Thy fear of his Judgment is so great because that of thy Sins is so little Thou livest in a course of wickedness and committest thy wickedness with boldness and even with greediness and then thou art afraid to be judged and that is because thou art to be justly condemned But thy chief and principal fear ought to be that of offending so severe a Judge and thy chief and principal hope ought to be that of being judged by so indulgent and so loving a Father It is the part of an unfaithful Servant not to dare appear before his Master's face and though he fears him yet he does not love him But a good Servant is glad to come to the Presence of his Master Every Call of his is a joy to him every Command a comfort and he runs chearfully to wait upon him at every knock but an evil Servant is afraid to see him because he was not afraid to offend him 10. Every sin thou committest unless thou repent of it is a rigorous Sentence against thy self every guilty action and every wilful transgression is a Criminal Article whereof thou accusest thy self at that Tribunal How is it possible for thee not to tremble and dread the Judgment and thy Account in the other Life if thou livest without Judgment and without Account in this Repent therefore pray and weep love and serve thy Judge here that thou mayest find him kind gentle and gracious hereafter He is a Judge that suffers himself to be gain'd in this life therefore use means to win his favour before he comes to Judge thee in his anger for thy having slighted and neglected to get his favour when thou mightest have done it Tremble with apprehension to see him in his wrath who may yet be appeased by the means I have shewed thee and who being reconciled first fills the Penitent's Soul with transports of his Love and after with those Joys and Pleasures which are at his right hand for evermore The Fourth WEEK Of the Vniversal Judgment at the end of the World 1. I AM something comforted with your Discourse says the Penitent but I have heard dreadful things of that great Day when all Mankind must rise to Judgment that horrible Trumpet which makes even the Dead to hear how much more the deaf does also make the heart to tremble and confounds the senses with amazement It is no wonder indeed that thou shouldst be dismayed at that which affrighted St. Hierome and very many other holy Men thou mayest very well tremble at that which they were afraid of 2. Who can choose but fear and tremble to see the whole Creation destroyed by the Creator of it and all the World consumed by his powerful hand Who can choose but fear the Signs which fore-run that Judgment those terrible Earth-quakes and horrible roarings of the Sea Who would not fear to see the Elements those preservers of Life to become its furious Enemies and fighting with one another to become the Ministers of Death Who can choose but fear to see the confusion of Mankind some calling on the Rocks to hide them others upon the Darkness to cover them all being full of terror and astonishment to see all sorts of miseries come together to bring our Nature to an end Who can choose but fear to see the Sun covered with a deadly Vail his light obscured that of the Moon extinguished the Stars also falling from their places and overwhelming the Generations of Men. Nothing to be heard but publick Complaints and Lamentations Cries Sighs and Groans nothing to be seen but Fears Dangers Losses Miseries and Confusions 3. Can any one choose but be affrighted to see the dead rise again by God's Command at the sound of that horrible Trumpet to take up the consumed and scattered pieces of their Body to cloath themselves therewith and each one unite it to his Soul that he may appear at the dreadful Judgment-seat of God waiting for the Sentence either of Eternal Life or of Eternal Death Who can choose but be amazed with fear to see the Almighty cloathed in Majesty to come down with the Court of Heaven armed with Justice to be exercised against sin and wickedness Who would not be dismayed to see the Creator hurle flames of fire against all he hath created to see Houses and Cities Palaces and Kingdoms burnt together and finally to see the whole World destroyed in that cruel and dreadful Conflagration Who would not even dye with fear to see so many Angels and so many Devils together divided from one another on the right hand and on the left expecting the word of Sentence to be put in execution The Angels carrying the good to Eternal Joys and the Devils dragging the wicked to Eternal Torments 4. How is it possible not to fear a Tribunal so dreadful a Judgment so terrible and a Sentence so formidable from whence there is no Appeal and the Execution whereof is either Life Eternal or Death Eternal for ever for ever for ever so that they shall know no end of that ever ever ever My Soul is astonished and amazed in the consideration of the Universal Judgment It is dismayed to think and to imagine all this which is but as a Dream thus represented to us in writing in comparison of what it will be and of what we shall see it in effect 5. Grant O Lord that I may tremble bewail lament and sigh deeply for my sins and wickednesses before I hear that killing Sentence pronounced against them by thy Divine lips Grant that my Tears and Repentance my Sorrow and Contrition may make my polluted Soul fit to be washed and purified by thy most precious Blood to the end I may never hear that confounding word Go ye cursed into eternal fire prepared for the Devil and his Angels 6. O give me grace to imitate the Martyrs in Faith the Confessors in Hope and the Blessed Virgin thy most holy Mother and all the rest of the Saints in Charity to the end I may hear that most sweet and most welcome call of Come ye blessed of my Father inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world 7. Oh that I had never offended thee my dearest Lord that I might not see thee offended Oh that I had ever served thee that I might see thee appeased Mercy sweet Saviour mercy in this Life that I may find it in the Judgment and in the Sentence of the Life to come Prepare me O Lord Jesus for my particular Judgment that I may be able to stand in thy Universal Judgment Have mercy upon me when thou shalt Judge me alone to the end thou mayest have mercy upon me when thou shalt Judge me and all the World together O grant I may live with such care to judge and call my self to an Account in this Life that the remembrance of that other which I must one day give to thee and my earnest endeavour to make my self ready for it may
and by that wound receive me into and hide me in thy Heart free me from my self free me from all my Vices by thy holy Vertues and by thy sacred Wounds O heavenly Physician heal those many whereby though I have made my self the most unworthy and the most wretched of thy Creatures yet am I thereby the fitter Object of thy Mercies FEBRVARY The First WEEK Of the Remembrance of Death 1. WOuld'st thou amend thy loose irregular Life Remember Death and do while thou livest as thou would'st wish to have done when thou shalt come to die This Life which thou thinkest so lasting is but vanity This Life which thou livest as if thou thought'st it would never have an end is ending every moment and is making an end of thee Death comes flying speedily to us and we are running as fast to it they quickly meet that seek one another with so much haste Would'st thou take off thy value and esteem from that which is corruptible Look upon all things as subject to Death and full of Corruption 2. All that is in this World breaths Death in the midst of Life and all that seems Life is a secret Death Kingdoms and Empires die some destroy'd by the Hands of others some even by their own The Assyrian Monarchy was slain by the Medes that of the Medes by the Persians that of the Persians by the Graecians that of the Graecians by the Romans and that of the Romans by many several Nations and then they all made an end of one another If the whole which is strong and potent die can any part live which is weak and divided within it self The stateliest and strongest Buildings die Look and thou shalt no where find the Colosse's the Mausoleum's the Palaces and highest Edifices of the Ancients Those Towers which seem'd to touch the Stars ruined themselves by their own weight and greatness If Houses of the most lasting Marble die shall this petty Inhabitant of them live whose Body is but a little dust that vanisheth at a blast of wind 3. Might and Power also dies conquer'd sometimes by it self sometimes by a greater Power What is become of those Gyants of Vanity who with so much Pride did trample upon all the World What is become of those who made whole Monarchies to tremble at their lightest Motions or Disgusts They are now a heap of Bones lying upon the Earth and they who struck so great a Terror through all the Earth are themselves reduc'd to Earth already Yesterday they trampled all under their feet to day they are trampled under feet by all and thrown out to be the Food of Worms There is no need of Thunder-boks from Heaven to strike down this Power so full of weakness Earthquakes are superfluous on this occasion There needs neither Conflagration nor Deluge nor all no not so much as one of the Elements it is enough if there be but one Humour distemper'd within a Man 's own Body a malignant Feaver will serve the turn nay a fatal Sneeze upon a violent occasion is sufficient This is the hard necessity to which all humane Power is tied and subject and to which it must be forc't to yield Who then would fear any other Power but that of God which is the true Power indeed 4. What is become of the Honour the Riches and the Authority of those Grandees whom once the World adored It ended with their Power Imperial and Royal Crowns and Scepters Pontifical Miters Palls and Crosiers with all such Ensigns of Dignity roul up and down on the Wheel of Uncertainty following the course of Days Hours and Moments Scarce do they appear when they are already vanished scarce have they begirt the Brows of one when they instantly forsake him to seek the Brows of another Yesterday a Throne to day a Coffin Yesterday Rich and cloathed with stately Robes to day reduc'd to Rags and Beggary And are Wealth and Honours subject to these sudden Changes Who then would seek any other Honour but that of God and of an humble vertuous Life Who would seek other Riches than those of his Gifts and Graces 5. What and doth Beauty Gallantry Sprightliness and good Humour die too One may rather doubt whether they live at all So great is the Vanity and Shortness of them Where are now those Narcissus's and Adonis's those Venus's and Cleopatras's those Livias's and other Flowers of Beauty which in each Age shew themselves and vanish almost at the same hour Death cuts them all down and that which is less even Life it self destroys them Riches Power and Temporal Greatness do sometimes last as long as Life and nothing but Death alone does conquer them but Beauty is so frail a thing that 't is subject to be cut off not only by Death but even by Life also That which was yesterday the Envy and Admiration of the World to day is Ugliness and Deformity A slight accidental swelling of a Cheek or a discolouring of the Complexion a small Addition or Abatement in the Plumpness of the Face an outward Alteration or Change of the Countenance whether natural or violent takes away the former Air and presently farewel handsomness Let but a little Rheum fall into the Eyes a few Wrinkles shrivel the Skin a small Convulsion pull the Mouth awry a few Pimples break out in the Nose or any internal Humour discompose that outward Symmetry and instantly there is an end of Beauty There is no need of Death nor Small-pox Wounds nor Burnings A little Wind a little Nothing will serve to wither that delicate Flower Did I say nothing That was too much for it decayeth and withereth of it self and is it self its own destroyer 6. Beauty 't is strange dies with living ends with lasting and is ruin'd by its Conservation Is it not a wonderful thing that living and continuing should make it become horrible and loathsome That the handsomest Person should only by living become abominable and deformed And that meerly the Duration of Life should make the most beautiful Lady to be abhorred According to this it plainly appears that that which we have thought to be Life is Death that which we have thought a Being is not a Being but a ceasing to be that which we take to be Truth is Falshood that which seems to be Riches and Authority is Impotence and Vanity and that which looks like Life is Death or at least a Shadow of Death 7. Let us therefore lift up our Eyes and Hearts to that Life which is Eternal and knows no Death Of what Importance of what value can that be which either leaves me while I live or must be left by me when I die Nothing is lasting or of any worth but Vertue Truth and Piety To serve God and to please him is the only Riches and Power and that the only Beauty which lasteth to Eternity The Second WEEK How much it concerns the Soul to remember Death in the Time of Life 1. COnsider that Life passeth
