defence of his Souldiers They hazard their lives for a pitiful Pay which oftentimes they never get but our King and Captain secures us a certain Pay rewarding us with Life and Glory If they fly over to their Enemy 't is out of hope to preserve their lives but if we do so we run to eternal death and fly from eternal life The War of the World is made by wounding hurting and killing others but the War of God against the World is made by receiving Injuries Affronts Wounds and even Death it self if it be necessary The War of the World is to Conquer by destroying others but the War against the World is to Conquer by undergoing Difficulties and Suffering for God's sake In that War it is Force that overcomes in this 't is Patience The Victories of that War are gotten by pulling down and trampling upon others but in this by debasing and humbling our selves The Triumphs of that War are here upon Earth and of a short continuance but those of this War are to be in Heaven above and to endure for ever and ever Fight therefore couragiously have patience and persevere the Battle lasts but for a while thou art already near the Crown that is to be thy Reward Arm us O thou great Captain of our Salvation for this Warfare with the Shield of Faith the Breast-plate of Righteousness the Helmet of Salvation and with the Sword of the Spirit and grant that having our Feet shod with the preparation of the Gospel of Peace we may chearfully withstand all Assaults of our Ghostly Enemies keeping still present in our thoughts the Vow we made to thee in our Baptism to fight manfully under thy Banner against the World the Flesh and the Devil and to continue thy Faithful Souldiers and Servants unto our lives end The Second WEEK Of Repentance and Absolution OUR blessed Redeemer and Saviour of Souls did not stop here He thought it not enough to Arm us for the Spiritual Warfare but has also provided a Remedy to cure our Wounds His Divine Majesty knew our weakness he knew our proneness to Vice he knew that like Cowards we should sometimes throw down our Weapons at the feet of our Enemies and basely fly from his Banner for the sake of some filthy Appetite He would not leave our Souls without help but his Compassion seeing our Frailty and Misery was pleased in the very sight of so great Ingratitude to prepare a Medicine for the cure of our Wounds and an Antidote for the Poyson of our Sins by establishing the Doctrine of Repentance and by giving Power and Commandment to his Ministers to declare and pronounce unto such as are truly Penitent the Absolution and Remission of their sins Great was the Love of our Lord in dying for us upon the Cross nor was it less in giving us this means to make his Sufferings effectual to us To pardon past Offences has been seen and sometimes one man to suffer for another but not at so dear a Price as his own Blood For a Person offended to suffer the sight of his Enemies is much when it is to do them good but 't is much more when he knows that they are not only Enemies but that they are ungrateful and despise his Benefits to shed his very blood to make a Medicine for their Wounds This is a pity exceeding all Humane Understanding That there should be care taken in Armies to cure the Wounded and Hospitals for the Sick it is not strange because they are Faithful Souldiers and venture their Lives in Fighting for their King But in the War of the Spirit that the Saviour of Souls should prepare Remedies not for his Friends that fight on his side but for Enemies and Souldiers that desert him that he should admit them again to be new listed under his Banner is a Mercy beyond comparison To pardon Mutineers has been seen in Armies but yet the Heads are commonly punished and the Companies disbanded but not only to pardon such Enemies and Traytors but to call them back to Love to Cure to Reward to Honour and Sustain them with his own Flesh and Blood can be the effect of nothing but an Infinite Charity and Compassion So great is the Benefit of Repentance which giving us a Title to the blood of Christ not only Cures those that are wounded but also raises those that are dead in sins nor is there any thing above the Cure of that Soveraign Medicine unless the Party affected resists the power of it which is so great that it not only cures the Wound but takes away the very Scars and makes those that are recovered more sound and healthful than they were before Behold a Man fallen from a Ship into the Sea and ready to be drowned amidst the Waves see with what eagerness he calls for a Cable with what greediness he catches at the Plank nay the poor wretch would even lay hold on a naked Sword to save his Life though with the loss of his Blood so the Christian who by the Grace of Baptism sails in the Ship of the Church being carried by his Passions throws himself into the World and is sinking in the Tempest of his sins and if he be drowned he perishes to Eternity but as he is sinking he finds this second Plank of Repentance to save him from Shipwrack and by it is drawn up into the Ship again and preserved to arrive in safety at his desired Port. Apply thy self therefore to the use of this Remedy with Humility with an holy Disposition and great sorrow for thy sins and by Faith in the Merits of Christ's Blood and then thou shalt rise up not only cured but crowned Call to remembrance thy sins and make a firm Resolution never to offend thy Lord again Be affected with a sorrow that is pure in its sincerity pious in its intention great in its degree perpetual in its lasting and particular in the enumeration of thy several sins with all the aggravating Circumstances thereof Finally let thy Confession be clear and undissembled with confusion of Face for thy often relapses giving Glory to God and taking Shame to thy self Make use of a Spiritual Guide in all difficulties of Conscience for thy Instruction and Consolation Forgive all Injuries thou hast at any time received which are but a few Pence in comparison of the many Talents which thou hast to be forgiven and remember that Christ says Except ye forgive men their trespasses neither will your Heavenly Father forgive you your trespasses And not only forgive thine Enemies but embrace them with unfeigned Affection for his sake and by his Example who loved thee when thou wast his Enemy Of the Holy Eucharist In this Preparation of Soul wounded both with Love and Grief and thirsting as the Hart for the Water-brooks approach reverently to the Sacrament of thy Saviour's Body and Blood which that gracious Lord instituted at his last Supper for a continual remembrance of the Sacrifice of himself
frequently receive and consecrate the Sacrament were they that fear'd him most and within that Humility Reverence and Fear they found the Treasures of Love O what tears of Fear did they shed at the receiving of it What fire of Love did they find in their Breasts by being so united to their Saviour What high knowledge sprang up from the depth of their Humility and Fear What Faith in believing and adoring him What Hope in seeking him and what Charity in finding and possessing him They did as St. Peter did at the first knowledge of his Master's Divinity in the Miracle of the draught of Fishes when throwing himself prostrate at his feet he said Depart from me O Lâ—rd for I am a sinful Man The Apostle runs to his Master's feet and at the same time prays him to depart from him His high fear makes him beg that he would depart and his ardent Love makes him at the same instant to draw near that approach was caused by Love and the bidding him depart proceeded from fear Thus at the Communion be thou all Humility Fear and Acknowledgment that thou art unworthy to receive so great a Lord but yet knowing thy unworthiness thou oughtest so much the rather to approach so high a Majesty with Love as well as with Fear and Humility That Fear which separates us from God is never a good Fear for where but in God can we find the Perfection both of Love and Fear O eternal God is not thy Goodness communicable Art not thou a God who givest thy self and makest all Creatures to participate of thy Goodness Then why shall not we come to this Communion and receive this communicable Good Art not thou Goodness and Liberality it self who bestowest thy Treasures upon all Didst thou institute this Sacrament in Bread and Wine to the end that Men should only see it and not receive and eat it Why didst thou leave thy self in this manner amongst Men but to be their Support and Nourishment When thou didst consecrate this Coelestial Bread didst thou not receive it first of all thy self and then give it unto thy Holy Disciples Thou knewest O Lord their Imperfections and that they would forsake thee and deny thee that very night yet thou gavest them remedy in thy blessed Body for without that their fall and their loss had been much greater O eternal Glory dost thou seek me and shâ—ll not I receive thee Dost thou come from Heaven to seek me and shall I fly out of the Church that I may not receive thee Thou comest O eternal Shepherd to be both my Shepherd and my Food and shall I poor lost and wandring Sheep refuse this Food and refuse to be born upon those blessed Shoulders Didst thou shed thy Blood to give it me for drink and was thy Body broken that I might feed upon it and shall I shut my Lips and my Heart and Soul against this meat and against this drink If I reject thee who art the Remedy of all my Griefs whom shall I ever receive If I drink not of thee thou Fountain of all Goodness when shall my thirst be satisfied If I bath not in this Fountain which thou hast set open for Sin and for Uncleanness who shall wash this Soul full of so many abominable Pollutions And if I be not to receive thee my God my Lord and my Creator but when I am indeed worthily disposed for it when shall I ever dare to approach thy Table Is any the highest Cherubim or Seraphin worthy to receive thee Can the greatest Purity deserve to partake of that unspeakable Greatness Is there any Goodness worthy or capable of that infinite Majesty The Blessed Virgin thy Mother confesses she is not worthy to receive thee and what am I then polluted Wretch and sinful Man unworthy beyond all unworthiness Didst thou not know O eternal God when thou didst institute this Sacrament that it was to be received by weak Men and mâ—…erable Sinners Thou didst consecrate it with this Condition O infinite Mercy that thou wert to suffer the Misery of our Nature and to bear with the Neglects and Imperfections of our Frailty Before thou madest thy self the Nourishment of Men thou knewest the Weakness and Sinfulness of Men and didst leave this Institution not only for our nourishment but also for the remedy of our Diseases Who can cure them O God but thou Who else can guide and strengthen and encourage me to encounter all the Difficulties to avoid all the Deceits and to overcome all the Temptations that I meet with in this Spiritual Warfare Who can be my Antidote against the Poison of Sin but the Author of Grace Who can enable me in this Banishment to travel through the most rugged Passages into my heavenly Country but thou who art the Way the Truth and the Life that dost sustain lead cheer and refresh me Do not suffer me O Lord to have that kind of fear which shall hinder me from serving and adoring thee from seeking and finding thee from possessing and enjoying thee but give me a filial and reverential Fear and such an one as even in the midst of fear may enflame me with thy Love Thus may we comfort and encourage our selves against the thought that Fear cannot well consist with Love by which mistake some are kept from daring to receive the Sacrament And because St. John says That perfect Love casts out Fear they believe that Love and Fear are not compatible and that not having this Love it would be a great Presumption in them to receive the Communion of the Body and Blood of the Holy Jesus But they do not well understand St. John for he does not speak of reverential Fear which is very consistent with Love and grows up with it but of servile Fear for that is it which is thrown out by holy and perfect Love The holy Fear of God keeps no Man from doing any thing that is good and much less from the chiefest good which is the receiving this blessed Sacrament but rather by how much more perfect fear is so much the more does it burn in Love and so much the nearer does it draw us to God And thou must not only take heed that filial fear hinder thee not from receiving it with that frequency which thy Spiritual Guide shall advise but thou oughtest also not to forbear the receiving it though with but a servile Fear If thou hast thy Conscience burdened with no heinous Sin and hast confessed and lamented all those thou knowest thy self guilty of resolving to forsake them for the future Go with Humility and an holy Confidence to receive that Sacrament for God may turn thy Attrition into Contrition and his Love will better thy fear though in the beginning it be Servile yet if thou frequent the Table of the Lord his Grace will amend it and make it to become Filial It often happens and very often that beginning by the fear of Hell and Punishment a Man
comes at last to the fear of offending so great a Goodness the Lord being so gracious and so good that he encreases our Charity only through the excess of his We begin with that which is imperfect before we can attain to that which is perfect We begin with Self-love and end with the hatred of our selves and with the perfect Love of God Believe me the receiving of this Sacrament draws vast Advantages along with it and those the Lord only by his infinite Goodness works wonderfully in us beyond what we see know or understand Let every one draw near with such Examination Confession and Preparation as he is able to make be it more or less if he have us'd his utmost diligence and let him hope that God will give him an hundred-fold encrease of what he brings How many Saints hath servile Fear made and brought to filial Fear who afterwards with Faith and Hope burning in Charity have cast away the former Fear and been enflam'd with love of the second How many Saints have begun their Spiritual course with fear of being tormented in Hell who afterwards only for God and his Love's sake have repented and bewailed their Sins and are now reigning in the Joys of Heaven How many Saints have by the means of Love cast out that imperfect Fear which was the Instrument to bring them to Love and to perfect filial Fear Our good Lord cures and remedies all things if we seek him and receive him by Grace trusting and relying upon his Goodness and Love to us Therefore those acts of Religion which are due as to their last end unto the three divine Persons in one Essence thou oughtest frequently to direct to the Reverence and the Worship of God in this divine and mysterious Sacrament In this Point all the Lines of thy Affection and Devotion ought to meet as in their Center Though it was the Son alone by whom it was instituted yet the Father is with him and with the Father is the Holy Ghost That Divine Lord that he might become our Saviour took our Nature upon him being conceived in the Womb of the blessed Virgin and if thou dost adore him the Saints and Angels are at the same time Adoring and Worshipping him whom thou dost adore and worship and for thy doing so with them He will both help and bless thee Thus the Devotion to our Saviour Jesus Christ in the Sacrament is the greatest of all Devotions This Worship and Reverence is the highest and comprehends all the rest The Fourth WEEK Of the Kingdom of Grace THE Kingdom of God says the Saviour of Souls is within you and it is that Kingdom of Grace which brings to the eternal Kingdom of Glory nor is it a small benefit and comfort that it is within us that we need not go far to seek it and to find it Happy is that necessitous Person who has his relief within himself he cannot be poor unless through perverse idleness he embraces his own Misery neither desiring nor knowing how to make use of that relief O the great Unhappiness that we should have this holy Kingdom within us and yet go out of it O the high Misfortune that this Kingdom of Grace being an infallible Pledge of that eternal one of Glory I by my Sins should banish my self from both the Kingdom of Grace and that of Glory that I my self of my own accord should forsake the eternal Joys and choose the Torments of Hell by embracing Passions and despising Vertue The Kingdom of Grace is to be in the Grace of God and God in us by his Mercy to subdue our Passions and by that means to make the inside suitable to the outside It is that my Reason should govern my Passions and the Spirit my Reason and to keep the Flesh mortified under that Dominion The Kingdom of Grace is that mine own Will and Appetites should be destroyed as much as may be and that the Divine Will should rule Instead of it O true Kingdom O just Empire without the least shew of Tyranny where the Creator governs the Creature and where Reason keeps the Passions and inferior Faculties of the Soul in subjection to it O Kingdom of true and holy Peace which knows nothing but Quietness and inward Joy above all other Contentments The Kingdom of Grace is for God to be in the Soul and the Soul in God for the Son to be in the Favour of his Father for the Creature to find himself beloved by the Creator for the Servant to yield himself humble obedient and resigned to the Will of his loving Lord which is not only Grace but Glory and great Glory In how great liberty is that happy Soul that lives and acts thus in the Grace of God! how much above all the Troubles and Miseries of this Life No torment no pain no disgust cometh into this Kingdom for there can be no torment pain or disgust but in the loss of it nor can any one lose it but he that will by forsaking Grace to commit Sin So long as a Man is in the Grace of God and does not lose his Grace and Mercy all things else do neither add to him nor take from him neither hurt him nor concern him Let the World burn in Wars abound in Misfortunes or shine in Felicity Let this Man rise and the other fall Let humane Affairs go as they will and these temporal transitory Kingdoms be in Peace or in Confusion He from the height of his Spiritual Kingdom looks down upon all with a quiet Resignation Let all the World join against it and with the World the Flesh and the Devil Let Affronts Calumnies and Persecutions arise if he lose not God and his Grace all the rest is but a greater encrease of Grace and a nearer approach to Glory Strive therefore to enter into this Kingdom for only those that live in it here shall see the Face of God hereafter Rather live tormented in it than be drawn out of it by deceitful Pleasures Rather suffer thy self to be torn in pieces than to be brought under the Slavery and Miseries of Sin Rather suffer a thousand Torments in this holy militant Jerusalem than make thy self a wretched Slave in the infamous City Babylon Forsake not those Squadrons that are at the Gates of Heaven to flie over to those that are entring into the Jaws of Hell Each of these must go to their own place either to Glory or eternal Torment That they might not forsake this Kingdom of Grace the Holy Apostles Martyrs and Confessors forsook their Lives not to lose that the Baptist lost his Head St. Peter chose his Cross and the Apostle of the Gentiles gave up his Neck to the Sword St. Bartholomew gave his very Skin and finally all the Saints in Heaven chose Tribulations and Torments here upon Earth rather than to leave that sweet Kingdom of Grace And what great matter was it that they lost here since they recovered it an hundred fold
inward Senses In the loud noise of a Mill. I could not well hear the gentle voice of a Friend who comes to succour me in imminent danger It is necessary the noise should cease that I may apply my attention to hear the voice of my Friend If my Soul be diverted with Passions and other Thoughts how can it hear the amorous Invitations of the eternal Word How can his holy Inspirations enter or work upon me if I be taken up and carried away with worldly Cares If the Light of my Reason and of the Spirit be extinguished by my Passions how shall I see God or hear him when he speaks in my Heart Thy Life is within thee and therefore the Government of it ought to be Internal and Spiritual Thou oughtest to observe thy inward Motions and to hearken to the secret Voice of thy Master and Redeemer who comes to direct thee His Precepts and divine Counsels are not only to guide thee outwardly but by them thou art to square all thy Thoughts Words and Actions It is not only from our Spiritual Fathers and Teachers that we ought to receive direction but we have also another Master an inward and secret Master which is the Spirit of God who is Superior to them and enlightens them That shall speak to thee admonish and reprehend and guide thee and thou art to hearken to and obey it which thou wilt neither be willing nor able to do if thy Conscience be not pure and if thou dost not listen attentively to it That holy Master will govern thee with internal Light and Knowledge to which it is a great hindrance if the Heart be drawn away by Sin whether great or small but especially by Self-love and a Fondness of the Vanities of the World Pray therefore to God that he would cleanse thy Heart awaken enlighten guide and teach thee and not suffer Sins or Passions to enter into thy Soul or if at any time through infirmity thou fallest into any that he would give thee Grace to bewail them and to return to purity of Heart JVLY The First WEEK Of Temptations and the Grace of God in them BUT methinks I hear thee complaining and saying Lord I desire to please thee and would fain keep fast in this Kingdom of Grace that I may not loose that high Kingdom of Glory nor be ungrateful for so great benefits but my weakness is very frail and temptations are many which cross and hinder my works and my desires In me every step is a danger or to speak more properly a loss The Flesh disturbs me the Devil afrights me and the World deceives me I feel a Law within me which drags me away and carries me after it and when I have a mind to that which is good I find my self a Captive to that which is evil and though I know what is best yet I am drawn to follow that which is worst I would flie even from my self and yet I still find self within me O wretched Man Who shall deliver me from that self which hath more power over me than I my self have Do not disturb thy self thou hast one within thee who will defend thee from thy self great is the Labour but greater the Assistance If the Devil persecutes thee God helps thee If the Flesh tempts thee the Spirit encourageth thee and if the World entices thee the divine Light guides thee Suffer with resignation and be not weary of suffering for from thence will come thy remedy and thy reward Fear not Temptations when they come to thee but fear them when thou goest to them If God permits them to come he will strengthen thee to resist them and assist thee to conquer them But take heed of being in Temptation by thine own will and choice for then thou wilt fall in it By how many steps thou goest towards danger by so many thou drawest nearer to Sin Believe me I give thee Caution Thou art not so strong as David nor so wise as his Son Solomon and yet both of them fell by going to Temptation If thou livest with wariness heed and fear be not afraid of those Temptations wherewith the Lord proves thee for he does it to see the Bottom of thy Vertue If with the Left-hand he tempts with the Right he helps thee If with the one he assails thee with the other he supports thee Wouldst thou triumph without getting the Victory No Man is crown'd in Peace but he that with Valour Constancy and Perseverance endures the Hardships of War Wouldst thou live in the Spiritual Life without Temptations and Tribulations That is not to be truly Spiritual Take it therefore for a Temptation to be without temptation The stillest Peace uses to be the highest danger and what seems to be safety is many times but deceit and vanity The Devil lets thee alone to make thee trust in thine own self that he may the sooner and the more certainly destroy thee That troublesome Enemy has his Stratagems he withdraws to deceive thee and retires to come back with a fresh Assault Sometimes he recreates thy Senses disposes thee to Tenderness and outward Devotion only to beget a secret Pride in thee and a foolish Confidence that may carry thee to eternal ruine But do not thou consent to that which is bad but ask Strength of God and so thou wilt make the Bad to become Good The Saints suffered Tribulation and the Saviour of the World suffered Temptation and dost thou refuse to suffer them By going the same way thou shalt come to the same end and by following thou shalt attain Do not believe that without steering the same course thou shalt arrive at the same Port where they are entred Dost thou think to find a particular way for thy self That will be no way but a Precipice Sufferings Pains Difficulties and the Cross are the way to Heaven but in those Pains and Difficulties there is exceeding great Consolation Who art thou that thou wouldst not suffer weak wretched and faint-hearted Sinner Who art thou or what Man is there in the World that can be exempt from Troubles and Temptations Man is born to Labour and is full of Misery within him and without him he is encompass'd round therewith but fear not Tribulations or Hardships be afraid of nothing but Sin Believe me there is no other way to save thee but the royal holy and perfect way of the Cross The Redeemer of Souls saves us by the Cross He died upon the Cross and we must live under the Cross to enjoy the Triumphs of the Cross He from his Passion came to his Resurrection and by his Resurrection to his glorious Ascension Thou shalt never be rais'd to the Life eternal if thou dost not suffer for God in this temporal Life Thou shalt not enter into the Kingdom of Glory without striving here in the Kingdom of Grace Dost thou think that by avoiding to suffer for God thou shalt escape suffering Thou deceivest thy self for they suffer
