Lodge after his Death There they cry with a loud voice and solemn Acclamations Live the Emperour thrice Happy And here they let him understand that he must begin to die There every one Congratulates his new coming to the Crown and here there is nothing heard but the mourning Discourse of a Tradesman Pallida mors aequo pede pulsat c. Horat. who summons him to think of the Duties and Tribute which he must pay to Nature We must not be astonish'd at it for Death is as welt over-heard among those lofty and proud Appels at Court as in a poor mans Cabbin and therefore to think of it seriously is altogether as Profitable to the Great ones of the World as to the Little ones To the Rich as to the meerest Begger in Nature St. John Damescene gives us a further Confirmationn of it relating a brave Stratagem of a King who after he had seriously thought of that last Hour liv'd all his Life in great fear and apprehension of Gods Judgments every one read in his Face the alteration and change of his Soul His Brother Laughs at him and taking his fears to be but pannick Terrours he accuses him of a Sadness rising from over-much Melancholly nothing becoming a man of his Quality The King hears of it and early in the Morning he commands a Trumpet to be Sounded at his Brother's door a signal of Death among those People The Prince altogether astonish'd leaps out of his Bed and runs half Drest to his Brother in the Kings Palace imploring his Mercy protesting his Innocency begs his Life Brother said the King then mock no more at them that fear Death at the sound of a simple Trumpet there you are all in an Alarm though your Conscience does not accuse you of any Crime committed against me know as for my part that I am a Criminal and guilty of treason against the Divine Majesty for so many sins which I have committed It 's therefore I have great reason to be sad and to apprehend Death Perhaps the thoughts of Death will be altogether useless and unprofitable to Warriours who Alexander monitorem sibi in magna fortuna statuit qui quotidie mane sibi inclamaret hominem eum esse quo scilicet tumidiores animos comprimeret c. Aucto 1 vie vitae apud Cornel Eccl. 14. v. 12. for being accustom'd to Blood and to Slaughter and to see no other things but dead Corps stretch'd at their Feet will remain insensible to the Powers of that Meditation No no let them boast as much as they please let them vapour and strike fire with their Swords let them defy as much and as often as they list both Heaven and Earth If nevertheless they be pleas'd to take one quarter of an hours time to entertain themselves with that thought that they must die I do assure my self that their Arms will soon drop but of their Hands and that from roaring and bloody Lyons they will become mild Lambs they will come to cast themselves at the foot of a Crucifix to do Pennance The great William Duke of Aquittain did he not by the force of his Arms put all the Church in a Combustion Did he not become as another Attila the Scourge of God Did he not declare open War to Priests and Swear never to be reconcil'd St. Bernard makes use of no other Stratagem for to Convert him but to set efficaciously before his Eyes the rigorous account he shall be forc'd to give at the hour of his Death An invention which had so happy a success that he sent him as Gods Prisoner to Rome to beg Absolution of his Holiness in all Humility Absolution which he received and accompanied with a thousand Sighs irreproachable Witnesses of his displeasure to have so much offended God by his abominations and Crimes He changes his Life takes on new and Holy Resolutions retires himself into the Wilderness to pass over the rest of his days in the heighth of Mortification and Pennance never as yet parallel'd and never will be to the Worlds end Ask me now the question whether such as have abandon'd the company of men and have freely engag'd themselves and their Liberties under the yoak of Obedience and Evangelical Councels shall be oblig'd to the thoughts of Death have they not sufficient strong assurance of their Fidelity No they must as yet think of Death to keep them in Humility the ground of all other Virtues I cannot but find fault with certain Spirituals of the Sect of Scribes and Pharisees Phylosophers of the purest grain refiners of Devotion who make certain persons believe that they have already attain'd to the height of Perfection that they are come to the indivisible point of Spirituality And therefore that they must think no more but of the attributes of Unity Simplicity Immutability and Essential will of God That there is a state of Inaction where the Soul is no more Acting but Suffering under the simple motions of bare Faith that the thoughts of Death are good for beginners in the Purgative Life But as for them Unde ista simulatio fratres mei unde haec perniciosa tepiditas unde haec securitas maledicta quid seducimus miseri nos ipsos forsitan jam divites facti sumus forsitan jam regnamus nonne ostium domus nostrae horribiles illi Spiritus obsident D. Bernard serm 2. in festo Sanct. Petri Pauli who are already in a manner Deify'd and whose operations are altogether Angelical that it is to afflict the Holy Ghost to bring them down to such a low and gross exercise All that is meer folly nay pure madness they do seduce themselves Satan for being over-much Spiritual was damn'd Tertullian and Origen for getting out of the common rode and desirous to shew the subtilty of their Wits broaching a Doctrine contrary to the feelings of the Church are I fear in danger never to see the face of God are we more perfect than St. Hilarion Hilarion the Honour of