knowledge of thy self thou mayest come to some knowledge of him Excuse not thy Sloth and Cowardize by laying the fault upon the Frailty of thy Nature for that is but to accuse God as an hard Master that expects much where he gives but little No he expects no more from any Man than what he enables him to perform Raise therefore thy Courage by Contemplation of those divine Benefits he hath bestowed upon thee Make clear the Glass of thy Soul and in it thou shalt see God and shalt hear and find him for although God be in all places by his Essence Power and Presence yet is he no where better seen and known than where he is present through Grace What a number of things wilt thou find within thee by beholding God within thy self What Treasury What Chearfulness What Joy What Wisdom St. Augustin seeks God over all the World and says of himself That he sought but could not find that without him which he already had within him He entred into himself and there found what he had sought though he could not find it by wandring abroad If thou hast God within thy self in vain wilt thou seek him elsewhere 'T is within thy Soul 't is within thy Heart that this Precious Treasure is to be found If not there then no where else As soon as thou findest him within thee thou shalt see ineffable Lights and meet with Directions that shall guide thee to keep him fast within thy self and yet to find him every where without thee also Thou shalt learn to trust him and by that to fear him There shalt thou see the Divine Benefits what he has done in thy favour without thee above thee and on every side of thee thou shalt find it all there There shalt thou see and meditate what thou owest him and by thy internal and superiour knowledge thou shalt be able to see to ponder and to penetrate what before thou neither didst see nor know nor love nor consider Of the Benefit of Creation Thou shalt see the good he did thee in Creating thee in making thee a reasonable Creature in giving thee a Soul and forming in thee an admirable Image of his Heavenly Countenance Thou shalt see what he did for thee in drawing thee out of the Abyss and Confusion of nothing to be capable of all things Thou shrit see what he did in that when it was in his power to make thee a Stone a Tree or a brute Beast he made thee a Reasonable Creature and capable of God himself Tell me what hadst thou done that could oblige him to it Upon what merits did this high Benefit fall Didst thou perhaps win him to it by thy sins which were then present to him at thy Creation Oh how unspeakable is that Benefit bestowed even in the sight of Ingratitude itself That God should have all my sins present before him at my Creation and should yet Create me that in Creating me he should fix his eyes upon his own Mercy and cast my sins behind his back this was a goodness more wonderful than can well be conceived The anger of a liberal Person grows enraged by the presence of an ungrateful one whom he has relieved and yet here my Creator not only was not angry but in the sight of all my Offences bestowed a Benefit upon me which it had been much to have granted upon the highest Services Behold how greatly we are indebted to God for Creating us reasonable Men at the same time he beheld our sins making us capable to bewail them and flexible docil and disposed through his Grace to wash them with our Tears By this first and principal Benefit he filled us with infinite other Benefits for in giving us that chief Jewel the Soul all the rest though greater are less because they all depend upon that It is more to be a Man than to be a Great Man It is more to be a Man than all that can be contained in the Being of Man It is much to be Wise but it is more to be Man than to be Wise because he could not be Wise unless he were a Man It is much to be Rich Powerful and Noble but more to be a Man because he has all those by being Man It is much to be a King but more to be a Man because without being a Man he could not be a King It is much to be Good Holy and Vertuous but it is more to be a Man because he could be none of these without a Rational Soul which makes him to be a Man Know thy Dignity O Man and use it with respect and do not abase that part of thee which is Man to the level of that other which is but Animal Let not sin defile that Soveraign and that Coelestial Majesty which thou hast in thy Soul for to spot blemish and deface it is great sin and ingratitude To make thee a Man was to give thee all that is visible and to make thee capable of all that is invisible What Thanks what Services do these Benefits require To make thee a Man was to make thee Head King and Soveraign of this inferiour Nature He chose thee for Prince of the Planets of the Sun of the Moon and of the Stars Finally he gave thee the Elements all things mixt and all the several Individuals for thy Contemplation and for thine Inheritance Thus God's Creating Man and giving him a Rational Soul is the chiefest and greatest of all the Gifts he hath bestowed upon Men for although afterwards he enriched them with others of his Grace which are more excellent yet they all depend on that of Nature They are Benefits which fall upon this first Benefit and without which they could be of no Efficacy or Advantage But let me not pass over in silence or forget to mention in particular those other admirable and illustrious Endowments which in Creating thee a Man and giving thee a Soul God hath furnished thee with so vastly surpassing those of the inferiour and irrational Tribe I mean the glorious and sublime powers of thy Soul by which it operates for how do they transcend the low Capacities of sensitive Beings How noble and excellent are thy Faculties and how wonderful their Operations in respect of the grosness and inactivity of theirs Thou hast an Understanding capable of knowing all things able to draw Inferences from precedent Propositions and to frame Conceptions of universal and immaterial Objects God hath given thee ability if thou wouldst improve it to penetrate into the profoundest depths of Humane Knowledge and in some measure into his Divine Essence thou art able to make some discovery of those infinite Perfections which concentre in him the Original of all Perfections and to soar up by Contemplation into the highest Heavens where this infinite and incomprehensible Nature most eminently resides Thou art able from things made and visible to collect the absolute necessity of the existence of some first Being which
torment till it be put into its right place again and so the Man and Wife being at variance with God till they be set right there there will be nothing but disorder and quarrelling between them but that difference being compos'd their Conjugal state will be a state of Comfort and Happiness and in every respect a great and High Blessing Of Civil Society and Government Mankind being propagated and multiplyed by the means of that Divine Institution from hence arise in the first place Families which as Aristotle observes in his Politicks are the first Societies in Nature the Ground and Original the Nurseries and Seminaries of all the rest and from them larger Societies and Bodies Politick And from this mutual Combination and Fellowship who does not see the great good and benefit accruing to Mankind in general What inestimable Advantages spring from such an Union and Association 'T is certain by Nature we are all dependent and cannot live without the mutual Assistance of our fellow-creatures we must be beholding to others for things necessary without which our very Being cannot be preserved and therefore to supply those defects and imperfections which are in us living singly and solely by our selves we are even naturally induced to seek communion and fellowship with others And the Benefit of a Sociable Life sufficiently appears in that Nature has implanted in all Men a strong desire of it which shews it to be in all respects advantageous and profitable for otherwise such a desire had never been so universally engrafted in the Constitutions of Men. Civil Society does more content the Nature of Man than any kind of private solitary living because in Society the good of mutual participation is so much larger than otherwise Nor indeed are we satisfied with a Society bounded within the narrow limits of our Native Country but we covet to have a kind of Fellowship if possible with all Mankind Which thing Socrates intending to signifie professed himself a Citizen not of this or that Common-wealth but of the World And an effect of that desire in us to have universal Fellowship with all Men appears by the wonderful delight men have some to visit Foreign Countries some to discover Nations not heard of in former Ages and all of us to know the Affairs and Dealings of other People yea to be in League and Amity with them And does not Reason tell us that by this means Traffick is promoted and when many are confederated each may make other the more strong Is it not evident that by such Confederations and Compacts the general Good is advanced and the publick Tranquillity secured How is it