tenth Consideration The great Benefits Mankind has receiv'd by Christ's comming into the World The first Point COnsider first By this most wise Oeconomy and gracious dispensation of Christ great Steward of God's house the Church Mankind is made capable of admirable Secrets and high Mysterys and has attain'd a most certain knowledge of them for who so simple that cannot beleeve what is told him when nothing else is requir'd and what can be so firm and certain either to our Senses or Understandings as the Word of God for since by It all other things were made and from It had their Natures It doubtless in It self is far more securely constant and fixt than the very subsistence of all created Beings and those Causes à priore that give a certâ—inty to our Demonstrations And hence 't is that now whole Nations of People learned and ignorant wise and simple every silly old Woman clearly conceives and most firmly believs the Immortality of the Soul the Condition of the good and wicked after Death the Eternity of Pains or Pleasures that attend us with other most important Verities concerning which we find very little amongst the Philosophers as whereat the greatest Wits of them but groap'd like blind Men The second Point AGain By Christ's Example wee are strongly encourag'd to all Vertue Can there be any so faint-hearted as not to dare Venture himself the same way he sees his Captain pass before him who he 's sure both knows the best and securest Path to salvation and is so perfectly good that even in his Voice he cannot deceive much less counterfeit in his Actions When we see him then choose for himself the same things he proposes to us and tread out the way which he would have us walk nay when we see him not only Live and Dye in this way but Rise again and enter the Possession of those Glories he woos us to hope for can we any loÌ„ger doubt whether we should follow his foot-steps and beat the same Path or shall we not confidently aspire to the Happiness he so faithfully has promis'd and so dearly purchas'd The third Point BUt above all By this Grace of Christ our Charity to God is extreamly heightned by degrees excessively strange and remarkable for First whereas God was invisible and inaccessible ev'n to our very thoughts before He 's now become a Man like us expos'd to the apprehension even of our senses that most easy and obvious way of our knowing Next by this gracious condescendence He has espous'd all the Titles that may endear our Affections having made himself our Master our Friend our Companion our Brother His Father to become ours and himself a Member of the same Body with us And knowing that as it is the greatest possible testimony of Love to suffer for a Friend so 't is the most effective means to beget a mutual Love our Heavenly Father desirous to settle a perfect correspondence in That betwixt his only Begotten and us his adopted Sons sent Him into this world to suffer for our sakes all kind of evils all manner of contempts all sorts of injuries miseries torments and a most shameful Death Sic Deus dilexit Mundum ut Filium suum unigenitum daret pro mundi Vitâ To such a point did God love us as to give up even to death for our Life his only his equal his coessential and consubstantial Son Nor was This Son less forward and willing to accept than his Father to enjoyn him all this for us but as his Apostle says Dilexit me tradidit seipsum pro me He lov'd me and so lov'd me as to Live in miseries and Dye with torments for me Nor did his love end with his Life Since though it was necessary to withdraw his Corporal Presence from our senses yet Love would not let him entirely be absent but wittily found out this stupendious Invention to remain with us in the Blessed Sacrament not only to be seen and ador'd by our Faith but really to incorporate and mingle his Flesh with ours making himself the nourishment both of our Souls and Bodies In fine by this his Oeconomy and the powring out of his Holy Spirit and changing in a manner the whole World at least so far as concern'd Mens Souls through the innumerable Miracles wrought by Himself and his Followers to the Conversion of Nations he has rendred those things easy to us by the custom of hearing and seeing them done by others which before seem'd almost impossible and not to be imitated and so taken away the greatest hinderances of our Love to him Conclusion COnclude therefore Now ther 's no excuse left but an absolute necessity impos'd on thee to live holily the means thereof being rendred both so easy familiar to thee and so laudable too amongst Men that 't is almost a shame and counted worthy of reproach to live otherwise What canst thou then pretend what allege to exempt thy self No Almighty God has so ensnar'd and hedg'd thee in on every side with obligations to be Vertuous that thou canst not now without great inconveniences ev'n in this world be Vicious All things invite thee All things allure thee All things in a manner compel thee to be good O follow and follow willingly The eleventh Consideration Meekness and Humility is the readiest way to Happiness not only hereafter but ev'n in this Life The first point Consider Though our Saviour was vouchsaf'd us both as a Master and Model of all Vertures and a perfect Pattern for all the Actions of our whole Life yet two Vertues we find especially particularly and in a manner only recommended to us Meekness and mutual Charity the first he enforces on us in these sweet words Learn of me because I am meek and humble of heart and you shall find rest for your Souls Behold therefore if thou