as above the covetous men were said to doe and in verity is opposite to hypocrisie and lying that so by these contrary vertues to the vices of Infidels you may as by their fruits trees are knowne be distinguished from children of darknesse while you bring forth the fruits of light The Application 1. BY the Illustration of this dayes Prayer we see how the aime of our Purification is prosecuted therein nor can there be a greater Purifier then the Fire of perfect Love and Charity the vertue recommended in the two first verses of this Epistle as necessary to the accomplishment of our Lenten Fast 2. And because Christian perfection consists as well in declining evill as in doing good therefore we are here exhorted to avoid two sorts of evills for the rendering our Holy Fast compleat The first is the evill of our own Tongues the next is the evill of lewd Company both necessary to be avoided for perfecting the worke of Chastity recommended unto us on Sunday last 3. Now in regard the Fire of Charity must be fetcht as far as Heaven and handed to us by Almighty God himself the chief Purifier of our Hearts and in regard these evils above mentioned are so weighty and lie so heavy on us continually that no humane arm is strong enough to lift them off and ease us of their burthen Therefore we pray as above to have these things done for us by extending the Right hand of God first to give us this Charity and next to defend us from these Evils by taking them away from us that so we may be bright shining purified Souls as the close of the Epistle exhorts us to be The Gospel Luk. 11. v. 14 c. 14 And he was casting out a devil and that wâ—â— dumb And when he had cast out the devil the dumb spake and the multitudes marvelled 15 And certain of them said In Beelzebub the prince of devils be casteth out devils 16 And other tempting asked of him a sign from heaven 17 But he seeing their cogitations said to them Every kingdom divided against it self shall be made desolate and house upon house shall fall 18 And if Satan also be divided against himself how shall his kingdom stand because you say that in Beelzebub I do cast out devils 19 And if I in Beelzebub cast out devils your children in whom do they cast out therefore they shall be your judges 20 But if I in the finger of God do cast out devils surely the Kingdom of God is come upon you 21 When the strong man armed keepeth his Court those things are in peace that he possesseth 22 But if a stronger then he come upon him and overcome him he will take away his whole armour wherein he trusted and will distribute his spoils 23 He that is not with me is against me and he that gathereth not with me scattereth 24 When the unclean Spirit departeth out of a man he wandereth through places without water seeking rest and not finding he saith I will return into my house whence I departed 25 And when he is come he findeth it swept with a besome and trimmed 26 Then he goeth and taketh seven other Spirits worse then himself and entring in they dwell there 27 And the last of that man be made worse then the first 28 And it came to pass when he said these things a certain woman lifting up her voyce out of the multitude said 29 Blessed is the womb that bare thee and the paps that thou didst suck 30 But he said Yea rather Blessed are they that hear the word of God and keep it The Explieation 14. NOte this possessed party was one and the same of whom S. Matthew speaks cap. 12. v. 22. that was both blinde and dumb though S. Luke makes onely mention of his dumbness which is not to contradict the other Evangelist unless he had said he was onely blinde and not dumb whereas to speak of one effect of his being possessed and let alone the other is no contradiction at all as some would have it to be Note also this dumbness is not understood to be natural or rather a defect of Nature from the birth of the party but onely accidental and a meer effect of the Devils possessing him with a dumbness but not any other defect in Nature for such a dumbness is not cured by casting our a Devil but by cutting out some string that ties the Tongue up and gives it not leave to play according to the exigence of speech or else by curing the deafness if it be from the birth for all such deafness consequently causeth dumbness because speech is learnt by hearing the sound others make with speaking or otherwise and thus imitating the same motion which doth beget speech So this cure was wrought by Christ taking away the impediment which the Devil had by his power put in the parties speech and consequently that impediment being gone by casting out the Devil who was cause thereof the party spake immediately without addition of any other Miracle at all though what S. Hierome sayes Rhetorically of this passage is not false neither but a pious ampliation of the Truth by declaring the consequences of one thing when he said Three Miracles together are wrought in one person for the blinde man saw the dumb man spake and the possessed had his devil cast out The close of this verse argues the possessed was not born dumb for to that cure no devils being cast out was necessary as we said before and therefote as soon as he was cast out the party spake to the admiration of all the people who could