pardonable in a Child Let us then open our Eyes let 's act as reasonable men let 's live like Christians 'T is high time to conceive a horrour of our Prison and to shake off the chains which detain us in it Let 's reflect that there is another Life than this let 's awaken our Faith let 's excite our Hope and finally let us comfort our selves le ts rejoyce that our near Relations have acquired an eternal Happiness by the loss of a miserable Life le ts burn with a holy Desire of Death let 's seek with ardour and receive with joy that which will put an end to our afflictions and give a beginning to our Felicity Article X. Among all the Fathers of the Church St. Ambrose is one of them who hath spoken best of Death He made a particular Treatise De bono mortis Of the good of Death S. Ambrose where he says That it frees us from the miseries of this Life and from the servitude of Sin He teaches That 't is Death which procures Immortality to our Soul and a glorious Resurrection to our Body and finally That 't is Death which gives us the means to testify our Gratitude our Love and our Zeal to Christ Jesus Whence he concludes that if we have Faith we ought to desire Death Life is a burthen the weight whereof oppresses us and Death is the only succour which can discharge us of it Life is a punishment and Death is the sole means which remains for us to be releas'd of it Did one ever see Slaves and miserable Wretches fear to be set at freedom and to be comforted 'T is from Death alone that we must expect this Comfort and this liberty Now if we ought to love it because its frees us from the miseries of Life ought we not to love it more because it delivers us from the bondage of Sin For the most innocent of men is a Sinner as long as he is living he must die to the end he may sin no more and his Death is no less the end of his Sin than of his Life But Death doth yet much more it breaks not the bonds of Sin but to procure us the glorious liberty of the Elect. 'T is Death which re-unites men to their beginning makes them find their greatness and their felicity in the loss of their Lives 'T is Death finally which delivering them from corruption introduces them into an incorruptible and eternal Life For as soon as Sin had given birth to Death God drew from thence the Resurrection to the end that Sin ceasing by Death Nature might always subsist by the Resurrection and that man dying to the Earth and to Sin might live eternally in Glory Then this Word of the sacred Scripture wild be accomplished Death hath been absorp'd and destroyed by an entire victory 1 Cor. 15. v. 55. and we shall be able to say with the Apostle O Death where a thy victory O Death where is thy sting But the greatest advantage which we derive from Death is That it gives us the means to imitate the Charity of Christ Jesus and to do for him in some sort the same thing he hath done for us We may be in dying the Victims of his glory as he hath been the Victim of our Salvation and we may testify our gratitude by voluntarily offering to him this Sacrifice In effect how will it be possible for us to satisfy otherwise our so great obligations And moreover if we well consider it Rom. 8. What proportion is there between the sufferings of the present Life and the felicitie of the other Life between the torments of Death and that immortal glory which God is one day to discover in us Article XI An Excellent Doctrine of St. Ambrose which establishes two manners of Living and of Dying set down in the Sacred Scripture The first is that of just men who Live of Life that is who being in the Grace of God enjoy the Life of Body and of Soul And the second is that of Sinners and wicked men who Live being dead and who leading an exteriour life upon Earth are dead interiourly before God As to the two manners of dying the One is of them who die of death that is who in dying impenitent endure a double Death that of the Soul and that of the Body and the Other is of the Sole Predestinate who die to live which is understood of the Elect who endure the corporal Death with patience and with joy to go to possess an eternal and glorious Life WHen it is said in the sacred Scripture That the man who shall keep Gods Commandments De Paradiso c. 9. and shall exercise Justice and Mercy towards his Neighbour Ezech. 18. shall live the Life we must not believe that the Holy Ghost made use without design of such an extraordinary expression To live the Life or of Life is to have a double Life One of which is exteriour and corporal and the Other interiour and spiritual 't is to lead the life of a Man and of an Angel both together 't is to enjoy at the same time Health and Grace 't is to live of a general Virtue which includes all the natural and supernatural functions finally 't is the estate in which good people live upon Earth an Estate truly happy for the time but from which one may fall unless one labours continually to disengage himself from all adhesions to Life by the thought and by the desire of Death On the contrary to die the Death or of the Death Gen. 2. Exod. 21. what is it else according to the language of the Scripture but to suffer a double Death of the Body and of the Soul I mean to be deprived of the ordinary use of this transitory Life and of the possession of eternal Life And this is it which makes the misery of the reprobate who for having over much loved a criminal Life die miserably in their crimes There is moreover among Christians another manner of dying which is of them who die to life or who die in living that is who are dead and living both together And these are they who live of the life of the Body who enjoy a perfect health who have beauty strength and dexterity and yet who are dead to the Life of Grace and are not animated with the Spirit of God 'T is of these men that it is said in the Scripture That they descend alive into Hell And 't is in this sence that the words of the Apostle are to be understood Psal 54.16 The Widow who lives in delights is dead 1 Tim. 56. altho' she seems to be living And it is also the deplorable state of the wicked in this life out of which they may nevertheless get forth by sincere penance Finally the fourth kind of Christians in relation to Life and to Death and the most happy of all is of them who live by Death such are all
have yet but very little Virtue and Piety Epist ad Prin. ad Euriam ad Paulinum alibi As Death is the end at which all men must arrive so the thought of Death is a faithfull guide to conduct us with safety unto it For the Scripture hath sayd That if we remember the last days of our Life Eccles. 7.40 we shall never Sin Surely then we run an hazard to sin often if we do not think that we must die We fall into the same misfortune as do those Travellers whom the night hath surprized in a Forrest and who have strayed out of their way Every one of them takes a several track and the farther they go the more they swerve from the right path Christ Jesus hath shew'd us the way He hath said I am the Way and the Truth His Light conducts us amidst the darkness his Voyce calls us He serves us for a guide but 't is by the pathway of sufferings and by the track of Calvary that he leads us and all they who will follow him must as he did carry their Cross and prepare themselves to die This different disposition which men have in regard of Death is the most visible Character of their predestination or of their reprobation And 't is that which Christ Jesus hath shew'd us in the Parable of the Virgins For he says that those five foolish Virgins did not enter to the Marriage of the Bridegroom because they had not put themselves in a readiness to receive him How can one explicate these marriages and this preparation but of the Joy of a Christian Death and of the holy disposition which one ought to have for it He teaches us at the same time that the five Wise Virgins being totally replenished with these holy thoughts deserv'd to have room in the house of the Bridegroom and there to celebrate the Marriage-feast the joy whereof shall last for all Eternity He who would not do good when he could have done it shall be justly punished with an impotency of doing it when he would do it He who would not think of Death during his Life time shall not be able to think of the true Life at the hour of Death And what doth it avail a man to avoid the remembrance of an Evil which he cannot shun and to love that which he is not sure to possess one moment What doth it avail him to adhere to a life which flies from him and to fly from Death which seeks after him Man says the Psalmist Psal 38. spins his days as the Spider spins her Web. Isai 59. After many turns and returns wherein he consumes himself with his own labour Death comes which ruins all his work and then it appears not so much as that he ever was Article XX. St. Jerome teaches us the temper we ought to keep in the disgust of Life and in the desire of Death We have added this passage for the Comfort of good people who naturally fear Death NOthing is more ordinary to man In Amos c. 5. etalibi than to be cast down in afflictions to be weary of living and to wish to die But all they who find themselves in this disposition do they believe that they are for this more perfect than others On the contrary they ought to be asham'd of it as of a defect of Faith and a want of Courage Not but that Life is despicable and that it is even meritorious to contemn it but that we should be so far from conceiving a disgust of it when it is full of afflictions as that we ought then chiefly to cherish it as a means given us by God to do penance If Death is to be desired 't is in a delicious Life where sometimes our condition exposes us to sin as it were against our will 't is in a long prosperity where we may have just cause to sigh for passing our life unprofitably and perhaps criminally upon Earth and for vainly spending the precious time which is only lent us to merit Heaven by our sufferings For my part says the Apostle St. Paul If it is permitted to boast 1. Cor. 12. I averr that I glory of my pains and of my afflictions to the end that the power of Christ Jesus may dwell in me I feel a satisfaction and a joy in my Infirmities in Injuries in Poverty in Persecutions in the pressing Adversities which I suffer for my Saviour and when I am weak 't is then that I find my self most strong The contempt therefore of Life is not always a certain mark of our Faith and of our Piety 't is sometimes a weariness of suffering for God sometimes a sadness