in excessive apprehension of their own unworthiness which has been the Case of some very devout Souls whose Faith hath failed more out of the Timerousness of their own Nature than through any distrust of God's Mercy or of their Saviour's Merits 10. Would'st thou than escape from both these dangers Consider seriously the Shortness of Life and the Certainty of Death that the time of it when come can by no means be prolonged that the Place Manner and Time is utterly unknown to thee that it will come like a Thief in the Night that we can die but once and if we do it ill there is no second time to do it better that as the Tree falleth so it lieth Examine which way it would fall with thee if it should now be cut down Let these thoughts fill thee with the holy Fear of God's Justice which will keep thee from the Gulph of Presumption Bring forth Fruits of Repentance and entertain an humble Hope of God's Mercy whereby thou shalt avoid the Rock of Despair and looking up to Jesus the Author and Finisher of thy Faith with the Arms of that Faith lay fast hold upon the Merit of his Cross and so shalt thou pass safely into the Haven of everlasting Happiness Let not Life deceive thee but let Death undeceive thee See what St. Austin says The Sinner that would not when he might is not able when he would and being asked the Reason he answers Because by his affection to what was evil he lost the power of doing what was good A Man that has spent a whole Life in sinning will not find it easie to die repenting he whose Life is departing and Death seizing on him is but in an ill condition to grieve for his Sins he is not like to lament and bewail his offences which are hastening on his Death it being more probable his Sorrow will then be for the Loss of his Life In that terrible moment the Sinner will want Time he will want Disposition he will want Understanding and all things fitting for that weighty Business and will abound in nothing but Pain Terrour Anguish and Confusion The Third WEEK The dreadful Call of God to the Sinner that defers Repentance till his Death MEN want time to repent because God justly takes it from those that have so long abused his Mercy and gone on delaying their Repentance to such a time as is rather to be called a Moment than a Time Thou hast provoked my Anger says God to the Sinner thou hast forsaken and cast me off during thy whole Life How can'st thou expect to find me kind and loving to thee at thy Death I gave thee the best time and thou givest me the worst Doest thou think it is so easie to regain that best time which thou didst despise with the worst and in the worst till which thou hast delayed to use it When I gave thee Light and Strength thou imployedst it to persecute me and will it be easie for thee without Strength and without Light to seek me and to find me Is it all one thing O presumptuous Sinner whether thou offendest or pleasest me I have called upon thee and wooed thee with many gracious Invitations and with innumerable Benefits ever since thou camest into the World Is it enough for thee having despised them all and wounded me with thy Ingratitude to come to me when thou art just going out of it And canst thou expect that I will then receive thee If thou art rejected then O sinful Man the Fault will not be mine but thine own If the business of thy whole Life has been nothing but a wilful provocation of my Anger Can there be any thing more unreasonable than at thy Death to expect my Favour Is the Grace of Contrition in thy own Power whensoever it pleases thee Wilt thou be able to do that in the instant of Death which thou could'st not do in so many Years of thy Life Wilt thou be able to do that with a disturbed Judgment and a confused Understanding which thou never didst attempt nor wouldst ever learn while thy Understanding and Judgment were clear and found If the whole Custom of thy long Life has been nothing else but sinning canst thou O Man be so sensless as to look that the end of such a wretched Life should be merit and reward How canst thou hope to die a Saint having ever lived a scandalous Sinner If so many repeated acts of Sin have begot in thee a powerful Habit and an inveterate Custom of despising me Which way wilt thou begin to overcome that Custom when thy Life is at an end If thou hast spoken but one Language all thy Life wouldst thou go about the learning of another quite contrary to it in the Moment of thy Death 2. So long as thou didst live in health thou never wert acquainted with sorrow for sin nor knewest what it was to be contrite and penitent will it be easie for thee to learn and practice these things when thou art going out of the World to which thou wert so averse all the time of thy being in it If thou hast spent it all in the deceits and entanglements of sensual Delights How wilt thou be able to get loose from them and free thy self in that short instant when thy Soul is to be separated from thy Body If then thou wouldst leave them they will not leave thee thou holdest them fast and they stick as fast to thee How will you then get loose from one another Canst thou be willing to leave that at thy death which thou never wouldest forsake nay which thou didst ever run after and hug with so much fondess all thy life I shall be willing to pardon thee O Man but thou wilt not be able to ask me pardon the fault will not be in me O Sinner but in thy self 3. Thou wouldst never think of Death much less think how to dye and then thou wilt not know which way to beg for Pardon because thou wouldst never endeavour to learn and that time must then be spent in dying which ought to be spent in bagging forgiveness Thou wilt not be able because thy Will disturbed with fears will fail thee thy Understanding will be darken'd with Anguish thy Memory afflicted with Sins thy Senses dulled and decayed with a mortal Sickness and finally all thy abilities will be meer disabilities Thou hast wasted all thy life as if there were never to be a death and therefore thou wilt not have power to repent thee at thy death which is the death of Eternal Life Thou never in all thy life didst remember that there is a Hell and therefore at thy death thou wilt either forget it or else be so prest with the fear of going thither that thou wilt not be able to pour down Tears nor send up Prayers to escape it Thou hast lived without Judgment as if there were to be no Judgment without calling thy self to Account as if
thou wert never to be called to Account therefore O sinner thou wilt find at thy death that 't is more easie to tremble at thy Account than to give it 4. Thou hast spent all thy life in sin and wickedness without any remembrance of the Glory to come what Idea therefore can thy Memory have of that Glory when thou comest to dye If it be tedious and wearisome to thee to confess a few daily sins how dost thou think thou shalt find Diligence and Patience enough when thou comest to dye to confess that infinite number thou hast committed from the time of thy birth Thou canst not or wilt not now in thy health lift a hundred weight and dost thou think thou shalt be able in thy sickness to lift a hundred thousand Dost thou reserve that weight to be laid upon thee in thy weakness which thou darest not venture to lift at in thy full strength What profit or advantage can thy Death bring thee when all thy care and trouble will be imployed about the losing of thy Life Thy Heart being glued to the Wealth and to the World which thou must leave How wilt thou be able to loosen it from thence and to join it to what thou hast never cared for The Chains of thy Passions tye thee fast to this transitory World How wilt thou be able to break them in an instant and to give thy self to that which is eternal 5. It cost me Tears and Groans Prayers and loud Cries to raise up Lazarus to Life again who had been dead but four days of a natural Death What will it cost to raise up thee from the spiritual Death in which thou hast lain dead perhaps these forty Years I raised up Lazarus without his doing any thing to help towards his own Resurrection but I will not revive thee unless thou dost something on thy part and how wilt thou be able O wretched Man to perform that under a double Death thy Soul in that of Sin and thy Body so near to that of Corruption Thy Spirit being conquered and having yielded it self a Slave to thine Appetite which has domineer'd powerfully all thy Life and forc't thy Soul to the Drudgery of Sin Dost thou believe that in breathing out thy last Gasp thou shalt be able to recover its liberty No thou wilt find that though it be freed from thy Body for a time it is going to suffer a much greater slavery in Hell and to be tormented by the Devil in Chains of Darkness till the Day of Judgment when thy Body indeed shall rise from the Grave as did that of Lazarus to be joined again with thy Soul yet not as his to Life but to die eternally and to be for ever banished from my sight 6. Thou hast used thy self all thy Life to follow thine own will and never to deny thy self in any thing and doest thou think thou shalt have power to do that in the end of it which has always been so contrary to thy Inclinations Or if thou hast endeavour'd to get Victories over thy self and hast fought without success that spiritual Combate is it probable thou shalt overcome thy self better in thy utmost weakness and when thou liest gasping for Breath If thou couldst not conquer that Enemy when thou hadst all thy strength if with the force of Reason quicken'd by frequent Admonitions called upon by many Exhortations and excited by several good Examples thou could'st not subdue thy sensual Appetite in so many Years how wilt thou conquer it when thy Reason and Understanding shall have forsaken thee and when the Ear of thy Body shall be as deaf to all other Motives as that of thy Soul has been till then Thinkest thou when thou liest fainting in thy Death-bed without strength to move a Hand rattling in the Throat and gasping for Breath to overcome that Enemy that potent Enemy insulting over thee in the Pride of so many repeated Victories That Enemy which the Apostles themselves and their Successors with so many other excellent Saints fought against all their Lives wilt thou conquer with the dregs of thine being without Memory without Understanding and even without Sense in that great disorder and confusion which Death uses to bring especially to those who have always suffer'd their Appetite to triumph over them 7. How long O Sinner wilt thou go on in this foolish Presumption I do not bid thee despair when thou diest but I bid thee work out thy Salvation with fear and trembling while thou livest I deny not but that I saved the good Thief He believed on me when my Disciples forsook me and fled and prayed to me even when I was nailed to the Cross to such an extraordinary Faith I shew'd an extraordinary Favour and though I promised he should be with me that day in Paradice thou mayest remember I suffered him that was crucified with me on the other hand to be condemned If he who died so near my side and looking upon that Blood which I shed for him was damned Wilt thou delay still and hope to escape at that last Hour I do not forbid thee to hope when thou comest to die but I bid thee to do good works in the mean while and serve me during thy Life without deferring it till Death for if thou despisest the warning I give thee now the time will come when thou shalt call and I will not hear and when thou shalt cry Lord Lord I will answer I know thee not thou worker of Iniquity Depart from me into everlasting Fire prepared for the Devil and his Angels The Fourth WEEK The Answer of a repenting Sinner and that we ought to prepare our selves for Death 1. AH let us all quake and tremble what shall we answer to these terrible Words of the Lord What shall we answer to these Arguments which are rather evident Conclusions What shall we answer to that eternal Wisdom to that eternal Light and Truth whose Sayings are undeniable and whose Accusings are clear Convictions Here is nothing to be done but to acknowledge our guilt to humble our selves and amend our Lives Here is nothing to be done but with Repentance Humility and Contrition to weep and sigh and earnestly beg for Mercy 2. Here is nothing to be done but with a most intimate Desire and Sorrow of the Soul to say Lord I have sinned against thee all my Life and I will bewail my offences during my Life that I may likewise bewail them at my Death If I be not willing to lament them now perhaps then I shall neither be willing nor able I sinned in the best of my time and so made it the worst and I desire to forsake my Sins in the best that remains before the last comes which is the worst indeed I desire O God to imploy the remainder of my days in thy Service since thou yet affordest me time to bewail that time which I so sinfully have lost I desire to lament my Sins with all
