will be all in all things he will poure out that in abundance which now he deals forth in measure and all the Saints possessing all the Vertues shall possesse God in all his perfections But the chiefest advantage of this Divine Banquet is that the Mess which is served up will be instead of all things as long as we live upon the Earth the misery of our condition or the frailty of our goods suffers us not to find our contentment in one single object That which allays our hunger quencheth not our thirst that which enlightens us covers us not that which serves us for a garment serves us not for a house and that which satisfies our mind does not always content our body But when we shall be in Heaven the Divine Essence will fill all our desires and being infinite will alone abundantly supply the fulness of all perishable Earthly goods Your God saith Saint Augustine shall be your All you shall feed upon him to satisfie your hunger drink him to quench your thirst rest upon him for your support make him your garment to cover you you shall wholly possess and he as wholly possess you you shall find in him all that others doe because both you and they shall be but one and the same thing in him For the last effect of this viand whereof we have but an essay in the Eucharist is that it will perfectly transform us into it self because all Scripture teacheth us that when we see God we shall be like him Scimus quoniam cum apparuerit similes ei erimus Joan. and that Glory having consumed all that was mortal and perishable in our nature we shall be happily swallowed up in him without ceasing for all this to be our selves Thus God nourisheth us in nature with the fruits of the Earth which maintain a body taken out of the Earth in Grace by the bloud of Jesus Christ which preserves the life he merited for us upon the Crosse In Glory by Divinity it self which is both together our food and our felicity The Second DISCOURSE Of the Nourishment of Innocent Man and of that of Man a Christian I If the state of Innocence be unknown to us by reason of its dignity or its remotenesse we must confesse that Original Righteousnesse and the fruit of the Tree of Life which were the chief priviledges thereof are so hid from us Immortalitas ista praestabatur ei de ligno vitae non de constitutione naturae quo ligno separatus est eū peccasset ut posset mori Aug. that we have but weak conjectures to judge of their properties or of their effects Saint Augustine that hath written most rationally confounds them so often one with another that he seems to attribute to the Tree of Life that which appertains to Original Righteousness For though we know that this united the soul with the body subjected both to God and preserving the one from sin exempted the other from death yet he forbears not to impute that to the Tree of Life which we impute to Grace and to allot it so many advantages that it seems the whole happinesse of man depended absolutely upon this miraculous Tree But having well considered the words of this great Saint I find his doctrine so conformable to Scripture that there is no doubt but it was suggested to him by the same Spirit that made Moses speak in Genesis For as nourishment is ordained to preserve our life we need not think it strange that it holds some analogy with the principle that gives it us and that there should be some agreement between the matter whereof we are made and that wherewith we are nourished Therefore may we say that the Tree of Life preserved in Innocent man all that Original Righteousness had indued him with and that the fruit thereof which certainly was a figure of the holy Sacrament repaired the wasts of the natural heat maintained man in his vigour and secured him from death Wherein I find a great resemblance with truth because it wrought that in man an Innocent which the Body of the Son of God doth in man a Christian For there is none but confesseth that this admirable fruit united the soul with the body that it entertained that good intelligence which made up a notable part of his happiness and subjecting the body to the soul by a necessary consequence subjected the soul to God Divinity hath not yet fully examined whether this Vertue were natural to this Tree or whether being but a visible sign of an invsible grace the Divine power produced this effect in man when he took of that fruit with the dispositions of a firm faith and an humble obedience If we take the Scripture for our Guide and Saint Augustine for its Interpreter it will be easie to judge that this effect depended not upon the disposition of Man but upon the Vertue of the Tree because we see in Genesis that one of the reasons why our forefather was driven out of Paradise was that he might not eat of that wonderful fruit and so the miseries he had contracted by sin be prolonged together with his life Saint Augustine explicating this passage makes us plainly see that man having lost Original Righteousness had not lost Immortality if he had continued to feed upon the fruit of the Tree of Life Thus we are forced to confess that this Tree had a secret Vertue which depended not upon the sole disposition of man and that it was capable of producing a quality in his body which desending him for a time from death had encreased his misfortune with his years But not to engage in a question more curious then profitable 't is enough to know that as this fruit of the Tree of Life subjected the body to the soul and the soul to God the Eucharist produceth the same effects in the Christian and being received with the dispositions requisite to this Sacrament calms the passions weakens Concupiscence enthrones reason For though Baptisme leave Concupiscence to exercise the Christian and this Sacrament which opens him the Gate of the Church gives him not victory together with life yet all the Fathers confess that the Eucharist more powerful then Baptism furnisheth them with forces to set upon this domestick enemy that it sweetens his fury in combating him and that the presence of Jesus Christ delivers him from this evil more obstinate then the Devil and Sin For whether the purity of his flesh cures ours by a holy contagion or whether Concupiscence tremble at the apprehension of a body which is the work of the Holy Ghost or whether lastly this Sacrament that preserves our life gives us strength and delivers us from that languishing impotency which seems the very soul of Concupiscence we find by experience that the body of the Son of God procures us the victory and prepares us the triumph If it defend us it nourisheth us and if it pacifie our disorders it repairs the devastations
first Communion and having received the Body of the Son of God became so resplendant with light that the Jews had taken them for Jesus Christ in the Garden of Olives had not the traitor Judas prevented their mistake by the perfidious kiss he gave his Master If this sacred Nutriment always produce not this Miracle at least we must acknowledge it gives us an Earnest of the Resurrection and a right to Immortality In which respect I finde it as powerful and as happie as the fruit of the Tree of Life One of the wonders of this Tree was in the judgement of all the Fathers to secure Man from dissolution and so firmly to unite the soul with the body that the number of yeers could not separate them Death respected not onely Original righteousness but the fruit of the Tree of Life and though it might grow from the mixture of the Elements which composed the body of Man it durst not set upon him as long as original righteousness maintained their good correspondence or this convenient remedy hindered their division Thus Man was not Immortal so much by his own constitution as by a borrowed assistance that the obligation he had to make use of it might instruct him that he owed all these advantages to the liberality of his Creator Now it is certain that the Eucharist works all these Miracles daily in the Church for it imprints an occult vertue in our bodies which is as a Pledge of the Resurrection it sheds abroad in our members the seeds of an eternal life and by a holy contagion which corruption it self cannot deprive us of communicates a certain right to Immortality For we have the word of the Son of God for a caution of this immutable verity and after the solemn promises he hath made in the Gospel we may without wronging his Greatness affirm that his Justice obligeth him to give the Christians a Resurrection and that he cannot deny a habitation in heaven to those bodies that have served him for temples upon the earth If he prevent not Death but suffer this faithful minister of his Vengeance to exercise so many cruelties upon our body 't is to deliver us from him with greater pomp and power if he give him leave to reduce us to dust 't is to make us rise out of the Grave as the Phoenix from her funeral-pile 't is finally that having had a part in his Shame we may share in his Glory and that it may be said of all the Elect what S. Augustine said heretofore of Lazarus that the Son of God forbore to cure him that he might raise him and was unwilling to lift him from his Bed that he might call him out of his Grave and seal his love by the greatness of his Miracle The Third DISCOURSE That the Body of Jesus Christ is the same to the Christian that Manna was to the Jews THe Types and Figures of the Old Testament are in respect of our Mysteries what Enigma's are in respect of Truth They conceal and discover them to our eyes their shadows have some glimmerings of light and these transparent clouds occasion the bright breaking forth of those Stars they rob us of They instruct the Learned and the least measure of understanding they have of the Gospel makes them easily conceive what the jews were not able to comprehend When this people saw the Manna descend in the wilderness they never minded the secrets to come and without diving into the designes of God believed that his Divine Providence was pleased to give them that miraculous bread in a place where Humane Prudence could not possibly procure any But there is not the meanest Christian instructed in the School of Jesus Christ but understands that it was a Figure of the Eucharist and that God intending to prepare our mindes for his Master-piece by this essay wrought this Miracle for no other end but to perswade us of those he would one day exhibit upon our Altars Indeed there is so much resemblance between the Manna and the holy Sacrament that if it be an Enigma 't is also a Glass wherein may be observed all the wonders that render it commendable That miraculous meat took its original from heaven it was formed according to the opinion of S. Augustine In illa superiori parte terrae ubi grando nix gignitur nascebatur manna in cibum inferioris terrae partis hominibus per angelos administrabatur Aug. where storms and rain are hatched The credulous multitude did not imagine it onely the work of Angels but dull gross as they were were perswaded that those blessed spirits fed upon it and that God to deal with them as he did with those Intelligences had given them the food of Angels Angelorum esca nutrivisti populum tuum That which the Jews conceited of Manna we have reason to believe of the Eucharist because the meat we eat being the work of the Priests may well be called the work of Angels For all Scripture teacheth us that the Ministers that wait at the Altars of the living God are Angels that more happie then those pure spirits they produce the body of their Master by their words and give a new life to him who is the Eternal Word of his Father This Bread came down from heaven by better right then Manna because Jesus Christ took his beginning from his Father who dwells in heaven and though conceived in Nazareth and born in Bethlehem was notwithstanding as truely denominated the dew of heaven as the fruit of the earth Manna took its name from the astonishment of the Jews Dixerunt ad invicem Manhu quod significat quid est hoc Ignorabant â— enim quid esset Exod. 16. the people enquiring into the cause of this prodigie named it in wondering at it and taught us that so great a Miracle could not be sufficiently expressed but by wonder and silent admiration The holy Scripture hath left it this glorious name that entering in the minde of this people we may admire the wonders God wrought to nourish them in the desarts But certainly we may truely say without offending the Israelites that their wonder arose from their ignorance that they had not been so ravished with this prodigie had they but known that the same Vapours which compound the Clouds might form Manna and that it was as easie for the Providence of God to nourish them with this meat as to nourish all the people of the earth with Rain and Dew They had certainly reserved their wonderment for the Eucharist had they had the knowledge of our mysteries For indeed it is the strangest and most glorious it seems the Son of God hath drained his power in producing it and recollecting all the miracles of his life would sum them up in this stupendious Sacrament He makes use of the mouth of a man to exhibit a God he will have a transient and perishable word produce the Eternal and Divine Word he will
of God who made use of sin to destroy sin as saith the Apostle of the Gentiles De peccato damnavit peccatum and changing his death into a sacrifice made it a satisfaction for all our iniquities For if Baptism make us die to sin it is upon no other ground but because it imprints in our souls the merit and image of the death of Christ and by an invisible but a true and real grace works in us a desire to part with all that is derived from Adam This makes the * Infelix ego homo quis me liberabit de corpore mortis hujus Rom. 7. Saints that they cannot endure the rebellions of concupiscence that they employ all their strength to smother these embryo's that being true to Grace they resist all the motions of its Enemy groaning when they are compelled to follow or suffer his disorders They know that Christ died to oblige them to die to sin that he was not nail'd to the Cross but to crucifie them to the world nor buried in the grave but that the earth might be their sepulchre All that is in the world Crucifixus est Christus ut vos crucifigamini mundo mortuus est ut vos moriamini peccato saeculo vivatis Deo sepultus est ut vos consepeliamini illi per baptismum Apostolo dicente Consepulti sumus c. ut sicut ille semel surgens à mortuis jam non moritur ita vos vetustate mortalitatis per Baptismum mortificati vitale indumentum induti non iterum per peccata in anima in morte retrahamiâ—i Aug. de Expos Orat. Dom. Symbol Serm. 3. displeaseth them diversions are their torments that which is a recreation to sinners afflicts them and knowing very well the minde of the Lord Jesus they endeavour to fulfil it even with the loss of their own lives Saint Augustine entertained the Catechumeni heretofore with these obligations and expounding to them the doctrine of the Gospel taught them that Baptism engaged them in death Jesus Christ said he was crucified that you might be so to the world he suffered death that you might die to sin he was buried that you might be together with him and having put off the old man Adam and being cloathed with the new man Jesus Christ you may die no more in your souls by sin All the other Fathers speak the same language teaching us that there is a death and a life hid in Baptism producing real effects in our souls Thence ariseth the inclination all Christians have to die and to live thence proceed those obstinate conflicts they entertain self-love with thence spring those violent desires to be separated from the world and the flesh that they may be no longer subject to their tyranny But because this Mystery very much concerns our salvation it deserves a more ample explication from us that we may disclose the truths and obligations that lie wrapt up in it The Son of God is willing that as his death is the Principle so it should be the Rule and Example of our salvation as he died to deliver us he would have us die to honour him and as he entered not into glory but by the door of the Cross neither must we pass to the resurrection but by the gate of the Grave He died saith the great Apostle that by his death he might ruine the Empire of sin He died that losing all the imperfections he drew from Adam he might rise again to life everlasting He died that satisfying his Father we might be no longer responsible to his Justice All these considerations oblige us to die in Baptism Pro omnibus mortuus est ut qui vivunt jam non sibi vivant sed ei qui pro ipsis mortuus est debet ergo vita hominis in se deficere in Christo proficere ut dicat cum Apostolo Vivo ego jam non ego Aug. Serm. de Epiphan if we intend to be the images of Jesus Christ we must destroy sin by death that dying we may be born again and making a sacrifice of our death we may be changed into spotless Victims But as the Son of God was not content onely to die but was willing to joyn the ignominy of the grave to the bitterness of his death Sicut Christus sepultus fuit in terra sic baptizatus mergitur in aqua Nicol. de Lyra. because there was a second punishment of sin comprised in those words of our Arrest Dust thou art and unto dust shalt thou return he will have our death followed with a funeral and that the same Sacrament that makes us die bury us together with him Consepulti sumus cum Christo. Burial addes to the dead corpse two or three notable conditions The first is Coemeteria extra urbes utnullum esset viveniuÌ„ cum mort uis mmercium that he that is buried is separated from the company of the living that he remains in the regions of death and hath no more commerce with the present world So the Christian is buried with the Son of God because he is removed from amongst wicked men neither doth the state of death into which he is entered suffer him to converse with them Quid est mori peccatâ— consepeliri cum Christo nisi damnandis operibus omnino non vivere nihil concupiscere carnaliter nihil ambire sicut qui mortuus est carne nulli detrahit nullum aversatur Prosp de vita contemp c. 21 He hath now no ears to hear calumnies no eyes to gaze upon the beauties of the earth no desires nor pretensions after the honours of the world and his death being attended with a funeral he protests aloud that he hath renounced all hopes of the things of the world The second condition of this state is the duration that goes along with it For though death be eternal in respect of the Creature nor can any but an Almighty power re-unite the soul with the body when once separated yet there seems to remain some faint hope as long as the body is not committed to the grave we watch it to see if that which appears a death be but a swoon or trance and there have been those that have died and rose again the same day without a miracle But when the body is laid in the sepulchre drooping Nature is then past all hope This dismal abode hath no intercourse with life 't is an everlasting habitation whence there is no return but by a prodigie Sepulchra eoruÌ„ domus illoruÌ„ in aeternuÌ„ jam quia constructa sunt sepulchra domus sunt sepulchra quia ibi semper crunt ideo domus in aeternum Aug. in Psal 48. 't is the place where worms serving for ministers of the Divine Justice discharge their fury upon men till being reduced to powder there remains nothing of these famous criminals Thus the Christians when baptized are as it were interred to
provoke him The Third TREATISE Of the Christians Head The first DISCOURSE That the CHRISTIAN hath two Heads ADAM and JESUS CHRIST IF Bodies with two Heads passe for Monsters humane Nature may very well passe for a Prodigie in that it hath two Chiefes upon which it depends and that as Adam communicates his Sin to it by Generation making it guilty and miserable Jesus Christ communicates his Grace to it by Baptisme making it innocent and happy 'T is true Nature might have expected great advantages from this first Head had he kept his originall Righteousnesse for our Divines confesse that Adam being Chiefe of all men received Grace not onely for himselfe but for all his Posterity that as his sinne passeth into his children by Generation Grace had passed into them by the same conveyance and that then they had been borne innocent as now they are borne criminall Together with grace he had communicated to them all the Priviledges he had received from God in the Creation Their bodies had been freed from those troublesome maladies that exercise our patience and originall righteousnesse had knit the body so close to the soule that their peace had never been disturb'd by these intestine divisions that set them so much at distance Nourishment had repair'd the radicall moisture that the naturall heat had consum'd and the fruit of the Tree of Life retaining something of our Sacraments had imparted to them a new vigour that had secur'd them against old Age and Death Their soul had not been worse provided for then their body for with Grace they had received all vertues and according to Saint Augustine either they had had the use of reason for their service or they had learn'd with so much easinesse that Ignorance had never been their Torment In this happy condition the Will had been more free then now it is the passions were so subject to reason that they had never been up but by his order Concupiscence that tyrannizeth over the children of Adam Summa in carne sanitas in anima tota tranquilitas Aug. lib. 14. de Civ c. 26. had not enslav'd the soule to the body and though the inferiour part had felt it's naturall inclinations Grace had so well moderated them that they had never undertaken any thing either against justice or honesty Thence it comes to passe that these austere vertues that have nothing else to do but to combate the motions of the flesh had serv'd rather for his ornament then for his defence Thence it followes that Grace had not been the Mistresse of the Will because having no bad inclinations she might have guided her selfe provided she were but supported nor had there been any danger that she that was not yet a Captive to sinne should have the chiefe disposall of his salvation we are not certain that if Adam had preserved his innocence his children had been impeccable neither know we if the sinne of other men had injur'd their posterity and if having lost the advantages of originall righteousnesse in their own behalfe they had lost them also as concerning their successours This condition is so conceal'd that we have nothing but weak conjectures of it every one extolls or debaseth it according to his humour and having neither Scripture nor Tradition for their rule all the world may diminish or adde something to their happinesse 'T is certain neverthelesse Sicut in Paradiso nullus aestus aut frigus sic in ejus habitatione nulla ex cupiditate vel timore bonae voluntatis offensio Aug. lib. 14. de Civ c. 26. that all the torments that came into the world with sinne had never discompos'd his quiet The Seasons had not been irregular the Elements had not bid him battel the Earth had been fruitfull without tilling and thorns that are the fruits of sinne had not dishonoured the face thereof Deluges that drowned the world Drought that makes the fields barren Pestilence that depopulates Cities and mows down the Inhabitants having no other cause but sinne had made no devastations in an innocent State and men being upon good terms with God had found their happinesse under the protection of his Grace having lived some Ages upon the earth Proinde si non peccasset Adam non erat expoliandus corpore sed supervestiendus immortalitate Aug. they had been translated into heaven where Glory consuming what they had of perishable had made them perfectly immortall without passing them through the pangs of immortality The two parts that compose man had not been separated the Master-piece of the Creation had not been ruin'd and the soul reigning with Angels had not beheld her body devoured by worms in the Sepulchre See here a rude draught of the state of Innocence and a slight shadow of the glorious advantages children had derived from their father had he kept originall righteousnesse but the evils he procur'd them surpasse the priviledges in number and quality For his sinne is the source and fountain of all misfortunes we are not guilty but because we are his Members we sinn'd by his will because we lived in his person and the offence of one man is become the obliquity of whole Nature because it was included in him as the Tree in the Kernell or as a River in the Head Quia vero per liberum arbitrium Deum deseruit justum Dei judicium expertus est ut cum tota sua stirpe quae in illo adhuc posita tota cum illo peccaverat damnaretur Aug. This is it that Saint Augustine teacheth us in those no lesse handsom then solid expressions Adam felt the just judgement of God because abusing his free will he was unjustly separated from him and punishment was inflicted upon him with his whole race because being in him as in the stock they had wholly transgress'd with him The same also he delivers with as much or more eloquence in his Enchiridion for searching out the cause of so many evils that assault us he concludes that the sinne of our first father is the originall thereof and that we are therefore criminall and miserable because we are a part of him Thence it comes to passe saith he that being banished out of Paradise after his transgression he was condemned to death with all his Posterity who living in him as in their Principle were infected with his prevarication as the branches wither in their stock and die in their root Thence it comes to passe that all children that descend from him and from his wife the Complice of his offence and of his punishment are the heirs of his corruption This sinne passeth into them by the channell of concupiscence and makes them sensible of a torment which seems the image of their disobedience since one part of themselves is revolted against the other This revolt engaging their soule in vanity and their body in pain leads them insensibly with the rebellious Angels to that last Judgement which will never have an end Let us
