling keeping Virginity induring death for defense of Faith since then in the particular judgment these bodies receiv'd not the salary nor the paine which they merited in this life there ought to be another judgment which recompences or punishes them according to their deserts 7. In fine it is expedient that the elect may be praised honoured glorifyd and the reprobate dispraised reproched and confounded in the face of the whole world Our Lord will then give 1. Cor. 4. 5. to every one the praise which he deservs says the Apostle He will praise you for your Charity you for your patience you for your humility He will discover your secret penances your alms given to the poor your hidden hair shirt your nightly and early rising to prayers And consequently He will give also to the reprobate the blame and infamy which they deserve 8. To this effect he will enlighten the hidden things of darkness 1. Cor. 4. 5. and will manifest the counsells of the hearts as the Apostle says He will discover all thoughts words and actions of the reprobate in in the sight of that great assembly He will confound the hippocrisie of those that deceive the world reprove the craft and subtility of them who supplant the simple and thunder against the calumniators and diffamers of the innocent He will shew how unjustly the elect are contemn'd derided vilefied neglected and abused and how vainly and foolishly the reprobate are admired praised honored and preferr'd He will shew that He is good not only by praising approving and recompencing good but also by dispraysing condemning and persecuting the enemies of good 9. Cheer up then ô chosen Souls cheer up and rejoyce when we speak of judgment lift up your heads for behold your Redemption Luke 21. 28. is at hand What consolation what joy what gladness and what assurance for you when the whole world shal be moved at the terrible sound of the trumpet when the Iudg shal be in a throne of glory and of Majesty amidst thunders and lightnings when the rocks themselus shal tremble and people shal shake and shiver for fear when you shal see Hercules and Alexanders Cesars and Pompies Plato's and Aristotles the great Conquerors and Wise of the world dragg'd as Criminalls to the Tribunal of the Iudg reduced to an extream dispair not daring so much as to lift up their eyes expecting with horrour the sentence of their condemnation Then Then if you will believe me if you will indure a little here and keep exactly the commandements of God Then I say you will rejoyce heartily you who are esteem'd the lees and the scum of the world the objects of a thousand incommodities you will laugh with a celestial laughter you will be filled with a solid assurance you will acknowledg him whom you have so well serv'd and whilst others tremble you shal go to meet him in the Air obviam Thes. 4. â—6 Christo in aere you shal approach to him with confidence saying with joy which cannot be exprest behold my good Master that was crucifyd behold my Saviour whom I loved so ardently Look upon him now you worldly souls Is not this the Savior whom you so much despised heretofore you mocked us you called us hyppocrits scrupulous and superstitious people you held it simplicity to pardon injuries to indure affronts to deprive your selves of sensual pleasures to mortify your flesh and passions to contemn temporal goods through the hopes of eternal which you esteemd uncertain You see well now that we were not deceived you see it by experience O God! what extream favour to have serv'd well a king now so honour'd Sacred labors happy mortifications and persecutions which are now so divinely recompenced sweet austerities How great and admirable are the joyes you breed me Then Then ô Christion souls these bodys so often bowed and humbled before God shal be exalted and replenished with glory then you shal be justifyd from the faults of which at present you are so unjustly accused you shal be deliver'd from the persecutions they raise against you 9. But you on the contrary ô worldly soul you ought to tremble and shake when we speak of judgment You ought to consider that you must render an account to a Iudg infinitely powerfull to whose anger none can make resistance To a judg infinitely Wise and knowing who searches the bottom of the heart from whose knowledg you cannot hide your most secret thoughts to a Iudg infinitely good who is oblig'd by his nature to be mortal enemie to sin Hear then and put in practise his divine Words by which He vouchsafs to instruct you how to avoid the rigour of his justice behold how He concluds the sermon which He made of the last judgment Look well to your selves lest perhaps your hearts be aggravated Luke 21. with surfetting and drunkenness and cares of this life Watch therefore praying at all times that you may be accounted worthy to escape the things that are to com and to stand before the Son of man Amen DISCOURS X. OF THE SEUENTH ARTICLE From thence He will com to judg the quick and the dead 1. IT is
