as we have sinned so greatly and so grievously let us weep and lament for our sins To a deep wound let a long and careful Cure not be wanting let not our pennance be less than our fault Doest thou think that thou canst be able presently and forthwith to appease Almighty God whom with perfidious words thou hast denied before whom thou hast preferred thy Patrimony whose Temple thou hast sacrilegiously violated Doest thou think that he will easily have mercy on thee whom thou hast said that he was none of thine It behoves thee to pray unto him and to beseech him with all earnestness to pass the day in mourning and to spend whole nights in watching and tears to fill all time with doleful lamentations to make ashes thy bed to roll thy self in dust and haircloath and since thou hast lost the garment of Christ now thou shouldst desire to have no garment at all after the food of the Devil thou shouldst desire fasting zealously busy thy self in such good works whereby sins are purged give frequent Alms by which souls are delivered from death what the Adversary would have taken away from thee let Christ receive nor ought that Patrimony to be kept or loved by which one has been deceived and overcome The sad ezperience of frequent and easy relapses into bewailed wickednesses shew us how vain and frivolous that Repentance was by which they were pretended to have been abolished The sad wounds caused in our souls by our sins as is manifest by their so speedy breaking out again were only covered not cured As the Clergy of Rome complains of certain Priests Ep. 31. ad Cypr. who by a false sweetness precipitated the Reconciliation of Sinners How say they can they be cured in receiving the Grace of Absolution and the Indulgence of the Church if the Chirurgeon himself cut short the Pennance and make himself indulgent to their ruine and destruction if he cover only the wound and will not expect till the Remedies which have need of time close it Assuredly this is not to cure souls but if we will speak the truth 't is to kill them In fine let us make it our business to experiment in the inmost of our spirits this Repentance oâ— Conversion so excellently and fully described in the following Divine Sermons of St. Bernard and this is in one word to say all By this if we can attain it we shall fully appease our incensed God for our sins past perfectly secure our weak frail selves from relapsing into the same our repented sins and abundantly edify whomsoever we may have justly offended by our former unchristian Conversation FAULTS PAge 3. blot out line 18 and 19. p. 52. l. 16. for despair read desire p. 55. l. 24. for she r. he A SERMON Preached to the CLERGY Concerning Conversion CHAP. I. That no body can be converted to God unless he be prevented by the Will of God and by his Voice crying unto him within YOU are met together as I believe to hear the Word of God for indeed there does not occur to me any other cause of this your so fervorous a concourse By all means I approve of this your desire and congratulate with you for your laudable zeal For blessed are they which hear the Word of God but provided also that they keep it Blessed are they that remember his Commandments but to the end that they may do them For he has the words of Eternal Life and the Hour is come and would to God it were now when they shall hear his voice and they that shall hear it shall live For life is his will And if you desire to know it his will is our Conversion In fine hear himself Is the death of the impious my will says the Lord and not rather that he should be converted and live Ezek. 18. v. 23. By which words we evidently see how that true life is not to be had by us but by Conversion nor can we enter into it any other way Our Lord telling us plainly Vnless ye be converted and made like little ones ye shall not enter into the Kingdom of Heaven Mat. 18. v. 3. And with good reason do little ones enter for the little Child conducts them who for this end was born and given us I ask then what voice is that which the dead hear and when they have heard it live for perhaps it is necessary to Preach the Gospel even to the dead And opportunely there occurs a short word but a full one which the mouth of the Lord has spoken as his Prophet testifies Thou hast said says he speaking without doubt to the Lord his God Be converted O ye sons of men Jer. 3. And indeed deservedly does Conversion seem to be required from the sons of men to wit absolutely necessary for sinners For to the supernal Spirits that praise which becomes the just is rather commanded the Prophet singing Praise thy God O Sion Psal 147. And in that the Prophet says Thou hast said in my judgment it is not carelesly to be passed over nor heedlesly to be heard For who dare compare what God has said to the sayings of men Verily the Word of God is lively and efficacious and his Voice is in magnificence and power In fine he said it and all things were made He said Let there be light and the light was made He said Be ye converted O ye sons of men and they were converted So it is indeed the conversion of Souls is the work of God's Voice and not of man's Simon the Son of John a Fisher of men although called and constituted for this very purpose by our Lord yet in vain shall even he labour all night and catch nothing until by the word of our Lord casting his net he shall be able to inclose in it a great multitude of Fish And I would to God we could also to day in this Word cast the net of the Word and experience what is written Lo he shall give to his Voice a Voice of power Psal 67. If we speak a lye it 's plain that 's of our own But perhaps even then also our words will be judged to be our own not our Lords if we seek our own Concerns and not the things of Jesus Christ Moreover although we speak the truth of God and seek the glory of God we must even then from him alone hope the effect and of him ask it that he would please to accompany his own Voice with a Voice of power To this internal Voice therefore I exhort you to listen with the ears of your heart and that you would make it your business rather to hear God speaking within you than man speaking without you For that is a voice of magnificence and power searching the deserts making to tremble the deserts shaking off the stupid torpor of Souls CHAP. II. That God's Voice offers it self to all and presents it self to the Soul that 's unwilling to hear it NOR need
