kingdom of Life but by Jesus Christ As all that are born of Adam are sinners all that are born again of Jesus Christ are justified and as all the sons and daughters of Adam are the children of the earth and death all the children of Jesus Christ are the children of heaven and of life This Maxime is so true that man makes no more progresse in perfection then according as he doth in allyance with Jesus Christ The more Faith he hath the lesse hath he of Errour and Falshood the more hope he conceives in the mercy of God the lesse confidence hath he in the favour of men the more he burns with the fire of Charity the lesse is he scorched with the flames of Concupiscence the more he is united to this innocent and glorious Head from whom all grace is derived the lesse is he fixt to that infamous and criminall Head from whom all sin takes it originall so that Christians as we have already proved ought to have no other care but to make Adam die and Jesus Christ live in their person if they intend to be innocent they must be Parricides if they will bestow life upon the Son of God they must inflict death upon their first Father if they meane to be quickned with the spirit of humility which raiseth men in debasing them they must renounce the spirit of vain-glory which lays men low in lifting them up and under a colour of making Gods of them makes them nothing but Devils or Beasts Finally mans unhappinesse flows from the shamefull alliance he contracted with Adam in his Birth Ex transgressione primi hominis universum genus humanum natum cum obligatione peccati victor Diabolus possidebat si enim sub captivitate non teneremur redemptore non indigeremus venit ad captivos non captus venit ad captivos redimendos nihil in se captivitatis ha bens sed carne mortali pretium nostrum portans Aug. de Verb. Apo. Ser. 22. and the Christians happinesse proceeds from the glorious alliance he contracted with Jesus Christ in Baptisme Thus the quality of a Chief in Adam is the source of all our Evils and the quality of a Chief in Jesus Christ is the Originall of all our Good and as Adam did not so much destroy us in being our Father as in being our Head neither doth Jesus Christ save us so much for being his Brethren or his Children as because we are his members because 't is in effect this quality that procures us all the rest neither is God our Father but because Jesus Christ is our Head The Second DISCOURSE Of the Excellencies of the Christians Head and the advantages they draw from thence THough all the alliances Jesus Christ hath contracted with men be as beneficiall to them as they are honourable yet must we confesse that the relation that unites him to them as their Head is the strictest and most advantageous 'T is much that he would be their King and giving them Laws had owned them for his Subjects 'T is more yet that he condescended to be their Brother and sharing his Eternall Inheritance with them made them Co-heirs together with Himself 't is more yet that he made them his Children and conceiving them in his wounds suffered death to give them life But 't is yet a more signall favour that he vouchsafed to make them his Members and joyning them to Himself in one body he is constituted the Head from whence they receive all those indearing influences which communicate to them the life of Grace and merit for them that of Glory Therefore also doth Saint Augustine when he examines the favours we have received from the Father preferre this before all others Nullum majus donum prastâ—re posset hominibus quam ut verbum suum per quod condidit omniâ— faccret illis caput illos ei tanquam membra coaptaret ut esset filius Dei silius hominis unus Deus cum patre unus homo cum hominibus Aug. in Psal 36. Ser. 3. and confesseth he never more sensibly obliged us then when he gave us his onely Son to be our Head God saith he could bestow no higher honour upon men then by uniting them with his Word by whom he created all things as the Members with their Head that he that was the Son of God might be the Sonne of Man and that by reason of his Divine Person subsisting in the Humane Nature he might be God with his Father and Man with his Brethren 'T is in effect from this glorious co-habitation that all our blessings are derived If the Father look upon us 't is because we are the Members of his onely Sonne If he hear our prayers 't is because Jesus Christ speaks by our mouth if he receive us into Glory 't is because he sees us cloathed with the merits of our Head if he admit us into his bosome 't is because the quality we bear renders us inseparable from his Word But if this alliance be beneficiall to Christians 't is honourable to Jesus Christ For though nothing can be added to his Grandeur who is equall to his Father and all the Priviledges he received from his Incarnation may passe for so many Humiliations Neverthelesse the dignity of being Head of the Church is so eminent that after that of the Son of God there is none so Venerable and August It gives Jesus Christ the same advantage over the Faithfull that the Head hath over the Members and to conceive what he is in the Church we must observe what this is in the Body The Head is the noblest seat of the Soul 't is that part of the Body where she acts her highest operations 't is there that she debates those subjects that are presented to her that she deliberates upon the accidents that happen 't is there that the memory preserves the species which may be called the treasures of wisdome and the riches of the Intellectuall faculty 't is there that the understanding conceives truths and the will pronounceth determinations In a word 't is there that the affairs concerning Peace and Warre Salvation or Damnation Time or Eternity are treated of Thus also is it in Iesus Christ that all those lights reside that govern the Church 't is in him that are shut up all the treasures of wisdome and from him that all Oracles proceed whereby the Faithfull are instructed The Head is the most eminent part of the Body Nature was willing that as it is the noblest so it should be placed nearest Heaven and the very situation should oblige all the other parts to shew it reverence It is the most exalted that it may more easily dispence its orders and that the spirits which convey sense and motion by the nerves may descend with more facility into all the parts of the body Iesus Christ also is in the highest place of his State he reignes in Heaven with his Father from thence he views all
Fourth DISCOURSE That the Vnion of Christians with their Head is an Imitation of the Hypostaticall Vnion CHristian Religion acknowledgeth three wonderfull Unities which exercise her Faith enflame her Love and entertain her Piety The first is the Unity of Essence which is found in the Trinity For the same Faith that â—eacheth us there are three Persons in one God teacheth us also that he subsists in one and the same Essence and that the Father Son and Holy Ghost are but one God This Truth soares so high above Humane Understanding that it cannot be conceived otherwise then by the light of Faith Reason would deceive should she be consulted with in this mystery Man would not be more faithfull Considera quod voceris fidelis non rationalis si dicas hoc non est exponcre sed expositione fugere respondeo in die judicii non damnor quia dicam nescivi naturam Dei mei si aâ—tem aliquid temere dixero temeritas poenam habas ignorantia veuiam meretur Aug. Ser. 1. de Trinitate should he labour to be more rationall in this subject and hee will fall into the Heresie of the Arrians or into that of the Sabellians did he not subject his Reason to his Faith The second is the Unity of Person in Iesus Christ which honours the Unity of Essence in the Trinity though it be in some sort opposite thereto For as there are three Persons in God which preserve their differences in the Unity of their Nature that the Trinity is neither confounded by the Unity Decuit cum summa quâ— in Deo est unitate congruere ut quomo o ibi tres personae una essentia it a hic convenientissima quadam contrarietate tres essentiae fint una persona Bern. lib. 5. de Consider cap. 9. nor the Unity divided by the Trinity There are three Natures in Jesus Christ that subsist in one and the same Person and which without losing their proprieties make one composition which is called God-Man There by a strange prodigie Flesh and Spirit agree with Divinity neither are the two Others swallowed up in This Each Nature preserves its rights and as the soul is not debas'd by being engaged in the Flesh the Divinity is not disparaged by being associated to both This shines forth by Miracles the Other Two are obscured by Injuries In a word the Son of God never loseth his Equality with his Father nor the Son of Man his Equality with his Mother The third Unity is that of the Body which is found between Christ and his Church for though there be so much difference between these two Persons Love hath combined them so neer together that not confounding their properties he hath made there of but one Body whereof Jesus Christ is the Head and the Faithful the Members They live of one and the same Spirit their Interests are common though one raign triumphantly in heaven the other suffer miserably upon earth they fail not to be so perfectly knit together that the Body is happie in the Head and the Head is afflicted in the Members Of these Three admirable Unities the Second adores the First and the Third the Second For the principal designe of the Word in his Incarnation is to honour the Trinity of the Divine Persons by the Trinity of his Natures and to pay homage to the Unity of the Divine Essence by the Unity of his Person This Divine Compound is an Image of the Trinity it declares the wonders thereof by its constitution neither did he take pleasure to unite the Flesh and the Spirit with the Divinity but to express to the Faithful the ineffable Unity between the Father the Son and the Holy Spirit in the difference of their personal proprieties Indeed this incomprehensible Mystery was not preached among the children of men till the Word became Incarnate and their Understanding clarified with the light of Faith began not to conceive the Trinity of the Persons in the Unity of the Divine Essence till it conceived the Trinity of the Natures in the Unity of the Person of the Word Finally the Third Unity renders honour to the Second seeing Jesus Christ entred not into society with his Church but in pursuance of the affinity he had contracted with Humane Nature It seems he was willing to extend the mystery of the Incarnation in that he made all men his Members to make them the children of God and not being able or not vouchsafing to unite himself personally with every Christian he became united to them in the unity of the Spirit and of the Body The First of these Marriages is the example of the Second and we cannot well express the Union of Jesus Christ with his Church but by that of the Word with our Nature The Resemblances are so wonderful that they justly deserve this Discourse to see if we can clear them The chiefest secret of this mystery is that the Plurality of Nature destroys not the Unity of the Person Verbum caro factum unus est Christus ubi nihil est alterius naturaeâ—quod sit utriusque D. Leo. Serm. 10. de nat Dom. For though the Flesh have its weaknesses and the Divinity its perfections in Jesus Christ 't is nevertheless an admirable Compound that preserves its unity in the difference of its Natures he acts sometimes as God sometimes as Man receives the adorations of Angels and the injuries of Men that obeys his Father and commands with him suffers upon the Cross and reigns in Glory that 's buried with the dead in the Grave and triumphs over the devil in hell But in these different conditions he ceaseth not to be one and the same subject who accommodating himself to the proprieties of his Natures mixes Greatness with Humility Joy with Sorrow Repentance with Innocence without interessing his Person The same wonder is met with in the Marriage of Christ with his Church they are different in their qualities and 't is a strange effect of Love that was able to finde out a means to unite together two subjects whose conditions are so dissonant The one is Soveraign because God the other a slave because redeemed the one innocent the other guilty the one reigns in Eternity the other sighs and groans in Time nevertheless their Union is so strict that without confounding their properties they compose one and the same Body and both together make up but one onely Jesus Christ Whence it comes to pass that S. Augustine who after S. Paul hath best understood this Mystery Totus Christus secundum Ecclesiam caput corpus est non quia sinc corpore non est integer sed quia nobiscuÌ„ integer esse dignatus est qui sine nobis semper est integer Veruntamen fratres quomodo corpus ejus nos si non nobiscum unum Christus Aug. in Serm. Quod tribusmodis Christus intelligitur delivers these words One onely Jesus Christ is the Body and