the Desart the Father of Hermits the Leader and Light of all Religious Souls Hilarion who at the Age of Fourteen years distributed all his Goods to the Poor and built himself a Cell so narrow and so little that it was scarce able to contain him Hilarion who never wore but a Hair-cloth who was an object of Admiration both to Angels and Men for the Austerity of has Life Could he not confide in the Mercies of God Had he not all reason to believe that Jesus was very well pleas'd with his Actions and therefore that he should not fear Death He who had so Faithfully serv'd his Creator for the space of threescore and five years Yet Hilarion this great Hermit apprehends Death he thinks of it often and ready to yield up his Ghost he shakes with fear at the sight of that cruel seperation and we poor miserable wretches who serve God but to the eye and at random who are but novices in the
Spiritual Life who are so Lukewarm and so languishing in the exercise and pursuit of Virtues We think that it is to put an undervalue on our other imaginary exercises to take the Object of Death for the subject of our Meditations You are sadly mislead perhaps the Devil has perswaded you as he did our Fore-fathers that you shall be all Gods Knowing Good and Evil That you will acquire the esteem among your Neighbours of being great Mysticks well Illuminated by entertaining those foolish fancies Be not deceiv'd you shall find the conclusion to be most fatal to you if you do not carry Humility along with all your Actions and Designs Come come to St. Chrysostome Eorem te meminisse velim quae in Evangelio dicuntur Angelorum circumcursantium conclavis clausi lampadarum extinctarum potestatem in fornaces trahentium c. D. Chrysost tom 4. in cap. 2. Rom. and he will teach you how to make use of the Thoughts of Death to reap the motions of a true Conversion We must imagine says this great Doctor that we are no more in the World that Athropos has cut off the thread of our Life that we are judged before God and condemned for having ended our days in Mortal Sin without Repentance Let us behold on one side the Devils arm'd with fury and Vengeance to come and take us by the Shoulders put a Rope about our Necks and draw us along with them On the other side let us cast a look on those Eternal Flames which are to Torment us for all Eternity What shall we have to say then Alas what a miserable wretch am I what made me not to think of Death sooner I had been my self the revenger of my Crimes if God were so pleas'd to prolong the term of my Life for one year logger I would cast my self into the Arms of the Cross my Eyes should never be seen without Tears my Mouth without Confession my Breast without Sighs my Heart without Sorrow my Hands without Whips and Chains of Iron for to execute on my most sinful Body the punishments due to all my Abominations and Crimes Dear Reader do all that now for now is the time and season O si possemus in talem speculam ascendere de qua universam terram sub pedibus nostris cerneremus Jam tibi ostenderem totius orbis ruinas gentes gentibus regnis regna collisa D. Hieronym tom 1. Ep. 3. ad Heliod in Epitaphio Nepotiani All those brave resolutions shall be to you useless and altogether unprofitable at the hour of Death But let him who is full of Life and Health think often of Death If he be a young man 't is that will put a stop to the lewd course of his Debauch'd Life to think seriously of the other World If he be a Prince or a Monarch 't is that will humble him under the Powerful Hand of God If he be a Warriour 't is That will make his Arms fall out of his Hands for to prostrate himself at the feet of the great God of Battles and implore his Clemency If he be Devout 't is that will keep him in fear to presume any thing of himself to the prejudice of Gods Rights Sepultus nihil habeas curam de seculo tanquam defunctus omni terreno te abdica negotio contemne vivens quae post mortem habere non poteris D. Ambr. l. 4. Epist 29. ad Florianum Let us then often think of that dreadful hour being that it is to be the end of all our Sorrow and the beginning of all our Happiness if we be Virtuously given But it will be the end of all our Comfort and the beginning of all our Misfortunes and woe if we do continue wilfully in the obstinacy of our malice CHAP. XXIV That the remorse of Conscience is an Efficacious Instrument of our Conversion A Pagan Phylosopher extolls very much the Honour and merit of Conscience to say Menande 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Mortalibus omnibus conscientia est Deus that it is a Divinity which resides in all Mortals from the very instant of their Birth Let us draw Oyle out of this Rock and discover the secret hidden under that intricate Sentence for those poor Infidels mask'd with the vail of Ignorance advanc'd often by the Divine permission true propositions whose end and scope were altogether unknown to themselves Conscience is no such thing as a Divinity but I shall be approv'd of by all those that are vers'd in Scripture and the Fathers if I say with Oecumenius on St. James Oecumenius in epist de Jac. c. 1 that it is a word inserted a Reasonable Intelligence a Divine motion which may save our Souls A word of Intelligence and secret motion which the Creator hath Printed in our very Hearts to maintain them in the fear of God or to tearm it better an Agent and a Commissary from God for to conserve in our Souls the Rights of his Majesty Misericors Deus principio cum formaret hominem illi indidit accusatricem perpetuam quae decipi deceptionem ferre nusquam posset D. Chrysost Homil. 