not then force him to speak though happily they had heard him do it often before he was possessed 15. See the malice of the wicked to attribute Gods power to the devil rather then glorifie God by giving him the due praise of his own wonderful works And while they tell him he works in the name and power of Beelzebub they vilifie him all they can to shew the little they attribute to his own power how little they think him God or of God since Beelzebub in the Hebrew Translation signifies the god of Flies and they being the most abject and inconsiderable things in nature therefore to attribute no more Power to Christ then to a Fly is to undervalue him all they can nor doth it magnifie him that Beelzebub is here called the Prince of Devils more then it were to magnifie a man to call him the Prince of Flyes unless it be any kinde of honor to have a man called the best of Flyes as Beelzebub is therefore Prince of those Devils who rule over that contemptible Creature the Fly not that the Devil hath any proper dominion over any Creatures but that the Accaronites when they were troubled with a Plague of Flyes erected an Idol which they called Beelzebub that is God of Flyes and to feed them in this Idolatry upon such Adorations the Devil did many
the left is understood on all occasions of prosperity or adversity importing right and left as good and bad to us that we must stand armed with acts of Vertue such as may render us just to God whatere men may imagine of us 8. By honor and dishonor infamy and good fame understand whether we are praised by others or undervalued and here the Apostle alludes to his own avoiding vain-glory when the Lycaonians would have ador'd him as a god for his rare parts Though we are esteemed Seducers as in time of persecutions Priests are and as Christ himself was who yet could not preach false Doctrine he being Truth it self yet we must not for that refrain to preach the Word of God By unknown and known is meant unknown to the wicked whilest we are known to God and our own Consciences 9. As dying as given over in the opinion of the world for condemned at the corrupt Tribunals of unjust Judges and yet alive to God to his holy Angels and to all just men whilest our cause is just like Chastised and not killed either imprisoned and yet not executed for our Faith or else using voluntary moderate Penance and yet not such as may shorten our dayes by death being too violent as many times those Penances are which men use without allowance of their Ghostly Fathers to inflict upon themselves 10. As needy and yet inriching others temporally poor and yet giving the riches of Spiritual Instructions and ghostly counsel to our Neighbors or perhaps the Apostle might mean literally whilest they who had given to them the Oblations of all the Laity in those dayes yet did not bestow any thing almost upon themselves but gave it all away to the poor and so inriched them supplyed at least their Necessities as S. Paul at Jerusalem was noted to do very notably As having nothing of our own and yet possessing all things by the liberality of others whence our Saviour asked Did you want any thing when I sent you to preach to all the world without a staff or purse the one to bear up your weary limbs which I supported with my grace the other to buy you victuals which I inspired good Christians to afford you without your money The Application 1. SEe the Illustration of the Prayer above for the general notions of our Christian Duty this Lenten time but for the particular see how the Priest is set before our eyes for us to imitate the many perfections he is bound unto the whole Epistle being nothing else but an Ennumeration of Priestly Duties for then and not before we may hope to see a Religious Laity when the Priests of holy Church are the Saints they ought to be such indeed as they are here pointed out unto us 2. And lest the people should be lost in so large a field of Vertue as the Priest is bound to walk in see how the Antiphon before the Prayer culls out the proper Duties of the people during holy Lent Namely Patience Watching and unseigned Charity that is to say Mortification Prayer and Almsdeeds For therefore Patience is now recommended because Mortification is intended which to avail us must be born patiently Therefore we are now to watch that we may spend more hours then ordinary in our Prayers rising earlier and going later to bed in Lent then at other times Therefore Alms are accounted unfeigned Charity because men are ever held to love their Neighbors more then Money when they do relieve the poor 3. Thus we see no one good work is perfected alone without the help and company of others Let therefore Mortification Prayer and Alms accompany the holy Fast of Lent so shall it feed and purifie the feasting souls of fasting bodies According as we pray above it may The Gospel Matth. 