he hath made her worthy of his Love from the very first moment he began to love her and more powerful then those Bridegrooms who can onely advantage those they love in riches or honours he hath adorned her with all the graces her dignity could require or her condition suffer For if she be not yet glorious in all her Members if she sigh in the Poor be a captive in the Prisoner 't is because the Land of dying mortals where she lives is not capable of all the priviledges of her Bridegroom yet may she boast that she possesseth in her Head what she wants in her Body tastes that in the Blessed which she cannot taste in the Faithful and if she be Militant upon Earth is Triumphant in Heaven But nothing so much advanceth the Graces she hath received from Jesus Christ as the offences she committed during her Infidelity For she broke her word in the first of her children she listened to the promises of the Serpent by the ear of our first mother she erected Altars to devils by the hands of Idolaters she uttered blasphemies by the mouth of Libertines she had committed as many Adulteries as she had adored False Deities and her crimes emboss'd one upon another had branded her with the ignominious titles of Perfidiousness Adultery and Impudence In the mean time her Beloved forgave her all these faults wip'd away all her spots in the Laver of Baptism and making her a Bath of his own Blood returned her at the same time Holiness Innocence and Beauty But as his Power is equal to his Love he undertook a thing that Nature never durst attempt For finding her saith S. Augustine in her prostitution he restored her her Purity of an Adultress he made her a Virgin and repeating that miracle which he never wrought for any but his Mother and his Spouse Nuptiae Spirituales in quibus nobis magna castitate vivendum est sunt Christi Ecclesiae quia Ecclesiae concessit Deus in Spiritu quod mater ejus habuit in corpore ut Mater Virgo sit Aug. he bestowed Virginity with Pregnancy that being pure she might not complain that she was barren and being fruitfull she might not bee reproached as impure Thus the Church is treated by Christ her Beloved as he treated Humane Nature he hath honoured her with all the priviledges he bestowed upon his own Body and letting us see an Image of the Hypostaticall Union in the Mysticall Union he contracted with his Spouse he hath shewed us the dignity of a Christian that being a member of Iesus Christ he may aspire to the Glory of his Head and promise himself that having suffered with him upon Earth he shall one day reign with him in the Heavens The Fifth DISCOURSE That Jesus Christ treats his Mysticall Body with as much Charity as his Naturall Body THere is no Christian so little acquainted with the Mysteries of our Religion but knows that the Son of God hath two Bodies the one Naturall the other Mysticall the former he had from his Mother who yeelding her consent to the Angel furnished blood whereof the Holy Chost formed the Body of her only Son The second he hath from the Church which springing from his wounds upon Mount Calvary gives him as many Members as she bears Beleevers in her chaste Bosome Nonne in figura Mariae typum videmus Sanctae Ecclefiae ad hanc utique â—â—scen lit Sanctus Spâ—ritus huic virtus altissimi obumbravit binc Christus potens vi tute egrâ—ditur Ecclesia viro immaculata concubitu foecunda partu conc pit non viro sed Spiritu Aug. ser 10. de Temp. and makes him Head of all that acknowledge her for their Mother and whom shee owns for her Children These two Bodies have so much affinity that 't is hard to judge which of them Jesus Christ loves best and their priviledges so like that 't is easily perceived they belong both to one God For besides that they are both formed by the Holy Ghost and the Mothers that conceived them cease not to be pure notwithstanding they are pregnant they enjoy the same favours and are equally precious to the Son of God His Naturall Body by time received its full growth though he were perfect at the moment of conception he was so little that nothing but Faith could comprehend him to be the Temple of the Eternall Word his Members were fashioned in the space of nine moneths the naturall heat enlarged and fortified them and the nourishment they received gave them that just proportion Children ought to have at their Birth It was no small proof of the Humility of Iesus Christ saith Saint Augustine that he was willing to condescend to the Laws of Nature and waving his absolute power expect with patience till his members were fashioned to be born in the fulnesse of time Statim lucem lacrymis auspicatus molestus uberibus diu infans vix puer tarde homo Tert. He handles his Mysticall Body after the same manner expects its perfection with gracious tendernesse waits for those members his Father pleases to adde in the continuance of years he sees his Spouse grow up with joy and from heaven above is ravished when the Church by Baptism or by Repentance bestows upon him new Subjects to the compleatment of this Mysticall Body Sometimes he sees the Sauls become part of that whole they have endeavoured to destroy Sometimes he receives Augustines and drawing them from Errour to Truth makes them his Disciples and his Members Sometimes he converts other sinners and associating them to his Person with himself compleats his Church 'T is true as this Body is much greater then the Naturall there is required much more time to give it its ultimate perfection The Naturall was accomplished in twenty five years it had all its bignesse when ' rwas nailed to the Crosse neither was any thing wanting to that Master-piece of the Holy Ghost but Glory which was deferred till the Resurrection because it had hindered the work of our Salvation But the Mysticall commenced with the world nor shall end but with that Fabrick Adam and Abel were the first parts the Patriarchs and Prophets the Apostles and the Faithfull continue it and the last predestinated shall accomplish it at the end of the world It s full measure shall not be till the generall Resurrection and there will something still bee wanting to its perfection till the number of the Elect be compleated The Naturall Body could not grow but all the members must grow with it For there is such a Harmony in mans body that nature travels at the same time to perfect the whole Compositum The nourishment turned into blood passeth through the veins to the remotest parts one and the same matter takes a thousand different forms and the same aliment changeth the qualities that it may equally supply the needs of all the members Jesus Christ was subject to these Laws whilest he lived
affection higher in loving God they become Divine But there needs no other proof of this verity but the Mystery of the Incarnation where Love triumphing over God himself made him assume the form of a Man invested him with our nature and our miseries loaded him with our sins and obliged him to appear before his Father as a Penitent or rather as an Anathema This prodigious change makes us look for another For God was not made Man but that Men might be made Gods he was humbled that they might be exalted he took their nature that he might bestow his upon them nor did he suffer his love to render him like Man but to perswade them that the same love may liken them to God The Seventh DISCOURSE Of the Prudence Justice Fortitude and Temperance of a Christian THough sin hath committed so many outrages against Nature divided her Forces obscured her Lights and weakned her Liberty yet hath he not been able to destroy the workmanship of God There remains to man since his Fall some strength to combat his enemies some light to discover errours and some liberty to defend him against evil After his Transgression his misery opened his eyes when seeking out remedies for his disease he made himself a Morality which taught him vertues to rectifie those disorders his disobedience had occasioned in his person Some call them the Reliques of Innocence Virtus ars est nou natura Senec. but without any reason Because the Vertues that accompanied that happle condition having no enemies were not obliged to stand upon their guard Others call them the Succours of sinful Man and that very justly Because they help him in his necessities and comfort him in his misfortunes They believe that Adam receiving them from God after his repentance for his fault taught them his children and left them these arms to combat their Passions But inasmuch as they went not to him who had bestowed them upon their father and had reserved himself the power of dispensing them to their children there remained nothing but the appearance and the name Concupiscence took the place of Charity and animating her false Vertues made them true Sins This made S. Augustine so often profess that the Prudence of the Heathen is blind and interessed that their Fortitude is upheld meerely by Vanity that their Temperance overcomes one passion with another and that their Justice being arrogant seeks only fair pretences to authorise its usurpations So that these Vertues have not recovered their Primitive purity but by the grace of Christianity They owe all their worth to Charity they are acceptable to God because they proceed from Jesus Christ nor can they hope for an eternal recompence but because they have a Supernatural and Divine Principle Therefore the same Doctor mingles Charity always in the definition of these Vertues Definitio brevis est vera virtutis ardor amoris propter quod dicit sponsa ordinate in me charitatē Aug. lib. 15. de Civ cap. 12. Prudentia est in eligendis Temperantia in utendis Fortitudo in tolerandis Justitia in distribuendis Aug. and makes them passe for so many severall motions or functions of Love In this conceit he cals Prudence an illuminated Love Justice a regulated Love Fortitude a couragious Love and Temperance a faithful Love But because this definition seems to limit these Vertues and many think they are not so much the Impulses as the Ministers of Love Let us say that Prudence is a Practicall Science teaching the soul what it ought to doe inspiring her with a love of good things and a detestation of bad and carrying light into the understanding teacheth it to discern what is profitable from what is hurtful Fortitude is a couragious Vertue making us suffer with an evennesse of mind affronts and griefs 'T is a victorious habit that triumphs in suffering and owes the best part of her advantages to the bitternesse of the afflictions that persecute her 'T is a stability of spirit against all the miseries of the world a resolution to fight and overcome all the labours that accompany life 'T is a Vertue whose generous humour makes us desire great things contemn low things and endure hard things or it is a Vertue that raiseth the soul above Fear apprehending nothing but dishonour and which instructs us to carry our selves equally in favours and in disgraces If we will shut her up within the bounds of Christianity we may say it is a Vertue inform'd with Grace preparing us to undergo all things rather then fail of our duty Temperance is a just dominion of reason over the passions but especially over those that flatter us by the pleasure they promise and employ voluptuousnesse to seduce us 'T is a Vertue that teacheth us to wish nothing that may cause shame in us or regret not to doe any thing that exceeds the bounds of reason to suffer nothing that may diminish her authority and foment the rebellion of her lawful subjects Or to use Saint Augustines expressions 't is an affection that subdueth the Concupiscible appetite and gives it not leave to hunt after those pleasures which are accompanied with shame or followed wich repentance Justice is a Vertue that prefers the publick interests before private and many times punisheth a Delinquent with more severity then his fault requires to stop the course of evil and to astonish other offenders According to the opinion of Saint Ambrose it is a Vertue which hath more respect to the service of others then of it self and considers more the advantages of her neighbour then her own According to Aristotle it renders every one their due punisheth Vice rewards Vertue maintains the peace of the State by the severity of punishments and the liberality of recompences Let us adde with Seneca though very blind in the knowledge of Christian Vertues that Justice is a secret Convention Nature hath contracted with men for the succour of the innocent or distressed that it is a Divine Law that entertains humane society preserves every man his right and not respecting the quality of the persons considers only their merits Finally 't is a Christian Vertue which enlightned by Faith animated with Charity obligeth man to satisfie at once God himself and his neighbour Having examined the nature of these Vertues it remains that we take notice of their use and the profit that ariseth from them S. Augustine whom in Morality I look upon as my Guide and in Divinity my Master saith that these Vertues are given to the soul to imbellish her and to arm her against Vices Prudence teacheth her what she is to doe is in stead of a Torch to light her in the darknesse of the world Temperance learns her not to bee charmed with pleasure Fortitude not to be vanquished with griefs and Justice not to be transported with her own interests or to expresse another way no lesse solidly and more pleasingly the obligations of these Vertues it concerns Prudence
make use of it in Sacrifice and laying the punishment we our selves deserve upon the Creature we do our utmost to avoid his indignation by an invention his own mercy hath taught us Et viles animas pro meliore damus Ovi Fast Thence it is that those people who have lost the true Religion have not left off to continue Sacrifice and instructed either by Tradition or Nature they have laboured to appease the gods they worship by the slaughter of Victims Apud Aegyptios victimae inurchantur sigillo quodam in quo effigies erat servi seipsū gladio confodientis Plut. in Isid Osy By that Ceremony they acknowledged themselves worthy of death and at the same time they went about to satisfie Justice they confessed that his Mercy suffered them to transfer the punishment due to their offences upon the Beast and to immolate innocent Animals in stead of guilty Men. The Egyptians who had more dealing with the Jews give testimony they were of the same minde when they stampt upon the Victim the picture of a Slave stabbing himself to inform all the world that the Justice of God sparing the Man gave them leave to sacrifice the Beast in his place and in a manner to charge him with his sin and his punishment 'T is true that as Oblations were not considerable among the Jews but because they were the Figures and Types of Jesus Christ Huic summo veroque sacrificio cuncta falsa sacrificia cesserunt Aug. it was thought requisite that in the fulness of time he should accomplish the Truth and that he might perfectly honour all the perfections of his Father should himself be sacrificed upon the Altar of the Cross The Eighth DISCOURSE That the Christian stood in need that the Son of God should offer for him the Sacrifice of the Cross and of the Altar IT is a strange Paradox but very true that Sin which obligeth Man to sacrifice himself deprives him of the power to do it Animantia minus ingrata Deo quia minus infecta peccato Philo Jud. and reduceth him to a condition where not being able to finde a Victim in himself he is driven to seek for one among the Creatures This shameful necessity discovered not to him onely the Goodness of God who was content that Beasts should be offered up in stead of Men but it upbraided him with his unworthiness and made him wofully resent that being able to offend his Creator he could by no means make him satisfaction Having imprinted this truth in his minde and for many Generations reading him this lesson that he that pretended to equal the Almighty was in a worse condition then the Beasts in process of time it was demonstrated to him that his crime was too great to be expiated by the blood of Goats or Lambs and that his excess required a Sacrifice whose merit was Infinite Indeed that a Sacrifice might be acceptable to God it must have those qualities which are found neither in Angels nor Men nor Beasts For it must be Innocent and no way obnoxious to that evil whereof it is to be the remedy It must be Reasonable to treat with God and to speak in behalf of them whose place he appears in It must be mortal that it may undergo the punishment sin hath deserved and thereby satisfie the Divine Justice But above all its merit must of necessity be Infinite that being equal to the malice of sin the honour of God may have full reparation and the debt of man an entire