wilt be a Christian thou must very carefully practise this Vertue nor indeed canst thou chalenge that name unless thou at least endeavour to become Meek and Humble and so far only thou mayst judge thy self to have profited in the School of Christ as thou find'st thy self advanc'd in the progress of this Vertue Now what is this humble Meekness so highly commended to us by our great Master but A sweetness of Disposition which makes us not seek Revenge or render evill for evill no not even in desire That then thou art here commanded is When thou sufferest an injury not to render nor wish any harm to the Person that did it unless by way of correction to such as are under thy charge and even then to be sure the punishment be inflicted for Love of them not thy self for their amendment not thy satisfaction The second point COnsider 'T is irrational and not becomming a Person of understanding to wish evill to another because he has offended thee For as if thou shouldst fall into a Ditch or a stone fall upon thee
the Sun beams or the highest Angel a contemptible Worm and infinitely more beyond all comparison The third Point LAstly All other objects of delight may be coÌ„prehended by our Understanding may be contemn'd by our Will as less than our Soul and not able to satisfie it only Almighty God so fills and oversatisfies that entirely possessing our Affections He as it were forces the Soul to love and delight more than of its own nature it possibly could nor can it ever be weary of the good it enjoys but still with its whole and more eager desire will hug and cling to its beloved Object so that a Soul which sees God seeks nothing else but rests fully satisfied as it were lull'd into a dear contentment wherein it remains so absorpt and wholy ravisht that it sweetly languishes and dissolves into Spirits and flames of love the better to inessence and incorporate it self into God Thus then thou feest clearly demonstrated this great-concerning Truth that No delight can be comparable to thy Beatitude and that 't is no wonder to hear our Blessed Lord and Master in a manner labour to express it when He said Mensuram plenam confertam coagitatam supereffluentem dabunt in sinus vestros You shall be paid with good measure heap'd up and press'd down and thrust together and yet running over into your Bosoms Conclusion COnclude therefore with a full resolution by all thy works and best endeavours and even if need be with the hazard and loss of all other Goods to purchase this hidden Treasure this precious Pearl which at length though late thou hast hit on and to think nothing considerable nor to be car'd for in comparison of this to pitty the unhappiness of those poor Souls that spend their whole Affections in toys and trifles of this Life neglecting this only necessary good and to rejoyce in the secret of thy Bosom that being vouchsaf'd grace now to see that the wisdom of this world is in very truth but folly it has pleas'd thy kind Lord to number thee amongst those few that are truly wise The third Consideration The happy State of the Just's Bodys after their Resurrection The first Point COnsider When the last day shall restore thee thy Body again it shall be endow'd with such a degree of health as will be most convenient for all thy operations both Spiritual and Corporal accompany'd with an incapacity of deficience or Corruption and wth such an Agility as the most perfect disposition of the Nerves can cause with access of all possible swiftness and a power of raising or depressing thy self at pleasure as also of consisting with or penetrating any other Body to all which thou shalt have such a graceful Comeliness with so rare a Beauty of Light and Colour whose like shall not be found in any other Body but thine that thereby thou shalt become an ornament to the Universs adding so peculiar a grace to all the rest that without thee that whole mass of glorious Bodies would seem in a manner lame and defective The second Point MOreover All the laudable actions of thy whole life shall be known to all the Men and Angels that are or ever were who admiring all and every perfection in them even to the least circumstances and thoughts that accompany'd them shall from their very hearts and by the force of truth love and praise thee for them nay the very Devils and damned souls shall honour thee but with envy grief and repentance and what may seem more strange thy very sins shall be then a glory to thee both because thou o'recam'st and forsook'st them and that even in their commission there was possibly some laudable circumstance and which avayl'd to thy salvation So that then thou shalt have so many Friends so many Admirers of thy Vertue as there are Saints and Angels so many VVitnesses of thine Excellency as there are damned souls and Devils who obstinate in their own malice by their Torments shall confess and encrease thy Glory The third Point ADde to this Neither the Devils nor damned souls shall be able in any thy least Motion or Will to resist thee all the Saints and Angels shall observe and comply with thy desires more punctually then any obsequious servant ever watch'd their Masters eye and no Corporeal nature shal be able to contest with thee but all Bodies shall obey thee in what ever thou hast a mind to So that there thou shalt neither want Power where none shall contradict thee nor Riches where nothing shall be denyed thee Conclusion COnclude then Whatever Good thou shalt here forsake for God and Vertu 's Love will not be lost but there restor'd with Interest whether Friends Wealth Honour or Dominion