defence of his Souldiers They hazard their lives for a pitiful Pay which oftentimes they never get but our King and Captain secures us a certain Pay rewarding us with Life and Glory If they fly over to their Enemy 't is out of hope to preserve their lives but if we do so we run to eternal death and fly from eternal life The War of the World is made by wounding hurting and killing others but the War of God against the World is made by receiving Injuries Affronts Wounds and even Death it self if it be necessary The War of the World is to Conquer by destroying others but the War against the World is to Conquer by undergoing Difficulties and Suffering for God's sake In that War it is Force that overcomes in this 't is Patience The Victories of that War are gotten by pulling down and trampling upon others but in this by debasing and humbling our selves The Triumphs of that War are here upon Earth and of a short continuance but those of this War are to be in Heaven above and to endure for ever and ever Fight therefore couragiously have patience and persevere the Battle lasts but for a while thou art already near the Crown that is to be thy Reward Arm us O thou great Captain of our Salvation for this Warfare with the Shield of Faith the Breast-plate of Righteousness the Helmet of Salvation and with the Sword of the Spirit and grant that having our Feet shod with the preparation of the Gospel of Peace we may chearfully withstand all Assaults of our Ghostly Enemies keeping still present in our thoughts the Vow we made to thee in our Baptism to fight manfully under thy Banner against the World the Flesh and the Devil and to continue thy Faithful Souldiers and Servants unto our lives end The Second WEEK Of Repentance and Absolution OUR blessed Redeemer and Saviour of Souls did not stop here He thought it not enough to Arm us for the Spiritual Warfare but has also provided a Remedy to cure our Wounds His Divine Majesty knew our weakness he knew our proneness to Vice he knew that like Cowards we should sometimes throw down our Weapons at the feet of our Enemies and basely fly from his Banner for the sake of some filthy Appetite He would not leave our Souls without help but his Compassion seeing our Frailty and Misery was pleased in the very sight of so great Ingratitude to prepare a Medicine for the cure of our Wounds and an Antidote for the Poyson of our Sins by establishing the Doctrine of Repentance and by giving Power and Commandment to his Ministers to declare and pronounce unto such as are truly Penitent the Absolution and Remission of their sins Great was the Love of our Lord in dying for us upon the Cross nor was it less in giving us this means to make his Sufferings effectual to us To pardon past Offences has been seen and sometimes one man to suffer for another but not at so dear a Price as his own Blood For a Person offended to suffer the sight of his Enemies is much when it is to do them good but 't is much more when he knows that they are not only Enemies but that they are ungrateful and despise his Benefits to shed his very blood to make a Medicine for their Wounds This is a pity exceeding all Humane Understanding That there should be care taken in Armies to cure the Wounded and Hospitals for the Sick it is not strange because they are Faithful Souldiers and venture their Lives in Fighting for their King But in the War of the Spirit that the Saviour of Souls should prepare Remedies not for his Friends that fight on his side but for Enemies and Souldiers that desert him that he should admit them again to be new listed under his Banner is a Mercy beyond comparison To pardon Mutineers has been seen in Armies but yet the Heads are commonly punished and the Companies disbanded but not only to pardon such Enemies and Traytors but to call them back to Love to Cure to Reward to Honour and Sustain them with his own Flesh and Blood can be the effect of nothing but an Infinite Charity and Compassion So great is the Benefit of Repentance which giving us a Title to the blood of Christ not only Cures those that are wounded but also raises those that are dead in sins nor is there any thing above the Cure of that Soveraign Medicine unless the Party affected resists the power of it which is so great that it not only cures the Wound but takes away the very Scars and makes those that are recovered more sound and healthful than they were before Behold a Man fallen from a Ship into the Sea and ready to be drowned amidst the Waves see with what eagerness he calls for a Cable with what greediness he catches at the Plank nay the poor wretch would even lay hold on a naked Sword to save his Life though with the loss of his Blood so the Christian who by the Grace of Baptism sails in the Ship of the Church being carried by his Passions throws himself into the World and is sinking in the Tempest of his sins and if he be drowned he perishes to Eternity but as he is sinking he finds this second Plank of Repentance to save him from Shipwrack and by it is drawn up into the Ship again and preserved to arrive in safety at his desired Port. Apply thy self therefore to the use of this Remedy with Humility with an holy Disposition and great sorrow for thy sins and by Faith in the Merits of Christ's Blood and then thou shalt rise up not only cured but crowned Call to remembrance thy sins and make a firm Resolution never to offend thy Lord again Be affected with a sorrow that is pure in its sincerity pious in its intention great in its degree perpetual in its lasting and particular in the enumeration of thy several sins with all the aggravating Circumstances thereof Finally let thy Confession be clear and undissembled with confusion of Face for thy often relapses giving Glory to God and taking Shame to thy self Make use of a Spiritual Guide in all difficulties of Conscience for thy Instruction and Consolation Forgive all Injuries thou hast at any time received which are but a few Pence in comparison of the many Talents which thou hast to be forgiven and remember that Christ says Except ye forgive men their trespasses neither will your Heavenly Father forgive you your trespasses And not only forgive thine Enemies but embrace them with unfeigned Affection for his sake and by his Example who loved thee when thou wast his Enemy Of the Holy Eucharist In this Preparation of Soul wounded both with Love and Grief and thirsting as the Hart for the Water-brooks approach reverently to the Sacrament of thy Saviour's Body and Blood which that gracious Lord instituted at his last Supper for a continual remembrance of the Sacrifice of himself
midst of Light and now unless he get assistance of the light of Grace by Prayer what will become of him And how shall he keep himself standing in the midst of so much darkness and so many confusions as he has been subject to ever since he was banished thence 3. What is our Nature but a Vessel of Passions and Miseries a seed-plot of Sins and of Misfortunes Consider Man in his Generation and thou shalt find him to be nothing but Corruption Behold him in the darkness of his Mother's womb and thou shalt find him a little lump of living filth Behold him taken Captive before ever he was at liberty and a Prisoner before he hath committed any Crime His Body scarcely formed and yet already shut up in a most obscure Dungeon Thus was he acquainted with darkness before he saw any light and came headlong crying into the World as an Omen of his precipitate Passions and future Miseries Yet alas that Captivity which his Body suffers in his Mother's Womb is less to be lamented than the other which his Soul suffers in his Body 4. Behold that is a Captive not only to corruption and filth as the Body for that were tolerable but also to the loathsomness of sin created to an Original Servitude and condemned to Troubles without number or measure To begin to be and to begin to be in Servitude is in Man one and the same thing We are all born Slaves of the common Enemy what have we then to be proud of Only one Man exempted himself from this hard Servitude for he was God All the rest fell all the rest are Tributaries without remedy 5. Man is born to suffer and to weep he forces out his way by the strait passages of Afflictions Pangs and Throws causing them to his Mother and sometimes even her very Death What kind of Creature is this that cannot come to life without hazarding to give or to receive death And who at the same time begins to live and to lament being accustom'd to Tears before he comes acquainted with Laughter But it is no wonder he should weep at his Mother's feet for being born seeing the miseries that expect him in the World The Body hath cause enough to bewail its innumerable pains and the Soul its innumerable sins Finally Man is born the most feeble and helpless of all Creatures being destitute of every thing and needing the succour of every body He is kept alive by the Alms Care and Compassion of his Parents being utterly unable to help himself and utterly useless to all others 6. In this sad condition God's mercy steps in and makes him His by the Water of Baptism He takes from him the â—…gs of the Old Adam and cloaths him with the Robe of Grace making him the Adopted Son of God by the blood of the Eternal Son of God O! happy he if his Fortune ended here and if in this Holiness and Innocency of Childhood he might pass from Grace to Glory But no alas he is not so happy for he grows up either to a greater Reward or to harder Sufferings The light of Reason no sooner begins to glimmer in him but presently his Appetite rushes forth to oppose it and that being commonly strong and powerful drags the other after it because it is weaken'd by the first fall unless it be assisted by God's Grace His Affections take birth with his Understanding and with them his Passions gather strength