compleat acquittance De Adaestirpe nullus propagari poterat naturaliter qui illius delicto non teneretur adstrictus Aug. The Angel had two of these conditions he was Reasonable and Innocent but being Immortal and Finite by nature he could neither die nor satisfie Man was Reasonable and Mortal the one he owed to his Sin the other to his Constitution but having lost his Innocence he could neither Satisfie nor Merit The Beast more happie in some sort then Man was Mortal and Innocent but having not the use of Reason his death was unprofitable nor could his sacrifice reconcile us to God Therefore did the Eternal Word contrive to be Incarnate that uniting the Divine Nature with the Humane in his Person there might come forth a Divine Compositum which being God and Man both together might possess all the qualities requisite to accomplish the work of our Salvation He was Mortal because he was Man and had assumed our Nature with its imperfections the appurtenances of sin He was Innocent because he subsisted in the person of the Word which managed his Will without constraining it and by a happie necessity made him absolutely impeccable He was Reasonable inasmuch as having taken our imperfections he withal took our advantages and by a priviledge due to his Greatness the use of Reason was indulged him with life that from the first moment of his conception he might honour his Father and satisfie for sinners His Merit was as his Person Infinite and the actions that were performed by this God-Man were Meritorious because Humane and on the other fide Infinite because Divine Thus the Word Incarnate became the Sacrifice of God and Men and entering into our duties paid what we stood bound for to the Justice of his Father he suffered what our sins deserved and delivered us from those punishments our sentence condemned us to But being the Substance of all the Shadows of the Old Testament and by his acquitting us being obliged to fulfil all the Figures thereof he offered up himself to the Eternal Father by a double Sacrifice that one seconding the other the Christians might render as much honour to God as the Jews For the Synagogue had four kindes of Sacrifices The First was the Holocaust which respected the glory of God wherein the Victim was wholly consumed by the fire The Second was an Atonement for sin where the Oblation being parted between God and his Ministers one part was burnt in the fire and the other remained to the Priest for his nourishment The Third and Fourth were called Peace-offerings with this distinction that the one was made to obtain some favour of God or to give him thanks for what was already received the other to acquit the offerer of his promises and to accomplish those vows he stood engaged to God for In these two last Sacrifices the Victim was divided into Three parts The First was consecrated to God the Second designed to the Priest and the Third left to the Faithful Therefore hath the Son of God joyned the Sacrifice of the Cross with that of the Altar to accomplish all those of the Old Law Upon the Cross he offered up himself an Holocaust to his Father where being destroyed by death he rose from the Grave to be consummated in Glory and to be received into the bosom of his Father from whence he came forth by the Mystery of the Incarnation But because in the Oblation
Sacrifice that is offered is no longer a Sacriledge to be detested It is not Cruelty that makes Jesus Christ die but Piety 'T is no longer a Crime but an act of Religion to immolate him neither is he offered by the hands of Executioners but of Priests The Father receives this Sacrifice with Pleasure without Indignation the Son presents himself with Affection free from Sorrow Nature beholds it with Respect and no Horrour and Men partake of it Profitably and without Sin The fourth and last difference is that the Sacrifice of the Cross merits all and applies nothing and contrarily that of the Altar merits nothing and applies all For the comprehending of this Truth we must know that General Causes are the sources of all things nothing is produced here belowe that flows not from their fecundity the very operation of Particular Causes is an emanation of their vertue Did the Sun cease to shine all things of the world would not onely cease to act but also to subsist this goodly Star maintains them with its aspects and though he be not their Creator he is in some sort their Preserver But though he equally shed heat and light over all Creatures yet must we confess some receive his influences more favourably and apply them more faithfully With the Clouds he forms those Meteors which pleasantly ravish the eyes of the beholders with dew he enamels the Flowers which serve for an ornament to our Gardens with the Earth he produceth Gold and Iron which Avarice and Cruelty employed to a hundred different uses But did not these Causes that apply his power weaken his vertue and were there a Sun here belowe to receive his influences without confining them all the world are of opinion he would produce far nobler effects Virtus Causae generalis recipitur à causa particulari secundum suam agendi capacitatem D. Tho. and that in stead of Roses and Lilies we should see nothing but Stars in our Walks and Gardens But because he cannot act alone and the Causes that apply him debilitate his power we behold nothing here belowe answerable either to his excellency or beauty What we see in Nature we believe in Grace General Causes produce all but apply nothing Particular Causes produce nothing but apply all The death of Jesus Christ is the Spring-head of all Merit the Faithful can hope for nothing which is not acquired by that Sacrifice Heaven is not so much the recompence of their Vertue as of its Value and if the quality of Members which ties them to Jesus Christ as to their Head did not give them part in his merits they could not pretend to the inheritance of heaven In the mean time so powerful a Cause produceth nothing if not applied this fruitful Fountain sends forth no streams if there be no Chanels disposed to receive them Mors Christi Fons omnium bonorum Sacramenta vero Rivuli and this Star which darts forth so much heat and light makes neither flowers nor fruit grow up in the Church if there be not some secondary cause which conveys its vertue to us Therefore hath the Son of God instituted Sacraments in his Church which happily apply whatever he hath liberally merited for us upon the Cross They are so many Pipes issuing his blood into our hearts so many Suns carrying their influences into our souls but they have this unhappiness in applying his merits they weaken them and not being capable of receiving all his vertue neither have they the power of communicating it to us Every Sacrament operates in us according to its particular condition Baptism gives us our new birth Sacramenta novae legis representant passionē Christi à qua fluxerunt sicut effectus representant causam Hugo à Sancto Victor Confirmation strengthens us Repentance raiseth us Ordination designes us to the service of the Altar and being second causes they limit the vertue of this universal cause which they apply unto us But the Sacrifice of the Altar more happie and more powerful then the rest applies the merits of the Cross without any limitation It procures us all kinde of Graces hath the power to produce and raise us gives us life and strength unites us to God and takes us off from the world weakens concupiscence and sin and the Son of God finding himself applied by himself there are no wonderful effects which he cannot give a product to There he merits nothing because he is at the end of his Course in the place of his Rest and in the time of his Recompence But he applies all because being equal to himself he hath gained nothing by the Sacrifice of the Cross which he cannot communicate by the Sacrifice of the Altar Nothing can hinder his divine operations but our Weakness or our Malice for as he acts with Free causes without constraining them we must lend him our Will for our Sanctification that making him Master of our hearts we may in some sort assist him to raign absolutely in his State and prepare our selves worthily to receive at the Altar those Graces he hath merited for us upon the Cross The Tenth DISCOURSE Of the Obligation the Christian hath to sacrifice himself to God SInce the Son of God hath united in his person the Humane Nature with the Divine Deus erat homo factus est suscepit humanitatē non amisit divinitatem factus humilis mansit sublimis natus est homo non destitit esse Deus Aug. lib. de quinq haeres cap. 5. and mastering the difficulties which stood in opposition to the execution of so great a design hath effected this admirable Master-piece which accords baseness with greatness misery with happiness it seems he hath taken pleasure to conjoin in his person all those qualities which clash in others so that we may say he hath pacified all the differences that were in Heaven and in Earth Indeed he is the Father and the Son of the Church he produced her upon the Cross and is produced by her upon the Altar He is the Son and the Servant of his Father he associates two qualities which appear incompatible in men and tempering respect with love teacheth us that Gods being his Father hinders him not from being his Soveraign He is our Advocate and our Judge having pleaded our cause he pronounceth our sentence and I know not whether it be a ground of fear or of confidence in that we are assured that he that is entred into our obligations is admitted also into the rights of his Father and that one day he will punish those for whom he hath satisfied upon the Cross But if there be any qualities whose alliance ravisheth us in the person of Jesus Christ we must confess 't is that of Priest and Sacrifice These two are so different among men that nothing but a supream power or an extream love could unite them together When the Synagogue would represent us with the Sacrifice of the Son of God
cito caperetur incarnatio non opus erat ut crederetur credendo ergo capitur quod nisi credatur nunquam intelligitur Aug. de vera Innoc. c. 45. as the difficulty of the Remedy neither does any thing make a man so sensible of the Corruption of his Nature by Sin as the difficulty of his Restitution by Grace The External Cause of his salvation is so strange that it appears incredible to all those that are not illuminated by Faith Humane Prudence cannot comprehend that the Death of a God was necessary for the Recovery of a Sinner It laughs at that Mercy that oblig'd Divinity to be cloath'd with our miseries it beleeves such excess of love unworthy an infinite wisdom and that to be perswaded of the mystery of the Incarnation is to render the Divine Nature ridiculous and humane Nature insolent Nevertheless Faith convinceth us that nothing hath so much exalted God as this Condescention nothing hath so much abased Man as this Exaltation For albeit the greatness of God be at the height that neither Desires nor Imaginations can add any thing to it yet if we believe Saint * Deus cum non haberet quo cresceret per ascensum quia ultra Deum nihil est per descensum quomodo cresceret invenit veniens Incarnari Bern. serm 2. de Asc Bernard he acquir'd new qualities by the Incarnation Men never more reverenced him then since he thus humbled himself and he hath done things in pursuance of this Mystery that might seem unprofitably attempted before he vouchsafed to accomplish so transcendent a wonder His Empire is increased now that he is become a servant to his Father Men have erected Altars to his Majesty since the Jews lifted him up upon the Cross and the Crown of Thorns that encircled his head hath merited the Crown of all the Kingdoms of the Universe If his Humiliation hath exalted him we must acknowledg that our exaltation hath humbled us †Haec medicina hominum tanta est quanta non potest cogitari nam quae superbia sanari potest si humilitate filii Dei non sanatur Aug. de Ago Chr. c. ii For there is no pride that wil not stoop when it considers that our sin could not finde a perfect remedy but in the death of God-Man that we must be wash'd in his blood to be purified and with his honour despoil him of Life to restore us our Innocence This Truth findes new proofs in the Birth of a Christian and if he consider the names it bears and the effects it produceth he will be constrain'd to acknowledg that he was strangely corrupted by sin since to re-establish him in Grace he was fain to bestow upon him a * Redditur nobis novitas per BaptismuÌ„ vetustate discedente deoneratur anima sarcinis peccatorum ut libertate novae vitae induta adversus Diabolum cum adjutorio Divino valeat fortiter dimicare Aug. l. 4. de Sym. c. 9 New-Birth Indeed the Holy Scriptures teach us that the Baptism wherein the Christian is Regenerated is somtimes called his Renovation somtimes his second Birth somtimes his first Resurrection that from the very name of his Remedy he may learn the greatness of his Malady Let us admire these two together and shew in this Discourse the Transgression of Man and the Reformation of the Christian Sin is a Secret poyson that hath spread its malice over the soul and body of Man Malorum omniuÌ„ nostrorum causa peccatum est non enim fine causa mala ista homines patiuntur Justus est Deus omnipotens non ista pateremur nisi mereremur Aug. ser 139. de Tempore The miseries it hath produc'd in the body are so publick that there is none but knows them because there is none but feels them The Confusion of our Humours the Disorder of our Temperament the unfaithfulness of our Senses and the revolt of our Passions are miseries under which Philosophers groan as well as Believers But as the soul is more guilty then the Body so is she much more miserable For Errour hath stoln into the Understanding Malice hath depraved the Will Oblivion hath dropt into the Memory and in so general a disorder there remains no faculty that is not either weakned or corrupted The Pride of the Stoïcks hath complain'd of this misfortune which though they have endeavoured to sweeten by Reason they have been forc'd to confess that so impotent a remedy could not cure so obstinate a malady After the Divine Justice had suffered man for many ages to languish in his * Productior est poena quam culpa ne parva putaretur culpa si cum illa finiretur poena Aug. Trac 124. in Joan. miseries at last Mercy furnished him with Baptism to rid him of his Evils But lest the Easiness of the remedy consisting of the Commonest of the Elements might render it contemptible God was willing that the very name it bears should inform us that we were so corrupt that to be cured we must be wholly new-made For in this Sacrament Man seems to change his Nature to receive a new life to assume other inclinations Ecce libertatis serenitate perfruuntur qui tenebantur paulo ante captivi Cives Ecclesiae sunt qui fuerunt in peregrinationis errore in sorte justitiae versantur qui fuerunt in confusâ—one peccati Non enim tantum sunt liberi sed sancti non tantum sancti sed justi non solum justi sed filii non solum filii sed cohaeredes c. vides quot sunt Baptismatis largitates Chrysost homil de Baptisatis citatur ab Aug. lib. 1. contra Julia. cap. 2. where being illuminated by faith he discovers other lights being warm'd by Charity he conceives other heats being united to another head he receives other influences and being quickned by a new Spirit he forms new designes Is it not indeed a prodigious change that he that was the slave of the Devil becomes the subject of Jesus Christ that a Criminal is pronounced Innocent that he that had in him the seeds of all Vices receives the seeds of all Vertues and that by a happy Metamorphosis which is wrought in a moment and with a word he is despoyl'd of Adam and cloathed with Jesus Christ This Renovation is so great and so consequentially admirable in the effects thereof that the Scripture to express the wonders that accompany it hath somtimes called it a New-birth somtimes a Regeneration The Son of God who is the Author of it testifies that no man can enter into the kingdom of heaven except he be born again of Water and of the Holy Ghost The Fathers of the Church have given it the same name and Theoyhylact teacheth us that we were so deeply swallowed up in the puddle of sin that being not able to be drawn out by an ordinary endevour nor cleansed by a simple washing we were fain to be Regenerated And