which the austerity of devotion casts into the Heart we are asham'd to leave it and we want courage to persevere in it If the Soul is not supported by an extraordinary Grace the disgust of all things and even of Piety it self which is insinuated by little and little and the Imagination which black 's it self by dismal thoughts and by desires of dying brings her to the brinks of Despair Those persons who have lately sequestred themselves from the World are more exposed to this misery than others untill the Divine love hath fill'd up all that emptiness which the separation left in their Spirit For whatever endeavour these persons use Nature never endures the yoak of Grace without violence 't is in vain to tame this Nature by the continuall exercises of piety by mortifications by rigorous penances for that inward Law of the Body evermore resists the law of the Spirit and in the combat which is fought between them although the Spirit gets the victory yet it is sometimes weakned and foyled in its own conquests Then we would die because we find no more pleasure in living and in these sad desires 't is Nature which acts and not Grace Nature is willing to discharge herself of Life as of a Burthen which is to her insupportable Always to fight says she always to languish always to suffer Ah is it not something worse than to be dead I know it by my own experience Brethren and if it may be permitted me to glory in my infirmities and to make use of the terms of the Apostle I would tell you what I have done to quell these revolts and these impatiencies of Nature Eusebius of the Death of S Jerome relating his own Words Finding that the memory of the divertisements of my youth followed me every where as my shadow and troubled my most innocent occupations I shut up my self in a dismal Grot amidst the vast Deserts of Siria where the Rocks scorched with the ardours of the Sun furnish'd our Solitary Hermits with places of retrait which are common to them with the Savage Beasts I confess that I could not enter there without horrour but the occasions of offending God appeared to me more horrible than that Solitude Nevertheless in a dwelling so dreadfull where I nourished my self
hands of God and for that the torment of Death doth not touch him It seems to the eyes of the unwise that the Just man dies his departure out of the World appears to them an affliction They imagine that the way he takes in separating himself from others will bring him to nothing whereas it is but a passage which leads him to peace and to repose Altho' he endures a cruel Death before men yet God replenishes him with a certain hope of Immortality He suffers a little to gain much Our Lord hath tryed him by these pains of short durance and hath found him worthy of his Love 'T is Gold which he puts into the melting vessell to refine it 'T is a Victime which he sanctifies by the Sacrifice to make it revive one day in Eternity The day will come when the Just shall possess the glory of Heaven and he shall shine more brightly than the Starrs we shall behold him judging Nations and bearing sway over the people for he is the Child of the most High He shall share with him in his Kingdom and the Lord of the Just shall reign Eternally They who have confidence in him will understand this truth they shall repose in his bosom and shall enjoy the Peace which he hath prepared for his Elect. But as for the Wicked who have despised and injured the Just and who have withdrawn themselves from God they shall be chastised according to their crimes How unhappy are they to have abandonned Wisdom and shaken off the yoak of Justice For all their hopes will be vain their labours will be unprofitable and their works will remain imperfect If they have Wives they will be dishonest if they have Children they will be unnatural A curse shall fall upon their families and the posterity of Adulterers shall be exterminated 'T is in vain for them to boast of their Riches of their Power of their Health Should they live longer than other men all the years of their Life shall be counted for nothing at the day of their Death If they die old their old age shall be disquieted with the remorse of their Conscience and the World growing impatient to see them so long upon Earth will look upon them only with contempt and perhaps with indignation If they die Young they shall be deprived of the advantages they might have had in the World and of the hope of the heavenly Good Finally the Death of the wicked is the ruine of their race 't is a desolation without hope a night without light an Abysmus of miseries where nothing dwells but a dismall nothing and an eternal horrour These sentences of the sacred Scripture make us see That only Impious and Infidells need to fear Death but that Christians who are indued with piety should be so far from fearing it that they ought even to desire it Certainly a happy Life doth not consist in living a long time but in living in a perfect submission to the orders of Providence What doth it serve us to continue upon earth even to a decrepit age Is not Innocence of Life to be preferred before the duration of Life and is not purity of manners more worth than old age The Scripture speaking of the Just man who dies young hath sayd That he was snatch'd speedily out of the World Sap. 4.11 lest the Master of errour should seduce his spirit and lest Malice should corrupt his Soul But because he became perfect in a short time v. 13. 't is as if he had lived many Years and God to whom this Soul was agreable hastned to withdraw her from the midst of iniquity wherewith the whole Earth is replenished Article XXXI As St. Gregory the Pope was himself very infirm and sickly so he speaks and writes frequently of Death He is one of the Ecclesiastical Authours who hath fill'd his Works with the strongest reflections upon this subject We have drawn out four or five of them which best relate to our proposed Design I. Reflection of St. Gregory S. Gregory That the Continual view of Death is the most assured means to lead a holy and quiet Life HE who seriously considers what he ought to hope for or to fear at the article of Death Moral in c. 17. Job must needs act with great circumspection and have a continual apprehension of falling into Sin That last hour which he hath evermore present before his Eyes renders him truly living to the Eyes of God He fixes upon nothing that is perishable He desires nothing of all that which men who live without Reflection seek with so much earnestness and the disposition wherein he places himself every hour as if he were then to die makes him to look upon himself as already dead For Life is by so much the more holy and more perfect by how much it hath relation each moment to Death Holy Scripture teaches us Eccles. 7. that the more men study this Lesson and contemplate themselves in this Looking-Glass which flatters not the farther they are from falling into the snares of Sin Article XXXII 2. Reflexion of St. Gregory That naturally all the Desires and all the Actions of man tend to Death That Grace should do that in us which Nature doth of it self That according to the thought of Job Life resembles the day of a hireling a pilgrimage a warfare where no one enroll's himself but to die in fighting against the Enemies of our Salvation THe Sick person who lies languishing in pain and in sadness Lib. 2. Mor. c. 3. Lib. 12. c. 3. expects with impatience the return of the day but the Sun which brings the Light brings no remedy to his misery on the contrary it diminishes one day of his Life The Hireling finds the hours of his labour over-long and blames the Night for coming on so slowly The Covetous man counts with discontent all the moments which retard his revenues The Ambitious man who hath conceiv'd great designs would in order to hasten the success hasten the years of his Life The Husbandman makes vows to see his Harvest ripen Finally it seems that men demand nothing but to be Old altho' they apprehend nothing so much as Old-age In Winter we wish the return of the Spring Scarcely is the season of Flowers past over but we desire that of Fruits In Autumn we say that Winter hath it's pleasures Thus it is that the Spirit of Man unquiet and insupportable to it self carries on its vain desires from one time to another and not enjoying the present anticipates always upon the future and marches by a secret impatience towards his Death What we do by a hidden motion of Nature why shall we not do by the Inspiration and by the Succour of Grace Grace incessantly advertises us that this Life is short and miserable and that we ought to aspire to another Life which is everlasting and happy Sometimes the sacred Scripture teaches us this Verity by comparing Life to a
THE Holy Desires OF DEATH OR A COLLECTION Of some Thoughts of the Fathers of the Church to shew how Christians ought to despise Life and to desire Death By the R. F. Lalemant Prior of St. Genovefe and Chancellour of the University of Paris Englished by T. V. at the Intrance of a Person of Honour Printed in the Year 1678. Qui Perfectus est Patienter vivit Delectabiliter moritur The Perfect Man Lives Patiently Dies Pleasantly St. Augustin in his Expositioâ— upon the 1 Epist of St. John Tract 9. AN ADVERTISEMENT THis Collection entituled The Holy Desires of Death was only in its beginning a Simple and Literal Translation of some Passages of the Fathers of the Church which the Author made in his continual Infirmities for the Comfort of himself and of some persons of Piety Afterwards his Manuscript having been view'd by very Prudent and Illuminated persons they judg'd that it ought to be published but withall that it was fit it should be first enlarged and explicated by a kind of Paraphrase upon some of the Conceptions of the Holy Fathers which are couched in this Work thereby to render it usefull to more people by rendering it intelligible to all You will therefore find in some places that the Authour hath pick'd out only the Sense and as one may say the Sap and the Juyce of the Doctrine of these great Saints in explicating their Conceptions and in adding to their Expressions yet so as not to swerve from their Sentiments nor stray from the Character of their Spirits It was also conceiv'd that it might be permitted to support their Reasonings with the authority of the sacred Scripture and as that is the source of all their Lights to rely principally thereupon to strengthen this Work And this Liberality appeared to be so much the more tolerable