these grow and daily darken his Reason he lives a painful and vexatious life in a continual conflict sometimes falling sometimes getting up again and very often totally overcome and willingly yielding up the Victory His Life whilst an Infant is meer impotence whilst a Child ignorance whilst a Youth danger whilst a Man care when Old weakness pain and sorrow and his passage through all these Ages is frailty sin and folly In short he lives such a life that Death uses sometimes to be his Wish often his Refuge and always the great Remedy of his Miseries This is the external Man therefore do thou use thy endeavours to become an internal Man Conquer Nature by the help of Grace thy Appetite by that of Reason the Delights of the Flesh by Mortification the Deceits of the World by Prayer and even Death it self by a Religious Life The Second WEEK Of the Frailty of Man and of the Miseries of his Body THis is the Nature of Man in general Look now in particular upon the Body that gross and visible part of our frailty Job saith not that man's Body hath some miseries and troubles but that he is of few days and full of troubles Would'st thou see it They are so many that they commonly break forth because they cannot be contained within him and ever and anon that which afflicts him inwardly discovers it self outwardly in boyls and blisters in swellings and discolourings of the skin The Year hath fewer days than there be ways of dying suddenly and can any body live in so stupid a Lethargy as not so much as to dream of an Eternal Life The Year and even our Life hath fewer hours than there be Mortal Diseases in the Body as Naturalists affirm and can any one live forgetful of his Soul We may wonder how life can continue in the Body having so many Gates and Windows to get out at How is it possible that the four Humours which are Enemies to one another should agree and last together in so strait so narrow and so obscure a place as is man's Body Yet they do not agree but with a most obstinate strife and contest they do disorder and discompose our life What is the Body but a false and seeming Friend to the Soul yet in truth its certain and deadly Enemy What is the Body but a Vessel of Poyson which to day is not perceived yet kills to morrow What is the Body but a heap of loathsomness and corruption What is it but a living deceit which yet continually undeceives us if we would be undeceived and a security in appearance but a constant infelicity Whilst it is in Health it cheats us and never speaks truth but in Sickness so long as it lives it is a lye and never tells truth till it be dead 2. Our life is nothing but death in a disguise and when it has made an end of acting its part the Mask is pull'd off The most beautiful Body carries that within it which were sufficient to make it eternally fly from it self if it were possible so to do It is full of filth and corruption so loathsome and so nauseous that it is a scandal but to name them It is a source of Uncleanness and the wretched dwelling of Impurities which are so numerous that it was necessary to make many Common Sewers for them to run out at because there was not room enough for them within The Body is so frail that every thing hath a powerful Jurisdiction over it a little dust choaks it a little
and by that wound receive me into and hide me in thy Heart free me from my self free me from all my Vices by thy holy Vertues and by thy sacred Wounds O heavenly Physician heal those many whereby though I have made my self the most unworthy and the most wretched of thy Creatures yet am I thereby the fitter Object of thy Mercies FEBRVARY The First WEEK Of the Remembrance of Death 1. WOuld'st thou amend thy loose irregular Life Remember Death and do while thou livest as thou would'st wish to have done when thou shalt come to die This Life which thou thinkest so lasting is but vanity This Life which thou livest as if thou thought'st it would never have an end is ending every moment and is making an end of thee Death comes flying speedily to us and we are running as fast to it they quickly meet that seek one another with so much haste Would'st thou take off thy value and esteem from that which is corruptible Look upon all things as subject to Death and full of Corruption 2. All that is in this World breaths Death in the midst of Life and all that seems Life is a secret Death Kingdoms and Empires die some destroy'd by the Hands of others some even by their own The Assyrian Monarchy was slain by the Medes that of the Medes by the Persians that of the Persians by the Graecians that of the Graecians by the Romans and that of the Romans by many several Nations and then they all made an end of one another If the whole which is strong and potent die can any part live which is weak and divided within it self The stateliest and strongest Buildings die Look and thou shalt no where find the Colosse's the Mausoleum's the Palaces and highest Edifices of the Ancients Those Towers which seem'd to touch the Stars ruined themselves by their own weight and greatness If Houses of the most lasting Marble die shall this petty Inhabitant of them live whose Body is but a little dust that vanisheth at a blast of wind 3. Might and Power also dies conquer'd sometimes by it self sometimes by a greater Power What is become of those Gyants of Vanity who with so much Pride did trample upon all the World What is become of those who made whole Monarchies to tremble at their lightest Motions or Disgusts They are now a heap of Bones lying upon the Earth and they who struck so great a Terror through all the Earth are themselves reduc'd to Earth already Yesterday they trampled all under their feet to day they are trampled under feet by all and thrown out to be the Food of Worms There is no need of Thunder-boks from Heaven to strike down this Power so full of weakness Earthquakes are superfluous on this occasion There needs neither Conflagration nor Deluge nor all no not so much as one of the Elements it is enough if there be but one Humour distemper'd within a Man 's own Body a malignant Feaver will serve the turn nay a fatal Sneeze upon a violent occasion is sufficient This is the hard necessity to which all humane Power is tied and subject and to which it must be forc't to yield Who then would fear any other Power but that of God which is the true Power indeed 4. What is become of the Honour the Riches and the Authority of those Grandees whom once the World adored It ended with their Power Imperial and Royal Crowns and Scepters Pontifical Miters Palls and Crosiers with all such Ensigns of Dignity roul up and down on the Wheel of Uncertainty following the course of Days Hours and Moments Scarce do they appear when they are already vanished scarce have they begirt the Brows of one when they instantly forsake him to seek the Brows of another Yesterday a Throne to day a Coffin Yesterday Rich and cloathed with stately Robes to day reduc'd to Rags and Beggary And are Wealth and Honours subject to these sudden Changes Who then would seek any other Honour but that of God and of an humble vertuous Life Who would seek other Riches than those of his Gifts and Graces 5. What and doth Beauty Gallantry Sprightliness and good Humour die too One may rather doubt whether they live at all So great is the Vanity and Shortness of them Where are now those Narcissus's and Adonis's those Venus's and Cleopatras's those Livias's and other Flowers of Beauty which in each Age shew themselves and vanish almost at the same hour Death cuts them all down and that which is less even Life it self destroys them Riches Power and Temporal Greatness do sometimes last as long as Life and nothing but Death alone does conquer them but Beauty is so frail a thing that 't is subject to be cut off not only by Death but even by Life also That which was yesterday the Envy and Admiration of the World to day is Ugliness and Deformity A slight accidental swelling of a Cheek or a discolouring of the Complexion a small Addition or Abatement in the Plumpness of the Face an outward Alteration or Change of the Countenance whether natural or violent takes away the former Air and presently farewel handsomness Let but a little Rheum fall into the Eyes a few Wrinkles shrivel the Skin a small Convulsion pull the Mouth awry a few Pimples break out in the Nose or any internal Humour discompose that outward Symmetry and instantly there is an end of Beauty There is no need of Death nor Small-pox Wounds nor Burnings A little Wind a little Nothing will serve to wither that delicate Flower Did I say nothing That was too much for it decayeth and withereth of it self and is it self its own destroyer 6. Beauty 't is strange dies with living ends with lasting and is ruin'd by its Conservation Is it not a wonderful thing that living and continuing should make it become horrible and loathsome That the handsomest Person should only by living become abominable and deformed And that meerly the Duration of Life should make the most beautiful Lady to be abhorred According to this it plainly appears that that which we have thought to be Life is Death that which we have thought a Being is not a Being but a ceasing to be that which we take to be Truth is Falshood that which seems to be Riches and Authority is Impotence and Vanity and that which looks like Life is Death or at least a Shadow of Death 7. Let us therefore lift up our Eyes and Hearts to that Life which is Eternal and knows no Death Of what Importance of what value can that be which either leaves me while I live or must be left by me when I die Nothing is lasting or of any worth but Vertue Truth and Piety To serve God and to please him is the only Riches and Power and that the only Beauty which lasteth to Eternity The Second WEEK How much it concerns the Soul to remember Death in the Time of Life 1. COnsider that Life passeth