THE SPIRITVAL YEAR or Devout Contemplations for every week c Blest Souls that wing'd by sweet devotion love To converse oft with the great God above Our time so spent is well imploy'd and wee By such Weeks Months Years secure Eternity Printed for S Smith at the Prince's Armes in St Pauls Church yard THE Spiritual YEAR OR Devout Contemplations Digested into Distinct ARGUMENTS FOR Every Month in the Year AND FOR Every Week in that Month. IMPRIMATUR August 4. 1692. Guil. Lancaster R. P. D. Henrico Episc Lond. Ã Sacris Domesticis LONDON Printed for Samuel Smith at the Prince's Arms in St. Paul's Church-yard 1693. THE PUBLISHER TO THE READER THE Daughters of the Latine Tongue are not ill distinguished in their Proprieties by an Ingenious Fiction of their having been all three spoken in Paradise That first when the eating of the Fruit of the Tree of Knowledge was forbidden God himself delivered that Command in Spanish as the most Majestick Language which seems to carry Authority in the very sound That next when the Serpent enticed Eve to tast it he made use of the Italian as most Perswasive charming the Ear with the Musical sweetness of its Accents And that lastly when Adam was called to Account for his Disobedience he confidently excused himself in French as having the smoothest Phrases and fittest to disguise Criminal Actions with fair Pretences Nor does this only express the Nature of those Languages but also of those several Nations and of the Subjects wherein their Writings do more particularly excel all others Thus the Amorous French brisk and adventurous in Enterprizes quick in variety of Invention to frame surprizing Projects and of a Pleâ—sant Courtly Conversation have surpass'd all others in well-contrived and pleasantly-diverting Romances The Politick Italians of a subtil penetrating Wit to discern and observe the Intrigues of State Jealous and thereby Inquisitive to search into the grounds upon which they move and Judicious in giving the Reasons of them have been remarakably Excellent in Writing History And the Grave Spaniards who are of a serious thoughtful Temper fit for Contemplation Zealous in Religion and extreamly Devout are preferred before the others for Books of Piety Not that any of the three want Eminent Authors in all sorts of Learning but that the Genius of each being different does help to the attaining of greater Perfection in those particular Subjects Our Youth Manhood and Old Age suit with the several Humours of those three Nations Men commonly in those Seasons of their Life being inclined to read Pieces of such kinds as are most agreeable to each Now one of the first sort having been translated out of French and one of the second out of Italian by the same Person the former at the desire of a great Lord in his younger days the other at the Command of a great King in his riper Years He was afterwards moved by a far greater Soveraign to employ some of his declining time in Translating one of the third and best sort out of Spanish that he might not give a worse Account of the reremainder of that Precious Talent but endeavour to make it some way useful to himself and others When he first had that Design this Book was given him by the Conde de Molina then Spanish Embassador here with great Commendation as a late Piece highly esteemed amongst them and he had the more hope it might prove worthy of his Pains because he had seen some other things of the same Author viz. John de Palafox Mendoza Bishop of Osma and particularly a Letter wherein he relates the hard Persecution he had suffered by the Jesuites while he was Bishop of Angelopolis in the Indies By having read several of their Works he found that the best of them are not free from many Monkish Stories and Legendary Miracles and could not but wonder at such a mixture of Truths and Forgeries from the same Pens comparing them to the Prophet Jeremiah's Figgs whereof the good were very good but the bad so bad as not fit to be eaten at least not by us in this Northern Climate whither it is hoped such unwholsome Fruits shall never be transplanted any more Yet having seen several of those Books so well purged as to be safely read by the strictest Protestant He thought it would be no hard matter to do the like with this And being pleased with the Subject as agreeing with his Intentions and the three parts of this Spiritual Year suiting also with the different Ages of our Life he resolved to follow the Apostle's Advice To try all things and to hold fast only that which is good In the First Part he met with little but what might well enough be made fit for one of our Religion to read but in the second Part he found it necessary to make such wide Gaps in several of the Discourses that he feared it would pass his Skill to make them up so as to keep the Author's Order in his several Months and Weeks yet he attempted by borrowing from other Authors of that Nation and from some of our own to fill up those Breaches and to keep to the Author's Method with the same good intention and desire to bring sinners to Repentance and to save their Souls And yet after he had done all he had not so good an Opinion of his own performance being but a Lay-man as to think he had made the Work Correct enough to be published with hope of effecting amongst us the same Pious Design which the Original aimed at However having reap'd much benefit himself by spending so many Hours in such a serious matter which had the greater Power upon him by forcing him to a very attentive Consideration of the business he was about to the end he might rightly understand and render it into English he pursued the Work till he had quite gone through it which he did some Years ago but has kept it privately by him ever since for his own Use till by chance a Pious Divine of our Church found him looking over some pieces of it which when he had been allowed the liberty to peruse he judged it might be made capable of doing good in the World and thereupon it was freely given up into his hands to be altered as he should think most expedient to that end and to be supplied in whatsoever part he should still find it defective By his Care and labour it comes forth at length in such a manner he hopes as may be available to promote the Spiritual good of Men to perswade them to the serious Practice of Religion and Piety and to get them possess'd with a Spirit of true Devotion which is the sole end of his endeavours and indeed is a thing which cannot be prosecuted with too much earnestness in this luke-warm Age when there appears almost in every place a most dismal face of Indevotion and a general decay of Christian Piety universally extending it self through all
without the support of thy powerful hand O how we abuse those admirable Gifts which thou so graciously bestowest upon us We extinguish the light of Reason within us we banish truth and goodness from us and transform our selves into wild Beasts or worse if we forsake thy Law and give our selves up to the obedience of our own Appetite The Fourth WEEK Of the Miseries and Sins of each Man in particular 1. THese are the Miseries of our Nature lightly and briefly expressed but what kind of ones and how many are they in each one of us individuals seeing they are so great and so considerable in their Root If the Tree be so bitter what bitterness must be in the Fruit How blind are we O God if we do not see that which is so near us How blind are we if we do not see what we are our selves How wretched if such innumerable Miseries do not enlighten us to seek for Mercy How unworthy if we do not bewail the Sins we daily commit 2. Let every one well consider himself and he shall see what is in himself Let each of us turn the Eye of his Mind to behold himself within Let each of us put our hand in our bosom and he will draw it out full of Leprosie If the just Man falls seven times a day or rather seventy times seven what shall I do that am unjust and wicked Do not judge of this or measure it by others but judge of it and measure it by thy self and me 3. Scarce did the Light of natural Discourse begin to shine in my Child-hood when I embraced Evil it being my Duty to have embraced Good My Reason increas'd with my Age but my Passion increased much faster than it What a grief what a pity to see Reason banished from a Man's Soul by Passion That being set between Evil and Good my Soul should fly from Good to Evil Woe is me how soon I lost the Robe of Grace How soon I made my self an infamous Slave of Sin How soon its snares and nets intangled me How soon its darkness obscur'd all my light How early I began to grow worse and to hasten that approaching Night How early I forsook the Banner of the Redeemer of Souls and flying from the City of God to that of my beastly Appetite I quitted the Holy Jerusalem to take up my dwelling in Babylon How late I recover'd thee O sweet Jesus of my Life How late I know the way to serve thee having so early known the way to offend thee Slow have I been to follow thee O my Jesus but very hasty to persecute thee Who can suffer this This slowness and that haste Crucifie my Soul O Lord and I will bewail them both eternally in my Life till I see thee in the Life eternal by my death 4. How long did I go as a lost and prodigal Son flying from my heavenly Father that sought me How long like a wandring Sheep flying from my Shepherd that ran after me How long did I go astray in the venemous Pasture of worldly Vices taking Poyson and Death to be my nourishment I embraced my Deceits and my Undoings being fond of that which killed me Blindly stumbling I followed after Vanity and in a bold folly I hunted after my own destruction Who called me and brought me back when I was lost laying me gently upon his Shoulders Who was that divine Samaritan that took care of me the Man full of Wounds and that lay half dead as I was going from Jerusalem Who but thou O my Jesus who wert more wounded by thy Love for Man then I by the Love of my Sins Who but thou sweet Jesus that wert more ready to lay down thy Life for me then I was to have my Life saved by thee 5. For me to be lost and wicked and wretched O eternal Glory is natural to me and to my Vices that being properly of my own Stock but for thee who art infinitely good to seek after him that was lost and wicked and wretched thy infinite Justice requiring rather that thou should'st destroy then save such a Person is a Work that belongs only to thy unspeakable Mercy and to the Bowels of thy Compassion Thine infinite Goodness O my Jesus doth still exceed my horrible wickedness and look how vast the distance is between thee and me between finite and infinite So vast is that between my ruine and my remedy Blessed be thou my God for though the one be great the other is unmeasurable in greatness 6. But Oh that being once found and cured by thy hand I had never lost and forsaken thee again Oh that I had but once cost thee the Pains the Sweat the Blood the Torments and the Death which thou paid'st for me But Lord I have often nay numberless times crucified thee again 7. Look not Lord upon my wickedness but upon thine own goodness To offend thee though but once was a great Evil but to do it so many thousand times is an Evil of the highest Magnitude To offend by forgetfulness of thee before I was pardon'd was very ill since to forget thee is a very great Evil but to offend thee after being pardon'd is an ill beyond all ills because it is to be ingrateful and an Enemy to my greatest Benefactor To offend thee before I knew thee was very ill but to offend thee knowing thee and acknowledging thee still to offend thee is a much greater aggravation To offend thee as an open Enemy is a great Crime but to offend thee as a false Friend and a treacherous Disciple is the highest of Treasons To contrive and commit Sins in thine absence without remembring that thou standest looking on is very bad since there is no absence from thee who art in all places but to offend thee in sight of thy Divine Countenance and even while born upon thy Shoulders to betray thee in thy very House and at thy very Table is a degree of Wickedness above all comparison I am utterly lost O Lord unless thy kindness pardon and direct me My Sins deserve a thousand Hells unless thy divine Goodness and Mercy free and defend me 8. How often good God after having been cleansed have I return'd to wallow in the Mire How often after having been cur'd have I renew'd my wounds and like a perjur'd Soldier forsaken the Banners of thy Grace and enter'd my self in pay under thine Enemies Colours How often like thy treacherous Disciple have I sold thee for the vile price of some beastly Pleasure Many a time to satisfie my anger or revenge have I offended thy Meekness Many a time have I by despising and trampling upon others offended thy great Humility Many a time have I by known and wilful Sins fearlesly ventur'd to provoke thy Justice O dear Jesus tye me now fast to thy Cross let not my Lips nor my Soul be parted from thy divine Feet fasten me with thy Nails pierce me with the Launce that wounded thee
Preachers daily call upon thee from their Pulpits 3. What canst thou say for having neglected the Directions of thy Spiritual Guides those internal Physicians of Souls and Consciences What canst thou say for having so often turned away from God who by them called upon thee daily intreating thee and offering thee eternal Life What for following his and thine own Enemy that offer'd thee nothing but eternal Death What canst thou say to quit thy self from so many Accusations What Evasion canst thou find to so full an Evidence Or how wilt thou get off from so weighty a Charge wherein thou wilt not be able to answer so much as one of Ten thousand If the Charge be true how will it be possible for thee to oppose the Truth thy Judge being also the Truth it self What deceit will be able to prevail before so great a Light and such a manifest Conviction Dost thou think O simple Creature to over-reach that infinite Wisdom Doth thy Ignorance think to circumvent him who sees the time present the time past and the time to come all at one instant Or does thy foolish proud Presumption hope to escape his all-seeing Eye Thou deceivest thy self and not him in so silly a conceit his Judgments are Evidences his Sentences Truths and his Execution Justice and doest thou think there can be forgetfulness of thy faults in that eternal Comprehension that beholds all things There is not the lightest Thought the suddenest Motion the inconsiderablest Word nor the smallest Action which is not punctually registred there That eternal Justice has all Sins counted weighed and measured in his presence from the first bitter Fruit of Adam's Apple to the last and slightest Sin of all Mankind till the end of the World That which was only known to thy Chamber to the secretest Corner of thy House or of thy Heart that which is unknown to thy most favoured Servant or most intimate Friend is all publick and manifest before the Face of thy Creator The Leaves of all the Trees in the World the Sand of all the Seas all the Stars of the Sky and the Atoms of the Sun with whatsoever is created are all numbered and present to him and canst thou believe he will forget thy Sins 4. Wouldst thou know what the Judgment is that thou mayest live with Judgment before thou comest to Judgment 5. It is an exact and particular Register of thy loose and wretched Life all that thou hast said seen done and thought in seventy Years of thine age is perfectly seen to God in that instant as if thou wert but then in doing of it 6. O Jesus my Lord and my God is it then all one thing with thee to behold and to judge And is thy Judgment the perfect and particular Sight of all the Sins and Transgressions of our whole Life Alas Alas What then shall become of me at that Day Is it possible O my great God that thou shouldst then see all my Crimes and soul Misdeeds That thou shouldest then see all my Subtilties Deceits and Falshoods Must all my beastly Vices and filthy Sensualities be seen by thee at that Judgment with the Pride and Presumption wherewith I have despised and trampled upon others with my unjust censurings and rash judgings of my Neighbours and my Vanity and Folly in thinking better of my self then of them Shalt thou then see the Sins not only of my Person but likewise of my Office and Dignity My Sins of Omission as well as those of Commission The Evils I have done the good Actions I have left undone and my suffering others to act those Crimes which I might have hindered Must thy pure Eyes which cannot behold Inquity see and behold and judge all mine Iniquities in that one instant How can I but tremble to think that thy holy and heavenly Eye should see such filthy Impurities and such horrible Abominations What can I hope for in that Sentence What can my Wickedness expect from thy eternal Justice but everlasting Torments All my Bones quake for fear O God and I am ready to wish the Rocks might hide me and the Hills might cover me from thy Presence but I know how vain that is and that even in the Center of the Earth thy Right-hand will find me out I am therefore plainly convinced that there is no refuge for me but from the Bar of thy Justice to the Bowels of thy Mercy Yet how shall I dare take Sanctuary there having so much abused it Now I discover the necessity I stand in of a Mediator to plead there for me yet dare not beg his Intercession having so long neglected it Thou of thy infinite Mercy and Goodness hast given thine own dear Son even the Man Christ Jesus to be that Mediator for all Mankind and in him some beams of Hope begin to comfort me remembring his excessive Love that willingly died upon the Cross to make Satisfaction to thy Justice for the Sins of all But with what confidence can I hope in him whom I have so often crucified afresh by my redoubled Offences This is my sad Condition and when I look only upon my Guilt I am almost ready to despair But Lord I know that that is a greater Sin than any I have yet committed therefore I will hope even against hope and carnestly beg of thee O my dearest Saviour that since thou hast hitherto given me time and now so loudly callest me to Repentance by this terrible Meditation of God's vigorous Judgment I may not delay a Moment longer to lament and bewail the Multitude of my Transgressions Grant I may go to that great Day with Tears of Contrition and that I may depart from it with Songs of Praise Grant I may go to it weeping for having offended thee and that I may come from it with joy for thy having pardoned me And since thou seest my sins which provoked thy Wrath grant thou mayest also see my Repentance to obtain thy Mercy Grant O dear Jesus that since thou seest my Ingratitude thou mayest also see my Heart deeply grieved and afflicted for having been so ungrateful And lastly grant I most earnestly beseech thee that I may see thy infinite Pity interposing the Merit of thy Death thy Blood thy Cross and Passion between thy Father's Justice and my sinful Soul now and ever and most especially in that great and terrible Day and that in the mean while I by thy Grace may so spend the rest of my days in Sorrow and Amendment of Life that at my Death I may be received into thy Glory Amen The Third WEEK Of the Means there are in this Life to prevent the Account and Judgment of the other 1. I Am stricken with amazement stand trembling at the thought of the Judgments of the Lord. I know not what to do nor can find any way how to escape them I am ashamed and confounded to appear in his presence full of so many Miseries and Sins Is it not possible to delay
Fathoms under ground and there they build Towers and Pyramids of as many above it Here a mighty Emperor joins Land to Land by making a Bridge over a Bay of the Sea there a most potent King attempts to join Sea to Sea by cutting a Passage of many Miles from the Mediterranean to the Ocean Behold them leading huge Armies and cutting through Mountains that oppose their passage to rush upon Pikes and Swords as if they were resolved to be killed in spite of God's Protection Thus when Men are grown up to their greatest Strength instead of being more able to defend themselves against those manifold Dangers and Diseases we are naturally subject to they on the contrary have gotten but the more Power and the more Liberty to run into them by the Prosecution of their violent Passions The aspiring Ambition of one Man the greedy Covetousness of another their unruly Lust or enrag'd Jealousie their insolent Pride or their furious Anger exposing them continually to the Revenge of some implacable Enemy But if God hath given some the Grace to govern their Passions with more moderation yet the necessary occasions of their Business or Calling may several ways make them also lyable to numberless dangers as of Tempest and Shipwracks of Piracy and Slavery in Voyages by Sea of Falls and Precipices of Robberies and Murders in journeys by Land and of loss of Life in the Wars either by Sea or Land But if neither their Profession nor any other accident have engag'd them in these there are Plagues and Famines Lightnings and Thunders Conflagrations and Earthquakes Sea-breaches and Inundations with divers other publick Calamities which even Persons of the most quiet and retir'd Condition are subject to Besides the particular Mischances of drowning burning and many more such like than possibly can be imagined from which no sort of Persons can be exempted so that it is no wonder that Men die but the great wonder is when any one lives to be very old and were it not for the Power of an Almighty Protection the sight of a very aged Man would be counted little less than a Prodigy How many thousands perish before or in their Birth How many have Mothers more hard-hearted than the Estrich which is said to leave her Eggs exposed upon the bare Rocks and to regard them no further Nay and some Monsters much more barbarous do most cruelly destroy their innocent Babes to conceal their own Infamy How many in their Childhood how many in their Youth are snatched out of this World by one or other of the forementioned Accidents Not one of an hundred living to forty Years nor one of a thousand to double that Age and for those few that do their Strength then is but Labour and Sorrow so soon passeth it away and we are gone Those that dwell in populous Cities are every hour put in mind of this truth by the continual tolling of Bells and by their frequent meeting those that are carrying dead Bodies to be buried every one of which thou art to look upon as a preservation of thy self who hadst dropp'd into the Grave before them if his hand had not upheld the weight of thy Mortality which naturally tendeth thither The Mischiefs which some do suffer are the Benefits of those that escape Blindness Lameness Crookedness Dumbness Deafness and all Diseases whatsoever another suffers are so many Obligations thou hast to God that frees thee from them Their harms are thy Blessings since thou ought'st to have suffer'd if thou hadst not been pardoned all that they suffer who are so punished and if thou hast not suffered these Mischances how many more which thou knowest not of would have happened to thee if God had not preserv'd thee from those dangers His Preservation of thy Safety is manifested to thee in those many miserable Objects thou seest about the Streets since without his particular Favour thou mightest have been in the same or in a worse Estate Whensoever therefore thou beholdest any of those wretched Creatures gastly pale and lean with sickness or almost starv'd with hunger loathsome with Sores and Ulcers or naked with Poverty and Beggary Whenever thou seest the Members of one consumed and shrivel'd up by Fire or of another blasted and withered by Lightning or finally any of those lamentable Spectacles from which thou turn'st away thine Eyes through horrour let their Misery at the same time move thy Heart with Compassion to thine own Image and with thankfulness to thy God that thou thy self art not in that woful Condition Consider him as a Man of the same Nature with thy self as one whose manner of Birth was just like to that of the greatest Monarch though in this World God hath set the one upon a Throne and laid the other on the Dunghill Say then O Lord this is my Picture and just such an one might I now have been if thy preserving Mercy had not put so vast a difference between us As I have daily new occasions to remember this Mercy so let me daily praise thee for it with joyful Lips and with a thankful Heart Lord that I may make a right use of it and then it will move me not only to pity but also to relieve his Misery so shall we make an exchange advantageous to both my Soul feeling the Affliction of his Distress and his the Comfort of my Alms and of my Compassion Let me still remember that I am liable to the like Disasters and be prepar'd with an humble Resignation to undergo whatsoever thy fatherly Hand shall at any time lay upon me hoping that if I share with Lazarus in his Sufferings here I shall also share with him hereafter in the Joys of Abraham's Bosom But the Diseases and Miseries of the Soul when they break out to shameful and scandalous Actions are much more loathsome and abominable than those of the Body therefore when thou shalt likewise see any notorious Sinner glorying in his wickedness as too many do now a-days when thou shalt hear any one abusing the Name of God and the Ears of good Men with horrid Oaths and Blasphemies or with prophane Atheistical Discourses When the disfigur'd Face of one shews thee the Marks of his brutish Lust or the reeling steps of another discover his swinish Drunkenness in short when any come in thy way that are manifestly guilty of those heinous Sins which yet thou art free from take heed of thinking thy self good because they are so much worse and if thou standest take heed least thou fall and be not high minded but fear for there was a time when those profligate Wretches were as far from such Practices as now thou thinkest thy self to be Ascribe it then to God's Mercy only that thou art not such an one and say Not unto me O Lord not unto me not unto me but unto thy restraining Grace be the Praise for without that I should have been nay and yet may be if that should forsake me as great
