of wine in his hand and Blasphemy in his mouth another may be stab'd in a quarrel another crush'd with the fall of a horse In fine they have several ways to their end but the end it self which is Death is still the same For whether they dye by a sword by a halter by a potion or by a disease 't is all but Death which is so certain that thou can'st not doubt of it without a blemish to thy Faith none is exempted from drinking of this Chalice Regum Turres pauperumque Tabernas aeque pede pulsat Mors. Vir. Popes Kings and Princes must taste of it If there were any immunity or priviledge in the case surely I might have been exempted from Death as being the Law-maker and Promoter of that unavoidable sentence which I had pronounc'd against thy Progenitour for his transgression of my Commandment No the day shall come that thou wilt be alive in the morning and dead at night It will come sometime but when whether this day or to morrow 't is uncertain Thou art now in perfect health strong of body and found of minde thou dost measure thy life by the length of thy desires and by the multitude of thy business but the day will come that thou shalt be stretch'd on a bed candles lighted about thee thy Relations and Friends lamenting and weeping thy whole family in a great consternation expecting thee to breath out thy Soul every moment but when this day shall come 't is uncertain perhaps when thou dost least expect it perhaps when thou thinkst thy self secure from all dangers and when all thy thoughts are busi'd about building of Houses purchasing Lands matching thy Children settling their Fortunes 't is therefore said of Death Thess 5.23 that it comes like a Thief who takes that time to seize on his prey when men are in their dead sleep secure and without the least apprehension of being rob'd The day of the Lord says St. Paul shall come as a Thief in the night upon thee and when thou shalt say peace and security then sudden destruction shall come upon thee as Travail upon a Woman with Child and thou shalt not escape To consider seriously the preludes of death with their attendents which are a grievous sickness Aches and pains over all thy Limbs thy Stomach loaded with Apothecarys Stuffs so many sorts of loathsome drugs on a table before thy face which thou must of necessity swallow because thy Physician has order'd it so then art thou peevish and fretful continually tumbling and tossing from one place to another always restless this with several other emergencies weakens thy body and opens the gate for Death to come in even as when an enemy is resolv'd to Storm a City he first batters down its walls with his great Cannons and makes a breach large enough for a general assault then he commands his forces to stand to their Arms and he at the head of them marches on and makes himself Master of the place So before Death a mortal infirmity leads the van beats down thy natural Strength dismounts all thy senses gives thee no rest night or day batters down thy body with its violent fits so that the Soul is at last forc'd to withdraw from her old habitation to take up her quarters the Lord knows where But when the Infirmity is come to that height that thy Physitian and thy self too have no hopes of further life O what Anguishes what apprehensions what grief what trouble seizes thy poor heart and tares it asunder Videbunt quibus sacrificaverunt Eccl. then the whole series of thy former life comes into thy minde and thy dearest objects will then become the subjects of thy greatest sorrow thy Wife and Children thy Friends and Relations thy Riches thy Honours thy Titles thy Imployments with the rest which thou hast made thy Gods on Earth shall come in a croud to discompose thy Soul Soon after this alteration of thy minde comes another which is the forerunner of death thy forehead is harden'd and thy skin cleaves close to thy skull a cold sweat trickles down thy face thy eye-strings are already broken and thy eye-lids are fall'n down thy ears are deaf thy nose grows thin and sharp thy nostrils stuff'd up with corruption thy face turns to its original colour which is that of clay thy mouth is contracted thy tongue is stupifi'd and can no more perform its duty thy tast is gone thy lips are pale thy breath finks down to the bottom of thy breast thy hands are cold thy nails black thy pulse slow and weak sometimes at a stop and now and then revives thy feet have no more life they have lost their natural heat Infine all thy flesh is in a short space to be turn'd into corruption This is thy end O man but as thou art a Christian hear what shall enfue before the Separation of thy Soul from thy Body Then thou shalt imagine the Judgment of God to be at hand then thou shalt have a full view of all thy fins both great and small then all thy abominations and crimes shall come in a body to accuse thee before the dreadful Tribunal of my divine Justice Then thou shalt acknowledge tho' too late how sordid how heinous and how horrid were the crimes which thou hadst so easily so desperately committed against me without the least apprehension of my indignation wrath O what curses what bitter imprecations wilt thou utter at that fatal hour against the day in which thou hast offended me thou wilt curse even the place the occasion and complices of thy sins Thou wilt curse and condemn thine own folly and the wickedness of those which brought thee by their ill examples to forfiet the everlasting joys of Heaven for such trifles as are all the false and treacherous pleasures of this world pereat dies inqua natus sum c. Job 3.3 The afflictions of Job were nothing to those that shall be heap'd upon thee in that dreadful day of my visitation yet he cries out let the day perish wherein I was born and the night in which it was said there is a man-childe conceiv'd and what will thy feeling be when thou shalt see thy self depriv'd of all happiness and excluded from Heaven for an Eternity by the means of those vain sordid and transitory pleasures which thou hast taken in thy life-time when thou shalt behold thy self surrounded on all sides with tribulations and anguishes without any hopes of a longer life when there shall be no place for pennance when the days of grace are past when even those whom thou hast lov'd beyond all measure and reason cann't afford unto thee the least comfort but rather will kill thee with displeasure because they were thy beloved Idols and the only objects of thy adorations but now they shall become the subject of thy Eternall confusion Tell me O man when thou shalt see thy self brought to this deprorable state
ready to drop down upon their criminal and guilty heads the sweet perfumes of thy divine virtues and the rare examples of thy Saints cann't prevail with them no they cann't tast of thy Chalice nor feel thy Scorges nor acknowledge thy Benefits tho' they are sufficient to melt a heart of Steel In fine Sin takes quite away the peace the joy and the tranquility of a good eonscience it does extinguish the fervour of the Spirit and leaves poor man sordid maculate deform'd and abominable in the sight of God and of all his Saints Yet by the benefit of thy Justification we are happily deliver'd from all these plagues evil consequences of Sin and the abyss of thy divine mercies is not content to have forgiven us our offences and receive us into favour but does also expell all those evils which are inseparable from Sin leaving our interiour man in the real possession of his former prerogatives and likeness to God Thou dost heal up our wounds wash off our spots break loofe the fetters and chains of our iniquitys destroy the yoke of our evil desires retrieve us from the slavery of Satan qualify the fury of our unruly passions and the heat of our vicious affections Thou dost likewise restore to the Soul her former freedom and beauty revive her interiour fenses dispose them to the exercise of all good works and to the abhorrence of any that 's bad Thou givest strength to resist manfully all the temptations of the Devil and to go through all the difficulties that might hinder the practise of virtue and their increase of devotion In fine my Sweet Saviour thou dost so absolutely revive and repair our interiour man and all his faculties that thy Apostle Scruples not to call such men Justifi'd Souls metamorphos'd natures new modell'd Spirits Creatures of another stamp This innovation is so great and so much to be admir'd that it 's worth our labour to finde out how and after what manner it is perform'd O my Saviour thou alone canst tell me truly the nature of it and the only one that can impart so great a blessing to my poor and languishing Soul wherefore let me hear thy solution to the matter SAVIOVR THou must know then O man that this so great a renovation when 't is perform'd by the means of Baptism may be call'd Regeneration but if it be done by Contrition and with the assistance of Pennance then 't is call'd resurrection not only because the Soul is rais'd from the Death of Sin to the Life of Grace but by reason it resembles so nearly the glorious beauty of future Resurrection No mortal tongue is able to express the radiant Splendor and supereminent beauty of a Justifi'd Soul 't is a mistery reserv'd to my Holy Spirit who made her so glorious with a design she should be his own Temple and place of residence Were all the wealth of the World all the imaginable dignities and honours of this life all the natural Graces and gifts together with all the acquir'd virtues and all other earthly advantages that can be thought of conferr'd with the beauty and treasures of a Justifi'd Soul all in comparison with her is vile obscure ill-favour'd and of no value No for there is as much difference betwixt the life of Grace and the life of Nature betwixt the beauty of the Soul Justifi'd and that of the body betwixt the interiour Riches of such a Soul and the exteriour of the body as there is betwixt Heaven Earth betwixt the Spirit and the body or betwixt Time and Eternity Because all these are circumscrib'd with certain limits they are temporal they appear handsom to corporal eyes and require only my general concourse to support them whereas the other depends on my particular and supernatural influence and have no prefix'd bounds because I am their object and they are so precious in my sight and of so great an estimate that they provoke even my divine Essence to be ardently enamour'd with their beauty I might have wrought all these wonders with my sole presence yet I would not but was pleas'd to adorn the Soul with my infus'd virtues and the Seven gifts of my Holy Ghost whereby not only her Essence but even her very faculties are cloth'd and adorn'd with those habitual and heavenly dresses Besides all these divine favours and benefits she is made happy with the constant presence of my divine Spirit and of the most adorable Trinity for all resides in a justifi'd Soul to teach her how to manage so great a treasure to her best advantage Matt. 12. wherein I act the part of a most loving Father who is not satisfi'd to have given Riches to his Son but gives him withal a Futor that knows how to Administer them well Luc. 11. Thou know'st that a multitude of vipors Serpents and Dragons I mean of evil Spirits enter into the Soul of a Sinner and makes her their habitation as thou mayst reade in my Gospel but 't is otherwise with a justifi'd Soul for I with my Father and Holy Spirit dwell there and having banish'd thence all evil Si quis diligit me Sermonem meum servabit Pater meus diliget eum ad eum veniomus mansionem apud eum faciemus Joan. 14. and Infernal Spirits we make her our temple our throne and Garden of pleasure as thou mayst finde in St. John where I say if a man love me he will keep my words my Father will love him and we will come unto him and make our abode with him All the Doctors of my Holy Church as well Ecclesiastick as Scholastick grounded upon these my words do firmly believe that my Holy Ghost dwells in a justifi'd Soul after a certain and peculiar manner and say moreover that he does not only confer his Gifts upon her but comes himself along with them with a fix'd resolution to clense Sanctify and adorn her as well with his constant presence as with all his heavenly treasures O man if all these extraordinary favours be not able to mollify thy flinty heart and force it to leave and forsake the paths of Sin and to gather also all thy Scatter'd affections and lead them towards me who am the most deserving of them I shall add more pressing motives to bring thee to so good so gracious and so benificial a resolution The First that occurs is that all the justifi'd are my living members so that I love and cherish them as my own and am no less careful to provide for them to protect and comfort them then were they all parts of my proper body nay without any intermission I influence them with my inspirations and graces even as the head communicates his vital Spirits into all the rest of its members moreover my Eternal Father beholds them with a gracious eye as being my living members united concorporate with me by the participation of his divine Spirit and therefore all their deeds are
lay their hands on their breasts and examine their own life and conversation if they finde themselves to be good Christians upright honest in all their ways it shall be well with them in the hour of their Death for they shall eat the fruit of their well-doings but if they be viciously given and found void of all good works they must expect no better wellcome from me then an order to cut them all down with the Ax of Death and to cast them headlong into hell-fire Thou shalt finde several proofs to confirm this assertion in the first Sermon I preach'd immediately after I was baptiz'd there shalt thou hear me recommend Matth. 5.4 and extoll the great advantages of a virtuous life of Poverty Meekness Justice Purity Sorrow for Sin patience in suffering contempt of Riches forgiving of injuries Fasting Prayer Pennance Entring by the straight gate and also of perfection Holyness Integrity of life and conversation and of the exact fulfilling of every particular of my Heavenly Fathers Laws and Commandments There thou shalt hear me say I came not to the World to break the Law but to fulfill the same and whosoever shall offer to break the least of them and bring others either by his ill example or by his erroneous doctrine to do the like should have no place in the Kingdom of Heaven There thou mayst hear me say to all Christians except their Justice did exceed that of the Scribes and Pharisees which was altogether in words and outward appearance they could not be saved That they might not serve two Masters in this life but either must forsake God or abandon Mammon That they should decline from false Prophets that usually come in sheep's clothing but are no better then ravenous Wolves in their hearts and that all men should seek to enter by the straight gate but the conclusion of my long Sermon is that the only sign and token of a good Tree is the good fruit which it bears and without this fruit let the Tree be never so fair or pleasant to the eye yet it is to be cut down and burnt that 't is not every one that shall cry Lord Lord at the last day shall be sav'd or enter into the Kingdom of Heaven but only such as did execute really and in Deeds the Will and commandments of my Father in this life Where is there any incouragement here for the wicked to delay their conversion or to put it off till the hour of death in hopes of a good Peccavi I see none for they are all most pressing motives to force them rather out of their iniquity into a virtuous and godly life To be the better convinc'd of this undeniable truth thou must know that life is a time and season of sowing and planting the seed of virtue and the bitter roots of mortifications and pennance and that Death is Harvest time to reap the main profit of that happy Seed and the wonderful sweetness of those bitter roots It 's therefore my Prophet speaking of the manifold tribulations and anguishes of the Just Euntes Ibant flebant mittentes semina sua venientes autem venient cum exultatione portantes manipulos suos Ps 126.6 Tromsijt mesus finita est aestas nos salvati non sumus Jer. 8.20 Non potest male mori qui bene vixit vix bene moritur qui male vixit Aug. Venite bene dicti Patris mei posside te paratum vobis regnum a constitutione mundi Matth. 