receives is digested by the Stomack and is turned to Blood in the Liver thence it is conveyed by the Veins into all the parts of the body which assimilating it into their substance gives it as many forms as they themselves have There by a strange prodigie the same aliment is softned into Flesh hardned into Bones stiffned into Sinews extended into Cartilages its superfluities are not useless and if we be-believe Physitians they serve to nourish our Hair and our Nails whereof the first is the ornament of the Head the second the defence of the Hand Who will not acknowledge that Man is very dear to God since he works so many Miracles to feed him and produceth so many several Meats to entertain a life common to him with beasts But inasmuch as that of the Soul is much more noble the nourishment whereby it is preserved is exceedingly more excellent and if in the order of Nature God hath made so many prodigies to nourish Man he works many more in the order of Grace to entertain the Christian For the body of his oncly Son is the food of the Faithful they live upon that Blood which begat them on the Cross that the same Principle which gave them their life may preserve it This Body is formed upon our Altars by the Word of Jesus Christ himself the Priests are onely the Ministers or Interpreters they repeat what he delivered in the Supper they do that in the Church that he did at Jerusalem and offering up this Sacrifice to the Eternal Father make provision to nourish the Faithful Thus in Nature and in Grace 't is the Word of God that makes us live and we may truely say Non in solo pane vivit homo sed in omni verbo quod procedit ex ore Dei But this Bread that nourisheth our souls is not of the same quality with that that nourisheth our Bodies For the Corn whereof this is made owes its Life to its Death nor can increase till it be corrupted but that which is exhibited to us upon our Altars felt corruption onely on the Cross where dying to procure us life he himself boasted that he was the Grain of Corn whose fruitfulness proceeds from its corruption Si mortuum fuerit multum fructum affert But now it is incorruptible in our Tabernacles death can no more injure it the Glory that invests it secures it from our fury as well as our wrongs We must acknowledge nevertheless that its presence depends upon the species that cover it it ceaseth to be with us when the heat hath digested them or time consumed them and though he remain by his Grace his body is absent which is tied to accidents as to chains his love hath forged for it He never dispenseth with this bondage the treachery of Judas could not make him violate the laws he had prescribed the blinde fury of Hereticks cannot compel him out of this prison and the impiety of Sinners hath not been able to force him to quit their hearts till the species that preserved him there be consumed by the natural heat He is as faithful to observe his promises as to obey the will of his Father and as the blasphemies of the Jews could not make him descend from the Cross to give them proofs of his Innocence and of his Divinity the sacriledges of prophane Christians cannot make him desert the Hoast where his love and fidelity hold him prisoner Though he be subject to all these humiliations to become our nourishment he is not liable for all that to all the conditions of Nutriment For he passeth not into our substance he is not changed into those that receive him and in his debasement he reserves himself the power to convert them into him His being our Food hinders him not from being our God he acts upon those that feed upon him he makes an impression of his Divine qualities in their souls and if he changeth not their Nature at least he makes them change their Condition and their Life Neither ought this to seem strange to those that consider that Natural meats communicate their qualities to us and by a mutual Metamorphosis we are changed into them when they are assimilated into us 'T is believed that Nero was therefore cruel because he suckt the milk of a cruel Nurse and that Achilles was therefore valiant because his Master nourished him with the marrow of Lions Experience it self teacheth us that people draw their humours from the earth that bears them and the heaven that covers them Those that are bred among Rocks are savage those that live in the fertile Plains are more tractable Therefore we need not wonder if the Christians feeding upon a Divine meat do so easily change their inclinations Auâ—ite officaciam communionem corporis sanguinu Domini nos Jesu Christo Jesus Christus nobis in unitate foederatur inenarrabili sicut ipse dicit Qui manducat carnem meum in me manet ego in eo Bern. because more powerful and successful then ordinary food it hath the vertue of conveying its own qualities and of changing the guests into it self And from this Principle do the Fathers draw the obligation the Christians have to be gods upon earth because they receive a God in the Eucharist who acting according to the extent of his power would transform them into himself were not his Divine operations hindered by the weakness or malice of the recipient But that which is begun upon Earth is happily perfected in Heaven where Divinity being the food of the Blessed raiseth them to a condition where leaving off to be Mortals they commence Gods Indeed the holy Scripture teacheth us that the Beatifical state is a Feast where God communicating his Essence to Angels and Men makes them in one dish taste all imaginable delights For though there be diversity of conditions among the Blessed though the degrees of Glory answer the degrees of Love and those who have been most affectionate are those that God most honours yet all Theology confesseth that the Divine Essence is the only object of their felicity that every one enjoys all without division that though common to all 't is notwithstanding proper to each particular that being wholly communicated to one it takes nothing from the rest and more excellent then the light which enlightens one man as perfectly as the whole world it is as fully communicated to the lowest Angel as to the highest Seraphim God is divided upon the Earth without interessing his simplicity he communicates himself to the faithful but in part and handling every one according to their Merit and his Grate is not always the same to one that he is to another He hath manifested his Wisdome in Solomon his Clemency in David his Patience in Job his Love in Saint Peter his Zeal in Saint Paul his Purity in Saint John and his other perfections in the rest of the Faithful But at the end of the world God
contrary to all the laws of Nature that the Accidents subsist without their Subject and that the Substance of the Bread and Wine being turned into that of his Body and Blood keep notwithstanding its Colour Taste and Form He is multiplied without being divided to satisfie the love of his Spouse and admitting his Humanity into the priviledges of the Divinity filleth his State with his presence We are in a doubt whether he does not work a Miracle for the Faithful which is not indulged the Blessed and we are yet ignorant whether this divine multiplication be an effect of his glory or of his power For though there are some Divines who believe that glorified bodies may be in divers places without a miracle and that the part they have in the Immensity of God multiplies their bodies without dividing them the Schools have always lookt upon this effect as a prodigie and have taught us that the order of Glory had its Miracles as well as that of Nature and Grace Finally it seems that the Son of God to make his power and his love admired Dicitur virgini supervenient in te Spiritus sanctus dicâ—tur etiem Sacerdoti superveniet in te Spiritus sarctus efficiet quod intelligentiam tuam excedet Joan. Damasc had a minde in this Mystery to repeat all the Miracles he had wrought during the course of his life For if he were born of Mary without interessing her Virginity if making her a Mother he left her a Virgin if the Fruit she bare deflowred not her Purity he is produced in our Sacrifices without violating their Accidents and changing their substance into his alters not the Species that cover them If he turn water into wine at a Marriage in Cana and manifest himself the Master of the Elements in changing their qualies he appears no less absolute in a Sacrament where he turns the Bread into his Body the Wine into his Blood and the Creature into his Creator If he multiply the loaves in the wilderness and operate this prodigie by the hands of his Apostles they being ignorant of the manner he daily multiplies his Body by the hands of the Priests who cannot comprehend a miracle whereof they are the witnesses and the Ministers If heretofore he cured the sick that came unto him here he cures the diseased that receive him and if he raised the dead by his touch or by his Word here he promiseth life to all those that feed upon him and engageth himself by a promise as sure as an Oracle that he will draw all those out of the grave that have served him here for a Temple Thus this adorable Sacrament deserves the name of Manna better then Manna it self and ought no less to fill our hearts with astonishment then with love But to continue our resemblances and to manifest the truth in the figure The Psalmist hath observed that Manna was not a bare Nutriment but a preservative and a remedy For while the Israelites made use of it in the Desarts they were never molested with any infirmities Though they so often changed their Quarters marched through a Wilderness where the want of water and the multitude of serpents might make them fear an infection nevertheless this food which participated of the Tree of Life and made them taste in the Desarts the delights of Paradise so well suited with their temper that though they daily beheld rebels in their Camp they never saw any sick In Tribubus eorum non erat infirmus There by a strange prodigy diseases were not the harbingers of death they gave up the ghost without any pangs some small weakness gave them notice of the houre of their departure the soul fairly took leave of the body and the Feaver which seems the forrager of death durst not set upon men whom Manna served for nourishment The Eucharist works the same miracle in our souls that this Heavenly food did in their bodies It is at the same time diet and an Antidote it gives life and preserves it it delivers us from evil and then protects us against it it maintains the constitution of the soul in a regulated evenness of temper and much happier then physick which cannot tame the disease without weakning nature it deals so critically with the sins that it never prejudiceth the sinner Many times when Faith seconds Piety this Celestial viand extends its effects as far as the body it maintains health as well as salvation and cures the diseased as well as the wicked In the Primitive Church it wrought wonderful cures and the great Saint Cyprian tels us that Physitians were useless in those days because Christians found their cure in the Eucharist and proved there was the same Jesus present whose Word was heretofore so fatal to infirmities and so favourable to the infirm If in this particular it supass Manna in another it equals it Manna non solum sanitatem sed animum Judais conserebat Josâ—ph because in restoring health it infused strength and inspired courage For there are some Writers that are of opinion that the valour of the Israelites was an effect of Manna that they owed those formidable victories they gained from their enemies to this meat that came down from Heaven Neither ought this to seem strange to the incredulous since experience teacheth us that wine which is the pure work of Nature produceth daily the same effects drowns fear in its vapours inspires men with the contempt of dangers gives a new vigour to soldiers and constitutes the best part of their courage Therefore I am easily perswaded to believe that Manna wrought the same wonder in the Israelites whilest nourishing their body it maintained their valour and making them sound and lusty made them withall magnanimous and valiant Indeed inasmuch as this food was more miraculous then natural and acted rather by the directions of Heaven then the properties of its own nature it lost this faculty assoon as the Israelites lost grace and as if it had changed quality when they changed disposition it produced fear in the same hearts where it had formerly produced courage and assurance All these wonders were but the shadows of what we adore in the Eucharist which is not only the food but the force of the Christian we come from the Altar as Lions terrifying the Infernal Spirits they cannot endure our sight the presence of Jesus Christ wherewith we are surrounded startles them into a disorder and remembring that we bear about us the same slesh and bloud which triumphed over them upon Mount Calvary they dare not set upon us They flie such men who lodge a god in their souls and beholding their Judge seated in our hearts as upon his Throne they are afraid lest he pronounce sentence against them re-doubling their pains and aggravating their torments It was this Heavenly Bread that animated the Martyrs to the combat this adorable Bread that gave them courage to daunt their executioners and the sword of
Pyramids to preserve their memory and being not able to busie the Pen of the Historian employ the Tool of the Engraver and stamp their name upon Marble being unable to write it in the Annals Conquerors are not exempt from this madness they fight onely to get themselves a Name seek for Life in the very bosome of Death depopulate States to make succeeding ages talk of them destroy Towns to raise Trophies and Longum est retexere Curios Regulos Graecos viros quorū iunumera elogia sunt contemptae morti◠propter posthumam famam Tert. not able to gain Reputation by their Justice or Clemency strive to purchase it by their Courage and Valour From this Passion doth Tertullian draw arguments to prove the immortality of the soul and to perswade the Infidels that whole man dies not because he extends his desires beyond this life and knowing very well that his spirit must survive his body is much troubled how he may preserve his reputation after his death The Devil who is not ignorant that this desire is engraved in our hearts by the finger of Nature and that it is easier to divert it then smother it try'd to make use of it in Paradise to seduce the first man he went not about to take from him the belief of the immortality of his soul he knew a minde so enlightned could not be clouded with such darkness but he perswaded him that his happiness depended upon his disobedience and that to defend him from death wherewith God had threatned him his onely way was to eat of the forbidden fruit This subtil spirit would not set upon man till he had stirred up the most violent of his Passions and he conceived it an easie matter to ruine him if he could but perswade him that Immortality would be the recompence of his crime Indeed Man charmed with so fair a promise violated the respect he owed his God he reached his hand to that fatal Tree and plucking the fruit which served for a proof his obedience made himself guilty of sin and obnoxious to death But inasmuch as the Son of God takes pleasure to draw our Salvation out of our Fall and makes us in a blinde submission finde that advantage we sought for in a foolish credulity he hath instituted a Sacrament in his Church which contains an admirable fruit giving those that eat of it a happie Immortality For the chief effect of this celestial food is to preserve us from death and assure us of life He that eateth my flesh saith Jesus Christ shall live for ever He opposeth this nourishment against that of the fathers in the wilderness and protesting that those that eat his flesh shall never die he engageth himself by a solemn promise to raise them from the dead So that though his Justice did not oblige him to raise the Innocent and the Guilty out of the grave to give them their reward his Truth would oblige him to restore life to the Faithful who in obedience to his will have eaten this ever-to-be-adored Fruit. Therefore is it that the Fathers of the Church making the Elogie of this Sacrament call it sometimes the Earnest of glory sometimes the Antidote of death sometimes the Seed of immortality But because the devil joyned the desire of Glory with that of Life and promised man to make him a god if he would eat of the Forbidden fruit Jesus Christ takes the same course and having made us hope for immortality in this Sacrament he raiseth our expectation and promiseth us Divinity I do not wonder that Innocent man desired to be God Nec quicquam homine aut superbius aut miserius Plin. maj seeing Guilty man covets it to this day and that the misery which punisheth his disobedience hath not flatted this his desire nor do I conceive it strange that the greatness of his condition seconded with the promises of the Serpent had perswaded him that in eating the forbidden fruit he might purchase Divinity For in that happie state all was submitted to his will he was equally absolute in his Person and in his Kingdom he discoursed familiarly with the Angels and he knew that his soul though included in a body was little inferiour to those blessed spirits His Soveraignty gave him hopes of an Independencie being Lord of the Universe he was easily perswaded he might be the Conservator his lights which should have cleared up his judgement dazled him his present greatness made him forget his former original The promises of the devil charmed him and not imagining that Humility was the way which should lead him to Glory he suffered himself to be transported with Pride which threw him into confusion and misery His loss had been irrecoverable had not the Son of God found out a remedy and obliging him to taste a Divine Fruit in the Eucharist had not repaired his fault and satisfied his desire For it was not enough to cure Man of his sin by a Sacrament if the Divine Mercy had not furnished him at the same time with a means innocently to content his longings The inclination to Divinity was riveted in the very bottom of his Essence and I dare say the perswasion of the Serpent very far from defacing it had rooted it faster Man had a minde to command though he had lost the power he still retained the desire and as there is no miserable man that would not with all his heart be happie neither is there any sinner that would not raign with God This wish was a Sacriledge and an attempt against the Godhead but by the goodness of Jesus Christ it is become an act of Religion and Obedience For this Son who is equal to his Father and who being his primitive Image and the Character of his Substance hath the right of exalting men to this dignity was made Man in the Incarnation that they might be made Gods in the Eucharist and was laden with their Miseries in the One that they might be cloathed with his Glory in the Other Indeed 't is in this ineffable Mystery wherein Man mingles himself with God where by a holy confusion he loseth his bad qualities and assumes divine ones where leaving off to be a sinner he begins to be innocent where soaring above himself he enters into the rights of God Eucharistia videtur esse velut Incarnationis mira quaedam extensio D◠Tho. There it is that the Eucharist supplies the mystery of the Incarnation For this made onely a Man-God included its effects in one Individual of Nature the holy Humanity enjoyed this favour all alone and if men received any advantage it was rather honourable then useful This Alliance was like those Marriages where all the profit is the Brides and the glory onely the Kinreds 'T was indeed a happiness for men that their nature was preferred before that of the Angels and that God intending to be allied to his Creatures vouchsafed to make himself a Man and not a Seraphim But
it which is displeasing to God But in expectation of this happy houre they must begin their sacrifice here and by little and little destroying what is contrary to Grace make Holocausts of all their inordinate inclinations For we learn from Origen that though we are no longer under the Law of Moses we are not dispensed with for sacrificing but as the Law of Grace is the accomplishment of the other we ought to immolate all those passions that were represented to us by the Beasts they slaughtered at the foot of the Altar We satisfie this duty when we set upon our criminal affections and full of zeal and courage we endeavour to stifle them We immolate a Bull when we tame our pride and labour to kill this sin that gives life to all others we sacrifice a Goat when we quench the lustful flames of impurity and by a divine fire mortifie this infernal one which devours all vertues we slay a Ram when we subdue our anger disarm this seditious passion calm this raging sea and manacle this fury which troubles the tranquillity of our mind we offer Pigeons and Turtles when we banish those volatile inordinations which divert us from piety and engage our minds in the affairs of the world But if we have subjected our passions to the dominion of reason and by a happy barrenness the Earth of our Intellectual part breeds no monsters which we may offer up to God we must seek into our body and of our members make innocent sacrifices For the great Apostle of the Gentiles teacheth us that we are obliged to offer our bodies a lively sacrifice and to pacifie the anger of Heaven by a holy oblation acceptable to him Vt exhibeatis corpora vestra hostiam viventem as if he would say that we ought to die to sin that we may live to Grace and the members which have served heretofore to the tyranny of Concupiscence may now become serviceable to the lawful power of Charity or he would advertise us that if in the Old Testament only dead Victims were offered up to God in the New we must offer up living ones and that mortification working in the Christian what death did in the Beasts we must joyn the two sacrifices together and accord death with life to satisfie the Divine Justice Thus the whole exercise of a Christian is to make war upon their bodies and to gain victories over themselves they vanquish their enemies in facrificing their members and they may boast that in offering sacrifices to God they erect trophies to themselves In consideration of these Truths me thinks we may say with Origen that all the faithfull are Victims and that in the difference of their conditions they agree in this common quality If any thing distinguish them 't is the degree of their love and the perfection of their Sacrifice The Apostles saith He were the first Victims because they forsook all to follow their Master and having given him their heart by Charity their spirit by Faith their goods by Poverty they moreover consecrated their bodies by the Repentance of their life and by the cruelty of their death The Martyrs immediately succeed them because having a long time laboured by Grief at last they have perfected their sacrifice by Martyrdom The Virgins hold the Third place because they triumph over their bodies tame a hundred severall ways this domestick Enemy and not content to consecrate him by purity borrow the assistance of pennance to mortifie him by contrition The Continent and the Married follow these close and if in their sacrifice they destroy not the Victim they put it at least in a condition that it no more rebels against the Sacrificers and where it expects with patience for death Castitas viduitas de bonis carnis Deo adolentur Tertul. to finish that which Continence hath begun Tertullian was much of this opinion when he said That our bodies furnished us with Victims as well as vertues and that Fasting Silence and Chastity were fruits of this Tree which might be gathered to make an offering for Jesus Christ For though the Body be the least part of man 't is not the most unprofitable its imperfections are advantageous to us its rebellions serve us for Tryals and Grace which is ingenious turns the most part of its miseries into remedies The infirmities which trouble its health help our Sacrifice and the diseased person that suffers his afflictions patiently is a victim who though not innocent is notwithstanding well-pleasing to Jesus Christ Poverty which strips us of superfluities or of necessaries which reduceth us to the condition our Birth found us in and whither Death will bring us is a sacrifice which gains us as much merit as it procures us inconvenience Nay Death it self which seems the eldest daughter of sin who shews all the horrours of her father upon her countenance is not so much the destruction as the sacrifice of our Body she imitates the severity of fire and sword she she alone does what the knife and the pile of wood somtimes did and reduceth the victim to ashes having deprived it of life she serves for the Divine Justice and Mercy together Deficit homo ad Gloriam moritur a◠vitam perit ad salutē mors per Christum commendatio facta est Charitatis Chrysost she prepares the body for Immortality nor despoils it of corruption but to apparell it with Glory This is it that imprints so violent a desire of Death in the hearts of the faithful which makes them in the midst of their prosperity call her in to their assistance and wish that comming to end their life she may come to perfect their sacrifice For it seems she hath changed Nature since Jesus Christ consecrated her in his person she is like those waters that take the taste and colour of those Minerals through which they pass she hath lost all her gastliness and hath some secret beauties which beget love in the soul of all Saints She that led us to the gates of hell lifts us up to heaven she that was the mother of shame and sadness is now the mother of joy and glory she that filled us with despair buoys us up with hope she that established the Empire of sin destroys it in a word she that was the Chastisement of our Crime is now the Sacrifice of our Love For this end have all the greatest Saints made the Panegyrick of death they have rendered thanks to the Divine Justice that inflicts a punishment upon us which shortens our misery and advanceth our happiness which separates us from the world and unites us to Jesus Christ and under a false appearance of rigour delivers us from the dangers that threaten us the griefs that torment us and the sins that tyrannize over us This made that famous Penitent say He was just that expected death but he was holy that desired it Finally this drew that Elogie out of the mouth of S. Paul