inheritance eternal in the Heavens which fadeth not away and not only a temporal Life as well as he but also an eternal one receiving instead of it an everlasting Death as the just Reward of thy more wilful Folly 7. Again Suppose a Husbandman instead of manuring plowing and sowing his Land in the right Season should waste the Year in carelesness and think it time enough to fall to those businesses when his Neighbours who have done them all in due order are reaping their Corn and filling their Barns with a plentiful increase What wouldst thou judge of him for having not only slighted their good Example but despised their frequent Advices to be more provident and industrious Though thou mayst have learnt by the former Simile to apply this to thy self I cannot but condemn thee as more ignorant than the very Birds and Beasts for they infallibly know and exactly observe their several Seasons But all they that delay their Repentance are beyond comparison more ignorant and more slothful then that Husbandman considering the infinite disproportion there is between those hopes that should have moved his Industry and those assurances which should encourage theirs as likewise between those fears that should have quicken'd his sloth and those terrors that should rouze up theirs That Husbandman might possibly make a shift though a hard one to rub out that fruitless Year by the help of charitable Persons and having dearly bought more wit by the sad Experience of his Poverty might buckle close to his work and by future diligence against the following Harvest be Master of as rich a Crop as any in the Field but if thou defer thy Repentance till the Harvest of Death there is no possibility for thee to have another Year No in that Harvest thou shalt be reaped thy self and bound up with the Tares to be cast into the Fire Nor do thou adventure to trust to the Charity of others But remember that although the wise Virgins had Oil in their Lamps yet were they so far from having any to spare that they had hardly enough for themselves and when the foolish ones that wanted came to them for a supply they were sent away with a flat denial and it being then too late to get any for their Money they were shut out from the Feast of the Bridegroom for ever 8. Oh what sad stories might be related to thee upon the Subject of delayed Repentance How many Examples be there of Persons that after long sleeping securely in Sin have been rouzed of a sudden by the sharp Stings of Conscience at the Approach of Death and frighted from the vain Confidence they had of their Salvation into the other Extream of Despair by the dreadful Terrors of Hell-fire which then seemed to flash in their very faces Some of them have started into such dismal Apprehensions of God's severe Justice which they never regarded before that they quite forgot the abundance of his Mercy whereof till then they had groundlesly made themselves too sure nor could they in that condition be perswaded there was any pardon to be got for them though they should repent never so much they could not believe the Goodness of God though infinite was large enough to afford them any share in that Redemption which he sent his Son into the World expresly to purchase for all Mankind at the price of his most precious Blood Though He be so gracious as to call all Sinners and to say he came to seek and to save them that were lost professing with an Oath that he delights not in their death but rather that they should turn from their wickedness and live Nay that he would have all to be saved and none to perish yet the Devil taking advantage upon their having so long delayed to repent makes them now to believe that it is too late as he did before that it was too soon They can entertain no thoughts of God but what are dismal looking upon him as their greatest Enemy and some of them even hating him out of a prodigious Belief that he created them on purpose for Damnation This Crime is so heinous and of so deep a dye that the Stains of it can hardly be fetched out even with that Blood which makes Sins though red as Scarlet to become as white as Snow yet not for want of Vertue in the Remedy but because that Sin is so hardly repented of nor is it strange if upon so high a provocation God in his Justice suffer their wretched Bark to be tossed and weather-beaten upon the unquiet Billows of a wounded Spirit and to be dashed in pieces against the Rock of Despair by the violent Gust of his Displeasure Methinks I hear their loud Complaints and lamentable Cries and though I dare not so much as imagine the horrible Blasphemies which some of them utter in that woful anguish of their Souls yet I cannot but learn how amazing their condition is and how insupportable since it makes divers of them hang drown poyson or stab themselves and blindly to fly from temporal into eternal Torments Oh take warning by such dismal Examples which the divine Providence sometimes permits as humane Justice does notorious Malefactors to be exposed in Chains for the greater Terror of all that behold or but hear the Narrative of their Execution 9. And yet there is another State which though quite contrary is no less dangerous then theirs and numberless is the Multitude of those that are in it which makes me the more earnestly beg of thee to be careful thou be not one of them These flatter themselves vainly with the false Notion of God's infinite Mercy and quite forget the strict severity of his Justice they think it enough to avoid gross and scandalous Sins and count those they commit so inconsiderable that they are safe though they neither repent of them nor regard the Performance of Religious Duties Thus do they pass their days in a Lethargy of Security till their dead sleep be changed into the Sleep of Death and they swallowed up in the Gulph of Presumption without any noise few reflecting upon their end and fewer being warned by their Example Some of them indeed seem to be more awaken'd to rise out of this Spiritual Lethargy and to walk in the Course of Religious Duties but resting in the outward Performance of them without the Sincerity of Repentance or fervency of Devotion they are but like Men that walk in their sleep and while they dream they are going in the right way to Heaven drop into Hell with more presumption in themselves and less warning to others than the former most thinking them in a safe Condition and being therefore encourag'd to follow them in the same Road. But oh take heed of that Security and of resting upon the broken Reed of formal Religion for even some of those Despairers that strike so much terror into those that see them may sooner escape provided their Despondency proceed from
thou wert never to be called to Account therefore O sinner thou wilt find at thy death that 't is more easie to tremble at thy Account than to give it 4. Thou hast spent all thy life in sin and wickedness without any remembrance of the Glory to come what Idea therefore can thy Memory have of that Glory when thou comest to dye If it be tedious and wearisome to thee to confess a few daily sins how dost thou think thou shalt find Diligence and Patience enough when thou comest to dye to confess that infinite number thou hast committed from the time of thy birth Thou canst not or wilt not now in thy health lift a hundred weight and dost thou think thou shalt be able in thy sickness to lift a hundred thousand Dost thou reserve that weight to be laid upon thee in thy weakness which thou darest not venture to lift at in thy full strength What profit or advantage can thy Death bring thee when all thy care and trouble will be imployed about the losing of thy Life Thy Heart being glued to the Wealth and to the World which thou must leave How wilt thou be able to loosen it from thence and to join it to what thou hast never cared for The Chains of thy Passions tye thee fast to this transitory World How wilt thou be able to break them in an instant and to give thy self to that which is eternal 5. It cost me Tears and Groans Prayers and loud Cries to raise up Lazarus to Life again who had been dead but four days of a natural Death What will it cost to raise up thee from the spiritual Death in which thou hast lain dead perhaps these forty Years I raised up Lazarus without his doing any thing to help towards his own Resurrection but I will not revive thee unless thou dost something on thy part and how wilt thou be able O wretched Man to perform that under a double Death thy Soul in that of Sin and thy Body so near to that of Corruption Thy Spirit being conquered and having yielded it self a Slave to thine Appetite which has domineer'd powerfully all thy Life and forc't thy Soul to the Drudgery of Sin Dost thou believe that in breathing out thy last Gasp thou shalt be able to recover its liberty No thou wilt find that though it be freed from thy Body for a time it is going to suffer a much greater slavery in Hell and to be tormented by the Devil in Chains of Darkness till the Day of Judgment when thy Body indeed shall rise from the Grave as did that of Lazarus to be joined again with thy Soul yet not as his to Life but to die eternally and to be for ever banished from my sight 6. Thou hast used thy self all thy Life to follow thine own will and never to deny thy self in any thing and doest thou think thou shalt have power to do that in the end of it which has always been so contrary to thy Inclinations Or if thou hast endeavour'd to get Victories over thy self and hast fought without success that spiritual Combate is it probable thou shalt overcome thy self better in thy utmost weakness and when thou liest gasping for Breath If thou couldst not conquer that Enemy when thou hadst all thy strength if with the force of Reason quicken'd by frequent Admonitions called