25.34 says they were going on weeping and sowing the precious seed of their eternal Salvation and that without any doubt they shall come again rejoycing bringing their sheaves with them and my Prophet Jeremy declares how the wicked shall say in the hour of Death and with tears in their eyes the Harvest is past the Summer is ended and we are not sav'd This was the lamentation of the Jews seeing themselves oppress'd under the slavish and heavy yoak of the Caldeans without any hopes of being reliev'd but it may be likewise taken for the sad moan which the wicked shall make in the hour of Death seeing themselves void of all good works and groaning under the heavy weight of their evil actions then indeed they may cry the Summer is ended the time of our life is now expir'd wherein we might have gather'd a plentiful stock of all virtues and good works but We unfortunate Souls We have spent that precious season in all manner of vices and now that the Harvest is past we must appear naked as we are of all good works replenish'd with evil ones before a dreadful Judge to be sentenc'd to Eternal Death which We have justly deserv'd for abusing his mercy by flattering our selves with a good Peccavi at our last farewell to the World and to all its deceitful pleasures The Harvest is past the Summer is ended and we are not sav'd What can be more terrible How should any Man dare delay his conversion hearing these words and having as many Presidents hereof as there have been Sinners surpris'd by death even in the heat of their wickedness O ye Blessed Souls says St. Augustin who have spent your days in the constant practise of virtue still submissive to the Laws of God always obedient to his commands thirsting after righteousness and justice great lovers of mortification and pennance hear what comfortable news I bring you and what is that You cannot dye an ill death no 't is impossible Orabat scelestus ad Dominum ad quo non erat misericordiam con secuturus 2 Machab. 9.13 De Centum Millibus quorum maia fuit vita vix unus salvabitur Aug. for God will assist you in that dreadful hour and will receive your Souls at their departing your bodys into the perfect enjoyment of my everlasting Glory Whereas the wicked tho' they should make as great a shew of an apparent repentance as Antiochus did yet will they hardly come to a better end for of a hundred thousand that lead a bad life continually to the hour of death scarce one shall be sav'd says the same St. Augustin and his doctrine is grounded upon my words because I have call'd and ye refus'd I have stretch'd out my hand and no man regarded and as ye have made naught of all my Counsels and been deaf to my reproof I also will laugh at your Calamity I will mock when your fear comes When it comes as desolation and when your destruction comes as a Whirlwind when distress and anguish comes upon you then shall ye call upon me but I will not answer ye shall seek me early but ye shall not finde me because ye hated knowledge and did not choose the fear of the Lord. Prov. 1.24 They would not accept of my Counsel they despis'd all my reproofs therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their own way and be fill'd with their own devices The devout St. Bernard confirms this truth by two
necessary things and that he is firmly resolv'd to break off with Vice C. P. 52. How a Sinner by his frequent relapse into Sin may reasonably fear he never was really contrite for his Sins C. p. 56. That a Sinner must fix his hope in God of whose mercy he can't despair without a mortal offence C. p. 57. The nature and necessary conditions of a true and perfect contrition p. 60. The fatal consequences of Venial Sins and how by degrees they bring a Man to commit Mortals C p. 65. The greatness of Gods Love for Man is a most pressing motive to a sorrowful contrition M. p 67. The means which God was pleas'd to take in order to redeem Mankind is another pressing motive to a sorrowful contrition M. p. 71. What Christ has suffer'd from his Cradle to the Cross was only for the love of Man M. p. 74. His Death and Passion should breed in our hearts a mortal hatred and abhorrence of Sin M. p. 78. Several other Considerations upon the same subject able to move even a Heart of Steel to love God above all Creatures M. p. 82. The benefits of our Justification lays a weighty obligation on us to love God with all our hearts p. 88. Several other deep considerations of the same benefit Mp. 91. The manifold disasters and miseries occasion'd by Sin and how we are happily deliver'd from 'em all by the benefit of our Justification M. p. 95. The manifold and wonderful advantages of a Justifi'd Soul M. p. 99. The benefit of our Justification exceeds that of our Creation and Redemption M. p. 103. The certainty of Death and th'uncertainty of the hour of Death with the several and dreadful circumstances thereof is a most pressing motive to detest Sin M. p. 106. The particular Judgment which is given of the Soul at her departing the Body M. p. 114. How dreadful will the sight of her Judge be to her and what anguishes she shall suffer at her Trial M. p. 120. Of the most strict account which will be taken of the Soul in this particular Judgment M. p. 126. How remote is the Judgment of God from that of Man and of the severity of his Chastisements even in this Life by which we may easily conceive th'unspeakable rigour of his punishments in th' other M. p. 133. Of the Torments which the Damn'd suffer in Hell M. p. 140. Of the Glory of Heaven in what it consists of its great estimate and what we ought to suffer for the everlasting purchase thereof M. p. 148. Of th'everlasting happiness of the Saints in Heaven and of their glorious Prerogatives M. p. 162. The little value that Christians set upon Vertue and how their dissolutions surpass the debauchery even of the worst of Heathens M. p. 173. The Godly feelings and Heroick exploits of Heathen Philosophers will certainly confound the Christians in the Day of Judgment M. p. 188. Of Hell and of th'unspeakable and various Torments which the Damn'd shall suffer there for an Eternity M. p. 201 Of the severity of Gods Justice the rage and malice of the Devils and the horrid confusion of the Damn'd occasion'd by the full Knowledge of their Vanities main Folly and wilful neglect of their Salvation M. p. 217. The wonderful Austerities of Gods Servants as well in the Old as in the New Testament in order to avoid the Torments of Hell will be a main confusion to such Christians as live deliciously in this World M. p. 226. If men be so outragiously cruel one to th' other how excessive cruel must the Devil be to the Damn'd in Hell being a professed enemy to all mankind even from the Creation M. p. 234. An habitual Sinner that puts off his Conversion to the hour of Death in expectation of a good Peccavi lies under a moral impossibility to be sav'd M. p. 248. The Love of God should replenish our hearts to that degree to leave no place for any terrene or carnal affection M. p. 266. An ample description of th'ingratitude inconstancy treachery cruelty and vanity of the World with several presidents relating thereunto M. p. 278. The Lust of the Flesh with its fatal attendance and branches are most abominable in themselves most odious to God and the most destructive enemies of our Souls M. p. 293. Th' only thing that the Nobility should value themselves upon is Vertue how vain is the Wisdom of the World Of Corporal Beauty and Rich Apparel and how th' one as well as th' other has been the ruine of many Millions of Souls M. p. 310. That the State of Poverty is far more advantageous to the Soul than that of Riches though it may not be so pleasant to the mind which is never content M. p. 327. The Charming expressions of Christ and the several employments he takes upon himself in order to save our Souls are able to withdraw all our scatter'd affections from the World and settle them upon him alone M. p. 346. That the World is both a Cheat and a Lyar for his Promises ars false his Honours are vain his Pleasures are Poyson and his Treasures are Soul-Killing Thorns M. p. 368. That they who after all Gods sweet Inspirations loving Invitations and gracious Admonitions do not love him reciprocally shall be in danger of eternal Destruction M. p. 384. A Check to Man p. 391. A Check to the Christian Man p. 395. A Check to the Religious Man p. 402. A Wholesom Advice to Mankind in general p 410. Errata P. 10. L. ult R. remit P. 26. M N. R. hac P. 249. L. 4. R. double P. 254. M. N. R. transiit messis P. 255. M. N. R. quo P. 259. L. 12. R. axiom P. 265. L. 27. R. Prophet P. 271. L. 13. R. no more P. 315. M. N. R. putredini p. 329. L. 26. R. not P. 336. L. 8. R. the. P. 344. L. 27. R. be P. 352. L. 18. R. so P. 368. L. 22. R. doorkeeper P. 371. L. 6. R. martial P. 374. L. 17. R. Micheas P. 376. L. 21. R. were P. 384. L. 6. R. as A Dialogical Discourse betwixt the Saviour and Man wherein all Souls desirous of the Love of God are copiously suppli'd with means powerfull to attain it and to gain the happy accomplishment of their Salvation MAN SPeak O Lord for thy Servant hears thee 1. Reg. 3. grant me a right Understanding to know thy ways and lead my will to walk therein let the sacred Dew of thy divine Inspirations flow down from thy heavenly Throne into my obdurate Heart Psal 118. that I may more easily observe thy Commands and steer my course directly without any Remora towards the Region of everlasting Bliss Loquere tâ— nobis audiemus non loquatur nobis Dominus ne â—orte moriamur Exod. 20. for which thou didst Create my Soul Heretofore the Children of Israel would have Moises only speak to them not thou O Lord fearing thy words might strike such a terrour to their Hearts
leads to it this is a necessary consequence of that grief hatred of sin for if thou be'st heartily sorry for the evil committed and dost truly detest it thou wilt also have a will to avoid it if not 't is most evident that thou hast neither sorrow nor aversion This contrition to be perfect and effectual must have four conditions it must be interiour Supernatural universal and Sovereign It must be interiour I mean from the heart for the outward expression of grief is at best but a complement and a meer illusion whereby many poor Souls are basely deceiv'd and utterly ruin'd Deut. 4. The heart must be sensibly touch'd with compunction it must be an act of the will thou must convert thy self to God with all thy heart and seek for him with the sorrow and tribulation of thy Soul See how I reprehended the Pennance of the Jews Scindite cordis vestra non vestimenta vestra ait Dominus Joel 2. they made great exteriour signs even to rent their cloths but they were not at all mov'd in their hearts and therefore I told them by my Prophet that they should convert themselves to me with all their hearts in tears and lamentations and that they should tear their hearts and not their garments Both Scripture and Reason does manifest this truth that this sorrow for thy Sins must be lodg'd in thy heart and as thy will was the principal cause of thy Sin so it must be the chief actor in thy sorrow Thy heart must renounce the evil which it has willfully committed and detest the sin which it had formerly affected Thy Grief must issue from a supernatural motive and the reason of it is that an action purely natural cannot be a condign satisfaction to me for thy mortal transgression of my positive commandment thou mayst see by the sorrow of Saul who did not grieve for his sin but for the loss of his Kingdom which God had resolv'd to take from him to give it to a more faithful and obedient servant Antiochus's sorrow was grounded upon the like motive for he did not weep for his sins but by reason of his great misfortunes Afflictions may indeed stir up a Sinner to return to God but they shall never be able to reclaim him from his wickedness without my Grace To obtain which he must detest his sins because they are infinitely offensive to God and a great obstacle to his own Salvation these are supernatural motives without which thy contrition will signify nothing in order to receive the grace of God Thy grief must be also sovereign that is most powerful And the reason for it is that it 's not enough to detest Sin upon a supernatural motive but that this motive must overrule all other that come into thy minde and rather detest sin by reason of the damage it brings to thy Salvation or the injury done to God thereby then for any natural evils which it may produce and be ready to suffer them all rather then commit one mortal Sin This is what Divines call detesting Sin Supra omne detestabile that is to detest it more then all which in the world is capable to stir up thy hatred and detestation In fine Ezech. 18. thy grief must be universal as to all mortal sins without excepting any 't is therefore I order'd my Prophet to tell my People that they must do Pennance for all the Sins which they had committed and if the Sinner shall do Pennance for all his Sins he shall live The reason of it is that mortal Sins cannot be remitted but totally not one without the rest for if thou shouldst reserve an affection for one mortal Sin tho' thou shouldst have an abhorrence against all the rest thou art still an enemy to God and a worthy object of his highest displeasure By this thou mayst perceive how grossly they are mistaken who pretend to be perfectly contrite and yet refuse to pardon injuries to be reconcil'd to their Enemies to restore unlawful goods to avoid the immediate occasions of Sin In a word all those that have any wilful tye to any particular sin shall have the same measure from my hands as Antiochus had for their Pennance as well as his is but imaginary MAN O My most mercifull Lord have pitty upon me and let my poor Soul partake of the wonderful effects of thy great clemency I acknowledge now the great evil which I have done now I see the grievousness of my Sins now I see how few have that true and perfect contrition which is so necessary to Salvation seeing they relapse into their habitual offences so soon and so easily for had they that great sorrow for their Sins they would be certainly more vigilant to avoid them then to prevent the greatest of all misfortunes They would be also more eager to set a stop to the dangerous currant of venial Sins since they are the preludes of a vicious habit and that by degrees they bring us to make nothing of mortals for they do notably diminish the lights of our understanding the sincerity of our minde is overclouded by them our heart over-rul'd the strength of grace and the vigour of virtue made weaker our Soul disorder'd and laid open to all evil impressions 'T is true they don't destroy sanctifying grace but they dispose us very much to lose it All together they don't make a mortal sin but they dispose the Soul to fall into it They don't directly cause death but they create those spiritual weaknesses maladies which bring death with them In a word tho' venial Sins don't break the league and unity betwixt God and the Soul which is grounded upon that happy foundation of grace yet inperceptably they diminish it and by this diminution Charity is weaken'd in us and God by degrees withdraws from us the chief favours of his assistance in all our spiritual necessities consequently having less strength we fall more easily into mortal Sin when we are assaulted by any temptation By this I may easily conclude that whoever is careless to avoid venial sins has not a sufficient abhorrence of mortals for there is nothing so venial but may be through an immoderate complacency dissolution or recreation become of the number of mortals and perhaps of the most capital Sins How then is it possible for those that continue whole hours nay from morning till night in Taverns and Tipling-houses Ranting Drinking Vae qui cogitatis inutile Mich. 2. Vae vobis qui ridetis quia flebitis Dancing and other such like dissolutions to be excus'd from mortal Sins since that God threatens with a woe even those who think of unprofitable things He does the same to those that place all their consolation and felicity in Riches As also to those that in any thing belonging to nature take pleasure to excess Ah! Vae vobis divitibus qui habetis consolationem vestram Et vae vobis qui saturati estis Luk. 6