prosperities he invites them to penance by summons and inspirations which would reclaim tygers and if they return to him he receives them he pardons them he embraces them with inconceivable Clemency and sweetness 14. Nevertheless He is so great and terrible in Iusticè that though the death and Passion of JESUS-CHRIST is capable to redeem a hundred thousand worlds He sees notwithstanding an infinity of Iews of Pagans of Turcks Hereticks of bad Catholicks in the mass of corruption in the way of perdition He draws them not powerfully out of it through a most profound and incomprehensible but most just judgement and he accomplisheth the verity of this word of this tunder-clap many are Mat. 20. 16 called but few elect 15. He is great and admirable in his independence and in the plenitude of his Being He is naturally sufficient to himself most content with himself most happy in himself and has no need of any thing without himself He had from all eternity power to produce creatures heaven earth and all that is in them and he hath not created them but in time for to shew that he had no need of them for to make known that since he hath been perfectly happy without them from eternity he created them not for any S. Austin◠12. de Civit. c. 17. sub fin want he had of them but by a free goodness and by a pure and disinteressed charity Let us make an end of speaking of Him whose greatness has no end who is infinite in his Essence and infinite in Perfections for 't is to mafle as infants 't is to obscure his perfections to speak of them so imperfectly and if He were not infinitely mercifull and condescendent it would be a punishable temerity to speak so lowly so grossly and so unworthily of Him Yet this is enough to make us see what a Majesty we offend and whom we make our enemy when we commit a mortal sin And after this shal we not endeavour to conceive a lively repentance of our sins shal we content our selves with a little sorrow and which regards nothing but our own interests if we detest our sins because they rob us of our merits subject us to the tyranny of the devill engage us to Eternal damnation if we have no other motive 't is to feel and resent a scratch of a pin which we have received and not a great stroake of a sword which we have given The injuries that sin does to the Creatour are without comparison greater then those which it does to the Creature 16. For to avoyd them then Let us remember that God is infinitely noble If a Prince tho' a stranger that appertains not at all to us were in this Country we would not abuse or injure him but would honor him and treat him with respect and shal we dare to offend our God our Sovereign the King of Kings This King who is so great that all the Kings of the earth in respect of Him are but slaves and wormes of the earth Let us consider that He is infinitely powerfull We fear to offend the Powers of this world because they can punish us deprive us of our liberty estates or temporal life and shal we dare to offend the omnipotent God who by one word one act of his Will can reduce us to dust who after He has killed the body will cast our soules into Eternal flames Let us consider that He is infinitely Wise that all things ly open to his sight that he can not forget any thing that whatsoever excuse we forge for to flatter our conscience and to diminish the greatness of our offenses He sees the greatness of them He knows all the circumstances of them and pierceth the bottome of our hearts He knows that 't is neither violence nor poverty nor necessity that makes us to commit sin but that 't is because we have not the fear of God nor the due love of him Let us consider that He is good and that He has always been so to us T is a great injustice a very unnatural malice to offend a person that has never given us any cause who has never disoblig'd us all his life We know that 't is God who created us who conserves us at present and hath preserved us from a thousand dangers He who hath given us more than we have desir'd more than we should dare to desire and what is above all desire who has given his own life and died upon the Cross by pure charity towards us After all these graces shal wee have the malice to commit a mortal sin which infinitely displeases Him Let us remember that He is infinitely just and that his justice ought to have its cours His Prophet sayd I feared all my Iob. 9. 82. works knowing that thou wouldest not spare the offender He leaves not unpunished the least failings what will he do then to mortal sins to great Crimes We must hold it then as most certaine that if we commit these sins we shal suffer soon or late most bitter and grievous torments in this world or in the other Let us in fine consider that He is independent that He depends not of any one in his Being nor in his designs nor in his operations that if He associate sometimes his creatures in the Execution of his designs 't is by an Excess of goodness and not out of indigence If He could have need of us we might thinke that He would be obliged to pardon us and to seek our amitie But he needs us not He has been well without us from all Eternity he will be well without us for all Eternity and if we honour not his mercy in heaven we shal honor his justice by our sufferances in hell from which I pray God to keep us by his mercy Amen DISCOURS II. OF THE FIRST ARTICLE The Father Almighty Creatour Of Heaven and Earth THe first verity expressed in these words requires as much vertue and strength of Faith as any other Verity revealed It obliges us to believe and adore a pluralitie of divine Persons in a most perfect Unitie of nature and to Confess that in the Diety there is a Person who intellectually produces a coeternal and consubstantial Son Hence the Apostles truly call Him Father and his Paternity or fatherhood is so proper to Him that 't is not an Attribute or Quality but that which enters the intrinsecal and individual constitution of Him Father also of us because he created us conserveth us at present and nourisheth us Father again because he redeemed us by his own Son makes us his Children by adoption governs and directs us and conducts us to the inheritance of eternal life 2. Almighty or Omnipotent This signifies a perfection not so proper to him as is that of Fathêr Omnipotence also is not his particular Attribute or Quality but to him appropriated and attributed You know that the faith of the church adores three Persons subsisting in the
