upon the Principal Mysteries of our Redemption and shews how they are apply'd to us and express'd in us as a spiritual Circumcision Col. 2.10.11.12 by putting off the Body of Sin signified by the Circumcision of Christ a dying and being buried with him in the Waters of Baptism imported by the shedding his precious Blood and laying his dead Body in the Monument that we are quickned and revived together with him and continues Let no man judge you in part of the Holy Day In parte diei festi 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for so the vulgar Latin and the Greek have it where the common Translation reads in respect of the Holy Day I know the sense of the Letter according to the general Interpretation is Let no one condemn you for neglecting to observe the Jewish Festivals or Ceremonies But some Expositors understand it to be spoken in a larger and more spiritual sense and by way of Caveat that we should not flatter our selves as if we had perform'd the Obligations of this Day for the purpose by devoutly meditating upon the Resurrection of Christ which is only one Part of the present Solemnity without proceeding to the other to solemnize our own Rising again from the Death of Sin which is the Second Part the Fruit and End of the other But whether you allow of this Interpretation or no at least this is fidelis sermo a faithful Saying an unquestionable Truth If we be dead with him 2 Tim. 2.11 we shall also live with him Die therefore we must not only a natural Death which is the Punishment of Sin but also a spiritual one which is the Death of Sin We incurr'd the fatal Sentence of returning into Earth by seeking those things which are upon Earth we revive into a Spiritual Life by seeking those things which are in Heaven The one consists in the Separation of the Soul from the Body the other in the Union of the Soul with Christ 2 Cor. 4.11 that the Life also of Jesus may be made manifest in our mortal Flesh as the Apostle speaks that our Conversation even in this World may be so pure our Actions so spiritual and our Affections so fix'd upon things above as to express a lively Similitude of our Lord's Resurrection Wherefore the Holy Fathers observe a threefold Analogy or Resemblance between the Resurrection of Châ—â—st and that of a Christian The first arises from the Cause of his Resurrection which the Apostle tells us was the Operation of God or the Omnipotent Hand of the Divinity reuniting the Blessed Soul of Jesus to his dead Body and not permitting his Holy One to see Corruption Thus a Soul once dead to God can never by its own Strength for it has none by its own Endeavors or Performances which are inanimate or by the practice of Moral Vertues which are dead in themselves re-enter into the Life of Grace without the merciful Assistance miraculous Operation and the Change of the Hand of the most High whose sole Prerogative it is to command Light to shine out of Darkness 2 Cor. 4.6 as well to repair what has once ceas'd to be as to make what never was before This is a Fundamental Truth and as it were a First Principle of Christian Religion deliver'd by Jesus Christ declar'd and frequently urg'd by the Doctor of the Gentiles and repeated by the Holy Ghost in many Councils and at last in that of Trent where it is decreed Conc. Trid. Sess 6. Can. 1. de Justificat to the condemnation of Modern Pelagianism and to vindicate the Churches Doctrin from the Calumnies or Mistakes of those who still misrepresent it That whosoever asserts Man by his own Works perpetrated either by the Strength of Nature or by the Assistance of the Law may be justified without the Grace of God thro' Jesus Christ Anathema Let him be accursed By declaring the Insufficiency of Nature to a Good and Justifying Life she condemns those Men who think they may be sav'd by leading only a Moral Life according to the Dictamen of Reason without the Practice of Religion By excluding the Old Law she censures the Judaizing Christian wâ—â— places it in equal Ballance with the New or at least thinks this not sufficient without the Observance of the other And lastly By establishing the Necessity of Grace to perform every Good and Vertuous Action she warns us not to presume or relie upon our own Merits she directs us whither we are to lift up our Eyes whence we are to expect our Salvation and points him out who gives Birth to our good Desires Warmth to our Affections and Life to our Actions both the Velle Perficere Philip. 