4. v. 1 c. 1 Then Jesus was led of the Spirit into the desert to be tempted of the devil 2 And when he had fasted forty dayes and forty nights afterward he was hungry 3 And the Tempter approached and said to him If thou be the Son of God command that these stones be made bâ—ead 4 Who answered and said It is written Not in bread alone doth man live but in every word that proceedeth from the mouth of God 5 Then the devil took him up into the holy City and set him upon the pinacle of the Temple 6 And said unto him If thou be the Son of God cast thy self down for it is written That he will give his Angels charge of thee and in their hands they shall hold thee up lest perhaps thou knock thy foot against a stone 7 Jesus saith to him again It is written Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God 8 Again the devil took him up into a very high mountain and he shewed him all the kingdoms of the world and the glory of them 9 And said unto him All these will I give thee if thou falling down wilt adore me 10 Then Jesus saith to him Avount Satan for it is written The Lord thy God shalt thou adore and him onely shalt thou serve 11 Then the devil left him and behold Angels came and ministred to him The Explication 1. THen alludes to the time of his being by John Baptized so that immediately after his Baptism he began his forty days Fast by the conduct of the holy Spirit which had descended on him in the shape of a Dove when he was Baptized to shew how immediately and how efficaciously God works in those that by grace he doth descend upon The force of this Spiritual impulse is intimated by his being led of the Spirit drawn as it were by the power thereof into the desert where he might hear without interruption of noise or company what God spake to his heart as we reade Osee cap. 2. v. 14. The name of this Desert was Quarentana near the River Jordan But we are here to note The Holy Ghost did not intend to thrust Christ upon this Temptation for God is Tempter of no man Jam. 1. v. 13. but onely indirectly permitted it to give Christ the honor of foyling the Devil and to shew the good Spirit was a bane unto the evil one But we may piously believe Christ pleased to be tempted after Baptism to give Christians an example that we can no sooner receive the grace of God whereby we are adopted and made his Children then immediately the Devil is upon our backs as also to shew the Devil cannot tempt us beyond our power of resistance if we recur to Prayer to Fast to Reading Scriptures or the like as Christ did who made himself our example of these defences and to declare besides that those who will become Doctors abroad to others must first go themselves Scholars into the School of a vertuous Solitude 2. There is much difference between the forty dayes fast of Moses of Elias and this like Fast of our Saviour for theirs were performed by the help of an extrinsecal assisting grace this by
to speak unto us as men doe certainly they were able to exceed in eloquence the best of humane Oratours that ever were as much as well spoken men exceed the dumbe who have no tongues but signs to speak withall So when he sayes if he should speak with the more ravishing tongues of Angels than any can be of men and yet wanted charity it were to no purpose But why may we not allow S. Paul here to allude unto the Angelicall tongues indeed which he alone of all the Apostles was acquainted with in his Rapture to the the third heaven and in which tongues hâ—â—eard those Arcana's those secrets which it was not lawfull for man to speak but then we come here into the Labyrinth of expressing what tongues those Elinguine spirits use who as immateriall creatures cannot be fram'd of any composition of Integral parts such as are head tongue teeth mouth face or the like materiall and corporall members how then can the Apostle speak of an excellency in the faculty of speech in those that doe not speak at all because they have no tongues which are the Instruments of speech he must therefore mean that the tongues of Angels are their mutuall Illuminations and that if he could so excellently well expresse his minde in words to the Corinthians as Angels doe to one another by Illumination yet if he had not charity he were but like to harsh sounding brass or the empty noise of a tinkling Cymbal neither keeping time nor speaking any tune which is as much as to say if he could tell them all the secrets he heard in heaven and shew them by clarity and eloquence of speech as cleer as illumination even the best of objects God himself and make them understand if possible the reason of the Trinity yet unless they did love the goodness understood they were not yet happy because the best of knowledg in this world is by understanding and all that speech can make us understand will not render us happy unless we love the thing understood Now love being an act of the will must have for motive goodness in the thing beloved as well as verity and consequently though words or speech may make us know the verity of things here yet it is love must make us adhere unto the goodness thereof so the Apostle demonstrates all speech and all knowledge acquired thereby is fruitless unlesse by Love or Charity to God and our neighbour our wills be rendered as perfect as our understandings are by knowledge In a word he would say be it man or Angel he talkes in vain of God that loves him not 2. In this verse the Apostle shewes the gift of Prophesie to be greater than that of Tongues for he proceeds from lesse to greater still besides in the four first verses of the next Chapter to this the Apostle tells the Corinthians in plain tearmes