Continence to our relief to defend us from pleasures that tickle us sometimes we demand help of Fortitude to combat griefs that assault us sometimes we throw our selves into the arms of Justice to deliver us from enemies that oppress us But in Heaven all these Vertues are idle onely Charity is active and yet rests in acting her action is to love what she sees her rest to possess what she loves and her felicity to know that she shall never lose what she enjoys If you cannot suffer saith S. Augustine that the Vertues to which we owe Heaven be banished thence imagine them there more for your ornament then defence never conceive that they fight but perswade your selves that they triumph and having vanquished all their enemies enjoy a Peace which shall endure for all Eternity The Ninth DISCOURSE That the Christians Soul and Body shall finde their Perfection in Beatitude MAn is such a hidden Creature that he cannot well be known without Faith He is mistaken as often as he intends to pass judgement upon himself and the errours that have appeared in his own definition have given us occasion to conclude that he was ignorant of his own essence when he consulted his Sense he believed he was nothing but a Body and if there were a spirit that informed him it was perishable and mortal when he consulted his Pride he conceited himself a pure Spirit which either for his penalty or for his trial was included in a Body as in a prison from which he should be delivered by death These two errours produced two grand disorders in the world The first engaged Man in the love of his Body and the oblivion of his Soul he made no account but of sensual Pleasures and knowing no life but the present never troubled himself about the future He was of opinion that Death was the end of his Being and that nothing remaining of him after his dissolution he need fear neither any Punishment nor expect any Recompence The second errour made him so mightily undervalue his Body that he repined at it as a Slave and handled it as a Rebel he had recourse many times to Death that being delivered from this enemy he might mix with pure Intelligences and raign with Gods or Devils Faith which corrects our errours obligeth us to believe that Man is neither an Angel nor a Beast that he is compounded of a Body and a Soul and if he have the First common with Beasts he hath the Second common with Angels The same Faith perswades him that Death deprives him of his body but for a time onely that at the General Resurrection it shall be re-united to the soul to partake of its good or bad fortune Therefore treating here of the felicity of Christians I am necessarily to speak of the two parts that compose them and of the different happiness the Divine Justice prepares for them respectively Inasmuch as the soul is the noblest she is also most happily provided for and her Beatitude infinitely surpasseth that of the body Tunc nec falli nec peccare homines possunt veritate illuminati in bono confirmati Aug. When she quits her prison and is purified of all her imperfections by the grace of Jesus Christ she enters into Glory and receives all the advantages which are due to her dignity and condition Ignorance which is a brand of sin is quite defaced by the brightness that enlightens her her weakness is fortified by a supply which being much more powerful then that of Grace raiseth her to a condition wherein she cannot desert the good nor embrace the evil and where as Saint Augustine saith she is in a happy impotency to wander from her duty and estrange her self from the Supream good Assurance succeeds in the place of fear rest in stead of conflicts triumphs after victories she is no longer constrained to resist the motions of the flesh because this rebell is become obedient and losing in the Resurrection whatever he drew from Adam at his Birth hath now none but just and holy inclinations The Spirit is no longer busied to maintain a war against sin because this Monster cannot enter Heaven he groans not now under the revolt of the passions and as all the vertues are peaceable they finde neither enemies to subdue nor rebels to tame Her knowledge is no longer accompanied with doubts and darkness she learnes without labour is not afraid to forget and drawing light and wisdom from the very Fountain knows all things in their Principles In this happy condition there remains nothing for the Christian to wish for his soul is penetrated by the Divine Essence his understanding clarified with the light of glory his will inflamed with the love of God and all his powers and faculties finding their particular perfection in one object he confesseth that the promises of God exceed his hopes Though his body have been polluted by his birth and corrupted by death it findes life in the Resurrection and Purity in Glory For assoon as the Trumpet of the Angel shall have declared the will of God every soul shal reassume her own body reuniting her self with it shall give it a part in her happiness The greatness of this wonder hath found no belief in the mindes of Philosophers though they were perswaded of the Immortality of the soul they would not consent to the Resurrection of the body and having seen it made a prey to wilde Beasts or fuel for the flames they judged there was no power in the world could restore it again The spirit of man hath favoured this errour and believing his eyes rather then his light could not finde in his heart to place that part of man in heaven which he saw committed to the grave he was afraid to weary the power of the Almighty if he should oblige him to so many miracles and not comprehending how a body reduc'd to powder or smoak could take its primitive form chose rather to leave it in the Earth then draw it thence with so much violence But had he thought of the Creation he had never doubted of the Resurrection and Reason her self had perswaded him that seeing God was able to finde the body in Non-Entity where it was not he might very well finde it in the waters or in the slames where there was yet some remainder thereof If Nothing were not rebellious to him Nature cerrainly will not be disobedient and if he could make that which was not he may as easily repair what now is not Nothing perisheth in respect of the Creator the dead are not less his subjects then those that never were born and if he could make Non-Entity hear him he may well make death obey him The miracle of Resurrection is perhaps attended with more pomp then that of the Creation but there is less difficulty in it and he that could vanquish the distance between Entity and Non-Entity will have no great matter to do to master the opposition
period to his Controversies he is continually infested with a Domestick and intestine war Though Repentance subdue the Body by its Austerities and Prayer elevate the Soul by its Raptures both Soul and Body continually rebel against the Spirit of God Indicitur enim bellum non solum adversus suggestiones Diaboli sed etiam adversus teipsum sed ex qua parte tibi displices jungeris Deo idoneus eris ad vincendum te quia tecum est qui omnia superat quare autem permittitur ut diu contra te litiges donec absorbeantur omnes cupiditates ut intelligas in te poenam tuam In te ex teipso est flagellum tuum est rixa tua tecum sic vindicatur in rebellem contra Deum ut ipse sit sibi bellum qui pacem noluit habere cum Deo Aug. in Psal 75. The greatest Saints complain of these disorders and wish an End of their life to finde an End of their Conflicts The internal peace that always accompanies a good Conscience is not able to reconcile these two Enemies and experience teacheth us that peace and war wil sooner shake hands in a Kingdom then Concupiscence and Charity in a CHRISTIAN But certainly I never wonder at his Discord since he hath two Fathers two Births and two Principles He hath two Fathers because he came from Adam and from Jesus Christ and deriving from one the Life of Sin he derives from the other the Life of Grace Thus by a strange wonder he is at the same time Innocent and Guilty he hopes for heaven as his Inheritance and is affraid of hel as the place of his torment and pursuing the severall Interests he hath received from these two Parents he is toss'd continually between hope and fear He is * Primas homo Adam sic olim defunctus est ut tamen post illum secundus sit homo Christus cum tot hominum millia inter illum hunc orta sint ideo manifestum pertinere ad illum omnem qui ex illa successione propagatur nascitur sicut ad istum pertinet omnis qui gratiae largitate in illo renascitur unde fit ut totum genus humanum quodammodo sint homines duo primus secundus Ex sent Prosp 299. Adam and Jesus both together in his person he unites their names aswell as their qualities he resents their diverse inclinations and holding something of these two Fathers hee beares the Crime of the one and the Innocencie of the other They reigne successively in his person and the chief Imployment of his life is to make the first dye and the second live This Parricide is innocent all Christians are obliged to commit it neither doth Jesus Christ acknowledge them for his children who endeavour not to strangle this Father who made them liable to Death before he entitled them to Life They cannot dispense with themselves from this murder and whosoever spares Adam in his person gives evidence he hath no minde that Jesus Christ should reign there Adam himself allowes of this cruelty in heaven where he now triumphs amongst the Angels he desires to dye in his Children that he may see him live there who hath repair'd his breach and if there were any thing that could trouble his happinesse it would be this that he sees his sin still to reign in his posterity that he stifles Christ in their souls and makes him suffer death upon Earth by whose benefit he enjoys life in Heaven He complains that he cannot utterly perish in his off-spring that he reigns there to this day against his will and that for punishment of a sin whereof he made them stand convicted before they were born they continue to make him guilty after that he is dead But nothing afflicts him so much as to behold sin in some sort more powerfull then Grace that the One overspreads all mankinde the Other onely the * Contra carnis concupiscentiam ità confligunt Sancti non ei consentientes ad malum ut tamen ejus motibus quibus repugnantibus resistunt non careant in hac vita Aug. l. 1. Retra cap. 13. Faithfull that sin oftentimes destroyes all Grace but Grace can never wholly destroy all sin Lastly that Adam utterly exterminates Jesus Christ and Jesus Christ can never perfectly slay Adam These two Fathers are conveyed to their posterity by two different Productions the first is shamefull and guilty the second is glorious and innocent The first is inseparable from sin For though it be noble according to the Lawes of the world 't is alwaies ignominious according to the Laws of God and though it appeare innocent to the eies of men 't is alwaies Criminall in the sight of Angels The Saints acknowledge it with grief and though the Issue of lawfull Beds they cease not to confesse that they were * Nunquid David de adulterio natus erat de Jesse viro justo Conjuge ipsius quid est quod se dicit in iniquitate conceptum nisi quia trahitur iniquitas ex Adam Aug. in Ps 50. born in sin The second is ever joined with Grace it gives us God for our Father the Church for our Mother and Heaven for our Inheritance We cannot better expresse their differences then in the words of St. Augustine * Duae sunt nativitates una de terra alia de Coelo una de Carne alia de Spiritu una de mortalitate alia de aeternitate una de Masculo Foemina alia de Deo Ecclesia Aug. Tract 11. in Joan. Sicut eos vita spiritus regenerat sideles in Christo sic eos Corpus mortis in Adam generat Peccatores Illa enim carnalis generatio est haec spiritualis illa facit filios carnis haec spiritûs illa filios mortis haec Resurrectionis illa filios saeculi haec filios Dei illa filios irae haec filios misericordiae ac per hoc illa peccato originali obligatos illa omnis vinculo peccati liberatos August lib. 1. de Pecca men who tells us The one comes from the Earth and returns thither again the other comes from Heaven and ascends thither again the one draws it 's Originall from the Flesh the other from the Spirit the one tends to Death the other to Eternity the one proceeds from Man and Woman the other from God and the Church Or to deliver the same Truth in other terms we may adde with the same Saint That the Life of the Spirit regenerates the Faithfull in Jesus Christ and the Death of the Body begets sinners in Adam That of these two Births the One is Carnal the Other Spiritual The One produceth Angels the Other engenders Men The One designes them to Death the Other prepares them for the Resurrection The One renders them the children of the Devil the Other makes them the children of God The One exposeth them to his Wrath the Other to his Mercy Finally
erat ut idem esset homo qui esset Deus Aug. lib. cur Deus homo cap. 6. 't is Jesus Christ that saves us It was a woman that serv'd as an Interpreter to Satan to deceive our first Father and 't is a Virgin that serves as a Handmaid to Jesus Christ to begin the work of our Restitution Finally Generation is the Channel whereby sin passeth into the soul of Man and Baptism is the Regeneration whereby Grace descendeth into the soul of the Christian Their Relations are so wonderful that 't is easie to judg that Divine Providence hath order'd them both and that we should admire its conduct in the work of our Redemption The first resemblance is that Sin precedes our knowledg we are Delinquents without knowing it our Ignorance furnisheth us with no excuse and though we know not the Parent from whom we are descended we fail not to be the heires of his obliquity Thus the Remedy imitating the Disease prevents our Reasoning we are absolv'd in our Baptism without knowing our Redeemer Grace enters into our soul and brings no light along with it it leaves us in the dark and knocks off our chains Quaeis utrum ex voluntate peccatum originale respondeo prorsus esse quia et hoc ex voluntate primi hominis seminatü est ut in illo esset et in omnes transiret Aug. lib. de Nup. Concup c. 28. and the Divine Mercy regulating it self after the measure of Justice is unwilling our Ignorance should exclude us from Grace since it no way excuseth us from sin Besides the offence that was voluntary in Adam is naturall in his children they draw it in with their breath it infects not their Will but because it corrupts their Nature This Sin was voluntary only in the first Man his posterity cannot hinder it and as Infants have not the use of Reason they are transgressors by the wil of their Father We must rise as high as Paradise to finde the Spring of our misfortune we are unable without the help of faith so much as to comprehend that we are guilty of a sin committed in the Nonage of the world and that without knowing or willing it we do in the first moment of our Conception contract it But if the Disease be strange we must needs acknowledg the Remedy is no less admirable For Christians are justified in Baptism by the Grace of Jesus Christ they enjoy his merits without asking for them they are enriched with his spoils and entring into a Community of Goods with him they have as much share in His Innocence as they had part in Adams Transgression 'T is not their Consent that sanctifies them their Salvation is no effect of their Will and if they satisfie the Justice of God 't is by the sole Merits of Jesus Christ They believe in him as they doubted in Adam and their Satisfaction being parallel to their Fault they are Innocent and Guilty in the person of their Fathers In the Third place Adam lent us his Body in Paradise to make us Criminals We saw the forbidden fruit with his Eyes We gather'd it with his Hands We are it with his Mouth and as if with Him we had committed all these sins We are to this day punish'd in all our members after his death For whether we made up one part of him whether he was a Universal and Generall Man whereof all others are but the Members whether he perpetuates and transmits himself into his descendants or whether having stipulated for us before God his Crimes became ours †Per unius illius voluntatem malam omnes in co peccaverunt quando omnes unus fuerunt de quo praeterea sin guli peccatum originale traxerunt Aug. l. 2. de Nup. Concup c. 3. what he hath done is imputed to us and we bear the punishment of a sin we could not commit but in his Person But that our Salvation may answer our Fall we use a borrowed support in our Baptism we believe by the faith of another we act by the mediation of the faithfull and the Church affords us her favour to make us partakers of the Grace of her Beloved * Accommodat Infantibus mater Ecclesia aliorum pedes ut veniant alioruÌ„ Cor ut credant aliorum linguaÌ„ ut fatcantur ut quemadmodum quod aegri suut alio peccaute gravantur sic hi cùm sani sunt alio consitente salventur Aug. serm 10. de verb. Apo. Indeed this Charitable Mother lends us her mouth to answer at the Font of Baptism the Arms of her Confessors to carry us thither her Heart to form acts of faith that as we were lost by the prevarication of our Father we might be saved by the piety of our Mother This was the argument the great S. Augustin somtimes made use of to confound the Pelagians who judg Baptism not necessary for Infants They believe already saith he though they cannot reason and if you ask me how they believe I answer 't is by the faith of their Parents whence I conclude they are infected with their sin Si baptizatis infantibus credentibus dicis aliquid Christum prodesse bene dicis Credunt Infantes Unde credunt fide parentum si fide parentum purgantur peccato parentum pollutt sunt corpus morcis in primis parentibus generavit cos peccatores Spiritus vitae in posterioribus parentibus regeneravit eos fideles Tu das fidem non respondenti ego peccatum nihil agenti Aug. Serm. de Bap. Parvul contra Pelag. cap. 14. because they are purified by their faith neither are you to think it strange that I admit sin in Children that act not since you admit faith in them that answer not Thus the one are sinners without Acting the others are belâ—evers without Speaking Sin is imparted as Grace is and Salvation imitating the Fall the sole merit of Jesus Christ makes them live whom the sole fault of Adam made dye Their destiny is like that of the holy Babes of Bethlehem those innocent victimes immolated to pay homage to the Birth of the Son of God The Church placeth them in the Catalogue of Martyrs it is the purest blond she ever shed upon the earth to honour that which the Son of God spilt at his Circumcision These are the first fruits that were offered to him in Judea the most illustrious testimony his Greatness received whilest yet he lay in his cradle In the mean time these Infant Martyrs were happy and never knew it Occiduntur pro Christo parvuli pro justitia moritur innocentia Quam beataaetas qua needum Christum potest loqui jam pro Christo meretur occidi Aug. Ser. 2. de Innoc. they powred out their blood upon an occasion they could neither fore-see nor wish for their will accepted not this Sacrifice and if we judge of their thoughts by their actions we shall be obliged to doubt of their courage and
we consider that the Apostles served as interpreters to the holy Ghost that he spake with their mouthes and that he resided in their hearts we shall not conceive it strange that he that subdued Egypt with an army of flies converted the world by a few fishermen This spirit which was the force of the Church was also the light as it assisted her in her combats Impleti Spiritu sancto loquumur repente linguis omnium arguunt fidenter errores praedicant saluberrimam veritatem exbortantur ad poenitentiam indulgentiam de divina gratia pollicentur Aug. epist 3. ad Volusi it instructed her in her doubts and as often as she would resolve a difficulty or settle an Article of faith she consulted the spirit of her welbeloved and finding truth in his answers she pronounced nothing but Oracles to her children I see nothing more venerable and august in the infancy of the Church then the first Councell held in the City of Jerusalem to decide a matter that might separate the Jews from the Gentiles It was not convened with so much pomp as others have been there appeared not the Ambassadours of Christian Princes because the whole Church was included within the walls of one onely City there were no Philosophers who made use of the vanity of their Sciences to impede the progresse of the truth of the Gospel there were no strange Nations because all the beleevers were of one Countrey the epitome of the Universe was not seen in one Convocation because the Church had not yet displayed her banner neither in Europe nor Africa But there might be seen the Lieutenant of Jesus Christ with a zeal worthy of his charge there was the Bishop of Jerusalem who was to water with his blood the Church that he had built by his example and instructed by his sermons there might you see the Apostle of the Gentiles take the interest of the people he had newly converted and prove by his reasons that the Gospel being the accomplishment of the Law they were not to make that live again which Jesus Christ had crucified with himself upon the Crosse But of all the circumstances that give an excellency to this Councell above all others I am ravished with none so much as with that great assurance and unshaken confidence the Apostles begin their decisions withall For they acquaint us that they were the Organs of the holy Ghost that he that resided in their hearts expressed himself by their mouthes that he pronounced his Oracles in their words and confirming all they had ordained he had no other sence but theirs Visum est spiritui sancto nobis It hath seemed good to the holy Ghost and to us Let Kings conclude their Edicts in termes never so absolute let them second their reasons with that imperious clause Such is our pleasure and let them prescribe laws to their subjects liberty they shall never perswade us that the holy Ghost is the Authour of their Ordinances and that he that spake by the mouth of the Apostles speaks by the mouth of Monarchs Infallibility is promised to none but to the Church and to the head thereof there is but that Assembly alone that makes the holy Ghost vocall Truth is suspected in the mouthes of Philosophers and Oratours Soveraigns are constrained to have recourse to force to make their laws valid and of credit The Church onely can impose obedience upon her children when she will Potest fieri ut homo mentiatur non potest fieriut veritas mentiatur ex v ritatis ore cognosco Christum ipsam veritatem ex veritatis ore cognosco Ecclefiam veritatis participem Aug. in Isa 57. because to her alone is promised the assistance of the holy Ghost He is her Authour because he formed her in her birth he is her strength because he defends her in persecution he is her light because he instructs her in her doubts and he is her Spirit because he gives her life motion and direction The second DISCOURSE That the Holy Ghost is the Heart of the Church THough there is not any part in a mans body useless or unprofitable yet Natural Philosophy acknowledgeth the Heart and the Head for the two principal The Head is placed in the highest and most eminent seat as the Soveraign having all the Senses as so many faithful ministers gives orders aad sheds influences thorow the whole body of the State thence every part receives Sense and Motion and no sooner is there any obstruction that hinders the commerce of the Head with the rest of the Members but they remain stupied or benummed The Heart is not inferiour to the Head in dignity And we may affirm the Body an Empire that obeys two Soveraigns without the inconvenience of a Schism and takes Law from two absolute Potentates without dividing their Royalty For the Heart resides in the midst of the Body as a King in his Kingdom conveys the Spirits thorow the Arteries dispenseth Life to all his Subjects so extremely sensible of the Publike good that not the least disorder can arise but he gives notice of it by his irregular motion As these two parts are the Noblest so are they most United their fair correspondence cements the peace of the Body their division threatens its ruine and when they no longer entertain a free communication the State must necessarily perish without any hope of recovery If we may compare Great things with Small Ecclesiae Corporis Christus est Caput Spiritus sanctus Cor. Thom. we may say that the Church is a mystical Body whereof Jesus Christ is the Head and the holy Ghost the Heart They act diversly but to one and the same end The one Guides this great Body the other Quickens it the one gives it Motion the other Life As there is no misfortune that can divide them the Body which they constitute is immortal and whatever enemies set upon it they shall never be able to prevail against it all its Combats are attended with Victory Death despoils it of no parts which Eternity restores not again what it loseth upon Earth it recovers in Heaven and by a happie dispensation of Providence findes Rest in Persecution Life in Death Glory in Shame But as its greatest advantage is to have the holy Ghost for its Heart and the Son of God for its Head let us speak of the First till we shall have an opportunity to treat of the Second and let us discover those Graces and Blessings the Church receives from his guidance and direction Where that we may not pass the terms of our Comparison we say that the holy Spirit being the Heart of this great Body inanimates it by his Presence unites it by his Charity guides it by his Light and comforts it by his Goodness The Heart is the Noblest Seat of the Soul the Throne where she reigns the Centre of her Principality where she keeps her chief residence so that we may say 't is the