Wherefore doubt not like a prudent Merchant to venture thy Goods to the Sea of Fortune and storms of Persecution whence thou shalt find an indefectible Treasure layd up in Heaven for thee or like the good Husbandman to sow in the Winter of Adversities though with some reluctance sorrow thy seed in Vertu 's ground expecting the precious fruit it shall infallibly yield thee in the Summer of Eternity Having so firm an assurance as the express VVord of God They that sow in tears shall reap in jâ—y The fourth Consideration The intollerable Pains of the Damned for the Loss of this happy Knowledge and Sight of God The first Point COnsider Man's Soul being created for the Vision of Almighty God as properly and more than a knife is made to cut any Vessel to be fill'd and all heavy things for their Center and a knowing substance when it wants the good for which it was made being very unquiet and full of Pain and that so much the more as it's Nature is more excellent it's Force greater and Inclination more Violent It must needs follow that such a Soul when it shall know what an infinite Good the Almighty is who alone is able to satisfie its Appetite will be fill'd with a sorrow for so great a Joss equal to the excellency of its Nature and the force of its Inclination Reflect then with what Violence a huge stone falls to it's center or a Mighty Bow of Steel let loose unbends its self or Powder set on fire breaks all to make it's way and be assured the sorrow of an unhappy Soul who now sees of what good it remains depriv'd will be as far more Violent than all these as its Nature and Forces surpass the activivity of the strongest Bodies The second Point AGain When this poor Soul shall be convinc'd how slender base sordid fading and almost momentany all those things were for which it contemn'd and lost this infinite and only Good that might so easily have been obtain'd even with far less pains than were often employ'd on those transitory toys and with far more security since none could hinder it but it self no not it self deprive it self of this when once
to those once honour'd and belov'd Companions of their wickedness in this world whom either whilst they liv'd they had courted into their Sins or been by them allur'd and draw'n into their's and so in an instant and to all Eternity become depriv'd of all even false Friendship vain Honour and whatever seeming Goods they so passionatly affected and ambitiously sought for in this life The third Point LAstly though their Bodies then remain perfectly subject to their Souls yet ev'n this subjection through the inâ—disposition of their Souls can only serve to render them more miserable and hateful their Eyes and Countenances fram'd according to the horror of their guilty Consciences and tormented Thoughts how can they but be most ugly and abominable the rest of their Members in what strange Postures expressing the distraction of their Minds beyond all Bedlams for their mad and extravagant deformities and if any occasion of Action should be offer'd them without any Prudence or consideration at the very first motion how prone to all wickedness and unable to resist any evill Only secure by their state of Immutabiliry Unhappy Immutabiliry which only serves them never to be chang'd from but eternally to endure Torments that would quickly dissolve any thing less than an immortal Body Conclusion COnclude then Whoever loves his Soul in this life that is inordinatly and according to Flesh and Blood truly loses it in the next world as our Lord foretold and falls into the evills which here he labours so much to shun but with a very disadvantageous advantage for by fearing little ills he falls into infinite great ones and by declining momentany sufferings he runs into eternal Take up therefore as the Apostle exhorts thee this Buckler of Faith and by the serious consideration of the next life's future evills defend thy self against the fyery Darts of thine Enemies fight courage things put together are any ways coÌ„parable ev'n to the least degree of it 't is evident that then our whole life is best when 't is best fitted and order'd for obtaining this End and if in any part it be ill or less well dispos'd for It so far 't is vicious or at least imperfect Wherefore 't is the sole business of all prudent Persons so to order their whole life to the utmost of their power as may most directly and certainly lead them to attaining this happiness proportionating every Part thereof to the scope of the Whole and having still the End so considerately before their eyes that all their Actions may be squar'd and levell'd to it The second Point SEcondly Since the chief and proper Action of a Man towards his End is the Love of it and the highest Good is above all to be loved 't is evident Those actions and endeavours to This End are best which beget and breed in Our selves a strong and solid Love to It. Now there are two ways or Mediums to engender and encrease Love One by purging our hearts from all other Loves and Affections that so we may more freely and entirely attend to this we are in pursute of the Other by considering and Meditating on as well the great Goods contain'd in the End or thing we desire to Love as the extream Evils that follow or accompany their Loss or privation Wherefore 't is cleer Our chief labour and study ought to be so to order our life that we may both often and seriously think on this our End and the infinite Happiness it contains and that in all we undertake our Affections be not corrupted and adulterated with the least Love of the things