upon by many Exhortations and excited by several good Examples thou could'st not subdue thy sensual Appetite in so many Years how wilt thou conquer it when thy Reason and Understanding shall have forsaken thee and when the Ear of thy Body shall be as deaf to all other Motives as that of thy Soul has been till then Thinkest thou when thou liest fainting in thy Death-bed without strength to move a Hand rattling in the Throat and gasping for Breath to overcome that Enemy that potent Enemy insulting over thee in the Pride of so many repeated Victories That Enemy which the Apostles themselves and their Successors with so many other excellent Saints fought against all their Lives wilt thou conquer with the dregs of thine being without Memory without Understanding and even without Sense in that great disorder and confusion which Death uses to bring especially to those who have always suffer'd their Appetite to triumph over them 7. How long O Sinner wilt thou go on in this foolish Presumption I do not bid thee despair when thou diest but I bid thee work out thy Salvation with fear and trembling while thou livest I deny not but that I saved the good Thief He believed on me when my Disciples forsook me and fled and prayed to me even when I was nailed to the Cross to such an extraordinary Faith I shew'd an extraordinary Favour and though I promised he should be with me that day in Paradice thou mayest remember I suffered him that was crucified with me on the other hand to be condemned If he who died so near my side and looking upon that Blood which I shed for him was damned Wilt thou delay still and hope to escape at that last Hour I do not forbid thee to hope when thou comest to die but I bid thee to do good works in the mean while and serve me during thy Life without deferring it till Death for if thou despisest the warning I give thee now the time will come when thou shalt call and I will not hear and when thou shalt cry Lord Lord I will answer I know thee not thou worker of Iniquity Depart from me into everlasting Fire prepared for the Devil and his Angels The Fourth WEEK The Answer of a repenting Sinner and that we ought to prepare our selves for Death 1. AH let us all quake and tremble what shall we answer to these terrible Words of the Lord What shall we answer to these Arguments which are rather evident Conclusions What shall we answer to that eternal Wisdom to that eternal Light and Truth whose Sayings are undeniable and whose Accusings are clear Convictions Here is nothing to be done but to acknowledge our guilt to humble our selves and amend our Lives Here is nothing to be done but with Repentance Humility and Contrition to weep and sigh and earnestly beg for Mercy 2. Here is nothing to be done but with a most intimate Desire and Sorrow of the Soul to say Lord I have sinned against thee all my Life and I will bewail my offences during my Life that I may likewise bewail them at my Death If I be not willing to lament them now perhaps then I shall neither be willing nor able I sinned in the best of my time and so made it the worst and I desire to forsake my Sins in the best that remains before the last comes which is the worst indeed I desire O God to imploy the remainder of my days in thy Service since thou yet affordest me time to bewail that time which I so sinfully have lost I desire to lament my Sins with all
it Is there no remedy against this Evil nor defence against this Danger 2. The Evil is not in being judged but in going unprepar'd to Judgment This imminent danger hath an easy plain and safe remedy by the Grace of God And that is for a Man to judge himself often times before God judge him once for all Wouldst thou not be afraid of the Judgment nor of that dreadful Sentence Judge thy self before hand examine thy self before thou comest to be examin'd call thy self frequently to a strict account humble thy self amend thy Life and at the sight of thy Sins pray and weep and thou shalt go willingly to Judgment and come off safe with thy account Serve thy Judge love thy Judge and obey him in all things before he come to judge thee and thou shalt go contentedly to his Judgment and find thy Judge to be thy Friend 3. Consider that many Saints have desir'd that their Life might be shorten'd that their Death might be hasten'd and that they might come to Judgment thereby to enjoy God They desir'd to be dissolved and to leave this mortal Tabernacle They desir'd this knot of Life might be untied and to be free from the Prison of this miserable and corruptible Body to see their God their Creator and Redeemer whom they loved served and ador'd while they lived in this World They esteem'd Death as Life because it freed them from a dying Life which delay'd their enjoyment of an eternal Life 4. They could not pass to the beatifical Vision of their God without going by the way of the Judgment and Sentence They did as it were die with an eager desire of dying and joyfully embrac'd that Death which brought them to behold the kind the cheerful and beautiful Countenance of their loving Judge They knew they were to be judged by their Father their God their Creator and Redeemer their faithful Friend and their most gracious Lord. They loved him in their Life they sought him by their Death they ador'd him in the Judgment and with an humble confidence in his infinite Pity they hoped for Mercy in the Sentence They knew their offences were many but they had bewailed them they knew though they were Sinners they had lived desirous to please him diligent to serve him and with care not to offend him They knew they could not put their cause into better hands and that the same Person was to judge them who had shed his Blood for them and given his Life upon the Cross for their Redemption They went to offer their Works their Tears and their Repentance unto God yet without trusting any thing in their Works they relied wholly upon the Goodness of God and the Merits of their Saviour 5. For though it be just that the Judgments of the Lord should be fear'd yet it is as just that they should be loved My Father says the holy Soul is to judge me what am I then afraid of My Lord and my God is my Judge How can I choose but hope and trust in my Lord and my God though he be my Judge If he have a kindness for me and I have a reverence for him What can I look for in the Sentence but Mercy and Compassion What Son is afraid to be judged by his own Father if he hath not lived and acted as an Enemy to his Father or if he hath bewailed the time that he was his Enemy What Wife is afraid to be judged by her tenderly affectionate Husband if she hath not been an Adulteress or hath heartily lamented that Injury and penitently begged pardon of her dearly loving Husband What Friend is afraid to be judged by his Friend if he hath been faithful to him or hath shewed a real grief for the breach of his Fidelity Though I be afraid and wretched says a sick Soul I have been desirous to serve thee O my God thy Precepts have been my Direction and thy Counsels have been my Rule if not in the execution yet at least in my intention and earnest desire I hope for mercy from that eternal goodness of God my Creator and Redeemer who dyed upon a Cross for my Salvation He that was so gracious and so loving in Redeeming me cannot but be a sweet and tender Father in Judging me 6. These are the breathings of a Holy Soul Thus said St. Paul and many others when they desir'd to be dissolved that they might come to the presence of God and for the obtaining of that did not fear to put their Cause and Sentence into his hand They feared his Power and they adored his Power They were afraid by reason of their sins and yet they hoped knowing his mercy and loving-kindness Their love conquered their fear because their hearts were inflam'd with that perfect Charity which casts out fear And thus if thou doest desire to have a holy and assured hope humbly resign'd and yet chearful in the Judgment and in the Sentence do that which the Saints have done and thou shalt hope as they have hoped 7. Make account in thy life-time of that Account thou art to give hereafter I repeat it to thee once again keep a Judgment-seat within thy self every day till thou comest to thy last Judge thy self ten thousand times and consider in what steps thou treadest for according to what thou doest in this World thou shalt be judged in the other Strictly observe thy very thoughts and mend what thou shalt find amiss For by this means thou shalt increase that love which casts out fear Do thou judge thine own Actions before God judges them beg light of him to see and know them and tears to bewail them and so with a holy resignation and with an humble confidence thou mayest appear in the presence of God Take good heed to thy Words Thoughts and Actions and square them by the Rule of the Divine Law and of the Will of that Lord who is to Judge thee and strive in this Life to obtain Mercy and Pardon for thy Sins and Miseries 8. Be careful to purifie thy Understanding and to purge it from evil fill it with honest and spiritual Considerations cleanse thy will from corrupt Desires and fill it with the love of thy Creator Let thy Memory be the Store-house of Holy Meditations and then hope and trust love and adore the Judgment of the Lord. His goodness does more desire to Pardon thee than thou dost to be pardoned He is more desirous of thy Salvation than thou art to be saved He is more desirous to deliver thee from that Infernal Dragon than thou art to be delivered Be careful I warn thee once again on what hand thou livest in this life for on that hand thou shalt find thy self when Death carries thee from hence 9. Fear the Judgment of the Lord for it is very just so to do fear humble thy self and tremble but yet hope and be more afraid of the sins wherewith thou offendest him than thou art of his righteous Judgment