17. in cap. 3. Genes tom Even as the Governours and Vice-governours of Sovereigns are establish'd in remote Provinces with special Orders to keep the People in Obedience and conserve the Rights of the Prince in their entire extent 'T is this Sacred and Renowned Parliament that God erects within our selves where Reason presides in quality of a Judge Conscience stands by as a Party the divers motions of the Soul confronted one with another are heard there as irreproachable witnesses of the good and evil which we do commit 'T is this that St. Paul calls the work of the Law written in our hearts Rom. c. 2. v. 15. Ostendunt opus Legis scriptum in cordibus suis testimonium reddente illis conscientia ipsorum where Conscience appears to present her charge dress up her complaints and set all the pieces of her accusation in order and Reasoon as a reporter fully informed accuses or defends the Soul to condemn her if she be criminal to dismiss her out of Court and Process if she be Innocent or to be received as Defendant if there be a doubt in the heads proposed And really we see of two men who were a long time in Law after the definitive Sentence without Appeal is given one to rejoyce the other to be sad So we see the same happen to a Soul whether Conscience gives her the gain of the cause or whether she renders her Justiciable The good Conscience Hugo Vict. lib. 3. de Anima cap. 3. Vide Cornel. in proverbia Salomonis c. 15. v. 15. Ad illa verba secura mens juge convivium says Hugh of St. Victor is a Garden of pleasures a Field of Benediction a Treasure of Peace the Temple of Solomon a Residence for God the Joy of Angels the Title of Religion the Cabinet of Graces 'T
is the Herb Nepenthe so much cried up by Homer which mixt among our actions doth banish all sadness and gives us the fore-taste of Glory yea and leaves us the smell of so grateful a conversation among Men and so great an esteem of us with God Bias interrogatus quidnam in vita metu vacaret respondit bona conscientia that our Neighbour covets our company to ease him of his sadness and God the presence of our hearts for to take his delight therein The guilty Conscience contrariwise is a Tyrant who tears us a Serpent who devours us a Devil who torments us Caesar provoked the Gods and for not appeasing their Justice by the humbleness of his Vows Lucanus lib. 1. Pharsal Lucan represents him on the Stage of this World in so deplorable a state that he did imagine at all hours that the points of all the Lances broken in the Battle of Pharsalia were gathered and planted in his Breast Conscientia est quae homines punit cum se malè operatos fuisse recogitant eádem furiarum paenas apposuit Oresti quando adversus matrem insaniit Philostrat lib. 7. de vita Apollonij cap. 7. Orestes for the Murders committed on the persons of Pyrrhus Egistus and Clitemnestra ran over all parts like a man possest with the Devil and had no other answer to make his Friends but that his Conscience tormented him for his crimes so that Pilades brought him to the Temple of Diana the Taurick for to expiate his Offences Pausanias thought he went a cunning way to free himself of the worm of his Conscience but he was deceived for Cleonica whom he had lately kill'd in cold blood after he had deflower'd her appears unto him every night accompanied with a Meager countenance does publish his bloody act Surge ad supplicium valde est damnosa libido and summons him to appear before the Gods to receive the punishment they will ordain for so horrid a Murder Herod the most cruel of Men Occultum quatiente animo tortore flagellum Juvenale Satyr 13. an insatiable blood-sucker who fearing to have any Competitor in his Kingdom pursued his proper Children to death and put his dear Mariamne also to the Sword Quisquis malus est malè secum est torqueatur necesse est ipse enim est poena sua fugit ab inimico quo potuerit à se autem quo fugiet D. Aug. tom 8. in Psal 36. Judas the most perfidious of Mortals who withdraws himself both from the Union and Communion of the Apostles to contrive that damnable Treachery against Jesus his proper Master What do you think is the state of their Conscience after such execrable crimes That man weary of his life gnawed with Worms eaten with Lice banished from all Friends troublesom to all people insupportable to himself as he thinks to smother the remorse which gnaws his Conscience he cries vengeance more and more Sic tantum in sontes Nemesis divina redundans Majori in poenam foenore tarda venit and calls to his aid all the Furies of Hell to exterminate out of the number of the living that unfortunate Canibal The other had no sooner made overture of his bad design to the Jews but he presently falls into Despair by the appointment of his own Conscience which condemns him out of hand and as a Serjeant or a Sheriffs Bayliff forces out of his Pocket the Pence of his Sale ties him Pinions him and brings him to the Gallows there to end his days and Preach from the top of that Gibbet to all mankind that we may sometimes escape the censure and Judgement of Men but that we cannot delude our Conscience when she does condemn us as Guilty of having offended the Divine Majesty Saphonias cap. 1. v. 12. Sophonias speaking of the diligent search which the Chaldeans were to make for the Jewish Nation that none of them should escape from being their Slaves represents God taking of Lanthorns to make that earnest discussion and our Doctors transporting the meaning of those words to a Tropologick sence takes that Examen for the narrow search which is to be made at the day of Judgement where God by the means of the five Created Lanthorns which are the Law and Word of God the Angels