unblamable in the sight of men and yet if our virtue be not more solid and more perfect than theirs we shall never enter into the Kingdom of Heaven 'T is agreat matter to stiffle our revenge it is yet greater to for give injury's but this is not sufficient to obtain Salvation if we would be saved we must love even those who persecute us It is not enough to abhorr allwicked actions we must abhorr the least ill thought we are not onely oblig'd not to covet our neighbours goods we must bestow our own on those who are in want True humility which is the essential Caracter of a Christian will not admit of ambition or vanity Tho you labour never so much if God be not indeed the end of your labour you will have no thanks for your pains to all Eternity Be as regular as you please God is not content with an outward shew he requires the heart and that you should serve him in spirit and in Truth that is sincerely and uprightly One mortal sin effaces in a moment all the merits of the longest and best Life and one hundred thousand millions of years in Hell will not be a sufficient punishment for the sin of one moment It is an article of Faith that neither the proud the covetous the deceiver the slanderer nor the unchast shall ever enter into the Kingdom of Heaven he that enters there must either have alwayes preserv'd his Innocence or recover'd it by a sincere repentance and do we find many who offer continual violence to their inclination without which we can never come there where is that exact purity where is that continual penance that hatred of sin and that ardent charity which is the caractere of the Elect what is become of the Primitive simplicity do's not interest govern and is not Religion it selfe made subservient to it is not the General example the Rule of most mens actions who look upon it as a maxime that we must act like men while we live among men but we must act like Christians if we will be saved we must lead a Christian life in the midst of those who have onely the name 'T is likewise certain that the work of salvation is our greatest businèss that we are sent into the world for this end alone that we must employ our whole Lives in it and that after all we cannot be sure of it yet how few Christians do indeed make this their great onely business We can never be sav'd without ' final Grace 't is an article of our Faith that we can never merit that Grace that God might without injustice refuse it to the most perfect Saints what reason then have we to expect it who are so imperfect and so lukewarm in the service of God These are not counsels onely they are the maximes of Jesus-Christ the irrevocable Laws and indispensable conditions of salvation which is not promis'd to the knowledge but to the observation of them to so exact an observation that the neglect of any one damns us to Eternity Let us now call to mind at what a rate men live and then judge whether many can be saved Let us examine our selves and see whether we have any reason to hope to be of that little number Hear what S. Chrysostom says to the great City of Constantinople how many say's he do you think will be sav'd out of this vast City one of the greatest most populous in the world I shall terrify you by my answer and yet I am bound to tell you that of so many thousand inhabitants there will hardly be one hundred saved nay I doubt even of the salvation of these And yet this Imperial City was then as well regulated as any of those wherein we live full of those we call honest men its inhabitants were reputed devout frequented the Sacraments and liv'd as we generally do Let this great Saints decision who would never have spoken so positively without an extraordinary light give us an Idea of the smal number of the Elect. Is it possible that we can cheat our selves so grossly as not to see that we are running headlong to damnation and that if we continue to live at our usual rate our Religion obliges us to believe we shall be damn'd And certainly we could not believe our Religion true if after having laid down such strict Rules it allow'd us to hope to be sav'd in the violation of them this would be to impose upon the world but blessed be God our Religion condemns most severely such an irregular conduct and careless loose Christians will not be excus'd because of their great number It is an Article of Faith that unless we be like our Redeemer wecannot be saved to be like him we must conform our wills we must hate what he hates love what he loves Are there many who ressemble this great pattern how little do we our selves resemble him and what wil be come of us if we continue so unlike him Now adays men content themselves with some outward appearances of Religion with a shew of virtue every man makes to himselfe a false systeme of Conscience with which he rests satisfyed as to what concerns his Salvation yet we believe that Heretiks are lost who have their system's too who are as exact observers of the external part of Religion as we and have very often all the quality's of meer honest men what ground have we for this imaginary assurance have we any new Revelation or particular Gospell Do we build our hopes upon the profession of the true Faith which Heretiks have not surely unless we take pleasure to deceive our selves we must own that he who believes little of what he ought to do is in a much better condition than the man who do's little or nothing of what he believes If believing were sufficient the number of the Predestinated would not be small if we had liberty tolive as we pleas'd we should make no difficulty of believing any thing but Faith without works is dead though you believe never so wel you can never hope Salvation if you neglect to practise what you believe The Devils believe more than we but their Faith is onely speculative and woe be to us if ours be no more than speculative Are The sublime Sanctity of our Holy Religion the admirable example of the Son of God the shedding of his blood the efficacy of the Sacraments the communications of his Grace design'd onely to make us keep some measures which serve onely to encourage us to sin more boldly by disguising those faults which are common to us with the Pagans Were the Saints men of another condition than we are were they excepted in the universal Redemption of mankind was not the way to Heaven discover'd in their Time did they expect any other recompense how comes it that we are so very unlike them they resolv'd to be Saints what do we resolve to be And can we hope