I come with the Olive-branch of Peace in my mouth the Merits and Intercession of the Prince of Peace I have nothing else to plead but by them and by them only I hope to be received and kept from ever departing from thee any more If thou hast not been so great a Sinner as I art thou less bound to God for preserving thee from it than I for being pardon'd and reclaimed Shall the Benefit by thee be accounted less because it is really much greater Does the Hand that saved me from a Wound do me a smaller kindness than that which cures me when I am wounded Or rather is not the benefit of Preserving much the greater by saving the Blood I should have lost by the Wound and the Pain I should have suffered in the Cure For though it require a greater Power to lift me up when I am down than when I am up to keep me from falling yet to me the Benefit is more worth which prevents me from a Mischief than that which gives me remedy when I am in it Thus have I seen O God for how many Benefits I am indebted to thee notwithstanding my many Sins O let not an horrible Ingratitude be the last and greatest of them all Man's Laws have ordained no Punishment for that infamous Crime either because they did not believe that any thing in the World could be so bad as an ungrateful Person or that they could find no Punishment proportionable to so great a Crime The wildest and the most savage Breasts are grateful to their Benefactors and good turns have tamed the fiercest Lions but we more savage than the furious Beasts are so far from Gratitude that on the contrary we each moment offend our most gracious Benefactor But suffer us not O Lord to do so any longer and let the greatest of all thy Benefits be to make us thankful for them and with the humblest Devotion of our Souls to acknowledge that the Number of them is infinite and their Nature most transcendent Of the Guard of Angels We have seen how watchful the All-seeing Eye of God's Providence is for the Preservation of our Souls and Bodies The Holy Jesus tells us that without it not so much as a Sparrow falls to the Ground how much less a Man who is more worth than many Sparrows And to express his great Care of our smallest concerns he says that even the very Hairs of our Head are numbred Thus dwelling under the Defence of the most High and abiding under the Shadow of the Almighty any other Protection might be thought wholly needless yet God as subordinate to that hath out of his super-abundant Love to Mankind been pleased from the Beginning of the World to protect them particularly by the Guard of Angels for having created those Blessed Spirits in distinct Hierarchies and Choirs the chiefest of them he applied principally to the Worship and Veneration of himself and appointed others to serve him in the Succour and Assistance of Humane Nature We are told in the Epistle to the Hebrews that they are Ministring Spirits sent forth to Minister to those that shall be Heirs of Salvation And their forwardness to obey God in all things that relate to the good of Man is seen in many places of the Scripture HEre the Author having cited many places where Angels have been employ'd for the Service or for the Punishment of Mankind makes a long Discourse whereby he endeavours to establish their Doctrine of adoring and praying to Angels and proceeds with great Devotion therein but here our Church forbids us to go along with him allowing us to search the Scriptures where we find express Texts and Examples flatly to the contrary thus we read in the Revelation that when St. John was going to fall down and to adore the Angel he was strictly forbidden by him saying See thou do it not for I am thy Fellow-servant Worship thou God And we have a plain Text fore-warning us to take heed that no Man deceive us by a voluntary Humility and the Worshipping of Angels St. Paul was wrapp'd up into the Third Heaven and yet he makes no relation of those blessed Inhabitants but says he saw what it was not lawful for Man to utter and the Scripture tells us that things secret belong unto the Lord but the things that are revealed belong to us We ought therefore to content our selves with them and not to be wise beyond Sobriety but while they pretend not only to know particularly the Names and Ranks of the several Choirs in each Hierarchy but also the particular Business and Employment of every one of them Our part should be to acknowledge how infinitely we are indebted to God for his Goodness towards us and to raise our Minds to the highest Admiration and Reverence of God's unspeakable Power in Creating them and to the most ardent Love of his Goodness in employing their Ministry for our Benefit but most especially for that happy Message brought by the Angel Gabriel to the Blessed Virgin Mary of the Incarnation of the Eternal Word which was the beginning of our Redemption and for the joyful News of his Nativity delivered to the poor Shepherds by an Angel when suddenly a Multitude of the heavenly Host sung Glory to God on high c. How can we forbear to cry out with the Psalmist Lord what is Man that thou art mindful of him or the Son of Man that thou regardest him Thou madest him lower than the Angels to crown him with Glory and Honour Instead of praying to them let us lift up our Minds and Prayers to the Creator of them and in Thankfulness for all Mercies join with that blessed Choir to magnifie him Let us beseech him that hath ordained and constituted the Services of Angles and Men in a wonderful Order mercifully to grant that as his holy Angels always do him service in Heaven so by his appointment they may succour and defend us on Earth through Jesus Christ our Lord Amen The Fourth WEEK Of the Benefit of Redemption WE are come now to the utmost top of all the Divine Benefits which requires a most attentive Consideration Our great Creator in the making of Man designed a most wonderful Union between his Soul his Body and his God Three things so vastly distant and so strangely different that nothing but Omnipotency could have joyn'd them together for what can be more different than a dead Clod of Earth and a living immaterial Soul What can be more distant than a Soul dwelling here below in the narrow Limits of an Earthly Body and the Divinity of an infinite and an eternal God who dwelleth in the highest Heavens and whom even the Heaven of Heavens cannot contain In this blessed State he was placed in the Garden of Paradice where nothing was forbidden him but the Tree of Knowledge and with this Covenant that if he continued in obedience he should never die but be translated from that Earthly to an
which is more hath given him Eternal Life freeing him from everlasting Damnation and not at so cheap a rate as words but by sweating Blood suffering Torments and giving up himself to Death even the death of the Cross Can this Benefit this Love this excess of Kindness find any in the World that can be compar'd to it And if we should be ungrateful for it or forgetful of it which in some sort is worse than to be ungrateful could there possibly be a greater wickedness O Lord suffer not me I beseech thee to be guilty of so great an Error of so great a Folly and of so great a Wickedness for such a strange want of Love and such an abominable Ingratitude cannot be thought of by any good Person without horror JVNE The First WEEK Of Baptism and Confirmation COnsider now what God hath done for thee in particular towards making thee a partaker of this high Benefit of Redemption for though Christ by his death paid a sufficient Price for the Souls of all Mankind yet thou no more than many others couldst have had no share in it hadst thou not been made a Member of his Body and how high soever the Benefit of Creation be it had been much better for thee never to have been born than not to have been made a Christian But what couldst thou a poor helpless Infant do towards the attaining so great a Benefit when thou didst not so much as know thy want of it Yet the Mercy of thy most Gracious God prevented thy desires and in his eternal purpose he determined thee to be one of that happy number that should be born of Christian Parents in that part of the World where the Gospel is most purely profess'd and where thou wert early consecrated to him in Baptism Thou wert brought to that Laver of Regeneration where the stains of thy Original Corruption were washed away in the Blood of Christ represented by the outward and visible sign of Water wherewith thou wert sprinkled to signifie thy death unto Sin and thy new birth unto Righteousness Thou wert baptized in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost according to thy Saviour's Appointment By the Gate of that Holy Sacrament thou wert admitted into the Church and made a Member of Christ a Child of God and an Heir of the Kingdom of Heaven being by Nature born in sin thou wert thereby made a Child of Grace Thus the second Covenant made with Mankind in Christ Jesus was sealed between God and thee which cannot fail on his part to be faithfully performed if thou be but careful on thine to do the best thou canst and to serve him with sincere if not with perfect Obedience Men use to envy those that are born of Noble Parents whose Care Power and Greatness may support and succour the naked weak and innocent Infants but O! what a Noble Birth is that of Faith What rich Mantles and Swadling-cloaths are the Coelestial Vertues That this little Creature shall no sooner be born but that at the same instant he comes into the care not of a weak frail Mother who lies unable to help her self by reason of the Pangs and Throws she suffer'd for the bringing of a Child into the World but of an Holy Perfect and Spiritual Mother which is the Catholick Church that cloaths him with the Robe of Grace an admirable Pledge of a safe and an eternal Inheritance in Glory That the Child should scarcely be born when already the Son of God as an invisible Minister doth by the visible hand of his Minister baptize and at the same time wash away sin from that Soul and fill it with Graces Gifts and Vertues This is an Honour which is indeed deservedly to be valued and a Benefit which can never be sufficiently admir'd From the time that the Water of Baptism washed off the filthy rags of Adam and cloathed thee with Grace in the Blood of the Lamb sin which had wounded thee before became wounded it self and whereas before it gave death from that time it suffered death In Natural Sicknesses the Remedies seldome reach to the Diseases and the Body when it is recovered hardly gets so great strength as what it lost by Sickness but in the Spiritual Sickness and in the Hurts and Diseases of the Soul it uses to be much otherwise for the wounded party recovers more strength and vigour when he is gotten up again than what he lost by falling into them The Devil ruined us but God is more powerful in good than he is in evil Sin destroy'd us and Grace renew'd us but Grace is more effectual to renew us than Sin to destroy us Our weak and ruined Nature was indebted Ten Thousand Talents but the Eternal Son of God hath satisfied the Debt not with Ten Thousand nor with an Hundred Thousand but with his Blood a Price of inestimable value Dost thou think that any thing can be more powerful than God Hath he not received thee into his Church by Baptism And hath not he on his part promised to protect to free and to assist thee Hast thou not passed through those Waters flying from the Enemy that pursued thee Did not that Red Sea of thy Saviour's blood open to give thee passage And did it not shut again to drown the Egyptian I mean Original Sin Then what hast thou to be afraid of Sing the Victory with Miriam and the Daughters of Israel which the Son of a better and a more glorious Myriam hath obtained for thee Is not God thy succour and thy hope Whom hast thou to fear Is not he thy defence and thy protection What dost thou dread When a man is once cloathed with the Grace of God in Baptism all his Enemies are but few By the Infusions of Grace thou oughtest to count Sin and Nature to be already conquer'd What signifies the Signing thee with the Sign of the Cross in thy Forehead but the marking thee out for a Souldier of Jesus Christ Be not therefore asham'd to confess the Faith of Christ crucified Thou art not only his Souldier but art furnished with Arms of his Magazine The Old Man is put away and thou art cloathed with the New and that New Man is Jesus Christ who enters into thy Soul to cloath it with himself and with his Graces for he enters to arm to defend to favour to protect and to assist thee The Field in which thou fightest is thine own for he strengthens and encourages thee in all encounters Thou fightest in the Militant Church whereof thou art a Member against which that Enemy with whom thou fightest can never prevail Great part of the Victory consists in the Advantage of Ground but all is favourable to thee from the time thou art entred into the Church That Entry by Baptism was the first Victory for the entrance it self was a Victory and that Victory a Triumph From that day Hell trembles at thee only because thou art a
Christian and now no body can destroy thee but thou thy self and thou art told by the Word of Truth that the greatest outward Enemy the Devil will flie from thee if thou dost but resist him Thou canst not but be greatly chear'd with these Encouragements and much comforted by seriously considering what thou hast received in Baptism We Christians certainly ought never to lose the sight of that Benefit but still to reflect upon the greatness of it with thankful hearts Yet we ought not only to look upon what God hath done for us but also to think upon our part of this Covenant and to weigh the Duties we are oblig'd to by it Remember that thy God fathers and God-mothers when thou wert baptized did promise and vow in thy Name that thou shouldst forsake the Devil and all his Works the Pomps and Vanities of this wicked World and all the sinful Lusts of the Flesh as likewise that thou shouldst believe all the Articles of the Christian Faith contained in the Apostles Creed and finally that thou shouldst keep God's Holy Will and Commandments contain'd in the Decalogue and walk in the same all the days of thy life The Church appointed them to do this for thee as thy Sureties because at that time by reason of thy tender Age thou wert not able to make much less to perform these Promises but being come to Understanding thou art bound to take that Vow upon thy self and they may properly be called God-fathers and God-mothers because in the mean while it is their Duty to take care that their God-Children as they grow up may be taught what a Solemn Vow Promise and Profession they have made for them and to cause them to be instructed both in the Articles of the Creed and in the Ten Commandments Moreover if at any time they shall hear them speak or see them do any thing contrary to that Divine Law they ought to put them in mind that they promised and vowed the contrary in their Baptism But O! how little of this care is there in the World there is nothing more neglected or forgotten than this Duty of God-fathers yet I hope not generally I cannot have such hard thoughts for though I must needs confess it is too much slighted yet certainly there be many that have a due regard of it But since Children when they grow to Age are themselves bound to perform what was promised in their Names by their God-fathers and God-mothers They may in great part discharge themselves when they take care that their God-children be so well Instructed in the Christian Religion as to know the Duties that Vow engages them to and when being of years able to renew that Covenant and to take the charge of their Souls upon themselves they shall have perswaded them upon serious consideration so to do and have brought them to the Bishop to be Confirmed according to that Order which the Wisdom of the Church hath established appointing all the Members thereof to be so or at least to be ready and desirous to be so before they be admitted to the Holy Communion The Bishop by whose Ministry this Office is performed first causeth the Parties who are to be Confirmed to make an open Confession in the Publick Congregation that they do renew the Promise and Vow that was made in their Name at their Baptism ratifying and confirming the same in their own Persons and acknowledging themselves bound to believe and to do all those things which their God-fathers and God-mothers then undertook for them He also prays to God to strengthen them by the Holy Ghost the Comforter and daily to increase in them his manifold Gifts and Graces the Spirit of Wisdom and Understanding the Spirit of Counsel and Ghostly Strength the Spirit of Knowledge and true Godliness and to fill them with the Spirit of his holy Fear for ever Lastly he lays his hand upon each Child and blesses him as our Saviour did upon those Children that were brought to him and concludes beseeching God to direct sanctifie and govern both their Hearts and Bodies in the ways of his Laws and in the works of his Commandments that through his mighty Protection both here and ever they may be preserved in Body and Soul through our Lord Jesus Christ Much are those Parents and Sureties to be blamed that omit to bring them to this Order of Confirmation it being a great benefit both to the Sureties in the discharge of their Obligation and to the Children who are duly fitted and prepared for it for they are thereby awakened to an early sense of Religion and to a future endeavour of performing their Duty in it When Young Plants are removed out of their Nurseries and set in the open Field it is necessary to fence them about with Stakes to hinder their being crop'd or trodden down by Beasts and it is no less necessary thus to confirm and strengthen new beginners in Christianity that they may be the better guarded at their coming into the open World against the dangerous approach of brutish Men. Such Branches as are so engrafted into the true Vine God doubtless vouchsafes to water with his Grace and though in weak measure at first yet if they continue to take firm Root he will not fail to make them thrive and bring forth good Fruit. Those gifts of the Spirit prayed for on their behalf will likewise through his Mercy increase till they become so many strong Bulwarks to defend their Souls against the Common Enemy within which they may stand safe to fight according to their Vow against the World the Flesh and the Devil Remember therefore always the Obligation that lies upon thee by that Vow We are engaged in our Childhood to that which we neglect when we are grown up whereas being grown up we should be careful to perform that which our Sureties promised for us when we were Children Keep then still in mind that thou art a listed Souldier forget not in what Army thou art enroll'd what Captain thou art to follow what Fidelity thou hast sworn to him and fight valiantly even to the death rather than suffer thy self to be overcome by the subtil Perswasions and Devices of his and thine own Enemies The Souldiers of this World for a very small hire keep Fidelity to their General they fight and die for him without any other bond or tye than that of some little piece of Money ill paid and yet they give their blood and daily venture their life for that Pay whereas we Christians the Souldiers of Jesus Christ listed under the Ensign of his Cross assisted by so many Benefits of Grace being Heirs and Co-heirs of Glory and having Heaven for our Pay do frequently desert our Colours like vile infamous Cowards and by sin treacherously fly over into the Enemies Camp The Souldiers of the World fight to defend their King or their General but here our General fights and gives his Blood and his Life for the
Soul when thou hast receiv'd thy Lord for that is the time for thee to beg and pray since he is not deaf but will hear thee not dumb but will speak unto thee not blind but will look upon thee and being most loving he will not reject thy love God works in the hearts of the Faithful according to what he himself is and according to what he finds in them and even though he find not in them such a convenient disposition as is due to so high a Majesty yet if they be in any measure disposed his goodness improves it and even that first disposition is a gift of his Goodness and Vertue Since therefore he gives thee all things and thou owest him whatsoever thou hast give thy self wholly to him who gives thee all things Come with cleanness to receive that Divine Purity and beg of him more Purity and more cleanness knowing thine own defilement and unworthiness Keep him fast with love whom thou receivest with an holy reverential fear and be not guilty of so gross a folly as to forsake him when thou hast but newly received him For thee to receive God and presently to turn thy back upon him and give thy self up to Worldly Affairs is the gross stupidity of the Traytor Judas who had scarce received him when he presently went away to sell him No be not so base and unworthy remain with him and suffer thy self to be enflamed with that Coelestial fire To him reduce all thy love and consideration raise up thy mind to him in Heaven and where thy Treasure is there let thine Heart be also The Third WEEK Of frequenting the Sacrament THE time shall come saith our Saviour to the Woman of Samaria that God shall be adored in all places and not only in Jerusalem as who should say the time shall come when Heaven shall come upon Earth Wouldst thou attain eternal Blessings Ask them of the Lord in the blessed Sacrament Wouldst thou be freed of thy Passions and have all Vertues planted in thee Wouldst thou have encrease of Grace and high Gifts of the Spirit Beg them of the Lord in his Sacrament receive it with frequency and purify thy self to approach that Lord of all Purity Receive with profound Humility that admirable Example of Humility and with ardent Charity him that is not only the Pattern of perfect Charity but even Charity it self That which thou receivest he gives thee and that which thou seekest desirest and labourest for thou mayest find in that foundation of all our Good and that remedy of all our Evils But thou wilt say Alas I cannot easily no nor with all the Pains I take find that Humility Purity and Charity you speak of and which you say will make me fit to receive him for if I could I would seek them and strive to get them and would offer them up to that Divine Lord but because I cannot attain them I fear to partake of that coelestial Food It concerns our Necessity to seek them but the finding of them belongs to his Grace If thou seekest them heartily in Spirit and Truth thou already hast them for God in his Goodness never obliges thee to find but only to seek The finding is much more certain than the seeking for this depends upon thy weakness but that upon his infinite Love and Charity Dost thou confess thy Sins with an unfeigned Sorrow and with true purpose and desire of Amendment Dost thou avoid the occasions of Sin and dost thou fly from Evil striving to exercise thy self in that which is good Dost thou feel Contrition for having offended so good a God Art thou truly desirous to please him for the future Wouldst thou in good earnest have thy Soul and Conscience ordered by him and that he should frame it according to his good pleasure Then what art thou afraid of Draw near to thy Lord with Love but yet still preserve his filial and holy Fear That good fear does not separate a Man from God but calls him and draws him nearer and encreases in the Saints in the same Proportion that their Love does A perfect Fear which springs from the high Knowledge of so high a Majesty and brings forth a deep Humility and Reverence of God does not drive Souls from but unites them more nearly to God This is the difference between a base servile Fear and a filial Fear that the servile grows greater by doing ill but filial Fear increases and becomes more perfect by doing well Wouldst thou see it An imperfect Man fears by reason of the Pains of Hell How much the more he sins so much the more he fears and how much greater is the number of his Offences so much greater is his fear of Damnation nor does he make one step in wickedness which if he set himself to think of it does not augment that terror This is the greatest Anguish of Mind ill Men have when they come to die and their fear is sometimes so excessive that they utterly despair of Mercy unless God by his especial Grace detain them On the other side the good Man fears God because he is his Father his Lord and Creator and is therefore afraid to displease him by how much the more he loves him by so much the more he fears to provoke and anger him and by how much the more his knowledge of that high Majesty does encrease by so much the more that holy Fear of God encreases also and with it the desire of pleasing him and the care not to offend him whereby he comes with greater confidence to rely upon his Mercy and Favour and therefore Thomas Aquinas says That the holy Fear of God may consist with the Blessedness of those in Heaven who though they be already freed from the Fears of the World and from losing that unspeakable Happiness do yet fear the Lord as well as love him and do therefore fear him because they love him for this holy fear takes Birth from Love is cloathed with Love and is indeed rather respect and reverence than fear And thus thou oughtest to receive the Lord in the Sacrament with Love and with Fear since this fear is Humility is Reverence is Love For because thou knowest so great a Majesty thou fearest it and fearing loving and reverencing the Greatness of that Majesty thou art to approach thou humblest thy self in the depth of thine own unworthiness and this Knowledge Fear Reverence and Humility inclines God to come unto thee to dwell with thee to inflame thee and preserve thee in his Love Woe be to that Man that comes to receive Christ without fearing him Woe be to that Man that receives without considering that it is God whom he receives and that he that receives him is but a weak wretched and sinful Man Woe be to him that receives God rashly and inconsiderately without weighing the infinite Difference that there is between the high â—od and so vile a Creature Those holy Men who did most