and Devils the Sun the Moon and Stars the life of Jesus Christ and of his Saints But above all the remorse of Conscience shall make a solemn Inquisition of all mens lives and what must be done that day in view of all the World is practic'd at the hour of death in the particular Judgement We have read hereof in the life of the Fathers an authentick Example of one Stephen a Hermit who for the space of forty years had renowned his Penance with a Million of Heroick actions lying on his Bed sick as if he had been before his Judge to answer what was laid to his charge nothing was heard of the questions but only the answers of the Accused At one time he would say yea 't is true but for satisfaction of that sin I Fasted three whole years Another time he would cry with a loud voice No I am not guilty of that I had the temptation of it but God gave me the Grace not to consent to it A quarter of an hour after you would see him lift himself on a sudden up in his Bed as a man in a hot dispute with another you do urge me over-much let me breath a little give me but a short respit of time to think of what you do accuse me And being ready to yield up his Ghost on the one side he looks with an eye of compassion at his Brothers humbly beseeching them to pray for his Soul And on the other side he makes his Addresses to the Crucifix his last refuge conjuring his Redeemer through the Merits of his Blood not to Judge him according to the rigorous depositions of his Conscience It 's true then that God has placed in our hearts a secret Intelligence an inward Motion a private Commissary we must follow that Intelligence wherever it leads us we must esteem that Commissary and all his advices when he tells us of the Princes will Gloria nostra haec est testimonium conscientiae nostrae 1 Cor. cap. 1. v. 12. Senti de Augustino quicquid volueris sola me in oculis Dei conscientia non accuset D. Aug. contra Secundinum Manich. c. 10. You shall find many in this World who will complain of their Ignorance and make their Appology that they do not know the things necessary to Salvation that the Casuists are so contrary one to another that in lieu of clearing their doubts they do wrap them up into as many difficulties as they have contrary feelings some make the way to Heaven so large and spacious that the great and destructive Engine of Troy might easily go through Others make the door so narrow that hardly any can get in
inhorresco inardesco inhorresco in quantum dissimilis ei sum inardesco in qūantum similis ei sum D. Aug. to 1 lib. 11. confes cap. 9. that the curiosity of hearing good Language brought him to be one of his Auditors rather than any desire he had to learn the Verities of Salvation But in fine at long running he finds himself taken The sweet mildness of St Ambrose together with the force of his words animated with the Fire of Divine Love made a breach on St. Augustines heart and out of the obdurate and hard Anvil of his Soul brought the miraculous flames of his most happy conversion But if any be who notwithstanding the redoubled stroaks of this Mystical Hammer notwithstanding all those earnest importunities of the Apostle will continue always his accustomed crimes Scripture will have for the last remedy that Heaven and Earth be called as witnesses of his hardness and how Life and Death Vice and Virtue Pain and Glory were set before his eyes and that yet he was not astonish'd in the least Testes in voco hodie Coelum Terram quod proposuerim vobis vitam mortem c. Deuter. 30. nor moved to a Conversion Let him not then think it strange if for having undervalued the word of God in his life time he be left without any cumfort at the hour of his Death without remorse of Conscience without compunction of Heart without Repentance for his Faults being that his obstinate and fierce humour had deserved him that disgrace The Sinners that do procrastinate their Conversion are those who in matter of changement of life turns it off to another day who defer and prolong their reconciliation as much as they can saying that it will be time enough to think of those sad entertainments when the heat and lust of Youth shall be clear past and spent that God is not so rigorous as they do Preach The good Thief said but three words before he died and he got into Heaven Mary the Aegyptian took all manner of pleasures whilst she was young yet she made a most Happy and a most Glorious end They are Souls that stand out firm against God and will not upon any account surrender and though they be offer'd most advantagious conditions they are for a cessation of Arms they will have Time to capitulate and find still new excuses for not surrendring What does God do to Convert those Souls He lays Seige to them as to revolted Cities which deny Obedience to their Sovereign You may find in Scripture Deut. c. 20. v. 10. Offeres primum ei pacem v. 19. Non succcides arbores de quibus vesci potest c. c. 21. v. 11. how he commands a general Destruction over all that they should preserve Fruit-trees only as for others they should root them out of the ground and after that they should give a general assault they should put all to the Sword and that such as under pretence of capitulation deferr'd to surrender themselves Si videris in numero captivorum mulierem pulchram c. they should receive exemplary punishment But if among those poor wretches there should be found a handsom portly Woman the Conquerour may take her for his Spouse with a condition to cut off her Hair to pair her Nails and to let her have a full month to lament her Father and Mother So God deals with Sinners that put off their Conversion