Understanding Weakness into his Memory and Malice into his Will Under this conduct he confounds Errour with Truth Vice with Vertue and having no other end but himself he commits as many sins as he intends to perform good works Vain-glory is the Primum mobile that sets him a going he seeks for reputation in all his actions and when he assists his Country stands for the Laws and fights for Liberty he obeys a Tyrant which inspires him with wicked intentions even then when he seems to counsel him to the best and most upright undertakings Thus Man becomes Wretched when he ceaseth to be Faithful the loss of Grace causeth the enfeebling of his Liberty and the removal of the holy Spirit involves him in a death so much the more dangerous by how much it is less sensible and more concealed The Natural death makes a strange havock in the body of Man as soon as he seizeth upon the face he banisheth Beauty horrour and fear always attend him nor does he ever enter upon a body but 't is accompanied with stench and putrifaction These sad effects render him ghastly nor can the most confident behold him without some sense of terrour and affrightment But the spiritual death causeth indeed no amazement because it leaves no visible characters of its malignity The holy Spirit quits the sinner with small noise his departure which causeth so much misfortune makes no buzzle at all and when he withdraws his Grace from a soul she is no whit affected with it because the loss is insensible A Monarch thinks he is deprived of nothing because he still exerciseth absolute command over his subjects nor sees that he is a slave to as many masters as there are sins that reign in his soul A Philosopher never conceits himself less happie because he is not more ignorant the Light that remains in him suffers him not to see his Blindness and he imagines he is still vertuous because he still retains his knowledge An immodest woman is never troubled at the loss of Grace because it no ways impairs her good complexion she hath much ado to believe that sin hath polluted her Soul because it hath stampt no deformity upon her Face and beholding her self in her glass as handsome after her fault as before she cannot perswade her self that she is less amiable in Gods eyes because she is not in her own In the mean time the loss of Grace is the loss of Life the absence of the holy Spirit is the death of the Soul and from the very instant he deserts us all Vertues bid us farewel Whiles he keeps his residence in our hearts those glorious habits that render men vertuous accompany them and as the presence of the Sun produceth Lilies and Roses in our Gardens the presence of the holy Spirit produceth Hope and Charity in our Souls 'T is true this Spirit is so good that after he hath left us he still hovers about us if he dwell not in our hearts he forbears not to move and stir them and if he Quicken us no longer by his Grace he incites us by his Power But to understand this Truth which is one of the most important in Religion we must know there is this difference between the Soul and the Spirit That moves no more when once it ceaseth to inanimate Spiritus ubi vult spirat quod fatendum est aliter adjuvat nondum inhabitans aliter inhabitans nordum inhabitans adjuvat ut sint fideles inhabitans adjuvat jam fidebes Aug. Epist ad Sixt. it gives no Impulse when it gives no Life and there must be some supernatural power to re-unite it to the body which it hath once bidden adieu to But the holy Spirit which is a Form not depending upon the Matter free in his operations and like the winde blowes where it listeth is not subject to these laws he quits the sinner when his Crime obliges him to do it he abandons the Temple he consecrated with his presence and together with habitual grace he takes away all vertues that served him for ornament or for defence But his goodness reserves the means still to sollicite this unfaithful soul by holy motions to touch this rebel by his inspirations and by his allurements to court this adultress who hath falsified the faith she promised in the Sacrament of Baptism or that of Repentance he knocks at the door of his heart to get admittance he sheds light into his understanding to dispel the darknesse he carries pleasure into his will to gaine its content and without doing it any violence triumphs over his obstinacy when he constrains him to taste more sweetnesse in vertue then in vice The love men have to liberty makes them wish that these motions of the Spirit were continuall that at every moment he should offer grace to the sinner that he could use it at pleasure and that in the state of sin enjoying the priviledges of the state of innocene his salvation might depend absolutely upon his own will Those that make this objection know not in my opinion neither the greatnesse of our crime nor the power of the Holy Spirit God deales with the sinner much after another fashion then he does with the Innocent Natura hominis primitus inculpata sine ullo vitio creata est natura vero ista hominis qua unusquisque ex Adam nascitur jam medico indiget quia sana non est Aug. de natur grac. c. 3. 't is easier to preserve a just man then to convert a guilty one there needs much more endeavour to subdue a will rooted consummated in evil then to entertame one grounded established in good Innocent man had no bad inclinations Grace found no resistance in his person and his liberty being not captivated by concupiscence there was no need that the Holy Ghost should gaine mastery thereby to purchase his deliverance It was sufficient gently to excite a man who needed but a little support to walk to raise him by his Inspirations who was cumbred with no disorders and to dart a small beame of light into his eyes who needed indeed to be cleared not to be cured But sinfull man must be dealt with after another manner the motion of the Spirit must be more vigorous because he undertakes an enemy Grace must have more allurements because it meets with more impediments must raise it selfe above the will because the will stoopes beneath self-love and God must be the Authour of mans salvation because man was the Authour of his fall If the Holy Spirit did not act more vigorously then in the state of Innocence sinners would remaine obstinate in their obliquity if Grace were but a flash their will would never be changed and if this victorious sweetnesse did not imprint force with pleasure they would live and die in their sins But at last say they Grace ought to be as common as it is vigorous it must bee offered to us every moment Pro
them But Saint Augustine informs us that he acts otherwise with sinners then with the godly and that he carries himselfe after another fashion with those he moves only Aliter adjuvat nondum inhabitans aliter habitans nam nondum inhabitans adjuvat ut sint fideles inhabitans adjuvat jam fideles Aug. Epist ad Sixtum then with those whom he inanimates He assists the former that they may be converted he helps the second that they may persevere in the former he inspires faith in the later charity to the one he opens the door of the Church to the other the gate of Heaven But finally 't is one and the same Spirit that aids all Christians in their different conversations 'T is he that triumphs over the Executioners in the Martyrs that combates Hereticks in the Doctours that subdues the flesh in the Continent that despiseth the pleasures of the world in the Anchorites that conquers sinne in the Penitents and that leads all the Elect from the Camp of the Church Militant into the bosome of the Church Triumphant The Ninth DISCOURSE That the HOLYSPIRIT is the CHRISTIANS Comforter SIn and Misery were borne into the world both upon a day assoon as ever man became criminall he became miserable Peccavit anima ideo misera est liberum arbitrium accepit quo usa est quemadmodum voluit lapsa est ejecta est de beatitudine implicata est misertis Aug. contra Fortu. Disp 2. punishment followed transgression so close upon the heeles that he lost his happinesse as soon as he had lost his innocence Ever since this fatall moment his life hath been but a continued Train of miseries insensibly leading him to the Chambers of death The Hydra of the Poets never was so fruitfully pregnant and Fiction with all it's inventions could never yet represent the story of our misfortunes Nor Age nor Sexe nor Condition give any person a dispensation Infants are wretched in the Cradle that innocent Age that hath no other sinne then that of Adam is sensible of pains as sharp as those that accompany old age Women who somtimes shake off obedience to their Husbands cannot escape the pangs of griefe and Kings who are so absolute in their State have no Guards that can stop sicknesse and sadnesse from entring into their Palaces These two enemies of man-kind creep every where their dominion knowes no bounds where ever there are men they finde subjects and create miserable Indeed Christians meet with a great deale of consolation in these distresses for besides that the hope of futurity sweetens their present evils that the example of Jesus Christ gives them encouragement that the constancy of Martyrs bear up their spirits they have received the Holy Spirit that comforts them in their troubles and supplies them with as many remedies as misfortune takes upon it shapes to assault them Let us reduce both of them to four heads and make it appear in their discourses that 't is not in vaine that man beares the name of miserable and the Holy Spirit that of a Comforter One of the fearfullest torments of man a sinner is that the two parts whereof he is made cannot agree In te ex teipso est flagellum tuum fit rixa tua tecum lucta est in illo corpore quamdiu vivimus pugnamus quamdiu pugnamus periclitamur Aug. The body and the soule are always upon bad terms their love is turned into hate and if there be any agreement between them 't is always to the disadvantage of the nobler part All is out of order in the master-piece of the Creation Earth is higher then Heaven the Beast domineers over the Angell the Spirit stoops to the Body and Passions are the Mistresses of Reason The Saints groan under this disorder they invoke death to be freed from this Tyranny and they intreat an end of their life that they may see an end of a Combate whose event is so doubtfull The Holy Spirit accommodates this difference by his grace for he takes part with the soule against the body he subjects the soule to God thereby to subject the body to the soule he sets things in the state they were in during the time of Innocence and so suppresseth the revolts of the flesh that if the Spirit be not absolute it is at least the strongest in the Saints 'T is the grace of our heavenly Comforter say the Fathers of the Church that sweetens our discontents that quencheth the impure flames that concupiscence kindles in our hearts that subdues those violent passions whose first motions are of so difficult coercion 'T is it that charmes those deceitfull hopes and desires that promise us felicity in the World and which finally following the Inclinations of this Spirit whereof it is the Image inables the Christian to be revenged of those rebells that disturb the quiet of his person The second punishment of guilty man is to see himselfe exiled from heaven and constrain'd to endure a banishment as long as life Indeed he undergoes here all the miseries of an exterminated person he is deprived of his goods and lives not but upon borrowing or almes he is driven out of Paradise fallen from all those honours that equal'd his condition to that of Angels and reduced to a deplorarable state Homo cum in honore esset non intellexit ideo comparatus est jumentis insipientibus Psal 48. rendring his fortune little different from that of beasts He never looks up to heaven but if there be any spark of piety remaining he bewailes his offence and is afflicted at his banishment Griefe puts these complaints in his mouth Wo is me because my habitation is prolonged He is afraid least the snares that are scattered in the place of his residence entangle him if he suffer any calamity he presently reflects upon the happinesse he hath lost and if he taste any pleasures he misstrusts lest they engage him in the world For Christians are threatned with this double evill and if they take not good heed they are in danger to love their exile and forget their Countrey they settle their fortune upon earth they build as if they never meant to remove they are strongly taken up with the present world and they lose all beliefe of the future and a man hath much adoe to perswade them that so delightfull an Abode is the place of their Banishment and the Theater of their Torment They must be made feele their miseries that they may have some desire towards another life and we think we have gained much upon their Spirit when they will be perswaded to look with an indifferent eye upon the place of their birth Therefore is it that Richardus de Sancto Victore divides men into three ranks the first is those that are fastened to their Countrey whom he calls Delicate Delicatus est cui patria dulcis fortis cui omne solum patria perfâ—ctus cui omnis terra exilium est
being his Creatures under a double Title and he our Principle in Nature and in Grace there is no body but believes we have all the reason in the world to set up his Kingdome in our hearts and carefully to preserve charity whereby he lives in our soules Neverthelesse the Great Apostle of the Gentiles complaines that the faithfull of his time made him dye that they put out the candle of their life and by an ingratitude as great as their blindnesse committed a double murder in one and the same crime He begs their favour towards the holy Spirit and having presented them with the Obligations they owe his infinite goodnesse he conjures them not to choak him in their soules Quench not the Spirit This passage is diversly explain'd Nolite Spiritum extinguere 1 Thes 5. but equally weak'nd by our Interpreters For some are of opinion that Saint Paul made use of this word to quench because the Holy Ghost coming down upon the Apostles in the likenesse of Fire might be put out as fire by our negligence And if the vestall Virgins were guilty of death Vesta nihil aliud quam ignis cui virgines solent servire quod sicut ex virgine ita nihil ex igne nascatur Aug. for suffering the prophane fire committed to their charge to go out the Christians were certainly much more criminall to suffer this holy Fire to dye that kindled all vertues in their hearts and purg'd out all defects and inward defilements Others think it a kind of figurative speech the Apostle makes use of to aggravate the hainousness of the sinne they commit who do all that they can to extinguish the Holy Spirit and endeavour to imitate the cruelty of the Jews will signe their malice by a detestable parricide It seems Saint Augustine was entred into this opinion accusing not the sinner for the death of the holy Spirit but because of the will he had to do it and endeavouring all that was in his power to stifle him that lives and reigns with the Father and the Son from all Eternity But I conceive without doing violence to the words of Saint Paul or at all prejudicing the holy Spirit we may say He suffers death by sin and loseth life when we lose charity For the same Apostle teacheth us Nescitis quia templum Dei estis Spiritus Dei habitat in vâ—bis 1 Cor. 3. that the holy Ghost dwels in us by Grace that he erects an Altar in our heart makes himself a Temple in our soul and lives in us by his vertues All his Epistles speak this language and as often as he treats of the residence of the holy Spirit in our hearts he speaks of it as of a Divine life whereof he is the first Principle so that he lives in us after the same manner as we live in him and these two lives are so closely combined together that one cannot be destroy'd without the other Thus the holy Spirit ceaseth to live in the sinner when the sinner ceaseth to live by the holy Spirit As they have one and the same life so they endure one and the same death and as the sinner loseth life because he loseth Grace that united him to Jesus Christ so the holy Spirit in some sort loseth that life that united him to the Christian by Charity and receives death from him that inflicts it upon himself by sin Therefore is it that the Apostle useth such high terms to make us comprehend the heinousnesse of our crime and describes the death of our soul under that of the holy Spirit to the end that if we are not afraid to commit a simple Murder we may at least be startled from committing a Parricide The second Quality of the holy Spirit is that having been our Principle he will also be our Director and give us motion after he hath indued us with life I will not inlarge this Truth because I have already spoken sufficiently of it and discovered those advantages the Christian may draw from thence It shall suffice to add that Christians are exalted as far above Philosophers as Philosophers are above Beasts For Beasts are led meerly by sense the pleasure that tickles them transports them and what-ever flatters their appetite either in taste or sight overpowers them if they are not with-held by fear or grief Sinners are in no better condition then the Brutes they consult only their sense when they act Homo comparatus est jumentis Considerate vos factos ad Dei imaginem Imago Dei intus est non est in corpore non est in auribus istis eculis sed est factus ubi est intellectus ubi mens ubi ratio investigandae veritatis Aug. in Psa 48. their soul is alwayes the slave of their body neither do they perceive when they engage themselves in the love of pleasure or glory how they do no more then Buls that foam and fight for the enjoyment of a Heifer or to be leaders of the Herd Philosophers are a degree higher then Sinners and taking Reason for their Guide they think they cannot err Rationalc animal est homo consummatur itaque ejus bonum si id adimplevit cui nascitur quid est autem quod ab illo ratio exigit rem facillimam secundum naturam suam vivere Senec. Epist 41. they fancie proud ostentous designes they frame noble Ideas of felicity they call in the Vertues to their aid to compasse it and assisted with Prudence Justice and Fortitude they count themselves as happy and as perfect as God himself Illi Philosophi seculi vitium vitio peccatumque peccato medicantur nos amore virtutum vitia superemus Hieron Epist ad Rust These blind Opinators see not that their Reason is a slave to their Concupiscence that Vain-glory is the foul of their Vertue that thinking to avoid Sensuaality they fall into Arrogance and flying the sins of Men are taken with those of Divels But Christians humbly soaring above Philosophers take the holy Spirit for their Guide they subject their reason to his Inspirations and knowing very well that they cannot be the children of God unlesse they be the organs of his Spirit they undertake nothing but by the motion of his Grace Though this favour make up one of their greatest advantages they fail not sometimes to neglect it and to resist the Conduct of their divine Director They relapse into the condition of Beasts when they obey their senses are restor'd to that of Philosophers Haec est iniquitas cujus non miseretur Deus cum homo defendit quod Deus odit pecâ—atum justitiam asserit ut omnipotenti resistat omnipotens illi Bern. de Conse when they are led by their judgment and become sinners when they resist Grace 'T is from this impiety that all others are derived there is no wickedness a soul is uncapble of when it rejects the impulses of the Spirit neither were the Jews cast
the necessities of his Body he sends those influences that are needfull to every particular member distributing light and heat according to his own designes and their necessities The Head is the most illustrious throne of the Soul she hath all the senses for ornament or for defence The Ears serve as Scouts which exactly report whatever the confusion of noises or distinction of voices can inform either doubtfull or certain The Eyes are faithfull Guides discovering the Essence of things by discovering the accidents under which they are veiled The Palate is the taster of meats judgeth of good and bad and following the orders of his Soveraign receives the one and rejects the other The Nose is not only the unloader of the Brain and the ornament of the Face but the seat of smelling and discerns of sents that as the Head is the Queen Regent of the Body she may have all things necessary for the preservation of her Subjects Thus may we say that the Son of God possesses all the Graces that are dispersed amongst the Faithful that he hath all the gifts of the holy Ghost which are as the senses of the Mystical Body and includes all the vertues that serve either for the ornament or defence of his members Omnia fere dona nostra habent adjunctam imperfectionem unde continentia est hostis testis concupisâ—entiae Aug. He hath moreover some advantages which others enjoy not and as he is the Head of the Church his Father was pleased that he should be happy in his mortall passage that his light should have no shadow of darknesse that he should preserve his Innocence in the midst of our sins whereof he was the pledge that he should have the gift of Prophecy without obscurity and that all his Graces should be free from those imperfections in men they are accompanied with If this wonderfull Chief have some priviledges common with the Head he hath others that are particular and which force us to confesse that hee is much nobler then that goodly part that commands all the rest For the Head can neither be younger nor elder then the Body Nature forms them both together and at the same time that she lengthens the arm extends the Shoulders fastens the Legs she opens the Eyes boars the Ears fashions the Nose and pefects the Head But Iesus Christ is Independent of his Members he was born at the very instant he chose with his Father and as he quickens his Body before his Birth so doth he after his Death All the Faithfull that were before him lived by the Grace they drew from him and all that come after him live now by the influences they receive from his Sacred Person He acted in the world before he came into the world He sanctified the Patriarchs of whom he was to be born He inanimated those Kings that were his Ancestors and contrary to all the orders of Nature he gave life to those from whom he was to receive it We cannot deny but his Grace was more powerfull in this particular then the sin of Adam for this wretched Parent communicated not his poison but to those that descended from him he made none but his children heirs of his misfortune and whoever sprang not from that unfortunate stock may boast himself innocent But the Son of God acts indifferently upon all men his power is not bounded by Ages the Future depends upon him as well as the Past and the Saints that saw the Deluge of the world owe their grace to him as well as those that shall see the Conflagration of it He hath this advantage common to him with those causes which act before they are and being the last in execution cease not to operate because they are the first in intention Thus the Son of God produceth wonders at the birth and at the dissolution of Ages though he were not born till the fulness of time because he is the first in the intention of his Father the Faithful are but for him and all the Elect are the Members which make up that Body whereof he is the Head Vicerunt sancti in sanguine Agni Apoc. Agnus est occisus ab origine mundi caput nostrii Christus est Corpus capitis illius nos sumus nunquid soli nos non etiam illi qui fuerunt ante nos Omnes qui ab inicio saeculi fuerunt justi caput ChristuÌ„ habent Aug. Serm. 3. in Psal 36. This is the truth that S. John teacheth us when he saith that the Saints overcame by the blood of the Lamb that was slain from the beginning of the world For though he died not till the reign of Tiberius his blood failed not to produce effects in all the differences of time and as the Martyrs of the Old Testament were not less his Members then those of the New they owed their conflicts their victories their triumphs to his vertue This circumstance greatly magnifies the power of Jesus Christ and makes us see that the treasures of his merits are infinite in that he is not onely unable to be exhausted by all the Faithful that are enriched by him but because his liberality was laid open from the beginning of the world The Kings of the earth act not but during their life if they exercise some desires in the hearts of their Subjects before their death they are blinde velleities which are many times attended with repentance and sorrow if they leave some regret after their death it is quickly buried by the vices or vertues of their Successors and when we no longer feel the benefit of their Protection we are no longer mindful of their Persons But Jesus more powerful and more necessary then Monarchs acted before his Birth and after his Resurrection Christus ante profuit quà m fuit Bern. he governed his Kingdom before he was conceived in the womb of the Virgin he won battels before he had any hands to fight he maintained the Faithful before he had a Soul and gave life to his Members before he received it from his Mother he lived not as yet in Himself and was alive and already in Others he acted not in his Natural body and yet he acted in his Mystical body not being able to express himself by his own mouth he spake by that of the Prophets and gave Laws to all the Jews in the person of Moses His Power was increased by his Death that which ruines the dominion of Princes served onely to establish his Kingdom he was never more absolute then upon the Cross and that head crowned with thorns was never more active then when he stood at bay This Sun never darted forth more rays then when he was in an eclipse nor did the Son of God ever so gloriously triumph over his enemies as when they upbraided him with his weakness and rejoyced at his sufferings Then was it that he conceived the Church in his wounds that he gave his children life by his own death that