themselves but our works be done purely for the Love of this blessed End and all our intentions aym at the encrease of this Love The third Point THirdly Since by every deliberate Action we aym at some End or pretend the attaining some Good which we seek either purely for it self without any farther reference or else intend this as a means to some other 't is evident that in every such Action we love something as the last End for which we do it If then it be not done for the love of true Beatitude which is the Enjoyment of God it must needs follow we do It only for the love of some false Good as Pleasure Riches or the like and that in every such Action we love some false Good as our last End Wherefore it imports us to walk very cautiously with our God and purify all we can our intentions seeing no considerâ—t action can be surely indifferent but either advances towards or swerves from our true and only Felicity His beatifying sight Conclusion COnclude with thaÌ„ksgiving to the Almighty for this special favour of bringing thee thus seriously to reflect on thy ways And if thou findest that hitherto thou hast been too negligent in a business of such consequence strive henceforward to renew in thy self the fervour of Charity with so much more care and diligence as thou hast already lost time Do what good thou canst in the day of this life for our great Master tells us When the night of death shal come it will be too late to help our selves but such as we are then found must be our lot for all eternity The eighth Consideration Piety is conformable to Man's Nature whence such as live according to Vertue are most happy even in this World The first point COnsider Since every one's particular End is that of Humane Nature and it cannot stand with the Wisdom and Goodness of our Creatour to have made our Nature other than such as was fit and conformable to obtain the End for which it was created it must needs follow that the actions by which we are to procure this End are also conformable to our Nature And since What is agreeable to Nature is pleasant and delightful it must follow again that Those Actions are very grateful and sweet and therefore a Pious Life which consists of such Actions is not a crabbed and unpleasant but on the contrary a life full of sweetness and most apt to yield content And if some passages in it seem a little harsh that they are but Medicinal and whereby we are preserv'd from falling into others far more hurtfull and worse to be digested wherefore that These also are sweet in their effect not only in respect of the Future Life but even of the Present and like a bitter Potion to be swallow'd with a joyful hope of the Health they induce The second point AGain Since a Pious life orders the whole course of our Actions to one end so rendring them all conformable to one another it clearly exempts our lives from all inward opposition and contradiction and keeps us in perfect Peace with our selves whereas on the contrary a Vicious life wich precipitates us according to our Passions to follow now this now that Concupiscence must needs fill our Souls with repugnant Affections make us lead a life full of
it were unreasonable to be colerick at the Ditch or stone and seek revenge like a Dog so no less folly is it to be angry with a Person for doing thee a displeasure Since either 't is done justly or unjustly if justly thou oughtst to turn thine anger on thy self for deserving it and not on the doer if unjustly then certainly he was unjust before he did it and if thou then wert not angry with him for being unjust neither oughtst thou be now for his doing unjustly it being but natural and what in reason thou shouldst expect that an unjust Person should do unjust things Again since no humane Action or Desire is reasonable which aims not at some good to him that wills or does it and Revenge ayms only at the Evill of the Offender which is no ways thy Good but meerly as a satisfaction of thy vindicative appetite in reason thou oughtst not to wish anothers ill but rather repress thine own unreasonable Humour The third Point COnsider the Reward promis'd thee by our kind Master for Meekness You shall find rest says he to your Souls and in another place Blessed are the Meek for they shall possess the Land and again In your Patience that is Meekness you shall possess that is enjoy your Souls Of all which the sense is that besides the Reward in Heaven the greatest sweetness this present Life affords viz. A quiet and contented mind is properly and peculiarly reserv'd for the Meek as a recompence of their Vertue Whereas those that seek Revenge are alwaies in contention and at debate with one another which for the most part costs their Purses well in Sutes and Law-wranglings and many times their skins even their Lives too in desperate quarrels Besides within what tumults of Passion are rais'd in their Souls what cares what fears continually disquiet and torment them that they neither enjoy themselves nor even the temporal blessings God has given them 'T is Meekness alone then you see affords contentment and sweetens our whole Life Conclusion COnclude then What a good God wee serve who is so sollicitous as for our Future so even for our Present happiness that hee 's pleas'd not only most tenderly to recommend and with sweet words allure us to it but even to introduce them by exhibiting himself to us as a Master and Pattern of those means by which true temporal comforts and contentments as much as this present Life admits are to be obtain'd What evasion can there be from such kindness what excuse