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A54461
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A sermon preach'd before the King and Queen in Their Majesties chappel at St. James's, on the twentieth Sunday after Pentecost, Octob. 25. 1685 by the Reverend Father John Persall ...
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Persall, John, 1633-1702.
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1686
(1686)
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Wing P1652; ESTC R11063
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9,002
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31
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A SERMON Preach'd before the King and Queen IN Their MAJESTIES Chappel at St. James's on the Twentieth Sunday after Pentecost Octob. 25. 1685. By the Reverend Father JOHN PERSALL Of the Society of JESUS Professor of Divinity Published by His Majesties Command LONDON Printed by Henry Hills Printer to the King 's most Excellent Majesty for his Houshold and Chappel 1686. A SERMON Preach'd before THEIR MAJESTIES On the Twentieth Sunday after Pentecost Octob. 25. 1685. Erat quidam Regulus cujus filius infirmabatur Joannis c. 4. v. 48. There was a certain Nobleman whose son was sick THE Holy Church in this Days Gospel invites us all to the Bed-side of a Rich Noble Young but Dying Prince who lies groaning at Deaths-door and notwithstanding his Plenty of other things is become a Beggar for a little Breath which all the Power of the World is not able to afford him I wish that the Followers of Sensuality who make Pleasure their God live as if they were never to die imagine Time to stand and laugh at Discourses of another World as Fables only for the Entertainment and Pastime of this I wish I say they would turn their Thoughts hither a little while and behold the dismal Theatre whereon every one of them must one day infallibly act the same Part which now this Noble Youth represents before them trembling betwixt two great Eternities of Happiness above and Misery below and uncertain which of the two is to be their Lot Now tho' we go no further certainly the Pangs of a dying Prince and Death triumphing over Wealth Nobility and Youth is an Emblem clear enough of the Vanity and Uncertainty of Worldly Happiness and might well deserve to be the Subject of our present Consideration Serm. 44. de Verbis Domini But because I hear the Great St. Augustin speaking of our Saviour's restoring the Widows Son to Life advise us That it was our LORD's Intention that by what he acted visibly towards the Body we should understand his invisible Operations on the Soul applying all his exteriour and Corporal Performances to an interiour and Spiritual Sense Dominus noster JESVS CHRISTVS ea quae faciebat corporalitèr spiritualitèr volebat intelligi It shall therefore be my present Endeavour First by the Sickness of this Youth to lay before your Eyes the Sickness of a Soul in Sin and Secondly from the Circumstances of his Cure we 'l gather the Means for the Curing of our Souls But because I am too conscious of my own Weakness to hope for any Fruit from my Words unless the Holy Ghost vouchsafe to put them in my Mouth and speak them again to the Hearts of my Hearers I must have recourse to the Blessed Virgin whose powerful Intercession is an Aquaeduct or Channel as the devout St. Bernard assures us through which Celestial Gifts are conveyed unto us Wherefore let us humbly invoke the same saluting her with the Angel Ave Maria c. Erat quidam Regulus c. IT being then my intent by the visible Sickness of the Body to discover the invisible Sickness of the Soul let us enter a little into the Chamber of this Dying Prince which probably you will find adorn'd with the richest Tapestry beautify'd with choice Cabinets and set out with other Moveables of the highest Price The Curtains Vallence and Canopy of the Bed all proportionable to the Nobility and Greatness of their Master but approach a little towards that stately Bed draw open those Royal Curtains and see what lies within A gasping Life an half-living Death a breathing Carcass His sinking Eyes already seek their Grave his pale and wan Countenance puts us in mind of his Winding-sheet the feeble and unactive Condition of his Body declares that he is Death's Close Prisoner the Panting of his Heart is a sad warning that the fatal Stroke is ready to be given which must break asunder the Gordian Tye betwixt Soul and Body And is this He on whom so much Gallantry do's attend Is it to him those Hangings Cabinets and Embroider'd Curtains do belong This