These are my familiars O Lord wherewith I have so often displeas'd thee rebellious ungrateful and perfidious creature as I am I have been created to thy Image and likeness but alas by my Sins I have made my Soul most like unto the Devils those monsters of ingratitude By my Sins I have often renew'd the bitter Death and Passion of Jesus thy beloved Son Quis dabit Capitimeo aquam oculis meis fontem lachrimarum plorabo die ac nocte Jer. 9.1 O how can I worthily deplore so great an evil who will give water to my head a fountain of tears to my eyes to lament both night and day my misery and malice To have contributed to thy death O Lord is of all other motives the most powerful to replenish my minde with grief and sorrow and therefore do desire to hear from thy self the particulars of it SAVIOVR KNow then that after I had taken man out of the bowells of the Earth with a Faciamnus and created him to my own Image and likeness in order to make him sole Lord and absolute Monarch of the whole Universe with full power to take and tast of all things that a most pleasant paradise could afford the fruit of Life only excepted He the ungratefull and rebellious creature considering the great advantage of his condition and the greatness of his dignity which should be to him a sufficient motive to love obey respect and praise me for ever took thence occasion to mutiny rebell and desert me and enter into a league against me with Lucifer whom I had a little before expell'd Heaven for his thoughts of Pride Ambition and who from that very moment made a vow to deface and destroy my Picture being that he could not annoy my Person This so heinous an offence deserv'd he should be immediately commanded out of that Terrestrial Paradise where he was created and liv'd like a petty Prince and where he had all other creatures even the most furious among them at his beck to do with them as he thought fit Accepisti argentum vestes a Naaman sed Lepra Naaman adhaerebit tibi semini tuo usque in sempiternum 4 Reg. 5. He was therefore turn'd off as a vagabond cast into exile and made liable to suffer the punishment even of the damn'd for as he became an associate to the Devil in Sin 't was fit he should be his companion in torment Thou hast heard of my Judgement inflicted on Gehazi my Prophets servant and how for taking Naaman's mony and cloths for the cure of his Leprosy I order'd that for his covetous transgression both he and all his generation to the worlds end should share in his Leprosy as he did in his garments Even so have I decreed against man who had so much affected Lucifers Pride and Ambition that he should be likewise infected with his Leprosy and as he was obedient to his suggestions he should partake of his punishments also Behold the fatal Metamorphosis of man and how for imitating the Devil in his rebellion he forfieted my resemblance to put on that of this most horrid and hideous Monster of Hell Man being made so abominable by sin and so great an eyesore to my divine Essence I in mercy was mov'd not to reflect so much upon the injury done to my Supream Majesty as not to condole the greatness of his deplorable misery was more inclin'd to compassionate his weakness then to be reveng'd of his crime Whereupon to repair his loss I undertook to mediate his peace with my heavenly Father and in order to so great a work I contracted with humane nature so strict an alliance that I became both God and man which was so grateful to my Father that he not only forgave man all his past transgressions but also receiv'd him into favour with all the demonstrations of joy that could be express'd Who would ever expect that so large and so dangerous a breach should ever be repair'd who would ever imagine that two things so opposit one to the other as is the divine to humane nature should come to subsist and remain together not in one house not at one table nor in one bed but in one and the self-same person This is a miracle beyond the expectation of man and indeed beyond th' expression of an Angel for there cann't be any two more contrary then is God and the Sinner yet now what two can be more firmly united or have greater influence then God and man There is nothing more sublime then God Pulvis es in pulverem reverteris Gen. 1. and nothing more vile and despicable then man Notwithstanding God with all humility descends from Heaven to man and man ascends to Heaven with God so that the action of man is the same with that of God and whatever God is said to have done may be justly imputed to man because that I am both God and man Who would ever believe that man to see him naked after his dismal fall and absconding in one corner or other in Paradise for to keep himself from Gods indignation and wrath who would believe I say that such a fordid and contemptable substance should be in time united to God in one and the same Person This was a strange union indeed and a true lovers knot for when it was upon the dissolution at the time of my Passion it did not in the least fail but was rather violently separated to shew what an amorous inclination I had to be still united to humane nature Death indeed might have taken my Soul from my body and break off that union of nature which kept them together Quod semel assumpsit nunquam dimisit Aug. but had not the power to withdraw my Godhead from either of them for that was an union of the divine person which I shall never relinquish having once fix'd upon it with all the tenderness of a most ardent love MAN O Lord I am so much oblig'd to thee for this extraordinary great favour that I am not able to return thee sufficient thanks for the way and means which thou hast taken to redeem me and my very redemption is so great a benefit that no Angelical tongue is able to express it All that I can say is that I am bound by all the ties both of nature and conscience to love thee and stand submissive to thy laws for ever Thou hast deliver'd my Soul out of the infernal Dragon's jaws and without any merit of mine but meerly through the multitude of thy mercies thou hast reconcil'd me to thy self This is eternally worthy of praise But if I consider how and after what manner thou hast done me that unspeakable favour I shall finde that it does exceed even that great work of my redemption Thy works are wonderfull in all their circumstances Mirabilis Deus in Sanctis suis and tho' man when he considers one does really believe that
be thus wounded mangled and bruised to cure them Certainly if those Sores had not been mortal and even the fatal causes of the eternal death of thy Soul I had never suffer'd so cruel a death for her recovery Can there be a more considerable or a pressing motive to lament and abhor thy Sins then to remember that they were the only cause of all my sufferances and even of my most bitter death upon the Cross The Jews went once through Jerusalem and bewail'd the destruction of that Royall City and the loss of their King how much more reason hast thou to lament thy great misfortune to have occasion'd my death who am thy King thy Redeemer and he only that can either pardon thee thy sins or condemn thee for them to an eternity of pains O man let this consideration be the constant subject of thy serious meditations it will pierce thy heart unless it be harder and more obdurate then the very Stones This very consideration made one of my faithful servants to say that it is a shameful thing for Christians not to acknowledge the evils which sin has brought upon them when they consider what so supream a Majesty as that of the Son of God has been oblig'd to suffer for them The Son of God says he takes compassion on the miseries of man and weeps for sorrow whilst insensible man who is overwhelm'd with his own sins is not concern'd at all MAN O My dear Lord and Master thou hast said enough to conquer my heart and to bring also the whole universe to admire the greatness of thy love for man For what can be more worthy of our admiration then to behold a God of so infinite a Majesty finish his life under the notion of a notorious malefactor upon a shameful Cross and betwixt two Thieves Had I seen a man tho' he were the basest and most vile amongst the People brought to that misfortune as to be condemn'd for his crime to dy so cruel a death certainly I could not choose but compassionate his condition and condole that his misdemeanours should have brought him to so great a distress If it be then a subject worthy our compassion to see a man of that inferiour rank and condition for his own crimes in so deplorable a state what will it be I pray to see not a man but the Lord of all created things for the Sins of his servants reduc'd to that extremity Can there be any thing more wonderfull then to see even God himself plung'd into so great an abyss of anguishes and pains for the sins and wickedness of wretched Men If the calamity and misfortune suffer'd must be retaliated with a trembling and astonishment proportionable to the worth and dignity of the person that suffers O ye Angels of Heaven who have a perfect knowledge of the greatness and excellency of my benign Jesus our gracious Redeemer and your Creator tell me how great was your grief how stupendious your astonishment how excessive was your lamentation and trouble when you have seen him hang on that hard and uneasy cross The Cherubins whose figures God had order'd in the old Law to be plac'd on each side of the Arck of Alliance look'd then at each other with admiration to behold this bloudy Sacrifice of that innocent and immaculate Lamb for the redemption of mankinde Nature it self stood amaz'd and all creatures were interdicted their inbred inclinations and functions The Principalities and Powers of Heaven trembl'd at the very consideration of the unspeakable goodness of God tho' so intimately acquainted therewith What then shall become of those that do not swim in the waves of so great an ocean of admiration Dominator Domine Deus misericors clemens patiens multae miserationis Exod. 34. or what of those that are not drown'd in the Seas of so great a bounty are not they depriv'd of their senses even as Moises was on Mount Sinai where the figure of this bloudy sacrifice was so lively represented to him that he cry'd out with a loud voice the Lord the Lord God merciful and gracious long suffering and abundant in goodness and truth So much Surpriz'd was he at the view of thine excessive goodness O Lord that he could not forbear praising thy mercy in the hearing of all the multitude of Israel The Prophet Helias cover'd his face as God pass'd by him in the splendor of his glory much more then should all mortals cover theirs to behold Gods profound humility and annihilation Now not overthrowing mountains and spliting Rocks with his infinite power but expos'd to the view of a malignant and most wicked Nation and in so terrible and dismal a posture that even the Rocks and Temple were rent asunder with an excess of compassion What man of Steel what heart of brass will not relent and open his breast to lodge therein the love of so charming so gracious and so bountiful a God O height of charity O profoundness of humility never to be paralel'd O unspeakable mercy O Abiss of incomprehensible bounty O my most gracious Lord If I be so much oblig'd to thee for redeeming me how much more am I bound to thee for the means which thou hast taken to redeem me Thou hast redeemed me with pains with sorrow with scorns with reproaches with nails and thorns and hast been made the derision of men and even the most vile of the whole world However O Lord by thy contumelies thou hast honour'd me by thy false accusations thou hast defended me with thy bloud thou hast wash'd me by thy death thou hast reviv'd me and by thy tears thou hast deliver'd me from a perpetual weeping and gnashing of teeth O heavenly Father how tenderly thou lovest thy Children thou art indeed that good and faithful Pastor thou givest thy self as food to thy flock O faithful keeper who hast laid down even thy precious life for to protect and defend thy Sheep which thou hadst in thy keeping what thanks or what service can I return thee for so great a favour with what tears can I recompence thy weeping or what life shall I bestow upon thee for that pure and holy one which thou hast given for me Alas there is no proportion betwixt the life of man and that of God betwixt the tears of a silly creature and that of an omnipotent Creator 'T is true thou hast not suffer'd for me alone but for all the world shall I therefore think my obligation the less to thee no no for tho' thou sned'st thy most precious bloud for all mankinde yet it was after such a manner that every particular man receiv'd the benefit from thy sufferings In fine thou didst suffer thy bitter and bloudy passion as well for me in particular as thou hast for all in general O my God thy charity was so immense that if but one alone of all mankinde were criminal even for that one man thou wouldst have suffer'd what thou didst for all
and condition where wilt thou go what wilt thou do to whom wilt thou call for help To return to life 't is impossible and to ease thy self thou wilt not be able In illa die occidet Sol in meridie tenebrescere faciam terram in die luminis c. Amos. 8. what shall become of thee when I will cause the Sun to go down at noon and when I will darken the Earth at mid-day what wilt thou say when I shall turn thy feasts into mourning and all thy Songs into lamentation when I will bring up Sackcloth upon all mens loins and baldness upon every head and when I shall make it as the morning for an only Son and the end thereof as a bitter day hast thou not therefore a far greater subject then Job to curse the day wherein thou wert born for he was so just a man that my eternal Father glori'd in having so good so gracious and faithful a Servant nay In omnibus his non peccavit Job labiis suis c. Job 1.22 the Holy Ghost avers that he sinned not in all what he had spoken in his troubles and calamities which I had permitted to come upon him not as a punishment for his Sins but as a trial of his patience to make him a worthy president to all mortals of virtue of constancy and of perfect resignation to my holy will in all their afflictions He himself does protest that his conscience did not accuse him yet he was so apprehensive of the strict judgment which a Soul is to undergo at her departing the body that amaz'd at the severity of my Justice he crys out protect me O Lord Dionys. Rikel Art 16. de novis and hide me in hell whilst thy fury passes Whereupon one of my devout Servants affirms that the instant wherein I give judgment of a Soul is not only more terrible then Death but more terrible then to suffer even the pains of hell for a certain time not only to those who are to be damn'd but even unto my very Elect. O man reflect seriously upon this and Judge what will become of a Sinner at the hour of his Death and at the lively representation of all his offences and crimes what a consternation he will be in how he will tremble and shake every limb of him at the very sight of me his Creator and Redeemer whom he had so often offended and injur'd in the course of his sinful life that very presence will be more dreadful to him then the suffering of the pains of hell it self MAN O Most gracious Redeemer I cann't deny what thou sayst of a dying man and of the Anguishes which he shall suffer at the departing of the Soul from his body she shall enter into Judgment alone naked poor and without any to patronize her cause except her good works if she has any to shew her Conscience will be the Deponent the Triall will be either for life or death not temporal but eternal and thou an injur'd Judge shall appear to her in a dreadful Throne to give sentence for her or against her either of Salvation or of her everlasting damnation If she be grievously indebted and not able to ballance her accounts O what a horrible confusion she will be in grief and sorrow sighs and tears dreadful lamentations and crys