2.13 the Will to rise again and the Execution of it by seeking those things which are above This is the Second Analogy of our Resurrection with that of Christ the Proof and Experiment that we are risen from Death to Life For as we cannot distinguish an Animate from an Inanimate Body but by the Palpitation of the Heart Pulse of the Artery Heaving of the Lungs or the Exercise of some sensible Faculty so cannot we discern a Soul inform'd with the Life of Grace from another which is depriv'd of it but by such Operations as are proper to that Life as the Restraint of our Appetites a Command of our Passions a Modesty in our Behavior a Veracity in our Words a Sincerity in our Dealings a Relieving the Poor assisting the Distressed embracing and doing good to our Enemies These are the Authentick Proofs of a Real Resurrection and a lively Resemblance of Jesus Christ's Surrexit Dominus vere Our Lord is truly risen And how did he make it out he was truly risen Multis Argumentis says St. Luke By many Arguments many infallible Proofs And wherein did these consist but in appearing often to his Disciples shewing the Marks of his Death eating and drinking in their Presence Acts 1.3 and speaking of the things pertaining to the Kingdom of God In like manner Matth. 5.16 if our light so shine before men that they see our good works we express the Resemblance of a Glorified Body Donum Claritatis 2 Cor. 4.10 If we carry about the Mortification of Jesus in our Bodies we copy out the Marks and Stigmata of his Passion If we stand firm and unshaken in the midst of Persecution we become a lively Representation of his Impassibility Donum Impassibilitatis Psal 118.32 If we run with delight the way of his Commandments when Charity has enlarged our Hearts and even the Lets and Impediments we meet with in the Service of God are so far from retarding the Course of our Vertue that on the contrary they inflame our Zeal and furnish new Matter to provoke and heighten our Courage we imitate the Third Quality of his Glorified Body Donum Agilitatis In fine If whether we eat or drink 1 Cor. 10.31 or whatsoever we do we do all to
only to plunge you deeper into Death by adding to the weight of your former Commissions a heavy Ingratitude a sacrilegious Abuse of Divine Grace a Contempt of Mercy a Rebellion against the Light an evacuating the Death of Christ and frustrating his Resurrection of its chiefest End that rising from Death with him you should die no more And herein consists the difference between the Resurrection of the Body and that of the Soul Both the one and the other are the Effects of a Supernatural and Divine Power But the one always supposes a Perpetuity and Settled state the other is subject to Decay and of its own nature do's not exclude Corruption and Mortality Thus the Sunamite's Child at the Prayer of Elizaeus the Dead Man at the touch of his Bones Lazarus and others at the Voice of Christ and they who at his Death came forth of their open'd Sepulchers were restor'd to Life but to a dying Life they liv'd to die again But the Spiritual Life communicated to a Soul by the Grace of Jesus Christ is invested as far as concerns the Operation of the Agent with Immortality and has impress'd upon it a Resemblance of his Resurrection a Jam non moritur She is commanded to cherish and perpetuate that Life which nothing can corrupt unless she lay murthering Hands upon her self and by consenting to Sin fall a Victim to it But can any one who believes in earnest the Advantage and Excellence of this Supernatural Life who has ever tasted the ineffable Comforts of a Spiritual Resurrection with and in Christ be so careless of the Advantage so insensible of the Excellence so forgetful of the Comforts as to lavish them away upon every slight occasion as to exchange them for every gaudy Trifle as to wound and destroy this Life at the persuasion of a Passion or for the gratifying a Concupiscence or for the indulging an Appetite If one did not find this practically true in speculation one would pronounce it impossible Impossible that the Reasonable Creature should persecute its own Happiness run counter to its own Desires and contrive its own Destruction contrary to the Dictamen of Reason to the Impressions of Faith and even to the Inclinations of Nature And whosoever considers with how many Tears Alms-deeds and Mortifications with what Assiduity in Prayer Modesty of Behaviour and Earnestness to hear the Word of God we have spent this Holy and Penitential Season in order to prepare our selves to rise again with Jesus Christ in this Day of his Triumph over Death will certainly conclude that we are truly dead Rom. 6.2 and our Life hidden with Christ in God that being thus dead to Sin quomodo adhuc vivemus in illo how is it possible we should harbor a Thought of living any longer in that wretched Condition Yet this time of Penance is no sooner elaps'd than we begin to provide Matter for a new Repentance We take the Reins off our Senses and Passions and turn them loose to rove and wanton as before as if Sensuality were the Object of the Churches Indulgence as if Luxury Excess mis-spending our Time superfluous Entertainments and other Practices which are at all times unlawful were not at the most Holy of Times more Criminal It seems the Tide of our Vices was only stemm'd for Forty days and now the Sluces are pull'd up to let them roll in their old Channels with more impetuosity than before We hear the Churches Invitations to rejoyce and to be merry her Exultemus's and Alleluia's we presently catch the Sound and like the Carnal Jew think it relates to Flesh and Blood we presently