a scandal to others as this wretched Person is to me Grant that I may detest the Vice but not the Man Convert him I beseech thee from the evil of his ways and so strengthen me in the Paths of thy Commandments that I may never fall away but persevere in them constantly unto my Live's end Of the Benefit of Preservation whereby we our selves have been delivered from particular Dangers Now if the Calamities of others when but look'd upon are a just Motive to us of Thankfulness how much more those we our selves have been freed from by particular Escapes God permitting us sometimes to fall into dangers that his Goodness and fatherly Care may be the more visibly manifested in our deliverance and that we may acknowledge our selves more obliged to remember them with Gratitude and to make him returns of Duty and Obedience Thou mayest be able to relate and express those he has shew'd to thee I will relate those done to my self though it be more easie to have a Sense of them than to express it I shall not need to insist upon his Benefits of doing one good since thou wilt know them by those of delivering me from evil Here the Author reckons up his particular deliverances which I omit to insert Do thou likewise Reader following his Example recount to thy self the chief of those dangers God hath preserved thee in which it concerns thee carefully to remember and gratefully to lay them to heart And when thou hast recollected as many as thou canst say with the Psalmist Praise thou the Lord O my Soul and all that is within me praise his holy Name Praise the Lord O my Soul and forget not all his Benefits Who forgiveth all thy Sins and healeth all thine Infirmities Who saveth thy Life from destruction and crowneth thee with mercy and loving kindness I will always give thanks unto the Lord his praise shall ever be in my mouth O praise the Lord with me and let us magnify his Name together Of the Preservation of our Souls But is not the Preservation of the Body from corporal Death much less considerable than that of the Soul from spiritual Death Yes certainly There is no comparison between them for the former is only in order to the latter and when he saves us from any such dangers as those I have before-mentioned they are to mind us of our Mortality and to make us think in what condition we should have been if he had then snatch'd us suddenly out of this World His sparing us longer was only to give us a longer time to repent and to urge us to make use of it to the end that when he shall come again to take us away in good earnest he may find us prepar'd for Death in being reconciled to him by Repentance and newness of Life Thus in all the occasions wherein he delivered me from a Temporal he delivered me also from eternal Death affording me a longer time to break off and to forsake my Sins by a Repentance not to be repented of quick'ning my Faith to lay faster hold on my Saviour least I should be pluck'd away from him as I had like to have been while I was in so great an Error as to presume he would be held by me whilst I was loath to let go my sins as if it had been possible to embrace Christ and the World both at the same time How often when his Divine Majesty was ready to throw me justly into Hell with one hand hath he detained me with the other And when I was already condemn'd by his Divine Justice how often hath he saved me by his Compassion and Mercy How often when I was going nay running to throw my self into the infernal Flames hath this compassionate Lord stopt me in my Career and freed me from Temptations which were hurrying me to eternal Miseries How often hath he driven back the Devil who had seized me and was dragging me away when his Divine Majesty laid hold upon me rescued sustained and receivcd me pardoning my wickedness and embracing me in the Arms of his boundless Charity How often when being blind and foolish I went astray hath he sought me and brought me home How hath he called advertised reproved and counselled me by which means I was recovered and restored How often sometimes sleeping sometimes waking while I was dead to Grace but quick to Sin hath he rouzed me up called me and led me by the hand to make me forsake Sin and return to Grace Who then bound the Hands of his Justice who entreated for me when I was lull'd asleep in that sinful security What was there in me that I should find more favour than those that are taken away from amongst us in the midst of their days and in the heat of their youthful Lusts My Sins cried out against me but the Lord stopped his Ears My offences daily encreased against him and his Mercies abounded as daily towards me I sinned and he did expect me I fled from him and he followed me and when I was even weary in offending him yet his long sufferance was not weary in expecting me for in the midst of all my Sins I received many good Inspirations and Reproofs from his Holy Spirit which check'd me in my inconsiderate course of Life How often did he call me with the Voice of Love How often did he terrifie me with threats and fears laying before me the Peril of Death and the Rigour of his Divine Justice How often hath he followed me with his Word preached How often invited me with Blessings and chastened me with Crosses compassing me about and hedging my way with Thorns that I might not be able to break from him By all these holy Methods he made me at last to see the Vanity the Folly the Deceitfulness and even the Painfulness of Sin l found that it was dangerous and costly as well as slavish to be hurried up and down by the Tyranny of my unruly and vicious Passions I found I had no fruit of those things whereof I was afterwards ashamed and was at last convinced that the end of them was Death nay and death eternal Then did I fully resolve being assisted by thy Grace with an unchangeable purpose to alter my course of Life and to run the way of thy Commandments since thou hadst set my Heart at liberty My Soul escaped even as a Bird out of the Hand of the Fowler the Snare was broken and I was delivered O let me never again be entangled with the Birdlime of sinful Delights from which it is so hard to get disengag'd but grant I may now soar up to those Pleasures which are at thy Right-hand for evermore taking my flight freely to thee and to the Ark of thy rest for the Deluge of Wickedness that hath covered the Face of the Earth affords no safe place for the sole of my Foot O put forth thine hand to take me in to thee as Noah did the Dove
Heavenly Paradice but Lucifer who from a glorious Angel was become a Devil having been thrown out of Heaven for aspiring to be equal to God envied that Man should enjoy the Happiness which he had lost and knowing by woful Experience that Heaven could not contain a proud Person he thought himself sure to prevent Man's being admitted there if he could but make him guilty of the same Sin Pride Hereupon he subtilly first began to tempt the weaker Vessel Eve by shewing her the beautiful Fruit of the forbidden Tree telling her that by tasting it she might become like unto God himself and when by his perswasion he had deceived the Woman he made use of her as he still does to deceive the Man Thus Sin like a cunning Thief crept in at the Window of his Eye which he unwarily had set open to behold the Beauty of that Fruit and soon opened also the Doors of his Ears to admit the Enticement of his Wife conspiring with his treacherous Appetite to let in Death at the Gate of his Mouth by his disobedience in eating the Apple which was presented to him by her Then that blessed Union was broken and a Separation made not only between his Body and his Soul by a temporal Death the Sentence whereof instantly pass'd upon him though the Execution was deferr'd but also between his Soul and his God by an eternal Death to which he also became thereby liable and as a Fore-runner of both he and his Wife were driven out of Paradice from the Presence of their gracious Creator Now as the Departure of the Soul from the Body is Death so the Departure of God from the Soul can be no less than Hell for as in his presence there is fulness of Joy so in his absence there must be extremity of Sorrow and as at his Right-hand there be Pleasures for evermore so on his Left there must needs be everlasting Pains and what can the feeling of them be but Hell To this miserable Condition Sin brought our first Parents and from them all we their wretched Posterity became tainted with an original Corruption the Seeds whereof growing up into innumerable actual Transgressions afford no other Fruit but Death in this World and eternal Damnation in that which is to come but God being infinitely merciful would not abandon them to perish for ever in this sad Estate but out of the Bowels of his tender Compassion did with incomprehensible Wisdom find out a way for the Satisfaction of his own Justice and for the Salvation of Mankind It had been utterly impossible for all of them together to have done any thing in the least degree towards the Salvation of so much as one Man for it cost more to redeem a Soul so that they must have let that alone for ever But God contriv'd it by an Union much more admirable than that already mentioned and that was between the Divine and Humane Natures And Adam had no sooner broken the first Covenant of unsinning Obedience which God made with him in Paradice but he graciously made a Second with him and his Posterity in the second Adam the promised Messiah This he afterwards perform'd by sending his only begotten Son Jesus Christ equal to his Father as touching his Godhead into the World for the Redemption of Mankind who being conceiv'd by the Holy Ghost in the chast Womb of the Blessed Virgin Mary became also perfect Man of a reasonable Soul and humane Flesh subsisting to the end that as Man he might be