will be her woful entertainment and the only motives she can produce to mollify thee O Lord but all will be to no purpose her repentance comes too late 't is totally fruitless at that hour all her protestations of amendment will be in vain no bills or bonds of performance will be accepted of no bail shall be taken her lease is out she must remove her nobility her riches her honours cann't obtain for her a further respite of time the sentence is pronounc'd the decree is unavoidable she must submit O the unfortunate Sinner what will he do what will he say how can he express the greatness of his misfortune otherwise then by these words of thy Prophet Psa 18.4.5 The sorrows of Death have compassed me and the flouds of iniquity have made me afraid The sorrows of hell have compassed me about and the snares of Death have prevented me O what a woful circle is that into which his Sins have brought him and unexpected too when he had not the least thought of death what will his friends avail him now his dignities his riches his lands and all that he took most delight in they will remain after him to other Masters that will soon wast and consume 'em in a worse way perhaps then ever he gather'd them tho' that perchance was bad enough The Sins which he had committed in heaping them up are the only companions he is like to have along with him to another world where he is to be tormented for them according to their enormity If I should make my addresses to worldlings in hopes to be farther instructed in this so necessary a matter to Salvation Alas they know nothing of it and which is worse they will not believe it for they live as if they had no account at all to give after death and why should I think it strange being they live in Egypt that is in a land of darkness in a willful blindness overwhelm'd with all sorts of errors where scarcely two are found of one opinion in matters of Faith and manners I am then resolv'd to go farther off and streight into the land of Geshen where the light of verity is allways in its full splendour Non intres in Judicium cum servo tuo Domine quia non justiflcabitur in conspectu tuo omnis vivens Psa 143. and to consult with the Inhabitants thereof in this case they will certainly teach me not only by their words but also by their examples how much this dreadful day of so strict an account is to be fear'd The first I meet with is the holy'st man of his age a man according to thine own heart O Lord yet he is so terrifi'd even at the very remembrance of this accompting day that he begs thee with all the tenderness of a contrite heart not to enter into Judgment with thy Servant and the reason he gives for his request is that in thy sight shall no man living be justifi'd The second that appears to me In vitis Patrum Sect. 2.153 is that most renown'd and holy Arsenius a man of wonderful austerity a man always in prayer always in contemplation yet tho' he was so virtuous and so great a Saint tears were seen to trickle down his cheeks when he was a dying and all his body to tremble in his deep consideration of this reckoning day His Disciples that stood round his poor and hard bed setting him the question why he cry'd and whether he was afraid of death he made answer yes my dearly beloved Children I fear Death and I tremble at the approach of my dreadful Judge
for tho' I cann't say that I am guilty of any Sin that might deprive me of his grace yet he will scearch so narrowly into the most hidden corners of mens hearts at that departing day that I have great reason to fear he may finde some subject of his displeasure within my breast Another no less commendable for the holyness of his life tells me of a most dreadful example which was in his days exhibited on the Person of one Stephen a Monk a great lover of a quiet and Solatary life This holy man after he had pass'd over several years in a monastical conflict and adorn'd his Soul with extraordinary graces and virtues by his continual fasting weeping and chastising his body with St. Paul lest it should bring his Soul to subjection he went into the desart and built a little cell for himself at the foot of that famous mountain where the Prophet Helias had formerly a most Sacred and heavenly vision a place remote from all worldly consolation almost inaccessible to men and very near a hundred miles distant from any human habitation After he had continued there a long tract of time in the height of all manner of mortification and Pennance and being in his declining Age he return'd to his former habitation where in a few days he fell into a fit of sickness whereof he dy'd Joan. Climachus in Schola Parad graduer but the day before his death he awaked suddenly out of his slumber and looking frightfully towards the right left side of his bed he was heard by all that were about him to say as if he were brought to an account for his past life 't is true that is so but for that Sin I have fasted so many years To another objection he answer'd that is true likewise but for that fault I often shed most bitter tears To another he would reply that 's a grand lye I am innocent of that crime Again he would answer 't is so indeed I have nothing to say against it but leave my self wholly to God's mercy Certainly this was a spectacle able to terrify the hearts of all them that were by and especially for that the poor man was accus'd of what he never committed so eager his mortal Enemies were to get possession of his Soul by endeavouring to push him into despair He was indeed a lover of retir'd and solitary places and a Monk of forty years approbation endu'd with the gift of working miracles yet he trembles at the hearing of his accompts some he denys and some he owns but he relys upon Gods great mercy for a pardon and in this conflict he dyes without leaving any certainty of what became of him or how favourable his Judge was to him at the end of his trial O Saviour of mankinde if such great Saints were so much terrifi'd at the sight of death and so apprehensive of thy dreadful Judgements what will become of Sinners at that hour and of such Sinners as do spend their whole life in the vanities and transitory pleasures of the world of Sinners that make nothing to offend thee by all manner of wickedness of Sinners that live in so great a neglect of their Salvation as if they had no Souls to be sav'd and no account to be given after death If the Just are seiz'd with so great a terrour at the hour of Death what a deplorable condition will the habitual Sinner be in what will become of the weak shrubs of the desart that have no shelter from the raging storms of Death and Judgment when the tall Cedars of Liban are laid even with the ground Si Justus vix salvabitur Impius peccator ubi apâ—râ—bâ—nt 1 Pet. 4.3 18. If the Righteous scarcely be sav'd where shall the ungoldy and the Sinner appear who walk'd all his life in Lasciviousness Lust excess of Wine Revellings Banquetings and all abominable Idolatries what can be safe in Babylon when there is so strict a search made in Jerusalem SAVIOVR THou sayst well O man what will become of a Sinner indeed at the hour of death when I who am the spotless Lamb was seiz'd with so great an apprehension of it Tristis est anima mea usque ad mortem Mar. 14.34 that my Soul was sad even to death and terrifi'd to that degree that my body was all in a bloudy sweat But what will become of a Sinner when I shall appear to him who am to be not only his Judge but also a most irrefragable witness against him St. Augustin will tell thee he had rather suffer even the unspeakable torments of Hell Chrys hom 24. in Matth. then to behold the face of his angry Judge And St. Chrysostome declares it were better for Sinners to be struck with as many thunderbolts as the magazine of Heaven can afford then to see that countenance so meek and so full of sweetness heretofore altogether estrang'd from them at that most dreadful hour And if thou wilt give credit to the deposition of a learned Authour he will tell thee that even an Image which was only my representation on the Cross appear'd with such wrathful and incens'd eyes to a congregation of People that they all fell unto the ground senseless without any motion and that they cuntinued in that amazement several hours What a consternation then will Sinners be in when they shall behold not my Image which is at best but a dead figure but my self alive not in the humility of my Cross but seated on a Throne of Justice and Majesty not in a time of mercy but in the due season of a just vengeance not with naked hands pierc'd through with nails but arm'd against them with the Sword of Justice Thus I shall come to Judge and revenge the injuries which they have done unto me I am righteous in my Justice as I am in my mercy and as I have allotted a time for mercy so I will for Justice and as in this life the rigour of my justice is as it were repress'd and suspended so in that point of Death when the Sinners are to receive their final Sentence I will suffer it to break forth like an inundation and drown them all in the deluge of my indignation and wrath Imagine with thy self a great and rapid River that has had it's current violently stop'd these forty years Dan. 7. and now it were to have free passage what a condition the Country round about would be in with what a fury would it overrun the whole land and beat down all before it Citys Towns Villages Castles Trees Walls Houses Men Cattle and all without any resistance Thou knowst that my Prophet Daniel compares my Justice not to an ordinary River but to a River of fire to express the greatness and severity of it thou knowest likewise that the current of this River is frequently repress'd thirty forty years nay sometimes during the whole life of Man O what an infinite deal of
wrath will it have heap'd together with what an impetuous fury will it burst out upon a wretched sinner at the point of his death Tunc incipient dicere montibus cadite super nos Luk. 23.50 The same Prophet goes on with his description of this dreadful River which shall issue from my Countenance and says that it shall be so terrible that the wicked will invite even the Rocks and Mountains to fall upon them and shelter them from it's scorching waves The Prophet Isaiah sets forth my Justice in a more dreadful manner Isa 56. he says that I will come cloth'd in garments of vengeance and cover'd with a Robe of zeal and that I will give unto my Adversaries my Indignation and that my Enemies shall have their reward The Wiseman comes yet closer to the matter for he says that my zeal shall take up arms and that I shall animate all creatures to revenge me of my Enemies that I shall put on Justice as a brest-plate take the head-piece of righteous Judgment and shall sharpen my wrath as a lance nay I shall not only appear to Sinners at the hour of death as an enrag'd arm'd man Ose 13. but as a Bear that has been robb'd of her whelps that I shall tear their entrails in peices and devour them as a Lyon 'T is certain there is not among the Beasts a more fierce by nature then a Lyon or a more furious then a Bear especially when she has lost her young ones and that I who am by nature infinitely good mild and loving should compare my self to such monsters of nature for fierceness and cruelty is to express sensibly the terrors of my Justice and rigour against Sinners in that day of wrath full of calamity and misery Dies irae dies illa calamitatis miseriae dies magna amara valde miss de req in that great sorrowful and most bitter day O man take notice of this dreadful expression 't is able to terrify thy heart and to bring a trembling over all thy body Consider well how many poor Souls hast thou led astray from my paths by thy poysonous doctrine and evil examples how many poor Souls are now in Hell-fire solely upon the account of the damnable principles which thou hast still'd into their ears and hearts and which they carry'd along with them to their graves How many innocent and virtuous young Maids and Women hast thou forc'd out of my service to satisfy thy lustful desires I say forc'd them because that perceiving them in a wanting condition thou hast wrought upon their necessity and weakness both by giving them what thou shouldst have kept for the maintenance of thy proper Wife and Children Assure thy self that in the hour of thy death I shall appear unto thee as a Bear whom thou hast robb'd of so many young ones yea and shall tear thy entrails in peices for all thy misdemeanours extortions and oppressions I will devour thee as a Lyon as well for working the destruction of thy own Soul as for contributing to the loss of many others by thy bad examples 'T is by reason of the severity of my Justice against Sinners in the hour of their death that Daniel says there shall proceed from my face a River of fire because this Element of all others is the most active and so pure that it will not admit of any mixture whereas Earth will lodge in its bosom Mines of several mettals and Quarries of divers sorts of Stone Water will entertain a pleasant variety of Fishes the Air gives liberty to all sorts of Fowl to fly through all it's region and does also harbour a vast multitude of vapours exhalations and several other bodies but Fire endures nothing it melts the hardest mettals reduces even stones into Cinders consumes living Creatures converts Trees into its own Substance and turns all that is contrary to it into its own nature The same shall happen in that day of my wrath all shall be rigour and Justice without any mixture of mercy nay the very mercies which I have exhibited to sinners in their life time shall then be both a motive to kindle my indignation and fuel to blaze up my incensed Justice against them O man consider therefore whilst thou hast time to repent nay and seriouslytoo what a sad condition thou shalt see thy self in at that instant when neither my bloud shed for thee nor my self crucifi'd for thy sake nor the powerful intercession of my most blessed Mother nor the prayers of my Saints no nor my divine mercy it self shall contribute any thing to thy safety No this life once past thou art to expect no Patron no Protectour but thy virtuous actions thy Angel Guardian and all the Saints thy Advocates shall abandone thee thy vast riches the greatness of thy Authority thy numerous Servants thy learned Counsels will not avail thee nor defend thy Process thy good works alone will defend thee from the rigour of my Justice when the Treasures thou hast heap'd up in the world and been so careful to preserve shall fail thee Thine Alms bestow'd upon the poor shall stick close to thee and pleade for thy pardon in a powerful manner Thy Wife thy Children thy Kindred Friends and Followers shall go no farther then the grave with thee but the Strangers which thou hast lodg'd the sick which thou hast visited and the needy which thou hast succour'd will bear thee company even before my dreadful Throne and place thee at my right hand among the number of my blessed for ever MAN O My most gracious Saviour withdraw thy hand far from me and let not thy dread make me afraid Job 13. Wherefore hidest thou thy face holdest me for thy Enemy wilt thou break a leaf that is driven to fro with every little puff of wind and wilt thou so rigorously pursue the dry stubble for thou writest bitter things against me and makest me to possess the iniquities of my youth Thou puttest my feet also in the stocks and lookest narrowly unto all my paths thou settest a print upon the heels of my feet who am to be consum'd as a rotten thing and as a garment that is moth-eaten Man that is born of a Woman is of few days and full of trouble He comes forth like a flower and is cut down He vanisheth also as a shadow and continues not And dost thou fix thine eyes upon such an one and bringest me into Judgment with thee Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean These are the words of the most afflicted of mortals and Mirror of Patience admiring the severity of thy Justice against Man a creature so weak so frail and so prone to all manner of evil against a wretch viciously inclin'd from his cradle that drinks up iniquity with as much pleasure and case as he would a glass of Spring-water in his greatest drougth on a hot Summers day It were a subject of