unbend the Mind and impart the happy News to every Passion and Concupiscence But who would have imagin'd that Relaxations of our Manners could be thought by Mankind the fittest Expressions and most unfeigned Testimonies of their Rejoycing at the Resurrection of Christ But since the World will have it so I am contented provided it be made appear that these are Arguments and Signs of our Rising again with Christ For our Lord reassum'd his Sacred Body that we might rise in Spirit with him and in Flesh after him Our Resurrection then is the principal End of His and by consequence those Actions which demonstrate us to be truly risen again with him are the only proper Means to express our Joy to celebrate his Triumph And I hope we are now agreed that these consist in seeking those things which are above in setting our affections on heavenly things in transcending all Human Considerations in leaving the World far below us and contemning its Vanities Honors and Riches as much as we abhor its Vices and Corruptions 1 Cor. 15.50 As for Flesh and Blood their Inclinations and Concupiscences which can never possess the Kingdom of God they become more than ever our mortal Enemies we have a new Obligation to persecute and detest them a fresh Provocation to distress and mortifie them because they hinder us from enjoying the Liberty of the Children of God they are a Clog upon the Heart a Damp upon the Spirits they check the Flight of the Soul and lure her down when she is upon the Wing to have her Conversation in Heaven Philip. 3.2 And since this is your Belief but your Practice so contrary has not the Apostle as much reason to expostulate with you as he had with the Galatians Sic stulti estis ut cum spiritu caeperitis Gal. 3.3 carne consummemini Are you become so foolish as to end in the Flesh after you have begun in the Spirit Tanta passi estis sine causa v. 4. Have you so long bridl'd your Appetites and deny'd your Senses even their lawful Satisfactions to let them break out at Easter like a Vapor from some Hollow of the Earth more unruly furious and destructive than they could have been had you not penn'd them in and confin'd them Have you suffer'd so many things in vain shed so many Tears without Fruit given so many Alms to no End In vain without Fruit and to no end indeed unless these happy Beginnings are crown'd with an answerable Perseverance unless you dy'd to Sin to rise again with Jesus Christ and are risen again to die no more Which God of his Infinite Mercy c. The End of the First Sermon A SERMON Preach'd before Her Majesty THE QUEEN-DOWAGER On Whitsunday 1686. Nolite contristare Spiritum Sanctum Ephes 4.30 Grieve not the Holy Ghost AS the Children of Israel Most Sacred Majesty receiv'd the Law Fifty days after the Paschal Lamb was Sacrific'd in Memory and Thanksgiving for their Miraculous Deliverance from the Egyptian Slavery so the Church of Christ in the fulness of time and after that mysterious number of Days elaps'd from the Sacrifice of the Immaculate Lamb who takes away the Sins of the World is establish'd by the solemn publication of a New Covenant a Covenant of Grace But to express the Analogy and Relation between the one
TWO SERMONS Preach'd before the Queen-Dowager IN HER MAJESTY's CHAPPEL AT Somerset-House By the Reverend Father Dom. PHIL. ELLIS Monk of the Holy Order of St. Benedict and of the English Congr Preacher and Chaplain in Ordinary to Their MAJESTIES Published by Her Majesty's Command LONDON Printed by Henry Hills Printer to the King 's Most Excellent Majesty for His Houshold and Chappel 1686. A SERMON Preach'd before Her Majesty THE QUEEN-DOWAGER On Easter-day 1686. Si consurrexistis cum Christo quae sursum sunt quaerite If you have risen again with Christ seek those things which are above INto this pathetick Exhortation the Apostle falls in his Epistle to the Colossians ch 3. v. 1. Sacred Majesty Into this seasonable Exhortation the Church breaks forth at the Entry of this Solemnity in the first Mass which we on the Vigil the Primitive Christians celebrated at the first Point of the Natural Day In these Words she communicates to her mourning Children the joyful News that her Beloved was dead and is alive Words which express not only the Reality but also the Efficacy and Extent of our Lord's Resurrection that the yearly Revolution of this Festival implies something more than our Blessed Master's glorious Rising from the Dead that it carries us farther than a bare Memory of his Triumph that it comprehends the Glory of the Members as well as of the Head and celebrates our own Victory over Death if indeed we are risen again with Christ My Text therefore is an Argumentation founded upon two Suppositions the one of Faith the other touching Matter of Fact Of Faith That Christ is risen the Fact That we are actually risen with him Si consurrexistis cum Christo The one he supposes as a First Principle of our Religion which falls not under dispute The other needs a Confirmation and is to be prov'd by something more evident than it self The Proof of our