as strong and effectual as it was then Grace does not grow old but continues the same or rather increases Strive then fight and persevere for he that without Grace is but meer weakness may by it become a powerful Conquerour The Second WEEK Of the Glory of the Blessed THough the former Doctrine was sad and disconsolate I hope this last has chear'd and comforted thee We must still walk between hope and fear for the doubt of fear restrains us and the light of hope sets us forward To facilitate the way of the Spirit is good and sound Counsel and of possible performance for it is made easie by Grace and therefore a Christian ought not to be afraid of it but to facilitate Salvation and to make it consistent with a loose and licentious Life to make it attainable without seeking Heaven in good earnest without Repentance and Contrition through Grace and without conquering the Passions and banishing them from the Soul to make it easie I say to be sav'd that way is a most plain Fallacy and dangerous Deceit St. Paul tells us That through many tribulations we must enter into the Kingdom of Heaven and therefore the steps that lead to Glory are Tribulations And believe me even so it is purchased at a very cheap rate for all we can suffer in this Life full of Miseries is not worthy of the Glory that shall be revealed which he obtains who suffers willingly for God What can our Sufferings be in comparison of those Enjoyments How light are they all in respect of the eternal weight of Glory What an inexpressible Happiness must it be to see ones self admitted to be one of the Citizens of the Coelestial Jerusalem to see ones self in the ravishing Company of Saints and Angels to see ones self with the Patriarchs Prophets Apostles Martyrs Confessors and Virgins to see all those Just and Holy Spirits singing Hymns and Praises to the Glory of God And yet all this is less though unspeakably great than to see the holy Humanity of our Lord that gracious Countenance those Divine Eyes whose brightness darkeneth the Sun and enlightens all the Creatures those Hands and Feet and that pierced Side from whence as Blood heretofore there now comes forth the Splendour of Glory the Stream of Grace the Joy and Comfort of all the Saints And still this is less than to see God the Father God the Son and God the Holy Ghost Three Persons in One Essence the beginning and the end of all Creatures that ineffable Mystery which exceeds all created Understandings before whom all the Angels and Saints prostrate themselves in Adoration This is that which amazes the Pen and humbles the highest Meditations in contemplation whereof the most lofty Cherubims and Seraphims lose themselves not being able fully to comprehend it From this Fountain and Original of Divinity and Goodness proceed all the Felicities of those holy Citizens in that Triumphant Jerusalem from that Source of Joy and Delights flow all their Delights and Pleasures from that Infinite Omnipotent and Supream Essence which is Incomprehensible in all it's Attributes springs the Original Glory of the Blessed All their Power and Being arises from his Power and Being The sight of that Goodness that Wisdom and Charity is the cause of theirs From that Light proceeds their Light Only to see one of his Attributes whether his Goodness Justice or Mercy though 't is impossible to see any one of them without seeing the rest is enough to give inexpressible Glory to all the Creatures What a blessedness also is it to turn the Eyes upon the Order and Beauty of that whole Coelestial Court To see the Martyrs crown'd with Ensigns of their own Valour to see the Holy Confessors adorn'd with their Vertues to see the Virgins with their Palms and Crowns only to see the Order wherein they are rank'd and wherewith they Adore and Praise the Lord to see the Nine Quires of Angels with the Three admirable Hierarchies only to see the great number of beatified Souls and Spirits every one in his Place and Employment serving their Creator and the Author of all their Happiness with unspeakable Contentment What a wonderful and high Felicity is this Then what Peace what Contentment what Joy what Quiet what Sweetness what Union what Conformity what Ardent love of God and of his Creatures is there in that blessed City Finally wouldst thou see what Heaven is Look what all the Delights of this World are freed from any mixture of Disgust and thou shalt find that in respect of them they are but Pains and Torments Think what it is to hear the sweetest Voices to smell the sweetest Perfumes and to enjoy whatever can delight the rest of the Senses think of an Heart full of Joy and Contentment an Understanding with all the Powers of the Soul fill'd with all the Delights and Pleasures that this World can afford it is all but Sadness and Affliction Pain and Anguish in the highest degree in comparison of those Eternal Joys Wouldst thou know what Glory is Then consider who it is that gives it to the Saints Think how Infinite the Power of God is it 's his Power that gives that Glory Think how Infinite is his Wisdom 't is that Wisdom which gives that Glory Think how Infinite is his Goodness 't is that Goodness which gives that Glory If then an Infinite Power an Infinite Wisdom and an Infinite Goodness joyn together to give Glory what must that Glory be which is the effect of such a Power of such a Wisdom and of such a Goodness If God gives to every one of his Saints in his just proportion according to his Love his Power and his Wisdom what Riches shall he give who is infinitely Rich What Wisdom and Light shall he give who is Infinitely Wise And what Joy shall he give who is Infinitely Good and Happy If the necessitous Person measures his hopes by the Power and Hand of the Liberal what shall the Joy be that is given by an Infinite Power which is willing to give that which is Infinite Wouldst thou see what Joys those are which God will give to the Blessed in Heaven Think how great the Punishments are that are inflicted upon the Damned in Hell If those are so sharp and intolerable for the pain of them to the wicked how sweet and superabundant will be the Enjoyments of the good Though his Justice and his Mercy are Essentially equal yet in the effects his Mercy is greater than his Justice for he punishes in Hell less than Sinners deserve and rewards in Heaven more than the Saints deserve What Glory shall he give in Heaven who punisheth so terribly in Hell with everlasting Fire Wouldst thou see the Joys which he confers upon the Elect who serve him in this Life Think what he suffered for them and what he did to save them If he gave his Blood and Life upon the Cross for the bad as well as for the good
What will he give in Heaven to the good alone And if he underwent so many pains and torments in this Life only to purchase Eternal Happiness for them what Contents what Delights will he give them when they come to enjoy it The difficulty the greatness and the incomprehensibleness of that infinite Ransom was that God gave his Life upon the Cross for Man but it is an easie thing for him to bestow those Joys after he has paid the Purchase How great is that Glory which he bought for the Just when the Price of it was Infinite and that Infinite Price was the Blood of the Eternal Son of God But after all in my judgment the most proportionable measure to judge of it by is St. Paul's Rule The eye hath not seen nor the ear heard nor have entred into the heart of man the things which God hath prepared for them that love him See then how light and trivial are the pains and torments of this Life whereby we arrive at those high Contentments But to the greatness and immensity of this Joy Delight Sweetness Happiness and Glory is to be added the Eternal duration thereof To enjoy God for ever to be freed from Sufferings and to live possess'd of Joys for ever for ever for ever an Happiness that has no end a Glory that shall never cease Delights that time cannot consume having no power either upon them or those that enjoy them In this uncertain Mortal Life our Delights if there be any either end of themselves or put an end to the Life of him that enjoys them They end by their duration and perish even whilst they are lasting and destroy him that takes pleasure in them and are pain and death in the Image of Delights But O the Eternal and Coelestial Joys of Heaven which live and last and grow in their duration They change Time to Eternity their Being is Continuance they last without ending and are always beginning anew they are impossible to be lost and as impossible to be express'd For who is able to declare what it is to be Eternal Since Eternity is an immense Ocean whose bottom cannot be found a most obscure Abyss wherein are sunk all the Faculties of Humane Understanding an intricate Labyrinth out of which there is no issue a perpetual invariable and indeficient Present without what was or what shall be a great Year which ever begins and is never to end Finally that which never can be comprehended or conceived Dionysius the Areopagite speaking of God confesses that it cannot be said what he is but only what he is not and besides what he is In like manner Eternity cannot better be declared than by what it is not and besides what it is Eternity is not Time it is not Space it is not an Age it is not a Million of Ages but it is more than Time Space or Millions of Ages The Life wherein thou now art and which must shortly have an end is not Eternity the Health which thou at present enjoyest is not eternal thy Pleasures and Entertainments are not eternal thy Possessions and Treasures are not eternal that wherein thou trustest is not eternal the Goods of this World in which thou so much delightest are not eternal Thou must leave them all A far greater thing is Eternity above Kingdoms above Empires and above all Felicities 'T is this that makes the Joys of Heaven so inestimably valuable and so infinitely excellent Had they not an eternal durance they would be incomparably less desirable but Eternity being annex'd to the fruition of them enhances their worth above all possible comparison If we were to enjoy all the pleasures of the Senses for a thousand Myriads of Years but were to pass no further we ought to change them all for one only Pleasure that would last for ever Why then exchange we not one perishing Pleasure of the Earth which is to last but for a moment for all those immense Joys which we are to possess in Heaven for a World without end All the Temporal Goods of the World might well be quitted for the securing of only one that were eternal how is it then that we secure not all the eternal by forbearing now and then one which is Temporal It would infinitely exceed the Dominion of the whole World so long as the World shall last to be Lord but of one little Cottage for Eternity Time holds no comparison with it all that is Temporal how great soever being to be esteemed vile and base and all that is Eternal how small soever high and precious And that we may enlarge this Consideration as much as possible the very Being of God himself if it were but for a time might be quitted for some other infinitely less excellent which were Eternal And shall then the Covetous Man satisfie himself with those poor Treasures which Death may rob him of to morrow despising for them the Eternal Treasure of Heaven For certain if God should promise us to enjoy the pleasure of one only Sense for ever in the next Life we ought for it to part with all the pleasures we have in this How huge a folly is it then that promising all those immense Joys of Heaven we will not for all them together part with some of those poor ones on Earth That having a sure Prospect of an everlasting Recompence we will not for the sake and attainment of it despise temporal and uncertain Possessions In Eternal Blessings besides their perpetual continuance there is likewise this Advantage that they are free from change so as they can neither end nor diminish and that whilst Temporal Goods change and consume themselves they remain in the same firm stable and immutable condition for all Eternity Compare therefore the brevity and inconstancy of the things of this Life with the unchangeableness and eternal duration of those of the other Do but seriously observe the difference betwixt those two words Now and Ever The Fools of this World say Let us now rejoyce The Wise and Vertuous say It is better that we forbear our Pleasures now that we may hereafter enjoy Eternal Happiness The Worldlings say Let us now live daintily and fare deliciously The Servants of Christ say Let us dye in the Flesh that we may live ever without change The Sinners say Let us now enjoy the World They who fear God say Let us flie from this unstable World that we may for ever enjoy the Coelestial Compare these two and see who are the wiser those who aim only at what endures but this momentary Instant Now or those which look after Eternity which lasts for Ever those who shall suffer eternally without any Profit at all or those who are content to suffer a little in this World for so great a gain as is the Kingdom of Heaven In all respects therefore the eternal Goods are incomparably the most excellent and most transcendently superiour to all perishing Delights Aspire therefore unto them and
Expressions of his Love but there is a necessity of waiting upon him through the other demonstrations of it and because he came to Redeem us it is very fit we should follow him that we may attain that Redemption It seem'd a small thing to his Love to shed tears for us in the cold he was expos'd to by the openness of that inconvenient place but he also shed his blood already for us by being wounded with the Legal Knife O tender Infant how soon dost thou pour out the blood of thy most precious Veins for my sake O who would not wish to be so happy to spend the last drop of his for thine My sins gave sharpness to that Knife which was the Instrument of thy pain in this Mystery and that blood was spilt by my Offences and by thy Loving-kindness As they Circumcise thy Flesh O Eternal Good of Souls do thou Circumcise my wickedness Lord cut away my Vices and Deformities Take away the Old Man O Lord form and reform the New-Grant that I may cease to do evil and begin to do good that by so doing I may live for evermore The Adoration of the Kings They bring back our Saviour wounded with Love and Grief as well as with that knife unto the Stable and the Manger unless it was perhaps in that very place that he pour'd forth his blood as well as his tears There they stay till three Kings come to Adore him in requital of that one who sought to destroy him O how much greater a Kingdom did they find at the feet of this Coelestial Infant in the Manger than in their own Royal Thrones How much higher were they advanced by laying themselves prostrate before him and to what an height were they exalted by having so humbled themselves By throwing down their Crowns at his feet they encompassed their Heads with brighter Crowns and those not earthly but Crowns of Grace and Glory They presented unto that Divine Child things Temporal and he gave them things Heavenly and Eternal The Gifts they presented to him were but transitory but those he filled them with were permanent and everlasting They Offer to him Gold Frankincense and Myrrh and he in exchange gives them the Golden Vertue of Charity the Incense of pure and fervent Devotion and for Myrrh the Grace of Mortification whereby dying to this World they began to live to that other which never shall have end O how much greater were those Gifts which were bestowed on them by that little Child than those that were offered to him by those great Kings They presented to him Gold as to the Creator of all the Riches of Heaven and of Earth and he in exchange gave them the Riches of the Earth and Heaven They gave him Incense the perfume whereof ascending from Earth towards Heaven acknowledged him God as well as Man and he gave them Grace as an Earnest that they themselves also should ascend into Heaven They gave him Myrrh as to a Mortal Man and he in being Mortal did by his death quicken them to live with him for ever in his Glory Let us offer to him with those Kings that which those Kings did offer let us offer Devotion Charity Mortification and Adoration let us offer to him a Life that from this day may aspire to an Eternal Life let us offer unto him Ardent Love Fervent Prayers and Humble Penitence let us offer to him all the Actions of our Life and let us take care that all our Actions be such as may be fit to be offered to him We may well draw near with an humble confidence to adore this Child who suffered himself to be approached by Children and to be adored by the poorest Men as well as by the richest Kings He was born poor himself to the end that he may be found by those that are poor and a Child that he may be ador'd by little ones for even out of the mouths of Babes and Sucklings he has ordained strength and perfected praise Come with Humility and Assurance to make him an Offering of thy self and thou shalt find him tender and wounded with Love readily to accept thy Offering But what can I offer to thee O Glorious Infant I who am meer Poverty What Gold of Charity being with thee at Enmity What Works of Repentance being full of Obstinacy Rebellion and Impenitency What Devotion my Prayers being full of wandring Thoughts and Distractions O my God I come not only to adore thee but also to beg of thee Lord I believe that I please thee more in asking of thee than in giving to thee Such is thy Charity thy Goodness thy Mercy and Liberality that to exercise it and to be giving is thy Glory and thou rejoycest much more in that thou bestowest than in all thou canst receive from us poor necessitous Beggars And what can we bestow on thee O Infant God we that are nothing but Misery What can we give but trifles unworthy of a God and only tolerable for a meer Humane Child but far unfit for thee who art also God Thou alone canst give us what we ought to give thee and if the Gift which we ought to offer thee come not first from thine hand the worth of it can be no ways suitable to such an Hand to such a Child and to such a God Finally it is from hence thou must endeavour to draw those Gifts that thou oughtest to Present him It is from himself thou must obtain the Gold the Frankincense and the Myrrh in Prayer Charity and Mortification From hence thou must procure a Charity burning with the love of that Lord a Mortification constant in suffering for him that suffered for thee that suffered cold and shed his blood in that mean place for thy sake In short from hence thou must draw an earnest and fervent Devotion to contemplate and adore so many and so great Benefits without suffering them to slip out of thy Memory and him whom those Kings sought in that particular place thou must love seek follow and adore in all places wheresoever thou shalt happen to be Of His Presentation in the Temple His Holy Mother when the days of her Purification were accomplished according to the Law of Moses carries her Son the Eternal Son of God and with his supposed Father Joseph Presents him in the Temple with a pair of Turtle Doves the Offering appointed for the Poor they not being able to make a richer There he was received by the hands of Simeon the Priest who having been assured by the Holy Ghost that he should not die till he had seen the Lord's Christ knew by the same Spirit that that Promise was then fulfilled which he openly declared when taking him in his Arms he blessed God and desired to depart in peace for that his eyes had seen his Salvation which God had prepared before the face of all People to be a Light to lighten the Gentiles and to be the Glory of his People Israel It
God which indeed was the principal design of all his Miracles which being so infinitely and apparently above the power of Nature could not but create great confidence in his Disciples that himself would verifie those great Promises upon which he established his Law nor fail to make a very deep impression upon all Persons whose interest and love of the World did not destroy the Piety of their Wills and put their Understandings into Fetters So marvellous was the force of Conviction by these supernatural Operations that to minds unbiass'd and honestly dispos'd to receive the truth it was hardly resistible Who could chuse but be wrought upon to confess his Divinity from the sight of that first Miracle which he wrought after his descent from the Mount upon the poor leprous Person which came to him worshipping him and begging to be healed He did but barely put forth his hand and touch him and immediately his Leprosie was cleansed What so great Vertue could possibly proceed from Natural Agents or from whence could so sudden and effectual a Remedy come but from that Great and Heavenly Physician who is Lord of Nature and consequently has no need to use Physical means but by a word of his mouth can accomplish whatever he pleases both in Heaven and Earth He bad the Man go to the Priest to offer an Oblation according to the Rites of Moses his Law hereby teaching what Respect and Obedience we owe to the Laws of that Religion which is duly established For in all the wonderful Works which he wrought for the healing Men's Bodies he had this further design to heal their Minds too by insinuating good Instructions He was a Physician of Souls as well as of Bodies and always had an eye to the Spiritual benefit of Men by contributing to their bodily ease This Observation holds in all those Corporal Cures which he wrought for the outward good of Men by that Divine Power which God had anointed him with As his Miracles were intended for Mercy so also for Doctrine The Impotent and Diseased Persons were not more cured than we instructed which will appear if we cast an eye upon some of his Miraculous Cures Behold him then in the next place giving sight to the Blind to one who besides his blindness was also possess'd with a dumb Devil which being cast out he presently spake and saw to another by anointing his Eyes with Clay and Spittle which one would think were more likely to have blinded him if he could have seen and even to one that was born blind without any natural capacity of receiving sight which more increased the Wonder of the Multitude all confessing That since the beginning of the World it was never known that any one had received sight who was born blind And do not these Examples teach us to admire his Goodness and his Power which working both with means and without means nay and against means too may convince us of his being God as well as Man How should we be excited by this excessive Bounty of our Lord to beg of him to enlighten the blindness of our Understandings which is far greater and worse than the blindness of those Men and to give us such a clear sight of Heavenly things as may make us look upon all the Greatness the Riches and the Pleasures of this World only with Contempt and Pity that we may plainly perceive the Path that leads to eternal Happiness and avoid all those stumbling-blocks which are laid in the way O thou that openedst the Eyes of the Blind suffer not the thick Mists of Ignorance to obscure and darken my mind and so hinder it from seeing and knowing in my day the things which belong to my Peace that they may never be hid from me See in another place a Noble Personage coming to Jesus with much Reverence and desiring him with great importunity to come to his House and cure his Son being now ready to dye Jesus who did not do his Miracles by Natural Operations cured the Child at a distance and dismissed the Prince telling him his Son lived which he found to be true and that he recovered at that time when Jesus spake those salutary and healing words Whereupon he and all his House became Disciples and were throughly convinced of his being the true Messiah and that Salvation was only through him which effect the Miracle did naturally tend to produce Behold at another time how soundly he sleeps in the midst of a most violent Tempest which so affrighted his Disciples that they hastily awoke him saying Lord save us we perish Thus quietly do they rest in the midst of dangers which trust in God and so are they dismayed with fears who dare not repose an entire confidence in him Imitate thou his Disciples in having recourse to Prayer in all thy distresses but rely upon God with assurance of his help Observe how their distrust was check'd with a Why are ye fearful O ye of little Faith Yet his Mercy granted their Request for he presently rebuked the Winds and the Seas and their was a great Calm In like manner O Lord compose the storms of my troubled Breast appease the boisterous Winds of my unruly Passions and the rolling Billows of my exorbitant and unsteady Desires Say unto them as thou didst unto the Sea Peace and be still so shall I safely pass through the Tempestuous Waves of this miserable World with a calm and contented mind till I arrive at the Haven of endless Rest and Comfort in thy Kingdom Nor does he only quiet the Sea but walks upon the Waters of it which seem'd so strange to his Disciples that they took him for a Spirit St. Peter having his Master still in his thoughts that he might be certain calls out If it be Thou command me to come to thee Observe the strength of his Love which makes him desirous to be with Jesus in any place how dangerous soever and yet the weakness of his Fear which presently causes his Faith to fail though he had an Omnipotent hand ready to help him His heart first sinks in his Body and then his Body sinks in the Water Learn then to follow Christ by imitating the Vertues which he practised as Man his Patience Meekness Humility and Charity and do not affect to do those things which he performed as God It is enough for us to undergo Dangers when Providence shall bring them upon us and too much to run our selves into them unnecessarily for that is to tempt God by a vain Presumption the Punishment whereof is to be left to our selves and most probably to perish in our own rashness Let us next accompany our Saviour to the Marriage in Cana and indeed there it was that he wrought his first Miracle where to rescue the married Pair who were poor and wanted Wine from Affront and Trouble he commanded the Water-pots to be filled with Water which by his Divine Power he changed into Wine where the