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
account they do ill in believing that they being sinners can by Baptisme wash away the sins of others and do injury to the Son of God by going themselves or by carrying their children to their Ministers to have their sins remitted by this Sacrament since it belongs to the Son of God to wash away sins by Baptisme Heaven declar'd this Verity to S. Iohn Baptist Vpon whom thou shalt see the holy Ghost Iohn 1. 33. descending He it is that Baptizes But who is so weak that does not answer easily that they baptize on the part of God in his Name and by his Command that they go not to their Ministers as men but as God's Deputies and Vicegerents to be baptized I say the same of Absolution we absolve from sins not of our own selves but in the Name of God as his Deputies and Ministers by the Power Authority and Commission which He hath given us 3. Behold the Commissions and Patents of it Whatsoever You shal Matt. 18. unbind on earth shal he unbound in heaven and in Saint Iohn Whose sins you shal forgive they are forgiven them And whose You Iohn 20. shal retain they are retained These words of our Saviour are as clear as the Sun but let us suppose they have need of interpretation To whom shal we recurr for the interpretation of them To one that came a 100 or sixscore years ago or to the ancient Fathers of the first ages when according to Reformers themselves the Church was in her purity S. Chrysostom speaks great things vpon this subject Lib. 3 de Sacerdotio and seems to have foreseen all the evasions of Reformers First he says that the Son of God communicated to his Apostles the same power that He received from his Father and this great Saint speaks so after our Savior himself For in the same time He sayd to his Disciples whose sins you shal remit they are remitted He sayd to them I send you as my Father sent me But our Savior had not only power to declare that sins are remitted by faith but He had power also to remit them In the second place S. Chrysostom says If a king should give to a favourit power to imprison and to deliver prisoners what favour would this be Yet this would be nothing if compar'd with the power of Priests there is as much difference 'twixt these powers as between heaven and earth Thirdly he says that the Priests of the old Law had not power but to judg the leaprosie of the body and to judg of it only not to cure it ours have power to judg of sin which is the leaprosie of the soul and also to cure her of it Aug. hom 49. ex 50. S. Amb. Lib. 1. de Penit. c. 7. S. Austin says let no body flatter himself saying I confess in my heart I confess to God this is not enough and on this account in vain the Son of God would have sayd to Priests All that you shal unbind on earth And S. Ambrose speaking to the Novatians who sayd that men have not power to remit sins says Why baptize you if men have not power to remit sins for Baptisme is the remission of sins and what if Priests attribute to themselves the power that is given them either by Baptisme or by Penance Let us leave Dissenters and consider the wonders of this Power that we may with those in the Gospell glorify God who gave such power to men I confess that there are not many Misteryes in our Matt. 9. Religion which I more admire than this and you will admire it with me if you consider with me the circumstances of it 4. The first is that this Power is Divine it pertains not properly but to him who receiv'd an injury to remit and pardon it It belongs then to God to remit offences against him Wherfore the Pharisees hearing our Savior say to the Paralitick thy sins are forgiven thee and not believing that He was God thought that He blasphem'd What would they have then thought what wouâ—d they have sayd if they had known as we know that JESUS CHRIST would give to men and to sinful men this Power 5. A Power in the second place so soveraign that 't is definitive without appeal The sentences which Priests pronounce and all that they justly ordain on earth is ratifyd infallibly in heaven When you have confest with necessary dispositions if the Priest say to you I absolve thee c. fear not that God will condemn you He cannot fail in his promise and He promised to absolve you if the Priest absolve you legitimatly 6. And this is don with so much Authority and Majesty that this Power is perfectly Royal for the Priest absolves not praying If he should say over you the misereatur only or should pray God to absolve you you would not be absolv'd JESUS-CHRIST wills that he say I absolve thee and heaven and earth shal melt rather than you shal fail of absolution how ever great and enormous your sins may be 7. This is a fourth Circumstance of this Power that it is most ample absolute and general without exception restriction or modification For there is no sin which the Church cannot remit since the Son of God hath sayd absolutely and without reserve Whose sins you shal remit shal be remitted 8. But that which is to be admired most in this Power is the facility and convenience we have to vse