capable to suffer and as God to satifie for the sins of the whole World This was a Benefit so high and so transcendent that neither the Understanding of Man no nor that of Angels is able to comprehend it Here all consideration is confounded and humbles itself with astonishment to see that the Son of God to the end that he might cloath thee with his Grace cloathed himself with our Nature which is a poor torn wretched Garment full of beggery and misery and yet that Soveraign Eternal and Divine Majesty put it on for our sake and though this was exceeding much yet he did a great deal more for us since besides this Humanity which Christ the Divine Word took upon him he underwent so many Sufferings for Mankind and wove this seamless Coat of Grace which he gives us in Baptism with such unmeasurable griefs and torments as never have been suffer'd in all the World but by himself nor ever shall be Nay he did yet more for he not only wove this Coat of Grace with these unspeakable pains but even with his holy death and would end his Life in that very employment of weaving and finishing it to the end he might give that seamless Robe its utmost Beauty and Perfection Here all our thoughts ought to be Silence Amazement Terror Reverence and Admiration with Tears of Love and Contrition That the Eternal Son of God to cloath me with his Grace should cloath himself with my humble Nature and presently load himself with the burden of my sins and then take upon him their Punishment upon the Cross and die upon it for them That the cleansing of me should make him be defil'd with the spittings of blasphemous mouths That the giving me the Life of Grace should make him die the Death of Nature and that in such cruel Torments That for the washing of my Soul he should shed all his Precious Blood And that he should devest himself of all Humane Comfort only to give me Comfort Remedy and even Heaven itself This is a business more proper for our Love than our Meditation more to make us active in his Service than contemplative in our Thoughts and to be expressed more by our Wonder than our Words Yet it is good to meditate upon it that we may love him to consider it that we may serve him and to speak of it that by finding we cannot speak enough we may admire and adore him A Man that does me a kindness has my Thanks and if by his pains and danger he draw me out of any Trouble I shew my Gratitude by acknowledging it There be Laws that order Recompences for a Subject that saves the Life of his King in War or in Peace appointing him to be rewarded with Wealth and crowned with Ensigns of Honour Mordecai only for giving Notice to Ahasuerus that some of his Treacherous Servants meant to kill him was by the Command of that Heathen King cloathed with his own Royal Robe and his most beloved Favourite was made to lead the Horse upon which that Loyal Subject rode about the Streets of the City This was an high Honour easily attain'd so notable a demonstration of Favour so Royal and Majestick a Recompence but for a bare Advertisment Consider now if so much were due to a Vassal who by the discovery of a Traytor had sav'd the Life of a King what shall a Vassal owe to his King who not only hath sav'd him from Death but
different proceeding of God and the World is highly observable Every man sets forth good Wine at first and then the worst but God not only turns the Water into Wine but into such Wine that still the last draught is most pleasant The World presents us with fair Language promising Hopes convenient Fortunes pompous Honours and these are the outsides of the Bole but when it is swallowed these dissolve in the instant and there remains nothing but bitterness and corruption Every sin smiles in the first Address but when we have well drunk then comes that which is worse Fears and Terrors of Conscience and Shame and Displeasure and diffidence in the day of Death But when after the manner of the purifying of the Christians we fill our Water-pots with Water watering our Couch with our Tears and moistening our Cheeks with the perpetual distillations of Repentance then Christ turns our Water into Wine first Penitents and then Communicants first Waters of Sorrow and then the Wine of the Chalice first the Justifications of Correction and then the Sanctifications of the Sacrament and the Effects of the Divine Power Joy and Peace and Serenity hopes full of Confidence and Confidence without Shame and Boldness without Presumption for Jesus keeps the best Wine till the last not only because of the reservations of the highest Joys till the nearer approaches of Glory but also because our relishes are higher after a long enjoyment than at the first Essays such being the Nature of Grace that it encreases in Relish as it does in Enjoyment every part of Grace being a new Duty and new Reward Next let us contemplate those most apparent and indubitable effects of a Power truly Divine and All-sufficient that our Saviour wrought in raising the Dead and recalling Life and Breath into them which is a Work that baffles all the Powers of Nature and is too difficult to be compassed by a limited Vertue See how he comforts Jairus one of the Rulers of the Synagogue when certain Messengers came and declared to him the departure of his Daughter whom having left at home at the point of Death he came to Jesus to beg a Cure for her and desired him to trouble the Master no further Be not afraid says he only believe As if he had said Trouble not thy self at this doleful Message neither be grieved for thy Daughter for I am as able to restore her to Life now she is Dead as I was to heal her when she was Sick had I had a timely notice of her illness Only have Faith in me and believe that I am able to accomplish this great Action and it shall presently be accomplished And according as he believed so was the event for entring in where the Damsel was lying he took her by the Hand and said unto her Talitha cumi that is Damsel arise and immediately she arose and walked to the great Astonishment and Joy of those that were mourning and weeping for her Decease In like manner our Lord beholding another Object of Pity namely the Widow of Nain bewailing and lamenting the Death of her only Son who was now carrying to be Buried had compassion on her and bad her forbear weeping for that her Son should be restored to her again and by the Voice of his Mouth which commands the whole Creation and awakens the Dead recover Sense and Motion which was soon effected for he did but call Young man I say unto thee arise and forthwith he that was dead sate up and began to speak whereupon there came a fear on all And being struck with amazement at the sight of so marvellous an Action they glorified God saying A great Prophet is risen up among us and God hath visited his People At another time he exercised this Supernatural and Divine Vertue in raising up his beloved Friend Lazarus from the Grave who had been buried four Days and had seen Corruption His Sisters Martha and Mary in his Sickness sent to Jesus saying Behold he whom thou lovest is sick Jesus permitted him to taste of Death that the Glory of God might be manifested in his return to Life He determined to get him Glory by his Resurrection and therefore when he knew of his Death he said to his Disciples Our friend Lazarus sleepeth but I go that I may awake him out of sleep As he went he was met by Martha who received him with this mournful Lamentation Lord if thou hadst been here my brother had not died the same words wherewith Mary received him afterwards when she came to him but however taking comfort by Faith I know said she That even now whatsoever thou wilt ask of God God will give it thee Jesus answered her Thy brother shall rise again and that not only at the last day as she understood him but instantly Wherefore he demanded where they had laid him and coming to the place he bad them take away the stone from the cave which being done He cried with a loud voice Lazarus come forth at the sound of which words the slumbring Carcass was awakened all its parts revived and his Soul re-united to his Body So readily do all Creatures obey when God commands These Instances our Lord designed as Types of our rising again at the final Consummation of the World to an immortal State When our corruptible shall put on incorruption and our mortal immortality As they were raised again to a Temporal Being so shall we to an Eternal in Joy or Misery How greatly then does it import us so to frame our lives in this World that we may be counted worthy to rise again to eternal Life and not to Eternal Death Can we truly and heartily believe that our Souls and Bodies shall be re-united at the last Day and be called before Christs Tribunal to be judged and sentenced according to their Deeds here and yet live in a careless security without ever regarding to set right our Accounts before we appear at that Judgment-seat Can any thing be more absurd than to entertain this Faith and yet to live as if we utterly disown'd it If we were really perswaded and convinced of this grand Truth and Article of Christianity and would often meditate upon it we should not fail to guard ourselves against the assaults of Sin and enchantments of Pleasure to live Soberly Righteously and Godly and to apply our whole Endeavours to prepare our Souls and Bodies for a glorious and â—appy Re-union Finally to name no more of our Lord's Miracles let us come to that Sign which was given to the Jews and Pharisees to cure if possible their obstinate Incredulity that greatest of Miracles which could have no suspicion of Imposture no Instance or Precedent or Imitation and that is Jesus his own lying in the Grave three Days and three Nights and then his raising up himself again and appearing unto many and conversing for forty Days together giving probation of his rising and of the verity of his Body and making a