by how much it was sometimes even Necessary to render the Discourse more consequent more connected more forcible and finally more capable to serve for the Edification of our Neighbour which is the sole Intention we had and which indeed one can justly have For the rest it ought not to be taken amiss if among the divers Conceptions here collected from the Scriptures and from the Fathers there are found some which resemble one another since even that Resemblance hath also great Advantages For besides that thereby it is made manifest that these Conceptions are not particular Opinions it is more over a sensible Mark of the spirit of Truth which dictated them and 't is to be hoped that they who shall Read them in the same Spirit will always derive from them some new Instructions We have plac'd St. Augustin in the first Rank of the Church Fathers whose Sentiments are here related because we found his Discourses so effectual that we belive'd we had reason to make them the Foundation of this Work and to style them by the Name of Principles because in effect all that which ensues whether out of the same St. Augustin or out of the other Fathers relates to the first Maxims which we have drawn from him as Consequences from their Principles It would have been very Natural and certainly very profitable to joyn in this Treatise the Example of the Holy Fathers to their Doctrine but the Authour having already traced the History of their holy Death in his Book Of the Death of the Just you may thither have recourse The CONTENTS of the Principal Matters contained in this Book I. Article THe First Principle of St. Augustin That the Difference which is between Perfect and Imperfect Christians is That the One love Death and endure Life and that the Other love Life and endure Death pag. 1. II. Article The Second Principle of St. Augustin That proportionably as the Christian feels his love for Virtue to encrease he also feels the Desire of Death to enerease in himself p. 7. The Vnion of the Two precedent Principles p. 9. III. Article St. Augustin having established these Two Principles answers an Objection p. 11. IV. Article The Third Principle of St. Augustin That there are among Christians two sorts of Fear to displease God p. 14. V. Article Other Principles of St. Augustin That we are not happy in this Life but by the Hope and by the Desire of Eternal Goods c. p. 21. VI. Article The Fathers who preceded and followed St. Augustin explicated themselves in the same manner as he did upon the same Subject p. 32. Tertullian says That Christians are distinguish'd from all other Men by the Desire they have of Death That they look upon it as a Grace which is to crown all the other Graces and That it is principally that which they dayly demand of God in their Prayers p. 33. VII Article Some Maxims of St. Cyprian collected from several places of his Writings and principally from the Discourse he composed Of Mortality p. 38. The First Maxim of St. Cyprian That Christians who dread Death are Vnjust and Vnreasonable because in saying every day to God in the Lords Prayer Thy Kingdom come they pray him to hasten their Death p. 39. The Second Maxim of St. Cyprian That 't is no mervail that Infidells and Wicked people dread Death but that this Weakness is not tolerable in Christians p. 43. The third Maxim of St. Cyprian That Christians ought not to love the World since the World hates Christians c. p. 46. The Fourth Maxim of St. Cyprian That Death ought to be consider'd by Christians as a passage from the Miseries of this Life to a glorious Immortality p. 48. VIII Article The Sentiments of St. Gregory of Nazian concerning the obligation which Christians have to contemn Life and to cover Death p. 54. IX Article The Abridgment of a Discourse of St. Gregory Bishop of Nisse Wherein he shews That we should be so far from lamenting them who go forth of this Life that we should rather envy and desire their Happiness p. 62. X. Article An Abridgment of a Treatise which St. Ambrose made de bono Mortis of the good of Death where he says That 't is Death which delivers us from the Miseries of this Life and from the servitude of Sin c. p. 77. XI Article An excellent Dostrine of St. Ambrose who establishes two manners of Living and of Dying observed in the Sacred Scripture p. 82. XII Article Divers Instructions of St. John Chrysostom p. 89. 1. Instruction where he shews what is it to be a Christian and that his principal Character is to desire and to love Death p. 90. XIII Article The Second Instruction of St. John Chrysostom That we should be miserable if our Life were never to end c. p. 100. XIV Article The Third Instruction of St. Chrysostom That Death is that which most of all humbles Man and that Humility being the Foundation of all Virtues it follows That to be virtuous we must meditate incessantly upon Death c. p. 112. XV. Article The Fourth Instruction of St. John
Chrysostom That we ought to be as ready to go forth of the World as Criminalls are ready to go forth of their Prison when one brings to them the Princes pardon p. 122. XVI Article The Fifth Instruction of St. Chrysostom That if we lived as beseems true Christians we should not have any difficulty to conceive Death to be the most desirable of all good things p. 128. XVII Article The Sixth Instruction of St. John Chrysostom That the Death of Christ Jesus should have cured us from the fear of Dying and that the Ceremonies of the Church in the Funerals of the Faithfull ought to give us Joy and Comfort p. 134. XVIII Article An Exhortation of St. John Chrysostom where he declaims with much vehemence against the lazy and imperfect Christians who fear Death and instructs after an admirable manner the zealous and perfect Christians who desire Death p. 146. XIX Article The Sentiments of St. Jerome concerning the Advantages which Death brings to Christians and the Obligation they have to prepare themselves for it and to think continually upon it p. 154. XX. Article St. Jerome teaches us what temper we ought to observe in the disgust of Life and in the desire of Death p. 160. XXI Article An Excellent Instruction of the same St. Jerome p. 173. XXII Article St. Jerome or the Authour of some Epistles attributed to him which are at the end of his Works presses this Doctrin farther and expresly teaches That a Christian ought not only not to fear Death wherein he would do no more than many Pagans have done but that he ought also to represent it often to himself to desire it and to love it if he will imitate Christ Jesus p. 177. XXIII Article We return following the Order of the time of St. Augustin and we relate some more Sentiments of this holy Doctour which confirm the Truths we have establish'd by his Principles p. 181. An Excellent Moral of St. Augustin against them who fear a temporal Death and dread not the Eternal Death p. 182. XXIV Art A pithy Reflexion of St. Augustin upon the shortness of the Life of the Body and upon the Eternity of the Life of the Soul p. 188. XXV Art A most true and edificatory Observation of St. Augustin That God by a particular Mercy besprinkles the most pleasing Sweets of this World with Bitterness and permits his Elect to be afflicted with Infirmities which Contradictions with Calumnies and with Crosses to oblige them to despise Life and to desire Death p. 193. XXVI Article St. Augustin teaches in several places of his writings as an assured Doctrine That the most solid Virtue of Christians and the most Visible Character of the Predestinate is to sigh continually in the expectation of Death and in the Hope of another Life p. 197. XXVII Article A Comparison of Faithful Christians with the Faithful Isralites In which St. Augustin shews That as the first coming of the Messias was the object of the continual Desires and of the devotion of the true Isralites so also the second coming of Christ Jesus ought to be the Aym of the most solid Piety and of the most fervent Desires of Christians p. 203. XXVIII Article An Instruction of S. Isidore of Damiet to all Christians to excite in them a perfect desire of Death p. 213. XXIX Article St. Eucherius Arch-Bishop of Lion exhorts Christians to observe attentively the different Agitations of human Passions the shortnesse of Life and the uncertainty of Death to the end they may never engage themselves in the Tumults of the World and that they may be evermore prepared to die p. 216. XXX Article St. Fulgentius and St. Paulinus prove That Death is a Recompence for the Just and a Chastisement for the Wicked That Life is to be counted by the quantity of good Works which one hath done and not by the number of Years one hath lived p. 223. XXXI Article Reflections of St. Gregory Pope upon the Subject which is proposed in this work p. 231. 1. Reflexion That the continual view of Death is the most assured means to lead a Holy and Quiet Life p. 231. XXXII Art 2. Reflexion of St. Gregory That naturally all the Desires and all the Actions of Man tend to Death That Grace should do in us that which Nature doth of it self c. p. 233. XXXIII Art 3. Reflexion of St. Gregory That they who love the World have some reason to fear the end thereof but That they who serve Christ Jesus ought not to be apprehensive of the Worlds destruction c. p. 238. XXXIV Art 4. Reflexion of St. Gregory That there are few Just persons who can truly say with St. Paul god forbid that I should glory in any other thing than in the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ because the World is dead and crucified to me as I am Dead and Crucified to the World p. 241. XXXV Art A pithy Description which St. Gregory the Great makes of the necessities and of the Myseries of the Body and of the Soul whence this holy Pope concludes That men ought to desire Death for â—he enjoyment of a better Life in which they shall no longer be exposed either to Sorrow or to Sin p. 257. XXXVI Art S. John Climachus distinguishes the Desires of Death which the Devil suggests unto us from those which Grace inspires into us and he composed one Degree of his holy Ladder upon this subject where he shews That the Meditation of Death is the most profitable of all Spiritual Practices p. 270. XXXVII Art St. Bernard Teaches us That Hope is the portion of true Christians and That this Virtue makes them to love Death and to suffer patiently all the evils of this Life p. 277. XXXVIII Art St. Bernard proves That to the end we may not dread Death but receive it which Patience and even with Joy we must prepare our selves for it every day by 〈◊〉 true Repentance That by this meanâ— Grace overcomes Nature That what appears so terrible to a sinful man becomes pleasing to a just man but particularly to such as have embraced a Religious and solitary Life p. 288. XXXIX Art The Sentiments of St. Bernard touching the Comtempt which perfect Christians ought to have of Life and of Health From whence he takes Occasion to speak of the Patience which they ought to have in their Infirmities and of the Joy which the continual thought of Death ought to afford them p. 294. XXXX Art An Extract of some passages of the Book of the Imitation of Christ where it is treated of the Contempt of Life and of the desire of Death p. 299. XXXXI Art The admirable Prayses which St. Laurence Justinian gives to Death From whence he concludes That it is no wonder if they who are the most perfect among Christians are they who most desire it p. 311. XXXXII. Art A Collection of some of the admirable Sentiments which St. Teresa hath left us in her Writings touching the