it 'T is true that having committed a sin it is not so easy as some think to have a true repentance of it We must ask it instantly of God and indeavour to obtain it of him by good works But when we have obtain'd it what is more easy than to find a Priest who may absolve us Have we not great cause to be astonished and to cry out my God! How have you been so liberal as to give this Power to your Church and to so many Priests If you had given it but to the Pope or to Patriarks or to Bishops or for one only time of the life of each one the excess of liberality would not have seem'd so great but for always for so many times and to so many Priests What excess of love of grace and mercy ô how will a soul that considers well thiâ— Benefit melt with dilection how will she burn with the love of such a Benefactor How often will she kiss those sacred wounds How often will she bless that adorable Blood which purchased her so great a good How often will she say my soul bless thou our Lord. On the contrary What regretts shal we have in hell if we are damn'd for having neglected contemn'd or prophan'd so great a Benefit The devout Rupertus was wont to say he had no pity on Christians that were damn'd and when one sayd to him why have you not if a dog should be so afflicted we should be moved to compassion I have none sayd he for 't is
many sins exposed to so many temptations subject to so many corruptions designed to so many just punishments should confide in himself and presume to make himself happy sayd Aug. Ep. 54. ad Macedonium S. Austin This vain relyance which men have on their own selves and on the force of their free will is the cause that they rashly cast themselves into occasions of sin that they worke not their salvation with fear and trembling as the Apostle commands that they stand not upon their guard to keep themselves from falling that they pray not God fervently to hold them by the hand that they are not in a state of perpetual humiliation as the Saints advise them to be that they disdain those that humane frailty made to fall and that they glorify themselves in their good works whence it comes often that God chastises them to humble them He lets them fall into interiour aridities and desolations or into some furious temptations which cast them down to the brink of hell when they thought themselves at the gates of heaven and makes them say as David Ego dixi in abundantia mea non movebor in eternum avertisti faciem tuam factus sum conturbatus It seem'd Psal 29. 7. to me that I should never be troubled in the resolution I had to serve you ô my God You have withdrawn your grace and I find my self wholy perplex'd and in danger to be lost Hope not then in your selves nor in the force of your free will which is but weakness and misery hope in God and in his assistance but hope in him as you ought that is to say with great confidence 10. Blessed be the man who puts his confidence in God says Hieremie he is like to a tree planted by the water the leaf whereof is always green and which never fails to bring forth fruit Hierem. 17. 7. Collect of the 5. Sunday after Epiph. Wherefore the Church begging the favour of Gods protection makes a remonstrance to him that she relyes wholy upon the hope of his grace There his nothing that obliges us more to act faithfully for another then when we see that he confides in us and wholy depends upon us nor is there any thing that averts us more from succouring and assisting him than to see that he is diffident of us and can we think that our God will assist us powerfully when we confide not entirely but diffide in him Diffidence makes us un worthy of his favours it binds the hands of the Omnipotent and stops the cours of his particular graces 11. Give me a soul that hath a great confidence in God she would work miracles but if one staggers or diffides never so little in the Providence of God he will not have good success S. Peter finding the wind strong did not quite diffide since he cryd out Lord save me he had a little confidence since JESUS sayd to him ô thou of little faith But becaus he doubted he began to sink so certenly the reason why we are not powerfully assisted by God and that we do not the great works He would operate by us is becaus there is always in our hearts some grain of diffidence 12. Follow then the counsel of the holy Ghost Have confidence Prou. 3. 5. in the Lord and rely not vpon thy own prudence In all thy ways think on him and He will direct thy steps Have confidence you confide in a friend who never sayd to you trust in me who perhaps is chang'd and hath lost the love he had for you And will you not trust in God who is always the same and who says to you in his Scripture with so much tenderness and assurance I will not leave nor abandon Heb. 13. 