my Senses Powers and Faculties since I have abused them all in offending against thee my God nor will I defer my Tears till my Death since I did not defer my Sins till my Death 3. I desire O Lord that I may not be to seek for Oil in my Lamp when the Bridegroom calls but to have it ready prepar'd and lighted against his coming To get Oil after death is impossible grant that I may buy it and furnish my self before I fall asleep Life without thy Grace is not only Sleep but Death grant therefore O Lord that I may prepare for Death during Life by living well Grant O Lord my God that the Bridegroom at his coming may find me watching grant O Lord that when the Thief shall come to break into this House of my Body and rob me of my Soul I may not be found asleep in any customary Sin but awake upon my Guard and with my Lamp ready lighted and let me never hear from thee the Light eternal that terrible saying I know thee not 4. Grant that at thy second coming thou mayest find me with my Loins girt and my Light burning and able to give such an account of the Talents which thou hast given me that the Benefits of thy former coming may by thy Mercy be made effectual to my Soul What shall become of me O my God if I loose thee If once I loose thee O Light eternal when shall I be able ever to recover thee Deliver my Soul from the roaring Lion free my darling from the Power of the infernal Dragon if once I loose my self and thee Is it possible I should ever find thee again my Saviour Is there any passage from Hell to Glory Is there any Redemption in that place of Torment where all Mercies are utterly cut off Shall I expose my Soul to that hazard to that danger and to that loss at my Death for not repenting while I live Shall I trust that which is most precious and most important to the most unfit and the most uncertain time Shall I put off the loosing or enjoying thee eternally O my Jesus to a Conjuncture so full of anguish and confusion as scarce affords a possibility of knowing thee No Lord suffer me not I beseech thee to fall into so miserable a Condition rather let me die now instantly at this present moment in thy Grace than so foolishly to adventure the loss of both thy Grace and Glory 5. This is the Answer we should make to God these are the Thoughts we ought to feel these are the Requests we ought to make before the Agony of Death for then the Pains of the Body the Anguish of the Soul the Grief for leaving the Pleasures of this World and the Fear of going into the Torments of the next the Distraction of thy Thoughts and the Decay of thy Understanding will neither suffer thee to attend thy Prayers nor allow thee time to consider what to pray for O how ignorant how mad a Folly it is to delay our amendment till the Hour of Death What a mistake it is to believe that our dammage does not increase with that deceit and our deceit with that dammage What an Error to think I shall be better when I see and feel my self daily growing worse And that the end of my Life shall be good when the whole course of it from the beginning has been evil What a Cheat the Devil puts upon a Man to perswade him that when his Soul is torn out of his Body he shall be able to imploy himself in any thing else than to feel that strong Division between the Body and the Soul 6. This puts an end to the Sinner's Life this puts an end to his Delights this puts an end to his Acquaintance His Friends his Riches his Honour his Power all these must be left this is the thing that disquiets and afflicts him thither his Mind runs then where he had placed his contentment thither his sorrow his torture and confusion where he had rivetted his Heart His thought his care and his attention being taken up with what he loses and which is worse with what he fears he is in too great a Distraction to discourse of that which he should and which imports him most 7. And therefore if thou wilt live eternally die before thou diest Think of that now which thou meanest to think of hereafter Let not Death go out of thy Memory and so thou shalt amend thy Life Live and do all things as a Person that must die and thou shalt die to live for ever Thy Death shall be but a Passage not a Death and a passage to eternal Life not a dying to eternal Death MARCH The First WEEK Of the particular Account that each Man is to give immediately after his Death 1. NOW give ear and I will tell another thing more dreadful and terrible more quick and speedy and of more hazard and danger Anger than Death it self And that is the account thou art instantly to give with the Judgment and Sentence that shall be passed upon thee in particular at the Moment of thy Death What so soon Yes so soon scarce dead when already judged and Sentence past either to absolve or to condemn thee The Body is not yet quite cold upon its Bed And is the Soul judged already They are yet holding a Looking-glass to my Mouth to try whether I have any Breath left in me and is my Cause already dispatched concluded and sentenced The Body is not yet put into a Winding-sheet and is the Soul already judged and which is more the Sentence executed upon it Shall there not be a little delay Will they not allow me a little space to think how I may satisfie by some excuse the Charge that is brought against me Will they pluck me away and precipitate me so suddenly without having any thing to lay hold on when I am driven out of the Body without any thing to lay hold on when I am snatched to Judgment without any thing to lay hold on when I am hurried to execution without finding one moment of delay ere I receive the Sentence Is it possible that there is no place of refuge No retreat where I may stop a little though it were but at the foot of that very Judgment-seat where I am to be sentenced or at the Threshold of that Dungeon where I am to he imprisoned May not the Execution be suspended for a little while Is there no Chappel as I pass where a condemned Person may linger a while and pray between the Judgment-seat and the dismal place of Torment Is it possible that there is no other way either on the Right-hand or on the Left from Death to this account to this Judgment and to this Sentence whereby I may escape and hide my self Can I not turn back again Is it absolutely necessary I must be thrown headlong Must I needs swallow that bitter draught and be forc't to make that
irrevocable leap from the Delights of this World to the Miseries of the other 3. No no there is no remedy that most bitter Potion is forc't not voluntary and it must of necessity be drunk for they will not let thee spill it To die to be judged to have Sentence executed and to conclude all and make an end for ever is but one instant See how thou goest out of this Life for so thou shalt enter into Judgment see in what condition thou art to make thy account for in the same thou shalt come from thy account see well how thy Case stands for according to the Proof so shall the Sentence be There is no mending of Answers no Wrestings nor Perjuries nor Briberies in that high Court of Justice all is dispatched in a moment the Charge the Answer the Judgment the Sentence and the Execution The Sentence is but to look upon the Criminal to come into the Presence of God is to be condemned and even but to come into the Presence of God is a casting off the Wicked from his sight for ever and a receiving of the Good into eternal Joys 4. What and is there then no remedy for a Sinner before God's Tribunal Is there no way to come off from that Judgment and from that account Yes there is a remedy But what I beseech you To judge thy self in this Life and to call thy self daily to strict account Let the Sinner pass Judgment upon himself during his Life and then his Death shall be a Comfort his Account a Blessing that great Day a Day of Mercy then the Sentence shall be Joy and the Execution Glory The Sentence is published there but the Tryal is made here and according as the Case is found the Sentence is fitted to the Tryal God pronounces the Sentence in his Tribunal according to the Tryal but thou and I are here forming and giving Matter to that Tryal by our Thoughts by our Words and by our Actions Take heed what thou doest for there thou shalt find it and take heed what thou sayest for there thou shalt hear it the Tryal I say is of our own making by it that most righteous Judge shall judge us take heed then what thou thinkest for there thou shalt see it and take heed what thou sowest for there thou shalt reap it 5. As thy Life shall be here such shall be thy Death thy Account and thy Sentence at that Tribunal and afterwards the Execution The Judgment is God's Truth the Sentence is his Righteousness and the Execution his Justice It is neither the Judgment nor the Sentence principally which condemns a Person but the wickedness of his Life The Sentence of God's eternal Judgment is rather a Declaration then a Condemnation Thou didst sentence and condemn thy self when thou didst Sin and being already condemned thou goest to be judged by dying in thy sins All that is done there is but to declare that thy Wickedness deserves Hell and thy Life eternal Death 6. And according to this at the last Judgment in the Gospel our Lord says nothing else in pronouncing it but Go ye cursed or Come ye blessed of my Father He does not say My will condemns the Wicked nor my will absolves the Good as he finds them so he judges he finds those cursed and as cursed he casts them from him he finds these blessed and as blessed he calls them he embraces them and takes them to himself The reason of this is because that as God is the eternal Truth he judges according as he finds the Tryal and if that be deadly the Sentence of necessity must be so likewise 7. He that will escape Judgment at the Day of Judgment must begin from this present time to judge himself He that will clear his account at that day of Account must begin in this Life to call himself to an account Let a Man take good heed on what hand he lives in this mortal Life on that hand he shall be placed in the immortal Life if on the Left hand then on the Left if on the Right-hand on the Right In this World which is full of Deceits and Equivocations in Suits and Causes all the danger of the Person condemned is in the Judgment past upon him for his Innocence will little avail to save him if the Sentence condemn him nor if that absolve him will the greatest Crime and the most evidently proved do him any harm but at God's Tribunal the Danger is not in the Sentence but in the Case of the Criminal Hereby amongst many other Reasons God is justified in condemning the Wicked although he be Mercy it self for it is not his Mercy Goodness and Pity but the Sins the Guilt and the Malice of the Wicked that condemns them 'T is they that choose their own Sentence for they make their own process in this Life 'T is they that make Hell their own choice because