Resurrection must be drawn from our diligent application to those things which are above quae sursum sunt quaerite or as he expresses himself more clearly in the following Verse from setting our affections on heavenly things quae sursum sunt sapite from leading a supernatural Life and weaning of our Hearts from all that is below non quae super terram But there can be no Resurrection to a New Life unless by way of necessary Disposition there be a Death to the Old To rise again therefore we must first die Death being the Medium or Boundary between these two Lives this of the World and the other according to God For since they are incompatible and in some manner contradictory the one must cease to be before the other can exist and by consequence the Presence of the one must demonstrate the Destruction of the other Wherefore that we are risen again with Christ is evinc'd by our being dead to the World and this doubly prov'd first by the Affirmative seeking those things which are above and then by the Negative not setting our affections on things below My Text thus expounded divides it self and calls upon me to speak a Word to each of these Resurrections that of Christ and this of the Christian which jointly compose the Subject of our present Joy and consequently are the fittest Subject of the present Discourse and of Your Royal and Favourable Attention But when I reflect that St. Ambrose Ambr. lib. 3. de Virg. versus Med. and after him the whole Current of Divines piously suppose the Blessed Mother of our Lord first saw his Resurrection both saw it first and was the first who believ'd it it being most agreeable to Reason and a natural Consequence of Affection that so loving a Parent should receive the first Visit from so loving a Son that she who most eminently shar'd in the Pangs of his Death when the Sword of Sorrow pierced her Heart should taste the First-fruits of his returning to Life Let us before we proceed beg her Intercession that I may speak of this great Mystery as one who is risen again with Christ and you attend unto my Words as they who seek the things which are above AVE MARIA If you are risen again with Christ seek the things which are above c. OF all the Mysteries of our Holy Religion the Resurrection of Christ is the Principal because it is the highest Proof of his Divinity the greatest of his Miracles the chiefest Instance of his Veracity the Earnest of his Promises and the Foundation of all our Hope And upon this Consideration St. Ambrose calls it the Corner-stone and Basis of Faith primum maximum Fidei Fundamentum His Conception and Nativity were but the remote Preparations to it His Life and Doctrin the Means His Death and Passion the immediate Dispositions But his rising the third day according to the Flesh was the ultimate End of his coming as being the first in Intention and the last in Execution In this consists the Strength the Meaning and Intent of the Apostle's Assertion Rom. 4.25 That Jesus Christ was deliver'd for our Sins and rose again for our Justification For as the Church sings in the Office of Yesterday Nihil nobis nasci profuit nisi redimi profuisset The Excellence of our Being had avail'd us nothing if a Redemption had not restor'd us to the End of our Creation forfeited by Sin so a Redemption it self would not have answer'd our Necessities if a Resurrection had not perfected and crown'd the Work of our Justification But as it naturally follows the further the Consequence draws from the First Principle the obscurer it grows the deeper the Water is the further we are from discerning the Bottom the greater the Miracle the less comprehensible so we find the Mystery of the Resurrection to be the most profound and consequently the most obscure and difficult of all our Credends For how inexplicable soever the Heathen Philosophers judg'd the Immortality of the Soul they could not deny but the Light of Nature discover'd it to be reasonable But all their Application Enquiry and force of Reason fell so short of the Resurrection of the Body that while they admitted the one they derided the other as impossible as chimerical as the Dreams of Simple or the Reveries of Frantick Men. Thus when St. Paul Acts 17. had discours'd the Point to the most Learned of them they call'd him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Babler or Disperser of ridiculous Novelties to others he seem'd to be a setter forth of new Gods And when he came to this Point in his Discourse on Mars-hill before that celebrated Bench hi quidem irridebant some mocked ver 32. Neither did Festus when he had heard the same Apostle upon that Subject conceive a better Opinion of him than of a Madman venting the wild Fancies of a disturb'd Brain Insanis Paule Paul thou talkest like one distracted Nay the Apostles themselves after so many clear Predictions to prepare their Minds to the Belief of this