and of our triumph may arrive Is it that we had rather serve the Devil upon Earth then reign in Heaven with Christ Jesus Either let us change our belief or else let us change our language let us speak like Pagans if we will live like Pagans Let us dread Death if we hope for nothing after Death But why should we not despise this Life if we expect a better Let 's make it appear that we submit our-selves to Faith and that we are fully perswaded of the truth of the Promises of Christ Jesus The Second Maxim of St. Cyprian That 't is no wonder if Infidells and Wicked people fear Death but that this Weakness is not tolerable in Christians LEt him dread to die who hath not obtain'd as we have a new birth of the holy Ghost and who not being regenerated in the Waters of Baptism shall be cast headlong into the Flames which can never be quenched Let him dread to die who hath not the sacred Unction and who hath not been marked with the adorable and wholsom sign of the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ Finally let him dread to die who in the delay of his Death find's also the delay of the punishments which expect him after Life But he who is truly a Christian and who loves God can fear nothing and ought to hope all Death is not a Death for him but a Life 'T is not a destruction of his Being 't is a changing of estate which is to end all his Miseries Since Death hath been joyned to the source of Life which is Christ Jesus it hath lost all its malediction and all its bitterness It hath chang'd those horrible names which affrighted us to take the pleasing names which comfort us Now the Christians call it a Sleep which charms our displeasures a Passage which conducts us to the Celestial Country a happy Ship wreck which casts us into the Haven So long as man was yet in the first state of Innocence Death was a punishment wherewith the Divine Justice threatned him if he should fall into Sin but in the state of Grace 't is a Sacrifice by which it purifies the Just and renders him worthy of Eternal Glory Formerly to terify man it was said to him If thou Sinnest thou shalt die and now to support him and to encourage him in the sufferings of this Life it is said unto him If thou diest not thou wilt Sin and the Apostles exhort us to comfort one another by the consideration of the nearness of Death and of the Comming of Christ Jesus The Third Maxim of St. Cyprian That Christians ought not to love the World because the World hates Christians and That when Death delivers them from all commerce with the World 't is a subject of Joy for them 'T Is for him who finds his delights in a worldly Life to desire to remain long in the World 'T is for him whom the World keeps as it were enchanted by the charm of pleasures to desire not to go forth of the World But since the World hates true Christians why do you who are Christians love the World which loves not you Why do you not rather love Christ Jesus who loves you and who calls you to crown you with all sorts of Goods Why do you not frequently consider that you have renounc'd the World by the Vows of your Baptism and that you stay not in the World during the time of your life but as a Stranger during his Journey Hate then the World since the World hates you and desire that happy day in which you shall pass into the true place of your repose there to enjoy the liberty of the children of God The Fourth Maxim of St. Cyprian That Death ought to be consider'd by Christians as a passage from the miseries of this Life to a glorious Immortality 'T Is certain that the Servants of God will not enjoy a perfect Peace till Death shall deliver them from all the miseries of this World and untill they are arrived to that happy Haven where an eternal Tranquillity reigneth 'T is the sole means which is left us to possess that Peace without trouble that Joy without sorrow and that Pleasure without disgust which we in vain seek to find else-where So that we ought to be so far from fearing Death which procures us so many Goods that on the contrary we ought to rejoyce when it approches In effect this Life is it any other thing than a Combate and a continual Temptation Let the most happy persons of the World examin themselves and then let them speak sincerely they will avouch that their purest Joy is evermore troubled by some pensiveness that all their Sweets are intermixed with bitterness that their Honours are accompanied with vexations and solicitudes and finally that Evils and Goods are linked together with an inseparable colligation Yet if Man hath any desire in this unfortunate Life 't is surely a desire to be happy It must needs be that he hath formerly had in himself an original greatness whereof there remains in him only say ruines upon which he strives to re-build some kind of Felicity All his thoughts aym at this end but he knows not distinctly either the Happiness he hath lost or the way he must take to recover it His Soul conducts him always towards Heaven from whence she derives her birth and his Senses dragg him always towards the Earth whereof they are formed He neither knows what he is nor what he would and like to a Vessel floating at the mercy of the Winds and of the Waves he serves for a wethercock to fortune and to his own cupiditie Let him fortify himself with the wisest Maxims of Phylosophy let experience a good wit and an human reason guide him 〈◊〉 his actions let him make choice among all the goods of the Earth of them which are least subject to change and which are most capable to render a man happy all his labour vanishes into smoak he will repent him-self of his choice he will seek after other goods and those other goods will deceive him But when will he be able to stop his affections what means will he find out to preserve them and to preserve himself Ever since this blinde Love of Life hath carried men on to invent Remedies to prolong it have they met with any one against Death Why then do they not look upon it rather as an infallible Remedy against their Disquiets and as the wholesom end of all their Evils Ah 't is that they are not truly Christians 't is that they know no other Life than this 't is that they doubt of Gods promises which never deceive us and that after so many dismal proofs of the uncertainty of the things of this World they love rather still to deceive themselves than to acknowledge that they are deceived But the true Disciples of Christ Jesus being perswaded of the truth of his Words and enflamed with his love have no
have nothing to fear upon Earth and as they possess nothing but their Soul and their Body so they look upon Death as an advantage which puts them in possession of Christ Jesus When they understand that some one among them is dead there 's a universal Joy amongst them all No one daring to say Such a one is Dead but they all say Such a one hath finished his Course At this happy tidings they chaunt forth Canticles of Joy to the praise of God humbly demanding of him for themselves the grace of a speedy and holy Death In effect as the Gladiatours have an extreme desire to get forth of the Theatre where they are perpetually expos'd to new Wounds so they who lead an austere Life and see themselves perpetually expos'd to the Temptations of Sin burn with a desire to put an end to their combats and to be delivered from the labours of this miserable Life in order to enjoy a repose which shall never be interrupted Article XVII 6. Instruction of St. John Chrysostom That the Death of Christ Jesus ought to have cured us of the dread of Death and that the Ceremonies of the Church in the Funerals of the Faithfull should afford us Comfort and Joy both for them and for our selves ST Paul says That before the birth of Christ Jesus Hom. 4. in Ep. ad Heb c. 2. Death reigned in the whole Univers and that its Empire was extended over all the Nations of the Earth Then Man began not to live but to Die without passing to a better Life But the Saviour of the World hath triumphed over Death by dying he hath destroyed its Tyranny even to the gates of Hell and those ghastly places to which it fled have acknowledged the power of our Deliverer In so much as after his Passion and his Resurrection one cannot be his Disciple without loving Death as he loved it Thus my Brethren strengthned by his Example we have no longer any cause to trouble our selves when we think of that last hour and we should do amiss to make now such complaints as our forefathers did before the coming of our Redeemer What do we see upon Earth Job 14. sayd Iob more wretched than Man He is born of a Woman amidst pains he lives a short time and suffers much his best days pass away as a shadow and he never remains constant in the same estate Were it not better for him never to have been At least there remains some hope in the Wood when 't is cut down the Stem thereof buds forth afresh and its Branches becom more thick and green than before But as for Man when the Woof of his life is once broken off 't is for evermore He comes naked forth of his Mothers womb and he shall return naked into the womb of the Earth What remaines there of man when he hath served for food to the Worms Could he not behold the Light but upon this hard condition that he must in a moment after be plunged in the darkness of the Tomb Behold what was the langage of men before the coming of the Messias But Christ Jesus hath visited us in these darknesses he hath drawn us forth of this shadow of Death wherewith we were encompassed he hath caus'd our