they wilfully choose those Sins that carry them thither and will not choose Repentance that would free them from it They are the makers of their own Misfortunes and themselves are the Causes of their Death their Hell and their Damnation by not applying Tears and Contrition to their Sins 8. O what a strange Doctrine is this According to it there is nothing to be fear'd at the Day of Judgment but our Lives nothing to be fear'd in the Sentence but our Sins Nay all is to be fear'd for terrible and dreadful are the Judgments of the Lord yet are they just righteous and holy therefore fear Sin which brings thee to be sentenc'd fear Guilt which brings thee for ever to be condemned fear that Sentence which throws thee into eternal Damnation and fear that Judgment which casts thee headlong to everlasting Torments The Second WEEK Of the Rectitude and Severity of the Judgment 1. BUT admit all this be so yet may not some of our faults be forgotten or some of our Sins excused at that Day Thô I go out of this Life in the Judge's disfavour may I not in the other Appeal or reply or beg and obtain his Favour before he pass the Sentence May I not by Gift or Craft or Industry or subtilty of Discourse evade or extenuate or hide or at least disguise the Sins I have committed 2. O how foolishly doest thou argue if thou canst have such a Thought Thou art more blind in thy reasoning than thou art in sinning for that is but weakness but this the highest Ignorance What excuse canst thou possibly have for offending thy God and thy Redeemer who died upon the Cross only to free thee from Death and Sin What excuse for not being willing to take the Benefit of his Sacraments What excuse for rejecting his Helps and holy Inspirations What excuse for the frequent rebelling against his holy Commandments What excuse for refusing his divine Counsels What excuse for stopping thine ears to the Masters of Christian Instruction and to those loud Cries with which his
a scandal to others as this wretched Person is to me Grant that I may detest the Vice but not the Man Convert him I beseech thee from the evil of his ways and so strengthen me in the Paths of thy Commandments that I may never fall away but persevere in them constantly unto my Live's end Of the Benefit of Preservation whereby we our selves have been delivered from particular Dangers Now if the Calamities of others when but look'd upon are a just Motive to us of Thankfulness how much more those we our selves have been freed from by particular Escapes God permitting us sometimes to fall into dangers that his Goodness and fatherly Care may be the more visibly manifested in our deliverance and that we may acknowledge our selves more obliged to remember them with Gratitude and to make him returns of Duty and Obedience Thou mayest be able to relate and express those he has shew'd to thee I will relate those done to my self though it be more easie to have a Sense of them than to express it I shall not need to insist upon his Benefits of doing one good since thou wilt know them by those of delivering me from evil Here the Author reckons up his particular deliverances which I omit to insert Do thou likewise Reader following his Example recount to thy self the chief of those dangers God hath preserved thee in which it concerns thee carefully to remember and gratefully to lay them to heart And when thou hast recollected as many as thou canst say with the Psalmist Praise thou the Lord O my Soul and all that is within me praise his holy Name Praise the Lord O my Soul and forget not all his Benefits Who forgiveth all thy Sins and healeth all thine Infirmities Who saveth thy Life from destruction and crowneth thee with mercy and loving kindness I will always give thanks unto the Lord his praise shall ever be in my mouth O praise the Lord with me and let us magnify his Name together Of the Preservation of our Souls But is not the Preservation of the Body from corporal Death much less considerable than that of the Soul from spiritual Death Yes certainly There is no comparison between them for the former is only in order to the latter and when he saves us from any such dangers as those I have before-mentioned they are to mind us of our Mortality and to make us think in what condition we should have been if he had then snatch'd us suddenly out of this World His sparing us longer was only to give us a longer time to repent and to urge us to make use of it to the end that when he shall come again to take us away in good earnest he may find us prepar'd for Death in being reconciled to him by Repentance and newness of Life Thus in all the occasions wherein he delivered me from a Temporal he delivered me also from eternal Death affording me a longer time to break off and to forsake my Sins by a Repentance not to be repented of quick'ning my Faith to lay faster hold on my Saviour least I should be pluck'd away from him as I had like to have been while I was in so great an Error as to presume he would be held by me whilst I was loath to let go my sins as if it had been possible to embrace Christ and the World both at the same time How often when his Divine Majesty was ready to throw me justly into Hell with one hand hath he detained me with the other And when I was already condemn'd by his Divine Justice how often hath he saved me by his Compassion and Mercy How often when I was going nay running to throw my self into the infernal Flames hath this compassionate Lord stopt me in my Career and freed me from Temptations which were hurrying me to eternal Miseries How often hath he driven back the Devil who had seized me and was dragging me away when his Divine Majesty laid hold upon me rescued sustained and receivcd me pardoning my wickedness and embracing me in the Arms of his boundless Charity How often when being blind and foolish I went astray hath he sought me and brought me home How hath he called advertised reproved and counselled me by which means I was recovered and restored How often sometimes sleeping sometimes waking while I was dead to Grace but quick to Sin hath he rouzed me up called me and led me by the hand to make me forsake Sin and return to Grace Who then bound the Hands of his Justice who entreated for me when I was lull'd asleep in that sinful security What was there in me that I should find more favour than those that are taken away from amongst us in the midst of their days and in the heat of their youthful Lusts My Sins cried out against me but the Lord stopped his Ears My offences daily encreased against him and his Mercies abounded as daily towards me I sinned and he did expect me I fled from him and he followed me and when I was even weary in offending him yet his long sufferance was not weary in expecting me for in the midst of all my Sins I received many good Inspirations and Reproofs from his Holy Spirit which check'd me in my inconsiderate course of Life How often did he call me with the Voice of Love How often did he terrifie me with threats and fears laying before me the Peril of Death and the Rigour of his Divine Justice How often hath he followed me with his Word preached How often invited me with Blessings and chastened me with Crosses compassing me about and hedging my way with Thorns that I might not be able to break from him By all these holy Methods he made me at last to see the Vanity the Folly the Deceitfulness and even the Painfulness of Sin l found that it was dangerous and costly as well as slavish to be hurried up and down by the Tyranny of my unruly and vicious Passions I found I had no fruit of those things whereof I was afterwards ashamed and was at last convinced that the end of them was Death nay and death eternal Then did I fully resolve being assisted by thy Grace with an unchangeable purpose to alter my course of Life and to run the way of thy Commandments since thou hadst set my Heart at liberty My Soul escaped even as a Bird out of the Hand of the Fowler the Snare was broken and I was delivered O let me never again be entangled with the Birdlime of sinful Delights from which it is so hard to get disengag'd but grant I may now soar up to those Pleasures which are at thy Right-hand for evermore taking my flight freely to thee and to the Ark of thy rest for the Deluge of Wickedness that hath covered the Face of the Earth affords no safe place for the sole of my Foot O put forth thine hand to take me in to thee as Noah did the Dove
that the third Person in the Holy Trinity might Govern the Church which the second had founded in his Blood and which the first still supports with abundance of Coelestial Blessings This is a Week which is sufficient to employ all our Days and Weeks and Years even to Eternity in imitating those Vertues in adoring those Mysteries and in for ever praising that Saviour and Redeemer of Souls who performed them for our sakes The Fourth WEEK Of the Exercise of the three Theological Vertues Faith Hope and Charity upon Contemplation of the Life and Death of our Saviour WE have been furnished with large matter of Consideration which not only is sweet and holy but also most profitable to our Souls For the Life of Jesus Christ must be the Looking-glass of our Lives His Passion must banish the Sins and Passions of our Hearts His Sufferings must moderate and reform our Pleasures His Wounds must be the Cure of our Wounds and Maladies His Cross must be our Banner and his Death our Life From hence as from a most clear and beautiful Original thou art to Copy out those Vertues which are to resist assault and conquer thy Vices Upon these high and Heavenly Mysteries thou art to fix thy Faith thy Hope and thy Love at all times So far as thou shalt think and meditate upon the Life and Passion of our Lord so far will thy Faith quicken and enliven thee and that Faith which being Dead and without Works will be but the cause of thy greater Condemnation by being made a living and a working Faith will obtain for thee a high Reward If you have Faith sayes our Saviour you shall remove Mountains O how great is the power of Faith If you have Faith ask of me and you shall receive seek me and you shall find me and if you knock it shall be opened unto you That lively Faith which is offered and given us in the Life and Death of the Saviour of Souls is not only to believe what Faith teaches us but also to do in the same measure as we believe To believe so many Heavenly Mysteries and not to act in conformity to them is a very imperfect Faith To believe a God will not serve the turn alone The Devils saith St. James believe and tremble too and yet are now burning in Hell The Devil knows very well that God is God and abhors him though he believes Dost thou believe in God art thou a Christian T is well But tell me how many are Condemned for ever who believed but did not do accordingly Dost thou believe in Christ and yet wilt not follow Christ and which is worse dost thou Persecute him and Crucifie him again by thy wicked Life Woe be to thee and woe be to me if we thus believe in Christ This People saith he honour me with their Lips but their Heart is far from me Woe be to thee and me if we honour Christ on that manner Not all those saith the Holy Jesus that cry unto me Lord Lord shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven but he that does the will of my Father That is to say there are two sorts of Persons that cry Lord Lord which are two sorts of Believers The one say and do not do believe but do not work The other both say and do believe and likewise work He that believes and does shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven but he that believes a God and yet works against him and Offends and Crucifies him shall never be admitted into those Heavenly Mansions 'T is not enough to do without believing nor to believe without doing both are necessary and we must work without giving over Let every one look and consider what his works are for thither he shall go whither his Thoughts Words and Actions direct their Course Are they sinful Then to Hell Are they full of Tears Repentance and Contrition Then to Heaven Look what thou sowest for that shalt thou reap If Corruption thou shalt reap Corruption if Perfection thou shalt reap Perfection Dost thou sow Vertues in this Life Thou shalt reap Coelestial Crowns in the other Dost