possible for the Interest and Welfare of Mankind to be provided for without men's being link'd and united in such settled Societies where each Individual is obliged to study and to consult the Common Advantage and every Member to be serviceable to the good of the whole Body And therefore the confounding of Languages was rightly accounted a Curse to the Old World because thereby men were rendred incapable of mutual Commerce and debar'd the great Priviledges resulting from thence They became Barbarians to each other and lost the sweet Benefit of Society and Converse without which all Delights are insipid all Order is disturb'd and all Safety banish'd And as the Benefit and Necessity of such Communions and Politick Societies is great so consequently Laws for the maintenance of them must be equally necessary and beneficial the just power of making which Laws belongs properly to the same entire Societies which having gained a Publick Approbation do afterwards obtain an obliging force and become binding to every particular Member And without this Government and Discipline it is not conceivable how any Societies can consist for if when there was but one Family in the World no means of Instruction either Humane or Divine without positive Laws could prevent the effusion of Blood how is it possible now when Families are so multiplyed and increased on the Earth but that without Laws Envy Strife Contention and Violence must grow amongst them There is no impossibility indeed in Nature Man retaining his original Integrity but that Men might have liv'd without any publick Government but presupposing the Corruption and Sinfulness of Man and of his Off-spring it cannot be denied but that the Law of Nature doth now require of necessity some kind of Government so that to bring things to the first course they were in and utterly to take away all kind of publick Government in the World were apparently to overturn the whole World It must be acknowledged that Government is the effect of Sin but yet that does not in the least detract from its necessity or usefulness to Men. Those Laws of right Reason which in a State of Innocency had been sufficient to direct each particular Person in all his Affairs and Duties are not now sufficient nor able to serve since the Corruption of our Nature when Mens iniquity is so difficultly restrained within any tolerable bounds but do require the Addition of other Laws to which it has always been found needful to annex Rewards to allure unto Good and Punishments to deter from Evil. These are the Instruments which uphold the World in Order and keep it from running into a State of Confusion and Violence These are the Bridles which restrain the Exorbitant Passions of Men and contain them within due bounds and these alone secure us in the Possession of our just Rights which otherwise we might be depriv'd of by an unjust force without a possibility of Redress In a word without this Bulwark and Defence there would be nothing but grievances and wrongs injuries and endless discord The World would not be able to subsist nor we to live in it without daily Fears and Jealousies for whither would not the impetuous and turbulent Passions of Men drive them if they were at liberty to take their full career without controul or restraint What would not the Wickedness of Men attempt if all things might be committed with impunity 'T is therefore to Government that we owe the Possession of whatever is dear to us and for that reason we may deservedly account it a most unvaluable Blessing deriving it self from God the Author of all good Gifts without which we can have no secure enjoyment of any thing that is valuable but must be in continual fears of being dispossess'd of it by violent Aggressors who being more powerful will not dispute the Right or Equity of the Matter If the Irregularities and Vices of Men can hardly be curb'd by the most severe Sanctions and Penalties what would they not dare to enterprize if they were exempted from those Penalties and were wholly left to themselves to act as they please without fear of punishment What dismal consequences would this produce And therefore we can never sufficiently extol the inexpressible Benefits of publick Government and Laws nor yet that God who has graciously enabled us to find out and
Heavenly Paradice but Lucifer who from a glorious Angel was become a Devil having been thrown out of Heaven for aspiring to be equal to God envied that Man should enjoy the Happiness which he had lost and knowing by woful Experience that Heaven could not contain a proud Person he thought himself sure to prevent Man's being admitted there if he could but make him guilty of the same Sin Pride Hereupon he subtilly first began to tempt the weaker Vessel Eve by shewing her the beautiful Fruit of the forbidden Tree telling her that by tasting it she might become like unto God himself and when by his perswasion he had deceived the Woman he made use of her as he still does to deceive the Man Thus Sin like a cunning Thief crept in at the Window of his Eye which he unwarily had set open to behold the Beauty of that Fruit and soon opened also the Doors of his Ears to admit the Enticement of his Wife conspiring with his treacherous Appetite to let in Death at the Gate of his Mouth by his disobedience in eating the Apple which was presented to him by her Then that blessed Union was broken and a Separation made not only between his Body and his Soul by a temporal Death the Sentence whereof instantly pass'd upon him though the Execution was deferr'd but also between his Soul and his God by an eternal Death to which he also became thereby liable and as a Fore-runner of both he and his Wife were driven out of Paradice from the Presence of their gracious Creator Now as the Departure of the Soul from the Body is Death so the Departure of God from the Soul can be no less than Hell for as in his presence there is fulness of Joy so in his absence there must be extremity of Sorrow and as at his Right-hand there be Pleasures for evermore so on his Left there must needs be everlasting Pains and what can the feeling of them be but Hell To this miserable Condition Sin brought our first Parents and from them all we their wretched Posterity became tainted with an original Corruption the Seeds whereof growing up into innumerable actual Transgressions afford no other Fruit but Death in this World and eternal Damnation in that which is to come but God being infinitely merciful would not abandon them to perish for ever in this sad Estate but out of the Bowels of his tender Compassion did with incomprehensible Wisdom find out a way for the Satisfaction of his own Justice and for the Salvation of Mankind It had been utterly impossible for all of them together to have done any thing in the least degree towards the Salvation of so much as one Man for it cost more to redeem a Soul so that they must have let that alone for ever But God contriv'd it by an Union much more admirable than that already mentioned and that was between the Divine and Humane Natures And Adam had no sooner broken the first Covenant of unsinning Obedience which God made with him in Paradice but he graciously made a Second with him and his Posterity in the second Adam the promised Messiah This he afterwards perform'd by sending his only begotten Son Jesus Christ equal to his Father as touching his Godhead into the World for the Redemption of Mankind who being conceiv'd by the Holy Ghost in the chast Womb of the Blessed Virgin Mary became also perfect Man of a reasonable Soul and humane Flesh subsisting to the end that as Man he might be capable to suffer and as God to satifie for the sins of the whole World This was a Benefit so high and so transcendent that neither the Understanding of Man no nor that of Angels is able to comprehend it Here all consideration is confounded and humbles itself with astonishment to see that the Son of God to the end that he might cloath thee with his Grace cloathed himself with our Nature which is a poor torn wretched Garment full of beggery and misery and yet that Soveraign Eternal and Divine Majesty put it on for our sake and though this was exceeding much yet he did a great deal more for us since besides this Humanity which Christ the Divine Word took upon him he underwent so many Sufferings for Mankind and wove this seamless Coat of Grace which he gives us in Baptism with such unmeasurable griefs and torments as never have been suffer'd in all the World but by himself nor ever shall be Nay he did yet more for he not only wove this Coat of Grace with these unspeakable pains but even with his holy death and would end his Life in that very employment of weaving and finishing it to the end he might give that seamless Robe its utmost Beauty and Perfection Here all our thoughts ought to be Silence Amazement Terror Reverence and Admiration with Tears of Love and Contrition That the Eternal Son of God to cloath me with his Grace should cloath himself with my humble Nature and presently load himself with the burden of my sins and then take upon