among men the meat he eat assimilated into his substance every part took what was needfull for it and whilest his hands that were to work so many miracles were strengthned his legs that were to bear him over all Palestine were alike fixed and consolidated 'T is so with his Mysticall Body the parts that compose it grow according to their employments they take their bulk and nourishment from his Word and from his Grace nothing remains uselesse in that great Body every particular hastens to perfection and in the difference of conditions all the members receive their growth and dimension This is it that the Apostle had a minde to acquaint us with by those words which being well understood will greatly serve to the clearing of this mystery Speaking the truth in love let us grow in him thorough all things who is the Head Christ From whence we learn that we grow not in our selves but as much as we grow in Jesus Christ and that 't is from the union we contract with him that our greatnesse and perfection is derived Both these Bodies were a Sacrifice to God assoon as Iesus Christ was Incarnate he immolated himself to his Father in the Womb of his Mother he made it appear by the thoughts of his heart that he respects his body as a Holocaust and he testifieth by the language of his Prophets reported by his Apostles that he was cloathed with our flesh only to make an oblation of it Sacrifice wouldest thou not but a body hast thou prepared me His design is to supply the unprofitablenesse of the Law to offer to his Father a Victime well-pleasing to him and meritorious for us that finding our salvation in his losse we might be reconciled to God by his Death Id Sacrificium succedit omnibus illis sacrificiis veteris Testamenti quae immolabantur in umbra futuri propter quod dicit OblationeÌ„ noluisti corpus autem aptasti mihi quia pro illis omnibus sacrificiis oblationibus corpus ejus offertur participantibus ministratur Aug. lib. 16. de Civ Dei His mother who was as well acquainted with his designes offered him in the Temple in that Spirit and Simeon answering her thought speaks to her onely of her sorrows A Sword shall passe thorow thy Soul Iesus Christ exhibited himself as a Sacrifice during his life he entertains his Disciples with this Discourse and testifies he was not at rest till he should be offered up for an oblation He finished in the arms of the Crosse what he had begun in the Womb of his Mother he was immolated to his Father by the hands of the Executioners he made their fury serviceable to his piety and of a Gibbet erected an Altar of a Sacriledge a Sacrifice of a Patient a Holocaust he fully satisfied the Iustice of his Father Thus his Mysticall Body is a Victime which he daily offers for the glory of the same Father He will have every beleever immolated that the members imitating their Head may have the honour to lose their life in the holy severity of an acceptable sacrifice Therefore doth Saint Paul so often invite us to discharge this duty he speaks to us of nothing but Oblations and Altars he exhorts us to offer our selves to God in a sweet smelling savour and he would have us looking upon our selves as reasonable and living sacrifices our whole life should be but one continued Oblation Saint Augustine treading in the steps of his Master teacheth us the same Truth and far differing from their judgement who would mingle Roses with Thorns in Christianity tels us that the life of the Faithfull if it be ordered according to the Maximes of the Gospel is but a languishing and a painfull Martyrdome This Circumstance discovers another and the Sacrifice of these two Bodies leads me insensibly to their persecution For the Natural Body of the Son of God was not exempted from sorrow because innocent his Trials began with his Life he had Enemies assoon as he had Subjects and if he saw Kings at his Cradle paying their Homages Positus est in signum cui contradicetur Luc. 2. he saw others conspiring his Death He was forced to commit his Safety to his Flight to seek an Asylum in Egypt and to passe his minority in a Countrey where his people spent the years of their Infancy the continuance of his life was not much different from his beginning hee lived not in security but whilest he lived unknown hee purchased his quiet with the losse of his Glory nor did he see himself without Enemies but during the time he got his living by the sweat of his brows Assoon as ever he began to appear he began to be persecuted Passionem auteÌ„ Christi non illuÌ„ diem solum appellamus quo mortuus f it sed totam vitam ejus Tota enim vita Chriâ—i crux fuit Martyrium Bernard The Preaching of the Gospel drew upon him the hatred of the Pharisees the lustre of his miracles made an end of him they plotted his death when he had raised Luzarus from the grave and the rage of these cruell men ended not with this life for they made war upon him after his death they endeavoured to destroy his Mysticall Body having destroyed his Naturall Body and God suffered them to have successours in their malice that the condition of these two Bodies might be alike Indeed the Church never wanted persecutors she hath seen all the Princes of the Earth armed against her Children Three full Ages have exercised her patience she hath watered the whole Earth with her blood neither is there any corner in the world wherein she hath not given testimony of her courage The conversion of Heathen Princes hath not been the end of her persecutions Sinners have succeeded Tyrants the good have found tormentors in the person of the wicked Every beleever hath found by experience that the Maxime of Saint Paul is true and that it is impossible to live piously and not to be persecuted All those that will live godlily in Christ Jesus must suffer persecution Indeed their persecution hath appeared glorious and 't is in this particular that they have another resemblance to the Naturall Body of the Son of God For his Father glorified him upon the Crosse hee would have his Innocence known at his Death that his Executioners should be the first witnesses of it that to the confusion of the Jews the Judge that condemned him should make his Apology that the Theeves that suffered with him should publish his Royalty and the Soldiers that nailed him to the Crosse become his Adorers But as if so many miracles had not sufficiently magnified his onely Son he would have whole Nature weare mourning for him The Sun must bewail his Death and the Earth tremble with amazement the rocks cleave asunder with pangs of sorrow and all creatures celebrate the obsequies of a dying God Indeed there never was a more dolefull and more
august solemnity then what appeared at the Death of Jesus Christ Men lament the death of their Soveraigns they expresse some sadnesse though for the most part 't is either counterfeit or interessed Those that expected their liberality are afflicted at their death those that feared their power or their displeasure rejoyce But were they so generally beloved that the regret was universall at least we must confesse that Nature would not weep over their Funerals she would be insensible of their death nor would she disorder her Course to witnesse her Lamentation This honour was reserved for Jesus Christ There was never any King but he registred by quick and dead None but this Innocent drew tears from the Stars and the Son of God is the only Soveraign whose obsequies all creatures solemnly attended 'T is true his Mysticall Body partakes of this honour with him Nature hath many times wrought miracles to publish the Innocence of Martyrs the fire hath lost his heat that it might not be instrumentall to their punishment wilde Beasts have waxed tame at their feet Omnes Martyres Deus Spiritualiter liberavit neminem Spritualiter deseruit visibiliter tamē quosdā deseruisse visus est quosdam eripuisse sed ideo quosdam eripuit neputes illum non potuisse eripere ubi non cripuit secretiorem intelligas voluntatem Aug. Tract 8. in Epist 10. and acknowledging in them a Grace more powerfull then that of Originall Righteousnesse they have many times forgot that fiercenesse the sin of man indued them with The Sea hath suffered violence to preserve them hath gently transported them upon his waves or suspending his waters as it were into Wals and Arches hath erected them Temples in his lowest Abysses But the Scripture whose every word is an Oracle teacheth us that the death of the Mysticall Body of Christ shall receive the same honours at the end of the world that his Naturall Body received in Mount Calvary For when the number of the Elect shall be perfect when Jesus Christ coming to judge the quick and the dead shall cut off the corrupted members from his Mysticall Body and remove those from his person that were united to it only by a vain Character and an unprofitable Faith the same prodigies that appeared at his death shall appear at this Judgement and according to the language of the Fathers Nature that bewailed Jesus Christ in his Naturall Body shall bewail him again in his Mysticall Body and all creatures shall put on mourning for the death of their Soveraign Finally these two Bodies shall have the same destiny after their Resurrection as they had the same during their Life for the one shall be glorified as the other and they shall both receive the recompence due to their labours The Son of God rose gloriously out of his Tomb after he had given assurance to his Apostles he was taken up into Heaven to reign there eternally with his Father The Angels made a part of his Triumph the Captives he delivered from the Lymbo's waited upon him those gates of Brasse and Steel that had been shut since the sin of Man opened at his word and his Body that was pierc'd with the nails rent with stripes torn with thorns was set at the right hand of his Father upon a Throne whose ornament was Justice and the foundation Mercy His Mysticall Body shall always receive the same glorious entertainment the Faithfull are admitted into the company of the Blessed the Saints shall reign in Heaven with the Angels they shall be mingled in their Hierarchies according to their merits and as heretofore of the Jew and Gentile was made one Church Militant of Men and Angels is daily made one Church Triumphant The bodies of the Faithfull shall accompany their souls in glory in the generall Resurrection those members that have suffered in the quarrell of Jesus Christ shall be freed from all miseries the Divine Providence shall rouze them out of their dormitories by the clattering sound of a miraculous trumpet it will find in spite of the flames those that have been burnt to ashes in spite of the waters those that have been swallowed up in the deep and working as many miracles as there shall be diversities of death to overcome shall treat the Faithfull as it hath already treated Jesus Christ so that we may say of both the Bodies of the Son of God those glorious words of the Apostle Great is the Mysterie of Godlinesse Indeed 't is a Sacrament of Piety that the Word was pleased to be allied to our nature and to the Church to have a Naturall Body and a Mysticall Body Which was manifested in the flesh both of them were manifested in the flesh because it was requisite that the Word should be made Incarnate to Espouse his Church Justified in the Spirit Both of them were justified in the Spirit because they are purely his work and the Regeneration of Beleevers is an Image of the Birth of Jesus Christ Seen of Angels Both of them appeared to Angels in that the same Spirits that waited upon the Son of God assisted his Spouse and extend their care over all her children Preached to the Gentiles beleeved on in the world Both of them were preached to the Gentiles by the Apostles and the mystery of the Incarnation joyned to that of their Vocation hath made up the best part of the Gospel Both of them were beleeved on in the world nor hath any thing more perswaded us of our future greatenesse then the condescention of the Eternall world Received up into Glory Finally both of them were exalted into Glory there to reign everlastingly that the blessedness of Iesus Christ may have its accomplishment and he be as happy in his Members as in his Person The Sixt DISCOURSE That the Church is the Spouse of Jesus Christ because she is his Body and of the Community of their Marriage ONe of the ancientest qualities of Iesus Christ is that of a Bridegroom Tanquam sponsus procedens de thalamo suo Psal 18. the Prophets have honoured him with this title in the Old Testament David in the forty fifth Psalm hath made his Epithalamium and Saint Iohn who was the end of Types and Figures and the Silence of the Prophets gave out that he was the Friend of the Bridegroom But Adam is the first that descovered to us this mystery and by his marriage represented to us that of Iesus Christ with his Church For besides that his wife was taken out of his side whilst he lay asleep as the Church was out of the side of the Son of God when he was dead we know that the Laws of that marriage more respected the second Adam then the first He having neither Father nor Mother was not obliged to forsake them to cleave unto his wife But Iesus Christ at his Incarnation left his Father when he took upon him the form of a Servant and his Mother at his Passion when he suffered death for
hath vouchsafed to bear our miseries hath been pleased to speak our language The Church saith that great Doctor is made up of all the Faithful Quia ergo totus Christus caput est corpus Ecclesiae prepter a in omnibus Psalmis sic audiamus voces capitis ut audiamus voces corporis Aug. in Psal 56. because all the Faithful are the Members of Jesus Christ Though her Head be in heaven he fails not to guide her upon earth and though separated by the distance of places ceaseth not to be united to her by charity Wherefore Christ making the Head and the Body we ought not in the Psalms to separate the voice of the Head from that of the Body nor think it strange that he that never deserted the Church never held other language then his Spouse did This it it that he treats of elsewhere in clearer and fuller terms If Jesus be our Head and we his Body the Head and the Body compose whole Jesus Christ nor is Jesus Christ entire if he comprehend not both This Maxime must serve us as a light to explain the Scripture by with which if we are not always enlightned we are in danger to mistake For sometimes we meet with words that cannot be applied to the Head and which would involve us in an errour or in doubt did we apply them to the body there are others that cannot be appropriated to the Body and yet are uttered by Jesus Christ To unravel these difficulties we need but attribute to the Head what cannot agree to the Body remembring that Jesus Christ speaks sometimes in his own person and sometimes in the person of the Church He spake certainly in her name when he complained that his Father had forsaken him because we know very well the Son was never abandoned by the Father were it not when he sustained the person of Adam who was forsaken of God as soon as he became guilty But because this Truth is but too evident let us pass to the Third condition of the Marriage of Jesus Christ with his Church and see how they are two in one and the same passion One of the chiefest effects of Love is Anima est magis ubi amat quà m ubi animat to make us Live where we Love and to make us Suffer where we Live Experience better perswades us of this Maxime then Reason and 't is needless to prove a Truth which every man may evidence in himself A father knows he is more affected with the sorrows of his children then with his own a husband is not ignorant that he sufters less in his own person then in that of his wife and all Lovers proclaim that the injuries or discontents of their Mistresses wound them deeper then those that fall upon themselves Siqua sides vulnus quod feci non dolet inquit Sed quod in facies hoc mihi Paetc dolet Mart. That generous gallant wife was well acquainted with this Axiome who protested she felt not the blowe the Poniard gave her self but onely that which her husband was resolved to receive As Charity which unites Jesus Christ to the Church is stronger then Conjugal love so doth it more advantageously produce this effect in them Their sufferings are common the Son of God suffers no sorrows which the Church resents not and the Church endures no torments which the Son of God complains not of Therefore hath S. Augustine said that the Church suffered in Jesus Christ when jesus Christ suffered for the salvation of the Church and that Jesus Christ suffered in the Church when the Church was persecuted for the glory of Jesus Christ their complaints were proofs of their sufferings and as the Church complained in Jesus Christ when he cried out upon the Cross My God my God why hast thou forsaken me Jesus complained in behalf of his Church when from the midst of his glory he said Saul Saul why persecutest thou me But as Saint Paul had learnt this truth from the mouth of the Son of God himself by whom he was informed that a man could not persecute the Church but he must persecute Jesus Christ there was not any of the Apostles who so highly exalted his labours as he did For knowing very well that he was a Member of the Church in which condition he could not suffer but Jesus Christ must suffer with him he speaks of his own sufferings as of those of his Master and out of a confidence which could arise from nothing but his love he boasts that in suffering he finished the Passion of Jesus Christ Adimpleo ea quae desunt passionum Christi He knew very well that nothing was wanting to the sorrows of the Son of God that the rage of the executioners was glutted upon his person that the Truth of Figures was accomplished in his death and that himself before he bowed his head and gave up the ghost had said aloud Consummatum est But he knew also that Jesus Christ had two Bodies that he suffered in one what he could not suffer in the other and that honouring his Father in both he sacrificed himself in his Members after he had sacrificed himself in his Person S. Augustine happily expresseth the meaning of S. Paul in these words Jesus Christ suffers no more in that flesh he carried into heaven but he suffers in mine that is still persecuted upon the earth nor are we to wonder at it because it is no more I that live but he that liveth in me And if this Maxime were not true Jesus Christ had never complained of the persecution of Saul nor ever Saul have been so bold as to say he had filled up what was wanting in the sufferings of Christ But a little to clear this passage we must say that the Son of God being the Pledge and Surety of sinners was willing to satisfie the justice of his Father and bear all the pains their sins deserved Passio Domini usque ad finem munâ—i producitur sicut in Sanctis suis ipse honoratur ipse diligitur in pauperibus ipse pascitur ipse vestitur ita in omnibus qui pro justitia adversae tolerant ipse compatitur Leo. de pass Dom. Ser. 19. Death being one of the severest and the sentence that designes us to it expresses no one kinde that we might fear all the Son will have them undergo all and by that stratagem of Love change all our Chastisements into Oblations of piety But because the Body his mother gave him could not suffer all these deaths their different kinds being incompatible and that one and the same man could not be nailed to the Cross devoured by wilde beasts choaked in the waters consumed by the flames he was pleased to associate a mystical Body which being compounded of different Members might undergo divers punishments and to satisfie the excess of his Charity might honour his Father by as many sacrifices as there were kindes of death in
Nature Thus was he torn in pieces by lions in the person of S. Ignatius devoured by flames in that of S. Laurence stoned in that of S. Stephen beheaded in that of S. Paul and this great Apostle that knew the desires of Jesus Christ rejoyced to accomplish them by his sufferings and to be one of those Victims whereby he adored the Justice and the Soveraignty of his Father But not to urge this conceit any further 't is enough that we learn from it that Jesus and the Church are united in their sufferings upon earth and by a necessary consequence assures us they shall be so one day in their rest in heaven For though the Church sigh here belowe she knows her Beloved will keep his word that having had a part in his sorrows she shall have a share in his triumphs and having been two in one Flesh they shall be two in one and the same Felicity She hath the promises of Jesus Christ for caution of her hope and when she remembers the prayer her Beloved made to his Father in her behalf she expects the performance with constancy of assurance Father I will that where I am there also my servants be Whenever Jesus Christ speaks to his Father 't is with so much respect that he seems rather a Servant then a Son when he asks that his Church may reign with him in his glory 't is with so much freedom of speech that he seems equal to his Father and that his demand is rather a determination then a prayer Volo Pater so that the Church who hath passed thorow all the degrees of unity with her Beloved expects this last with confidence and makes no more doubt of the Eternity of her rest then of the Verity of the words of her Beloved She believes that the union he hath contracted with her puts her in possession of her hopes that she enjoys in him what she hopes for in her self that she is glorious in her Body because she is so in her Head and that during the evils she suffers Ubi portio mea regnat ibi me regnare puto ubi caput meum dominatur ibi me dominari sentio D. Max. Serm. 3. she may boast her self happie because nothing is wanting to the felicity of her Beloved She hath now in Christ what she hopes for in her self and according to the judgement of S. Maxime she believes to raign there already where the most illustrious part of her Body reigns and conceives her self exalted above the Angels in the person of him that considers her as his Spouse and looks upon them as his Subjects The Seventh DISCOURSE That the quality of the Members of Jesus Christ is no more advantageous to Christians then that of the Brethren of Jesus Christ IT is not without great reason Unigenitus Dei factus est hominis filius ut qui Creator mundi erat fieret Redemptor Aug. that the same God that created us by his Power hath redeemed us by his Mercy For these two favours being extreme we should have had much ado equally to have acknowledged them Having but one heart to love with we must of necessity have divided our affections and the benefit of Redemption surpassing that of Creation we had been constrained to prefer our Redeemer before our Creator But the Divine Providence saith S. Bernard hath delivered us from this perplexity for he that drew us out of Nothing hath drawn us out of Sin and he that Created us is the same that Redeemed us so that without any fear of Jealousie we may compare these two benefits and give one the pre-eminence without injuring him of whom we have received them Me thinks I may say the same concerning the subject I am in hand with and free from any apprehension confront the quality of Brethren with that of Members because we hold them both of Jesus Christ and that the same who was pleased to be our Brother disdained not to be our Head Nature hath found out no alliance neerer then that of Brothers and Members and though she be so ingenious she hath not been able to link men in a stronger bond of relation then in giving them one and the same Father or one and the same Head Brothers are Slips of the same Stock if they ascend one degree they will finde that before their conception they made one portion of their Father and that before their birth they were a part of the bowels of their mother Friendship which is so much esteemed of in the world is but a Copie of this Alliance Friends are Brethren that our Will bestows upon us and Brethren are Friends that Nature stores us with but as that which is voluntary never equals that which is natural 't is very hard for Friends to love so tenderly as Brothers do Nevertheless if the affinity of these begin by Unity it insensibly tends to Division Brothers children are but Cousins their Grandchildren are yet at a farther distance and it falls out in time that those that issued from one father become by continuance of Generations strangers and enemies I know very well that Christians have priviledges that raise them above the condition of Men and that Grace more powerful then Nature hath given them a Father and Mother from whom they are never divided For the Son of God unites us to his Person in begetting us of children he makes us members and as if the Alliance of Father were not strict enough he becomes our Head that subsisting in him our life may be inseparable from his The Church imitates the charity of her Beloved she is so tenderly affected towards her children that she brings them up in the same bosome where she conceived them There are none but Hereticks that go out from her and they as Vipers must tear her bowels and offer violence to her Love in making a breach in her Unity Though other Mothers bear their children Nine months with an affection that solaceth their travel yet do they long to be eased of that painful load and the Infant desires to quit that troublesome prison Both of them do their utmost for a separation and if the children seek their liberty the mothers are as earnest after their delivery But the Church is so good a Mother she is never rid of her burden they always make a part of her inwards as they always are a part of the body of their Father they are born in the same place they are formed and as their Regeneration divides them not from Jesus Christ their Generation divorces them not from the Church But who sees not that to entertain this Union the quality of Members comes in to the assistance of that of Children and that the Faithful are much more knit together for being Members of the same Head then for being Children of the same Father We make up one Body with him Time that divides Brothers cannot divide Christians and as nothing but death can disjoyn the members