thou sow Vices Thou shalt reap Eternal Torments A lively Faith I say a lively Faith is that which will save us a lively active a pure holy Faith not one defil'd with Sins deformed with Passions and full of Misery and Presumption Dost thou live as if thou wert an Heathen and yet believe thy self a Christian Unless thou amendest thy Life the Heathen shall carry the Christian along with him to Hell but the Christian shall never carry the Heathen along with him to Heaven Dost thou believe an Eternity and yet livest without any memory of that Eternity having all thy thoughts fastened on that which is meerly Temporal These Transitory and Temporal things will pass away and then thou shalt come to suffer Torments in Eternity Do not deceive thy self nor think it is enough to believe without working nor that Christ's having suffered for thee will be enough to save thee whilst thou ungratefully offendest him that suffered for thee Alas that will not serve the turn but rather it will be enough and too much to damn thee Dost thou think Christ came to suffer to the end that thou mightest the more freely sin against him Dost thou think he came into the World that thou mightest heap up thy wickednesses upon his holy shoulders Dost thou think he came to facilitate thy Crimes to the end that obstinate sinners might compound their Vices with his Merits Dost thou think that Heavenly Master of Purity and Holiness came to open a Gate unto all Vice whereby his Sufferings might serve to save those that only believed and wrought nothing but Sins and Transgressions The Eternal Son of God came into the World not only to Redeem us but also to Teach us In his Blood he left Redemption and in his Life Instruction He underwent his Passion to redeem Souls but his Actions were so high and holy to amend inform direct and purifie them The effect of his Pains his Cross his Death is to give Merit to our Works and Grace and Force to a Christian to suffer with him but the effect of his Vertues Perfections and whole Life is to teach us and to set us a Pattern to imitate as far as we are able I have given you an Example says he that ye should do as I have done And in another place he says Whosoever doth not bear his Cross and come after me cannot be my Disciple He is no perfect Christian nor is it possible he should be that flies from the Cross even though he might escape it Every Christian is to follow and embrace the Cross of his Redeemer Can any Man be a perfect Christian without keeping the Commandments No certainly Why then the keeping of them is to follow Christ in taking up his Cross Consider that when thou camest into the Gate of the Church by being Baptized in the Name of the
it Is there no remedy against this Evil nor defence against this Danger 2. The Evil is not in being judged but in going unprepar'd to Judgment This imminent danger hath an easy plain and safe remedy by the Grace of God And that is for a Man to judge himself often times before God judge him once for all Wouldst thou not be afraid of the Judgment nor of that dreadful Sentence Judge thy self before hand examine thy self before thou comest to be examin'd call thy self frequently to a strict account humble thy self amend thy Life and at the sight of thy Sins pray and weep and thou shalt go willingly to Judgment and come off safe with thy account Serve thy Judge love thy Judge and obey him in all things before he come to judge thee and thou shalt go contentedly to his Judgment and find thy Judge to be thy Friend 3. Consider that many Saints have desir'd that their Life might be shorten'd that their Death might be hasten'd and that they might come to Judgment thereby to enjoy God They desir'd to be dissolved and to leave this mortal Tabernacle They desir'd this knot of Life might be untied and to be free from the Prison of this miserable and corruptible Body to see their God their Creator and Redeemer whom they loved served and ador'd while they lived in this World They esteem'd Death as Life because it freed them from a dying Life which delay'd their enjoyment of an eternal Life 4. They could not pass to the beatifical Vision of their God without going by the way of the Judgment and Sentence They did as it were die with an eager desire of dying and joyfully embrac'd that Death which brought them to behold the kind the cheerful and beautiful Countenance of their loving Judge They knew they were to be judged by their Father their God their Creator and Redeemer their faithful Friend and their most gracious Lord. They loved him in their Life they sought him by their Death they ador'd him in the Judgment and with an humble confidence in his infinite Pity they hoped for Mercy in the Sentence They knew their offences were many but they had bewailed them they knew though they were Sinners they had lived desirous to please him diligent to serve him and with care not to offend him They knew they could not put their cause into better hands and that the same Person was to judge them who had shed his Blood for them and given his Life upon the Cross for their Redemption They went to offer their Works their Tears and their Repentance unto God yet without trusting any thing in their Works they relied wholly upon the Goodness of God and the Merits of their Saviour 5. For though it be just that the Judgments of the Lord should be fear'd yet it is as just that they should be loved My Father says the holy Soul is to judge me what am I then afraid of My Lord and my God is my Judge How can I choose but hope and trust in my Lord and my God though he be my Judge If he have a kindness for me and I have a reverence for him What can I look for in the Sentence but Mercy and Compassion What Son is afraid to be judged by his own Father if he hath not lived and acted as an Enemy to his Father or if he hath bewailed the time that he was his Enemy What Wife is afraid to be judged by her tenderly affectionate Husband if she hath not been an Adulteress or hath heartily lamented that Injury and penitently begged pardon of her dearly loving Husband What Friend is afraid to be judged by his Friend if he hath been faithful to him or hath shewed a real grief for the breach of his Fidelity Though I be afraid and wretched says a sick Soul I have been desirous to serve thee O my God thy Precepts have been my Direction and thy Counsels have been my Rule if not in the execution yet at least in my intention and earnest desire I hope for mercy from that eternal goodness of God my Creator and Redeemer who dyed upon a Cross for my Salvation He that was so gracious and so loving in Redeeming me cannot but be a sweet and tender Father in Judging me 6. These are the breathings of a Holy Soul Thus said St. Paul and many others when they desir'd to be dissolved that they might come to the presence of God and for the obtaining of that did not fear to put their Cause and Sentence into his hand They feared his Power and they adored his Power They were afraid by reason of their sins and yet they hoped knowing his mercy and loving-kindness Their love conquered their fear because their hearts were inflam'd with that perfect Charity which casts out fear And thus if thou doest desire to have a holy and assured hope humbly resign'd and yet chearful in the Judgment and in the Sentence do that which the Saints have done and thou shalt hope as they have hoped 7. Make account in thy life-time of that Account thou art to give hereafter I repeat it to thee once again keep a Judgment-seat within thy self every day till thou comest to thy last Judge thy self ten thousand times and consider in what steps thou treadest for according to what thou doest in this World thou shalt be judged in the other Strictly observe thy very thoughts and mend what thou shalt find amiss For by this means thou shalt increase that love which casts out fear Do thou judge thine own Actions before God judges them beg light of him to see and know them and tears to bewail them and so with a holy resignation and with an humble confidence thou mayest appear in the presence of God Take good heed to thy Words Thoughts and Actions and square them by the Rule of the Divine Law and of the Will of that Lord who is to Judge thee and strive in this Life to obtain Mercy and Pardon for thy Sins and Miseries 8. Be careful to purifie thy Understanding and to purge it from evil fill it with honest and spiritual Considerations cleanse thy will from corrupt Desires and fill it with the love of thy Creator Let thy Memory be the Store-house of Holy Meditations and then hope and trust love and adore the Judgment of the Lord. His goodness does more desire to Pardon thee than thou dost to be pardoned He is more desirous of thy Salvation than thou art to be saved He is more desirous to deliver thee from that Infernal Dragon than thou art to be delivered Be careful I warn thee once again on what hand thou livest in this life for on that hand thou shalt find thy self when Death carries thee from hence 9. Fear the Judgment of the Lord for it is very just so to do fear humble thy self and tremble but yet hope and be more afraid of the sins wherewith thou offendest him than thou art of his righteous Judgment
here while he gives them time to do it and for neglecting his many calls both of mercy and chastisement and thereby making Hell to become their own choice 7. Is it possible O my Jesus that I have chosen that horrible place by choosing Sin and continuing in it Yes for God set before thee Life and Death Blessing and Cursing and left the Election to thy self Why then Lord if I have hitherto chosen Death and that accursed place by sinning grant I may get out of it before I go into it and that by repenting by forsaking my sins and by relieving thy poor Members I may gain thee to be my Saviour and at the last day be called to thee with those comfortable words Come ye Blessed of my Father inherit the Kingdom prepar'd for you from the Beginning of the World The Third WEEK Of the Company of the Damned and of their pain of Sense 1. IF that terrible Abode were only a wide empty space though sad obscure and afflictive to the Wicked yet without such ill Company it might be more tolerable But the fierce and cruel Inhabitants and their hateful Company is worse and more intolerable than the place it self None but Devils and damned Persons are the Neighbours of that infernal City The Devils that are busily inflicting Tortures and the damned most impatient in suffering them raging and blaspheming with incredible Fury Nothing is heard there but the noise of the Lash and the cry of those that feel it a sighing without comsort a groaning without ease an eternal Woe and alas an endless weeping wailing and gnashing of Teeth 2. Their Lamentations are Oaths Curses and Blasphemies they rage despair and they belch out Vengeance without Revenge and Wrath without Satisfaction O good Jesus The hearing of one Curse the hearing of one Blasphemy is sufficient to pierce a Heart and afflict a Soul What will it then be to hear so many horrid Curses and Blasphemies This may be reckoned the very Hell of Hell it self But alas Lord the Damned do not only hear and suffer them but also utter them and that is yet much worse and more to be abhorred Rather O Lord let me suffer a Hell without pains but without Sins and Blasphemies than a Hell of Sins and Blasphemies without any other pain 3. In that unhappy and calamitous City and among those wretched Citizens all their Peace is Discord all their Quiet War all their Comfort Anger all their Order is Division Disagreement and Confusion Imagine thou didst behold a City where the Inhabitants went up and down killing and burning one another with Swords and Fire-brands in their Hands here loud Complaints there louder Cries here Rage there Death and Desperation Such a place were peaceable and quiet in comparison of the Hatreds Fightings and Discords that are in Hell For those at last come to an end when the Inhabitants have made an end of one another But these instead of ending are always beginning a new The Sufferings of those have some measure and limitation but these have no degree below infinite nor any limit short of Eternity and finally the Companions Friends and Neighbours of that dismal Abode are only the Devils and the Damned most inveterately hating