him their Punishment upon the Cross and die upon it for them That the cleansing of me should make him be defil'd with the spittings of blasphemous mouths That the giving me the Life of Grace should make him die the Death of Nature and that in such cruel Torments That for the washing of my Soul he should shed all his Precious Blood And that he should devest himself of all Humane Comfort only to give me Comfort Remedy and even Heaven itself This is a business more proper for our Love than our Meditation more to make us active in his Service than contemplative in our Thoughts and to be expressed more by our Wonder than our Words Yet it is good to meditate upon it that we may love him to consider it that we may serve him and to speak of it that by finding we cannot speak enough we may admire and adore him A Man that does me a kindness has my Thanks and if by his pains and danger he draw me out of any Trouble I shew my Gratitude by acknowledging it There be Laws that order Recompences for a Subject that saves the Life of his King in War or in Peace appointing him to be rewarded with Wealth and crowned with Ensigns of Honour Mordecai only for giving Notice to Ahasuerus that some of his Treacherous Servants meant to kill him was by the Command of that Heathen King cloathed with his own Royal Robe and his most beloved Favourite was made to lead the Horse upon which that Loyal Subject rode about the Streets of the City This was an high Honour easily attain'd so notable a demonstration of Favour so Royal and Majestick a Recompence but for a bare Advertisment Consider now if so much were due to a Vassal who by the discovery of a Traytor had sav'd the Life of a King what shall a Vassal owe to his King who not only hath sav'd him from Death but
Mysteries of the Blessed Jesus for in them thou shalt find Light Joy and Company Fervency Grace and Devotion Go on and continue this Holy Meditation and it shall fill thy Soul with Treasures of Spiritual Comfort Of the Mystery of the Incarnation And first behold and consider the Eternal Son of God Co-eternal Co-omnipotent and Infinitely Wise with the Father coming forth from the Father yet without leaving him to be made Man the Holy Ghost in this high Mystery co-operating with the Father and the Son for the Three Divine Persons who concurred in the Creation of Man concurred also in his Reparation and Redemption Consider how he sets forth accompanied with the whole Court of Heaven and takes Flesh in the chaste Womb of the most pure and perfect Virgin that Nature ever saw the most Blessed Virgin Mary the Honour of Nazareth the Glory of Jerusalem and the Joy of all Israel Behold that unspeakable Union between the Divinity and the Humanity behold the Eternal Word cloathing himself with our Nature and espousing himself to it in that Virgin Bride-bed Here thou mayest know what thou owest to thy Creator and Saviour who for the love of thee and for thy Remedy made himself Man took on him the form of a Servant and subjected himself to all the Labours and Miseries to which Mankind is liable and together with our Nature loaded himself likewise with all their Pains and Punishments and which is more being Innocency itself he took upon him all their Sins also to suffer for them Consider thus what God did for thee and then consider likewise what thou owest to God for having done all this for thee That the Immense the Omnipotent and the Infinitely Wise should become Man for the Redemption of Man That those two Extreams so distant and distinct should be conjoyned that the Nature of Man which is Frailty and Misery should be united to the Divine Person of the Eternal Son of God which is the Supream and Soveraign Deity What greater cause can there be of Astonishment and Admiration Men use to say when they would express any thing impossible Heaven and Earth shall meet before this can come to pass Consider how much greater a thing is God's joyning the Humanity with the Divinity for my sake than the meeting of Heaven and Earth Can there be a greater Favour than that God to shew his love to us should do impossibilities Could Omnipotency want other means to Save and Redeem Mankind Could not his Infinite Wisdom have contriv'd other ways for the Salvation of the Sons of Adam without engaging himself in this incomprehensible expression of Love Yes most probably For to him that is All-powerful the most difficult things were very easie and to him that is Infinitely Wise they were also most clear and manifest but his excessive Love would for the Salvation of Man give that which was not precisely necessary and having it in his power to do less for their sakes he would needs do more O more than Infinite Goodness O Love that exceedest all Consideration That thou the Immense the Omnipotent and Infinite God shouldst be made Man for Man That thou shouldest so have limited thy self being the unbounded Creator of all things both in Heaven and Earth That thou shouldst be reduced to so short and narrow a space Thou who comprehendest the whole Creation within thy self and yet hast infinite room within that unmeasurable comprehension That thou shouldst become passible being by thy Divine Nature incapable of Labour Pains and Sufferings And not only passible but already beginning actually to suffer being Innocency and Goodness itself and the very Original of all Goodness and Innocency This does not only amaze Man's Understanding but even that of the highest Cherubims and only that same God can comprehend it who celebrated and performed this high and Soveraign Mystery Now let us come back to our selves and consider what is it for Man sinful Man to suffer that drags so many Chains of Passions and Wickednesses it being just that he should suffer for them since this Divine Lord suffers a close Restraint and Imprisonment in the Virgin 's Womb What is it for Man to humble himself for God's sake seeing God for Man's sake humbled himself so far as even to become Man What a small thing is it for Man to shut himself up in a Cell or to hide himself in a strait Enclosure in hope that he shall come forth to the enjoyment of Eternal Liberty since God the Son imprisons himself so closely for nine Months to come forth to suffer so many ways for Thirty and three years that he might purchase and obtain that very Liberty for Man What is it for the low the mean the vile and the unworthy to humble himself since the Divine the Immense the Omnipotent the Infinite and the most High hath abased himself to so great a degree Draw from hence that Humility which after a certain manner thou oughtest to be proud of as an Honour since thou dost that which God himself did for it must needs be always a great Honour to do that which has been done by that Eternal Majesty Behold what thankfulness thou owest to that unspeakable Goodness for that wonderful expression of his Love in the Incarnation of the Son of the Eternal God and how it can be possible for Man with sufficient gratitude to acknowledge that God should make himself Man for the Redemption of Man that he should come down from Heaven to Earth to make Earth an Inheritor of Heaven This in my Opinion was the greatest of all the expressions of God's Love and Kindness in this was the greatest Conquest of his Charity in this it was that he measured the most unmeasurable distance When once he was made Man to suffer for Man was but an Humane distance although a very vast one because that Man was God but that being God he should make himself Man was a Divine distance and that so beyond all excess that for the measuring of it it was necessary that Omnipotency itself should yield to the greater power of Love When once he had made himself passible by becoming Man it was so natural for him to suffer that if he would have freed his Humanity from it it must have been by the help of his Divinity but for him being God to make himself Man that he might become passible this was a Prodigy more than Divine and which does almost seem incredible Those that are of High and Noble Birth avoid to come near the Plebeians and Vulgar sort those that are Rich scorn to have any thing to do with the Poor and those that are Wise despise to talk with the Ignorant But thou O Eternal Wisdom Riches and Nobility not only camest near to our Poverty our Baseness and our Frailty but cloathed'st thy self therewith to instruct to enrich and to enoble our Nature From henceforth Lord we ought to learn from thy Divinity to humble and abase our selves