from so important so pleasant an Interest No either renounce the name of Christian or resolve to addict thy self seriously to the exercise of this Vertue The twelfth Consideration Fraternal Charity is the true Mark of a good Christian and the only sure way to eternal Happiness The first Point COnsider first Our Lord and dear Master to fix on us a greater necessity and as it were a double tye of mutual Love and Charity to one another was pleas'd not only to strengthen the old Cōmandement of loving our Neighbour as our self by commanding it anew as from himself when he said I give you a new Command and This is my Command that you Love one another but also in most particular manner to recommend and appropriate it to the Law of Grace as a special Mark and Sign of Christianity whereby true Christians are distinguisht from false By this men shall know that you are my Disciples If you Love one another Since therefore true Love is never idle nor consists in words only but is active according to its power 't is evident That which Christ commands us is that we be alwaies ready as much as in us lys to do good to all Men but especially to those that are truly Brethren that is good Christians The second Point AGain consider Since as the Apostle says He that Loves his neighbour has fulfill'd the Law 't is evident this mutual Charity ought to be embrac'd not only as a particular Vertue but as the common Mother and producer of all the rest For if he that loves his Neighbour has fulfill'd the Law the whole Law then is nothing but of Love and doing good to our neighbour Wherein admire the tender goodness of God whose care and providence tends wholy to this That it may be well with all and every one of us See how by that Law which commands thee to do good to all thou canst by that very same Law all and every other person is commanded to do thee what good they can O! how holy is this Law of Christ which so carefully provides for the welfare and advantage of all but withall how profitable how gainfull to thee since for that little good thou canst do to others it obliges all others readily to do thee all the good they can which must needs be infinitely more than what thou art able to do for them The third Point LAstly Consider the beloved Disciple St. John's words He that loves not his Brother whom he sees how can he love God whom he sees not and observe that the love of thy Neighbour must be the Touchstone where on to try thy love to God whether indeed it be true or a counterfeit and as they say but a Lip-love having God in thy Mouth but in thy heart the World For if thou lov'st not thy Neighbour 't is evident thou lov'st something else that hinders thee from loving him which because it cannot be God must needs be some created good as Honour Riches Pleasure c. which thou lovest inordinately that is for it self and not in order to God and so clearly as long as thou lov'st not thy Neighbour thou hast not God for thy last end nor lov'st him above all things as is thy duty for as much as thou lovest God so much more doubtless thou lovest those things he loves amongst which the chiefest if not the only thing we know is our Neighbour whose love even by Nature is so recommended to us that without friendship and conversation with one another our very lives would be tedious and miserable Conclusion COnclude therefore with a serious and effectual Resolution in Truth and Actions to love thy Neighbour to contemn none to refuse none in what thou art able to help them but whatever good thou canst do to any person without prejudicing thy self even with a little prejudice to thy self when 't is much for his advantage to do it chearfully and willingly be glad when thou hast oblig'd any esteeming that day lost wherein thou hast done good to none And be certain this Practice will be so far from injuring thee that nothing will more advantage nothing render thee more grateful and acceptable both to God and Man FINIS 1. The future Life preferrable 2. Because knowledge there more perfect 3. God being it's sole Object Therefore only to be minded 1. All delight from the Intellect 2. Whence God transcends all Corporal Pleasures 3. He only filling the Soul Therefore fully resolve for Him 1. Gloriously qualify'd 2. Vniversally honour'd 3. Entirely complyd with Therefore here to be sacrifiz'd up in hope 1. Equal to the Inclination of a Soul's Nature 2. Aggravated by the folly of her choice 3. Especially a Christian Therefore in time prevent It. 1. Missing their unalterable desires 2. Incompossible in themselves 3. Which they see Eternal Therefore regulate the Affections 1. Extream sorrow including All 2. With Contempt on all sides 3. All hightned through the subjection of the Body Therefore Love not thy self here 2. That Best which begets a Love to It. 3. Every deliberate Action important Therefore be careful and diligent 1. The mean's to Natur 's end truly pleasant 2. Whence Vertue brings Peace and Vice disquiet 3. Piety not debarring ev'n temporal Contentments Therefore confidently proceed in It. 1. Creating the World nay Himself for Man 2. Passing through so painful a Life and Death 3. Feeding us with Himself Therefore value thy Salvatition 1. Rendred easily capable of high Mysteries 2. Encourag'd by His Example 3. Endear'd by His sufferings Therefore inexcusably be good 1. No Christian revengeful 2. All anger unreasonable 3. Meekness alone sweetens Life Therefore strongly embrace It. 1. Appropriated to the Law of Grace Wherein every one has an advantage 3. The Touchstone of our Love to God Therefore improve It's occasions