made you a Steward of a fair Estate you consider how he would have you employ it how much upon your own necessary expences and how much upon the poor c. The like for whatever Talents of Learning or natural Parts God Almighty has endowed you with studying to employ all to the greater good of the World after the example of the great Pattern of all Perfection our Blessed Saviour who went about doing good And you if you will be worthy of that high Name of a Christian must endeavour in this and all other regards to walk as he walk'd He that says he abides in Jesus Christ ought even as he walked himself also to walk 1 Joh. 2. 6. That is as Venerable Bede expounds those Divine words Non ambite terrena c. Not to seek earthly things not to follow after perishable gains to fly Honours to embrace all worldly Contempt for Heavenly Glory willingly to do good to all to injure no-body and patiently to suffer injuries from others yea to ask their Pardon of God who injure us never to seek our own but always to seek our Maker's Glory and to make as many as we can together with us to affect things above To do these and such like things as these is to follow the footsteps of Christ If the Conversion so frequently mentioned in Holy Scriptures with a promise of life eternal particularly in the 18th of Ezek. Why will ye dye O house of Israel because I will not the death of him that dieth saith the Lord God Return ye and live If this Conversion or returning to God Almighty signified no more but an embracing of the right Faith or true Religion it were an easy thing indeed especially for a great many to escape eternal death and to obtain eternal life But the truth is the Conversion to which eternal life is promised by Almighty God is a Conversion of another nature In three words it is the Conversion which is most excellently described by St. Bernard in the following Sermons Get that and you are eternally happy want that and the being of whatsoever Perswasion never so holy or never so good will not be able to hinder you from being eternally miserable A great enquiry is made which is the true and pure Church of Christ And no doubt but it is a Question of high moment and concern but according to the best of my understanding considering the present State of Religion in England it much more concerns all that sincerely and heartily desire to be eternally happy to enquire supposing me to be of the true Church of Christ what is still further necessary for my Salvation and to use the utmost industry for the acquiquisition of that main thing necessary whatsoever it is A Conversion to a few exterior Rites and Ceremonies is very easy and a forsaking all exterior Rites and Ceremonies is no less easy and we would all gladly be happy in the other World but we would gladly also have this happiness at as easy a rate as may be and therefore no monder so few of all Perswasions in good earnest labour to get their hearts and souls throughly converted unto God though this and only this be that which can indeed make us eternally happy because this is a work of immense difficulty to corrupt nature but rather innumerable multitudes satisfy themselves with little more than the exterior form of the Church or Perswasion they adhere unto Though all acknowledg that without an hearty Conversion to God Almighty in this World there 's no hopes of seeing him for ever in the next For example what Perswasion is there amongst us that does not acknowledg a true and hearty regard of Almighty God to be necessary to Salvation and that this our piety to God must express it self by hearty and devout Prayer And that Charity to our Neighbour is also necessary to Salvation and that this Charity must express it self by Alms-deeds and other good offices to our Neighbour according to his necessity and our ability And that also a moderate use of meat drink and other necessaries of this life is also necessary to Salvation And moreover do not all Perswasions agree that in case we have sinned not only hearty sorrow and repentance is necessary to Salvation but that this sorrow if it be true and hearty will express it self by some exterior acts of humiliation more or less for example by weeping mourning sighing frequent humble ejaculations to Heaven for Pardon fasting neglected Attire c. All this notwithstanding how few of the several Professors of Religion amongst us spend any considerable time in devout and holy Prayers or any considerable proportion of their Estates in works of Charity or notoriously deny themselves in eating drinking apparel c. In which great and main Substantials of Christianity if we did holily strive who should most of all abound this were the more ready way to bring us to be all of one mind rather than our quarrels and disputes oftentimes about matters of very small concern as to our eternal welfare To instance only in the duty or virtue of Repentance which we all acknowledg to be necessary to Salvation and one of the first works a