dislike and enmity Our frail miserable Nature being inclin'd to evil is subtil and discursive in any thing that is bad but is dull blind and careless in all good and if a Divine Ray from above does not help and clarifie our Natural Light it will presently be obscur'd if not extinguished by our Passion It is therefore very useful and convenient in the Spiritual Life to walk in the Divine Presence with the light of Prayer in our hands to the end that by the brightness thereof we may with God's Grace and Spirit choose the fittest means for so high an end despising vain and worldly Wisdom and making use of one that is Divine Spiritual and Celestial O let thy Prudence and Discretion consist in following the ways of thy Salvation All the means thou employest to this end are Christian good holy just powerful and prudent And all those Motives which would put thee out of those ways though they seem to come shining with Prudence Justice Fortitude and Temperance are really unjust weak intemperate and very imprudent The end of any thing ought to govern the means Thy end ought to be to save thy Soul to serve please and not to offend God to live an internal and spiritual life to make thy life a preparation for death to fit thy self by death for Judgment by Judgment for thy Account and by thy Account for that Sentence which may deliver thee from Eternal Condemnation and give thee the Crown of Glory in Life Eternal Oh! What an heavenly Prudence is this Oh what Justice What Fortitude What Temperance How well are they all temper'd with one another and and how imprudent and unjust how foolish how mad how distemper'd and how ruinous is the contrary Thus these four which were wont to be Natural Politick and Heathen Vertues thou mayest by a right intention and direction transform into Christian and Spiritual ones taking from Prudence not what the Flesh but what the Spirit requires from Justice not what the Inferiour but the Superiour directs from Fortitude not what Passion but what Reason commands and from Temperance what is allowed by God not by the World and the Devil The Fourth WEEK Of Humility and its contrary Pride WIth these Rules which are not worldly and natural but holy and spiritual concerning the four Cardinal Vertues the first thing that thou art to practise continually in the life of the Soul is Humility This is an unspeakable Vertue indeed and the Mother of all the rest for they are all bred and produced in her Bowels Humility is that which the Eternal Word chose among all the rest when being God he became Flesh to dwell amongst us clothed in our Humane Nature for the Immense and Omnipotent Lord of Heaven shew'd himself in this World so naked so poor as to be born in a Stable so little and so limited as to be contained in a Manger He consecrated Humility and dedicated himself to it through the whole Course of his most holy Life from the Virginal inclosure of his Mother's Womb and taught it upon the Cross by his most holy Death This is that which he has left for an Inheritance to his faithful Followers when he said Learn of me for I am meek and lowly in heart and when afterwards having humbled himself at his Disciples feet he bad them do as he had done We have seen already how great a number of Vertues our blessed Saviour the Example of Christian Perfection did practise whilst he liv'd in this World leaving us to imitate that Divine Original and yet for all that he calls upon us sollicits and perswades us in particular to Copy none but his Humility Why did he not call upon us to practise his Patience Why did he not bid us learn his Charity Why not his Zeal and Diligence Why not his Fortitude Justice and Temperance but only his Humility By reason that the greatest fall and wound of both the Natures Angelical and Humane was Pride and so that Nature of the two that remains in a possibility of being cured which is the Humane and which our Lord came to remedy finds its principal Medicine in Humility Wilt thou see how contrary Pride is to Humility that thou mayest the better know how contrary Humility is to Pride Why Pride is the Natural Mother of all the Devils she engendred them in her Bowels and an Infernal Pride made them Devils of so many Angels they would needs be like God and equal themselves to him in Power and that Pride threw them in an instant from Heaven into the bottomless Pit Would'st thou now see what Humility is It is that which made Angels to be more Angels than they were before for when taking warning by the Fall of their Companions they humbled themselves before God he confirmed them in his Grace and fixed them for Angels eternally in his Glory above the danger of ever becoming Devils And would'st thou see what Pride is Look upon our first Parents Adam and Eve in their highest Felicity of Paradise and thou shalt see that because they would be as Gods and pass from Humane Limits to Divine they were instantly cast out banish'd naked and undone sowing Tribulations and Sorrows and reaping Thorns Afflictions and Misfortunes Would'st thou see what is Humility Behold those same first Parents weeping grieving and bewailing their Fault with an humble Penitence and thou wilt also behold them pardoned by the Divine Goodness and both themselves and their Posterity restored to Grace and Glory with a remedy more noble and much superiour to the Felicity they had lost Wilt thou see what Pride is Look upon Cain who despises God by denying the best of his Fruits which were due to him as the Author and Lord of the Inheritance and being proud and covetous forgets the Banishment the Example and the Tears of his Parents and would exempt himself from that just and holy Tribute This Sin carries him to another which is worse I mean that of Envy and Envy thrusts him on to a higher that of Murder even the murder of a Brother and this drives him to the greatest of all which is final Obstinacy and Impenitence He lives in Despair flying from himself and dying wounded with a deadly Arrow becomes the Head of the Reprobates and the Damned And wilt thou see on the other side what Humility is Look upon holy and blessed Abel who humbly acknowledges his Eternal Creator by offering him his Fruits He gives him the best of them and the best of his Soul which is Humility whereupon God blesses favours and crowns him as being the first Martyr of Heaven and the First-fruits of those that were called appointed and predestinated by the Will of Christ to an immortal Glory Finally these first successes and contrary effects of these two Contraries have been followed by innumerable others and there is nothing seen nor has been seen nor ever shall be seen but the ruins of Pride and the triumphs of Humility
the Sacrifice of the Liberal and turning away his Eyes from that of the Covetous This wild Beast within his heart broke out into open Fury and was the first that shed Humane Blood and the first that put the Life and Death of the Innocent into the power of the Guilty This was the first wickedness that after their own Disobedience afflicted our first Parents and the Tears Grief and Repentance for their own Offence were much encreased in seeing the Murder of their good and holy Son commitmitted by the hand of the other that was a wretched Villain and a Cast-away It was Envy that sowed innumerable Discords between those first Patriarchs and Heads of the several Tribes Joseph's Brethren not being able to endure his Vertues nor the kindness of his Father to him they resolved rather to sell him than to imitate him It was Envy that brought in the Dissentions and Discords between Jacob and Esau the elder not being able to suffer the Blessing of the younger It was Envy that took away the Vertue the Kingdom and the Life of Saul who because he could not bear the Valour and the Spirit of David chose rather utterly to destroy him than frame himself to follow his Example It was Envy also that durst attempt to bite even the Apostles themselves when seeing the favour of their Master to St. John they began to strive which of them should be the greatest It was Envy that was the chief Incentive that kindled the fire of Rage and Passion in the hearts of the Scribes and Pharisees and of the Priests and Masters of the Law against Jesus when seeing his Vertues and Miracles they chose rather to put him to Death than to enjoy Eternal Life Behold the Victories and Trophies of Envy and entertain a great abhorrence of this cruel Enemy for it is a powerful one though in it self it be vile base and infamous choosing rather to hate Vertue than to emulate it and affecting priority rather by destroying that which is good than by making that good which is evil It is an infamous a desperate and an ungrateful Vice for the first that it kills is the Person who entertains it and the Envious man dies with Envy himself but cannot thereby kill the Person envied It is an infamous Vice for that being able to ease it self in a great measure of vexation by imitating Vertue it frees it self rather by the destruction and death of the innocent and vertuous Person making Poyson of the Antidote and corrupting it self by the vertue of another It is an infamous Vice because it draws the nourishment of hatred and abhorrence out of the same ground from whence it ought to draw that of Love to Vertue and it defames and dishonours that which right Reason extols and magnifies It is an infamous Vice because it destroys the love of our Nature for whereas one man ought to love another as man and much more if he be vertuous Envy abhors him so much for being vertuous that it would not suffer him to continue man It is an infamous Vice because it prosecutes the damage of another without bringing any profit to it self and loads it self with more Crimes without