Life to spring from our Death he hath open'd us a passage to Eternity by passing himself first by a Death ignominious in appearance but in effect glorious Thus he fought Death with its own weapons he hath pull'd out its sting 〈◊〉 23. he hath destroy'd it by it self Heb. 11. he hath subdued the Prince of Death and finally he hath cast it headlong into an eternal Abysmus ◠Cor. 25. and by this Victory he hath wiped off the Tears and rased the disgrace of his people from the face of the Earth Isay 25. Let us not my Brethren lose the advantage which he hath given us over Death Let us have no horrour of a thing which God hath rendred to usefull and so glorious unto us Rom. 8. We who possess the first fruits of the Spirit with hope to be delivered from this subjection to corruption and to be made partakers of the glory and of the liberty of the Children of God Let us remain firm in Faith let us generously brave Death If we look on it with Eyes of Faith we shall finde nothing in it that is terrible but on the contrary it will appear to us sweet and agreable and in the end we shall grow familiar with it But we must look upon it at all times and be acquainted with it if we will find it pleasing unto us We must love it and desire it by the example of our dear Master who loved it for our sakes When I behold on one side to what degree of honour Christ Jesus hath raysed us and on the other side when I consider to what lownesse we debase our selves I am altogether confounded at our remisness and negligence I see many among Christians who fear Death not only for themselves but for their Freinds This weakness is so visible among us and even among persons who seem to have much piety that the Pagans publickly mock at it For say they if the Christians believe in God whom they adore why fear they to see him and if they love him what induces them to shun the only thing which according to their own doctrine must unite them eternally unto him 'T is certainly to give occasion to the wicked to esteem all that we say of the eternall Goods and of the Resurrection of the Dead to be meer Fables They less regard what we preach than what we do You destroy by your actions what we endeavour to establish by our discourses for they judge rather of the Religion of Christ Jesus by your Life than by our Instructions In effect all the frights which you make appear shew plainly that you have little confidence in the Word of God When the Apostle S. Paul says I desire to die Philip. 1.23 and to be united to Christ Jesus he teaches us what should be the continuall desire of all true Christians Thus when you testify so great an apprehension of Death you make known to the whole world that your Faith is feeble and languishing we see that you fear to obtain that which you cannot demand with too much ardour and that instead of practising the precepts which you have heard Heb. 1. your Heart resembles those balf-open Vessels which let out all one pours into them For the rest I bless God for that he will have his Church make use in the Funerals of the Dead of such holy and august Ceremonies as condemn your remisness and which convince you of your little Faith For why think you do we there sing Hymns and Psalms and set up lighted Cierges and Torches but to teach you to look upon your Brethren whilst we are burying them as upon victorious Champions whom we ought to accompany with
have you heard say of them who were seen yesterday so flourishing One of them was murdered the other was drown'd another died in playing and he who seem'd to have most health expir'd sitting at table One should never have done if one should run over all the manners of Death wherewith dayly and dismall examples strike our eyes and yet what profit do we make thereof He surely is wise and happy who passes on his Life without adhering to it who sees all it's moments slide away as if each of them were to be the last and who prepares himself at the beginning of each day with the same care which he would take upon the day of his Death One acquires this happy foresight by the contempt of the World by the desire of advancing in Virtue by a sincere repentance by a blind obedience to the orders of Providence by an uncloathing and despising of ones self accompanied with a firm resolution to suffer all for Christ Jesus Let us say to him with St. Paul Lord 2 Tim. 4. I am as a Victime which hath already the aspersion to be sacrificed the time of my departure draws near I have finished my course and no more now remains for me but to expect the crown of Justice which is reserved for them who have fought valiantly Behold the state in which a true Christian should be setled Ibid. for he who hath not fought according to the Law shall not be crowned Wherefore make your profit of the strength which God hath given you and whilst you you are in health lay up a treasure of good works for the other Life Perhaps you will not be any longer in the state of performing them when you shall fall into sickness and infirmity You are not surely so great a fool as to fancy you shall always enjoy health Alas how the sentiments of man change in the bed of Death All that he esteemed great in the World appear then to him little and despicable the sin which seem'd to him small and inconsiderable becomes great and monstrous But the change of his reason serves him no more but to plunge him in Despair Learn this sacred doctrine from the mouth of Christ Jesus Lib. 3. c. 49. He who loves his Soul shall lose it Joh. 12.15 Do not imitate those self-lovers of whom the Apostle St. Paul speaks with execration Tim. 3. For nothing is worthy of your love but God alone no not even your own Soul 2 Pet. 3. Jud. 10.8 which is the most perfect image of the Divinity Mat. 16.26 If you love it you shall lose it and if you lose your Soul Mark 8. what will it avail you to have gained the whole World For having once lost your Soul by what exchange can you recover it But we shall never comprehend this truth unless the love of Jesus serves us for our Master O love of my God when wilt thou clear my spirit When wilt thou set my Heart on fire When shall I enjoy thy delights When shall I contemplate the glory of thy Kingdom Comfort me in my Banishment Sweeten my Affliction I sigh after nothing but to be with you my beloved Lord for all the comfort the World offers me doth but augment my impatience and my sorrow When I have a will to raise up my self towards Heaven my Passions draw me towards the Earth Tottering between two so opposit motions I am a burden to my self and I desire ardently to die that so there may be an end of all these combats which put me in perpetual danger to be overcome by the Enemy of my Salvation If I had still any affection for the World I would entreat you to leave me in it but since I have setled all my affections upon you what is there that should stay me upon Earth If God doth you the favour to afford you these feelings do not attribute them to your self Rom. 12. I exhort you not to elevate your selves beyond that which you ought in the sentiments you have of your selves but to contain your selves within the limits of moderation according to the measure of the gift of Faith which God hath imparted to each one of you Jer. 13. 'T is to me alone to whom glory appertains says our Lord. Do not glorify your selves because I have spoken unto you Give to me the glory of all before darkness surprizes you By this means you will profit more and more in Virtue and I will give you a tast of all the sweetnesses of a holy Death Article XXXXI The admirable Prayses which St. Laurence Justinian gives to Death from whence he concludes that 't is no wonder if the most perfect among Christians are they who most desire it WE need not mervail that the Faithful who are penetrated with the Love of Christ Jesus De incendijs Divini amoris desire to die S. Laurence since he hath rendred Death desirable by dying for us In effect 't is no longer a punishment 't is a favour and a favour by so much the greater by how much the sooner obtained For that which was a chastisement of Sin is now a temporal recompense of good Works We ought therefore to look now upon it as the object of our sweetest hopes and not as the subject of our Fears O Death thou art no longer bitter thou art no longer cruel to the Disciples of Christ Jesus as thou wert formerly to the Children of Adam Let us bless our Lord for having made the most terrible of all Evils to be so wholesome and so universal a remedy which frees us from all sorts of infirmities and miseries which exempts us from the misfortunes of poverty from the outrages of our enemies from the attacks of envy from the disquiets of avarice and of ambition in a word from the tyranny of all our passions c which is yet more desirable which exempts us from Sin Death having thus changed its nature Christians have no longer any aversion against it but on the contrary they desire it as much as other men dread it and they invite to their assistance that which the World avoyds as the cause of its destruction Now altho' all true Christians have these thoughts we must nevertheless acknowledge that the Saints are infinitly more pierced therewith As they have more love for Christ Jesus they have also a greater desire for Death The ardour of this Love gives them such an absolute contempt of Life and such an impatience to get out of it that there is not a moment in which they wish not the separation of their Soul from their Body Nothing more nearly touches than these Words of David when having his Heart transfixed with the darts of Divine Love and as it were transported out of himself by a happy and holy fury he exclams Psal 83. â— My Soul languishes and is consumed with a desire to enter into the house of our Lord. My Heart burns with