agnosce â—e in ipso tentatum te in illo agnosce vincentem Aug. Jesus Christ saith he was tempted by the evil spirit in the desart or rather we were tempted in him for 't is from us that he took Flesh from him that we derive Salvation 't is from us that he receives his Death from him that we receive our Life 't is from us that he had these affronts cast upon him from him that we have Honours conferred upon us 'T is therefore for our sakes that he suffered Temptation and for his sake that we carry away the victory Or to say the same thing in other words If we were tempted in him 't is in him also that we overcame the devil our enemy He certainly could have difcarded him from his person and using him like a rebellious slave have punished his rash boldness by commanding him to hell but had he not been willing to be tempted he had not taught us to overcome by his example nor had the combat he fought in the wilderness procured us the honour of a Triumph Thus the quality of Head is injurious to Jesus Christ and honourable to Christians because in that exchange it obliged him to make with them he endured the shame of the Temptation and purchased for them the advantage of the Victory Finally to conclude this Discourse The Son of God was willing to bear the reproaches of the Cross and to merit for us the priviledges of Glory For being charged with our iniquities he suffered death the punishment of them permitted Shame to be added to Cruelty that spoiling him of Life Si moriamur saltem cum libertate moriamur Cicero in Verâ—em de Crucis supplicio agens they might withal rob him of his Honour and he might give up the ghost as an Offender and a Slave together In the mean time his Punishment purchased our Glory his Death merited our Immortality and in stead of taking vengeance of our crimes he procures us his own advantages It seems saith S. Augustine the Father mistook himself he treats his onely Son as a Delinquent and handles Men as Innocents he crowns him with Thorns these with Glory and confounding the Sinner with the Just confounds Chastisements with Rewards But if we consider that the Son of God took our place and we his that he is our Head and we his Members we shall finde that his Father had reason to punish him and to reward us because having made a change with us he is become Guilty we Innocent Let us therefore be thankful to Jesus Christ who disdained not a quality which investing him with our Nature chargeth him with our sins and our infirmities and uniting him to us as to his Members obliges him to be tempted to make us victorious Ille quippe Christianorum caput in omnibus tentari voluit quia tentamur sic morivoluit quiae morimur sic resurgere quiae resurrecturi sumus Aug. in Psal 9. Serm. 2. and to suffer the death of the Cross to obtain for us the glory of Immortality The Ninth DISCOURSE Of the duties of Christians as Members toward Jesus Christ as their Head THough the duties of the Head and of the Members are reciprocal and that composing one Body they are obliged to a mutual correspondence arising from Necessity as well as Love yet there is no man but will acknowledge that as the Members receive more assistance from the Head ten the Head from the Members so are they tied to greater expressions of dependence Nature which is an excellent mistress in this matter instructs us that the life of the Members depends upon the Head and their very preservation obliges them to three or four duties without which they can no ways subsist Their Interest requires that they be inseparably fastned to that from whence they receive their life lest their division with their death deprive them of all those advantages which spring from the union they have with their Head Thus we see that the Hand which is one of the most ingenious parts of the body and which may be called the Mother of all Arts and the faithfullest Minister of the Soul loseth its dexterity and comeliness as soon as separated from the Head that enlivens it The Feet though not so noble as the Hands are yet as necessary being the moveable Foundations of this living building are destitute of all strength when they have no commerce with the Head This indeed ceaseth not to act and move though provided neither of Hands nor Feet when Nature fails it hath recourse to Art and being the throne of the Soul ransacks all her treasures of Invention to execute that by it Self Omnis salus omnis vita à capite in caeterae membra derivatur Galen was wont to be put in execution by its Members But though the hands are so industriously subtil and the legs so vigorously strong they are absolutely useless because their separation deprives them of the influences of their head This Maxime so notorious in Nature is much more evident in Grace For the Son of God hath no need of his Members 't is Mercy and not Necessity obligeth him to make use of them He is not at all more powerful when united to them nor more feeble when separated from them Faith tells us he can do all things without them whereas they can doe nothing without him Therefore is he compared to the Vine and they to the Branch to acquaint them that all their vertue flows from his and being pluckt from his Body can as the Branch expect nothing but the fire Therefore the first obligation of Christians is to unite themselves to Jesus Christ to seek their life in this union and to believe that their death is the infallible consequence of their division This is it that Saint Augustine represents us in this Discourse which though long cannot be tedious because there is nothing in it that is not delightfull and necessary As the Body hath many members which though different in number make up but one body so Jesus Christ hath many members which in the diversity of their conditions constitute also but one body so that we are always with him as with our Head and drawing from him our strength as well as our life we can neither act nor live without him We with him make up a fruitful Vine that bears more Grapes then Leaves but divided from him we are like those Branches which being good for nothing are destin'd to the slames when stript off from the Vine Therefore doth the Son of God so earnestly affirm it in the Gospel that without him we can doe nothing that our interests as well as our love Domine si fine te nihil totum in te possumus Etenim quicquid ille operatur per nos videmur nos operari potest ille multum totum sine nobis nos nihil sine ipso Aug. in Psal 30. may engage us to be united to his
may any way annoy it yet from a higher principle 't is informed that its life depends upon the Head and that 't is oblig'd to expose its self in his defence Thence it comes to pass that the hands ward the blow which is aimd at the Head that they readily oppose themselves to the danger that threatens it and forgetting their proper interests sacrifice themselves for the preservation of this Chief Thence it is that soldiers jeopard their lives in the quarrel of their Soveraign slighting the hail of Musquets the brunt of Pikes and the Thunder of Canons to augment his Glory or widen his State They are never more valiant then when his Person is in danger the greatness of the hazard heightens their courage and opinion or nature perswades them that living more in him then in themselves their death is less considerable then his Many times it fals out that he for whom they sacrifice themselves is some old Dotard spent with labour and age and hath but a few moments to live In the mean time because they know he is the soul of the State and the Head of his subjects they are perswaded they preserve themselves in dying in his defence and imagine that as Fathers live again in their children the members receive a new beeing in their Head This Paradox finds belief amongst all complexions there is not the meanest soldier but ventures his life upon this Maxime and I rather conceive their courage quickned by this consideration then by the hope of profit and reputation because all men are neither ambitious nor covetous but all being members of the State are instructed by nature to die for the defence of their Head Forasmuch as Grace is much more powerfull then Nature Vivificati sunt Martyres ne amando vitam negarent vitaÌ„ negando vitam amitterent vitam ac fic qui pro vita veritatem deserere noluerunt moriendo pro veritate vixe unt Aug. Concil 20. in Psal 118. it hath so strongly imprinted this Maxime in the soul of the subjects of Jesus Christ that there are no torments can wear it our For the Grace that makes them Christians secretly disciplines them that they are parts of the Mysticall Body of the Son of God that their condition obliges them to expose themselves for his Glory that they ought to be his Victimes because they are his Members and that they are bound to imitate the Wisdome of the Serpent that hides his Head with his whole Body knowing very wel that 't is the Fountain of Life and provided he may secure that can receive no wound that 's mortall The Martyrs animated with this Faith defended Jesus Christ who lived in them they sufferd death saith Saint Augustine to secure themselves from death they parted with that life they had received from Adam to guard that they had received from the Son of God so that it happily fell out that those who would not relinquish Truth to save their lives recoverd that in Heaven which they lost upon Earth and liv'd above eternally being content for the profession of the Truth to die here below miserably They laughed at all the threats of Tyrants and whilst they were covered with obloquies loaded with irons and burnt with flames they drew strength from him for whose sake they suffered and lifting up their now-expiring voice said If God be for us who can be against us When they were told as Saint Augustine saith how all the world was banded against them they answerd couragiously why should we fear the world who die for the glory of hâ—m that made the world What hurt can this hatred doe us who are environed with the love of God And why should we trouble our selves if our enemies spoil us of our bodies seeing he that defends our souls will restore our bodies in glory where being united to our Head we shall triumph over griefs and executioners Though persecution doe not exercise the courage of the Martyrs and the peace the Church enjoys suffer not the Faithfull to expose their lives for the quarrel of Jesus Christ they cease not to be obliged to this duty in a thousand opportunities if occasion present not it self they must preserve a will to it if they cannot suffer death they must suffer shame and confusion for his glory and when the world shall overturn the maximes of the Gospel to set up the maximes of Libertinisme or Impiety then is it that Christians must call to mind that they are the Members of Jesus Christ that they must prefer his interests before their own honour and if they be so happy as to sacrifice their lives for the defence of their Head they must be so stout as to sacrifice their reputation who requires this duty of them as the surest testimony of their love The Tenth DISCOURSE That all is common among Christians as among Members of the same Body AS Mans Body is the perfectest Image of the Church the Members that compose it are also the liveliest representatives of Christians Both of them live in unity depend of the same Head and are inform'd with the same Spirit Both of them preserve their differences in their Unity and exhibit in their mutuall correspondence that agreeable variety that sets an estimate upon all the works of Nature Though these Mysticall and Naturall members conspire altogether for the publick good they cease not to have their different employments Each particular acts according to its capacity they never trespass one upon another and as there are none useless they have all their severall functions which they exercise without confusion and jealousie their faculties are answerable to their employments Nature gives every one what is necessary for them to act according to her orders and Grace never refuses the others what they stand in need of to operate according to its motions But the most wonderful resemblance I find between the members of these two Bodies is that their good and bad occurrences are common and that living in a perfect society no sad disaster happens to one but all the rest are affected with it One sole blow makes a thousand wounds at once and though there be but one part set upon all the rest testifie their compassion The foot seems to be in the body what the foundation is in the building 't is not the noblest part though one of the necessariest and it seems by the distance 't is aâ— from others it should have less communication with them In the mean time if it be prickt with a thorn the pain is dispersed through all the body Every member affords it some good office and the care they have to assist it testifieth what share they have in the misfortune The Tongue complains for it this faithfull Interpreter gives advice to all the rest to shew how much the evil concerns her she speaks of it as her own and to hear her talk one would think she had been hurt too The Eyes being more delicate and
away his desires and his hopes to give Jesus Christ some testimonies of his love Therefore doth the Scripture inform us that there is no Vertue receives a greater recompence then Self-denial The Man that is knockt off from himself is united to the Son of God the creatures respect him the Sun obeys his word and 't is in this sense that the Scripture to make his Panegyrick is not content to say that he pronounceth Oracles but addes that he gains Battles and bears away victories by speaking All things stoop to his commands and more glorious then the first man who could not use the creatures but according to their inclinations he disorders them to make himself feared and testifies the power he hath in the state of his Master by the command he exerciseth over all the parts of the Universe Thus Self-denial which seems to abase men raiseth them up the Vertue that entertains them in the distrust of their weakness gives them admittance into the power of God and that which obligeth them to renounce their own will makes them find the accomplishment of all their desires The Sixth TREATISE Of the Nourishment and Sacrifice of the Christian The first DISCOURSE Of Three Nourishments answering the Three Lives of a Christian. SOme will wonder perhaps that in the same Treatise I joyn two such different things together and that speaking of Nourishment which preserves the life of a Christian I treat of a Sacrifice that engageth him in Death But the wonder will cease if we consider that these two things are united together in Religion and that the same Sacrament that feeds us obligeth us also to die For the Son of God upon our Altars is as well our Nourishment as our Victim inviting us to a Feast he bids us to a Sacrifice and his Love associating two Subjects which have so small a relation he makes use of one and the same body to destroy our sins and to preserve our souls He offers himself up to his Father as an innocent Sacrifice and gives himself to the Faithful as a delicious Viand His Power which equals his Love takes from this Sacrifice whatever might render it horrid and removes from this Banquet whatever might make it sensual In both of them he satisfies his Father and his Children and exalting us in the light of Faith makes us believe what we cannot conceive Following therefore his intentions I have joyned in the same Treatise what he hath joyned in the same Mystery and resolve to manifest the wonders of this Food and the Prodigies of this Sacrifice Reason that teacheth us that Nourishment is the staff of Life teacheth us also that every living thing hath need of Nourishment and that the Divine Providence whose care is extended over all the Creatures hath left none without aliment This feedeth the Fowls of the air and the Psalmist confesseth it provided for the necessities of their young when forsaken by the dams It maketh Grass to grow in the desarts for the Cattel and Rain which seems unprofitably to fall into the Sea serves for refreshing and meat for the Fishes Inasmuch as Men are Gods master-pieces he takes a particular care to nourish them whole Nature labours to furnish their Table her fruitfulness is onely to satisfie their hunger or content their appetite and every Creature she teems with seems a Victim to be immolated to preserve their life But as they have Three Lives that answer to the Three Orders of Nature of Grace and of Glory God hath given them Three sorts of Food which in the difference of their qualities cease not to have wonderful Correspondencies The Earth is the Nurse that furnisheth us our chiefest nourishment that Divine word Crescite multiplicamini which enricht her with fruitfulness in the very birth hath preserved this prolifical vertue in the succession of so many yeers and if the Justice of God make her not barren for our punishment she returns with usury the laborious pains of the Husbandman Corn which is our principal support is multiplied by its corruption 't is born by death and making us see an image of the Resurrection perswades us our bodies may rise out of the Grave after they have been resolved to dust because the Grain springs not up till it be putrified in the earth This production would pass for a Miracle were it not so common and to observe the wonders thereof would be sufficient to oblige all men to reverence the power and wisdom of the Creator For when the Corn is corrupted it puts forth a bud which cleaves the earth and covers it with a tuft of Grass which preserves its verdure in the midst of the sharpest Winters At the Spring it thrusts forth a stalk which riseth insensibly and from time to time is strengthned with joynts to resist the violence of the windes Upon the top is formed an Ear wherein Nature seems to employ all her industry Seritur solummodo granum sine folliculi teste sine fundamento spicae fine munimento aristae fine superbia culmi Exurgit autem copia faenâ—ratum compagine aedisicatam ordine structum cultu munitum usquequaque vestituÌ„ Tertul. every grain is inclosed in a husk that if one be corrupted the rest may not be infected and the evil prove not a contagion each husk is fenced with a prizly sharp to guard the inclosed fruit from the injury of the air and the rapine of birds The heat of the Summer compleats the whole work gives it Colour in giving it Maturity and gently opening the several cells which lock up the treasure of the Husbandman admonisheth him to prepare for the Harvest If this Wonder ravish us and if we are bound to reverence the Divine Providence which makes the earth fruitful to nourish us we are not less concerned to admire the prodigious alterations it causeth in Nature to increase provision For it makes use onely of Rain to enrich us and from this inexhausted source draws so many different Fruits that if their number please us their qualities astonish us Rain is nothing but a Vapour in the conception the Sun sports with it in the air thickens it into a cloud to take it out of our sight then destroying his own work dissolves it into showers to water the thirsty earth In the mean time this Rain is turned into all things it toucheth takes the nature and quality of those things it bathes and by a miraculous Metamorphosis is changed into Wine falling upon grapes into Oil upon olives It contracts the taste of all Fruits and the colour of all Flowers It grows yellow upon the Marigolds red upon Pinks white upon Lilies and though when it falls it have neither taste nor colour yet may it boast it gives both to all Fruits and all Flowers This prodigious change which is daily wrought upon the earth is but an overture of that which is made upon the Body of Man to maintain it For all the Nourishment he
the heat of self-love makes in our souls In which respect 't is certainly the truth of the Tree of Life and the accomplishment of that figure For though Innocent Man had other meats besides that and excepting the forbidden fruit all others that Paradise afforded were allowed him yet was he obliged to take of this from time to time as a medicine which the mercy of God had prepared for him to defend him against the Natural heat which insensibly wasted him Whence it is easie to infer that in the state of Innocence the body of man was composed of parts that could not agree That fire which makes man live devoured the radical moisture on which it feeds and though he daily took in nourishment which being much purer then ours might preserve life much longer yet had he need of an extraordinary diet which might repair the ruines the natural heat made in his body and Divines Providence which never abandons that sinner provided the Tree of Life for Innocent Man to defend him against the internal enemy who had insensibly brought him to death by means of old age and consumption Thus may we say that the body of the Son of God shields us against that forain heat Concupiscentia carnis in Baptismo dimittitur non ut non sit sed ut non obsit non imput tur Aug. lib. de Nup. Concup cap. 25. which setting upon the warmth of Charity threatens the Christian with death For though Concupiscence since Baptism be no longer sin and if sometimes they give it this name 't is because it is the principal effect yet is she not idle in our souls she makes strange progresses when her fury is not stopt she makes use of all occasions that are offered and holding under her command the passions and the senses she endeavours by their mediation to enslave the understanding and the will Though never so weak and langnishing in Christians she hath still vigour enough to engage them in sin if their reason assisted with grace continually oppose not her designs The little remainder there is makes them they cannot live secure and as long as they nourish the least degree of self-love there is no crime whereof they have not the seeds in them What the Son of God hath said of the grain of Mustard seed which is so small at first and so prodigious in the progress is not comparable to Concupiscence whose least sparks are able to kindle mighty conflagrations which only the Grace of Jesus Christ can extinguish Indeed his Body the noblest Organ of his Spirit moderates daily these heats in the Eucharist smothers the flames Concupiscence stirs up to consume us he gives beeing to that vertue that fight obscenity weakens that strange burning which glows against divine heat without which a Christian cannot live He produceth two contrary effects which manifests his power to be infinite For by kindling one fire he quencheth another and warming us with his own love happily delivers us from that of self 'T is a a wonderful Wine which contrary to the nature of ordinary wine bears Virgins and renders them pure thereby to render them pregnant in Vertues Finally 't is a Bread of Life that nourisheth soul and body carrying vigour into the one and light into the other to the end that preserving the whole man it may be his food in health and his remedy in sickness Having contrary to the Laws of Physick cured him contrary to the Laws of Nature it endeavours to make him young For Religion more powerful then the Fable hath found out a secret to renue the Christians youth in the Eucharist and to discover in Mysteries what it made us believe in Types and Figures Indeed all the Fathers are of opinion that the Tree of Life defended man from old age and preserved him from that languishing consumption which disposed him insensibly to his death if common fruits could preserve his life they were unable to maintain his vigour Though they had all the purity Innocent Nature could furnish her works with yet in repairing mans strength they had not restored that freshness which accompanies youth To secure himself from that mischief which had not respected his Innocence he was obliged to have recourse to the Tree of Life and from time to time to take an agreeable Physick which being no way distasteful restored him his primitive vigour and re-instated him in that flourishing age he was at first created in It is true that as Prudence was natural to him he never expected length of days to impair his beauty nor that old-age should print wrinkles upon his face he made such seasonable use of this remedy that the freshness of his complexion never faded The Roses and the Lilies were always mingled on his cheeks age and deformity never seized a body whose soul was exempt from sin and the fruit of the Tree of Life seconding his ordinary food maintained him in a vigorous constitution which was afraid neither of Sickness nor Weakness In this happie state Man had the advantages of the Aged and not their imperfections his Reason without the tedious trouble of Experience was furnished with all Lights requisite to conduct him he had no need to enfeeble his body to fortifie his minde but both the parts that composed him being equally innocent he had no occasion to wish that age might weaken the one to make it more obedient nor strengthen the other to render it more absolute Thus the fruit of the Tree of Life maintained Man in Youth and Innocence and these two inseparable qualities combating Old-age and Sin made him spend his life happily and holily Although Christians have not this advantage upon the earth and that their body being still the slave of Concupiscence cannot avoid the infirmities incident to old-age yet in their souls they fail not to enjoy the priviledges of Innocence they finde in the holy Sacrament what Adam found in the Tree of Life they receive a new vigour in the Eucharist their souls grow young as often as they approach to Jesus Christ when like Eagles they soar as high as this Sun lodg'd in a cloud they are astonished that in the infirmity of their flesh their spirit is renewed and that the outward man falling to decay by yeers and penance the inward man recruits by the heavenly meat he feeds upon This Miracle passeth sometimes from the soul to the body yet there have been some holy persons who taking no other sustenance but what is offered upon our Altars have lived many yeers Many times this Nutriment hath imprinted its qualities upon their bodies and darting forth certain rays of Grace upon their countenances communicated to them a part of that beauty which the blessed spirits shall possess Post primā caenam it a similes evascrunt Christodiscipuli ejus ut vix ab illo possent discerni Chrys S. John Chrysostome was of opinion that the Apostles participated of this priviledge in their