Lucum if I do not weep and lament for my Sins while I have time and conveniency Woe 's me if I do not rise at midnight with the Prophet royal to confess unto thee O Lord Woe is me if ever I wrong bely or bring My neighbour into any evil inconvenience or trouble woe 's me if I do not speak truth at all times or if ever I be found in a ly For the Ax of Death is now perhaps at the root of my Tree of life or at least will be ere long 't is the same case with every one therefore it behoves us all to be watchful to be constantly in the practise of Pennance and in the exercise of all good works in hopes we may be one day of the number of thy beloved in Heaven SAVIOVR O Man Omnia toleranda pro caelesti gloria Aug. had'st thou known what a Supream happiness it is to be of the number of my beloved in Heaven thou wouldst be of St. Augustins opinion and say with him were I to suffer every day the greatest torments that the Rage and Malice of the most bloudy Tyrants could invent nay were I to endure even the anguishes of Hell for a long time to see Christ in his Glory I would think my self extraordinary well rewarded nay I would freely and with all my heart undergo all the afflictions imaginable upon condition to be made Partaker of so great a blessing Let the Devils therefore ly in Ambushes for me let them prepare as many temtations against me as they can contrive let my body be even consum'd with abstinence and constant fasting let hair-cloth chains of Iron depress my flesh let labour and continual toil extenuate my body let watching and lying on the hard ground wither it and make it as dry as a rotten tree let this man exclaim against me and th' other pursue me to death let the cold seize upon me and make me stoop to the Earth let my conscience murmure let the scorching heat of the Sun parch me let my body grieve let my breast burn let my stomack swell let my countenance wax pale let me from head to foot be full of ulcers let my whole life hours days years pass over in tears in grief and in sorrow let the dust inter my bones and cover me all over so that I be shelter'd in the day of Tribulation and plac'd at thy right hand O Lord among the number of thy Elect. O how great will be the glory of the Just and how infinite will be the joy of the Saints when every ones face will shine as the Sun But thou must know O man that the principal joy of the blessed is the peaceable enjoyment and possession of me whom they Behold clearly as I am in my self and that as Honourable profitable and delectable are not divided in Heaven so the blessed Souls have three gifts essential and inseparable from that happy state which correspond to those three kinde of Blessings which your Divines call vision comprehension and fruition The first consists in the clear and perfect sight of me Ego Protector tuus Sum. merces tua magna nimis Gen. 15.1 which I give to the Just as a reward of their merits and by this they receive an unspeakable honour in as much as their works and virtues are rewarded in the presence of all my Arch-angels Angels and heavenly Spirits with no less a recompence then my self The second is the full and ample possession which the Soul has of me who am all her treasure all her delight and all inheritance And the third is the ineffable joy which evermore accompanies this blessed sight and ever-peaceable possession This joy is adorn'd with two singular qualities the first whereof makes it so vigorous and powerful that it excludes all grief all pain and in a word St. Aug. medita 22. all manner of evil This is consonant to what St. Augustin says where he crys on t O Lord the life which thou hast prepar'd for thy friends is a blessed life a secure life a quiet life a life that knows no death a life without sadness without labour without grief without trouble without corruption without fear without variety without alteration A life replenish'd with all beauty and dignity where there is neither Enemy that can offend nor delight that can annoy where love admits of no mixture of hatred or disdain where the day is everlasting where the spirit of all is one where God is seen face to face who is the only meat whereupon they feed without any nauseating hitherto St. Augustin Cicero de Fin. 5. Tuscul Many of your ancient Philosphers were of opinion that the exemption from evil pain and grief was the chief felicity of man it 's therefore that the best of prophane Orators and Philosophers did place the chief happiness of man in the freedom from grief Jero Rodius Diodorus Philoso Perip but here lies their error they Judg'd that to be the Summum-bonum which was only the consequent and product thereof For the love and joy which springs from the clear vision of my divine Essence is so powerful that it 's enough to convert even Hell into Heaven in so much as if to the most tormented Soul in hell were added all the torments of the rest of the damned both men and Devils and that I should vouensafe him but one glimpse of my knowledge that only vision tho' in the lowest degree were sufficient to free him from all those evils both of sin and pain so that his Soul being extasi'd by that unspeakable beauty which he beheld would not be sensible of any grief or pain whatever By this thou mayst easily conceive the omnipotency of that joy which I confer upon my beloved in Heaven which if I should impart to the most damn'd in hell it would convert all his great torments into far greater consolations The Second stupendious wonder which the greatness of my joy produces in the Souls of my belov'd is the manifold pleasures which spring from it as from a most fruitful root Art thou not astonish'd to hear that the happiness of the Souls should cause so many and marvellous effects in the bodies of my Blessed as St. Augustin relates dost thou not wonder when he tells thee that my beatifical vision carries so unspeakable a joy with it into their Souls that it wholly changes their bodies makes them as beautiful as so many Angels resplendent as the Sun immortal as a Spirit and as impassible as even my self What miracles and prodigies it works in their bodies by the redundancy of the unspeakable comfort which they feel in their spirits Art thou not seiz'd with admiration when St. Anselme tells thee that if the body of one of my Blessed endow'd with the four gifts of glory full of clearness splendor and beauty were plac'd in any part or corner of the world it would perfume the whole universe with a fragrancy
ease of all intermission of all comfort is shut up for ever There is none to be expected from Heaven none from Earth none from the Creatour and none from all the Creatures no were they thy dearest friends and nearest relations there is no consolation to be hop'd for but extream desolation for all Eternity Luc. 16. Thou hast a lively expression hereof in that dreadful Parable of the rich Glutton in Hell see to what an extream necessity he was driven to desire after so pittiful a manner that Lazarus might dip the top only of his finger in water to cool his tongue therewith in the midst of that scorching fire wherein he was tormented and yet this small favour this slender request would not be granted to him O ye rich of the world that make your Gods your treasures consider seriously the severity of my Justice Redde rationem villicationis tuae Luc. 16.2 what a strict account you are to give me of all your expences how and after what manner you have spent the least sarthing consider also what torments you shall suffer in Hell if you have imploy'd your wealth as this unfortunate glutton had done to pamper up your bodys without any regard to your Souls And let this consideration move you to the perfect amendment of your lives now while you do live and the gate of my mercy is open to you This is the only time wherein you may avoid all those everlasting misfortunes now is the only season to prevent my indignation wrath if you be wise you will not delay a matter of such great importance for you do not know what will become of you to morrow no nor what you may be an hour hence Noli te obdurate corda vestra c. Psal 94.8 Do not harden your hearts as the people of Israel did in the provocation as in the day of temptation in the wilderness Iest I swear in my wrath that you shall not enter into my rest If Pharaoh had resolv'd an amendment while Moises was with him how fortunate a Creature had he been If the rich Glutton had taken the time while Lazarus lay at his door how blessed a man had he made himself He was foretold his misery as you are now by Moises and other Prophets according to my directions but he would not take notice of their words he gave no ear to their exhortations but soon after he fell into such detestation of his own folly that he would needs have Lazarus sent from Abrahams bosom unto his Brethren in the world to warn them of his error and evil consequences thereof But Abraham answer'd it was to no purpose in as much as they would give no credit to Lazarus but rather stone him to death for disgracing their honour'd deceas'd Brother by revealing his torments The wicked men now alive would do no less to any that should tell them of their Parents and Friends being tormented in Hell for such offences as themselves are guilty of What could I do more to save their Souls then to send them Preachers and Teachers to give them necessary instructions to work their Salvation They were often told that leading the life they do they can't avoid the misfortune of this unhappy wretch they know or ought to know that many before them have been damn'd for less matters They cann't choose but know that they must shortly dy and receive themselves as they receiv'd living as they did or rather worse They are often told that the pains prepar'd for the wicked are intollerable and eternal too They do acknowledge them to be most unfortunate that for any pleasure or interest of this world have run the hazard of their own Salvation and have made themselves the worthy objects of my everlasting indignation and yet they continue their wicked course of life An divitias bonitatis ejus longanimi atem contemnis ignorans quoniam benignitas Dei ad paenitentiam te adducit secundum autem duritiam tuam impaenitens cor tuum thesanrirasti iram in die irae revalationis justi Judicy Dei qui reddet unicuique secundum opera ejus Rom. 2.4 5 6. despising the riches of my goodness and forbearance long suffering not knowing that my goodness leads them to repentance but after their harden'd and impenitent hearts they treasure up unto themselves wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of my righteous Judgment who wil render to them according to their deeds Tell me O man who ever would be so earnest to heap up a treasure as not to let one day pass without adding something to it and that for the space of fifty or threescore years sure he would then at the opening of his trunks finde a vast treasure this is thy case O unfortunate wretch dost thou not know that there is not a day or an hour that passes wherein thou dost not increase the treasure of my wrath which is reserved for thy destruction and which is augmented by every Sin thou dost commit every lascivious look thou givest every unclean thought every impure desire thy hatred thy revenge thy great oaths thy perjurys thy blasphemys with the rest of thy wicked doings which are enough to fill up a vast volume and going on thus for the space of so many years how immense must be the treasure of my wrath against thee if thou diest impenitent Thou must know that I am thy God and thy Judge too consequently that my duty is to take care that the punishment be equal to the offence Hebr. 10.29 Rursum crucifi gentes sibimet ipsis filium Dei ostentui habentes Hebr. 6.6 Memorare novissima tua in aeternum non peccabis Eccl. 7.40 and satisfactory to the person offended Thou hast troden me under foot and hast counted the blood of the covenant wherewith thou wert sanctifi'd an unholy thing and hast done despite unto the spirit of my grace nay thou hast often crucifi'd me to thy self and put me to an open shame wherefore as I am infinite in all my Attributes and in all respects thy pains must be likewise infinite in all manner of rigour O man thou hast given me hitherto a reasonable account of matters belonging to thy Salvation and as this point is one of the chiefest conducing to it and besides is a main obstacle to the increase of vice I do not doubt but thou art sufficiently instructed herein let me therefore hear from thee what the holy Fathers and Doctours of my Church say of the Damn'd and of the rigour of their punishments MAN Infandum Jehova Jubes renovare dolores Inferni poenas quas detestabile Regnum Ditis habet quarum pars magna est faetor ignis Adde quod aeterno privantur lumine Solis Cunctipotentis ibi torquentur corpora miris Nocte diuque modis Nulli patet exitus ex hoc Ignivomente Lacn Densa in caligine pressi Damnati stabunt manibus pedibusque
brought that I was but skin and bone I sat alone with a heavy heart in sorrow and bitterness The whole compound of my body was at this time so deform and ugly with the continual wearing of my Sackcloth and my skin so black that any man might take me for a perfect Ethiopian I wept dayly and pass'd my time continually in groaning and when at length sleep came upon me against my will I lay down and began a labouring my bare bones that scarce hung together sometimes against the ground and sometimes with as great a Stone as I was able to manage well with my hand Of my meat and drink I will say nothing for in this place we Monks use only cold water even in our greatest infirmitys think it a great delicacy to taste of any thing that savours of the fire But what was all this mortification of S. Jerom for It was says he for fear of Hell that I brought my self to this extremity and retir'd my self to this Wilderness where I have for companions only Scorpions and wild Beasts It was to avoid Sin that I wore out my body with continual fasting that I cry'd unto thee O Lord whole days and nights together that I never ceas'd to beat and knock my breast that I persever'd in prayer for so many years in that forlorn and savage Desart and this I thought my self oblig'd to do for to avoid the scorching flames of Hell remembring what councel thou givest me and all mortals Pro Justitia agonizare pro anima tua usque ad mortem cetta pro Justitia Eccl. 4.33 to fight valiantly for our Souls and strive unto Death for the maintaining of Justice O man consider seriously how remiss and careless thou and the rest of mortals are in the practise of this heavenly Doctrine what do you do or what pains do you take to secure your Souls from Hell what care do you take to depress your passions evil inclinations what resistance do you make to Sin which of you all takes that great care to fly from the occasion of evil there 's none now adays that mortifies his flesh but will rather cherish and pamper it to wickedness there 's none found that takes the pains to repress his unruly appetites that withstands his sensual suggestions nay the whole World run after their own concupiscences they presently yield themselves slaves to every temptation that comes upon them to every assault that the Enemy makes they devour every hook that the Devil lays to intrap them and swallow down every poison'd bait that he casts for their destruction Prove 7.6 7 8. Behold how perfectly the careless and sensual man is describ'd by the Holy Ghost in the Proverbs At the window of my house says he I look'd through my casement and beheld among the simple ones a young man void of understanding walking in the dark night he met with a Woman dress'd like a Harlot prepar'd to deceive Souls She invited him with many alluring speeches to go with her home to her house and immediately he follow'd her as an Ox led unto the Slaughter and as a wanton skipping Lamb that is carri'd to the Shambles like a Bird that makes hast to the Snare so follows he not knowing silly sot that he is drawn to fetters and that the danger of his Soul depends thereon until his heart be stricken through c. This description the Holy Ghost makes to set out the deplorable state of dissolute and foolish Christians