lessening anothers Vertues It is an infamous Vice because it makes an Enemy of that Person whom it ought to imitate and esteem as a Friend choosing rather to abhor that which is good than to make use of it in forsaking that which is evil Finally Envy is the Vice of base wretched People for whereas the envious man might by a noble emulation and sincere endeavour make himself both vertuous and generous he chooses rather to torment himself and become more base more wretched and more miserable Remedies against Envy This Vice must be cured by means contrary to those we directed against Sensuality for that as we said must be cured by flight but Envy must be conquered by fighting Thus when thou feelest in thy heart the first motions towards Envy raise up thy self to encounter it with a stout Opposition and force thy self to love and praise that Person whom it would tempt thee to abhor and to calumniate Let both thy words and thy thoughts commend that Person whom thou art troubled to see preferred before thee Exalt his fame and copy his vertues with thy utmost endeavour There are two sorts of men in the World which are very great in my esteem those that acknowledge the ill which is in themselves and those that acknowledge the good which is in their Enemies It is a generous sense and a noble action for a man to conquer Envy and to own Vertue wheresoever he finds it That is a powerful and a generous light which illuminates the Soul and drives away the darkness of Envy and a Man will not be far from imitating the vertue of a person whom he rightly understands to be vertuous What dost thou gain by Envy but rage anguish and the gnawing of thy own bowels He enjoys all his happiness and thou choosest torments and vexations If Envy could take away the good things of the person envied if it could bring home his Riches and Honours to the House of the envious man though with the adding of Theft to his Envy yet at least he would get some profit by it and have wherewithal to comfort himself in the midst of his tortures But it is not so for the envied person remains healthful happy rich and powerful and the envious man poor afflicted wretched and miserable getting nothing of the Wealth he envies but of the colour of that Gold in his Complexion Better thy Fortune by thy Vertues but never attempt to advance it by Vices Do that which is in thy power which is to imitate whatsoever is good and fly from whatsoever is evil and strive not in vain to do what is above thy power namely to take away the goodness from him that is good by making thy self wicked and by torturing thy Soul with continual disquiets Of Charity to our Neighbours Charity towards our Neighbours is the bridle of Envy the total destruction of it With this thou must banish that out of thy heart Love to our Neighbours is a Ray of the Divine Love for Man imitates God in loving that which he loved that is to say Man for whom he died If we love not our Neighours whom will we love Will we perhaps love the wild brute Beast We are Humane by Nature let us be Humane also in our Love Who is there that abhors himself or who is there that abhors his own Natural Condition Our Nature has produced so Savage a Beast so pitiless a Man and so great an Enemy to Mankind that kissing a Child and being asked why He answered That he foresaw by his Art that Child would be a Souldier and a great Captain who would kill an infinite number of men and for that reason he began to love him This Man or rather this Monster of Cruelty would for the same cause have
kissed the Plague if he had met it in the Street There was another like this that was also a great Enemy to Mankind and they two visiting one another the first said I am very glad to be in the Company of one that abhors Men To which the other replied So should I also to be in thine but that thou art a Man Were these Men No certainly but Beasts and fiercer than Beasts Our blessed Redeemer did not thus but was always pleased to be called Man and being God the Eternal Son of God God of God seldom or never called himself the Son of God but often the Son of Man honouring that Nature which he came to Redeem and making himself Man by taking his Name from it Love thy Nature says the Holy Ghost hate not thine own Flesh If Men abhor Men and which is more Men that are vertuous for that is it which Envy commonly abhors who shall love Men or reward Vertue He is no true Christian that abhors Men through Envy or Cruelty for he follows not the principal Vertue which Jesus Christ did practise God being Divine became Humane and being God cloathed himself with our Nature to become Man and canst thou abhor thine own Nature or at least a Man Tell me after what manner did God converse with Men being perfect God and perfect Man How meek how gentle how favourable how sweet and gracious towards all Men Of Courtesie And this he did amongst other things to teach us not only Humility but even Courtesie Humanity and Civility as Beams of that Charity for that Infinite Love bestowed and communicated himself on that manner with his very Humanity The Saviour of Souls condemns any one that shall be rude and discourteous or that shall call his Brother Raca which in the Opinion of grave Expositors signifies a manner of discourteous and reproachful Behaviour and St. Paul also makes Courtesie an holy and a Sacred thing counselling that in honour we should prefer one another Honore se invicem praevenientes as who should say be Courteous and prevent one another in Civility or strive each of you to be the first in Courtesie Think not that Humanity and kind Behaviour is a slight matter in the Spiritual Life No it is of great weight and of much worth When thou art invited says our Saviour sit not down in the chiefest place least a more honourable than thou come and thou be forc'd with shame to take the lower Room Thou should'st strive to be Courteous and Civil for it is a great good to thy self and very pleasing to others Thy love of God cannot be great if it make thee not shew thy self meek and courteous towards Men. That has but a very small force which cannot break forth through the thickness of four fingers and that is as much as the distance can be from thy heart to the outside of thy breast If thy love of God be a true love it is not possible thou should'st forbear to love his Creatures and thou wilt do it so much the more by how much the more the love of God is pure and perfect in thee In the same proportion that thy love of God increases thy love to thy Neighbours will increase likewise and in the same proportion the one wasts and decays the other ceases and vanishes also If God who is love it self do love Man how can a Man that loves God forbear to love Man and to desire his good The love of God to Man appeared before his Divine Majesty created him his love being uncreate and eternal in it self though in respect of its manifestation to Mankind it had a beginning That loving Apostle the glory of Apostleship the beloved Evangelist and the adopted Son of the most blessed Virgin wrote an Epistle perswading to the love of God and of Men and being grown so old that his Disciples were fain to carry him in their Arms all his Sermon was Little Children love one another All we Men are Sons by Grace of one same Father which is God and Sons by Baptism of one same Mother which is the Church We are all made by one same Creator all redeemed by one same Price which is the Blood of Christ and all nourished by one same Milk which is his most holy Doctrine and admirable Sacraments And is it possible that so many Bonds and Obligations should not tye Man close to Man nor make them love and help one another Is it possible that Wrath Passion and Envy should break all these Obligations No No. Love Humane Nature for though it were not noble in it self yet it being created by God it becomes noble and is illustrious by being redeemed honoured and favoured by his most precious Son That which cost much is of great value but the repairing of Man's Nature cost the Blood of the Eternal Son of God He cloathed himself with it and honoured us also by it God Created Man after his own Likeness Who will not esteem Man for being the Image of God And the more because God afterwards by becoming Man made himself the Image of Man The Fourth WEEK Of Diligence and Fervency and of the Mischiefs of Omission and Sloth THE Vertues help forward one another The love of God will guide thee to that of Men. This love will bring thee to fervency and fervency will open the Gate to zeal and zeal for the good of thy Neighbours burning in Charity both for them and for thy self will open thee the Gate of Heaven This fervency and this love will not suffer thee to be lazy and sleepy for sleep is no usual Companion of Lovers Charity and Sloth cannot dwell together in one breast To sleep much and to love much are not things consistent My Father always worketh saith the Lord and I work What wonder is it that the Father and the Son should always be working since through the Holy Ghost they are always loving There can be no such thing as a lazy Spritual Person for so much as he hath of sloth so much he wanteth of being spiritual Love is full of an holy disquiet It is a sweet longing and refreshing and if it be afire how can idleness and sloth be in so active and stirring an Element Fly from sloth in the Spiritual Life fly from it I say for it is a great and terrible Evil. Go learn of the Ant says the Holy Spirit to the sluggard Judge what the Vice is and what the Person is that is infected with it who needs to be taught by so contemptible a Master and how much more wretched and contemptible is the Scholar Sloth stupifies the Senses dulls the powers of the Soul puts shackles upon all the Faculties and by little and little strips the Spiritual Man quite naked and leaves him meerly natural and sensual Sloth is the Mother of Omission and Omission is manifestly the ruin of us Dost thou see all the evil that is in the World It all proceeds and takes birth