what here he inferres onely by eduction of more from lesser force of reason as 1 Cor. 14. vers 1. Follow Charity pursue spirituall things but rather that you may prophesie Vers 2. For he that speaketh with tongues speaketh not to men intelligibly but to God for no man that hath not that gift of tongues heareth understandeth but in spirit he speaketh mysteries Vers 3. For he that prophesieth speaketh unto men to edification and exhortation and comfort Vers 4. He that speaketh with tongues edifieth himself but he that prophesieth edifieth the Church What more plaine for Prophesie the like he concludeth for science and Faith which he adds here as joyntly with Prophesie transcending the gift of tongues though by faith some contend he meanes onely faith to remove mountaines or such as is peculiar to working miracles as if though that could be without Charity yet justifying Faith could not but without reason this First because Faith to Miracles is the most excellent of all other Secondly because to take away that doubt the Text here saith all Faith and all must needs include both justifying Faith and that which men may have without being just but in such case S Augustine tells us Lib. 5. de Trin. Cap. 18. Faith according to the Apostles may be without Charity but it cannot be profitable without it for saith he Charity alone is that which distinguisheth between the children of God and the children of the devill the sonnes of the Kingdome and the sonnes of perdition Now while the Apostle saith Faith even to miracles without Charity makes us nothing in the sight of God how can hereticks pretend Faith alone shall save them for sure the blessed soules are something in Gods sight and yet by onely Faith they are nothing saies the Apostle or which is all one they are of no esteeme or esteemed as nothing at all not but that they are things in being yet so as being without esteem renders them in a manner nothing in the sight of God 3. Nay so serious is S. Paul in this assertion that he tells us if for any other end than purely for the love of God we should give away our whole estates indeed our lives and be martyrs for the Faith without loving God yet this would nothing at all availe us unlesse we had Charity to make proficuous to render profitable our martyrdome for the Faith of Christ since formally there can be no Faith without Charity though materially there may whence we see that beside Faith Charity is necessary to salvation insomuch that if a Turke or Heathen should be so perswaded of the verity of Christs being the Sonne of God and should be contented to die rather than to recede from professing his beliefe in that and all other points of Christian beliefe yet unlesse withall he had perfect Charity that is unlesse he did love God above all and his neighbour as himself he should never be saved nor be esteemed a formall martyr but a vaine and foolish prodigall of his life to no purpose I say God and his neighbour too because to die believeing and loving God without loving our neighbour were not enough of Charity to gaine a man the title or crowne of martyrdome Because things are good by the integrity of their cause bad by the least defect of such integrity 4. In these four next verses S. Paul enumerates the sixteen conditions of perfect Charity to our neighbour â—ut whereas he calls Charity Patient and Benigne we must note he doth not meane it is formally so but abusively that is Charity is the cause of Patience Benignity and the like or which is much one Patience is not an elicite act of Charity but an act as Scholes say commanded by Charity Though Tertullian gives this Encomiastick to Patience that it is the inseparable companion and as it were governesse of all other virtues in as much as the longanimity or constancie of mind in alwaies doing good makes a man patiently to indure the labour of well doing and the opposition which that labour is many times obstructed withall and for the
resignation as a meanes to our exaltation in the time of visitation which is to be understood when God shall think fit to look upon us with the eye of mercy 7. It were an injury to Gods goodnesse for us to cast about for that which God himself takes care for that is our soules good the care of that is his and our rule of that is by him laid unto us so in that affayre we have rather to do what is commanded already then to be solicitous about it as if it were not done And to be solicitous of Temporals is an unchristian care and therefore often forbidden in point of perfection however tolerated in regard of humane infirmity but moderate care is alwayes allowed Christians in order to Temporals when anxious solicitude is forbidden them by many texts of holy writ 8. Sobriety is the best companion of watchfulnesse and therefore both are recommended And because our watchfulnesse is to be perpetual therefore our sobriety must be so too but especially towards night when our hearts onely are to keep the watch whilest our senses are asleep and this because the devil is then most busie in temptations when men are least able to resist having as it were but their wish awake and their will asleep hence all spiritual men recommend temperance towards bed-time both in meat and drink hence the Completory