who take no care to resist temptations but follow every suggestion of the Devil until at last he brings them into his Slaughter-house and there ties them up fast in the bands and chains of their own wickedness banish'd from Heaven for an Eternity Now O man I leave thee to give them a description of the calamities and anguishes which they are to meet with in this their unfortunate and wofull Exile MAN MOst merciful Redeemer that it is an unfortunate Place replenish'd with miseries none can doubt because thou O God hast said it And it is in the opinion of the chiefest of thy Prophets a Land of Sulpher and burning pitch a Land of Pestilence and corruption a Land of uncleanness and misery and no wonder it should be call'd so being the Angelical Doctor St. Thomas avers that all the most nasty dross and dregs as well of the Earth as of the other elements shall be cast down into Hell for the greater punishment of the Damn'd and the reason he gives for it is that as every Creature does contribute to the joy of the Blessed so every creature likewise shall add unto the torments of the damn'd and as they have separated themselves by sin from thee who art One and plac'd their happiness only in the Creatures they shall also receive their punishment from the Creatures in this common shore Laystal of all the Elements O what a dreadful Dungeon what a lamentable place of Banishment will this be to those Damn'd Wretches What I have to say of Cicero's joyful admiration is If men be thus transported with the difference betwixt some Countrys and others betwixt the humours of some Men and those of others what difference shall the damn'd Souls finde betwixt Heaven and Hell betwixt the joy of the one and the torments of the other and betwixt the conversation of Angels and that of the Devils What grief will it be to them to behold themselves everlastingly banish'd from Heaven depriv'd of thy vision ejected from the company of Angels from the society of Saints and out of that happy Land of the living where all is in peace quietness Charity Joy where all shines all pleases and all parts resound with Alleluia's I am now to consider with what cruelty the Devil treats those wretches in that woful land of their Banishment but before I enter upon this matter it will not be amiss to entertain you with the cruelty of Mortals one to another by which we may easily conclude how outragiously cruel the Devil will be to all men that shall be so unhappy as to fall into his Clutches for he is their professed Enemy even from their Creation It would be more then sufficient matter for a larger Volume then this to treat of the miserable consequences sanguinary effects of mens Rage and malice one to th' other from hence proceed slaughters poisons Wars Desolation rasing and burning of Cities unpeopling of Nations turning of populous Countrys into Desarts publick Massacres Regicids Kings abdicated Princes led in Triumph some murther'd in their bed-chambers others Stab'd in the Senate or cut off in the security of their spectacles and pleasures Some were that took their passion for a Princely quality as Darius who in his expedition against the Scythians being desir'd by a Noble-man that had three Sons that he would vouchsafe to accept of two of them into his Service and leave the third at home for a comfort to his Father I will
to convince them of their extream folly to serve so faithfully such bad Masters as the World and the Devil who for every pleasure they allow them give them a thousand mortal Stings even in this life besides the unspeakable misery which they shall make them suffer in the other on the contrary my pleasures are solid permanent and bring excessive comfort to the consciences of those that receive them so that as the Propher says Psa 84.10 one day spent in my service brings more advantage to their Souls then a thousand years imploy'd in that of the world and it were-better be a door-keeper in my house then to dwell in the Tents of wickedness Let them know likewise the tenderness of my affection for them and how earnestly I court them to serve me and not to take example by the prodigal Child who had spent all his substance idlely was forc'd at last to feed with the swine and was very glad too to be admitted into their company When in reallity he might sit at my Table feed with my Saints and Angels in Heaven if he had serv'd me with as much care and diligence as he did the World MAN NO man can be grateful to thee O Lord without contemning those things that put the common People out of their wits We must go into banishment they cry we must lay down our lives hate the World and all its allurements begger and expose our selves to reproaches nay 't is often seen that gratitude suffers the punishment due to Malefactors and that Ingratitude receives the rewards of fidelity As thy benefits are many and great so are the hazards of gratitude which is the case more or less of all other virtues and it were hard if this above all the rest should be both painful and fruitless So that tho' we may go currently on with it in smooth way we must yet prepare and resolve if need be to force through all to 't even if the way were cover'd with thorns and Serpents and fall back fall edge we must be gratefull still Grateful for thy sake O Lord and grateful likewise for our own peculiar Interest for it preserves thy favours and gains us a new addition of greater When I speak in the praise of gratitude I pleade the cause both of God and man for without it we can neither be Sociable nor religious There 's a strange delight in the very purpose and contemplation of it as well as in the action when I can say to my self I love my Benefactor what is there in this world that I would not do to oblige serve him Where I have not the means of a requital the very meditation of it is sufficient A man is never the less an Artist for not having his tools about him or a musitian because he wants his Fiddle nor is he the less brave because his hands are bound or the worse Pilot for being upon dry ground If I have only a will to be grateful and the heart to persever I am so and that 's all thou requirest O Lord Let me be upon the wheel or under the hand of the Executioner let me be burnt limb by limb and my whole body dropping in the flames a good Conscience supports me in all extreams nay it is comfortable even in death it self for when we come to approach that point what care do we take to summon and call to minde all our Benefactors and the good offices they have done us that we may leave the world fairly and set our minds in order this is the bare duty of good nature and what common civility requires of us how much greater then must our care be to remember all the graces and favours which We have receiv'd at thy hands O Lord and to be grateful to thee accordingly or if we can't return thee thanks equal to the benefits which thou wert pleas'd to confer upon us let us at least be grateful to thee so far as not to serve another Master for whom thou hast an abhorrence as being quite contrary to thy divine Maxims I have already produc'd sufficient motives and reasons to breed in our hearts a contempt of the World so odious to God and so destructive of our own Salvation I have endeavoured as much as I could to wean our affections from it and from all it's pelf as well for being in themselves vile transitory mutable inconsiderable and dangerous as for the frequent Instructions we have had from thee O Lord to hate despise and consider them as the mortal Enemys of our Salvation I will now add this one reason that tho' the World and all its pleasures and treasures were real indeed and of that great estimate as we make them yet we should not love them because that thy love O God should replenish our hearts to that degree as to leave no place for any terrene or carnal affection It was thy command O Lord to the People of Israel that they should love thee with all their heart with all their Soul and with all their powers tho' they were not so much oblig'd to thee as we are having receiv'd more favours and graces at thy hands then ever they did and having also more knowledge of thy goodness then they could ever attain to how then can we in gratitude admit of any other love How can we cast our eyes or set our hearts upon the creature when had each of us a million of hearts we should in justice consecrate 'em all unto thee There 's not a motive for which thou art amiable but deserves a thousand wills a thousand loves a thousand lives all what we are and all what we have or can prtend to in this World But if we look upon all the titles and motives of love which I have already spoke of and for which we are indespensably oblig'd to love thee how can we in good Conscience love any thing besides thee If we consider seriously the multitude of thy benefits and the products of thy infinite love and goodness to us we shall be oblig'd to confess that had we as many hearts as there are grains of Sand upon the Sea-shore or Atoms in the air all would not be capable to contain that great love which we owe unto thee how then can I divide this one heart which I have from thee amongst so many Creatures and yet this is a plague that follows all mankinde 't is an evil that runs in the blood of all mortals 't is the highest of Ingratitude which is the common distemper of this corrupt Age we live in for some are ungrateful to their Country and their Country no less ungrateful to others so that the complaint of Ingratitude reaches all Men Does not the Son wish for the death of his Father the Husband for that of his Wife c. But who can expect to finde gratitude in an age of so many gaping and craving Appetites where all People take and none give
In an Age of license to all sorts of vanity and wickedness as Lust Gluttony Avarice Envy Ambition Sloth Insolence Levity Contumacy Fear Rashness private Discords and publick Evils extravagant and groundless wishes vain Confidence sickly affections shameless Impiety Rapine authoriz'd and the violation of all things Sacred and prophane Obligations are pursu'd with Sword and Poison Benefits are turn'd into Crimes and that blood most seditiously spilt for which every honest man should expose his own Those that should be the preservers of their Country are the destroyers of it and 't is matter of dignity to trample upon the Government the Sword gives the Law and Mercenaries take up arms against their Masters Among these turbulent and unruly motions what hope is there of finding honesty or good Faith which is the life of all virtues there is not a more lively Image of humane life then that of a conquer'd City There is neither Mercy Modesty nor Religion and if we forget our lives we may well forget the obligations we have to thee and all thy benefits too But let us consider seriously the multitude and greatness of thy divine blessings deal with thee even as one man does with another The wise man says that gifts break Rocks Victoriam honorem acquirit qui dat munera animam autem aufert accipientium Prov. 22.9 and shall not thy divine benefits move a heart of flesh and if they can steal the hearts of the receivers according to Solomon how come we not to be rob'd of our Souls by thee O Lord For thou dost not only give us thy gifts but also dost bestow thy self upon us as a most precious treasure If we consider the benefits which we have receiv'd from thee in our Creation they are as many as we have members of our bodys and faculties of our Souls If those of our Conservation they are equal in number to the distinct natures in Heaven and on Earth The Elements the Sun the Moon the Stars and the whole World were created for our preservation for without them we could not subsist If we look upon the benefits of our Redemption We shall be easily convinc'd that they are as many as there are evils in Hell from which we are happily deliver'd by thy Passion and total effusion of thy most precious bloud Those of our Justification are no less in number then are the Sacraments which thou hast instituted to increase our Merits and work the Sanctification of our Souls then the Graces and Inspirations which thou dost shower down into our hearts and the divine Examples which thou hast left us Nonne haec opportuit Christum pati ita intrare in gloriam suam Luc. 24.26 which should invite us all to tread with a masculine courage in the same paths which brought thee O Lord into thine own glory All these with thousands of other benefits and obligations which we have receiv'd from thee and by thy Creatures cry out unto us to love thee with all our heart with all our Soul with all our Powers and to trample under our feet this false World with all it's vanitys trifles transitory pleasures But alas We make nothing of all thy benefits We give no ear to all their crys but rather will love the World and tast of its pleasures in as ample a measure as our fortunes will afford us wherein we seem to be worse then even the very Heathens for Aristides tho' he was reputed to be one of the greatest Men of Athens yet he was so avers'd to the Pomp and toys of the World and so affected to poverty that he always wore a course broken garment suffer'd Hunger Cold and Thirst not for any want of means or friends to relieve him but meerly for his own fancy Zeno was nothing concern'd when news was brought to him that he had lost all what he had in the World When An xagoras receiv'd the like news he said no more then if my Goods had not perish'd I had been undone Crates flung his whole substance into the Sea with this expression It is better I drown you then you me Diogenes bid adieu to all he had in the World and took nothing with him but a wooden dish and seeing by chance one drink out of the hollow of his hand broke that also And shall we refuse to do in obedience to thy Commands O Lord for the purchase of an eternal weight of glory what they freely and gladly perform'd to pleasure their own fancies and gain the repute of being Philosophers O madness O ingratitude never to be paralel'd Quid retribuam Domino pro omnibus quae retribuit mihi Ps 115.12 Tho' We are thine by so many just titles and thou hast given thy self and all what thou hast unto us yet we never think of what We ought to do for thee nor how We shall express our thankfulness for such and so great benefits This was the greatest care that David took and the sole subject of his most serious consideration what shall I return unto the Lord for all the favours which he has confirm'd upon me But O blessed King and Prophet give me leave to ask thee what are those favours 'T is true he has rais'd thee from the Station of a Shepherd to the dignity of a King He has enabl'd thee to encounter a Giant and to get the better of him too He has often protected thee against the evil Spirit of Saul and has preserv'd thy life from all the wicked and treacherous attempts he made to destroy thee these are great obligations indeed and deserve thy grateful return but are nothing to the benefits which we have receiv'd at his hands his love for us was so great that he suffer'd death to bring us to life everlasting and left unto us for food to our Souls his most precious body and blood certainly these obligations are unspeakable and deserve at least that small attonement of returning back unto him our Souls hearts and bodys for as we had them from him 't is our weighty obligation to let him have them again entirely and free from any love-to the World or affection to the Creatures so that We are to account our selves now and evermore as only his and not our own consequently We are not to debase our love by placing it upon any worldly object but to settle it wholly upon him alone And really if we consider seriously the infinite love which thou hast for us O Lord We shall finde that we have no love left to bestow either upon the World or any terrene object no nor upon our selves for We must know that love consists in action and the more it acts or suffers the greater is the perfection thereof how great then must thy love be O Lord being thou hast wrought such Stupendious works for our Salvation still dost continue to work the like for our preservation the Sun the Moon Omnia subjecisti sub