an ardent thirst to enjoy God the living God and my Body is dryed up in this desire Happy they who placing in you all their confidence have no other thought but to advance themselves towards you O Lord for one sole day in your House is more worth than a Thousand any where else I had rather be the last and upon the step of the dore in the House of my God than dwell in the tents of the Wicked In effect it seems that a Soul enflamed with the desire of seeing her God unties her self from her Body by continual Extasies and to make use of Davids expression Melts away in these transports Psal 21. as Wax melts with the heat of the Sun They who are arriv'd at so high a degree of perfection which renders them equal to Angels forget oftentimes to take such nourishment as is necessary for their Body because they are devoured by a Hunger much more pressing than that which is satisfied by food The Spiritual aliment which fills them takes from them all gust of corporal sustenance and the flames of Charity do so stifle in them the flames of concupiscence that they become insensible both as to the necessities of the Body and as to the pleasures of the Earth O Lord said a great Saint Why do we preserve with so much precaution a miserable Life Should we not laugh at a Prisoner who should spend all his time in raysing up the walls of his Prison Yet this is that which men do when they pamper their Bodies Since we must die to see you O God and since no one can entirely possess you but by losing his Life I accept the condition even from this hour Do that to day which you will do one day Behold I am ready to follow you and I demand of you this cheif favour That I may see you to the and I may die S. Teresa and that I may die to the end I may see you eternally S. Aug. Article XXXXII. It may perhaps seem strange that we should place the thoughts of St. Teresa in a collection of those of the Fathers But the Writings of this great Saint are replenish'd with so sublime a piety that one may compare them in this point to the most beautious Works which the Spirit of God ever dictated to men Wherefore we conceiv'd that it might not only be permitted but that it would prove profitable to insert here some of the admirable Sentiments she hath left us upon the meditation of Eternity and upon the desire of Death O Jesu soverainly amiable A pious exclamation after Communion sole object of my affections shall I always languish with the impatient desire of seeing you What solace will you give to a Soul which nothing upon Earth comforts and which can take no rest but in you alone O that this banishment is long O that Life is irksom to one who burns with the desire of possessing you I die because I cannot die You know it O my God you who died for the love of me know whether it is to live when one long expects what one loves No my Life is not a Life 't is a continual torment 't is a fire which devours 't is a punishment which would be as terrible as those of Hell if one had lost the Hope of seeing an end of it O Life thou enemy of my happiness Life more cruel a thousand times than Death why is it not permitted me in this moment to break the chains wherewith thou keepest me in captivity But I preserve thee because my God protects thee I have a care of thee because thou belongest to him Do not then any longer abuse his bounty nor my obedience and cease at last to oppose thy self to the impatience of my affection O desirable Death and too long expected O Sanctuary inaccessible to all the tempests of the World happy end of our miseries destruction of Sin beginning of our true Life make haste to deliver me from the Death of the World O let me die to the end I may not die 'T is the Death of Sin which I dread 'T is the Life of Grace which I desire But this dread and this desire consume me in such sort that I do not live and yet I cannot die My Life is all out of me because all my Hope is in Christ Jesus who hath promis'd unto me a better Life Alas It is very true That Love is more dreadfull then Death Cant. 2. O Love of Jesus how piercing are your darts how stinging are your wounds The rudest blows of Death are endured with less difficulty than yours There is too much of it O Lord there 's too much Turn a little aside your looks Cant. 6. for I want strength to support them Eyther burn me no longer or make an end to reduce me into ashes How will you have my Soul to divide herself between that which you demand of her and that which my Bodie requires of her Be gon from me O all you Earthly Consolations a Heart wounded with the Love of Jesus cannot be cured but by Jesus All human Remedies are too weak to asswage a Divine Sickness 'T is you my Saviour who cure and who wound when you please O Faithful Bridegroom of the Faithfull Soul with what bounty what sweetness what pleasure what ravishments what testimonies of tenderness do you heal the hurts which your Love hath made in us O my Soul let us expect yet a little and he will take compassion on our languishing condition His impatience is no less then ours we sometimes believe him to be far off when he is very near at hand Behold him descending from the mountains and traversing the hills he runs he flies to draw near unto us he knocks at the dore he calls us Enter Lord I slept but my heart watched Alas I was ready to follow you and you have stoll'n your self from me I seek you and I find you no more I call you and you do not answer What have we done my Soul who hath driven away your Bridegroom Is it not that our impatience displeases him Is it not that we love him overmuch or that we love him not enough For he is a Jealous God Exod. 34. who will be loved more than all things and will have us love nothing but himself Perhaps he will surprize us Thes 2.2 His day comes when it is least thought on as the Thief who comes in the night Let us expect with humility that dreadfull day If Jesus loves us he will not slack his coming if he doth not love us he will come but too soon for us The Conclusion of all this Collection S. Aug. As at the beginning of this Treatise we drew from St. Augustin Principles to establish this Proposition That perfect Souls desire Death and receive it with Joy we thought fit to finish this Collection with a discourse wherein the same holy Doctour shews That all
a Child of God not to tie himself to things present and perishable that he may sooner go towards his Father who stretches forth his arms to receive him This tender affection and this holy impatience spring from the purity of a good Conscience He who is enflam'd with the love of eternal Goods is not puff'd up in Prosperity nor cast down in Adversity He is as it were above the Earth and dwells already in Heaven he conserves a Spirit evermore equall in the inequality of his lives events Finally he is like him of whom it is said in Scripture You stick not either at the Benedictions or at the Maledictions of the World but you are as an Angel of our Lord. 2. Reg. c. 24. v. 17. 2. Instruction of St. Chrysostom That we should be miserable if our Life were never to end and that if we had a faithful and true belief of the Resurrection we should not only not dread Death but we should ardently desire it WHen God gives us Life In cap. 12. Gen. Hom. 32. 't is by an action of his Omnipotency but when he gives us Death In Cap. 5. Gen. Hom. 21. 't is by a wholesome effect of his Bounty What would Life be without Death A long sequell of miseries an eternal Banishment an infinite Punishment In Cap. 5. Gen. Hâ—m 67. and almost as cruel as that of Hell For what more painfull torment could be inflicted upon them who love Serm. in Verba Pauli De dormientibus nolo vos Ser. 29. than to separate them for ever from their beloved object If this Maxim is true in sensual love is it not infinitly more in the Divine love A Heart deeply engaged in this love to which one should say you shall remain always upon Earth and you shall never see God would it not have cause to esteem it self almost as miserable as the Damned It is therefore truly said That if Death is the chastisement of Adams Sin 't is also the greatest favour that God could grant to the Children of Adam after his Disobedience Before the coming of Christ Jesus Death was frightfull because men were its slaves and that they could not obtain of God any more then temporal rewards for their good actions But since he hath ransom'd us by his precious Blood since he hath loved Death and made an alliance with it it is not only no longer an Evil but 't is the greatest of all Goods 't is the source of all imaginable happinesses Thus the fear of dying ought to be consider'd as a weakness of Nature and not as an effect of Reason 'T is true that all Creatures have an extreme desire to conserve their Being but this desire is not pardonable except only in such people who know nothing of any other Life than this The true Christian who hopes after this Death a more noble and a more happy Being than this first Being which he receiv'd by being born into the World not only desires not to conserve it but burns with impatience to loose it that he may acquire the possession of a soverain Felicity There is no truth which Christ Jesus preached and assured more authentically than the Mystery of the Resurrection Ib. Serm. de tridua Domini Resurrec and there is nothing also which the Enemies of Christianism have more thwarted All the World agrees that Christ Jesus died 1 Cor. 18.23 The Jews looked upon his Cross as a Scandall and the Gentiles as a Folly But as for the Resurrection they all absolutely deny it only the Christians believe that and God gives to them all sorts of proofs thereof He permits that Souldiers should be placed around his Sepulchre he rises forth of the Tomb in their presence the Stone is overturned the Earth trembles the Guards are affrighted the Women find him not where they had layd him and the Angells assure them that he was risen He appeared to his Disciples in particular in publick in divers places in many encounters He stays with them Forty days he there drinks he there eats and when one of them protests that he would believe nothing of it unless he could see him with his Eyes and touch him with his Hands our Saviour presents himself unto him shews him the Wound of his side will have him to put his Finger into it and finally forces him by this last proof to cry out I doubt no longer John 20. v. 28.29 you are my Lord and my God Thou hast believed answered Jesus because thou hast seen Blessed are they who believe without having seen Can one desire testimonies more evident and more authentical of his Resurrection If we are Christians we must believe it If we will be Happy we must believe it without seeing it any otherwise than by the Eyes of Faith What Happiness ought we to expect from the Rusurrection and from the Promises of Jesus Christ Is it not to be resuscitated as he is that we may reign with him But to have a share in his Resurrection and in his Kingdom we must necessarily die Death therefore is an inestimable advantage and happiness and thus we ought not to dread it but with all our hearts to desire it What advantage can we find by living longer Old age and the Infirmities which accompany it do they not render us imsupportable to others and to our selves Consider an old man overwhelm'd with years his spirits dejected his Body extenuated his face full of wrinkles his eyes half shut up his voyce trembling his head hanging down towards the Earth as it were seeking for a Sepulchre wherein to be buried Is not this a kind of Monster in nature But that which is here more monstrous in him is the desire to live in despight of so many incommodities and to trail along his Soul captivated and burthened with such heavy chains Strange blindness of man This passion is more violent in the very caducity and feebleness it self than in the most tender youthfulness Whatever tye a man advanced in age hath for his dignities and for his treasures he would willingly destrip himself of all to prolong his Life for some years and he would employ these years in acquiring other honours and other riches of which he should destrip himself Madd man Weak Worm of the Earth Reffuse of the Universe Learn that in so deplorable an estate thou hast nothing more to desire but Death nor any thing to hope for but the Resurrection Serm. 20. in verba De tormientibus An Engraver hath made a fair Statue he finds it afterwards to be eaten with Rust and spoiled by the injury of time The love he hath for his own work moves him to take compassion on it he breaks it in pieces casts the mettal into the fire and frames a Figure fairer then the former This is that which God did having seen that Man who was his Image and his Head-work was disfigured by Sin By what right and upon what
