of all other things and he who doth not do this is as one without sence and judgment seeing he judgeth so ill of things which with such an excess are disproportionable in value Plato said true that the effect of true Wisdom is to be Wise for one's own good Solomon affirmed Pro. 9. 12. as much before him Si sapiens fueris tibimetipsi eris true Wisdom consists in being Wise to ones self The Devil hath more knowledg than all the Learned men on Earth but not one grain of true Wisdom being miserable for Eternity and so infinitely distant from essential Wisdom which is God himself For this reason Sinners unmindful of their Salvation of what spirit and knowledg soever they be are stiled in sacred Scripture Fools and Insensible Creatures so great is the concern for the Salvation of our Souls that it is stiled by the Apostle and commended by him to the Thessalonians 1 Thes 4. as properly and particularly our affair ut vestrum negotium agatis that you may do your work as though we had but only this to attend to for other things about which we employ our labour and care deserve not this name they are affairs in which the success oftentimes doth not correspond with our designs affairs which pass away with little profit and often contrary to the grand affair of our Salvation This great affair of our Salvation would make us admire that manner of speech so frequent amongst us when seeing any one busied amongst the intrigues of Courts in the commerce of Merchandize in the negotiation of treaties and alliances and the like we use ordinarily to say that he is a man of great businesse and affairs it is an improper speech to give this name to imployments which are but petite amusements in which one for the most part loses his time and often Heaven We do not give the name of affairs to the employments of Children as when they build their little houses of dirt when they ride upon a stick and contend with such earnestness to carry away the glory and to be Kings in their sports these puerilities and pastimes deserve not the name of affairs being in themselves so little and so momentary In like manner the enterprises of men to build houses to purchase honours to amass riches and the like being not much more greater and durable than those of Children deserve not the name of affairs All men in the world have but one affair about which they ought continually to imploy themselves which is their Salvation and if they mind this then one may say they are wise and able men and busied about a grand affair This Tertullian well considered when he said In me unicum negotium I have but one business in the world to attend unto which is the Salvation of my Soul I abandon what the world calls affairs I decline the intrigues of the Court the School of Philosophy the company of Friends to be vacant to this one affair which I treat of with my self and concerning which I am interessed Our Blessed Saviour confirms all this in calling the young man in the Gospel to follow him for when he required leave first to go bury his Father our Blessed Saviour replyed Dimitte mortuous sepelire mortuos let the dead bury the dead as if he should have said as St. Peter Chrysogolus observes to bury the body of your Father is not the most important affair you have to do it is to follow me and to look after your Salvation which ought to be the first in execution as it is in worth and merit Terrenus pater post ponendus est patri coelesti as that Holy Father concludes The care of a Temporal Father is to come after that of our Heavenly The third Consideration and Motive We may discern the importance of our Salvation by the many crafts and endeavours the Devil useth to hinder it which are so many and so great that he hath his name given him from them being called the Tempter and as Tertullian speaks Eversio hominis operatio ejus his only work is the ruine of man The Prophet Hab. saith that cibus ejus electus his food is very choice he desires to devour the Elect he loves these delicate morsels he labours not but to resist the Salvation of men and to procure their Damnation this is his joy and triumph And in the estate of misery in which he is plunged if he be capable of any satisfaction it is the Damnation of man for which reason he is stiled by our Blessed Saviour in the Gospel Inimicus hominis the Enemy of man for being not able to revenge himself on God he turns his fury against his Servants and thinks he commits a great outrage against him if he can reverse the design he hath for the Salvation of man and deface Gods Image in our Soul He is the Enemy of man because he knows man is to possess the place he left vacant by his revolt He is the Enemy of man because by this he thinks to find some solace in his misery having Companions with him in his sufferings and subjects upon which to exercise his fury he useth all artifices employs all his power he is Prodigal in promises to compass this and to be an Usurper