never depart out of my mind Amen APRIL The First WEEK Of the Torments of Hell 1. OH what terrible things are these Death Judgment Account and Sentence without any Remedy Yet there are things more terrible than all these and they are viz. To be damned and to suffer the Torments of Hell to all Eternity Death is Life Judgment is Joy the Account is Pleasure and the Sentence is Delight in comparison of what it is to depart from thence condemned to be thrown eternally into Hell and Damnation and to suffer there those intolerable pains which a sinner hath deserved here This is that which makes Death terrible Judgment formidable the Account insupportable and the Sentence dreadful Actions are measur'd by their Successes and Causes by their Effects 2. If they had condemned me to lye for many years in some strait place and some narrow Dungeon and always in obscure darkness where mine eyes should never see the Light that were a great Evil but in Hell the darkness is far more horrible without the least hope of light 3. If they had condemned me for ever to suffer extremity of Torment though but in one Hand in one Foot or in any one particular Member that were a great Evil But in Hell the whole Body and Soul suffer together without having one part or Member free to comfort another and all of them suffering for ever and ever 4. If they had condemned me to some moderate pain of sense and such as might have been endur'd leaving my Thought and Understanding free yet that pain being for ever would be a very great Evil but that in Hell is far greater for the pains that are suffered there are unmeasurably sharper both in their intension and extension 5. If they had condemned me to lye among Gally-Slaves Traytors and Murderers the vilest and basest of Wretches men of abominable Life and worse Manners this were a great Evil to be tyed to such ill Company But they condemn me to be amongst utter Enemies who not only abhor but would fain destroy one another and themselves too to hear nothing else but Yellings and Blasphemies to see none but Tormentors executing their Rage and their Revenge upon the damned by a death that knows no death and an end that is still beginning and which keeps it duration even in the midst of Torment 6. If they had condemned me to some limited time though it were for a hundred years to suffer such sharp and terrible pains that were a great Evil since we see that one year of acute pain is insufferable how much more then for millions of millions of years But for ever for ever for ever to suffer innumerable and remediless Miseries and Torments which have no end nor limitation but must last eternally who can be able to suffer and undergo them 7. If they had condemned me to all these Sufferings in my Body alone leaving my Soul free that I might feel no more Affliction than what is caused by the Punishment of my Body that were an intolerable Evil but the torment which is felt within is greater than that without and more insufferable is that excess of grief and anguish which the never dying Worm of Conscience gives unto the Soul than all the pains and torments which are laid upon the Body These are as it were the body of Hell but the soul of it is the torment of the Soul far more intolerable and disconsolate Yet this is but a slightdraught a very remote and faint description of Hell in general consider it now in particular The Second WEEK Of the Place of Hell 1. COnsider now the Place of Hell the Habitation of Devils the horrible dwelling of the Damned A dwelling that is no dwelling a habitation that is no habitation a place that is no place but horror darkness fire torment and confusion There is nothing in those unhappy Prisons that speaks order there is nothing that speaks distinction all is disorder all is contrariety all flame and yet all obscurity All that is seen there is fire and flame which do torment but not enlighten The Place where those miserable wretches are condemned is Sorrow their Rest is Affliction their Food is burning and their walk a passing from one terrible pain to another more intolerable 2. The Lodgings of that horrible Palace are Racks and Tortures the Halls and Galleries are fire and its continuance the Chambers and Closets are vexation and anguish the Windows are darkness and the Light is to see nothing but miseries and woes Think what they shall do and suffer there who here imploy all their care and spend all that Money which they owe to the Poor in sumptuous Buildings in stately Appartments in costly Furniture in curious Pieces and in rich Accomodations 3. Nature does require ease comfort joy light and cheerfulness but the Damned shall there find pain affliction grief sadness and obscurity How much does a Man suffer lying in a dark Dungeon Nay how tedious it is to suffer an easie Bed if a Man be kept there but two or three Years nay but two or three Days by any sharp infirmity his weariness makes it a severe and a heavy Punishment How much does a Man suffer being fastened to the Bank of a Gally a Chain at his Foot an Oar in both his Hands and his Shoulders exposed to cruel Lashes But alas how spacious and lightsome are Dungeons How pleasant is a sick Bed and how delightful are Gallies and the sharpest Pains of this mortal Life in comparison of those unutterable Sufferings of the Damned in Hell 4. Man's Nature desires fair Houses large and cheerful Appartments but that is a place strait close and narrow for the pain of it and only great wide and spacious in the lasting of that pain Nature requires room and liberty to walk to dilate the Heart and cheer the Senses but that is a place where the Limbs have no Motion the Heart no Enlargement and where the Senses on all sides meet howlings tortures griefs stenches fire and confusion Nature requires a place to delight and recreate it self But that place is all misery and discomfort torments and more torments Losses Sorrows and Sufferings without end without measure and without remedy 5. Finally the place of Hell is a place of calamities even beyond all imagination and of extremity of tortures for an eternal Duration It s limit is to repeat eternity it ceasing to be is a new beginning and a continual repetition of torment 6. Now all this being so is there any one that believes it who would not suffer here to the end he may not suffer hereafter Woe be to thee and me if we do not consider here and endeavour to prevent what is prepared and what expects us there Woe be to thee and me if we do not examine weigh and bewail the times wherein we have offended that eternal Judge who condemns the most part of Mankind to that infernal abode for not considering these things
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
strive to Purchase them even at the loss of all which is Temporal and in this Life as much as may be to imitate the same Eternity which is to be done by the Practice of those three Vertues which St. Bernard recommends to us in these words With Poverty of Spirit with Meekness and Contrition of Heart is renewed in the Soul a Similitude and Image of that Eternity which embraces all times For with Poverty of Spirit we merit the future with Meekness we possess the present and with the Tears of Repentance we recover what is past Let all thine Actions be accompanied with this Thought For Ever that for ever shall be rewarded what thou doest well and with this consideration thou wilt not only animate thy self to do good works but to do them well If in all thy deeds thou wouldst but propose to thy self Eternity and wholly respect it thou wouldst find little difficulty in any good works thou goest about Fix therefore thine Eyes and Thoughts upon that which is to be given us for that which may be done in a moment Blessed be God who bestows upon us a Reward without end for Troubles so short that they scarcely have a beginning The Benefit which David reaped by this consideration was a firm Resolution to mend his Life and change into a new Man animating himself to a greater Observance and a more high Perfection And so in that Psalm wherein he says That he thought upon the days of Old and the years of Eternity he adds immediately the effect of his Meditation saying That he was to