5. thee Will you not trust in your God who can and will aide you powerfully if you cast your self into his armes In the Lord He is Master and He will shew it permitting you sometimes to be overwhelm'd by a tempest leaving you long in disgraces suits poverty infirmity and afflictions of Spirit But if you put great confidence in him though you be even past all remedy and ready to be lost He will strike the stroke of a Master will make a signal demonstration of his Providence and deliver you for his glory to the admiration of the world Rely not vpon your own prudence trust not in your ability 't is a weak support a rotten planck a reed and a foundation upon sand acknowledg in the presence of God that your light is but darkness that your Wisdom ss but folly demand his conduct invocate his mercy in the beginning in the progress and in theend of your actions In all your wayes think on him 'T is a great fault we commit and the cause of all our failings that we have not recours to God often enough nor fervently enough We are less able to do any thing that conduces to eternal life of our own selves than a child that hath never written is capable to write well if then you will do well you must not only recommend your self to JESUS in the beginning of your actions but often lift up your soul to him dart forth respectfull and affectionate aspirations and ask his grace and light If you do so He will direct your steps He will enlighten your understanding in perplexities strengthen your heart in temptations hold your hand in dangers direct your footsteps in his wayes He will make your actions succeed to acquisition of his grace in this world and to possession of his glory in the other Amen DISCOURS XVIII Of the Love of God CHarity is amongst Christian Vertues that which gold is amongst metalls ' that which the Palme is among trees that which the Lyon is amongst beasts that which a man is among all Creatures of this world that which the Seraphins are amongst Celestial creatures S. Ireneus calls it properly Eminentissimum Charismatum the most eminent and precious gift of the holy Ghost he agrees in this with the Apostle who having sayd that God hath chosen some 1. Cor. 12. 31. in his Church to be Apostles others to be Doctors others to work miracles He adds I will shew you yet a grace more excellent a gift of the holy Ghost more to be desir'd than to be an Apostle or a Prophet and this grace is charity of which he speaks immediatly One may be an Apostle and an ill man witness Judas a Prophet witness Balaam a Doctor witness Tertullian a Virgin witness the five foolish a worker of miracles witness they who will say have we not worked many miracles in your name But one cannot love God perfectly and Matth. 7. 22. have Charity without being good holy and pleasing to God 2. Here we ought to admire the Goodness and Providence of God who placed all our felicity and happiness in a thing so sweet and conformable to our nature And which poor as well as rich ignorant
the felicities He promised to the Iews and which seem to us so admirable are but shadows and figures of them 4. But some will say what will these great Promises avail us if we cannot perform the condition under which they are made to us and if we cannot keep the Commandements of God also with that grace He gives us Some indeed have sayd this But the Scriptures say quite the contrary This commandement which I command thee is not above thee says the eternal Father My yoke Deut 30. 11. Matth. 11. 30. 1. Iohn 5. 3. S. Luke 1. 6. is sweet and my burden light says IESUS-CHRIST His commandements are not heavy sayd his beloved Disciple And his Evangelist S. Luke does tell us that Zachary and Elizabeth were just and walked without reproof in all the Commandements and justifications of the Lord. And we also may do as they Els God would be unjust imposing impossible commands upon us cruel in punishing us for not keeping them and a mocker in promising us his heaven if we shal observe them 5. We ought also to keep these divine commandements not with a servil fear but with a filial love as S. Austin says so often not as slaves but as children for we have not received the spirit of servitude again in fear But we have received the spirit of adoption of children says S. Paul And this David did yet in the old Law repeating so often I have loved your Law I have affected your commandements they are the ioy of my heart I have loved them more than millions of gold more than the Topase and other precious stones more than all the riches of the world they are to me more sweet than hony I take more pleasure in keeping them than à Conquerour in burdening himself with spoiles And to see clearly that they are most reasonable most just and most amiable let us make a supposition that there are but two Townes in this world and that in one of them all the inhabitants keep exactly the commandements of God and that to the other God hath not given any commandements but permits every one without punishment to live as he list Is it not true that the former City would be a terrestrial Paradise a garden of delights a place of peace and tranquillity an image of the state of Innocency and a foretaste of Felicity There would be no envy no detraction no quarrel no enmitie no injustice no fear or diffidence there would be no need of bolts upon doores nor locks upon coffers nor of guards nor sentinells but upon the frontiers But the other City where no body should be oblig'd to keep the commandements of God would be a forrest peopled with robbers who would pillage one another a den of Lyons who would tear and eate each other a Sty of hoggs who would wallow in all sorts of ordures 6. Have we not then cause to thanke God for giving us commandements so holy so just so saving and so amiable ought we not to submit our selves with much respect to the orders of his soveraignity The Epithetes which the scripture gives them ought to perswade us to it It says that they are Testimonies because they testify to us and certify us of that which God requires of us That they are Iudgments becaus they will condemne us if that we transgress them That they are justifications becaus they justify us and render us just before God when we keep them