and abhorring themselves and one another 4. Think how the nice and delicate Person will be able to endure this surly boisterous Company who by being used to suffer nothing that can cross his tender Inclination is become too haughty and insolent to bear the Company of his own Family or so much as bear with patience the attendance of his Servants How will the proud scornful and dissolute Woman endure to see her self encompassed with Devils and with Souls as proud and imperious as her self who cannot endure the Company of that Husband which God has given her How will the tyrannical Governour be able to suffer so many Devils to be his Superiors and to tyrannize over him who cannot suffer his Inferiors though Loyal and Obedient to live quietly under him And how will the rebellious Subject be able to suffer so many infernal Princes to exercise over him the Empire of their cruel Wills who never can suffer one good just and moderate Sovereign ruling him according to the Laws 5. Oh if thou didst turn the Eyes of thy Consideration another way and didst see loose and sensual Persons instead of the delightful Embraces of their lustful Lovers embraced and inflamed by Vipers and fiery Basilikes and suffering unexpressible Torments without any remedy or comfort If thou didst see the Scornful the Proud the Haughty trampled upon by Devils dragg'd and despised by them and burning in unquenchible Fire If thou didst see the ambitious Grasping at the top of Flames and Smoak and for ever suffering the Thirst which that of their ambition kindled here in so short a Life If thou didst see the rich covetous Miser in eternal beggary and nakedness without any other plenty but of Fire Torment Anguish and Affliction If thou didst see the beautiful and lascivious Woman whose Sins and Vanities carry her to Hell there become ugly loathsome and abominable her Body parched with flames and her Soul racked with vexation and despair If thou didst see the debauched Clergy-man who instead of guiding Souls to Heaven by his Doctrine brings many to Hell by his evil Example tormented there in living Flames his holy Orders much increasing his punishment and what was here his Honour and his Ornament becoming there the greatest Aggravation of his Crimes If thou didst see the Glutton and the Drunkard the Epicure and the Libertine there hungry and thirsty lean and pale all their Delights reduced to Fire and Brimstone without one drop of Water to cool or quench their thirst and instead of their delicate meats to be now devoured themselves and gnawed for ever by the Worm of their own Consciences If thou didst see all this and heard'st so many sad Cries and woeful Lamentations so many Curses Blasphemies and Confusions If I say thou didst see hear and well consider all this Ah! how much more careful would'st thou be to see to hear and to live otherwise than thou hast done hitherto Therefore go down into Hell by consideration while thou livest that thou mayest not go down into it by condemnation when thou diest Look well upon it thus and behold it now to the end thou mayest not be thrown into it now by Meditation to the end thou mayest never see it any other way nor be there compelled to feel the weight of God's wrathful Indignation The Fourth WEEK Of the Duration and the Pain of Loss and of the Worm of Conscience 1. IS there any Evil in Hell greater than this Can there be any other greater Yes there is yet another greater and more cruel than all these and that is the Eternity of them 2. If these horrible Misfortunes Torments and Miseries were to last for a Hundred thousand Years or for a hundred Millions of Years and that then
which is more hath given him Eternal Life freeing him from everlasting Damnation and not at so cheap a rate as words but by sweating Blood suffering Torments and giving up himself to Death even the death of the Cross Can this Benefit this Love this excess of Kindness find any in the World that can be compar'd to it And if we should be ungrateful for it or forgetful of it which in some sort is worse than to be ungrateful could there possibly be a greater wickedness O Lord suffer not me I beseech thee to be guilty of so great an Error of so great a Folly and of so great a Wickedness for such a strange want of Love and such an abominable Ingratitude cannot be thought of by any good Person without horror JVNE The First WEEK Of Baptism and Confirmation COnsider now what God hath done for thee in particular towards making thee a partaker of this high Benefit of Redemption for though Christ by his death paid a sufficient Price for the Souls of all Mankind yet thou no more than many others couldst have had no share in it hadst thou not been made a Member of his Body and how high soever the Benefit of Creation be it had been much better for thee never to have been born than not to have been made a Christian But what couldst thou a poor helpless Infant do towards the attaining so great a Benefit when thou didst not so much as know thy want of it Yet the Mercy of thy most Gracious God prevented thy desires and in his eternal purpose he determined thee to be one of that happy number that should be born of Christian Parents in that part of the World where the Gospel is most purely profess'd and where thou wert early consecrated to him in Baptism Thou wert brought to that Laver of Regeneration where the stains of thy Original Corruption were washed away in the Blood of Christ represented by the outward and visible sign of Water wherewith thou wert sprinkled to signifie thy death unto Sin and thy new birth unto Righteousness Thou wert baptized in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost according to thy Saviour's Appointment By the Gate of that Holy Sacrament thou wert admitted into the Church and made a Member of Christ a Child of God and an Heir of the Kingdom of Heaven being by Nature born in sin thou wert thereby made a Child of Grace Thus the second Covenant made with Mankind in Christ Jesus was sealed between God and thee which cannot fail on his part to be faithfully performed if thou be but careful on thine to do the best thou canst and to serve him with sincere if not with perfect Obedience Men use to envy those that are born of Noble Parents whose Care Power and Greatness may support and succour the naked weak and innocent Infants but O! what a Noble Birth is that of Faith What rich Mantles and Swadling-cloaths are the Coelestial Vertues That this little Creature shall no sooner be born but that at the same instant he comes into the care not of a weak frail Mother who lies unable to help her self by reason of the Pangs and Throws she suffer'd for the bringing of a Child into the World but of an Holy Perfect and Spiritual Mother which is the Catholick Church that cloaths him with the Robe of Grace an admirable Pledge of a safe and an eternal Inheritance in Glory That the Child should scarcely be born when already the Son of God as an invisible Minister doth by the visible hand of his Minister baptize and at the same time wash away sin from that Soul and fill it with Graces Gifts and Vertues This is an Honour which is indeed deservedly to be valued and a Benefit which can never be sufficiently admir'd From the time that the Water of Baptism washed off the filthy rags of Adam and cloathed thee with Grace in the Blood of the Lamb sin which had wounded thee before became wounded it self and whereas before it gave death from that time it suffered death In Natural Sicknesses the Remedies seldome reach to the Diseases and the Body when it is recovered hardly gets so great strength as what it lost by Sickness but in the Spiritual Sickness and in the Hurts and Diseases of the Soul it uses to be much otherwise for the wounded party recovers more strength and vigour when he is gotten up again than what he lost by falling into them The Devil ruined us but God is more powerful in good than he is in evil Sin destroy'd us and Grace renew'd us but Grace is more effectual to renew us than Sin to destroy us Our weak and ruined Nature was indebted Ten Thousand Talents but the Eternal Son of God hath satisfied the Debt not with Ten Thousand nor with an Hundred Thousand but with his Blood a Price of inestimable value Dost thou think that any thing can be more powerful than God Hath he not received thee into his Church by Baptism And hath not he on his part promised to protect to free and to assist thee Hast thou not passed through those Waters flying from the Enemy that pursued thee Did not that Red Sea of thy Saviour's blood open to give thee passage And did it not shut again to drown the Egyptian I mean Original Sin Then what hast thou to be afraid of Sing the Victory with Miriam and the Daughters of Israel which the Son of a better and a more glorious Myriam hath obtained for thee Is not God thy succour and thy hope Whom hast thou to fear Is not he thy defence and thy protection What dost thou dread When a man is once cloathed with the Grace of God in Baptism all his Enemies are but few By the Infusions of Grace thou oughtest to count Sin and Nature to be already conquer'd What signifies the Signing thee with the Sign of the Cross in thy Forehead but the marking thee out for a Souldier of Jesus Christ Be not therefore asham'd to confess the Faith of Christ crucified Thou art not only his Souldier but art furnished with Arms of his Magazine The Old Man is put away and thou art cloathed with the New and that New Man is Jesus Christ who enters into thy Soul to cloath it with himself and with his Graces for he enters to arm to defend to favour to protect and to assist thee The Field in which thou fightest is thine own for he strengthens and encourages thee in all encounters Thou fightest in the Militant Church whereof thou art a Member against which that Enemy with whom thou fightest can never prevail Great part of the Victory consists in the Advantage of Ground but all is favourable to thee from the time thou art entred into the Church That Entry by Baptism was the first Victory for the entrance it self was a Victory and that Victory a Triumph From that day Hell trembles at thee only because thou art a
glorious promise which at Pentecost was verified He by his Omnipotency raised his Body from the Dead and enlivened it according to that Prediction of his Destroy this Temple and in three days I will build it up again What more pregnant evidence could possibly be afforded of his being the Son of God than this sublime Miracle This one would think were enough to conquer the most inveterate Infidelity and to banish the least doubt or suspicion of our Saviour's Divinity O my Soul do thou endeavour herein to resemble Christ As he died and rose again for thee so do thou die from Sin and rise again unto Righteousness and Newness of Life seeking those things that are above where Christ is ascended and praying to him to quicken thy sinful and earthly Heart with holy Desires and heavenly Affections That Infinite Power which did so solemnly triumph over Death and the Grave can much more easily roll away the Stone of a customary Sin and subdue and mortifie the most powerful Lust though of never so long continuance and enable thee to live henceforward to God in a careful observance of all Christian Duties which will at length bring thee to the end of thy Hopes to those Glories which being the Portion of Angels and Saints and the nearest Communications with God are infinitely above what we see for hear or understand After the Miracles of our Saviour succeed his Parables which way of Expression was abundantly useful and recommended it self chiefly upon this account That whatsoever was represented in this Figurative manner was apt to insinuate more closely and to work more powerfully upon the Affections Forasmuch as in this case the mind was not only addressed to by the meer dint of Reason but Truth was in a manner made Visible and set off in such lively Colours that the Imagination being Impregnated the Passions were easily carried along too Hereby also the memory was exceedingly fortified for such things as we feel and see or which our Imaginations have an express Image of and our Affections relish those things always stick by us And further this way of Parables which our Saviour made so frequent use of in many cases came more