begin anew Considering that Eternity never ends but still begins and that it is wholly a beginning he determined with such new fervour to give a beginning to a more perfect Life that he would never flag or be dismayed in the prosecution of it willing in this to imitate Eternity which as it is ever beginning so he would ever begin to deserve it And what great matter is it if that which we are to enjoy for ever be ever in beginning that we should likewise be ever beginning to deserve it Our Reward is not to fail us and therefore there is no reason why we should fail and grow weary in our Service and Endeavours Our Joy is ever to begin why should not then our Endeavours be ever beginning The Repose we hope for shall never have an end why should then our Deservings ever cease We ought never to look back upon our Labours past but still to animate our selves to labour anew for God and his Service as did the Apostle St. Paul who says of himself That he did forget what was past that he did enlarge his heart and mind extending it for that which is to come which the Apostle spake in a time when he had suffered much and done such Services to God in the good of Souls that he had already laboured more than all the Apostles After that he had entred into the Synagogues of Damascus and publickly preached Jesus Christ with the most evident danger of his Life After that he had converted many People in Arabia Tarsus and Antioch After he had distributed great Alms gathering them with much labour made long Journeys and brought them unto the Poor in Jerusalem After the suffering of innumerable Persecutions and after infinite more Services performed for the Church After all these it seemed unto him that he had suffered nothing done nothing for Christ and he forgot it all as if it had been the first day of his Conversion determining still to do more to suffer more to labour more to begin anew esteeming himself after so many Labours and Services an useless unprofitable Servant and to be far short of deserving that Eternal Blessedness which is reserved for the Faithful in Glory And indeed what proportion does a whole Life of Labours and Sufferings bear to an everlasting Reward and never-ending Joys What Conditions canst thou think too rigid to be performed or what Calamities too hard to be undergone for the attainment of an Immortal and Incorruptible Crown If we would but allow this Point it 's due consideration how slight should we think all the Evils and Troubles of this World How inconsiderable are all Pains and Difficulties to them that have a Prospect of those future Beatitudes Let me see thee O God in thy Glory and let me suffer a thousand Torments in this Life till I come to see thee Let me see you O Blessed Angels in Heaven and let me suffer upon Earth till I come to see you Let me be admitted into your blessed Company O happy Saints hereafter and let me suffer whatever ye suffered here Come Pains and Punishments so I may but see those Eternal Joys and Contentments Let me endure any thing in this Vale of Miseries so I may at last come to the City of God the Heavenly Jerusalem abounding in all manner of Joys and Comforts Finally O my Jesus do whatsoever thou wilt with me here so that I may but at last see adore praise and enjoy thee for ever there The Third WEEK Of the Imitation of the Life of our Blessed Saviour and of his Mysteries IF the Examples of Men nay even of the worst may help very much towards the making us good being incited thereby to take care to avoid their evil Action and if those of good Men are so prevalent to draw us unto Vertue what excellent Vertues may be acquir'd by imitating those which are to be seen through the whole course of the Life of our Blessed Saviour who has commanded us to learn of him And whither should we go but to the Life and Passion of our Blessed Redeemer for the attaining of that Glory which he has purchased for us with his most precious Blood Where shall we find those Vertues which we ought to practice in the Kingdom of Grace which is the way to it but in his holy Imitation Where those Merits which must give Life and Value to all the best Actions we can possibly perform but in the Merits and Sufferings of his Cross And where the Grace that must Animate Quicken and Fortifie our Nature but in that which he obtained for us by those Sufferings and by that Cross And thus wouldst thou have Glory Then go strait to the Passion of our Lord. Wouldst thou improve thy self in good and holy Customs Fix the Eyes of thy Consideration upon the passages of his most Holy Life Wouldst thou know how to Fight and Conquer Behold his Battles and his Victories Wouldst thou walk in the way of Eternal Life Follow him in those holy steps which he has trod before thee Wouldst thou overcome the World the Flesh and the Devil those Enemies of the Cross Take up the Cross and follow him who goes before thee carrying it upon his own shoulders Dost thou desire Light and Knowledge the Fire of Charity the Fervour of Devotion and to banish all Wickedness and Imperfection from thy Soul Then contemplate the
and to become Poor that we may imitate thee in thy Humanity Of the Birth of our Lord. Behold now when the appointed time for the Birth of the Messiah was come how the Eternal Son of God the Author of our Nature to Honour and Redeem it after having so long suffered that close Imprisonment in the pure Womb of an humble Virgin was humbly born in the Stable of an Inn and laid in a Manger He was born in a Stable amongst Beasts coming to live amongst brutish Men and he was laid in a Manger that was to be the Food of Souls and in an Inn the common receptacle of all Comers that all might have access to him who was the common Saviour of all Mankind Behold that poor Cottage of Bethlehem already transformed into a Heaven and his supposed Father the chaste Joseph with the Blessed Virgin his Mother kneeling to adore the Child of her Bowels who also was her Maker being the Creator of the whole World Behold all the Evangelical Spirits busie in worshipping the Lord God and in calling the Shepherds to acknowledge their true and eternal Shepherd The Angels sing Glory to God on high on Earth Peace and good will towards men exalting that Humility which had laid itself so low and manifesting his Divinity at the same time that his Humanity appeared Enter thou also with them O my Soul to adore the Divine Son of God who had now cloathed himself with the Nature of Man and fill'd it with greater Humanity and Love than ever till that time it was capable of Come thou therefore with love and lay aside thy fears if thou art a Shepherd to others thou art one of his Sheep This chief Eternal Shepherd comes to call and to seed not only the Sheep but their Shepherds also Draw near O my Soul to that Manger for his Deity and his Humility would have no greater Throne to the end that thou mightest the better approach it Seeing thy baseness his Divine Nature abased itself to the uttermost to the end that the baseness of thine might attain to so high a Greatness and Soveraignty Draw near my Soul be not afraid for his tender Mother holds him out to thee in her Arms and calls thee to his Humanity lest his Divinity should affright thee O Infant God the Joy and Consolation of Mankind O Infant God the Light of Eternity and Comfort of the Universe O Infant God the unspeakable Delight of all Creatures and the sweetest Gladness of Souls Why should not I suffer for thee since thou camest purposely into the World to suffer for me O Immortal and yet Mortal Child wherefore art thou in this Stable wherefore weeping and suffering in this Manger since thou art the Author of Grace and of all that is Graceful the Author of Delight of Joy and Gladness Were it not better O beautiful Infant were it not fitter that Sin that is I should suffer than thou who art Innocency itself Were it not fitter that the wicked should be in pain than that thy Goodness should endure it What hast thou done O tender Infant that thou bewailest the faults of others and makest the punishments of them thine own Wilt thou O sweetest Goodness wash my defiled Soul with thy Tears Wilt thou O lovely Child by suffering Cold inflame the coldness of my Heart or dost thou feel that cold to reproach the coldness of my Devotion O Glory and Comfort of my Soul Would God it were so clean and pure that I might offer it instead of Swathes to enfold and to embrace thy tender Body Would God it were full of Spiritual Flowers and sweet-smelling Vertues that I might lay them in that Manger instead of that straw which was honoured with bearing upon it that Divine Eternal Grain which is the Food and Nourishment of all that is created But O Holy and Eternal Infant I have nothing in me to offer thee but Thorns nothing but Sins and Miseries in my Soul and it is not just to anticipate those Thorns which must one day Crown thy sacred Head nor to begin so early to hurt that tender Body with them O thou that art my Happiness and my Glory how soon do my Sins begin thy Punishment How soon doth thy Love lye suffering between two Beasts dying for the love of Man