different proceeding of God and the World is highly observable Every man sets forth good Wine at first and then the worst but God not only turns the Water into Wine but into such Wine that still the last draught is most pleasant The World presents us with fair Language promising Hopes convenient Fortunes pompous Honours and these are the outsides of the Bole but when it is swallowed these dissolve in the instant and there remains nothing but bitterness and corruption Every sin smiles in the first Address but when we have well drunk then comes that which is worse Fears and Terrors of Conscience and Shame and Displeasure and diffidence in the day of Death But when after the manner of the purifying of the Christians we fill our Water-pots with Water watering our Couch with our Tears and moistening our Cheeks with the perpetual distillations of Repentance then Christ turns our Water into Wine first Penitents and then Communicants first Waters of Sorrow and then the Wine of the Chalice first the Justifications of Correction and then the Sanctifications of the Sacrament and the Effects of the Divine Power Joy and Peace and Serenity hopes full of Confidence and Confidence without Shame and Boldness without Presumption for Jesus keeps the best Wine till the last not only because of the reservations of the highest Joys till the nearer approaches of Glory but also because our relishes are higher after a long enjoyment than at the first Essays such being the Nature of Grace that it encreases in Relish as it does in Enjoyment every part of Grace being a new Duty and new Reward Next let us contemplate those most apparent and indubitable effects of a Power truly Divine and All-sufficient that our Saviour wrought in raising the Dead and recalling Life and Breath into them which is a Work that baffles all the Powers of Nature and is too difficult to be compassed by a limited Vertue See how he comforts Jairus one of the Rulers of the Synagogue when certain Messengers came and declared to him the departure of his Daughter whom having left at home at the point of Death he came to Jesus to beg a Cure for her and desired him to trouble the Master no further Be not afraid says he only believe As if he had said Trouble not thy self at this doleful Message neither be grieved for thy Daughter for I am as able to restore her to Life now she is Dead as I was to heal her when she was Sick had I had a timely notice of her illness Only have Faith in me and believe that I am able to accomplish this great Action and it shall presently be accomplished And according as he believed so was the event for entring in where the Damsel was lying he took her by the Hand and said unto her Talitha cumi that is Damsel arise and immediately she arose and walked to the great Astonishment and Joy of those that were mourning and weeping for her Decease In like manner our Lord beholding another Object of Pity namely the Widow of Nain bewailing and lamenting the Death of her only Son who was now carrying to be Buried had compassion on her and bad her forbear weeping for that her Son should be restored to her again and by the Voice of his Mouth which commands the whole Creation and awakens the Dead recover Sense and Motion which was soon effected for he did but call Young man I say unto thee arise and forthwith he that was dead sate up and began to speak whereupon there came a fear on all And being struck with amazement at the sight of so marvellous an Action they glorified God saying A great Prophet is risen up among us and God hath visited his People At another time he exercised this Supernatural and Divine Vertue in raising up his beloved Friend Lazarus from the Grave who had been buried four Days and had seen Corruption His Sisters Martha and Mary in his Sickness sent to Jesus saying Behold he whom thou lovest is sick Jesus permitted him to taste of Death that the Glory of God might be manifested in his return to Life He determined to get him Glory by his Resurrection and therefore when he knew of his Death he said to his Disciples Our friend Lazarus sleepeth but I go that I may awake him out of sleep As he went he was met by Martha who received him with this mournful Lamentation Lord if thou hadst been here my brother had not died the same words wherewith Mary received him afterwards when she came to him but however taking comfort by Faith I know said she That even now whatsoever thou wilt ask of God God will give it thee Jesus answered her Thy brother shall rise again and that not only at the last day as she understood him but instantly Wherefore he demanded where they had laid him and coming to the place he bad them take away the stone from the cave which being done He cried with a loud voice Lazarus come forth at the sound of which words the slumbring Carcass was awakened all its parts revived and his Soul re-united to his Body So readily do all Creatures obey when God commands These Instances our Lord designed as Types of our rising again at the final Consummation of the World to an immortal State When our corruptible shall put on incorruption and our mortal immortality As they were raised again to a Temporal Being so shall we to an Eternal in Joy or Misery How greatly then does it import us so to frame our lives in this World that we may be counted worthy to rise again to eternal Life and not to Eternal Death Can we truly and heartily believe that our Souls and Bodies shall be re-united at the last Day and be called before Christs Tribunal to be judged and sentenced according to their Deeds here and yet live in a careless security without ever regarding to set right our Accounts before we appear at that Judgment-seat Can any thing be more absurd than to entertain this Faith and yet to live as if we utterly disown'd it If we were really perswaded and convinced of this grand Truth and Article of Christianity and would often meditate upon it we should not fail to guard ourselves against the assaults of Sin and enchantments of Pleasure to live Soberly Righteously and Godly and to apply our whole Endeavours to prepare our Souls and Bodies for a glorious and â—appy Re-union Finally to name no more of our Lord's Miracles let us come to that Sign which was given to the Jews and Pharisees to cure if possible their obstinate Incredulity that greatest of Miracles which could have no suspicion of Imposture no Instance or Precedent or Imitation and that is Jesus his own lying in the Grave three Days and three Nights and then his raising up himself again and appearing unto many and conversing for forty Days together giving probation of his rising and of the verity of his Body and making a
glorious promise which at Pentecost was verified He by his Omnipotency raised his Body from the Dead and enlivened it according to that Prediction of his Destroy this Temple and in three days I will build it up again What more pregnant evidence could possibly be afforded of his being the Son of God than this sublime Miracle This one would think were enough to conquer the most inveterate Infidelity and to banish the least doubt or suspicion of our Saviour's Divinity O my Soul do thou endeavour herein to resemble Christ As he died and rose again for thee so do thou die from Sin and rise again unto Righteousness and Newness of Life seeking those things that are above where Christ is ascended and praying to him to quicken thy sinful and earthly Heart with holy Desires and heavenly Affections That Infinite Power which did so solemnly triumph over Death and the Grave can much more easily roll away the Stone of a customary Sin and subdue and mortifie the most powerful Lust though of never so long continuance and enable thee to live henceforward to God in a careful observance of all Christian Duties which will at length bring thee to the end of thy Hopes to those Glories which being the Portion of Angels and Saints and the nearest Communications with God are infinitely above what we see for hear or understand After the Miracles of our Saviour succeed his Parables which way of Expression was abundantly useful and recommended it self chiefly upon this account That whatsoever was represented in this Figurative manner was apt to insinuate more closely and to work more powerfully upon the Affections Forasmuch as in this case the mind was not only addressed to by the meer dint of Reason but Truth was in a manner made Visible and set off in such lively Colours that the Imagination being Impregnated the Passions were easily carried along too Hereby also the memory was exceedingly fortified for such things as we feel and see or which our Imaginations have an express Image of and our Affections relish those things always stick by us And further this way of Parables which our Saviour made so frequent use of in many cases came more home to Mens Consciences and carried more Conviction than any other more express and direct way of speaking And had it not been that the Jews were filled with Intollerable Prejudices against him they must of necessity have had his Wisdom in great Veneration For though under his Parables were hid mysterious Senses yet they were not so mysterious but that they were easily intelligible to Minds unprejudiced honest and desirous of Instruction The Truth shines through the Veil and the Shadow does itself guide to the Body and Substance How excellently did our Lord represent the great Efficacy of Repentance under the Gospel-state and its acceptableness with God from the vilest Sinners under the Parable of the Prodigal Son The Pharisees who were hardened in Infidelity for the sake of this Doctrine accounted him a Friend of Vicious and Lewd Persons They knew that the Law gave hopes of Pardon only to some smaller Offences excluding all great and notorious Offenders and shutting them up under Wrath and they not being elevated above this literal Dispensation would not believe that God would exercise Mercy upon any other Terms than what he therein proclaimed and therefore our Saviour Preaching Repentance and giving hopes of Pardon to the greatest Sinners upon condition of an hearty and thorough Reformation these demure Hypocrites were offended and insinuated a suspicion of our Saviour That he was a favourer of wicked Persons In answer to this unjust Imputation and to silence the murmuring of these hard-hearted Jews our Saviour makes use of this Parable with two others of the like nature wherein he plainly sets forth this great Doctrine and shews that as it is the common course of Men to express most Joy upon the recovery of any thing lost so God to whom the Souls of Men are infinitely valuable is highly pleas'd with the recovery of lost Sinners and upon their returning to him will mercifully accept them as the Indulgent Father here embraced his returning Son who had been so long engaged in the most wild Extravagancies and in the greatest Disobedience to his Paternal Authority O the merciful Compassion of God to Mankind O Love that surpassest all Understanding That the worst of Sinners should be received into favour and be made capable of Pardon only by repenting of their Wickedness and being sorry for their Sins In another Parable to wit that of the Talents how forcibly does our Lord instruct us in the Duties of Industry Diligence and Spiritual Husbandry How plainly does he teach us the necessity of improving those Gifts and Graces which God communicates to us for that purpose and to encrease those Talents which he entrusts us with and which he will call us to an account for how we have used them and what we have gained by them He sets before us the Reward of a careful employing of them to the Uses designed and the Punishment of a neglectful management of them Those that had gained by their Talents were pronounced good and faithful Servants and commanded to enter into their Masters Joy but he that had hid his Talent in the Earth and made no advantage of it was branded with the infamous name of wicked and slothful Servant and commanded to be cast into outer Darkness In like manner God will require an account of us how we have used all those Gifts and Endowments which he has bestowed upon us whether they be Goods of Fortune or of Grace We are mistaken if we think them given meerly for our sakes Have we the Blessing of a plentiful Fortune God entrusts us therewith to make us capable to do good and to relieve the necessities of our poor Brethren and unless we thus use it it will prove a Curse to us Are we favoured with extraordinary Endowments of Mind It is that we may instruct the Ignorant and employ them to the Glory of God and to the good of others which are destitute of so great a benefit Is God pleased to infuse his Grace into our Hearts it must then be our daily endeavour to grow therein and to add one Vertue to another We must faithfully employ and husband the first beginnings to the end that we may obtain still greater degrees God will Reward or Punish us according to the good or ill Employment of his Goods which he makes us Stewards of If we give diligence to add to those Talents of whatsoever nature they be which he deposits with us then no doubt God will honour us with the Title of faithful Servants and abundantly recompense our Industry but if through Idleness and Sloth we so employ our Talents as to bring in no gain to our Lord we must expect nothing but that dismal Sentence denounced against the slothful Servant Cast ye the unprofitable Servant into outer darkness there
shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth Another most useful and profitable Doctrine is taught us in the Parable of the Ten Virgins going forth to meet the Bridegroom which is that of Vigilance or Watchfulness and a timely preparation for Death and Judgment As the exact time of the Bridegrooms coming was unknown to them so is our latter end to us And as the Door was shut against the foolish Virgins and they excluded from the Marriage for their unpreparedness at the Bridegrooms coming so the Door of Mercy will for ever be shut upon us if we suffer ourselves to be surpriz'd by Death without making a due preparation for it The coming of the Lord to Judgment will be as a Snare on all them that dwell on the Face of the whole Earth Let us Watch therefore and Pray always that we may be found worthy to stand before the Son of Man We are likewise taught to pray instantly and perseveringly by the Parable of the Importunate Widow whom the unjust Judge that feared not God nor regarded Man did yet condescend to avenge of her Adversaries meerly because of her Importunity and constant Entreaties that he might not be wearied by her continual coming If this unjust Judge could by this means be mov'd to do right and to hearken to the Petition of the oppressed Widow How much more will God hear thy Prayers if thou continuest instant in soliciting his Divine Majesty If at the first thy requests be not granted yet cease not thy Addresses nor give over praying but contend and wrestle as it were with God till thou gainest a hearing God loves such an holy Violence First see that the matter of thy Petitions be just lawful and convenient and then thou mayest be sure to obtain them or something better if thou perseverest with Faith and Patience Another most necessary Duty is very strongly enforc'd in the Parable of the King which would take Account of his Servants I mean the Duty of forgiving Offences and Injuries When he began to reckon with them one was brought to him which owed him ten thousand Talents but being utterly uncapable of ever discharging so vast a Debt he fell down before his Lord and with great Humility and Earnestness entreated him to have patience with him whereupon he freely forgave him the whole Sum. But this same Servant afterwards severely exacting a far less considerable Debt of an hundred Pence of one of his fellow-servants and notwithstanding all entreaties casting him into Prison till Payment should be made his Lord thus expostulates with him O thou wicked servant I forgave thee all that debt because thou desiredst me shouldest not thou also have had compassion on thy fellow-servant even as I had pity on thee And his Lord was wroth and delivered him to the Tormentors till he should pay all that was due to him This is our case as the Servant's Debt to his Master was great and important and that of his fellow-servant to him but trivial and inconsiderable So our Offences against God are infinite and of a provoking Nature and the Injuries of our fellow-Creatures to us are but few and of small importance if therefore we desire God to pardon our hainous and often-repeated sins against him how can we refuse to pardon the petty and small Affronts of our Brethren With what Modesty canst thou who denyest to forgive thy Brother one single Trespass expect that God should forgive thee ten thousand Or how canst thou hope for the Mercy of God who art most cruel and unmerciful to others Revenge as it is an unchristian Principle so it tends directly to unqualifie us for forgiveness and is uncapable of the least rational defence for no man ever did or can forgive his Neighbour so many Provocations and Offences as he himself has need to be forgiven by God which is an eternal Reason and Motive to incite us to the exercise of Charity and Mercy and cannot fail to work upon ingenuous and considering Minds Can there be a greater Argument devis'd to make us easie and willing to pardon Offences than the consideration of that absolute necessity we our selves stand in of God's Pardon without which we must eternally perish Especially since our Saviour has plainly revealed to us that unless we from our hearts forgive every one his Brother their Trespasses our Heavenly Father will not forgive us our Trespasses Consider this attentively and thou canst not but perceive the great unreasonableness and sinfulness of Revenge Think seriously how much thou dependest upon the Mercy of God for thy Salvation and then thou wilt not fail to be merciful to thy Brethren Finally see what an infinite multitude of sins must be forgiven thee by God if thou escapest Damnation and thou wilt find great cause to pass by without the least thoughts of Revenge all the Injuries and Wrongs that can possibly be done thee by thy Fellow-Creatures And many more useful Doctrines may we find couch'd under these Figurative Speeches and Parables which our Saviour delivered Thus by the Parable of the Tares permitted to grow amongst the Wheat he intimated the Toleration of Dissenting Opinions not destructive of Piety or Civil Societies By the three Parables Of the Seed growing insensibly of the grain of Mustard-seed growing up to a Tree and of a little Leven qualifying the whole Lump he signified the increase of the Gospel and the Blessing of God upon the Apostolical Sermons By the Parable of the Sower scattering his Seed by the way-side some on stony some on thorny and some on good Ground he intimated the several Capacities and Indispositions of mens hearts the carelesness of some the frowardness and levity of others the easiness and softness of a third and how they are spoil'd with Worldliness and Cares and how many ways there are to miscarry and that but one sort of Men receive the Word and bring forth the Fruits of an Holy Life Thus plentifully did the Saviour of Souls provide for the winning of mens hearts or else if they were Stubborn and Contumacious and would not be wrought upon for the hardening of them by such pleasing Discourses which to pursue in particular were endless for Without a Parable spake he not unto them The Second WEEK The Eve of the Passion NOW it will be needful for thee to prepare thy Mind for great Tribulations because thou drawest near the Passion of our Lord whose Holy Imitation is the Joy and the Glory of Suffering How well does a Souldier fight seeing the Courage of his General How well the Subject in the sight of his King that is ready to lose his Life for him The Disciple is not to be above his Master nor the Servant above his Lord. The Son is not to fare better than his Father nor the Creature better than his Creator Embarque thy self in the vast Gulf of thy Saviour's Passion In that Stormy Sea of his Sufferings thou wilt sail more safely than in the Haven of thine own
Will for this is hazard and that Security I had rather endure Torments with my dear Lord than enjoy the Delights and Greatness of the World I had rather follow him and serve him on Mount Calvary in this Life than to rejoyce in the Glories of Mount Tabor Deny thy self not only in Temporal and Sensual Pleasures but also even in those that are Spiritual Love the Cross not only in flying from evil but in following that which is best Pains and Sufferings Lord are the Portions of this Life for Joys we may well wait till the eternal O what were thy Sufferings my sweetest Jesus If once thou gavest liberty to thy Divinity to swallow up thy holy Humanity in Glory at thy Transfiguration how often didst thou hide it under thy Sufferings nay rather thou madest use of it that the Sufferings of thy holy Humanity might be the greater the stronger and the more durable Thou with the Power of thy Godhead didst support the frailty of thy Manhood and thy Divine Nature gave strength to thy Humane to the end that it might thereby be enabled to undergo that which otherwise it could not possibly have endured Consider then and lament and follow him in this first part of his holy and dolorous Passion When the Eternal Word being prepar'd to Suffer ask'd leave of his Eternal Father to enter into that Sea of Torments to compleat the excess of his love to Man and to crown that Obedience wherewith he dispos'd himself for the Redemption of Mankind Behold from Six a Clock in the Evening of that Thursday which also may well be called Holy the many painful steps which our Saviour took in going to shed his Blood and how that most gentle Lamb was carried and offered up by Love for a Sacrifice upon the Cross There the Prophecy of Venerable Simeon had its perfect completion there the sharp Sword of Sorrow pierced through the heart of his Virgin-Mother Learn of him as she did to resign thy self in all kinds of Sufferings for him as he resigned himself to the Will of his Father in his Sufferings for thee Yield an humble resignation to the Judgments of the Lord and chearfully bear whatsoever he shall ordain concerning thee since thou seest the Son of God and his Mother the one giving up his Blood to obey it and the other her Heart Refuse not Labours repay not Slanders resist not Persecutions and Affronts but whatsoever thou shalt suffer suffer it humbly and patiently for the sake of that dearest Lord. God the Father sends them God the Son in bearing teaches thee to bear them and God the Holy Ghost will give thee Comfort in them Dost thou feel how much the Enemy persecutes thee Dost thou feel how much thy evil-willers afflict thee Dost thou feel the Injustice and Oppression of the Powerful Dost thou feel Losses Trouble Sickness Anguish Poverty or whatsoever else lies heavy on thy heart Ease it by considering that all comes to thee from Heaven That which is God's permission in him that sins is his dispensation to him that suffers and those very Afflictions and Persecutions which God permits by a Tyrant he makes use of as the Chisel and Mallet with which he is cutting out and forming of a Martyr He commands the one to suffer and suffers the other to torment to the one he sends a Crown of Martyrdom from Heaven and leaves the other upon Earth to commit Sins which will be his everlasting Torment in Hell therefore whatsoever thou shalt suffer bear it patiently in God with God and for God Of the Last Supper and of the washing of his Disciples Feet Now behold the Lord Jesus with all his Apostles entring into the Chamber prepared for them to celebrate the Legal Natural and Eucharistical Suppers in where the Eternal Shepherd made himself Food for the Nourishment of his Sheep Behold how with his Disciples he celebrates the Ancient Legal Passover with Staves in their hands standing with Shoes on his holy feet eating those bitter Herbs which he abolished and leaving them for the sweet Aliment and Sustenance he after gave us in his most Holy Body and Blood With that he gave a full accomplishment to the Ancient Written Law of Moses and gave it a Farewel with his most holy Hand shutting the Door for ever against those Ceremonies which till then were enjoyn'd but are since seal'd up and prohibited Having ended that first Supper of the Paschal Lamb which was much more a Figure and a Mystery than a Nourishment his Apostles celebrated the natural and common Supper giving refreshment to their weary Limbs that their Nature might be enabled to support those Injuries Pains and Torments which Sin was like to bring upon them In that second Supper our Saviour gives Judas an hint of his intended Treason and of his own Mercy and as if he had meant to awaken him from his wicked Lethargy offers him the Sop he had dipped to the end that the Liquor changing the colour of the Bread might check the Traitor with the thought of his most precious Blood and that he was going to shed it even for him by being nail'd upon the Cross Our Lord strikes a trouble into all his Disciples by affirming that one amongst them would betray him Peter loving him fervently and being stout desires to be informed by the means of John who that Traiterous Disciple was that as it is credible he might chastise so horrid a wickedness but our Lord who that Night had made as it were an Embargo upon all Pains and Punishments and seized them only for himself would not plainly manifest the Traitor lest by discovering so horrible a Treachery the Salvation and Redemption of Mankind should have been hindred Those two Suppers being ended our Saviour to establish Humility in the hearts of his Disciples to the end that by increasing and multiplying it might be derived to the whole Church of God enriching and improving it with that Holy Vertue The Creator rises to wash the feet of his Creatures and who could cleanse them better than he that Created them Who could better repair what was fallen down than he that made the Building Who could better restore us to our former Innocency than he that was like us in all things Sin only excepted Who could wash and purifie our Sins but the Author and Fountain of Grace which flowing in the Heart of our Lord most full of Mercy that Source of eternal goodness pours it forth with his most Holy Hand for From what other Hand could so great pity and compassion have proceeded What other Water O Jesus my Redeemer could cleanse the foulness of my Sins What other but thy Divine Hands could purifie the Defilements of my inordinate Passions What but Innocency itself could whiten the stains of my polluted Soul What could take away my Wickedness but thy Infinite and Unspeakable Goodness He begins to wash the Feet of his Apostles of which some think the first were the