home to Mens Consciences and carried more Conviction than any other more express and direct way of speaking And had it not been that the Jews were filled with Intollerable Prejudices against him they must of necessity have had his Wisdom in great Veneration For though under his Parables were hid mysterious Senses yet they were not so mysterious but that they were easily intelligible to Minds unprejudiced honest and desirous of Instruction The Truth shines through the Veil and the Shadow does itself guide to the Body and Substance How excellently did our Lord represent the great Efficacy of Repentance under the Gospel-state and its acceptableness with God from the vilest Sinners under the Parable of the Prodigal Son The Pharisees who were hardened in Infidelity for the sake of this Doctrine accounted him a Friend of Vicious and Lewd Persons They knew that the Law gave hopes of Pardon only to some smaller Offences excluding all great and notorious Offenders and shutting them up under Wrath and they not being elevated above this literal Dispensation would not believe that God would exercise Mercy upon any other Terms than what he therein proclaimed and therefore our Saviour Preaching Repentance and giving hopes of Pardon to the greatest Sinners upon condition of an hearty and thorough Reformation these demure Hypocrites were offended and insinuated a suspicion of our Saviour That he was a favourer of wicked Persons In answer to this unjust Imputation and to silence the murmuring of these hard-hearted Jews our Saviour makes use of this Parable with two others of the like nature wherein he plainly sets forth this great Doctrine and shews that as it is the common course of Men to express most Joy upon the recovery of any thing lost so God to whom the Souls of Men are infinitely valuable is highly pleas'd with the recovery of lost Sinners and upon their returning to him will mercifully accept them as the Indulgent Father here embraced his returning Son who had been so long engaged in the most wild Extravagancies and in the greatest Disobedience to his Paternal Authority O the merciful Compassion of God to Mankind O Love that surpassest all Understanding That the worst of Sinners should be received into favour and be made capable of Pardon only by repenting of their Wickedness and being sorry for their Sins In another Parable to wit that of the Talents how forcibly does our Lord instruct us in the Duties of Industry Diligence and Spiritual Husbandry How plainly does he teach us the necessity of improving those Gifts and Graces which God communicates to us for that purpose and to encrease those Talents which he entrusts us with and which he will call us to an account for how we have used them and what we have gained by them He sets before us the Reward of a careful employing of them to the Uses designed and the Punishment of a neglectful management of them Those that had gained by their Talents were pronounced good and faithful Servants and commanded to enter into their Masters Joy but he that had hid his Talent in the Earth and made no advantage of it was branded with the infamous name of wicked and slothful Servant and commanded to be cast into outer Darkness In like manner God will require an account of us how we have used all those Gifts and Endowments which he has bestowed upon us whether they be Goods of Fortune or of Grace We are mistaken if we think them given meerly for our sakes Have we the Blessing of a plentiful Fortune God entrusts us therewith to make us capable to do good and to relieve the necessities of our poor Brethren and unless we thus use it it will prove a Curse to us Are we favoured with extraordinary Endowments of Mind It is that we may instruct the Ignorant and employ them to the Glory of God and to the good of others which are destitute of so great a benefit Is God pleased to infuse his Grace into our Hearts it must then be our daily endeavour to grow therein and to add one Vertue to another We must faithfully employ and husband the first beginnings to the end that we may obtain still greater degrees God will Reward or Punish us according to the good or ill Employment of his Goods which he makes us Stewards of If we give diligence to add to those Talents of whatsoever nature they be which he deposits with us then no doubt God will honour us with the Title of faithful Servants and abundantly recompense our Industry but if through Idleness and Sloth we so employ our Talents as to bring in no gain to our Lord we must expect nothing but that dismal Sentence denounced against the slothful Servant Cast ye the unprofitable Servant into outer darkness there
to his Face Let so many Publicans and Sinners so many Harlots and other wicked Livers speak this who repenting were pardoned and the Traiterous Apostle Judas who persisting in Impenitency was Damned Of the Institution of the Holy Sacrament This Gracious Action being finished he holds a most loving Discourse to his Disciples preparing them to see their Master suffer and to bear all those sufferings they were to undergo themselves O how does he forewarn and advise them How does he encourage and instruct them How does he enlighten and comfort them There he rebukes Peter thereby giving a Lesson to the rest and shews them Beams of Mercy even in those Prophecies of Tribulations and Afflictions that were to befal them If he foretel their Frailties and their Failings he also assures them of Victories and Triumphs and that they shall subdue and trample upon the World through the Vertue and Power of his Grace That most tender Discourse being likewise ended he Celebrated the third and last Supper or more properly the admirable and unspeakable Mystery of the Sacrament in which he expressed and Epitomized the Intimacies of his unmeasurable Goodness and Charity To make himself Man and to suffer for Man seemed but a small thing to his Love unless he still remained with Man to be the food of Man O Infinite Charity which contentest not thy self with being our Redemption unless thou also becomest our Nourishment O Infinite Charity who not only offerest thy self to Death to save my Life but who also wilt enter into my Breast to give me a better Life and to defend and free me from a more lasting Death O Infinite Charity who having our Ingratitude in thy thoughts and that thou wert to be condemned by Men to die upon the Cross yet leavest us a benefit which we could not have received but by thy passing first through so great an Ingratitude of Men O Infinite Charity which knowing that my Offences would nail thee to the Cross wert yet providing that remedy for those very Offences O Infinite Charity which knowing that a thousand Injuries and Torments were contriving in the Hearts of Men against thy unspeakable Goodness and Mercy didst yet leave thy self for Food to those Infamous Mouths and having it in thy Power to inflict a severe punishment upon them for so great a Wickedness wert offering them means and expedients of Mercy Goodness and Charity What was Man doing when thou didst institute this blessed Sacrament for him What but preparing the Scourges the Crown of Thorns the Nails and the Cross for thee He was designing thy cruel Death and thou his eternal Life He was contriving Torments for thee and thou Glory for him He was platting a Crown of sharp Thorns for thy sacred Head and thou a Crown of Joys and Eternities for his Lord is it thy Custom to repay Benefits for Injuries and to give Crowns for the Reward of Ingratitude Come hither O devout Souls come and bewail with me so great a Sin Come love with me so great a Love Come with a Spiritual Hunger and offer up your hearts to receive that Divine Nourishment and let whatsoever is in you of your selves go forth of you to make room for this most deservedly beloved Lord to enter Of the Consecration of the Apostles After that our Sovereign Lord and Master had Consecrated the Elements of Bread and Wine breaking the one and giving it them to Eat and pouring out the other and commanding all to Drink calling the one his Body and the other his Blood and thereby changing not their nature but their use that they might become a Sacrament which should remain in his Church not only for a Remembrance of his precious Death and Passion but also for a Conveyance of the Merits thereof for the Remission of Sins He Consecrated also the Apostles themselves and gave them the Power and Vertue to Consecrate and Ordain others and to send them forth as he did them for the Propagation of his Gospel and for the Administration and Government of Souls This was another admirable expression of the Love of our Lord Jesus to Mankind since whereas he could have taken upon him the nature of Angels and left them Heirs of that rich Possession of Receiving Consecrating and Administring those precious Symbols he was pleased to bestow that Benefit and Priviledge upon Mankind which thereby received Honour and Favour as well as Remedy But Lord I wonder not at that since from the time thou madest thy self Man all advantages were brought to Man by joyning thy Divinity to his Humanity O that as thou hast given to us Bishops and Priests this Dignity we had also the Spirit the Devotion and the Piety of the Apostles And Lord as the Power thou hast conferr'd upon us is what thou hast not granted to Angels and to Seraphins O that the Perfection of our Manners and the Purity and Charity of our Souls were in some degree suitable to that of Angels and of Seraphins But O God we have a Dignity of great weight upon very weak shoulders the Dignity is fit for Angels the Weakness is of miserable Sinners And thou only O Eternal Goodness thy Mercy and thy Strength alone can help and encourage and support our Weakness and Misery Since then O sweet Lord thou givest us this Dignity give us also those parts and qualifications which are expedient for it Since thou hast given us the Obligations help us also with the Abilities since thou givest us the Ministry give us also the Spirit As thou hast made us to represent thee make us also to imitate thee As thou hast given us the Power give us also the Vertue with the Power Suffer us not O Divine Goodness to serve in that High Dignity with Uncharitableness and Indignity If thou wilt not help the Bishops the Fathers of the Faith and the Shepherds of Souls O thou Eternal lover of Souls whom wilt thou help If our Light must enlighten the Souls of others what shall become both of us and others if we want thy Light Thou callest the Apostles and Ministers the Salt of the Earth and if the Salt lose its savour how shall their Doctrine be seasoned If the blind lead the blind shall they not both fall into the ditch Grant O Lord that thy Goodness and thy Love may dwell in us that thy Mercy and thy Charity may burn in our hearts and that the fire of thy Divine Love may break forth from thence to kindle and enflame the hearts of our Christian Brethren Our Blessed Saviour having Consecrated his Holy Apostles to be Teachers of the Faith and Pillars of his Church and having made himself their Minister and their Priest enters into the breasts of those that were to be his Ministers and Priests to become an unbloody Sacrifice in the Altar of those living Temples before he was a bloody one upon the Altar of the Cross They with profound Reverence receive the Lord whom they adore and behold