New-Convert ought especially to be exercised in My Conscience tells me I am guilty of many and enormous wickednesses The acts of my several sins and abominable impieties are past but they have highly provoked my Creator and God against me have left foul footsteps behind them in my own Soul and have moreover done no small damage to the Souls of many of my poor Neighbours and Acquaintance How now must all these grand mischiefs be repair'd Surely I can never hope for eternal happiness from Almighty God in the next life vnless by some means or other I first appease his justly incensed anger against me in this And if no unclean thing can enter into the Kingdom of Heaven the foul footsteps my impieties have left behind them must be effaced before I partake of eternal Bliss And if I may not presume to offer my gift in God's Temple here below before I have first reconciled my self to my offended Brethren can I hope to be admitted into the Holy of Holies of the Great God above before I have made some repair of the inestimable damage I have done many of my poor Brethrens souls But what remedy of so many and so great evils I know none but a zealous return to the ancient Primitive Practice of Christian Repentance Let us not deceive our selves we offend the same God the Primitive Christians did and profane the same Sacrament of Baptism by our sins which they did by theirs and unless we will flatter our selves with vain hopes we must not think to expiate those sins with a few Paters and Aves which cost them whole years exercises in Penitential Austerities Quam magna deliquimus tam granditer defleamus c. As heinously says St. Cyprian Serm. de Lapsis And as greatly
we much to labour to come to hear this Voice the labour will be rather to stop thine ears that thou maist not hear it For the Voice it self offers it self intrudes it self nor does it cease continually to knock at every one's door In fine Forty years says he I have been very neer to that generation and have said they always err with their heart He is still very neer unto us he still speaks and perhaps there is not who hears him He still says these err with their heart Psal 94. He is still very near unto us he still speaks and perhaps there is not who hears him He still says these err with their heart still Wisdom cries in the streets Transgressors return to your heart For this is the beginning of our Lord 's speaking and this Word seems to have gone before to all those who are converted to their heart not only calling them back but also bringing them back again and setting them before their own face for it is not only a Voice of power but also a Ray of light telling men of their sins and enlightning the hidden things of darkness Nor is there any difference betwixt the internal Voice and Light the same Son of God being the Word of the Father and the Splendor of his Glory and the substance also of the Soul in its kind spiritual and uncompounded without any distinction of senses is whole seeing if we may call it a whole and also in like manner whole hearing For what is done by that either Ray of Light or Word but that only the Soul is made to know it self For the Book of Conscience is opened the miserable order of the Life is unfolded a sad Story is repeated Reason is enlighten'd and the unfolded Memory is exhibited to certain eyes as it were of the Soul But both is not so much any thing of the Soul as the Soul it self so that the same is both the beholder and the beholded the Soul set before her own face and by sturdy apparitors to wit of thoughts sent into her she is compelled as a guilty Criminal to appear before her own Tribunal And who is able to undergo this Judgment without being troubled My Soul is troubled at my self says the Prophet of our Lord Psal 142. and doest thou wonder that thou canst not be set before thy face without reprehension without turbation without confusion CHAP. III. That by the Voice of God the reasonable part of the Soul is made able to see reprove distinguish and discern all its own miseries NOR must you hope to hear from me what Reason distinguishes discerns and reprehends in your Memory Apply thy hearing turn the eyes of thy heart to within and thou shalt learn by thy own experience what is done there For no body knows what things are in man but the Spirit of man which is in him If Pride if Envy if Covetousness if Ambition or any such Plague lie hidden there it will hardly escape this examen If Fornication if Theft if Cruelty if any Deceit or any other Fault shall have been committed the Criminal will not be able to hide himself from this Judg within nor will he deny it before him For all that itch of unlawful delight and all the enticing pleasure was soon ended but it imprinted certain bitter marks in the memory it left behind it foul footsteps For into that Repository as into a Sink all the abomination ran all the filth flowed A large Volume in which all thinge are written and that with the Pen of truth now the belly is griped with bitterness although it seemed to have delighted the miserable jaws in its short passage with a certain frivolous sweetness Miserable man that I am grieved for my belly I am grieved for my belly And why should I not be pained for the belly of my memory into which such a deal of filth hath been cast My Brethren who of us when he takes notice that the garment which he wears is all over bedawbed with foul spattle and defiled with filthy ordure does not vehemently abhor it does not presently put it off does not with indignation cast it away from him wherefore he that discovers not his Garment but himself within under his garment to be in such a manner defiled ought so much the more to grieve and be