of Souls He speaks as the King of Sodom did to Abraham Da mihi animas caetera tolle tibi Give me the Souls and take all the rest The pleasures of the Flesh are not for me I misprise Riches I leave Honours to the Ambitious but for Souls I continually thirst and can never be satisfied He was so bold as to attempt against our Blessed Saviour himself and to perswade him to adore him he promised to give him Honours Riches Pleasures all the Kingdoms of the Earth to do it haec omnia tibi dabo All these will I give thee if thou wilt fall down and worship me See here the esteem he makes of one Soul from which Salvianus takes an occasion to condemn the stupidity of men who truly consider not the price of their Souls Quis furor viles habere animas quas diabolus putat esse pretiosas What madness to have a vile esteem of our Souls which in the opinion of the Devil are judged so pretious To sell that for a little money for a momentary pleasure for a blast of Honour which the proper Enemy of it valued above the whole world seeing he presented that to purchase it This extream folly moved the said Salvianus thus to exclaim Novum genus emptionis venditionis A strange kind of buying and selling the Devil gives nothing and takes all man receives nothing and parts with all When a Merchant contracts for any Ware he receives the price agreed upon for it and the buyer receives the Merchandize But here is the contrary See the foolish traffick of Sinners the Devil sells them the pleasures of the sences he promiseth them Honours which are but smoak Riches which
a violence upon occasions presented if there be not a strong and vigilant guard set over them for which reason St. Gregory Nazianzen ascribes the destruction of Saul to one spark of his former passions stirred and blowed up by occasions In this we should imitate a cunning Pylot who shuns a tempest when he sees he cannot easily resist it Again one may Suppress these passions by combating generously against them not once or twice but as often as these assault us for this reiteration of resistance will moderate and debilitate their violence and forces according to that advice of St Augustine that we must frustrate by this means their attempts that they may not presume any more to rise having so often assaulted us in vain One may mortify and moderate passions and affections by yeilding something to them and by making use of them against themselves which is done by giving them supernaturall and right objects This course our Blessed Saviour took St. Paul was of a cholerrick-hot humour but our Saviour Jesus converted it he turned this fire into a flame of Apostolical Zeal he did not Suppress this passion but changed its object so that by the same arms with which he persecuted his Name he preached his Gospel St. Mary Magdalen's passion was Love he did not destroy it but converted it presenting himself to be the object of it this is an easy cure an admirable triumph to use passions themselves for an instrument whereby to gain a conquest over them St. Augustine teacheth us this Art councelling us to overcome fear by fear the fear of the evills of the world by fear of offending God of incurring hell and losing Heaven St. Isidore affirms the same explicating those words of the Psalmist Irascimini et nolite peccare be angry but Sin not overcome saith he choller by choller it self give somthing to this passion but to the end to delude it turn thy choller against thy brother to a hatred against your self and your passion this was the advice of St. Basil saying Turn thy anger against the devil the destroyer of Souls but have mercy upon thy Brother offending thee Some hold that the greatest expedient to mortify these passions is to Chastice the body by fasting and rigorous austerities for which reason many of the Saints treated their bodies very rudely that by this means they being debilitated their Souls might be more vigorous in their functions and the flesh less rebellious refractory to the decrees of reason From hence proceed the austere Vows of religious crucifying our carnal affections thereby to chastise the insolencies of the sensuall appetite and to render the body a slave to the spirit However not to condemn corporall mortifications if used with discretion according to the Custom of all antiquity and not takeing Christ down from the Cross In my judgment the best and most efficatious means is not to tame the spirit by the body but to subject the body by the spirit for the flesh is not the only and principal criminal to be thus handled wherefore it is more expedient to mortify these passions by the Superiour part of reason and the spirit which considering what is profitable and what hurtful to its salvation from generous resolutions of pursuing the former and declining the latter and so sweetly draws the sensitive appetite after it and forceth it to desist from following its vitious inclinations For example a man