end infallibly attain the Crown of Eternity 'T is Religion that sanctifies and gives worth to the four Cardinal and to the Moral Vertues for without it they are only Natural though they have an outward Beauty yet inwardly they are empty of Grace and Value The Gentiles Barbarians Idolaters and Hereticks also have Vertues but they are only Natural ones they want that Soul that Spirit and that Efficacy which they get by the direction and intention of serving God by them Without Religion and love to God thou shalt find no Vertue in thy heart that can deserve to be so called but the worth of it will increase by how much the more it is performed with Purity Fervour Attention and Devotion Endeavour to keep thy Conscience clean and to do all things through God and for God for that is all thy Vertue all thy Remedy and the value of all thy Actions The same pains taken only by changing the Intention may either prove an Advantage or a Ruin to thy Soul O how good and holy might the Vicious Man be if he would but suffer so much for God in Vertue as he does to satisfie his Lusts in Vice The Covetous man plows up the Seas and runs up and down through several Countries to get Wealth but think what Treasures what Crowns he might acquire if he would undergo the same hazards as St. Paul and the Holy Apostles did for Zeal of propagating the Faith See the ardent Passion wherewith the Sensual Man rushes upon an Object full of Misery and Corruption which though to him a seeming Good is indeed but Loathsomness and Folly If thou gavest thy heart and soul with as much eagerness to God that true first and chiefest Good to whom it is due O how happy mightest thou be Only by changing thy Labours for another Object they would become holy which else are perverse and imperfect Only by changing the Intent and the Action nay sometimes by only changing the Intent and not the Action the Heart is made clean and pure which would else be sinful and defiled Only by giving that to the Invisible which is given to what is Visible Men might with the same nay with less pains lay up Rewards in this Life which will be delivered to them again in that to come whereas by employing Diligence to attain sinful Pleasures they also procure Eternal Damnation O what Labours what Difficulties what Misfortunes and Afflictions do Mortals undergo here upon Earth and at last either they perish in the search or else they obtain but perishing Advantages which when they have found and conquer'd and possess'd are all no better than a little Earth They spend their time which wastes and comes to an end in seeking finding and acquiring that which they long to enjoy and they always find the Pains but seldom the Enjoyments Vain Labours Unprofitable Travels Ill-employed Pains and Unhappy Vexations To spend their Time their Life their Honour and their Estate in seeking and acquiring that which it is not a pin matter whether they get or lose That which I no sooner have deceived my self into the delight of possessing all my life but I am undeceived with the sadness of having it taken from me by Death This is that which the Damned bewail themselves for saying We wearied our selves in the ways of wickedness and destruction yea we have gone through Desarts where there lay no way but as for the way of the Lord we have not known it What hath Pride profited us Or what good have Riches with our vaunting brought us All those things are passed away like a shadow and like a Post that passeth by And seeing the Righteous stand with great boldness before such as afflicted them in this World they complain saying This is he whom we had sometimes in Derision and a Proveâ—…â—f Reproach We Fools counted his Life Madness and his end without Honour How is he numbred among the Children of God and his Lot among the Saints O Happy Labours O Heavenly Repentance which workest enrichest and obtainest the Crown of Everlasting Life Of the Application of Christian Works And thus Holy Men say that one ought not so much to consider what pains a Man takes or what sufferings he undergoes in this Life but for whom and for what end he either does or suffers Non quantum says St. Austin sed ex quanto A Criminal is extreamly sorry that he has killed an Innocent Person because he is going to be hanged for the Fact He is much troubled for the Murder by reason that his Life must satisfie for the others Death But this Sorrow how great soever it be will not procure him the least degree of Reward Why Is he not sorry and extreamly sorry for having killed him Yes but his grief is not for his sin nor for having offended God but he bewails his own Death and is afflicted for the loss of his Life yet let him change his Intention and he may save his Soul with much less sorrow We squander away Treasures by not applying our Intention to a good Object in what we do All our Actions may be holy and profitable to our Salvation whether they be good or indifferent if we do them for God and offer them to God The same thing â—…at is either naturally good and yet for want of application remains without either Sin or Merit in the Opinion of some or that is sinful and imperfect in the Opinion of others may be made holy good and effectual to our Souls only by being done out of love to God Nay there are some that say there is nothing Indifferent and that whatsoever is not directed to God is guilty and inordinate and even to walk and discourse without applying it to God is in a degree sinful though in itself it have no other ill than the not being directed to God Finally they say that if what we do be not good it must of necessity be bad if not in a high yet at least in some measure O how hard this Judgment seems yet in my Opinion it discovers very excellent Reason in the Root of it For we are in such manner Debtors to God all our Senses Powers and Faculties being his and we are so much indebted to him for those Talents which he gave to our management to the end we might increase them in his Service that not to do so whether it be in a great matter or in a small must needs be either a small or a great Offence Work for me says God to his Creatures Traffique till I come since to that end it was I gave thee all thou hast All that thou dost not restore unto me thou takest away from me Consider that thou robbest me of all that which thou dost deny me To work for any other or for thy self as thy ultimate end is to work against me If thou placest thy End in the Creature thou takest it away from the Creator If thou dost not place it in
to voluntary occasions if he may be called Spiritual that does so is in greater danger of falling than a loose and debauched man for the loose man incurs less danger because he incurs more and the cautious person probably incurs more because he incurs less How is this you 'l say I do not understand it Then I will explain it to thee The Lascivious man by custom in that Vice sometimes looses his Appetite or at least abates it and with that the Temptation but it encreases with the cautious man and becomes more ardent by his forbearance and therefore the Tempter is more sollicitous vigilant and vehement to overcome him The Delights wherewith the Devil entices a Spiritual Man are in the imagination and have nothing of act whereby he may become undeceived but those of the Vicious Man are filthy in his practise of them and that very filthiness and foulness tires him enlightens him and undeceives him for this reason Spiritual Persons ought to be more watchful and wary than those that are Sensual and if not they will do as the Galatians who ended in the Flesh having begun in the Spirit In Conclusion would'st thou be chast careful and wary Would'st thou conquer this Vice Then fly from it Other sins are conquer'd by fighting this by flying This flight is both the Combat the Victory and the Triumph but withal use Abstinence and other acts of Mortification to overcome and subdue so powerful a Passion There is a sort of Devils saith our Saviour that cannot be cast out without Fasting and Prayer To eat much and to drink much and neither to think of God nor call upon him in Prayer is not the way to conquer that strong contagious and dangerous Passion It is frail and needs strong Remedies It is incontinent and needs continent Remedies It is unruly and unbridled and therefore needs Remedies that may restrain and tame it By Abstinence thou mayest also conquer Gluttony the foul ugly Mother of many sins The ancient Philosophers though they had but the Light of their Candle which is Natural Reason yet said very excellently That a Vertuous Life consisted wholly in two words Sustine Abstine Bear and Forbear or be patient and abstemious If a Heathen could say so by the Light of his Candle What shall a Spiritual Man say being enlightened by the Sun of Christian Verities and by the Rays of Eternal and Celestial Light Abstinence is an Universal Vertue which comprehends innumerable Vertues and so this Vertue alone is a general Antidote against the Maladies of a Spiritual Life Would'st thou not sin Why then abstain from offending God by the breach of his holy Commandments Would'st thou grow in the Internal Life Why then abstain from rejecting his holy Counsels Would'st thou have the Vertues come and lodge within thee Why then abstain from running into Vice Would'st thou be perfect in all things Why then fast inwardly as well as outwardly Would'st thou subdue thy Vices Encompass thy self with the Vertues for that is the Girdle which our Saviour tells us is the Scourge of Vice What good doth it to begirt the Body with a Cord and make it lean with fasting if in the mean while the Soul grow big and swell up with Self-will What good does the yellow meager Countenance which speaks abstinence from Meat and Drink if in the mean while wrath and hatred give a worse Complexion to the Soul because they feed it with a worse Nourishment In the midst of your Fast says God your own Will reigns whereas the resigning it up to my Will ought to be the Crown and Honour of your Fast. This is another kind of Abstinence than that which is contrary to Gluttony but I will now say something of that Of Gluttony Gluttony is an infamous Vice that pollutes and destroys both Body and Soul no less than Sensuality dulling and abasing the Senses of the one and the Powers of the other It is a loathsome Vice and filthy both in its Cause and in its Effects for in its cause it fills a man with foul Humours and Diseases with Painfulness and Misery and in its Effects because by wakening and feeding the Appetite it breeds as many Mortal Distempers in the Soul as Diseases in the Body The Scripture tells us The People sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play As if it had said They sate long at Meat whereas they should have eaten but as it were in passing They did eat as if their utmost end had been eating and that they had been born for nothing else and not considering that they were born to live after another manner as soon as they had done eating they played away their Life their Fortune and their Honour God commanded that the Paschal Lamb should be eaten standing with their Loins Girt and their Staves in their hands What is this but to teach us that as our Lives pass quick away our Meals should do so too Let us eat and drink said some deluded men for to morrow we shall die See what a madness Observe what a foolish Consequence these Epicures draw when Gluttony is the Antecedent Because they are to die to morrow they eat excessively to day But Wretches if you must die to morrow and vomit up your Meat giving a strict account of what ye shall eat and drink Why do you cram your selves like Beasts to day Death uses to terrifie and undeceive every Body else but it hardens these and deceives them more and that which affrights others from sin invites these stupid men to sin See how Gluttony dulls and stupifies the Understanding since it fills it with such ignorant and sensless Discourses and Arguments O heavenly Abstinence and Moderation which givest a pure a long and a righteous Life Long because thou correctest those foul gross humours that choak and drown it Pure because thou dost quite banish them and Righteous because thou cuttest off Passions by taking away the nourishment of Vices whereof Gluttony is a fruitful Mother O heavenly Abstinence thou art the Forerunner of great Blessings By having prepared themselves with Abstinence and Fasting Moses received from God the Tables of the Law Elias received Nourishment from an Angel and the Saviour of Souls obtained innumerable Victories O holy Abstinence which dost sweeten adorn and sanctifie Repentance For by thee Vertue is cherished Vice is put to flight and holy Desires and Perfections become active vigorous and permanent The Second WEEK Of Patience THou wilt think perhaps that by being humble liberal abstinent and chast thou hast perfected the Spiritual Life but thou hast not done all yet thou must have Patience also for without that thou can'st scarce be said to have begun Those other Vertues look to what thou oughtest to do within thy self and to what thou oughtest to do to others This teacheth thee how thou oughtest to suffer from others when they oppress and injure thee The Vertue of Patience is an inward fortitude of the