That they are wayes and paths because we go to Heaven by the observance of them which God of his mercy grant us Amen DISCOURS XXVIII Of the first Commandement I Am the Lord thy God who brought thee out of the land of egipt and out of the house of bondage Thou shalt not have strange Gods before me Thou shalt not make to thy self any graven thing nor any similitude that is in heaven above or in earth below or of things that are in the waters under the earth Thou shalt not adore nor serve them I am the Lord thy God strong and iealous visiting the sins of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generation and shewing mercy to thousands of those that love me and keep my commandements Exod. 20. Some also of the Ancient put only these words r◠Thou shalt not have strange Gods or as other Versions have other Gods before me in the first commandement And they begin the second from the following words Thou shalt not make to thy self any graven thing and lest that by so doing they increase the number of the commandements which are called ten Words in the scripture they comprise these last words Thou shalt not covet thy neighbours wife Thou shalt not desire his house or other goods in one commandement But we divide these last words into two commandements and the first words which others divide we unite in one becaus this hath been more generally receiv'd aprov'd for the better division by S. Austin and is also more conformable Aug. Quest 71. in Exod. concl 1. in Psal 32. Ep 119. ad Ian c 11 lib. 15. cont Faustuns and els where Deut 5 to reason for the exteriour octs of adultery and theft being forbidden by two precepts should not the interiour acts or desires be prohibited by two commandements since these are as different as the other Nor does it make against us that the interiour acts seem in Exodus to be indistinctly and promiscuously prohibited by one precept since in Deuteronomy which is a repetition revision and an explication of the Law they are distinctly and severally prohibited and that the 70. Interpreters put these Precepts in both places as distinct and divers Since then we find divers prohibitions and divers acts prhibited in the last words and that the correspondent exterior acts are forbidden by divers precepts we have more reason to divide the last words than the first which forbid in substance but one kind of Sin and make one compleat and perfect prohibition of Idolatry which will yet more appear by the explication of them though this controversy raised by Calvin seems not to be of great importance since it imports not much how these words are divided provided that ten commandements be admitted and all the words acknowledged and observed 2. Thou shalt not have strange Gods before me Thou shalt not make to thy self any graven thing nor any similitude God forbids not to make a statue Image or a representation absolutely either for ornament memory instruction help of devotion or for any good use or purpose whatsoever For He commanded soon after Images similitudes and representations of divers things to be made Images of Angells to wit Cherubins Exod 25. the similitude of a serpent Numbers 21. Representations of oxen and Lyons and other graven things 3. of kings 6. and 7. And therefore Protestants themselves Scruple not to have and make such things No Presbiterian or Puritan is so precise but he will engrave carve print and paint them
Geraseens to precipitate them into the lake of a thousand brutal actions and after into the pool of fire and brimstone of everlasting death It is certible to hear Isaye 1. 14. Malac. 2. 3. with what execration God speaks of holy days so Prophaned my soul hateth your Solemnityes I will cast upon your faces the dung of them 6. Let us say then with the Psalmist Turn ô my Soul into thy rest becaus our Lord hath don good to thee Psal 114. 7. Turn ô my Soul convert your self entirely to God on the sunday at least It is instituted for this end and it is called the day of our Lord becaus if we have been turned to our selves and to our affaires the other dayes we must at least turn to God and to his service this day which He hath reserv'd to himself It seems an usurpation of anothers goods and a sort of sacriledg to rob him of this day and to employ it prophanly against his will Turn ô my Soul into thy rest It is a great crime to refuse Obedience to a commandement so sweet other Masters urge their servants and cry out to them worke work ha God says to his my children I will not that you weary out your selves give some respit to your selves from labours rest in me who am the Center of your hearts and the true rest of your soules He calls this day by his Prophet The delicate or delicious Sabbath His Isaiah 58. 