Pilgrimage wherein we are to make what speed we are able Otherwhiles it compares it to a Warfare whereinto we enroll our selves to die in fighting against the Enemies of Christ Jesus At other times it represents Death unto us under the Parable of a Hireling who tills the Vinyard for the price of his days labour O Christians when the Evening shall come let not us imitate those indiscreet Vignerons who complained that they had born the burden of the day and endured the heat of the Sun Let 's not presume that we have deserv'd a larger recompense than they who have labour'd less time than we It belongs to the Master of the Vinyard to distribute his Wages as himself pleases At what ever hour he calls us to his service let us labour as long as the day lasts Our Lord knows well how to pay unto each one what appertains to him Mat. 20.12 Perhaps the last shall be first and the first last because there are many called and but few chosen Let us expect the hour of payment with Patience and with Humility That hour O Christians is the hour of Death for this Death which we so much dread is the period of our pains and the time of our reward Article XXXIII 3. Reflexion of St. Gregory That they who have the World love some reason to fear the end of it but that they who serve Christ Jesus ought not to apprehend the destruction of the World on the contrary they ought to endure with patience War Famine Pestilence Detraction Persecution and the other Scourges wherewith the hand of God chastises men because these are the signs of the second coming of our Saviour IF the scourges of God fall upon your Head lift it up and look towards Heaven Hom. 1. and 13. in Evan. because your Redemption is near at hand Behold the Fig-tree and all other Trees Luk. 21. when their fruit begins to be formed you say that Summer is coming on So when you shall see all these things arrive which the common sort of men account miseries know that the Kingdome of Christ Jesus approaches and that Christians ought to rejoyce thereat as at the greatest of all good things because they shall never possess the Kingdom of God untill that of the Devil which is the World shall be destroyed It belongs therefore to them only who have the love of the World rooted in their Heart who look not after eternal Life who even fancy that there is none It only belongs I say to those wretched Children of the World to afflict themselves for the end of the World But as for us who are the Children of God who know that our Patrimony is not upon Earth but that it expects us in the glory of the Eternal Father we rejoyce to see an end of the Worlds Tyranny which hath already too long lasted Heaven and Earth shall pass Luk. 21.33 but my Words shall not pass says our Lord. Those are the works of his Hands they shall perish but our Lord will remain Heb. 1.11 They will wax old as a Garment They will change their form as a Cloak But he who created them will be evermore the same Ps 101. v. 26.27 c. and his years will have no end The Just shall dwell with him and their Posterity shall be eternally happy Article XXXIV 4. Reflection of St. Gregory That there are few Just who can truly say with St. Paul God forbid that I should glory of any other thing than of the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ because the World is dead and crucified for me as I am dead and crucified for the World That altho ' the major part of good people employ all their Life to die to the World Gal. 6.14 yet it frequently falls out that the World dies not to them but on the contrary that it strives to corrupt them by its flatteries and by its illusions From whence this holy Doctour takes an occasion to exhort Christians to be willing to go forth of this place which is so dangerous and to desire Death as the sole Remedy of all their Evills THere is no Just Man who doth not acknowledge himself miserable during this Life Morol l. ◠c. 2.3 c. and who considers it not as a painfull and perilous Pilgrimage He knows that the Dignities and the Riches of the World are things perishable But what ever experience he dayly makes of them they cease not to leave in his spirit the same impression which the sight of a delicious Countrey leaves in the Spirit of a Traveller He doth not absolutely prefer it before his native Land but he is less impatient to get home to it What should press us to leave Life will some one say if we make good use of it Our Lord hath given us Goods let us employ them for his Glory He forbids not the enjoyment o◠Honours when one referr◠them all to him What har◠is there in hearing our Prayses published so long as w◠cease not to prayse God 〈◊〉 Thus doth the World endeavour to seduce the Jus◠man by subtle stratagems which it disguises under th◠appearances of Virtue Bu◠a true Christian grounde◠in the love of Christ Jesu◠speaks another Language 〈◊〉 you Honours of the World says he you Riches Health Commodities of Life I am not to look upon you but as the obstacles of my Salvation In this sad voyage which I make upon Earth my Soul sends forth continual sighs for the length of her exile nor can she suffer with patience that which separates her from her dear Countrey What a remisness what an imprudence is it to stay upon the Earth for the exercising of an Office and Dignity which torments us to distribute our Goods which are capable to corrupt us to acquire a Prayse which may make us proud and perhaps for some other end which is yet more vain and frivolous Ah my Soul do not thou adhere to any worldly thing thou wilt not there meet with any thing which is not unworthy of thy affection Remember the nobility of thy origin thou comest from Heaven the Earth is not for thee God did not create thee to animate eternally a lump of Flesh Death will ere long destroy this Body in which thou takest so much complacency but its loss ought not to afflict thee God will one day repair it 'T is Sin which thou oughtest to dread there is thy Death and a terrible and irreparable Death Thou wilt be exposed to the danger of this Death so long as thou sojournest upon Earth Go forth of it then my Soul go forth of thy Prison separate thy self from thy Body for I burn with a desire to die that I may go to live eternally with my Lord Jesus Behold what are the sentiments of perfect Christians They have learned in the School of so good a Master that even they who most desire to die notwithstanding that they are already
dead to the World yet the World ceases not to live to them and to ly every where in wait to entrap them sometimes by applauding their Virtues and other times by extolling their Actions It besieges them it pursues them it enchains them by secret confidences by continual visits by an ardent seeking of their freindship All these things seem only to tie an innocent knot and which may have a very good end Nevertheless the danger is great and it is a temerarious confidence to expose ones self thereto without an extreme necessity The World loses nothing in this traffick on the contrary it serves it very frequently for an honest Veil to hide its Vices but the Just man runs a great hazard thereby and sits down always with the loss The Devil who is but too ingenious to deceive us employs a thousand subtil crafts disguises himself into all manner of shapes and even into that of Virtue in order to seduce us At first he distills light distractions little solicitudes vain desires unprofitable curiosities which diminish by little and little the fervour of our devotions and which estrange from our memory the thoughts of Death Then the same Spirit which cools the Love of God enkindles insensibly in our Soul those former affections which repentance and Charity had there as it were stifled and buried Alas how few Just persons are found who entirely imitate S. Paul in this double Death of the Christian to the World and of the World to the Christian Where are they whose Conscience renders to them the same testimony as it did to this great Apostle and who have put themselves into a perfect liberty by breaking not oniy all the Chains which kept them fast tyed to the World but moreover those which tyed the World to them For 't is not enough to have despised and abandoned the World we must so order it that the World may despise and abandon us This is that which the Apostle intends to teach us when he says The World is dead and crucified for me as I am dead and crucified for the World The World was crucified to him because it was dead in his heart and was no more any thing to him but the object of his contempt and of his hatred but besides this he was also crucified to the World because having made appear an insensibility for the concerns of the Earth the world ceased to seek after him and did no longer so much as think of him If we take not heed we shall find that even in the most retired professions in the greatest disgust of the vanities of the infidelities and of the corruptions of the world when we fancy that we are for ever freed from them yet there still remain