pedibus ejus over boves universns insuper peccora Campi Volucres Coeli Pisces maris Psa 8.8 and the Stars have their being from thee O Lord upon our account it was meerly for our sake thou hast created them It was for our love thou hast brought out of nothing what wonders of nature we see dayly before our eyes that so great and so beautiful a diversity of odoriferous flowers of sweet herbs of delicate fruit of fine Trees and all other varieties which the Earth produces It was by thy orders and for our entertainment and comfort Do we not see how the Corn grows for to feed us how the wool encreases for our cloathing and all Beasts are left to our disposing thou hast also order'd the very Rocks to open their bosoms and refresh us with their Springs and not only the Earth supplys us with all it's productions but also all other Elements are so many store-houses to supply our wants the Sea the Rivers Brooks have orders from thee to supply us with fish the Air with fowl and the fire with heat Nay the very Angels have their understanding from thee with that obligation to preserve and protect us from all disasters both at home and abroad Angelis suis mandavit de te ut custodiant te in omnibus vijs tuis Psa 90.13 If patience be a trial of love where shall we finde so great an example of that heavenly virtue as thou hast shown to the World in thy most bloody passion and cruel death for us poor miserable and wretched Sinners and also in thy most gracious for bearance with us as often as we transgress thy Laws and rebell against thy self If a King after his Vassals had a thousand times attempted to murther him should not only pardon them but also continue still to heap his favours treasures upon them Rursum crucifigertes Christum in Cordibus vestris Heb. 6 6. certainly We would conclude that his love for them was excessive great what ought We then to say of thy love O Lord who sufferest us incessantly to crucify thee our Creatour our Redeemer and glorious King yet thou art still silent and the excess of thy love sets a stop to the current of thy Justice O Lord says the Prophet royal what is man that thou art mindeful of him but I may add Lord Quid est homo quod memor es ejus Ps 8.5 what is man that the Holy Trinity must have so great a love for him The Eternal Father delivers up into the hands of his mortal enemies his only and dearly beloved Son to suffer the most bitter death of the Cross for our Redemption The Son leaves unto us his Real Body and Blood under the species of Bread and Wine to comfort and strengthen our Souls against all the temptations and snares of the Devil and the Father and the Son together send us the Holy Ghost by whose grace We are made partakers of thy divine nature Divinae narurae consortes efficimur 2 Pet. 1.4 can there be imagin'd a more intense more real or more tender love then this If the right payment of love must be love and that in an equal measure too how shall we be able to requite thy love it 's altogether out of our power unless thou wilt be pleas'd to accept of our offer to have no more love but for thee no will but thine and to requite thy great love with an ardent love hereafter for all good works and a virtuous life for thou art not content we should only love thee with our tongues no thou dost reprehend those who cry unto thee Lord Lord and do not what thou commandest We must therefore love thee in all fincerity we must suffer for thee and make thee partake of all what we have that is good or may be pleasing unto thee We must love thee truly who so much loved us we must resolve to trample the world under our feet and also if occasion be to lose honour wealth and pleasures rather then decline from thy love but that we may the better perform our resolution let us know from thee O Lord what the World is and how dangerous it is to bestow our affections upon it SAVIOVR O Man thou must never repute him happy that depends upon the World for his happiness for nothing can be more preposterous then to place the good of a reasonable Creature in unreasonable things and yet as it is a common mistake to account those necessary that are superfluous so it is altogether as common with men to depend upon the World for the felicity of life which arises only from virtue There is no trusting to its smiles no more then there is to a calme at Sea which will swell and rage in a moment so that the Ships are swallow'd up at night in the very place where they sported themselves in the morning The world has the same power over Princes that it has over Empires over Nations that it has over Cities and the same power over Cities that it has over private men Where 's that Estate that may not be follow'd upon the heel with Famine and Beggery That Dignity which the next moment may not be laid in the dust that Kingdom that is secure from desolation and ruine The burning of Lyons may serve as a President to shew that nothing can be safe or stable in this World it may likewise teach men to stand upon their guard and arm themselves against all surprises The terror of it must needs be great for the calamity is almost without example If it had been fir'd by an Enemy the flame would have left some farther mischief to be done by the Soldiers but to be wholly consum'd was a prodigious accident and perhaps an Earthquake so pernicious as that was never heard of so many rarities to be destroy'd in one night and in a profound peace to suffer an outrage beyond the extremity of war who would believe it but twelve hours betwixt of fair a City and none at all It was laid in ashes in less time then it would require to tell the story That the Inhabitants should stand unshaken in such a calamity is hardly to be expected and their wonder could not but be equal to their grief This dismal accident should teach all men to provide against the possibilities that fall within the Power of so cruel an Enemy as is the World for this Tyrant having all external things under his dominion will sometimes smile at poor Silly Mortals invite them to tast of his pleasures and another while he will turn them off with a frown and destroy them with mischiefs whereof they are to seek for the Author No time place or condition is excepted from his Tyranny he makes their very pleasures painful to them and makes War upon them in the depth of Peace he turns the means of their Security into an occasion of fear he turns
he will tell us that a vain man is no better then a wind-mil for he will run on if he be prais'd but if he feels not the gale of a popular applause to blow up his Sails he is presently daunted quite out of heart no more will the windmil grinde nor make any meal but according as the blast shall hold favourable blow into its ribbs Dan. 31. so that I may very well compare him to the Babilonians who with a little sweet mufick were made to adore any thing whatsoever 'T is therefore I believe that Holy Scripture says As Silver is tried in the fire by blowing it so is a vain man tried in the mouth of him that praises and the similitude is very true for as Silver if it be good suffers no detriment thereby but if it be otherwise it goes off like a shaddow and leaves nothing behinde it but nasty dross It 's even so with a vain man he is overjoy'd when he is prais'd but if he hears nothing said to his commendation he is heart-sick How many have we seen put beside themselves with joy of their praises and afterwards brought down with a contrary winde of contempt and driven even upon the very borders of despair how many do we see dayly extoll'd in their Sins and cry'd up in their wickedness how many palpable and intollerable flatteries do we hear both us'd and accepted of dayly for I see none give it a repulse as David did Away says he with this Oil and Ointment of Sinners let it not come upon my head We are all created for Heaven and why should we not rather imitate the Citizens thereof then those of this World that are so much enamour'd with it's vanities and so far ingag'd in the follys thereof The Angels and Saints seek for no honour to themselves but leave all to God and shall We poor silly wretches desire so ardently to be glorifi'd for what Psa 9. is it for our dignities for our honours for our vast Estates These I must confess are great matters in the fight of silly Mortals they are Jewels of an extraordinary price and to purchase them they don't scruple to lay down even their Souls in exchange to the Devil for them the Christians in Jewry were so much enamour'd with them Joan. 11. Toan 19. that they would not confess thee O Lord in publick nor make open profession of thy Faith This brought an everlasting remorse upon Pilate's injustice Act. 26. for tho' he knew thou wert innocent yet to keep in favour with the Jews and to continue his place under Caesar he condemn'd thee to dy the death even of the greatest Malefactours Agrippa and Festus were convinc'd of th'integrity and truth of St. Paul's doctrine yet these Remora's diverted them from making profession thereof And does not the same consideration withhold Millions of Souls in this corrupt Age we live in from embracing the means of working their Eternall Salvation O! Nollite esse Pueri sensibus 1 Cor. 14. says St. Paul to such silly Souls be you not Children in understanding and why because it is usual with children to set a far greater value upon a painted table then upon a precious Jewel what are all the honours dignities and treasures of this world but painted stuff acquir'd with a deal of labour preserv'd with abundance of fear and care and lost with as much grief and sorrow I remember in my own days that Monsieur Fouket the greatest Favourite the King of France had was invested with the chiefest honours and dignities that a subject could pretend to and his heart was so swel'd up with Pride that he choos'd for a motte Quo non Ascendam but I remember also that all his ambition and glory vanish'd in one night for the King being inform'd of his design to make bimself absolute Master of the Isle of Rae seiz'd upon his earthly substance both at home and abroad and condemn'd his Person to a Prison during his life whereupon this Jest was made of him and writ under his Coat of Arms Quo non descendam for certainly it was a prodigious toss to be thrown down from the height of prosperity to the depth of Adversity and in one night Now let us consider any state or dignity that we most affect and reason thus many have already mounted up so high but they were forc'd to descend again by the appointment either of Death or of Fortune and which was the greater either the joy of getting or the sorrow in loosing it where are now all those Emperours Potentes potenter tormenta patientur Sap. 6.7 those Kings those Princes those Popes and Prelates who rejoyc'd so much in their days at their own advancement There 's not a word of them now they are clear out of mens memory long since rotten in their graves Now every mecanick fellow may boldly walk over their heads whose faces heretofore might not be seen without a ticket for admittance into their inner chamber of Presence and what does their dignities avail them now only that they are the more taken notice of in Hell if they be gone down so low and the far more tormented by the Devils I can't better compare the vanity of this World then to a mans own shaddow which the more he runs after Omnia arbitror ut stercora ut Christum lucrifaciam Phil. 3.8 the more it flies from him but if he flies from it it will approach him the only way to catch it is to fall down on the ground upon it So We see that those who gap'd after honour in this World are now so far from having any honour exhibited to their Persons that their very memory is clear out of date whereas those who have most fled from it and have debas'd themselves to the very lowest degree of mankinde through an excess of humility are now the most honour'd even by those that were their enemies in this life St. Paul made no more of the World and of all its honours and treasures then of common dung and who is more honour'd now then he even in this World who is more commended and remember'd in this life then he and all others that have follow'd his examples We may conclude by this what a main folly it is to have so great an estimate for worldly honours as to endanger our Souls in the vain and foolish pursuit of them There are several other vanitys in the World which do entangle the poor Children of Adam in a thousand follys which are so many baits the Devil flings among them to draw their Souls into his most dark and dreadful Dominion Some will value themselves upon the antiquity of their Familys some upon their Wisdome others upon their beauty and rich apparel c. most gracious Saviour thou hast copiously instructed me hitherto in all matters relating to my Salvation as far as I have propos'd I hope thou wilt be mercifully pleas'd to
and labour which they take to provide so amply for their Wives and Children is sinful and therefore will create an eternal displeasure to their poor Souls This is confirm'd by the Parable which thou didst rehearse of the Rich-man who said what must I do for I have no place vacant wherein to bestow my Fruits and he said this will I do Lac. 12.20 I will demolish my Barns and erect greater and in them will I bestow all my Fruits and my Goods And then I will say to my Soul Soul thou hast much wealth laid up for many years take now thine ease Eat Drink and be merry And did not God say unto him thou Fool this night thy Soul shall be requir'd of thee then whose shall those things be which thou hast provided So He that impiously or immoderatly lays up treasure for himself his Wife and Family expecting to enjoy it many years deserves the same title and may as suddenly be disappointed because he had improv'd his own Stock and rob'd God his heavenly King of his Custom that is He never according to his capacity bestow'd any part of his treasure in pious works as Gods law doth require And indeed if this be well consider'd We shall finde it an excessive folly and maddness too What can it be term'd else to damn ones Soul to leave ones Wife and Children rich in the world This is certainly the height of madness and a meer delusion of the Devil for one moment after We are dead We shall care no more for all our Kindred then we shall for strangers and one penny given in Alms while we liv'd for thy sake O Lord shall bring us more comfort at that day then thousands of pounds bestow'd even upon our nearest Relations to make them rich It is of such People that the Prophet Royal speaks Universa vanitas omnis homo viveâ—s Psal 39. where he says that all their actions are nothing but meer vanity for what greater vanity is there then to bequeath such vast Sums of Gold and Silver to their own kindred and leave in a manner nothing for the good of their immortal Souls Vae vobis qui trahitis iniquitatem in funiculis vanitatis Esai 56. Were we to go a long journey We would be sure to carry some provision with us for to support our bodys and We shall take no care for our Souls when they are in their departing Agony ready to begin that painful and frightful voyage of Eternity Surely such men walk unprofitably certainly they are disquieted in vain they heap up Riches and know not who shall enjoy them their life is a gathering of all kinde of vansty vanity in ambition vanity in Riches vanity in pleasures vanity in their corporal beauty vanity in their Apparel vanity in all things which they most esteem vanity in all their life vanity in their death In fine vanity in their last Will and Testament wherein their noblest part the Soul has the least share Woe be unto you says the Prophet Psal 3. that do draw wickedness in the ropes of vanity of promotion of dignity of Nobility c. these are the ropes he means and which do always drag with them a vast croud of iniqnity and Sin Thou hast O Lord a mortal hatred for the observers of superfluous vanitys 1 Reg. 17. and thou hast utterly destroy'd the whole Family and Linage of Baasa King of Israel for no other reason but because they had provok'd thee in their vanity Blessed then is that man who has not suffer'd his heart to be seduc'd with the vanity and false madness of this World Beatus vir qui non respexit in vanitates insanias falsas Psal of this Vale of tears of