provoke him The Third TREATISE Of the Christians Head The first DISCOURSE That the CHRISTIAN hath two Heads ADAM and JESUS CHRIST IF Bodies with two Heads passe for Monsters humane Nature may very well passe for a Prodigie in that it hath two Chiefes upon which it depends and that as Adam communicates his Sin to it by Generation making it guilty and miserable Jesus Christ communicates his Grace to it by Baptisme making it innocent and happy 'T is true Nature might have expected great advantages from this first Head had he kept his originall Righteousnesse for our Divines confesse that Adam being Chiefe of all men received Grace not onely for himselfe but for all his Posterity that as his sinne passeth into his children by Generation Grace had passed into them by the same conveyance and that then they had been borne innocent as now they are borne criminall Together with grace he had communicated to them all the Priviledges he had received from God in the Creation Their bodies had been freed from those troublesome maladies that exercise our patience and originall righteousnesse had knit the body so close to the soule that their peace had never been disturb'd by these intestine divisions that set them so much at distance Nourishment had repair'd the radicall moisture that the naturall heat had consum'd and the fruit of the Tree of Life retaining something of our Sacraments had imparted to them a new vigour that had secur'd them against old Age and Death Their soul had not been worse provided for then their body for with Grace they had received all vertues and according to Saint Augustine either they had had the use of reason for their service or they had learn'd with so much easinesse that Ignorance had never been their Torment In this happy condition the Will had been more free then now it is the passions were so subject to reason that they had never been up but by his order Concupiscence that tyrannizeth over the children of Adam Summa in carne sanitas in anima tota tranquilitas Aug. lib. 14. de Civ c. 26. had not enslav'd the soule to the body and though the inferiour part had felt it's naturall inclinations Grace had so well moderated them that they had never undertaken any thing either against justice or honesty Thence it comes to passe that these austere vertues that have nothing else to do but to combate the motions of the flesh had serv'd rather for his ornament then for his defence Thence it followes that Grace had not been the Mistresse of the Will because having no bad inclinations she might have guided her selfe provided she were but supported nor had there been any danger that she that was not yet a Captive to sinne should have the chiefe disposall of his salvation we are not certain that if Adam had preserved his innocence his children had been impeccable neither know we if the sinne of other men had injur'd their posterity and if having lost the advantages of originall righteousnesse in their own behalfe they had lost them also as concerning their successours This condition is so conceal'd that we have nothing but weak conjectures of it every one extolls or debaseth it according to his humour and having neither Scripture nor Tradition for their rule all the world may diminish or adde something to their happinesse 'T is certain neverthelesse Sicut in Paradiso nullus aestus aut frigus sic in ejus habitatione nulla ex cupiditate vel timore bonae voluntatis offensio Aug. lib. 14. de Civ c. 26. that all the torments that came into the world with sinne had never discompos'd his quiet The Seasons had not been irregular the Elements had not bid him battel the Earth had been fruitfull without tilling and thorns that are the fruits of sinne had not dishonoured the face thereof Deluges that drowned the world Drought that makes the fields barren Pestilence that depopulates Cities and mows down the Inhabitants having no other cause but sinne had made no devastations in an innocent State and men being upon good terms with God had found their happinesse under the protection of his Grace having lived some Ages upon the earth Proinde si non peccasset Adam non erat expoliandus corpore sed supervestiendus immortalitate Aug. they had been translated into heaven where Glory consuming what they had of perishable had made them perfectly immortall without passing them through the pangs of immortality The two parts that compose man had not been separated the Master-piece of the Creation had not been ruin'd and the soul reigning with Angels had not beheld her body devoured by worms in the Sepulchre See here a rude draught of the state of Innocence and a slight shadow of the glorious advantages children had derived from their father had he kept originall righteousnesse but the evils he procur'd them surpasse the priviledges in number and quality For his sinne is the source and fountain of all misfortunes we are not guilty but because we are his Members we sinn'd by his will because we lived in his person and the offence of one man is become the obliquity of whole Nature because it was included in him as the Tree in the Kernell or as a River in the Head Quia vero per liberum arbitrium Deum deseruit justum Dei judicium expertus est ut cum tota sua stirpe quae in illo adhuc posita tota cum illo peccaverat damnaretur Aug. This is it that Saint Augustine teacheth us in those no lesse handsom then solid expressions Adam felt the just judgement of God because abusing his free will he was unjustly separated from him and punishment was inflicted upon him with his whole race because being in him as in the stock they had wholly transgress'd with him The same also he delivers with as much or more eloquence in his Enchiridion for searching out the cause of so many evils that assault us he concludes that the sinne of our first father is the originall thereof and that we are therefore criminall and miserable because we are a part of him Thence it comes to passe saith he that being banished out of Paradise after his transgression he was condemned to death with all his Posterity who living in him as in their Principle were infected with his prevarication as the branches wither in their stock and die in their root Thence it comes to passe that all children that descend from him and from his wife the Complice of his offence and of his punishment are the heirs of his corruption This sinne passeth into them by the channell of concupiscence and makes them sensible of a torment which seems the image of their disobedience since one part of themselves is revolted against the other This revolt engaging their soule in vanity and their body in pain leads them insensibly with the rebellious Angels to that last Judgement which will never have an end Let us
the Head of the Church not that he is not entire without this Body but he that is entire without us as Man and God was pleased to be entire with us as Head For how shall we be one Body with him if he were not one Christ with us and how shall he speak in our person if he give us not the liberty to speak in his Jesus Christ then and the Church make up but one Body and both of them together make that admirable Compound which by reason of the difference of its parts bears sometimes the name of Jesus Christ and sometimes the name of the Church This leads us to the second Resemblance between the Union of the Humanity with the Divinity and that of Jesus Christ with the Faithful For the former is so perfect that without offending the two Natures that subsist in the Word all that may be said of the one which is said of the other The Communication of Properties produceth that of Idiomes and without uttering blasphemies we attribute to Man all that may be attributed to God Thus without doing any violence to Truth we say that God is Man and that Man is God that Man commands over Death that God is subject to the dominion thereof that Man contains the whole world in his Innocency and that God is inclosed in the chaste womb of a Virgin that Man bears rule with his Father and that God obeys with his Mother All these manners of speech which else had been blasphemies are now great Verities and as if the Word had been willing to satisfie the unjust passion of Man that desired to be God he hath exalted him to his Greatness in uniting him to his Person and by priviledge hath conferred that upon him by Grace which by Nature he was no ways able to attain unto Such is the Union of Jesus Christ with his Church the communication of their Goods hath produced the communication of Dialects we speak of them so confusedly that there are no Elogies given to Jesus Christ which may not be given to his Spouse he loads himself with her sins and cloathes her with his merits he gives her part of his innocence and covers himself with her unrighteousness so that without prejudicing the Greatness of Jesus Christ and the Modesty of the Church we may say The Church is perfect in her Head and the Head imperfect in his Members the Church knows all things in her Head and Jesus Christ learns in his Members the Church is innocent in her Head and Jesus Christ guilty in his Members Thus is it that S. Augustine interprets the words of the Prophet Deus Deus meus ut quid me dereliquisti Quare hoc dicitur nifi quia nos ibi eramus nisi quia corpus Christi Ecclesia quomodo dicit delictorum meorum nisi quia pro delictis nostris ipse precatur delict a nostra sua fecit ut juftitiam nostram suam faceret Aug. in Psal 24. Expos 2. Longe à salute mea veâ—ba delictorum meorum and findes that this language that so happily expresseth the love of the Son of God does no way prejudice his innocence Indeed because he is the Head of the Church and this quality unites him with his Members it obliges him to speak of their sins as of his own to pay those debts for them he never contracted and in their name to satisfie the justice of his Father he had no ways offended How saith the same S. Augustine could Jesus Christ make this discourse without wounding his Innocence and Truth it self How could he attribute sins to himself that never committed any How can we believe him true when he made his confession upon the Cross were it not that we acknowledge he applied our offences to himself that he might communicate our righteousness to him and by the communication between the Head and the Members he is charged with our Crimes to enrich us with his Merits This will not seem strange to those that shall consider another parallel between the Marriage of the Humanity with the Divinity and that of Jesus Christ with the Church For though Joy and Sorrow be as incompatible as Sin and Innocence since according to the doctrine of S. Augustine man became not miserable till he became criminal we observe nevertheless both of them in the Person of the Son of God from the very moment of his Incarnation he joyned pain with pleasure during the course of his whole life he tasted the felicity of Angels and resented the miseries of men he is happie and afflicted and contrary to all the laws of Nature and Grace a glorious soul informs a passive body and that which beholds the Divine Essence Tristis est anima mea usque ad mortem is obliged to make complaints and shed tears Therefore is it that I have always reverenced that Ancient who call'd Jesus Christ a Paradox because his composition startles Humane Reason associating in his Person Joy and Grief Innocence and Guilt in a word the Majestie of a God with the Weakness of a Man But inasmuch as this Mystery was unconceiveable because hid Jesus Christ was willing to manifest it by the union he contracted with the Church For there may be seen an Image or Representation of that which passed heretofore in the person of the Son of God pleasure may be observed with pain and by a strange wonder Jam in caelo est hic laborat quamdiu laborat Ecâ—lesia his Christus esuris hic sitit nudus est hespes est quicquid enim patitur corpus ejus se dixit paetâ— Aug. the condition of the Blessed twisted with that of the Miserable one and the same Jesus is still a Sufferer and still Glorious he reigns with his Father in heaven and suffers with his People upon earth he triumphs in the Angels and sighs in the Martyrs he is rich in Eternity and poor in Time he makes liberal largesses in his Glory and receives presents in his Poverty and he that possesseth all things in Himself hath need of all things in his Members Finally to conclude these Resemblances the Word uniting it self to the Humanity stoops to exalt it and enters into its Imperfections to give it admittance into his Power For though the Manhood remain in its natural condition yet was it adorned with so many Graces by this sacred Marriage that it became happily acceptable and found it self in a free necessity to love God without being able to offend him it appeared sanctified as soon as conceived glorious as soon as reasonable and by a priviledge which neither Men nor Angels shall ever enjoy it was no sooner drawn out of Nothing but was united to the Eternal Word These Miracles would remain without an Example did we not perceive some shadows thereof in the conjunction of Jesus Christ with the Church For in chusing her for his Spouse he hath endowed her with all the advantages so noble an Alliance could exact