after that the Preachers had summoned them in his Name He commands his Angels to sound a general Destruction whereupon comes a Plague into a City and leaves it waste he orders all the unprofitable Trees which bear not the worthy Fruits of a true Repentance to be cut down He who has escaped the Plague shall be taken with an Apoplexy which shall not afford him that short time to invoke the holy Name of Jesus to his assistance Another shall be prevented by a sudden death whilst he is in mortal sin and there he is lost for an Eternity And why all this It is because those Souls would fain capitulate with God Almighty they would not surrender when the white Flag of Peace was presented to them They always delayed their Repentance so that God was compelled by their obstinate ways to proceed against them with all manner of rigour Herodot lib. 1. The Ionians as you may read in Herodotus Besieged by King Cyrus who often before offered them honorable conditions that they might carry away their Lives and Goods safe or stay in the City and enjoy peaceably all their Immunities and Liberties that their Garison might March off with Drums beating Colours flying Arrow in hand Sword by their side Lance at a stand Yet they were so head-strong that they would not surrender But at last being not able to hold out any longer they resolved to send their Deputies to Cyrus Being come Cyrus for an answer tells them of a Parable A certain Man who could play well on the Flute walking along the River side begins to play on his Instrument as if he were to invite the Fish to Dance to come ashore and rejoyce at the hearing of so sweet a Harmony the Fish instead of coming near him fled away in full Squadrons under the Banks and muddy places of the River for the fear of being catched whereupon he throws in his Net amongst them and brings up a great quantity which were no sooner laid down in the Meadow but they began to Dance leap and strike with their Fins No no says he 't is no more time to Dance Salationis verbo non histrionis motibus sinuati corporis rotatus sed impigri cordis devotio religiosa membrorum designatur agilitas D. Aug. ex Hugon Cardinal in c. 7. Lucae you shall die This is to say that Cyrus would hear no more speaking of Peace being that the Ionians were so far overseen as to refuse it once when it was offered them by his Embassador and in his Name God by his Preachers often invited Sinners with the harmonious sound of his words to get out of the muddy waters of their Concupiscence and come to the shore of their Salvation to Dance and Rejoyce with the Angels at the day of their Conversion Saltant animae quae pennulis virtutum fultae per coeleste desiderium saltant ad contemplationem quamvis in se relabantur per carnis fragilitatem D. Greg. ex Hugone ibid. But they fled afar off and launched themsemselves further in under the Banks of Hell The hour of death comes on they cannot hold out any longer they have no more the power nor the occasions to offend God Then they begin to cry my God we would willingly make our Peace with you do not cut us off so soon we beg a cessation of Arms for one day more No no says our Saviour Canta vimus ei non saltastis Luke c 7. v. 32. in St. Luke I Sung but you would not Dance
stuft up with Earth and Dung Those light-footed Deers are the days of her life which with a great deal of speed conducted her to Death That jeering smile shewed the vanity of all her greatness and Pleasures This breaking of the Vessel the seperation of the Soul from the Body In fine Omnes eodem eogimur omnium Versatur urna serius ocius Sors exitura nos en aeternum Exitium impositura Cymba Horat. lib. 2. Carm. the whole exposed to the publick view was a brave instruction to the Youth of Rome to curb them and stop the course of their insolency But let us not seek for so Antient a fact let us go and open some Tomb wherein of late days is cast some rare young Beauty which Death had overcome Imagine with your self dear Reader this Carcass to be left in your Chamber Ask it the question What is become of those fair eyes which were but two days since seen to open with such Majesty Circum ferabatur apud Aegyptios inter pocula sceletus hoc est corporis ossea duntaxat compage exextantiseffigies in memoriam ut ajunt manerotis isidis alumni quem annis innocentibus immatura morte fata praeripuerant Herodot l. 11. Petron. in Satyrico and give a bold look at the admirers to shut down their lids for shame to be dazled with fear to grow black with sadness to be inflamed with anger to grow mild and smile at a Lover Where are those optick Veins which carried by their continuation the usual ray on the very door-case of the Eye to receive the Species and frame the Image of such as were represented Exteriourly Where are those Tunicks and little thin skins which locked up so artificially all humours that nothing should annoy this great little Master-piece of Nature All That is no more but a stinking Dunghill mixed with nasty Blood more horrible to be seen than ever was the Carcass of Helena which Menippus had perceived in the dark Dungeon of Hell But what is become of that pure white proper and well set Body so pamper'd so carefully wash'd so curiously deck'd so interlac'd with thousands of Sky-colour'd Veins which Nature had fram'd as a Net to intangle all men in her Love all is nothing now but a rotten lump of Flesh where Worms have taken up their quarters to feed at their ease Let us go further to find out the Heart first alive and at last dead whence proceeded all Passions as so many Sovereign Ladies and Queens of that little World Alas It 's now but a small handful of ashes the