ingrave on the Frontispiece of their Temples or in the most eminent Part of them Hieroglyphicks of the Divinity they adore And do you not know says the Apostle that you are the Temples of the Living God Your Heart is the Sanctuary where the Father is worshipp'd in Spirit and Truth Charity is the Priest Faith and Hope are the Assistants Penance and Prayer are the Sacrifices And tell me now ungrateful Christian after so full so free so long and solemn a Possession to be turn'd out all on a sudden in a moment as soon as a Mortal Sin can be committed and this to make way for his mortal Enemy to be sold for the fulsom Pleasures of this World for a Lust or an Ambition to be exchang'd for the amusing Trifles Vanities and Riches is it not the highest Injustice and most foul and abominable Sacrilege An Injustice because you prodigally cast away what belongs to another Non estis vestri Do not think you have power to ruine your selves or that you wrong no Body but your selves 't is a vulgar Saying and a vulgar Mistake You are not your own A Sacrilege because you rob the Temple of the Holy Ghost where he had treasur'd up the Riches of his Goodness where he had made the Repository of his Graces Is it strange then he conceives so high a displeasure at such ill Usage that he breaths out such lamentable Complaints by the Mouth of the Prophet Afflixerunt Spiritum Sancti ejus Isa 63.10 They have afflicted his Holy Spirit they have griev'd his very Soul not only for the Injustice not only for the Sacrilege nor only for the Expulsion but much more for the aggravating Circumstance the Contempt For tho' every Sin be injurious to the Holy Ghost and of what nature soever involves a Contempt of his Divinity by disobeying his Commands an undervaluing his Person by banishing him our Company and a scorn of his Gifts by casting them from us yet every considering Man will grant the first Capital Offence a sanctified Soul commits is big with a particular Contempt and Slighting of the Divine Spirit because it not only thrusts him out of his Possession but do's it to introduce the Spirit of Pride of Luxury of Ambition of Covetousness and the like in his place By which the Sinner declares that he sets a lower Value on Jesus Christ than the most trivial Satisfaction of the World For whether he makes a distinct Reflection on it or no it is certain he virtually compares the Good Spirit which is in possession of his Heart with the Evil one which is solliciting admittance and by consenting to Sin he declares his Judgment and shews which is preferable in his esteem There is no sort of Contempt like that of Comparison which not only despises a Man but to increase the Confusion and Affront first sets another in competition with him and then gives that other the advantage over him Which Proceeding tho' ever odious in two Cases is most abominable in the Rights of Sovereignty and in the Interests of Love If a People should depose their Prince they would commit the foulest the most unjust and most unchristian Action in the World but if they stop there 't is only an absolute Contempt But if the giddy Multitude proceed to a new Election and put up the mortal Enemy of their Lawful Sovereign then 't is a Contempt of Comparison If a Wife suffer that Conjugal Affection to die which Nature and Religion oblige her to cherish towards her Husband 't is a horrible Injury 't is a Contempt for there can be no Indifferency in that Case But if she turn her Affections upon a Stranger the sworn Enemy of her Lawful Spouse such a Preference heightens the Affront beyond all that can be express'd beyond all comparison and chases Anger into Desparation and Fury Now what Resentment Passion raises in Men Justice kindles in the Holy Ghost for he enters a Soul in both these Qualities as Sovereign to make it the Seat of his Empire regnum Dei intra vos est and as a Spouse to contract with it the nearest and most sacred Alliance Sponsabo te mihi in sempiteruum Yet every idle Pretender every rebellious Appetite or unruly Passion is admitted to dispute his Title while the Owner is forc'd to plead his Right before a corrupted Judge the Free-will of Man while the Heart an unfaithful Spouse is not only consenting to his Banishment but also before his Face abandons her self into the Embraces of a foul Adulterer the profess'd Enemy of her rightful Lord preferring the momentary Pleasures of this World before the eternal Caresses of his Favour But he bewailing her Loss more than his own when the losing of him is indeed the losing her self follows her with the Tears and unspeakable Groans of her Mother the Church begs of her to return more to her self than to him Redite peccatores ad cor and is contristated that she will neither believe nor prevent her endless and unconsolable Sorrow Si cognovisses tu And what do you now expect Christians but that to close up this Discourse I joyn my Voice to that of the Holy Ghost and become his Advocate who pleads for himself to your Heart and that I beg of you once with my Lips what he do's every moment by his Grace Nolite contristare For his and your own sake have pity upon your own Souls and cease to grieve the Holy Ghost 1. If you have not yet given him entrance by