in consternation by how much neerer he carries about him what he abhors For the defiled Soul cannot so cast away it self as it can its bespotted Coat In fine who is there amongst us of so great patience and vertue that if perhaps as we read concerning Mary the Sister of Moses he should see his flesh by a certain leprosy on the sudden white with an ill whiteness should be able to bear it with an equal mind and give his Creator thanks Now what is this flesh of ours but a certain rotten Coat with which we are clothed Or what is this bodily leprosy to be looked upon by the Elect but as the Rod of our Father's correction and the purgation of our Heart But there there is vehement tribulation and most just cause of grief when a Sinner awaked out of the sleep of his miserable pleasure shall begin to deprehend and see that internal leprosy which he has got to himself with much study and labour For no body hates his own flesh much less can the Soul hate it self CHAP. IV. That he who loves Wickedness hates both his own Soul and Body BUt perhaps somebody may be moved with that of the Psalmist He who loves iniquity hates his own Soul But I say that he hates also his own Body For does he not hate it for which he daily merits more and more fire in Hell for which according to his hard and impenitent heart he treasures up wrath against the day of wrath Notwithstanding this hatred as well of the Body as of the Soul is rather in effect than affection So the phrenetick man hates his own flesh when he endeavours to mischief himself the diliberation of Reason being asleep in him But can there be a worse phrensie than impenitency of heart and an obstinate resolution to go on in sin For such an one lays violent hands upon himself nor does he tear and gnaw his flesh but his mind If thou hast seen a man fret and scratch his hands till they bleed again thou hast in such an one a clear and lively pourtraicture of a Soul when it sins For the pleasure gives place to grief and pain succeeds the itching delight Nor was he ignorant of it that so it would be but dissembled it when he scratched himself So we tear and wound our unhappy Souls with our own hands but with this difference that we wound them so much the more grievously by how much a spiritual Creature is more excellent and more hardly cured Nor do we this out of hatred or ill-will but out of a stupid internal insensibility For the Soul being poured out abroad it has no
that entring in she might see good things and visit that place For here she shall find abundant rest and shall also so much the less disquiet me as her self shall be quieted For he is no lier who has said Take my yoke upon you and you shall find rest for your souls In the Faith of this Promise let him speak to her now exasperated very lovingly and simulating a certain cheerfulness convening her in the spirit of meekness let him say to her Let thy indignation wholly cease I am not one that can offend thee my body is thine and I my self am thine thou needst not fear there is no cause thou shouldst be afraid Nor is it strange if perhaps she has returned but a froward answer so as to have even told him that many thoughts have made him mad but let him bear all patiently and dissemble what he is a doing of whilst amidst discourse bringing in one thing after another he may at length opportunely infer and say I have found a very fine Garden to day and a most pleasant place it would be good for us to be there for it must needs do thee hurt to toss and turn to be compunct with sad grief of heart in this thy Bed of sickness in this Couch of sorrow Our Lord will be present to him that seeks him to the soul that hopes in him he will hear his humble supplications and will give efficacy to his words The Will shall be moved not only to desire to see the place but also by little and little to enter into it and to make its abode there CHAP. XXI That the Soul ought to take up its rest in this Contemplation BUT you must not think that this Paradise of internal Pleasure is a corporeal place We go into this Garden not by our feet but by our affections Nor is here recommended to thee a plenty of earthly Trees but a pleasant and lovely Plantation of Spiritual Vertues 'T is an enclosed Garden where a sealed Fountain is derived into four Heads and out of one only vein of Wisdom does a quadrupartite Vertue proceed Fair white Lillies also flourish there and when the Flowers appear the Voice of the Turtle too is heard There Spikenard sends forth a most fragrant odour and other Spices too exhale their Perfumes The Southern Air breaths gently there but Northern Blasts are quite banished thence In the middle stands the Tree of Life that Apple-tree of the Canticles better than all the Trees of the Woods whose shadow refrigerates the Spouse and whose Fruit is sweet unto her Palat. There the nitid luster of Continency and the intuition of the plain sincere Truth irradiates the eyes of the heart and the sweet Voice of the interior Comforter gives joy and gladness to the hearing There by certain nostrils of hope is drawn in the most pleasant odour of the plentiful Field which our Lord has blessed There greedily are foretasted the incomparable delights of Charity and the Briers and Thorns being cut up which formerly galled the mind now superfused with the Unction of Mercy it happily rests in a good Conscience Which things in good sooth are not the rewards of Eternal Life but the wages of this Temporal Warfare nor do they belong to the Promises of the future Church but of that which now is for this is that hundred-fold which in this World is given to the Contemners of this World Nor must thou hope that this is to be made commendable to thee by my speech 't is the Spirit alone which reveals it in vain doest thou consult Books seek rather Experience 'T is a Wisdom whose value man knows not it is learnt in secret nor is that delicious sweetness to be found in the Land of those that live deliciously For it is the sweetness of our Lord unless thou taste it thou shalt never see it Taste says he and see how that our Lord is sweet Psal 13. 