least touch will reduce it to dust as the Apples of the Lake Asphatite where Sodom and Gomorrah stood heretofore There is no young man in the World let him be the greatest Ranter that ever was heard of if he will but consider seriously this doleful pourtraiture he will conceive a distast of all Earthly pleasures he will stop the course of his Debauch'd life knowing for certain the day will come that infallibly he will be brought to the same condition Damascenus in historia Balaam Josaphat testatur priscas Sanctorum reliquias religiosè in theca ex collo pendente gestasse non tantum venerationis sed memoriae mortis causa Tradition gives us to understand of the Patriarch Noah how after he had made an end of building an Ark and received Orders to get into it with all his Family The first thing he would have observ'd in his new House was that his Children should think often of Death as a strong motive to keep them from Vice and Deadly Sin And to bring them to this good Custom he commands them to go look for the Bones of Adam's Body which being all found and brought home to the Community except the hinder part of his Head which they left on the Mount Calvary for the accomplishment of the Messias Mysteries To one he he gives the Thigh-bone to another that of an Arm and to all the rest each one his proportion To the end they might always think that if God by his special Grace delivered them out of all danger of Shipwrack and Deluge Yet they were not exempted from the inevitable Laws of Death If Jonathan thought of that Sentence in time he would not take the news of his Death so much to Heart And we should not know by Scripture the weakness of his Courage and the main excess of his Grief which made him say with a weeping Tone Alas for having tasted a little Honey must I die so soon I did as yet but begin to receive the sweet Air of Life and here already I am summon'd to march off to take up my Lodging in the thick and dark shadows of an Eternal Night Nature to me is a most Cruel Step-mother to shew me so much of her Pleasures and presently to cut me off before I tasted of their sweetness We must then acknowledge that of all Exteriour means the most serious thought of Death is the strongest to move Youth to their Conversion Ponite quotidie ante oculos vestros finem vestrum cogitate cujus erunt quid vobis proderunt quae post vos remanebunt haec cogitate haec inter vos die ac nocte in secreto in publico tractate S. Anselm ad Burgundium macherum ejus conjugem Epist As for Kings Princes and Monarchs who by the eminency of their Dignities should seem to be out of all fear being that all Creatures shew them their Obedience as to the Gods of the Earth What made them undervalue and forsake their Scepters and Crowns to live in a Desart as Josaphat Son to the great Abenner Who was it that oblig'd them to quit their Palaces and Royal Houses for to lead in a Cloister the Life of a poor Religious man as a Charles the Great Who perswaded them to have a greater esteem for the Cross of Jesus than for the Richest Treasures the World can afford as a Constontine but the Thoughts of Death Leonitus in the Life of the Ancient Fathers relates That at the Coronation of the Emperours in the City of Constantinople before they had gone further in their Ceremonies Vide apud Xiphilium in domit funebre convivium domitavi there would come a number of Sculptures every one with his Marble in his Hand who Addressing themselves to the Emperour ready to be Crown'd would make him this Complement Sacred Majesty according to the Custom of your Predecessors and the Order Establish'd in the Ceremonies of your Vnction here we do Prostrate ourselves at your Feet with these Marbles and our Request is to be inform'd by your Majesty what form we shall give your Tomb O my God! what different Ceremonies have we here On the one side I see Pallaces Louvres and Imperial-Houses preparing to receive the Prince with a great deal of Honour And on the other side I hear of nothing but Stones Tombs and Sepulchres wherein he is to
chief places and of most importance enter into the Cittadel and at the break of day with the first sound of Trumpet and Drum put all to the Sword before the Inhabitants can have time to look about them Statue tibi speculam pone tibi amaritudines dirige cor tuum in viam rectam Jerem. 31. v. 21 God has placed in our Souls which are Cities of great importance and bordering on the Enemies Quarters Garrisons composed of as many Soldiers as we have Interiour faculties to conserve that place as well from the Hostility of the invisible Enemy who assaults it at all hours as to hinder that by Taxation or any civil Sedition they come not to cut their Throats and render the memory of their misfortune as Fatal as were the Sicilian Vespers to the French Nation He has ordered our Conscience to stand as a Centry at the passage coming in with a command upon pain of death at the first noise of either Enemy or civil Sedition to Alarm the Garrison that every one may stand to his Arms and put himself in a posture to Fight manfully for his Freedom and Liberty Satan thereupon Quis alius nomene bestiae nisi antiquus hostis accipitur qui deceptionem primi hominis saevus impetiit integritatem vitae illius malè suadendo laniavit latibulum suum ingrediur ut in eo demoretur vas quippe illud diaboli antrum ac latibulum bestiae est ut insidians hominibus viam hujus vitae carpentibus in illo per signa lareat per malitiam occidat c. D. Greg. 27. Moral c. 19. statium initio who appears no more among Men to fight in a set Battle since the remarkable day of Calvary where he saw himself overcome and clearly routed