that the third Person in the Holy Trinity might Govern the Church which the second had founded in his Blood and which the first still supports with abundance of Coelestial Blessings This is a Week which is sufficient to employ all our Days and Weeks and Years even to Eternity in imitating those Vertues in adoring those Mysteries and in for ever praising that Saviour and Redeemer of Souls who performed them for our sakes The Fourth WEEK Of the Exercise of the three Theological Vertues Faith Hope and Charity upon Contemplation of the Life and Death of our Saviour WE have been furnished with large matter of Consideration which not only is sweet and holy but also most profitable to our Souls For the Life of Jesus Christ must be the Looking-glass of our Lives His Passion must banish the Sins and Passions of our Hearts His Sufferings must moderate and reform our Pleasures His Wounds must be the Cure of our Wounds and Maladies His Cross must be our Banner and his Death our Life From hence as from a most clear and beautiful Original thou art to Copy out those Vertues which are to resist assault and conquer thy Vices Upon these high and Heavenly Mysteries thou art to fix thy Faith thy Hope and thy Love at all times So far as thou shalt think and meditate upon the Life and Passion of our Lord so far will thy Faith quicken and enliven thee and that Faith which being Dead and without Works will be but the cause of thy greater Condemnation by being made a living and a working Faith will obtain for thee a high Reward If you have Faith sayes our Saviour you shall remove Mountains O how great is the power of Faith If you have Faith ask of me and you shall receive seek me and you shall find me and if you knock it shall be opened unto you That lively Faith which is offered and given us in the Life and Death of the Saviour of Souls is not only to believe what Faith teaches us but also to do in the same measure as we believe To believe so many Heavenly Mysteries and not to act in conformity to them is a very imperfect Faith To believe a God will not serve the turn alone The Devils saith St. James believe and tremble too and yet are now burning in Hell The Devil knows very well that God is God and abhors him though he believes Dost thou believe in God art thou a Christian T is well But tell me how many are Condemned for ever who believed but did not do accordingly Dost thou believe in Christ and yet wilt not follow Christ and which is worse dost thou Persecute him and Crucifie him again by thy wicked Life Woe be to thee and woe be to me if we thus believe in Christ This People saith he honour me with their Lips but their Heart is far from me Woe be to thee and me if we honour Christ on that manner Not all those saith the Holy Jesus that cry unto me Lord Lord shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven but he that does the will of my Father That is to say there are two sorts of Persons that cry Lord Lord which are two sorts of Believers The one say and do not do believe but do not work The other both say and do believe and likewise work He that believes and does shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven but he that believes a God and yet works against him and Offends and Crucifies him shall never be admitted into those Heavenly Mansions 'T is not enough to do without believing nor to believe without doing both are necessary and we must work without giving over Let every one look and consider what his works are for thither he shall go whither his Thoughts Words and Actions direct their Course Are they sinful Then to Hell Are they full of Tears Repentance and Contrition Then to Heaven Look what thou sowest for that shalt thou reap If Corruption thou shalt reap Corruption if Perfection thou shalt reap Perfection Dost thou sow Vertues in this Life Thou shalt reap Coelestial Crowns in the other Dost thou sow Vices Thou shalt reap Eternal Torments A lively Faith I say a lively Faith is that which will save us a lively active a pure holy Faith not one defil'd with Sins deformed with Passions and full of Misery and Presumption Dost thou live as if thou wert an Heathen and yet believe thy self a Christian Unless thou amendest thy Life the Heathen shall carry the Christian along with him to Hell but the Christian shall never carry the Heathen along with him to Heaven Dost thou believe an Eternity and yet livest without any memory of that Eternity having all thy thoughts fastened on that which is meerly Temporal These Transitory and Temporal things will pass away and then thou shalt come to suffer Torments in Eternity Do not deceive thy self nor think it is enough to believe without working nor that Christ's having suffered for thee will be enough to save thee whilst thou ungratefully offendest him that suffered for thee Alas that will not serve the turn but rather it will be enough and too much to damn thee Dost thou think Christ came to suffer to the end that thou mightest the more freely sin against him Dost thou think he came into the World that thou mightest heap up thy wickednesses upon his holy shoulders Dost thou think he came to facilitate thy Crimes to the end that obstinate sinners might compound their Vices with his Merits Dost thou think that Heavenly Master of Purity and Holiness came to open a Gate unto all Vice whereby his Sufferings might serve to save those that only believed and wrought nothing but Sins and Transgressions The Eternal Son of God came into the World not only to Redeem us but also to Teach us In his Blood he left Redemption and in his Life Instruction He underwent his Passion to redeem Souls but his Actions were so high and holy to amend inform direct and purifie them The effect of his Pains his Cross his Death is to give Merit to our Works and Grace and Force to a Christian to suffer with him but the effect of his Vertues Perfections and whole Life is to teach us and to set us a Pattern to imitate as far as we are able I have given you an Example says he that ye should do as I have done And in another place he says Whosoever doth not bear his Cross and come after me cannot be my Disciple He is no perfect Christian nor is it possible he should be that flies from the Cross even though he might escape it Every Christian is to follow and embrace the Cross of his Redeemer Can any Man be a perfect Christian without keeping the Commandments No certainly Why then the keeping of them is to follow Christ in taking up his Cross Consider that when thou camest into the Gate of the Church by being Baptized in the Name of the
Mind to bear for God's sake what is laid upon us by men and is as necessary for the Spiritual Life as Breath is for the Natural Think how impossible it is for one that is continually shot at with Bows and Guns to escape unless he have some defence against the Bullets and Arrows As impossible it is for thee to live in the Spiritual Life without being defended with the shield of Patience All things assault and shoot at him that loves God The Devil persecutes him the World slanders him the Flesh tempts him he is afflicted from without he is drawn and allured from without his Superiours trample upon him his Equals despise him his Inferiours presume to affront him and even the Lord himself whom he adores does seem also sometimes to be his Enemy because he has a mind to make trial how far his Courage and Constancy will reach Thus it is said in the Book of Wisdom That God proves the Good to the end he may find them worthy of himself And Job complained of this and said Wherefore hidest thou thy face and holdest me for thine Enemy Wilt thou break a Leaf driven to and fro and wilt thou pursue the dry Stubble Thou writest bitter things against me c. Consider what Patience he had need to have who is persecuted by God by the World by the Flesh by the Devil and by his own self In short the Spiritual Life is a fruitful Seed-plot of Thorns and the way of Afflictions and therefore it is necessary at every step to have the Staff of Patience in thy hand to support thee Is it not the way of the Cross Why then have Patience Is it not the way of Difficulties Why then have Patience Is it not a way of Tribulations Why then have Patience By this one Vertue alone many Vices are destroyed Without Patience thou would'st throw the Cross from thy shoulders and run over to the Party of thy Enemies which are thy Delights and the Devils for this reason the Lord recommended Patience to his Disciples above all other Vertues saying In patience possess your Souls He sent them out as Lambs into the midst of Wolves he sent them to preach teach and to give light to a foolish perverse and a wicked World what could they look for but Pains Crosses Death and Torments And how should they be able to make any advantage of them without Patience and Suffering In another place he tells us That the good bring forth fruit in patience as inferring That without Patience there is no Fruit at all of Vertue This is most certain That the Vertues how many soever they be can neither consist with one another nor have any Life Subsistence or Perseverance in themselves without Patience And reason shews it for all of them make it their business to subdue the Appetite and to give Reason her Sceptre and Empire The Appetite resists and desires Superiority Reason on the other side sights and makes opposition so that to hold out such a cruel obstinate continual and internal War there is a necessity of having a great deal of Patience Affronts Calumnies and Persecutions assault the Spiritual Man What other Remedy has he but Patience He walks with Temptations round about him What Remedy is there but Patience He falls into Imperfections and Miseries and the Enemy tempts him to Desperation What other Remedy but Patience Patience Humility