more sensible express more regret they are not content only to look upon the offended part but they shed tears to comfort it and many times cure it by that innocent remedy The Head which is seated in the most eminent place of the body stoops to succour this poor afflicted he forgets his condition to satisfie his love and giving a fair example to Soveraigns instructs them they ought to be sensible of all the miseries of the meanest of their subjects the Heart Nemo regi tam vilis sit ut illum perire non sentiat qualiscunque pars imperii sit Senec. which from the centre where it is lodged equally enlivens all the parts discovers its sense of pain by its regrets and mixing its sighs with the tears of the eyes and the complaints of the mouth gives a loud testimony it cannot be at quiet when the members it inanimates are afflicted The Hands that are the faithful ministers of the body discover their sorrow by their quickness of dispatch being more active then the rest they presently visit the distressed part they sound the malady apply remedies to it and evidence that if they be not so tender they are more serviceable then the Eyes or Tongue If all things were well regulated in the Church if the Faithful acted according to the motions of Grace and if Charity that combines them together were as lively in their Hearts as in those of the primitive Christians we should see in the mystical Body of Jesus Christ what we behold every day in the natural body of Man The affliction of one of these quickned Members would equally touch all the rest every one would do his office according to his power and imitating the good intelligence of parts composing the same body some would weep as the eyes others complain as the mouth and others assist as the hands This certainly was the consideration that wrought so much upon S. Paul's affections Docet utique Paulus saue veritatem patitur sua aliorum simul mala infirmitates tolerat solatur simul de communisalute de toto orbe sollicitus Ansel and obliged him to pronounce those words flowing from the greatness of his love Who is weak and I am not weak who is offended and I burn not For as he came neerer Jesus Christ then other Christians did being closer united to this Head he sunk deeper into his minde and remembring the complaints he himself had drawn from his mouth when he persecuted the Church he endeavoured to repair that offence by compassion and in Mercy to imitate him whom he represented in Authority All Christians are bound to live in this disposition if they mean to satisfie their duty they must be afflicted with the miserable weep with those that weep and calling to minde that they are the Members of the same Body they must see no Innocents persecuted no Godly distressed but they must do their utmost to comfort them by condoling their misfortunes 'T is perhaps for this reason that the Church is called a Dove because sighs are as natural to her as to that Bird who having lost her mate spends her life in grief and solitude The Church is a widow and consequently solitary her Husband left her when he ascended up to heaven and though she be honoured with his presence being deprived of his sight she cannot secure her self from that anxiety her love works in her but she mourns as the Dove because being made up of as many Members as she hath Believers she is constrained to give her self over to Sorrow when she sees them in Calamity or in Danger Having considered the Afflictions of the Church let us consider the subject of her Joy and behold the community of Goods she hath set up among her children in that which Nature hath erected among members of the same body The union of these later is so great that though they have different offices yet cease they not to take pains one for the other The eyes see and hear not saith S. Augustine the ears hear and see not the hands act and hear not the feet walk and act not nevertheless their correspondence is so good that the eyes hear by the ears the ears see by the eyes the hands walk by the feet and the feet act by the hands so that if we ask the ears Can they judge of Colours they would answer Being in the unity of the body they are always with the eyes and if they see not themselves they are inseparable from those whose office it is to see for them Thus continues S. Augustine as the eyes say we hear by the ears and the ears We see by the eyes and both of them We act by the hands all is common among these parts their difference destroys not their unity and though their employments be divers they live in so perfect a society that the advantages of the one part make up the riches of all the rest If Christians be Members of Jesus Christ they enjoy the same priviledges all their goods are common and if envie divide them not from their Head they possess in Him whatever is wanting in Themselves The Alliance they have with his Body enriches them with another's good without any injustice and like the members of a man which act in one anothers behalf they foretel things to come by the mouth of the Prophets they are understood of all Nations by those that have the gift of Tongues they work miracles by the hands of the Apostles and they attribute to themselves without vanity whatever the Saints are able to do in the mystical Body of Jesus Christ For one of the secrets of the Natural body saith S. Augustine is that the relation of the members is so perfect that each particular labours not so much for it self as for others The eye is the onely part that can see but it sees not for it self alone it is the candle of the feet in their walking of the hands in working and of all the other members in their employments Indeed if it discover any danger threatning the foot it endeavours to protect it and gives notice that it may be avoided The hand acts onely but not for it self alone it defends the face if stricken at courageously opposeth any enemy that braves it and knowing that their interests are common valiantly suffers the evil to deliver the body from it All the members are silent there is none but the tongue that speaks but she is their interpreter and furnisheth them with words to express their like or dislike their sorrow or joy Thus must we confess in the mystical body of Jesus Christ the Faithful receive no benefit which is not reckoned as pertaining to the rest If they be prudent 't is to counsel the simple if they work miracles 't is to convert Infidels or to confirm weak Believers if they have the spirit of Prophecie 't is to instruct the ignorant if they have the gift of
lest the fear of their Infirmity should lull them asleep in the lap of Idleness they are bound to joyn Action to their Prayers good Works to their Sighs remembring that Charity is active and that she never hath recourse to Desires and Wishings but when she is destitute of occasions to suffer or do for the glory of him whom she so passionately affects The Second DISCOURSE Of the Necessity of Grace in the state of Innocence and of Sin A Man must be an enemy to his Salvation that is an enemy to the Grace of Jesus Christ because in whatever state the creature is considered he hath need of some supernatural assistance to attain to glory His weakness is so great and his end so high that he can neither master the first nor compass the second if he be not assisted with an extraordinary succour Original righteousness that furnished him with so many advantages gave no dispensation from this necessity and though he had neither Passions to combat nor disorders to regulate Grace was still necessary for him to overcome Temptations and to persevere in Innocence Had Humane nature continued saith S. Augustine in that happie condition God at first created it in it had been unable to preserve it self had it not been upheld by the power of its Creator The state of Grace is more delicate then that of Nature and if all Philosophers confess that the Creatures have need of the support of the Almighty that they return not to their Nothing all Divines acknowledg they have need of his help lest they fall into Sin Weakness which is inseparable from the Creature puts him in this necessity and notwithstanding those many priviledges his production was honoured with he cannot want that succour which supports and fortifies him Adam remained but a small time in his original righteousness his first conflict was followed with his overthrow and we know not whether his Creation and his Fall happened not on the same day but this we know that his Fall had been speedier had not Grace seconded his Liberty and that he had wandered from his End assoon as ever he had known it had he not been supplied with supernatural Means to tend thereunto And me thinks we may apply the words of the Scripture in the state of Innocence as well as of Sin and say with that excellent Doctor of Grace Let him that glorieth glory in the Lord. For as there is no Creature can begin any good without Grace neither is there any that can perfect that good beginning without it The Necessity of Grace is so great Non talis facta est Natura ut sine Divino adjutorio posset manere Aug. that 't is common to all sorts of conditions Angels can no more be without it then Men the nobleness of their Creation dispenseth not with them and if it be true that the dignity of their nature being higher then that of Men makes them more indigent of the assistance of God I conceive their elevation in Grace renders them more necessitous of its support The Greatness of the Creatures serves onely to abase them their excellence is a glorious servitude the more they have received from God the more do they depend upon him and the grace that would preserve an Angel would not be sufficient to preserve a Seraphim Thus the dignity of the Creature is as well a proof of the Necessity of Grace as his weakness and till he be admitted into Glory where he findes his confirmation in Good he stands in need of Grace to preserve those advantages he hath received from his Creator If Innocence could not free us from this happie Necessity we may say 't is increased upon us by sin and that to give us a release we have need of some more vigorous and active Grace For 't is not enough now that it shew us the Good and enable us to attain unto it but it must withal inspire us with a Will unto it it must lead us by the hand support our weakness order our doings correct our imperfections break our chains and master concupiscence that takes possession of our Will It must assault this Tyrant to set us at liberty that dealing skilfully with us and valiantly against it we may be delivered from servitude without any violence to our nature For Free-will is so weakned by sin that it cannot so much as will the Good if Grace cure it not it must change its inclinations to elevate its desires and imprint upon him the love of vertue hereby to abhor vice Indeed saith S. Augustine how should a man live justly if he be not justified how should he live holily if he be not sanctfied and how should he live truely if he be not quickned with Grace which is the true life of the soul The Cure of man and his Disease depend not equally upon his Will there needs nothing but a small excess to contract a Fever hot and cold are able to debois our constitution Fruits eaten unseasonably or excessively may cause a Flux nor is there any man so well but may be sick when he will But the Cure depends upon Physick we must recover that by the help of another which we have lost by our own fault and experience teacheth us that the end of evil is not in our power as its birth is We may reason thus concerning Man a Sinner because sickness is as well the Image as the Punishment of his crime he may sin when he will he hath liberty enough to become a delinquent there needs no temptation to make him swerve from his duty and he is dextrous enough by his sole power to render himself miserable But having lost Grace he cannot recover it by his own proper Will notwithstanding all the abilities still remain with him there will never be enough to raise him from his Fall nor can he be justified by any other then by him that is the fountain of all the Justice in the world The Law that was given to Instruct him is not sufficient to Cure him though it be one step to arrive to vertue and the knowledge of sin be necessary for the avoiding thereof nevertheless the Law without Grace cannot convert the sinner its light serves onely to dazzle him its defence onely to irritate his desires and when this feeble succour is not seconded by Grace it makes a man but more guilty 'T is Charity that inspires a love towards the Law that surmounts its difficulties changeth its pains into pleasures and of slaves making children renders that easie and agreeable that seemed burdensome and impossible But when by the mediation of Grace a man passeth from the Law to the Gospel he ought not to think this guide useless nor that he can without its aid preserve what without its light he could not attain Grace is not less necessary to finish then to begin and the new state whereto the Christian it raised depends so absolutely upon its influences that he ceaseth