certainly is the Fable inverted and not a Pearl on a Dunghil but a Dunghil in the midst of Pearls These were the visible Effects and Consequences of this Prince's Corporal Sickness Let us now try how far they will lead us towards the Discovery of the invisible Effects of a Spiritual Disease If you view the Chamber or Bed wherein a dying Soul lies gasping what for the most part more glorious It is one perhaps of these trimm'd-up Beauties of the World which seem to out-shine the Suns brightest Beams Gold Silver Pearls and whatsoever the blind World calls Precious is all too little to set them out But turn hither the Eyes of your Understanding draw open those gay Curtains by a serious Consideration and look on that Soul which lies within them O quale Monstrum What a Monster Had we Eyes of Angels it would appear far more hideous to us than the expiring Carcass which we just now beheld The Poyson of his Disease had dry'd and wither'd up his Body consum'd all his Spirits and the Soul being now ready to depart all the Train of Beauteous Features had already taken their leave But the Poyson of Sin is yet far ranker and its Effects upon a poor infected Soul far more deplorable It consumes to nothing all her Substance all the Stock of Grace whereby she flourisht The Sun of Justice her only Life is ready to withdraw his Divine Rays and consequently all the Flowers of Vertue must needs dry up and wither so that she who before had Beauty enough to enamour the very Fountain of Beauty is now become the Source of a Poyson rank enough to infect the whole World She is a meer Sink of Loathsomness and Corruption What is she else but a putrifying Carcass feeding the Worms of a bad Conscience and engendring innumerable venemous Infects I mean the cursed Brood of vicious Habits She breaths forth such a Stench that were our Corporeal Senses capable of being wrought on by Spiritual Objects it would not be possible for us to live within the Sphere of its Activity For the truth of all this I appeal to those Saints to whom Almighty God has given a more peculiar Light for the discovering the Horrour and Ugliness of Sin St. Chrysostom calls Sin the only Evil asserting That we ought to abhor nothing but Sin no not even Hell it self And the Reason hereof will appear clearly if we consider the Nature of an Humane Soul She is created to the perfect Image of her Creator and participates in an high Degree of his Divine Essence Divinae Particula Aurae Hence she has in her a strong and forcible Appetite of being united to her God and consequently cannot be at rest whilst she is separated from him but in this Night of Sin the Fogs arising from a corrupted Will do so obscure the Understanding that tho' the Soul perceives an unquiet Appetite within
so important a Concern We must then in this imitate the Father of our Sick Youth who was careful in the beginning Incipiebat mori His Son began to die and he was sollicitous that our Saviour might come before he had quite given up the Ghost Descende priusquà m moriatur Filius meus Come down says he before my Son dies I am not ignorant that divers Interpreters and some Holy Fathers also accuse these Words of want of Faith as if an Omnipotence could not as easily have restor'd him Dead to Life as Sick to Health yet they must all grant that 't is an excellent Prayer for a dying Soul Domine descende priusquà m moriatur Anima mea Lord vouchsafe to come before my Soul dies Consider all the Cures which our Saviour wrought and you will still find the appearance of most Difficulty where the Disease had made the greatest Progress Lazarus was dead and now four days in his Grave and how much is to be done to raise him First Our Saviour must come in Person tho' his Disciples dissuade him from exposing himself to so much danger The Jews said they did but just now endeavour to stone thee and wilt thou again venture thy self amongst them He goes notwithstanding this and being come to the Monument First commands the Grave-stone to be remov'd Then he afflicts himself turbavit semetipsum and even weeps lacrimatus est JESVS Then he prays to his Eternal Father and at last voce magnâ clamavit he cries out with a loud voice Lazare veni foras Lazarus come forth What was all this for Would not a Lazarus vivit Lazarus lives have done the Business tho' our Blessed Saviour had been as far distant from Lazarus as he was now from our Sick Prince It were a Blasphemy to affirm the contrary But Lazarus Dear Christians was the Type of an inveterate and hardned Sinner and our Blessed Saviour on this occasion was not so careful to let us see the Uncontrollableness