willing if I put it off from day to day One would think it were a great misfortune to be wholly thine since men give themselves to the as late as they can I am terrifyed by other dangers is not this of being lost for ever a much greater danger It is resolv'd O my God! it is resolv'd I will deferr no longer but thô I am willing it is thou alone that must convert me Converte nos convertemur Thron 5.21 Do it and then I shall be truly converted SECOND POINT Consider that by deferring our Conversion we are not onely in danger but under a kind of necessity of never being converted when the Scripture exhorts us to seek God while he may be found it teaches us there is a Time when he will not be found what then must a man expect whom God hath sought in vain several yeares together and who has been insensible to all his Goodness Do we thinck our selves too young to be devout and that we ought to stay till we are older and then be converted This is as much as to say that we have not sufficiently offended God that when we have abus'd his goodness more and driven our ingratitude as farr as we can we wil then begin to serve him Will he accept of our service then T is true God will never refuse a Sinner that is really converted but the difficulty lyes in being converted seeing we will not be converted now when God desires it can we be sure of doing it when we shall have all the Reason in the world to doubt whether he continues to desire it Could the Apostles reasonably expect a second call from Christ to leave all and follow him if they had delay'd till next day to obey the first could they expect to have more courage next day they who were invited to the supper in the Gospel were but twiee invited and excus'd themselves but once upon very plausible pretences Luc. 14.16 which were yet sufficient to exclude them for ever from the Feast and to seal their Reprobation The Difficulties and obstacles we meet with now and which we pretend are already invincible will augment in number and force every day we say we cannot be converted now we shall be less able here after the spiritual helps of reading and meditating on the great Trutbs of the Gospel the Counsels of a wise Director the frequentation of the Sacraments have no effect on us now upon what then do we build our hopes of Conversion we would not yield at first when we were touch'd with those truths much less thall we yield our selves when we are grown insensible We accustom our selves to every thing in time the best advice and the most terrible Truths will make no impression on our affections and less on our hearts like those whoare continually about dying people we shall by degrees loose all sence of what terrify'd us at first By frequent slighting the thoughts of Hell we shall become little afraid of it Do we expect to be disabus'd then Alas we are already convinc'd of our danger for why do we intend to turn to God at last if we be not persuaded that we are in a dangerous state Suppose a longer experience should make us see our Error and wean us from the false pleasure the false Liberty of the world so that we cease to esteem them we thall still retain them out of custom interest obstinacy or inclination Though we glory no longer in being Libertins in following the maximes of the world in not being devout we shall insensibly continue so because we are us'd to it Unless we are absolutely resolv'd to be deceiv'd we can not propose to our selves to overcome so many multiplied obstacles all at once when with a greater assistance of grace than we can expect with less guilt we have not courage to enough to conquer one single Sin We persuade our selves that at the hour of death the sence of approaching danger will make us turn to God but how can we rely upon a Conversion to which we are excited onely by the presence of Death and which must therefore infallibly be the effect of Fear And for a clear proof that those Conversions are seldom sincere how many have we seen truly converted after a great Sickness besides it is an Article of our Faith that the Son of man will come at an hour when he is least expected so that althô the Death of the greatest part of mankind be not sudden yet it is unforeseen and Jesus-Christ hath declar'd with an Oath that he will be inflexible to all the prayers of those who expect their last hour to turn to him so that we must either believe the Son of God mistaken or that he had a design to deceive us or we must believe that the sinner who deferrs his Repentance to a Death-bed will dye impenitent Our Saviour do's not Say that we shall continue obstinate to the last that we shall not beg him to forgive us or that we shall not have Time but I foretell you saith he that you shall dye as you have liv'd But we must all wayes hope true but that is no Christian hope which is contrary to our Faith The merits of our Redeemer might indeed save us if his word and his Gospel had not already condemn'd us Can we imagine that the great work of Eternal Salvation which is the work of our whole Lives and for which Christ himselfe judg'd no less time necessary can be done in a few hours that it can be done well in those last moments After all this can we believe that when we have delay'd it from one day to another we may easily do it not withstanding we put our selves under a kind of necessity of not doing it at all Where Eternity is concern'd we ought to hope only on solid grounds The only foundation of hope is the word of God and yet we hope against this express word How long hath God sollicited us to be converted yet how long do we continue to resist his grace If we had no other motives than the assurance that Grace is offer'd us that God is ready to receive us that we may be this very moment if we will in the condition we shall wish for when we come to dye the want of which will then drive us to despair do we need any other to make us resolve Would a damn'd soul delay one moment if he had any time and the means of Conversion that I have those wretched Souls were once what I am have not I reason to fear that I shall be one day what they are they deferr'd their Conversion and are damn'd for it am not I in danger of being damn'd for the same delay 'T is strange that we can put off our Conversion to the last that is to do the most important and difficult work in the world we wait for a season wherein we shall be wholly uncapable