foulest and the most disloyal that ever trod upon the Ground beginning as the Divine Physician with Judas who had the most deadly Disease and hastening the Remedy to him first that was in the greatest danger Others who would have St. Peter to be Head of the Church say He began with him That Reformation being the best grounded and the most powerful which begins from the highest descending from the Head unto the rest of the Body That holy Apostle seeing his Redeemer at his Feet was humbled and confounded before he touched them He that had walked upon the Waters and Trampled upon the Waves sinks deeper in this Bason through Love than he had done in the depth of the Sea through Fear Seeing an Humility so beyond all measure and that his God was down upon his Knees at his Feet he was in such an amazement that he denied them him saying Lord thou shalt not wash my feet O what an high acknowledgment was this of St. Peter when he said Lord wilt thou wash my feet It was in its kind an higher one than when he confessed him near Cesarea He then knew him and confessed him to be God but he did not know himself but now Peter acknowledges him to be God Infinite and Omnipotent and himself to be a wretched weak Man and a most miserable Sinner Many pretend to know God and are ignorant of themselves but they know him indeed who by his Divine Light come to discover their own Darkness Lord wilt thou wash my feet Thou the God of Heaven and I a little Dust of the Earth Thou the Creator and I the vilest of all Creatures Thou the Eternal Greatness of the Creation the Soul of all that lives and I the frailest the meanest of all that Die Thou my Master and I thy Disciple Thou the King and Crown of Angels and I a poor simple Fisherman nay which is worse a sinful Worm and therefore more base than any of those that crawl upon the Ground Thou that art Innocency adn Goodness itself upon thy Knees at the Feet of my Sins and of my Wickedness Finally O my Jesus Thou who art greater than the greatest dost thou kneel at my Feet who am less than the least of thy Mercies Thus the Humility of that loving Disciple opposed that of his Master with a Holy Contention while all stood looking and admiring to behold which would get the Victory whether the Human nature knowing the infinite height of the Divine or the Divine knowing the infinite Misery of the Humane It seems more just that here Peter should have overcome God than God Peter as it is more reasonable that Man should serve God than that God should serve Man It is the part of Man to obey and of God to command to Man it belongs to Serve and to God to suffer himself to be Served Loved and Adored This indeed was a Mystery of Love and Divine Charity and he shewed this excessive kindness to oblige and to enflame theirs to him and to one another by his example saying If I being your Master and your Lord have washed your Feet ye ought also to wash one anothers Feet That Love which made him being God to become Man made him being Man to humble himself before Man And that Sovereign Lord never took a righter course for that high intent than by humbling and prostrating himself to wash to cleanse and to purifie Man He made himself Man that he might redeem him and did it seem much for God being become Man to kneel down to wash him Yes dear Jesus it is much much beyond expression for nothing of all this could be deserved by Man He does not deserve any remedy because he has been the Author of his own Misery but thy unbounded thy unspeakable compassion looks upon his Necessity and not upon his Demerits Whither dear Saviour shall the high expressions of thy Love extend Where shall this Infinite Charity of thine be limited Behold Lord we are Men that is to say meer Misery and Wickedness Behold Lord thou art God that is to say the most Sovereign Power and Supreme Majesty Dost thou so far abase thy Divinity as to drag it upon the Earth within thy Humanity Is it not enough for thee to make thy self Man unless thou humblest and prostratest thy self before Man Who can see God at his feet without falling into an Extasy of Astonishment and without giving up his life through an excessive Humility Who can choose but die with shame and confusion to see so unfitting an in-equality I do not wonder that St. Peter resisted it for besides that he knew that his Master was God and he a vile Creature he loved his God and he loved his Master extreamly much and in the same proportion that he loved him was the trouble he felt to see him kneeling at his feet since he knew that it was the duty of all earthly Creatures to serve and adore him But yet for all that Peter at last yielded to Christ it being most just that man should yield to God since the greatest Humility lies in the greatest Obedience the Disciple therefore must obey his Master and the Servant his Lord. Our Saviour told him that if he would not be washed and purified he could have no share in his Redemption at the hearing of which terrible Sentence Peter offered him not only his feet to be washed but his Hands and his Head also To this Christ replyed He that is washed needeth not save only to wash his Feet but is clean all over That is he that hath been already washed in the Laver of Baptism needeth only to wash the Feet of his Affections which from the Earth and misery of our Inclinations and Passions rise up to the Heart Hereby the Redeemer of Souls signifies that Purity wherewith we ought to prepare our selves for the receiving of the Blessed Sacrament for before he Consecrates that he in the washing his Disciples feet gives them an example of Humility and Resignation and in the Water expresses the vertue of those penitent Tears wherewith they were to wash their Sins and bewail their Miseries And by not suffering the Dust of the Earth to remain upon their Feet teaches them that they should much less suffer inordinate Affections to remain in their Hearts In short our Blessed Lord washed the feet of all the Holy Apostles and amongst the rest those of the Traitor Judas whose cruel Obstinacy was so great that neither the touching them with those Divine Hands nor the bringing them so near to the Compassionate Breast of the Redeemer of Souls could mollifie the hardness of his Heart nor change the cruelty of his Intention O how hard-hearted a thing is Covetousness What an insensible Rock How well does St. Paul call it the Source of all evil O what a difficult thing it is to bring those with sincerity home to God who once have lost their respect to him so far as to dare to offend him
to his Face Let so many Publicans and Sinners so many Harlots and other wicked Livers speak this who repenting were pardoned and the Traiterous Apostle Judas who persisting in Impenitency was Damned Of the Institution of the Holy Sacrament This Gracious Action being finished he holds a most loving Discourse to his Disciples preparing them to see their Master suffer and to bear all those sufferings they were to undergo themselves O how does he forewarn and advise them How does he encourage and instruct them How does he enlighten and comfort them There he rebukes Peter thereby giving a Lesson to the rest and shews them Beams of Mercy even in those Prophecies of Tribulations and Afflictions that were to befal them If he foretel their Frailties and their Failings he also assures them of Victories and Triumphs and that they shall subdue and trample upon the World through the Vertue and Power of his Grace That most tender Discourse being likewise ended he Celebrated the third and last Supper or more properly the admirable and unspeakable Mystery of the Sacrament in which he expressed and Epitomized the Intimacies of his unmeasurable Goodness and Charity To make himself Man and to suffer for Man seemed but a small thing to his Love unless he still remained with Man to be the food of Man O Infinite Charity which contentest not thy self with being our Redemption unless thou also becomest our Nourishment O Infinite Charity who not only offerest thy self to Death to save my Life but who also wilt enter into my Breast to give me a better Life and to defend and free me from a more lasting Death O Infinite Charity who having our Ingratitude in thy thoughts and that thou wert to be condemned by Men to die upon the Cross yet leavest us a benefit which we could not have received but by thy passing first through so great an Ingratitude of Men O Infinite Charity which knowing that my Offences would nail thee to the Cross wert yet providing that remedy for those very Offences O Infinite Charity which knowing that a thousand Injuries and Torments were contriving in the Hearts of Men against thy unspeakable Goodness and Mercy didst yet leave thy self for Food to those Infamous Mouths and having it in thy Power to inflict a severe punishment upon them for so great a Wickedness wert offering them means and expedients of Mercy Goodness and Charity What was Man doing when thou didst institute this blessed Sacrament for him What but preparing the Scourges the Crown of Thorns the Nails and the Cross for thee He was designing thy cruel Death and thou his eternal Life He was contriving Torments for thee and thou Glory for him He was platting a Crown of sharp Thorns for thy sacred Head and thou a Crown of Joys and Eternities for his Lord is it thy Custom to repay Benefits for Injuries and to give Crowns for the Reward of Ingratitude Come hither O devout Souls come and bewail with me so great a Sin Come love with me so great a Love Come with a Spiritual Hunger and offer up your hearts to receive that Divine Nourishment and let whatsoever is in you of your selves go forth of you to make room for this most deservedly beloved Lord to enter Of the Consecration of the Apostles After that our Sovereign Lord and Master had Consecrated the Elements of Bread and Wine breaking the one and giving it them to Eat and pouring out the other and commanding all to Drink calling the one his Body and the other his Blood and thereby changing not their nature but their use that they might become a Sacrament which should remain in his Church not only for a Remembrance of his precious Death and Passion but also for a Conveyance of the Merits thereof for the Remission of Sins He Consecrated also the Apostles themselves and gave them the Power and Vertue to Consecrate and Ordain others and to send them forth as he did them for the Propagation of his Gospel and for the Administration and Government of Souls This was another admirable expression of the Love of our Lord Jesus to Mankind since whereas he could have taken upon him the nature of Angels and left them Heirs of that rich Possession of Receiving Consecrating and Administring those precious Symbols he was pleased to bestow that Benefit and Priviledge upon Mankind which thereby received Honour and Favour as well as Remedy But Lord I wonder not at that since from the time thou madest thy self Man all advantages were brought to Man by joyning thy Divinity to his Humanity O that as thou hast given to us Bishops and Priests this Dignity we had also the Spirit the Devotion and the Piety of the Apostles And Lord as the Power thou hast conferr'd upon us is what thou hast not granted to Angels and to Seraphins O that the Perfection of our Manners and the Purity and Charity of our Souls were in some degree suitable to that of Angels and of Seraphins But O God we have a Dignity of great weight upon very weak shoulders the Dignity is fit for Angels the Weakness is of miserable Sinners And thou only O Eternal Goodness thy Mercy and thy Strength alone can help and encourage and support our Weakness and Misery Since then O sweet Lord thou givest us this Dignity give us also those parts and qualifications which are expedient for it Since thou hast given us the Obligations help us also with the Abilities since thou givest us the Ministry give us also the Spirit As thou hast made us to represent thee make us also to imitate thee As thou hast given us the Power give us also the Vertue with the Power Suffer us not O Divine Goodness to serve in that High Dignity with Uncharitableness and Indignity If thou wilt not help the Bishops the Fathers of the Faith and the Shepherds of Souls O thou Eternal lover of Souls whom wilt thou help If our Light must enlighten the Souls of others what shall become both of us and others if we want thy Light Thou callest the Apostles and Ministers the Salt of the Earth and if the Salt lose its savour how shall their Doctrine be seasoned If the blind lead the blind shall they not both fall into the ditch Grant O Lord that thy Goodness and thy Love may dwell in us that thy Mercy and thy Charity may burn in our hearts and that the fire of thy Divine Love may break forth from thence to kindle and enflame the hearts of our Christian Brethren Our Blessed Saviour having Consecrated his Holy Apostles to be Teachers of the Faith and Pillars of his Church and having made himself their Minister and their Priest enters into the breasts of those that were to be his Ministers and Priests to become an unbloody Sacrifice in the Altar of those living Temples before he was a bloody one upon the Altar of the Cross They with profound Reverence receive the Lord whom they adore and behold
that the third Person in the Holy Trinity might Govern the Church which the second had founded in his Blood and which the first still supports with abundance of Coelestial Blessings This is a Week which is sufficient to employ all our Days and Weeks and Years even to Eternity in imitating those Vertues in adoring those Mysteries and in for ever praising that Saviour and Redeemer of Souls who performed them for our sakes The Fourth WEEK Of the Exercise of the three Theological Vertues Faith Hope and Charity upon Contemplation of the Life and Death of our Saviour WE have been furnished with large matter of Consideration which not only is sweet and holy but also most profitable to our Souls For the Life of Jesus Christ must be the Looking-glass of our Lives His Passion must banish the Sins and Passions of our Hearts His Sufferings must moderate and reform our Pleasures His Wounds must be the Cure of our Wounds and Maladies His Cross must be our Banner and his Death our Life From hence as from a most clear and beautiful Original thou art to Copy out those Vertues which are to resist assault and conquer thy Vices Upon these high and Heavenly Mysteries thou art to fix thy Faith thy Hope and thy Love at all times So far as thou shalt think and meditate upon the Life and Passion of our Lord so far will thy Faith quicken and enliven thee and that Faith which being Dead and without Works will be but the cause of thy greater Condemnation by being made a living and a working Faith will obtain for thee a high Reward If you have Faith sayes our Saviour you shall remove Mountains O how great is the power of Faith If you have Faith ask of me and you shall receive seek me and you shall find me and if you knock it shall be opened unto you That lively Faith which is offered and given us in the Life and Death of the Saviour of Souls is not only to believe what Faith teaches us but also to do in the same measure as we believe To believe so many Heavenly Mysteries and not to act in conformity to them is a very imperfect Faith To believe a God will not serve the turn alone The Devils saith St. James believe and tremble too and yet are now burning in Hell The Devil knows very well that God is God and abhors him though he believes Dost thou believe in God art thou a Christian T is well But tell me how many are Condemned for ever who believed but did not do accordingly Dost thou believe in Christ and yet wilt not follow Christ and which is worse dost thou Persecute him and Crucifie him again by thy wicked Life Woe be to thee and woe be to me if we thus believe in Christ This People saith he honour me with their Lips but their Heart is far from me Woe be to thee and me if we honour Christ on that manner Not all those saith the Holy Jesus that cry unto me Lord Lord shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven but he that does the will of my Father That is to say there are two sorts of Persons that cry Lord Lord which are two sorts of Believers The one say and do not do believe but do not work The other both say and do believe and likewise work He that believes and does shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven but he that believes a God and yet works against him and Offends and Crucifies him shall never be admitted into those Heavenly Mansions 'T is not enough to do without believing nor to believe without doing both are necessary and we must work without giving over Let every one look and consider what his works are for thither he shall go whither his Thoughts Words and Actions direct their Course Are they sinful Then to Hell Are they full of Tears Repentance and Contrition Then to Heaven Look what thou sowest for that shalt thou reap If Corruption thou shalt reap Corruption if Perfection thou shalt reap Perfection Dost thou sow Vertues in this Life Thou shalt reap Coelestial Crowns in the other Dost thou sow Vices Thou shalt reap Eternal Torments A lively Faith I say a lively Faith is that which will save us a lively active a pure holy Faith not one defil'd with Sins deformed with Passions and full of Misery and Presumption Dost thou live as if thou wert an Heathen and yet believe thy self a Christian Unless thou amendest thy Life the Heathen shall carry the Christian along with him to Hell but the Christian shall never carry the Heathen along with him to Heaven Dost thou believe an Eternity and yet livest without any memory of that Eternity having all thy thoughts fastened on that which is meerly Temporal These Transitory and Temporal things will pass away and then thou shalt come to suffer Torments in Eternity Do not deceive thy self nor think it is enough to believe without working nor that Christ's having suffered for thee will be enough to save thee whilst thou ungratefully offendest him that suffered for thee Alas that will not serve the turn but rather it will be enough and too much to damn thee Dost thou think Christ came to suffer to the end that thou mightest the more freely sin against him Dost thou think he came into the World that thou mightest heap up thy wickednesses upon his holy shoulders Dost thou think he came to facilitate thy Crimes to the end that obstinate sinners might compound their Vices with his Merits Dost thou think that Heavenly Master of Purity and Holiness came to open a Gate unto all Vice whereby his Sufferings might serve to save those that only believed and wrought nothing but Sins and Transgressions The Eternal Son of God came into the World not only to Redeem us but also to Teach us In his Blood he left Redemption and in his Life Instruction He underwent his Passion to redeem Souls but his Actions were so high and holy to amend inform direct and purifie them The effect of his Pains his Cross his Death is to give Merit to our Works and Grace and Force to a Christian to suffer with him but the effect of his Vertues Perfections and whole Life is to teach us and to set us a Pattern to imitate as far as we are able I have given you an Example says he that ye should do as I have done And in another place he says Whosoever doth not bear his Cross and come after me cannot be my Disciple He is no perfect Christian nor is it possible he should be that flies from the Cross even though he might escape it Every Christian is to follow and embrace the Cross of his Redeemer Can any Man be a perfect Christian without keeping the Commandments No certainly Why then the keeping of them is to follow Christ in taking up his Cross Consider that when thou camest into the Gate of the Church by being Baptized in the Name of the
Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost thou wert signed with the Sign of the Cross in token that thou shouldest not be asham'd to confess the Faith of Christ crucified but manfully fight under his Banner against Sin the World the Flesh and the Devil and continue Christ's faithful Souldier and Servant unto thy life's end Consider that being come to Understanding thou art brought to take thy Baptismal Vow upon thy self in Confirmation whereby the Soul is fortified to fight the inward Battles of this Life and to bear the Cross Consider that at the receiving the Sacrament if thou dost it worthily thou renewest the same Vow and that the Benefits of Christ's Death cannot be convey'd to thee therein but by believing and working according to thy belief What is all this but to teach us that our Faith ought to be lively and that believing and doing must go together in a Christian For if thou wantest a hand to work thou wilt also want a hand to lay hold of Christ's Merits and to apply them to thy Soul Beg therefore of God that he would give thee a true a vital and an active Faith for by that means thou mayest have a sure and a certain Hope and an ardent Charity since they that believe well hope well and they that hope well love well He that works as he believes and believes as Christ commands him hopes in the same proportion that he believes If thou hopest as thou believest and believest as thou oughtest and lovest in the same manner as thou hopest Heaven and Glory are surely thine thou hast already conquer'd Hell The Devils flie already from thee The Angels are already with thee The Saints already bear thee Company Thou art already under the Protection of thy Blessed Saviour and art already sealed by him for an Heir predestinated to his Glory Pray therefore earnestly to God for a lively Faith and then thou shalt have certain Hope and fervent Charity The Root of that most beautiful Tree is Faith the green Leaves and fair Flowers of it are Hope and the sweet savoury Fruit is Charity This Tree of true Wisdom is the Tree of Eternal Life which cures the Wounds of the Tree of Death and of Knowledge Pant and gasp after the Fruit of this Spiritual Tree which is Divine Charity If thou feelest that if thou possessest that thou art already grown up and hast profited considerably in the Spiritual Life If thou feelest the love of God in thee and that thy heart be warmed with one spark thereof rejoyce and be of good courage for thou art already near the top of Calvary which is the Mount of Christian Perfection The day that God gives a Soul the feeling of his Love and an eager hearty desire to serve and to please him he draws it near to him and unites it to himself nay he already gives it a Pledge that living always so he may safely hope never to be parted from him Hast thou Divine Charity and dost thou feel the love of God within thee Thou wilt cast away Humane Passions and Imperfections and having banished that which is imperfect that which is perfect will continue and increase in thee Hast thou Divine Charity and dost thou feel the love of God Darkness will speedily flie away and an holy perfect Light will enlighten thee O Divine Charity how great is thy Power how great is thy Worth What is it that thou canst not do Thou art more Omnipotent in a manner than Omnipotency itself Thou madest the Son of God to leave the Bosom of his Omnipotent Father to seek a Mother to become Man and to die on the Cross for Man In the doing all which acts of excessive Kindness Omnipotency was as it were the Servant of Divine Charity since those things could not have been done if Omnipotency had not obey'd the infinite Love of God in performing what his Charity ordained If thou lovest God then I reckon thee safe on shore Persevere go on with joy and chearfulness and all will be easie sweet and pleasant to thee The Love of God facilitates the Exercises of a Spiritual Life and makes them sweet though in themselves they be bitter The Love of God chears the Soul and resists great Storms of Temptations Afflictions and Tribulations and keeps a Conscience pure holy prompt and lively The Love of God gives more pleasure in Suffering than Pleasure itself does in the enjoying The Love of God gives Light and drives away Darkness from the heart and as Night and Day cannot consist together so neither can Divine Charity and Sin The Love of God gives Strength and Perseverance in what is good and Valour and Constancy to oppose what is evil The Love of God roots out Passions Hatred and Revenge from the heart and introduces Pity Goodness and Mercy with the other excellent Vertues Finally the Love of God quickens defends comforts strengthens enlightens and perfects the Heart and Soul and so long as thou keepest it there it brings all under Subjection and Obedience to Reason It is strong sweet and powerful loving constant couragious and chearful it contains in it all that is good and casts out whatsoever is evil Exercise thy self then in Love if thou desirest the Lord should Crown thee If thou hast a mind to profit employ thy heart in loving Day and Night Love the Lord who in his Eternal purpose loved thee before there was Day or Night Let every return of thy breath breathe out the Love of this Lord so that thy respiration and thy love to him may he equally constant in thee THE THIRD PART OF THE Spiritual Year IN September October November December SEPTEMBER The First WEEK Of the Vertue of Religion and of the manner of Governing the Cardinal and Moral Vertues by that of Religion AN ardent Love a lively Faith and a constant Hope will bring thee to another most sweet and noble Vertue called Religion or the inward and outward Worship of God which is that that creates and promotes all the other Vertues and goes alway intermingled with Prayer In this thou oughtest to Exercise thy self with very great Humility All thy Conversation should be with God of God and for God Enter thy self into his Service by Faith adore him with Reverence and love all that appertains to him There is no need for thee to go up into Heaven to seek this Lord since for that purpose even Earth is Heaven and all Heaven is to be found in this narrow place of our Banishment Thou oughtest also to bear great Reverence to the Houses of God and to Sacred Persons for these are the Ministers of God and do represent God and those are Holy places consecrated and appointed for his outward Worship If thou dost live thus with Reverence and Fear and dost exercise the Vertue of Religion with Love which is the height of all Perfection thou shalt walk on in Spirit in Truth and in Prayer and shalt in the