in her Empire Fortitude combats those things that rise against us defends us from our enemies scatters all those evils whosâ— pomps hath no other design but to weaken our courage Justice looks after that which is beside or above us makes us render to God our Soveraign and to our neighbour our equal what of due belongs unto them and parting our obligations according to their conditions bindes us to love the former above our selves and the later as our selves If as it is very likely these Vertues respect our rest and quietness they deliver us from four inconveniences which may exceedingly trouble us For many times we prefer an imaginary apparent Good before a real one and from this errour Prudence secures us we desert a Good because difficult and from this cowardise Fortitude rouzeth us we seek after some pleasing but unprofitable or pernicious Good and this pitfal Temperance teacheth us to avoid or lastly we desire something advantageous to our selves but prejudicial to our neighbour and this iniquity Justice forbids obliging us to preserve the interest of another as our own But whatever succour the Christian can draw from these vertues he must confess they reproach him with his miseries and exprobate him with his crimes For Prudence informs him that he is in banishment where Good and Evil are mixt together and where he is in danger to mistake as often as he hath occasion to chuse Temperance teacheth him that he hath inordinate Passions that must be supprest that he nourisheth monsters in his person which must be strangled but that the disease over-tops the remedy because Prudence dissipates not the darkness of his Ignorance nor doth Temperance regulate all the disorders of his Appetite Justice tells him he must submit his spirit to God his body to his spirit but the resistance he findes makes him sadly feel that earth is not the mansion of Peace nor this life the time of Triumph Finally Fortitude which obligeth him to combat Grief is an argument that he is still criminal because he still remains miserable The Eighth DISCOURSE Of the Humility of a Christian IT is a strange thing but withal exceeding true that of all the Vertues there is none more natural nor yet a greater stranger to Man then Humility For she is born with him he carries the principles thereof in his soul and in his body in that the one is drawn out of Nothing the other is formed out of the Slime of the earth He must forget his extraction to give the least admittance to Vain-glory and he need onely study and minde himself to be sensibly affected with Humility Therefore said an Ancient that Pride was a stranger-vice and Humility a natural vertue In the mean time Man was never more arrogant then since he became so wretchedly miserable That which ought to take down his spirit hath raised it and the misery that should have taught him Humility hath made him quite forget so commendable a vertue She was unknown to the Heathen her name which we account so glorious was infamous among them nor was it ever ascribed to any actions but those that deserved blame It was necessary that Christian grace should revive her and that her light should discover the beauties of this unknown vertue Indeed she had no credit with men till the mystery of the Incarnation God must be abased that we may learn this lesson and his examples must perswade humane wilfulness that true greatness consists in lowe deportment Though this Vertue takes her merit from her Master and her glory is very remarkable in having God for her Author yet must we confess that in her own nature she is of very high esteem and that her proper intrinsecal excellency gives worth and value to her For she seems to include all the Cardinal vertues and to comprehend all their advantages in her essence She partakes of Prudence because she is illuminated and knows the greatness of God and the meanness of the Creature She hath something of Temperance because she bridles the pleasure that vanity promiseth and defends her self from that agreeable enemy who makes use of praises onely to deceive us She shares with Fortitude because she combats shame and grief which frequently accompany base and unworthy actions Finally she is an image of Justice because she treats the Creator and the Creature with so much equity and rendering Glory to the one reserves nothing but Contempt for the other But lest we should think her riches are meerly the spoils of another that she hath none but borrowed excellencies nor is at all considerable but for the alms she receives from other vertues we shall do well to consider her nature and to be acquainted with her by weighing her definition Humility according to S. Augustine is a voluntary debasement of the soul before God in the sight of her own condition which representing her Nothingness reads her this lesson that none can preserve her but he that created her This great man expresly joyns the Creature with the Creator in this definition for Man looking onely upon himself might easily grow proud at the sight of his own priviledges when he looks up to God compares the Creature with the Creator confronting two things opposite by such an infinite distance he is obliged to fall lowe upon his face if his Pride exceed not that of the devil Therefore did that afflicted Prince who would perswade his friends that his being miserable was no argument he was criminal change his language when he had compared his own defects with the perfections of God and confess there was no creature so holy that was not guilty before him Now mine eye seeth thee and therefore I abhor my self As if he would have said Whilst I compared my actions with those of men I cherished a high opinion of my vertue but when thy light had cleared my spirit and I beheld that holiness whereby thou art so gloriously separated from thy works I prevent thy arrest and forgetting my innocence pass sentence of condemnation upon my self This is the apprehension of Humility and whenever Man is tempted to Pride this lowliness of minde presents him before God in his nature in his person in his actions in his Nature that he is miserable in his Person that he is criminal in his Actions that he is unconstant and wavering Others define Humility a disesteem that Man conceives of his own excellency inasmuch as he hath not any thing which was not given him by Grace and may not be taken away by Justice For this wretch lives but upon loan In the height of his Innocence he was but many creatures in gross and it seems that God to oblige him to Humility made him up of borrowed pieces He takes his Being from the Elements his Life from Plants his Sense from Animals and his Understanding from Angels So that should he return every Creature what he hath received all that would remain to him would be his Nothingness and
a Government loseth all command when not obeyed there are a thousand Reasons which no less respect our own Interest then the Glory of our Soveraign which oblige us to this undisputed resignation If we consider the Word Incarnate we shall finde that his deportment towards his Father exacts this humble duty from us He doth nothing upon the earth but by his orders he consults his will before he undertake any thing and if the time he hath set him to work his miracles in be not yet come he rejects the intreaties of his mother who can receive no other answer from his mouth but these words Nondum venit hora mea But if we look upon the holy Humanity united to the Eternal Word we shall see that as it is despoiled of its proper subsistence it hath no other motions then what it receives from the Divine Assistant that sustains it Humanitas Christi non est sui juris sed verbi actiones enim sunt suppofitorum It is more a his devotion then at its own is guided by that that preserves it and having no dominion over its actions is in a submission equal to its love whatever it acts upon earth all is referred to the Divine Person and as there is no union more strict then theirs neither is any dependance more obedient then that of the Humanity to the Divinity The Word acts absolutely in this holy Humanity Aliud est inviolabile aliud est passibile tamen ejusdem est contumelia cujus est gloria ipse est in infirmitate qui in virtute Leo. he reserves the whole conduct thereof to himself appropriates all the Inclinations and whether the Humane nature suffer or be abased he will have us know and believe that a God suffers and is humbled with it Therefore are all Christians after the imitation of so rare an example obliged to despoil themselves of their Wills to renounce their Desires to submit to Jesus Christ and to manifest in their person an image of the Incarnation 'T was certainly this powerful reason that made the great Apostle to utter these notable words Vivo autem jam non ego vivit vero in me Christus and to teach us by his advice to derive our guidance as well as our glory from the Son of God Indeed the whole Abnegation of a Christian is founded upon the mystery of the Incarnation and when they consider how the holy Humanity is obscured in the desarts humbled in the Villages sacrificed upon Mount Calavary to be obedient to the person of the Word they need not think it strange if to doe Homage to Jesus Christ they are obliged to renounce their glory and consent to lay down their lives at his command But if this example be not powerful enough to perswade us we must be convinced by reason and confess that Christians have no quality that that doth not exact this blind submission from them For if we consider them as Temples of the Holy Ghost or Members of the Son of God we are forced to acknowledge that these two glorious qualities are as well the Fountains of their dependance as of their greatness Temples are only for the Divinity that honours them with his presence they breath forth nothing but his glory and were they inanimated they would act meerly by his motions Therefore inasmuch as Christians are the living Temples of the Holy Ghost they ought not to act but as guided by him they are unable to perform any thing but by his order and all their actions that have not his Grace for their principle are Criminal or profane We are no more the children of God but as far as we are quickned by this ever to be adored Spirit all our merit is from our acting by his Vertue and when he ceaseth to incite and stir us up we leave off to form good thoughts or perform good actions The quality of Members ties us not lesse closely to our Head then that of Temples to the Holy Ghost for according to the Laws of Nature the Members more belong to their Head then slaves doe to their Master they receive life and motion from his Influences they owe all their vigour to the communication they have with him aand whenever there happens any obstruction that hinders him from sending his Spirits into his Members they lose all sense and strength Besides he hath such command over them that he applies them according to his designs takes no notice of their wils employs the eyes to weep as well as see the hand to serve as well as command the tongue to manage meat as well as compose words and as if it were their greatest glory to perish for him there is not any Member but willingly exposeth it self to death for his defence or honour This submission is an Image of the dependance Christians ought to have towards Jesus Christ they are no longer their own when once ingraffed upon his person they receive an obligation to obey from the same quality that gives them a power to operate Quam in in Christo manes per amorem ipse in te per sanctitatis justitiae operationem in ejus corpore membris computaris Ber. they become Servants assoon as they become Members their liberty depends upon their servitude and by a happy occurrence they lose their own will by submitting to that of the Son of God As it is love that unites them to him so that their liberty is not interessed in their obedience they are never more their own then when they are their Heads they recover themselves in being lost possess themselves by forsaking themselves and by a strange adventure find a resurrection in dying Thence it comes to pass that they are never troubled to sacrifice themselves to Jesus Christ they account themselves sufficiently happy if they can be serviceable to his Glory it matters not though they lose their lives provided they obey him and knowing very well that in the State and in Nature subjects expose themselves for their Prince Members for their Head they are of this mind assoon as ever they enter into the Mystical Body of Jesus Christ â—â—t when they consider how he hath joyned the quality of Redeemer to that of Head and that to associate them to his person he hath delivered them by the losse of his own life they believe they can no ways acknowledge this extream obligation but in dying for his glory who was willing to die for their salvation Indeed we are the servants of Jesus Christ he hath bought us by his death we are the price of his bloud and we owe our happiness and our hope to his merits This is it that the Apostle represents to us in such emphatical terms when he saith Empti estis pretio magno and by a necessary consequence teacheth us that we ought to glorifie him in our body and in our soul Thence it is that he infers that those that live upon
had not this mystery been attended with other consequences and had not the holy Sacrament been added to the Incarnation the Man-God had not communicated to us his qualities and remaining still the children of Adam we had never been made the children of God This great effect was reserved for the Eucharist 't is in this mystery that whole Nature was Deified and we may say that if the Communication of the Word in the Incarnation was infinite it was not immense but in the holy Sacrament of the Altar There it is that we become Gods without committing a crime there Piety satisfies our Ambition there the union we contract with the Word imitates and honours That it contracted with the Father from all Eternity Finally there it is that the onely Son becomes the first-born and taking us for his Brethren makes us the Children and withal the Images of his Father After this great advantage 't is not hard to conceive that he was willing to content our third desire and having made us Gods hath indued us with Knowledge to bestow upon us in earnest what the devil promised us in jest For this Spirit who still retains so much light amidst the thickness of his darkness perceiving that the desire of Knowledge is one of the strongest Passions of Man perswaded him that God had not forbidden him the use of the fruit he advised him to eat but to keep him in ignorance and to deprive him of those innocent pleasures Science brings with it into the minde This temptation proved so powerful that it prevailed upon man for his consent and he that had resisted the promises of Glory and Life suffered himself to be charmed with the hope of Knowledge Indeed we must confess that of all the Passions this is the most reasonable Beasts are moved with the love of Life and Glory they fear Death and Dishonour They fight to be secured from both these and those that are accounted the noblest are as ambitious in their victories of the increase of their reputation as of the preservation of their life But the desire of Knowledge is peculiar to Man there is no creature but he that takes pains to be delivered from Ignorance His combats for Glory are not more famous then his disputes for Truth and Conquerors take less pleasure to gain Slaves then Philosophers do to purchase Disciples The contestation of Wits is nobler then that of Bodies and if there be any conflict among the Angels it more resembles that of Philosophers then that of Conquerors The Understanding and the Will are the onely Atms made use of either for offence or defence whole Nature is the Field the differences spring not from the divers interests of Soveraigns but from the contrary opinions of Masters the recompence of the Victors is not so much the Conquest of Glory as of Knowledge they are never more satisfied with their advantage then when of their Enemies they make their Partisans and delivering them from Errour and Falsehood enrich them with Knowledge and Truth Therefore did the devil make use of this stratagem to gain man to his side and believed that if any thing in the world would make him forget his duty 't was his desire to Know Good and Evil. In the mean time Man lost his Light by losing his Innocence the father of Lyes plunged him in darkness and falling into the pit of Sin by a just judgement he fell into the abyss of Ignorance But Jesus Christ all whose Promises are Truth opens the eyes of the soul to the Faithful that receive his Body he enlightens their Understanding and warms their Will he manifests himself to those that receive