our sufferings with the sufferings of Christ this will not augment them but it will make us reap fruit by them Another fruit of pennance is a constant practise of mortification My God! what fruit may we not gather from this practise Every thing in the world may give us an opportunity to curb our inclinations there is no place no time improper for it without deviating from the rules of good sence Let him who loves Jesus-Christ truly make a good use of these little occasions have we a great desire to see any object or to speak in some particular occasion we may reap great benefit by casting down our Eyes and holding our thoughts If we have an opportunity to gain applause by saying something very seasonably or by some witty piece of rallery we have also an opportunity of making a great Sacrifice There is scarce an hour where in some subject of mortification do's not present it selfe are we sitting or standing we may choose an uneasy seat or a painful posture without seeming to affect it In fine the inconveniences of the place of the season the disagreableness of the company born so that we seem not to mind them are indeed little occasions of mortification but the mortification its selfe is not little in these small occasions It is very meritorious and I may say that the greatest graces and the most sublime holiness commonly depend upon a generous constant mortification in these small matters A punctual performance of the duty 's of our community an exact observation of our Rule a conformity to the common way of living in every thing without any regard to our inclinations our employements or our Age are precious fruits of a mortification so much the more considerable as it is less subject to vanity and more conform'd to the Spirit of Christ These are the true fruits of pennance what hinders our bearing abundance of them But there is another fruit of penance yet more necessary and without which all the rest will avail us little for Eternity and that is the Reformation of our manners the victory over our dominering passion Let us observe what passion is most powerful which habit is strongest to what sin we are most subject which is in some manner the source of all the rest and of all the false maximes we frame to our selves in matter of Conscience All other fins may be strangers to us but the domineering passion is our proper caracter the fruit of a true conversion is to retrench our reigning vice to conceive an holy detestation of that imperious passion to fight against it without ceasing The Victory over this Sin alone will deliver us from the strongest temptations but we willingly attack our other sins and commonly spare this and this is the true cause of our receiving so little benefit by our penance My God! what do we stay for to become fruitful thou hast cultivated us with so much care we are planted in a ground watered with thy tears and precious blood how long shall we be unfruitful what do we get by bringing forth only thorns we feel their points but we receive no benefit by our pain because we fly from the Cross I am resolv'd my Dear Saviour to neglect nothing that I may not live such a barren Life I can do nothing without thy Grace I can do all things with it since thou givest me this Time for penance suffer me not to abuse it any more My God I am resolv'd to begin this moment to bring forth fruits worthy of pennance THIRD MEDITATION OF THE SENTIMENTS We shall have at the hour of Death SEE THE THIRD MEDITATION For the month of January CHRISTIAN REFLECTIONS WHICH MAY SERVE for matter of Consideration for every day of Retreat OF SALVATION ARe we fully convinc'd of the great Truths of our Religion If we do not believe them we do too much but if we do believe what we profess we do not do enough Dare we say that the Saints did more than was needful tho at the end of their Lives when mens judgments are most impartial they were troubled for having done no more How different are our Lives from theirs Do we indeed walk in the same way with them Do we govern our selves by the same Rules and yet we pretend to arrive at the same place Good God! have not we reason to fear that we are out of the way We admire the wisdom of the Saints for practising what they believed but how little do's our practise agree with our belief And shall we have cause to applaud our selves on a Death-bed for our past Lives Of the importance of Salvation What is this Salvation of which we talk so much this soul this Eternity Is it true that I am sent into the world onely to secure it is it true that I am undone if I do not secure it tho I should gain the whole world is it true and do I indeed believe that the business of my Salvation is the greatest business I can have That it is indeed my only business That nothing else deserves my care that this requires all my applicerion and alone depends on it if I do not believe this I am lost for ever and if I do believe it do not I deserve to be severely punish'd for my indifference which degenerates into a downright contempt of Salvation do I apply my selfe to this great business am I much concern'd about it And what ground have I to hope for success while I take so little pains should not I conclude a man ruin'd if he minded his temporal business no more than I do this difficult this important business of Salvation Of our indifference for Salvation Our indifference for Salvation is so great that we must own that of all our affaires we neglect this most and lay it least to heart Whence proceeds this unaccountable indifference for Eternal happiness God gave us our lives only to think on it he judg'd them all little enough to succeed in it Death for ought we know is very near us what part of our Life have we spent in this important business How few years how few days nay how few hours have we devoted to it Have we the confidence to reckon those we spend in the Church with so much distraction and voluntary irreverence Alas have we made any great progress in those hours Can we have the face to mention the little time we have given to hasty prayers without devotion to Confessions without sorrow and without Reformation to Communions without fruit or to a few pretended good works which we have lost by doing them upon natural or which were corrupted by bad motives We are so taken up with superfluous cares and worldly business that we can spare but a little Time to think of our Salvation and we grudge the little time we spend in thinking of it What reason can we give for such an unreasonable couduct unless we will own that it proceeds from want