of his Omnipotence as he was to shew us how much it goes to his Heart that a Sinner should delay his Conversion till he becomes buried in ill Habits and is kept under Ground by the weighty Grave-stone of his own Obstinacy and withal how difficult it is that such an one should be again restor'd to the Life of Grace The Widows Son was not yet bury'd but only carry'd out to Burial Efferebatur filius unicus Matris suae And consequently our Saviour raises him with a far less appearance of difficulty He comes but neither afflicts himself nor weeps he only touches the Bier and commands the dead Youth to rise Adolescens tibi dico Surge and his Commands were presently obey'd for the dead Youth arose Resedit qui erat mortuus The Daughter of the Prince of the Synagogue was but newly dead neither buried nor carry'd out to Burial Our Saviour comes and without speaking to her took her by the Hand and rais'd her Tenuit manum ejus surrexit Puella But our young Prince was not so much as dead but only incipiebat mori he began to die and so deserv'd the easiest Cure of all for our Saviour neither comes in Person nor commands his Disease but only tells his Father Filius tuus vivit Thy Son is well and at that very hour reliquit eum Febris his Fever left him By all which our Saviour would teach us how willing he is to hear a Sinners Petition when it is presented to him in time and how unwillingly he hearkens to those who put off all to the last Point Daily Experience teaches us this Lesson there scarce being a Country which do's not afford us most terrible Histories of those who delaying from time to time the Amendment of their Lives have felt the heavy Hand of God's Judgment being taken at unawares out of this Life and in a moment they least suspected swallow'd up and bury'd in Hell Momento descendunt in Infernum It is true we have a good God a merciful God a patient God who expects day after day the Conversion of a Sinner but we must know that a certain Period is pitch'd upon and decreed from all Eternity that will wholly stop the Current of Mercy and open a way to Justice for tho as long as any Sinner lives in this Life with the use of Reason Almighty God never denies him his sufficient Grace yet after such a determinate Period he either takes him out of this Life or permits him to fall into such Blindness and Hardness of Heart that he never will recover tho' he always may Sic enim says St. Augustine excaecat sic obdurat Deus deserendo non adjuvando quod occulto judicio facere potest iniquo non potest God do's so blind and so harden a Sinner by forsaking him and withdrawing his Help from him as that his Judgment indeed is secret and hidden but never unjust For Hoe eorum voluntatem meruisse Respondeo I answer says the same Saint to those who complain hereof That this is what they themselves viz. by their own perverse Will have deserv'd Poor Samuel with Eyes and Heart lifted up to Heaven pray'd for Saul but it was too late Why do you ask me for him says Almighty God when abjeci eum I have cast him off Remember the two first Chapters of the Prophet Amos where our Lord speaks thus to seven different Countries viz. Damascus Gaza Tyre Edom Ammon Moab and at last even to his Elect People Juda and Israel Super tribus Sceleribus for three heinous Crimes Patience but super quatuor non convertam to the fourth no Mercy Who knows but this very Moment may be the last Period and Admonition the last Grace which Almighty God hath decreed for some one or more of us here present in such manner that if it be neglected we shall perish irrecoverably for all Eternity Super quatuor non convertam No the Period is come Mittam ignem and nothing now remains excepting only the dreadful Torments of an unquenchable Fire O let us then every one of us enter into our own Souls and make an exact Scrutiny into their present State and Condition Let us examine whether Terrene and Sensual Pleasures have not cast them into the Pestilent Fever of a violent Passion so that incipiunt mori they begin to die to die I say to God and Heaven If so let us forthwith have recourse to the Physician Abeamus ad eum let us go from all other Entertainments and Concerns unto him Rogemus let us throw our selves at the Sacred Feet of our Crucified Lord acknowledge our Misery and beg his Assistance Domine descende priusquà m moriatur Anima mea O Lord vouchsafe to come down to me before my Soul be dead O my Lord my God who didst esteem Sin to be so great an Evil that thou thoughtst it worth thy Labour to come down from Heaven to Earth to agonize and die upon a Cross that thou mightst free us from it