reflecting upon the motions of the sensitive appetite and perceiving it engaged in the desire of things superfluous and troubled about them disapprooving such a conduct flyes to interiour repressions considering that we were created for paradice not inordinatly to desire and pursue temporalls but covet and seek eternalls and that it is to little purpose to disquiet ones self for the transitory affairs of this world but that rather we ought to possess our souls in peace and patience After such considerations and interiour repressions the soul with a great resolution frames desires of spiritualls and forceth it self to remain in peace and silence by which it attracts after it the sensitive appetite and rationally orders the passions of it at least as long as it remains in that condition O my Soul thou hast a difficulty to Suffer a disgrace thy passions spur thee forward to reveng consider with thy self that it is far more reasonable for a Christian to imitate the clemency of his Saviour and benignity of the same God By the like considerations according to the diversity of passions a man will become more vigilant over them and more powerfull to suppress and mortify them This methode is more sweet and humane more generall and easie for a good regimen of life and is also a moderate chastisement for the body I will conclude this first means with that of the Apostle Rom ch 8. If you live according to the flesh you shall dye but if by Spirit you mortify the deeds of the flesh you shall live CHAP. II. Of Interiour and Affective Prayer BY speaking here of Interiour and Mental Prayer I intend not to exclude Vocal if it be performed with the attention of the mind and the affection of the heart for if these be wanting to it I esteem it not worthy the name of Prayer The necessity of Prayer to sustain this spiritual life of ours appears by this That in Sacred Writ there is not any precept so often repeated nor so seriously recommended to us as this Non impediaris orare semper Eccles 18. 22. Be not hindred from Praying alwayes It is the Councel of the Wise Man no business howsoever profitable or necessary should hinder thee from the assiduity in this exercise The Prophet David in many places of his Psalms commends to us not any thing more than the study of Prayer and praising God our B. Saviour often and carefully puts us in mind of this Oporter semper orare Luc. 18. Ye ought alwayes to Pray there is a necessity of it not some time not often but you must alwayes Pray And again Vigilate semper orantes Luc. 21. Watch alwayes Praying He did not only teach us the necessity of Prayer by words but also by his own example he often ascended Mountains and retyred into desert places to be more vacant to Prayer and as St. Luke testifies he often spent whole nights in Prayer not for his own necessities but for our instruction St. Paul seriously commends and commands this 1 Thes 1. Be instant in Prayer pray without intermission And again 1 Tim. 2. Volo vos orare c. I will that you pray in every place But some may scruple here how this precept of alwayes praying can be observed and practised some expound it that we ought to be always employed in some good to the honour of God every good work as they say being a kind of Prayer But this cannot be the true sence of it because Christ maketh a difference between prayer and good works and maketh Alms Prayer
considering all things in this world said Horum bonorum unus est titulus salus hominis they all carry this Title upon them The Salvation of man When God had Created this sensible world with the Heavens Elements and all Creatures in it he put this Title upon them Salus hominis this was the end of their being to which they were ordered when he Created the Angels he placed this as a Frontisepiece upon them Salus hominis The Salvation of man this is the affair in which they are imployed as the Apostle Heb. 1. informes us Omnes administratores Spiritus All of them are administrating Spirits sent for those who are to receive the inheritance of Salvation They labour incessantly in this affair knowing it is the greatest work of God in which they can be imployed If God became Man if he Preached gave us examples of all Vertues instituted the Sacraments these and the like Marvels have this Inscription upon them Salus hominis having no other end but this If he dyed on the Cross it was for this design he suffered Death to give us Life It was from this consideration that Tertullian said Nihil tam dignum Deo quam salus hominis nothing so worthy or beseeming God as the Salvation of man and St. Thomas gives this Reason of it because the whole Universe with all the Orders Dispositions and Marvels in it do not so clearly and fully manifest his grandeurs as the Salvation of man for here he makes appear his Attributes and Perfections which are his Power Wisdome Love in a most eminent manner which caused the holy Doctor to affirm In rebus creatis nihil