end infallibly attain the Crown of Eternity 'T is Religion that sanctifies and gives worth to the four Cardinal and to the Moral Vertues for without it they are only Natural though they have an outward Beauty yet inwardly they are empty of Grace and Value The Gentiles Barbarians Idolaters and Hereticks also have Vertues but they are only Natural ones they want that Soul that Spirit and that Efficacy which they get by the direction and intention of serving God by them Without Religion and love to God thou shalt find no Vertue in thy heart that can deserve to be so called but the worth of it will increase by how much the more it is performed with Purity Fervour Attention and Devotion Endeavour to keep thy Conscience clean and to do all things through God and for God for that is all thy Vertue all thy Remedy and the value of all thy Actions The same pains taken only by changing the Intention may either prove an Advantage or a Ruin to thy Soul O how good and holy might the Vicious Man be if he would but suffer so much for God in Vertue as he does to satisfie his Lusts in Vice The Covetous man plows up the Seas and runs up and down through several Countries to get Wealth but think what Treasures what Crowns he might acquire if he would undergo the same hazards as St. Paul and the Holy Apostles did for Zeal of propagating the Faith See the ardent Passion wherewith the Sensual Man rushes upon an Object full of Misery and Corruption which though to him a seeming Good is indeed but Loathsomness and Folly If thou gavest thy heart and soul with as much eagerness to God that true first and chiefest Good to whom it is due O how happy mightest thou be Only by changing thy Labours for another Object they would become holy which else are perverse and imperfect Only by changing the Intent and the Action nay sometimes by only changing the Intent and not the Action the Heart is made clean and pure which would else be sinful and defiled Only by giving that to the Invisible which is given to what is Visible Men might with the same nay with less pains lay up Rewards in this Life which will be delivered to them again in that to come whereas by employing Diligence to attain sinful Pleasures they also procure Eternal Damnation O what Labours what Difficulties what Misfortunes and Afflictions do Mortals undergo here upon Earth and at last either they perish in the search or else they obtain but perishing Advantages which when they have found and conquer'd and possess'd are all no better than a little Earth They spend their time which wastes and comes to an end in seeking finding and acquiring that which they long to enjoy and they always find the Pains but seldom the Enjoyments Vain Labours Unprofitable Travels Ill-employed Pains and Unhappy Vexations To spend their Time their Life their Honour and their Estate in seeking and acquiring that which it is not a pin matter whether they get or lose That which I no sooner have deceived my self into the delight of possessing all my life but I am undeceived with the sadness of having it taken from me by Death This is that which the Damned bewail themselves for saying We wearied our selves in the ways of wickedness and destruction yea we have gone through Desarts where there lay no way but as for the way of the Lord we have not known it What hath Pride profited us Or what good have Riches with our vaunting brought us All those things are passed away like a shadow and like a Post that passeth by And seeing the Righteous stand with great boldness before such as afflicted them in this World they complain saying This is he whom we had sometimes in Derision and a Proveâ—…â—f Reproach We Fools counted his Life Madness and his end without Honour How is he numbred among the Children of God and his Lot among the Saints O Happy Labours O Heavenly Repentance which workest enrichest and obtainest the Crown of Everlasting Life Of the Application of Christian Works And thus Holy Men say that one ought not so much to consider what pains a Man takes or what sufferings he undergoes in this Life but for whom and for what end he either does or suffers Non quantum says St. Austin sed ex quanto A Criminal is extreamly sorry that he has killed an Innocent Person because he is going to be hanged for the Fact He is much troubled for the Murder by reason that his Life must satisfie for the others Death But this Sorrow how great soever it be will not procure him the least degree of Reward Why Is he not sorry and extreamly sorry for having killed him Yes but his grief is not for his sin nor for having offended God but he bewails his own Death and is afflicted for the loss of his Life yet let him change his Intention and he may save his Soul with much less sorrow We squander away Treasures by not applying our Intention to a good Object in what we do All our Actions may be holy and profitable to our Salvation whether they be good or indifferent if we do them for God and offer them to God The same thing â—…at is either naturally good and yet for want of application remains without either Sin or Merit in the Opinion of some or that is sinful and imperfect in the Opinion of others may be made holy good and effectual to our Souls only by being done out of love to God Nay there are some that say there is nothing Indifferent and that whatsoever is not directed to God is guilty and inordinate and even to walk and discourse without applying it to God is in a degree sinful though in itself it have no other ill than the not being directed to God Finally they say that if what we do be not good it must of necessity be bad if not in a high yet at least in some measure O how hard this Judgment seems yet in my Opinion it discovers very excellent Reason in the Root of it For we are in such manner Debtors to God all our Senses Powers and Faculties being his and we are so much indebted to him for those Talents which he gave to our management to the end we might increase them in his Service that not to do so whether it be in a great matter or in a small must needs be either a small or a great Offence Work for me says God to his Creatures Traffique till I come since to that end it was I gave thee all thou hast All that thou dost not restore unto me thou takest away from me Consider that thou robbest me of all that which thou dost deny me To work for any other or for thy self as thy ultimate end is to work against me If thou placest thy End in the Creature thou takest it away from the Creator If thou dost not place it in
Heart of a Man when it is limited and straitned in the Miseries of this World and when it is possess'd of God and made capable of his Gifts and Mercies but also between the Heart that went on in a course remisly vertuous and that had but begun to take some steps in the Spiritual Life and an Heart that by holy Exercises and Perseverance in Prayer hath obtained of God to be enlarged by this Gift of Longanimity for though it was hard for St. Paul and even impossible after the instant of his Conversion to have his Heart taken up with slight or trifling things because God from the very beginning of his Conversion made that Vessel of Election so capable as to receive his rarest Gifts and Graces for he had rare Light rare Knowledge and rare Zeal for the Honour and Glory of God even from the very first yet other Spiritual Men go on following the steps of the Spirit in that proportion which the Lord has been pleased to communicate to them according to the measure of their Service but in the beginning they were Children as St. Paul says and God afterwards by degrees makes them to grow up Men to become great and strong and bold to own and to persist in a vertuous Course and God gives them such largeness of heart at length that those who in the beginning were scarce able to such a little Milk can now digest the strongest Meat and those who at first were disquieted with every thing and whose weak Stomachs turned at the swallowing of a Pea are now able like Estriches to digest Iron They can bear and teach others so to do they can suffer cheerfully and guide others in the same way without any trouble And it is certain that this high Gift and Fruit of Longanimity though it be very important for all yet it is most so for Superiours for in them it is necessary that they may know how to bear with patience the Faults and Impertinencies of those under their Charge and to govern them with patience and without passion And so when God endued Solomon with what he needed for the Government of such an innumerable multitude of Subjects he amongst those other Vertues and Gifts wherewith he adorned him bestowed on him also as the Text saith this Longanimity and Largeness of Heart so that it contain'd even the Sands upon the Sea-shore as who should say that Royal Breast was capable of all things nothing could overwhelm or trouble him for he dispatched all Affairs with calmness and serenity A Spiritual Man sometimes disquiets himself because there are sins in the World What Would he that there should be none If there were sins in Jerusalem where Christ himself lived who was able to remedy them Shall there be none where he dwells Let him remedy those he can and let him beg of God with Tears and Prayers that he would remedy the rest but let him lay aside all sollicitude and disquiet and possess his own Soul with Patience A Spiritual Man is troubled that he cannot mend a thousand little Faults in himself What Would he shine here in Perfection Let him humble himself and acknowledge his Misery and pray to God for the remedy Let him bewail his Defects with humility for God sees his sorrow and pain and knows what he has need of and if he delay his Amendment to day probably he will grant it to morrow In this respect largeness of heart is needful for all things and thou must understand that God is not a God of Affliction and Disquiet but of Peace and Tranquillity Next to the Holy Spirit of Longanimity St. Paul reckons that of Benignity which is an outward pleasingness proceeding from an inward one whereby a Man behaves himself with Charity towards all and it was discreetly done of the Apostle to place this after Longanimity because it is a sweet Effect of that most generous Vertue and as it were a Fruit or benefit of that Fruit. For Benignity which is that outward gentleness of Behaviour is exercis'd not only with the good but oftentimes also with the evil and the wicked to mend and reclaim them and to bring them into a better way and which could not be done by Benignity without Longanimity for if I should converse so much with those that do ill as to disturb my self and abhor and disdain them if I should be weary of them or despise them how could I behave my self towards them with Benignity How could I by Charity draw them to Grace and to Charity and how could I win them with sweetness and bring them gently to that which is right Gracious and righteous is the Lord says David First he calls him gracious then righteous because by his graciousness and benignity he brings sinners into the right way as it follows in the same Verse of that Psalm And in another O taste and see how gracious the Lord is Taste of that which is gracious and sweet to the end that Nature afterwards may be able to suffer those bitter Remedies which Grace applies for the curing and rectifying of it Benignity then is an heavenly and gracious Affection and an Effect of Longanimity and Charity or I may call it Charity practised both towards the good and towards the bad Benignity is like the Sun which does good to all without difference it covers warms quickens cherishes guides and directs all whether they be good or bad This heavenly Gift is as we have said one of the most important Vertues of the Spiritual Life but chiefly for Superiours and therefore they will do well always to pray for it because it tempers and moderates that Zeal which else commonly burns with too much violence in their Charity To make Iron cut well they use to temper it with Steel which is softer and makes it cut more smoothly than it would do with its own hardness and brittleness The Winter does not leap of a sudden into the Summer nor the Summer into the Winter but the cold of the Winter is sweetned by the benignity of the Spring and the heat of Summer is qualified by the temperate Weather of the Autumn For a good Man to think that he can make an evil one good and holy in an instant or to conquer that force by force is neither very easie nor convenient Even God himself works naturally and makes use of these natural means to bring Souls to his interiour and spiritual Secrets That Divine Lord ordinarily catches and gain Souls by their Bodies and so in Judea and Palestine he cured and rejoyced them with Corporal Health and then bestowed Spiritual Health upon them also To his holy Disciples first he promised Kingdoms and Glories and Crowns and Thrones of Eternity to the end that afterwards they might be the better enabled to bear Crosses and Persecutions Deaths and Torments First they saw him Glorious and Triumphant in Mount Tabor to the end that afterward they might be able to endure the Pains
should have said Although I do believe yet I fear my Incredulity and therefore O Lord I fain would believe with an higher Faith and with a more firm Assurance The Faith then which that Man desir'd over and above that which he had already is that Fruit which is here spoken of by St. Paul Consider that Faith for the want of which our Lord reproached St. Peter when he leaped out of the Ship into the Sea to go to adore him and feared and sunk and begged help whereupon the Lord stretching out his hand to succour him said Why art thou fearful O man of little Faith That Faith which our Saviour found wanting in St. Peter although he had so high a Faith as to throw himself into the Sea is this Fruit of the Spirit That Faith which gave him the boldness to leap into the Sea was great and that Faith which he had in crying out to the Lord for help was that Faith which we call the Theological Vertue but that which he wanted yet and which our Saviour found wanting in him was this high Gift of Faith Consider that Faith with which the same St. Peter being with St. John in the Porch of the Temple which was called Beautiful after the Passion of our Lord said unto the lame Man that begged an Alms of him Silver and Gold have I none but that which I have I give thee In the Name of Jesus of Nazareth rise up and walk and he cured him in such a manner that it seemed as if St. Peter had taken Strength and Faith as Money out of his Purse Now this Soveraign Gift of believing that God can and that God will work such a Miracle and that it will succeed according to his Faith is the Gift which St. Paul here speaks of Consider that Faith of the Centurion and that of the Canaanitish Woman which the Lord so highly commended that Faith is this Fruit of the Divine Spirit That Faith whereby the Gospel was propagated which the Lord gave to his Apostles after he had confirmed them in Grace and which was necessary to conquer the Gentile-World and which in less than an hundred years enlightened all the World so that those Trophies of Faith were seen and heard and felt in all places and the Echo of them resounded into all Countries that Faith which we might explain and set forth by many other Examples St. Paul here calls the Fruit of the Spirit but after Christ had formed and established his Church he hath very seldom given this kind of Faith unless unto some few that have led a very Spiritual Life and have often conquered the Flesh by the Spirit and have held the Inferiour part of Nature so subdued by Grace that God hath been pleased to bestow this high Gift of Grace upon them for the Service of his Church in some extraordinary occasion Some others will have this Faith and Fruit of the Spirit here mentioned to be an high Gift of believing the Truths of God and his Promises Behold that which the Blessed Virgin had in believing the Soveraign Mystery of the Incarnation of her Son and that profound Humility wherewith she captivated her own Understanding and her Will unto the Power of God Behold that Faith wherewith the Prophets believed and declared such Heavenly Mysteries long before they came to pass Behold that belief of Faith which the Lord found wanting in Moses and Aaron at the Waters of Strife in the Desart for which they were condemned never to enter into the Land of Canaan Behold that Faith which the Holy Angel Gabriel wanted in the Holy Priest Zachariah when he declared to him that the Baptist should be born of an Ancient Mother and struck him dumb because he believed not Behold that Faith which the three Children had in Babylon when they told the Tyrant that though he should cast them into the fiery Furnace or into the Den of Lions yet the Lord their God would deliver them nay and though he should nor deliver them yet would not they quit their Faith nor cease to believe in that same God which was a most excellent and discreet Answer Now this Fruit proceeded from the Spirit which governed those Holy Souls and others that have been favoured and adorned with this Heroical degree of Faith There be some also that say that this Gift or Fruit of the Holy Spirit is the Gift of Fidelity to keep Faith and Promise to our Neighbours Though this be holy profitable and necessary for if the due regard of this Vertue fall to the ground all Peace and Truth in Correspondency between Man and Man falls with it yet for all that I am of Opinion that this Holy Fruit is no other but that Supernatural Gift first mentioned and that whosoever has that shall have all the rest for they depend upon its Power and Vertue And therefore do thou act with Diligence and Constancy Pray continually with Fervency and love thy Redeemer ardently and tenderly for to those who do these things God grants this Fruit and excellent Gift of the Spirit Of Continence Continence which is the Sixth Fruit of the Spirit though it seem to be the Antidote of that Vice which is forbidden in the Seventh Commandment yet I do not believe that in this place it signifies the Fruit of Chastity for St. Paul puts that expresly for the last of the Twelve and it is not probable that he would offer us the same Fruit twice for that would be an imperfect repetition and cannot suit with the Wisdom of that Spirit which guided his holy Pen and so my Opinion is that in this place by Continence is meant an Universal Girdle or Wall that encompasses the honest Appetite on every side to the end that it may not go beyond the due compass allowed nor break forth to any thing prohibited but that it may preserve guide and promote the Fruit of the Holy Spirit Continence is a Gift and a general Vertue whereby whatsoever is loose and destructive whatsoever is opposite or repugnant to the Divine Spirit is restrained It is a Bridle to the Appetite and the Bit that curbs it and brings it so under subjection as to make it go right It is the Mother of the Spirit and that which most nourishes and advances the Vertues thereof making it to become great and heroical This Gift of Continence begets Mortification in all things subdues the Flesh and makes it yield to Reason It also begets self-denial whereby a Spiritual Man rejects his own Will and delivers himself up to be disposed by the Will of God It begets that Heroical Humility whereby he brings down Pride and flies from his own Excellency to prostrate himself before the Excellency of God This Girdle of Continence which St. Paul here speaks of that which the Lord bids us to gird our Loins withall against his coming to Judgment for being begirt therewith and having our Lamps burning in our hand we shall be admitted unto
Pleasures of this World in comparison of it This Joy overcomes all Difficulties it tramples them down and flies above them it burns and consumes them and makes the greatest Labours to become a Pleasure The Masters of the Synagogue called the Apostles before them reproved them scourged them threatned them and commanded them that they should not Preach sending them away not only punished but reproached and shamefully affronted but they go out and presently Preach again with exceeding Joy as the Text saith that they were thought worthy to suffer for the Lord's sake Take heed say some to the Apostles it is not two Months since the Jews crucified your dear Master and if you do not forbear to Preach they will do the same to you What care we answered they if the Joy we feel outweighs that fear nay that Joy hath already banished it and made us utterly insensible of it arming us against the worst that they can do This Joy and this Courage continued in their Successors many of which so readily embraced Martyrdom A Tyrant commands St. Lawrence to give him up the Treasures of the Church who replies he will do it very willingly He goes and distributes the Treasure amongst all the Poor he could find and brings an Army of Lame and Blind of weak and diseased Persons unto that Covetous Praetor saying very chearfully to him Here I have brought you the Treasures of the Church Take heed good Man the Tyrant will be revenged on thee Let him do what he can I care not for my Joy in serving God is dearer to me than my Life They lay him upon a Grid-Iron with live Coals under it which kindle the fire of his Joy and of his Love at the same time that the flames do scorch his Body yet he smiling and jesting says to the Tyrant Now this side is broyl'd enough it is time to turn the other and you may eat of it Who among such real Torments among that Fire Smoak and Confusion could produce that holy Jest that Joy that chearfulness that pleasantness of Wit and Contentment God and none but God who was pleased to make that Martyr's Joy to Triumph over all his Sufferings Who made St. Andrew the Apostle to sing the Praises of the Lord when he was fastened upon the very Cross but this Joy this wondrous Fruit of the Spirit Certainly there is no Chearfulness no Contentment no Joy but in God Rejoyce and be glad in the Lord ye righteous says David and in another place Great is the joy of those that fear the Lord. Rejoyce and be exceeding glad says our Saviour when ye shall suffer for my Names-sake for great is your reward in Heaven and Christ himself for the joy that was set before him endured the Cross and despised the shame Thus that inward Joy drives away and banishes all the toils and troubles and all the Sufferings of the Spiritual Life This Fruit then of the Spirit which is called Joy contains in it both Honour and Profit and is well worth thy praying for since it facilitates and sweetens all thy Pains and will make thee forward and chearful in giving up thy self to undergo any thing for the Lord's sake and will thereby make thee to be favoured and be loved by him For as the Scripture tells us God loveth a chearful giver Of the Fruit of Patience The Fruit of Patience is more properly called a Fruit than the rest because Christ literally calls it so where speaking of those that keep the good Seed of his Divine Word and of his holy Inspirations in their hearts and lay them up and put them in practice He says they shall bring forth their fruit in Patience that is because a chearful and resigned Patience is one of the most excellent Fruits of the Holy Spirit and the most profitable and necessary to serve God with Purity the most profitable because the Lord says In Patience ye shall possess your souls which is the greatest profit that can be attained or thought of in this life as who should say if your Life be Spiritual full of Tribulations and a sharp continual War both within and without if it be a Conquest that consist in dying not in killing not in Persecuting and Oppressing others but suffering Persecutions and in subduing ones self certainly Patience is very necessary for that War And as in those of the World Men get the Victory by Impatience by Anger and Fury by Force and by Revenge so in the Spiritual Warfare we must Conquer by Suffering and by Humility for the Combat here is to undergo Pains and Hardship to live and die with bearing and with Patience This Fruit is also necessary because by it the rest are preserved The Apostle explains it where he says Patience is necessary for you that ye may obtain the Promises and in another place That ye may be made worthy of the promises of Christ that is that ye may obtain the Blessings which are set forth in the Eight Beatitudes and in many other places where the Lord says Your name is written in the Book of Life and that there ye shall receive an hundred-fold whatsoever ye shall have forsaken here for the love of God Patience is necessary because neither Faith Hope nor Charity nor any other of the Moral and Cardinal Vertues without Patience are of any worth for in losing that they lose their Beauty and become vain and ineffectual Finally if this be a life of Labours and Afflictions of Slanders and Reproaches what Vertue can be more profitable more necessary more important and of more frequent use than Patience For all the blows both inward and outward that are struck at the Mind of Man must be receiv'd upon the Shield of Patience and he that wants that can never be able to sustain the Combat therefore St. Paul when he furnishes the Christian with Spiritual Arms puts upon his left Arm the in-expugnable Shield of Patience that he may be able to withstand the fiery Darts of his Enemy Assumens scutum inexpugnabile Equitatem observing that in the word Equitatem he not only meant to express ordinary Patience but an equality of Mind which is the Excellent and Heroick Patience and that is the Fruit here spoken of as who should say It must be a Patience full of Equality receiving Crosses and Afflictions with as great a Chearfulness and Contentment as thou couldst do their contraries Take notice that St. Paul says not that thy Patience should be equal but even Equality itself Consider the Joy thou hast for the Favours of God thou oughtest to have the very same when he sends Tribulations for they also are his Favours Give not thy Affections more to things that are Delightful than to those that are Disgustful to Pleasure than to Pain to Comfort than to Affliction Thy Chearfulness ought to be equal in Sufferings as in Joys in Rebukes as in Applauses in being pull'd down as in being advanc'd and in suffering Affronts as