'T is an hidden Manna 't is a new Name which no body knows but he that receives it Not Learning but the Unction teaches it nor does Science but Conscience comprehend it 'T is an holy thing 't is a Jewel nor will he who began to do and to teach do that himself which he forbids us to do For he does not look upon them as dogs or hogs whom renouncing their former Wickednesses and Villanies he comforts by his Apostle saying Ye were indeed these things but ye are washed but ye are sanctified 1 Cor. 6. ver 11. only have a care that you do not return with the Dog to his vomit nor with the Sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire CHAP. XXII That being refreshed with the taste of Contemplation he is made to understand Divine things IN the door then of this Paradise the Voice of the Divine Whisper is heard and the most sacred and most secret Councel which is hidden from the Wise and Prudent is revealed unto little ones The hearing of which Voice reason now does not only conceive but also gratefully communicates it to the Will Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after Justice because they shall be satiated Mat. 5. v. 6. A profound Councel this indeed and an inestimable Sacrament A faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation which is come to us from Heaven from the Royal Seats There was made a great Famine on earth and we all began to be in want yea were even come to extreme penury In fine we were compared to the Beasts without understanding and were made like unto them we insatiably hunger after even the very husks of Hogs He who loves Money is not satiated he who loves Lasciviousness is not satiated he who seeks Glory is not satiated In a word he who loves the World is never satiated I have known men who were satiated with this World and that even nauseated every memory of it I have known those who were satiated with Money and satiated with Honours satiated with the pleasures and curiosities of this World nor moderately satiated neither but even unto loathing of them And it is easy for every one of us through the Grace of God to obtain this satiety or fulness for abundance does not breed it but contempt So ye children of Adam by greedily feeding upon the food of Swine ye do not feed your hungry Souls but the hunger of your Souls For by this kind of food your needy appetite is only nourished with this unnatural meat your hunger only is fed And to speak out taking for example one of those many things which human vanity covets and desires I say Mens bodies shall as soon be satiated with Air as their hearts shall be satiated with Gold Nor let the Covetous man take this ill I say the same concerning the Ambitious the Luxurious and other vicious Persons And if perhaps any one does not believe me let him credit his own experience and the experience of many Who is there amongst you Brethren that would
gladly be satiated and have his desire filled Let him begin to hunger after Justice and he cannot but be satisfied Let him desire that Bread of which there is such plenty in his Fathers House and he shall find himself instantly to loath the husks of Hogs Let him study but even a little to experiment the savour of Justice that hereby he may desire it more and more as it is written He that eats me shall still have hunger he that drinks me shall still have thirst Eccl. 24. For this more natural desire and more allied to the Spirit does more vehemently occupy the heart of man and more powerfully expel out of it all other desires So to wit the strong man armed is overcome by one stronger than he so one nail is wont to be driven out by another Blessed therefore are they who hunger and thirst after Justice because they shall be satiated Not indeed with that fulness with which no man shall be satiated and live but with all other things which formerly were unsatiably desired that henceforth the Will ceasing to vindicate the body to her self to serve her former concupiscences may wholly submit it to reason and her self rather urge it to serve Justice unto Sanctification not with less zeal than formerly she made it serve iniquity to iniquity CHAP. XXIII That Sins that have been punished and are not reiterated cannot hurt us BUT now the Will being changed and the Body brought into servitude and so the Fountain being in some measure dried up and the inlet stopt there remains yet a third and an harder thing to be done to wit the purging of the Memory and emptying of the Sink For how shall my life be got out of my memory A vile and thin membrane has wholly imbib'd a strong ink and by what art shall it be blotted out For it has not only dyed the upper superficies but has penetratively sunk into it all In vain should I labour to scratch it out the Paper would be sooner cut in pieces than the sad Characters would be expung'd For perhaps oblivion might be able to destroy my very Memory to wit that losing my senses I might not remember what Sins I have committed But that my memory should remain entire and yet the spots of it should be done out what Rasor could effect it Nothing can do it but the living and efficacious Word more penetrating than any two-edged Sword Thy sins are forgiven thee Mar. 2. v. 5. Let the Pharisee grumble and say Who can forgive sins but God only For he who speaks that to