begins alwayes with this very verse to put us in mind with what purity we ought to go to bed having our profest enemy alwayes awake and ready to devour us if he find us off our sober guard 9. Happy we that by the least resistance are sure of victory against this ravenous devil for maugre all his malice and all his power he cannot hurt us unlesse we yeeld our consents to his Temptations Here is added that we must stoutly resist him and believing too because so we get compleat victory for by resistance we overcome him by fortitude we bind him captive by Faith we take away all his armes and power that is by firm stout and constant Faith And again our resistance will have the more force because of what followes in this verse we never are left alone but have alwayes our fellow Souldiers to help us in this Fight against our enemy who never tempts us alone but all other good men at the same time and we have share in their greater resistance by adding what our weaknesse is able to do 10. This next verse comes yet more home to our comfort and assistance telling us besides the help of our fellow creatures we have the help of our omnipotent Creatour against this enemy of mankind the God of all grace who having called us to everlasting glory will not if we help our selves permit the devill to snatch us away into his kingdom of darknesse so that being designed for glory we cannot fear the want of grace for that is the seed and glory the fruit of Gods goodnesse in us O who seeing how much Christ suffered to purchase us patience would not gladly suffer this little we are told must be indured if we will hope for victory Let us therefore with the same zeal begin to suffer as we would desire the happy end of it which is assured victory and glory 11. This last verse minds us that the victory is Gods and the honour of it his though the reward by his mercy be our eternall glory too The Application WE have had hitherto the holy Ghost the sacred Trinity and the blessed Sacrament to help us on in our long journey between Pentecost and Advent which we are to march all upon the feet of Charity but now we must expect no more such speciall helps suffice it we have had last Sunday the corroborating repast whereof Elias his refreshment under the Tree in the desert was but a type or figure when yet he was told that little bread should inable him to his journeyes end although he had a great wâ—y to go after that before he came to the mount Horeb so beloved must our charity from this day forward march upon the late refreshment of the blessed Sacrament till we come in our annuall journey to the mount of Advent the mount of expectation the mount that leaves us on the top of the highest mystery of our redemption the Incarnation of our Lord God where his first stoop to earth was our first step to heaven 2. Now for as much as we shall in this march find charity sometimes handed on by other vertues as last Sunday most properly by holy fear sutable to her in so long a journey and through the many dangers which she was to meet withall in the desert of this world and because at other times she will be in a manner out of sight and carried on with the crowd of other vertues thronging about her to secure themselves by her and to be her guard as they are bound she being sovereign to them all we must not therefore think our design is ill laid and that our obligation ceaseth as to the practise of charity when in the holy Text other vertues are more visible then she for there want not good Divines who grounded on S. Paul his definition or description at least of this majestick vertue affirm there is indeed no other vertue but charity both because God himself is called charity and because in heaven all other vertues are refunded into her so that in these Divines opinions even Faith Hope Humility Patience Obedience and all other vertues whatsoever are but charity believing hoping submitting suffering obeying or the like as one and the self same man by the severall faculties of his soul by his severall senses and members of his body is doing those exercises that such faculties such senses and such members are necessary for Be these Divines right or wrong it boots not to our purpose more then thus to let us see all our actions are good or bad according as they partake or want of charity to give them life or to declare them dead 3. This premised see how humility resignation to Gods holy will sobriety vigilance and a strong faith bring charity along this first-dayes journey after the repast she had last Sunday as above And though the Text tell her she is to carry us through the ravenous Lions walk yet we see the close of this Epistle is that the God of all Grace the God of charity will secure us through these dangers for his own glory if we but love him and will cast our cares on him and will rely upon his multiplied mercies whereof we have dayly and hourely huge experience if we will make him our Ruler him our Guide and if we do not loose our charity to him our Creatour by wasting it away upon creatures unworthy of our love because we cannot grasp temporall felicities without hazard of loosing eternall happinesse Yes yes assuredly this ought to be our duty now Whilest to this very purpose holy Church prayes to day