him in this Sacrament and leading them to Knowledge by the mystery of Faith may be said to give them sight by making them blinde 'T is in the breaking of this Bread that his disciples know him 't is by the vertue of this Drink that the scales are taken from their eyes and 't is by the Grace of this Food that the Just who are nourished therewith receive Understanding together with Life If Jesus Christ raign upon our Altars as a Soveraign he instructs thence as a Master if we are his Subjects in that condition we are also his Disciples and if he gives us Laws to regulate us he gives us Counsels to inform us From all this Discourse 't is easie to infer that Jesus Christ is the God of Truth and the Devil the Father of Lyes That the One promising us Honour Knowledge and Life involved us in Shame Ignorance and Death the Other giving us his Body made us Wise Immortal and Glorious The Fifth DISCOURSE That this Nourishment unites the Christian with the Son of God INasmuch as Unity is the most excellent perfection of God all the works of his hands bear the Character thereof there is no creature that in his composition maintains not this advantage he ceaseth to subsist or live assoon as he begins to be divided and if S. Augustine judged rightly that grief was nothing but the division of the soul we may say that death is nothing but the dissolution of the body Thence it comes to pass that God in Nature and in Grace that he may preserve his creatures maintains them in unity and makes his noblest operations and his highest mysteries serviceable to this design His Providence that guides the Universe takes no other care but to associate the creatures together that their union may compose the worlds Harmony As the Battles of Princes tend to peace the jar of the Elements wrangles out a concord if they recede from their contraries 't is to embrace their like and when they seem most incensed they intend not so much a mutual destruction as to remove those obstacles that hinder their alliance That which is done in Nature is effected in Grace all the operations thereof mean only to reconcile us to God Teneamus charitatem fine qua etiam cum Sacramentis cum fide nibil sumus tenemus autem charitatem si amplectimur unitatem Aug. This noble expression of the Divine Essence breaths nothing but Unity and these austere Vertues which seem to annihilate the sinner have no other end but to destroy his sin to re-unite him to his Principle All our Mysteries and all our Sacraments seek the same end by different ways Baptism unites us to Jesus Christ as to our Head Repentance as to our Surety the Eucharist as to our Beloved because compleating all the other unions it happily converts us into him that nourisheth us with his Flesh and Bloud This design hath excellently appeared in the choice he made of the matter of this Sacrament For the Bread whose substance is changed into that of the Body of Jesus Christ is made up of many grains of corn which being kneaded and baked together composeth that Sacrifice which is offered upon our Altars The Wine whose substance is turned into the Bloud of Christ is compounded of many Grapes which
being trodden in the same Press sends forth that juice which is exhibited in this oblation So that the Son of God prepares the heart of the Faithful by a sensible union to a spiritual one and teacheth them that he will unite them with him in a Sacrament whose outward appearances breathe nothing but unity The Flesh which the outward species cover is so one that its multiplication cannot divide it it is produced in a thousand places to re-unite those that receive it and contrary to that of Adam is one in its substance Omne bellum oritur ex carne homo enim si carnalis non esset nunquam cum alio homine pugnaret Aug. as well as in its effects For the flesh of our first Father is a fruitful and unhappy spring of division it is parted into as many bodies as there are children and we may say that all men are the wretched portions of this guilty flesh The souls are divided with it to inanimate it and acting by its Organs contract its bad qualities whence arise quarrels and disputes that distract States and Fam lies But the most Tragical division is that being the channel of sin it makes the souls guilty assoon as they touch it and separate them from God by an offence which was free in the first man and natural in all his posterity For 't is enough that they are blended with the flesh of Adam to make them become guilty 'T is from this unhappy mixture that those fatal rents issue and proceed which occasion all our disasters and if we did not communicate in flesh with Adam we should not partake of his sin nor be liable to his punishment But this of Jesus Christ more happy and more innocent then his heals our division and leads us to unity it is one in substance and though a part of Adams is exempt from all sin because the work of the Holy Ghost and the Word that sustains it renders it impeccable He that communicates life to it communicates innocence in so high a degree that he imparts it to those that receive it It s multiplication dissolves not the unity the same Word that produceth it upon our Altars gives it the impress of its qualities and contrary to all the rules of nature which cannot multiply things without dividing them finds a secret to give it a Beeing in a thousand places without impairing its unity There is this difference between Nature and a Word the former is fruitful only by division 't is wonderful how from a grain of corn she extracts a whole Harvest pays the labour of the Husbandman with usury recompenseth his pains with plenty and imitating the power of her Creator which makes all things of nothing makes a great deal of a very little But she cannot accord multiplication with unity she must divide whatever she produceth and her liberality is founded upon the fraction of her Presents A Word more powerful then nature is brought forth without partition it is communicated through the fullest Auditory without wronging its Unity and though always one fils the ears of all those that are within the sound of it It seems that the Body of the Son of God which produced by the Word Vnusquisque accepit partem suam unde ipsa Gratia partes vocantur per partes manducantur manet integer totus per partes manducatur in Sacramento manet integer totus in coelo manet integer toâ—us in corde tuo Aug. Serm. de Verb. Evang. hath borrowed this Vertue from its cause is multiplied in the world and is not divided it is received into the heart of all the Faithful and this kind of Immensity that multiplies its presence alters not its unity It is whole and entire under every part of the Hoast though they break it they cannot divide it but preserving its unity in the fraction of the species remains always the Numerical body of Jesus Christ Thence it comes to pass that it unites all the faithful that receive it For though they be as different in conditions as generations as contrary in humours as interests as great strangers in their inclinations as climates they doe notwithstanding make up one body because they are nourished with one bread and all eat the same meat which having the power to assimilate the feeder into the food communicates unto them a wonderful unity which composeth all their differences But to comprehend this last miracle we must remember that this viand being of another nature then common meat is not disgested by the natural heat nor converted into the substance of those that take it only the accidents that cover it resent that injury and yielding to that fire that animates and consumes us becomes a part of our selves Being impassible and glorified 't is free from corruption acting upon those that eat it and having the same effect upon them they have upon other nutriments converts them miraculously into it self Thus every Christian if he bring not resistance with him becomes another Jesus Christ he parts with the bad qualities of Adam to assume the glorious ones of the Son of God if he share not in his impassibility he does in his innocence if he become not immortal he becomes in some sort glorified and if he change not nature he alters at least his inclination Therefore is it that all the Fathers of the Church admiring the holy stratagems Jesus Christ makes use of to unite us to himself Qui vult vivere habet unde vivat accedat credat incorporetur vivificectur inhaereat corpori vivat Deo de Deo nunc laboret in terra ut postea vivat in caeâ—o Aug. call this Sacrament a Divine Transformation wherein man losing what he had of corruptible and criminal gains the advantages of the Blessed and is happily changed into him that nourisheth him Indeed experience teacheth us that nature and love have found out no better invention to convert Essences then Nutrition Every day the meat we eat is assimilated into our substance the wine altering its qualities by a natural Chymistry is turned into our bloud bread without any other additional supplement then the natural heat becomes our flesh and all the nourishments we take by a wonderful metamorphosis pass into our nature The union they contract with us is so great nothing can break it all the endeavours of men cannot dissolve it and it is easier for the cruelty of the Executioner to bray the chains that fasten the soul to the body then to unravel those links that doe consubstantiate the food with him that hath disgested it Being changed into his substance and blended with all the parts that compose him the inquisition must search for it in his Arteries and break his very bones to extract it with the marrow Love also that takes pleasure to imitate nature hath found out no more powerful means to unite lovers together when one of them hath bid farewel to the world then in making the
Christ we have Jesus Christ in us This vertue makes him present in our souls and the belief we conceive of him is his other self in our hearts Thus the Believer is happie because he possesseth the Son of God and is possessed by him as long as he preserves a vertue which so closely unites them together Hope which is bred with Faith increaseth this happiness and makes our condition more resemble that of the Blessed For that which seems most to separate them from us is that they enjoy that happiness we expect that they languish not as we do and that they have received seisen of the Supreme Good we still hope for They feel the truth of that speech the Scripture hath recorded for our consolation Intra in gaudium Domini tui Their Desires disturb them not and Fear which always accompanies Hope troubles not their content They are above all their wishes and being in full possession of the Supreme Good have neither Miseries to fear nor Blessings to desire It is true the Believers enjoy not all these priviledges neither does their condition suffer them to live without apprehensions and longings They work out their salvation with trembling Ille bene novit in miseriis exterioribus subsistere qui scit de spe interna semper gaudere Greg. Mora. and as they possess not all that they love they give themselves leave gently to consume away in the flames and desires of their Love But withal we must confess they have a part of this felicity for all Philosophers know that Hope is the flower of Pleasure that it gives a taste of the pleasure it promiseth that to stir up the appetite of our Soul it indulgeth a kinde of sense of the felicity prepared for us and that the strength she inspires us with proceeds from the sweetness she charms our expectation with I know prophane Authors affirm that the overtures of Hope are but pleasing Lyes Spes vigilantiū somnium Plut. that she engageth us in dangers with vain promises and finding us over-easie abuseth our credulity But the sounder sort of Philosophers acknowledge that Hopes animates us sowes pleasures amidst our pains nor ever carries men on to generous and difficult actions but in making them taste a part of the recompence she promiseth But admit this Passion had not all the power attributed to her we must by no means question it as belonging to that Hope which is grounded upon the words of God This confers things in promising them makes us feel the happiness we expect and as the Air and the Windes carry the Odours of Arabia into the neighbouring Provinces we may say that this vertue carries the felicity of the Beatified into the very heart of the Faithful Thence it comes to pass that Saint Paul many times in his Epistles mingles Joy with Hope as if he would teach us that we cannot hope but we must possess in part what we hope for Spe gaudentes and in another place Gloriamur in spe gloriae filiorum Dei Finally if it exclude not all Evils as Beatitude does at least it sweetens them and turns them into remedies S. Gregory goes further for he will have it happie because certain and wiping away the tears of Christians crowns them with a joy which comes neer that of the Angels Inasmuch as Charity is nobler then Hope she contributes more liberally to the Happiness of the Faithful For besides that it makes the holy Trinity present in their souls renders their Exile a Paradise she unites them to God and by a happy Metamorphosis findes out an expedient to transform them into him All the world knows that love is the tye of hearts and that his principal effect is to unite together all the Subjects that live under his Empire To accomplish this design he equals their conditions debaseth great persons and exalteth mean ones enricheth the poor and impoverisheth the rich sets slaves at liberty and makes Masters slaves But Charity effects all these things more happily then profane love she humbles the Almighty without interessing his Greatness obligeth him to comply with our weakness Quis me amavit non ad me pervenit quisquis me quaerit cum ipso sum ipse amor tibi praesentem me facit Aug. and reduceth him to a condition wherin he enters into commerce with us not dazling us with his light nor astonishing us with his Majesty He infuseth himself into our souls by grace is linkt to us by his love and in this union communicates to us all his Divine Qualities For he lifts us above our selves to transform us into him draws us out of our misery to make us capable of his happiness and takes from us our own affections to give us admittance into his inclinations when we are arrived to this height of perfection we behold all earthly things under our feet we breath nothing but Heaven we discourse onely of the subject of our love and we are so perfectly filled with him that we may say without offence our desires are alike our conditions equal and our interests common Though all Christians cannot pretend to this high degree of Happiness it seems yet that having the Grace of Jesus Christ they have one part of that felicity which the Saints possess by Charity For in the judgement of all Divines Grace is Glory begun Glory Grace consummated the former gives that a being here below which the second finisheth above and maugre all the miseries that afflict the children of Adam makes us finde Happiness in the midst of our sorrows 'T is perhaps upon this ground that Saint Paul calls Grace Eternal Life Gratia Dei vita aeterna and insinuates to all Christians that being Saints here below they are already Blessed Beatitudo in quodam illapsu Divinae Essen tiae intra animam consistit Henri à Gau. Indeed Essential Felicity consists in a certain emanation of Divinity into the substance of the soul when she as the iron by the fire is penetrated therewith she happily loseth her own qualities to assume those of God she is swallowed up in this Ocean of Glory and having no longer any thing of mortal nor humane is entirely Immutable and Divine What Glory operates in the Blessed Grace works proportionably in the Faithful she sheds abroad the Divine Essence in their souls communicates to them a new being and changing their nature and condition makes Gods of them which may die indeed because they may sin and being not inseparable from the Supream Good are not yet fully impeccable Nevertheless Divines confess that as Grace is a participation of the Divine Nature it communicates Immortality as well as Sanctity and the life it produceth in our souls carries along with it no principle of death The life of the body is not a true life because the same elements that preserve it destroy it and the corruption that accompanies it leads it insensibly to a dissolution But the life of Grace is exempt