who within few years art to suffer Death between two Men How soon O my Jesus after thy Birth art thou in the company of Beasts who art to live amongst Beasts and to dye amongst Beasts of a more cruel kind These at thy Birth are much more innocent for how brutish soever they be yet the Ox knows his Owner and the Ass his Master's Crib but they would neither know nor receive their Saviour but first they scourge and buffet and then nail their Redeemer to the Cross Why dost thou weep O Heavenly Child Yet since it is natural to thee to weep because thou hast taken our Nature weep because I do not weep to the end that I may weep with thee since thou sighest let it be because I do not sigh since thou feelest pains let it be because I am insensible of thy pains and let them beget in me a deep sense of my unworthiness that thou shouldst suffer them for my sake Let those Tears of thine become my Remedy and my Rejoycing transfer them from thine eyes to mine and as they wash thy beautiful Cheeks let them also wash my polluted Soul Transfer the love of thy tender heart to this obdurate heart of mine and grant as it offends thee so it may infinitely grieve for having offended thee and desire with passionate longing to adore and to embrace thee Let the thought of that frosty Season wherein thou wert born thaw this frozen heart of mine into a love of thee that sufferedst that frost for me who am benumb'd with one more hard and lasting for that continued some few weeks perhaps but this of my heart has continued many years O that I had suffered it for thee dear Child for the most rigorous frost that is felt for thy sake is Warmth is Love and is not Ice but Fire to kindle and inflame my heart Thou wert born for my Happiness and for my Remedy Grant O dear Lord that such a Repentance such a Sorrow and such a Contrition may be born in my Soul as may prepare and fit me for my Remedy and grant that the light and power of those Beams of Love which dart from the beautiful Countenance of thy Humanity may drive away the darkness of Sin and Infidelity from my Soul which thou camest to banish from thence and may kindle in me such a fire of love towards thee as nothing may ever be able to extinguish it The Fourth WEEK Of the other Mysteries of our Lord till his Preaching and first of Circumcision IT is hard to get out of this Cottage that was honoured with the Birth of our Lord which is the sweetest Mystery and fill'd with the softest
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
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
it condemns him to Death though disswaded by his Wife upon her Dream from having any thing to do with that Just Person and delivers him to them to be crucified since all that was easier for such a mean complying Judge to consent to than to trouble and hazard himself in the further Defence of Innocency Yet that he might remain clear and spotless and honoured in the Opinion of the World in Condemning our Saviour he declares himself not guilty of his Blood and so he washes his hands and satisfies himself with laying the Crime upon others But what greater Infamy can a Judge be guilty of than to suffer the Accusers themselves to write and to sign the Sentence This being done our Blessed Saviour carries his Cross alone for a great part of the way to Mount Calvary and because they thought the time long of his getting thither they make Simon the Cyrenian help him to bear it that he might be there so much the sooner for it was not out of pity that they gave him that Assistance but it was an effect of their Cruelty nor did they intend it for any ease to his Life but for the hastening of his Death In his way to Calvary he is bewailed by the Daughters of Jerusalem leaving this Glory to the Women that they alone wept at the Passion of their Lord their Master and their Redeemer They strip his Body for the cloathing of our Souls and at the same time both Heaven and Earth were cloathed with Grief and Darkness to mourn for the Sufferings of their Creator They with rough hard Nails fasten the Eternal Son of God unto the Cross the Ingratitude of the Jews making him that requital for all his Divine Benefits Those blessed Feet that travelled up and down so many weary steps to seek Sinners that he might save and pardon them Those liberal Hands full of Charity and Beneficence are bored through and nailed by those very Persons whom he came to succour Not to acknowledge a good turn is Ingratitude and Wickedness what shall it then be to pierce both the Hands and Feet of ones Benefactor Then they raise up the Blessed Jesus upon the Cross and allow him the Superiority over two Thieves as fit Subjects for the King of that Royal Throne and by the same action they raise and exalt Man's Nature and advance it in a manner to be Divine When the Son of Man shall be raised up said his Divine Majesty he will draw all along with him It is clear he did so since by his most precious Blood he washed and redeemed them and with his most ardent Love he called and enflamed them O my dearest Lord God who wert wounded and despised crucified and crowned with Thorns and for my sins didst suffer so many torments upon the Cross I beseech thee by the Merits of them all O sweetest Jesus to pardon all my grievous Offences Since thou hast drawn up all draw me up also O most Gracious Saviour Do not suffer that most precious Blood to leave unwashed this Soul which confesses thee and acknowledges thee to be God Thy ardent Charity interceded to thy Father for those very Enemies that crucified thee How much rather then wilt thou be the Mediator and Redeemer of a poor Christian who confesses and adores thy Sovereign Majesty Behold admire and adore thy Suffering Saviour and bewail thy sins the cause of all his Sufferings Behold all Creatures in amazement to see their Creator in so woful a condition Behold the Heavens obscur'd at that Eclipse of his Heavenly Beauties Behold the Earth and all the Elements confounded at the awfulness of his Pains and Torments Behold how the Sun withdraws its Light not to see so horrid a Wickedness and so terrible an Ingratitude Behold even the very Rocks so softened as to cleave asunder in compassion What kind of hearts then are those that remain unsensible Lord suffer not mine to be one of them but let it melt with Love and Contrition to think of thy heavy Torments and of my hainous Offences The Vail of the Temple was rent in twain and shall my Heart be whole Shall not my Breast and all my Bowels open themselves to receive the Blood which thou sheddest for my Redemption Behold the Holy Virgin at the Foot of her Son's Cross who recommends her to the care of his beloved Disciple Behold how one drop of his Blood falling upon the good Thief was to him the Baptism of Life and eternal Condemnation to the Bad who knew not how to make his advantage of it He there made the Divine Nature propitious to the Human that it might be pardoned and by the last of those seven Words which he spake upon the Cross declar'd that by his Blood and Death he had finished the Work of our Redemption Then after having hung three Hours alive upon the Cross He that was the Life of Souls gave them Life by his Death and a Life eternal which Triumphs over Death for ever When he was dead the Souldier with a Spear pierced his most holy Side out of which came Water and Blood representing the two Sacraments and making a wide Door for holy Souls to enter and after other three Hours the Piety of his Friends takes him down from the Cross laying his precious Body in a new Sepulchre which was bestowed on him by the Charity of Joseph of Arimathea So he who during his Life had not a House to rest his Head in was so poor likewise at his Death that he had not so much as a Grave of his own to put his Body in There they sadly lament his loss and burying him in their Hearts as they had done in that Tomb they leave him there embalmed with Spices that as it was Prophesied of him he might be as the Rich in his Death and though there they leave him yet they carry him away with them in their remembrance that we by their example never may forget him After his sad and bloody Passion succeeded his Powerful Resurrection when he had conquered Hell as well as Death and then the Glorious Triumph of his Ascension to the end that Human Nature might not only be Redeemed but also Honoured and Crowned yet before he went up into Heaven he comforted his Mother and the Apostles to whom he several times appeared after his Resurrection to the end that their Joy for it might recompense the Sadness they had felt at his dolorous Passion He examined St. Peter thrice concerning his Love that by three Confessions he might purge away the Shame of his three Denials bidding him as often to feed his Lambs He signified to him by what death he should Glorifie God commanding them all to Preach the Gospel and assuring them that he would be with them to the end of the World Within few days after he made good his promise in sending them another Comforter for at Pentecost the Holy Ghost descended upon the Apostles in fiery Tongues to the end