me is God and he shall not be esteemed another from him who has invented every way of discipline and has given it to Jacob his child and to Israel his beloved one Besides this he was seen in our earth and he conversed with men Bar. 3. His pardon blots out sin not indeed that it should not at all abide in the memory but that what formerly was wont both to be in the memory and to infect it may hereafter be so in the memory as it shall by no means discolour or stain it For we remember many sins which we know to have been committed by our selves or others but our own sins only defile us others do not hurt us And why this but because we are singularly ashamed of these and these we fear shall singularly be imputed to us Take away Damnation take away Fear take away Confusion all which a full Pardon absolutely takes away and they shall not only not hurt us but shall also cooperate to our good to make us devoutly return thanks to him who has pardoned them CHAP. XXIV Of Mercy which is promised to the Merciful BUT now to him making supplication for remission it is congruously answered Blessed are the merciful for they shall obtain mercy Mat. 5. Have pitty therefore on thy Soul who wouldst have God have pitty upon thee Wash thy Bed every night remember to water thy Couch with thy tears If thou hast compassion on thy self if thou labourest in the groans of repentance which is the first degree of mercy thou shalt assuredly obtain mercy But if perhaps thou hast been a great and manifold Sinner and seeks great mercy and a multitude of miserations do thou also strive to magnify and to multiply thy mercy be reconciled unto thy self for thou wast made grievous to thy self because thou wast put contrary to God And this peace being restored in thy own House it is necessary then that it be dilated towards thy Neighbours that last of all thy Beloved may kiss thee with the kiss of his mouth and as it is written Being reconciled thou maist have peace with God Rom. 5. Forgive those who have sinned against thee and it shall be forgiven thee what thou hast sinned Mat. 6. v. 14. Whilst with a secure Conscience thou shalt pray to thy Father and say Forgive us our debts as we also forgive our debtors v. 12. If perhaps thou hast defrauded any one restore if not doubly at least simply what is over and above give to the Poor and shewing mercy thou shalt obtain mercy If thy sins shall be as Scarlet they shall be made white as Snow and if they be red as Vermilion they shall be white as Wooll Isa 2. That thou maist not be confounded for all thy inventions by which thou hast prevaricated and in which thou now blushest give Alms if thou canst not of earthly substance of a good will and all things shall be clean not only thy Reason shall be enlightned and Will corrected but also thy very Memory shall be clean that henceforth thou maist be called to our Lord and maist hear the Voice of him saying Blessed are they whose hearts are clean CHAP. XXV That the Heart is to be cleansed that God may be seen BLessed are the clean of heart because they shall see God Mat. 5. v. 8. It is a great promise Brethren and worthy to be affected with all our desires For this vision is our confirmation as St. John the Apostle says We are now the Sons of God but it has not yet appeared what we shall be We know when he shall appear we shall be like him because we shall see him as he is 1 Joh. 3. v. 2. This vision is Life eternal as Truth it self says in the Gospel This is Life eternal to know thee the only true God and whom thou hast sent Jesus Christ Joh. 17. v. 3. Detestable spot which takes away from us the beatifying vision and execrable negligence by which we dissemble the cleansing of that eye For as our corporeal sight is hindred either by some interior humour or by the injection of some exterior dust so also the spiritual sight is sometimes troubled by the allurement of our own flesh and sometimes by worldly curiosity and ambition Which truly is taught us no less by our own proper experience than by the Divine Scriptures where it is written The Body which is corrupted
aggravates the Soul and the earthly Habitation depresses the Vnderstanding ruminating on many things Wisd 9. Yet in both it is sin only which troubles and dims the sight nor does any thing else seem to separate betwixt the Eye and Light betwixt God and Man For as long as we are in this body we are Pilgrims from God Not that the fault is in the Body to wit this body of death which we carry about us but rather because the flesh is the body of sin in which there is no good thing but rather the law of sin Yet sometimes the eye of the body the mote not still remaining in it but being now taken or blown out seems for a while to see dimly the which very thing he who walks spiritually often experiments in the interior eye The wound is not therefore cured because you have drawn out the Sword but then first it is necessary to apply Plaisters and endeavour the Cure Let no man therefore emptying the sink deem that he is forthwith made clean but let him know that he needs yet many purifications Nor must he only be wash'd with water but also be purged and purified by fire that he may say We have passed through fiâ—e and water and thou hast brought us out into refreshing Psal 65. Blessed therefore are the clean of heart for they shall see God Mat. 5. Now indeed through a glass dimly but hereafter face to face to wit when the cleanness of our face shall be consummated that he may exhibit it to himself glorious having neither spot nor wrinckle CHAP. XXVI Of the Peaceable Patient and Peace-maker WHere very opportunely it 's immediately inferr'd Blessed are the Peacemakers because they shall be called the