be safe look upon the danger of a Mischief with the same fear and with the same hatred that thou lookest upon the Mischief itself How wise and cautious were the Recabites who being forbidden by their fore-fathers to drink Wine would never so much as eat Raisins and why Because Raisins are made of Grapes and of those Grapes Wine and they fear'd that by eating dry Grapes they might be tempted to eat ripe Grapes and so by degrees to squeeze out the Juice to make Wine and from making Wine at last to come to the drinking of it Thus it concerns thee to be careful never to turn back from the way of God neither with thy Sight no nor with thy Hearing nor with any other of thy Senses or Faculties Walk still forward without stopping for not to go forward is to go backward If thou givest but one of thy Senses up to danger by that it will gain thy whole Soul with all its Senses Powers and Faculties David did not give up his Heart to the danger nor his Understanding Will and Memory nor his Hearing with the rest of his Senses and Faculties No no he gave only a Glance he did but look upon Bathsheba and having only allowed that nimble Sense to the hazard by it the Devil caught him and so gain'd his Understanding Will and Memory with all the rest of his Senses Powers and Faculties and triumphed a whole Year together over that poor King who afterwards did no small matter to make his escape out of that Slavery and to rescue himself by the force of Penitential Tears after the suffering of many great Afflictions To God all must be given all that thou hast without reserving any thing whatsoever for he is the Lord of all from whom thou hast received all thou hast To the Common Enemy allow not so much as the smallest share imaginable for if any thing be given him how little soever it be that may be the occasion of very great Mischiefs When Moses contended with Pharaoh about letting the Children of Israel go that Barbarous King seeing his Power contented himself with less and less in every Capitulation and came lower and lower from one demand to another only that something might remain in his possession that belonged to the People of God hoping by that means to find out an Excuse to keep them still his Captives but Resolute Moses stood firmly to his first demand and would not make him the least abatement telling him finally That there should not remain so much as a hoof of the smallest Beast that belonged to any Israelite but that all absolutely all should go out of Egypt This Example thou must follow leave nothing nothing at all to the Devil but give all all is little enough to be given to God The Tyrant contents himself with a very little at first knowing how probable it is that from such small beginnings he shall make himself Master of all at last In his first attempt he seems very modest and makes as if he thought all were too much but in the end he thinks all too little How many Cities have been lost and taken by their Enemies at the entrance of a very small Breach or of some little hole or narrow passage that has been neglected or less carefully guarded We have often seen that at some little Wicket or Cleft in a Wall where a Man could hardly put in his hand the Enemies with very little Industry have made Passages for whole Armies to enter Therefore after so many Vertues which I have set before thine Eyes I especially recommend these two Vigilance and Diligence for they are the most serviceable for the obtaining the Gift of Perseverance Consider well what it is that may separate thee from God observe it with Vigilance and fly from it with Diligence Be not negligent do not sleep for then thou wilt be encompass'd with Enemies and with that roaring Lion as St. Peter calls him who goes about seeking whom he may devour Pray still for by Prayer thou shalt obtain Perseverance That important Gift depends wholly upon God it is he that gives it to him thou must owe it and it cannot be merited in this Life though in it it may be obtained By how much the more this Gift of Perseverance depends upon God with so much the greater and the more repeated Instances oughtest thou to beg it of him and to strive to win him by fervent Love by Prayers Tears and Contrition O Father that I could but know whether or no I shall Persevere in the Spiritual Life O that I were sure that I should be so happy as never to turn back from it With what Comfort and with what Joy and Gladness should I serve God But do not desire nor search to know what thy end shall be Be careful to learn thy Duty and to perform it be careful to serve and to please God and if thou dost so hope assuredly for if thy Life be Vertuous and Pious the end of it will be Perseverance Endeavour to spend thy days in Holy and Vertuous Employments and thou mayest confidently trust in the Divine Goodness that thy Death shall be such as thy Life hath been What canst thou get by knowing what will become of thee in the other Life To presume and grow careless if they tell thee thou shalt be saved or to be discouraged and despair if they say thou shalt be damned In which desperate condition it is impossible thou shouldst be saved and in the other by Pride and Negligence thou must necessarily be damned Wilt thou have me tell thee what will become of thee and me in the other Life and whether we shall be damned or saved Then let us both observe how we live and what our Actions are in this Life for according to them it shall befal us in the other This is most certain no good Man was ever condemned nor evil Man saved while they continued to be such If thou livest well hope and trust in God that he will save thee but if ill and dost not amend thou mayest be certainly assured thou shalt be condemned All thou shalt desire to know beyond this will bring thee into great danger either of Distrust or Vanity but can no ways be profitable unto thy Soul Believe and think worthily of God for he is Goodness itself Canst thou possibly think that his Infinite Mercy will let thee perish if thou servest him Canst thou think if thou beggest of him that he will deny to Pardon thee who dost confess and adore him during thy Life He that at his Death begged Pardon for those that were Crucifying of him If thou and I do all we can to please him though we are weak though we are ungrateful what will not God who is Soveraign Goodness and Super-abundant in Mercy do for those that strive all they can to please him But on the contrary if we offend and provoke him to wrath and do neither humble our selves
it Is there no remedy against this Evil nor defence against this Danger 2. The Evil is not in being judged but in going unprepar'd to Judgment This imminent danger hath an easy plain and safe remedy by the Grace of God And that is for a Man to judge himself often times before God judge him once for all Wouldst thou not be afraid of the Judgment nor of that dreadful Sentence Judge thy self before hand examine thy self before thou comest to be examin'd call thy self frequently to a strict account humble thy self amend thy Life and at the sight of thy Sins pray and weep and thou shalt go willingly to Judgment and come off safe with thy account Serve thy Judge love thy Judge and obey him in all things before he come to judge thee and thou shalt go contentedly to his Judgment and find thy Judge to be thy Friend 3. Consider that many Saints have desir'd that their Life might be shorten'd that their Death might be hasten'd and that they might come to Judgment thereby to enjoy God They desir'd to be dissolved and to leave this mortal Tabernacle They desir'd this knot of Life might be untied and to be free from the Prison of this miserable and corruptible Body to see their God their Creator and Redeemer whom they loved served and ador'd while they lived in this World They esteem'd Death as Life because it freed them from a dying Life which delay'd their enjoyment of an eternal Life 4. They could not pass to the beatifical Vision of their God without going by the way of the Judgment and Sentence They did as it were die with an eager desire of dying and joyfully embrac'd that Death which brought them to behold the kind the cheerful and beautiful Countenance of their loving Judge They knew they were to be judged by their Father their God their Creator and Redeemer their faithful Friend and their most gracious Lord. They loved him in their Life they sought him by their Death they ador'd him in the Judgment and with an humble confidence in his infinite Pity they hoped for Mercy in the Sentence They knew their offences were many but they had bewailed them they knew though they were Sinners they had lived desirous to please him diligent to serve him and with care not to offend him They knew they could not put their cause into better hands and that the same Person was to judge them who had shed his Blood for them and given his Life upon the Cross for their Redemption They went to offer their Works their Tears and their Repentance unto God yet without trusting any thing in their Works they relied wholly upon the Goodness of God and the Merits of their Saviour 5. For though it be just that the Judgments of the Lord should be fear'd yet it is as just that they should be loved My Father says the holy Soul is to judge me what am I then afraid of My Lord and my God is my Judge How can I choose but hope and trust in my Lord and my God though he be my Judge If he have a kindness for me and I have a reverence for him What can I look for in the Sentence but Mercy and Compassion What Son is afraid to be judged by his own Father if he hath not lived and acted as an Enemy to his Father or if he hath bewailed the time that he was his Enemy What Wife is afraid to be judged by her tenderly affectionate Husband if she hath not been an Adulteress or hath heartily lamented that Injury and penitently begged pardon of her dearly loving Husband What Friend is afraid to be judged by his Friend if he hath been faithful to him or hath shewed a real grief for the breach of his Fidelity Though I be afraid and wretched says a sick Soul I have been desirous to serve thee O my God thy Precepts have been my Direction and thy Counsels have been my Rule if not in the execution yet at least in my intention and earnest desire I hope for mercy from that eternal goodness of God my Creator and Redeemer who dyed upon a Cross for my Salvation He that was so gracious and so loving in Redeeming me cannot but be a sweet and tender Father in Judging me 6. These are the breathings of a Holy Soul Thus said St. Paul and many others when they desir'd to be dissolved that they might come to the presence of God and for the obtaining of that did not fear to put their Cause and Sentence into his hand They feared his Power and they adored his Power They were afraid by reason of their sins and yet they hoped knowing his mercy and loving-kindness Their love conquered their fear because their hearts were inflam'd with that perfect Charity which casts out fear And thus if thou doest desire to have a holy and assured hope humbly resign'd and yet chearful in the Judgment and in the Sentence do that which the Saints have done and thou shalt hope as they have hoped 7. Make account in thy life-time of that Account thou art to give hereafter I repeat it to thee once again keep a Judgment-seat within thy self every day till thou comest to thy last Judge thy self ten thousand times and consider in what steps thou treadest for according to what thou doest in this World thou shalt be judged in the other Strictly observe thy very thoughts and mend what thou shalt find amiss For by this means thou shalt increase that love which casts out fear Do thou judge thine own Actions before God judges them beg light of him to see and know them and tears to bewail them and so with a holy resignation and with an humble confidence thou mayest appear in the presence of God Take good heed to thy Words Thoughts and Actions and square them by the Rule of the Divine Law and of the Will of that Lord who is to Judge thee and strive in this Life to obtain Mercy and Pardon for thy Sins and Miseries 8. Be careful to purifie thy Understanding and to purge it from evil fill it with honest and spiritual Considerations cleanse thy will from corrupt Desires and fill it with the love of thy Creator Let thy Memory be the Store-house of Holy Meditations and then hope and trust love and adore the Judgment of the Lord. His goodness does more desire to Pardon thee than thou dost to be pardoned He is more desirous of thy Salvation than thou art to be saved He is more desirous to deliver thee from that Infernal Dragon than thou art to be delivered Be careful I warn thee once again on what hand thou livest in this life for on that hand thou shalt find thy self when Death carries thee from hence 9. Fear the Judgment of the Lord for it is very just so to do fear humble thy self and tremble but yet hope and be more afraid of the sins wherewith thou offendest him than thou art of his righteous Judgment
Thy fear of his Judgment is so great because that of thy Sins is so little Thou livest in a course of wickedness and committest thy wickedness with boldness and even with greediness and then thou art afraid to be judged and that is because thou art to be justly condemned But thy chief and principal fear ought to be that of offending so severe a Judge and thy chief and principal hope ought to be that of being judged by so indulgent and so loving a Father It is the part of an unfaithful Servant not to dare appear before his Master's face and though he fears him yet he does not love him But a good Servant is glad to come to the Presence of his Master Every Call of his is a joy to him every Command a comfort and he runs chearfully to wait upon him at every knock but an evil Servant is afraid to see him because he was not afraid to offend him 10. Every sin thou committest unless thou repent of it is a rigorous Sentence against thy self every guilty action and every wilful transgression is a Criminal Article whereof thou accusest thy self at that Tribunal How is it possible for thee not to tremble and dread the Judgment and thy Account in the other Life if thou livest without Judgment and without Account in this Repent therefore pray and weep love and serve thy Judge here that thou mayest find him kind gentle and gracious hereafter He is a Judge that suffers himself to be gain'd in this life therefore use means to win his favour before he comes to Judge thee in his anger for thy having slighted and neglected to get his favour when thou mightest have done it Tremble with apprehension to see him in his wrath who may yet be appeased by the means I have shewed thee and who being reconciled first fills the Penitent's Soul with transports of his Love and after with those Joys and Pleasures which are at his right hand for evermore The Fourth WEEK Of the Vniversal Judgment at the end of the World 1. I AM something comforted with your Discourse says the Penitent but I have heard dreadful things of that great Day when all Mankind must rise to Judgment that horrible Trumpet which makes even the Dead to hear how much more the deaf does also make the heart to tremble and confounds the senses with amazement It is no wonder indeed that thou shouldst be dismayed at that which affrighted St. Hierome and very many other holy Men thou mayest very well tremble at that which they were afraid of 2. Who can choose but fear and tremble to see the whole Creation destroyed by the Creator of it and all the World consumed by his powerful hand Who can choose but fear the Signs which fore-run that Judgment those terrible Earth-quakes and horrible roarings of the Sea Who would not fear to see the Elements those preservers of Life to become its furious Enemies and fighting with one another to become the Ministers of Death Who can choose but fear to see the confusion of Mankind some calling on the Rocks to hide them others upon the Darkness to cover them all being full of terror and astonishment to see all sorts of miseries come together to bring our Nature to an end Who can choose but fear to see the Sun covered with a deadly Vail his light obscured that of the Moon extinguished the Stars also falling from their places and overwhelming the Generations of Men. Nothing to be heard but publick Complaints and Lamentations Cries Sighs and Groans nothing to be seen but Fears Dangers Losses Miseries and Confusions 3. Can any one choose but be affrighted to see the dead rise again by God's Command at the sound of that horrible Trumpet to take up the consumed and scattered pieces of their Body to cloath themselves therewith and each one unite it to his Soul that he may appear at the dreadful Judgment-seat of God waiting for the Sentence either of Eternal Life or of Eternal Death Who can choose but be amazed with fear to see the Almighty cloathed in Majesty to come down with the Court of Heaven armed with Justice to be exercised against sin and wickedness Who would not be dismayed to see the Creator hurle flames of fire against all he hath created to see Houses and Cities Palaces and Kingdoms burnt together and finally to see the whole World destroyed in that cruel and dreadful Conflagration Who would not even dye with fear to see so many Angels and so many Devils together divided from one another on the right hand and on the left expecting the word of Sentence to be put in execution The Angels carrying the good to Eternal Joys and the Devils dragging the wicked to Eternal Torments 4. How is it possible not to fear a Tribunal so dreadful a Judgment so terrible and a Sentence so formidable from whence there is no Appeal and the Execution whereof is either Life Eternal or Death Eternal for ever for ever for ever so that they shall know no end of that ever ever ever My Soul is astonished and amazed in the consideration of the Universal Judgment It is dismayed to think and to imagine all this which is but as a Dream thus represented to us in writing in comparison of what it will be and of what we shall see it in effect 5. Grant O Lord that I may tremble bewail lament and sigh deeply for my sins and wickednesses before I hear that killing Sentence pronounced against them by thy Divine lips Grant that my Tears and Repentance my Sorrow and Contrition may make my polluted Soul fit to be washed and purified by thy most precious Blood to the end I may never hear that confounding word Go ye cursed into eternal fire prepared for the Devil and his Angels 6. O give me grace to imitate the Martyrs in Faith the Confessors in Hope and the Blessed Virgin thy most holy Mother and all the rest of the Saints in Charity to the end I may hear that most sweet and most welcome call of Come ye blessed of my Father inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world 7. Oh that I had never offended thee my dearest Lord that I might not see thee offended Oh that I had ever served thee that I might see thee appeased Mercy sweet Saviour mercy in this Life that I may find it in the Judgment and in the Sentence of the Life to come Prepare me O Lord Jesus for my particular Judgment that I may be able to stand in thy Universal Judgment Have mercy upon me when thou shalt Judge me alone to the end thou mayest have mercy upon me when thou shalt Judge me and all the World together O grant I may live with such care to judge and call my self to an Account in this Life that the remembrance of that other which I must one day give to thee and my earnest endeavour to make my self ready for it may
that everlasting Wedding The Ancient Philosophers were wont to say as we have told you already that the greatest part of Vertue consisted in Abstinence and here St. Paul with a great Propriety calls that kind of Abstinence by the name of Continence because that looks at the interiour defence of the exteriour but this at an interiour care and attention so to encompass that which is within that nothing from without may ever be able to overcome it That encompasses one or some single Vertue this all That is a Natural Vertue and Heedfulness this a Supernatural and Heavenly one which in all things looks towards God and is given by God and this is that Continence which St. Paul here speaks of and which thou art to pray to God to bestow upon thee DECEMBER The First WEEK Of the Seventh and Eighth Fruits of the Holy Spirit Joy and Patience JOY is properly a Fruit of the Holy Spirit in those who follow and advance in the Spiritual Life for since all their Care and Diligence consists in emptying the Soul from its own Will which is that that begets the Passions of it and that they are a certain Vermin which sting disquiet discompose and disturb it having once freed itself from them the Heart remains quiet the Soul clear and God works in it as in his own dwelling fills it with himself and with his Blessings It is manifest that God is all Peace Quiet Chearfulness and Joy and this Joy is not only found in very Spiritual Persons whom God by continual Exercises of Mortification and Self-denial has made capable of those Gifts but even in beginners also for it is most certain that in the first steps of Spiritual Life the very being eased of the burden of their sins and the seeing themselves delivered from that intolerable load causes in them an unspeakable Joy and Gladness See how often it comes to pass that a Man enlighten'd by God with the knowledge of his sins finding the grievous Wounds they have made in him by his long continuance in a debauched and wicked Life upon his making a general Confession of them and taking a firm Resolution to forsake them feels in himself an inward Joy and Contentment as if in taking away the Passions and Sins out of his Soul his Body also had been freed from Chains and Imprisonments And he that a while before being press'd down under the hard Yoke of his Offences liv'd in Sorrow Affliction Disquiet and Anguish presently after Confession and Absolution becomes light and free lively and joyful by the assurance of Pardon Now to the end thou mayest see and believe the Wonders of God though this happen to all that lead Religious lives yet most frequently to those that live the most strictly and use the sharpest Exercises of Repentance and Mortification for God will manifest his Power and the effects of his Spirit and make Humane Nature know that in seeking his Infinite Goodness they shall find more Motives and Exercises of Joy than they could have apprehended occasions of Trouble before in those Severities O the Goodness and Power of God! O the Greatness of his Mercy Here methinks he Triumphs over our Nature and will have the Devil the World and the Flesh to know and Men as well the bad as the good and the holy as well as the profane to understand that God gives more Joy and Comfort in one day of a vertuous Life than wicked Persons feel in many years of their repeated Delights This is so efficacious an Argument to any understanding Man in favour of the Spirit that all they whose Judgments are awakened must not only know and avow it but that some have thereby been mov'd to forsake the World and to follow that holy Call unto a Devout Retirement and others by seeing the Joy the Peace the Comfort and the Delight which they have met with in those that have embraced the like Austerities have with great Devotion followed their Example and have gone to seek that holy Joy in their Conversation and manner of Life which they vainly had endeavoured to give themselves by running after the Pleasures of this World What is this O Christian What dost thou forsake and what dost thou seek after What Wilt thou leave the Delights and Jollities of this Life He Answers No I leave only the Disquiets and Vexations of it What Dost thou seek after Grief Sorrow and Repentance No says he I neither seek nor find any thing but Consolations and Satisfactions I live here in this Religious course as if I were already in Glory and while I spent my time in the debauched Rambles of the World though I had outward Pleasure I had an inward Hell And that thou mayest practically see what the Joy is of those that serve God besides innumerable Examples that might be given of it I can assure thee that I my self knew a Man not in a Religious House but abroad in the World who having left a very loose and wicked Life upon the Light of Truth that had undeceived him was seiz'd with so excessive a Joy soon after his Conversion that not being able to contain himself he would rise by Three of the Clock in the Morning and sometimes much sooner to break forth into Divine Praises and give vent to the overflowings of his Delight by singing Psalms which he was not able to forbear What is this Lord What is this Yesterday a Thief and a Murtherer that fill'd the Air with the Cries of those that felt his Violence and to day fills it with soft Tunes of his Spiritual Musick Yesterday a Devil to day an Angel Yesterday groaning under the Chains of Vice to day rejoycing for the recovery of his Freedom O the Infinite Goodness of God! How wonderfully thou workest with the Sons of Men In short this inward Joy increases in such manner in the Spiritual Life that if God did not enlarge the hearts of those to whom he gives it they would even burst and dye in the excesses of it and pass from that Spiritual to Eternal Joys for being greater than can be entertain'd within the bosom of their Soul it breaks out and finds itself a passage through their Lips and through their Eyes There are some that cannot contain themselves in their Prayers but prostrate themselves and cry out as one did Hold Lord It is enough it is enough And it is reported of another that he even died with such transports and that not so much grief for his Sins as the high delights of his Joy and the efficacious Power of the Divine Love was the cause of his Dissolution Ah! If thou didst but taste the Joyful Affections and Glorious Delights of the Love of God If thou didst but taste of that ravishing Wine which makes glad the heart that is filled by the love of him that trod the Wine-press alone thou wouldst know where the holy and true Joy is to be found and wouldst abhor all the Delights and