in sight of all the World has his recourse to Crafts and to Cheats he covers himself with a Fox case having learned by experience how fatal the wearing of a Lyons Skin was to him he imploys all his industry to surprize the Conscience of a poor Sinner to smother her remorse cut her Worms Throat and utterly destroy the Soul from all good intents and purposes or at least if he can do no more he will endeavour to corrupt the Centry by vain and false perswasions he will cast him a Bone as to a Dog for to hinder him to bark and discover his treacherous designs to the Inhabitants within Has he gained the Conscience Why then wonder no more at the Hostility which he is to exercise therein he enters into the Cittadel of the Soul forces all the faculties puts all the Garison to the Sword batters down the Fortifications violates the Love of God prostitutes the rarest Virtues we had possessed exposes all to the Plunder and Pillage of his Infernal Legions and leaves nothing that bears not the marks of his cruelty if there remains as yet any Inhabitant for he cannot destroy the principles of Nature Vadit assumit septem alios spiritus secum nequiores se intrantes habitant ibi Mat. 12. v. 43. yet he loads them with so many Taxes and Subsidies that it were better for one to die than live miserably under such Tyranical Laws You may then soon perceive that as much facility as Jesus finds in an incorruptible and faithful Conscience for to bring her to the designs of her Salvation so much or rather more does he find of difficulty in a Soul which has no Conscience or at least behaves her self as if she had none So we commonly say of a Man who neglects his Salvation that he is a man without any Conscience The Apostle St. Paul Ephes c. 4. v. 17. Tinebris obscuratum habentes intellectum alienari à vita Dei per ignorantiam quae est in illis propter coecitatem cordis ipsorum qui desperantes semetipsos trudiderunt impudicitiae was a perfect discoverer of Satan's Cheats and Plots in surprizing of Conscience and no wonder for he is one of the wisest and stoutest Champions that ever Fought under the Standard of the Militant Church speaking of the Gentiles conjuring the Ephesians not to imitate them in three notable failings whereinto the Enemy of Nature had cast them headlong to wit is to be vain and foolish in their feelings obscure in their understanding blind in their hearts Vain in their feelings by reason of the too great esteem they had of their own sufficiency to submit to no body to aim and look for the first ranks and Chairs to swallow down by mouthfuls as the famous Courtier of Antiquity the vain smoak of a popular Applause obscure in their understandings to know no Divinity but what was in Idols to despise the humble Crucified and never to Judge of things but by the false report of such as did intend to seduce them Blind in their hearts holding out obstinately against the motion of Reason which is the Sun of the Soul that they are more Rebels to what is good than is the Anvil to the Smiths Hammer And because it was not enough to let them see the grievousness of those failings if he had not thought them in the mean time the source from whence they proceeded as the pernicious effects of a bad cause says that all this has happen'd to them for having smother'd the Remorse of Conscience which has brought them to Despair Desperantes semet ipsos or as St. Jerome explains it to a State of sloathfulness or lack of pains for he who has no Conscience accustoms himself to Sin 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Custom engenders a second Nature Nature so corruped brings on Despair Despair a moral impossibility to convert himself to God We must then if we do not intend to render the Holy and Amorous designs of Jesus altogether useless and unprofitable for our Conversion shun above all things that deplorable State wherein our Conscience being made a Prisoner and a Slave can no more exercise her charge with Liberty for fear it should happen to us what the Fable says that the Thieves having stoln away from us our Watch-Dogs which were wont to bark in the night time at the first noise of Robbers they may without any hindrance Plunder and destroy what is best and most precious in the Cabinet of our Souls Non tacebo quoniam vocem huccinae audivit animae mea clamorem praelij c. Jerom. 4. v. 19. The Prophet Jeremiah seems by another comparison to give us the same advise I have heard says he the sound of a Trumpet I will not hold my Peace In War they make use of Trumpets for two ends One is to call the Soldiers to their Arms Cum fortis armatus custodit atrium suum in pace sunt ea c. Lucae 11. v. 19. to animate them to Battle to stir up their blood this they call to sound a Charge The other to make every one retire to his Quarters follow his Colours come into their Ranks