13. delights are to be and to convers with us why should we not then make it our delights to be and convers with Him Turne into thy rest becaus our Lord hath don well to thee The Sunday was instituted that we might have opertunity to serve God and more leasure to thanke Him for our Creation Preservation Redemption Sanctification and Vocation to his Service for all graces and good workes which He gives us for preserving us from a thousand infirmities miseries deaths and from so many occasions of sin He hath delivered says the Prophet my soul from death my eyes from teares my feet from sliding if we are grateful for benefits receiv'd we shal give him occasion to give us new if we employ weâ—l the time design'd for the service of God He will bless the time granted us to make provision for our selves and families do then the workes of God on holy dayes and He will do yours on other days and moreover make you pass from the figure to the Verity from the shadow to the light from the symbole to the reality and from the temporal rest of this life to the eternal repose of glory Amen DISCOVRS XXXII OF THE FOURTH COMMANDEMENT Honour thy Father and thy Mother AS the Commandements written in the first Table tend immediately to the honour and glory of the Creatour recommending ro us Piety and devotion towards Him So these of the second Table tend immediately to the salvation and the utility of men and recommend to us charity and justice towards all our neighbours that each one doing his duty in his state and condition the families and communites of Christians may be well ordered and disposed The most important of these dutyes is that of children towards their Parents and therefore it is exacted by the first commandement of the second Table and to move them more to it recompence is herein promised to those that shal honour their Parents with the triple honour of Reverence Obedience and Assistance 2. First with the honor of Reverence for our Parents are the images of God whose authority is a Ray of his Paternity they are Sources and Causes of our life after Him Organs and Instruments which He uses to give and preserve our Being Hence it comes that we ought to honor them be they whatsoever though your Father be vicious and deboist he is stil your Father a cause of your life an instrument of God and an image of his Paternity And becaus the chief part of this honour consists in the interiour you must esteem your Parents in your heart acknowledg them your Superiours respect and reverence their Authority And becaus they know not your interiour you are oblig'd to testify by exterior signes the honor which you have for them to speak to them humbly of them to others honourably to give them respect and reverence and to do nothing that savours of neglect or contempt The Queen Bethsabee was not of the Royal blood but of mean extraction and nevertheless the wise Salomon her Son though a great and powerfull Monark and sitting in the Throne of Iustice rose out of it to meet and reverence her and placed her in a Throne at the right hand of his Majesty This wise King was the figure of our Saviour who being King of kings and God of infinite Majesty disdained not on earth to be subject to his holy Mother and who elevated and placed her in heaven at Psal 44. his right hand Astitit Regina a dextris tuis 3. To honour your Parents you must moreover consult them before you undertake any thinge of consequence when you would marry commence a suit undertake a far journey or engage your self in any other thing of importance aske their counsell and follow it this shews you esteem their prudence and God blesses this proceeding the young Tobias had a great blessing was assisted by an Angel deliver'd from all danger replenished with riches and prosperity in his journey becaus he undertook it by the advice and direction of his Father 4 The second honour of our Parents exacted by this Commandement is that of Obedience This honor S. Paul often recommends to us and in the Epistle to the Ephesians he proves it by this commandement to be their due Obey your Parents in our Ephes. 6. Lord For this is just Honour thy Father and thy Mother He adds In our Lord For if they command you any thing against the commandements of God or of his Church or if they would avert you from Religion and his service S. Bernard tells you that Epist 104. 't is Piety to neglect them for the love of IESUS-CHRIST for He that sayd Honor your Father and your Mother says to you also He that loves his father or his mother more than me is not worthy of me But when they command just and lawfull things you must obey them they are your Superiours and the Causes of your Being they then as Superiours ought to move you and as Causes of your Being to be also the Authours of your operations And if a servant be oblig'd to obey his Master for a little nourishment and a smal salary he receives how much more a child his Mother who nourished him with her own substance and his Father who laboured so much to bring him up and endeavours to provide for him 5. I find in the holy scripture that your obedience to be perfect ought to have three conditions at the least it ought to be blind cordial and
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
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
which the Sacrament excites And it would restore also health of body more effectually for when you are in or neere your agony and dispaired of by Phisicians if the Sacrament should repaire your force and strength this would be a miracle which God who disposes althings sweetly does not usually or without necessity But if you receive it sooner He would dispose second causes by the secrets of his providence to renew your health in case He should judg it necessary for your salvation 6. The third effect which the Apostle atributes to this Sacrament is the remission of sins And if he be in sins they shal be remitted him He says expressy If he be in sins becaus he supposes the Sicke hath already received Penance and that by absolution his sins have been remitted But if he hath not rightly accomplished Confession and Communion and knows it not or if by humane frailty he hath committed a mortal sin after his Confession and is ignorant of it such remainders with all venial sins would be