Sons of God For he is a peaceable man who rendring good for good as much as in him is wills no body no hurt Another is Patient who not rendring evil for evil is able to bear with him who does him hurt And there is also a Peace-maker who returning good for ill he is ready to profit him who does him damage The first is a little one and is easily scandalized nor can he that is such an one easily obtain Salvation in this wicked World and full of scandals The second as it is written possesses his Soul in patience The third does not only possess his own Soul but also gains the Souls of many The first as much as is in him has peace The second keeps peace The third makes peace Deservedly therefore he is beatified with the name of Son because he has fulfilled the work of a Son who being not ungrateful after his own reconciliation does also reconcile others to his Father For he who shall have ministred well acquires to himself a good degree nor is there a better degree to be believed in the house of his Father than that of a Son For if Sons then Heirs Heirs indeed of God but Co-heirs with Christ Rom. 8. ver 17. That as he says Where he is there also his Minister may be Joh. 12. v. 26 I have wearied you with the length of my Discourse and have kept you longer than I should have done So that now seeing that modesty does not the very time seems to command an end to my talkativeness Remember notwithstanding the Apostle who upon a time you read protracted his Sermon until midnight And I would to God that I may use his words that you would yet a little bear my folly for I emulate you with the emulation of God 2 Cor 11. CHAP. XXVII A Reprehension of the Ambitious who having not their hearts cleansed presume to pacify God towards others MY little ones who will shew you how to fly from the wrath to come For no body more deserves anger than an enemy counterfeiting himself to be a friend O Judas doest thou with a kiss betray the Son of man one of the same mind with me who together with me didst eat sweet bits who dip'st thy hand with me in the Platter Thou hast no part in that Prayer with which he prays to his Father and says Father forgive them for they know not what they do Lu. 24. Wo be unto you who take away the key not only of Knowledg but also of Authority neither do your selves enter in and you many ways hinder those whom you ought to have introduced For ye take away and do not receive the keys Concerning whom our Lord complains by his Prophet They have reigned and not by me they have been Princes and I have not called them Hos 8. Whence so great a zeal of Superiority whence such an impudency of Ambition whence such a madness of human Presumption would any of you dare to take upon you the Ministeries to invade the Benefices to manage the Affairs of some Earthly Prince he not commanding but even prohibiting of you Neither must thou think God Almighty approves those things which in his great House he suffers from vessels of wrath fit for destruction Many indeed come but consider who is called Mark the order of our Lord's Sermon Blessed says he are the clean of heart because they shall see God Mat. 5. And then Blessed are the Peacemakers because they shall be called the Sons of God Now the Heavenly Father calls those clean of heart who do not seek their own things but the things of Jesus Christ nor what is profitable for themselves but what is profitable for many Peter says he doest thou love me Lord thou knowest that I love thee Feed my Sheep Joh. 21. For when indeed would he commend Sheep so beloved to one that did not love him And this is required of Dispensators that one be found faithful Wo be to unfaithful Ministers who being not themselves yet reconciled as if they were men that lived righteously take upon them the business of reconciling others Wo to the Sons of Wrath who profess themselves Ministers of Grace Wo to the Sons of Wrath who fear not to usurp to themselves the degree and name of Peace-makers Wo to the Sons of Wrath who lying say they are faithful Mediators of Peace that they may eat up the sins of the people Wo to those who living carnally cannot please God and yet presume to undertake to appease him CHAP. XXVIII That some usurp to themselves the degree of Peacemakers WE do not wonder Brethren we who have compassion on the present state of the Church we do not wonder that from the root of the Serpent has issued a Cockatrice We do not wonder if he gather the Vintage of the Lord's Vineyard who transgresses the way ordained by the Lord. For he impudently invades the degree of a Peace-maker and the Office of a Son of God who has not as yet heard the very first Voice of the Lord making him to reflect upon his own heart or if perhaps at any time he has begun to hear it returning back again he ran to the Fig-leaves that he might be hidden by them Wherefore neither has he as