Constancy and Perseverance which are all Sisters do crown the Soul and make it triumphant in the Spiritual Life What else was the Life of Christ our blessed Example but a long constant repeated and enlarged Patience Behold him suffering cold in the Manger the smart of a Knife in Circumcision heat and weariness in his flying to Egypt slanders revilings and insolencies from some Ministers of the Law in his Manifestation Scourging Thorns Wounds Death and the Cross in his Passion In all this he consecrated Patience and the same Vertue was practis'd by his Mother in the Torments of her Son suffering in her tender heart what our Lord suffered in his Divine Person What Complaints were heard from our sweet Master Jesus O the innumerable Injuries that were done him But what resentments did he shew Why to teach to give light to guide to suffer to entreat and to pray for his Enemies Patience is not only a Merit and a Merit of very great excellency but it is Comfort Peace and Joy and very great Wisdom Who is the Wise man says one of the Fathers of the Church and answers that doubt The Patient man And who is more wise He that is more Patient And who is the wisest of all He that is most Patient of all Of Anger Believe me Anger is an ugly fierce ignorant and unruly Vice for it vexes afflicts disquiets precipitates and works nothing but confusion coming very short in Means and in Remedies Patience will free thee from all this for it enlarges the Heart encreases the Understanding and gives strength and depth to our Discourse What dost thou think that Anger is but a short madness for the angry man and the mad man differ only in time not in action The furious mad man is angry for a long time and the furious angry man is mad for a short time Would'st thou see the Picture of Anger Look in a Glass when thou art angry and thou shalt see a terrible ugliness in thy Face thine Eyes sparkle with rage thy Brows wrinkled with Frowns thy Complexion discompos'd and enflam'd with redness and all thy actions sudden and disorder'd What a kind of thing is Anger in the Soul which thus transforms the Countenance and deformes the whole Person The Lord in that holy Precept of loving Enemies had an Eye not only to the good of the Enemy and the Person hated but also to that of the Friend by whom he would have him to be loved His aim was not only that the one should not die but also that the other might live and which is more he desir'd not only to prevent a Christian from defiling his Soul with hatred but also to preserve him from the vexation and torment of so unquiet a Passion His intent in this most sweet and gentle Precept was to give the Christian a Temporal as well as an Eternal Life Eternal by his obedience and Temporal by his quiet To hate is rage disquiet anguish and death and so he banished Anger from the Soul to free it from death anguish and disquiet Dost thou think that by thy hatred thou takest revenge upon thine Enemy Thou art deceived it is he that is revenged on thee What greater punishment can thy Enemy inflict upon thee than that to which thou condemnest thy self meerly by thy hatred Thou frettest thou stormest thou vexest and tormentest thy self thou abhorrest on the one side and longest eagerly on the other and livest in a continual Affliction between the earnestness of thy Desires and Aversions tossing and turning to and fro biting thy Lips grinding
nor ask Pardon what can we hope for from a Just and an Almighty Lord being offended and provoked Let us cast away and forsake our Evil and then be certain that in God we shall find nothing but Goodness and Pity Let us throw down our Arms and cast away those Weapons wherewith we have fought against him let us fall prostrate at his Feet and not be so foolish as to fight against an Omnipotent God and if we cease to sin against him Repenting and bewailing our former evil ways God who is strict severe and rigorous to the Wicked will be found gracious sweet and merciful to the Penitent It cannot be certainly known in this Life what will become of a Soul in the other but we may well conjecture and I would have thee govern thy Life by that which may probably be conjectured and not weary and distract thy self in seeking after certain Proofs of that which cannot possibly be known If I see a Man that fears God that loves and serves him that frequents the Sacrament that is constant in Prayer that often recollects himself to think of Eternity that is kind to the Poor and forward to relieve them that hears the Word of God with Humility and Delight and who if through frailty he falls sometimes presently seeks to God for Pardon with Penitent Tears humbling himself confessing his sins and flying from the occasions of them I dare be bold to conjecture and to hope nay to be well assured in the Divine Goodness that the Soul of that Man will not fail to be saved But if on the other side I see one forgetful of Eternity regardless of Heavenly things much given to the Pleasures and Honours and Riches of this World full of Vices and Passions without any remembrance of Death or Judgment Heaven or Hell making it his only business to delight and to entertain himself to eat and drink with Curiosity and Excess and that does no right to others nor will suffer any the least wrong done to himself I cannot but fear upon these grounds that he will not escape Damnation and I neither hold that to be Presumption nor this rash Judgment for that is an Holy Hope which we ought to have in the Divine Goodness and Mercy and this a Pious Doubt and Fear which is due to the Divine Justice This manner of Conjecture is taught us by the Holy Scripture and therefore it cannot be an evil thing for I see that Lazarus a poor humble Beggar that bore his Miseries with Patience was sav'd and I see the rich hard-hearted Glutton who fared deliciously and wallowed in his Vices was condemned Now how should I frame my Conjecture but by the Experience of what I have seen I see Judas despairing of God's Mercy after his Fall was condemned and St. Peter after his by weeping and repenting was saved and must I not needs gather from thence that he who distrusts God's Mercy will be condemned and he that begs it and trusts in it will be sav'd I see Saul who made no reckoning of his sins was condemned and I see David who lamented and forsook his was saved Must I not needs collect from hence that he who regards not and is not concerned for an evil Life will most probably have an evil Death and that he will have a good one who turns from his evil ways and amends them during his Life I see Covetous Cain condemned because he was Covetous and repented not himself of his Covetousness and I see Liberal Abel saved because he frankly offered to God of the Fruits of his Flock From hence I must necessarily think that he who denies or grudges to bestow part of those Goods in the Service of God which he received from him is going in the broad Path of Destruction but he that gives chearfully and bountifully to the Poor and by returning that part acknowledges that he has received all from a more Liberal Hand is going in the right and certain way to Heaven where he shall receive an hundred fold and be eternally Crowned In short I see nothing else in the Scripture but Examples of the good that are saved and of the wicked that are damned and that the Gift of final Perseverance is given by God to those at their Death who by their constant Prayers and Good Works have made it their endeavour to obtain it during the course of their Life That Prodigy of the World the good Thief who escap'd from Shipwrack at his Death upon the Plank of the Cross was an instance of the extraordinary Power of Grace and one of those strange Wonders that concurred at the Crucifying of our Saviour It was like the tremblings of the Earth and the cleavings of the Rocks like the tearing of the Vail of the Temple and the Dead breaking out of their Sepulchres to return to life like the darkning of the Sun and the disturbance of the whole Frame of Nature Amongst these and other Prodigies that great Wonder may justly be reckoned that he should die a Saint who had been a Thief during the whole course of his Life till that moment And observe that though there were many Graves that opened and many that arose from the Dead many Rocks that were cleft many Lights that were darkened and many Signs that manifested the Power and Efficacy of the Death of Christ there was but one of a Conversion at the last gasp And though the Lord Jesus had another Thief as near him to whom he might have shewed the same Mercy yet he suffered him to die in his Impenitency and to go to the Devil The very words which Jesus spake when he saved the good Thief do contain a warning that no Man may venture to delay his Repentance till his Death for he said Verily Verily I say unto thee this day shalt thou be with me in Paradise All which words seem to be full of Limitations Verily Verily I say unto thee is as it were a kind of Oath for a thing so admirable as the saving of a Man at his Death who had all his Life-time been a Thief and a wicked Person seemed to stand in need of an Oath for to make it be believed I say unto thee is added as who should say Do not believe others if they should say it is easie for those to be sav'd who delay their Repentance till their Death No that is no easie matter but I will now at this time make that easie for thee which else doth seem impossible as if he had limited that Grace then unto that Soul because it departed from his Body in the sight of his dying Saviour I say unto thee now for as for others I shall see hereafter how I shall deal with them This day that is this day of so great Mercy this day a day of so many Prodigies this day when I desire to shew how far my Grace and Mercy can extend for other days I shall refer them to my Justice and to