remitted and a good part of the temporal punishment due to them relaxed by this Sacrament If then we are depriv'd of it by our fault or if we receive the Sacrament unfruitfully or if by our negligence a Soul depart out of this world without receiving the grace of it 't is a great fault and God does make this complaint of it The wound is not sured nor mollifyd with oyle 7. S. Bernard writes that S. Malachy was intreated to visit and Vitâ S. Malach. carry the holy oyles to a Gentlewoman dying near his monastery who so reioyced in the presence of the holy Prelate that she seem'd to be quite reviv'd she demanded the Sacrament but the Assisstant seeing her so changed desired the Prelate to forbeare The Saint condescended to their request and returned with the holy oyles No sooner he arrived at the Monastery but he heard the Cryes of divers who sayd that she was dead he runns and coms to her and finds her dead Behold him in the greatest sorrow in lamentations tears groans and complaints of himself for a fault whereof he was not guilty T is my fault Lord 't is my fault since she desired it I should not have defer'd it he protests to all the Assistants that he will weep in consolably that is Soul should never rest til he had restored to the dead the grace which she had lost he remains by the corps and instead of holy Oyle waters it all night with his precious tears This holy water frightens and puts death to flight for the next morning the dead opened her eyes as if she had been wakened out of sleep then sits up and making a low inclination to the Bishop says The prayer of faith hath saved the infirme By which you see how soliciâ—ous we should be to receive the effects and reap the fruits of this Sacrament 8. And to reap them with full hands and in abundance we must receive it with necessary dispositions and 't is certaine that Sacramental Confession must if possible precede it becaus this Sacrament is one of those which Divines call Sacramenta Vivorum that is which ought not to be received but by the faithfull who are already in the life of grace I say if possible for if one should be so depriv'd by a sudden accident that he cannot Confess we must neuertheless administer to him this Sacrament But there are three other dispositions which a devout soul should have in receiving it One in respect of God another in respect of himself and the third in respect of his neighbor 9. First you must offer to God a sacrifice of your life accepting death with resignation to his holy Will with great submission to the Orders of his Providence and to render honor and homage to his divine Perfections and say my God I submit with all my heart to the sentence of death you have pronounced against me from the beginning of the world I offer my life to you to do homage to your Souveraintie and Justice I acknowledg and protest that I have most justly deserv'd it not only by teason of original sin but as often as I have sinned in all my life 10. He that is in this disposition of a Victime and a Holocaust in the sight of God will have also the necessary spirit of humility He will renounce all pride ambition vain glory and ostentation he will abhorr the spirit of those vain souls who disire passionately to be praised in gazetts celebrated in histories that their hearts or bodys be emâ—auâ—med put into ledden coffins carried to the grave with pomp with famous and magnificent obsequies and funeral discourses who build for themselves or make to be built high and glorious tombes who fix their names and armes upon the walls of Churches and cause Epitaphes to be composed Aug. lib. 9. confess c. 13. in their praises S. Austin praises his Mother for that she had not the least thought of such a Vanity And the Scripture blames the ambition wherewith they buried the king Asa They buried him in his sepulcher which he digged for himself in the City of David and they layd him upon his bed full of Spices and odoriferous 2. Paral. 16. 14. oyntments and they burnt it upon him with exceeding ambition says the sacred Text. 12. In fine the holy oyle minds you of the Parable of the Virgins that they who had kept Virginity were not saved becaus they wanted the oyle of mercy with much more reason they cannot be saved who having committed impurities and other sins shal be presented to their Judg not having redeem'd their crimes by the workes of Charity You ought to do it all your life but if you have failed if you have not made the lamp to be carried before you make it at least to follow after you that you may not be wholy in darkness when you go into the other world JESUS having given us his sweat blood and life deserves well that you give him a good part of your goods also during your life when they are more necessary for you But since you have omitted it give him a little part of them at least in the houre of your death when your goods are useless to you 't is He who gave them to you who is the Proprietor of them and nevertheless desires for your good to receive of them in the persone of the Poor 13. I conclude with these words of S. Salvian You are avaricious But you are not enough I exhort you to be yet more you love Lib. 2. con Av. a ritiam in fine riches love them at your death as well as in your life you fear the poverty of this life fear also that of the other carry your riches with you into the other world they will be more necessary there than here to avoyd the paines of Purgatory in the way to redeem you in case you are cast in to that Prison and to make