had not this mystery been attended with other consequences and had not the holy Sacrament been added to the Incarnation the Man-God had not communicated to us his qualities and remaining still the children of Adam we had never been made the children of God This great effect was reserved for the Eucharist 't is in this mystery that whole Nature was Deified and we may say that if the Communication of the Word in the Incarnation was infinite it was not immense but in the holy Sacrament of the Altar There it is that we become Gods without committing a crime there Piety satisfies our Ambition there the union we contract with the Word imitates and honours That it contracted with the Father from all Eternity Finally there it is that the onely Son becomes the first-born and taking us for his Brethren makes us the Children and withal the Images of his Father After this great advantage 't is not hard to conceive that he was willing to content our third desire and having made us Gods hath indued us with Knowledge to bestow upon us in earnest what the devil promised us in jest For this Spirit who still retains so much light amidst the thickness of his darkness perceiving that the desire of Knowledge is one of the strongest Passions of Man perswaded him that God had not forbidden him the use of the fruit he advised him to eat but to keep him in ignorance and to deprive him of those innocent pleasures Science brings with it into the minde This temptation proved so powerful that it prevailed upon man for his consent and he that had resisted the promises of Glory and Life suffered himself to be charmed with the hope of Knowledge Indeed we must confess that of all the Passions this is the most reasonable Beasts are moved with the love of Life and Glory they fear Death and Dishonour They fight to be secured from both these and those that are accounted the noblest are as ambitious in their victories of the increase of their reputation as of the preservation of their life But the desire of Knowledge is peculiar to Man there is no creature but he that takes pains to be delivered from Ignorance His combats for Glory are not more famous then his disputes for Truth and Conquerors take less pleasure to gain Slaves then Philosophers do to purchase Disciples The contestation of Wits is nobler then that of Bodies and if there be any conflict among the Angels it more resembles that of Philosophers then that of Conquerors The Understanding and the Will are the onely Atms made use of either for offence or defence whole Nature is the Field the differences spring not from the divers interests of Soveraigns but from the contrary opinions of Masters the recompence of the Victors is not so much the Conquest of Glory as of Knowledge they are never more satisfied with their advantage then when of their Enemies they make their Partisans and delivering them from Errour and Falsehood enrich them with Knowledge and Truth Therefore did the devil make use of this stratagem to gain man to his side and believed that if any thing in the world would make him forget his duty 't was his desire to Know Good and Evil. In the mean time Man lost his Light by losing his Innocence the father of Lyes plunged him in darkness and falling into the pit of Sin by a just judgement he fell into the abyss of Ignorance But Jesus Christ all whose Promises are Truth opens the eyes of the soul to the Faithful that receive his Body he enlightens their Understanding and warms their Will he manifests himself to those that receive him in this Sacrament and leading them to Knowledge by the mystery of Faith may be said to give them sight by making them blinde 'T is in the breaking of this Bread that his disciples know him 't is by the vertue of this Drink that the scales are taken from their eyes and 't is by the Grace of this Food that the Just who are nourished therewith receive Understanding together with Life If Jesus Christ raign upon our Altars as a Soveraign he instructs thence as a Master if we are his Subjects in that condition we are also his Disciples and if he gives us Laws to regulate us he gives us Counsels to inform us From all this Discourse 't is easie to infer that Jesus Christ is the God of Truth and the Devil the Father of Lyes That the One promising us Honour Knowledge and Life involved us in Shame Ignorance and Death the Other giving us his Body made us Wise Immortal and Glorious The Fifth DISCOURSE That this Nourishment unites the Christian with the Son of God INasmuch as Unity is the most excellent perfection of God all the works of his hands bear the Character thereof there is no creature that in his composition maintains not this advantage he ceaseth to subsist or live assoon as he begins to be divided and if S. Augustine judged rightly that grief was nothing but the division of the soul we may say that death is nothing but the dissolution of the body Thence it comes to pass that God in Nature and in Grace that he may preserve his creatures maintains them in unity and makes his noblest operations and his highest mysteries serviceable to this design His Providence that guides the Universe takes no other care but to associate the creatures together that their union may compose the worlds Harmony As the Battles of Princes tend to peace the jar of the Elements wrangles out a concord if they recede from their contraries 't is to embrace their like and when they seem most incensed they intend not so much a mutual destruction as to remove those obstacles that hinder their alliance That which is done in Nature is effected in Grace all the operations thereof mean only to reconcile us to God Teneamus charitatem fine qua etiam cum Sacramentis cum fide nibil sumus tenemus autem charitatem si amplectimur unitatem Aug. This noble expression of the Divine Essence breaths nothing but Unity and these austere Vertues which seem to annihilate the sinner have no other end but to destroy his sin to re-unite him to his Principle All our Mysteries and all our Sacraments seek the same end by different ways Baptism unites us to Jesus Christ as to our Head Repentance as to our Surety the Eucharist as to our Beloved because compleating all the other unions it happily converts us into him that nourisheth us with his Flesh and Bloud This design hath excellently appeared in the choice he made of the matter of this Sacrament For the Bread whose substance is changed into that of the Body of Jesus Christ is made up of many grains of corn which being kneaded and baked together composeth that Sacrifice which is offered upon our Altars The Wine whose substance is turned into the Bloud of Christ is compounded of many Grapes which
by the Resurrection nor will the Faithful be truly consummated till he shall be transformed into God by the splendours of Glory Therefore doth Saint Augustine in his Comment upon that passage of the Psalmist Introibo in domum tuam in Holocaustis deliver these excellent words which serve greatly to illustrate this truth The Holocaust is a Sacrifice wherein the Victime is wholly devoured by the fire and the Church in the expectation she hath one day to be admitted into Heaven useth the same language and perswades her self that the fire of glory will consume her to the end that nothing of her self remaining in her she may be wholly her Beloveds This desire will not be accomplisht till the general Resurrection when our mortal shall be cloathed with Immortality and life shall triumph over death the Divine fire will produce this effect and consuming all our perishable being will make of us an Holocaust For nothing mortall shall remain in our flesh nothing culpable in our soul both of them shall be consummated by life that passing into a new being we may become the Holocausts of the Lord. That which ought to befall all Christians at the day of the generall Resurrection did happen to Jesus Christ at the day of his glorious Resurrection Death was swallowed in Life Glory consumed infirmity and leaving the likeness of sin he entred into the Majesty of God his Father But because this sacrifice would be impetfect if the Communion did not succeed the Consummation The love power of Jesus Christ invented a means whereby without departing from God he might communicate himself to the Faithful and make them partakers of his body and bloud This is done upon our Altars where offering up himself daily he finisheth the sacrifice of the Cross and by a mystery worthy of his charity he communicates not only the merits of his death but the very victime that was immolated upon Mount Calvary It bears the name of sacrifice not only because it finisheth that of the Cross which precisely contains nothing but the killing of the sacrifice but for that it exhibits all the marks of a true sacrifice For besides that it is the verity of the sacrifice of Melchisedeh instituted by the High Priest who hath commanded his Ministers to doe it in remembrance of him We may say without any offence to piety that it hath more shew of a sacrifice then that of the Cross because it begins with Prayer succeeds the eating of the Paschal Lamb as the substance the shadow contains an innocent victime is instituted by words dedicated to sacrifices and examining it seriously we shall find the oblation of the victime because there it is offered by the hands of the Priest His mystical death because immolated not by the knife but by the Word of God its perfect consummation because in a glorious condition which rescues it from all humane miseries and its communion because taken into the bosome of God Sacrificium corporis sanguinis Christi successit omnibus sacrificiis veteris Testamenti quae immolabantur in umbra hujus futuri Aug. and the mouth of the Faithful But though all these conditions should fail it would be enough to say that as the death of Jesus Christ though but the killing of the victime ceaseth not to be a true sacrifice that of the Altar though but the communion of the victim ceaseth not to be also a true sacrifice though to speak properly both of them make but one perfect sacrifice according to the true sense of those words of Saint Paul Vna oblatione consummavit sanctificatos and that one and the same Jesus is continually the victime but in such different conditions that they give occasion to Divines to make them pass for two distinct sacrifices The Ninth DISCOURSE Of the difference between these two Sacrifices and what the Christian receives in the one and in the other THough it were very easie to demonstrate the wonderful resemblances which are found between the sacrifice of the Cross and of the Altar and without doing violence to Scripture we might make it appear that one is the image of the other that the same victime is immolated in Both that the Eternall Father is equally honoured in Both and that the Faithful receive thence like advantages yet because things are illustrated better by their differences then their similitudes and that which distinguisheth them from others is always more particularly theirs I have designed this Discourse to unfold the oppositions Nature and Grace hath placed in these two sacrifices Quod autem mortuus est peccato mortuus est semel quod autem vivit vivit Deo Ro. 6. which though one and the same thing in their ground and foundation are notwithstanding different in their circumstances whereof the first is that that of the Cross was never offered but once and this of the Altar is offered every day For the right understanding of this difference we must know that the sacrifice of the Cross is a sacrifice of Redemption Qui non habet necessitatē quotidie quemadmodū sacerdotes prius pro suis delictis hostias offerre deinde pro populi hoc enim fecit semel se offerendo Hebrae 7. where the victime is charged with the sins of the world satisfies for them by the infiniteness of his merits appeaseth the Justice of the Eternal Father and delivers men from the tyranny of the Devil Inasmuch as all those things are no otherwise performed then by the death of Christ which cannot be repeated without a miracle and the Glory whereinto he is entred suffers him not to die a second time Saint Paul tels us that he redeemed the world by that one only sacrifice The Priests of the Old Testament were bound to reiterate their sacrifices because the merit of the victime was limited and to speak properly were neither acceptable to God nor meritorious for men but because they were the Figures of Jesus Christ But inasmuch as the Sacrifice he offered to his Father upon the Cross is of infinite merit he need not repeat it and having sufficiently expiated all the sins of the world it had been useless to pacifie God who was no longer offended and to satisfie for those faults which were already pardoned Thence it comes to pass that the Sacraments which exhibit the death of the Son of God and are applicatory to us of their merit imprint a Character upon us and are never performed twice Baptism is administred but once not onely because it is the Christians birth which cannot be done over again but also because it is the Figure of the death of Christ which according to the language of S. Paul Sicut semel Christus moritur in Cruce ita semel Christianus moritur in Baptismo Aug. cannot be readministred without offence Therefore is it that the same Apostle condemning those that gave themselves over to sin in hope to make an atonement by a second Baptism said to the
for considering the advantages which he promised himself by death how that it would unite him to Jesus Christ he called it by a new name his Gains and his Riches it enters into his minde as the recompence of his travels an indempnity for his losses and the most assured purchase he could make in this world Mihi vivere Christus est mori lucrum Thus every Christian may easily become a Victim because death is a favourable occasion and being well managed may serve to expiate our sins to satisfie the Divine Justice and to imitate the charity of Jesus But the misfortune is that Love is wanting in this Sacrifice and holding a language far different from that of Isaac we are obliged to say We finde the Sacrifice but there is neither knife nor fire to consume it Indeed all men die but few Christians make good use of their death and there are none but the Elect who turning it into a Holocaust know so well how to use it that it opens them the gate of heaven The Third DISCOURSE That the Christian is a Souldier and a Conqueror THe God whom we adore takes his Glory as well from War as from Rest and if he be called in Scripture the God of peace he is as often called the Lord of hosts His Angels are the souldiers that wait upon him to the Battel who avenge him of his enemies Numquid est numerus militum ejus the Stars which keep watch as Sentinels about his Palace bear the name of the Militia in the language of the Prophets Militia coelorum and all those that serve him for Ministers in his Embassies serve him for Combatants in his Conquests Therefore did the Angels who gave notice to the Shepherds of the birth of Jesus Christ take their name from their principal employment and called themselves the heavenly Host Multitudo Militiae coelstis and when the Son of God was taken in the garden of Olives and blamed Saint Peter who would have hindered the work of our Salvation he told his disciples that it was easie for him to ask of his Father legions of Angels to defend him from his enemies Men are considered under this quality upon earth the holy Scripture calls them Souldiers and if we believe the testimony of Job their whole life is a continual warfare They have as many Enemies as Subjects Rebellion is spread over every corner of their State the parts whereof they are composed are revolted and which way soever they turn themselves they finde occasions of Fighting Christians are yet more obliged to War then Men the Sacrament that enables them withal engageth them into the combat Labora sicut bonus miles Christi 2 Tim. 2. Nemo coronabitur nifi vicerit neque vincet n si certaverit quis autem certet nisi inimicū habeat Ex Sent. Prosp The Earth is the Field where they try the Mastery and these terms of a List a Crown a Souldier which S. Paul so often useth in his Epistles are so many proofs of so known a Truth The Church it self is an Army the Christians whereof it is formed are the Souldiers and the Scripture describes her in arms in these words Terribilis ut Castrorum acies ordinata Wherein it seems we may behold the difference between a Camp and a City Both of them are Bodies which have their Head and Members their Laws and Policie their designes and employments But in Cities we observe a pleasing variety of conditions equally contributing to their advantage and beauty There we see Priests who chant forth the praises of God in his Temple who load his Altars with offerings and mixing their tears with the blood of the Victims endeavour to appease his just indignation There are Magistrates which end Controversies maintain Peace among the People and make Justice raign in Families There are Merchants which traffick with strangers who by their Commerce occasion Plenty and by their diligence supply all necessities But difference of condition seems to be banished from Armies as all fight so all are souldiers those that command and those that obey bear this quality and both of them place their glory in their valour Therefore the Church being an Army those it consists of must necessarily fight the most feeble must be courageous the women must be Amazones and all Christians forgetting the difference of their conditions must take upon them the quality of Souldiers Enemies will not be wanting to exercise their courage because the World the Flesh and the Devil hold intelligence to set upon them For the Christians war is at home whatever he hath received from Adam is an occasion of exercising him and for a punishment of his sin he is obliged to fight with himself The Flesh is never at agreement with the Spirit these two parties have always some difference to compose and though linkt together by natural chains and common interests cease not continually to make war upon one another They are two friends that usually fall out and two enemies that caress each other two friends that shake hands and two enemies that make mutual visits two friends that cannot endure one another and two enemies that can never be asunder This division is the first punishment of our sin and when we began to be upon ill terms with God we ceased to have any good correspondence with our selves But that which seems most troublesom is that one Combat furnisheth us with many enemies for as S. Augustine saith we daily fight in our heart in such a little room we finde whole armies and sometimes we grapple with Avarice sometimes with Pride sometimes with Impurity so that 't is very hard being set upon by so many enemies if we receive not some wound This Combat is obstinately disputed if there be some Truce there is no real Peace it lasts till death and if soul and body be not separated it is impossible to make them friends The Senses bring us false reports the Passions raise storms our Inclinations set up a party and to defend us from so many enemies we are obliged to borrow the assistance of Vertue Every Age hath its exercise Infancy is oppressed with Errour and Ignorance Youth is baited with Ambition and Wantonness Old-age is clogged with Anger and Peevishness so that there is no condition but hath need of Grace to defend it from those enemies that set upon it The Devil takes part with the Body to destroy us employs his wiles or his force to terrifie or seduce us he mingles himself with our Humours disorders our Passions troubles our Temper and as if he were the Soveraign of Man as well as the Prince of the World he deboists our Subjects to disquiet our Rest Sometimes he takes upon him the shape of a Lion and sometimes that of a Serpent that using subtilty and violence he may gain some advantage upon us He studies our inclinations to destroy us suits himself with our humours to surprise us and regulating his promises
their affections upon the supream good and seeking their felicity in God say with David Mihi autem adhaerere Deo bonum est 'T is in this point properly that holinesse consists he that wisheth any thing else is blind or wretched and he that wasts himself with other desires is not yet fully informed that the supream good is the end and rest of the Christian Therefore is it that Saint Augustine speaking to his Auditors uttered these notable words Let us be grieved to see men distracted with the diversity of their desires Let us see their different conditions which arise from the difference of their designs Let some take arms and seek for Glory in the mouth of Danger hazard their lives to get themselves a Name and place their happinesse in killing and slaying Let others more harmlesse but not lesse ambitious plead at the Barr gain reputation in defending Innocence and aspire to the Glory of Orators being not able to purchase that of Conquerors Let others more humble but not lesse interessed hold commerce and Traffique with Strangers passe the Seas to content their Avarice descend into the bowels of the Earth to dig out Treasures Let others more Innocent but not lesse miserable till the ground master barrenness by their laborious Improvement and at the years end reap a rich and plentifull harvest Let all these different Conditions divide the heap of perishable Goods between them but let Beleevers instructed in a better School protest that God is their portion and that now and for ever they will have no other Inheritance These last words insinuate to us the last circumstance of Holiness which is not true if it be not Constant and pertinent A little to clear this Truth we must know there is no Christian that is not united to God the Character he received in his Baptism is a mark of his dependance Faith which he retains with sin is a sacred tye fastning him to Jesus Christ and gives him the honour to be a member of his Body Charity is a perfect Bond compleating what the others have begun which knits him so close to his Head that their Good and Evill are indivisible But if the Christian intend to be Holy Perseverance must second Charity and this faithfull vertue link them so constantly to the son of God that nothing can separate them Many heard his words admired his miracles loved his person who because they fell off attained not to that excellent title of Saints 'T is this last Condition which Crownes Holinesse the ultimate Character distinguishing the Elect from the Reprobate Finally Absque perseverantia nec qui pugnat victoriam nec palmā victor consequitur Bernard 't is this glorious mark that finisheth our salvation and begins our Beatitude It depends absolutely upon the good pleasure of God and as he refuseth it not without Justice neither does he indulge it but out of exceeding mercy It fixeth our will without constraining it renders it immoveable without taking away its liberty and gives it so much force that it equally triumphs over Griefs that astonish us and pleasures that corrupt us He that hath not this Grace cannot complain nor can he persevere He cannot complain because God denies it not but to his sin nor is his Reprobation founded upon any thing but his Infidelity He cannot persevere because this assistance depends not upon his Merit It being the immutable Decree of Gods good will and pleasure which makes men Saints and blessed It is by vertue of this Eternal ordinance that they resist temptations ouer-rule Tyrants and vanquish Devils 'T is by vertue of this internall Grace that they defie all Creatures and say with Saint Paul That nothing can separate them from Jesus Christ I am sure saith that Great Apostle that Death with his terrors Life with its charms Angels with their beauties Devils with their deformities Things present with their allurements Things future with their promises Heaven with its glory Hell with its torment can never separate me from the love of God And indeed how should they saith St Augustine because Death though never so hideous leads us to Him Life is found in his possession Angels and Devils are the Ministers of his Justice or of his mercy Things present are false Things to come uncertain Hell with God would be my Happinesse and Paradise without him my Torment Or if we will take this passage another way let us say again with Saint Augustine That nothing can separate us from Jesus Christ Not Death because there is none so dismall as to be deprived of his Love Not the Angels because being united to him we are stronger then all Spirits combined together Not the vexations of life because they are sweet when undergone for his Honour and serve only to give us a nearer conjunction to his person Not things to come because nothing can be bestowed nor promised which can countervail him Not Heaven because it is the recompence of those that serve him Not Hell because it is made for none but those that forsake him From all this Discourse it is easie to judge that the perfect Christian is a Saint that he ought to be wholly unbottomed from all things and so closely united to Jesus Christ that nothing can remove him But 't is easie to judge withall that we are at a great distance from Holiness because a small Interest a weak Temptation a shameful pleasure a light Injury separates us daily from him for whom we ought to sacrifice our Interests renounce our pleasures subdue our Temptations and forget our Injuries The Sixth DISCOURSE That the Christian is a Martyr THe condition of Christians would be very miserable did their vertue depend upon their Enemies and were they so streightened that they could not compass the Crown of Martyrdom but must be beholding to the Cruelty of Tyrants But the Peace of the Church hath her Martyrs as well as her Persecution Love is witty enough to exercise their Courage without employing the fury of Infidels Every Christian may without Impiety be his own Executioner and provided he live according to the Laws the son of God hath prescribed him will finde his punishment in his obedience All the vertues of Christianity will assist him in this designe Every Maxime of the Gospel will make a part in his Agony and having practised all that Jesus Christ commands or counsels he may boast though he be an unprofitable servant he ceaseth not to be a faithful Martyr For if it be true that the Cause and the Punishment makes the Martyrs we must confess that all they that live according to the Laws of Christianity may lawfully pretend to this glorious quality because they suffer much and for the height of their happiness they suffer for the Son of God This last condition is so necessary that in the judgement of S. Augustine 't is not so much the Punishment as the Cause that makes the Martyr The Gally-slaves that tug at the Oar