place of Immortality D. Ambr. to 1. l. de bone mortis c. 10. per totum CHAP. XXX That the Mortality of our Soul sets all crimes at liberty IF the only thought of the Immortality of our Souls be a motive sufficiently powerful to blot out of our hearts the horrour of Death and breed therein an undervaluing of the World Doubtless it will beget in us also the hatred of sin and a strong inclination to purchase Virtue His igitur freti intrepide pergamus ad redemptorem nostrum Iesum intrepride ad Patriarcharum concilium intrepide ad Abraham Patrem nostrum cum dies advenerit proficiscamur Ibimus enim ad patres nostros ibimus ad illos fidei nostrae praeceptores ùt etiams◠opera desint fides opituletur defendat haereditas c. C. Ambr. to 1. de bono mortis statim initio c. 12. A young Religious man of the Famous Congregation of the Carthusians poor of Extraction but had a Noble heart and a spirit well grounded in the belief of the Immortality of Souls falls sick a violent Feaver sets him in a flame The Doctors have a bad opinion of him St. Bernard goes to his Cell to visit him and with the sweetness of his mellifluous words disposes him to Death exhorting him to be of good courage to have confidence in God and believe that the hour was come that his corporal labours should be rewarded with an Eternity of contentments The sick man presently makes answer why Father should I not have confidence I I certainly I do believe firmly that I shall have very soon the happiness to possess the land of the living St. Bernard as a good Pastor fearing his poor sheep should be lost by the presumption of his feeling chang'd his mild discourse into a paternal and sharp reprehension to find out from what spirit came that reply What you little wretch says he to him what have you said make make the sign of the Cross to banish away that proud Devil who has possest you How come you to speak with so much boldness have you already forgotten that you were but a poor Boy whom we have received here for the love of God rather for compassion of your indigent condition then for any good quality which might render you grateful or worthy to be admitted into any Religious Assembly you had not Bread to put in your mouth but what you got by the labour of your hands and sweat of your brows We have suffered you to sit at the common Table of our Religious men who in the world were Rich Noble and Powerful and there where you ought to find a Subject of Humility you have acquired a proud Soul you believe that God is as yet your Debtor and that Heaven is yours without dispute The sick man heard all these words with attention which after they were ended with a modest tone and smiling countenance he tells St. Bernard Noctem pressuram nominat David tamen liberatorem suum inter angustias exultationem vocat foris quidem nox erat in circumdatione pressurae sed intus carmina resonabant de consolatione laetitiae c. D. Greg. l. 26. in c. 35. Iob. e. 11. infinne be pleased to pardon me Father for if I committed a fault you are the cause of it I have not as yet blotted out of my mind how you have often admitted me with other Religious men to your Spiritual conferences where exhorting us to the exercise of the Virtues of Humility Obedience and Resignation you made the practice of them appear sweet and pleasant to us by the hopes you gave us of an Eternity I did endeavour in this point to acquit my self of my duty with the grace of my Saviour and this is it which makes me now speak with so much the more confidence that I believe your words to be true and Gods promises infallible This is one of the Lessons which St. Paul had learned in the third Heavens and which he repeats to us saying for my part when I understand that we are to have a weight of caelectial glory for what tribulations we suffer in this life I can find therein no other proportion but that which might be put betwixt a Moment and Eternity So when they do plant a sweet Bryar what is it but a thorny stump without either Grace or Beauty but the Belief they have to see fine flowers grow some day among those thorns makes them to cherish the stem with all its deformity and sharp points The Cross is a thorny Bryar without either Grace or Beauty none can touch it without running the hazard of being prick'd But we are of that belief Sic itaque electorum desideria dum premuntur adversitate proficiunt sicut ignis flatu premitur ut crescat unde quasi extingui cernitur inde roboratur D. Greg. lib. 26. moral cap. 10. in cap. 35. Job that out of that stock must come the conversion of a sinner and the eternity of glory that it is from this stem we must take the flowers to make our selves a Crown of Immortality that makes us to cherish both the stump and the thorns we take delight to besprinkle it with the blood of Jesus Christ that in due season we may see thereon both flowers and Fruit. The hopes of a good Harvest sets the labourer to work in the foulest weather of the year The hopes of a good booty encourages the Souldier to go through the toils of War And shall not the hope of glory make us detest our crimes and redouble our paces in the practice of good shall not the belief of Immortality strengthen us under the labours of the Cross until the day of Victory If not we are meer cowards and most unworthy to bear that title of followers of Christ St. Jerome spake heretofore with a great deal of Honour saying that Heresie had infected all other Kingdoms but that of the French which remained alone exempt and clear of those Monsters If this great Saint had seen the state of that Kingdom now-adays and considered how after the revolt of Hereticks the most part of Christians fell into Atheism which carries along the mortality of Souls as a faithful companion from Hell he would say without doubt that it is a property only belonging to France to produce not Monsters but Devils For what makes that in the reign of a King in whose heart piety appears as in her Throne who knows how to joyn in one breast Virtue and nobility to the admiration of all the World if this makes him to be the first Monarch of Europe in heighth of extraction that makes him to pass without contradiction for the most Religious Prince in the Universe who seems in his Birth to have brought from his Mothers womb Hercules's club to destroy both Vice and viciously given We see nevertheless the corruption to be so Universal the Sanctuary polluted the Temples prophaned Devotion without any lustre