some roots thereof in our Heart We hold no more of the world but it holds us yet by imperceptible bonds We make a shew of shuning it and yet we are not sorry that it should seek after us and that it should come sometimes to trouble our solitude which would otherwise appear to us dismal and insupportable Finally with a mean Virtue one may forget the world but one must have an extraordinary Virtue to wish to be forgotten by the world This is that which holy Souls aym at which are perfectly unfettered from the world They not only suffer themselves not to be drawn by the World but moreover they draw not the World to themselves And 't is to them that may be applyed the saying of S. Paul Man and the World are reciprocally Crucified one in regard of the other because they not seeking one another nor mutually loving each other are as two dead things which can no longer have any communication But alas how few there are who can come to he happiness of this double Death The greatest Saints all crucified as they are to the World cannot without the succour of an extraordinary Grace crucify the World entirely in themselves Therefore it is that they incessantly mortify themselves and they cry out with David Lord Psal 90. save my Soul from the Ambushes of her Enemies defend her against the cunning of deceitfull Tongues deliver me from the snares of the Hunters and from the corruption of the World For altho' the Just man flies the World and is perfectly disengaged from it he evermore apprehends that he hath something in himself which engages the world to follow him But if God covers him with his Wings to make use of the Royal Prophets words what ever endeavours the world makes to seek him out it will not find him or if it finds him 't will find him Dead as to all earthly concerns doing nothing to please it nor to allure it being deaf to it's prayses insensible to it's blandishments indifferent to its interests without curiosity without pretention without disquiet doing good for goodness sake and little caring to have confederates or admirers of his Virtue On the contrary if in labouring for Gods glory he encreases his own glory he will so far humble himself in his own interiour and before others that the aversion which he will testify against all flatteries will foyl his Flatterers Finally the World which will not entertain any traffick with the Just but upon some motive of interest or of pleasure will cease to seek after him and finding there no more nourishment to live upon will die and crucify it self in him For 't is most certain that the World is in that like unto the Sea which swallows up and detains within its bosom the living Bodies but rejects the dead carkasses and leaves them upon the sands So the World lays hold upon that only which is yet living and sensible for it and abandons that which is devoyd of feeling and of Life for all such things as any way concern it Article XXXV A pithy Description made by the Great St. Gregory of the Necessities and of the Miseries of the Body and of the Soul From whence this holy Man concludes That men should desire to die in order to enjoy a better Life in which they shall be no longer exposed either to Sorrow or to Sin ONe cannot express all the Miseries to which Man is exposed by Sin Lib. Moral in c. 7. Job His Body is subject to a thousand sorts of infirmities it is expos'd to the injuries of the Ayr and of all the Elements to Dangers to Diseases to the ignorance of Physitians which is some times more to be dreaded than the Diseases themselves The natural Heat which sustains his Life devours its proper substance as soon as it wants nourishment If he reposes sloath renders him unweldy if he is employed labour drains him if he eats the meat overcharges him thirst dries him up the excess of drink makes him brutish sleep oppresses him watching wearies him cold pinches him heat stifles him and that which eases him of one incommodity casts him presently into another Finally on which ever side he turns himself he is tormented by the
eternally in his Glory S. Climacus Article XXXVI St. John Climacus distinguishes the desires of Death which the Devil suggests unto us from those which Grace inspires and of this Doctrine he composes one degree of his holy Ladder Degree 6. n. 4. where he shews That the Meditation of Death is the most profitable of all Spiritual practises AS all apprehensions of Death are not criminal Degree 8. n. 3. 4. Ibid. 8. so all the desires of Death are not always lawfull According to Nature Man dreads to die and Christ Jesus himself was apprehensive of it to make it clearly appear to men that he had taken upon him all the weaknesses of humanity and that there were two Natures united in his Person If God had not given to the Soul this natural adhesion for her Body she would not remain there shut up one instant This adhesion is therefore an order of Providence and not a disorder of Sin But to know whether the Desires or Fears of Death are criminal or commendable we must examine the reasons which move us to dread it or to desire it There are some who by a motive of Despair desire to die when they find themselves oppress'd with sickness or with affliction and these are very faulty in not receiving these chastisements from the hand of God with patience and humility Others after they have imbraced a Penitent Life are discouraged and grow weary of suffering for the expiation of their Sins and these surely are very unhappy for they lose the fruit of all the good works which they have formerly performed They have kept their Lamps along time lighted and they let them go out at the hour perhaps in which the Bridegroom is ready to come Others there are who being puffed up with a vain presumption imagin that they are arrived at the soverein peace of Soul and have gotten a comâ—eat victory over all their Passions because they have no longer any fear of Death They perceive not that this Pride is a thousand times worse than the fear of Death and that the malice of our invisible Enemies is so great 7. Degree n. 68. that they convert the seeds of Virtues into Vices Some others more conformable to the Spirit of Christianism seeing that the violence of their evil Customs makes them to relapse incessantly into Sin desire Death with thoughts of repentance and of humility These sentiments are laudable 22. Degree n. 25. and yet they are but the beginning of Christian perfection One arrives at this perfection when being dead to all the affections of the World to the World it self 6. Degree n. 20. and to Sin one desires to die upon no other motive than only to be entirely united to Christ Jesus 'T is by this mark that one may know the difference between the natural apprehensions of Death 6. Degree n. 6. and the fear which proceeds not from the feeling of Nature between the Impatience which comes from Despair and the desire which the hope of a better Life produces For he who hath not renounced all created things and his own will 6. Degree n. 20. and 11. betrays himself and is like to a Soldier who should present himself with his hands tyed in the day of Battle They who during their Lifetime have their Heart and Spirit link'd to Heaven 26. Degree n. 106. mount up to Heaven after their Death But they who have had their Soul link'd to the Earth descend under the Earth 26. Degree n. 377. The goods and the honours of the World are as so many rotten steps of a Ladder upon which the humble man cannot set his foot without puting himself in danger to lose his Humility He who voluntarily resigns himself to Death and who expects it without fear 6. Degree n. 12. hath some Vertue But he who at every hour desires it may pass for a Saint We cannot live holily one sole day if we do not desire that it may be the last day of our Life rather than to offend God in it The continual thought of Death extinguishes at last all Vices And as a perfect Charity renders a man exempt from falling into Sin so a perfect Meditation of Death renders him uncapable to fear any thing but the Judgements of God Ib. n. 14. And surely there is reason to admire that the Pagans themselves have said something not unlike unto this when they declared That Phylosophy or the love of Wisdom is nothing else but a continual study of Death Article XXXVII St. Bernard teaches us That Hope is the portion of true Christians and that this Virtue enables them to suffer patiently all the evills of this Life and to Love and Desire Death THe Children of darkness sleep in the night season Ser. 6. in Ps 90. alibi but as for us my Brethren who are Children of light let us watch in expectation of the days coming in which we are to sleep the sleep of Death S. Bernard Let us arm our selves with a holy Hope to fight against this drowsiness of the World Let Sensualists shut their eyes against the beams of this Hope and let them repose in the wantonness of a voluptuous Life Let them say we are in peace and in security who can discover us what can trouble the enjoyment of our pleasures The day will come when they shall be overwhelm'd with an un-foreseen ruine as a Woman is surprized by the pangs of Childing How terrible are your judgments how incomprehensible are your words â—ap 17. O Lord Whilst the Wicked insult over the holy Nation of your Elect and flatter themselves that they shall always domineer a stroke of your hand lays these fugitive slaves in the dust who fancied they could steal themselves from your eternal Justice They who were seen to triumph over your Patience are all enwrap'd in the shadows of a long and dismall night as many Criminalls are fast linked together with one and the same Chain As for us O my God! who have no share in their Sleep nor in their Blindness we lift up our Eyes incessantly towards Heaven from whence we expect our help You O Lord Psal 15. are our good and all our portion This part which is fallen to our Lot is rich and delicious Our hereditary share is of an incomparable excellency S. Ber. 'T is for this that our Heart rejoyceth and that we sing with alacrity because you will not leave the Soul of the Just in Hell nor will you suffer him whom you have made holy to see corruption Thus O Lord the inheritance of the Children of Jacob is more worth than the riches of the Children of Esau for when they should possess the whole Earth when the Goods which the World promises them should be great the possession thereof is not peaceable the duration is but short the end is uncertain and the loss of them is follow'd with an infinite number of miseries