from this misfortune it carries Eternity along with it and were it not engaged in a subject changeable and obnoxious to mutability it would be as Immortal as it is Holy Let us adde to this advantage that Grace cannot be taken from us against our will 't is a treasure we never lose but by our own default Perishable goods cannot be preserved with all our care cunning or violence may rob us of them and whatever prudence we use to keep them we are many times constrain'd to fear or feel the loss of them Calumny takes away our good name Injustice or misfortune spoils us of our riches a disease deprives us of health and death of life All these goods though precious cannot avoid the disasters that threaten them The Innocent lose their honour as well as the Guilty The rich are as much afraid of sickness as the poor nor are Kings more secure from death then their Subjects But Grace is a good which cannot be taken from us without our consent Potes aurum perdere nolens potes domum bonū autem quo bonus es nec invitus accipis nec invitus amittis Au. There is no violence can plunder us of it and men though in league with the Devils cannot make us lose it if we favour not their design by our weakness This is the difference Saint Augustine hath put between earthly goods and heavenly Those are many times lost in spite of the owners these are never lost but by the fault of those that neglect them so that the condition of the Faithful is very little inferiour to that of the Blessed because that if the one be certain their glory shal never have an end the others are sure their Grace shal never be lost unless they wil not preserve it out of malice or not consent to secure it out of cowardise Indeed inasmuch as they know that their wils are impotent and their inclinations bad they place all their confidence in the mercy of God they hope that he that converted them will make them persevere and having assisted them in the combate will crown them in the trumph The Fourth DISCOURSE That Happinesse consists not in Pleasure but in Grief OF all the Sects which have opposed Truth the most dangerous is that of the Epicures For though base and unjust in that it gave the Body preheminence over the Minde and Pleasure the right hand of Vertue Nevertheless it surprised men at first sight and seduced them by a name which bears some analogy with that of felicity For whatever Idea men fashion of this it is impossible to separate it from Pleasure and very casie to confound them together We cannot imagine such a thing as the supream Good but we must conceive it agreeable nor can we perswade our selves that there is felicity where there is not content This hath procured more Disciples to this shameful Sect then to all the rest and made it triumph over the reason of the Academicks and the supercilious vanity of the Stoicks Allsinners took part with this Philosophy Christian Religion which destroyed Idolatry hath not been able to ruine this and the Church bears those in her bosome who boast themselves Christians but are indeed Epicures The whole world courts pleasure by different addresses 'T is the Idol that hath most Altars and receives most Sacrifices The Ambitious are her slaves they adore Voluptuousness under the name of Glory and suffer themselves to be charm'd by the allurements that attend a great reputation The Covetous are her Votaries they offer Incense to this false Deity they seek for pleasure in the arms of profit nor do they so much doat upon riches because profitable as because agreeable Indeed the Supream Good is inseparable from pleasure and as you cannot see the Sun but must be enlightned no more can men behold the Supream Good without being charm'd Delectatio ex fruitione summi boni necessario sequitur Aug. If delectation be but a consequence of Happiness as some Philosophers affirm it is at least necessary and I account it no more impossible to see God and not love him then to love and see him without receiving contentment in him Therefore the errour of the Epicures consists not in placing Beatitude in Pleasure but in placing pleasure in the body because man being compounded of a body and a minde ought to be happy in both these parts Let us combate this Monster which against nature destroys not men but because he flatters them nor is dangerous but because he is over complacent There is no body but confesseth that Beatitude consists in a union with God by means of the understanding and the will we must renounce reason to oppose this truth and cease to be men to doubt of a Maxim authorised by all profane Philosophy God is the Ultimate End of his creatures and consequently their perfect Happiness The Understanding and the Will are the two noblest faculties of the soul the wings that make her soar aloft and the chains that fasten her to the object she loves so that she is never more happy then when united to the Supream Good by Knowledge and Love whatever hinders this union is contrary to it and whatever separates or removes her from God is the enemy of her felicity It is easie thence to infer that sensual pleasures cannot cause our felicity because they suffer not our souls to be united to God and imbark her so strongly in the flesh that she seems to have lost all the qualities of a spirit Impurity produceth store of miseries in the world nor can we invent too many invectives against a sin that defiles a man and of an Angel makes a Beast But the greatest of its enormities is that it inebriates our soul with its poison and makes us lose the remembrance of all Divine things Nothing pleaseth the slaves it tyrannizeth over but sensuality whatever affects not the senses seems not true they take the pleasures of the minde for meer illusions and as if the glory of Heaven were but a fable or an imposture they are less affected with the consideration of them then reasonable men with the reading of Romance This misfortune produceth another For as pleasure separates men from God it fastens them to the creatures their inferiours and debasing them below themselves Quisquis quod seitso est deterius sequitur fit ipse de erior Aug. communicates the bad qualities of the things they doat upon Love is a kind of medley it confounds those subjects it unites and by a wonderful Chymistry makes them pass one into another Thence it comes to pass that Kings become Slaves when they love their Subjects and renounce their power when abandon'd to dalliance They fall from their Greatness when they engage in an affection and as the noblest metals lose their purity when mixt with those of a baser allay Soveraigns quit their Majesty when allied with their Subjects Thus the man who gluts
puts us in the same Liberty and reducing us to things absolutely necessary rids us of superfluities This is it that confines the Anchorites to their pulse that gives them sackcloath for a garment a Den for a Lodging a Mat for their Bed This is it that enricheth them by making them poor makes them finde Liberty in servitude and equalling their condition with that of Angels frees them from the need we have of the Creatures If the Blessed have no communication but with God if they have quitted Earth to live in Paradise if the Love and Magnificats they bestow upon God be their whole employment and if in this one object they finde all their Happiness and their Diversion Pennance and Solitude procure the same priviledges to the faithfull Their heart is no longer in the Earth they mount up to heaven by their desires converse more with Angels then with Men and already enjoying the priviledges of the Resurrection lead a new life in their Banishment and a happy life in their wilderness Let us imitate their holy Examples fit our selves for Glory by Austerity and subjecting the Body to the soul and the soul to God set us to shake hands with the world that our Conversation may be with Jesus Christ The Tenth DISCOURSE Of the Miracles which are found in the Beatitude of a Christian AS Nature and Grace have their extraordinary proceedings so have they their Miracles Haec utique Deus potestatis suae proponit signa suis in solatium extraneis in testimonium Tertul. and in Both of them we behold changes which require the endevours of an absolute omnipotence When the Sun stands still in the midst of his course when the Earth cleaves from her foundations and opens her bowels to devour her Children when the sea passeth his bounds and makes inquisition after Delinquents beyond his Banks There is no body but looks upon these irregularities as Prodigies and who conceives not that the author of Nature disorders her to punish us Though Grace be so powerfull and its victorious sweetness so often triumphs over the libertie of sinners it many times produceth occurrences which pass for Miracles When it converted the Doctor of the world disarmed his heart and his hands and changing his will in a moment of a Persecutor made him an Apostle it seems so strange a proceeding may well be ranked in the number of prodigies when it touched that Comedian who laughed at the Ceremonies of our Religion enlightened his spirit upon the Theatre made use of the water he prophaned to make a Sacrament and by a wonderfull conduct made him finde his salvation in his very sin we shall not offend its power if we call this effect a Miracle If Nature and Grace have their Prodigies Glory which is their perfection may boast of those it hath and as its order is the highest so is it most miraculous Therefore did the Great S. Bernard confess That there were Three Unions that ravished him The first That of Virginity with Pregnancy in the person of Mary The second That of the Humanity with the Divinity in the person of the Word and the Third That of Glory with the spirit of Man in the person of the Blessed For he could not comprehend how it came to pass that the Creature was not dazled with the brightness of the Creator that a drop of water should not be lost in an Ocean and that an Atome should be preserved in the Abysses of a Divine Essence But certainly he that shall well consider the state of Glory will finde it a perpetuall Miracle and that the Circumstances that accompany it are so many Prodigies whereof the first is that God communicates himself entirely to every one of the Blessed The Goods of the earth are such scantlings that they cannot be divided without being diminished we ravish that from our neighbour which we possess our selves we cannot grow rich but must inaccommodate him and whatever care we take not to deal unjustly we finde by experience that our Plenty is an occasion of Misery and Indigence to others Monarchs cannot enlarge the borders of their State but must encroach upon those of their Neighbours they cannot widen their own Kingdom but must make a breach in that of their Allies and all worldly things are so small that being shared occasions the division and poverty of Families But inasmuch as the Good which the Blessed are in possession of is infinite it is communicated to all without being divided The Felicity of one is no hinderance to that of another and as Vertue though common is nevertheless chaste the Divine Essence though wholly shed abroad into a man ceaseth not to be entirely infused into an Angel It takes not from the Cherubims what it indulgeth the Seraphims and communicating it self indivisibly to all its Subjects occasions neither Jealousie nor Envie Great Goods have this advantage that they never suffer by division Magna vera bona non sic dividuntur ut exiguum in singulos cadat ad unumquemque totū perveniat Sen. Ep. 73. They make some rich without making others poor and as they are conferred in full weight and measure every one is content and none miserable Covetousness which hath divided Sea and Land hath not yet divided Time That which measures the life of Kings measures that of their Subjects every one possesseth it in common and though we make divers uses of it it runs along equally to all people Ambition which hath cantonized Honour hath not yet found out the Secret of parting the Light this daughter of the Sun never thinks she sullies her purity by rendering it common she equally shines upon all Nations and did not the Earth interpose between the effusion of her brightness she would banish Darkness from the face of the Universe The Divine Essence whereof the Light is but a shadow is shed abroad into the soul of the Blessed without being divided is not parted by being communicated All Angels and all Men fully possess it and if it make some difference in their happiness 't is without want or jealousie The Second miracle of Glory is that one and the same Good produceth all kinde of content and satisfies all sorts of desires Seeing the Creatures are but weak rays issuing from God as from their Sun there is none of them that possesseth all perfections Nullum est bonum praeter summum quo vere possimus esse boni aut beati Aug. They are bounded in their Qualities as well as in their Essences They cannot relieve us in all our necessities and had not sin made them rebel against us there was not one of them could remedy our evils Light enlightens us but cannot warm us without its heat Meat nourisheth but clothes us not Garments cover us but cannot feed us Gold enricheth but cannot defend us Iron defends but does not enrich us One Good produceth but one single commodity that which serves for one use does not for