himself with the pleasures of the body renounceth the priviledges of the minde betrays his duty and his dignity despoils himself of the inclinations of Angels and puts on those of Beasts and without changing his shape changeth condition and nature But inasmuch as most men are led more by interest then reason and those that are the slaves of pleasure are more sensible of grief then shame and dishonour it will not be amisse in this Discourse to let them see that the pleasures after which they so eagerly run are very tragical and contrary to their intention are turn'd into punishments The Divine Justice which leaves no crime unpunished hath been pleased that diseases should be natural penances and that the Stone and the Gout should be the recompence of our debauches Seeing sensuall pleasures are commonly criminal they are for the most part irregular having shaken off the yoak of reason they cast men into excesse and perswade them that 't is a kind of injustice and base servility to prescribe Laws to their desires abused by these false sophisms they pursue their inclinations without keeping any measure in their diversions they are drown'd in delights are lost in voluptuousnesse and draining their strength and their substance fall many times into diseases and poverty Thus by a just judgement of Heaven their disorders become their torments Ipsos voluptas habet non ipsi voluptatem cujus aut inopiâ torquentur aut copiâ strangulantur miseri si deseruntur ab illa miseriores si obruantur Sence and they finde sorrow where they expected felicity If to defend themselves from this misfortune they observe some rules in their pleasures they feel another punishment For these pleasures being short their soul is always languishing they have scarce done with one but they long for another and living always in expectation or inquiry can neither be secure from restlesnesse nor discontent Those who to remedy this evil endeavour to associate pleasures undertake an impossibility For whether nature intend to punish us because we are culpable or whether Grace be not willing to expose us to danger because we are weak Pleasures hold not so good intelligence as Paines These set upon us in a full body and joyn companies to render us wretched the Stone the Gout the Colick and the Palsie conspire together to exercise our patience whatever opposition these diseases may have they agree to ruine us and we many times behold distressed spectacles who have no part of their body free from torment But Pleasures are divided Self-love with all its subtilties cannot reconcile them the Birth of one is the Death of another and experience teacheth us that we have more strength to endure Griefs then to support pleasures when these slow in upon us with full tide they stifle us when they succeed they make us droop and languish and when they recompense their shortness by their excess they reduce us to complaints and groanings From all this Discourse we may conclude that bodily pleasure is an enemy to our happiness that it removes us from God engageth us in the Creature obligeth us to partake of their imperfections and is followed with misery and indigence Therefore following the rule of Contraries we shall not have much ado to perswade our selves that Felicity may be found in Grief and that the Christian is never more happie then when he is afflicted for Christs sake For the understanding of this Paradox we must remember that all earthly goods are onely mediums whereby to gain those of heaven that which leads us the safest way thither is the best neither is the Christian ever neerer his happiness then when he is in the way that soonest leads him thither Now there is no man so little skilled in our mysteries but knows that Grief is the surest and the speediest way to arrive at heaven Cohaeredes autē Christi si tamen compatimur ut simul conglorificemur Rom. 8. Si sustinemus conregnabimus 2 Tim. 2. 't is the path Christ hath marked out with his Blood that whereby he entered into his Greatness that which all the Martyrs have gone and the Scripture teacheth us in a hundred places that Glory is dispensed according to the measure of Sorrow that they that have suffered most upon earth shall be the happiest in heaven One of the most remarkable differences between Christian Grace and Original Righteousness is that this guided man to his happiness thorow a way strewed with roses and lilies the means were proportioned to the end and seemed as an Antepast or Earnest thereof He arrived to Glory by Honour to Pleasure by Delights to Plenty by Riches He had reigned over Beasts before he raigned with Angels he had passed from one Paradise to another and had been happie upon Earth before he had been so in Heaven But now Providence hath changed its conduct over men and whether it have a minde to chastis their Rebellion or to wean them from the World or to make them conformable to their Head it leads them by difficult ways thorow paths rugged with thorns and environed with precipices The means it indulgeth to bring them to their end are contrary to it and to make its proceeding admired they are guided to Life thorow the valley of Death to Liberty thorow Servitude to Light thorow Darkness to Pleasure thorow Pain All the Morality of a Christian propoundeth nothing but Crosses its Vertues are austere its Counsels difficult its Commands harsh and had it not found the means to sweeten all these anxities by Charity it would reduce the Faithful to despair For it obligeth them to hate Themselves and to love their Enemies orders them to forsake their Riches and their Parents Fides non habet meritum ubi humana ratio praebet experimentum Greg. to believe without knowledge obey without discerning love without interest pardon without resentment live without pleasure and die without regret All the Maximes of their Master confirm this Truth for he prefers the Poor before the Rich declares the Afflicted happie canonizeth them that suffer and promiseth his Kingdom to them that weep he practised what he taught his whole life was spent in labours or affronts he was born in a Stable died upon a Cross lost his Honour with his Life nor did his Father glorifie him till his Enemies had loaded him with reproaches and sorrows All his Apostles followed his steps they preached his doctrine with the hazard of their lives signed it with their blood sealed it with their death rendered up their souls among torments nor is there any torture the cruelty of men hath not invented to weary their Patience and trample upon their Courage All his faithful disciples seek for Grief in the Rest of the Church they finde Persecution in Penance are their own executioners and their whole life is an imitation of Martyrdom they provide for the Prison by Solitude dispose themselves for Banishment by removing from their Country prevent
between Life and Death Finally our Creator never loses his right over his creatures they are at his disposal in what place soever they are Their changing of form makes them not change condition and because they pass thorow three or four Elements they depend not lesse upon his Omnipotence The body of man is always the work of God and he may after its corruption restore its beauty and re-unite it to the soul like a wise Artist having reduced a statue to powder may by his skil restore it to the primitive form All the difficulties our spirit can suggest in this miracle are easily master'd by him that can do all things and having well weighed the wonders of the Creation it will be no hard matter to comprehend those of the Resurrection Inasmch as the body receives life in this and is re-united with the soul it is happily delivered from all the miseries it had contracted in its birth or during its life If Nature were mistaken in forming it the Authour of Nature corrects the faults in raising it He gives it its just dimension its lawful proportion and retrenching whatever was superfluous makes it a compleat piece But because it is not enough to take away the defects to render it happy God gives it advantages in glory which it had not in innocence For although the body before it was infected with sin was not rebellious against the minde nor subject to grief and death it was nevertheless capable of corruption The Natural heat consumed the substance and the waste it made was to be repaired by nourishment Though he were obedient yet was he an Animal and though he felt no disorders yet was he liable to infirmities his weight would have hindered him from following his soul to Heaven he could not walk upon the water nor penetrate the Chrystal and had he not prevented hunger and thirst by eating and drinking he had never held out against griefe and death Finally though he enjoyed the priviledges of Original Righteousness he wanted those of Glory and though innocent was neither incorruptible nor illuminated But in the Resurrection he shall receive all these qualities and as the soul is now corporeal because wholly engaged in the body by a happy retaliation the body will be spiritual because perfectly submitted to the soul and as the soul saith Saint Augustine though corporeal ceaseth not to be a spirit the body though spiritual ceaseth not to be a body It will change condition though it change not nature and will have advantages which shall set it free from all the miseries it now endures It s subtilty will surpass that of the light will penetrate all solid bodies nothing shall be able to withstand its desires and being no longer the Prison but the Temple of his soul will find no obstacles that stop it nor chains that intangle it It s agility will be so great that it will outstrip the winds and lightning will fly without wings thorow the spacious regions of the air will walk upon the water and not sink and in a moment passing from one end of the world to another will be no longer the clog and torment of the soul It s impassibility will free it from all the injuries of the Seasons and Elements the naturall heat which now consumes him shall no more corrode the naturall Moisture The Contraries that compose him will agree and being no longer tormented with hunger and thirst will stand in need neither of meat nor drink He will be in a state of consistency wherein he will have his just proportion nor will he expect from time his youth or old age he will enjoy an eternall spring of years which will never wither he will see the dayes passe on and never feel any declension in himself his budding verdure will fear no winter the Lillies and the Roses of his countenance will keep their freshness and as original righteousness served for a Garment for innocent man glory will be insteed of a robe to the blessed His brightness will surpass that of the Sun the raies which dart from his eyes will dim those of this Glorious Luminary and he will cast such lights and flames that the least glorified Body will be able to illuminate the Universe His immortality will be the Crown of his Happiness That pittilesse monster which exerciseth his rigour upon all men pursues them into the Grave reduceth them to powder after the worms have devoured them This Cruell one I say will have no more power over the Blessed he will discharge his fury upon the damned in Hell he will make a league with life to torment them Eternally and that which endures here but for a moment will last for ever in that dismall habitation to lengthen their pains according to the obstinacy of their crimes But he will respect his Conquerors and beholding the Blessed as the Members of him that hath defeated him upon the Crosse will not dare to set upon them afresh nor so much as appear in their presence Then shall the happinesse of men be perfect when a glorified soul shall inanimate an immortall Body and mutually communicating all their advantages the soul shall be happy in the felicity of the Body and the Body happy in that of the Soul All their differences shall be composed in this General peace the Soul shall forget all the Revolts of the Body nor shall the Body any more complain of the severities of the Soul but both of them remembring onely the Good offices they have done each other they shall reign in Heaven in a Community of Glory as they lived upon Earth in a Community of Merits But to arrive to this Happy condition the Spirit must war against the Flesh and Repentance give the faithfull those Priviledges Glory instates the Blessed in For though there be nothing more opposite to Rest then a Conflict yet is it the Conflict that gains us the victory Ex bello pax pugna enim nos praeparat victoriae victoria nobis obtinet triumphum Chry. and the victory that procures us the peace Though there be nothing more contrary to Happiness theu Pain it is notwithstanding austerity that subjects the Body to the Soul and makes us see in our Banishment a perfect Image of Glory For if it be true that the Blessed feel no Rebellion in their person and if their Body be perfectly subjected to their minde we must acknowledg that the Christian cannot pretend to any part of this advantage but by the help of repentance It is this vertue that tames the Pride of the flesh this faithfull minister of the Divine Justice which makes Charity reign in spite of Concupiscence and all the peace we have in the earth we owe it to the zeal and austerity of crucifixion If the Blessed be disengaged from the world if their condition be separated from ours and if finding all things in the Divine Essence meat cloaths and lodging be useless to them it seems Repentance
the Eucharist the Consummation hereof we have engaged our word when we were admitted into the Church and receiving the character of our servitude we have given bond for our Faithfulness But in the Mystery of the Eucharist he deals with our souls as with his Spouse we become flesh of his flesh and bone of his bone he enters into our bosome and we into his his body and ours are animated with the same Spirit and partaking in all the qualities of our Beloved we have right to his most glorious priviledges But so noble an Alliance requires a great affection and much fidelity This Lover is jealous he will raign alone in the hearts that he possesseth as he cannot endure a Competitor in his State so neither can he a Rival in his Love he will have nothing loved but for his sake and because our adhesion to the Creature is not without imperfections he never beholds it without grief nor leaves it without punishment Whatever is prejudicial to Fidelity displeaseth he never breaks his word and therefore cannot endure we should fail of our duty He will keep what he hath once gotten and seeing his Power is equal to his Love he is as severe in his Revenge as he is liberal in his Favours When I consider the obligations we have to his Goodness I never wonder that his Justice corrects us but I am ashamed there should be any souls so negligently careless as to provoke him and that after so many favours any should be so wretched as to betray their duty and abandon Jesus Christ Nevertheless this crime is so common among Christians that those who will not break their word with an Enemy take no care to be true to the Son of God basely desert his party lodge the devil in the same Throne where they had seated their Soveraign and take an Adulterer into the bed from whence they have driven their lawful Husband If the remembrance of his favours cannot produce love in our souls the terrour of punishments must beget Fear For if he be our Beloved in the Eucharist he is also our Judge and having fruitlesly exhibited testimonies of his Goodness Qui enim manducat bibit indigne judicium fibi manducat hibit non dijudicans corpus Domini 1 Cor. 11. will sensibly inflict marks of his indignation The great Apostle of the Gentiles tells us that he that receiveth unworthily eateth and drinketh damnation to himself that the Devil being the Minister of the Divine Justice takes visible possession of the soul of that Delinquent that he erects an Altar in his heart and of his slave making his victime engageth him in despair having engaged him in Sacriledge Et post buccellū introivit in cum Satanas Joan. 13. Thus dealt he with Judas when he had communicated unworthily The Evangelist observes that he entred into his soul urged him to execute his abominable design for a light interest obliterated out of his mind the remembrance of all the favours he had received from his Master and tumbling him from one precipice to another from Covetousnesse tempted him to Treachery from Treason to Sacriledge Diabolus intravit in cor ut traderet eum Judas quomodo intravit in cor nisi immittendo iniquas persuasiones cogitatienibus iniquorum Aug. de Consen Evang from Sacriledge to Parricide and from Parricide to Desperation For when the wicked spirit that possessed him had counselled him to betray the Son of God he counselled him to hang himself and setting him against himself made him make use of his own hands to inflict a just and cruel death upon himself Finally there is no mystery wherein the Son of God manifests more love or more severity where he obligeth more dearly or punisheth more strictly or pardons more rarely and because the crimes committed here are the greatest it seems the vengeance inflicted upon them is most memorable The first of all sinners is a great Saint in Heaven The man that was our Father and our Parricide both together De illo quidem primo homine patre generis humani quod eum in inferno solverit Christus Ecclesia fere tot a consentit quod eam non inaniter credidisse credendum est Aug. Epist 99. ad Enod The Criminal who is accessory to all the transgressions of the world The Father that engageth all his posterity in his offences and his punishment The Rebel who makes an Insurrection of all his Descendants against their lawful Soveraign That unfortunate Chief who lives yet after his death sins still in his members and by a dreadful prodigy being happy in his person is miserable and guilty in his posterity That old man who is new born in every sinner and in one word That Adam who committed a fault whole nature bewails to this day found his pard on in his repentance and whiles he sees Hel pepled with his off-spring enjoys glory with the Angels in Heaven That great King whom God raised to the Throne against all humane probability That Stripling who without arms gave a Gyant battle That Shepheard whose Crook was turned into a Scepter who reckoned his victories by his combats and boasted that the Lord of Hosts had trained him up in the Discipline of War This Prince who forgetting all these favours joyned Murder to Adultery and made an Innocent dye to cloak the dishonour of a debauched woman This glorious Criminal who saw all the Vials of Heaven poured down upon his Head his Kingdome divided his subjects revolted and his own children in the head of an Army against him This famous Delinquent reigns in glory with the Son of God his tears have washed away his iniquities and his grief more powerful then his offence opened him the gate of Heaven That Apostle who having received so many testimonies of affection from his Master forsook him so shamefully in the Garden of Gethsemane denyed him so openly in the house of Caiaphas is as great in Heaven as he was upon Earth The Church to this day reverenceth his Injunctions the Popes boast themselves his Successours and all the faithful glory in being his children That young man full of zeal and and fury who intended to strangle Christianity in the very Cradle who was the boutefew of the first persecution against the Disciples of Jesus who stoned Saint Stephen by their hands whose cloaths he kept De caelo vocavi una voce percussi alia erexi elegi tertia implevi misi quarta liberavi coronavi Aug. hath found his salvation in his sin He was converted when he went about to plunge himself in the bloud of the first believers he received Grace when he was upon the very point of encreasing the number of Parricides in one moment he became a Preacher of the Gospel an Apostle of the Son of God and the Master of the Gentiles But the first that ever profaned the Body of Jesus Christ and committed a Sacriledge in approaching the Altar
was given up to the fury of Satan To his Sacriledge he added a Parricide and expiating these two offences by a violent death taught us there was never any crime more severely punished upon Earth then what was committed against Jesus Christ in the Eucharist so that a man cannot dispose himself too carefully when he is to approach this holy communion and seeing the Son of God recollects all his Graces in this Sacrament thereby to oblige us we ought to come accompanied with all kind of Vertues worthily to receive him The Seventh DISCOURSE That the Christian owes God the Honour of a Sacrifice SAcrifice is the most ancient duty of the creature towards his Creator It is the soul of Religion precedes affection and before man can be obliged to love God he is bound to offer him a Sacrifice For love presupposeth some society between God and man which is not so much an effect of Nature as of Grace but Sacrifice supposeth nothing but dependance which is inseparable from the creature and engageth him assoon as ever he proceeded out of Nothing to acknowledge his Original by a solemn homage From hence may be inferred that Sacrifice is an honour can be rendred only to God and that 't is changed into Sacriledge when offered to a meer creature Neither is this hard to be conceived if we consider the divers motives we have to offer Sacrifices to God since sin hath corrupted nature The first is to reconcile us to him and to mitigate his anger by the merit of the victime The second is to be united to him knowing very well that as his Indignation is the soucre of all our evils his Grace is the fountain-Head of all our good whence it came to pass that in the Old Testament there were peace-offerings offered to him for the salvation of sinners which testified by their dying mouths that to be removed from God was to be miserable The third is to obtain eternal glory which makes us find our happiness in the union it procures us with God and destroying whatever we had of mortal or perishable happily transforms us into him Holocaustum dicitur sacrificium cum totū accenditur quandò totum ardet totum absumitur igne divino Aug. Therefore were Holocausts immolated wherein the oblation wholly consumed by the flame figured out this Truth and by a silent language taught us that man should never be happy till he was despoiled of all his corruption that he might be perfectly consummated in God Now all men confesse that God only can bestow Grace remit sins which brave his Majesty sanctifie souls in uniting them to himself and glorifie them by communicating to them his Essence Therefore by a necessary consequence they acknowledge that as from him only these favours are to be obtained we have no other way to intercede for them but by sacrifice The Law punished those with death that erected Altars to strange gods and offered those honours to vain idols which could not be safely given to true men Nature her self though never so blind sacrificeth to none but those she conceives at least to be Gods and sin being not able to quench all her lights she retains this belief in her errour that Divinity only deserves the honours of sacrifice Faith confirms this Truth and strongly perswades us that if the creature adores not his Creator he is miserable and if he encroach upon the honour due to him he becomes guilty Creatura rationalis si non colit Deum misera est quia privatur Deo si colit Deum non vult se coli pro Deo Aug. Sacrifice then is a divine worship whereby a reasonable creature honours his Creator and publiquely professeth that as he hath received being from him 't is from him likewise that he expects felicity But though there is nothing in God which being God himself deserves not this homage and all his perfections may justly require it we must confess nevertheless there are three that oblige us to this duty and which in the state of innocence as wel as sin demand this sacrifice The first is the Soveraignty he hath over his creature For he depends of him in Creation and Preservation He had no right to exist before he issued from Nothing in these profound abysses he could not so much as desire or ask any thing and being not yet in nature could have no pretensions of aspiring either to Grace or Glory Being now reduced from Non-Entity he depends still upon his Soveraign he could not be able to subsist one moment without assistance from him he cannot act but by his impulses and though he be free in his operations he that gave him being must give him motion his preservation is a consequence of his Creation the same power that produced him preserves him and unless he be strangely impudent he must confess he depends not less upon God in his Entity then in his Non-Entity There is no need that the Earth should open under his feet to swallow him up that thunder should fall upon his head to crush him to ashes nor that the waters should flow from their couch to drown him God needs only withdraw his hand and he perisheth let him but cease to preserve and he moulders into annihilation Dependency therefore and servitude constitute one part of his Essence he is a slave assoon as a creature and though God be Almighty we may say without offence he can produce neither man nor Angel able to support themselves without him and who in the progress as well as beginning of his life depends not absolutely upon his All-sufficiency This is it that obligeth both of them in their Creation to offer sacrifices to him 't was their first reflexion towards their Principle their first duty towards their Soveraign and their primitive inclination towards their last end If they do not acquit themselves 't is their fault if dazled with their own light and charmed with their own beauty they fail of this their lawfull homage they need seek no other cause of their crime nor of their fall I pretend not to expresse the nature of this sacrifice because it is unkown to us but I will say thus much thatthe Angels being pure spirits seek not oblations out of their own person they stoop before the Almighty at the presence of his greatness they offer him what they are bound to by Creation and refuse not to submit to him by the motion of their proper will as they did from all Eternity in their nature For men there is great likelihood being compounded of a body and a soul they would joyn external sacrifice to internal and to the end they might offer all they had received presenting him an Holocaust of their person they would employ their mouths to praise him and their hands to serve him having made use of their understandings to know him and their wils to love him we might believe also that acknowledging all the goods of the