this deplorable banishment of this boisterous Sea so full of disasters that there 's not a day nor an hour nor a moment of our life but is attended with some misfortune or another the best Arithmetician that ever took pen in hand cannot exactly set down or calculate milerys that are incident to humane nature no tongue is able to express the manifold infirmitys of our Bodys the passions of our Souls all the affronts and injurys we receive as well from Friends as from our Foes all the tribulations and crosses that are laid upon us daily both at home and abroad This Man commences a Law-suit against us without either Equity or Justice but meerly for spite and Malice another lys in wait for us to take away our lives a third man will make it his study to blast our reputation Some are in open wars one with th' other others more subtile will bear their neighbours a mortal grudge but will make no shew of it until they meet with a favourable occasion to execute their malice Da mihi in disco caput Joannis Baptistae Matt. 14.8 the hatred of Herodias against St. John the Baptist was not publickly known to the world until she had perswaded her Daughter to ask no greater favour of Herod then to give her in a dish the head of so renown'd a Prophet and of so glorious a Martyr Some to be reveng'd of their Brothers if they can't annoy their Persons will not scruple to produce false witness to criminate them and be themselves of the number too others will make it their whole business to trot up and down like so many infernal Emissaries and publish wherever they go as well the private as the publick imperfections of this or that other body even as they do maliciously and falsely surmise and will never revoke what they had tax'd him with tho' they were even upon the borders of Hell ready to be cast therein both Soul and body so great is the malice of such desperate and unchristian Sonls There are besides thefe usual calamities an infinite number of others that are nameless because they be sudden and unexpected chances one loses an eye in a Skirmish another his arm one gets a fall from his horse and breaks his neck another in a frantick fit flings himself out of a Window and is bruis'd to death a Third man falls into a Pool or a River and is drown'd If all the Writers of this Sinful Age We live in had taken an exact account from every particular man within the same Century of what distasters had happen'd to him in his life they would certainly have matter enough to fill as many volumes as they have hairs on their heads and if all the merry passages sad rencounters that every individual man had met with in his days were put in a balance the latter would much overweigh the former so he would visibly see that for one hour of pleasure true content he had in his life he met with a hundred of misery of tribulation and anguishes now if the life of Man which is so short be intermix'd with fuch a vast deal of sorrow what a small parcel thereof can pretend to any real felicity if
confirms it and St. Paul avers that where the love of Riches is once settl'd the peace of God is utterly excluded and this is a greater loss then our understanding can comprehend in a word that man who puts his heart in his treasure has a restless Soul and this is the greatest misfortune incident to mankinde He is like a Clock which when winded up will never leave it's motion till the weights be down 't is the same with him his mind will never be at rest whilst so many cares and anxietys possess it which are to it as weights to a clock that keep it always going so when others are in their sweet repose he is breaking his brains contriving how to manage his money to the best advantage Of all the Plagues that God was pleas'd to impose upon the Egyptians for their many and grievous sins Exod. 8. that of the flys was most intollerable because they were so cruelly tormented by the very creatures they had ador'd for Gods I may say the same of worldly men that of all the Miserys and troubles which God lays upon 'em for their offences this is one of the greatest to be tormented and grievously perplex'd with the cares even of that thing which they adore as their God and in which they place their chiefest felicity And let them use all their skill to forget these cares they can't possibly expell them and this adds much to their great disaster no they will assault them in the morning and shall bear them company all day neither shall they leave them at night no they will enter the bed with 'em and deprive them of rest they shall be the subject of their dreams Qui nocte nec die non dabunt requiem Jer. 16. Quia abstuli pacem a populo isto dicit Dominus misericordiam miserationes Jer. 16. so that I may well compare them to those unmerciful Tyrants wherewith thou O Lord dost threaten the wicked by thy prophet which shall allow them no comfort or ease either night or day This is a very great affliction I confess and the only reason hereof is that thou hast taken away thy peace from so terrene a People plung'd so extreamly in their pleasures without the least care of their Souls or thought of heaven and therefore have they merited a divorce from thy mercy and a continuance of their deplorable state even without hopes of thy commiseration And really if I give credit to what the Prophet Esay says of them their condition is so bad Esai 59. that it can't be better express'd then by his own words They put their trust in things of nothing says he and do talk of vanitys They conceive labour and bring forth iniquity They break the eggs of Serpents and weave the webs of Spiders He that shall eat of their eggs shall dy and that which is hatched thence shall be a Cockatrice Their webs shall not make cloth to cover them for that their works are unprofitable and the work of iniquity is in their hands There 's not a word in all this the Prophet's description of the Rich of this World but contains a mystery by the first that they put their trust in things of nothing we may very well conceive the vanity of Riches which if enjoy'd to day to morrow they may be snatch'd from us and perhaps our lives too for lucre of them And he who takes them from us may likewise lose them soon after with the same damage if not a greater I mean his Soul's loss for ever They conceive labour O what a deal of toil do poor worldlings take to heap up treasures how many perilous voiages to the East and West-Indies how many tedious journeys by land to this and that other Fair how many dangers of being rob'd and of losing their lives too Day and night they are afraid of Thieves nay they dare not trust their own Servants no nor their Wives with the keys of their treasures for fear they should rob them of their money and if any thereof be taken away O what an angry countenance will he put on what curses what Imprecations will he make What a consternation will the whole Family be in every one striving to clear himself will make his earnest Address to the Conjurer and as he is apt to tell lyes being so great a familiar with Lucifer he may make the innocent criminal and the criminal innocent for with him favour goes by bribing and he that gives him most shall have his best word tho' he were the greatest Knave in the whole Pack this is the labour now let us hear th'Iniquity it brings forth is there not a wo pronounc'd to them which draw iniquity with the ropes of vanity The same Prophet says that they break the Eggs of Serpents Pliny the naturalist tells us and our own experience confirms it that the bird which sits upon the eggs of a Serpent by breaking and hatching them brings forth a venemous brood that will most certainly be the utter destruction of her self 'T is even so with a man that sits as it were in brood upon his Riches and does affect them overmuch they will certainly be the death of his Soul and in the interim will make him a most miserable wretch whilst he lives in this World always in fear of losing them for they are as apt to change Masters as the Spiders web is to be broken with the least puff of Wind this wants no confirmation for the man in the Gospel ratifys it who with excessive care and labour had gather'd so vast a quantity of Riches that he was forc'd to pull down his old barns and build new to lay them in and when that was done he bids his Soul enjoy her self being really perswaded he should live splendidly and fare sumptuously upon them many years but his Soul was snatch'd that very night from him and all his great preparations were useless to him This inconstancy of Worldly wealth occasion'd the said prophet to say that the webs of those weavers shall not make cloth to cover them withal nor shall their works be profitable to them and that none but the works of Iniquity should remain in their hands whereby he lets us know that whoever loves and follows these vanitys shall certainly load his Soul with so great a burthen of iniquity that he will sink into the very lowest Hell where those who had glutted themselves with the World's pleasures delights shall be grievously tormented and then they will know that their riches were thorns indeed that not only rent their hearts in this World but will wound their Souls eternally in the other These thoughts are now far from their minds but when their glass is spent that grim Death appears unto them O how bitter will the remembrance thereof be unto those men that have plac'd all their happiness in Riches What a grief was it to Alexander the great O Mors quam
a reasonable man should make so unreasonable and silly a choice Thy incumbent duty and indispensable obligation was to adhere unto me all thy life and to place all thy happiness in me who am and ought to be thy first and last end but thou instead thereof hast scatter'd thy affections amongst vain frail and transitory things and to compleat thy misfortune thou hast plung'd thy self into many several and most abominable Idolatries I gave thee express orders to deal with thy Neighbour as thou wouldst thy self be dealt with and to do him no more injury then to thy self yet thou hast done the contrary a thousand times and hast been refractory to that as well as to all the rest of my commands And alas 't is too common a distemper with all mortals for they deceive one another in weight measure rule signs words and tokens I have commanded thee to practise those famous precepts of the Decalogue which are binding as well by the Law of Nature as by the very dictates of natural reason and thou hast transgress'd them all without the least Scruple or remorse of conscience so that thou hast corrupted thy Soul in all thy ways and hast made thy self abominable by thy manyfold iniquitys by thy hatred by thy thieving by thy high-way robbing thy extortion and oppression of the poor thou mak'st nothing of murdering thy Neighbours depriving them as well of their worldly substance as of their reputation and good name Adultery and even Sins against nature are no more with thee then venial Sins so that being by thy Creation the best and the most noble of all animals thou hast made thy self a Beast and more vile then the worst of Brutes by submitting thy self wholly to the most unruly passions of thy Sensualitys lustful desires In fine all Creatures cry out against thee for revenge of so many and such great injuries which thou hast done to thy Creator A Check to the Christian MAN ANd thou O Christian Man hast more dishonour'd me then even the very Pagans and Infidels I told the Jews a while before my Passion that had I not come my self and spoke to them their Sins would not have been altogether so grevious How much more reason have I to say the same to thee ungrateful and disobedient Christian I have my self instructed thee or to speak more properly the Primitive Church in it's very Infancy and left my Apostles also to teach and confirm them in my Precepts and Evangelical Counsels which they firmly believ'd and faithfully observ'd for several years but especially during the time of their greatest troubles and grevious persecutions wherein Millions of thousands of 'em have suffer'd death couragiously rather then deny their Faith and have wrought so many and such stupendious Miracles that many more Souls were converted by them then had been by all the Preachings Instructions of either th'Apostles or their Disciples so that in a very short time all the Potentates Sublimitys and Dignitys of the World all the Subtilitys of Philosophers all the magick Arts and illusions of Wizards and Witches all the power of mankind and their Earthly Kingdoms were wholly subdu'd and brought under my obedience But alas soon after I had confer'd the Blessing of a profound Peace upon my Church and had utterly destroy'd all her Enemys and heap'd upon her Honours Riches Dignitys and all prosperity imaginable and that her glory shin'd through all the World her devotion began to diminish her Charity to grow cold and she made of those very Ornaments which were given her by me to set forth the lustre of her glory and the greatness of my renown the subject of her Pride and Vanity and her Clergy too have chang'd that which ought to be spiritual and only for the maintenance of the poor into their own temporal Emoluments and have spent it to entertain their carnal Friends and Relations and to increase their own Ambition and Lust so that the wonderful beauty of her grace the splendor of her exquisit virtues the glory of her heavenly wisdom the excellent gifts of the Holy Ghost the luster of the eight Beatitudes of the twelve Fruits and the rest of the manifold graces and favours which I confer'd upon her in order to make her an accomplish'd Spouse to my self is in a manner totally decay'd in her and is her self so much alter'd from what she was in her Primitive time that of a powerful Queen which had formerly the whole Universe at her command without any Adversarys to disturb her she is become a poor handmaid disrob'd by her Enemys and by them confin'd to live in one small corner of the Earth neither is she there free from persecutions and troubles but laments both day and night the sinful and ruinous state of her incorrigible and rebellious Children Quomodo obscuratum est aurum mutatus est color optimus c. Lament Jere. 4.1 Have I not great reason then to bewail her condition and say Alas how is the gold become dim How is the most fine gold chang'd the stones of the Sanctuary are cast out into the streets The precious Sons of Zion comparable to fine gold how are they esteem'd as earthen pitchers They that did feed delicately are now even hunger-starv'd and they that were brought up in Scarlet do imbrace the dunghils Her Nazarites were purer then snow they were whiter then milk and even more glorious than the most glistering Rubys for their Souls were adorn'd with grace which gave them a far greater lustre then the most polish'd Saphires But alas now their visage is blacker then a coal they are not known in the streets their skin cleaves to their bones nay 't is wither'd and become as dry and as black as a rotten stick Thou O Christian People hast with thy iniquitys brought all these distasters horrid confusions upon my Church thou art the fatal cause of all her deformity thou art the unfortunate instrument of all her dejections oppressions and slaveries thou art likewise the sole promoter and Actor of thine own temporal and eternal calamitys and therefore the punishment of thy iniquity shall be far greater then that which I have inflicted upon Sodom and Gomorrah for all their abominations and crimes tho' extraordinary great were nothing so heinous in my sight as are thy Sins neither are the unbelieving Nations so wicked and viciously given as are many thousands of Christians in this wicked Age So that the Infidels who were so much enamour'd with the Christians of the Primitive Church by reason of their unspotted life godly behaviour and pious conversation that thousands of them forsook their Idolatrys to embrace my Faith had they known and seen their sordid their wicked their Scandalous life and conversation in these latter corrupt centurys tho' they were ne're so much inclin'd to be of the same belief they would neither be of their profession nor would they so much as converse with so Scandalous a generation