all men vvhom the net shall dravv shall the vessels of the Fishermen receive but it shall happen vvhen they shall be come to shore they shall pick out the good into their vessels but the bad they shall cast avvay Nor yet let us be content with this girding of our loins but let us also light our Lamps and fervorously work that which is good remembring that every tree not only which shall have brought bad fruit but also which shall not have brought good fruit shall be cut down and thrown into the fire to wit into that eternal fire which is prepared for the Devil and his Angels Let us so abstain from evil that we also do good let us seek Peace and not Glory For that is Gods and he will not give it to another My Glory says he I will not give to another Isa 42. And the man after God's heart said Not unto us O Lord not unto us but to thy Name give the Glory Psal 123. Let us remember also the Scripture which says If thou rightly offâ—rs and doest not divide rightly thou hast sinned Gen. 4. Brethren the division we have made is right and just let no body find fault with it But if perhaps somebody may be less pleased with it let him know that it is not ours but the Angels For the Angels first sung Glory be to God on hâ—gh and upon earth Peace to men of good will Luke 2. Let us therefore keep Oil in our Vessels lest perhaps which God forbid knocking in vain at the Wedding-Gates now shut we chance to hear a sad word the Bridegroom answering us from within I know you not Still notwithstanding Death lies not only near impiety unfruitfulness and vanity but also neer the entrance of even pleasure Wherefore we have need of fortitude against the temptations of sin that being strong in Faith we may resist the roaring Lion and with this Buckler manfully repel his fiery darts We have need of Justice that we may work that which is good We have need of Prudence lest with the foolish Virgins we be rejected Finally we have need of Temperance lest indulging to sensuality we one day hear what that miserable Epicure when he cried for mercy after all his Junkets and fine Clothes heard Remember Son that thou receivedst good things in thy life and Lazarus evil things but now he is comforted and thou art tormented Luk. 16. ver 25. In good deed God is terrible in his Counsels about the Sons of men But if he be terrible he is also found merciful whilst he does not hide from us the form of the Judgment that is to be hereafter For the Soul which shall have sinned that shall die and the branch which shall have born no fruit shall be cut off Ezek. 18. v. 4. The Virgin which shall have wanted Oil shall be excluded the Marriage-Feast and he who shall have received good things in this life shall be tormented in the other But if perhaps it happen that in some one all these four things together be found such an estate is in the highest degree desperate CHAP. XVIII That the Spirit being enclined to good the Flesh resists it THese things then and such like things as these Reason interiorly suggests unto the Will and this so much more copiously by how much more perfectly it is instructed by the illumination of the Holy Ghost And happy they indeed whose Wills so yielded and acquiesced in Reason's Council that conceiving from fear were afterwards cherished by the Celestial Promises and in fine brought forth the Spirit of Salvation But perhaps the will shall be found rebellious and obstinate and not only impatient of admonitions but even worse for them harder for threats and more embittered by all the kind of cherishings you can use Nay perhaps she will be found not only nothing moved by the suggestions of reason but perhaps being put into a strange fury may answer saying How long do I endure to hear you prattle your Preaching concerns not me I know that you are crafty but your craft has no place in me And perhaps calling to her all the parts of the Body she commands them more than usually to obey her wonted Concupiscences and to serve her accustomed Wickednesses Hence to wit is that which we learn by daily experiences that they who are deliberating to be converted are more smartly tempted by the concupiscence of the flesh and they are urged more grievously in works of dirt and brick who strive to get out of Egypt and to rid themselves of the Tyrannical Empire of Pharaoh CHAP. XIX That we must Mourn and after Mourning be Comforted BUT I would to God that he who is such an one would forbear sinning and have a care of that terrible depth of which it is written The profane man when he shall have come into the depth of evils contemns Prov. 18. For truly he is cured by a very strong Potion and will easily be endangered unless with great solicitude he study to obey the counsels of his Physitian and to observe his Precepts His tentation is vehement and almost desperate unless he gather together his whole force and convert his whole affection to take compassion on his Soul which he sees to be so piteously miserable and hear the Voice which says Blessed are those that mourn for they shall be comforted Mat. 5. v. 4. Let him mourn abundantly because the time of Mourning is come and these things are sufficient to dissolve him into continual tears Let him mourn but not without an affection of Piety and hope of being comforted Let him consider that no rest is to be found in himself but all full of misery and desolation Let him consider that there is no good thing in his flesh but that also in the wicked World there is nothing but vanity and affliction of Spirit Let him consider that neither within him nor beneath him nor round about him is any consolation to be met with but at least at length let him learn that it is to be sought for above and to be hoped for from above In the mean time let him mourn lamenting with grief let his eyes run streams of tears and let not his eye-lids rest For the dim eye is purged with tears and the sight is sharpned to be able to look upon the clarity of the brightest light CHAP. XX. That after Consolation we are to set our selves to Contemplate Heavenly things FRom this time let him peep through the hole let him look through the lattice let him follow with his eye the comfortable ray and as a diligent imitator of the wise men with light let him seek light For he shall find the place of the admirable Tabernacle where man eats the bread of Angels he shall find the Paradise of Pleasure our Lord's Plantation he shall find the pleasant and flourishing Garden he shall find the seat of Refreshment and shall say O if that miserable Will would but hear my voice