potest esse majus quam salus rationalis creaturae In all Created things there is not any greater than mans Salvation God could have Created Heavens more extended and more richly adorned than those which now rowl over our heads an Earth more fruitful than that which now supports us Angels more intelligent than those which now sing his Praises in Heaven but he could not do any thing more Great Noble and Divine than the Salvation of man this is it which after a soveraign manner manifests his Attributes and Perfections This consideration should cause us highly to esteem incessantly to endeavour our Salvation which concerns so much the glory of God which we are obliged to advance to our power And seeing that God on his part so really and seriously desires our Salvation and so highly esteems it that he Created and Ordered all things in this universe for it surely by our neglecting it we frustrate as much as in us lyes all his designes and dissolve and reduce to nothing the Creation of the world with all things in it for all things have their being and conservation for no other end but this what a stupendious ingratitude and contempt of God and his benefits are involved in this neglect who is so blind as not to discern it and therefore most inconsiderate and insensible to be guilty of such a crime The second Consideration and Motive The second is taken from our own proper Interests which is no less than our Salvation the loss of which renders us miserable for all Eternity We will begin this consideration with those remarkable words with which the Wise man concluded his Ecclesiastes Deum time fear God and observe his Commandements hoc est omnis homo for this is every man or as St. Jerome translates it This is the end of every mans Birth and Being from which St. Bernard draws this Consequence Ergo absque hoc nihil est homo then without this man is nothing Popes are not in the world to be Popes nor Kings to be Kings nor Wise men to be Learned and the like but all universally to be saved All the conditions and employments which possess the Spirits of men ought to give place to this and aime at it as their proper object and end without which they are in vain This our Blessed Saviour affirms in those words of St. Matthew cap. 16. quid prodest homini what will it advantage a man to gain the whole world and to suffer detriment in his Soul what will it profit a man to have all the pleasures of the voluptuous all the riches the world can afford him all the honours that men can confer upon him if he were absolute Monarck of the whole world if at last he loseth his Soul If he had all the knowledg of things natural and Divine all the beauty that the body is capable of such health for so long a time as he could desire all the advantages of the world which men so ardently thirst after all these in the judgment of Christ the Divine Wisdome of his Father will be unprofitable if he comes not only to lose but to suffer detriment in his Soul For this reason the Royal Prophet stiles his Soul his Darling or his One Erue a framea Deus animam meam de manu canis unicam meam Deliver my Soul from the power of the Sword and my One from the hand of the Dog He calls his Soul his One not only because as other men he had but one Soul but because it was most dear unto him he loved it and procured the conservation of it with all the care and diligence which one imploys to preserve things the rarity and worth of which renders them pretious and amiable This caused St. Chrysostome Hom. 12. de po to say God hath given us two Eyes two Ears two Hands two Feet that if any Misfortune deprive us of the use of one we may help our selves by the use of the other Animam vero unam dedit nobis but he hath given us but one Soul if we lose this we lose all irrevocably The Prophet David Psal 116. well considered this when he said Anima mea in manibus meis semper my Soul is always in my hands to hold it fast that I might not lose it but exercise it in good works defend it from all Enemies who would ruine it and always consider the condition of it according to that of St. Bernard Non facile obliviscimur We do not easily forget those things which we hold in our hands the care of our Souls should always thus be present to us That Holy Father thus continues his discourse about this subject If thou art so sollicitous as not to neglect small things so vigilant to preserve thy Corn thy Cattel thy Money thy Earthly possessions such inferiour and transitory things art thou not then foolish and unreasonable to neglect the Salvation of thy Soul which is thy true treasure This as St. Gregory speaks is to pervert Reason into extream Folly The excellence of true reason and judgment consists in discerning the price of things and esteeming them according to their worth and consequently to make more acccount incomparably of the Soul than of the Body of things Eternal than Temporal of the affair of his Salvation than