a faithful Obedience to his Call hear his Voice even this day harden your Hearts no longer put an end to your Reluctances and Resistance There are but two Wills concern'd in your Conversion but two Consents requir'd to the thoro ' Amendment of your Life the Holy Ghost's and your own And I hope from what I have discours'd you are very well satisfied that the Holy Ghost wishes nothing so earnestly desires nothing so passionately demands nothing so instantly And do you deliberate upon the matter Do you entertain the Motion so coldly Is your Salvation in your own Hands and you stand demurring whether you shall accept of it Is that freely offer'd you which you ought to have su'd for with flaming Sighs and unexpressible Groans gemitibus inenarrabilibus Is it not Crime enough to have hitherto resisted his Inspirations stopp'd your Ears against his Calls rejected his Counsels and trampl'd upon his Commandments Will you continue in Rebellion till there is no Mercy left for you Will you seal up your Ears till the Invitation is past Will you not render to his Counsels till it be too late nor acknowledge his Commandments till you are lost for ever Will you send back his comfortable Venite's Come to me with the Language of the wicked Recede à nobis Depart from us and force him to that bitter Retaliation Recedite à me Depart from me you cursed into everlasting fire And this you do while you continue to neglect his repeated Instances and Calls for a continu'd Neglect is a Contempt and a Contempt of the Holy Ghost is that Basphemy which pronounces Sentence upon it self the fatal Recede à nobis Depart from us for ever Yes hard-hearted Sinner cruel to thy self and to thy God God will obey the Voice of Man who would never hearken to the Voice of God he will depart from thee for ever For the Scripture often warns us that there is a certain number of Sins which fill'd up chase him away irrevocably that there is a certain number of Calls which being rejected You shall call says he and I will not hear and there is a certain number of Graces summ'd up and recorded by the Hand of Justice after which no more are given or at least so imperfect and weak as they leave the Soul in a moral impossibility to break her Chains or shake off her evil Habits Perhaps this is the last Opportunity shall ever be presented you perhaps this is the last time you shall ever hear the Holy Ghost speaking to your Hearts the last and peremptory Term of Grace beyond which it shall never be extended and on acceptance of which depends your eternal Predestination or Reprobation Perhaps this is your last Pentecost and remember you are warn'd that he who appear'd to day in the shape of Fiery Tongues to express how ardently he desires your Conversion will one day appear in that terrifying Posture the Prophets beheld him when a flaming Sword issu'd from his Mouth Death and Destruction walked before him a Torrent of Fire stream'd from his enrag'd Countenance and flaming Eyes to consume his Enemies 2. But above all you that have already receiv'd the Holy Ghost Nolite contristare do not grieve him do not extinguish those Divine Flames he has rais'd in your Hearts Consider what a Happiness it is to be his Temple give him not the displeasure to see himself chas'd from that Place whence his Access had chas'd so many evil and tyrannical Spirits and where he desires to dwell in this Life by his Grace that we may dwell for ever in his Glory Which I beseech c. FINIS
the glory of God as the Apostle advises if our Discourses and Familiar Entertainments savour of those things which are above and at least indirectly appertain to the kingdom of God these are Arguments we are truly risen with Christ being of their own nature such Proofs of a Spiritual Life of a Spiritual Resurrection from the Death of Sin as the Exercise of the Animal Functions and Rational Powers are a Demonstration of the Continuance or Reviviscence of the Natural 2 Cor. 11.23 We read That the Spirit of Darkness sometimes transfigures himself into an Angel of Light sometimes takes a Body of Air which the deluded Sense cannot distinguish from a Solid and Real one and sometimes as Artfully moves a Solid but Dead Body as if it were Alive Both Sacred and Profane History offer innumerable Proofs of these Slights of Satan I shall instance only in the Second which is most for my purpose 1 Sam. 28.15 Thus the Witch of Endor is said in the First of Kings to have rais'd Samuel whose own Words seem to prove it a real Resurrection Quare inquietasti me ut suscitarer Why hast thou disquieted me to raise me up Yet St. Augustin assures us Samuel did not rise again in his own but only in a fictitious and imaginary or at most in an aereal Body And thro' these Slights and Delusions of Satan it happens that many seem to rise again with Christ who in effect rise only with Samuel If we regard their Promises and Protestations Sin shall never reign any more in their mortal Body their Eyes are open'd to see and bewail their past Transgressions they have recover'd their Speech to declare at the Feet of their Confessor those vicious Habits and secret Crimes which so long had been lock'd up in Silence and lay putrifying in their Breasts at the Voice of Christ they issue like so many Lazarus's from their Monuments and run to embrace their Life in the Holy Communion And after all this who can doubt but their Resurrection is real and they are truly risen again with Christ But if you keep your Eye a little upon them you shall see them still playing about the Flames which had scorch'd them before you shall see them frequenting the same licentious Company which gave them their Death wantoning upon the same Brink of the Precipice whence they so lately fell like Ghosts still hovering about their Graves and Places of Burial in fine not advanc'd one step farther off the imminent Dangers and immediate Occasions of Sin And after all this who can doubt but their Resurrection was only in the Air imaginary or Fictitious a Stratagem of the Devil to delude them and to amuse their Confessors while St. Paul's Declaration touching the State of the Widow is verify'd in every Soul She that liveth in pleasures 1 Tim. 5.6 is dead while she liveth Haec praecipe says the Great Apostle teach command urge and inculeate this Doctrin For the Resurrection of a Soul cries St. Bernard is not so easie a thing as you imagine it is a great and wonderful Sacrament magnum prorsus mirabile Sacramentum animae suscitatio Great in reference to the Power of God and Wonderful as to the Disposition requisite in the Sinner To break the Treble Cord of a threefold Concupiscence to destroy all vicious Habits Root and Branch to lay violent Hands upon our own Hearts and tear from our Breasts what is as dear to us as Life and almost as deeply ingrafted as Nature to turn the Stream of our Affections to hate our own Souls which we so tenderly cherish and indulge to love and embrace a Penitential Life of which we have so great an abhorrence to which we carry such a strange aversion and antipathy Ah! Christian this is not the work of a few Hours Recollection this is not the Fruit of a few superficial Tears which dry and vanish as they fall this is not the Effect of a Sigh which passes with the Wind or of a hasty Resolution which is forgot almost as soon as made this is not the Violence that takes Heaven which do's not yield upon every faint or false Attack These indeed are Circumstances which ever attend a true Resurrection but they are not infallible Proofs They are common to a Real and a Fictitious one They may be indeed the first Dawnings of a New Life but are too often only a gaudy Spectre a meer outside and an amusing Apparition So true is that terrible Assertion of the Holy Bishop of Barcellona S. Pacian Ep. 3. ad Synphr Paucorum est labor qui vere resurgunt Few there are who truly rise again because few will take the pains to extricate themselves from the Snares of Sin and remove every Occasion as far as in them lies of relapsing into it after the Example of the Holy King Josias 2 Kings 23. who not only broke down the Idols banish'd the Artificers demolish'd the Altars but also cut down the Groves to efface even the Memory of Idolatry lest the Convenience of committing the same Crime might be an Invitation to commit it Yet this work of estranging our selves from the Dangers of Sin tho' attended with so many Difficulties is but a remote disposition to a Spiritual Resurrection a removens prohibens there are others and nearer requir'd not only to the Introducing but also to the Nourishment and Preservation of the New Life This is the Third Analogy the Holy Fathers observe between the Resurrection of Christ and that of a Christian viz. the Duration and Perpetuity of it intimated by the Apostle when he tells us Christ being rais'd from the dead dies no more Rom. 6.9 By which words not only a feigned but also a failing Repentance is struck out of the Book of Life And this Admonition is particularly address'd to you of the Houshold of Faith who after a sincere and unfeigned sorrow of Heart after a clear and undisguis'd Enumeration of all your Sins by Confession of Mouth after a serious Endeavour to apply to your selves the Satisfactions of Christ by the exercise of Good Works use violence upon your Hearts in exterminating ill Habits and avoiding those Occasions which formerly prevail'd upon you and in fine are truly risen again but alas are not risen again with Christ For after you have set your hand to the Plow you look back upon the Ease and Pleasure of the World after you have been feasted with the Bread of Angels your Hearts return into Egypt you remit of your primitive Fervour you slacken in your Devotions you inquire into a corrupted Moral and hunt after Cases to dispense with your Resolutions you hearken to the Language of the World till you are insensibly seis'd with the Infection it gains every day upon you preys upon the Life of the Spirit and at last wholly consumes it Thus the very Means of your Salvation corrupt into the Occasions of your farther Misery and your rising again serves